Bathinda, September 22
Amid intermittent showers, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi began his road show in Mansa and Bathinda districts- the Malwa heartland-- during his first day of Punjab visit today.

Though Rahul Gandhi arrived three hours late, but people, with flowers in hand, kept waiting for a glance of the young Congress leader.

During his visit to Mansa and Bathinda districts, he had brief stop-overs at Bhikhi, Maur, Rampura, Bhucho and Bibi Wala Chowk here.

He received a flowery welcome everywhere. Rahul was accorded a rousing reception and his visit is expected to boost the morale of Congress workers in the state.

Huge cut-outs of Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders were set up along the route.

It was observed that the party leaders were trying to outdo each other in organising shows and according a warm welcome.

Hundreds of people led by their local leaders including MLAs had lined up on both sides of the roads to extend a hearty welcome wherever the scion of the Nehru- Gandhi family stopped.

Sitting in a black BMW, Rahul even shook hands with a number of people and standing by the door of the SUV, he waved at everyone even as the surroundings echoed with slogans like "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad, Sonia Gandhi Zindabad".

Though it was not possible to shake hands with everyone, yet he appeared to have appreciated the feelings of the masses as he was noticed asking his driver to apply the brakes of the car on many occasions so that he can reach out to them. At some places, he even interacted with the crowd.

The road show did not enter the towns but MLAs and in-charges of Congress units attempted their best to mobilise the crowd at the venues.

Facing strong gusts of winds and spells of showers, some of those assembled left but their presence in wet clothes despite the rain made Rahul come out of the vehicle as a mark of appreciation to their feelings.

Due to the tight security arrangements, no one was allowed to sit in his vehicle except for Margaret Alwa, in-charge of Punjab affairs of the Congress. Even Raninder Singh, son of former CM Captain Amarinder Singh was in his own car.

The passionate crowd was heard sharing their grievances and also their joyous feelings even as his vehicle kept moving.

At Bhikhi town in Mansa, a staunch supporter of the Congress presented him some "parsad" in a blue plastic bag which he respectfully accepted and passed on to Margaret Alwa sitting on the rear seat.

Finally, Rahul entered the PSEB guest-house located in thermal colony, Bathinda, where he would be staying for the night.

Throughout the road show in Mansa and Bathinda districts, Rahul chose not to
address mediapersons.

(With inputs from Parmod Mehta in Mansa)

Ferozepur, September 22
Huge hoardings, posters and banners in large numbers have been put up across this border town to accord stupendous welcome to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on his maiden visit to the state.

Congress workers, who are upbeat about his visit, are working enthusiastically to make his visit successful.

Senior Congress leaders, who are camping here for past some days to oversee arrangements for his visit, are leaving no stone unturned to derive maximum political mileage ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, chief whip of the Congress and MLA Guruharsahai, who is among the prominent ticket seekers for this parliamentary constituency, said thousands of Congress workers would welcome Rahul tomorrow and join him in paying tributes at the National Martyrs Memorial, Hussainiwala.

Sodhi said he had arranged more than hundred buses to ferry Congress workers from Guruharsahai to Ferozepur.

He said Rahul’s visit would go a long way in infusing new lease of life among the Congress workers, who are facing atrocities and vendetta politics allegedly unleashed by the Akali regime in the state.

While the Congress leaders are busy chalking out last minute arrangements, the roads are being repaired and pot holes being filled.

The SPG and other security agencies have taken control of security arrangements at all the places Rahul is likely to visit.

Meanwhile, the residents of this border town are also nurturing hopes that Rahul’s visit will help in fulfilling their long-pending demands, including reopening of Hussaniwala-Lahore border for trade and transit.

Bathinda, September 22
The Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, would tomorrow visit the cell in the police station at Jaito where his great-grandfather Jawahar Lal Nehru was lodged during the historic Jaito Morcha.

It is learnt that Rahul Gandhi has made it a point to visit there during his
road show tomorrow.

Nehru was detained when he came to personally look into the atrocities being committed on the people who were protesting against the British dethroning the then ruler of Nabha in 1923.

Lala Nand Ram, grandfather of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Ramesh Goyal, who served food to Nehru, was also arrested.

