Hanumangarh/Abohar, September 30
Ten persons including two drivers, one of them from Haryana, were killed in a road mishap while 28 passengers sustained injuries as a private deluxe bus collided head-on with a truck head-on near village Chak 29 DWD on the Hanumangarh-Jaipur mega highway at 5 am on Wednesday. Eight passengers, who sustained serious injuries, have been referred to Bikaner and Jaipur.

As per the details available, the ill-fated tourist bus (RJ 23 PA 0511) was on its regular Jaipur-Sriganganagar trip. The truck (PB 05 M 9967) was transporting steel from Punjab to Jaipur. The farmers from Chak 29 DWD and some residents of Rawatsar town, who rushed to the site of accident upon hearing the explosion like noise, observed that a tractor-trolley overloaded with dry husk, had overturned on Tuesday night on the mega highway.

It visibly appears that the truck collided head-on with the speeding night bus while overtaking the tractor-trolley that had jammed almost half of the mega highway. Front portion of both the four-wheelers got badly mangled.

The bus turned turtle and crane had to be pressed into service to set it right. Two bodies were found under the bus. The body of the truck driver was cut into pieces, which were collected in a bed sheet later.

A social activist from Rawatsar Bhupinder Asija told this correspondent that chief medical and health officer reached Rawatsar Health Centre at about 9 am while 108-ambulance too took its own time.

Nine three-wheelers were among the people who reached the spot first and shifted the passengers to the Community Health Centre. Later Hanumangarh DC Dr Ravi Kumar Surpur, SP Mohan Singh, SDM Sukhbir Singh Chaudhary and scores of other officers reached Rawatsar and inquired about the injured persons in the health centre.

Some of the passengers, who died in the mishap, were identified as truck driver Vicky (25), son of Waryam Singh of Fatehabad (Haryana), bus driver Har Lal Jat of Sabalpura-Sikar, Nanu Ram Regar Sriganganagar, Sujan Singh Atras-Agra, Avtar Singh and his 15 month-old son from Sriganganagar, Ram Singh Rajput and his wife Saroj Kanwer of Meran (Sikar). 

Moga, September 30
Four youths had died while five others sustained serious injuries when the motorcycles on which, they were travelling, rammed into a tractor-trailer standing in the middle of the road near village Badduwal in Dharamkot area of the Moga district, late on Tuesday night.

Those, who died on the spot, had been identified as Kamaljit Singh, son of Parkash Singh, Gona, son of Jagir Singh, Jang Singh, son of Tarsem Singh and Gurpreet Singh, son of Santokh Singh, all residents of Harike Pattan town of Taran Taran district, said police sources.

Those, who were injured, had been identified as were Paramjit Singh, Puran Singh, Mona Singh, Davinder Singh and Gurpal Singh, residents of Harike Pattan town. They were admitted to the district hospaital, here. Keeping in view the seriousness of their injuries, they had been referred to the DMC hospital at Ludhiana for better treatment.

All the youths were coming on motorcycles to attend a 'mela' organised annually during the night at Indergarh village in the Moga district.

Unfortunately, the three motorcycles, on which, they were travelling rammed into a tractor-trailer standing amid the road on a road-turn by the side of a canal.

The trailer loaded with paddy straw had overturned on the road and there were no reflectors or light indications on the tractor-trailer.

The accident took place at about 10.30 pm.

A criminal case under section 304-A of the IPC has been registered against driver of the tractor-trailer in the Dharamkot police station.

The police had taken into custody the tractor-trailer while the driver had fled away from the spot.The bodies of the youths were handed over to their family after getting post-mortem examination conducted in the district here on Wednesday afternoon.

In yet another road accident, a husband, wife travelling on a scooter hit the iron barricade over a bridge on the Moga-Ludhiana road on Tuesday night. The iron shaft hit hard on the chest of a man identified as Swaran Singh (47), son of Pritam Singh, who died on the spot. His wife Manjit Kaur accompanying him was seriously injured in the incident. She was immediately rushed to the district hospital here but the doctors referred her to DMC hospital at Ludhiana. Police has initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC. — TNS

Fazilka, September 30
An allegedly provocative speech at a religious congregation by Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal has flared up the sentiments of followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda. This created a stand-off between the followers of the two sects.

