Patiala News - Patiala
April 13th, 2013
Patiala: With the President’s office clearing two hangings in just 5 month period and 12 death row offenders locked in Punjab jails among those waiting for execution orders, the state administration requires pulling up its socks.
It still has no hangman on its rolls.
Death sentence offenders including Balwant Singh Rajoana, Saleem, Gurmukh Singh, Judge Singh Vikram Singh, Gurnayab Singh, Jasbir Singh, Jasbir Singh also known as Jaswinder, Suraj Ahluwalia, Resham Singh, Kulbir Singh, and Gurwail Singh have all registered mercy appeals.
A court in Hoshiarpur during September last year addressed the Patiala Jail Superintendent to make preparations to carry out the demise warrants of Vikram Singh Walia and Jasvir Singh.
Vikram Singh Walia and Jasvir Singh got convicted of abducting a Hoshiarpur gold-worker’s son, Abhi, for money and afterward killing him.
Beant Singh killer Balwant Singh Rajoana was given the death punishment by a Chandigarh court. However the jail functionaries denied hanging him.
Amid pressure for mercy for Rajoana, the Punjab CM and the Deputy CM met the President and forwarded a petition looking for mercy for Rajoana.
A jail functionary stated: “Last year the Jail Superintendent had refused to execute the court orders in the Rajoana case, citing technical reasons.
“But once the President clears the file for hanging, no such excuse will work.â€
April 13th, 2013
A large number of followers’ visited Gurudwara Dukhniwaran Sahind in Patiala to mark the holy festival of Baisakhi.
Baisakhi honors the commencement of Khalsa panth by Sikh’s 10th Guru Sahib, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib in the year 1699. It also links to the start of the period in which wheat gets reaped in north India.
The devotees offered prayers at Gurudwara Dukhniwaran Sahind.
Lots of individuals took holy dips in the Sarovar (sacred tank).
‘Akhand Path’ (48-hour non-stop recitation of Sikh scripture), ‘kirtan’ (singing of hymns) and katha (religious discourses) were undertaken to mark the celebrations.
April 13th, 2013
Utilizing a latest trick to recuperate money from tax cheaters, the municipal corporation has brought out an “amnesty” plan.
The civic body will ignore the rate of interest, if residents pay the house-tax duties and imminent sewer and water bills at the same time by May 31.
“The purpose is to make well-timed collection of dues,” said new Patiala mayor Amaninder Bajaj.
“Funds recovered in the amnesty plan will be used in the city’s growth projects,†Bajaj added.
In general process, house-tax nonpayers has to pay 12 to 18% rate of interest over the base sum. The municipal corporation now has dues of Rs. 10 crore to recuperate in form of house tax, out of which Rs. 4 crore has to be paid by diverse administrative offices and Rs. 6 crore by the citizens.
Big tax defaulters were predicting like scheme and counting on it to shun paying the heavy interest.
April 13th, 2013
Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP MP from Amritsar, will not take part in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as he has been ‘ignored’ by his party members, his spouse and the doctor-turned-politician Navjot Kaur Sidhu stated.
“Everyday, I hear discussions and read in local media that Sidhu has gone out of Amritsar. It is being stated that he is disregarding the electorate for television shows and other tasks. That is not the reality. After being ignored by his party associates, Sidhu has preferred to dedicate time to television shows and other tasks. As things stand today, he will not take part in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” Navjot Kaur, BJP Chief Parliamentary Secretary stated.
She also said that his husband, a three-time Parliamentarian, was not in loop while picking out party leaders for Punjab and even Amritsar region bodies. ”
He has already made up his mind not to fight the elections after being overlooked. That’s why, he is working on other tasks,” she added.
“While adopting projects you lose out on funds and the whole lot, comprising giving time to the family members. And then the party does not realize your hard works,” Kaur said.
April 12th, 2013
There is news of fire at Head Office of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (P.S.P.C.L) due to short circuit. Fire occurred at two different sections of the same office within 12 hours with the same reason of short circuit.
Timely measures were taken & there is no news of any big incident. The first incident occurred late night at around 2 o’clock in computer section of the head office. One of the Powercom employee told that there were only non working & expired computers in that section & all the other computers in working condition have already been shifted to the new section.
He further told that in the old computer section, some repair work was going on due to which short circuit & fire occurred. But, the security guard noticed the mishap on time & called fire brigade & they controlled the fire.
He told that due to fire some old computers were destroyed. The second incident occurred today at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in the Bills section of Head office. Some female employees had kept their tiffins in the hot case. With the light of Bulb, the upper most tiffin box catched fire. There is no major harm due to both the fires.
