HIV+ women show the way in Anandpur Sahib
Chandigarh, June 28
Nature had been unkind to them. After losing their husbands to HIV/AIDS, all these women, who had no prior connection with each other, discovered separately that they themselves were infected with the deadly virus.

Teri Sikhi backs Pak offer on corridor to Kartarpur Sahib
Ferozepur, June 28
Teri Sikhi, an organisation of Sikhs settled abroad, has urged the Government of India to give due consideration to the offer made by the Government of Pakistan in connection with the setting up of a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib from the international border.

Ferozepur, June 28
Sandstones and sand in a large quantity were found in about 700 bags of wheat when random sampling of the stocks lying in different godowns of Punsup here was carried out by a team of officials of the department over the past few days.

A scam running into crores of rupees has surfaced in this district following the detection of sandstones and sand in bags of wheat, allegedly filled by a section of the officials of Punsup. The officials replaced wheat with sandstones and sand to make money.

A committee comprising the Deputy Director, Food and Supplies, the District Food and Supplies Controller and the Tehsildar, Ferozepur, was constituted by Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav to probe the matter.It submitted its report to him and Adesh Partap Kairon, Minister of Food and Supplies, Punjab, today.

A senior Punsup official said only random sampling had been done. About four lakh bags of wheat were lying in Punsup godowns located in Ferozepur city where this scam took place.

The scam came to light a few days ago when officials of the Food Corporation of India, who were loading bags of wheat onto a goods train, noticed that there were sandstones and sand in the wheat.

The FCI officials found sandstones and sand in 161 bags out of a total 180 which were being unloaded from a truck to be loaded onto the goods train. After that about 11,000 bags were unloaded from the train .

The Congress has already demanded a CBI probe into the matter. 

Jalandhar, June 28
Not having learnt a lesson from an earlier foodgrain storage project which failed to achieve its objective, the government has once again floated tenders worth Rs 16,000 crore for creating 64 lakh MT of such capacity across the state.

Pungrain has invited entrepreneurs to construct godowns for the Food Corporation of India under a build, own, operate basis for a minimum guarantee period of seven years.

This despite the fact that the dues of the beneficiaries of the scheme in 1999-2002 have not been paid by Punjab.

At present, most of the godowns built to store 35 lakh MT of foodgrains are lying empty.

The All-Foodgrain Agencies Coordination Committee has questioned the rationale of the scheme when the previous one had come a cropper. Ideally, this task should have been entrusted to the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (PWC) that has the expertise to execute such a project, says Akshar Kumar, general secretary of the outfit.

Pungrain has even disregarded the orders of the higher authorities asking the Warehousing Corporation to do the needful in this context.

Interestingly, once the godowns are completed they would be handed over to the PWC. Pungrain officials knew this but still went ahead, he added.

In fact, the hurry to float the tenders was not justified when the PWC was already discussing the issue of finalising the foodgrain storage norms and other conditions with the FCI. The loss to Punjab on this account alone was over Rs 100 crore, he said.

Swaranjit Singh, general secretary of the Warehousing Employees Union, said the FCI had shifted its liability of creating storage facilities in Punjab on the government. This would entail an extra financial burden on the state and given the experience of the past, entrepreneurs would end up burning their fingers, he added.

They said the FCI owed a large amount of money to the state for incidental damage to procured stocks and storage in the past.

Instead of taking measures to recover this sum, the government was busy floating schemes that would benefit only a few, they added.

They wondered why the state was obliging the FCI when it had failed to give concessions to the food bowl of the country.

They said since the government had failed to redress their grievances and take action against tainted politicians and babus, their organisations would hold a state-level rally in Chandigarh on July 1.

Jalandhar, June 28
The state Health Department has expressed its inability to implement the orders of the Central Government to facilitate the issuance of “certificate of disability” at the tehsil and block-level hospitals across the state. An acute shortage of expert doctors in such hospitals is cited as the reason behind the ‘failure’.

As of now, such certificates are issued only at the district-level hospitals and in government medical colleges. To provide relief to the thousands of disabled persons, who, otherwise, have to report to the district-level hospitals to obtain the certificate, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had directed the state government to provide the facility at the tehsil and block-level hospitals in February this year.

Dr JP Singh, Director, Health and Family Welfare, said the certificates pertaining only to locomotory disabilities, which compromise the physical movement of an individual, could be issued at the tehsil and block-level hospitals.

