Abohar, July 5
Congress MLA and member, Public Undertaking Committee, Vidhan Sabha, Punjab, Sunil Jakhar, today accused the BJP workers of forcing the people to observe bandh to make its call of the Bharat Bandh, against the alleged rising prices, a complete success.

Jakhar talking to the TNS said though a major section of populace was not interested in observing Bandh, the workers of the BJP, who roamed in the markets with ‘lathis’, forced them to do it.

A section of the BJP workers indulged in hooliganism instead of following the democratic norms to hold any kind of agitation, he added.

Jakhar said, in Punjab, prices were rising as the SAD-BJP combine government had imposed a huge VAT on the petrol and its products. It had been earning profit by selling the wheat, being sent for the above poverty line (APL) families of Punjab by the Centre government at the rate of Rs 6.10 per kilogram, to the people in the shape of flour at the rate of Rs 12 per kilogram.

He said the situation in Punjab had reached a point where the prices of petrol and diesel were the highest in the country while the same products were available at much cheaper prices in neighbouring Rajasthan. The Punjab government had been charging heavy amount of the VAT on these products which had become a major reason for rising prices in Punjab.

“Why the Punjab government has not been taking full stock of wheat from the Centre government, which is supposed to be distributed to people belonging to extremely poor section and below poverty line (BPL) sections of society at subsidised rates,” he asked, adding that the Chief Minister, Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal needs to amend his policies to contain rising prices instead of accusing the UPA government of the Centre for same.

Moga, July 5
The day-long shutdown called by the NDA and the Left parties to protest recent hike in fuel prices hit normal life in the Moga and Faridkot districts of Punjab. The shops and business establishments remained closed throughout the day. The private and government buses remained off the roads causing hardships to the daily commuters. The rail traffic was also hit in the region.

The private schools remained closed while in the government schools teachers came on duty but there were no students in the classrooms. In some areas, the teachers could not get buses or other means of transport to go to their respective schools in the far flung areas, as a result of which, hundreds of teachers have to get leave in the last moment to avoid departmental action.

No untoward incident was reported from any part of these two districts where adequate security forces were deployed to maintain the law and order situation. The activists of the left parties and the SAD-BJP separately carried out protests in Moga and raised slogans against the UPA government for price rise. They also protested on the national highway and blocked the traffic for few hours.

Ferozepur, July 5
The “Bharat Bandh” call given by the NDA and allied parties though remained peaceful. However, it crippled the normal life and evoked good response in this border town. All the major establishments including schools, colleges, shops and other business establishments remained close today. The attendance in various offices was also thin as people preferred to stay indoors fearing law and order problem.

The BJP workers were seen asking the shopkeepers to support the bandh and close their establishments. The buses and other public transport also remained off the roads due to which the daily commuters had to face tough time. Leaving aside the shops related to daily needs, the markets in the surrounding areas of Malout, Guruharsahai, Zira, Mallanwala and Makhu also remained close.

The BJP workers led by MLA Sukhpal Singh Nannu gathered near the Delhi Gate area early in the morning and took out a protest rally to lodge their dissent over rise in fuel prices. They also burnt the effigy of the Congress-led UPA government. Main among those BJP leaders who participated in the protest included Prithvi Raj Puggal, Ravi Mehta, Davinder Kapoor, Parminder Singh and Krishan Narula.

Similar protests were also carried out in Zira and Guruharsahai blocks. The BJP and the SAD workers raised slogans against the Congress, “Congress Aaye, Mehangaye Layee” (Congress came and brought inflation). The bandh was also supported by the Bharat Valmiki Samaj, Sikh Students Federation (Mehta and Grewal) and some other organisations including Sarhadi Sewa Lok Samiti.

Bathinda, July 5
Tension gripped the staff of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabbat, when they found two bodies in a coal rake that arrived from Jharkhand late this evening.

Giving information, volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva, an NGO, said while unloading coal from a train, staff of the GHTP found two bodies, which were lying in different containers.

A worried engineer at the thermal plant said, “During my entire service, I have never seen that bodies came in the coal rake.”

