Bathinda, December 10
Aiming at the improvement of sanitation as well as promotion of tourism, the Department of Tourism, Punjab, in collaboration with the Union Government, endeavours to create wayside amenities (Sulabh toilet complexes) on highways and visitors' spots in five major cities, namely Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Bathinda.

Besides, 19 outlets of Milkfed (milk bars) located in various towns of Punjab would also be covered under the integrated project on comprehensive ‘Wayside Sanitation in Punjab’ prepared by the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, an NGO.

The project, to start in January 2011, would be given a real shape in an year at a total budgetary cost of about Rs 8 crore.

According to details, the Sulabh International would supervise the construction of the infrastructure and later, operate and maintain the complexes.

Besides collecting service charges and exploiting commercial houses by providing space for advertisement, the NGO has also made a proposal for an ATM corner and some souvenir shops in the complex.

Giving details, Geetika Kalah, Principal Secretary, state tourism, said objectives of the project were to improve local and environmental sanitation besides focussing upon the personal hygiene and health of the beneficiaries. "The complexes will facilitate not only the visiting tourists but the whole population in surrounding areas. Apart from giving a boost to tourism, it will have a multiplier effect in a sense that it will improve the health of local population and arrest the incidence of diseases caused directly due to insanitary conditions and unhealthy environment," she said.

The details state that the Municipal Corporation (MC), Patiala, will have 11 blocks with an estimated cost of Rs 93.50 lakh while the MC, Ludhiana, will have five at a cost of Rs 72.25 lakh. The MC, Bathinda, will get six units (Rs 77.58 lakh), the MC, Jalandhar, six units (Rs 51 lakh) and the MC, Amritsar, 13 blocks (Rs 1.47 crore). The total 19 blocks of public convenience will be built at a total expenditure of Rs 3.58 crore.

Malout, December 10
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, president, Lok Bhalai Party (LBP), today announced that his party was gearing up to contest all seats of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the 2012 polls on its own. However, the doors of his party would remain open for ex-finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal if he agreed to adopt the party principles, he added.

Addressing a public meeting, a former MP from Malout (in 1977) alleged, “People are fed up with the Akali government and now want to swap it with the Congress. It is either the ill-fate of Punjab or people lack wisdom as despite being well aware that none of the two parties ever showed concern towards public welfare, they are still caught in a vicious cycle of the SAD and the Congress.”

Ramoowalia narrated a number of incidents using adages to tickle the funny bone of the gathering. “When Badal and Amarinder indulge in cockfighting, you say ‘mazaa aa gaya’ but never think what comes out of it except for befooling yourself,” he asked.

Lashing out at the Congress, he said, “Being in the opposition, the state Congress leaders are not performing their duty to check the misdeeds of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance. It has now been exposed that after Parkash Singh Badal withdrew cases against Amarinder, he has stopped uttering anything against the SAD government.”

“If opposition at the Centre can hold up the whole proceedings of the Parliament, why the opposition in the state is mum,” he questioned.

Urging people to give him a chance this time, he said, “You always say Ramoowalia is a gentleman but what goes wrong when you cast your votes? Whenever ballot boxes are opened, I am surprised to see your votes split between the SAD and the Congress.”

About Manpreet Badal, he stated that he had an illusion of emerging as Third Front in Punjab but with media reports about the huge subsidies he had availed from the state, it has been exposed that he used to befool people with his philosophical views, but in reality he was one of the wrongdoers.

However, replying to media queries, he mentioned that the LBP would consider Manpreet if he agrees to adopt the party principles.

Claiming himself to be “Parvasiyan daa Maseeha” (angel of immigrants), Ramoowalia recounted a long list of his achievements in matters related to NRIs. Further, he presented a number of women, all dowry victims, who narrated their plight and thanked him for lending a helping hand.

Senior vice-president of the party Sukwinder Singh Brar and in-charge of the Malout constituency Jassal Singh also addressed the gathering.

