Mansa, June 30
Even as the Punjab Government has been making claims that adequate measures have been taken to prevent food-like situation in all parts of the state during the current monsoon season, the fear of floods has started haunting the residents of various villages, located in the close vicinity of the Ghaggar river, flowing in the district.

The residents are worried as to whether the Chandpur bandh, which has witnessed breaches a number of times since 1955, would be able to withstand the attack of Ghaggar waters in this monsoon or not. The Chandpur — a siphon — is always under threat and gets breached whenever flash floods occurred in Ghaggar after the volume of water in it went up to one or two lakh cusecs against its capacity of 22000 cusecs.

Yesterday, the residents of the flood-prone 
villages remained on their toes after the water level in Ghaggar started rising. However, they heaved a sigh of relief after the water level receded late last night.

Last year, the Ghaggar river wreaked havoc in various parts of Patiala, Sangrur districts of Punjab and the Sirsa district of neighbouring Haryana. Besides claiming a number of lives, the flooded Ghaggar also caused irrevocable damage to property worth crores of rupees.

Though Deputy Commissioner Ravinder Singh claimed that all the drains and Ghaggar course had been cleared of weeds and other obstructions for allowing the rain water to flow smoothly, PS Grewal, DIG, Bathinda range, who visited the flood- prone areas, pointed out that a number of tress, which had fallen in Ghaggar river, were yet to be removed by the authorities concerned.

He said a request for summoning five companies of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) had been sent to the DGP (Law and Order), Punjab, so that the same force could be deployed around the bandhs of Ghaggar river permanently round-the-clock.

He added that presently the cops from this district were put on alert around the bandh of Ghaggar river so that they could help the people and civil administration in case of emergency.

Hardyal Singh Mann, SSP, Mansa, said four control rooms and sub-control rooms had been set up near Chandpur bandh, Kulrian village, Sardulgarh and Phoos Mandi village to monitor the developments and mood of Ghaggar river and to take swift action to prevent floods in case such a situation develops. The arrangements to evacuate people from their place of residence in case of flood-like situation had also been made, he added.

Vinod Chaudhary, Chief Engineer, Drainage, Punjab, said he was not aware that some fallen trees had been obstructing the flow of water in the Ghaggar river. He added that he would get the trees removed within two days. 

Bathinda, June 30
To host the prestigious and glittering opening ceremony of the Second World Cup Kabaddi, scheduled to be held in the last week of October at the state-of-the-art Sports Stadium, Bathinda, at present under-construction, the district administration has rolled up its sleeves.

If the official claims are to be believed, the total facelift, including the installation of flood lights, which would cost nearly Rs 10 crore, is in full swing to get it ready for hosting the World Cup.

The officials also claim that nearly forty per cent of the civil work that includes the foundations, shuttering of VIP and VVIP lounges, steps in the public gallery, base for the canopy, have been completed. Besides, work on nearly Rs 2.5 crore floodlights has also been started. The foundation stone of the stadium was laid on February 17 with the aim of completing it by October 26 but the agencies were verbally asked to complete it by September.

Meanwhile, sources informed that the contractors have now been asked to positively complete it by August 15, to host the Independence Day celebrations also. Though the present status indicates the stadium would hardly be ready till the I-Day, those assigned the job have become particular about the progress.

Following the directions of Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who has announced that the flood-lit stadium in Bathinda would witness the glittering opening of the Second World Cup Kabaddi, officials don’t want the job to get delayed.

To ensure the speedy execution, the project is assigned in two parts to two separate agencies — the Bathinda Development Authority and the Punjab Mandi Board. It is learnt that the stadium will have two separate pavilions for the VIPs and VVIPs with a tentative sitting capacity of nearly 3,000 spectators, besides arrangements for 6,000 commoners. It may be mentioned that besides the opening match, Bathinda would also host both the semi-finals.

