Bathinda, April 12
Even as farmers of the Malwa region are agitated that a section of private dealers have been selling Bt cotton seeds for a premium, the Agriculture Department authorities have come down heavily on such unscrupulous traders.

Farmers today staged a dharna and blocked traffic on the Bathinda-Mansa road in the city to protest the delay being caused by the agencies concerned to supply them the Bt cotton seeds. They alleged that they had waited for 3-4 days to get the seeds while standing in a queue in front of the distribution centre of the Markfed here.

A section of the farmers alleged that they were being given Bt cotton seeds of different variety against their demand. A large number of farmers have been descending at the seed distribution centre of Markfed and at shops of private dealers to get enough stock of Bt cotton seeds as per their requirement as the cotton sowing season is to start after two days. Manjeet Singh Brar, DM, Markfed, Bathinda, said the farmers lifted the traffic blockade only after the Markfed authorities issued them advance slips for ensuring delivery of the Bt cotton seeds on the dates mentioned on the slips.

On the other hand, coming down heavily on the unscrupulous traders, the agriculture department officials suspended the licence of a seed dealer of Mandi Ladhu Ke of the Ferozepur district for his alleged involvement in selling the Bt cotton seeds without having the authorisation to do so from the department concerned and without displaying the rate list of the items being sold by him.

The agriculture department authorities of the Muktsar district have taken the records of eight business firms based in Gidderbaha and Malout for their alleged involvement in non-maintaining of record in a proper way. A case against a seed dealer has been registered under the Essential Commodities Act at Gidderbaha police station for his alleged involvement in selling Bt cotton seed from Gujarat.

Darshan Singh Sandhu, Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Muktsar, said regular checking of seeds dealers was going on. Any dealer found indulging in mischief was not being spared, he added. Paramjit Singh Sandhu, CAO, Bathinda, said some problems were being faced by the distribution agencies on account of the fact that a major section of the cotton growers had been demanding Bt seeds of a particular company.

Bakhshish Singh Chahal, CAO, Ferozepur, said it was being ensured that the cotton growers of neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana are not able buy Bt cotton seeds from the traders. Meanwhile, Gurdial Singh, Joint Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said the Bt cotton seeds had been arranged in more quantity than required by the farmers of Punjab. He said the private dealers were not being allowed to indulge in the sale of Bt cotton seeds in an unfair way. 

Bathinda, April 12
Congress leader Raninder Singh today blamed the SAD-BJP coalition government for the artificial scarcity of Bt cotton seeds in the Malwa belt of Punjab and said this was due to "bad governance" of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Raninder Singh said the farmers were facing problems in getting certified Bt cotton seeds and the unscrupulous elements were not only fleecing them but also supplying sub-standard seeds.

He said the state government has failed to create storage capacity for grains and accused the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal of trying to shift the responsibility on the Centre as the fresh procurement season has arrived.

The Congress leader urged the government to make arrangements for the smooth procurement of grains to avoid suffering to the farmers.

He alleged that various schemes, including the Atta-Dal scheme, for the uplift of the poor, have been politicized.

Referring to the party tickets for the coming assembly elections, Raninder Singh said the Congress would prefer young candidates and some new faces.

The delimitation of constituencies would also take its toll in all political parties. Some sitting legislators will lose their candidature because of the delimitation that was a constitutional exercise. But he hoped that the AICC would take a decision that satisfies the aspirations of all sections.

He criticized the SGPC for not giving an equal opportunity to all parties by allotting land for their political conferences during the Baisakhi fair at Talwandi Sabo on April 14.

Abohar, April 12
In view of high rate of road mishaps in the sub-division, three emergency ambulance vans have been provided under the Dial 108 scheme.

Two such vans were flagged off during brief ceremonies by the Punjab Social Welfare Board chairperson Vijay Luxmi Bhadoo and Balluana MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana at the Civil Hospital (Abohar) and the Community Health Centre (Balluana), respectively.

Dr DP Godara and in-charges of the health centres were among those present. Godara said 11 vans have been sanctioned for round-the-clock service in the Ferozepur district to ensure that first aid is provided within half an hour of receiving the call during the road mishaps besides other emergencies.

