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Wednesday, October 27, 1999
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Congress blamed for fiscal crisis
CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — While claiming that the situation on the financial front in Punjab is improving, the SAD-BJP Government led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal has blamed the Congress for the financial crisis facing the state.

BJP MLAs resolve total support to Badal
PHAGWARA, Oct 26 — The BJP Legislative Group today adopted a resolution in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal committing total support to him and the party alliance with the SAD.

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Faridkot
Hoshiarpur
Ludhiana
Ropar
Civil service officers to meet in Delhi
CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — The state civil service officers of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh seem to share common grievances and have a common perception about the prevailing Indian administration, afflicted as it is by "inefficiency, corruption and ineffectiveness".
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Smugglers plunder forest
NANGAL: The forests of Acacia Catechu (Khair) in the Shivalik ranges near Bhakra are being plundered. About 10 to 20 trees are being felled illegally from the forests in Himachal bordering Punjab, said a forest official deputed here. These are then smuggled to neighbouring states, where the dealers having permits to trade in khair wood buy it. They sell the wood to the katha-producing firms in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and to the pharmaceutical industry.

Two more bodies identified
HOSHIARPUR, Oct 26 — Out of the five unidentified bodies of those killed in the bus accident near Mangowal village on the Hoshiarpur-Dharamsala road yesterday, two have been identified as that of Pritam Kaur, wife of Charan Singh of Nurpur Jattan village under Garhshankar police station and Mann Kaur, wife of Rasal of Mangli Tanda village under Sahnewal police station, according to Dr S.N. Tiwari S.M.O. , Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur.

34 lakh mt of paddy procured
FARIDKOT, Oct 26 — State procurement agencies purchased over 34 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current session in Faridkot and Ferozepore divisions comprising six districts — Moga, Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepore, Faridkot and Mansa — till yesterday as against 28 lakh metric tonnes last year, Mr Inderdeep Singh, Deputy Director, Food and Supply said here today.

CM unveils scheme for jobless youth
LUDHIANA, Oct 26 — The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today unveiled a comprehensive programme to provide self-employment to unemployed youth belonging to the weaker sections of society by providing vocational training, subsidised loans and proper marketing guidance on the pattern of the one undertaken in Kaljhalani village of Bathinda district.

Panels to review pension cases
ROPAR, Oct 26 — The district administration has constituted 35 teams to review the cases of 45,850 persons who have been getting pensions under the different categories, old age, widow, disabled persons and dependent children of the Social Security Department, in the district.

Dharna by PSEB employees
PATIALA, Oct 26 — The PSEB Employees Struggle Committee today began three-day dharna in front of the PSEB head office here to protest against the non-acceptance of a number of their genuine demands.

Punjab tops in paddy procurement
CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — Yet another feather has been added to Punjab's cap on the agriculture front. Punjab, perhaps, has become first state in the country to cross 100 lakh-tonne mark as far as procurement of paddy is concerned for the Central pool.

Pak rangers-BSF meeting put off
AMRITSAR, Oct 26 — The biannual meeting between senior officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) and their counterparts, Pakistan Rangers, scheduled to be held at Lahore this month, would now be held in the last week of November.

 
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Congress blamed for fiscal crisis
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — While claiming that the situation on the financial front in Punjab is improving, the SAD-BJP Government led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal has blamed the Congress for the financial crisis facing the state.

In a statement here today Mr Badal observed that attempts were being made to exploit the situation by the Congress by painting a highly distorted and make-belief picture of the state’s finances through the print and electronic media. Wrong policies and mismanagement of the previous Congress governments made Punjab revenue-deficit state from a revenue-surplus state.

The previous Congress government left behind empty coffers. Whereas there was a revenue surplus of Rs 90.41 crore at the close of year 1986-87 when the last Akali Government had demitted office, the previous Congress Government left a whopping revenue deficit of Rs 1357.05 crore at the end of 1996-97. This was the single largest contributor to the present-day imbalance in the state’s fiscal position.

