Bathinda, February 8
It may be the nth time that teachers are protesting. Demands ranging from filling up of vacant posts to regularisation of services of computer trachers have now become clichés. Governments have been changed twice since the protest began. Nine teachers have been suspended in Mohali and a criminal case was filed against 12 in Moga.

The slogans may again fall on deaf ears. But hope is sustaining the revolt, fuelling the fight for rights of teachers.

Darshan Singh Maur, a teacher for the last 30 years, could cite only the 1977 as the year when the services of a large number of teachers were regularised. However, he said, “Results must not be theorised this way. The state government is going all out to sell education through Adarsh schools, where 30 per cent ownership as well as management is in private hands. It’s a ploy to weaken the government schools further and we are united to fight it.”

Archana, Kanu and Rajdeep, from the younger lot, who have been in service for eight months, seemed to agree. Their services were regularised last year only after a long struggle.

Teachers didn’t bunk lectures but hit the streets after the school hours today. Stung by the broken promises made by the present regime during the Assembly elections, anti-government slogans rent the air at the Teachers’ Home here today.

Around 16 teachers’ unions have come under the umbrella of the ‘Sarkari School Sikhiya Bachao Manch’. Similar protests were also organised in other districts. Sukhdev Mittal, district cashier of the Manch, told this correspondent that a requirement of 40,000 teachers all over Punjab suffered its first casualty over the pass percentage, which had gone down with 1.5 lakh students failing at the matriculation level out of a total of four lakh that appeared during the last five years.

Besides this shortage, teachers had to shoulder responsibilities of mid-day meal scheme, election surveys and census for the Atta-Daal scheme.

The ringleaders then led the protest march upto the mini-secretariat to present a memorandum to the DC. When he didn’t turn up, the teachers blocked traffic at the bus stand. However, better sense prevailed and ADC Upinderjeet Singh came up to receive the memorandum and the blockade was then lifted. 

Bathinda, February 8
There seems to be no respite for the city residents from winter woes. Even as the mercury continues to plummet, the frequent power cuts are adding to the inconvenience being faced by the people.

As per the PSEB sources, “The mixed feeders in the urban areas are being subjected to a daily scheduled power cut, ranging from three to four hours, whereas the supply scenario in rural areas is worse with power cuts lasting from 10 to 12 hours every day.”

Though PSEB officials continue to claim that the gap between demand and supply of power was just about 100 lakh units, the persisting cold weather pushed up the demand to around 1,100 lakh units daily as against a total availability of 800 lakh units.

The sudden spurt in the demand for power from the farm sector due to the cold wave has also put some pressure on the supply to urban and semi-urban feeders. Due to frost, farmers have started irrigating their crops every day.

But the farmers have a different story to tell. Hardev Singh, a potato farmer from village Kararwala, rued, “We get power supply for just three to four hours every day. When the frost was damaging our crop, as a last resort, we needed to irrigate it with water during night time. But due to poor power supply, we could not do that properly. On the one hand, the weather gods were harsh on us and the inadequate power supply added to our problems.”

Another source in the department informed on the condition of anonymity, “All the thermal and hydel units are operational, but generation at hydel projects is low due to diminished water level. We are not in a position to operate hydel units all through the day and these are being operated only in the morning and evening.”

That people of the state have a still harsh summer ahead when the daily requirement of power shoots up to some 1,700 lakh units is beyond doubt because with its own resources, the PSEB would not be able to add more than 200 lakh units from hydel power projects and the second phase of Lehra Mohabbat project which is expected to become operational in March or April 2008. 

Bathinda, February 8
For the authorities concerned, conducting the Bathinda Municipal Corporation election — which is just round the corner —- would seemingly not be a cakewalk. Hurdles, like challenging the notification of delimitation of wards, may also be a possibility.

To hold discussions about the wards, polling booths, number of voters and the electoral process, the district administration today convened a meeting of the probable candidates and party leaders of the city.

