B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Shortage of classrooms in Abohar school
Abohar, October 14
Contrary to the provisions of the Right to Education Act and the "Padho Sarey Wadho Sarey" slogan aired prominently under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan campaign, about 300 students are virtually crammed in three classrooms at the Government Primary School at Dhaani Bishesharnath, located near the city bypass on Abohar-Kandhwala road.

Students of Government Primary School at Dhaani Bishesharnath. A Tribune photo

Factory producing adulterated ghee unearthed in Mansa
Bathinda, October 14
The Mansa police has unearthed a factory producing adulterated desi ghee ahead of the festival season. Three persons transporting about 830 kg of adulterated ghee in a canter were arrested from Budhlada.




The accused in police custody. A Tribune photograph

Bangladeshi national arrested
Ferozepur, October 14
Alert troops of the 143 Battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) have apprehended yet another Bangladeshi national roaming under suspicious circumstances in an area close to the Indo-Pakistan border.

BSNL customers a harried lot in Muktsar
Muktsar, October 14
Customers of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) here are a harried lot. The reason for this is the non-receipt of bills and the poor functioning of the department.

Bust of freedom fighter Lala Sunam Rai unveiled
Fazilka, October 14
The bust of veteran freedom fighter Lala Sunam Rai was unveiled here today on the premises of the Lala Sunam Rai MA Memorial Welfare Centre at a solemn function.


Fazilka DC Dr Basant Garg and chief guest Vijay Kumar Chopra pose with the bust of freedom fighter Lala Sunam Rai after its inauguration in Fazilka. A Tribune photograph

Minister announces eye bank for Fazilka
Fazilka, October 14
A leading NGO of the district, Social Welfare Society, organized a special programme today to honour 83 families of eye donors of the area.

Shotokan karate champs honoured
Abohar, October 14
The winners in the European Shotokan Karate Championship were honoured by the management of the Little Flowers Convent School as they returned home in Hanumangarh on Sunday.


Winners of the European Shotokan Karate Championship in Hanumangarh. A Tribune photograph

Youth killed in road mihshap
Muktsar, October 14
A 26-year-old youth was killed late last night after the jeep he was driving collided head on with a vehicle on Bathinda road.

Villagers nab transformer thief
Muktsar, October 14
Residents of Kattianwali village last night caught a transformer thief red-handed, when he was stealing the parts of a transformer from the fields.

Shortage of classrooms in Abohar school
Students skip classes by rotation
Raj Sadosh

Abohar, October 14
Contrary to the provisions of the Right to Education Act and the "Padho Sarey Wadho Sarey" slogan aired prominently under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan campaign, about 300 students are virtually crammed in three classrooms at the Government Primary School at Dhaani Bishesharnath, located near the city bypass on Abohar-Kandhwala road.

The affected students have, however, found a solution. About 20 per cent of them skip classes by rotation and stay at home assisting their parents in domestic work to make more space available for the others.

The dhaani (cluster of houses) was initially developed by Bishesharnath Vij, who had migrated from Montgomery district (also known as Sahiwal) in West Punjab due to the communal riots in August 1947.

His kin came forward to offer donation to develop a school to facilitate the education of the children of farm workers, most of whom had migrated from Uttar Pradesh.

Some of the educated youths including Pal Sabha secretary Devinder Pal motivated the parents, most of them uneducated, to send their wards to the government school. Today, many parents choose not to get their kids admitted to the school owing to the congested space.

The school has been developed over an area of 1600 square feet. Sport has been made compulsory and the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan authorities have directed the staff to ensure the participation of the students in the games. But the ground and the other facilities are nowhere to be seen, say the parents.

Staff strength is short by 25 per cent and other basic amenities too await the attention of the department.

Head teacher Yagya Dutt Sharma said letters have been sent to the department many a time and the District Education Officer was also informed of the situation during his recent visit.

Some members of the village panchayat wondered why no grant has been released to such schools that impart education to the children belonging to economically weaker sections of society.

