Bathinda, September 17
The Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) today urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) not to rely on the data prepared by the state’s health department on prevalence of cancer in Punjab.

The demand of KVM has come during the visit of a team of ICMR to various cancer-affected areas of Punjab particularly in the Malwa belt.

Executive director of KVM Umendra Dutt said that no authentic study on the issue has so far been done and the earlier data had raised doubts instead of helping formulate some strategy to check the growing number of cancer patients.

Dutt accused the health department of having previously created a mess of the issue by doing the job unscientifically.

The Punjab government should involve the people in studying prevalence of cancer in the state to enable formulation of an effective action plan to curb the disease, he said.

He accused the health department of having tried to scuttle the outcome of the study conducted by the Chandigarh based PGIMER about cancer in 2005. The department “also discredited the PGI study and represented conclusions fallaciously”. This happened again, when the Center for Science and Environment came out with its report about the several pesticides in the blood samples of people in Punjab.

Dutt, who is striving for organic farming, pointed out that Punjab is passing through most critical situation of environmental health disaster caused by multiple-environmental toxicity. It is one of the most severe crises the people of the state are facing. Several studies done in recent past clearly indicate that the eco-system of Punjab is loaded with chemicals and its food chain contains high residue of pesticides. 

Pesticide related cancers are a new emerging entity based on scientific studies. There are several experimental, epidemiological and clinical studies published recently showing relationship between certain types of cancers and pesticides. It has no bearing or parallel to the present pesticide use in India. In any case pesticides as a risk factor in specific types of cancers are cited in number of recent reports from USA and other parts of world.

Pesticides are playing havoc with ecology and public health in Punjab. This is traumatized with the distressing fact that the cotton belt in Malwa region is facing unprecedented crisis of environmental health. The abnormally high cases related to cancer, reproductive health, mental retardation, infertility and several other pesticides caused or related diseases were reported in surveys and general observations during the past few years.

Bathinda, September 17
Eight days after a constable of the Bathinda police went missing along with his official weapon, the Civil Lines police booked a woman of Gidderbaha along with her husband and father-in-law on the charges of kidnapping the cop on Thursday.

According to police sources, Rashpal Singh of village Chathe Wala in Bathinda district left his house on September 8 in the morning. He served his duty but did not return in the evening. The family members searched for him but in vain. However, they found the Zen car, which he drove to Jeewan Singh Wala village and later, caught a bus to reach Bathinda.

Worried over his disappearance, his wife lodged a report with the police on September 10. The police initiated a probe and found some clues from the call details on his mobile phone.

The police suspected a woman of Gidderbaha, who had a long conversation with the cop before he went missing. A photograph of the woman was recovered 
from his house.

Suspecting the woman and her family of kidnapping the constable, Daljeet Kaur lodged a police complaint against them. The Civil Lines police booked Upinderjit Kaur, her husband Sukhwinder Singh alias Seera Khan and her father-in-law Gurmel Singh of Gidderbaha under sections 365 and 120-B of the IPC.

SHO of Civil Lines police station, Buta Singh, said, “As of now, the accused are absconding but we have been continuously conducting raids at their residence and other places where they could possibly be.”

Moga, September 17
Three youths including a young woman were killed in a road mishap on the spot when the car by which they were travelling went out of control and rammed into a standing tempo in Moga on the Ferozepur road, late last night. The driver of the tempo, who was filling diesel in it, was also crushed to death.

Those who died included Gurpreet Singh alias Sunny, son of Davinder Singh, his friend Sukhjinder Singh alias Mangu, son of Baljinder and Simarjit Kaur, daughter of Kuldip Singh. Driver of the tempo was identified as Ashok Kumar, a resident of Mullanpur, Ludhiana district. Post-mortem was conducted at the district hospital, this afternoon.

The police initially initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC. However, following objections by the family members of Ashok Kumar, a criminal case under sections 304-A and 427 of the IPC has been registered against the driver of the car, who died in the accident. — TNS

Fazilka, September 17
Atul Nagpal, member, Task Force, Punjab Zone, Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India, has sought the intervention of Shivraj Patil, Governor, Punjab, for getting the status of district for this sub-divisional town bordering Pakistan.

