Ferozepur, May 30
Leading woman activist and former chief of the Istri Akali Dal (Badal), Shavinder Kaur Johal criticised the Akali leadership for not giving adequate representation to women in the party and ignoring the interests of those women who worked relentlessly and even went to jail for the cause of party during times like Punjabi Suba Morcha struggle. “On the contrary, only some women, who never worked for the party at grassroots level, have been awarded positions in the party, just because their fathers or husbands have been senior party leaders,” she said.

Johal said it was ironical that in the era of women’s empowerment, women were denied responsible posts like chairmanship of board or corporation, or any decision-making role in the party barring a few exceptions like education minister Upinderjit Kaur or Bibi Jagir Kaur, who had been the SGPC president.

Strongly advocating one-third quota for women, Johal called for greater representation to women in the Akali Dal, especially Jat Sikh women, who were not related to any jathedar. She lauded BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Brinda Karat, general secretary of the CPM, for their efforts to secure reservation for women in both the Houses of Parliament.

Johal said at present, there was only one woman MP from the Akali Dal in Lok Sabha, Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, who was chosen only due to the reason that her father, Dhanna Singh Gulshan, was a prominent Akali leader. Similar is the case of other women who hold key positions in the party, she alleged.

The woman activist further charged that all seats reserved for women candidates in the SGPC were given to the kith and kin of Akali jathedars only.

She demanded that women, who had excelled in various spheres of life and have sincerely worked for the party for a long time, should be given representation at various levels in the party hierarchy.

On the outcome of the recently held Zila Parishad, Block Samiti and gram panchayat elections, Johal said the results showed that the rural masses were with the SAD and that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was one of the most popular leaders of the state.

However, she lamented the use of power, muscle and money in the electioneering process these days, adding that in some villages, people were forced to withdraw their nominations during the elections and agree for a particular consensus candidate.

It is worth mentioning that Johal, who is also the mother-in-law of state finance minister Manpreet Badal, had unsuccessfully contested the Vidhan Sabha elections from Ferozepur City constituency in 1997 on a Congress ticket.

Bathinda, May 30
In an alleged attempt to murder, some followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda, reportedly backed by SAD (B) workers, attacked the district president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (A) Parminder Singh Balianwali and attempted to kill his brother by pouring pesticide in his mouth at his shop in village Balianwali, this morning.

Acusing the Dera followers of attempting to kill him, Parminder, who was admitted to the Civil Hospital in Bathinda said there was enmity between SAD (A) activists and Dera followers because of difference in their views. Giving details, Parminder said he received a call saying that his brother was being assaulted and that the shop had been ransacked.

He immediately rushed to the spot and found a Dera follower, Sukhjinder Singh Pappa, who is the winning activist of SAD (B) in the Block Samiti polls along with Sham Lal, a painter, Kuldeep Sharma and some other unidentified persons. They were holding his brother Harinder Singh Pinka and were trying to pour Monocrotophos, a pesticide, in his mouth. SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann said, “The SAD (B) has an important role to play in the assault. A case should be registered under section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder.” SHO Balianwali Gulzar Singh said no case has been registered in this regard as investigations were on.

Rampura Phul May 30
Abhinav Garg, a young talent from this little known place of the backward Malwa region has done the state proud with two jewels in his crown. He not only achieved the rare distinction of securing third position in the country in the IIT entrance test but also made it to the six-member Indian team for the International Mathematic Olympiad to be held in Spain later this year.

A student of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Chandigarh, Abhinav secured 93.2 per cent marks in the CBSE class XII examination and was hoping for a rank among the first 50 successful candidates. His father Ashok Garg was also expecting that his son would be among the first 100 candidates.

He did take coaching from RN Classes, Sector 38, Chandigarh. But then most other aspirants, including those who had higher percentage in the CBSE also took coaching at reputed coaching centres.

It was a dream come true for Abhinav, his parents and teachers, who were jubilant over the astounding performance of a boy from a predominantly rural background.

Abhinav is not a bookworm and prepared for half an hour a day but he is a voracious reader of different kind of books and starts his day by reading newspapers.

A good player of football with an insatiable desire for playing computer games, Abhinav’s cherished dream to have a brilliant career in computer engineering has almost been realised. He attributes his success to the St John’s School, Chandigarh, where he studied for several years.

Bathinda, May 30
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has said that it is opposed to the reservation policy of the Union government which is intended ostensibly to “appease Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.” Sukhpal Singh Sra, general secretary, VHP here, stated this here today.

Sra warned the Union and state governments against the appeasement of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes in the name of reservation. He highlighted the harassment caused to those in the general category due to the prejudiced use of the Act to prevent atrocities on the Scheduled Castes.

