Ferozepur, March 12
Balwant Raj, who was running a dairy in this town, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in the local grain market yesterday.Police sources said preliminary investigation revealed that Balwant Raj, who lived in the nearby village Bazidpur, was shot dead from close range by some unidentified assailant.

The licenced weapon, which the deceased carried always, was also missing. SSP Kaustab Sharma said preliminary investigation had also revealed that the deceased had dispute over land with a number of persons. The police was exploring all the angles to crack the case, he added. He said one passerby noticed that a man was lying near his motorcycle and after he saw him from close point, he found the man dead.

The passerby informed the local police and after that senior police functionaries rushed to the spot.

Sources said a case under section 302 of the IPC and section 25/27 of the Arms Act had been registered against unidentified persons on the statement given by Ved Parkash, brother of deceased, at the Kulgadi police station. The body was handed over to the kin of the deceased after postmortem. 

Bathinda, March 12
The Bathinda Ophthalmological Society (BOS) and the District Blindness Control Society today observed 'World Glaucoma Day' at the Civil Hospital here.Secretary of the BOS Dr MS Brar delivered a public awareness lecture, urging people to get regular eye check up to diagnose this disease before the occurrence of permanent visual loss. President of the BOS Dr Amrit Sethi and District Health Officer (DHO) Dr RS Randhawa also addressed the gathering about the dangers and latest treatment modalities available for glaucoma.

On the occasion, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Vinod Garg and Project Manager of the Ranbaxy Sanjeevan Swasthaya Sewa Dr IB Aggarwal were also present. Dr Sethi said 15000 leaflets about the signs and symptoms of glaucoma had also been distributed among the masses. — TNS 

Moga, March 12
The National Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Research in collaboration with the Punjab government is carrying out a project to treat anaemia among women with ayurvedic medicines in the state.

Revealing this to The Tribune, Dr Rajesh Sannd, Joint Director of the Institute, said in the first phase, seven districts have been chosen under the project which include Moga, Mansa, Sangrur, Muktsar, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Ropar districts.

He said in each district, five centres, three ayurvedic dispensaries and two primary health care centres have been selected for the purpose.

Under the project, free ayurvedic medicines of two formulations ‘Punarnavadi Mandoor’ and ‘Dhatri Lauha’ are being provided free of cost to women according to the nature of anemia after proper medical tests.

Dr Sannd said the main aim is to treat pregnant women and girls suffering from anaemia by administering adequate amount of consumable iron prepared through ayurvedic formulations.

Dr Navdeep Singh Brar, ayurvedic medical officer, posted in the district hospital here, said the doses of iron supplements in the form of capsules are being given for a period of three months and after every four weeks, a detail is prepared of the each women with regard to her haemoglobin percentage in the blood to know the response of the medicines.

He said in the Moga district, ‘Punarnavadi Mandoor’ and ‘Dhatri Lauha’ medicines are available free of cost in the district Civil Hospital, ayurvedic dispensaries at Tek Singh Park and at Nanak Nagari in the town, besides, two primary health care centres at Badhni Kalan and Dharamkot in the district.

He said in the preliminary survey, most of the anaemic patients, especially, women have been found suffering from mild to severe deficiency of iron.

The haemoglobin count in most of the women to whom medicines have been distributed is less than the standard 12 g/decilitre, the standard accepted worldwide, he said.

“Normally, the women are not aware of their tendency of being anaemic because they do not have any complaints and it is only from the blood test that we find that they are anemic,” Dr Brar said.

Meanwhile, Dr Sannd further said the project will also be implemented in rest of the 13 districts and the left out blocks in the state in the coming financial year. 

Bathinda, March 12
A meeting of the District Congress Committee (Rural) was organised at the party office here today. The meeting was held in connection with preparations for the Congress rally to be held at Khatkar Kalan on March 23 to mark the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev.

However, according to party leaders, Captain Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh, who is in-charge of Bathinda district for the Khatkar Kalan rally, could not attend today's meeting as he had to appear in a court at Ludhiana.

At the meeting, Congress leaders and workers were told to mobilise the people in a big way for the rally. Besides, routes were also discussed for sending buses and other vehicles to Khatkar Kalan from different parts of the district.

