Ghuman Kalan (Bathinda), December 27
“The various laws for saving the environment from pollution are strong enough, the only requirement is their proper implementation,” said Manpreet Badal, state finance minister, expressing concern over the fact that the environment is being polluted by the farmers.

“In the paddy season, I had the opportunities to travel by air. It was really painful to see the polluted ambience as the farmers were burning ‘parali’, or the paddy remains, which had polluted the whole atmosphere,” lamented Manpreet.

He said that the deputy commissioners had been instructed to take necessary steps to curb the menace and to implement the government decisions in this regard.

The finance minister was at Ghuman Kalan village here today to attend a seminar on the preservation of lemon varieties and their commercialisation.

He also inaugurated a grading and waxing plant there, installed by Sukhpal Singh Bhullar, a national level prize-winner in the field of horticulture.

Manpreet shared his experiences on farming and laid stress on drip irrigation. Expressing concern over the water resources, he said the time had come to stop flood irrigation to avoid adverse results. He said that in the crop of corns, Bt seeds had been experimented with, which would be a step forward in conserving groundwater.

“The country feels that Punjab has surplus irrigation water, but the fact is different. Only 25 per cent of the cultivated land is under the canal water irrigation scheme, the rest is dependent upon groundwater,” said Manpreet.

When the minister was asked that the farmers of the state have been demanding 24-hour power supply, instead of free supply, he parried the query, indicating that he was avoiding controversy. Before concluding the answer, he said that the media and the public were well aware of his policies. So now, the people should raise their voice in this connection.

Manpreet said that the demand for ‘kinnow’ would increase as new markets have been discovered. He cited the example of Bangalore to substantiate his statement. He also said that there were many other policies to increase the demand for kinnow.

Manpreet said that two food processing units had been set up in the state but there was a need for 10 more such plants, so that farmers could get a plant in a radius of 50 kms.

“There are 58 lakh hectares of land under horticulture and of this, 31 lakh hectares is under the kinnow farming only. The government is keen to expand the area,” said Manpreet.

“Whenever I attend the meetings at world level, representatives of the other states express concern over the wheat production and expect Punjab to use new techniques for more production, so that the shortage of wheat could be controlled,” said Manpreet. 

Bathinda, December 27
“I cannot live without books,” said Thomas Jefferson, third president of the USA, in 1815. Though the electronic media, including Internet, have made giant strides, it has not been able to eliminate the book culture yet. 

And the Public Library, Bathinda, is determined to keep the tradition alive.

As part of the freedom movement, Satpal Azad established the library in 1938 in a rented room at Kikar Bazaar here with just one table, two chairs and two newspapers. Today, it has grown to around to a 4500 square yard area and is housed adjacent to Gole Diggi, where it was shifted in 1960.

The library was established with a motto, ‘Jaago Aur Jagao’ (Be aware and make others aware). The spirit of the freedom movement is still alive as the library celebrates Republic Day and the Independence Day at its premises every year.

Today, apart from the reading hall, that can accommodate as many as 80 readers at a time, the library has a freedom fighter’s hall, a meeting hall and a computer section. There are separate sections for women and children. The freedom fighter hall has some rare pictures of Bhagat Singh and his family, nicely framed to be preserved for the future generations.

To promote the book culture, the library’s managing committee organises seminars and book exhibitions apart from the annual ‘kavi darbar and mushaira’.

“I deliver lectures in schools to help imbibe reading habits among students,” says Jagdish Singh Ghai, the general secretary of the library, who believes that the habits inculcated during childhood survives through one’s whole life.

On any given day, over 700 readers visit the library that remains open seven days a week. “The library provides an ambience conducive for studying. In addition, we have access to books on varied subjects,” said Ravinder Singh, a regular visitor.

It has as many as 3,200 members apart from hundreds of non-members who visit the library to read newspapers or for study purpose. They have access to over 39,000 books, 135 periodicals and 37 newspapers in English, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages.

The library boasts of books on almost every subject but the raunchy stuff. It has around 12,000 books in English language and the same number of books in Hindi, 9,000 books in Punjabi and 6,000 books in Urdu.

In addition, the library maintains the record of several newspapers for over seven years and purchases books worth Rs 80,000 every year.

More than 60 books are issued daily and the figure is more than that of the state library, Patiala, the general secretary claims.