Till filing of the news, the gender of the bodies could not be ascertained, as it were buried in the coal. Later, Jagga Singh, a Sahara volunteer, informed over phone, “The thermal staff has started unloading coal. Further details could be known only after the bodies were taken out.”

The police had also reached the spot. — TNS

Bathinda, July 5
The recently held Bumper Tambala competition at the local Dunes Club has courted in a controversy, with the club members accusing it of being an attempt to ‘promote gambling.’

About a fortnight back, the management of the Dunes Clubes, also called the officers’ club, organised a Bumper Tambola and dance competition, where some amount was compulsorily collected from members in the name of their participation in the event.

Taking exception to the compulsory charges for Tambola, some members of the club not only sent a hard-hitting complaint to DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh but also approached The Tribune, terming it as an effort made to promote gambling.

One of the members of the club, a doctor, wrote to the DC, “I was astonished to receive the Dunes Club circular announcing compulsory charge for Bumper Tambola. I am not sure if someone in the committee, which passed this idea, opposed it. But it is a very serious issue as being head of the district, you have become a party to make Tambola (which literally is a gambling game) compulsory for every member.”

In another complaint, the club member rues, “Tambola being played in a private party is altogether a different matter from being made compulsory for all members in a club headed by DC. On the one hand, the district administration conducts raids to catch gamblers and spends lakhs to promote Punjabi heritage by organising Heritage Melas and on the other, it promotes a gambling game of Tambola that too by making it compulsory for every member.”

Raising a question mark over the activity, a member of the club, Vitull K Gupta writes, “I am shocked whether the DC could not find any other source of income like quiz competitions, debates, songs and other competitions promoting art, sports, culture and education that he opted for this socially cheap way to collect money.”

“If there are paucity of ideas to raise funds for club activities, it will be better to increase the regular monthly club fee and make all members including the officers (which I think don’t pay the regular monthly fee) pay the dues regularly for the smooth functioning of the club,” he added.

However, speaking over the phone, DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh said, “It was a joint decision of the club management and a majority of the members appreciated it. Moreover, I did not take the decision in the capacity of DC Bathinda but for the matters related to the Dunes Club, I worked as its president and kept the wishes of the majority in mind while taking the decision.” He denied Tambola being a gambling but said it was a game for fun.

Bathinda, July 5
The mass contact programme started by Bathinda MLA Harminder Singh Jassi has been getting expected response, claimed Bathinda Congress. Jassi has been running the programme since July 1.

During visits of several areas in the city, residents have been apprising the MLA about the problems being faced by them.

In the last two days, Jassi along with other members of the party visited Housefed colony, Muhalla Telianwala, Mehna Basti, Amarpur Basti and other areas and interacted with the residents to know about their problems.

Interacting with the residents at Housefed Colony, Jassi told them that the bridge coming up on the Bathinda-Dabwali road would be beneficial for them. He said residents of Amarpura Colony had been facing problems due to absence of sewerage, streetlights and potable water. — TNS

Ferozepur, July 5
Jagir Singh, custodian, who was placed under suspension by the Punsup authorities for his alleged involvement in filling of sand and sandstones in wheat bags, which took place in this city a few days ago, was allegedly found treating the wheat bags, lying on plinth here today.

Jagir Singh along with Surinder Singh, custodian and Sham Lal, field official, Punsup, were placed under suspension by the state Punsup authorities after the scam pertaining to filling of wheat bags with sand and sandstones surfaced in this town a few days ago.

The accused were allegedly replacing the wheat with sand and sandstones with the intention to divert the wheat collected in this way in the open market to mint money. The scam came to light when sand and sandstones were found in the wheat bags while the same were being loaded into a goods train to transport the stock to other states by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

After the suspension of these three employees, the state Punsup authorities constituted a high-level five members committee to carry out the physical examination of wheat stock and to segregate wheat of bad quality and good quality to measure the dimensions of the scam. The plinths were made ‘out of bound’ area for those employees, who were placed under suspension.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that Jagir Singh was handling the wheat bags with the help of about one dozen labourers when he was caught on the camera by a section of media persons.

