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Dera chief, supporters booked for attacking cops
Batala, June 9
An agricultural officer along with police force went to plough the paddy field at the dera of Baba Palwinder Singh at Ghanie ke Bangar village, where paddy was planted before June 15 against the government orders.

Price Pressure

Scores of labourers, farmers and women, who are members of the anti-privatisation coordination committee, organised a dharna against the rising inflation in front of the district administrative complex in Jalandhar on Monday. The members demanded that the hike in the prices of LPG cylinder, diesel and petrol should immediately be rolled back. They said even the basic facilities like power and water have become a burden on the common man. — Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

4 booked for man’s suicide
Hoshiarpur, June 9
The Tanda police has booked four persons on the complaint of Prince who alleged that the accused were responsible for his brother’s suicide.

Assistant controller in VB net
Hoshiarpur, June 9
Vigilance sleuths caught assistant controller
at the local audit office Jagdish Chand Taneja while accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 for clearing arrears of Dasuya Market Committe auction officer Arvind Singh.

Man strangles wife, nabbed
Amritsar, June 9
The district police has arrested Satnam Singh Satta of Gillwali Gate here for allegedly strangling his wife Manpreet Kaur.

Squall damages two towers, power supply disrupted
Amritsar, June 9
A squall that hit the city a couple of days back has damaged two 132-kv electricity towers, paralysing power supply to
the holy city.

Grant Grudge
‘Apathy choking fund flow to rural colleges’
Nawanshahr, June 9
Though various social and religious organisations have been contributing a lot in providing higher education facilities to the poor sections of society in rural areas, the government has been adopting an apathetic attitude towards these institutions, rued Tirath Ram Bhumbla, president, Punjab Unaided Rural Colleges Association (PURCA), while talking to The Tribune here on Monday.

Boost for health facilities in Bholath
Kapurthala, June 9
Rajya Sabha MP Dharampal Sabharwal distributed over five dozen multi-purpose health machines, from his MPLAD funds, to registered youth services clubs in Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s constituency, Bholath.

