B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Minor boy run over by speeding truck in Fazilka
Fazilka, February 7
Angered because of an accident caused by a speeding truck as a result of the death of a minor student on the out skirts of Jalalabad town, a mob set the truck on fire.


The truck that was set ablaze by the mob. A Tribune photograph

Old age home inaugurated
Ferozepur, February 7
For all those hundreds of old and needy who do not have a roof over their heads or a place to call their own, the Cantonment Board has established, ‘Sneh Kendra’, an old age home on the premises of the Cantonment General Hospital, which was inaugurated here today in the presence of the Board officials, representatives from various NGOs and eminent people from various walks of life

Five sustain burns as LPG stove catches fire, kitchen collapses
Abohar, February 7
The doctors in the burns ward at the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here today referred all five persons who sustained burns in domestic gas fire last night to the Faridkot-based Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Hospital as their condition caused anxiety.

Anti-encroachment drive begins
Fazilka, February 7
Fazilka police sprang into action, initiating an anti-encroachment drive and lifting vehicles parked in violation of traffic rules.

Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrated
Sriganganagar, February 7
Artistes mesmerised the gathering by presenting the play ‘Charulata’ based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel ‘Nastanirh’ (The Broken Nest) during the Rabindra Rachna Mahotsav organised by the Peoples Media and Theatre (PMT) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the great writer and philosopher.

Artistes staging ‘Charulata’ based on Tagore’s novel ‘Nastanirh’. A Tribune photograph

Bid to smuggle poppy husk foiled, one held
Abohar, February 7
The police in the neighbouring Rajasthan have foiled an attempt to smuggle huge quantity of poppy husk to this sub-division.

Stray dogs become active in wildlife sanctuary villages
Abohar, February 7
The stray dog menace has re-surfaced in the villages that form a part of the Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuary in the Seetogunno sub-tehsil of Abohar sub-division.

Abohar college brings out documentary on Ambedkar
Abohar, February 7
The Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College has taken a big leap, as the dignitaries described it, by bringing out a documentary film on Dr BR Ambedkar and a 140-page book on Swami Vivekananda.

Dignitaries go through the pages after releasing a book on Swami Vivekananda at Abohar. A Tribune photograph

Wife of former Congress minister passes away
Muktsar, February 7
Sukhpal Kaur, wife of former Congress minister Gurnam Singh Abul Khurana, passed away today in Chandigarh. She was 76 and was suffering from severe lung infection.

Minor boy run over by speeding truck in Fazilka
Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, February 7
Angered because of an accident caused by a speeding truck as a result of the death of a minor student on the out skirts of Jalalabad town, a mob set the truck on fire.

As per information, a student Avi (11), son of Sukhdev, a resident of Munjal Dharmshall in Jalalabad, was returning home on a bicycle after tuition. A speeding truck loaded with empty gunny bags, going towards the Muktsar road, crushed Avi near his residence. He died on the spot.

The truck driver fled from the site of the accident.

The locals rushed to rescue the boy but by that time, he had died. Upon knowing about the accident Avi's family members and neighbourers gathered at the site of the accident.

The atmosphere became tense. The enraged crowd set the truck on fire. The police reached the spot but no action had been taken at the time of filing the news. 

Old age home inaugurated
Anirudh Gupta

Dignitaries during the opening ceremony of ‘Sneh Kendra’, an old age home at Cantonment General Hospital in Ferozepur on Tuesday. Tribune photo

Ferozepur, February 7
For all those hundreds of old and needy who do not have a roof over their heads or a place to call their own, the Cantonment Board has established, ‘Sneh Kendra’, an old age home on the premises of the Cantonment General Hospital, which was inaugurated here today in the presence of the Board officials, representatives from various NGOs and eminent people from various walks of life.

Ashwani Kumar, Principal Director, Defence Estates (PDDE), Western Command, Ministry of Defence, presided over the inaugural function. The PDDE also inaugurated a special centre for the mentally retarded and differently abled children, christened as ‘Muskaan’, which was also opened here today.