The Cabinet subcommittee while reviewing the financial situation informed the Chief Minister that fiscal decline of the state was the cummulative result of wrong policies pursued in the past 15 years. The previous Congress Government contracted a debt of Rs 14,128 crore as a result of which the total outstanding debt of the state rose from Rs 6,958 crore to Rs 15,344 crore at the end of 1996-97. Consequently, interest payment rose from Rs 332 crore to Rs 1,634 crore in 1996-97.

The public sector undertakings, which incurred a net loss of nearly Rs 600 crore in the year the present government took over, have been told either to improve or wind up. The PSUs have been asked to cut drastically non-productive expenditure, utilise the vast manpower resources, eliminate losses by improving their operating efficiency, and tone up the tax administration compliance degree.Top

 

BJP MLAs resolve total support to Badal

PHAGWARA, Oct 26 (UNI) — The BJP Legislative Group today adopted a resolution in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal committing total support to him and the party alliance with the SAD.

BJP Legislative Group’s office secretary Avinash Jaiswal told UNI here on telephone that the resolution strongly contradicted the news report claiming support of 43 MLAs of the ruling Akali-BJP combined to the Tohra camp.

The resolution said the Akali-BJP alliance was not a wall of sand but cemented by emotional, cultural and familial bonds.

While Mr Badal attended the meeting which lasted for about hours,six of the BJP’s total 18 MLAs were conspicuous by their absence.

Mr Jaiswal confirmed the absence of Mr Jagdish Sahni, Mrs Roop Rani and Mr Ram Lal, all from Gurdaspur district from where the news report originated, and Dr Ram Kumar and Mr Girdhara Singh from Ferozepore district and Bhagat Chuni Lal from Jalandhar city but attributed it to various reasons.

The report had claimed that of the total 43 MLAs who had allegedly signed a letter against the leadership of Mr Badal included eight MLAs of the BJP.

The meeting was presided over by BJP group leader and Local Bodies Minister Balramji Das Tandon and its proceedings were conducted by group’s general secretary Baldev Chawla, according to Mr Jaiswal.

While claiming that 12 BJP MLAs attended the meeting, the resolution attributed one or other statement to each of these MLAs identified by Mr Jaiswal as Mr Tandon, Mr M.M. Mittal, Mr Manoranjan Kalia, Master Mohan Lal, Choudhary Swarna Ram and Mr Surjit Kumar Jiani, all ministers in the Badal government, and Mr Satpal Gosain, Mr Tikshen Sood, Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Mr Satpal Saini and Mr Arnesh Shakar.

Mr Jaiswal said the Chief Minister, while addressing the BJP MLAs, assured to bring about "efficiency" in the state administration and called for "collective effort to curb corruption".

Mr Tandon, in a significant observation which formed part of the written resolution, attributed the Akali-BJP alliance’s defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Punjab to the "unfortunate power lust of our own brothers". But he added "We must accept this challenge and try to regain the public confidence".

BJP Deputy leader Madan Mohan Mittal said" The Congress design of divide and rule will not materialise as entire Punjabi brotherhood stood behind Badal". He said BJP’s 18 MLAs under the leadership of Mr Tandon were committed to the development of Punjab as partner of the ruling alliance.

Mr Manoranjan Kalia said the BJP would stand by the party alliance with the Akali Dal" through thick and thin" because the alliance was not only a boon for Punjab but also for the nation.

Master Mohan Lal said the Akali-BJP alliance "was inspired by the teachings of gurus", while Choudhary Swarana Ram said "it is based on the sacrifices made by sants, mahatamas, rishis and munis’’.

Mr Surjit Kumar Jiani said the Congress’ mischievous propaganda would not be allowed to succeed.

Mr Jaiswal said Mr Sat Pal Gosain, Mr Tikshen Sood, Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Mr Sat Pal Saini and Mr Arnesh Shakar supported the resolution.

