Gurdaspur, July 14
Like wraiths from a frenzied imagination, his famished limbs and skeletal fingers point towards his fields which have been hit by the scourge of waterlogging for the past so many decades.

This is Col Surjit Singh’s vision of repulsion - and horror - as he tediously curses his destiny and repeatedly points towards his three-acre field, which produces just one crop a year.

Same is the case with residents of nearly 150 villages, scattered all over Dinanagar, Gurdaspur and Kahnuwan blocks of this district, where many like Col Singh are fighting a losing battle against waterlogging.

Owing to poverty and the rigid stance adopted by moneylenders, many small and marginal farmers have committed suicide. A case in point is the suicide of a farmer of Meelwan village who consumed pesticides recently because he was indebted to various banks from whom he took loans but was never in a position to pay the interest leave alone the principal amount.

The worst-affected villages are Pherochichi, Purana Shala, Kotli Sanian, Chak Sharif, Gunupur, Saidowal, Dala Gori, Maan, Chopra, Lamin Karal, Cheena Bet, Nanowal Jinder and Ghorewah.

A majority of the villages in the affected cluster are inhabited by farmers who have small land holdings and have been caught in a vicious trap of debt and death.

Gurmeet Singh Cheena, an affected farmer of Pherochichi, said: “Water-logging means we can have just one crop (paddy) a year. If we try to have another one (fodder) which often dries up, we are left with no other alternative except to take loans from banks and moneylenders at exorbitant rates. We have to take care of our children but destiny has ensured that our kids-like us- remain consigned to the vagaries of nature. Politicians and elections come and go. However, nobody cares for us.”

Disclosed Jatinder Kaur, Sarpanch of Pherochich, “Former Punjab Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon visited our villages way back in 1962. After hearing our tales of woes, he instructed Drainage Department officials to construct 8 to10 feet sand bundhs along the river Beas, which was one big reason of water-logging. That helped to a great extent. However, for reasons not known to us, we are back to square one and this thorn in our flesh (waterlogging) is back to haunt us.”

Experts believe that the life of these poor farmers will not change till the government steps in to do its bit or nature changes its own course. However, the grim fact is that for these residents, neither of the two options, one manmade and the other natural, seems to hold much water.

Amritsar, July 14
Following the red alert sounded in the holy city in the aftermath of serial bomb blasts in the financial capital of the country, Mumbai, leaving at least 20 dead and a number of persons seriously injured, the city police today rounded up about 50 persons for suspicious activities.

“Though several persons were let off after preliminary investigations, the remaining would be freed only after checking their antecedents,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Amar Singh Chahal.

A large number of policemen were put on duty and search operations intensified at densely populated areas and markets, including near the Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, railway station, bus stand, Lawrence Road, Hall Bazaar, near Celebration Mall, etc.

Chahal said heavy deployment had been made with policemen from the Police Lines and various police offices and reserve battalions had been pressed into service to keep round-the-clock vigil on suspicious elements and movements.

Pathankot, July 14
A man his son were killed in a road accident when the auto-rickshaw they were travelling in was hit by an Army vehicle near Chhatwal Army Colony on the Pathankot-Kangra road here today. According to information, Vijay Kumar (31), driver of the auto-rickshaw, and his father Prem Chand (62) were going to their residence in Mamun village.

In the meantime, the residents of the nearby villages gathered at the site and sat on a dharna and blocked traffic on the Pathankot-Kangra road. The traffic remained disrupted for more than two hours The residents lifted the dharna after the police registered a case against the erring driver. The Army too has assured to hold court of inquiry in the matter.

Bodies of the Vijay Kumar and Prem Chand were handed over to the family after the postmortem. — OC

Amritsar, July 14
The Vigilance Bureau (VB) today nabbed ASI Bhupinder Singh of the Vigilance and Security Wing of Powercom for allegedly demanding Rs 3,000 as bribe for not registering an FIR against a consumer for stealing electricity.

Kulwant Kaur, a resident of Baba Budda Singh Colony, Jhabal Road, in her complaint to the VB stated that a raid was conducted by the Vigilance Wing of Powercom in May and they were charged Rs 30,000 for stealing electricity. She said her family returned the amount in three instalments and a report regarding it was to be sent to the wing by Bhupinder Singh. However, he started demanded Rs 3,000 for filing the report to the wing, while their repeated requests failed to bore any fruit.

She filed the complaint at the VB office, which constituted a team, led by a DSP-level officer, along with government witnesses. They caught Bhupinder Singh accepting the bribe.