Bathinda, May 15
The father of state secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Sukhpal Sran was today in the thick of a raging controversy after he allegedly shot dead two of his nephews over a land dispute at Desu Jodha village near Dabwali in the neighbouring Haryana.

Though Sran claimed that his father Natha Singh fired in self-defence, the Haryana police, under whose jurisdiction the spot where the incident took place falls, booked the VHP leader’s father, sister, brother-in-law and others, including their driver and share-croppers (seeri), for the murders.

Sources in the village said Natha Singh had a land dispute with his cousins and nephews. Laced with fire arms, Natha Singh, his daughter and some others reached the controversial land to plough the fields where they had a bloody clash in which they opened fire while the rival group faced them with lathis only.

Later, Natha Singh and his daughter Paramjeet Kaur, claiming that they were also injured, rushed to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, where the doctors admitted them and found them to be out of danger. However, after some time, they left the hospital without getting discharged formally.

SMO of the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, Dr Vinod Garg said, “The father-daughter left the hospital without taking our permission. We have put a note on their file that they had left against the medical advice.”

Sukhpal Sran claimed that earlier, his father used to give nine acres of his agricultural land to his cousins and nephews for ploughing on an annual contract basis, which he refused this year and decided to plough on his own.

“On measuring our land, we found that our kin had merged nearly five kanals with their own land. After lodging an objection with our kin, we asked the revenue officials to settle the controversy through proper procedure,” claimed Sran.

He further said, “The revenue staff had scheduled their visit to the field on Wednesday but when one of our workers today went to the field, our kin did not allow him to enter the field. He immediately called up my father, who was at that time at our village Gurusar Saine Wala (Bathinda). As my father is a heart patient, one of my married sisters Parmajeet Kaur went along with him.”

“On reaching the disputed land, they found that our kin along with dozen of goons were already present. They started hurling abuses and damaged our tractor. When my father and sister objected to it, one of my distant cousins hit a sword in my father’s head while others started assaulting my sister,” he claimed.

“Irked, my father pulled out his licensed .315 bore rifle and fired three bullets in the air but finding that this had not deterred them, my father (in self-defence) shot at two of his nephews, Kaur Singh and Darshan Singh. With the help of villagers, he along with my sister managed to run away from the spot,” said the VHP leader.

Dabwali DSP Babu Lal, when contacted, said that acting upon the complaint of one Vakeel Singh, a case of murder was registered against Natha Singh, his daughter Paramjeet Kaur and five others, including his son-in-law, some farm labourers and driver. Vakeel Singh in his complaint had accused Natha Singh, his daughter and others of forcibly ploughing their land and then opening fire that led to the killing of the two.

The DSP mentioned that the police was investigating the matter in detail and had launched an operation to nab the accused at the earliest.

Bathinda, May 15
Even as hundreds of paying guest (PG) houses have been running legally or illegally in this town for over a decade now, the Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities have failed to charge house tax from their owners.

Official sources said the BMC authorities failed to levy house tax on PG houses despite the fact that notices were issued to about 20 such accommodations and 50 more accommodations were identified, whose owners would be issued notices, to make payment of house tax.

The sources added that last year, the local BMC authorities earned Rs 4.6 crore from house tax. The target of revenue from house tax for the current financial year was fixed at Rs 6 crore.

A senior functionary of the BMC, who did not wish to be quoted, said if the house tax was levied on all guest-houses in this town, the BMC authorities could earn over Rs 6 crore, which could be used to fund development projects. He added that the number of guest- houses in the town could be around 1,000. He claimed that PG houses were running in large numbers in the lanes and by-lanes of the Ajit Road, Power House road, 100-feet road, Bhagu road, localities of the Urban Estate and some other parts of the town. While some residents have converted two to three rooms of their dwellings into a PG house, some have converted one floor of their dwellings into a guest-house.

Some owners of big houses have rented their accommodations to different companies for use as guest-houses.

Besides, a number of coaching centres have also come up in the residential accommodations, which are also liable to pay house tax to the corporation.

Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman said house tax could not be levied on paying guest houses so far as some of the owners made a representation to the municipal corporation authorities that house tax should not be levied on them as it was not levied in the other cities of Punjab.

He added that the matter is awaiting a decision. A meeting of the general house of the municipal corporation would be held soon in which a decision on the issue would be taken, the Mayor added.

