Bhagta Bhai Ka (Bathinda), May 29
The body of Sham Lal (62), business partner of Rampura Phul Congress MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar, who was allegedly murdered by two Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leaders recently, was found today from a tributary of the Abohar branch canal in Mandeeran village of Moga district.

Sham Lal went missing on May 19 and his body was found today at 1.20 pm. On Wednesday, the Bathinda police had arrested two persons, namely, Balbir Singh and Gurpreet Singh alias Boota, in connection with this murder and the accused are believed to have accepted to committing the crime.

Family members of Sham Lal are, however, pointing fingers at a former Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) minister from the area. Inderjit Singh Indu, the youngest son of Sham Lal, alleged, “All the people of this area well know who is behind the attack. All we want is justice from the government.”

When asked who actually do they think is behind this attack, Indu alleged, “All of us know that it’s a former SAD minister of this area.”

“On Wednesday, Bathinda SSP Naunihal Singh said that my father died due to an overdose of sedatives while being kept captive by the accused persons but today, when we found the body, it was mutilated. It seemed that my father was brutally tortured before he died. Both his eyes and left ear were missing and he even had an injury mark on the head. The body was wrapped in a sack and was full of blood,” Indu said.

The body was recovered some 10 km away from the place, where the accused had pinpointed during the investigation. The postmortem of the body was done at the Civil Hospital, Rampura Phul, and the cremation took place at around 5 pm at Bhagta Bhai Ka village in which over 10,000 people took part. The area observed a bandh as a mark of protest.

However, Gurpreet Singh Kangar said a CBI inquiry should be initiated so that the actual truth behind the crime comes to light. “As the person, who we believe is behind this heinous act, is a former SAD minister, so he can easily pressurise the local police. That is why, we all want a CBI inquiry into this matter.”

SDM Rampura Phul Uma Shanker Gupta, said, “I am shocked to hear about the incident. How can anyone commit such a heinous crime and that also to someone who was a noble man?”

One of the accused, Balbir Singh, won the recently held Block Samiti election from Aklia Jalal on SAD symbol and the second accused, Gurpreet Singh, with SAD support, won the gram panchayat elections. However, the third accused, Gurwinder Singh Gindri of Rajasthan, is still absconding. Both the accused have been arrested under sections 364, 364-A and 34 of the IPC.

Bathinda, May 29
Tarun Mangla of St. Xavier’s School topped in CBSE class X examination in the Bathinda region securing 97.4 per cent marks while Richu Sharma of St Joseph’s Convent and Jaimita Bansal of Delhi Public School got the second and third position, securing 96.8 and 96.6 per cent marks respectively.

Tarun, son of Suresh Mangla, Assistant Manager, NFL, Bathinda, got 487 marks out of the total of 500. A large number of students, with girls outshining the boys, secured over 90 per cent marks. Tarun was overjoyed over his achievement and said that he had fared well and was hoping to get good marks.

Richu Sharma had a regular schedule of six hours of study after school and was confident of crossing the barrier of 90 per cent mark. But she performed even better. Richu said she did not concentrate on any one subject and wants to be an IAS officer.

Jaimita Bansal too said that she was hoping to get over 95 per cent marks and was feeling good over her result.  Her mother, Anju Bansal from Maur Mandi, said that Janeeta was intelligent and an all-rounder. She was regular in her studies but never studied for long hours at a stretch. Jaimita was a good basketball player and devoted a reasonable time to co-curricular activities, she added. Keen to get admission in the IIT, she was undergoing coaching at Kota.

Delhi Public School was credited with five students scoring over 91 per cent marks and students placed in first division securing an average of 82.76 per cent marks. Jaimita Bansal (96.6 per cent), Anchal Singla (95.6 per cent), Neha Bansal (95.2 per cent), Snigdha(93 per cent) and Arpan (91 per cent) were the five toppers from the school.

Three students each of RD DAV Senior Public School and Guru Harkrishan Public School also secured more than 91 per cent marks.

Vipul Gupta of RD DAV Public School got 93.8 per cent marks while Rachana and Manisha of the same school got 93 and 92.4 per cent marks respectively. Arwinder Kaur Brar of Sanawar School, Malout road, Bathinda, scored 95 per cent marks.

