The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Mid-day meal lacks on nutrition count in Moga dist Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, July 22 The ambitious 'National Programme for Nutrition Support' to the students of primary and middle schools, introduced by the union government for providing cooked mid-day meal to the students, has almost failed to serve its purpose as more than 65 per cent of the schoolchildren, mostly girls, are suffering from anaemia in Moga district. Now, arguments are gaining ground to make qualitative improvements in the nutritional value- iron and proteins in the mid-day meal for improving the health standards of the children. Instead of improving the nutritional value of the food, the government has recently introduced "weekly iron folic acid supplementation programme" for the schoolchildren, which only reflects the failure of the basic purpose of the mid-day meal scheme. An official of the education department revealed there are as many as 55,389 students studying in the primary classes and 35,396 students studying in the middle classes who are being covered under the scheme in the district. A survey conducted by The Tribune revealed that the mid-day meal cooked under the supervision of the teachers in rural schools was of much better quality than the meal provided to the 9,000 students in the schools located in Moga city. The meal for urban students was being cooked and served by Istri Shakti, a Mumbai-based NGO. They had set up a mega kitchen on the Charik road outside the city where the meal is cooked and then transported to the schools. The hygienic conditions are not good in the building where the meal is prepared by the cooks. The district primary education officer has served as many as three notices to the NGO this year to improve the quality of food but the teachers and students alleged that the quality of food has not improved and even the menu was not being properly followed by the NGO serving the meal. Interestingly, the state government has granted liberty to the NGO to provide food as per its choice. No matter, days are fixed for providing chapatis and rice to the students in the rural schools but the education department has granted liberty to the NGO to provide either chapati or rice as per its choice on any day. Moreover, the NGO has been granted exemption from providing the weekly diet of kheer/halwa or fruits, which was being provided to the students in the rural schools. The students of government schools at Sadhan Wali Basti and Bhim Nagar Camp in the city revealed that the quality of food provided to them was not as good as compared to the food cooked at home. Moreover, a shortage of utensils was witnessed in many schools in the city as well as in the villages. District Magistrate Arshdip Singh Thind said he has asked all the sub-divisional magistrates to check the mid-day meal randomly on a routine basis. ADC (G) Ajmer Singh said he visited six schools in the rural areas on Friday. He collected a sample of wheat from Government School, Badowal, for quality check. Meanwhile, the DM has also constituted a four-member committee to check the quality of food being provided to the students in Moga city. "I will also look into the quality of food personally to ensure that the children get quality food," he said It may be mentioned that in April 2001, the Supreme Court gave a landmark directive converting the mid-day meal scheme into a legal entitlement, the violation of which could be taken up in a court of law. It means that the funds for the scheme can not be blocked by the government or any other agency.
	Death in police firing 19 days on, FIR yet to be registered Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, July 22 Nineteen days after a 20-year-old youth was allegedly killed in police firing during a clash between two rival Akali groups on the day of panchayat election in Chet Singh Wala village of the district, the residents of the village, including women, today started a march toward Faridkot to register their protest against the police for not taking any action against the accused. Once the police came to know about this move of the residents, a large police contingent from Faridkot and Ferozepur reached the village and blocked all ways that led to Faridkot. Parking their vehicle on the only bridge in the village to block the way of the marching residents, the police did not allow any vehicle to exit the village. A large number of villagers then walked to Faridkot to sit on a dharna in front of the SSP office in Faridkot. “Though my son was killed by a police inspector in the presence of over a hundred persons, the police did not even register an FIR in the case,” alleged Lakhwinder Singh, a small farmer and father of the deceased youth, Pavitar Singh. "My family had nothing to do with politics but my innocent son fell prey to political acrimony in the village," he alleged. "Even 19 days after the death, the police has not yet registered an FIR on the basis of our complaint. It is shocking that while there is no FIR in the murder case, the police was prompt in registering an attempt to murder case against unidentified persons for the offence of attacking police officials," alleged Gurmail Singh, a cousin of the deceased. "As the incident of attack on the police party and the murder of the youth happened at the same time, the SIT is investigating the sequence of the incidents and legal action would be taken against the accused accordingly," said GS Randhwan, SSP Faridkot. He assured that the SIT will submit its report this week and necessary action would be taken against the accused The more shocking fallout of this murder in Chet Singh Wala village is that this village with 806 votes is witnessing a vertical split now. There is no subsiding of bitterness among two groups in the village who were in intense competition during the panchayat election. While one group is supporting the winning candidate for sarpanch , the other group is positioning itself with the family whose member died in the prime of his youth. As the victim's family owed allegiance to the loser in the election, so most of the supporters of the rival group remained absent from the protest today.
