Sunday, September 5, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Sunday, September 5, 1999 |
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5000
hectares of paddy damaged by "insecticides" Three cops held for looting
drivers |
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Lawyers’
strike from Sept 6
Boy imitating TV serial dies 1 beaten to death Man held for cheating Rs 5 lakh missing from bank AIFUCTO lambasts BJP govt |
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5000 hectares of paddy
damaged by "insecticides" MOGA, Sept 4 — Paddy crop in several villages under the Baghapurana police station in this district which was ready for harvesting has been affected and mostly damaged totally bringing the damaged paddy crop due to mysterious disease jhulas rog and patta rog in this district to more than 5000 hectares. Stating this here yesterday farmers including sarpanch of Chhotaghar village Lall Singh and also former field publicity officer of Public Relations Department Punjab Gurbachan Singh Bhekha said that farmers in this district this year had suffered loss of crores of rupees due to this disease. The villages affected
include Wadaghar, Chhotaghar Roda, Manuke and others.
Talking to reporters here yesterday they alleged that the
damage to paddy crop were caused due to reported use of
spurious insecticide sprayed on the crop purchased from
those dealers recommended by the Punjab Agriculture
Department. Farmers of other villages were also seen busy
saving their crop from further damage but all as their
crops had been damaged due to reportedly spurious
insecticide used for spraying the paddy crop and also
failure of the government and the officials of
Agriculture Department to check this menace, they said.
They added that though they had contacted experts of the
Punjab Agricultural University in this connection. They
regretted inability to deal with the situation saying
that there was no remedy to save the crop from being
damaged as the crop has been damaged due to spray of
spurious insecticides. They said they have urged the
state government to give farmers compensation for the
losses they had suffered due to "inefficiency"
of the government and also the Agricultrure Department.
They further urged Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh
Badal to help the farmers who had suffered losses worth
crores of rupees. |
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Three cops held for looting
drivers AMRITSAR, Sept 4 — The Ram Bagh police has arrested two sub inspectors and a head constable on charges of looting and harbouring a militant. According to official sources, the accused were allegedly involved in looting truck drivers while in uniform. The accused are Sub-Inspector Surinder Singh, posted in the police lines here, Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar Singh, posted in Batala police district and Head Constable, Tarlochan Singh, posted in the police lines here. The three accused have been booked under Section 392 of the Indian Penal Code. They had also allegedly harboured a militant who was involved in the looting incident, in which a goldsmith was murdered and his another companion was injured in Ram Bagh police station. These police men had been active for the past six months. They had also allegedly looted a truck carrying cooking gas cylinders. Meanwhile, the Amritsar police has arrested two goldsmiths, Manjit Singh, alias Lali, and Tarsem Singh, who had allegedly hired a killer to kill and loot their colleagues in the hide market about a month ago. The actual killer, who had killed one goldsmith and injured his companion by chasing them on the way to the railway station, is, however, at large. With the arrest of the
two goldsmiths, the police claims to have solved at least
half a dozen cases. |
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News analysis CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — When a Tribune reporter quizzed a middle aged farmer in the heartland of Malwa where the electoral battle has been thick for whom he is going to vote, pat came the reply: "When I vote next time I hope the indelible ink on my finger would have by that time disappeared." He was referring to the quick arrival of elections – three in three years. It was also a measure of annoyance with politicians who fail to govern and deliver the goods. It was the historic village of Mudki where Sikhs had fought the British valiantly in December 1845. Elsewhere too, journalists travelling not only in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi but in rest of the ten states and six union territories conveyed this kind of cynicism. But this does not mean that voters did not review issues that bother them. There was a cry for development, for justice and for removal of inequalities and poverty. At times they found parties of little consequence, but individuals did matter. But politicians are a hard boiled stuff. They did everything to arouse the voter, build up some hysteria, may be around non issues like desi and videshi or tried hard to raise their emotional pitch around the Kargil crisis. Campaign at times touched new lows with Defence Minister George Fernandes and Information Minister Pramod Mahajan from the BJP alliance, and Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress competing with each other. Charges flew thick and fast on all sides. Nevertheless, gradually the tempo got builtup by television and the print media and the leaders rallies contributed to the participation of people. On