Killianwali (Muktsar), May 27
The petrol pumps at Dabwali in Haryana are doing brisk business while those in this adjoining VIP area of Punjab are starved, as motorists prefer getting the tanks of their vehicles filled from the former area where the fuel is cheaper by Rs 4.17 per litre.

This place falls in the home constituency of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

While the high-octane petrol was available for Rs 51.02 per litre at Dabwali, it was priced at Rs 55.19 per liter in the adjoining Killianwali and Doomwali areas of Punjab.

During a visit to the two places today, this correspondent found that while a petrol pump at Dabwali was selling nothing less than 5000 litres of petrol per day, the one in Punjab territory, a few yards away, was selling only 100 to 150 litres. A petrol pump in the Punjab territory has already been shut and a shopping complex built in its place. Inder Mohan, manager of the petrol pump at Dabwali, said motorists from the adjoining areas of Punjab prefer to get their fuel tanks refilled from Haryana because of the substantial price difference.

The seven petrol pumps in Dabwali have regular customers from the neighbouring Killianwali and Doomwali in Punjab.

Employees of a company-owned pump of HP in Punjab were seen sitting idle, as there was not a single customer there. On the other hand, there was hustle and bustle in the fuel stations across the highway in Haryana.

An employees of the fuel station claimed that only about 20 litres of petrol had been sold by 2 pm. He said that at times, less than 100 litres of petrol is sold during the whole day. Residents of the Punjab areas here were facing many other problems, including cellular connectivity. Those carrying mobile phones of the Punjab circle have to pay roaming charges as their calls get matured through the towers in the Haryana territory.

However, shopkeepers at Dabwali envy the uninterrupted electric supply particularly in Killianwali of Punjab that is divided by a tented police check-post of Haryana on the highway to demarcate the border. A shopkeeper pointed out that residents of Killianwali enjoy uninterrupted electric supply as it was the CM's area, while they in Haryana face frequent power cuts even in the scorching summer. 

Bathinda, May 27
A 35-year-old woman, Nisha, a resident of local Amarpura Basti, today died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital, at the Mall road here. She is survived by her husband, a son (12) and a daughter (11).

Her husband Harinder Singh, a tempo driver, alleged that his wife had died due to negligence of the hospital staff while the owner of the hospital Dr GS Nagpal refuted the allegation saying they had made every effort to save her life.

As the matter became disputed, the body was sent to the local Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.

At the Civil Hospital, Harinder Singh alleged that the doctor, attending to his wife, and the staff of the private hospital were responsible for the death as she had died due to their negligence. He alleged that the staff administered an injection to his wife, after which her condition became serious and she died within minutes.

On the other hand, talking to media persons, Dr Nagpal said Nisha was a rheumatic heart patient and was under treatment for the past few months.

He said that in this disease, the use of penicillin is required, so the staff, after testing the drug on her, administered it intra-muscular. Despite having tested positive, the drug showed an adverse reaction due to which she died, he added.

Dr Nagpal said as the heart of Nisha was already weak, so it stopped functioning due to drug reaction. Despite all treatment and efforts made to save her by using life saving drugs, she died. He said it was not true that she had died due to negligence by the staff of his hospital.

When contacted over the phone this evening, DSP (City) Jaswinder Singh said that the post-mortem examination of the body of Nisha would be conducted by a board of doctors at the Civil Hospital here tomorrow in the morning.

The DSP said that on the basis of findings of the report of the board, further proceedings would be initiated in the case. 

Moga, May 27
The CBI-designated sessions court of Nagpur has granted regular bail to Gurbachan Singh, proprietor of the JP Herbal Pharmacy, Moga, in a criminal case of manufacturing and distributing sub-standard herbal drugs having mixtures of allopathic formulations, the case of which was registered against him and one of his distributors Navin Gadekar by the CBI at Nagpur, last week.

Manoj Pangarkar, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of the CBI, who is investigating the case, while confirming this to The Tribune, said that Gurbachan has been released from judicial custody. He was arrested from his residence on May 18, this year.

An FIR under sections 120 B read with 420, 274, 275 and 276 of the IPC, section 33 I read with 33EEA and 33EEC of Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940 and under sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was registered against JP Herbal Pharmacy and M/s Nalini Ayurvedic (Nagpur) including unknown public servants at Nagpur.

A few samples of the drugs manufactured by 
this company were allegedly found adulterated and spurious.

