Bathinda, June 13
Nathana police today arrested a quack of village Shekhpura for allegedly abducting, raping and making attempt to sale the kidney of a married woman of village Tungwali of this district.

Lodging a complaint with the police, the woman alleged that the quack BS Khanna was running his unauthorised clinic at village Balianwali.

Acting upon the advice of her sister-in-law, a couple of months ago, she started getting her son treated from him.

“Extracting all my details, the quack along with two accomplices, visited my house on the night of March 30. He administered some sedative in a drink and made all of us unconscious and kidnapped me. He also collected gold and some cash from my house,” the complainant alleged.

She further alleged, "The quack took me to Bangalore and kept me locked in a house located at a secluded place. He used to rape me at gunpoint and also kept me under the influence of intoxicants. Meanwhile, one day I heard him making contact with some doctors known to him to sell my kidney.”

“One day, when he was away from the house, I managed to flee from there. I called up my family over the phone and disclosed the whole incident after which my kin reached there and took me back on Friday,” she added.

Acting upon her allegations, police conducted her medical examination at Civil Hospital, Bathinda and booked the quack BS Khanna under sections 363, 366, 376, 382, 344, 506 of the IPC and some of the Arms Act on June 12.

Further, constituting teams, police conducted raids at his place and arrested him today. Police sources informed that the accused is a father of four children, including a daughter aged 18 years.

On the other hand, investigation revealed to the TNS that the woman was involved in an extra-marital affair with the quack. Her husband was also aware of the fact and used to object over her relationship.

Police records suggested that a week after the woman went missing, her husband had reported to the Bhucho police post that after administering some sedative to the whole family, she left the house along with some cash and gold. He had also suspected her for fleeing with her paramour - the quack in question.

Though the police arrested the quack, they too observed the illicit relationship of the woman with the quack. They also collected some clue that the woman had willingly fled with her paramour.

The in-charge Bhucho police post, Harjeet Singh said, “We have been suspecting some foul play in the story. Though acting upon the allegations and medical report, we have arrested the quack, we are probing the matter in detail.”

Bathinda, June 13
As many as 29 passengers sustained injuries today in morning when a mini-bus in which they were travelling, overturned at village Jandawala.

The mini-bus of Prem Bus Service, bearing number PB13D5707, was plying from Khemuana to Bathinda.

As per sources, the mishap took place when the driver of the bus lost control over the vehicle which turned turtle leaving 29 passengers injured.

Receiving the information, volunteers of various NGO reached the spot and rushed the injured to Civil Hospital, Goniana.

Considering the condition of 17 injured as serious, doctors referred them to Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Meanwhile, the SDM KPS Mahi and executive magistrate Avtar Singh visited the spot and the hospital to enquire about the condition of the injured. Lodging complaint with the Nehianwala police, the injured accused the official driver of bus Sukhraj Singh of handing over the bus to his conductor Pindi, who was ill-trained and started driving it rashly. When the passengers objected, Sukhraj asked them to sit quietly.

Acting upon the complaint, Nehianwala police booked both the driver and conductor under various sections of the IPC. Till the filing of the news, the accused were yet to be arrested.

Bathinda, June 13
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Bathinda, called off the strike which was launched in protest against the assault on Dr Rajesh Sachar and damage of property at the Badyal Hospital, situated here at Bibiwala road, on Thursday.

In a press note, the president and the secretary of the unit, Dr Shiv Dutta Gupta and Dr BD Bajaj, respectively, said that keeping in view the hardships faced by the public at large due to complete closure of health institutions and chemist shops and the action taken by the administration by nabbing culprits, the IMA Bathinda has decided to suspend the strike.

They thanked state president Dr RS Parmar, Dr OPS Kande and Dr DS Bhullar for their support.

They also thanked the district police for taking action against the accused.

Bathinda, June 13
Considering the growing craze among the Punjabi youth to pursue higher studies and seek employment outside the country, the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society (PICTES) has come up with a special programme for imparting training in IELTS to the desiring candidates.

