Bathinda, September 9
With the arrest of two more allies of Daljit Singh Bittu, chief of the SAD Amritsar (Panch Pardhani), Bathinda police claimed to have foiled another bid to kill the manager of Dera Salabatpura, the state headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect.

According to police, the accused were arrested from Bhucho Mandi roundabout when they were chalking out a strategy to kill the manager of the Dera and damage some Dera property to create disturbance in the state.

Two pistols and six cartridges have been recovered from their possession.

The accused were identified as Gurlabh Singh of Bhai Rupa and Kulveer Singh of Maur Mandi, who were, earlier too, arrested on the same charges in the first week of last month. At that time, a case was registered against the six persons at Dialpura police station and various weapons were also recovered from their possession.

As per the police, the accused were out on bail from Bathinda jail on September 5 and again got involved in trying to give actual shape to their previously foiled plan.

This time, they were found heard, naming one Amrit Pal of Mehraj, who is presently in England, for lending financial aid from there. Further, they were observed talking about some monetary favour assured from various organizations inside and outside the country.

Besides Amrit Pal, the accused named Jagsir Singh of Tungwali, Tela Singh of Phul, Gurpreet Singh of Bhagta and Makhan Singh of Sardoolgarh as their accomplice in the plan.

It may be mentioned that Makhan Singh is already in police custody for killing Lily Kumar, a Dera follower of Mansa, from whose interrogation Patiala police had recovered a huge quantity of RDX.

Bathinda police has now began an investigation to nab all the accused.

It may be mentioned that according to the previous plan that was foiled, they had practiced to ensure the execution of operation in a fool-proof way. Though they had formed parties to make the operation successful in a planned way, due to one or the other reason, success had eluded them.

Confirming the facts, Cantonment police officials said, "The accused are in police remand for one day, during the period, various facts are expected to come out. They have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Act."

Bathinda, September 9
The decision to do away with Class X Board exams and introduce a grading system in CBSE affiliated schools has also elicited reaction from school affiliated to state Boards like the Punjab School Examination Board (PSEB).

These schools are of the view that their students would now prefer CBSE schools. Also, they apprehend that the decision could lead to a dip in the number of students enrolled at PSEB schools.

Dilbag Singh, principal of the Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, today expressed concern over Kapil Sibal's decision that has been limited only to CBSE schools. "As per the concurrent list of the Indian constitution, states have no choice except to abide by the instructions related to education given by the Centre. There should be uniformity when it comes to education throughout the country. Our students would definitely prefer going to CBSE schools. Scrapping class X Boards in CBSE affiliated schools would also trigger a competition among the students of CBSE and state boards and while taking admission in courses for higher studies. State Board students might be preferred as they would have faced Board exams before going to Class XI," Dilbag Singh added.

With CBSE students forming a very little percentage of students in the country, educationists termed Sibal as being biased towards a particular Board.

Suraj Setia, principal of MSD Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, stated, 'We already have many students telling us that they would switch over to a CBSE school. The state should also make efforts for adopting the order which has been made applicable to CBSE affiliated schools. CBSE already had an edge over our exam and marking system. For example, there are two papers of Punjabi language of 150 marks each and the pattern is subjective, whereas in CBSE exams, almost 50 per cent of the paper is objective which means a better percentage. Our students do not cross 90 per cent marks and CBSE students get 99 per cent marks also. This difference leads to students getting de-motivated. This is sheer bias on Sibal's part."

But there were teachers who thought PSEB students were not capable of joining a CBSE school due to linguistic inhibitions. "Our school is Punjabi medium and students would never be able to fare well in English medium schools. PSEB students would never go to CBSE schools because they would face difficulty after switching over to English medium from the Punjabi medium," Gurdeep Singh, principal of Government Girls School, Mall Road, Bathinda, said.

Bathinda, September 9
Terming the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) move to hike power tariff as another blow to the already slowdown-hit small industries, the Bathinda Small Industries Association (BSIA) urged CM Parkash Singh Badal to roll back the “unjustified” decision.

During a meeting held here today, members of the body said that small industries of the state in general and in Bathinda in particular had been hit by the economic recession and hours-long power cuts. Instead of giving subsidy to the m, the government was increasing the rate and also in retrospect.

President of the body Sunil Kumar Ohri said the body would launch stir if the government fails to review its decision.

Bathinda, September 9
In the incident related to the axing of 25 trees along the Rajasthan feeder canal (Indira Gandhi canal) at Faridkot, which was highlighted in a section of the media, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the Chief Secretary, Punjab, to take appropriate action.

It is worth mentioning that in this case, an advocate Parshotam Betab had accused the Chairman, Improvement Trust, Faridkot, said to be a close ally of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, of getting the trees axed in connivance with officials of the irrigation department.

As per the complaint lodged with the PMO, the complainant accused the canal department officials of running an illegal practice of allotting the Rajasthan government owned land located alongside the canal bank to some private persons, illegally, after receiving gratifications.

Further, specifying the complaint, he named Anil Sood, executive engineer of the Rajasthan feeder canal (Indira Gandhi canal), Faridkot, for granting 'illegal right' to passage from the Rajasthan government's land to Parambans Singh Romana alias Bunty, Chairman, Improvement Trust, Faridkot, to his land located on Kotkapura-Talwandi bypass, in writing.

He accused the officials of issuing a vague order, as the order did not mention any measurement details about the passage.

