Bathinda, April 5
In an unprecedented instance, five Congress councillors of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (BMC), including two women, were suspended during the Zero Hour of the general house meeting held today.

The action was an outcome of the councillors’ alleged defiance of the decorum of the House as they refused to accept Baljeet Singh Birbehman as the Mayor and started holding a parallel meeting in the well of the House.

The councillors suspended were Jagroop Singh Gill, Jasveer Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Jasvir Kaur and Pinki Rani.

Just as the Zero Hour began, Jagroop Singh Gill, leader of the Congress councillors, accused the Mayor of not bringing the objections lodged by the Congress councillors on the record by putting them in the minutes of general house meeting.

Though the Mayor tried to pacify him claiming that he was not biased against anybody, Gill challenged his supremacy and announced that none of the Congress councillors would accept him as the Mayor. Lodging a protest, Gill and four of his party colleagues dragged chairs to the well of the House and started holding a separate meeting.

Taking their gesture as disrespect to the House as well to the Mayor’s chair, senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal asked the Mayor to suspend them all with immediate effect.

With a thumping nod from all the SAD-BJP councillors, the Mayor announced their suspension from the House for today.

Since the suspended councillors did not leave the House despite orders in writing, the Mayor directed his gunmen to show them the door. Finding the cops coming close to pick them up, the five agitating councillors left the House on their own and staged a dharna outside the meeting hall.

Speaking to the media persons, the Mayor and the senior deputy mayor alleged that Jagroop Gill and his party colleagues had come with a pre-determined motive to disturb the proceedings of the House as they did not even mark their presence in the attendance register of the House.

Later, the SAD-BJP councillors, without even opening the agenda list, passed all 10 items unanimously. The items included a Rs 40-crore sewerage project in the localities across the railway lines, purchase of 10 non-AC buses, laying drainage system for Sirki Bazar and purchase of sewerage cleaning machines.

Meanwhile, some of the councillors, including Mithu Ram Gupta, Raj Kumar Garga and Rajan Garg, demanded uniform grants for the development of all the wards in the city.

Bathinda, April 5
The local Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), which is the first power producing project of the state, set up in 1975 to energise Punjab households and agriculture sector, has earned the title of ‘diseases producer’ instead of ‘power producer’ for the residents of this city.

What has made the GNDTP an eyesore for lakhs of the residents here is the fact that it has become a major source of coal ash rains in the area, which has been causing different types of aliments to the residents belonging to all age groups.

Though studies conducted by different agencies of the state government and non-governmental organisations to measure the impact of pollution on the health of the residents have reported that the coal ash rain has started affecting the health of people, the authorities concerned are yet to take a note of it.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that thousands of residents of this city had become patients of asthma, tuberculosis, skin allergies and bronchitis while thousands had been suffering from eye and respiratory ailments. Hundreds of children were suffering from asthma.

A report submitted by a panel of doctors of the local Civil Hospital to the then sub-divisional magistrate in 2006 revealed that the coal ash, which had been raining in Bathinda after being emitted from the chimneys of the GNDTP, had been wreaking havoc on the health of the residents.

During the evening, people living in the colonies in the vicinity of the GNDTP find it difficult to breath properly.

Sources said the authorities concerned had failed to take any action to check the menace of coal ash rain despite the fact that even the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had pointed out that the emission level from chimneys of the GNDTP was higher than the prescribed limit.

Gurkirat Kaur, who has done masters in engineering from the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala,  in her thesis on the subject related to the study of renovation of GNDTP units with installation of electrostatic precipitator (ESP), has concluded that the ESPs were insufficient to cope with the dust concentration in the fuel gases.

MM Behl, convener of the joint action committee, said the GNDTP authorities had promised that all four units would be renovated by the end of December 2010 to save the residents from the coal ash rain but it had not be done so far. He added that city residents were not able to use their rooftops for any purpose because of the fly ash.

