Moga, April 20
Local police investigating the infamous passport scam has issued look out certificates for as many as 270 persons who had fled away from the country by using fake passports. A message has been flashed to all the international airports across the country through the airport authority.

Sources in the police revealed that these persons were not traceable and would have possibly fled away. They used fake addresses and forged documents to make their passports.

The scrutiny of records for the year 2006-07 had revealed that more than 300 passports issued by the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh were made fake by tampering with the official records, forging the documents of age, education, address proofs, marriage certificates etc.

The fake passport scam, first highlighted by The Tribune on July 22, 2008, was the biggest and lengthiest ever scam so far detected in the crime history of the nation with the involvement of hundreds of individuals and employees of various departments.

So far, more than 20 persons, including police personnel, employees of the passport office, travel agents and a couple of individuals had been arrested, out of which, most of them were languishing in the jail under judicial custody.

Many police officials posted here during the past 13 years, attesting authorities (officials), employees of the passport branch of the administration, employees of the RPO office, many travel agents and hundreds of individuals who fabricated and tampered with the original documents by manipulating with these authorities were likely to fall in police net in the due course of probe.

The modus operandi was that the police employees posted in the passport branch here prepared fake documents of police verifications and then by manipulating with the travel agents or employees of the RPO office tampered with the original forms. In some cases, even the original forms had been found changed by them. They had also taken into confidence the local postmen who delivered the passports to the concerned persons as the addresses mentioned on the registered/speed post envelopes carrying passports were fake. In few cases, the policemen were themselves involved in taking away the passports from the postmen and then delivered them to the addressees after getting heavy amounts.

Mansa, April 20
Congress candidate Raninder Singh today said that Congress is a secular party and would seek the votes of all religions and castes, including Dera Sacha Sauda followers.

Talking to this correspondent in Mansa, he criticised the SAD-BJP government for adopting a policy of discrimination while implementing welfare schemes in state. Many Congress workers were ignored from pension and other schemes, he added. On the other hand, Congress had adopted a fair policy while implementing welfare schemes in society.

Addressing public meetings, he alleged that many Congress workers were killed during the SAD-BJP regime. He addressed meetings in Dhapai, Heero Kalan, Kheeva Kalan, Kheeva Sajadewala, Kheeva Dialuwala, Gurtharhi, Matti, Maujo Kalan, Maujo Khurd, Atla Khurd and Samao. Congress MLA Sher Singh Gagowal, Ajitinder Singh Moffar MLA, Raminder Singh Richi, Raminder Amla and Gurpreet Singh also spoke at the meetings. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, April 20
Proceedings against Lok Sabha member Nihal Chand Meghwal, who is recontesting election on BJP ticket, will be initiated for seeking vote and support while taking a round of the district collectorate today, district magistrate-cum-district returning officer Rajeev Singh Thakur said. Videography of Meghwal's visit has been obtained, he confirmed.

The DM said no candidate will be allowed to seek votes from the government employees in their respective offices. The heads of the departments should not allow such illegal practice failing which they will be made accountable, he warned.

Meanwhile, nomination papers of the Jago Party candidate Kishan Lal were rejected during scrutiny today as one of his proposers was not a resident of the constituency. The nomination of two Independent Singara and Tikku Ram were also rejected as they failed to arrange required number of proposers.

With this 15 candidates are left in the fray including Bharat Ram Meghwal (Congress) Nihal Chand Meghwal (BJP) Sita Ram (BSP) Mukesh Kumar (SP) Sheopat Ram CPI (M) and Het Ram of the Rajasthan Vikas party. Election symbols are to be allotted on April 22.

EC observers Malay Srivastava and S.K. Virdi were also present during the scrutiny. Objection was raised on filing of separate certificates enclosed with the nominations by the Congress candidate giving his sub-caste as Jatav and Meghwal. The same has been recorded, officials said. 

Bathinda, April 20
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal says there is no electoral pressure from his side on the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and his followers are free to go with any party during the current Lok Sabha elections.

Badal denies that any senior leader of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had met the Dera chief to seek his support in these elections.

He told this correspondent during his campaign trail that the Dera followers have themselves to decide on the basis of performance and development which party they should  vote for.

However, the octogenarian Badal, while addressing an election rally at Partap Nagar here in the scorching sun of the noon, sought votes for SAD candidate and his daughter-in-law, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, from those in particular who did not support the party during the last assembly elections. His obvious reference was to the Dera followers who en-masse went with the Congress resulting in virtual rout of the SAD in the Malwa belt.

