Bathinda, April 6
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) official, who was arrested by a team of the Vigilance Bureau (VB), Bathinda, while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from the manager of a rice mill on April 4, has been placed under suspension.

Baljit Singh, manager (Quality Control), FCI, Bathinda, against whom a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered, was remanded to police custody by the judicial magistrate concerned till April 6 when he was produced in the court on April 5 by VB officials. His remand was extended till April 7 when he was produced in the court concerned today again.

Baljit Singh was caught accepting bribe from Prem Sukh Goyal, manager, Gill Rice Mill, located near Gurusar Saine Wala village on the Bathinda-Dabwali road. Baljit had demanded the money in lieu of accepting the rice being delivered by the Gill Rice Mill under custom milling category, from its manager Goyal. A trap was laid by team of the VB on the complaint of Goyal and under the supervision of Sukhdev Singh Chahal, SSP, VB, Bathinda.

Arunea Chalam, regional manager, FCI, Chandigarh, while confirming the fact that Baljit Singh had been placed under suspension, said no laxity would be shown to FCI officials indulging in malpractices.  

Meanwhile, DSP Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, who led the VB team in arresting Baljit, said the pass-books of three bank accounts having deposits of about Rs 9 lakhs were recovered from his house located in Rajpura town, when a search was carried out by a team of the VB, Patiala, on April 4. He added that during search, some certificates of shares were also found in the house and its value was being worked out.

Bathinda, April 6
The district unit (urban) of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), under the presidentship of district in-charge, BJP Affairs (Urban), Neeraj Tayal, celebrated the 31st foundation day of the BJP at the Teachers’ Home here today.

Among those who were present on the occasion included district president (Urban) Sham Lal Bansal, chairman of the local Improvement Trust Ashok Bharti and senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal. — TNS

Bathinda, April 6
Allegations of scams and irregularities in the execution of government schemes flew thick and fast during the District Grievance Redressal Committee’s meeting held here today.

Against the tall claims of the administration of executing works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) properly, members of the committee placed a number of complaints accusing sarpanches, panchayat members and development officials of indulging in corruption.

An issue of tampering with the attendance register of labourers deployed under the MNREGS at village Bhai Bakhtaur was also raised. The members informed the chairman of the committee, Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju, that after the irregularity was exposed, they were asked to hush up the matter with an assurance to adjust the attendance in some other way.

Producing evidence, including photocopies of the muster roll, the members asked the DC to take a strict action against the guilty. The DC directed the ADC (Development) to probe into the matter and submit the report.

During the meeting, officials of the Department of Water Supply were also accused of fleecing the villagers by charging Rs 1,060 as security per connection in rural areas against the government notification that stipulated the security at Rs 250 for Dalits and Rs 500 for general category. The senior officials of the department concerned assured the DC to repay the money by adjusting it in the subsequent bills. Besides, some issues related to irregularities in the supply of domestic LPG and kerosene were also taken up, which the DC assured to resolve soon. — TNS

Bathinda, April 6
Under the clean development mechanism project, initiated by the Ozone Envirotech Private Ltd, Bathinda, as many as 16 meetings (March 21-April 5) were held for 22 brick kiln sites of the district. 

Rajinder Sharma, the project in-charge, apprised the gatherings at the meetings about the use of bio-mass, instead of coal, in manufacturing bricks. He said using bio-mass to make bricks would help in reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, which cause natural calamities like earth quake, tsunami, drought, flood and forest fire. — TNS

Abohar, April 6
Call it either the indifference of the Indian Railways or the callous attitude of the authorities concerned, the 42-km long rail link between two cotton rich towns, Abohar and Fazilka, could not be completed in the last eight years.

The completion and subsequent commissioning of the 42-km long Abohar-Fazilka rail link, providing a direct connection to the Doaba region of Punjab with the Kandla port via Rajasthan, has been missing its deadline time and again.

The rail link was to be commissioned in 2007 as per its first deadline. Due to apathetic attitude of the authorities concerned, the new deadline, fixed for its commissioning time and again by the Railway authorities, could not be honoured as well. The latest deadline for the commissioning for the rail link, March 31 this year, has also expired.

