B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Big win for Tota Singh loyalists in Moga
Moga, May 21
Senior Akali leader Jathedar Tota Singh has once again emerged stronger within the SAD. Many of his loyalists and some Independents have won the panchayat samiti elections. The SAD legislator from Nihalsinghwala, Rajwinder Kaur, suffered a setback in her native village, Bhagike, where her candidate trailed by 3 votes.

Sriganganagar ADC gets 2-year jail in graft case
Abohar, May 21
A local court today awarded two-year imprisonment to Sriganganagar Additional District Collector Ashok Yadav and two other in a corruption case. It also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them.

Trees act as unipole for ads in Muktsar
Muktsar, May 21
The illegal practice of using a tree as a free display board goes on unabated in Muktsar district. A large number of promotional posters and billboards of various brands of fertilisers and seeds are nailed to trees.
Advertisements nailed to a tree along the Malout-Bathinda road in Muktsar district. A Tribune photograph

Big win for Tota Singh loyalists in Moga
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, May 21
Senior Akali leader Jathedar Tota Singh has once again emerged stronger within the SAD. Many of his loyalists and some Independents have won the panchayat samiti elections.

The SAD legislator from Nihalsinghwala, Rajwinder Kaur, suffered a setback in her native village, Bhagike, where her candidate trailed by 3 votes.

Chamkaur Singh from Machike zone, Baljinder Singh from Bilaspur, Ajaib Singh from Rania, all Independents elected to the Nihalsinghwala Panchayat Samiti, had extended their support to the Tota Singh’s group.

In Moga-I and Moga-II panchayat samitis, Tota Singh’s son Makhan Brar had campaigned for several candidates. In Kot-ise-Khan, Tota Singh claimed that his candidates had secured more than 90 per cent seats.

Amarjit Kaur Sahoke, Tota Singh's confidant, won the zila parishad election from the Bilaspur zone (reserved) by a huge margin of over 7,000 votes. She is a frontrunner for the chairperson’s post. She had resigned as a government teacher to contest the poll. Jaswinder Kaur won from the Gholia zone (SC-reserved). She is considered close to the local MLA.

Winners Jagtar Singh Dhaliwal from the Dhudike zone, Harbans Singh from Mahlan Kalan, Jasbir Kaur from Samalsar, Paramjit Singh Tarewala from Fatehgarh Panchtoor, Baba Avtar Singh from Ghalauti, Buta Singh from Daulatpura, Surinder Kaur from Ajitwal and Iqbal Singh are all Tota Singh loyalists.

Sriganganagar ADC gets 2-year jail in graft case

Abohar, May 21
A local court today awarded two-year imprisonment to Sriganganagar Additional District Collector Ashok Yadav and two other in a corruption case. It also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them.

Reports said the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) had registered a case under Section 13-1(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the IPC on the basis of an investigation conducted in response to an anonymous complaint received in 1998.

It was alleged that Ashok Yadav had transferred about 28 bighas of land in favour of Main Giri at Bikasar village on the basis of a general power of attorney held by one Om Parkash Kothari. Its mutation was transferred in the favour of Main Giri within the next three days and a registration deed was also executed in haste.

The informer alleged that illegal money had changed hands as the land actually belonged to Shri Karni Mata Mandir located near Deshnok.

The prosecution said Rs 1 lakh was borrowed from a moneylender to pay illegal gratification to Yadav. The transaction was recorded in the account books but a reverse entry was made after some days as Yadav refused to accept the money and allegedly wanted that a part of the land in question be gifted to him.

Yadav and other two accused pleaded not guilty. The ACB special court has granted them one month to go for an appeal against the sentence, public prosecutor Naginderpal Bhandari said. — OC

Trees act as unipole for ads in Muktsar
Illegal practice of nailing advertisements to trees goes unchecked
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, May 21
The illegal practice of using a tree as a free display board goes on unabated in Muktsar district.

A large number of promotional posters and billboards of various brands of fertilisers and seeds are nailed to trees in the district. Such form of advertising has been growing rapidly, but the officials concerned of the Forest Department are apparently in a deep slumber as no action has been initiated against the violation.

Advertisements and billboards nailed to a large number of trees along the Gidderbaha-Malout highway have exposed the functioning of the department.

A farmer claimed that the posters and billboards nailed to the trees belonged to some 'influential' persons and that was why the authorities concerned were not taking action to remove them.

“Had any commoner caused damage to the property belonging to the Forest Department, the officials concerned might have booked him immediately as per the law. But here, some traders are violating the law and causing damage to the trees, still the officials are silent on the issue,” said the farmer.

Sources said there was a nexus between officials of the Forest Department and traders who had nailed signages to the trees for advertisement purposes.

However, when contacted, Faridkot Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjay Bansal said, “As per the law, anyone whose board is found nailed to a tree is to be penalised. But most of the times, such illegal activities take place in the night hours, thus the violators go scot-free.”

“If we find someone nailing a tree, we immediately penalise the person. But, it is not possible to catch each and every violator,” Bansal said. He, however, assured that the department would soon conduct a drive in this regard and all the display boards and posters would be removed from trees and penalty would be imposed on the violators.