Bathinda, January 22
Six persons sustained bullet and sword injuries in a group clash that took place over ‘illegal’ sand mining at Maesarkhana village in the district today.

Both the groups belonged to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and were led by the present and a former Sarpanch of the village. The Maur police has registered a cross case under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act, as members of both the groups were injured in the clash. Since a majority of the accused was undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, no arrest was made till the filing of this report.

Sarpanch of the village Sukhdev Singh told the media that four groups in the village had reached an agreement on sand mining. He added that the trouble began when former Sarpanch Harbhajan Singh and his brother Ranjeet Singh started claiming monopoly on mining in the village. “Irked over our objections, Harbhajan and Ranjeet along with various accomplices, assaulted my sons, my kin and me with deadly weapons while we were in the fields today. After committing the crime, they all fled from the spot,” Sukhdev alleged.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh refuted the allegation and claimed that the clash took place as he and his brother objected to the functioning of Sukhdev Singh as the Sarpanch. He alleged that Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdeep Singh Nakai was patronising the Sarpanch.

“Sukhdev and his kin intercepted me near the B.Ed College in the village today and rained lathi blows on me. I suffered injuries due to the assault. When my brother Ranjeet Singh came to know about it, he along with some of his friends rushed to my help. On this, Sukhdev and his accomplices opened fire at us, in which my brother and I were injured. Seeing us bleed, they fled from the scene,” alleged Harbhajan.

Acting upon the statements of both the groups, the Maur police booked Harbhajan Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Kala Singh, Hansa Singh and Jeet Singh of one group and Sukhdev Singh, Baljeet Singh, Goni Singh, Mander Singh, Rajkaran Singh, Harjeet Singh, Manjeet Singh and Joginder Singh of another under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (hurt), 506 (intimidation), 148 and 149 of the IPC along with various sections of the Arms Act.

Maur DSP Gurmeet Singh said the police was probing the cause of the clash. When asked about the illegal sand mining going on in his area, he said, “To check the same, we remain vigilant throughout the day. We suspect that the mischievous elements have now started doing it at night. We shall now keep vigil at night too.”

Moga, January 22
In-fighting in the Congress has surfaced ahead of party’s scheduled rallies at Dhudike on December 31 and at Moga on February 5 in the district.

Perturbed over the infighting, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Captain Amarinder has summoned the Moga MLA Joginder Pal Jain, Baghapurana MLA Darshan Singh Brar and Nihalsinghwala MLA Ajit Singh Shant at Chandigarh on January 24.

The infighting began after the poor performance of the party at Takhtupura rally after the Maghi Mela in the district. It was learnt that Brar and Shant both are internally opposed to Jain, who in the recent years, has emerged stronger within the party in the Moga district. They are looking for a better share in the party’s organisation, which has not been announced by Captain Amarinder Singh even three months after becoming the president of the state unit.

On Saturday, the party organised a meeting at Ajitwal in the district, in which a local-level leader Ranvinder Singh Pappu openly lashed out at Jain probably at the behest of Brar and Shant, who are his close friends. The verbal duel between the leaders led to a heated exchange of words between them.

When contacted, Jain did not say anything as to what happened in the meeting but said he was perturbed over the infighting, which is ruining the prospects of the party in the near future. “I am sorry that some elements in the party are creating problems, who need to be shunt out immediately, to maintain discipline,” he said.

Jain was the only Congress MLA in the Moga and Faridkot districts, in the heartland of Malwa, who got a lead for the party candidate in the last Lok Sabha elections. The rest of the party MLAs performed poorly paving the way for the SAD candidate to win from this seat. TNS tried to contact both Brar and Shant for their comments on today’s happening in the party meeting but they did not pick up their phones.

It may be mentioned that Perneet Kaur, who is the Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, is scheduled to preside over a function of the party being held at Dhudike on January 31 on the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai while the PPCC president Captain Amarinder Singh is scheduled to preside over the party’s rally at Moga on February 5.

However, it was learnt that the ‘Maharaja’ was so perturbed over Brar and Shant that he might postpone the Moga rally, sources close to Amarinder revealed.

Abohar, January 22
Justice TPS Mann, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, said a full house of the High Court would take a decision in connection with the demand of the local Bar Association for setting up the court of the additional district and sessions judge in this town.

Justice Mann along with Justice MMS Bedi and Justice LN Mittal, judges, Punjab and Haryana High Court, were here today to inaugurate the judicial court complex here.

They also inaugurated the judicial court complex at Jalalabad town of the Ferozepur district. Jaspal Singh, District and Sessions judge, Ferozepur, senior civil and police officials, judicial officers and members of the Bar Associations of Abohar and Jalalabad attended two separate functions held on the occasions.

While talking to the media, Justice Mann said if the local Bar Association would give any memorandum in connection with setting up of the court of the additional sessions judge here, the full house of High Court would consider the same and take decision in this regard.

“As of now, it is the policy of High Court that the court of additional sessions judge will not be set up at sub-divisional level and hence, it could not be set up at Abohar so far,” pointed out Justice Mann.

He added that the family courts at the district-level would be set up shortly in Punjab and would start functioning accordingly.

He said efforts were on to cover a maximum number of towns of Punjab with modern judicial complexes to provide the best congenial atmosphere to the judicial officers, advocates and litigants and others, whose stakes were involved in the administration of justice.

