Bathinda, May 19
Alleging the ruling party for putting pressure on them in the connivance of the district police, several candidates today withdrew their nomination forms.

While as per the document procured from the ADC (D) office, altogether 6416 nominations were received while 5075 were accepted.

While many Gram Panchayats, namely Maluka, Maluka Khurd, Harnam Singh Wala, Kaloke, Kothe Pipli, Kothe Himatpura, Malluana, Chotia, Burj-Mansa, Jethuke, Gharhaili, Jhanduke, Chauke, Thamangarh, Kanakwal have unanimously been declared winners in the district.

Huge crowd were witnessed at the all offices of the returning officers today and incidents of ruckus were also reported from some places.

As per the details procured, in Bathinda I zone 120 forms were rejected out of 306, in Bathinda II zone 95 forms were rejected out of 290, in Bathinda III zone 151 forms were rejected out of 399, in Batinda IV zone 86 forms were rejected out of 298 accepted. In Nathana I zone 113 forms were rejected out of 339 accepted, in Nathana II zone 77 forms were rejected out of 249 accepted. In Sangat I zone 62 forms were rejected out of 201, in Sangat II zone 74 forms were rejected out of 247 accepted. In Talwandi Sabo I zone 95 forms were rejected out of 272 accepted, in Talwandi sabo II zone 99 forms were rejected out of 435 accepted. In Bhagta I zone 132 forms were rejected out of 332, in Bhagta II zone 71 forms were rejected out of 216 accepted. In Phul I zone 74 forms were rejected out of 274 accepted and in Rampura I zone 85 forms were rejected out of 282.

Several candidates while talking to the TNS after withdrawing their forms appeared anxious. They alleged that pressure was being given by leaders of ruling party. While a number of persons cited the incidents, which took place during the recent Zila Parishad and Block Samiti polls.

When contacted the ADC (D), Vijay N Zade, who is also an additional district electoral officer, expressed his ignorance over the allegations of any kind of pressure over the candidates and said that the arrangement was very transparent. As many as 45 election symbols were allotted to the candidates. All arrangements had been done for the printing of ballot papers and teams would come back with the printed stationary after three days.

Rampura Phul, May 19
Residents of Rampura Phul can hope for improved services and facilities in the days to come as the state government has decided to spend Rs 24 crore to improve the roads, water supply, sewerage system, drainage, streetlights etc in the town.

Disclosing this here today, Sikander Singh Maluka, district president of the SAD, informed The Tribune that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal along with SAD-president Sukhbir Singh Badal and local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia would be visiting the sub-division on May 23 to lay foundation stones of various projects worth Rs 24 crore.

Maintaining that there was a shortage of 8 MGD water supply for distribution to residential and commercial areas of the town, Maluka said the state government had proposed the boring of six more tubewells besides a treatment plant in the sub-division.

He said that in the proposal drafted by the urban local bodies department, the basic facilities that needed strengthening would be given priority.

Elated with the approval, Maluka said the town could hope for rapid development.

Stating that at present, solid waste was being dumped in the low-lying open areas around the sub-division, he informed that the department has sought Rs 8 crore for the construction of a solid waste management plant on the town’s outskirts. The department had cited the strengthening and widening of all major roads maintained by the Nagar Council, he said.

After laying the foundation stones of various projects in the sub-division, the CM, 
SAD president and the local bodies minister would address the public in the evening, added Maluka.

Bathinda, May 19
Shifting of Jat Sikh (peasantry) votes in favour of the ruling SAD (B) has been the root cause for the Congress defeat in the PRI elections. The National Congress Party (NCP), Punjab unit, stated this here today.

Opposing the demand of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Rajinder Kaur Bhattal for imposing the President’s rule in Punjab, NCP general secretary Amrit Pal Singh Sidhu termed the ruckus raised by Bhattal regarding the alleged rigging of the PRI elections as baseless and misleading. The PPCC president should accept the defeat gracefully, he added.

Sidhu further informed that the inputs received by the NCP office indicated that poor families and the peasantry comprising Jat Sikhs had voted in favour of the SAD, as the poor were swayed by the ‘atta-dal scheme’, while the Jat Sikhs were annoyed with the Congress high command due to the treatment meted out to former CM Capt Amrinder Singh.

He said the fact was that the people of Malwa had not accepted Bhattal’s leadership. In the last assembly elections, the Congress bagged five seats from Malwa as the Jat Sikh whole-heartedly voted for the party due to the popularity of Amrinder.

