Bathinda, June 6
With the arrest of a woman and her paramour, the Bathinda police claimed to have busted a racket in selling girls. The couple was arrested from village Doomwali, located on the Punjab-Haryana inter-state border, on Friday night and is in police remand till June 10.

According to police sources, acting upon a tip-off, the Sangat police station sent a team, which nabbed one Jaspal Kaur and her paramour Major Singh from their house located in Nar Singh Colony, Doomwali. During the preliminary interrogation, the couple admitted of having sold four girls in the past two months to one Rameshwar of Rajasthan, who further sold them and earned lakhs.

The couple revealed that 'aunty' Rajbinder Kaur was an active member of the gang, who used to bring girls from Bathinda by misleading them. They alleged that a girl named Veer Pal Kaur was an accomplice of Rajbinder.

Meanwhile, they termed themselves as mediators and used to get Rs 10,000 for each deal.

The couple is in its late forties. Jaspal Kaur belongs to Dalit community and used to befool people presenting herself as a soothsayer, due to which a number of women came in her contact.

She was married at Chak Hira Singh Wala, where she developed illicit relations with Major Singh and eloped with him to settle down at Doomwali. There, they came in contact with Rameshwar, the kingpin, who is accused of selling girls in Rajasthan.

The police has registered a case under sections 363, 366-A, 372, 373, 420 and 120-B of the IPC at the Sangat police station.

Confirming the details, Sikander Singh, investigation officer, said the accused were on police remand. "We have taken the arrest warrant of Rameshwar and for his arrest, a team would be sent to various places in Rajasthan," the official added.

Bathinda, June 6
The Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) does not seem to be able to keep a check on the illegal colonies developing in its jurisdiction, reportedly due to certain flaws in the execution of preventive measures. Resultantly, BDA officials are finding it tough to nab the promoters and colonisers, who earn hefty amounts by selling plots on vacant fields located in the city’s periphery.

According to a recent survey, a total of 84 illegal colonies had been detected within the jurisdiction of the BDA, out of which 42 were within the periphery of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), while as many were reported to be off the BMC limits.

Sources in the BDA said that apart from these cases, about 53 such complaints/ FIRs have been lodged and were under process. Most of the cases are being investigated by the police while others are pending in court.

To curb the menace of illegal colonies, the BDA has fixed warning boards at various places in and around the city wherever an illegal colony either marked with some boundary wall or any other method was noticed.

The warning reads: This colony has been declared illegal and anyone purchasing a plot here would be responsible for all risks.

Despite this, neither the colonisers are ready to give up the illegal practice nor do the buyers refrain from investing in such illegal colonies.

A BDA official said, “We pursue cases under the PUDA Act. The Act has so many loopholes and one can easily stretch his case for years. Once a lower court decides on a case, the convict applies for an appeal in higher court and so on.”

“Moreover, in many cases filed by us the accused faced a penalty of only Rs 500, which is so meagre to check the menace further,” the official added.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the BMC, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Even if the BDA declares a colony illegal, there are times when we cannot do much about it, particularly when some leader of the ruling party orders us to provide basic amenities to those who have already constructed their establishments there. It only motivates others to flout the rules with impunity.”

Bathinda, June 6
The contract of doctors working in the rural areas of Punjab has been extended by a month. The three-year contract of doctors working under the Zila Parishad had expired on May 31. The doctors said that according to the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations, any employee working on a consolidated sum for three years is to be regularised in service. But it had not happened in their case, they rued.

“We are trying to fix up an appointment with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to discuss the matter because during our hunger strike, he had promised to regularise our services after the Lok Sabha elections. We are holding a general house meeting on June 9 in Sector 17, Chandigarh, where doctors working in rural areas of the state would gather,” said Dr Aslam Pervez, state president of Rural Medical Service Association.

Dr Aslam also said that in 2006, a letter was issued by the government, in which it was stated that the salary of rural medical officers was calculated according to the pay-scales of PCMS doctors.

In June 2006, rural dispensaries were handed over to the Zila Parishad. Around 1193 dispensaries were handed over to the Zila Parishad. “We have tried to improve the rural health of the state but if the Zila Parishads cannot take care of rural dispensaries then they should be taken over by the health department because we are suffering. Around 350-400 doctors have quit government jobs because of low salary and job insecurity,” the rural doctors added.

