Tarn Taran, March 26
The death of Ajit Singh (38), a resident of nearby Alandinpur village, took a new turn today when the Sadar police registered a case under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC against his wife Baljit Kaur (35) along with her paramour Sukhwant Singh Soni and two other unidentified persons.

The village residents staged a dharna in front of the Sadar police station today demanding action against the accused. Ajit was found dead a week ago and his wife with the help of her other relatives cremated him without informing other relatives of his husband.

Nakodar, March 26
As many as 13 children of Sewa Public School were injured in a road accident when a speeding bus of a nursing college rammed into a matador carrying the children near Giran village here. Accident occurred in the evening when the nursing college bus driver lost control over the vehicle and rammed into matador, sources said. The wounded children were immediately taken to nearby hospitals. Two were seriously injured while many sustained fractures. No case has been registered yet.

Nawanshahr: As many as four policemen, accompanying state BJP president Ashwani Sharma, were injured when their police pilot vehicle collided head-on with a car near Asron village on the Chandigarh- Nawanshahr-Jalandhar highway on Saturday. The injured had been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Ropar. The driver of the car reportedly absconded from the scene. 

Hoshiarpur, March 26
Low wages in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are keeping villagers, especially youths, away from the scheme.

As compared to Rs 123 in the MGNREGS, a worker could earn up to Rs 200 daily in a private sector.

Despite the best efforts of the district administration, out of 2.21 lakh houses in the rural areas of the district only 69,750 householders have got their job cards prepared under MGNREGS for getting 100-day guaranteed employment in a year.

Sarpanch of Bassi village Gulam Hussain Narbir Singh Nandi said on account of less wages under the national scheme as compared to the existing market rates, the unemployed youths of the village prefer to work in a private sector to earn more.

Only aged women and men, who did not want to go outside the village, generally sought employment under MGNREGS.

He urged the Union Government to increase the daily wages of job cardholders keeping in view the existing hike in the prices of essential commodities.

Deputy Commissioner Dharam Dutt Tarnach claimed that the district was leading in implementing MGNREGS in state. As many as 69,750 job cards had been prepared in the district up to February 28, 2011, of which 30,274 cardholders sought employment.

As many as 9.62 lakh man days had been generated up to February 28, 2011.

There was no shortage of funds and presently Rs 2656 lakh was available in the district. The Union Government had increased daily wage from Rs 123 to Rs 124 from April 1, 2011. Annual labour budget of Rs 37 crore for 2011-2012 had been uploaded from the website.

He appealed to the rural people to get their job cards prepared and secured 100 days guaranteed employment in a year under MGNREGS.

Phagwara, March 26
The Punjab Government has instructed all district-level officers of Social Security Department to scrutinise the lists of pension beneficiaries after it was found that several persons are taking pension benefits submitting wrong details.

The Phagwara is also included in the lists of those sub-divisions, where several women were traced who were taking old-age pension benefits, while their husbands employed and retired from different government departments were already getting pension benefits.

Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul said district security officers and CDPO were investigating the matter and notices of recovery were being sent to those, who were found guilty of producing fake documents to take undue advantage of the government scheme.

He said 10 women were booked on the charges of fraud. He said the guilty persons were taking pension benefits for the last more than 12 years.

However, the details are awaited, said SDM Paul. The Tribune has learnt that now the accused women are knocking the doors of different officers including Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala Kavita Singh to recover the amount in instalments from them. 

Tarn Taran, March 26
The Health Department, in a cancer awareness camp, organised here today, detected 43 cases of cancer out of the total 101 patients examined at the camp. The camp was organised under the supervision of Civil Surgeon Dr Balwinder Singh Kalsi. A team of six doctors examined the patients.

There were 58 cancer patients in the district under treatment. Dr Shamsher Singh, Assistant Civil Surgeon (ACS), said the department had provided ambulance service for the cancer patients.

Batala: A cancer screening and awareness camp was conducted at the Civil Hospital here today. About 300 patients participated at the camp.

Nawanshahr: The district Health Department organised cancer awareness-cum medical check-up camp at Civil Hospital here on Saturday. Civil Surgeon Dr ML Bansal inaugurated. A team of doctors comprising Dr HS Gill, Dr Surinder Gangar, Dr Usha, Dr Davinder Chahal, Dr Rajesh Bhatia, Dr Davinder Rana and Dr Rakesh Mohan from Ranbaxy examined more than 230 patients.