Bathinda, November 27
Labelled the brainchild of Shiromani Akali Dal (B) working president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the cricket stadium in Bathinda is now close to seeing the light of the day, as the principal secretary, sports and youth services, R.P.S. Pawar, today inspected the site for the proposed stadium.

While talking to the TNS, Pawar accepted that it would be difficult to hold international matches frequently at the stadium, but added that the government had taken the step on the demand of the general public.

Supporting the decision to construct the stadium, Pawar said it would boost the morale of the players. He parried the question when asked if instead of building a stadium at such a huge cost, would it not have been wise to construct more playgrounds across the state.

During his visit to the site for the stadium, Pawar inspected the map and fencing. He approved the place for laying of the foundation stone, which the chief minister is supposed to do on December 8.

On the issue of promoting sports in Punjab, he said that the government was ready to boost every game in the state. All are invited to submit their demand to the deputy commissioner of the district concerned, he added.

Deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari and SSP Naunihal Singh also accompanied the principal secretary.

At the site, some farmers, whose land has been acquired for constructing the stadium, complained to Pawar that the proposed boundary wall would cover the stretch for commuting.

Assuring the farmers, the principal secretary suggested that they submit written complaints to the deputy commissioner, Bathinda. He further added that the authorities would try to solve all disputes regarding the construction of the stadium before it is given the final touches. The DC apprised Pawar of completion of formalities like ‘Intkaal’ and ‘Girdawari.’

The principal secretary then went to Kal Charani village and inspected a project for youth welfare services, where the CM is also supposed to visit on December 8. It may be mentioned here that the international stadium which will come up on 29 acres of land would cost Rs 25 crore and take two years for completion.

Bathinda, November 27
Thanks to the apathy of the authorities concerned, the mushrooming of dairies in residential colonies has been causing problems for the residents of the city.

The unhygienic condition, a result of the poor upkeep of these dairies, is not the only problem that people here are facing. Sewerage blockage, bad roads, traffic bottlenecks and threat of epidemics are also looming large adding to the woes of the people here.

A survey of the various colonies in the city by a TNS team found that the sanitary condition in areas where dairies are situated, are far from satisfactory.

The dairies produce a lot of waste every day. The dung of the animals is the reason behind blockage of sewer lines, as the drains are not wide enough to allow their smooth flow.

Besides, the accumulated dung invites diseases as flies sit over it. Moreover, people living in the vicinity are forced to bear the stench.

“These cattle are also responsible for the pathetic condition of the roads as their dung and urine remain accumulated on the streets,” said Krishan Chand.

Rued Pratima Rani, a housewife, “Neither the authorities are bothered about the accidents caused by these animals nor the owners of cattle. These cattle create a lot of inconvenience to passersby.”

There is a place outside the city where the dairies can be shifted. Even then, the authorities are not forcing the dairy owners to shift there,” said Vanish Garg, a law graduate.

The condition of the historical fort located in the area causes concern. Its dilapidated condition cries for attention on the one hand while on the other, the waste generated by the milk dairies located behind it, forces a rethink about the neglect it has received at the hands of the administration.

On his part, K. K. Yadav, administrator, Improvement Trust, Bathinda said, “A plan for shifting almost 206 dairies, with five or more cattle, has been prepared. We have 37 acres of land on Goniana Road for this. Laying of sewer lines and water pipes is underway. Within a few months, the matter will be settled and then applications for allotment will be invited. The new venue for dairies will possess almost every kind of technique to meet the latest requirement.”

Ferozepur, November 27
A kidnapping drama hatched by two teenagers hailing from a small village in this border district had all the makings of a typical Bollywood pot-boiler.

The kidnapping plot narrated by the boys put the entire police force here on tenterhooks. Not only the police, but the media also believed the story woven by the boys to skip school for the day.

Giving details about the incident here today, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dinesh Pratap said that two boys, Lovepreet Singh (14) and Jagdeep Singh ( 12), both sons of a Punjab police head constable Malkeet Singh, posted at Faridkot, had planned the entire kidnapping drama themselves as they wanted to skip the school yesterday.

He said both the boys were studying in Bhag Singh Memorial School at Khal Ghurd village, around 20 km from the district headquarters.

The SSP further disclosed that yesterday in the morning, the elder brother Lovepreet told his younger sibling that in order to stay away from school, they should do something serious which does not arouse the suspicion of their parents.

