A tunnel has been found in the Jahaz Haveli of Diwan Todar Mal here. The tunnel runs from ruins of the haveli to a well in fields nearby. SGPC president Avtar Singh said the tunnel was found recently and after taking the haveli from the Punjab Virasat Charitable Trust, barbed wire had been put around it. Pictures from a book were being matched with the haveli after which restoration would start, he added. SGPC members, scholars and persons associated with the restoration work would meet on May 23, said Avtar Singh.

he Punjab Virasat Chairtable Trust has donated Dewan Todar Mal’s Jahaz Haveli to the SGPC. The Dewan performed funeral rites of two younger Sahibzadas of 10th Sikh Master Guru Gobind Singh - Baba Zorawar Singh (9) and Baba Fateh Singh (7) - who were entombed alive by Mughal rulers of the time for not embracing Islam. Prof Kirpal Singh, former professor and Head of Punjab Historical Studies Department, Punjabi University, Patiala, who has been assigned by the SGPC to edit an important religious work on Sikhism, says in history there were references to two Todar Mals.

The samadh of Sher Singh (1807-1843), son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and ruler of Sikh state of joint Punjab, in Lahore has been vandalised beyond recognition. No trace is left of the samadh of his son Kanwar Pratap Singh. Its remains have been painted red and green to merge with the mosque nearby. Bobby Singh, director of the UK-based S.K. Foundation (dedicated to preserving the Sikh heritage), stated this after a tour of Pakistan to The Tribune here today.

Gurjant Singh shows the burnt wheat crop in his field at Gairi Butte village near Bathinda on Thursday.

Bathinda: Three persons were burnt alive and at least 10 injured due to fires that engulfed agricultural fields in 50 villages of the Malwa belt of Punjab today. The worst damage was in Muktsar where three persons lost their lives and four children received burns. The fire spread from the fields where the farmers had burnt dry straw of wheat crop. However, the fire intensified in these areas hit by a dust storm during the day. According to him as per rough estimate from 5000 to 10,000 acres was gutted and added on majority of the area harvest has already been completed.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today that he would take up with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister the issue of restoring 60 per cent share of state employees in the administration of Chandigarh. Replying to a question, Badal said he had written recently to the UT administration against the repatriation of doctors, who were on deputation there, to Punjab. In due course the UT had set up its own cadre of employees, denying 60 per cent share to Punjab employees in various UT departments. At the time of declaration of Chandigarh as UT, Punjab was assured that 60 per cent employees in the UT administration would be from Punjab and 40 per cent from Haryana and there would be no UT cadre.