Kotbhai (Muktsar), November 21
Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of the 66KV grid sub-station here today. Later, he laid down another 66KV grid foundation stone at village Doda, 14 kms from Muktsar. Both Doda and Kotbhai fall under the Gidderbaha assembly segment represented by the minister himself.

Speaking on the occasion, Manpreet Badal said that the 66KV sub-station at Kotbhai had become an essential requirement for the region as it will give relief to 66KV sub-station at Mandhir, 33KV sub-station at Bhalaiana and the 132 KV sub-station at Bhalluana. Once the Kotbahi sub-station comes up, villagers will get quality power supply and there would be no power fluctuations. The minister disclosed that the cost of the Kotbahi sub-station and allied works is about Rs 3.36 crore and the project will be completed within five months.

“Further to solve the overcrowding problem of transmission system, another 220KV sub-station at Jhunir, in Muktsar district, will be commissioned at a cost of Rs 21 crore before May 2010, which will improve supply position of Mansa and Bathinda districts,” Manpreet added. Informing about Board’s ambitious plan to construct five 400KV sub-stations takes concrete shape, Punjab’s power position will improve as these sub-stations will mainly cater to the rural areas.

The Finance Minister said that Board has added 916MVA capacity to the existing system during the first half of the year this financial year. The PSEB chairman HS Brar, who accompanied the Finance Minister, said as per the directions of Punjab government, PSEB is paying special attention to the area under waterlogging by releasing of tubewell connections on priority basis.

Chairman said theft of electricity, besides causing financial loss to the PSEB, damaged transmission and distribution system due to which the PSEB had to impose avoidable power cuts on consumers.

Bathinda, November 21
Several passengers’ plans of boarding the Toofan Express from Bathinda have been thwarting for the last several days as they had been found booking the tickets of the train that had left Bathinda station 24 hours earlier.

In fact, passengers are inadvertently booking the ticket, which they do not intend to buy.

Passengers, however, are also being inconvenienced due to failure on the part of the Railways in creating proper awareness about the changed timetable and its resultant effect in ticket booking process, a passenger alleged.

Before November 1, 2009, the arrival and the departure time of the 3008 Toofan Express at Bathinda were 23.20 and 23.55 respectively. And as per the new timetable, the train is scheduled to arrive at Bathinda at 23.20 and depart at 00.15. In other words, technically the train comes on one day and depart on another. And the departure time is the reference for booking the berth.

The Railways had not been guiding passengers in this regard, passengers said, adding that even several railway officials were not aware about the changes concerning booking process in the train in reference with the changed time able. Railway officials, however, claimed that they had been making announcements in this regard at the station and the ticket booking staff at the counter had also been guiding passengers.

“Passengers were going by the old timetable,” a senior railway official at Bathinda said and added that the Railways would make more efforts to create awareness in this regard.

Bathinda, November 21
How grim is the unemployment scenario in Punjab can be gauged from the fact that more than 1.20 lakh applications have been received from all over the state for 6,487 posts of Anganwadi workers.

Anganwadi is a government-sponsored child and mother care centre scheme that caters to children in the 0-6 age group. These centres were started by the Central government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme to combat child hunger and malnutrition.

Statistics culled from various sources revealed that for the 6,487 posts advertised by the state government, nearly 1.20 lakh women have applied from the 20 revenue districts of Punjab. November 18 was the last date for accepting applications and appointments have to be made before November 30.

Sources reveal that these posts are primarily meant for undergraduates, but this time applicants are even post-graduates in science.

What has flummoxed government officials is the fact that an Anganwadi worker gets a paltry honorarium of Rs 2,100 per month.

“Sarpanches have a big say in the appointments and that is the reason why they have been flooded with calls from politicians asking for favours,” revealed a senior official.

The applications were to be routed through Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) at district level, who also have a say in the appointments.

Meanwhile, Anganwadi workers are amused at the new posts receiving such a big response from women. Said Rachna (name changed), “I fail to understand why in the first place urban women want to work at Anganwadi centres in villages. We are a much criticised lot and on many occasions, we have been labelled as corrupt. We are asked to carry out every government or semi-government task and are denied the entitlements of a regular government employee. We are often blamed for mismanaged government’s rural schemes.”

Said an official of the social security department on the condition of anonymity, “Anganwadi workers are involved in various government schemes such as pre-school and health education, maintenance of records of births and deaths, administration of pulse-polio drops and provision of supplementary nutrition to pregnant and lactating mothers and children up to the age of six. Their services are used to achieve family planning targets and failure in meeting them would slash their measly honorarium. They intervene to settle disputes in villages but must go to the Panchayat office to get their leave sanctioned or to collect their honorarium, which is often delayed. This often leads to disgruntlement among workers.”

