Bathinda, February 24
After arresting a carpenter, the two other accused who were absconding in the double murder case, too, landed in the police net here today. The trio had planned and murdered an old woman and her son who were residing in Guru Gobind Singh Nagar. The jewellery that was stolen by the accused, worth nearly Rs 2 lakh, has also been recovered by the police.

The arrested accused, carpenters by profession, had murdered a retired Food and Civil Supply Officer Rupinder Singh and his mother Narinderpal Kaur by strangulating them. Their bodies were then thrown into Sirhind Canal.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Bhullar said the accused had failed to get ‘enough’ cash or jewellery as they had thought before murdering the duo. Four gold rings were recovered from an accused, Jagjit Singh’ possession, a gold bracelet and a gold bangle from Gurmeet Singh and two gold earrings from Surjit Singh.

The SSP said the accused had stolen the jewellery from the house of the victims after murdering them. They drove the car of the victim to Amritsar and parked it near a market to misguide the police.

The SSP said a .22 revolver with 10 live cartridges stolen by Surjit Singh from a house in Jujhar Singh Nagar has also been recovered by the police. The revolver, he said, was used by him to carry out theft in a house before involving himself in the double murder.

The bodies of both the victims were recovered from the Sirhind Canal and a case was registered on the complaint of one of the victim’s relatives, advocate Gurtej Singh Sidhu.

A team comprising SP Swaran Khanna and DSP Palwinder Cheema, headed by the SSP, was formed to trace the murderers.

The SSP said the possibility of more jewellery stolen by the accused could not be ruled out and they expected to recover more stolen material after interrogation.

In the initial investigation, Surjit had admitted to have carried out another theft in a house at Jujhar Singh Nagar around a year-and-a-half ago before committing the double murders, with the help of a co-accused, Gurmeet Singh. The accused admitted they stole costly clothes and jewellery from the victims’ house.

Gurmeet Singh had given up studies after Class IX and was working as a carpenter by visiting households in the city and in the adjoining areas. Jagjit Singh also works as a carpenter and had studied up to Class X.

Bathinda, February 24
Raghunath Goyal, a contractor who was given the work of renovation and construction to build new facilities at Government Rajindra College, was today served a notice which pointed out that he had not been taking care of the safety measures due to which a student, Manpreet Kaur, was critically injured.

The notice, a copy of which is with the Bathinda Tribune, served by the Executive Engineer, Provincial Division, Buildings & Roads Department, clarifies that as the clause number 14.3 mentions that if a mishap occurs during execution of the construction and causes injury or death of a person or damage to other property, the responsibility will lie with the contractor.

Seemingly, learning his lesson from the mishap during which Manpreet was hurt when a wooden plank fell on her (damaging skull), the contractor today encircled the area with a ‘men at work’ tape.

The students of the college, however, stated that the move had been taken a little too late. “The construction and renovation has been going on in the college more than two months now. The contractor never cared about taking safety measures and barricaded the area to keep the students away. The labourers engaged in de-shuttering the library building are responsible for letting a wooden plank tumble down from the first floor,” said Gaganpreet kaur, a friend of the victim.

In the meanwhile, Manpreet’s family and the contractor today reached a compromise with the latter paying Rs 1 lakh to the family in full settlement under a “written compromise”.

“It was not really our mistake. It was an unfortunate moment when the wooden plank fell on her. Anyway, taking the responsibility for the mishap, I have given Rs 1 lakh in full and final settlement towards the claim of the family. They could have shifted the injured to another hospital where the cost of treatment would have been much less but they didn’t take a second opinion and decided to keep her at the Max Hospital,” said Goyal.

Under speculation that the local police had played a role in helping the two parties reach a compromise, Goyal chose not to mince words and stated that although he had paid Rs 1 lakh as compensation, he had given the family Rs 10,000 earlier and had also spent Rs 10,000 to 15,000 on “overhead expenses” adding that he had already spent Rs 1.25 lakh.