Surprisingly, none of the SAD MPs or MLAs who visited the village to lay the foundation stones for different development projects and inaugurate them, paid heed to the demand for releasing funds for the primary school, the residents regretted.

Factory producing adulterated ghee unearthed in Mansa
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 14
The Mansa police has unearthed a factory producing adulterated desi ghee ahead of the festival season. Three persons transporting about 830 kg of adulterated ghee in a canter were arrested from Budhlada.

SSP Mansa, Narinder Bhargav, stated in a media briefing today that the factory was being run near Sunam town. The accused were supplying the oil to Budhlada and planned to supply it to the other towns or suburban areas .

He said the accused, Baljinder Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and the driver of the canter, Gurjant Singh were nabbed when they were offloading the packets containing the desi ghee.

He said the owner of the factory, identified as Sanjeev, was on the run. The police later raided the factory and sealed it. The SSP said the oil being used was harmful to health.

Bangladeshi national arrested
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, October 14
Alert troops of the 143 Battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) have apprehended yet another Bangladeshi national roaming under suspicious circumstances in an area close to the Indo-Pakistan border.

According to BSF sources, the arrested foreign national has been identified as Mohammed Wadar, a resident of Gokara village under Nurian police station of Jasuri district in Bangladesh.

BSF officials said the arrested Bangladeshi youth, aged around 25 years, wanted to cross over to Pakistan. However, he was detained near the border outpost (BOP) Maboke in an area between the alignment of border pillar 198/1 and 198/2.

Last month, the BSF sleuths had arrested a Bangladeshi, identified as Mohamed Salim Hasan, from whom a Bangladeshi passport issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Chua Danha district besides a mobile phone with an Omani SIM card had been recovered.

Earlier, on August 21, the BSF had arrested three Bangladeshi citizens from the HK Tower border outpost while trying to sneak into Pakistan. The three had been identified as Hafiz Ur Rehman, Mohammed Danish Mia and Sauhar Ali, residents of Sumanganj district in Bangladesh. Before that on August 20 also, the BSF had captured a Bangladeshi national who was identified as Ali Ahmed.

BSF sources said around 20 Bangladeshi youths had allegedly crossed over to India around two months back, of which ten had reportedly stayed back in Delhi while the other five went towards Amritsar. The rest had come with the aim crossing over to Pakistan.

However, the Bangladeshi national who was arrested yesterday night told BSF officials that he had been brought by an agent who had promised to facilitate his crossover to Pakistan. BSF officials said no document was recovered from the arrested Bangladeshi national, who was today handed over to the Mamdot police for further interrogation.

BSNL customers a harried lot in Muktsar
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, October 14
Customers of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) here are a harried lot. The reason for this is the non-receipt of bills and the poor functioning of the department.

Even though the company has been charging for the services being provided to its customers, it has reportedly failed to deliver the bills, causing resentment among them.

In the last few days, a number of people met this correspondent alleging that they hardly get the bill and have to go to the BSNL office to get a duplicate bill, which they termed as a difficult task.

"To get a duplicate bill issued from the BSNL office is not easy. First, you don't find the official sitting on his chair. When the official comes, he cites the excuse of not having a printer. Then he asks for a pen drive from the customer to save the bill in that device," said a BSNL customer Subhash, while sharing his experience.

Another BSNL customer Geeta Rani said, "For the last eight months, I have not received the bill of my internet card. I have requested the officials a number of times to take action but no attention was paid. After every two months, I go to the BSNL office to get a duplicate bill."

A visit to the BSNL office revealed that the situation was indeed chaotic as some people were also seen asking for the duplicate bill at the cash counter.

An official at the BSNL office said the problem had cropped up for the last few months. "We have informed the senior officials about the problem, which would be resolved soon. The problem might have occurred due to a lapse on the part of the post office employees," said the official.

Repeated attempts to contact the manager, BSNL, PD Kansal proved futile.

