Bathinda, July 19
Residents of Jethuke village, including women, today blocked the Bathinda-Barnala road for hours at Jethuke near Rampura Phul in protest against the non-fulfillment of promises, reportedly made to them by the SAD leaders, regarding round-the-clock domestic power supply to the village and 10-hour daily uninterrupted power supply to the tubewells for irrigation purposes. Leaders of the the Bharatiya Kisan Unions also took part in the protest.

During the protest, the traffic had to be diverted to alternative routes. Vehicle owners and the passengers faced great inconvenience in reaching their destinations due to the blockade which the vilagers said was symbolic.

Rampura block president of the BKU (Dakonda) Balwinder Singh said the fulfillment of their demands was lingering for the past two years.

He said during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the 66 KV power grid in their village, SAD leaders, including Bikramjit Singh Majithia, had assured them of 24-hour domestic power supply and 10-hour uninterrupted power supply for the tube- wells, but to no avail.

He said the farmers were now getting only four to five hours power supply for their tubebells while the villagers were facing three to four hours of daily power cuts.

Balwinder Singh said they had also held talks with the executive engineer of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) the previous day at Jethuke power grid, but he had expressed his inability in fulfilling their demands.

He further said that they would now meet the Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal during her Sangat Darshan programme in the village tomorrow. He said in case the matter was not resolved by tomorrow, then they would block the railway track passing through their village, or would gherao a senior official of the PSPCL.

Leaders of the BKU (Dakonda) and the BKU (Ugrahan), including Baldev Singh Bhai Rupa, Jagjit Singh Bhucho Khurd and Beant Singh Jethuke were also present on the occasion. 

Bathinda, July 19
As the state government has been turning a blind eye towards the recruitment of officers in the Department of Welfare for several years past, a large number of posts of the district welfare officer (DWO) and the tehsil welfare officer (TWO) have been lying vacant.

Due to this, the functioning of these offices is getting hampered. In a couple of districts, the DWOs have been holding dual charge while in some districts, the TWOs have been working as officiating DWOs.

In these circumstances, the poor, especially the Scheduled Castes (SCs) whose population is about 35 per cent in the state and who have a close association with the department, have been facing difficulties in getting work done at their door- steps. The TWOs, who act as field officers in the tehsils, are just not available to them in many areas.

The TWOs do several works for the implementation of welfare schemes. They fill forms for various schemes for the poor and also investigate the contents of the application forms. Disbursement of amounts of the Shagun scheme is a well known task for them.

Sources said that Nawanshehar, Moga and Muktsar districts do not have the sanctioned posts of the DWO. But some posts are being sanctioned. The department already had 17 sanctioned posts of the DWO, of which eight are still lying vacant.

Likewise, there are 46 sanctioned posts of the TWO in the department, of which nearly 15 are vacant. The state has a total of 77 tehsils. Thus, 31 more tehsils do not have a TWO so far. In these circumstances, the work in the tehsils, where there is no TWO, is being run by giving additional charge to others.

Ferozepur, July 19
The Consumer Forum (Ferozepur) has directed a pesticide dealer, Kheti Khad Bhandar, Sodhi Nagar, Ferozepur and Sinochem India Company Private Limited, a pesticide company, to pay Rs one lakh as compensation along with interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum to a farmer of Ferozepur, Gurmej Singh.

The farmer, in his complaint before the Forum, had alleged that after the spray of herbicide sold and manufactured by the above dealer and company, his capsicum crop got destroyed. The crop was sown in an acre along with peas on an alternate pattern basis.

The farmer pleaded that the peas crop was covered with polythene bags and it was not affected. The dealer and the company pleaded that since the samples of the herbicide were not checked by a government approved laboratory, it cannot be substantiated that the herbicide was defective. Even the sample was checked in the laboratory of the company before the release of the herbicide in the market, they contended.

Sanjay Garg, president, Consumer Forum, rejecting all such contentions of the dealer and the company, held that the farmer was not expecting that his crop would be destroyed after the spray of the herbicide. So, he was not expected to preserve a sample of the herbicide.

Relying upon the report of the Government Agriculture Officer, Garg held the dealer and the company liable to pay compensation to the farmer. The farmer was also granted Rs 1000 as litigation expenses.

Hussainiwala (Ferozepur), July 19
The water from the Hussainiwala barrage, constructed over the Sutlej, passing near Radcliffe line diving India and Pakistan, started flowing into the historical Gang canal after 22 years, today.

Though the water started flowing into the Gang canal from the Hussainiwala barrage owing to the efforts made by the Punjab Government, it has also brought cheers to the farmers of Rajasthan as they would get adequate water to irrigate their parched fields.

