B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

BKU activists sent to judicial custody till Oct 3
Fazilka, September 20
Nine activists of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Ekta (Ugrahan), who were arrested by the Fazilka police yesterday, ahead of their agitation today, were produced before the sub-divisional magistrate, Fazilka, who remanded them to judicial custody till October 3.

Man gets life imprisonment for setting wife ablaze
Bathinda, September 20
Rejecting the plea of mercy for a man who set his wife afire two years ago, the court of the Sessions Judge, Bathinda, Tejwinder Singh, today announced him to undergo imprisonment for life.

No let up in road accidents in state
Faridkot, September 20
The first seven months of 2013 has once again registered a steep rise in fatal road accidents in Punjab. Besides 1,876 deaths in 3,027 road accidents till July this year, there were 2,461 others who got seriously injured in accidents.

Lone executive officer for four municipal bodies
Muktsar, September 20
The functioning of all the three municipal councils of Muktsar district - Muktsar, Malout and Gidderbaha - and the Nagar Panchayat of Mandi Bariwala has been hit with a lone executive officer given the charge of the four local bodies.

Dhindsa lays stone for sewerage project
Barnala, September 20
A member of the Rajya Sabha and the secretary general of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, laid the foundation stone of a sewerage project on Patti road here today.

BKU activists sent to judicial custody till Oct 3
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, September 20
Nine activists of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Ekta (Ugrahan), who were arrested by the Fazilka police yesterday, ahead of their agitation today, were produced before the sub-divisional magistrate, Fazilka, who remanded them to judicial custody till October 3.

“The activists were booked under Sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code to maintain law and order in the district,” said Fazilka SSP Surjit Singh Grewal.

Notably five activists were rounded up from Abohar subdivision, while four were nabbed from Jalalabad subdivision.

There is a resentment among the office-bearers and other activists against the arrest, but none has come out openly, following the stringent measures adopted by the police.

Except symbolic demonstration at three places in the district, the police has foiled attempt of the members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Ekta (Ugrahan) to stage demonstrations at different places in favour of their demands.

Only a few activists were succeeded in burning the effigy of the state government in the remote villages of Tambuwala, Dhab Karyal and Pakka Kalewala in Jalalabad subdivision in the district.

Elaborated police arrangements were made near the railway stations, on railway tracks and bus stands as the state government had received the reports of blocking the railway traffic by BKU activists.

“About 700 police personnel have been deployed in the district to check any untoward incident following the agitation call,” Grewal said. 

Man gets life imprisonment for setting wife ablaze
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 20
Rejecting the plea of mercy for a man who set his wife afire two years ago, the court of the Sessions Judge, Bathinda, Tejwinder Singh, today announced him to undergo imprisonment for life.

The court has also ordered the accused to pay a fine of Rs 20,000. In case of default of payment, he would further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months. IS Kingra was the public prosecutor for the state and was assisted by Arvind Ghai, counsel for complainant, while HS Khara was the counsel for the accused.

The public prosecutor opposed the plea to take lenient view against the accused, who pleaded that he has to look after his two children.

Mithu Singh (42), a farmer from Nathana village, was arrested by the police in November 2011, 20 days after he committed the crime of intentionally sprinkling kerosene on his wife’s body and setting her on fire.

The accused was booked under Section 302 of the IPC at the Nathana police station after his wife, Veerpal Kaur, died the next day of the incident in the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. In her dying declaration, Veerpal Kaur stated that her husband had illicit relationships with some women of their village and surrounding areas. She recorded her statement before the then Judicial Magistrate Karan Garg.

Veerpal blamed her husband of killing her by pouring kerosene and putting her on fire. Upset over the continuous nagging, she said her husband thrashed her and then burnt her with kerosene when children were not at home. She was admitted to the Civil Hospital on November 2, 2011. 

No let up in road accidents in state
Balwant Garg/TNS

Faridkot, September 20
The first seven months of 2013 has once again registered a steep rise in fatal road accidents in Punjab. Besides 1,876 deaths in 3,027 road accidents till July this year, there were 2,461 others who got seriously injured in accidents.

