Abohar, December 11
In a pre-dawn offensive launched by experts from the wild life department, armed with gun that fired injections containing sedatives, led to arrest of the kingpin of monkeys’ gang nicknamed “Laden” in the municipal council complex.

Not only those daring to continue their morning-walk braving cold wave on foggy Thursday but also the stall owners and newspaper vendors in the Ghantaghar chowk danced with joy, got busy in dialing cell phones to nears and dears to share the breaking news that Laden had been caught. The joys were not limited to this extent. Some of the rehriwalas arranged crackers and fired these to attract attention of strangers, most of them morning train and bus passengers.

A bit late the shopkeepers and fruit sellers of the railway road and Rani Jhansi Market were found distributing sweets and vied for getting caught in camera as local lens men, having pushed the quilts in their respective houses, rushed to the site. Vide cameramen did not lack behind in making it top story for the local cable network.

The team led by sharp shooter Ram Dev equipped the gun specially acquired from Chatbeer zoo had laid nakas at 5.30 am with determination to nab Laden today itself. They had last night hoped that Laden would be visiting the council complex in search of his second fiancée who along with her child had been nabbed yesterday. His first wife had been nabbed last year. Since then “Laden” had been roaming with another female monkey, a shopkeeper Pardeep Pasricha confirmed. They had recently blessed with a male child. But the kingpin had not budged in continuing terror attacks on fruit sellers besides morning hour passengers, some of them were prevented from catching the inter city trains which leave daily for Haridwar and New Delhi.

True to their expectations, the experts spotted the kingpin moving in the council complex at about 7 am. He was fired at using an injection. Normally any animal would fell unconscious within 15 minutes of such an operation but Laden could be nabbed by 7.30 pm. As reporters along with cameras moved closer the “prime-accused” was still trying to find ways and means to escape.

The team said that high officials have suggested that all those nabbed earlier and today should be released in different zoos/jungles so that they may not regroup. Some more arrests are to be made, the team indicated.

The gang had been attacking citizens for last five-six years. 

A kabaddi match between the Faridkot and Amritsar teams in progress. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

Bathinda, December 11
The Punjab State Primary School meet began at the Sports Stadium here today. Around 1,800 students from 20 schools of the state are taking part in the three-day meet.

The sports meet would see competitions in kabaddi, athletics, wrestling, kho-kho and gymnastics.

Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, MP from Bathinda, inaugurated the meet today. Before the inauguration, she took salute from the participants of an impressive march past.

The boys and girls attired in colourful track suits marched past the podium where Gulshan, along with other senior officials of the administration, was standing and acknowledged them.

This was followed by a cultural programme presented by the students.

Results: Kabaddi (girls): Patiala defeated Fatehgarh while Faridkot got the better of Hoshiarpur. In other kabaddi matches, Taran Tarn beat Barnala and Gurdaspur won over Moga. Ropar routed Nawan Shahr while Ludhiana thrashed Amritsar with a huge margin.

In kho-kho, Hoshiarpur defeated Jalandhar. In 400 m heats (boys), Manpreet (Ludhiana) won the first heat while in the second heat, Akashdeep (Bathinda) got the top position. In third heat, Malkiat Singh (Gurdaspur) was declared the winner.

Bathinda, December 11
Winter is here. But are they really here? It is almost mid-December and people can be seen roaming without a sweater during daytime, unlike before when at this time of the year, it used to be foggy and chilly. They have yet to experience the chill factor. Thanks to the phenomenon called global warming that has set in. If the scene remains so, we would not get to enjoy winters at all some years down the line.

Woollens are still packed inside and shopkeepers selling woollens are having a hard time. Little wonder then that most of the shops have winter sale already on.

According to sources, the manufacturers of woollen garments are safer as compared to the retailers because the former supply their stock by September.

Whereas a retailer sell the same during winters and this time they are facing losses. Some retailers informed that the sale has been cut down by almost 50 per cent.

“Customers do come but for buying light clothing only. Coats, heavy jackets and sweaters seem to be a no-no for many,” a retailer said.

However, big brands have not witnessed any reduction in sale. Winters or no winters, some brands are an all-time favourite. People are keen as always to pick up a Lee or an Adidas jacket.

“Sale of woollens in my store is growing as every year. No doubts that the winter seems to be less harsh this year but fashion consciousness among people is on a rise and they are getting brand savvy. Stores that sell less popular brands might be facing a fall in the sale of woollens but it is surely not a case with us,” Sushil Verma, who owns a Pepe jeans store in the city, said.

Another reason for decreasing sale of woollens is that the youths do not want to clad themselves in heavy woollens and seeing the climate they prefer purchasing light wears. Meanwhile, the case is reverse for school students, who have to wear woollens because it is compulsory for them and they need it too, as mornings are cold. Resultantly, the sale of school sweaters is not too sluggish.