	Rural job scheme falls flat in district Kusum Arora Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 9 The central government-funded National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has failed miserably in the district: reason the callous attitude of the authorities concerned. This was revealed by Bharat Bhushan Gupta, who has been appointed the national-level monitor of the scheme for the district, here today. He said awareness regarding the scheme in Punjab was bare minimum. Gupta was here to review functioning of NREGS in Nakodar and Bhogpur blocks of the district. He checked implementation of the scheme at every level and expressed shock over the sluggish attitude of the authorities in making the NREGS a success. He said, “It is not people who are responsible for the failure of NREGS but the officials who have failed to do anything at the grass-roots level.” In his report to the union ministry for rural development, he has categorically mentioned, “The officials in Jalandhar district have not understood the basic concept of the NREGA and as a result nothing substantial has taken place.” Talking about the scheme, he said despite the fact that the authorities had funds, it was surprising to know that the sanctioned posts of the gram rozgar sahayak were not filled. The district has only eight gram sahayaks till date against the sanctioned 200. The scheme was started under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Act (NREGA) and guarantees 100 days of labour work to villagers. The scheme was implemented throughout the country on April 1, 2008, except for 82 districts which were covered under the pilot project in 2006. He said, “The scheme was started with an aim to provide financial security to the rural people. Even the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh have implemented the scheme well but its condition in Punjab is disgusting.” Emphasising on serious implementation of the scheme, Gupta said, “The authorities concerned have not taken much interest to publicise the salient features of the NREGS. Though people are coming forward to join it and have made their job cards, the poor response of the authorities is a big drawback.”
	Two tipsy PCR men suspended Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 9 The district police suspended two drunken PCR men Satnam Singh and Varinder Singh after they were found fallen in a mud pool near the Damoria bridge on Monday in full public view under the influence of liquor. SP City I SK Kalia said the two men were suspended after the medical examination. Photojournalists and cameramen from print and electronic media rushed to the spot. They captured the drunken men. Following this, the police got them medically examined. Subsequently, they were suspended.
	Dera chief, supporters booked for attacking cops Our Correspondent Batala, June 9 An agricultural officer along with police force went to plough the paddy field at the dera of Baba Palwinder Singh at Ghanie ke Bangar village, where paddy was planted before June 15 against the government orders. The dera chief, Baba Palwinder Singh, and his followers attacked the agricultural officer. A case was registered under sections 353 and 186 of the IPC on June 5 in this regard. When a police party reached the dera today to arrest the chief, the baba and his followers attacked head constable Kuldeep Singh and constables Sucha Singh, David Masih and Victor Masih with sharp-edged weapons. A case has been registered against Baba Palwinder Singh, his son Simrat Singh and followers Sukhwinder Singh Pataka, Jatinder Singh, Avtar Singh, Rajinder Singh, Mehtab Singh, Bau, Manga Masih and 10 other persons.
	4 booked for man’s suicide Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, June 9 The Tanda police has booked four persons on the complaint of Prince who alleged that the accused were responsible for his brother’s suicide. The booked were identified as Sikander, his brother Jeet Pal, Sikander's wife Satnam and Jassi. According to police sources, Prince stated that his brother Ravi, mother Harbhajan Kaur and sister-in-law Aarti were undertrials in an FIR (19 of 2008) under sections 307 and 452 of the IPC and were lodged in Hoshiarpur sub-jail. Ravi and Aarti got bail just 15 days ago and Ravi started remaining depressed. Aarti, who was pregnant, returned to her parents’ house at Chandigarh. On June 7 Ravi committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his house. He left a suicide note in his pocket. Prince alleged that his brother held all the accused responsible for ruining his family.
	Assistant controller in VB net Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, June 9 Vigilance sleuths caught assistant controller at the local audit office Jagdish Chand Taneja while accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 for clearing arrears of Dasuya Market Committe auction officer Arvind Singh. Complainant Arvind Singh told the vigilance bureau that Taneja was demanding Rs 5,000 for clearing his bills for Rs 2.5 lakh. Later, the deal was struck at Rs 3,000. While Arvind Singh was handing over the amount, the vigilance team nabbed Taneja in market committee office complex here. A case has been registered.
	Man strangles wife, nabbed Our Correspondent Amritsar, June 9 The district police has arrested Satnam Singh Satta of Gillwali Gate here for allegedly strangling his wife Manpreet Kaur. The incident took place on the night of June 7. The crime came to light when Manpreet Kaur’s mother Sukhwinder Kaur, a resident of Shaheeda village, came to meet her daughter and was astonished to learn that Manpreet had died. Sukhwinder then went to Bhaini village where Satnam had taken Manpreet’s body for cremation. She managed to reach there before the cremation and found strangulation marks on her daughter’s neck. Following this she immediately lodged a complaint with the police which then arrested Satnam. In her complaint, Sukhwinder alleged that Satnam used to quarrel with her daughter regularly. When she visited their house at Gillwali Gate, she learned that on the fateful night, Satnam had beaten up Manpreet again. A case has been registered.
	Squall damages two towers, power supply disrupted Our Correspondent Amritsar, June 9 A squall that hit the city a couple of days back has damaged two 132-kv electricity towers, paralysing power supply to the holy city. Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) superintending engineer (city circle) K.L. Sharma today said the board had taken emergency steps to restore power supply. He said the position was likely to improve in a day or two. The two electricity towers at Hakima Wala Gate and Sakatry Bagh were badly damaged and have affected power supply to the areas, including Tunda Talab, Namak Mandi, Dhapai Road, Jhabal Road, Peer Shah Road, Bhagta Wala, Dhab Basti Ram, Lahori Gate, Beri Gate and Chatiwind Gate, he said.
	Grant Grudge ‘Apathy choking fund flow to rural colleges’ Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, June 9 Though various social and religious organisations have been contributing a lot in providing higher education facilities to the poor sections of society in rural areas, the government has been adopting an apathetic attitude towards these institutions, rued Tirath Ram Bhumbla, president, Punjab Unaided Rural Colleges Association (PURCA), while talking to The Tribune here on Monday. Giving details, Bhumbla said the previous Congress government, in collaboration with the centre, had launched a scheme to provide an annual grant to these colleges for infrastructural development as well as to give a fillip to academic excellence. Under the schemes, the colleges were asked to submit their data regarding the strength of students, building, faculty, courses, etc. in 2002-03. Though the data was regularly being submitted to the authorities concerned since then, the colleges got a financial assistance of Rs 3.35 crore only for 2004-05. Moreover, though the state government had received funds from the centre for 2006-07 and the secretary, planning, Punjab, had sanctioned Rs 4 crore in March 2007 for being disbursed among unaided affiliated rural colleges, the funds are being still awaited, lamented Bhumbla. “The association members, accompanied by chief parliamentary secretary Chaudhary Nand Lal had taken up the matter with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in October last year and the CM had issued telephonic instructions to the authorities concerned but to no avail,” Bhumbla added. The association urged the CM to intervene in the matter so that rural colleges could get due financial assistance regularly. Interestingly, a college situated in the CM’s own village is also included in the list of the beneficiary institutions. The association has raised demands of the exemption of road tax to college buses meant for ferrying students from remote areas and charging electricity bills on domestic rates rather than commercial rates from the unaided colleges. The PSEB has already been realising power bills at domestic rates from the aided colleges. The facility should be extended to the unaided affiliated rural colleges also, Bhumbla said.