Bathinda, August 6
Tension gripped the city after a stand-off over the bhog ceremony of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower at his residence in Basant Vihar, here today. Alert policemen, however, ensured that the situation did not get out of hand.

As per the details available, Tek Chand, an aged follower of the Dera had died a couple of days back. After receiving the permission of the district administration, his family members arranged a bhog ceremony for today, at their residence in Basant Vihar.

Soon after, Sikhs started gathering at the gurudwara in Qila Mubarak. Sensing the gravity of the situation, heavy police force was deployed and the area was cordoned off. All the streets were barricaded and no one, including milk men and vegetable venders, was allowed to enter the area. Even shopkeepers were urged by the police to roll down the shutters. Sensing the tense situation, some people in the locality even moved out. To maintain law and order, three officers of the rank of superintendents of police were present at the spot. The bhog ceremony, which was to end at 1 pm, was made to conclude earlier, at 11.30 am, by the police. With the active role of police and the administration, the day passed off peacefully. When asked, SP (City) Narender Kaushal said, "To manage things peacefully, no one other than those permitted were allowed to visit the locality. We were well equipped to handle any situation and at least 300 policemen were deployed."

Dera, Sikh row erupted in the recent past too but a determined administration did not allow it to get out of hand.

Bathinda, August 6
In the course of its ongoing crackdown to curb the menace of drug addiction, a team of health department staff, led by district drug inspector Janak Raj, conducted raids on a number of chemist shops at New Gandhi Market of the city which yielded a rich haul of intoxicating tablets, cough syrups and injections.

According to Dr Neelam Bajaj, Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, the seizures from a chemist shop in New Gandhi Market included 1.05 lakh tablets of Alprax, 3.000 tablets of diazepam, 85 bottles of cough mixtures and other intoxicating material.. The owner, M/s Medicines Sales Centre, failed to produce sale and purchase documents and other records, which was to be maintained under the relevant provisions of the Drug and Cosmetics Act.

She said the state drug control authorities had been intimated with a recommendation to cancel the licence of this chemist shop. The stock of seized medicines would be produced in a court here tomorrow. Dr Neelam said that the officials had also carried out inspection of chemist shops in Rampura Phul.

Bathinda, August 6
Activists of the two splinter groups of the Technical Services Union, namely, TSU (Regd number 49) and TSU (Regd number 49), west zone, Bathinda, today staged protests against the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and raised anti-establishment slogans.

Both the factions staged their sit-ins at different places along with different set of demands.

Protesters of the TSU (Regd number 49), wearing black gowns, according to the scheduled programme, held a circle-level dharna outside the office of the managing circle, Bathinda, near the canal. Raising their voice to get their demands accepted, they said that the PSEB should stop pursuing "anti-employee" policies and regular appointment should be made.

They demanded annulment of the Electricity Act 2003, resumption of electricity supply to transformers bought under the OYT scheme, etc.

Gurnam Singh, circle secretary of the union, Gurdeep Singh, state vice-president, circle president Matwinder Singh and other union leaders addressed the gathering.

On the other hand, activists of the TSU, west zone, held a dharna outside the head office. Leaders of the union like Om Parkash, Des Raj Sanghania and Babu Ram stated that a protest had been lodged against the chief engineer and superintending engineer at the headquarters for their "high handedness and anti-staff activities."

They alleged that the complaint had been brought to the notice of the chief engineer, but he too had ignored it. 

Moga, August 6
One person was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in A drug smuggling case by the sessions court here today. The additional sessions judge BS Sandhu has sentenced Balwant Rai to 10 years in jail after having found him guilty under sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act. 

A fine of Rs 1 lakh has also been imposed on him failing which he would have to undergo another one year’s imprisonment. As per sources, 1.20 quintals of poppy husk was recovered from him in November 2006 following which an FIR was registered in this regard. — TNS

Abohar, August 6
The bodies of missing woman and her daughters have been recovered. Raj Rani (32) who was married in village Kerakhera near here had reportedly jumped in the Malukpura distributary along with her three children yesterday morning.

Of them, son Vinod was rescued by two poultry workers but he continued to be in a critical condition at a local hospital even today. The bodies of her daughters, Chander Kala and Ekta, were last night located in different areas while that of Raj Rani was found today as the search operation continued overnight also. The police handed over the bodies to the affected family after getting the post-mortem done at the civil hospital this afternoon. The case has been disposed of under section 174 of the CrPC.

Abohar, August 6
Panic prevailed when about three dozen persons allegedly led by two brothers of a former district president of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) ransacked a leading audio-video showroom in the Rani Jhansi Market located near the railway station here this afternoon.

The miscreants inflicted a lot of damage besides thrashing Pardeep Sachdeva, owner of the showroom and his elder brother Ravi Sachdeva, witnesses said. The issue of replacing a Chinese stereo sound system was the reason behind the incident.

The city police reached on receiving the complaint and raided the chemist shop being run by the family of the trouble makers. The shopkeepers marched to the office of former BJP MLA Ram Kumar Goyal to protest against the high-handedness of the party workers later. — OC

Moga, August 6
Gurbax Singh Kapure and Master Atma Singh Rode were unanimously elected as chairman and vice-chairman of the Moga Zila Parishad here, today. Out of the total of 15 elected members of the Zila Parishad and five chairmen of the Block Samitis, 18 members were present during the election process.

The name Gurbax Singh for the post of chairman was proposed by Darshan Singh and seconded by Gurbachan Singh while the name of Atma Singh for the post of vice-chairman was proposed by Gurmail Singh Khai and seconded by Kartar Singh. All the members present at the election meeting unanimously decided their names for these prestigious posts. — TNS

Barnala, August 6
Tension prevailed at the local grain market here today after the officials of the Mandi Board reportedly demolished the hawan kund constructed to perform a yagya for the world peace and communal harmony. The kund was constructed in front of the shop of Gurtej Singh Dhaula.

The locals protested against this demolition. SAD leader Harpal Inder Singh Rahi criticising the move by the board said that it had hurt the sentiments of a community. Block samiti vice-chairman Gurtej Singh Dhaula provided the space to the saints for yagya, he said, adding that the mandi board officials need not object to the construction of the kund as it was made only for a week just for the hawan purpose.

When contacted, Ram Gopal Singla, District Mandi Board official said that saints do not take any prior permission for yagya neither from Mandi Board nor from the deputy commissioner’s office. Keeping in view the other encroachments, the Mandi Board had to take the step. 

Mansa, August 6
Rich tributes were paid to the martyrs who were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki where atom bombs were dropped in 1945, at a function held at Baba Bhuja Singh Dhawan, here today.

Paying tributes, leaders of the Radical Peoples Forum, Sukhdarshan Natt, Jaspal Kokhar and Advocate Pardeep Sapoliya said that during the econd world war two beautiful cities of Japan were destroyed by the US by dropping atom bombs on August 6 and 9, 1945. They alleged that the US had been partial towards developing countries. The also criticised the Central Government for moving ahead to sign the nuclear deal. They said that the agreement would affect the sovereignty of country. They stressed on the need for peace in the world.

The participants observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to those killed in Japan on that day.