Bathinda, June 21
The counter-intelligence wing of the Punjab Police, Ferozepur, today arrested a former sarpanch and a farmer with heroin worth nearly `43 crore.

The accused have been identified as former sarpanch Gurmej Singh of Chakmadike village of Ferozepur and farmer Sulakhan Singh of Fattuwala village in Jalalabad.

AIG counter intelligence, Ferozepur, Ajay Maluja, said he got a tip-off about a farmer involved in smuggling heroin from Pakistan. He said a team of six officers, including inspector Ranjit Singh, inspector Gurjeet Singh Romana, SI Piara Singh, SI Tarlocahn Singh, SI Balvir Singh, SI Joginder Singh and SI Rashpal Singh, was formed under his supervision and they intercepted a tractor near Shikargah village of Jalalabad.

They recovered heroin kept hidden in a iron pipe installed at the rear of the tractor. The accused have been booked under the sections 21, 25, 29, of the NDPS Act at the State Special Operation Cell in Amritsar.

He said during the preliminary investigation, the accused revealed that they got the heroin from their accomplices in Pakistan. Police also recovered two Pakistani mobile SIM cards from the possession of the accused.

Revealing the modus operandi, Maluja said Gurmej had five acres of land outside the fencing of the Indian side. He got an identity card from the Indian government. By using the card he could enter into his fields for specific hours during the daytime. Their accomplices in Pakistan used to hide the heroin near his agricultural fields during the night.

The farmer was informed about the hidden consignment over the phone. The farmer would then hide the drugs in the agricultural implement in his tractor. Maluja said the accused also managed to dodge the BSF officials at the check post.

He said the smugglers had got the hidden pipe manufactured from Amritsar to smuggle drugs. They added that the purity of the drug would be ascertained after getting the result from the Forensic Science Lab in Chandigarh.

Their system kit however, revealed that it was 65-70 per cent pure. The accused admitted to have smuggled 150 similar packets in the past two years.

Bathinda, June 21
Admissions have started at the veterinary polytechnic institute of the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, at village Kaljharani.

In a press statement issued today, principal Dr Ved Bhushan Joshi stated that the two-year diploma course in veterinary science and animal health technology is being taught since 2010.

For the session 2012-13, the prospectus will be available from June 7. Applications on the prescribed form are invited from the candidates residing in Punjab, fulfilling the minimum qualification of 10+2 or equivalent with physics, chemistry, English and biology or mathematics from a recognized board or university.

Prospectus with details about the eligibility, counselling, interview, admission procedure, reservation seats etc. along with the application forms, can be obtained from the office of the Director of Extension Education, GADVASU, Ludhiana, as well as the principal, veterinary polytechnic, Kaljharani.

Two seats are reserved for the eligible candidates who are permanent residents of village Kaljharani. He said that the last date for the receipt of the application form in the office of the Registrar, GADVASU, without late fee is July 2, and with late fee of Rs 400, is July 9.

Incomplete applications received without the prescribed application processing fee and applications received after the prescribed date shall not be entertained.

For further detail, the applicants are advised to consult the office of the principal, veterinary polytechnic, Kaljharani, post office Chak Atar Singh Wala, Bathinda district, or call up at the phone number 0164-2421083 or visit the university website www.gadvasu.in.

Bathinda, June 21
A resident of Parasram Nagar has been arrested by the police for gambling near the old bus stand. The accused, Ram Vilas, has been booked under sections 13-A, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act at the Civil Lines police station.

Bathinda, June 21
In a first at a government health centre in Bathinda district, a three and half months old child was successfully operated upon for congenital left inguinal hernia under general anaesthesia at the local Community Health Centre in Goniana.

A congenital inguinal hernia occurs in newborn babies. Though this kind of hernia can not be prevented, to avoid any major complications it is advisable to get the baby operated upon.

Dr Anil Goyal, who operated upon the baby, told Tribune News Service that almost 20 patients must have been operated upon for congenital hernia this month alone, this particular baby was the youngest patient ever to have been operated upon.

Talking about the surgery, Dr Goyal said, "This case is special for us because usually parents prefer to take their kids to private paediatricians in Patiala, Ludhiana or Chandigarh for treatment. And this child doesn't belong to a family with modest means. His father, Charanjit Singh, is an employee with the BSNL. And still they preferred to bring their child to a Community Heath Centre and that too in Goniana, that is something to take pride in."