Besides hosts India, the other teams including Canada, Pakistan, USA, Australia, Afganistan, UK, Iran, Italy, Norway, Spain and the Irish Army are also expected to clash in the high-decibel tournament in which teams would share a record Rs 3.71 crore as prize money.

DSO Vijay Kumar and the executive engineer, BDA, Baldev Singh claimed they were personally monitoring the construction work daily to ensure everything is in place before D-day.

Bathinda, June 30
To avail the facility of financial assistance up to Rs 1.50 lakh for the treatment of cancer under the Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh (Chief Minister's Cancer Relief Fund), the cancer patients from various parts of the district have started approaching the office of the Civil Surgeon here.

Since June 13, as many as 13 cancer patients, including eight women, have submitted their cases to the office of the Civil Surgeon here so far. These patients belong to Khala Wala, Pathrala, Raman Mandi, Dayalpura, Deon, Kotha Guru, Maur Khurd villages and Bathinda city. The age of the youngest patient is just eight years while the elderly patient is 72 years old. Both are male.

As per information, these patients have been suffering from various types of the disease, like breast cancer, cervix cancer, bone cancer, blood cancer and larynx (throat) cancer. However, five of these 13 cases are being processed now at the level of Director, Health Services, Punjab, for approving the requisite financial assistance while three more cases will reportedly be sent to the Director by the office of the Civil Surgeon for approval in a few days. However, the remaining five cases will be sent back to the patients for removing the discrepancies.

It may be mentioned here that the payment of financial assistance is not made to the patient by the Health Department because as per the provisions of the scheme, it is made to the hospital that treats the patient directly.

An officer in the Health Department said some patients submitted incomplete cases to the office of the Civil Surgeon, which later created problems at the time of processing. Even in the case of Bathinda, some cases were found to be incomplete as the hospitals had not mentioned details of the estimated expenditure separately in the prescribed form.

The official urged the hospitals, treating cancer patients, to mention the expenditure details separately, regarding chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, medicines, admission and indoor charges, instead of mentioning the total so that the cases could be considered as complete in the first place. 

Abohar, June 30
Choking of the Eastern Canal at RD 78 due to accumulation of hyacinth in the segment represented by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal prompted the Irrigation Department officials to divert 400 cusecs of water to the Gang (Bikaner) canal late last night.

Executive Engineer Jaswant Singh Sandhu led the irrigation team engaged to clear the hyacinth on war footing. The work was expected to be completed by tonight, sources said. While confirming the development, Rajasthan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spokesman Subhash Sehgal revealed to this correspondent here in the evening that flow of water at RD 86 in the Gang canal has gone up to 2300 cusecs now against its capacity of 2500 cusecs.

Meanwhile, in a significant development, the Irrigation Department Superintending Engineer Baljit Singh Sandhu has dispatched a junior engineer to Chandigarh to hand over the file related to cleansing of the abandoned Gang canal from 0-45 RD. This part of the canal, developed by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, was abandoned when floods rocked the Malwa region in 1988. Sehgal said water was routed through the abandoned canal only during emergencies.

Renovation of the abandoned canal can help in checking diversion of water to the West Punjab province of Pakistan. Arrival of water at the Harike headworks has been recorded as 33000 cusecs while the canal system, linked to it, had been designed to carry 29000 cusecs of water. It would be possible if damaged lining and floor beds of the Ferozepur and Rajasthan feeders are repaired, he observed.

Notably, over 150 elected representatives of the rural civic bodies in the Sriganganagar district had this week inspected the canal system in the Ferozepur district.

They had given one-month ultimatum of the governments in Punjab and Rajasthan to go ahead with the long-pending project of restoring supply through the abandoned Gang canal from RD 0-45.

They had warned that if the governments fail in clearing the project, thousands of farmers would camp at the abandoned canal to start Kar Sewa for which the globally known environmentalist Sant Seechewal could also be approached.

