Bathinda, May 21
A stray bull killed a 10-year-old boy and left some others injured here today. The incident took place near the Dhobiana Basti.

The child, Lalinder Dass, was going for morning ablutions when the bull gored him
to death. The onlookers rushed the boy to the Civil Hospital where he succumbed
to his injuries. Those trying to control the bull also sustained severe injuries and
had to be hospitalised.

Volunteers of some NGOs reached the spot and tried to control the bull. Meanwhile, the police also arrived. However, no employee of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) was present.

Acting BMC Commissioner Moneesh Kumar said, “I came to know about the incident late. I have called some Gaushala people who catch stray cattle. Then the responsibility would be fixed.”

Mayor Baljeet Singh Bir Behman said, “I am not aware about the incident. If any of our staff is guilty of dereliction of duty, he will have to face the consequences.”

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari said, “I am sending a compensation of Rs 5000 from the Red Cross Society funds to the bereaved family. If needed, we are there to help them further.”

Bathinda, May 21
Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla today came down heavily on the politicians accusing them of encouraging drug abuse by distributing cheap quality liquor to woo voters at the time of elections.

Speaking at a seminar organised at the Baba Farid Institute of Foreign and Higher Studies, the Health Minister said that drug addiction was a major cause of concern for Punjab and politicians play no small role in it by using liquor at press conferences, campaigning and to build a vote bank.

Chawla particularly asked the girl students present at the seminar to avoid liquor circulated and consumed at weddings.

“In Punjab, Anand Karaj can not be performed at marriage palaces because liquor is consumed. The groom’s family openly demands liquor at weddings. We can take the bride and the groom to a gurudwara for Anand Karaj but we cannot let a marriage party happen sans alcohol. We have to end this practice. The rural populace has lost several acres of land due to drug addiction and we are now losing our youth, which is our only hope, to drug addiction,” she added.

The Health Minister accused Renuka Chaudhary of supporting drunken girls at pubs in Mangalore. She clearly stated that addiction was becoming a cause of concern because society was accepting addiction without raising a voice against it.

“In villages, if a young boy complains of headache, his uncles tell him to have two pegs rather than take medicine. Punjabis say that smoking is banned for us but we cannot do without drinking. This is the importance we give to alcohol,” she said.

Talking about scores of drugs being recovered in Punjab, she said that people in the state want drugs, that is why, someone was bringing them here.

“We had seized drugs worth Rs 50 lakh once in Punjab and almost daily there is news related to drugs being seized. Why is this happening, who is funding it and who wants it? Drugs are being consumed by more youngsters now because they have seen their previous generations doing it. It is time we do something about this menace,” Chawla said.

She particularly asked girls to object to alcohol consumption in their families. Apart from alcohol consumption and drug abuse in the state, Chawla also threw light upon the prevailing evils like female foeticide, dowry and domestic violence, which is rising in the state.

Laxmi Kanta Chawla had visited hospitals in Rampura Phul, Nathana and Bucho Mandi yesterday where she said that she would speed up the work of filling vacant posts of doctors and medical staff in the hospitals soon.

Bathinda, May 21
The police booked a Punsup inspector on the charges of cheating under the Atta-Dal scheme. The Punsup is a crop purchasing agency of the state government.

As per information available, Mandar Singh, president of the Palledar Union in Bhagta Bhai Ka, lodged a complaint the Dialpura police that on Wednesday, he saw tractor- trailer, fully loaded with wheat bags, outside a Punsup godown at the village.

When asked, Radhe Sham, the Punsup inspector, and one Mangat Rai told him that they were taking the wheat bags for supply at a ration depot in Hamirgarh village. Suspicious, he rushed to the depot concerned.

An official there, Balbir Singh, told him that he had received the supply just a day back and had not made any further demand for wheat. Mandar intercepted the tractor-trailer and asked the driver about the destination.

The driver fled after telling him that he was just following the orders of Radhe Sham and Mangat Rai.

When informed, the Dialpura police investigated and found Radhe Sham and Mangat Rai guilty of disposing of the government-owned wheat for personal purposes.

