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‘Poor quality’ food at Faridkot modern jail
Faridkot, November 16
Just a week after the Punjab Chief Minister inaugurated the first ‘ultra modern’ jail of the state in Faridkot, based on the Spanish model, over 600 inmates in the jail went on a hunger strike on Tuesday evening in protest against the “poor quality” of food and other problems.

Flood Fury
Farmers still waiting for compensation
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS
Hundreds of farmers living along the Sutlej belt in this border district who lost their crops in the monsoon rains during this year are yet to receive the compensation against their losses due to the nature's fury.

Akalis exchange blows in Sukhbir’s presence
Moga, November 16
Infighting within the ruling SAD party came to the fore when two local groups of the Akalis entered into a scuffled with each other in the presence of the party president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal during the sangat darshan programme at Daroli Bhai village in the Moga district on Wednesday evening.

Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha remembered
Abohar, November 16
Multi-crore scams and mud- slinging among the top politicians indicate that the nation scaled horizons in science and technology but lost the basics of nation-building, said Dr SK Arora, principal, DAV College, at a function organised to observe Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha’s Balidan Divas.


Children participating in a rally organised on the Balidan Divas in Abohar. Tribune photo

‘Poor quality’ food at Faridkot modern jail
Over 600 jail inmates go on hunger strike
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 16
Just a week after the Punjab Chief Minister inaugurated the first ‘ultra modern’ jail of the state in Faridkot, based on the Spanish model, over 600 inmates in the jail went on a hunger strike on Tuesday evening in protest against the “poor quality” of food and other problems.

Although three days back, the doctors in the jail declared the quality of the food grains and pulses "not fit for human consumption" and even suggested the kitchen officials to discard the worm-infested cooked food, there was no compliance with the doctors' recommendations and no improvement in the food quality. Irate over the problems, 600 prisoners and under-trials in the jail decided to go on a hunger strike on Tuesday evening.

After getting many complaints from the jail inmates, two doctors in the jail inspected the food stock two days back. "We have made the entries in the jail journal register about the poor quality of the food. It was the duty of the jail officials to replace the stock,” said Dr Darshan Lal, a doctor in the jail.

Sources in the jail revealed that a week back when the inmates were shifted from the old to the new jail, all the rotten and worm-infested food stock were also shifted to the new jail.

Amarjit Singh Sandhu, deputy jail superintendent, Faridkot, denied that the jail inmates was were served poor quality food. "Actually, some of these inmates were demanding a television and dish antenna in the jail, so they made it a big issue", he said.

On November 8, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had inaugurated the new jail, spreading in 72 acres.

With 13 barracks, the new jail, has been constructed at a cost of over Rs 112.44 crore. It has the capacity to house 2,072 inmates.

It was claimed that the jail has its own power system, an in-built video-conferencing system, a water treatment plant and 50-bed hospital and a dispensary.

Flood Fury
Farmers still waiting for compensation

Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS
Hundreds of farmers living along the Sutlej belt in this border district who lost their crops in the monsoon rains during this year are yet to receive the compensation against their losses due to the nature's fury.

As per the official records, the loss of crops was estimated at Rs 18.5 crore.

A detailed report in this regard was sent to the state government by the district administration a couple of months back but they did not get the money to disburse among the affected farmers.

Two farmers and dozens of buffaloes and cows had also died in the floods that wreaked havoc in July, this year.

As many as 42 villages of the Ferozepur tehsil, 35 of Zira tehsil and 30 villages of Guru Har Sahai tehsil were badly affected in the floods causing loss to crops in 37,732 acres of land.

The Ferozepur tehsil suffered the maximum loss with 23,910 acres of crops having got submerged under the water followed by 9400 acres in Zira and 4,500 acres in the Guru Har Sahai areas.

The report prepared by the district authorities' further reveal as many as 1670 houses had got damaged in the floods.

Iqbal Singh, Nambardar of Kamalwala/Mutheanwali village, situated near Mallanwala, told The Tribune that he suffered loss of paddy and moong crops in his 70 acres of land but has so far not received a single penny as compensation.

Similarly, Tehal Singh, also a resident of the same village, who owns just four acres of land, said that he do not even have the money to buy fertilizer, the cost of which has increased sharply in the past few months for the next crop.

Further, to add to the woes of the farming community at the time of the sowing season, the power supply to the rural areas has also been decreased by the power corporation. "We received just 4 to 5 hours of power supply for water pumps,” said Gurmej Singh, a farmer of Chak Bhange Wala.

The Tribune tried to contact the District Magistrate S. Karuna Raju for an official version but he did not pick up the phone. However, one of his junior colleagues in the administration revealed that the state government was contemplating sending the required money for distribution among the affected farmers.

Akalis exchange blows in Sukhbir’s presence
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, November 16
Infighting within the ruling SAD party came to the fore when two local groups of the Akalis entered into a scuffled with each other in the presence of the party president and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal during the sangat darshan programme at Daroli Bhai village in the Moga district on Wednesday evening.

As per the reports available, heatd exchange took place between two sarpanches of the villages over the distribution of funds to the panchayats, which took an 'ugly' turn forcing Sukhbir to leave the function immediately, probably due to security concerns.

When contacted, Nidharak Singh Brar, a party leader confirmed the incident but said it had nothing to do with the party affairs. "It was a brawl between the two sarpanches on some personal issue and they were taken away by the police and sent to their respective homes," he said.

However, it was learnt that Sukhdev Singh Mangewala a veteran Akali leader was also roughed up in the scuffle between the two Akali groups.

Political observers say that this was for the first time that such a scuffle had taken place in the presence of Sukhbir Badal between two groups of Akalis in the present tenure of this government.

Sources in the state intelligence agency revealed that it had happened due to poor management of the Akalis at the sangat darshan programme. "Had the police not intervened on time, it could have even posed security threats to the Deputy CM," said a senior police official.

It may be mentioned that the former DGP of Punjab Paramdeep Singh Gill, who is now advisor to the home department, had organized this sangat darshan programme. He is being projected as the ruling party's candidate to contest the elections from here.

The local Akali stalwart, Jathedar Tota Singh had stayed away from the function while his son Barjinder Singh Brar, a youth Akali leader, had reached the helipad in advance to give a warm send-off to the Deputy CM as the function was about to close when this unfortunate incident took place.

Attempts were made to contact the Moga SSP Sneh Deep Sharma for an official version on the issue but calls made to his phone remained unanswered.

Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha remembered

Abohar, November 16
Multi-crore scams and mud- slinging among the top politicians indicate that the nation scaled horizons in science and technology but lost the basics of nation-building, said Dr SK Arora, principal, DAV College, at a function organised to observe Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha’s Balidan Divas.

The function held under the aegis of the Punjab Sabhyachar Manch at Swami Keshwanand Senior Secondary School here was presided over by former SDM BL Sikka and Deputy Director, Health Department, Dr Ramesh Verma.

Block Education Officer Shyam Sunder Sharma, educationist Anurag Nagpal and Manch president GS Gill also recalled how Kartar Singh, instead of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering joined the Ghadar Party in Berkeley and was hanged at the age of 19 for spearheading the fight for freedom. — OC