Thereafter, Lovepreet hid himself on the terrace of their house in Bhambha Landa village, whereas his brother went to the school in a routine manner.

However, he too returned within some time with a meticulously planned kidnapping story.

Jagdeep told his mother that while going to the school, some unidentified car-borne persons kidnapped both of them near the bus stand. Jagdeep further added that when he cried loudly, the kidnappers threw him out of the car and took his elder brother Lovepreet with them.

He also informed his mother that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh for Lovepreet’s release.

On hearing the account, the mother raised an alarm and within moments, the police swung into action.

Wireless messages were flashed everywhere and check-posts mushroomed immediately.

The police registered a case under section 364/34 against four unidentified persons on the basis of the statement of their father, Malkeet Singh.

The SSP said that after narrating the false story, Jagdeep went upstairs and secretly told his brother about the developments, who in turn, got scared.

As dusk fell, Lovepreet who had remained in hiding throughout the day, silently came down towards the backside of the house, where a villager spotted him and brought him to his parents.

When asked, Lovepreet told his parents that the kidnappers had just dropped him there. However, the police became suspicious.

The SSP said today that when they asked the boys about the incident again, the boys admitted that they had hatched the entire incident themselves just to skip school.

Muktsar, November 27
The two-day training programme for farmers to make them aware of their rights and provisions under the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007 concluded here today.

In all, 30 farmers were short-listed for the programme in which the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) officials briefed them about the provisions for regulating warehousing activities, liabilities of warehousemen, setting up of warehouse regulatory or advisory committees and accreditation of warehouses, besides the negotiable instrument of the Act.

The Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act 2007, an update of the erstwhile similar legislation passed in 1962, has the provisions to facilitate the farmers in dealing with the warehouse authorities for the storage of their produce with more liberal negotiations, CWC Assistant General Manger (Technical) Mohammed Shaithu Ahmed said on the occasion.

“This training will give some importance to the farmers as, in this Act, the warehouse receipt issued by the authorities have the status of fully negotiable instrument and increase liquidity in rural areas,” he said.

The CWC earlier conducted similar awareness programmes for the warehouse users in Ludhiana and Chandigarh as a nodal agency of the Centre to make them aware of the said Act.

“We expect these farmers now to spread this awareness of their rights to negotiate liberally and other provisions under the Act with their fellow farmers so that the users could avail of more and more opportunities to directly approach the warehouses,” he added.

The CWC’s 50 per cent of the total 7 lakh metric tonne capacity has been lying vacant due to various reasons, according to the CWC officials.

Nidhana (Moga), November 27
The local chapter of the Lions Club (Vishal), with the active support of experts in agriculture and the gram panchayat of this village, has taken upon themselves the task of turning this dusty village self-reliant in producing vegetables and fruits for its own consumption and planting trees for shade on village link roads.

Located 10 km away from the city on the Ferozepur road, the village has nearly 650 acres of cultivable land. It has around 2,000 residents including women, who have come out in support of the movement.

Under the movement, views of experts and material are provided free of cost to each household. People are guided in the utilisation of water that is wasted in drains and also in irrigating fruit and vegetable plants in the little open space that is available in their house.

Agriculture expert Harnek Singh, also the organiser of the movement, says that almost all houses in the villages have open space, especially near hand-pumps and taps, that is not being used properly.

This open space is now being utilised for sowing vegetables. For this purpose, seeds of vegetables like lemon, garlic, onion, cauliflower, carrot, mint, chillies and others are being distributed among the villagers. The villagers can use vegetables for their own consumption and some of the produce could be utilised in making pickles.

The agriculture expert says that villagers, especially, women have been roped in to make the plan a success, as they are involved in discharging domestic chores.

Singh informs that in order to encourage vegetable growers, the best among them will be rewarded with a prize.

For this, a function will be held next month in which Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, who was behind the cleaning of Kali Bein Nullah in Jalandhar and Inderjit Kaur, president of the Bhagat Puran Singh Pingalwara Charitable Trust, Amritsar, will be invited.

Apart from this, 1,000 saplings of Barma Dek have been arranged and will be planted along roads linking the village.

Barnala, November 27
Taking strong note of roads that got damaged soon after construction, PWD Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa today said that notices would be issued to contractors who used sub-standard material for constructing the roads.

Citing an example, he said that the Sunam–Badbar road gave in soon after completion, for which a notice was issued to the contractor and his payment of bills stopped. He assured that his department would take care to ensure that every single penny was used on construction or maintenance of roads. The minister was in the city to preside over the monthly meeting of the district planning board here today.

