Patiala News - Patiala
May 12th, 2013
Having failed to find real proof against well known pugilist Vijender Singh, the Punjab Police is doubtful to issue a challenge to the court orders restricting it from carrying out drug tests on the boxer.
With the investigation group led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hardyal Singh Mann repositioned to Patiala, the boxer has asked the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to permit him to join training at the SAI’s Sonepat centre.
Mr. Hardyal Singh stated that the boxer was not the key charged in the drug scam and his name bobbed up only in the list of possible customers.
“After the court during the past week rejected our appeal on the boxer’s hair and nail samples, we are no keener to challenge the court order,†Mr. Mann said, adding that a challan would shortly be forwarded but would not have the boxer’s name.
Indian Amateur Boxing Federation president Abhishek Matoria stated that Vijender had forwarded an application to be permitted to get training at the SAI’s Sonepat centre.
The Punjab Police had previously claimed that Vijender had used up heroin, obtained from drug aristocrat Anoop Singh Kahlon, around 12 times.
In the meantime, the Patiala police claimed to have recovered mescaline, a synthetic medicine chiefly utilized in Mexico.
May 12th, 2013
After making short flicks for promising directors and a lot of regional music albums, Parminder Kapoor is currently in the midst of producing his first feature, ‘Patiala Dreamz’.
The movie, being shot at Patiala, Chandigarh, Goa as well as Canada —where his family possess a well-resourced hospital — passes on a significant social message.
Mr. Kapoor said, “Producing flicks is something I love the most. I always anticipate working with fresh talent, as they are packed of energy and do full justice to the funds spent.”
Featuring Sarvar Ahuja and Madrassa in the main characters, the film’s soundtrack has been penned by Mika Singh, Ritu Pathak, Sukhwinder, Shahid Mallya and Javed Ali.
Parminder, who’s traveling between India and Canada, is happy with the technique his movie is progressing.
He added, “While it’s a typical masaledaar Bollywood film, it also sends a significant social message. The proceeds of the film will go to an NGO in America.”
May 12th, 2013
The national female hockey group’s core probables started out their training camp at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala today in order to get ready for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-final) to take place at Rotterdam, Netherlands from June 13 to 23.
The 3-week long training camp will continue till June 4.
The country qualified for the FIH World League Round 3 (Semi-Final) by finishing on the top of the table of the Round 2 contest took place at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here during February.
FIH World League Round 3 (semi-final) is a qualification tournament for the FIH Women World Cup 2014 to be held at The Hague, Netherlands.
In addition to India, the other participating groups in the contest will be the hosts New Zealand, Netherlands, Korea, Japan, Belgium, Germany and China.
The 33 senior female core probables:
Goalkeepers: Savita, Yogita Bali, Rajni Etimarpu.
Defenders: Pinki Devi, Deep Grace Ekka, Joydeep Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Kiran Dahiya, Preety Sunlia Kiro, MN Poonamma, Deepika, Namita Toppo, Sushila Chanu, Pooja.
Midfielders: Amandeep Kaur, Ritu Rani, Poonam Rani, Monika, Vandana Katariya, Chanchan Devi, Lily Chanu, Rashmi Singh, Navjot Kaur, Roselin Dung Dung.
Forwards: Soundarya Yendala, Rani, Anupa Barla, Anuradha Devi, Asunta Lakra, Lilima Minz, Punam Barla, and Sunita Lakra,.
May 12th, 2013
With the aim to magnetize clients and improve sales, Parsvnath Developers on May 09 rolled out a plan on 3,000 flats where purchasers will have to make a payment of around 25 per cent on booking and the remaining on possession.
The system would assist first-time purchasers as they do not have to bear the double financial load of paying house charge and rates of interest on home loan.
The realty giant anticipates sales revenue of around Rs2,100 crore from the said plan that is valid on 16 housing as well as 4 commercial projects for the next 45 days.
“We are rolling out a new plan that will modify the dynamics of the realty buiz,†stated Mr. Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers, after while unveiling a new emblem.
These 20 projects are situated in the national capital, Ghaziabad, Sonepat, Greater Noida, Dharuhera, Moradabad, Ujjain, Saharanpur, Bhiwadi, Panchkula as well as Rajpura.
“We will be offering around 3,000 flats in this plan in the price range of R1,750-20,000 per sq ft,†Mr. Pradeep Jain added.
May 12th, 2013
With peak summer months here, electricity cuts are all set to disturb the city of Punjab.
Several zones of Punjab are seeing electricity cuts, and the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd is stressed to handle the sharp augmentation in demand for power because of the mounting mercury.
