Rampura Phul, May 13
The Phul assembly constituency which went to polls as part of the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat recorded 74 per cent polling.

Phul segment was earlier a part of the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat and after the delimitation, it was added to the Faridkot parliamentary constituency.

In the assembly, out of a total of 1,37,094 voters, about 1,01,308 exercised the franchise. As per the reports gathered at various times, the polling percentage was 14 at 9 am, at 11 am it was 32 per cent while at 1 pm, it reached 49.20 per cent before finally concluding at 74 per cent.

In a report sent to the Election Commission of India, Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) SDM Rampura Phul Umashankar Gupta said that polling was peaceful and no violence had taken place.

Fearing a replication of the Lelewala firing incident, the DC and the SSP of Bathinda remained on the move in the Phul segment. A number of polling stations were also checked by the officials.

Sensing the past records of the segment, the ECI had allotted two companies of Maharashtra police to be deputed at all hyper sensitive booths of the Phul segment along with the jawans of the state police.

Out of a total of 134 booths, 56 were hyper sensitive, 66 were sensitive and 12 were in the general category. Excluding an EC observer, all booths were manned by micro-observers, one at each booth.

At Kothe Guru village, there were reports of an altercation where it was alleged that some influential people of the village were forcibly trying to accompany some voters. Taking immediate action, the ARO ordered the police to handle the situation.

During a random visit to the segment, the TNS team observed that the movement of political leaders was less as compared to the Bathinda Lok Sabha elections. When asked, the officers said it was because of the stern warning issued to them.

"We are already facing a problem due to the Lelewala incident with allegations of free movement being leveled against former SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia. So this time, we did not want to take any chances," said senior officers.

Though all went smoothly, at about 4 pm, the reserved staff of micro-observers had a verbal duel with the ARO at his office when they alleged that they had been waiting since 4.30 am but no official had bothered to check.

In reply, the ARO said that he had sent a message to relieve all of them but apparently, not willing to listen to each other, both the parties indulged in an argument. 

Mehraj/Salabatpura, May 13
The bonding of former CM Captain Amarinder Singh with his ancestral village Mehraj was quite apparent as voters professed to cast their votes for the Congress because of Amarinder Singh and not for the party candidate for the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat, Sukhwinder Singh Danny.

The Congress supporters in the village were noticed referring to the former CM with various names: Raja, Puttar, Sher, Gariba Da Masiha, etc. Citing the reason for such admiration, they recounted a number of facilities like sewerage, water supply, roads among others, which they claimed had been provided to them by Amarinder Singh.

When asked, a group of people assembled at a Congress tent said, "We have no interaction with Danny, the Congress candidate, but we are voting for the Congress in the name of Amarinder Singh as he is the only one who can take on the Badals."

"It does not matter whether Amarinder comes to us seeking votes or not, but his works speak for itself and we are firm about casting our votes for the Congress," they replied.

Some of them took the TNS team to their houses and showed photographs of Amarinder Singh installed amid the posters and portraits of religious Gurus and gods. "Who provided job to our son, provided all basics amenities and converted the village into a beautiful town? How can he be less than a god?" asked Rajinder Kaur, an elderly woman of Mehraj Patti Karamchand.

According to official details, Mehraj has a total of 11,825 voters of which around 9,280 votes were polled today.

On the other hand, in Salabatpura, the village where the Punjab headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda is located, voters were not ready to share anything about their poll mood.

Some Dera followers, moving around the government secondary school, where the polling station was located, said, "While casting votes, we have considered all facts, right from the outbreak of the Dera-Sikh clash in 2007, flaring up of the issue, support lent to us by any person or political party and the future course of action."

When asked about any order issued from the Dera chief, they said, "He has set us free to apply our mind and cast votes for the deserving candidate."

In the official list of the administration, Salabatpura has a total of 1,360 voters out of which around 1,053 voters cast their votes. 

Bathinda, May 13
Now that polling for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab is over, the fear of long hours of power cuts returning after the counting of votes haunts the residents of the urban as well as the rural areas.

In fact, the question being discussed by the common man these days is whether the luxury of uninterrupted power supply enjoyed by them during the electioneering would be discontinued after the declaration of the results on May 16 ?

Residents of this part of Punjab, in particular, take the government's claim of uninterrupted power supply even after the declaration of the results, with a pinch of salt. Not only here, but people in other parts of the state were also having a gala time for the past over a month with uninterrupted power supply that they had earlier relished only on the day when Sukhbir Badal was inducted as deputy chief minister.

