Bathinda, January 17
Thanks to the lack of awareness among the residents and inadequate infrastructure and staff strength with the fire brigade authorities, Bathinda -the city where the Army's ammunition depot, thermal power plant, oil depots and various cotton and textile mills are located, has been left vulnerable to fire tragedies.

A number of fire incidents have taken place in the recent past including one that took place at a textile mill located on Mansa road on Sunday, where the fire outbreak was huge and gutted cotton bales worth crores. But neither the residents nor the administration seem to be serious about the gravity of the issue.

It is a matter of regret that many a time, the fire brigade's rescue services get hit due to the unavailability of adequate number of staff and proper infrastructure. But barely days after the incident, people gloss over it and even forget to insist that the officials concerned be taken to task and the lacunae be addressed.

It is not only the fire brigade staff that is to be blamed as people themselves are not willing to follow the fire safety norms in their premises. Interestingly, authorities supposed to check the fire safety measures at the Mini-secretariat, the heart of governance, are also not much bothered about it.

Being an emergency service, the fire brigade remains functional round-the-clock. It is equipped with five fire tenders, an ambulance and a Bolero jeep. But to run the whole system, it does not have even half the required staff.

On Sunday¸ when the fire brigade received a call about a major fire outbreak at a textile mill on Mansa road, there were only six firemen and a driver on duty.

Though the fire brigade officials claimed to have responded in the quickest possible manner by summoning its staff that was on leave and even asked the firemen to drive the vehicles to save time, the owners of the textile mill alleged that the fire brigade officials reacted so late that till the time the fire-fighters reached, the flames had taken an enormous shape and gutted cotton worth crores.

On the other hand, fire brigade officials blamed the mill owner for the tragedy as they reported that the mill did not adhere to the fire safety norms. It did not even have a reservoir. As the incident has become a matter of controversy, the district administration has launched an investigatation.

But the overall situation is grim, as sources informed that there were three hydrants in the city but two of them were out of use due to some technical faults. Moreover, if the fire brigade takes a rescue call from the areas in the localities across the railway line, the tenders have to cover a couple of miles to get refilled from the main complex of the fire brigade as there is no hydrant across the railway lines.

Besides, it has been informed that the fire brigade does not have a foam spray vehicle, which is a must due to the oil depots located here. The upcoming high-rise buildings like shopping malls and hotels are also out of the reach of fire tenders as the ladders they have are unable to reach the top of these buildings.

When contacted, the BMC Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said, "We have sent our staff requirements to the government a number of times but failed to get any response." He also blamed the paucity of funds for the fire brigade services not being up to its desired efficiency level.

Ferozepur, January 17
Irked over the collapse of the sewerage system in their ward, the residents of the Gobind Nagari area in the city today blocked traffic and raised slogans against the Municipal Council authorities.

The residents said owing to the blockage of the sewerage system for the past three months, they were forced to live in hell-like conditions.

Karnail Singh said the blocked sewer, cesspools of slush and garbage dumps were posing immense danger to the health and hygiene of the people in the area.

He pointed out that all requests made to the Municipal authorities seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The residents had no option but to resort to agitation, he said.

Another resident Kehar Singh rued that many a times they have approached the district authorities and apprised them of the poor sewerage conditions prevailing in the area but in vain.

The traffic remained blocked for hours, following which, the local SDM GS Pannu visited the affected area.

The SDM assured the residents that the sewerage problem will be resolved within a week. He also visited the streets in this ward and asked the MC authorities to take immediate remedial steps to de-silt the blocked sewers.

The residents said in other areas of the town including Dhawan Colony, outside Zira gate, Kundan Nagari, Ichhewala Road, the situation was equally bad as at times the sewage gets accumulated on the roads and even enters their dwellings.

Earlier, the residents of Basti Tankanwali had also held a protest against the faulty sewerage system and unhygienic conditions prevailing in the town.

Ferozepur, January 17
A section of the Congress leaders, who attended a meeting organised here today, to take stock of the preparations for its January 31 rally being held at Ferozepur, stressed that all the Congress leaders of the area should put up a united show to make the rally an unprecedented success.

Former Cabinet Minister Chowdhry Jagjit Singh presided over the meeting. He said the people of the state were fed up with the autocratic rule of Akalis, who were pursuing vendetta politics in the state. Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, MLA, Guruharsahai, who has been made in-charge for the rally, said the rally will lay the foundation for the next Assembly elections to be held in 2012.

He said during the rally, the Congress will bring to fore the failures of the present SAD-BJP regime, who has taken the state to the brink of bankruptcy. Former MLA Ravinder Singh Sandhu, Sunil Jakhar, MLA, Abohar, Gurnaib Brar, president, DCC, Prakash Bhatti, ex-MLA besides other senior leaders also addressed the meeting.

Chowdhry Jagjit Singh invited suggestions from various leaders about the preparations of the rally. He said it was expected that at least 70,000 Congress workers will participate in the rally. 

Moga, January 17
The District Magistrate Dr Vijay N Zade has conducted surprise checks in various government schools in the district and inspected the mid-day meal on Monday. He also checked the attendance registers of the government schools.

The DM went to the Government Senior Secondary School first at Saleena and ordered the authorities concerned to get the stock of the food items checked from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) before using it for preparing the mid-day meal.

Dr Zade also asked the District Education Officer (DEO) to keep a regular check on schools. He also visited the schools of many other villages. 

Moga, January 17
A sarpanch and panchayat secretary of the Moga village has been found guilty of embezzlement in the rural development funds, following which, the District Development Panchayat Officer (DDPO) has recommended to the director of the rural development and panchayat department to sanction legal action against them under the Panchayati Raj Act.

