Bathinda, July 21
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal today visited the waterlogged areas of the city and ordered the authorities to take immediate steps to drain out the rainwater that has inundated several areas.

Yesterday’s 7.1 cm of rainfall had flooded several localities throwing normal life out of gear.

Sukhbir drove to the Sirki Bazar that was worst affected and assured the residents of taking steps to find a permanent solution to the problem that occurs every monsoon. He asked the officials to prepare a detailed project report on laying storm water channels in the area so that a solution could be found to the problem.

As the Deputy CM had only days back taken the administration by surprise with his nocturnal raids at government offices, the entire district administration was on its toes since early this morning. Leaving no stone unturned to drain out the accumulated water from the low-lying areas of the city where Sukhbir was expected to visit, a number of officials of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) were deputed to personally monitor the pumping process.

However, during a visit to the Mall road, Dhobi Bazaar and Sirki Bazar areas, Sukhbir found a number of flaws in the drainage system. Though the officials tried to convince him that all was being done to clear waterlogging, he issued strict instructions to speed up the process.

“I am committed to do the best possible to help Bathinda residents get rid of the problem of waterlogging due to the rains, for which several plans are being prepared.”

Sources in the administration later informed that though the BMC commissioner had assured of abiding by the directive of the Deputy CM, he had also suggested other solutions besides laying the storm water channels.

BMC commissioner Ravi Bhagat told TNS, “Even after laying storm water channels, we will have to drain the rainwater through sewerage channels. As the carrying capacity of the sewerage disposal system has already reached saturation point, it will create reverse pressure if we try to exploit it more. Until the disposal capacity is increased, there is no permanent solution to it.”

Sardulgarh (Mansa), July 21
Having faced wrath of the flood that has destroyed their standing crop of paddy and cotton in more than 20 villages, the farmers were now planning to recoup the loss by planting Toria (oilseed) as the season for sowing ordinary varieties of paddy and cotton has already ended.

They shall have to wait for the floodwater in their fields to dry before plantation of Toria or vegetables could begin.

Some resourceful farmers were trying to acquire saplings of Basmati paddy from Haryana and the Amritsar belt as the variety could be sown till the end of July.

However, the foremost concern among the farmers was the standing water in their fields. Water pumps in most of the affected fields have been damaged due to waterlogging.

A small farmer Gursharan Singh said that he was not in a position to invest money for sowing Basmati and would go in for Moong Dal (pulse) by raising loan from some middleman.

He had earlier sown cotton crop that has been completely destroyed due to the flood.

Another farmer Tula Singh said that sowing Basmati was an option before him but getting saplings of the variety was a big problem as the season has almost ended.

GS Buttar, director of the regional centre of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), said that as it was already late, the affected farmers should now go in for Toria and vegetable cultivation. It would not be possible now to sow cotton that was the main crop of the area.

Being a fragile crop, standing cotton plants in the flood-hit fields has been destroyed by the stagnant water.

The ordinary farmers are left with no option but to go in for Toria and vegetable cultivation because saplings of Basmati were now available only in a few nurseries in Haryana or in the Tarn Taran—Amritsar belt.

The Punjab government had allowed the farmers to undertake sowing of paddy and cotton from June 10 and they suffered the loss within a few days due to the flood that has inundated more than 8000 acres in this area.

Ferozepur, July 21
The heavy rains which have been lashing this region for the past more than 24 hours, have thrown normal life out of gear in almost all parts of this district, among the biggest in Punjab and which shares its borders with Pakistan.

The fear of floods has gripped the people residing in those villages, located in the close vicinity of river Sutlej, that has started witnessing a rise in its water level. The residents of some low-lying pockets, where the rain water has already accumulated, are trying their best to save their paddy and fodder crops.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that due to rains, the number of students in schools and officials was below normal. The traffic on the Ferozepur-Abohar main road and on anterior roads crisscrossing this district was less than the volume of the traffic during the normal days.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said he along with other district officials, had made a round of Aarafke and other villages in Mallanwala area of this district as people in about eight villages had been facing problems on account of accumulation of water in the low- lying pockets. He said a strategy was being worked out to provide immediate relief.

He said Ferozepur had also witnessed problems due to accumulation of rain water in the low-lying areas. The motor pumps had been pressed into service to drain out the water without any delay.

Ferozepur, July 21
A breach, which took place in the Laxman distributary near the village Khunder Hitad in Mamdot area of this district, has triggered off a fresh controversy.

