Former Batala SP wanted for abetting suicide arrested in Zirakpur

SP alleged abetting 23-year-old Loveleen Kaur's fatal jump from his flat in Zirakpur

Derabassi, June 27: Superintendent of police (SP) Mohan Lal was finally arrested on Wednesday for allegedly abetting 23-year-old Loveleen Kaur's fatal jump from his flat in Zirakpur on May 17. A 50-year-old married man, Lal is alleged to have kept the Gurdaspur woman at his flat and raped her after a ‘fake’ wedding and the promise of a police job.
Police said Lal gave himself in near a resort around 1 pm, having arrived in his private vehicle and civil clothes.
Posted at Batala at the time of the crime, Lal was booked on Monday on the complaint of Loveleen’s father Lakhwinder Singh, a head constable who worked under Lal when he was posted at Batala. Lakhwinder had initially caved under the officer’s pressure but fleshed out the allegations after a human rights organisation also backed him.
Dera Bassi SP (detective) Balwinder Singh Brar, who heads the special investigation team (SIT) in the case, said the arrest became possible after the police “mounted tremendous pressure by conducting raids at the possible hideouts of SP Mohan Lal in Rajpura and surrounding villages”. Brar said that Lal, who was transferred from his post as SP (headquarters) at Batala to the Punjab Police crime branch HQ in Chandigarh after the suicide, was on leave since. “We will now seek his remand from the court tomorrow (Thursday),” Brar said.

As for the addition of charges of rape, assault and evidence-destruction, Brar said that would be done after getting the forensic report of Loveleen’s viscera and interrogation of Lal. Sources have said the accused SP or his wife thrashed Loveleen before she jumped and they removed bloodstains from the balcony as they fled.

Four-laning of Zirakpur-Bathinda highway in limbo

The Zirakpur-Bathinda National Highway

Centre terminates contract, says start process afresh

Chandigarh, June 24
The four-laning of the Zirakpur-Bathinda national highway is set to be delayed by a year as the Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has decided to terminate the contract of the project given to two private companies.

"Ministry officials have conveyed to us at a meeting in Delhi to prepare for fresh tendering, which will take at least six to nine months as the process to terminate the existing contract has been set in motion," said Ashok Singla, Chief Engineer, PWD, Punjab.

The Rs 2,500-crore contract for four-laining of the 215-km-long highway, considered a lifeline for connectivity of the core Malwa region, was allotted in March last year.

"At the meeting, officials of both the companies informed the ministry that they would not take up the work on this project due to escalation in the prices of raw material used for road construction and unnecessary delay in getting various clearances," said Singla.

A decision on whether to forfeit Rs 50-crore security of both the companies would be taken by the ministry officials concerned. However, the companies have taken the plea that their security should be refunded. The PWD has been handling the project on behalf of the Union Ministry and the National Highway Authority of India.

To make a fresh beginning, a consultant would be appointed in a few days. "Immediately after appointing the consultant, a detailed project report will be prepared. Fresh financial model of the project will be prepared and the traffic load on the highway will be assessed afresh," said Singla.

After this, the project report would be sent to the Private Public Participation Appraisal Committee of the Union Government for clearance. "We are sure to prepare a fresh project report by July-end. Finally, this project will go for approval to the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, headed by the Prime Minster," he said, adding: "We hope to start the work early next year."

Hits Roadblock 

• The Rs 2,500-crore contract for four-laining of the 215-km-long highway was allotted in March last year
• Contractors had refused to take up the work due to escalation in the prices of raw material and undue delay in getting clearances

Punjab sends relief material for Uttarakhand victims

Rishikesh, June 25

Punjab Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab, Navjot Kaur Sidhu today reached Rishikesh  along with 6 truckloads of relief material, including medicines, eatables, blankets, clothes and other necessary items.
She also offered voluntary service for pilgrims.

Jathedars from Amritsar and Jalandhar are accompanying her. They also received stranded pilgrims being rescued in helicopters and buses in Rishikesh.

