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Firing, booth capturing in Muktsar dist Supporters of Roop Singh Gurisanghar (left), an independent candidate from Dodha, protest against alleged booth capturing at Buttar Shreenh village in Muktsar district on Sunday
Voters with shorn hair exercise their franchise
Two Maur villages stay away from polls
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SAD ahead in Gidderbaha, Dodha seats
SAD (B) makes clean sweep in Barnala
Land mafia evade stamp duty, registration fee in land deals
Dist library cries for attention, govt lax
One of the library rooms which has been converted into a store in Ferozepur. A Tribune photograph
Youth hurt in firing after scuffle
Carving of separate dists hits Ferozepur Red Cross income
IDPD holds seminar at Adesh
Natural farming of onions brings tears of joy to consumers’ eyes
The current status of the onion crop in a Faridkot village that will grow fully soon.
A Tribune photograph
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SGPC elections
Muktsar, September 18 The election has been cancelled at Karaiwala and two other booths of the government school at Buttar Shreenh where “unidentified” persons captured the booths and indulged in fake polling. In another incident that took place in the morning, the SAD candidate in the Dodha segment, Navtej Singh Kauni, was allegedly manhandled by supporters of an independent candidate, Roop Singh Gurisanghar, at a polling station in his own Kauni village. Roop Singh is being supported by Manpreet Singh Badal, president of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP). The SGPC election particularly in the Gidderbaha and Dodha segments is considered politically significant as it is a proxy fight between the Deputy CM and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Manpreet Singh. Repeated attempts to reach the election observer, Mahabir Prasad, on his mobile phone to enquire about the violence remained futile as each time his liaison officer said he was busy on the other phone. Gidderbaha SDM Pushpender Singh confirmed that the election at Karaiwala village has been cancelled and the Election Commission would fix the date for repoll. He said the firing incident took place elsewhere in the village and not in the polling station. The police said the incident was being enquired as supporters of both the ruling SAD and the PPP were accusing each other of having fired gun shots due to which one Charanjit Singh suffered a bullet injury in his arm. An angry mob blocked the Bathinda—Muktsar highway for several hours to protest against the capturing of two booths in the government school at Buttar Shreenh. They raised slogans against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the SAD candidate Kauni. Independent candidate Roop Singh alleged that a police squad led by a DSP was involved in the booth capturing. His polling agent Gurcharan alleged that some unidentified persons forcibly carried him away in a vehicle and let him free at Bhaliwana. The returning officer of the segment, Kamal Garg, District Transport Officer, confirmed that the
elections in the two booths had been cancelled and a FIR had been
registered. Upkar Singh, the presiding officer of booth number 23, said about 20 unidentified persons forcibly entered the booth and snatched 116 ballot papers and fled to the other booth after stamping and putting them in the ballot box. Ram Chand, the presiding officer of the booth number 24, said the group stormed there, forcibly stamped 117 ballot papers and escaped after putting them in the ballot box. Both the presiding officers denied that any DSP was accompanying the miscreants who stormed into the two booths. They said a police team deployed for security duty was standing outside the booths. Meanwhile, polling in other areas remained peaceful but rumours of booth capturing kept pouring in from different areas. However, most of these proved to be false when mediapersons visited there.