Bathinda, December 10
As many as 116 samples of drinking water failed test during the first 11 months of the current calendar year in the district. Most of these samples were taken from water works, schools and reverse osmosis plants.

The samples were collected by the district health authorities under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme from various health blocks of the district, namely Goniana, Sangat, Talwandi Sabo, Ballianwali, Nathana, Bhagta and Bathinda to ascertain whether the water is fit for human consumption or not.

The district health authorities has closed four water sources - one at Jalal village and three at Bhagta - the water samples of which failed the test again.

It may be mentioned here that when a water sample fails test for the first time, the health authorities issue notice to the person concerned for improving the quality of the water. In case the sample fails the test for the second or third time, the water source is reportedly closed permanently.

Till November 30, the health authorities collected 475 water samples from the district. Of these, 116 failed the test. The results of 10 samples are awaited. However, out of 116 failed samples, samples from 84 water sources passed the test during the second testing. One sample failed during second testing also. Samples from 27 remaining water sources will now be taken for the second testing while one sample will be collected for third testing. The authorities have already closed four water sources.

Out of 28 water sources that would undergo testing, 10 are schools situated at Kotli Sabo, Dhunike, Teona (near Talwandi), Pitho, Bhaini Chuhar, Peer Kot, Mehraj, Rampura and Bathinda in this district.

District Health Officer Dr RS Randhawa said from time to time, they collected samples from various sources like hand pumps, water works, reverse osmosis plants and taps etc situated in schools, houses, marriage palaces and other places in the district. This was to ensure supply of safe drinking water to the people, he added.

Bathinda, December 10
A retired policeman, Kartar Singh, today lodged a complaint with the Kotwali police that an unidentified person stole Rs 13,000 from him at State Bank of Patiala, Kikkar Bazaar.

He stated that he had withdrawn Rs 20,000 but before he could leave the bank, an unidentified person cut his bag with a sharp-edged tool and took away Rs 13,000.

Giving details, investigation officer Ajaib Singh said the bank officials had a video footage of the incident recorded through the CCTV cameras installed in the bank.

“As the picture was not clear enough to identify the accused, we have asked the bank authorities to get its quality improved, after which we would initiate proceedings to nab the culprit,” said Ajaib Singh. — TNS

Kot-ise-Khan (Moga), December 10
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal disbursed cheques of Rs 2.32 crore to the sarpanches of as many as 89 village panchayats in the Dharamkot assembly segment, the functions of which were organised at Fatehgarh Panchtoor and Kot-ise-Khan villages.

Local MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sital Singh, former education minister Jathedar Tota Singh and SGPC member Sukhjeet Singh Kaka were present. — TNS

Bathinda, December 10
Activists of the International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO), Bathinda branch, observed the International Human Rights Day by organising a seminar at the Teachers' Home here today.

The chief guest on the occasion was Surinder Mohan Bhola, chief warden, Civil Defence, who apprised the attendees about human rights and that these should be made available to everybody irrespective of caste, colour, creed, religion, place, etc.

IHRO president Sanjay Chauhan said the organisation had taken a pledge to disseminate awareness among all.

Santosh Sharma, Arvind Mehta, ML Meena and Shamsher Singh Azad were among those who addressed the gathering.

Bathinda, December 10
The Delhi Public School here was abuzz on Friday with the melodious sound of tinkle bells because of Geeta Mahalik, a world renowned exponent of Odissi dance form.

In a lecture-cum-demonstration, the danseuse educated the students about the classical dance forms of India, with special reference to the Odissi dance form. Principal Arun Jee thanked Geeta Mahalik and Harpal Singh, deputy director-cum-nodal officer, Cultural Promotion, for giving the students a chance to get acquainted with their rich cultural heritage. — TNS

Hari Ke (Ferozepur), Dec 10
Two persons, who were allegedly making an attempt to encroach upon a piece of land in the Hari Ke bird sanctuary, were arrested and a tractor-trailer was impounded by the wildlife department officials, while patrolling in the Marar area late last night.