The library’s membership fee is just Rs 5 a month and that too in the form of donation. However, you are required to deposit Rs 100 as security money. The library’s managing committee issues books to the poor students free of charge.

Ghai takes pride in saying that by reading books and notes provided by the library, four students have cleared the MBBS examination while many have qualified for engineering and chartered accountancy. The general secretary also lamented that the electronic media and cricket were affecting the reading habit rather adversely.

Jagmohan Kaushal, an executive member of the library’s managing committee, says, “If the electronic media is so good why do parents always stop their children from watching TV? Have you ever heard of somebody becoming a doctor, engineer, pilot or an officer just by watching TV?”

Books change lives. Ghai related one such incident where a depressed student came to him and told him that he wanted to commit suicide. “I gave him two books to read. After a couple of days, the boy returned and asked for more such books and thanked me for giving him a new lease of life.”

Ghai, associated with the library since 1966, is the general secretary for the past 15 years. He has 4,200 books in his personal collection and wants them to be added to the library stock after his death.

Considering their enthusiasm and spirit, one can’t help but feel that the book culture won’t perish as long as the efforts of people like Jagdish Singh Ghai are on to keep it alive. 

Bathinda, December 27
To put an end to the issue of lathicharge on the ITI students here, the deputy commissioner (DC) of Bathinda met the agitating students here today.

The student leaders presented their demands before the DC, Rahul Tewari, who in turn assured them of full cooperation.

Talking to the TNS, the DC said, “I have assured the students of full cooperation and they have also given their pledge to end the protest. I regret the incident, but accept that it was just a reaction, on the spur of the moment. A case was registered against 12 students, but now the administration will cooperate in court regarding the students’ plea for the cancellation of the FIR, as only the court has the power to cancel the FIR.”

“I will mention in the report that the students booked in the case were not ‘goons’, so they should be treated accordingly,” added Tewari.

The DC said that the general manager of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) would be requested to ensure that private bus operators are lenient towards the students.

When the DC was asked about the involvement of a person who himself has been facing some criminal cases in the lathicharge incident, he said an inquiry would be marked in this regard and the accused, if found guilty, would not be left out.

The leaders of the Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa), said that the administration had accepted their demands and the protest had paved the way for a constructive resolution of the agitation.

It may be mentioned here that the students of the ITI, Bathinda, who were protesting against the alleged misbehaviour of the bus operators were lathicharged by the police on December 20, after they had damaged the PCR motorcycles.

The Punjab State Human Rights Commission had taken up the case declaring it to be a ‘brutal lathicharge’ and an inquiry was marked to the DIG, Faridkot range.

The date of the next hearing has been fixed for February 12, 2008. 

Bathinda, December 27
The CIA staff and the food supply department intercepted an oil tanker found to be carrying kerosene at Dabwali road, on Thursday following a tip-off. The two accused managed to escape but the police seized the tanker.

Ajaypal Singh Brar, who was leading the CIA team, said the truck, bearing number PB-05G-1187, was plying near Jodhpur-Romana, was found containing about 11,500 litres of kerosene, when inspected. On being questioned, the truck driver could not present the documents and invoice for the kerosene.

Sources in the CIA staff said the truck was carrying kerosene illegally, which was apparently intended to be mixed in a petrol tank at some station.

The police has registered a case against two persons, including an unidentified one, who could not be arrested till the filing of the report.

The CIA staff has been nabbing tankers carrying kerosene illegally, but it does not seem to have had a deterrent effect on those involved in the trade as is evident from the frequent seizure of tankers carrying kerosene. 

Barnala, December 27
Up in arms, the Bhartiya Kisan Union-Ekta (Ugrahan) has decided to take up the issues of farming sector yet again. Top priority has been given to the suicides 
by farmers, waiving of agricultural debt, be it the government or the private loans and the Trident land acquisition issue.

Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary of the union said a decision in this regard was taken at a state executive meeting held at Machilke village on Wednesday.

He said a list would be prepared of the farmers who committed suicide due to financial crisis during the last decade. Then, the union would organise sit-ins (dharna) at various district headquarters of the state from January 21 to 24. The families of these farmers would also join the sit-ins and the aggrieved families would themselves give the memorandum to the deputy commissioners to provide financial aids.

Kokri said the BKU-Ekta (Ugrahan) had demanded Rs 5 lakh as compensation for each family of the farmers who committed suicide due to financial problems, a job to one member of the family and waiving off of the debt in order to rescue the ailing farming sector.