Dr Sidhu said she intended to distribute the relief material among flood victims, but was appalled at the local administration's apathy as nobody came forward to either get the material unloaded or ensuring its proper distribution to the needy.

She said they themselves unloaded the material and kept it at Paramarth Niketan Ashram where they were provided rooms for the purpose. She said the situation at the ground level was grim as the administration was nowhere in the picture while the flood victims were crying for help.

She met Parmarth Niketan chief Swami Chidanand Muni and apprised him of the Punjab Government’s help to the affected people of the state.

She also attended aarti at the Parmarth Niketan Ganga ghat and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

Punjab hires pvt chopper to evacuate pilgrims from Hemkunt Sahib

Chandigarh, 20 June 2013 - The Punjab government has hired a private helicopter to airlift the pilgrims stuck at Hemkund Sahib and its surrounding areas in Uttarakhand following flash floods, cloudbursts and landslips, triggered by incessant 340-mm downpour.

On the directions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who despite being on a visit abroad is continuously monitoring the current situation, the Punjab government has also constituted a four-member team of senior officers that has already left for Dehradun to monitor the ongoing rescue operations and ensure the safe return of the Sikh pilgrims, who had been trapped at Hemkund Sahib due to bad weather, causing road blockades at several places.

The team would further visit Joshimath and Hemkund Sahib to minutely observe and coordinate the rescue operations. Punjab Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, along with his officers, is keeping constant liaison with Uttarakhand administration to provide all type of help and support for this massive rescue operation at war footing.

Two days back, Badal had directed the Chief Secretary to extend all help and support to the Uttarakhand government in launching a massive operation to rescue the victims, who had been stuck on the way to Hemkund Sahib due to heavy rains and road blockades at several places.

The Chief Minister had also directed the state government to take immediate necessary measures to ensure the safe homecoming of the Sikh pilgrims. Thousands of pilgrims had been trapped as Hemkund Sahib had been cut off from rest of the state due to bad weather followed by floods. Acting on the Chief Minister’s direction, Chief Secretary and Ropar MLA Daljit Singh Cheema had established a contact with the Uttarakhand government.

“The Punjab government is providing all type of assistance to the Uttarakhand government as rescue operation was going on at war footing,” claimed a state government spokesperson. A team, led by Special Secretary Education K S Pannu and DIG Khubi Ram and assisted by other police officers, has left for Dehradun to monitor the entire ongoing rescue operation.

SAD ‘solidly’ behind BJP: Badal

Phagwara, June 16
On a day when the JD(U) severed its ties with the NDA, the BJP-led coalition's key partner Shiromani Akali Dal's patron Parkash Singh Badal today said his party was "solidly" behind the BJP and did not believe in “interfering” in their internal matters.

The five-time Chief Minister asserted, “Akalis were with BJP solidly and will continue to be so.” Badal claimed all will shake hands with BJP after the general election. “Though every party, including the JD(U), has its own interest uppermost in its mind, yet all will shake hands with BJP after the general election,” he told reporters at Khatti village here.

“The real combinations will emerge after the Lok Sabha poll," the 85-year-old Akali veteran said. His reply came when reporters asked to comment on the JD(U)-BJP rift, besides its implications on the NDA prospects.

The veteran Akali politician claimed the BJP will emerge as the single largest party after the next Lok Sabha elections as “voters will reject the Congress”. "Voters will prefer throwing their votes in 'khuh' (well) rather than voting for the Congress,” he said. He also did not see much possibility of emergence of a Third Front.

On whether he had approached the JD(U) or other BJP allies in the wake of recent developments within the NDA, he said, “Although I want that all the NDA partners should go along cordially, I haven't approached any ally..."

When asked that clouds of “disintegration” of the NDA had started looming large after the BJP anointed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's election campaign chief, Badal said "the SAD was with the BJP solidly and will continue to be so". He said that neither the BJP nor the SAD has ever interfered in each other's internal matters, which has further cemented the alliance between the two.

