Bathinda, June 7
Thanks to city cops, who, after receiving a lot of criticism due to the steep rise in theft and burglary cases, have finally taken the matter seriously and launched a special drive to make people aware about the necessary precautions.

In an attempt to curb the menace, the cops have started holding Nukkad meetings. One deputy superintendent of police and the station house officer along with the in-charge of that particular police post is to arrange a meeting in areas with 20-25 households and urge them not to leave their houses unmanned.

Informing about the special drive, Harmeek Singh Deol, SHO Kotwali, said, “Apart from making a request to all to inform the police while leaving the station, we are offering them special security persons to man their premises while they are away.”

During the public meetings, residents are being assured of heightened police
patrolling in their locality, if there are some past incidents of thefts and burglaries
in the area.

It may be mentioned that for the past fortnight, city residents are reeling under terror as hardly a day has passed without snatching, theft, burglary and house breaking incidents not occurring in the city.

Ironically, the city has witnessed incidents where the thieves have targeted the residences of cops.

Bathinda, June 7
The state government’s innovative step of launching the EDUSAT scheme for its students has been beneficial for many.

However, there are some schools in rural areas that do not have internet connectivity and the scheme has been of no use to the students of these schools.

The Punjab government’s step was an experiment in teaching. The EDUSAT’s main motive was to introduce the students to technology, upgrading their knowledge in various subjects by delivering lessons through a screen installed in classroom, which is connected to the internet.

The lessons are given by special resource persons from Chandigarh, sources from the education department said.

Thousands of students across the state are deriving benefit from this Rs 12-crore
project. Almost all senior secondary schools of Bathinda have been covered under
the scheme.

“There are around 248 senior secondary schools in this district and out of them, 245 are deriving benefit from the scheme while the other three at Kothe Amarpura, Kothe Kalyanke and Nangla villages do not have enough students and are too small to run the EDUSAT classes,” Amardeep Singh from the education department said.

Students are taking advantage of this scheme even during their vacation. “We take special classes for science students during their vacations. This scheme has started from this session. Government school students are economically backward and cannot afford tuitions or enrollment in coaching centres. We teach them through the EDUSAT. Students from private schools can also attend these classes. No fee is charged. There are about 10 schools in the city where we give EDUSAT classes from 8 am to 11 am,” said Prabhjeet Kaur, district coordinator of the scheme.

This project was launched by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Mohali this year. He had promised to recruit 14,000 new teachers, including 1000 teachers exclusively for English, and he kept it.

While senior secondary schools are taking advantage of this scheme there are some schools that do not have a landline telephone required for an internet connection.

Davinder Singh, a teacher at a government school in Raiyya village, said, “We cannot run this scheme in our school as there is no landline telephone connection. Our phone was taken back recently because of some problem.”

Sources said there were some villages in far-flung areas that cannot take benefit of this scheme, as their telephone exchange does not support an internet connection.

“A meeting of all school heads was held on May 19, in which it was decided that
everyone would get internet connections and computers to support the scheme,”
Prabhjeet said.

Bathinda, June 7
After lodging a dharna outside the Government Railway Police (GRP) station here for two days, agitators of Sewewala village today managed to get Jagmeet Singh behind the bars.

Jagmeet was absconding in a case of abetment of suicide, which was lodged on May 10 with the GRP staff.

As per the details available, 32-year-old Lakhveer Singh had reportedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train on the Bathinda-Ferozepur track late on the night of May 9.

He took the step allegedly after finding his wife Sukhweer Kaur alias Jasveer in a compromising position with her paramour Jagmeet at his own house in the village.

Lakhveer worked as a share-cropper with Jagmeet, a farmer in the village. Due to latter’s frequent visits to Lakhveer’s house, he reportedly developed illicit relations with his wife.

After Lakhveer came to know about his wife’s extra-marital affair, he reportedly asked her to mend her ways.

Failing this, he brought the matter to the notice of the village Panchayat. The Panchayat members intervened but allegedly she did not relent.

Late on May 9 evening, when Lakhveer entered his house, he reportedly found his wife and her paramour in a compromising position. He asked them to mend their ways and end their relationship.

Police sources said after being caught red-handed, Sukhweer told her husband that she could not live without Jagmeet.

Then both of them insulted Lakhveer and instigated him to end his life. Following this, he left the house and late at night, his body was found on the Bathinda- Ferozepur railway track.

Confirming the details, Kuljeet Singh, SHO GRP, said, “We had lodged a case of
abetment to commit suicide under section 306 of the IPC against Sukhweer Kaur
and Jagmeet Singh. Whereas Sukhweer was arrested on May 29 Jagmeet has been
arrested today.”

Villagers had lent best of their support in Jagmeet’s arrest, as they nabbed him from village and handed him over to the police, the SHO added.