There were no signs of fatigue on the face of Badal who had addressed a string of election rallies in the town since 9.30 am as this constituency was witnessing the most prestigious contest of Punjab due to the presence of Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Raninder Singh, son of Captain Amrinder Singh, in the election ring.

Even after following the tight schedule of the daylong travel and addressing election rallies, he promptly gets up before sunrise and finishes his morning routine by 7 am followed by a breakfast and having quick feedback from local party activists.

Unlike other leaders, Badal maintains punctuality and was right in time to address the first election rally at Guru Nanak Nagar at 9.30 am. He was equally fresh in the other eight rallies that culminated at 8.30 pm at Bangi Nagar in the heart of the old town.

He took a break of only 90 minutes at 2 pm when he drove to the residence of Mayor Baljeet Singh Bir Behman to have lunch and a brief nap before setting out to address the remaining election rallies in other wards.

Badal has visited each of the 50 wards of the municipal corporation here during his three days campaign before leaving for other parliamentary constituencies. He would return here on April 25 to pick up his election campaign.

He does not lower the level of his campaigning by indulging in mud-slinging on his opposition Congress, but accuses it of providing "step-motherly" treatment to Punjab.

The state flourishes whenever there is a non-Congress government at the Centre, he says. Therefore, he asks the audience to strengthen the hands of the NDA.

He tries to impress upon the audience that a vote for the Congress would solve no purpose, as the party was not in a position to form the government at the Centre because all its major allies have deserted it. Moreover, they don't have any agenda for development of the state.

The Congress with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi was standing alone in the electoral arena. The Left parties, CPI and CPM, that played a crucial role in forming the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre were the first to desert them. Sharad Pawar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and few others continue to be in the central ministry but have now become prime ministerial candidates.

Similar was the situation with the newly formed Third Front that has a number of candidates, including the UP CM Mayawati, for the slot of prime minister, he points out while explaining the current political scenario to the audience.

He does not forget to focus attention of the people towards the fast pace of development of Bathinda town during the present regime.

Taking into consideration the low literacy rate, a central university was being opened here, a civil terminal was being set up in the Air Force station near here to enable commercial flights operate from this place, a super-specialty hospital was being opened to cater to the needs of the people and a Rs18,000 crore refinery was coming up to transform the economy of the area. The pace of development was being further accelerated, he adds before retiring for the day.

Bathinda, April 20
After the scrutiny of nomination forms today, out of the total of 32 applicants, nomination papers of 10 have been rejected. Now, only 22 candidates have left in poll fray from the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency.

In the list of rejected forms, five were covering candidates, namely, Surinder Kaur Badal (SAD), Rishma (Congress), Honey Jain (BSP), Vijay Kumar Singla (Shiv Sena-Bal Thackeray) and Jagdeep Singh Gill (Lok Janshakti Paty) as the nomination papers of their main candidates have been accepted.

Among the rest were an Independent, Vijay Setia, who despite submitting all documents missed submission of his nomination form, Lachman Jaura of General Samaj Party, whose name was not enrolled in the voters' list, Gurmeet Singh Ranghreta of Punjab Labour Party, due to one name missing in the list of proposers, Nachattar Singh, whose proposers column was unfilled and one Baldev Singh for not mentioning his age.

Earlier, four Vijay Setia, Lachman Jaura, Gurmeet Singh Ranghreta and Nachattar Singh were named in first list of rejected forms.

Then five applicants were put under consideration due to some mistakes in their forms and they were given time to clarify their position till 3 pm.

The scrutiny process was chaired by the Retuning officer Rahul Tewari under the inspection of three observers.

The number is still a matter of worry for the administration as the ballot units they can accommodate is only 16.

If till the last day for withdrawal (April 22) of nomination forms, six do not take back their names, the administration will be left with no other option but to immediately bring the matter to the notice of the Election Commission for increasing the requirement for ballot units of the EVMs than previously planned.

Chandigarh, April 20
SAD-BJP candidate for Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal has urged the Election Commission (EC) of India to have norms to punish political parties and candidates making false complaints against their opponents for publicity.

In a letter to the EC Harsimrat also was for a time-frame to decide such complaints and penalty for those which were found to be frivolous. She said some political parties and candidates, to deflect attention from their own weaknesses, levelled false allegations or raised issues that were not real. These needed to be checked.

She was responding to a complaint by the Congress to the Chief Election Commission (CEC) demanding the registration of a case against her for “alluring, bribing and threatening voters".

In the complaint the Congress had referred to Harsimrat’s election meetings at Bhucho Khurd, Bhucho Kalan, Lehra Mohabbat and other villages where she reportedly declared lavish grants by the government to the villages where no polling booths of Congress candidate would be set up and no grant to the villages where polling booths of Congress candidates were being set up.

