Punjab CM announces projects worth Rs 2,140 cr in Jalandhar
Shahkot, June 14: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced development projects of Rs 2,140 crore for Jalandhar and Shahkot as a gesture of gratitude to the people for ensuring the Congress candidate's victory in the Shahkot bypoll.
Addressing a thanksgiving rally here, the Chief Minister said the Congress was indebted to the voters of the Shahkot assembly segment, who had ensured a sweeping victory for party's candidate Hardev Singh Laddi to secure two-thirds majority for the Congress in the state assembly.
Announcing a slew of infrastructure and other development projects, he asked legislators Rana Gurjit Singh and Laddi to submit a detailed proposal of projects for Shahkot so that the funds, as needed, could be released at the earliest.
While work on four-laning of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur, up to Himachal border (National Highway 70) had already started at a total cost of Rs 1,069 crore, another Rs 1,000 crore had been allocated for four-laning of Jalandhar bye-pass linking National Highway 70 and 71 from Jandhu Singha to Pratappura via Jamsher, said Amarinder Singh.
Other infrastructural development projects announced by him included construction of road over bridge on the Chougeti-Ladhewali road, besides widening and strengthening of the Jalandhar-Jandiala-Nurmahal-Talwan road, on which work had commenced.
Former Minister Gurjit Singh sought a special package for the Doaba region, urging the Chief Minister to get the Bist Doab canal concrete lining project worth Rs 150 crore completed to facilitate the farming community, and to save depleting ground water.
He also sought setting up of a medical college in the Doaba region to impart quality health services to the people.
Earlier, Laddi demanded setting up of a potato processing unit near Malsian to boost the interests of the potato farmers.
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SC refuses to entertain plea against deletion of names from WB voter list, terms it ‘premature’
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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by a group of 13 people seeking its intervention in the deletion of their names from the voter list during the Special Institutional Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, where polling for the first phase of the assembly election will be held on April 23.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi termed the petition "premature", directing the aggrieved parties to approach the established appellate tribunals instead.
"Since the petitioners (Quaraisha Yeasmin and others) have already approached the appellate tribunals… in our considered view, the apprehensions expressed in the petition are premature. If the plea is allowed, then necessary consequences will follow,” the bench said in its order, adding that it has not expressed any views on the merits of the plea.
The plea alleged that the Election Commission was summarily deleting names without following due process, and that appeals against these deletions were not being heard in a timely manner.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has set up as many as 19 tribunals headed by former HC chief justices and judges to decide appeals against deletions of names of persons from the voters’ lists.
Senior advocate D S Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, informed the court that there are approximately 30 to 34 lakh appeals currently pending. "Every tribunal now has over one lakh appeals to handle," the bench said.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the EC had failed to place necessary orders before the relevant judicial authorities and that the "freezing date" for the electoral rolls should be extended.
"If I am not allowed to argue, then what is the use? Will these appeals be decided within a timeframe or just kept extending?" the counsel asked.
Justice Bagchi, during the hearing, referred to the sanctity of the electoral process and said the right to vote is not merely a constitutional formality but a "sentimental" pillar of democracy.
"The right to vote in a country you were born in is not just constitutional, but sentimental. It is about being part of a democracy and helping elect a government," he said.
He, however, said that the tribunals, manned by former judges, cannot be overburdened by fixing the timelines for adjudications.
"It is not the end justifying the means, but the means justifying the end," Justice Bagchi said.
"We need to protect due process rights. The voter should not be sandwiched between two constitutional authorities," he said, adding that it would not interdict the election process at this stage.
Justice Bagchi noted that the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice had already formulated the manner and mode for appeals, which began on Monday.
"Unless and until an enormous number of voters are excluded or it materially affects the election... the election cannot be cancelled," the bench said, adding that judicial intervention is intended to "promote elections, not interdict them."
The CJI emphasised that the petitioners must exhaust their remedies before the appellate tribunals.
Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
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