Confirming the facts, Gursher Singh, SHO Dialpura police station, said, “The wheat was meant for the Atta-Dal scheme, but the accused were taking it for selling them. A case against them has been registered under section 420 of the IPC and 7 of the EC Act.” The accused were still at large when this report was being filed.

Bathinda, May 21
The district police today registered a criminal case against the two cops, who had allegedly dragged and beaten up some youths on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

Earlier, taking cognisance of the news published in The Tribune, SSP Ashish Chaudhary had suspended the cops — Gurmail Singh (1391), a constable with PCR-5, and a PHG jawan, Satnam Singh (10316) — on Wednesday.

In a fresh development, on the basis of the statement of Chamkaur Singh, the victim, and his friends, the Kotwali police booked the accused cops under sections 323 (voluntarily hurt), 341 (wrongfully restraining) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. However, they were not arrested till the filing of the report.

Confirming the facts, SHO Kotwali, Harmeek Singh Deol said, “Prima facie, it was observed that the injured had reached a compromise with the accused cops under pressure. So, we suspended them. Now, since the victim wanted a criminal action against the accused cops, a criminal case has also been registered.”

It may be recalled that Chamkaur Singh of Guru Nanak Pura along with his cousin and three friends had stated that they were searching for Chamkaur’s missing cousin sister, two PCR cops intercepted and interrogated them. They were reportedly abused and assaulted by the cops.

Bathinda, May 21
A farmers’ meet headed by Anil Malhotra, AGM, State Bank of Patiala, Bathinda zone, was organised by the Kot Fatta branch of the bank at village Rai Khana recently.

Sarpanch of the village Harjeet Singh and others welcomed the AGM at the meet that was attended by over 100 people.

It started with field officer Parveen Kumar highlighting the bank’s loan schemes.

Later, the AGM told the farmers to adopt bank’s latest techniques, which were praised all over.

On the occasion, branch manager of the bank, JP Monga proposed vote of thanks.

Moga, May 21
A 40-year-old person has died under suspicious conditions at village Chuhar Chak near Dharamkot in the Moga district on Wednesday night.

His body was recovered by the police today and sent to the district hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Although the police had initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC into this incident but following rumours in the village that it was murder, the health department had constituted a three-member medical board to conduct postmortem of the body.

As per the details available, the deceased, identified as Inderjit Singh, son of Hari Singh, had an old dispute with his younger brother Angrej Singh over distribution of water to their respective fields from a single electric tube-well, which they were sharing for the past many years.

The villagers revealed that on Wednesday evening, both the brothers had a quarrel with each other.

A panchayat member of the village told media persons on the condition of anonymity that when both the brothers were quarrelling with each other, Inderjit's wife Raji approached him to save her husband from the hands of Angrej who had allegedly beaten her husband.

Late in the night, Inderjit died under suspicious conditions. The police was maintaining that he had died after consuming some poisonous substance.

The deceased’s wife and some villagers were of the view that Inderjit had possibly died of internal injuries suffered from severe beating by his brother.

The local police was maintaining that it was a case of suicide as Inderjit had died of poisoning and therefore no murder case has been registered so far.

However, inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC had been initiated into the incident leaving the options open for registering a criminal case of murder on receiving the report of the post-mortem and chemical examination.

When the body was brought to the district hospital here, many villagers insisted on constituting a medical board to conduct the post-mortem as the person had died under suspicious conditions after a row with his brother.

Moga, May 21
Rich tributes were paid to the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 18th death anniversary here today. The day was also being observed as the Anti-Terrorism Day.

Seminars and discussions were being organised against terrorism and a pledge was administered to people against terrorism and for maintaining peace at the district headquarters here and at various places in the district.

Dr Malti Thapar, state general secretary of the Congress party, paid floral tributes to the departed leader at Dr Shyam Lal Thapar Nursing College and Hospital, here.

In her address, she said that under the dynamic leadership of the late Rajiv
Gandhi, the country had achieved a revolution in telecommunications, information
technology and automobiles.

She said that the farsightedness of Rajiv Gandhi helped in the growth of Indian economy and uplift of the standards of life of the people.

