Moga, August 11
Former SGPC member and SAD leader from Dharamkot area Kuldip Singh Dhos and his son Davinderjit Singh have been booked by the police along with eight other persons for allegedly trying to forcibly grab nine acres of agricultural land at Gagra village in the Moga district while the local SHO has been suspended for delaying the registration of this case against them for a couple of days.

Darshan Singh, son of Joginder Singh, a resident of Gagra village complained to the police that the said Akali leader and his associates, came by cars/tractors on August 7 in their village and tried to grab his land forcibly.

An FIR under sections 447, 427, 506, 342, 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered against the said SAD, his son, Balwant Singh, son of Sardara Singh, Dilbagh Singh, son of Balwant Singh, Parminder Singh, son of Darshan Singh, all residents of Dharamkot, Amarjit Singh, son of Sukha Singh, a resident of Ghalauti, Harjinder Singh, son of Darshan Singh, a resident of Nupur Hakima, Satnam Singh, son of Piyara Singh, a resident of Shadiwala, Ravinder Singh, a resident of Kadarwala and Mohni, a resident of Dholewala village at the Kot-ise-Khan police station, yesterday.

SSP Sneh Deep Sharma, while confirming the suspension of SHO Nachattar Singh said he has been suspended from the service for inaction in delaying the registration of case in this incident. However, he did not comment on any political rivalry behind the case.

Meanwhile, Kuldip Singh Dhos, while talking to The Tribune, claimed that a local DSP has conspired in the registration of this case against him as he himself wanted to grab this land while the SHO was not willing to register this case. "It is a deep-rooted conspiracy of certain police officials against me and my supporters, which has been brought into the notice of the Chief Minister," he said.

Dhos further claimed that the Chief Minister has directed the DGP and the SSP to take action against the local DSP and reinstate the SHO immediately but it was not confirmed by any senior police official.

Interestingly, sub-inspector Sarabhjit Singh, who is investigating the case, plainly denied that a case has been registered against Dhos and his son saying those named in the FIR have identical names, probably under political pressure.

Bathinda, August 11
In the backdrop of cyclic pattern of the dengue fever, the district health authorities are of the view that the dengue fever may spread this year (2010) in a big way in Bathinda district as compared to last year in which five cases of dengue fever were reported from the district.

While during 2008, as many as 359 cases, including 305 cases from Bathinda city alone, were reported from the entire district.

In view of this the health authorities are making efforts to create awareness about the menace in the district, especially of Bathinda city. They have been emphasising upon the need to pay special attention towards draining out water from air coolers after every seven days and drying the same before refilling water in them. They have also been suggesting people not to keep water uncovered in the open pots for several days, and should not allow the accumulation of water in the tyres to protect themselves from the dengue mosquitoes.

Talking to The Tribune here today, the District Malaria Officer Dr Malkiat Singh Gill said though due to the cyclic pattern of the dengue, there was a possibility of an increase in the cases of dengue fever this year but the people could protect themselves by adopting precautionary measures. Besides, the health authorities had also taken several steps to tackle the dengue menace this year, including survey of houses to detect dengue larva, he added.

After receiving information a few days ago about a reported dengue positive case from Bathinda, the district health authorities contacted the family concerned, residing in a street on Ajit road here. Though the patient was in good health after getting treatment from a Ludhiana hospital but the district health authorities conducted Elisa test on the entire family, including the patient, the previous day.

Civil surgeon Dr Inder Dayal Goyal told this correspondent here today that they had received report of the Elisa tests, conducted on the family members, from the Blood Bank of the civil hospital here. During the tests, all four members of the family, including the patient, had tested negative for dengue.

He said no dengue case had been detected in the district so far.

Dr Goyal also said no dengue larva or mosquito had been found from the house of the patient. However, the insect collector found dengue larva in an open uncovered tank, placed some yards away from the house of the patient.

The water tank, in which there was rain water, had been got cleaned. Besides, in this area, people had also been educated by a health team, he added. 

Sevewala (Faridkot), August 11
Even after 30-hour long efforts, the district administration could not persuade the agitating volunteers of the Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) Teachers' Union, who had climbed atop an overhead water tank located near this village on Tuesday.

The protesters were demanding the notification of their admission to the Elementary Teachers' Training (ETT) course, without any entrance test. Though the chief minister, in a recently held meeting with the leaders of the union, had reportedly agreed to their demand for admission but imposed a condition that the state education department could allocate about 800 seats to them in a year, which they flatly turned down.

Demanding admissions for about 2200 volunteers at a time, about a dozen volunteers including women, some of them carrying bottles of petrol in their hands, climbed atop the overhead water tank located on Bathinda-Jaitu road, near this village on Tuesday at about 2 pm.

Taking preventive measures, the district administration deployed a large number of cops at the spot and installed barricades to divert the road traffic.

Besides raising anti-establishment slogans, they poured petrol over themselves a number of times and warned the administration to convince the chief minister to issue in writing the commitment that all of them would be given admission in the ETT, otherwise, they could take some extreme step.

The high-voltage drama continued throughout the night, when the officials were doing their best to persuade them to climb down but they were adamant. Expressing sympathy with the protesters, the villagers arranged langar for them.

A senior SAD leader, Gurdev Badal, today reached the spot and tried to persuade them but the protesters refused to believe him till he brought to them an assurance from the government in writing.

The situation turned tense when one of the agitating volunteers, Rakhi of Abohar, attempted to set herself on fire. Though her colleagues doused the flames before it could cause any injury, a number of senior civil and police officials rushed the spot after receiving the information and started negotiations with the union leaders.

It may be mentioned that agitators were so aggressive that they kept raising slogans even in the rain that took place this evening.

