CONG CALLS FOR MARCH TO GOBINDPURA ON SEPT 2

 Punjab Congress president Capt. Amarinder Singh said his party would continue to agitate in support of the farmers of Mansa, and would march to Gobindpura on September 2. The coming SGPC elections would not be a referendum on the performance of the Akalis, he said; that would be in February 2012.

At a joint press conference, Amarinder, along with Congress in-charge Gulchain Singh Charak and legislative party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, said the SAD-led government had betrayed the people on land acquisition. The “only solution”, Amarinder said, would be for the government to give compensation of Rs 50 lakh per acre to the farmers, jobs to two members of the family, and a Rs 45,000 per year annuity for 33 years.

Punjab, Amarinder said, must go by the Haryana Land Acquisition Policy until the National Land Acquisition Policy is in place. “The government gave only Rs 23 lakh per acre, and armtwisted farmers to accept the deal. “On September 2, we will go to Gobindpura, and face arrest if needed. From that day onward, 100 volunteers from all over the state will march to the village every day,” Amarinder said.

Read More:http://www.punjabmailonline.com/#52676

Kamal Sachdeva suspended from Congress

Kamal Sachdeva from Jallandhar has been suspended from the primary membership of the Congress for gross indiscipline by trying to undermine the image of the party with his behaviour.

According to the suspension notice issued to Sachdeva by the PCC vice president Mr Laal Singh, on the directions of the PCC President Capt Amarinder Singh, he has been asked as why further action should not be taken against him. He has been asked to submit his reply with seven days.

Read More:http://punjabnewsline.com/content/kamal-sachdeva-suspended-congress/33076

Only one MLA attends district Cong committee meeting

Three Congress MLAs, namely Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Makhan Singh, from this district failed to turn up at a meeting of the District Congress Committee (Rural) held at its office here today in connection with the preparations for the party’s September 2 ‘morcha’ at Bareta (Mansa) opposing the land acquisition for the Gobindpura thermal power plant. The only MLA who participated in the meeting was Ajaib Singh Bhatti (Nathana). The meeting was held under the presidentship of the party’s district president (Rural) Narinder Singh Bhaleria.

In the September 2 programme, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh and CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal will also take part.

When asked about the absence of three MLAs, Bhaleria said Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu was mobilising the people in the villages of his Assembly constituency for the September 2 programme while Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Makhan Singh had gone to Chandigarh to attend a meeting.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110827/bathinda.htm#3

Busy in SGPC polls, SAD overlooking flood crisis, allege Cong leaders

The Congress has alleged that the ruling SAD leadership is busy in the SGPC elections while the people living in flood affected villages along the Sutlej river are facing a tough situation.

After visiting the flood affected areas in the Ferozepur and Moga districts, former health minister and senior Congress leader Dr Malti Thapar said the SAD leadership should take care of the residents affected by the floods rather than drawing strategies to win over the religious sentiments of Sikh masses in the ensuing SGPC elections.

She said many villages in the Dharamkot tehsil of the Moga district and other adjoining villages of the Ferozepur district are surrounded by the flood waters.

"The local administration has not provided any help to the affected people," she claimed.

She said the local people of flood affected villages have informed her that the administration has not provided them with boats, fodder for cattle and medicines.

She met the sarpanches and panches of a few villages and inquired about their problems. "I would send a detailed report of your problems to the Union Government through a proper channel for immediate relief," she assured the people. Dr Thapar said the state government should deploy medical veterinary and officers for 24 hours in the flood affected areas with regular supply of medicines to check the spread of dreadful diseases.

Adding that the people were suffering from many kinds of skin ailments and viral fever, she alleged that the state government has not provided adequate medicines for them. She also demanded the government to order a special 'girdawari' for evaluating losses to the crops.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110823/bathinda.htm

Cong to launch morcha against Mansa acquisition

The Punjab Congress will launch a morcha on September 2 by courting arrest in batches to force the government to scrap land acquisition for Indiabull’s Gobindpura thermal project in Mansa district.

Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh will lead the agitation, which will be started at Baretta mandi from where Congress activists will march to Gobindpura. The PPCC president said here today that party workers would defy prohibitory orders and continue to court arrest till the land acquisition process was scrapped. He said everyday one District Congress Committee would take the responsibility of leading the agitation.

Till now, it is the Akalis that have been known for their morchas, including the Jaito and Kapoori morchas, which were organised to force the British to restore the throne of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha and ensure that the Punjab waters did not flow into the Sutluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

The Akalis had used the same tactics as proposed by Amarinder when the then SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and MP Sukhbir Badal were lodged in the Patiala jail in December 2003.

Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110820/punjab.htm

SAD, CONG READY FOR SHOW OF STRENGTH AT RAKHAR PUNIA FAIR

Ahead of the crucial SGPC elections on September 18, the ruling SAD would be sounding the poll bugle during the Rakhar Punia fair at Baba Bakala, around 30 km from here, on Saturday. The Congress, on the other hand, would also utilise the occasion to put up a show of strength.

Youth Akali Dal chief Bikramjit Singh Majithia, who is putting in great effort for the SAD rally, stated that “theirs would be a massive show of strength”. “Our pandal is almost double the size than that of the Congress and we are expecting a minimum turnout of anywhere between 70,000 and 80,000. Our supporters will come from only Amritsar district while the Congress is mobilising support from three districts,” he said.

According to him, they would expose the “true face of the Congress” before the people and tell them as to how it “has tried to finish off Punjab, religiously, socially and politically”. “The Congress may have changed its strategy but its designs are the same. It is now indirectly trying to break the SGPC and weaken Sikhs through people like Paramjit Singh Sarna and Ravi Inder Singh,” he added.

Src.http://www.punjabmailonline.com/#52301

SUKBIR''S ANNOUNCEMENTS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: CONG

The announcements made by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal at Jalandhar to woo the urban voters ahead of next year's state Assembly polls are "too little too late", Congress today said.

"The people of Punjab cannot be fooled by the tempting promises of Sukhbir Singh Badal which have no scope of being executed," Congress spokesman and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari said at a meeting of party workers here. Sukhbir Badal had made series of announcements in Jalandhar yesterday, which were related to urban development in the state.

Among the packages were grant of municipal corporation status for big cities like Moga, Phagwara and Pathankot, extending non-construction period of buildings up to 15 years and amnesty in payment of arrears of house tax, water supply and sewerage charges.

 Tewari claimed that for the last four and a half years the Akali-BJP government did nothing "except for looting and robbing the state of all its resources." The Congress leader said people know the real face of this government and such announcements at the fag end are not going to help.