B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Roads turn into drains in Abohar
Abohar, December 10
As sewerage water started regurgitating to residential areas on Monday afternoon, the staff at the disposal works apprehends it may wreak havoc by the next 48 hours.
Sewage has entered residential colonies due to blockage in the disposal channel. Photo: Raj Sadosh

Special police post set up in Faridkot medical college to ensure girls’ safety
Faridkot, December 10
In the wake of an eve-teasing incident that led to an ASI's murder in Amritsar, a special police post has been established in the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital to check the increasing incidents of molestation.

Sugarcane crushing begins at Fazilka mill
Fazilka, December 10
Sugarcane crushing began at the Fazilka Cooperative Sugar Mills situated in Bodiwala Pitha village on the Fazilka-Abohar road today.

Mansa students selected for National Science Congress
Bathinda, December 10
A team of students of Government Model School, Mian village, in Mansa district has been selected for the National Level Children's Science Congress-2012, which is going to be organised at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, from December 27-31.

Roads turn into drains in Abohar
Farmers block the sewage being released into their fields saying they don’t need it anymore
If not addressed, the problem can wreak havoc in two days, apprehends staff at disposal works
Our Correspondent

Abohar, December 10
As sewerage water started regurgitating to residential areas on Monday afternoon, the staff at the disposal works apprehends it may wreak havoc by the next 48 hours.

It would pose an unprecedented threat to the environment besides paralysing life in most of the residential areas, the staff warned.

The staff said the Municipal Council authorities were apprised nearly one month back that farmers having agricultural land on both the sides of the Killianwali road, also known as Defence road due to its link with the international border, had blocked the sewage disposal channel using sand bags. About 150 cusecs of dirty water has thus been overflowing to the neighbouring reservoirs besides submerging the fields. Crops in the fields had been washed off by the gushing sewerage water. Efforts to get the blockage removed failed as scores of farmers asserted that they no more needed the untreated water for irrigating fields in which vegetables and grain crops were grown.

A visit to some localities this evening revealed that stinking water has also accumulated on the Thakur Abadi road near the manned railway crossing. The road is used by residents of at least six colonies located on the other side of the railway track. The residential areas close to the main disposal works had already been submerged.

The staff at the disposal works said only one of the two pumping sets was working. The faulty equipment was awaiting repair for the past few months.

The Punjabi Sharma Parivar Samiti, at an emergency meeting presided over by Ramesh Kumar Sharma, has urged the state government to intervene immediately.

Notably, the 2.5-km channel had been constructed in 1996 when the then Chief Minister Capt Amrinder Singh released Rs 3 crore for the project.

Municipal Council executive officer Bhushan Aggarwal along with the staff of the engineering and sanitation wings visited the disposal works this afternoon to find a solution to the problem. 

Special police post set up in Faridkot medical college to ensure girls’ safety
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, December 10
In the wake of an eve-teasing incident that led to an ASI's murder in Amritsar, a special police post has been established in the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital to check the increasing incidents of molestation.

Some time back, the students of the medical college had staged a dharna in front of the police station demanding safety of girl students, when some drunk activists of the students’ wing of a political party had attempted to molest some junior women doctors. Three male doctors were even seriously hurt when they tried to save their colleagues. But no action was taken against the culprits. Rather, the medical college authorities were pressureised to ask the students to withdraw the agitation.

However, after the Amritsar incident, the Faridkot police have taken the step.

"Not only for the safety of the medical college students, the new police post in the medical college has been set up to check the increasing incidents of snatching in the the residential areas nearby,” said DSP Jaswinder Pal Sharma.

With one sub-inspector and eight constables, the police post will set up special nakas at the time when medical students return to their hostels after their duty as interns in the medical college, said the DSP.

Demanding security for the girl students against eve-teasing, DEO (Secondary) Amarjit Singh today wrote to the SSP to provide security at the time of the closure of the schools.

Meanwhile, the Faridkot police has booked Paramjit Singh, the Akali sarpanch of Jhotiwala village, for firing gunshots in the air to intimidate a secretary in the cooperative department.

The incident took place four days back, but the police was hesitant to take action. After the Amritsar incident, the Faridkot police booked the sarpanch. “A criminal case for the offence of endangering the life or personal safety of others has been registered against the sarpanch,” said Narinder Singh, SHO (Sadar), Faridkot.

“It is not the first time that the Akali sarpanch was intimidating the villagers and the government officials by firing in the air. No action was ever taken against him,” alleged Jalore Singh, secretary, cooperative societies, in the village.

Sugarcane crushing begins at Fazilka mill

Fazilka, December 10
Sugarcane crushing began at the Fazilka Cooperative Sugar Mills situated in Bodiwala Pitha village on the Fazilka-Abohar road today.

Fazilka MLA and Cabinet Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani and Sugarfed chairman SS Walha inaugurated the crushing season amidst the farmers demanding payment against the purchases made by the sugar mill during the last year. The mill authorities are yet to pay an amount of Rs 3.83 crore to the sugarcane growers.

"The amount has already been credited to the account of the sugar mill by the state government which would be paid to the farmers in a couple of days," claimed Sugarfed chairman SS Walha while talking to The Tribune after inaugurating the crushing season.

He said to resolve the issue of payment to the farmers in future, the mill authorities had come up with a new payment policy wherein the payment of the procured sugarcane would be made within 72 hours. It will take effect during the current season in all the nine cooperative sugar mills of the state.

The MD of the local mill, MS Sandhu, informed that more sugar would be prepared this year to meet the target of 1.35 lakh quintal fixed for this season, which would last for 103 days. Nearly 1.11 lakh quintal of sugar was prepared during the previous year.

On the delay in starting of a biomass-based power generation plant in the local sugar mill, Walha said the delay was due to a technical snag before the commissioning of the power plant. However, the hitch has been removed and the plant would become functional in the next 10 days, he added.

Notably, the plant would generate about 20 MW of power, which will not only cater to the needs of the sugar mill but will also be supplied to the commercial and domestic consumers in the area through the Powercom. — OC

Mansa students selected for National Science Congress
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 10
A team of students of Government Model School, Mian village, in Mansa district has been selected for the National Level Children's Science Congress-2012, which is going to be organised at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, from December 27-31.

The Mansa team is among the eight teams selected for representing the state at a national-level competition. Earlier, the school team represented Mansa district at the 20th State-level Children's Science Congress was organised at Chandigarh from December 4-6 by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology.

As many as 66 teams from 22 districts had participated in the state level science Congress. As many as 58 teams presented their research reports on the theme "Energy - Explore, harness and conserve".

The team members, including Narinder Pal Kaur, Khushdeep Kaur, Amritpal Singh, Khushpreet Kaur and Harjeet Kaur, performed under the guidance of their maths teacher Kanwaldeep Singh.