Jaswinder Kaur, a guest faculty lecturer at the college and a cousin of Manpreet, said, “We met the contractor at the Circuit House today. We demanded that the contractor make a one-time compensation since we may not be able to come to him to help us when Manpreet goes for a second surgery after six months. For the rest of the expenses, our hopes are pinned on the collection being made by the students of the college. We also hope that the college authorities will also do their bit.”

Bathinda, February 24
Thirty-two food samples that were collected in the district under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have failed the purity tests. Of the samples collected, the health authorities have lodged complaint regarding 19 samples collected by the authorities.

Nodal Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said the sample of gutka, which was collected during a raid conducted at Maur on June 26, 2013, was found to contain nicotine. “The sale of tobacco is banned if sold under the name of gutka. Lab results have shown that the samples collected from Maur had nicotine in them, which is unsafe for human consumption,” he said. The case now lies pending with the local court.

The Maur police have arrested one and booked two others for selling fake and sub-standard tobacco products. The accused Sikandar Singh was arrested and 80 quintals of tobacco was recovered from his possession.

The remaining 18 cases were filed with the Adjudicating Officer, ADC Rajiv Prashar. Of these, six have been decided including five penalised cases and the rest of the 12 cases are pending.

Only those cases are filed with the Adjudicating Officer in which the lab results show food samples to be sub-standard and not unfit for human consumption.

The ADC had imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on sub-standard milk-seller and a fine of Rs 40,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000 in cases of selling sub-standard mustard oil. The seller of over-ripened bananas was let off after being served a warning.

The collected food samples are first tested at the Public Analyst, State Food, Drugs and Excise Lab of the Government of Punjab at Chandigarh. If tested negative, the accused is given an opportunity to get the sample tested from Food Research and Standardisation Laboratory, Ghaziabad. It’s the accused who bears the expenses of getting the sample tested for the second time from Ghaziabad lab. Four such cases have been sent from Bathinda so far seeking a second test of the samples collected.

The health authorities encouraged food business operators to get enrolled under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to avoid any kind of future problems.

With the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India being implemented throughout the country, it is slowly becoming mandatory to display one’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India licence or registration number before making any deals in the food business.

The ones who enroll earlier would be saved from future problems, added Dr Randhawa. 

Bathinda, February 24
Not agreeing with the traffic reforms in the city, local residents today demanded overhauling of the entire system. Bathinda Tribune spoke to a cross-section of the city residents to seek solution to the traffic problems plaguing the city. Residents of different localities said traffic lights did not serve the purpose of bringing down the graph of accidents as people do not follow them as traffic policemen are not deployed there.

At places where there are traffic lights, there are no cops. At places where people follow traffic lights, it becomes non-functional. The intersections were the most dangerous spots where accidents take place due to high speed and use of mobile phones while driving. Apart from the fatal accidents, many people receive serious injuries but nothing has been done so far to improve the deteriorating condition of the roads.

Bathinda, February 24
The ministerial staff today went on a three-day pen down strike against the state government demanding early redressal of their problems.

The staff on strike today shouted slogans against the state government alleging that for past many years, they had been raising demands which had fallen on deaf ears. The union members have decided to burn an effigy of the government on February 26 outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Addressing the employees on strike, the union leader from Punjab State Ministerial Services Union, Kewal Singh, said during the meetings held with the Finance Minister and the Finance Secretary of Punjab, the union’s demands had been accepted in principle but were not implemented yet.

Employees are demanding 50 per cent selection scale for clerks, pay scale of Rs 4,200 for clerks, Rs 4,800 for junior assistant, Rs 5,400 for senior assistant, Rs 6,000 for superintendent grade II and Rs 6,600 for superintendent grade I besides revised pay scales of those whose payments have not been revised.

They also demanded apology from the circle education officer, Jalandhar, for insulting woman employees of the ministerial cadre.

They also appealed to the ministerial staff in all the departments to join the pen-down strike.

Leaders present during the agitation included Megh Singh, Meharjit Singh, Gopal Singh, Paramjit Singh, Didar Singh, Anup Garg, Gurtej Singh and others.

