B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Students, parents hold protest against cooks
Faridkot, July 25
Days after the disaster in mid-day meal project in Bihar, the students of a primary school in Police Lines in Faridkot city today protested against the quality of food served to them. The students, who were joined by their parents, were protesting against the poor quality of the food and the alleged rude behaviour by the two cooks in the school kitchen.

Husband, in-laws booked for femicide
Moga, July 25
A married woman has alleged that she was forced to undergo abortion against her wish by her husband and in-laws on having established through an ultrasound test that she was bearing a female child after four months of pregnancy.

Woman forges documents to obtain two passports, held
Moga, July 25
The Moga police has arrested a woman on the charge of making two fake passports by changing her name and forging the documents through fraudulent means.

Auto-pay machine out of order, PSPCL authorities pay no heed
Muktsar, July 25
The sewak (automatic energy bill payment) machine installed by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) authorities on Kotkapura road here to help the consumers has been out of order for almost three years, but nothing seems to have been done by the officials concerned to rectify the situation.

Students, parents hold protest against cooks
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, July 25
Days after the disaster in mid-day meal project in Bihar, the students of a primary school in Police Lines in Faridkot city today protested against the quality of food served to them. The students, who were joined by their parents, were protesting against the poor quality of the food and the alleged rude behaviour by the two cooks in the school kitchen.

As the students boycotted the classes and sat on a dharna in front of the school, the authorities reached the spot and assured that necessary action would be taken.

Teachers and parents of the students revealed that some time back, the school management committee (SMC) had removed two cooks as they were very rude in their behaviour with the students while serving them meals the quality of which was poor. But some days back, the services of both these cooks were restored in the school and the problem began again for the students and teachers.

The teachers were more worried after the disaster in Bihar. As the teachers and the SMC were not on good terms with these expelled cooks, the restoration of their services by the senior authorities landed the teachers in a difficult situation. "These cooks were not allowing us to check the meal and monitor the cooking. So, there is always the impending risk of a serious lapse," said the teachers and parents.

So to build pressure on the district education department, the students, joined by their parents, today boycotted their classes and sat on a dharna. The parents demanded that until the cooks were removed, they will not send their children to the school. "The behaviour of the cooks with our children is very rude after the SMC passed a resolution to expel them," alleged the protesting parents.

Sukhdev Singh, Block Primary Education Officer, said that after receiving an assurance by the Deputy District Education Officer (DDEO) that these cooks will not be posted in the school, the parents had agreed to end the dharna.

The teachers in the school and parents of the students alleged that despite several irregularities in serving the mid-day meal in the school and the substandard quality of the food served to the children, there was no effective check on these cooks.

Husband, in-laws booked for femicide
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, July 25
A married woman has alleged that she was forced to undergo abortion against her wish by her husband and in-laws on having established through an ultrasound test that she was bearing a female child after four months of pregnancy.

The Moga police on Wednesday registered a criminal case under sections 312, 313 and 120B of the IPC and section 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, at the city police station against her husband and six members of her in-laws' family, besides a nurse who performed the abortion illegally on her. However, no one has been arrested so far.

SHO Jasvarinder Singh said the woman Nirmal Kaur, wife of Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Kammewala village in Faridkot district, had given a statement to the police that a few days back, her husband and in-laws brought her to Moga and got an ultrasound test conducted by a radiologist here.

It was established from the ultrasound test that she was bearing a female child, after which, she was taken to the residence of a local nurse on July 19 where she was forced to undergo abortion against her wish, the SHO said.

When asked why a criminal case has not been registered against the radiologist who detected the sex of the unborn child, the SHO said investigations were still in progress. "We will definitely include the names of the owner of the laboratory and the radiologist who performed the ultrasound test on her and detected the sex of the unborn child," he added.

The owner of the laboratory claimed that the woman was telling a lie and they had not performed any ultrasound test on her. However, the woman had mentioned the name of the laboratory in her statement, which had also been mentioned in the FIR, the SHO confirmed.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the ultrasound machine at the laboratory was sealed by the health department a few years ago but they managed to install another machine allegedly in connivance with the authorities of the health department. 

Woman forges documents to obtain two passports, held
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, July 25
The Moga police has arrested a woman on the charge of making two fake passports by changing her name and forging the documents through fraudulent means.

A criminal case under sections 419, 420, 120B and section 12 of the Passport Act, 1967 was registered against the woman, identified as Harpal Kaur, wife of Pritam Singh, a resident of Nihalsinghwala and two others, Jasmel Singh and Gurpreet Singh, who attested her antecedents, at the Badhni Kalan police station of the district.

As per the details available, the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, issued two passports to the said woman in the name of Harpal Kaur, wife of Pritam Singh, a resident of Nihalsinghwala (passport number: F-3769743) in 2005 and Raj Kaur, wife of Kewal Singh, a resident of Badhni Kalan (passport number: N-57595) in 2011.

During an inquiry conducted by the RPO office, it was also found that the said woman also changed the name of her father to make the two passports.

ASI Balwinder Singh, who is investigating the case, said the woman has been arrested on Thursday. “She was produced before a local court, which has granted two-day police remand for further investigations,” he said.

It may be mentioned that a big passport scam in Moga was exposed in these columns in July 2008. An FIR was registered against three policemen, Jaswinder Singh, Ranjit Singh and Gurdial Singh, MC employee Ranjit Singh, postman Om Prakash, and a former passport office employee, Didar Singh, who were named as alleged accused in the scam.

During the investigations, which were still in progress, more than 350 cases related to fake passports came up before the police. The cops posted between 1995 and 2008 in the passport/security branch in Moga allegedly prepared fake verification documents and tampered with the official records in connivance with the travel agents and RPO employees. More than 300 lookout notices were issued against NRIs who allegedly used fake passports to go abroad. At least 110 persons have been arrested in the case so far. 

Auto-pay machine out of order, PSPCL authorities pay no heed
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 25
The sewak (automatic energy bill payment) machine installed by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) authorities on Kotkapura road here to help the consumers has been out of order for almost three years, but nothing seems to have been done by the officials concerned to rectify the situation.

The machine was installed to help the power consumers pay the bills without wasting time in the queues at PSPCL cash counters. But due to the apathy of the authorities concerned, it is still lying idle.

Sources in the PSPCL said the operators hired by a private company to run the machine had committed a fraud of nearly Rs 8 lakh and because of this, the machine was closed by the authorities.

They even admitted that the machine was a boon for the general public as they could walk in any time to pay the electricity bills. “Initially, the machine had got a good response. A large number of people had started depositing their bills through it,” said sources in the department.

However, when contacted, SDO, PSPCL, Barinderpal Singh, said, “As per my knowledge, an operator and a battery inverter are required to run the machine. Moreover, its touch screen is also not functioning. Therefore, the machine is lying idle. I have written to the senior officials to restart it.”

It may be mentioned that only two sewak machines were installed in the entire district-- one at Muktsar and the other at Malout.

JS Multani, Superintending Engineer (Billing), PSPCL, said, “Only two sewak machines, including the one at Muktsar, are not functioning in the entire state. But we are trying to restart the other sewak machine.”