The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Road to Badal being four-laned The 6.61-km-long road to be widened at the cost of Rs 5 crore; 900 trees axed Archit Watts Tribune News Service Badal, October 27 The Kheowali-Badal-Kaljharani road in Muktsar district, which links Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's native village Badal to Malout-Delhi national highway on the one end and on the other Kaljharani village in Bathinda district, where a helipad has been constructed for the VVIPs, is being four-laned at a fast pace. The total cost of widening the 6.61-km long road would be nearly Rs 5 crore and about 900 trees have been felled for it. After widening, the existing 7-10 meter road will be of 7-meter on each side of the divider being constructed in the middle of it. It may be mentioned here that about 27-km of road from Bathinda to Kaljharani has already been four-laned. This important road crosses past the residence of the Badals. If sources are to be believed then the widening of this road was required because whenever any member of the Badal family comes to their native village, a large number of people from across the state, especially from the Malwa region, come to the village to meet them. Harbans Singh, Junior Engineer (JE), PWD (B&R), who was found supervising the road widening work at Badal village, said, "Most of the work has been done and the remaining work will not take more than a month's time. The entire road will have a divider, except at a few places where it is narrow." He further said a Bathinda-based contractor had been assigned the widening work. "The widening was to be done much earlier, but the laying of the sewerage system in Badal village took a long time which delayed it," added Jaspal Singh. He further said some saplings would be planted on the road divider to beautify it. Some senior officials in the state government, however, said the Bathinda-Kaljharani-Badal-Kheowali road was very important because a number of big projects had come up on this road, comprising the Central University, Sports School and important colleges.
	‘Harassment’ by police forces labourer to end life Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, October 27 Allegedly implicated in a false case of smuggling drugs and harassment by the cops, a landless Dalit labourer who was on the run committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Mahla Kalan village in the Baghapurana sub-division of Moga district, last week. Identified as Jaswinder Singh (37), the labourer was first implicated in a criminal case under the NDPS Act on August 31 this year on the basis of a secret information along with three others. Neither was he arrested from the spot nor was anything recovered from him. As per a copy of the FIR available with The Tribune, sub-inspector Rajinder Singh and ASI Jarnail Singh, who was later arrested for running a drugs racket at the Nathuwala police post, got secret information that a truck was parked on the Baghapurana-Mahla Kalan link road, which was loaded with poppy husk along with cotton seeds. The FIR did not mention the quantity of the poppy husk seized by the police from the truck although they knew the name of the driver Jaswant Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran district and three others-- Lakha Singh, a resident of Hariewala, Balraj Singh, a resident of Mahla Kalan village and Jaswinder Singh the deceased labourer, which was mentioned in the first information report. No one was arrested from the spot. Interestingly, a few days after the registration of the case, ASI Jarnail Singh and another cop were arrested on charges of illegally selling drugs from the premises of Nathuwala police post while one of their associates, a constable, managed to flee from the spot. As much as 168 kg of poppy husk, 66 bottles of liquor and Rs 46,000 in cash were recovered from them. Later, during the course of the investigations, the ASI who is presently in judicial custody, was also implicated in another case of smuggling drugs along with the deceased labourer Jaswinder Singh in an FIR registered under the NDPS Act against three unknown persons on June 19 this year at the Baghapurana police station. Sukhwinder Singh Ramuwalia, counsel for the labourer who ended his life, alleged that the Baghapurana police also picked up the labourer’s wife and kept her under illegal detention for many days. “I filed an application before a local court calling for a status report from the SHO, after which, she was released by the cops,” Ramuwalia said. A few days back, Chamkaur Singh, brother-in-law of the deceased, in a written statement given before a local court, stated that daily atrocities were committed by the Baghapurana police on Jaswinder Singh’s family and the FIR registered on August 31 against him was false and frivolous to save their own personnel. After a hue and cry broke out, one of the cops who registered a case against him was finally booked on charges of smuggling drugs due to which the police was also harassing him and his family. Ramuwalia, while claiming that it was due to the repeated harassment by local cops that Jaswinder Singh finally ended his life, yesterday said he would file a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding a judicial probe into his death and registration of an abetment to suicide case against the cops responsible for his death.