While two days back, the state had surrendered electricity from the central allocation owing to meager demand, however on Thursday, Punjab failed to satisfy almost 46 lakh units of power, leading to imposition of electricity cuts.
The utmost demand on Thursday stood at 6,646 mega watt at 8 pm, whilst it was 5,557 mega watt during the same time of 2012.
“The sharp increase in demand by 1,100 MW was unexpected. We have to come up with an effective plan to deal with the situation,” added a PSPCL representative.
Normally, the business bore the first brunt with the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd imposing 3-4 peak load constraints on industrial customers.
All the key cities, townships and rustic regions confronted electricity cuts. Whilst the major cities had to go without electricity for 40 minutes, electricity cuts in other region headquarters remained up to 3 hours. The state was much shoddier in rustic regions that had to put up with 5 hour electricity cuts.
“We are staring at a crisis. The situation will turn grim in the next couple of days as no power plant will be operational in Punjab. The demand is likely to be 12% more than last year. And we didn’t add a single unit. So again we will have to purchase power from other states. We are relying heavily on good monsoon showers this time. A poor monsoon will result in long power cuts,” stated a Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd official.
The unhindered demand on Thursday remained at 1,393 lakh units. In spite of buying 114 lakh units of electricity from outside, the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd could manage just 1,350 lakh units, forcing it to impose cuts, he said.
While the position of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd director (distribution) is lying unfilled, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd chairman-cum-managing director KD Chaudhary could not be reached for remarks as he was busy in a gathering with the CM at Chandigarh.
May 12th, 2013
The second biggest national party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), might be making desperate effort to rule the country again, but in Punjab, the minor associate in the ruling alliance has no liberty to field applicants in even small polls.
In the zila parishad and block samiti polls, it has to “hire” applicants from dominant colleague Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). In this part of Punjab’s Malwa area, the Shiromani Akali Dal has marginalized the saffron party to the full or entire extent, leaving it only a few seats in the forthcoming polls on May 19, in even its strongholds in the assembly polls.
In the city of Rajpura (Patiala district), where the Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting since the year 1992 when it made entry in an coalition with the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state, the right wing party has “rented” applicants from the Shiromani Akali Dal in 4 block samiti constituencies. Call it pressure produced by the Shiromani Akali Dal or its own malfunction, in the city, it g 1t just 12 seats to the Shiromani Akali Dal’s 13. Last time, the Shiromani Akali Dal bagged just 9 seats here and the BJP 16.
On block samiti seats Chamaru, Uksi, and Phabri, the Shiromani Akali Dal played a drama on May 08 on the day of removal of nominations and got the BJP applicants blockaded. The saffrons bagged no option but to adopt the SAD candidate as their nominees.
In the zila parishad seats, the SAD has taken two of the three. In Jangpura, the BJP has adopted the SAD candidate, while in Rajpura, the leader managing the affairs, Raj Khurana, claimed everything was okay. “Some issues, but those have been sorted out,” he stated in a short statement on the state.
Out of 167 block samiti seats in the city, the BJP has been left only 18, of which, 12 are in Rajpura. The party’s base in the region has shrunk by not yards but miles. In Sangrur district, which has seven assembly seats, the saffron party has been given only one seat out of 181. In Barnala district, which has three assembly seats, it will not contest.
In Bathinda region, the BJP has been offered just 3 block samiti seats out of over 150, and in Fatehgarh Sahib, not a single seat of block samiti has gone to the BJP. In Mansa, the party battles only three block samiti seats.
May 12th, 2013
As per reports, 3 individuals allegedly attacked a reporter of a Punjabi daily, Avtar Singh Chhajli, with a hammer and a ‘gandasi’, hurting him badly near his house here today.
Avtar Singh Chhajli was taken to the local civil hospital, from where he was admitted to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala.
A case has been lodged against the charged.
He added said according to the complainant, the assault had been planned because of an old antagonism.
He said that Avtar Singh’s left leg got fractured and he also got wounds on stomach and brow.
May 12th, 2013
Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Chief Minister has given nod to Punjab State Power Corporation Limitd (PSPCL) for setting up a power trading firm with the aim to sell surplus power that is expected to be generated from the forthcoming thermal facilities in Punjab, to other states.
A verdict to this effect was taken by Badal at a gathering with L&T head SN Roy.
The latter had called on the CMat his official residence here to update him on the status of the Rajpura thermal plant.
Badal directed Punjab State Power Corporation Limitd (PSPCL) chairman KD Chaudhri to exercise the modalities for setting up the trading firm with the intention that it could be set up by September 2013.
