Bathinda, June 21
Will the countrywide protest by members of the Sikh community triggered due to killing of a man at Mumbai by the bodyguard of the controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, cast its shadow on the elections for the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) tomorrow? This became the hot topic of discussion here today as various Sikh organizations joined these protests in the town and adjoining areas.

While the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was engaged in the damage control exercise, the opposition Congress was trying to take maximum benefit out of the incident that has come on the eve of the prestigious election.

A section of the local leaders of the SAD was worried that the incident might hit the electoral prospects of their candidates and as such some of them pacified various Sikh organizations and asked them to sit quiet for the time being.

The Congress camp that was visibly so far demoralized appeared cheerful, as their activists believe that the incident might cause polarization.

It is worth mentioning that the Congress had won all the five assembly seats of the Bathinda district in the last year’s election only because of the support of the Dera chief. However, this time he was sitting silent and had not come out openly in favour of the Congress.

The Dera chief enjoys considerable following in the Malwa belt, particularly in this town. The last year’s violence between the Dera followers and Sikhs had taken an ugly situation here.

Due to his silence, the SAD was considering itself placed in a comfortable situation, but now the party shall have to make overnight efforts to restore confidence among the Dera followers. An SAD leader said that the protests today particularly in Bathinda and around were “symbolic” and the Sikhs had no bad feeling against the Dera followers. They were only demanding action against the Dera chief against whom many cases were pending.

The BJP general secretary, Kamal Sharma, who is looking after the BMC elections, was closeted with senior functionaries of the party discussing fallout of the incident.

Political observers believe that the incident might not make a major impact on the BMC elections for which polling would begin in the morning. However, it was bound to affect here and there in the areas where the Dera followers were concentrated.

Bathinda, June 21
Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Jathedar, Takth Sri Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, has demanded that a case under section 302 of IPC should be registered against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and he should be arrested immediately. He also said that a meeting of Takth Jathedars will be held soon and future course of action will be decided there.

Speaking on phone from Talwandi Sabo, Nandgarh said, “When the shooting incident took place at Mumbai, Dera chief was fully aware of it. How can his gunmen shoot without his orders? And when the Dera chief knows that Sikhs all across the globe are against him, why did he go to a shopping mall then? He should have maintained a low profile there. Some of the central government agencies are behind all this and Dera chief is their man.”

“But I appeal to all the Sikhs that if they want to protest against the Dera chief, they should do it peacefully,” Nandgarh added.

During the Dera-Sikh clashes last year, Jathedar Nandgarh shot into fame with his announcement that any person who beheads Dera chief would be weighed with gold. Later, he is believed to have become silent under the state government’s pressure.

Nandgarh criticized the Maharashatra government and said, “People who were peacefully protesting against the Dera chief at Mumbai were brutally beaten up by the police whereas he himself is roaming free. Even policemen beat up Sikh ladies there.”

Bathinda, June 21
Voting and security arrangements are in place at designated polling booths here for tomorrow’s BMC elections. There are now around 1.71 lakh voters in the city.

Vijay Jade, Acting District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, said all arrangements were in place and the required election material, including EVMs, had been handed over to polling parties.

He also said persons arriving at the polling stations without identification documents would not be allowed to vote. These documents include voters’ photo-identity card, passport, driving licence, PAN card, Kisan card, post-office passbook, ration card issued before January 1, 2008, the SC/ST/OBC certificate issued by competent authority, arms licences, conductor licences issued by the transport authority, pension documents like ex-servicemen’s pension book and pension payment order, ex-servicemen’s widow or dependent certificate, railway/bus pass, certificate of disability, freedom-fighter’s I-card and service I-cards issued by the state or the Central Government.

The acting DC said there would be a constant vigil at all stations and any impersonation attempt would attract strict punishment. He said there were more than 2,000 police personnel at 135 polling booths in the city. The polling would be held between 8 am and 4 pm, and the results would be out the same day by 8 pm with their respective returning officers. One agent of each candidate, having an authority letter issued by the returning officer concerned, would be allowed to witness the counting.

Jade said, to ensure peaceful polling and check corrupt practices, the administration had ordered all liquor shops in the city to be closed on the election day. He said the directions of the state election commission would be strictly enforced and no unauthorised person would be allowed within 100 m of the booths. No candidate would be allowed to ferry voters in his or her vehicles. 

Kotkapura (Faridkot), June 21
Training guns towards the state government, Ripjit Singh Brar, MLA Kotkapura has alleged that the ruling SAD(B)-BJP, in connivance with the district administration, has forged withdrawal of nomination papers of five Congress candidates for Kotkapura Municipal Committee (MC) elections. “It has proved that the bureaucracy is hand in glove with the present state government and is helping the SAD candidates by using all kinds of unfair means.”

