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Run-up to SAD rally
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Captain sounds poll bugle at Lambi
Tit for tat: SAD officials keep off BJP function
High hopes from CM’s Mansa visit
Moga MC polls
Moga’s flood-hit villages limp back to normalcy
SAS Nagar reels under water scarcity
Workers die while cleaning manhole
Ultrasound machine lying unused at civil hospital
Foetus found at hospital, officials in tizzy
Mid-day meal scheme
Computer teachers’ meet
Lincoln’s letter recalled
College principal retires
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Run-up to SAD rally
Bathinda, September 1 A visit to Banawali village in Mansa district, where chief minister Parkash Singh Badal is going to lay the foundation stone of the 1980 MW thermal power plant on September 2, would be enough to prove it as SAD leaders have not spared even a single corner and hoardings hjave been put up everywhere. Not only that, surrounding areas of the city and both sides of the roads leading to the venue have also been covered with the huge hoardings carrying portraits of the CM and his son, Sukhbir Badal. The leaders, who have "spent" substantial amount over the installation, did not leave a single board without mentioning their name and designation in the party. Right from the Rose Garden roundabout in Bathinda to the venue, this correspondent found an unending sequence of hoardings. Interestingly, almost all of them have been installed by defeated candidates in recent assembly polls. The matter printed on hoardings itself speaks of the actual cause of their installation. Leaders have put hoardings at Fauji Chowk in Bathinda covering the statue of the martyr. Sarup Chand Singla, area in-charge, Bathinda, who it is speculated has his wings clipped politically after the changing equations among the party leaders, occupied almost all electricity poles and happening spots. When contacted, Singla accepted that more than 300 hoardings of different sizes had been installed in his name. He, however, changed the statement saying, "It was actually a mistake on the part of my well-wishers, who gave my name even on their own hoardings also." When Balwinder Singh Bhunder, general secretary SAD (B), who was earlier giving press statements that he was not in favour of these hoardings, terming them a cheap stunt for popularity, when apprised about his hoardings, said he was unaware about the installation of hoardings bearing his name. Sikander Singh Maluka, district in-charge, SAD (B) said, "I came to know about the installation of a number of boards, bearing my name but nobody took my nod in this regard. I always state that I am not in favour of wastage of money in such a way." |
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Captain sounds poll bugle at Lambi
Lambi, September 1 He was addressing a rally at Lambi here today to kickstart the poll campaign of the Congress from the home turf of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state. He said the party would win all the 13 parliamentary
seats in the state, which would be fought on corruption, non-governance and political vendetta. Akali government would fall under its own weight, he added. The response to the rally was so overwhelming that around 50,000 Congress supporters were gathered at the rally site. “The unparalleled response I have received from the people in today’s rally indicates at
the simmering resentment towards and disenchantment with the present government,” a beaming Captain Amarinder Singh said. He said that SAD-BJP combine after coming to power on the plank of fighting corruption, it has increased manifold and crossed all the limits under the leadership of Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Captain said that the SAD (B) government even did not spare the judiciary and it had been tapping the phones of High Court judges since coming to power. “Industrialists are under debt and easy availability of loans, which were earlier a boon to industry in the state, were gradually being denied to them,” former CM said. The problem is politically motivated and the government has failed to tackle it effectively, he added. On the power front in the state, he said the PSEB was under burden of Rs 12,000 crore and atomic deal was the need of the hour. He criticised the Badal government for opposing the nuclear deal. Amarinder Singh said that state was under the ‘anarchic rule” of Parkash Singh Badal, wherein administration and development had come to standstill. He also predicted the ouster of corrupt SAD-BJP government in mid-term polls after parliamentary elections early next year. Earlier, CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said that the Congress was united as ever and together with PPCC chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Jagmeet Singh Brar, AICC member. Traffic management was nowhere in sight as the local administration never bothered to depute any policemen to regulate traffic en route from Bathinda to Lambi Among others, Ambika Soni, AICC member, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, PPCC president, Jagmeet Singh Brar, Tehal Singh Sandhu, PPCC general secretary, Sunil Jakhar Abohar MLA, Mahesh Inder Singh and Kanwaljit Singh Brar were also present. |
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Tit for tat: SAD officials keep off BJP function
