Guru Har Sahai (Ferozepur), May 11
The local Modern Public High School started humming with the activity today again following the resumption educational work after its possession was given back to its management committee by the local municipal council (MC).

As the school was constructed over a piece of land belonging to MC about three decades ago, the MC authorities locked the school gates on April 20, 2010 with the help of police and district administration and took its possession under its own command despite the fact that students were taking final examination of class X.

Dozens of students of matric class took the practical examination of agriculture subject while sitting on the road in front of the school on April 21, 2010 after the school was locked by the MC authorities.

Montu Vohra, municipal councillor and son of Shashi Vohra, president of MC, when contacted, said that possession of school was handed over to the school management on the basis of orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court which directed that management of the school must be allowed to run its affairs.

Sohan Singh Monga, manager school, said that school premises had been handed over to school management by the high court and hence school management had started imparting education to its hundreds of students today itself. He added that students in large number attended their respective classes today.

He said that possession of the school premises was taken by the MC authorities on April 20, 2010 despite the fact that he submitted the documents to it which established the fact that two writ petitions were lying pending in the high court in connection with the dispute of possession of school between MC authorities and school management.

He added that authorities concerned did not bother about these two writ petition and took the possession of school premises by bowing to political pressure. He said that management approached the high court again against the illegal action of the MC authorities of taking possession of the school premises.

Fazilka, May 11
A division Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Mukul Moudgil and Justice Jasbir Singh today issued notice to the DC, Ferozepur, EO, Municipal Council, Fazilka, local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani and one Kewal Krishan asking them to present their viewpoint before the court on August 17.

They have been summoned in response to a PIL, regarding an encroachment by Kewal Krishan at a rickshaw stand in the cycle bazaar of Fazilka.

Navdeep Asija, secretary, Graduates Welfare Association, Fazilka, filed the PIL in the court stating that one Kewal Krishan encroached upon some part of the rickshaw stand in the cycle bazaar and constructed a shop there at the behest of local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani. According to the PIL, the council served repeated notices to Kewal Krishan but he did not vacate the council land.

The petitioner has prayed for issuance of directions to the Executive Officer, Municipal Council and the DC Ferozepur to get the illegal possession of rickshaw parking shed vacated immediately. — OC

Bathinda, May 11
Despite the fact that the state government had written to the Bathinda district administration in October 2009 to 
conduct inquiries into the old-age pension cases and the cases related to financial assistance by the Department of Social Security, Punjab, to widows, destitute women, disabled persons and dependent children, the verification of about 50,000 such cases is continuing at a snail’s pace in the district.

In October last, the inquiry was ordered by the government in the light of complaints that a large number of ineligible persons were receiving old-age pension or financial assistance (Rs 250 per month) throughout the state. The deputy commissioners (DCs) were then asked by the Punjab Chief Secretary to conduct inquiries by the first week of November to detect the ineligible cases. In the inquiries, the old-age pensioners/beneficiaries of financial assistance schemes (whose cases have been sanctioned from September 1, 2002) had to be covered.

After the Chief Secretary’s letter in October, two letters were written to the district administration in February 2010 by the Principal Secretary and the Director of the Department of Social Security with an instruction of sending the requisite information in this regard by February 26.

When no report was sent, the Chief Secretary wrote to the district administration to send the same to the Director by March 31, 2010.

Sources in the administration told TNS that now on May 5, the Principal Secretary had written a letter to the DC, Bathinda, and expressed displeasure over non-submission of the inquiry report. He also stated that “despite writing a number of letters, no information, with regard to complete inquiry report, has been received from your side so far”. He has also asked the DC to send the report in this regard by May 10 to the Director, Department of Social Security.

However, DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, when contacted over phone, claimed that about a week ago, the government had extended the date for submission of the inquiry report till July-end.

In Bathinda district, these inquiries are being conducted by the SDMs of Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo and Rampura Phul. However, it is learnt that no SDM has submitted his inquiry report so far.

When contacted, two SDMs gave some reasons due to which they could not complete the inquiries so far. The reasons included non-availability of some of the beneficiaries at their homes, procurement of wheat, census duties, and other such works.

Malout, May 11
Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, today fulfilled his emotional journey as he inaugurated a railway overbridge (RoB) on Malout-Dabwali road constructed with a combined cost of Rs 21 crore fulfilling the desire of his mother Surinder Kaur Badal.

Addressing a public meeting in an emotionally choked voice, Badal said, "This is a humble gift of a son to his mother on Mother's Day." Surinder Kaur Badal is getting treatment in the US these days. He said his mother had emotional bonding with Malout and had always tried for overall development of the town. He said with the construction of the RoB, the economy of this town would get a boost, fulfilling the long cherished desire of his mother.

