Fazilka, October 17
The unfortunate parents of Aman (6) never knew that their only son, who had gone to school today, would not return home and instead they would receive his body.

In a tragic incident, Aman, son of Lal Chand, a resident of the Government College road locality, here was returning from school on Mahavir Road this afternoon when he fell into an uncovered manhole. Nishu (8), elder sister of Aman and who was accompanying him, informed her parents about the incident. The parents rushed to the spot but had to receive the body of Aman after about 15 minutes. Aman was a student of Class II of Sanatan Dharam Pathshalla.

The news about the death of Aman spread like wild fire. People of the town took out a procession carrying the body of Aman through the main bazaars. They raised slogans against Mr Krishan Chander Sharma, Executive Officer, and Mr Hari Chand Kamboj, president of the Municipal Council, Fazilka, holding them responsible from the death of the child. The protesters also raised slogans in the office of the Municipal Council.

The callousness of the Municipal Council officers could be assessed from the fact that none of them came forward to express sympathy with the family members of the deceased child when they were raising slogans at the MC campus. When this correspondence visited the site of incident some nearby people had covered the manhole with bamboo sticks by that time. The area people disclosed that the manhole was more than five feet deep and had been lying uncovered for a long time.

It is pertinent to mention here that the MC authorities and the leaders of the ruling party time and again had been making claims about the development of the town. However, they had failed miserably in getting manholes covered, which had resulted in several accidents.

Barnala, October 17
Various farmer organistions held a rally to express solidarity with victims to police brutality at Bhadaur yesterday.

Supporting the families of the victims, the organisations demanded the release of 152 persons lodged in jails.

They demanded the dropping of charges under Sections 302 and 307, IPC, levelled against the arrested people.

A Jaba Virodhi Sangharash Committee (anti-repression struggle committee) was also formed to intensify the struggle against erring police personnel.

Members of various unions also took out a march through the main bazars of Bhadaur.

Addressing the rally, BKU Ekta (Ugrahan) state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan condemned the police brutality on protesters.

The family of a deceased, Rubin Masih, also took part in the rally.

Union leaders demanded Rs 10 lakh as compensation for Masih’s family and a government job for his wife. They also sought a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for those injured.

Bathinda, October 17
A man in his 70s died in the court complex when his clothes caught fire with the “biri” that he was smoking here last on Sunday.

Sources said the deceased, Bal Krishan, had been engaged in clerical work with various advocates for the past many years. Sources said he had migrated from Pakistan after Partition and used to stay in the courts complex as he had no one to look after him.

He was proficient in reading Urdu and would help his bosses in comprehending old revenue records and other documents written in Urdu.

Sources said he was unwell and was smoking a “biri” lying on a bench. When his clothes caught fire he fell from the bench and died. Sahara volunteers performed his last rites after a post-mortem examination.

Ropar, October 17
Despite the ban on child labour, a number of children below the age of 14 years are still being employed in dhabas, homes and eating joints in the city.

Although the Labour Minister had prohibited employing of children from October 10, the administration so far has not bothered to issue any directions to owners nor has launched any drive to prevent them from doing so. Moreover, there is no scheme here to rehabilitate these children.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act has remained unenforced here. A number of children are still working in roadside dhabas along the national highway, old bus stand and new bus stand and Giani Zail Singh market, near Bela chowk. Girls are still being employed for domestic work.

These children belong to poor families from UP, Bihar, Nepal and also locals living in slum areas near the bus stand, railway station etc in the city.

A visit to various parts of the city revealed that children are in much demand due to low salary. They work for 10 to 14 hours a day.They do cleaning work, prepare and serve meals in dhabas. In return, they get a paltry sum of Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month. While girls employed in homes are getting Rs 300 to Rs 500 for cleaning work, washing clothes and preparing meals.

“I have no choice but work here. But working here I help my family members back home. I get up at 6 am and work till 10 am here. I get Rs 1,000 per month. I have never been to school as my family could not afford it, said a 13-year-old Sonu (name changed) working at a dhaba along the college road here. Same is the story of an 11-year-old Sadhu Singh employed at a dhaba at Bela Chowk market. He gets Rs 700 per month and has never attended school.

Conditions of girls employed for domestic work is worse. they are aged between 12 to 14 years. They are employed in posh colonies like Giani Zail Singh colony, Malhotra colony and even in government quarters.

Earlier, the NGO’s had raised the issue many times. But after the ban came into force, they did not show adequate response to work for the rehabilitation of these children. 

Bathinda, October 17
A 25-year-old farm labourer hailing from Sangat Kalan village reportedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance last evening.

Sources said the deceased, Gurmail Singh, was engaged on the fields of two farmers of the same village. The sources said he sought some money from his employers yesterday, but they allegedly denied him the same stating that he had taken a hefty amount in advance. His wife, Amandeep Kaur, said he was facing financial constraints and was under depression for the past few days.

Sources said he returned home in the evening and consumed poison to end his life. His body was handed over to his family members after a post-mortem examination. A case has been registered.

Tarn Taran, October 17
Balbir Kaur (55) died while her son Gurbhej Singh (28) was injured seriously in a road accident near Harike on Sunday .

The Harike police registered a case under Sections 279, 304A, 427, 337, IPC. Police sources told this correspondent here yesterday that the motor cycle (PB-46D 3739) being driven by Gurbhej Singh was hit by an unidentified vehicle when they were coming back home.