The sarpanch Swaran Kaur and panchayat secretary Angrej Singh of village Sherpur Taiban were accused of committing irregularities in the funds by withdrawing certain amount from the panchayat account without the sanction of the panchayat and not entering various other amounts in the record register by a panch of the village concerned.

As per the details, the panch alleged that they had not shown the actual amount generated from the auction of various sites in the village and a certain amount was withdrawn by making alterations in various bills passed by the panchayat without the consent of other members, which did not tally with the proceeding book/record register. In the departmental inquiry, it has been found that an amount of Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 was shown in the documents withdrawn after the bills passed by the panchayat but actually no one was aware of it and none of the panches had put their signatures on it.

Similarly, the sarpanch utilised Rs 24,000 for personal use generated through the auction of a site, which was against the set rules and of the department.

Another amount of Rs 26,000 pertaining to an auction has not been shown in the record register and the account book.

Meanwhile, Swaran Kaur has refuted all the allegations and said all the work was done with the approval of the panches. 

Fazilka, January 17
Fazilka, the 165-year-old historical town situated on the Indo-Pak border, is going be developed as tourism hub soon. The representatives of different NGOs have been yearning to set up a tourist centre in this area for long.

“We have prepared a comprehensive plan for setting up a tourism hub in the rural area of Fazilka sub-division and have sent it to the Tourism Department (Government of India) through the state government for approval. The administration is keen to develop the important and historic areas of Fazilka as tourist centres,” confirmed Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav.

“If the Central government approves the project, a sum of Rs 75 lakh can be allotted for the project,” he added. “The Graduate Welfare Association Fazilka (GWAF) has been demanding a tourism hub in Fazilka for the last two years. Now, it has also released a Fazilka tourism logo,” said Navdeep Asija, general secretary, GWAF.

As per the information available, Sadiqi JCP where the retreat ceremony is performed daily, War Memorial of the 1971 Indo-Pak war heroes at the border village Asafwala, the historical Clock Tower of Fazilka, footwear (Jutti) and Raghuvar Bhawan Bangla (old name of Fazilka), where at present the official residence of the Fazilka SDM is situated and Gol Kothi (the oldest buildings of the town) can be promoted and developed as tourist spots.

The magnificent war memorial of the 1971 Indo-Pak heroes, who had attained martyrdom while defending the country during the war, is situated in the border village Asafwala, seven kilometres from here on the national highway 10.

About 280 officials and jawans of four Jat Regiment, 15 Rajput Regiment and three Assam Regiment of the Indian Army had made supreme sacrifice in the war.

A collective cremation of the martyrs of of four Jat Regiment was performed here. Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee Asafwala (Fazilka) has been maintaining the memorial properly. The photographs of the martyrs, war history, war scenes and insignias related to war and Army have also been displayed in a museum raised in the premises of the war memorial. Scores of people daily pay the obeisance at this place.

The president of the committee Sandeep Gilhotra has demanded that this best privately managed war memorial should also be taken into consideration to be developed as a tourist place.

“Sadiqi joint check-post (JCP) is the last point on the national highway no 10 in Fazilka sector. Sadiqi border was named after the nearby shrine of Peer Sadiqi. People from both the countries, who had segregated during the partition of the country can meet and greet each other after the daily retreat ceremony,” he said.

“Hundreds of residents visit the JCP daily to see the retreat ceremony, which is carried out by a thrilling parade by the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers.

“It has been proving to be a spectacular entertainment for the crowd,” added Sandeep Gilhotra.

Gilhotra further said that if somebody comes to Fazilka and does not visit the North India’s tallest Clock Tower and its beautiful complex brimming with lustrous and sparkling lights at twilight atop it, he misses the most beautiful view.

The Fazilka Clock Tower complex is the city’s commercial as well shopping hub. It is also the first ‘car-free zone.’

Fazilka’s Clock Tower, designed by architect SD Wasan and built by the city’s philanthropist Ram Narayan Periwal, is an example of the finest quality of masonry.

Another project which can be involved in tourism, can be Fazilka’s famous footwear (Jutti) venture. Most of the politicians, bureaucrats and VIPs prefer to wear Fazilka Jutti.

Besides dozens of shops are stacked from floor to ceiling with these slippers in the Indira Market and in the Clock Tower vicinity.

The art of making colourful artistic and tilla embroidered jutti of Fazilka came along with the migrated people from Kasur area of Pakistan after the partition, who settled in Fazilka.

According to Asija, about 500 artisan families and their next generations are involved in the business.

“The popular Jhoomer dance of the state, which originated from Fazilka, Moora (a type of settee), waan and Munj (used in weaving beds in the rural areas) can also attract the tourists to the rural areas of this border sub-division,” he added.

The GWAF is hoping that the Centre would give its nod, thus giving fillip to tourism in the area.

Bathinda, January 17
The Bathinda Pachham Welfare Organisation, Partap Nagar, has urged the government to construct a sports stadium in the Bathinda Pachham (West) area of the city.

In a press note issued here, chief spokesman of the organisation Des Raj Chhatriwala said a sports stadium in the Bathinda (West) would fulfill the sports needs of thousands of youths of several colonies, including Janta Nagar, Gopal Nagar, Arjan Nagar, Jogi Nagar, Paras Ram Nagar, Partap Nagar, Multania Road and Lal Singh Basti.

Chhatriwala said their organisation had given a slogan 'Sports stadium banvao, nawin peeri nu bachao'. For the purpose, a campaign would also be launched to collect signatures from public. Later, a demand charter would be submitted to the DC for forwarding it to the Union Sports Minister, he added. — TNS