Bathinda, June 7
Justice R.L.Anand, member, Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), today told newsmen here that the commission received over 8,000 complaints of human rights violations every year. Nearly 80 per cent of these complaints were against the police.

He was here in connection with the human rights violation convention which was organised by the PSHRC and National Rural Development Society of Bathinda.

To sensitise the police about human rights, Justice Anand said professional inputs should be increased in the functioning of the police so that it was perceived as a friend of the people. The NGOs should both interact with the police and keep an eye on it, he remarked.

When asked in how many cases action was taken against policemen, Anand replied that between filing of the complaints, taking its cognisance and final findings by the commission, most of the cases were settled outside. But even then, action was recommended in about 10 per cent cases and most of the recommendations were accepted by the authorities.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Anand said the human rights movement could succeed only with public awareness based on economic development. He said the commission had taken suo motu cognisance of social evils like female foeticide, child abuse, pollution and drug addiction.

If the citizens don’t get good roads, clean drinking water, streetlights or proper health care in hospitals, it constituted a violation of the right to dignity of life and the people could knock the doors of the commission, he told the public.

Bathinda, June 7
A farmer allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide at his residence in village Khyaliwala on Friday night. Forty-two-year-old, Iqbal Singh was allegedly depressed as he was in debt after the withdrawal of the Own Your Transformer (OYT) scheme floated by the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

His family members said that he consumed the pesticide at his house located in the fields. He was rushed to a private hospital at Goniana Mandi where he died after two hours, they added.

The body was taken to Civil Hospital, Bathinda, where doctors conducted a postmortem on Saturday.

Iqbal’s son said that his father was in depression due to debt as he had borrowed money to avail of the OYT scheme. All equipment were bought and wires had been installed and all of a sudden, the government withdrew the scheme, he said. He was under shock as he was already under the debt of a loan for buying a tractor and other agricultural tools.

Sources in the village said that the deceased is survived by two daughters and a son, who recently stood first in school in Plus two exam.

After registering the case under section 174 of the CrPC, police has initiated the inquest proceedings and after postmortem, the body was handed over to the family.

District president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhpur), Hardev Singh alleged the anti-farmer policy of the government was to be blamed for the death of Iqbal. It may be mentioned that the scheme was launched six months ago to give free power connections to farmers who set up their own transformers. It was to benefit about 30,000 farmers. A notice had been issued asking all small and marginal farmers (having five acres) to avail of this benefit. More than 30,000 farmers had applied for the same, maximum being from Bathinda and Sangrur belt.

In the scheme, the cost of transformer, poles and wires was to be borne by the beneficiary, for which farmers had taken loans. But recently the PSEB stopped the scheme and decided to accept demand notices. The testing of equipment was also deferred as the government had suspended the scheme.

Bathinda, June 7
Taking a serious note of adulterated milk, ghee, khoya and paneer being sold in the district, the health department will launch a state-level campaign to check the menace. This was confirmed by the acting civil surgeon Indu Bhushan Aggarwal here today. He said the district health officers had been instructed to launch campaigns to provide pure milk products to the people.

Regarding district Bathinda, health authorities said special teams of food inspectors had been formed for the purpose. The milk products being brought from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan would be checked at railway stations.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the health minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has written to the health ministers of the concerned states to launch a campaign in their respective states to check milk products before sending them to Punjab.

According to the instructions, all civil surgeons have been asked to issue written directions to all sweet shop owners making it mandatory for them to inform about the consignment of milk products being brought from other states.

Moreover, these consignments should be used only after getting a clean chit from the health department. 

Bathinda, June 7
The ongoing Gujjar stir in Rajasthan has now started casting its shadow over the marble markets of Punjab. The two states have trade links as Punjab is one of the buyers of various qualities of marbles and stones from Rajasthan.

During a visit to the market in Bathinda and adjoining Bhucho, the famous marble markets in the state, traders were found to be worried. Although they claimed of holding enough stock, they were also found to be uncertain over the future due to disruption of transportation.

Traders said that now-a-days they were not going to the marble markets of Rajasthan and similarly, traders from Rajashtan were also not coming to Punjab.

Giving details Naresh Mehta, of the Mahesh Marbles, situated on Barnala road, Bathinda said, “The main markets which cater to the needs of Punjab are Makrana, Kishangarh, Rajnagar, Kankroli and Jaipur. Makrana is famous for its marble, while Kishangarh is famous for stones. The Gujjar stir so far has not affected the trade to a great extent but who knows about the future. Kota stone, which is popular in the area, is not reaching here as roads to Kota have been declared sensitive.”

Shashi Kumar of Bhucho Marbles, said, “We all are dependant on Rajasthan and anything which creates a hindrance in the free flow of trade in that state, directly affects us. Now we have been facing the transportation problem as no trucker is willing to put his life at risk. We come to know about the situation over the phone from our business links. The labourers in Rajasthan are also now refusing to work and all this will certainly affect the business in Punjab adversely.”

