CAPT AMARINDER RIDICULES SUKHBIR FOR TRYING TO DRAG RAHUL, GANDHI FAMILY INTO 1984 RIOTS CASE

Chandigarh, December 20, 2018: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has lashed out at Sukhbir Singh Badal for trying once again to drag the innocent Gandhi family into the 1984 riots case, in which only a few individual Congress leaders were involved without any support, covert or overt, by the party leadership.
Ridiculing the SAD president’s frustrated attempts to undermine Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, under which the Congress has recently swept to victory in the Assembly elections in three major states, the Chief Minister said it was evident that Sukhbir was desperately trying to grab at straws to fight back into the electoral game ahead of the parliamentary polls.
Lambasting the Akalis for exploiting religious sensitivities to garner electoral support, Captain Amarinder Singh asked Sukhbir to stop politicizing such a sensitive issue. Misusing religion for political gains will not yield any dividends for the SAD and would backfire on the party in the Lok Sabha elections, as it had done in the 2017 Assembly polls.
The Chief Minister reiterated his stance that while individuals who had any role to play in spreading mayhem against the Sikh community deserved to be punished and should pay for their crimes, it was irrational to try and drag the Congress party as a whole, or the Gandhis, into the case. Rahul was a school-going child and Rajeev Gandhi was away in West Bengal at the time of the violence, Captain Amarinder Singh pointed out, lambasting Sukhbir for trying to exploit the religious sentiments of the Sikhs for petty political gains.
Criminals have no religion and are not affiliated to any political party, said Captain Amarinder Singh, adding that all those responsible for perpetrating the violence in the wake of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination will pay for their crimes. The courts have already set a precedent in the case by sentencing Sajjan Kumar to life term, said the Chief Minister, expressing the confidence that others guilty of the heinous crime will also pay in the same coin.
If Sukhbir was really concerned about punishing the guilty, why had he never raised the issue of the 22 RSS/BJP workers named in the FIR registered in the case at Tughlaq Road police station, questioned the Chief Minister, adding that the entire hullaballoo being raised by the Akalis was nothing but politically motivated agenda to divert attention from their own wrongdoings and misdeeds. The Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, had never raised this issue as they believed that criminals had no political ideologies or affiliations, said the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister pointed out that he had been consistently maintaining that Sajjan Kumar was named by the victims whom he had visited in the refugee camps following the riots. The names of other Congress leaders whom Sukhbir was trying persistently to drag into the case were never mentioned, said Captain Amarinder Singh.
It was up to the judiciary, however, to nail and award punishment to the culprits, and neither Sukhbir nor any other Akali or BJP leader had any locus standii in the matter, said the Chief Minister, asking the SAD president to stop trying to take political mileage out of the issue ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Captain Amarinder Singh said every case against any individual involved in the rioting would be taken to its logical conclusion by the courts, which did not need Sukhbir’s guidance in the matter.

PUNJAB GOVT DECLARES 12 HOLIDAYS UNDER NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT ACT
Chandigarh: The Punjab Government has declared 12 holidays under Section 25 of The Negotiable Instrument Act 1881 for the calendar year 2019. Besides these 12 holidays, the Diwali festival, which will fall on 27 October, i.e. Sunday, is also a holiday.
Disclosing this, an official spokesperson said that holidays under Negotiable Instrument Act 1881 included 26th January as Republic Day, 19 Feburary Birthday of Sri Guru Ravidas ji, 21 March Holi, 1 April Bank holiday (account closing day), 13 April Ram Navmi, 19 April Good Friday, 5 June Id-ul-Fitr, 15 August Independence Day, 2 October Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi ji, 8 October Dussehra, 12 November Birthday of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and 25 December Christmas day.

PFC URGES ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO MAKE FULL USE OF ONE TIME SETTLEMENT SCHEME
Chandigarh: The Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) has reiterated that the One Time Settlement (OTS) Policy as approved by the Government of Punjab shall be the last OTS of the Corporation which shall be in vogue till March 5, 2019.
The view was echoed by the Board of Directors during a PFC meeting held here adding that after the lapse of above mentioned time limit, no further OTS shall be offered.
Exhorting the concerned parties to take full advantage of the scheme, the Board members urged them to aggressively participate in the state government’s efforts to rebuild and reenergize industrial units.
The current scheme envisages all round possibilities for complete set of stakeholders and the Board suggests that this offer should be the last one, the Board of Directors resolved at the end of the meeting.
Underlining the importance of financial viability principle, the Board also asserted that after expiry of this OTS time limit, the Corporation will strive to hand over its assets comprising the properties mortgaged to it, to some Assets Reconstruction Company (ARC) for further dealing with such assets.
Thereafter, relevant information pertaining to defaulting loan cases including the names of the principal borrowers, which still remain unsettled shall be uploaded on the CIBIL portal, the Board resolution further stated.

VIGILANCE NABS ASI FOR TAKING BRIBE
Chandigarh: State Vigilance Bureau, today nabbed Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) red handed while accepting bribe of Rs 10,000/-.
Disclosing this here an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said ASI Hardev Singh posted at police station Shimlapuri in Ludhiana district was nabbed red handed on the complaint of Bhan Singh of Gobind Nagar, Ludhiana district. The Complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the accused ASI was demanding Rs 10,000 to help his son in a dispute case.
After verifying his information, the Vigilance team laid a trap and the accused ASI was arrested on the spot taking bribe of Rs. 10,000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses. He informed that a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against him at VB police station Ludhiana and further investigation was under progress.

PANCHAYAT POLLS: TOTAL 48111 NOMINATIONS PAPERS FILED FOR THE POST OF SARPANCHS
Chandigarh: Total 48111 nominations papers have been filed for the post of Sarpanchs and 1,62,383 nominations papers filed for the post of Panchs in Punjab up to the last date of filling the nomination papers for the Panchayat Elections.
According to spokesperson of the State Election Commissioner, Punjab, the date for withdrawal of the nominations would be 21st December, 2018 which would also be the date for allotting the election symbols to the candidates. The voting would be held on 30 December, 2018 from 8 AM till 4 PM and counting of votes would be held same day after concluding polling of votes. He said that 13276 Sarpanchs and 83831 Panches would be elected for 13276 Panchayats. The Spokesperson further said that there are total 12787395 registered voters in the state for these elections, out of which 6688245 male, 6066245 female and 97 third gender voters. State Election Commission has established 17268 polling booths and 86340 personnel will be deputed on election duty.
Elaborating more he said that the expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for the post of Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 30,000 where as the limit for those contesting for post of Panch has been fixed at Rs. 20,000.

Consumer Protection Week from December 24
Chandigarh: To spread awareness among consumers about their rights the National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) will be launched in the State on December 24, 2018, informed the spokesman from Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Punjab.
This year’s theme for celebration of NCPW is “Timely Disposal of Consumer Cases”, said he and added that during the weeklong celebration from December 24 to December 30, various awareness programs would be organised at district level, in rural and urban areas with active involvement of Consumer Rights Activists and the representatives of Consumer Affairs Organisations.
To educate the consumers about their rights and relevant acts on consumer protection, during this period, functions, meetings, rallies and exhibitions would be organised and literature would be distributed. The landmark judgements pronounced towards rendering relief to consumers would be highlighted and attempts would be made at the level of Divisional Commissioners/ Deputy Commissioners, to redress the problems flagged by Consumer Affairs Organisations.
The departments involved in large scale public dealing would organise grievances redressal programs and the schools, colleges and other educational institutions would host poster making, essay writing and quiz competitions on Consumer Protection.