B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Expired medicines for animals
Animal husbandry dy director, 2 other officials suspended
Faridkot, May 10
A week after the animal husbandry department in Faridkot was caught on the wrong foot for the alleged supply of animal medicines that have crossed their expiry dates, the state government this evening ordered the suspension of a deputy director, a veterinary doctor and a veterinary inspector-cum-store keeper.

Jairam Ramesh to visit waterlogged villages in Malwa today
Bathinda, May 10
The Union Minister for Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh, will visit several waterlogged villages of the Malwa region tomorrow so as to make on-the-spot assessment of the problem that has rendered fertile land useless.

Protest march against suspension of teachers
Fazilka, May 10
A large number of teachers of different government primary school unions took out a march in the town and blocked the traffic for couple of hours on the busy Fazilka-Abohar highway near Sanjeev Cinema here today.

Expired medicines for animals
Animal husbandry dy director, 2 other officials suspended
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 10
A week after the animal husbandry department in Faridkot was caught on the wrong foot for the alleged supply of animal medicines that have crossed their expiry dates, the state government this evening ordered the suspension of a deputy director, a veterinary doctor and a veterinary inspector-cum-store keeper.

According to the order of the Punjab Government received late this evening, Parminder Singh, the deputy director of the animal husbandry department Faridkot, Dr Avtar Singh, a veterinary doctor, and Kharaiti Lal, a veterinary inspector-cum-storekeeper have been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty because of inordinate delay in the distribution of subsidised medicines among the beneficiaries.

It may be recalled that the differences between a deputy director and a veterinary doctor in the animal husbandry department at Faridkot had led to the recovery of animal drugs, which had crossed their expiry dates.

Last week, Dr PC Mittal, joint director of the animal husbandry department, reached Faridkot to investigate the allegations of negligence on the part of veterinary doctors for inordinate delay in the distribution of the medicines in the rural areas.

A spokesman of the Punjab Government said the attitude of the veterinary doctors had caused a huge financial loss to the state government.

Jairam Ramesh to visit waterlogged villages in Malwa today
SP Sharma
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 10
The Union Minister for Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh, will visit several waterlogged villages of the Malwa region tomorrow so as to make on-the-spot assessment of the problem that has rendered fertile land useless. He will be accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Ramesh also holds the portfolio of Drinking Water and Sanitation and is also expected to take stock of the highly contaminated drinking water that has resulted in an increase in the incidence of cancer particularly in the Malwa region.

He along with Sukhbir will fly to Fazilka and visit the border village of Mohar Jamsher that is surrounded by Pakistan on three sides and the Sutlej on the fourth side. The village has peculiar health problems caused due to consumption of contaminated water by the residents.

The union minister will also visit Chano village in Muktsar district that had become an icon of waterlogging in Punjab. The Centre has provided funds to overcome waterlogging that has destroyed the fertile lands in the area.

Jairam Ramesh is also scheduled to fly to Ferozepur where he would visit some villages of the Guruharsahai assembly constituency.

Anirudh Gupta adds from Ferozepur: The union minister, Jairam Ramesh, will visit the border villages in this district and interact with farmers and rural folk to have the first hand account of their problems and also review the ongoing MGNREGA works.

Giving details about his visit, Guruharsahai MLA Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said the minister would also look into the complaints regarding misuse of the funds under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier last week, CLP leader Sunil Jakhar along with other Congress leaders, during their meeting with AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, had complained about the irregularities in MGNREGA works in the state following which she had directed Jairam Ramesh to visit Punjab to look into the alleged irregularities and take stock of the situation.

Protest march against suspension of teachers
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, May 10
A large number of teachers of different government primary school unions took out a march in the town and blocked the traffic for couple of hours on the busy Fazilka-Abohar highway near Sanjeev Cinema here today. They were protesting against the Parho Punjab team of Fazilka district whom they consider responsible for the suspension of 10 teachers and show-cause notices issued to 220 others allegedly for not performing their duties responsibly.

Prominent among those who took part in the protest were Bhagwant Bhateja, Sohan Deep Singh and Ram Krishan Dhunkian of the Fazilka unit of the Government Teachers’ Union, Punjab, Jaspal Singh and Jaswant Singh of the Government School Teachers Union, Nishant Aggarwal of the Primary Elementary Teachers Front, Rakesh Singh of the BEd Teachers Front, Ashok Sarari of the Primary Elementary Teachers Front, Ajmer Singh Aulakh and Jinder Pilot of the Sikhsha Providers Union, Amandeep Brar and Sanjeev Angi of the Zila Parishad Teacher Union and Surinder Singh of the Master Cadre Union.

The protest march passed through various markets and culminated at Sanjeev Cinema crossing, where the agitators blocked the traffic till 7.30 pm.

The protesters are demanding that the district coordinator of the Parho Punjab, Shankar Chaudhary, should be sent back to his regular post of social studies teacher at Government Model High School, Abohar, and his assistant coordinators should be sent back to their respective regular posts as these officials have allegedly been harassing the teachers on one pretext or the other. Teacher leaders have also demanded a probe into the reimbursement of travelling allowance (TA) claimed by members of the Parho Punjab team.

They have warned that the agitation would continue till their demands are fulfilled.