Dhindsa informed that a sum of Rs 1500 crore had been earmarked for the construction of new roads and its maintenance in the state during the current financial year as the SAD-BJP government was determined to provide good infrastructure to the people.

On being asked about toll taxes on the new roads to be constructed by the state government, Dhindsa admitted that it would put extra burden on the common man so their department would re-consider the decision on imposing toll taxes.

After the district planning board meeting, Dhindsa informed that a sum of Rs 2713.54 lakh had been sanctioned for Barnala district under various schemes of the state government for creating infrastructure and development works. The expenditure certificates for the used Rs 1879.60 lakh were presented by the deputy commissioner before the district planning board here today.

He said that social security and women’s welfare department had launched Kishore Shakti Yojna (KSJ for the well-being of pregnant women and new-born babies). Under KSJ scheme in Barnala district, Rs 108.90 lakh would be spent, while for sports students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Rs 66,000 was sanctioned today. For providing water supply in the rural areas, Rs 421 lakh had been approved in the district, he added.

Fazilka, November 27
Speaking on disinvestment of processing plants, financial commissioner (FC), Development, Punjab, R.S.Sandhu informed that the disinvestment process of the two juice and vegetable processing plants commissioned by Punjab Agri Juices Limited, situated in Abohar and Hoshiarpur, had been initiated and soon the government would hand over these two projects to the private concerns.

Talking to the media persons, Sandhu said formalities had almost been completed and proposal would soon acquire a practical shape.

It is pertinent to mention that the proposal of disinvestment would also include take over of the Punjab Agri Juices Limited plant at village Alamgarh (Abohar), inaugurated barely two months ago by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and union minister for food processing and industries, Subodh Kant Sahay. It was commissioned at a hefty cost of Rs 40 crore.

This year bumper crop of Kinnows and citrus fruits in Fazilka, Abohar and their surrounding areas, is expected and the juice factory can successfully be run to its optimum capacity, yet the government move to take it under disinvestment plan has raised many eye brows and is keeping the horticulturists particularly, the Kinnow growers worried. They are demanding MSP of Kinnows on a pattern of other crops. Their concerns emanate from the fact that till now the juice factory authorities have entered into contract of only about 25 per cent of the total expected production.

They apprehend that they may have to sell their produce at throwaway price and are likely to face exploitation at the hands of the private traders.

Director agriculture Punjab, Balwinder Singh Sidhu, chief agriculture officer Ferozepore, Rajinder Singh Brar, also accompanied the financial commissioner.

Abohar, November 27
The village Dodewala, located on the inter-state border, 26 km from here, has two gram panchayats.

One of the panchayats is accountable to the Rajasthan government.

A road geographically separates the second part of the village from Punjab.

Senior political functionaries and media persons found today that the village has not tasted the fruit of freedom yet.

The children here can qualify only middle school exam (class VIII) from the Government Elementary School.

And to study in higher secondary school, they have to either travel a distance of 26 km to Abohar or cross a distance of 14 km to study at Sadulshahar, in a school run by the Rajasthan government.

But at Sadulshahar, Hindi is taught as the first language and that deprives them of government jobs in Punjab.

Most of the girls in the village do domestic work after passing class VIII.

Gurdas Singh Badal a former MP, discussed the problems faced by the villagers during a brief reception arranged by a progressive farmer and Lions Club office-bearer Sahab Singh Bhamah, today.

He was the chief guest at a function in the gurdwara complex where he laid the foundation stone for its expansion project.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) circle president, Jathedar Kaur Singh, while speaking on the occasion, said that the Congress-led government had selected low-lying areas for water works.

Rainwater that accumulated there contaminated the drinking water.

Watercourse constructed during that period for supplying water to the waterworks got damaged due to poor construction.

The media persons found that shrubs had grown in between the watercourse. Sidewalls of the watercourse had not been plastered.

Sangria MLA Gurjant Singh Brar said that the Rajasthan chief minister had sanctioned a special grant to construct a concrete road up to the inter-state boundary but the Punjab government was yet to undertake the task on its side of the border.

He said geographical boundaries notwithstanding, the residents of the village are socially and religiously united.

He claimed that residents on both sides had been celebrating festivals together.

Gurdas Singh Badal felt that failure in supplying potable drinking water had led to the spread of waterborne diseases, besides cancer in the region.

