Bathinda, May 1
The indifference of the civic authorities towards the plight of an ex-serviceman and his wife is an ample indication of the apathy and red tape that ordinary people including senior citizens encounter while dealing with them.

Reshma Devi, the wife of Raj Kumar, an ex-MWO, who has retired from the Indian Air Force, and is a resident of Urban Estate, Phase I, alleged that her repeated requests for a refund of the “undue” house tax collected by the council from her, went unheeded, more than five months after she had put in her request.

Producing the copies of applications sent to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and also to the Bathinda municipal commissioner, Reshma Devi alleged that an “unjustified” amount of Rs11,664 was imposed on her as house tax along with a fire cess of Rs 259, when she was residing with her husband who then had a field posting.

In her letter to the CM, Reshma Devi mentioned that the repeated attempts of the Air Force Association, Sainik Welfare Officer, Member of Parliamnent Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan and ex-minister Chiranji Lal Garg to grant her justice were turned down by a tax superintendent deputed with the MC, Bathinda.

“He does not entertain our query and instead advises us to knock at the doors of the judiciary and get fleeced while he himself will get to enjoy the benefits of the allowance that he will get for attending the court hearings,” she alleged, and added that she had only got verbal assurances from the municipal commissioner so far.

Citing the day when she received a notice from the MC to pay the above taxes along with a penalty of Rs 26,944, she said that her husband had received a severe shock because of this and had to be taken for immediate medical aid.

“Despite the regular correspondence with the authorities concerned for a couple of years now, our family members paid an amount of Rs11,664 as house tax and Rs 259 as fire cess to the MC, which was faulty,” she said.

“The house was assessed in 1982-83 as being used for commercial purposes, but contrary to that, the loan itself was granted by the estate office in May-June 1982. The construction of the house took a long time due to constraints of service and limited leaves. From 1983 to 1995, I lived with my husband, wherever he was posted. But since then, I have been staying in this house,” she said.

Raj Kumar, her husband, lamented, “We have been trapped as we could not reply to the letter. They claim that the letter was sent to us because it was delivered to someone not known to me. This is like an officer whose suspension has been revoked after 20 years but is punished for not getting his leave application approved.”

When the grievance was conveyed to executive officer of MC, Kamal Kant, he said, “It is not the only such case. A number of such cases have been reported to us. We assure our best cooperation, if they can produce evidence in their support.”

Bathinda, May 1
Three persons were killed while four children, among others, sustained severe burn injuries after a fire, aided by the dust-storm, engulfed a major part of the district this evening. Vehicles and cattle are also reported to have fallen victim to the uncontrolled flames.

According to sources, at least 25 villages were engulfed by fire, which allegedly was sparked off from the wheat fields. Though the reason was initially not clear but electric spark and burning of straw were reported to be the main reasons behind the fire that was fuelled further by the storm.

According to sources, Thande Wala, Kotli, Kauni, Sukhna, Ablu, Rupana, Har Raj, Lambi, Tharaj Wala, Vading, Lohara, Harike Kalan, Doda, Shekh, Sangu Dhon, Bhullar, Jhabel Wali, Udekaran, Barkandi, Chadewan, Bahadur Garh, Sure Wala, Madiya Wala, Rakhala, Chatiyana, Rupana, Midhu Khera were among the villages that suffered a loss due to the fire as crops and wheat straw, estimated to be worth lakhs, were gutted.

A woman, Guddi Devi of village Tharaj Wala and two men in Midhu Khera and Mallan villages were killed in the fire. The four children who were injured in the fire belonged to village Bhullar. They were returning to their village on jeep and had sustained severe burn injuries as the vehicle was gutted due to a fire from the blazing fields along the Bathinda-Muktsar road. The injured kids were admitted to a private hospital in the city.

Another report from the district said that Satnam Singh of Bhullar village received burn injuries after his house was engulfed by the flames. Reports of tractors, threshers and cattle getting affected by the fire have also been received from the villages.

The Bathinda-Muktsar road remained blocked for over an hour to avoid any untoward incident.

When contacted, Muktsar Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg said, “More than a dozen villages were engulfed by the fire. We had just three fire tenders and the flames could be controlled only late in the evening.”