There are around 25 marble companies in Bhucho and about 15 in Bathinda and these companies bring marbles like Dungri, Kumari, Marwari, Agaria, Rametha, Talai, Sirohi, Selwara, Kota stone, sandstone (Dhaulpur stone) slate and others from the markets in Rajasthan.

Killianwali(Muktsar), June 7
“Any SAD-supported Panch, who will seek support of a Congress-backed Panch to become Sarpanch in his respective village, would not be entitled to remain with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal,” announced Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, here at a function organised to felicitate the new-members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions in Lambi, the home constituency of the CM.

About the steep rise in prices of petroleum products, the CM blamed the UPA government for it. He also expressed the government’s inability to take steps to give some relief to the people as done by some other states as Punjab lacked source of income. When asked about his stand towards the hue and cry being raised over the issue in the state, he said, “The matter will be considered by the Cabinet. I alone can’t do anything in this regard.”

While accusing the Congress for increasing inflation in the country, he said, “The rate of inflation itself says that now the time has come for the Congress to go.”

When the CM was asked about the incidents of the alleged atrocities and murder of Congress men by the SAD activists, he diffused defused the query terming it as a “minor incident” and “routine affair during elections”.

When questioned about the status of the BJP ministers’ memorandum, submitted to him demanding increase in retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 years, he said the cabinet was authorised to take decision over the matter. About the forthcoming parliamentary polls, he said the development would be the main agenda of the ruling party.

In an attempt to hush up the query regarding the alleged mismanagement of the education cess, he said, “The collected cess is not as much as the hype it has generated. many educational institutions have been opened, where that amount would be spent.”

While addressing the gathering of winners in the PRI polls, he spoke at length about the ongoing projects regarding drinking water, canal water, allotment of tubewell connections, and uninterrupted eight-hour electricity supply during the paddy season.

He announced that in village Mahuana, falling in Lambi area, the Tatas would open an institution to impart transport related education and the students, after getting a diploma from there, would get placements at handsome salaries, “more than that of a Tehsildar.”

To encourage meritorious students, he said the Deputy Commissioner had been instructed to provide their list of names, so that they could get guidance.

Barnala, June 7
The Congress is gearing up for municipal committee (MC) elections scheduled to be held on June 30. To chalk out strategy for the polls, the District Congress Committee (DCC) held its meeting here today.The meeting was presided over by local MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon, who invited the applications for party candidates.

Dhillon told this correspondent that he had received about 50 applications for the party ticket. Out of them, about 15 candidates are former MC councillors. The party would contest from all 25 wards. He said he would take the applications to PPCC chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. The party would announce its candidates for all wards within two days, he added. 

Ferozepur, June 7
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Ferozepur summoned Cantonment Executive Officer (CEO) of the local cantonment board, A. Shekhar Babu, along with three other employees, junior engineer Satish Arora, office superintendent Yashpal Chawla and revenue superintendent Onkar Nath Sharma, on June 31 in court, reacting to a criminal complaint filed against them under sections 395, 397, 452, 506, 427, 148 and 149 of the IPC by Vijay Kumar Verma, a local resident.

The plaintiff Vijay Verma had stated in his complaint that the cantonment board leased out occupancy rights of a piece of land to his brother Vikas Kumar for a period of three years commencing from May 16, 2005 to May 15, 2008 at a rent of Rs 750 per month, that was regularly being paid by them.  Both these brothers along with their third brother, Amit Kumar, developed the land that was almost like a jungle, spent lakhs of rupees, and also opened a school, Bhumi Convent School, by raising adequate modern infrastructure there.

He alleged that on May 6, 2006, the CEO and his junior colleagues along with some other persons armed with sticks, rods etc. forcefully entered the school premises and took away furniture, computers and other items in a truck.Later, the DM got the matter investigated. The board officials did not join the investigations and as such, the final report of the findings were given in favour of these brothers.

During the course of the trial in the past two years, the reports of the DM Ferozepur, and PHRC were summoned by the CJM’s court, and after observing the facts, summons were issued to the CEO and three others to appear before the court on June 31.

Bathinda, June 7
The Additional District and Sessions Judge, J.K. Dhir, on Friday sentenced one Mastan Singh to rigorous imprisonment for 15 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh in a case of heroin smuggling and bringing fake currency from Pakistan. The court also sentenced two others, namely Major Singh and Santokh Singh to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh each in the same case.

According to reports, the Sangat police station team had recovered one kg of heroin and fake currency worth Rs 67,000 on August 26, 2005, from a car (DL-1-CH 6713). The occupant of the car was identified as Major Singh, a resident of Sangaria in Rajasthan.

Major Singh confessed to having links with one Mastan Singh, kingpin of the smugglers’ gang and a resident of Killianwali village in Ferozepur. The police also arrested the kingpin of the gang from Ferozepur and recovered one kg of heroin and fake currency worth Rs 1 lakh from his possession. During interrogation, Mastan Singh confessed that he had brought the consignment and the fake currency from Pakistan.

Both the accused told the police that the consignment was to be delivered to one Santokh Singh of Sangat in Bathinda district. The police later arrested Santokh Singh also from Sangat.