|
|
|
|
Hyacinth,
filth choke Ferozepur feeder canal
Defacement
of public properties goes unchecked |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Jalalabad
by-election
11-yr-old
Dalit girl raped, four-yr-old abused
Sukhbir to Centre
Rajasthan Sikhs mull over separate RGPC
Sriganganagar to have auditorium soon
malwa diary
|
Hyacinth,
filth choke Ferozepur feeder canal
|
||
Defacement
of public properties goes unchecked
|
 Irrigation Department workers removing hyacinth from the Ferozepur feeder canal at Makhu on Sunday. Photo by writer |
Bathinda, July 19
The
blatant defacement of public property in the city is on thanks to the
apathy of the officials concerned.
Whether it is the walls of a building, electricity poles, pillar of
under-construction
overbridge or the foundation stones, people hardly miss the opportunity of utilising their thirst of publicity by way of pasting bills and posters wherever feel like.
They also appear to be oblivious of the penalty that can be imposed under the anti-defacement laws. Such reports have been carried earlier also, but to no effect.
It all began with the start of the academic session when various educational institutes pasted their colourful posters around the city, luring students. Now, it is the posters of a magic show that has been pasted across the city.
When asked, the men who were pasting the magic shows posters said, “First of all, no official concerned will ask about it. If one asks, the matter would be ‘amicably’ settled.”
Expressing anguish, Vijay Goyal, president of Sahara Jan Seva, an NGO, said, “On the one hand, our volunteers run a cleanliness drive to make the city beautiful but on the other, authorities do not even bother to check miscreants who paste fresh posters every day on public property,” adding that the officials must come out of their deep slumber and take notice of the menace.
Jalalabad
by-election
CM flays Congress for price hike, says poll a walkover
Our Correspondent
Fazilka, July 19
"I had received overwhelming support from the people in the election held in the year 1977. I am getting similar response from people of this border belt after 32 years also during the election campaign of my son Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad by-election" stated the CM Parkash Singh Badal, while addressing a large rural election gathering at village Rana, 5 kilometers from here in Fazilka sub-division.
The election programme was organised by Sandeep Gilhotra, state council member of the SAD and Parmjit Singh Shera, member Zila Parishad. He claimed that the people of area have folded such unity that they are set to give a record victory margin for Sukhbir. The CM said that all debts would be relinquished but the debt of love and affection of the people can never be repaid.
Lashing out at the Congress led Centre government for making hollow promises of solving the problems of people in 100 days, Badal said that the people have got a ‘gift’ of hike of Rs 2 and 4 per litre cost of diesel and petrol respectively.
He said that prices of basic commodities like vegetable, sugar, fruits have skyrocketed and become out of reach of the common man. He said that if such wrong policies of the Congress continued, no problem would be solved even in 100 years, not to speak of 100 days, observed Badal.
Badal claimed that unlike the representative of the Congress party, during his present tenure of two years and a half, he had come here for the fifth time to solve their problems on the spot. Punjab BJP vice-president and the local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani said that the CM had accelerated the pace of development and urged the voters to elect Sukbbir Singh Badal for maintaining the pace.
Ferozepur Lok Sabha MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, while highlighting the achievements of the Badal government said that the coalition government provided free power supply to farmers of the state, introduced Shagun, old age and widow pension schemes, introduced Rs 4 per kg flour and Rs 20 per kg pulses to the poor and other pension schemes.
Ghubaya said he had won with a thumping majority with more than 44 thousand votes in the recent Assembly elections, similarly, he called upon the people to elect the SAD chief more than the votes with he had won. Irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Shekhon, Revenue Minister Ajit Singh Kohar and senior SAD and BJP leaders also addressed the rallies. He addressed public meetings at villages of Nawan Hasta, Mauzam, Ladhuka in Fazilka sub-division.
Shaping
her own future with architecture
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, July 19
Kulwinder Kaur Dhiman, a student of first semester of diploma in
architecture, surprised her family and friends with her ‘on-scale’
model of an under-construction building of a polytechnic.
What surprised everybody more was that the girl took only four days to complete the model of the college spread in about 1500 square feet.
“I have interest in professional architecture. Earlier, I used to prepare models for B.Ed students. I have prepared about 450 small models most of which were bought from me by a book store,” said Kulwinder.
“Seeing my talent, Sarabjeet Singh Brar, chairman of the Hitech Polytechnic College at Jai Singh Wala village posed faith in me and asked me to take up this challenging task,” she said.
Narrating her experience, Kulwinder said, “Except for the college authorities, everybody discouraged me saying it was a task which only a third year diploma student could achieve, so I better drop the idea. The more they tried to demoralise me, the more it boosted my morale.”
“The model is based upon the dimensions given to me on a white paper. If one checks it, hardly a variation of a millimeter cam be found,” said a confident Kulwinder.
