Wednesday, September 22, 1999
|
P U N J A B | |
Wednesday, September 22, 1999 |
weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
 |
||
|
40 houses
razed in Faridkot Engineers seek white paper |
 |
|
||||||
|
Bhai
Ranjit Singh not to vacate house Akali Dal (A) leader booked for
murder bid Registration of land deal in one
day Staff bodies assail decision Tandon’s warning to octroi
contractors Panel to probe Netaji’s
disappearance Punjab urged to lift ban on
promotions Gurdwara panel chief
‘overstepping’ authority Four policemen suspended Quality education needed :
Kanwaljit |
||||||||
 |
||||
40 houses razed in Faridkot FARIDKOT, Sept 21 — Forty houses in Jeewan Nagar and Balbir Basti here (most of them belonging to Dalits) were demolished by the local Municipal Council authorities to allegedly avenge residents’ opposition to the SAD-BJP candidate for the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat, Mr Sukhbir Badal. The residents alleged that on September 17, 40 houses were razed by the local Municipal Council authorities without any prior notice. The residents, in a complaint to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission and the Punjab Governor, demanded their rehabilitation and action against the guilty. They alleged that their houses were demolished at the behest of the Municipal Council president, Mr Gurtej Singh Gill, as he was unhappy with them for not casting their votes in favour of the SAD-BJP candidate. The residents, whose belongings have been lying in the open, have been staging a dharna since September 17. They alleged that they were living in the basti for the past years and had electricity and water connections. They added that SAD workers promised to get their connections regularised in lieu of votes for Mr Sukhbir Badal. They alleged that the Municipal authorities took this step as they suspected that residents had voted against Mr Sukhbir Badal. They said certain politicians had uprooted them merely for pleasing their bosses. They claimed that some of them were paying even house tax to the Municipal Council. Mr Gurtej Singh Gill, president, Municipal Council, when contacted on phone, said the houses had been constructed on government land and some of these were demolished with the approval of the district administration. He alleged that certain politicians were exploiting the issue. He pointed out that the residents had neither ration cards nor were they registered as voters. He disclosed that the
Punjab Government had made a proposal to construct a
government school on the encroached land and the state
Agriculture Minister Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, had laid the
foundation stone for it. He added the District Planning
Board had sanctioned Rs 2 lakh for it. |
||
Engineers seek white paper PATIALA, Sept 21 — The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Engineers Association today demanded that a white paper be issued by the government on the damage to the tunnels of the Ranjit Sagar dam and action proposed to be taken to revive the project. In a statement here, president of the association Padamjit Singh said the country would lose over 2,100 million units of energy due to constructional defects in the P-2 tunnel of the dam which were came to light after the leakage in the P-1 tunnel in July. He said defects in the P-2 tunnel would delay commissioning of the 150-MW units by over a year while the commissioning of unit three and four would suffer a delay of over 17 months due to the failure of the P-1 tunnel. He said the utilisation of the Ravi waters within the country would be directly affected and would benefit Pakistan at a time when Punjab and Haryana had still not settled the dispute on the sharing of Ravi-Beas waters. He alleged that the prestigious dam project was put under charge of a general manager who had absolutely no experience in the construction of dams and that too after retirement. He alleged the project execution was carried out under a "reign of terror" and the quality control engineers were under direct threat not to raise any objection. As a result constructional lapses went unchecked. The engineer said the delay in sporting the nature of defects raised doubts whether the present set-up would be able to attend to man-made defects. Design experts whose help and experience would be invaluable at this time were being sidelined, he alleged. The association stressed that the lapses in construction of the project be entrusted to a commission of inquiry under an independent agency such as the Central Water Commission. A contingency action plan was required to be drawn up by experts so that the Rs 3300-crore project was saved from further loss and could be revived. Mr Padamjit said electrical and mechanical equipment for the power house which was procured in 1989-90 as per the original schedule had been lying idle and all equipment had lost its warranty while in stores itself. The Ranjit Sagar Project
was originally estimated to cost Rs 500 crore. The first
commissioning schedule of September, 1991, was revised to
March, 1993 due to the floods of 1988. The schedule was
delayed to September, 1997, and later to 1998. In
February 1999, the diversion tunnels were closed and
reservoir filling started with target of commencing
generation in June, 1999. On July 21, the reservoir level
crossed 473 m and tunnels P-I and P-2 were filled. On
July 24 the leakage in P-1 was detected and now tunnel
P-2 had also been declared defective. |
||
Bhai Ranjit Singh not to