"Today, India is being considered as future leader of the world because of his visionary ideas,” she said.

She also remembered that he had taken the courage of going ahead with the
peace accords in Punjab, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir where the separatists
were still looming large.

It was Rajiv Gandhi who had brought the 73rd Constitutional Amendment for Panchayati Raj institutions to strengthen the democracy at grassroot level by vesting in them more powers.

"Our leader gave reservation to women in the third tier of democracy,” she added.

Dr Pawan Thapar, director of the nursing college, the college staff and students of the institution also paid rich tributes to the departed leader.

He said that Rajiv Gandhi thought for the poorest of the poor and worked for them.

There were also reports that many other Congress leaders also paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi at Faridkot, Ferozepur, Baghapurana, Fazilka and Abohar towns in this area.

Fazilka, May 21
The Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta have issued notices to the director, local bodies, Punjab, president and executive officer, Municipal Council, Fazilka, Naresh Bansal, the purchaser of land and Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) officer for July 1, to appear before the court.

The notices have been issued in the response to a PIL filed by a local Municipal Councilor Satinder Singh Kathpal. It has been stated in the petition that 53 acres of prime municipal land was auctioned at throwaway price of Rs 2.51 crore to a single bidder and it be cancelled.

It may be recalled that the council had raised a loan of Rs one crore on March 26, 2001 from the Oriental Bank of Commerce for the construction of a canal-based drinking water project in Fazilka.

The council had mortgaged about 53 acres of precious municipal land. The council could not repay the loan.

The bank moved the case before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Chandigarh, that ordered to auction the land on April, 16.

The land was auctioned to a single bidder at a throwaway price of Rs 2.51 crore. The market value of the land is stated to be over Rs 20 crore.

The petitioner Satinder Kathpal had also filed a petition before the DRT to suspend the implementation of the auction on plea that the auction was carried out without following the set norms.

Besides, there was only one bidder present. His bid was accepted almost at the reserve price at Rs 2.50 crores.

The division bench has also directed the DRT to wait till a final decision is made by it, said Satinder Kathpal.

Mansa, May 21
The police has arrested leaders of CPI (ML) and Mazdoor Mukti Morcha for leading the labourers to take forcible possession of the panchayat land in different villages.

Those arrested include state secretary of CPI (ML) Rajwinder Singh Rana, state secretary of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha Bhagwant Singh Sammaon, Gurjant Singh, Gurnam Singh and Sukhdarshan Natt.

Notably, the labourers under the leadership of these leaders had taken forcible possession of the panchayat land nearly in 26 villages.

They also staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to get the legal status of the occupied plots. Police got the dharna lifted today.

Central committee member of the CPI (ML) Swapan Mukherjee, who was also in the police custody, said that it was not officially communicated, whether he was arrested or detained.

SSP Manwinder Singh said that the leaders were arrested as they were illegally occupying the panchayat lands.

Repeated phone calls were made to the Deputy Commissioner Kumar Rahul but he did not attend them.

ADC Malwinder Singh Jaggi, who assured the labourers of providing the plots during a rally in Mansa on May 19, was speechless at the arrests of the leaders.

The labourers of different villages came forward to stage a dharna against the arrest of the leaders but the police removed them from the dharna site.

Abohar, May 21
A four-year-old girl was killed while her parents sustained critical injuries in a road mishap outside the village Kala Tibba on the Seetogunno road here today.

According to sources, one Ramesh Kumar of village Sardarpura, his wife Anita and daughter Riya (4) sustained injuries when the scooter they were using for coming to the town was allegedly hit by a truck outside village Kala Tibba on the Seetogunno road here today.

All were rushed to the Civil Hospital. Riya later succumbed to her injuries while Anita is still lying unconscious.

The police have registered a case against driver Ranjit Singh of Dharam Nagari,
sources said.

Meanwhile, a computer engineer Pawan Kumar of village Khuyiansarwar, who was injured seriously last week on Sriganganagar road has also succumbed to his injuries.

A milk tanker had allegedly hit the motorcycle that Pawan was driving, according to
the police.