“For other disabilities, including neurological disorders, autism, cerebral palsy and hearing impairment, we don’t have the required professionals and equipment, not only at the block and tehsil levels, but also at many district hospitals. Therefore, it is impossible to issue certificates for these disabilities at such hospitals,” said Dr Singh.

Confirming the delay, Madhavi Kataria, Director, Social Security, Women and Child Development, said that as per the Health Department’s reply, besides staff shortage, posts of expert doctors are non-existent at such hospitals and new recruitment seems a distant dream as the pass-out rate of such doctors is not sufficient to meet the requirement.

“Until experts at such hospitals are made available, we need to devise other alternatives. Enlisting of private doctors to issue certificates can be considered as an option,” said Kataria. 

Chandigarh, June 28
Nature had been unkind to them. After losing their husbands to HIV/AIDS, all these women, who had no prior connection with each other, discovered separately that they themselves were infected with the deadly virus.

Shunned by society,these women decided to fight their fate and took to a path that may prove to be a major initiative in making people living with HIV/AIDS self-reliant.

A first-of-its-kind project involving people living with HIV /AIDS (PLHA), four women from villages on the outskirts of Anandpur Sahib have started a handmade paper recycling unit that has changed their lives. These women leave their homes early, struggle with paper and cotton pulp and return home with the satisfaction of being self-reliant.

Surinder Kaur, Paramjit Kaur, Jaswinder and Bholi Devi are from among a group that was trained to work at a paper recycling unit set up with the help of the Ambuja Cement Foundation as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Housed inside Bhai Ghania Gurdwara on the Ropar-Anandpur Sahib Highway, the foundation provides waste paper from all Ambuja factories as raw material for the unit and once the paper is made, buys it back, taking care of marketing needs of the unit.

“After I lost my husband, the only way to survive was to sell milk from domestic cattle, as a result my children would starve. Without any income, bringing up three small children and my in-laws was not easy. Struggling poverty and social stigma nearly killed me. But I was desperate to survive. This is when this project started and I went and joined it”, says Paramjit(28), widow of a truck driver.

The story of Surinder (30) is no different. She too contracted the infection from her truck driver husband and was left with no money. The little she earned by cooking a midday meal at a local school was spent travelling to Chandigarh to procure medicines for her anti-retroviral treatment to keep her health despite HIV. Today, she is paying fee of her two children and providing them two times meal.

Sanjay Sharma, manager at the Ambuja Cement Foundation, who has worked closely with this project, says: “The foundation has invested about Rs 10 lakh in the project and at present we are paying for the infrastructure cost like rent, electricity and supplying raw material (paper and cotton) from Ambuja units. Paper goods like file covers, envelops, notepads, visiting cards etc are bought from the unit and used in our locations thereby taking care of the marketing needs. Once these women become self -sustaining, the foundation will step back leaving it on them to run the unit.”

Jaswinder (32), who was totally dependent upon her sister and brother after the death of her husband, says, “Working here has given a new meaning to my life. I can now take care of my two sons and even my octogenarian mother-in-law”.

These women make about Rs 100 a day after taking out expenses. But once the project gets on track, the projected profits are much higher. But more important than the money, these women, working towards being self-reliant, can go a long way in changing the way people view the PLHA population.

Ferozepur, June 28
Teri Sikhi, an organisation of Sikhs settled abroad, has urged the Government of India to give due consideration to the offer made by the Government of Pakistan in connection with the setting up of a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib from the international border.

Kartarpur Sahib, located in Shakargarh tehsil of Narowal district of Pakistan, was the place where Guru Nanak Dev spent about 17 years of his life and outlined the basic principles of his religious philosophy, which later became the fundamentals of Sikh religion. The place is an abode of ultimate faith for the Sikhs.

Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Chairman, TeriSikhi, said as the Pakistan Government had offered to set up a corridor from the international border to Kartarpur Sahib, the Government of India must make arrangements to set up the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the international border.

He said Teri Sikhi had already urged the Governments of India and Pakistan to include the issue connected with the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor into the agenda of talks that would be held between their Foreign Ministers in July 2010.

