The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Transport Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani addresses mediapersons in Bathinda on Sunday. A Tribune photograph No revision in fare of govt buses: Minister
Bathinda, September 25
Fares of none of the buses would be revised in the state, said Transport Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani, who was in the city to inaugurate a medical check-up camp at the Mahavir Dal Hospital. While interacting with mediapersons, he said 300 buses were being introduced by the Punjab Roadways. “Buses would be gradually added to the fleet. Next month, 40 to 50 buses would be inducted.

Transport Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani addresses mediapersons in Bathinda on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Once a national champ, pugilist now fistfights poverty
Ferozepur, September 25
Knocked down by extreme poverty along with the apathy of the authorities concerned, ace boxer Romikant Bhasin, who had won over a dozen gold medals in various state, university and national level championships, is a disillusioned man today. “Earlier, a private company had promised to employ me as coach. However, someone else was later accommodated in my place,” alleged Romikant, while speaking to The Tribune here. “I started my career in boxing in 1978 when I took admission in Sports College, Jalandhar,” he said, adding that his first success came in the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter College Championship where he won a gold medal in the featherweight category.

Admn intensifies efforts to ‘pollute’ Malukpura distributary
Abohar, September 25
Efforts to drain out highly-contaminated drain water into the Malukpura distributary have been intensified by pressing into service all available resources, including tractor-supported pumping sets, JCB machines besides man power, at the city bypass here.

Drain water inundates fields
CM skips visit to Abohar villages
Abohar, September 25
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cancelled his scheduled visit to the villages that had been ravaged due to the drain water fury since September 2 in the Balluana segment of Abohar sub-division.

Polls come and go but rainwater stays
Muktsar, September 25
Be it a Panchayat or Lok Sabha election. The political parties in the Muktsar district have been wooing the voters by assuring them of solving the problem of waterlogging for over a decade. However, the situation continues to remain the same.