Sunday a little over one fourth, 145 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats would go to the polls in 10 states and six union territories and the five-phase longest-ever poll process would start. Voters in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra will be picking up members of the state Assemblies in a phased manner. If the electorate has been more or less cynical, creating apprehensions about the low turnout, the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr M.S. Gill has described this Lok Sabha poll as mother of all elections. The voter also found the choices limited and this too could reflect the turnout. The BJP and its allies brought the issues of Kargil and the alienness of Mrs Sonia Gandhi to the centre stage and it was for the Left and whatever was left of the Third Front to try hard to focus on the majorityism and fundamentalism and its threat to the pluralistic polity, sanity and secularism. The Congress attack was, by and large, on the non-performance of the BJP leadership. But as most surveys indicated, people were worried about their daily bread, peace and development. Invariably hard issues attracted their attention. It could be a simple question of jobs, drinking water, small land holdings, high prices and corruption. Closer in the region, Punjab voters will elect 13 Lok Sabha members and in Haryana they have 10 to choose. In addition, there is one from Chandigarh. Seven will be chosen from Delhi. Last year's voting pattern may not be totally irrelevant as that conveys the hard base of each political party, and the kind of swing that pushes it up or moves it backward. But this may change, and much will depend upon the voter turnout. The ruling alliance of the Akali Dal and the BJP is depending heavily on the charisma of Mr A.B. Vajpayee and the opponents on the anti-incumbency mood prevailing at a high level. There is then the Tohra brand of Akalis to upset the applecart of Mr Parkash Singh Badal. They are being helped by the BSP. The CPI and the CPM are making a serious bid to win one seat each in alliance with the Congress. While the Congress has been in the upbeat mood, trying to build on local issues, the Badal Akalis and the BJP had been hard pressed to defend their citadels. Mr Vajpayee unlike the last year was much in demand. His rallies were well attended and officials lent their help. Mrs Sonia Gandhi's rallies were responsive, but had lesser turnout. All eyes are on Faridkot from where Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal is defending his seat from a big challenger, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar of the Congress. Patiala and Sangrur are the other two seats from where the Punjab Congress President, Mr Amarinder Singh's wife, Mrs Parneet Kaur is contesting and from Sangrur a Union Minister, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala, is involved in a three-cornered contest. Last time Punjab registered a 62.25 per cent turnout. This time a total of over 1.56 crore voters are to exercise their frenchise. Over 83 lakh voters are males and over 73 lakh voters are females. In Haryana, where caste and clan loyalties are the factors at play, the sharpest contests are at Rohtak and Bhiwani in the Jat heartland. From Rohtak, the state Congress chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda is defending his seat from the INLD. Here he is being helped actively by the HVP leader and a former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal. Last time, he helped him to win. It was the question of old time friendship and also to defeat Mr Devi Lal. This time the same logic holds good. From Bhiwani, Mr Bansi Lal's son, Mr Surender Singh is defending his seat. He is facing a two-pronged threat from the INLD that is Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's son Mr Ajay Singh, and Mr Dharmbir from the Congress. This seat will be of crucial significance for Haryana's future politics like the one in Faridkot. Haryana has a total of
over 1.10 crore voters and females count far less than
half of this figure. As many as 124 candidates are in the
fray for 10 seats. |
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PM's rallies
‘sarkari’ show: Amarinder PATIALA, Sept 4 — Capt Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Congress President, today described the rallies by the Premier, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in Punjab a joint 'sarkari' show of the Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Governments. He said that due to the fear of the defeat of his son from Faridkot, the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, could not spare time to even accompany Mr Vajpayee to Amritsar and Barnala. "In spite of the efforts of government administration the crowds for Mr Vajpayee's rallies at Amritsar and Barnala were very poor", he claimed. In a statement issued here today, the PPCC chief alleged that Mr Badal had failed to get the support of people within Faridkot for the Moga rally of Mr Vajpayee so he had to hire people from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Mr Badal was fighting a lost battle in Punjab, he alleged. In Faridkot, "It is the writing on the wall that Sukhbir Badal will not be able to win the election inspite of large-scale misutilisation of state machinery", he alleged. Mr Badal was trying to lure voters with money power, he further alleged. The Congress, abiding by
the instructions of the Election Commission, had stopped
campaigning by 4 p.m. yesterday but on the other hand,
