Bathinda, January 3
The stalemate over the Behman Jasa Singh Agni Kand issue, that has been hanging fire for long, today appeared to be heading for a solution with the administration reportedly accepting all the demands of the Agni Kand Insaf Dewao Action Committee at a meeting held at the deputy commissioner’s residence.

The meeting was attended only by the members of the committee, the DC, SSP and the ADA (Legal).

The convener of the committee, after attending the meeting, told media persons that the administration had accepted all their demands in Gurjant Singh’s case.

He said the officials had assured of a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for those who had died, reimbursement of medicals bills and meeting 
the cost of treatment of one of Gurjant’s daughter who had sustained serious burn injuries, from the Red Cross fund.

He also said that the officials had assured jobs for all the three surviving daughters of Gurjant on the basis of their qualification. It was also reportedly stated that the district administration would recommend the case to the chief minister for more compensation.

“The inquiry would be marked to a deputy commissioner other than in Bathinda, who would give his report before January 31. All false cases filed against Gurjant’s family would be withdrawn. The land related dispute of the family in the village too would be resolved soon,” said convener Jagjit Singh Joga.

Joga also said that the ash immersion ceremony would be performed after January 31, after the report of the inquiry was received. 

Bathinda, January 3
Testing and synchronising of a unit of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) at Lehra Mohabbat near here has consumed Rs 50 lakh more than the estimated cost as the engineers of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) burnt an extra quantity of oil during the exercise.

The test synchronising on oil of unit I of stage II at Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabbat, today finally got completed. Highly-placed sources at GHTP said that during this test synchronisation, HFO and LDO oil worth around Rs one crore was burnt.

“The whole exercise, which lasted for nine days (starting from December 26), against a normal procedure of two to three days, has resulted in a loss of over Rs 50 lakh to the exchequer because of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) officials,” sources added.

HFO oil is priced at Rs 18 per litre whereas the LDO oil is costlier at Rs 28 per litre. “Around 600 kilo litre of oil was used during the test synchronising on oil of unit I of stage II at GHTP,” sources informed.

Sources rued that synchronisation was tried pre-maturely as many incompletions were there. The de-mineralised (DM) water plant, hot well make-up pumps, chemical dosing system, insulation of steam pipes etc were not ready.

“Last night, when the synchronisation was going on, the turbine speed suddenly rose above 3,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) when it was being actually reduced to synchronise it with the grid as its steam controlling valves failed to close.

The turbine was tripped manually as both the hydraulic as well emergency governors, which were to act as protection against high speed were not working,” sources added.

“Unit light up exercise was started on December 26 and turbine speed was first raised to 3,000 rpm on December 31 and synchronisation occurred on January 3. Due to one or the other problem, the turbine repeatedly tripped and its speed was raised and lowered from 100 rpm to 3000 rpm eight times, which is a record so far as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) history is concerned,” the sources added.

Experts feel that this episode speaks for itself about the quality of erection, testing and commissioning of the whole project. “This is not the end if coal firing, as scheduled on January 12, is also forced to end prematurely. Then something worst than this may happen.”

Seeing all these, one can say that a record of repeated problems has occurred.

Apart from minor incidents, even the strainers (filters) of both the condensate extraction pumps got damaged, oil entered the generator body repeatedly and generator hydrogen gas temperature rose dangerously high as their cooling water lines were connected wrongly.  

Moga, January 3
Expressing concern over the absence of science and commerce facilities in the schools of rural areas in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said they would be introduced soon to benefit the students of the schools located in villages.

He was addressing the inaugural function of the Godhewala indoor stadium here today.

A multipurpose indoor gymnasium was constructed at the stadium with the support of Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) at a cost of nearly Rs 4 crore.

The Chief Minister said the rural youth had to travel to nearby towns and cities for advance courses. To help them out, the government would open three schools in each assembly segments. The schools would be established at a cost of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh each.

Badal also laid the foundation stone for the construction of an outdoor stadium and a community centre to be built at a cost of Rs 7.50 crore.

