LUDHIANA: The Punjab Human Rights Organization censured Punjab Agricultural University authorities for their inaction and non-cooperation in pursuing the cases of theft reported to them by the residents of the University Campus in the recent past.

The PHRO General Secretary Mohinder Singh Grewal and Administration Secretary Gurbhajan Singh Gill in a statement here said that a gang of thieves took away in broad day light house hold goods worth Rs.50,000 of PHRO Chairman D.S.Gill from his Pavte House residence in the University Campus last week.

The Estate Office and Maintenance Department of the PAU they said is not disclosing the where abouts of its employees who are suspects in the case and are said to be absent from their duties since July 16 the day of theft.

According to the human rights activists the stolen goods include one Onida TV set 31 grams of gold ornaments Rs 12000 in cash and a raw Video film on PHRO Symposium in which Bhagat Puran Singh was honored with Bhai Ghanaya Award in April this year. The theft of the film they asserted is an irreparable loss to the PHRO.

Iris intriguing why certain officials of the Estate Office of the PAU are shielding the suspects? said the PHRO Secretaries adding that they had a lotto conceal from the public.

This was the third major theft in the Pavte House apartments. There have been a number of thefts in which property worth thousands of rupees was stolen from other residential quarters in the Campus including University departments The Estate Office or the University authorities had always remained reluctant to trace out the goods they added.

The police on its past the secretaries added do not bother about thefts these days as they are more interested in hunting down Sikh youths.

NEW DELHI: Surendra Nath a former director-general of police Jammu and Kashmir a former adviser to the governor of Punjab and a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has emerged as the front-runner for the governorship of the troubled state of Punjab.

Political consensus seems to be emerging for Nath because of his acceptability amongst the various factions within the state Congress (I).

Surendra Nath’s name was proposed by the Prime Minister’s office along with the names of R.D.Pradhan a former union home secretary Gundu Rao ex chief minister of Karnataka H.L.Kapur former lieutenant governor of Delhi and Gen .K.V. Krishna Rao.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 9, 1991