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Uprooted Mehna Basti residents protest
Eunuchs are men in Census 2011
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Kabaddi World Cup hoardings draw BJP’s ire
SAD-BJP, Cong want NREGS to fail: LJP
Woman among 3 killed as canter veers off road
Seminar on human rights on Sunday
‘Dubious’ sale of unclaimed bodies in Rajasthan: Cop submits report
Demolition drive
BJP dissidents up the ante in Abohar
Drug trafficking across border IT institute inaugurated in Fazilka Fazilka heritage festival begins
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Uprooted Mehna Basti residents protest
Bathinda, April 2 Malkiat Kaur has two sons while her husband Sadha Singh works as a daily-wage labour. Malkiat seems to be adamant not to break her indefinite hunger strike till the district administration gives an assurance to the protesters that they will be provided with adequate compensation along with 100-yard plot to each affected family. She has reportedly started losing weight as her indefinite hunger strike today entered third day. Talking to TNS, Malkiat said she was ready to make any sacrifice for the cause of her Basti residents, who had been or would be displaced by the administration even after giving them false assurance with regard to allotment of plots and adequate compensation. She said her indefinite hunger strike would continue till they got justice from the administration. When contacted over the phone today, Bathinda deputy commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh said it was an old case. He said the land in question had been acquired, for which the Land Acquisition Collector had already announced award. So, the administration could not do anything in the case. He said the residents had met him some days ago and he had told them to approach the court if they had any grievance. Meanwhile, under the banner of the Peerrat Lok Sangharsh Committee, the residents of the Basti burnt the effigy of the state and the Central governments here today and staged a protest in front of the main bus stand against non-acceptance of their demands by the administration. They also took out a march through various bazars of the city and raised slogans. On the occasion, Suresh Kumar Goyal said a majority of the affected residents belonged to Scheduled Caste communities and backward classes, and were poor. He said though the indefinite hunger strike by Malkiat entered the third day today, the administration had not sent any message to the protesters for holding talks. |
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Eunuchs are men in Census 2011
Bathinda, April 2 However, the Census officer clarified: “It is a direction of the Union government that irrespective of their looks and physique, eunuchs and hermaphrodites will be given number 1, which is meant for male, while the number 2 is prescribed only for females in the form to be filled up for the data collecting purpose.” “We can do nothing with the Centre’s decision, which had been taken after a long debate and discussion with social activists,” he added. The Census officer convinced them by showing a copy of manual of instructions for filling up the National Population Register (NPR) household schedule. It had been clearly stated in the manual that for the question of sex, which was mentioned at number four in the form, the sub-head (5.14) of the manual, clarified that eunuchs and hermaphrodites would be counted in male category. It may be recalled that a few days ago, the states of Punjab and Haryana had told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that eunuchs would be considered in the men’s category. Their statement in the court was termed as significant as the two states were among the first in the country to “give eunuchs their due”. |
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Kabaddi World Cup hoardings draw BJP’s ire
Bathinda, April 2 The hoardings carry only two portraits — one of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the other of his son and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the chairman of the organising committee of the WCK. These hoardings don’t have portraits of BJP leaders, who are a partner in the state government. Though senior leaders of the BJP avoided commenting on the controversy, party leaders at local level are terming it as betrayal by the SAD leaders. “This is not a lone instance when the SAD leaders have tried to show their supremacy. This issue has been raised at various levels, but every time we are snubbed as they are more in number,” said a BJP leader. Seeking anonymity, a BJP-affiliated councillor of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation expressed his anguish, saying, “It is not only in hoardings. The invitation cards are also sans the names of BJP leaders. Except for the advertisement in newspapers, where a small photograph of Manoranjan Kalia is published, the BJP leaders are nowhere.” “In the advertisement of the WCK on television, the whole credit of the event is being given to Sukhbir Singh Badal,” he rued. Speaking on the issue, district president of the BJP (Rural) Dyal Dass Sodhi said, “Had the huge hoardings been carrying a portrait of even single BJP leader, the controversy could have been avoided. Our activists have been taking exception to it, which I will surely discuss with the party high-command.” On his part, state president of BJP Ashwani Kumar said, “I have not seen the hoardings yet. Moreover, I will try to resolve the issue rather than blowing it up.” Justifying that the BJP leaders had been overlooked in the hoardings, senior SAD leader Sikander Singh Maluka, who is the vice-chairman of the organising committee of the WCK, said, “The hoardings are being installed by the department of sports. As per the decision, only the portraits of the CM and the minister of the department concerned can be carried.” |
