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Rs 8-crore Ferozepur paddy scam
Admn puts its act together to boost security for I-Day
Delay in implementation of `100 crore package disappoints ministerial services union
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Breach in Budhlada canal damages paddy crop
Pitholes, drains dotting Bathinda-Mansa road pose threat to lives of motorists
Sekhwan, Langah given SGPC ticket
Elderly woman killed in scuffle over village common land
Post tragedy, families feel the ripples
Agri workers submit list of demands to admn
Cop, nephews booked for raping woman
Man duped of Rs 10
lakh, two booked
Councillor plans to contest SGPC polls as independent
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Rs
8-crore Ferozepur paddy scam
Moga/Ferozepur, August 9
Police filed a ‘challan’ against the alleged accused — some rice millers and officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department without recovering the missing paddy resulting in monetary losses to the government. Now, Justice Sabina of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the orders of the local court of Karnail Singh regarding the framing of charges against those named as accused in the police challan. On the one hand, district and sessions judge Rekha Mittal is considering transferring the case to some other court for a fair trial and fixed August 17 as the next date for decision, and on the other, a retired inspector of the Food Supply Department, Swaranjit Singh, who was the custodian of the controversial paddy at that time, has filed an application before the sessions judge for the transfer of the case. It may be mentioned that at least, 1,92,973 bags of paddy belonging to Pungrain were still missing, which could have been sold in Faridkot, Ferozepur and Moga districts as suspected by some officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. Sources revealed that Sukhdev Singh, the owner of Punjab Rice Mill, arrested by the crime branch last week, has given some vital clues about the missing paddy. He was interrogated for a couple of days in police custody before being sent to judicial custody. Sukhdev Singh, former District Food and Supplies Controller of Ferozepur, now posted at Gurdaspur, revealed to The Tribune that during the physical verification conducted by him on December 8, 2009, at least 1,92,973 bags of paddy were found to be missing. On the same day, the DFSC lodged an FIR against Satwinder Singh, the owner of the rice mill, one Inderneel Singh, his wife Devinder Kaur and a few others. The police arrested Inderneel and some officials of the department on December 22, 2009. On February 3, 2010, the Ferozepur police also arrested the DFSC, who unearthed the scam, but no efforts were made to recover the missing paddy. In the departmental inquiries, Deputy Director of the Food Supply Department Jaswinder Singh got physical verifications of three rice mills conducted in Moga, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts suspecting that the missing paddy could have been sold to them. The SP of the crime branch Jaipal Singh conducting the fresh probe has recently summoned the records of these mills focusing on recovering the missing paddy. |
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Admn puts its act together to boost security for I-Day
Abohar, August 9 The streetlights were not switched off till afternoon to finish the task. Besides, security has been beefed up as BJP national president Nitin Gadkari is expected to address a rally on August 11 at the district headquarter Fazilka. All the police officials, who were on leave, have been directed to join the duties immediately. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajinder Kumar Sharda on Monday discussed security arrangements regarding the Independence Day with the BSF and police officials at a closed-door meeting held at the Abohar Club here. The RPF and GRP have started frisking passengers besides checking their luggage during the halt of express trains here. However, the streetlights on the railway overbridge (RoB), one of the most sensitive points, have so far not attracted the attention of the administration. |
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Delay in implementation of `100 crore package disappoints ministerial services union
Bathinda, August 9 The first three meetings with the CM were held in January at Chandigarh, in May at Badal village and on July 29 at Chandigarh. Now the fourth meeting with the CM has been fixed for August 24 at Chandigarh. In this meeting, besides the CM, several bureaucrats and union representatives will take part. However, the union is of the view that in case if no fruitful result comes out at this meeting then it will have to face a tough time in the months to come for getting Rs 100 crore package for clerks, steno typists and junior assistants. This package was agreed by the CM on January 12 this year in lieu of the demand of the PSMSU, Rs 10300-34800 pay scale for the clerks and steno typists etc in the light of an increase in the education qualification from 10 + 2 to graduation for these posts. State patron of the PSMSU Darshan Singh Bajaj said today that there was great discontentment among the ministerial staff cadre as time and again meetings were being fixed with the CM and the bureaucrats in connection with implementation of the package, but no concrete results had come out so far. He said before the next meeting with the CM on August 24, a meeting would also be held with the union by the Chief Secretary in the days to come. Regarding 20 per cent house rent allowance for the government employees, posted at Bathinda, Bajaj said that on July 20 last the Deputy Chief Minister had invited the union leaders through someone to Chandigarh. He said at the meeting, the Deputy CM had directed one of the top bureaucrats over the phone to finalise the matter. Despite this, no positive signal had yet come out with regard to enhancing the house rent allowance of the Bathinda employees from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, he added. Bajaj said that after attaining municipal corporation status, Bathinda city had developed in a big way due to which the rent of the houses had skyrocketed in such a way that the employees were unable to pay the same nowadays. In the light of steep hike in the rent of houses during past some years, the government should hike the house rent allowance of the employees to 20 per cent from the existing 15 per cent at the earliest, he added.
