B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

6 yrs on, Barnala sans dist-level offices
Barnala, August 11
Despite the creation of Barnala as the 20th district of the state on November 19, 2006 by the then Congress government, several district-level offices are yet to be set up in Barnala. Due to this, the control of several offices is still with the officers in Sangrur district. Because of this, people of Barnala district have been facing inconvenience for the last seven years as they have to travel to Sangrur to get their problems resolved.

Sukhbir for audit of local bodies to ensure fund use
Ferozepur, August 11
The Punjab Government has decided to conduct biannual performance and financial audit of panchayats, municipal corporations, nagar councils, block samitis and zila parishads to ensure proper utilisation of development funds and to maintain transparency and accountability.

Fake domiciles pose challenge to Baba Farid University
Faridkot, August 11
The authenticity of domicile certificates submitted by several MBBS aspirants to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has come under the scanner. The university has decided to raise the issue with the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Punjab School Education Board.

Nature’s hues: The setting sun paints a pleasant portrait near Thermal lake in Bathinda. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Fancy numbers issued for free at Akali leaders’ behest
Faridkot, August 11
People attach so much value to their vehicle's registration number that getting fancy numbers has become big business. While the earning of the state transport department at the public auction of the fancy numbers has left many gasping as the bidders sometimes paid in lakhs for a number of their choice in Punjab, RTI information exposes the vulnerability of the prevailing laws in the state.

Law & order situation deteriorating fast in Punjab: Manpreet Badal
Moga, August 11
President of the People's Party of Punjab (PPP) Manpreet Singh Badal has alleged that the law and order situation in Punjab was deteriorating fast as the state had been witnessing an alarming increase in cases of murders, rapes, snatching and drug trafficking. "The SAD-BJP government has completely failed to redress the grievances of the poor and protect the lives and properties of the people in the state,” he said.

Ferozepur, Fazilka dists get Rs 1.57 cr for mid-day meals
Jalandhar, August 11
Swinging into damage control mode, the cash-strapped Punjab Government has transferred Rs 1.57 crore to Ferozepur and Fazilka districts to help the administration serve mid-day meals to students in government schools.

Dhuri-Bathinda train flagged off
Sangrur, August 11
Vijay Inder Singla, Member of Parliament (MP) from Sangrur, on Sunday flagged off the Dhuri-Bathinda passenger train at Dhuri, about 13 km from here.

Illicit liquor seized in Fazilka village
Fazilka, August 11
The Excise and Taxation Department in association with the Fazilka police has seized 900 litres of illicit liquor (lahan) and a distillery unit from a cotton field at Dhani Chahlanwali of village Tahliwala Bodla in the district.

Woman stabs one-yr-old son to death, held
Abohar, August 11
A one-year-old child Rohit was allegedly stabbed to death by his mother Savita at his grandparents’ house in Panjpeer Nagar here today. The city police has arrested the mother, Savita, under Section 302 of the IPC, DSP Raj Kumar Jalhotra confirmed in the evening.

6 yrs on, Barnala sans dist-level offices
Sushil Goyal
Tribune News Service

Barnala, August 11
Despite the creation of Barnala as the 20th district of the state on November 19, 2006 by the then Congress government, several district-level offices are yet to be set up in Barnala. Due to this, the control of several offices is still with the officers in Sangrur district. Because of this, people of Barnala district have been facing inconvenience for the last seven years as they have to travel to Sangrur to get their problems resolved.

According to information available, at the time of the creation of Barnala district, it was promised by the then government that the new district would have all the offices. However, the work of about a dozen district offices was linked to the offices in Sangrur district. Since then, the work in Barnala district, related to these 12 offices, is being run by the district-level officers from Sangrur.

The 12 offices that are yet to be set up in Barnala district are: district social security office (DSSO), district language office (DLO), district industries centre (DIC), district horticulture office, office of the assistant labour commissioner, district town planning office, district sainik welfare office, office of the deputy director (Fisheries), district soil conservation office, office of the deputy registrar (Cooperative), office of the executive engineer (drainage) and the office of the executive engineer of pollution control board.

In the absence of such a large number of district-level offices, one can easily assess the problems that the people in the district face as several times they have to go to Sangrur for meeting the officials in case they want to get their work done.

The office of the DSSO deals with old-age pension, widow pension and disabled persons’ pension and all those who are aggrieved have to visit Sangrur to get their problems sorted out.

The residents of the district have been demanding the setting up of these district-level offices at the earliest so that they could get their work done in Barnala instead of visiting Sangrur time and again.

Barnala Deputy Commissioner Dr Indu Malhotra said there was a need to set up these district-level offices in Barnala. She said she had also sent a reminder to the state government to set up these 12 district-level offices in Barnala. Her predecessors had also written to the government in this regard, she added. 