Participating in the open meeting, the local leaders put forth problems related to the location of booths in their wards. The sub-divisional magistrate, K.P.S. Mahi, instructed all the 20 election supervisors to submit the final report within a day.

The tug-of-war between the prospective candidates could be sensed at the meeting. The issue of polling booths, bisected by the railway track, was also seen to be troubling the prospective candidates.

Candidates were also found to be dissatisfied with the ‘variation’ in the number of voters between the wards. It has been analysed that in the finally notified wards, the number of voters, in some cases, differs by hundred per cent. In the procured list, ward number 13 has 2,266 voters, which is minimum among the 50 wards, while ward number 33 with 5,395 voters has the maximum number of voters.

The number of voters in the procured list is 1,73,085 and the division of these voters in the 50 wards on an average basis would be somewhere around 3,500 voters each.

The legal advisor of the municipal employees union, Mathra Dass Setia told TNS, “The variation clearly shows the discrimination among the opposition and the ruling party candidates. Regarding the variation, we met the CM who recommended that the delimitation of wards be carried out on an average basis, with a maximum variation of 10 per cent.”

“Now after the notification, the officers have given us a list in which the variation is against the set principles and the recommendation of the CM also been ignored. Now, I plan to file a writ petition against this,” he added.

Municipal commissioner K.K Yadav passed the buck saying “The delimitation was done during the time of my predecessor, D.P. Gupta. So, I can not interfere in it.” But he accepted that the delimitation should be on an average basis.

Bathinda, February 8
The Sai Mian Mir International Foundation has informed that a group of people will be going to Pakistan on March 15 to participate in the Urs celebrations of Sai Mian Mir there. The 
information was given by Harbhajan Singh Brar, president, Sai Mian Mir International Foundation, in a press release here today.

G. S. Grewal, district president of the foundation, said, “Any person willing to join the group can submit his or her passport with me within this week at my residence 24/B, House No. 20567, Ajit Road, or can contact me at my phone number 9417276567. Besides participating in the Urs celebrations, the group would also be visiting various gurdwaras in Pakistan. After this, another group of people would also visit Pakistan during Baisakhi.” —TNS

Muktsar, February 8
With 1200 cusecs of water flooding the fields due to seepage along the Rajasthan canal, the Punjab government is eagerly awaiting the Centre’s direction to Rajasthan to join hands for the canal’s renovation to save 332 villages of Punjab from the devastating waterlogging.

Punjab’s proposal for a Rs 900-crore project in this regard is lying with the Centre for the past two weeks, in the backdrop of thousands of acres witnessing waterlogging, a phenomenon popularly known as ‘sem’, because of the broken walls of the canal, which was carved out decades ago to provide river waters to Rajasthan.

But today, Punjab irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon visited the affected areas for a different state-level project for the cause which involves setting up and regenerating 484 tube-wells and digging new drains or renovating the existing drains at a total cost of Rs 292 crore, assessed for the herculean task.

The minister, who listened to the affected farmers’ woes on his tour, informed that 70 of the 332 ‘sem’-hit villages would be taken on a priority basis where irrigation department would pump out the accumulated water by June.

The minister, along with irrigation secretary Suresh Kumar, conducted an emergency meeting of chief engineers, XENs and other task force officials at Malout in Muktsar district.

With maps and petitions in hands, some of the farmers of the most affected villages like Pakki Tibbi, Ratta Khera, Surewala, Khkhar and Hari ke Kalan, intruded the minister’s press conference with complaints like field engineers committing irregularities and villagers not being consulted.

Listening to their woes, the minister acknowledged some of the facts like 450 acres of Pakki Tibbi village had been waterlogged for the past 15 years, and that they were not properly compensated financially, in the face of the heavy losses during the last kharif season. Pacifying them, Sekhon assured the farmers that he had warned the officials concerned to carry out their respective tasks related to the project efficiently and in a transparent manner.

Sekhon lambasted the previous Congress regime saying that the ‘sem’-affected’ villages remained totally neglected in its five-year tenure.  

