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Displaced families camp in the open
Farmers lose their farm equipment in gushing waters
Makeshift bridge to connect 20 villages in Ferozepur
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Mohar Jamsher residents evacuated
4 Panthic Morcha candidates join SAD
Opposition says SAD luring candidates
Two farmers on protest in Mansa hospitalised
Changing Times: Few Pak women seen in burqa at The Retreat
Commuters demand lifting of toll barrier at Kurali
PCS exam likely to be postponed again
Sahitya Akademi Award for
Dr Aasht
Rajindra hospital starts geriatric clinic
Illegal Detention
Youth booked for‘kidnapping’ friend
4 held with poppy husk
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Displaced families camp in the open
Sultanpur Lodhi, August 23 The worst affected are the women, children and the elderly. They remained out in the open in the rain last night, huddled under a plastic sheet, that is their new abode now. These families live on the land between the river and the earthen bundh. They till small pieces of land and are displaced by the Beas waters every other year. The worst affected are Baja, Kutbewal, Meharwala, Amritpur, Amritpur Mand, Rajewal, Rajwal Mand, Bagha, Kammewal and Baguana villages that are under more than 7 ft of water. Several houses in these villages have collapsed. Octogenarian Hukum Singh, camping alongside the main Goindwal Sahib road, shakes his head in despair. “I have been witnessing such destruction since years. The apathy of successive governments has been the same. Nothing has been done to channelise the waters of the river which breach banks frequently,” he said. “I and my sons have struggled all our lives. I do not wish the same fate for my grandchildren,” he said, pointing towards two boys in their pre-teens. Over 15 other families have been living on the roadside for the past one week. Said Malkiat Singh: “Whenever the waters rise, we are forced to shift to higher places. Our children have not attended school for a week.” Surjit Singh and Harnam Singh living in and around Baja village, where the bundh was breached, alleged that the government had washed its hands of plugging the breach, saying it had been constructed by the villagers on their own. Hence, no official money could be spent on repairing it. “This is contrary to the welfare claims by the authorities and ministers,” they alleged. Women have been cooking on kerosene and LPG stoves. In the absence of fodder, the condition of the cattle is pitiable. The women complained that while all help had been given to the Mand villages further downstream, they had been left to fend for themselves.
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Farmers lose their farm equipment in gushing waters
Ferozepur, August 23 The residents of several villages, including Gatti Telumal, Khilcha Hithar and Rahela Haji, all falling under Dona Telu Mal Enclave (DT Mal) along the India-Pakistan border, rued their costly boats, diesel engines and other precious equipment got damaged due to sudden release of water. Besides, crop on around 2,000 acres got damaged. Karan Singh Dhaliwal, secretary of Border Area Sangharsh Committee who owns agricultural land in the area, said DT Mal Enclave was situated only 5 km downstream the Hussainiwala head works. "Due to close proximity to the head works, we do not get time to remove our essential equipment from the fields whenever water is released downstream without prior warning," he said. Farmers rued that they had arranged three boats, including a bigger one, to ferry combine machines and tractors across the river but the equipment was swept away by the ravaging Sutlej. "The bigger boat was worth Rs 3 lakh whereas the smaller ones were worth Rs 1 lakh each…. All the farmers had pooled in to purchase the boats," said another villager Jagdev Singh, adding some farmers had even taken loan to contribute for boats. Karnail Singh, who belongs to Rahela Haji, owned 10 acres across the river in DT Mal Enclave. However, due to frequent damage to the crops by the Sutlej in 2008 and then again in 2010, he has already sold around 6 acres and is now left only with 4 acres.
