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Naina Devi stampede
Cops indulging in crime not a good sign: Mann
Boosting education |
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Eye Camp ‘botch-up’
Surjeet’s ashes to be immersed in Sutlej at Hussainiwala today
Rs 11 lakh, gold stolen
from SBI branch
Patwari, kanungo held on graft charges
Labourers stage dharna
Registration of vehicles goes hi-tech
Admn takes steps against floods
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Naina Devi stampede
Barnala, August 4 Barnala resident, Satpal, along with his wife, mother and 11-month-old bundle of joy --- Lavpreet, had gone to the Naina Devi temple to offer thanks-giving prayers to the deity for blessing him with a son, but destiny had cruel plans in store for him. He lost all his dear ones in yesterday's stampede, which claimed more than 145 lives. The unfortunate part is that his son was found injured but alive, two hours after the stampede. He was crying near the body of his mother and grandmother when his uncle (chacha), Gurpreet, brother of Satpal, identified him among the heap of bodies. But later, allegedly, for want of proper and timely medical attention, he succumbed to his injuries. With tears in his eyes, Gurpreet said he was trying to locate his family members among the dead ones. Suddenly, the screams of a baby attracted his attention. He took him in the lap and started running around for medical help as the baby was his nephew --- Lavpreet. What happened next was unthinkable, he said "When I was running to get medical attention for Lavpreet, policemen caught me and mistook me for a thief who was running away with someone else's baby," he informed. After hour-long arguments, he succeeded in convincing the cops that the baby in his lap was his nephew. Then a police jeep dropped him at a local hospital near Kaula Bala tobha (famous pond). Meanwhile, but crucial moments had been lost. Gurpreet alleged that he cried for medical help for his nephew but the doctors on duty examined him and asked him to wait as Lavpreet was still breathing, so medical help could be provided to him later on as the doctor had other critical patients to examine. Gurpreet said that after three hours, he managed to reach a hospital at Anandpur Sahib, only to find that his nephew was no more. Jaswant Singh, another devotee from Barnala, said that it was around 10.15 am when two types of rumours started doing the rounds. The first relating to landslide and the second was regarding a huge electric cable near the shrine that had reportedly snapped resulting in the breaking out of a major fire. Then, the devotees who were inside the temple, tried to run downstairs while the people who were in queues on the stairs tried to move forward to reach a safer place. The police failed to control the mob and started cane-charging leading to panic and terror. He saw people falling over the main sheds near the temple. "It was complete chaos," said. Shopkeepers and members of the langar committee helped in lifting the bodies, exposing the poor preparedness and "inhuman face" of the Himachal police, Jaswant added. He alleged that the Himachal Pradesh administration did not provide any help to the people and that it was the Punjab administration that helped the victims. He said that Baba Labh Singh Sampardaya, popularly known as Kar Sewa Wale Babe at Anandpur Sahib, arranged community kitchen and medical help for the victims. They also provided their vans for carrying the bodies in Punjab. |
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Cops indulging in crime not a good sign: Mann
Moga, August 4 "The police is losing moral values and social responsibilities in the area," said Mann while referring to the involvement of police personnel in the recent cases, including the infamous sex scandal, passport scam, sexual assault on a deaf and dumb girl, insensitive attitude of an SHO forcing a Dalit woman to hold a semi-nude march, involvement of an SHO in the murder of an old man in Kot-ise-Khan. Talking to The Tribune on phone, he said Moga has undoubtedly became a crime hub of Punjab. He said the recent recovery of RDX by the Jagraon police from here and the emergence of land and drug mafia in the area had created a sense of fear among the residents. "It is a sorry state of affairs that despite such heinous crimes being reported in the area, the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) have not visited the town to take stock of the deteriorating law and order situation," he said. Alleging that the director general of police has proved to be incompetent in controlling the growing crime rate in the state, he said the state government should bring in some efficient officer rather than using the post to further vested political interests and suppress opponents. Mann demanded from chief minister Prakash Singh Badal to personally look into the worsening
law and order situation in Moga and take appropriate steps to inculcate moral values and sense of responsibility among the police
personnel. |
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Boosting education