According to the senior officials of the state education department, the main objective of the training will be preparing the youth to have adequate knowledge and skills of English language, which would help them to clear the IELTS Examination.

The PICTES is going to start the IELTS training programme as a joint venture with a private player — Hero Mindmine.

According a communiqué issued to all district education officers on Friday evening (a copy of which is in the possession of The Tribune), the IELTS training programme will be carried out in at least one computer lab of the ICT schools in each district.

Under the training programme all four modules of IELTS will be covered -listening, reading, speaking and writing, consisting of the listening to an audio cassette, answering the questions, reading an unseen passage and answering to the questions, speaking on any given topic and writing an essay and a letter, as a whole.

Highlighting the programme, the officials concerned claim to include various special features like strategies for tackling IELTS test tasks, time management techniques (TMT), systematic skill development through each unit, practical tips for enhancing the Band score, completion of simulated test followed by feedback, essential vocabulary and phrases for writing and speaking tests, imparting knowledge about the assessment criteria for all modules of the exam, lessons on Indianism and vocabulary for speaking tasks.

The first batch of the training is going to start from July 26 and it would conclude on October 26.

The minimum qualification for the training programme is 10+2.

The officials concerned further disclosed that the aspiring candidates would have to apply with the district education officer (secondary education) of respective district by July 20.

Seeking anonymity, a senior official in the education department disclosed that the main idea behind the move of the PICTES was to make a check mark on the mushroomed growth of the private IELTS training centres throughout the state as well as their high fee structures. 

Jyoti Setia and Kanta Devi, students of village Sanghar-based New Jyoti Baal Vidya Mandir in Suratgarh segment of Sriganganagar have emerged as a source of inspiration for the rural folk by clinching first and third position respectively in the arts group in the senior secondary exam of the Rajasthan Secondary Education Board.

It is unprecedented for the region. Jyoti Setia is the daughter of Savitri Devi and educationist Sant Ram Setia while Kanta Devi is the daughter of a small farmer Khet Pal Bhobhria of village 1-LNP. Her mother Rukmani Devi remains busy in household only, the girl said.

Both the girls revealed that they used to study for 4-5 hours daily besides watching Doordarshan and listening to the to educative programmes of the AIR Suratgarh.

The jubilations over their achievement lasted over the week in the sleepy village. Not only the relatives of the shining girls but scores of teachers and social activists too visited the village and joined the residents including the woman sarpanch in exchanging dry colours (gulal) besides distributing sweets to felicitate the girls on their success.

Jyoti Setia secured 95.23 per cent while Kanta Devi got 91.08 per cent marks. Interestingly, eight students in the top-ten list of merit were from the private schools.

Jyoti Setia and Kanta Devi while talking about their career objectives said they desire to prepare for the IAS exam instead of opting for professional courses in medical or engineering.

Notably, another interesting factor that comes upon the perusal of the merit list is that only girls find their names in the list from Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts.

— Raj Sadosh

A total of 212 students hailing from various government engineering colleges of the state fetched job offers during the ‘Dreams 2010’, a two-day mega job fest, organised here at the local Shahid Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology, which concluded here on Saturday.

More than 12 IT and software companies had descended here during the fest to hunt for talented candidates as part of their campus recruitment drive. SK Kazal, training and placement official (TPO) along with Krishan Saluja, head of the department (HoD) Computer Science said such an effort was made for the first time by a government institute, which witnessed active participation from other government institutions like BCET Gurdaspur, GZSCET Bhatinda, MIMIT Malout, BHSBIET Lehragagga and others.

Speaking on the occasion, TS Sidhu, principal of the host college said the objective was to ensure good placement for maximum number of employable technical manpower and at the same time provide customised recruitment solution to the IT companies in accordance with their requirements.

