Fazilka, September 23
In an unprecedented move, almost all the members of the academic wing of the Government Senior Secondary School, Karni Khera, six kilometres from here, have been transferred to different places by the Punjab government due to the poor result of students.

In the order issued in this connection, C. Roul, principal secretary, Education, Punjab, has mentioned that as the result of the Board classes was disappointing, they were being transferred to other places immediately.

Interestingly, before transferring the teachers, the authorities concerned neither sought their explanation nor issued them a show-cause notice.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that the action of the state government had triggered a wave of anger among the teachers. A section of the teachers on the condition of anonymity pleaded that they were transferred on political consideration and not due to poor results of the school. They alleged that one-sided action had been taken against them while thousands of teachers, whose results were also poor, had been spared in the state.

Information revealed that it was for the first time the Punjab government had taken such a hard decision of transferring all the members of academic staff due to poor results of students of board classes.

Official sources said Vijay Kumar Monga, lecturer, was transferred to Lalowali, Suman Rani and Pritpal Kaur to Nukarian, Neeraj and Jagdeep Singh to Dabwala Kalan, Ashwani Kumar and Veena Rani to Ladhuka, Vijay Guglani to Ratta Thed, Upasana to Mandi Aminganj, Babita Rani to Lakha Musahib, Manju Rani to Mahuana Bodla, Alka Rani to Sabuana, Shushil Kumar to Tahliwala Bodla and Manju Rani to Chak Wajid.

Two other teachers, who had got themselves transferred from Karni Khera school to their places of choice in the recent past, had also been taken to task and asked to go to their new places of posting, which would be made known to them by the district education authorities.

Laxman Ram Kamboj, principal of the school, when contacted, said a complaint had been made against the academic staff by panchayats of about 12 villages. He added results of Board classes including VIII, X and XII of this school were much below the average than the pass percentage of Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). Last year, the panchayats of these villages had also locked the school gate to lodge their protest against the poor results of class VIII.

Pardeep Kumar, member, Block Samiti, Fazilka, said they had lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister and Education Minister against the poor results of school in Board classes every year. He added that panchayats of various villages met the Deputy Commissioner also in this connection.

Baldev Singh, DEO, Secondary, said the orders had been forwarded to the teachers with the instructions to the school head that he must relieve these teachers immediately after receiving the orders. He said new teachers have been posted in Karni Khera school in place of under transfer teachers.

Bathinda, September 23
By helping the Indian handball team to secure third place in the first Commonwealth world youth championship, the Younde-Cameroon-2010, Ajashanjot Kaur and Anmol Kaur, the students of local St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, brought laurels to the city.

They were part of the 16-member national handball team that went to Cameroon to participate in the championship, which was held from September 8-10.

On their return home, the city girls said they had been practising hard for the past six years to secure their entry in the commonwealth championship as it was the dream of their coach Davinder Singh. They were happy as they succeeded in realising it.

The sportswomen said before securing a berth in the 16-member team, they had undergone a 42-day-long camp at Sirsa (Haryana). As many as 25 players from across the country competed to get selected in the final team.

Speaking about their previous records, the girls said their team clinched the top position in the state school games held at Bathinda in 2006. Then, they participated in the National School Games held at Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) in the same year.

Further in 2007, they secured the second position in the state school games and then stood second in the National School Games held at Delhi. The next year, they maintained their position (second) in the National School Games at Delhi.

In 2009, their team, led by Anmol Kaur Dhillon, bagged the first position. The team had also participated in the sub-junior national championships held at Manipur and Indore.

Impressed by the physique and techniques of the foreign players, the local handball players said they would put more hard work to reach the top in the international championships in future.

Congratulating the girls and their parents, school principal Father Iwo Dias and coach Davinder Singh said the whole school take pride in them for their achievement.

The school authorities said Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh had congratulated the two players, the school and its students.

Moga, September 23
There have been reports of local traders bringing goods in parcels and privately leased bogeys of the trains without paying the value added tax (VAT) to the state government. Most of the goods particularly electrical/electronic items, hosiery/textile products, shoes, medicines, consumer items and many other products come from Delhi, Ambala, Kanpur, Agra, Panipat and other cities of the country that are outside the state.

A section of the traders on the condition of anonymity revealed to The Tribune that many traders store these goods in the stockrooms set up in their houses and other residential areas taken on rent.

This practice of evading tax is going on for the past many years but every year prior to the onset of festival season (Dussehra and Diwali) this ‘illegal business’ picks up steadily keeping in view of a boom in the sales.

Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that the traders engaged in sale of electrical and electronic products have stored their items in the areas of New Town, Kacheri Road, Partap Road and a few other localities in the town. Similarly, most of the other goods like hosiery, textile products and shoes are stored in the old Grain Market, Fauji Market, Ahata Badhan Singh and a few other localities.

ASI Vinod Kumar, officiating in-charge of the RPF, said it is the duty of the state tax department to look into the evasion of tax, if any. “We are only concerned about the safety of goods and our duty is to protect the thefts of parcels. The private bogeys hired by the traders also do not come under our purview,” he said. SJS Beesla, assistant excise and taxation commissioner of the Moga district, said he has also received some reports of tax evasion by the traders bringing goods without paying tax through the railways.

“We have stepped up vigil by assigning special duties of the tax officers in and around the local railway station besides gathering information about the locations of the storehouses of traders and positively we will soon conduct raids to check the stock of goods and its billing,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the state government is suffering huge losses due to this ‘illegal’ practice, which is widely prevalent.

Abohar, September 23
The demand to upgrade Abohar sub-division as district gained momentum today as the Congress legislator and former parliamentary secretary Sunil Jakhar discussed the issue with the top brass of his party here at his residence.

He has asked the party men to organise a meeting on September 26 at Arorvansh Dharamshala.

Representatives of all the political parties, social and business organisations would be invited to consider the next course of action to press the state government for making Abohar a district, he said.

While supporting the demand for bifurcation of the Ferozepur district, district BJP president Arun Narang said either Abohar or Fazilka should be upgraded as a district.

Bathinda, September 23
The district health authorities today sent the action taken report about the swine flu death of a 50-year-old farmer from Pitho village (near Rampura Phul) of this district to the state nodal officer for swine flu, Chandigarh. Besides, a copy of the report was also sent to the Bathinda deputy commissioner for his information. The 50-year-old man, Mander Singh from Pitho village, had died of swine flu in DMC Hospital, Ludhiana yesterday.

As per the report, a rapid response team of the health department reached the Pitho village at about 6.30 pm yesterday and visited the house of the deceased, carrying medicines and pamphlets, containing information about the swine flu disease. Besides giving medicine to about 24 persons, the team educated the gathering about swine flu, present at the site there. The health staff also distributed Tamiflu capsules to the staff of two local private hospitals where the deceased had gone to seek opinion from the doctors about his disease.

District Health Officer-cum-Nodal Officer for Swine Flu Dr RS Randhawa said here today that a team of the health department from Rampura, led by Dr Simarpreet Kaur Mann, today visited Pitho village where it examined about 94 persons, having any symptom of the swine flu. All the examined persons were given Tamiflu capsules as a prophylactic measure. The team also conducted information, education and communication activity about the swine flu in the village, he added.

The nodal officer also appealed to the residents of the district not to panic as the situation was under control in the district.

The senior medical officer (SMO) of Ballianwali health centre Dr Amrik Singh said that a 12-member health team from Ballianwali today conducted a house to house survey of 413 houses in Pitho village to know about the swine flu suspected person(s), if any. He said the team would also conduct survey of rest of the houses in the village tomorrow.

Bathinda, September 23
In a fit of anger, a "mentally-challenged" youth killed his 65-year-old father at his residence in Ganga Ram street here late last night.

Though the police had nabbed the accused, acting upon the statement and medical certificates produced by his mother, it did not book him for the murder. The police handed over the accused to the bereaved family and initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC.

According to the bereaved kin, the accused, Ravi Kumar (27), was suffering from a severe mental disorder and had been undergoing treatment for some years.

Without any provocation, he indulged in an altercation with his father Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday. The family members intervened and stopped Ravi Kumar when he tried to assault his father.

However, at night, Ravi, who was still in a fit of rage, assaulted his father in the head with a brick. Family members, on hearing the noise, rushed towards them and found Ramesh Kumar lying in a pool of blood. They called up volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva, an NGO, who hurriedly admitted the injured to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Though the doctors started the treatment immediately, the injured succumbed to the injury at about 3 am.

On receiving the information, the Kotwali police reached the hospital and recorded the statements of the bereaved kin. Even after nabbing the accused, the police let him go after the bereaved kin pleaded before the police not to take a legal action against the accused as he was suffering from a severe mental disorder.

In support of the statement about the mental disorder of the accused, his mother Sharda Devi submitted various medical certificates proving that he was suffering from mental disability.

Investigation officer Ajaib Singh said, "We could have booked the accused for murder but the bereaved kin pleaded mercy saying that he was suffering from severe mental disorder and committed the crime while he had been undergoing seizures."

