Bathinda, November 20
The Bathinda police today claimed to have solved the looting incident wherein Rs 2.52 lakh was looted by four unidentified armed men.

Addressing the media persons, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ravcharan Brar said a complainant informed the police about the incident on the intervening night of November 17-18 at around 1.30 am near Gehri Buttar village.

A case was registered in this regard at the Sangat police station. During the investigations, it was found that the complainant had concocted the story of loot to pocket the money with the help of his three accomplices. A case was registered on the basis of the complaint lodged by the driver Jawahar Singh.

The SSP said the driver worked for a factory truck around two months ago and decided to loot the money with the help of three others, including his wife. After interacting with his accomplices over the phone, the three, traveling in a Maruti car, bearing the registration number of Delhi, stopped the truck on Dabwali road and looted the money at gunpoint.

The money was supposed to be given to the factory owner after selling the animal feed at Panchkula by the driver and his co-worker.

The accused, identified as Panchi, Sukhraj Kaur, Gurmel Singh and the driver Jawahar Singh, have been arrested by the police and the looted money has also been recovered from their possession.

The money was handed over to its actual owners by the police.

Bathinda, November 20
If earlier crime was a male bastion, women are now taking up the illegal activity, particularly smuggling drugs.

Santosh Rani (name changed) was arrested for drug peddling in May this year. Two years ago, cops in Mansa had picked up her husband for the same crime.

It was not the first instance when Santosh was booked for peddling. In the two years that she had been active in this trade, she was booked in two cases of drug smuggling, revealed the police records in Mansa district.

She entered the racket just at the time when her husband walked out. Once her husband was arrested, she was burdened with the responsibility of keeping the hearth burning.

In fact, the police believed that now after the husband and wife duo is in jail, it is their son who has taken over the family business. So after arresting a drug smuggler, the police needed to keep a hawk's eye on other members of the accused's family, said BK Uppal, Inspector General (IG), Anti-Narcotic Task Force, Punjab.

The last decade saw an increasing number of women propelling the drug trade in Malwa's hinterland, particularly in Mansa district. Sometime ago, the total number of women inmates in Bathinda Central Jail, who were accused of drug trafficking, was 28. More than 18 of them belonged to Mansa district.

About 30 per cent of the jail inmates in the Bathinda jail were arrested by the police for their involvement in drug smuggling, said the jail superintendent RS Dhaliwal. In the Bathinda jail, the total number of women inmates hovered around 100, said Dhaliwal.

Many women involved in drugs trade revealed to the police that they revel in the money they earn besides they get independence from their male folks who were drug addicts and failed to keep the kitchen running back home.

Jatinder Jain, IG, Intelligence and Counter-intelligence, Punjab, said the participation of women in smuggling was confined to traditional drugs, like poppy husk, opium and now the synthetic drugs. The quantity of the drugs that they smuggle was also much lower in comparison to their male counterparts, said Jain.

Most of these women were in drug smuggling mainly for getting freedom in both economic and social terms.

A mother of two sons and three daughters, all below 16 years of age, 38-year-old Jagdev Kaur (name changed) revealed that her husband, a tractor driver was a drug addict for the last over one decade. Sometime ago, when his condition was pitiable for want of drug (poppy husk), she approached a drug peddler who agreed to provide her with the narcotic for her husband but with a condition that she would have to transport one kg of opium to a village in the district. The woman agreed. She transported the opium and not only got the drug dose for her husband but Rs 100 also.

For the last over three years, she was smuggling drugs in small quantity from one village to the other for a fee which varies between Rs 100 and Rs 200. It also helps her husband in getting his dose of drugs free of cost.

"The income from drug trafficking allowed me freedom from the male control that was available only to few other women of my background," she said. She is facing a trial in a case of poppy husk smuggling. She was caught by the Mansa police some time ago.

"It would be naive to think that women from poor or middle class families only undertake trafficking contrabands. Some take to it just for kicks. Money can entice people and women are no different," says a senior police officer while quoting the names of some drug-addict women.

Further, women had advantage of hoodwinking cops as they smuggle drugs by hiding it in their garments. Earlier, there were hardly any women cops to carry out a body search.

The problem of shortage of female officials, particularly for conducting the body search of a suspected women smuggler, is something that the Punjab Police has now coped up with following recruitment of women constabulary. "The law mandates that every female accused be searched by a female police official only," points out Jatinder Jain, IG.

Under the PNDT Act, the minimum punishment for smuggling drugs is 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Bathinda, November 20
With the number of auto-rickshaws in the city rising, the level of pollution is also heading northwards. The authorities concerned, including the traffic police and the District Transport Office, however, are yet to take any initiative in this regard.

