Bathinda, November 22
The Department of Tourism, Punjab, has selected Kamal Piyush as the next principal for the Institute of Hotel Management, Bathinda. He had reportedly bagged the second position in the initial merit list compiled for the appointment of the IHM Principal. It is learnt that Piyush is, at present, employed with a renowned food chain.

Sources in the department informed that Piyush had recently accepted the job offer letter. After serving the notice period, he would join the IHM, Bathinda, tentatively by December 15.

It may be mentioned that services of previous principal SK Banerjee were terminated on November 4 after a three-member investigation committee sought an action on the ground of the allegations levelled on him that he had sexually harassed the female staff of the institute.

ADC (Development), Bathinda, C. Sibin has been officiating the charge following Banerjee’s removal.

Confirming the facts, Deputy Director, Punjab Tourism, Surinder Bajaj said, “Analysing the merit list, we offered the job to Kamal Piyush, who accepted it and would soon take charge.”

Meanwhile, highly-placed sources in the state tourism department informed that even after passing of more than a fortnight since his termination, Banerjee had been using the official residence and the car allotted to him. It has also been reported that the library of the institute had been lying locked since the day as its key was with Banerjee.

Parrying a query in this regard, the deputy director said, “The matter is directly related to the officiating principal, if he would ask, only then we will intervene.”

When contacted, C. Sibin, the officiating principal of the IHM, said, “During a recent communication, Banerjee assured me that he would surrender the official car and the residence very soon. He would be asked to unlock the library when he comes to comply with the legal formalities.”

Kot shamir (Bathinda), November 22
As many as 25 daily wagers sustained injuries when the tempo they were travelling in overturned on the Bathinda-Mansa road near Kot Shamir village here in the early hours this morning.

Ambulances of the Naujwan Welfare Society, an NGO, rushed all the injured to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. The injured were discharged after they were administered first aid.

According to information available, the injured persons belonged to slums located on the Bathinda-Goniana main road near the theatres. They were going towards Kotfatta village to serve as waiters in a banquet hall.

The tempo, which is meant for transporting goods only, was overloaded with the daily wagers and became unstable six km away from Kotshamir before turning turtle.

Though no police case has been registered in this regard, onlookers termed the accident as an outcome of gross violation of traffic rules.

People alleged that the transport officials, particularly the district transport officer (DTO), were responsible for the accident as they failed to keep under check the illegal usage of trucks and tempos for ferrying passengers in the state.

“Many a times, we have approached transport officials and asked them to keep a check on the goods vehicles that ferried passengers. But they did nothing in this regard despite giving assurances of looking into the matter,” said a private transporter.

When contacted, secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Bhupinder Singh said, “Ferrying passengers in trucks and tempos is a violation of the traffic and transport rules. The government has also taken a serious notice of such violations, which had been the cause of several accidents that took place in the past.”

Bhupinder Singh added, “We have instructed all district transport officers to check the illegal practice. However, in the recent past, the number of persons penalised for the violation has come down. After collecting the reports in this regard, the officials would be directed to either ensure checks on the violation of traffic rules or face the consequences.”

Jalalabad/Ferozepur, November 22
Two occupants of a car including a six-month-old girl were killed and three others sustained injuries while the vehicle in which they were travelling hit against the iron grills erected on the divider of the Jalalabad-Ferozepur road near Sacred Heart School of this area, late on Saturday night.

Police sources said that the car hit against the iron grills of the divider when the driver of the vehicle was trying to overtake a tractor and lost control over the steering.

Those killed in the accident were identified as Devinder Singh and Jasmeen (six-month-old girl). The father of Jasmeen lived in Australia. The injured had been identified as Surjit kaur, manoj Kumar and Joginder Singh.

Sources added that all the injured had been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Muktsar. The condition of the injured was said to be stable. A case in this connection had been registered in the police station concerned. 

Abohar, November 22
After the death of a farm worker Heeran Bai of border village Koyalkhera, who succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night during treatment in the civil hospital here, the death toll in the November 12 train-trailer collision on Abohar-Sriganganagar section, has gone up to four.

