Ghal Kalan (Moga), June 23
The district administration of Moga failed to rescue 25 youths kept in ‘illegal detention’ behind the bars confined in a single room in an unauthorised drug de-addiction centre being run by a local society at Ghal Kalan village in this district.

A joint team of the health and police departments raided the centre today and inquired about the whole episode but did not rescue the youths, who were kept behind the bars in a single room under double locks.

It may be mentioed that bars were set up akin to the police lock-ups and behind it in another locked-up room, the youths were sitting on the floor taking lunch.

No matter, the lunch they were having appeared to be of good quality, however, the room in which they were locked-up resembled like a cell of an old Indian prison having dimensions of about 12 feet by 25 feet.

They do not have facility of beds. They are being kept under the 24-hour CCTV camera observation in total violation of human rights and breach of privacy.

The Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of Daroli Bhai, Surjit Singh Gill, raided the ‘khush raho’ drug de-addiction. However, he was not allowed to meet the youths. He was forced to call the police.

When the SHO of police station (rural), JJ Atwal, reached the spot, the SMO was allowed to meet the youths and enter the room, in which, they were kept in illegal confinement.

In the meantime, the DSP (city) of Moga, Pargat Singh, also reached the spot and met the youths but did not rescue them.

After a few minutes, the DSP returned taking away the SHO along with him. No legal action was taken by them.

It was learnt that a senior SAD leader of the area talked to the SHO and SMO before the police left the spot, which indicates that a political pressure was built up on the administration for not taking action.

In a helpless state, the SMO revealed to The Tribune that he would prepare a report and put up before Dr Kulwant Singh, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the district, on Thursday. “The CMO would take action if any,” he said.

When contacted, the CMO revealed that no drug de-addiction centre in the district was approved by the Central government and as such all such centers were running illegally.

“Even the district Red Cross Society has recently applied for registration to run the drug de-addiction centre,” he added.

The CMO further said, “I have asked all the senior medical officials of the district to conduct a survey and report to his office within a week on how many such private drug de-addiction centres are running in the district,” he said.

Parminder Singh Gill claimed that he has dedicated his life to save the youths from drug addiction, which according to him was ruining the society, however, failed to justify under which authority, he has confined the youths under illegal detention and with whose permission he is running the de-addiction centre.

Bathinda, June 23
The visible excitement among the SAD-BJP leaders to gain mileage through distributing new ration cards has left people to run from pillar to post to get removed the errors in the cards.

It is not only the political figures, who are at fault but the staff of the DFSC office are also accused of the negligence as they did not even cross check the cards before handing them over to the leaders.

During a random survey, TNS today observed people visiting the DFSC office holding new ration cards in their hands. They were accusing the staff of being negligent in their job.

Some people from local Seediyanwala Mohalla said the ration cards they were handed over through a local leader of the ruling party were having various discrepancies.

Photocopies of a number of ration cards are with The Tribune. Most of them were issued without having any official number over it. A large number of cards were distributed without even bearing the seal and signatures of the inspectors concerned.

Further, the staff of the food and supply department did not even change the gender of the beneficiaries (applicants).

Showing the irregularities in the ration card, some card holders termed it a mere piece of paper. “As of now, it is serving no other purpose except giving us an undue trouble. We are visiting the office to get the mistakes removed,” they added.

In some cases, people were seen ruing the wrong age mentioned in the cards.

One Satnam Singh lamented, “I had filled the application form for a ration card about two years back when my daughter was of 16 years old. But now, she is major for she over 18 years and the ration card shows her as minor.”

Some councillors of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), seeking anonymity said, “Though the mistakes were on the part of the food and supply officials, people are complaining to us. We have been left with no other option but to tender an apology and move along with them to get the mistakes rectified.”

District food and supply controller (DFSC) Talwinderjit Singh admitted the mistakes occurred in ration cards. However, he maintained, “All such discrepancies occurred due to staff shortage. People too were at fault while filling up particulars in the application forms. Wherever possible, we are making corrections on the spot.”