Shubhpreet Kaur (93.8 per cent), Sumanpreet Kaur (92 per cent) and  Narienderpreet Kaur (91.2 per cent) of Guru Harkrishan Public School were among the others who shared the honours.

An interesting feature of the result was that the girls bagged 12 out of the first 15 positions. 

Moga, May 29
Demanding justice for the victims of anti-Sikh riots, the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) in association with the Riot Victims’ Society has announced to hold a ‘Khalsa Insaaf March’ on June 6 at Amritsar. A decision in this regard was taken at their joint meeting held here today. Over 1,000 family members of the riot victims took part in the meeting.

The date of the march also coincides with the date of the onslaught by the armed forces on the Golden Temple in the year 1984 commonly referred to as ‘Operation Blue Star’.

The All India Sikh Students Federation leadership may have chosen this date in a bid to touch the politico-religious sentiments of the Sikh community.

Talking to TNS, president of the AISSF Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad alleged that the Congress leadership was solely responsible for the attack on Golden Temple as well as the massacre of the Sikh community living outside Punjab.

“Therefore, this date has a great significance in the Sikh history that reminds each and every member of the community, living anywhere in the world, of these shocking incidences.”

He added that even after 24 years of these incidents ‘aimed at suppressing the Sikh community’, justice has not been given by the successive governments at the Centre.

The AISSF president said even the state government of Punjab had not fulfilled its promise of providing red cards to the family members of the riot victims. The red cards were to provide certain facilities for their rehabilitation.

He said after the march, a deputation of the AISSF and riot victims’ society would meet the Jathedar of the Akal Takht and the president of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee and hand over a memorandum to exert pressure on the union government to provide justice.

In reply to a question, the AISSF leader said it was not easy to get justice from the Congress-led government in the Centre but their struggle would continue until those, who had already been nailed as guilty, were punished.

He revealed that 197 persons, including 16 top leaders of the Congress and 14 senior police officials had already been identified and pointed out in various reports as guilty of instigating the riots but they all were moving freely and had not been punished so far.

Karnail Singh appealed to the common Sikh masses to participate in the march and stand by the victims of the riots.

Rajinder Singh Sangha, president of the Riot Victims’ Society and activists Kundan Singh, Sukhjit Singh Randhawa and Dr Karaj Singh were among those present at the meeting.

Bathinda, May 29
The recent announcement by the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) regarding the open auction of freehold commercial and residential sites in Urban Estate has created a fresh controversy related to the violation of election code of conduct.

With the notification of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation elections on June 22, the code of conduct for the forthcoming elections immediately came into force. As per the rules, the code applies to all political parties, contesting candidates, ministers, employees of the state government and local bodies and other public servants connected with the local bodies.

The BDA has selected as many as 11 residential plots in Urban Estate phase II and III here for auction with the reserved price ranging from Rs13,485 per square yard to Rs 16,650. In the same way, 15 commercial sites in Urban Estate phase II, part II, have also been chosen, for which the reserved price is between Rs 47,025 and Rs 57,030 per square yard. The BDA has announced the date of auction as June 3 and the venue would be BDA complex at Bhagu road, here.

Critics have termed it as a new stunt by the ruling party to lure the voters. They refer to the statements of BDA chief administrator K.K. Yadav in which he had said that the income generated by the sale of such properties would be used for the development of the city only.

In the code of conduct, it has been mentioned that the minister or other authorities should not announce any grants or make promises for development works which might have the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the party in power.

When contacted, Additional District Electoral Officer (ADEO) Vijay Zade said, “I am not sure about it, but it would be better if it could be avoided. If one looks at it, it can not be termed as one having a direct influence on the voters because it is an administrative work.”

“Moreover, for such an auction while the code of conduct is in effect, the authorities are supposed to receive sanction from the State Election Commission directly or through the District Electoral Office,” he added.

On being asked whether permission had been sought from his office, he denied receiving such request.

Attempts were made to contact the BDA chief administrator K.K. Yadav but he parried the query saying he was at a meeting in Chandigarh.

Abohar, May 29
President of the All Punjab Gramin Bank Officers Association, A.P.S. Brar, has urged the union government to go ahead with the proposal of formation of the National Rural Bank of India by associating all state-level regional rural banks (RRBs).