Bathinda, June 7
Irked due to the alleged callousness of the state government towards the development of the Bathinda Focal Point, a local entrepreneur on Saturday gave a letter to deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in which he reminded him about the unconditional support that they had lend to the SAD (B) following his assurance of developing the Focal Point.

Words used in the letter expressed their displeasure against the BJP leadership. It states, “The Bathinda Focal point is in a pathetic condition just because the concerned minister is of the BJP. The city is without any strong BJP leader, who could pursue their case with him. We are being neglected as Manoranjan Kalia, minister for industries, distributed money only where his party has firm hold.”

Sukhwinder Singh Jaggi, the entrepreneur, alleged that funds had been released for the focal points that were already developed.

“For Jalandhar, Rs 8 crore has been given; for Ludhiana, a sum of Rs 7 crore was disbursed; and for Amritsar, an amount of Rs 5 crore has been released. But for Bathinda, not even a single penny has been released,” he alleged.

Jaggi reminded Sukhbir about the promises he had made during his visit to the Focal point in February this year.

He had assured of providing proper water supply, road links, sewerage disposal and giving it a shape of Model Focal Point.

Jaggi urged the deputy chief minister to look into the pathetic condition of the Bathinda Focal Point.

It may be mentioned that managing director of the PSIEC has sent a scheme worth Rs 4 crore for the development of Bathinda Focal point, which is still to be looked into by the minister’s office.

Bathinda, June 7
Like every year, this year, the result in English subject of Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) students saw a decline. Reason stated for this shortcoming by various teachers was that Punjab did not recruit an English teacher for a long time.

Jagjit Singh Sidhu, deputy director, school education, when contacted, said, “Yes, we did not have English teachers in Punjab before October last year when we recruited around 1000 English teachers for high schools. Senior secondary schools have English teachers but schools below that did not have English teachers. Even after recruiting 1000 teachers, we have not been able to give teachers to all the schools but we have sent a requirement to the Board and once it gets cleared by the cabinet, then we would recruit more teachers and I hope that the demand gets approved soon.”

Darshan Singh Maur, a teacher in the DIET centre said, “Social science masters teach English to students which is the prime reason why English result is declining every year. These teachers earlier did not even get any specific training to teach English but recently they have been imparted training to teach this subject. Students of Class V, when they go to Class VI, do not know how to read Punjabi, leave English.”

Jaswant Singh, a social science teacher in the government school of Mehma Sarja village, when contacted, said, “I am a social studies teacher and am supposed to teach English. I am not well versed with English but I have to teach. The syllabus taught to students is of a high level.”

Sources agreed to this fact that syllabus of English taught in PSEB schools is of the graduation level.

“My wife teaches English in a PSEB school and she keeps saying that the syllabus taught in schools is of graduation level. She has to read at home before teaching at her school and still finds it difficult to pronounce many words,” Maur added.

Teachers felt that English should be taken up as an important subject at the primary level to solve the problem of declining English result in PSEB schools.

Sources from Parho Punjab project told this correspondent that English has been given utmost importance at primary level from this session which would improve the standard of this subject but it would take atleast three to four years, teachers felt.

Fazilka, June 7
To celebrate the 70th anniversary (Foundation Day) of the Ram Narain Periwal Clock Tower, Fazilka, considered to be the glory of the town, a special programme was organised by the NGOs, Students for Society Organisation and Sarhad Social Welfare Society on the clock tower premises.

The ritual was performed by Nivedan Kumar, priest of Arya Samaj, Arya Nagar.

Besides the officer-bearers and members of NGOs, the town residents, Anil Sethi, president, Municipal Council and Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, district president, BJP, presided over the function. Gajanand Periwal, Kirti Periwal, Mohan Lal Periwal, Anand Periwal, the descendants of old-time philanthropist late Seth Ram Narain Periwal in whose memory the clock tower was constructed on June 6, 1939, were also present on the occasion.

The family of Ram Narain Periwal had inspired and sponsored the project then.

The clock tower of Fazilka is famous for its unique design and masonry. Visitors from far off areas come to see this clock tower which is a symbol of rich cultural heritage of this historical town.

The photograph of this antique piece adorns the Punjab Art Gallery at Chandigarh. It is said that one such clock tower of almost the same design is also situated in Layallpur in Pakistan.

In the earlier days, both the clock towers were popular in united Punjab.

While addressing the gathering, the MC president said that of late, the the Municipal Council, Fazilka, had taken up the initiative to preserve the clock tower by keeping it free from pollution.

The council made this area a car-free zone by setting up a barricade on all entry and exit points of the clock tower.

While celebrating the Foundation Day, the two NGOs led by its presidents Pardeep Jain and Rakesh Nagpal demanded of the Municipal Council president that a library be set up in the base of the clock tower.

The control of the library should be handed over to the Students for Society Organisation, the NGOs said.

They also demanded that a person be deployed for maintenance of four watches installed at a height of about 100 feet. The watches remained shut very often.

The NGOs called upon the Council to ensure cleanliness of the historical monument. They have demanded that no institution or person should strictly be allowed to stick bill on the outer walls of the clock tower.

