Abohar, March 2
Six persons were killed in road mishaps while two persons reportedly committed suicide in Abohar and neighbouring Sriganganagar during the last 48 hours, sources said on Sunday.

According to the available information, Balwinder Singh, a resident of Himmatpura village, and his relatives were going by car, which overturned due to some technical snag near Kular village last night in this sub-division. A canter driver rescued the occupants of the car and escorted them to the community health centre at Seetogunno village but no medical aid was available there. Balwinder’s sister-in-law, Rani, and her five-year-old son Arshdeep succumbed to their injuries. Balwinder Singh, his wife Amarjit Kaur, and mother-in-law Bachan Kaur were shifted to Patiala, sources added.

One Nishan Singh was killed near Alfuke village last night when his motorcycle rammed into a tractor-trailer, which was parked on the Abohar-Ferozepore road. The victim was going to attend a marriage, his relatives here said.

In the Ramsinghpura area of Sriganganagar, a motorcyclist identified as Khazan Singh of Narwana and pillion rider Sukhdev Singh of 13KND village were killed when a jeep reportedly hit the two-wheeler on Gharsana road yesterday. They were going to Bhagsar village to attend a marriage function.

The jeep was trying to overtake a bus that was ferrying members of the marriage party, police said today.

And in a mishap on Suratgarh road yesterday, a pick-up van rammed into a road side tree late at night while trying to avert a collision with a blue buck resulting in the death of the driver Nathu Ram.

Abohar, February 2
The police recovered the body of Tej Singh, 31, a resident of Silwala village near Sriganganagar from the Indira Gandhi canal. He had jumped into the canal yesterday after some family dispute, the police learned.

In another incident, a Shiv Colony resident, Lalit Garg, was found dead near the Ramlila ground, Sriganganagar, at about 11:30 pm. The police said the matter was being probed as his parents suspected that he might have been administered poison, while initially it appeared to be a case of suicide. —OC

Abohar , March 2
Responding to a communication received from the Embassy of Bangladesh at New Delhi, an 11-member team of the Sriganganagar police last night left for Kolkata to hand over 18 Bangladeshi nationals, who had been nabbed while attempting to cross over to Pakistan during the last few months.

The team is headed by a DSP and includes three head constables and seven constables.

The district police had arrested Zafar Ahmed, Deelu Khatun, Nazim Khatun, Ameen Hussein Aara, Illiyas, Kesar Ahmed, Arifa Khatun, Mohammed Fariq Mian, Mohammed Abdul Hasan, Abdul Mazid, Shah Alam, Shiraj, Nassirudin, Ahmed Mian, Mohammed Mujirbur Rehman, Abdul Kalam and Mohammed Bilal Khan under section 109 of the CrPC in Anoopgarh, Raisinghnagar, Karanpur and Hindumalkot areas, sources informed today.

The embassy approved the proposal made by the Sriganganagar superintendent of police through the Union Ministry of Home Affairs that they should be repatriated at the international border near Kolkata through the Border Security Force (BSF).

Abohar, March 2
Scholars from different universities today regretted that Sufism was being ignored while scripting text-books on the history of Punjab for graduation and postgraduation classes.

While tracing out the roots of Sufism during the daylong seminar on “Sufism and its impact on Punjabi society and literature” at the DAV College here on Saturday, academicians said prejudices against Islam had received a boost in the country after the Babri Masjid episode as Sufism had wrongly been bracketed with Islam.

The seminar was sponsored by the Indian Council for Social Science Research and the North West Regional Centre, Chandigarh. Chief guest Harish Chander Verma, former head of Hindi department at the Maharishi Dayananand University, Rohtak, was joined by B.C. Josan, principal of the host college, and other guests in lighting a lamp to mark the inaugural ceremony.