Further, it was alleged that in the garb of 'illegal order', the accused felled about 25 well grown trees standing on the land owned by the Rajasthan government. Receiving complaint about axing of trees, the Faridkot city police, in the absence of specific complaint, lodged a case against unidentified persons and seized the trees.

Sensing the gravity of situation, the PMO has now issued a direction to the Chief Secretary, Punjab along with the copy of the complaint, to take appropriate action.

Speaking over the issue, the complainant Parshotam Betab said, "Applying under the RTI Act, we asked the canal department about the rules and regulation in context of which the passage was allowed to the accused. Ironically, the reply was that they did not have any copy related to the matter."

When contacted, Anil Sood, executive engineer of the Rajasthan feeder canal, said, "I permitted the right to passage in good faith as a number of people have been using such lands for the past couple of year. Moreover, I did not make the accused an owner of the land and the right can be withdrawn any time. It is an issue between the two parties for setting scores with each other and I have been just made a scapegoat."

On his part, Parambans Romana said, "About the axing of the trees, police has already lodged a case. I too was asked but the police was satisfied with my reply. About the right to passage, I have orders in writing." Romana also blamed a media person from national daily of trying to malign them due to personal enmity.

"I welcome the fresh inquiry, but the vigilance wing of the canal department has already been investigating the matter. If there is any stay order from any court, I am unaware," Romana added.

Bathinda, September 9
Some two months ago when this Bathinda lad chose to pick up gloves and enter the kickboxing ring, he was taken as just another boy interested in martial art. Today, not only the city but also the entire Punjab is pinning high hopes on this boy who will soon fight for the state in the national arena.

Meet Bhupinderpal Singh punched to glory by clinching a gold medal in the recently concluded state junior, sub-junior kickboxing championship. A student of the local MSD Senior Secondary School, Bhupinderpal achieved crowning glory in the 6th Punjab State Sub-junior, Junior Kickboxing Championship held in Dhuri between September 4-6. Nearly 250 students from across the state sweated in the ring for the crown.

Bhupinderpal had the last laugh in the below 69 kg group and the president of the Punjab Olympic Association Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa handed over the coveted award to him.

But this was not enough for this fighter. "I know I have to work hard for going ahead. My hard work under the guidance of my coach has brought me the top slot in the last contest. But to maintain consistency, I have to work more," Bhupinderpal said while taking time off from the rigorous training session at the school.

The coach confirmed that he is an honest worker. "Presently, six hours session bracketed in two spells, morning and evening, will certainly bring the desired result to him in the coming national-level contest," coach Sunil Sharma said. "His strength lies in his kick. Like his previous performances, his kicks would again prove just perfect for rivals," Sharma said, and expressed the hope that Bhupinderpal would bring laurels to Punjab in the National Championship scheduled to be held in Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) between September 28 and October 5. "He is fit, kicking and ready to fight," the coach said.

Talking about his game, Bhupinderpal revealed that what he took as self-defence and leisure activity had now become a passion for him. "I have been practising boxing for the last one year. I went for kickboxing seriously some three months ago. Now I am enjoying the sport," he said.

Bhupinderpal thanked his parents, school principal and coach for their support and guidance and returned to ring again for another session of kick and punches.

Bathinda, September 9
Thermal police booked one Kali Bahadur, a class IV staff of Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Plant, for raping a physically challenged (22).

According to complaint lodged with police, about eight months ago, parents of a girl were out of station to attend some family function. At that time, they asked their neighbour, Kali Bahadur to take care of their disabled daughter.

One day, Kali Bahdur raped the girl and threatened her to kill if she disclose the incident. The girl kept quite for sometime, but when her parents insisted, she narrated the incident. The family approached the police and got a rape case registered against the accused on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the girl complained of labour pains on Tuesday night. She was referred to a private hospital where she delivered a dead baby girl. After postmortem, police handed over the body of the infant to the kin.

The accused is still at large.

Faridkot, September 9
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab police on Tuesday arrested a student of the Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University from Lucknow for allegedly running a racket of 'Munna Bhais' for the Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET) of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences of the state.

The scam was unearthed in the entrance test held on June 22, 2008. Since then, at least 35 persons including doctors, students and businessmen allegedly involved in the scam had been arrested by the police. The investigations were still in progress.

LK Yadav, SSP of Ropar, who is heading the SIT, while talking to The Tribune, revealed that they had nabbed Pankaj Kumar when he was coming after giving a final semester examination from the varsity premises, yesterday. He was being brought here for further investigations, the SSP said.

Pankaj, a final year student of MBBS, originally hailing from Bihar, had been charged with running the racket of 'Munna Bhais' and seating solvers in the Punjab PMET examinations. He had committed huge irregularities in the entrance examination held last year.

Yadav further said that another youth, Mohammad Yusuf, also a student of MBBS was arrested a few days back from Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College at Kanpur. "We have got his police remand and investigations are in progress," he said.

In reply to a question, the SSP said that Pankaj would be produced before a local court on Thursday. An FIR had already been registered against Pankaj and Yusuf in the Faridkot police station and. Efforts were on to arrest other members of his gang, he added.

It may be mentioned that on July 25 this year, the SIT had arrested Manikant, an MBBS student of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Medical College from Varanasi on charges of impersonating a candidate in the 2008 PMET examination.

He was arrested on the basis of leads given by a Delhi resident, Sanjiv Kumar, who was stated to be the kingpin of this racket. He impersonated the examination for one Keshav Kumar with whom Sanjiv Kumar had allegedly struck a deal for Rs 12 lakh.