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Whispers in Punjab
Bharoana September 5:
After running errands to flood -ravaged area in this region officers have returned to their offices in Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Chandigarh and elsewhere.
Politicians are busy preparing for fight over floods in Punjab Assembly in the current session without bothering much about succour to thousands of farmers and poor people awaiting financial help as floods have virtually ruined them.
Paddy, in thousands of acres, has been wiped out leaving farmers in tears. It is second time they have been devastated in two decades. Earlier, in 1988, gushing waters of Sutlej, which was flowing clam after venting its fury three weeks ago, had ruined thousands of farmers and poor people.
“ We struggled for 20 years since 1988 to rebuild our lives but we were never knew misery is about to revisit us again” said Karnail Singh, whose 50 acres of paddy has been swept away by floods. He had taken 40 acres on lease at Rs 17,000 per acre. How would I pay the lease money I do not know, said Karnail Singh, whose house is just 50 metres from the spot where the second defence bundh of Sutlej had breached to cause widespread destruction. Karnail Singh has suffered loss Rs 20 lakh. There are many other farmers like him.
Karnail Singh and his three brothers have been living just near the defence bundh and flood virtually has shattered their lives like several thousands of others. Fields, which were lush green with paddy nearing fruition stage a few days ago, now give barren look in vast area in this region.
However, what has deeply hurt people is the indifferent attitude of the state government on providing immediate relief. “We are waiting some one from the government side will come to provide us relief but no one has turned up so far”, said Balbir Singh, former sarpanch of Kalu Mandi. Some people came with small bags of wheat flour, tea and sugar bags a few days ago. But no one turned up after that, said Sucha Singh, another villager.
“ We do not know whether the state government is to provide relief to us or the Union government. We even do not know what official hurdles have been preventing the state government to distribute money as relief for the damaged crops and houses, dead animals and other material loss to us. That is for the government to resolve all these official and technical hitches.”, said Sadha Singh.
Even after 20 days , people, who had moved from their homes because of floods, continue to live in a gurdwara here. “When we will get back to our homes, we do not know”, said Kulwant Kaur, who is camping with several family members in the gurdwara.
Bhajan Singh says he has sent his cattle to a relative near Dharmkot. Several others, who have no green and dry fodder left with them, have done so. Sukhdev Singh says some officials from Sultanpur Lodhi had given cheques worth Rs 2,000 to some of families. “We are two brothers camping in the gurdwara along with 10 family members. We were given just Rs 2,000. How can we live with this amount”, he asked with agony on his face.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Chandigarh September 5:
An alleged letter by the Punjab Intelligence asking its zonal officers to identify religious deras having political influence, smugglers with vote banks and also Congress leaders who can assist SAD-BJP nominees covertly in the forthcoming parliamentary elections is set to create a storm in the Vidhan Sabha.
The letter number 276/305, dated July 10, 2008, and claimed to be written by the ADGP, Intelligence, has been addressed to assistant inspector generals (AIGs) of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ferozpur and Chandigarh with subject matter being the Lok Sabha election 2009.
Congress leader and Bholath legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who released the letter today, claimed it was a follow-up action of the meeting of the intelligence officers held at the head office. He said the police department had sent proformas under which intelligence reports were to be collected, keeping in view the parliamentary election.
Khaira said information had been sought under objectionable heads with the field officers asked to furnish information on “important smugglers/criminals with vote bank” on page five column fourteen, “important religious deras having influence in the area with name of the ‘dera’ head and his vote bank” on page five column nine and “Congress leaders who can support SAD/BJP candidates covertly”, also on page five column three.
The Congress leader claimed that the present government had rigged elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions and the party felt that it was formulating a well-planned strategy to rig the parliamentary election. He claimed it also appeared that the government was planning to create disturbances as witnessed during the Dera Sacha Sauda-Sikh clashes in Punjab. Khaira alleged that the government was likely to engage smugglers and criminals as part of this strategy.
Khaira has, in a letter to the Election Commission, urged it to take note of the illegality and take action against those involved. He also demanded the deployment of central para-military forces during the Lok Sabha elections and strict vigil by central observers.
In a simultaneous development, party Campaign Committee chairman Capt Amarinder Singh has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, informing them of the “SAD-BJP attempts to vitiate the atmosphere of the state”.
Meanwhile, Shashi Kant, who was additional director-general of police, intelligence, when the letter was allegedly written, when contacted said, “no such thing had occurred during his tenure in the Intelligence wing”. He said he had no idea of the letter being claimed to have been issued by his former office.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Jalandhar September 3:
Leaders of the Majha and Doaba regions are agitated for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has planned to set up all thermal plants in the Malwa region.
The thermal plant, for which the foundation stone was laid today at Banawala village, near Talwandi Sabo, is the fourth one coming up in the Malwa region and the third in the Bathinda region.
A thermal plant is already functioning in Bathinda city and another at Lehra Mohabbat, about 25 km from Bathinda. The third one is functioning at Ropar, a town that is also part of the Malwa region. The fourth plant is to be set up at Nalash village, on the outskirts of Rajpura (Patiala), again in the Malwa region. The process is on to set up yet another thermal plant at Gidderbaha, about 30 km from Bathinda.
A thermal plant is to be set up at Goindwal, at a short distance from Tarn Taran, in the Majha region. The project has been allotted to a private company. Questioning Badal’s plan to set up so many thermal plants in the Malwa region, Umrao Singh, former minister, said the SAD-BJP government should look beyond the Bathinda region, the home turf of the Badals, while allotting projects aimed at development of the respective areas.
He said there should be a balanced development of all regions. A weak political leadership of Majha and Doaba was also responsible for their neglect on the development front. There was not a single eminent Akali leader who could confront Badal on this issue, he added.
Most of the MLAs in the present SAD-BJP government are from the Majha and Doaba regions. But, most of them were not politically heavyweights and unable to lobby hard to push the case of development in the two regions, said Umrao Singh. He said there was a lot of scope for setting up thermal plants in the Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran areas as sufficient water was available in those areas.
Moreover, as the industrial corridor is to be extended up to Ludhiana, the flow of rail traffic would be smoother on this railway section than on the Delhi-Bathinda and Delhi-Patiala sections. Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said: “Badal is discriminating with Majha and Doaba regions by denying it important projects”.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
September
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Chandigarh August 30:
The ensuing parliamentary elections as well as the elevation of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as chairman of the Congress Campaign Committee has sparked off a competition of rallies between the Congress and the BJP in the state.
The battle lines are being drawn in the Malwa belt, which has tilted towards the Congress in the last Assembly elections. While the Congress would like to retain this lead, the Akalis have been concentrating on this area since the last one and a half years.
They claim the ground situation is completely different now. Be what it may, Amarinder has decided to put pressure on the Akalis and is busy in rejuvenation the Congress by organising a rally at Lambi, the constituency of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, on September 1.
The Akalis, without publically admitting that they have been galvanised into action with the re-entry of Amarinder in active politics, have decided to make a political show out of a function being held to lay the foundation stone of the 1,860-MW capacity thermal plan at Banwali village, near Talwandi Sabo, on September 2.
The fact that the Akalis mean business can be gauged from the fact that the party president has held several meetings in the Malwa region to boost activists’ morale for the rally. Former minister and Bathinda district president Sikander Singh Malooka said the party was trying to ensure the presence of 100 buses full of passengers from each Assembly segment in the Malwa region at the rally.
He said the party expected more than two lakh people at the rally from the districts of Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot and Moga. Congress legislator and Amarinder loyalist Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu said the rally would be limited to the Lambi constituency only.
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Source :
Punjab Mail Online
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News Date :
August 30,
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