The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Encroachments dot Asia’s biggest grain market in Moga Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, March 29 With just a day left for the official beginning of the procurement of wheat, Asia’s biggest grain market in Moga is marred by encroachments. The district administration and the local authorities of the Punjab State Marketing Board have turned a blind eye towards the problem which may get in the way of procurement of the crop. On the right side of the main gate of the entrance to the new grain market from the GT road side, a huge shed has been encroached upon by a local NGO for the last many years to run an unauthorized cow shed, in which, hundreds of stray cows have been kept. A local official revealed that the state marketing board has on many occasions tried to remove the encroachment but the district administration, from time to time, helped the NGO run this cow shed on the premises of the grain market reportedly under pressure from the local religious and political organizations. In another major encroachment, an Army unit has also been using prime land to run a canteen, just adjoining the local office of the state marketing board. An official of the marketing board, after thorough perusal of the records, revealed that the board had never given this prime land to the Army. No record of allotment is available in the marketing board’s office. Besides, hundreds of illegal immigrants have set up temporary huts on the premises of the grain market, which has off late turned into a slum area. Many unauthorized shops of scrap dealers and illegal parking of trucks and canters have also come up in the last few years. Some commission agents and shopkeepers have also encroached upon the areas in front of their shops by constructing temporary sheds. Some traders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said whenever an anti-encroachment drive was launched by the district administration or the authorities of the marketing board, the local politicians forced them to give it up. At the second entrance of the new grain market, near the district administrative complex, the road is virtually choked by fruit and vegetable vendors. One of the roads has totally been closed for vehicular traffic for the last few years. No authority of the district administration or the state marketing board has ever tried to open this road for vehicular traffic even during the procurement season. Most encroachers with whom this correspondent interacted, revealed that they do not worry because the matter has already been settled with the authorities concerned.
	690 primary schools to be merged Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, March 29 To consolidate the government primary schools, the state school education department has issued orders for the merger of 690 primary schools with schools situated in their neighbourhood. As these 690 schools in 22 districts of Punjab are situated within a radius of one kilometer of the neighbourhood government primary schools where the students can go to, these schools will therefore be closed from April 1. “All students, teaching and non-teaching staff of these schools will be shifted to the adjoining school,” said Anjali Bhawra, principal secretary, school education department. As the Right to Education Act, 2009, mandates that lower primary schools must be within a radius of one kilometer, the process for the merger of the schools which are situated close to each other has started, reads the letter of the principal secretary to all the district education officers (DEOs) in the state. In Faridkot district, 17 primary schools have been identified for merger with the neighbouring schools and students and teachers of these schools will be shifted in the next three days. The list released by the principal secretary revealed that the maximum number-- 78 government primary schools in Gurdaspur district-have merged with the neighbouring government schools. Gurdaspur is followed by Hoshiarpur (75 schools), Jalandhar and Amritsar (71), Patiala (64), Ropar (36), Mansa (33), Fatehgarh Sahib (29), Kapurthala (26), Pathankot (25), SAS Nagar (23) and Ferozepur (19). In Barnala, Bathinda, Fazilka, Moga and Muktsar, the number of merged schools is 3, 4, 3, 8 and 8. To map the schools for merger, the education department constituted a team based on district and block level education authorities. The idea is to move these schools to a real institution, said the principal secretary. However, with the merger of these schools, there were some complaints about the shortage of space, infrastructure, toilets and drinking water facility for the students. With the increased strength of students, the infrastructure of some of these schools will also find it difficult to cope with the increased burden. So to deal with these cases, the secretary, director general school education (DGSE), yesterday informed the DEOs that before the merger of two schools, the district level authorities should assess the infrastructure so that the clubbed strength of the two schools does not face any problem. In Faridkot, the merger of two schools in Balbir Basti created such a problem. As this school, situated in street 3 was already facing shortage of space, the merger of another school further added to the problem.
	Opposing merger decision, students along with parents come out on roads Muktsar, March 29 A day after the state government’s order of merging 690 government primary schools falling within a one kilometre radius, the students along with their parents came out on the roads openly to oppose the decision in Muktsar district. The students of the government primary school, Rupana, and their relatives today blocked the Muktsar-Malout highway for almost an hour demanding the rollback of the decision. The protesters said the school, which has been merged, has a strength of nearly 200 students. The school with which it has been merged, already has 400 students and has just four rooms. “Where will the students sit? The lack of space is a major cause of concern,” said the protesters. Meanwhile, the SHO Muktsar Sadar police station, Bikramjit Singh, reached the spot and pacified the protesters. In Muktsar district, eight schools falling in Thandewala, Bhagsar, Rupana, Bhullar, Abul Khurana, Buttar Sharih, Kauni and Dhaula villages are to merge with the other nearby schools. Besides, some village panchayats have passed a resolution not to allow the merger of the schools. District Education Officer (DEO) Devinder Kumar Rajouria said, “All the information regarding protests and demanding rollback of the decision will be conveyed to the senior officials.” — TNS
	SHO suspended for dereliction of duty Fazilka, March 29 Sukhdev Singh Kahlon, Senior Superintendent of Police, Fazilka, has placed Surinder Singh, SHO, City Police, Fazilka, under suspension on charges of dereliction of duty. Eight persons of two groups were injured in a group clash two days ago in the local Radha Swami Colony. The clash between two groups in their neighbourhood occurred over a petty issue between their children in which six persons of one group and two of another were injured. Out of those injured, one was referred to Medical College, Faridkot. “The City Police SHO failed to take prompt action and did not apprise the higher authorities about the clash, hence, he was suspended,” said Kahlon. Sukhdev Singh Brar, posted at Police Lines Fazilka, has assumed the charge of the SHO, City Police Station, Fazilka, today. — OC
	CM to unveil Kartar Singh Sarabha’s statue Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 29 Noted sculptors Manjeet Singh Gill and his brother Surjeet Singh Gill have done what the successive governments in the state failed to do. With the help of the residents of their native village, Ghal Kalan in Moga district, the sculptors have developed a park dotted with the statues of freedom fighters, war heroes and social workers, who worked all their lives for the motherland and achieved martyrdom. Acknowledging the contribution of the two brothers, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will on Sunday inaugurate a life-size statue of Kartar Singh Sarabha that has been recently installed in the park. The park, developed in about an acre of land in the village, does not attract tourists from just the adjoining areas. In fact, sculptors and designers from England and Canada also visited the place. Manjeet Singh Gill said the inauguration by the Chief Minister was a befitting tribute to the efforts of the villagers, who contributed immensely through all possible means to the development of the park. He said the park was developed to provide information about the martyrs to successive generations.
	Administration gears up for inauguration of ROB on March 31 Railways constructs wall on both sides of its portion of road over bridge Sushil Goyal Tribune News Service Barnala, March 29 Despite the fact that the district administration is busy preparing to inaugurate the road over bridge (ROB), constructed on the Bathinda-Barnala railway track near SD College here on March 31, the railway authorities today constructed a small wall (obstacle) on both sides of the ROB that falls in the railway area. This has created a controversy with people expressing the view that the wall on both sides of the railway portion of the ROB at this stage, perhaps, has been constructed to stop the district administration from getting it inaugurated by Rajya Sabha Member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on March 31. Barnala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr Indu Malhotra said the executive engineer (XEN) of the railways had informed the XEN of PWD B&R that some safety measures were yet to be taken. The DC said the railways had neither informed the administration about the construction of the wall nor about the safety measures to be taken by it. The DC said the administration was going to inaugurate the ROB as per its plan on March 31 and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa would inaugurate it.