The rural doctors also stated that while extending their contract for a month, the government had told them that it would take a decision within 30 days as their extended contract expires on June 30.

J.S. Sandhu, financial commissioner-cum-secretary, rural development and panchayat, Punjab, when contacted, said, “We are having a look on job regularisation and salaries of rural doctors of Punjab. The government is very positive about it and it is a policy decision.”

Faridkot, June 6
A brother killed his cousin sister, a divorcee, over a property dispute at village Kaler near here, last night. The deceased has been identified as Gurcharan Kaur alias Jasbir Kaur who was divorced by her husband. After divorce, she was living in her parental village.

Gurcharan Kaur was reportedly demanding her share in the ancestral land but her cousin Sher Singh, son of Mall Singh, was opposed to it. Last night, he went to her house and allegedly killed her with a sharp-edged weapon. She died on the spot.

One Balwinder Singh, also a resident of the same village, who was coming returning home from Faridkot saw Sher Singh fleeing from the spot and informed the police. The police, after recovering the dead body, registered a criminal case under section 302 of the IPC against Sher Singh at the police station (rural). However, he was not arrested till the time of the filing of the news report. It may be mentioned that two days back, the deceased had submitted a written complaint to the police that she was receiving threats from her cousin brother and demanded adequate security for herself but the police did not act on her complaint, sources in the police station revealed.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, June 6
A motorcyclist and his pillion rider were killed while another person was run over by a train while yet another person allegedly committed suicide in different segments of Hanumangarh district during past 24 hours.

As per the available information, Balwinder Singh Chhimpa of Nagrana was going on a motorcycle along with friends Basant Singh and Hanuman Jangu to Sangria last night. They were allegedly hit by a car coming from the opposite direction resulting in the death of Basant Singh and Anil Jangu on the spot. The police have registered a case against the driver of the car.

A person who was going to Bathinda to meet his in-laws by a passenger train this afternoon was run over as he slipped at Hanumangarh junction when the train was about to stop. Reports said he belonged to Ajmer. In Goluwala area, one Ved Parkash Sewta of ward 3 allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan today in the morning. Police is investigating the case.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, June 6
Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dipender Singh Shekhawat has decided to organise a special orientation workshop for 108 legislators who have been elected for the first time.

Revealing this during the two-day national seminar on rural journalism organised jointly by Jagdish Prasad Jhabar Mal Tibdewala University and the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) in Chudela, Shekhawat also wanted to arrange a workshop for the scribes who occupy seats in the gallery to inspire them to throw light on objective decisions taken during the proceedings instead of concentrating more on the noisy scenes that rock the House.

Exhorting that the problems faced by the scribes in rural areas need to be addressed fairly, the Speaker said the IT revolution had promoted district-wise editions of most of the newspapers resulting in more space for local news.

This increased the importance of weekly and fortnightly newspapers, he said.

The NGOs should come forward to organise training for the new entrants, most of them based in villages or small towns, so as to prompt them to observe professional ethics and standards.

IFWJ general secretary Parmanand Pande said the government and society should take the initiative for the prosperity of language journalism.

Ish Madhu Talwar, president of the Rajasthan Working Journalists Union, stressed the need for skill development of able scribes based in villages.

Vinod Kumar Tibdewal, designate chancellor of the host university, said the noble profession should be made financially viable also for the rural journalists.

Vinod Tiwari, former editor of Madhuri magazine, conducted the programme.

Dainik Tribune editor Naresh Kaushal strongly criticised some of the media groups who were flooding their newspapers with obscene and sub-standard material under the pretext of demand of the readers. He also deplored the trend towards commercialisation in the media and said there was a need to guard against it.

IFWJ president K. Vikram Rao lamented that the private media houses, in fact, behaved more like petty business class, eying profit more than the social obligations.

He regretted that nobody bothered about these issues and the media had a major responsibility to create public awareness about laws, government initiatives and rights of the people. Concerted efforts need to be made to tackle the problem of drug abuse.

Moga, June 6
The police has given a clean chit to Bhagwant Singh, owner of the Janta Meat Shop, a leading meat seller of the town, who was accused of being involved in selling dead birds to the consumers.

