Kapurthala, November 28
NABARD has approved a grant of a whopping Rs 13.65 crore for the Bet Area Drinking Water Supply Scheme in the district, senior Congress leader, Mr Sukhpal Khaira, said here today.

The scheme is likely to benefit nearly 3 lakh people living in the district, who are not getting potable water for decades. “There are only seven small water supply schemes in the area due to which only 35,000 people from 12 villages are getting clean drinking water,” Mr Khaira said. “The rest are getting saline water, which is causing tooth decay and other health hazards among the local inhabitants.”

He said out of the total grant, Rs 10.36 crore would go to Bholath, where over 2 lakh residents living in 68 villages would be benefited. “An amount of Rs 2.1 crore will go to Sultanpur and Rs 1.25 crore have been earmarked for Kapurthala,” the Congress leader added.

Handing over the list of villages that would get water supply under the scheme, Mr Khaira said these included 38 villages from the Nadala block, 68 villages from the Dhilwan block and five villages from the Sultanpur Lodhi block.

Taking credit for the achievement, he claimed that he had taken keen interest for getting the sanction from top levels and had personally met NABARD’s Chief General Manager, Mr C.R. Patnaik, in Mumbai in this regard.

Criticising his opponent from the Bholath assembly, MLA Bibi Jagir Kaur, the Congress leader alleged, “Despite the fact she has been in power for a long time, she has failed miserably in fulfilling the demand of her electorate. I can now boast of having succeeded in getting such a huge grant for the residents even though I’m not in the MLA’s seat.”

Jalandhar, November 28
Hundreds of activists of the Bahujan Samaj Party (Ambedkar) today took part in a rally protesting against the “anti-Dalit” policies of the state government.

“The Punjab government has so far not fulfilled the promises it had made to the poor Dalits. When the Dalits demanded waiver of unit electricity charges and the implementation of the 85th Constitutional Amendment, the government put conditions,” said Mr Devi Dass Nahar, the party’s national president, addressing the rally, which was held in front of the Divisional Commissioner’s office here.

The activists also protested against the decision of the government to withdraw the holidays on Ambedkar Jayanti, Shahid Baba Jeevan Singh and Bhagat Kabir. —TNS

Jalandhar, November 28
One person was killed allegedly by four youth following an altercation over a petty issue that erupted at an eating outlet on the Cool Road here last night.

The victim, Pran Nath, who had gone to the eating outlet along with his son, allegedly entered into an argument with the youth present there.

The crowd managed to stop them from quarrelling at the outlet. But when the father-son duo was driving back, the youth allegedly attacked them in their car resulting in Pran Nath’s death.

SP, City, Mr S.K. Kalia said the police had found important clues in the case. He, however, refused to divulge the details. 

Phagwara, November 28
Every dog has its day. After getting an assurance of an entry into next year’s edition of the Limca Book of Records for his hitchhiker dog, Kulwinder Singh, a resident of  Babeli Babbran Di village near here, today said he had now got a response from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Once an indigenous stray dog, the three-year-old Harry can sit pillion on his owner’s motorcycle without any seatbelt, any support or being tied with any harness, even when the bike is moving at a speed of over 90 kms per hour.

Kulwinder Singh said he had sent his claim for an entry into the world’s most respected record book, and had received a letter from their London office asking him to apply through the Guinness website. The letter mentioned that after the application registered, a number would be assigned to the record seeker and researchers of Guinness would get back to him to confirm or reject his claim for the record.

However, Kulwinder and his dog’s achievement would get recognition in the national record book in 2006, as per Ms Vijaya Ghose, editor, Limca Book of Records. Kulwinder said he had been training the dog for the balancing act since it was a puppy.

Jalandhar, November 28
As a major boost in the endeavour towards providing world class health services in rural areas of the Doaba region, the Dhahan Kaleran (Nawanshahr)-based Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Educational Trust has received one lakh dollars and modern equipment worth about Rs 6-7 lakh as grants from US-based NRIs.

The California-based businessman Johan Singh Shergill, who originally hails from Chak Bilga village near Dhahan Kaleran, has granted one lakh dollars to the institute for setting up an ultra-modern trauma centre, while Dr Shushma Gandhi and her husband Dr Om Parkash Gandhi, both members of the US-based North American Sikh Medical Dental Association, donated the equipment necessary for providing health care facilities.

The couple has gifted fracture and fragment sets-costing about 15000-20000 dollars (approximately Rs 6-7 lakh) to the hospital, which they have visited twice on the invitation of Mr Budh Singh Dhahan, the founder president of the trust.

The Rs 15 crore trauma centre, for which Mr Shergill has contributed, is under construction and would be a part of a proposed medical college to be set up by the trust, according to Mr Malkit Singh Bahrowal, secretary of the trust. 

Jalandhar, November 28
Three 12 bore rifles were stolen from a gun house here last night.

The rifles were found missing when the attendant of the Nanda Gun House, located at the Nakodar Road near Jyoti Chowk here, opened the shutters of the showroom this morning. SSP Mr Ishwar Singh and SP City, Mr SK Kalia reached the spot to take stock of the situation.

The thieves entered the shop from the vacant plot behind the showroom, sources said, adding that one hockey stick was found from the spot.

Finger prints found from the spot were being matched with those found from such incidents happened earlier at the showroom to ascertain the identity of the thieves, police sources said.