Nawanshahr, March 9
It was rural Punjab at its best. The young, the old and the physically challenged men bedazzled a gathering of over 20,000 villagers by exhibiting their extraordinary sports skills as they performed various feats at S. Harbans Singh Purewal Memorial Rural Olympics Festival that concluded at Hakimpur village.

Eighty nine year old Chanan Singh from Jagraon defied his age as he showed his skills in turning a pair of 25 kg mallets in tandem. A farmer by profession, he said that he had earned Rs 50,000 as prize money in the last few years by performing at various rural sports festivals.

Moga based Gurmel Singh (30) cannot walk owing to his deformed legs but he impressed one and all as he stood upside down balancing himself atop a glass bottle.

All of 13 years, Ranjit Singh came running non-stop all the way from Phagwara to Hakimpur stadium covering a distance of nearly 20 kms.

A resident of Chuchuri village near Goraya, his father accompanied him.

Father-son duo Hardev (43) and Jugraj Singh (14) from Koom Kalan too put up a spectacular show.

The son bended an iron rod applying force with his throat as the other end of the rod rested beneath the neck of his father.

They also balanced a wooden ladder holding it between their teeth.

Naresh Kumar from Samrala showed his skills in kite flying as he balanced 151 kites on a single nylon string.

An animal show was the main attraction of the event.

Surjit Singh from Sultanpur Lodhi got his two horses, Hira and Moti, both of whom danced in unison on their masters instructions. Nihangs rode horses swiftly as they lifted flagged pegs from the ground. A bullock cart race had more than 80 participants from far and near.

The first prize, however, was won by Sarwan Singh, a resident of the host village who completed the rounds in the shortest time.

The event primarily showcased contests for wrestling and kabaddi for which the participants came from all across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

The prize money for the main titles was as high as Rs 1.5 lakh.

Jalandhar, March 9
The Bonded Labour System (abolition ) Act was passed in 1976.There has been no improvement in the lot of the bonded labour.

Swami Agnivesh, convener, Bandhua Mukti Morcha , gave a call for concerted action to end the practice opening a three-day convention at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall today.

The bonded labour number 10 lakh in Punjab and Haryana. In Jammu and Kashmir their number has swelled to 5 lakhs in the past eight years.

He said the state administration refuses to take any complaint in this regard. S.N Gardia of the Jan Jagriti Kendra, Chhattisgarh, had to flee from Udhampur when he tried to lodge a complaint with the police there.

Delegates to the convention took out a march from Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall to the District Administration Complex.

The convention has been jointly organized by the Centre for Education and Communication, New Delhi,Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan,Punjab,Jan Jagriti Kendra ,Chhattisgarh,and the Jeeta Vimukti, Karnataka.

Phagwara, March 9
National Safai Karamchari Commission Chairperson Santosh Chaudhry, has urged the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the development grants of those states, which were not implementing the policy of Union Government to stop the old tradition and social evil of carrying the ‘night soil’ by the scavengers in the country.

Talking to newsmen here this afternoon, Chaudhry sought free education for the kids of scavengers.

She alleged that most of the states were giving false figures about this evil and were diverting the funds on other sectors meant for this purpose only.

She said all concerned officers of the area should be punished according to law in which area the social evil of carrying the night soil by scavengers could be detected.

Chaudhry said, the commission had released huge amount of Rs 7.5 billion to the different states since 1993 and 34 per cent share was given only to Uttar Pradesh which openly violated the rules and diverted the funds on other purposes. She alleged that this social evil was still continuing in Muslim-populated several states.

She expressed her concern that several states could not utilise the funds as they had to submit ‘utilisation certificates’.

She said thus several states were hiding the facts.

She further told that she had suggested to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to summon a high-level meeting of Chief Ministers of all states to discuss this major issue.

She revealed that more than 3.5 lakh scavengers were still working in the job of carrying night soil till now despite hard efforts of the commission, but states governments were hiding the factual position.

Chaudhry disclosed that Union Government had written to all states CM’s to give details of safai karamcharis.

Kartarpur, March 9
PSEB employees who had come to severe the electricity supply of the residents at Baljot Nagar were gheraoed here today. The board took the move because of the non-payment of electricity bills by the residents. The residents were supported by the Pendu Majdoor Union. They demanded that the government should fulfil their demands of waving off the pending bills.

Gherao got over with the re-connection of power supply on the order of the SDO, PSEB, (Kartarpur I). 

Jalandhar, March 9
A man and a woman, said to be long-time acquaintances, committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in broad daylight on local Sodal road this afternoon.

The duo, identified as Manjit Singh and Kulwant Kaur, residents of Basti Mithu, were found in unconscious state at the Sodal road. Manjit Singh was allegedly upset over behaviour of his step mother Gurmit Kaur, it is learnt.

However, Gurmit Kaur has denied the same. A case under Section 174 of the IPC has been registered.