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Swine Flu
Civil hospital doc among 2 suspected cases
Flashback 2009
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ETT teachers’ plan to gherao Badal village
Teachers postpone hunger strike in jail
R-Day
St. Joseph’s founder principal passes away
Extravagance behind mounting farm debt?
malwa diary
Flashback 2009
Assembly panel to review revamping of canals in Abohar
Vasundhara visits Hanumangarh
TSU dharna outside XEN office tomorrow
Boosting morale of children
Woman held for supplying poppy husk to son in jail
PAU experts for protecting plants from cold wave
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Another Ferozepur resident falls prey
Chander Parkash Tribune News Service
Ferozepur, December 27 Baldev Raj Arora, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Civil Hospital, when contacted, while confirming the death of Gagandeep Kaur due to swine flu, said that details in connection with the same would be available tomorrow. Earlier, the first swine flu death was reported in this border district yesterday when Gurjit Singh, aged 48 years, resident of village Ittawali, around 20 kms from district headquarters, who was suffering from swine flu for the past few days, died in DMC Ludhiana. Arora said that the contact persons of Gagandeep Kaur would be identified by tomorrow after all the details connected with her would be available to them and their medication would be started immediately as precautionary measures. Information gathered by TNS revealed that Gagandeep Kaur, who got treatment in a private hospital of this district, was shifted to a Ludhiana hospital after her condition did not improve. However, she could not survive. Her body was being brought to her native village falling in Guruharsahai area of this district. Apart from these two deaths, four swine flu positive cases which had been reported from this border district were being given treatment by the different health institutions. One of the swine flu patients, who was getting treatment in local hospital, belonged to the village of deceased Gagandeep Kaur. Arora said that a close watch was being kept on 38 persons, who came in contact with Gurjeet Singh, who had died due to swine flu.
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Civil hospital doc among 2 suspected cases
Bathinda, December 27 Talking to this reporter this afternoon, district health officer (DHO) Dr Dharampal Singh Sekhon said that 27-year-old Dr Shilpa, who was actually posted at Bhucho Mandi but nowadays posted in the local civil hospital on deputation, had been admitted to the civil hospital here as a suspected swine flu case. Besides Dr Shipa, the other suspected swine flu patient was a 17-year-old girl who had also been admitted to the hospital today. She was daughter of another swine flu positive patient Charanjit Kaur from Bathinda who was also under treatment at the civil hospital here, the DHO added. Meanwhile, a swine flu positive patient Lakhbir Singh was today discharged from the local civil hospital as he was now in good health, Dr Sekhon said. The DHO also said that no swine flu patient was now admitted in the ICU at the civil hospital here. He said the health authorities were now keeping a vigil in the entire district to check the menace of swine flu disease in an effective manner and detect the suspected swine flu cases at early stage. Dr Sekhon said the district health authorities had also been creating awareness among the masses by
way of adopting several measures, including distribution of pamphlets and stage shows of a drama. Besides, the doctors were also educating the people about the symptoms of the swine flu disease in the district, he added. |
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Moments of joy for SAD as Badals staged a comeback in Malwa
SP Sharma Tribune News Service
Bathinda, December 27
Badal remained demoralized for about two years until the SAD that was routed out of most segments during the assembly elections in 2007 regained political strength in these parliamentary elections. The SAD candidates won the three Lok Sabha seats, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Faridkot, of the core Malwa belt, but lost in Sangrur because of infighting. The Congress had virtually routed the SAD in these areas during the assembly elections. Victory of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, against their arch rival Amarinder Singh's son, Raninder Singh, in Bathinda was an event to rejoice for the Badal clan. SAD heavyweight Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa badly lost to the Congress newcomer Vijayinder Singla in Sangrur reportedly due to the opposition of the faction considered close to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan of SAD captured the Faridkot seat defeating Jagmeet Singh Brar of Congress. The SAD also saw its candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya winning the Ferozepur seat by defeating Jagmeet Singh of Congress. However, the election was marred with the opposition Congress making allegations of rigging by the ruling SAD. Sukhbir Singh Badal's victory to the assembly from the Jalalabad seat in Ferozepur has further consolidated the position of the Badal clan in the Malwa region, but it is to be seen in the coming year whether they manage to retain this supremacy. His son's defeat failed to dampen the spirit of Amarinder Singh who has been holding largely attended public meetings in various parts of Malwa. He has been accusing the Badals of indulging in corruption and nepotism. The string of development works launched by the SAD-BJP combine government before the elections somewhat appears to have broken as many projects were on standstill because of one or the other reason. Work on the prestigious Rs 18,000 crore refinery has been accelerated to commission it in 2011. The refinery project was expected to transform the economy of the region. Reports of Maoists raising their head in certain parts of Malwa, including Mansa and Barnala, have been causing concern among the common people and the administration. The hardliner Sikh organisations from time to time made attempts to browbeat particularly supporters of the Dera Sacha Sauda but the timely intervention of authorities saved the situation from taking an ugly turn. The hardliners also offered weekly arrest of their "jatha" to mount pressure on the government for closure of the Dera Sacha Sauda. The recent visit of Surjit Singh Barnala to various parts of Malwa was causing concern among the SAD leadership. It is believed that Barnala was trying to gauge the mood of people before plunging into active politics again after relinquishing office of governor. It was also being keenly watched whether the warring factions of the Congress led by Amrinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal would unite to maintain the party's edge in this region. The factionalism was bound to cause damage to the party's prospects. Reports of presence of uranium and nitrates in the groundwater of the Malwa belt continue to haunt residents of the area.