the SAD and its election partners — the BJP, and the
Bahujan Samaj Morcha, had openly flouted these
instructions and held their rallies till midnight, much
after the expiry of the deadline fixed by the Election
Commission, the PPCC chief alleged. |
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Votes to be mixed segmentwise
before counting CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — Dr Brajinder Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, said here today that the counting of votes would be done after mixing the ballot papers Assembly segmentwise. The Election Commission of India had conveyed this decision to all concerned, he said and added that the step had been taken to prevent intimidation and victimisation of voters and in the interest of free and fair poll. Dr Brajendra Singh warned that anybody indulging in booth capturing, intimidation and any other malpractice would be punished with imprisonment up to three years plus a heavy fine. He has appeled to all eligible voters to go to the booths to exercise their franchise without fear to elect the candidates of their choice. All those who have been issued photo identity cards shuld carry these and show them to facilitate smooth polling. Meanwhile, informed sources said efforts were being made by the EC find a way out for eliminating the chances of identification of the number of votes cast in favour of a particular party or a person at a particular booth where the electronic voting machines will be used. Votes polled through such machines cannot be mixed and one could make out that at a particular booth how many votes were polled in favour of a particular party. In Punjab such machines
are to be used at three Parliamentary constituencies
— Patiala, Faridkot and Tarn Taran. |
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‘Dry day’ order flouted AMRITSAR, Sept 4 — Despite the ‘dry day’ declared by the District Magistrate, some liqour shops were found open. The district administration has written to the police and the Excise Department to take action in this regard. Many liqour shops have been selling liquor through backdoor on the eve of the elections. The All-India Youth Association (AIYA), headed by Mr Ravinder Kumar, today took out ‘vote awareness’ rallies in various parts of the city. The activists of the AIYA carried banners and placards which read: ‘Boycott those candidates who want to woo voters with liquor’. PATIALA (FOC): The Sadar police here today registered a case under the Excise Act against two persons for violating the ‘dry day’ orders issued by the District Magistrate. The two were carrying 20 crates of whisky near a distillery and were stopped by supporters of Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra. According to Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, District Returning Officer and District Magistrate, a skirmish took place between the two persons and some supporters of Mr Chandumajra who alleged that the two belonged to the election campaign team of Mr Surjit Singh Rakhra, the SAD-BJP candidate. Mr Bir said the two
persons have, in a statement to the police, denied their
link with any political party. |
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Money, liquor to woo voters:
Congress MOGA, Sept 4 —
Money and liquor were being supplied to the supporters of
the SAD/BJP by its candidate contesting Lok Sabha
election from Faridkot constituency to woo them and to
get support in the forthcoming elections according to
Congress men. Talking to reporters here yesterday general
secretary of the PPCC Dr Malti Thapar and president, PPCC
(farmer's wing) Satnam Singh Sandeshi said that money and
liquor were being distributed generously among the poor
including disabled widows and the aged who reportedly had
said that they would not vote in favour of the SAD/BJP
due to the failure of the ruling SAD/BJP governement to
meet their demands, they said. The Congress men have
sought of Election Commission's intervention into the
matter. |
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Lawyers’ strike from Sept 6 LUDHIANA, Sept 4 — The Ludhiana District Bar Association has called for a strike by lawyers of the district on September 7 and by the lawyers of the various district bar associations in the state of Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh on September 6 and 7 in protest against the alleged inaction on the part of the administration to provide adequate accommodation to practising lawyers of the association in the new district courts complex. This was stated by the President of the District Bar Association, Mr K.R. Sikri, here today. He said in case the government failed to agree to their demands by September 12, the lawyers would intensify their agitation by holding gheraoes, staging dharnas and courting arrest. The association had filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the second week of August, seeking the court’s intervention for allocating chambers to lawyers in the new courts complex. The plea was disposed of on August 27 and the matter referred to the Building Committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. There are 22 courts in Ludhiana — one of the District and Sessions Judge, seven of the Additional District and Sessions Judges, one of Civil Judge, Senior Division, one of the Chief Judicial Magistrate and the remaining 11 of the Civil Judge (Senior Div). Except for the seven courts of the Additional District and Sessions Judges that are housed in the new courts complex, the remaining 15, are situated in the old district courts complex. The district administration is now in the process of shifting the remaining 15 courts to the new courts complex, but the lawyers chambers would continue to remain in the old courts complex. The lawyers say that this would be highly inconvenient to them and the litigants as they would have to face difficulty in commuting between the old and the new courts, situated at distance of around 3 km from each other. Mr Pardeep Sharma, President of the Young Lawyers’ Forum, says, "Once all remaining judicial courts are shifted from the old district courts complex, the lawyers would not be allowed to retain their cabins here and would be left high and dry with no accommodation." Mr Sikri said that he
