Faridkot, May 11
Frustrated over the slow lifting of wheat from the grain market to the storehouse, a labourer working in the grain market at Golewal village in the Faridkot district allegedly tried to commit suicide on Wednesday afternoon by dousing himself in kerosene.

However, he was saved by his colleagues well in time when he was about to set himself ablaze.

The labourer, identified as Veer Singh, in a statement recorded before the police alleged that the slow movement of wheat from the grain markets to the storehouses has frustrated the labour community because they were not being paid by the contractors for sitting idle without any work.

He stated that the labourers could not go for other work as per the agreement till the final lot of lifting from the market even if they were sitting idle for days or weeks. "Under such circumstances, without work and pay, there is no option left for me and my colleagues but to die," he alleged.

On hearing about the incident, hundreds of labourers working in the Golewala grain market and other nearby markets came out in the streets and sat on a dharna blocking the vehicular traffic on the Faridkot- Ferozepur state highway.

It was learnt that the grain market catering to the nearby villages — Pakhi, Maluka, Khugiana and others was allotted to the Punsup for the purchase of wheat by the state government. As many as 60,000 bags were lying here waiting to be lifted and shifted to the storehouses.

In the whole district, as many as four lakh bags of foodgrains were lying in various grain markets for lifting for the past about one week, an official of the district administration revealed.

The procurement process has almost been completed and the farmers had been paid for their produce. However, the labourers, who work as daily wagers at the behest of the contractors, get paid when they load trucks and take this crop to their destinations and unload them in the storehouses.

However, for nearly a week, there has been no work for the labourers as the truck union of Faridkot has refused to give trucks for moving out the foodgrains from the markets.

And the contractors who had hired the labourers, do not let them go leaving them distressed and without money in the absence of work.

The protesting labourers lifted the road blockade a couple of hours after the District Magistrate Balwinder Singh Multani assured them of moving the foodgrains out of the grain markets.

The District Magistrate said the administration has taken adequate measures to lift the foodgrains and the labour community would not be allowed to suffer in future.

Glut of wheat in Abohar grain market on Wednesday. Photo: Raj Sadosh

Abohar, May 11
As the three-day ultimatum given to the lifting contractors by the sub-divisional magistrate and subsequent warning to ensure lifting within two days by the Deputy Commissioner did not play yield results, District Food and Supplies Controller Lovkesh Sharma reached here today and held a meeting with the senior functionaries of the Arhtia Association and Truck Operators Union.

Later, he revealed to the media that 2,25,8935 metric tonnes of wheat had so far been purchased by different agencies. In Abohar, total purchase was recorded at 2,30,6790 quintals, out of which, 1,45,1940 quintals of wheat had so far been lifted.

He assured that the pending stock would be lifted within a week. About the promises made by top ruling politicians and senior state officers on lifting within 72 hours, he said such bumper crop was not expected and all segments faced a shortage of labour as migrants remained confined to their own states this time. He said a special stationary train was being arranged to make more space for storage in the area.

Bathinda, May 11
In the appointment of Harminder Singh Jassi as one of the eight general secretaries of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), the party high-command has kept in mind the Dera Sacha Sauda factor that has the potential to play a significant role, particularly in the Malwa region, during the coming Assembly elections.

Jassi is closely related to the controversial Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who has been playing a decisive role in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the Malwa region.

While appointing Jassi as a general secretary, the loyalists of PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh, particularly in the Bathinda and Mansa districts where the party badly trounced the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the last Assembly elections, have been ignored.

Jassi is known to have shifted his loyalty towards Congress Legislature Party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal before returning to the Captain's fold recently.

Another general secretary belonging to the Malwa region, Gurjit Singh Rana, is also considered close to Capt Amarinder Singh.

The Dera factor played a spoilsport for the SAD in the last Assembly elections when the party suffered a setback by winning only a handful of seats in the Malwa region as a result of which it had to seek BJP's support to form the government.

However, in the Lok Sabha elections that followed in 2009, the Dera chief is believed to have tilted in favour of the SAD candidate, Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is the wife of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. Subsequently, she had a landslide victory in the Bathinda and Mansa districts that form the Bathinda parliamentary constituency. However, she failed to poll majority votes in the Bathinda segment that is represented by Jassi in the Assembly. In almost all other segments represented by Congress legislators, she secured a back-breaking lead over the Congress candidate, Raninder Singh who is son of Amarinder Singh.

Appointments of Jassi and also that of Narender Bhaleria as the Bathinda District Congress chief (Rural) were celebrated by party activists here this morning.

Meanwhile, Gulchain Singh Charak, who is in-charge of Punjab in the AICC, told this correspondent over the phone that a balance had been maintained between the Jats, non-Sikhs and weaker sections while recasting the PPCC. "No MLA has been appointed as the district president and the opportunity has been given to those from the rank and file of the party," he added.

Sriganganagar, May 11
Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and Sant Lal Singh Tahlisahib would lead thousands of farmers from different parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in laying a seige to the Kala Sanghia drain near Jalandhar on May 18.

This would be a part of long time agitation aimed at lodging protest over the failure of the Punjab government in checking discharge of hazardous chemical waste by industries into canals and rivers.

