Bathinda, August 12
In a case of corporal punishment in schools, a private school teacher of Rama Mandi severely beat up five students belonging to the Dalit community, for making noise in the classroom.

The cane strokes were so forceful that two sticks were broken but the teacher reportedly kept beating up the students.

All the five injured students have been admitted to the Civil Hospital in Rama Mandi. Parents of the students today lodged a protest outside the school and raised slogans.

On the complaint of parents, police booked the teacher under section 323 of the IPC. However, the accused is absconding.

According to the details available, all students were of class VI of the Hindu Senior Secondary School, Rama Mandi. On Tuesday, they were making noise during the ninth period, when a Punjabi teacher Kiran Pal Kaur was delivering lecture.

Irked over the disturbance, the teacher complained to the physical education teacher Kulwinder Singh, who started beating them up.

He rained blows on their legs, arms and back. The injured students told this correspondent that two sticks were broken during the beating but the accused teacher, ignoring their cries, took a third stick but did not let them go.

All the injured students, identified as Suraj Kumar, Vikas Kumar, Rinku Kumar, Bhinder Singh and Parveen Kumar, narrated their plight after reaching home. Their parents rushed them to the Civil Hospital.

Parents of students gheraoed the school and raised slogans against the school authorities. Later, in an attempt to control the situation, the principal of the school terminate the services of the accused teacher. The agitating parents accused Kulwinder Singh of improper behavior towards the Dalit students.

When contacted, SHO Rama Mandi police station, Jaswinder Singh said, “We have booked the accused teacher under section 323 of the IPC. Despite conducting raids twice at his place, we could not nab him yet.”

On his part, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Rahul Tewari said, “We are taking the matter seriously. Whatever action can be taken against the accused teacher under the provisions of law, will be done. He will definitely not be spared for his misdeed.”

Bathinda, August 12
With the swine flu toll touching 15 and number of cases reported already crossing the 1000 mark in the country, the health department of the city says that it is all set to tackle a possible outbreak of the disease in the city.

Dr Neelam Bajaj, civil surgeon, Bathinda, today requested all sections of the city not to panic as not a single positive case of the flu has been reported in Bathinda. She also assured that the Civil Hospital was prepared to handle a swine flu case and that there was no shortage of Tamiflu tablets and preventive precautions. The isolated ward was in place and a doctor would be put on duty 24X7 to deal with the case.

Meanwhile, the civil surgeon clarified that N95 masks are specific masks to be used by doctors. Handkerchief would suffice for people.

Private practitioners in the city also urged people not to panic saying there was nothing to be worried about.

However, certain points to be followed at this time as suggested by various doctors of the city were: Wash your hands with soap at regular intervals; do not shake hands with people often; and avoid crowded places. Some doctors also advised people to ventilate their homes in case an air-conditioner was being used and maintain good hygiene inside and outside the houses. In case there were symptoms of flu, immediately visit the civil hospital, they added.

Private doctors said they have been instructed to send a suspected case of swine flu to the Civil Hospital.

Awareness is being spread in the city by authorities of educational institutes and doctors. The Army also conducted such classes in the Bathinda military station after a suspected case was put in the isolation ward of the military hospital here.

Arun Jee, principal of the Delhi Public School, said, “We have the helpline numbers handy. We would be sending circulars to the parents about points to be followed during this time. If their child develops flu, we would ask them not to send him or her to the school.”

Moga, August 12
One patient suffering from suspected swine flu has reported to the district hospital here, today.

As per the details available, 39-year-old Gurvinder Singh, son of Gursewak Singh, a resident of Civil Lines of this town came to the emergency ward in the hospital for a medical check-up in the afternoon.

The doctors who attended on him were of the opinion that he had symptoms of swine flu. The health department immediately swung into action. The patient also revealed that one of their relatives had recently come from Australia and visited him.

The health authorities immediately admitted him to the recently established isolation ward and took his blood samples, which had been sent to New Delhi for clinical tests.

Meanwhile, the doctors had begun his treatment as per the prescribed module for the time being till the result of the clinical test. — TNS

Bathinda, August 12
Due to scorching heat, a teacher fell unconscious at a primary school in Burjgill village today.

Beena Rani, who is physically-challenged, fell unconscious and had to be put under shade as there was no electricity in the school at that time. The doctor who came to attend on her said her blood pressure was very high. The doctor told the teachers present there that Beena fell unconscious due to the scorching heat.

Teachers from the school rued that while the deputy commissioner of Faridkot had already reduced the school timings of all schools till 12:30 pm but in Bathinda, the timings were till 2 pm.