He also added that while the same operation would have cost the family anywhere between Rs35,000 and Rs 50,000, the charges at the CHC were a mere Rs 2,500.

"Out of this, Rs 1,500 were the anaesthesia charges, Rs 375 were the charges for the operation, Rs 30 for stay in the hospital for five days and the remaining for the medicines. If the anaesthetic had been appointed by the government at the CHC, the family would have saved another Rs 1,500."

The entire operation period lasted for a little more than two hours. "This included administration of anaesthesia, actual operation time and the post-operation recovery from the effect of anaesthesia," added Dr Goyal.

The team of doctors, who were part of the operation included the operating surgeon, Dr Anil Goyal. Pre-operative fitness check was done by Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon, anaesthetist Dr Tarsem Goyal, post-operative care was done by Dr Subash Aggarwal and OT assistant nurse Janakjinder Kaur.

The mangled heap of the ill-fated car that met with an accident near Shehnewala village on Dabwali road in Bathinda on Thursday. Photo: Bhupinder Dhillion

Fact file

• The deceased has been identified as Harish, a jeweller by profession, in Delhi.
• His brother Lalit, an engineer, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital. They had come to Bathinda to meet a friend.
• The deceased got married six months ago.

Bathinda, June 21
Creating history on the cricket turf in the U-22 group, Bathinda today defeated Hoshiarpur by 105 runs in the final of the Inter-District U-22 Cricket Tournament for Plate Group and entered the league of Elite Group.

The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) had organised the Plate Group tournament in which 14 district teams of Punjab participated in the four zones.

On the second day of the two-day match played at the Police Public School in Bathinda on Thursday, replying to Bathinda’s mammoth total of 420 runs, Hoshiarpur managed to score only 315 runs, 105 runs short of the target. Yesterday, Bathinda had scored 420 runs for the loss of nine wickets before declaring its inning.

Hoshiarpur got off to a good start as its openers scored 40 runs before Bathinda’s bowler struck. Hoshiarpur lost its second wicket when the score was 84.

Later, Amit Thakur and Daljit Singh took control and started steering the inning. The third wicket partnership fetched another 136 runs for Hoshiarpur. The partnership was broken when Amit misjudged a ball by Harpreet and gave a catch to Manoj.

After that, the wickets started falling at regular intervals and the entire team returned to the pavilion scoring just 315 runs.

Amit Thakur scored 91 runs and Daljit Singh scored 92 runs while Munish contributed 34 runs. For Bathinda, Sukhmander took 4 wickets in 19 overs by giving 82 runs while Ramesh Parshad and Harpreet took two wickets each.

The find of the tournament, Sukhmander Singh, grabbed 26 wickets in this tourney in five matches. “His name is being recommended to the PCA for including him in the probables for the Punjab State team,” disclosed OD Sharma, honorary secretary of the Bathinda District Cricket Association (BDCA).

Congratulating Bathinda team on its success, honorary treasurer and founder member of the BDCA, Ashok Single, president Jeet Mal, joint secretary Arun Wadhawan and other members of the association encouraged the team to keep achieving new milestones.

Members of the association lauded the efforts made by the two coaches of the BDCA, Satya Bhushan and Ravi Kohli, in honing the talent of the players.

OD Sharma, who was also the convener of the tournament, said Bathinda would now play in the Elite Group in July. Final dates would be decided by the PCA in due course, he added.

Meanwhile, today the Selection Committee of the PCA for Plate Group met under the chairmanship of Arun Wadhawan. The panel also included Pushpinder Singh from Muktsar and Pardeep Kumar of Faridkot who witnessed all the matches played in Zone-A. The panel recommended players of Zone-A for a training camp scheduled to be held at the PCA Mohali in July and August 2012.

As many as six players from Bathinda, namely Manil Bajaj, Sukhmander Singh, Dhruv Garg, Lovepreet, Kamaljeet and Sukhminder Jr, have been selected for the camp while two players from Faridkot, namely Harpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh, figured in the list.

Muktsar’s Gursant Singh, Amandeep Singh and Sgerbaj Singh; Barnala’s Sharandeep Singh; Sangrur’s Harman; Mansa’s Gurpreet and Ferozepur’s Rohit Rai were also selected for the training camp.