Barnala, September 11
The Shiromani Akali Dal (A) will contest parliamentary elections from all the 13 seats in Punjab. Disclosing this, Dhyan Singh Mand, state vice-president, said that only SAD(A) could provide the third front to the people as it had the ideology to respect all the religions.

Dhyan Singh said that his party would like to contest elections alone as it does not believe in any coalition government. He informed that party president Simranjeet Singh Mann would contest from Sangrur while he would contest from Ferozepur.

While talking to reporters here today, Dhyan Singh said that the people of Punjab were fed up with both the SAD-BJP and the Congress. So, they need a third alternative which could took the state forward on the path of peace and development.

Taking strong note of political murders, Dhyan Singh said that this was dangerous for the future of democracy. Pointing towards murder of member panchayat Jagser Singh at Tallewal village, Mand said that if this tradition continues, then politics would become a dirty profession.

Commenting on the disqualification of former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh from his membership of House, Mand said though the method adopted to expel the leader was not good, yet he deserved this as only corrupt ministers or MLAs meet this fate. At the same time, he warned Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to take stock of situation in terms of corruption.

Mand alleged that Badal had mixed religion with politics. All the five Jathedars were mere rubber stamps in the hands of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. Badal and his son were making mockery of the Sikh maryada, he alleged and said that the Jathedars had failed to redress the problems of Sikhs of Haryana and Himachal Pardesh. Only because of this, a demand for separate SGPC for the state had been raised.

Mand was accompanied by Navtej Singh Sahuli, general secretary of SAD (A), Ranjeet Singh Rana (joint secretary) and Surinder Singh Sadhowal, district president and many others.

Moga, September 11
The local MLA Joginder Pal Jain, by having failed to get party symbols allotted to his party candidates contesting the elections, has not only ruined the hopes of Congress for a comeback to power in the municipal council but also created fissures within the organisation over the issue.

The legislator approached the Supreme Court last month to get the local body elections conducted in this town. The apex court while accepting his plea directed the state government to conduct the elections before September 15, a verdict which was welcomed by the Congress leadership.

However, when the process to conduct the elections began, the local leaders of the Congress realised that they were not in a position to give a fight to the ruling alliance, probably due to the infighting within the local unit of the Congress party.

Perturbed over this, Jain, through some of his loyal candidates, almost decided to boycott the elections to send a message among the common masses that the ruling party was misusing the official machinery to terrorise his candidates. But the working president of the state unit of the Congress, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, while talking to the media persons here last week, announced to contest the elections even as some candidates loyal to Jain said that they were in favour of boycotting the elections.

When Kaypee announced that the elections will not be boycotted, the time to hand over authority letters of candidates to the returning officers was over leaving the contestants in a lurch. As a result, none of their candidates got the party symbols.

It may be mentioned that Jain had full control on the administrative affairs of the local body for five years before having got elected to the state assembly. For a few months, his wife Swaran Lata Jain had also remained the officiating president of the municipal council.

Fighting the elections on their own as independent candidates, without any support from the party organisation, even most of the influential candidates seem to be a demoralised lot and were looking for face saving device to survive in local politics.

Local political observers were of the view that if the Congress candidates had got the party symbols, then they were in a good position to give a fight to the ruling alliance and it could have been anybody's game.

Under the present circumstances, there were chances of 8 to 12 independent candidates owing loyalty to Congress winning the local body elections in a House of 31. As many as six candidates of the ruling alliance had already won the elections unopposed amid allegations but no one among those who withdrew their nomination papers had come out openly to lodge a complaint before the State Election Commission.

Abohar, September 11
The offices of the deputy superintendent of police and the excise and taxation officer will have to be shifted from the present location in the next few days.

The offices are located in the abandoned office complex of the local market committee close to the railway station and cinema houses. Both the old grain markets which had been de-notified by the state government are also located opposite to this complex.

According to information, the Punjab Mandi Board has finally fixed auction of the abandoned market committee complex for Monday.

This raised many eyebrows. There are speculations that some specific deal might crop up, sources indicated. Others said some big commercial houses were expected to participate in the bid.

