Ferozepur, May 13
Union Minister for Defence A.K. Antony today hailed the contribution of the Punjabis during the freedom struggle and said that these great sons of soil would continue to inspire the generations to come.

PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh Pinki presenting a siropa to Defence Minister A.K. Antony. A Tribune photograph

Earlier, the Defence Minister was received by senior civil, police and Army officials at the Golf Range helipad. Thereafter, he drove to the Army posts in Hussaniwala, where he was briefed by local commanders on defence preparedness and current situation at the border. The commanders reassured the minister of the military strength and capabilities to deal with any eventuality. The minister also visited certain areas where married accommodation project (MAP) was underway. 

Later, various delegations comprising political leaders, farmers, NGOs, lawyers, doctors, and some local businessmen called on Antony. He met the delegations at the Golf Club House and listened to them patiently. Ironically, Congress leaders, who met the minister separately, led all delegations. Parminder Singh “Pinki”, general secretary of the PPCC was followed by Jagmeet Brar, ex-MP and special invitee to the AICC, and Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, MLA Guruharsahai and chief whip of the CLP, met the defence minister along with their supporters.

The members of the delegation requested him to expedite the process of opening of the Hussainiwala-Kasur border for trade and transit, which was closed in the aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan conflict.

Border farmers led by Hansa Singh demanded that border fencing should be relocated towards the international border so that the hundreds of acres of fertile agricultural land which was lost to fencing could be retrieved for cultivation by the farmers.

Pinki further demanded that the old laws which mandate prior permission of the central government through the GOC-in-C for sale and purchase of property over Rs 5,000 should be reviewed by the ministry.

Brar demanded that the compensation to the border farmers having land holdings across the fencing should be enhanced from Rs 2,500 per acre per annum to Rs 5,000 per acre per annum. Other prominent leaders who met the minister included Gurnaib Brar, president DCC, Vijay Sathi, general secretary, Hira Soshi, vice-president PYC, Harinder Dhindsa, president DYC and Chander Mohan.

Lambi (Muktsar), May 13
Despite the gross violation of district administration’s orders, concerning law and order, reported from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s home district on Monday, no case has been registered so far in this regard.

It may be recalled that the district magistrate (DM), Vikas Garg issued an order under section 144 of the CrPC, under which brandishing and even carrying arms was prohibited throughout the district on May 12 and 14. But the efforts to implement the order properly were exposed on poll day, May 12, at Lambi village, the CM’s constituency.

According to sources, the district administration issued orders for depositing arms and ammunition with the police, but SAD activists allegedly refrained from doing so.

A resident of village Midhu Khera, speaking on the condition of anonymity, alleged that the SHO, Lambi police station, forced many Congress workers to deposit licensed weapons with the police, but the order was not implemented for SAD activists and they were carrying arms openly.

In Lambi area, people were found carrying pistols and guns inside and outside the polling booths to create terror amongst voters. During their show-off, they injured a number of opponents and onlookers.

All information, including the news reports, were apparently insufficient for the administration to take action against the guilty.

SDM Malout, Varun Roosam, said, “I have ordered the local DSP to verify the facts and get an FIR registered against the guilty.”

On the other hand, DSP Malout, Manmohan Kumar Sharma, said, “We could not trace the persons brandishing the weapons and no case has been registered as of now.”

A gazetted police officer said that people in the area carry unregistered and home-made arms and tracing them was a time consuming affair but it was done from time to time.

Talking over the phone, DC Vikas Garg passed on the buck saying the matter had been marked to the SSP. Despite repeated attempts, SSP Gurpreet Gill could not be contacted for his comments. 

Muktsar, May 13
Expressing their resentment to the State Election Commission (SEC), senior Congress activists, including Muktsar MLA Kanwar Pal Brar, today sought repolling in all booths of the district.

They also demanded deployment of para-military forces during the Gram Panchayat polls, slated to be held on May 26.

They alleged that the ruling party had taken the help of the controversial Green Brigade of Haryana, in the elections.

Talking over phone, Kanwarpal alleged, “The Chief Minister has forgotten that the first duty of government is to ensure law and order. The CM and his son, both are responsible for the breakdown of the democracy. The leaders of the SAD have been ignoring the power of rural electorate, for which they will have to face music in the Gram Panchayat elections.”

Raghbir Singh, a senior Congress leader from Gidderbaha, said, “In our area, a lot of violent incidents were reported but the administration remained one-sided and did not even dare to ask a single word from any SAD activist.”

