Food & civil supplies officials suspended

Two inspectors of the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Bathinda, and assistant food and supplies officer (AFSO) have been suspended following their alleged connivance in the sale of rice worth Rs 4.96 crore by the owner of a rice sheller in Gumti Kalan village.


The police had registered a case on June 6 wherein it was alleged that Daljit Singh, the owner of the sheller, had sold the rice brought for shelling. The police booked him and his wife in this regard. The police said the wife seemed to have nothing to do with the sale of rice, as she was not found guilty in the preliminary investigation.


The police had registered a case under various sections of the IPC and also included some concerned officials of the department, who were interrogated during the investigation.
Read More:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110825/bathinda.htm#7

THOUSANDS ATTEND CREMATION OF FARMER WHO DIED AT MANSA

Thousands of people here today attended the last rites of the farmer who was allegedly killed in the police lathi charge at Kot Dunna village last evening. The farmers were protesting against the acquisition of their land for a thermal plant at Gobindpura in Mansa.

The district administration has agreed to give Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased farmer, besides recommending a job for one member of the family. The body of the farmer, Surjeet Singh of Hameedi village, was taken to the cremation ground in a procession by villagers and activists of 17 organisations of farmers and labourers.

Those participating in the procession raised slogans like “Kisano ki qatil Badal sarkar, murdabad murdabad”, Shaheed Surjeet Singh Hameedi ko laal salaam”. Addressing the gathering at the cremation ground, BKU (Ugrahan) senior vice-president Jhanda Singh Jaithokey said farmers would continue their fight against the Badal government against the “forcible” acquisition of farmers’ land. The sacrifice of Surjeet Singh Hameedi would not go waste, he added.

Sangrur MP Vijayinder Singla and Barnala MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon visited the home of the deceased farmer and also attended his last rites. They said, “We demand a judicial probe into the land acquisition at Gobindpura for the thermal plant, besides seeking a probe into the farmer’s killing.” “As no open tenders were called for the Gobindpura thermal plant land, there may be some underhand deal between the private company and the Badal government.

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Bhucho Khurd villagers block road traffic for 2 hrs Accuse cops of shielding a woman running flesh trade in the village

Accusing the Nathana police of patronising a woman running a brothel in the village, the residents of Bhucho Khurd staged a dharna outside the village and blocked the Bathinda-Chandigarh main road today.
The blockade was cleared after two hours when senior police officials assured the agitators that the woman would not be allowed to continue the illegal activity in the village.

The protesters informed that a woman in the village, who is the wife of an army man, used to run flesh trade from her house. About a month ago, the villagers had led the police to nab three men and some women from her house, who were found in compromising position there. Then, the woman had tendered an apology in writing and had assured the villagers that she would shun the illegal trade.

However, late on Saturday evening, the villagers again found an outsider involved in the immoral activity at her place. Acting upon the information, the police reached the spot and rounded up the man but the woman reportedly managed to flee.

“The police had assured to produce the man and the woman before the villagers by the morning. However, when we contacted the police, they tried to shield the accused. Therefore, we lodged a protest and blocked the road,” said the protesters.


“Having sufficient evidences of her immoral character, we want her to be thrown out of the village but the police was shielding her,” they alleged.

After two hours of protest, Nathana SHO Sandeep Singh produced the man in front of the agitators and assuring that the woman too would soon be arrested, he convinced them to lift the dharna.

Speaking to media, the SHO refuted the allegation that the police was patronising the woman. However, when asked, if a case was being registered in this regard, the SHO said the police was investigating.
Src.http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110704/bathinda.htm#1

Gurdas Mann backs Edu-Football league

YFC Rurka Kalan’s Edu-Football movement got a major boost when eminent Punjabi singer and actor Gurdas Mann recently got associated with it. The Edu-Football League Project will target 600 children of under-12 and under-14 age groups. These players will be given systematic curriculum based coaching under the supervision of head coach, Dr. Jitender Sharma.

