The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Malwa girl proves everyone wrong!
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bhai Rupa (Bathinda), July 26
When Kiranjeet Kaur was born some 20 years ago at the village Bhai Rupa in Bathinda district, her family, including her parents, were dismayed. She was their third daughter.

Today, watching her on TV, while participating in the march past before Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram as a member of the first batch of women constables of the Border Security Force (BSF), her family is now offering sweets to all who come to congratulate them on their daughter's grand success.

Kiranjeet is among the 178 girls who are undergoing training to serve the BSF.

Talking over phone from training camp at Kharkan in Hoshiarpur, Kiranjeet said, "I have been a tom-boy. People in my village used to object my dressing style. But my father supported me and stood beside me. It is because of him I am here."

Kiranjeet left the village when she was in class IX and joined the Nehru Garden School, Jalandhar, where she got admission under sports quota. She got selected in state's sports wing and then joined Khalsa College, Jalandhar for the higher studies. As of now she has passed BA-II year.

An upbeat BSF personnel, Kiranjeet said, "I am here to get 36-weeks of rigorous training, which I have been heartily enjoying now."

"I had set a goal in my life that I would prove everyone wrong who used to say that girls could not stand parallel to boys. Here, during training and duty, the BSF does not keep difference between boy and girl. I believe whosoever has come to know about the first women constable batch of the BSF would have got a befitting reply," said Kiran in a high spirit.

Her elder sister, Veer Pal Kaur, who is doing a fashion designing course, said, "All who had objected to her dream are now ringing up at home to congratulate us."

"My grandmother told us that when she was born everybody at home was depressed as our parents already had two daughters. But now, all are terming her as the pride of the village," said Veer Pal.

Kiranjeet's father, Maghar Singh, said, "She has achieved her goal by sheer hard work and determination."

‘Edu system needs revamp’
Anil Jerath
Tribune News Service

Dr Jai Roop Singh

Bathinda, July 26
The education system, particularly at the primary level, has almost collapsed due to the non-serious attitude of the government. Primary education in government institutions, especially in the rural areas, is for all practical purposes non-existent while in the private sector there has been undesirable commercialisation.

These views were expressed by Dr Jai Roop Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Central University, Bathinda while addressing intellectuals, writers and teachers at Teachers Home here today. He said the residents of the Malwa region were never backward in term of education instead they forgot their culture. Their mindset needed to be changed for better education in the days to come, he added.

"There are only a few Central research centres in northern India. The central government should establish more such institutes to shape up the destiny of Punjab," he added.

Terming the promotion of higher education in the state as responsibility of the Central and state governments, Central University Vice-Chancellor said it could not be shifted to the private sector. The VC said the government should provide liberal grants to the varsities across the nation for promoting higher education besides boosting research.

"The Central University's main role would be in the fields of 'environmental sciences and research and on preservation of manuscripts'," the VC said adding that admissions in any of the disciplines in the university would be on merit rather than reservations.

Earlier, welcoming Dr Jai Roop Singh, Jagmohan Kaushal, chairman, Teachers Home Management and Educational Trust, Bathinda, said his emphasis would be on class teaching and would make efforts to see that the students remain the centre of attention.

He said there was no proper structure of education, particularly at the primary level. He laid stress on value-based education. He felt that values could not be taught to children merely through books but had to be reflected through the teacher.

The speakers agreed in general that revolutionary changes were needed in the system of education to make it more fruitful.

Debt drives another farmer to end life
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 26
In yet another case of farmer suicide, a 42-year-old 'debt-ridden' farmer of Burj Mehma village in Bathinda district, ended his life by jumping into the Sirhind canal on Saturday evening. After hours-long search, the body was recovered floating in the canal, near Bir Talab village, this evening.

According to details available, Nirmal Singh was a marginal farmer, who had suffered crop losses in the past season due to natural reasons. To run the household, he borrowed about Rs.1.75 lakh from Virk Kalan branch of the State Bank of Patiala.

His kin said that unable to repay the debt, Nirmal Singh was depressed for the past few months. They said that he got another shock when his buffalo died last week.

On Saturday morning, he left his house saying he was going to purchase some cattle but did not return till evening. Family members informed their relatives and villagers and started a search for him.