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Makeshift bridge to connect 20 villages in Ferozepur
Ferozepur, August 23 All these villages, including Hazarasinghwala, Tindiwala, Ghinniwala, Chandiwala, Gatti Rahemke, Rajoke, Jaloke and several others, are surrounded by Sutlej from three sides and there is only single road which connects them to the mainland across the river. However, when the pipe-culvert bridge collapsed yesterday, the villagers were completely isolated with no access to the rest of the area. ADC DPS Kharbanda said fortunately some 30-feet-long cast iron water pipes were lying near the collapsed bridge. The administration machinery joined these water pipes and placed them across the 65-ft breach and thereafter wooden planks were placed on the top of the pipes to convert it into temporary overpass for the residents of these villages. “Besides, the BSF has provided two motorboats and the Army has also arranged 10 boats which have been pressed into service for the expediency of the villagers to transfer their goods and utility items across the Sutlej,” he added. Earlier in the morning, in the absence of any road access to these villages, DC S Karuna Raju, ADC Kharbanda and SSP Surjit Singh reached these affected villages on motorcycles, which were transported across the river on boats. Traversing through these villages on motorcycles, the DC interacted with the affected farmers and assured them all possible help. He also advised them to shift to safer places being offered by administration.
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Mohar Jamsher residents evacuated
Fazilka, August 23 The villagers rued that the administration had failed in solving their problems. “We have been facing shortage of green fodder for our livestock as standing crop on about 850 acres has been inundated by the flood water,” said Hansa Singh. They alleged the administration was hesitating to provide them fodder. Meanwhile, with more water being released from the Hussainiwala, the bundhs near Dona Sikandari village had started eroding. The administration and Army men acted swiftly and strengthened it by laying about 6,000 sand bags.
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4 Panthic Morcha candidates join SAD
Chandigarh, August 23 Four candidates of the Panthic Morcha today announced that they were joining the SAD, clearing the way for the unopposed election of four party candidates from Amritsar district. They are Sarabjit Singh Sohal (Guru ka Bagh), Tarlok Singh (Mattewal), Savinder Singh Kot Khalsa (Amritsar-West) and Avtar Singh (Amritsar-East). Former All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) presidents Jasbir Singh Ghuman and Manjit Singh Bhoma, former AISSF vice-president Balwinder Singh and former AISSF general secretary Sarabjit Singh Jammu also joined the SAD today. Sources said the SAD youth wing leader, Bikram Majithia, and Bhai Manjit Singh had played a crucial role in wooing the Panthic Morcha leaders to the party. The SAD is set to be elected unopposed from two more seats in Amritsar district. These seats are Bhikiwind and Choganwan where no other party has put up a candidate.The Chief Minister said the people had seen through the game of the Panthic Morcha which was a combination floated by Ravi Inder Singh, Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh and SAD (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh
Sarna.
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Opposition says SAD luring candidates
Amritsar, August 23 Talking to mediapersons, Khalsa Action Committee chairman Bhai Mohkam Singh and Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh alleged that the SAD was trying to allure their candidates to withdraw their candidature in support of its nominees. They produced some candidates who said the SAD was trying to enlist their support forcibly. Bhai Mohkam Singh said the SAD was resorting to such tactics out of sheer frustration. He said they would lodge a complaint with the Union Home Ministry. He alleged that the Gurdwara Election Commission was “hand in glove with the SAD and that was the reason for a 10-day gap between scrutiny and withdrawals ”. He alleged that the ruling party had falsely implicated their candidate from Sanaur, Sukhdev Singh, in a molestation case as he had refused to withdraw his candidature. Meanwhile, the Damdami Taksal faction led by Baba Ram Singh has announced that it will support the SAD (Amritsar) in the SGPC elections.
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Makkar’s rival pulls out of contest
Ludhiana, August 23 He said a meeting was held with the CM four days back and “all the issues have been sorted out.” — TNS
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Capt opposes move to close Bathinda plant
Patiala, August 23 He said although the Congress was concerned about public health, the closure of the plant was no solution. “Since Punjab is already short of power, closing a running plant will lead to further shortage”, he said. He alleged the sole motive of the government was to grab prime land in Bathinda city to make money. “The proposed closure defies logic as Punjab needs more power projects. It cannot afford to shut the existing plants. Instead of taking measures and installing a system to prevent pollution, the Akali government has decided to dismantle the plant.” On the health concerns, the state Congress chief pointed out that there were many thermal plants running in Punjab and other parts of the country. “If these plants can be operated without causing health problems, why not the Bathinda plant,” he asked, adding that the real purpose of the government was to grab the prime property. The former CM claimed the Badal Government was misleading the masses that the pant had outlived its life. “During my tenure, the Congress government had renovated and refurbished Bathinda and Lehra Mohabbat Phase-I plants and enhanced their generation capacity after spending a lot of money. These plants can run for another 20 years at least”, he said. He said the power projects in the pipeline would take at least four to five years to complete. “It is important that the existing plants are utilised to their maximum capacity”, he observed.
