Bathinda, May 9
Protest against the opening of liquor vends in localities is continuing to gather steam. After a demonstration in Amarpura Basti here on Sunday, residents of Gopal Nagar and Arjun Nagar also lodged a protest against the opening of liquor shops in their respective colonies today.

Some of the woman residents of the localities, while raising anti-establishment slogans, accused the government of ruining their families.

They claimed that liquor was not only creating financial problems for them but also proving to be a social evil.

Rekha Rani, one of protesters, said, "On the one hand, the government propagates anti-liquor message through slogans like 'Papa Ji Na Piyo Sharab, Mainu Le Deo Ik Kitab,' and on the other, when we want to keep our area liquor-free, the government, in an apparent bid at maximise profits, is forcibly opening liquor shops."

Finding that the agitators were not relenting, the police closed the liquor shop and assured the agitators of getting it shifted.

Meanwhile, the district office of the Excise and Taxation Department is flooded with resolutions passed by Panchayats and residents welfare associations declaring that they do not want liquor shops in their areas.

Nearly 50 applications have already landed at the office requesting the authorities either to close liquor vends in their villages or to shift them to some distant place, informed officials of the department.

As the department does not seem to be in a mood to consider the applications and enforce prohibition in the respective areas, people are taking their fight literally to the roads. The recent villagers-police clash at Selbrah village in the district was one such example narrating the gravity of the situation.

Just four days back, the situation turned tense at village Siviyan in the district, when villagers lodged resentment against the opening of liquor vend as they had already passed a resolution against it.

However, timely intervention of the Nehianwala police controlled the situation taking ugly turn.

Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO), Bathinda, RS Romana said the agitation was not the proper way to keep the village or locality free from liquor shops.

Informing about the due procedure, he said all Panchayats and resident associations were welcome to submit their resolutions against the opening of liquor shops in their areas before a specific date.

After that, the senior officials of the department gave a proper hearing and had the officials been convinced, the area could have been kept free from liquor vends.

Replying to a related query, Romana said only two Panchayats - Nandgarh Kotra and Kotra Kauriwala in the district - had sent their resolutions to the department within the specific period but after an analysis, their demand was not accepted.

Bathinda, May 9
The liquor business in Punjab, which is considered as money spinning and hence attracted big players from various parts of the country, has started facing opposition in many areas.

Due to the opposition from local population, religious bodies and other social organisations, about 10 liquor vends could not be opened in various districts of Punjab despite the fact that over a month has passed since their allotment to the vendors concerned.

Official sources said due to stiff opposition from locals and other sections of society, three liquor vends each in Patiala and Bathinda districts while a vend each in Sangrur, Gurdaspur and Ropar districts could not be opened.

Though the Excise and Taxation Department authorities consider the number of liquor vends, which could not start functioning so far, was negligible in comparison to the number of vends in operation since April 1, 2011, protests against their opening by people is alarming.

At Selbrah village recently, the situation took an ugly turn when the agitated residents allegedly attacked the policemen and set their vehicle on fire.

The residents had to face the wrath of the policemen the next day when they were beaten up mercilessly, bundled into vehicles and taken to police stations. Criminal cases were registered against many of them and the situation there is yet to return to normal.

Even village Panchayats have passed resolutions against the opening of liquor vends.

LA Khan, Additional Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, while admitting that in certain pockets, the local populace and religious bodies were opposing the opening of liquor vends, said the matter was being sorted out.

Ravinder Singh Romana, Excise and Taxation Officer, Bathinda, said the liquor vend, which was to be opened in Selbrah village, was authorised and approved and had been allotted to Gagan Vasu, a contractor. He said he did not know as to why the residents were opposing its opening even as it had been running in the village for the past 10 years.

Bathinda, May 9
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has given a special chance to those candidates who could not appear in the prestigious All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) held on May 1 due to paper leakage, by re-scheduling the exam for them on May 11.

These students include those who could not appear in the AIEEE exam because the centre where they were supposed to write their exam was also a centre designated for the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) entrance exam. As a result, these centres could not conduct the AIEEE exam after it was re-scheduled that day following the paper leakage.

The roll numbers, city and examination centre will remain the same. Candidates can appear with the old admit cards or may download it from CBSE website.

Those who could not appear in the exam including its online mode as they had to appear for the AFMC exam at different centre or due to administrative reasons, but later going through a special procedure, registered themselves online and were deemed eligible, will also take the exam on May 11 at notified centres in 39 cities of the country, said Pitam Singh, Director (Special Examinations), CBSE. — TNS

Bathinda, May 9
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) has taken cognisance of the incident pertaining to the alleged merciless beating of activists of the Unemployed PTI Teachers’ Union by a section of policemen in this town on March 17.

Ved Parkash Gupta, general secretary, Punjab Human Rights Committee, Bathinda, had approached the PSHRC through a complaint made to it by telegram. In his complaint, Gupta alleged that the Bathinda police thrashed activists of the union, who were agitating in a peaceful manner. He had also sought the intervention of PSHRC into this matter.