A teenage girl said, “I bought loads of warm clothes last year during the extended winter sale as it had got very cold at the end of the season. People said it would be very cold this year too. But I cannot wear what I bought previous year for weather is still quite warm.”

College going students, who thrived on hot coffee and tea, have shown thumbs down to their favourite beverages for winters.

A college student said, “Last year, we used to gulp down at least three to four cups of coffee or tea at college. But now, we don’t need it. We prefer ‘kinnow’ juice and refreshing carrot juice this time.”

Bathinda, December 11
The Tourism Department has again decided to revamp Meena Bazaar, which used to exist on the left side of the Quila Mubarak at the time when Razia Sultan was in Bathinda.

The government has planned to pump up tourist activities in this area in which Meena Bazaar would play a major role.

According to information gained from the tourism department vide letter No. 333 under the RTI Act, the efforts were on to bring back the bazaar which attracted many when it was functional. The project would take shape by next year. The government has already sent the proposal to the Union Tourism Ministry.

Deputy Director, Tourism, Punjab, said the proposal had been sent to Delhi and was with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and is yet to get approved by it.

The bazaar would showcase Punjabi culture and handicraft. Items related to the history of Punjab would be displayed here.

The difference between the old bazaar and the 21st century bazaar would be that the old bazaar was outside the fort, whereas the new bazaar would be put up inside the fort.

The bazaar was in form till the 13th century but became deserted eventually.

A college history professor said, "The old bazaar mostly had cosmetics for sale. Women used to frequent the bazaar. The bazaar existed during Mohammed Ghauri's period. It will bring back the old memories when the city will again see the bazaar, but this time a more elaborate one."

Razia Sultan used to admire the activities which used to happen at the bazaar when she was made a prisoner at Quila Mubarak.

On the contrary, those who used to be at the bazaar, used to wait for a glimpse of the queen.

According to the Tourism Department, there would be a sound and light show for the visitors. Bathinda would be developed as far as tourism is concerned and would house a detailed information centre.

Sources from the Tourism Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, alleged that the previous government had sanctioned Rs 1.25 crore for the renovation of the fort but the present dispensation diverted funds out of this to create a shooting range in the area.

Bathinda, December 11
The District Advisory Committee on Renewable Energy has called upon the office-bearers of various social and constitutional organisations to launch a coordinated move to preserve the socio-economic structure of the state by exploiting non-conventional resources of energy, including solar and wind energy.

While talking to The Tribune after addressing a meeting of office-bearers of the DAC here today, Tarlochan Singh, an agriculturist, said there was a huge potential of tapping the three renewable resources of energy — sun, wind and hydel — in the area. But the masses could not be persuaded to make use of these resources. “Though various government agencies have been trying to make solar cookers, solar heaters and solar panels available to the public on subsidised rates, people did not make optimum use of these energy-saving equipment.”

Singh said the misuse of the conventional resources on a large scale could cause serious problems to the development of the state. “As sunlight, wind and water are available in abundance in the area and they did not generate any pollution, we must lay more focus on the exploitation of such energy,” he added.

He said the government had set up the PEDA, the state energy development agency, which would also help raise the living standards of the people in rural areas. The government was making sustained efforts in this direction and providing energy-saving equipment on subsidised rates. He urged the social leaders to educate people about significance of the non-conventional sources.

Abohar, December 11
The Natrang Youth Club staged a street play “Ant Ki Aur” (Towards the end) at different places in Thakur Abadi, a locality dominated by desi jutti makers besides other downtrodden families.

Scripted by Bhupinder Utreja and directed by Vikas Batra, the play sought to convey a clear message to the society that unfair physical relationship would finally lead to tragic end of life. Besides, entertaining the viewers, which included women and minor children, the Natrang artists Puneet Watts, Amit Khaganwal, Ajay Kumar, Hunny Utreja, Vishnu Narayan and Vikram along with the writer himself in key role, tried to educate the people how to combat the menace. Subhash Bagri composed music to make the presentation more interesting.

The show was sponsored by the Grameen Vikas Kalyan Society which had taken up AIDS awareness as one of its projects and plans to arrange similar performance in other localities as well as villages, its spokesman Raj Kumar informed today.

Residents of the locality praised the efforts of the club in educating poeple through street plays.

Abohar, December 11
SDM N.S. Brar has warned the officials of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board of stern action if effective steps were not taken to check reoccurrence of today's incident.

The residents including volunteers of the Nar Sewa Narayan Sewa organisations had informed the administration that a dog was found floating in drinking water reservoir in the century old water works that feeds about 50,000 consumers in the old city area. The PWSSB lamented that since no boundary wall existed, the animals had got an easy access to the complex. The dog might have slipped because of the severe cold last night, they argued.

However, additional quantity of bleaching powder was poured in the tank to minimise the impact of the dog’s death.

Earlier, hundreds of fish had been found dead in the reservoirs as the irrigation department had supplied contaminated black water during the summer.