Bathinda, April 9
To ensure that the Baisakhi conference of the SAD (B) passes off peacefully, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today met the Anganwari workers and got an assurance from them that they would not create a ruckus there.

The development comes a day after the CM resolved the issue arising out of the media boycott of his events and ordering the suspension of the DSP who was in the eye of the storm.

Sources in the administration said there was a meeting between the Anganwari workers and the CM, who was accompanied by the deputy commissioners and the senior superintendents of police of Muktsar and Bathinda, at the CM’s residence in Badal village. The meeting took place in the late hours on Wednesday.

At the meeting, the CM accepted the demand to cancel the cases registered against the 11 members of the Anganwari Workers Association (AWA), on March 27, when they attempted to disrupt the speech of CM during a seminar held at the civil hospital, Bathinda.

Giving details of the meeting, members of the AWA said that initially the CM tried to play down the matter. But finding that they had stuck to their guns, the CM called up a secretary-level official on phone and ordered that a committee be constituted comprising members of the AWA.

He further said that the detailed report of the committee should be submitted within seven days.

Expressing dismay at the financial crisis in the state, Badal reportedly pleased AWA members by saying that he too wanted to enhance their wages to Rs 2,000, which are only Rs 400 at present.

After that, he urged the Anganwari workers not to create any ruckus during the political conference of the ruling party on Baisakhi at Talwandio Sabo.

He also requested them to meet him personally, whenever they felt like, but not to adopt unpleasant ways to lodge their protest.

He also ordered the DCs and SSPs to grant accessibility to Anganwari workers 
so that they can meet him personally.

State president of AWA, Hargobind Kaur, who was present at the meeting, said, “The CM floated certain proposals, to which we agreed. We are happy that a channel has been opened. We have assured the CM that no ruckus would be created during his political conference at Talwandi Sabo.”

The AWA delegation at the meeting included Hargobind Kaur, Balbir Kaur, Mahinder Kaur, Shinder Pal Kaur, Harmeet Kaur, Silkarder Kaur and Jaswant Kaur.

Bathinda, April 9
On an average, seven persons lose their lives in road accidents in Punjab every day and around 2,500 every year.

According to a study conducted by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), roughly Rs 50,000 million is lost in road accidents every year. If this amount was saved, it could have saved 7,000 km-long, six-lane highway in the country, an official of the CRRI, said.

According to an analysis carried out by the officials of the Punjab ministry of state for road transport on the basis of an all-India road accidents data, the driver's fault accounted for 83.5 per cent of the mishaps.

Other factors contributing to road accidents were mechanical defects (3 per cent), pedestrians (2.3 per cent), passengers (2.4 per cent), bad roads (1.1 per cent), bad weather (0.9 per cent) and other causes (6.2 per cent) like cattle, fallen trees, road blockage, sudden stoppage of vehicles, absence of rear reflectors, non-functioning signal lights and absence of road signals.

As per the CRRI study, almost 40 per cent of the accidents and 48 per cent of the deaths occur on national highways.

In urban areas, 75 road fatalities involve pedestrians (including homeless, curb-side residents) and bicyclists (most men below 45 years of age) are from the economically backward section.

Bharpur Singh, in-charge of the traffic wing of the Bathinda police, said in order to save precious lives, there was an urgent need to start teaching traffic rules and regulations from the middle standard in the schools.

“No person should be allowed to drive a vehicle without licence,” the police personnel said.

Bathinda, April 9
The traffic wing of the Bathinda police issued as many as 4,599 challans to offenders and realised Rs 5,80,775 as fine under various traffic offences in the first quarter of the year.

According to police sources, several check-posts had been set up in different parts of the city to nab the offenders. The main emphasis of the drive, the sources said, was to keep a special check on triple riding, jumping red light, wrong parking, underage driving and using mobile phones while driving.

A majority of the challans were issued for wrong parking, not carrying proper documents, triple riding and fancy number plates, sources said.

"Next on our radar are polluting vehicles for which the traffic wing personnel will hold a free pollution check-up camp in the city soon," said Bharpur Singh, in-charge, traffic wing. The traffic police, for the convenience of the traffic offenders, has introduced a new scheme to pay fine at the district transport office also as it used to take longer hours in the courts, he added.

Bathinda, April 9
To reach more people in the city and compete with the rising number of courier services, the Indian Postal Department today launched its first franchisee based post office in the city on the Power House road (opposite St Xavier's School). It would provide five types of services like registered post, money order booking, telephone booking etc to customers.