The late running Udyan Abha Toofan Express train had hit a tractor-trailer on the unmanned level crossing near the rural railway station Bakayanwala in the border belt killing one farm worker on-the-spot while two had died later.

Heeran Bai's body was given to his parents after conducting post mortem on Sunday.

The GRP had arrested Sandeep Kumar, driver of the tractor, who had escaped as the tractor had crossed the level crossing while the trailer was hit by the train.

The railways had turned down demand for compensating the bereaved families asserting that the driver was solely responsible for the mishap.

No government agency had offered financial assistance for treatment of the injured women and a two-year-old kid, who belonged to the families of daily wage earners. They had been hired for picking cotton in an agricultural farm, sources said. 

Hanumangarh/Abohar, November 22
The police in Hanumangarh district today claimed to have cracked an inter-state gang, who had allegedly burgled a house at village Neemla near Ellenabad in Haryana on Friday.

Ram Partap Bishnoi, circle inspector of Tibbi, identified the culprits, all of Bawri community as Jawahar Singh of Jammu Basti Abohar, Roshan Lal alias Raghubir of Hathin-Palwal, Dharamvir alias Ramesh of Goluwala and Karan Singh of Ekta Nagar, Jaipur.

The police have recovered two .315 bore illegal pistols along with eight live cartridges, two motorcycles, two mobile phones besides a lot of gold ornaments and cash from the gang. The culprits reportedly disclosed during the preliminary interrogation that two members of the gang used to enter the house barefooted while two others kept the motorcycles started outside. They looted the housemates at pistol point and decamped at ease in all the cases. They will be produced in the court on Monday.

Fazilka, November 22
Sixteen decades old historical town Fazilka, having a glorious past history since pre-independence day is losing its grandeur.

On the 162th birth anniversary of this town today, of the about 80000 odd residents, majority of them feel the pangs of its diminishing importance. The residents hold consecutive government apathy as a major factor for this condition.

Fazilka was one of the largest sub-divisional headquarters of state was trimmed periodically. Separate subdivisions of Muktsar, Abohar and Jalalabad were carved out from this sub-division in past four decades.

These proved to be a bane for the development of the town. The progress came to a standstill with politicians taking little interest in its development. No industrial units were set up even as other towns grew up considerably with passage of the time. The agro-based economy was shattered by two major Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.

The Kargil conflict of year 1999 too hit the economy of the town very badly. Landmines were laid in the entire border belt which ruined the farmers and traders.

The town has virtually been reduced to retiring place of the older generation with little business activities for the middle class and lower strata of the society. The town residents feel that to revive the glory and economy of this strategic border town a major initiative and a determined political will is essential.

Rajesh Kumar Angi president of Zila Banao Sangharsh Samiti, Fazilka said two decades old demand of granting district headquarters status can go a long way in improving the development of the town.

Beopar Mandal state unit secretary Satish Kumar Dhingra pointed out that special economical zone status should be granted to this border town Fazilka for promoting installation of new industrial units.

“Another important step needed is revival of Ludhiana-Karachi Golden Rail Track en-route Fazilka for opening trans-border trade,” said Fazilka-Sulemanki Indo-Pak International Trade Front convener Lila Dhar Sharma.

Mansa, November 22
Farmers of village Peron Village in Mansa have reaped huge profit by sowing groundnut under the guidance and co-operation of the agriculture department and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

As per the agriculture officials and farmers, nearly 125 farmers had sown groundnut in about 300 acres area. Three camps were organised during this season in the village to provide information to farmers regarding the crops.

Ruldu Singh, a farmer, said that he reaped nearly 11 quintal per acre production of groundnut while supplied water and fertiliser to the crop only three times during entire season. This crop had saved their expenditure on sprays and fertilizers, he added. District chief agriculture officer, Sukhdev Singh Sandhu, agriculture officer, Jagtar Singh Brar, and in-charge of the project, Satpal Sharma, said that farmers had earn nearly Rs 25,000 income from one acre area of groundnut crop.