His kin found his body floating in the canal near village Bir Talab this afternoon. Meantime, volunteers of an NGO reached the spot and informed the police. The body was then taken to Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

When contacted, ASI Baldev Singh, in-charge, Canal Colony police post said, "The bereaved family has spoken about the debt burden on the deceased. Meanwhile, we have received information that before jumping into the canal, he consumed liquor. So we have initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC."

Villagers informed that Nirmal Singh was the younger brother of Gurmel Singh, an activist of the Bharti Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan).

Expressing grief over his death, some farmer unions representatives, speaking over the phone, urged that the district administration should come forward to lend help to the bereaved family.

The deceased is survived by his mother, wife and two children.

Malwa diary
Pilgrim’s progress underway in Sawan

Children Traffic Training Centre at the Rose Garden in Bathinda is in poor shape due to the negligence of Municipal Corporation. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

With the Shravan (Sawan) underway, the devotees have kickstarted pad-yatras and bicycle yatras to the shrines of deities located in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. The major destination for such yatras had been Chintpurni about 30 km away from Hoshiarpur, the last town of Punjab bordering the hilly state.

Pandit Mai Dass, a Kalia Saraswat Brahman, is believed to have established this shrine to Mata Chintpurni Devi in Chhaproh village 26 generations ago. Since the yatras by Kanwarias to Neelkanth Mahadev temple located 16 km away from Rishikesh is almost over, it is now the turn of devotees, who worship the goddess. A group of bicycle yatris from Padampur in Rajasthan entered Punjab to cover 375 km distance with brief night halts in the state. The number of such enthusiastic jathas is expected to multiply in coming days.

The devotees from Abohar and Malout had jointly raised a Dharamshala at Jawalamukhi, 15 km away from Chintpurni.

— Raj Sadosh

Acute shortage of coins in Fazilka

There is an acute shortage of coins rupees one, two and five in Fazilka market since long. Now, the five rupees currency notes have also disappeared from the market for the last 3-4 months.

Five rupees notes and coins are not available with any branch of the banks here including the State Bank of India, the only bank having currency chest facility.

Now, the retailers are approaching the management of the temples and Gurudwaras for change. Due to the shortage of coins and change, the black marketers have a field's days, as they offer the change at a premium of Rs 5 to 10 per one hundred rupees.

"We have no other alternative but to purchase the coins of Rs 95 by paying Rs 100," said Ashwani Kumar, a retail karyana merchant. Sometimes, it causes wordy duel between the shopkeepers and customers, added Kumar.

"The Reserve Bank issues coins and five rupees note to the bank branches situated in big cities but the branches in small towns and the rural areas are deprived of it," said a cash manager of a bank on condition of anonymity. Satish Kumar Dhingra, general secretary, Beopar Mandal, Fazilka, has demanded that Reserve Bank authorities immediately release coins of one, two and five rupees and five rupee currency notes for smooth transaction of the business of small shopkeepers.

— Praful Chander Nagpal

Children Traffic Centre in shambles

The Children Traffic Training Centre at the Rose Garden here is in poor shape courtesy utter neglect meted out to it by the authorities concerned of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation. Almost all the boards meant for displaying the traffic rules to be followed at different places, like school, hospital or courts, are either in tatters or simply not there.

The stands meant for the purpose are thus lying useless. Apart from that, rules painted on the metalled pathways have faded with time and are asking for a fresh coat. Worst, there is no one to guide a visitor if he has a query. With this, the whole purpose of setting up the structure stands defeated.

A symbolic tunnel at the training centre is utilised by the visitors to the Rose Garden as a convenient place to empty their bladders. A public convenience facility is there but it only dares a person to use it by emitting extremely foul smell.

The only thing that is okay at the park is the benches fixed under the shade of trees.

These are utilised well by visitors or the Rose Garden staff wishing to take some rest or escape the blistering sun. Love-birds escaping the 'bad' world outside find them convenient to enjoy some private moments. A class IV employee of the Rose Garden said that for the past some months, the traffic park was being used only to organise traffic camps for the benefits of bus or truck drivers.

Since young minds are more receptive, the park was raised with an
aim to ingrain traffic sense among them. It is only hoped that wisdom dawns on the BMC officials concerned soon and the resources are not let gone waste.

— Harbinder Singh

Muktsar farmers reel under debt and despair
Ravi Dhaliwal

Muktsar, July 26
Muktsar, once perceived to be a prosperous region of south west Punjab what with even middle class farmers flouting their affluence in the not so distant past, is now a district deep in debt and despair.

