The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Children presenting a cultural programme during a function organised to mark the Children's Day in Bathinda on Sunday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Children’s Day
Students depict global challenges through art
Sriganganagar, Nov 14
More than 800 students from 40 schools and colleges participated in on-the-spot painting competition titled Depingere-2010 that was held on the eve of Children Day at Maharishi Dayanand College here.

Campaign launched to streamline traffic
Abohar, November 14
The city police-I has begun a comprehensive campaign to streamline vehicular traffic that had completely choked during the past few months after the transfer of SDM Amit Dhaka, an IAS officer to Muktsar as ADC.

Dist HQ status sought for Fazilka
Agitators resolve to go on fast-unto-death
Fazilka, November 14
The Sanjha Morcha members, who have been initiating campaign for getting the district headquarter status for Fazilka, have decided to raise ‘fast-unto-death platform’ at the local Clock Tower. The members would sit on fast-unto-death on this platform in the next phase of agitation.

Two-yr-old strangled to death after rape
Sriganganagar, Nov 14
In a bizarre incident, a two and a half years old girl was raped and killed by a brick kiln worker of Jharkhand at Suratgarh last evening.

Harsimrat visits Bathinda refinery
Scope for ancillary units explored
Bathinda, November 14
Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal today visited the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery near here and took stock of progress in execution of various segments costing Rs 19,000 crores.

Harsimrat Badal interacts with officials on her visit to the Bathinda refinery on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Punjabi Diwas
Baljeet Singh wins quiz contest
Ferozpur, November 14
Language department and Punjabi Vikas Manch organised ‘Punjabi Diwas’ function at the local DAV College for Women here today. Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Revenue) Sukhpal Singh Nannu was the chief guest on the occasion while Dr SS Gill, vice-chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (Faridkot) and Sanjeev Kalra, IG, Punjab Police, were the guests of honour.

Dogged determination

A race in progress during the Dog Show held at Muktsar on Sunday.

Girls admire puppies at the show. Tribune photos: Pawan Sharma

Sub-standard Bt cotton seed
Ex-chief of Bar Assn seeks compensation
Abohar, November 14
A progressive farmer and former president of the Bar Association has urged the state government to compensate him against the loss of Rs 5 lakh that he had suffered reportedly due to the supply of spurious Bt cotton seed by an eminent manufacturer.

Schedule for Nav Inqalab Yatra revised
Abohar, November 14
The schedule of the Nav Inqalab Pad Yatra led by Punjab Youth Congress president Ravneet Singh Bittu MP has been revised. District president Sandeep Jakhar informed today that the Yatra would now enter Ferozepur district on November 22.

Prosthetic camp held
Fazilka, November 14
Four dozen persons have been identified for providing artificial limbs in a prosthetic camp organised by an NGO Social Welfare Society (Fazilka) at the local Arorvansh Bhawan. The camp was organised in the memory of Lala Shri Ram and Laxmi Devi Mittal.

No longer a bridge too far in Fazilka
Chander Parkash
Tribune News service

Mohar Jamsher (Fazilka), November 14
Continuously ignored by successive government of Punjab and confined to an area measuring a few hundreds of acres of land, the residents of this unique village, surrounded by Pakistan from three sides and the creek of the Sutlej on the fourth, have done a commendable job.

The residents, mostly belonging to below poverty line strata (BPL) and having small land holdings, pooled in their resources and contributed money to construct a bridge over river Sutlej, linking the village with the mainland.

The bridge was washed away a few months ago when the Sutlej got flooded due to heavy monsoon rains, which lashed the region. The residents have been suffering a lot in every sphere of life as their movements have been restricted due to cobra fencing, which has been erected in the close vicinity of the Indo-Pak border about 20 years ago to stop infiltration of anti-national elements. What the authorities concerned did with this village was that the cobra fencing was erected alongside the creek of the Sutlej and thus virtually jailed its residents as they could not move out of the village after sunset.

During monsoons, whenever the Sutlej got swollen, the residents of this village would be cut off from the rest of the world. “As the bridge, which was there over Sutlej creek and was the only link between the village and the mainland was washed away during the last monsoon, we were virtually isolated from India. We found that we had no other option but to reconstruct the bridge to have access to other parts of the country,” said a resident.

Harbans Singh, an elected representative of the village, disclosed that they had collected Rs 500 per acre from all the land owners.

They arranged men, machinery and material so that the bridge could be constructed at the earliest as they had lost all hopes that the state government would come forward to support them in this mission.

“With the completion of the bridge, made of wood, the residents would be able to bring their paddy and fodder produce to the main grain markets of Fazilka sub-division,” they said, adding that they had made repeated pleas to the authorities concerned to construct this bridge but to no avail.

