Bathinda, November 3
The long prevailing grudges among the mayor, deputies and other councillors of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) against the district administration for not according them due respect, came out in the open here today in the presence of Chaudhary Swarna Ram, minister of the social security and women and children development.

Expressing anguish, the mayor said he would take up the matter with the chief minister and get the officials in question punished for their attitude.

The minister was here to preside over a state-level function on drug awareness, where all office-bearers of the BMC, including councillors, were “cordially” invited. However, at the function venue, they lodged resentment against the organisers for not showing due respect to them. They left the hall in protest.

They addressed the media persons and accused J.R. Goyal, secretary, Red Cross, Bathinda, for misbehaving with Baljeet Singh Bir Behman, the first citizen of the city. Further, they accused the district administration of not giving them the deserving status. They lamented that there was no sitting arrangement for them inside the hall.

Bir Behman said, “At first they ignored me while welcoming all. And later, when they were calling other dignitaries to light the inaugural lamp, they named even those who lost elections but me. Further, one of the district administration employees asked me to leave the seat for someone else. It was intolerable.”

Tarsem Goyal, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor Gurwinder Pal Kaur Mangat said, “We have come out just to show the district administration them that we are the elected representatives and deserve due respect.”

In an attempt to pacify the protesters, deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari assured them of taking action on their complaint against Goyal.

Pacified, the BMC dignitaries returned to their seats and received mementos from the minister. However, they refused to have lunch with the minister and left the place.

When asked about the issue, minister Swarna Ram and director of the department Rakhi Gupta Bhandari passed the buck on the district administration.

The DC said, “There was some misconception, which has now been sorted out.” He added that a show-cause notice would be issued to Goyal.

Earlier, the cameramen of electronic and print media also lodged their protest against the poor seating arrangement and also against an employee of the district administration for misbehaving with them.

Bathinda, November 3
The bus service was finally resumed after the district transport officer (DTO) passed orders for it, in the three villages, Mehma Sarja, Mehma Sarkari and Mehma Suai, after no bus service for 13 days. The authorities were being pressurised by the villagers to resume the service, which was stopped because of a tiff between the students of this area and the private bus operators.

After the buses resumed their service, the students gheraoed two buses of Sra Bus Service today in Mehma Sarkari village.

The owner of Sra Bus Service called up the Nehiawala police station and the police reached the spot. The police took the buses to the police station. No arrests were made in this regard.

Another bus, which was going from Bathinda to Mehma Sarja, was also taken to the police station. Because there were total 10 students inside the bus, two of them had bus passes and others had taken half ticket.

The police kept the tickets and left the students. Harpreet, Sukhjinder, Gurlal and Geeta, were some of the students who were taken to the police station.

A meeting of students was held in this regard today.

Kala, panchayat member of Mehma Sarja said, “Buses have started again but the transporters show no sign of improvement at all.”

He said their concern was not only about the buses, which do not ply on time but also for the bus operators, who play vulgar songs in the bus. “Moreover, cheap poetry is scribbled all over the buses,” he added.

“The drivers neither stop the buses at the bus stand nor have pressure horns installed, against the rule of the court. This causes inconvenience to the passengers, especially elderly people. We are fighting against such social issues as well,” Kala said.

Kashmir Singh from Sra Bus Service said, “We resumed the bus service to avoid the inconvenience that people were facing. But the students gheraoed the two buses again today, which means that they do not agree to our condition to travel on ticket and not without it.”

“However, the DTO has assured us that such an incident would not be repeated,” added Kashmir.

A meeting of the concerned authorities would be held in this regard again today at 7 pm.

Bathinda, November 3
A case of duping a bank by a peon, working there since 1985, came to light yesterday. Vijay Kumar was working as a peon at the Central Cooperative Bank, grain market branch, in the city. He has been accused of duping the bank of Rs 8 lakh. The irregularities started reflecting during the past 4-5 months but no one suspected Vijay because he was considered the most honest employee of the bank.

The authorities revealed that they caught Vijay when the bank amount did not match the records of the bank and a shortage of Rs 8 lakh reflected in the present amount.