Waterlogging has meant an epidemic of suicides, many of them being recorded officially, many of them not. Vast stretches of land have become waterlogged wastelands and as an agricultural expert pointed out, even the trees have stopped bearing fruit because the heavy use of pesticides has killed the pollinators--- the bees and the butterflies. Here, several tractor agencies, once considered to be the backbone of the agriculture sector, have closed down because there are no buyers for these vehicles. There were more than three dozen such agencies spread in the blocks of Gidderbaha, Lambi, Malout and Muktsar town. However, the number has now dwindled to double digits and many more are on the verge of closure.

"This is a fact that farmers do not have the money to buy," said Sadhu Singh, a farmer whose prosperity in his village -Gulabewala — was once well known. However, massive debts run up by him and many others of his ilk in this district have meant that now for them, adversity is their only ally. Shiv Charan Brar is a noted agriculturist of the region, whose work on waterlogging prevention is well known.

He says the closure of tractor agencies is symbolic of a larger malady being faced by the farming community. "Companies have stopped sending top quality consumer items to this district because people don't have enough purchasing power to buy them. The health of the farmers, which constitute more than 70 per cent of the total population, is now deteriorating because earlier, the farmers and his family consumed milk. However, now the farmer has no option but to sell the same milk because it is essential to his economic survival." Earlier, wards of middle class farmers were sent to schools outside the district which imparted quality education. However, the exodus of children to schools outside the district has stopped because a majority of the farmers can not afford such education. Says an officer, on conditions of anonymity, "All this has led to a high dropout rate among the students after they complete their Plus 2. "

In this district, agriculture has become a negative economy with farmers spending more on production than the price they receive for their produce leading to massive debts and suicides. Says Mokham Singh of Fatah Kherra village, one of the worst affected villages in the district due to waterlogging, "We have to take loans to service our debt.

The more we do that the more we are caught in a vicious circle. The clock is ticking fast against the natural resources, whatever is left of them. There is rampant unemployment leading to frustration among the youth. This, is turn, is forcing our children to resort to drugs. "

Private dental, medical colleges seek uniform fee structure
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, July 26
The private unaided medical and dental colleges in the state are at loggerheads with the government once again as they have decided to refuse admission to the students already admitted against the government quota seats by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) on existing fee structure. In a meeting of their association held here on Sunday, the heads of these colleges, while demanding a rationlised fee structure for government and management quota seats, said that unless the government accepts their demands, they would not admit the students, who have been selected during the counseling held on July 18, 2009 by the university.

Speaking on behalf of the association, Dr Kamal Baghi said at present, the fee structure was different for government and management quota seats. The fee for 50 per cent government quota seats is Rs 63,250 per annum whereas for 35 per cent management quota seats, it is Rs 2.30 lakh for dental colleges. The average fee for these seats comes out to approximately Rs 1.4 lakh.. The rest of 15 per cent seats are reserved for NRI students.

Baghi said as per directions of the Supreme Court, the fee structure for government and management quota seats should be same, adding that the differential fee structure has been out rightly rejected by the apex court while terming the Unnikrishnan case as unconstitutional. He said due to differential fee structure in Punjab, the dental colleges in the state were attracting lesser number of students as the poor students migrate to neighboring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, where the fee was same for all the seats. He said on this account, the private dental colleges in Punjab were incurring a revenue loss of Rs 23 crores. The fee for management quota seats was around Rs 1.60 lakh in Haryana, Himachal and UP as compared to Rs 2.30 lakh in Punjab, which is on the higher side, he added.

Demanding uniform fee structure from the current session, the association members said the state government should immediately direct BFUHS to fill the entire management quota seats.

In the meeting, it was also decided that if the state government agrees to rationalise the existing fee structure, the private colleges in the state will offer 5 seats each in all the 12 private dental colleges to the students belonging to EWS families free of cost.

Heavy traffic adds to woes
Bumpy ride for residents on potholed roads in Muktsar
Ravi Dhaliwal

Muktsar, July 26
Muktsar boasts of being the home district of the present chief minister of Punjab, who has ruled the state for four terms, and a former one too. If the present finance minister of Punjab is added to the list, the district's political link appears to be all too strong.

But despite this, residents here are irked over the fact that there is not even a single politician or official ready to listen to their grievances as far as the condition of roads in the city is concerned.

