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Red Cross Crisis
Four injured in firing
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Principal summoned on Mar 10
Relief for cancer patients
Debt-ridden farmers take to streets
Sports teacher on police remand
Loan waiver an exercise in futility’
ITI students hold rally, burn effigy of govt
Parents of examinees ‘beat up’ securitymen
Train passenger doped
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Red Cross Crisis
Bathinda, March 5 Some prominent members of the society are learnt to have taken an exception to the move in a meeting that was presided over by deputy commissioner Rahul Tiwari here today. They sought special funds from the government to keep the activities of the society going. The members were concerned that the activities of the society were bound to come to a grinding halt as the government has, throughout the state, banned levying of the Red Cross fee for various purposes. Tiwari confirmed that the monthly income of about Rs 7 lakh generated through various fee, including arms licences, tractor mandi and music concerts, has come to an abrupt halt because of the decision of the government. The solid income of about Rs.2.5 lakh will also be lost as the medicine shop run by the Red Cross in the hospital complex will be put to auction for being run by the highest bidder from April 1. The income from the medicine shop was being spent on running the school for the deaf and dumb. Tiwari said that the piece of 4 acres of land here and one acre at Bhucho would fetch anything around Rs 6 crores that could be put in fixed deposit with some bank for running the activities of the Red Cross with the interest that accrues. A prominent member of the society, Raj Gupta, said the Bathinda district had topped in Red Cross activities so far. However, these activities would get curtailed due to paucity of funds. Another member, H.L.Bansal, said that the functioning of the de-addiction camp, deaf and dumb school and other projects of the society would be badly hit. Instead of a blanket ban on collection of fee, the government should have made utilisation of these funds transparent, he said. Anil Saraf, another prominent member, said that the society had done a commendable job in blood collection. |
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Four injured in firing
Laleana (Bathinda), March 5 As per the information received from the village, a local businessman, Jagraj, sold the piece of land, in question, to a person, Kala Singh, a few years back. He purchased the land again after paying double that amount. Sources in the village said Jagraj owned the piece of land on which construction work was underway, but in his absence, some persons had encroached upon it. On his return, Jagraj, along with some of his friends, reached the spot to take possession of the said land, but meanwhile, Mewa Singh, who had allegedly encroached upon the plot, called up the ex-sarpanch of the village, Gurjant Singh. Gurjant, along with some supporters, allegedly arrived at the spot and fired a shot from his gun, which injured two persons, including Joginder Singh, the brother-in-law of sarpanch Malkit Kaur. As the situation turned violent, the supporters of the persons injured reportedly set the two cars in which they arrived, on fire. The rampaging mob also set one motorcycle ablaze. Fire tenders from Bathinda and Raman were called to douse the flames. It may be mentioned that the ex-sarpanch Gurjant is said to be close to the ruling party and is believed to have proximity to the powers-that-be. When the SHO, Raman police station, was contacted, he said, “A case for attempt to murder, under section 307 of the IPC, has been registered against Gurjant Singh and his accomplices based on the statement of the injured, Joginder, who has been admitted to the Civil Hospital in Bathinda.” “The accused have also been charging the complainants of assaulting and setting their vehicles on fire. A case under relevant penal provisions would be registered against them after recording the statement of the injured, Manjit Singh and Chota Singh, who were today unfit for the purpose and were admitted to the Raman Civil Hospital. Confirming the facts, deputy superintendent of police, Talwandi Sabo, Parminder Pal Singh, said, “I visited the spot and found that both the parties had committed an offence. Strict action would be taken against those who have been found guiltyin the incident.” |
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Principal summoned on Mar 10
Bathinda, March 5 The court passed fresh orders directing the principal to appear in the court on March 10 and also turned down the request of the school to vacate the stay on starting LKG classes. The Judicial Magistrate (Class I), Nirmal Singh, had directed the principal to appear in the court in person along with the records pertaining to admissions to LKG on February 26 last, but in the meantime, he was promoted and posted out. Nirmal Singh had passed the orders after the school refused to hand over the records on the pretext that the same had been sent to the higher authorities. Taking suo moto notice of the refusal of the school authorities to comply with court order of February 22, the judicial magistrate directed the principal to appear in person before the court. Nirmal Singh stayed the admission process and appointed a local commissioner for the seizure of the record. However, the school authorities did not cooperate and he had to return empty-handed. The school authorities also sought transfer of the case to some other court but it became infructuous as the judge concerned had already been promoted and was no longer hearing the case. While the school authorities wanted the stay on starting of LKG classes to be vacated on the plea that the future of 200 students was at stake, the advocate for petitioners, Rohit Khattar, argued that in fact, the future of thousands of deserving children who were denied admissions, was at stake.k
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Bathinda, March 5 The relief will be disbursed to the 162 patients who submitted their applications last year. Tiwari said that each patient would be medically examined before payment of relief. It is worth mentioning that a number of cancer cases have from time to time been reported in the districts of Bathinda, Mukatsar, Sangrur, Mansa and adjoining areas. — TNS
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Debt-ridden farmers take to streets