Sidhu disclosed that the NCP was making inroads in Punjab and the party, besides working for the welfare of the people, would also stress upon the present status of schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and national food security schemes.

Bathinda, May 19
It was a proud moment for people in Bathinda as Nitin Bansal, a local boy, secured 155th rank in the civil services examination conducted by the UPSC.

His feat has left his family ecstatic. Nitin’s father Dr B.P. Bansal, mother Kusum and younger brother Karan were busy thanking the well-wishers whose congratulatory calls kept pouring in incessantly.

An alumnus of local SSD Senior Secondary School, Nitin attributes his success to hard work and the blessings of his parents. Nitin, who is a qualified doctor, having done his MBBS, wishes to give his best to the society as a cop.

Expressing his desire, he said he would provide health-related services to his juniors and use his knowledge of medicines to become a versatile officer.

But this was Nitin’s second chance only and he is gearing up for the third attempt to improve his ranking.

Revealing his secret of success, this 1982-born lad said, “Hard work and planned study is what helped me. Now, I can say that there is a need to strike balance between hard work and smart work.”

One of his cousins, Mandeep Garg, said, “He has always been a meritorious and hard working student. He feels the pain of society.”

“I knew that clearing the exam was not a cakewalk. One should be target-oriented, dedicated and hard working if one wants to get through,” said Nitin.

“In the cadre preference column, I have filled up the name of my home state. The rest depends upon my luck. Anyway, I am prepared for it,” he said.

When asked if he was aware of the political pressure that bureaucrats constantly have to endure, he said, “Let the time come, I will do my best to deal with the situation.” 

Bathinda, May 19
Come summer vacations and summer camps replace the traditional classrooms thereby imparting education with recreation to schoolchildren. The concept of summer camps during vacations is fast picking up with more and more schools organising such camps to fully utilise the talent and energy of children in a productive manner. Even the schools in a lesser known place like Bathinda are catching up with the emerging trend.

Local schools are running summer camps for their students. And today, the Chetak Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) also started a summer camp at the Chetak Nursery School here.

Chairperson of the association Rashmi Sujlana inaugurated the camp with nearly 300 children participating in it. The GOC-in-C Lieutenant General R.S. Sujlana of the Chetak Corps the chief guest on the occasion.

The purpose of organising the summer camp was to afford an opportunity to the children to develop new hobbies and foster creativity through recreation and utilise their time and energy for developing their personality, said Rashmi Sujlana.

During the 12-day-long camp, closing on May 31, activities like creative art, paper craft, film-making, theatre and dance, candle-making, cookery, photography and self-grooming would be taken up to develop the personality of the students, she added.

The summer camps at other schools like DPS Bathinda are also taking up similar activities with addition of recreational sports like horse riding and swimming. Some of the schools are taking their students to hill stations for summer camps to have an ideal mix of salubrious climate, adventure and recreation.

Bathinda, May 19
Globe-trotting on motorbike covering 90,000 km in 300 days to spread the message of peace and harmony sounds a little strange. But 48-year-old B.V. Naryana from Bangalore has this herculean task cut out for him.

Naryana, who is already on a mini mission to propagate his message of peace within India, has covered almost all the states during his journey, which started from Bengaluru on December 12, 2005. He is all set to reach Delhi next week to set out for a global expedition after completing the necessary formalities of getting visa to European and American countries.

The son of a technocrat, Naryana is moving on an improvised bike with 500cc engine and four wheels and is keen to have a team of three or four members to accompany him.

“In case I am not able to get a good team, I will prefer to go alone on a bicycle,” he told this reporter in an informal talk here today.

Naryana said he would cover 300 km every day to cover 90,000 km journey on his motorbike, starting from Delhi. He would be back in Delhi after 10 months.

He had paddled across the country with a message of peace and covered 7,680 km in 56 days. The untiring Naryana did not call it a day and set out for a global expedition in 1979 and 1980, covering 89,600 km in 18 months, setting a record of sorts.

Naryana’s marital life has been chequered. Twice, his marriage broke, leaving him shattered. But he did not lose heart and decided to embark on something meaningful.

This time again, he faced bad luck as a woman from his village, about 10 years younger to him, joined him from Bengaluru. She accompanied him on his journey for several 
days but suddenly disappeared one day with all his belongings and documents.

“I have been unfortunate in getting love, but at least I can spread the message of love and unity,” he added.

“I was crestfallen and depressed but did not lose heart and decided to go ahead with my mission,” Narayan said, courage and confidence beaming in his eyes.