The commission had asked the state government to give a report on this issue through the SSP, Bathinda, by May 20, 2011, the next date of hearing.

On March 17, more than a dozen activists, including women activists, were allegedly roughed up by cops and the SAD (Badal) activists when they were agitating while a function connected with foundation stone-laying ceremony of a school was being presided over by Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

The union activists were thrashed in the presence of Harsimrat Badal and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.

Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said he had not received any copy of the order of the PSHRC in this connection.

Bathinda, May 9
Despite the disbursement of over Rs 3.80 crore between December 2010 and March 2011 among over 2,550 beneficiaries of the ‘Shagun scheme’ in this district, about 3,460 beneficiaries are still awaiting the benefit for different periods between December 2009 and March 2011.

Between December 2010 and March 2011, apart from disbursing the benefit (Rs 15,000) to 1,168 cases of the financial year 2006-07 in this district, the state government also disbursed the ‘Shagun’ amounts to over 1,400 cases of April 2009 to November 2009.

It is recalled that the 1,168 beneficiaries of the financial year 2006-07 (Capt Amarinder Singh’s regime) had to wait for more than three and half years to get the amounts of the ‘Shagun scheme’. However, the Badal government decided to release the funds in the last quarter of 2010 for them also.

Sources informed this reporter that if the state government wanted to clear all pending cases (from December 2009 to March 2011) of the Bathinda district, then it should provide over Rs 5 crore in one go to the District Welfare Office, Bathinda. An amount of over Rs 1.75 crore was required for the pending cases of 2009-10 and over Rs 3.25 crore for the pending cases of 2010-11.

It is learnt that the state government is going to release more funds for the ‘Shagun scheme’ this month, so that the pending cases could be cleared at the earliest.

Bathinda, May 9
Without fixing any target for enroling members, the Youth Congress today began its membership drive from here for three Lok Sabha constituencies, namely Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepur.

The in-charge of the Malwa zone, Sanjay Lal Paswan, appointed by the All India Youth Congress Committee, said the membership drive would complete on May 20. To enrol members, the Youth Congress workers and leaders would approach the youth by visiting door-to-door in their respective areas, he added.

To a query, Paswan said no target had been fixed for number of enrolments in these three constituencies but he expected that every activist would enrol maximum number of members.

However, he said after the completion of the membership drive, the membership forms would be scrutinised to prepare final membership lists for holding booth-level elections. A president, a vice-president and three general secretaries would be elected at booth level. Later, office-bearers for the Assembly constituency and the Lok Sabha constituency would be elected for a term of two years, he added.

He disclosed that the Youth Congress had decided to change its organisational structure and hence, there would no district or block-level president. He said after the elections to the booth level, Assembly constituency level and Lok Sabha constituency level, state-level elections would be held to elect the state president.

Paswan also said the entire election process would be supervised by an NGO, Foundation for Advanced Management of Election, to ensure the holding of these elections in a free and fair manner.

Bathinda, May 9
Dr Nagpal’s Punjab Public College of Nursing, situated at Katar Singh Wala village near here, will celebrate the International Nurses Day on its campus on May 12.

Chairman of the college Dr TS Nagpal said today it was a day for the people to know about the nursing community and the dedication of nurses towards the infirm and ailing people. Dr GS Nagpal, MD, Nagpal Group of Institutions, said the celebrations would be an annual feature. — TNS

Mandi Ladhuka (Ferozepur) May 9
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, while seeking a special economic package for the overall development of border areas of Punjab, accused the successive Congress governments at the Centre of deliberating keeping the state backward.

"Punjab, which has been contributing a major share to the food basket of country, is not being allowed by the Centre to export wheat to Pakistan and Middle-East countries so that farmers could get a remunerative price for their produce," he alleged, adding this was a grave injustice being done to the peasantry of the state.

Neither the issue connected with the opening up of Hussainiwala and Sadiqi routes for starting Indo-Pak trade were taken up seriously nor a single penny was given to create the necessary infrastructure in the border areas for development by the Congress-led UPA government, he alleged.

Talking to media persons during his second round of Sangat Darshan in Jalalabad and Fazilka assembly segments, Sukhbir alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that the border areas would be taken care of, bit nothing concrete had come out so far.

The border region lacked industrial development and hence, needed a boost for its overall development. The Punjab government had raised the demand for opening of Hussainiwala and Sadiqi routes for Indo-Pak trade when Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram visited Hussainiwala last year.

To a question connected with the district status to Fazilka sub-division, Badal said a committee constituted by the Chief Minister was already examining the issue. Whenever its report comes, the State Government would take a decision for creation of new districts in Punjab including Fazilka accordingly.

To another question related to the arrest of Raj Khurana and summons issued to Cabinet Ministers Manoranjan Kalia and Swarna Ram by the CBI, he said CBI had shown undue haste in the whole episode and taken action against the BJP leaders without any direct evidence against them.