Billing blues

For the last eight months, I have not received the bill of my internet card. I have requested the officials a number of times to take action but no attention was paid. After every two months, I go to the BSNL office to get a duplicate bill.
— Geeta Rani, BSNL customer

Bust of freedom fighter Lala Sunam Rai unveiled
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, October 14
The bust of veteran freedom fighter Lala Sunam Rai was unveiled here today on the premises of the Lala Sunam Rai MA Memorial Welfare Centre at a solemn function.

"In the pre-partition days and post-independence era, Fazilka was known as the town of Lala Sunam Rai," said Vijay Chopra while paying tributes to the freedom fighter.

The programme was attended by Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg, DIG, BSF, AK Sharma, ADC Charandev Singh Maan and former minister Hans Raj Josan.

Speaking about Lala Sunam Rai, state minister Surjit Kumar Jyani said today's India is not the country which the freedom fighters had dreamt of. "Today, a majority of the populace is struggling for basic amenities, health and education even 65 years after independence. It is the failure of the system," said Jyani. He called upon the distinguished gathering to imbibe the qualities of the freedom fighter.

Former minister and four-time MLA from Fazilka, Radha Krishan, a contemporary of Lala Sunam Rai said Sunam Rai always spoke the truth fearlessly without considering its consequences.

Fazilka DC Basant Garg said the spirit of selflessness and struggle that characterised the generation of freedom fighters is missing today.

DIG, BSF, AK Sharma, while addressing the gathering, called upon the citizens to perform their duties with dedication so that the dreams of the freedom fighters and martyrs who laid down their lives for the country could be realised.

Lala Sunam Rai was a close associate of Lala Lajpat Rai and the editor of the journal "Vande Mataram". He was the translator of Mahatma Gandhi's paper "Harijan". He was also the special representative and columnist of The Tribune when it was published from Lahore and represented the paper till his death in 1959.

Minister announces eye bank for Fazilka

Fazilka, October 14
A leading NGO of the district, Social Welfare Society, organized a special programme today to honour 83 families of eye donors of the area.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab minister Surjit Kumar Jyani declared that an eye bank would be set up in Fazilka to give impetus to eye donation. He lauded the efforts of the Social Welfare Society which has taken a lead in getting eyes donated and is working on different fronts for the needy and poor. The minister announced a grant of Rs two lakhs for the different welfare projects launched by the society.

Raj Kishore Kalra of the Social Welfare Society, project chairman Shashi Kant and general secretary Kanwal Kishore Grover highlighted the projects taken up by the society in the last 27 years.

They said the society was initially set up as a group of blood donors in 1985. Its 438 volunteers donated over 2000 units of blood. An amount of Rs 40 lakhs was spent on the treatment of TB patients from 1995 for over a decade before the government launched the DOTS treatment system. — OC

Shotokan karate champs honoured

Abohar, October 14
The winners in the European Shotokan Karate Championship were honoured by the management of the Little Flowers Convent School as they returned home in Hanumangarh on Sunday.

Coach Prince Thomas informed that in the 25-30 kg category, Meghna Chaudhary and Jyoti Balihara won gold medals while Shanti Saharan, Dixit Chahar, Ankshita and Ars won silver. In the 40-50 kg category, Iknoor won the bronze medal. — OC

Youth killed in road mihshap

Muktsar, October 14
A 26-year-old youth was killed late last night after the jeep he was driving collided head on with a vehicle on Bathinda road.

The deceased was identified as Satnam Singh, a resident of Bhullar village, who was coming to the local grain market to deliver food to his family members.

After registering a case in this regard, the police have started investigations against the unidentified driver. — TNS

Villagers nab transformer thief

Muktsar, October 14
Residents of Kattianwali village last night caught a transformer thief red-handed, when he was stealing the parts of a transformer from the fields.

The villagers said some unidentified persons had stolen transformers from a few days ago and left some parts of the stolen transformers behind and fled. "Yesterday, they came again to take away those parts which they had left behind. But we caught one of them while the others managed to escape," said a farmer.

The man caught by the villagers was identified as Subhash Kumar. Meanwhile, the police has started investigations in this regard. — TNS