Last year, 3,320 persons lost their lives and 4,725 were seriously injured in 5,253 road accidents, revealed the information procured from the Punjab Police.

The imposition of fine is the most common practice in Punjab to check the mounting violation of traffic rules. The Punjab police has earned Rs 24.58 crore as a fine from traffic rule violators in a seven-month period by challaning 6,36,536 vehicles. Last year, the state police had collected Rs 34.77 crore as a fine from the traffic rule violators.

Though the police claimed of conducting over 6,200 traffic educational functions, rash driving, rushing through traffic or simply not paying attention with the use of cell phones continue to cause road accidents.

The information procured from the transport research wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways revealed that in 2011, out of 6,513 road accidents in Punjab which killed 4,931 persons, 226 accidents were caused due to intake of alcohol/drugs and 2,183 accidents were due to exceeding lawful speed.

But penalising a driver for drunk driving in Punjab, a state which is known for gulping down huge quantity of liquor, is so casual that in a 14-month-period (April 1, 2008 to May 30, 2009), the total number of challans by the Punjab Police under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (drunken driving) in the state was just 1,738, revealed information procured under the RTI.

The number of accidents per lakh population in India rose from 21.2 in 1970 to 41.1 in 2011, revealed information from the transport research wing. In 2011, the maximum accidents (444) were reported in Ludhiana in Punjab. In these accidents while 294 persons were killed, 189 were seriously injured.

As there is no traffic education and issuing driving licences is just a paper formality in Punjab, so Punjab was recording a spurt in fatalities in road accidents, said Manmohan Luthra, a retired senior officer in the state transport department. The test of driving knowledge is essential to test whether the applicant is aware of all rules of the road and the meaning of road signs and road makings before he/she is issued the driving licence, but there was no such assessment in Punjab, said Luthra.

Lone executive officer for four municipal bodies
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, September 20
The functioning of all the three municipal councils of Muktsar district - Muktsar, Malout and Gidderbaha - and the Nagar Panchayat of Mandi Bariwala has been hit with a lone executive officer given the charge of the four local bodies.

Jagsir Singh is managing the day-to-day affairs of these towns. Earlier, he had the charge of Malout town and an additional charge of Gidderbaha. However, with the recent transfer of Gursewak Singh, executive officer, Municipal Council, Muktsar, who was having the additional charge of Mandi Bariwala, Jagsir has been given the charge of Muktsar and Mandi Bariwala as well.

Heaps of garbage and overflowing bins are a common sight in the towns with no one to keep a check on officials and workers of the municipal bodies.

The scheme of outsourcing garbage collection to a private company in the district has virtually failed. The residents have lodged a number of protests in the recent past seeking better civic amenities, but to no avail.

"The villages are cleaner than towns," said Amit Kumar, a resident of Muktsar town.

The residents of Gidderbaha and Malout towns said they were fed up with the apathy of the state government, adding: "There could be shortage of staff. But we do not find any reason why the existing staff does not work efficiently."

Executive officer Jagsir Singh said, "Earlier, I was having the charge of two towns. But, now I am having three additional charges. Still, I am trying to improve the situation."

Dhindsa lays stone for sewerage project
Tribune News Service

Barnala, September 20
A member of the Rajya Sabha and the secretary general of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, laid the foundation stone of a sewerage project on Patti road here today.

Dhindsa said the state government was going to spend a sum of Rs 10 crore on the project. He said after the completion of the project, Patti road, Sekha road and Khudi road would be developed at a fast pace.

The Rajya Sabha MP said under the project, 2,313-metre-long main sewerage line and 9,228-metre-long branch sewerage line would be laid.

Among those present were Deputy Commissioner Dr Indu Malhotra, ADC Jora Singh Thind, Barnala SDM Amandeep Bansal and SGPC member Paramjit Singh Khalsa.