Sra flayed politicians for dividing the country on caste lines to meet their personal ends. He urged people to stop shedding blood in the name of reservation.

Ravinder Sachdeva, president, Punjab VHP, laid emphasis on enacting a special law for protecting the rights of the general category. Giving a call to the people of general category to unite to fight for their rights, he demanded that promotion and seniority should be fixed for all categories as per the date of posting of a person in the public and private sectors. He appealed to all categories of people to work unitedly for getting their dues and not to give rise to hatred.

Activists of the VHP, after holding a ‘yajna’, took the oath to work as a team for their rights. They even used their blood to write to the PM Manmohan Singh to prevent bloodshed on the issue.

Bathinda, May 30
Blame it on the district administration or the excise department, but the unchecked menace of tobacco, liquor and other intoxicating stuff continues to lure the young generation, especially school and college-going students.

The very presence of the vends providing the aforesaid intoxicants adjacent to the educational institutions reflects the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities concerned, who appear to have done nothing so far in tackling menace.

A number of vendors selling tobacco, gutka and packs of cigarettes can be seen standing outside the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, and DAV School, Bibiwala Road.

The staff and students of St. Joseph’s School gave a representation in this regard but to no avail.

A cigarette and tobacco vendor standing along the walls of the gate told The Tribune that while a majority of his customers were labourers or bus passengers, a few children, probably hooked to gutka, are also his customers.

In major violation of the State Excise Policy 2004-05, some of the liquor vends, are being operated from the residential buildings adjacent to the GT Road for the past many years. According to the policy, liquor vends shall be located at a reasonable distance from educational institutions or religious places.

However, the parents feel strongly concerned over the issue. Joginder, father of a primary schoolchild, said, “autorickshaw drivers and rickshaw-pullers, who come to pick children, buy liquor and tobacco products from the stalls outside the school gates. Obviously, school kids get exposed to such products and yearn for them.”

Even though the district administration and police authorities have been organising rallies, lectures and debates on the issue, it appears that no practical work to eradicate the menace has been done till date.

DC Rahul Tewari, however, could not be contacted for his views. 

Moga, May 30
Apprehension of a sharp increase in the prices of petrol and diesel had suddenly led people, particularly the farmers, to throng the petrol pumps. Most petrol pumps of this district are witnessing a huge rush as people queue up to get their drums filled with diesel so as to store it keeping in view the current paddy season.

No doubt that every year during the ploughing season, the demand for diesel rises a little but this time, the farming community, fearing rise in diesel price, has started collecting it to meet their agricultural needs.

As a result, there has been a spurt in the demand for diesel at all petrol pumps, irrespective of the location, whether in towns or in rural areas.

In Moga and surrounding areas, the petrol pumps on an average sell over 50,000 litres a day but during the last few days, there were reports of some petrol pumps going dry due to a sudden rise in the demand and the shortage of supply.

The owner of a petrol pump revealed that the situation would improve only after the arrival of fresh supply on Sunday.

Rajinder Singh, a farmer from Baghapurana, said he had stored diesel in order to avoid losses in ploughing fields to plant paddy. “It will help me in reducing the cost inputs.”

Another petrol pump owner said people had also started demanding petrol in plastic cans after getting the tanks of their cars filled.

However, they were avoiding giving petrol in plastic cans except in case of emergency.

Most of the two-wheeler owners, who normally buy one or two litres of fuel at a time, were also getting the tanks filled to the full.

Ferozepur, May 30
The permanent Lok Adalat for public utility services has directed the Bharti Airtel Ltd to pay a compensation of Rs 12,000 for disconnecting a mobile connection without giving prior notice. One Sanjeev Kumar, a local resident, had purchased a post-paid connection of Airtel which he later got converted into a pre-paid one after complying with the formalities. However, on May 13, 2007, his mobile connection was disconnected suddenly and without any prior notice. He approached in vain the distributor to know the reasons for the disconnection. Later, Sanjeev filed a case against the company for compensation against the loss of his business, reputation and for mental and physical agony. After hearing both the sides, the court ordered the company to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 along with Rs 2,000 as costs within 60 days of the notice. — OC

Bathinda, May 30
Ignoring the minor issues between the SAD (B) and the BJP, the workers of both the parties will conduct a joint election campaign as the common target of the coalition is to bag all seats in the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. It was claimed at a joint conference addressed by the SAD and BJP leaders.

At the meeting, Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Kamal Sharma, general secretaries of the SAD (B) and the BJP, respectively, disclosed the criteria for the selection of the candidates in the forthcoming Bathinda Municipal Corporation election. They said after the decision of the election management committees, the candidates will be announced. — TNS