Abohar, May 15
Even when the pending work in the next phase of the Abohar-Fazilka rail link has gained momentum, there is little hope of making it functional even by July 1, when the time-table for the next six months is introduced, well-placed sources said. The delay had not disappointed thousands of prospective commuters in general but also put additional financial burden on the movement of the Army formations from Jaisalmer to Udhampur.

The Signal and Telecom (S&T) team that reached here recently has started groundwork for installing signals at five manned level crossings on the rail link. Another team of experts equipped with rail vibration testing machinery was also found working today. Also scores of workers have been deployed to replace the old rail lines that were not considered fit for running super fast trains on this 
segment of the Sriganganagar-Abohar-Bathinda section. Sources in the Railways sought to clarify that none of the officials had ever given date for running passenger trains on the Abohar-Fazilka link.

The report in a section of the media that the rail link would become operational by March 31 this year, was a creation of the media, they claimed.

The construction of the railway over-bridges near village Dangarkhera on the Abohar-Fazilka road (National Highway 10) and at the main manned railway level crossing on the Fazilka-Ferozepur road would take its own time. In such a situation, how can a date be fixed for introducing the Abohar-Fazilka train, the officials questioned. Concerned over the delay, the Railway Passengers Welfare Association today faxed a memorandum to the Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai urging completion of the track on a war footing.

Association general secretary Hanuman Dass Goyal said in the memorandum that construction of 42.25 kilometres of rail line has not been completed even as its foundation stone was laid by the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar in the presence of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal at Fazilka on February 1, 2004.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had made announcement for the new train in Punjab on the Abohar-Fazilka section during this year’s rail budget speech, so the project deserved more attention, Goyal said.

Abohar, May 15
Even as some of the senior BJP functionaries including the district president Arun Narang welcomed the belated induction of Fazilka MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani in the cabinet headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, there was little rejoicing among the workers of the saffron party here.

Jyani had been the minister of state for forests in the Punjab cabinet during his previous term but was reportedly offered induction as parliamentary secretary when the Badal cabinet took the oath in 2007, which he refused.

He had not been given any important organisational post even by the party even as he was credited with organising a successful rally at Fazilka. It is believed that he had managed to stall the induction of Abohar BJP MLA Dr Ram Kumar Goyal in the cabinet in 1997-2002.

Since then, they have not been on very glowing terms with each other, sources pointed out. Though the party workers chose to remain tightlipped, it is widely believed that the the outgoing minister for the Local Bodies Manoranjan Kalia had never listened to the Abohar-based senior functionaries of the saffron party.

For the past four years, no major grant was sanctioned by him for the outlived water and sewage system or any other major development projects. Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board chairman Dr Baldev Raj Chawla had during his maiden visit informed the media during a briefing held at the local BJP unit president Mannu Jaiswal’s office on the Gaushala road last year that tenders worth Rs 26.54 crore were awaiting nod from the Chief Minister.

The amount has not so far been sanctioned. Abohar initially figured in the list of towns listed for launching of the master plan but it was not included in the list released a few months back.

The Department of the Local Bodies or the CM had not sanctioned funds for extending the three kilometres long sewage water channel, part of which was constructed when Captain Amarinder Singh was the Chief Minister.

Decks for acquiring land for expanding the waterworks, located on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road, were also not cleared when Kalia headed the department concerned.

Even when the BJP workers were unable to pursue the upgrading of Abohar as district headquarters, they now feel that for Jyani as cabinet minister, it would be almost impossible to get the claim of Fazilka for the district status acepted.

In the backdrop of such a situation, not a single cracker was busted here on the swearing in of Jyani today.

Abohar, May 15
Instead of changing the faces, the BJP should have kept its hands off the Punjab cabinet for the rest of the present government’s term and sought a fresh mandate on corruption by going to the electorate in the February 2012 Assembly elections, said Sunil Jakhar, Congress MLA from Abohar.

Commenting over the reshuffling of ministers by the saffron party, Jakhar observed that the BJP would not be able to regain its image that stands tarnished as of now following the arrest of Rajpura MLA and fingers pointed thereafter at two of its senior ministers.

A senior BJP legislator from Hoshiarpur had levelled serious allegations against the ministers of his own party and one of the new ministers faced allegations that he had usurped ration earmarked for distribution to the BPL families. The people in the Malwa region feel equally hurt over the induction of Ludhiana legislator Satpal Gosain, he said.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was quoted as saying by the national media during a function last year at Ludhiana that he was under pressure from Gosain to defer action against hundreds of industrial units, who had been slapped notices against discharging chemical waste (effluents) in the Sirhind and Sutlej waters, Jakhar pointed out. 

