The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tragedy strikes
Three killed as train hits car at rly crossing
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Mansa, October 12
Three people lost their lives after they were crushed under a speeding train at an unmanned railway crossing at Khokhar village in Mansa district today in the evening.

The deceased have been identified as Kamlesh Rani, wife of Surinder Kumar of Maurwale, their relative Sushma Rani, wife of Pawan Kumar and driver Anil Kumar.

Surinder Kumar too received injuries in the accident and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bathinda.

Kaku, a distant relative of the deceased, said the injured Surinder Kumar is the owner of Kundan Oil Mills on Chakerian road in Mansa. They are influential people of Mansa and are known in the area as Maur Wale. As per the post in-charge of the railway police in Mansa, Jagjit Singh the family members were on way from Mansa to Maur to pay obeisance at a religious place.

The incident took place at around 3.15 pm when a passenger train from Delhi to Ferozepur (54641) was crossing the unmanned railway crossing, number 209-C, at Khokhar village.

The ASI said that he along with a team of railway police officials were inspecting a dead body lying beside the railway tracks, not far from the place of the accident.

He reached the accident spot within 15 minutes on the Mansa-Bathinda railway line. The train was already late due to the suicide by a young man from the Khokhar village in the afternoon, he said.

The train dragged the car, carrying four people including two women for more than 200 feet. While the two women were thrown out of the car, the driver and the mill owner were taken out from the car by the residents of the area and the railway police.

Some relatives of the deceased, going to Maur, were in the same train that collided with the car on the unmanned railway crossing.

They had decided to board the train while others sat in the car. Rajinder Singh, one of the relatives, alighted from the train and nearly fainted after watching the bodies of his relatives.

Railway police officials in Mansa said a collision between a train and a vehicle had taken place after a gap of two years. However, five people have lost their lives on the Bathinda-Mansa railway track in the last two days in different incidents.

The Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) is arriving tomorrow to chalk out a strategy on constructing a railway barricade in view of the accident. A case under Sections 279, 427, 337, 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the car driver.

SAD to welcome Advani’s yatra in Punjab: Badal
CM also plans to welcome Anna Hazare in
Punjab to eradicate corruption
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Mehna (Moga), October 12
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced that the SAD would welcome BJP leader LK Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra in the state, reiterating that the alliance between SAD and the BJP was firmly based on ideological issues.

He was speaking to media persons at Mehna village in Moga district on Wednesday, as part of his two-day tour of the district.

“We will also welcome veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare in the state acknowledging his movement to root out corruption from society and the democratic system of the country,” Badal said.

At the same time, the CM slammed the Congress-led UPA government for not recognizing the movement of Hazare saying that PM Manmohan Singh should welcome the crusade of this Gandhian activist against corruption rather than opposing it.

The CM said that on the one hand, the state PCC President Captain Amarinder Singh has welcomed the movement of Hazare while on the other, the central leadership of the Congress was criticizing him.

Adding that Advani's yatra was also aimed at creating awareness against corruption, he said the SAD was also committed to removing corruption prevailing in society.

Reacting to the Gobindpura incident, he said his government has not forcibly acquired the land for the thermal plant and it has been acquired with the consent of the farmers. He said the thermal plant was the need of the hour to meet the power crisis. Therefore, the issue was being unnecessarily politicised by some organizations for their vested interests.

He said that 93 per cent of the farmers had taken compensation for the acquired land. "If the farmers of Gobindpura village are ready to give their land then why are the farmer organizations making a hue and cry over the issue," he said. He further said that his government has accepted more than 90 per cent of the demands of the employees including hike in wages in accordance with the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission claiming that more than one lakh unemployed youth had been given jobs in the last five years.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister disbursed grants worth Rs 3.25 crore for the development of 79 villages of Dharamkot assembly segment and laid the foundation stones of 66 KV power sub-stations at Fatehgarh Kortana and Kot Mohammed Khan villages.

Prominent amongst those present on the occasion were local MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sheetal Singh, senior party leader Tota Singh, chairman of District Planning Board Tarsem Singh Rattian, youth Akali leader Barjinder Singh Brar and other local leaders of the party.

CM’s tour aimed at reviving vote bank?

Political observers view the CM’s two-day tour of Dharamkot sub-division as an effort to revive the vote bank of the Akalis after witnessing defeat in the recently held SGPC elections in the area at the hands of Sukhjeet Singh Kaka, a rebel candidate.

A local Congress leader Harjot Kamal has said that the state government was indiscriminately showering crores in the area to improve the 'public image' of senior party leader Jathedar Tota Singh who is a likely aspirant for the ticket for the assembly elections from here.

“The panchayats led by Congress have been given less money even as they have submitted the project reports of development works. On the other hand, the panchayats led by the Akalis have been given lakhs on the spot without assessing the project reports,” he alleged. — TNS

Police-public meet held in Fazilka
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, October 12
A police-public meet was organised today to inform the common people about the facilities offered to them under the newly introduced Right to Service Act (RSA). The programme was presided over by the Superintendent of Police (Headquarters), Fazilka, Balbir Singh.

