B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

MoD sanctions spl fund for cantt area
Ferozepur, March 14
Keeping in view the long-pending demand of the residents of the cantonment, the Ministry of Defence ( MoD) has sanctioned a special grant-in-aid of Rs 13.50 crores for laying the underground sewerage system in the cantonment area.

Mobile tracking system in MNREGA introduced in Moga
Moga, March 14
In a first of its kind in Punjab, the district administration of Moga has set-up a mobile tracking control room to bring in accountability, transparency and working efficiency in the MNREGA employment scheme.

Wheat bags looted from godown
Abohar, March 14
Even as the police remained clueless over the loot of 130 bags of wheat from the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (PWC) godowns by an armed gang on February 4, unidentified miscreants targeted the Punsup godown here today and looted 70 bags of wheat.

Attempt to remove Lala Lajpat Rai’s statue shocks people
Abohar, March 14
The bronze statue of Lala Lajpat Rai was found partly removed in the Lala Lajpat Rai Children’s Park here this evening sending shockwaves across the sub-divisional town.

Scribes’ statement in rape case may spell trouble for DIG
Faridkot, March 14
The statement of two electronic mediapersons before the court of District and Sessions judge today in a rape and kidnapping case may spell trouble for a DIG rank officer for defaming the rape victim, a minor girl.

Man killed with sharp-edged weapons
Moga, March 14
A man was brutally killed with sharp-edged weapons allegedly due to personal enmity and his body was thrown on the Rajeana-Vairoke canal side from where the local police had recovered it, last night.

MoD sanctions spl fund for cantt area
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, March 14
Keeping in view the long-pending demand of the residents of the cantonment, the Ministry of Defence ( MoD) has sanctioned a special grant-in-aid of Rs 13.50 crores for laying the underground sewerage system in the cantonment area.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ferozepur is one of the oldest and strategically located cantonments which has immense historic and strategic importance from the defence point of view due to its close proximity to Indo-Pakistan border.

However, after the Independence, the residents here had been yearning for basic amenities including proper sewerage disposal system which has now been sanctioned.

Addressing the media persons here today, G Vijay Bhaskar, chief executive officer of the Cantonment Board said in the absence of any proper underground sewerage system, the residents were facing immense hardship following which the matter was taken up with the senior defence authorities for the release of a special grant.

The CEO said that under the proposed plan, 31.7 km of the sewerage line will be laid in an area spread over 279.72 acres and the work would be completed within the next two years.

The CEO further said that more than 35,000 residents will benefit following the laying of the lying of the sewer network.

Lauding the efforts of Ravikant Chopra, DGDE, and Ajay Sharma, DDG, who had played an instrumental role in the approval of the project, the CEO said it was for the first time that such a huge amount has been sanctioned for any development work in the cantonment.

Parminder Singh Pinki, MLA Ferozepur had also met the then Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju along with a delegation of the cantonment residents in this connection. Pinki said that the persistent efforts of the people have been paid as their long pending demand has been approved by the MoD now.

Earlier, the proposal was conceptualised in the year 2010 and subsequently the detailed project report was prepared by a Rajpura based consultancy company following an extensive field study. Thereafter, a detailed proposal seeking special grant-in-aid was sent to the MoD which has now been approved, said CEO.

Mobile tracking system in MNREGA introduced in Moga
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS

Moga, March 14
In a first of its kind in Punjab, the district administration of Moga has set-up a mobile tracking control room to bring in accountability, transparency and working efficiency in the MNREGA employment scheme.

The control room was inaugurated by district magistrate-cum programme coordinator Arshdeep Singh Thind in the presence of Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Joram Beda in the Zila Parishad office on Wednesday.

Taking to Tribune ADC (D) said the software of mobile tracking system was developed with the assistance of Vodafone Telecom Company with the locally managed funds.

Beda said the district authorities could now check whether the gram rozgar sewaks and technical experts were present on the work site or not. The person sitting in the control room could see a map of the work sites on the computer along with the locations of these employees and further by making random telephone calls to these employees on their mobile phones one could confirm their exact location in the control room, he said.