He said the people across the country had been good to him and accommodating. “I felt at home all along,” he surmised.

Ferozepur, May 19
Three youths, including two Pakistani and one Afghan national, who were arrested at the local railway station on Sunday morning has raised the eye brows of the security agencies with the possibility of their involvement in the recent incident of serial blasts in Jaipur.

Those arrested had disclosed their identity as Daniyal Jaffar (27) son of Jaffar Abbas resident of Mandi Bahawaldin, Pakistani Punjab, Sunil (26) son of Ashraf resident of Rag Raeka, Mandi Bahawaldin, Pakistani Punjab and Rameez (19) son of Abdul Hameez resident of Khanabad, Umrakhan Ispat, Kauji, Afganistan.

These youths were arrested few minutes after the arrival of a train from Jaipur. The train was scheduled to arrive here at 7.30 am but it was late by about one hour and reached here at 8.22 am, confirmed a senior officer in the railways. They were arrested at about 9.00 am by the RPF personnel.

Sources in one of the intelligence agencies carrying out the joint interrogation of these youths revealed that the arrest of these youths just after the arrival of a train from Jaipur assumes significance in the wake of the blasts.

It may be mentioned that officials of the intelligence bureau, military intelligence and the intelligence wing of the border security force were jointly interrogating these youths.

Today morning, the officials of the Government Railway Police (GRP) produced these youths before a local court that sent him on police remand for seven days. 
It was learnt that two officers of the military intelligence, one officer of the intelligence bureau and two officers of the intelligence wing of the border security force had questioned these youths several times to ascertain the purpose, place and timing of their arrival in the country, besides, any possibility of their links with the Jaipur blasts.

Although the youths had so far maintained that they had crossed over to India through some vulnerable points of the fencing after watching the retreat ceremony at Gandasinghwala-Hussaniwala joint check post but the interrogating officers were not leaving anything to chance keeping in view of the nation’s security.

The intelligence agencies were trying to collaborate all theories- their arrival from Jaipur or entering the country through the fencing. There could be a possibility that these youths having come from Jaipur looking for easy passage to sneak into Pakistan from this border area.

Sources in the intelligence agencies further revealed that so far no concrete evidence has come to the fore indicating that they had come on the train from Jaipur. The officials of the intelligence agencies were likely to question the railway officials who had come on the train. Details of ticket reservations had also been summoned for verification from the railway authorities.

The intelligence agencies had also flashed a message to their counterparts at Delhi and other locations to question those persons whose visiting cards were recovered from these youths. The sim cards of Pakistani mobile companies were also being examined to ascertain the links of these youths. 

Ferozepur, May 19
Most of the old members retained their seats in the cantonment board elections, counting for which was held here today. The highest margin of victory was attained by Joginder, an SAD-supported candidate from ward no. 1, who defeated his rival Ladu Chowdhry by 2,376 votes.

In ward no. 2, Bimla Joshi, wife of former vice-president Ajay Joshi, polled 1,496 votes and defeated her nearest rival Hemlata, wife of former member Ashok Kumar Songi, by 438 votes.

In ward no. 3, Meenu Gupta, wife of former member Sanjay Gupta, got 1,424 votes while Usha, wife of former member Raj Kumar, secured 1,036 and Congress-supported candidate Rajni Bansal polled 515 votes.

Nirmala Rani, wife of former member Gobind Ram, bagged 1,485 votes in ward no. 4 and her nearest rival Amanjot polled 1,152 votes. The latter had a backing of BJP-RSS cadre. No other candidate in this ward was able to secure over 100 votes.

In ward no. 5, former member Radhe Shyam polled 947 votes defeating his nearest rival Ravi Kumar Soi by a slender margin of 122 votes. In this ward, Sanjeev Aggarwal got 340 votes and Jagjit received 306 votes.

In ward no. 6, SAD-candidate Zora Singh was elected as a member for the first time. He secured 1,072 votes as compared to 897 polled by his nearest rival Tirlok Singh. Another candidate Sham Lal got 628 votes. In ward no. 7, former member B.K. Sharma proved too good for his rivals as he polled 630 votes defeating his nearest rival Dharaminder by 207 votes. Raj Kumar got 412 votes and Madhu Sudan polled 165 votes in this ward.

It is pertinent to mention here that in the eight wards of the cantonment, ward no. 1 was reserved for a SC/ST candidate whereas ward No. 2, 3 and 4 had been reserved for the women contestants.

