Bathinda, April 4
The discovery of a new-born girl child, found dead, wrapped in an unclaimed bag, lying in a state transport bus this evening, has once again pointed to the starkness of the problem of female foeticide prevailing in the region.

The incident comes barely five days after a one-year-old abandoned baby girl was found floating in the Sirhind canal here. The girl was rescued with the efforts of an NGO.

According to information available, a Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) bus, plying on the Sangat-Bathinda route reached the bus stand at around 5 pm today. All commuters alighted from the bus but the conductor found a bag lying on the seat near the door. Getting suspicious over the unclaimed bag, he opened it and found a new-born girl child wrapped in a towel. He immediately informed the police.

Meanwhile, receiving the information, volunteers of an NGO rushed and took the girl to the Civil Hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. The postmortem would be conducted on Sunday morning.

When contacted, the SHO Kotwali Harmeek Singh said, "After registering a case under section 318 of the IPC, police has started searching for the accused."

The incident has also raised questions about the usefulness of the cradle for unwanted children set up in collaboration with the Red Cross here.

Honorary secretary, Red Cross, Anil Garg, who is also the SDM, Talwandi Sabo, said over the phone, “Till now, no child has been put in that cradle. We too feel that lack of awareness about the cradle among people is hindering our efforts. Some strategy would be chalked out to get over the problem.”

Bathinda, April 4
Attacking the Congress for giving Lok Sabha tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, Col. Partap Inder Singh Phulka (retd.), national president of the ex-servicemen wing of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal today called for opposing the party for fielding the accused instigators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Showing pictures of soldiers who perished in the 1984 riots, Phulka called for defeating the party that had not shown sensitivity to the sensitivities of the Sikhs.

“For soldiers, who were killed in the riots just because they were Sikhs, we are doing our best to get martyr status for them. But the Congress, has awarded the perpatrators of the crime with party tickets. It is a major setback to all whether one belongs to the families of the riot victims or not,” he lamented.

Expressing resentment against the Sixth Pay Commission report, Phulka said one rank, one pension’ issue was the main demand of ex-servicemen. “We returned lakhs of bravery medals in protest, which are now dumped in the stores of the Rashtrapati Bhawan but the UPA government is neither ashamed of it nor bothered about the issue,” he alleged.

Targeting the Congress, he said, “It has never taken a single step in this regard. But now, the BJP has included it in its election manifesto. Moreover, being a member of the SAD, I have come to know that the SAD has included it as an important issue in its forthcoming poll manifesto.”

Hailing the ruling Badal government for its ex-servicemen friendly manifesto, Phulka said, “The SAD leaders have accepted that bureaucrats cannot understand the problems and demands of the Armymen. So, they are in favour of establishing a separate pay commission for them.”

“In the soon to be released poll manifesto of the SAD (B), exemption from income tax deduction for ex-servicemen has also been included,” he said.

Sharing his experience, Phulka summed up the relations between the Army and the government saying, “Political leaders use the Army as per their interests. Despite the ability to safeguard the nation from the enemies, the Army cannot move on its own.”

Major Karnail Singh (retd), Bathinda district president, and Major N.S. Mann (retd), Mansa district president of the wing, also addressed the gathering.

Bathinda, April 4
A timely intervention today averted a major tragedy waiting to happen at a railway crossing on the Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road in the city when a railway engine reached very close to the crossing but the bars were not yet lowered.

The lackadaisical attitude of the railway authorities was witnessed by a group of media persons here this afternoon while crossing railway crossing number 139/3. It was found that a railway engine was coming towards the railway station at a snail’s pace but the bars were not lowered and road traffic was plying across the railway crossing without any check.

When the media persons shouted in alarm, the gate man, Ranjeet Singh, immediately came out and seeing the railway engine on track, swung into action and hurriedly pulled down the bars. The engine was hardly a few meters away when the gate man lowered the bars and stopped the vehicular traffic. The move was so hurried that some two-wheelers were trapped between the closed bars for a while.

When questioned, gate man Ranjeet Singh said, “I was waiting for the green signal on the meter I have been provided with. As it was showing yellow light, I was relaxed. But when you raised the alarm, I ran out and seeing the engine close to the railway crossing, immediately pulled down the bars.”

Showing an entry in his register, he said, “In this incident, I am not guilty as neither the person concerned of the railway junction informed me over phone nor was the light green. Performing my duty, I have clearly mentioned in this register that the train dispatcher did not inform me about the passing of the engine.”

When apprised of the matter, Area Traffic Manager Sher Singh said, “The gate was interlocked. So, there was less risk of an accident. At such gates, the driver of the engine can come close to the gate but never cross it till the bars are pulled down.”

