Doomwali/Bathinda, July 19
On the day after the clash between Dera followers and Sikh activists that took place at Dabwali, an uneasy calm prevailed in Bathinda district. Shops and schools remained partially closed. Police remained vigilant near the Haryana border and at all deras of the Sacha Sauda sect in the district.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, the district police called in reinforcements from Faridkot and Kapurthala to beef up security arrangements. The five deras of the sect, at Salabatpura, Maur, Lehra Mohabbat, Kaile Bandar and at Malout road, were cordoned off by the police.

Meanwhile in Bathinda, as a precautionary measure, a number of schools and shops remained closed. To instill a sense of security among people, the district police carried out a flag march thrice during the day.

Besides deras, security was increased at the Doomwali barrier, the border between Punjab and Haryana. Police officers deputed at the border were observed to be focused on the entry and exit of hardliner and radical Sikh leaders and as their movement was under the scanner. Except for the heavy deployment of police force, roads leading to Dabwali wore a deserted look.

The uneasy calm affected toll collection at the requisite posts, petrol pumps and other business on the Bathinda-Dabwali road. Naveen Kumar, an employee working at a toll collection centre at Doomwali in Punjab said, “On any day, till noon, we have an average of over 300 trucks passing from here. But due to the tension, till 1 pm, hardly 100 trucks have passed.”

Arvinder Singh, owner of Chaudhary Enterprises, a fuel pump located some distance away from the barrier said, “On a normal day, we have a sale of more than 22,000 litres of diesel but on these two days, it has been restricted to only 5,000 litres.”

Stopping at the Doomwali barrier, Simranjeet Singh Mann, the SAD (A) chief and a hardline Sikh religious leader Baljeet Singh Dadu Sahib Wale confirmed to the TNS the call for Punjab and Haryana bandh given by the Sant Samaj on July 23.

Baljeet Singh also alleged that the Punjab Police was harassing Sikh activists en route to Dabwali to attend the cremation of the Sikh activist, who was killed in the clash on Friday.

Accusing the state and central governments of not being interested in booking the Dera chief for his alleged role in clashes, the Sikh leaders demanded his arrest by booking him under section 120-B of the IPC.

The leaders also appealed to all political and religious leaders to forget personal grudges and join the movement against the Dera for its alleged controversial activities. 

Members of the Muslim community (above) praying for peace in the aftermath of Dera-Sikh clash at the Haji Rattan mosque in Bathinda on Saturday; youngsters (left) playing cricket as markets remained partially closed. — Tribune photos by Malkiat Singh/Kulbir Beera

Abohar, July 19
Hundred of visitors from different villages to this sub-divisional town for the week-end shopping on Saturday were disappointed as shopkeepers could not open their establishments due to a bandh call given by Sikh activists in protest against the Dabwali incident.

The disappointed villagers had to wait till evening for their return journey as buses were not available for the link road routes.

Some members of the Sikh community assembled at Gurdwara Singh Sabha located in the heart of the town and condemned the Dabwali incident.

They urged the government to clamp down on the activities of the Dera Sacha Sauda.

About 40 of them later left for the markets to enforce the bandh by getting the shops closed. The city police moved ahead of the protesters to prevent any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, a small group of protesters tried to block the traffic outside the municipal bus stand by squatting on the main road but the police persuaded them to disperse thus lifting the blockade. 

Bathinda, July 19
The bloody clash during the sarpanch’s election in Daan Singh Wala village, which left a person, Surjeet Singh of village Chak Hira Singh, dead on Thursday, has been causing ripples in the district police.

District police chief Ashish Chaudhary suspended SHO Nehianwala, Boota Singh, for his alleged failure in handling the delicate situation at the government high school in the village where the election was to be held on the day.

Despite the development, the protesting kin of the deceased todaysubmitted a memorandum to the SSP, Bathinda, to register a case against the person who fired at Surjeet and a SAD worker, who had taken him along with his friends for support in the elections.

Giving assurance of a fair probe, the SSP said that a panel had been formed for speedy and thorough investigation.

Laying the body of deceased, who was shot dead in the clash, on the road outside the civil hospital, Bathinda, his kin blocked the road and staged a protest against the police on Friday.

To calm down the protesters, who had accused the police of registering a murder case against Congressmen due to political vendetta, senior police officers assured them of proper investigation.

It may be mentioned that on the day of the clash, there were hardly six-seven policemen deputed at the school. Ironically, when the incident took place, students were present in the school premises, that witnessed scenes of violence.

Replying to a query about the poor security arrangements, SP (City) Narender Kaushal, who was investigating the case at the civil hospital, Bathinda on that day, had said, “As the situation was tied with four panches on each side, there was hardly any chance of elections taking place. So, the security arrangements were not adequate for handling such a violent situation.” So, the police itself had not visualised that the situation could get out of hand in this way.

Ferozepur, July 19
The Punjab government has embarked on several proposals for repair, remodelling and reconstruction of canals and irrigation drains, under which an amount of Rs 2132.40 crore would be spent on major projects and another Rs 1153.58 crore on several minor projects in the state, revealed Janmeja Singh Sekhon, irrigation minister.

He was addressing a huge rural congregation of villagers at Shahzadi village after inauguration of the newly modelled Kasubegu drain, which cost Rs 390 crore.

The minister also inaugurated the newly constructed escape gateway at Badni Gulab Singh village, new gates and gearing system for head and cross regulator at Shekhanwali village besides, some other minor irrigation project here today.

The minister was accompanied by DC Megh Raj, SE Irrigation V. Chowdhary, and SDM M.P. Singh besides, officials from irrigation, drainage and canal department.

