Bathinda, November 5
While dengue has hit the city a fortnight ago and the suspected cases are rising with every passing day, the district administration appears to be inactive in countering the epidemic.

With patients suffering from dengue fever pouring in at local civil hospital and private hospitals in the city, the total number of patients admitted with lower limit of platelet count has gone up to 258.

Since Sunday, as many as 12 new cases suspected to be that of dengue have been reported from the private hospitals and nursing homes in the city besides the DMCH, Ludhiana.

Two patients were admitted to the local civil hospital today.

However, the district health authorities in their official reports have restricted the number of confirmed cases to 158.

Dr Neelam Bajaj, civil surgeon, Bathinda, stated that with change in the weather the situation would improve in coming days.

Dr S.K. Bansal, director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, held a meeting with officials of the administration and health department on Tuesday.

He asked them to take appropriate steps to curb the dengue menace in the district.

Meanwhile, the civil surgeon informed that the civic authorities were fully aware of the problem and had launched a campaign.

Bajaj said she had personally undertaken this operation along with the team of health officers.

She added that three fogging machines had been pressed into service at vulnerable areas in and around the city.

Bajaj said the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) would leave no stone unturned to make the life of the residents comfortable.

On the other hand, the patients with dengue symptoms were a harassed lot as they had to go to different pathological laboratories due to conflicting platelet count reports.

However, Dr S.R. Taneja, a city-based pathologist, said that the body cells had nearly 4-6 hours life and they kept on changing.

Taneja informed that the patients should not panic as 10-15 per cent variation was due to technical reasons.

Moga, November 5
Locals today protested outside the Model police station (City-I) against the police for not arresting two persons allegedly responsible for a road accident in which a Dalit man was badly hurt on Sunday. The injured died at a private hospital in Ludhiana, late last night.

Binder Kaur, wife of the deceased, told TNS that her husband Chokha Singh was working with Maruti agency, Pankaj Motors. When he was returning home after work on a scooter, two motorcycle-borne youth allegedly in an inebriated condition, hit the scooter from the front on the bridge of a canal on Ferozepur road in the town on Sunday evening.

Her husband sustained severe head injury in the mishap, she added. She said that her husband was rushed to a private hospital here, which referred him to a private hospital in Ludhiana.

The injured person battled for life for two days but ultimately succumbed to the injuries, late last night.

The hospital authorities refused to hand over the body to the family members as a huge amount of Rs 97,000 was raised against medical bills, which the poor family members could not pay. Even as they managed to pay a sum of Rs 25,000 out of the total bill the hospital authorities did not budge and refused to hand over the body.

On the other hand, the police could not arrest the youths allegedly responsible for the accident as they ran away when the police raided their house.

Disheartened over the attitude of the hospital authorities and alleged failure on the part of police to arrest the youths, the family members, relatives of the deceased and some other local residents protested on the streets of the town and also lay seige to the Model police station (City-I) for more than two hours.

The SSP of Moga, Ashok Bath, told The Tribune that the police dispatched a team to Ludhiana to bring the body back immediately. "We have brought the body from the possession of the private hospital," he said.

Adding that the police had already registered a case in this incident, Bath said that he had asked the investigating team to arrest the youths responsible for the accident as soon as possible.

Later, a police team raided the house of the youths responsible for the accident but they were not present there. However, their family members had assured that they would soon get them to surrender before the police, the SSP added.

Faridkot/Bathinda, November 5
Attempt should be made to bring up the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences not in the country alone but also on the world map so that the university could render best possible services in the field of health. This assurance was given by Dr Shaminder Singh Shergill, the newly-appointed vice-chancellor of the university, at a press conference here today.

Shergill said he would do his best to fill up the backlog of vacancies in the university in consultation with the state government.

He added that only those doctors would be considered for appointment in the university, who were willing to serve the medical college in the area.

He revealed that the shortage of medical teachers was not only in the state but in the whole country.

Soon he would find the root cause of the shortage and take appropriate steps, Shergill added.

The vice-chancellor emphasised that the standard of medical education had to be improved further on priority basis after overcoming the problems coming in the way.

To a question about recently-held PMT paper scam, Shergill said such scams were probably due to the system failure in the university, which would be improved after thorough investigation so that such scams were not repeated.

He disclosed that construction of the university building would be started soon with the help of state government.