About half-century's history of this town is associated with the complex which is being put on auction. Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala had on the request of the then MLA Arjun Singh Siyag inaugurated the sub-division. First judicial court was also started in the same complex. As members of the state cabinet, Bal Ram Jakhar and late Kanshi Ram Rinwa had held most of their meetings with local officials and party workers here to plan major development projects.

It took about two decades to shift the grain and cotton trading from congested mandis located in the heart of the town to the new grain market even when the market committee offices had been shifted. No official is ready to give information on whether the officials of different departments who had been using the abandoned old market committee complex had paid rent.

Flower sellers had developed their tented market close to the boundary market of the complex. They will be uprooted. The “apni mandi” that paralyses normal traffic on the busy circular road outside the abandoned complex every Sunday will also cease to function when the successful bidder takes over the physical possession of the complex.

Sources said the process for searching new locations for the offices of the DSP and ETO has not so far been started. 

Bathinda, September 11
In a gruesome incident, a 13-year-old girl of village Kot Shamir, who was allegedly raped by her neighbour, ended her life after consuming poison, late this evening.

According to information gathered from sources in the village, Paramjeet Kaur was alone at home as her parents had gone to pick cotton in the fields. Finding her alone, Beeri, a 17-year-old boy, entered her house and allegedly raped her. After the incident, he fled from the scene. Shocked over the incident, the girl consumed poison and started vomiting. Finding her in a serious condition, a woman living in the neighbourhood asked her about the incident, and she disclosed everything to her. Meanwhile, some villagers took her to the civil hospital in Bathinda where she died after some time.

Efforts were made to contact SHO Rashpal Singh, but he did not attend the phone call. Investigation Officer Angrej Singh said he had just reached the civil hospital as he had got the information about the crime late.

Bathinda, September 11
Sepoy Alok Khajur of 15 Mahar, posted in Bathinda Cantonment, committed suicide by hanging himself from a solar panel pipe from the third floor at 5 am today in the wee hours.

He hailed from village Barapur Patela in district Sarguja, Chhattisgarh.

According to sources, Alok was under stress and due to some kind of family pressure, he ended his life. A senior Army officer said, "These days, soldiers are under various kinds of mental stress that emanates from family sources which often leads him one to take an extreme step. The Army more or less has nothing to do with such cases because it is totally someone's personal matter and he is not forced by the Army to end his life."

The Army officer also stated on the condition of anonymity that this case has nothing to do with the rigorous training imparted. Discipline and duty are a part of being in the forces and if someone feels that it is too stressful, then he is not fit to be a part of the services, he maintained.

Police officials, when contacted, said Alok was stressed out because of the tough schedule being followed by his unit. Sources also added that he was not feeling well last night.

The police added that his body is yet to be sent for postmortem. Army officials said the investigations were on. The incident, however, has highlighted the pressures faced by armed force personnel. Such incidents have also been reported from other parts of the country.

Bathinda, September 11
In a fit of rage, a man killed his mother-in-law with a tool used to break ice at his residence in Amarpura Basti, here on Wednesday night. According to information available, Raju, a rickshaw-puller had a verbal duel with his morther-in-law, Mahinder Kaur (50), when she had visited his house on Wednesday to meet her daughter. In the heated exchange that followed, Raju accused her of taking money from his wife Anju. 

The tiff turned violent and in fury, he repeatedly attacked Mahinder Kaur till she died. In the clash, Anju too sustained injuries. After comitting the crime, he locked Anju in a room and fled. Later, Kulwant Singh, the maternal uncle of Anju, visited the house and found Mahinder lying in a pool of blood. He then rescued Anju. Both reported the matter to the police and the Kotwali police registered a case.

Moga, September 11
Another incident of lovers committing suicide has come to light in the district. On Wednesday, a teenaged boy and a girl reportedly in love had allegedly committed "suicide" by consuming some poisonous substance. This was the third incident of such kind during the past three weeks in the district.

According to sources, the girl was student of BA first year while the boy was studying in Plus 2.