According to available details, Baba Daduwal who belongs to a Dera near Bathinda has been holding religious congregation at village Banwala Hanuwanta, on the Fazilka-Abohar road about five kilometers from here for the last two days.

Last night, after about 9 pm, the Baba reportedly gave a provocative speech against different religions, particularly Dera Sacha Sauda. Following this, hundreds of premis started gathering at the Dera Sacha Sauda premises about a kilometers away from the site of congregation outside the Baba Ram Dev Temple in village Banwala Hanuwanta. They have allegedly decided not to allow the Baba to make further derogatory remarks against their sect.

This has resulted in tension there as hundreds of followers of both the sects have gathered at their respective sites. The civil and police administration after learning about the tense situation deployed police personnel in large numbers at the congregation venue.

A 25-member committee from the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa has reportedly arrived here. According to DSP Fazilka Karamjit Singh, the followers of Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal said the Baba has not given any provocative speech but if there is any objectionable speech as claimed by the Dera followers, then they would persuade him (Baba Daduwal) not to deliver "such" speeches further at the congregation. In view of the tense situation and imminent threat to peace and harmony, senior police officials from Ferozepur have reached the site. DSP Karamjit Singh said the situation was under control. 

Bathinda, September 30
A deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and a station house officer (SHO), who were booked about eight years back for helping an NRI (accused of bigamy) to escape to the US, were today awarded two years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 8,000 by the sessions court, Faridkot.

However, they were granted bail after they deposited the bail amount.

Sources said that Pal Kaur, first wife of the accused NRI Amarjit Singh, had lodged a police complaint against her husband in June 2001 of solemnising second marriage with Gurmit Kaur of Kosha Kotla village.

Reacting to her statement, the police booked and arrested Amarjit and Gurmit. However, the court granted them bail after confiscating their passports so as to avoid their escape from the country till the trial was on.

A few days later, the accused NRI approached DSP Bhupinder Singh Khattra and SHO Major Singh and bribed them with Rs 5 lakh to arrange him the passports so that he could flee the country and escape the court proceedings. The cops procured the passports of the NRI and his second wife from the police record and detached them from a police file.

On getting the passports, both fled to the US and left Pal Kaur in lurch.

Meanwhile, once the NRI reached the US, mother of the NRI Raj Kaur brought the passports back to Faridkot, which were again attached to the police record.

Getting information about the whole episode, Pal Kaur filed a complaint with the High Court. On court's directions, the Faridkot police booked the accused DSP and the SHO along with Atma Singh, brother of the NRI, on June 18, 2002, for tampering with the court and police records.

Announcing the verdict today, the Faridkot court held the DSP and the SHO guilty but granted them bail after receiving the bail amount.

Meanwhile, Atma Singh was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Muktsar, September 30
Acting on complaints by irate residents, the local Municipal Council launched a concerted drive to get rid of illegal encroachments, which, for long, were considered to be bottlenecks in the smooth flow of traffic in the city.

Taking up the anti-encroachment drive much to the delight of the locals, the Municipal Council authorities launched a major offensive against the erring shopkeepers.

The council team, led by its President Mit Singh Brar, first approached the shopkeepers in various areas personally and urged them to remove the encroachments.

This went on for at least one week and when the council smelt that shopkeepers would not be removing the violations on their own, they called in the cops.

Rattled, dozens of shopkeepers of the heavily populated Gandhi Chowk, Ghas Mandi and Bank Road, were on their toes within no time and quickly removed encroachments set up by them.

However, other vendors, who were stubborn enough not to listen to the warnings of the Municipal Council, got a jolt when the council officials, acting in tandem with the cops, forcibly removed the encroachments. The shopkeepers vehemently protested but to no avail as the council officials were in no mood to listen to them.

Gurbinder Singh Rupana, president of the District Bar Association said, "Such a step was long awaited. No shopkeeper should consider himself above the law. After removing scores of encroachments on the roads and by lanes, traffic movement has become smooth.

Earlier, the passage near Gandhi Chowk was choc a block with traffic. Now, with the impediments being removed, the same traffic moves easily on both sides of the road making it easy for commuters to travel."

Mit Singh Brar claimed that dozens of shopkeepers tried to pressurize him politically.

“We have to keep the interests of the residents uppermost in our minds. Politics comes later. Traffic hurdles used to be the order of the day with shopkeepers in Subzi Mandi and Ghas Mandi blocking the main arteries of the city. Now, with the violations being under check, residents can breathe easily,” he said.

