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Untimely rain hits cotton belt hard
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Tangra (Amritsar), June 2 Two persons were feared dead while three others sustained injuries when a ‘drying unit’ of Sun Star Overseas rice mill collapsed late last night after it was reportedly struck by lightning. According to information, 10 persons were working in the drying unit when the incident occurred. Five of them had a narrow escape as they managed to come out of the unit when it was coming down, said the police. Rescue operation on in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Pre-monsoons likely by June 15
BJP leader speaks up for mercy to Bhullar
Video-conferencing to cover more jails soon
Punjab initiates peacock breeding project
Non-teaching staff join agitating teachers
Inquiry ordered into copying at Bathinda college
Jalandhar lawyers, docs join fight against ‘erring’ industrialists
Punjab pools 43.5 pc wheat in nation’s kitty
Rape victim’s family alleges threats
Patiala DC orders ban on bathing in rivers
Students awaiting PhD seats left in lurch
Blind murder case solved
Vajra Corps war drill ends
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Carrier of diseases
This is the general fear among residents of this village, situated near the Ghaggar in the Patran sub-division of Patiala. They opine that due of the industrial waste in the river, the ground water quality in their village has deteriorated. They added that drinking water being fetched from hand pumps and submersible pumps from 150 feet is unfit for human consumption. “The extremely high level of total dissolved solids (TDS) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in drinking water, presently as many as 36 villagers are suffering from physical deformities like hearing impairment, mental retardation, skin ailments and congenital musculo-skeletal disorders,” said sarpanch Gurbax Ram. The only solution is to draw water through submersible pumps from 300 feet, he added. Villagers claimed that several children including Mandeep (13), Mansa Ram (15), Janti (8), Harbans (5) and Darshu Ram (8) are suffering from neurological disorder because of the polluted water. The documents procured by The Tribune show that the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had found that the TDS in the water was 894 mg/litre against the maximum limit of 500 mg/litre. The concentration of BOD was 14 mg/litre against the maximum limit of 3 mg/litre. “The water from hand pumps and submersible pumps in the village is not fit for human consumption,” reads the PPCB report. Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna, who visited the village recently, took up the matter with the state government. “I have constituted a team under the headship of Gurtej Singh Dhillon, state president, BJP Human Rights Cell. The team will decide whether to install a reverse osmosis system or a new tube well in the village,” he said. Jatinder Jain from NGO Sankalp said that he would file a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court so that corrective measures are taken by the state government.
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Untimely rain hits cotton belt hard
Abohar, June 2 Though the rains hit Bathinda, Mansa, Moga, Ferozepur, Barnala and
Sangrur districts of cotton belt, the loss to the newly germinated crop was prominent in Abohar area of Ferozepur district. A section of farmers who had re-sown the crop after their earlier cotton crop suffered huge damages due to the squall on May 21 have again suffered huge losses. BS Sidhu, Director of Agriculture, Punjab, said as per reports collected from the field staff, the loss due to rains to cotton crop was seen only in Ferozepur district. He said cotton crop on about 15,000 acres in the district had suffered varied degree of damages. In other parts of the cotton belt, damage had been reported by those farmers whose fields were in low-lying areas, he added.
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Lightning leads to roof collapse; 2 feared ‘dead’
Tangra (Amritsar), June 2 According to information, 10 persons were working in the drying unit when the incident occurred. Five of them had a narrow escape as they managed to come out of the unit when it was coming down, said the police. Notably, even as the incident occurred at about 11.30 pm, the mill authorities only informed the administration in the morning. Those still trapped in the debris include Sanjiv and Sanjay, all from Bihar. Amritsar (rural) SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said the incident took place due to lightning. The rescue work was slow in the morning due to availability of adequate machines but it picked up momentum when the bigger cranes were called from Ludhiana. Meanwhile, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha and Dehati Mazdoor Sabha activists staged a dharna outside the mill premises.
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Pre-monsoons likely by June 15
Jalandhar, June 2 Surinder Singh, Director, Indian Meteorological Department, Punjab, said the monsoon was expected to be good and they were monitoring its progress. “A definite date would be ascertained once it hits central India. But we are hoping for a good monsoon this year.”
