Bathinda, July 15
The Zero Hour of the general house meeting of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) remained a noisy and stormy affair today. Levelling of allegations, expression of personal grudges, staging of dharna and walkout by councillors were the highlights of the meeting.

Before the meeting started, a group of Congress councillors, led by Jagroop Singh Gill, staged a dharna in the well of the hall. They accused BMC authorities, including the Mayor, of ignoring the development of their wards but collecting development charges from residents. They also opposed the BMC’s proposal to sell 12.5 acres of land to arrange money for some development works. After a few minutes, they started raising anti-establishment slogans and left the house.

Rendering support to them, Congress MLA Harminder Singh Jassi also left the meeting while alleging that the Corporation was being run in an arbitrary manner.

Immediately after, a large number of safai sewaks (sweepers) and other employees of the BMC barged into the meeting hall and lodged a noisy protest. They claimed that the land, which the BMC officials proposed to sell, was promised to them for constructing a colony for them.

Finding themselves in a piquant situation, bureaucrats and the councillors convinced them to leave the meeting hall.

Later, BJP councillor Krishan Garg raised the issue of illegal buildings. He asked Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman and BMC Commissioner Ravi Bhagat about the action taken with regard to illegal constructions.

He also asked about the status of a “benami” property of a senior BMC official, which was also raised illegally.

Lending support to Garg, Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal also narrated some instances where the BMC officials razed to ground the structures belonging to common men but showed sympathetic attitude towards the rich.

Assistant Commissioner Nazar Singh said he wanted to demolish all illegal structure irrespective of whom it belonged. But, he alleged, some politicians and the councillors thwarted his attempt. However, before he could name the councillors or politicians creating hurdle in his work, a group of councillors belonging to the SAD (B) indulged in a verbal duel with Tarsem Goyal and Krishan Garg. Later, the duel turned into a SAD versus BJP fight. They even intimidated each other.

Witnessing the situation going out of his hand, the Mayor announced adjournment of the meeting but finding the councillors relenting, the meeting was resumed.

During the discussion over regular agendas, the House kept the proposal of selling the 12.5 acre controversial land pending. Imposition of CLU charges and complaints regarding water and sewerage supply also courted controversy. Among other issues that were approved in the meeting were fixation of rickshaw charges in city and appointment of some employees.

Bathinda, July 15
Mystery shrouds the murder of 57-year-old Gur Raj Singh, a resident of village Chak Ruldu Singh Wala in this district. He was found killed outside his flour mill located at the entrance of the village early this morning.

According to police sources, after having dinner, Gur Raj went to sleep outside the flour mill on Wednesday night. In the morning, his son Gurbaj Singh visited the place and found him dead.

Informing the Sarpanch of the village that they did not suspect anyone, the bereaved kin took the body home without even waiting for the police to reach the spot and investigate.

Meanwhile, the Sarpanch informed the Sangat police, who asked the family not to light the pyre. Before the cops reached, the deceased's kin, fearing police action, took the body to the spot where the murder had taken place.

During the preliminary investigations, the police found that Gur Raj was killed by a single assault on his forehead.

SHO Sangat police station Sandeep Singh told TNS, "During the probe, we tried to collect clues relating to his character and property disputes but nothing could be established as the reason behind the murder."

"We are now working on the theory as to why the family did not wait for the police before taking the body home. It is also suspicious that the bereaved kin immediately decided not to suspect anyone for the murder," added the SHO.

Bathinda, July 15
The dental healthcare fortnight, which began on July 1 in the district, concluded today. During the fortnight, over 2,500 persons were examined at two hospitals and a community health centre (CHC) situated at Bathinda, Rampura and Goniana.

Besides, teeth of about 3,600 school children were checked during the fortnight. As many as 125 persons have been identified, who would be provided with dentures free of cost.