Bathinda, May 15
President of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi Dr Gurbhajan Gill released Tarlochan Lochi's Punjabi ghazal audio album titled ‘Sarwer’, here today.

Releasing the CD comprising nine ghazals, Gill, who has also penned two ghazals in the album, claimed it was yet another effort by the Punjabi literati to check the cultural pollution that is not only giving a bad name to the Punjabi music industry across the world but also spoiling its social fabric.

Gill along with other members of the Sarwer team, including singer Tarlochan Lochi, said the album was launched with the aim of providing the audience with a meaningful as well as soothing music.

He mentioned that they used to get complaints that a majority of the Punjabi lyricists and singers were just playing into the hands of production houses, which only aim at making money. The menace had reached an extent where it had started hurting the sentiments of the members of the Sahit Akademi and like-minded people, claimed Gill.

"To get rid of such complaints, we took the initiative and brought this album with all meaningful numbers with the hope that it would give the audience an alternative to the degraded musical numbers," he mentioned.

Urging people to help the Akademi in checking the popularity of such songs, Gill said the audience must rise for the cause and adopt measures like self-discipline and screening. "We know that only one album would not make a big difference but it is a beginning towards weeding out the evils in our society," he asserted.

Expressing his anguish, Gill said, "Bathinda was the place where songs with double-meaning were born and unfortunately, they became so popular that they spoiled our culture. So, we have launched the cleansing exercise from here."

Chak Saido Ke (Ferozepur), May 15
Even as some of the students, teachers and residents of this village have been staging continuous dharnas in front of the local Government High School to protest against the alleged high-handedness of its head Brij Mohan Singh, the Government School Headmasters Association, demanded action against those who have triggered off the agitation.

The issue, for which some of the teachers launched an agitation, was connected to the non-payment of salaries to them on time. The teachers were asking that when the head master Brij Mohan Singh had withdrawn his own salary, then why had he not passed the salary bills of other teachers?

In a meeting of the Ferozepur district unit of Government School Headmaster Association, which was held today in the district under the chairmanship of its president Sukhwinder Singh, the activists decided that if the authorities failed to take action against the teachers resposnible, they would contemplate launching an agitation.

The educational activities have come to a complete halt in the local school for the past three days as students and teachers have been skipping classes and holding dharna in front of the school along with some of the residents. Even Naresh Kumari, District Education Officer (Secondary), who along with other functionaries of the department visited the school on May 13 to sort out the matter, could not succeed in her attempts.

Sukhwinder Singh said a number of teachers, who had been instigating the students to stage a dharna everyday, had been violating the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and snatching an opportunity from the students to get education in a proper way. He added that the authorities must take action against teachers who had been using the students and causing harm to their academics interests, for implementing their personal agenda.

"If there is any issue, which creates differences among the teachers working in the same school that can be solved by sitting across the table. However, it does not give the right to any teacher to stage dharna in front of the school and that too without taking permission from the district administration or the authorities concerned," he claimed. 

Sriganganagar, May 15
Neetu, selected for the inspirer award by the Department of Science and Information Technology, studies in a government school that is sans an electricity connection. The fact surfaced as dignitaries visited the Government Girls School in Jaitsar segment of this border district to honour the recipient.

Among those present included Rashtrapati Nirmal Gram award recipient, Madhu Kanwar Rathore, Beopar Mandal president, Babu Lal Gaurisaria, city Congress president Ajay Tiwari and veteran social activist Harbans Thareja. Headmistress Aruna Nehra informed that funds had not been made available for power connection. — OC

Moga, May 15
The agriculture department has asked the farmers not to transplant paddy seedlings before June 10, otherwise, legal action would be taken against the violators as per the law.

The state government has promulgated the ‘Punjab Preservation of Sub Soil Water Act’ in March 2009, which binds the farmers not to sow paddy nursery before May 10 and not to transplant paddy before June 10 keeping in view the depleting underground water table, power shortages and dry weather conditions during this period.

Scientists are of the view that the delay in transplanting paddy from June 10 onwards would help save seven per cent in annual groundwater draft. According to a study, the groundwater table during the past five years has depleted by 48 centimeters annually. Rice is one of the most water intensive crops.

