Amritsar, March 5
Three teachers and a security guard of the Khalsa College foiled an attempt to kidnap a girl from the college premises, here today.

All the five accused were arrested and were later identified as Sandeep Singh of Ferozepur, Sukhwinder Singh, Jagjit Singh Rajbir Singh and Ajay Sharma.

According to police sources, Sandeep Singh, who was pursuing his MSc Agriculture at PAU Ludhiana, claimed that he was a close relative of an Akali minister.

However, it is yet to be confirmed. He is also said to be once betrothed to the girl.

It has been learnt that the five accused, in their early twenties, arrived in a Safari (PB05P0087) with tinted dark glasses.

The viva test was in progress when two of them barged into the classroom where their target, a girl student of the college, was giving her viva test.

In order to intimidate her they slapped her and tried to abduct her. At this, she raised an alarm, prompting teachers to rush to the spot.

The regular rush of students was missing from the college campus, since the examinations were going on. With the teachers rushed to the spot, the accused panicked and boarded the car signaling their fellows to drive away from the spot.

However, three teachers of the agriculture department and a security guard of the college steadfastly stood at the exit gate. Their repeated honking and intimidating gestures did not scare them to abandon their position.

In the meanwhile, more teachers and security staff members arrived on the scene and the accused, who are said to be from Ludhiana and Ferozepur, were overpowered and handed over to the police. Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said a case for kidnapping has been registered on the statement of the girl.

Principal of the college, Daljit Singh Dhillon said all the accused came from out of the city while traveling in a car with tinted black glasses and they were not stopped all along the way.

He said flouting of such norms should be checked at the first place. He said all the three teachers and the security guard would be honoured for their courageous efforts.

Jalandhar, March 5
Punjab farmers are increasingly lining up to be members of cooperative societies in view of the increasing farm inputs that are making farming a not very remunerative proposition.

In such a scenario, farmers must come forward to make the most of existing cooperative societies that are doing a yeoman’s job in several parts of the state, said Dr Raj Gupta, Director, Indian Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (ICMWI), an institute working for the development and disbursement of innovative agricultural practices and techniques.

He said to enhance the production of high-quality replacement seed, multipurpose cooperative societies in the state were likely to start production of certified seed also.

Gupta was here to attend the function organised by the Cooperative Department to promote and facilitate the outstanding multipurpose societies of Jalandhar division.

He affirmed that if it goes off the ground, the project would facilitate the easy availability of high-quality seed to the farmers as it would eliminate the role of middlemen from production to marketing of seed.

“Every farmer, associated with the society, can easily avail himself of certified seed if cooperatives take initiative in its production,” said Dr. Gupta.

He said nearly 1,000 tonnes of high-quality seed of different varieties had been produced by the ICMWI by roping in cooperative societies in some pockets of West Bengal and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

On behalf of Dr B.S. Sidhu, Director. Agriculture, the Joint Registrar of Cooperative Department, Dr Kamaldeep Singh Sangha, announced that to promote the use of happy seeder and trenchers, the Agriculture Department had agreed to provide subsidy of 50 per cent on the implements.

He said the cooperative movement could play a role of lifesaver for those 62 per cent farmers in the state, who held land less than 10 acres.

“We have persuaded approximately 200 societies to purchase tractors for common use of farmers and this is just one example of reducing the input agriculture cost,” said Dr Sangha.

Earlier, Dr H.S. Sidhu of Punjab Agricultural University applauded the efforts of societies for the promotion of laser levellers. Levelling of one acre of land saved nearly 400 units of electricity or Rs 2,000 per annum, he said.

He claimed that nearly 6 lakh hectares of land had been levelled with the use of 2,000 such levellers in the state.

Nearly 900 farmers, associated with 400 cooperative societies across seven districts of Jalandhar division, were present.

Nawanshahr, March 5
C. Roul, Principal Secretary, Department of Local Bodies, has issued a notice to the Municipal Council, Nawanshahr, to explain its position regarding passing of resolution dated August 31, 2009 in connection with the election of Pirthi Chand and Balwinder Kumar, senior and junior vice-presidents, respectively.

Declaring that the election procedure adopted for conducting election to the posts was against the section 5(2) of the Punjab Municipal (president & vice-president) Rules, 1994, the Principal Secretary said if the MC failed to submit its reply within 10 days, then the proceeding to quash the resolution under section 236 of the Punjab Municipal Act would be started.

It is worthwhile to mention here that SAD councillor Param Singh Khalsa had filed a petition with the Principal Secretary challenging the procedure adopted by the then SDM Virpal Singh and Executive Officer of the MC V.K. Mehta for conducting separate election for the posts of senior and junior vice-presidents.

In his petition, he said the SAD-BJP councillors had raised objection to the conducting of separate election to these posts but the then SDM-cum-returning officer did not pay any heed to it and remained adamant to conduct separate election for these posts.

Citing section 5(2) of the Punjab Municipal Rules in the notice issued, the Principal Secretary said, “The voting shall take place at the same election for both the offices of the vice-presidents of a municipality and each member of the municipality shall record one vote only. The candidate obtaining the largest number of votes shall be declared senior vice-president and the candidate obtaining the second largest votes shall be declared junior vice-president.”

Jalandhar, March 5
The Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) has initiated Bapu Paras and Mata Daljit Kaur Anti-Dowry Mission to promote simple marriages and encourage Punjabi youngsters to reject dowry. The party has taken the task to enrol 10,000 eligible youth from all over Punjab in the anti-dowry mission.

As many as 33 youngsters have already taken the oath to go in for simple marriage, opposing ostentatious ones. Harjinder Singh will become the torchbearer by tying the knot with a Moga girl on March 7.

“The barat will comprise only 11 people. There won’t be any DJ or lunch organised at the girls’ place. Marriage is a pious relationship between two people… there is no need of ear-piercing music or dowry,” said Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, president of the LBP and former Union Cabinet Minister.

Speaking on the occasion, Ramoowalia said he had actively taken on the responsibility to free the society from social evils like dowry and drug-addiction. He urged the youngsters to come forward in large numbers to make the mission of simple, dowry-less marriages successful.

Further, he said, the party’s mission was also to oppose and end the rampant drug-addiction. “To serve their vested interests, some anti-social elements are pushing the unemployed youngsters into drug addiction. There is an urgent need to address the problem,” he said. He also urged all political parties to include the task of constructing an evil-free society in their party manifesto.