JV Singh, CEO of the Board, said both these centres will offer much needed facilities to the elderly and the special children which was needed in the area for a long time. He said that the facility is being provided free of cost.

The PDDE said that the defence estates department has envisaged opening such centres in all the cantonments as per the requirement of the people belonging to that area.

He said that facilities like TV, Internet and computers besides a library and physiotherapy centre shall be made available to the old-timers.

Lauding the efforts of the Board, the PDDE said a committee of the local philanthropists shall be constituted to look after and run these centres so that these projects can become sustainable and free from any kind of red-tape.

Later, the PDDE also visited the vocational training centre (VTC), cantonment schools and Gandhi Garden, where he interacted with the students and the staff. He also met various delegations which included the Pensioners Association, Beopar Mandal, and the Cantonment Residents Association, among others.

Five sustain burns as LPG stove catches fire, kitchen collapses
Our Correspondent

Abohar, February 7
The doctors in the burns ward at the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here today referred all five persons who sustained burns in domestic gas fire last night to the Faridkot-based Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Hospital as their condition caused anxiety.

Notably, the newly purchased domestic gas equipment placed in the kitchen at a house owned by a BPL family in village Bahadurkhera of the sub-division exploded last night reportedly following some leakage in the regulator.

The roof of the kitchen caved in but this provided an outlet to the fire that broke out due to the explosion.

Those shifted to the Civil Hospital here last night with burn injuries using a private vehicle were: Prithiraj, Radhakrishan, Anil Kumar, Sandeep Kumar and Kulwinder.

The Bharat Gas agency based at village Balluana on the Abohar-Malout road had supplied the equipment, Prithiraj said. The mishap occurred within a few minutes of distributing sweets to celebrate the installation of the LPG connection.

Civil and police officials besides the representatives of Bharat Gas visited the village and inspected the affected house.

Anti-encroachment drive begins
Our Correspondent

A police constable driving away the impounded motorcycle in a town market during the anti-encroachment drive launched by Fazilka police. Tribune photo

Fazilka, February 7
Fazilka police sprang into action, initiating an anti-encroachment drive and lifting vehicles parked in violation of traffic rules.

The exercise was initiated yesterday after the publication of the news in these columns two days back, regarding traffic chaos, hooliganism and rise in cases of eve teasing.

As per official sources, the police team led by DSP Fazilka, Sukhdev Singh Brar, city police, Fazilka, SHO Kewal Singh and traffic in-charge Baljit Singh laid nakas at different crossings including Bansi Pakora chowk, Clock Tower chowk, Mehrian Bazaar, Shastri chowk near the SSP office, Ghas Mandi, Gaushala Road and other crowded places and removed dozens of cars and two-wheelers with the help of a crane.

Traffic police personnel have also been deployed at different points to remove the bottlenecks.

The police also impounded a large number of motorcycles and scooters, the drivers of which failed to produce proper documents of their vehicles.

The police also directed the shopkeepers not to display their products outside their shops failing which they would be removed by the police.

DSP Sukhdev Singh, while talking to this correspondent, said the anti-encroachment drive would continue till the traffic chaos in the town is overcome.

Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrated
Rabindra Rachna Mahotsav organised to mark the occasion
Our Correspondent

Sriganganagar, February 7
Artistes mesmerised the gathering by presenting the play ‘Charulata’ based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel ‘Nastanirh’ (The Broken Nest) during the Rabindra Rachna Mahotsav organised by the Peoples Media and Theatre (PMT) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the great writer and philosopher.

Gargi Bannerji, Surabhi Kumawat, Uma Vijay, Mamta Tiwari, Kanika Kothari, Sakshi Singh, Suhani Behal, Rekha Sein, Sharuti Mishra, Punita Sharma, Harshita and Aurvi Sharma were among the budding dancers who were provided significant support by vocalists Chander Kant Gautam, Om Parkash Nayar and Shyam Sunder Sharma off the stage.

