B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Forest dept to spruce up roads in Muktsar, Fazilka
Muktsar, April 24
The free space along all major roads in Muktsar and Fazilka districts would soon be beautified with the plantation of a large number of trees. The state forest department, under its Malwa project, is planting nearly 2.5 lakh trees in these two districts and clearing the wild growth, uprooting trees grown along the roadsides.

A JCB machine removing wild growth along the Muktsar-Bathinda road in Muktsar district on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph

Zila Parishad elections
Lists of villages baffle Cong MLAs
Muktsar, April 24
Two Congress MLAs of Muktsar district, Karan Kaur Brar from Muktsar and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring from Gidderbaha today claimed that the district administration had provided them with two different lists of villages kept in different zones for conducting the Zila Parishad polls.

Phul lawyers go on strike
Bathinda, April 24
The Bar Association, ,Phul, today struck work in protest against a police raid at the house of a lawyer on April 20. They have called for a state-wide strike from tomorrow onwards.

Rape bid accused dies after public thrashing
Abohar, April 24
Santokh Singh Bawri alias Tirlok Singh (53) of Gudiya village in Hanumannagar district succumbed to his injuries late last night. His body was given to his kin after the post-mortem examination by a medical board at Sangria. The victim was thrashed by a mob that nabbed him while attempting to rape a seven-year-old girl at his residence on Tuesday.

Two held with poppy husk
Abohar, April 24
Two teams of the Wahabwala police nabbed Balbir Singh of village Killianwali and Gurmeet Singh of Malout, both in Muktsar district, with 25 and 27 kg of opium near the inter-state border village of Rajpura and Rampura Narayanpura, respectively.

Mobile phone dealer held with stolen goods, laptops
Muktsar, April 24
The CIA staff on Tuesday claimed to have achieved a major success after arresting a mobile phone dealer, who was allegedly selling and purchasing stolen phones.

Forest dept to spruce up roads in Muktsar, Fazilka
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 24
The free space along all major roads in Muktsar and Fazilka districts would soon be beautified with the plantation of a large number of trees. The state forest department, under its Malwa project, is planting nearly 2.5 lakh trees in these two districts and clearing the wild growth, uprooting trees grown along the roadsides.

The project costing about Rs 8 crore would cover an area of nearly 200-km including the Malout-Dabwali, Malout-Fazilka, Malout-Muktsar, Muktsar-Bathinda, Lambi-Gidderbaha and Abohar-Fazilka road stretch.

Gamdoor Singh, Malwa project in-charge of the Forest Department, said, “For the last few years, no plantation work was done along these roads. So, they were included under the Malwa project, which aims at the beautification of the roadsides.”

Speaking further, he said, “The trees including sheesham, arjan, jamun, silver oak, casuarina, amaltas and kachnar are being planted. Some of the roads have already been covered and pillar fencing is being done there so that stray cattle do not cause any damage to the plants.”

The project in-charge said fresh plantation would start in July and all the roads would be covered during the monsoon season. “But the project will be completed in 2017 because we have to protect the plants too,” added Gamdoor Singh.

About the roads where the plantation had been done, Gamdoor Singh claimed that the crime rate had also decreased in the area. “Earlier, there was a huge wild growth and it was not an easy task to travel during the night. But now, the free space available along the roadsides has been cleared and levelled, which has decreased the risk of road mishaps and other crimes,” said Gamdoor.

He, however, said there were some areas in which alkaline content was high in the soil due to the problem of waterlogging. But with the advice of experts, the plantation drive was being carried out successfully, he added.

Zila Parishad elections
Lists of villages baffle Cong MLAs
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 24
Two Congress MLAs of Muktsar district, Karan Kaur Brar from Muktsar and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring from Gidderbaha today claimed that the district administration had provided them with two different lists of villages kept in different zones for conducting the Zila Parishad polls.

"As we all know that a few days are left for the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad polls and the district administration has provided us with two different lists of villages in different zones. The lists provided to me and Raja Warring do not match. It seems the administration is working at the behest of the Akalis and it is creating confusion among the Congress workers," claimed Karan Kaur Brar.