April 12th, 2013
Yesterday late night, a shocking accident took place between a truck & auto rickshaw near Bahawalpuria Bhawan on Patiala-Rajpura Road.
Around 8 people including driver of auto rickshaw got injured badly.
Relative of the dead & the injured, Gian Dev, the resident of Rajpura told, accident happened when 7 member group reached Rajpura by Jan Nayak train from Bihar & they hired a 3-wheeler to reach Cheeka (Harayana) where they were called up by a farmer as laborers for harvesting.
As soon as auto rickshaw reached Patiala road, near Bahawalpuria Bhawan, it got clashed with a truck very badly.
All the passengers in the auto rickshaw were residents of Dist Supol, Bihar.
Ram Prasad (50), his son Mohinder (32) & Jatinder & their partners Sita Ram, Balki Ram, Ram Avtar, Arjun Kumar & the auto rickshaw driver Satnam Singh were injured badly.
Ambulance 108 was called & Dr Baljinder Singh & Pilot Kuldeep reached on the spot & all the injured were rushed to Civil Hospital.
As per reports, Ram Prasad passed away & both his sons were serious & were referred to Sec 32, Chandigarh. At Sec 32, Mohinder Singh died & his brother Jatinder is still in critical position.
April 12th, 2013
In a daring daylight robbery, a local trader on April 11 robbed around Rs 10.90 lakh in a daylight crime.
Around noon time, when dealer Pritpal Singh was in the vicinity of Ghalori gate, Patiala on his way to home, 3 unidentified individuals in a Hyunadi Verna car tapped his path and snatched the money, which he had kept in a plastic bag.
This declaration has been made by SHO Karansher Singh.
Singh added that the robbers blocked trader’s way and snatched the cash.
One of the individual come out of the vehicle and pointed the pistol at him, whereas the other individual had snatched the moneybag.
April 12th, 2013
Punjab Scheduled Castes (SC) commission, on April 11, gave Punjabi University around 6 months time in order to fill up the backlog seats for pupils in the SC group.
In a conference with the university functionaries in Chandigarh, commission chairman Rajesh Bagha also told them not to gather entrance charges and others payments from the SC pupils under the post-matric scholarship plan.
Bagha asked Punjabi University registrar to make sure the execution of the scholarship plan for the SC pupils.
Registrar Arwinder singh Chawla headed the group representing Punjabi University, whereas Anjana Sandhu, deputy director in the welfare section; Surinder Pal, assistant director (colleges), Punjab; and members of the SC commission, Dalip Singh Pandhi and Bharti Canady, were also there.
April 12th, 2013
The vigilance agency detained Avtar Singh, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in the anti-theft section of Punjab state power corporation limited (PSPCL), on April 11 following a charge of taking Rs. 3,000 as bribe.
Senior superintendent of police (vigilance) Pritam Singh added that Avtar had been accused with demanding funds from a cheater to benefit him in a case of electricity theft.
Complainant Sukhdev Singh of Patiala said that Avtar asked for the funds to cut down his fine.
“The vigilance group laid a trap and arrested Avtar Singh in front of the government witnesses,” Pritam Singh added.
The charged is in police detention and a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been lodged against Avtar.
April 12th, 2013
Hoards of people, comprising political leaders and affiliates of the Sant Samaj, on April 11 paid tributes to ex Akali representative and stalwart Jasdev Singh Sandhu on his 13th death anniversary.
CM Prakash Singh Badal headed the ceremonial occasion of paying flowery tributes to Jasdev Singh. He recalled Sandhu as an encyclopedia on Panthic subjects.
Sandhu was nominated 5 times to the assembly, representing diverse constituencies over that phase.
“Sandhu got up for feebler segments of culture,” stated Badal, commemorating the head’s role in the spread of teaching in the region.
“The records and statistics on the olden times of Akali group are not found in any library in the state,” said Badal, to draw attention to that the accomplishments of Akali experts were, thus, obscured.
Praising the contribution of Sandhu’s family in Punjab’s politics, Badal stated that the man was an institution in himself and had backed him in constructing his political job.
Cabinet minister Surjit Singh Rakhra; member of Rajya Sabha Balwinder Singh Bhunder; Sandhu’s son, Akali leader Tejinder Singh Sandhu, and his wife, Anoopinder Kaur Sandhu; Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, chief of Sant Samaj; Mayor Amrinder Singh Bajaj, and the vice-chancellor of Punjabi University were also there.
