B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Posting of teachers: Edu dept faces litany of court cases 
Faridkot, June 12
Four weeks after the school education department in Punjab promoted 2,928 teachers as lecturers, the subsequent releasing of three amended lists, one after the other in the last two weeks, about the posting of these lecturers, has led to a litany of court cases against the department.

BMC bypoll
Loss a wake-up call for SAD
Bathinda, June 12
The ruling SAD-BJP alliance has every reason to smile over its victory in the municipal elections elsewhere in Punjab, but its defeat at the hands of the opposition Congress here in the backyard of the native village of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has come as a wake-up call for them.

Iqbal Dhillon (second from left) of the Congress after winning the bypoll from ward 6 in Bathinda. File photo

Suraj Muni’s murder case
Two of Barnala among three arrested
Abohar, June 12
Sewak Singh (26) of Dhulkot and Naginder Singh (53) of Sehna in Barnala district along with their local contact person, Nirmal Singh of Kharlian, have been arrested in connection with the murder of Suraj Muni inside his hut in a colony at Peelibanga in neighbouring Hanumangarh.

Four arrested for immoral trafficking
Ferozepur, June 12
Close on the heels of the arrest of 11 persons in a flesh trade racket, who were apprehended from a hotel in the cantonment on Sunday, the Ferozepur police today nabbed four more persons under various sections of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

Moga man begins fund-raising in UK for cancer research in Punjab 
Moga, June 12
The global ambassador of Roko Cancer, a London-based charitable trust, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal along with David Mowat, Member of Parliament from Warrington South (UK), walked 89 miles (142 km) in three days last week, to raise money for cancer research in the Malwa belt of Punjab.

Global ambassador of Roko Cancer, a London-based charitable trust, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal (extreme left) during a fund-raising event in the UK. A Tribune photo

Govt told to suspend Zira SHO
Chandigarh, June 12
Policemen in Punjab are in trouble allegedly for giving third degree torture to a group clash victim and destroying material evidence.

Faridkot school still unmatched in talent hunt exam
Faridkot, June 12
The students of a school in Faridkot are making a record of sorts for the last five years consecutively in northern India as a large number of students from this school are getting selected for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE).


The NTSE scholarship winner students with their teachers in Faridkot. A Tribune photograph

Married couple caught during Sunday raid
Ferozepur, June 12
Of the six couples arrested by the police in a compromising position during the raid on a hotel on Sunday, a pair has been found to be husband and wife who had a five-year-old son.

Posting of teachers: Edu dept faces litany of court cases 
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 12
Four weeks after the school education department in Punjab promoted 2,928 teachers as lecturers, the subsequent releasing of three amended lists, one after the other in the last two weeks, about the posting of these lecturers, has led to a litany of court cases against the department.

Accusing the education department officials of posting them in remote areas by changing their original posting stations, some of these newly-promoted lecturers have filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

These lecturers alleged they were being victimised to benefit some politically well connected teachers to give the latter favourable postings.

In a writ petition filed in HC yesterday, Punam Dugal, a newly promoted political science lecturer of Faridkot, alleged she was not allowed to join at Government Senior Secondary School in Kotkapura, her place of posting, under political pressure.

Dugal alleged this was because a political leader of the area wanted his favourite teacher posted in this school. "Because of this, the District Education Officer (DEO) refused to allow me to join this school," she alleged.

However, Baljit Singh Brar, DEO, denied the allegation, saying Duggal was not allowed to join in the Kotkapura school as her posting orders had been cancelled by the education minister.

In another case, a newly appointed lecturer in a school at Kotkapura approached the HC to seek a stay on his transfer orders.

Bhagirath Ram, the teacher, alleged that just two days after he joined a Kotkapura school after his promotion, his signatures were faked and he was transferred to a village to create place for a politically well connected teacher.

It may be mentioned that on May 15, 16 and 17, the education department issued orders for the promotion of 2,928 teachers to the post of lecturers in Punjab.

Ten days later, on May 25, the first amended list about the posting of these new lecturers was released by the department. It was followed by a second amended list on June 2 and a third list on June 8. In some cases, there were verbal orders, as it was in the case of Punam Duggal, to change their place of posting.

In these fast changing lists, some of the newly promoted lecturers were even shifted from one place to the other, three times in a row. For example, 215 mathematics teachers were promoted as lecture on May 17. On May 25, 37 of these lecturers got new posting orders. Then again on June 2, 49 of them were ordered to shift and once again on June 8, there were orders to shift six teachers.

BMC bypoll
Loss a wake-up call for SAD
SP Sharma
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 12
The ruling SAD-BJP alliance has every reason to smile over its victory in the municipal elections elsewhere in Punjab, but its defeat at the hands of the opposition Congress here in the backyard of the native village of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has come as a wake-up call for them.