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Breach in Budhlada canal damages paddy crop
Mansa, August 9 As per the villagers, gushing water damaged nearly 200 acres of crop in the area due to breach. The water entering fields was noticed by farmers at around 6 am today. Village sarpanch Amarjit Singh said the breach was around fourfeet wide in the morning and it increased up to 20-feet within a few hours. Area SHO, SDM and senior officials of the Canal Department reached the spot and the breach was plugged with the help of farmers after around 14 hours at 8.30 pm. The villagers alleged that the department failed to adopt a proactive approach and did not carry out adequate repair works at the banks of the canal and their crops got damaged. SDO, Canal Department, Ram Avtar, who too reached the spot, said the villagers were exaggerating the loss and only around 30 to 40 acres of paddy has been affected due to the breach. He said the breach has now been plugged with sand bags and the services of people from surrounding villages were also taken. The SDO refuted allegations of the villagers and added that there could be many factors for the breach including mischief by someone or some farmers trying to extract water from the canal. There is only 40 cusecs of water flowing from the place where the breach was noticed and there is hardly any possibility of breach due to lack of repairs. The water is flowing 1.5 feet less as compared to any other day in the canal, he said. There could also be a possibility of enmity by someone to damage the farmers’ crops as the banks are too strong to be broken by the gushing water. He, however, added that an inquiry in this regard would be conducted to ascertain the exact reason behind the breach.
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Wielding gun, pen with felicity
Bathinda, August 9 Phul SHO inspector Gurdeep Singh is a graduate from the Government Brajindra College, Faridkot. He did M.Sc and M.Phil in geography and joined the police in 1992. Gurdeep feels that higher studies have enabled him to understand the intricacies of his work in a better way. “The more you study, the better you can understand the various dimensions of life,” says inspector Gurbakshish Singh, a former reader to the Bathinda SSP. He recently joined the CID unit at Chandigarh. He was in the first year of graduation at the DAV College, Chandigarh, when he joined the police department. He completed his graduation while in service and later, obtained two post-graduate degrees. A topper in MA (Police administration) from the Guru Nanak Dev University, he then pursued MA in sociology. He has cleared PCS preliminary examination and is now preparing for the mains. Inspector Kuldip Singh, in-charge, election cell, DIG (Bathinda range), has done MA in English and B.Ed from Muktsar. He feels that higher education enables one to appreciate the efforts of others. “Somehow, one tends to become more sensitive towards the need and agony of the people,” he says. Similarly, the reader to the IG (Bathinda zone), sub-inspector Gurdev Singh Bhalla did M.Com before joining the force in 1992. He did MA in police administration during service. He wishes to study further but is finding it difficult to spare time. “Study demands time. In a job with erratic working hours like ours, it is difficult to take up studies,” he feels. Dayalpura SHO sub-inspector Kulwant Singh has done MA in political science. He was selected in the police while pursuing M.Phil. “I would have loved to study further, but could not spare enough time for it,” he adds. The SHO, GRP, Jit Singh too pursued education during service. Today, he is armed with seven MA degrees — two of them were in public administration and police administration.