Another resolution, adopted after the Chief Minister had left the meeting, hailed the extension by another decade in reservation for the Scheduled Castes and tribes by the President of India, according to Mr Jaiswal.

He said the meeting, which began at around 11.00 a.m., ended at 3.30 p.m.Top

 

Civil service officers to meet in Delhi
By P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — The state civil service officers of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh seem to share common grievances and have a common perception about the prevailing Indian administration, afflicted as it is by "inefficiency, corruption and ineffectiveness".

The administrative system across the country is becoming incapable of governance to meet the crying needs of the people, particularly, at the cutting edge.

A cross-section of officers belonging to the state civil service of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, told TNS in an interaction that as a result of their efforts they have formed a countrywide federation to raise their voice. These officers’ associations (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) have decided to jointly host the next all-India state civil and administrative services federation convention in Delhi on October 31. It will be 13th in the series where issues like what role the administration should play and how in the next millennium will be discussed.

Representatives of these three states told TNS that it is imperative that "effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness" of the administrative services is improved radically for proper governance, both at the Centre as well as in the states. These officers confined themselves to three issues: ineffectiveness, corruption and inefficiency. The basic malady was at the recruitment stage itself. "If the administration is ineffective it is because it is corrupt and inefficient," they added.

Talking about service conditions, these officers said state civil services have suffered in terms of pay fixation, promotion avenues and place of posting. The share of state civil services in promotion to the AS is 33 per cent; this is only on paper. In effect it is around 25 per cent as many posts are treated in IAS as ex-cadre. Moreover when an SCS (State Civil Service) officer is promoted to IAS after 20 to 25 years his pay gets reduced. Consequently many SCS officers refuse promotion or have sought reversion.

The SCS officers’ associations across the country demand that instead of promotion to IAS why not promote SCS officers up to the secretary level in the state government itself. Some states like Orissa, Delhi, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Gujarat, etc, have done that, where SCS officers are posted as District Collectors.

The experience of SCS officers is not being properly used, particularly in framing policies. "Top bureaucracy has failed to help political executive frame right policies in respect of governance and service to the people".

The SCS officers did not mince words to say that a new trend was to ignore SCS and IAS and to promote departmental officers in government. Even non-SCS officers have been promoted to IAS. Several such officers had failed to clear the requisite examinations of revenue, criminal justice or civil laws. "There are signs of administration getting weak due to exploitation of such officers by ministers, etc", they added.

Recruitment on merit has become an exception. Nepotism and favouritism rule the roost. Those who get recruited through unfair means foul the administration later and are vulnerable to temptations. With their direct access to the top (both political, executive and bureaucrats) administrative efficiency suffers; hard working and honest officers, on the other hand, get dumped.

The three associations, thus, will bring all these issues on the agenda at the Delhi conference. Within their own respective states these have already been taken up from time-to-time.Top

 

Smugglers plunder forest
By Lalit Mohan

NANGAL: The forests of Acacia Catechu (Khair) in the Shivalik ranges near Bhakra are being plundered. About 10 to 20 trees are being felled illegally from the forests in Himachal bordering Punjab, said a forest official deputed here. These are then smuggled to neighbouring states, where the dealers having permits to trade in khair wood buy it. They sell the wood to the katha-producing firms in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and to the pharmaceutical industry.

Khair trees are being cut for obtaining katha the most important product obtained from it. Katha is also of two types — pale and dark. The dark katha is the basic ingredient of pan while the pale one is used in making a variety of dyes and medicines. It is obtained from the wood of about 20-30-year-old trees.

The economic backwardness and the easy money lures people of the area to get involved in this trade. The khair wood smuggled from the forests of Himachal, is sold here at a rate ranging from Rs 2000 to 3000 per quintal. The wood is sold by the illegal traffickers to the dealers with permits in Punjab. Even this town has about 15 traders having permit for trading in khair wood.

The khair smugglers generally use three methods for transferring the illegally cut wood across the border. The most common method used by the local villagers is the manual lifting of the khair logs across the border through the forest. Another method is the use of private or public vehicles to conceal small pieces of the wood.