Abohar, September 1 Sood and Goyal planted saplings in the backyard of the rest house. One sapling was to be planted by SAD MLA from Balluana Assembly segment Gurtej Singh Ghuriana but he did not turn up. Later, an employee planted the sapling on his behalf but none watered it. A few days back when SAD MP Zora Singh Mann along with former MP Gurdas Singh Badal had arrived at the same rest house to hand over a Rs 20 lakh cheque to the council president Shiv Raj Goyal from the MPLAD funds, no senior office-bearer of the saffron party had attended that function. There were more similar instances in the past. A deputation of the Akhil Bharatiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha brought miserable condition of the open wild life sanctuary to the minister’s notice. Media persons also sought his comments on the neglect of the sanctuary by the state government. But he appeared to be "cool and calm" and said, "We are thinking of updating the arrangements. When another reporter tried to counter Sood's claim on running nurseries in befitting way, the minister said, “We are going to put our case for restructuring the department before the state government, only after that will the shortage of staff and resources be dressed.” The minister said, “There was no central-government funded scheme in hand, we have fixed a target for planting 88 lakh saplings in the state but this can be achieved only by active participation of the NGOs and farmers. We plan to develop two environment parks besides colonial nurseries at each sub-divisional headquarter to supply 10 lakh saplings. We are going to inspire the farmers to plant bamboos instead of eucalyptus. Municipal councils and panchayats should plant saplings on vacant land which was in their possession. Herbal plantation needs to be promoted for prosperity in the farming sector,” he added. Sitting next to him was Kamal Sharma, state secretary of the party. While refuting that there were differences in the coalition partners over seat sharing in the coming Lok Sabha election, he confirmed that MP Irwin Khanna may seek change in constituency due to delimitation in the Hoshiarpur constituency. The BJP had finalised candidates for Gurdaspur and Amritsar constituencies. The party at present had no intention to stake claim over the Ferozepur constituency but all options will remain open when the leaders discuss seat sharing at appropriate time, he commented. |
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High hopes from CM’s Mansa visit
Mansa, September 1 Farm leaders Ruldu Singh and Ram Singh Bhaini Bagha said there was an ample scope for agro-based industries in the district, adding that the youths of this district should be preferred for jobs at the thermal plant. Balkaran Singh Balli said the payments for the acquired land for the project had not been given in full yet. He demanded quick disbursement for the same. Former MLA Boota Singh said the residents of the district had been suffering from fatal diseases like cancer and jaundice. He demanded that a cancer hospital should be established in the district. Contaminated water is another reason for the poor health of the residents. According to information, the water is not fit for drinking and irrigation. Officials of the health and agriculture department have also admitted to this fact. Nearly 104 waterworks are operating in the district. Out of this, 99 are canal-based. Babu Lal, a retired employee of the health department, said the waterwork connections were inaccessible to many people for which they were forced to use the water drawn through handpumps. Leaders of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, Sikander Dhaliwal and Jaspal Khokhar, expressed concerned over the poor condition of education in the district. They said the education facilities were almost negligible in the area. The literacy rate is 52 per cent as compared to 69 per cent of the state. There is a single government college in the entire district. Nearly 33 per cent of the posts of teachers are lying vacant in government schools. The district has only 42 senior secondary schools and 52 government schools while there is a need to double the number. |
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Moga MC polls
Moga, September 1 Popularly known as Makhan Brar in the political circles, this would be the maiden electoral battle. He is being projected as a candidate for the MC president’s post. As per the list released by the SAD, Makhan has been fielded from ward number 1, Kamalpreet ward number 3, Kuldip Singh Ahluwalia ward number 5, Jagdish Chabra ward number 8, Saroj Rani ward number 9, Balbir Singh Gill ward number 13, Manjit Singh ward number 19, Prem Chand ward number 20, Sukhwinder Kaur ward number 21, Harbans Kaur ward number 22, Bhupinder Singh ward number 24, Sandeep Sood ward number 26, Gurminder Singh ward number 28, Joginder Singh Gill ward number 30 and Sunita Jindal from ward number 31. Talking to TNS, Tota Singh said that as per an understanding, the BJP would fight on 10 wards. The SAD would decide the names of its candidates for the rest of six wards by tomorrow morning, he added. It may be mentioned that the SAD had managed to rope in Kuldip Singh Ahluwalia, whose wife Satwant Kaur Ahluwalia won the last MC elections on Congress ticket. He is the brother of senior Congress leader and AICC member Labh Singh Ahluwalia, who was also the chairman of the state agro-export corporation during the previous Congress government. Sources in the SAD revealed that the party leadership was