This league will not only nourish the young talent but also streamline the activities of the players for their all-round development. Mann agreed to associate with event and lend all support. He donned an YFC T-shirt and said his dream was to see India play the World cup.

He further said YFC was a right step towards the betterment of Indian football. He recounted his closeness to Olympian footballer Jarnail Singh and urged NRIs to make soccer big in the country, like they had done for kabaddi.

The singer also kicked off a seven-a-side match of under-12 kids. He signed the official league ball and urged people to support the project. YFC has opened five centres in nearby villages like Jandiala, Bilga, Bundala, Sarhali, Aloona Tola and Shankar with the help of local partner NGOs. These centres will be operational for 10 months a year.

 All the kids will participate in a seven-a-side football league and also attend Life Skill Education workshops. The matches will also be exclusively broadcasted. The league will commence in September and conclude in January and many corporate houses are coming forward to associate with the event.
src.http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110628/sports.htm#6

In Zail Singh’s village, girls drop out of school early

Once an education hub, area languishes for want of attention 

In this village of Giani Zail Singh, the first Punjabi to become the President of India, the dropout rate of girls after the high school level is about 70 per cent as its residents are afraid of sending their daughters for further study to the neighbouring towns because of reports of rising crime graph. During his tenure as Chief Minister of Punjab, Giani Zail Singh strived to make Faridkot area a hub of education.

The village sarpanch, Sukhdev Singh, said although the district headquarters at Faridkot was just about 5 kms away from here but the villageers were not willing to send their daughters there for schooling beyond class X. The village has a co-education high school, but most girls discontinue their study after the tenth class as their parents do not allow them to go to the town that has Plus Two schools and a college, said village elders Gurcharan Singh and Gurmeet Singh. The high school should be upgraded to the secondary level, they demanded.

The village folk give credit for development of the area to Giani Zail Singh, but point out that after his death the village has become orphaned. Neglect of the area was not only by the present SAD-BJP coalition government, the previous Congress governments also did not pay any attention to their problems after Giani Zail Singh strained his relations with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 by refusing to give assent to the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill arming the government with powers to censor any personal mail.

Sukhdev Singh said the village has been split into two panchayats because of the increasing population. The biggest problem was of waterlogging as the government has yet to lay a sewerage system here. The sewerage project for five villages of Faridkot, including Sandhwan, was sanctioned in 2004, but nothing has been done so far.

The tower housing a photo museum that has been constructed in the memory of Giani Zail Singh in his village Sandhwan near Faridkot.Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

The cotton yarn spinning mill sprawling over 30 acres set up during Giani Zail Singh's tenure, employed about 2100 men and women. It was shut in 1998 and transferred to a business tycoon, said the sarpanch.


Gurcharan Singh pointed out that although the village is situated between Faridkot and Kotkapura towns on the highway but even private buses do not stop here to pick up the passengers and as such the railway station set up on the directions of Giani Zail Singh was a great relief to the common people as all passenger trains heading towards Bathinda, Ferozepur and Delhi stop here. The railways have rightly named the station as “Giani Zail Singh Sandhwan”, Gurcharan Singh appreciated. Gurmeet Singh said it was during the Giani's tenure as Chief Minister that a post office, dispensary, veterinary hospital and a school were set up in the village.


Gurnam Singh and Jaswant Kaur, who were the immediate neighbours of Giani Zail Singh when he lived in his old house where a tower and a photo museum have now been constructed in his memory, recalled that the Giani made a group of about 50 residents of the village stay in the Rashtrapati Bhavan when they visited New Delhi when he was the President.


The Giani also arranged for their transportation to various places of tourist interest in and around Delhi. They also recalled that the Giani arrived in a helicopter in the village to attend the cremation of his elder brother Jagir Singh.


src.http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110628/bathinda.htm#7

Sansarpur village- which gave 14 Olympian hockey stars to the world

In the world of field hockey, it's almost impossible that any player or fan is ignorant about Sansarpur. This is not the name of any player or any big city. It's a small village in Punjab. The quote "actions speak louder than the words" pertinently sums up this village.