	DGP’s visit to Moga remains low-key affair Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Moga, September 25 A month after he was accused of nurturing the Moga Assembly constituency politically, DGP PS Gill’s visit to Moga on Sunday remained a low-key affair. The DGP is being seen as a prospective SAD (B) candidate from the Moga Assembly constituency. Earlier, the DGP was making whirlwind tours of 7-8 villages on his each week-end visit to his ancestral town Moga. However, after the state Congress accused him of ‘misusing’ the official machinery for political advantage and the Election Commission asking for a probe into the allegations, there was an abrupt stoppage to the DGP’s frequent visits to Moga. After about a month, when DGP Gill reached here on Sunday to lay the foundation stone of an office in the police complex, the public gathering was very limited. The DGP held meetings with the district police officials but his public address was sans political connotations. In his address, the DGP said the state government had completed the modalities to set up a police university in the state, which aimed at equipping the police with the expertise of new technologies and technical methods of solving and investigating sophisticated crimes. Gill said over 6,200 constables, including 485 women, would be recruited at district headquarters across the state in the coming days. “Earlier, the policemen were recruited at state level and many of these got themselves transferred to their home districts thereby creating shortage of employees in some districts. Now, the recruitment will be at district level so that there is no extra burden of transfers and no shortage of police force in any district,” said the DGP. IGP (Bathinda range) Nirmal Singh Dhillon, the DIG Ferozepur, and Moga SSP Snehdeep Sharma accompanied the DGP.
	'VVIP' areas fall under dengue, malaria attack Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Lambi (Muktsar), Sept 25 The stagnant floodwater has resulted in an alarming rise of dengue, malaria and viral fever cases in the politically ‘VVIP’ assembly constituency. The situation has frightened the residents of Lambi and neighbouring Malout area. The Health Department is also alert to prevent the outbreak of dengue and malaria. The total number of dengue cases in the Muktsar district has risen to 186, the maximum in the state. A total of 160 cases have come up in the Ludhiana district while 105 cases were reported in Bathinda. The state Health Department has started an intensive campaign especially in Lambi and Malout as more fever cases have been reported in these areas due to high breeding of mosquitoes in the accumulated rainwater. “Two days back, 14 more executive engineers from the Drainage and other departments were deputed in Lambi, Gidderbaha and Malout area to supervise the draining out of the floodwater. Now, the Health Department has also pressed more employees in the area to control further outbreak of dengue, malaria and viral fever,” said Dr Amit Kumar, Assistant Director, Health Department, Punjab. Officials of the district Health Department also carried out door-to-door campaign in vulnerable areas, including Alamwala and Doda. Dr Sanjiv Sethi, District Health Nodal official, said the dengue larvae mainly breed in fresh water but the stagnant rainwater may increase malaria and fever cases.“A total of 47 new dengue cases have been reported in the Muktsar district in the last 24 days. This is the highest number as compared to other districts,” pointed out the sources. Dr Sethi said, “Every dengue patient, either in a private clinic or a government hospital in the district, is recorded by the Health Department.” However, sources said besides 186 dengue cases, there are many other patients, who have been undergoing treatment outside Muktsar. Expressing concern over the rising number of dengue patients in his home district, CM Parkash Singh Badal has directed the Health Department authorities to intensify campaign and ensure proper arrangements for the treatment. The Health Department has even brought some malaria controllers from Patiala and Ferozepur to start ‘search and destroy’ campaign to do away with the mosquitoes in Lambi and Malout.
	No revision in fare of govt buses: Minister Tribune News Service Bathinda, September 25 Fares of none of the buses would be revised in the state, said Transport Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani, who was in the city to inaugurate a medical check-up camp at the Mahavir Dal Hospital. While interacting with mediapersons, he said 300 buses were being introduced by the Punjab Roadways. “Buses would be gradually added to the fleet. Next month, 40 to 50 buses would be inducted. All are non-AC buses. In the last coupe of years, traffic on the roads has increased and increasing base of public transport system is the only way to ease congestion and provide people with an alternative,” Jiyani added. Talking about the JEE-IIT mass copying case at Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology (GZSCET), he said none of the culprits would be spared. Dwelling on his aspirations, he said he would contest the Assembly elections from Fazilka only.
	Once a national champ, pugilist now fistfights poverty Anirudh Gupta Ferozepur, September 25 Knocked down by extreme poverty along with the apathy of the authorities concerned, ace boxer Romikant Bhasin, who had won over a dozen gold medals in various state, university and national level championships, is a disillusioned man today. Having devoted the prime of his life to his favourite sport of boxing, Romikant, in absence of any job or vocation which could fetch him some money to support his family, is running from pillar to post in search of employment. “Earlier, a private company had promised to employ me as coach. However, someone else was later accommodated in my place,” alleged Romikant, while speaking to The Tribune here. “I started my career in boxing in 1978 when I took admission in Sports College, Jalandhar,” he said, adding that his first success came in the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter College Championship where he won a gold medal in the featherweight category. Romikant did not look back since and went on to win several events which included the North Zone Senior Boxing Championship (1982), Dr YS Parmar All Indian Boxing Championship held at Shimla, Himachal Open Boxing Championship ( 1985), Punjab Senior Boxing Championship held at Khanna (1985) and the 32nd Senior National Boxing Championship at Pune (1986). He was also declared the best boxer in the bantamweight category during the Punjab Senior Boxing Championship held at Moga in 1983. He also participated in the Pre-Asian Games Boxing event in 1982. Besides these achievements, Romikant has also a diploma from the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. At times, the Army regiments hire him to impart training to jawans, but that happens once in a while on an ad hoc basis which does not help his plight. “All these years, I have been serving the sport of boxing as a player and later, as an instructor, imparting free coaching to the youngsters” said Romikant and added that now he felt helpless and dejected as his own children have started hating the sport because it did not fetch him anything to support the family. Ashok Sharma, secretary, Sports Association of Ferozpur (SAF), said it was ironical that while the state government is claiming to have doled out crores on the promotion of sports in Punjab, an ace sportsman like Romikant is finding it hard even to make both ends meet. District Sports Officer (retd) Harnarain Singh demanded that the government should suitablly adjust Romikant in the sports department so that he can continue to render his services in the field of boxing. When contacted, Sunil Kumar, District Sports Officer said he has already forwarded the case of Romikant for appointment as a coach to the Director, Sports, Punjab.
	Admn intensifies efforts to ‘pollute’ Malukpura distributary Raj Sadosh Abohar, September 25 Efforts to drain out highly-contaminated drain water into the Malukpura distributary have been intensified by pressing into service all available resources, including tractor-supported pumping sets, JCB machines besides man power, at the city bypass here. As the authorities are already in the dock over digging of the state highway near Wahabwala village and Abohar-Seetogunno-Dabwali-New Delhi road, they preferred to lift accumulating water from east to west side of the Seetogunno bypass road by using pumps fitted to tractors. Four JCB machines have dug eight-feet wide drain along the bypass during the past four days but the flow of water towards the Malukpura distributary was not normal, a media team found on Sunday afternoon. Some trees would also be axed to dig the temporary drain. Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg, who visited Kailash Nagar on the Seetogunno road along with scores of other civil and police officials, was told that the diversion of drain water from Bahawalbasi side could threaten urban localities in the interior of the town if it was not pumped out. He was also informed that the breach in the sewerage disposal water channel had inundated crops and farm houses around Killianwali village. It has been now decided to divert the sewage to the industrial focal point near the Alamgarh-Sriganganagar bypass. Local officials have reportedly been directed to prevent farmers from creating a bundh to check the flow of sewage to their respective fields as there seems to be no other way out. The affected farmers would be duly compensated, the administration assured. The authorities have decided to keep the canal system closed and also advised the local Municipal Council to supply potable water in different localities through tankers.

