Doomwali (Bathinda), July 29
A former soldier, Gurpal Singh, laments that residents of this village of Punjab with about 800 households were deprived of basic amenities that were enjoyed by those living in the adjoining houses that fall in Haryana.

It is a long list of grievances and lack of civic amenities that residents of this village narrate to VIPs and media persons every time they visit here.

Interestingly, a visitor to the lanes of Narsingh colony in Doomwali is unable to identify where the boundary of Punjab ends and that of Haryana begins.

The front doors of some houses open in Punjab, while the backyard touches the lanes of Haryana.

Gurpal points out that the Bararanwali Gali of Dabwali (Haryana) that is an extension of the Narsingh colony has sever, drinking water supply and a government school, which are lacking on the Punjab side. Residents of the colony rely on Haryana for these facilities.

He says that women folk of the Punjab can be seen fetching drinking water in pitchers and plastic cans from the Haryana side in the evening when the lane on this side is dark and streetlights shine on the other.

Darshan Singh, another resident of the village, says that children of this village go to the high school of Haryana as there is only a primary school on the Punjab side.

The middle school at Pathrala village of Bathinda district is 7 km away, while that of Haryana is at a stone’s throw.

He says that in the past 40 years he has not seen any development taking place in the village.

Gurmeet Singh describes it as the most neglected area of Punjab. All development is taking place in the neighbouring areas of Muktsar district, the home turf of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Another village elder said that when sick, residents of Doomwali had to rush to the nearest hospital on Haryana side for treatment.

Those in the village, who subscribe to the BSNL and other cellular phones of Punjab, had to pay roaming charges as they got coverage from the towers in Haryana.

A shopkeeper at Dabwali in Haryana, Hari Parkash, was not satisfied with the state of affairs on his side.

He said the Hooda government was neglecting the area that was considered stronghold of Chautalas.

Frequent power cuts have become unbearable, but there was uninterrupted electricity across the road in the Muktsar area, he adds.

Talwandi Sabo, July 29
Even week after the postponement of the sarpanch’s election of village Bangi Ruldu here the controversy does not seem to end as the presiding officer (PO) and the district administration are at loggerheads.

According to sources, presiding officer Harlabh Singh, who is also XEN, canal department, conducted the election on July 21.

All nine panches cast their votes through secret ballot. Gurpreet Kaur group, which was sure of getting five votes out of the nine, raised an objection after it was announced that the party got only four votes.

On the other hand, their rival Nazam Singh group claimed to have one secret vote being cast in its favour.

The situation sprung a surprise when five panches raised hands in Gurpreet’s favour. They accused the PO of lending undue favour to their rivals.

Amidst arguments, supporters of both the groups started raising slogans outside the Tehsil office.

The matter was then reported to the district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) besides SDM of Talwandi Sabo Anil Garg.

Meanwhile, as per the PO’s allegations, the Gurpreet group turned violent and tore off two pages from the official register of the election staff.

Reportedly, one of them even tried to snatch the ballot papers. Despite all this, the police remained mute spectators. Later, the PO postponed the elections sine die.

After this, the Gurpreet group submitted a memorandum to the Bathinda deputy commissioner accusing the PO of malpractice during the election.

Harlabh Singh said, “I followed the rules and conducted the elections in fair manner. I was surprised to see the ballot papers. On finding that the situation was out of my hand, I informed the SDM and the DDPO but they did not lend their support in handling the matter. Left with no other option, I deferred the announcement of the election results.”

“Despite repeated efforts, none of the officials concerned was advising me on dealing with the situation. I am being told that I should take the decision as I was the in charge of the election. Therefore, I would take further action only after taking legal advice on the matter,” he rued.

The SDM Talwandi Sabo said, “I will interfere only if I get orders from higher authorities.” Despite repeated efforts, officiating deputy commissioner Vijay Zade could not be contacted for his version.

The seat was reserved for general women category. For the post of vice-
chairperson, two other contenders were Harbinder Kaur of Bhagta zone and Baljeet Kaur of Bangi Ruldu zone.

Bathinda, July 29
“I cannot live without my iPod,” declared a music buff at the top of her voice. Her one-liner succinctly explained the quality that the tiny gadget would be of.

In common parlance, it is called iPod. But not many know that iPod is a registered trademark of the Apple Inc. USA.

The gizmo that has become a rage among youngsters today is basically a portable digital media player with huge in-built flash memory.

A product of nanotechnology, it is capable of loading, storing and playing digital formats of audio, video and images.

Available in different hues, shapes and storage capacities, it catches one’s fancy as and when one listens to it.

Little wonder that with its advent, the sale graph of both Walkman and Discman
has shot southwards.

“The reason is that it is comparatively light in weight and thus, can be carried absolutely everywhere one goes. Considered as best by the avid music listeners, the sleek and technologically advanced players produce matchless hi-fidelity sound,” informed Ravi Chawla of Ravi Enterprises, Dhobi Bazaar.

“Our product is called Network Walkman (NW) and its storage capacity ranges from 1 gigabyte (GB) to 8 GB,” sums up the exclusive dealer of Sony products in Malwa.