With mercury rising, short duration power breakdowns have already begun, particularly in the rural areas that have made the people sceptical about the shape of things to come. Punjab is far short in generating power to meet its requirement and was heavily dependent on other sources.

However, Congress campaign manager Captain Amarinder Singh was in his election rallies stressing that the uninterrupted power supply was an election strategy of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and things would be back to square one, with eight to ten hour of power cuts every day, once the counting of votes was over.

Shortly before the announcement of the elections, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) had ordered 24-hour electric supply for Bathinda and other towns where thermal power stations were located. Before that, residents of Bathinda were round-the-clock faced with the problem of frequent power cuts coupled with the high level of pollution caused by fly ash emitted by the chimneys of the outdated thermal power plant.

When contacted over the telephone, PSEB chairman H.S. Brar said, "Uninterrupted power supply was in no way connected with the ongoing elections. We have tied up with various sources for making adequate electricity available to the state even after the elections so as to meet the peak demand during the summer".

"There is no power cut in the state at the moment," he added.

Brar clarified that the breakdowns occur to save the power system from collapsing when there is extra load.

But residents of the area point out that uninterrupted power supply on various occasions in the past was a brief bonanza. Manish Garg of Nathana, who runs a computer shop, pointed out that there was continuous power supply recently only when Sukhbir Badal took oath of office at Amritsar.

He was apprehensive whether the 24-hour electric supply would continue even when the paddy sowing season begins a few days later, when the power demand of the farm sector and also the urban areas would increase.

Abohar: The honeymoon period for electricity consumers in this constituency which had gone to polls on May 7 seems to be over. Though members of the SAD-BJP alliance, including the CM and Deputy CM, had announced 24-hour electricity supply for the consumers well before the day of election notification, the PSEB officials were prompt enough to inform the small-scale industries through local media that they should not expect any relief during the peak hours and weekly off schedule.

Sudesh Setia, a grocery merchant in village Dhrangwala of Balluana says the PSEB had restored power cuts a few hours after the polling was over on May 7. This has hit the sale of soft drinks as the refrigerators and deep freezers were not operating properly.

Ferozepur and Fazilka: The power scenario in rural areas of this border belt has started deteriorating with consumers in the urban areas apprehensive of more power cuts after the final round of Lok Sabha polls. A majority of the farmers and domestic consumers in border villages who are dependant on agriculture claim that the power supply was better than the previous years till May 7 when polling for this constituency was held. Requirement of electricity would increase at the time of sowing paddy.

However, small traders, including Rakesh Kumar, who runs an electric welding shop, say they were not facing shortage of power till now. He is apprehensive that after the final round of polls, the prolonged and unscheduled power cuts would emerge. Renuka, a housewife, prays that the uninterrupted power supply should continue even after the elections.

(With inputs from Rajay Deep, Raj Sadosh, Anirudh Gupta and Praful C. Nagpal)

Moga, May 13
Criminal cases were lodged against two Congress legislators and some SAD workers for disrupting the process of elections and indulging in poll-related violence in the Moga district on Wednesday. This district comes under the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency.

As polling began in the morning, groups of Akali supporters allegedly equipped with lethal weapons and travelling in a convoy of vehicles, tried to create terror among the urban voters.

When a reporter and a cameraman of a TV channel tried to record their activities and movements by chasing them, the irritated Akali supporters dragged them out of their vehicles and reportedly thrashed them. The incident took place near the residence of senior Akali leader Jathedar Tota Singh at village Duneke.

The mediapersons were immediately rushed to the district hospital. District Magistrate Satwant Singh Johal reached the hospital immediately and asked the police to lodge a complaint, following which, an FIR under sections 382, 336, 323, 324 and 149 of the IPC was registered against unknown persons.

The journalists alleged that the SAD activists, who attacked them, were led by Tota Singh's son Makhan Brar, who is the president of the local municipal council but he was not directly involved in beating them. Brar, while speaking to The Tribune, denied the allegations saying that he was not leading the group of Akali supporters and was also not present on the spot at that time.

Immediately, after this incident, a Dalit Sikh Jugraj Singh, a resident of this town, alleged that the local Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain had beaten him. The police registered a criminal case under sections 382, 323 of the IPC and section-3 of the SC Act against the MLA.

When contacted, Jain denied the allegation and said that the local SAD leadership had manipulated with the local police to fabricate a case against him. Tension prevailed in the town throughout the day with reports of verbal clashes between SAD and Congress supporters coming in.

It may be mentioned that the rivalry between Jathedar Tota Singh and Joginder Pal Jain is well known in the political circles.