“Now Syed Asif Hashmi, chief, Evacuee Trust Property Board, Pakistan, has made an offer that Pakistan is ready for talks with India to create such a special corridor for the safe passage of pilgrims between Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Sahib, both situated on each bank of the Ravi. The Government of India should use this opportunity to fulfil the long-cherished demand of the Sikhs,” he said.

Sarbjit Singh Mann and Rabinder Singh, senior executive directors, TeriSikhi, said a memorandum in connection with the opening of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib corridor signed by 20,000 Sikhs living all over the globe, has already been given to both Governments of Pakistan and India.

“We are hoping that the countdown has begun for this corridor, which will prove a ‘passage of peace’ between India and Pakistan and will play a great role in stabilising peace in this region,” they claimed.

“Teri Sikhi organised a function at Dera Baba Nanak a few months ago to mobilise support for its mission from all over the globe. It received an encouraging response from about 35,000 Sikhs, who came from all over the world and assembled there to press the authorities concerned to open the Kartarpur Sahib corridor without any delay.

As of now, one has to cover a distance of 237 km to reach Kartarpur Sahib from Dera Baba Nanak through the Wagah border. With the opening of the corridor, the journey will be cut down to a few minutes only. 

Amritsar, June 28
For thousands of tourists, the city is all set to be the most friendly destination in Punjab as the Amritsar Tourism Police (ATP) is going to get more teeth after the completion of its ongoing makeover process.

Keeping in view the security of Indian and foreign tourists who visit the city in large numbers daily, the ATP was set up about two years ago. With 30 police officials, the ATP had been assigned the task of lending a helping hand to tourists in their problems pertaining to transport, accommodation and information. However, its performance was rated to be far from satisfactory.

“The ATP is going through a makeover. It will not only be strengthened in respect of numbers but will also get a more tourist-friendly face.” Now, the tourist police will assist tourists not only at the Golden Temple and other prominent religious places but also at all other important points like the bus stand, the railway station, Raja Sansi airport and the Attari border. The assistance will be offered by specially trained officials in association with NGOs and other social organisations in such a manner that tourists will feel at home, said Amritsar Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar. He said while the ACP had been appointed the nodal head, he would have overall supervision.

“Officials at all points will be armed with a list of emergency numbers of services like that of the PCR, crime stoppers, ambulance, government hospitals, emergency doctors, authorised taxi stands, guest houses, hotels, restaurants, sarais, dharmashalas, the information office at the Golden Temple, the inquiry offices at the railway station, bus stand, airport, Punjab Tourism office, etc. These points would also have first-aid kits. ATP officials at these places had been asked to furnish details pertaining to their change of duty, lost and found articles, complaints received and sorted out and information or medical aid given to tourists.

The ATP staff would guide tourists about locations, distance and available transport to various tourist places and help them procure tickets for museums and cinema houses and in finding accommodation. It would also guide tourists in matters relating to passports, visas, residential permits, exchange of currency, immigration and local customs.

Special instructions had been issued to the police stations to maintain a separate register pertaining to problems reported by tourists.“ The ATP officials have been specially directed to keep tabs on overcharging by taxi operators and those running guest houses,” said Varinder Kumar.

Chandigarh, June 28
After being down for months, the water levels of the Bhakra and Pong dams in Himachal Pradesh are looking up and the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is increasingly becoming confident of meeting the irrigation needs of farmers in Punjab and Haryana this paddy season.

According to reports received here, the level of the Bhakra dam today was 1,518 ft, an increase of 5 ft as compared to 1,513 ft last year. Similarly, the level of the Pong dam at 1,281 ft is 7 ft more than the level recorded last year.

The increase in reservoir strength may see more paddy being transplanted even now in Punjab. This is because many farmers had chosen to wait for the monsoon as they had been given advisories by the state Agriculture Department that canal water was likely to be in short supply. Farmers in canal-fed areas are likely to take up the transplantation of basmati.

BBMB sources said the increased snowmelt in June due to hot-wave conditions was responsible for the increase in the water level of the dam. They said water inflows into the Bhakra had increased from the earlier 22,000 cusecs per day to 36,000 cusecs since June 22. The situation in the Pong dam is also likely to get better once the rains start. The dam, which is receiving inflows of only 3,650 cusecs per day, is a rain-fed dam.

The BBMB has now decided to continue meeting the requirements of both Punjab and Haryana till July 10. While Punjab is getting 14,200 cusecs of water, Haryana is getting 9,900 cusecs. The BBMB is likely to change this schedule beyond July 10 in the case of a less-than-normal monsoon.