He claimed that in response to the PIL filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the GNDTP authorities had given an undertaking that the pollution level would be brought under control by the end of June 2011.

K Lal, general manager, GNDTP, when contacted, said while units I and II had been renovated the renovation of unit III was expected to be completed by August 2011. After that, the renovation of unit IV would be taken up.

Doda (Muktsar), April 5
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would storm the Gidderbaha assembly segment, known as the political bastion of his nephew and ousted finance minister Manpreet Badal, on April 8. Manpreet had been elected to te Vidhan Sabha from Gidderbaha four consecutive times.

Badal did not pay any visit to the Gidderbaha assembly segment after Manpreet Badal parted company with SAD (B). He even avoided visit to his native village Badal for a considerable time after a split took place in the Badal clan few months ago.

However, in the past few days, Badal has started taking Manpreet Badal head on and has been attacking him in different forms and on various occasions. Hence, much political significance is being attached to the visit of Badal to the Gidderbaha assembly segment on April 8 and after that also.

Badal contested a number of elections against the Congress candidates from the Gidderbaha assembly constituency before he introduced Manpreet Badal as the SAD (B) candidate from there in the 1995 bypoll when Beant Singh was the chief minister. Manpreet Badal has submitted his resignation as member of the Punjab assembly before he floated Punjab People's Party.

Badal along with a battery of senior functionaries of the state government and local leaders would begin holding Sangat Darshans from April 8 from one of the villages in the Gidderbaha assembly segment and would cover all its villages and town in a phased manner. The second series of Sangat Darshan would be held on April 12.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that the CM, who is known as 'Pash' in the area, would also give liberal grants to the Panchayats and other organisations for carrying out development projects in the Gidderbaha assembly segment.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, while presiding over the prize distribution function at a kabaddi championship organised here today, also announced that the residents of Gidderbaha assembly segment must make a list of their demands so that the chief minister could accept them on the spot.

He also announced that Badal would resolve all the problems being faced by the people of Gidderbaha assembly segment. He said that after holding Sangat Darshan on April 8 and April 12, the CM would also hold two series of Sangat Darshan in the second part in this month.

The Deputy CM said the Punjab government would pump money in all parts of Punjab for development projects like anything., adding that the Congress leadership was trying to befool the people by indulging in a false campaign saying the state was gripped by economic crisis. He also announced Rs five lakh as grant for the construction of a portion of the local stadium. 

Bathinda, April 5
The Lok Bhalai Party (LBP), headed by former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, never approved of the idea of paying blood money to get the death penalty of the Indian nationals waived in a murder case. The LBP chief said this here today while releasing a letter written to the Union External Affairs Minister SM Krishana that relates to 17 Indian nationals, who have been awarded death sentence by the Sharjah Court for the murder of a Pakistani.

Ramoowalia said the Sharjah Court had asked the parties concerned to reach an out-of-court settlement, which meant payment of blood money to the family of the deceased and acceptance of the crime.

In the letter, Ramoowalia mentioned, “Having analysed the proceedings, I am of the view that blood money is not the proper answer and my party has never approved of this idea. Prosecution in this case could not establish its claims fully. The blood samples did not match with any of the accused and there is no corroborative evidence. The main witness could not identify even a single person in the court and the police theory could not stand in the court.”

He further added, “I, therefore, request that in the fitness of things, it would be appropriate that the whole matter is fought legally and the same be got thoroughly examined by our Law Ministry and suitable guidelines be suggested to Indian mission in Dubai.”

Ramoowalia also asked the Union government to allow the Indian mission in Dubai to fight the case of these 17 Indian nationals.

He also presented Jagdev Singh from Sangherra village (Barnala), whose son Sukhjot Singh is among the 17 Indian nationals, before the media persons. The LBP chief asked the relatives of the 17 convicts not to indulge in blood money settlement. However, the Government of India should make all efforts to save the lives of the Indian nationals, he added.

