The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Ex-Maharaja ‘shoots’ wildlife
Chandigarh, February 1
He stands there, greeting the visitors, most of them who have known him for a long time. He sips his wine and settles to talk about photography, an art, a childhood passion which has now graduated and found place on the walls of the gallery, Art Folio in Sector 9.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh at the Art Folio in Sector 9 in Chandigarh on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Sacha Sauda case hearing on Feb 8
Bathinda, February 1
The case seeking vacation of the stay on appearance of Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh came up for hearing in the court of additional session judge Dilbagh Singh Johal today.

Ex-IT official jailed in corruption case
Abohar, February 1
Former Income Tax Officer DK Gupta, whom the CBI had nabbed red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 on April 22, 2009, has been sentenced to imprisonment for three years by a special court.

Schoolgirl thrashed for opposing molestation bid
Abohar, February 1
Some miscreants today tried to molest a schoolgirl and thrashed her as she opposed their bid and cried for help. The accused youths fled as scores of people rushed towards her in response to her cry for help. The girl has been admitted to the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital.

Defamation case against Shinde
Barnala: Local resident Neeraj Jindal, member of the BJP Yuva Morcha, has filed a defamation case against Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in a local court for accusing the BJP and the RSS of running terror camps. The next date of hearing is February 15. Counsel Deepak Rai Jindal said Shinde, through his remark, had defamed the entire Hindu community. The complainant being a Hindu also felt humiliated. Hence, he filed a case against Shinde under Sections 500, 501 and 502 of the IPC. — TNS