National camp: NCC cadets of DAV College bag medals
Our Correspondent

Lt Col KL Bishnoi and vice-principal of DAV College Anil Makkar felicitate the NCC cadets for winning medals. Photo: Raj Sadosh

Abohar, November 14
Two NCC cadets of DAV College here have won four medals in the national camp that was attended by the teams from 17 directorates across the country. Amit Kumar bagged gold in obstacles, silver in judging distance and bronze in field signal competitions while Chandan Setia has also won silver in judging distance.

Such laurels have been brought to the region for the first time. “I have been waiting for long for such an achievement,” said Lt Col KL Bishnoi buoyant commanding officer of the second Independent NCC Company here during a reception on Friday.

He along with Anil Makkar vice-principal of the DAV College honoured the cadets with cash awards. Captain Iqbal Singh Godara and Captain Sarabjit Singh joined them.

Significantly, the medal winners have become eligible for the Republic Day camp and might be commissioned in the Army after completing graduation. The Directorate General of the NCC had adopted various measures to improve intake of officials in the NCC special entry scheme. The national medal winners would not have to appear for interview to join the RD camp.

Bishnoi informed that eight students of the DAV College and one each from Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women and Gurunanak College have been given green signal for competing in the Republic Day parade selection competition.

Speaking about the future plans, Bishnoi said multifaceted activities would be taken up during the NCC Week that starts from November 15.

Children’s Day
Students depict global challenges through art
Our Correspondent

Sriganganagar, Nov 14
More than 800 students from 40 schools and colleges participated in on-the-spot painting competition titled Depingere-2010 that was held on the eve of Children Day at Maharishi Dayanand College here.

The students chose environment preservation, global peace and prosperity and respect for all religions as themes of their art work.

The winners in different categories included Saumaya Maheshwari (Nosegay Public School), Deepika Middha (Tiny Tots), Rashi Jain (Bihani Children Academy), Renu Chaudhary (Army Schools), Jyoti (Kendriya Vidyalaya), Monika Aggarwal (Nosegay), Chander Parkash and Chander Prabha (MD College).

District Collector Subeer Kumar, former BSF commandant MS Chimni, Kamlesh Kataria, principal of the SD Girls School and Dr Madan Gopal praised the young artists for their concern over challenges being faced globally.

Functions were also organised to celebrate Children Day at Hanumangarh by the Times Public School, Guru Teg Bahadur Public School and DAV Public School.

Chacha Nehru’s birth day was celebrated as Children’s Day at Nav Jyoti residential school for deaf and dumb children at Hanumangarh. Raj Kumar, Maya, Mukesh, Gulab and Parshu Ram were among the winners, who received prizes from the district social welfare officer Ram Raj Meena.

Chairman Jasveer Sharma and secretary Babu Lal Juneja also praised the students for their talent..

Campaign launched to streamline traffic
Our Correspondent

Abohar, November 14
The city police-I has begun a comprehensive campaign to streamline vehicular traffic that had completely choked during the past few months after the transfer of SDM Amit Dhaka, an IAS officer to Muktsar as ADC.

Almost entire force of the main police station led by Sukhdev Singh, the new SHO, was deployed to put nakas on major roads causing panic among the motorbike triple riders, who had made violation of traffic rules a habit. Some were challaned while some vehicles were impounded also as the same were being run without valid documents.

A panicky driver hit an electricity pole in the old city area while trying to escape with tractor-trolley. Social activists complained to the police that triple riders by and large indulge in eve teasing not only on the college road but also outside the girls’ schools. SHO informed that ‘No Parking’ zones were being earmarked on the Gaushala Road, old tehsil road and railway road.

In other areas, the vehicles parked outside the yellow line, would be fined heavily. Special raids have been planned to nab tipplers, who allegedly park vehicles and dance on the RoB (railway over bridge) to tease women after sunset.

Meanwhile, the state government had released Rs 10 lakh for the construction of computerised Suvidha Centre inside the police complex here. The work that was started today would be completed by March 31 next year.

Dist HQ status sought for Fazilka
Agitators resolve to go on fast-unto-death
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, November 14
The Sanjha Morcha members, who have been initiating campaign for getting the district headquarter status for Fazilka, have decided to raise ‘fast-unto-death platform’ at the local Clock Tower. The members would sit on fast-unto-death on this platform in the next phase of agitation.

The final decision regarding the names (who would sit on fast-unto-death) and date of the next phase of agitation of fast-unto-death dharna would be taken in near future, disclosed Sushil Gumber and Raj Kishore Kalra, chairman and spokesman respectively of the Joint Action Committee of Sanjha Morcha after conducting a meeting of the Morcha at the local Lala Sunam Rai MA Memorial Welfare Centre.

Besides, it has also been unanimously resolved that an awareness campaign would be launched in the nearby towns of Ladhuka, Khuikhera and Arniwala.

In this campaign, members of the Sanjha Morcha would bring out awareness rallies in these towns with the help of the residents there.

