Bathinda, February 8
The Communist Party of India (CPI) today asked the Punjab government to conduct the census of cancer patients in the state, especially in the cancer-affected districts —Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Muktsar — of the Malwa region. It should be conducted on the pattern of the population census, every five years.

A member of the national executive of the CPI, Joginder Dayal, said while conducting the census of cancer patients, enumerators should collect the particulars of patients like sex, age, economic condition, stage of the disease and on-going treatment, so that effective steps could be initiated in this regard.

Dayal said since the treatment of cancer was costly, the Punjab government and the Centre should raise a special fund for cancer patients belonging to economically weaker section.

He said many families were facing great financial hardships in getting their kin treated for cancer.

The CPI leader also asked the Centre to declare six districts of the Malwa region as cancer-prone and send grant-in-aid to provide relief to the cancer patients in the region. He also asked the Punjab government to set up cancer hospitals at all district headquarters so that patients don’t have to travel to big hospitals in Bikaner (Rajasthan), Delhi, Chandigarh and Ludhiana.

Dayal also asked the Centre to give a special agriculture and industry package to Punjab so that farmers and farm labourers don’t resort to ending their lives.

Fazilka, February 8
The first ever kite festival held in this border town by the Graduates Welfare Association Fazilka (GWAF) in association with other NGOs including Sarhad Social Welfare Society to spread a message in connection with acquiring district status for it and against female foeticide, failed to attract much crowd.

As most of the schools run by private managements have not declared holiday on the occasion of Basant Panchami, the participation in the Kite festival remained around few hundred only. About 60 teams of kite fliers, hailing from different parts of Ferozepur district and its neighbouring places, participated in the festival.

A section of the participants flew the kites carrying written message for making Fazilka a district and against female foeticide.

The written message in connection with female foeticide was that ‘girl child is a blessing and not a curse.’ The first prize in the kite flying competition held on the occasion was won by Kaushal, a resident of this town while the second prize went to Taran jit Singh.

The third prize was shared by Naresh Kumar and Ranjit Singh. All these winners were given a cash prize of Rs 3100, Rs 2100 and Rs 1100, respectively.

Though the participation in the festival was thin, the main attraction of the festival remained 75-year-old Mohan Lal Bhusri and his grandson Ritik, 7, who flew kites together.

The other attraction of the festival was a 20-feet long kite, which was erected in the middle of the ground of the government senior secondary school for boy, the venue of the festival.

Those who attended the function included Sushil Gumber, convener, Sanjha Morcha, which organised an agitation for months for getting district status for this town, Surinder Sachdeva, Manav Kalyan Birdh Ashram, Bhupinder Singh, Patron, GWAF, Rakesh Nagpal, President, Sarhad Social Welfare Society, Paramjit Warar, President, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sports Club and Pammi Singh and Gurdeep, representatives of Fazilka Virasat Bhawan.

Others present were Capt (retd) MS Bedi, Karan Gilhotra (both leading farmers) and Umesh Kukkar, President, GWAF.

Ferozepur, February 8
Life almost came to a standstill in Ferozepur town today as residents indulged in kite flying to celebrate the festival of Basant Panchami today. Nearly all business establishments remained closed and vehicular movement was negligible on city roads as residents were busy in flying kites from their rooftops, a tradition from the pre-partition era.

People belonging to all walks of life and age groups celebrate Basant Panchami every year.

The passion for kite flying is so much that residents remained on the rooftops of their houses and business establishments from dawn to dusk. There are many takers for the passion among women too.People belonging to the town come here from far off places to join in the celebrations.

To add to the festivities many residents had decorated the rooftops of their houses in the cantonment area and had installed music systems while a few others had even set up dance floors.

The sale of kites and kite strings had crossed that of last year, according to the shopkeepers.

Businessmen from other parts of Punjab and UP had also set up shops of kites and strings.

The day also saw Rekha and an engineering student from Moga Anil Vij suffering injuries after coming into contact with China-made kite strings.

Both were discharged after receiving treatment at the local Civil Hospital.

Moga, February 8
With almost a year left for the state assembly elections, the 83-year-old moderate Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal, the present CM, does not appear to be a happy man. The common man has started believing that many power centres have emerged within the ruling party.

Apart from his son Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, the other key players are Sukhbir's brother-in-law Bikramjit Singh Majithia, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the CM’s daughter's husband Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and the BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia.

Of late, even the senior party leaders have realized the importance of Sukhbir within the party as well as in the administration.

Badal, who is in his fourth stint as CM is believed to be a seasoned administrator. Sukhbir, it is believed, still has some way to go to acquire similar finesse.

