The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Bharat Nirman campaign proves helpful to rural youth
Ferozepur, February 26
The five-day Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign (PIC) being held at Grain Market, Zira, in the district is attracting hundreds of rural folks especially the youth, who could be seen at the NREGA stall seeking information about the process of submitting applications and obtaining job cards.

Poll Ke Side-Effects
Dharnas affecting govt work
Bathinda, February 26
The new-found status of Bathinda as the dharna hub of Punjab is also affecting work in government offices. While the demonstrators sensing that this is the best time to go for the kill before the election code of conduct comes into force are going all out staging protests and demonstrations, the officials too are pre-occupied in dealing with them and doing damage control exercise.

Infighting
Bathinda BJP councillors asked to maintain decorum
Bathinda, February 26
Taking a serious note of the infighting among the BJP councillors, the party high command held a closed-door meeting and directed them to maintain the decorum, late on Wednesday evening here.

Sale of dead birds
Accused sent to judicial custody
Moga, February 26
A court has sent all the three accused, including the owner of a leading meat shop of the town, allegedly involved in selling dead birds of broiler chicken to the consumers, to judicial custody for 14 days here, today.

Employee unions want pay panel report released
Bathinda, February 26
In an unending trail of protests, members of various employee unions and federations from across Punjab, including Punjab and UT Employees Joint Action Committee and Punjab Subordinate Services Federation today staged a protest against the "anti-employee" policies being adopted by the state government.

DAV College students conferred degrees
Bathinda, February 26
DAV College, Bathinda, organised its annual convocation today. More than 200 students from Arts, commerce and computer science streams were conferred degrees.
Jubilant students of the DAV College after the convocation ceremony in Bathinda on Thursday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

AIDS/HIV workshop begins
Bathinda, February 26
A four-day workshop on counselling for HIV/AIDS began at the Bathinda military station today. The need for the workshop had been felt to assess the preparedness of healthcare providers in the armed forces.

Potable water eludes Mansa villages
Mansa, February 26
There are villages in Mansa district where people are not able to get the supply of safe drinking water. They are compelled to drink the polluted water from handpumps and tubewells even more than 60 years after independence.

Students of Malwa College, Bathinda, performing bhangra at the prize distribution ceremony held in the college premises on Thursday. Tribune photo: Kulbir Beera

Farmers to intensify stir
Abohar, February 26
In a tactical change in its strategy to further embarrass the SAD-BJP government, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) has decided to field farming women, including widows of the debt-ridden farmers who had committed suicide during last few years.

DCs asked not to transfer land in Harike to farmers
Chandigarh, February 26
The state Wildlife Department has told the Deputy Commissioners of Taran Tarn, Ferozepur and Kapurthala districts not to give land in the Harike wildlife sanctuary to the tillers.

Applications for Shagun scheme still pending
Mansa, February 26
Thousands of applications filed to get benefits under the Shagun scheme for Scheduled Caste (SC) girls between December 2006 and March 2007 are still pending.

SFI stages protest
Mansa, February 26
The Students Federation of India (SFI) today staged demonstrations at several educational institutions in the state, including Mansa, in support of their demands.

Senior citizens leave on foreign trip
Bathinda, February 26
A group of 22 members from the Senior Citizens Council have proceeded to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The trip is to exchange views regarding the care and honour given to senior citizens in these countries.

