Bathinda, July 16
Punjab chief secretary SC Aggarwal today visited the flood-hit villages of the Sardulgarh sub-division and ordered the health authorities to take measures to prevent outbreak of any epidemic as the water recedes.

Aggarwal asked the doctors to immunise residents of the villages that had been inundated by the floodwaters so as to prevent waterborne disease.

Member of Rajya Sabha Balwinder Singh Bhunder brought to notice of the chief secretary the extent of damage caused due to floodwaters in the villages of the area and destruction of standing crops.

Deputy Commissioner Kumar Rahul said 375 people from 19 affected villages had been evacuated to safe places and cooked food was being supplied to residents of about 25 villages.

He said green fodder was also being supplied for cattle in the inundated villages where 354 houses had been badly damaged.

Rahul said that teams of doctors that visited 18 villages provided treatment to 123 persons suffering from viral fever and 72 from skin disease.

Bathinda, July 16
Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal today launched a campaign to plant five lakh saplings of wide-leaf trees during the current monsoon season to check the imbalance in the ecology that has caused floods in Punjab.

Badal distributed saplings particularly to housewives and school children, as their involvement for success of the campaign was necessary. During her ‘Sangat Darshan’ at Kothe Thande, Kahansinghwala, Joganand, Khialiwala, Khemuana, Har Raipur, Amargarh and Gillpati of Bhuchu assembly segments of Bathinda parliamentary constituency, she stressed on the need for restoring the green cover to meet the challenge of climate change that was posing a threat to mankind.

Exhorting people to plant, nurture and protect trees for the sake of future generations, she said the recent floods in certain parts of Punjab were a grim reminder of fast depleting green cover on the earth. Rather than looking towards the government, general public should take the responsibility of protecting the environment by planting trees.

Badal said it was her humble effort to reduce carbon footprints to protect the planet from the adverse effect of global warming. Various wings of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have chalked out a programme to plant five lakh saplings within next 15 days.

Meanwhile, Raninder Singh, general secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee and son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, visited the flood-hit areas of the Mansa district this morning.

He urged the government to order a special survey to ascertain the loss of property suffered by members of weaker sections and provide them relief at par with those farmers whose crops were destroyed.

Raninder Singh said a three-phase plan to strengthen the embankments of the Ghaggar was initiated during the Congress regime, but the present SAD-BJP coalition government that followed did nothing further.

Joginder Dayal, member of the CPI national executive accused the state government of having done nothing to protect people from the flood fury. Breaches in the embankments of the Ghaggar that have inundated vast tracts of agriculture lands and destroyed standing crops are a telltale story of the government’s failure, he added. See also P4

Bathinda, July 16
As there are now no eligible beneficiaries left in the Bathinda district for taking benefits of the Indira Awas Yojna, it appears that the Zila Parishad (ZP) authorities of this district have no other option except to return the funds, over Rs 3 crore, lying with them, to the Central as well as the state government.

However, nothing could be stated at this stage as the authorities have not taken any decision in this regard. Sources said that the ZP had received about Rs 2.40 crore from the Union Ministry of Rural Development during the current financial year while it had over Rs 80 lakh, which had been lying with it as balance amount for the previous financial year (2009-10).

Thus, the ZP had over Rs 3 crore with it for giving the same to the beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojna, but it had no eligible beneficiary on its records to whom it could release prescribed money for making the kutcha house pucca or repairing the house, they added.

According to information, a survey to identify the below poverty line (BPL) families was conducted about a decade ago.

On the basis of that survey, later a waiting list had been prepared of those BPL families which had either kutcha houses or whose semi-kutcha houses required repair. During the survey, nearly 13,000 BPL families had been identified in the Bathinda district, of which a waiting list of over 6400 families had been prepared to benefit them under the Indira Awas Yojna.

As per information, all the BPL families (over 6400) had already been covered under the Indira Awas Yojna, so there is now no family left in the district for providing the benefit. Besides, other BPL families, which were though not in the waiting list but their houses were either kutcha or sought repair, they had also reportedly been covered under the Yojna in the district.

Under the Indira Awas Yojna during the current financial year an eligible BPL family is entitled for a grant of Rs 45,000 for constructing pucca house and Rs 15,000 for the repair of the house whereas earlier this amount was Rs 35,000 and Rs 15,000, respectively.

The 75 percent share is contributed for the scheme by the Centre while state government contributed 25 percent.

It is learnt that the Zila Parishad authorities had already received reports from the block development and panchayat officers (BDPOs) of the district, with regard to pending beneficiaries, if any in their blocks.

However, the BDPOs had informed the ZP that all eligible beneficiaries in their respective blocks had been covered under the Yojna. 

