B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Power woes spark protests
Abohar, September 3
As the Powercom authorities failed to restore restoring the normal electricity supply despite grilling by CLP leader Sunil Jakhar and Forest Minister Surjit Jyani separately, hundreds of farmers including sarpanches and panches of Balluana constituency today staged a dharna near the railway overbridge on the college road here.

National highway blocked near Fazilka village
Fazilka, September 3
A large number of farmers blocked the national highway near village Khui Khera on the Fazilka-Abohar road to protest against erratic power supply to the villages falling under the Khui Khera grid station for three hours. They lifted the dharna after an assurance by the Tehsildar, Fazilka, to restore uninterrupted power supply soon.

20 kids injured as school bus turns turtle
Abohar, September 3
At least 20 students were injured as the mini bus of a private school reportedly overturned near village Chak 2KM of Ramsinghpur segment in neighbouring Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan today. Station House Officer Ranveer Beniwal, who visited the site of the mishap, said the bus was ferrying about 35 students, five less than its capacity.

Protest against Handhiaya police post in-charge
Barnala, September 3
Levelling allegations of harassment against the in-charge of police post, Handhiaya, and demanding his transfer outside the district, members and activists of some organisations today staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here in support of a leader of the Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan, Naresh Kumari Bawa.

Three factory workers killed, over 30 hurt as van overturns
Bathinda, September 3
In a road accident that took place on Maur-Rampura road late evening today three workers got killed and more than 30 received injuries and three of them are said to be serious.

Centre urged to regulate transport system to save fuel
Bathinda, September 3
Suresh Goyal, founder of the General Samaj Party, has asked the Central Government to regulate the transport system, especially railways, to prevent the loss of fuel that eventually leads to the high price of fuel.

Power woes spark protests
Farmers stage dharna, block traffic in Abohar
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 3
As the Powercom authorities failed to restore restoring the normal electricity supply despite grilling by CLP leader Sunil Jakhar and Forest Minister Surjit Jyani separately, hundreds of farmers including sarpanches and panches of Balluana constituency today staged a dharna near the railway overbridge on the college road here.

Led by Bharatiya Kisan Union state vice-president Gurjant Singh and Akshay Bishnoi, they parked vehicles to block traffic resulting in inconvenience to thousands of students who were being ferried by three-wheelers and mini buses.

The protesters shouted slogans against the authorities for making no efforts to drain out water from the 220 Kv grid station in Muktsar district.

Senior Congress leader Giri Raj Rajora, a former provincial services officer, joined the dharna along with hundreds of workers later. He lambasted the drainage officials for diverting water from Lambi segment to Balluana villages resulting in heavy damage to crops in about a dozen villages. The protesters agreed to lift the dharna when the officials assured that their problems would be looked into by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Movement, an NGO, today faxed a complaint to the state government seeking action against the Powercom engineers who had failed to ensure electricity supply despite repeated telephone calls.

Chairman of the NGO, Satpal Khariwal said in the complaint that repeated requests for equitable distribution of available power were made, but no sincere efforts were made by the chief engineer concerned.

“Consumers in Abohar sub-division have been suffering for the past 10 days. The VIP areas of Malout and Lambi are given preferential treatment as far as allocation of power is concerned. Electricity to our area is supplied for such a short period that even the batteries and invertors can't be charged. We had sent three e-mails to the chief engineer but the latter turned a blind eye to the problem. The authorities were contacted over the telephone to express resentment over the frequent power cuts that have thrown normal life out of gear but to no avail," the NGO regretted.

National highway blocked near Fazilka village
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, September 3
A large number of farmers blocked the national highway near village Khui Khera on the Fazilka-Abohar road to protest against erratic power supply to the villages falling under the Khui Khera grid station for three hours. They lifted the dharna after an assurance by the Tehsildar, Fazilka, to restore uninterrupted power supply soon.

Notably, the power supply to the area had been disrupted as the grid station at Mukstar supplying power to Fazilka district was submerged in flood water two weeks back. Power supply was restored to Jalalabad and Fazilka areas but Khui Khera grid continued to reel under the shortage of power due to a technical snag.

“We have been virtually facing a black out for the last fortnight,” said Balwinder Singh, sarpanch of village Kabulshah Khubban.

The villagers have also been facing an acute shortage of potable water. “RO systems are also lying closed due to scarcity of power. We have to fetch drinking water from the other villages in tractor-trailers after covering a long distance,” said Prem Dass, Gurbachan Singh and Gurbaz Singh, all farmers of the area.

On the other hand, Executive Engineer, Powercom, Ramesh Kamboj maintained that the power supply was restored today in the evening.

20 kids injured as school bus turns turtle
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 3
At least 20 students were injured as the mini bus of a private school reportedly overturned near village Chak 2KM of Ramsinghpur segment in neighbouring Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan today.