Recalling his early stint in political arena, Badal said this town has given him elementary lessons in politics and he had always visualized overall development of this place.

He said when the SAD-BJP assumed power three years ago and promised to the people world-class road infrastructure, the Congress termed it a pipedream.

He said timely completion of these mega projects have sealed the lips of those people who had been crying hoarse about the 'failure' of the government.

Stressing upon the need for developing infrastructure and making Punjab power surplus, Badal said with the commissioning of Goindwal, Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura Thermal Plant and starting work on Gidderbaha Thermal Plant, Punjab would add 6500 MW power to existing 6295 MW generation capacity.

He said Punjab would be the only state in the country that would have all the main cities and towns connected with four-lane or six-lane highways by the end of next year.

Ludhiana, May 11
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has appointed nearly 100 lawyers as mediators at 18 mediation and conciliation centres across Punjab and Haryana. These lawyers will replace judges, who were earlier heading these mediation centres from over one year. The move is to bring down heavy pendency of cases and encouraging parties to settle their disputes through dialogues.

Earlier, two judges - one of the rank of the Additional District and Sessions Judge and Civil Judge - were heading each of the centre.

These lawyers were given a 40-hour training in five days at the Judicial Academy, Chandigarh, under the supervision of Justice M M Kumar, Chairman of Mediation and Conciliation Committeee of Punjab and Haryana, a few days ago.

They were imparted training for making them perfect in breaking a deadlock between parties and resolve their disputes amicably. They were instructed not to share details of dialogues exchanged by parties during the mediation proceedings.

In the first sitting, all these mediators will hold a joint session of both parties and in the second, both parties will be heard separately to find out the real cause of their dispute and make efforts to resolve issues between them.

After the final settlement, a draft of settlement will be prepared by mediators and then sent to the court concerned for passing a decree or appropriate order. Mediation and conciliation centres were set in both states on November 8, 2008, by Justice S B Sinha, a Supreme Court judge, through videoconferencing.

These centres were set up at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Patiala, Moga, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rohtak, Sonipat, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari and Hisar.

Ferozepur, May 11
Raminder Singh, commissioner, Ferozepur and Faridkot divisions, said that computerisation of land records in Punjab state would be completed by December 31 this year.

While disclosing this at a function organised in connection with the inauguration of land computerisation centre in Mamdot sub-tehsil of this district, he said that with the opening of this centre, the land owners and cultivators would be able to get the official copy of Jamabandi, girdawri, intqual and roznamcha report on the spot.

Earlier, the applicants had to wait for two days for getting such copies after moving an application in same connection, he said while adding that 36th land record computerisation centre of Punjab had been opened in Mamdot sub tehsil.

He said that exercise of computerisation of land record in the entire state had been going on war footing.

He added that where the land record had been computerised and some faults had been found in the same, the data entry centres had been set up in each district to correct those faults so that functioning of the land record computerization centres could be made smooth.

Fazilka, May 11
Even as the local Municipal Council (MC) razed an illegal colony, which has come up on its land situated on Sania road, to the ground, a section of encroachers set their hutments on fire allegedly to stall the demolition drive.

However, MC authorities assisted by heavy police force managed to keep the situation under control and continued its demolition drive after putting off the fire with the help of fire tenders. The anti-riot vehicle was also deployed on the site where the demolition drive was started today in the morning.

A section of the women, who tried to offer resistance to the demolition drive, were rounded up and taken to the police station concerned.

The occupants alleged they were served no notice by the MC authorities to vacate their dwellings before the bulldozers were pressed into service to pull down the structures. They were not issued any warning even today and hence now they had become shelterless.

They claimed that successive ruling parties of Punjab had promised that they would be given a plot measuring about 100 square yards each for constructing their own houses over the same before uprooting them from the present site.

Darshan Lal, a resident of this town, alleged that his house, which was constructed over a piece of land owned by him and with the permission of MC authorities, had also been demolished partially.

Anil Sethi, president, MC, when contacted, said that by demolishing the illegal structures, the MC had managed to save its valuable 18 acres of land. He added that a general warning through open public announcement was given to the illegal occupants.

Praful C. Nagpal adds from Fazilka: The council officials were led by Executive Officer Tilak Raj Verma and large number of police officials led by DSP Abohar HS Randhawa. Land officer Rajesh Kumar told this correspondent that the council has vacated about 10 acres of land from the possession of encroachers. 

Moga/Faridkot, May 11
The Moga and the Faridkot police in a joint operation has today managed to nab four criminals along with weapons after a brief encounter and saved the life of a travel agent from their custody within 24 hours after he was kidnapped by them for ransom from the Baghapurana town of the Moga district, yesterday.