Sources said this was the first time that the water level of both the Bhakra and Pong dams had moved up in months. The water level at the Bhakra dam has been consistently low this season when compared with the levels last year. At the end of March the dam levels were 45 ft lower than the levels recorded during the same period last year.

With inflows on the increase and a normal monsoon set to hit Himachal and its higher reaches in the first week of July, the BBMB is optimistic that it will be able to meet the irrigation requirements for the paddy crop.

Chak Suhelewala (Ferozepur), June 28
The body of three-time MP from Ferozepur Zora Singh Mann (70) was consigned to the flames with state honours at the local cremation ground here today. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also attended the cremation.

The pyre was lit by his sons - Vardev Mann and Nardev Mann. Thousands of people from all walks of lives and politicians cutting across the party lines were present. He had passed away yesterday in New Delhi after a prolonged illness.

Before the pyre was lit, a contingent of the police sounded the last bugle, reversed their arms and fired five rounds in the air as a mark of respect to the departed soul. The CM and state Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon laid wreaths on the dead body.

Others who attended the funeral were senior Congress leader Jagmeet Brar; two-time MP of BSP from Ferozepur Mohan Singh Phallianwala; BJP MLAs from Fazilka and Ferozepur, Surjit Kumar Jiyani and Sukhpal Singh Nannu, respectively, Gurdas Badal, MP Sher Singh Ghubhaya and a number of former Congress and Akali MLAs. Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal was, however, conspicuous by his absence.

Badal, who along with his brother Gurdas Badal reached Mann’s house in the morning, said: “He was not only a senior leader of the party and was also a member of the Badal family,” adding that Mann’s death was a big loss for him and the party. 

Amritsar, June 28
Irked over the poor financial condition and strained relations with husband, a woman, along with her two children, attempted to commit suicide by setting herself ablaze here yesterday.

Punam and her children, seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, are undergoing treatment at a private hospital. The woman sustained 65 per cent burns while her children received 50 per cent burns.

The investigating police official said they would send a team to Jaipur to nab her husband, Sushant Bansal, who is at present living there.

The woman’s farther, Naresh Aggarwal, alleged that Sushant mentally harassed his daughter. She got married to Ludhiana-based Sushant in November 2000. However, after financial losses in the business, they migrated to Jaipur. Naresh alleged that Sushant was currently out of work and held his daughter responsible for this.

Unable to live with him, Punam, along with her children, had returned to her parents here on May 10. 

Patiala, June 28
Perturbed with ignorant attitude of the Patiala Municipal Corporation authorities towards the civic problems being faced by the city residents, leaders of the Congress along with the representatives of the area welfare societies have decided to make a detailed report about various civic problems and the same will be submitted to Minister of External Affairs Preneet Kaur, who represents Patiala as MP.

PPCC secretary and chairman of the Patiala Welfare Society Ajay Thapar told The Tribune, “Ever since the SAD-BJP house came into existence, functioning of the Patiala MC has been pathetic. People are crying for drinking water, proper roads and other civic facilities, but the corporation authorities have never bothered to look into these problems.”

Thapar further said they have already discussed the matter with Preneet and latter has assured them that she would take up all the civic issues pertaining to the city with the top brass of the MC.

“Now, our action plan will be to tabulate the problems being faced by the residents of each and every municipal ward in the form of report. We will be taking assistance of the various welfare associations of the different areas and once the report is prepared, it will be handed over to Preneet,” he said, while adding that it was really unfortunate that the civic functionaries have adopted a casual and irresponsible attitude towards these problems.

Besides another major problem troubling the residents has been the failure of the civic authorities pertaining to the disposal of the garbage on daily basis. “Garbage keeps lying alongside the roads in many areas, but the civic officials have not paid any attention towards the problem,” said the residents of the different city areas.

A visit to the areas, including Chhoti Baradari, Lahori Gate and Model Town, brought to light the fact that garbage was lying on roads from past many days. Majority of the people complained that they face extreme difficulty on account of the foul smell emanating from the garbage.

“Besides, the garbage is breeding ground for the mosquitoes and can lead to health hazards. The civic functionaries should pay attention towards this problem,” demanded Ranjit Singh, a resident of Sherawala Gate.

