The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

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St. Joseph School
Parents of selected students file affidavit
Bathinda, March 20
The St. Joseph Convent School LKG admission case today took a new turn with 180 out of the 240 parents, whose wards have been admitted to LKG, decided to give an affidavit to refute the allegations made by the petitioners.

Doctor couple booked, at large
Bathinda, March 20
On the basis of a report submitted by the three-member medico board, the district police booked a doctor couple, who came under scanner 10 days back, when a lady died while delivering a baby boy at their hospital in Paras Ram Nagar here.

Man held for ‘plotting’ son’s killing
Faridkot, March 20
A man was arrested for ‘plotting’ the elimination of his son. The accused, Darshan Singh and one Varun Preet Singh, a contract killer, had been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Gursewak (30), a resident of Sukhanwala village while another accused, Semy, was still at large, police said.

PSEB staff booked for misuse of funds, suspended
Barnala, March 20
The local police has booked a revenue accountant of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in connection with funds embezzlement case. The accused, Rajinder Kumar, posted at Sanghera sub-division office of the PSEB, has been placed under suspension immediately after the registration of the case.

AITUC stages demonstration
Mansa, March 20
Activists of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) today staged a sit-in in front of the deputy commissioner’s office. Addressing the gathering, former MLA and national council member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Hardev Singh Arsi, criticised the privatisation policies of the centre and Punjab government.

Gulmohar bags best ghazal collection award
Barnala, March 20
A gazal collection, titled Gulmohar penned by poet and president of Likhari Sabha, Barnala, Pritam Singh Rahi has been selected as the Best Ghazal book of the year 2007 by the Punjabi Gazal Manch.

Candle procession
Barnala, March 20
Seeking pardon for Sarbjit, the Arore Vansh Sabha, Barnala organised a candle march on Wednesday night.

Rescued
Bathinda, March 20
One Manoj Thakur (18) while digging the soil got buried in a ditch at red quarter area near thermal power plant here this evening. He was rescued by the activists of Naujwan Welfare Society.