Justice Mittal, while addressing the gathering, advised the advocates not to go on strike frequently as it hampers the work of court, makes the litigants suffer and causes inordinate delay in the disposal of cases. He said with the new judicial complex, equipped with all facilities available to them, the judicial officers must also increase the rate of disposal of cases.

Justice Bedi said it was the prime duty of all those who were connected with the judicial courts to maintain the sanctity of the temple of justice.

Meanwhile, NK Garg and Rajneet Phore, president and secretary, Bar Association, Abohar, submitted a memorandum to Justice Mittal demanding the setting up of the courts of additional sessions judge and special judge in this town.

All the three justices planted saplings in the court complex. They also gave away the prizes to the schoolchildren, who presented a welcome song.

Moga, January 22
To keep a check on the functioning of hospitals and other medical establishments, the Punjab government is likely to bring in legislation to protect the interests of patients in the state.

Sources in the Health Department revealed that the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission with the help of a team of senior officials of the health and law departments have finalised a draft of the legislation, which may be called Private Health Regulation Bill.

As per the rough draft, all the private hospitals and other medical establishments would have to register themselves in the office of the District Magistrate in the respective districts.

The District Magistrate would be the chairman of the registering authority with the Chief Medical Officer as secretary and the District Health Officer, office-bearers of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) as its members.

The regulatory mechanism aims at making it mandatory for the hospitals to submit details of the charges for treatments and services related to various diseases including surgery to the registering authority, which would have to be displayed on the notice boards of the hospitals.

As such, the private practitioners would not be allowed to collect money in excess from the patients other than those displayed by them. They would have to issue proper bills to the visiting patients in this regard.

Moreover, if this legislation comes into force, the patients and the registering authority would get the right to access the clinical records.

Further, to put an end to the private practice by the government doctors and make them accountable, it has also been proposed that the private hospitals would have to submit a list of the doctors and the para-medical staff whose services are being utlised by them.

Presently, the draft resolution is under the consideration of the Health Department, which also calls for strict implementation of the guidelines of the Indian Medical Council.

Bathinda, January 22
Mystery shrouds the death of a 60-year-old undertrial, Jagroop Singh of village Chainewala in Mansa district, who reportedly died in the Central Jail here early this morning.

Though jail authorities claimed that he died due to some disease and denied any foul play, the Bathinda Deputy Commissioner has marked a magisterial inquiry to Bathinda SDM KPS Mahi to ascertain the cause of the death.

A panel of three doctors at the local Civil Hospital conducted the post-mortem examination under the supervision of Tehsildar Avtar Singh.

Sources said the deceased was a quack and was arrested on December 14 for possessing narcotics.

“We are in the process of recording the statements of the jail authorities as well as of the doctors. The samples of the viscera have been sent to a laboratory for chemical examination. The cause of death could be ascertained after the lab report comes in,” the Tehsildar said.

Moga, January 22
The president and cashier of the All India Sikh Genocide Welfare Society have been booked by the local police on the charges of fraud for allegedly duping the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots of Rs 5 lakh, an official of the police deparftment said here, today.

The case has been registered against Rajinder Singh Sangha and Baldev Singh, president and cashier of the Society, respectively. Many families of the riot victims filed a complaint against them.

However, both of them were eluding arrest. Preliminary inquiries revealed that as many as one hundred riot-affected families deposited a sum of Rs 5,000 each with the Society, which promised to get them the red card facility from the state government. The red cards are issued to the families of riot victims to enable them get financial benefits and seek jobs from the Punjab government.

It has been alleged by some families that when they asked Sangha to give them the promised red cards, he again demanded Rs 5,000 from them.

A magisterial probe was ordered by the district magistrate, which was conducted by the additional deputy commissioner in this regard.

A police case has been registered on the basis of this magisterial probe, which prima-facie found them guilty as per the complaint.

Ferozepur, January 22
A dispute among a section of members of the Scheduled Caste community and management of SD Sabha Gaushala in connection with ownership and possession of 12 acres of land, located at Rajji Wala village, near this town, has started creating a law and order problem in this area.

About 250 activists of the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj led by its leaders Pipal Sahota and Kikkar Sahota today blocked the traffic at Udham Singh Chowk for hours today to protest against the dispossession of their members from that land by the management of SD Sabha Gaushala with the help of civil and police authorities and subsequently registration of two cases against a section of them.

Kikkar Singh, deputy general secretary, Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, Punjab, warned to intensify stir, if they were not given the possession of land.

Jatinder Mehra, president, SD Sabha Gaushala, said Gaushala management had got the land evicted in the presence of police, revenue and other civil officials after it won a civil suit against the illegal occupants in a court of law.

Police sources said efforts were on to bring a compromise between them, failing which, legal action against those facing criminal cases would continue.

Abohar, January 22
The 13007/13008 Udyan Abha Toofan Mail that runs from Sriganganagar to Howrah will be back on track by February 1. The train was suspended on December 23 last due to foggy weather.

Reservation from February 1 onwards has been started, railway officials confirmed. Railway Passengers Association (North Zone) vice-president Hanuman Dass Goyal welcomed the decision to restore the train but urged the Railway Board chairman to monitor the train on a regular basis to ensure that it runs as per the schedule. He reiterated that the ‘Late Lateef’ train, as it is commonly known, should better be run from Sriganganagar to New Delhi so as to give relief to most of the passengers. — OC