To another query, Badal said building a memorial for terrorism victims could disturb the state’s hard-earned peace. He was reacting to a demand by the Congress for having a memorial for those killed in Punjab during the dark days of terrorism.

On regional parties being brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act, he said he was not against the idea “but the process will complicate the situation”.

Badal refused to agree with the Congress’ contention that panchayat elections would disturb the schedule of the farmers during the paddy season. He also said neither he nor his deputy Sukhbir Badal will intervene in the elections.

AICC reshuffle: Capt rehabilitated, Jagmeet snubbed

Party high command also chooses to rely on young guns by elevating Sekhri and Nagra as secretaries

Chandigarh, June 16
The Congress high command today rehabilitated former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh by making him a permanent invitee to the top decision-making body of the party — the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The CWC reshuffle also saw Ambika Soni, senior leader and Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, becoming a major power centre. She has been appointed as the general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and will also be the general secretary in charge of the Congress president's office.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC), however, has delivered a snub to former MP and senior leader Jagmeet Brar, who no longer remains a CWC member. Besides being a special invitee to the CWC, Brar was also in charge of a few states. The Congress has also put its faith in youth leaders, two of whom have been appointed as secretaries in the new-look AICC.

Sources said though the party had rehabilitated Amarinder Singh, who was in a limbo for a brief span after the elevation of Gurdaspur MP Partap Bajwa as Punjab unit chief in March, it stopped short of giving him a more effective role despite speculation that he would be adjusted as a general secretary.

The AICC reshuffle is bad news for Jagmeet Brar, who earlier lost the race for the Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) chief’s post to Bajwa. The senior leader had become active in the state recently. Party sources are reading Brar's ouster as a signal that the party wants to strengthen the new PCC president at this crucial juncture.

The Congress high command has also chosen to ignore other senior leaders, including former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and has shown faith in the youth. Prominent Hindu leader and three-time legislator Ashwani Sekhri and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's loyalist and Fatehgarh Sahib legislator Kuljeet Nagra have been made secretaries.

The party has also chosen to appoint Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee as special invitee to the CWC. By doing so, the party has chosen to give due representation to the Dalit community in the AICC.

Party observers said besides rehabilitating Amarinder, which was necessary keeping in view that the former CM still wielded considerable influence in the state Congress, the reshuffle has Rahul Gandhi's stamp all over it. According to a formula that has been much discussed, the party has gone in for a Dalit, Jat Sikh and Hindu combination while choosing Kaypee, Nagra and Sekhri. The three also represent a generational shift in Punjab politics, which, sources said, has been supervised by Rahul Gandhi.

After the reshuffle, Amarinder Singh expressed his gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for inducting him into the CWC.

Rs 1,900-crore Amritsar-Bathinda highway project set to take off

Chandigarh, June 16

The Public Works Department (PWD) is gearing up to initiate work on the four-laning of two important national highways allotted to it by the Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways. These are Amritsar-Bathinda national highway via Verka-Tarn Taran-Mudki-Kotkapura-Baja Khanna-Jida and Jalandhar-Moga-Barnala-Khanuri (Sangrur).

"We have completed most of the paper work and the process is on to acquire land for widening the 175-km-long Amritsar-Bathinda highway, a project worth Rs 1900 crore. Documents have been submitted to seek mandatory clearances from the authorities concerned in the Centre. The project will have a bypass at Nehurashara Pannua, Zira, Harik, Talwandi and Kotkapura," said Ashok Singla, Chief Engineer, PWD.

He said: "We have set the timeline to allot the tenders in September. The work on the Jalandhar-Moga-Khanuri highway is expected to start by the end of this year".

"We have planned the widening of these highways in such a manner that these would actually become expressways. There will be flyovers, railway over-bridges (ROBs) and bypasses to overcome traffic bottlenecks," said Singla.

