Bathinda, October 18
Though the former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has kept his cards close to his chest, mere speculation that he may join the Congress has created a flutter in the state Congress.

The different views and media statements of senior Congress leaders about the issue is reportedly making the party men including MLAs baffled about the situation.

Quick to react, the District Congress Committee of Muktsar had already announced it would resign if Manpreet was inducted into the party, and now the recent statement of Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal that the Congress was already in trouble due to the Akali-turned-Congressmen, has given birth to a fresh controversy.

It is learnt that while reacting to the speculations regarding Manpreet Badal joining the Congress, Bhattal in her recent statement to a section of the media at Lehragaga said, "Congress taan pahlan hi Akali Dal chhad ke aye leaders ton dukhi hai" (Congress was already in trouble due to the previously Akali-turned-Congressmen).

The statement gave fresh fodder for gossip as people read the statement in the context of its target being former CM Captain Amrinder Singh and some of his staunch allies including some of the MLAs from Bathinda district.

Bewildered over Bhattal's statement, two Congress MLAs from Pakka Kalan and Rampura Phul assemblies of Bathinda district, Makhan Singh and Gurpreet Singh Kangar, respectively, who had joined the Congress after shedding their Akali coat, today did their best to clear their position.

Responding to media queries, the two Congressmen said, “No doubt we had come from Akali Dal but now we are following the principles and ideology of the Congress in letter and spirit, so the statement of Bhattal, if she really said it, was not to target us but may be for somebody else.”

Known as Amarinder's close confidants, Makhan and Gurpreet said, “We respect Bibi Bhattal as our CLP leader. Whatever she says in the House, we whole-heartedly agree by that and take stand for that. So at least we should not be seen in that context.”

Being quick to rebut the query whether Bhattal's statement could weaken the party as it was an indirect attack at a number of senior party leaders including Amarinder Singh and his allies, they said, “It is for the party high command to see the after-effects, we can just say that we are loyal party soldiers.”

They were accompanied by MLA Nathana Ajaib Singh Bhatti and the party's district president (rural), Narender Singh Bhaleria.

The leaders jointly termed the Sukhbir-Manpreet issue as a war of succession in the Badal family. Lashing out at the chief secretary and secretary finance for holding a press conference over the debt-waiver controversy, the leaders said, “They were not at all entitled to intervene in the issue and we demand their resignation for the unexpected job they performed.”

Meanwhile, the Congress leaders accused the state government of failing on all fronts in the paddy procurement and lifting process. Further, they announced that all MLAs of Bathinda district would start visiting the mandis from Wednesday onwards to expose the procurement officials' pick and choose attitude and also to build pressure on the government to speed up the process.

Ferozepur, October 18
The Hussainiwala joint check-post (JCP), located 11 kilometres from this town, which is popular for the retreat ceremony held by jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers every evening and the memorial of martyrs Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, will be developed as a major tourist attraction by the Central government.

To start with, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will lay foundation stone for the additional visitor’s gallery at this JCP on October 22 to accommodate about 3,000 people who could see the retreat ceremony with ease. The capacity of the existing visitor’s gallery is about 400 persons only.

Besides, the Home Minister would also give his final nod to start development work connected with increasing the waiting area for visitors, setting up of kiosks for displaying different articles, large and modern eating joint and modern toilets at the JCP, which is being visited by hundreds of people from every nook and corner of the country everyday.

The Punjab government has already created a number of facilities in and around the memorial of national martyrs, located a stone’s throw away from the Hussainiwala JCP. A big arch, known as Shan-e-Hind gate has also been erected at the JCP to match the gate erected by Pakistan on their side. A number of green belts have been developed in that pocket.

Rajesh Gupta, DIG, BSF, Ferozepur sector, while claiming that all the preparations had been made in connection with the visit of the Union Home Minister, said as per the information available with him at this point, Chidambaram would not watch the retreat ceremony.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said Chidambaram would first go to the memorial of the martyrs to pay tributes and then lay the foundations tone.

Sukhbir Badal, deputy chief minister, Punjab, DGP, BSF, principal secretary (Home), Punjab, local politicians, ministers and MPs would be attending the function.