Speaking exclusively to The Tribune here today, Brar said the association demanded parity in allowances and superannuation benefits, at par with the employees of the commercial banks.

Regretfully, the pension settlement agreed in 1993-94 was yet to be implemented in the RRBs.

“Like other trade unions, we are also opposed to the outsourcing and consider it as a step towards privatisation that would be injurious to the interests of the employees,” he said.

Regretting that no negotiation forum was formed for past 33 years, Brar said nominees of the RRB officers and employees’ associations should also be appointed on the board of directors, a practice that existed in the commercial banks.

He warned that three-day continuous strike would be observed during the next month “if the long pending demands were not accepted by the authorities.”

Stating that after the first stage of amalgamation, the total number of RRBs was reduced from 196 to 89, the state president said that the union finance minister too had lauded the efforts of the RRBs in helping the agriculture sector at the village level.

The system was earning Rs 1,000 crore annually and had proved to be the backbone of the rural economy. Lack of infrastructure, shortage of staff and disparity must be tackled on priority basis, he demanded.

Bathinda, May 29
The ticket race for the forthcoming Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections has begun. The elections for the 50 seats of the corporation are slated for June 22.

Even though the Congress has started the process of consultations with the district high command for allotting tickets to prospective candidates, the Shiromani Akali Dal (B) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are taking it easy for the moment.

The Congress has started utilising the time for identifying the ‘winning candidates.’

A BJP senior leader, requesting anonymity, said “It seems to be an easy going for the party candidates this time and the BJP would fight elections for 22 seats. A final list of candidates would be out in about a fortnight,” he said.

When asked about the election issue this time, a senior Akali leader took no time to blame the previous Congress government for bringing development to a standstill. “Roads are potholed and buildings are coming up in the city without the maps being approved by the Municipal Town Planner. All claims of development have been made in newspaper advertisements and nothing has been translated on the ground,” said the Akali leader.

Another Akali leader, Bhupinder Singh Dhillon, said, “We plan to field many new faces this time. The elections would be fought on issues of development. The achievements made by the previous government would also be projected.”

A Congress leader, without naming himself, added, “We are confident of improving our tally. There is no dearth of issues and the voters are fed up with the SAD-BJP alliance because of the way they have handled the atta-dal issue and the Dera controversy besides the recent Zila Parishad, Block Samiti and Gram Panchayat elections.”

“Our feedback is that the trader community is going away from the BJP and this would result in gains for the Congress. The development works taken up by the Congress regime by setting up tubewells and re-carpeting of roads would work in favour of the Congress,” he claimed.

Naveen, who is in race for the BJP ticket for ward number 21, which includes the area adjoining Navi Basti, says there had been no development in his area during the Congress regime. “I am fighting MC elections for the first time and would promise cleaner neighbourhood for people of the ward and settle the ‘temple issues’, which has been hanging fire,” 0he said.

A CPI aspirant said his party would fight the elections on 15 seats and development or the absence of it would be an issue.List of candidates would be finalised soon, he added.

“We have raised the demand that door-to-door survey of voters should be conducted but to no avail. As per our information, even the draft list of voters is not ready. Time is also needed for inviting objections and releasing revised lists,” he said.

Bathinda, May 29
Jindal Heart Institute and Infertility Centre, Bathinda, a superspeciality centre with the state-of-the-art advanced cardiac care facilities and Malwa’s first test-tube 
baby centre, will organise a week-long free consultation camp at its premises here from June 1 to June 6.

Dr Rajesh Jindal, former interventional cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi, will examine patients suffering from heart ailments, including valve problems and rhythmic disturbances like fast heartbeat and congenital heart defects and advise the patients accordingly. Some of the investigations, if required, relating to heart diseases, will be done on discounts, he said.

Dr Rajni Jindal, an IVF specialist and test-tube baby expert at Apollo Hostital , New Delhi, who has treated more than 300 couples of infertility problems, will also render free consultation services on patients suffering from infertility problems.

Bathinda, May 29
The district health department has prepared itself for the pulse polio campaign for children of migrants to be held in the district from June 1 to June 3. Ajitpal Singh, district immunization officer, called a meeting of medical officers here today.

