Bathinda, December 2
To enable the differently-abled persons in finding spouses of their choice, the Punjab unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Viklang Chetna Parishad is enrolling disabled persons ready to tie the nuptial knot. So far, the Parishad has arranged the marriages of five physically-challenged girls. It plans to marry 11 more in March next year.

To identify couples, the Parishad arranges introduction functions where interested boys and girls meet and select the bride or bridegroom of their choice. The Parishad has arranged two such functions at Goniana Mandi (Bathinda) — in September 2009 and in October this year.

The state unit of the Parishad is also going to publish a book ‘Angheenan De Supanian Di Kunji (Part II)’ this month, which will act as a mediator between handicapped persons interested in marriage. The book will contain information about 200 unmarried disabled persons.

Talking to TNS here today, state president of the Parishad Gurmeet Singh Jeeda said they had arranged marriages of five handicapped girls on January 31 this year at Goniana. Two of these girls had got married to physically fit persons. While one marriage was performed with Muslim rituals, ‘Nikah’, two each were married as per Sikh and Hindu rituals. The entire expenditure incurred on marriages, including household items given to couples like beds, utensils, fans, watches, clothes etc, is borne by the Parishad with the help of donors.

Jeeda said the Parishad now targets marrying as many as 11 handicapped girls in March 2011. For this, the Parishad had organised an introduction function on October 31 last at Goniana. Two marriages had been fixed at this function.

The five couples which got married on January 31 this year would be special guests at the mass marriage function to be held in March, he added.

Bathinda, December 2
The registration of a case against an assistant superintendent of the Central Jail, Ludhiana, besides three others at Balianwali police station in Bathinda has brought the Bathinda police and the Ludhiana jail authorities at loggerheads.

The accused were booked on the charges of making an attempt to kill two police constables to help a 
'hardcore' criminal, Kuldeep Singh, flee from their custody.

On the one hand, the Bathinda police is terming the assistant superintendent, Gurdeep Singh, as an accused in hatching a criminal conspiracy while on the other, the Ludhiana jail authorities are terming the allegation as false.

Shielding his assistant, superintendent of the Ludhiana jail Satinder Pal Khanna maintained that Gurdeep attended the Talwandi Sabo court on his behalf as the judge had issued a contempt order against the jail authorities and asked them to appear personally.

Though the jail superintendent claimed to have called an explanation on the issue from Gurdeep Singh, while speaking to TNS over phone, he defended Gurdeep.

The jail superintendent said, "The two cops (head constables) were themselves at fault in sharing a private taxi with unidentified persons, especially when they were the custodian of a criminal. But when they were attacked to help the criminal flee, they passed on the buck to the assistant superintendent to save their skin. Unfortunately, the accused jail official was also in the same vehicle. However, as soon as he returned back after fleeing from the spot, he informed me about the whole incident on Tuesday itself."

Meanwhile, Balianwali police station SHO Sukhchain Singh claimed that he had sent a team today to nab the accused but failed, as the accused was absconding.

On the other hand, the superintendent of the Ludhiana jail refuted the SHO's statement saying that Gurdeep was very much present and had reported on duty today. He claimed that nobody from the Balianwali police station visited Ludhiana jail in this regard.

"Though we have not received any formal document from the Bathinda police, we have taken his reply, which would be forwarded to the Bathinda SSP. After getting the response from there, we will move the case for the perusal of the DGP (Prisons)," said the jail superintendent.

It may be mentioned that according to the FIR, on Tuesday, constables Harjeet Singh and Hardial Singh had brought Kuldeep Singh from Ludhiana to the Talwandi Sabo court in an assault case lodged against him in May 2008. On the day, the assistant superintendent of Ludhiana jail had also come to the court for an official work but separately.

After finishing the assignments, they all boarded a Qualis to return. Two persons were already sitting in the vehicle apart from the driver. After travelling a few miles, the persons sitting in the rear administered chilly powder in the eyes of constables and assaulted them with sharp-edged weapons. Kudeep, however, failed to flee from their custody.

Producing Kuldeep at the courts today, the Baliwanwali police obtained his remand for two days to ascertain facts related to the case while the two persons, who had attacked the constables, were still at large.