Station House Officer Ranveer Beniwal, who visited the site of the mishap, said the bus was ferrying about 35 students, five less than its capacity.

Preliminary inquiry indicated that the bus overturned as its front tyre stuck in the mud on the berm of the Kupal link road and the driver lost control over the vehicle.

The villagers helped in shifting the injured kids to two private hospitals in the neighbouring sub-divisional towns of Anoopgarh and Suratgarh.

In another incident near Sanwalia village on the Churu highway, two daily wage earners, Inder Chand and Sona Ram, were killed as the tractor by which they were travelling, collided head on with a canter. Driver Jai Chand lodged an FIR with the police in this regard.

In Abohar, Happy Wadhwa of Anand Nagari was killed and his pillion riding friends, Babbu and Suraj, sustained injuries when the bike they were riding, slipped on the outskirts of the town.

The three were on their way back from Dabwali, where they had gone to attend a social function, sources said.

Protest against Handhiaya police post in-charge

Barnala, September 3
Levelling allegations of harassment against the in-charge of police post, Handhiaya, and demanding his transfer outside the district, members and activists of some organisations today staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here in support of a leader of the Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan, Naresh Kumari Bawa.

Bawa said her name had been dragged in a case registered on the basis of ‘false’ complaints. She alleged that the police post in-charge of Handhiaya had been harassing her in the case. She demanded an inquiry by a high-level officer and also the transfer of the post in-charge. Some other leaders of different organisations, including Jagseer Singh, Gurjant Singh and Baljinder Singh, also demanded the withdrawal of what they said was a “false case”.

The in-charge of the police post, Handhiaya, Nardev Singh refuted the allegations. He said on the complaint of a close relative of Naresh Kumari Bawa, a case had been registered against Bawa and five others at the Sadar police station, Barnala, under Sections 498-A, 323 and 506 of the IPC.

The Sadar police had sent him the case file to arrest the accused. He said he had gone to the house of Bawa to arrest her but she was not at home. "This action of mine hurt Bawa who felt insulted. So, she started a campaign, levelling charges of harassment against him," he added. — TNS

Three factory workers killed, over 30 hurt as van overturns
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 3
In a road accident that took place on Maur-Rampura road late evening today three workers got killed and more than 30 received injuries and three of them are said to be serious.

Those killed in the accident were identified as Sukhchain Singh of Balianwali, Raghuvir Singh of Mandi Kalan and Satnam Singh of Jhanduke village. They all are said to be between 25 and 30 years old.

The seriously injured are shifted to different hospitals in Bathinda and Ludhiana. The accident occurred at around 9.30 pm when the driver of van lost control over the vehicle and it overturned in agricultural fields after hitting a tree.

Though the police is yet to verify the facts, some labourers said they were being chased by some people in a canter and their van was hit by the speeding canter. The workers said they had an altercation with someone before leaving the factory.

The labourers reportedly worked in Partap Spintex Limited (Yarn Division) in Maur Mandi and were on their way back to different villages in the factory's van. The vehicle is said to have been overloaded with workers and was coming towards Rampura.

The labourers said the van was very old and the workers were crowded in it to save fuel.

Some relatives of the labourers at Rampura Hospital said the vehicle when driven create a lot of noise and was visibly not in a good condition.

Most of the workers do menial jobs in the factory and had been plying daily in the van. The labourers were to be dropped at Mandi Kalan, Balianwali and Dhadde villages.

Though police officials from Balianwali police station reached the hospital the cause of accident is yet not ascertained.

Preliminary investigations revealed that a speeding canter hit the vehicle carrying laborers and it got overturned.

The labourers said those killed in the accident were sitting on the centre seats and died on the spot. Some workers managed to come out of the vehicle while others were taken out by people residing in nearby villages.

Police officials from Balianwali police station reached the spot and recorded statements of the injured labourers.

SHO Balianwali Balwinder Singh said it was too early to say if the van was hit by some canter.

"We will investigate the matter after recording the statements of injured,” the SHO said.

DSP Jaspal Singh and investigating officer ASI Harvinder Singh were enquiring into the accident.

Centre urged to regulate transport system to save fuel
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 3
Suresh Goyal, founder of the General Samaj Party, has asked the Central Government to regulate the transport system, especially railways, to prevent the loss of fuel that eventually leads to the high price of fuel.

Addressing a press conference here today, Goyal said the Central Government should start adding a coach or a wagon to every train to save fuel. "There is so much wastage of the fuel that if we all contribute to save each drop, the country may not have to suffer due to rising prices," Goyal said.

The General Samaj Party leader said he suspected a big scam in fuel use as so many trains run late and have to wait for other trains to pass while their engines run idle. He said there should be severe penalty for wastage of fuel and if all trains and buses start reaching on time, many gallons of fuel, especially diesel, can be saved.