Abohar, May 26
The cotton procurement season is coming to an end on a happy note as the price of raw cotton (Narma) has touched a record high in the country when it fetched Rs 3,775 per quintal in various markets of Punjab, Haryana and Sriganganagar circle of Rajasthan.

Though only one or two stations of the northern India have been witnessing the arrival of cotton in a small quantity even in May, the traders, brokers and exporters have been receiving huge orders of purchase from the foreign buyers.

“The trend has generated a hope among the cotton traders that the next cotton season would also open on a positive note as prices of raw cotton could go higher than the prevailing prices due to significant increase in the demand of Indian cotton in the international markets,” said Pardeep Shardha, a local cotton merchant.

Last year, the prices of raw cotton could not cross the figure of Rs 3,000 per quintal. This year, the opening price of raw cotton was very high and touched Rs 3,500 per quintal in March. The prices went up even higher and touched Rs 3,775 per quintal in Aadampur Mandi of Haryana when the season came almost to an end, said Bhagwan Dass, a broker.

Besides, the country, which had witnessed production of about 2.9 lakh bales of raw cotton in the current year, had exported about 80 lakh bales to foreign countries, which was again a record in the history of cotton trade so far, claimed Ashok Kapur, former director (Exports), Northern India Cotton Association (NICA).

The unprecedented rise in the demand for the Indian cotton in the international markets had pushed up the prices of raw cotton in the country. The situation once reached a point when the government of India had to impose a ban on the export of raw cotton to keep the prices of the same in the country under control, he pointed out.

He added that now the ban on export had been lifted and raw cotton was being exported to foreign lands by the registered exporters, who had also been earning huge quantity of foreign exchange for the nation. The demand for raw cotton by domestic spinning, yarn manufacturing and textile mills had been witnessing an upward trend for the past few years also.

A section of cotton traders said that due to earning of profits by the cotton growers this season, the area under the cotton crop, the sowing of which was going on now, was expected to make a significant jump as well. A large section of paddy growers would shift to cotton growing in the current sowing season, they added. 

Bathinda, May 26
Celebrations broke out at the residence of Tarun Mangla, who scored 79th rank in the entrance examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).Elated family members remained busy attending to the visitors and receiving congratulatory messages upon the success of their son. Tarun triumph was double as besides the IIT rank, he scored 94.8 per cent in the recently declared result of Plus two and secured the second position in the district.

Giving his academic details, Tarun said he was the district topper in matriculation with a score of 97.4 per cent. He had cleared NTSE in 2008 as well as level II of the Math Olympiad. He had also qualified in the chemistry Olympiad-2010 by NSEC. Expressing his preference, he said he would opt for IIT Delhi.

To celebrate the occasion, a number of other students had also assembled there.

Speaking to The Tribune, Vishal Gupta, who scored 193 rank in the examination said he had taken coaching from Bathinda and Kota. The product of St Xavier's Convent school, Vishal gave the credit of for his success to his family, saying they helped him at every step.

An overjoyed Akriti Maheshwari, who claimed to have scored 665th rank in the entrance examination, also expressed her preference for IIT Delhi. Her father Narender Maheshwari said Akriti had always got first position in class, while studying at St. Joseph's Convent.

Viplove Arora of NFL Colony with 857th rank said almost every male member of his family was an engineer. Now, he too would follow in their footsteps.

Another young boy, celebrating the victory bash, Aadish Bansal, who scored 989th rank in the examination, said he had set a goal to achieve the rank below 1000, which he had proved now.

His ecstatic father Dr Rajesh Bansal informed that Aadish used to devote a couple of hours to get through the examination and finally the hard work paid him.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan Institute, in a press release issued here, informed that one of its students, Jimtesh Singla, had secured 376th rank. Another of its student, Sagar, had got the 544th rank. Director of the institute Prof Harbhajan Singh informed that the institute plan to organise a Super-20 this year to boost the institute’s standards.

Bathinda, May 26
With the opening of a bank account for the help of four destitute children of a deceased SPO of the Bathinda police, Nachhattar Singh, a number of schoolgoing children today set an example of benevolence for all, when they came forward with their pocket money savings for the noble cause.

Giving a quick response to the information regarding the opening of the bank account, several people including the manager of the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), where the account was opened, poured thousands of rupees terming it as a donation for the cause of humanity.