	Four held with stolen luxury cars Our Correspondent Ferozepur, July 22 The Ferozepur police has busted an inter-state gang of car lifters who were involved in several cases of vehicle thefts in Punjab and Haryana. Giving details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Varinder Pal Singh said four persons have been arrested in this connection and 11 luxury cars have been recovered from them. The SSP said a special police team led by Raghubir Singh, SP (Detective), was checking vehicles on NH-95 near Talwandi Bhai during which a Toyota Innova was intercepted. The SSP said the person who was driving the SUV-- identified as Gurdeep Singh-- a resident of Sirsa in Haryana, could not provide the documents of the vehicles. Later, when he was questioned by the police, Gurdeep revealed that he along with three other persons, who belonged to Meerut, Karnal and Delhi, used to lift costly vehicles and then change their chassis number and other identity marks and later sell them with the help of forged documents. Thr SSP said Gurdeep himself dealt in junk vehicles and ran a shop in Sirsa where some cases related to car thefts have been lodged against him. The SSP said the accused will be presented in the court tomorrow for taking him into police remand. More vehicles are likely to be recovered after further investigations into the matter, he said. modus operandi The accused lifted costly vehicles and then changed their chassis number and other identification marks. Later, they sold the vehicles using forged documents.
	Illicit liquor haul in Fazilka village Praful Chander Nagpal Fazilka, July 22 Village Mahalam in Fazilka district, a haven for makers of lahan, a country-made liquor, has been notorious for the illicit distillation of the contraband since time immemorial. It was for the first time after independence that the Fazilka police ventured to break the nexus of the hundreds of people involved in the organized trade of illicit liquor. The gravity of the trade can be gauged from the fact that the village, having a populace of about 2400 residents with 1,302 voters, had over 1400 cases registered under the Excise Act against its residents during the last two decades. Sources maintain that it is the tip of the iceberg and the illicit distillation of liquor has virtually acquire the status of a cottage industry in this village that is dominated by Rai Sikhs. The district police led by Senior Superintendent of Police, Fazilka, Rajpal Singh, took a bold initiative by conducting a pre-dawn swoop on the village with 150 police personnel cordoning off the village two days back. During the raids which continued for eight hours, over 65,000 litres of illicit lahan were seized from around three dozen houses in the village. The deeper the police went for the search, it found innovative methods of storing liquor. Trenches were constructed having a storage capacity of 1,000 to 5,000 litres. The police found five distillery units built in the fields. The police also seized 30 drums, each having the capacity to store of 200 litres of liquor and five water tanks of 500 litre capacity each, containing liquor in it. It is pertinent to mention here that of the 65,000 litres of illicit liquor, the police did not have the arrangements to carry the entire stock. Hence, nearly 40,000 litres of illicit liquor had to be destroyed.
	Canadian citizen elected sarpanch, notice served Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS Moga, July 22 A Canadian citizen, Balbir Singh, was elected sarpanch of Karyal village in the Dharamkot assembly segment of Moga district with the help of local Akali leaders by allegedly concealing the facts of his citizenship. Baltej Singh, a resident of the village who polled 731 votes and lost the election to Balbir Singh (829 votes) by 98 votes, has alleged in an election petition filed before the District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer Arshdip Singh Thind that Balbir went abroad a few years back and got Canadian citizenship. While attaching a photocopy of his Canadian passport along with the petition, the plaintiff revealed that Balbir’s Canadian passport, number WM-929415, was issued by the Canadian government on August 4, 2010 and he came to India to contest the elections by obtaining a visa from the Indian authorities. A copy of the Canadian passport and visa are available with The Tribune. Rules for ‘disqualification for registration in an electoral roll' are laid down in section 25 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, which provides that a person shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if he is not a citizen of India. The DM, while admitting the election petition, has issued a notice and sought reply from the elected sarpanch by August 13, 2013. Thind said if the allegations are found to be true, legal action would be taken against the elected sarpanch after a thorough inquiry conducted by a magistrate.