Batala, January 1
In a significant development, the local police unearthed a racket pertaining to the diversion of wheat meant for the people living below the poverty line on subsidised rates to open market by unscrupulous traders.

A team of the CIA staff, led by sub-inspector Partap Singh, arrested four persons involved in this racket and recovered 129 bags of wheat containing about 71 quintals of the commodity from them today.

Senior superintendent of police Naresh Kumar Arora, while talking to The Tribune late this evening said the racket seemed to be a tip of the iceberg as startling disclosures were expected from the four accused. The entire operation was supervised by DSP (detective) Kulwant Singh.

Those arrested have been identified as Baljit Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Satnam Singh. All these accused belonged to Shankarpura village of this police district. All the accused were arrested after a raid was conducted on their respective premises after the police received information in connection with racket.

He said that as per initial interrogation of the accused, it came to light that the modus operandi of the accused was that they would collect the wheat meant for poor people under the “atta-dal” scheme launched by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance in the state from the ration depot holders in an illegal manner.

After collecting the wheat, the accused would take the bags carrying the marks of subsidised wheat to their dwellings. At that place, the accused would shift the wheat from marked bags in to normal bags. The accused would then go to Amritsar to dispose of the wheat to the big traders.

He said the accused were being questioned about the names of depot holders who were selling them wheat, which was meant for distribution among the poor sections of society. He added that after the depot holders were identified, the police would also identify the traders in Amritsar who used to purchase this stock of wheat from the accused.

A case in this connection has been registered in the CIA police station.

Amritsar, January 1
A large number of farmers led by various organisations, including the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha and the Pendu Mazdoor Union, today protested against the police inaction and alleged negligence on the part of a doctor which resulted in the death of Arwinder Singh of Dhupsari village.

Kisan Sabha leader Darshan Singh Tarpai alleged that Arwinder sustained critical bullet injuries during a land dispute on December 23 in which Gagandip Singh was killed, while his cousin Harwinder was injured.

The Ajnala police had booked Capt Gulzar Singh (retd) along with seven other persons, Arvinder Singh and Harjinder Singh, both sons of Gulzar Singh, Harpal Singh, Mangal Singh, Kanwaljit Singh, Sukhjinder Singh and Jagjit Singh, all of Dhupsari village.

Tarpai alleged the police had arrested Arwinder who had got a bullet injury. He was kept in police custody even when he was in the civil hospital, Ajnala.

He alleged the SMO of the hospital did not mention bullet injury in the medico-legal report (MLR) and discharged him from the hospital while he was still in great pain. He was taken in police custody.

The condition of Arwinder deteriorated last evening and he was rushed to the civil hospital here where he died this morning.

The farmer leaders pointed fingers towards the SMO.

The farmers protested for about three hours and could be pacified when the officiating magistrate and a judicial magistrate, besides Amritsar (rural) SP (D) Amrik Singh reached there. The farmer leaders demanded action against SHO of Jhander police station and the SMO of the civil hospital, Ajnala, besides immediate arrest of the culprits.

They also sought setting up of a team of doctors to conduct the post-mortem examination on the body.

Amrik Singh, talking to The Tribune, said he was enquiring into the matter and anything could be said only after the post-mortem report of Arwinder was received. He said action would be taken against the SHO and the SMO if they were found guilty.

The police has registered a case under sections 302, 307, 341, 148 and 149, IPC, and 25/54/59 of the Arms Act against them.

Jhander SHO Charan Singh, when contacted, refuted the allegations and said that everything was on record. He said Arwinder was discharged on December 29 and no bullet injury was mentioned in the medical report.

He said he took him in custody on December 31 and took him to Central Jail from where he was referred to the civil hospital at Amritsar. He said he died in the morning.

Jalandhar, January 1
The ambitious project of the Punjab government to set up six multi-disciplinary academies to bring about qualitative change in the educational system would soon see dawn of the day with sanction of a loan of Rs 80 crore by the National Bank for 
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

An initiative to impart quality (technical) education among students of classes XI and XII, the project was envisaged a year ago. Under the project, students would be admitted directly after matriculation to later pursue their certificates, diploma and degree courses in the various engineering disciplines. For the purpose Rs 15.74 crore would be spent on the colleges to convert them into multi-disciplinary academies. Besides, every college would get Rs 7.85 crore each to upgrade the facilities.

Talking to The Tribune, principal secretary of Technical Education and Industrial Training Tejinder Kaur said, “With the timely sanction of loans from NABARD we are now looking forward to the early construction of the academies. We hope to begin the classes in the 2009-10 session. These courses would empower the eligible students with skills in the region iteslf”.

According to sources, the NABARD teams have already conducted the inspection of six sites, including the proposed new academy, at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala, on which Rs 35 crore would be spent. According to the sources, three academies would be set up in the polytechnic colleges in the state, while three in the engineering colleges.