Darshan Brar, the Congress MLA from Baghapurana Assembly constituency of this district was also booked by the police while trying to disrupt the poll process. A senior police official revealed that a case under sections 186, 188 and 135 of the IPC was registered against him.

When contacted, Brar told The Tribune that the police personnel were indulging in bogus voting at a polling booth in Baghapurana and he tried to prevent them from indulging in such acts.

"I brought the matter to the notice of the administration but still a case has been registered against me," he alleged.

Apart from these incidents, there were also reports of verbal clashes between the supporters of both the main parties at some places in Faridkot district but no case was registered by the police and no one was reportedly injured. 

Faridkot, May 13
There was remarkable enthusiasm among the villagers about exercising their democratic right to vote today. These villagers had gathered outside the polling booths early in the morning at 6:45 am even though the scheduled time for polling to begin was 7 am. The number of women outside the polling station was comparatively more.

However, at booth number 14, at the Government School, Ajitwal (Moga), many voters had to return without casting their votes due to the faulty EVM.

Kehar Singh, a villager, regretted that he could not wait till the EVM was replaced by the officials. "I have to leave for Patiala. I will not be able to make it again," he said disappointment writ large on his face.”

A survey of the villages Khara, Wandarjatana, Morh and Koharwala revealed that 35 per cent voting was complete by 11 am in the morning. Sudhir Kumar, a police guard from Maharashtra, revealed, "People of all age-group including the old, young and middle-aged, have been coming here to cast their votes."

Approximately 550 odd villages under this parliamentary constituency had completed nearly 38 per cent of polling before noon. By the time others sat for lunch, nearly 50 per cent of polling in this parliamentary constituency was over.

Rajinder Singh, a resident of the village Varadaraka, said since they had to go for work after the polling, most of the villagers preferred to cast their votes in the morning.

Unwilling to disclose their cards as to whom they had voted for, the villagers said they had divided their votes this time. Lajjo Rani, a middle-aged woman, said there were four members in the family, two had decided to vote for the Congress while two had voted in favour of SAD (B). "We villagers want to oblige everyone. So we decided to vote equally for both the candidates,” she said.

An octogenarian, Ranjit Singh was accompanied by his grandson at village Khara. Ranjit said it was difficult for him to reach the booth as he was old and weak. "But I did not want to miss the opportunity to exercise my franchise. It is my right and I feel proud to be able to cast my vote. So long as I am alive, I will cast my vote and encourage others to do so," he mentioned. 

Abohar, May 13
As the authorities remained “awfully busy” with the election related activities, the farmers finally resolved to plug the major breach that had developed near burji number 20430 of the Ramsara minor (sub-canal) outside the village Rajanwali on May 6, a day before the polling.

As per information available, a small breach in the sub-canal just a day before the polling, widened from 50 feet to 500 feet near the village Rajanwali in the wildlife sanctuary area as the irrigation department had no manpower to attend to it.

Mehal Singh of village Jhurarkhera says fortunately, the gushing water was directed towards the nearby drain skipping the fields where wheat was lying stacked or Bt cotton was being sown. But this resulted in suspension of water supply to ponds, rural water works besides the fields for a week.

The farmers revealed to the visiting newspersons that after long persuasion, Rs 22 crore had been sanctioned for remodelling of the Malookpura and Ramsara sub-canals with the condition that the funds will be utilised by March 31, 2009.

Under this scheme, the side walls of the sub-canals were to be raised by 18 inches, at least 6 feet wide footpath was to be provided on both the sides to strengthen the sub-canals.

The floor bed of the Malookpura sub-canal was also to be raised. All the exercises were aimed at making water available at the tail end by enhancing the capacity of the sub-canals. But the state government failed in getting the job completed by the stipulated period and the contractors had to wind up the work abruptly. The farmers alleged that highly soluble desert heap sand was used in the project. This may result in more and more breaches besides eroding of the footpath. There was no quality control management, they rued.

As the department did not move for a week the farmers finally resolved to carry the ‘kar sewa’ on Tuesday to plug the breach. Jhurarkhera village farmers along with daily wage earners used nine tractors and other equipment to plug the breach braving scorching heat. Feeling ashamed over it, some employees of the irrigation department also joined later. Water is expected to be released by tomorrow, sources said. 

Bathinda, May 13
For the past many years, children belonging to government schools in the state have been given a small flag on which the National Flag Day is inscribed. At times, these children just throw away these flags in the dustbin or play with them not knowing what it means. These flags are meant to be given to children on the National Flag Day which falls on July 22 every year. However, most of the time, this day goes unnoticed.