However, the accused has confessed his offence, and also admitted that he did not dupe any customer. He returned Rs 5 lakh, in two installments of Rs 2.5 lakh to the bank after his offence was unfolded.

The inquiry has been intensified into the matter. The number of officials has been increased to four to investigate into the matter to fasten the enquiry.

After this incident has been reported, the authorities are checking the bank records thoroughly to find out such cases, if any.

J.S. Sidhu, district manager of the bank, visited grain market branch today and took the record of the ongoing investigation as well. He said the headquarters of the bank had not been informed yet because as per the instruction of the RBI, a thorough inquiry was to be conducted first.

The investigations are likely to wind up because the offender has confessed his offence and agreed to pay the amount back in the installments.

According to a bank official, “Vijay has been duping the bank for a long time. But the case came to light on October 29. Vijay is under severe pressure now.”

Sidhu said the investigation is on. The management will take a decision in this regard. The priority of the management is to recover the whole amount first. After recovering the full amount, necessary action will be taken against him.

It should be noted that no FIR has been registered in this regard as yet.

Barnala, November 3
To create awareness among labourers about their rights, the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (MMM) organised its first state-level conference at Barnala today. Tarsem Jodha presided over the conference.

All India Central Council of Trade Unions, national general secretary, Swapan Mukhrjee, addressing the conference said that the entire world was reeling under financial crisis. In the wake of it, many multinationals and national companies were downsizing their workforce causing great problems for low and middle income group.

He said that the Union as well as state government was playing in the hands of capitalists. The governments had failed to secure the rights of labourers, farmers and youth.

He appealed the public to join hands in the struggle against such capitalists so that the labourers, farmers and youth could get their share in the progress and development.

CPI (M) Liberation leader Rajwinder Rana and  others also addressed the conference. 

Bathinda, November 3
Sugarcane industry in the state has been steadily declining and the sugar mills are facing severe financial crunch. The mill owners are not in a position to pay sugarcane price to the cane growers. There are several such growers who have not been paid by the cooperative sugar mills for their last season’s produce, which ended in April this year.

According to an official of the Sugarfed, an apex body which is federating 15 cooperative sugar mills in Punjab, payment of nearly Rs 52 crore was still pending with them. The Sugarfed has asked the state government to release the amount soon.

The farmers in the state are shying away from sugarcane cultivation as it had become less remunerative as compared to wheat and paddy.

Initial estimates of the department of agriculture of the state has revealed that this season, only 1.02 lakh hectares would be covered under the sugarcane cultivation as compared to 1.40 lakh hectares in the last season.

According to official information, the sugarcane acreage in the state, which stood at 2.35 lakh hectares during 1996-97, has shrunk by nearly 40 per cent to 1.50 lakh hectares during 1997-98.

Talking to this correspondent, Mangal Singh Sandhu, cane commissioner, Punjab, said, “Statutory minimum price (SMP) for sugarcane has been fixed at Rs 81.18 per quintal for a basic recovery of 9 per cent subject to a premium of Rs 0.90 for every 0.1 percentage point increase in the recovery above that level for sugar season 2008-09. The state advised price (SAP) for the crop is prevailing at Rs 132 per quintal. Farmers are not finding the sugarcane cultivation profitable and are preferring wheat and paddy, the crops with higher minimum support price (MSP).”

“However, to promote this crop among the farmers, we are planning to introduce water-saving trench technology. The technology will help in increasing the yield by around 100-150 quintals per acre. Moreover, it will help in saving 30-40 per cent of water,” he added.

“Apart from this, the Punjab Agricultural University has asked farmers to sow recommended varieties only,” Sandhu said.

He went on to say, “We are exhorting cane growers to adopt inter-cropping too, as they can grow crops like dal, moong, mentha. Besides, mechanised harvesting will be introduced this season.”

There are 23 sugar mills in the state, out of which seven are lying closed from the past some years. Among those working, nine are being run by the state government while seven are private.

The cost of production of sugar is very high in Punjab, which is the main cause of the financial crunch.

