Bathinda, November 7
To check spreading of Dengue, a disease which has now engulfed a major chunk of the state, the state government has moved towards adopting some harsh steps.

According to information available, to check the disease from spreading, the authorities concerned of the state government through a memo number 14/322/08-5, 1/8039-8043 has announced penalties for those violating the recommendations of the health department.

Commissioners of the Bathinda, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana Municipal Corporations would be entrusted with a job of penalising the violators under three heads.

A fine of Rs 500 would be imposed on the person if stagnant water was traced on his premises. Further, if the authorities concerned felt it necessary to clean the water reservoirs, coolers or any other storage article, the person would be charged with a fine of Rs 300.

As the insect collectors had found larva in huge numbers in the past, the government has decided to come down heavily on the person, from whose premises the larva of the deadly mosquito was found. In such a case, the person will be liable to pay a fine of Rs 500.

To confirm the details, K.K. Yadav, Municipal Commissioner, Bathinda, could not be contacted. However, Amit Dhaka, joint commissioner, said he was out of station on some official tour and was unaware of the facts.

On the other hand, Neelam Bajaj, civil surgeon, Bathinda, confirmed the details and said that her office had also received a copy of the order.

When contacted over phone, Laxmi Kanta Chawla, minister for health and family welfare, she said, "Though there are a lot of other reasons, the callous attitude of public towards the precautions has been detrimental and led to the spread of disease. As people are not bothering to requests of the authorities of health and municipal departments the imposition of penalties had become necessary.”

She added that besides penalising the violators, the health department would also organise door-to-door campaign to make people aware about the precautions for the disease.

Bathinda, November 7
The state government and the health department forgot to observe the National Cancer Awareness Day today. Earlier, the government had missed on celebrating the New Punjab Day.

Despite knowing that Malwa was badly affected with cancer, the state health department did not remember to spread awareness about the disease on the day.

During a visit to the cancer-hit villages of Bathinda and Muktsar districts, namely Jajjal, Gyana, Kauni, Kot Bhai, Husnar and Bhuttiwala, the TNS team came across a number of cancer patients, who rued that the administration and health department was indifferent towards them.

When Gyanwati, an old lady of village Kotbhai suffering from breast cancer, was asked if she knew about the day, she said, “What the day will do, when the officers have no time to look at our condition. What to talk about awareness, the pension, which I was getting has also been stopped by the present government.”

When a number of officials concerned were asked, some said that they did not have knowledge about the day while many cited checking dengue as priority.

In-charge of the mini primary health centre at Kotbhai village in Muktsar district disclosed that they did not receive any order to spread awareness on the day.

When contacted, Neelam Bajaj, civil surgeon, Bathinda, said, “We were quite busy with dengue-related programmes and the day slipped out of mind.”

She added, “But we can consider the possibilities of starting an awareness campaign for some other day.”

Talking over phone from Jalandhar, Laxmi Kanta Chawla, minister of health and family welfare, said, “Checking Denue is our priority at present. We are launching dengue awareness campaign at grass roots level. Due to this, we did not give any instruction to the state health department to observe the day.”

Muktsar/Bathinda, November 7
The Indian Medical Association, Muktsar unit, will hold a state-level doctors’ meet titled the ‘Punjab Acadima-2008’ at Satyam Palace here on Sunday.

The theme of the meet would be “crystallising guidelines for better patient care”. The raging menace of rising cancer deaths would also be taken up during the meet.

In a press release issued here today, more than 500 doctors from all over the state would attend the meet. Doctor protection bill would also be discussed at the meet. 

Bathinda, November 7
Special Judge J.S. Kular on Thursday convicted a constable of the Punjab police in a corruption case and sentenced him to two years of rigorous imprisonment (RI). A fine of Rs 2,000 had also been imposed on him. In the same case, the court sentenced another person to a year’s RI along with a fine of Rs 1,000.

According to reports, officials of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested Amarinder Singh, a constable of Punjab police, and his accomplice Rakesh Kumar on the charges of accepting a graft of Rs 15,000 from a shopkeeper.