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Pitholes, drains dotting Bathinda-Mansa road pose threat to lives of motorists
Maisarkhana (Bathinda), August 9 The drains were recently built in Burj Rathi, Sukha Singh Wala and Bhai Desa villages. Villagers alleged that government officials had only made a temporary arrangement to remove water from low-lying roads along the Bathinda-Mansa road. The volume of water on roads increases manifolds during rains and commuters fail to spot these holes and fall into them along with their vehicles. The villagers said that since last evening, they had witnessed three vehicles, including two four-wheelers, which got stuck in these drains. A scooterist fell into the drain this morning when he tried to distance himself from a fast-moving bus on the Bathinda-Mansa road. He along with his vehicle got submerged and could not take out his vehicle even after an hour had passed. “People are unacquainted to these drains that were constructed few days ago. It gets risky for commuters during night, especially for those driving two-wheelers, as there is no help available to bring them out of these drains,” said Nahar, who resides in the drain’s vicinity. He claims to have helped three commuters since last night whose vehicles got stuck in the pot holes and drains. Some government officials had ordered construction of these temporary drains few days ago, said the area residents. They rued that the authorities did not even erect a symbol or mark around these drains so that commuters could pre-judge the danger it poses. Officials of the Block Development Panchayat Office (BDPO) said similar situation prevails in Burj Rathi, Sukha Singh Wala and Bhai Desa villages. Block Development Officer (BDO), Maur, Sikandar Singh admitted that there was a problem. However, he said a grant of Rs 2 lakh had been received in this regard and efforts were on to sort out the problem. “Rs 5 to Rs 6 lakh are required to arrange a permanent solution to the problem,” he added.
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Sekhwan, Langah given SGPC ticket
Chandigarh, August 9 In the second list announced yesterday, the party allocated the party ticket to former minister Tota Singh from Moga as well as sitting legislator Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas from Chananwal (Barnala). This triggered speculation that the party wanted to pack off ‘jathedars’ to the SGPC and allocate assembly tickets to fresh talent, in sync with the times. Party sources said though Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Agriculture Minister Suchha Singh Langah were already SGPC members, the party might limit the former to the SGPC only because Sekhwan’s assembly seat of Kahnuwan no longer exists post-delimitation. Langah too has announced his intention to contest from Dera Baba Nanak rather than from his seat at Dhariwal whose character too has changed after delimitation. However, according to sources, Langah is better placed as he heads the party’s Gurdaspur district unit. A surprise loser is Karnail Singh Panjoli, a former Gurcharan Singh Tohra loyalist, who has missed the cut from Fatehgarh Sahib. Sources said Panjoli’s refusal to accede to amendments in the Nanakshahi Calender, as demanded by the Sant Samaj, went against him. Tohra loyalists Sukhdev Singh Bhaur and Satwinder Singh Tohra have, however, been renominated though many sitting Tohra loyalists have failed to make the cut and thereby the strength of the Tohra camp has been reduced considerably. Among the 33 tickets, which were allotted today, former minister Gurdev Singh Badal’s son Kewal Singh Badal has been allocated the ticket from Mullanpur Dakha. The Sikh Students Federation president and Subordinate Services Selection Board member Gurcharan Singh Grewal makes it from Jagraon. Former Chandigarh Mayor Harjinder Kaur has been renominated from the lone Chandigarh seat. Only seven seats remain to be decided, with the SAD announcing candidates from 130 seats now.
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Elderly woman killed in scuffle over village common land
Bathinda, August 9 The incident took place at around 6.30 am when two groups laying claims over the land argued with each other and entered into a scuffle. The two groups had been fighting over a piece of 12 marla land for the past many days. The deceased has been identified as Kuldeep Kaur, mother of Jaskaran Singh. She died following the din created by villagers. The post-mortem examination report of the body is awaited. The body was consigned to the flames in the evening. Village sarpanch Buta Singh said he was not present in the village when the incident took place. He came to know about it in the evening. “The two groups had been fighting over the land wherein they dump cowdung and store dung cakes. Recently, one of the two groups had raised a wall there which the other group tried to demolish today,” the sarpanch said. He added that the women folk usually fight each other over the piece of land. Their day started with a quarrel due to space crunch besides claims and counter claims over the land, the sarpanch said. The fight began in a similar manner today but turned fierce when the opposite party started demolishing the wall erected by the victim’s family. Police officials said they had registered a case in this regard against 16 persons, including six women, on the complaint of Jaskaran, the deceased’s son.