Another big challenge for the CM is to keep his party strong and intact, besides, preserving its 'friendship' with the BJP, its ally. Although, the BJP leadership understands its place in state politics but at times, party interests clash on certain issues.

Recently, the BJP demanded the formation of two new districts, Fazilka and Pathankot, with which, the SAD did not seem to be happy but succumbing to pressure, formed a panel to look into the possibilities of forming new districts.

There has also been a talk that Sukhbir is exploring the possibility of a tie-up with the BSP in the coming elections. It is a fact that neither the BJP will tolerate the SAD joining hands with the BSP nor would the CM like to lose the decades-old 'friendship' with the BJP leaders.

The biggest task before Badal is to keep intact his hold on his home turf, the Malwa belt of Punjab, which has always remained the centre of politics in the state.

When the SAD clinched the Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepur Lok Sabha seats in the last general elections, the political observers were of the view that the SAD has revived its mass base in the Malwa belt.

After the Lok Sabha elections, there was visible infighting in the Congress, but after Captain Amarinder Singh took over as the President of the PPCC, the Akali leadership has become more vigilant in handling the political situation.

However, the biggest blow to Badal, a stalwart, who has the quality of overcoming political pressure quite easily, is the exit of his nephew Manpreet Badal from the party.

The announcement that Manpreet will form a new political party on March 23 has put the political situation in a state of flux.

Manpreet has already made his presence felt in the state politics at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar. It is for the first time that someone from his family has dared to challenge the CM on his home turf. His 'Jago Punjab' movement is also getting a good response.

The Congress also felt the heat of Manpreet at Muktsar and has been trying to revive itself with a rally at Moga and other places.

What brought cheer on the face of the Captain is that most of the crowd at the Moga rally consisted of Jat Sikhs. A shrewd Maharaja has been trying to win over the farming community for the last four years. At Moga rally, he left no stone unturned to portray himself as the saviour of farmers.

The massive response at the rallies has added to the worries of Badal forcing him to rethink a new strategy to deal with Captain Amarinder Singh and Manpreet in the coming assembly elections. 

Fazilka, February 8
The smuggling of narcotics from the neighbouring Rajasthan to this area is not only continuing unabated but there has also been a spurt in the illegal trafficking of contraband items.

The efforts of the police and the administration to check the smuggling of these items do not seem to have brought about the desired results.

Last week, Sadar police, Fazilka, recovered 84 kg of poppy husk from six carriers in different areas of Fazilka and Jalalabad sub-divisions.

As per information gathered by this correspondent, on January 31, the Sadar police party, during checking and raids, recovered 7 kg of poppy husk from a woman, Gudo Bai, a resident of village Odian of Fazilka sub-division, 10 kg from Jarnail Singh of village Mahalam and another 15 kg from Chhinder Singh of village Gulam Rasool.

Similarly, on February 3, a police party nabbed Raj Singh, a resident of village Kabulshah Khubban and recovered 15 kg of poppy husk from his possession. Another 15 kg of poppy husk was recovered from one Pritam Singh of village Churiwala.

On Sunday, during patrolling, police recovered 22 kg of poppy husk from one Gurdeep Singh near village Korianwali of Fazilka sub-division. Gurdeep Singh is a resident of Kathgarh in Jalalabad. All the accused have been booked under the NDPS Act.

The investigation revealed that the carriers of the contraband items including opium and poppy husk belong to the border villages. Sources in the police said that now women are being involved in this racket of smuggling for safer landing of consignment.

In border areas, the smuggling and distribution of poppy husk is being carried out in an organised manner. The carriers either sell directly to their customers or hand it over to the 'dealer' of the particular areas who act as retailers and sell it to the youth or habitual consumers.

"The sellers first pack it in small tumblers popularly known as 'glassis' and sell it to the consumers. The price of the glassi starts from Rs 20 onwards," said DSP Fazilka Karamjit Singh.

He said that most of the carriers who have been nabbed in Fazilka sub-division, belong to the Jalalabad area. The police, despite efforts, have not been able to curb the menace of the smuggling of narcotics effectively due to many reasons despite the many meetings they arranged to motivate the residents in the area and to spread awareness among them.

Sriganganagar, February 8
Kinnow king Kartar Singh Narula, the first recipient of prestigious Udyan Pandit national award, is no more. He breathed his last at Lyallpur farms located near village Sadhuwali on the Abohar-Sriganganagar road yesterday. He had been producing citrus fruits since 1952.