Harbinder Singh Sandhu, an advocate, who used to reach the district courts with much difficulty, was all smiles today as he made his way to work in half the time he normally used to take earlier.

He said, "The council officials have done a remarkable job. However, there are some encroachments of the Bathinda and Kotkapura roads, which have escaped the attention of the council. Let us hope the officials take cognisance of these encroachmensts and remove them too." Mit Singh Brar claimed that the council will continue its drive against violators and added that nobody, irrespective of his political affiliations, would be spared.

The long awaited anti-encroachment drive may have annoyed shopkeepers but it has definitely brought smiles on the faces of daily commuters.

Mansa, September 30
Cotton growers have been on the losing side reportedly doe to non-procurement of cotton by 
government agencies and Jhulse disease, which has badly affected the cotton crop resulting in low production.

The disease, popularly referred to here as (Jhulse) has been affecting cotton plants, flowers and fruits.

Some farmers of Mansa complained that the disease could reduce the average production of cotton from 2-3 quintal per acre. Ramphal Singh, a farmer from Chakalisher village, said he had sown cotton in a three acre area but production did not come up according to the expectations.

Now, when the crop was at its peak, the disease has started affecting the crop, he added.

On the other hand, they were bound to purchase their crop at a low rate due to the absence of government purchasing agencies in the market.

Another farmer of Bhainibagha village said, “I had sown cotton in five acre area and had expectation of good production but now average production was decreasing due to Jhulse disease, he added. Farmers rued that they had used pesticides, fertilisers and water by affording high charges.”

He demanded that the agriculture department should take steps to control disease.

Meanwhile, agriculture department official expressed ignorance about the disease of cotton crop.

District president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) said cotton growers have been affected by the disease and absence of government purchasing agencies in mandis, which resulted in the purchase of cotton at a lower rate than the MSP. He demanded compensation for the disease affected cotton farmers and beginning of purchase by the government agencies soon. 

Fazilka, September 30
There is total chaos in the main bazaars of Fazilka town these days. The main reason behind this is the railway crossing on Ferozepur road that has reportedly been closed due to the construction of road over bridge, which is in progress now-a-days.

The ROB manufacturing company Chetak Structural Ltd is constructing the overhead bridge on the railway crossing. The traffic from Ferozepur-Fazilka-Abohar has been diverted to Fazilka town bazaars causing inconvenience to the residents and shopkeepers as well. The second railway crossing on the SDM court road has become a traffic bottleneck.

Long traffic blockades are a regular feature there. The traffic police have virtually become mute spectator. Now, more than 24 panchayats of Fazilka sub-division in written application to the president of Municipal Council, Fazilka, on Wednesday have demanded that the traffic system should be streamlined.

They have alleged that some of the shopkeepers, bank and other institutions in these bazaars have encroached upon the Municipal land, posing threat to the traffic. These encroachments should be removed immediately, they demanded. Municipal Council president Anil Kumar Sethi said the council has served notices to the bank authorities to arrange their own parking space outside their buildings. 

Ferozepur, September 30
The Ferozepur police arrested three inter-state drug peddlers and seized nine kg opium from their possession. Addressing the media persons here today, SPS Parmar, SSP, said the arrested smugglers have been identified as Raj Kumar, son of Devi Lal, Jagdish Kumar, son of Karam Chand and Naresh Kumar, son of Rajpal, all of whom were residents of Rajasthan.

Parmar said the drug peddlers were coming from Matili side towards Abohar in a black Indica car bearing registration no. DL 4CU 1324. He said when sub-inspector Sukhdev Singh, in-charge CIA Staff Abohar, conducting special checking of the vehicles on Hanumangarh road, signaled them to stop, the accused tried to escape. But, the alert police team soon nabbed them.

Abohar, September 30
The Punjab government is gearing up to follow the Maharashtra pattern for launching some projects under the Vegetable Export Trade Mission (VETM) but the exercise will prove beneficial to the vegetable and fruit growers only if the government judiciously evaluates why its previous projects had fallen flat, said legislator Sunil Jakhar, a progressive farmer, who had served as parliamentary secretary for irrigation and horticulture in the last Congress led government.