District president (Rural) of the party Narinder Singh Bhuleria claimed that the Congress was expecting a gathering of about two lakh at its Khatkar Kalan rally from all parts of the state. However, he said about 10,000 Congress workers from the district would also attend the rally. He said they had made sufficient arrangement for vehicles to carry the people to the rally.

With regard to the postponement of the March 23 Khatkar Kalan rally by former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal to March 27, Congress MLA Makhan Singh said he had "run away" from holding his rally on the scheduled day. He said the Congress party every year observed the martyrdom day there, but if there was any difference between this year's programme and the previous years, it was that the Congress was observing the martyrdom day this year at the state-level, instead of making it a local level function.

Party MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti said the Badal government was "committing atrocities" on the people in the state, especially the Congress workers against whom it had registered 'false' cases. He said the Badal government had not provided even full pension to the retired persons so far. He said though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was declaring time and again that his government did not believe in vendetta politics, but denial of old-age pension to many pro-Congress persons proved that the Chief Minister was "wrong" on the issue.

Among others who were present on the occasion included district president of Youth Congress Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, senior Congress leaders Inder Singh Sahni, KK Sharma, Darshan Singh Jeeda, and district press secretary Rupinder Singh Bindra. 

Bathinda/Faridkot, March 12
The controversial case in which misusing his arbitrary powers, a Punjab canal department officer allotted a big portion of the Rajasthan government land to an Akali leader in Faridkot area, a judicial court on Saturday not only cancelled the allotment but termed the Punjab government officer's act as illegal, null and void.

About 20 months back, an executive engineer (XEN) in the canal department, Anil Sood had allotted a big portion of the Rajasthan government land in Punjab to an Akali leader from Faridkot.

Interestingly, this allotment was made without making any payment, fee or rent to the Rajasthan government. More over, the official had no authority to make allotment of this property to any person.

The land is located along the Indira Gandhi Canal in Faridkot. This prime 400-feed wide land alongside the canal is the property of the Rajasthan government for many decades.

Along with the Indira Gandhi Canal, the Rajasthan government acquired 400 feet wide strip of land in Punjab from Harike Pattan in Ferozepur district to the Rajasthan border in Sriganganagar.

On July 15, 2009, the official concerned of the canal department, in alleged connivance with an executive engineer of the Rajasthan canal department, allotted a big portion of this land to the Akali leader without any authority.

Though the official claimed he was competent to allot the land to the Akali leader but he failed to produce any rule or regulation in the court under which the land was allotted.

Besides making a complaint to Rajasthan government about this illegal allotment of the land, an advocate in Faridkot, Parsotam Betab had filed a civil petition in the court of additional civil judge, Faridkot, challenging the allotment.

In the court, while the XEN admitted that he used to auction other lands of the Rajasthan government in Punjab for cultivation on rent but in the present case, when the land was allotted to the Akali leader, then no rent was received from him.

Much to the surprise of the court, even the XEN could not tell the court if any such allotment or permission to allotment was ever granted to anyone else in the past, other than the Akali leader.

While deposing in the court, the Rajasthan government officials maintained that Punjab officers had no right to transfer the Rajasthan government land in Punjab in any manner as no such right was ever parted with in favour of the Punjab government.

The judge held that the Rajasthan government is the owner of the strip alongside the Indira Gandhi Canal and the canal department in Punjab is responsible only for the maintenance of this land.

While setting aside the XEN order of allotting land to the Akali leader, the court, in its, order said the action of the XEN on allotting the land amounts to misappropriation of public property without any lawful authority to do so.

The court restrained the Punjab government from acting upon the Rajasthan government land in Punjab in such manner in the future.

Bathinda, March 12
In assistance with the Ranbaxy Sanjeevan Swasthaya Sewa, the district health authorities organised a breast and cervical check up-cum-awareness camp on the premises of Women and Children Hospital here today.

Senior medical officer (SMO) of the hospital Dr BS Gill said as many as 135 women had been examined at the camp. He said 27 PAP smear tests, 15 mammography tests and three fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) tests had been conducted on the women at the camp. He said the reports of these tests were yet to be received.

Project Manager of the Ranbaxy Sanjeevan Swasthaya Sewa, Bathinda Dr IB Aggarwal said besides conducting tests free of cost, the doctors also counselled the women to remain vigilant in future also. He said the women were educated about the symptoms of the disease and measures for the prevention of the disease. — TNS