Moga, August 4 The District Magistrate Satwant Singh Johal while launching the scheme from local government girls' senior secondary school revealed that the district administration had also released a grant of Rs 62 lakh to the schools for cooking costs of the meals. The cooking cost of mid-day meal for upper primary stage has been fixed at Rs 2.60 per child per day, he said. He said that under this scheme sponsored by the Union Government, the calorific value of the mid-day meal had been fixed for upper primary at 700 calories and 20 grams of protein. Food grains comprising wheat and rice as per the diet plan of 150 grams per child/ school day would be provided for the upper primary stage, he added. He further revealed that the mid-day meal scheme had been started in as many as 228 government and 11 government-aided schools for upper primary classes apart from 349 primary schools including 10 government -aided primary schools. "A sum of Rs 1.4 crore has already been released as cooking cost for the primary schools", he added. The DM further revealed that for the second quarter of this financial year 190.13 metric tonnes of wheat and 126.75 tonnes of rice has been distributed among the primary schools, besides, 122.63 metric tonnes of wheat and 81.75 tonnes of rice to the upper primary classes. Meanwhile, a spokesman of the education department claimed that as per the directions and financial aid of the Union Government kitchen-cum-stores has been constructed in all the primary and upper primary schools to make it easy for cooking of the meals. The district administration has divided the district into six zones and assigned duty to six principals of the schools to monitor the mid-day meal scheme and look into complaints of the schools if any in this regard. |
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First Punjab jail to get the facility
Bathinda, August 4 Taking a step in this direction, Baljeet Singh Bir Behman, the Mayor of Bathinda, along with leaders of the ruling SAD, inaugurated a dental clinic, gymnasium and a library at the Central Jail, here today. As per the jail authorities, the dental chair would be the second in the state, after Sangrur, while it would be the first jail in Punjab to have gymnasium facilities. Meanwhile, installation of CCTV cameras is also in the pipeline. Accepting the demands of the Central Jail authorities during his recent visit on April 21 this year, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had allocated grants for these facilities from his discretionary funds and from the Punjab Police Housing Corporation funds. Further, the department has an amount of Rs 2 lakh for installing a tubewell in the jail. But now, the jail authorities have floated a demand for installing a reverse osmosis (RO) water system, and the amount received would be adjusted accordingly. Giving details of the projects, jail superintendent L.S. Jakhar said besides these facilities, the jail had received nine computers for its inmates. A laptop for the jail superintendent was also in the list. To introduce computer courses, the jail authorities would contact the Punjab Technical University (PTU), which would offer courses to the prisoners. The jail had also received Rs 37 lakh for sanitation and electrical fittings, Jakhar informed. To tackle the problem of overcrowding, the jail would have double-storeyed barracks in September and it would help in accomodating 200 more prisoners. It may be mentioned that at present, the jail has a capacity for housing 622 inmates but the actual number is above 1300. It may be mentioned that the introduction of these facilities has also ended speculations regarding the shifting of the Central Jail to Bathinda-Badal road. |
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Rules flouted: Hoardings come up at prohibited places
Bathinda, August 4 The local municipal corporation has once again allowed a large hoarding of a private advertisement company outside the Gandhi Market near railway station here, allegedly in violation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s orders. The hoarding has not only marred the view of the complex but also distracts drivers, which may lead to accidents. This is rampant in the city despite the fact that the court had banned the erection of such hoardings along the national and state highways, railway tracks and roads within the municipal limits, as it distracts the attention of the people, thereby putting their lives at risk and causing accidents. City traffic police authorities also confirmed that such hoardings did violate the spirit of the court directives. Kamal Kant, executive officer, Bathinda Municipal Corporation, when contacted, said he was not aware of the hoarding put up outside the Gandhi Market. However, he added that he would look into the matter for its early removal. |
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Eye Camp ‘botch-up’
Moga, August 4 The AC (G) while talking to The Tribune said that he had gone through most of the record of the hospital provided by the health department but he was yet to look into the facilities available in the operation theatre and credentials of the doctors who conducted the surgeries. Jaggi said that he had given another opportunity to the trust authorities and the doctors to appear before him on Tuesday and record their statements failing which he would give his 'ex-parte' findings to the district magistrate for necessary action. In reply to a question, the AC (G) said that he had a telephonic conversation with one of the members of the trust who had assured that they would appear before him and extend full cooperation in the probe. Meanwhile, the police had so far not taken any cognizance of the letter written by the deputy medical commissioner Tejinder Gupta keeping in view of the magisterial probe in progress. Gupta wrote to the SHO to take appropriate action in this case