Meanwhile, Ramoowalia flayed political parties, including the SAD, the BJP, the Congress and the Manpreet Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab, saying that these parties had no concern with the real issues of the people. He said that in the ensuring Assembly election, his party would raise people-oriented issues like unemployment, illiteracy, rising prices, special category benefits for Punjab for flourishing industry etc.

Ramoowalia also said he had not entered into any agreement with Chief Minister Parkash Sing Badal regarding the ensuing polls. He was also not sure about the allotment of space to his party for organising a conference on Baisakhi in Talwandi Sabo this year, he added.

Bathinda, April 5
The dream of the state government to start the first session of the ultra-modern state sports school, which is to come up at the Chief Minister’s ancestral village Ghudda in the district this month, appears to be a remote possibility as the selection team is finding it tough to get eligible budding players.

Speaking about the school, CM Parkash Singh Badal had recently announced that the maiden batch of the school consisting of 180 players, including 60 girls (all under 14 years of age), is scheduled to start from the transit campus that has been set up on the premises of the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda.

To keep his words, the Sports Department is hurriedly conducting selection trials at the Government Rajindra College, Bathinda, from April 4-7. The trials are being held under the supervision of Olympian Sukhvir Singh Grewal. Students from class VI-VIII in government schools across the state are eligible for the trials.

However, the selection team is not happy with the outcome. On the first day, only 47 and 69 students got registered for the trials of basketball and volleyball, respectively. Out of them, just seven girls participated in the trials for basketball and nine for the volleyball. Moreover, nearly 90 per cent of the participants were adjudged ineligible for being above the permissible age.

On the second day today, the number of participants during the trials for hockey was better than yesterday. Nearly 100 boys and 40 girls participated in the trials. Interestingly, all of them belonged to the Bathinda district only.

The selection team is not much hopeful that they would be able to get good players during the next two days when trials for athletics, weightlifting, boxing, kabaddi and football will be held.

“We had inserted advertisements in newspapers and even sent letters to all District Education Officers in the state. Still, the response is very poor. If things remain the same, I doubt that we would get sufficient number of players to run the school,” said District Sports Officer Vijay Kumar.

Seeking anonymity, the staff conducting the trials said, “Fearing a decline in the number of their students, a majority of schools in the state did not even convey the message about the trials to students and their parents. Action must be taken against them for depriving the budding players of a golden opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Olympian Sukhvir Singh Grewal said, “Observing the poor attendance of players at the venue of trials, I have planned to visit the surrounding towns and select players on my own, as I want the school to run and produce great sportspersons.”

Sriganganagar, April 5
While rejecting the charter of demands presented by different farmers’ organisations demanding postponement, the Irrigation Department has finally decided to go ahead with the closure of the Gang (Bikaner) canal to take up the long-awaited lining work.

However, work on the Indira Gandhi canal has been deferred. Most of the work is to be carried out in the Abohar-Fazilka areas through which the canal passes. The department has not given significance to the report of the Agriculture Department suggesting that closure should be effected after April 30 to facilitate sowing of kharif crops.

Chief Engineer NS Satsangi and Superintending Engineer Amarjit Singh Mehrada informed DC Mugdha Sinha that water supply from the Harike headworks to the Gang canal will be suspended on April 10 to start the lining work by April 12. Ten contractors have agreed to carry out the work as per the norms of the department. — OC

Fazilka, April 5
Three members of a family, arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) sleuths, while trying to smuggle two kilograms of heroin in the Gorkha Gatti (GG) border observation post (BOP) area on the Indo-Pak border yesterday in this pocket, were acting as courier for smugglers who handled international operations.

This came to light during the preliminary investigations conducted by the BSF sleuths. The three accused, including Phalak Singh, his wife Jago Bai and son Jasvir Singh, were acting as courier of narcotics on behalf of a person, who resides in another village bordering Pakistan.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that the accused, residents of Bhaini Gulaba village, had picked up packets containing two kilograms of heroin, which was dumped in their fields, located across the cobra fencing, by the Pakistan-based smugglers.