Mahesh Inder Singh Badal, a Congress stalwart, said, “In Badal and Lambi areas, the SAD activists at the behest of their party chief, spared no booth from rigging.”

They were in the view that SAD had adopted an irresponsible step to grab the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections. They even alleged that repeated requests and even formal complaints lodged with the district administration went unheeded.

In Muktsar block Kotli Devan, Kaneya Wali, Udekaran, Dodawali, in Lambi block Badal, Mann, Panjawa, Lambi, Sikhwa, Mehna, Lal bai, Bheetiwala, Ghumiara and in Gidderbaha block Tharajwala, Fakkarsar, Thehri, Madhir, Bamaniya, Shekh Butter and Daula villages were allegedly captured.

When contacted the deputy Commissioner-cum-district electoral officer Vikas Garg said, “We received reports of irregularities only from six booths Tarmala (4), Phulo Kheri (1) and Arniwala (1) and on that base recommendation for repolling has been sent to the State Election Commission. For the rest the investigation has been initiated.”

Abohar, May 13
The SAD (B)-led government, which by its actions confirmed yesterday that it believed in violence, today failed to notify the list on reservation in panchayats for the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections, said Congress legislator Sunil Jakhar.

Coming down heavily on the alliance government, Jakhar regretted that on the first day of nominations to the panchayats, no officer was found in the office at the Government SeniorSecondary School for Girls where the aspirants were asked to file their nominations here on Tuesday.

The aspirants waited for hours and returned home without filing the nomination papers. It indicated that the government was conspiring to get the alliance workers declared elected unopposed. It appeared that the trend observed during the polling yesterday had baffled those in power and they were not in a mood to face the electorates again. — OC

Bathinda, May 13
After yesterday’s clash between the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders during the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad elections at villages Burj Gill and Bhundar in Mansa district, the BJP leaders today demanded that a criminal case be registered against Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdeep Singh Nakai and former state power minister and SAD district in-charge Sikandar Singh Maluka.

“We demand from the government to book these two SAD leaders under a criminal case as they instigated violence at village Bhundar and Burj Gill. Along with these leaders, four other SAD workers, namely, Lakhvir Singh Lakha of village Sadhana, Bharpur Singh Bhura of village Burj Gill, Binder Singh of Burj Gill, Amandeep Singh Amna of village Sadhana and 20 other unidentified persons were involved,” Narinder Mittal, district president, BJP, alleged.

When contacted, Jagdeep Singh Nakai, refuted all charges alleged by the BJP leaders and said, “Nothing happened in my constituency, Joga, and all the violence occurred at village Burj Gill, which is in Rampura Phul constituency. Moreover, the BJP is alleging that I have instigated violence at village Bhundar, but they should know that had I not been there, the situation would have worsened. In fact, I had stopped SAD as well as BJP workers from entering into any kind of confrontation in public.”

“Being an elder brother, I also spoke to BJP worker Mohit Gupta to maintain peace but the way BJP acted, led to confrontation between SAD and BJP workers. And now Mohit is openly saying that I insulted him in front of his workers. I have known him for a long time and he had stayed at my house in Chandigarh at least 10 times. Actually Mohit, who owns a liquor bottling plant, is having some issues with his partner, who is my supporter and maybe that is why, Mohit wants to involve me in the issue,” Nakai alleged.

Sikandar Singh Maluka said, “Ever since this incident occurred, I have been saying that it is very unfortunate and should not have happened. And moreover, I was not involved in the violence as I was not present on the spot. The BJP leaders had a clash with people in village Burj Gill, who objected their presence inside the polling booth. Those people didn’t know who these persons were, maybe they had never seen them in the village.”

When contacted, DC Rahul Tewari said, “On the basis of statements made by BJP leaders, criminal cases have been registered against four persons namely Lakhvir Singh Lakha, Bharpur Singh Bhura, Binder Singh and Amandeep Singh Amna and 15 other unidentified persons.”

Bathinda, May 13
Congress MLA from Nathana, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, has alleged that on Monday, at around 4 pm, when polling in Bathinda district was about to end, Om Prakash Chautala’s controversial Green Brigade captured polling booths and cast bogus votes at some of the villages including Jandawala in Balahar Vinjhu constituency, among others.

“The ballot papers polled at that time did not bear the signatures of the presiding officer at the above mentioned stations. They just have a stamp, which was then folded and put in the ballot boxes by the Green Brigade members. Not only this, the counterfoil, where the voter has to sign before polling his vote, is without the voters’ sign. I urge the officials to cancel such ballot papers during the counting to be held tomorrow,” Bhatti said.

