Bathinda, September 29
The farmers here felt relieved today when the Markfed entered the grain market for procurement of paddy. About 190 tonnes of paddy was lifted from the market committee yards here and Teona.

The Markfed, which was the only official agency to begin procurement here, lifted 40 tonne of paddy, while 150 tons was carried by shellers and other private agencies.

For the past many days several farmers were camping in the grain markets including, Bathinda, Goniana, Sangat, Talwandi-Sabo, Rampura Phul, Bhagta and Bhucho, waiting for procurement of their produce.

Dharam Singh, who was sitting in the market committee yard here for the past ten days guarding his paddy produce, smilingly said that he was happy that he would be in a position to return home now.

Six official agencies will be involved in procurement of the Kharif crop that began today throughout the state and would continue till December 31.

According to the target Pungrain would procure 37.50 lakh metric tonnes (30 per cent) of paddy whereas FCI has been given target of 12.50 lakh metric tonnes (10 per cent). Similarly Markfed and Punsup would procure 25 lakh metric tonnes each (20 per cent). Whereas Punjab Warehousing Corporation would procure 15 lakh metric tonnes (12 per cent) and Punjab Agro has been given target of 10 lakh metric tonnes (8 per cent).

The farmers will get Rs 880 Minimum Support Price (MSP) for "A" grade

paddy and Rs 850 for common variety of paddy as per the guidelines of Government of India.

Bathinda, September 29
Taking a serious note of the complaints of alleged complacency on part of district officials, the deputy commissioner, Rahul Tewari instructed all heads of the departments to maintain movement registered at the meeting of district development committee, here today.

Following the orders of the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the DC ordered all officials to maintain the movement registers, in which every one who goes out of the office will have to fill the reason and place where he is going, before leaving the office.

He also instructed all officers to submit monthly report about the attendance of all employees of civil hospitals, veterinary hospitals and other offices. The DC also said that senior officers would also be accountable for the action of their subordinates. He said that all officials in government offices, Zila Parishad and Panchayats had been appointed to help common man, so any complacency would not be tolerated.

Moreover, Tewari instructed all the in-charge of various offices to ensure drinking water and other basic facilities for visitors.

He also directed the officials to keep data and information of their departments ready every time so that they could answer the queries regarding the functioning of their offices.

The DC said that the state government had selected 60 villages of the district where reverse osmosis (RO) plants would be installed and for that purpose, Rs 3.5 crore had been received.

He said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana, the administration had received Rs 2 crore to provide free power to the families living below poverty line. He disclosed that five villages of the district had been selected for low-cost small bore sewerage system.

During the meeting, Shruti Singh ADC (D), KPS Mahi, SDM Bathinda, Anil Garg, SDM Talwandi Sabo and Umashankar, SDM Phul were present along with other officers of the district.

Bathinda, September 29
In protest against the alleged absenteeism of teachers of the Government High School, village Burjemansa, residents today locked the school and raised slogans against the principal and the teachers of the school.This is the second incident of such kind in the district within a week.

Villagers alleged that the teachers never reached the school on time and had been failing to do their job properly. The result of class-VIII was the example of it as out of 63 students, about 48 failed in English and more than half of them failed to pass in all subjects, they added.

Villagers alleged that they had been requesting the teachers to take classes but teachers were just not interested.

When the DEO Baljinder Singh Mann got the information about the incident, he sent Gurcharan Singh of Lelewala school after talking to the SDM of Talwandi Sabo.

Villagers did not allow Gurcharan to enter the school and said that the agitation would be lifted only when the teachers agreed to pay attention.

Later, DEO reached the spot and asked the principal and teachers to mend their ways. He warned the school staff that if they did not show results, they would be transferred. "The matter has been solved. The villagers alleged that Jasvir Singh, who is a social studies teacher, had irked them. A departmental inquiry will be initiated against Jasvir and he will be transferred very soon," Mann said.

The principal said all allegations levelled against him were false.

Abohar, September 29
Failure of the administration in acting against the supply of 'highly-contaminated' food under the mid-day meal scheme forced some parents and teachers today to stop serving the food to the students in the government school of the Amarpura village, located on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road. The studies were also suspended at the school for the rest of the day, sources said.

As per information available, worms were allegedly found in the vegetables as representatives of an NGO supplied food before the recess. Some of the parents and teachers decided not to serve the same to the students. The students were allowed to go back to their homes and studies were suspended for the rest of the day.

Now, the students would attend the school on Wednesday as the state government has declared holiday on Tuesday on the account of Aggarsein Jyanti.

Some members of the village panchayat informed the administration that the schools would not be allowed to function if action was not initiated against the NGO.

Naib Tehsildar Narinder Singh Saini and Seetogunno SMO Jaspal Singh rushed to the village along with other officials to pacify the agitated villagers who alleged that the higher authorities were hand-in-glove with the NGO, which needs to be probed.

“We cannot allow any NGO or official to play with the health of our wards,” the villagers told the visiting officers categorically.