The accused had picked those packets after they were asked to do so by that person, who lived in a nearby village and had been acting as 'contact person' for the Pakistan-based smugglers to handle their operations in India.

Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar sector, said that the person, who had directed the accused to pick up the packets and smuggle them out, had been identified and the police authorities concerned had been asked to include his name in the FIR, registered in this connection at the police station concerned.

While addressing media persons at the BSF camp in Rampura village, the BSF DIG disclosed that the accused had adopted a new modus operandi to smuggle the narcotics, which was seized from gate number one of GG BOP. The accused had inserted the packets of heroin into the battery of the tractor, being used by them for agricultural operations.

He added that Lakhwinder Singh, brother of Phalak Singh, was arrested a few years ago for his alleged involvement in smuggling of narcotics. However, Lakhwinder Singh escaped from police custody and had been declared a proclaimed offender by the court. Two kilograms of heroin was seized from Lakhwinder Singh at that time by the security agencies.

He said all the accused had been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh. He said that as per the intelligence inputs, security had been beefed up to sanitize the Indo-Pak border. 

Sriganganagar, April 5
A Pakistan national identified as Akram was nabbed today by the Kisan guards who had been recruited to assist the Border Security Force for surveillance in Anoopgarh sector today. Sources said Akram sneaked about 700 metres inside the Indian territory after crossing the Zero Line near pillar number 368 about one km from the Kailash border outpost. He was arrested under Section 13/14 of the Foreigners Act and 3/6 of the Indian Passport Act. — OC

Bathinda, April 5
Taking an exception to the criminal case lodged against two advocates, namely Surjeet Singh Dhillon and his son Sukhdeep Singh Dhillon, for assaulting a PCR cop on Sunday night, a deputation of the District Bar Association, led by its president Rajan Garg, met the Bathinda SSP today and urged him to probe the matter before taking any action against the father-son duo.

Garg claimed, “After listening to our demand, the SSP assured that the advocates would not be arrested before a thorough probe is conducted into the matter. Due to the SSP’s assurance we did not take to protest to get justice.”

Bathinda, April 5
Four of the 10 members of the FCI Palledar Union, who were booked for killing a member of the Punjab Pardesh Palledar Union and assaulting others in the bloody clash on Monday evening at Maur Mandi, were arrested today.

Those booked for the crime under various sections, including murder (section 302 of the IPC), were Satpal alias Latu, Pritam Singh, Dulla Singh, Goda Singh, Sohan Singh, Moda Singh, Harbans Singh, Jaspal Singh, Sikander Singh and Janak Singh.

The cause of the clash was reportedly a dispute between the two groups over the awarding of wheat loading contract in Maur Mandi to the Punjab Pardesh Palledar Union.

In their statement to the police, the members of the Punjab Pardesh Palledar Union accused the FCI group of palledars of nursing hatred against them for the contract of three government purchase agencies was awarded to their union.“Irked, the FCI group of palledars assaulted our members with sharp-edged weapons, rods and lathis, which led to the killing of one of our members Jaila Singh of Ghumman Kalan. Many of us were injured in the assault,” they alleged.

Acting upon the complaint, the Maur police booked 10 persons by name and some unidentified persons. After conducting post-mortem, the police handed over the body of Jaila Singh to the bereaved kin and got his last rites performed amid tight security at his village. On the other hand, members of the Punjab Pardesh Palledar Union also accused the Maur police of not taking their rivalry over awarding of the contract seriously, which led to the clash.

Maur DSP Gurmeet Singh said, “We are conducting raids to nab the accused and four of them have been arrested.” He said he would probe the allegations that cops were callous in preventing the incident.

Meanwhile, he said none of the FCI Palledar Union was injured in the clash as was being alleged last night and it was a mere tactic on their part to get a cross-case registered.