The speakers discussed assumptions that Sufis dispersed throughout the Middle East, particularly in areas previously under the Byzantine influence and control. But the speakers were of the view that three eminent Sufis had settled in Lahore and its neighbourhood during the 11th and 13th century when garrison towns were developed. The migrants affected by the Mughal invasion took shelter in these towns. It was believed that the Sufi saints not only saved such towns from attacks by outsiders but also from the natural calamities. Sunam and Samana in this side of Punjab had also been centres of Sufism. The speakers included Jagjit Singh, head of Punjabi department, Panjab University, Surinder Singh, I.D. Gaur, Udham Singh Sahi, P. S. Dhingra. H.C. Verma and G.S. Dhillon presided over the morning and evening sessions respectively.

Referring to the US funded comprehensive research on Sufism, the scholars observed that study of vernacular literature was totally missing in the research which spoke volumes of hidden agenda and gave rise to controversies on the global fight between Christianity and Islam. They further observed that the Sufis of the present time were in touch online with their followers now. There had been commercialisation besides politics in the field, which was otherwise based on spirituality. The speakers urged the governments of India and Pakistan to simplify the procedure for issuing visas to those interested in carrying research on Sufism. It was unfortunate to restrict the pilgrims from visiting the holy places, which had gained popularity due to the Sufi saints, the speakers said.

Bathinda, March 2
It was like “two seconds too late” for Gurvinder Pal Singh Bhullar and his team as they had to be content with a silver in 4x400 metre relay race at the third Indoor Asian Games held in Doha (Qatar) in mid-February.

He along with T. Aboobacker, Vinay Chaudhary and Virender Kumar Pankaj clocked 3:16:53 (now, a national record) just a couple of seconds behind the team of Saudi Arabia. Pal was happy to receive a warm welcome here last week when he returned to the city along with shotputter Om Parkash Singh after making a mark in the international arena.

In an exclusive interview with TNS, the 20-year-old student of Malwa College came out with things about him that not many people know.

“Disembarking in my motherland at the Delhi airport after competing abroad was disheartening as there was no one from the government side to receive us,” he lamented.

Giving all credit to his father Ranjit Singh Bhullar, who has been the driving force behind his success, Gurvinder said, “I call up my father before every race. He is my mentor, teacher and biggest supporter. It was his cherished dream to see me excel in sports and he was the happiest person when we won the silver.”

Gurvinder started his career as a hockey player under his father’s tutelage, who trained him for the district-level competitions for two years.

In 2002, at one such competition, Mohal Lal Upadhyay recognised his athletic talent and started training him for track events. Since 2003, he has been practising under the guidance of Parminder Singh Garewal, coach at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala.

Talking about his international experience, the racer, who idolises Michael Johnson, said, “A large number of spectators give your confidence a fillip on the one hand while on the other, their huge presence adds to the mental pressure. Indians also face the problem of acclimatisation, he added.”

Replying to a query relating to the diminishing sports standards in the country, he said, “Corruption and nepotism are the major reasons. India has talent in abundance but much of it goes unexplored, unrecognised and unexploited. Lack of proper diet, sponsors, promoters and good sports kits are the other factors that place our country at the bottom in the medals tally. And don’t forget the media for its tilt towards cricket.”

“If out of three hours a day devoted to cricket, the media could spend just 10 minutes a day on other sports, I feel sports would witness a sea change”.

Talking about the diet available in India, he said, “Athletes need diet rich in proteins but in India, they have to survive on dairy products only, which are rich in fats. In addition, we don’t have a proper schedule”.

Three years from now, Singh with his personal best of 47.74 seconds in 400 meters at present, wants to beat the national record holder K.M. Beanu’s 45.48 seconds mark. His immediate target, however, is to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics this year. And for that, he is going through a rigorous training at the SAI Training Centre, Patiala. We wish him all the best!

Rampura (Abohar), March 2
The state government was boasting of launching the Rs 400 crore Adarsh School scheme to upgrade the standard of education in all the 141 development blocks but the twin villages, Rampura-Narainpura, in the Balluana Assembly segment were among the completely neglected villages. 

Located close to the Rajasthan border, here, the students did not have even proper classrooms for primary education.

Two local farmers, Ram Partap Poonia and Jitender Godara, had donated land for constructing the government primary school in village Rampura with contributory funds. IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar recently inaugurated the school building and announced Rs 2 lakh as grants-in-aid on behalf of the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd for its extension. He also inaugurated a sale and service outlet of the IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited. This would be run by the Narainpura Cooperative Society to provide mobile phone network to the farmers.