This is the second franchisee-based post office in the district, with the first one having been opened at Goniana last Friday. The franchisee owner would just collect the letters, parcels and money orders and the public won't have to pay anything extra.

Speaking to TNS, Dalbir Singh Jammu, superintendent, post office, Bathinda, said, "At this franchisee-based post office, customers can avail of services like speed post, registered letter booking, parcel booking, money order booking, sale of stamps and telephone bill collection. But simple letters won't be taken at these post offices. Earlier, these services were available only at the post offices run by the department. Now, people won't have to go to the post office. Instead, the post office would come to them."

"If any person wants to apply for the franchise to run such a post office, all that he needs is a small piece of land, education till senior secondary level, knowledge of computers and Rs 10,000 as refundable security," Jammu added.

Makhan Lal Mangal, Assistant Post Master (Accounts), said, "Any person who takes over the post office on a franchisee basis would get Rs 2 per registered post, parcel and speed post booking, Rs 2 per telephone bill collection, Rs 3.50 per money order and Rs 5 for the sale of 100 stamps."

Muktsar, April 9
A poverty-stricken cancer patient in the dirty by-lanes of Muktsar is spending sleepless nights as his badly swollen ear bleeds every night, while his file for the financial assistance is gathering dust in the Chief Minister’s Office for over six months now.

The Bikaner-based Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute had last year marked an expenditure of Rs 80,000, which the 40-year-old Jagdish Singh would have had to arrange for the treatment of ‘carcinoma’ (a non-healing ulcer of cancer) on his left ear.

With over Rs 30,000 already spent during the earlier monthly visits to the cancer hospital in Bikaner, Jagdish Singh has already come under heavy debt as he has failed to pay any further visit to the hospital for the last six months now.

Several rounds of the DC’s office have only yielded a single reply: “Your file is yet to come back from the CMO in Chandigarh.”

It is not that the government has no allocation of funds for such cases, for people belonging to the reserved categories or otherwise. But the unfortunate part is that there has been no development in his case put forth for the financial assistance last year.

Jagdish’s wife cleans utensils to meet both the ends. His eldest son is mentally retarded, while the younger one, 13, earns a measly Rs 500 every month by working at a tea stall. 

“I am unable to travel in a crowded bus as even a slight jerk or touch on my swollen ear can lead to profuse bleeding,” said Jagdish, explaining his helplessness to work outside. The scorching heat or rainfall also gives him pain in his swollen ear.

While talking to this correspondent, he cried in pain thrice, unable to sit, rest or even stand firm on the ground. Keeping his naked feet moving on the muddy floor at intervals, he psychologically prepared himself to bear the pain.

“You see, this is the hell he is going through,” his wife said, adding that the loss of blood was now a daily affair.

The earlier visits to the Bikaner hospital last year had yielded positive results as his ulcer had then reduced drastically. But swelling began again after he stopped visiting the hospital, and Jagdish would now have to begin his treatment afresh, all his previous visits having gone in vain for want of money.

Mansa, April 9
The people of Malwa have been grappling with the problem of cancer for long and there are numerous cancer patients fighting the disease in the cities and villages of the region.

Though the authorities and some political leaders are claiming that a cancer hospital would be constructed in the region, people in general and cancer patients in particular snub such claims say that tall promises have been made for long but no solid effort has been made to realise them till date.

According to information available, some patients including, Mukhtiar Singh, Lachhman Dass and Jiledar, of Mansa, died due to cancer in 2007-08. Joginder Kaur and a women’s leader, Jeeta Kaur, also died of the disease last year.

At present, Tejpal, Prof Ajmer Singh Aulakh, Sukhman, Pala Ram, Kishori Lal, Kaur Singh and Gamdoor Kaur are fighting the disease. Their well-wishers have demanded that the government provide them the facility for treatment.

Dr Parshotam of Khialakan hospital informed that water and air pollution were the main causes for cancer.

Gurjeet Kaur, who runs a private clinic, said, “Polluted water is the main cause for the disease.” She also felt that lack of treatment in government hospitals had only added to the trouble for patients.

Jaspal Singh Kokhar, leader of the Radical Peoples Forum, and women’s leader Jasbir Kaur said the government had failed to provide potable water and there was no proper facility for treatment at the civil hospital.