The ASP did not rule out the possibility of the presence of a large-scale syndicate in the business of producing sub-standard drugs. He was of the view that this is a larger racket, in which, many more people could have been involved and the CBI is going on the right track in the investigation process.

Meanwhile, the owners of the JP Herbal Pharmacy have allegedly not cooperated with the officials for collecting fresh samples of their products for chemical testing.

The three-member team comprising Dr Narinder Kumar, Dr Harinder Dhaliwal and Dr Vinod Bansal, district ayurvedic officials of Ludhiana, Bathinda and Faridkot districts, respectively, visited the firm but the owners allegedly did not allow them to collect the samples.

“We have reported the matter to Dr Rakesh Sharma, director of the ayurveda department, seeking further necessary directions for inquiry and collecting samples,” said one of the team members. 

Fazilka, May 27
The police have registered a case, in connection with the death of the theft accused, Malkit Singh, who was declared brought dead to the local civil hospital yesterday after police shifted him here from Arniwala police station, against Darbara Singh, on whose complaint Malkit was arrested a few days ago.

The FIR was registered under section 304 of the IPC pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Darbara Singh and eight unidentified persons in the Arniwala police station for causing the death of Malkit Singh.

The police alleged that Malkit Singh had died due to injuries caused to him by Darbara Singh and others when they thrashed him after catching him a few days ago.

Malkit, who along with his other associates, were in Arniwala police station after they were remanded into police custody by the 
judicial magistrate concerned for their 
alleged involvement in a criminal case registered against them under sections 379 and 411 of the IPC.

Yesterday, Malkit started feeling restlessness and within minutes fainted in the Arniwala police station. He was immediately taken to the civil hospital here, where the doctors, who attended on him, declared him brought dead. His postmortem was conducted by a panel of three doctors including Ajay Narang, Hans Raj and SK Parnami.

The kin of Malkit, who reached the local civil hospital, said that when their relatives met Malkit in the police custody a day before his death, Malkit was alright.

Even the police when took the custody of Malkit and his associates, when they were remanded into police custody by judicial magistrate concerned about four days ago, got their medical examination done and they all were found medically fit.

SPS Parmar, SSP, Ferozepur, when contacted, said that prima facie, it was found that Malkit had died due to injuries caused to him by Darbara Singh and others when he was thrashed by them a few days ago.

He added that though initially Malkit did not show any sign of seriousness due to those injuries, the same later turned to be fatal.

He said that if it was found that some new injuries had come up in the postmortem report than the injuries, which were shown in the first medical report of Malkit, it would be a clear-cut case of police torture and hence action would be taken against the policemen concerned accordingly. 

Ferozepur, May 27
Amrit Vohra, a senior Congress leader of Guru Har Sahai town of this district and director, Markfed, Punjab, along with five others were booked for the alleged murder of Kehar Singh, a resident of village Virk Khurd Karkandi, whose body was found under mysterious circumstances in front of the local Central Jail about four years ago.

The others who have been booked under sections 302, 120 B and 149 of the IPC in the city police station on May 25 included Sikander Singh, Maya Singh, Ajit Singh, Raj Singh and Balwinder Singh, are all residents of Guru Har Sahai.

Interestingly, when the body of Kehar Singh was found on July 28, 2006 in front of the Central Jail here, the police registered a case under section 174 of the CrPC taking it as an abnormal death.

Now, four years after that incident, the case was registered against six persons on the recommendations of a senior functionary of the crime branch of Punjab police.

SPS Parmar (SSP) said that the crime branch functionary had said that prima facie, this case required investigation after registration of a case under section 302 of the IPC.

Meanwhile, Amro Bibi, mother of deceased approached the crime branch of Punjab police in connection with the death of her son.

She alleged that she suspected the involvement of these six persons in the murder of his son.

Narinder Waraich, SHO, city police station, when contacted, said that the report of postmortem showed that the deceased had not consumed poison and there were no injury marks on the body as well.

Interestingly, Amro moved an application to higher police authorities alleging involvement of Vohra and others into the murder of his son on October 3 this year about two months after the body of Kehar Singh was found.

Meanwhile, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, chief whip of the Congress and MLA Guru Har Sahai, alleged that Amrit Vohra and others had been fixed in false criminal case out of political vendetta.