May 11th, 2013
Balwinder Singh Mavi, Congress applicant from Khera block in the zila parishad polls, on May 09 reported an intimidation to murder him, if he did not take out his nomination.
May 08 was the closing date for taking back nominations in his electorate and he stated that he had experienced frequent threats to give up the race or he’d be abducted, murdered, or implicated in a fake case.
At combined press meeting with local Congress representative Kuljit Singh Nagra, Balwinder Singh stated that the forthcoming zila parishad, block samiti and panchayat polls would not be free and fair until the Shiromani Akali Dal discontinued threatening applicants of the opposition.
He also said that he could not even campaign owing to danger to his life. He has lodged an appeal for defense in the Punjab and Haryana high court, and despite threat, refused to withdraw from the competition.
The police stated that the Fatehgarh Sahib deputy superintendent of police was investigating Mavi’s claims.
May 11th, 2013
Patiala: Patiala Police officials on May 09 seized 9 kilogram of ‘Mescaline’ drug, from a resident of Patran in the region.
As per reports, Atinderpal Singh of Patran has been detained with regard to the haul under a variety of sections of the NDPS Act, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) H S Mann stated.
Atinderpal stated that he had got the ‘Mescaline’ drug from close connections of the key player, who is dealing with this novel type of drug and is locked in a Rajasthan prison and operating from there, the SSP said.
Mescaline is obtained from opium, which cost between Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 1,600 per gram and is stated to be valued at around Rs. 2,000 per gram, the SSP stated adding that with the customary supply chain blocked, recovery of Mescaline explains that alternative drugs are making their way into Patiala.
Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychotropic alkaloid of the phenethylamine group, famous for its psychotropic effects like those of lysergic acid diethylamide and psilocin, Mann said.
The SSP added that the initial batch of 10.5 kilogram was recovered on May 04 from the ownership of a woman Simranjit Kaur, who was detained.
Police officials are now attempting to mark out the location of 2 other accomplices of the female, who tried to give the police a slip.
May 11th, 2013
Councillor and ex senior deputy mayor Anil Bajaj has been declared as the novel president of the Patiala (urban) region division of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The 58-year-old Bajaj bagged the appointment order on May 10 from state party president Kamal Sharma.
This will be Anil’s second period in this workplace. He has been associate of the Punjabi University governing body here and an old member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), pupil section of Bharatiya Janata Party.
The cloth merchant is councillor from ward 36 and postgraduate in political science.
He is among a few BJP heads in the city who have perfect knowledge of the community’s political matters.
“It’s a challenge for me and I promise the party workers I will work around-the-clock to defend their rights,†said Bajaj after accepting the assignment.
May 10th, 2013
Around 60 cellular phones seized from prisoners during the last 4 months have rung alarm bells for the jail authorities in Patiala.
They have been gossiping with lady friends, surfing the web, posting messages on the social networking site, Facebook and doing videoconferences through Skype on cellular phones. A criminal, who utilizes his phone as public call office (PCO), makes cash by arranging calls for other inmates.
“Reporter Saab, main jail cho bol riha wa…Aaj barrack 7 ch kaidi lad paye ne… ek jakhmi hoya…khabar bhej deo…nale eh vi likh deo ke khane di quality mari wa” (Reporter sir, I am calling you from the jail. Today, two inmates clashed in barrack 7, one of whom is injured seriously. Send a report and do mention in the story that the quality food in the prison is bad.),” is a usual call to reporters from within the Patiala Central prison.
On May 7, jail guards seized 3 cellphones concealed a foot deep inside the earth outside barrack 7.
“We don’t hide the recoveries, so our number might appear more serious other jails,” said jail superintendent Bhupinder Singh Virk. “I have launched an operation to clear the prison of drugs and cellphones. We have seized almost 60 cellular phones, and it’s disgusting that a few have been kept for over 18 months.â€
They keep them on ceiling fans, under kitchen waste, inside cracks in wooden articles and walls, and everywhere you can’t even imagine. Wrapped in plastic, some sets were found in lavatory flush tanks.
“Mostly, inmates keep mobile phone to stay connected with family but now it’s also a way to reach girlfriends and access social media,” said Virk.
Previously, there was no penalty if the phone was seized. Now an revision in Section 52-A (1) of the Prisons Act of 1894, has permitted 2-year prison for the offense, even though no court has thus far settled any case.
“Once an inmate is punished, inmates will know and respect the regulation,” added Virk.