He said the union was determined to fight for the cause of farmers and would make every effort to get justice to the farming sector.

Coming down heavily on the state government, Kokri said the SAD–BJP led government is toeing the line of the previous government as far as Trident land acquisition issue was concerned.

Over 200 families were finding it difficult to make both their ends meet as even after two years, the state government did not provide the price of acquired land to the families whose land were acquired by the government.

He said the state government reached a compromise with the farmers of three villages, namely Dhaula, Sanghera and Fatehgarh Channa falling in Barnala district, to provide 70 per cent more over the original price offered by the factory owner for the acquired land.

They entered into the agreement on June 30 this year. But so far, it did nothing to resolve the issue. The state government had not even withdrawn the false cases registered against the farmers, who participated in the agitation against land acquisition, the union said.

The union also alleged that the main reason for this was that the state government was hand-in-glove with the Trident management. 

Abohar, December 27
The chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Buta Singh had sought comments from the secretary, education department of Punjab on the representations filed by three government school teachers namely Kulwant Singh Bhatti, Palwinder Singh and Sadhu Singh on alleged discrimination, a communication received here said.

The hearing of the complaints has been fixed for January 2. Meanwhile, the commission has taken a serious view of the attitude of Harcharan Kaur Brar, DPI (Elementary Education), as she had not responded to the letter in this connection for six months. She had been asked to furnish the requisite information within seven days failing which summons under Article 338 of the Constitution of India may be issued, the copy of the communication received here today indicated.

Kulwant Singh Bhatti, a poet and centre head teacher at the Government Primary School in Gobindgarh village of this sub-division, had in his representation said that even after 37 years of clean service, he was denied promotion as block primary education officer by the district education officer (elementary), who allegedly had personal grudges against him.

The block primary education officer in block II, in a prejudiced manner, had initiated inquiry against Bhatti on the basis of a “false and minor” complaint. The circle education officer submitted inquiry report to the DPI but the latter delayed decision on this with ‘malafide’ intention.

The officials had denied vesting him with drawing and disbursing powers even when he was the senior most. He lamented that the DPI and DEO were adopting double standards and indulging in pick and choose methods. 

Barnala, December 27
One Manjinder Singh, a resident of the nearby Chhenewal Khurd, levelled serious charges against Nachhatar Singh, SHO of Mehalkalan.

In an affidavit, he alleged that he went to Raikot to purchase a buffalo on November 23, but on the way, some persons in a Maruti Zen surrounded him and accused him of selling poppy husk. Posing as police officials, they took Rs 8,000 from him.

The next day, SHO Mehalkalan Nachhatar Singh came to his home and searched the whole house but found nothing objectionable. Then the policemen forcibly took him to the police station at Mehalkalan.

At the police station, they doffed his clothes and gave him electric shocks, he alleged. Manjinder Singh said two head constables demanded Rs 20,000 from him to hush up the matter but he settled it at Rs 12,000.

Manjinder Singh claimed that he arranged Rs 12,000 with great difficulty, but now has approached higher authorities for justice.

SHO Mehalkalan Nachhater Singh has denied all the charges.

He said Manjinder Singh did smuggle the narcotics and his allegations were aimed at defaming him only.

Meanwhile, Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, SP (H) Barnala, said he was initiating an inquiry into the matter and if anybody was found guilty, he would not be spared. 

Mansa, December 27
The District Rifle Associaton has organised the 11th two-day rifle championship at the Government Primary School (Mandi branch), Budhlada, on Wednesday. 

Around 160 shooters participated in the championship. Mukand Singh Malli, DSP Budhlada, inaugurated the event.

Narinder Kumar Metha, president of the association, informed that in the air rifle senior competition, Bhagwan Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh and Pardeep Singh got first, second and third positions respectively. In the peep sight rifle event, Davinderjeet Singh ,Yadvinder Singh and Abhishek Nimal got the first, second and third positions.

In the open sight event, Gurpreet Singh, Jagjeet Singh and Angrej Singh stood first, second and third. Jyoti Sharma, Varinder Kaur and Bhupinder Kaur were first, second and third in the open sight senior women’s competition. In the junior women’s open sight competition, Ramanpreet Kaur, Manjeet Kaur and Harman Jeet Kaur got the first, second and third position. — OC 

Mansa, December 27
State secretary of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha Bhagwant Singh Sammaon condemned the Joga police for arresting a labourer of Kharak Singh Wala village, who has no hands.