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Thousands attend Surinder Kaur’s bhog
Malout (Muktsar), June 2 These leaders, including the BJP stalwarts LK Advani, Gujarat CM Narendera Modi, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and the INLD chief and former CM of Haryana Om Parkash Chautala, were paying tributes to Surinder Kaur Badal, wife of Parkash Singh Badal, at her bhog and Antim Ardas here today. Surinder Kaur had passed away on May 24. Congress Working Committee member Jagmeet Brar described Badal as a "leader of the masses", who had been struggling for the rights of Punjab. Parkash Singh Badal was equally full of praise for the Congress leadership, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, PPCC chief Amarinder Singh, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and others for being among the first to share the grief of his family. Cutting across the party lines, people had expressed grief on the death of Surinder Kaur, he said. Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur sat with folded hands throughout the ceremony. While other leaders sat with Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir, Maneka Gandhi chose to sit with Harsimrat and Badal's daughter Parneet Kaur. Thousands of people from across Punjab converged here to attend the bhog and pay homage to her. BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi and MP and chief of the BJP youth wing Anurag Thakur were also among others present on the occasion. The bhog ceremony virtually turned into a show of solidarity of the NDA leadership with Parkash Singh Badal. Most of the leaders urged the gathering to return from here with a pledge to eradicate the social evils of female foeticide and wasteful expenditure during marriage. Paying tributes, Advani recalled his ties with the Badal family and urged people to take the pledge of eradicating the menace of female foeticide in Punjab as a real tribute to Surinder Kaur Badal. Advani lauded the efforts of MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who had already launched a crusade against this evil. Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, described Badal as one of the tallest figure in the national arena who enjoys great respect. Paying homage to Surinder Kaur, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said people should rid Punjab of the social evil of female foeticide. He was all praise for Sukhbir, who, he said, possessed tremendous capability that has put Punjab in the high orbit of growth and development. Former Chief Minister of Haryana and president of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Om Parkash Chautala said politics was a whole-time job and Badal had done justice to it only due to sheer dedication and motivation of his wife. President of the Lok Bhalai Party Balwant Singh Ramoowalia said the real tribute to Surinder Kaur Badal would be to ban the extravagant marriages in the state. Member of the National Executive of the Communist Party of India, Joginder Dayal, also stressed on the need to eradicate female foeticide that has become a slur on the face of Punjab. Among others who spoke on the occasion were Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar of the Akal Takht and Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, head of the Damdami Taksal. Several other members of the Sant Samaj were also present.
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BJP leader speaks up for mercy to Bhullar
Jalandhar, June 2 Grewal claimed that the Punjab unit of the BJP had earlier too opposed the death sentence to Bhullar and had urged for clemency to him. Grewal said that along with Bhullar’s wife and other close relations, he had met the President a few years ago to seek the commutation of death sentence given to
Bhullar. “I met the President in this regard with the concurrence of the then president of the state unit of the party, Brij Lal
Rinwa, and senior functionary of the RSS and BJP Avinash Jaiswal, who is now in charge of the party office at New Delhi,” Grewal said. He said he was also against all types of terrorism and terrorists but that “Bhullar’s case was a different one”. A few days ago, in charge of the party’s affairs in Punjab and former Himachal Chief Minister Shanta Kumar had stated that the BJP was against terrorism and that it would not join hands with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to seek commutation of death sentence of Bhullar to life
imprisonment. Grewal said he would talk to top leadership of the party in Delhi regarding the case. “I will advise the party that it should not unnecessarily entangle itself in any controversy with regard to Bhullar’s case and keep in mind the sentiments of the Sikh community on this issue,” said
Grewal.
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Video-conferencing to cover more jails soon
Chandigarh, June 2 Punjab’s Inspector-General of Police Jagjit Singh says the facility is to be provided at jails in Bathinda, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Faridkot, Nabha, Kapurthala, Moga, Pathankot, Phagwara, Malerkotla, and Fazilka, along with borstal and women jails in Ludhiana. The information on the facility was given to the Punjab and Haryana High Court through two different affidavits. It was asserted: “After effective functioning of the present video-conferencing facility, the system in remaining 14 jails and 21 courts will be installed.” As of now, the facility is available at jails in Ludhiana, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Barnala, Patiala, Amritsar, Patti, Dasuya and Muktsar. The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice AK Mittal was also told that the proposal of posting skilled staff at each of the 42 locations for making system operational has been sent to the government. The information came during the hearing of a petition filed in public interest by Patiala resident Viresh Shandilya against the states of Punjab and Haryana, along with Union Territory of Chandigarh. Describing himself as national president of Anti-Terrorist Front India, Shandilya had earlier asserted that following the procedure of video-conferencing would avoid wastage of money and manpower required for travel and security of criminals during their personal appearance before the court from jails. As such, directions be issued to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh that criminal trials in subordinate courts should be done through video-conferencing, he said. The petitioner said the police department was already suffering due to paucity of manpower.
