Khemuana, January 3
Despite the tall claims of the state government in carrying out door-to-door vaccination of animals to control FMD (foot and mouth disease), 30 cattle died in the past one month at Khemuana village following the outbreak of the disease. The disease is now spreading fast in nearby villages. Cattle owners are desperately trying to save their costly milch animals by spending a huge sum of money on their treatment.

Cattle in almost every household at Khemuana village have visible symptoms of FMD. The disease spreads due to infected farm tools, cloths and by keeping infected animals with healthy ones.

"The problem began one-and-a-half month ago and since then 23 calves, 6 cows and a buffaloe died due to it," said Manjit Singh, a member of the village panchayat. He said the similar disease killed many cattle four years ago. There are more than 1,300 milch animals in Khemuana.

“Spending Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 on the treatment of milch animals fails to cure the disease," said Malkit Singh, a resident of the village. He lamented that there had been more than 50 per cent fall in milk production.

Dalbir Singh, another resident of the village, said the government's claims were farce and he was treating all his infected 12 HF (holstein friesian) cows with the help of a private veterinarian and consulting a doctor for the medicine over the phone. Dalbir passes on the information to other cattle owners in the village.

The villagers said the power connection of the almost defunct veterinary dispensary in the village could not be restored for the past three years. Due to the problem, the veterinary inspector at the dispensary keeps the vaccine meant for cattle and human beings together in a refrigerator of the Subsidiary Health Centre.

While veterinary inspector Rajinderpal Sharma blamed the villagers for not allowing him to administer vaccines to cattle, the villagers accused the inspector of not visiting their houses for the same.

Sharma claims to vaccinate in 1,112 animals in 379 houses from April to August last year. He added the animals given vaccines were not suffering from the disease. "The veterinary inspector visits our homes only when cattle are in the grip of FMD. After vaccination, immunity in animals develops after 21 days and after so many deaths, vaccines are of no use," said Randhir Singh, whose six calves died in the past 15 days.

Bant Singh who lost a young cow and an unborn calf due to the disease said the animals in the village are now off feed and consume the liquid with antibiotics and other medicines only.

The owner of around 12 cows, Gurjeet Singh, said the villagers continue to get milk from the infected animals. While animal udders develop infection, villagers use gadgets to extract milk instead of using their hands.

"Though I do not know what happens if people consume the milk of such infected animals, none of the villagers has, so far, complained anything except the stench," said Dalbir Singh, another resident .While admitting refusal to government vaccination, people said they were yet to come out of the trauma of wrong vaccination, administered by the department servants, to cattle around 10-15 years ago. The wrong medication had lead to the death of a large number of animals.

Meanwhile, Pardeep Kumar Bansal, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, said he did not know the death of such a large number of cattle. Terming it a serious issue, he assured to take all preventive measures soon after seeking a report from the veterinary inspector. Veterinary inspector Rajinderpal Sharma said he had not did not tell about the issue to his seniors as he was not sure about the cause of deaths. "As the reason behind the death of animals is yet to be ascertained, I cannot convey the same to my seniors. The immense cold can also be the reason behind the deaths," Sharma said. 

Bathinda, January 3
A team of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) today widened the Dr Mela Ram road by 15-feet as it removed encroachments on the road amidst protest from the SSD Sabha and some other people. The road falls under the 1/3 Town Planning scheme.

The demolished compound wall of a hospital at the Dr Mela Ram road in Bathinda on Friday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

The team, headed by Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujwal and Assistant Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal, reached the spot at around 1:15 pm and removed the compound wall of Dr Mela Ram hospital.

Some portion of SSD Girls’ College land also lies under the 1/3 TP Scheme, which will have to be removed to make the road wider. Since the college transformer and electrical fittings are installed at this place, the SSD Sabha has taken few day’s time to shift these. The corporation will remove it by Monday following which the road will widen from its current 30-feet width to 45 feet.

Meanwhile, members of the SSD Sabha, including president Pramod Mittal, vice-president KK Aggarwal and other office-bearers, reached the spot. The sabha members argued that the scheme came into effect after the SSD College was established, hence the college could not be covered under it. They alleged that MCB officials did not serve any notice before carrying out the anti-encroachment drive.

As many as 600-feet area of the road falls under the 1/3 TP Scheme. As per the scheme, the width of the road should be doubled than its present width. For this, 15-feet area has to be taken from either side of the road to widen it to 60 feet.