These flags go to all government schools. Earlier, children were asked to pay for these flags which used to be priced between Rs 2 to Rs 5.

Children were asked to pay for these little flags but no one ever told them why they were being given these flags. Sources said that around 80 to 100 flags were distributed to all schools and this year, around 12 flags have been sent to all schools and teachers have been asked to pay Rs 10 per flag. If a teacher does not want to buy these flags, then the school's Red Cross funds is used to buy these flags.

"Our National Flag Day falls on July 22 but no one tells the children about what these flags are and what is their importance. It is just a way of extracting money from poor children. I was appointed as a teacher in 2006 and since then, I have been seeing this practice. These flags come to all schools from the DEO (Elementary) office and are sent to the Block Primary Education Officer who further sends them to the centre head teacher (CHT) and the CHT sends them to the head teachers of various schools. This year, 12 flags have come to every school and teachers are being asked to pay for these flags. What do these flags mean," a government school teacher argued.

Sources said the money collected by selling these flags go to the Red Cross fund which is definitely not used for the development of the schools.

"In many government schools, there is no furniture, students do not have uniforms to wear and most of these schools lack good drinking water. If an estimate is taken out then lakhs of rupees is being collected throughout the state through these flags but where does this money go, definitely not for developing schools," another teacher added.

Baljinder Singh Mann, DEO (Secondary), when contacted, said, "The money collected through these flags go to the Red Cross fund. Secondary schools receive these flags but in less numbers. Primary and elementary schools receive a larger number of flags."

Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari, who looks after the Red Cross funds, when contacted, clearly stated that the money collected through these flags do not go to the Red Cross fund. It goes to the Army Welfare Fund.

Bathinda, May 13
At a time when the recession is looming large, city women remain unaffected and continue to prove the belief that women are shopping crazy.

Navdeep Singla, who owns Super Jewellers, told The Tribune, "Women are crazy for jewellery. Recession does not matter to women. They want to have the latest designs. Ninety per cent of our customers are women. We used to get the same response before recession. Nothing has changed for us thanks to women.”

If you walk across city markets, you would find more women shopping around than men. Whether it is fashion, jewellery, footwear, accessories, decoration articles or daily needs, women are helping traders fight recession.

Komal, a teacher from the city said, "Due to recession, my husband has become very cautious because he is a businessman. I like shopping and I spend the same as I used to spend earlier."

It indicates that men have become cautious shoppers during the current meltdown.

Harjinder, who runs Habib’s saloon, stated that women drop in to catch up with the latest styles in vogue and don't mind spending more to look good.

A doctor on the condition of anonymity, said, "My wife is working with a bank and she knows that the world has been hit by recession but when it comes to shopping, she forgets about it. I am a psychologist and 80 per cent women suffer from compulsive behaviour, which means that they would shop when they see something nice, ignoring the fact whether they really need it or not. However, they tend to regret having spent money later on things they least required.” 

Chandigarh, May 13
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has fired another humanitarian salvo in its endeavour to protect the interest of minor children.

Justice SD Anand has asked all subordinate courts in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to take up on priority cases involving the interests of minor — maintenance and property sale matters included. The first salvo was fired when Justice Anand asked all subordinate courts to dispose of within three months all child custody cases pending for over three months. — TNS

Bathinda, May 13
Government teachers have not received their salary since March. There are eight blocks in Bathinda and teachers working in two blocks out of these eight have been left without any money for more than two months.

Teachers of Bathinda and Sangat blocks have not received their salaries whereas teachers of the six other blocks have got their salaries. Though their salary was delayed but they have got it recently. The reason cited by a government school teacher was that the officials state that they have the funds but no one has the drawing and disbursing (DD) powers in these blocks.

Around 100 teachers are waiting for their salaries. The government gives DD powers to a government official for one year but the Block Development Panchayat Officer told the teachers no one has the DD powers for drawing the salaries and distributing it further.

Secretary, Zila Parishad, Gurvinder Singh, said, “I do not see a problem why the salary is not being distributed in Bathinda and Sangat. The BDPO told me the salaries have already been sanctioned and I would ensure the teachers get their salaries tomorrow."

Hanumangarh/Abohar, May 13
Thousands of devotees, who visit Rawatsar town of Hanumangarh district to pay their obeisance at the ancient temple of Khetarpal Baba, have to quench their thirst by consuming contaminated water that is supplied by the local water works.