Although the by-election for only one seat of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) was held, but the defeat of the BJP candidate Madhu Gargi, for whom the local SAD leadership vigorously campaigned, is being interpreted in their own way by the Congress activists. A fresh face of the Congress, Iqbal Dhillon, defeated Gargi despite her being backed by the SAD.

The contest in the lone ward had emerged as a shadow boxing between the SAD chief parliamentary secretary Saroop Singla, who after two unsuccessful attempts, won the recent assembly election for the first time defeating the sitting Congress MLA Harminder Singh Jassi.

None from the Badal family nor any other senior SAD or BJP leader campaigned here as an impression had been created that there was no reason for their defeat. Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal said the defeat of their candidate has come as a surprise for the BJP leadership.

Critics within the BJP claim the defeat was because of the overconfidence of the party and its total dependence on the SAD. Singla had campaigned for four days for the BJP nominee who was also banking on sympathy vote as she was contesting in place of her husband Parshotam Gargi who died last year. However, no senior BJP leader of the state came to campaign.

Congress activists draw pleasure in the defeat of the SAD-BJP candidate by their party nominee because of two reasons. First, the municipal ward falls in the parliamentary constituency of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of the Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was the main strategist of the elections that returned the SAD to power in the state and also recapture the municipal corporations of important cities and secondly, they believe they have settled scores with Singla who till the other day, had been rejoicing over his victory over Jassi.

Suraj Muni’s murder case
Two of Barnala among three arrested
Raj Sadosh

Abohar, June 12
Sewak Singh (26) of Dhulkot and Naginder Singh (53) of Sehna in Barnala district along with their local contact person, Nirmal Singh of Kharlian, have been arrested in connection with the murder of Suraj Muni inside his hut in a colony at Peelibanga in neighbouring Hanumangarh.

As per the information available, some persons noticed them entering a gurdwara located on Nehru Dharamshala road with blood stains on their clothes and informed the police.

They had left indigenous weapons allegedly used for the murder before fleeing. The police has registered a case on the complaint of Harbans Singh, tbrother of the slain sage, from village Singhpura (Kalanwali-Sirsa).

Suraj Muni was born and brought up in this village of Haryana.

Preliminary investigation indicated that a part of the dera run by Suraj Muni was demolished by the local Municipal Council in compliance with the directions issued by the state High Court on a public interest litigation that charged the administration with promoting encroachments.

During the drive, launched in February this year, scores of residential and commercial properties were razed to the ground. Two rooms of the dera were also affected. The copy of the supreme holy book was also damaged in the debris. The disciples of Suraj Muni decided to dispose it of in a canal near his native village. But some of its pages were found scattered by the farmers working in their fields. They raised an alarm and most of the pages were recovered from the canal.

The incident triggered an agitation. SGPC member Jagsir Singh Mangeana had lodged an FIR against suspects under sections 153-A and 295-A of the IPC. The police was able to identify the suspects after finding a mobile phone on the spot.

Suraj Muni was arrested and had returned to his dera only a fortnight back as the trial court reportedly accepted his plea for bail.

Three persons yesterday forced entry into his hut and killed Suraj Muni using sharp-edged weapons. Scores of his followers kept thronging the dera even today.

Four arrested for immoral trafficking
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, June 12
Close on the heels of the arrest of 11 persons in a flesh trade racket, who were apprehended from a hotel in the cantonment on Sunday, the Ferozepur police today nabbed four more persons under various sections of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

SSP Hardial Singh Mann said the police has launched a crusade against the immoral trafficking and eve teasing under which raids were being conducted at suspected places including hotels and guest-houses.

SHO Gurdeep Singh, who conducted the raid today, said the police has booked four persons including a women, identified as Veena, who allegedly ran a prostitution racket with help of her brother Ashiq Masih. He said a couple has also been arrested during the raid at a hideout near Baghdadi Gate in the city where immoral activities were going on in a clandestine manner.

Meanwhile, the 11 persons including Congress leader Malkiat Singh and hotel owner Narinder Kumar, who were arrested earlier, have been sent to judicial remand till June 15.

In another development, the medical examination of the two girls who were arrested along with the others on Sunday has confirmed that they were minor. The SSP said since it has been established that they were minor, rape charges will be added in the FIR. 

Moga man begins fund-raising in UK for cancer research in Punjab 
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS

Moga, June 12
The global ambassador of Roko Cancer, a London-based charitable trust, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal along with David Mowat, Member of Parliament from Warrington South (UK), walked 89 miles (142 km) in three days last week, to raise money for cancer research in the Malwa belt of Punjab.

"We walked in aid of research in cancer and so far, we have collected one million pounds for this purpose in the last six years. We have been providing aid to the cancer patients in many countries but now our focus is the Malwa belt in Punjab where thousands of people are becoming prey to this killer disease every year," Kulwant Dhaliwal said.