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Post tragedy, families feel the ripples
Bathinda, August 9 The accused Bhola has a seven-year-old daughter, who now lives with her grandmother and uncle Dharam Singh. Dharam Singh, a bachelor, was among the three accused in the case. The court of district sessions judge SK Aggarwal awarded life imprisonment to Bhola and his wife Bhinder Kaur and acquitted Bhola’s brother Dharam Singh. Neighbours said Jagtar had two sons and a daughter of which their younger son Sagar Singh alias Sonu was killed. “The family could not bear the tragedy. The child’s mother lost her senses and started falling ill frequently,” said the neighbours. Around seven months ago, Jagtar shifted elsewhere. While Jagtar lost his child, the accused Bhola and Binder too were at the receiving end. Both were arrested after the incident on August 10, 2010 and are lodged in Bathinda jail since then. “Their daughter, mother and brother are living a life of penury. Bhola has two sisters. One is married at Bathinda and the other lives at Rampura. Bhola’s daughter and mother live at Bathinda and Rampura by turn,” the neighbours added.
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Bathinda: Swami Vivekananda Girls College and Vivekananda Institute of Management and Technology celebrated its eighth Teej Mela ‘Kudiyan Chidiyan Te Saawan’.
Shiva Gupta, wife of Uma Shankar, IAS, inaugurated the Teej Mela while Manjinder Kaur Gill, wife of SSP SS Gill gave away the prizes and presided over the function. Naseeb Kaur Mahi, Priyanka Maluja and Manjeet Bhatti were the guests of honour. College principal Raj Gupta welcomed the guests and exhorted the students to check female foeticide, the alarming fall in the number of sparrows due to the proliferation of mobile towers and grow more trees. —
TNS
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Agri workers submit list of demands to admn
Bathinda, August 9 District general secretary of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Sabha Harbans Singh Bathinda, district secretary of the CPI Jagjit Singh Joga, district general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Sabha Jasvir Singh Aklia and district general secretary of the Punjab Istri Sabha Jasvir Kaur Sra also joined the deputation. The leaders of the agriculture workers criticised the SAD-BJP leaders for allegedly making statements that the daily wages of the MNREGA (Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers had been hiked from Rs 123 to Rs 153 in Punjab. The demands of the workers include payment of Rs 1,000 per month to old-age, widow, disabled and dependent children under social security schemes, preparation of BPL cards of all labourers, free LPG connections to labourers and Rs 200 as daily wages to MNREGA workers. —
TNS |
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Cop, nephews booked for raping woman
Moga, August 9 The case was registered against head constable Jaswinder Singh and two of his nephews, Gona Singh and Lakhvir Singh, based on the victim’s statement. She was allegedly abducted by Gona Singh a year ago and a case of kidnapping was registered against him. Six months ago, the woman’s family had filed a case against the head constable and Gona Singh for murdering another member of their family. Since then Jaswinder Singh was absent from duty and never appeared before the police for probe. The police now registered a fresh case of rape under various sections of the IPC against them. —
TNS
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Man duped of Rs 10 lakh, two booked
Ferozepur, August 9 As per the details, Bagh Singh, a resident of village Ugohke, had paid the amount as demanded by the accused to send his son Baljinder Singh to Canada. The complainant further said his son was called to Delhi where they got him a visa issued. As the visa was not authentic, his son could not go to Canada. During a police investigation, Babbal and his wife Paramjit Kaur were found guilty. No arrests have been made yet. —
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Councillor plans to contest SGPC polls as independent
Abohar, August 9 Buta Singh had defeated the SAD candidate in the MC elections but was later pursuaded by former legislator Dr Ram Kumar Goyal to join the saffron party. As the promises made to him were not fulfilled, he chose to side with the anti-president faction in the Council.
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Maisarkhana (Bathinda), August 9
