Bathinda, February 4
For Kaur Singh, a handicapped rickshaw puller, and his wife Rani, a blind, the day turned out to be a turning point of their life. Today onwards, life would be a bit easy for the couple and they could also see their two sons getting good education.

Gurcharan Singh Mokha, a US-based NRI, presently in the city, touched by Kaur Singh’s plight, which was highlighted by The Tribune on January 10, has come forward to extend a helping hand to ease down his struggle. The Mokha family has decided to provide the ill-fated family with Rs 3,000 annually - Rs 1,000 every four months.

Today, Gurcharan’s mother Raghubir Kaur Mokha handed over the first installment of the aid to the hapless couple.

That is not all. The family has offered to bear the cost of the studies of Kaur Singh’s sons as well. Besides, they would also arrange for their uniform and the ancillary expenses.

Kaur Singh was grateful to Mokha family for the act of benevolence. He was happy that his sons would be able to study and lead life in better way.

His wife Rani, who is blind since birth, was equally thankful for the gesture.

For Gurcharan, it was just another way to help someone if the Almighty has made him capable of doing so.

His wife Nirmal Kaur Mokha said, “Our religion says that we should use the tenth part of our income in helping poor. We are following the order.”

Earlier, Kaur Singh’s efforts to get aid from the administration did not materialise. He said he had never imagined that fate would work in such a way.

Kaur Singh (45) had lost his right arm while working on a fodder chopper about 24 years back. He has been pulling rickshaw with one arm for past 20 years now.

The rickshaw puller said, “I am thankful that your paper highlighted my struggle with life.”

Bathinda, February 4
“Either give me a job or shoot me,” said Sparanjeet Singh (22), who is hankering for long to get a job on compassionate grounds in place of his deceased father, after meeting bigwigs in Delhi.

“My father was an employee with the MES at the Bathinda Military Station. My mother vainly tried to get the job before she died in 2003. Now, I have a responsibility of a younger brother and grandmother. I could study only till Class V for want of money. My brother and I work as labourers,” said Sparanjeet with emotions welled up.

He asserts that the job was his right and he would fight for it as his mother lost her life running around to get the job.

“People asked me to meet Sonia Gandhi. But I could manage to meet her secretary Archana Dalmia only. Her assurance of considering my case did not materialise. I met Rahul Gandhi too. I went down on my knees when I met him and appealed for help. Rahul handed over the case to someone, who asked me to meet defence minister A.K. Antony as my father was working with a defence organisation,” he said.

The minister promised him a government job but to no avail. After waiting for long, Sparanjeet has now managed President Pratibha Patil’s number and has high hopes from her. He had faxed his application to her late this January. “I don’t have money to bribe someone to get a job,” Sparanjeet said.

Bathinda, February 4
Expressing resentment over the alleged callous attitude of the management to accept their proposals according to the report of the Sixth Pay Commission, activists of the National fertilizers Limited (NFL) coordination committee today staged a rally out side the main gate of its Bathinda unit.

The protesters had gathered from Nangal, Panipat, Vijaypur, Bathinda, Noida and Delhi units. Their leaders accused the management for not paying attention towards their demands regarding the proposed hike in wages, increment and dearness allowance.

They demanded that pension should be introduced for the employees, for which the employees were ready to pay the share.

Coordinator of the union Kamal Dev, general secretary Harpal Singh, G.K. Saini, president of the Vijaypur unit, Vijay Chandla, president, central marketing office, New Delhi, Naib Singh Brar and Bhanu Partap Singh, president and general secretary of the Bathinda unit addressed the rally. The leaders alleged that despite several requests the management was not giving them time to discuss the matter.

They said instead of going on strike, they were holding gate rallies to lodge their protest. They added that memorandums would also be submitted to the authorities concerned.

Bathinda, February 4
Employees of the Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) today held a gate rally at the PRTC workshop here to protest against the transport policy of the state government.

Alleging that the PRTC management has adopted an ‘indifferent’ attitude towards them, president of the PRTC Employees Union Preetam Singh said they would stage a dharna outside the workshop of the local bus stand on Thursday.