He said the department was fully prepared to administer polio drops to children of 170 migrant families in the district, who were below the age of five years, as per the WHO guidelines.

In Bathinda, about 16,690 migrant children would be administered polio drops for its eradication from the district, he said, adding that 82 teams, comprising 27 supervisers, nine block supervisers and seven observation supervisors, would look after the campaign in the district.

Sixty-nine mobile teams would also be pressed into service for the purpose and floating population like those residing at brick kilns, industrial colonies and periphery of the urban areas, Ajitpal said.

He further informed that a door-to-door campaign for the children of migrants residing in slum areas, who could not get the polio drops on June 1, would be conducted on June 2 and June 3.

Bathinda, May 29
Though the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has enough to harp on in the coming municipal corporation elections in the name of ongoing development works now going on a war footing, but differences among its top leaders remain an area of concern for the party.

Its two senior leaders, senior vicepresident Chiranji Lal Garg and junior vice-president Sarup Chand Singla, are seemingly not on best of terms.

Though Garg and Singla, known for their differences, have formally claimed to have buried the hatchet, and promised to present a united front in the BMC elections, yet differences still seem to be simmering in their hearts.

Chiranji Lal Garg, while talking to TNS, expressed his resentment over being ignored at the SAD meeting regarding the allocation of seats. He was also critical for not being called for the meeting which is going to take place in Bathinda on Friday.

When asked about the reason why he was not called to the meeting at Chandigarh, he said, “The meeting was only between Manoranjan Kalia, Balwinder Bhunder and Kamal Sharma. Adding further, he said, “Sarup Chand Singla was also not invited but he himself went there.”

Refuting the claim of Singla of getting the support of Dera followers, Garg said, “It will not be as simple as he thinks, but there would be a strong fight with the Congress.”

Citing the defeat of SAD candidate in the previous assembly polls from Bathinda constituency, Garg said, “Though our party has won the hearts of the people because of its development works, but we can not ignore the Congress vote bank in the region.”

On his part, Singla said, “I accept that I lost the seat in the assembly polls but after that, I have been working for the welfare of the people I even meet them personally visiting them door to door, but the winning MLA, Harminder Singh Jassi of the Congress, did not even attend the functions of his supporters.”

People in the city have been speculating if the rift between the two leaders widen during the elections. If it does, it would prove to be a boon for the Congress. 

Barnala, May 29
After a sustained struggle of over two years against the acquisition of their land by the Trident group for its expansion plan, thousands of farmers from various districts of the state and the farmers of villages Fatehgarh Channa, Dhaula and Sanghera orgainsed a victory rally to celebrate their achievement here today.

The rally was orgainsed under the aegis of the Bharti Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), which played a pivotal role in getting justice for the affected farmers.

The union’s general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said the victory rally would encourage the farmers across the state to fight for their rights, adding that the sustained struggle by the farmers of the three villages had proved that “if we are determined to face any pressure, no one can stop us from emerging victorious”.

He informed that the union’s next agenda was to fight for the waiver of farm loans and to get land for the landless farmers. They would initiate a mass-movement to fight the anti-farmer policies of the government.

Meanwhile, state president of the union, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, said it was a victory of the people.

Sukhdev Singh, an affected farmer at Fatehgarh Channa village, whose 14 acres of land has been acquired, said though they were not happy after losing their land to the industrial house yet his family was relieved following the final agreement.

He said that in the absence of their land and the compensation, his daughter’s marriage could not be arranged for want of money.

Bathinda, May 29
The day-long dharna by he telecom employees, marked by fiery speeches by their leaders, ended on a happy note this evening as a message regarding acceptance of their demands came on time. The telecom employees staged the dharna in front of local office of the BSNL to press for the acceptance of their major demand, for merger of DA with basic pay.

The call for daylong dharna was given by the National Federation of Telecom Employees Unions and the agitated employees were bent upon continuing the dharna till the demand was accepted.

Surjit Singh Sodhi, district general secretary of the Federation, said the employees were agitating for the acceptance of their justified demand for the past several months but the BSNL authorities were delaying redressal of their grievances. He declared that the agitation would continue till there was explicit assurance about the acceptance of the demand.

However, the message about acceptance of the demand changed the situation dramatically and the dharna was called off after raising of victory slogans. — TNS