Chandigarh, May 2
Punjab is becoming a retail outlet for several small arms factories in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These factories fulfill the Punjabi yearning for arms with ‘made to order’ Webley Scott, Smith and Wesson or Colt revolvers and pistols.

The Mansa police has busted an inter-state gang and recovered 270 revolvers and pistols, all of them illegal but with inscribed names and numbers of foreign manufacturers.

It has arrested 15 persons, including seven police personnel, for allegedly supplying cartridges from police armouries to gang members who would sell these to Maoists in other states. As many as 6,000 cartridges stolen from police armouries and shown as expended during training exercises have also been recovered. The gang sold hundreds of small arms weapons to unsuspecting Punjabis at rates varying from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The weapons cost the gang members around Rs 35,000 each. Punjab police chief PS Gill said the state would get in touch with the Union Home Ministry to ascertain if the gang had operatives in other states as well. This needed to be investigated by a central agency. The state on its part would check the records of arms dealers to determine the extent of the racket.

The racket was unearthed by Mansa SSP HS Mann, who was the hero at the police headquarters here with ADGP (Intelligence) Suresh Arora offering him his chair at a meeting addressed by the DGP. The DGP said Mann started investigating complaints that illegal weapons were freely available in Mansa and eventually zeroed in on gunhouse owners sponsoring the racket in league with those running illegal factories in UP. The police have arrested gunhouse owners Mahesh Kumar (Indian Gunhouse, Mansa), Anil Midha (Hindustan Gunhouse, Sirsa) and Nand Kishore (Tammana Armoury, Moga) besides Arvinder Singh Pappu of Ludhiana. After buying fake weapons these gunhouse owners would get the documents and bills forged from Chiranji Lal and Sons (Thanesar) and Harkamaljit Singh (Avtar Gunhouse, Amritsar).

The Mansa police has also unearthed an illegal gun factory in Firozabad, which was supplying small arms to Anil Midha, the kingpin of the gang.

Midha possessed six specially designed vehicles, which were used to supply cartridges outside the state and bring back weapons.

Midha brought cartridges from a number of gunhouse owners at Jalalabad, Moga and Abohar.

The cartridges were purchased for Rs 8 each from police personnel in charge of armouries and sold for Rs 30 each outside the state. The police has also arrested a woman for preparing fake bills for the arms. 

Sriganganagar, May 2
The need for enhancing infrastructure at key military stations and forward locations was stressed upon for enhancing the operational and fighting efficiency of fighting units during the visit of the Union Defence Minister AK Antony.

Antony visited the desert sector of the Southern Army on Monday. He was received at the Jaisalmer Air Force Station by Lieutenant General AK Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Army and Lieutenant General Narendra Singh, General Officer Commanding, Konark Corps.

He was accompanied by the chief of the Army staff General VK Singh and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar. Immediately after his arrival, he along with the field commanders, embarked on a tour of the forward most locations of the Southern Army to be with the troops braving extremely harsh conditions of sweltering heat and frequent dust-storms.

He was briefed in detail on operational and infrastructural issues and he interacted intimately with the troops present at the post.

Antony expressed his satisfaction at the operational preparedness along the borders and gave his assurance to look into the aspects of enhancing infrastructure and habitat for troops. Later, he visited the Jaisalmer Military Station, where he was received by the Station Commander and introduced to the officials of the military station. A detailed briefing on operational aspects was given to him by General Officer Commanding-in-Chief.

While addressing all ranks during the Sainik Sammelan, Antony shared his thoughts and motivated them to remain alert and be prepared to tackle any misadventure by our adversary.

He complimented all ranks for their display of unflinching morale, high fighting spirit and operational preparedness in such a difficult terrain and adverse climatic conditions.

He also interacted with the jawans, junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and officers during a Barakhana and inquired about their well-being.

Bathinda, May 2
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is playing spoilsport by not lifting even a single granule of wheat during the current procurement of the crop, particularly in the main grain markets of the Bathinda district.

This is likely to upset the procurement target fixed for each agency in the state. According to the Deputy Commissioner, S. Karuna Raju, the FCI has failed to come out for wheat procurement in the main grain markets at Goniana and Rama Mandi. These two mandis are considered among the biggest ones in Punjab .

Raju said he has taken up the issue with the FCI that was supposed to lift 20 per cent of the wheat produce. The other state-owned agencies were engaged in the smooth conduct of procurement that was vital for the farmers of the region.

He said the FCI has also failed to coordinate with the railways to carry whatever grain it has so far lifted in various other grain markets.

A target of lifting 7.5 lakh tons of wheat has been fixed for the district during the current season and the FCI was supposed to lift 20 per cent of the total.

Raju said the FCI was also lagging behind in releasing payment to the farmers for the lifted grain. Payment has been released for only 66 per cent of the grain lifted by the FCI, whereas the other agencies of the state were prompt in releasing 90 per cent payment.

Raju, constantly on the move from one grain market to the other to monitor uninterrupted lifting of the wheat crop, said lifting and loading was somewhat hit due to shortage of labour.

Against the requirement of 5500 men, only about 2000 labourers were available in various grain markets. The shortfall has taken place this season due to the Panchayat elections in Bihar that is the main source of labour force for farm activities in Punjab .