For sowing and harvesting the crop, machines were made available to farmers, they added. Agriculture officials said nearly 500 acre area would be covered under this crop during next season because of enthusiasm showed by farmers towards this crop.

Another farmer, Ram Singh, who had sowed groundnut in three acre area, said that the crop proved beneficial as farmers were not in the position to grow paddy and cotton due to lack of water in the area.

Ratan Tata Trust and agriculture department had supplied seeds and machines for sowing and harvesting of crop free of cost to farmers. He said that marketing of the crop was not any issue as farmers got between Rs 2,400 and Rs 2,500 for per quintal from traders who carried the crop using their own vehicles. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 22
NRIs, tourists and students from other areas entering Sriganganagar district will now be examined for swine flu, District Collector Ashutosh AT Pednekar said on Sunday.

Revealing that all the three persons found positive in the swine flu tests recently were outsiders, the DC said test should be a must for those visiting the district. Three sample collection centres in Sriganganagar and one in Gharsana in addition to the District Civil Hospital, have been authorised for the tests. A control room has been set up in the office of the district medical and health officer Dr BL Mishra. He will be round-the-clock available on cell phone 94604-89669 while 0154-2445071 can also be contacted for suspected cases of swine flu.

Four teams have been sent to field on an awareness campaign. Tamiflu capsules, syrups and masks have been made available in all the Community Health Centres, Primary Health Centres and District Hospital, he informed. 

Chandigarh, November 22
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will carry out a special recruitment drive to enrol ex-servicemen in its ranks. Junior commissioned officers can join the CRPF as sub-inspectors while other ranks can enrol as constables on contractual basis.

The highlight of the special drive is that the physical, domiciliary and educational qualifications for both categories have been completely waived for veterans, though they should be medically fit and have a clean record, according to a circular issued by the CRPF headquarters.

Further, the selected ex-servicemen shall be entitled to draw their full military pension, along with contractual pay from the CRPF, which works out to be about Rs 17,500 per month for JCOs and Rs 11,500 for others.

Though there would be no written or preliminary examination, candidates would have to appear before special recruitment boards scheduled to be held next month at Jalandhar, Allahabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The government has accorded sanction to 100 posts of sub-inspector and 2,000 posts of constables for ex-servicemen on contractual basis for one year. Selected individuals would be subject to service conditions and regulations as applicable to regular CRPF personnel. — TNS

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 22
Hundreds of eminent guests from different states thronged the Shantivan Complex of Brahmakumaris at Abu Road as chief administrator of the NGO Dadi Janaki (94) inaugurated the two-day final function of the series of Global Festival on Sunday.

Artists from Bhartiya Kala Sansthan and Brijlok Kala Manch Bharatpur, Neha and Krishna from Udaipur, Modern School of Dance Bhuvneshwar, Universal School Udaipur and Rajkot enthralled the gathering.

Those present included senior functionaries joint chief Dadi Ratanmohini, general secretary BK Nirwair, executive secretary BK Mrityuanjay Dadi Ishu, Dr Nirmala from Australia, BK Jyanti from UK, BK Hansa from USA, Multimedia chief BK Karuna, media wing chairperson BK Om Parkash, BK Munni, BK Mohini chairperson of village development wing. — OC 

Abohar, November 22
A Suvidha Centre, the first of its kind in Rajasthan, has become functional at Sriganganagar. Interestingly, the first ISO certified Suvidha Centre for administrative work had been earlier inaugurated at Abohar in the Malwa region neighbouring Sriganganagar.

Explaining the working of the Suvidha Centre located in Purani Abadi at Sriganganagar, DC Ashutosh AT Pednekar confirmed that nearly 150 citizens had availed of its services within a short span. Most of the problems faced in day-to-day life are to be redressed by the workers on duty. The citizens have just to contact the centre at helpline phone number (0154-2450444) to get their requirement computerised.

