Bathinda, May 8
The high turnout of 78.75 per cent electorate in yesterday’s polling for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat has baffled political pundits as well as the contesting parties.

According to the updated figures of voting percentage released today by the returning officer, against the total number of 13,32,496 registered voters, 1,04,9366 electorate, including 4,91,000 women, exercised their right to franchise.

Both the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) that had fielded Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the opposition Congress that fielded Raninder Singh were interpreting the high percentage of polling to their respective benefit.

While the Congress leadership claims that the high voter turnout reflects the anti-incumbency factor, the SAD men say that supporters of the party came out in large numbers to vote for Harsimrat Kaur.

Political observers were astonished that while polling in other parts of the country had remained low during the first three phases of the election, the turnout for the four seats of Malwa was massive.

The highest turnout of 84.34 per cent was recorded in Budhlada followed by 83.25 per cent in Sardulgarh segment.

The Lambi segment of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal recorded 81.47 per cent polling whereas the Talwandi Sabo segment stood at number four with 80.29 per cent polling.

The lowest polling of 66.52 per cent was recorded in the Bathinda (urban) segment indicating that the urbanites were not that keen to reach the polling booths as compared to the rural folk. Polling in the Bathinda (rural) segment touched 77.32 per cent.

The Maur Mandi and Bhucho Mandi assembly segments that are the major grain markets within this parliamentary constituency polled 79.82 and 79.14 per cent votes respectively.

The wheat procurement effect of the Badal-led government during the current season was expected to be reflected in the voting pattern of these two segments. In the Mansa segment, 78.61 per cent electorate cast their votes.

The data indicates that as many as 10,16,711 voters identified themselves with the election photo identity card (EPIC) while 32,655 polled votes with other identifications.

Moga, May 8
A public rally being organised by the Congress in this town to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi on Saturday is likely to boost the campaign of young candidate Sukhwinder Singh Danny fighting the election from Faridkot constituency.

The 32-year-old Danny who has been hand-picked by Rahul is already giving sleepless nights to the SAD candidate Bibi Paramjit Kaur Gulshan the outgoing Lok Sabha member from Bathinda. After the delimitation, she has been shifted to this reserved constituency.

The local Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain while talking to The Tribune claimed that Rahul's visit would set-up a milestone in the political history of Moga district. "We are already getting good response of the people in the poll campaign and expect that a huge crowd will attend the party rally", he said.

Lashing out at the SAD, he said that the ruling party has failed to deliver as per the aspirations of the common people; therefore, the people were frustrated with the ruling party.

Jain said that the SAD-BJP leadership grabbed the panchayat and civic body elections by undemocratic means, therefore, the people were all out against them. "The outcome of Lok Sabha elections will prove a waterloo for Akalis in the state", he claimed.

The CWC member Jagmeet Brar contesting the election from Ferozepur has been relieved from campaigning after the third phase of polling ended on May 7. He has along with his supporters who were busy in Ferozepur had decided to actively campaign for Danny, which would definitely help the young leader.

Jagmeet commonly known as the firebrand leader of Congress had earlier represented the Faridkot constituency twice and had also defeated Sukhbir Badal in the 1999 elections.

On the other hand, the sitting Lok Sabha member from this constituency and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal paid a surprise visit to the town today and held a secret meeting with his loyal supporters at the residence of Jathedar Tota Singh, a senior leader of the ruling party.

The details of the meeting could not be immediately known but sources revealed that Sukhbir had asked the local SAD leaders to keep a close watch on Rahul's rally and activities of the local Congress workers and strategies had also been chalked out to counter the Rahul-factor in this constituency.

Meanwhile, the administration has made adequate security arrangements for Rahul Gandhi's first ever visit to this town. Police has set-up special nakas and all vehicles coming from outside were being thoroughly checked-up as a preventive measure. 

Mansa, May 8
Nearly ten persons were injured in a clash between the Akali and Congress workers in Mansa today. As per information, some Congress workers belonging to Matti village had come to meet the SSP Mansa in connection with the clash that occurred at the village after polling yesterday when they were returning to their village after meeting the SSP.

In the attack, ten Congress workers were injured and later admitted to the Civil Hospital Mansa. Those injured included Heera Singh, son of Jarnail Singh, Ran Singh, son of Nidhan Singh, Hardev Singh, son of Najjar Singh, Gurlal Singh, son of Deep Singh.

Today's clash was the outcome of the last night's conflict. Former MLA of Akali Dal Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh, who reached the Matti village last night to pacify the people said he was also gheraoed by the people but police reached the spot and controlled the situation. Villagers fired during the clash last night.

The Akali leader said that his relative Arvel Singh was also injured last night and vehicles were damaged.