Harsimrat said the complaint was a result of the Congress realising that almost all panchayats in the region had expressed admiration for development works of the SAD-BJP government. “I can understand my brother Raninder’s desperation and I even sympathise with him, but to resort to lies or mislead media reports is hardly going to help him,” said Harsimrat. 

Bathinda, April 20
The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Bringkhera, in Muktsar, has been selected by the British Council for its international linkage with the Worcestershire based King Charles School under the " Dream + Teams" project.

Gursewak Singh Sidhu, principal and one link teacher of the school will visit the UK under the project in June to seek necessary training and guidance. The other two schools that are participating are YPS, Patiala and PPS Nabha.

Under the project, the British Council functions internationally to develop links between schools and to enhance leadership skills through sports and physical education amongst teachers and students. In brief the programme aims to build partnership between school focusing on themes of leadership skills through sports and arts and it enhances international understanding among the wider school communities.

Sidhu said that the link school in England would be King Charles I School, Worcestershire.

There will be exchange programme of students, who will share sports and cultural experiences to enhance global understanding and develop leadership and citizenship skills amongst the students.

Bathinda, April 20
Teachers working under the Zila Parishad were again in a dilemma, courtesy the education department.

These teachers stated that the education department of Punjab had, in a letter, asked them to attend seminar camps that started yeasterday and will continue till May 18. These camps would be held in three phases to enable teachers to attend camps not together but in turn so that classes in schools don't get affected.

These camps are refresher camps for the teachers to fulfill the Central government's scheme of educating every child in the age-group of 6-14 years by 2010. But the Zila Parishad called the head teachers of all the schools today and passed orders for not attending any camp.

This has put around 400 teachers from Bathinda district in a dilemma, whether to attend the camps or not. The teachers said that the Zila Parishad has not issued any written order stating that they are not suppose to attend the camps and these camps are compulsory to attend.

The camps are a aprt of the 'Parho Punjab' scheme of the education department. In Punjab, there are around 13000 such teachers who were recruited in 2006 and come under the Zila Parishad.

It should be noted that these teachers have been struggling for long now to be considered as part of the education department and not under the Zila Parishad.

Teachers said that when they asked about why they were not allowed to attend these camps, the officials from Zila Parished said the education department had not informed about any camps being organised.

Sanjeev Kumar, Block Development Panchayat Officer, when contacted, said, "We have not refused teachers from attending any camp. The problem is that these teachers attend camps without informing us and schools get affected because of all the teachers going to attend camps together. Some teachers keep attending camps only and do not attend schools. We had told them to ask the DEO (Elementary) to seek permission from the ADC, as directed, to hold camps, but no permission was sought. So, we have asked the teachers under the Zila Parishad not to attend any camp."

The DEO (Elementary) Gurminder Pal Kaur Dhillon said, "I spoke to the ADC today and he gave the permission for organising the camps."

On the other hand sources from the zila parishad stated that no information regarding the permission taken from the ADC reached them yet. 

Hanumangarh/Abohar, April 20
Concerned more as compared to the counterparts in the neighbouring states, the Rajasthan Health Department today launched 17th phase of the special programme to administer Vitamin A drops to children in the age group of 9 month to 5 years.

The DC Naveen Jain while inaugurating the month-long campaign at a centre in ward number 3-B (new Khunja) said this will help in increasing resistance power in the children against eye ailments besides ensuring relief from cough, cold, pneumonia and malnutrition. Jain also checked quality of the food being prepared and served by the Anganwari centers.

Zila Parishad CEO administered drops in the Satipura centre. Sumer Singh Sheoran deputy director Women and Children Development Department informed that nearly 1.5 lakh children will benefit from this project which is to conclude on May 20.

Ferozepur, April 20
Sudden influx of wheat in the markets juxtaposed with shortage of labour has affected the process of lifting of wheat in this area. According to the information, around 60 per cent of the purchased wheat has been lifted from the grain markets so far, though the purchase has already touched 97 per cent of the total arrival. Out of the 8, 44,926 MT wheat that has arrived in the market till date, 8,20,283 MT has been purchased and 94 per cent payments have also been cleared amounting to around Rs 700 crores.

When contacted, DC Megh Raj said that the lifting was slow due to shortage of labour as well as transport required to shift them out of mandis, however the administration was making all possible arrangements to handle the situation.

The DC said that the transport officials had been instructed to provide trucks for the loading of wheat at the priority and the procurement officials had been told to personally supervise the lifting process, and take action against those contractors with laid-back attitude.

