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Uranium: BARC, GNDU to conduct joint study
Seminar on female foeticide held |
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Religious park at Takht Damdama Sahib in the offing
Municipal staff stop work for indefinite period
2-yr-old crushed to death under train
BSNL freebies for broadband customers
Absconding gangster nabbed again by cops
Heroin, fake currency seized
Four killed in mishaps
‘Poisonous’ salad
RDX supplier found to be Bheja’s accomplice
Attachment of Fazilka villages
BSF organises sports meet, drawing contest
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Uranium: BARC, GNDU to conduct joint study
Bathinda, March 30 BS Bajwa, professor of Physics in the GNDU, said this during a seminar on ‘human health risk assessment in the South-West Malwa region’ here today. The Kheti Virasat, Punjab, had organised the seminar in association with the India Water Portal (Hindi) and the Arghyam. Bajwa said a MoU has been signed between the BARC and GNDU for the purpose and the study would begin within the next three months. He said Punjab has been divided into three zones for the conduct of the study. Bathinda and Ropar with thermal power plants have been made separate zones to study the impact of fly ash emanating from the coal that was being brought from Bihar and Jharkhand where uranium mines existed. The third zone would consist of Amritsar and Jalandhar. The participants expressed concern over the unprecedented environment and public health crisis particularly in the Malwa region that accounts for larger area and population of the state. They pointed out that the earlier studies reflected an indiscriminate use of pesticides as the root cause of prevalence of cancer, but later on presence of heavy radioactive elements like uranium and radon, arsenic, fluorides and nitrates in water, soil and eatables worsened the situation. Dr Surinder Singh said radioactivity was present everywhere, but it becomes dangerous if its level is high. Presence of uranium was within the safe level in the soil of Bathinda, but the preliminary reports point out its high degree in groundwater, particularly in 22 villages, including Jhajjal, Gyana and Malkana, where incidence of cancer was high. He said the number of thermal power projects should be reduced, as the coal brought from Bihar and Jharkhand was a carrier of uranium. Dr Surinder Singh suggested that the agriculturists should revert to organic farming and shun chemical fertilisers to prevent further damage to the ecology. Dr Bajwa traced the presence of uranium in the groundwater here to Tosham rocks in Bhiwani. He said study of samples from Amritsar to Tosham via Bathinda have confirmed upward presence of uranium. Although nothing could be said for certain till the study was conducted by the BARC and GNDU, but three sources — fly ash, chemical fertilisers and weathering mineral rocks — were suspected to be the cause of contamination of the groundwater. Surinder Singh of the Kheti Virasat, Dr Chandra Shekhar, Meenakshi of the India Water Portal (Hindi) and Dr Raj Kumar of the Punjab Agriculture University were among those who spoke at the seminar. |
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Seminar on female foeticide held
Bathinda, March 30 She was presiding over a seminar on female foeticide organised at the Teachers’ Home here. Dr Bajaj sought cooperation of sarpanches, panches, non-government organisations, doctors and parents for the prevention of the social evil which has gained alarming proportion. Deputy Commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, who was the chief guest, said the state government alone could not do much to prevent female foeticide cases, so all should come forward to check the social evil. He said he failed to understand why people hated the birth of a girl child even as they knew that many girls were occupying top offices in the country these days. The DC also appealed for bringing about a change in the mindset of those who considered birth of a girl child as a curse for the family. He honoured panchayats of four villages that registered favourable sex ratio during past six years. Among those present or spoke on the occasion, included Dr JL Singla, Dr Dharampal Singh Sekhon, Dr Malkiat Singh Gill, Dr RS Randhawa and Dr Jagjit Singh besides students Jasmeet Kaur and Arshdip Kaur Gill. A cultural programme was also organised where students presented song, skit and choreographies. |
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Religious park at Takht Damdama Sahib in the offing