The Gang canal was constructed during the British era in 1928 by the then ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Bikaner, Maharaja Ganga Singh, from this barrage. About 14 km stretch of the Gang canal, made of stones, was abandoned after the floods that took place in Ferozepur and other parts of Punjab in 1988.

The Gang canal, one of the oldest irrigation systems in Rajasthan and which passed through the territory of Punjab, was constructed to serve the north-western part of Sri Ganganagar and other districts of the desert state of Rajasthan.

The water was never released in the Gang canal after those floods as the Rajasthan government did not give adequate funds to the Punjab government for carrying out its repair. In the past 22 years, heavy silt has choked its bed and turned it into a stinking pond.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that about 500 cusecs of water from the Hussainiwala barrage was released into the Gang canal. The volume of water would be increased to 1000 cusecs within a few days after it is found that the canal was fit to carry that much quantity of water.

Baljit Singh Sandhu, Superintendent Engineer (SE), Irrigation, said the water, which had been released into the Gang canal, would be used to feed other irrigation channels including the Eastern canal and its distributaries so that water could be made available to the farmers, having landholdings at the tail-end of the water courses.

He added that the use of Gang canal would also enable the irrigation authorities to save about 1000 cusecs of water daily, which was being diverted to Pakistan. The volume of water into the Gang canal could be increased or decreased as per the demand.

Sandhu said the quantity of water being released daily from the Bhakra dam was higher than the quantity of water, which was required to feed the irrigation channels, downstream from the Hari Ke headworks and the Hussainiwala barrage and hence, water was being diverted to Pakistan.

The other benefit of this task, which was accomplished by spending about Rs 30 lakh, was that the water from the Hussainiwala barrage would be taken to the Ferozepur feeder canal through the Ballewala head so that adequate water could be supplied to Rajasthan and Punjab in the peak demand season.

Moga, July 19
Tension brewed between the rice millers and the local authorities of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) over the disparity in distribution of space in the storehouse of the Central food procurement agency at Dharamkot in Moga district on Tuesday.

The rice millers alleged that the local authorities of the FCI had suddenly changed the location of space (chakkas) already allocated to the mills in the storehouse, which temporally halted the process of storing the rice already accepted by the food agency.

They informed The Tribune that when the millers went to unload their trucks of rice in the FCI storehouse at Dharamkot this morning, they were confused over the change of space already allocated to them. Resultantly, 12 trucks were standing on the premises of the FCI storehouse waiting to be unloaded and the sheds of the stores were found have been shut down by the FCI amid the controversy till the filing of the news. “The sudden move of the FCI to change the ‘chakkas’ in the middle of the milling process has created confusion among millers,” said Inderpreet Singh Bunty, local leader, Millers Association.

District Manager, FCI, KD Jain admitted that there were distribution disparities over space allocation to the millers but the FCI would soon solve the matter. "It is not a big issue," he added.

It may be mentioned that as per the practice prevailing for the past many years, the rice millers used to identify their space themselves in the FCI storehouses with mutual understanding to avoid any differences amongst them but the FCI authorities in Dharamkot had changed the past practice creating confusions.

As per the details available, as much as 35 per cent of the paddy procured in the last year was yet to be milled by the millers owing to labour problems. Adding that if the FCI authorities intend to change the space allocations in the middle of the milling process, the rice millers feared that it would not only affect the process of milling but also storing it scientifically. 

Ferozepur, July 19
A Pakistani national, Mohammad Ishfaq, who was arrested by the jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday near the Old Mohamdi Wala border observation post (BOP) in the district, swam across the Sutlej to India by tying a rubber tube on his body.

Notably, Ishfaq's brother, a notorious smuggler, Mohamad Iqlah,k was already in the Ferozepur Central Jail. He was arrested by the BSF jawans in 2009 after an encounter in the Chowki Tapu post area.

Ishfaq had brought arms, ammunition and fake currency in the rubber tube, which he tied to his body and used it to swim across to India through the Sutlej.

Though Rajesh Gupta, DIG, BSF, Ferozepur sector, claimed that Ishfaq was arrested on Sunday night, information gathered by the TNS revealed that Ishfaq crossed over to India on July 15 itself.

After crossing over to India, Ishfaq hid himself in the fields dotted with crops near the Old Mohamdi Wala BOP and kept making calls to his contact person in India to deliver him the consignment including a gun, a pistol, 100 cartridges and fake Indian currency notes (FICNs) worth Rs 7.95 lakh.

However, before Ishfaq could contact his pointsmen, he fell into the net of the BSF jawans of the 143 Battalion. Ishfaq stayed without food for two days.