	Cancer survey’s reach comes under criticism Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, February 1 The recently conducted door-to-door cancer survey in Punjab came up with figures about the prevalence of the disease. But variations at some places have given rise to scepticism over the scope and depth of the exercise. In Faridkot, while the health department claimed to have covered 97.78 per cent of the population, the figure, while taking into account the number of cases under treatment at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital (GGSMCH) in Faridkot, raises doubts over the accuracy of the claim. As per the survey, in Faridkot, that has a population of 6.18 lakh, a total of 785 cancer patients were reported. But at the oncology department of the GGSMCH, 818 cancer patients of Faridkot district are already receiving treatment. Besides, there are many old and new patients in Faridkot who are being treated at Ludhiana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Bikaner. During its survey, the health department claimed to have reached every household in 173 villages and four main towns of Faridkot district. But there are many areas on the city's outskirts where no health worker could reach to collect information about the disease. In Doad village, where over 50 persons are reported to have died of cancer in the last five years, health workers could not visit most of the houses to collect information, said Gurdeep Bajwa, the village sarpanch. In Bukan Singh Nagar of Kotkapura, Ghania Wali Patti of Golewala, Gurdev Singh Patti of Kameana village, Wandar Jatana, Duraeana and many other villages, the residents have a similar complaint. To conduct the survey, the health department in Faridkot relied upon Aasha workers and nursing staff in the rural areas. But in the urban areas, there were no Aasha workers. So, the job to diagnose and educate the people about the disease was given to the students of private nursing colleges, said Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja, president of a voluntary organization, Bhai Kanhaiya Cancer Roko Sewa Society in Faridkot that works for cancer patients. The authorities of the health department said the survey was not exhaustive in its scope or depth. The number is expected to escalate further after the screening of the suspected cases, agreed Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Vini Mahajan. Moreover, there are many patients who do not prefer to disclose their disease due to the stigma attached, said a senior official of the heath department in Faridkot. In Faridkot, the health department counted 785 cancer patients and 1112 deaths in the last five years while 2,950 were suspected cases. Of these 2950 suspected cases, 1,077 were thoroughly examined and eight were found to be suffering from cancer. As per the survey, in Faridkot, that has a population of 6.18 lakh, a total of 785 cancer patients were reported. But at the oncology department of the GGSMCH, 818 cancer patients of Faridkot district are already receiving treatment. Besides, there are many old and new patients in Faridkot who are being treated at Ludhiana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Bikaner. During the survey, the health department claimed to have reached every household in 173 villages and four main towns of Faridkot district. But there are many areas on the city's outskirts where no health worker could reach to collect information about the disease.
	Traffic snarls at rly crossing give way to demand for underbridge Our Correspondent Fazilka, February 1 A team of railway engineers today visited Fazilka to explore the proposal of constructing a railway underbridge on the busy Court Road railway crossing. Traffic bottlenecks are witnessed at the railway crossing throughout the day as it has to be closed nearly a two dozen times a day. The District Administration, local MLA and Cabinet Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani and the local Municipal Council authorities had repeatedly sent memorandums of proposals to construct an underbridge on the railway crossing. Assistant engineer Ram Pal and the inspector of works, Railway Department, Bali Ram, visited the site today. The president of the local Municipal Council, Anil Sethi, apprised the visiting engineers about the problems being faced by thousands of residents living across the railway track. "We would submit our report to the superintending engineer, Ferozepur Division, on Monday, as he was the final authority to grant approval for constructing a railway underbridge at the railway crossing," said Bali Ram while talking to The Tribune. He added that the laying of an underbridge would be a joint venture of the Railway Department and the Municipal Council, Fazilka. Notably, after the construction of a road overbridge (ROB) on the Malout Chowk railway crossing, the flow of internal traffic was diverted to the Court Road railway crossing. Four localities, three schools, leading medical practitioners, residences of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) make the area thickly-populated.
	Ex-Maharaja ‘shoots’ wildlife Jasmine Singh Chandigarh, February 1 He stands there, greeting the visitors, most of them who have known him for a long time. He sips his wine and settles to talk about photography, an art, a childhood passion which has now graduated and found place on the walls of the gallery, Art Folio in Sector 9. The former Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, along with Jaskaran Sandhu and Gautam Kapoor, captures his flair of shooting with the camera in a three-day photo exhibition, ‘African Wildlife’. The shots, taken from a Canon 650, are neat and crisp. “Photography has interested me always. As a child, I would take a lot of photographs. So, handling a professional camera was not an issue,” says Amarinder, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief who took the wildlife photographs in just two days in South Africa. If it is his passion for cooking and writing that made to the editions of many glossy magazines, Amarinder Singh does not rate photography as a recent development. “Wildlife, as an object of photography, has always interested me. I have been to Ranthambore where I shot in the mountains; then in the Terai region of UP. I have also shot at 20,000 feet,” he shares excitedly. The exhibition sees deer, leopards, elephants and rhinoceros captured in professional shots. “But, I missed out on a lion.” He may have missed out on a few animals, but this isn’t the moment to grudge. Amarinder has quiet a lot up his sleeves. Writing: Two hours in the night after nine are dedicated to reading and writing. “I want to start a coffee table book on India's contribution to World War-I in addition to another one on the troubled period of Punjab,” he adds.
	Sacha Sauda case hearing on Feb 8 Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 1 The case seeking vacation of the stay on appearance of Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh came up for hearing in the court of additional session judge Dilbagh Singh Johal today. Last year, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Bathinda, had directed the Sacha Sauda chief to appear before the court. The sect chief, however, had procured stay orders. Following the stay orders, the main complainant in the case, Rajinder Singh Sidhu, who is the president of the local Gurdwara Singh Sabha and a local municipal councillor, Baba Hardeep Singh from Mehraj and advocate Jaspal Singh Manjpur filed a petition seeking vacation of the stay orders. The court has fixed February 8 as the next date of hearing. Last year, the CJM had also directed the police to present a challan in the case that pertains to an FIR lodged against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs. The FIR was registered at the Kotwali police station on May 20, 2007. Even after five years of the registration of the case, the police has not filed a challan in the court.
	Ex-IT official jailed in corruption case Our Correspondent Abohar, February 1 Former Income Tax Officer DK Gupta, whom the CBI had nabbed red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 on April 22, 2009, has been sentenced to imprisonment for three years by a special court. It is learnt that after receiving a telephonic complaint lodged by an Abohar-based cardiologist, Naveen Sethi, a CBI team led by MK Puri, raided the house of the accused at his rented accommodation in New Suraj Nagari, Abohar, and nabbed him red-handed. During the search of his residence here, the team recovered cash to the tune of Rs 50,000. Later, the CBI sleuths had raided his house at the Pukhraj Colony in Bathinda at midnight and recovered Rs 10 lakh in cash, gold worth Rs 11 lakh and various documents related to bank accounts, recently-purchased property and investment policies besides keys of bank lockers. In his complaint to the CBI, Dr Sethi had stated that DK Gupta was blackmailing him and was threatening to initiate a tax-related enquiry against him on some false pretext. He was demanding Rs1 lakh from the doctor but the final deal was struck at Rs 30,000. The special court has also sentenced Gupta’s accomplice, an inspector Ravi Kumar, to two-year imprisonment.