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Voters with shorn hair exercise their franchise
Badal (Muktsar), September 18 Even as those with shorn hairs are not eligible for voting in the SGPC elections, several menfolk queued up outside the polling booths to cast their votes in the districts of Muktsar, Bathinda, Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Fazilka, Barnala, Ferozepur and So far, reports of men with shorn hair from Badal village having been included in the voters’ list had been originating in newspapers, but such voters were seen in almost every constituency today. These voters with dubious eligibility were supporters of not only the ruling SAD, but also of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) led by Manpreet Singh Badal, and other political outfits. After casting his vote early in the morning, CM Parkash Singh Badal denied that he or any of his family members had any role in getting such persons enrolled in the voters’ list of his village. Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur also cast their vote in the village. Sukhbir discounted the allegations that the ruling party was giving favour in registration of these doubtful votes. “There are stringent voting rules and the presiding officer in each polling booth has right to object if he/she finds any ineligible voter,” he said. During a visit to the polling station at Kauni in the Dodha segment, the TNS team came across a shorn-haired Balkaran Singh, the nambardar of the village, who had come out of the polling booth after casting his vote. He showed the black ink mark on his finger that was marked by the presiding officer of the booth. Balkaran Singh was supporting an independent candidate Roop Singh Gurisanghar, whom Manpreet Singh had been supporting. Though Manpreet and his father Gurdas Singh Badal are also enlisted as SGPC voters in Badal village, they did not cast their vote. “I am in Chandigarh for some family reasons,” said Manpreet. The election scene at almost all polling booths in the Malwa region was overshadowed by the controversy around Sehajdharis and Keshdharis, as many Sehajdharis were seen going to polling booths to cast their vote. In Bahaman Wala village near Kotkapura town of Faridkot, 12 doubtful Sehajdharis were enlisted as SGPC voters and the polling staff faced difficulty in distinguishing between a Sehajdhari and a Keshdhari due to the physical outlook and names of these voters. Amrit Lal, a former sarpanch of the village, who has been sporting hair since his childhood and has a long open beard, was declined to cast vote by the presiding officer concerned who reasoned that his name was not carrying ‘Singh’. Raj Pal Singh, the presiding officer at the polling booth in the village, said he was adhering to the directions of the Gurdwara Election Commission and a person whose name was not carrying Singh or Kaur was not allowed to cast vote. In the nine constituencies of Moga district, thousands of Sehajdhari Sikhs reportedly voted to elect their representatives for the SGPC even as they were ineligible to do so. In few exceptional villages, the cops did not allow Sehajdhari Sikhs to enter the premises of polling but in majority of villages, polling agents of the candidates unanimously decided to allow those wearing turbans to cast their votes. The cops on duty said they could not directly interfere in such matters because their job was to ensure maintenance of law and order rather than confronting people. Almost all the candidates, irrespective of their political affiliations, hired taxis to carry voters from their houses to the polling booths. At a polling booth in the Ward No 9 of Ferozepur city, a polling agent identified as Surjit Singh belonging to the SAD (Amritsar) was allegedly thrashed by some persons leaving his right leg fractured. Similarly, minor clashes took place between supporters of various candidates at the Waterworks polling booth near Zira gate in the city, at two booths in Guruharsahai and one booth at Usmanwala village in Mallanwala. The polling in Barnala, Fazilka and Sangrur districts remained peaceful. (With inputs from Balwant Garg, Kulwinder Sandhu, Shariq Majeed, Praful Nagpal and Anirudh Gupta)
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Two Maur villages stay away from polls
Bathinda/ Mansa, Sept 18 Mandi Khurd villagers have been on the warpath for the past one year. They are protesting against the village land to be used as filling ground for waste (250 tonnes per day) that would be discharged by the garbage treatment plant of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda. They reasoned that the village was already reeling under serious health problems like rampant cancer cases, and has poor economy due to the fact that it is among the tail-end villages of the Mandi minor canal. Of the 548 SGPC voters registered at Mandi Khurd, only 20 cast their votes while others sat on dharna opposite the voting centre. Villagers also registered their protest during a public hearing of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) held on July 25. “The house nearest to the dumping place is just 152 m away. How do you expect us to live with the waste from 22 cities swarming our villages? Don’t our children have right to live and breathe,” asked irate villagers, including Sukhdev Singh, Jarnail Singh and Harjeet Mann. Similarly, villagers of Yatri also boycotted the elections today. Out of a total of 544 registered voters in the village, not even a single cast his