Faridkot, October 22
The procurement targets of Faridkot are likely to be upset as the farmers of Bathinda, Moga and Muktsar districts have started heading towards the grain markets here to dispose their paddy produce.

Farmers of the three districts carrying their paddy produce in tractor trolleys were today seen heading towards various grain markets of Faridkot where the procurement drive has remained smooth and immediate payment was being made for the procured grain.

Deputy commissioner S.Karuna Raju, who is personally supervising the procurement operations, said that he has prepared a contingency plan to prevent the district's paddy procurement getting derailed. The farmers coming from other districts were being welcomed and their produce was also being lifted.

Gurpreet Singh, a farmer of the Morh Mandi in Bathinda district, carried his paddy produce to the grain market at Jaito in Faridkot as he complained that it was not lifted by the government agencies at his home place.

Raju said that against the procurement target of 6.60 lakh tons of paddy, about 4.47 lakh tons was purchased till this afternoon. The lifting was 94.5 per cent for which 100 per cent payment has been released to the farmers.

He said that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) that was the main procurement agency and was supposed to lift 10 per cent of the total produce has utterly failed as it has hardly lifted one percent of the paddy arrival. The FCI was supposed to lift 60,000 tons of paddy against which it has so far procured only 5,109 tons.

The deputy commissioner today shot a letter to Neel Kanth, Chandigarh based senior regional manager of FCI, to gear up the procurement drive as the lethargy by the FCI was also badly affecting the procurement drive.

Raju was confident that the procurement target would be met for the milling capacity of 108 shellers in the district.

Arrival of paddy from other districts has rung alarm bells for the farmers and grain traders of Faridkot. Sanjay, a grain middleman at Jaito, said that the 30 shellers were overflowing with paddy stock as a result of which they have stopped receiving further supplies. This was likely to hit the local farmers, he feared.

Another farmer, Karnail Singh, wanted that the authorities should stop farmers from other districts from selling their produce in Faridkot as this would affect the local farmers.

The farmers, middlemen and transporters at Jaito appreciated the efforts of the deputy commissioner to streamline the procurement drive. They pointed out that Raju had personally visited the grain market several times and held meetings with the stakeholders for smooth operation of the procurement drive.

Bathinda, October 22
Balwant Singh (50), a farmer of Teona village (near Bathinda), today reportedly died of heart attack at a paddy procurement centre at Mehta village. He had gone to Mehta village to sell his paddy crop.

District president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Shingara Singh Mann, claimed here today that Balwant had first gone to Teona village's procurement centre to sell his crop but when his crop had not been procured there then he moved to the procurement centre of Jai Singh Wala village for the purpose. Even at Jai Singh Wala village, the crop had not been procured by the procurement agencies, due to which he moved to Mehta village's procurement centre the previous day, where he died of heart attack today, he added.

Mann said it seemed that the farmer had lost his life as his crop had not been procured by the agencies at three procurement centres. 

Bathinda, October 22
In protest against the alleged harassment being faced by paddy growers at the procurement centres and the grain markets due to non-procurement of their paddy crop in a big way during the past few days, the farmers under the banner of various unions will block roads tomorrow in the district. — TNS

Moga, October 22
A three-member special investigation team headed by Moga SP (H) Jagmohan Singh today began the process of re-investigating the Rs 8-crore paddy scam, which was detected in the border district of Ferozepur in December last year. The re-investigation was ordered by the court of Lakshman Singh at Ferozepur on August 6, this year.

Although, a challan was put up before the court early this year and many officials of the food and civil supplies department, besides rice mill owners, were arrested by the police, no recovery was made so far.

Earlier, the then IG of Bathinda zone Rohit Chaudhary had found in an inquiry that the investigation in the scam was full of numerous flaws and also favoured re-investigation.

The role of commission agents and truck operators, who gave gate passes and transported paddy to the rice mills from where it went missing, was not probed and the labour contractor who unloaded trucks at Noor Rice Mill was also not questioned by the police at that time.

The Ferozepur police had failed to recover the missing 1,92,973 bags of paddy, which could have been sold in Moga, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts as suspected by some officials of the food and civil supplies department.

Today, the local SP called some officials of the department and took their statements in this regard, the details of which were not immediately known. However, it was learnt through reliable sources in the police that a retired official Swaran Singh who was the custodian of the missing paddy, had washed his hands of saying that the missing paddy was not in his possession.

The then DFSC of Ferozepur Sukhdev Singh has also given a written statement to the SP highlighting the facts and figures of the missing paddy. The main thrust of the re-investigation now is to recover the Rs 8-crore missing paddy, which does not seem to be an easy task as it has already been sold to some rice millers who have not yet been summoned by the SIT, probably under political pressure. 

Bathinda, October 22
In a tragic mishap, a 16-year-old girl, Pritama, and her brother Akash (11), residents of local Hardev Nagar, were killed in a road mishap here today.They were reportedly going on a bicycle to their house after purchasing some commodities from the bazaar when a truck allegedly hit their bicycle.