Kalra said the 89 days old relay fast dharna would continue till the problem reaches its logical end..

Improvement Trust chairman Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, Joint Action Committee members Kanchan Sharma, advocate Sukhjit Singh, Satish Dhingra, comrade Shakti Singh, Border Area Vikas Front president Baljinder Singh, Sarhad Social Welfare Society president Rakesh Nagpal, Bar Association former president Anil Jain and scores of representatives of different NGOs and political parties also participated.

Two-yr-old strangled to death after rape
Our Correspondent

Sriganganagar, Nov 14
In a bizarre incident, a two and a half years old girl was raped and killed by a brick kiln worker of Jharkhand at Suratgarh last evening.

The district police confirmed on Sunday that the accused Mitlesh Munda (37) of village Hathing Hode (district Simdega) has been arrested under section 302 nd 376 of the IPC. Mitlesh Munda had been working with Sohan Lal Nayak (father of the victim) at a brick kiln and frequently visited their house.

As per the information available, the accused lured the victim offering confectionery and took her to sand heaps located behind the sub-jail where he committed the crime and later strangled the girl to death.

Some persons reportedly noticed him digging the sandy heap to dump the body and informed the people. More than a dozen persons from ward number 3 rushed to nab the accused and also informed the police. SDM Kalu Ram, DSP Suresh Saini and other officials reached the spot late last evening.

Later, ASP Mohinder Hingania also rushed to Suratgarh. Heavy police force was deployed to avert threat to peace in and around the civil hospital where postmortem was conducted today.

	Punjabi Diwas Baljeet Singh wins quiz contest Our Correspondent Ferozpur, November 14 Language department and Punjabi Vikas Manch organised ‘Punjabi Diwas’ function at the local DAV College for Women here today. Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Revenue) Sukhpal Singh Nannu was the chief guest on the occasion while Dr SS Gill, vice-chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (Faridkot) and Sanjeev Kalra, IG, Punjab Police, were the guests of honour. Punjabi scholar Surjit Chamak recited his Punjabi poem while Dr Sunita Sharma from the Punjabi department of the DAV College and Davinder Singh presented papers on the Punjabi language during the event. On the occasion, Dr Amritpal’s new book, ‘Daire to paar’ was also released. Baljeet Singh, who had bagged first position in the quiz conducted by the language department, was awarded during the function. Speaking on the occasion, Nannu said more such functions should be organised to promote Punjabi language in the state. College principal Dr Pushpinder Walia also spoke on the occasion. Eminent Punjabi scholars, teachers and college students also attended the function.
	Sub-standard Bt cotton seed Ex-chief of Bar Assn seeks compensation Abohar, November 14 A progressive farmer and former president of the Bar Association has urged the state government to compensate him against the loss of Rs 5 lakh that he had suffered reportedly due to the supply of spurious Bt cotton seed by an eminent manufacturer. Sukhpal Singh Sidhu, who owns an agricultural farm at village Ruherian Wali in this sub-division has in a representation given to the assistant Plant Protection officer here said he had purchased 20 packets of the Bt cotton seed from the local distributor of the company. As per the literature made available by the manufacturer along with the packing, it was guaranteed that there would be no variation in plants and have resistant from diseases. He claimed having spent Rs 20,000 per acre in sowing the seed besides using fertiliser, pesticides and tilling of the land. Even then there was no fruit buds besides variation in the plants. — OC
	Schedule for Nav Inqalab Yatra revised Abohar, November 14 The schedule of the Nav Inqalab Pad Yatra led by Punjab Youth Congress president Ravneet Singh Bittu MP has been revised. District president Sandeep Jakhar informed today that the Yatra would now enter Ferozepur district on November 22. It would be welcomed at Ferozepur on November 22 at Khosa Dal Singh on November 23, at Zira on November 24 and Makhu on November 25. He discussed the arrangements with district in-charge Sukhjinder Singh, vice-president Pushpinder Josan and block presidents Varun Verma (Abohar), Ranjum Kamra (Fazilka), Kanwar Brij Mohan (Guru Har Sahai), Vishaldeep Singh (Ferozepur Cantt), Baljit Singh (Mamdot), Gurpreet Singh (Ghal Khurd), Dharminder Kumar (Ferozepur City), Vivek Kumar (Makhu) and Lokesh Godara (Khuyiansarwar). — OC
	Prosthetic camp held Our Correspondent Fazilka, November 14 Four dozen persons have been identified for providing artificial limbs in a prosthetic camp organised by an NGO Social Welfare Society (Fazilka) at the local Arorvansh Bhawan. The camp was organised in the memory of Lala Shri Ram and Laxmi Devi Mittal. President of the Society Raj Kishore Kalra and project chairman Shashi Kant said the experts examined 102 physically challenged persons. The persons identified would be provided with artificial limbs and calipers on follow up camp which would be held on December 19 at Arorvansh Bhawan.