Archive for February 20th, 2008

State’s Annual Plan finalised at Rs 6,224 cr

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Chandigarh: Punjab’s Annual Plan for the year 2008-09 has been finalised at Rs 6,224 crore, a 21.7 per cent increase over the last year.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal met in New Delhi today. The Plan outlay includes an additional Central assistance of Rs 200 crore earmarked for priority projects. Last year, the annual plan was for Rs 5,111 crore. Badal said this year’s annual plan has been proposed to step up the annual growth rate, which at present is a little over 6 per cent. The national growth rate is about 9 per cent.

Despite Punjab’s increased plan size, it will be nearly 50 per cent of Haryana’s plan, which is entirely a budget plan, whereas Punjab’s plan will include components of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and other projects which are not funded from the budget.

The CM said the plan will focus on power, agriculture, education, quality healthcare, drinking water, food and employment generation. The CM impressed upon the Government of India to come to the rescue of the farmers by granting a special package, including a one-time waiver of all agriculture loans, amounting to Rs 26,000 crore. As per the national survey, the state farmers have an average debt of Rs 41,000 each, which is the highest in the country.
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Special court raps CBI for summoning unnecessary witnesses

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Chandigarh: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been hauled up by the Court of Special CBI Judge, Jagdeep Jain, in an ongoing case of corruption against Bikramjit Singh, former Principal Secretary, Punjab.

The CBI had accused him of “amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income”. The CBI had alleged that Singh had maintained a fleet of cars and a number of credit cards besides a large number of bank accounts and property. A case against him was registered by the CBI in 1997. The charges were framed against him in 2006.

The judge came down heavily today on the CBI for summoning unnecessary witnesses in the case. Taking digs at the CBI for causing delay in the case by summoning witnesses who are not even required in the case, the judge has given last opportunity to the CBI to close its evidence by April 1. The CBI also earned the wrath for causing undue inconvenience for witnesses. In one such instance, the judge observed that a witness residing in Guwahati was summoned by the CBI to testify, which could have been easily verified by some other witness. It is pertinent to mention here that the CBI Judge had been giving strict directions to the CBI since 2006, but to no avail.

The court further observed that instead of summoning the investigating officer of the case, who has not appeared in the case, the CBI was summoning unnecessary witnesses, which was in turn causing delay in the case. The CBI has been given last opportunity to close the evidence by April 1.

Source: ENS

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