Abohar, July 16
Hoardings have come up in abundance here on the footpath of Government Model Senior Secondary School in Maharaja Aggarsain Chowk opposite of Homeopathic Medical College Hospital, police complex crossing, city bypass terminals as well as on the state and national highways making these as accident prone zones.

Interestingly, the Municipal Council, while auctioning the annual contract for collection of advertisement tax had conveyed to the bidders vide clause number 
9 that in compliance of the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, no hoarding will be allowed on the main roads and footpaths within the municipal boundaries.

But huge hoarding displaying the portrait of the council president under the pretext of an appeal to keep the city clean stands tall affecting the movement of pedestrians including students in the busiest Aggarsain Chowk. Banks as well as other commercial establishments have fixed scores of hoardings on all corners of the town under the pretext of welcoming the visitors.

These had resulted in a series of mishaps on the Seetogunno road, Alamgarh bypass, Malout chowk and road that links the office of the SP with the railway overbridge road, among other areas.

The advertisement tax branch of the council claimed the HC had prohibited fixing of hoardings only on the national highways but the officials maintained a studied silence over the clause 9 that had been included in the terms and conditions of the agreement reached with the contractors.

Ferozepur, July 16
Even as huge blockage caused by hyacinths at various points in irrigation channels in major part of the Malwa region has disturbed their functioning apart from causing breaches, the Irrigation Department authorities have sent SOS messages to the state government to provide required funds to deal with the situation.

The major irrigation channels of the region, adversely affected due to high concentration of the hyacinths, included Sirhind Feeder, Rajasthan Feeder, Ferozepur Feeder and Abohar canal apart from their distributaries.

The problem caused by hyacinths has reached a point where it caused breach in Arniwala distributary twice in the past few days and caused damage to its about 200-feet-long bank. The threat to the banks of other channels by the hyacinths is equally severe.

“Due to deposition of the hyacinths in canals, distributaries and minors of irrigation system in unprecedented large quantity this season, we have been finding it difficult to run channels according to their respective capacities, said irrigation department officials.

Executive Engineer, Abohar, Ramesh Kumar Gupta said water in all channels falling in Abohar division, was flowing at 60 per cent of their capacities due to choking of their flow by the hyacinths. Even in certain channels, the water flow had been brought down to 38 per cent of their capacity to avoid damage to their banks.

He added that villages, located at the tail ends of the different channels, were not getting adequate canal water for irrigating their paddy fields.

Executive Engineer, Sirhind feeder and Ferozepur Feeder canals, Prem Kumar pointed out that the situation was under observation and steps were being taken to keep the flow of water in these two important channels of this region intact by clearing the hyacinths fast.

“We have sent an SOS to the state government asking it to arrange required funds to use the same for clearing the hyacinths from different channels,” pointed out superintendent engineer (SE), Irrigation, Ferozepur, Baljit Singh Sandhu, who made on the spot assessment by visiting various channels recently.

“We have pressed men and machines into service almost at every channel and the flow has been restricted by the hyacinths, so that problem can be stopped from taking an ugly turn,” he pointed out.

Chief engineer, irrigation, Punjab, Amarjeet Singh Dullet disclosed that after he took up this matter with Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, he (Badal) directed all deputy commissioners concerned to release funds at the earliest under the head of natural calamity funds to the irrigation department officials wherever required to deal with the situation.

Teja Rawela (Fazilka), July 16
A controversy has erupted over the issue connected with the collection of water samples by a team of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) led by its chairman Rajat Aggarwal from the river Sutlej flowing near this village.

While the residents of this village alleged that officials of PPCB did not enter into the river and asked the children playing at the spot to collect water samples for them, Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur, KK Yadav, who accompanied the team, claimed that samples of water had been collected in a professional manner by the team members.

Yesterday, a battery of engineers and scientists led by Aggarwal descended on this village, which remained in limelight of late due to the fact that residents of this and its neighbouring villages have been suffering from various ailments due to consumption of polluted water, to collect water samples for laboratory analysis of the same.

The residents said that PPCB engineers and scientists must have taken water samples on their own instead of pressing the children into service for the same task as the children did not know how and from which point water for sampling must be collected.

They added that the PPCB team must have collected water samples before the monsoon rains as due to rains, the water flow in river Sutlej had increased and it had taken a major quantity of pollutants away. They said that they were not aware of the report of laboratory analysis of water samples taken from the same spots in the past few months by different agencies of state government.

Yadav said that residents of village were levelling baseless allegations.

He said that collection of water samples would be a continuous process so that a comprehensive analysis of water could be made for further action.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the Army and the BSF authorities had been involved in this process and they had been asked to report the matter to him immediately whenever they found discoloured, stinking and smell emanating water in river Sutlej so that its samples could be taken without any delay for laboratory analysis.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department, has written warning notes at various points in this and its neighbouring villages asking residents not to use water being drawn through hand pumps as the same is not fit for human consumption. 

