The Tribune – Rajoana, Bhullar bank on unprecedented appeals

Jangveer Singh, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 21. Unprecedented appeals will decide the fate of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted of assassinating former Chief Minister Beant Singh, and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, a former militant convicted in the bomb blast that injured Maninderjit Bitta besides killing nine others.

Both cases have become emotive issues in Punjab with radical groups, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and even Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal demanding clemency for the death row convicts.

While Rajoana is lodged in the Central Jail, Patiala, Bhullar is incarcerated in Delhi. Besides, 14 other death row convicts are lodged in three jails of Punjab. But these convicts still have appeals pending in various courts besides option of mercy petitions.

Four death row convicts have seen their sentences being commuted to life sentences by former President Pratibha Patil earlier this year following a mercy petition, says Inspector General Prisons Jagjit Singh.

Earlier this year, radicals and various Sikh bodies took to the streets after a Chandigarh court sentenced Rajoana to death and fixed the date of hanging for March 31.

Rajoana won a temporary reprieve after Badal met former President Pratibha Patil on the issue. The SGPC filed an unprecedented appeal on behalf of Rajoana. His execution has been stayed till the appeal is processed by the President.

Bhullar’s appeal against his conviction by a lower court was dismissed by the apex court in 2006 and the President rejected his mercy petition in May 2011. He was extradited from Germany in 1995 in the 1993 bomb blast case.

After public petitions and support from political parties, he was given another chance to file a mercy petition.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121122/main4.htm

The Tribune – Central Government meddling in Sikh affairs, says Badal

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Tarn Taran, October 20. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has accused the Union Government of meddling in the internal affairs of the Sikh community. Badal was here to attend a religious conference organised at Bhurakona village in Bhikiwind to mark the birth anniversary of former Damdami Taksal head Sant Kartar Singh.

Criticising the proposed amendment by the Delhi Government to facilitate direct elections to choose the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president, Badal said, “The move is aimed at installing a Congress loyalist on the post.” He said he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

Making a jibe at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, he said, “The Congress lost elections because of its anti-people policies.”

Badal also inaugurated the Punjab Institute of Technology, a branch of Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar.

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The Tribune – Badal seeks Rs 5,000 cr for crop diversification plan

Sarbjit Dhaliwal, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 6. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sought an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan for crop diversification in Punjab. Seeking the Union Government’s support for giving a new direction to the farm sector in the state, Badal proposed setting up of a joint committee of senior officials of the Union and Punjab governments to prepare a roadmap for crop diversification.

While interacting with top officials of the Union Government here today, Badal said Punjab was keen to shift 12 lakh hectares of land from paddy cultivation to other crops to save its natural resources and to adjust to the changes going on at the national level in the farm sector. However, Union Government’s Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said in the first attempt, Punjab should shift 5 lakh hectares.

The Chief Minister said Punjab had prepared a plan to increase maize cultivation area by 4 lakh hectares, cotton and agro forestry area by 2 lakh hectares each, sugarcane and fodder by 1.5 lakh hectares each and vegetables by one lakh hectares.

Badal said the Centre should review its policy of blending petrol with ethanol. Blending should be increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent to promote conversion of maize into ethanol. He also urged the Union Government to expedite shifting of the Directorate of Maize Research from Delhi to Ladhowal (Ludhiana), besides making Borlaug Institute for South Asia functional at the earliest so as to develop Ludhiana as a hub for maize breeding. He also demanded opening of a Regional Centre of ICAR for research in pulses and soyabeen in the state. He demanded setting up of a centre of excellence for citrus at Abohar. He said there should be a provision for long-term bank finance and incentives to promote agro-forestry.

The central team assured Badal of all help.

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The Tribune – Badal counters Chidambaram, says militancy revival unlikely

Archit Watts, Tribune News Service

Raniwala (Muktsar), July 14. A day after attending the 26th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council of Chief Ministers held at Chandigarh, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today countered the statement of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram that threat of terrorism prevails in Punjab. “When not a single incident related to militancy took place in the state in the past couple of years, how does he foresee the unlikely situation?” he said.

Claiming that there was no chance of revival of militancy in the state, Badal said: “We are already taking preventive steps to maintain law and order in the state and recruited a huge number of policemen for the purpose.”

“Still, if Chidambaram sees the threat then why doesn’t the UPA government come forward to help us out?” Badal said while replying to a query in this regard after holding a sangat darshan programme in his Lambi assembly constituency. When asked about the Operation Bluestar Memorial, Badal said: “The opposition to the memorial by the Congress is part of its ‘divide and rule’ strategy, which they have been sticking to for the last several decades to attain power in the state”.

“The memorial will be built keeping in view religious sentiments of all communities. It is being constructed at a religious place and its purpose is also purely religious”.

Badal also termed the meeting of state Congress leaders with Chidambaram on the issue of vendetta a political gimmick. He said: “I have already replied them about such cases. The Congress leaders had brought 39 cases to my notice, which had nothing to do with vendetta”.

Asked about Haryana Chief Minister’s reaction on inter-state issues, he said: “Everyone knows that Punjab had been discriminated against. We are trying our best to get our share of everything from Haryana”.

