The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	New hope for prison officials Videoconferencing can help check incidents of undertrials fleeing from custody Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, December 16 At a time when rising incidents of criminals escaping from prison during their production in court in Faridkot was baffling the police and jail authorities, Faridkot has started a videoconference link between the jails and the courts, a measure that will help 'produce' the undertrials before the magistrates without their physical presence. The system will help reduce the chances of prisoners gaining access to contraband items while being transported to the courts for trial and remand extension. It is also aimed at avoiding quarrels between factions or groups within the prisoners as well as their associates outside during transportation and on court premises. There were many incidents of hardcore criminals fleeing or attempting to get away from judicial custody after the opening of the modern Central Jail in Faridkot. Vikram, a dreaded criminal from Haryana, facing four murder cases in Delhi and one in Punjab, managed to escape from police custody on July 10 when the cops took him to Delhi from Faridkot jail for hearing in a murder case. Following this, the police was under pressure to step up security and keep a watch on the movements of the criminals during court productions. The Central Jail in Faridkot has over 1,800 prisoners and undertrials. Also, about 25 hardcore criminals from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana are lodged here. Besides, over 800 inmates in Faridkot jail are from distant areas of Punjab. In the absence of vehicles, most of the time, the police faces a big problem in taking these criminals to the other states and other districts during hearings in court cases. It is through buses or train that the police has to ferry these criminals, providing scope for them to escape from prison. The videoconferencing facility would not only save resources spent on transporting the undertrials to the lower courts, but also ensure the safety of the police personnel who escort them, said PK Garg, superintendent, Faridkot jail. The Faridkot jail authorities used this video-conferencing facility for the first time on Saturday in the Shruti kidnapping case. In this case, the police was to produce all the 19 jailed accused before the court of the chief judicial magistrate for the extension of their remand. But as the production of these accused before the court every time required heavy deployment of police force, to avoid this, the jail authorities relied on videoconferencing. The faces of all the 19 accused, lodged in Central Jail, Faridkot, appeared on an LCD screen set up in the courtroom of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Faridkot, and the court extended the judicial remand of the accused by 15 days. Besides the security of these accused due to massive public protest in the Shruti kidnapping case, the police was under more strain as some of these 19 accused face charges in multiple crime cases and were proclaimed absconders in old cases.
	Poor arrival fails to improve cotton rates in Abohar Raj Sadosh Abohar, December 16 Amid reports suggesting bumper production and the export slowing down across the cotton growing states, there has been no improvement in the rate of narma cotton in Abohar, known as the Manchester of Punjab, despite the poor arrival. Reports available with the leading traders here indicate that the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has scaled down the procurement of cotton in other states also, making the cotton growers restive. The officials in Andhra Pradesh have been asked to observe five-day week to cut down purchase. Contrary to this, prices in the neighbouring markets of Pakistan on Saturday went up amid fall in trading activity at the cotton market as the ginners raised the asking price because of the tight supply of seed cotton (phutti), dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5,300, they said. In ready business, nearly 14,000 bales of cotton was finalised at a rate between Rs 5,700 and Rs 6,175, they added. The textile mills located in Faisalabad, once known as the Manchester of Pakistan, is under serious threat of closure because of the suspension of gas supply to mills. Sources in the Abohar cotton market said the average arrival during the outgoing week has been about 5,000 quintals of narma and less than one hundred quintals of desi cotton. The "white gold" failed to fetch a price higher than Rs 4,500 this season. The total arrival compared to last year has come down to 3 lakh quintals from 3.25 lakh. The average narma cotton was offered Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,230 per quintal and desi cotton attracted Rs 4,775. The prices are a little better than the preceding year but Mukhtiar Singh, a farmer from village Kallarkhera, said the cost of production had gone up much this year even when pests did not affect the crop.