Resultantly, the units engaged in sugar production are incurring huge losses.

Abohar, November 3
Hundred of farmers from border villages staged a dharna at the canal colony complex here today to express resentment over poor availability of canal water for irrigation and drinking.

They were supported by Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), Technical Services Union and Lok Sangram Manch.

The protesting farmers said the tail-end villages including Koyalkhera, Bakayanwala and Diwankhera were not having adequate water since formation of the present state government. They had to pay Rs 200 for arranging each canter load of water for drinking from the neighboring areas of Rajasthan. Ponds were getting dry. The officials and senior functionaries of the ruling political parties had assured that the situation would improve after desilting of the Panjawa and Bakayanwala sub canals under the NREGA scheme but so far only 50 per cent cleansing had been done lamenting that funds and labour was not available. — OC

Bathinda, November 3
A local court today sent a sub-inspector on a day’s police remand for dereliction of duty and escaping with an official register.

Sources in the police said SI Harpal Singh was deputed at Dabwali road post located near engineering college. However, on being found absent on Sunday, he was marked so in the attendance register on the orders of DSP Gurmeet Singh.

When Harpal came to know about the action, he had a verbal duel with the DSP on phone.

Suspecting him to be in an inebriated condition, the DSP ordered his medical examination. However, Harpal ran away with the DDR register of the police station.

Later at night, the police arrested him and found the register near the Patiala railway crossing.

The accused was produced in a local court from where he was sent on police remand for a day.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, November 3
Two major developments on the administrative and political fronts in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, warmed up the election scene on Monday.

District collector Mugdha Sinha in a significant move held a special meeting of the officers to direct them to keep special vigil on the vehicles entering Rajasthan from neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana to check supply of liquor and other contrabands.

Notably, the Rajasthan police had during past few weeks seized truck loads of liquor marked "For sale in UT Chandigarh only" as the vehicles entered Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar regions from Abohar side.

The DC asked the officials to be alert against consumption of illicit liquor by the electorate as this practice could lead to deaths. Dry days are also to be strictly observed during the ongoing process of elections, she said.

The DC further directed that the vehicles with red light atop without any proper authorisation besides those moving with political stickers and loudspeakers be impounded. The vehicles carrying passengers more than the sanctioned number should also be rounded up immediately. Such vehicles should be released only when the election process is over, she directed.

The state election commissioner has received complaints that some government employees were among the prospective candidates and they have started election campaign also.

The DC today directed the heads of different departments to submit report against such employees within 72 hours so that strict action could be initiated against them.

And on the political front today the Hanumangarh Beopar Mandal chief Bharat Bhushan held a meeting today to stake claim for BJP ticket from Hanumangarh constituency. Interestingly, a former MLA Ram Partap who had been defeated by the Congress nominee Vinod Kumar earlier have been campaigning for last few weeks claiming that the high command had given him a green signal. Even today 
he held meetings in Dhaani Kayamdeen near village Arayianwali to win support from some Haji Muslim families.

But by reiterating his claim Bharat Bhushan has stormed the political scenario today. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 3
District collector Bhawani Singh Detha on Monday distributed electronic voting machines (EVMs) for six Assembly segments of Sriganganagar district after briefing the returning officers on their use during a meeting.

Detha said that the allocation of the EVMs was made by adopting the random system. For Sadulshehar constituency, 13 machines were given for the urban and 181 for rural areas besides 20 additional EVM for emergency requirement. Similarly allocation was done for Karanpur, Suratgarh, Raisinghnagar, Anoopgarh and Sriganganagar Assembly segments.

Informing that 1870 weapons had so far been deposited by the licensees in the respective police stations, the DC said 935 persons had been rounded up under section 107/116 to ensure peaceful conduct of elections. Schedule for imparting training to the election staff has been announced. Training for Sriganganagar and Sadulshehar has been fixed for November 7, 8 and 9 in Sriganganagar. Two in-charges of the control rooms have been replaced. 

Abohar, November 3
Madhya Pradesh Governor Bal Ram Jakhar while sounding a warning note for the corrupt politicians and government officers said all those who indulge in amassing wealth by foul means must keep in mind that their families would be finally ruined by the black money.