"The Jalandhar-Moga-Khanuri (Sangrur) highway will extend up to Jind in Haryana. However, the PWD will deal with the portion falling in Punjab. These projects will be toll based and constructed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode".

Most of the highways are constructed under the supervision of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). However, in Punjab, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has allocated three highways to the PWD.

As contractors have been facing problems in getting raw material for widening roads and other development works, the government is likely to issue short-term permits for mines, which they would have to identify themselves to extract sand, gravel etc.

"We have a policy to lease out mines, but the person(s) concerned has to pay the average auction price to take a mine on lease," said a senior official of the Industry Department. He said at present, there was a policy to give short-term permits to brick kilns.

 

Smooth Drive 

1. The process is on to acquire land for widening the 175-km-long Amritsar-Bathinda highway
2. Documents have been submitted to seek mandatory clearances from the authorities concerned in the Centre
3. The project will have a bypass at Nehurashara Pannua, Zira, Harike, Talwandi and Kotkapura
4. The tenders are most likely to be floated in September
5. There will be flyovers, railway over-bridges and bypasses to overcome traffic bottlenecks

Rain hits Agri Dept’s diversification plan

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 16

The Agriculture Department’s plan of encouraging farmers to diversify and grow maize may not see the light of day. Heavy rainfall in the district has made it difficult for farmers to prepare the fields in time for the monsoon that is likely to arrive early.

The department had set a target of facilitating the cultivation of maize on 4,500 hectares. It was to provide subsidy of Rs 40.5 lakh on 900 quintals of maize seed worth Rs 1.62 crore.

Concerned about the depleting water table in the district, the department had been holding seminars at villages, urging farmers to grow other crops.

This had started yielding results as many farmers had assured officials of sowing maize that offered better remuneration.

Gurdev Singh, a farmer, said those who have sown maize must regret their decision as the recent rain would have harmed their crop.

District Chief Agriculture Officer Jasvir Singh Bains said if it continued to rain for the next few days, farmers would not be able to prepare the land for maize cultivation.

Washed Away Plans

1. The department had set a target of facilitating the cultivation of maize on 4,500 hectares.
2. It was to provide subsidy of Rs 40.5 lakh on 900 quintals of maize seed worth Rs 1.62 crore.

Tearful adieu to CPI leader Satya Pal Dang

Amritsar, June 16
The mortal remains of veteran CPI leader Satya Pal Dang, who was in the forefront of the battle against terror in Punjab, were consigned to flames with full state honours here today.

Hundreds of mourners, including family members, friends, admirers and leaders across political spectrum, bade a tearful adieu to him at the Naraingarh crematorium.

While no senior politician from the ruling Akali Dal was present, hundreds of Communist party workers and leaders, including CPI national secretary Amarjit Kaur, paid tributes to Dang.

Prominent among others present were former Punjab minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla (BJP), Congress leader Rajkumar Verka, former Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Darbari Lal and District Congress Committee chief Jugal Kishore Sharma.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Jasbir Singh laid a wreath to pay tributes to the veteran leader on behalf of the state government.

Anil Dang, nephew of the communist leader, lit the pyre as a contingent of Punjab Police reversed arms and fired shots in the air as a mark of respect to the departed leader.

The CPI youth brigade, comprising boys and girls wearing red shirts and holding red flags, also attended the funeral. Earlier, a large number of people thronged Dang’s house to pay their last respects. Later, the body was kept in the party office for public to pay homage.

Dang, a firebrand leader of the student movement, died here yesterday after protracted illness at the age of 92. He was elected four times to the Punjab Assembly from Amritsar. He was also the state Food Minister in 1967.

At the height of terrorism in Punjab in the 1980s, Dang was vocal and active against the forces of secession. His wife Vimla Dang, also a CPI leader, died in May 2009. The couple, who had waged a relentless fight for the downtrodden, opted not to have any child as they did not want to divert their attention from people's struggle.

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