Rohit Chaudhary IG, Bathinda zone, told The Tribune that the encounter took place near Hardealeana village in the Faridkot district, this afternoon. He said that a joint police team of the Faridkot and Moga districts was constituted immediately after the kidnapping that followed the criminals throughout the night and finally tracked them near Hardealeana village where the encounter took place.

Faridkot SSP AK Mittal and Moga SSP Sneh Deep Sharma said the kidnappers demanded Rs 10 lakh as ransom from Madhu Sudan, the travel agent who was kidnapped by them. An FIR in this regard was registered at the Baghapurana police station on the complaint of his son.

“We began tracing them from the mobile phone calls made by the kidnappers to the victim's family. The towers were traced and the police team tracked down the kidnappers while they were travelling in a white Zen car in that area,” said Mittal.

The police tried to stop the car but the kidnappers opened fire on them and the police too fired back. The police was finally rescued Madhu from the clutches of his kidnappers and arrested three of the kidnappers after a brief encounter.

Those arrested from the spot have been identified as Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Nathewala, Amrik Singh, a resident of Mudki and Sandip alias Sunny, a resident of Muktsar. As many as three pistols along with live cartridges and three swords were recovered from their possession, the police officials said.

The Moga SSP said the fourth criminal identified as Lakhveer Singh, also a resident of Nathewala who managed to flee from the spot firing shots at the police has also been arrested and a pistol was recovered from him in the evening.

Madhu Sudan, a resident of Rajeana village in Moga district, has received some injuries as he was hit by the kidnappers with the butt of the revolver, said the police officials. He was undergoing medical treatment.

Meanwhile, during preliminary investigations, the kidnappers are learnt to have revealed that they were previously involved in similar type of criminal activities.

Zira (Ferozepur), May 11
Three of a family, including a woman, her thirty-four-year old son and a four-year-old girl, were killed in a road mishap involving a car and a truck on Makhu-Zira road near village Khadoor on Tuesday afternoon.

As per police, the incident took place when a car in which the deceased along with others were travelling collided head- on with a speeding truck loaded with cement bags.

Police sources said that those, who were killed included thirty four years old Nirmal Singh, his mother Gurmeet Kaur and his sister's daughter Simranjit Kaur (4).

Two other occupants including Rajwinder Kaur, sister of Nirmal Singh and son of Rajwinder Kaur, Harnoor Singh, one year old boy, suffered multiple injuries and were shifted to a Amritsar-based hospital, where their condition was stated to be serious.

Sources added that Nirmal Singh alongwith other members of his family were going to Ludhiana for getting his mother examined by doctor. The truck was going towards Amritsar from Bathinda town.

The driver of truck, who was allegedly running the vehicle at high speed, could not control the same and hit the same against the Zen car.

While Nirmal and Gurmeet Kaur died on the spot, Simranjit kaur succumbed to her injuries, when she was being shifted to the hospital.

The injured were extricated from the badly damaged vehicle by the locals.

The driver and conductor of the truck fled from the spot after the accident.

A case in this connection had been registered.

Bathinda, May 11
The anti-power theft squad booked a SAD-affiliated Block Samiti member of Faridkot for tampering with the meter installed at his rice sheller in Faridkot.

Acting upon the complaint of an SDO of the electricity department, the police booked Ramandeep Singh under the Anti-Power Theft Act at its zonal police station in Bathinda.

Officials of the electricity department said the accused was issued five notices before action was taken against him. After testing the meter, which was tampered with, he was imposed a fine of Rs 22 lakh for power theft along with Rs 8 lakh as compounded amount.

Bathinda, May 11
On a tip-off, drug inspector Viney Kumar Jindal today conducted a checking at a chemist shop in Kaile Bander village, about 15 km from here, and seized medicines worth thousands of rupees that could have been misused as intoxicants.

Bathinda Civil Surgeon Dr Inder Dayal Goyal said the drug inspector seized 24 types of drugs worth Rs 91,224 from the shop. He said the owner of the shop had been selling drugs without any licence and bills of the drugs at the time of checking.

He said after getting orders from a local court to confiscate the drugs, the office had written to the State Drugs Controller, Punjab, for initiating a necessary action.

The drug inspector said as the owner of the shop could not produce any licence on the spot, a notice would now be issued to him in this regard. In case, he could not produce the licence, a complaint would be then launched against him in the court, he added.

The Civil Surgeon warned the sellers of intoxicants that such persons, who played with the life of the people, would not be spared. Besides, a stern action would also be initiated against them, he added.

Abohar, May 11
The BJP national president Nitin Gadkari will address the newly-formed state executive of the party in Chandigarh on Thursday morning, informed Sandeep Rinwa who has been nominated as state secretary.

Speaking to the media today Sandeep (son of former state president Prof B L Rinwa) said the state unit awaits fresh guidelines from Gadkari to broadbase its organisational structure at village level. — OC