However, encroachments have come up on the both sides of road to which the MCB has repeatedly issued notices to get the area vacated. Since people paid no attention to the notices, the MCB team today decided to remove the encroachments on its own.

Using the JCB machine, around 600-feet area was cleared today. While people raised a hue and cry over the move, the work on removing encroachments continued. The team members included XEN Sandeep Gupta, SDO Ravinder Singla, Gurpreet Buttar, Raman Kumar, Kishore Bansal, JE Rajinder Kumar, Somdutt Sharma and Rajinder Kumar.

Meanwhile, a group of residents met the Municipal Commissioner in the evening and demanded that the portion of SSD Girls College be removed. “For the last 10 years, we have been demanding widening of this road that leads to Vishal Nagar Phase I and II, Green Avenue, Panchvati Nagar, Shakti Nagar and Tagore Nagar. We request the SSD Sabha to vacate the land so that the traffic problem could be checked and commuters be saved from inconvenience,” said MM Behl, a resident of the area. 

Bathinda, January 3
As 56-year-old Rajinder Monga touches the Braille literature of monthly magazine Vigyaan Bharti in his library of 300 books, he talks avidly about the artificial retina and other scientific advancements to control blindness in childhood as these facilities were not available when he turned blind at the age of 10.

Born to be a winner, Rajinder refused to follow the societal norms for differently-abled and has lived his life to the fullest. An employee at National Fertilisers Limited for more than three decades, Monga completed masters in political science and public administration and has also been a student leader in the days when student activism was at its peak in Punjab.

Blessed with the power to memorise spoken words, Rajinder depended on his teachers, parents and a cousin, who used to read out lessons to him before exams. He had moved to Institute for Blind in Delhi for study. Later, he completed his matriculation from MSD School.

In 1977, when the emergency was lifted, Monga contested the students' body elections and became vice-president. A Punjabi University topper in BA (Hons) political science, he joined NFL while pursuing MA political science. "I always wanted to know more. From the days I was a student, radio has been my best friend after my wife Surinder," he says. Monga met Surinder over the telephone while working at NFL. Deputed as a telephone operator with the NFL, Monga used to get trunk calls booked on 180 number of BSNL. Surinder, who was posted at BSNL, used to book these calls.

"Surinder was a compassionate and understanding woman. I wanted to marry her. I proposed her but to my horror, she refused, not because of my disability but due some compelling circumstances. She lost her parents and was the eldest of four siblings. She wanted to look after her siblings and support them. I told her that why can't we do this together," he reminisces. Surinder adds that initially her family was reluctant. "My family knew that our decision was firm and they accepted it," Surinder says. The couple will celebrate their 26th marriage anniversary on January 17. They have a daughter Dr Ishani, who is a homoeopath, and son Appurav, who is an engineer. Monga uses cell phones, surfs on Internet, is on social networking site, plays violin and a voracious reader and is associated with the Art of Living. With the help of softwares meant for blind people, he operates all the devices. 

Bathinda, January 3
Jasbir Singh Sandhu, Member of Parliament from Surrey (Canada), visited Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo today. He was given a warm welcome by Gurlabh Singh Sidhu, Chairman, Dr NS Malhi, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Director (Planning & Development) and other senior officers of the university.

Addressing the gathering, Sandhu narrated how from being a small farmer he rose to a Member of Parliament in Canada and dwelt upon the challenges that the Punjabis are facing in Canada and USA.

He said his grandfather was an Akali leader and father belonged to the Communist Party.

Thus, politics came to him as a part of the inheritance.

He said the first challenge that the Punjabis faced in Canada was in 1914 when on the pattern of Australia, Canadian government also banned entry of non-whites.

Facing strong protest from the Punjabi community, it found a way-out and enacted a law that any non-white intending to come to Canada should travel by a non-stop ship from his native country to Canada.

It was Bhai Gurdit Singh who challenged this law and launched Kamagata Maru Movement, he said.

In 1914, about 3,000 Punjabi went over to Canada. They had to struggle hard. However, their struggle bore fruit in 1942 when they got the right to vote.

They were still subject to discrimination and had no right to build their own houses or to visit certain bars and shopping malls or even to wear their traditional dress, he added.

Sandhu also added that after he became the Member of Parliament, he organised Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Mela in Canada in 1989.