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The Hindu – Manmohan hints at fuel price hike

Sarabjit Pandher

Bhatinda, 28 April 2012. Hinting that a hike could be imminent, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Saturday, favoured a rationalisation in fuel prices while pointing out that there was a need to ensure that the poor and needy were shielded from the effects of such an exercise.

Dr. Singh voiced his opinion while addressing a function to dedicate to the nation the Rs.21,500-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Singapore-based Mittal Energy Investment Pte Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the Lakshmi N. Mittal group.

The Prime Minister said that the challenges faced on the energy front were formidable as the country needed adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices. “Domestic sources of crude oil and gas are inadequate to meet the growing demand of our rapidly expanding economy. With imports accounting for about 80 per cent of our crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international market have put a severe strain on our import bill,” Dr. Singh said adding that to insulate the common man from the impact of rising oil prices, the government shouldered a sizable portion of the burden by pricing diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG below their market prices.

As he sounded a caution that there was no room for inefficient and wasteful usage of fuel, Dr. Singh advocated the need for rationalising fuel prices and emphasised the need to adopt better technology for ensuring efficient conservation of resources.

Speaking earlier, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, S. Jaipal Reddy, said that the crude oil import bill had crossed the Rs.10,000 crore-mark in 2010-11. Minister of State, RPN Singh, pointed out that public sector companies were shouldering combined losses of Rs.1.40 lakh-crore by providing diesel at Rs.15 less for every litre than the market price, Rs.32 less per litre of kerosene and Rs.515 less on every cylinder of LPG.

The effort by the Prime Minister and his colleagues to build a case in favour of a fuel price hike is interesting as Punjab’s ruling Akali Dal, had already announced its decision to oppose any hike in prices of diesel arguing that it would adversely impact the farm and transport sectors. There was an interesting verbal duel between Dr. Singh and Mr. Badal, with the latter sparing no accolades like “desh de mahan neta” to influence the Prime Minister to make some announcements, while he continued his anti-Centre rhetoric.

On his part, Dr. Singh defended that the UPA had always stood by Punjab’s side, which had been the torch-bearer of the Green Revolution that contributed to the nation’s food security. He pointed out that the Guru Gobind Singh refinery could come up in a record 42 months due to the support from the Union Government. He said that with such projects and dedicated freight corridors to provide Punjab with rapid connectivity to the Eastern and Western ports, the State could once again become a hub of industry and reclaim the traditional role it played for centuries.

The Chairman of the Mittal group, Lakshmi N. Mittal, said that the capacity of the refinery would be increased from 9 million metric tonnes to 18 million metric tonnes per annum within the next five months. He said that apart from meeting the energy needs of the country, the project would ensure that Punjab became a petrochemical hub, especially in the northern region initiating major trade, commercial and ancillary industrialisation activity.

Those present on the occasion included Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal, leader of BJP’s legislature party Chunni Lal Bhagat, Union Minister of State Ashwani Kumar, and Bathinda’s MP Harsimrat Kaur.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3363843.ece

The Tribune – Badal strikes nostalgic note with Pakistan Punjab CM

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 14. It was border bonhomie at its best. The inaugural ceremony of the country’s first Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari witnessed an excellent show of camaraderie among politicians of the two countries as they cracked jokes and recited couplets during their addresses at the gala function.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal set the ball rolling with his speech, which, though in English, was laced with humour in chaste Punjabi. He struck a nostalgic note by reminiscing about his college life that he spent in Lahore. He quoted a Punjabi saying “Jinhe Lahore nahi vekhya, oh jamya nahin (One who hasn’t seen Lahore is not born).”

Subsequently, he pointed towards the young generation saying “it means these people are not born yet” to drive home his point for liberal visa regime while at the same time evoking laughter from the gathering.

Badal recalled how his counterpart from Punjab in Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif gifted him ‘dumbas’ (Afghan sheep) when he visited Pakistan during the Vajpayee regime.

“Sharif Sahib those ‘dumbas’ have died and I want new ones now. I also wish I can bring cows of Sahiwal breed from Pakistan,” he told Sharif.

He said he longs for sumptuous Pakistani cuisine and hopes that the new liberal visa regime will usher in a day when one can have lunch at Amritsar and dinner at Lahore.

Sharif said he wished he could have brought with him a tiffin filled with “puri and chhole” and other delicacies liked by Badal.

Subsequently, he cracked a joke, which had the gathering bursting into peels of laughter.

Sharif concluded his speech with a couplet in Urdu and made it a point to translate it in Punjabi, so that everyone present there could understand it. Before taking his seat, he said: “Pakistan Zindabad, Hindustan Zindabad”.

In another goodwill gesture, the Pakistan Punjab CM supported Badal’s demand for opening Hussainiwala border in Ferozepur for trade between the two countries.

The two leaders also shared the pain and trauma caused by the Partition and subsequent miseries that Indo-Pakistan wars have brought to the two sides.

