B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Eight booked for siphoning off 14,778 bags of wheat
Faridkot, September 27
The police has booked three Markfed officials and five security guards for embezzling 14,778 wheat bags, worth over Rs 1.88 crore, from a godown of Markfed in Kotkapura town of Faridkot. The accused included a branch manager, two salesmen of food procurement agency and a retired Captain from the Indian Army who was the security incharge of the Markfed godown where the food grain was stocked.

Mumps outbreak afflicts 22 kids in Moga village
Moga, September 27
At least 22 children studying in a government primary school at Kahan Singh Wala village, about 20 km from the district headquarters, have been afflicted with mumps, a viral infection that mostly affects the salivary glands. However, the endemic nature of the disease is yet to be ascertained by the health authorities.

Craze for fancy mobile numbers among politicos
Muktsar, September 27
Just like youngsters, the politicians too are crazy to get fancy cell phone numbers. As per the telephone directory of the newly-elected sarpanches prepared by the district administration, a number of them, especially in Lambi block, have a craze for fancy numbers.

Cotton factories in bad shape, says ginners’ assn
Abohar, September 27
Only 165 out of 450 cotton ginning and pressing factories are in working condition in Punjab, said Naresh Pal Bansal, newly-elected general secretary, Punjab Cotton Ginning and Pressing Factories Association.

Eight booked for siphoning off 14,778 bags of wheat
Accused include three Markfed officials, five security guards
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 27
The police has booked three Markfed officials and five security guards for embezzling 14,778 wheat bags, worth over Rs 1.88 crore, from a godown of Markfed in Kotkapura town of Faridkot. The accused included a branch manager, two salesmen of food procurement agency and a retired Captain from the Indian Army who was the security incharge of the Markfed godown where the food grain was stocked. The Markfed officials have also been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty and pilferage of the food grain.

The misappropriation of the wheat stock was detected during a month-long physical verification of over one lakh bags of the food grain in the godown.

Earlier, Markfed officials use to make cursory verification of the stock every fortnightly by counting the stack, but this time, after the physical verification, it was found that empty places were created between the stacks so that suspicion did not arise over the empty space, said Vinod Kumar, district manager, Markfed.

As it was very tedious and labour oriented job to count every bags due to empty place between 25 stacks of wheat bags, it took over a months time for Markfed officials to assess the loss which had been pegged at 14,778 bags now. The Markfed has come across a new modus operandi to misappropriate the food grain in this case, the authorities said.

The godown-on-rent where the Markfed has stored the wheat is reportedly owned by a senior Akali leader and it is situated adjacent to the residence of the leader in Kotkapura.

After the arrest of the accused Markfed officials and the security guards, the police would try to find out where the misappropriated wheat stock went and to whom it was sold, said a senior police officer.

No arrest has been made so far and police has registered a criminal case on the basis of a complaint, lodged by the Markfed, the officer said.

Mumps outbreak afflicts 22 kids in Moga village
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, September 27
At least 22 children studying in a government primary school at Kahan Singh Wala village, about 20 km from the district headquarters, have been afflicted with mumps, a viral infection that mostly affects the salivary glands. However, the endemic nature of the disease is yet to be ascertained by the health authorities.

The Education Department has declared a weeklong holiday in the school as a preventive measure.

The symptoms of mumps were reported among the children in the age-group of 5 to 10 years in the village school on Wednesday.

After coming to know about the spread of the disease, a team of health officials was rushed to the village yesterday. “We have collected the blood samples of 22 children and sent them to the CMC hospital at Ludhiana for clinical examination,” said Dr Amarjit Kaur, Chief Medical Officer, Moga.

She had asked a team of medical and technical experts to survey the spread of the disease. The medical officer of the primary health care centre at Dagru village, Dr Sukhjinder Kaur Garcha had also visited the village to create awareness about the disease among the people, besides providing medicines to the affected children. The CMO said there were no preventive measures for the disease. Isolation was the only way to control the disease as mumps is an air-borne viral infection that spreads through close contacts and proximity of one person to another.

Craze for fancy mobile numbers among politicos
Archit Watts/TNS

Muktsar, September 27
Just like youngsters, the politicians too are crazy to get fancy cell phone numbers. As per the telephone directory of the newly-elected sarpanches prepared by the district administration, a number of them, especially in Lambi block, have a craze for fancy numbers.

The sarpanch of Mithri Budhgir village has a cell phone number ending with 00001 while the sarpanch of Mahnikhera has a cell phone number ending with 00002. Similarly, the sarpanch of village Fattakera has a cell phone number that has the digits 00008.

The sarpanches of village Killianwali and Lohara have 00021 and 00027 in the end, respectively.

In Gidderbaha block, the sarpanch of Gurusar village is having cell phone number 00006 at end and Kothe Kesar Singh Wale having 00042 at end.

The sarpanch of Chak Maha Badhar village in Muktsar block is having 000000 (six zeroes) at end and sarpanch of Chak Uttar Singh Wala having 00025 at end.

A sarpanch even said, “I had to shell out some money to my mobile service provider to have this fancy number two years ago, but I am happy to have such a premium number which is different from the other numbers.”

Cotton factories in bad shape, says ginners’ assn
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 27
Only 165 out of 450 cotton ginning and pressing factories are in working condition in Punjab, said Naresh Pal Bansal, newly-elected general secretary, Punjab Cotton Ginning and Pressing Factories Association.

Speaking at a reception organised by the Arhtia Association here to welcome him and the new president of the Association, Vijay Nagpal, Bansal blamed the state government for burdening the cotton industry with taxes, forcing industrialists to shut down their factories. The Powercom levies the minimum charges besides recovering high tariff from the cotton factories even when these face a shutdown for two days in each week. Punjab may gradually face a complete shutdown of factories if the tax structure is not rationalised, he warned.