The mechanic in uniform is made available on a first come, first serve basis. The charges will be 10 per cent less than the prevailing market rates. A shed for the workshop will also be raised at the Centre. The administration plans to deploy female workers also in the next phase. 

Mansa, November 22
Even after 16 years of existence, there is no stadium and proper sports equipments in Mansa district for the players to develop their talent.

District secretary of the Cricket Association, Jagmohan, said due to lack of these basic facilities, children were unable to develop their sports qualities. Former district sports officer Avdesh Sharma expressed the need of stadiums, Playgrounds, Coaches and sports equipment. Veerpal Kaur of Joga, who played a state, national and international level in football and won medals said to develop football game, stadiums are needed.

According to sports development, nearly six coaches have been providing services at present as Guljar Singh for basket ball, Bhadur Singh for volley ball, Gurmeet Singh for athletics, Sangramjit Singh for football, Madam Shalu for judo and Vinod Kumar for kho-kho. Meanwhile, district sports officer Jhirmal Singh has raised a demand for more coaches, stadiums, and sport equipments.

Development of games infrastructure could control the increasing trend of drugs among youths in this backward area, he added.

He said a stadium would be constructed in the ground of Nehru Memorial College Mansa and for this purpose approval had been received from the sports director.

The “Sahakarita Bandhu” award for the year 2008-09 has this time been conferred on Kasturi Lal Makkar of Abohar. Former Lok Sabha speaker Som Nath Chatterjee and IFFCO MD Dr Uday Shankar Awasthi honoured Makkar during a glittering ceremony organised early this week by the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative (IFFCO) in New Delhi.

Ever since world's largest cooperative institution IFFCO instituted the prestigious ‘IFFCO Sahakarita Ratna’ and 'IFFCO Sahakarita Bandhu’ awards some two decades back, only one cooperative worker from Punjab had been selected for the Sahkarita Bandhu award earlier. “The awards are conferred on eminent cooperators for their distinguished and outstanding contribution towards the propagation of cooperative ideology and strengthening cooperative movement,” said IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar.

The ‘Sahakarita Ratna’ award for the year 2008-09 has been conferred on Bhikhabhai Zaverbhai Patel of Gujarat while Kasturi Lal Makkar from Punjab got “Sahakarita Bandhu” award. Earlier, the Sahakarita Bandhu award was presented to Baldev Singh Romana from Punjab that too posthumously during the past decade.

Born on August 31, 1931 in a farming family at Pakpattan, the sacred land of Baba Farid in district Montgomery of West Punjab, Makkar did his matriculation from Lahore-based Punjab University in early 1947.

The family had to migrate to a sleepy village in district Sriganganagar of Rajasthan due to partition of India in 1947 and finally settled 
at Abohar.

He was first elected president of a cooperative society in 1957. Later, he served as a member of the board of directors of the Fazilka Central Co-op Bank, Abohar Cooperative Spinning Mills, Spinfed and Nafed and held the office of chairman of the Abohar Co-op Marketing Society for more than 26 years. He participated in cooperative conferences held in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Korea.

— Raj Sadosh

P Club of Mansa has been continually serving the society by organising free camps of medicines and campaigns against social evils. P Club stands for club for peace, progress, prosperity and pleasure.

Club president Parveen Kumar Singhla and project chairman Satish Kumar said that this club was formed in 1981 for the purpose of social service in different fields.

Till now club had organised over 100 blood donation camps at different places in Mansa district, they added.

Blood donation camps were organised in Mansa, Sardulgarh, Budhlada, Bhikhi, Mansa Khurd and Nangal Kalan. By its own efforts, duplicate parts of body were provided to handicapped persons free of cost by organising camps.

Club president was honoured in the state-level function for serving the society. Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill also honoured the club for its social activities.

A team was also sent by the club to help the 1984 riot victims. Along with medical and blood donations camps a campaign was also started against drug addition, dowry system and female foeticide by organising plays and functions. — Parmod Mehta