Sriganganagar, April 12
Padma Bhushan mountaineer Major (retd) Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia cautioned against professionalism that dots expedition to Mount Everest. Chairman of the New Delhi-based Indian Spinal Centre, he shared his views with the media during his maiden visit to the border district town.

He was shot at during the Indo-Pak war in 1965 right after his climb of the Everest and has been in a wheelchair since then. He did not let being disability keep him down. He has written several books including ‘Higher than Everest’ and ‘The Everest is Within You’. He recalls the third Indian Expedition was taken up with Commander MS Kohli as leader. On May 20, 1965, they succeeded when Colonel AS Cheema and Sherpa Nawang Gombu ascended the SE Ridge. Gombu became the first person to summit Everest twice (the 11th and 17th summit).

Of the first 17 summits of the Everest, Nawang had two of them! Additional summits were achieved by Sonam Gyatso, Sonam Wangyal, CP Vohra, Ang Kami, HPS Ahluwalia, HCS Rawat, and Phu Dorje. Major Ahluwalia summited Mt Everest on May 29 in 1965. He suffered spinal injury during the Indo-Pak war later.

He founded the Indian Spinal Injury Society in 1993 and is the chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002.

He was also honoured with the national award for the best work done in the field of disability, the Order of the Khalsa (Nishan-e-Khalsa).

He won the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for lifetime achievement on August 29, 2009.

Bathinda, April 12
"If I can't speak that does not mean you can kill me", "Save girl child" and "Think a world without us" were the voices of unborn baby girls, printed on flex boards, that were part of an awareness rally against female foeticide, taken out by a local NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, in the city on Ram Navmi today.

The rally was led by a Gypsy-trailer, presenting the horrific scene of a female foeticide case. On the trailer, a blood-stained toy girl was shown, lying on a heap of garbage in an abandoned condition. A baby girl, with a doll in her hands, was also sitting near the heap of garbage on the trailer.

This scene was presented by the organiser of the rally, Vijay Goyal, president of the Sahara Jan Sewa, to make an appeal to the people that "Girls are the future mothers, so don't throw them on heaps of garbage".

In the rally, eight ambulances of the NGO also took part, carrying banners to make people aware. The rally started from Dhobi Bazaar and also culminated at the same place after passing through Hospital Bazaar, Bank Bazaar, Sirki Bazaar and the Mall road.

Vijay Goyal said that they had taken out the awareness rally to disseminate the message that girls were equal to the boys in all fields, so people should not kill them in the womb. He also asked the Punjab government to implement the PNDT Act in letter and spirit.

A Sahara spokesman MM Behal said the rally had also been taken out to teach a lesson to those who on the one hand, worship 'Kanjaks' while on the other, they kill the unborn girls in the wombs.

Bathinda, April 12
The mystery shrouding the murder of a retired Inspector of Punjab Police, Darshan Singh (64), that took place outside his residence here on Monday, was cracked today with the police indicting his son Davinder Singh as the main accused in the crime.

Meanwhile, the car and weapons used in the crime have also been recovered.

Darshan Singh was about to enter his house in Bhai Mati Dass Nagar on Monday morning, when a white Maruti car hit him from the rear and two unidentified persons brutally attacked him with a sharp-edged axe and baseball bats. Leaving him lying in a pool of blood, the accused fled in the car but while fleeing, the rear glass of the vehicle fell on the ground.

During the investigation, police found that Darshan Singh had a dispute with his son and wife over his extra-marital affairs with various women. It was also alleged that he had illicit relations with his daughter-in-law. Irked over this, his son had left the house and filed a divorce petition.

Recording the statements of the relatives and neighbours of Darshan Singh, police was suspecting his son Davinder Singh was behind the murder but for want of evidence, a case was registered against unidentified persons at the Cantonment police station.

Collecting clues, the investigating officials traced the number of the vehicle used in the crime as it was there on the film pasted on the rear glass of the car that was lying on the spot of the crime.

Later, the police received the information that the car used in the crime was lying abandoned at Dabwali road. Sources informed the police that the accused had left the car on the road due to a snag in its engine.