She said that yesterday, the Congress workers had held a meeting at the residence of Raja Warring to chalk out a strategy regarding the upcoming polls, but were surprised to find that the lists provided to them of the villages were not matching.

"In the list provided to me by the office of the ADC (D), Barkandi, Sangu Dhaun and Chak Hakam Singhwala villages have been shown under Udekaran zone, but the list provided to Raja warring by the BDO Gidderbaha shows these villages under the Bhuttiwala zone," alleged Brar.

Similarly, Raja Warring also alleged that there was confusion after the two lists. "Can we decide our candidates for the Zila Parishad polls, when the lists provided to the two MLAs are not even matching," asked Raja Warring.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (D) Rambir Singh said, "The lists can't differ as there has been no change since February 2008. I will look into the matter tomorrow, as today is a holiday."

He, however, added, "There may be some confusion among the Congress MLAs. They may be having the list before the amendment done on February 12, 2008 and the other after that. Before the amendment, Sangu Dhaun, Barkandi and Chak Hakam Singhwala villages were the part of Bhuttiwala zone."

Phul lawyers go on strike

Bathinda, April 24
The Bar Association, ,Phul, today struck work in protest against a police raid at the house of a lawyer on April 20. They have called for a state-wide strike from tomorrow onwards.

Surinder Pal Sharma, president of the association, said in a press release here today that the Bar Association had unanimously resolved to strike work today and continue its stir till action is taken against the police officials who conducted the raid. He said the police had conducted a raid at the house of senior advocate Satnam Singh Mander at village Bhairupa in his absence despite the fact that no FIR or DDR had been registered against any member of his family. — TNS

Rape bid accused dies after public thrashing

Abohar, April 24
Santokh Singh Bawri alias Tirlok Singh (53) of Gudiya village in Hanumannagar district succumbed to his injuries late last night. His body was given to his kin after the post-mortem examination by a medical board at Sangria. The victim was thrashed by a mob that nabbed him while attempting to rape a seven-year-old girl at his residence on Tuesday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dharma Ram said his condition deteriorated at 11 pm and he died soon after.

A case has been registered in this connection.

As per the available information, the girl had gone to pick up vegetables on Tuesday morning. On the way, Santokh Singh lured her to his house. Scores of people rushed to the house after hearing the girl's cries for help.

The mob dragged the culprit and gave him a severe beating. DSP Dharma Ram reached the village and got the culprit admitted to a hospital.

A case was registered on the basis of the complaint filed by the girl's mother.

Preliminary investigation is believed to have revealed that Tirlok Singh had spent two years in jail as he was convicted for rape and murder of a woman. After he was released, he deserted his wife and was living alone these days in a house. — OC

Two held with poppy husk
Our Correspondent

Abohar, April 24
Two teams of the Wahabwala police nabbed Balbir Singh of village Killianwali and Gurmeet Singh of Malout, both in Muktsar district, with 25 and 27 kg of opium near the inter-state border village of Rajpura and Rampura Narayanpura, respectively.

Preliminary investigation is believed to have indicated that demand for the contraband has increased during the wheat harvesting season as the farmers intend to get more output from the contract labour by serving them tea mixed with poppy husk.

Mobile phone dealer held with stolen goods, laptops
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 24
The CIA staff on Tuesday claimed to have achieved a major success after arresting a mobile phone dealer, who was allegedly selling and purchasing stolen phones.

Addressing a press conference, Gurinderjit Singh, SP (D), Muktsar, said, "Acting upon a tip-off, a raid was conducted yesterday at a mobile phone shop at Rambara bazaar and one Rishu Kumar was arrested along with 151 mobile phones, which were stolen ones."

"We have registered a case under various sections of the IPC against the two partners of the firm, namely Rishu Kumar and Jolly Kumar. They were actively involved in the illegal trade and were selling stolen phones to naïve and gullible people after changing their IMEI numbers," said Gurinderjit Singh.

Meanwhile, the accused was produced in a court, which remanded him to police custody.

Thereafter, the police searched the house of Rishu and claimed to have found eight laptops and 13 stolen mobile phones from there.

However, till the filing of this report, another accused, Jolly, was still at large.

The police said that the total value of the seized goods was nearly Rs 11.50 lakh.