Bathinda, November 19
To tackle the problem of burning paddy residue, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, has come up with a machine called 'Happy seeder'.

The machine is said to be capable of cutting the stubble and miring it in soil so that it can be used as manure and sowing wheat simultaneously. It could thus directly drill wheat into paddy residues without burning by managing that section of straw which comes just in front of furrow openers.

Happy seeder consists of a rotor for managing the paddy residue and a zero till drill for sowing of wheat. Flail type blades are mounted on straw management rotor that cuts the standing stubble and loose straw coming in front of the sowing tine and cleans twice in one rotation.

According to the experts of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Bathinda, this PTO driven machine can be operated with 60 horse power tractor and approximately covers one acre in an hour.

Citing a number of benefits of the Happy Seeder machine, the KVK officials have been giving a demonstration by visiting the fields themselves.

During the past fortnight, it was observed that the burning of paddy straw was a major contributor to poor air quality, substantial loss of plant nutrients especially nitrogen and sulphur. Moreover, it caused respiratory problems to humans as well as animals in intensive rice producing areas throughout the state.

Making mockery of the ban imposed by various district magistrates, farmers keep on burning the residue, which causes great damage to the environment.

Amrit Pal Singh Brar, a senior official of KVK Bathinda, said, "Burning is a common method of paddy straw management because residues interfere with tillage and seedling operation for the next wheat crop."

Providing details, the expert said that rice-wheat were the major crops of Punjab. Cultivation of high yielding varieties of the rice and wheat had resulted in the production of huge quantities of crop residue.

"The total production of paddy straw alone contributes more than 22 million tons in the state. At present, while more than 75 per cent of wheat residue is collected by the farmers after combine harvesting, using straw combine, and is fed to animals, paddy straw is considered poor feed for animals due to high silica content. It is because of this that they take to burning it, without bothering about the damage to ecology," said Brar.

Demonstrating the Happy Seeder at village Balahad Mehma of the district, his colleague Gopika Arora said the PAU and agriculture development had been doing their best to make farmers ware of the benefit of the machine. She added that the machine was available with their office, from where farmers can hire it without paying even a single penny.

A farmer, Sukhmander Singh, in whose field the machine was being demonstrated, appreciated its functions.

Bathinda, November 19
The drop-out rate of girl students in government schools of Punjab is increasing. The teaching fraternity attributes it to the poor economic condition of the rural masses coupled with lack of awareness while ironically, the Punjab government website pins the blame on unplanned public schools coming up in every nook and corner of the state.

According to the Punjab government’s website, girls accounted for 46.18 per cent of the total enrolment in schools in 2004. The figure was 46.75 per cent in previous year.

The drop-out rate for girls in high school in 2005-06 was 46.25 per cent, 34.76 per cent in classes VI to VIII and 21.33 per cent in primary classes.

The percentage of girl students in the age-group 6-11 years enrolled in 2004 was 46.87 percent. In the age-group 11-14 years, the percentage was 46.74 and the figure dipped to 46.43 per cent in the age-group 14-18 years.

Gurdeep Singh, principal of the Government Girl’s School situated at the Mall Road here, said poverty was the primary cause for high drop-out rate prevalent among girls. “Schools situated in rural areas have a higher drop-out rate as compared to my school because students studying in village schools come from poor and backward families. Parents while giving preference in education to sons ask their daughters after they learn how to read and write to sit at home and do home chores. The moment a girl turns 18, they are married off, especially in rural areas.”

Singh said that the second main reason for girls leaving schools is poor academic performance. The maximum drop-out rate is in classes VIII and X. Families do not have the money to send their daughters for repeating a class.

The drop-out rate is higher in secondary classes but primary classes also contribute to the total drop-out percentage every year. “Around five girls get their names struck off from the school register every year. There are already three girls this month who have been absent since long. Their parents said they have gone to pluck cotton in Rajasthan,” said Jagseer Sahota of the government primary school at Burjgill.

While teachers held economic conditions responsible for the increase in drop-out rate, the government’s website, which still shows the 2003 figures states that unplanned public schools were responsible for students leaving government schools.

Bathinda, November 19
Residents of Model Town phase-III are feeling left out from the fast paced development going on in other parts of the city. This sprawling locality, situated between the cantonment and GT road that bisects the heart of the city, has plenty of open space but its residents complain of civic woes that they feel largely go unattended.