On their asking about his motive behind handling wheat bags, Jagir Singh said he had been placing the wheat bags in right form as heavy rains, which lashed this city yesterday, had caused disorientation in their placement. Suresh Kumar, district manager (DM), Punsup, when contacted, said when the matter came to his notice, he immediately asked Jagir Singh to leave the plinth.

He said high-level committee of officials to examine the wheat stock came into existence yesterday only and hence Jagir Singh could not be stopped from entering into the plinth premises.

Meanwhile, a senior functionary of the Punsup department while pleading anonymity said he had recommended the transfer of watchman deployed at that plinth.

The functionary added that he would bring the matter to the notice of Managing Director (MD), Punsup.

Tahliwala Bodla (Ferozepur), July 5
Making a beginning in the field of generating employment opportunities for the rural women, the Punjab Backward Classes Land Development and Finance Corporation (Banfinco), has launched micro financing of self-help groups (SHG). Punjab has become second state in the country after formally launching the scheme in this village. Andhra Pardesh was the only state where the micro financing scheme was launched a few years ago and has been running successfully.

Baldev Singh Mahmujoya, chairman, Banfinco, who formally inaugurated the scheme in this village by organising a camp of prospective women entrepreneurs, said under this scheme, Rs 50,000 was being given as loan to the self-help group comprising 10 women without any guarantee. “ Initially the corporation would advance an amount of Rs 20 crores under micro financing, term loan and study loan schemes in the current financial year. If the things move smoothly and desired result is achieved, more money can be made available to expand its network,” he said.

He said he had urged the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to make arrangements for waiving of the stamp duty on transfer of the land to corporation by the loanee, whenever he or she took loan under term loan scheme to start any business and under study loan for getting professional education.

Abohar, July 5
During the door-to-door survey taken up by the health department in cancer-hit village Dangarkhera, recently, 12 cancer patients were detected while the death of six patients during the past about two years has been confirmed, the staff informed.

It was believed that use of contaminated water and unhygienic environment might have caused high incidence of cancer in the village.

Some of the social workers said the farmers here had also been excessively spraying insecticides on cotton and other crops.

This too had poisoned the environment, they opined.

Moga, July 5
The additional district and sessions judge, Moga, Raj Shekhar Attri, this week, sentenced four persons including a woman to 10-year imprisonment each on having been found guilty of smuggling poppy husk.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on each of them. As per details, Jaswinder Singh Shinda, a resident of Mandi Dabwali, Baljit Singh alias Kewal Singh, a resident of Chak Fatehsinghwala village, Sukhmander Singh, a resident of Kalyan Sukha village and a woman Rani, a resident of Jalal village were arrested by the Moga cops on July 2, 2006.

Muktsar, July 5
Tonnes of hyacinth come floating on the water bed in the Abohar branch of Sirhind canal worrying the villagers and irrigation officials alike.

The weed, which is getting stuck at the canal surface on the bridges, is posing danger to the canal banks as well as the bridges as damage to the structures can not be ruled out. Though a large number of workers, JCB machines and tractors were constantly trying to remove the blockade for the last four days, yet it could not be cleared as the continuous weed flow was yet to stop.

During a visit to bridge number 510230 located on the Malout-Muktsar road, this correspondent witnessed a huge workforce busy in pulling out the hyacinth. The mound of removed weed was being collected by the roadside, causing problems in the smooth plying of the traffic.

The onlookers informed that the hyacinth had started assembling at the bridge about four days back. They feared that the canal might get choked and damage its scrawny banks, they informed the irrigation officials. Some villagers said the irrigation department was getting the weed removed through a private contractor, who refused to transport it saying he had the contract just to pull it out.

Speaking to the TNS, junior engineer of the irrigation department, Pushpinder Singh, under whose surveillance the job was going on, said, “The hyacinth was earlier assembled far, at quite a distance upstream. It started floating in here only when a dam at Harike was hurriedly closed, which made the current revert and it quivered up the weed.”

“We have been contantly trying to remove it but it would be controlled only after its further stops floating in from its place of origin, which is perhaps the Harike dam,” said the JE.