vote. A villager, Naib Singh, said the village has 900 acres of land, of which cotton was cultivated on 700 acres. Of these, only 200 acres were irrigated using canal water and the rest was irrigated using underground water drawn with the help of tubewells. Villagers said the SAD candidate, Gurtej Singh Dhaddhe, neither assured of taking up their issue nor did he try to intervene. It may be noted here that villages Ubba and Burj Dhilwan of Mansa district had earlier given a boycott call but most of the villagers cast their votes today. The bone of contention between the two villages was the common grain market, which is not spacious enough to accommodate farmers from both villages. While 63 per cent votes were cast in Bathinda, Mansa registered 50 to 60 per cent of voter turnout. Overall, the polling remained peaceful in both the districts. Area MLA alleges non-cooperation Area MLA Jagdeep Singh Nakai said both the villages are facing problems as they did not cooperate with him. “Mandi Khurd villagers refused to accompany me
when I raised this issue last year while Yatri village residents did not respond to my call when villagers of nearby Maur Charan Singh opposed the laying of a canal running through their village for Yatri,” he said. When asked to comment further, he retorted, “Write whatever you want to write.” |
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SAD ahead in Gidderbaha, Dodha seats
The SAD made a clean sweep over all the nine seats of Bathinda and five in Muktsar, a party spokesman claimed. Although the result will officially be declared on September 22, unofficial reports and also SAD activists claimed that the party candidate in Gidderbaha, Gurpal Singh Gora, was leading by more than 28,000 votes while the party's candidate in Dodha, Navtej Singh Kauni, was ahead by over 4,000 votes. The returning officers, however, refused to confirm the results. The contest particularly in these two segments was considered as prestigious for the Badal clan as Manpreet represented the Gidderbaha Assembly constituency when he was sacked from the SAD last year. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal represented the seat for 16 years between 1969 and 1985 before introducing Manpreet who won all elections since 1995. The fight between the two was politically significant in the current SGPC elections. Manpreet was backing an independent candidate, Roop Singh Gurishangar, in the Dodha segment and had addressed a series of meetings in his favour. Punjabi comedian Bhagwant Mann had also addressed many rallies in favour of Roop Singh. Dodha is a part of the Gidderbaha Assembly constituency. Gora was reportedly leading by more than 28,000 votes over Mahan Singh of the Panthic Party in the Gidderbaha segment. Meanwhile, Manpreet alleged that the SGPC election was “hijacked” by the SAD. There was desperation among the SAD leadership to win the elections. “I am afraid for Punjab keeping in view the manner in which the institution of elections has been degraded by the ruling SAD,” he said. Megha Mann adds: As per the party claims, SAD candidates Gurtej Singh Dhaddhe from Maur, Gurdarshan Singh Bahia from Bathinda, Joginder Kaur from Balluana, Phumman Singh from Bhagta, Major Singh Dhillon from Rampura Phul, Mohan Singh from Talwandi, Amrik Singh from Balluana, Avtar Singh from Bhagta and Jaspal Kaur from Rampura Phul have won their respective seats. Meanwhile, a spokesman of the SAD claimed that the party had won majority of seats in Barnala, Moga and Muktsar while the counting of votes was progressing on other seats. Balwant Garg adds from Faridkot: The SAD(B) leaders of the area, who claimed to have assessed the election result, were highly exuberant with party workers busy bursting crackers. In Faridkot, the SAD(B) president Mantar Singh Brar claimed that his party’s candidates had won all the four seats with a handsome margin. Lakhbir Singh Arianwala, a senior party leader is learnt to have defeated his opponent Surinder Singh of SAD(Amritsar) while Bibi Gurinder Kaur of SAD(B) defeated Paramjit Kaur of SAD(Amritsar) on two seats in Faridkot. Sher Singh Mandwala of SAD (B) defeated Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja of Akali Dal (1920) in Kotkapura and Sukhdev Singh Baath of SAD defeated Gurdeep Singh Bajwa of Akali Dal (1920) in Jaitu, claimed Mantar Singh Brar. The SAD(B) leaders in Gidderbaha region seem to be highly exuberant after they got results of Doda seat where the stakes were high for Manpreet Singh Badal and the SAD(B). As Manpreet Badal was supporting an independent candidate, Roop Singh, so once the results on the Doda seat were known unofficially, almost all the mobile phones were abuzz with the exchange of messages, reading: “Manpreet Badal has lost in his home seat with a margin of 6000 plus….votes.” (Barnala, Moga results P4) |
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SAD (B) makes clean sweep in Barnala
Barnala, September 18 Sources said in Channanwaal (general) seat, Dalbara Singh Chunniwaal of the ruling SAD (B) defeated Jasbir Singh, an independentm, by about 500 votes. They said another high profile candidate Simranjeet Singh Mann finished third in the triangular contest on the SGPC seat. Sources further said that in Channanwaal (SC reserved), sitting MLA from Bhadaur, Balbir Singh Ghunnas defeated his nearest rival by about 3000 votes. They added that Baldev Singh Chunga won the Bhadaur SGPC seat defeating Omkar Singh of Panthak Morcha by a huge margin of about 7,000 votes.