Talwandi Sabo (Bathinda), March 30 Following the findings, forest officials have designed the Guru Baagh with a total of ten trees, each depicting one of the ten Sikh gurus. It will be set up in the Takht Sahib complex, ensuring a peaceful ambience to enable pilgrims spend their time in religious-cum-spiritual activities. According to the design specifics, the park will be circular in shape, having one tree of Ber (Zizupus Zizuba) in its middle, which would depict Guru Nanak Dev, while the other nine trees, representing the other nine Sikh Gurus, will encircle it at an equal distance. The findings of the DFO states that Ber (Zizupus Zizuba) depicts Sri Guru Nanak Dev, Khair (Accacia Catechu) represents Guru Angad Dev, Maulsri (Commiphora Wightii) stands for Guru Amar Das, Pipal (Ficus Religiosa) depicts Guru Ram Das, Tahali (Dalbergia sisoo) is for Guru Arjun Dev, Dhak (Butea monosperma) is for Guru Hargobind Rai, Jand (Prosopis spicigera) represents Guru Har Rai, Neem (Azadirectia Indica) shows Guru Teg Bahadur and Impli/Phalai (Tamarindus indicus/acacia modesta) depicts Guru Gobind Singhji. However, despite the best of efforts, the forest department staff in Bathinda could find only nine trees depicting the nine Sikh Gurus. They could not ascertain the tree depicting the eighth Sikh Guru—Guru Hari Krishan Sahib. Finally, they have now sought the help of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in this attempt. Confirming the facts, DFO, Bathinda, SP Anand Kumar said, “It will be an environmental project which would have great religious importance as well. We have sent the proposal and design to the state government as well as the SGPC in Amritsar. Once the project gets sanction, we will start our work.” Speaking to The Tribune over the phone, SGPC president Avtar Singh termed the project as appreciable. However, he maintained, “Due to my busy schedule, I could not go through the details of the project. After analyzing the feasibility, I will recommend the case.” |
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Municipal staff stop work for indefinite period
Bathinda, March 30 Accusing former councillor Basant Agrohia, whose wife Manjeet Kaur is a sitting councillor (ward no. 19), of using derogatory language against and threatening a ‘Tehbazari’ inspector Amrit Pal Singh, the agitators staged an indefinite dharna in the BMC complex. They warned that till a criminal case was registered against Agrohia or he tendered an apology to the union activists, they would continue the strike. Sources said the issue was removal of an illegally installed air-conditioner (AC) at the Ganesha Basti. The AC was installed in a wall adjacent to a public park. “Agrohia threatened me with a transfer and used derogatory language,” said Amrit Pal. Senior vice-president of the Municipal Workers Union Pirthi Pal Singh said, “Earlier too, he had abused the municipal staff. He is not a BMC official and hence, commands no right to issue orders to BMC employees.” Agrohia refuted the allegations of using derogatory language. However, he said he had asked the inspector if he was uncomfortable in performing the public duty he could arrange for his transfer. “Requests to all officials to get the illegally-installed ACs removed went in vain. I was told that inspector Amrit Pal was looking into the matter. Last evening, when I telephoned him, he flatly refused to take any action in this regard,” he alleged. — TNS |
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2-yr-old crushed to death under train
Bathinda, March 30 The girl has been identified as Neena Kumari, daughter of a migrant couple of Bihar, who lived in hutments near the Maur railway station. Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva shifted the body to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. After the post-mortem examination was conducted, the GRP staff initiated the inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC and handed over the body to the kin today. —
TNS |
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BSNL freebies for broadband customers
Bathinda, March 30 Freebies include installation, broadband usage for 15 days at 2 Mbps speed, music and video on demand, games on demand and web-conferencing services for two months. Further, to enable its existing landline broadband customers to taste higher speeds and enjoy fast-moving virtually live games like cricket, it has doubled the speed for unlimited home usage plan with speed ranging from 256Kbps to 1Mbps without any extra charges upto April 26, 2010. The BSNL has also released many new tariff plans for limited and unlimited usage. —
TNS |
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Absconding gangster nabbed again by cops
Barnala/Sangrur, March 30 Immediately after arresting the gangster, Sangrur police produced him before a local court which sentenced him to two days of police remand till April 1. Giving details, SHO Khanori, Bhagwant Singh told media persons,” We produced him before the Judicial Magistrate (first Class) Monak,Tejinder Bir Singh who gave us two day demand remand of the accused,” the SHO said. “Now we will try to ascertain out facts from the accused.” It was earlier reported in these columns that a tug of war had ensued between the Sangrur and Barnala police after the former called an inspector of the latter for questioning for his alleged involvement in helping the gangster Kala Dhanola to escape after committing the crime. The calling of the inspector for questioning had not gone down well with the Barnala police officials who are reportedly up in arms against the SSP Sangrur for his action against the inspector of Barnala police. Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur, Naunihal Singh had confirmed to The Tribune that the inspector among other officials of Barnala police were called to join the investigation since the incident had happened at the border of the two districts. “Since the preliminary part of the Sherpur shootout was handled by Barnala police, various officials of Barnala have been called to participate in the ongoing investigation from time to time,” he said. |