Satpal Singh Dhiman, the father of the girl, said, “She has a lot of determination. We have not settled the remuneration with the college for the work but generally speaking, her work has a lot of worth.”
“Kulwinder has proved that girls are not weaker than the boys. For the past three years, she has been paying her fees by herself by preparing models and charts for students of senior classes.”
Sukhmander Singh, managing director of Dr Holmes Academy, located at village Jida, who had also visited her home, said, “Impressed with her knack for dimensions, I have assigned her the task of building an on-scale model of our 7.5 acre academy.”
11-yr-old
Dalit girl raped, four-yr-old abused
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, July 19
In yet another case of crime against women, two men allegedly raped an
11-year-old Dalit girl at village Gumati Kalan in Bathinda district on
the intervening night of Friday-Saturday. Ironically, the father of the
victim has accused two persons of committing the heinous crime but the
police has booked only one.
According to the information available, Kulwinder Kaur of Gumati Kalan lodged a complaint with the police that on Friday evening, she went to sleep at her house. When she woke up at about 10 pm, she found her daughter missing. Her husband Sewak Singh had gone out of the village, so she went to a panchayat member in the village.
Villagers went out to search for the missing girl. Reaching near a drain in village, they found Jaswant Singh alias Tony of the same village committing rape with the minor girl. Finding the villagers there, he fled from the spot.
People informed the police and the mother of the victim, Kulwinder, lodged a formal complaint with the police. After hours-long investigation, the Phul police booked the accused under sections 376 and 451 of the IPC on Saturday.
Calling over the phone, the father of the girl, Sewak Singh accused police of indifference.
“My daughter told us that there were two persons but the police is not ready to include the second accused, whom she could not identify. I met the DSP and SHO of Phul but both are not giving a positive response to the complaint. I doubt some foul play on the part of the police,” alleged Sewak Singh.
When contacted, Ranbir Singh, SHO, Phul police station said, “We have registered a case on the basis of the complaint of his wife, who accused only one person. The victim was medically examined today and the report will be considered to include another accused.”
“If there were two persons, they could be accused at the time of lodging complaint. The crime is so serious that we do not want anybody to be included in the FIR without any logic,” the SHO added.
Meanwhile, sources at the Phul police station disclosed that accused Jaswant Singh was arrested today. However, the SHO did not confirm it, saying, “There are some formalities only after completing which would I be able to come on record.”
In a separate case, the Nehianwala police booked a 60-year-old man Mukhtiar Singh of village Aaklia Kalan for attempting to rape a four-year-old Dalit girl at Gurudwara Teera Wala in the village.
According to Buta Singh, SHO Nehianwala police station, on Saturday evening, Sandeep Kaur, mother of the girl, lodged a complaint with the police that she found the accused sexually abusing her daughter. On the basis of her complaint, the accused has been booked under sections 376 and 511 of the IPC. However, the accused is still at large.
|
Sukhbir to Centre
Ferozepur, July 19 Sukhbir said he was in touch with other NDA leaders and chief ministers of opposition ruled states to chalk out a collective strategy to effectively raise the issue in Parliament, so that the union government was forced to announce a compensation package for drought-hit states including Punjab. Sukhbir said the state government had requested Union Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde to enhance the power allocation from Central pool to Punjab in view of 71 per cent deficient rainfall in the state so that the standing paddy crop could be saved, adding that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherji had also been requested to ask the nationalised banks to immediately defer the recovery of farm loans in Punjab, but to no avail. Sukhbir who addressed a series of electoral rallies in the villages Janisar, Chak Janisar, Ratta Khera, Telupura, Chakki Rohi Wala, Kharunj, Mandi Amin Ganj, Halim Wala and Sahi Wala today repeatedly accused the government at the Centre of being biased towards the farmers of Punjab, saying the UPA government was playing politics by delaying declaration of drought as a national calamity. Badal also accused the Centre of reducing coal allocation to thermal plants in Punjab, resulting in power shortage, with adverse effect on paddy cultivation. He said that the Punjab government had written in advance to the power as well as coal ministry to enhance the quota of power as well as coal in the months of June, July and August keeping in view the increased requirements of power for paddy transplantation. However, on the contrary, the same was reduced just to penalise the Punjab farmers for voting in favour of the SAD-BJP alliance, he alleged. He also said that there was a deliberate delay in announcing the rollback of petro price hike, which was being done to allow multinational oil companies to make money, saying that every 24 hour delay was adding Rs 4,217 crore to the profit of the oil companies. He said that the price hike of diesel at the time of drought was a cruel joke with the already indebted farmers. Coming down heavily on the Punjab Congress leadership for being mute spectators on these crucial issues concerning the common people, Badal said the Congress leaders, who can camp in Delhi for weeks to secure party tickets, surprisingly had no time to inform their high command about the plight of farmers in the state.