	NREGA: Fair sex faring well in Moga villages Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, February 26 Notwithstanding the reports of poor performance of NREGA in most of the districts, the Moga district has put Punjab in a fairly good light by implementing this job guarantee scheme in all the 20 adopted villages. Interestingly, women have shown unprecedented enthusiasm by outnumbering men in taking up the jobs. During a visit to many villages, it has been witnessed that the seeds of change in the basic attitude of women, coming out of their homes to do the common work in the village, is taking place with the support of the male members of their family. In a state where the social norms militate against women having independent income, it is uplifting to know that the NREGA workforce consists overwhelmingly of women--- more than 60 per cent in all the villages. Much more to acknowledge, most of the women have not done any job by coming out of their houses other than domestic work to earn any cash income other than NREGA during the past few years. For Lal Singh Rana, his wife Sarabhjit Kaur and two brothers Iqbal Singh and Sukhchain Singh, the residents of Mehna village, NREGA is a new-found source of economic independence and freedom. In this village, the panchayat has issued job cards to 100 families and taken up the task of cleaning the village pond spread in four acres of land. The government has provided a sum of Rs three lakh to do this job, out of which, Rs 1.80 lakh has been proposed to be spend on wages of the workers. The NREGA scheme in this village has although been started late just last week but more than 60 women among 100 men mostly dalits have come up for work. Harpal Singh, sarpanch of this village has taken transparency norms seriously by putting the muster rolls at the worksite for taking daily attendance in front of the workers and opening bank accounts of the job card holders to deposit their salaries directly in the banks. These safeguards have considerably narrowed the scope for embezzlement, at least in the wage component of NREGA works, claimed Satwant Singh Johal, District Magistrate of Moga. "This experiment is still at an early stage but there are good prospects of it leading to better worksite supervision, higher productivity, an improved work environment, and an improvement of the transparency norms", he said. Another interesting aspect of NREGA in Mehna, Kapure, Channuwala, Rajeana and other villages of this district is that social bonding between the Dalits and the upper caste Jats is strengthening amid the otherwise overall disturbing trend of social fabric in the state. One could see Jat families bringing water and tea for the workers most of whom are Dalits influenced by the very idea of 'langar' started by Guru Amar Dass, the third guru of the Sikhs during the 16th century, which is still prevailing with great devotion among the community. The national-level monitor of NREGA Dr Karan Singh who visited some villages of this district during the past two days said that the participation of women in this scheme is an important intervention towards women empowerment as it provides them, for the first time, an independent source of income and livelihood. In many instances, it is also the only source of livelihood available to women in their villages. It is not surprising therefore, that women have come out in large numbers to take part in this programme.
	Bharat Nirman campaign proves helpful to rural youth Our Correspondent Ferozepur, February 26 The five-day Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign (PIC) being held at Grain Market, Zira, in the district is attracting hundreds of rural folks especially the youth, who could be seen at the NREGA stall seeking information about the process of submitting applications and obtaining job cards. The event being organised by the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), in coordination with other media units of the ministry, including the All India Radio, Doordarshan, Directorate of Field Publicity, DAVP, Song & Drama Division, has proved helpful in addressing the queries of the rural masses regarding various central government welfare schemes to a large extent. NREGA officials provided the requisite first-hand information to the rural youth and acquainted them with the procedure to follow. The youths were told they would be provided 100 days of work in a fiscal year after their application for employment under the NREGA was successfully accepted. On the venue, the fishery department has also set up a stall under the supervision of the Fisheries Officer, Jagminder Singh. People could be seen enquiring about the facilities and financial assistance being provided by the department for the promotion of fishery vocation. Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) has provided the requisite material on the blue revolution in the state which has benefited lakhs of farmers adopting agro-based activities to improve their financial condition. Another stall which attracted rural women was that of Janani Suraksha Yojana which provided information to the visiting ladies about the secure and safe delivery besides PNDT Act. The officials of the department of Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation demonstrated at its stall about the purification of drinking water. At the stall, banners depicting various plans of the department for different groups of families and population which include cluster tank for 10-20 families, mini waterworks for 400 to 1200 population and micro water works for 100 to 400 population were displayed. People were also seen enquiring about the symptoms of tuberculosis at the stall of the State TB Control Society. The officials at the stall apprised the people about various aspects of this fatal disease and its treatment under the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme. While talking to the media on the occasion, Balwinder Attri, Assistant Director, PIB, disclosed that Punjab has performed well in the field of medical facilities being provided to the people in the rural areas as compared to other states. He said that the maternal mortality rate had been considerably reduced to 178 persons per 100,000 while the infant mortality rate had come down to 43 children per 1000 whereas the national figure stood at 301 per 100,000 for the maternal mortality and 55 per 1000 for the infant mortality.