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SAD-BJP, Cong want NREGS to fail: LJP
Bathinda, April 2 Criticising the SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress, Gehri said these parties wanted to fail the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Punjab, which the LJP would not allow. He also alleged that the state government had not spent Rs 139 crore, which had been sent by the Centre under the NREGS. Besides the labourers were also being harassed by Panchayats and officials to compel them to avoid working under the NREGS, he alleged. Gehri also announced that after the Baisakhi conference, the LJP would start an agitation demanding Rs 300 per day as wage for labourers under the NREGS, besides removal of obstacles in the way of the implementation of the NREGS. |
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Woman among 3 killed as canter veers off road
Bathinda, April 2 Reaching the Bathinda-Goniana road, he asked his wife Simarjeet Kaur to go and fetch the milk as he had to meet somebody. These proved to be his last words to her, as a speeding canter coming from the Bathinda side crushed 52-year-old Simarjeet to death in front of his eyes. He had witnessed the speeding truck and feared some untoward incident would take place due to its high speed but when it hit his wife, he was completely helpless. The canter (PB 08Q 9717) then veered off the road and hit a tree. The driver somehow managed to take the vehicle back on road but it lost balance and hit a cyclist Mandar Singh (30) of Gill Patti village who too was killed on the spot. Mandar Singh was returning home after plucking vegetables from a plot in Adarsh Nagar. It was not the end of the sequence of unfortunate incidents as the vehicle again veered off the road and rammed into three more trees along the roadside. The tragedy reached its culmination only when the canter driver died after the vehicle collided with a tree forcefully. It took just a few minutes for the whole tragic sequence of events to take place. Immediately after, a large crowd assembled there with the hope of launching a rescue operation but all was in vain as the three were lying dead on the spot. Meanwhile, police and volunteers of the Naujwan Welfare Society reached the spot and ascertained the identity of the driver as Satpal Singh (32) of Maluka village. He was reportedly returning to Ludhiana from Abohar, where he had unloaded goods at night. Though he had a straight route from Abohar to Ludhiana, he opted to go via Bathinda as he wanted to meet his sister married in village Jeeda. Confirming the facts, Thermal police informed that following a legal procedure, a case under section 304-A of the IPC was registered against the driver and after postmortem, the bodies of all the three had been handed over to the bereaved family members. |
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Seminar on human rights on Sunday Bathinda: The Punjab Pradesh Human Rights Committee (PPHRC) is organising a state-level seminar on human rights here on April 4. Giving this information here on Friday, state president of the PPHRC Ashok Sadiora said chairman of Punjab Pradesh Human Rights Commission and retired Chief Justice RS Mongia would take part in the seminar. — TNS
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‘Dubious’ sale of unclaimed bodies in Rajasthan: Cop submits report
Sriganganagar/Abohar, April 2 However, the official sources indicated this was interim report only and the final report may be submitted by the next week after thoroughly scanning the decade old record. The issue had been raised by the BJP legislators with reference to the complaint lodged by Raj Kumar Soni, former district president of the BJP OBC cell at Sriganganagar. The body of his son Rahul Soni too had been handed over by the administration to a local medical college on May 27 last year. Now, Soni has reportedly refused to join the investigation when called by the SP under the pretext that he had no faith in the district police. Preliminary investigation indicated that most of the unclaimed bodies had floated to Sriganganagar district through the canal system that originates from Ferozepur and Muktsar district. The Punjab police preferred not to fish these out to avert legal proceedings, it is said. Contrary to the electronic media hype, the investigating police officers have not found any evidence that such bodies were sold out. There was some lapse in adhering to the procedure laid down under the Rajasthan Anatomy Act 1986, they conceded. |
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Jakhar comes to the rescue of migrants
Our Correspondent
Abohar, April 2 Addressing a rally today, he regretted that 2,240 workers were yet to be paid the amount of gratuity, compensation and other benefits. The liquidator must disburse the whopping amount without any delay, he demanded. “The colonisers who were planning to develop residential colony by dismantling the labour colony must note that their goons would have to face the music if they dare to touch any of the migrants,” he warned. It was unfortunate that 50,000 spindle capacity spinning mill had to be disposed of by the owners under pressing circumstances. This had shattered the economy of this flourishing town besides creating starvation like conditions for more than 2,000 migrants who had settled here long back,” he said.