“And if such ballot papers are found more in number from a particular polling station, then the presiding officer, polling agents and the staff of polling booth should be booked for a criminal offence and under the Representation of People’s Act. If the polling staff were not booked for this crime at that time, then the situation would worsen in the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections on May 26. It will help everyone to streamline the election process. Otherwise, such people would get encouraged and repeat the same thing ,” Bhatti alleged.

It is pertinent to mention here that when a voter goes to cast his vote, he first has to sign on the counterfoil, then the ballot paper is signed by the presiding officer and given to the voter. After that, the vote is considered as cast.

Narinder Bhularia, president, District Congress Committee, Bathinda, said, “Today, I visited some villages of Joga block, namely Chauke, Badiala, and Raman Vas in Rampura Block, where some reports of booth capturing and bogus voting have come to my notice. I demand from the government that such votes be cancelled and if found guilty, the entire polling staff at such stations should be booked for criminal offence.”

The filing of nominations for Gram Panchayat elections have started today, “but the state government has failed to issue a list of seats meant for the reserved categories for the sarpanches. This has led to harassment and confusion in the candidates.”he added.

DC Rahul Tewari confirmed that the list has been delayed due to the recent clash between the SAD and BJP workers. “But by tomorrow, we will issue this list for sure.

Dharamkot (Moga), May 13
A 65-year-old man, a supporter of the Congress, was allegedly beaten to death by the SHO of Dharamkot police station at Kokri Vehniwal village in Moga district this afternoon. Agitated over the ‘brutal’ act of the police, hundreds of Congressmen including many MLAs staged a dharna outside the police station carrying the dead body.

On receiving the report, District Magistrate Satwant Singh Johal immediately asked SSP Ashok Bath to look into the matter and lodge the complaint of the aggrieved family members. “I have also sent the local SDM on the spot to take stock of the situation and if demanded, conduct a magisterial inquiry into the incident,” said the DM while talking to The Tribune on telephone.

Meanwhile, when this correspondent reached the dharna site, hundreds of Congressmen including MLAs Darshan Singh Brar, Ajit Singh Shant, Joginder Singh Panjgrain, former MP Kewal Singh and other local leaders were sitting on dharna demanding an FIR to be registered against the alleged guilty SHO and some other policemen who were along with him.

Later in the evening, police recorded the statement of the family members of Naib Singh, the deceased. As per the statement given by Harinder Singh Ruby, the nephew of the deceased, a police party led by SHO Yadwinder Singh Bajwa raided his house to arrest him but he fled. Later, the police went to his uncle’s house who was lying on the bed and started beating him up with sticks, he stated. When he fell unconscious, the police party fled, he added in his statement.

“The police wanted my uncle to produce me before them as a complaint was lodged against me at the behest of some Akali workers but the old man did not know about my whereabouts following which the SHO beat him up,” he alleged.

Harjinder Singh, son of the deceased, a BSF jawan, who had come on leave yesterday itself, told The Tribune that his father was beaten to death by the SHO himself.

The local DSP Jagjit S Soraya said that the police would book all those named in the complaint and act accordingly. “We will not spare anyone found guilty,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SHO and the policemen who accompanied him on the raid had run away and were absconding. However, the DSP claimed that they had gone on duty.

The dharna was still going on outside the police station at the time of filinmg of this report and the situation in the town was tense. The SSP had also arrived on the dharna site late in the evening to monitor the situation.

Former local MLA Baldev Singh Bhatti, general secretary of the BSP Ambedkar, also condemned the police act and demanded a high-level probe into the incident. Malti Thapar and Vijay Sathi, both general secretaries of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) had also condemned the brutal act of the police. 

Barnala, May 13
Three women of a family, including one who was pregnant, were allegedly thrashed by a man, who was reportedly in an inebriated condition, on Monday night. They were later admitted to the Civil Hospital in Barnala.

The condition of the two women is said to be critical and they are not in a condition to give any statement to the police.

According to sources, a man in an inebriated condition entered the house of Seema Rani at Rahi Basti near S.D. College, Barnala, at about 10 pm. He tore her clothes and pulled her earrings. She cried for help. Listening to her screams, Geeta Rani, sister of Seema, who was in the family way, tried to save Seema but the man kicked Geeta on the abdomen causing serious injuries to her.