Zira (Ferozepur), Dec 2
The four members of a gang including its leader, who were involved in incidents of looting and snatching, have been arrested by the local police today. Four hundred bags of paddy along with a stolen truck were recovered from their possession.

Preliminary investigation revealed that two main members of the gang including Buta Singh alias Balwinder and Kulwant Singh Kanta met each other while they were in the jail after they were arrested for different crimes in the past.

They managed to rope in five other persons, having a criminal background, in their gang. These members have been identified as Gurpreet Singh alias Gora, Sukhwinder Singh Babbi, Sanjeev alias Bagicha, Nikka and Jassa.

SSP Kaustab Sharma, while talking to the media here today, said while Buta, Kulwant, Gurpreet and Sukhwinder had been arrested, the other three members of gang were yet to be arrested.

The accused had snatched a truck loaded with paddy bags from Balwinder Singh and Surinder Singh on November 24 near Malsian village of this district.

The accused used a four-wheeler with blue light atop in the crime. They took both Balwinder and Surinder away and left them in the Moga district and took the truck loaded with paddy bags to an undisclosed place. He said the truck had been recovered.

After the matter connected with snatching of truck loaded with paddy bags came to light, a team headed by DSP, Zira, Balwinder Singh Bhikhi was set up to trace the crime. A case in this connection was registered under sections 382, 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered at the police station concerned. Some of the members of gang were involved in smuggling of narcotics.

Bathinda, December 2
The under construction multi-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery located near Rama mandi in the district would start running to its full capacity by September, 2011. Meanwhile, the refinery officials are assuming that the trial run could well begin during the current fiscal, before March 2011.

According to a government spokesperson, the Chief Executing Officer (CEO) of the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Bathinda, Prabh Dass today called on Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to apprise him about the progress of the prestigious project.

Briefing the deputy CM about the project, the CEO informed that 92 per cent work had already been completed in this nine million metric tonne per annum capacity refinery with a captive power plant of 165 MW.

He said the 1009 km pipeline to carry crude oil from Mundra to Bathinda was also laid and a crude oil terminal had been established in Mundra.

During the meeting, he informed that the refinery being set up at a cost of Rs 18,919 crore would produce LPG, petrol, diesel, ATF, coke, food grade hexane, mineral turpentine oil and polypropylene.

Assuring the trial run of the refinery much before March 31 2011 and full capacity operation by September, 2011, Dass informed Sukhbir that the prestigious project would have propelling effect in attracting industrial investment especially in downstream industries like fertilizers and other allied industries.

He said that presently more than 25,000 engineers and labourers were working day and night to ensure scheduled completion of this project.

Fazilka, December 2
Since the railway department decided to close the Ferozepur-Malout Chowk crossing today in the final phase of construction of the road over-bridge (ROB) on the rail track, the local administration has made changes in the traffic system, which were implemented in the town today.

The local bus stand has been shifted near the railway station to new grain market opposite cotton yard temporarily from today as every bus routed to Abohar, Malout and Ferozepur has to pass through the ROB.

Now, the buses coming from Ferozepur would not enter from the Ferozepur-Malout railways crossing. The traffic on this route has been diverted via village Lalowali and Penchanwali.

In a bid to control traffic congestion in the town, following the closure of the Ferozepur-Malout Chowk railway crossing, the civil administration has laid barricades on the SDM court road railway crossing.

The vehicular traffic (except two-wheelers) would move one way only on the court road, bus stand road and SDM court road for heavy vehicles. The residents have only one choice to travel to other towns on Ferozepur road. They have to cross Salemshah road rail crossing for this.

Bathinda, December 2
The strike by officers and employees of the BSNL in support of their demands entered its second day here on Thursday.

The protesters gathered in front of the office of the general manager (GM) of the BSNL here and held a rally. Addressing the rally, the speakers demanded that the requisite equipment should be purchased at the earliest for the expansion of the BSNL services and provide better services to its consumers. They also demanded 78.2 per cent dearness allowance (DA) from January 1, 2007, in place of 68.8 per cent.

Among those who addressed the rally included Tara Singh Brar, Gian Chand Aggarwal, Manohar Lal, Balbir Singh and Uddam Singh.