Sanctioned in 2003, its construction started in 2004 after the then Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone when the SAD-BJP combine was ruling Punjab.

The rail link is expected to start a new chapter of economic development of Abohar, Fazilka, Jalalabad and Ferozepur and also its surrounding areas. So far, there are no signs of its completion in the near future for various reasons.

Official sources said that so far, work on signalling and telecommunication (S&T) set-up on the rail line was going on. The Railway authorities had not deployed the required manpower to handle the operations on the rail track, which would have two halting points and two block points.

A senior functionary of the Railways claimed that as no one from the Punjab government had been pressurising the Railway authorities for the commissioning of the rail link at the earliest, the Railway authorities had been carrying the work at a slow pace. He said even the trial run was not expected to start within a month or so.

He said the project cost, which was worked out at around Rs 88 crores when it was started in 2004, had gone up to Rs 210 crores. Despite wasting a huge amount of money due to the delay caused by the Railways on the completion of the small project, the Railway authorities were expected to make the people of this area wait for many more months before the rail line becomes a reality.

Amar Singh Negi, Assistant Public Relations Officer, Indian Railway, said he was not in a position to say anything in connection with the status of the Abohar-Fazilka rail project.

SK Budhlakoti, General Manager, Northern Railway, could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.

Gidderbaha, April 6
Four car-borne robbers looted cash worth Rs 1.73 lakh at gunpoint from a man near village Thehari on the Malout-Gidderbaha road here, this evening. Taking immediate action, the Muktsar police sounded alert in the district and formed various teams to nab the robbers.

One Kuldeep Singh of Mansa district lodged a complaint with the Gidderbaha police saying he was an employee of a tyre shop located at Budhlada in Mansa and had gone to Malout for the delivery of tyres on a Mahindra Pick-up vehicle, today.

“While returning, I was in the possession of cash worth Rs 1.73 lakh received from the trader at Malout. A white Indica car started chasing me. Reaching a secluded place near village Thehari, they intercepted my vehicle.”

“One of them opened the door of my jeep and sat on the front seat. He pointed a revolver at my head and asked for the cash. I gave him the bag,” he alleged. SHO Gidderbaha Avtar Singh said a probe is on in the case.

Moga, April 6
Five persons had been arrested with fake currency notes having a face value of Rs 1.20 lakh in the Moga district, today. Those arrested were identified as Gurpreet Singh, Navdeep Singh, Dharambir Sharma, Karamjit Singh and Deepak Gupta, all residents of Ferozepur district, police sources said.

Sources said they were travelling with the counterfeit currency notes in a car from Ferozepur to Moga and were intercepted by the police for a search, following a tip-off from a police informer.

During the search, counterfeit currency notes of Rs 1000, Rs 500 and Rs 100 denominations the total worth of which was Rs 1.20 lakh, were recovered from their possession.

Police have registered a criminal case against all of them. Further investigation is in progress, sources added. 

Muktsar, April 6
The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) today sent two youngsters, accused of impersonation while appearing in the exam, to jail for 14 days.

As per the details, one Harbhajan Singh of Lakha Gaji village in the Ferozepur district had to take his English (Compulsory) exam of BA part (II) on Tuesday. He requested one of his friends Sukhmander Singh of Ahmad Dhandi village (Ferozepur) to write the exam on behalf of him.

The superintendent of the examination centre Prof Parminder Singh asked Sukhmander to prove his identity. He could not even tell the names of Harbhajan’s parents.

A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personating) and 420 of the IPC has been registered against both the accused. 

Moga, April 6
Three persons including two cousins were killed while one sustained serious injuries in separate accidents in the Moga district today. The deceased were identified as Harjit Singh and Sukhpreet Singh (cousins), residents of Chugga Kalan village.

Jagseer Singh, who was riding another motorcycle, was also hurt in the mishap. He has been referred to the DMC (Ludhiana). — TNS

Ferozepur, April 6
The Ferozepur police have busted a gang responsible for theft of motorcycles and arrested a person in this connection.

SSP Kaustabh Sharma said the accused has been identified as Mohinder Singh, a resident of Burj Ladha Singh under police station Dayalpura in Bathinda. A total of 15 motorcycles have been recovered, he added. — OC