of gross negligence and irregularities. On the other hand, the private eye hospital was found locked for the fourth consecutive day after the incident of 'negligence' in surgeries came to light, early this week. The doctors who conducted the surgeries and the para-medical staff were absconding. A few patients were still admitted in a private hospital at Sri Ganganagar and they had not yet come to their native village. The volunteers of the trust had taken away these patients from their houses on the pretext of treatment after the district administration sprung into action. The health department had already suspended the permission granted to the hospital for conducting the surgeries till the investigations were in progress against them. |
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Surjeet’s ashes to be immersed in Sutlej at Hussainiwala today
Moga, August 4 Sandeep Singh, grandson of the Marxist leader who breathed his last on Friday told The Tribune on telephone that his grandfather's last wish was to immerse his ashes in Sutlej at Hussaniwala. He said that his grandmother Pritam Kaur, other family members and party leaders had unanimously decided late on Monday evening to take the ashes to Hussainiwala on Tuesday for immersion in the Sutlej where the ashes of Shaheed Bhagat Singh were also immersed in the river after his martyrdom. The Secretary General of CPI (M) Prakash Karat would not be coming to Hussainiwala. However, some other senior leaders of the party would be accompanying the family members. |
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Rs 11 lakh, gold stolen
from SBI branch
Ferozepur, August 4 According to sources, the robbers broke through the rear wall and window of the bank and decamped with cash amounting to Rs 11 lakh besides over 2 kg of gold. The robbers also took away the closed circuit cameras, which were installed only a week ago following futile robbery attempt last week. I.P.Singh, bank manager, told the police that he had closed the bank on Saturday. However, on Monday morning, when the security guard came to the bank, he found the window and a portion of the rear wall broken. The guard raised an alarm. Meanwhile, the manager and other officials also reached the bank. The bank manager did not rule out the role of bank officials in the incident. After breaking open through the window, the robbers managed to barge into the locker room from where they stole an amount of Rs 10, 09,937 besides two kg gold. Ironically, the robbers were aware of the installation of CCTV cameras which were installed only a week ago. Satnam Singh, ASI, city police station said that as soon as the police got the information in the morning, a team reached the spot and investigations were being carried out to apprehend the robbers. The police was also looking into possible involvement of any bank official into the crime, he said. |
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Patwari, kanungo held on graft charges
Mansa, August 4 DSP, VB, Onkar Singh said that Sinder and Sukhjinder had purchased half acre of land near Malco village and submitted an application to the kanungo and the patwari Dinesh Kumar for identification of the land. The accused had allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 for doing the same. Today, when they were handing over the sum, the Vigilance Bureau team caught them red-
handed. — OC |
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Labourers stage dharna
Mansa, August 4 Leaders of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Gurjant Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and members of village committee, including Harwinder Singh, Gurmail Kaur and Raj Singh criticised the administration for adopting an indifferent attitude towards the demands of the labourers. Labourers of this village had staged a daylong strike some days back in favour of their demand that paddy planting rate be enhanced from Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,800 per acre. After this, the rift increased between the labourers and landowners. |
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Registration of vehicles goes hi-tech
Bathinda, August 4 As per the guidelines of officiating DC Vijay Zade, a new software would be used to prepare the computerised registration certificates of the vehicles, he added. Now, the applications for the registration of new vehicles would be received at the Suvidha window and the registration certificates would be delivered within a week after the application is submitted. |
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Jasmine chosen Miss Teej
Bathinda, August 4 Garima Singh (IRS), joint commissioner of Income Tax, Bathinda, and Shinjani Tiwari inaugurated the cultural programmes, Trinjan and Aaya Sawan Jhoom Kay, respectively. Sonia won the solo dance competition for girls and Neetu was adjudged as best in the solo dance competition for women. Angrez Kaur bagged the first prize in charkha competition while mehndi competition was won jointly by Sonal Jain and Nikita. Sonia Nagpal gave away the prizes to the winners. |
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Admn takes steps against floods
Ferozepur, August 4 The deputy commissioner Megh Raj today inspected the flood protection arrangements. He said that contingency plans had been drafted for any eventuality of floods. The DC himself checked the condition of forwards bandhs from village Ruknewala up to Gatta Badshah and Harike. He was accompanied by officials from irrigation, revenue departments besides village panchayats. The DC said that necessary instructions to reinforce the bandhs at various sensitive places had been given to executive engineer, Golewala drainage division. He said that the state government had been requested to allocate the requisite funds for the reinforcement of the bandhs.
— OC |
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Pension camp organised
Mansa, August 4 |
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