VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

Punjab to HC: CM can make person with criminal past a minister

CHANDIGARH: The state government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that law does not bar a chief minister (CM) from appointing a person with criminal antecedents as a minister.

The submissions were made in a public interest litigation (PIL), filed by Congress leader Sukhjeet Singh, in which he sought the removal of agriculture minister Tota Singh on the ground that he was convicted for corruption in 2012.

Referring to a Supreme Court judgment of 2014, the Punjab government said: “The judgment in BR Kapur’s case does not prohibit the chief minister from appointing any person as a minister, merely on the account of his criminal antecedents.” The government counsel further argued that while the SC judgment was delivered in August, 2014, Tota Singh was inducted into the state cabinet in June 2014.The high court had also put Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on notice in this petition filed in November 2015. After his conviction in May 5, 2012, Tota Singh had submitted his resignation. The minister had been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment for misusing a car belonging to the Punjab School Education Board.The remaining period of his sentence, however, was suspended and he was released on bail.

Sidhu to clear air on AAP in 10 days: Wife

 AMRITSAR: A day after Navjot Singh Sidhu panned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but stayed mum on reports of joining the Aam Aadmi party (AAP), the former MP’s wife, Amritsar-East MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, said he will “clear the air in the next 10 days”.

She also repeated that “leaving the Rajya Sabha seat means leaving the BJP; he will not go back to the BJP”. Asked which party Sidhu will join, she said, “Let him say that.” Dr Sidhu was back in her constituency after meeting her husband in Delhi. She stressed that Sidhu was sidelined by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP. “This was the only reason that he was unhappy,” she said.

“I know that people want to know; and lots of speculations are done. But let’s wait for Sidhu himself to announce his future course. He will do it in the next 10 days,” she added. Asked about her earlier statement that she will follow Sidhu wherever he goes, she repeated the stand and said, “Let him announce... then only I will do something To a question why Sidhu accepted the Rajya Sabha nomination if he wanted to work in Punjab, Dr Sidhu said, “In the very first interview after the nomination, Sidhu had said that through Rajya Sabha he will work for Punjab. But if it took him away from Punjab, he will opt not going to the Rajya Sabha. That’s what happened when he was asked to stay away from Punjab — he opted to leave it.”

GIVES SAD-BJP GOVT 3 OUT OF 10

Dr Navjot Sidhu, chief parliamentary secretary in the SADBJP government, said the people of Punjab are unhappy with the government “because of its poor policies”. Giving three on a scale of 10 to the SAD-BJP performance, she lauded the ‘mohalla clinics’ being run by the AAP government in Delhi.

Ensure withdrawal of Prez reference on SYL or resign: AAP to CM

HANDIGARH: Throwing a challenge at the Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Aam Aadmi Party has demanded his resignation on the issue of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.ddressing a press conference here on Tuesday, AAP leader and senior Supreme Court lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress were indulging in a “grand drama” over the issue and it was high time their bluff was called.

He said the two parties had been responsible for the construction of the canal and bringing the situation to a passé. “It is their doing and they should undo it. The SAD is in power and the chief minister should resign over the issue,” said Phoolka.He said the AAP had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding the withdrawal of the Presidential Reference on SYL Canal. “In case the Presidential Reference is not withdrawn within a week, the CM Punjab should resign on moral grounds. He should accept his helplessness in saving Punjab waters,” said Phookla. Accompanied by AAP’s manifesto chairman Kanwar Sandhu and legal cell incharge HS Shergill, Phoolka gave details of how the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had laid the foundation of the canal and Badal government had acquired land for it.

Reading out from the letter to the PM, Kanwar Sandhu said they had asked the PM to resolve the matter amicably by calling a meeting of chief ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and reiterate Punjab’s riparian rights to its river waters.

When asked about the ‘neutral’ stand taken by the AAPled Delhi government in the Supreme Court over the issue, Phoolka said the stand of the Punjab unit of AAP was different from that of the Delhi government. “AAP’s Punjab unit has already made it clear that Punjab has no water to share and it will not,” he said.

He said Congress and SAD were trying to outdo one another in becoming the “saviours” of Punjab waters. “But the fact is that these two parties are squarely responsible for the current situation. They are raking up the issue at a time when elections are a few months away. They are trying to befool the people of Punjab,” he said

PM invited ISI, summon him too, says Bhagwant

NEW DELHI: AAP parliamentarian Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be also summoned before a panel set up to probe the alleged breach of Parliament security, saying the decision to allow Pakistani ISI officers into the Pathankot air base was a breach of national security.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Mann asked if the Modi government’s decision to allow Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officers to visit the Pathankot airbase “had not posed danger to the country’s security”.

Mann had on Monday sought three- days of time to appear before the nine-member panel set up by the Speaker to probe his alleged breach of Parliament security.

The committee will inquire into the security implications and related aspects arising out of Mann posting an audio-visual recording of his entry into the Parliament House and going past the security pickets on social media.

In his letter to the Speaker on Tuesday, Mann said the panel will probe if the video he had made posed any threat to Parliament security.

“In 2001 ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) attacked Parliament. In 2016 the same ISI carried out an attack on Pathankot airbase. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited ISI at Pathankot airbase,” Mann alleged, referring to the visit of the Pakistani team in March this year to probe the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot airbase.Mann alleged that ISI had made maps of the key air base during its visit. The government has said the Pakistani team was not given access to the operational area of the base but only to the isolated “crime scene”.

India blamed the Pakistanbased terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for the attack and shared information with Pakistan.

Mann, in his letter, urged the Speaker to expand the terms of reference of the probe panel “Prime Minister should also be summoned. If I am guilty, the Prime Minister is 100 times more guilty,” Mann said.