The savings in electricity due to the Act have been estimated at 276 million units, which means that the savings to the state exchequer of about Rs 122 crore per year, split as savings of the government including its extra tax earnings as Rs 77 crore and the additional net earnings of the State Electricity Board as Rs 45 crore, said an official of the state government.

Dr Ravi Kumar Sabarwal, chief agriculture officer of Moga and Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, agriculture development officer, said the other long-term benefits include reprieve from the relative humidity by about 15-16 per cent point, which may help to reduce the harmful pests and bacteria vulnerable to high and dry temperatures.

They said it would also help evolve the rice varieties that yield better when transplanted after mid-June, giving more crucial time to the farmers for re-invigorating the research-extension-farmer linkage and, delayed harvesting and marketing causing less pollution due to the increase in dew-factor and encouraging the adoption of happy seeder type innovations for timely wheat sowing without burning the rice straw.

Brar said the farmers sow paddy earlier to ensure early harvest. Since paddy would be growing during the peak of summer, the crop would need more water. "This affects the water table and the ecological balance," he added. 

Bathinda, May 15
A bariatric surgeon from Medanta, The Medicity, Gurgaon, Sandeep Malhotra said there was a dire need to create awareness among doctors and people, especially school students, to check obesity in a big way in the country.

Dr Malhotra was here on Saturday to deliver a lecture on ‘Bariatric surgery’, organised by the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Dr Shiv Dutt Gupta and Dr BD Bajaj, president and secretary of the local IMA, were also present on the occasion.

The surgeon stressed upon the need of bariatric surgery for obese persons. He said besides bariatric surgery, modifications in the lifestyle of the person concerned were also required to check obesity. He said the incidence of obesity was more in Punjab. — TNS

Abohar, May 15
Even when the region sizzles at 45 degree Celsius, there has been no let up in the growth of mosquitoes on the outskirts of this sub-divisional town.

A survey on Sunday indicated that most of the ponds in villages including Dangarkhera, Alamgarh, Kandhwala Amarkot, Diwankhera, Bahawalbasi and border village Jandwala Meerasangla as well as Azeemgarh in the urban area here had virtually been shadowed by hyacinth.

The stinking water is not fit for animals even and buffaloes were found avoiding bathing despite soaring mercury. Om Parkash (Dangarkhera), Devinder Pal (Dhaani Bishesharnath), Kuljeet Singh (Bahawalbasi), Puran Ram (Diwankhera) and Ram Lubhaya (Kandhwala Amarkot) revealed that the village panchayats had not been able to caution the residents against dumping of waste in the ponds. In most of the villages, waste water released from residential houses and cattle sheds was discharged through temporary drains in the ponds.

Warnings issued by the district administration notwithstanding the panchayats or office of the Block Development and Panchayat Departments had not taken action to remove the encroachments that galore around the ponds.

At some places, pucca houses had come up during the past few years. People resented that grants under the NREGA and MNREGA schemes were not utilised to get the ponds cleaned by giving job to the card-holders, who belonged to weaker sections of the society.

Some members of village panchayats said boundary walls need to be provided after demarcating the land allotted to such ponds besides taking up major cleansing operation using the JCB machines since manual work was not technically feasible at this stage.

They feared that the situation may worsen during the rainy season that begins after the next month as dirty water would overflow to the residential areas, if ponds are not cleaned.

Sriganganagar, May 15
The movement for stopping the flow of effluents into Kala Sanghia drain (Kapurthala) by joining the demonstration to be led by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal on May 18, gained momentum on Saturday with formation of a 51 member action committee here.

Cutting across political lines, scores of leaders attended a meeting that was convened on the initiative of the Bar Association. Industrialist BD Aggarwal, Mohinder Singh Sodhi, district president, BJP, senior Congress leader Raj Kumar Gaur, Hans Raj Poonia, convener, Gang Canal Bachao Samiti, Het Ram Beniwal, former MLA (CPM), Zila Parishad members Sarika Chaudhary, Dr Brij Mohan Saharan and Mahesh Budania, Jagdish Jandu, president, Municipal Council, Bansi Dhar Jindal, president, Chamber of Commerce, Naresh Sharma, president, Beopar Mandal, Hanuman Dass Goyal, president, city BJP, Raj Kumar, president, Chemists Association and Amrita Devi Environment Award recipient Anil Bishnoi were also present.

The participants urged the Punjab government to stop discharge of chemical waste in the Kala Sanghia drain by issuing notification immediately.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was requested to take up the issue with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal besides seeking intervention by the National Pollution Board.