Badal denies having met Barnala or any of his family member

By Punjabnewswire4u

BADRUKHAN (SANGRUR) NOV 13

       Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today categorically said that he had no meeting with former Chief Minister Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala or any of his family members for their plans to rejoin Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as reported recently in media.

       Mr. Badal was addressing the media persons on the sidelines of state level function to mark birth anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh here at his native village Badrukhan.

       Replying to another query specifically pointing PPCC President Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa that what action has been taken by the state government against those involved in illegal land deals, the Chief Minister said that government was minutely examining the land record and stern action would be taken against all those found guilty. Mr. Badal further mentioned that he had never believed in the vendetta politics adding he said that it was the culture of Congress party and its leadership only. He also reminded that he himself and his family members along with many colleagues were targeted during the Congress regime but SAD-BJP government had never indulged in such vendetta politics ever.

       Expressing concern over the delay in the installation of Bronze statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Mr. Badal directed the authorities to expedite the process in this regard and assured that it would be soon installed.

       Addressing a mammoth gathering on the occasion Mr. Badal, while paying glorious tributes to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, said that there were probably two Monarchies known for their secularism practically in real, first was Ram Raj and other was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's regime.  He said that Maharaja was a great ruler who ruled over a vast empire from Peshawar to Jammu & Kashmir while upholding the ethos of communal harmony and brotherhood. He said that Maharaja Ranjit Singh had always acted as a source of inspiration for their Government to provide value based administration with humane approach to our people.

       He also said that Maharaja felt the pulse of the people and extended all possible help and support whenever they were in distress or pain. Mr. Badal pointed out that Maharaja was an ideal before us to ensure clean, transparent and efficient administration.

       Speaking on the occasion Member Parliament and Secretary General Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa welcomed Mr. Badal and said that Maharaja Ranjit Singh was an icon of secularism and efficient administration. Sharing his views about the secular approach of SAD-BJP government he further said that by there was not even a single person in the state who could say that SAD-BJP government had not given due respect, honor and representation to their community during its regime. He also quoted that Mr. Badal had refused to become Vice-President to the country just to keep on serving Punjab and its people.

       On this occasion Finance Minister Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa, said SAD-BJP Government under the guidance of Mr. Badal was following the legacy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to provide pro-people administration in the state. He said Mr. Badal was alive to the basic problems and hardships being faced by the common man and making concerted efforts to address all these issues on the priority throw various social welfare schemes.

       On this occasion, Mr. Badal handed over a cheque of Rs. 30 Lac to Panchayat for the development works at village Badrukhan. He also honoured the relatives of Maharaja residing in this village.

      On the occasion Mr. Parkash Chand Garg and Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas (both Chief Parliamentary Secretary) besides BJP leader Mr. Jatinder Kalra also paid rich tribute to Maharaja Ranjit Singh on this occasion including.

        Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included MLA Iqbal Singh Jhundha and Mr. DS Guru besides many SAD & BJP leaders. 

Vast network of supply of synthetic drugs to Europe, Canada, UK exposed

By Punjabnewswire4u

PATIALA, NOV 12

The preliminary questioning of Jagdish Bhola, kingpin and mastermind of a massive synthetic drug racket who was arrested by the Punjab Police yesterday from near New Delhi along with four associates, has unveiled an intricate and sophisticated network of supply of synthetic drugs to markets in Europe, Canada and the UK.

Disclosing this here today, Mr. Hardyal Singh Mann, SSP, Patiala said that  Bhola and his four associates were nabbed from the Shaan-e-Punjab Dhaba near Ghanaur after months of patient tracking and follow-up by a joint team of Counter Intelligence and Patiala Police led by Sh. Simratpal Singh Dhindsa, Assistant Inspector General of Police, CI/Operations and including Sh. Bhupinder Singh Khatra, SP/Rajpura, Sh. Tejinderjit Singh Virk, DSP/Counter Intelligence and Sh. Arshdeep Singh, DSP/Nabha. He revealed that the police teams conducted reccee, posted cut-outs and chase parties on both sides, zeroed in on the RV point near Shaan-e-Punjab dhaba where the gangsters were meeting and overpowered them.

He informed that according to the preliminary questioning, the drugs would be transported from India to foreign countries primarily by using air cargo, and, also through human couriers. Camouflaging of air cargo used innovative techniques like hiding the contraband in the heels of footwear, books, false cavities in containers, ladies suits, condiment & food product boxes, and even picture frames of religious personalities.

He said that as per the interrogation of arrested persons, over 300 kgs of synthetic drugs like ICE (M-amphetamine) and other high-quality drugs like heroin were smuggled out of India by the Jagdish Bhola-controlled drug racket. The network operated in a sophisticated manner using cut-outs, different persons for packing and packaging, transportation, receiving and distributing the consignment of contrabands. Among other modus-operandi, sports clubs based in Canada and Europe were used for distribution of contraband consignments.