Before that, Rahul Gandhi, will honour kin of the eleven Congress activists of the Bathinda district who were allegedly killed by supporters of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during the past few months.

A function would be held in the premises of the guesthouse of the thermal project here in the morning where Raninder Singh, state general secretary of Youth Congress, would introduce kin of those killed to Rahul Gandhi.

As many as 48 Congress activists were killed during the recent elections of the local bodies and eleven of them belonged to the Bathinda district.

Raninder Singh said he would bring to notice of Rahul Gandhi the atrocities being committed on Congress activists by Shiromani Akali Dal and district authorities.

A bunch of "fake" FIRs registered against Congress workers in various police stations would also be presented to Rahul Gandhi.

Thereafter, Rahul Gandhi would proceed to Muktsar, Jaito and other places for a
road show.

Bathinda, September 22
Dharam Singh, an elderly farmer from village Jaisinghpura, will have to stay put for a few days in the open in the grain market yard here with the yield of his paddy crop as the government agencies have yet to begin procurement of the grain.

He came here yesterday carrying the harvest from his 8-acre field not knowing that the procurement was expected to begin sometime in the first week of next month.

He is not in a position to carry the grain back to his village and has decided to make the grain market his temporary abode until it was lifted by some official agency.

Gurjant Singh and Kaka Singh have also brought their produce to the grain market
like Dharam Singh did. While Gurjant Singh's produce was from his 10-acre field,
Kaka Singh has brought the harvest from 9 of his 30 acres in the hope of fetching
a higher price.

The farmers cried that the faulty irrigation schedule for paddy announced by the state government had overlapped harvesting of the cotton and paddy crops that would result in a loss to the former.

Dharam Singh said that the paddy growers were bound to suffer loss due to exorbitant harvesting rates because of shortage of labour.

They were paying anything between Rs 350 to Rs 400 for harvesting paddy on each acre against the last year's cost of about Rs 200.

Moreover, the paddy sowing this time was also a costly affair because of acute shortage of labour.

Kaka Singh said that the local labour was unwilling to work in the fields as they get foodstuffs under the Atta-Dal scheme of the state government.

The farmers foresee more trouble in the days to come as the cotton and paddy harvest would arrive in the market simultaneously.

Bathinda, September 22
Opening up a new window for passenger convenience, the postal department is tying up with the Indian Railways to offer tickets for suburban as well as long-distance travel through the post offices here.

The time-frame for starting this scheme though is not yet fixed. After all, it is a win-win situation for all.

"While the railways will reduce pressure on its booking counters, the postal department will get additional income through ticket sales," said chief postmaster general, Punjab circle, P.R Kumar here today.

''We have identified the probable list of post offices that will offer railway tickets,'' he said. In Punjab, tickets will be sold through main post offices close to stations, to start with,'' he added.

Talking to TNS, Kumar said the postal department would offer both reserved and unreserved tickets for long-distance journeys through post offices.

Railway officials said the scheme would require installation of software and operating system used by the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) at these post offices.

Postal employees will handle all the functioning, said chief postmaster general, Punjab circle. He added that they would train the staff for handling this job.

Several other projects were also in pipeline. He focused on achieving cost effectiveness of the circle by revenue growth.

He said at present only two out of 22 circles in the country were cost-effective --Haryana and Maharashtra.

Bathinda, September 22
Students of the Government Polytechnic College damaged a private bus that allegedly hit a motorcycle outside the college located at Bibiwala road here today, causing injuries to two students of the college.

According to the students of the college, the bus belonging to GNT company, bearing number PB 03P 9578, en route Nathana from Bathinda, was on high speed while crossing the college.

The driver did not even bother to reduce the speed at the gate of the college from where students were coming out.

The bus hit the motorcycle bearing number PB 28C 8860 on which Shiv Kumar and Sahil, students of IT Vth semester, were riding.

They said that Shiv sustained multiple injuries on head, face, leg and arms, while Sahil received minor injuries. Both were rushed to a private hospital.

The driver and conductor of the bus managed to escape and the passengers themselves stepped out of the bus.