Bathinda, March 5 This protest was organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) Ugrahan group and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union. They also warned the government that if the ‘Trident Agreement’ was not implemented soon, then the farmers would sit on an indefinite dharna at Barnala from March 24. Some time back, the BKU and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, conducted a survey in 79 villages of Bathinda and it was found that 682 farmers from these villages had committed suicide because they were unable to pay back their loans The farmers raised anti-government slogans and alleged that the present as well as the previous Congress government did nothing concrete for the benefit of the farmers. Talking to TNS, Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary, BKU, said, “We are demanding from the state government that jobs and Rs 5 lakh as compensation should be given to the kin of farmers and farm workers, who committed suicide due to poverty. Before the elections, all political parties make false promises to the farmers but once they are elected, they refuse to even meet us. That is why, we have to take such steps so that our voice can be heard.” Zora Singh Nasrali, state president, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, said, “Though in this year’s union budget, some respite has been given to the farmers, but nothing has been done to bail out the farm workers. Due to the non payment of the loans, the land of 616 farmers was auctioned in 27 villages of the state.” Shingara Singh Mann, district president, BKU, said, “According to a report by the Punjab State Farmers Commission, 89 per cent of the farmers in Punjab are in debt. The worst hit region is of the cotton (south-western) belt where 93.5 per cent of farmers were under debt. Even the indebtedness per indebted household was the highest here (Rs 2,85,172).” Mansa: The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), Ugrahan, today staged a rally in support of their several demands in front of the deputy commissioner’s office. Farmers, workers and women participated in the rally. Addressing the rally, district president of the union, Ram Singh Bhainibagha, criticised the governments for adopting an indifferent attitude towards the problems and conditions of farmers. Leaders of the union claimed that they had conducted a survey in 60 villages and found that nearly 690 farmers had become landless due to the wrong policies of the government. The protesters also handed over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner seeking Rs 5 lakh as compensation and job to one member of the families of farmers who had committed suicide over the past few years. — OC
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Sports teacher on police remand
Moga, March 5 He was sent to police remand for a day. The Mehna police station registered a case under sections 354 and 509 of the IPC against the sports teacher, who refuted the allegations. It was stated in the FIR that the conduct of the accused was reportedly indecent with a girl student. However, organisations of various hues have called for strict action against the accused. These organisations include the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Kirti Kisan Union, Sikh Students Federation (Mehta), Punjab Students Union, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Technical Service Union and many more. They warned of intensive agitation if the case registered against students was not rolled back till March. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the police rounded up 25 students for further investigations in the case. The police also registered a case against unidentified students for going on rampage and taking law into their hands under sections 307, 342, 427, 148, 149 and 188 of the IPC. Meanwhile, the management committee of the polytechnic college today decided to close the premises till March 10 and even asked the students to vacate the hostel.
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‘ Loan waiver an exercise in futility’
Moga, March 5 He was here today to carry out an inspection at Dagru village. According to Lakhowal, a mechanism must be evolved to waive off loans extended by commission agents to the farmers. He said that a majority of the farmers, who commit suicides, belong to this segment. When asked that why the state government was not coming forward to help farmers belonging to this category, he said that Punjab was already facing a financial crunch. He added that the state government was finding it difficult to pay salaries to its employees. How could it then go ahead with such a decision, he reasoned.
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ITI students hold rally, burn effigy of govt
Barnala, March 5 The students also burnt the effigies of the state government. The ITI Employees Union also supported the rally. While addressing the rally, trade union general secretary Chander Sekhar said that the public-private partnership scheme was framed solely to benefit the capitalists and in no way could it prove to be good to the students. ITI employees union state general secretary Navjot Singh, while addressing the students, said that their union would lend full cooperation to the ITI students in their struggle. He alleged that even the previous Congress government had tried to transfer it to private enterprises. But now, the SAD-led government was bent upon ruining the education sector by making it inaccessible to the poor students. With the privatisation of vocational education, even the middle class in society would be beyond the reach of higher education.
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Parents of examinees ‘beat up’ securitymen
Moga, March 5 According to sources, the incident took place when the girl n students were appearing in the History paper of 10+2 class yesterday. Guardians of the students had been persistently throwing chits containing answers and pages from guides and books to the students. Upon this, the invigilators asked them to keep away from the examination centre but they refused to budge. They asked the two, constable Jasbir Singh and home guard jawan Major Singh, to prevent them from doing so. However, guardians, who were more in number, clobbered the two policemen with sticks. The injured policemen, writhing in pain, were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Baghapurana.
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Bathinda, March 5 When the train halted at the city railway station on Tuesday morning, the GRP took the unconscious passenger to the local civil hospital. The victim, identified as Mohammed Ayub, hailing from Bihar. —TNS
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