‘Shift women to jails with crèches’
Punjab director-general of prisons has directed all jail superintendents to shift women with children to nearest jails with crèche or nursery facilities. The instructions were issued on April 8 and are significant as there are 59 such women convicts in the state. The instructions follow the setting up of crèches in three jails. — Ferozepur, Amritsar and Patiala central jail.
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Punjab initiates peacock breeding project
Increasing urbanisation and use of pesticides has taken its toll on this bird in Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar, Moga, Ferozepur and Sangrur districts of the state. Besides collecting eggs from the Chhatbir Zoo, the government has also decided to collect peacock eggs from the Ludhiana zoo. Bird lovers and experts, however, opposing the move said this might reduce the peacock population at the Chhatbir, as peacocks may come under stress when they fail to find their eggs. Zoo field director Basanta Raj Kumar said, “At present, there are around 100 peacocks in eight hectare area of the lion safari in the zoo. The authorities, however, have not conducted a census since the birds are open in the wild.” Meanwhile, Chief Wildlife Warden Gurbaz Singh claimed that the peacock population in the zoo had increased manifold and now ways were being worked out to trim it down. “Transportation of the peacocks is impossible, as it is difficult to catch them in the wild. We are now planning to collect the eggs for hatching in Malwa with the help of the scientists of the wildlife institute of Dehradun,” he said. The Punjab Government has reportedly got approval from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for the programme. Terming the move as farce, national president, All-India Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha, Ramesh Bishnoi, said, “It is a sheer wastage of money. Earlier, too, lakhs have been wasted in falcon breeding programmes that failed to take off despite tall claims by the government.” Bishnoi added that there were four or five pairs of peacock in the Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary area, but it had failed to thrive due to lackadaisical attitude of the government and its employees. “Instead the government should conserve wildlife and work to increase the number of birds and animals. Even if department manages to get a few birds out of 50 eggs, they may not be able to survive in the wild,” he added. Expressing doubts over claims of the Punjab Government and the Wildlife Department, founder president of the Wildlife Conservation Society and an honorary wildlife warden Nikhil Sangar said the government should not put the peacock population at the Chhatbir under stress. The government should try to secure the wildlife area in Malwa, he said.
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Non-teaching staff join agitating teachers
Amritsar, June 2 Members of the non-teaching wing of the Government-aided Punjab and Chandigarh College Non-Teaching Union (GPCCNTU) today declared to join the chain hunger strike being observed by the teachers for the past 32 days. Prior to this, only the non-teaching staff of Khalsa College had joined the teaching fraternity on protest. Confirming this, Sugriv Singh, senior vice-president of GPCCNTU, said that their two activists would join the teachers in their chain hunger strike everyday. “We were constantly in touch with PCCTU activists, but we joined them today only after getting a call from them. We have already prepared our activists from six colleges to join the teachers in the ongoing hunger strike. After that, in consultation with the PCCTU, we will intensify our protest by blocking roads and burning effigies of the members of the management,” he said. Meanwhile, APS Mann, retired Chief Manager, Punjab and Sind Bank, garlanded Prof SK Pushkarna, Prof JS Arora, Prof JS Gandhi, Prof MS Batra , Prof TS Bhatia and Ved Parkash representing the non-teaching staff. The other office-bearers present on the occasion were Rakesh Sharma and Jatinder Pandey from BBK DAV College and Neeraj Sharma from Hindu College, Amritsar.
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Inquiry ordered into copying at Bathinda college
Chandigarh, June 2 The IIT has blacklisted the college for conducting any examination pertaining to the IIT system in future. The inquiry officer has been asked to submit his report within one week. At the same time, the Punjab Government today suspended two employees, Mukesh Grover (Invigilator) and Subhash Chander Bansal (Superintendent), for their alleged involvement in facilitating copying. The orders have been issued by the Department of Technical Education today. In yet another significant decision, the government has relieved Dr TS Sidhu of the additional charge of principal of this college. He has been replaced by Dr SC Sharma. According to the orders issued by the Additional Secretary of Technical Education, the probe will be conducted by the Director Technical Education immediately and he will ascertain if anyone other than the two suspended officials were in any way involved in copying. Notably, the IIT-Kanpur has already debarred the then college principal Balwinder Singh Sidhu, Mukesh Grover and Preet Inder Kaur, the invigilators on duty at room number S-0 where mass copying took place, from any examination work.