District Congress president Ajit Inder Singh Moffar and the youth leader Gurpreet Singh condemned the attack on Congress activists and demanded action against the assailants. Akali leader Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh alleged that this incident took place due to the negligence of the police.

Meanwhile, SSP Manwinder Singh said appropriate action would be taken in this case. Congress candidate from Bathinda Raninder Singh also visited the Civil Hospital, Mansa, and met the injured party workers. He met the SSP as well.

Ferozepur, May 8
The high percentage of polling in this border constituency has taken many by surprise as none had anticipated that the polling would cross 70 per cent mark. Ferozepur recorded 71.43 per cent polling, the highest so far in any Lok Sabha elections till date.

The last highest was 68.3 per cent in 1984, when Congress candidate Gurdial Singh Dhillon had won this seat. Thereafter, the poll percentage kept fluctuating between 62 to 66 per cent.

While terming it as a mandate against the government, the Congress leaders are claiming that people turned out in large numbers to show their resentment against the ruling coalition.

“People of the state are fed up from the autocratic style of functioning of Badals,” stated Jagmeet Brar. Moreover, there was a strong anti-incumbency wave as the present SAD-BJP government had failed to deliver, he added.

On the other hand, the Akalis attribute the high percentage of polling to the enthusiasm amidst the voters in rural segment, especially in the Rai Sikh belt which stretches from Ferozepur upto Fazilka along the riverine tract.

It is pertinent to mention that SAD candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya belongs to Rai Sikh community only. Ferozepur (Rural) recorded 79.21 per cent, Gurharsahai polled 77.86 per cent, Jalalabad, the home town of Ghubaya recorded 78.21 percent polling whereas Fazilka, where around 35000 Rai Sikh votes have been reportedly transferred from old Jalalabad assembly segment after delimitation, 73.3 per cent polling was reported.

All these areas have strong Rai Sikh voters’ presence.

While talking to The Tribune, Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, who was the in-charge of this constituency said that the high poll percentage would certainly foster the prospects of SAD.

Sekhon, whose constituency recorded the highest poll percentage, which almost touched 80 per cent, further said that his party had done aggressive campaigning in all the villages of the constituency which has resulted in high voter's turnout.

"In villages dominated by Rai Sikh community, the poll percentage has even touched 90 per cent," said Sekhon, adding that they had gone all out to support the person of their community.

On the other side, the Congress leaders claim that they have been able to make significant dent in Rai Sikh vote bank as their party was instrumental in getting them SC status. "We are expecting not less than 30 per cent out of the Rai Sikh vote share," claimed Parminder Singh Pinki, general secretary, PPCC.

Surprisingly, in Abohar, in contrast to the overall average of 71.43 per cent, only 55 per cent of the total electorate exercised their franchise to vote. The low turnout in Abohar is being attributed to the indifference of both Congress and BJP leaders belonging to this town.

In Muktsar, the home town of Brar, a roaring 74.65 per cent polling was reported and same was the case with adjoining Malout, where 74.11 per cent votes were polled.

In Guruharsahai, which is being represented by Congress heavyweight Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi for the last two terms, 77.86 per cent polling was reported. Sodhi claims that his party would take lead from this segment.

Now, amidst claims and counter claims by both parties, whether this high voter turnout helps Congress or Akalis will be ascertained only on 16 of this month, when the results will be declared. 

Abohar, May 8
The saviours of the borders led in saving the democracy also by recording the maximum poll percentage in the urban area of Abohar segment of the Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency.

A perusal of the polling chart indicates that 1500 out of 2019 electorate in the local military station for the first time exercised their franchise at the place of their posting, achieving an average of 74.2 per cent in two polling booths of the Central School while it was 79.4 per cent at one booth.

Interestingly, the voters of ward number 11, who had elected the present Municipal Council president Shiv Raj Goyal of the BJP "overwhelmingly" recorded only 41 and 44 per cent in two polling booths, respectively of the Government High School (Branch) here. On an average, this was the poorest polling in the urban area.

Village Usmankhera topped with 77.31 per cent pooling in the rural area.

The last village of Punjab in this sub-division Gumjal had been suffering due to wrong designing of the Lambi sub-canal and its residents blamed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for this. Only 864 of the 3102 voters in this village polled votes yesterday putting the average to poorest 21.7 per cent.

In all 81321 of the total 1,47,833 voters including 44843 women in this segment, termed as constituency of the most awakened and educated people, exercised franchise yesterday. Average was little above 50 in urban and 61.31 per cent in the rural areas.

Bathinda, May 8
Recovery of about 10 unidentified bodies in the week preceding the elections from different canals, distributaries and secluded places in and around the district, has become a worrisome issue for all except the administration.