They rued that the government had cancelled the stoppage of the train to Bikaner on which the cancer patients visited Bikaner for treatment.

Prof Ajmer Singh Aulakh, president of the Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha and a cancer patient, said that the poor were the most affected as they were unable to afford the treatment. He demanded that a cancer hospital be built for the poor.

S.P.S. Sohal, director, health services and family welfare, Punjab, said seminars had been organised to create awareness about reducing the use of pesticides. He also informed that the government was contemplating setting up a cancer hospital in Bathinda.

Bathinda, April 9
A free eye checkup camp was organised by Shaheed Bhagat Singh Welfare Club, Kotbhara, at village Tungwali on Tuesday.

The camp was organised with the help of Bhai Ghanaiya Health and Education Society and Sant Hazara Singh Club.

According to Yadwinder, press secretary of the club, “Eye check-up of more than 215 patients was done and free medicines were also distributed on the occasion.”

Bathinda, April 9
The traffic wing of the Bathinda police issued as many as 4,599 challans to offenders and realised Rs 5,80,775 as fine under various traffic offences in the first quarter of the year.

According to police sources, several check-posts had been set up in different parts of the city to nab the offenders. The main emphasis of the drive, the sources said, was to keep a special check on triple riding, jumping red light, wrong parking, underage driving and using mobile phones while driving.

A majority of the challans were issued for wrong parking, not carrying proper documents, triple riding and fancy number plates, sources said.

"Next on our radar are polluting vehicles for which the traffic wing personnel will hold a free pollution check-up camp in the city soon," said Bharpur Singh, in-charge, traffic wing. The traffic police, for the convenience of the traffic offenders, has introduced a new scheme to pay fine at the district transport office also as it used to take longer hours in the courts, he added.

Moga, April 9
Row over ‘guru gaddi’ of the Shiromani Panth Budha Dal (panjwan takht) took a new turn as a five-member working committee of the Dal, comprising mahants of various deras met here today and declared Surinder Singh Babbar, a nephew of Baba Santa Singh, the chief of the Dal, as his legal heir.

Baba Santa Singh, an octogenarian, is hospitalised in the intensive care unit of the Rajendra Medical Collage, Patiala, for the past few months and is not in ‘senses’ to give a statement or declare his ‘will’ to appoint his legal heir.

On September 21, 2007, the row over ‘guru gaddi’ had turned bloody. There was a clash between the two groups of nihangs in its main dera at Patiala, in which four nihangs were killed in the firing. A group of nihangs, headed by one Balbir Singh, a former disciple of Baba Santa Singh, took control of the main dera and educational institutes run by it.

Baba Santa Singh was ex-communicated from the panth by the Akal Takht when he carried out ‘kar seva’ at Akal Takht after the Operation Blue Star.

Then, Balbir Singh was his close associate and was considered to be his heir but he left Santa Singh following the Akal Takht’s decision.

However, after Baba Santa Singh was brought back into the panth, Balbir Singh once again joined hands with him.

At a function organised at Talwandi Sabo on October 1, 2007, a section of nihangs had declared him as the heir of Baba Santa Singh. But, the other group took the dispute to the sessions’ court at Patiala, where the matter is pending for final orders.

The court had appealed to the near and dear ones of the ailing Baba Santa Singh through advertisements in the newspapers to appear before the court on or before April 17 so that a ‘guardian’ could be appointed to look after the Baba and his property.

Keeping in view the legal complications in the dispute, Baba Dyal Singh, Baba Malkit Singh, Baba Kulwant Singh (mukhtiar-e-aam), Baba Sukhbir Singh alias Baba Mithu Singh and Baba Harvant Singh, the members of the five-member working committee of the Dal, met here this afternoon under the guidance of Baba Joginder Singh, the acting Chief of the Dal, and declared Surinder Singh Babbar as the legal heir of Baba Santa Singh.

Abohar, April 9
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today announced a Rs 1 crore special grant for the development of the hitherto neglected Rohranwali village, located near Seetogunno in the sub-division.

Responding to a memorandum presented by village sarpanch and SAD (B) district general secretary Satinderjit Singh Minta during his maiden sangat darshan programme at the focal point of the village this afternoon, the CM also assured that lining of water courses, not implemented by the previous governments, would also be taken up soon.

He further promised to upgrade the government school there by the next academic session.

Minta also complained that streets, drains and boundary walls around the cattle pond in the village were yet to be constructed.