Meanwhile, the officials took the samples of the food and assured the villagers of an action under the law.

“We will be approaching the Punjab State Human Rights Commission to get justice,” some residents told mediapersons.

Villagers were non-committal whether they would send their wards to the government schools on Wednesday. They regretted that during the past fortnight, chapattis were served only once. Contaminated rice were supplied during rest of the days.

Mansa, September 29
Contaminated drinking water coupled with the accumulated dirty water in the streets of this town had inflicted hundreds of the residents here with the deadly diseases of jaundice and malaria. But the authorities concerned are yet to wake up from their deep slumber.

The health department has already admitted that the mixing of drinking water with sewerage and lack of hygiene were the main reasons behind the spread of the diseases.

Leader of the Radical People Forum Jaspal Khokhar and Sukhdarshan Natt have expressed concern over the spreading of the diseases here.

They alleged that the district administration and the municipal council (MC) had been ignoring the issues of cleaning up the streets and improving the sewerage system in the town. They demanded that the authorities should wake up to the occasion and save the residents from further harm.

Fazilka, September 29
The Fazilka Farmers Organisation of Agricultural Development, a local non-government organisation (NGO), organised a fair for farmers here on Sunday.

Manjit Singh Kang, vice-chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, who was the chief guest on the occasion inaugurated the fair. N.S. Buttar, head of department, pests science department, PAU, and P.S.Chahal, chief agriculture officer, Ferozepur, were present as special guests.

While addressing farmers, Kang lauded the efforts of the NGO for providing latest know-how to the farmers.

The vice-chancellor said that the agricultural experts were conducting a thorough research on the Mealy bug that attacked the cotton crop and inflicted farmers with huge losses during previous years. “The efforts have yielded some positive results and the attack of the bug on crops has reduced to some extent.”

Speaking on problem of irrigation water, Kang said the farmers were being provided water to irrigate their fields for four months instead of required six months, which was quite meagre.

The vice-chancellor called upon to sow such crops that required less water.

Progressive farmers Prem Babber, Rubash Jakhar, Pardeep Setia, Sanjeev Nagpal and Surinder Kumar Ahuja also expressed their views.

Bathinda, September 29
To celebrate the 5132nd birth anniversary of Maharaja Aggarsein, the Maharaja Aggarsein Jayanti Samaroh Samiti, Bathinda is going to organise several programme at Maharaja Aggarsein Park, here on Tuesday.

Naresh Agarwal, media in-charge of the samiti said that during the celebration, 108 Kanjak Pujan, cow donation, blood donation and marking the 18 castes of Aggarwal community 18 tree would be planted. Meanwhile, senior citizens would also be honoured at the function.

Abohar, September 29
Students of the Kilkari Playway School, Genius International School, Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College and S.D. High School presented a colourful programme during the Aggarsein Jyanti celebrations organised by the Aggarwal Sabha here last night.

Five couples, who were blessed only with daughters during 15 years of their marriage and had no desire for a male child, were honoured during the function. Besides, 55 students, who had topped in annual exams, were also honoured on the occasion.

S.L. Gupta, president of the Uttrakhand Aggarwal Maha Sabha, was the chief guest while Mahesh Gupta, vice-president of the Sriganganagar MC, presided over the function. — OC

Barnala, September 29
Panna Lal Goyal, president, Sanatan Dharm Sabha (SDS), Barnala, passed away after two month illness on Saturday. He was 74 and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ahmedabad following heart surgery. Two days before his demise, Goyal was shifted to a hospital in Mumbai where he breathed his last. His body reached here today.

Apart from being president of the sabha, Goyal was associated with many religious and social organisations of the area.

Cutting across the party lines, many political leaders, religious leaders and activists of several social organisations visited his home and offered condolences to the aggrieved family.

Deputy commissioner R.L. Mehta along with former MP Rajdev Singh Khalsa, MLA Surinder Kaur Balian, former MLA Bachan Singh Pakho and many others attended the cremation ceremony.

Bathinda, September 29
Manohar Singh, District Public Relations Officer (DPRO), Faridkot, after serving the state public relations department for more than 27 years is retiring tomorrow.

Singh joined the department as APRO on November 10, 1975, the day of his wedding.

Serving the department for 11 years, he was promoted on July 20, 1993 as DPRO Mansa. In August 1995, he was transferred to Faridkot. Later, he served at Bathinda, Muktsar, Moga, Ludhiana and Sangrur at different times.

Law graduate, Manohar Singh had also gone through legal practice at Faridkot for around one and a half year just after getting the degree from Sriganganagar in 1973.

As a DPRO presently he was the only one in Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar, Ferozepur and Fazilka holding the post. He has received honour from the district administration on the Independence Day celebrations in 1991 and 1992 at Faridkot.

CM Parkash Singh Badal honoured him at the Baba Farid Aagman Purb celebrations in Faridkot on September 22 this year.

Today, he was given a farewell party by the public relations department of Bathinda.