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Dabwali cow slaughtering incident
Paddy farmers upbeat as monsoon arrives
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Multi-millionaire Sukhbir does not own a car
Jalalabad bypoll
In the twilight of their lives, NREGA offers a helping hand
Ex-minister’s son gets jail term
Demand proper power supply
Farm worker kills wife
Man commits suicide
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Dabwali cow slaughtering incident
Bathinda, July 14 Later, the agitators staged a dharna at the Sadhbhawna Chowk where the speakers sought the resignation of the Haryana chief minister for his “callous attitude in checking such heinous activity in his state.” They also accused the Haryana police of taking the issue lightly as they had not been able to nab the accused even after four days had passed. They urged the Union government to declare the cow as national religious animal and demanded that anybody found guilty of killing a cow should get 20 years of imprisonment. “If one kills a man, he is punished with life term, so if one kills a cow, which hurts the sentiments of crores of people, how can he be termed less guilty while announcing the verdict,” they said. Speaking about the charter of demands, leaders said the government should get vacated all land— which were donated for cows— but were being used for other purposes. It was also said that the slaughter house at Dabwali, where the carcasses of around 40 cows was recovered on Friday, should be handed over to some Gaushala Samiti. Otherwise, the protesters would secure possession on their own and construct a Gaushala there, least bothering about the consequences. The protesters had given the call for bandh on Sunday and had personally visited the shops on Monday to urge all to cooperate. Following this, many shopkeepers did not even roll up shutters and the rest too remained closed when volunteers visited them to make requests for closing down. At some places, verbal duel between the volunteers and the shopkeepers was also reported, but the city witnessed bandh widely. Among others, volunteers from the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Naujwan Welfare Society, Salasar Yatra Sangh, Bathinda Vikas Manch, Asra Welfare Society, Mahabir Sankirtan Mandal, Charan Padula Seva Dal, Hanuman Seva Samiti and Peerkhana Seva Samiti took part. Later, the volunteers informed over the phone that the president of the Truck Union, Bathinda, had announced collection of some amount from its customers as charity for the welfare fund of cows. He also assured that no cow would be transported without getting the nod from Hindu organisations.
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Paddy farmers upbeat as monsoon arrives
Bathinda, July 14 The paddy farmers are in high spirits. On the one hand, they are getting water to irrigate their erstwhile parched fields while on the other they are getting water that is pure and distilled. They prefer rainwater to the groundwater drawn with the help of tubewells. The reason is that the rainwater is beneficial for crops in contrast to the contaminated groundwater, which contains a white powdery substance that makes the soil hard and unfit for a good yield. Satpal Satti, vice-president of the Ahrtiyas Association, Punjab, when contacted, said, “The scarcity of water being faced by farmers has finally come to an end with a good amount of rains ensuring paddy remains in good condition. Paddy is being benefited the most as it is the only crop that needs water for sustenance. Rain water is pure and thus helpful in bringing about good and healthy yield.” The paddy farmers are hoping that the rain gods smile on them for at least a week so that they get to harvest more produce. Farmers also stated that rains should be consistent to ensure a healthy harvest. Rains once in every three to four days do not have much in store for the crop to flourish. Punjab being the rice bowl of India feared of not having a good harvest seeing the condition of rains a few days back. Meanwhile, cotton growers are afraid of their crop getting badly affected in case it rained heavily. Hardheer Singh, a farmer, said cotton needed water every two weeks for a month. Too much of rains would spoil the cotton crop, he added. |
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Multi-millionaire Sukhbir does not own a car
Jalalabad, July 14 Significantly, Sukhbir Badal’s deposits in bank, financial institution and non-banking financial companies are worth Rs 1.15 crore. He also holds bonds, debentures and shares in companies worth Rs 20.27 crore. He possesses agricultural land worth Rs 3.95 crore. He has non-agricultural land worth about Rs 1.27 crore. He has buildings worth Rs 31.60 crore. His wife has none of these. He has jewellery worth about Rs 4.35 lakh. Moreover, Badal has Rs 3.5 lakh in cash. Sukhbir has also listed his liabilities which include an outstanding loan of Rs 9.94 crore towards Punjab and Sindh Bank, Chandigarh branch, Rs 1.82 crore towards Punjab National Bank, Bathinda. Sukhbir has paid income tax of about Rs 85 lakh during the assessment year 2008-09 and there is yet another outstanding income tax of about Rs 43 lakhs for which appeals are pending with income tax commissioner, Bathinda. He has also paid a wealth tax of Rs 1.74 lakh during the assessment year. It has also been stated in the affidavit furnished by Sukhbir Badal that two cases are pending against him in the courts. One case is pending under different sections on the basis of an FIR registered at police station, Vigilance Bureau, Mohali, on June 24, 2003. It is pending before the special judge, Ropar. The other case is pending before the Additional Sessions Judge, Faridkot, on the basis of an FIR registered at city police station Kotkapura on June 30, 2006.