The investigating officer (IO) in this case Kashmir Chand said this evening that Pritima had been a hockey player and student of a local government school while her brother had been studying in class VI. He said Pritima had to go Jalandhar tomorrow to participate in a hockey event there.

The IO said the police had rounded up the driver of the truck Darshan Singh and had also taken the truck in its possession.

He further said a case had been registered against the driver under section 304 of the IPC. 

Abohar, October 22
The Kisan Sangharsh Samiti in the tail-end villages has resented that all norms have been allegedly flouted by using pipes instead of measurement gadgets to draw more water from the Malukpura distributary to benefit the villages that fall in the Lambi constituency represented by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The Samiti leaders who were accompanied by a media team found that a huge cement pipe had been fixed near RD 21500 close to the cross regulator near village Qabarwala to supply more water to Gurusar Jodha sub-canal that feeds some villages in the Lambi area.

Two plastic pipes sized six inches each had been installed to divert water to another outlet, without any measurement.

Kulwant Singh Sandhu, convener, and Tejwinder Singh Aulakh, joint convener of the Samiti said the Malukpura distributary is considered the lifeline for the farmers of Abohar and Balluana segments and no one can be permitted to harm their interests. Aulakh warned the SAD leadership of serious repercussions if the discrimination is not stopped. 

Hussainiwala, October 22
P. Chidambaram, Union Home Minister, made the gathering, at the function organised in connection with foundation stone unveiling ceremony of viewers' gallery at this joint check post here today, break into laughter when he asked Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal to stop repeating his demands in English as he understood the same in Punjabi language.

The entire stretch of road, from Hussainiwala headworks upto the venue of the function, was dotted with Congress flags to give the function a political colour though the function was organised by the Border Security Force (BSF).

Parminder Singh Pinki, general secretary, PPCC, alleged that no invitation was extended to Congressmen to attend today's function despite the fact that workers and leaders of ruling SAD-BJP alliance were given the same. Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Congress MLA was allowed to sit on the stage.

Patriotic songs from various Hindi and Punjabi movies were played at the function before the arrival of Chidambaram.

Fazilka, October 22
Even as the relay fast for demanding district headquarter status for Fazilka entered its 68th day, activists of the Sanjha Morcha have devised a novel method to create awareness through skits and dramas.

The artists of Fazilka Rangmanch enacted drama showing the glorious history of Fazilka sub-division which was trimmed in due course.

Members of an NGO, Teachers For Society, including its president Amit Nagpal, ETT Teachers Union Malwa zone president Sanjiv Narang and other members sat on a relay fast at the Clock Tower Chowk here today. — OC

Bathinda, October 22
The Greenpeace India and the Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) today sought direct subsidy to the farmers, in place of subsidy on chemical fertilisers to companies, for promoting ecological farming and protecting soils from adverse affects of the chemical fertilisers.

Both organisations said the subsidy on chemical fertilisers was not pro-natural farming, pro-farmer and pro-ecological practice.

Executive director of the KVM, Umendra Dutt, and a sustainable agriculture campaigner of Greenpeace India, Sunil Prabhakar, said the Union government should grant subsidy for organic fertiliser practices as it would help in improving the health of the soil while the chemical fertilisers were spoiling soil's health, besides causing deadly diseases, like cancer, to the people.

Sunil Prabhakar flayed the Union government's nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) system on chemical fertilisers, introduced from April 1 last, by saying that it had also promoted chemical fertilisers in place of organic fertilisers. He said the Greenpeace was visiting farmers of Assam, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab to know about soil's degradation.

Prabhakar said farmers of Sangat block would organise a public hearing on October 26 in Bhukhianwali village to save state's dying soil and discuss impact of chemical fertilisers.

District president of BKU (Ugrahan), Shingara Singh Mann, and president of Youth Clubs Organisation, Jasbir Singh Grewal, also supported the views. 

Sriganganagar, October 22
Concerned over strong protests lodged by Pakistan, coupled with threats to claim compensation for the havoc that the Ghaggar river water had reportedly wreaked on both sides of the international border, the Rajasthan government has decided to divert water to small irrigational channels in the Suratgarh area.

While welcoming the move, Rajasthan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spokesman Captain Subhash Sehgal (retd) today urged the Punjab government to divert thousands of cusecs of water, which had been flowing from Hussainiwala to Kasur in Pakistan, to Rajasthan feeders. Suratgarh MLA Gangajal Meel inaugurated the diversion scheme. The farmers felt buoyed as the MLA lifted escape gates to divert water from the river near Suratgarh. This is expected to calm down agitating farmers. — OC

Abohar, October 22
A recently married couple reportedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance here today while a married woman and the younger brother of her husband were also found dead in a rented room here under mysterious circumstances, sources said.

Sources said, one Gaurav had reportedly married Himani after an affair about two months back. Both were found dead in their room in Ramdev Nagar near Azeemgarh locality today in the morning. Preliminary investigation reportedly indicated that they had consumed some poisonous substance. — OC