Recalling the past rural bodies’ polls, when a number of such cases were later traced to be the fallout of political rivalry, the large number of unidentified bodies being recovered during the pre-poll days has again led to speculations.

According to information available, besides others, activists of two active NGOs of Bathinda, Sahara Jan Seva and Naujwan Welfare Society, have recovered around 10 unclaimed and unidentified bodies from various canals, distributaries and other places. A body was even found hanging from a tree.

In the absence of immediate action from the administration, considering the decomposition of the bodies, the volunteers of the two NGOs, after informing the police, themselves cremated the bodies.

On May 1, volunteers of the Naujwan Welfare Society recovered the decomposed body of an unidentified man from Bhakhra canal at Khanauri head in Sangrur. On the same day, a brutally wounded body of an unidentified woman was also recovered in a semi-nude situation floating in Sirhind canal near village Madi of this district.

According to information available, the body had more than 30 wounds caused by a sharp-edged weapon. The body of an unidentified man in a semi-nude condition was found floating in a canal distributary near Raman Mandi of the district on May 2.

The hands, feet and neck of the deceased were tied and the body was wrapped in a blanket. Further, the decomposed body of woman (in her thirties) was found floating in Natt Bagher distributary, on the same day.

Then on May 4, Sahara Jan Seva volunteers recovered two decomposed bodies. One was aged about 40 and was recovered from the Bhakhra canal near Rodi village.

Another body, of a Sikh, was found from the Golewala head. On the right arm of the deceased, the initials RKD was engraved.

The same day, Naujwan Welfare Society volunteers recovered two decomposed bodies from the Bhakhra head and Siphon bridge. One of the bodies was tied with a nylon rope and was wrapped in a jute bag.

On May 6, a decomposed body was recovered from Gill Kalan bridge of the Rampura canal. Since it could not be identified, volunteers of an NGO cremated him this morning.

It may be mentioned that in most such cases, police has registered a case under section 174 of the CrPC and is said to have started inquest proceedings, but till date, none of them has been identified.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, May 8
A minor boy Inderpal of village 15BB (Padampur) was crushed to death by a private bus on the Bikaner road on Thursday, a report from Gharsana said today.

In another incident, six members of a marriage party sustained injuries, as the Bolero jeep by which they were traveling collided with a tractor-trailer on Sriganganagar-Padampur road late last night. Two occupants of the tractor were also injured seriously, sources said.

As per information, the marriage party was on its way back to Anoopgarh when the mishap occurred near the DD head while the daily wage earners were also returning home. Supervisor Bhag Chand said the equipment was being stacked on the road side when the speeding Bolero allegedly hit the tractor-trailer cutting it into two pieces.

However, Bolero driver Shiv Raj Singh lamented that the tractor had been parked on the wrong side resulting in damage to the jeep following the collision. Professional photographer Vishnu, who accompanied the marriage party, endorsed the version of the driver.

In yet another road mishap, six jawans of the Gujarat police sustained injuries, as the jeep carrying them on poll duty reportedly collided head-on with a trailer outside village Kikkarwali in Raisinghnagar segment. — OC

Hanumangarh/Abohar, May 8
Timely intervention by the district magistrate Naveen Jain prompted Rajinder Kumar Meghwal of Dhaani Bhambhu Wali near Hanumangarh to abandon his plan to commit suicide by jumping from a BSNL tower today.

As per information available, the DC on getting the message that Rajinder had climbed on the tower and threatened suicide, asked the deputy registrar in Revenue department and local SHO to rush.

They negotiated with the youth, who reportedly revealed that the official receiver had not paid attention to the dispute on possession of the land. The DC immediately directed the additional DC Narayan Lal to investigate the case and summon record from the block development officer and the tehsildar besides identifying the erring officers latest by May 12.

The DC was able to establish contact with Rajinder Kumar on cell phone and assured him time-bound action besides pursuing him not to take any extreme step. The DC made it clear that he had never been informed about the alleged injustice earlier.

Preliminary inquiry indicated that the SDM had appointed the receiver over the disputed 9 bigha land at the village Chak 6MOD in which Rajinder too had interest on April 21 last year but its possession was "erroneously" given to some other persons, he alleged.

Abohar, May 8
The body of a minor girl, believed to be a member of some migrant family and aged about 13 years, has been recovered from the sub-canal near village Daulatpura.

The Manav Sewa Samiti volunteers rushed to the village on getting the information and shifted the body to the Civil Hospital here, sources said. Post-mortem will be conducted tomorrow. The police have initiated investigation.

A minor boy was allegedly sexually exploited by a driver of a mini-bus inside the municipal bus stand here late last evening, sources said.As per the complaint lodged with the city police, the boy aged 14 had been washing private buses against nominal charges for the last few months.