Brij Gopal of Sangrur, who was selected by the HCL while talking to The Tribune said he was happy to get the job. Most of the students, who were selected, have been offered salaries to the tune of Rs 2.4 to Rs 3 lakhs per annum, revealed Kazal.

— Anirudh Gupta

Fazilka, June 13
About 8,000 teachers working in government aided school have not been paid their salaries for the last five months. While giving details Government Aided School Teachers Union patron Raj Kishore Kalra and general secretary Ajay Thakral said that about 7000 teachers of high and about 1000 teachers of primary wing of 484 aided schools of the state have not been paid the salaries for the months from January to May this year.

They alleged that government has not been paying salary of crores of rupees to the teachers, but disbursing the amount in “Sangat Darshan” programmes. The teacher leaders have asked that the government had to pay their salaries sooner or later then why not it pays them in time.

The main reason for non-payment of salary is that the government has not released the grant so far. They have called upon the Chief Minister and Education Minister to ensure that the salaries are disbursed on time.

Fazilka, June 13
The Sadar police, Fazilka, have recovered 25 kilograms of poppy husk from a person. As per Sadar police station in-charge Baljit Singh, the police personnel during patrol intercepted a person near village Odian, who was roaming there in suspicious circumstances.

When police personnel searched his bag, it yielded 25 kilograms of poppy husk from his possession.

He was identified as Balwinder Singh, a resident of village Hasta. The police have registered a case under the NDPS Act.

Zira (Ferozepur), June 13
Shavinder Kaur Jauhal, former president, Istri Akali Dal (Badal) and patron, NGO Coordination Committee, Zira, today demanded that powers should be vested in doctors of the state government to raid chemist shops indulging in sale of intoxicants.

She alleged that though she along with other members of NGO managed to get certain chemist shop raided by the team of drug control authorities of Punjab in the recent past, the team could not get much success as the shop owners came to know about the raids before it was conducted.

Abohar, June 13
Even as Amarjit Singh Mehrada, Superintending Engineer (SE) in the Gang (Bikaner) Canal project has confirmed that the Rajasthan government had released Rs 40 lakh as first installment for repairing the pressure release valves (PRV) that were fitted on the floor bed while remodelling the canal in Ferozepur district, the farming community in Sriganganagar region is up in arms against the move.

Meanwhile the chief engineer (North Zone) TK Parmar has said approval for the Rs 210 lakh project for desilting the Gang canal, known as lifeline of the region, was also expected soon.

The Kisan Mazdoor Beopari Sangharsh Committee led by leftist leaders including former MLA Het Ram Beniwal had earlier spearheaded score of agitations against the Rajasthan government for not making sufficient water available while the recently formed “Gangnahar bachao: Kisan Bachao Samiti” has directed its guns at the Congress-led Rajasthan government as well as the Punjab government led by the SAD-BJP alliance.

Poonia along with Gurbalpal Singh, Balwinder Singh, Hardev Singh Grewal, Tej Pratap Singh Sandhu, Inderpal Singh and Ramgarh Sanghar sarpanch Parkash Kaur said during a tour of villages falling under Padampur segment on Sunday that the irrigation officials in Punjab had cunningly advised the Gang Canal project engineers to fix pressure release valves to save neighbouring area from waterlogging while remodelling it.

These were damaged in the 100 km length by farmers of Fazilka-Ferozepur region to siphon off water through tubewells that had been installed illegally encroaching upon the canal land. The district Ferozepur administration had succumbed to political diktat after initiating proceedings against the encroachers. By damaging the valves, farmers had again invited waterlogging in parts of Fazilka sub-division, the leaders said.

While fixing the agenda, the Samiti said there is no need for repairing the valves on the 100 km belt spread over the Ferozepur headworks to Sadhuwali headworks bordering Abohar sub-division. The Rajasthan government should get all five thousand pressure release valves removed to prevent leakage of water.

The Samiti also urged the government to be tough with the counterparts in Punjab over supply of contaminated water that contains hazardous chemicals released by industrial units of Ludhiana region besides sewerage disposal. The Samiti has planned a rally for Tuesday at Sriganganagar.

