The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Students made to take pre-meal walk for food Balwant Garg/TNS Faridkot, July 24 Feeling full? Walk it out to elp digestion, suggest doctors. But in a government primary school at Faridkot, instead of making a post-meal walk, the students in the 8-10 years age group have to make 1 km pre-meal walk. Instead of burning the calories after eating the meal, the students burn a lot of energy to get their share of mid-day meal. Making a mockery of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and mid-day meal scheme, 317 students in Government Primary School in Sanjay Nagar, Faridkot, have to run between two buildings, standing 1 km apart, to get their meals. The ‘official’ building of the school in Sanjay Nagar is in a shambles, so over 100 students of class IV and V have to walk to a building of the Public Health Department to take lessons from their teacher. But before these students have the pop quizzes and homework from their teachers in this building, they have to head back to the Sanjay Nagar locality school to get their mid-day meal. Some time, the meal is sent to these children in a rickshaw, many times they travel 1-km distance to get their meals. Surrounded by slum-like areas, Government Primary School, Sanjay Nagar, is worth mentioning for its pathetic condition. A visit to this school highlighted the lackadaisical approach of the authorities. Three rooms in this school have no ventilation; hence it is suffocating and almost dark in these rooms with erratic power supply. The teachers prefer the students to sit outside in the open grounds as the classrooms are considered too dangerous and suffocating. As this open ground is also not sufficient enough to accommodate over 300 students, so over 100 students have to walk to the vacant building of the Health Department for their classes. But for their mid-day meals, many times these student head back to the school and then rush again to the Health Department building. Instead of taking any lesson from the teacher, many of these students are more concerned about the mid-day meal as they belong to poor families, said a teacher in the school. The poor condition of the building has created poor academic environment here and it has negative impact on the children. But we do not know why the authorities are not bothered for the primary school, said the parents and teachers of these children. District Education Officer (primary) Parminder Singh Brar said the department was aware of the problem and the DGSC office was already informed about it. The students are served food in their school as there is arrangement of a rickshaw for transportation of the cooked food, he said.
	Hiatus grows between Tota Singh, woman legislator Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, July 24 Senior Akali leader Jathedar Tota Singh appears to be in no mood to reach a compromise with the woman Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA, Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike, from Nihalsinghwala (reserve) constituency in Moga district who has off late become vocal against him, particularly after allegedly having faced a blow in the recently held panchayat elections. “Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike ignored the traditional (taksali) Akali leaders of the area and fielded her own candidates against the old party workers. She not only failed to build her own group but also failed to make any impact in the polls at the grassroots level,” Tota Singh said. While claiming that he managed to get a party ticket for her, the jathedar said now she was trying to sideline the party supporters and workers who had been with the Akali Dal for the past many decades. “Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike is not only harming the interests of the party but also losing her credibility in the area,” he said. For the past few days, both Tota Singh and Rajwinder Kaur were claiming that they had got the support of a majority of sarpanches from the Nihalsinghwala assembly segment represented by her. Yesterday, the veteran leader paraded as many as 42 out of a total of 68 sarpanches of her area by his side. “She has got the support of just four sarpanches as the Congress has 13 sarpanches while the Sanjha Morcha claims the support of 9 sarpanches,” he revealed. On Sunday, Bhagike presented a similar show of strength at Lopo village and claimed that she has got the support of a majority of the elected represented at the grassroots level. Earlier, Tota Singh managed a similar show on July 12 at Takhtuwala village. Tota Singh alleged that the woman legislator was unnecessarily resorting to infighting and mud-slinging to create her own group within the party for her own vested interests. On the other hand, political observers say the infighting within the party that has touched a new high and was dealing a severe blow to the Akali Dal in the area at a time when the elected representatives have the duty to meet the hopes and expectations of the electorate. It may be mentioned that on June 26, at least five Akali workers were injured in a bloody clash between the two groups of the ruling party at Rania village. On July 3, the woman MLA was held captive by hundreds of people in a school at Patto Didar Singh Wala village for more than four hours during the counting of votes in the panchayat polls and on July 7, two young supporters of Tota Singh were murdered in post-poll violence at Saidoke village in the Nihasinghwala sub-division of the district.