Badal and his younger brother Gurdas Singh Badal, a former MP and 'think-tank' of the party, asked the panchayat to utilise the special grants "judiciously." They assured that more development projects for the village would be planned in the coming days.

The others, who were present, included SAD (B) national council member Surinder Saluja Pampi and senior party workers, Mandeep Singh Tarmala, Jaswinder Singh Jassi, Jaswant Singh, sarpanch Lambi, Gurbux Singh Bahawalbassi, Kaka Hayer Chakda and Amritpal Singh.

Abohar, April 9
Students preparing for their examinations here did not have to go through the entire syllabus as their task had been made easy by guess papers allegedly prepared with the connivance of those at the helm of preparing the question papers.

According to information available, some booksellers outside the DAV campus as well as in other parts of the town have been selling such guess papers for the past few days. Through messages on their notice boards, they invited students to purchase the guess paper for success in the annual exams, just 24 hours before the scheduled examination of each paper.

Such claims had become common as the students claimed that most questions in the guess papers were reportedly there in Panjab University’s annual exam papers for pre-graduation classes.

The publishers had categorised some questions as “sure, important and very important.” The book sellers were selling each guess paper at a price ranging from Rs 40 to Rs 100, sources said.

The guess papers carried advertisements too. Though the sale of guess papers has been going on for the last many years, but this dubious practice had begun three-four years bcak, the sources added.

While experts smelled the connivance of some persons at the helm of preparing the question papers, the publishers, who were based in Ludhiana, refuted the charge and said they were not aware of any illegality in branding the questions as “sure” etc.

However, they switched off their mobile phones when the local media made repeated calls to enquire about the validity of such publication.

Abohar, April 9
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Ekta Ugrahan, has decided to convene a special meeting tomorrow to decide the future plan on opposing the proposed acquisition of 2,000 acres of the agricultural land for installing 1,100 MW thermal plant in the private sector.

Village-level action committees would be represented by their officials in the meeting, BKU district secretary Gurmail Singh Burjan said today.

Besides Burjan, block president Sukhmander Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Harmel Singh, Nachhattar Singh and Ram Singh also addressed the farmers during an indefinite sit-in near village Bhangala today as the agitation entered its 62nd day.

They said that there was no wisdom in uprooting hundreds of farmers who had settled here upon migration from the West Punjab province in 1947 and made the allotted land highly fertile.

The government had failed in checking fly ash emanating from the Bathinda thermal plant even after so many decades. Now, what was the logic behind polluting the environment close to the wildlife sanctuary area here, they asked.

Fazilka, April 9
Following a call by various organisations, a complete bandh was observed here today to protest against the publication of allegedly blasphemous literature by an organisation in Barnala.

Most business establishments remained closed. Educational institutions also mostly remained closed. Market wore a deserted look as an additional police force led by SHO Baljit Singh patrolled the town.

The Navyuvak Sabha, Vishav Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and other organisations organised a protest rally at the Clock Tower chowk in which hundreds of activists participated.

BJP district president Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, state executive president of Bajrang Dal Sandeep Sharma, Vishwa Hindu Parishad district president Lila Dhar Sharma, Navyuvak Sabha president Shagan Lal Sachdeva, organiser Sanjay Pandey Shaink and others addressed the rally to protest against the publications.

They demanded a ban on the publication of such books and stringent action against its authors.

It may be recalled that local BJP MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani had demanded in the Assembly session the imposition of a ban on the publication of blasphemous literature. In response, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had assured that such literature would be banned.

Since the promise of the CM was not implemented, they had to organise the bandh and the rally, said organiser Sanjay Pandey.

In an alleged attempt to derive political mileage, Congress party workers also announced support for the bandh. However, they did not participate in the rally.

Abohar, April 9
In an exemplary move, the family of AKS Theatre Society president Raju Nagpal (47) donated his eyes through the Bharat Vikas Parishad within three hours of his shocking demise, Umesh Phutela, in-charge of the Eye Donation Campaign, said.

A team from the Shri Jagdamba Andh Vidyalya and Eye Hospital, Sriganganagar, rushed to Abohar on getting the message. Eye transplantation to benefit the needy person as per the waiting list maintained by the hospital was done today, Phutela added. Nagpal had signed a pledge to donate his eyes upon death, a few years back. Meanwhile, Raju Nagpal’s cremation was largely attended at Shivpuri this afternoon. — OC