A special correspondent, Prabhjit Singh is the bureau chief at Bathinda. He specialises in investigative stories, with rural reporting being his passion.
Articles by Prabhjit Singh
PTI Recruitment scam: PCS officer on contract in loop now
After a weeklong drama of investigating how 53 people who never applied were appointed physical training instructors (PTIs) in Punjab's schools, the education department doesn't know who tampered with a merit list and paved way for 849 appointment in August last year.
Updated on Aug 31, 2013 10:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Book scam: Minister formed panel, says DEO
The Jindal Commission on Monday concluded the task of recording the evidence of all three suspended officials in the book scam case, with the submission of suspended district education officer (DEO) Vinod Kumar, who admitted to having tendered the supply of library books to the Mansa firm in question. Prabhjit Singh reports
Updated on Aug 27, 2013 11:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Recruitment scam: 70 tainted Pb staffers summoned
After the shady appointments of at least 53 who never applied, it is time for the Punjab education department to re-examine at least 70 appointed physical training instructors (PTIs) in schools for their credentials to hold the post.
Updated on Aug 27, 2013 09:48 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Debt relief in name only
A draft law on relief gathering dust for eight years testifies the ruling party's concern for the heavily indebted farmers of Punjab. With chief minister Parkash Singh Badal keen to have a law for regulating the private money-lending system, it's now to be seen whether the Punjab Mandi Board chairman (Ajmer Singh Lakhowal) nominated by his party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), would take up the matter with him during the meeting scheduled this week.
Updated on Aug 26, 2013 12:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Another official in focus as party to illegal hiring
A senior official who could have halted the illegal hiring of physical training instructors (PTIs) in government schools instead pitched in to sign the appointment letters for those who had never even applied for the job.The HT had reported on Saturday and Sunday on the illegal recruitment of at least 70 PTIs, with education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka and director of public instructions (secondary education) Kamal Garg accepting that there had been "irregularities" and promising an investigation.
Updated on Aug 26, 2013 12:06 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
1-yr gap between counseling and appointments
Admitting “irregularities” in the appointment of physical training instructors (PTIs) in Punjab government schools, education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka on Saturday came to the rescue of director public instructions (DPI)-secondary education Kamal Garg for the illegal appointments of at least 53 non-candidates in a drive to recruit the PTI teachers. LIST OF APPOINTEES
Updated on Aug 24, 2013 09:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
53 didn't apply, yet got jobs in Punjab education dept
Another scam has come to light in Punjab's beleaguered education department. This one pertains to the recruitment of 53 people who didn't even apply for posts of physical training instructor (PTI) in government schools, according to information procured under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. LIST OF APPOINTEES
Updated on Aug 23, 2013 07:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Tainted PSEB official's suspension revoked
Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka's close associate Gurtej Singh would resume work in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Monday as his suspension for the scandalous purchases in the education department has been revoked.
Updated on Aug 19, 2013 12:34 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Science kits in schools point to scam
In the face of education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka's denial to having ordered the purchase of science lab kits in schools, a supplier has asked the state for payment of Rs 58.53 lakh for the consignment.
Updated on Aug 10, 2013 12:51 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Probe nexus in 6 weeks, high court tells SIT
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday set a six-week deadline for the special investigation team (SIT) probing illegal mining in Punjab to submit its final report with "emphasis on the nexus" in the entire gambit of illegal mining.
Updated on Aug 08, 2013 12:40 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Sand mafia clash claims life in Machhiwara
A clash among the mining mafia at Dhurewal village near Machhiwara in Ludhiana district has claimed a life. The fight was not for control over a quarry but the fallout of a group extorting money from those carrying the illegal consignment of sand.
Updated on Aug 02, 2013 10:46 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Machhiwara
Punjab loses pilot project for road crash victims
A pilot project under the country's first-ever cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims has been shifted from Punjab to Rajasthan after a one-year delay in its launch.
Updated on Jul 26, 2013 12:08 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Maluka-Pannu tussle: DGSE shifted; all is well, says minister
In minister versus bureaucrat, the politician takes the game, as the officer is moved to a "better" assignment. Punjab's director general school education (DGSE) Kahan Singh Pannu, who is also project director of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Centre's universal education programme, was on Monday transferred as agriculture secretary after more than a month of tussle with education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka over the alleged misuse of the SSA funds.
Updated on Jul 23, 2013 12:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh:
Maluka disowns tainted panel
Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka on Friday claimed that he had never assigned the task of purchasing books to the three officers who were suspended after the book scam was unearthed.
Updated on Jul 20, 2013 12:17 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Romancing the shoes
In the good old student days, I enjoyed adjusting devotees' shoes in racks at the capital's Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, for a couple of hours each day between classes at Delhi University and the YMCA Institute of Mass Media. Two decades later, I was back at my favourite task of doing "seva" (volunteer service) and taking care of hundreds of shoes of the "sangat" (devotees). Prabhjit Singh writes.