The duo were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act on August 9, 2003, by the VB on the complaint of one Ashwani Kumar, who was running a cloth and an audio shop in Ganesha Basti.

The complainant had stated to the VB officials that the duo came to his shop and accused him of keeping duplicate CDs and DVDs. They threatened him with registering a case of running an illegal business and demanded Rs 15,000 as graft. Meanwhile, the complainant approached the VB officials, who caught them red handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 15,000.

The court on Thursday found the duo guilty and sentenced Amarinder to two years of RI with a fine of Rs 2,000. Rakesh was awarded a year’s RI and a fine of Rs 1,000.

Fazilka, November 7
Nearly 18 kids, aged between 3 and 10 years, sustained injuries when a matador-van carrying school children fell into a 7-feet-deep dry drain and turned turtle near village Karnikhera, about 5 km from here this afternoon.

Nearly two dozen children were in the vehicle when the mishap took place. The injured were immediately rushed to the local civil hospital. Majority of children were released from the hospital after the treatment, two of them were undergoing treatment till the filing of the story.

According to sources, the incident took place when a private matador van fell in drain as it reportedly developed some mechanical snag while crossing the damaged bridge over the drain at around 2 pm. Passers-by and villagers immediately jumped into the drain and pulled the kids out of the van. Nearly 18 children sustained injuries. Most of the children were drenched in black oil oozing out of the engine of the matador.

The injured have been identified as Pawan Preet, Rajdep, Prabhpreet, Amanjot, Akashdeep, Harpreet, Ramamdeep, Rohit, Pooja, Ajay, Anjli, Gurnam Singh, Abhishek and Vanshu.

The injured are students of nursery and primary classes at different private schools of the town and are residents of nearby border villages of Karnikhera, Pakka Chisti, Beriwala, Churiwala Chisti and some other adjoining villages.

Worried school teachers and parents of the children rushed to the hospital but heaved a sigh of relief to find them out of danger.

Sadar police, Fazilka, has arrested the driver of the matador, Nanak Singh, a resident of village Churiwala Chisti. The matador is owned by a resident of the same village. 

Bathinda, November 7
After a detailed investigation by Sadhu Ram Kusla, assistant project officer, DRDA Bathinda, the recently-appointed Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Talwandi Sabo, Surat Singh Brar, has been booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the alleged forgery and embezzlement.

As per the procured copy of a report, Baljinder Kaur, senior assistant accountant, BDPO office, Talwandi Sabo, lodged a complaint accusing Brar of embezzling around Rs 1.50 lakh from the salary of departmental employees.

DC Rahul Tewari had assigned the investigation to Kusla, on whose report he asked ADC (D) Shruti Singh for getting the case registered under sections 409, 468, 471 of the IPC. After completing formalities, Sanjeev Goyal, SHO, Talwandi Sabo, booked the BDPO under the IPC in FIR number 152 on Thursday and handed over the case to the Economic Offence wing, which has reportedly started the further proceedings.

As per the report, on October 8 this year, the BDPO withdrew a sum of Rs 10,000 through a loose cheque of Oriental Bank of Commerce, Talwandi Sabo, from the Panchayat Samiti’s account. On October 15, he withdrew the same amount through a cheque with forged signature.

On October 30, Brar received an amount of Rs 1.20 lakh for the repair of his residence. In the inquiry, JE Iqbal Singh stated that neither he got any instruction for repair work nor any plan was prepared.

BDPO Brar, when contacted, refuted the allegations and accused Baljinder, the complainant, of falsely implicating him as he had transferred her.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 7
A major crackdown on the listed criminals in Ferozepur, Muktsar, Hisar and Sirsa districts was planned during a high level inter-state meeting held at the district police lines at Sriganganagar on Friday, well placed sources said.

Bikaner Division Commissioner Pritam Singh while chairing the meeting called the officers to ensure strict implementation of the model code of conduct besides other measures for free and fair polls on December 4.

Pritam Singh said there were confirmed reports that many residents of the areas bordering Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab had managed dual voting facility illegally. Their lists should be exchanged and screened. Names of such identified voters should be deleted from the electoral rolls at once.