He urged the chief minister to give priority to the needs of the villagers.

He said the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) had already released Rs 1 lakh for the expansion of the gurdwara and more funds would be requested.

The local committee of the gurdwara presented siropas to Gurdas Singh Badal, Gurjant Singh Brar and a SGPC member, Kartar Singh Sidhu.

SAD circle secretary Prahlad Kumar Khatwan and BJP circle president Vishnu Dutt Delu thanked the guests. Sarpanches of over a dozen villages were also present.

Jathedar Kaur Singh, circle president, SAD, exhorted them to wholeheartedly support the anti-drug drive launched by the sub-divisional police to check the smuggling of narcotics from Rajasthan.

Bathinda, November 27
Taking a step forward towards solving the case, the Nahian Wala police today recovered the handle of the water hand pump, which was reportedly used in killing Sukhmander Singh, besides other articles.

The police reportedly recovered the handle of the pump after taking the accused along from a tributary at Assa Butter village. Police sources said the accused had admitted that the deceased was assaulted and received injuries on his head that resulted in his death.

Giving details, SHO Nahian Wala police station Boota Singh said, after interrogation Sukhmander’s gold chain and mobile phone were recovered from the accused.

The SHO further said that the investigating team had also recovered a shoe and an iron bangle, which were confirmed to be of the deceased. The skeleton recovered had been sent to Faridkot for forensic tests. The police today sent the report of today’s recovery also to that laboratory.

However, the police could not ascertain the motive behind the murder. The SHO was optimistic that before the completion of police remand, which is till November 28, the accused would reveal everything.

Fazilka, November 27
A fifteen-year-old girl Sheenu and her four-year-old brother Karan, who had been missing under mysterious circumstances since November 21, have been recovered from Chandigarh.

While the search operations were on, Manoj Kumar received a telephone call from Chandigarh that his children were there.

The police was informed and a team led by Ved Parkash along with Manoj Kumar reached Chandigarh and brought the children back.

However, it was stated that the children had left home due to mental stress.

Bathinda, November 27
As many as 35 students blocked the Mall Road to lodge protest against Micronet Institution, an institution affiliated with the Punjab Technical University (PTU), here today.

The protesters raised slogans and sat on dharna, which blocked the movement of vehicles on the road for at least 20 minutes.

The students alleged that the institution had committed fraud with them as at the time of the admission, they were promised bus passes but till date, no one had received the bus pass.

They further said that the institution had also not provided them with books, which it was supposed to do.

The students collectively blamed the in charge of the institution and accused him of not caring for them, as repeated requests made to him had been in vain.

Passing the buck, in charge of the institution, Vikas Garg said, "It is mentioned in the university prospectus. So the PTU itself is responsible for not providing bus passes and books." — TNS

Abohar, November 27
The Kenway College of Education bagged three prizes in the state yoga championship held recently at Patiala.

In charge of the team, Geeta Rani, Shashi Kumar and coach Subhash Chander said Rajinder Singh and Shivinder Kaur won the second prize in different categories while Sukhwinder Kaur stood third in the event.

The principal, Satyender Singh, honoured the winners on their return at the campus here.

Mansa November 27
“To provide good health to the new generation is the responsiblity of the whole society. But we have not been doing this duty by heart, “ said M. F. Farooqi, SSP Mansa, while presiding over a meeting of chemists as a part of campaign against drug addiction here today. He appealed to the chemists asking them not to sell the drugs that affect health of the youth.

The SSP said there were many means to achieve money but money was not above humanity.

He said due to drug addiction, the health of the youth is being affected and they are becoming habituated to drugs, which is very dangerous for the society. On this occasion, civil surgeon of Mansa, Avtar Singh Jarewal promised full cooperation in this campaign from the health department.

The chemist association also promised cooperation in the campaign against drug addiction.

Bathinda, November 27
Bhagta police arrested two brother Gurpartap Singh and Gurtej Singh, both of Bhucho town from a drain bridge at Dyal Pura Mirza, here this evening.

Giving details, in charge Bhagta police post, Rajinder Kumar said, “Both the accused were carrying bags in their hands. The police patrolling team, on the basis of suspicion, intercepted them and checked their bags. After opening the bags, a number of banned cough syrups and tablets were seized from their possession. During the interrogation, the accused admitted that they purchase the drugs from Moga and supply here.”

“They tried to escape, but the police chased them and nabbed them near the drain bridge,” he added. Police has registered a case.