Choreography by Rekha Thakur and music composed by Dhrupad singer

Madhu Bhatt scaled the heights. PMT president Ashok Rahi said Tagore had

modernised the Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures.

His works fused lyrical flow and emotional rhythm into a tight focus on a core idea, a break from prior Bengali drama. Tagore sought "the play of feeling and not of action". Amit Sharma impressively conducted the show.

Bid to smuggle poppy husk foiled, one held
Our Correspondent

Abohar, February 7
The police in the neighbouring Rajasthan have foiled an attempt to smuggle huge quantity of poppy husk to this sub-division.

Confirming it, Rajasthan police sub-inspector Johar Lal said an Ascent car (PB 10 BL 853) crashed the naka on the Ratangarh-Sujangarh section of the mega highway. The police had to use three private vehicles besides the official jeeps to chase the car and forced it to stop after about 30 minutes.

One of its occupants managed to escape while Gurjant Singh alias Janta of village Bahadurkhera (Abohar) was arrested. The police recovered 17 bags of poppy husk weighing three quintals during the search. The consignment had been stacked by removing the back seats of the car.

Janta has identified his absconding accomplice as Juppa Singh of the same village.

Preliminary investigation indicated that the suspects were involved in such activities in the past also. A court remanded Gurjant Singh to police custody for five days.

Here at Abohar, the CIA staff arrested Chander Bhan, a physically challenged person from Peepli-Neemach (Madhya Pradesh) for smuggling one kg of opium at the naka near village Bhagsar.

Stray dogs become active in wildlife sanctuary villages
Our Correspondent

Abohar, February 7
The stray dog menace has re-surfaced in the villages that form a part of the Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuary in the Seetogunno sub-tehsil of Abohar sub-division.

A dog today targeted Rajinder Kumar in village Sardarpura. As his friend Ravinder Kumar responded to his cries and rushed to rescue him, the dog targeted him, resulting in multiple bites on their legs and hands.

Reacting to it, many residents chased the dog with lathis and finally succeeded in killing him after a long chase.

The 108-emergency ambulance later shifted the victims to the Civil Hospital here. People said stray dogs had become active with a change in season and were targeting the protected animals.

Abohar college brings out documentary on Ambedkar
Raj Sadosh

Abohar, February 7
The Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College has taken a big leap, as the dignitaries described it, by bringing out a documentary film on Dr BR Ambedkar and a 140-page book on Swami Vivekananda.

Punjabi University Youth Welfare Department chief Dr Satish Verma released both valuable productions at a function in the presence of scores of educationists from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The documentary titled "Dastan-e-Dalit Udharak" has been produced under the guidance of Dr Neelam Arun Mittu, eminent playwright of "Ek Tha Abhimanyu" fame, by Dr Ambedkar Studies Centre under the UGC scheme of "Epoch Making Social Thinkers of India."

The documentary has been coordinated by Sharda Grover and is based on the research by Neeraj Mehta. Noted storywriter Usha Ranade has lent her melodious voice to the script that goes through the life and teachings of the creator of the country's Constitution. Shalu Jhamb had operated the camera.

Speaking about the book on Swami Vivekananda, principal Dr Mittu said.

India has produced great thinkers and social leaders who by their revolutionary and path-breaking thoughts and actions, have left a lasting impact not only on the country, but also on the world. There is a great need to acquaint the teachers and students with their thinking and work, she added. 

Wife of former Congress minister passes away
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 7
Sukhpal Kaur, wife of former Congress minister Gurnam Singh Abul Khurana, passed away today in Chandigarh. She was 76 and was suffering from severe lung infection.

A relative of the deceased informed that the cremation would take place tomorrow at village Abul Khurana on the Malout-Lambi highway.