Inspector General of Rajasthan Police Rajiv Sharma asked the Punjab police officers to take tough measures on their side to seal the inter-state borders.

Sriganganagar district collector Bhawani Singh Detha and Hanumangarh DC Mugdha Sinha said patrolling would be intensified round the clock in their respective districts besides nabbing unsocial elements.

SP Alok Vashishth emphasised the need of better coordination among the police and civil officers on both sides of the inter-state border.

Senior civil and police officers from Ferozepur, Hisar, Sirsa, Dabwali and Fatehabad attended the meeting and assured cooperation for ensuring free and fair polls in Rajasthan. 

Ferozepur, November 7
If voted back to power in the coming general elections, the BJP-led government would adopt zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of terrorism, and would also introduce stringent law on the lines of POTA to counter insurgent activities, said senior BJP leader and in-charge of Punjab affairs of the party, Balbir Punj MP Rajya Sabha while talking to the media persons at the residence of Kamal Sharma, state BJP general secretary here today.

Punj said that Congress-led UPA Government has miserable failed at all fronts.

Balbir Punj ruled out any difference with SAD over the seat sharing for the coming Lok Sabha elections, stating that BJP will contest only one three seats in the state. — OC

Barnala, November 7
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, general secretary of SAD, aid that the government had earmarked Rs 5000 crore for various development projects in the state. The projects aimed at accelerating the pace of development and setting up infrastructure. He was speaking at a rally orgainsed in Barnala here today. SAD general counsel member Bhola Singh Virk organised the rally.

However, three-times MLA Balbeer Singh Ghunus and two-times MLA Malkeet Singh Keetu and many other prominent leaders including municipal committee president Parmjeet Singh Dhillon and Improvement Trust chairman Inder Pal Singh Chahal stayed away from the today's rally which was publicised as election launch rally.

Bathinda, November 7
The 22nd death anniversary of freedom fighter Seth Ram Nath will be observed at a function here tomorrow. Freedom fighters, educationists, writers and social workers from the state are expected to attend the function. Nath was one of those few veteran freedom fighters, who never compromised with principles to achieve power, or prefer any selfish gain.

He was active in the movements launched against autocratic princely order of the British rule. Nath had been a great friend of Nehru family and through his sincere efforts he saved the life of former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. There was a conspiracy to end his (Jawahar Lal) life after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, which had been kept secret in public interest.

The freedom fighter was born to a renowned family of erstwhile Nabha state at Jaitu on January 10, 1916. The flame of love for freedom lit up in him when he saw the bloodshed at the Jaitu march in 1923. He received his early education in Jaitu, Faridkot and Moga and later, he went to Lahore and completed his dental degree there.

Nath had been a true Gandhian and he was the only person from the state to offer Satyagraha during the Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1940.

During the Quit India Movement of 1942, he was detained in Nabha central jail for two years and after his release, he was interned in his house at Jaitu for more than a year. In 1947, he was put behind the bars by the then Nabha State government. Seth had to resort to hunger strike for more than three weeks in protest against the misbehavior of the jail authorities.

Post-Independence, Seth Ram Nath accepted the office of senior cabinet minister in the first ministry installed by the Centre in the Pepsu government. Besides, he was the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Board of the Pepsu government.

When Punjabis were discriminated on the linguistic front, Nath was the only Hindu leader who supported the cause of Punjabi-speaking states. He was unanimously elected as the chairman of the Punjabi Regional Committee. He was an extra-ordinary person and condemned in unequivocal words the Operation Bluestar and the heinous Delhi riots of 1984.

Mansa, November 7
The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has purchased about 9, 99,268 lakh quintal of cotton out of total 19,55,445 quintal arrived in the markets of Punjab.

It may be mentioned that nearly 29 lakh quintal of cotton was arrived in the markets in Punjab for procurement till date of the corresponding period last year.

Although officials have been claming that late sowing of cotton is the main reason of less arrival, farmers believe that delay in commencement of procurement by CCI was the main reason. They added that due to that many farmers were bound to go in the markets of other states. — OC