Bathinda, April 4
As a part of nationwide campaign against privatisation of public sector banks, the employees today held a rally at the Teachers’ Home here to decide the role of bank employees in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The rally was addressed by N.K. Gaur, vice-president, All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), and general secretary, Punjab Bank Employees Federation, besides Ashok Sharma, president, State Bank of Patiala Employees Union, (Punjab state), and Pawan Jindal, general secretary, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur Employees Union.

In his address, Gaur said the AIBEA was fighting against privatisation of the banks since 1991.

Later, while talking to media, Gaur said the bank employees protested against the government decision to permit foreign direct investment in banks up to 74 per cent. He termed it as retrograde and dangerous.

He said while corporates were getting advances from the banks at 18 to 19 per cent prior to these economic reforms, now, they were enjoying credit from the banks at 6-7 per cent.

“The Finance Minister recently announced that the government would encourage merger of public sector banks, takeover of Indian private banks by foreign banks and bring down government equity. These proposals are retrograde moves that have been made without any consultation with trade unions and have led to resentment among bank employees,” Gaur said.

He said reducing government capital in banks would dilute government ownership, control and monitoring of public sector banks, which was not a good move.

Bank employees have decided to vote in favour of candidates and parties who stand in favour of public sector banks and support their demands. They also decided to intensify their stir if the government did not accede to their long pending demands.

Ferozepur, April 4
Hundreds of poor families were rendered homeless following a demolition drive undertaken by the railway authorities to remove “jhuggis” which had mushroomed over years beneath the railway overbridge connecting the city to the cantonment.

The railway authorities maintained that the houses were allotted to Class IV employees of the railways, who had made unauthorised constructions and further rented the houses to private persons, regarding which a complaint had been received by the Vigilance Department of the railways.

The Railway officials further said that the instructions to demolish the houses had been issued by the Northern Railway headquarters at Baroda House, New Delhi, and the action was being taken under the purview by the law.

However, the displaced families contended that they had been staying here for the the last several years and today, without any prior notice, the railway authorities demolished their dwellings leaving them homeless.

When contacted, Satish Kumar, DRM, Ferozepur Division, said that they have recently set up a land cell, under which all the revenue records pertaining to the railway land were being updated. The railway is in the process of identifying all pockets of land which have been encroached upon by the outsiders so that it can be retrieved and put to use by the railways for expansion plans, he added.

While justifying the move, the DRM said that such action was being initiated all along the division as a lot of government land was being misused by the unauthorised persons.

Meanwhile, following the demolition drive, by the railways, Parminder Singh Pinki, general secretary PPCC, reached the spot to express solidarity with the displaced families. Pinki assured of arranging an alternative place for them for their rehabilitation. Residents presented him with a memorandum.

Bathinda, April 4
The sense of pride in owning a combine harvester-- a big machine to reap the crop-- which Punjabis exhibited with joy, is now fading. Due to strong competition in the trade, combine owners are now finding it tough to bear the expenses incurred on the maintenance of the machine.Finding Gujarat to be an unexplored area, combine owners had started moving there for the past few years. The journey undertaken at a speed of 25 km per hour, used to take five days and five nights, but this time, most Punjab farmers have found the foray as one with diminishing returns.

During a visit to Bathinda-Mansa road, a number of combines were seen returning from Gujarat. A conversation with them revealed their unhappiness with the state of affairs.

"The machine over which I am sitting is worth Rs15 lakh. But if you ask me about the net profit I earned during my two-month visit to Gujarat, then it amounted to nothing," lamented Baljeet Singh, who was en route to his village in Fatehgarh Sahib district from Gujarat."Compared to previous seasons, I observed that this time hundreds of combine owners were moving in Gujarat but very few were getting work. So, most of us had to work at low rates which were not even enough to bear the expenses of the machine."

Another combine harvester owner Surjeet Singh of Shahkot in Jalandhar was also returning from Gujarat and said, "Once it was a matter of pride to have a combine because of its huge size. But now it is being termed as a white elephant due to the high maintenance cost." Gurdev Singh of village Parjian Khurd, who owns five combine harvester machines in partnership, was also unhappy with his experience in Gujarat. "Earlier, people used to call us for reaping the crop. But now, we halt near the fields where the crop is ready for harvesting so that the farmer can approach us after seeing the machine."

Speaking about the heavy maintenance cost, owners of the combine harvesters said that after every two seasons, the tyres need to be changed, while the life of belts, chains and bearings is uncertain.

The combines are now returning as the harvesting season is likely to start here soon. Later, they plan to move to Madhya Pradesh for harvesting soyabean after the wheat season in Punjab is over.