Bathinda, February 24
The issue of transferring the men teachers out of all-girl schools and shifting the women teachers in their places seems to have created a furore in the state. A deputation of the agitated teachers, who were handed over transfer orders in January, today, met the Bathinda Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal and requested her to take up the matter with Punjab Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal.

“When we discussed the matter with the Bathinda MP, she expressed her surprise over the fact that the state government was yet to revoke the decision and also stated that she was personally not in favour of shifting the men teachers from the all-girl schools as a way of controlling cases of sexual harassment in schools. She also promised us that she would take up the matter with the Education Minister as well,” said Surinderpal Singh Mann of Mansa, a teacher who was part of the delegation.

“Giving the example of a household, she added that if we throw out all men from a household, how it would function. Presence of both men and women teachers is important for the wholesome growth of students-both men and women,” he added.

The teachers also pointed out to the Bathinda MP that a group of principals of all-girls schools had met the CM on January 17 to discuss the non-feasibility of the government decision. “Despite the fact that the CM had promised them that the government would look into the matter, the Education Department had issued transfer orders of teachers on January 20 but made the list public only on January 30 when the list was uploaded on the website of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan,” said Harjinder Singh Dhillon of Jaito, another teacher.

It is noteworthy that Punjab is the only state in the country to have devised such ways of bringing down instances of sexual harassment in the government schools. The Education Department had issued diktat after students of a government girls school in Ludhiana accused one of their teachers (man) of passing some objectionable remarks.

As per the lists released by the Education Department in January, the highest numbers of transfer orders were passed in Amritsar, followed by Jalandhar and Bathinda. While as many as 96 teachers were transferred in Amritsar, 84 were transferred in Jalandhar and 80 in Bathinda district.

The rest of the districts fared a little better when it came to transfer of teachers. The list of others districts: Faridkot 47, Ferozepur 38, Patiala 20, Muktsar 54, Fazilka 34, Fatehgarh Saheb 19, Sangrur 36, Roopnagar 20, Kapurthala 16, Ludhiana 66, Mansa 38, Hoshiarpur 32, Tarn Taran 12, Barnala 18, Gurdaspur 58, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar 8, SAS Nagar 6 and Pathankot 40. 

Bathinda, February 24
Sixty-seven-year-old Vinod Kumar, a resident Abohar, underwent a surgery for severe heart problem at Max Super Specialist Hospital (MSSH).

Addressing mediapersons here today, Dr Ashok Kumar Jayant, head of cardiac surgery, said the patient has been able to breathe freely almost after 60 years. Vinod had been suffering from breathlessness, weak immune system, joint pain with swollen joints, muscle aches, used to get tired and would get tired easily since he was six years old.

Around 45 days ago, he came to Max Hospital suffering from congestive heart failure with swollen feet, breathlessness, cough and inability to lie flat and sleep.

He was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and deformity in heart valve, which happens if rheumatic fever is not detected or treated at the right stage. “With the RHD, one of his heart valves had shrunk considerably which led to obstruction in the forward flow of blood from the lungs to the body that caused all the symptoms that he was suffering from,” said Dr Jayant.

Cardiologist Dr Sharad Gupta added that in addition to the severely obstructed valve, an ECG examination revealed an egg-sized blood clot had developed in the left side chamber of Vinod’s heart.

Diagnosis also revealed that Vinod was suffering from severe obstruction in all three arteries of the heart, for which coronary artery bypass grafting was also required. Vinod was operated for over eight hours wherein the blood clot was removed from heart and valve was replaced along with grafting. Dr Jayant said the large clot in his heart chamber could have fragmented into small pieces and got carried with the blood flow to any part of the body, causing serious complications and even death.

He added that rheumatic fever was rare but potentially life-threatening disease that commonly appears in children between ages of 6 and 15, with only 20 per cent of first-time attacks occurring in adults.