had brought this matter up at all appropriate forums and
only after he failed to get the desired response from the
authorities, he was forced to resort to an agitation. |
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Boy imitating TV serial dies KAPURTHALA, Sept 4 — Vijay (12), a student of Class VI of Mainwa village, near here, lost his life while imitating a scene from " Shaktiman", a popular television serial, where the Shaktiman saves a man's life about to be strangulated. According to police sources, Vijay, in the absence of his parents, enacted a scene from the serial where he tied one end of a nylon belt with a grill in the ceiling of a room by climbing a gas cylinder. He tied the other end of the belt round his neck. In the manoeuvre, he slipped from the cylinder and thus strangulated himself. Vijay's sister who was present in the house, shouted for help. Their neighbours took the boy to the local Civil Hospital where he was declared dead. His sister told the police that Vijay was hoping that, in the event of strangulation, Shaktiman would save him. In another incident,
Surjit and Zaila of Rampurjagir village died in a road
accident near Pajian village on the Kapurthala-Sultanpur
Lodhi road last night, when the scooter they were riding
hit an unidentified speeding vehicle. |
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1 beaten to death AMRITSAR, Sept 4 — Balwant Singh, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, was allegedly beaten to death by three persons, Angrej Singh, Tarsem Singh and Avtar Singh, all belonging to an upper caste in Akbarpura village, under the Bhikhiwind police station. The Tarn Taran police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against the alleged culprits. The body of the deceased has been sent for a post-mortem examination. According to information
received here today, the alleged culprits picked up the
deceased from his house and took him to the nearby
fields. The police has launched a manhunt to arrest the
culprits. |
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Man held for cheating LUDHIANA, Sept 4 — The police has arrested one person, Ravi Kumar Sahni, a contractor of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation, on charges of cheating and fraud. The accused had posed as a regional manager of a LPG company before the Manager of Durga Mata Mandir and claimed that the gas company had allotted four gas connections to the mandir. The Manager, Mr Ram Kishan Gupta, paid him Rs 11000 and sent one of his men to take the delivery of eight cylinders and four regulators. But the accused gave the temple employee the slip. The accused also cheated a superintendent of Khalsa College for Women of Rs 8200 in the same manner by posing as a manager of the gas company and promising gas connections for the college home science laboratories. He has been booked under
Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC and a sum of Rs 19200 has
been recovered from his possession. |
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Rs 5 lakh missing from bank LUDHIANA, Sept 4 — Rs 5 lakh disappeared mysteriously today from the Clock Tower branch of Canara Bank here around 11 a.m. According to Mr S.S. Sandhu, SP, City-II, a bank official, Mr Kundacharya, had taken out the money from the currency chest to be sent to the branch extension counter. A peon in the bank took the money and put it inside the cabin of the bank cashier. When the peon, Mr Vijay Kumar, returned to the cabin, he found that the cash was missing. A case under Section 380
of the IPC has been registered. |
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AIFUCTO lambasts BJP govt JALANDHAR, Sept 4 — The All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (AIFUCTO), an apex body of four lakh teachers working in 220 universities has lambasted the BJP-led government at the Centre for having perpetuated "anti-teacher" and "anti-education" policies leading to large-scale commercialisation and privatisation of education. The government, it said, had not met its commitment of earmarking 6 per cent of the GDP for education. Dr V.K. Tewari, the
Secretary of AIFUCTO, in a statement here today,
regretted that the Central Government failed in
implementing the commitments made to AIFUCTO on September
4, 1998. Dr M.M. Joshi, HRD minister, had then assured
that the arrears of pay revision would be disbursed to
the teachers in all universities and colleges in the
country in a single instalment. The agreement had clearly
stipulated clearance of four new schemes within one month
for the benefit of the teachers, but the files, Dr Tewari
said, had been shuttling between the HRD ministry and the
UGC for the past one year awaiting decision till date. |
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