April 12th, 2013
Patiala, April 11: Two tales penned by well known activist Dr Harshindar Kaur, who has worked against female foeticide and dowry in both India as well as overseas, will now be comprised in the CBSE Punjabi course books.
The tales are named “Jado Dand Bol Paya†and “Mummy 55 Ki Hundaâ€.
Another tale of Dr Harshindar “Bhroon Hatya†(female foeticide) has been integrated in the Punjabi University BEd course books. She has penned 22 books on a variety of subjects.
Dr Kaur added that said she was pleased that her stories had been recognized.
“Though I mainly write on female foeticide, these tales were an effort to get in touch with kids,†Dr Harshindar added.
April 12th, 2013
Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital will shortly set up its own multi-storey parking on its premises to make sure that individuals pay fee as per the rates determined by the administration and not according to the whims of private suppliers. The multistoried parking will be built with a total investment of Rs 3 crore.
Whilst the administrative fee for parking a cycle or a scooter is Rs 2 and a car is Rs 5, the private service providers charge Rs 10 for scooters and Rs 20 for cars.
In addition, for manifold entries they charge Rs 20 for scooters and Rs 40 for cars.
There have been examples in the earlier period when the freelancers have manhandled people who have denied paying such high parking fees.
Even efforts by the hospital government to resolve the trouble have been useless as the private service providers didn’t pay any attention to the demands of the government.
The private service providers allegedly wielded some influence in the district administration.
Taking note of these protests, Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary of the Medical Education and Research Department, has now addressed Dr KD Singh, Principal of the Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital to build a multistoried parking.
Dr KD Singh stated that he had forwarded a letter to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board about the construction of the parking and the procedure would begin shortly.
April 12th, 2013
Kauli (Patiala): In spite of sharp condemnation by business and trade diplomats over the recent power tariff increase, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal stated that free power to the agriculture sector will carry on.
Badal added that 70% of the agriculturists in Punjab were marginal and the administration was dedicated to offer free power to them. Reacting to a question whether the commercial and industrial consumers were being made to pay more owing to free power to agriculturists and feebler segments of society, Badal stated his administration was sharing the load considerably.
“The BJP has been taken into confidence on the issue. Moreover, the 9% increase in power tariff was less as compared 12% in Haryana,” he said.
The CM was in Kauli, Patiala to attend an occasion to mark the death anniversary of ex Akali MLA Jasdev Singh Sandhu.
He termed the Goa assembly of the SAD-BJP heads as “productive as many significant verdicts pertaining to the forthcoming parliamentary polls have been taken”.
It provided the leaders an opportunity to talk about administration working and departmental setbacks, he added.
The CM accepted willingly the verdict of a Delhi Court to reopen the anti-Sikh riots case against senior Congress head Jagdish Tytler.
The CM stated that Sikhs still had anticipations for integrity.
Others attended the function Cabinet Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, SAD leader Tejinder Singh Sandhu, Baba Lakha Singh (Nanaksar Kaleran) and chief of Sant Samaj Baba Harnam Singh.
April 12th, 2013
The state administration on April 11 appointed 6 IAS officers for the proper procurement of wheat in Punjab.
An authorized spokesperson stated that according to the orders, SR Ladhar had been administered Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot regions; Ajit Singh Pannu would look after the workings of Patiala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana; Anurag Verma would watch over Mohali, Rupnagar, SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur; and Saravjit Singh had been assigned Bathinda, Mansa and Barnala regions.
A Venu Prasad had been assigned Moga, Faridkot, Kapurthala and Jalandhar; and Vikas Partap Singh had been offered Ferozepur, Fazilka and Sri Muktsar Sahib regions.
April 11th, 2013
All India Students Federation (AISF) today conducted a rally under the leadership of Research Scholar Talwinder Shergil at Punjabi University, Patiala against Punjab Govt for daily passing anti student bills & for safeguarding students’ rights. Angry students burned dummy of Punjab CM, S Parkash Singh Badal.
They said that Punjab govt regularly passes bills against the rights of the students & the govt is keeping the students far away from education. Last year, on the occasion of Hola Mohalla, S Parkash Singh Badal announced that they will provide free education to girl students up to M.A.
A year has been passed & no notification for the same is passed by the Govt. When AISF met Sikander Singh (Education Minister, Punjab) regarding this, he refused & said that he don’t know that Badal Sahib has announced such scheme.
This shows that Mr Badal make such an announcement at such a holy place just to impress the crowd. Punjab Govt is keeping “Nani Chaan” away from education & Harsimrat Kaur Badal is still not saying anything. After this Ajit Sirsa said that if their demands are not accepted, AISF will start more sharp protest against the Govt.