In another case, a section of wildlife officials were attacked by six unscrupulous elements, who were allegedly involved in encroachment and illegal fishing in Kot Kamp Khan area, when the official were on way to the mainland after catching a big boat and two motorcycles seized by them from the sanctuary area, last night.

Official sources said after attacking the four wildlife department officials, the six unscrupulous elements escaped with one of the motorcycles. However, the officials of the wildlife department did not suffer any injury.

To curb the activities of unscrupulous elements during the foggy season, the officials of wildlife department had also intensified their patrolling in the sanctuary area by boat and other means of transportation.

Sanjeev Tiwari, Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife), Ferozepur, said besides a big boat, which was being used by the unscrupulous elements to transport tractor-trailer from one island to another, dotting the Hari Ke sanctuary, some fishing nets had also been recovered from the spot.

He said two encroachers, who had been arrested and identified as Gurbhej Singh and Balwinder Singh, had been sent to the judicial court concerned for legal action against them under the Wildlife Protection Act.

In connection with attack on the wildlife officials by six unscrupulous elements, an application had been moved to the police station (Makhu) for necessary action.

Meanwhile, police sources said a case in this connection had been registered against Dharam Singh, Mela Singh, Bohar Singh and Manohar Lal and two unidentified persons under sections 379 and 186 of the IPC on the complaint of Chinda Masih.

Bathinda: A seminar was organised on tuberculosis (TB) disease on the premises of the Goodwill Society at Paras Ram Nagar here on Friday. Civil Surgeon Inder Dayal Goyal presided over the seminar.

In-charge of local TB Hospital Dr Kundan Kumar and Dr MS Gill were present. Dr Kundan Kumar educated the gathering on prevention of TB. — TNS

Moga, December 10
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has directed the SSP of Moga to register an FIR against the suspended inspector Satnam Singh, former in-charge of the CIA-Staff (Moga), who, in a judicial inquiry was recently found guilty of illegally detaining and torturing a local chemist, Apaar Singh, at a local police station.

The Tribune in its news report, ‘A cop or an extortionist’, published on the front page of the newspaper on February 5 had exposed the nefarious design of the police to extort money from the local chemists by threatening them to slap cases against them under the NDPS Act. After the news report, Satnam Singh was suspended and a departmental inquiry was initiated against him, which is still on.

It may be mentioned that a warrant official of the HC rescued Apaar Singh alias Bittu from the clutches of the local police on September 23, last year. He was detained by the CIA staff on September 21 when he went to enquire about his brothers, running a drug store, who were picked up by the police for allegedly possessing psychotropic drugs without valid papers.

Ferozepur, December 10
In a bizarre incident, Dharminder Kumar, senior divisional commercial manager of Ferozepur railway division, was attacked by a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) along with six others at his official residence late this evening.

The TTE, identified as Ranjit Singh, along with six others, barged into the house of Dharminder Kumar and illegally detained him. The accused then took out their firearms and started beating him up mercilessly.

Police sources said that Ranjit Singh, who was placed under suspension a few days ago by the railway authorities, had been harbouring animosity towards Dharminder Kumar as he (Ranjit) was suspecting that Dharminder Kumar was instrumental in his suspension. Ranjit Singh was posted in Amritsar railway unit.

Sources added that Ranjit Singh had suffered minor injuries including injury in the eye. Harjit Singh Pannu, SP (D) said a case under sections 392, 452, 506, 342, 148 and 149 of IPC had been registered. — TNS

Bathinda, December 10
Dr SS Sangha, Principal, Dasmesh Girls College of Education (Badal) and a senate member, has been elected Dean (Faculty of Education), of the Panjab University. The election was held in the senate hall.

The duty of the deans of various faculties is to take all policy making decisions according to the recommendations of the Board of Studies. He has been elected for the session 2011-12. — TNS