also in touch with many other local Congress leaders, therefore, six wards had been left by the party for announcing the names of the candidates. Earlier, Makhan had claimed that they were in touch with many local-level Congress leaders and hopefully a couple of them would join them. He refuted the rumours spread by a section of the Congress leaders that a friction had developed between the SAD and the BJP over the distribution of tickets. “Ours is a strong bond and we are fighting the elections collectively,” he said. Meanwhile, no nomination paper was filed by any independent or party candidate on the first day till evening, revealed an official of the district administration. The sub-divisional magistrate and district transport officer has been entrusted by the district election officer-cum-district magistrate to accept the nomination papers. Congress infighting that came to fore on Sunday at its party meeting has adversely affected the selection of candidates even as the process of filing nomination papers began this morning. Party insiders revealed that there were sharp difference of opinions among the local MLA Joginder Pal Jain and few local leaders of the party over the distribution of tickets that was also hindering the process of selections of candidates. |
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Moga’s flood-hit villages limp back to normalcy
Moga, September 1 Officiating district magistrate V.K. Meena, who presided over a meeting of the district heads of various departments here this evening, revealed that power supply in the flood-affected villages had been restored and schools re-opened. As per the survey conducted by the revenue authorities, crops on 5,675 acre land outside the embankment of the river had been ruined. Out of which, crops on 4,824 acre were fully damaged. The total loss had been estimated at Rs 2.6 crore as per the relief norms of the state government, he said. Meena said the district administration would provide Rs 5,000 per acre as financial relief for 100 per cent loss, Rs 3,000 per acre for 51 per cent to 75 per cent loss and Rs 2,000 per acre for 26 per cent to 50 per cent loss of crops. As many as 402 'pucca' and 'kutcha' houses were damaged in the flood-hit villages and settlements. The total loss of these houses has been estimated at Rs 20.94 lakh as per the norms and survey of the revenue department. "We will distribute this amount as per the norms of the state government within 48 hours," claimed Meena. He further revealed that the administration had already released a sum of Rs 50 lakh to the irrigation department for strengthening the 30.2-km stretch of the river embankment in this district. The district administration has demanded from the state government to immediately provide a sum of Rs 2 crore to repair the roads and Rs 31 lakh to repair the damaged public buildings besides loss of crops. Meanwhile, district chief medical officer Adarsh Sood while talking to TNS revealed that not even a single case of malaria, dengue, gastroenteritis, cholera and hepatitis has been reported from the flood-hit villages where about 9,088 people were checked up by the 20 health teams. She said a total number of 402 persons had suffered from diarrhoea, skin infections (2,334), wounds (240), abdominal pain (147), eye infections (749), respiratory problems (2,030) and 843 from other kinds of infections and diseases. She said the health department has decided to initiate a major drive to protect the people from viral infections and malaria. More than 3,000 tablets of chloroquine had also been distributed among the flood-hit villagers as a preventive measure. |
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SAS Nagar reels under water scarcity
Bathinda, September 1 For over 10 days, the residents of the area are dependent on a single tubewell for their water needs that supplies very low pressure and dirty water. Last year, one of the tubewells failed due to the declining water table. Since then, they are making rounds of the BMC to get a new tubewell installed, but to no avail. Things have come to such a pass that they have to boil water before drinking and they go without taking bath for days together. The clothes are also not washed. ''At times, we go to the homes of friends and relatives to take a bath as it becomes impossible to stay without it in this weather. But nobody is caring,'' said Bharat Sharma of the area. ''Every day, we get water in drops. That too stinks and is yellowish in colour. How are we supposed to make do with it? Is anybody listening?'' asks Sharma. The area residents threatened to stage a protest with empty buckets outside the local body office if their grievance was not redressed. They say that they have reminded the commissioner a number of times, but to no avail. ''If they do not listen, we will have to shake them out of slumber. We only know how we ready our children in the morning without water,'' said Manjeet Kaur, a resident. When contacted, Kamal Kant, executive officer, BMC, said that he had not received any complaint in this regard. Even then, workers concerned will be deputed to check the fault in water supply to the residents, he added. |
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Workers die while cleaning manhole