The emotional response of people towards the pathetic condition of the 'orphan' children made the district police chief Sukhchain Singh Gill announce that the residential quarter, where the children were residing, would not be vacated by them. Speaking further, Gill said, "Moved by their pain, I am contacting some organizations, that could help them further."

It may be mentioned that recently, the police department had issued eviction notices to the poor kids (all minor), claiming that after the death of their father (in whose name the quarter was allotted) they were not entitled to stay there.

The Tribune had highlighted the condition of the four siblings on May 21 under the headline "Deceased SPO's children face dark future". In a rapid response, a number of people had offered help.

Taking suo motu notice of the news report, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) had sought a reply from the state government through the SSP Bathinda, for the pathetic condition of the children.

On the other hand, among the first contributors, Vaani Jindal (class IX), Vidhi Jindal (class III), Pulkit Walia (class IX), Ishita (class X) Aiman (class VII) and Palak Singla were the children, who donated from their pocket money. Meanwhile, parents of a child Anshuman took up the of contributing Rs 200 every month for the next five years.

Further, following the assurances made to the needy children, authorities of the GGS Group of Colleges today deposited the first monthly installment of Rs 2000 in the account. The college authorities had offered to deposit the same amount every month for the children, till they earn.

Among others, Vinod Kumar, Gurvinder Singh (Australia), Madam Nisha, manager of the OBC (Zila Parishad branch) and staff of The Tribune (Bathinda) contributed for the cause.

It may be mentioned that the the bank account number (10262011002375) will be operated jointly by Varinder Kaur (16), the eldest daughter of the deceased SPO and Sadhu Ram Kusla, chairman of an NGO, Mata Durgi Charitable Trust, Bathinda, who has voluntarily taken up the responsibility of being a guardian. 

Bathinda, May 26
The town registered 47 degrees Celsius temperature today after a gap of eight years. It was last on May 12 and 16 in 2002 that the mercury touched 47 degrees Celsius.

GS Butter, director of the regional centre of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) here, said that yesterday's maximum temperature was 46.4 degrees Celsius.

He said what was worrying this time was the constant rise in temperature during the past five days from 45 degrees to 47 degrees Celsius. The abnormal increase in temperature was bound to affect the cotton crop in particular. Reports of cottonseed wilting at the germination stage were being received. This might result in lesser yield. Butter said that the crop was adversely affected in areas where the farmers were irrigating their fields with saline underground water.

Bathinda, May 26
The controversy that erupted after a 35-year-old man of village Bariwala (Muktsar) was found drowned in an uncovered septic tank of Bahia resorts on May 17, took a fresh turn today, when the owner of the resort accused the kin of deceased of assaulting him, when he visited them to tender an apology and express condolence.

It may be mentioned that Avneesh Kumar, the man found dead, had come to the resort to attend the wedding of his kin on Sunday night. Later, acting upon the statements of the bereaved kin, Cantonment police had booked the owner of the resort Bikramjit Singh Bahia under section 304-A (killing due to negligence) of IPC.

Addressing a press conference here today, Bahia showed some injury marks and accused the Bariwala police of not taking any action against the kin of the deceased, who assaulted him in a “brutal” way.

"We were not at fault, when we visited the bereaved family this Sunday to express our condolence and say sorry for the incident. Initially, the family entertained us in a normal way but later, started expressing grievances but we kept consoling them," claimed Bahia.

"As soon as we came out of the house, the sisters of the deceased pounced upon me. Hurling abuses, they slapped and hit me with sandals. Meanwhile, the male members of thei family also started beating me up. During the incident, my friends fled from the spot and I lost my turban and sustained multiple injuries," he alleged.

Speaking further, Bahia alleged, "The violent kin of the deceased threatened to kill me, holding weapons in their hand. In the meantime, the mother of the deceased intervened and I managed to flee. Reacting rapidly, my driver rushed me to the Government Medical College, Faridkot, where doctors diagnosed me with fractures in the spine."

"When we lodged a complaint with the Bariwala police, they countered by accusing us of having assaulted and threatened the kin of the deceased at their village. Finding no other way, we had to meet Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who asked the SSP Muktsar to do the needful. Despite this, the Bariwala police has not even registered an FIR against the accused. We want proper legal action against the persons, who assaulted me in planned way," Bahia alleged.