He said the district officials had been assigned different duties to make the function a great success.

Abohar/Fazilka, October 18
Thousands of farmers of these two regions, who had sown cotton crop have suffered a huge loss as the production has dwindled drastically.

A large number of farmers, who could generate only one quintal of cotton from one acre of land, have come under heavy debt. The state agriculture department has begun to find out the reasons as to why the cotton production in various fields had come down.

Official sources said different teams of agriculture department had identified about 2,400 acres of land, where cotton crop was sown and which had suffered huge losses on account of less production.

The agriculture department had involved scientists of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) to find out the reasons of less production.

Sampuran Singh, former sarpanch of village Patre Wala, said, “The cotton production in about 25 acres of land sown by me has come down to negligible level. I have ploughed up standing cotton crop in about 2.5 acres when I found plants without fruit buds. I have suffered losses in lakhs.”

Padma Ram of village Mehrana said, “Entire cotton crop in about five acres of land failed to bear any fruit even when he has sprayed a number of times. Besides, he had no other source of income, he would have to manage his family affairs on borrowed money till the next cotton crop.”

Tarsem Singh of village Bajidpur, Kulwant of village Dutaranwali, Kanshi Ram of village Khubban Tahni, Vijay Pal and Sat Pal of village Mehrajpur, Sharwan Siag of Sardarpur village (all cotton growers), had suffered heavy losses.

The farmers alleged that they were supplied sub-standard Bt cotton seeds. They demanded action against those involved in it besides suitable compensation for themselves.

Chief agriculture officer, Ferozepur, Bakhshish Singh Chahal said loss of cotton production was severe in those fields which suffered from drought-like conditions or which were located close to orchards. He added that cotton plants had suffered damages on account of leaf curl virus.

Abohar, October 18
Confirming that the farming community had suffered heavy losses due to the supply of sub-standard seed by some of the manufacturers, the pesticide and fertiliser dealers of Abohar and Fazilka sub-divisions have joined hands in putting the latter in the dock.

During a meeting presided over jointly by Suresh Satija and Ashwani Narula, presidents of the Abohar and Fazilka-based Pesticides and Fertilizer Dealers Associations respectively here, it was resented that the seed manufacturing/marketing companies had not come to the rescue of the dealers, who suffered ire of the farmers. The companies would now have to supply seed well before the season against the advance money paid by the local dealers. If the companies fail to abide by this resolution, no dealer would deposit money with them, they said.

Satija revealed that a representation has been faxed to the Director, Agriculture, Punjab to apprise him of the latest development. He has been told that supply of sub-standard/spurious seed had not only affected economy but also brought bad name to the government. In some cases, farmers ransacked the shops to express anguish over supply of such seeds but the companies refused to pay compensation.

Bathinda, October 18
On the one hand, a large number of mini-buses, which ply from morning till evening from a separate stand situated on the premises of PRTC's main bus stand here, have been proving to be a boon for thousands of passengers from rural areas daily. And on the other, the passengers have been facing problems due to lack of public conveniences and poor maintenance of the lighting system and ceiling fans etc.

In the absence of a toilet for women at the mini buses stand, women have to use an open urinal, having a two-feet high wall, situated near the stand. Using it becomes difficult for a lone woman both due to lack of privacy and security. The main bus stand has a toilet for women but it is away from the stand, meant for mini buses.

This stand's platform has several ceiling fans, besides tube-lights and bulbs for electrifying the area in the evening. But the ceiling fans are not only dirty but also in poor condition. Out of the six ceiling fans only two were seen in working condition. Most of the tube-lights are also not in working condition.

The stand for mini buses is a source of handsome income for the PRTC but it seems that it is not spending the requisite amount on the maintenance of the stand for mini buses.

A manager of a mini bus company told this reporter today that more than 100 mini buses have been serving thousands of passengers to the many villages of this district.

The manager said had the net work of mini buses not been available to the people from rural areas then it could have led to chaos in the buses. Besides, people from several villages, connected with link roads, could have found it difficult to reach urban areas, like Bathinda, as their villages did not figure on the route of these buses, he added.