Kartar Singh Narula

Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, was keen to visit Lyallpur Fruit Farm on February 28, 1963 but while he was on his way, he received the information about the death of the President Rajindra Prasad and rushed back to Delhi after addressing a rally at Nehru Park, Sriganganagar.

He, however, on June 13, 1963, honoured Kartar Singh Narula with the Udyan Pandit award at Tinmurti Bhavan for growing the best quality of citrus fruit.

Earlier, Indira Gandhi was taken around the farms by the then Rajasthan Chief Minister Mohan Lal Sukhadia. She was highly impressed with the labour put in by the family.

During an hour long meeting at his farm house about a decade back and subsequent interactions during the fruit festivals, this correspondent found that Narula, born on December 22, 1922 at Lyallpur, remembered each and every important moment of his life.

After doing FA from Khalsa College, Lyallpur (now better known as Faisalabad in West Punjab province of Pakistan), he had come to Sriganganagar in 1939-40 where the family had purchased desert land from Justice Sir Shadi Lal of the Punjab High Court and others at Rs 8,250 per murabba (a measurement for land).

He completed one-year vernacular course from the Government College of Agriculture, Lyallpur on May 4, 1946, and proudly possessed the certificate signed by Rai Bahadur Jai Chand Luthra. The beautifully written exercise book in Urdu by Narula had been renovated by a Shimla-based society, Nishant, with the efforts of Prem Suri, wife of late Gen RK Suri. The book contains formulae to save crops from pests at much cheaper cost than the prevailing insecticides now.

The family started fruit plantation in 1952 with citrus. He was the first to grow mangoes in the region. The nursery was established in 1958.

Jawaharlal Nehru had brought four plants of kinnow from Pakistan in 1962. Two plants were put at Pusa Institute, New Delhi, two at botanical garden, Lucknow. Narula succeeded in collecting some buds of these plants in 1963. Kinnow plants started giving fruits in 1966 at the Lyallpur Farm. Dr MS Randhawa, then Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, specially visited Narula's farm. In 1975, Parkash Singh Badal and Bal Ram Jakhar had started buying fruit plants from the Lyallpur Nursery, besides Teja Singh Badal, Om Parkash Chautala and many more dignitaries.

Abohar, February 8
Water supply in Jaitsar segment of neighbouring Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan has been suspended and samples were taken by the health department in the presence of senior officers on Monday following reports that hundreds of fish had died.

Taking notice of the report that was carried by The Tribune, senior officials of the Departments of Water Resources and Health visited the town for physical inspection.

XEN Daleep Gaur and Dr SK Aggarwal were briefed on the spot by the Panchayat Samiti (Anoopgarh) president Paramjit Singh Randhawa and former director Sheonath during their visit to the water works.

They examined water filters and ordered immediate desilting of the reservoirs for which the staff was deployed.

Though prima facie, it was observed that the fish might have died as a thick layer prevented the inhaling of oxygen, the officials did not rule out the possibility of poisonous contents in the water observing that empty containers of insecticides might have been washed by some farmers.

The Health Department has been told to submit a report of the samples within two days. Till then, water would not be supplied to the consumers.

Social activists complained that stray dogs had been found carrying bones around the tanks since the boundary wall of the water works lay damaged.

XEN Daleep Gaur said short-term tenders would be advertised for the construction of the boundary wall and work will be completedby the end of the month.

Other remedial measures to prevent the recurrence of death of fish and contamination of water will be taken soon, he assured.

Abohar, February 8
With Vidhan Sabha elections looming large, the coalition government in Punjab appears to be in a conciliatory mood. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who faced protest by hundreds of Powercom workers during his Sangat Darshan programme at village Ratta Tibba, reportedly invited the Technical Services Union (TSU) leaders later for talks at village Raniwala. 

The workers had reached Ratta Tibba from Abohar, Malout, Badal and Muktsar. Briefing newsmen here today, TSU president Balwinder Singh said that demands that had been languishing since 2007 were discussed during the meeting with the CM. TSU state president Sukhwant Singh Sekhon explained to Badal that the police had not withdrawn cases that were registered against the protesting workers on different occasions even when the ruling politicians had repeatedly given assurances over this.

The TSU demanded that new posts should be created as per norms besides dispensing with the outsourcing and contractual work system.

Balwinder Singh informed that the CM told the Powercom chairman over the phone to meet him tomorrow to discuss the demands.

The TSU warned that dharna will be staged at Muktsar on February 15 if the Powercom fails in responding to its demands by then. During the next phase of ongoing agitation, state level dharna is to be staged at Patiala on March 9. — OC