This village feels proud because it has given 14 Olympian hockey stars to the world. An interesting fact about this village is that all the 14 Olympians bear same surname "Kular" and all were from the same street in this village of Sansarpur.

 
No village or place in the world can claim to have more hockey stars than this village. In the world of soccer, we can compare it a little bit with the "El Chota" village of Ecuador, because "El Chota" has given seven soccer stars to Equador's national team. These seven soccer players also play for the world's renowned soccer clubs. Even then "El Chota" will be placed in second position after Sansarpur, because the number of stars produced by Sansarpur is more.

The village is located just outside of Jalandhar in Punjab. The tradition of following one hockey star after another was achieved by this famous village without any funding from government agencies and without any foreign trained coaches. Even without having a hockey ground or astro-turf, the players of this village have always had their spirits up.

There was a time when national and international hockey matches were impossible without including players from Sansarpur. Once it was called the "Nursery of Indian hockey." Sansarpur boasts eight gold medals, one silver, and six bronze medals in the Olympic Games and four gold and eight silver medals in the Asian Games. Five Olympians have also won the Arjana Award, which is the highest sports award in India.

Major Dhyan Chand and Sansarpur have boosted Indian hockey in the 

world. Dyan Chand is very famous as a "magician of hockey" and Sansarpur as an Olympian village contributed a lot to hockey. Indian hockey is incomplete without these two names.
These days, this village is losing its charm and popularity. A lack of proper facilities and a mixing of politics in the sport are creating hurdles. For a long time, no player has been selected for the national team.

Balbir Singh, a former hockey Olympian, and Arjuna Awardee are from Sansarpur. This village could have regained its old glory if plans of nurturing talent and providing proper training at the grassroots level by the governments of India and the state had been carried out.


Singh wrote a couple of letters to the sports minister at the central government level -- to Uma Bharati, Sukhdev Dhindsa, and Sunil Dutt -- and also tried to explain it to the chief ministers Prakash Singh Badal and Captain Amrinder Singh, but no response has come from anyone so far.

These days, Singh is the president of the Sansarpur Hockey Association, and he trains approximately 200 boys everyday at Sansarpur grounds, which has been given to them by the army. But the astro-turf is lacking there.Sansarpur Olympians 

Representing India: 

1. Col Gurmit Singh Kular 1932

2. Udham Singh Kular 1952, '56, '60, '64

3. Gurdev Singh Kular 1956

4. Dashan Singh Kular 1964

5. Balbir Singh Kular 1964, 68

6. Col. Balbir Singh Kular 1968

7. Jagjit Singh Kular 1964, 68

8. Tarsem Singh Kular 1968

9. Ajit Pal Singh Kular 1968, '72, '76

Representing Kenya
1. Late Hardian Singh Kular 1968, '72
2.. Hardev Singh Kular 1956, 1960
3.. Jagjit Singh Kular 1968
4.. Harvinder Singh Kular 1988


Representing Canada
1. Bindi Singh Kular 2000


Asian Games
1. Udham Singh Kular 1958
2. Gurdev Singh Kular 1958, '62
3. Balbir Singh Kular 1958
4. Gurjit Singh Kular 1958
5. Darshan Singh Kular 1962
6. Balbir Singh Kular 1966
7. Col Balbir Singh Kular 1966
8. Jagjit Singh Kular 1966
9. Tarsem Singh Kular 1966
10. Ajit Pal Singh Kular 1970, '74


Arjuna Awardees
1. Udham Singh Kular 1965
2. Jagjit Singh Kular 1967
3. Col Balbir Singh Kular 1968
4. Ajit Pal Singh Kular 1970
5. Balbir Singh Kular 2001

Src.http://www.sadapunjab.com/cv/Literature_On_Punjab/PUNJAB/Sansarpur_Punjab_Di_Shaan/index0.html

Sade Pind Rab Vasda