About the loss, he said that the whole administration was involved in the assessment. “Despite being prohibited, some farmers were burning wheat straw, which lead to the spreading of the fire. After the assessment of the loss, serious action would be initiated against those responsible for it.”

Abohar, May 1
The high velocity duststorm that lashed the sub-division in the evening today wreaked havoc as electricity wires in dozen of villages collided and sparked, resulting in huge fire.

Sources said that spark assisted by the storm, engulfed the cotton bales, cotton-seed bags and other products stacked at the Banke Bihari Agro Products Ltd, a unit located on the Burjmuhar link road, at about 3 pm. The two municipal fire-brigade vehicles fighting the flames were joined by another vehicle from Fazilka.

Civil officials and leading traders reached the factory premises to monitor the situation. But the fire had taken its toll.

The Cotton Corporation of India and leading businessman Shiv Nath Sanjay Kumar had reportedly stored their raw material and processed cotton in the factory premises. The vehicles were found returning after controlling the fire at 7 pm.

On NH-10, stacks of harvested wheat along with kinnow fruit plants were found burning inside the orchards owned by senior advocate S.S. Dhaliwal and a former college principal Pritam Singh Sidhu. Area measuring nearly 10 acre was burnt.

Sidhu regretted that the PSEB officials and the fire brigade did not respond to the repeated requests for help made through mobile phone.

Fire was yet to be controlled in Dhaani Banta Singh. Similar reports were received from other villages, including Gobindgarh, Kheowali Dhab, Dhani Maseet, Qabarwala, Kattianwali and Bhagsar but information on the total area involved was not clear yet. However, no casualty was reported till late evening.

Ferozepur, May 1
Over 12 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat was expected in the grain markets of this district during the current procurement season, which is almost 20 per cent more than the previous year’s production of 10.5 lakh MT. Till date, 9.37 lakh MT wheat has been procured in the district by the various agencies and 60 per cent of the same has been lifted. The information was given by Finance Commissioner S.C. Aggarwal, who has been appointed as special observer by the Chief Minister for ensuring the smooth procurement and lifting of wheat in Ferozepur and Faridkot districts.

Aggarwal visited the grain markets in Ferozepur, Jalalabad, Guruharsahai and Fazilka sub-divisions here on Wednesday. Aggarwal was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Megh Raj, Deputy Director (Food and Civil Supplies) Bhupinder Singh, District Mandi Officer Vijay Merchant, Rajiv Parashar, sub-divisional magistrate Fazilka, Ajaib Singh Sandhu, Deputy Manager Markfed, Raminder Singh, DM PUNSUP, S.S. Grewal, DM Punjab Agro, besides other officials.

Expressing satisfaction over the arrangements made for procurement, he said due to the sudden influx of wheat in the grain markets, there was a problem of lifting initially that had been sorted out by the agencies now. The Finance Commissioner said the number of migrant labour that used to come to the state during the procurement season was also less this year resulting in manpower shortage.

Aggarwal conducted a meeting with the officials of various procurement agencies and the representatives of farmers, commission agents and contractors. The DC said the procurement process was likely to be completed soon and the payments were being made simultaneously.

Bathinda, May 1
Despite being aware of the dangers of using LPG kit in motor vehicles, people keep doing it with hazardous consequences.

Ironically, in less than a week, four vehicles have been reported to have been gutted in fire caused by malfunctioning LPG kits.

In the incident that took place on Saturday, a spark led to a fire in which three cars were gutted and one person was injured at a mechanic’s shop on the Barnala road here. The blast had also taken place in that instance due to a defect in the LPG kit.

But obviously, that incident had failed to ring alarm bells in the minds of the people here. This was obvious from the incident that took place today. A grocery shop owner was refilling domestic LPG in a cylinder fixed in silver coloured Fiat Palio car, outside his shop in Azad Nagar near Rose Garden Chowk, here this evening. While refilling the gas, the shifting pipe caught fire and within seconds the car was gutted.

To douse the flames, fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the flames were brought under control after spraying foam on the burning vehicle. The car owner and the grocery shopkeeper fled from the spot when the firemen were performing their duty.

The incident only underlined the dangers involved in using LPG kit without adhering to the laws in this regard. While traffic cops in the city have been vigilant about noticing rule violators, yet, this category of rule violators seem to have escaped the dragnet. The rising price of petrol and the easy availability of domestic LPG cylinders, courtesy pliable vendors, all seem to play a big role in the growing trend to use such kits with disregard for law.