However, the professional smugglers generally use the down stream flow of river Sutlej in the area to their advantage. They tie the khair wood logs with the truck tubes, which flow across the border. This helps them in smuggling huge quantities of wood while evading the police check posts on the Punjab — Himachal border, a police official of the area told this correspondent on the condition of anonimity.

Recently the Golthai police arrested a group of smugglers in an encounter on the banks of Sutlej near Bhakra. A Smuggler was also injured in the police firing that took place during the incident. The inadequate availability of the police in the area also acts to the advantage of the people involved in this trade. There are just eight policemen to guard an area of about 2333 hectare. Moreover, they just have a single motorcycle. This is the reason that in spite of several incidents of theft in the area, the police has been able to register only nine cases against the culprits this year.

The local Punjab Police has a justification for its failure to act against the khair dealers who buy this smuggled wood. According to the local SHO, most of these khair dealers have permits to deal in it. It is difficult to ascertain the identity of the stolen wood without the help of forest officials of Himachal, who hardly come forward to help, he added.

However, if the felling of the khair trees continues at the same pace, the ecological balance of this area will be disturbed. The area is already prone to floods and landslides, said Dr G.S. Cadha, a senior lecturer of botany, in the Government Shivalik College. Mr Cadha further said the forests could be saved if the villagers were educated about the commercial and the ecological value of these trees.

The khair trees are ideal for the growth of ‘Lac’, a substance of immense commercial value. Moreover, the leaves and the seeds of this tree can also be sold to the pharmaceutical industry. If the villagers are motivated to form a cooperative and are trained in lac farming the khair forests, which are the wealth of the area, can be saved.Top

 

Two more bodies identified
From Our Correspondent

HOSHIARPUR, Oct 26 — Out of the five unidentified bodies of those killed in the bus accident near Mangowal village on the Hoshiarpur-Dharamsala road yesterday, two have been identified as that of Pritam Kaur, wife of Charan Singh of Nurpur Jattan village under Garhshankar police station and Mann Kaur, wife of Rasal of Mangli Tanda village under Sahnewal police station, according to Dr S.N. Tiwari S.M.O. , Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur. He said the remaining three bodies of adult males were lying in the mortuary room of the hospital for identification.

As many as 28 persons, including 13 women and two children, were killed and 48 wounded when the bus rolled down into a 40 -foot-deep gorge.

Dr S.S. Sharma, Deputy Medical Commissioner, Civil Hospital, said of the 48 injured persons admitted into the hospital following the accident, 20 had been discharged. Two of the injured had been referred to hospitals at Amritsar and Ludhiana.Top


34 lakh mt of paddy procured
From Our Correspondent

FARIDKOT, Oct 26 — State procurement agencies purchased over 34 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current session in Faridkot and Ferozepore divisions comprising six districts — Moga, Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepore, Faridkot and Mansa — till yesterday as against 28 lakh metric tonnes last year, Mr Inderdeep Singh, Deputy Director, Food and Supply said here today.

He expressed the hope that these agencies would purchase two to three lakh metric tonnes of paddy more in the next four days crossing its target of 35 lakh metric tonnes this year.Top

 

CM unveils scheme for jobless youth
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 26 — The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today unveiled a comprehensive programme to provide self-employment to unemployed youth belonging to the weaker sections of society by providing vocational training, subsidised loans and proper marketing guidance on the pattern of the one undertaken in Kaljhalani village of Bathinda district.

Addressing a largely attended religious congregation organised to solemnise the mass marriage of 135 couples belonging to poor families by the Bhai Kanhaiya Charitable Trust at Baddowal village, 14 km from here, Mr Badal said that the time had come for joint efforts by the government, administration and public to divert unemployed youth towards self-employment as it was no longer possible to absorb them in government jobs. During the past 50 years, no concrete steps had been taken by the Congress governments to launch any effective programme for the welfare of weaker sections, he alleged. Instead, the poor had been ruthlessly exploited by false slogans to continue in power.