Bathinda, October 18
With the detection of 10 new dengue cases in Bathinda district, today, the number of dengue patinets in the district rose to 44.

As per the DMC Hospital authorities, 10 new dengue positive patients from Bathinda district were treated by them.

Out of the 10 cases, eight were from Bathinda city while one each was from Lehra Mohabbat and Rama Mandi. The eight cases from Bathinda city were from different localities, including Police Lines, Ganesh Basti, Bhai Ghanahaya Nagar and Multania road.

The health staff will reportedly visit the houses of these 10 dengue positive patients tomorrow to spray the Pyrethrum Ext 2 per cent for killing the mosquitoes there.

Meanwhile, the district health authorities have planned to distribute the pamphlets for creating awareness against dengue fever among the devotees at various gurdwaras of the city tomorrow while the same pamphlets will be distributed in the mosques of the city on Friday.

District Malaria Officer Dr Malkiat Singh Gill said this evening that the insect collectors of the Health Department today detected dengue larva at three places, including a nursery near Barnala bypass and Bhagu road. He said the insect collectors also destroyed the larva on the spot.

Moga, October 18
A 21-year-old youth belonging to a Jat Sikh family was allegedly first shot at and then dragged for about 100 yards and beaten to death at village Raoke Kalan in Moga last night.

The police had registered a criminal case of murder against the husband of the woman, sarpanch of this village and two other unidentified persons at the Badhni Kalan police station. A hunt has been launched to nab the culprits.

As per the details available, Jaswant Singh, son of Paramjit Singh, working at Verka milk plant in Ludhiana, had come to celebrate Dussehra with his family at Raoke Kalan village.

When he was standing near the ‘dharamshala’ of the village talking to his childhood friends, one Ravinder Singh along with two unidentified persons came to the spot and fired a shot at Jaswant from a pistol and then dragged him with the help of his associates to his home, alleged Paramjit Singh, father of the deceased, in a statement recorded to the local police. He further alleged that his son was alive when he was being dragged to the house by the alleged culprit.

Preliminary investigation revealed that there was an old rivalry between the two families. At the time of writing the news report, the police was yet to arrest the culprits, said a senior police official.

Ferozepur, October 18
Four persons including a woman and a two-year-old boy were killed and another person sustained serious injuries when two motor-cycles, on which they were riding, collided head-on near village Ilemawala, about 25 km from here, on the Ferozepur-Mallanwala road, this evening today.

As per the details, the two speeding motorcycles being driven by Gurmej Singh of Chandewali Basti village and Tajinder Pal Singh of Kamala Bodla village. The bikes collided head-on as both the drivers lost control of their vehicles as the road was in a bad shape at the place where the accident took place. Those who were killed included Anoop Kaur, her grandson Arman Singh, Gurmej Singh and Sukhwinder Singh of Nizamwala village.

Tajinder Singh, who suffered multiple injuries and was in a critical condition, was first shifted to a hospital here and then subsequently shifted to a hospital in Ludhiana. His condition was stated to be critical. Nirmal Singh, sub-inspector, Sadar police station, Ferozepur, who reached the spot, said Gurmej Singh along with Sukhwinder was going towards Mallanwala from Ferozepur while Tajinderpal Singh along with his mother and son were coming towards Ferozepur from Mallanwala side.

He said reasons which led to the accident were being ascertained from the eyewitnesses. Senior police functionaries including DSP Satpal Singh Bhangu also visited the spot. The bodies had reached the civil hospital. A case in this connection would be registered at the Sadar police station.

Barnala, October 18
The Barnala police today arrested a fraudster and recovered fake currency worth Rs 75,000 from his possession at a police check-post on the Bathinda-Barnala road this morning.

SSP, Barnala Gurpreet Singh Toor claimed that under the supervision of detective staff, ASI Baljit Singh, CIA, Barnala along with cops while on duty at Bathinda-Barnala road near Tapa, arrested Gurcharan Singh, of Balluiana Mohalla, Jalalabad, district Ferozepur, who was riding a motorcycle bearing the registration number PB36E-2270 and was coming from the Tapa side.

The SSP said a case under sections 420/489-B/489-C of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the city police station in Barnala.