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Two farmers on protest in Mansa hospitalised
Mansa, August 23 Farmers have been protesting since yesterday against the land acquisition in Gobindpura village and BDA Enclave,
Bathinda. Farmers’ leaders said the two fainted after taking out a protest march in the city. They said farmers squatted in front of the administrative complex and raised slogans against the state government. The agitating farmers demanded immediate notification for cancellation of the thermal plant at Gobindpura village and the BDA Enclave in Ward No 5,
Bathinda, where the PUDA is building Urban Estate Phase-IV and V. Farmers said they were not ready to give their fertile land and houses and even those who had accepted cheques are protesting against the decision. The government had devised various tactics and made the farmers accept
cheques. Kin of farmers deployed in government departments were forced by their seniors to accept
cheques, alleged Ram Singh Bhainibagha, district president of the BKU
(Ugraha). A report from Amritsar said Dheer Singh, a 65-year old farmer, died of a heart attack during a protest march. He fell unconscious and was rushed to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital where the doctors declared him 'brought dead'. Farmers have been staging dharnas at
Amritsar, Jalandhar and Mansa to press the government to restore their land. Meanwhile, the functioning at all government offices and police stations remain disrupted due to the dharna by the farmers. Commuters also witnessed traffic jams in the city.
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Changing Times: Few Pak women seen in burqa at The Retreat
Hussainiwala border (Ferozepur), August 23 They did not hesitate removing the burqa when the ceremony started in the evening, this despite the growing influence of fundamentalists in Pakistan. Most of them, along with the menfolk, cheered for the Pakistani Rangers while making angry gestures at the BSF personnel. Women in the Pakistani pavilion were seen clicking pictures of the ceremony. A woman cop was also seen among them. It is an eyeball to eyeball contact among visitors on both sides with only a thin white line dividing the Indian and the Pakistani pavilions. The 25-minutes ceremony begins at 6 pm everyday. While the Indians wave the Tricolour and chant “Bharat mata ki jai,” the Pakistanis retaliate with the “Pakistan zindabad” slogan. There is great excitement when a BSF soldier and a Pakistani Ranger march into each other’s territory to lower their national flags. The Tricolour is lowered near the Pakistani flag post, while the Pakistani flag is wrapped on the Indian side where para-military personnel carry the flags to their respective sides. The Rangers now wear black shoes instead of the Peshwari sandal. Rajesh Gupta, DIG, BSF, said a sum of Rs 16.39 crore had been sanctioned for building a new pavilion with a seating capacity of about 2,750. The CPWD would shortly begin work on the pavilion. The existing pavilion can accomodate 1,000 persons. The Pakistanis have built a new double-storeyed pavilion with separate space for women. Deputy commissioner Karuna S Raju said that the Shaheed Smarak of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev would be given a facelift. A large number of people visit the memorial everyday to pay respect to the martyrs.
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Post-renovation, thermal plant’s life span will go up, says PSPCL
Bathinda, August 23 GS Chhabra, Director (Generation) PSPCL, who was in the town this afternoon, refused to comment on the issue, but said the modernisation of the plant was progressing fast. Units I and II had already been modernised and the emission levels of the two units had come within the permissible level. Unit III was currently being modernised by BHEL and the work would be completed within three months. Thereafter, modernisation of Unit IV would be undertaken. The modernisation of Units III and IV was being done more comprehensively. This would increase the life span of the plant by 10 to 15 years. Mechanical precipitators had already been replaced with electrostatic precipitators to effectively arrest the flow of ash, Chhabra said. However, the old ash ponds for dumping ash slurry were continuing to function without the plastic lining, leaving space for contamination of the ground water. Leaders of the engineers’ association Ashok Arora and Fatehpal Singh Malhi said there was no justification in shutting down the project on which more than Rs 650 crore had been spent. Moreover, to bridge the deficit, the state government had last year purchased 2,495 million units of energy at a cost of Rs 1,430 crore from outside sources, they pointed out. The leaders said the plant was not a losing proposition for the government as its generation cost of each unit of electricity was Rs 3.20 whereas the government was purchasing power from outside sources at a cost of about Rs 6.29 per unit to meet the deficit.