The pitiable condition of the road leading from the city to Bura Gujjar village, on which several schools and gas agencies are located, has to be seen to be believed. Some months earlier, the authorities concerned had laid sewerage pipes but the road is yet to be relaid posing serious problems to the locals.

A parent of a kid studying in one of the schools located near the road, which is more of a dusty and kuchcha track, said he and the other parents urged the authorities on many occasions to get the roadre-carpeted but to no avail.

Added Gurpreet Singh Gill, secretary of the District Youth Congress Committee, " We have petitioned the authorities concerned on innumerable occasions but all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Now we have decided to stage a dharna to ensure that the administration wakes up and listens to our grievances."

The condition of this road has turned from bad to worse with lorries carrying gas cylinders to the agencies located on the road often eating into whatever has been left of the road.

Another potholed road is the one running from Kotkapura Chowk till the Muktsar-Bathinda main road. The condition of this road is so bad that residents don't speed their vehicles for fear of meeting with an accident. Repair on the road had actually started some months ago but work came to a standstill just before the Parliamentary elections in May this year and work has not yet been restarted.

However, what takes the cake is the stretch on the Muktsar-Malout road starting from the PAU Krishi Vigyan Centre to the local bus stand. This three kilometer stretch is the lifeline of this city but because of the bad condition of the road, it has become accident-prone.

The heavy traffic on this road only adds to the woes of the residents. The office of the Income Tax department and three large marriage palaces are located on the road which has been given the sobriquet of 'killer road' by the locals.

No development in Ferozepur, govt lax
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, July 26
Abysmal is the word that can describe the status of infrastructure in Ferozepur. Things are so appalling that this border city can hardly be compared to any other small towns, what to talk about major cities of the state? Even though, it enjoys the status of divisional and district headquarters, however, it has become more of a 'Kasba' as development and growth has continuously evaded this city, which overnight became a border town after independence.

Thanks to the government's apathy and step motherly treatment, even most of the sanctioned projects are still hanging in abeyance. The Circuit House, foundation stone of which, was laid by the former chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, is far from complete. The chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal had laid the foundation stone of the railway overbridge connecting city and the cantonment area last year, but nothing seems to have moved beyond files.

This hundred years old bridge reminiscent of the British times, which has already outlived its life seems to have become a victim of the procedural wrangles. The work on the construction of the Judicial Complex, the foundation of which was laid by the chief Justice Vijender Jain in presence of senior civil, police and army officials, besides, a battery of senior High Court judges, stands stalled for the last two years owing to the last minute stumbling blocks hurdled by the local military authorities, which were not looked into beforehand.

While all the new districts carved out of Ferozepur boats of sprawling administrative complexes, this district headquarters sans one. The Mini-Secretariat could not be constructed here till date for want of the suitable land and paucity of funds. Many a times, proposals have been sent to the state government, however, nothing tangible has come out yet.

The Rai Sikh Bhawan, which was constructed near Dusshera Ground by efforts of Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi MLA, is still incomplete. The only stadium of the town and its adjacent Indoor stadium hall desperately needs repairs. The Zila Parishad swimming pool, constructed during hey days of the British Raj is also in shambles.

Last year, the CM Parkash Singh Badal had announced setting up a Government College for which the land had also been arranged on the Zira road, however, the college project is yet to see the light of the day. Till date, there is no government college offering post graduate or vocational courses at this station.

The potable water supply, sanitation and sewerage facilities are crying for attention. The roads are dotted with potholes and cesspools of slush impede the flow of traffic. The main circular road of the town is in bad shape.

There is no industry worth the name. Most of the small scale units established here have already been closed or else are on the verge of closure. A visit of the local industrial area sums it up all, as it wears a total desolate and deserted look. In absence of any night bus and train service, the connectivity to other towns is also often a problem, especially, for the poor patients, who have to engage costly cabs in event of emergency. The age old Municipal town hall stands mute witness to the decay. The municipal councilors instead of thinking about the development are busy fighting over petty political issues. Ever since, the municipal elections were held two years ago, the post of the President MC is lying vacant due to squabbling amidst local BJP leaders.

Even the Ferozshah Anglo Sikh war museum on the Ferozpur-Moga road portrays a picture of neglect. It seems that the successive central and state governments have escaped the responsibility of developing this historic border town in a similar fashion, as did the " Sikh Generals", who deserted the brave soldiers during Anglo Sikh war, in memory of whose this museum was constructed.