Bathinda, July 16
Resentment prevails among employees of the Income Tax Department over their long-standing demands having not been accepted by the Central government so far.

The demands of the employees included publication of seniority list of Group ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’ employees as per the directions of the Central Board of Direct Taxes on yearly basis, filling up of vacant posts in the department, stoppage of implementation of outsourcing system in the department, removal of anomalies in pay-scales, honouring an agreement signed with the Joint Council of Action (JCA) and disposing of all vigilance cases pending beyond one year.

President of Bathinda unit of the Income Tax Employees’ Federation (ITEF) Ashwani Bhatia today said there was a great resentment prevailing among the employees of the Income Tax Department due to an indifferent attitude of the government towards their demands.

Bhatia said they had observed a day-long strike the previous day to compel the government to accept their demands at the earliest.

Bathinda, July 16
To ease the way to study abroad, the Lovely Professional University (LPU), Jalandhar, has come up with twinning and international exposure programme.

In a press conference held here today, authorities of the LPU said under the twinning programme, students could pursue half of their course in India and the rest in a university and country of their choice while receiving degree from the foreign university itself.

“Studying in a twinning course is like studying in an international university at half the cost. The students doing such courses are better equipped than the students who have done their education entirely abroad or a regular degree, as they get the best of both the countries,” said Dr SK Bawa, Dean, Lovely Faculty of Education. — TNS

Bathinda, July 16
The Talwandi Sabo police booked six persons for cheating students by giving them computer course certificates issued by a fake education and welfare society.

The scam was exposed after the district administration received a certificate issued in the name of one Gurwinder Singh. The certificate was issued by the Education Council of Rural Technical Education Development and Welfare Society, which was not approved by the government.

Taking an immediate notice, additional deputy commissioner (Development) C. Sibin ordered an investigation.

During the probe, it was observed that the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Bathinda, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, in 2001 for establishing 15 computer centres in the district. Later, the DRDA signed MoUs with different people to set up the centres. One such MoU was signed with Lachhman Garg of the Tara Infotech Computer Institute, Talwandi Sabo.

According to the terms of the MoU, the authorities of the institute would run only those computer courses that were recognised by the PTU and the certificates were to be issued by the PTU after conducting examination.

However, the probe found that Lachhman Garg in connivance with some persons formed a fake society named the Rural Technical Education Development and Welfare Society and started issuing certificates to students, mentioning that the society had the approval of the DRDA, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. Hence, the investigation officials observed that the society had deceived the DRDA and the students alike.

It is learnt that after ascertaining the charges against the six accused, namely Teja Singh Bhullar, Tarsem Dhingra, Lachman Garg, Mohit Garg, IS Brar and Varinder Kaur Gill, all residents of Talwandi Sabo, the investigation officials took a legal opinion. Following this, the ADC (D) recommended to the Bathinda SSP to book all six accused for committing fraud.

Acting upon the recommendation, the Talwandi Sabo police, under whose jurisdiction the institute and the society were functioning, lodged a criminal case against the six persons under sections 419, 420, 465, 466, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

It is learnt that sensing the gravity of the matter, the ADC (D) directed assistant project officer-cum-nodal officer of the DRDA, Bathinda, Sadhu Ram Kusla to pursue the case.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, July 16
With the arrest of a Faridkot-based TV news channel reporter and his Patiala-based accomplice for allegedly withdrawing Rs 20,000 from the account of a Rajasthan police head constable in Sriganganagar yesterday, the district police today hoped that vital clues may be available to solve similar incidents that rocked the region in the past.

As per the details given by the police, an alert head constable Krishan Kumar became suspicious when two boys advised him to operate the second ATM machine saying the first one was working at a slow pace.

They had an access to the slip issued by the ATM after the transaction and noted down the code also. On his way back, the head constable doubted the conduct of the youths and returned but they had escaped by then. The cop found that Rs 20,000 had been withdrawn through the ATM in past five minutes by forgery. He alerted the district police which immediately set up nakas. The Fiat Palio car bearing fancy number PB29F 0044, as identified by the cop, was intercepted and the suspects were taken into custody.

The police booked them and also recovered Rs 20,000 along with the balance slip. One of the accused, Kuldeepak Sharma of Faridkot, reportedly had a TV news channel I-card while the other Sahib Singh of Patiala claimed he was related to a woman head constable in the Punjab police. Preliminary investigation indicated that they used to hang the ATM machine by inserting a small piece of plastic in the keyboard and keep watch on the customer operating the second machine, sources indicated. Notably heavy amount had been withdrawn earlier by tampering with the ATM of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur in Public Park area on March 17. SP Rupinder Singh cautioned people to be alert while operating ATM machines and take adequate safeguards. — OC