He alleged that the management was benefiting private transport companies. Even in the time-table, the private companies were being given more preference, he charged.

The leader rued that the PRTC employees had not been provided with uniforms for the last four years and no payment for overtime had been given for the past three years.

Criticising the government’s move on contractual appointments, he said daily wagers working for the department for the past 25 years had not been regularised. The revised salaries as per the recommendations of the Pay Commission in 1996 had also not been implemented, the leader added.

Bathinda, February 4
The Democratic Employees’ Front here strongly criticised the education department’s move of appointing advisors under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan on contract basis.

The front said it was an attempt to privatise education in the state. Harpal Singh, a member, said, “The government was indifferent towards two departments — education and health. Not much is being done to uplift these departments in the state.”

“Outsiders are being appointed. We have been working for years but did not get our due,” Harpal added.

Sources said the contract employees were not accountable to the government because they would switch over to other jobs if a better opportunity came their way.

“During elections, the government promised to fill the 40,000 vacancies in the education department. It remains to be fulfilled even after two years,” he said.

Bathinda, February 4
Demanding futher reduction in diesel price and subsidy on fertilisers, various farmers’ unions, including the BKU (Ekta), Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Punjab Kisan Sabha and Kirti Kisan Sabha of Punjab, have decided to launch a three-hour ‘rail roko and rasta roko’ agitation on February 10.

Lashing out at the UPA government, farmers’ leaders Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said, “The Union government by pursuing pro-rich and pro-capitalist policies have been allowing oil companies to make huge profits despite the fact that international prices of petroleum products have come down to US $ 33 a barrel from US $ 147 a barrel.”

They said CM Parkash Singh Badal and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal had done nothing except issuing statements in the media to get the oil prices reduced at par with prevailing international prices.

They lamented that the union government had slashed the price of air traffic fuel (ATF) for the eighth time in the past two months, bringing it down to Rs 29 per litre from Rs 74 per litre. But the price of diesel, which was used by farmers, truckers, industry and other small transporters, had been reduced by Rs 2 per litre only.

They also demanded subsidy on fertilisers and pesticides. Charan Singh Lohara, president, All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), said the AIMTC would also join the stir to support the cause of farmers.

Mansa, February 4
The chairman of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), H.S. Brar, claimed that the board had been successful in ensuring power to all the villages in the state since 1976.

Talking to this correspondent on the completion of the 50 years of the PSEB on Tuesday, Brar said that the board had achieved several milestones during the last five decades. The board was set up in 1959 to provide electricity in entire Punjab.

He said that the board started with generation capacity of 48 MW, now it had the capacity of 6859 MW.

Number of PSEB consumers had also increased manifold during the period from 7 lakh to 64 lakh and electricity grids also increased from 66 to 686, he added. Talking about line losses, he said that board had achieved success in bringing line losses down till 20 per cent.

Chairman said that a customer care centre would be opened at Ludhiana soon.

Sources in the PSEB said that there was an urgent need to remove electricity losses and thefts. Sources said that board had been receiving only 35 per cent of income from the total supply due to thefts, line losses, subsidies and defaulters. SDO Sardoolgarh Ajaib Singh said that board might earn profit provided that all the problems were removed.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, February 4
The village Pallu, located some 100 km from the district headquarter has schools, college, dharamshalas, banks and hotels but so far none of its resident had ever joined the Indian Army. The gram panchayat last night offered to give Rs 10,000 to the youth who breaks the stalemate.

The announcement was made by Sarpanch Dharam Pal Sihag while welcoming the Camel safari team of the Rajputana rifles. Sihag said such efforts by the Army could help locals of these places to venture outside their houses and serve the nation.

Village Pallu is visited by thousands of devotees from far off states including West Bengal who pay their obeisance to the ancient temple of Shri Maa Brahmani.

Interestingly, Hindus worship her as "Shila Mata" while Muslims call it "Shila Peer".

Both the communities throng the place every year during the annual fair.