On the other hand, Bariwala police said the kin of the deceased had already submitted a formal complaint that Bahia, along with a number of accomplices, laced with weapons, visited them and pressurised them to withdraw the complaint lodged against him.

Speaking over the phone, SSP Muktsar Inder Mohan Singh said, "We have recorded the statements of both the parties and during the investigation, it has come to light that there was a mild case of manhandling in which both parties assaulted each other. Despite this, we are probing it in detail to ascertain more facts."

About the allegations leveled against Bahia of using pressure tactics to get the case lodged against him in Bathinda cancelled, the SSP said, "The possibility can not be ruled out."

Jalalabad, May 26
A 17-year-old girl of village Chak Bloch of this sub-division was allegedly raped by two residents of the same village repeatedly after kidnapping her while she was on her way to her uncle’s house on May 23.

The victim was allegedly first beaten up by the accused and then raped by them.

The victim was saved from the clutches of the accused by one of her kin after she raised a hue and cry from the room where she had been kept.

Sangarm Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, said that a case under sections 376 and 34 of the IPC was registered against the accused, identified as Niranjan Singh and Chinder Singh.

However, no arrest had been made in this case so far. He added that medical examination of the victim had also been done. 

Fazilka, May 26
On the one hand, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal bestowed Rs 11 crore upon the municipal council of his constituency, Jalalabad, last week while on the other the local bodies department has not released the due amount of Rs five crore to the municipal council of Fazilka.

This amount is outstanding towards the department of the local government for the last five months.

As per details gathered by The Tribune, Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), had transferred an amount of Rs five crore to the department of the local government about five months ago which was to be paid to the municipal council, Fazilka.

As per official sources, municipal council of Fazilka had secured a loan from the municipal council, Nangal, about eight months back to pay back the debt of the Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Commenting on the issue, deputy director, local bodies department, Jaskiran Singh admitted that the amount was transferred by the PUDA to his department. He said the finance department has not cleared the case. Hence, the department could not pay the amount to the MC (Fazilka). He hoped that the case would be cleared and Rs five crore would be transferred into the account of the council within a month. — OC

Fazilka, May 26
A youth (22) reportedly died in police custody under mysterious circumstances here today at Arniwala police station in Fazilka sub-division. However, the exact cause of the death could not be ascertained so far.

As per the information, Malkeet Singh (22), a resident of village Dhagana in district Muktsar, died in police custody. DSP Fazilka, Karamjit Singh, ruled out any foul play in his death adding that the exact cause of his death could be known only after the postmortem.

As per information gathered by The Tribune, the police had arrested Malkeet Singh, Saaraj Singh and Angrej Singh, all residents of village Dhagana, in 
Muktsar.

Yet another Angrej Singh, a resident of Amritsar, and Afzal, a resident of Zira were also held on May 22 on the charges of stealing buffalos from village Kamalwala. They were booked under section 379 and 411 of the IPC.

It is stated that Afzal had run away with a truckload of stolen buffaloes and his remaining companions were caught by the villagers. The villagers later on handed these accused to police. It is stated that the villagers had a scuffle with the accused. The police produced the accused before the judicial magistrate on 23rd May. The judge remanded them to police custody for two days till May 25 after which police got the remand extended for two more days.

According to sources, youth Malkeet Singh collapsed in police barrack today at Arniwala police station. He was immediately rushed to the local civil hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

As per the record, Malkeet and others were medically examined at the time of being taken into custody. "At that time, they were declared fit by the doctors" claimed DSP Karamjit Singh. 

Moga, May 26
Member of the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes, Dalip Singh Pandhi, has decided to visit Moga on May 31 and record statements of the victims and their family members besides the civil/police officials concerned in the on-going investigations into cases of atrocities against Dalits, particularly the scheduled castes, which were reported during the past one year in this district.

Revealing this to The Tribune, Pandhi said that despite repeated requests the officials of the district administration and police authorities did not cooperate the Commission in investigating sensitive matters, due to which, he was forced to visit Moga and conduct on-the-spot investigations.

“Rather, an attempt is being made to hush up some cases in order to protect influential persons or their wards in the area,” he said. Adding that the prosecution has also failed in the recent past in taking the criminal cases of atrocities against the depressed society to logical conclusions, he said that out of the 45 cases only in three cases punishments were given to the guilty persons by the courts in the Moga district.