Expressing concern over the deteriorating condition of education and health services in the rural areas, the chief minister said that the government alone could not achieve the desired result. Cooperation of all social, religious and educational organisations was needed. Village panchayats would also be involved in providing basic facilities in villages.

Appreciating the excellent work being done by the Bhai Kanhaiya Charitable Trust for suffering humanity since the past 10 years, he called upon other social and religious organisations to make concerted efforts for improving the condition of the poor.

The Chief Minister announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the construction of a building of the trust. He also congratulated the newly wedded couples and gifted them certain articles of daily use.

Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Mr Mal Singh Ghuman, Chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, MLA, and Mr Avtar Singh Malah also blessed the couples.Top

 

Panels to review pension cases
Tribune News Service

ROPAR, Oct 26 — The district administration has constituted 35 teams to review the cases of 45,850 persons who have been getting pensions under the different categories, old age, widow, disabled persons and dependent children of the Social Security Department, in the district.

Giving this information at a weekly ‘sangat darshan’ here today, Mr Khushi Ram, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said review of the pension cases were being done on the instructions of the government to identify the ineligible beneficiaries so that only eligible persons could get benefits of the scheme.

He said the administration had fixed a target of 15 days to complete the review work. He said each comprising five members, including two gazetted officers and a doctor, who would review 100 cases daily. The PCS officers would inspect the work.

During the ‘sangat darshan’ 18 complaints were presented out of which nine of them were related to the pension cases. He directed the departments concerned to solve the problems as early as possible.Top

 

Dharna by PSEB employees
From Our Correspondent

PATIALA, Oct 26 — The PSEB Employees Struggle Committee today began three-day dharna in front of the PSEB head office here to protest against the non-acceptance of a number of their genuine demands.

Mr Mukhwant Singh Sidhu and Mr H.S. Minhas convenors of the committee in a press statement said that the dharna programme had become inevitable after a meeting between the board management and the employees' representatives held at Chandigarh on October 23 to discuss the latter's demand had ended in deadlock.

The convenors said today's dharna was the first of a series of agitation programme prepared by the struggle committee to air their grievances. They said the agitation programme would culminate on November 11 in a statewide one-day strike.

Addressing the electricity workers from north zone and border zone several leaders condemned the attitude of the board management towards the employees demands. The leaders said the wage formulation committee stands paralysed as the board had not implemented several of its recommendations regarding medical allowance, cash handling allowance and electricity concession to retired employees, category-wise scales and promotional scales.Top

 

Punjab tops in paddy procurement
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 26 — Yet another feather has been added to Punjab's cap on the agriculture front. Punjab, perhaps, has become first state in the country to cross 100 lakh-tonne mark as far as procurement of paddy is concerned for the Central pool.
The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has complimented the farmers on achieving such a feat.

A Punjab Government spokesman said the Agriculture department had estimated the production of paddy above 130 lakh tonnes, and already over 100 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured by Central and the state government agencies and private traders.

The spokesman said for the procurement of paddy as many as 1,492 procurement centres were set up in the state against the last year's figure of 1,466. Last year 94.04 lakh tonnes was procured by the various agencies and traders.

This year, however, the FCI has not so far lived up to the expectations of the Punjab Government. The state government agencies have procured 71.05 per cent of paddy as against the fixed target of 60 per cent while the FCI has purchased 28.5 per cent of paddy against its target of 40 per cent. Consequently, the other procurement agencies in the state had to step in and take on the additional burden of procuring 11.05 per cent extra paddy.

The state government has urged the FCI to step up procurement and achieve its target.Top

 

Pak rangers-BSF meeting put off

AMRITSAR, Oct 26 (UNI) — The biannual meeting between senior officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) and their counterparts, Pakistan Rangers, scheduled to be held at Lahore this month, would now be held in the last week of November.