ASP (City) Harsh Kumar Bansal, when informed about the incident, said he was not aware of it but accepted that the police needed to be more vigilant when it came to checking violation of traffic rules.

Abohar, May 1
Women got 75 per cent representation in seats as the list of the SAD (B) candidates was announced for the upcoming Balluana Assembly segment of Zila Parishad (ZP) elections here today. These zones were in the general category.

Gurtej Singh Ghuriana, the Balluana MLA, informed at a press conference here that former education minister Sukhjinder Singh’s daughter Ravinder Kaur would be the ZP candidate from the Balluana zone. Her husband Gurkirpal Singh ‘Gurki’ is sarpanch of Gobindgarh village, 5 km from here.

Luxmi Devi Bishnoi has been nominated as SAD (B) candidate from the Bazidpur Bhoma zone. Her father Ram Narain Bishnoi is deputy speaker in the Rajasthan Assembly. She and her husband had been the sarpanch of Dutaranwali village for two consecutive terms.

The third candidate, Luxmi Devi, hails from Amarpura village, near here. Her in-laws were SAD (B) activists for a long time. To file their nominations, the trio was issued the authority letters by the legislator today.

The fourth candidate, to be declared tomorrow, will be a male.

Ghuriana released the list of party candidates for different zones of the Panchayat Samiti elections. They are: Ravinder Kumar Bhagsar for Seetogunno; Shiv Raj Singh for Burj Hanumangarh; Sukhdev Singh for Rajpura; Vipan Neol for Kular; Malkiat Singh for Raipura; Lekh Raj for Kerakhera; Pyara Lal for Chanankhera; Manga Ram for Dutaranwali; Daya Nand for Rajanwali; Charanjit for Alamgarh; Iqbal Singh for Tahliwala Jattan; Joginder Singh for Dabwala Kala; Ravinder Kaur for Arniwala Sheikhsubhan; Sukhwinder Kaur for Gobindgarh; Mandeep Kaur for Burjmuhar; Meera Devi for Dharangwala; Kaushalya Devi for Bhangala; and Kanta Devi for Ramsara zone.

More names would be finalised by tomorrow, he said.

Ghuriana said during the last Panchayat Samiti polls, the party was in the opposition but still it won eight out of the 27 seats in the Balluana Assembly segment. “This time, the Congress was having a tough time in finding candidates as everyone was expecting a clean sweep by SAD (B). In fact, the former Congress MLA failed to initiate development in this completely neglected segment during his five-year tenure.”

Abohar, May 1
Ruling coalition partner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had got a lion’s share in seat sharing for the Panchayat Samiti (PS) and Zila Parishad (ZP) elections in Abohar assembly segment, has virtually been wiped out from the Balluana constituency.

Out of the four zones of the ZP, not even a single has been allocated to the BJP for putting up its candidate. The saffron party will have only one candidate from the Bazidpura Bhoma zone of the Hindu dominated Seetogunno sub-tehsil area for the PS elections whereas the SAD (B) candidates are filing their nominations in as many as 26 zones there.

Ten non-Sikh candidates were announced today by legislator Gurtej Singh Ghuriana. He said, “The coalition partners are one, in letter and spirit. Actually, the BJP had not staked more claim.”

However, political observers believed that the SAD (B) leadership had strategically clipped the wings of the BJP, which had recently organised a Dhanak Sammelan to project a controversial former municipal president, Babu Ram, as a prospective candidate following the delimitation of the Balluana segment.

Four main villages from the Abohar segment have been cut off and added to the Balluana constituency besides making significant alterations in the neighbouring Fazilka and Jalalabad West constituencies to reshape the Balluana segment politically, the observers said.

Sources said since the Badal family had ‘adopted’ the Seetogunno area, dominated by the Bishnoi community, the SAD (B) was making all efforts to win over the non-Sikh electorate and their representatives had been given more weightage in deciding all the crucial issues.

The Congress seems to be on the receiving end in this segment yet again, the experts felt. The BJP workers, however, avoided a comment fearing disciplinary action.

