Hoshiarpur, July 4
To implement the total sanitation campaign being sponsored by the Central Government since 2004-05, the district administration of Hoshiarpur recently got a base line survey conducted from the mates of MGNREGA.

According to Deputy Commissioner Megh Raj, as per the baseline survey, there were 2,59,709 rural households in the 10 blocks of the district, out of which as many as 92,023 were scheduled caste (SC) and 14 were scheduled tribe (ST) families.

He said the houses of 6,982 BPL families had flush latrine facilities whereas members of 11,320 families were defecating in the open, in their adjoining localities.

Similarly, 1,30,169 families of APL had the facility of flush latrine in their houses while members of 1,11,238 APL families were without this 
facility and defecated in the open.

As many as 1,676 schools and 304 balwadis had toilet blocks but 1,202 balwadis in the district did not have this facility.

The Deputy Commissioner further stated that prior to the above said survey, flush latrines had been constructed in 7,705 houses of BPL families and 19,815 of APL families during the period of 2005-06 to 2010-11 in the district, for which a grant of Rs 1,620.23 lakh had been provided by the state government and Rs 179.49 lakh had been contributed by beneficiaries.

The Talwara block, which has 19,950 households, out of which 1,664 BPL and 11,046 APL families were without the toilet facility, has been selected for the implementation of the total sanitation campaign in all its villages.

The National Youth Development Centre, an NGO of Talwara, had submitted a proposal to the district administration in this regard. MGNREGA mates in all the 92 villages of Talwara blocks, sarpanches, Block Samiti members and prominent literacy workers will be associated to make it a mass movement and start awareness campaigns in the last week of July. The NGO and the district administration plan to achieve the objective of total sanitation in the Talwara block in a period of one year. After its successful implementation, it will be replicated in the remaining blocks to make the district an open-defecation-free zone.

Phillaur, July 4
Vinod Mishra and his wife Lakshmi Mishra have got little help from the police to trace their kids, who went missing on July 1 in mysterious circumstances. What to talk of search operation, the Phillaur police has not even registered a case in this regard.

The couple works as domestic help and resides in Jagatpur village.

They have been searching for their daughter Mamta (14) and son Avinash (12) for the last four days but to no avail.

Irate over the act of the police, the parents along with other villagers held a demonstration in front of Phillaur Police Station and raised slogans against the inefficient working of the police. 

Phagwara, July 4
Rash driving by a truck left 13-year-old boy killed and five others seriously injured. Vikramjit was killed on the spot while his parent Des Raj and Kashmir Kaur, Nisha Rani, Sonu and Kamaljit Kaur were injured when a truck (No PB-10CB-5117) overturned and fell on them near Nanak Nagari Chiherru on Sunday morning.

SHO Chiherru Hargurdev Singh said the injured were admitted to the Civil Hospital. Senior Medical Officer Dr Rajiv Gupta said the condition of injured was stable now. The SHO said they were going to Dera Radha Swami Beas and were waiting for a dera tempo on a roadside, when a Jalandhar-bound speeding truck, carrying chicken feed, overturned near a diversion and fell on them.

The villagers worked hard to rescue the injured buried under the chicken feed bags which also fell on them. The driver managed to escape after the accident. The police has registered a case against the driver and impounded the truck, said the SHO. Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul visited the Civil Hospital and announced free treatment for the injured persons. — OC

Tarn Taran, July 4
A married woman Rupinder Kaur (35) was allegedly poisoned to death by her in-laws late last evening in Mandala village, 25 km from here, falling under police station Goindwal Sahib.

She was taken to a private hospital for treatment where the doctors declared her brought dead.

Police have lodged a report under section 174 of the CrPC and the viscera of the deceased have been sent to the medical laboratory for chemical examination. Varinder Singh, resident of Wadala Kalan village (Rayya), brother of the deceased, in his statement to the police, alleged that Rupinder was poisoned to death by her husband and four other members of her in-laws’ family late last evening.

Rupinder was married to Bhag Singh about 12 years back and due to her husband being an addict, their relationship had been tumultuous.

Jasbir Singh, an ASI, investigation officer of police post Khadur Sahib, said the viscera of the deceased has been sent to the Government Chemical Laboratory and further action would be taken after receiving the report.

Jalandhar, July 4
The Punjab Government is trying to scuttle the democratic right of different organisations struggling for the cause of farmers and labourers by terming them as Maoist supporters. This accusation has been leveled by president of All-India Kisan-Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS), Hardev Singh Sandhu, and state president of Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU) Tarsem Peter.

The AIKMS and PMU are among those organisations which were termed as Maoist supporters by Punjab DGP during his visit to Jalandhar a few weeks ago.

“Instead of providing them their legitimate rights, the government is trying to create a fear among the masses by labeling these organisations as Maoist supporters so that general public may disassociate themselves from these organizations,” Sandhu and Peter said.

Sandhu said, “The democratically elected the Union and state governments are making every effort to suppress the democratic rights of general public to demonstrate against their anti-people policies in the manner it had been done during British rule.”

Meanwhile, AIKMS secretary Ashish Mittal and its central committee 
member K. Rangaiah said they would support the proposed ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Monday. 

Phagwara, July 4
Phagwara and Nakodar witnessed heart rending scenes today when the bodies of all the six deceased, who were killed in a road mishap near Banihal on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, on their way to Amarnath yesterday, were brought to Phagwara and Nakodar, in the wee hours on Sunday. Bhupinder Singh, Jagdish Bharti, Tilak Raj and Sudesh Kumar were cremated in separate religious rites in Phagwara and Nakodar.

Meanwhile, the bodies of both Naval Chand Bhalla and his brother Arun Bhalla have been kept in the mortuary in the wait of their sons, who will arrive from Australia on Monday.

Both the injured were also brought to Punjab.

While injured Ashwini Kumar of Nakodar was admitted to the Orthonova Hospital, Jalandhar, driver Sona was admitted to a hospital in Nakodar. Their condition was said to be stable. It is learnt that the cremations of NC Bhalla and Arun Bhalla would be held on Monday.