In a letter written to Patil, Nagpal urged that he must direct the Punjab government to accord the district status to Fazilka. He said residents of Fazilka had been fighting for it for the past over one month under the banner of the Sanjha Morcha, Punjab.

He pointed out that Fazilka, which was established by the British, lacks many facilities due to fact that it had been denied the district status by the successive state governments and its closeness to the Indo-Pak border. He urged Patil to take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, if need be. 

Fazilka, September 17
Civil Hospital (Fazilka) is going to be the first government hospital of the district where a modern CT scan centre would be set up soon. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 80 lakhs has been sanctioned by the Punjab government and it has been transferred to the Deputy Commissioner of Ferozepur KK Yadav for utilisation, disclosed MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani here today, while talking to this correspondent.

To mark the centenary of the hospital, the newly-constructed OPD block would be inaugurated on September 22 by Jyani. Besides, Jyani, DC KK Yadav and Ferozepur civil surgeon Kanwajit Singh Kakkar would participate in the programme. — OC

Faridkot, September 17
The district and sessions judge of Faridkot and Moga districts Fatehdeep Singh has convicted an Army jawan to 10 years of imprisonment and also imposed on him a fine of Rs 50,000 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a woman of his village.

If he fails to deposit the fine on time, he would have to undergo another two years of imprisonment, the judge ordered.

As per the case file, an Army jawan Jaskaran Singh alias Jassi came to his home on leave in August 2009. He forcibly entered the house of the woman and sexually abused her. — TNS

Phulokhari, September 17
It is 12 noon and the Bihari tea stall is doing a brisk business. Customers are thronging the Bihari dhaba for lunch. Some patients are being examined at the Bihari clinic. This is not the description of a scene in some part of Bihar. All this is happening in the heart of Malwa belt. Sounds strange!

Believe it or not, but it is the scene in the vicinity of the under-construction Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery, also known as Bathinda refinery. Thousands of migrant labourers, majority of them hailing from Bihar, have set up their own ‘mini-Bihar’ here.

A kilometre-long stretch from the main gate of the refinery is dotted with Bihari labourers.

Though a majority of the migrants are engaged in the construction work at the refinery¸ a large number of them runs shops outside to cater to the basic necessities of their fraternity.

Setting up hundreds of residential quarters besides shops, they have transformed the area into a complete Bihari region.

During a visit, The Tribune witnessed a large number of shops with the word Bihar in its names like Bihari Tea Stall, Bihari Clinic, Bihari Medical Store, Bihari Dhaba etc.

Elated over being asked about the reason, shopkeepers boasted about their love for their state and their sense of belongingness.

“I get much respect from the local population of Punjab but it was because of my respect for the state I belong to that I named my shop as Bihari Tea Stall. I am settled far away from my state and my people, but the name of my stall keeps me connected to them,” said Dhruv Kumar.

Supporting his viewpoint, another migrant Sukant Kumar said, “I came here about two years ago. Then, I used to sell only tea but now I am selling eatables also. I observed that some people feel shy about being addressed as Bihari Bhaiya, but I feel proud.”

Interestingly, there were some shops with the Bihar or Bihari in their name, but their keepers did not belong to that state. They were only cashing on in the name.

“As a majority of the population here is from Bihar, the nomenclature of shop having the word Bihar helps in attracting more customers,” said Sanjeev Sharma, who belongs to Sangrur district. Sharma runs the Bihari Clinic and treats 15 patients daily on an average. He claims to be qualified GAMS.

Sharma asserted, “One must be ready to adjust to the situation, if one wants to grow. So what if I have named my clinic as Bihari Clinic.”

An elderly Parkash Verma, who works with a construction company as welder, said, “I came here about two years ago. Then, I used to feel a bit uncomfortable. But now, I feel as if the area is just another Bihar with thousands of Biharis living here.”