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ETT teachers’ plan to gherao Badal village
Fazilka, December 27 Out of these, three teachers are working in Mamdot block while one is posted in Guruharsahai block. Two of the arrested teachers have been sent to Central Jail, Ferozepur, and orders for the other two teachers to be sent to Central Jail have also been released in the evening today. It is stated that this time the Punjab government has decided to lock up the teachers in Central jails only instead of sub-jails and other places. The agitating teachers are demanding that the teachers appointed under Zila Parishad should be merged into the state education department. ETT Teachers Union, Malwa zone president, Sanjeev Narang in a press released flashed from an undisclosed location, said the agitating ETT teachers are determined to gherao the Chief Minister's ancestral residence at village Badal at all costs. He has said that the agitating ETT teachers will carry out their programme suddenly. It has been further stated in the press note that the Malwa zone president has left for village Badal with his group of agitating teachers in a scattered way through undisclosed routes. Narang has severely criticized the Punjab government for adopting repressive measurers to crush the agitation of the ETT teachers. He has alleged that the government is denying the teachers their democratic right of peaceful agitation. He has warned the government that if their demand is not accepted they would take the agitation to the streets and fill up the jails of Punjab. He has said that thousands of young teachers are eager to land in jail for the acceptance of their demand. |
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Teachers postpone hunger strike in jail
Bathinda, December 27 Talking to this reporter over the phone today, district president of the union Jagmail Singh said that despite the promise made by the Muktsar police chief, as the arrested ETT teachers had not been released unconditionally from the jail by the government today so far, it seemed that the government was dilly-dallying over the issue. He said the arrested ETT teachers had postponed the hunger strike thinking that the government would perhaps do something in the interests of the ETT teachers. On the other hand, senior vice president of the state unit of the union Swarnjit Singh Bhagta told this reporter that about 60 ETT teachers from Mansa district and 10 teachers from Bathinda district were in Bathinda jail. He said neither the ETT teachers had been released nor any meeting with the Chief Minister had been arranged so far. He said if the government did not release the ETT teachers today then they would execute their agitation to gherao Badal village as per programme. He also said if a meeting with the CM was fixed then they would postpone their programme (gherao of Badal village) till then. |
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101 NCC cadets to represent region
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 27 Almost 2000 cadets from all over the country are selected to participate. A large number of cadets from friendly foreign counties with whom the NCC has a youth exchange also attend the camp. During a dress rehearsal held today at Air Force Station, High Grounds here today, Brig Rajendra Singh, Deputy Director General NCC and other senior Officers from the Directorate assessed the performance of the directorate team and motivated them for doing further better.
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St. Joseph’s founder principal passes away
Bathinda, December 27 Mother Gemma was the founder principal of St.Joseph's Convent School, Bathinda and St.Joseph's
Punjabi Medium School, Bathinda. She was also the ex-superior general of Bethany Congregation and president of Bethany Educational Society, Mangalore. Her funeral ceremony will be held at Bethany Convent, Mangalore, on Monday at 3 pm. Her death has also been mourned by the Josephites alumni besides those in the community. —
TNS |
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Extravagance behind mounting farm debt?
