Balwant Singh Buttar

The President of the Indian Youth Congress (I) has dissolved the Punjab State unit of the Youth Congress. The dissolved unit was headed by Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa S/o Mr. Satnam Singh Bajwa, a former minister who was recently removed from the office of President of the Gurdaspur D.C.C. (I) for leveling charges against the President of the Punjab P.C.C. (1) Mr. Santokh Singh Randhawa, of close links with antisocial and terrorist elements.

Mr. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia has been appointed secretary general of the Akali Dal (Longowal).

Major General Rajinder Singh sparrow former MP has been appointed President of the Punjab PCC (I) by Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. He succeeds Mr. Santokh Singh Randhawa who tendered his resignation in the wake of allegations that he had links with terrorists in Punjab.

The Punjab University has decided to have a Controller of Examinations.

The governor of the Punjab announced at Amritsar a package of goodwill to demonstrate Centers’ anxiety to move forward from a situation of stalemate. The release of some detenus, assistance for all those killed in Punjab during the past 3 years including those who suffered in the Operation Blue Star are some of the features to restore confidence in the Sikh Community. Sant Harchand Singh Longowal ‘called it a right step but the United Akali Dal, led by Joginder Singh, described the package as meaningless and eyewash.

A four year B.SC. (Forestry) course has been inaugurated at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana with a grant of Rs. 51.10 Laks by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Punjab had less than 4% of its area under Forest against the target of 20% set under the national forest policy.

The Akali Dal (L) and the Bhartiya Janata party have come up with a plan to bring the two communities closer. Mr. Jethmalani of BJP said that there was no outstanding demand of the Akalis which was so unreasonable that it could not be met.

The Centre has decided to amend the Constitution to extend Presidents Rule in Punjab by another year according to Union Minister of State for Law.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and _ industry has said that the state had incurred losses of at least Rs. 2200 crores in the last 4 months.

Special security checks have been introduced for all flights of Indian Airlines.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 19, 1985