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Jalalabad bypoll
Ferozepur, July 14 Sukhbir Badal was referring to the recent constitution of task force by the Union government to study the viability of bringing agricultural debt taken by the farmers of Maharashtra from moneylenders under the purview of debt waiver scheme and deliberately excluding Punjab from the same. While raising doubts on the sincerity of the Congress MPs from Punjab towards the state on these crucial Central government policies, he alleged that it was a calculated attempt to further marginalise Punjab farmers, already reeling under spiraling agricultural debt, especially, from moneylenders. Addressing election rallies at various villages in Jalalabad, Sukhbir said that the budget speech of the Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has corroborated the apprehensions of the SAD about the whole debt waiver scheme, which was customised for the benefit of the farmers of Maharashtra, keeping out the much deserving Punjabi farmers, who were repaying their loan installments religiously. Sukhbir said that the Punjab government had already submitted a detailed dossier to the Union Agriculture Ministry citing that 67 per cent farm debt availed by the farmers was from the money lenders and only 33 per cent from the banking institutions. He said that Punjab had been requesting to take the loan advanced by money lenders in the ambit of debt waiver scheme as Punjab was contributing 60 per cent wheat and 34 per cent rice in the central kitty whereas in return, the state got only Rs 700 crore waiver, which was only 1.1 per cent of the total amount. While accusing the UPA government for its failure to address the root cause of farmer suicides in Punjab, Sukhbir said that the due to erroneous policies of the Central government, especially, while fixing MSPs, the farmers were bearing the brunt and the exclusion of money lenders debt in loan waiver scheme would further compound their problems. About the MSP of paddy being fixed at Rs 950 per quintal, Sukhbir said that nothing below Rs 1,400 per quintal was acceptable to the SAD, adding that his party had been constantly advocating to link MSP of agricultural produce with price index as suggested by Swaminathan Committee or to fix MSP by including the rate of inputs plus 50 per cent profit. He also said that the Union government was deliberately delaying the announcement of MSP fearing backlash by the Punjab farmers in the August 3 by-elections.
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In the twilight of their lives, NREGA offers a helping hand
Bathinda, July 14
Jasmel is engaged in digging a common village pond. She is a widow and her seven married children, including five sons, left her to fend for her own, in the twilight of her life. Though she is disheartened over the behaviour of her children, she terms the NREGA scheme as a boon that keeps her engaged and keeps intact her self-esteem by fetching her meal three times a day. Like Jasmel, about 55 other Dalit women are engaged in the job at the village. Each of them has her own tale of sorrow to narrate. They have a common thread in their lives — they term the NREGA has helped them overcome the odds in their lives. Another widow, Harpal Kaur, who was busy shifting sand from one place to another, told this correspondent with her hands trembling, “I lost my son and daughter-in-law in an accident. Since that day, bringing up three grandchildren is my responsibility. It is tough to cope up with circumstances but somehow, I am managing with my earnings from this job. So please do not write anything which can lead to the scheme being discontinued.” The experience of the elderly Darshan Singh, struck by paralysis, and his wife Baljeet Kaur, who sustained burn injuries, is also touching. They were forsaken by children and are dependent upon NREGA to earn their livelihood. Showing her burnt skin, Baljeet Kaur said, “It is tough to be active in such conditions but when none of our three sons are in a position to bear our expenses, what else can I think of?” Middle-aged Bhuro Kaur said their voice should be made audible to the politicians. “No doubt the scheme is good but meeting all expenses with such a meagre amount is not possible. We are ready to put in more hard work but the wages, which are about Rs123 now, should be raised. I have to manage my household as my husband is a drug addict. It has been 15 years of marriage but I have no child. So, working here in the company of other women rejuvenates me besides financing my family needs.” Dependency of the needy upon NREGA gives them a reason to admire it. But one common refrain of the workers was that keeping the liabilities of the employed labourers in mind, the process of payment must be made easier and quicker.
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Ex-minister’s son gets jail term
Faridkot, July 14 As per the details available, Harbans Singh, son of Naib Singh, a resident of Faridkot, gave a written complaint to the SSP in February 2002 that the youth Congress leader Amarjit Singh, son of former forest minister, late Gurcharan Singh Panjgrain, had taken a sum of Rs 1.50 lakh and his original certificates of educational qualifications promising him to get the job of a It may be mentioned that Gurcharan Singh Panjgrain was the forest minister during the government of the chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar in the year 1995-1996. The SHO (City) inquired into the allegations and found that a prima facie case of cheating was made out against the minister's son. Following which, an FIR under sections 420 and 406 of the IPC was registered against Amarjit Singh in March 2003. The CJM, DP Singla, after hearing the pleas of both the prosecution side and the defence counsel found that Amarjit Singh was guilty of cheating the unemployed youth and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.
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Demand proper power supply
Mansa, July 14 State president of the union, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and district president of Mansa, Ram Singh Bhainibagha, addressed the meetings of farmers at different villages in the same connection. They said the dharna is being held from July 15-17 in favour of their demands to get uninterrupted power supply for the tubewells and domestic use. Many farmers were bound to install big motors for their tube-wells due to low level of water and the electricity board has been charging Rs 3,800 per horse power for increasing the load while farmers demand that Rs 1,200 should be charged for per horse powers in case of load increasing. Farmer leaders raised the demand of early tube well connections under the general and OYT categories. Most transformers are being used in the condition of overload. These transformers should be changed and new transformers with high capacity be set up for the use of tube wells, they demanded. — OC
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Abohar, July 14 As per the information, Raj Kumar, aged about 40, working at an agriculture farm, owned by a Green Avenue resident, Sumit Chhabra, located near the western city bypass in between Seetogunno road-Hanumangarh road, allegedly killed his wife Sheela (38), using a spade at about 11 pm on Monday night. In the morning, he took bath and changed his bloodstained clothes and moved to the city police station to give his version. The husband reportedly fumbled during questioning and finally confessed to the crime, sources said. He suspected the victim of having illicit relations with some persons. A case had been registered against Raj Kumar under section 302 of the IPC over the statement of his married daughter Phulwanti. She revealed that her parents had strained relations for the past few months. — OC
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In protest against the slaughter of cows that took place at Dabwali on Friday, various Hindu organizations today held a march in the city and managed to force the markets to remain closed.
