Kahnuwan, July 26
More than 1,000 teachers from various parts of Punjab today carried out flag march in about 17 villages of Kahnuwan assembly segment to expose the anti-teacher and anti-education policies of the SAD-BJP government and to put pressure on the government to accept their genuine demands.

The teachers took the opportunity to display their resentment ahead of the assembly byelection in Kahnuwan, which will go to polls on August 3. Currently, the campaigning is going on in full swing.

The teachers, who carried out flag march in the villages, jammed traffic at two places and held a protest rally on the call given by the Primary and Elementary Education Bachao Front, Punjab, threatened to carry their protest to Jalalabad, which is also going to polls, on July 29 if their demands were not met. Former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is contesting from Jalalabad.

Addressing the rally, the leaders of the front, said that all the teachers must be given salaries as per the recommendations of the pay commission. Not only this, the teachers must be given all the allowances recommended by the pay commission. The head teachers should be given separate pay scales.

They demanded that timing of education in primary schools must be less than the timing of education in secondary schools. The board exams of fifth class must be conducted by Directorate Primary Education, Punjab, instead of Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan (SSA).

All the teachers working under the category of service providers, teacher fellow and computer teachers, must be given regular pay scales after regularising their services. All the vacancies of central head teachers, head teachers and block primary education officers must be filled without any delay.

Without salary for 3 months

Batala, July 26
Great resentment prevails among the teaching and non-teaching staff members of the privately-managed government-aided schools of Gurdaspur as their monthly salaries have not been released since April 1 by the finance department, Punjab.

In this respect, a large number of teaching and non-teaching members of about fifty such schools of Gurdaspur held a meeting here on Sunday in the premises of Guru Nanak Khalsa Senior Secondary School, (Narowal) Batala.— OC

Pathankot, July 26
A mother along with her two minor daughters committed suicide by jumping in a canal near Malipur 6 km from here on late Saturday night.

The bodies of the woman, identified as Asha Rani (37), and her daughter Arooshi (12) have been recovered from the canal. While the body of another daughter Avani (8) could not be traced as yet.

According to people they saw a woman along with her two daughters standing on the bank of the canal but all of a sudden woman taking both her two daughters jumped into the canal.

Some people informed the Sujanpur police which rushed to the spot.

Naresh Kumar, brother of Asha and resident of Padia Lari of Sujanpur block, after getting information of the tragic end of his sister and her two daughters reached the venue and lodged a complaint with the police against the in-laws of her sister.

Asha Rani was married to Jagdish Raj, resident of ward number 10 of Kathua (J&K) 12 years ago.

ASI Gurbachan Singh, investigating officer of this case, said Naresh had alleged that his sister was being harassed and tortured by her in-laws for having no son. She had became mentally upset because of the in-laws.

The police acting on the complaint of Naresh Kumar has booked four members of the family of Asha’s in-laws. They are Jawahar Lal, Joginder Pal, Shashi Pal (all brothers-in-law) and Jyoti (sister-in-law) under sections 306-34 of the IPC.

Amritsar, July 26
Fiftysix-year-old Dalbir Kaur of Janidala Guru here got a new lease of life after undergoing a rare brain surgery at Fortis Escorts Hospital. A team of experts performed the surgery on Dalbir who suffered from giant aneurysm (outpouching of artery).

Explaining this disease, one of the experts said these giant aneurysms if not treated could cripple a person for life, led to loss of vision. Moreover, people with such big aneurysms usually die undiagnosed, he added.

According to the expert, aneurysms in brain occur in one out of 10,000 people and such giant aneurysms occur in one out of 10 lakh individuals with a high death rate of more than 90 per cent.

The surgery, which is claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, was performed by Chief Neurosurgeon Dr Raj Kamal, Dr Pankaj Goel, Chief Cardiac Surgeon Dr Rajesh Arora and his team of Cardiac Anesthesiologists. The brain aneurysm was measured 5.1x4.9x3.6 cm3.

Dr Kamal said there was a high risk as the patient would have died because of bleeding from aneurysm. So in order to prevent blood loss, the patient was put on a cardio pulmonary bypass and blood was diverted through the machine and temperature of the body lowered to 18 degree Centigrade, he added.

This made the heart of the patient to beat minimally and bring her blood flow to a very slow pace which made the aneurysm clipable, Dr Kamal said. 

Amritsar, July 26
The district police today claimed to have busted a gang of auto-lifters active in the city and recovered 10 motorcycles from them. The police party, headed by Neeraj Kumar, SHO Vijay Nagar police station near Sun City amusement park, signaled two motorcyclists to stop.

During questioning, they failed to produce the registration certificate of the vehicle (no. PB02-AQ-8588), which was found to be stolen.

The accused were identified as Balwinder Singh of Guru Harsahai Avenue, Majitha Road and Jyoti, alias Bhima, of Subash Colony, Majitha Road.

During investigations, two more accomplices of the accused, identified as Soni of Mustfabad and Ajay Kumar Nepali of Sandhu Colony, Batala Road, were nabbed.

As many as 10 motorcycles were recovered from the accused. The arrested persons confessed that these motorcycles were stolen by them from Majitha Road bye-pass, Gopal Mandir, Lawrence Road, Company Bagh, Shivala Mandir and Batala Road.

A case under sections 379, 411 and 420 of the IPC has been registered at police station Sadar (Vijay Nagar) while further investigations were on, said the police authorities.

Nawanshahr: The police claimed to have busted an inter-district gang of motorcycle lifters by arresting five persons, Gurdev Singh, alias Rinku, Tarsem Chand, alias Sema, Joginder Pal, alias Pali, Gurmit Singh, all residents of Phagwara, and Tirath Ram of Chhokeran village (Phillaur) and recovered 10 stolen motorcycles and seized two country-made pistols, besides three cartridges, from them.

SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said the gang was active in Goraya, Phagwara and Ludhiana. They snatched motorcycles and mobiles at pistol point, said the SSP, adding that one of their accomplices was under treatment at CMC, Ludhiana. He was injured by gang leader Gurdev Singh, alias Rinku, as a dispute occurred between them over distribution of money earned from the stolen motorcycles. A case under sections 399, 402 and 379 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered.

Hoshiarpur, July 26
A deputation of a joint-action committee of the National Trade Unions Branch, Jalandhar, met Labour Welfare Minister Tikshan Sud here today, in connection with the implementation of labour laws in the private industrial units, in true spirit.

The deputation alleged that none of the industrialists had implemented the labour law, on account of which their workers were deprived of their legal rights. They also provided a list of all those industrial units of Jalandhar which had not given wages to their workers despite the orders of the court.

They urged the minister to get the labour laws implemented in all the industrial units and get the wages of the above said workers released.

The minister assured the deputation to do the needful in this regard, as early as possible.