Balbir Kaur succumbed to her injuries on the spot.

Amritsar, October 17
Huge property amassed by a smuggler, Gurmit Singh Mintoo, has been attached by the Majitha police after the directions of Office of Competent Authority, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (forfeiture of property) Act 1976 and NDPS Act 1985.

This is for the first time in the history of Punjab police that property of a smuggler involved in intoxicant drugs peddling has been attached.

Mintoo was arrested by the Jandiala Guru police falling under Majitha police district on April 21 for possessing more than 13,000 banned injections and drugs. A case under section 22,61,85 of NDPS Act was registered against him.

Subsequently, the police had raided the residents of the accused in which documents pertaining to illegal properties worth about Rs 2 crores possessed by him was confiscated.

Mr Gautam Cheema, district police chief, termed it a major success for the Punjab police. He said this is the first-ever case in Punjab in which the properties of a smuggler has been attached.

Giving details, he said the accused used to run a medical store and was arrested a number of times for selling banned injections. He said to dodge the police he started a juice shop.

However, acting on a tip-off, the police raided his residence and found the contraband besides finding documents of movable and immovable properties.

He said Mintoo had amassed the huge property within a period of about six years, which was more than his known sources of income while he showed his income of more than Rs 5 lakhs for the said period.

A report of his properties was sent to Ms Archna Ranjan, Competent Authority Administrator, NDPS Act 1985, New Delhi, in September. She sent a notice to Mintoo asking him about the details of the means used to amass the property. However, he failed to present any satisfactory answer to the notice.

The district police chief said that Ms Ranjan, confirming the report of the police, ordered that he could not sell his properties without the permission of the competent authority. Copies of the order had also been sent to SDM, Tehsildar, Commissioner of Income Tax and other related banks in this regard. 

Patiala, October 17
Subhash Chand, Inspector, Excise and Taxation, Punjab, who was posted at Information Collection Centre (ICC), Banur, was today allegedly caught redhanded while taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Mr Parminder Singh, who was running a courier service at Ludhiana.

Subash Chand was caught when a team of Vigilance Bureau led by the DSP, Mr Sharanjit Singh laid a trap on the complaint of Mr Parminder Singh, owner of M.K. International, Ludhiana.

Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, Vigilance Bureau, Patiala, while taking to TNS said that bribe money of Rs 10,000 was recovered from the pocket of the shirt worn by the accused.

He added that when a search was carried out of the office of accused Subash Chand, five gold coins and Rs 2600 cash was seized from there. He said that Subash Chand could not explain how he had been possessing five gold coins.

He said that accused had been harassing the complainant and was forcing them to give him bribe. The accused used to stop the vehicles transporting the courier parcels from Ludhiana to various destinations at Banur barrier. The accused had been asking the complainant to fix monthly bribe money with him.

Mr Bhullar said he was caught today when he had been pressing the complainant that he would allow the courier vehicle to move only after he would be given Rs 10,000 as bribe.

When the accused accepted the bribe money, he was nabbed by team of Vigilance Bureau and was arrested immediately. The government witnesses and one shadow witness accompanied the team.

The search of house of accused located in Khanna town was being carried out. A case has been registered in this connection.

Bathinda, October 17
A meeting of the DIET Staff Association was held here yesterday under the presidentship of Mr Dev Raj Bansal.

The meeting flayed the state government for ignoring the demands of the DIET staff regarding their regularisation and salary. He claimed that the staff had not been paid salaries for the past two months.

Senior vice-president Surinder Kumar said due to non-payment of salary the staff members were forced to take hefty loans on high interest. He said they would observe Divali as “black day” if their salaries were not released immediately.

Barnala, October 17
A three-day-long Punjabi University Sangrur zone youth festival began at Sanatan Dharam College here yesterday.

Dr Sunita Dhir, Director, Youth Welfare Department Punjabi University, Patiala, inaugurated the festival formally by lighting the lamp.

Sanatan Dharam College is hosting the youth festival to mark its golden jubilee celebrations.

Patiala, October 17
Five more students, who were affected by the decision of Punjabi University, Patiala, to abolish the research work of M.Phil, today joined the ongoing fast being observed by the activists of the Sikh Student Federation (SSF) at its main gate. They are lodging their protest against the closure of M. Phil and some other research courses by the university.

Mr Jasdip Singh, Mr Sarbvir Singh, Mr Nirpesh Singh, Mr Tehinder Singh and Nirmal Singh, who completed their masters in religious studies and comparative studies in religion informed mediapersons that their final semester result was unduly delayed by the university. This action had resulted in the loss of one academic year for them as they could not get admission in other universities for doing M. Phil due to delayed declaration of the results.

Mr Kamaljit Singh, press secretary, SSF, in a press note issued here said that Punjabi University authorities had circulated a notice to all the departments as well as hostels directing the students to stay away from agitating students.

He said Mr Mandhir Singh, president, SSF, said that in most of previous students agitations the Punjabi University authorities blamed that students were not willing to resolve the matter by amicable means or they were non-serious or wanted to create disturbance. But this time the students worked through the proper channel as they made representations to the Vice-Chancellor office, Dean Students Welfare Office, Dean Academic affairs and to the Governor of Punjab and all these attempts failed to bring any positive results.