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Labourer buried alive as heap of earth collapses
Dhurkot villagers bear the brunt of unemployed teachers’ protest
When the skies opened up
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Man rescued from illegal police custody
Bathinda jail goes self-reliant, grows vegetables for its 1,300 inmates
Farmers seek implementation of demands
Two booked for kidnapping girl
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Labourer buried alive as heap OF EARTH collapses
Bathinda, June 5 Three employees were working in a ten-feet-deep trench. Earth taken out of the trench was heaped besides it. When the three workers, Jagseer Singh, Bheem Singh and Nirmal Singh, were working, the mound of earth suddenly fell on them. Jagseer was killed on the spot, while Bheem and Nirmal sustained injuries. People nearby raised an alarm and informed the health authorities by calling on the 108 ambulance number as well as the volunteers of a city-based NGO. It took around 25 minutes to pull the trio out of the trench. While Jagseer was declared brought dead, Bheem and Nirmal were discharged later in the evening after being administered first aid. SDM Bathinda, Ramvir, DSP city Gurmeet Singh, SHO Canal Colony and other officials visited the spot. SDM Ramvir Singh said the district administration conducted the got the rescue operation successfully and now it was the responsibility of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (MCB) to take action. “The MCB grants permission for all kinds of excavation works in the city. It is now MCB’s task to take action against the erring due to whom the incidence took place and to see whether safety measures were properly followed during the work,” he added. However, Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman said the MCB had sold off that portion of land more than two years ago and has no regulation over the work going on there. This was the fourth accident involving death of a labourer while on duty. Earlier in three incidents, four sewer men have lost their lives due to lack of safety measures. |
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Dhurkot villagers bear the brunt of unemployed teachers’ protest
Lehra Dhurkut (Bathinda), June 5 The villagers, however, were upset with the protest as they rued that hundreds of vehicles passing through the otherwise quiet streets of the village since Sunday evening had raised the dust level manifold. “Apart from the heavy vehicles passing through the village breaking the pavements and culverts, there is unbearable noise, pollution and dust all over the village and we cannot come out of our houses despite the power cuts,” said Ajmer, a villager. He added that the flurry of activity in the village had indeed broken the monotony and many could be seen seen chatting with the teachers and the police personnel deployed in the village. Policemen with more than 20 government vehicles, most of them parked inside the houses of villagers, were seen relaxing and waiting for the orders from their seniors. Requesting the protesters to lift the dharna, some policemen were seen interacting with the teachers unions’ leaders. The protesting teachers, who had come from all across the state, were quite adamant and did not allow any policemen to come near the water tank. Apart from the police, officials of the district administration, paramedic staff, along with the ambulance, were also stationed in the village to handle any eventuality. The protesting teachers took turns to sit atop the water tank and sit and sleep in the middle of the road. Pappu, another villager, said initially the villagers came forward to help the protesting teachers as many of them were young and newly-married girls. The villagers were however, forced by the administration and the police to stay away from the protesting teachers. Some villagers stopped the supply of food and water to the teachers after being warned by teh police, Pappu added. The union leaders of the Bhartiya Kisan Union expressed solidarity with the protesters and arranged for food, milk and all the other basic necessities.
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When the skies opened up
Bathinda, June 5 The rain came as a pleasant surprise to the residents who had been reeling under heat wave conditions for the last fortnight. The heat wave prevailed till late afternoon as the maximum temperature recorded today was 43.2 degree Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda. The minimum temperature was 28.2 degree Celsius. The welcome change was noticed in the evening when clouds started gathering, causing pleasant breeze to sweep across the areas and finally rains in the isolated parts in the region.
