Bathinda, August 13
The activists of BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal, carrying flags and shouting slogans blocked vehicular traffic in Bathinda and its periphery, causing inconvenience to commuters here today.

The road traffic was disrupted on Wednesday at most places in the district as activists of BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal staged protests as part of a nationwide agitation over the Amarnath land row.

Narinder Mittal, BJP district president, condemned the handing over of Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu to the Army. He added that people's religious sentiments are attached to the issue and the inept handling of the entire matter by the state authorities has only helped in spreading it. Tarsem Goyal, senior deputy mayor and BJP activist said that the ongoing Amarnath land row agitation has become one of the biggest movements and has brought to the fore the simmering regional divide between Jammu and Kashmir. "We want the government to be serious in providing the allotted land to the Amarnath shrine board. We will carry on with the agitation in the days to come if the demand for revocation of land is not met," added Goyal.

Both leaders demanded the Central government's intervention in solving the land row soon. They described the agitation as a "complete success." Officials maintained that the protest was peaceful with no untoward incident being reported.

Vehicular movement was adversely affected on national highways as the activists in large numbers blocked roads in the city. Hinting at an agitation if the issue remained unsolved, the leaders said, "If the land issue is not resolved immediately, we will intensify the agitation."

Barnala, August 13
In the wake of the nation-wide call for bandh demanding the re-allotment of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, various religious, social and business organisations of the district observed a complete bandh here today. It was a complete but peaceful bandh. The Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti also held a protest march in the city from court chowk to the local railway station.

Ram Niwas Sharma, convener of the samiti, said the social and business community lent its support to make the bandh a success.

Meanwhile, all the markets in the city remained closed till 12 noon.

The protesters blocked the traffic for two hours at court chowk on the Barnala-Bathinda road. Rail traffic was also disrupted. Two goods trains and the Ambala-Bathinda passenger train was stopped at railway station.

Samiti members Prem Pritam, Anil Kumar Bansal and Naib Singh Kala from Beopar Mandal, Rajinder Gargi, Somnath and Raj Dhula addressed the gathering and prevailed upon it to lend support for the struggle against the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision.

The samiti demanded from the union government to re-allot the land in question and establish peace in J&K or the sangarsh samiti would launch an indefinite stir.

Abohar: In response to the nationwide call for a chakka jam, BJP workers led by municipal council president Shiv Raj Goyal, senior vice-president Kaushal Kumar Pihwal, district vice-president of the BJP Dhanpat Rai Siyag and councillor Surinder Vij blocked traffic on the entry points to this sub-divisional town for two hours in the morning today.

No vehicle, irrespective of emergencies, was allowed to enter the town or pass through the bypass till 11 am. Even two wheelers were held up.

Mansa: The bandh call got massive response in the city. Shops, schools and colleges remained closed. A dharna was staged near the bus stand. Some protesters had reportedly pelted stones on a roadways bus but no one was hurt. Local leaders of the BJP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and traders’ bodies led the bandh. Some protesters organised a dharna on the railway track for some time. 

Bathinda, August 13
After the heavy rainfall on Tuesday, the clouds hovering over the Bathinda skyline evoked mixed feelings among the local farmers. On the one hand, paddy growers were happy but the cotton growers were having moments of anxiety. According to the Punjab Agriculture University regional research station, Bathinda, the rainfall on Tuesday was measured at 55.6 mm, which is termed as good.

Agriculture experts said the rainfall had brought back smiles on the faces of the paddy growers. The rain has been helping them to tackle the problem of depleting groundwater level. Moreover, the groundwater in this area of Malwa is polluted. So, the rainfall, as a source of fresh water, will help the farmers.

But the area waiting for the cotton flowers to bloom faced the adverse effects of the

rainfall. First, due to the rain, there are high chances of unwanted vegetative growth cropping up. Secondly, because of the rain, there is risk to the growth of cotton flowers. Finally, the humid weather after the rain is conducive for the breeding of insects and pests that may harm the crop. During a visit to some villages in the district, this correspondent found a mixed response from the farmers. Kartar Singh of village Behman Deewana, said, "We are happy as power disruption had been creating hurdles in the running of tubewells. The crop is in need of water and the rainfall has helped in watering our crop."

His neighbour Baba Mahasha Singh, who has sowed cotton, expressed his worries. "I had sprayed pesticides on 12 acres of my cotton field and the rain has washed it all away," he lamented. "Now a days, farming of these basic crops is not so remunerative and a farmer can not bear the losses incurred on expensive pesticide sprays. But as rain can't be regulated, the fate of poor farmers is now in the hands of god," he added.

