B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Villagers tackle official apathy, clean canal themselves
Muktsar, July 5
Failing to grab the attention of the officials of the irrigation department, nearly a 100 farmers of the nearby Goniana village have finally started de-silting.
Villagers of Goniana in Muktsar district cleaning the minor. A Tribune photo

Police busts gang of vehicle lifters
Ferozepur, July 5
Seventeen cars were recovered after the Ferozepur police busted an inter-state gang of car thieves who were involved in over a dozen cases.

                          The seized vehicles

Opium smugglers nabbed
Bathinda, July 5
The intelligence wing of the police today nabbed three interstate smugglers who had been selling opium in sachets of different sizes. The police seized 10 kg of opium from their possession. During interrogation, it was found that property worth crores was in the name of these smugglers.
IG (Intelligence) Jatinder Jain at a press meet. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Fertiliser dealers raided in Moga
Moga, July 5
A team of the state agriculture department along with the local officials of the department conducted raids on many dealers of the insecticides and fertilizers.

Rlys blocks passage, residents unhappy
Abohar, July 5
Reacting alegedly to the stir launched by the NGOs under the banner of “India against Corruption” (IAC) against the delay in making the Abohar-Fazilka rail link operational, the engineering wing of the railways here today blocked the passage to Nai Abadi by fixing iron girders. The staff also demolished the ramp used by cyclists, bikers and scooterists on both sides of the stairs. Earlier, the passage to Ram Nagar had been blocked.

Trial run of engine on Abohar-Fazilka track soon
Fazilka, July 5
In the wake of mounting pressure following media reports, public representations and agitation by NGOs, the Divisional Rail Manager (DRM), Ferozepur division, has announced that the trial run of a power engine would be held on the newly-laid Fazilka Abohar rail track.

Villagers tackle official apathy, clean canal themselves
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 5
Failing to grab the attention of the officials of the irrigation department, nearly a 100 farmers of the nearby Goniana village have finally started de-silting the Goniana minor themselves.

The minor canal was in a bad shape and was hampering the canal water supply to the village.

Barely 500 metres away from the District Administrative Complex (DAC), the affected farmers have been working hard in the extreme hot weather to clean the minor, so that they could irrigate their cotton fields, which have been turning dry due to the non-availability of water.

"The heavy deposit of silt was blocking the flow water to our fields. So, we started the cleaning operation," said Balwinder Singh, the nambardar of the village.

"We had requested the officials of the irrigation department and senior Akali leaders including the constituency in-charge a number of times, but when no one paid any attention to our problem, we started the de-silting process ourselves, as we had no other option available," the nambardar said.

The farmers busy in cleaning up the minor said the irrigation of nearly 1,500 acres of agricultural land in Sangu Dhaun and Goniana villages entirely depended upon this minor.

Gurnam Singh, member, village panchayat, said, "Yesterday, we all gathered in the village and decided to jointly carry out a cleaning operation of the 6-km long minor. All farmers in the village agreed and we started the de-silting process with agricultural tools."

He further alleged, "The minor takes off from the Thandewala head works and our village is at the tail end. But due to the silt in the minor, water was not reaching our fields. Even some big landlords have been stealing water after laying their pipes in the minor, which also curtails the water supply."

Another farmer, Darshan Singh, said in the absence of any efforts by the irrigation officials in carrying out the job, about two feet deep silt had accumulated in the minor, which would now take almost four to five days to clean.

However, when contacted, RK Gupta, Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department, said, "We had cleaned this minor a few months ago and now the farmers are cleaning it up or de-silting it at their own level. It doesn't mean we are not ready to clean it. But it will be cleaned or de-silted when its turn comes."

Police busts gang of vehicle lifters
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, July 5
Seventeen cars were recovered after the Ferozepur police busted an inter-state gang of car thieves who were involved in over a dozen cases related to car thefts in various areas of Punjab and Delhi.

Ferozepur SSP HS Mann addressing the media. Tribune photos

Addressing the media persons here today, SSP Hardial Singh Mann said a special team had been constituted to apprehend the members of the gang which used to lift cars and then sell them off to customers after preparing forged documents. "Even the engine and chassis numbers of the vehicles were changed before they were sold off with forged RC and documents," he added.

The SSP said a special team led by Ragubir Singh, SP Detective, was keeping track of the activities of the gang and following a specific input about their movement, two members of the gang, identified as Darshan Singh and Ashu, were arrested. Still, five other members of the gang, including their chief Surjit Singh, were elusive, he added.

The SSP said following the interrogation of the arrested gang members, 17 vehicles including five Maruti Alto, four Tata Indica, four Maruti Swift, one Esteem, one Zen, one Lancer and a Maruti 800 were recovered. These vehicles had been stolen from various locations in Delhi and Punjab.

The SSP said the other members of the gang were still on the run and would be arrested soon. He said more recoveries were likely to be made after the rest of the gang members were arrested.

Opium smugglers nabbed

Bathinda, July 5
The intelligence wing of the police today nabbed three interstate smugglers who had been selling opium in sachets of different sizes.

The police seized 10 kg of opium from their possession. During interrogation, it was found that property worth crores was in the name of these smugglers. IG (Intelligence) Jatinder Jain said the policemen who helped in arresting the accused would be given a reward of `1,000 each. — TNS

Fertiliser dealers raided in Moga

Moga, July 5
A team of the state agriculture department along with the local officials of the department conducted raids on many dealers of the insecticides and fertilizers.

The raids were still continuing when the report was last filed. Narankar Singh, the joint director of the department, who headed the team, said he himself had taken two samples of insecticides and two samples of a fertilizer from the dealers from the old grain market of the town.

The authorities had also taken as many as 59 samples of insecticides and 46 samples of fertilizers in the last few days. One fertilizer sample had failed to pass the quality test. Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) of Moga, Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, said the micronutrients were found deficient in one of the fertilizer samples collected from the premises of M/s Kanshi Ram Mehar Chand, from the old grain market, recently. — TNS

Rlys blocks passage, residents unhappy
Our Correspondent

Abohar, July 5
Reacting alegedly to the stir launched by the NGOs under the banner of “India against Corruption” (IAC) against the delay in making the Abohar-Fazilka rail link operational, the engineering wing of the railways here today blocked the passage to Nai Abadi by fixing iron girders. The staff also demolished the ramp used by cyclists, bikers and scooterists on both sides of the stairs. Earlier, the passage to Ram Nagar had been blocked.

Condemning the action, the IAC and the Nai Abadi Welfare Committee said thousands of people had been using the passage known as “Chhoti pauri wala rasta” since 1947. The railways had provided footbridge but never tried to repair it.

Trial run of engine on Abohar-Fazilka track soon
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, July 5
In the wake of mounting pressure following media reports, public representations and agitation by NGOs, the Divisional Rail Manager (DRM), Ferozepur division, has announced that the trial run of a power engine would be held on the newly-laid Fazilka Abohar rail track. "We would keep the promise by running the train before July 31," reiterated DRM NC Goyal, who visited the Fazilka railway station after inspecting the track with a team of 40 senior officials of the division.

The DRM inspected the panel, instruments and telephone system on all the five railway stations that fall on this track. "I have directed the station masters to make the tickets available at the counters," informed Goyal.

He asked the signalmen to be ready so they could start functioning even at a short notice of two hours.

He disclosed that the entire staff on the track has been posted and they have assumed charge of their respective posts. "The repair of the track has been completed and now we are waiting for the Lucknow-based Chief Safety Commissioner (CSC) to give his nod to run the train. The CSC is expected to inspect the track next week," he informed.