Bathinda, September 19
“Do not waste time in finding excuses. Just get up and donate blood now,” urges 47-year-old Sudhir Modgil of Ludhiana, who has donated 104 units till now. He was here to attend a mega blood donation camp, ‘Mela Khoondania Da’, organised by the United Welfare Society. Hundreds of regular blood donors were honoured on the occasion.

Sharing his experience, Modgil said, “I have met a number of people who kept saying that they wished to donate blood, but on some other day. They repeated the same line every time and did not donate even a single unit, which could have otherwise saved somebody’s life.”

Speaking about his journey as a donor, he said, “I started donating blood in 1981 when I was a student of BA-I and now it has become my passion. Be it my birthday or any other occasion of joy, I celebrate it by donating blood.”

It was not only Modgil who is passionate about blood donation, there were many such donors present at the camp.

A 62-year-old retired bank employee, Sat Pal Bansal of Ludhiana, gets irritated when doctors refuse to receive his blood. Speaking to TNS, Bansal claimed that he started donating blood when he was 17 and had donated 142 units so far. “For 30 years of my life, I remained a regular donor. On an average, I used to donate four units a year. But now, doctors don’t allow me to donate citing my age as the reason. When I am physically fit, I don’t know why they go by my age. They must take my blood as it will surely help some needy,” resented the elderly donor.

A donor from Shimla, Puneet Sood, said he had donated 115 units of his O +ve blood and even received several awards for the noble gesture. “I was 17 when my father was admitted to a hospital and I was attending on him. I came to know that the patient lying beside my father was in a dire need of blood, which his kin were unable to arrange. I not only volunteered to donate blood but also inspired my friends to help. Fortunately, the patient’s life was saved. The incident encouraged me to become a regular donor. Besides, I started motivating others to donate blood,” said Sood.

A 28-year-old physically-challenged, Rajvinder Singh of village Rai Khana, said, “I may be good for nothing due to my inability to move on my legs. But I try to contribute my share in serving the mankind by donating blood.” He said he had donated 24 units till now and would continue to do so. Before he left, he asked, “When people like me can come further and donate blood, what keeps away those who are fit from donating blood?”

Bathinda, September 19
Kotwali police today arrested two persons on charges of espionage in the Bathinda military cantonment.

During the search, police recovered a scaled map of the cantonment along with six identity cards of different Army personnel, one Pakistani book (written in Urdu and English) and some other documents related to the cantonment, from their possession. Identifying the accused as Arvind Kumar of Uttar Pradesh and Vijay Kumar of National Colony Bathinda, police booked them under sections 3 /4 of the Official Secrets Act, late this evening. The two worked as rickshaw-pullers.

Though the police officials claimed to have nabbed the accused on the basis of suspicion, when they were carrying these documents in black coloured poly bags, sources informed that accused were nabbed following a tip-off by some intelligence officials.

According to unconfirmed information, the accused used to target Army jawans, when they hired their rickshaws. While pedalling the rickshaws, the accused, it is learnt, would offer inducements to the jawans. After the jawans fell for it, they would try and extort money besides Army related documents from them.

The scandal was exposed after an Army jawan brought his experience to the notice of some intelligence officials, who then laid a trap to nab the accused.

It has also been informed that the accused Arvind Kumar was a target of the police and the Army earlier also. So, he fled from the city about eight-nine months back. After he returned recently, the intelligence officials nabbed him and handed over to the Kotwali police on Friday.

After that, Kotwali police detained three more persons, Vijay, Jeetu and Rajat. However, during the preliminary probe, police found Arvind and Vijay were working as spies, while the other two had no role in the crime. Once the police got the evidence, it showed the arrest of the two, late this evening. To confirm the facts, efforts were made to contact police and intelligence officials but none of them were ready to comment officially over the development.

Ferozepur, September 19
In a bizarre incident, Gurmeet Kaur, an elderly woman of village Changali Kadim of this district was done to death by her kin Harjit Singh. The accused then dumped her dead body in a cupboard in his house.

Gurmeet's body was recovered from the house of Harjit today by cops from Kulgadi police station when the matter was brought to their notice by villagers after foul smell started emanating from Harjit’s house.

Om Parkash, SHO, Kulgadi, said Gurmeet went missing after she went to Harjit’s house to get some agricultural implements. Harjit, a shady character, has been arrested in a case under section 302 of the IPC, the SHO informed. — TNS

Abohar, September 19
The damage to cotton and paddy crop in about 600 and 200 acres of land due to the overflowing Aspal drain might ruin hundreds of farmers, feared Balluana MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana. The MLA said he had informed the CM in this regard. This prompted the authorities to start the long pending work on desilting of the drain. The CM during his first Sangat Darshan in Balluana last year announced funds for the project but to no avail.

Ghuriana told visiting district officials that water had been drained out from village Bhundar, in Lambi segment represented by the CM, through Mehrajwala drain. This wreaked havoc as the Aspal drain connected to it was overflowing. — OC