Shergill also requested the state government to release enough funds to provide better medical services to the public.

Bathinda, November 5
A powerful ‘encroacher-politician mafia’ was allegedly trying to grab a six-bigha piece of pond land belonging to DAV College managing committee, alleged J.S. Anand, principal of local DAV College, during a press conference here today.

Giving details, Anand said a piece of 120 bighas of land in Patti Mehna originally belonged to the college managing committee. He alleged that some bigwigs having political patronage were grabbing the pond land measuring six bighas.

Anand said the land had been mutated in the name of the college managing committee and Arya Samaj.

He added that the pond could not be filled up as the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered status quo in 2002 in a case filed by one Kewal Krishan.

It is reported that the land in question is located in Patti Mehna and had been donated to the DAV College managing committee and Arya Samaj in 1956 for education and religious purposes. Since 2002, there was a pond on as many as six bighas of land worth Rs 100 crore in the area falling within the limits of the municipal corporation, Bathinda. Some private persons were allegedly filling earth in the pond on Tuesday to carve out a colony.

“The alleged bid to grab the land came to light yesterday when I got a call from someone that some unknown persons were offloading soil into the pond belonging to the DAV managing committee,” said Anand.

The principal disclosed that he had brought the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner, who was also the district collector, and had lodged an FIR against some unknown persons in this regard.

“If somebody tries to acquire the pond land forcibly, the college managing committee would have no alternative but to file a contempt of court proceedings against the grabbers,” added Anand.

In a memorandum, the college managing committee has urged the deputy commissioner that the alleged grabbers of the pond land, who were conniving with political bigwigs, should be caught and action should be taken against them.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 5
The political scene today warmed up in Sriganganagar region after getting information from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters that Raj Kumar Gaur, former chairman of the Urban Improvement Trust, has been asked to file his nomination papers for the Rajasthan Assembly elections from Sriganganagar constituency, well placed sources said.

As already reported, an urgent meeting of the screening committee had been called by its president Pranab Mukherji on Monday.

The reported decision of the AICC has sent shockwaves among the supporters of two other major aspirants who belonged to Aggarwal and Arora communities. A union minister during recent visit to preside over a well-managed and attended conference of the Aggarwal community had assured that due weightage to field a strong candidate from the community would be given. On the other side, the well-populated Arora community wanted that former minister Radhey Shyam, who is among the patrons of the powerful Northern India Arorvansh Sabha, should recontest. However, the AICC turned down both the pleas and opted in favour of Raj Kumar Gaur, reports said.

In a significant move, Radhey Shyam, while returning from New Delhi today, visited the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters at Sirsa and had a meeting with its chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, well informed sources said.

Notably members of the Saadh Sangat's Political Committee had on Saturday and Sunday toured Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts also after visiting Bathinda and Abohar areas to know the pulse of the Dera followers for ensuing Rajasthan Assembly elections.

They were reportedly told by many Premis besides representatives of the Arora community that if Radhey Shyam is denied the Congress ticket, he should be asked to contest as an independent candidate from his home constituency, Sriganganagar. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 5
Former minister Radhey Shyam who reached Sriganganagar late at night responded well to the agitated crowd outside his residence. He alleged that money had played major role in allocation of Congress tickets. “However, we should wait till November 8. If they do not make a change in the list, I would follow whatever the workers decide during an open meeting scheduled for the next day at the public park,” he said.

Earlier, hundreds of supporters of Radhey Shyam assembled outside his house this evening to express resentment on denial of the party ticket to him. They denounced the former chief minister and AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot and Mukul Wasnik in-charge of the party affairs for Rajasthan for taking a decision "against the wishes of the workers."

Hanumangarh/Abohar, November 5
The Congress suffered another jolt this evening over its second list of candidates when Abhishek Matoria, president of the Rawatsar municipal council, today resolved to quit the party for being denied ticket from Nohar Assembly segment.

Sources said that Abhishek had left for Jaipur along with about 200 supporters to join the BJP on the eve of Sankalp Maha Kumbh Rally being held there tomorrow. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 5
The Dera Sacha Sauda followers came out with first reaction on the speculations about extending support to some candidates.

Jagdish Insan speaking on behalf of the 15-member committee in Sriganganagar said that political leaders had started looking forward to the Dera.