He expressed concern on the way the civil and police officials were dealing with the cases of atrocities against the Dalits. “The official machinery needs to be sensitised on this issue and the state government should fix their accountability, if they fail to perform on these issues,” he said.

Responding to a question, Pandhi said that he would inquire into the cases of minor Dalit girl of Ramuwala Kalan, who was sexually abused, gave birth to a baby and then was married off in violation of the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006, mysterious deaths of two Dalit girls 
Veerpal Kaur of Mahesari village, Veerpal Kaur of Takhtupura Lohara village and Charanjit Kaur of Kot Mohammad Khan village.

Pandhi while adding that he was not satisfied with the functioning of the administration in probing the cases said that it was surprising that in the case of sexual abuse of Ramuwala Kalan girl, the official lobby was bent upon defending the guilty persons who abused her and then married her off in violation of the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006.

“It is a sorry state of affairs that a minor girl is first sexually abused then she gives birth to a baby and the administration in a bid to defend the culprits, files an application in the court to close the case and destroys the evidence by marrying off the girl,” he said. “Where is the law and where is the justice,” Pandhi questioned? 

Fazilka, May 26
Yet another controversy gripped the local municipal council (MC) today when its former junior vice-president and only municipal councillor of the SAD (Badal) alleged that no development work had been carried out in the ward represented by him to ‘punish’ him for raising his voice against various alleged acts of omission and commission of the MC authorities.

Satinder Singh Savi, former junior vice-president, local MC, in a letter written to the Deputy Chief Minister and SAD (B) president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, today alleged that as he had saved the MC land, worth hundreds of crores of rupees by approaching the Punjab and Haryana High Court and then raised voice against its various misdeeds, not a single penny had been spent in the ward represented by him by the MC authorities in past more than one year.

MC president Anil Sethi said allegations levelled by Savi were baseless and political motivated. He said Savi never supported MC authorities to save MC land. — TNS

Chuwarianwali (Fazilka), May 26
Taking a significant decision, Punjab government ordered the cancellation of allotment of more than 201 kanals of land belonging to the panchayat of this village to Shri Bhagwan Mahavir Jain Charitable Trust to set up an information technology (IT) institute.

Though the allotment of the land was cancelled a few weeks ago, the Trust has been carrying out the construction of the building over the same.

Official sources said land was allotted to the Trust in 2001 during the previous government of the SAD-BJP led by CM Parkash Singh Badal. The allotment was cancelled on May 5 this year by Jagpal Singh Sandhu, financial commissioner, department of Rrural Development and Panchayat, Punjab.

Sources said that land, situated on one of the main roads of Ferozepur district and worth crores of rupees was allotted to the Trust on the condition that a building of the institute would be set up within three years of the allotment failing which the allotment would be cancelled and the land would vest again the panchayat.

In the order, Sandhu had mentioned that the Trust could not start the institute by completing the building within a stipulated period of three years. Hence, allotment of land, which was made free of cost to the Trust, was cancelled.

Deputy Director, Panchayats, JP Singh said he had directed the district development and panchayat officer (DDPO), Ferozepur, to take possession of the land after completing all the formalities connected with the revenue department.

Anil Jain, one of the functionaries of the trust said department of rural development and panchayat was not authorised to take possession of the land as it belonged to village panchayat, which had passed number of resolutions favouring that the land must continue to vest in the Trust.

He said construction was going on as the Trust would start the college from the month of July and admission for the first academic session would be made for various faculties of the engineering college. He alleged that department of the rural development and panchayat had cancelled the allotment without giving an opportunity of hearing to the Trust to present its case. 

Bathinda, May 26
The Punjab team for the 6th Senior National Touch Rugby Championship will be selected out of players currently participating in the coaching camp here.

Amarjeet Singh Mehta, vice-president of the Punjab Touch Rugby Association, said the state team would participate in the championship that would be held at Una in Himachal Pradesh from June 4 to 6.

He said that a selection committee headed by KPS Brar, income tax officer, who has been an international player of his time, would select the men and women’s teams. The camp is being held here since May 19 under the auspices of the Bathinda District Touch Rugby Association.

HS Sohi, president of the state association, today visited the camp in Malwa College. TC Sharma, general secretary of the Touch Rugby Federation of India, accompanied him. Sohi said that Sudershan Gupta would be the president of the Bathinda unit of the association. — TNS