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Corporation status sought for Moga local body
Theft of power transformers
Manpreet urges people to join hands with him
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YEARENDER
Stray cattle roaming near a green fodder shop in Fazilka. Photo by writer
Brothers killed under speeding bus
TSU activists reject tripartite agreement with PSEB unions
Maghi Mela
Man commits suicide in Moga
Fertilisers unloaded from goods train
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Corporation status sought for Moga local body
Moga, January 3 It may be mentioned that the state government, in a notification issued on August 14, 2008, had already extended the limits of the local body by including five villages, Duneke, Landeke, Sant Nagar, Kotha Patti Mohabbat and Mehma Singh Wala, besides some parts of the Bughipura and Talwandi Bagherian villages into the council limits paving the way for the formation of the corporation. However, Swaran Lata Jain, wife of local Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain, challenged the extension of limits in the apex court. She challenged the decision of the High Court that earlier accepted an affidavit of the state government promising to hold elections of the council as per the extended limits by revising the voter list. Reacting to her appeal, the apex court directed to hold the elections by September 20, 2008. The state government failed to revise the voter list in time and thus the elections were conducted on the original limits of the town. Later, people of these five villages whose panches were already elected in the panchayat polls, went to the High Court seeking directions for electing their sarpanches. As such, the sarpanches were elected on the directions of the court. Due to these problems, the limits of this town could not be practically extended by the government even as the local leadership of the ruling SAD party also demanded it. Had the limits of the town been extended, it would have fulfilled the condition of minimum population requirement for upgradation of the local body. The Congress MLAs said that they would raise the issue in the coming session of the Vidhan Sabha to press upon the government to upgrade the local body status. “If the government does not agree to our demand, we will also launch an agitation in this regard,” said Brar. The process for the extension of municipal limits was started in the year 2004 when a resolution in this connection was passed by the then president Joginder Pal Jain (now MLA) with the consent of the elected members, on the basis of which, a survey was conducted early in the year 2006. Later, objections were filed in November 2006. After completing all the formalities, a draft resolution was sent to the local bodies department for approval. Meanwhile, the term of the MC expired on March 21, 2008. The draft proposals sent by the elected body were rejected by the local bodies department twice and then after the expiry of the term of the council, the local administration sent the proposal ‘arbitrarily’ that was considered by the department. The department had taken the plea that the new areas proposed by the elected body (3,375 acres) had over 50 per cent agricultural area that was not permissible as per the MC Act of the year 1911. There was no proposal for the revenue generation, employment opportunities and it by and large had no economic importance. In the process, a notification was issued to extend the council limits without taking into consideration the 55 objections raised by the former elected members and the common public, which further created legal problems for the upgradation of the local body. |
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Gang of thieves busted, two held
Tribune News service
Fazilka, January 3 As per the information gathered by the TNS, police parties had been despatched to nab the ringleader of the gang to recover the stolen transformers. The theft of electric transformers was so rampant in Fazilka, Jalalabad and Abohar regions a few months ago that the Punjab State Power Corporation authorities could not provide uninterrupted electricity supply to its consumers despite its availability. More than 200 transformers had been stolen in Abohar, Fazilka, Jalalabad, Zira and Ferozepur sub-divisions of this district in the past one year. The two members of the gang, rounded up by the local police, had been identified as Sandeep Singh and Gurjant Singh, both residents of the Mumbe Ke village. The leader of the gang, who had been identified as Ramesh Kumar and his brother Balkar Singh were yet to be arrested. Sources added that the police was likely to arrest some junk dealer of this and other regions, who had been purchasing stolen property from these accused. Suck junk dealers were being identified and efforts were being made to nab them as well. The police authorities expected a huge recovery from the two members of the gang, who have beenrounded up.
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Manpreet urges people to join hands with him
Ferozepur, January 3 Addressing a rally in the city today, he said his fight was not against any individual but it was for the better future of the state and its people, who had the stigma of a huge debt. He added that if the situation was not handled properly, the state would not be able to pay its loan installments after a few more years. “My movement is a sort of freedom movement and I want that people must get rid of the system where corruption, unemployment, drug addiction, poverty and nepotism is rampant,” he claimed, adding that he had taken a pledge to fight these evils tooth and nail with the support of the people of Punjab. A close kin of Manpreet including his father Gurdas Badal remained sitting in his vehicle parked near the venue of the rally and listened to his speech. Another kin Jaijeet Johal was with him at the rally. Manpreet is likely to disclose his agenda connected with contesting of the SGPC elections by the members of his Jago Punjab Yatra on the occasion of Maghi Mela conference. “If you give me a chance, I promise that I will usher a new era of prosperity in Punjab. I will make the people of the state live with dignity,” he promised. He alleged that he was divested of the office of finance minister and ousted from the party as he followed the path of truthfulness for the welfare of state and its people. Manpreet futher added that he had great hopes from the people that they would give him the mandate for accomplishing the task, which he had undertaken for a better and prosperous Punjab. |
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Ferozepur witnesses decline in road mishaps but more human lives lost
Chander Parkash Tribune News Service
Ferozepur, January 3 Almost all roads of this district bordering Pakistan, Haryana, Rajasthan states are being used by a large number of vehicles transporting men and material from one state to another and hence, the roads remain busy throughout the year. Last year, the number of accidents came down as compared to the year 2009. However, the number of human lives, lost in the road accidents in 2010, was more than that in 2009. As per the official figures, 168 persons were killed and 83 were injured in 139 accidents, which took place in this district from January 1 to December 25, 2010. In the year 2009, the total number of accidents was 150 and a total of 160 human lives were lost. The number those injured in the accidents was 30. The number of deaths due to accidents in this district in year 2007 was 145 while it came down to 123 in the year 2008. Though the traffic wing of the district police authorities has been trying its best to regulate the flow of traffic to avoid accidents, the low strength of traffic police personnel has rendered them unable to cover the whole district. Moreover, rash and reckless driving mostly by teenagers has also become a major concern for them. Ferozepur SSP Kaustab Sharma pointed out that the traffic wings were being established for Zira, Jalalabad and Fazilka. Besides, the traffic wings, which existed in Abohar and Ferozepur, were being strengthened. He further said other steps were also being taken to make the people drive safely.