Sammaon stated here today that some people had a dispute with handicapped Bheera Singh. After that, this case went to the Joga police station. In the presence of panchayat, he was beaten up and the Joga police held him at the police station for two days illegally, he alleged.

When Amritpal Sharma, SHO of the Joga police station, was approached for comments he denied the charges of detaining Bheera Singh at the police station. He claimed that Bheera was brought to the police station to work out a compromise. On the other hand, Sammaon announced that a dharna would be staged against the Joga police on January 1 in this connection. — OC 

Fazilka, December 27
Senior Congress leader and former MP Jagmeet Singh Brar visited Korianwali village to acquaint himself with the problems of farmers of the border belt. 

Families of over 50 farmers, whose 192 acres of land had been acquired by the defence ministry in 2002 and 2004 rued that they were not paid adequate and full compensation.

They said they had been paid only 80 per cent of the amount at the rate of Rs 1.53 lakh per acre, which they described as very small. They said the market price of the acquired agricultural land was much more than what the government had offered. The villagers pleaded before Brar, who in turn assured them to take up their issue with the defence ministry very soon.

He admitted that the price offered to farmers was quite low and promised to fight for their rights. 

Abohar , December 27
The teachers in the government schools here today boycotted the seminars arranged under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. They signed the attendance sheets and walked out of the rooms to sit on dharna till the end of the working hours.

Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) district president Sushil Dhawan was joined by Rajinder Brar, Parminder Kumar, Prem Kumar, Devinder Kumar and Bhagwant Kumar in sloganeering at the Government Model High School here against the state government for allegedly wastage of funds besides harassing the teachers during vacations. In the Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Chhinderpal Singh led the demonstration. Similar scenes were witnessed at the Government Senior Secondary School for Boys.

The boycott would be continued till December 31, a DTF spokesman said. — OC 

Mansa, December 27
The general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, has assured that Kamal Garg and Jeevan Garg would be reinstated on the posts of the Punjab Civil Services soon.

Speaking on the occasion of a kabaddi tournament held in village Dhalewa, he said injustice had been meted out to the duo, who had passed the civil services exam. The brothers were sacked when the scandal involving Ravi Sidhu had surfaced.

At that time, the government had announced that those who would clear the Civil Services examination would be recruited. At present, Kamal Garg is working as veterinary doctor and Jeevan Garg as jail superintendent in Patiala. — OC 

Ferozepur, December 27
Deputy commissioner (DC) Bhagwant Singh has instructed the district officials to solve all the pending cases pertaining to the complaints received during the sangat darshan on a priority basis or give personal explanation for the delay in dispensing with these cases on January 3.

The DC was presiding over the 41st sangat darshan programme here in which 22 complaints were solved on the spot and remaining 25 were marked to the officials concerned. He instructed the officials to discharge their duties with sincerity and devotion or stringent action would be initiated against the erring officials. He said there were lot of complaints of irregularities in the recruitment of angandwadi workers, which were being looked into. He also ordered the district social security officer (DSSO) to facilitate pension cases of widows and handicapped persons on priority basis. — OC 

Ferozepur, December 27
Every time, when Parliament or Assembly elections are round the corner, there is a lot of buzz in the print and the electronic media about the current issues and the probable outcome of the elections, especially in the form of exit polls where poll-analysts, astrologers and political experts air their views. 

However, in the recent past, it has been observed that most of the exit polls go far off the mark, and the poll pundits take a beating.

The recent case to support the argument is the Gujarat Assembly elections where Narendra Modi caught most of the poll analysts on wrong foot. During the 2006 Punjab Assembly polls and before that, the result of 2004 general elections, proved the poll-pandits wrong.

Ironically, at the time when poll experts had to eat humble pie, the poll-observations made by renowned orthopedic surgeon belonging to this border town, Tirath Garg have turned out to be more accurate than those of the expert agencies despite the fact that the agencies have a support of a battery of field staff and the technology driven gadgets.

Tirath’s accurate analysis of election results has made him popular both in social and political circles.

Talking to The Tribune, Garg said neither he had anything to do with politics nor he had affiliation to any political party, ideology or politician. However, he liked deliberating poll outcomes and took it as a hobby.