"On the statement of the deceased's wife, we spared the accused but initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC. After a detailed probe, if required, we will amend the proceedings with additional sections of the IPC."

Bathinda, September 23
As the state government does not seem to be in a mood to accept the demands of the agitating Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU) for the past several months, members of the PSMSU today started a two-day pen-down strike throughout the state and paralysed the functioning of government offices at various places.

On September 20 and 21, the members of the Union had worn black badges as part of their agitation programme.

State president of the PSMSU Darshan Singh Bajaj claimed here today that the strike was reportedly complete in other districts of the state also. He said the clerical cadre was united over the demands of the Union and a great enthusiasm among the employees was witnessed during the strike at various places.

District president of the Union Gurdev Singh Kot Fatta said the district office-bearers of the Union had decided that they would continue the strike till the acceptance of their demands by the government.

He said the state government had even failed in fulfilling the promises it had made with the employees with regard to their demands.

Kot Fatta added that the dilly-dallying tactics of the government towards their demands compelled them to continue the strike.

Meanwhile, the employees of the local Suvidha Centre also stopped working at about 2.45 pm to take part in the strike.

The main demands of the Union include payment of arrears of 43 months of the revised pay-scales from January 2006, B.Ed teacher’s pay-scale for clerks in view of their minimum qualification (graduation), computer training for clerks at district headquarters, scrapping of type test for clerks, and restoration of the old pattern of assured career progression (ACP) scheme.

Fazilka, September 23
Perhaps for the first time in its history since 1963, the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) has conferred a special honour on an institution, a rural club of Fazilka, for promoting crop diversification, based on new techniques and for its efforts to save natural resources in this border belt.

Notably, only individual farmers are honoured by the university at the annual farmers’ fair every year.

But this year, all two dozen members of the Naujawan Kisan Club, Aliana (Fazilka) led by its president Karnail Singh, were honoured by vice-chancellor Manjit Singh Kang on recently at the annual Kisan Mela held in the university premises.

A cheque for Rs 50,000 was presented to the club president Karnail Singh on behalf of the Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah.

Karnail Singh said nine progressive farmers of the border belt of Fazilka and Jalalabad sub-divisions set up the club in 2006 with enthusiastic youth members in the age-group of 18 to 35 years.

The motive behind setting up of this club was to apprise the farmers about common crop diseases, judicious use of fertilisers, pesticides and also adopting different new varieties of crops launched by PAU and other agricultural universities.

The club also arranged field studies and expertise in collaboration with PAU scientists regarding crop diversification and adopting latest techniques in the field of agriculture. This strategy has been a basic element in the success of these young progressive farmers, claimed Karnail Singh. “We have made it mandatory for the club members to grow crops other than traditional ones, in some part of their land,” he added. They have been motivating and bringing young farmers to PAU Kisan Mela which makes a lot of difference for them.

The members have been regularly taking part in annual fairs organised by the PAU since 2006. They also distribute the PAU literature amongst the farmers in the border belt for better agricultural yield, save natural resources and for crop diversification.

Besides participating in the annual fairs, the members themselves have organised fairs in Aliana, Ghattianwali Bodla and other villages. The vice-chancellor and other senior functionaries of PAU had participated in these fairs.

Sriganganagar, Sept 23
With the outgoing president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Youth Congress suffering a jolt in his home turf, the AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi can rightly claim that he had developed a fair mechanism for conducting the organisational elections of the youth wing.

As per the information available, the counting of votes polled in Suratgarh, Peelibanga and Hanumangarh indicated that outgoing state president Pawan Godara was trailing behind Navneet Poonia, a junior activist of youth Congress in Hanumangarh segment that organised fortnight long celebrations over his nomination by the party high command to the prestigious office last year.

He was being projected by his supporters as the next state president also. — OC

Abohar, September 23
Maiden interaction with beautician, dietician and art and craft teachers was an amazing experience for 40 women from farming families, who attended the four-day training and visit programme, organised by the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative organisation (IFFCO) at its recently developed community center in village Maujgarh on the NH 15.

RC Gawri district manager of the Fazilka Central Cooperative Bank gave away prizes to the trainees during valedictory function today.

Dr SS Katiyar, manager (agricultural services), at state headquarter of IFFCO, noted environmentalist Dr Rakesh Sehgal, Pragya Devi from Dev Sanskrit University Haridwar, Dr Mandeep Singh, veterinary officer, spoke on a variety of subjects during the camp.