Responding to the demands, civic body chief Anil Sethi assured that all the demands would be accepted. He disclosed that with the efforts of local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani, a sum of Rs 25 lakh has been sanctioned from the Chief Minister's discretionary funds for all-round development and whitewashing of the building.

He urged shopkeepers around the clock tower to cooperate in maintaining its glory.

Other prominent citizens Istri Arya Samaj, patron Sudesh Kumari Nagpal, Social Welfare Society president Raj Kishore Kalra, Vishav Hindu Parishad district president Lila Dhar Sharma, former president, Bar Association, Rajesh Angi, among others were also present and spoke on the occasion.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, June 7
Village Rohranwali, located on Hanumangarh-Abohar road has not got any medical practitioner but eight medicine shops are doing business there.

While bringing this startling fact to the notice of Bikaner Division Commissioner Pritam Singh during a meeting held at the chaupal, the villagers alleged that the health and police officials on this side of the inter-state border as well as in the Abohar sub-division of Punjab had failed to check the sale of drugs and narcotics notwithstanding the ceremonial claims made from time to time.

No agency had ever checked the medicine shops, poppy husk sale outlets and liquor shops located on the state highway, some of the villagers rued during such meetings held in village Dholipal and Inderpura.

The drug trafficking was the main reason for increase in incidents of bank robberies, thefts and wayside looting besides other petty crimes in this belt, they added.

The commissioner had fixed meetings under CM Ashok Gehlot's auspicious green revolution plan, "Chalo gaon ki aur" is a part of it.

The visiting officers wondered how the chemists were selling medicines without having genuine prescription slips issued by the doctors.

District Collector Naveen Jain had recently slammed the medicine sellers in some parts of the district including Sangria for unlawful practices resulting in the seizure of over a million tablets and capsules.

Taking notice of the revelations made during the meetings, the DC sought the cooperation of the common men in curbing the menace.

He had a word of appreciation for the ANM who had succeeded in ensuring 326 births during the past 12 months.

When told of the non-availability of a lady doctor in village Dholipal, he asked the Block Health Officer to appoint a trained GNM in the village.

In village Inderpura, the commissioner directed the rural water supply officials to make arrangements for the supply of potable water in the Dalit Colony and in desert area within the next 20 days.

The tehsildar of Sangria was asked to get all encroachments removed from the pond in village Inderpura and other public places. Most of the problems highlighted at the meetings were addressed on the spot.

The commissioner exhorted the gram panchayats to plant maximum saplings on roadside, schools, offices and other public places before the arrival of monsoon.

Abohar, June 7
One Himanshu (5) was crushed to death by a canter while his mother sustained injuries at Danewala Satkosi crossing on the Abohar-Hindumalkot road last evening, sources said.

As per the available information, Reshma Devi of village Khuyiansarwar was crossing the road along with her son after alighting from a three-wheeler.

A canter coming from the other direction hit them resulting in the death of Himanshu on the spot. Reshma was shifted to the civil hospital here with multiple injuries.

The Khuyiansarwar police have registered a case against canter-driver Subhash of Pucca Seed Farm here. He however managed to flee.

In another mishap, Gurjant Singh (35) of village Gulabewala (Sriganganagar) was killed while his co-travellers Ranjit Singh and Harvinder Singh were injured last night.

The jeep they were using collided with a milk tanker on the Abohar-Sriganganagar road. They were returning home from Muktsar. The police is investigating the case.

Abohar, June 7
Farmers of the tail-end villages, close to the Rajasthan border, again suffered a jolt as a nearly 75 feet wide breach developed in the Ramsara sub-canal near Rajanwali village last night.

The farmers had missed their turn for irrigating the recently sown Bt cotton twice earlier in less than a month.

Surprisingly, the state government, with the motive of saving water, had recently started penalising the farmers who had defied the ban on planting paddy before the June 10 deadline.

But frequent breaches have further increased the gravity of the crisis not only for fields which were to grow 'white gold' but also for about 50 rural and urban water works in the sub-division.

Even in the town area, the consumers were getting supply through taps on alternate days. The farmers criticised the irrigation department for poor maintenance while the latter put the blame on the farmers alleging theft of water. However, no case had so far been registered against the "guilty" farmers.

As per the information, the irrigation department officials confirmed having received the information about two hours after the occurrence even when the sub-canal is located just 15 km away from the divisional office here.

The department sources said they were busy in removing silt from the Daulatpura sub-canal that too had experienced a breach last week. Desilting was suspended and the gushing water from the breach was diverted to the Daulatpura sub-canal.

By that time, the orchards of Banwari Lal and Delu families had got inundated. Initial estimates indicated that water had spread over 100 acres of agricultural land that included Bt cotton fields and orchards.

Farmers of the wildlife sanctuary area were found busy in plugging the breach till Sunday evening using tractor-trailers.