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Jalandhar lawyers, docs join fight against ‘erring’ industrialists
Jalandhar, June 2 Ashok Sharma, president of
HELPLINE, an NGO of lawyers, said the industrialists and politicians were acting as hurdles of making the rivers pollution-free.
— TNS
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Punjab pools 43.5 pc wheat in nation’s kitty
Ludhiana, June 2 According to the recent data with the Food and Supplies Department, Chandigarh, since the procurement process started in 1966, Punjab has pooled the maximum in the nation's food kitty. This year, the state has pooled 11.5 million tonnes of wheat surpassing last year’s figure of 109 lakh tonnes. Dr MS Sidhu, a senior agriculture economist at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), said, "The 43.5 per cent procurement from Punjab is all due to the hard work by farmers, workers and the scientists of PAU who update the farmers on a regular basis.” A total of 25.8 million tonnes of wheat has been procured this season from the major wheat-producing states. Haryana comes next to Punjab by pooling 6.8 million tonnes while Madhya Pradesh has added 4.29 million tonnes. Uttar Pradesh comes at number four by adding 1.94 million tonnes. Rajasthan has pooled 1 million tonnes of wheat this season. With this, the country has enough stock to fill empty stomachs. As much as 58.13 million tonnes of wheat and rice are stocked in the country against the required 21 million tonnes. Now, the next challenge is its storage.
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Rape victim’s family alleges threats
Tarn Taran, June 2 Notably, the police had yesterday booked Satnam Singh, president of Gurdwara Managing Committee at Chohla Sahib, for raping a teenager. A case under Section 376, 120B, 506 of the IPC was registered against Satnam Singh and Gurjit Kaur, maternal grandmother of the victim. Meanwhile, the medical examination of the girl was conducted at local civil hospital here today. The victim’s parents Bachitter Singh and Sukhpreet Kaur today alleged that they were being pressurised for a compromise. SHO Sukhwinder Singh said raids were being conducted to nab the accused.
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Ludhiana man becomes Mayor in UK
Ludhiana, June 2 Born on November 25, 1963, at his maternal Nagra village, near Samrala, Mann's father Ajit Singh was living in the UK. He along with his sister Simritpal and mother Daljit Kaur Mann emigrated to Southall (UK) in September 1967. He was elected in 1994 to the council of the London Borough of Hounslow.
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Rs 27 cr under Shagan Scheme released
Ropar, June 2 She said every month Rs 9 crore would be released for all the districts, wherein Rs 15,000 would be given to the beneficiaries on the occasion of their marriages. “Earlier the scheme was meant only for the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste, but now the scheme is meant for everyone, who has an annual income less than Rs 30,000 irrespective of their caste. Beneficiaies can lay their claim within three years of their marriages,” she said. “The pending Rs 108 crore will be cleared within a month, wherein all the beneficiaries will get the money. In order to ensure better reach to the masses, the government has decided to put this entire scheme online. The money will be deposited directly in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries,” she said. With an aim to help couples opting for inter-caste marriage, the department has started giving an amount of Rs 50,000 to such couples. This includes Rs 20,000 worth National Saving Certificates and Rs 30,000 cheques for domestic purposes. Mishra gave this amount to one such couple, Paritosh Kumar and Rupa from Ropar, here today. Talking about the scheme for the border area districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, she said the government was starting a scheme of getting toilets constructed for the BPL families and the work of identifying such families for the scheme has been going on.
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Patiala DC orders ban on bathing in rivers
Patiala, June 2 While Patiala DC Dipinder Singh on Tuesday passed an official order pertaining to ban on bathing in river till July 30, the city residents are in no mood to pay heed to such orders. “We have no other place to escape heat as power is already expensive. Every year they pass orders banning us from bathing here. Instead they should keep a check on those who do not know swimming and still come here,” said a group of students who were seen making the most of their vacations. Meanwhile, the police has also warned of strict action if people continue to take bath in these rivers. “They cannot escape law due to ignorance and we will keep vigil at all such spots and book the violators as this is a dangerous exercise,” he added.
