Tuesday 22 November 2016
Friday 18 November 2016
Punjab, 4 others get Rs 5,815 cr for water, sewerage network
Syed Ali Ahmed
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 18
AMRUT funds for 3 fiscals
- Under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), an inter-ministerial apex committee approved Rs 1,200 crore for Punjab, Rs 2,279 crore for Gujarat, Rs 1,232 crore for Rajasthan, Rs 1,042 crore for Bihar and Rs 62 crore for the next three financial years
- Rajib Gauba, secretary, Urban Development, said with these advanced approvals, accountability for realising mission objectives rested with the state governments
- He urged them to ensure implementation of reforms mandated under AMRUT
Charges framed against Kejriwal, 2 AAP colleagues
AMRITSAR: In a major development, charges were framed by a local court on Friday against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his party colleagues Sanjay Singh and Ashish Khetan in the defamation case filed by Punjab revenue minister Bikram Majithia.
Though the AAP leaders were not present during the hearing, Majithia appeared in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Ravi Inder Kaur. The next date of hearing was fixed as January 4. Majithia had filed a criminal defamation case in May this year against the AAP leaders who repeatedly targeted him on the drug issue. The minister had accused them of tarnishing his image and that of his family through false accusations.
Majithia’s counsel BS Sobti said, “In the last hearing on November 1, we had demanded framing of charges against them and the other party opposed it. The court today framed charges against the AAP leaders under Section 500, 501 and 34 IPC.”
Addressing a press conference, Majithia said, “Kejriwal should resign as Delhi chief minister immediately. No public servant had any moral right to remain in office after framing of charges against him by a court.”
He added, “If you don’t resign even now, it will prove that you don’t go by your own party’s constitution. But I think it is too much to expect from you to act honourably.”
The minister also asked Kejriwal to move an application for a day-to-day hearing in the case. Observing that he has full faith in law, Majithia said, “Kejriwal must understand that this is not Delhi but Punjab. People here fight for their honour. The Delhi CM must stop daydreaming of forming a government in Punjab.”
Majithia said he would not rest till the case was taken to its logical conclusion.“Jail is the only road ahead. The day is not far when an official vehicle will drive Kejriwal to jail,” he added.
Six-time MLA plays Dalit card: ‘If case matters, why ticket to Majithia?’
OF FOUR LEADERS WHO FIGURED IN ED PROBE INTO BHOLA DRUG CASE, SAD GAVE TICKET TO TWO, DROPPED TWO, BOTH DALITS
CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) can claim high moral ground on the issue of drugs by dropping two leaders in Doaba — former minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur and former chief parliamentary secretary Avinash Chander — as candidates in the list of 69 announced on Wednesday. But a revolt by both has raised some uncomfortable questions for SAD president and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Following claims by “druglord” Jagdish Bhola in 2014, four Akali leaders had come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate for money-laundering related to the illicit drug trade — Sukhbir’s brotherin-law and revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Ajnala MLA Amarpal Singh Bonny, Phillaur and Chander, owing to their alleged links with Goraya based businessman Chunni Lal Gaba.
Bhola had named Majithia before the media, and later his name figured in a “confessional” statement by Amritsar-based pharma company owner Jagjit Singh Chahal that was attached by the ED in its March 2015 chargesheet. Bonny’s name had also appeared in a “confessional” statement by Chahal, as “a player in the sand mining business of Majithia”. While Majithia was summoned by the ED once, in January 2015, Bonny has not been summoned so far. Name of none of the four figures as accused in challans filed by the ED in the Bhola case so far.
But Sukhbir has retained Majithia and also Bonny, son of former Rajya Sabha MP Rattan Singh Ajnala, who was earlier denied the ticket from Khadoor Sahib in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.Phillaur termed this as discrimination against Dalits, an argument that the Congress would be happy to latch on to, as it tries to woo Dalits for the polls due early next year. At 32%, Punjab has the country’s highest proportion of Dalits in terms of population, and 34 of its 117 seats are reserved.
“Majithia was named by other accused in the drug case; I was not. Then, why have I been denied the ticket? The SAD is digressing from its basic principles, including Dalit protection. It is now Sukhbir’s and Majithia’s Akali Dal, with no place for the old guard or Dalits like me,” Phillaur said after joining the Congress. “Majithia was not happy with the rise of a Dalit in the party. They want Dalit leaders to beg and bow before them,” he added.
Sarwan Singh said he had earlier been shifted from his stronghold Phillaur to Kartarpur, yet he was able to breach the Congress bastion. “Nobody had won on Akali ticket in Phillaur. Even though I was winning it, I was shifted to Kartarpur, which too I won. But I am not a landlord’s son. I am weak and a Dalit. I was made a scapegoat when the drug case exploded on Majithia,” he said.
But, while upsetting some leaders, Sukhbir has taken extra care on the Dalit front as such. He has fielded a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate, Paramjit Singh Pamma, from the unreserved seat of Kapurthala. Pamma is a brother-in-law of Sufi singer and SAD-turned-Congress leader Hans Raj Hans. He has also roped in close associates of Jalandhar-based Dera Sachkhand Ballan, which has sway over the Ravidassia sect.