	Poll Ke Side-Effects Dharnas affecting govt work Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 26 The new-found status of Bathinda as the dharna hub of Punjab is also affecting work in government offices. While the demonstrators sensing that this is the best time to go for the kill before the election code of conduct comes into force are going all out staging protests and demonstrations, the officials too are pre-occupied in dealing with them and doing damage control exercise. All this has affected routine work in the government offices putting officials in a catch-22 situation. In Bathinda district, the deputy commissioner is the returning officer (RO) and the additional deputy commissioners (general) and (development), the district transport officer, all three sub-divisional magistrates (SDM) in Talwandi Sabo, Phul and Bathinda, have been appointed as assistant returning officers (AROs). Highly placed sources in the administration said that the DC's office receives bundles of letters from the chief election commissioner's office everyday, with time-bound directions for implementation. "We have come to meet the SDM, Phul, Uma Shankar, but after reaching here, we have come to know that the officer has gone to attend an election related meeting, called by the DC in Bathinda. We have no other option but to return empty-handed," rued Tarlochan Singh of Rampura, who had visited the SDM's office in connection with a land related case. The same situation prevails at the Mini-Secretariat here. Jagtar Singh and Makhan Lal of village Bhagta, finding them selves unable to meet the deputy commissioner due his poll related engagement, lamented, "Earlier, the DC was busy with the protesters, today, he is busy in election work. After a few days when the elections are announced, the officials would become even more inacessible." DC Rahul Tewari said, "I receive a huge pile of letters from the election office. In most of the letters, I am ordered to implement the directives within a time-frame. Moreover, the fresh development schemes, VIP visits and the day-to-day staging of protests, all have been badly affecting the work of the administration. Though I am aware about the problem it causes to the layman, but despite best efforts, we find ourselves helpless.
	Infighting Bathinda BJP councillors asked to maintain decorum Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 26 Taking a serious note of the infighting among the BJP councillors, the party high command held a closed-door meeting and directed them to maintain the decorum, late on Wednesday evening here. The meeting was chaired by Kamal Sharma, general secretary of the state unit of the BJP, in which the core committee of the party including the councillors were called. According to information received, all the councillors vent their ire against the 'special importance' being given to the senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal and deputy mayor Gurwinder Pal Kaur Mangat, at every forum and also in the works of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC). It is learnt that the BJP councillors rued that they had not been given due importance. They are also learnt to have lodged their objection over the names of the deputy and senior deputy mayor of the BMC engraved on the foundation stones being laid for the reverse osmosis (RO) plants in the municipal wards. After hearing them, Sharma reportedly asked them not to add fuel to the fire. He also proposed to get the name of the councillor concerned engraved on the top of the foundation stone, then the names of the senior deputy mayor and the deputy mayor. The councillors are learnt to have expressed their approval. A councillor, seeking anonymity, said the party had taken the matter seriously after it was reported by the media due to which the general secretary had intervened. When contacted, Kamal Sharma said, "After holding the meeting, the differences of opinion was sorted out. The foundation stones would definitely have the names of the deputy and senior deputy mayor, belonging to the BJP. To resolve the issue, some changes would be made in the arrangement of the engraved matter." On his part, BMC Commissioner KK Yadav said, "Till this time, I have not got any information about their decision. I can comment only after the matter comes to me." At the meeting, efforts were also made to effect a compromise between the district BJP president Narender Mittal and Jawahar Garg and his family, who are also BJP loyalists. It may be mentioned that Mittal had accused them of assaulting and attempting to kidnap him while the Garg family had also levelled counter allegations of assault and forcibly entering their house.
	Sale of dead birds Accused sent to judicial custody Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, February 26 A court has sent all the three accused, including the owner of a leading meat shop of the town, allegedly involved in selling dead birds of broiler chicken to the consumers, to judicial custody for 14 days here, today. Rajesh Hastir SHO of the police station (south) while revealing this to The Tribune said that arrested persons Bhagwant Singh, owner of the meat shop, Vinod Kumar, driver of the tempo, and Jamuna, cleaner of the tempo, against whom a criminal case under sections 270, 273 and 420 of the IPC was registered were produced before a local court, this afternoon. "The court has sent them to 14 days of judicial custody," he said. It may be mentioned that the local police had recovered hundreds of dressed dead birds of broiler chicken that were brought for illegal sale here in the town on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Dr PC Mittal, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department, told The Tribune that in the post-mortem examination it had come to light that the birds had died 24 hours before their recovery by the police. He said that the veterinary officers were unable to detect the exact cause of the death in 'subjective vision' during the post-mortem examination. Therefore, they had sent two dead birds to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Jalandhar, besides, viscera of some birds to the State Forensic Laboratory at Kharar for further chemical tests to ascertain the exact cause of the deaths. He further said that if nothing concrete comes out of these tests, they would send the viscera to High Security Disease Laboratory at Bhopal for advanced tests. Dr Mittal also said that Usha R Sharma, secretary of the Animal Husbandry Department, has also discussed this issue with him in a meeting held at Chandigarh, today. On the other hand, a team comprising nominees from the Animal Husbandry Department, sanitary wing of the Municipal Committee and the local police jointly buried the dead birds after taking the samples for medical/chemical tests as per the guidelines and rules laid down by the government.
