Bathinda, November 22
Members and activists of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (Urban) here today stormed into the general house meeting of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, (BMC) and demanded action against the officials concerned of the Corporation who were allegedly responsible for the financial loss caused to the civic body. The protesters alleged that the officials concerned had received less fee in connection with the installation of hoardings in the city, from the organisers of the concert where Punjabi singer Satinder Sartaj performed live.

The programme was held at the Sports Stadium here on November 20.

When contacted, Mayor Baljit Singh Bir Behman said the BMC would issue notice to the organisers of the show for recovering the remaining amount, which they had not deposited with the BMC for installing an extra number of hoardings or banners. However, the organisers had already deposited about Rs 9,500 with the BMC in this regard, he added.

Demolition of unauthorised constructions and sewerage problem in the city were the issues that dominated the proceedings at the meeting.

Besides Mayor Baljit Singh Bir Behman, senior deputy Mayor Tarsem Chand Goyal, municipal councilors and Commissioner of the BMC Ravi Bhagat were also present.

At the meeting, several councillors opposed the action of the BMC with regard to demolition of more than a dozen constructions in the city recently.

They said the BMC should stop construction of unauthorised buildings at the initial stage rather than demolishing them later.

The Mayor said arrangements would be made to check the unauthorised constructions at the first stage. For the same, responsibility would be assigned to a junior engineer-level official to report the matter to the BMC so that the unauthorised constructions could be stopped at the foundation level itself.

Some councillors also raised their voice against faulty sewerage system in their respective areas. They said the sewerage water often accumulated there leading to breeding of mosquitoes and spread of diseases.

The BMC officers assured the councillors that they would soon initiate necessary steps in this direction.

Moga, November 22
Carrying the anti-AIDS message and awareness about preventive measures of the deadly disease on wheels, the Red Ribbon Express Train reached here on Sunday night. It would create awareness among the people, particularly, the youths of Moga district in the heartland of Malwa belt in Punjab.

The train was received by additional deputy commissioner Dr Abhinav Trikha, chief medical officer Dr Kulwant Singh and other senior officials of health, education and other departments at the local railway station in the morning.

The Red Ribbon Express consists of eight coaches. Coach No. 1 has displays on bio-medical aspects of HIV and AIDS, including interactive touch screens and 3D models. Coach II has displays of education material with focus on HIV/AIDS and associated care.

The next coach exhibits education material within the socio-developmental context for enabling environment for making communitites free of stigma and discrimination. Coach IV displays information on general health, hygiene and communicable diseases such as swine flu. Coach V has arrangements for auditorium-cum-conference. It has six cabins- four counseling cabins and two cabins for doctors for providing counselling and syndrome treatment for STI and RTI cases.

The next coach has six cabins for counselling. Coach VII is a sleeper coach for the staff while Coach VIII is office.

“It is a good initiative to educate people about AIDS. The train is here to showcase measures to save masses from the deadly disease,” Dr. Trikha said.

A joint initiative of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, the Rajeev Gandhi Foundation, the UNICEF and the Indian Railways, the Red Ribbon Express is the largest multimedia, multi-sectoral mass mobilisation campaign to mainstream the issue of HIV/AIDS through train.

The school children and youths were very happy to see the train. “The response from the people has been overwhelming,” claimed an official of the State AIDS Control Society.

Highlighting the causes, measures and prevention of AIDS by various modes, including banners, placards, posters, paintings and pictures, the train is attracting crowd not only from the town but also from rural areas.

Books and special features have also been made available to the visitors in the bogies to inform them about the disease.

Officials of the State AIDS Control Society, local doctors and other experts educated the people, ASHA and Anganwari workers, school children, self-help groups, NGOs and voluntary organisations to circulate community awareness on the disease.

As many as 5,000 people visited the train by evening and 40 of them got their HIV tests conducted .

The faculty members and post-graduate students of the Indo-Soviet Friendship College of Pharmacy informed the visitors on the latest discoveries in drug formulation to control the deadly virus of the disease.

Sriganganagar, November 22
One more accused has been awarded death sentence in the gang-rape and triple murder case that had rocked this border district in January 1999. The prosecution officials confirmed today that Ved Parkash of Surjit Singh colony, who could be arrested about six years back, has also been awarded death sentence by the special court of ADJ OP Sinwar.

Earlier, the court had on June 18, 2003 awarded death sentence to Shiv Lal and Lal Chand Doom while Lilu Ram Ghallu was sentenced to life imprisonment. The fifth accused Lalia had turned approver.

As per the police file, five persons on January 9, 1999 allegedly scaled the boundary wall at night to force entry into the house of a small grocery merchant Naveen Kumar Sidana in Bhambhu colony and raped his wife Lucky.

As five-year-old son Sheepu woke up and started crying he was attacked with long knife resulting in death. After the gang-rape, the culprits killed Lucky and her husband Naveen Kumar.

The crime had sent shock waves across the border district town and the police had to struggle hard to unfold the mystery behind the rape and blind murders since the accused had not visible clue before escaping.

During the trial, it came to light that Lilu Ram and Lalia were not only present at the scene but were also among the conspirators even when they were not initially charged of rape and murder.

Kishan Lal Sidana, father of Naveen Kumar, said the death sentence of Shiv Lal and Lal Chand Doom was endorsed by the High Court also.

He today felt satisfied over the judgment of the ADJ since the third prime accused too has been awarded death sentence. He hoped this would help in checking crime against women and other innocent persons.

Abohar, November 22
The UGC sponsored national seminar on ‘Crime against women - reasons and remedies’ was held at the Gopichand Arya Mahila College here on Monday. Geeta Chaudhary, former state vice-president of BJP Mahila Morcha was joined by Dev Mittar Ahuja and others in lighting the lamps to inaugurate the seminar.

Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) estimates, they observed that crimes including murder, rape and abduction had gone up by 7.6 per cent.

According to NCRB, 19,348 rape cases were reported in 2006 registering a 678 per cent increase since 1971, when records commenced. The Centre had asked all the states to set up a special desk in each police station that would deal exclusively with crimes against women and children.

Presiding officer Dev Mittar Ahuja quoted experts from a latest speech made by the Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit to assert that girls would have to get ready to protect themselves.

The proceedings were conducted by Dr Indu Prabha and Prof Sharda Grover. Another BJP councillor Suversha Narang also shared the dais. 

Bathinda, November 22
With the receipt of a report about 18 new cases, the number of dengue positive cases today rose to 288 in Bathinda district, including 250 from the Bathinda city alone, during the on-going dengue season.

According to information available, the district health authorities today received report about 17 dengue positive cases from the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, and one from the CMC Hospital, Ludhiana. In today’s 18 cases, 15 were from Bathinda city and one each from Nathana, Talwandi Sabo and Bhagta blocks.

However, besides 250 cases from Bathinda city, remaining 38 dengue positive cases are from Talwandi Sabo block (20), Sangat (5), Ballianwali (3), Bhagta (5) Nathana (3) and Goniana (2).