Updated on Jul 18, 2013 09:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh
ETO suicide: Widow picks holes in chargesheet
The widow of excise and taxation officer (ETO) Ranjit Singh has moved the SAS Nagar court for further investigation in the case against suspended Punjab cops facing trial for abetment to suicide and framing the ETO on trumped-up bribery charges while being in the vigilance bureau (VB). The ETO had committed suicide in April 2011, a month after the fake trap.
Updated on Jul 08, 2013 04:36 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Pannu assault case: 12 days on, assaulters still free
Twelve days after Punjab IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu was thrashed and abused while on duty during the rescue operations in Uttarakhand, the culprits are still on the run. Uttarakhand Police, pre-occupied by the relief and rescue operations after natural calamity, have made no headway in the assault case registered on June 28
Updated on Jul 06, 2013 09:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
VB trap cases: Complainants to get bribe money refund immediately
There is good news for those hesitating to approach the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) for a sting against bribe-seekers - their money used in such traps would now be refunded immediately after the registration of the case.
Updated on Jun 30, 2013 11:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Police torture victim seeks hike in relief
Amritsar resident Sarabjit Singh (43), a victim of police torture who was branded a ‘terrorist’, won a decade-and-a-half-long legal battle in January when a district court slapped Rs 10-lakh damages on the Punjab government. Now, he is fighting to get the compensation money enhanced to Rs 50 lakh.
Updated on May 28, 2013 10:03 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Maluka's satrap in DGSE office
Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka, at loggerheads with director general of school education (DGSE) and state project director KS Pannu, has a reason to cheer up. His daughter-in-law, "additional state project director", is in a position to keep the functioning of Pannu in check.
Updated on May 28, 2013 02:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
There is no irregulariy: Maluka
Prabhjit Singh interviews Sikander Singh Maluka
Updated on May 25, 2013 09:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Interview: Sikandar Singh Maluka, education minister, Punjab
Interview: Sikandar Singh Maluka, education minister, Punjab
Updated on May 24, 2013 11:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh
With Cong support, ray of hope for PPP
The People's Party of Punjab (PPP), which drew a blank in the 2012 assembly polls, put up a decent show in the May 19 block samiti and zila parishad polls, thanks largely to its seat adjustment with the main opposition party, the Congress.
Updated on May 23, 2013 12:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
GMADA outsources land acquisition works
Land revenue officials such as kanungos and patwaris can now sit idle, as their job to demarcate and evaluate land required for public-utility projects has been privatised. The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has tied up with a private company, Tila Zanders, which even drafts the public notifications for imposing various Sections of the Land Acquisition Act and negotiates with farmers to assist the authority in case of dispute over assessment or compensation.
Updated on May 19, 2013 12:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Illegal patwaris work for GMADA
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) takes the services of untrained and illegitimate "patwaris" in its land-acquisition process for mega projects.
Updated on May 18, 2013 12:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
ZP polls: 30 elected unopposed, all from SAD
Thirty candidates, all from the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), have been elected unopposed as zila parishad members. The zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections are scheduled to be held in Punjab on May 19. There are 331 seats of 22 zila parishads in the state.
Updated on May 14, 2013 01:02 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Punjab nod to 63 sites for mining at small quarries
Escalating sand and gravel prices in Punjab are likely to fall as the state government has approved 63 sites of less than 5 hectares each to operate in accordance with the newly notified Punjab Minor Mineral Rules 2013.
Updated on May 13, 2013 09:01 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh
Even orphan's land not spared
Illegal miners are plundering agricultural land by taking it on lease, and there is no one to stop them. Even the ancestral land of a 15-year-old orphaned boy, Shubham, in Agampur village of Rupnagar district has not been spared. Though the miners are paying rent for it, the money never reached the boy.
Updated on May 10, 2013 01:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Agampur(anandpur Sahib)
Sutlej a blessing for illegal miners
One, two, three…the counting continued till 12 tippers were spotted carrying the sand illegally mined from the banks of Sutlej river, in Surtapur village on the Chamkaur Sahib-Morinda road in the wee hours of Wednesday. This is happening despite the imposition of section 144 of the CrPC in Rupnagar district, which prohibits the movement of vehicles carrying sand and gravel.
Updated on May 09, 2013 12:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Surtapur(rupnagar)
R267-crore 'largesse' for private developers
While farmers are a happy lot after getting Rs 1.35 crore per acre during the land acquisition process for housing projects, panchayats have been deprived of their legitimate share from the common pathways between farm holdings.
Updated on May 01, 2013 09:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Prabhjit Singh, Chandigarh