He said two other bridges on the canal located at village Chak Due Wand Ramnagar Seonke were also adversely affected. The canal reportedly caters to a major part of agricultural fields in this region and observing the demand in cotton and paddy fields these days, it was providing over 1100 cusecs of water.

Abohar, July 5
Almost all the canals originating from the Hari Ke barrage in the Ferozepur district have been gripped with the problem connected with the choking of flow of water into them due to the presence of huge quantity of hyacinths.

The situation in certain canals have reached a point where the irrigation department authorities have no other option left than to press men and machinery into service to clear the hyacinths so that water could flow smoothly.

The thick growth of hyacinth have become a major threat for the Hari Ke wetland, which has been declared a Ramsar site and is one of the biggest wetland wildlife sanctuaries of the country.

If the hyacinth growth is not removed, it could disturb the functioning of the Hari Ke barrage.Official sources said irrigation department officials had been facing double problems on account of flowing of hyacinths in water channels.

The water channels were already running much below their capacitiy as these were not cleaned for years together and now the presence of hyacinths in large quantity had reduced the flow of water drastically.

“The problem has become more severe as demand of canal water has gone up due to paddy transplantation in this region,” said a senior functionary of the irrigation department pleading anonymity adding had the canals been cleaned well in time, this problem would have not been there.

“For the past two days, the department labourers, private labourers and digging machines are working on various canals to remove the hyacinths so that these water channels could be allowed to carry water to their respective capacities,” he added.

It has been reported that a bridge on the Abohar canal located on the Muktsar-Malout road near had been choked badly due to the hyacinths, which flowed down from the major canals of this area and it had started posing a grave threat to the bridge.

Some of the officials of the irrigation department had found a novel way to deal with the problem of hyacinths, which could not be destroyed by using chemicals as it could pollute the canal water and would be dangerous for the users of the same.

These officials had been diverting them to the Rajasthan feeder, carrying water to neighbouring Rajasthan.

Prem Chand, executive engineer, irrigation, Ferozepur, when contacted, said it was a continuous problem for them. He added that last year also they faced similar kind of problem, which would aggravate during the rainy season.

He said canals falling in his jurisdiction were being cleared of hyacinths and other weeds regularly to keep the flow of water intact.

Barnala, July 5
Municipal Council, entrusted to solve the civic problems, is ironically the first sufferer of rains as its office here is the first place where water enters during the rains.

Local sources said during the rains, due to absence of natural drainage, office of the municipal council located on the new grain market road is the first place where water enters. They said even as the MC office, first victim during monsoons, the other places of vital public importance such as new grain market road, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Arya Mahila College, Barnala Club, FCI godown and the new grain market also suffer due to waterlogging.

Local sources further said water also gets accumulated in Kacha College road, where educational coaching centers and private hospitals are located and the railway station market (college road) where workshop and business houses are located. They added that since water gets accumulated in these areas, people have to suffer a lot and even shopkeepers suffer losses since water enters their shops at times.

Sources said there is only one drain measuring five kilometres in length, which drains out water from Barnala. However, it gets choked during monsoons due to heavy garbage dump and weed growth.They said of the five kilometre length of the Nullah only one kilometre is cleaned which results in waterlogging during monsoon.

Mahesh Lota, Congress Councillor of Ward 22 (one of the affected area) said, “In new grain market road where the municipal council office is located besides other important public places like Shanti Hall (where Bhog is offered), Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Arya Mahila College, Barnala Club, FCI godown and new grain market are located people mainly comprising students and common man suffer a lot. Even in Kacha College road which forms part of my ward, water gets accumulated and drains out after 6-7 hours and till then peoples movement gets hindered.”

“We took up the matter with the person concerned many times, however, I guess the municipal council is facing shortage of funds for augmenting the sewerage,” he added. President, Barnala municipal council, Paramjeet Singh Dhillon admitted that the people are facing problems due to waterlogging during the rainy season. “We are awaiting funds for augmenting the sewerage system. Besides, we have bought a generator to run water pumps to drain out water from the affected areas as during the rains electricity goes off,” he added.