vacate house AMRITSAR, Sept 21 — After a brief lull, the SGPC and the former Akal Takht chief, Bhai Ranjit Singh, are on a collision course again. While Bhai Ranjit Singh has refused to vacate the house allotted to him as Jathedar, the SGPC Secretary, Mr Kulwant Singh, has written a second letter indicating that the SGPC might take legal action if the former failed to vacate the house immediately. The former Akal Takht
chief, in his letter to the SGPC claimed that the
accommodation in the SGPC-run Guru Ram Dass hospital was
given to him by the trust and hence the SGPC had no locus
standi to get it vacated. He further claimed that Mr
Manjit Singh Calcutta, former Akali Minister, was
Member-Secretary of the trust. He said the Punjab and
Haryana High Court had given stay orders on the
reconstituted Guru Ram Dass Trust. However, Mr Kulwant
Singh in strongly-worded letter said being a
Member-Secretary of the reconstituted trust he had every
right to ask him to get the house vacated as he was no
longer the Jathedar of Akal Takht. |
||
DGP assures security to
‘kidnap’ victim CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — Punjab's Director-General of Police, Mr Sarabjit Singh, today filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court saying that security would be ensured to Shankar Lal, a resident of Ferozepore district who was traced by the CBI after two and a half years, and his family. In a two-page affidavit filed before Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi, Mr Sarabjit Singh stated: "We have already issued instructions to the district S.S.P. concerned, Circle D.S.P. and SHO to ensure security of Mr Shankar Lal and his family members, including his wife, Santri Devi. The D.G.P. stated in his affidavit that DIG (Crime), had been asked to enquire into the averments made by Shankar Lal in the High Court regarding his security and suspected detention during the period of his disappearance. Mr Justice Chalapathi
directed the Punjab Government to produce Santri Devi in
court tomorrow. It was she who had filed the criminal
miscellaneous petition in the court. Shankar Lal was
remanded in judicial custody till tomorrow. |
||
Registration of land deal in one day CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — The Punjab Government in order to rationalise the revenue work today directed the revenue authorities to supply registered documents of land transactions to the parties concerned on the same day of receipt after making the relevant entries in the revenue records. Giving details the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, Mrs Shyama Mann, said the documents pertaining to land sale and purchase deeds would be received for registration on each working day in the Registrar/Sub-Registrar office concerned from 9 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. After scrutiny, verification and registration of deeds by the competent authority the documents will be handed over to the land owner the same day. "No laxity at any level will be tolerated," she added. Mrs Mann said revenue officers in the districts had been directed to go on an extensive tour for redressal of public grievances. The regularity and punctuality of revenue officers and staff will be ensured so that the public visiting the revenue offices got speedy justice. For ensuring availability of copies of revenue records to the people computerisation of land records has been undertaken. Funds for this purpose had been sanctioned to all the districts. The government had constituted district-level committees for the early release of actual compensation to be paid to those farmers whose land had been acquired for public purpose. Mrs Mann said the availability of judicial and non-judicial stamps, especially supply of small stamps, had been increased in the past two years. Since the inception of
the Land Reforms Act, an area of 2,22,594 acres has been
declared "surplus" up to June 30, 1998 out of
which 103.557 acres has been allotted to 28.303
beneficiaries, including 11,306 belonging to the
Scheduled Castes. |
||
Paddy procurement PATIALA, Sept 21 — Assailing the Punjab Government’s decision to commence the procurement of paddy from September 15 instead of October 1, the Punjab State Foodgrain Agencies Field Employees Coordination Committee comprising employees of Markfed, Punsup, Foodsup, the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Punjab Agro has decided to buy only quality paddy to safeguard the interests of the employees. In a press note issue here, Mr Ashwani Kumar, chief spokesman for the committee, and conveners Bhupinder Singh, Krishan Sangruri and Vidhu Shekhar Bhardwaj, Pawan Mittal and J.S. Cheema said the advancement of procurement date was not in the interest of the employees or the state. They said the rice of the early harvested paddy was not of good quality and private millers were unable to deliver the same to the central pool and thus became defaulters of the agencies. This cause huge losses to the state exchequer and give rise to undue litigations. They said since the faulty paddy policy had been thrust upon employees the procurement staff would adhere to the procurement norms and would not succumb to pulls and pressures. The procurement staff would ensure the implementation of marketing by-laws by the Punjab Mandi Board, including proper cleaning of the produce with power cleaners, provision of moisture meters and polythene covers for covering the produce in the mandi. The employee leaders said experience of last two paddy crops had shown that procurement staff on duty in the mandis was put to undue harassment if it resisted the procurement of paddy not conforming to laid norms. They said there had been instances when procurement officials were coerced to purchase wet paddy. Huge stocks of paddy of last two crops were lying unmilled in the state for want of space with the FCI or due to the lower quality of rice milled from the paddy procured during rain. The procurement agencies