Bathinda, June 23
Dealing sternly with the protesting teachers of the Alternative Innovative Education (AIE), the Nehianwala police booked more than 150 of them including their leaders on the charges of attempting suicide and unlawful assembly.

Though accepting their repeated pleadings the police made no arrest, the administration made it clear that if they attempted any such act in future they would be put behind bars in no time.

Earlier, the two-day-long high-voltage drama of the protesters was called off late Tuesday evening with the Bathinda Tehsildar assuring them of arranging their meeting with the Bathinda Deputy Commissioner for today so as to take up their case with the Chief Minister for one more time.

Following the assurance, the protesters climbed down the overhead water tank at village Bhokhra and lifted the dharna they had been staging on the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway (NH-15).

At about midnight, the police released two dozen agitators, who were rounded up while moving towards Bathinda to stage a dharna in the city on Tuesday evening.

Keeping his promise, the Tehsildar today arranged a meeting between the DC and the representatives of the protesters at the DC office.

After the meeting, president of the AIE Teachers’ Union Swarna Devi said, “The DC listened to us patiently and assured of arranging a meeting with the CM soon.”

Meanwhile, she maintained that they were not against the district administration but finding it insensitive towards their two-day-long protest, some of their colleagues attempted suicide by pouring petrol over themselves and jumping into water reservoirs.

On the other hand, Bathinda DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh said, “We had a clear strategy from day one that the protesters would be dealt with strictly as it had become a nuisance for one and all. It would be a lesson to all protesters, who had been considering that climbing atop an overhead water reservoir or blocking the road was an easy way to get their demands fulfilled.”

About arranging their meeting with the CM, the DC said, “We would try to get the time and if succeeded, it would be conveyed to the protesters.”

It may be mentioned that the AIE activists were demanding issuance of a notification for their admission to the Elementary Teachers’ Training (ETT) course without any entrance test.

Late in the evening, the DC along with Bathinda Municipal Corporation commissioner Ravi Bhagat visited various overhead water tanks to get an account of possible measures to check protesters from climbing these.

Ferozepur, June 23
The acute shortage of water, which has gripped almost all parts of this one of the biggest districts of Punjab, has also triggered off protests by the residents.

Though a large section of residents of various parts of this district have been protesting against the acute shortage of drinking water that has hit the region, the authorities concerned have been finding it difficult to fulfil their requirement due to increase in demand due to rising mercury.

The residents of Arya Nagar of Fazilka raised slogans against the Municipal Council authorities for not supplying them potable water in adequate quantity. The residents of Deep Nagar, Abohar, have decided to teach a lesson to their elected representatives for not redressing their grievances of shortage of drinking water.

The problem in those villages, which are located on the banks of Sutlej, is more severe as the residents could not use the underground water due to its heavily contamination by the polluted water of Sutlej.

“When the underground water is not fit for the consumption of animals then how can we consume the same for drinking purpose,” said Roop Chandi, a resident of village Gatti Rajo Ke, located near river Sutlej. A cross section of residents to whom the TNS spoke to, pointed out that in most of the villages, the underground pipes, which were laid down about a decade ago for the supply of potable water from the waterworks, had clogged due to silt and hence they were not getting proper supply of water.

They added that whatever grant was being given to the panchayats by the Punjab government, was being spent on paving of streets and street drains and hardly any penny was being spent to improve the water distribution system of villages.

Makhan Singh, a resident of village Mahalam, said most of the time the women folk had to go to fields to fetch enough water for washing clothes and taking bath. He added that unscheduled and longer power cuts had also affected the supply of water from the waterworks.

Subash Goyal, a businessman of Ferozepur, said in most of urban and semi-urban areas, the residents had started purchasing their daily requirement of water from those, who had been supplying cleaned and mineral waters in big containers.

A senior functionary of the state government pleading anonymity said water problem would become more severe, if the monsoons did not hit Punjab at the earliest. He added that some of the ponds in the village had also started drying up.

Fazilka, June 23
A minor girl was reportedly killed while another girl sustained serious injuries as the stacks of bricks collapsed and fell upon them at the local Radha Swami locality here today morning.