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Soon, Ropar to get eco-cabs
Ropar, June 2 Under this collaboration, the club will identify beneficiaries and will provide a sponsorship of Rs 500 needed for seeking loan from the government. Basic aim behind the launch of the eco-cabs is to provide employment opportunities to the poor, which are better and safer than the usual rickshaws. An eco-cab is an improvised version of rickshaw with low floor, lightweight, maintenance free, FM Radio, water bottle, magazine holder, more space to store luggage, improved road safety features and dial a rickshaw facility in big cities. Cost of an eco-cab is Rs 11, 257 and beneficiary will contribute only Rs 500, while rest will be given as loan. “We will identify the prospective beneficiaries by next week,” said club president Dr RS Parmar. Aspirants would be provided loan, which can be repaid in easy monthly instalments. The rickshaw owners can also get benefit from exhibiting advertisements. However, some of the people have been apprehensive about the success of the eco-cabs in the town. “The Patiala city has got lukewarm response, but we hope its better in Ropar,” added the officials.
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Students awaiting PhD seats left in lurch
Patiala, June 2 Students are perturbed with this decision stating that the university should either accommodate the students who had cleared the test last year or they should not take entrance tests every year as this increases the number of students in fray to get the seats. “This causes problem as once enrolled, the students take at least three years to finish their research, whereas the test is valid just for an year. Taking the test again and again is wastage of time and money. If the university cannot accommodate all the students, it should at least form a rule that students will not have to take test again and again. Anyone who clears an entrance once can apply for a seat whenever it is vacant,” said one of the students. Confirming the news, Dean (Research) of the university Chandan Singh said this test would be valid for an year. In case, the students do not get seats and an year passes, they would have to take the test again, he added. When questioned about the students who did not get seats last year, Chandan said the university could not help it. “Professors can guide only a limited number of students and we do not say that everyone who clears the test will get a seat. We tried our level best to accommodate maximum number of students,” he said. Sources in the university informed that keeping in view the number of students who had cleared the entrance test last year, the university authorities had requested professors in various affiliated colleges to take students for PhD, but the response was not good.
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Blind murder case solved
Patiala, June 2 SSP Patiala Gurpreet Singh Gill said Baljinder Kaur allegedly mixed poison in the food and served it to victim Sukhdev Singh and then took his body on a rickshaw and disposed it off in the nearby flowing Nirwana branch. “The accused was helped by her lover Malak Ram, who had developed illicit relations with Baljinder Kaur and they had conspired to usurp 1.5 acres of land belonging to the victim,” he said.
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Farmer bodies sit on two-day dharna
Patiala, June 2 Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Dhakaunda) spokesperson Jagmohan Singh alleged that the government was hell bent on finding land and selling it to big companies. “This is cheating with the farmers of the state. Instead the government should ask the power corporation to give us free power,” he added. The dharna is being held despite Patiala DC Dipinder Singh’s prohibitory orders that banned the assembly of five or more people in the city. The farmers have also sought that the accused behind the recent murders of their union members be arrested at the earliest. — TNS
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Vajra Corps war drill ends Jalandhar, June 2 General Singh witnessed various manoeuvres of the troops who crossed the formidable water obstacles on the Sutlej with Infantry Combat Vehicles and crushed the enemy through lethal combinations of force multipliers, enhancing their ability to achieve the desired objectives in the shortest time with minimum casualties. Earlier, during the end of the exercise, Gen Singh interacted with the troops and urged them to remain ready to achieve every assigned mission in any future wars. He appreciated the capabilities of the formation in obstacle-ridden terrains. ‘Pine Prahar’ was undertaken by Vajra Corps, Jalandhar Cantt, also known as the ‘Defenders of Punjab’. While it saw the participation of around 12,000 plus troops day and night from Vajra Corps and the Panther Division. During the exercise, the troops from Vajra Corps showed closest integration between various components, including a network of information systems, quick and effective decision-making, timely logistics back-up and specialised engineering equipments. It might be noted that Vajra Corps is India’s oldest corps, which has a history spanning over half a century. One of the pioneers in strike formations, it played a pivotal role in the western sector and acts as a launch pad for the forces.
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Abohar, June 2
Chhat (Banur), June 2
Patiala, June 2
Chhat (Banur), June 2