“Nomination papers of around five Congress candidates from different wards were rejected on the basis that the presiding officer for Kotkapura MC polls, Tejinder Pal Singh, has received the withdrawal forms of those candidates late last evening,” Brar alleged while addressing a protest rally of hundreds of Congress workers at the main Kotkapura Chowk today afternoon.

The Congress candidates, who have ‘withdrawn’ their nomination papers include, Pritam Kaur of ward number 16, Krishan Kumar of ward number 17, Jaswinder Singh Gora of ward number 2, Madhu Bala Kataria of ward number 14 and Neeti Kataria of ward number 11. “Not only this, the SAD even got nomination papers of a BJP candidate, Shiv Shankar of ward number 16, rejected,” he alleged.

“SAD candidate, Paramjit Kaur Pammi, sister of SAD leader Mantar Singh Brar, who is contesting from ward number 14, went to our candidate Madhu Bala Kataria’s house at 2.15 am and harassed her, forcing her to sign the withdrawal papers. Similarly, another candidate Neeti Kataria, was also forcibly sent out of station and was not let to file her nomination papers,” Brar alleged.

“Now that they have deprived us of our constitutional right, we will hold a parallel voting of area residents in ward number 2 and 16 on June 30, so that we can show that people are still with us,” he added.

Barnala, June 21
Acknowledging the social services and past conduct of Master Karam Singh, the villagers of Sanghera have unanimously elected him as their municipal councillor for the ward no 25 of the Barnala municipal committee.

One other candidate also filed the nomination papers from this ward but later he withdrew his papers as the people of Sanghera decided to elect Karam Singh from the ward.

It may be mentioned that though Sanghera is an independent village yet it falls in the municipal limits of Barnala. The Sanghera village has three wards namely ward no 1,2 and 25, which falls in Barnala municipal limit.

Abohar, June 21
The irrigation authorities at Sriganganagar, 40 km from here, have suspended the supply of canal water to the rural and urban waterworks from the Sadhuwali head with immediate effect as complaints against supply of highly contaminated water from the Ferozepur headworks in the Gang canal remain unchecked, sources confirmed on Saturday.

The district authorities had been regularly apprising their counterparts in Punjab about the supply of stinking water but the latter paid no attention.

Deepak Nagori and B.B. Miglani, executive engineer and assistant engineer respectively, of the water supply department at Sriganganagar inspected the Sadhuwali head yesterday and confirmed that the canal water would not be fit for human consumption even after chlorination. Accordingly, its supply to drinking water reservoirs was suspended, sources informed.

Ferozepur, June 21
In an impressive function held here today, Lt-General S.S. Kumar, GOC, Vajra Corps, flagged in a team of an officer, two JCOs and 15 other ranks, who returned from an arduous trekking expedition to Milam Glacier, located at a height of 13,500 feet above sea level in Uttarakhand hills, covering a distance of 53 km in four days.

On the occasion, expedition team leader Javed Akhtar debriefed the senior officers on the movement to Uttarakhand, process of acclimatisation in the high altitude area and the conduct of the trek. In particular he emphasized on the spirit of adventure and camaraderie, the highlights of the trip.

The Lt-General and Major-General Munish Sibal, GOC, Golden Arrow Division, commended the efforts of the trekking team.

Sadhuwali/Abohar, June 21
Major-General B.S. Daulta, GOC of the Amogh division, on Saturday flagged off the Chetak Corps Cycling Expedition near Sadhuwali (Sriganganagar) on the NH 15.

The participants were introduced to the GOC before the flag off ceremony, who wished them all the best for their mission.

The expedition is being organised to commemorate the Raising Day of the Chetak Corps. Led by Major Bhanu Pratap Singh, the 500-km expedition consisted of two officers, two JCOs and 12 other ranks. They would pass through border towns of Khajuwala, Satrana, Anupgarh, Raisinghnagar, Karanpur, Fazilka and Malout. The expedition will culminate at Bathinda on July 1, the Raising Day of the Chetak Corps.

Lt-General R.S. Sujlana, GOC of the corps, would flag in the expedition there.

Besides commemorating the Raising Day, the expedition aims at spreading awareness about drug abuse, women empowerment, AIDS, health and environment as the participants would interact with the locals at the designated halts, a spokesman said.

The venture also aims at improving the bonhomie between the army, paramilitary forces and people living in the border region. The opportunity would also be utilised to motivate the youth to join the defence services, he further informed.

Abohar, June 21
The Khuyiansarwar police has registered a case of embezzlement against Gopi Ram of village Haripura who had been serving as Grameen Dak Sewak at village Danewala Satkosi in this sub-division for a long time, sources said today.

As per complaint lodged by the sub-divisional inspector Kamal Setia of the Department of Posts on April 30, the accused had allegedly embezzled Rs 2.32 lakh while handling the deposits by the customers. He had been suspended on March 17 after the department conducted a preliminary inquiry. — OC