The available brands are Apple, Sony, Philips, iNTEX and Creative. And if you are enterprising enough, you can check out grey market and take home your pick at a price almost one-third of the branded ones. A word of caution: The generics don’t come with bills or repair warranty.

“The number of queries that we are receiving tells volumes about people’s curiosity to know about the pocket-size prodigy,” shares another dealer.

“Apple is the father of iPod and rules the markets worldwide,” Mukesh of Audio Junction avers. Shelved at a price band of Rs 2,700 and Rs 15,000 an iPod comes with a flash memory of 1 GB to 80 GB, he updates.

The bright Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen on an iPod not only helps you to operate the teeny-weeny gadget with comfort but also gives your pics and videos an extra verve. And with its thin design it can easily slide into your tight pockets.

“The trend is changing. Earlier, Walkman gave way to Discman and now the customers are going gaga over Go Gear (a Philips’ product),” observes a dealer of Philips products in Dhobi Bazaar.

While a jogger can clip it to his T-shirt, the traveller does away with the burden of carrying cassettes and CDs while on the move with the player.

A wearable iPod Shuffle with 1 GB flash memory can store up to 240 songs. Sounds amazing! “It is quite popular among those living far from their homes,” quips Simran, a paying guest.

The player can be charged either through direct power or by connecting it with a computer through Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable. Sony claims that three minutes of charging can make an NW run for three hours.

“The best part is that you can add the songs that conform to your taste and delete those you don’t feel like listening to any more,” asserts Priyanka Bhagat, the one living on iPod.

With a unique feature of high storage capacity among several others, including FM radio, voice recorder and games, the resplendent gizmos are destined to rule for long. Small wonder, they are considered as the biggest thing among small.

Bathinda, July 29
Heads of government high schools of Bathinda district have formed the district-level Government Headmasters’ Association, Bathinda.

Headmasters and headmistresses of schools constituted the association under the banner of the Government Schools Headmasters’ Association (GSHA), Punjab, at a meting held at Teachers’ Home here on Monday. General Secretary of the GSHA, Randhawa Singh presided over the meeting.

The newly-formed body aimed at solving the problems being faced by the headmasters and headmistress of schools.

It may be mentioned here that a registered body of the heads of the government schools of Punjab, GSHA, was formed on April, 27, 2008 at Moga.

After the formation of the association, its members also elected officer bearers. Baljeet Singh of Maur Kalan has been elected as president while Karamjeet Singh of Khemuama and Inderjeet Kaur of Bhucho Khurd have been elected as vice-presidents.

Prem Kumar Mittal of Bulade Wala is the general secretary and Anita Rani of Poohla and Bhupinder Kaur of Nehiawala are the cashier and assistant cashier respectively.

Rajindra Kaur of Chak Ram Singh Wala is the press secretary while Baljinder Singh of Bhagu and Santosh Khosla of Chughe Khurd have been elected as advisors.

Bathinda, July 29
Security has been stepped up at Bathinda railway station following the alleged threat to blow the Udhyan Abha Express (3008), which runs between Sriganganagar and Hawrah.

According to railway sources, the RPF at Sriganganagar received a threat to blow the train. Taking it seriously, the RPF informed the authorities concerned, including district police and GRP and launched intensive anti-sabotage exercise.

The Udhyan Abha Express underwent thorough searched before departing from the Sriganganagar, sources said, adding that security force was also to search the train at Abohar and Malout.

Sources at Bathinda railway station said that the district police was also apprised about the situation.

The security personnel, including district police, RPF and GRP was prepared to carry out the search operation in the train.

Meanwhile, search operation was going on railway premises. Till the filing of the news at about 11.50 pm, the train has not arrived at Bathinda.

Abu Road/Abohar, July 29
Heavy loss of life in the serial blasts at Ahmedabad and continued recovery of explosives in Surat has forced traders from the Malwa region and other parts of Punjab to cancel their journey to these metropolitan cities.

This correspondent while travelling by the Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad Express found that the final chart displayed at Hanumangarh Jn railway station on Monday night mentioned six names in the RAC/Waiting list but twenty five per cent of the berths in almost all the three tier sleeper coaches were later found unoccupied.

Only twelve passengers boarded the train from Hanumangarh whereas during normal days the number used to be above thirty, ticket checkers confirmed.

A woman who had boarded the train at Bathinda along with her unmarried daughter on Monday evening for Jodhpur said had the travel been not a compulsion, she would have also got the reservation cancelled.

Another co passenger from Makhu town who was going to Sidhpur and carried heavy luggage said that she had advised her industrialist husband and son to return immediately from Mumbai. They had gone to Mumbai for recovery of long pending bills, she revealed.

The agents for some commercial houses at Ahmedabad and Surat confirmed that retailers and wholesalers from Punjab had not arrived for last three days for purchases even when they were to honour advance-deals.

Barnala, July 29
The former president of municipal committee Tapa and sitting councillor Nagar Singh has been disqualified from taking part in the election process of electing the president for the municipal committee.

Nagar Singh having the support of six councillors is a candidate for the presidentship of Tapa municipal committee.