Cases of the RHD are much more in India than the rest of world. In India, 47 to 59 per cent of all cardiac admission to hospitals in major urban centers are said to be attributed to the RHD. A regular antibiotic treatment plan if started on time (usually by injections every three to four weeks) can prevent rheumatic fever and further infections causing progression of heart disease/valve damage.

Meanwhile, rheumatic fever is a complication of untreated sore throat that is caused by bacteria. If not detected earlier, it can lead to the RHD later which can be fatal for the patient. Symptoms of the RHD are joint pain, fever and difficult in breathing.

Bathinda, February 24
The pensioners today held a massive rally against the state government to get their demands accepted.

They will hold flag marches in the Bathinda and Sangrur Lok Sabha constituencies whenever the elections are announced. The pensioners had held a meeting with government representatives on January 24 wherein seven of their demands were accepted. However, the government later refused to implement the same. President of the union Darshan Singh Bajaj said there were 3.5 lakh Punjab government pensioners fighting for their rights.

The pensioners are demanding hike in medical allowance from Rs 500 per month to Rs 1,000. Similarly, as per the government rule, the civil surgeons were earlier designated with the powers to issue certificates for chronic illness. But after 1995, these were delegated to the three government medical colleges of the state in Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala. The pensioners demanded that civil surgeons be given powers to issue such certificates.

They said instead of giving medical reimbursements through the department, from which a pensioner had retired, the same should be routed through the office of the civil surgeon. They also demanded special allowance for the handicapped pensioners so that they could lead a comfortable life even after retirement. They also demanded one per cent increase in pension every year instead of five per cent after seven years.

MLA Sarup Chand Singla received the memorandum of demands and assured them of a meeting with the government soon.

Bathinda, February 24
The Hotel, Restaurant and Resorts Association released its telephone directory at a meeting of its members convened, here today.

President of the association Satish Arora said the government should relax some of its norms and provide subsidy to the hotel industry. He said the hotel industry was running in losses and the only way to bail it out from the current situation was to give an impetus to tourism.

Officer-bearers of the body Anil Thakur, Ramesh Sardana, Pratap Singh, Vijay Katia, Amardeep Singh Bahia, Kamal Gupta, Sikandar Goyal, Kapil Pahuja, Jagdish Grover, Chiman Lal and Om Prakash Bajaj were present on the occasion.

Bathinda, February 24
Central University of Punjab (CUP) held a blood donation camp at its city campus today. The second blood donation camp was inaugurated by chief guest Dr GPI Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Adesh University.

He was welcomed by Vice-Chancellor of the CUP, Prof Jai Rup Singh and senior staff of the university.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Singh said students and staff members of the university were giving their immense support to the social causes by donating blood.

In his pre-inaugural speech, Prof Jai Rup Singh said as part of the fifth foundation day celebrations, the blood donation camp was organised by the staff and students to do their bit to serve the human beings.

He congratulated the students and staff of the CUP and also praised the role of the local Civil Hospital and Mansa blood bank teams for the collection of blood. During the camp, around 150 units of blood were collected. 

Bathinda, February 24
As part of the "Naujawan Students Awareness Campaign", members of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the Students Union of Punjab (Shaheed Randhawa) convened a meeting at the Teachers' Home today. They also held an awareness rally in the city to make the students aware of their rights and to raise matters related to them.

Addressing the gathering, state president of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Pavel Kussa accused the political parties of ignoring the issues concerning the youth of the state. He said to make the parties recognise the power of the youth, the campaign would continue till March 23.

State president of the students union Sumeet said employment was the most important issue for the youth today. State convener of the union Sarabjeet Maur criticised the state and the Central governments for privatisation of education.

The union leaders demanded that the government should ensure employment or unemployment allowance for the youth. They also sought to fill posts on a regular basis and transparency in the recruitment process.

Members of the unions also burnt the effigies of the state and Central governments for neglecting the demands of the youth of the state and the country.

The police personnel didn't intercept the rally and instead, walked along to ensure that the rally remained peaceful and created no trouble for the commuters and the city residents.