Both residents of village Kaleke allegedly consumed sulphos tablets on Tuesday night. They were rushed to a private hospital by their parents but died on Wednesday during treatment.

The parents of these students reportedly cremated them without informing to the police about the alleged unnatural death of their children, probably due to the social stigma, sources said.

There were reports that both wanted to marry each other but the parents of the girl were not agreeing to this due to which she consumed sulphos tablets and informed about this to her lover on the mobile phone. After some time, the boy also consumed poison to end his life. 

Abohar, September 11
An infant girl was found dead under mysterious circumstances near the city bypass here today. As per information, the baby, identified as Puran Rani, was reportedly playing with her nine-year-old brother Lovkush, who went inside the house, leaving her alone. She was found missing when Lovkush returned.

The panicky parents were told during the search that a female child was lying near a water course close to the bypass. Preliminary inquiries indicated that a motorcyclist was roaming there before the incident.

It appeared that someone took out the child from the water course and left her on the bank of the canal after finding that she had died. The parents are not willing to get an FIR registered, official sources said in the evening. — OC

Abohar, September 11
Sir Ratan Tata Trust team comprising experts including Guljar Singh Chahal and Amrik Singh Sohi today visited different villages in the sub-division to have first hand information on the progress of the projects which were sponsored by the Trust under the integrated pest management programme.

In village Rajpura, members of the team, accompanied by scientists from the Abohar-based Regional Centre (RC) of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), were given warm welcome by sarpanch Amrinder Singh Brar. Experts Ashok Kumar Dhawan and Purshotam Arora initiated discussions on better pest management for cotton crop. Guljar Singh Chahal shed light on the projects taken up by the Trust to help the farmers in fighting the pests. Kamaldeep Singh told the farmers how they could get their problems solved through the PAU website. Director of the regional center P.S. Aulakh exhorted the farmers to take maximum of assistance from the local centre in modernizing farming. Anand Ahuja, Sarika Saini and Amrik Singh also tried to address the problems being faced by the farmers of the region. 

Bathinda, September 11
The Bathinda military station organised an English debate competition for jawans and their wives today. The topic for the debate was, 'Is women empowerment necessary?'

Twelve couples were selected from various units of the Chetak Corps. Seven couples favoured the motion and five spoke against it. The jawans, most of them from a rural background, showed good command over the English language and were aware of the social issues. Issues pertaining to women were discussed and what empowerment actually is, was talked about.

The debate was a healthy sign that promised better lifestyle for Army jawans, JCOs and their families. It is not only officers who get exposure to better standards, seeing the spirit of young wives of the Army, it was clear that the Army will witness a massive change in terms of education, awareness and modern thinking.

The event was attended by Lt Gen R.S. Sujlana, AVSM, VSM, GOC, Chetak Corps, and other senior officials and their families at the Bathinda military station.

Rashmi Sujlana, president, Chetak AWWA, distributed the prizes to the winners.

Ferozepur, September 11
The Pakistani security agencies were waging a multi-pronged war against India which included narco war, economic war and military war under which huge amount of narcotics, fake currency besides lethal arms and ammunition were being pushed inside the Indian territory, said Maninderjit Singh Bitta, president, All India Anti Terrorist Front, while talking to media persons here today.

Bitta said that Pakistan agencies including the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) were trying to destabilise the country, weaken its economy and mislead the youth as part of its covert sinister strategy.

Bitta further said that the Central government should deal with the Kashmir situation with a firm hand and anti-terror military courts should be established.

Bitta also alleged that the recent flood in Bihar was an outcome of the sinister design of the Maoist government in Nepal. 

Bathinda, September 11
The National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) recently celebrated its 35th foundation day with great enthusiasm.

B.K. Handique, union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers and mines, was the chief guest on the occasion. Atul Chaturvedi, secretary (fertilizer) attended the programme as guest of honour. Besides NFL employees and their families, the programme was attended by government officials and former NFL employees.

To mark the occasion, the company launched a plantation programme. G.S. Mangat, CMD, inaugurated the programme. Director (Technical), V.K. Sharma, senior officials of corporate office and central marketing office also planted saplings. — TNS