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Fazilka residents face inconvenience
Praful C. Nagapl
Fazilka, January 3 The worst hit areas include the local grain market, Waan Bazaar, Wool Bazaar, Madan Gopal road, Court road and bus stand road. The residents of Alamshah octroi road in a memorandum submitted to the local SDM had demanded a control over the movement of these animals. The residents maintained that the shopkeepers and some residents out of religious sentiments purchase green fodder and offer it to the animals near the fodder shops on the road side. The animals while grazing the fodder come on the road resulting in inconvenience to the passersby. At times, animals in an attempt to capture the green fodder, chase one another causing accidents and damage the parked vehicles. Beopar Mandal president Ashok Gulbadhar said the shopkeepers are the worst hit as stray cattle often damage the goods of shopkeepers lying for display outside their shops. Besides, hundreds of animals in the grain market during the peak season of paddy and wheat eat the produce of farmers. The farmers have to keep a vigil on the produce themselves as the Market Committee authorities have failed to keep the stray animals out of the MC boundary. Fazilka SDM Ajay Sood said on the directives of Deputy Commissioner Ferozepur KK Yadav, the administration is coming up with a comprehensive plan to check the menace. He, however, appealed to the residents not to throw green fodder on the roadside and advised them to donate it to the Gaushalla. It was learnt that some villagers leave the animals in the town early in the morning in search of food and chase them back in the evening. Some of them leave the non-milch cows and buffalos in the town permanently. On the other hand, the Gaushalla authorities rued that they do not have sufficient funds and infrastructure to manage such a large number of animals.
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Brothers killed under speeding bus
Bathinda, January 3 The DSP (City) Jaswinder Singh and SHO Kotwali Ranbir Singh rushed to the spot and lodged a case against the bus driver. However, the driver managed to escape. Volunteers of the Noujwan Welfare Society, who took the bodies to the Civil Hospital for postmortem, informed that Kuljeet was student at Dubai and had returned only a few days back. |
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TSU activists reject tripartite agreement with PSEB unions
Abohar, January 3 While addressing the circle level convention here, TSU state president Sukhwant Singh Sekhon and senior vice-president Gurdeep Singh said changes made vide notification dated April 16, last year, following the agreement were harmful to the service rules that were defined in the Electricity Act 1948. The state government by constituting Powercom and Transco had cleverly prepared ground for implementing the Electricity Act 2003. The agreement is aimed at guaranteeing at least 40 per cent dividend to the new companies at the cost of the employees/workers. The convention regretted that certain leaders of the federations had succumbed to unknown pressures to give up the demand for 39 per cent increase in wages. The convention resolved not to respond to the call for strike, if given by the joint action committee. The convention decided to join 34 organisations of farmers and trade union workers in staging dharnas across the state on January 20. Others, who spoke, included circle president Balwinder Singh, vice-president Pyare Lal and general secretary Om Parkash.
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Ex-FM expects a large gathering
Tribune News Sevice
Muktsar, January 3 In his address, Manpreet asked the gathering to bring the maximum number of people possible for the conference. After touring 27 constituencies of Punjab, he said he felt it was now time for a change as people were fed up with both bigger parties of Punjab. After touring the venue, he expressed satisfaction and said that they had more space than the others and therefore, will have more gathering than the other parties. A press release issued by an aide informed that the conference space for SAD (B) is three acres approximately, for Congress, it is 1.5 acres approximately and for Jago Punjab conference, the area is 4.5 acres. Gurdas Singh Badal, Jagbir Singh Brar, Khushaldeep Singh Dhillon, Gurpreet Bhatti, Kuldeep Singh Dhos, Charanjit Singh Brar, Nem Chand Jain, Harjivan Singh Gill and Ramsharan Pal were among those present on the occasion.
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Moga, January 3 As per the details, Randeep Singh and his wife Narinder Kaur had been living separately for the past two years. Acting on the complaint of Randeep’s father, the Moga police had registered a case of abetment to suicide against the wife of the deceased, his two brother-in-laws and his sister-in-law. She had been living with her parents along with her 10-year-old son. On Friday, the woman along with her brothers had arrived at Randeep Singh’s residence and allegedly threatened to take all domestic articles with her. Randeep Singh could have committed suicide as he could not tolerate the mental torture, his father alleged. — TNS
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Fertilisers unloaded from goods train
Sriganganagar, January 3 Since two trains each carrying 40-wagon loads of fertiliser had reached Suratgarh, the authorities hoped that the problem created following disruption of the rail traffic by agitating Gurjars would ease now. Notably, four wagons of a goods special train got derailed at Suratgarh yesterday. Hundreds of farmers braved chill and fog to line up at the service centres well before the scheduled time of their opening to get the delivery of the fertiliser.
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Stray cattle menace