At a huge gathering of Indian people, the Canadian Prime Minister expressed regret for the discrimination that the Punjabis had to face in Canada but Sandhu and his supporting fellows wanted the Prime Minister to tender an apology in the Parliament.

Another important issue that was focused upon by Sandhu in the meeting was the indulgence of about 250 Punjabi youth in drug-abuse and smuggling in Canada.

They were put behind bars. Ultimately, at the behest of the Governor of Texas, who said the state was going bankrupt as each prisoner entailed an expenditure of about 2,000 US dollars per month.

Realising the grave situation, the Canadian government evolved a new strategy to tackle this evil.

They started imparting training to such youth in various trades and this strategy has proved to be a great success.

Consequently, the crime rate has gone down, he said.

On the query from the audience, Sandhu said desirable investment on education and infrastructure was the only way to prosperity.

These are the main ingredients for production in any field besides ensuring the accessibility of markets for the disposal of products.

Dr NS Malhi thanked Jasbir Singh Sandhu for his address. 

Bathinda, January 3
The road leading from Qila Mubarak towards the Government Desraj Memorial School, which was laid on December 15, has started getting damaged from different places. The Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) had used sub-standard material for laying the road, alleged residents. “The carpeting has not been done properly. Very thin layer of bitumen has been laid on the road, which is unable to support the high volume of traffic that runs on it,” said Rupinder Bindra, the spokesperson of District Congress Committee, who runs a shop in the neighbourhood of Qila Mubarak.

He added that the road started getting damaged in less than a week after it was laid. “In fact the previous road was better than the new one. With the patches coming off the road, many two-wheelers meet with accident and are exposed to the risk of sustaining serious injuries,” he said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal said the corporation was well aware of the problem of this road. “There are couple of other roads too in the city from which premix started falling off soon after it was laid in the mid December. The road should have been laid in sunny weather instead of the biting cold. The intense cold did not allow premix to act as it should. We have withheld payments of the concerned contractor and an explanation has been sought from him. The road will be re-laid,” he said. 

Bathinda, January 3
Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka today accused the Centre, a sub-judice case and the Right To Education Act for the poor state of education in the state.He was in the city to address SAD workers during the bhog of an akhand path at Haji Ratan Gurdwara. He said, “The Centre has been rolling out policies and schemes for the entire nation while it should be the prerogative of the state.”

“A large number of teachers have been rendered unemployed due to the schemes of the Centre,” he added. When asked about the poor state of education in elementary schools in the state, he blamed the Centre for introducing the Right To Education Act (RTE). “As per the RTE, schools can not detain a weak student in a class till the eighth standard. The students know this and are not afraid of failing. They do not want to pay much attention to studies due to it,” he said.

Stating that the state government was all set to fill 14,000 vacant posts of teachers, he said a sub-judice case in the court was keeping the government from recruiting more teachers.

He praised his party for striking deals with some of the leading business houses in the country. He said the government was planning to host a summit on the lines of the Progressive Punjab Investors’ Meet.

He said a similar kind of meet may be organised in February. He expressed hope that the SAD-BJP alliance would win all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections and exhorted the party workers to work hard and make sure that the sitting Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal represented the district in the Parliament again.

He also took a dig at the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and called the Congress a “headless” and “directionless” party. “The Congress is busy in nitpicking and blaming the SAD-BJP alliance for things that have not even happened. The party should instead look inwards and settle the infighting. The Congress will fall flat in the next Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

When asked about Delhi CM Arvind Kejrival's decision to take away the red-beacon from Delhi ministers and officials, Maluka voted in the decision’s favour. He said Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal was the first one to take a step in this direction. 

Bathinda, January 3
The police today claimed to arrest two persons with 100 kg poppy husk. The accused have been identified as Basant Singh of Leleana village near Talwandi Sabo and Resham Singh of Ghuman Kalan. The police said a naka was laid by the CIA staff on the instructions of SSP Gurpreet Gill.

The accused were travelling in a Tata Sumo car and tried to flee when signalled to stop near the Talwandi-Malkana road. The police said Resham Singh was a habitual offender and after spending seven months in jail had come out around one-and-half month ago on bail. They admitted to bring poppy husk from Haryana for Rs 1,000 per kg and after smuggling in Punjab they tried to make fast bucks by selling the same for Rs 1,500 per kg. A case has been registered against them. — TNS