Talking to TNS, district dental health officer Dr JL Singla said 1,235 persons were examined for various dental diseases in the Bathinda Civil Hospital while 947 were examined in Rampura hospital and 395 in the CHC, Goniana. He said that apart from this, the teeth of about 1,600 school children were examined in Bathinda, 1,112 in Rampura, 680 in Goniana and 190 in Raman Mandi.

Dr Singla said 50 patients had been prescribed dentures in Bathinda, 46 in Rampura and 29 in Goniana.

He said the dentures would be distributed among the Bathinda patients on July 22 at a function to be held on the premises of the Civil Hospital here.

He said the dentures to the patients of Rampura and Goniana would be delivered on separate dates at their respective places. He said medicines available in the hospitals had also been provided to the patients during the fortnight.

It is learnt that during the drive, dental surgeons found persons affected from dental caries, gingivitis and fluorosis diseases besides mal-occlusion among school students.

Bathinda, July 15
The local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), led by its president Dr Shiv Dutt Gupta, today held a protest dharna outside the Mini-secretariat here in protest against the proposed move of the Central government to introduce the Clinical Establishment Bill, dissolution of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and introduction of the Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC) course.

Almost all the speakers condemned the move of the Centre with regard to introducing the Clinical Establishment Bill. On the issue of dissolution of the MCI, they said the MCI should be revived and given more autonomy to keep the medical profession functioning independently. The BRHC course, a three and a half years certification course for the rural doctors, was ill conceived as it would produce sub-standard doctors, they added.

The dharna was addressed among others by Dr Shiv Dutt Gupta, secretary of local unit of the IMA, Dr BD Bajaj, former president of the Punjab IMA, Dr Amrit Sethi, secretary of the local unit of Indian Dental Association, Dr BD Puri, Dr Vitull K Gupta and Dr Rajesh Maheshwari.

Bathinda, July 15
The flood situation in the Mansa district further aggravated today as five more villages of the Sardulgarh area were inundated last night when the water level in the Ghaggar further increased.

The district authorities also sought help of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) while men of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the army were already deployed in the flood-hit areas.

The villages that faced the fury of the flood last night are, Mirpur Kalan, Mirpur Khurd, Bhagwanpur Hingnan, Alipur and Bern. The Sardulgarh town was facing fresh threat of getting flooded.

Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal accompanied by his wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Rajya Sabha Member Balwinder Singh Bhunder today again visited the flood-hit areas of Sardulgarh where he reviewed the devastation caused by fury of Ghaggar that was aggravated by the artificial barrier of Hansi-Butana canal. After conducting an aerial survey, he asked the administration to expedite evacuation and relief operations besides taking preventive steps to stop water overflowing to more areas.

Badal said that the Punjab government was committed to provide total support to the people in distress and has started supplying saplings of early maturing paddy and basmati crop besides seeds of alternate crops to the farmers where water has started receding.

He said that the challenge before the administration was to prevent outbreak of epidemic once the water level recedes. The health and the animal husbandry departments were vaccinating the people and livestock besides distributing chlorine tablets to the victims.

Badal said that loss to the crops over an area of 3.25 lakh acres in Punjab was estimated at Rs 480 crores whereas it may cost Rs 1,000 crores to repair the road infrastructure washed away due to the floods. He said that loss to the infrastructure was to the tune of Rs 2,00 crores.

Deputy Commissioner, Mansa, Kumar Rahul, said that over 8,000 acres of land has been fully submerged in the Sardulgarh area and 15 villages have been severely affected by the floods.

He said that the district administration has set up 15 relief camps where over 550 persons were taking refuge.

The district administration has also distributed 485 tarpaulins to the homeless people, besides providing ration and potable water.

Tindiwala (Ferozepur), July 15
Taking a serious note of claims being made by the residents of Ferozepur that they had been suffering on account of consumption of underground water, which has been polluted by river, a high-level team of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) led by its chairman Rajat Aggarwal today made a tour of various spots and collected the water samples for laboratory analysis.