Emphasising that better infrastructure and cold chain needs to be ensured besides adequate marketing system before taking up new projects, he said the production capacity in farming sector had already reached saturation. — OC

Abohar, September 30
The IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd (IKSL) that had launched mobile services in collaboration with the Airtel, is confident of overcoming the equipment related problems being faced by the rural based consumers soon, claimed KL Chawla, project manager from Delhi-based headquarters.

While presiding over a cooperative workers meet here, Chawla said IKSL is a unique venture to strengthen the cooperative movement in rural India, to empower the farmers through information, to boost the rural economy and also to create rural employment. Communication being the key for empowering farmers, IFFCO had decided to join hands with the most admired brand, Airtel, he added.

Bathinda, September 30
The Pollution Control Board was directed to upgrade the pollution control instruments meant for groundwater at the scheduled hearing of the Punjab Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) regarding the presence of uranium in Bathinda took place today at Chandigarh.

Kulwant Singh, XEN, PPCB, Bathinda, who was present on the occasion, said the next hearing would take place on December 17, the PSHRC chairman stated.

“Before the next hearing takes place, we would be taking samples of the groundwater from Bathinda and would check the amount of uranium and other pollutants present in the samples. After checking the levels, the cause for it would be ascertained. We have also been asked to upgrade all the pollution control instruments being used by us for water,” Kulwant Singh informed.

Surprisingly, the authorities from Pollution Control Board, Bathinda, were not aware of the fact that a team from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, had come to Faridkot to collect samples of water, soil and vegetation for checking uranium levels.

The authorities here said the PSHRC had got sampling done from a private source and they are not aware of it.

“Now, we would be collecting samples from here and checking them for uranium levels,” they said.

It may be mentioned that Kulwant Singh was asked to consult Dr GS Dhillon, consulting engineer, water resources development projects and former chief engineer, research-cum-director irrigation and power, Amritsar, by the PSHRC for any further information needed on uranium while testing the samples.

Sources said that all the required reports and documents that the PSHRC had on uranium, found in and around Bathinda, was today handed over to the Pollution Control Board office in Bathinda.

Kulwant Singh had recently told TNS that a team from the forensic lab in Patiala, had arrived to take water samples from Bathinda.

Kulwant said the report had arrived but he was yet to see it. 

Bathinda, September 30
Five persons sustained severe injuries in a bloody clash that took place between Bharati Kisan Union (Krantikari) and some followers of a senior SAD (B) leader at Sadhana village, here today.

The BKU activists were admitted to the Civil Hospital at Rampura Phul, while the others were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Giving information about the incident, Gurmukh Singh Selbarah, district president of the BKU (Krantikari) alleged that two notorious youths of Sadhana village, who enjoyed the patronage of a senior Akali leader, were nabbed committing unlawful activities on Tuesday at his village. Villagers thrashed them and then handed them over to the police.

However, the two begged for pardon in front of the villagers and were let off. A compromise was arrived at. Taking the incident seriously, BKU activists today held a protest march against the high-handedness of the Akali leader’s goons at village Sadhana.

Irked over the activity of the BKU activists, some youths of the village assaulted them by opening fire and hurling stones at them. In the incident, three BKU activists, Lachman Singh Burj Gill, Sukhmander Singh and Daljit Singh, sustained injuries and were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Rampura Phul.

On the other hand, the kin of the injured youths from Sadhana, alleged that the BKU (Krantikari) activists, without any authority, had interfered in the personal matter of the boys, just for the sake of publicity.

Accusing the BKU activists of opening fire at the Sadhana youths, Lakhbir Singh Sadhana said his cousin Amandeep Singh had sustained a bullet injury, fired by BKU activists, while one Ranjeet Singh sustained head injury, caused after a stone was hurled at them.

Meanwhile, Gurmukh Singh Selbarah refuted the allegation that he had opened fire at the Sadhana boys, saying they were just holding a march and that there was no arms and ammunition in the possession of their activists.

When contacted, officials of Phul police station said that both parties had lodged their statements but a case would be registered only after analysing the facts.

Bathinda, September 30
Punjab might have managed to outnumber other states in educational infrastructure but the literacy rate here still leaves much to be desired, especially the female literacy rate.

According to the last survey, Malwa lags behind in literacy. Male literacy rate in Bathinda was 68.31 per cent. Moga stood at 68.40 per cent, Ferozepur recorded 69.55 per cent, Muktsar was at 65.94 per cent, Faridkot recorded 68.92 per cent and Sangrur 65.97 per cent. The worst hit was Mansa at 59.12 per cent.