Bathinda, September 1 Ironically, none of the official concerned was found ready to take the responsibility. The deceased, Gulab Singh (40) and Badal (22), had entered into the manhole without wearing a safety kit and were asphyxiated due to poisonous gases in the manhole, which is linked to the industrial area. Sources present at the spot informed that finding them inside the manhole, other employees of the board started shouting for help. Soon after receiving the information, volunteers of Sahara Jan Seva and Naujwan Welfare Society, rushed to the spot. Jagga Singh, one of the volunteers, himself had to face problems due to the gases. The ambulance of the NGO rushed the unconscious workers to the civil hospital in Bathinda, where they were declared brought dead. Police sources said the accident took place as they were not adequately equipped with safety equipment to protect themselves from the poisonous gases in the manhole. The Vardhman police post officials said that none of the official of the department concerned was ready to give his version, so a case could be registered after investigation. They further said that after inspecting the spot, the case was transferred to the Model Town police post. They said that the postmortem would be conducted on Tuesday. According to information received from the sewerage board, Gulab Singh was a permanent employee, while Badal was hired on the daily wage basis. When asked about the compensation to the deceased's family, the officials said it would be ex-gratia compensation and nothing special had been recommended for them. The X-En of the water and sewerage board, Bathinda, N.D. Bawa refused to answer queries saying that he was unaware of facts as he was out of station. |
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Ultrasound machine lying unused at civil hospital
Barnala, September 1 Moreover, in the absence of a radiologist, the patients are forced to go to private clinics to get scanning for various ailments related to gynaecology, surgery and medicines and in this process, they end up shelling out extra money. People of the area alleged that a regular radiologist could not be appointed at the hospital due to the “vested interests” of some doctors. According to doctors of the hospital, on an average, about 20 patients with gynaecological complications and pregnant women, who visit the hospital, need scanning. While many patients, who need surgery and who suffer from TB, also require scanning. As per the government rate list, if one goes for scanning to the hospital premises, then he has to spend Rs 150 per scanning while the private clinics charge Rs 400-500. The recently posted civil surgeon, Barnala, S.M.S. Sidhu admitted that there was no radiologist in the district. He said he had met Vijay Ken, state health secretary, and apprised him of the requirements, including the need for a radiologist and other staff. He expressed the hope that the health department would soon appoint a radiologist. |
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Foetus found at hospital, officials in tizzy
Abohar, September 1 As per information available, Kamla Rani, a sanitation worker at the hospital, noticed the foetus in the toilet of the maternity ward at the hospital. She informed the ward attendant, Ravinder Kaur, who immediately contacted the in charge of the hospital, SMO Ramesh Verma. The SMO ordered that the foetus be kept in the mortuary till further instructions. He said it was a serious matter and would be probed. Preliminary inquiries revealed that two women from Nai Abadi locality, identified as Nikki and Pooja besides one Meenu, who was married at Hanumangarh, were expecting babies. Of them, Nikki gave birth to a girl while Pooja and Meenu delivered baby boys. None of the other patients was expecting delivery these days. As to who threw the foetus in the toilet is worrying the authorities. |
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Mid-day meal scheme
Abohar, September 1 As per complaints, Singla had allegedly conspired to sell 12 bags of wheat meant for mid-day meal to the students last week. On receiving a tip-off, some women reportedly gheraoed the vehicle carrying the bags. Singla was among those in the vehicle. He had denied the allegations and argued that the bags were being shifted to a safer place fearing theft. |
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Computer teachers’ meet
Barnala, September 1 Manjinder Singh, general secretary of the union, said the state government had failed to fulfill its promises as declared in its manifesto. He called upon the members to attend the state-level rally to be held in Ludhaina on September 14. |
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Lincoln’s letter recalled
Bathinda, September 1 The club also circulated a letter written by Abraham Lincoln, the late US President, to the headmaster of the school where his son was studying. In the letter, Lincoln had pleaded that the finest qualities of head and heart be instilled in his son so that he can grow up as an aware, dutiful and conscientious citizen. The contents of the letter remain relevant even today, M.L. Sharma, director of the club, said. |
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College principal retires
Bathinda, September 1 LIC branch anniversary
Bathinda: The Bathinda branch of the LIC today celebrated its 52nd anniversary. The staff resolved to take the LIC to even greater heights on the occasion. GM Sanjay Bhargava said that LIC had been voted the most reliable services brand. The LIC settles 157 crore claims every year, he
informed. — TNS |
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