April 11th, 2013
A local court has rejected the bail plea of ex Patiala Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg, who is in lockup accompanying his detention which took place in March in the high-profile Patiala land scandal.
In a connected development, a separate court took over the Vigilance Bureau’s request to announce the two absconding charged in the land scandal, NP Singh and Ravdeep Singh, as proclaimed offenders.
Garg was supposedly involved in marking the administration’s 6,000 sq yards property located on Grand Post Office Road, Patiala, as personal property to permit its further sale.
A investigation by the then Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar had charged him for carrying out of the land sale action of the plot anticipated to be worth Rs 250 crore for about Rs 6.3 crore.
Other than ex Patiala Deputy Commissioner, 9 more individuals have been identified co-accused in the Vigilance FIR that was lodged in 2012.
April 11th, 2013
On April 09 night, when Patiala occupant Karamjit Singh reached Government Ayurvedic Hospital to meet his ill pal, he was in for a shocker. Ayurvedic Hospital was generously bedecked; a DJ was there; and big tents had been pitched on the hospital premises. The hospital personnel were active attending the affair arranged for a staff nurse’s relative due to get married shortly.
Since the majority of staffers were attending the occasion, several patients had been unnoticed. The function proceeded till late night with noisy music screaming and liquor flowing around, troubling both physicians and patients alike.
Sources added that none had the authorization to hold the function on hospital premises.
Medical Superintendent DK Kaushik feigned unawareness on the issue and stated, “I am not aware of any function. Please contact me tomorrow with an affidavit from the person who informed you about the function.â€
When this reporter reached the spot late at night, some physicians and a few policemen were also witnessed attending the occasion.
When questioned about the incident, Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, stated, “It is very ill-fated. I will request Joint Director, Research and Medical Education, to probe the matter.â€
April 11th, 2013
Accompanying their disappointment to control liquor rates during the last financial, the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has rolled back its verdict to restrict the maximum rate of beer. The cost of beer will now be determined by the liquor suppliers. The verdict will assist the administration make extra income that was otherwise bagged by the liquor mafia.
Sources added that liquor followers in Punjab drink more than 7.5 crore bottles of beer annually that means that Punjab sells about 5 crore bulk litres of beer each year. But, the Excise Department, for the first time, had set the highest rate of beer in Punjab in past year’s plan. The state administration could not impose any check on liquor vends where beer was sold at a much higher price as compared to the fixed cost of Rs 70 for light and Rs 75 for strong beer all through the year.
“Generally, the vend possessors sold beer for Rs 120 in connivance with the local inspectors and some senior officials in the excise wing,†said a senior official in the section.
“We suffered a projected loss of approximately Rs 100 crore due to this,†he also said.
Punjab Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma stated that this fiscal, they had heightened the access charge from Rs 25 per bulk litre to Rs 50 per bulk litre.
Rising liquor revenue
2009-10: Rs 2100 crore
2010-11: Rs 2370 crore
2011-12: Rs 2750 crore
2012-13: Rs 3400 crore
April 10th, 2013
Being constructed at the cost of Rs 110 crore, this 18.6 kilometer long bypass on road linking Chandigarh to Malwa will benefit the region.
There will be big relief to Patiala citizens.
Deputy Commissioner Mr. G. K. Singh told that being built by BRO on Chandigarh-Rrajpura and Sangrur-Bhathinda national highway no. 64 the southern by pass will be completed by 25th June and opened for traffic on 30th June.
April 10th, 2013
Police officials have released the sketches of two suspects with regard to the slaughter of 27-year-old Parsoon Aggarwal, a Dell employee who belonged to Patiala and whose dead body was detected in Siswan village on March 14.
Parsoon Aggarwal had been shot dead. Police had detained his fellow worker and pal, Anuradha, who was with him at the time of the slaughter. Parsoon’s family had distrusted her participation in his demise.
The officials, who have been contending thus far in obtaining a breakthrough, anticipate getting some essential signs after having publicized the sketches of accused.
Parsoon had been working as a customer technical support associate for Dell, Mohali.
Parsoon had gone for a long drive on March 13 with Anuradha also known as Anu when a few people had catched them at Siswan.
Saurab Aggarwal, the Parsoon’s brother, had named Anu as an accused in his complaint. Previously, police had lodged a case of abducting after Anuradha had approached them. But, after the boy’s body got recovered, the police had rectified the FIR on the report of Saurab and had booked the girl on doubt.
Anuradha, an occupant of Burail, had been working with Parsoon for 6 months.