Ropar, June 28
Russian national Uliga Timoshik, an accomplice of German spy arrested in Nangal, a couple of months back, has been a tough nut to crack.

Refusing to cooperate with the police, Uliga has chosen to keep mum during most of the times of interrogation. The police sources pointed out that Uliga has been very silent and has refused to divulge information without presence of her counsellor.

Interestingly, the police referred her case to the district free legal services authority seeking a counsel for Uliga. The counsel selected, however, refused to contest the case stating that he had never handled cases of the foreigners.

Uliga’s overseas friend, named Sergy, has now arranged a counsel for her from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, said SSP LK Yadav. He added that the police was minutely studying the source of income of Uliga.

“She claims to be a professional photographer and earns from it as well. However, we found that the expenses are around Rs 1.5 lakh per month. In a way, her expenses do not corroborate with her known source of income,” he pointed out. During initial stages of investigation, Uliga has told the police that she was married to a person named Thomas Timoshik. Her landlord in Jaipur, too, was told the same thing. However, she has now retracted from this saying that Thomas was just a figment of her imagination.

“She reasoned that in India it was difficult to find home for a single woman, that’s why she resorted to lying about her marriage,” added Yadav. Sources pointed out that the police were also closely studying the role of her friend Sergy, whom she made first call after being arrested.

Sergy also owns the passwords of bank transactions of Uliga’s bank accounts. Uliga told the police that Sergy was a friend whom she met in Moscow. Interestingly, Uliga had not registered herself as a foreigner anywhere. Her visa expired around an year back and she had applied for an extension. The outcome of application for extension was yet awaited.

Meanwhile, the police had taken her laptop and mobile phone in its custody. The cyber forensic lab had found that Uliga communicated mostly in Russian on internet and mails. She was arrested on June 24 from Jaipur for being the accomplice of a German national, Thomas Kohan, who was arrested for spying.

Kharar, June 28
Computer teachers staged ‘drama’ at Kharar today. While three of these computer teachers climbed up the water tank of private colony, others sat on dharna blocking the entire traffic on National Highway 21 and 95.

The drama started at around 1 pm today when agitators climbed the water tank demanding re-appointment of 408 computer teachers in the state, whom the government had shown the door.

Computer teachers- Saroj Bala, Harsimran Singh and Kulvir Kaur- climbed up the tank. They demanded that either the Chief Minister or his representative should come and meet them and ascertain that they will be re-appointed. The drama continued till late evening with the police and administration trying to persuade them to come down and lift the dharna.

The police had summoned water boozer to spread the crowd sitting on dharna, but could not use it. Every time the police tried to flee away the agitators, those standing atop water tank threatened of committing suicide.

The administration did not allow the police to take any action against the agitating crowd that mainly included women.

Traffic moving from parts of Ludhiana, Ropar, Jalandhar and the areas of Himachal Pradeh was held on ransom. The people travelling from Ludhiana said long queue could be seen from Morinda itself. The police diverted the traffic from Y-point near the Kharar Municipal Park converging at the bus stand.

Commuters caught in milieu were at the receiving end. Buses and other vehicles remained stranded in traffic. Hot and humid weather added to the chaos.

The six-hour drama continued till late evening and dharna was lifted at around 7 pm. Four of the agitators were taken to the Deputy Commissioner, Mohali, where they were assured meeting with the CM at 11 am tomorrow.

The agitating computer teachers were recruited on contract. Thereafter, the state government took three entrance exams and appointed the passing out students as the government employees. Those agitating were the ones who did not pass the exam and were not recruited.

Patiala, June 28
Aimed at spreading awareness about the IT among people, targeting the youngsters, besides, promoting the Commonwealth Games 2010, the special exhibition train “The Commonwealth Express” would reach Patiala tomorrow. “The Commonwealth Express” would stay in Patiala for two days i.e. June 29 and 30 and would remain open to visitors between 10 am and 7 pm.

The train would showcase the progress India has so far made in technology during its journey to 49 cities across the country.

The exposition has been conceived by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in association with the Indian Railways. From total of 11 coaches, six have been dedicated to information technology.

In this train, the Department of Information Technology will showcase the capacity and the work done in the country in the area of information and communication technology and the initiatives carried out by the department and its affiliated entities in the fields of e-governance, infrastructure, technology relevant to rural India and language interfacing technology. — TNS