Drain water inundates fields
CM skips visit to Abohar villages
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 25
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cancelled his scheduled visit to the villages that had been ravaged due to the drain water fury since September 2 in the Balluana segment of Abohar sub-division.

The CM was to reach Seetogunno village (sub-tehsil headquarter) in the evening and visit the surrounding villages. The officials had been directed that the CM would be visiting Wahabwala among other villages on Monday morning.

Scores of state government officials had been moving in the affected areas for the past 24 hours to give final touches to the arrangements but they retreated in the afternoon on learning that the CM had cancelled the visit.

Initially, the visit was planned for September 27 and 28 but it was preponed for Sunday and Monday. Earlier on two occasions, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had cancelled his visit while campaigning for the SGPC elections.

Although officials remained tight-lipped over the development, well-informed sources said the intelligence agencies had briefed the Chief Minister about the prevailing resentment among farmers.

Kisan Sangharsh Samiti president Vijay Singh Bhadoo, who was monitoring the plugging of 200-feet wide breach in the Abulkhurana drain by nearly thousand volunteers at village Sardarpura, said CM Parkash Singh Badal might have anticipated that anguishing farmers would be “greeting” him in an unpleasant mood.

AICC national working committee member and former MP Jagmeet Singh Brar said that during visit to village Wahabwala in the afternoon today, “Badal and his son can’t face the people who had been ruined by diversion of water from their home turf Lambi. The funds earmarked for cleaning of drains by the Centre were not utilised perfectly by the state government during the past four years. Cleansing and widening of drains could have saved the villages in this region from devastating floods, he remarked.

Ex-MLA from Balluana Parkash Singh Bhatti and Abohar MLA Sunil Jakhar said the Chief Minister deserved to be blamed for damaging of crops on over 10,000 acres in 15 villages of this area only to save less than a thousand acres in his constituency Lambi. In most of the villages, people had shifted valuables as well as children to safer areas as hundreds of houses had collapsed, they said.