Moga, December 27 Rather, they look forward to a lavish lifestyle and spend lakhs of rupees to go abroad without taking into account the economic position of the family. One could well judge from the mushrooming overseas educational consultants in every town and city of the state the desire of the youth to go abroad by any means. They go abroad to Australia, Canada, United States and the United Kingdom on student visas spending Rs 10 to 20 lakh but hardly take interest in studies, which has added a lot of problems in these countries. Back at home, the lower middle class and middle class farmers who send their wards abroad are left deep in debt. They raise money from money lenders and banks on high interest rates. A general analysis conducted by
The Tribune in Moga, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts reveal that most of the money liabilities on the farming community owe to lavish lifestyle (buying luxury cars and spending extra money on marriages), spending huge amounts on education and sending their wards
to foreign countries falling prey to the travel agents. No educated rural youth likes to stay back in the village and attend to his or her traditional family farm business and does not even give a second thought to new economic opportunities to set up new enterprises in the agro sector. According a recent study conducted by Dr HS Shergil, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, the total quantum of farm debt in the state is at around Rs 30394.12 crores. It has become almost three times over these past 10 years from Rs 52,000 per household in 1997 to Rs 1.39 lakh in 2008. Surprisingly, only four per cent of farm households in Punjab are absolutely free of debt with the rest of 96 per cent under debt. Nearly 72 per cent of them are heavily involved in debt and out of these, 17 per cent are in virtual ‘debt trap’ in the sense that they cannot pay even the annual interest on their loans from their current farm income, finds Shegil in his study. Most of these farm households (86 per cent) belong to the Malwa region. Another factor that has come to light is that 30 per cent of the farm households of the state borrowed some money for long-term, non-productive purposes during the agricultural year 2007-08 for house construction and repair (44.38 per cent of total amount), marriages and social ceremonies (41.41 per cent of total) and purchase of durable consumer goods (25.41 per cent of total). Jaswinder Singh Aulakh,general secretary of the association of panchayat representatives of the state, says policy makers need to re-think strategy to take farmers out of debt and launch a crusade to improve their economic conditions, raising job prospects and guiding them to adopt allied farm practices. Otherwise, socio-economic structure of the state would be ruined one day. |
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Restoring calm through meditation
The All India Human Rights Association (AIHRA) has this time honoured Sheilu Behan, national coordinator of the education wing of the globally known NGO, Brahmakumaris, having its headquarters at Mount Abu in Rajasthan. The award was recently presented by Justice SN Bhargava, former Chief Justice of the Assam High Court, who now heads the State Human Rights Commission in Rajasthan. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion with their benign presence include two former governors, film stars and heads of spiritual missions. The AIHRA was founded in 1987 and enjoys affiliation with the United Nations Organisation, informs its chairman MU Dua. Millions of TV viewers have been keenly listening to spiritual discourses given by BK Sheilu Behan on different TV channels during the morning session for more than two decades. Thousands of families have got collection of her CDs, VCDs and DVDs. She has attended uncountable number of national and international conferences. Several thousand letters that she received indicate that people felt relieved off tension and problems stood solved after following the way of meditation that Sheilu Behan preaches. She recently returned from another foreign tour that was aimed at spreading message of peace and harmony. Having conducted meditation camps in 70 countries and thousands in India so far, Sheilu Behan spoke on different aspects of peace and development. Quoting former US president John F Kennedy, she says it is unfortunate that big powers dream of buying peace by intensifying preparations for war. Forty countries are at present involved in one or the other war, be it against militancy or the neighbouring country. Millions of lives have been lost in suicide bombing and explosions. While ATM stands for any time money the world has now adopted ATW, that means any time war phenomena. Spirituality alone is capable of establishing peace, prosperity and development, she feels. — Raj Sadosh
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Ray of hope for border dist as projects see light of day
Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, December 27 The first and foremost being the 'District Administrative Complex' coming up on the Ferozepur-Moga road for which the drawings have been approved and tenders have been floated. The work on construction of the DAC on which an estimated amount of Rs 56 crores will be spent, is likely to begin in February next year. The work on completion of Circuit House, which was lying incomplete for the last ten years, has also begun. Interestingly, the initial estimate on its construction when the project has begun in 1997 was pegged at Rs 97 lakhs. However, now after spending an amount of around Rs 2 crores, another Rs 3 crores is required for its completion, which has been approved lately. The work on completion of Rai Sikh Bhawan coming up next to the Dussehra Ground has also been initiated. Other projects which have been approved in principal include construction of a judicial complex in the DC and SSP office complex, construction of visitor's gallery on the Indo-Pakistan joint checkpost at Hussainiwala on which Rs 3.25 crores will be spent, shifting of Central Jail on the outskirts of the town besides a light and sound show at the national martyrs memorial, Hussainiwala. The government has also begun the process to develop Harike bird sanctuary into a major hub of tourist attraction. The state government has also identified some government land in the town which will be commercially utilised in times to come. The land includes the office of the Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry)-- 1 kanal 3 marals, Old Civil Hospital- 21 kanals, Municipal Committee (Gol Bagh)-- 70 kanals 16 marlas, Old TB Hospital - 5 Lanals 10 marlas, Tehsil complex-- 10 kanals 9 marlas and offices of the cooperative department- 8 kanals 13 marlas. The state government intends to dispose of this land lying in the heart of the town to mobilize resources for the developmental works. According to the information available, a project amounting to Rs 31 crores has been sanctioned for water supply and sewerage in the town. However, due to procedural wrangles, and poor fiscal condition of the MC, the work has not been initiated yet. Two major chunks of land measuring 87 kanals near Ram Sharnam and another 86 kanals at the backside of the Central Jail has been made available at the disposal of PIDB, which will be developed for residential and commercial purposes. If the Central Jail is shifted out of town, the jail land measuring 36 acres can be integrated with this existing chunk of 87 kanals, on which a planned township can be developed in the near future as this place is sans one. Shifting of Central Jail has been approved by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and further process has also commenced. Another 32 acres of prime land available next to the office of the horticulture department is also lying unused other than for simple cultivation. This land is likely to be utilized for setting up a vocational training institute on PPP (public-private partnership) mode as has been done in districts like Muktsar. Further, 1200 acres of land is available along the Indo-Pakistan border. This land which is prone to encroachment will be used to develop a seed farm, said official sources, for which a case has been sent to the FCR for approval. Already hundreds of acres of government land along the Zero Line has been encroached upon by some influential people. So, the government wants to utilize this land sooner than later. (To be continued)
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Assembly panel to review revamping of canals in Abohar
Abohar, December 27 Giving details, he said that 70 per cent of the work on remodelling of the Malukpura, Daulatpura and Ramsara sub-canals have been completed at a cost of 18.70 crore but many an eyebrows have been raised on the quality of the work. The members of the Estimates Committee plan to go in for physical verification of the work and investigate about the complaints made by the farmers. While flaying the SAD-led government in Punjab for giving step-motherly treatment to the Abohar region in supply of water for irrigation and drinking, the MLA claimed that during the Congress-led government water supply was suspended only for 25 days in the Panjawa sub-canal and 38 days in the Malukpura sub-canal to carry desilting work during the period from November 1, 2005 to October 31, 2006. But the present government kept the supply suspended for 67 days in Panjawa sub-canal and 62 days in Malukpura sub-canal during the period November 2008 to
October 2009 but the targets for desilting were not achieved. Such prolonged closure of canals in Abohar, Balluana and Fazilka segments severely affected cotton fields and orchards, he added. The figures made public by the local market committee confirm that the arrival of cotton at the cotton yard here had come down from 665310 to 591900 quintals. Some orchards of kinnow had dried for want of irrigation. Since tubewell water is not fit for irrigating cotton or fruit plants in Abohar area, the scarcity of canal water had hit the economy, he asserted. |
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Vasundhara visits Hanumangarh
Hanumangarh/Abohar, December 27 The district authorities constructed a temporary helipad at the Nehru Memorial PG College where the former CM was received by hundreds of BJP workers. She was joined at the condolence meeting by Om Parkash Mathur, former state president of the party, former ministers Digambar Singh, Dr Ram Partap and Surinderpal Singh, MP Dushyant Singh, Surinder Kaur, chairperson of the local municipal council, Abhishek Matoria, MLA from Nohar, former district BJP president Bahadur Chand Narang from Sriganganagar and others in offering tributes to the deceased. Meanwhile, concerned over the death of three women in a family in less than four days at village 33LNP in Srikaranpur segment, Rajasthan agricultural marketing minister Gurmeet Singh Kunnar today directed the health department to make arrangements for door-to-door medical check-up in the village. Sriganganagar CMHO Dr Harbans Singh Brar said Mohra Devi was suffering from pneumonia. while Ram Piyari and Sulochana Devi were getting treatment for cold and cough but they died. —