 Sukhbir for audit of local bodies to ensure fund use
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, August 11
The Punjab Government has decided to conduct biannual performance and financial audit of panchayats, municipal corporations, nagar councils, block samitis and zila parishads to ensure proper utilisation of development funds and to maintain transparency and accountability.

Disclosing this here yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said every single penny being spent by various elected bodies would be accounted for. The audit would be different from the regular audit conducted by the CAG, he said.

Sukhbir said top professional audit companies would be engaged for this purpose. The Finance Department had been told to finalise a comprehensive policy in consultation with other departments so that the audit could be started by the year-end, he said.

Sukhbir said an amount of Rs 24,000 crore would be spent on the development of over 13,000 villages within the next couple of years, which made it imperative to conduct an independent audit.

On the demand for reopening of the Hussainiwala-Lahore border, Sukhbir said the SAD-BJP government would take up the matter with the Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister who was also keen on opening this border".

"Let the relations normalise, we will take up the issue in the right earnest," he claimed, alleging that the Congress leaders hailing from this area had been making hollow promises for long, but they forgot everything the moment they reached Delhi.

Hails gutsy cop

The Deputy CM said Sub Inspector Jagdev Singh posted as SHO Mallanwala who had showed exemplary courage in nabbing a robber who had shot dead a petrol pump employee near Makhu yesterday would be promoted as Inspector. 

 Fake domiciles pose challenge to Baba Farid University
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, August 11
The authenticity of domicile certificates submitted by several MBBS aspirants to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has come under the scanner. The university has decided to raise the issue with the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Punjab School Education Board.

Due to these dubious domiciles, the university had been facing hardships during the ongoing counselling for MBBS admissions, Dr SS Gill, Vice Chancellor said.

"Some students of other states want to avail the advantage of Punjab's domicile to get admission in state's medical colleges. We have identified some schools which give dummy admission to students in Classes XI and XII," he said. "On the basis of these admissions, the students get the benefit of state's domicile," he said, adding besides Punjab, these students take the advantage of domicile in their parent states.

Another major reason for these students to opt for such schools where they are enrolled as regular students but they hardly attend any class was to get full-time coaching from private centres to prepare for entrance tests, the VC said, alleging that many coaching centres were even playing the role of a facilitator. They were in touch with many PSEB or CBSE-affiliated schools where these students are enrolled as regular students, but are not required to attend classes.

To curtail this practice sometime ago, the then Director General of School Education, Krishan Kumar, had directed all the district education officers to check the trend of dummy admissions.

Stay extended

Jalandhar: With the Supreme Court extending stay on the admission process for the third batch of 150 MBBS seats in Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot, till August 16, the aspirants have been left in the lurch. The court has asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to file a reply on certain issues raised by petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma, who has challenged the MCI's approval to the college. — TNS

 Fancy numbers issued for free at Akali leaders’ behest
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, August 11
People attach so much value to their vehicle's registration number that getting fancy numbers has become big business. While the earning of the state transport department at the public auction of the fancy numbers has left many gasping as the bidders sometimes paid in lakhs for a number of their choice in Punjab, RTI information exposes the vulnerability of the prevailing laws in the state.

While the common man has to cough up a huge sum to get a registration number of his choice for a vehicle at a public auction, political leaders are enjoying a sort of immunity from the rules and the fancy numbers are being allotted to them and their followers without charging any fee, revealed the information procured under the RTI from the state transport office.

And more amazing is that it is not only the local level leaders who are using their political powers to get the favour from the state transport department. The name of even a top SAD(B) leader, a Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and even a SSP rank police officer figures in the transport department's record for seeking favour for their close ones.

The registration certificate of an MUV (with a VIP number PUK-2) at the Faridkot transport office reads that on November 20, 2007, when this senior Akali leader was in Faridkot for his appearance in a court in a criminal case, he pitched for the allotment of this VIP number for a resident of Kotkapura.

The certificate also reveals the telephone calls received from the state transport commissioner (STC), recommending the allotment of this VIP number.

The CPS recommended PUK-6, a VIP number, for his one supporter in Kotkapura. To ensure that the recommendation of the CPS was taken care of, the STC made two phone calls to the DTO office in Faridkot, reveals the certificate of PUK-6, an Innova.

The certificates of three vehicles, two cars (PBC-28, PJO 69) and MUV (PIK 32) have attached nothings, mentioning the name of an Akali leader of Muktsar who recommended the fancy numbers to these vehicles. In one case, the registration certificate finds the recommendation by a former Faridkot SSP for the allotment of the number PUK-47 to one Gurmit Singh.

Officials at the Faridkot district transport office declined to make any comment, saying they follow the instructions from senior officials. 

 Law & order situation deteriorating fast in Punjab: Manpreet Badal
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, August 11
President of the People's Party of Punjab (PPP) Manpreet Singh Badal has alleged that the law and order situation in Punjab was deteriorating fast as the state had been witnessing an alarming increase in cases of murders, rapes, snatching and drug trafficking. "The SAD-BJP government has completely failed to redress the grievances of the poor and protect the lives and properties of the people in the state,” he said.

