B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Woman, two children commit suicide in Mansa
Mansa, June 5
In a tragic incident, three members of a family, including two children and a mother, today allegedly committed suicide by hanging themselves from the roof of their house.

Farmers block national highway in protest
Abohar, June 5
Anguished over impounding of a wheat-laden tractor-trailer by the sales tax officials here, hundreds of farmers staged a dharna at the terminal of the Malout chowk near the police complex here resulting in traffic jam on the National Highway-10.

DGP Shashikant to pen his experiences
Ferozepur, June 5
Having remained in the news for series of radical changes he had initiated in the functioning of the jail department during the last few months, the DGP (Prisons) Shashikant now wants to pen down his experiences.
                               DGP (Prisons) Shashikant
Relocation of F’pur Central Jail hangs in balance

Protesting jobless teachers to meet minister today
Lehra Dhurkot (Bathinda), June 5
The TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) qualified unemployed teachers have lifted the blockade on the Barnala-Rampura road and are now continuing their protest by squatting on the roadside. The decision to this effect was taken by leaders of the protesting teachers late in the evening following an assurance by the district administration of arranging their meeting with the education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, at Patiala tomorrow. The jobless teachers are demanding jobs from the state government.

A newly-wed is among the protesting unemployed teachers who have climbed atop a watertank at Lehra Dhurkot village near Rampura Phul sub-division of Bathinda district on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Woman, two children commit suicide in Mansa
The bodies were found hanging from the roof of their house
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Mansa, June 5
In a tragic incident, three members of a family, including two children and a mother, today allegedly committed suicide by hanging themselves from the roof of their house.

The deceased, mother Inderjit Kaur, her 20 years old daughter Prabhjot Kaur, a student of B.Tech, and son Navjagbir Singh, a student of class 10 at Vidyabharti School, were residing near the Gita Bhawan Wali Gali in Mansa city.

City SHO Harpal Singh said he had never seen such tragic deaths. He said daughter of the woman returned home last night after appearing in a competition exam.

It is learnt that the girl dropped some questions in the exams that caused a dispute. However, it is not clear what drove the deceased to take such an extreme step.

The neighbours of the family said the atmosphere of the deceased’s house was not pleasant and they had continuously been fighting with each other over one issue or the other.

The SHO said the father of the children, Gurbir Singh Bhola, owns 18-20 acres and had been doing farming.

Relatives of the woman, who got upset after watching bodies, shouted against the head of the family, Bhola. They searched for him and threatened him of dire consequences. The family members of the woman blamed Bhola for the tragic incident.

Policemen shifted the bodies to the local Civil Hospital where the post mortem would be conducted. The police said a case would be registered after recording the statements of the family members.

Farmers block national highway in protest
Our Correspondent

Abohar, June 5
Anguished over impounding of a wheat-laden tractor-trailer by the sales tax officials here, hundreds of farmers staged a dharna at the terminal of the Malout chowk near the police complex here resulting in traffic jam on the National Highway-10.

Bhartiya Kisan Union workers said farmers Bagicha Singh and Swaran Singh of Gurusar Jodha village had to transport wheat here as purchasing in the chief minister's home turf Malout had been abandoned. A team of the sales tax department intercepted and took the vehicle into its custody. "Such actions are unwarranted," the protesters said.

The farmers did not allow the movement of vehicular traffic, including the evening buses.

On their part, sales tax officials said the farmers were unable to reveal to whom they were going to sell the wheat. “This could result in evasion of taxes,” they said.

The stalemate continued till the filing of the news report.

DGP Shashikant to pen his experiences
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, June 5
Having remained in the news for series of radical changes he had initiated in the functioning of the jail department during the last few months, the DGP (Prisons) Shashikant now wants to pen down his experiences and the challenges that he faced during his various stints in Punjab Police, IB, CBI, RAW and other premier security agencies. His book is likely to uncover several startling revelations.