The then Akali government had envisaged a plan for the development of a commercial area, athletics stadium, swimming pool and a club building in 1997. It proposed to develop a portion of the land to sell it as a commercial area and the revenue thus generated would fund the maintenance of the sports complex.

Since the government changed later, the plan kept hanging fire for several years.

The return of the Akali government in the state has once again ensured its speedy completion.

Therefore, Badal blamed the previous Congress government headed by Amarinder Singh for engaging in trivial politics while ignoring the interests of Punjab. In the same breath, he named Amarinder Singh for blocking the progress of the Bathinda oil refinery.

The Central government has provided Rs 1.20 crore for the project. The auction of the commercial complex around the stadium fetched Rs 445.82 lakh and the rest of the amount was spent by the PUDA. The CM announced that a ring road connecting Baghapurana with Amritsar and Ferozepur road would also be constructed. He said a national agency has been asked to prepare a map for turning a patch of land in the heart of the city belonging to the forest department into a park without cutting down a large number of trees. 

Muktsar, January 3
Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal today laid the foundation stone of 66KV sub-station at Bhuttiwala village in Muktsar district, which would be commissioned by June this year. The commissioning of this sub-station at a cost of Rs 3.42 crore will cater to domestic and agricultural consumers of Bhuttiwala, Kotli, Sanghar, Assa Butar and Haraj villages.

In addition, the farmers of Thandewala and Khirkianwala would also be benefited from this sub-station, a Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) spokesman said on the occasion.

This sub-station will relieve the 132 KV sub-station of Sarainaga and 66KV sub- station of Kauni and, thus, the power supply of Khokhar, Harike Kalan and Wading villages would improve.

The land for the Bhuttiwala sub-station has been given free of cost by the panchayat of the village Bhuttiwala and hence the PSEB shall provide urban category-I supply to the villages as per policy of the board. 

Ferozepur, January 3
The Punjab government has embarked on an ambitious plan to develop the Indo-Pakistan Joint Check Post (JCP) at Hussainiwala as a major tourist attraction
for which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has already sent an amount of Rs 25 lakh to the district administration as the first installment, stated Sukhpal Singh “ Nannu”, chief parliamentary secretary (revenue), while presiding over the meeting of a high-powered committee constituted to oversee the beautification and development plans of the JCP and the adjoining National Martyrs Memorial.

DIG BSF Mohammed Akuil, DC Bhagwant Singh, SDM M.P. Singh, Commandant 7 battalion A.K. Tambay, architect Sapna besides representatives from the PWD, panchayati raj and other departments participated in the meeting.

Nannu said keeping in view the huge influx of visitors; it had been decided to expand the seating gallery so as to accommodate at least 10,000 people. He also allocated a sum of Rs 10 lakh from his own discretionary quota.

DC Bhagwant Singh suggested that in addition to expanding visitor’s gallery, facilities like conference room and rest-house would be made available to the BSF. Besides, the entire area would be beautifully landscaped.

The DC informed that architects from Chandigarh had been engaged to prepare the entire development and beautification plan so that work could be started at the earliest.

He said that already an amount of Rs 3 crore had been spent on the development of the National Martyrs Memorial and another Rs 76 lakh had been spent on developing children’s park in its vicinity.

The BSF DIG said that the visitors gallery, if expanded, would not only help in accommodating the increasing number of visitors but would also help maintain vigil and security.

It is pertinent to mention here that hundreds of people come from far and wide daily to witness the electrifying retreat drill at the JCP, Hussainiwala, where the Pakistani Rangers and the BSF jawans lower the flags with precision matching every step, every motion, just to outdo each other.

However, the BSF was facing problems on account of managing such a huge crowd in the absence of sufficient seating arrangements. But now, with the support of state government, things are likely to improve, and Hussainiwala, it seems would draw much bigger crowds than before. 

Barnala, January 3
Expressing concern over the deterioration of the state’s finances, Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)- led Punjab government had failed on all fronts, particularly in financial maters.

The state was facing a deep financial crisis and has been unable to attract any foreign investment so far, and neither could it avail of the grants released by the Centre, Bhattal alleged.