As many as 460 dead birds were recovered by the police on a tip-off from a tempo parked outside his shop following which he was arrested and a criminal case under sections 270, 273 and 420 of the IPC was registered against him on February 25, this year.

At that time, Bhagwant had alleged that he was falsely implicated in the case due to which senior authorities of the police had marked an inquiry. The inquiry conducted by DSP (City) Bhupinder Singh revealed that Bhagwant became a victim of business rivalry by a local meat seller.

It had come out in the inquiry that Aslam, the owner of another nearby meat shop, was the actual accused who gave the orders for dead birds to implicate the owner of the Janta Meat Shop in a fabricated case with the help of his employee Somnath and Harpreet Singh, the owner of Kamra Meat Shop, Abohar.

During the course of the investigation, the police summoned call details of all the alleged accused and the driver of the tempo from which it was established that Aslam had called the tempo driver and gave the order for the supply of dead birds.

The police has now registered a criminal case of fraud against Aslam, Somnath and Harpreet. But they were eluding arrest.

On the other hand, the chemical examination report of the State Forensic Laboratory, Kharar, had also established that the dead birds were not suffering from any communicable disease.

Bathinda, June 6
In the Thursday’s incident where a baby went missing from the Civil Hospital and was recovered late at night from Barnala, the Kotwali police could not find any major fact during a daylong remand of the woman.

The police today sought a further remand of the accused woman, Kiran Kaur of Sohal Patti, but the court sent her to judicial custody for 15 days at the Central Jail, Bathinda.

The police is now looking for her husband Manpreet Singh and one Bhagwan Singh, an accomplice of Kiran. Harmeek Singh Deol, SHO Kotwali, said, “We raided the residence of all the relatives of the accused today, but did not find anyone there.”

Mansa, June 6
The Mansa police has a registered a case against a student of class X, who eloped with his teacher about a week back. The police has also registered a case against the parents of the student. According to the police, Gursharanjit Singh (17), son of Rangi Ram, a resident of Mansa, was a student of class X at Khokhar Kalan.

Veerpal Kaur (26), a teacher in the same school, is reported to have eloped with the above student.

SHO Mansa city police station Sulakhan Singh said the police had registered a case against Gursharanjit Singh, his father Rangi Ram and the mother, all residents of Mansa on the basis of the statement of Gurmeet Singh, father of Veerpal Kaur, a resident of Dheer Street in Mansa.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, June 6
The bodies of all the members of a family who had slipped into the Indira Gandhi canal along with a motorcycle have been recovered from different locations, sources said today.

As per the available information, one Krishan Lal (27) of village Bakhtawarpura reportedly borrowed a motorcycle from a friend to take his family to Raziasar on Thursday. At about 9 pm, the motorcycle slipped into the canal near 350 RD. As someone informed the police, a contingent led by SHO PD Sharma rushed and summoned professional divers for help. But the body of Krishan Lal could be fished out only at about 4 am on Friday.

While continuing the ,search the police last evening succeeded in recovering the bodies of his wife Daropadi, sons Sandeep and Kuldeep, that had got trapped in shrubs near RD 352. Suratgarh legislator Ganga Jal Meel visited village Bakhtawarpura today to console the parents of Krishan Lal and assured financial assistance on behalf of the state government.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, June 6
Three members of a family sustained injuries as they fell down from the Ahmedabad-Jammu Tawi Express train in between Dabli Rathan and Kamana railway stations on Saturday morning.

Sources said Khunja resident Patwari Ram had gone to village Kuthara in Bhuj (Kutch) area of Gujarat along with his wife Santro Devi and son Sonu, aged 10, to work as labour. As no seat was available in the crowded compartment, they were sitting near the door.

Ferozepur, June 6
The police has arrested two inter-state drug peddlers and recovered 6 kg opium from their possession. SSP Dinesh Pratap said that the two arrested drug smugglers have been identified as Devi Lal, son of Tara Chand, a resident of Dabwali in Haryana and Mod Ram, son of Thunger Ram, a resident of Churu, Rajasthan.

The SSP said that the two drug peddlers were arrested by CIA in-charge Sarabjit Singh while they were travelling in an Indica car bearing registration number DL 04 CM 1763 which was coming from the Fazilka side towards Ferozepur.

The SSP informed that a case under the NDPS Act has been registered against both the persons.