The Tribune – Akali sarpanch booked for murdering girl

Ferozepur, February 4. Five years after she had eloped, the body of Gurmeet Kaur, who belonged to Basti Kesar Singh Wala, was found floating in the Sutlej near Jalloke village today.

The Ferozepur police has booked Akali sarpanch Surjit Singh and Jaswant Singh on the complaint of deceased’s brother Shingara Singh for keeping the girl in illegal custody and thereafter eliminating her. Shingara Singh told the police that five years ago he had sought Surjit Singh’s help to reach a compromise with a party in connection with a police case.

Thereafter, Surjit Singh started frequenting his house and lured his sister into a relationship on the promise of getting her a job. Sources said Gurmeet went missing from her house in 2008. Surjit Singh allegedly arranged her marriage with Jaswant Singh though the girl continued to live with him. Senior Superintendent of Police Varinder Pal Singh said the girl’s body was identified by her father and other family members.

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The Tribune – Rights panel marks probe into police torture case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11. Following allegations by a resident of Ferozepur that his son was illegally detained and tortured by the police and the local SSP refuting the allegations, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission today marked an independent inquiry into the issue by its own investigation wing.

Gurbhag Singh had alleged that a head constable from the city police station had illegally detained his son and brutally tortured him at the behest of another party. The commission had taken cognizance of the matter and had directed the Ferozpur SSP to investigate the matter.

The SSP, in his report, claimed that the complaint was devoid of any truth, but the complainant, in his rejoinder to the report, contradicted the stand taken by the local police. The SSP was asked to look into the matter afresh and in his second report filed before the commission, he reiterated his earlier stand.

“In view of the contradictory stands taken by the complainant and the SSP, Ferozepur, the commission, in the interest of justice, considers it appropriate to entrust the inquiry of the case to the Director General of Police of the commission, who is directed to take the complaint, report and the rejoinder into consideration, and submit his independent report in the case after hearing the necessary parties,” the commission said in its orders today.

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The Tribune – Experts to study water-logging: Ashwani

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5. The Planning Commission has set up a high-level expert group under its member Mihar Shah to study the problem of water-logging in Punjab and suggest remedial measures. Minister of State for Planning, Ashwani Kumar said today that the group had been set up since the 12th Plan envisaged to bring about 20 per cent efficiency in the use of water in the country over the next five years.

The areas selected for the study include Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Muktsar and Bathinda. There are reports that at least four lakh acres of land in the state is critically waterlogged due to the rise in the water table (within 2 metres of land surface in some parts).

The 11-member group includes former Planning Commission member Dr Vaidyanathan, Dr Tushar Shah, Senior Fellow, International Water Management Institute, and Prof Karan Singh of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.

The minister said he had repeatedly drawn the government’s attention to reviewing water management in Punjab along with related initiatives such as rainwater harvesting and crop diversification.

He said the group would offer suggestions, including avenues for resource mobilisation to implement policy initiatives.

The government would need to find a solution to this critical problem in the border state of Punjab, the country’s food bowl.

The minister said he had also constituted a team to hold a field study in Fatehgarh Churian and Dinanagar in Gurdaspur to identify projects for social and physical infrastructure in border areas.

The team was expected to start work this month, in consultation with the local administration and people’s representatives, the minister added.

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The Tribune – Sukhbir: Open more trade routes with Pakistan

SP Sharma, Tribune News Service

Jalalabad (Fazilka), April 11. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said he would ask Home Minister P Chidambram to take steps to reopen the Ferozepur and Fazilka borders for trade with Pakistan during the latter’s visit to Amritsar on April 13 to inaugurate the Integrated Check Post (ICP).

He would also take up the issue of a liberalised visa regime for Indian and Pakistani traders. Sukhbir was talking to mediapersons after addressing a series of well-attended thanksgiving rallies on his maiden visit to this border constituency after the formation of the SAD-BJP coalition government.

He said the economic profile of the area would improve if the Centre took steps to reopen the Hussainiwala check post in Ferozepur and Sadqi in Fazilka for trade with Pakistan and the Central Asia.

He regretted that though Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had initially prepared a ‘negative list’ of 1,209 items for trade with India, it now seemed the two countries could trade only 137 items through the Wagah border. “We had pinned high hopes on the opening of the land route for trade with Pakistan”, said a disappointed Sukhbir.

Thanking the electorate of Jalalabad for reposing faith in him, Sukhbir said the Chief Minister would call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a special industrial package for the border area to solve the problem of unemployment.

He announced a hospital for Jalalabad besides a world-class stadium to host kabaddi matches. He announced a degree college at Arniwala.

He said that civic infrastructure in 20 villages of Jalalabad would be upgraded every year and he would hold Sangat Darshan twice a month to redress the grievances of the people and for a feedback on development initiatives.

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The Tribune – Standing up for the girl child

Photo: Anirudh Gupta

As Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal was being presented an idol of Lord Buddha during a college function to promote ‘Nanhi Chaan’ in Ferozepur on Thursday, a few kilometres away in Talwandi Bhai subdivision, a female foetus was found in a garbage dump.

The Tribune – A bridge that will connect border districts

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, November 16 Due to lack of direct rail or road connectivity between Ferozepur and Amritsar, the two important border districts, the residents of both these places have to take a detour. This makes the distance between these two districts around 120 km. After the construction of the new bridge over the Sutlej, between Kot Pattan Budda and Muthianwala, the distance will be just 90 km. Officials in the PWD Department said that following the construction of this bridge, lakhs of people from Ferozepur and the border areas, besides Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts will benefit immensely. People from Ferozepur are at present using the Zira-Makhu-Harike-Tarn Taran route to reach Amritsar.

The residents of border villages using boats to cross the Sutlej to go to Amritsar will be relieved of the hassle of commuting through indigenously built boats, especially when the Sutlej is in fury. The only existing bridge on Sutlej upstream this new site is situated near Harike headworks which is 640 metres long. CM Parkash Singh Badal will lay the foundation stone of this bridge on November 18.

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