Gidderbaha, December 15
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today suffered a severe setback in his home constituency here as 17 municipal councillors and their several supporters deserted him to join the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) when Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal visited the town.

As Sukhbir, accompanied by his wife and Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal, reached here for Sangat Darshan, people showered flower petals on them. They raised slogans in favour of Sukhbir and praised him for launching development schemes in the state and particularly in the areas that had remained neglected in the past.

This is the second visit of Sukhbir to the area in the past few days.

He announced development projects worth Rs 48 crore for the Gidderbaha area. These include Rs 11 crore for recarpeting of roads, Rs 8.20 crore for water supply, Rs 25 crore for sewerage treatment plant, Rs 65 lakh for reverse osmosis (RO) systems in every ward, Rs 31 lakh for cremation ground, Rs 25 lakh for desilting the channels and Rs 2 lakh each to two schools.

Speaking on the occasion, Sukhbir Badal recounted the tragic circumstances under which the party was forced to expel the local MLA, Manpreet Singh Badal, from the party.

He assured that the Badal family owes its political existence to this constituency and would not allow the area to feel let down.

He said he would personally monitor the development works of Gidderbaha and redress the grievances of local population on priority.

Harsimrat assured people that she would personally raise the development issues of Gidderbaha in Parliament and work for bringing Central project for this area.

Bathinda, December 15
Jaundice (Hepatitis-A) cases are on the rise in Bathinda city nowadays.

As many as 14 persons tested positive for the disease at the local Civil Hospital today. In addition, eight cases were reported from private laboratories and four by private medical practitioners. Yesterday, 16 persons had tested positive for jaundice, a water-borne disease, at the Civil Hospital.

According to information available, the health authorities today formed six teams that visited several localities and conducted a door-to-door survey of jaundice cases.

These teams detected 50 cases — 10 in Malvia Nagar and Birla Mill area, 15 in Ajit Road area, nine in Kanhaiya Nagar, five in Kikar Dass mohalla, four each in Namdev Nagar and Ganesha Basti areas, and three in Madhokpura area.

A local private doctor Bharat Bhushan said during past five days, he had examined and given treatment to over 60 Hepatitis-A patients.

Taking a cognisance of the alarming rise in Hepatitis-A cases in the city, the district health authorities also sent a team of health officials, led by Dr Kundan Kumar, to water works today in order to inspect whether water was being proper chlorinated or not.

The team reportedly found the conditions at the water works unsatisfactory. At the industrial area water works, there was no water testing kit while at the Engineering College water works, the team found chlorination of water to be nil. Besides, chlorination of water was nil at the head water works situated on the Bhagu road and it was less at Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s water works near Rose Garden.

When contacted, District Health Officer Dr Raghbir Singh Randhawa said due to alarming rise in Hepatitis-A cases in the city, they had collected 10 samples of water from all four water works and the end points (like houses) on the previous day. These samples had been sent to the Public Laboratory, Chandigarh, for testing.

Dr Randhawa said the health teams would also collect blood slides of fever cases to test for malaria.

Besides, they would also inspect areas to find out if water supply pipes were leaking.

Fazilka, Decembr 15
The tale of bravery of the heroes in whose memory the Asafwala war memorial has been raised is spine-chilling. Some including Major Narayan Singh, Constable Than Singh, Havildar Gnaga Dhar from Four Jat Regiment, were honoured with ‘Veer Chakra’ posthumously for showing courage in the 1971 war. The Indian soldiers also captured jeeps and guns from the enemy.

Basically, the memorial was raised by the citizens of Fazilka in only four kanals of land. Now, it is spread over five acres. Besides, the memorial of Four Jat Regiment, the committee incorporated the memorial pillars and insignia of martyrs of Three Assam Regiment and 15 Rajput Regiment. A museum (dream project of the committee) was also constructed in the complex a few years back.

It was a historical day for the Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee Asafwala (Fazilka), which has the distinction of honouring the widows and family members of the war heroes killed and injured in the war on December 20, 1987. The kith and kin of the martyrs living in the distant areas of the country were invited and honoured suitably.

There are some legends associated with the memorial that this is a place of obeisance though this is not a temple, mosque and gurudwara.

There is a firm belief in Fazilka that the souls of soldiers come to their rescue and prevent the town from calamities. Yet another belief is that the wishes of the people bowing their heads at the memorial are fulfilled.

The residents feel that the Asafwala War memorial should be declared as ‘National Memorial’ since it is considered one of the best privately maintained memorial in contrast to those government managed war memorials, most of which are lying in shambles.

Chak Suhele Wala (Ferozepur), Dec 15
The SAD (Badal) has decided to field candidates belonging to Hindu community in a significant number in the next assembly elections. The SAD (B) leadership is also of the firm view that the youths must be given due representation in the next assembly elections and in the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.

“The party has been identifying the constituencies from where the Hindu candidates can be fielded. The character of the assembly segment would be taken into consideration while finding out suitable candidates from the Hindu community to contest elections as the SAD (B) candidates,” disclosed party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, here today. While talking to the media at the residence of Vardev Mann, member (SGPC) here, Badal said, “The party would try to fulfill the aspirations of all.”

To a question related with the escape of two inmates from the Ludhiana Central jail, he said officials found guilty would be punished. To another question pertaining to non-availability of goods train to transport potato by growers, who have been stranded at Khanna with 200 trucks, to their respective destinations, Badal said he had asked director, agriculture, Punjab to look into the matter and do the needful.

Abohar, December 15
The members of the local Bar Association today observed strike and staged a two-hour dharna in front of the office of the SDM to protest against the proposal of the Punjab government to set up family courts at the district headquarters.

Secretary of the Bar association Rajneet Singh Phore said a memorandum was submitted to Deputy Chief Minister and Secretary, Home, Punjab through Naib Tehsildar Narinder Singh demanding that the courts must be set up at the sub-divisional level. — TNS

Moga, December 15
The District Magistrate of Moga Dr VN Zade has asked the Water Supply and Sanitation department to test water quality in all the 328 inhabited villages of the district so that RO systems could be installed wherever needed.

Recently, the state government has already approved setting up of RO systems in 13 villages of the district. The work in this connection has already been started by the authorities concerned.

The spokesman of the district Nath Singh Buttar revealed to The Tribune that the waterworks had already been set up in these villages and the work on RO systems would be completed by January 31, next year.

Abohar, December 15
The opposition leaders have geared up to put the state government in the dock over vandalism that resulted in desecration of the statue of black buck. AICC member and former MP Jagmeet Singh Brar visited the site and criticized the government’s inaction.

Meanwhile, former FM Manpreet Badal has also planned a meeting under the Jago Punjab Yatra in this sub- division on Friday at village Sardarpura dominated by Bishnois. He is also expected to halt at Jeev Raksha Chowk, sources said today. — OC