staff also demanded that joint custody policy of paddy be
scrapped as the employees had virtually no control over
the paddy stocks stored in the premises of the private
rice mills for custom milling and this policy had been
used as a tool to victimise the employees by respective
managements of the agencies for the non-recovery of rice
due towards the millers against the paddy stored with
them. Moreover, paddy stocks worth crores of rupees were
left with the millers at their mercy by the government by
obtaining only token security money of Rs 50,000 per mt
of the shelling capacity of the mill. In case a mill
turned a defaulter, employees were made scapegoats by the
government. |
||
Farmers to launch agitation LUDHIANA, Sept 21 — The Bharati Kisan Union (BKU) headed by Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal announced here today that an agitation would be launched against the "indifferent" attitude of the Punjab Government towards paddy growers. He said the first dharna would be held on September 23 at Dilwan Mandi and the next on September 27 at Faridkot. Dharnas would also be held at Jalandhar and Ludhiana on September 28 and 29, respectively. Mr Lakhowal urged the Badal government to make arrangements for the procurement of paddy by government agencies. He said union workers had been deployed to send report daily to the union headquarters with regard to paddy procurement. Taking notice of the
delay in announcing the price of sugarcane, the union
said the price of cane should be fixed by taking the
price of cane in 1966-67 as a base. The union had sought
Rs 132 per quintal as cane price. It urged the government
to start cane-crushing operations from October 1 and to
ask mill owners to clear the dues of farmers pertaining
to last year. |
||
Tandon’s warning to octroi
contractors PHILLAUR, Sept 21 — Punjab Local Bodies Minister Balramji Dass Tandon has instructed all deputy commissioners, nagar council presidents, executive officers, mayors and commissioners of municipal corporations to investigate complaints of misbehaviour and excesses against private octroi contractors’ staff. Talking to newspersons today, Mr Tandon said no employee of private octroi contractors could search any person, vehicle or personal belongings without having a valid identity card and a batch and authentic prior information. He said services of guilty employees would be terminated immediately. Mr Tandon said only an executive officer would be empowered to impose penalty on a defaulter and he would be available between 12 noon and 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily in his office to solve the problem. The step had been taken
following several complaints against private octroi
staff. Mr Tandon said instructions were being sent to
government officials concerned and private octroi
contractors, besides traders organisations. Mr Tandon
said appointments of chairpersons of improvement trusts
would be made after election results next month. |
||
Traders threaten stir on octroi
issue PATIALA, Sept 21 — The local Beopar Mandal has threatened to launch an agitation if the Punjab Government fails to fulfil its promise of abolishing octroi. Mr Surjit Kumar Mehta,
President, Patiala Beopar Mandal, in a press note said
the traders of the state felt cheated on the octroi issue
by the SAD-BJP government. The Mandal appealed to the
traders of the state to come under one banner for
starting an agitation on the issue. |
||
Akali Dal (A) leader booked
for murder bid FAZILKA, Sept 21 — The police has registered an FIR against Mr Mukhtiar Singh, Vice-President of the Ferozepore district unit of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), and resident of Kamalwala village of this subdivision, under Section 307, IPC, for an alleged attempt to murder SHO Balbir Singh of Sadar police station here. According to an FIR lodged by the SHO, he had summoned Mr Mukhtiar Singh for resolving a dispute over a siropa reportedly presented to Mr Mukhtiar Singh by sant Bagga Singh Sewadar of Gurdwara Baba Tara Singh Khushdil of Jandwala Bhimeshah village. When the SHO was
discussing the matter with him, he got enraged and
reportedly tried to attack Mr Balbir Singh in his office. |
||
Panel to probe Netaji’s
disappearance ROPAR, Sept 21 — The Government of India has issued a notification with regard to the appointment of a commission for the purpose of making an indepth inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945. Justice M.K. Mukherjee of the Supreme Court has been appointed head of the commission. This was told to TNS here today by Mr V.P. Saini, Chairman of the Netaji Research Foundation here. The commission had been appointed as the Union Government was of the view that there was wide spread feeling among the public that the issue of finding the truth about Netaji’s death still remained. Besides this, there had been a constant demand for a further inquiry into the matter. The newly-appointed commission would inquire into the facts and circumstances related to the disappearance of Netaji in 1945 and subsequent