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Commuters demand lifting of toll barrier at Kurali
Mohali, August 23 “There is no sense of charging the toll when 1 km of stretch between the two toll barriers is full of pot holes. There should be an inquiry to find out whether the number of vehicles passing through the Kurali toll barrier were more than specified in the agreement between Pearl Build Well Infrastructures Ltd, the state government and the Government of India”, said Dinesh Kaushal, a resident of Kurali. Karnail Singh, XEN, National Highways, said the commuters could lodge their grievance in the complaint book. He himself lodged his complaint in the book when asked to pay the toll at Solkhian while travelling in his official vehicle. Though no official of the company was available for comments, inquiries reveal that the company has been allowed to charge the toll for a fixed period of 8 years and 8 months, including two years of construction period. The period is to end next September but the company has gone for arbitration demanding extension. To travel between Chandigarh and Ropar, the commuters are being forced to pay Rs 43 for a single trip and Rs 55 for a double trip. Those travelling to Ropar are being unnecessarily forced to pay the toll whereas a major section from Ropar to Kiratpur Sahib has been converted into four lane. The toll barrier should have come up ahead of Kiratpur Sahib. Avinash Rai Khanna, Rajya Sabha Member, said there was a need to monitor the number of vehicles actually passing through the Kurali toll barrier. “ With the passage of time the number of vehicles passing through the toll plaza has increased manifold but the fee has not come down. I have raised question about the toll coming up in Punjab”.
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PCS exam likely to be postponed again
Patiala, August 23 “The scheduled date for the main exam is September 2, 2011, but in the wake of fact that so far the PPSC has not even released the date sheet for the examination, which is supposed to be out at least 10 days in advance, the postponement of the exam is just a formality now,” said many candidates, while speaking to The Tribune. The aggrieved candidates rued that earlier also, the PPSC had postponed the main exam scheduled to be held on June 24 this year, while adding that it was ridiculous that such an important examination procedure was being dealt in a casual manner. Notably, since yesterday a series of meetings of the PPSC members is on. Though members of the PPSC are tightlipped about the matter, highly placed sources in the Commission have confirmed that formal announcement regarding the postponement of the exam would be made either on Wednesday or Thursday. “Now, the PPSC members will convene a meeting on Thursday to finalise the fresh date of the exam,” said the source. Meanwhile, inquiries made by TNS found that one of the reasons that adversely affected the examination process was altercation between the then PPSC Secretary Inderjit Singh Sandhu and a Commission Member over the conduct of the main exam. After this episode, Sandhu was transferred and APS Virk was posted as new PPSC Secretary. “Since the secretary has to play an important role in the conduct of examination, delay in the examination was obvious, as the new Secretary APS Virk joined sometime back only,” the source said.
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Sahitya Akademi Award for
Dr Aasht
Chandigarh, August 23 Credited with 50 books on children literature, Dr Aasht, an MA in Urdu and doctorate in Punjabi, is working as a senior stenographer at Punjabi University, Patiala. He is a widely read author by children in Pakistan also and his books have won awards there also. He is also recipient of the Punjab State Rajbhasha’s Shiromani Punjabi Bal Sahit award of Rs 1 lakh and prestigious
Pakistan Punjabi Adbi Board award besides an honour from Punjabi Sahit
Akademy, Ludhiana.