She was here to express condolence on the death of a senior party worker.

Talking to reporters here today, Bhattal said the business community was feeling insecure and was planning to switch over to some other place that was more safe.

Earlier, the business community migrated to some other states due to fear of terrorism but now they were migrating due to the levy of more taxes and scrapping of subsidies, she added.

Outrightly rejecting the state government’s decision regarding the direct election of sarpanch in the panchayati raj system, Bhattal said it was fatal for a democratic set-up. People had the right to learn who was going to be the sarpanch. The state government’s decision regarding direct election of the sarpanch through panchs itself proved that the SAD (B) was scared of the Congress, Bhattal added.

She remarked that the Congress had strengthened its base in rural areas and in case of elections, they would win maximum seats. So this decision about direct elections was designed to take control of more panchayats, the Congress leader added.  

Fazilka, January 3
“The villagers should constitute a seven-member committee in each village for solving their problems on their own to get rid of police involvement in petty cases,” Punjab BJP vice-president and local MLA Surjit Kumar, advised the villagers.

He was here to distribute development cheques worth crores for villagers under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP).

He also held a sangat darshan programme at the local market committee office today where he was accompanied by district BJP president Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, local BJP president Rakesh Kumar Dhuria, SDM Rajiv Prashar, DSP Rachhpal Singh along with other officers. Jyani listened to the problems of those present there and directed the officers to settle the problems on the spot.

The MLA said that development work should be carried out in the Assembly segment in an impartial manner.

The 72 villages of the Fazilka Assembly had been divided into 13 zones and each zone should have one in-charge to deal with the cases of pensioners, he added.

At the sangat darshan, he distributed funds under the BADP, education, health services and sports.

He distributed cheques for Rs 31 lakh for village Shahtirwala, Rs 39 lakh for village Ghallu, Rs 28 lakh for village Sabuana, Rs 88 lakh for Khui Khera, Rs 67 lakh for Lakhewali Dhab, Rs 12 Lakh for Dangar Khera, Rs 2 lakh for Tillanwali, Rs 3 lakh for Bodiwala Pitha, Rs 2 lakh for Ghallu, Rs 3 lakh for Nihal Khera, Rs 4 lakh for Khippanwali, Rs 12 lakh for Katehra, Rs 10 lakh for Ram Kot, Rs 4 lakh for Kabulshah Khubban, Rs 1 lakh for Bareka, Rs 5 lakh for Azamwala, Rs 2 lakh for Bandiwala, Rs 10 lakh for Churiwala Dhanna, Rs 6 lakh for Patrewala, Rs 11 lakh for Wazidpur Kattianwali, Rs 6 lakh for Roop Nagar, Rs 2 lakh for Bakenwala, Rs 3 lakh for Koilkehra, Rs 1 lakh for Sivana and a cheque of Rs 7 lakh for Kheowali Dhab.

He also distributed shagun scheme cheques amongst 12 families. 

Mansa, January 3
Under the continuing medical education programme, a seminar was held at Mansa, in which 53 doctors participated as delegates. 

The delegates said tuberculosis (TB) was a major public health issue in India, as the country has the maximum number of TB cases in the world.

They said for the first time in India a planned project was being undertaken to involve private healthcare providers in close co-operation with the public health system.

At the seminar, Amrit Sethi, president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Punjab, appealed to all doctors that all members of the IMA should adopt RNTCP and DOTS for the treatment of TB patients. — OC 

Abohar, January 3
Expressing resentment over the behaviour of the mini-bus operators, the villagers of Bahadurkhera sat on a dharna at the sadar police station here. They alleged that only one bus was available in the morning hours for this sub-divisional town.

The owner of the poorly maintained bus today intentionally accompanied the staff and denied entry to the students. When they lodged protest, he allegedly pointed a revolver at them while the staff started thrashing them.

They later shifted the venue of protest to the SDM’s residence and raised slogans. The SDM assured that the conduct of the bus operator would be probed. — OC 

Abohar, January 3
The IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd (IKSL) is all set to launch a mobile service in rural areas for the benefit of the farmers by January 6, said IFFCO’s chief executive officer (CEO) M.G. Banga.

Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of an exhibition, arranged to acquaint the customers on pros and cons of the project here on Wednesday evening, the CEO said, “Certainly it is a big challenge to launch a mobile service at the village level but the IFFCO, which is run by the farmers for their own welfare, has accepted the challenge.”

Banga said the cell phone sets and green SIM cards would be marketed through rural cooperative societies at reasonable and affordable price without compromising on the quality aspect.

The Airtel had agreed to facilitate five free messages a day to each user. Information on the farming will be billed at 50 paise per minute only. The messages on the availability of fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural inputs would be flashed by the farmers’ help line in the regional language, he added.

Since there would be no middleman, the project was bound to ensure empowerment to the cooperatives, he said. 

Ferozepur, January 3
Deputy Commissioner Bhagwant Singh has taken a tough view of the reports of disinclination shown by some banks in opening saving accounts for disbursement of pension by the social security department.

In a special meeting convened here today, the DC told the bank managers that any reluctance in opening pension accounts would be seriously viewed. He told the bank managers to show compassion as a majority of the beneficiaries were poor and illiterate. — OC 

Bathinda, January 3
In a precautionary measure against fog, the Northern Railway has decided to cancel two trains up to January 31, 2008.

The Ferozepur-Delhi Passenger (341/342) has been cancelled while the movement of the Ferozepur-Jind Passenger (345/346) has been restricted. The train, which runs between Ferozepur and Jind via Bathinda has been suspended between Bathinda and Jind. The train, however, will continue to run between Ferozepur and Bathinda.

However, the uncertainty regarding the continuation of the newly-introduced Bathinda-Dhuri Express still exists. It may be mentioned here that the three-day extension given to the train has expired on Thursday. —TNS 

Bathinda, January 3
A woman, Harjeet Kaur, who was in her mid-fifties, was found burnt under unknown circumstances in Kikkar Dass Mohalla, here on Thursday morning. The husband of the deceased said that at the time of the accident, she was alone at home.

Harjeet was used to inhaling steam, and while doing so, it seemed that her clothes caught fire, sources known to the family said. The police, on the spot, was suspecting foul play as smell of kerosene was detected from near the place where the body was lying.

The body was then sent to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, for postmortem. The Kotwali police initiated proceedings under section 174 of CrPC and then handed over the body to the family members.

Harjeet Kaur is survived by a son and two daughters.  

Bathinda, January 3
Prabhjit Singh and group of Guru Nanak Dev Public Secondary School (GNDPSS), Bathinda, won the Kavishari competition held to mark the 150th year celebrations of Kooka Lehar at GNDPSS, Civil Station, here today. 

Sandeep Kaur and group and Sukhvir Kaur and group, both from Government Senior Secondary School, Behman Deewana, secured joint second position whereas Manwinderdeep Singh and group of GNDPSS stood third.

More than ten schools participated in this competition. Chief guest on the occasion was Gurbaksh Singh. School principal Davinder Singh Bhullar was also present on the occasion. —TNS 

Bathinda, January 3
The Sadar police nabbed a person on charges of running a brothel and rounded up three women and a man at Tiona village today late in the evening. 

Sources said the Sadar police conducted a raid at the house of a woman in the village and rounded up these persons. It is reported that one of the girls held has levelled allegations against a person with political connections.

When the SHO, Sadar, was contacted, he only said that he would get back after confirming the facts. But he could not be contacted later.

When the MHC, Sadar, was contacted, he gave the contact number of the investigation officer, but his phone was found switched off. The phone of DSP (Rural), whom efforts were made to contact, was also found to be switched off. —TNS 

Bathinda, January 3
Handball under-14 team of St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, here, which represented Punjab at school nationals held at New Delhi recently, has won a silver medal. 

Under-14 girls handball team of the same school also won the CBSE National Handball Championship held at Jaipur last month.

The U-19 girls handball team stood third in the same 
championship. —TNS