Bathinda, November 5
Two-thirds of the total pollution on the planet comes from the developed countries. But when it comes to taking steps for reducing the pollution level, they are among the last ones to give their nod. For over a decade now, non-government agencies and the social organisations across the world have been working towards creating awareness about bringing down the pollution level. But a lot still needs to be done.

Under the leadership of Dalwir Singh, principal, Baba Farid College, Deon, the 9th PG national conference is being organised where the issues related to the degradation of environment would be dealt with.

The two-day-long conference beginning on November 8 would be held at college premises, said Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, managing director of the college. On the occasion, intellectuals, environment lovers and experts would read papers to present their point of view on the issue, he added.

Sudhir Inder Sharma would deliver the keynote address. D.S. Dhaliwal would preside over the conference, which would be chaired by H.S. Mangat and convened by B.S. Mann, head, department of geography.

Bathinda, November 5
On the second day of the ongoing region-level competitions at Baba Farid Public Senior Secondary School, the participants (junior category) competed in five contests, namely poem recitation, declamation, handwriting, painting and Punjabi Lok Nach (Bhangra or Jhumar or Malwai Giddha).

Students from different schools of Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Sangrur and Muktsar districts participated in the competitions held today. Results are:

Handwriting competition: (1) Kirandeep Kaur of Government Elementary School, Dhandran, district Sangrur (2) Manikaran Kaur of Major Ajaib Singh Senior Secondary School, Jiwanwala, district Faridkot (3) Anmolpreet Kaur of Baba Farid Public Senior Secondary School, Bathinda.

Poem recitation: (1) Navdeep Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Riaund Kalan, district Mansa (2) Prabhjot Kaur of G.T.B. Senior Secondary School, Malout, district Muktsar (3) Satveer Kaur of S.D. Public Senior Secondary School, Chahal road, Faridkot.

Painting: (1) Bapanpreet Singh of Baba Farid Public Senior Secondary School, Bathinda (2) Rupinder Kaur of Baba Parmanand Kanya Mahavidyalaya Jakhepal School, district Sangrur (3) Harpreet Singh of Bhai Kishan Singh Senior Secondary School, Sandhawan, district Faridkot.

Declamation: (1) Gurparsad Singh of Baba Farid Public Senior Secondary School, Bathinda (2) Navroop Kaur Sidhu of Major Ajaib Singh Senior Secondary School, Jiwanwala, district Faridkot (3) Harmanjot Kaur of Robin Model High School, Dhuri, district Sangrur.

Folk dance: (1) Modern Secular Public School, Dhuri, district Sangrur (2) S.D. Public School, Faridkot (3) Major Ajaib Singh Senior Secondary School, Jiwanwala, district Faridkot.

The competitions for the senior category would be held tomorrow, the last day of the competitions.

Bathinda, November 5
The last date for the receipt of the IBSAT application forms for the ICFAI Business School (IBS) entrance test is November 20. This was informed by Ashu Kumar, branch manager of the local ICFAI centre, in a press release issued here on Wednesday.

The entrance test would be conducted at 143 centres in the country on December 21.

Bathinda, November 5
The Punjab Engineers Association has resented the Punjab State Electricity Board’s move to reappoint the retired PSEB engineers. In a press release issued here today, the PSEB engineers condemned the lackadaisical approach of the PSEB management towards the promotion of engineers and recruitment of new engineers.

They also condemned the action of the PSEB management towards suspension of engineers on flimsy grounds.

Expressing solidarity with the call of the central executive of the association, they have decided to hold protest meetings and go ahead with future agitation programme if their demands were not accepted.

Abohar, November 5
Hundreds of citizens remembered that "Khali, the Great" had visited this small town on November 5, 1999. Perhaps that was his maiden visit to the district Ferozepur also.

Then known only as Dalip Singh Rana, Khali was a head constable with the sports wing of the Punjab police. His visit was planned, courtesy Sajjan Singh Cheema, then a deputy superintendent of police and in-charge of the basketball team in the sports wing.

Both arrived here on an invitation from Adharshila Award recipient young fashion designer, Jagat Verma, and his brother, Sanjay Verma, to grace the opening ceremony of their (Verma brothers) new showroom near Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk here.

The invitees recall that hundred of students had bunked their classes on that day and had a tough time to have a glimpse of the Mr India for 1995-97 periods. Even when he is 7'1" tall, the fans were seen vying for a better look.