When contacted, DC Kamal Kishore Yadav said that he will put his best efforts to ensure that the pending projects are completed. He also assured that all other infrastructural issues would also be taken up at priority with the state government.

Funds run short to construct kitchens at govt schools in Moga
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, July 26
Funds provided by the union government to make kitchens-cum-storehouses in the government schools for providing mid-day meal of good quality on time to the schoolchildren were not enough to construct the building structures.

As per the details available, the government has provided a total sum of Rs 2.40 crore at the rate of Rs 60,000 each to as many as 111 primary and 229 upper-primary government schools in the Moga district.

The construction work has already begun on this project but the heads of the schools, the executing agency, were finding it difficult to complete the construction work due to cost over-run of the project.

Balwinder Singh, principal of the Government Senior Secondary Girls' School of Kot-ise-Khan while speaking to The Tribune revealed that the actual cost of constructing kitchen-cum-storehouse was estimated at Rs 90,000 but he had received only Rs 60,000 that has made it very difficult to complete the work.

"We have called a meeting of the parents and teachers association requesting the members to raise funds to complete the task, otherwise the work cannot be completed with the available funds," he said.

Most of the heads of the schools with whom this correspondent interacted further revealed that the brick-kiln owners were not giving them the bricks at the rates notified by the district administration, which has also increased the cost of the project. The district magistrate had recently notified the rates of bricks at Rs 2,460 per 1000 bricks but most of the brick-kiln owners were allegedly not abiding by the orders of the administration.

Pradip Kumar, head master of the Government High School Kot-ise-Khan alleged that he bought the bricks from a local kiln owner. "Though, we have not yet paid the bill but the kiln owner is adamant to take Rs 3,100 per 1000 bricks instead of the notified rates," he alleged. The basic reason of the cost over-run of these projects is that the survey in this regard was conducted in the year 2002-2003 and over the years no fresh surveys were conducted to revise the cost of construction work in accordance to the price index.

The labour and material components of the construction works were not fixed by the government so that the executing agencies could dovetail it with any other ongoing scheme.

ATMA launches beneficial schemes for farmers
Our Correspondent

Mansa, July 26
Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and the agriculture department have been making the farmers aware to get more production and benefit from different crops.

In the Mansa district, ATMA had launched schemes for the benefit of the farmers. In this regard, a one member team of ATMA had done some experiments to get more production from crops.

Dr Devinder Singh, Research Director, Delhi, had visited some places in Mansa to inspect the experiments which were being done about different crops. Chief agriculture officer of Mansa, Devinder Singh and the agriculture officers Jagtar Brar also visited Mansa villages where experiments are being done. This team went to Dhepai village and inspected the direct sowing of paddy.

ATMA had provided financial help of Rs 4,000 per acre to the farmer whose farm was used to conduct the experiments. Agriculture officer Jagtar Brar said there is a saving of 30 per cent water and Rs 2,000 labour after one acre by direct sowing system.

A team of the agriculture officials also visited Hodlan Kalan village in the farm of a farmer Manmohan Singh where farm school was organised to inform the farmers about kharif crops and benefits of the controlled use of pesticides and fertilisers.

BMC councillor booked for duping
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 26
Kotwali police booked Jasweer Kaur, Congress councillor from ward number 4 of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with three other accused of duping one Rajeev Kumar of Mehna Chowk.

In the police complaint, Rajeev Kumar alleged that Jasweer Kaur, Anil Kumar Singla, Naresh Kumar and Rakesh Kumar, all resident of Bathinda, duped him of Rs 15.5 lakh. About their modus operandi, he alleged that they all were impersonating the real owner of land, and used to issue fake affidavits to dupe others. Investigating the case, police booked all of them under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC.

Two injured in road mishap

Bathinda, July 26
A private bus plying on the wrong side crushed two scooterists near Sukhraj theatre in Bathinda on Sunday evening.

The injured were identified as Deepak Kumar and Saman Deep of Bathinda.

According to the volunteers of Sahara, one of the injured, Deepak sustained multiple fractures on his leg and arm.

Sources said that the bus was of Fateh Transport, belonging to a ruling party leader. While parking the bus inside the theatre, the driver flouted the rules which led to the mishap, sources said. — TNS