When contacted, director, PAU, regional research station, Bathinda, G.S. Buttar said, "At this stage, the rain has both its positive and negative effects on agriculture. On the one hand, it checks the growth of mealy bug, and on the other, it wipes off the costly pesticide spray. In short, it can well be said that the rain is favourable for paddy but not for cotton."

Bathinda, August 13
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take the burning Jammu and Kashmir issue seriously and it is the duty of the PM to solve the vexed problem soon before it gets out of control.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief said while talking to mediapersons at Gyana village after laying the foundation stone of waterworks near here today.

On being asked about former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh being elected as chairman of the Congress election committee and his liveliness in opposing the SAD policies, Sukhbir said that Amarinder was a defeated leader and an incompetent administrator as he did nothing for the state.

The SAD president said the Punjab government is bent upon providing clean drinking water with the introduction of RO system all over the state with an investment of Rs 400-500 crore within the next four years. It was the basic necessity of the residents of the state, he added.

Criticising the previous government for allegedly not generating even a single unit of additional power, Sukhbir said the government had chalked out a plan to make Punjab a surplus power state within the next four years. In a short period of one and a half years, after taking over the charge, the government had installed three thermal plants in the state, he added.

To a query on N-deal, Badal said that SAD, keeping in mind its long-term consequences, safety of Punjab and its inhabitants, opposed the nuclear deal as it was against the interests of Punjab and that the deal would trigger a nuclear race on the state's doorsteps.

Earlier, addressing the rally, Sukhbir Badal said canals would be constructed in the state within the next three years at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore.

Bathinda MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan accompanied Sukhbir, who was here to lay foundation stones for various projects in the Talwandi Sabo area, including 6 waterworks and three power grid projects. 

Moga, August 13
Keeping in view the  ensuing elections of the local municipal council following the intervention of the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal today approved Rs 43 crore for strengthening the sewerage infrastructure in the town. Out of this approved outlay, Rs 10 crore has been sanctioned, the tenders of which were likely to be floated within a couple of days.

The sanctioning of this huge amount for strengthening the sewerage infrastructure was politically seen as a move to lure the voters of this town because the tenders were also being floated hurriedly before the issuance of notification for the elections.

The notification for the elections was likely to be issued by next week.

Last week, the apex court had directed the state government to conduct the elections of this local body latest by September 15 this year.

The local MLA Joginder Pal Jain's wife had filed a petition in the apex court last month against the  state government's move  to postpone the local body elections for an indefinite period unlike the rest of  the state on the pretext of adding a few more areas in the municipal limits.

It may be mentioned that the Jain's wife was the acting president of the council before its five-year term ended few months back. She became the president of the council after Jain was elected as the MLA on a Congress ticket. Earlier, Jain himself was the president of the council.

No doubt, the strengthening of sewerage infrastructure in the town was long awaited by the residents of the town but the way the CM hurriedly showered money indicates the desire of the SAD to capture the reins of the council.

The local influential leader of the SAD, former minister Jathedar Tota Singh, has claimed to  have convinced the CM to grant such a huge amount for the development of  the town.

After losing to Jain in the last assembly elections, Tota Singh was looking to stage a comeback in the local politics by projecting the works done by the SAD government for this town.

Insiders in the Akali  politics revealed that Tota Singh's son Barjinder Singh was interested in the local politics and there was a thought going on within the party to project him as the president of the council in the elections.

On the other hand, Jain was expected to come out openly by projecting his wife or son as the president of the council but there was a great resentment within the Congress prevailing against him at the local level, which could dampen his spirits.

Bathinda, August 13
With drastic change being witnessed in the consumer trend, the number of landline connections of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is declining day by day.

If one compares landline connections in the Bathinda secondary switching area (SSA), the 1,24,070 landline connections that existed in the year 2003 have now been reduced to a mere 76,790. Besides the huge difference of number, defaulters owe the BSNL crores as outstanding dues. Despite calculating the amount owed by the 27,369 BSNL landline phone defaulters at around Rs 5 crore, the authorities have filed only 232 cases in court, which is even less than one percent of the total number. As per the details obtained under the RTI Act, in Bathinda and Mansa circles, in 2003, as many as 9723 landlines were disconnected. 

The number for 2004 was 7835, for 2005 the number was 13,986, for 2006, it was 23,141 and for 2007, the number of disconnected landline telephones was 20,676. In contrast, the number of mobile connections has increased. In 2003, the number of mobile connections was only 26,941, but it kept increasing. In year 2004, it was 42,516, in 2005, it was 58,362, in 2006, the number of mobile connections was 1,37,041 while in 2007, the number reached 1,69,880.