The man who launched Roko Cancer's fifth bus-- a mobile laboratory-- to conduct mammography tests on women to detect cancer for Punjab early this month said he also plans to open a charitable hospital for cancer treatment at Moga in his home state.

Hailing from Bir Raoke village in Moga district, 52-year-old Dhaliwal, presently settled in the UK, raised the prominence of the Punjabi community by collecting money from the NRI community settled in the UK and other countries for providing medical facilities to the cancer patients in Punjab.

In December 2010, he raised a sum of £1,00,000 for supporting St, Rocco's charitable hospice that takes care of terminally ill cancer patients. "The daily expense of a cancer patient in this hospice is around £5,500 that is funded by charitable means and through volunteers only. Now, my aim is to adopt the cancer patients in Punjab and provide them free medical aid in their home state so that they need not go outside for treatment," he said.

Dhaliwal said he would continue walking for the rest of his life to collect money for the treatment of cancer patients. "We need a huge amount to set up a charitable cancer hospital at Moga. But I am hopeful that we will achieve our goal with the help of the state government and the donors," he added.

It may be mentioned that in his native village also, Dhaliwal launched a drive against female foeticide, which proved to be successful in improving the sex ratio that stands out with 110 females for every 100 males in the last few years, he claimed.

He has adopted all the female children of his village. He meets their cost of education and clothes, also providing financial help to the poor to marry off their daughters. 

Govt told to suspend Zira SHO

Chandigarh, June 12
Policemen in Punjab are in trouble allegedly for giving third degree torture to a group clash victim and destroying material evidence.

Taking suo motu cognizance, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed placing under suspension the services of the Zira police station SHO Sarabjeet Singh and ASI Kulwant Singh. The directions by the vacation bench headed by Justice LN Mittal came soon after the High Court took suo motu notice of an attack on Gurcharan Singh in Zira Court Complex on April 24.

The Zira Bar Association had forwarded a representation to the Administrative Judge of Ferozepur Sessions Division, Justice Surya Kant, who ordered an inquiry into the incident by Ferozepur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM).

Taking note of the CJM's report, the vacation bench also directed the State of Punjab to initiate disciplinary action against all the police officials indicted in the CJM's report.

The CJM's report stated: "It is clear that SHO Sarabjeet Singh, police station Zira, Balwinder Singh Bhikhi, DSP, Zira, HC Resham Singh, HC Sukhdev Singh, ASI Kulwant Singh and ASI Davinder Kumar are found involved and/or have damaged/ destroyed the evidence or attempt to hush up the matter with some vested interest."

The report also indicated that “the police is all out to help the accused on account of some vested interests or otherwise.”

The CJM's report added the Zira police further victimised Gurcharan by portraying him as insane and also by registering FIR against him. — TNS

Faridkot school still unmatched in talent hunt exam
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 12
The students of a school in Faridkot are making a record of sorts for the last five years consecutively in northern India as a large number of students from this school are getting selected for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE).

In the last five years, 81 students of Dashmesh Public School in Faridkot were selected for the NTSE which is not only the highest for a school in Punjab but in the entire northern India.

Among these, the number of girls is more than the boys, again proving that the girls are academically performing better than the boys in a state which has earned notoriety for its skewed sex ratio. Out of these 81 student, 44 are girls.

The NTSE is conducted every year by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, to identify the most talented students in the state. A scholarship is awarded to the selected candidates for pursuing courses in science and social sciences up to the doctoral level and in professional courses like medicine and engineering up to the second-degree level subject.

In this rural hinterland, where educational standard is not like in big cities like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Patiala, the students of Dashmesh Public School not only outshine all schools in Punjab but their selection rate is also highest in northern India, said Shavinder Singh, senior coordinator of the school.

In two objective type written tests, namely, the Mental Ability Test (MAT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), conducted by the NCERT, a total of 50 school-level students from Punjab cleared the test. Out of these 50 students, 16 are from Dashmesh School, Faridkot, said Gurcharan Singh, director principal of the school.

This is not first time that this school has made a big leap in NTSE. In 2008-09, when a total of 45 students were selected for NTSE, they include 17 students of Dashmesh Public School. In 2007-08, out of the total 51 students selected from Punjab in NTSE, Dashmesh School's students cornered 22 of these scholarships.

Married couple caught during Sunday raid
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, June 12
Of the six couples arrested by the police in a compromising position during the raid on a hotel on Sunday, a pair has been found to be husband and wife who had a five-year-old son.

"We investigated and found out that they were married in 2006 and also had a son," said Mann. The SSP said the couple was staying separately as differences cropped up between their families.

"The couple used to meet at the hotel as their families did not allow them to stay together," he said, adding that the couple was planning to run away to Kolkata to break away from their belligerent families.