The teachers also took a dig at the Parho Punjab project being run in all government schools. “Children often complain of headaches and fever. The electricity goes at 9:30 am and returns at 12 noon, sometimes even after that. Classes under the Parho Punjab take place from 8:30 am to 11:15 am. Children are forced to sit inside the classrooms during this time. There are no generators and even the drinking water falls short as the electric motor used to supply water remain dysfunctional in the absence of power,” said Jagseer Sahota, a teacher at the school.

The teachers have appealed to the DC to reduce the school timings for primary children at least and also that the teachers be allowed to take classes in shade when electricity is not there.

Bathinda, August 12
In the sensational murder case of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, Lily Kumar, Mansa police arrested two more accused for hatching the conspiracy and recovered weapons from their possession.

With the arrest these two, the total number of accused held has reached six as the four accused of opening fire at Lily Kumar were already in police remand.

According to reliable sources in Mansa police, during interrogation, the previously arrested four accused named Makhan Singh of Sardoolgarh and Karan Singh of Jhandu ke village in Mansa for hatching the conspiracy.

As of the official statement of the police, acting upon a tip-off, SHO Sadar police station laid a trap and nabbed the accused duo near village Thoothianwali in the district, when they were going on foot. During the search, police recovered one 32 bore revolver and one .315 bore countrymade pistol.

Presenting them in the district court, police took two-day police remand of the accused.

It has also been informed that this group of culprits was the counterpart of that group, whose seven accused were arrested for hatching a foiled conspiracy to kill the manager of the Dera Salabatpura along with opening fire at a bus of Dera followers in Bathinda district.

Highly placed sources in Bathinda and Mansa police disclosed that none of the arrested accused had any personal rivalry with any Dera follower but it was just the Dera-Sikh row because of which they wanted to target the Dera followers.

During a recent press meet, the SSP Bathinda had admitted that both the groups nabbed in Bathinda and Mansa were interlinked. However, he denied disclosing the name of the radical group to which they belonged. But sources confirmed their links with a high-profile separatist group, working overseas.

When contacted, SSP Mansa, Manminder Singh said, “During the police remand, we have been doing our best to ascertain all relevant facts in this case. Following the procedural law, whosoever is found linked in this case, would be put behind the bars.”

He refused to give more details about the facts saying, “It may hamper our investigation.”

It may be mentioned that during a recently held meeting of radical Sikhs at Jidda village in Bathinda, Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Jathedar Takht Damdama Sahib had suspected Mansa police of plotting a fake case against the arrested Sikh youths. He had constituted a five-member separate committee to investigate the role of the arrested Sikhs in the Lily murder case, the finding of which is still awaited.

Bathinda, August 12
Capt Amarjeet Kumar, director general of Suraksha, an NGO of Chandigarh, held a seminar on environment protection at Bathinda Municipal Corporation premises, here today.

The seminar was arranged by the BMC, where lectures were delivered laying emphasis on conservation of water, use of renewable sources of energy, control of pollution, plantation of trees, systematic disposal of garbage and rainwater harvesting.

Among others, Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman, senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal, BMC commissioner Moneesh Kumar, EO Kamal Kant, Surinder Pal Singh and marketing executive of the NGO were present.

During the seminar, intellectuals expressed concern over the rising pollution in Bathinda and called for construction of a health park. It may be mentioned that all councillors and local intellectuals were invited for the seminar but only a few turned up. — TNS

Abohar, August 12
The officials in the Abohar Canal Division had to get discharge of water reduced by 1,500 cusecs from the Harike headworks on Tuesday night to avert a major breach in the Sarhind feeder, sources said.

The breach would have wreaked an unprecedented havoc for many areas besides suspension of supply in at least 12 canals for the next 30 days, sources said.

As per the information gathered from different sources, the pillars of the escapes (emergency gates) at Burji no. 256 that are used to divert water to the Chanderbhan drain from Sarhind Feeder during emergencies reportedly caved in after 7 pm on Tuesday. The occurrence reportedly posed threatened breach in the main canal. The officials, however, were on their heels till midnight to get discharge reduced by 1,000 cusecs, which was finally enhanced to 1,500 cusecs, sources said. The Sarhind feeder had been designed to accept 5,500 cusecs discharge, it is said.

The entire irrigation system in Abohar, Fazilka, Malout, Lambi and Gidderbaha areas is controlled by the canal division based at Abohar. There were reports that a top politician had only on Monday evening asked the officials to suspend supply of water to Abohar area and divert the same to Lambi region which raised hue and cry and even the SAD workers were soar over it. They were earlier denied water for irrigation as their share was reportedly diverted to the Eastern canal to influence the electorates during the Jalalabad bypoll, sources said.

Now, the farmers of Lambi and Abohar will sail in the same boat at least till the Independence Day, a farmer Sukhchain Singh rued. It is learnt that the escapes (emergency gates) that collapsed late on Tuesday evening were repaired a few months back and second phase was being planned for the next month.