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Land mafia evade stamp duty, registration fee in land deals
Moga, September 18 A scrutiny of the records of deed writers in an audit in the sub-registrar office of Moga revealed that a person made an agreement of the sale of land measuring 68 kanal, 10 marla on February 26, 2008 with a coloniser for a consideration of Rs 5.99 crore and received the full consideration. The instrument (agreement) for sale was not got registered with the registering authority though it was required to be registered under Article 5 (cc) of Schedule 1A (for Punjab) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. The seller instead executed and got another instrument of power of attorney registered on the same day February 26, 2008 authorising the purchaser to develop the land for all purposes or sell it to any other person for consideration and get the land (in full or part) registered as deeds of conveyance. The instrument of power of attorney was not stamped as required though it contained both the averments specified therein. Further, the deed writer did not submit or report to the registering authority about the instrument of agreement to sell as the instrument was evidencing the delivery of possession of the immovable property agreed to be sold and the receipt of full consideration. When the instruments were cross linked by the auditors, it was proved beyond doubt that provisions related to the power of attorney were being misused resulting in loss of revenue to the state government. Further, it was observed that the attorney holder subsequently sold the property to other persons by undervaluing the property as against its value mentioned in the sale agreement, which was higher than the value disclosed in the sale deeds. Meanwhile, investigations made by The Tribune revealed that evasion of stamp duty and registration fee is a common practice being adopted by the colonisers in this district in manipulation with the local authorities resulting into huge revenue losses to the state government. Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that over 30 unauthorised colonies are being developed at Sant Nagar, Ajitwal, Baghapurana, Dharamkot and Nihalsinghwala in the Moga district on private agricultural land indicating a nexus between the politicians, real estate developers and the bureaucracy. The PUDA has so far approved only five colonies in the district A few weeks back, an FIR under Sections 420 of the IPC and Sections 3, 6, 9, 15, 18, 21 and 36 (I) of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act (1995) was registered against seven persons including two women for developing an unauthorised colony 'Baba Farid Complex (Block-B) at Duneke on the outskirts of Moga. In Rajendra Estate, the MC has given sewerage connection to only a few houses but hundreds of other houses that came up recently managed to get ‘illegal’ sewerage connections. The local Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain, his wife Swaran Lata Jain and a son are also facing legal proceedings in a Faridkot court for developing an illegal colony in Moga.
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Dist library cries for attention, govt lax
Ferozepur, September 18 “With a meager grant of around Rs 25000 every year, it is extremely difficult to manage recurring expenses such as electricity bill, sewerage bill and maintenance,” she said. She added that the bills of the newspapers, which are subscribed in the library amounting to around Rs 15,000, were still pending for years altogether. Most of the new books coming now were being gifted by Raja Ram Mohan Rai Foundation (Kolkata). The library, which has over 3000 members, has no facility for even for drinking water. On an average around 20-25 visitors comprising young and old come here daily. “Most of the active members are retired people, who come here to read newspapers,” Shashi unformed, adding that at times, the members take books from the library but do not return. There is a huge list of such defaulters including some senior bureaucrats, eminent citizens and journalists. However, the library has no means to get them back. “All efforts to get books back from defaulters have proved futile so far,” pointed out Shashi, adding that only Rs 600 is provided to send reminders to such members. Raman Kumar Marwaha, who is posted in Faridkot, has been given an additional charge of librarian here. Raman said he holds the charge of three libraries with him, so it difficult to manage the affairs in Ferozepur. Raman said after almost 10-12 years, a grant of Rs 1 lakh was received last year for buying books, with which some books were bought and rest of the amount lapsed. He said the space available for the library was also too congested, adding that he would request the authorities to allocate some room in the new mini-secretariat for library.
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Youth hurt in firing after scuffle
Bathinda, September 18 He tried to intervene but one of the boys-later identified as Gurpreet Singh, son of a property dealer in Guru Gobind Singh Nagar-entered into heated arguments with Amreek. Irate over the intervention, Gurpreet rushed to his house and took out a pistol or revolver and put its barrel on his chest. Amreek protested and a scuffle ensued wherein a gun shot was fired which hit Amreek in the leg. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital by the volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa and the onlookers. Amreek's father is employed at the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant. Thermal police station SHO Darshan Singh said the accused who fired gun shots has been identified and police teams have been formed to conduct raids at his house and other possible hideouts.