A group of close associates of Sant Seechewal of Onkar Charitable Trust visited the historic gurudwara Baba Sukha Singh Mehtab Singh at Hanumangarh today to mobilise farmers of the twin districts of Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar to join the agitation. Trust representatives Satnam Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Paramjit Singh and Kamaljeet Singh revealed to The Tribune that senior functionaries of farmer organisations have extended support to the cause since contaminated water was resulting in spread of cancer in the region as well.

During the meeting held in the gurudwara, Rajinder Makkasar, former president, Zila Parishad, Chanan Ram Chaudhary of Patanjali Yoga Samiti, District Youth Congress, former president, Ishaq Khan, Bharat Swabhiman Trust, convener, Vijay Kaushik, Beopar Mandal, president, Gopal Jindal, veteran BJP leader, Jaspal Singh and Anand Mohan Sharma of Arya Samaj assured that hundreds of farmers and others would be ferried using buses to Jalandhar. A poster was released during the meeting.

Ferozepur, May 11
Bestowed with the privilege of being one of the oldest and biggest divisional and district headquarters, Ferozepur, even six decades after independence is sans any government degree college till date. Owing to this, a section of the populace, which is not able to afford higher education in private establishments, finds it hard to ensure vertical educational growth for their wards.

There are four well-established private colleges in the town offering graduate and post-graduate courses in various disciplines. However, every year, the local residents clamour for the opening of a government college as for many of them, especially those who are economically weaker, higher education is still beyond their means. Many a times, representations have been made to various governments and the issue has been brought to the notice of visiting dignitaries but in vain. CM Parkash Singh Badal had earlier announced the opening of a government degree college in the town and even a piece of land had been identified on the Zira- Ferozepur road. However, nothing has moved beyond the files.

While talking to a cross-section of people, it was found that many attribute it to the lack of will on the part of the local politicians as strong political lobbies in neighbouring Guruharsahai and Jalalabad areas could get a college sanctioned while the district headquarters itself has been left in lurch.

In Guruharsahai, Government College is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1093.74 lakh and another Girls Degree College is under construction in Jalalabad, on which Rs 1134.72 lakh is being spent. In Guruharsahai, the college project was started in 2006 following the efforts of Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi (MLA) while in Jalalabad, which is being represented by Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, the project was commissioned at his instance and more than 50 per cent of work has already been completed.

Besides the colleges, the present government has taken initiatives to improve school and technical education in the area as 42 middle schools are being upgraded to high school at a cost of Rs 7.42 crore, six new model schools are being constructed at a cost of Rs 18 crore under a Centrally sponsored scheme besides six new girls hostel are also coming up involving an expenditure of Rs 2.6 crore.

The local ITI has also been renovated at a cost of Rs 197 lakh and another polytechnic college is being under construction on which Rs 683 lakh is being spent, still the proposal to open a government college in the border town has not caught the fancy of the government yet. In Abohar sub-division also, there is no government college in the absence of which poor students passing out of secondary schools are not able to go for higher studies. The only two government colleges in the district are located at Zira and Fazilka, which are also facing government apathy in the absence of adequate funds for their growth and infrastructural upgradation.

Earlier, during the pre-partition days, youth from the town used to travel to Lahore for higher education. However, after the partition, that option also ceased.

Ashwani Mehta, president, Beopar Mandal, said it was high time the government looked into the genuine demand of the people of Ferozepur as the town badly needs a college now.

While several people have been demanding the opening of a government college, some educationists feel otherwise. Dr SN Rudra said the government colleges as such are not doing well, so there was no need to set up one. Rather, the private colleges should be asked to accommodate more students from economically weaker sections and offer them subsidised education.

Bathinda, May 11
The normal functioning in various government offices here today remained paralysed due to the pen-down strike by the ministerial staff (clerical cadre). The three-day strike began today on the call of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU) in protest against non-acceptance of the long-standing demands of the ministerial staff and non-release of a grant of Rs 100 crore by the government for the clerks and stenos etc in lieu of their demand for higher pay-scales (Rs 10300-34800) for them.

The other demands of the PSMSU include 20 per cent house rent allowance for the employees working in Bathinda and Patiala cities, no delay in imparting computer training to the clerks who have not passed Punjabi type test so far, and the payment of first installment of the arrears of the revised pay-scales.

District treasurer of the PSMSU Ashok Chopra said due to the pen-down strike, the functioning in the district treasury office here had been paralysed as the strong room could not be operated. Besides, stamp papers were not issued to vendors. The treasury office did not receive even a single bill from any office while no cheque was issued to any department by the treasury, he added.

Several union leaders, including president Sukhpal Singh Sidhu (Irrigation), senior vice-president Meharjit Singh (DC office), general secretary Kewal Bansal and Ashok Chopra, today also took a round of various offices in the Mini-secretariat here to ensure that all members of the ministerial staff were observing the pen-down strike. The union also sent two-member teams to various offices outside the Mini-secretariat to ensure the pen-down strike was a big success.

It is worth mentioning here that due to the pen-down strike by the ministerial staff on May 11-13, which happen to be working days just before the official holidays of Saturday and Sunday, people will have to wait till Monday to get their works done.

It is learnt that the strike will also hit those newly-appointed employees, who have to join service in various departments. Now, they will not be able to join before Monday because the work related to their medical examination will remain stalled as the ministerial staff in the Civil Surgeon's office is also observing the strike.