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Man rescued from illegal police custody
Bathinda, June 5 Acting on the orders of the judge, the sub-judicial divisional magistrate, Sanjeeta, freed the youth. In his plea moved in the court of district and sessions judge, Billu Singh stated that his son Iqbal Singh was illegally detained. He requested that a raid be conducted to recover his son from illegal and unauthorised custody. Iqbal was detained on June 3. However, when the sub judicial divisional magistrate, visited the police station today, police officials failed to produce a written complaint or an FIR on whose basis Iqbal was detained. Sources said Iqbal’s maternal uncle had got him locked up in the police station over some land dispute. The matter came up for hearing before the district and sessions judge who observed that since Maur is more than 35 kms away from Bathinda, it would take a long time to make a surprise visit. Keeping in view the urgency of the situation and in the interest of justice, he directed the sub-divisional judicial magistrate to conduct a raid on the police station. Iqbal Singh was lodged in contravention of Section 57 Code of Criminal Code and under Article 22 of the Constitution of India. Earlier, on April 11, a man was rescued from illegal custody from Bhagta Bhai Ka police post on the intervention of court district and sessions judge. Additional civil judge senior division, Phul, GS Dhillon conducted a surprise raid and got the youth freed. |
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Bathinda jail goes self-reliant, grows vegetables for its 1,300 inmates
Bathinda, June 5 Of the 31 acres of land with the jail, 13 acres has fields that yield two quintals of vegetables daily to meet the requirements of more than 1,300 jail inmates and the staff working there. Jail staff seldom buys vegetables to be used in the kitchen. “We get the entire lot from our fields. Since the land is very productive, we don’t need to add pesticide or any other chemical. But we do keep on taking suggestions from the experts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) if a disease breaks out,” says assistant jail superintendent, Baldev Singh, who is also in-charge of the farming activities on the jail premises. Not only the jail’s fields, but the houses of its employees also have lush green gardens producing brinjals, potatoes, mint, coriander, bottle gourd and pumpkins in summers and cauliflower, raddish and carrots in winter. “Places lying vacant in the jail colony were converted into dumping yard. People started dumping their household waste in the open areas, creating problem for those residing in the houses nearby. In order to avoid the garbage piled up in the neighbourhood, we started converting all vacant places into kitchen gardens,” says deputy jail superintendent, Kulwant Singh. Shubh Prem Singh Brar, a lecturer at Government Rajindra College, who shares the boundary wall of jail with his house, recalls that the jail authorities started using the vacant land for producing vegetables 2001, after clearing heaps of garbage. Employees like assistant superintendent, Kaur Singh, took up the cudgels for motivating colleagues to turn the vacant areas into green belts. He exchanges seeds of the most productive crops with the residents of the nearby areas and also with those residing on the jail premises. Today, the situation is such that the jail colony does not have any space left to put up a dustbin. “No one wants garbage in the neighborhood. We now have a door-to-door garbage collection facility that solves the problem. On top of that, we have more that 1,700 trees that our employees have planted with great zeal,” added jail superintendent, PK Garg.
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Farmers seek implementation of demands
Bathinda, June 5 They also protested against the state government for not implementing their already accepted demands. In the dharna, the members and activists of the BKU (Ugrahan), Dehati Mazdoor Sabha, BKU (Krantikari), Zamhoori Kisan Sabha, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union and Mazdoor Mukti Morcha participated. At the dharna site, a memorandum, enlisting their demands, was submitted to the SDM by the leaders of the protesting organisations. Addressing the dharna, the leaders asked the state government to implement their demands as the same had already been accepted by it, but not implemented so far. The demands included restoration of disconnected connections of the labourers, 16 hours power supply to tube wells, implementation of accepted demands related to Gobindpura land acquisition, waive the arrears (worth Rs 65 crore) of power bills of the rural and agriculture workers, waive the debt of farmers and labourers. The leaders warned the state government that in case if it remained failed in implementing the demands, including compensation and jobs to the families of the farmers and agriculture labourers who had committed suicides due to debt, then a massive agitation would be launched in the next phase. In case any untoward incident occurred then the entire responsibility would be of the state government, they added. The dharna was addressed among others by senior vice president of the BKU (Ugrahan) Jhanda Singh Jethuke and district president Shingara Singh Mann, leaders of Dehati Mazdoor Sabha Mahipal and Mithu Singh Ghudda, district president of BKU (Krantikari) Surmukh Singh Selbrah, district president of Zamhoori Kisan Sabha Sukhdev Singh Nathana, state president of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union Zora Singh Nasrali and a leader of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha Birbal Singh.
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Two booked for kidnapping girl
Bathinda, June 5 In a complaint to the police Jaswinder Singh of Guru Amardas Nagar said that the incident occurred when he along with his two sisters were sleeping in the house. The accused Amrik Singh of same locality entered his house and attacked his sister using a knife and took her away forcefully. Police has booked Amrik Singh and another woman identified as Mukhtiar Kaur under Sections 365 and 120-B of the IPC at Canal Colony police station. Three arrested for gambling Police has arrested five persons for gambling from near the Bathinda Railway Station. The accused have been identified as Vijay Krishan Shashtri of Partap Nagar, Avtar Singh of Pujawala Mohalla and Neeraj Kohli of Ganga Ram Wali Gali. A case under Sections 13, 3, 67 of the Gambling Act has been registered in this regard at Kotwali police station. The accused were later released on bail. Two booked for beating farmer Two villagers have been booked by the police for beating a farmer over the issue of watering fields. In a complaint to the police, Bahadur Singh of Behman Kaur Singhwala village said that accused Darshan Singh and Godhi Singh beat him and his servant over the issue of releasing water for agricultural purposes. A case under Sections 324, 323 and 34 of the IPC has been registered in this connection against the accused at Talwandi Sabo police station.
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One person was killed and two were injured when a mound of earth collapsed into the trench they were working in on Dabwali road, near Delhi railway crossing.
The TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) qualified unemployed teachers who had blocked the Bathinda-Barnala road and were sitting atop a water tank in the village Lehra Dhurkot, lifted the blockade late in the evening.
Weather’s sudden mood swing, which caused a heavy downpour in Bathinda and drizzle in the adjoining areas on Tuesday evening, brought the much-needed respite from the scorching heat for the residents of the city and the nearby places.
Bathinda, June 5