Addressing media and a sizable number of other citizens who warmly received him at his South Avenue residence here this evening, Jakhar said that the elected representatives must work in a fair and transparent manner to justify the faith reposed in them by the electorates of this largest democratic nation. Those who do injustice to their duty will ultimately have to face the music. God is the perfect watchman. People expect justice and all kind of fairness from the bureaucrats also and they should also come right to the expectations, he said.

Recalling that thousands of freedom fighters had sacrificed their lives for India, he said the national heroes had not imagined of the present dismal situation. Regretfully, people in all walks of life were becoming narrow-minded and have developed more negativity. Those who try to draw lines on the basis of caste, creed, community and religion for petty interests not only harm the integrity and tranquillity but the religious faith also to which they belong. Jakhar, one of the founders of Bharat Krishak Samaj, when asked about the financial viability of farming in the present scenario said over 70 per cent people depend on farming in India.

Farmers suffer most due to natural calamities, adverse weather conditions and poor availability of resources. However, funds for compensating them are yet to be arranged.

Remunerative prices for produce will have to be ensured besides making resources available. “We should be more concerned over environment. Water resources could be enhanced by caring more for afforestation, there was no other way. Better water management is the need of the hour,” he said.

Referring to the recent economic crisis, he said it was global but India would emerge safely out of it, he hoped. 

Bathinda, November 3
The state government is ready to shower largesse for the development of villages in the state that proves to be drug-free, said Chaudhary Swarna Ram, minister for social security, development of women and children, technical education and industrial training, while talking to TNS today. He was here to preside over a state-level function to make people aware about the drug menace.

Further, he said the department of technical education had signed a memorandum with 20 colleges where 10 per cent seats had been reserved for general category. The seats would be allocated according to the financial status of the family. Boys, whose family's annual income was below Rs 2.5 lakh, and girls, whose family's income was less than Rs 3.5 lakh could get admission in the colleges.

He said the state government was opening six centres of excellence costing Rs 3.5 crore each, where every kind of technical education would be provided. He said the first such centre would be in Kheowali village, the home constituency of the chief minister.

Earlier, while addressing media persons, the minister said the department of social security had been putting its best to make people aware about the menace through dramas, seminars, literature and meetings. He disclosed that for the cause, Rs one crore had been allocated.

Swarna Ram said considering the complaints from the beneficiaries of the old age pension, widow pension, dependant children pension and handicapped pension, the department concerned had been distributing pensions in the cities through banks and in rural areas, the job would be performed by panchayats. He added that case of revised pensions had been sent to the finance department for approval.

The minister informed that the annual budget of Rs 410 crore had been fixed for all pensions.

Speaking about the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), he said, "In the current financial year, over 13 lakh beneficiaries would be benefited and for the purpose, more than Rs 88 crore had been kept under the non-plan fund and Rs 56 crore under the supplementary nutrition programme.

Mansa, November 3
A woman was set on fire allegedly by her in-laws at village Ubha under Joga police station in the district today.

According to police sources, Sarabjeet Kaur, wife of Bagga Singh, sustained 90 per cent burn after she was allegedly set on fire by her husband and brother-in-law Sagar Singh.

She was admitted to the civil hospital, Mansa where she told to the police that her husband and her brother-in-law had been torturing her for dowry. She alleged that both set her on fire today in the morning.

SHO Deepak Singh said that the incident occurred at around 10 am. After that the woman was admitted to the civil hospital in a serious condition.

Police has registered a case against Sarabjeet's husband Bagga Singh and brother-in-law Sagar Singh under section 307, 498A and 341 of the IPC. 

Mansa, November 3
A six-year-old boy was killed in a road accident in Mansa today.

According to sources, the incident took place when the victim, Gurnanak Singh, son of Ajaib Singh, a resident of ward 21 of Mansa city, was hit by a tractor on Bhai 
Gurdas road.

Police has registered a case against the driver of the tractor, Rajveer Singh, a resident of village Talwandi Aklian. — OC