The cave in may prove fatal for the canals/sub-canals of Abohar area. During the last few weeks, six breaches in the Malukpura distributory besides Ramsara, Panjawa and Daulatpura sub-canals were reported. Each time, the authorities had to get escapes opened to reduce supply in these canals to plug the breach. But now, in case of a breach, they will have to get the supply reduced from the headworks, which will take much time resulting in delay in plugging work.

Captain Subhash Sehgal, chief spokesman of the Rajasthan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti said the Punjab irrigation officials had to divert 1,000 cusecs of water in the Gang canal (Bikaner canal) from Mallanwala late on Tuesday night to save Sarhind feeder. This will result in total discharge of 2,600 cusecs in the Gang canal by Wednesday evening.

This will help in irrigating some areas that had been reeling under crisis for over 4-5 weeks. The caving in of escapes gives strength to the allegations over poor maintenance of the irrigation system, he observed. 

Moga, August 12
Income tax department has raided the offices of 11 brick kiln owners in Moga and Ludhiana districts, besides, a popular sweets shop and restaurant here, late in the afternoon.

Confirming this to The Tribune, KJ Singh, joint commissioner of the IT department revealed that special teams of the department had raided the offices of Makhan Lal, Arora bricks, SR bricks, Trimurti bricks, Goyal gram samiti, Om Prakash and Sumit Bansal in Moga district and Manik bricks, Surinder Singh, Babe da Bhatta and Mittal bricks in Jagraon sub-division of Ludhiana district.

Two premises of Big Ben sweet shop and restaurant situated in the main bazaar and GT road were also raided, he added. He said they had taken into custody various account statements and other related documents from all these establishments, which were being examined thoroughly.

When asked about whether they had detected any tax evasion, at the time of writing the news report, he said that calculations were still going on and it would take at least six hours to finalise the reports.

The IT official has warned all the business establishments to keep a proper record of the account statements and all other documents related to the income tax and do not indulge in tax evasion. "We will take stern action against anybody found guilty of tax evasion," he said.

Fazilka, August 12
All the medical officers and para medical staff of the local Civil Hospital comprising pharmacists, laboratory technicians and class IV employees staged a protest rally before the emergency ward. 

The rally was held to protest against alleged misbehavior, attempt to disrupt government duty and threatening of medical officer, Dr NK Sethi during emergency duty on Tuesday night, by Gurbhej Singh, a resident of village Ganguana Hasta. They demanded that interference of anti-social elements in functioning of hospital be checked forthwith.

Dr NK Sethi on Tuesday night sent a complaint to the SHO city, Fazilka, demanding stringent action against the accused.

By the time of filing this report, police had not registered FIR against the accused, who is stated to be absconding. According to the investigation officer of this case Sanjeev Setia, police is investigating the matter. — OC

Mehal Kalan (Barnala), August 12
Paying rich tributes to a brave girl of Mehal Kalan village Kiranjit Kaur at a 'Shardhanjli Samaroh' organised at the new Grain Market here on Wednesday, thousands of persons demanded a complete ban on Khap panchayats in Haryana immediately by saying that these panchayats pronounce punishments for those boys and girls, who get married by violating the rules of these Khap panchayats, related to gotras and castes.

They demanded cancellation of life sentence of an active member of the Kiranjit Katal Kand Virodhi Action Committee, Manjit Singh Dhaner. Kiranjit Kaur, a plus two student, was daughter of a physically challenged teacher Darshan Singh.

Fazilka, August 12
A deputation of Beopar Mandal Fazilka led by its president Ashok Kumar Gulbadhar met the executive engineer Kuldeep Verma on Wednesday to protest against the imposing of unscheduled cuts and alleged malfunctioning of complaint office of the PSEB on Raja Cinema Road, Fazilka.

Gulbadhar alleged that the board had announced power cut from 8 am to 6 pm on August 10 but the power supply was restored only around 9 pm, after a constant cut of 13 hours. 

He said besides the unscheduled power cuts, the officials at the complaint office do not attend the telephone. In case they attend the telephone, they allegedly do not respond well to the consumers.

On the other hand, executive engineer Kuldip Verma has assured the members of Beopar Mandal that no unscheduled power cuts will be imposed in future. 

He further said that every lineman is being provided a cell phone by the PSEB and it will be the duty of the concerned official to attend the phone round-the-clock. 

Mansa, August 12
The municipal councillor from ward number 10 in Mansa on Wednesday resigned from membership in protest against the poor performance of the municipal council. The councillor Rajinder Kaur Taxla has sent her resignation to the deputy commissioner, Mansa, executive officer of the municipal council and the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. 

She said that the MC could not conduct welfare work in the city.

The council president has not been able to work according to the expectations of people and there was no team work. Due to lack of cleanliness, people were contracting diseases like malaria, jaundice among others. She said her resignation would not affect her terms with the SAD. — OC