	Tri-weekly run of Nanded Express will have to wait Our Correspondent Abohar, December 16 The promise to convert the weekly Nanded Sahib-Delhi-Sriganganagar express train into tri-weekly is unlikely to be fulfilled. Bikaner Division Railway Manager Manju Gupta said during her maiden visit to Sriganganagar that the second rake is not available for the tri-weekly run. Also, the plans to introduce more long distance trains from this remote station might turn into reality truth only after construction of the second washing line at Sriganganagar, the deadline for which has been fixed as March 31, 2013. The DRM said the completion of the 67 km Hanumangarh-Sriganganagar gauge conversion work besides the construction of railway underbridges is expected by March 31. Meanwhile, the member of the North India Railway Users Consultative Committee, Hanuman Dass Goyal has urged the Railway Board to introduce a train from Sriganganagar to Jaipur via Bathinda-Rewari. He said in a memorandum that commuters in Sriganganagar, Abohar, Malout, Gidderbaha, Bathinda, Raman, Kallianwali, Sirsa, Ding, Bhattu and Adampur are under compulsion to take expensive and unsafe travel to Jaipur by road due to the non-availability of any direct daily train. The train No. 4SHB/54756 usually reaches Bathinda at 19:10 pm and leaves for Sriganganagar the next day at 7:05 am from Bathinda after a long stoppage. If train No. 4SHB is extended from Bathinda to Hisar as fast passenger at about 19:20 pm and reaches Hisar at about 22:50 pm, then there is a connection with train numbers 182 and 496 also which will facilitate the passenger to reach Hansi, Charkhi Dadri, Rewari, Alwar, Bandikui, Dausa, Jaipur and Sadulpur. Goyal has also urged the Board to extend train No. 54756 from Bathinda to Hisar.
	Rich tributes paid to martyrs at Asafwala war memorial on Vijay Diwas Our Correspondent Fazilka, December 16 To commemorate the victory of India in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, around 980 students of different schools as well as the youths of the Fazilka area participated in the Vijay Diwas run, braving the thick fog and the biting cold at the war memorial in village Asafwala, 7 kilometers from here today. The Vijay Diwas programme was organized by the Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee, Fazilka, with the active cooperation of the Army formations and the civil administration to pay tributes to the martyrs of the Indian Army who had laid down their lives in the 1971 war in the Fazilka sector. Around 225 soldiers of the different units of the Indian Army, BSF and Home Guards had attained martyrdom while fighting the enemy in man-to-man combat in the Fazilka sector. Minister for Forest, Wildlife and Labour Surjit Kumar Jyani, officers of the Army and the civil administration including Brigadier Rakesh Raina, Deputy Commander Ashutosh Bahuguna, Colonel Pankaj Dhayani, Colonel Jaswant Singh Negi, Colonel Abhas Awasthi, Senior Superintendent of Police, Fazilka, Amar Singh Chahal, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka, Charandev Singh Maan, Commandant, Border Security Force, Deepak Kandpal, Deputy Director, Public Relations Department, Punjab, Uma Sharma, District Education Officer, Fazilka, Sandeep Dhuria, president, Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee Sandeep Gilhora and other dignitaries laid wreaths and offered floral tributes at the memorial where the collective cremation of 82 jawans of the 4 Jat Regiment was performed after the ceasefire in he 1971 Indo-Pak war. Colonel Karan Verma and Abhimanyu Kumar, who had participated in the war and the kin of martyr Major Narain Singh (recipient of Veer Chakra posthumously) were also honoured. Amar Chand Bhateja and Mohan Lal Paruthi, octogenarian members of the Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee who had performed the last rites of the war heroes in the 1971 war at Asafwala and have been keenly associated with the activities of the memorial, were honoured with "Lifetime service awards" by Punjab minister Surjit Kumar Jyani. He called upon the youths to shun addiction and involve them in the development of the country. He declared a grant of Rs five lakhs for further development for the memorial complex. Brigadier Rakesh Raina said he was enthused to see that the people of Fazilka have been regularly honouring the Armymen and their kin for over a long period. "The memorial at Asafwala is a unique place in itself where such an impressive programme to commemorate the war heroes has been organized jointly by the NGOs, Army, civil administration and Punjab government," said Raina. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amar Singh Chahal considerably impressed by the skit on female foeticide, narrated an instance of history whereby Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born of the valiant mother Raj Kaur. Chahal said Raj Kaur had been buried alive, as she was regarded as a curse by her grandmother. However, she was saved by her father from the buried pitcher. He called upon the audience to fight the social evil of female feoticide. Additional Deputy Charandev Singh Maan lauded the efforts of Shaheedon Ki Samadhi committee in meticulously maintaining the Asafwala War Memorial. A colourful cultural programme was presented by the students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sarv Hitkari Senior Secondary School, Army Public School, Fazilka, and the Government Senior Secondary School, Dabwala Kalan.