Female literacy rate dipped further with Bathinda at 53.76 per cent, Moga at 58.96 per cent, Ferozepur at 52.33 per cent, Muktsar at 50.59 per cent, Faridkot at 57.09 per cent, Sangrur at 53.29 per cent and Mansa again fared the worst at 45.07 per cent.

Other parts of the state recorded above 75 per cent rate for male literacy and above 60 per cent in female literacy with Hoshiarpur leading at 86.97 per cent in male literacy and 75.56 per cent in female literacy rate.

Zila parishad authorities said the survey was done after a gap of 10 years which meant the schemes initiated for arresting decline in literacy was not yielding results because of a flawed census. “Ten years is a long time in which everything changes. The survey needs to be done at a shorter interval as it would reveal the actual condition that would enable the government to yield better results from its schemes,” said Shashi Tyagi, district programme officer, Women and Child Development.

Sources also said the literacy mission started by the Central government was not a success because the literacy figures used to run the scheme were not correct.

This flawed census has affected the education scenario in government schools as government depends upon surveys for implementing education related schemes.

Gurdeep Singh, principal of Government Girls’ School, stated that the rate of annual admissions was declining. “The number of fresh admissions last year was 1700 and this year the figure dipped to 1450. Reasons are lack of awareness among rural masses. Children from urban families do not come to government schools. It is only the rural lot that comes and the condition of government schools is becoming from bad to worse which triggers the dropout rate,” he added.

Over 90 per cent government schools in Punjab do not have regular principals. “In Bathinda alone, there are 87 senior secondary schools functioning without regular principals. The same condition prevails in Mansa and Muktsar,” informed Darshan Maur, a teacher from the District Institute of Education Training. The local Zila Parishad office had written to the government to conduct the survey after every two years but a reply is awaited.

Bathinda, September 30
Demanding that the post of Director General of School Education (DGSE) be scrapped, hundreds of teachers held a dharna today while responding to a statewide call given by the Democratic Teachers’ Front. They alleged that the DGSE’s policies were affecting education in the state. The dharna was staged from 3 pm to 5:30 pm.

The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, Bathinda, which was collected by the tehsildar as the DC was not available.

Paramjeet Singh, district president of the Front, informed that a memorandum was addressed to the Secretary (Education), in which they had demanded removal of the DGSE, revision of the scales announced by the pay commission and condemned the decision of the Education Department, Punjab, to withdraw the increment and recover the already dispensed increment amount given to Punjabi and Hindi teachers of Punjab.

Members of the Front said that the pay commission had fixed a scale of Rs 4,000 for a lecturer, Rs 3,600 for a master and Rs 4,400 for a headmaster, which the front demanded should be revised to Rs 5,000, Rs 4,600 and Rs 5,400, respectively.

It was also demanded that the decision of the court in a case on fixing a pay and not recovering increment amount from Punjabi and Hindi teachers of the state should be accepted and followed by the Education Department.

Bathinda, September 30
Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal has appealed to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for upgrading Bathinda railway station and various facilities available on it.

In a letter written to the minister, she pointed out that the building of Bathinda station was more than 100 years old and was situated in the centre of railway yard because of which there was no approach road to any platform.

Demanding immediate renovation and upgradation of one of the largest railway junctions of Asia, the MP said the station requires construction of additional passenger platform to check the congestion on existing platforms. She said even the reservation system in Bathinda was operating from a place that was crowded all the time. Harsimrat said even reservation office should be upgraded by replacing with new passenger reservation office building.

She said existing foot-over-bridge (FOB) at the station was very old and could not withstand the load during the crowded moments and requested construction of (FOB) on the Mansa end.

The MP also asked for construction of a VIP lounge, AC retiring rooms and dormitories at the station. — TNS

Bathinda, September 30
Lt Gen K Surendra Nath would assume the command of the Chetak Corps from October 1. The General Officer was commissioned in 1 Mech Infantry (1 Madras) in June 1973.

He is a graduate of Defence Services Command and Staff College, Dhaka, Higher Command Course, Army War College, Mhow, and National Defence College, New Delhi. The officer has held a number of prestigious command and staff appointments and has also served the country at the United Nations in Cambodia and New York. — TNS