Muktsar, May 19
Despite the repeated requests made by the state government to switch over to some other crops and vegetables, farmers of this area are all set to sow the paddy crop and seedling for this has already started.

During a visit to a number of villages in Muktsar district, farmers were found burning stubble to cultivate land for the next crop.

Soon after the harvesting of wheat, farmers ploughed their fields and planted the seedling for the paddy. Sensing the danger of decreasing groundwater level, the government had passed an ordinance putting a ban on the early sowing of paddy, throughout the state, a couple of days back. But reportedly, Muktsar district was given some kind of a compensatory privilege as the district is facing the problem of waterlogging.

Chief Agricultural Officer, Muktsar, Bikar Singh Buttar said, “Early sowing of paddy and transplantation of seedling was banned till June 15, but after May 10, the farmers were allowed. The seedling has been allowed because it takes a month’s time to get ready for the transplantation.” “The order would be effective up to June 15 but in this particular district, some kind of relaxation was given due to waterlogging problem. So here, farmers would be allowed to transplant seedling and sow crop from June 10,” he added.

Experts at the PAU regional centre, Bathinda, said the ordinance was passed after the PAU authorities presented a data to the ministry relating to diminishing level of groundwater. In the prescribed recommendation, the authorities had mentioned that after mid-June, the rate of decline would be slow.

Sham Singh, a farmer of Kothe Kesar Singh Wale, said, “This season, I wanted to switch over to some cash crop but as the groundwater of the area is not conducive for cotton and new crops, we have again opted for the paddy crop and seedling has already been done.”

When contacted, deputy commissioner Muktsar, Vikas Garg expressed his ignorance about any privilege being granted to the farmers of the district regarding the early sowing of paddy.

Abohar, May 19
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) today resolved to organise a sit-in-cum-demonstration at the Lambi police station on the home turf of CM Parkash Singh Badal.

Gurmail Singh Burjan, BKU district secretary, today alleged that a youth, Sardul Singh, was kidnapped from village Himmatpura of this sub-division on April 27.

The next day, his body was found “hanging” from a tree at village Tarmala, which comes under the Lambi police station. Prima facie, it appeared that Sardul Singh had been killed and the culprits were trying to project it a case of suicide, he added.

Giving more details, he said that the shocked parents and others lodged a protest with the police, which had registered a case under section 306 of the IPC, suspecting that “some persons” might have abetted Sardul to take step. The parents, while blaming three persons, had demanded that it should be treated as a murder case. The police had rounded up two persons while the main culprit was reportedly absconding. — OC

Bathinda, May 19
While a lot of industrial growth and expansion of the town is taking place, but the fire fighting service here is in shambles and the authorities have to seek the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army in case of a major fire incident.

The authorities seem to have lost sight of putting in place a viable fire-fighting system to match the growth of the town.

Only three fire tenders, out of which only one is in proper working condition, are available here to fight fires as far away on the borders touching Haryana and Rajasthan.

Nine-storey malls are coming up here, but the fire-fighting station is equipped with a ladder to reach only 35 feet high. They require a system with at least 120 feet high turn-table ladder to fight the fire in such buildings and rescue trapped persons.

The officials do not want to be quoted, but while listing several shortcomings they pointed out that the fire station does not have foam tender that was a must for the presence of three oil depots and an LPG bottling plant. The authorities have put the demand before the government for deploying at least one foam tender here.

At times, fire tenders were sought from Dabwali in Haryana to fight flames around here.

Major fires in the rural areas are a routine phenomenon here as farmers burn the residue of the harvested crop every season. These fires turn wild when fanned by dust storms that hit the Malwa belt during summers.

During the recent devastating fire in the agriculture fields near here, the only serviceable fire tender broke down and was repaired only the next morning.

As many as 208 small and big fire incidents were reported here last year and during the current year till May 3, the number was 74.

One of the fire tenders is a 27-year-old model, while the two others are about 25 years old. These vehicles fail to run with the cavalcade of the visiting VIPs and are left far behind.

It becomes very difficult to fight the flames in the interiors of the city, as there is no small tender that could manoeuvre through the narrow lanes.

The staff strength, including officers, is 22, which according to the rules are sufficient for only one fire tender. Five firemen were recently recruited on contractual basis.

Various government agencies are eyeing the commercially valuable space within the main town where the fire brigade office is located. Their concern is to dislodge the fire office from there, but upgrading the service is not on top of their agenda.