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Carving of separate dists hits Ferozepur Red Cross income
Ferozepur, September 18 Earlier, the district Red Cross Society had an income of Rs 3,66,000 per month generated from the rent of shops, it had outsourced at various locations in the district including Fazilka and Abohar sub-divisions. However, after the formation of Fazilka district and subsequent transfer of the areas belonging to Jalalabad, Fazilka, Abohar, the income has been reduced to almost Rs 1.8 lakh per month while its recurring expenses are still around Rs 3 lakh per month. The Red Cross also requires a lot of funds to help the poor and needy patients. At present besides the rent it generates from the shops it owns, the Red Cross Society has no government aid or any other resources to collect funds. Following a committee established by the court to scrutinise the financial support and operation of all the Red Cross Society branches across the state, the officials have been desisting to ask for donations or organise any event to generate funds. District Red Cross Society secretary Ashok Behl admitted that the Society was facing abject fiscal condition. Behl said, “The Society has to organise many activities like blood donation camps, provide free medicines, wheelchairs and aid to poor patients besides running welfare projects from time to time. However, there is no aid from the government for its subsistence and functioning.” He added that the Society depends on its own as far as finance is concerned. Several projects like centre for artificial limbs, free vocational and computer training centre, have already been shelved down due to financial crunch while some projects such as old-age home, which was constructed on the premises of ‘Home for the Blind’ are yet to take off due to unavailability of adequate resources. Behl further said after commissioning of new mini-secretariat, a lot of offices and private shops, which are at present running on the Red Cross premises, would also shift to new location, following which the income would be reduced further. At present, offices belonging to the departments of food and Supplies, Election, Local Government department are paying rent to the society, besides several auxiliary shops like Photostat, STD PCO, Tea and Refreshment are also operating from its location, all of whom will shift once mini secretariat is ready by next month, he told. “We need to explore all options including optimum utilization of commercial spaces available with the society besides ask for funding from the government under special schemes,” said DC S Karuna Raju adding that efforts will be made to raise funds for Red Cross. DC said that if need be, special fund raising campaign will also be launched.
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Bathinda, September 18 Medical students from the Government Medical College, Amritsar, and the AIMSR gave scientific presentation on the effects of nuclear war. Dr HS Gill, chairman of the Adesh Foundation, was the guest of honor on the occasion. — TNS
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Natural farming of onions brings tears of joy to consumers’ eyes
Faridkot, September 18 However, some farmers, doing natural farming in this part of the state, using no chemical fertiliser, pesticides and insecticides, have made a new successful experiment with the onion crop to keep its prices under straitjacket. The month of December is the time for the main sowing of the onion crop in Punjab and the crop is harvested in the first week of April. However, a band of farmers, adopting the natural pattern of agriculture, sowed the small-sized part grown onion bulbs in the middle of August when there was a fall in temperature and high moisture content in the atmosphere. Hence, making an off-season experiment with the onion crop, the farmers have now fully grown onion crop while the prices of the staple vegetable is soaring to a high of Rs 2,000 per quintal in Punjab. It is not the high prices of their grown onion, which is the index of joy for the marginal farmers. But they are happy that their experiment of sowing the crop in post-monsoon months is a big success. “It is better that all vegetable growers and farmers adopt this pattern and sow the small-sized part grown onion bulbs in mid-August,” said Amarjit Sharma, a leading farmer of Chaina village in Jaitu sub-division of Faridkot. Sharma is doing chemical free agriculture for the last eight years. Sharma sowed the onion in August and his crop is now fully grown. “This pattern of onion-crop not only save the scarcity like situation but give a lot of earning to the farming community as every year the onion prices keep rising, beginning from September till December,” said Gurmail Singh Dhillon, another farmer doing natural farming in Jaitu. “Punjab has only 350 hectare area under the onion cultivation every year but the state has high use of onion and major part of this vegetable in Punjab is imported from Gujarat and Maharastra, so it is better that Punjab farmers start onion cultivation. It would not only bring diversification in our crop pattern but also increase farmers earning,” said Narinder Jeet Singh, district horticulture officer. Many natural farmers toyed with the idea of the onion crop after its prices touched Rs 60-70, a kilogram, in retail markets last year due to supply crunch. This season also the onion prices, which are already high at Rs 20-Rs 22, a kilogram, set to rise due to untimely rains in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Southern states, bulk producers of the vital produce. A substantial damage to the onion crop because of heavy rains in most parts of the country is being attributed as reason for the soaring prices. Benefits of organic farming *
The farmers are not using any chemical fertilisers, pesticides & insecticides *
Natural farming would help keep the price of onions under control * The new experiment of Faridkot farmers of sowing the crop in post-monsoon months has been a big success |
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The polling for the SGPC elections today was marred with an incident of firing at Karaiwala village of the most sensitive Gidderbaha segment in which one person was wounded.
Ferozepur, September 18
Faridkot, September 18
Bathinda, September 18