Besides this, disclosures about the involvement of Chinese, Vietnamese and other foreign nationals in the drug racket has also been made. These foreign nationals were involved in the preparation of synthetic drugs from the precursor chemicals and were especially sent to India by the foreign recipients for ensuring quality control of the manufactured synthetic drugs. Important clues for the identification of these foreign nationals actively involved in the drug trade in India have been developed and are being shared with appropriate agencies for legal follow-up regarding their criminal liability, he added.               

He further said that during the investigation, several recipients of contraband consignments of the Jagdish Bhola network have been identified:

(i)      Sarabjit Singh @ Nick s/o Ajaib Singh r/o village Baliaon, PS Samrala, police district Khanna (now in Delta BC, Vancouver)- former kabaddi player

(ii)     Nirankara Singh Dhillon r/o Apra, PS Phillaur, district Jalandhar (now in Brampton, Ontario, Canada)- father-in-law of Kulwant Singh arrested in the Anoop Singh Kahlon case

(iii)    Harbans Sidhu r/o Burj Lit, PS Raipur, Ludhiana (now in Toronto)

(iv)    Dara Singh Mathoda r/o village Mathoda, PS Phillaur, district Jalandhar (now in Vancouver)- Promoter of  Azad Kabaddi Club- a famous sports outfit in Toronto 

It may be mentioned here that the information about the foreign recipients, particularly in Canada was earlier shared and jointly developed with the Canadian authorities. The information was shared with the Police Liaison Officer in the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi by the Punjab Police in a high level meeting presided over by Sh. Hardeep Singh Dhillon , Additional Director General of Police, Intelligence, Punjab and further developed by the Punjab Police. Particulars of recipients in UK and Holland have been developed, details of which will be mentioned subsequently, after the requisite follow-up action with the concerned authorities in India and abroad has been taken. 

The SSP said that Sarabjit Singh @ Saba, an associate of Jagdish Singh @ Bhola arrested along with him on November 11 started his criminal career as a master vehicle thief who stole hundreds of vehicles from Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan etc. other than from Punjab. Gradually, Saba got involved in crimes with multiple modus-operandi and also became a major operative of the drug racket controlled by Jagdish Singh @ Bhola. Sarabjit @ Saba is a hardcore criminal involved in many crimes including drug trafficking, robberies, kidnapping, dacoity etc.  Some of the FIRs are as under:-

(i)     FIR No. 251 of 2011, PS Sector 5 Panchkula- recovery of 10 kg opium- Saba is a PO

(ii)    FIR No. 56 of 2013, PS Banur- massive recovery of synthetic drugs- Saba is a PO

(iii)    FIR No. 117 of 1997, PS Raja Sansi, district Amritsar Rural- robbery case u/s 382 IPC

(iv)   FIR No. 190 of 1990 u/s 392 IPC, PS Panchkula- aggravated robbery case

(v)    FIR No. 13 of 2002 u/s 342/392/365/120-B IPC registered in Surat, Gujarat

Sarabjit Singh @ Saba, alongwith Baljinder Singh indulged in drug trafficking on a very large scale. Baljinder Singh is a hardcore criminal who is heavily involved in heroin trafficking and synthetic drug racket controlled by Jagdish Singh @ Bhola. He further said that during the house search of Jagdish Bhola at Patel Nagar, New Delhi a visa stamping machine, 26 passports and other documents have been recovered. The passports include 1 British, 8 Canadian and 17 Indian passports. The stamping machine was used for affixing fake visas of foreign countries including the US, Canada and European countries. Jagdish Bhola was staying in two flats in Patel Nagar owned by Harmohinder Singh, belonging to village Rajpura in Phillaur. Harmohinder Singh was involved in travel agent business and is presently absconding. Systematic examination, by a Counter Intelligence Wing team, of the equipment, passports and documents recovered from Patel Nagar is being done.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Police, Punjab has granted Director General’s Commendation Disc to Sh. Simratpal Singh Dhindsa, AIG/CI/Operations, Sh. Bhupinder Singh Khatra, SP/Rajpura and Sh. Tejinderjit Singh Virk, DSP/Counter Intelligence in recognition of the good work done by these officers in developing the available operational leads and conducting the tracking and trapping of the infamous drug racketeers. In addition, the Director General of Police, Punjab has also granted local rank promotions to 5 police officials, including three from the Counter Intelligence Wing and two from district Patiala for the good work done. Two Head Constables of Counter Intelligence and one HC of district  Patiala have been promoted to the local rank of Assistant Sub Inspector, one ASI of Counter Intelligence and one ASI of district Patiala have been promoted to the local rank of Sub Inspector.

Further investigations in the drug racket are being conducted in order to completely expose the networking and contacts in an end-to-end manner. Liaison with outside agencies, other police organizations, examination of equipments and documents recovered from the Patel Nagar hideout of Jagdish Bhola is being done by the Counter Intelligence Wing under the supervision of Sh. Gaurav Yadav, Inspector General of Police/Counter Intelligence. The arrested persons were today produced in the concerned courts where police remand for their further custodial interrogation was secured. Further investigations are ongoing.