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NDRF team trains students
Patiala, August 23 Commandant Anil informed that the team would visit various parts of Patiala district for 10 days and give basic training to school students so that they could be useful in case of any disastrous situation, including natural calamities. He further informed that they were in Patiala for two reasons. "Firstly, to collect data from the district administration as to what kind of situations they had to deal with and secondly, to apprise youngsters of ways to deal with such situations. We will be in Nabha on August 24, Samana and Patran on August 26 and Patiala on August 29. During this period, we will visit various schools as a part of our plan," he added.
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Rajindra hospital starts geriatric clinic
Patiala, August 23 Principal of Government Medical College, Patiala, Dr KD Singh informed that Rajindra Hospital was the first hospital in Patiala to start such a clinic for senior citizens. "The Punjab Government had sent us this requirement keeping in view the increasing demand of a separate OPD for elderly. Considering their old age and for providing better facilities to them, we have started this clinic from today. Initially, we have decided to open it once a week in OPD number 4 but if we get good response, we may make it twice a week or so on," he added. He further said it would not only reduce waiting time for the elderly patients but will also enable them to get hassle-free services as they require different kind of medical attention. He said, "Dr BL Bhardwaj, Professor, Medicine Department, who is a fellow of Indian Society of Geriatrics, will look after this clinic.” The opening of this clinic has got a thumbs up from senior citizens. Eighty-year-old Bachan Singh, who recently got operated for a hip fracture, came all the way from Balad village in Bhawanigarh for a regular check-up. He said he was glad that the hospital authorities had started such a clinic for elderly patients because it was really difficult to wait in long queues for getting treatment. "There is a lot of rush during morning hours. Therefore, I often reach the hospital at 7 in the morning just to ensure that I could see the doctor in the morning itself. This clinic would certainly make things easy as the rush will be less," he added.
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Illegal Detention
Chandigarh, August 23 Taking a serious view of the matter, Justice Ajai Lamba of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered the payment of an interim compensation of Rs 25,000 to victim
Surjit Singh. The direction, a major embarrassment for the Punjab Police, came after the unconditional and unqualified apology tendered at the very onset by Ludhiana Commissioner
of Police Dr Sharad Satya Chauhan failed to find favour with the high court. Justice Lamba observed that the confinement was, on the face of it, in complete disregard of Surjit Singh’s civil rights and added that the interim compensation could eventually be recovered by the state government from the erring officer after fixing the responsibility. In his habeas corpus petition, Surjit Singh had earlier claimed that the high court, while taking a suo motu cognisance, had directed the district police chiefs in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to re-arrest the accused whose appeal or revision petitions stood dismissed. Some overzealous police official illegally detained him, even though he had undergone the sentence and was released on July 21, 2005, after being granted remission of two years, two months and two days. Surjit Singh also had directions to the state of Punjab, the Central Jail Superintendent and other respondents to release him from the illegal custody. In his reply to the petition, Chauhan asserted that the lapse took place as
neither the record pertaining to the remission granted to the convict was available with the police, nor was it shown by Surjit Singh at the time of
his arrest. Before parting with the order, Justice Lamba fixed September 5 as the next date of hearing.
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Youth booked for‘kidnapping’ friend
Patiala, August 23 The youth has been identified as Gurdeep Singh, a daily wager, who has been missing from his house since August 11. Family members of the victim suspect that Gurdeep’s friend Gurtej Singh had called him (Gurdeep) on his mobile phone and he went out and did not return after that. The police said initial investigation and mobile phone call details of the victim and the accused point suspicion towards a possible kidnapping theory. According to the police, the two were not on good terms following a tiff over a girl. A case under Section 364 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against the accused and his accomplice Joginderpal Singh.
— TNS
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4 held with poppy husk
Patiala, August 23 According to the police, the accused allegedly brought the contraband from Haryana at Rs 600 per kg and sold it at Rs 1,000 per kg in Punjab. The accused have been identified as Bikram Singh, Asha Devi, Harbans Kaur and Gurmeet
Kaur.
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Chandigarh, August 23
Hussainiwala border (Ferozepur), August 23
Chandigarh, August 23
Patiala, August 23