It may be recalled that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had reiterated his government’s “commitment” to combat ‘sem’ in the Malwa belt in a span of one year in his public address at the Maghi Mela. The CM has also been stating that he would take up the matter of the seepage along the Rajasthan canal with Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje. Raje had visited the Badal village two days back, where she stated that both the neighbouring states had cordial relations.

However, it seems that none of the two chief ministers referred to the crucial issue of renovating the Rajasthan canal on that occasion.

Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet on Friday approved to grant uniform rate of relief for the loss of crops due to waterlogging or floods between 2002 and 2007 at the fixed rate of Rs 1000 per acre per crop. Disclosing this here today, a spokesman for the Punjab government said the enhancement of relief would entail additional funds to the tune of Rs 1,97,57,000 for Muktsar, Faridkot and Tarn Taran districts. It may be recalled that as a one-time package of relief for the farmers affected by the ‘sem’ (waterlogging), earlier, an amount of Rs 2.41 crore had been sanctioned. — TNS

Bathinda, February 8
The claims of senior leaders of the SAD and the BJP of having cordial ties fell flat as the alleged ‘ongoing differences’ between them surfaced again.

The new controversy between these two alliance partners found its genesis this time in the ‘stones.’ And this reportedly has forced SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal to postpone the foundation laying function for a project, scheduled for February 9 here.

As per reports, the SAD chief was supposed to inaugurate various projects in the city around February 9. But the laying of foundation stones triggered a controversy as the stones reportedly bear the names of Sukhbir and the area in-charge of SAD, Sarup Chand Singla, only. Irate over it, senior BJP leaders here expressed their resentment and informed the district administration and the Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia about it.

Sources said district BJP leaders asked the municipal commissioner K.K. Yadav to look into the matter as both the names engraved on the stones are not entitled to lay the foundation stones.

They further said that the SAD area in-charge is not a government or constitutional post.

BJP district president Narender Mittal said the local SAD leaders had been ignoring BJP leaders, causing resentment. He further added that the discrimination was reported to the party high command.

When Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia was contacted, he said, “The Bathinda BJP unit has complained to me and I will take up the matter at the party level and try to resolve it.”

On the other hand, Sarup Chand Singla, area in-charge of SAD, whose name on the foundation stone has triggered the controversy, said, “It is a rumour that the programme has been deferred due to this.”

Justifying his name on the foundation stones, he said, “I have contested elections from Bathinda on SAD ticket and if the ruling party is doing something constructive in the area and highlighting me as its area in-charge, then the BJP leaders should take it in the right spirit.”

Senior officials of the district administration said according to their information, the SAD chief was in Delhi. Therefore, the programme has been postponed.

Barnala, February 8
Acting on a revision petition filed by the Tapa police in the infamous Bhadaur gurudwara clash case, the court of additional sessions judge Vivek Puri has summoned the authorities concerned for producing the record of the lower court.

At a hearing here today, the court fixed February 12 as the next date of hearing for presenting the records of the lower court of chief judicial magistrate Ramesh Kumari. The latter had refused to admit the amended challan in the Bhadaur case on February 5.

In the report submitted on January 31, the special investigation team (SIT), that has reinvestigated the circumstances that led to Ruban Masih’s death, has given a clean chit to the local police.

On the basis of the SIT report, the police further appealed for converting section 302 to section 304A, but the CJM’s court rejected the plea. Meanwhile, Rajdev Singh Khalsa, the defence counsel, said that the Bhadaur Gurudwara Action Committee would approach the High Court to seek justice if the decision was not in their favour. They may demand a CBI probe, he added.

Ferozepur, February 8
An alarming rise in cases of epilepsy in this border area has come to light. According to a team of doctors from the Fortis Escorts Hospital, Amritsar, that was here to conduct a free medical camp at the local Anil Baghi Hospital, the high incidence of the disease is mostly caused by brain infection that result from uncooked food, faulty lifestyles and accidents.