As per details, two girls, Kashish (6) and her cousin Tania (3), were playing in the street near their house where six feet high stack of bricks was placed.

The construction of a house was in progress there. Suddenly, a block of stacked bricks fell upon both the girls. The girls were buried under it. The residents rushed to rescue them.

The neighbourers brought the girls to the local civil hospital. The doctors declared Kashish brought dead while Tania was referred to the Government Medical College, Faridkot, due to serious injuries.

Kashish, daughter of Ajay Kumar, was studying in first standard and Tania, daughter of Ravi Kumar, is a student of nursery class.

Abohar, June 23
Hundreds of customers including women continued to suffer as the five ATMs of different banks, which had been partly damaged by miscreants on Sunday could not be made functional even today.

Most of the bank authorities had decided to redesign the front structure of the ATMs to prevent reoccurrence of such mischief, so major wood and steel work was in progress till today.

SP Harmohan Singh convened a meeting yesterday of the branch managers of the private and nationalised banks to review security arrangements.

It has come to light that none of the banks had deployed guards at the ATMs on night duty and most of these were not located at places of full public view.

Sources indicated that image of one of the miscreant was available in the footage of the CCTV fixed at an ATM but such images had not helped the police nab the culprits, who had been caught while snatching bag from a farmer in bank of India branch office.

Notably, the quality of CCTV cameras installed in the ATMs and some of the banks too has come under scanner, sources said.

Barnala, June 23
Furniture, air-conditioners and computers worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in a fire that broke at the main branch of the Punjab National Bank at Barnala in the wee hours of the morning.

Giving details about the incident, Jaspal Singh, bank manager said fire broke out in the branch probably due to short circuit.

The bank property comprising furniture, air-conditioners and computers, worth lakh of rupees were gutted.

He said the owner of the building Chanchal Sharma informed about fire to fire services department.

The fire officials took two hours to reach the spot, sources said.

Ferozepur, June 23
Ravi Avasthi, who was the administrative official at the district headquarter of Punjab Home Guard (PHG), Ferozepur, has been promoted as Deputy Battalion Commander of fifth battalion of the border wing home guard by the Punjab government.

Notably, Ravi Avasthi, who took charge of his new posting, had earned appreciation for his services rendered during the Kargil war in this border belt.

Bathinda, June 23
To ascertain whether three suspected cases are really suffering from breast cancer, fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) tests were conducted on them at the Civil Hospital here today. Pathologist Dr Mrinalini C Kumar conducted the tests.

The three suspected cases were identified at a free mammography test camp held yesterday. Two suspected cases were from Bathinda city while the other was from Goniana. The mammography was conducted on 42 women at the camp to detect the disease. The report of the FNAC tests will be available tomorrow. — TNS

Bathinda, June 23
A man allegedly killed his wife by attacking her with a wooden slugger at Pakka Kalan village this morning.

According to sources in police, one Ajaib Singh was having suspicion over his wife Rani Kaur (40) of immoral character.

Acting upon the complaint of deceased’s father, the police arrested the accused after lodging a case under section 302 of the IPC.

Bathinda, June 23
Bisanjot Singh, seven-month-old grandson of Nathana MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti, died at a private hospital in Chandigarh. He was cremated here today.

District press secretary of the Congress Rupinder Bindra said this evening that the cremation had been attended among others by MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar, MLA Ajit Singh Shant, Deputy Commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and Bathinda SDM KPS Mahi.

Politicians and persons from various walks of life visited Bhatti’s residence and expressed sorrow.

Bathinda, June 23
Lafarge Boral Gypsum India (LBGI), part of Lafarge- building material company, organised a safety-cum-contractors meet here last evening. Lafarge launched its gypsum product range under the brand “LaGyp”. The meet was attended by several installers-cum-contractors. 

Amarjit Singh, Regional Sales Manager (North) of the company, elaborated the benefits of using complete “LaGyp”Gypsum Board systems for speedy and light weight construction.

He said LaGyp products were environment friendly and contributed for green building rating.

Abhishek Khattri, in-charge for Punjab, gave safety instructions to be followed at site.