Abohar, May 1
Members of different organisations assembled under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Mulazam Talmel Sangharsh Committee at the old municipal water works here in the morning today to celebrate the May Day. Balwinder Singh Jhurarkhera presided over the rally that concluded in the afternoon.

The speakers lambasted the state government for allegedly pursuing policies that were against workers, employees and farmers. They criticised the union government for ‘playing’ into the hands of multi-national companies (MNCs), which they observed would be injurious to the interests of billions of daily-wage earners and workers.

Neither the state nor the central government had tried to explore the avenues of employment for millions of unemployed youth for the last few years, the speakers rued, adding that it was the real cause of discontent among the workers across the country.

Those who addressed the gathering included Jaimal Ram, Lakhvir Singh Bhullar, Harish Chander, Sarabjit Sigh, Ram Partap, Avtar Singh, Puran Ram, Jagtar Singh, Gurmail Singh Burjan, Jarnail Singh, Ravi Malkat, Ram Kumar, Kulwant Kirti, Surinder Singh, Sunil Sharma, Nopa Ram, Gurmej Geji, Harji Ram, Sushil Dhawan, Jagdish Kumar, Shankar Dass and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.

MANSA: Different trade unions organised rallies and demonstrations here today to observe May Day. Leaders of these unions paid tributes to the Chicago martyrs on the occasion.

A rally was organised at the Mall Godown here by the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Democratic Employees’ Front, TSU Bhangal group, ITI Employees’ Union and Lal Jhanda Punjab Bhatta Mazdoor Union.

State secretary of the Morcha Bhagwant Singh, state secretary of CPI (ML) Rajvinder Singh Rana along with Jaspal Singh Khokhar, Ravinder Bhardwaj, Sikandar Singh, Jagmil Singh, Darshan Singh, Jasveer Kaur Natt and Sukhwinder Singh Heerewala, while addressing the rally, raised demands like increasing the minimum wages of workers, implementation of labour laws in factories and a waiver for loans taken by farmers and labourers.

The Punjab Kisan Union also held a rally and demonstration in the city.

Meanwhile, some other trade unions under the leadership of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) held a rally at the FCI depot here. Ex-MLA Boota Singh, AITUC leader Kaka Singh and FCI depot leaders Raj Kumar and Boota Singh addressed the rally.

The Riksha Union workers also held a function at the rickshaw stand here where union leader Bhajan Singh listed the demands of members of the union.

Bathinda, May 1
Even after the passing of 24 hours of the killing of a tempo driver, the district police has failed to make any arrests in this connection. The only thing that the police has managed to do so far is to identify four out of the eight accused.

It may be recalled that Sohan Singh alias Sonu was shot dead at Vishvakarma Tempo Union, near the grain market here, on Wednesday evening.

Police sources said that Darshan Singh, father of the deceased Sohan Singh alias Sonu, complained to the police at 1.30 pm that a tempo driver Kamal, while parking his vehicle at the tempo union, hit another vehicle, which resulted in an altercation. The tempo driver allegedly made the peter rehra driver leave the spot. After two hours, some youth arrived on a car and motor-cycle. They assaulted his son Sohan, who was sitting nearby. During the incident, one Kala Singh came out of the car and fired on Sohan from his .12 bore rifle, which later caused his death.

The police have identified only four of the accused, namely Kala Singh, Angrej Singh, Avtar Singh and Bhundi, all resident of Teona village, while the crime report mentions the involvement of four other unidentified persons.

Kotwali police registered a case under sections 302, 148, 149 of the IPC, 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act against the accused, but when contacted, SHO Kotwali, Davinder Singh, on Thursday evening, said, “We are investigating the case. Police parties have been formed to nab all the accused.”

When asked about the slow pace of investigation, ASP (City), Harsh Kumar Bansal, who has been investigating the case said, “This kind of a case, in which provocation led to crime, is difficult to solve soon, as the accused flee to shield themselves. However, we have been putting in our best efforts.”

Bathinda, May 1
The Ex-servicemen Welfare Union, Punjab, has written a letter to the President of India, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, drawing her attention towards what they called “injustice done to ex-servicemen and Armed Forces of India by the Sixth Pay Commission.”

Seeking the President’s intervention, president of the union, Captain Bhagwant Singh and chairman Captain Dalip Singh requested her to direct the Central government to consider the charter of demands submitted by the three chiefs of the armed forces.