In order to prevent the running of criminal networks from prison, the jail department has banned outside eatables and mobile phones on the campus. In the high-security prison of Nabha, which also is in Patiala district, the police last year had seized many mobile phones and exposed militants using a full-size multi-gym.
May 10th, 2013
If the last few days have been blistering, prepare yourself for hotter days.
The weather unit of the Punjabi University department has predicted heat wave conditions for Patiala and neighbouring areas from the middle of May.
The heat of the last few days by mounting dampness levels set to move eastwards, dry circumstances will exist from now on which will result in a steady increase in heat.
A slight respite is on the cards around May 11.
Thursday’s highest temperature hit 41.6 degrees Celsius whilst the minimum was 22.7 degrees Celsius.
May 10th, 2013
Patiala jail officers have detected illegal drugs in the cells of two inmates including Bhura Singh of Rajpura and Kuldip Singh, the resident of Hira Bagh.
The drugs were found during random searches of the cells.
A release from police this morning stated that two transparent packages containing smack.
After getting report from the jail supt, the Tripri police have started further investigation after filing the inmates under NDPS act.
May 10th, 2013
One man was died and one got badly injured when a truck hit a motorbike on Sirhind GT Road on Wednesday.
The police said that the driver of the truck, booked for hitting the motorbike, managed to escape from the scene.
Fatehgarh Sahib Police head Gurmeet Singh stated that the Sunil Kumar, a resident of village Bibipur and Surinderpal of village Niamumajra were cousins.
Both of them were going on the bike (PB23 P-0559).
When they reached Sirhind GT road then a truck (PB 11U 8577) coming from Rajpura side hit the bike. Both Sunil Kumar and Surinderpal were injured badly.
The police admitted them to the Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib where the doctors declared Sunil dead.
Surinder has been shifted to PGI for further treatment.
The police registered a case of negligent driving against the truck driver.
May 10th, 2013
In its first chargesheet in the Patiala land scandal, the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) stated tha ex Patiala deputy commissioner Vikas Garg was in continuous touch with the charged and had acted as the executor for selling government property after declaring it as private.
The chargesheet has named naib-tehsildar GS Walia as the key player of the scandal.
The vigilance bureau stated in its challan that Vikas charged around Rs. 80 lakh and Walia took Rs. 1.05 crore for accomplishing the act. It stated that the patwari and the kanungo took around Rs. 3.5 lakh and Rs. 2.5 lakh, respectively, for altering the papers. The charged then sold off prime administrative land valued around Rs. 250 crore to private people.
To confirm that the land under consideration belongs to the administration, the vigilance bureau has done scores of groundwork and tied papers going back to 1951, 1952 and 1957 to make it a watertight case.
Spelling problem for all the charged in the case, comprising Vikas and Walia, district revenue officer (DRO) Rajbir Singh has become an approver in the case and forwarded a report in court under section 164, CrPC that Garg and Walia were in close cooperation with the charged.
The Punjab vigilance bureau challan has also set up this charge by producing the phone info of Vikas to explain that he was in continuous touch with charged Yashpal Aggarwal, his family member Munish Aggarwal and NP Singh.
Though the challan has been made against Yashpal Aggarwal, Jaswant Singh and Devinder Sandhu, who are in prison, its main focus is on how these individuals betrayed the administration in league with functionaries.
“Walia introduced the sellers and buyers to the DC. After that, they all made a plan that Walia would send the case file to the DC for guidance. After discussing the matter, the DC would pass verbal directions to the DRO, who would then put his remarks on the file, saying, ‘File discussed with DC’. As per the report submitted by the naib-tehsildar, there is nothing on merit to deny the sale deed.’ Acting on this plan, Walia later executed the sale deed,” the DRO told the court, stating that Garg himself introduced the charged to him in the DC office.
The VB has named 45 spectators in the case, comprising divisional commissioner SR Ladhar, who carried out the investigation, vigilance inspector general V Neerja, SSP Pritam Singh, former deputy commissioner Deepinder Singh and tehsildar AS Thind. Deepinder and Thind have stated that the land belonged to the administration.
May 10th, 2013
A substantial number of administrative staff in different regions have wanted exemption from election duty, citing one cause or another, the famous being bad health.
Manny of them have either forwarded a false wedding invitation or a medical certificate to miss out the poll duty on May 19.
With the shooting event in Patti, where Punjab Youth Congress block president Sukhraj Singh Bhagupur was shot dead, the election team members are attempting their best to keep themselves away from the complete election exercise.
Offices of the region magistrates and additional deputy commissioners are crammed with such requests.