Of the six MLAs replaced as candidates by the SAD this time, four are Dalits. Besides Chander and Phillaur, Gurtej Singh Ghuriana has been replaced from Balluana and Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike from Nihalsinghwala. Bhagike has threatened to contest “at all costs”.
Spokespersons from the SAD were not available for comment, despite repeated attempts.
Denied SAD ticket over ‘drug taint’, Phillaur goes to Cong
PARTING SHOT Calls Majithia ‘lord of all mafias in Punjab’; Capt defends his joining saying ‘his or son’s name not in any of the three challans filed by ED in drug cases’
CHANDIGARH: Two days after he was unceremoniously dropped by the Shiromani Ajkali Dal (SAD) as Kartarpur candidate in the first list released on Wednesday, former jails minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur joined the Congress in the presence of its state chief Capt Amarinder Singh here on Friday.
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| From right: Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh welcomes Sarwan Singh Phillaur into the party as Asha Kumari, state party affairs in-charge, looks on, in Chandigarh on Friday. |
Phillaur, who resigned from the party and as a legislator on Thursday, hit out at the ruling Badals and revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia—brother-in-law of SAD president and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal— saying he “lorded” over all mafias in the state. “It is not the same SAD that was formed on strong principles. It has forgotten them. This government is run by dacoits and mafias. And it is Majithia who heads these mafias,” Phillaur said while addressing mediapersons in Chandigarh.Playing the Dalit card, Phillaur said he was asked to resign as minister after his son, Damanvir Phillaur, and later he too was summoned by the enforcement directorate (ED) in the Bhola drug case, for being “weak and a Dalit”. He said all the accused who were questioned by the ED had named Majithia as the kingpin in the case. “We were not asked, else we would also have named Majithia,” he said in response to a question.
Phillaur was, however, elusive when asked if he was accusing Majithia of framing him and his son. “I had said on the floor of the House that I have been falsely implicated and the government should find out who is behind it,” he said.
Welcoming Phillaur into the party fold, Amarinder said neither Phillaur nor his son’s name figured in any of the three challans filed by the ED.
“Parkash Singh Badal’s hold on the party is fast disappearing and Sukhbir now calls the shots. Sukhbir has systematically finished his father’s erstwhile kitchen cabinet, of which Phillaur too was a part. Another loyalist Gurdev Badal is sick but no one from the ruling family has bothered to pay him a visit. Only Bhunder (Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder) is left. His days too are numbered,” Amarinder said.
BIR DEVINDER SLAMS CAPTAIN
Former Punjab Vidhan Sabha deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh has slammed Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh for exhibiting “indecent haste” in inducting SAD leader Sarwan Singh Phillaur into the party. “Phillaur has a pending enforcement directorate inquiry against him and his son in the infamous Bhola drug case,” Bir, expelled from the Congress, said in a statement. “He (Amarinder) has been blaming the SAD government for the drug menace… but now he stands exposed on his hypocritical stand. The tall claims that were being made by him have fallen flat.”
Badal parks 36 people in boards
APPOINTMENT OF BOARD CHAIRPERSONS, SENIOR VICE-CHAIRPERSONS OR MEMBERS COMES AHEAD OF ASSEMBLY POLLS
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday parked at least three-dozen people in seven different boards as chairperson, senior vice-chairperson or member ahead of the assembly elections.
Tarsem Singh Saini and Satnam Singh Dhanoa were rehabilitated as chairperson and senior vice-chairperson, respectively, while Manjit Singh, Gurdarshan Singh Saini and Kanwaljit Singh as members of the Saini Welfare Board. Gurdev Singh and Tilak Raj were appointed as chairperson and senior vice- chairperson, respectively, of the Rai Sikh Welfare Board and Roshan Singh, Preet Singh, Dalip Singh, Mahla Singh, Jagir Singh and Sucha Singh as members.In another please-all decision, Badal appointed Gurdeep Singh and Kewal Singh as chairperson and senior vice- chairperson, respectively, of the Kamboj Welfare Board and Hakam Chand and Jagdev Singh as members.
A spokesperson said Sukhbir Singh will take over as senior vicechairperson of Rajput Welfare Board, while Raman Kumar, Rashpal Singh, Jarnail Singh, Mangat Ram, Som Nath, Hardev Pal and Inder Singh Romana will be members.
The CM also approved the appointment of Randhir Singh, Raja Singh, Narinder Singh Sohal, Jasvir Singh Jailwal, Bhupinder Singh and Gurtej Singh as members of the Ramgarhia Welfare Board.
Meanwhile, Badal also gave the green signal to appoint Hafiz Tehseen Ahmed, member of the Punjab State Minorities Commission as its vice-chairperson. Likewise, Hussain, Tufael Muhammad and Albert Dua have also been appointed as the members of the minorities commission. And Vijay Kumar Popli will be director on the board of directors of Punjab Khadi and Village Industry Board
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