The union has also written to the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister in this regard.

Mansa, May 1
That the groundwater of this district is not fit for drinking and irrigating the fields has been admitted by the health and agriculture departments.

People of this district have been facing the problem for a long time now. Not only that, the contaminated water has led to the spread of diseases like cancer. It did not spare the crops even, rendering losses to the debt-ridden farmers. Time demands that the authorities concerned wake up to the occasion and help out the suffering lot of the district.

Ram Singh Bhaini Bagha, leader of Bharatiya Kissan Union, Balkaran Singh Balli and president of Sabhyachark Chetna Manch here said the ground- water of the area was dangerous for health and agriculture.

The water-works connection was inaccessible to many and they were forced to use water drawn through hand pumps — the reason behind the occurrence of fatal diseases, they added.

Mangat Rai Bansal, MLA Budhlada, said the problem of groundwater was serious in the entire Malwa region but the government did not take any sincere step to solve the problem.

Agricultural officer N.S. Aulakh informed that only 33 per cent of water was safe and suitable and that 66 per cent of the water in Mansa district was contaminated. He said the water near canals was found to be suitable.

As many as 104 water-works were working in the district out of which 99 are canal-based and five tubewell-based.

Deputy medical commissioner of the health department Rupinder informed that the department had been advising the people to use safe drinking water and for the purpose, tablets of chlorine were being provided to the people.

He added that 27 water samples were conducted in the past two months, out of which five had failed.

Barnala, May 1
The Aggarwal Sabha here has passed a resolution to discourage the practice of solemnising marriages at night. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided by Jhanda Ram.

The Sabha has also constituted a committee to coordinate with the organisations like the Brahmin Sabha, Khatri Sabha and Arore Vansh Sabha to adopt this resolution.

After the meeting, Jhanda said night marriages needed to be discouraged due to three main reasons. First, a lot of electricity gets wasted in night marriages due to illumination of lights. Saving power is essential as the state is facing a shortage of power. Secondly, in night marriages, people consume excessive wine, which is nothing but sheer wastage of health and money. Finally, people travel at night after attending marriages and are therefore, prone to accidents as many people drive under the influence of liquor.

Ram Niwas Sharma, district president of the Brahmin Sabha, when contacted, extended his support to the resolution passed by the Aggarwal Sabha.

He said he would make efforts to motivate the people of his community to avoid marriages at night as it was in the interest of society.

Abohar, May 1
The Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) has criticised the government for assigning poll duty to women teachers, about 70-80 km away from their native villages and towns in the district.

Addressing newsmen after a meeting here today, DTF block president Bhagwant Bhateja said the government had backtracked on the promise made by Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur as well as identical statements given by the Chief Minister. The directions of the apex court in this regard too had been ignored, he alleged.

Most of the schools had not been able to pursue the pre-summer vacation curriculum due to an acute shortage of staff and may wear deserted look from tomorrow when hundreds of teachers would be leaving their homes for poll rehearsals.

The meeting urged the district administration to amend the duty roster immediately. Those present at the meeting included district president Sushil Dhawan, block-1 president Radha Krishan, Sahab Ram, Mahi Ram, Kuljit Singh and Sita Ram. — OC

Barnala, May 1
One person sustained bullet injury in a clash over a property dispute occurred here today morning.

The injured, Labh Singh, a resident of Thikriwala was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Barnala but later he was referred to Patiala. Police has registered a case under section 307 of the IPC against another Labh Singh, a resident of Barnala.

According to the sources, the firing incident took place today morning when two persons both named Labh Singh; one belonging to Barnala and other of Thikriwala village, had a fight over the possession of a house.

Kulwinder Kaur daughter of Labh Singh, resident of Barnala, complained before the police that they had a house and a plot situated at Court road, Barnala. Today morning, at around 7:30, about nearly 12 persons attacked their house allegedly to take possession of it. His father, Labh Singh opened fire in self-defense and one bullet hit Labh Singh. She alleged that Labh Singh of Thikriwala was accompanied by Manjeet Singh Raisar, Kuki and many others.

On the other hand, injured Labh Singh, alleged that the disputed plot belonged to him and they went to Barnala just to plough their own plot.