The residents told Jakhar that scores of children had earlier been going to schools in the Rajasthan area to get education as the Punjab government had not provided basic amenities to such tail-end villages even 60 years after Independence. 

Bathinda, March 2
He was in his late teens when he was arrested from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Blue Star in 1984.

“My only ‘crime’ was that I went there to learn painting. When the Army entered the Golden Temple complex, no one asked me why I was there. They just arrested me and branded me as a ‘terrorist’,” said Bhupinder Singh (44), a world-renowned artist today, who hails from Dhanaula village in Barnala district.

Bhupinder shot to fame with his painting ‘Phulkari’ in 1995. “I completed the painting in just a day and till date, more than 2.5 lakh prints of the painting have been sold. And I can’t even imagine as to how many duplicate prints of it might have been sold,” he said.

When asked why and how he was arrested in 1984, his eyes were filled with tears. “I always wanted to learn painting from Amolak Singh, who at that time was working with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). And for that, I had gone to Amritsar and started living with him in the Golden Temple complex.”

“During Operation Blue Star, the Army arrested us and took us to the military camp. And from there, on June 18, 1984, we were shifted to Ajmer Jail. I was charged with committing all crimes that one could think of,” he added.

“In Ajmer jail, I was lodged in an 8 ft X 8 ft cell. For a few days, I remained shocked and sad. But when I came to know that I had to be in jail for a long time, I took the cell as my art studio. There used to be particles of ash on the ‘chapatis’ we were served. I collected them and used them as tint to draw the walls of my cell. Whenever the jailor came, he erased all my sketches. But I did not give up and continued drawing,” Bhupinder said.

In jail, he was given a pencil to write and was asked to appeal against the National Security Act (NSA) under which he was charged. “The pencil was like a treasure for me because I had got something to draw sketches with.”

Since 1996, he is into paragliding and has performed in more than 1000 different events across the country. He has also designed a one-seater aircraft and is now all set to rule the skies.

Bathinda, March 2
Though, the unit III at Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabbat, is finally running to its capacity by producing 250 MW of power since Wednesday last, the officials of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) at the thermal plant seem to be involved some kind of a spat.

According to PSEB sources, “The unit III of the thermal plant, with the help of four coal mills and its oil guns, is producing 250 MW of power and as per rules, the unit has to run to its full capacity for a trial period of 21 days. Despite some incompletion in unit III, the BHEL officials are claiming that the unit has been fully synchronised and the trial period started on Wednesday (February 27).”

“There are still many major incompletions in the unit like the work on chlorination plant, one of the most vital part of the unit which is used to remove fungus and algae from water, has not even started. BHEL has given its sub-contract to a Mumbai-based company, BANACO. This company has not even started the construction. Similarly, the coal handling system is also incomplete. We have made some temporary arrangements for the time being so that the production of power is not affected. But our arrangements are not as per the requirements and can stop functioning any day,” the sources informed.

“So, we have told the BHEL officials that until these are completed, we will not consider this as the trial period,” the sources added.

“BHEL has deployed skeletal staff at GHTP. Even the quality of work has suffered because their existing supervisory staff did not implement proper quality control measures and unskilled work force is being used”, the sources added.

Bathinda, March 2
The sensitivity over the Dera-Sikh issue seems to be lasting long as the bhog ceremony of a Dera follower was today held under tight police security with imposed conditions imposed on the bereaved family in Veer Colony here today.

As per the reports, the district police deployed a number of cops to avoid any untoward incident at the bhog ceremony of Krishan Kumar, a follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda.

Abohar, March 2
Female members of farming families made soft toys only after a few hours of training during the four-day training and visit programme organised by the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) at the Government Senior Secondary School complex in Panjkosi village. The camp concluded on Saturday evening.

Most of the 41 participants had not earlier visited any beauty parlour but felt amazed as Chandani, a senior beautician from the Industrial Training Institute, not only gave affordable tips but practical training also on how to look better and preserve good skin by using vegetable waste and herbals.

