Bathinda, February 7
The Punjab forest department has initiated a novel campaign of greening the urban areas through establishment of ‘forest awareness parks’ on earmarked forest land, which otherwise had been facing severe anthropogenic pressure and was degrading into wastelands.

Disclosing this here today, R.K. Loona, chief wildlife warden, Punjab, said the aim was to convert the fast degrading forest areas that have become urban sprawl of cities into well-developed green lungs.

These areas would be developed by protecting the reserved forest land with chain-link fencing. Besides, filling of low-lying areas with earth and creation of lawns would be taken up.

A massive campaign to plant trees, shrubs and herbs would be taken up in the parks and lawns to be created.

Loona said the forest department already had experience of developing such awareness parks catering to urban residents of Anandpur Sahib, Patiala and Samana.

He said that during the current year, ‘forest awareness parks’ would be developed at Moga, Palanpur in Ropar and Hoshiarpur.

He said CM Parkash Singh Badal had taken personal interest in planning and establishment of a ‘forest awareness park’ at Moga to be developed at a cost of Rs 2 crore. This park was being developed as ‘model park’ for generating awareness about forests and environment conservation besides meeting the needs for green space and park for the urban population.

He said that similar parks would be developed at Palanpur and Hoshiarpur at a cost of Rs one crore each.

Bathinda, February 7
After five-year long proceedings, a lady doctor from Rampura, accused of female foeticide, has been awarded jail term for two-and-a-half years and a fine of Rs 5,000.

According to details procured from the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) cell, Bathinda, the doctor in question, Lakshmi Garg, was running a nursing home in Rampura. On February 7, 2004, she was accused of female foeticide, when people of the locality found dogs lunging at a four-month-old foetus outside her nursing home.

During the investigation, it was found that she had aborted the foetus after determining the sex and her sweeper Champa Rani had disposed it of.

A case under the IPC was registered but after the police inquiry, it was withdrawn.

The case was raised by an NGO at a meeting of the PNDT cell. The then DC, Rahul Bhandari, marked a magisterial inquiry which observed that the case was withdrawn with some malafide intention.

On September 9, 2006, the lady doctor was booked at the Rampura police station but was again aquitted.

Later, the district attorney filed a case here. Additional sessions judge, GK Dhir, quashing the orders of the lower court, sent the case to the Phul court again, where the witness accounts were recorded.

On Friday, the court of Sanjeev Joshi, sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Phul, announced the sentence. Her sweeper has been set free.

Confirming the details, Sadhu Ram Kusla, project officer, PNDT cell, said, "The court order has boosted the morale of NGOs working for the cause."

Sriganganagar/Abohar, February 7
The 225th Raising Day celebrations of the 7th Light Cavalry, the second oldest and most decorated Armoured Regiment of India, began with the flagging off of the motorcycle expedition by Brigadier Rajiv Tiwari in the western sector on Saturday.

Tiwari shook hands with all the members of the team during the introductory session and lauded their zeal for doing something extraordinary during the weeklong drive. Tiwari earlier flagged off boat and bicycle expedition also. The boat expedition moved from the Birdhwal headworks of Indira Gandhi canal.

The nine-member team named "Campbell Riders" led by Captain Pankaj Thakur also shouted slogans after joining the gathering in raising customary slogan "7th Cavalry Ki Jai" amidst playing of old songs by aesthetically dressed bandmasters. Thakur said selective newsmen before moving that they were very keen on visiting Hussainiwala before paying their obeisance at the Golden Temple in the holy city of Amritsar.

Colonel Vikrant Nayar said the Regiment, raised in 1784 from the Nawab of Arcots Cavalry, had earned 21 battle and theatre honours, of which nine were bestowed on the regiment since independence.

The regiment had fought with distinctions in all major wars since independence and emerged as the most decorated regiment of the Indian Army after the 1971 operations. Till date, the regiment has been awarded 294 confirmed awards. The 7th cavalry is best known for its exploits during the epoch making battle of Zoji La when on November 1, 1948, for the first time, in the annuls of armoured warfare in the world, tanks were decisively employed at the height of 11,578 ft, a feat unparalleled.

This led to the recapture of the pass from the Pakistan army. For this historic and unconventional action, the regiment was aptly named as "Saviours of Srinagar" by Sheikh Abdullah.

Colonel Nayar informed that the members of the expedition would visit all the places where the 7th Cavalry had fought battles. 

Muktsar, February 7
“In the next fiscal, salaries and allowances of all government and semi-government employees would be hiked," disclosed Manpreet Badal, state finance minister, here today.

Manpreet claimed that the government would make special proivisions for Rs 2,000 crore in the 2009-10 budget for this.

Regarding the recommendations of the state pay commission, he said the government expected to receive the report within ten days and it would be implemented with immediate effect.

Disclosing saliet features for the next fiscal, the finance minister said the annual plan would be pegged at Rs 8,450 crore, which would be over 35 per cent more as compared to the previous year.

He said the SAD-BJP government had been focusing on providing facilities regarding basic education and health services in cities and villages.

Minister, known for his stand on subsidies, today said that in the forthcoming budget there would be no special burden on any class.

About the inauguration of the construction work at the thermal power plant at Thehri, he said, "As soon as the contract for coal supply is finalised, construction will start."