While the functionaries of the irrigation department alleged that the residents of villages of Khunder Hitad, Khunder Uttar and its neighbouring villages had been indulging in canal cutting to draw its water in an unauthorised manner to irrigate their paddy fields, the residents levelled counter allegations that the Laxman distributary was breaching time and again as sub-standard material was used when it was brick lined about three years ago by the officials concerned.

The Laxman distributary, supplying water in the border pockets of the Ferozepur district, which witnessed a breach in its right bank on July 17, today also witnessed another breach of about 13 feet width, which led to the flooding of about 50 acres of area under the paddy crop.

Jagtar Singh, sub-divisional engineer (SDE), irrigation, who reached the spot in the morning, said on the spot examination revealed that the breach was man-made and not natural. He alleged that some unscrupulous farmers had made a cut on the bank of the Laxman distributary to draw water from it in an illegal manner.

He said he had also informed the matter to the police for registering a criminal case against unidentified unscrupulous farmers for cutting canal bank today. Earlier, a case had already been lodged against unscrupulous farmers to the police on July 17 for causing breach in this distributary.

He pointed out that whenever the demand for canal water for irrigating the paddy fields was at its peak, a section of the farmers indulged in canal cutting without taking the loss, they had been causing to the irrigation department and other farmers, into consideration.

Meanwhile, the residents claimed that the Laxman distributary had breached time and again as its brick lining was not strong.

They said that instead of making arrangements for giving suitable compensation to those farmers, whose crops had been damaged after coming under water, the authorities concerned were blaming the farmers for the breach. They said a high-level probe into the material used for brick lining the Laxman distributary would bring the truth to the surface.

Abohar, July 21
Cotton and green fodder crop besides vegetables in about 35 acres of land near the city bypass has been damaged due to breach in the disposal water drain. Some farmers had been using the sewerage water for irrigation.

Meanwhile, the vegetable prices shot up Wednesday evening as the growers could not enter the fields to pick up the yield, sources in the wholesale market said.

The affected farmers, who were found shouting slogans against the local Municipal Council, informed the media that the council authorities were last month informed that the drain had turned weak and needed immediate repairs but in vain. Heavy showers on Tuesday increased pressure on the drain today.

Information was immediately passed on to the officials of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) but they lamented that it was the duty of the Municipal Council to get the breach plugged besides repairing the drain.

The PWSSB, SDO, Amarjit Singh, too revealed to the media that the council was responsible for the maintenance of the drain that had choked even when the showers had lashed the town for half an hour only.

The council had not even responded to the letters in this connection in the past, the PWSSB officials said. Meanwhile, some of the farmers had joined hands in plugging the breach by the evening.

Abohar, July 21
As the rain god did not oblige the tail-end villages even on the second day of the changed weather scenario, the Daulatpura Minor Tail Sangharsh Samiti on Wednesday resolved to organise Akhand Path on July 23 and go in for Ardas after Bhog on Sunday. Interestingly, scores of small hamlets around Abohar did have heavy showers during the past 24 hours but the tail-end villages did not experience rains.

The Samiti president, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, informed that the agitation for a long period had not borne fruits result since the irrigation department officials had expressed their helplessness arguing that the poor rainfall had made them unable to do anything.

Meanwhile, the dharna jointly organised by the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan and the leftist organisations continued for the third day as talks with the irrigation executive engineer (XEN), Ramesh Gupta, failed today.

The XEN was reported saying that reduction had to be enforced in supply of water in Ramsara, Malukpura and Daulatpura sub-canals ranging 100-125 cusecs by rotation. — OC

Faridkot, July 21
An exhibition of photographs on the Bhopal gas tragedy and its aftermath by Raghu Rai, a renowned photographer, was inaugurated by saint-turned environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal here, last night.

The exhibition, organised by Kheti Virasat Mission and many other local NGOs would continue till the end of this week. Documentary films on the gas tragedy would also be shown to the public daily in the evening on the occasion, besides discussions on environmental degradation in the country, particularly in this agrarian state.

The photographs, so realistic, illustrate a picture of dismay recalling the scenes of the world’s worst industrial disaster- dead animals on the road, bloated bodies, sick people being brought to the hospital, dead bodies lying in the hospital.

Seechewal described them as being similar to an aftermath of a chemical warfare and demanded justice for the victims and punishment for those responsible for this disaster.

“If we look back, we can imagine that if ever a chemical warfare happens, the situation would be similar to what happened in Bhopal gas tragedy,” he said.