These included Government Polytechnic College, Bhikhiwind (Amritsar), Government Polytechnic College, Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Government Polytechnic College, Guru Tegh Bahadurgarh (Moga), Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, and SBS College of Engineering and Technology, Ferozepore.

“Both these engineering colleges would be given additional infrastructure to begin various courses. The proposed academy at Sultanpur Lodhi would also conduct bachelor degree in pharmacy and BSc (nursing) courses, apart from the other engineering disciplines”, she added.

Nawanshahr, January 1
The criterion adopted by the local municipal authorities in implementing the state governments’s notification of July 11, 2006, regarding exempting all residential units having a plot area up to five marla within the limits of the municipalities from payment of water supply and sewerage charges from June 26, 2006, continues to draw a flak from the residents, social workers and the SAD-BJP councillors.

Param Singh Khalsa (SAD) and Dr Shiv Kumar Tejpal (BJP) have been raising the issue in the council to demand refund the amount of wrongly charged sewerage and water supply bills from the residents during the past about two and half a years.

“Though, according to the notification issued by the local bodies department during the previous Congress government, the residential units falling in this category need not pay for sewerage and water supply connections, the municipal council started demanding applications along with maps of the residential units to extend the benefit, thus, causing undue harassment to the people as well as depriving a number of eligible beneficiaries of the benefits of the decision,” alleged the councillors

The councillors told The Tribune that the department of local bodies, through a notification of May 2003, had fixed the rates for sewerage and water supply connections as per the size of the residential plots.

Different rates for financial years from 2003-04 to 2007-08 were fixed for the residential units having plot size of up to five marla, from five to 10 marla, above 10 marla but less than a kanal and above one kanal and the MC had been collecting bills accordingly.

In July 2006, the government issued another notification by which the charges of sewerage and water supply from five-marla residential units were exempted from June 26, 2006. The arrears of the bills on these units were also waived. The MC stopped issuing bills to those residents from whom it had been realising sewerage and water charges, but it evolved a criterion of demanding documents to prove the plot size of their residential units for extending the facility, alleged Khalsa and Tejpal.

Besides these councillors, social worker Gurdial Singh has also raised the issue by demanding information from the MC executive officer in this regard under the RTI Act.

The executive officer stated that to extend the facility of waiving the charges of water supply and sewerage, the MC had adopted the criterion of on-the-spot verification and registration deed of the land, besides maps were also demanded.

The facility of waiving the users’ charges of water supply and sewerage was extended to 5,212 residential units and water supply and sewerage bills amounting to Rs 2,27,842 were charged from 124 residential units whose applications for seeking the benefit were found incomplete.

Executive officer V.K. Mehta, when contacted, said the issue would be discussed during the MC meeting scheduled for Monday.

Batala, January 1
An Urban Estate family, which attempted suicide and lost two members in the process, has accused the police of sheltering people responsible for the unfortunate incident.

The family of four had consumed celphos tablets after which Ashok Kumar and his son Sunny died. His wife Rama and daughter Savita were saved by doctors at the civil hospital.

Kumar had left a suicide note in which he accused eight persons, including relatives, of harassment that forced the family to take the extreme step.

The police has registered a case under section 306 of the IPC against those mentioned in the suicide note.

Rama said the accused had threatened to eliminate the mother-daughter duo if the case was not taken back.

She alleged that even political bigwigs and the police had offered them money to take back the case.

SSP Naresh Arora admitted that the police could not arrest any of the accused so far even though special police parties had been deployed to trace and arrest the accused.

Nawanshahr, January 1
Launched a couple of years back, the micro irrigation scheme has got remarkable results in different districts of the state.

The response to the scheme in the Kandi area is overwhelming. Farmers of scores of villages have come forward and adopted the scheme by bringing hundred of acres under orchards and cultivation of cash as well as seasonal crops.

According to farmers, while irrigation scheme has contributed to the development of water resources, the conventional methods of using water for irrigation have led not only to wastage of water but also to several ecological problems like water-logging, salinity and soil degradation, making fertile land unproductive. The use of the modern irrigation methods like drip and sprinkle irrigation are the only alternatives to efficient use of surface as well as groundwater.

Talking to The Tribune, Nawanshahr divisional soil conservation officer Santokh Singh said that 155 hectares had been brought under the micro irrigation scheme in the past three years in the district. More than 85 beneficiaries had opted the scheme after availing subsidy worth Rs 55 lakh from the government. The scheme is suitable for the crops usually grown in rows.

Enquiries from farmers of Kariha village revealed that 40 to 100 per cent water could be saved by avoiding the flood irrigation method. The percolation losses were negligible under the scheme. Moreover, the system also saved labour cost.

Progressive farmer B.S. Johal claims that weeds problem in the fields could be reduced to a large extent under the scheme. “Frequent irrigation keeps the salt concentration within root zone soil below harmful level. Frequent water to crops could eliminate moisture and yield could be increased between 20 and 100 per cent as compared to the flood irrigation,” he claimed.