He said he does not extract information from people by putting inquisitive questions before them. He just listens to people’s conversations about politics and the functioning of the ruling government.

He reads several national and regional newspapers and watch TV shows with interest. In addition, Garg keeps collecting shades and parameters from various sources like Internet and take note of the audience’s reactions during poll debates.

He also keeps track of the news and events throughout the year and studies the result of the previous elections to arrive at his perception. In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Garg had concluded that neither Atal Bihari Vajpayee nor Sonia Gandhi would become the Prime Minister. It would be a third person waiting in the wings. And he envisaged that Manmohan Singh was number one on the list.

He had also correctly forecasted that the BJP would not reach the 150 mark and that there would be a tough contest between the BJP and the Congress but ultimately the Congress would emerge as the single largest party and cobble a coalition to form government.

In 2006 Punjab Assembly elections, Garg had predicted that Parkash Singh Badal would become the chief minister for the third time.

However, the SAD-BJP combine would not get a huge majority and that the Congress would pocket around 45 seats.

In recent Gujarat Assembly elections, Garg stated that come what may, the Congress would not be able to dislodge Narender Modi from the chief minister’s seat, the dissidence within the party and anti-Modi rhetoric unleashed by the Congress notwithstanding.

He calculated that the strength of the BJP shall, however, be reduced by few seats.

When asked about the outcome of the next Lok Sabha elections, Garg said that it was too early to say anything as the political situation was fluid and the course of future alliances was still uncertain.

Garg, however, added that the regional parties would play the deciding role this time. But it was still not clear that who would support whom?

He promised that he would shortly come up with his calculations as to which party shall form the next government. 

Abohar, December 27
The thin presence of members of the local municipal council in the meetings convened by the civil and police authorities during the last few months indicated that most of them were not interested in re-contesting the election scheduled for March, 2008.

Many eyebrows were raised over the absence of 28 out of 31 members of the council in one of the important meetings held to launch community policing to check crimes like thefts etc.

Some councillors had officially learnt that ward number 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 and 27 would be reserved for women under the rotation system. The women councillors who had been elected in 2002 from ward number 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23 and 26 will have to choose other safe wards as the same are going to fall in other categories.

The change will put a question mark on the fate of the present municipal council president Tulsi Ram also, who belonged to scheduled caste but the Congress preferred to get him elected even when the chair fell in general category during the current term.

The council has at present 26 members from the Congress including eight women.

Another interesting part of the expected game is that the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) had contested four seats in 2002 and had two members only, leaving rest of the wards to the BJP. But the party had recently set new units in un-represented wards also and sources said the claim during distribution of seats with the Bhartiya Janta Party might increase to seven in the March election. This too was one of the reasons behind the warring factions in the BJP putting up a united show. Revision of wards may not benefit those who boasted of having made much development.

The complaints lodged by some BJP members and office bearers suggested that some of the Congress councilors had been working as contractors also, under different names, to mint money.

Such councilors were normally seen supervising the works and making payments to the masons and labourers besides, usurping the disposable material during the last four years, the complainants alleged.

The vigilance cell in the department of local bodies was expected to tighten noose around such councilors, sources in the ruling parties indicated. This will further minimise the scope of old horses to run. 

Bathinda, December 27
“To provide modern education to children who come from rural areas and have a humble background, the university will leave no stone unturned. Development of infrastructure in the campuses will also be ensured,” said Jaspal Singh, vice-chancellor, Punjabi University, in Talwandi Sabo today.

The VC said that all campuses, opened under a mission, would be developed with the facilities of every kind, so that the target can be achieved.

He said that laboratory, constructed in Guru Kashi campus, needs to be emulated in other campuses also so that the students coming from rural areas can be made conversant with English. They will then be able to speak and write the language in a better way, he added. In the context, he also appreciated the efforts of the donors who had come forward for the cause.

The VC said that a survey of the Guru Kashi campus and the Jhuneer campus had revealed shortcomings in the teaching and residential blocks. These would soon be removed, he added. Besides, the repair and maintenance of the buildings would also be undertaken, he said.Before leaving, he along with his family members went to Takht Sri Damdama Sahib where the ‘head granthi’ presented a ‘siropa’ to them.

The VC was accompanied by S.S. Khaira, the registrar and other dignitaries.