	Five kms walk braving heat proves futile Sr citizens return without pension Prabhjit Singh Tribune News Service Midda (Muktsar), March 20 After walking for over five kilometres in the heat with no public transport available, the exercise of the senior citizens turned futile as they were told that their old-age pension had not arrived. With this eventuality, the wrinkled faces in 70s and 80s cursed the government and the prevailing system in front of a bank where they were asked to arrive on the specific day yesterday to receive the old-age pensions but all in vain. These elders, hailing from Tarkhanwala village, were conveyed by the manager of the Punjab and Sind Bank of the Midda village branch that the money had not arrived. Holding blue coloured pass books of their pension accounts, numbering over 200, they made all kind of noises in protest – “we are not beggars”, “why did you call us then if you have no money”. The hands of septuagenarian Karnail Singh trembled as he held his pension pass book with not a single entry so far. He has been deserted by his sons to live a lonely life in the village with no earning now, and a monthly pension of meagre Rs 250, which he has not got for the last five months, is now some hope for him to pull on his survival. It may be recalled that the prevailing Akali-BJP government had altered the procedure for the grant of old-age pensions, depriving them of the erstwhile arrangement where they earlier used to receive the pension at their door-steps from the Panchayat officers via the village Panchayat. “We have received the old-age pension money for only 428 beneficiaries belonging to the five different villages, which includes Tarkhanwala as well,” PSB Midda branch manager Ramesh Kumar explained, when he was asked for the reason of the chaos in front of the bank. If there were 283 beneficiaries from Tarkhanwala village alone, as per the official record, the total number of beneficiaries from five villages should be five times the number, the bank manager stated, maintaining that the bank had no record of the total number of beneficiaries from these specific villages assigned to them. “We just disburse the pensions as per the grant arrived along with the specific names of the beneficiaries and their respective villages”, he pointed out. It was a long journey for the oldies, including the widows who had to return back to their village along the 5 km stretch, again on foot, empty-handed and their due for the last five months still being a distant dream.
	St. Joseph School Parents of selected students file affidavit Bhanu P. Lohumi Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 20 The St. Joseph Convent School LKG admission case today took a new turn with 180 out of the 240 parents, whose wards have been admitted to LKG, decided to give an affidavit to refute the allegations made by the petitioners. The process of signing of affidavits started early in the morning at the school premises. The parents of the selected students refuted the allegations that they have paid any donations and the school authority took any written test. The affected parents categorically said that they did not pay any donations and the admissions were purely on the basis of child performance during the interview. Irate parents also met Deputy Commissioner and sought his intervention. The case being pending in the court the DC advised them to implead themselves as third party in the case. Sukhpreet Singh Sra, a parent rued that the wards of the petitioners have already got admissions in schools and their children are suffering. Another parent Sanjeev Kumar said if the admissions of Joseph are to be cancelled, same criteria should apply to other schools also as the same pattern has been followed by all the schools. Meanwhile, Additional District Judge J.S. Klar after hearing the argument of both the sides did not vacate the stay on starting the LKG classes and adjourned the case to March 24. The case related to initiating content of court proceedings against the principal fixed for March 19 could not be heard due to strike of the advocates. The next hearing of the case in the court of Additional Civil Judge Ranjit Singh has also been fixed for March 24. The advocate of the petitioners, Rohit Khattar said, “We have no grudge against the kids, parents or the school authorities. We just want the school to adhere to the rules and regulations and be transparent in the working”.
	Doctor couple booked, at large Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 20 On the basis of a report submitted by the three-member medico board, the district police booked a doctor couple, who came under scanner 10 days back, when a lady died while delivering a baby boy at their hospital in Paras Ram Nagar here. It has been reported that the deceased, Rajni, a 22-year-old woman of Paras Ram Nagar, along with her mother and mother-in-law had gone to Verma Nursing and Maternity Hospital for her check-up. The lady doctor Parkash Verma, BEMS, and her husband Sushil Verma, GAMS, allegedly admitted her terming it as urgent. The police and the civil hospital authorities had then formed a three-member medico board to ascertain the facts. A case under sections 304, 201, 34 of the IPC and 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act has been registered. However, the accused couple was at large. Giving details, ASP (city) H. K. Bansal informed TNS, “The report clearly mentioned carelessness on the part of the doctors in handling the complication of the operation.” “The report states that the male doctor was not even competent to perform surgery and the accused couple had also fabricated the medical records,” he added. When contacted, civil surgeon Maninderjit Singh said, “Though the lady was a trained midwife, but during the investigations, our team found that many nursing formalities were not done.”
	Man held for ‘plotting’ son’s killing Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Faridkot, March 20 A man was arrested for ‘plotting’ the elimination of his son. The accused, Darshan Singh and one Varun Preet Singh, a contract killer, had been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Gursewak (30), a resident of Sukhanwala village while another accused, Semy, was still at large, police said. According to the police sources, Darshan allegedly had hired Varun Preet and Semy to kill his son, who had been resisting his efforts to sell the land. They added that Gursewak used to prevent Darshan from consuming liquor. The police claimed that the hired killers were promised Rs 90,000 for perpetrating the crime and out of which Rs 50,000 was paid before the murder. Varun Preet and Semy allegedly strangulated Gursewak to and to dodge the police, they threw his body with his bike into a canal on the night of March 18. On the other hand, Darshan Singh had registered a complaint with the that his son had gone missing. He had also managed to sell three acres of land. Gursewak had been insured for Rs 8 lakh. The body of Gursewak has been handed over to his family members after the autopsy at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College here today.
	PSEB staff booked for misuse of funds, suspended Our Correspondent Barnala, March 20 The local police has booked a revenue accountant of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in connection with funds embezzlement case. The accused, Rajinder Kumar, posted at Sanghera sub-division office of the PSEB, has been placed under suspension immediately after the registration of the case. Xen Er Rattan Mittal while told TNS that Rajinder was looking after the cash, depositing of the bills etc. During annual audit, the auditors find anomalies in transactions worth Rs two lakh. When he came to know about that, he marked the preliminary inquiry into the matter. The records, which had been maintained by him since 2005, were scrutinized and anomalies in the funds of Rs 18.47 lakh found, he said, adding that he then apprised the higher authorities about the issue. He asked the police to register a case against Rajinder. SHO Harmeek Singh confirmed that a case in this connection had been registered but no arrest had been made so far. He said the police would take further action only after the investigation. Meanwhile, the attempts to contact Rajinder for his comment over the issue proved futile.
	AITUC stages demonstration Our Correspondent Mansa, March 20 Activists of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) today staged a sit-in in front of the deputy commissioner’s office. Addressing the gathering, former MLA and national council member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Hardev Singh Arsi, criticised the privatisation policies of the centre and Punjab government. The job opportunities had been decreasing and small-scale industries were going to be doomed, while labourers were becoming unemployed due to these policies, he added. Former MLA Boota Singh and district president of the AITUC, Kaka Singh, raised the demands of the working class. On this occasion, Atma Singh Atma, Krishan Chauhan and Balbir Singh were also present.