Says Ashok Kumar Bansal, a lawyer who lives in the area, “The stray cattle menace is very much evident here. The pigs, not seen anywhere in the city, are a common sight here. They come over from the adjoining localities like Beant Singh Nagar. Residents of the adjoining slums also use the 30-feet area left for developing a green belt to answer nature’s call. All this creates problems of health and hygiene for us.”

Surinder Sharma, another resident of the area, points to the park near the upcoming health centre which is languishing for want of proper upkeep. “There are no trees, no flowers, no lights and no gate in this park. Stray cattle enter as there is no gate and devour the trees planted,” he says while pointing out that there are approximately 20 parks in the area but the smaller parks, in particular, are in bad shape.

People here are also indignant that the health centre being constructed will be converted into a police station and the Civil Lines police station is likely to be shifted there. Residents complain of incidents of theft, citing the instance of District Attorney of Mansa TR Sharma, in whose house that is located in the area, thefts were committed thrice in a year.

The area comes under ward 8 of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation.

Ironically, three political heavyweights of the region, including Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Darshan Singh Kotfatta and Sikander Singh Maluka, have their houses here.

Residents feel that wiring like the one done near gate number one of the area should also be carried out between gate numbers 2 and 3.

Ramesh Mittal, a resident of the area, says it will help in keeping away stray cattle and prevent toilet activities there.

When contacted, municipal councillor Raju Sran who represents the area, said a Rs 30-lakh project has been prepared for the beautification of the area and Rs 22 lakh has been allotted for the park itself.

Regarding the stray cattle menace in the green belt area, Sran said it was a disputed land. He said the land near gate number 1 was not disputed and had hence been wired. Since the case was in court, wiring could not be done in the area between gate number 2 and 3.

About the proposed police station where the health centre is coming up, Sran said a counselling cell was to come up there and allotment had already been made by PUDA. It may be shifted later on to some other place, he added.

Bathinda, November 19
Amid confrontation, dozens of slum dwellers, who had encroached upon half of the 100-feet road at Vishal Nagar, today started vacating their years-old illegal possession.

Responding to the numerous complaints received from residents of the nearby localities, the Bathinda police had been warning the slum dwellers to vacate the place.

A team of cops visited the slum on Wednesday night and asked them to strictly comply with the orders. Immediately after, the encroachers started arranging their household articles.

However, following the direction of some of their leaders, they blocked the Bathinda-Goniana road at about 10.30 am. They claimed to possess voter and ration cards that mentioned the address of their dwellings. They lifted the dharna after cops intervened.

SHO Kotwali Gurjeet Singh Romana said the slum dwellers had agreed to move to some far localities. The police had been telling them to vacate the land following complaints of security threats received from residents of nearby localities.

Muktsar, November 19
The lure of the lucre proved to be tempting for two security guards who decided to take home lakhs of rupees which were intended to be put in ATMs of HDFC bank located in different parts of the city.

According to police sources, both the accused were working with a private security company, Security Trans, engaged by the Kotkapura road branch of the HDFC bank.

Yesterday in the morning, both the robbers were given Rs 5.60 lakhs by the bank authorities to top off all the five ATMs in the city. However, sensing a chance to make easy money, the accused instead of loading the money into the ATMs simply decamped with the booty.

The accused have been identified as Anup Kakkar, resident of Pandit Jai Dayal street and Jatinder Singh, a native of Budha Gujjar road of the city.

Muktsar SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill disclosed that a criminal case had been registered at the Muktsar city police station. He added that police were carrying out further investigations to ascertain the role of any other person who might be involved in the robbery.

Gill also disclosed that one of the accused, Anup Kakkar, was also involved in a shoot-out on September 16 at the local Guru Gobind Singh park in which he and one of his accomplices fired at two motor-cycle borne youth and managed to flee with Rs 7 lakhs.

Moga, November 19
Punjab police is planning to crack down on tantriks following reports that they mint money on the fears and desires of the innocent rural folk by promising remedies from various diseases, eternal love, good fortune and lift all types of curses.

A senior official of the state police while talking to The Tribune on the condition of anonymity said some of the tantriks also lure the youths to drugs, which had ruined the youth power of the state to a great extent.

