Bill to make Jallianwala trust ‘apolitical’ okayed

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday approved a proposal to replace Congress member in a trust that runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial with leader of the single-largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to make the body “apolitical”. The move will require amendment to the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951. An amendment bill could be brought in Parliament in the winter session.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the trust is perhaps the only government body where a member is from one political party. He said it was “unfair” that only one political party was represented in the trust. “The decision aims to suitably amend the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951 so as to secure representation as trustees, the Leader of Opposition recognised as such in the Lok Sabha, or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then the Leader of the single largest Opposition party,” an official statement said. HOSHIARPUR: Sanjiv Kumar, 30, of Ghago Guru village in Garhshankar was shot dead in Manila on Wednesday.

His father, Ram Lubhaya, said the family got to know about the incident when their younger son, Gurdip Kumar, who is also in the Philippines, called up on Wednesday night. He said Sanjiv was collecting payments in the Mangagoy market in Manila when an unidentified assailant of Punjab origin opened fire. Three bullets pierced through Sanjiv’s head and he died on the spot. Lubhaya said that Sanjiv was staying in Manila for the past nine years and had got married there. He is survived by his wife, a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.

Lubhaya, who is a vendor and a former sarpanch, said he did not have the resources to bring back the body for last rites. “It involves huge expenses,” he said.