Dasmesh Academy to be leading educational institution: Badal

By Punjabnewswire4u

SRI ANANDPUR SAHIB NOV 12

        Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today reiterated his firm commitment to showcase the prestigious Sri Dasmesh Academy as one of the leading educational institutions in the country besides developing it as an institute of national repute to enable the students of the academy to seek training for permanent commission into the armed forces through the National Defence Academy on the pattern of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) at Mohali.

Presiding over the 32^nd annual sports meet here at Sri Dasmesh Academy, the Chief Minister said that his dream project of AFPI has proved to be a grand success as several students after having got trained there, have been successfully commissioned into armed forces and thus he was now seriously contemplating to develop Sri Dasmesh Academy on AFPI pattern, as it had already a well-knit infrastructure for proper training of aspirants for joining NDA as their career.  Mr. Badal pointed out that this move was all the more important especially in the wake of current scenario of declining trend of recruitment of the officers in armed forces from Punjab, which was once the highest in the country and now it was the high time to reverse this trend so that our bright youngsters could opt armed forces as their profession thereby keeping the glorious traditions of valour and joining armed forces alive. 

The Chief Minister said that in the last three years since 2011 a fresh lease of life was injected into the academy by making provision for every kind of help from the resources of Punjab government to improve the infrastructure and educational standards.   Apart from the requisite financial assistance, the expertise and services of several retired defence officers were envisaged to put the academy on the strong footing which had lost its sheen due to blatant neglect of the previous Congress government, Mr. Badal added. 

On the occasion, the Chief Minister announced to construct an auditorium besides strengthening the existing sports infrastructure in the academy and gave away prizes to the winners. 

In his welcome address, the Director Sri Dasmesh Academy Major General JS Ghumman,VSM (Retd) said that the Academy which was a brain child of Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, was now again on the path of progress and successfully imparting training to the students hailing from Punjab especially from rural areas to join Defence Forces as Officers.  The Academy had initiated a  NDA Training Wing  for imparting training to qualify the written test as well as interview being conducted by the UPSC from the next academic session in which 35 students would be admitted in first session to whom free boarding & lodging would be provided. He also mentioned that a language lab would be set shortly in the academy had planned to improve the communication skills, for which best faculty would be soon hired.

      Earlier, the Principal of the academy Col. Amarjit Singh (Retd.) read out the annual report of the academy highlighting the significant achievements in the field of sports, academics and extra-curricular activities.   

      Later talking to the media persons, the Chief Minister said that the Punjab government would soon place an additional grant of Rs.5 crore at the disposal of every assembly constituency to ensure overall development works and welfare schemes for its people on the priority.  Replying to a query about the availability of funds, Mr. Badal said that the state government had already worked out modalities in this regard. 

      On the issue of organizing a rally at Moga on December 21 to be presided over by the Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister said that it would be a joint rally to be organized by SAD-BJP.  He said that it would be a mega show and all the arrangements and logistics were being worked out by the senior leadership of both the parties. 

Showering heaps of praise on the noted ace cricketer and master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Mr. Badal said that he was a heart throb of millions of cricket lovers across the world and without mincing any words he said that there was hardly any leader who has got love and affection of such enormity from his admirers and well wishers from the country.

      Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Rural Development & Panchayat Minister Mr. SS Rakhra, MLA Ropar Dr. Daljeet Singh Cheema, Member SGPC Mr. Amarjit Singh Chawla besides the parents of the students also attended the function. 

US women band "Flor De Toloache" to perform in Khalsa College

By Punjabnewswire4u
AMRITSAR, NOV 9

Historic Khalsa College and Indian Academy of Fine Arts (IAFA) will host United States’ first all-women band `Flor De Toloche’, a musical and dance group, on Monday. They will perform at College’s main hall and later at the art gallery auditorium where a fusion of dance and music will be presented with association of Khalsa College for Women (KCW) students.

The US band include nine artists who with help of traditional instruments including violin, trumpet, guitarron (bass), vihuela (five string guitar) and guitar perform on stage. The program is part of inter- cultural exchange programs of the US with India and is
sponsored by Embassy’s American Centre, New Delhi. The group said Embassy officials celebrate North America’s continental integration through music and dance.

``It will be special performance at the College and we are happy to host the group’’, said Khalsa College Principal, Dr.Daljit Singh. He said the slot of the band will be part of the annual cultural program of the College `Sur-Sangam’. ``Such programs enhances the cultural understandings of the democracies of the world like India and US’’, said Dr.Singh adding that the US band include members from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Germany, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

"We are proud to showcase this unique and lively art form," says Joshua Polacheck, the U.S. Embassy's North India Cultural Attache, in a statement adding that Mariachi is the music form that transcends regional or political boundaries. IAFA President Rajinder Mohah Singh Chhina said they were looking ahead to host the unique presentation of fusion between mariachi music and Punjabi dance about `love legends’ of Her-Ranjha, Sassi-Punnu , Sohni-Mahiwal and Mirza-Sahiban.

``It is highly inspiration move to initiate such inter-cultural exchange programs’’, said Chhina.

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