Sehgal hoped that the Chief Engineer of Punjab Irrigation Department would give nod to renovation of abandoned canal keeping in view larger interests of the farming community that is regarded as backbone of the Indian 
economy.

Fazilka, June 30
The long-pending demand of the people of the area of having an ROB over the Fazilka- Ferozepur crossing to minimise the traffic bottleneck was at last met by throwing the ROB open for the general public two weeks back.

The ROB was thrown open amidst much fanfare by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. However, merely after a fortnight has passed, the bridge is proving to be a bane instead of boon.

No doubt that flow of traffic has eased but the bridge is proving to be an accident- prone area on either side of the railway crossing due to alleged wrong designing of the dividers on the terminals of the ROB on either side. The plastic divider pivots have some gap between them as a result of which the vehicle owners trying to cross meet with accidents.

So far, three accidents have occurred on the entrance of the bridge from both the sides in which a youth, Satinder Singh (42), a resident of the local Radha Swami Colony lost his life on June 25 as his bike collided with a truck, which was going down from the bridge.

Besides, during the last two days, a tractor-trailer and canter collided and damaged badly. A car, which was also going down the bridge, had crashed into the barricades. On the entry of the ROB from both the sides, a private company, Chetak Enterprises Ltd, which has been managing the toll tax road between Fazilka and Ferozepur, has constructed the ROB on BOT basis. They have placed a barrier on both sides of the ROB. There are slip roads on both sides of the bridge.

There is a constant threat to the vehicles, which can collide, while climbing up or coming down from the bridge. The Aarthiya Association of Fazilka, in a memorandum addressed to the SDM on June 8 had apprehended accidents at the entry of the bridge on the grain market Abohar road side and had requested the civil administration to raise a speed breaker near gate number 2 of the grain market to avoid accidents but nothing has been done in this regard.

President of the Association Daya Krishan Sachdeva has demanded that the administration should come out with a permanent solution to the problem.

Ferozepur, June 30
The Municipal Council today demolished the unauthorised structures along the old Talwandi road in Zira sub-division here, today.

Executive officer of the Municipal Council JS Brar said over the years, several shopkeepers had made unauthorised construction in the form of shops along the road, adding that they had been served notices several times including notices under the PP Act to vacate the land but to no avail. He said the MC officials in the presence of Naib Tehsildaar Gurmel Singh today demolished the shops, following which, the road had been widened up to 50-feet.

Brar said the orders for the demolition were passed by the Deputy Director, Local Government, as the road had to be widened to solve traffic problems here. He said 16 shops were demolished today.

On the other hand, the shopkeepers said they had occupied the land for decades. 

Abohar, June 30
Scores of residents, who had to pass through knee-deep water in the colony surrounding ancient mazaars (tombs) of Panjpeers, held demonstration against the Municipal Council (MC) here in the afternoon.

Some of the protesters including Amarjit Kaur, Santosh Rani, Chhinder Kaur, Bimla Rani, Navneet Kaur, Simran and Sarabjit Singh said the ruling saffron party leaders had promised during the past elections that problems related to drinking water and disposal of waste water would be solved on priority basis. No step has so far been taken, the residents rued. Repeated calls made to the MC remained un-responded.

They also criticised the councillor lamenting that the councillor had got pucca drains constructed in the upper area without arranging disposal of waste water to the sewerage system.

Staff in the MC office here sought to explain that fire tenders that were used to drain out rain water from remote areas had not been renovated for the past few years. — OC

Moga, June 30
In a case of fraud and theft, the members of a family in Takhtuwala village, situated on the banks of the Sutlej in Moga district, had allegedly taken out bricks from a village street and used it for personal benefit at his residence. The police had failed to register a criminal case despite repeated requests by the Rural Development and Panchayat Department.