Another official, amazed at the number of applications received for posts of Anganwadi workers, said “Government officials often demanded money to get the monthly honorariums for Anganwadi workers released. In some districts, the CDPOs often say that there is some technical problem, as the funds have not come from the Centre. These workers then have to make appeals at various levels repeatedly, from the village Sarpanch to the CDPO, to get their due. CDPOs and even the sarpanchs demand commissions from these women to release the honorarium.”

Bathinda, November 21
Despite passing of over seven and half months of the current financial year, the Bathinda District Blindness Control Society (DBCS) is still to receive grant worth lakhs of rupees from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, for the current financial year so that it could make payments to the registered NGOs, which organise eye check-up and operation camps in the district. The grant is given under the national programme for control of blindness.

According to information available, the local DBCS has sent a proposal to the government seeking grant for the current financial year in the light of annual targets of more than 8700 cataract surgeries. However, the DBCS had received an amount of Rs 5 lakh during the last financial year (2008-09) while it is yet to clear the pending bills of Rs 8 lakh to the NGOs for eye camps organised during the last financial year.

When contacted, member secretary of the Bathinda DBCS Dr IB Aggarwal said the NGOs organised free eye-check up and cataract operation camps for the welfare of people, especially poor. Besides, some eye check-up and cataract operation camps were also held by the health authorities. The authorities also provided intraocular lens free of cost to the needy patients at the camps, he added.

The Bathinda DBCS has been given annual targets of cataract surgeries (8744) for the current financial year, of which 3,159 cataract operations have already been performed in the first seven months (April to October) of this financial year. While during the last financial year (2008-09), 8,037 cataract surgeries had been performed against the annual target of 8,237 in the district.

Under the school eye screening programme, against the annual target of 17,002 the eyes of 14,937 students have been examined during first seven months of the current financial year in this district while during the last financial year, 15,165 students (against the target of 10,896) had been examined for eye ailments in the district. 

Bathinda, November 21
“We regret to inform you…” These are the words which every military spouse dreads. But each and every woman who came to attend the Veer Naari meet, an annual ritual carried out by the Army, at the Bathinda Military Station today had actually heard these words.

After listening to the dreaded phrase, a majority of these women have now carved out a new life for themselves although some of them are still traumatised by the turn of events. What happens to these war widows after the echoes of the cannon salutes die down and politicians have moved on to the next vote-catching issue?

A conversation with a cross section of these war widows revealed that many still live with the suffering that comes in the aftermath of losing a dear one. And a miniscule of them also live with anger for the “Army has done little for their salvation after the death of our husbands in wars or in anti-insurgency operations.”

Says Sarabjit Kaur (name changed), “I lost my husband, who was in the Navy, in the 1971 war when a Pakistani submarine sunk an Indian ship just off the Karachi coastline. Ever since, it has been an ordeal for me. I have been running from pillar to post to get a gas agency. Even today I met senior army officers. They have promised to help me. I have a grown up son who has no source of livelihood. If the army authorities cannot provide me with a decent job, I should at least be given some gainful employment so that I can look after the needs of my son.”

Said an army officer, “After wars and insurgency, these women, both young and old, were forced to mourn the death of their soldier husbands. Theirs was a very public mourning. Now all of them deserve a better deal. We will look into the needs of each and every one of these women.”

Then there were many like Sukhdev Kaur of Naruwana village near here, who lost her husband in the 1962 Chinese aggression. She is a satisfied woman who says that the Rs 8000 pension she gets is enough for her to carry out through her old age.

“Building a new life for themselves and their children is a far from easy task. Widows have no place in traditional Indian society, which often blames them for the untimely death of their husbands,” said sociologist Savita Sachdeva.

Some find a mission in their pain. When Kulwant Kaur lost her husband to insurgency in J&K in 2001, she never knew that she would open a new school in her village. These days she is busy teaching and also makes around Rs 15,000 a month. This is apart from the Rs 10,000 pension she gets.

Young widows were happy that under the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission they would be getting pension even if they remarried. Earlier, women who remarried did not get pension provoking silent protests among them.

“Their husbands have made a supreme sacrifice for the country and there should be some long-term recognition of this, which is not linked to the widow’s remarriage. It enhances the independence of the widow and ensures that she is not doomed to a lonely life, or forced to choose between a new husband and a steady pension. Her children’s future is secure even if their step-father is not keen to provide for them,” added Savita Sachdeva.

President of the AWWA Mamta Surinder Nath, who presided over the simple but impressive function, said, “These war widows are welcome to my home anytime if they face any problem.”

Bathinda, November 21
In a fit of jealousy, a man and his wife allegedly killed their 25-day-old nephew by drowning him in a sludge pit at Dhobiana Basti here this morning. The police has arrested the accused couple, who reportedly admitted the crime during interrogation.