Meena Kohli, while imparting training on making soft toys, said participants could decorate their drawing rooms with minimum expense by putting their time to use.

Experts from the Central Institute for Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) gave a demonstration on how to prepare jam, jelly, tomato sauce, pickles at the minimum possible cost for day to day use. These items could be marketed through cooperative sales outlet, field officer R.L. Sethi said. 

Barnala, March 2
Shots were fired in a clash between two groups leaving one injured. One of the groups reportedly backed by Congress MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon clashed with the other believed to be supported by former Akali MLA and now SAD assembly in-charge Malkeet Singh Keetu, in the evening around 8 pm.

When the clash took a serious turn, the group believed to be supported by Keetu opened fire at the other group headed by Rama lottery vendor. Seera, an accomplice of Rama, was injured in the firing and was admitted to the civil hospital in Barnala.

The incident took place at Janda Wala road near Choti Mata Rani temple in the heart of the city. The incident sent shock waves in the area as it is a busy road and is densely populated. The police reached the spot and stopped the clash but no arrests were made. No case had been registered till the filing of the report.

SSP Parmjeet Singh Garewal, when contacted, expressed ignorance about the incident and said the police was verifying the facts. Only after an investigation will the police take further action, he added.

Barnala, March 2
Though the UPA-led Union government must be lauded for waiving the farmers’ loans, yet it had failed to redress the actual hardships being faced by the farming sector, said Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) chief Balwant Singh Ramuwalia. He further said that the Union government had helped the farmers only marginally.

Ramuwalia, who was here to attend a function, rued that the cost of agricultural inputs was increasing day by day. Pesticides, diesel, erratic power supply, all had caused great loss to farming, he said and added that the state government spoke about the diversification of crops but had failed to provide the guidance needed for it. He said that in the absence of proper marketing facilities, farmers think only of cash crops for which they did not have to do anything to ensure its sale.

Ramuwalia said that today’s farmer was living in penury. As a result, the farmer was depressed and was opting for suicides or other extreme steps. He added that if the government actually wanted to help the agriculture sector, it must have deep insight into the problems which the farming sector was facing.

Ramuwalia said his party would organise a big rally known as Kayakalp rally at Sangrur on March 14.

The rally would be dedicated to the ideology of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Ramuwalia explained that the rally was aimed at awakening the masses about the corrupt political system.

Moga, March 2
The Baghapurana police registered a case of misappropriation of the PUNSUP and Markfed grain worth Rs 2.5 crore against sheller owners — Surjit Singh and Jagmohan Singh, both residents of Jaisinghwala village, here today.

Ashok Baath, officiating Senior Superintendent of Police, confirming the development, said that the case was registered on the complaint of managers of the two grain processing agencies at night.

Jagmohan Singh is reportedly a close aide of a leading Akali leader in the state.

A case has been registered and an inquiry would be instituted under a DSP rank officer, the officiating district police chief informed.

Faridkot, March 2
The state government has urged the Centre to review the water sharing agreement with the neighbouring states. The government has written a letter to the Centre in this regard.

Irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon said this while attending the Baba Karam Das Fair organised at Deep Singhwala village near here today.

He said that 14 million acre feet (MAF) water was available in comparison to 17.50 MAF at the time of agreement and added that the quantity of distribution of water among the states must be rationalised according to the current availability. He informed that work on Dhok minor canal in the district would start soon. 

Fazilka, March 2 
To mark the completion of one year of the SAD-BJP government in Punjab, state BJP vice-president and local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani distributed 35 cheques under the shagun scheme and widow welfare pension scheme at the City Garden here today.

Jyani listened to problems highlighted by representatives of different social, political and trader organisations of Fazilka. Social Welfare Society president Raj Kishore Kalra highlighted the problems of shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff in the government college.

The pensioners demanded a site for the construction of the office of the pensioners’ association.

BJP mandal president, Satish Setia, former municipal council president B.L. Gupta, former market committee chairman Sohan Lal Dangarkhera, BJP and other were present on the occasion.