	SAD’s IInd term tyrannical: PYC Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Dharamkot (Moga), October 27 Asserting that all sections of society in Punjab were fed up with the SAD-BJP government, the president of Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary has said that after being elected for a second term in the state, the Akalis had unleashed a reign of autocracy, oppression and high-handedness. The PYC leader was speaking to the media while taking a break during the Adhikar Yatra of the PYC at Dharamkot in Moga district on Saturday. The youth leader who got the support of party workers led by the local SGPC member Kaka Sukhjit Singh Lohgarh said that discontentment was prevailing against the Akalis and the BJP leaders had also started questioning the ‘irresponsible attitude of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia’ in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Adding that Sukhbir and Majithia were trying to suppress the voice of the media, he said that by hiring advertisement agencies and media persons as advisors, they could not change the mindset of the people. Referring to the statement given by Harsimrat Badal against members of the Gandhi family on 1984 riots, he said ‘it was an attack on the sensibilities”. "Why does she hesitate to comment on the militants who killed thousands of innocent people during the dark days of terrorism? The Akali Dal has always tried to portray the militants as martyrs by honouring their families and relatives, besides defending them from going to the gallows, which was quite evident from the Bhullar and Rajoana cases," Chaudhary said. He said CM Parkash Singh Badal has recently thought of another "masterstroke" to fill the empty coffers of the state by starting stud farms and encouraging betting on horse races. “I want to ask the CM to tell the people where his panthic ideology has gone," he questioned. The local SGPC member Sukhjit Lohgarh, who was defeated in the last assembly elections, lashed out at the local MLA Jathedar Tota Singh and his son Barjinder Singh Brar saying, “How can they talk of moral values at a time when they are themselves entangled in corruption cases.” The yatra passed through the bazaars of Dharamkot town. The general secretary of the PYC Sukhwinder Singh Danny was also present on the occasion along with local youth Congress workers.
	Burning only loose paddy straw can reduce air pollution by 80 per cent: Expert Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, October 27 Stringent laws made by the state government on the directions of the apex court has hardly helped in overcoming the problem of rising air pollution that results in heavy smog due to the burning of paddy stubble after the crop is harvested across the state. But an agriculture scientist in Moga has come out with a novel idea after conducting successful experiments recommending that only the loose straw be burnt, without operating the reaper, which reduces air pollution by 80 per cent. Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, a state award winner agro-scientist, said in the last couple of years, he carried out experiments on burning only the loose straw in the government seed farm at Raonta village and in some fields in the nearby villages of the district, he found that air pollution was reduced by 80 per cent. It may be mentioned that the farmers in general burn paddy straw after harvesting the crop with combines along with the stubble by using the stubble shaver or reaper because they maintain that the loose straw causes hindrance in sowing the wheat crop. To some extent, this problem of the farmers is correct because they do not get power supply during the harvesting period to water their fields so that the stubble can get decomposed properly. Satwinder Singh, a farmer of Rode village, has demanded that the government should continue power supply during the harvesting time. Normally, the government stops power supply to the rural feeders from October 15 to November 30, which forces most of the farmers to burn the stubble and loose straw. The farmers are using stubble shaver or reaper because it’s an easy and cheap process in the absence of any stringent law to check the practice. “The government should also ban the use of stubble shaver or the reaper during the harvesting season, which will ease the problem,” the agro-scientist said. Adding that the burning of only the loose straw helps to retain essential micro-nutrients and micro-organisms, he said this organic material left after harvesting in the form of decomposed straw helps in reducing the intake of fertilisers in the next crop. “About 40 per cent of nitrogen, 30 to 35 per cent of phosphorus, 80 to 85 per cent of potassium and 40 to 50 per cent of sulphur, besides a significant amount of zinc taken up by paddy is left in the vegetative parts after the harvesting of the crop, which should be utilised properly to retain the fertility of the soil,” he said. Dr Jaswinder Brar said the decomposing straw in soil returns most of the nutrients and helps conserve the soil’s nutrient reserves for a longer period and reduces the growth of weeds during the fallow period. Moreover, by not burning the residue of paddy stubble and allowing it to decompose before sowing the wheat crop, reduces the alkaline/acidic content and increases the fertility of the soil in a macrobiotic way, he added. As much as 80 quintals of stubble and loose straw is produced from one hectare of paddy crop of which the loose straw comprises just 8 to 10 quintals.
	Infantry Day: Tributes paid at Asafwala War Memorial Our Correspondent Fazilka, October 27 The Army commemorated the Infantry Day by paying tributes to the martyrs of Fazilka brigade at Asafwala War Memorial, seven kms from here today. Colonel JS Negi and other ranks of the Army laid wreaths at the sanctum santorum to pay homage to about 226 valiant soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in Fazilka sector during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The Infantry Day celebrations commemorate the landing of the first Infantry Battalion, 1 Sikh, at Srinagar during the 1947-48 war. The batallion was air lifted from Alwar and landed at Badgam airfield in Srinagar during the war. The induction of the unit saved Srinagar city in particular and Jammu and Kashmir state in general from Pakistan. "The infantry is committed to saving the boundaries of the country. To pay homage to the martyrs at Asafwala War Memorial on Infantry Day is the best way to celebrate this day," said the colonel. "We all should take a pledge to work for the development of the country together," he added. The office-bearers and members of Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee which looks after the war memorial, including Amar Chand Bhateja, Umesh Chander Kukkar, BL Sikka, Ram Rakha Thakral, Vinod Gupta, Ravi Nagpal, Dinesh Thakral, Shaffi Babbar and others also laid wreaths at the memorial.