Gill Kalan (Bathinda), March 4
In yet another attempt to fuel Dera-Sikh tension in the state, some unidentified persons pasted handbills in this village, warning the Dera Sacha Sauda followers to give up their proximity to the sect or get ready to face the consequences at the hands of radicals.

According to the villagers (Dera followers), it was a surprise for them on Wednesday, when they found such handbills with the name of ‘Tiger Force,’ pasted on the walls of their houses and shops.

The handbills, a copy of which was procured by The Tribune, clearly warns the Dera followers to avoid organizing the religious discourses of Dera Sacha Sauda in the village or they would be taken to task.

Besides using derogatory language for the Dera chief, the unidentified persons have asked all Dera followers to join Sikhism. Bearing provocative slogans, the handbills mention pro-Khalistan slogans also. Soon after the information spread in the village, the Dera followers brought the matter to the knowledge of their district level committee, which further forwarded it to the Dera headquarters and also informed the police to take action in this regard.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, a team of cops rushed to the village and removed all the posters and took some of them in their custody.

When The Tribune team today visited the village, it found people unaware about the identity of the persons, who pasted the handbills.

Terming it as an unusual incident in the light of the Dera-Sikh controversy that erupted in Punjab, some elderly persons sitting at a common place in the village said, “We are curious to ascertain the identity of the ‘miscreants’, who wanted to create a void in our relations by creating communal tension.”

Speaking to the TNS, four among a group of elderly persons disclosed they were Dera followers but had no differences with the others, said to be Sikhs.

“We have been living in this village for the past couple of decades but we have never let religious diferences come in our friendship. We are free to observe our religion in any way we like,” said Nachattar Singh, an elderly Dera follower.

When contacted, SSP Bathinda, Sukhchain Singh Gill said, “Though we have not yet ascertained the identity of the persons behind the incident, prima facie, it seems the handiwork of some miscreants.”

“We are investigating the matter in detail and once the accused got identified, we will send the paper seized to the handwriting experts. We also assure that the accused would not be spared at any cost,” added the SSP.

Bathinda, March 4
After observing the success of its recently-introduced scheme ‘Material at site model’, launched as a pilot project in Patiala, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) today introduced the same in Kotkapura town.

As per the scheme, private contractors have been engaged to load, unload and transport material from 
the PSEB stores to the work site directly.

PSEB chairman HS Brar told TNS over phone that soon it would be extended to other central stores at Bathinda, Ferozepur, Malout, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Verka, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Mohali and Sangrur in a phase-wise manner.

Brar said due to limited resources, PSEB consumers were facing difficulties in bringing the material from stores. Under the scheme, junior engineers and field staff would not be required to go to the stores to draw material for new connections/works and other maintenance jobs. They would send their requirement and it would be the responsibility of store to arrange and deliver the material at site.

“This will increase the productivity as huge manhours spent on withdrawing the material from stores shall be saved,” claimed Brar.

Fazilka, March 4
The local Congress leadership including former MLA, Mohinder Singh Rinwa has decided to launch an agitation to save pieces of land belonging to the Centre and state governments, which are allegedly being usurped by the land mafia.

Rinwa, while alleging that land mafia has been trying to illegally possess pieces of land belonging to the Centre and state governments said that district administration had been informed about these incidents. He added that if the district administration fails to take corrective steps within a week, they would launch an agitation.

Talking to media persons, he said that they would also approach the court of law to save the pieces of land belonging to the government. He said that about 10 years ago, the Congress had to launch an agitation to save the same pieces of land, which were now being usurped by the members of land mafia.

He alleged that though he had informed the district administration about the fact that a piece of land belonging to the Central government was being illegally possessed today, however, no action was taken by the authorities concerned to stop the same.

He said that if the ruling politicians were not involved in the illegal possession of government land then action must be taken against such elements immediately.

The Congress leader also expressed his concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in this border town. He alleged that there were some parts of the city, which would become out of bound for the residents as molestation and looting of people had become a common occurrence in that particular area.

He said that the state government led by Parkash Singh Badal had failed to deliver the goods and hence the residents of this area had not been getting pensions under old-age and widow categories and no money under Shagun scheme for the past about nine months.

The state government had also totally ignored those villages, which were situated at the tail-ends of various water courses running in the region as the water had not been reaching their respective villages and hence depriving them to irrigate their fields.

The poor people had not been getting any ration on subsidised rates under its BPL scheme, he said. 

Abohar, March 4
One member of a marriage party was killed while another sustained injuries as two cars collided on Hanumangarh-Abohar road last evening. As per the information, the members of the marriage party were returning to village Karadwala after attending the ceremony at village Khosawali of Sangria sub-division.

The collision resulted in death of Sukhbir Singh of Peelibanga on the spot while Simranpal Singh of village Lilawali sustained injuries. He was rushed to the district hospital at Sriganganagar, police sources at 
Sadulshehar said. — OC

Moga, March 4
The Indo-Soviet College of Pharmacy, Moga has bagged three first positions, three second positions and three third positions in the various streams of master degree courses of pharmacy, the examinations of which were conducted by the Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar in 2009. A total of 26 students of this college have come in the merit list of the university in the master degree courses.

Parveen Garg, chairman of the college, said the students who got the top three positions had been conferred with gold, silver and bronze medals while others were awarded the certificate of merit by the Punjab Governor at the convocation held in Jalandhar last week.

In the M. Pharma (pharmaceutical chemistry) course, Ritu Saharan got the first position while Deepak Kumar obtained the third position. The other students who came in the order of merit in this stream include Sakshi Bhardwaj, Vikas Aggarwal, Sweety and Ramnesh Kumar.

In the M. Pharma (pharmaceuticals), Sheetu Wadhwa got the second position and bagged the silver medal. Other students in the merit list include Fozoyah Zakir and Ruchi Gupta.

In the M. Pharma (pharmacognosy), Priyanka Poonia got the first position, Deepti Ahuja came second and Sharuti Mehta third. Other students in the order of merit in this stream include Smriti Faujdar, Gagandeep Chaudhary, Sumit Chabra, Yogesh Kumar and Ishpinder Singh.

In the M. Pharma (pharmacology), Tajinder Singh came first, Ashok Kumar was second and Preety Ajmani came third. Other students in the merit list were Sidharth Mehan, Jayarami Reddy Medapati, Shabli Rekhi, Nidhi Sharma and Mandeep Kumar Arora.

Giving credit to the faculty, Praveen Garg said he was committed to raising infrastructure and facilities in the institution. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, March 4
Children mesmerised the gathering by performing folk dances during a function that was organised by the Maheshwari Yuva Seva Samiti at Sriganganagar last night.

Ghanshyam Karnani was the chief guest while Punam Chand Mohta presided over the function. The students from different institutions who had excelled in academic and co-curricular activities during the past year were honoured by giving prizes that had been sponsored by the Seth Harikishan Lahoti Charitable Trust, Hari Kishan Lahoti press secretary informed today. — OC