|
|
Rajasthan Sikhs mull over separate RGPC
Hanumangarh/Abohar, July 19 Earlier, radical leader Daljit Singh Bittu and Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj chief Balwant Singh addressed the meeting in the Gurdwara. They alleged that the SAD and the government run by it in Punjab had violated the Hukamnama of the Akal Takht by permitting weekly Naam Charcha all over the state. Bittu further alleged that the CM Parkash Singh Badal had secretly compromised with the Dera chief during the Lok Sabha elections to secure win for his daughter-in-law from the Bathinda constituency. — OC
|
|
malwa diary
By recognising the national flags of 36 countries in just a minute’s time, a whiz kid from Bathinda, left celebrities Anu Malik and Farah Khan, awestruck last month. Abhik Jindal, over four years of age, recognised the flags, chosen randomly, during a reality show “Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega”, hosted by the celebrities on the Sony Entertainment Television. His performance won him Rs 10,000 besides, the blessings of the choreographer-turned-director Farah Khan. Pronouncing Canada as ‘Kaneda’ had amused all at the show, recalls Abhik’s father Karun Jindal, who runs a medical store in the city. The person behind Abhik’s success is his grandfather KR Jindal, who recognised and nurtured the kid’s interest. His efforts fructified in April 2008, when Abhik won a competition “Shabash India” that was telecast on Zee TV. A student of UKG in the St. Xavier's here, Abhik, has now staked a claim for an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the youngest person to recognise the national flags of 192 countries.
KR Jindal remembers the day, when his grandson came to him with a query showing him a copy of The Tribune that carried the national flags of 16 countries, participating in the Cricket World Cup, 2007. Abhik was just over two years of age at that time and since then there was no looking back for him. Now, the whiz kid has developed a new liking-- getting familiar with different models of cars. “He can recognise 50 such models,” tells his father. So much for so young, eh! It is not that Abhik is absolutely different from his peers. Like others of his age, he too loves watching cartoons for hours with Chhota Bheema and Doraemon being his favourite characters. — Harbinder Singh One fire tender for two sub-divisions
There is only one fire tender for the two sub-divisional headquarters of Fazilka and Jalalabad including about 300 villages, which is not sufficient to cater the needs of lakhs of urban and rural people. The fire tender of 1985 model is almost ramshackle. The only fire tender here has also the responsibility of extinguishing the fire in the villages of Fazilka and Jalalabad sub-divisions in a periphery of about 50 kilometers as there is no fire tender in Jalalabad. Moreover, this fire tender has to attend to VIP duties also. In case of a fire, in any part of the area or on way to VIP duty, there is an imminent risk of breakdown any-where. In the past, its water tank had started leaking many times and after repair and welding, it was rendered operational. When it goes for VIP duty, the whole of the area is left on the mercy of Almighty in case of a fire.There are scores of cotton factories and rice mills in Fazilka and Jalalabad area, which are known as cotton and paddy producing belt of Punjab. Hence, there is more threat of fire outbreak in these factories and rice mills and the necessity of equipped fire tender is felt the most. Now, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and SAD Superemo Sukhbir Singh Badal is contesting election from the Jalalabad assembly segment, the demand in Jalalabad area for a separate fire tender has again arisen. According to norms, three fire tenders are required to meet the requirements of the Fazilka and Jalalabad sub-divisions. "We had passed a resolution for purchasing a new fire tender at a cost of about Rs 9.20 lakh at a recent meeting of the Municipal Council to overcome the problems of the people,” said Anil Kumar Sethi, president of the local Municipal Council. — Praful Chander Nagpal Showing the way to overcome addiction
How many times he had been honoured by the civil administration and NGOs for his crusade against drug abuse and other evils? Tall, handsome, energetic and well-versed Sukhdev Singh Bhangu does not even remember. Having served as senior manager of the world’s fertiliser giant, Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) in his hometown Amritsar, he has recently taken over as the state marketing manager for Punjab. Bhangu had topped in the BSc (Agriculture) exam conducted by the Guru Nanak Dev University before seeking a job. Interestingly, he topped in the test conducted by the IFFCO at the national level for the recruitment of field officers. Starting his career from Rampura Phul about 30 km from Bathinda, he served in the border regions of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur. He found that drug menace was at its peak there, especially, among the youths. Realising that sports could be instrumental in diverting the attention of the youths, he obtained special permission from the IFFCO headquarters to form sports clubs in the rural areas. Convinced about his zeal and dedication, besides, fairness of the purpose, the organisation liberally released funds to enable him distribute sports kits and organise tournaments. The rural sports festival that he organised at Lopoke drew national importance because of the comprehensive participation. His book on the balanced use of fertilisers has been re-printed time and again. In an interview with this correspondent, Bhangu said he was concerned over the gravity of the drug menace in the Malwa region. Frustrated youths had further burdened their debt-ridden parents, who already led in committing suicides. He intends to give sports a boost again, will ask all the field officers to work in this direction. Malwa can get rid of drug abuse and its potential of producing good sports persons, he feels. — Raj Sadosh
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