The high-level team comprising member secretary, PPCB, Babu Lal, engineers and scientists, took samples of water from river Sutlej from the point where it enters into Pakistan from India in Ferozepur district and from this village, where it enters back into India after covering a lengthy area in Pakistan. Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav was with the team.

“We have been receiving complaints that Kasur (Pakistan's town adjacent to Ferozepur) based leather tanneries have been polluting Sutlej waters by discharging industrial waste without any treatment and a section of people have been claiming that it has become a major source of pollution in Sutlej,” he said

The comparative laboratory analysis of water samples taken from the point where Sutlej entered into Pakistan from India and water samples taken from the point where Sutlej entered into India from Pakistan would bring the real cause of pollution to light, he said, adding he visited these areas to personally see the quantum of the problem.

The BSF authorities had been requested to inform about the discharge of polluted water in river Sutlej by the Kasur-based tanneries near this village to the district administration, Ferozepur, so that the PPCB employees could be pressed into service to take fresh samples of that water to identify the quantum of pollution being caused by tanneries.

The main aim behind visiting village Teja Rawela was to find out how the problems of the residents of the same in connection with the polluted subsoil water could be solved.

He said that the team would also make efforts to identify the actual source, which had been causing pollution in river Sutlej.

Yadav said that water samples collected today from different points would be analysed in the PPCB laboratory located in Patiala and it was expected that it would take about two weeks to complete the process. The analysis would also reveal the fact whether there were metal contents present in the water or not.

The DC said that if it was found that Kasur-based tanneries were actually causing pollution in river Sutlej then various channels would be explored through the governments of Punjab and India to take up this matter with the Pakistan government.

Moga, July 15
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau took into custody the local drug inspector Balram Luthra and produced him before the district and sessions court here, this morning.

Later in the afternoon, the additional district and sessions judge Raj Shekhar Attri accepted his bail application filed through a legal counsel and granted him regular bail after he furnished a bail bond of Rs 50,000 in the court.

The drug inspector was caught taking a bribe from a local resident Sukhdev Singh by the state Vigilance Bureau on June 4, this year.

Two days after his arrest, a legal controversy cropped up after the then DSP of the Bureau A.S. Matwani released him on June 6 at his own level when he was under police remand without seeking permission from the court. On the same day, this DSP was suspended from service on charges of official misconduct and not following the rules and guidelines.

Ramesh Grover, legal counsel of the complainant Sukhdev Singh, while talking to The Tribune, has claimed that the regular bail granted to the inspector by the sessions court today has now established that the Vigilance Bureau had on June 6 released him illegally without the permission of the court, which was against the provisions of the law.

Earlier, Banarsi Dass, the local DSP of the Bureau, in a report filed before the court, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, made a request to release the drug inspector claiming he was no more required by the agency. He did not even request to send him in the judicial custody.

The additional district and sessions judge Raj Shekhar Attri after going through the report accepted the bail application and granted regular bail to the drug inspector.

The DSP also brought to the notice of the court that his senior bosses had inquired into the controversial arrest, in which, it was prima facie established that Luthra was wrongly trapped in the bribe case on the complaint of one Sukhdev Singh and few others by manipulating with certain officials of the agency. The DSP further stated that a report has already been sent to the headquarters of the Bureau to get sanction for cancellation of the graft case against the drug inspector, which was still awaited as on date.

The judge after going through the report has fixed coming August 14 as the next date of hearing in this case.

Abohar, July 15
The electorate of ward number 25 continue to suffer even after re-electing a senior SAD functionary as councillor. They were hoping that basic amenities would be ensured by the Municipal Council since it is run by the saffron party. They had been crying hoarse earlier as their ward representative Vijay Nagpal alleged that the Congress-led council had victimised the area in 2002-2007. Nagpal had severed decades-old ties with the Congress, during the past Vidhan Sabha elections, after serving the council as its vice-president for one year, and was inducted to the SAD by its supremo Parkash Singh Badal. In the past municipal elections, he was the only SAD contestant who could win.