While talking to The Tribune today, Shashikant, who is going to hang his boots at the end of this month, said, "I will continue my fight against the system and bring forth the ultimate analysis of various alarming factors, which were like ticking bombs, before the people, come what may." The DGP said he had received several threats from various quarters during the past some time, but he would not lose the sight of reforms he wanted to bring into the system.

Speaking about jails, the DGP admitted that drug addiction had "assumed alarming proportions in our jails with almost half of the 20,000 inmates lodged in various prisons of the state having fallen prey to this dreaded menace". The biggest task was to check the practice for which series of standing orders had been passed, he added.

The DGP further said some big-time drug smugglers were running a racket from the jail premises only, adding that to break the nexus some of them had been shifted to high-security jail in Nabha and other were also being shifted to different jails. "Even the women have been roped into drug peddling now, which was another disturbing fact," he said. Multi-organisational raids have been stepped up to check the trend, he added.

Shashikant said he had also passed instructions that only the jail superintendent shall be authorised to take mobile inside the jail. "For inmates, we are starting a single window biometric telecalling system where they will be able to talk to their blood relations twice a week for 3-5 minutes," he said.

The DGP said he had written to the Principal Secretary (Health) to evolve a detailed format for the entire health check-up of the prisoners before they were lodged in jail.

"Unfortunately, as per law, we cannot force anyone to give his/her blood sample, which is imperative for a detailed medical examination to ascertain if the person is suffering from any serious disease like Hepatitis, AIDS," said Shashikant, adding that even the food pattern of the inmates was being revised.

Relocation of F’pur Central Jail hangs in balance

The DGP (Prisons) Shashikant today made it clear that a minimum of 95 acres will be required for the construction of a new modern jail in Ferozepur.

At present, the state government has only 45 acres of shamlat land in Khai Pheme Ke village where the existing jail was proposed to be shifted. Moreover, as the farmers have launched a protest against any acquisition of the private agricultural land in the area, the proposal to relocate the Central Jail is likely to hit a roadblock. 

Protesting jobless teachers to meet minister today
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Lehra Dhurkot (Bathinda), June 5
The TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) qualified unemployed teachers have lifted the blockade on the Barnala-Rampura road and are now continuing their protest by squatting on the roadside.

The decision to this effect was taken by leaders of the protesting teachers late in the evening following an assurance by the district administration of arranging their meeting with the education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, at Patiala tomorrow.

The jobless teachers are demanding jobs from the state government.

One of the leaders, Paramjeet Singh said they would now sit along the roadside and if the tomorrow's meeting failed to bring out a solution, the teachers would block the road again. Those sitting atop the watertank would not climb down, he said.

The protest by the teachers entered its third day today with protesters braving the scorching heat.

Earlier in the day, the teachers, most of them in the age group of 30 to 35 years, blocked the Bathinda-Barnala road with their children and elderly. Even as there are no basic facilities like toilets, water, shelter and food, the teachers were seen sitting atop the watertank and in the middle of the Bathinda-Barnala road passing through Lehra Dhurkot village.

Amandeep Singh, one of the members of the 12-member core committee of the teachers, said there were 9,000 teachers across the state who have cleared the TET exam and were awaiting appointment letters. All the teachers were graduate and had B.Ed degrees. Many were even armed with PhD, MA and M.Phil degrees, he said.

Protesters said many of them were on the verge of crossing the maximum age (37 years) to join a government service. Among those who have climbed atop the water tank are four female teachers who may not be able to apply for jobs, as they would soon cross 37.

Teachers said they had told their family members that they would not return to their respective homes until they get the appointment letters.

"The government is befooling us and is testing our patience by delaying the matter over one pretext or the other. Now, the ministers and higher functionaries claim that they do not have funds to accommodate an additional workforce of 9,000," Amandeeep said. He questioned how the government then manages to spent money running into crores to arrange cultural programmes wherein they invite Bollywood stars. He referred to actor Shahrukh Khan's performance in Bathinda during the last World Cup Kabaddi.