Inspecting the vehicle, police officials found it was in the name of the deceased cop's son Davinder Singh and also recovered the blood-stained weapons from it.

Confirming the facts, Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said the police had sufficient evidence against Davinder Singh for being the main accused in the crime.

"As of now both, Davinder and his accomplice, who is unidentified, are at large. We have constituted teams which have been sent in different directions to nab them," said the SSP.

Moga, April 12
The rural folk of Bhalur village in Baghapurana sub-division of the Moga district have forced the local liquor contractor to shut down his vend and stop the sale of liquor.

The villagers were protesting against the opening of vend in the densely inhabited area for the past couple of weeks. Last evening, amid high drama, the women forced the salesman to flee and took control of the shop.

Excise and Taxation officer Dr BS Gill visited the village this morning and interacted with the people. The residents were adamant on shifting the liquor vend to some other location, away from the thickly-populated area. The women brought to the notice of the ETO that the women of the village make dung cakes near the liquor vend and it was causing inconvenience to them. Moreover, there is a meat shop near the liquor vend where a woman works, the ETO said.

Gill claimed that the villagers had agreed to provide some other location outside the village by tomorrow and till that time, the liquor vend would remain closed. "I have also asked the villagers to provide open space and we will ask the contractor for a shed on it," he said.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the contractor tried to sell liquor in the grain market yesterday and today illegally but the people forced him to take back the liquor boxes brought for sale. 

Sriganganagar, April 12
Two persons accused of gang-raping a school going girl (hailing from Dalit community) have been arrested, informed SP Rupinder Singh at a media briefing today.

While confirming the arrest of Sonu Bishnoi and Kapil Bishnoi under sections 366, 376(6), 143 and 149 of the IPC and 3(2) (5) of the SC/ST Act, he refuted the propaganda made by some elements that the police was working under pressure due to the alleged involvement of a leader of the Youth Congress in the crime.

The SP asserted that DSP Sahi Ram Bishnoi was investigating the case in a free and fair manner.

Notably, a school-going girl, aged 16, had on Sunday alleged she was kidnapped from her maternal uncle’s house at village Delwan and gang-raped at the house of a youth Congress leader by seven youth.

The SP further said the medico-legal report has been received. Action will be initiated against persons who had tried to interfere, he assured. All the accused will be arrested soon, he assured.

Khuian Sarwar (Abohar), April 12
Colourful pottery items, prepared by two families of the village for generations, whose rare art skills have been recognised even by the Government of Punjab and at the Suraj Kund Craft Mela in Haryana, have been scripting their own fate and that of their manufacturers in different manners for many years now.

While the colourful pottery items have been finding a pride of place in the drawing rooms of well-to-do families, both in India and abroad besides being used as gift items, their manufacturers are not able to earn enough to make both the ends meet. They have come under heavy debt burden of late.

The families felt elated when their pottery items including thinking man, idols of goddesses, national emblem, flowerpots, lamp stands, tables, laughing Buddha, wall hangings, fish, masks, pitchers and sun, among others, fetched them the Kala Mani award at the Suraj Kund Craft Mela in 1995 in the category of Mitti Ke Bartan (clay utensils) and appreciation certificate from the then Governor of Punjab, BD Pande, in 1983.

Even the village became famous all over the country as the items prepared by the artisans attracted a large crowd at various exhibitions and handicraft festivals held in various parts of India.

Heera Lal, who belongs to the fourth generation of the artisans, said, “I want to switch on to another occupation which can offer me sufficient amount of money. I have come under debt amounting to Rs 1.5 lakhs.”

Kirpa Ram, son of Heera Lal, expressed the similar views. Ram Lal, uncle of Heera Lal, said though they had kept the art alive so far, their next generation would be forced to leave it if the state government or its agencies did not extend financial help to them.

Ferozepur DC KK Yadav said a proposal to develop the place along with other places in the Ferozepur district as tourist hubs, had been sent to the Punjab government. He added that efforts were on to make arrangements for supporting the artisans, who could not get adequate publicity so far.