The driver of a mini-bus caught hold of the boy when he was working inside the bus and allegedly indulged in sodomy. The parents of the victim have got him admitted in the Civil Hospital here. The police carried raids to nab the accused but failed. The bus used for the crime has been taken into custody. — OC

Chandigarh, May 8
Punjab Government and Punjab Public Service Commission have locked horns. The government wants demotion for a Bathinda civil hospital doctor allegedly involved in issuance of false certificates to the kin of convicts for enabling them to secure parole.

The commission, on the other hand, wants Dr Ajitpal Singh to be dismissed from service. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now asked the government to take a final decision, latest within six weeks.

Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta have observed: “On proof of a charge that the respondent had committed misconduct as he had issued false certificates regarding the illness of the relatives of certain convicts released on parole, the state government appears to have made a reference to the commission for imposition of a major penalty by way of his reversion to the post of medical officer from the post of senior medical officer….

“However, the commission was of the view the charge framed and proved against the respondent was severe in nature and he did not deserve to serve the government any more. The commission, accordingly, appears to have recommended his dismissal from service.

“Aggrieved, the petitioner appears to have made a representation to the chief minister, Punjab, who directed a de nova inquiry. Upon examination, it was pointed out such an inquiry was not legally permissible in view of the fact a regular inquiry had already been conducted into the charges framed against the respondent.

“The matter was referred to the commission once again in January, with a view to persuade it to reduce the punishment from dismissal from service to reversion…. The commission after reconsideration once again recommended he be dismissed from service, keeping in view the gravity of allegations proved against him”.

“The government is, according to the counsel, now seized of the matter. Since there is a conflict between what the government proposes and what the commission has recommended, the same is to be placed before the cabinet”

Fixing July 23 for hearing, the Bench added: The allegations relate to 2001-02. The inquiry itself was completed in 2006. It is high time the government takes a final decision, instead of procrastinating the same unnecessarily.

Bathinda, May 8
J.R. Goyal, secretary, district Red Cross, Bathinda, said the Red Cross movement had been in the forefront towards humanitarian service while appreciating the commitment of the Punjab state branch of Indian Red Cross Society.

The World Red Cross Day was celebrated at Red Cross Bhawan today under the theme ‘Climate change and its humanitarian consequences’.

Goyal termed the theme as the most appropriate and befitting because “climate change is a serious global concern today”.

He said climate change was a significant and emerging threat to public health and “we must look at protecting the vulnerable population”.

In addition, many diseases are highly-sensitive to changing temperatures and precipitation. These include common vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue as well as other major killers such as malnutrition and diarrhoea, Goyal added.

Dr Rakesh Gupta, District TB Officer, explained in detail the human and pollution generating activities such as unwanted population pressure, excessive use of vehicles, deforestation etc.

leading to climate change. He further stressed on the dangerous and harmful effects of the climatic change in the form of droughts, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis on the life of humans, flora and fauna.

He said much of the health risk was avoidable through existing health programmes and interventions. Concerted action to strengthen key features of health systems can enhance public health as well as reduce the vulnerability to future climate change, Gupta added.

A blood donation camp was also organised on the occasion in which 16 units were collected.

Bathinda, May 8
The Maharashtra government will now keep a check on private coaching institutes and tuitions as directed by the Bombay High Court. But there is no such check here as over 100 unregistered coaching centres in Bathinda are raking in the moolah.

Bathinda has emerged as the coaching capital of the state. It not only caters to the local students but also to students from far flung places who come here to take coaching for medical and non-medical entrance exams after class XII.

The reason is that Bathinda students have has bagged top ranks in the PMT, CET and CBSE medical entrance exams.

However, this boom is commercialising the education provided by private coaching institutes. There is no check over the fees charged by these institutes. A six month course would cost anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000. The fee also depends upon when a student enrolls and of course the quality of education provided.

According to sources in the Harbhajan Institute, around 30 to 40 students enroll themselves for yearly batches and they have to dish out Rs 30,000 per year. The sources also stated that certain institutes charged Rs 51,000 plus service tax for the crash course for entrance tests.

Students feel exploited at times and with so many institutes present in the city it becomes difficult for them to decide which one to go for as all of them boast of their students having bagged good positions and of quality coaching.

The Daswani Classes enrolls around 150 students after class X for medical and non-medical coaching and the fee ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. A source in the coaching centre said that earlier, students used to go to Kota but now they are able get quality coaching right here in Bathinda.

Some school principals also feel that this coaching industry has encouraged dummy admissions in schools, which is strictly against the CBSE and the Punjab School Education Board rules.

Last year, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had caught many teachers of government schools and colleges taking private tuitions.