BSF officials said here today that the meeting was postponed on the request of the rangers.Though it gave no reasons, the current political situation across the border after the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by General Pervez Musharraf could be the reason for putting off the meeting, officials said.

The meeting, held every six months alternatively at Lahore and Jalandhar, is attended by senior BSF officials manning Punjab, Jammu, Rajasthan and Gujarat frontiers besides an officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and officials of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

Bi-annual meetings are meant for discussing border problems including smuggling, repair of border markings and pillars and major incidents that may have happened along the border in the last six months.Top

 

Apology sought from drug company
From Our Corespondent

SANGRUR, Oct 26 — The Sangrur branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has warned a multinational drug company of Bombay, USV Limited, to apologise publicly through media for distorting the Indian map in the company’s literature circulated among doctors and chemists, says Dr Surinder Singla, secretary of the local branch of the association.

Dr Singla said that the map had deleted huge areas of Jammu and Kashmir injuring the sentiments of the people of the country.

Dr Singla warned that the association would boycott the products of the company.Top

 

CRPF to be modernised
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, Oct 26 — The Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force Mr M.N. Sabherwal, said that the CRPF was being modernised and equipped, to deal effectively with insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and north east.

The Director General lauded the role played by the CRPF in combating terrorism, by being a major source of support to the state forces, in controlling insurgency.

The DGP, briefing the media here today, said that, the CRPF had played a very positive role in Bihar, Punjab, Andhara Pradesh and north east, and now the force was being provided with the latest weapons, and all measures were being taken to modernise it, to deal with the crime.

Inaugurating a group centre mess here today, the DGP expressed the hope that the ever mobile force will be provided with accommodation facility for its families. He said that 9.5 per cent accommodation was available but, 10-15 years would be still needed to provide housing facility for the entire force. On availability of funds available to the CRPF he said that so far, the force had not run into any un availability of funds from the government.Top

 

Pregnant woman burnt to death for dowry
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 26 — Raj Rani, a pregnant woman in her mid-twenties is alleged to have been burnt to death by her husband, Asha Ram, father-in-law, Swaran and mother-in-law Jeeto here yesterday.

According to an FIR lodged by the police under Sections 304-B and 34 of the IPC, on the complaint of Raj Rani's elder brother, Gurpal Singh. A accused used to harass Raj Rani for bringing insufficient dowry at the time of her marriage in 1998. The FIR also states that the accused made frequent demands of dowry from Raj Rani's brothers.

Yesterday, Gurpal Singh and his wife Satya had visited Raj Rani at her residence in Karabara. When they reached back home, they got a telephone call that Raj Rani had died of a fire accident.Top

 

BJP's campaign against Badal denied

PHAGWARA, Oct 26 (UNI) — Punjab BJP president Daya Singh Sodhi today categorically denied any signature campaign by his party legislators against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Strongly refuting press reports, Mr Sodhi told reporters here that there was no truth that eight BJP MLAs had signed a campaign launched by certain vested interests against Mr Badal.

He said that there were no differences between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by Mr Badal and the BJP.

The alliance between the SAD and the BJP was firm like a rock, he said adding reports of difference between the SAD and the BJP were being planted to malign his party’s image.

Our alliance was symbol of Punjab Ekta (unity) and brotherhood, he said. Top

 

Rakhra, Bhunder on university Senate
From Our Correspondent

PATIALA, Oct 26 — A crucial meeting of Punjabi University Senate held at the campus here today finalised co-option of three new members, two of which were elected by a sub committee to the Syndicate.

The meeting was expected to be a stormy one as some of the Senators had demanded open election to the Syndicate, however, no unpleasant scene was reported even though the Senate chose to ignore the demand. Only one Senator Dr K.C. Singhal raised the demand at the meeting. Responding to it, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia. Vice-Chancellor and chair man of the Senate said he had taken legal advice in the matter and it was not necessary to hold open election.