Before leaving, he urged all government officials to practise austerity to help stabilise the economy.

Abohar, February 7
The planning forum of the DAV College here organised an extempore speech contest for students here on Friday.

The participants were given different topics for free speech such as had they been God, what would have been their action and plans to change the history.

Principal Dr Venita Singh said such activities would develop the thought process besides articulation.

A sub-committee of lecturers comprising Ajay Khosla, Gurpreet Kaur and Ashish Makkar conducted the contest. Swaran Singh, Jyoti and Seema Gandhi got first three positions. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, February 7
Thirteen persons, including three school-going children, were injured as Rajasthan Roadways buses collided head-on near Padampur on Saturday morning.

The driver of the bus was stated to be in a serious condition and was rushed to the district hospital at Sriganganagar. In another mishap, three persons were killed on Friday night near village Nokhra, sources said.

As per information, both the buses belonged to the Hanumangarh depot. One was on its way to Srikaranpur while the other was coming from Srikaranpur side. A local resident Lalit Harwani, who was among the first to reach the site said there was divergent views on cause of the mishap. While some said that poor visibility due to dense fog was the primary cause of the accident that occurred at about 7.30 pm, others blamed one of the drivers for overtaking resulting in the collision.

Besides driver Jaspal Singh and his assistant Mohinder Singh, the injured included Gian Chand Rattewala, Bhika Ram, Birma Ram, Riyasat Ali and Priyanka.

Another report said that police constable Ram Partap Saharan of village Nayianwali, posted in Raziasar police station, along with some members of his family was going to Ramdeora on pilgrimage on a jeep last night. It rammed into a tractor-trolley near the village resulting in the death of three persons, including the constable.

Bathinda, February 7
On the third day of their agitation today, rural medical officers under the aegis of the Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA) burnt the copies of their MBBS degrees in front of the mini-secretariat here.

Dr Aslam Parvez, president of the RMSA, said the SAD-BJP government had turned a deaf ear towards their demand for regularisation of services.

He said the RMOs had spent more than five years to complete their graduation and were slogging to serve the rural masses.

Earlier, a huge response was seen towards the free medical camp organised by the rural doctors. The doctors sitting on the floor mats attended to more than 75 patients on an outpatient basis. Free medicines were also provided to the rural patients.

Dr Sandeep Jot Singh, president of the Sangrur unit of the association, said that on the one hand, Himachal and Rajasthan had regularised about 1,500 doctors to improve the standard of rural health in their respective states while on the other, the Punjab government was playing havoc with the future of young doctors and health of its rural population for their vested political interests.

Dr Ravi Kant, vice-president of the RMSA, expressed happiness on the solidarity shown by various associations and NGOs, including the General Physicians Forum, Bathinda.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held between deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari and a delegation of the agitating doctors. Later, the DC informed the delegation that a meeting had been fixed with Ramesh Inder Singh, chief secretary, Punjab, for February 10.

Bathinda, February 7
The state government is making all-out efforts to mechanise agriculture, which is now graduating from the use of tractors to laser levellers, happy seeders, zero till drill and automatic potato planter, said Balwinder Singh Sidhu, director, agriculture department, Punjab, here today.

The department, along with the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the state farmers’ commission, would set up 250 farm machinery service centres. Out of them, 120 had already been established. The state government has released funds for another 200 service centres, he said.

Sidhu said that Punjab has about 4.2 lakh tractors that work only for 270 hours a year against 1,000 hours.

The director said the state government was providing subsidy on about 22 different kinds of machines, which dealt primarily with precision farming, residue management and diversification. “While for precision farming, the agriculture department has laser levellers but for diversification, automatic potato planter, maize thresher and potato digger were required,” he added.

Sidhu further said the state government had also decided to provide 700 paddy transplanters on 50 per cent subsidy for the coming season. These machines, however, would be given only to cooperative societies or farmers who owned less than 10 acres of land.

He said that interested farmers had been informed to submit their application forms by February 15 with their respective district agriculture officer in order to acquire these mechanised implements at subsidised rates.

Bathinda, February 7
To check the loss of revenue on liquor consumed during functions at marriage palaces and banquet halls, the Punjab government today directed the persons organising such functions to obtain in advance a liquor permit from the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Officer concerned.

They have been asked to ensure that marriage palace or banquet hall, in which the function is being organised, is in possession of a licence for allowing consumption of liquor on special occasions. Besides, it has to be ensured that the liquor has been purchased from an authorised licensee of the Punjab government only and from within the state.

The directive also stated that the liquor meant for the CSD should not be served and consumed in any case.

An official spokesman said that in the cases of eatables, persons organising functions would ensure that the caterer supplying cooked food issues a bill to ensure that value added tax (VAT) due had been charged by him.

In case the eatables were to be cooked by a ‘halwai’ from raw material supplied by organisers, it has to be ensured that the organisers were in possession of the cash memo or sale bills of the raw material.

Abohar, February 7
The DAV College recently honoured its students who had got above 80 per cent marks in the December test in different streams.

Principal Dr B.B. Sharma said that the purpose to adopt this new trend was to encourage the students to make studies a regular feature than inviting tension due to workload at the peak end of the academic session.

He hoped the students would also maintain the glorious tradition of the institution by excelling in the annual examination. — OC