Sekhon said that the state government was making concerted efforts to prevent flow of toxic discharge into river Sutlej and make it pollution free. He further said that all those business units, which were polluting Sutlej, had been slapped notices by the PPCB.

Regarding waterlogging in Muktsar and surrounding areas, he said that the state government had planned to construct four new drains, for which the NABARD had assured a financial assistance of Rs 1,055 lakh. For elaborate flood protection arrangements, contingency plans had been drawn for various sensitive flood-prone locations in the state.

He revealed that another scheme amounting to Rs 8,489 lakh had been sanctioned by the NABARD for construction of embankments from village Ghanuari to Karail along river Ghaggar in district Sangrur so that the rural populace and hundreds of acres of fertile land could be protected from 
frequent floods.

On the occasion, the minister distributed an amount of Rs 84 lakh to the villagers towards the cost of land acquired by the department for the Shahzadi minor project.

Sekhon said that after completion of new gates and gearing system for head and cross regulator at village Shekhanwali, over 33,150 acre land belonging to 40 villages including Ghallkhurd, Shehzadi, Shakur, Khawaza, Mishriwala, Badhni Kalan, Dhindsa, Firozshah, Kakuwala, Badhni Jaimel Singh, Rohela, Patra, Chugewala would get better facilities for irrigation. 

Barnala, July 19
The General Category Association has termed the closeness between India and the US as a positive sign for India.

The association's state president Rajiv Barnala while talking to The Tribune said the improving relationship would help in the overall development of the nation. The economy would benefit the most as many multinational companies would invest in India. "The MNC culture will give a push to the private sector," he added.

Expressing concern over the present political system, Rajiv said the politicians in India were worried about their vote bank only. In order to please their voters 
they were enforcing the reservation policy even if it exceeded 70 per cent in many states. — OC

Abohar, July 19
The Khuyiansarwar police had taken four persons into custody in connection with the triple murder that rocked village Usmankhera on Thursday night, sources said.

At least two political functionaries including a sarpanch, having allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party, are also under scanner for their suspected involvement in the episode, the sources further indicated.

It is said that pressure from the corridors of power was being mounted to save their skin even when there were reports that they were allegedly hand in glove in hatching the conspiracy with the assistance of the land mafia.

The senior police officials though preferred not to make any direct reference to the persons in question but did not hesitate in observing that the deal and murders was the handiwork of the land mafia that had become active in the region.

It is learnt that new groups of land mafia had emerged during the last few months finding that it was no more difficult to scuttle action by the administration. This was going to lead to serious repercussions in the coming days, well-placed sources in the real estate business feared. 

Ferozepur, July 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed SSP Ferozepur, Dinesh Pratap Singh, to arrest the alleged culprits named in the FIR in the murder case of Jaswant Singh, a former ASI of the police, who was shot dead at his farmhouse at village Nazamiwala falling under the Makhu police station on the intervening night of June 17 and 18.

Barjinder Bir Singh, son of the deceased, had moved a petition before the high court alleging that the SHO of the Makhu police station, Ashwani Kumar, by manipulating with the alleged culprits, was trying to implicate him in the case of the murder of his father and demanded a fair probe by the CBI or any other independent agency.

Justice H.S. Bhalla of the high court, while accepting the petitioner's 'fariaad', had directed the SSP of Ferozepur to arrest the alleged culprits named in the FIR within 30 days, revealed advocate Daljit Singh Rajput, counsel of the petitioner.

The police on the complaint of the family members of the deceased had lodged a case of murder against Harbans Singh, his wife Rajwant Kaur, Kulwinder Singh alias Babba, Arjan Singh, Kala Singh, Kashmir Singh and Lakha Singh but no one was arrested.

Before going to the high court, the aggrieved son had met the SSP, DIG and DGP of the police, demanding arrest of the culprits, as the rest of his family members also feared threat to life from them but no one took to his requests seriously. Therefore, he was forced to move the high court, said Barjinder Bir Singh.

Mansa, July 19
The students of Shiv Shakti Nursing College, Bhikhi, blocked traffic on Mansa-Patiala Road in favour of their demands for the second day today against the alleged misbehaviour of management and lack of proper facilities.

The students were demanding the required number of teachers with adequate qualification in the college and good treatment from management.

Sargam, a student of the college, said that the college management had not provided proper facilities. Another student Dipika echoed same sentiments.

The All India Students Association (AISA) was leading this agitation.

SDM Mansa Gurjeet Singh Pannu today visited the agitation site and assured the students that a committee would be formed to remove the grievances.

The director of the college could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.

Moga, July 19
A life convict, who had recently come out on bail from the jail pending an appeal in high court, had allegedly committed suicide at village Nathuwala Garbi of Moga yesterday.

As per the details available, Sukhwant Singh ended his life by hanging himself in the cremation ground of his village. His family members did not inform the police about the incident and immediately cremated the body.

A case of murder was registered against Sukhwant at the Mehna police station about eight years back. In the year 2002, the then additional sessions judge of the district, Jagmohan Singh Chawla, sentenced him to life imprisonment after having been found guilty of murder.

However, he challenged the conviction in the high court and about eight months back, the court had granted him bail. Although he was a permanent resident of village Jhandeana Sharki, but was living at his mother's village Nathuwala Garbi, fearing that the family members of one whom he had murdered, might kill him.

The family members and local villagers requested the police that they did not want any police action into the incident of suicide. The police agreed to their request.

It was learnt that some months back also, he had tried to end his life with sharp-edged weapons and received severe injuries on his legs. Since then, he was moving with the help of a walker, as the wounds did not heal properly.