He said that managing employees in the field has always been a challenge but this system would not only help to prepare muster rolls of the beneficiaries in time, besides, technically assessing and measuring the quality and quantity of the work done on each day.

He claimed that the district administration was committed to provide maximum work to the rural folk enrolled under the MNREGA scheme in time. 

Wheat bags looted from godown

Abohar, March 14
Even as the police remained clueless over the loot of 130 bags of wheat from the Punjab Warehousing Corporation (PWC) godowns by an armed gang on February 4, unidentified miscreants targeted the Punsup godown here today and looted 70 bags of wheat.

Punsup managers Laxman Dass and Banwari Lal informed the city police today that about a dozen miscreants late last night cut down the wire fencing of the godowns located near Burjmuhar chowk on the Abohar-Fazilka road (NH-10) by scaling the wall.

Brandishing swords, they locked the watchmen in a room and looted 70 bags of wheat using a tractor trailer. The staff was able to inform the officials during the wee hours today about the incident.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Veer Chand along with the other officials inspected the godowns and found the wire fencing damaged. — OC

Attempt to remove Lala Lajpat Rai’s statue shocks people

Abohar, March 14
The bronze statue of Lala Lajpat Rai was found partly removed in the Lala Lajpat Rai Children’s Park here this evening sending shockwaves across the sub-divisional town.

President of Punjabi Sabhyachar Manch Gurcharan Singh Gill and district scout trainer Darshan Lal Chugh said they noticed the statue hanging and raised an alarm. Superintendent of Police Varinder Singh Brar said some miscreants, taking advantage of darkness, had tried to remove the statue.

Prima facie, it appears that the miscreants knew that the Powercom had switched off the floodlights installed in the children’s park and Nehru Park as the Municipal Council had not paid the bills. — OC

Scribes’ statement in rape case may spell trouble for DIG
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, March 14
The statement of two electronic mediapersons before the court of District and Sessions judge today in a rape and kidnapping case may spell trouble for a DIG rank officer for defaming the rape victim, a minor girl.

As some electronic channels sought the dub the kidnapping and rape of the 15-year-old minor girl as an elopement case, so during the trial of the rape case in the court, two media persons were summoned by the court to record their statements today.

In their statement before the court, the mediapersons asserted that it was a DIG rank officer in Faridkot who released the photographs of the minor girl, claiming that the girl had left with a gangster, facing as many as 20 criminal cases, on her own.

NK Jeet, the counsel for the girl, claimed in the court that to provide a shield to the culprits, the DIG had cast aspersions on the character of victim and released her photographs.

The counsel alleged that DIG was conniving with the main culprit, a rich person, to shield him by making character assassination of the victim. The mediapersons also produced in the court the video recording of the DIG releasing the girl's photographs and making claims of the incident as a case of elopement," said NK Jeet.

Man killed with sharp-edged weapons

Moga, March 14
A man was brutally killed with sharp-edged weapons allegedly due to personal enmity and his body was thrown on the Rajeana-Vairoke canal side from where the local police had recovered it, last night.

As per the details available, the deceased identified as Ram Singh resident of Meenia village was allegedly killed by one Lakhwinder Singh and his two associates all residents of the same village.

Swaranjit Kaur, wife of Ram Singh. in a statement recorded to the police has alleged that her husband quarreled with Lakhwinder on some issue in a marriage ceremony a few months ago. Lakhwinder got registered a criminal case against her husband who was arrested and kept in the judicial custody for more than one month. A couple of weeks ago, he came out on bail but Lakhwinder still kept the grudge in his mind and killed her husband.

The aggrieved woman stated that she went to nearby Ghal Kalan village on Tuesday. But, when she came back home, she was told by the neighbours that her husband had gone to Lopo village to get medicines. She launched a hunt to know here whereabouts when he did not return back home late in the night. She lodged a complaint before the local police. "My husband was possibly abducted and done to death with sharp-edged weapons", she alleged. — TNS