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Heroin, fake currency seized
Fazilka, March 30 The heroin and the fake currency had been brought from Pakistan from a point located on the Indo-Pak border in the area of village Gulaba Bahini of this sub-division. Those arrested had been identified as Sucha Singh, Resham Singh and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha. Information gathered by TNS revealed that Sucha Singh, whose small piece of agricultural land was situated across the wired fencing erected near the Indo-Pak border, had brought consignments containing two kilograms of heroin twice and had delivered it to Resham Singh and Sukhwinder Singh at the place, which was always decided by the last two accused. A case in this connection had been registered
under section 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act and sections 489- B and C of the IPC in Sadar police station, Fazilka. |
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Four killed in mishaps
Sriganganagar/Abohar, March 30 As per report lodged by Madan Lal at Mateelirathan police station under section 279, 337 and 304A of the IPC today his brother Rajinder Kumar was crushed to death by a vehicle that hit the motorcycle, which he was driving. Meanwhile, one Mangat Ram of village Saheerwali was crushed under the wheels as he reportedly fell down from a tractor-trailer by which he was travelling today. As per complaint lodged by Sahi Ram of village Shekhchulia Kanwlasar his pillion riding Mula Ram Meghwal died on the spot as a truck hit the motorcycle on Purabsar-Pallu road on Monday. Sahi Ram sustained injuries and was admitted to the Community Health Centre at Rawatsar. — OC |
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Ten of a family fall unconscious
Shariq Majeed Tribune News Service
Barnala, March 30 Bhagat Danna Jatt Lions Club president Manjeet Singh Vaasi revealed to the media that a member of the affected family Sukhpal Sharma, member of their club, started falling unconscious during the meeting of the club. He added that while the other members of the club shifted Sukhpal Sharma to his home, they after visiting Sharma’s house, came to know that other nine members of his family were lying unconscious. Meanwhile, civil surgeon of the Barnala district hospital said that they have taken the sample of the cucumber for testing to ascertain whether it caused food poisoning. However, he appealed to the farmers not to spray the vegetables with chemicals three days before bringing these to the market. He also advised people to wash the vegetable in boiled water before consuming them.
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RDX supplier found to be Bheja’s accomplice
Ferozepur, March 30 The fact came to light during the interrogation of both Piara Singh and Bheja done by Mohali and Ferozepur districts police respectively recently. The RDX recovered from Piara Singh was meant for the members of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) outfit, a section of whom had already been arrested by Mohali police. Information gathered by TNS revealed that what had become a major source of worry for the state police authorities was the fact that Piara Singh and Bheja had been assigned to smuggle narcotics, explosive, weapons and fake Indian currency (FIC) by a section of terrorists belonging to different outfits and now lodged in different jails of Punjab. A senior functionary of the state police pleading anonymity pointed out that almost all the jails, where the terrorists had been lodged, had become places where strategies were being worked out to revive militancy in Punjab and to run the smuggling racket in the border state. |
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Attachment of Fazilka villages
Fazilka, March 30 Earlier these villages fell under jurisdiction of police station Sadar Fazilka and Police station Khui Khera for legal purposes. The Bar Association Fazilka members led by its president Sushil Gumber presented a memorandum to SDM Fazilka in which they have stated that the decision of the Punjab government is an arbitrary, uncalled for and unwanted and against the interest of the villagers of the concerned villages. They have demanded that the old arrangement of police stations which has been existing since independence should be continued. —
OC |
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BSF organises sports meet, drawing contest
Fazilka, March 30 Assistant Commandant of the Battalion Ved Pal distributed the prizes amongst the students. He also presented sports material to the needy students and harmony gifts to the border villagers. |
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The Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) and the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) have decided to jointly study presence of a high level of uranium in the groundwater.
After conducting a deep research of the religious-cum-historical books, the staff of the divisional forest officer (DFO), Bathinda, observed that different species of trees were associated with almost every Sikh Guru.