The sleuths of the intelligence wing of the BSF kept Ishfaq in their custody for more than 50 hours to extract information from him.

Ishfaq was handed over to the local police today in the afternoon. A case against him was also registered at the police station concerned.

Gupta said Ishfaq's arrest was one of the major achievements of the BSF authorities. He said whether Ishfaq was acting as an agent of ISI or not, would be known only after the investigation. 

Abohar, July 19
Alert kids foiled an attempt by a motorcyclist to kidnap them here today. As per the details, Zia (10) and her brother Deepak (7) were lured by a motorcyclist under some pretext when they were playing near their house in Sant Nagar area.

As the kids grew suspicious, they asked him to drop them back in their locality. The motorcyclist pushed Deepak down on the outskirts of the town and tried to take along Zia.

She jumped and raised an alarm. SAD Muktsar district vice-president Ajit Singh Gill, who passed through the road after a few minutes, took care of the children.

Gill escorted the two children to Sant Nagar and reunited them with their parents.

Both of them have been hospitalised with injuries that they sustained.

Ferozepur, July 19
Within a few hours of the recovery of the body of a girl from the area near a government polytechnic college on the outskirts of the city, the police have arrested one Roshan Singh. The deceased girl has been identified as Nisha alias Kali, daughter of Buta Singh, a resident of Zira road in the city.

Harinder Singh, SHO, City, said the police received the information that a body was lying in a pool of blood on the Dulchike road in the city. After establishing the identity of the girl, the police started investigating and soon zeroed in on Roshan Singh with whom Nisha was staying. Roshan allegedly hit her with sharp-edged weapons yesterday after they a verbal duel.

The police have recovered the weapon used in the crime. SSP Kaustubh Sharma confirmed that Roshan has been arrested in connection with the murder of the girl.

Sriganganagar, July 19
Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) teams from Jaipur and Jodhpur have arrived here to question Major Singh and his brother Gurmeet Singh. They were arrested on Saturday during the joint operation launched by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Rajasthan police in the border town of Hindumalkot following the arrest of their cousin Balkaran Singh with 3.5 kg heroin under the NDPS Act on the Hindumalkot-Abohar road by the Abohar police.

A search of their houses in Hindumalkot had led to the recovery of 1.9 kilogram heroin, Rs 2.73 lakh fake Indian currency smuggled from Pakistan in Rs 500 denomination and two Chinese pistol along with 12 live cartridges.

While Major Singh and Gurmeet Singh were listed as heads of the BPL families and worked as daily wage earners, Gurmeet had also served as a home guard in the border wing on an ad hoc basis.

The wives of Major Singh and Gurmeet Singh had reportedly revealed to the sleuths of the Central and state intelligence agencies that they had picked up the packets containing heroin from a field, located close to the cremation ground, a stone’s throw away from the barbed wire fencing three months back.

They had gone there to arrange grass for the cattle. The women were escorted by the sleuths to the spot where they had reportedly spotted the packets. The mother of the culprits, who returned from Muktsar on Saturday, was stunned by the recovery of the fake Indian currency and 7.62 MM Chinese pistols. Their children were found moving barefoot, attired in shabby clothes. The landless daily wage earners own two goats only. While Major Singh and Gurmeet Singh were remanded in custody of Rajasthan police till July 25, the Abohar police got five-day remand of their cousin Balkaran Singh.

The ATS teams led by DSP Mahesh Hukku and inspector Sunil Sharma visited Hindumalkot to examine the soft channels used by the international smugglers recently.

Notably, most of the pro-Khalistan militants including Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Dr Sohan Singh and Avtar Singh Brahma had reportedly been frequenting the Hindumalkot border during their stay in Pakistan between 1982-92.

The ATS appears to be concerned over the spurt in the smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian currency and Chinese weapons through the border. The state agencies had during this year nabbed persons, who were living like paupers in the border district but working for the ISI, Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency.

Faridkot, July 19
The installation ceremony of Rotary Club President Dr Bimal Garg and his team was held at Sandhu Palace, Faridkot.

The other office- bearers are senior vice-president Dr SPS Sodhi, vice-president Davinder Singh, secretary Sanjiv Mittal, treasurer Pardeep Kataria and seargent-at-arms Sukhbir Sachdeva.

Ramesh Chander Jain administered the oath to the new team. Member of Parliament Bibi Paramjit Kaur Gulshan was the chief guest.

District Governor nominee Vinod Bansal from RID 3010 was the keynote speaker from New Delhi.

He urged Rotary Club, Faridkot, to set up a dialysis centre and an eye hospital. Mohal Lal,

Additional Deputy Commissioner, presided over the function.