He said the business of solving problems in this way was a fraud and thousands of innocent people fall prey to them daily losing money.

DIG Ferozepur range RP Mittal, when contacted, said that there were strict instructions from the state government to crack down heavily on drugs smugglers and whosoever lures the youth to take drugs.

Reports from Jagraon police district revealed that on Thursday morning, the SHO of Raikot police station called a meeting of the tantriks and the so called babas who were doing their 'business' under suspicious conditions and gave them one week's time to leave the town or face police action.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 19
More youths from different towns of Punjab and Rajasthan today came forward with offers to marry sex workers during a mammoth congregation addressed by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in his native village Gurusar Modian.

An officer from Punjab identified as Balwinder Singh while describing the move as unprecedented step towards social reforms, pledged to adopt the daughter of a sex worker. The number of youths willing to marry sex workers has crossed 300.

The Dera chief said all offers for marriages will be scrutinised by a team of high-level administrative and police officers to avert any bungling. He gave a clarion call for joining the campaign against female foeticide and drugs.

Popular singers including Pragat Bhagu, Gursewak Chann, Iqbal and lyrist Albel Brar kept the gathering spell bound till arrival of the Dera chief to the huge pandal.

Abohar, November 19
Isha Gawri, a research scholar from Panjab University, has won the Young Artist Award for best oral presentation during the two-day national conference, organised by the DAV College here to discuss the Emerging Perspectives and Sustainable Developments in Physics (EPSDP) on Thursday.

The two-day event was jointly sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).

Bhuvneshwar Suthar of the Bikaner University topped in the poster contest while Jagmeet Singh of Sant Longowal Institute (Sangrur district) was given consolation prize in this category.

The awards were given away by members of the organising committee.

Prof Ratnamala Chatterjee, associate professor of IIT New Delhi, Prof KK Raina, Deputy Director, Thapar University, Prof Sham Kumar, chairman department of Physics Kurukshetra University, Dr K Tankeshwar, Director, Computer Centre, Panjab University, Dr SK Tripathi and Dr Sunita Srivastava of PU, Dr Ashish Aggarwal of Guru Jambheshwar University, Dr Anami Bhargava of Government Dungar College, Bikaner and senior CSIO scientist Dr Inderpreet Kaur spoke about the smart magnetic multi functional materials, role of display materials in information age, liquid crystal displays, nano-materials : past, present and future and its application and photonic crystal wonder materials etc. Principal Dr BB Sharma and convener Rajesh Khatri thanked over 200 delegates.

The students of DAV College enthralled the gathering by presenting folk dances and mime etc. BSF DIG Vimal Satyarthi also graced the cultural function.

Ferozepur, November 19
The Ferozpur police arrested an Assistant Sub-Inspector ( ASI) Rachpal Singh in connection with a case related to alleged torture of a youth during police interrogation. According to the police sources, Rachpal was posted at the city police station, when he along with three other head constables identified as Bhupinder Singh, Gian Singh and Karamjit Singh took a youth named Shamsher Singh alias Shera, a resident of housing board colony along with some other persons into custody for interrogation pertaining to a theft case.

Shamsher Singh had alleged that the policemen used third degree and tortured him during interrogation. He had been admitted to the Civil Hospital with some burn injuries.

SHO Gobinder Singh said that a case under IPC section 323 and 341 was registered against the police personnel concerned. While ASI Rachpal Singh has been arrested, the other three head constables involved in the case are yet to be arrested.

Police sources further informed that Rachpal Singh will be presented before the local court tomorrow and efforts are on to arrest the remaining three head constables involved in the alleged custodial torture.

Ferozepur, November 19
Two persons died and another was seriously injured when the Tata Ace mini-truck in which they were travelling collided with a passenger train at an unmanned railway crossing in the evening here today.

According to the information available, the deceased have been identified as Mandep Singh and Jaswant Singh, both residents of Basti Bazigar in Faridkot while their companion who was seriously wounded has been identified as Suba Singh.

Sources said that they were travelling from village Vajidpur towards Ferozepur-Faridkot road in a Tata Ace vehicle bearing registration number PB 04 M 3347, when they failed to notice the movement of the Ferozepur-Bathinda passenger train, and collided with it at an unmanned crossing ( C-51).