The labourers who have arrived here prefer to work in the upcoming refinery where they were getting daily wage ranging between Rs 350 to Rs 400. However, the entire operation was expected to be completed within the next week or so, he said.

Bathinda, May 2
Contrary to the oft cited claim that the municipal councils/Nagar Panchayats suffer from paucity of funds, it has now been revealed that over a dozen of them falling within the Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts have ample resources to generate revenue but due to lack of interest among the authorities concerned, they are lying unexploited.

The anomaly came to light after a Sunam (Sangrur)-based NGO, Sankalp gathered information under the RTI Act.

With the rise in population and development taking place, all towns are expanding. A number of fuel stations, factories and other commercial as well as residential establishments are being set up beyond the municipal limits.

As such establishments are not being covered under the rules and regulations of the particular municipal committees/Nagar Panchayats, on the one hand, they get exempted from various taxes and liabilities, and on the other, it leads to uneven growth of the towns.

Once a town is expanded beyond the municipal limits, the authorities concerned are supposed to initiate a process to enlarge its limits to cover the establishments within its jurisdiction. The process is initiated with a dual motive-- first, to earn revenue and secondly, to provide basic amenities like sewerage, water, roads, etc. to the residents living outside the limits.

However, from the details collected from the office of the Deputy Registrar, Local Bodies, Bathinda, activists of the NGO Sankalp found that out of 18 municipal councils/Nagar Panchayats, except for three, namely, Bhucho, Rampura Phul and Budhlada, none else has even initiated the process to expand its municipal limits.

Ironically, the three municipal councils, which had sent their cases to the state government, are also not chasing it willfully and the files have been pending for long.

"Once a Municipal Council or Nagar Panchayat expands its limits, all establishments which are otherwise located out of its jurisdiction, comes under its preview and becomes liable to follow all rules and pay the taxes imposed by it. Besides revenue, it also checks the carving of illegal colonies," said Jatinder Kumar Jain, president, Sankalp.

"However, it has become a common practice that people set up their establishments out of the municipal limits to evade taxes. If the authorities concerned take it seriously and cover such establishments within their extended limits, revenue worth crores can be earned," Jain added.

Regional Deputy Registrar, Local Bodies, Amandeep Bansal said, "The increase in area limit can get the MCs and Nagar Panchayats more revenue but before taking such step, they also consider the burden of liabilities that sometimes pulls them back." But he agreed that the limits should be reviewed timely for the even growth of towns.

Abohar, May 2
Anguished over non-availability of drinking water for the past one week, scores of residents including women from Dharam Nagari and Panjpeer localities allegedly dragged out Sub-Divisional Engineer (SDE) Hakam Singh from the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) office in the old waterworks today.

Witnesses said he was pushed out and thrashed by the irate mob. The main bus stand has got a permanent post but none of the cops intervened. Some of the protesters ransacked the PWSSB office, threw many files out and indulged in sloganeering against the Municipal Council and PWSSB.

They rued that the ruling politicians in the MC weremaking false claims for the past two years over making adequate arrangements for drinking water but people keep complaining about shortage.

Later, the police rescued the SDE by dispersing the protesters peacefully.

Bathinda, May 2
Deputy Commissioner S. Karuna Raju, who is also the president of the District Red Cross Society, today held a meeting with all officials concerned with the Red Cross and its allied welfare societies.

During the meeting, the DC formed a sub-committee to enhance the income of the District Red Cross Society.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the committee members to submit its report within few days. He also asked the officials to start providing education to blind students also at the deaf and dumb school.

The Deputy Commissioner also asked the officials to make a proposal for auctioning properties from which the society was not earning any income, and send it to the Governor for approval.

Ferozepur, May 2
Ahead of the coming paddy season, the Agriculture Department, to provide technical know-how about the sowing of paddy crop and activities pertaining to ATMA (Agriculture Technical Management Agency) scheme today organised a farmers’ training camp.

Agricultural experts from the PAU Ludhiana besides officials from the Agriculture Department and hundreds of farmers participated in the camp.

DC Kamal Kishore Yadav inaugurated the camp. Dr Nirankar Singh Sra, Joint Director (Agriculture) and Dr Bakshish Singh Chahal, Chief Agriculture Officer, were also present on the occasion.

Dr Sra highlighted the achievements of the Agriculture Department and gave a detailed report on various schemes for the welfare of the farmers currently embarked upon by the department.

A team of experts from the PAU led by Dr Harminder Singh Gill gave detailed information on the sowing of paddy crop, safeguarding it from the attack of pests and other diseases besides optimum use of irrigational water techniques. Experts also discussed the latest agricultural equipment.

Bathinda, May 2
A Class IX student of Guru Ravi Das Dharmshala Wali Gali, Bhupinder Singh, drowned in the reservoir of the railway waterworks located near Pokhar Mal canteen here today.

Volunteers of the Hanuman Seva Samiti launched a rescue operation when they came to know that Bhupinder was feared drowned. After half an hour after the exercise, they pulled him out and rushed him to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, where doctors declared him brought dead.

It is learnt that Bhupinder was returning from school when he and his friends decided to take a bath in the reservoir. The police is investigating the matter.