JE instals hoardings to greet SAD leader

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Malout, July 26

In violation of service rules, a JE in the Public Works Department (B&R) has installed a number of hoardings in the town to congratulate SAD leader Tejinder Singh Middukhera on his appointment as Chairman of Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank.

This is not the first time when JE Sukhmander Singh Gill has installed such hoardings to congratulate a politician. Last year in October he had installed similar hoardings to congratulate SAD leader Dyal Singh Kolianwali on his elevation as the president of SAD’s Muktsar district unit.

However, no official in the administration has so far initiated any action against him which raises a question on their functioning.

Sources said, “This JE is very close to some SAD leaders of the area and to prove his loyalty he always installs hoardings in violation of service rules. This is the only reason that he has been posted at Malout since long.”

However, Gill said, “My cousin is married to Tejinder and I have installed hoardings to congratulate my relative over his elevation. I don’t bother what people think or say about this. I don’t take part in any political activity and have not done anything wrong.”

Cong parades Akali MLA’s ‘victims

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, July 26

The PPCC today publicly paraded victims of the alleged high-handedness of Akali legislator GS Babbehali during the Jan Sampark rally held here today.

The Congress had asked general secretary Raman Bahl to organise the proceedings. He pulled of a coup of sorts by lining up three of the MLA’s victims on the dais.

The move had the approval of senior PPCC leaders, including CLP leader Charanjit Channi, IYC president Raja Warring, MLAs Raj Kumar Verka and Sangat Singh Gilzian.

To ensure that a law and order problem did not crop up, the police were also taken into confidence.

Bahl added that PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh too had been informed of the decision.

The gathering was told how the MLA, over the years, had used his influence to virtually play around with their lives of people who did not toe his line.

Harjinder Singh, former sarpanch of Got Pokhar. Bahl, claimed that he had been tortured by the police allegedly at the behest of the MLA. “Several cases have been slapped against me. I was sent to jail for no fault of mine. The legislator is behind all this,” he said.

Mamta, a local resident, claimed that her in-laws, who were close to the legislator, were regularly beating her up for no fault of her. Babbehali could not be contacted despite repeated attempts

BHAGAT POORAN SINGH SEHAT BIMA YOJNA

Delay in refunds: Hospitals find it difficult to continue scheme

27 Jul 2016 | 1:11 AM

AMRITSAR: The insurance company engaged by the state government for the purpose of running the Bhagat Pooran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna (BPSSBY) has failed in timely reimbursement of the expenses to government hospitals here.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 26

The insurance company engaged by the state government for the purpose of running the Bhagat Pooran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna (BPSSBY) has failed in timely reimbursement of the expenses to government hospitals here. As a result, these hospitals are finding it difficult to continue the scheme.

With over 150 BPSSBY card holders admitted at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital associated with Government Medical College, an amount of around Rs 35 lakh is pending towards their insurance reimbursement. The college had yesterday received a payment of Rs 15 lakh after which it managed to pay up the firms from which it had been buying surgical goods, medicines and implants for the patients.

“The hospital does not have a corpus fund to make payments for goods purchased for the beneficiaries of the scheme. If we fail to make payments in time, these firms will stop the supplies. Timely refunds are necessary to continue the scheme.”

The hospital had started accepting the BPSSBY patients on May 5 this year after the Amritsar Tribune had highlighted the issue. In the past two and a half months, it has helped beneficiaries to avail themselves of the benefits amounting to around Rs 60 lakh.

With most of the civil hospitals in other districts also referring patients to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital these days, the bed occupancy has increased. “At any given time, we have over 100 patients covered by the scheme admitted to the wards for various illnesses,” said an official.

The officials said the charges refunded by the insurance company for various treatments, investigations and surgical procedures were too low. “No wonder, private hospitals are not interested in providing services to beneficiaries of the scheme. We, too, are finding it difficult to provide the required care at this cost,” said a senior official of the college.

Navjot, BJP and AAP

Politics is not IPLEver since Navjot Sidhu the cricketer was denied a go at the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, which he justifiably believed belonged to him, it has not been clear where or for what he and his equally mercurial wife stood. For sure they have neither left nor been exactly with the BJP. And their battle with the SAD in Punjab has been an even longer saga. Navjot the doctor-MLA has kept up a steady barrage of accusations against the state government. She also did most of the talking for the former MP. The arrangement worked very well to keep the BJP on the defensive — as the top leadership has been wary of their potential for damage — and also gave them a leg up to negotiate a better deal.

The Sidhus, however, seem to have perfected the art of ambiguity. Even after his first press conference since he allegedly “left the BJP”, no one is any wiser where he stands. Despite all his angst, neither he nor his wife has resigned from the primary membership of the party. The couple’s uneasy co-existence reflects rather poorly on the BJP as well. The ruling party at the Centre has given the impression that shabby political calculations prevent it from letting Navjot Sidhu speak his mind on the challenges before Punjab. A party that professes to be ideologically driven and nationalism-inspired has allowed itself to be seen as beholden to the unsavoury Akalis.

There is also strong talk of Navjot Sidhu joining the AAP, whether or not as the chief-ministerial candidate. Both have, however, put off the announcement, which gives them time to think long and hard what exactly their expectations of each other are. The party has not had an easy relationship with outspoken people. Sidhu — young, brilliant campaigner, Jat Sikh, clean — does bring a major name recognition with him, but he also brings an unpredictable and highly self-centred persona. He has no administrative experience. He is a loner and an egoist. His sudden and passionate evocation of Punjab-centric emotionalism can only add to public discomfort.