	Bus stand in a shambles, residents demand its revival Anirudh Gupta Ferozepur, July 24 The residents of the city are up in arms against the non-functioning of the main bus stand in the town which remains deserted in the absence of any rush of passengers. Most people in the city have to take buses from the cantonment bus stand for which they have to shell out extra bucks for hiring an auto or rickshaw to the cantonment. Constructed in the year 2002 at an expenditure of over Rs 3 crores, the bus stand portrays a picture of neglect. Its building which wears a desolate look has already started withering. Despite being situated in the heart of the city, only a handful of people come here to board the bus as most of the buses operate from the cantonment bus stand only. While the roadways authorities maintain that most government buses start from this bus stand and even the buses from other roadways depot make it a point to come here, the residents allege that the bus drivers in order to save time and avoid the hassle of rail level crossings situated en route to the city, generally bypass this route. An official said many private transporters have already surrendered the route from cantonment to the city bus stand in connivance with transport officials, and are thus operating buses from the cantonment bus stand only to save both time and money. “Moreover, due to the dilapidated condition of the roads leading to the city, the increase in wear and tear of the buses eats into the profits of these transporters,” he added. The residents have now constituted the “Bus Adda Bachao Samiti” to lodge their protest in the matter. “We have been sitting on dharna since June 3. However, nothing has been done till now,” said PC Kumar, a social worker. “After the creation of the cantonment bus stand and its subsequent conversion into a fare stage, all private transporters operate from cantonment to save time and fuel,” he said, adding that this was happening in connivance with the employees. Deputy Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang said he has written to the State Transport Commissioner to make the fare of both the bus stands uniform so that the people boarding the buses from the city do not have to pay extra. “I have also instructed the roadways officials to ensure that the buses do not bypass the city bus stand,” he added. Another section of residents said that keeping in view the poor condition of city roads and the increase in the number of buses, the traffic will further add to commuter’s woes. "Rather, the government should convert this bus stand into a shopping plaza or a mall and streamline the fare of the two bus stands,” they added. Sukhdev Singh demanded that the night bus service to bigger towns should also be started from the city. Earlier, the roadways had started bus service between the city and cantonment areas but it was discontinued after some time.
	FCI refuses to transport foodgrain through damaged bogies Praful Chander Nagpal Fazilka, July 24 Continuous supply of allegedly unfit and partially damaged railway bogies attached to goods train for shifting food grains from Fazilka to other states has been causing loss to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) as well. The FCI authorities refused to load a special goods train carrying 58 wagons yesterday on the pretext that the gates of most of the bogies were found to be broken and were not in a condition to be locked properly after filling the boxes with rice. “About 40 out of a total of 58 boxes were partially damaged at different places and the gates were not in a condition to be locked,” said the FCI official in charge of the special goods train, Puran Singh. The FCI has to pay the demurrage to the tune of Rs 46,400 on account of refusing to load the train. According to official sources, FCI dispatches over a dozen special goods train every month and pays about Rs 8 crore as freight to the Indian Railways. About 200 laboures are pressed into service to fill the boxes with the food grain. “The food grain is pilfered while on way to its destination due to the damaged wagons and the FCI has to bear the financial loss for no fault of its own,” said Puran Singh. “I have no idea about the problem. The station superintendent is the right person to be contacted,” said Divisional Rail Manager, Ferozepur Division, NCGoyal. FCI officials regretted that they have to monitor the entire loading operation for a prolonged period throughout the day but there are no sitting arrangement for the officials. They railways have not provided any accommodation for their functioning. They also remain deprived of drinking water facility. The railway platform from where a special train is loaded with food grain are without public utilities. It causes discomfort to a large number of labourers engaged in the loading process. “We have to face all kinds of inconvenience at the time of loading, including the vagaries of weather, in scorching summer and biting winter,“ said a labourer, Amarjit Singh Timba. “The FCI officials are making lame excuses. The rake was provided on their demand. There was nothing wrong with the bogies. Owning to their departmental problems, they failed to load the goods train but holding railways responsible is not fair. They were slapped the demurrage as per norms,” clarified station superintendent, Fazilka, Mahesh Narain.
	Patwari held for taking bribe Our Correspondent Abohar, July 24 A team of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)led by Sriganganagar DSP Anand Parkash Swami today claimed to have arrested Parkash Singh (32), a patwari while accepting Rs 10,000 as bribe from a Himachal Pradesh resident. ACB sources said the patwari was nabbed by laying trap near Allahabad Bank Street in Suratgarh from a building that had been reportedly hired by a group of patwaris who operate here instead of attending sub divisional or tehsil complexes. One Saket Singh had complained that his grandfather had been allotted land in village Chak 4NRD as the family was displaced for construction of Pong Dam in Himachal Pradesh long back. As his grandfather and father had died, Saket Singh requested the patwari to transfer ownership rights in his favour. The official allegedly demanded Rs 15,000 as bribe but finally agreed to do the work against payment of Rs 10,000. The chemically treated currency notes were given to the patwari by the complainant today. As the ACB team caught Parkash Singh, all other patwaris and their helpers working in the private building fled. A case under Anti Corruption Act has been registered.