He said that neither the police official involved in such illegal acts would be spared nor the ruling alliance would be allowed to harass innocent Congressmen.

Vohra, when contacted, said that first a petition filed by Amro Bibi in high court against them for registration of case was dismissed when they were not found guilty of committing any crime.

In yet another inquiry conducted by a police team on the directions of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), their involvement in the alleged murder was not found.

He added that Amro Bibi again approached the crime branch and a case was registered against them on the basis of political considerations. 

Abohar, May 27
The BSF jawans deployed on the Indo-Pak border in this sector of Punjab frontier and neighbouring Rajasthan frontier have started taking delicious Nimbu Pani (lemon water) and Roohafza sherbat (a natural refreshing sweet concentrate) while performing their duties to save themselves from the sunstroke.

The jawans have also been provided with sunglasses and ordered to wear full-sleeve cotton shirts by the BSF authorities. “They have been asked to cover their head, face and ears with white cotton clothes while performing their duties on the observation posts and observation towers.

They are being supplied cold drinking water in excess to keep them cool in the oven-like conditions prevailing in this region,” pointed out Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar sector.

Talking to the TNS here today, he said that extreme hot conditions, which were being witnessed perhaps for the first time in this area when the temperature was hovering around 48-49 degree Celsius had made them take some steps for the welfare of the jawans, who had been tasked to protect the Indian border in odd conditions.

The quantity of fruits like Tarbooj (watermelon) and Kharbooja (melon), which carried maximum water content and being served to the jawans, had been increased.

The duty period at one go of jawans had been cut down to two hours from four hours so that their continuous exposure in the extreme heat wave conditions could be avoided. The observation posts had been provided with khus (a type of grass) sheets.

The condition were worse in the areas falling in Naje Ke and Roop Nagar border observation posts (BOPs) as these were located adjacent to the desert district Sriganganagar of Rajasthan. Satyarthi said jawans were made to play their games and take physical exercise daily to maintain their endurance level and capacity. So far, no jawan had suffered sunstroke, he added.

Bathinda, May 27
Though the residents of the city today felt some relief from the heat wave due to fall in the temperature as compared to yesterday's temperature but they suffered a lot of other problems due to dust in the sky through out the day.

The temperature was today recorded in the city over 43 degree Celsius while it was registered at 47 degree Celsius yesterday. Today was the first day in the past six days when the city witnessed temperature less than 45 degree Celsius.

Weathermen have predicted that the present conditions may continue till Friday. After that, temperature is expected to soar again.

As the sky was today overcast and engulfed by the dust throughout the day, people, especially those suffering from respiratory problems, complained of uneasiness.

Some of them even said that this type of dust in the sky for the entire day had made their life miserable as they could not even breathe properly today. 

Lambi, May 27
Finding that various modes of protests had 'failed' to draw the attention of the state government towards their long-pending demands, activists of the Anganwari Mulazin Union (AMU) have now resorted to a novel way of protest--reciting paath of Sukhmani Sahib and holding blood donation camps.

Taking a cue from the identity of the state ruling party-SAD (B)- known for being a 'Panthic' party, the AMU activists claimed to have adopted a 'Panthic' way of protest to ensure their voice reaches the ear of the state government.

As per the strategy, they have installed a tent on the outskirts of Lambi village-the home turf of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal--- where a group of 21 activists from different blocks recite 'paath' of Sukhmani Sahib every day.

"Since May 23, we have been continuously reciting the paath of Sukhmani Sahib rotation wise. The volunteers reciting the paath observe a fast also," said state president of the AMU, Hargobind Kaur.

"After failing in our past aggressive attempts, we have now resorted to Panthic way, with the hope that it would surely move the SAD-led Panthic government to accept our genuine demands," she added.

Speaking about the blood donation camps, the AMU activists said, "As the government has been sucking our blood through harassment, we have now opted to donate our blood in the name of the government, so that its thirst could be satisfied."

The protesters informed that the first such camp was organized at Muktsar on May 22, where the activists donated 21 units. They mentioned that the next camp would be held on May 29 in Bathinda.

Earlier, the AMU activists had lodged various protests on different occasions. They had even created a disturbance during the state-level events, when the chief minister and deputy chief minister were holding public meetings.

It may be mentioned that among others, a hike in their honorarium, implementation of reservation for them in ETT teachers' recruitment and providing basic infrastructure at each Anganwari centre, are their main demands.