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma talked about sharing fruits of growth with the neighbouring country. His Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim concluded his address by chanting “Pak-Hind Dosti Zindabad.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120415/main4.htm

The Tribune – PollITicking; Badal: Poll results will sound the death knell of PPP

Archit Watts, Tribune News Service

Gidderbaha, December 15 Continuing with his tirade against former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the state electorate would teach the PPP chief a lesson by “rejecting” all Sanjha Morcha candidates in the coming assembly elections.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Gidderbaha segment, Badal said: “Manpreet’s group will not win even a single assembly seat and the poll results will send him into political oblivion because he has deceived his mother party by joining hands with the Congress.”

Dubbing Manpreet a “Congress agent”, the Chief Minister alleged that the PPP chief was harming the state interests by aligning with the Opposition party to achieve selfish goals.

Badal also used the occasion to pat his SAD-BJP government for ensuring “all-round development” during its over four years of rule. “The wise voters of the state are well aware of the fact that the SAD-BJP alliance has always ensured development whereas the Congress has always tried to derail progress,” he said.

Hitting out at the UPA government at the Centre for “not disclosing the list of 3,600 Indians” who had stashed black money in foreign banks, Badal alleged that the Congress was not making the list public as the names of several of its leaders figured on it.

A mammoth Rs 6,500 lakh crore had been hoarded by affluent Indians, “which included senior Congress leaders”, illegally in foreign banks, he alleged. “The Union Government is not making all out efforts to bring the money back.”

Badal reiterated that the Centre had made the livelihood of the common man difficult by hiking substantially the petrol prices during its tenure.

The CM also disbursed grants worth Rs 2 crore for various developmental projects in five villages of the constituency.

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The Tribune – Captain: Badal misusing SGPC funds

G S Paul, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 6. Putting up a unity show at an impressive Punjab Bachao “rally here today, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Captain Amarinder Singh continued his tirade against the Badals.

He alleged that owing to the SAD-BJP governmemnt’s “lack of vision and planning”, core issues like unemployment, poverty and trade and industry had been ignored.

He accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of misusing SGPC funds. “It is for the first time in Sikh history that Darbar Sahib accounts are running in a deficit of Rs 24 crore. This is because the Badals have been misusing gurdwara funds,” he alleged.

He said for the past five years the Badals had looted Punjab. “Whether the sand, liquor, transport or cable trade, they have not spared anything.”

He pointed out that the government’s pension and shagun schemes had failed with funds diverted for the CM’s Sangat Darshan programme.

He was unsparing in his criticism of Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram S Majithia. Accusing the CM of being corrupt, the former Chief Minister said his father had left him with 80 acres of land, but the latter now had five-star luxury hotels in Gurgaon worth Rs 2000 crore. Party affairs incharge GS Charak claimed that at the end of the Punjab Bachao rallies, “the entire Punjab would have pronounced its verdict in favour of the Congress”.

Congress Legislative Party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal accused the Badals of having betrayed the Panth. Among others who addressed the rally were OP Soni, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Prof Darbari Lal, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, Harjit Singh Thekedar, Sardul Singh, Lali Majithia and Sukh Sarkaria.

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The Tribune – Badal slams UPA for delaying SGPC session

Perneet Singh & Gurbax Puri

Tarn Taran, October 21. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today lashed out at the Congress-led UPA government “for hurting the sentiments of Sikhs” by deliberately delaying the permission for holding the first session of newly elected SGPC.

Interacting with mediapersons after inaugurating the newly constructed University College at the cost of Rs 10.47 crore here, the CM alleged that the Congress was interfering in the religious matters of the Sikhs which was not tolerable. He said earlier the Congress had delayed the SGPC elections by around two years and now it was not convening the first meeting of the newly elected body, resulting in a delay in the election of new executives of the “Parliament of Sikhs”.

“We vehemently oppose these tactics of the Congress,” he added.

Slamming the Sanjha Morcha formed by former finance minister Manpreet Badal and former CM Surjit Singh Barnala along with the Left parties, Badal said the Morcha had no standing in the state and would be routed in the forthcoming assembly elections. He said the fate of the Congress and its entire leadership of the state “which is supporting this Morcha in a covert manner” would also be the same.

“The Sanjha Morcha is, in fact, a pack of power-starved opportunists and I have full faith that the wise voters of Punjab would teach these people a lesson similar to the one taught to the Panthic Morcha in the recently held SGPC elections,” he added. According to him, the Sanjha Morcha “is directionless alliance with neither any ideology nor any mass base”.

On the possibility of SAD expanding its alliance, the Chief Minister reiterated that the SAD would welcome any such alliance which aims to defeat the Congress. When asked whether it may also forge an alliance with the BSP, he said, “We are open to joining hands with anybody who wants to defeat the Congress”.

Badal said the SAD-BJP regime had laid special emphasis to impart quality education to the students in the far flung areas of the border regions. “For the first time in the history of the state, we have constituted a separate cadre of teachers for both regions so that the meritorious students of these areas could contribute in the spreading of quality education”.

The CM also laid the foundation stone of Baba Farid University Regional Centre at Sri Goindwal Sahib. Earlier, he also inaugurated Government Adarsh Secondary School at Baler Khurd village and a model school at Valtoha. He also inaugurated a power station at Algon village, which has been upgraded from 66 KW to 220 KW.

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