"The road linking the bus stand and the railway station is the most polluted due to these auto-rickshaws. The level of pollution on the GT Road is also a cause of concern," said Ravinder Joshi, a Power House Road resident.

A section of traffic cops on duty at Fauji Chowk said the level of pollution remains high around bus stand, Fauji Chowk, Hanuman Chowk, railway station, GT Road and Amrik Singh Road, courtesy auto-rickshaws.

Most of these three-wheelers run on diesel. However, traffic cops say they never thought of penalising the drivers of smoke-emitting autos or other vehicles.

Gursharan Singh, the president of the Singh Auto Union near bus stand, differs, "The traffic cops mention many violations on the challan slips they issue us. They would impose heavy penalty ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 2500 for violations like missing documents and pollution."

He said only handful of old autos were left in the city. The old vehicles generally create more pollution. Since new autos could be purchased at flexible monthly instalments, many auto-rickshaw drivers were discarding the old vehicles for new ones, Gursharan said.

He pointed out that an auto released smoke when its engine becomes old and was repaired again and again. He added that the number of autos in the city have grown from mere 150 to 2000 during the past five years. "Since the number of auto-rickshaws has increased, the level of pollution also has also risen. The authorities should now plant more saplings around the busy roads," he said.

Employees at pollution-check centres in the city sayd they hardly remember having issued a pollution certificate to an auto-rickshaw.

Sakshi, an Ajit Road resident, said kids were the worst-hit due to smoke emitted by old auto-rickshaws.

Bathinda, November 20
A two-day workshop on water conservation began today. The workshop is being organized by the water supply and sanitation department.

Officials of the district administration and water experts were present at the workshop that discussed ways to make the people aware of the harmful effects of the receding water table.

The workshop was inaugurated by ADC (D) Mohammad Tayyab. ADC (G) Rajiv Prashar was also present.

A booklet giving information on the judicious use of groundwater and saving water was also released. Methods of saving water and creating awareness among the people about the reducing water table were also discussed.

The workshop laid emphasis on roping in teachers, NGOs, local residents and panchayats to save water.

New techniques on improving the quality of underground were also discussed at the workshop. It was decided to make the people aware about the harmful contents in the groundwater like fluoride.

The officials said the government servants and the public should come forward to conserve the rain water so that the groundwater can be recharged and used for drinking purposes.

Ideas were floated by the officials about cleaning the village ponds and putting them to good use.

The sub-divisional officer from the district programme management cell, Bathinda, Amandeep Singh Brar and Kuldeep Gandhi highlighted the issues pertaining to the receding groundwater.

The experts said awareness programmes should be organised in the rural and urban areas about the sensible use of water and its conservation by using the rain water and other modern methods. The awareness drive is imperative in view of the constant pressure on water resources, they said.

Bathinda, November 20
The FM band of the All India Radio (AIR), Bathinda, has recorded a programme by children from the Government Senior School, Multania.

The school children recited songs, shared jokes and poems during the recording. The programme would be aired by the bathinda station of the All India Radio on November 25.

In a press release issued here today, school principal Maninder Kaur thanked the All India Radio team and said the unusual thing about the recording was that the children got their voice recorded in the long-breath folk song technique. It would boost the morale of the kids, she said.

Bathinda, November 20
Anti-drug rallies were organised in various government schools of Bathinda in which the students were informed about the harmful effects of the drugs. Terming every form of drug as slow poison, the students were told by the teachers to abstain from drugs.

An anti-drug campaign was launched at Government Senior Secondary School, Multania, after orders were passed in this regard by the Director General School Education (DGSE). Lectures on the drawbacks of drugs were delivered by Manjit Singh and Narjinder Kaur.

Jagmohan Singh, deployed as a pharmacist at the primary health centre in village Beer Behman, also interacted with the children and made them aware of the harm that drugs cause to human bodies. The students also put on display posters, pamphlets and cards to create awareness among the school students.

Cyclist injured after colliding with stray cattle

A cyclist received serious head injuries after he was hit by stray cattle on Goniana road. A bus coming that way also hit the cattle. Volunteers of Naujawan Welfare Society rushed the injured, identified as Jaspal Singh of Gobindpura, to the hospital.

Bathinda, November 20
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal would flag off on November 22 a Gurdwara Rakabganj bound procession of the Brahmin Sabha at the Maiserkhana temple.

Surinder Pal Sharma, president of the Sarva Kalyan Brahmin Sabha, today said the march was being organised to pay obeisance to Guru Teg Bahadur who sacrificed his life to protect the Hindus.

The procession would, in its first leg, halt for the night at Anandpur Sahib from where it would be flagged off the next day by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The procession would culminate at Gurudwara Rakabganj in Delhi.