developments, including whether Netaji was dead or alive; if he was dead, whether he died in the plane crash as alleged, whether the ashes in the Japanese temple were that of Netaji, whether he had died in any other manner at any other place and, if so, when and how; if he was alive, to find his whereabouts. The commission would also examine the manner in which the process of scrutiny could be undertaken by the Central Government. The government had also asked the commission to submit its report within six months. The commission’s headquarters could be at New Delhi or at any other place desired by the commission. Before the appointment of this commission, the Government of India had also appointed two inquiry commissions — the Shah Nawaz Khan Committee in April, 1956,and the Khosla Commission in July, 1970 — to inquire into and to report on the circumstances relating to the departure of Netaji from Bangkok on August 16,1945; his reported death as a result of an air crash; and the subsequent developments. They concluded that Netaji died in an air crash. It may be recalled that several organisations working in the name of Netaji had taken out five Netaji chetna yatras from different parts of the country in March, demanding the appointment of a Netaji inquiry commission. Later, on March 24, a delegation comprising Members of Parliament, members of Netaji’s family and research scholars presented a 13-point memorandum, including the demand of setting up a commission, to Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Earlier, the Calcutta
High Court also directed the Centre to appoint a
commission to end this controversy. The West Bengal
Legislative Assembly also adopted a resolution on
December 24,1998, demanding a fresh inquiry into the
matter. |
||
Punjab urged to lift ban on
promotions CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — A meeting held today under the chairmanship of Mr Om Kant Tewari, general secretary of the Punjab Non Gazetted Employees Organisation, urged the state government to lift the ban on promotions. Mr Karnail Singh Saini, president of the capital unit of the organisation, said in view of the contradictory views expressed by the Supreme Court in the case of Ajit Singh Janjua and Jagdish Lal, the state government had gone in for a clarification. The apex court gave the requisite clarification on September 16, and issued the necessary directive to Punjab. Now there was no justification in continuing the ban on promotions. The organisation noted that most of the supervisory posts in various government institutions were lying vacant, most schools were without principals and headmasters, hospitals without doctors, and that the interest of the public suffered due to the ban on promotions. This had led to
dissatisfaction among the government employees as many of
them had retired without promotion. |
||
Gurdwara panel chief
‘overstepping’ authority JALANDHAR, Sept 21 — The President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic), Mr Kuldeep Singh Wadala, said here today that the Chairman of the Gurdwara Election Commission, was overstepping his authority by proposing amendments to the Sikh Gurdwara Act. He said the jurisdiction of the Gurdwara Election Commission was to conduct the electrol process of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). Reforms or amendments did not fall in its purview. Addressing a press conference, he endorsed the SGPC’s stand that without its approval, no amendments could be articulated. He, however, said the basic problem lay in the introduction of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, in the Act, under which the Home Secretary could pass a notification to amend or implement a particular amendment. He also demanded that the Home Secretary’s powers to pass such a notification be withdrawn and the SGPC with a two-thirds majority should pass an amendment, which could be tabled in Parliament by the Home Minister. He said there was a provision in the "Nehru Tara Singh pact" in this regard. He said the Sikh leadership did not visualise the consequences, of the clause which empowered the Central Government to intervene directly. He said the SGPC’s identity was being affected through this method of notification. He, meanwhile, said
central forces be deployed to guard ballot boxes. |
||
Death in custody ROPAR, Sept 21 — Four police officials have been suspended in connection with the death of Devinder Singh, alias Bhola, a 21-year-old truck driver of Hasanpur village in police custody, on Saturday. Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, said here today the suspended officials were Malwinder Singh Malhi, SI of the CIA staff, Gurcharan Singh and Manjit Singh, constables and Devinder Singh, an SPO. The deceased, Bhola, was in their custody for an investigational, he added. Mr Bhullar said three parties had been formed to arrest the four who were absconding. The SSP further said the investigation had been handed over to the SP (D), Mr Jagdish Singh Kahlon, who would be assited by Mr Avtar Singh, DSP. Mr Bhullar also said
warrants for the arrest of the four had been obtained. |
||
Quality education needed :