Sources added that the officials, mainly females, were more unwilling to go for election duty dreading law and order trouble. In one such example, an executive engineer today approached the bureau of a senior officer and forwarded a wedding invitation card to seek out exemption from election duty for his wife.
“I became doubtful as the card was of deprived quality. When I told the XEN that I will lodge a cheating case against him if the invitation card is found false, he accepted that the card was indeed counterfeit”, said the officer.
Several officers are currently busy discovering their links to make sure that their relative’s name is not on the election duty register.
“We are scrutinising the requests. We have already noticed several applications with false testimonials. It is strange that a large number of employees are suffering from chronic mental illness,” said ADC (D) Anindita Mitra.
Interestingly, medical certificates citing psychological and stress linked diseases top the list.
“If all the certificates are scrutinized minutely, 95% of them would turn out to be false,” said a senior IAS officer.
A administrative executive who has applied for release from election duty on medical grounds stated: “There is no insurance or social security. Violence is a regular feature in these elections. We cannot risk our lives”.
May 10th, 2013
The state administration is charged of not accomplishing its promises under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP).
Mr. Paramjit Singh Kainth, Chamar Mahan Sabha president on May 09 forwarded a memorandum in this regard for the governor to DC Arun Sekhri here.
“Under the SCSP, post-matriculation scholarship was proposed for pupils of the category but the administration’s performance on this account was nil,” Kainth, afterward, told the media people.
The proposal comprised awareness camps at rustic zones to teach the SC females regarding farm animals management, illnesses, feeding, vaccination, and de-worming.
None of these was exercised.
There was also the unfulfilled promise of providing landless and marginal families with hand-driven chaff-cutters and giving pre-selection training to youth for enrolment in defence, paramilitary forces, and the police.
“Contrary to the plan, no computer training was given to poor boys and girls after Classes 10 and 12,” said Kainth. “No equipment and raw material were supplied to 24 training-cum-production centres of the welfare department.”
Computer education to knowledgeable unemployed SC youth was to take place at the Ambedkar institutes and Bhawans at region headquarters.
It did not occur. Kainth charged the state administration of failing to use the whole money apportioned to the SCSP in the eleventh Plan (2007-2012).
“Out of the overall allocation of Rs. 11,573.83 crore, the administration had expended just Rs. 7,085.34 crore,” stated Kainth.
“The unused funds amount to around Rs. 4488.49 crore. Even the sum shown as used has been diverted to constructing roads, over-bridges and projects for general group.”
Around Rs 1 crore allocated for coaching to the SC pupils for competitive exams, and additional funds that were to be offered to unemployed SC youth for specialized airhostess, journey and hospitality supervision, hotel operation, and professional training courses was also unexpended, Kainth added, quoting from authorized figures of the directorate of the SCSP.
Today, the Chamar Mahan Sabha will forward a memorandum to the government in the city of Jalandhar, demanding a probe by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), or if there is a scam involved, the central bureau of investigation (CBI).
May 9th, 2013
Former employees of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) are not getting their pensions on time as they are still longing for their pension.
Existing staffers of Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC)  are receiving their salaries via the funds gathered by selling tickets however the matter of worry is how will retired employees’ get their pension.
Pensioners of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), who are at the 4th phase of their lives, are still sitting on a hunger stir in front of the PRTC gate in the city of Patiala.
Due to non fulfillment of their promise, the PRTC pensioners association, on Wednesday, conduced a meeting under the aegis of head Bhagwant Singh, Deputy Chairman Jeewan Ram.
They all decided to continue their protest till 15 May.
As per reports, Bachitar Singh Ludhian, Jalor Singh Faridkot, Jigar Singh barnala, Mukesh Singh Sangarur, Sukhdev Singh Budhlada, Satish Kumar Kapurthala, Gurcharan Singh Jassi Bathinda and Mohan Singh were also there.
The state administration seems biased towards the staff of the Punjab Roadways as it looks after their pays and pensions. But staff and pensioners of the PRTC are not being given their due, particularly the pensioners after putting years of service for the administration.
May 9th, 2013
Shri. S. Vijay Kumar, General Manager. (Operations & Corporate), State Bank of Patiala, on May 08, has kicked off its first point of sale machine at a Reebok Showroom situated inside the city centre (22 No. Phatak)
With the help of this machine, the customers can make purchases with the help of their credit as well as debit cards.
Mr. Kumar also stated that the banking institution will set up 2000 machines across the nation.
Bank’s Manager Shri M.V Krishna was also there.
The owners of the showroom Ruldu Ram Garg and Harsh Garg thanked the banking institution for setting up the point of sale machine.