Giving this information, MC Tapa Binder Singh said that acting on his petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to abstain Nagar from the election proceedings, the court has yesterday disqualified Nagar Singh from participating in the election process for presidentship.

As per Binder Singh, Nagar concealed the fact of his conviction in a corruption case. Binder said that Nagar Singh was allegedly convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act by Barnala court on January 1, 2007.

The court of Fatehdeep Singh sentenced him three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5000. So on this basis, he filed a petition in the high court to disqualify Nagar Singh from election proceeding, he added.

Binder Singh and Nagar Singh both have won independently but both are enjoying Akali backings.

Binder Singh who has been elected MC for the first time is a candidate of presidentship of Tapa municipality.

He is close associate of Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee executive member Baba Tek Singh Dhnaula.

While Nagar Singh is believed to have close ties with former Akali minister Gobind Singh Longowal.

In a house of total 14 members, both the candidate Nagar Singh and Binder Singh enjoys the support of six councillors each.

The election for the presidentship was postponed twice earlier on July 22 and again on July 24 by ADC Barnala Vikas Kumar.

Now when the Nagar Singh has been disqualified from the election proceedings, Binder Singh's road for the coveted post may have less bumps.

Barnala, July 29
Noted Punjabi writer of Malwa, Pargat Singh Sidhu, has been selected for the prestigious Shiromani Sahitkar Award for the year 2007-08 by the Language Department, Patiala.

The award comprises cash award of Rs 2.5 lakh, a shawl and a memento. Sidhu will be conferred the honour at a state-level function scheduled to be organised by Language Department in Chandigarh on August 8.

Talking to The Tribune, Pargat said he had penned six books so far. And basically he was an Army man, he said adding that he like to write about human relationship.

His book 'Ragistan Da Safar' is based on the life of an Army person. The book minutely described the hardships being faced by a man in uniform.

Sidhu said that after serving the Army for 17 years, he joined the teaching line and retired as a teacher of social studies. He resides at Sekha about 10 km from here.

His autobiography 'Boond Boond Risti Jindagi' has been translated into Gujrati language by Gujrati Sahit Academy by noted Gujrati writer S.J. Patel.

His writings also have shades of rustic life. "Alvida Amirpur' deals with the rural life, its small dreams, politics among the rural people and 'Apani Mitti Di Sajish' shows the social scenario of woman folk in the present society.

He discussed at length about woman undergoing a change from middle time to the present e-age. Sidhu thanked the Language Department for giving him the honour.

Abohar, July 29
The arrest of alleged sharp-shooter Jaswinder Singh Rockey at Chandigarh by the UT police in a long pending criminal case gives a sigh of relief to the Abohar police.

Rockey was named in the FIR registered at the city police station on July 24 on the statement of Shilpa Sharma, wife of a contractor Bunty Swami of Ludhiana, who had been shot dead while returning home from a ghee plant at night.

She had specifically stated that her husband had been complaining to the district police against Rockey but nothing tangible was done during the last three months.

Bunty had been reportedly telling each of his acquaintance that Rockey threatened him of dire consequences.

At one point of time, Shilpa had suggested migration to their home town Ludhiana but Bunty could not take a quick decision, sources said.

Sources said Bunty's killing allegedly by Rockey has brought the Khuikhera police besides the management of the ghee mills under scanner.

The district police had referred all the complaints made by Bunty to the Khuikhera police but no efforts were allegedly made to nab Rockey, a proclaimed offender in another case of attempt to murder, even when he had been moving freely.

As per available information Rockey and Bunty had good relations earlier. Rockey reportedly handled the labour contract while Bunty worked as packing contractor.

Surprisingly, those seeking employment in industrial houses or government departments are asked to produce character certificate but credentials of the contractors were not checked by the management.

The UT police, who nabbed Rockey yesterday, was not aware of his alleged involvement in the Abohar shoot-out.

A few know that Rockey was a suspect in scores of criminal cases. The Abohar police is getting ready to approach the Chandigarh police for bringing Rockey here, sources indicated on Tuesday.

Abohar, July 29
The Swarnim Bharat Yuva Padyatra, which was organised by the youth wing of the Brahmakumaris organization in 2006 and had passed through Abohar, Malout, Bathinda, Mansa and other towns of the region has found mention in the Limca Book of Records in the National Record category.

B.K. Pushaplata in-charge of the local centre of the organisation said in a press release on Tuesday that a part of the yatra which emanated from Bikaner and concluded at Chandigarh had acclaimed warm welcome in the Malwa region, so it is certainly an occasion to be jubilant over its reference on page 64 of the latest edition of the Limca Book. The certificate issued under the signatures of Editor Vijaya Ghose reads as under:

The Swarnim Bharat Yuva Padyatra 2006 which started from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Mumbai on August 20, 2006 and finished at Tinsukia, Assam on October 29, 2006 covered a total of over 30 thousand km en route becoming the longest walk.

The distance covered by each Yatra, passing through state capitals, cities, towns and villages ranged between 375 k and 1600 km.

About 5 lakh Brahmakumaris participated in the service activities, while on their way the participants gave motivational messages to about 1.25 crore people.