Speaking to TNS, SSP Faridkot, AK Mittal, who was also on the spot, said, “The negotiations are continuing and we are hopeful of convincing them so that they climb down from the tank.”

Fazilka, August 11
A newly-born baby girl was found abandoned on the bank of a canal on outskirts of Fazilka town today evening. Her condition is stated to be serious.

As per sources, three farmers working in their fields on Ganjuana Hasta Road found a baby lying deserted. The farmers rushed her to the local civil hospital.

Paediatrician Hans Raj after examining the baby said she was about 4-5 days old. Dr Hans Raj said that she was suffering with multiple ailments, including respiratory distress, hypothermia, septicemia and low birth weight. Since, there are limited medical facilities for the new born children at the local civil hospital, Dr Hans Raj suggested shifting her to a well-equipped nursery.

On the advice of Dr Hans Raj, the baby girl has been admitted to a local private clinic. In-charge of the clinic Dr Ashwani Loona said that survival chances of the baby were bleak.

Hospital authorities have informed the local SDM and Civil Surgeon, Ferozepur about the recovery of abandoned baby girl. Sadar police is investigating the matter. 

Bathinda, August 11
Sibling rivalry over property turned bloody when two brothers combined to kill the third one by repeatedly attacking him with sharp edged weapons. They then threw his body into the Bathinda branch of Sirhind canal, late last night.

Investigating the matter, Nathana police, with the help of volunteers of the Naujawan Welfare Society, found the body floating in the canal near Gobindpura village of this district. The body had deep injury marks on it.

According to details, Gurlal Singh (42) of Bhucho Kalan village had a dispute with his brothers Kripa Ram and Pala Ram over a chunk of two-and-a-half acres of land, which they held in joint ownership.

Last evening, Sarabjeet Kaur, the second wife of Gurlal Singh, lodged a complaint with the Bhucho police that her brothers-in-law, Kripa Ram and Pala Ram along with some others had abducted her husband.

In her statement, she alleged that there was some property dispute between the brothers as the two of them were pressurizing her husband to surrender his legal share over the property.

Acting upon her statement, Nathana police launched investigations and nabbed the accused, who reportedly admitted that they had killed Gurlal for the sake of property.

On the other hand, investigating officer Gurjeet Singh said the case was traced after the police got a tip-off about a body floating in the canal, this morning. He said that acting upon the statement of the wife of the deceased and witnessing the injury marks on the body, the accused were booked under section 302 of the IPC.

Denying the arrest of the accused, the investigating officer claimed that the accused were still at large but efforts were on to put them behind the bars.

The police officials said the deceased had two children from his first wife, and after her death some time back, he married Sarabjeet Kaur (the complainant) and she was expecting a child from him.

Fearing the division of property further, the accused took the extreme step, police officials said.

Fazilka, August 11
One the one hand, the reports of dead fish found in government-run canal-based drinking water project, has worried the residents, and on the other, the drinking water supplied from different sources to the consumers in private sector is also cause for worry.

Most of the drinking water samples, collected by a team of the health department last month, have failed the quality test.

Surprisingly, out of a total 10 water samples, seven have been described as “not fit for drinking” for different reasons by the State Public Health Laboratory.

Notably, a team of the health department had taken 10 water samples from different areas of Fazilka including leading hotels and dhabas, on July 9.

The samples were sent to the State Public Health Laboratory, Punjab, Chandigarh. The report of bacteriologist of the state laboratory has been received here.

As per the report, out of total ten water samples taken by health department, seven samples including those from local hotel Khana Khazana, Mahant Da Dhaba, Pepsi Dhaba, Hotel Gulmarg, Balajit Residency Family Hotel, Veer Pal Da Dhaba and Aaha Restaurant could not qualify the test.

However, the report has described the water of Chaudhary Da Dhaba, WOW Water Company and Satnam Singh Da Dhaba, as consumable.

Tests have suggested that proper chlorination of drinking water supplied to consumers by Khana Khazana hotel, Balaji Residency, Veerpal Da Dhaba and Aaha Restaurant should be carried out as the analyst has detected bacterial contamination in the water.

Ferozepur, August 11
The District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum while holding the Airtel Communication Ltd, a mobile phone company, guilty of providing deficit services to its consumer, Amrik Singh, imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on it and also directed it to pay Rs 2000 as legal expenses to the complainant.

As per the details, Amrik Singh, a consumer of the Airtel Communication Limited, filed a complaint with the Consumer Forum that the mobile company had stopped outgoing call and message services on his phone twice despite the fact that there was sufficient balance in his account at that time.

He alleged that the company by doing so had harassed him besides giving deficit services. He claimed that when the outgoing call and message services were stopped on March 15 on his phone, there was a balance of Rs 277 in his account. He was forced to get his account recharged to use his mobile phone.

Again on April 3, when outgoing call and message facility on his phone was stopped by the company, a balance of Rs 178 was there in his account. He had to face a lot of inconvenience to use his mobile phone again.

When he approached the officials of the company, they could not come up with satisfactory answer in connection with his complaint, he alleged.

During the course of proceedings in this case, the advocate of the Airtel Communication limited claimed that the District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum could not take up this complaint against the company as it had no authority to do the same.

The advocate of the complainant claimed that the consumer, who had been given deficit services, was entitled under the consumer protection Act to approach the district Consumer Forum for the redressal of his grievances.

As per the copy of judgement delivered by district Consumer Forum, after listening to the arguments put forward by both the parties, Sanjay Garg, president and Tarlok Judge, member of the Forum, held the Airtel Communication Limited guilty of providing deficit services and hence, imposed a fine on it.