Jagat Verma revealed that some officials and eminent citizens too had requested him to arrange for a photo of their kin with Rana. Elaborate arrangements had been made to ensure that none returned thirsty from the open pandal and Rana generously responded to repeated requests for a pose carrying children in his mighty arms. Interestingly, Rana had referred to Cheema as "Guruji" then in his brief address.

Arjuna awardee Sajjan Singh Cheema, when contacted on phone today, said that in fact some of his acquaintances had noticed Dalip Singh Rana serving as a security guard at a showroom in Shimla and suggested that he could be an asset for the basketball team. "We managed to contact this village Dhirana (Himachal Pradesh) born youth and convinced him to join the sports wing of the Punjab police after getting green signal from Inspector General of Police, M.S. Bhullar on February 14, 1994. He was later promoted as head constable and finally as assistant sub-inspector. Regretfully, he could not do much in basketball. We then tried him for shotput. However, he had finally chosen bodybuilding for his future career,” Cheema said.

Speaking about the Great Khali further, Cheema and Verma said August 27, 1972 born Rana had first left for the US in 2000 for All Pro Wrestling, then visited Japan in 2001 where he was branded as Giant Singh. His contract with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) started on January 2, 2006. A pure vegetarian, the Great Khali acted in two movies, The Largest Yard in 2005 and then in Get Smart in 2008. He has telephonically promised to meet Cheema during his next visit to his home country. All efforts will be made to arrange another visit to this region, Verma said.

Fazilka, November 5
The city police today recovered a four-month-old foetus buried in front of a house in the thickly-populated Nai Abadi locality here.

According to SHO city police Baljit Singh, a 19-year-old boy, Krishan Kumar of Nai Abadi, allegedly had intimacy with a minor girl. When the girl became pregnant, they decided to get rid of the pregnancy and allegedly contacted a female health worker, Parbhjot Kaur, for the purpose.

It is learnt that Parbhjot Kaur allegedly aborted the foetus on November 2 and thereafter, Krishan Kumar and his mother Santosh Rani reportedly buried the same in front of their house.

Police, following a tip-off, exhumed the foetus in the presence of the medical officer of the civil hospital, Dr N.K.Sethi. The foetus was recovered along with he placenta.

According to Dr Sethi, the foetus appeared to be around four-month-old. The sex of the foetus is yet to be determined.

Police has registered a case under sections 312, 313, 315, 318, 376 and 120 B of the IPC and section 4 and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act against Krishan Kumar, his mother Santosh Rani and female health worker Parbhjot Kaur.

All the three accused have reportedly been arrested by the police. 

Moga, November 5
An under-trial facing a charge of murder was acquitted by the sessions court for lack of evidence here, today.

As per the details available, Ranjit Singh, a resident of Budhewal village of Ludhiana, was arrested by the police for allegedly murdering one Kulbir Singh and snatching his car in August 2005 near village Fatehgarh Kortana in this district.

An FIR under sections 302 and 472 of the IPC was registered against him at the Dharamkot police station in the district following which he was arrested from his residence.

The allegations were made against him by the police that he had murdered the car driver with a sharp-edged weapon. Since then, Ranjit was languishing in the jail under judicial custody as he failed to get regular bail in this case.

The additional sessions judge of the district, Amarjot Kaur Bhatti, while pronouncing the judgement on Wednesday, acquitted the accused of the murder charge for lack of evidence produced against him by the prosecution side.

Fazilka, November 5
Cash and jewelleries worth Rs 2.5 lakh were stolen from the residence of the medical officer (MO) of civil hospital, Fazilka, situated in a thickly-populated locality on Parshuram Mandi road, here, today between 10 am and 12 pm.

According to police sources, thieves broke open the main gate of the house of Dr Narinder Kumar Sethi between 10 am and 12 noon. The miscreants stole gold jewelleries weighing about 200 grams and cash about Rs 35,000 kept in one of the cupboards in the bedroom of the doctor.

The wife of Dr Sethi, a teacher in a government school, was also not in the house when the incident took place. The incident came to light only when she returned home.

The City police after registering a case of theft have started investigations. SHO Baljit Singh said that fingerprint experts and a sniffer dog squad have been requisitioned for the purpose.