Declaring the number of defaulters and the outstanding amount, the document issued by the office of the general manager, tTelecom, BSNL Bathinda, mentioned that the total amount due from 27,369 landline phone defaulters is Rs 4,87,28,000. Meanwhile, the outstanding amount from 2900 mobile phone defaulters is Rs 69,08,233.

It has also been brought to the notice that for 27 connections of the Punjab Police in Bathinda, the department had an outstanding of Rs 84,901, while in Mansa, the 30 mobile connections had an outstanding of Rs 68,363. Ironically, two TAC members of the BSNL also owed dues to the department, which was pending since 2004.

When contacted, general manager, BSNL, Bathinda, Vinod Parkash said, "The trend is changing towards the mobile phone, so the figure is changing rapidly."

Bathinda, August 13
With a few days left for Raksha Bandhan, the markets are brimming with customers purchasing various items to make the occasion special. In a bid to lure the customers, the departmental stores, jewellery showrooms, garments shops and other fancy stuff outlets have put up sales with discounts running up to 50 per cent. Young girls could be seen making a beeline at various gift shops to purchase the sacred thread coming in many colours and designs. The shops are also marketing expensive threads in gold and silver plating for those customers who could afford them. The market is flooded with different types of "rakhis", including the ones made of "zari", different coloured gemstones, with cartoon characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse etc at a price ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000, depending upon the taste and the choice. Chinese light and musical "rakhis" are in demand.

Keeping in view the festive mood of the people, the shopkeepers have put up huge hoardings and banners trying to attract the attention of all and the sundry in picking up their favourite gifts and presentable items. Anupma Bansal, a young housewife and compulsive shopper, said the fanciest items in the kids wear and toy stops, alluring packages from India, China and other countries were attracting customers. A range of gifts starts at Rs 100 and goes up to Rs 5,000, depending on one's purchasing power.

The traditional markets in the city, like Dhobi Bazaar, Post Office Bazzar and Sirki Bazaar and other closeby markets of the city offering traditional handmade gift items have also witnessed a large number of people vying to get the best bargain.

Bathinda, August 13
Beena Rao, Dean, Eastwood International School, has been awarded the 'Shiksha Bharti Puraskar' by the 'All India Achiever's Foundation'.

This award comes in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the field of education and social welfare.

Several projects started by her in Eastwood have caught the imagination of residents of the town. 'Eastwood Kindness Organisation' with its 'A coin a day' programme has brought a ray of hope to many. Moved by the miserable plight of the underprivileged, Rao has inspired the entire Eastwood Family to extend not just monetary help, but also other material goods such as clothes, toys, books and study material. 'Student Association of Volunteers for Earth', another brainchild of Rao, has picked up momentum.

Along the Indo-Pak border (Ferozepur), August 13
The Border Security Force (BSF) manning the 162-km long India-Pakistan border in this sector are fighting a different battle altogether. This time they are not fighting against enemy but against the vagaries of weather as due to incessant rains and subsequent flooding of the river Sutlej, several BSF posts have submerged making the task of BSF sentinels much more arduous.

A visit to the forward areas along the international border revealed that at least seven BSF posts between the 1.5-km long riverine gap along the border out posts (BOP) of Basti Ramlal and Tapu have been submerged into the Sutlej, which re-enters the Indian territory in this area from Pakistan.

While talking to The Tribune, DIG, Sector Headquarters, M.L. Wassan informed that the river crosses over to Pakistan nine times and renters the Indian territory before finally entering Pakistan.

Wassan further informed that due to the criss-crossing of the Sutlej, nine riverine gaps were formed in this sector due to which cobra fencing could not be installed earlier.

As a result, the riverine gaps are proving to be helpful to the cross-border smugglers and anti-national elements to smuggle drugs and narcotics into the Indian territory.

It is pertinent to mention that since January this year, around 52 kg of heroin has been recovered by the BSF sleuths in this sector.

Commandant 7 battalion, Vimal Satyarthy said due to increase in the water level in the riverine gaps, which was at present around 34 feet, the BSF sleuths had to take extra measures to protect the border from intrusion and smuggling.

He added that the jawans had been provided with technical equipment like night-vision scopes, hand held thermal imagers (HHTI) and ‘Larros’, the most sophisticated equipment procured by the BSF that could spot any movement up to the range of 25 km.

Satyarthy further said that if the water level further rose in the area, there was a fear that the BOPs, Tapu and Ramlal, may be inundated.

Sources in the BSF said that the rising water level of the Sutlej would also submerge at least three Pakistani BOPs, including Annoke, New Kassoke and Gatti Kalanjar, manned by 13 Wing Pakistani Rangers.