At the camp held on Thursday, experts from the Escorts including two neurologists, Raj Kamal and Sachin Mishra, besides cardiologist Deepak Kapila and a seven-member tertiary team were also present.

Kapila said due to smoking and high consumption of alcohol, it was found that Punjab was reporting an “alarming rise” in heart ailments. He said physical exercises like regular walks could reduce the risk of heart diseases as physical activity encourages the body to use excess fat, reduces hypertension and improves cholesterol and sugar level.

At the camp, the specialists informed that patients with neurological problems, who came for a medical check-up at the camp, were suffering from fits due to infection in the central nervous system.

Kamal Baghi, a doctor at the camp, informed that 218 patients availed of free consultations related to cardiac and neurological problems at the camp. In addition to this, patients also availed of free examination of blood sugar levels, blood pressure, ECG and ECHO tests, said Baghi.

Abohar, February 8
Hundreds of farmers, led by senior office-bearers of the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan, indulged in sloganeering as another team visited some villages in this sub-division on Thursday evening and today to conduct a survey for the proposed thermal plant in the private sector.

According to information available, the survey team was led by A.S. Bakshi, superintending engineer of the Central Electricity Authority, and included representatives from the hydrology and environment departments of the Union government, the Punjab State Electricity Board, the irrigation department and the Public Works Department.

The survey was aimed at examining the feasibility of setting up a 1100-MW thermal power plant by acquiring 2,050 acres of land. The members of the survey team, however, had to face the demonstrations by farmers, led by Surjit Singh Dhaban, state vice-president of the union.

The farmers said the surveyed land was fertile and was cultivated under the two-crop pattern. Most of the farmers in these villages had migrated from West Punjab province following the partition of the country and won’t tolerate another migration, they added. The BKU today threatened to resume stir if the government went ahead with the project. — OC

Moga, February 8
The district police unearthed an illegal workshop for stealing gas from LPG cylinders and apprehended four persons here today. Around 120 LPG cylinders were also recovered.

According to the police sources, the illegal factory belonged to district president of the Shiv Sena Krantikari, Rajesh Kumar alias Pappu, who is believed to be out of the town. Meanwhile, his brother Devi Prasad and three others, Arun Kumar, Satinder Singh and Madan Lal, were arrested. Varinder Singh Gill, SHO, police station City I, informed that following a tip-off, the police raided a factory in Singhawala village, on the outskirts of the city on Kotkapura road. — TNS

Barnala, February 8
Following alleged refusal by the Dhanaula police to register a case related to an attack on a doctor, the shopkeepers of Badbar village, 20 km from here, observed a daylong bandh and blocked road traffic for nearly an hour today. Subsequently, the police registered a case against six persons and arrested two of the accused in the case. Four persons are still absconding.

Recently, Swarn Singh, Surinder Singh, Bahadur Singh, Jaggi Singh and Baljeet Singh had a quarrel with one Anil Kumar of Sangrur. One of them was injured in the brawl. They brought the injured to Dr Lal Chand’s clinic in Badbar village.

On learning that the wounds had been inflicted in a clash, the doctor refused to treat the patient and advised them to take the injured to the civil hospital. Angered over the doctor’s refusal, they left the clinic warning him of dire consequences.

On February 7, at around 7 pm, the same persons came to Lal’s clinic. Sensing danger, the doctor fled from the place and they damaged the property in his clinic.

The doctor approached the Dhanaula police for action but in vain. Agitated over the inaction of the police, the shopkeepers of Badbar village observed a complete bandh today. They also blocked vehicular traffic for about an hour on the Sangrur-Bathinda highway. Following protests, the police registered a case against six persons today.

Bathinda, February 8
Officials of the Income Tax department today conducted a survey at two private furniture outlets at Paras Ram Nagar and seized some documents.

Sources in the I-T department said that one of the furniture house was in the name of one Narottam and another in the name of his wife.

The officials, during the survey, checked the accounts including ledger book, receipts, stock registers and other documents. —TNS