A sub-committee of the Senate comprising of the Vice-Chancellor Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Secretary Education, Mr G.P.S Sahi and MLA Mr Manpreet Badal co-opted Mr Surjit Singh Rakhra, who was the candidate for the local Lok Sabha seat from the SAD Badal. Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder Member Parliament and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The sub-committee later elected Mr Rakhra and Mr Bhunder and Prof Dr Pawan Kumar head department of History M.M. Modi College here to the Syndicate. The committee also chose Dr Jodh Singh and Dr R.N. Pal on the Finance Committee. Top

 

Poor sanitation in Moga
From Our Correspondent

MOGA, Oct 26 — The condition of sanitation has gone worse with the municipal scavenging staff failing to keep the streets clean and clear garbage daily. Heaps of garbage are found here and there in the town. Heaps of garbage and piles of dirt are not removed for days. Drains are seldom cleaned and filthy water continues to overflow everywhere. What to speak of others even the Civil Lines area where high-ups live is surrounded by heaps of garbage deposited there by the scavenging staff.

Unauthorised construction is going on in various localities.

Even though the state government had sanctioned Rs 16 crore for underground sewerage the work was yet to start on the project. Encroachments on municipal land are plenty. Shopkeepers have constructed big platforms in front of their shops by encroaching upon municipal land but no action has yet been taken against them.Top

 

Rice millers threaten stir

PHAGWARA, Oct 26 (UNI) — The Punjab Rice Millers Association has threatened to launch state wide agitation if their long pending demands were not accepted within 15 days.

This ultimatum was given at state level meeting of the association presided by its president Mr Tersem Saini here today.

Giving details of the meeting association's legal cell chairman Joginder Paul Vijj said here that Mr Tersem Saini and Mr H.S Baggar were unanimously elected president and chairman respectively, for a period of three years.

The association's major demands were milling rate should be fixed at Rs 36 per quintal, degree of polish should be five per cent of rice, rice should be taken at 18 per cent dehusk, pin damage should be taken as sound grain, length of broken should be 4.2 mm.Top

 

Dermatologists’ conference
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 26 — The silver jubilee session of the Regional Conference (North Zone) of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venerologists and Leprosy specialists was held on October 23, 24 at a resort near here.

In his inaugural address, Dr Livtar Singh Chawla, Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot said that dermatosurgery was bound to play a significant role in the 21st century and had geared itself up, by introducing vitiligo surgery, cosmetology and laser therapy in order to meet the new challenges.

Later, Dr B M S Bedi from Delhi released a souvenir and delivered the inaugural lecture on “Dermatology prospects in 21st century.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr S K Bakshi, organising chairperson, said that continuing medical education was a must for every doctor.

Lectures regarding major advancements in the field of skin surgery were also presented. By renowned dermatologists, such as Dr Satish A. Savant, Dr V P Kaushik, Dr Dilip Shah, Dr Vinay Saraf and Dr Manoj Johar on the next day.

Dr Gurinderjit Singh, organising secretary, informed that 260 delegates from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir participated in this conference.Top

 

Guru's birthday celebrated
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Oct 26 — Parkash Utsav to commemorate the birthday of the founder of the holy city Guru Ram Dass was celebrated here today with great religious fervour.

A large number of devotees organised parbhat pheris and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple. The SGPC had organised a number of kirtan darbars in the Harmandar Sahib complex. The entire city was illuminated. Langar was served throughout the day for the thousands of devotees visiting the Golden Temple.Top

 

JEs' delegation meets Badal on demands
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Oct 26 — The joint action committee of the Junior Engineers' Federation of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh has urged the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to implement the demands of the junior engineers of Punjab which he had accepted on June 27, 1999.

A deputation of the federation led by its convenor, Mr A.S. Randhawa, and the secretary-general, Mr S.S. Dhanoa, met the Chief Minister in this regard today.

Mr Randhawa said Mr Badal asked the Principal Secretary to direct the officers concerned for immediate implementation of the demands.

He said a meeting had been called by the Chief Secretary on October 29 in this regard.Top

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