Later, students pelted stones and bricks at the bus breaking almost all the windowpanes or windshields of the bus.

In the meantime, college authorities reached the spot and called the police that reached the spot after about half an hour later.

The owner of the bus, Khushkaran Singh, also reached the spot and claimed that the loss was in thousands.

The conductor of the bus Kaka Singh also reached there and denied any fault on the part of the driver, saying the motorcycle riders blindly came out of the college and hit the bus.

He also said that they attempted to pick them up but college students themselves took them to the hospital.

When contacted, vice-principal of the college, Yadwinder Singh, said he brought the matter to the notice of the police but nobody approached him for any investigation.

Sandeep Singh, SHO, Civil Lines police post, said both parties would be booked for their alleged crimes. No arrest was made till the filing of the report.

Bathinda, September 22
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU-Ekta) will stage a day-long dharna against non- payment of dues to a farmer on Talwandi Sabo-Kot Shamir road on September 24.

In a statement issued to the press here today, Jasvir Singh, union leader alleged that Bhola Singh, a small-time farmer was given a contract for unloading the soil at under-construction government building on the Goniana road.

Now four months have passed and the contract amount, which had risen to Rs 4 lakh, has not been paid to the said farmer, alleged the union leader.

Bathinda, September 22
“The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) is holding meetings with industry representatives throughout the state to make them comply with pollution control norms. We are encouraging industries towards self-compliance,” PPCB chairman Yogesh Goel has said.

“The board has been willingly lie low for six months to give them a relief period, but the final message is clear that there is no way out,” he added

The board held a discussion with Bathinda industrialists today to apprise them
of the ways to check pollution and told them that industry cannot thrive at the
cost of human lives.

We are ensuring that the industry wakes up to environment concerns and results will be visible in the coming few months,” PPCB member secretary Birinderjit Singh said.

The PPCB seems to be following a carrot-and-stick approach. “We will be tough on industries not heeding to our advice and discharging untreated affluents. We will also use videography to seal erring units then and there,” Goel said, adding that they were taking care at the same time not to discourage industry.

The PPCB claimed that all rice-shellers of the state have adopted new technology to become pollution-free and other industries too would follow suit.

The board would hold meetings with industries in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar
in this regard.

Barnala, September 22
The Mehalkalan police on Monday booked the wife and the in-laws of one Ikattar Singh (28), who was allegedly poisoned to death.

The police booked Parmjeet Kaur, wife of Ikattar, a resident of Maholi Kalan (Sandhaur), Baljinder Kaur and Sukhjant Singh, mother in-law and brother in-law, respectively of Ikattar.

The deceased is survived by his wife and 10-month-old daughter. Sukhdev Singh, brother of Ikattat, in a complaint with the police alleged that his brother was called by his brother in-law Sukhjant Singh yesterday.

He reached Chuhanke Khurd around 4 pm. But due to some old enmity, his in-laws’ family was having ill feeling for his brother.

In the evening, his brother was allegedly given some poisonous substance with meal.

After consuming it, his condition became critical and he described the incident to
his family at home.

Sukhdev alleged before the police that his family immediately rushed to the site and hospitalised his brother at a private nursing home where he was declared dead. He demanded strict action against the guilty.

The Mehalkalan police has registered a case under the IPC. Arrest is yet to be made in this connection.

Barnala, September 22
The dairy farming and youth services minister Gulzar Singh Ranike today asked the officials of Barnala district administration to deal properly with the SAD workers.

He also advised the newly-appointed Zila Parishad chairman Gurtej Singh Khudi Kalan to bear with the prevailing circumstances.

Gurtej, the first chairman of Zila Parishad, Barnala, today publicly made a complaint with the minister that he had not been getting due respect from the administration.

The minister redressed the grievances of the chairman and told him to adjust with the existing circumstances.

Later on talking to media persons, Ranike said to redress the grievances of members of SCs, BCs, party president Sukhbir Singh Badal has formed Dalit wing of SAD.

He has been given the responsibility of holding meetings with the Dalit wing of the party at district headquarters up to September 24 and submit a detail report to the party chief.

A programme would be chalked out to redress their grievances, he added.