After meeting two women of Kaila village (Moga) who were recently humiliated by the cops by keeping them in illegal custody, he said the PPP would soon file a writ petition in the high court seeking protection of its workers.

Manpreet disclosed that as many as 95 false cases had been registered against PPP workers after the panchayat polls across the state. “The Akalis are trying to create a sense of terror among the people through the police. The cops are working under the pressure of the Akalis, which is not a good sign for democracy,” he said.

He asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to immediately end the politics of vendetta failing which the PPP-led Sanjha Morcha would be forced to launch state-wide agitations against the SAD-BJP government.

Meanwhile, the senior vice-president of the PPP, Kuldip Singh Dhose alleged that a false and fabricated case of attempt to murder was registered against his son Davinderjit Singh alias Ladi Dhose who is the vice-president of the youth wing of the PPP and many of their supporters, last week. “My son suffered head injuries but no FIR was registered against the Akali sarpanch of Kaila village and his associates who attacked him,” he alleged. 

 Ferozepur, Fazilka dists get Rs 1.57 cr for mid-day meals
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 11
Swinging into damage control mode, the cash-strapped Punjab Government has transferred Rs 1.57 crore to Ferozepur and Fazilka districts to help the administration serve mid-day meals to students in government schools.

The Mumbai-based NGO Stri Shakti that served meals in 1,635 schools in both the districts had terminated its contract with the Education Department with effect from August 15.

The amount released by the government would help in feeding the students in the two districts for just 20 days.

The NGO had been billing Rs 1.20 lakh per month.

Besides serving food to 1,58,151 beneficiaries daily, the NGO had been purchasing foodgrain (rice and wheat) from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), store and grind them and arrange LPG, said Gavanmeet Singh, general manager, Punjab unit of the NGO.

Prabh Charan Singh, General Manager, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, claimed that more funds would be released as per the requirement.

Singh said PUNSUP, a procurement agency, would provide foodgrain to the districts. 

 Dhuri-Bathinda train flagged off
Tribune News Service

Sangrur, August 11
Vijay Inder Singla, Member of Parliament (MP) from Sangrur, on Sunday flagged off the Dhuri-Bathinda passenger train at Dhuri, about 13 km from here.

The train will depart from Dhuri at 4.00 am daily and reach Bathinda Junction at 6.25 am via Barnala, Tapa and Rampura Phul.

On its return journey, the train will depart from Bathinda at 7.35 pm and reach Dhuri at 10.15 pm.

 Illicit liquor seized in Fazilka village
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, August 11
The Excise and Taxation Department in association with the Fazilka police has seized 900 litres of illicit liquor (lahan) and a distillery unit from a cotton field at Dhani Chahlanwali of village Tahliwala Bodla in the district.

Excise and Taxation inspector Rajnish Batra disclosed that the illicit liquor was being distilled with impunity in the village. The excise team along with inspector Darshan Singh raided the cotton fields and recovered 9 drums, each drum having a capacity of 100 litres. They also seized a distillery unit from the spot. The drums were concealed in a trench dug in the cotton field.

According to sources, the accused reportedly tried to put political pressure on the members of the raiding team to hush up the matter. Batra appealed to the villagers to inform the excise department officials and the police if the distilling of illicit liquor was being carried out in any village.

Notably, the district police had recovered more than 65,000 litres of illicit country-made liquor from Mahalam, a notorious village of Fazilka district, on July 20. "We shall not spare any one indulging in the illegal distillation of liquor in the district at any cost," warned Senior Superintendent of Police, Fazilka, Rajpal Singh. 

 Woman stabs one-yr-old son to death, held
Our Correspondent

Abohar, August 11
A one-year-old child Rohit was allegedly stabbed to death by his mother Savita at his grandparents’ house in Panjpeer Nagar here today. The city police has arrested the mother, Savita, under Section 302 of the IPC, DSP Raj Kumar Jalhotra confirmed in the evening.

It is yet to be ascertained as to what provoked the mother to commit this heinous crime.

As per the available information, one Bunty along with his wife Savita and son Rohit came to his parents’ house in Panjpeer Nagar from Subhash Nagar last night as the child was suffering from fever.

Today in the morning, he went for work leaving behind his wife and son.

In the afternoon, when his parents were asleep, his sister Aarti heard the child crying. She reportedly found that Savita was attacking Rohit with a knife. She snatched the knife and raised an alarm.

The child was taken to the Civil Hospital but doctors said he had died of wounds.

A large crowd assembled at the house after the incident.

DSP Raj Kumar Jalhotra and city police in-charge inspector Balkar Singh visited the Civil Hospital to enquire into the incident.

The police later recovered the blood-stained bedsheet and the knife allegedly used by the accused mother.