House owner, Ram Chand, said that both the women were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Barnala. Today in the morning, when Bimla Rani, her daughter-in-law was coming to the hospital to see Seema and Geeta, some persons attacked her with sharp-edged weapons. She sustained serious head injury. Bimla was also admitted to the Civil Hospital, Barnala. The victim’s family members met police officials seeking action against the accused.

SP (H) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar said that an inquiry had been marked to DSP Pargat Singh Khaira. As per doctors, the two women were unfit to give any statement. So, any action would be taken only after their statement is recorded. Therefore, no case was registered till the filing of the news. 

Bathinda, May 13
The health department and voluntary organisations here are seriously concerned over the steady increase in number of thalassemia patients in Bathinda and other districts of Malwa region.

These patients suffer from genetic disorders that affect a person’s ability to produce haemoglobin, resulting in anaemia. Haemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen and nutrients to cells in the body and its deficiency causes serious disorders, warranting periodical blood transfusion. Thalassemia is actually a group of inherited diseases of the blood and a child who inherits two thalassemia trait genes — one from each parent — is more susceptible to the disease.

There are more than 300 cases of thalassemia in Barnala, Muktsar, Mansa, Faridkot and Bathinda districts of which more than 50 cases are in Bathinda alone. A large number of children are regularly coming to Bathinda for blood transfusion and the only silver lining for them is that there are a large number of Voluntary organisations are arranging for blood from, ‘willing donors’, said I.B. Aggarwal, assistant civil surgeon at Civil Hospital here.

“So far, we have not faced any blood shortage to cope with the demand and the children are getting blood transfusion but in summer, we do feel the crunch when the schools and colleges are closed and donors are nor readily available,” he said.

Regular blood transfusion every four week is a relief and not complete treatment and the patients survive as long as new blood is available for transfusion. In addition to the blood transfusions, doctors recommend injections of Desferal to help the body flush out extra iron created by the new blood. The injections are given under the skin from a small pump five to seven nights a week, he added.

Additionally, splenectomy (removal of the spleen), bone marrow transplants and chelation therapy are being researched as possible treatments for thalassemia.

“I am poor and can not afford bone marrow transplant as it is too expensive. It is difficult to get blood transfusion for my six-year-old kid every 40 days,” said Harneek Singh of Ramyana village.

The patients of thalassemia usually show symptoms within the first two years of life. They become pale and listless and have poor appetite. They grow slowly and often develop jaundice and if not treated, the spleen, liver and heart soon become enlarged, bones become thin and brittle and often result in heart failure, said another doctor practising at a private hospital.

Bathinda, May 13
With visa restrictions gradually increasing and countries like Britain calling for denying visas to those who are not conversant with British etiquettes and the English language, learning English has become imperative for those wishing to go abroad.

English is the new ‘in’ thing in the backward Malwa region known for lowest literacy rate in the state. A large number of convent and English medium schools have come up in the ‘backward’ districts of Muktsar, Mansa, Moga, Sangrur, Faridkot and parts of Ludhiana.

The mushrooming of English medium schools has considerably increased the demand for English teachers in these predominantly Punjabi speaking areas. To cope with the demand for teachers, these schools are engaging English teachers from outside and as per a rough estimate about 400 teachers have descended from South.

Vinita Singhal, who is teaching at the Eastwood International School, Doomwali, feels that while teaching, there should be no pre-assumptions. As far as Punjab is concerned, she said while teaching English, there were times when she had to explain everything in Hindi. “But as I had studied in Delhi, so it was not an issue,” she added. Basic vocabulary is low and one has to try hard to create contact with the young minds, but the silver lining is that kids are keen to learn. “While speaking English, boys break into Punjabi, but girls respond better,” she said.

Another teacher Anurati said, “We have mostly villages in this region where parents lack a futuristic approach and speaking in English is considered showing off.” Further, the IT revolution has increased the need for learning English to gain a competitive edge in this era of globalisation.

Barnala, May 13
On the first day of the filing of nominations for the panchayat elections, residents of village Maur Nimmawala set an example by electing there panchayat unanimously.

After holding a meeting of the villages, a five-member committee was formed to propose the candidates for the panchayat members. The committee proposed the names of Raghbir Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Teja Singh, Gurmeet Kaur and Shinder Kaur.

Farmer leader Gurdev Singh Mann announced the candidature of the above mentioned five persons, including two women and the villagers accepted them. So, they were elected as panchayat members.— OC