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BJP dissidents up the ante in Abohar
Abohar, April 2 Senior functionaries of the saffron party chose to remain tightlipped for the last few days and even tried to downplay the rumours that 11out of 17 BJP councillors had tendered their resignations directly to the party high command at Chandigarh. State BJP general secretary, Kamal Sharma rushed to Abohar last evening, tried to interact with the strong group of dissidents but they distanced themselves after finding out that he was speaking the language of the Municipal Council president Shivraj Goyal. Interestingly, the party has not been able to fix dates for election of senior and junior vice-presidents of the council even after a gap of eight months. |
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Drug trafficking across border
Fazilka, April 2 The BSF authorities came in for a rude shock when its sleuths managed to detect a new modus operandi What the smugglers had been doing was that they had made special cavities inside the mainframe of wooden cart used by the farmers to transport agriculture inputs and produce from one place to another in the area. Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar, said that bullock cart was being used by Sucha Singh, a resident of village Gulaba Bahini, bordering the Indo-Pak border, from whose field three kilograms of heroin and FICNs were recovered by the BSF sleuths yesterday. He pointed out that during the examination of the bullock cart, which was now in possession of the BSF sleuths, it was found that cavities were made on its mainframe in such a way that these could not be detected during a routine frisking done at the gates of the fencing wire whenever the farmers came back from their fields in the evening. He added that after the detection of bullock cart being used for smuggling of narcotics, the BSF authorities had restricted the movement of the same in the close vicinity of the Indo-Pak border. All the farmers, who had been using the bullock carts for agriculture operations in the fields situated across the fencing, had been directed to park their carts at the places, which would be earmarked by the BSF authorities. Earlier, the smugglers have been sending contrabands through riverine areas and through plastic pipe. The smugglers used to tilt a big plastic pipe towards the Indian side over the barbed fencing wire to save themselves from electric current running into same and then used to put packets of contrabands into the same to send them towards Indian side, he added. |
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IT institute inaugurated in Fazilka
Fazilka, April 2 Jain sect chief Vijay Nitya Nand Surishwar and Vijay Jayanand Surishwar were present on the occasion. The programme was presided over by the Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya. Over 300 students would be imparted education in different information and technology streams. The process for admission to the first academic session has begun. Cabinet minister of Punjab Manoranjan Kalia said that the torch of education which has been lit by the Jain saints would continue to enlighten more and more people. —
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Fazilka heritage festival begins Fazilka, April 2 The first day of the festival was dedicated to the senior citizens of Fazilka who contributed to maintain the glory, heritage and culture of the town. The significant event of the programme was to honour Jattu Ram Arora who has been distributing newspapers amongst the readers for the last 60 years with dedication. He was presented the Life Time Achievement Award. Association general secretary Navdeep Asija said that Jattu Ram Arora who has been distributing newspapers for a long time till today on bicycle is a record. Engineer Asija said that he has saved at least 37,000 litres of fuel by using bicycle. Besides, senior citizens including socialite Surinder Kumar Ahuja, Municipal Council former president Kishore Chand Bhatej, former general manager of the Central Cooperative Bank, Tek Chand Dhuria, senior citizen Inder Singh Sidhu, and Porf Ranjit Singh were also honoured. The stall of coins of 16-17 century, which were found in Fazilka recently, 70-year-old trophies won by the students of the Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, old spinning wheel (Charkha) and other antique pieces attracted the visitors. The historical clock tower of Fazilka was also decorated. |
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To get their demands for adequate compensation and allotment of plots to the affected residents of local Mehna Basti, whose land had been acquired for a
by-pass.
Bathinda, April 2
Fazilka, April 2