Kanwaljit FATEHGARH SAHIB, Sept 21 — Rampant corruption and illiteracy are the main reasons for the backwardness of society and the nation. No country can make progress till these evils are wiped out. This was stated by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, while addressing the Golden Jubilee function of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial High School, Bassi Pathana, today. He urged the youth to come forward and fight these evils. He said only 40 per cent of the allotted amount was spent on development activities, whereas the remaining was pocketed. He said the government alone could not control it and society had to play an important role. He stressed the need for education and said only those countries had progressed where citizens were fully aware of their rights and duties. He lauded the role of the school and announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh to the school. Later talking to The Tribune, he said the exit polls on Doordarshan were totally false and the Akali Dal would win a majority of the seats. Addressing the function, Mr Gobind Thukral, Bureau Chief of the The Tribune, who is also an alumnus of the school, stressed the need for female education. He said by doing so the whole family could be educated. He also highlighted the previous achievements of the school and appreciated the management and staff for the good academic record. The Principal, Mr Harnek Singh Kalsi, read the annual report of the school. Meritorious students were also honoured on the occasion. Mr Randhir Singh Cheema,
a former minister, Mr Kirpal Singh Sethi, Mr Gurdial
Chand Malhotra, president of the managing committee also
addressed the gathering. |
||
Brother murdered SAMRALA, Sept 21 — A murder case of a student of sixth class, Gurpeet Singh, alias Peeta (14), was solved within 24 hours by Inspector Ashish Kapoor, SHO, here last evening, Mr Gurmel Singh Sidhu, DSP, said here today. Mr Sidhu said Alam Singh of Manki village informed the police that his grandson Gurpreet Singh was found murdered in his house. Inspector Ashish Kapoor during investigation found that the elder brother of the deceased, Jagjit Singh, alias Lali, was the alleged killer of Gurpreet Singh. A domestic dispute was reported to be the cause of the murder. However, his family members allegedly tried to conceal the facts. Jagjit singh was
produced before Mr Paramjit Singh, Illaqa Magistrate,
here today and was given two days police remand. |
||
TU leaders flay govt MOGA, Sept 21 — Leader of trade unions from all over Punjab at an emergency meeting here today criticised the state government for an undeclared economic emergency and its failure to accept genuine demands of government employees. The meeting which was chaired by the convenor of the Democratic Front, Punjab, Mr Datar Singh, was also addressed by representatives of the Panchayat Union the Mandi Board Union and the Forest Department Union. The speakers condemned
the state government for its failure to pay dearness
allowance to employees. |
||
Imposter held GURDASPUR, Sept 21 — The police today arrested a man posing as an ASI and tried to extort Rs 15,000 as bribe from a junk dealer of Pathankot, saying his name was on the list of those involved in purchasing stolen goods. The accused has been identified as a head constable. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSF
told news persons here today said that the accused posed
himself as an ASI and rang up the junk dealer saying that
he had in his custody for thieves who have named him as
the buyer of stolen goods. He said for Rs 15,000 his name
could be deleted from the police record. A case has been
registered. |
||
PU sends roll numbers for
Sept exams CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — Panjab University has despatched roll number cards to all eligible candidates for the supplementary examinations commencing from September 25. According to a release issued by the Joint Controller of Examinations, Mr Ashok Raj Bhandari, any candidate who is not in receipt of the roll number card may come to his office on September 24, bringing with him/her an attested passport-sized photograph as well as a written letter of request. The duplicate roll number cards will be issued to the candidates on payment of Rs 20 in cash as fee. All such candidates have also been asked to bring sufficient documentary evidence of submitting the examination form along with full examination fee well in time to the University Office. Meanwhile, the result of the first year examination of Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) conducted by Panjab University in May/June 1999 was declared here today. According to an official
release, copies of the result gazette are available at
the inquiry counter of the university in the new inquiry
building of the university for consultation on all
working days. |
||
Lottery racket busted, 5 held LUDHIANA, Sept 21 — The police has unearthed a gang involved in tampering with lottery tickets and arrested five persons — Ashok Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Sudhir Kumar, Deepak Kumar Bedi and Sanjay Sharma. The five purchased tickets of Punjab State Lottery and allegedly tampered with them for getting the reward money, thus causing a loss to the exchequer. The police also
recovered 300 tickets of Punjab State Lottery and a
machine from them. |
||
BSP’s ultimatum to admn PHAGWARA, Sept 21 — The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and other Third Front allies today gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the local administration to withdraw false cases against nine BSP activists by tomorrow, failing which an agitation would be launched in front of the office of the DSP. A memorandum was also
submitted to the SDM and its copies sent to the Punjab
Governor. |
||
 |
||
 |
| Nation
| Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