The DC said that for the past few days, almost one lakh MT wheat had been arriving in the markets daily. He said that since the labour was required for its cleaning, packing, loading and unloading at the warehouses and godowns, its shortage has certainly affected the lifting, but things will improve in next two days, he added.

Nand Kishore, president Arthiya Association attributed the shortage of labour to the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. He said that majority of labour comes from states like Bihar and Rajasthan, and due to election season, the labour had not arrived in sufficient numbers. With only few weeks left to go to polls, the political parties and the contesting candidates also engage labour persons for various electoral purposes which had also contributed to shortage of labour.

The procurements agencies are in tizzy as they are reportedly under pressure from the government to ensure smooth procurement in the wake of ensuing general polls as any gaffe on their part during procurement may get on the farmers their nerves which may cost the government dearly in the polls. 

Mansa, April 20
While the lifting of the current wheat crop by procurement agencies in the Malwa belt has so far been a smooth affair, but the farming community is now getting restive over their "fleecing" by the cooperative societies and private traders who were selling Bt cotton seeds to them at exorbitant rates.

As a result, most farmers of the Malwa belt have turned towards Gujarat from where cheaper varieties of the seed were available. The cotton sowing season has already begun and farmers were on the job after cleaning the wheat stubble from their fields.

Various Kisan unions have threatened to gherao Lok Sabha candidates and MLAs of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in case immediate steps were not taken by the Punjab government to tackle the problem.

Farmers in the area cry that the cooperative societies and private traders were selling a packet containing 450 gms of Bt cotton seed for Rs 900, but the one from Gujarat was available for Rs 250 per packet.

Sukhdev Singh, a farmer near Talwandi Sabo, alleged that the cooperative societies supposed to supply seed at an affordable price were playing in the hands of multinational companies that provide high commission to them.

He pointed out that per packet of hybrid cotton seed of these companies was being sold for Rs 750 in the neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan.

Shingara Singh, Bathinda district chief of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), said that the traders were creating artificial shortage of seed and then selling it at a premium. Last year also, they sold each packet of seed for anything around Rs 1000 when sowing season was at its peak.

He said that the agriculture department and other agencies have failed to check such practice and were mute spectators to fleecing of farmers.

Coupled with this, the farmers of villages around Jhajjal in Talwandi Sabo were also critical of the authorities that have stopped water in the canals when it was most required during cotton sowing. The canals were lying dry in the area and the farmers fear that the seeds would get destroyed even before sprouting incase their fields were not irrigated.

When contacted, G.S.Butter, director of the regional centre of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), said that the BG-2 variety of cottonseed was costly as it was disease and pest resistant.

Bathinda, April 20
Rising prices of sugar have turned it bitter for consumers on the eve of elections and this has the Central government worried. Sugar prices have shot up by 47 per cent in the domestic market in the last one year. The recent decision to allow import of raw sugar and impose stock-holding limits has not so far had much of an impact on its retail price, which has shot up steeply in the last three months.

There are fears that sugar prices will not decline from an average of Rs 28 a kg before the commencement of the general elections next month, just as wheat prices have come to stay at an average high rate of Rs13 a kg, atta at Rs15 a kg, urad dal at Rs 46 a kg, masoor at Rs 60 a kg, mustard oil at Rs 74 a kg and milk at Rs 23 a kg in the retail market.

According to official figures, sugar prices that were ruling at Rs 22 a kg about six months ago, have shot up to Rs 28-29 a kg in markets. The Central government's own cooperative stores are selling the commodity at Rs 26 a kg (packed). Prices of open sugar range between Rs 27 and Rs 29 a kg, with no indications of any decline in future.

Purshottam Garg, a grocery shop owner on the Amrik Singh Road, said the Union government must re-impose stock limitations so that traders do not take advantage of the possible shortage in the coming days.

Just about two months ago, sugar cost Rs 25 per kg. Garg predicted that it may soon pierce the psychological Rs 30 per kg mark. "I have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that sugar price will touch Rs 30 per kg in a month's time, unless the central government intervened urgently. I have also brought this to the notice of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar," he said.

Tirath Ram, a tea shop vendor, said there is no government regulation on stocking sugar and traders have already started exploiting the situation, he said.

As per agriculture department sources, this is attributed to a significant shortfall in sugarcane output expected this year due to vagaries of weather and excessive rainfall in parts of states such as Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar. This affected the sucrose content in sugarcane and thus the recovery of sugar. Consequently, sugarcane output is expected to be 170 lakh tonnes this year against 263 lakh tonnes last year. Till September, last, the industry was allowed to export sugar and consequently, 60 lakh tonnes was exported.

Now, to tide over the situation of rising prices, sources said the government was likely to take further steps to ease the situation such as releasing additional free sale quota. 