Harjinder Kaur, the woman Sarpanch of the village, alleged that the bricks were fixed by the panchayat in the street but a local resident Gurmej Singh and his family had taken out all the bricks and used them at his residence. She said a complaint in this regard was given to the Block Development and Panchayat officer, who conducted an inquiry and found the said person guilty of stealing the bricks from the village street. A complaint in this regard was given to the Rural Development and Panchayat Department for necessary action after passing a resolution in the panchayat. The alleged accused person plainly denied all the allegations and said he had not taken out the bricks from the village street. 

Bathinda, June 30
In the suicide case of Malika Rani of Kotkapura, a 21-year-old ANM student who had reportedly hanged herself to death in the girls' hostel located at the local Civil Hospital on June 4, activists of the Punjab Students Union (PSU) today released an investigation report, raising questions about the sequence of the incident.

Issuing the copy of the report, PSU general secretary Rajinder Singh alleged that a number of organizations holding protest to shield the accused, Kamal Kaur, principal of the ANM training school, who was booked for abetment to suicide, failed to answer their questions.

The PSU leaders mentioned that after a through probe, they concluded that the matter was sensitive and complicated including the allegations upon the police of applying pressure on the accused to change the statement. There should be magisterial inquiry into the case, they demanded.

Among the questions they raised in their report were authenticity of the allegations against the deceased girl of suffering from mental disorder and the authority of the accused Kamal Kaur in throwing her out of the school even if she was caught cheating.

Besides, they asked why the school staff pulled down the body without waiting for the police and the kin of the deceased, why things in the room were scattered when the police arrived, when the girl scored well in the class X and XII exams, why did she cheat, that too in a class test, which had no internal assessment? They also pointed finger at the hostel warden.

Replying to a query as to why their report was delayed, the PSU activists claimed that the husband of the accused kept making false promises of fixing their meeting with the accused as they wanted to get her version also.

"But when we observed that it was just a time-wasting tactics of Jagmel Singh (husband of the accused), we summed up our report," they replied.

Concluding the investigation report, they demanded that the bereaved family should get Rs 10 lakh as compensation and government job to a family member. Meanwhile, they warned, if the demand was not accepted, they would lodge a massive protest.

It may be mentioned that finding themselves in a fix after many organizations and groups came out in support of both the groups, the police are still waiting for ascertaining facts before concluding the inquiry. Though the police had registered the case, amid protests, the accused is at large.

Bathinda, June 30
All the 14 unemployed women teachers, arrested by the police under on June 28 from various parts of the district during a “Chakka jam” programme, were released from the Central Jail here today.

When contacted over the phone this evening, the jail superintendent Prem Kumar Garg confirmed it.

Meanwhile, state spokesman of the Unemployed B.Ed. Adhyapak Front, Punjab, Harjeet Jeeda said that all the 207 jailed unemployed men teachers today observed hunger strike in the Central Jail here.

He said this was conveyed to him and other union leaders by the parents of the unemployed teachers, who met their wards in the jail today. On the other hand, the jail superintendent rejected the claim regarding the hunger strike of the union leader. — TNS

Bathinda: Deputy Commissioner Dr S. Karuna Raju on Thursday conducted surprise checking at the computerised Fard Kendra and the office of the sub-registrar here. He also talked to the people to know about their problems and checked the record room of the Tehsil. The DC also held a meeting with the industrialists here. The industrialists informed the DC about their problems. On the occasion, Raju assured them that their problems would be solved on a priority basis. — TNS

Bathinda: District Magistrate of Bathinda Dr S. Karuna Raju has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC around the examinations centres on July 3 in the district where teacher eligibility test (TET) is to be conducted on that day. — TNS 

Faridkot, June 30
Sanjay Kumar, a 1988-batch IAS officer, has assumed charge as Commissioner of the Faridkot and Ferozepur divisions, today.

He is also the secretary of the Revenue Department and has been given the dual charge of commissioner of these two divisions comprising Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot and Muktsar districts. Raminder Singh, his predecessor was recently transferred by the state government.