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TSU dharna outside XEN office tomorrow
Abohar, December 27 The decision was taken at a meeting that was attended by presidents and secretaries of all the sub-divisions. Divisional vice-president Ram Niwas, joint secretary Amarjit Tuli and cashier Sohan Singh attended as special invitees. Briefing newspersons in the afternoon, secretary Nirmal Singh said the protest demonstration that sparked off controversies on December 22 had to be held as SDO Surinder Singh Behal and AAE Jagdev Sokhal had backtracked from the assurance given on acceptance of demands. The XEN too had given a word but he later preferred to order suspension of five TSU workers, Singh said. |
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Boosting morale of children
Sriganganagar/Abohar, December 27 While evaluating their performance, the organisations honoured brilliant students for academic excellence and those who had brought laurels to the twin districts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh in sports during the outgoing year. The students showcased their talent in cultural activities by presenting folk dances of Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat during all such functions. During its annual function at Suratgarh, the Jat Club also released a directory of the Jat community by chief guest Dr Dalip Singh Siyag. Municipal council executive officer Madan Singh Budania was the guest of honour. Sixty students were honoured for achievements in academics and four for winning medals in national sports. Patron Satpal Godara said this would boost the morale of the future builders of the nation. The Suraj Mal Jat Vikas Samiti organised a function at Hanumangarh to honour shining students, sportspersons and newly elected members of the municipal council. Swami Sukha Nand Arya of the Vedic Kanya Gurukul was the chief guest. He laid emphasis on value-based education system. Additional district magistrate JR Godara was the chief guest at the function that was organised by the Vineet Memorial Foundation at Durga Mandir Dharamshala, Hanumangarh. DEO (Primary) Meena Sarva and Additional DEO Mohan Lal Swami were guests of honour. Social reformer Bakhtawar Singh Sidhu presided over the function. The organisers availed of the services of well-known AIR anchor Rajesh Chaddha to conduct the proceedings. Jitender Soni who had topped in the Rajasthan civil services exam and Shivani Vyas, senior research fellow at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) were also honored besides 41 other persons including 16 women for their achievements. Secretary Dr Anil Kaushik said the NGO had been organising such functions since 1997. Noble and hardworking persons must be honoured as they serve as role models for others, he maintained. Similar functions were last evening held at Tibbi and Padampur. |
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Woman held for supplying poppy husk to son in jail
Ferozepur, December 27 Dilbagh Singh, deputy superintendent of jail, when contacted, said that Harbans Kaur had come to local Central Jail to meet her son Harjinder Singh and his friend Sukhdev Singh, who had been facing trials in a case connected with the smuggling of poppy husk. While a single case was registered against Harjinder Singh for his alleged involvement in smuggling of narcotics, Sukhdev Singh had been facing a number of cases connected with smuggling of narcotics and escaping from police custody. He added that when a search of Harbans Kaur was carried out by a woman constable as a routine exercise, a packet containing poppy husk was found in her handbag. He said that after the poppy husk was found in possession of Harbans Kaur, local police authorities were informed in writing for taking necessary action against her. Gobinder Singh, SHO, city police station, when contacted, said that about 100 grams of poppy husk was recovered from the possession of Harbans Kaur. He added that Harbans Kaur, who hailed from Moga district, was sent to jail after she was produced before the magistrate. |
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PAU experts for protecting plants from cold wave
Moga, December 27 Dr Ramesh Kumar, head of the department of floriculture and landscaping has today stated said that a number of plants such as croton, ixora, agronema, syngonium, dracaena were weather sensitive and in order to protect them from winter they should be moved to safer places or cover. He was of the view that under conditions of frost or too low temperature these plants needed to be provided light irrigation. His colleague Brij Mohan Bharadwaj, assistant professor of landscaping, had also stated that lawns turn yellow in winter due to cold injury. To protect the lawns, light irrigation during early morning hours was useful, he said. Pointing to the application of fertilisers like urea to cure yellow grass lawns, the experts advised that this should not be practised as the best time for fertilizer application would be the end of February and first week of March months. — TNS |
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Bathinda, December 27
Moga, December 27
The All India Human Rights Association (AIHRA) has this time honoured Sheilu Behan, national coordinator of the education wing of the globally known NGO, Brahmakumaris, having its headquarters at Mount Abu in
Rajasthan. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion with their benign presence include two former governors, film stars and heads of spiritual missions.
In winter chill, students warm the cockles of people’s heart with their performance