The business community and other residents point out that it would not be wise to shift the fire tenders out of the main city. They have demanded a separate fire station for the industrial area.

Ferozepur, May 19
The State Election Commission (SEC) has ordered immediate suspension and stringent action against Satpal, SDE (Water Supply and Sewerage Board), who was appointed as the Returning Officer ( RO), Mamdot block, for the Gram Panchayat elections.

DC Megh Raj said that Satpal had misplaced the nomination papers of Sukhwant Singh and Ramesh, who were candidates in these elections. The DC further said that the SEC took a strong exception of the mistake committed by the RO.

Thev DC informed that he had written to the Secretary, Water Supply and Sanitation, to place the official concerned under suspension as per orders of the SEC, and the SHO concerned had been told to register a case.

Adressing a meeting of poll officials, the DC said that for the Gram Panchayat elections in 10 blocks of the district, 22,088 nomination papers were received from various candidates, out of which 2,279 nomination papers had been rejected.

The DC clarified that due to large number of nomination papers filed for the elections, more officials were being deployed for various duties. He said that J.S. Sandhu, executive engineer, Eastern Canal Division, had been deputed in the Khuiyan Sarvar block, Massa Singh, executive engineer, PSEB, in the Guruharsahai block, DFO in Mamdot block, R.S. Brar, chief agriculture officer, in the Ghal Khurd block and deputy registrar, Cooperative Societies, had been deputed in the Makhu block.

Barnala, May 19
The convener of the Kiranjeet Kand Virodhi Action Committee, Kanwaljeet Khanna, said that the Supreme Court had stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court decision regarding life imprisonment to Manjeet Singh Dhaner. Dhaner was an active member of Kiranjeet Kand Virodhi committee and is farmer leader of Barnala district.

Khanna said that the Supreme Court had stayed the order of Punjab and Haryana High Court till further order and meanwhile it had issued notices to all concerned parties to put their claim before the apex court on next hearing.

Abohar, May 19
Gurdial Singh Bhangal and Sukhwant Singh Sekhon, state president and general secretary respectively of the Technical Services Union, today exhorted the PSEB workers to reach Chandigarh along with their family members to participate in a demonstration against the state government on May 22.

Speaking to newspersons after holding meetings with senior office-bearers of the TSU units of the region today, they announced that a complete strike would be observed on May 28 and 29 in the next phase of the agitation.

Claiming that reports received from various towns all over Punjab indicated that there would be an overwhelming participation in the May 22 agitation. Special teams formed by the TSU were approaching the workers at their doorstep. Other organisations of employees and farmers had been requested to join the protest against the privatisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board and victimisation of the TSU activists for spearheading an agitation in this connection.

Sekhon claimed that CM Parkash Singh Badal had assured a deputation of joint forum of farmers and workers on April 18 that all orders on termination and suspension of the TSU workers in Muktsar, Patiala and other circles would be withdrawn.

After that the deputation had met him four times to remind him of his assurance, but he was dilly-dallying, Sekhon regretted. 

Mansa, May 19
Dipin Kumar Singla (25), a resident of Mansa, has been selected for the civil services. His father is additional sessions Judge at Faridkot. He got 334th rank in the final selection. He did his class X from the SD High School, Malout, with 86 per cent marks and class XII from Mata Gujri College, Fathegarh Sahib, with 78 per cent marks.

He completed his B.Com from Modi College, Patiala, with 74 per cent marks. After that, he also did a CA course from Delhi. He said that he had been inspired by his father, teachers and friends. Singla said that his first preference would be to serve the poor people.—OC   

Barnala, May 19
The body of a Barnala woman was donated to a medical college for research purposes. This is first time in the district that a woman’s body was donated.

The deceased, Kailsah Devi (72), had expressed the wish to donate her body, according to her family members. Kailsah Devi was mother of a journalist, Rajinder Singla. Her husband Badri Dass Singla is the president of Nishkam Sewa Samiti and patron of the Aggarwal Sabha, Barnala.

Badri Dass said that Kailash died after a brief illness. He said that today after her death, her eyes were donated to the Eye Donation Society, Barnala, as she was of the view that it could make the life of two persons colourful.

Ajay Kumar, a doctor of Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, came along with his team to receive the body. He also briefed the persons gathered to condole the departed soul about the importance and need for such donation.

Many NGOs and social organizations gathered at Kailash Devi’s home. Tarkshel Society president Megh Raj Mittar said the donation would inspire people, particularly women, to do noble work.