As of last census, Rawatsar had a population of 28,383 males who constitute 53 per cent of the population while females constitute 47 per cent. Rawatsar has an average literacy rate of 55 per cent, lower than the national average of 59.5 per cent. Male literacy is 65 per cent and female literacy is 44 per cent. There are many private as well as government schools up to the senior secondary level. For higher education, there are two colleges for girls, one for boys, an ITI, a co-educational college besides college for education but potable water remains a distant dream.

One finds dead birds, footwears besides other waste floating in the drinking water resevoirs in the local water works. Stray cattle roam freely inside the complex.

The complex has got two sand filter system tanks but only one is functional. Outlived stone metal has not been removed from the other tank which contains garbage also. The authorities have not bothered to clean the tanks or water course for a long time says local resident Bhupinder Asija. Even the clear water reservoir is in poor condition. 

Ferozepur, May 13
In a joint operation, which was reportedly still in progress at the time of filing of the report, the Border Security Force(BSF) along with sleuths from Special Narcotics Cell (SNC) of the Punjab Police have seized 14 kg heroin estimated to be worth several crores in the international market.

According to BSF sources, the seizure was made in Khemkaran area close to Indo-Pakistan border in Ferozepur sector which is being manned by 130 battalion, BSF. The DIG BSF Ferozpur Sector M.L. Wassan said the heroin consignment was recovered at two places. Wassan said that the first consignment of four kg was recovered at 12:30 pm today near border outpost ‘T-bundh’ between border pillar number 161/10 and 161/11 which was followed by another recovery of 10 kg at 4:30 pm near border outpost ‘Mehndipur Forward’ close to border pillar 162/25.

Both the places from where the contraband was recovered were around 10 to 20 metres inside international border, sources said. BSF officials revealed that the narcotics consignment was being smuggled into India by cross-border drug peddlers under "conceal and clear" strategy. However, timely interception by the intelligence agencies prevented them from being cleared.

Earlier, in 2008 and then during early 2009 also, a number of incidents related to smuggling of narcotics had been reported from the area close to the Indo-Pakistan border in this sector, and contraband worth hundred crores had been seized by the BSF and other agencies. 

Bathinda, May 13
A man and two of his family members have been booked for strangulating his wife to death at village Kot Bakhtu in Bathinda late on Tuesday evening. Family members say that the woman was killed because of their inability to fulfill the demand for dowry.

According to information available, the deceased, Vaneeta, in her late twenties, married Mauji Kumar three year ago and was blessed with a son about a year back.

Sources in the village said that Mauji, his brother Bobby and sister-in-law Babita treated Vaneeta harshly.

Sonu of Sardulgarh, the brother of the deceased, said his sister was upset with the attitude of her in-laws. He said that Mauji was jobless and used to pressurise Vaneeta to bring more dowry from her parents.

"We did our best to fulfill all his demands. We gave him cash worth Rs 20,000 thrice. Then he demanded a car following which we bought a second-hand car for him. The car met with an accident and then he demanded money to get it repaired," he alleged.

Speaking further, Sonu said, "Now he was forcing Vaneeta to bring more money from us. Meanwhile, she came to know about her husband's illicit relationship with his brother's wife. Upset, she asked her husband to end the relationship."

"Vaneeta told me about this on Tuesday and said that annoyed over her requests to refrain from the relationship, the trio assaulted her physically. After some time, the sarpanch of the village informed us that her body was hanging from a ceiling fan," Sonua said.

"We are sure that furious over the disclosure of his illicit relationship and finding us unable to meet his demand for dowry, Mauji along with his brother and his wife, strangulated her to death at their house. Then to make it seem a suicide, they hanged her from a ceiling fan.There was no mark of cloth on the neck but a thumb impression was there, which we brought to the notice of the police," he claimed.

When contacted, investigating officer Mahinder Singh of the Raman police station said, "We are investigating the case but the postmortem report is yet to come. On the basis of the statement of the bereaved family, a case under sections 304-B and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the three accused."

Abohar, May 13
Three residents of the village Khubban of this sub-division were killed in a road mishap as the scooter they were riding went out of control and fell in a pit after hitting a roadside tree this afternoon, sources said.

As per details, Darshan Singh along with Rani, wife of Kala Singh and Nikka, son of Kahna Singh of the village Khubban, were going to village Kuttianwali in the afternoon using a scooter.

As they crossed the bridge of a sub-canal, Darshan Singh reportedly lost control over the two-wheeler. It first hit a roadside tree and then fell in a pit resulting in the death of all on the spot.

The bodies have been shifted to the Civil Hospital here for post-mortem, sources said.