Abohar, June 13
Sahin (name changed) and his younger brother Rohit (name changed), residents of village Khubban of this sub-division, have been suffering from neurological disorders since their birth.

The high concentration of heavy metals and radioactive substances found present in their respective bodies during various types of tests by the medical practitioners in the international laboratories has given a strong indication that they could die any time as mix toxicity has drastically reduced their life spans. While Sahin is 12 years old and Rohit is yet to complete six.

Manish Kumar (name changed) of Abohar, who has neurological disorder, was found suffering from that ailment due to mix toxicity. Nobody can predict as to how long this 23- year-old youth would survive.

Karamjit Kaur (name changed), a resident of Ferozepur district, Manisha Bansal (name changed) of Muktsar and Nipon Kumar (name changed) of Abohar are mentally retarded because of the fact that their respective bodies have been plagued by high concentration of heavy metals since their birth.

Pritpal Singh, president and Amar Singh Ajad, technical advisor, who are running a non-governmental organisation (NGO) named “Baba Farid Centre for Special Children” said these startling revelations were made during the study of hair of about 149 mentally retarded and neurological disorder patients, done in a period of over two years by an NGO with the help of German-based Dr Karen, specialist, medical toxicology.

“Punjab has turned into a hotspot of environmental toxicity, which has become a major threat to human race. If corrective steps are not taken, the state is going to invite disaster,” they claimed, adding that it had spread to neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana as well.

“For the past few years, radioactive pollution is found in Punjab along with existing pollution caused due to industrial waste, pesticides, insecticides and fluoride contents of the underground water. The mix toxicity has become a major source of ill health and premature death of the population,” they claimed, adding that Punjabis had become a 'sick community'.

The high-level concentration than the normal level of uranium was found in 87 per cent of these 149 persons, strontium in 78 per cent, lead in 43 per cent, manganese in 87 percent, iron in 72 per cent, cadmium in 13 per cent and aluminium in 81 per cent and barium in 32 per cent. Contents of about 36 minerals and metals were found in their bodies. Interestingly, Arsenic was not found in anyone. The concentration of lead was found 84 part per million (PPM) unit against the normal level of three PPM. One PPM of lead concentration in excess to normal level of three PPM in body, reduced the intelligent quotient (IQ) level by seven per cent in human beings, they added.

“Whole spectrum of neurological disorders from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation and from pains to physical handicap is on rise. Kidney, liver, skin, muscular-skeletal, eye and ENT diseases are becoming highly prevalent,” They said. They said study had revealed that, “Tumours, cysts and cancers are markedly increasing. Genetic mutations are occurring. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, asthma and allergies are becoming common. Addictions, psychiatric disorders, crimes and violence are becoming rampant.”

“The health of their cattle is showing almost a parallel picture to the human health,” they revealed.

Fazilka, June 13
The otherwise backward Fazilka, bordering Pakistan, was humming with different kind of activities as representatives of various technical colleges belonging to India and foreign countries descended here to participate in the Education Fair-2010, the first of its kind in this region, jointly organised by Graduate Welfare Association Fazilka (GWAF) and Fazilka Knowledge City campaign organisation.

The fair, which was organised at Aroravansh Bhawan, attracted more than 800 students hailing from nook and corner of Malwa belt 
of Punjab. Some of them managed to get on the spot admission in the institutions of their likings.

Navdeep Asija, secretary (administration), GWAF and Rajneesh Kamra, chairman, Fazilka Knowledge City Campaign, said education fair was organised with the active support of Jawala Bai Nathu Ram Charitable and Education Trust and Geeta Soft Tech.

He said the participants, who had registered themselves for getting admission in different colleges, would be given admission with capitation fee. He said all the institute, participated in Education Fair, had given written undertaking to GWAF that they would not charge capitation fee. — TNS