	Employee unions want pay panel report released Anil Jerath Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 26 In an unending trail of protests, members of various employee unions and federations from across Punjab, including Punjab and UT Employees Joint Action Committee and Punjab Subordinate Services Federation today staged a protest against the "anti-employee" policies being adopted by the state government. The members demanded the release of the Fifth Pay Commission report before the Lok Sabha elections and fixation of pay in the revised scale after merging interim relief with effect from January 2006, onwards. The agitated protesters, led by conveners Sajjan Singh, Darshan Singh Lubana and Jaswinder Singh, criticised the state government for ignoring the genuine demands of the Punjab employees. Talking to TNS, Kuldip Singh, general secretary of the Joint Action Committee, demanded the revision of the "anti-employee" Fifth Pay Commission. The protesters demanded the revision of the terms and conditions of the pay commission, to regularise the employees, to implement working scheme from January 1996 based on promotional scale and to fill the vacant posts within the state. The members also threatened to observe a hunger strike in Chandigarh on March 9 in case promises made by the Akali-BJP combine during the Assembly polls were not met soon. Among others, Hardev Singh Arshi, CPI candidate from Bathinda Lok Sabha seat and Nirmal Singh, convener, PRTC Workers Union, also addressed the members.
	DAV College students conferred degrees Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 26 DAV College, Bathinda, organised its annual convocation today. More than 200 students from Arts, commerce and computer science streams were conferred degrees. The convocation address was delivered by Dr S.P. Singh, former vice-chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Principal R.S. Sharma, general secretary, DAV college managing committee, New Delhi, was the chief guest. Dr J.S. Anand, principal of DAV College, Bathinda, read out the welcome address. A vote of thanks was proposed by the staff secretary Prof Parveen Kumar while Prof I.K. Sukheja conducted the stage. Principal R.S. Sharma told the students to prepare for life after graduation. Principal Sharma was felicitated with a roll of honour. Dr S.P. Singh in his address asked the students to relate their education to society. Prof N.K. Gosain proposed the names of Arts graduates for degrees while Prof V.K. Aggarwal presented the science graduates, Vandana Jindal those from the computer stream and Satish Vohra commerce graduates.
	AIDS/HIV workshop begins Bathinda, February 26 A four-day workshop on counselling for HIV/AIDS began at the Bathinda military station today. The need for the workshop had been felt to assess the preparedness of healthcare providers in the armed forces. Seventy paramedical staff from all wings of the armed forces attended the workshop that aims to train nurses, nursing assistants and other paramedical staff in counselling HIV patients. Brigadier K.J. Singh, Deputy Director, Medical Services, Chetak Corps, inaugurated the workshop. While briefing media persons, Colonel V.K. Popli, Commanding Officer, Military Hospital, Bathinda, said armed forces personnel had always been considered as a high-risk group for HIV infection, given their unique work setting and prolonged separation from family. Col Popli said that the only way to control HIV infection among the armed forces personnel was prevention and this was possible only by counselling the soldiers and their families effectively. He informed that experts in the field of preventive medicine drawn from AFMC, Pune, and Medicare Foundation, Delhi, an NGO, had been working in the field for the last 10 years. The workshop was sponsored by Centre for Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance, USA. — TNS
	Potable water eludes Mansa villages Our Correspondent Mansa, February 26 There are villages in Mansa district where people are not able to get the supply of safe drinking water. They are compelled to drink the polluted water from handpumps and tubewells even more than 60 years after independence. This situation is more visible in the Dullowal and Ghrangna villages where due to defective handpumps, villagers do not get supply of safe potable water. Supply through waterworks is not available in both the villages. Balkaran Singh, Hardeep Singh and Malkeet Singh of Gharangna village said people have been drinking water from the handpumps and tubewells which had been installed only 50 to 55 feet deep. Only some people in the village are able to get the supply from the waterworks which comes from Nangal Khurd. Along with this, people of Dullowal also get drinking water from the Nangal Khurd waterworks which is two kilometres away. Kashmir Singh and Mithu Singh, both residents of Dullowal, said they drink water from both the handpumps and when they want supply from the waterworks, then they have to go to Nangal Khurd and bring water on rehris and trolleys. Dangerous diseases like cancer and jaundice have been reported here. Nearly two months back, Charanjit Kaur of Ghrangna died of jaundice. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Kumar Rahul said that the problem of potable water in these villages would be resolved soon and the villagers would get safe drinking water within two months.