Bathinda, April 20
The ATM Bathinda sub-division of the Ambala Rail Division has won the Best Operating Shield and the Best Safety Shield for the year 2009.

Besides, the sub-division has also won two other shields, including the Best Cleanliness Shield and the Rajbhasha Shield.

The Bathinda rail officials, including ATM Sher Singh, received the prestigious awards at a divisional-level function organised to mark the Railway Week in Ambala on Monday. According to sources in the railway, the ATM Bathinda sub-division got the operating shield for its operations of the trains including goods. The safety award was given for being an incident-free zone throughout the year.

It may be mentioned here that this is the third time the sub-vision won the Best Operating Shied since 2006. It had won the award also in 2006 and 2007. As far as the safety award is concerned, the sub-division won is second time.

Besides the shields, the officials of the sub-division, including station superintendent and others, were won cash awards.

Talking to TNS on phone late on Monday night, an upbeat ATM Bathinda, Sher Singh said it was the result of team effort. 

Bathinda, April 20
CBI sleuths from Chandigarh nabbed an MES officer Col. PK Mohanti red-handed with a bribe of Rs 5,000 from his office, here today.

According to details available, two local MES contractors, RK Kataria and Jagdish Rai had lodged a telephonic complaint against the accused officer for asking for pay bribe to clear their previous bills and allotting new tenders. Taking action, the CBI team lead by ASP Arman Deep today nabbed the officer.

Jagdish Rai, one of the complainants told the TNS, "We had done a road repair in October 2008, for which a bill of Rs 40 lakh was submitted. PK Mohanti kept on delaying the payment. Meanwhile, both of us had to marry our daughters. Finally, We lodged a complaint against him before the Chief Engineer, Gurdeep Singh. Due to his intervention, Mohanti gave us the amount but soon after started asking us to pay 3.5 per cent of the sanctioned bill amount as bribe."

"When we refused, he along with other officers started harassing us. Some tenders were allotted even to the third lowest bidders. With his connivance, a JE, Gurcharan Singh also took Rs 15,000 from us to pass a bill for Rs 14.5 lakh. Still, the bill was not passed. To dupe us, a project of road repair worth Rs 6.78 lakh, for which he was demanding Rs 5,000 as bribe, was stopped, when we refused to pay the graft money.

Bathinda, April 20
Bathinda and the adjoining areas today reeled under searing heat as the mercury crossed 40 degree Celsius mark, the second time in four days.

As per the Agro-MeT Advisory Services, PAU Regional Station, Bathinda, the day’s maximum temperature was 40.2 degrees Celsius, above the normal while the day's minimum, which was also above the normal, touched a new high with 21.5 degrees. Notably, this the first time in the season that the mercury crossed the 20 degree Celsius mark at the minimum level.

Meanwhile, the vagaries of the weather have been continuing in the region as the temperature after remaining below normal during the last weekend, has been hovering above normal for the two days.

As far as the temperature during the last four days is concerned, the maximum remained between 35 degrees Celsius and 37 degrees while minimum ranged around 16 to 19 degree Celsius.

The weathermen said that there is possibility of duststorms and thunder squalls in the region in the next two days. The region may also witness high wind speed during this period, they added. — TNS

Abohar, April 20
Raman Bishnoi, 12-year- old son of a small farmer from village Mehrana, of this sub-division, mesmerised the gathering by scoring a gusty 16 runs for the runners-up ‘B’ team during the final match organised by the Chander Cricket Academy, which has been imparting training to budding players for last two months, in the Nehru Stadium here.

Raman, getting regular training from the DAV School Academy Chandigarh, had come to his native area during the annual vacations.

‘A’ team piled up 139 in 20 overs with captain Subhash contributing 30 runs, left- handed Arpan put up a brilliant batting display by scoring 40 runs. From the "B" team captain Rupi and Abraham took 3 wickets each.

In reply, "B" team was all out for 129 losing the match by 10 runs even when Suraj and Vikram had scored 20 and 42 runs respectively. Imran and Sandeep of the "A" team claimed 2 wickets each.

Arpan was declared man of the match. Dalbir Singh Aulakh branch manager of the Nicer Green Housing and Infrastructures Ltd; sponsors of the event, gave away prizes.

Convener Dr Rajinder Girdhar, principal of the Homoeopathic Medical College, informed while renovating the stadium, cemented pitch has been supported with nets and lights. The sponsors Nicer Green had provided mats and nets. The Cricket Coaching Center, brainchild of the IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar, provides regular training to 40 young buddies who had been selected on merit, by coaches Chander Kamboj and Suraj Kamboj.