Bathinda, September 26
Even as the socialist leader Dr Sunilam expressed happiness over the benefits the Punjab farmers are enjoying in terms of free power and irrigation water in their state, he said there was a lot required to ensure their due to them.

Farmer leader Dr Sunilam was in Bathinda on Saturday. He is leading the Saptakranti Vichaar Yatra that has been organised to the mark the birth centenary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, the veteran socialist leader.

The yatra entered Punjab on Friday night after traversing 14,000 kilometers and passing through 15 Indian states, including southern states, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and others. Today, the yatra started its 3-day programme in the state.

The yatra aimed at unifying and creating links among various non-violent people’s movements which are seeking basic necessity for everyone like food, shelter, land rights, forest rights, livelihoods and so on based on Dr Lohia’s analysis of seven kinds of injustice in this world.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Sunilam said he was aggrieved by the fact that farmers’ movements in the state had also suffered crackdown. It was not expected from the Akali Dal which was a part of the independence movement, he added. He demanded a law against police firing on peaceful movements.

He said industrial agriculture had been wreaking havoc in Punjab. High incidence of cancer cases, suicide by farmers, depletion of water level in the state were matters of serious concern, he said, adding that maximum use of pesticides and fertilisers had been ruining the health of soil in Punjab.

On the first day in Punjab, the 30 yatris belonging to eight states interacted with farmers in village Mehta in Bathinda district and village Jida in Faridkot district. Members of the Kheti Virasat Mission were also present during the meetings.

The yatris are demanding that farmers in the country should be ensured a minimum monthly income of Rs 10,000 on par with at least the lowest paid government employee, abolition of SEZs, social security law for unorganised sector, use of local, vernacular languages in our judicial system, especially in High Courts.

Dr Sunilam also expressed apprehensions about the Indian government re-opening talks on the WTO front and demanded that India should quit WTO.

The yatra started on August 9 this year and will culminate in a public meeting in New Delhi on October 12. The yatra has been organised by the Rashtra Seva Dal and the Yusuf Meherally Yuva Biradari, under the leadership of Dr Sunilam of Madhya Pradesh Kissan Sangharsh Samiti, a two-time legislator of Madhya Pradesh

In addition to a day’s programme in Amritsar on Sunday, the yatris would be part of a public meeting in Hoshiarpur on October 4.

Bathinda, September 26
A teacher of social science of the Government High School, Nahianwala, in Bathinda district, has been booked for misbehaving and attacking the woman principal of the school on Saturday.

According to sources, the incident occurred when the principal, Bhupinder Kaur, was taking a class. The accused, Nand Lal, entered the class and asked the principal to hand over the register of examination duty. The principal asked the teacher to talk to her later, sources said, and added that this infuriated the teacher who started hurling abuses and also misbehaved with the principal and created a scene in the classroom.

Later, other staff of the school, including teachers, responded to the noise and tried to control Nand Lal.

Sources said Nand Lal made an unsuccessful bid to attack the principal with an agricultural tool lying there.

Later, when Nand Lal realised that the situation was turning against him he escaped on his bike, sources said.

The principal, later, lodged a complaint with the Nahianwala police about the incident.

SHO Nahinwala Buta Singh told The Tribune that on the basis of the statement of the principal of the school, Bhupinder Kaur, a case under sections 353, 186, 506 and 354 of the IPC has been registered against the teacher Nand Lal, who is evading arrest.

Buta Singh said that the police was conducting raids to nab the accused.

Mansa, September 26
Even after four days have passed, the police have failed to arrest the accused who allegedly abducted a Dalit girl from Sirsiwala village. As per the information, the girl Charanjeet Kaur (name changed), a student of class XI, was abducted on September 22, when she was on her way back home from school. She was released the same day.

Police had registered an FIR against Happy, a resident of Kisangarh, Vickey and Binder, both residents of Bareta, under section 354 and 366-A of the IPC. However, none of the accused has been arrested so far.

Parents of the girl raised this issue before the CM Parkash Singh Badal during sangat darshan at Gobindpura village on September 24 and he also directed the police officials to arrest the accused and take action against them.

Meanwhile, the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha held a rally at Sirsiwala village against police inaction in this case. Addressing the rally, state secretary of Morcha Bhagwant Singh Sammoan said the police was trying to defend the sarpanch of Sirsiwala village in this case. SSP Manwinder Singh assured that the police would arrest all the accused soon.

Bathinda, September 26
To settle the cases related to women, a special Lok Adalat was organised, for the first time in Bathinda district on Saturday. As many as 125 cases out of the total 185 were settled during the special Lok Adalat for women at the District Court complex here.

Kuldip Singh, District and Sessions Judge, Bathinda, supervised the working of the Lok Adalat which was organised following the directive of the Punjab Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, to solve the cases related to women.

During the course of the Lok Adalat, the cases concerning divorce, domestic problems and others were settled.

Kuldip Singh, District and Sessions Judge, Bathinda, said that Lok Adalats were gaining popularity as it provided economical and speedy justice to the litigants. — TNS

Bathinda, September 26
The third day of the All India Mahatma Hansraj Tournament saw excited pursuits for victory. Yoga was also contested as a sport today.

In girls category, the DAV International, Amritsar, came first while the Police Line DAV Amritsar came second. In the boys category, the Police DAV School, Jalandhar Cantt, stood first and the DAV International, Amritsar, was the runner-up.

Neetal and Navjot Kaur, both of the DAV Public School, Jalandhar, were adjudged the best in yoga.

In table tennis, the DAV Jalandhar were the winners while the DAV Lawrence Road, Amritsar, was the runner-up.

In archery (recurve round), Himmat Singh of the LRS DAV Abohar won the top slot while Niharika Sharma of the DAV Patiala won the first place in the girls category.

In the compound round, Gurnihal Singh of the DAV, Patiala, stood first while Kulwinder of the RRS DAV, Abohar, managed to secure the second place in the contest.