On Thursday some of the ward residents marched to the old water works and staged dharna blocking entry to the office of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) to express anguish over denial of potable water for drinking.

Protesters said most residents in the upper area of the ward had not been getting water for more than six months. Their councillor too had taken up the matter with the MC as well as PWSSB officials but in vain.

The officials in the PWSSB reportedly said a water pipe needs to be replaced but the council had not released the required Rs 25,000 for it. The council always deferred it lamenting it was cash strapped.

The protesters wondered if the Municipal Council would give the same excuse even after fetching crores by auctioning its immovable property. The government transferred DK Goyal, executive officer, reportedly to pacify the dissidents in BJP, but to no avail.

Ferozepur, July 15
The Punjab State Minority Commission has given instructions to the district officials concerned to take necessary steps to remove encroachments from the graveyards being used by the members of the Muslim community to bury the dead.

While disclosing this here today, Munnawar Masih, chairperson, Punjab State Minority Commission, said the commission had been receiving complaints from the members of Muslim community that in certain pockets of Punjab, the land belonging to graveyards being used by them, had been encroached upon by unscrupulous elements and hence, the same must be removed.

Masih was here today to listen to grievances of members of minority communities of Punjab including Christians and Muslims. He held a meeting with district officials and representatives of these communities at the local Ambedkar Bhawan.

The chairperson disclosed that in certain pockets, the members of Muslim community were finding it difficult to bury the dead due to acute shortage of space for same in the graveyards concerned.

He said that this problem must be solved on a priority basis and, hence he had directed the officials concerned to do the needful.

He said that Punjab government had also been urged by the commission that land must be given to members of Muslim community to set up graveyards in those pockets where no such graveyard existed as of now.

The state government had been asked to provide the required funds to carry out the necessary repair of the existing graveyards.

Masih disclosed that members of the Christian community were entitled to get benefits under the Shagun scheme and if any member of the community was being denied the same by the authorities concerned, he must approach the commission immediately so that the matter could be resolved.

The minority panel chief said that widow pension was being given to the widows belonging to all caste and religions. He said that Punjab government had been urged to bring members of Masih group under the below poverty line (BPL) scheme.

The representatives of Christian community, who attended the meeting at the Ambedkar Bhavan, urged Masih that students of their community must be provided scholarship by the Punjab government.

Ferozepur, July 15
The private medical practitioners of this district running their private hospitals, downed their shutters for two hours today to lodge their protest against the decision of the Congress-led UPA government to introduce a Bill in connection with Clinical Establishment Act in the coming monsoon session of parliament.

R. L. Taneja, president, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ferozepur, said that private practitioners kept their respective clinic closed for two hours to lodge their protest against two more things which included the dissolution of Indian Medical Council (IMC) and introduction of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) course by the Central government.

He said a memorandum had been submitted to Prime Minister through the deputy commissioner Ferozepur in connection with the demands of IMA. He added that if the centre did not take the corrective steps, the IMA would intensify its agitation. 

Abohar, July 15
Amidst resignations by six senior functionaries, the Bhartiya Kisan Union today resolved to give a call to the farming community on not paying water user charges that were being recovered by the irrigation department. The total dues in the sub-division run beyond Rs one crore, the BKU assessed.

BKU state vice-president Gurjant Singh and district president Sukhpal Singh Buttar said the SAD-BJP alliance had in its common minimum programme during the Vidhan Sabha elections promised to abolish water charges completely but the irrigation staff was now harassing the farmers to recover charges for the past seven years.

The joint meeting of the Abohar and Khuyiansarwar units here resolved to visit the rural areas to mobilize the farming community against paying the charges and warned the authorities against using coercive measures on this account.

Six functionaries tendered resignations expressing anguish over arbitrary functioning of the BKU executive committee. The district president promptly accepted the same and blamed the dissidents for indulging in activities injurious to the organizational discipline.