According to the information, there are nine riverine gaps in this sector with total length of around 5.5 kms which are located near BOP Kaplas, BOP Tapu and Basti Ramlal, BOP Old Mahommadiwala, BOP Kassoke, BOP Kassoke and Shameke, BOP Joginder and BOP Gazniwala.

Besides, there are few canal gaps and land gaps also near the Hussainiwala barrier where cobra fencing had not been done.

Nirmal Singh, commandant, 130 battalion, said that owing to high flow and alarming level of the Sutlej near BOP Tapu, contraband could easily reach the Indian side along the natural flow of water.

BSF officials felt that if the bridge was constructed up to BOP Tapu, it would ease the difficulties being faced by the BSF sentinels.

The intelligence officials were keeping hawk’s eye on the movement in the border area, revealed the officials.

Abohar, August 13
How to increase the surveillance on the international border to check infiltration, smuggling of narcotics and fake currency from the other side more effectively was one of the themes of the day’s workshop held at the BSF sector headquarter here on Wednesday.

Delegates from various frontiers of the Western sector headed by the officers of the rank of deputy inspector-general (DIG) participated in the discussions.

G.S. Shekhawat, IG, Gujarat frontier, Himmat Singh, IG, Punjab frontier, V.K. Sharma, DIG, Abohar sector, and S.K. Sood, ADIG, Jammu frontier, shared the dais in the inaugural session.

Welcoming the delegates, DIG Sharma said vertical interaction on effective border management was the need of the hour. The achievements made by the prime security force were because of the periodic review of the situation prevailing at the border areas and the steps taken on the basis of the review reports.

Other senior officers were of the view that interactions during such workshops and seminars gave rich dividends professionally.

Role of men, animals and modern equipments for improving the surveillance was discussed in detail at the workshop.

Abohar, August 13
To protest against malpractices allegedly being adopted under the pretext of rationalisation, the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) will organise a dharna and a rally at the district education office on August 29.

DTF district president Sushil Dhawan alleged this evening that the DEO (Secondary) had deviated from the principles that were set by the education minister for shifting the teachers under the policy of rationalisation to fill up the vacancies in the rural areas. In some cases, posts were shifted even when the head of the concerned government school had not filed a request for the same.

Irregularities in finalising the cases of promotion by the district office had been brought to the notice of the directorate at Chandigarh, he added.

Meanwhile, the rally at sub-division level scheduled to be held on August 18 had been postponed and it will now be held on August 22, Dhawan informed.

Abohar, August 13
A physically handicapped Dalit youth reportedly committed suicide on Monday night in the Arya Nagar locality here. The police on Tuesday evening confirmed having registered a case against five persons under section 306 of the IPC for abetting the victim to commit suicide.

As per available information, the police had last year registered a case under various sections of the IPC against Vicky (the deceased) and seven others on a complaint made by Rajinder alias Bittu following a clash between the rival factions. Four persons had been arrested while two more surrendered on Monday.

Sources said Rajinder accompanied by three others went to Vicky’s house in Arya Nagar on Monday. The sources alleged that Rajinder informed Vicky about the arrest of all other persons in the year-old case and demanded huge sum from him if he wanted to escape arrest and reach a compromise.

Today morning, when Vicky did not come out of his room, the family grew suspicious. His uncle Lal Chand, who resides in the neighborhood, was called. He knocked at the door but when he did not get any response he peeped into the room only to find Vicky’s body hanging.

The door was broken by the police with the help of some residents and the body was taken to the civil hospital where post mortem was conducted.

All the five persons booked in the case, including Rajinder, were absconding, the police said.

Barnala, August 13
Thousands of people, including women and children, gathered at the grain market, Mehalkalan, to pay floral tributes to Kiranjeet Kaur on her eleventh death anniversary here on Tuesday. She was allegedly abducted, raped and murdered by some youths at Mehalkalan. To fight against the injustice meted out to this daughter of soil an action committee was formed later.

Kiranjeet Kaur Katal Kand Virodhi action committee members Narain Dutt, Prem Kumar and Manjeet Singh Dhaner were sentenced to life in the related murder case. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had acquitted Dutt and Kumar from the murder charges but upheld the life imprisonment of Dhaner this year. The action committee filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC decision.

On Tuesday, the action committee took pledge for a continuous struggle till Dhaner was acquitted. The committee also passed some resolutions, which were supported by thousands of people that gathered at the site.

On the occasion, noted octogenarian playwright, Bhai Gursharn Singh Manna, staged plays on social issues.

Meanwhile, Manpreet Kaur alias Manju of Loha Khera village was awarded the Beebi Kiranjeet Kaur award. Manpreet had challenged the boys who tried to molest her recently. In her address, she prevailed upon the girls to prepare themselves for self-defence.