The programme virtually turned out to be a non-starter. Only around two dozen people representing the "public" were present in a small room of the Suvidha Centre set up in the city police station complex.

The programme was slated to begin at 10 am but it began only at about 11.30 am. Some of the police officials were noticed inviting persons instantaneously for a while in an attempt to make an impressive gathering.

Addressing the gathering, SP Balbir Singh said the requisite information, status of their respective cases and the copies of different documents would be available at the newly set up Sanjh centre in the city police station complex.

In fact, the Police Suvidha Centre has been renamed as Sanjh Centre throughout the state to avoid confusion with the other Suvidha Centre set up in different government departments.

The SP (Headquarters) called upon the people to avail the opportunity provided by the state government.

He said that in all police stations and police offices, display boards have been installed mentioning the time- frame for providing the required documents and information. SHO (City) Sanjeev Setia, in an attempt to cover up, said the police had invited sufficient number of members of the public.

Tenders worth Rs 7 crore floated by MC court controversy
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 12
The tenders, worth Rs 7 crore floated recently by the local Municipal Council, have courted controversy as the local Congress MLA and some NGOs alleged that the norms laid down by the state government have not been adhered to.

Legislator Sunil Jakhar has informed the Local Bodies directorate that despite the transparency assured by the Deputy Chief Minister in the e-tendering system to check pooling or other malpractices by the unscrupulous elements, the Council wanted the aspirant contractors to visit Abohar before submitting their lowest possible quotations for different development works.

This, he said, was an apparent move to go in for ‘underhand deals’. The engineering department in the council run by the BJP is headed by a junior engineer (JE) against the mandatory provision of an official of the rank of Municipal Engineer (ME).

The JE is entitled to accept tenders for the works only up to Rs 5 lakh. Some of the contractors who were issued tender forms and allowed to submit the tenders were not qualified as ‘C’ class contractors even where the MC needed ‘A’ class contractors to execute the works worth crores.

The legislator said the local council had arranged funds for the first time since the formation of the present alliance government in the state and it should ensure that the money is not siphoned off.

Consumer Movement and District RTI Association chairman Satpal Khariwal also urged the state government to get the records relating to the tendering system adopted by the local council, minutely examined on a priority basis.

Council president Shivraj Goyal refuted the allegations and claimed that the rules were strictly followed in inviting the tenders.

No new projects for Ferozepur Rly division
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, October 12
Despite being one of the oldest and most important divisional headquarters of the Northern Railways, Ferozepur, has always been overlooked when it comes to sanctioning of any new rail project.

Though the division generates revenue worth crores, but no superfast or express train has been introduced from this station for the last several decades. Even the projects which had earlier been sanctioned are virtually stranded or moving at a snail's pace.

The issue has caused immense resentment amongst the residents who blame it on the lack of initiative on the part of the local MPs besides the apathetic attitude of the ministry concerned towards their genuine demands. Ashok Bajaj, a social worker, said that the residents have been demanding a rail link between Ferozepur and Amritsar via Mahalam-Khemkaran-Patti for which an additional 30-km of rail track has to be laid but the Railway Ministry has failed to give the nod.

Bajaj said that before independence, Ferozepur was connected to Amritsar via Kasur. However, after the partition, the rail link was snapped. Many memorandums have been submitted to the ministry but all requests have fallen on deaf ears so far, he said.

According to the information, following numerous requests by the residents belonging to both Ferozepur and Amritsar to restore rail connectivity between these two historical places, the railways conducted a survey on the route.

However, things did not move beyond that. “If the rail link between these two strategically important districts is restored, it will reduce the distance between Ferozepur and Amritsar from 196 km to 82 km. It will also give a boost to tourism at both locations,” said Subhash Tuli, Chairman, Beopar Mandal.

Tuli said that even the distance between Jammu and Mumbai will be shortened by 267 km, and added that the entire northern belt starting from Jammu and Kashmir will have access to Rajasthan via Ferozepur-Fazilka-Abohar and Sriganganagar.

It is pertinent to mention here that work on the construction of a rail link between Fazilka and Abohar (42.717 km) is underway since 2004 and the project is likely to be completed soon. Bajaj said that he has also written to Navjot Singh Sidhu, Member of Parliament from Amritsar, to pursue the matter with the railways but without any tangible result.

KC Sharma, a professor, said that he had met the DRM along with a delegation in this regard but in vain. Sharma said that Ferozepur which was the land of martyrs besides being one of the biggest Army cantonment deserves a much better deal. He said that the railway ministry should introduce more trains from this junction for better connectivity with other major cities including Delhi.

DRM Vishwesh Chowbey said that as per the survey conducted by the railway authorities, the rate of return on this line had come out to be 7.4 per cent. It should be a minimum of 12 per cent for the proposal to be considered, he added.