Umendra Dutt, director of the Kheti Virasat Mission said the idea behind the photo exhibition is to bring awareness among the masses. Adding that the multi-national companies were ruthlessly exploiting the natural resources of India, he said people should know its ill-effects and become more vigilant to save the environment.

Inderjit Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Baba Farid Society, said clean environment is essential for the safety and well-being of all the living creatures and everybody should come forward to save it.

Pritpal Singh, coordinator of the Baba Farid Centre for Special Children, who has recently exposed the presence of uranium on the hair of as many as 149 children of his centre, has asked the government to come out with a concrete policy to protect the environment and provide a healthy atmosphere for the living beings.

“We need to take preventive measures for averting such tragedies in the future,” he added. Activists of many local organizations and the local people in large numbers came to have a look at the photographs of what is termed as the world’s largest corporate disaster.

Abohar, July 21
Colleagues and enthusiastic youths felicitated the Punjab Police head constable, Mohan Lal, leader of the four-member team here on Wednesday that had scaled Mount Ram Jakh peak located at 6318 ft height in Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh on July 14.

Having participated earlier in adventurous and the most challenging mountaineering expeditions in Europe, Switzerland, France, Italy and Australia besides Kedar dome and Trishuli West mountains in India, Mohan Lal said the Punjab Police Adventure Sports Club and National Adventure and Leadership School (NELS) based at Manali had this time formed a small team under his command.

The other members included Jagdev Raj Kodapa, camp in-charge in Manali, Dina Nath, instructor NELS and Aryan Singh from Sirsa in Haryana.

The team members carried the luggage on their own as no assistant was assigned for the expedition. The team was flagged off by the Sports Club joint secretary Ramesh Kumar Sharma and water sports coach Nidhan Singh on July 5 at Chandigarh and succeeded in completing the mission by July 14.

“We had to heat up the ice to get water but our spirits remained high. Earlier, big teams had scaled the peak but ours was the smallest ever group,” he said.

Moga, July 21
A clerical staff of the local drug inspector has been caught red-handed while trying to sell the seized psychotropic drugs from their storehouse to some chemists here, this evening.

The police had registered an FIR under sections 409, 511 and 120-B of the IPC against Baljit Singh, office clerk of the drug inspector and begun further investigations into the incident.

The officiating SHO of the city police station (south), Bhupinder Singh, while talking to The Tribune, said the drug inspector Balram Luthra reported to the police that one of his staff members was trying to load two boxes of cough syrup, commonly used as an intoxicant by the youths in this area, in a white colour Accent car.

The SP (D) Gurmail Singh and DSP (City) Balwinder Singh also reached the spot, he said. During the preliminary investigations, it has come to light that Baljit took out two boxes of the cough syrup from the storehouse where the seized drugs were being kept pending court cases. He was the in-charge of the storehouse.

It was learnt that these two boxes of cough syrup were to be supplied to two chemists of the town, who had reportedly shut down their shops and gone underground fearing arrest as the police had dispatched teams to nab them.

There were also reports that the boxes of cough syrup which the clerk was trying to sell were kept out of sight by him on July 7 when the health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and the drug controller Bhag Singh came here in the town to dispose of the seized drugs worth Rs 4.5 lakh. “We would look into every aspect of the incident and would not spare anyone found involved in this case,” said the SHO of the police station.

It may be mentioned that many controversies had surrounded the local authorities of the drug controller ever since crackdown on chemists selling psychotropic drugs began in the district, last year. The drug inspector himself was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Bureau taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from some chemists on June 4, this year.

A case is pending against him in the sessions court, here. However, the senior authorities of the Bureau were bent upon to hush up the case by registering a criminal case against the complainants and its own officials on the allegations of manipulating the inspector's arrest.

A total of about 100 cases of seizure of psychotropic drugs during the past two years by the drug inspector and the local police were also pending before various courts.

Ferozepur, July 21
Pargat Singh, son of Pala Singh, sarpanch of village Bandala of this district, was feared drowned today in the river Sutlej when he was swept away by the strong currents while he was taking bath in the river.

Gurjit Singh, SDM, Ferozepur, who reached the spot, said the BSF authorities had been requested to press the spotters into service to trace out Pargat Singh, who was married and had a son and a daughter.

He said Pargat reached the village Kamalwala of this district after visiting his in-laws in the Tarn Taran district late in the evening today.

He was to reach his village Bandala after a boat ride from village Kamalwala, the only means of transportation.

As the boatman was having tea, Pargat Singh started taking bath in the river and within no time the strong currents reportedly took him away resulting in the tragedy.