The Rajputana Rifles' Camel safari team in-charge Captain Pradeep Sheokand while sharing experience on way to Pallu said surprisingly only one youth among 1000 families in the village Suin "dared" to go out for getting higher education and he is working as a government school teacher now.

He said, "We had heard of female students not being allowed to go to other places after doing matric in their village school, it is really surprising that the parents here were not interested in sending even the boys for better career."

Sarpanch Mohan Lal of Suin village agreed to get the village library renovated, which was lying closed for the last three years.

The safari moved for its next destination Wednesday morning after worshipping in famous Brahmani temple in Pallu. En route it met the locals of Bannasar, Bangasar villages and after covering a distance of 40 km it reached village Hardaswali, where the locals greeted it. The team had interacted with students and teachers. The girls also were keen to know about women's entry in the Army.

Abohar, February 4
So far none of the 750 cattle, which were brought by their owners to the roadside annual fair, has found a buyer during the last 48 hours.

Even when the annual cattle fair had been attracting hundreds of farmers to sell livestock since 1968, it has almost lost sheen now. Not only the dance parties but circus owners too had been rushing to Abohar during the cattle fair for which ground spread over 50 acres had been earmarked. But by now most of the ground has been used for developing the sub-divisional complex, rest lies under knee-deep sewage water causing skin and respiratory problems for inmates of the surrounding colonies.

The authorities have privatised the fair authorising a contractor to charge commission at 4 per cent on all sales but no facilities were made available.

This correspondent found farmers arriving along with kitchen material and wood sticks loaded on carts as they were not sure when they would get a perfect buyer for the cattle/animals which included cows, calf, bullocks and few camels. We will have to shiver in open on the roadside and cook meals as no facility was available here, rued Lal Chand of Dangarkhera, Hardeep Singh of Burj Hanumangarh, Devinder Singh of Bahawwala and Swaran Singh of Jandwala village.

Arrival of live stock was just 200 on Tuesday, it has risen to 750 today but the prospective buyers were offering half of the rates as compared to last year, said Mohinder Singh adding that global meltdown and modernisation of farming were the reasons for the slump. You find farmers using bullocks and camels for cultivation only in West Rajasthan now but the farmers in that area had finished their purchase during the Gogameri fair recently.

“Sahab ji, these Badals (CM family) are concerned only for mall plazas, air ports, world class stadiums. They have never bothered about poor farmer even when they advised us to adopt allied business,” said Joginder Singh of the village Rukanpura.

Mansa, February 4
The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) would distribute aid among physically challenged children who were identified and during the block-level camps.

For the purpose, camps would be organised at Government Secondary School for Boys, Mansa on February 18 and Government Secondary School for Boys, Budhlada on Febriary 19.

In these camps, needy from Mansa, Jhaneer, Sardulgarh, Budhlada and Bareta would be benefitted. Nearly 296 children would get tri-cycle, wheel chairs, artificial limbs and hearing aids.

The Sarv Shikiya Abhiyan is going to spent Rs lakh on these welfare works. District Project Director of the SSA Darshan Singh Dhillon said that following this campaign artificial limbs, sports kits, books and uniforms were given to beneficiaries.

Abohar, February 4
The All India Anganwari Workers Association warned the state government on Wednesday that state-level rally and demonstration would be organised in Bathinda during the Women Day function on March 8, if demand for revising the monthly allowance was not accepted.

Hargobind Kaur, president of the association, said the state government should accept our genuine demand for sanctioning Rs 200 as monthly allowance.

Abohar, February 4
The police have registered a case against the Sarpanch of Ghuriana village along with 10 others under sections 342, 384, 148 and 149 of the IPC, sources said.

As per information available, one Sonu of Dharam Nagari here had complained that he along with his father Kharaiti Lal was going to Rampura Phul to sell buffaloes but the culprits, using two cars, intercepted their vehicle near village Chanankhera and allegedly took them along with the loaded vehicle to the village Kundal.

The complainant further alleged that the Sarpanch and his accomplices thrashed them, snatched Rs 14,000 besides taking away the buffaloes.