According to information available, one Deepak Kumar of Paras Ram Nagar here was married to Ashu of Dhobiana Basti. After a few months, he got his younger brother Sandeep Kumar married to Ashu’s younger sister Sonia. Both the couples were blessed with a daughter each.

In their police statement, the accused couple said that about two-three months ago, Sonia gave birth to another girl, who died after a few days. Meanwhile, her elder sister Ashu gave birth to a boy on October 25 at her maternal house in Dhobiana Basti.

The birth of baby boy started irking Sandeep Kumar. Envious, he started beating up his wife and compelling her either to give him a baby boy or to kill her elder sister’s son. The accused couple chalked out a plan to eliminate the boy. Sonia went to her mother’s house a few days back and floated an excuse that she had a dispute with her husband. Now, she shared a room with Ashu and started looking after her son.

In the pre-planned move, Sandeep went to his in-laws house on Friday night. At about 4 am today, Sonia took the boy out of the house and handed him over to Sandeep, who reportedly killed him by drowning in the nearby sludge pit. Following that, Sandeep fled from the spot while Sonia started washing clothes at a hand pump near the crater.

However, the police claimed that Sonia and Sandeep left the house together and said the couple reached at compromise.

When Ashu found her son missing, she started crying. Hearing her cries, neighbours assembled and started searching for the boy. Within a few minutes, kin of the family found the body of the infant lying in the crater.

People informed the Civil Lines police, who recorded the statements of the family members and rounded up Sonia and Sandeep on suspicion. However, during the interrogation, the couple admitted to the crime and the police registered a murder case against them.

Confirming the facts, SHO Kotwali Gurjeet Singh Romana said the accused had admitted that they killed the boy out of envy. He added that the arrested couple would be produced in the court after legal formalities of the investigation were completed.

Bathinda, November 21
Two youths decamped with three gold necklaces on a gun point from a jewellery shop in the Hospital Bazaar here this evening. The shop is situated in the heart of the main market of the city with its four exit points manned by cops.

According to owner of the shop Gurmeet Singh, a turbaned youth visited his shop at about 4 pm and asked for some gold necklaces. He showed him about seven-eight sets and the man selected three of them (weighing 55 grams, 92 grams and 107 grams).

Gurmeet stated, “Meanwhile, the man rang someone over the phone. He told me that he would buy only one necklace. On the pretext of selecting the necklace, he put the three sets one atop another in a jewellery box. In a moment, he ran outside the shop with the box. I tried to catch him but he pointed a pistol on me. He occupied the rear seat of a waiting white Scooty that was driven by another turbaned man.”

The owner of the shop claimed, “I could do nothing due to the shock I underwent. I came inside the shop and contacted my mother at home over phone and then visited police station to record my statement.”

Meanwhile, senior police officials, including the SSP and SP (Detective), reached the spot. They took the victim along and launched a search operation. However, the case was yet to be registered till the filing of the report. 

Ferozepur, November 21
Twenty three years old lad of village Basti Kishan Singh Wala of this district, Ranjit Singh, has done the country proud by winning two silver medals in the Asian Rowing championship, which concluded in Taiwan on November 8, 2009.

Braving all odds, Ranjit Singh, who has been serving as Sepoy in 13 Sikh regiment, brought the laurels to the country in Men Four and Men Eight categories in his first attempt despite the fact that he never played at the national level or state level rowing competition ever.

Ranjit Singh, who was honoured by residents of this town included Parminder Singh, a senior Congress leader of Punjab, said that he was given direct entry into the national team, which was selected for participation into the Asian Rowing championship, on the basis of his performance in the trails.

He added that he had practiced rowing while he was serving in the army. Belonging to a poor family, having small land holding, Ranjit Singh became a tough swimmers as every year he would encounter the flood like situation in his village due to rise in the level of water in the river Sutlej, bordering his village.

After entering into the Army, Ranjit Singh developed liking for the rowing and managed to participate in the international event in his first attempt.

“I want to bring gold medal for the country in the coming Olympic Games and that too before I get married," said Ranjit Singh while talking to the TNS here today adding that he wanted to repay the debt of his father Sukhdev Singh and Charan Singh (paternal uncle), who had spent a lot on his game, by bringing a gold medal for the country.

Meanwhile, Parminder Singh said that achievement of Ranjit Singh would become a motivational force for the youths of the area. 

Bathinda, November 21
The National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh, awarded the Government Polytechnic College, Bathinda, as the best polytechnic college in the state for the year 2008-09.

The award was presented to principal of the college Yadwinder Singh at the 42nd annual day of the NITTTR by chief guest Dr RC Sobti, vice-chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh, along with other dignitaries of the NITTTR. Yadwinder said the NITTTR chose one college each from the nine states of North India for the awards.