Expressing his satisfaction over the ongoing procurement of wheat, he said the leaves of staff members of the state procurement agencies had been cancelled till the procurement was over. This had been done to ensure smooth procurement of wheat especially when the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was purchasing little quantity of wheat.

Sukhbir, who was accompanied by Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Sher Singh Ghubhaya, MP, Surjit Jiyani and Gurtej Singh (MLAs), also laid the foundation stone of a bridge to be constructed over Ladhu Ke drain at the cost of Rs two crores.

He also distributed grants worth crores for development projects at Sangat Darshan held at Ladhuka, Kirianwali, Singhewala, Jaimalwala and Bahmaniwala villages. 

Ferozepur, May 9
The members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) recovered 70 more fake arms licences from the dwellings of arms dealers, Harish Kumar and Raman Kumar, running their respective gun houses in Abohar town of the district.

With the recovery of 70 more licences, the total number of fake arms licences recovered from the duo so far has reached 220. The accused have absconded after the registration of a criminal case against them at the city police station, Abohar.

The 70 licences were recovered late in the evening yesterday when a search was carried out members of SIT.

The SIT was constituted by SSP Kaustab Sharma to go deep into this racket, being run by the accused for many years. The involvement of officials of various departments of the Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir governments has not been ruled out.

Police sources said fake arms licences, recovered so far, bear the stamps of district magistrates of various districts of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Most of these licences were prepared in the name of ex-servicemen. The accused were running two separate gun houses under the name of Rahul Gun House and Durga Gun House in Abohar town.

The letter pads of the Commanding Officer of the Indian Army being used for issuing the no-objection certificate (NOC) to those interested in getting arms licences, have also been recovered by the police. Arms and ammunition was also recovered from the dwellings of the accused.

Sharma said that different wings of SIT, headed by Karamjit Singh, DSP, Fazilka, would verify each and every licence. The process of investigation was expected to be completed at the earliest.

Though raids were being conducted at the hideouts of the accused, they could not be arrested so far. The SSP said the involvement of influential persons in the scam could not be ruled out as of now.

Mallanwala (Ferozepur), May 9
Residents, leaders of political parties and representatives of various social organisations surrounded the local police station and blocked traffic on the Ferozepur-Makhu road today to lodge their protest against the allegedly partisan role of the local police in a dowry related case.

The townsfolk including traders and businessmen also observed a complete bandh to protest against the alleged favours extended to the in-laws of a newly-married girl in a dowry related case.

The residents said that despite the fact that the goons hired by the in-laws of the girl, who fired many shots in while moving in a Scorpio in broad daylight yesterday, when the police officials were questioning the accused at the local police station, no action was taken against them.

Simarjit Kaur, a local girl, who was married to Varinder, a resident of Moga, was allegedly subjected to torture by her husband and in-laws for her failure to meet their demand for dowry.

Yesterday, Simarjit Kaur was beaten up by her in-laws including husband Varinder, brother-in-law Monu, father-in-law Baldev and mother-in-law Prem Rani. The accused also tried to throw her into the canal, running close to the town.

After seeing people moving near the spot, where they were allegedly trying to throw Simarjit Kaur into the canal, the accused abandoned her and fled. Simarjit Kaur was admitted to a local hospital by her father Jaswinder Singh.

However, the police rounded up all the four members of Simarjit Kaur's inlaws' family, including her husband, yesterday in the evening.

Jaijeet Jauhal, leader of People's Party of Punjab, alleged that after some time, the accused were freed by the police without taking any action against them allegedly under pressure from a senior functionary of Punjab police.

Police sources said the gherao was lifted after a case under section 498-A, 323 and 34 of the IPC was registered against Varinder, Monu, Baldev and Prem Rani.

No arrests had been made in this connection so far.

The incident connected with the firing of shots by the goons yesterday was being verified. 

Moga, May 9
A 30-feet breach was reported in the Buttar minor sub-canal at Dhudike village, following which, water gushed into the nearby fields. The wheat straw that was likely to be used to make dry fodder for cattle was damaged, said the villagers.

As per the details available, the irrigation department was releasing water in this sub-canal for the past three days, which was flowing above the danger mark.

On Monday morning, a breach developed on the side of Dhudike village near the grain market.

The villagers immediately called on the officials of the irrigation department to stop the release of water in the channel.

Had the local residents not sounded an alert immediately, the water could have gushed into the grain market and the nearby houses, causing extensive damage.

Shinder Pal Singh, a farmer, said he had collected the straw in heaps to make dry fodder for cattle but it got destroyed in the water under humid conditions. "I got 45 acres of land on lease and have suffered a loss of about Rs one-lakh due to the damage to the dry fodder," he said.

The locals alleged that the government had not got this water channel cleaned for the past many years, resulting in a rise in the canal bed level, which was the main reason for today's breach.

The local officials of the irrigation department said they had got the sanction to clean this channel and it would be cleaned in the next couple of weeks.