Satte pe Satta: After Satnam, Palpreet heads to NBA

Palpreet Singh Brar

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 25

Muktsar cager Palpreet Singh Brar has won the national finals of the ACG-NBA Jump, India’s first national basketball talent search programme. 

The 21-year-old will now attend the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) tryout in the United States in June.

The NBA D-League is the NBA’s official minor league, serving to develop players, coaches, and the other officials. The league features 19 teams in the US and Canada, each of which is affiliated with an NBA parent club.

Hailing from Kauni village, Brar, a former trainee of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy, is already a member of India’s senior national team. The 6’9” cager, weighing 115kg, plays as a centre in the national team. Brar has represented India at the SAFF Games, Lusofonia Games and the Asian Games.

“I will focus on becoming a stronger player now that I am going to compete with some of the best in the world,” said Brar. 

“It is a proud moment for us. Palpreet has been selected for the tryout. He is the lone sportsperson in our family. I am thankful to my friends who advised me to introduce Palpreet to basketball because of his height,” said his father Farjinder Singh. He, however, rued that the state government has done nothing for them. “My son is an international player but the state government has never offered him a job. Even the district administration has not honoured him once. It seems the sports department is not even aware that a village in Muktsar has produced an international basketball player,” he added.

Brar started playing basketball at Gidderbaha  under coach Jagsir Puri. In just two months, he was selected for the Ludhiana Basketball Academy (LBA) where coach S Subramanian honed his skills.

In Satnam’s footsteps

Punjab Basketball Association secretary general Teja Singh Dhaliwal expressed his happiness over Brar’s selection. “It’s a big achievement for Brar. He is the only player from India to get selected for a tryout. Thousands appeared for this programme but Brar was the lucky one. His professional basketball journey started from the LBA where he spent his entire time nursing just one dream — to represent India at the NBA. This is a proud moment for the whole academy as Satta (Satnam) is also a product of the LBA.” Brar is presently posted as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) with the Railways in Ludhiana.

Courtesy: The Tribune

Staff shortage: Accountant to monitor 160 panchayats

None ready to work in Muktsar due to ‘political pressure’

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 24

The charge of block development and panchayat officers of Malout and Muktsar has been given to an accountant as these posts have been lying vacant for about a month. He will monitor the development works of 160 panchayats.

“In the prevailing circumstances, no one is ready to work here as BDPO. There is a lot of political pressure on employees,” claimed sources. They further said the development works in the area were hit due to staff shortage.

In such a scenario, the additional deputy commissioner’s (Development) office has started clearing the pending bills after utilising its contingency funds.

Kulwant Singh, Muktsar ADC, said, “Two of the four posts of BDPO have been lying vacant in the district. The charge has been given to an accountant. But we are clearing the bills through my office.”

A sarpanch from Malout block said, “An accountant can’t hold the charge of two BDPOs. He won’t even be able to inspect any ongoing development work. The state government must fill the posts soon.”

Another sarpanch alleged, “It is ironic that in Lambi, the Chief Minister’s home turf, there is excess staff, while in other areas, there is an acute staff shortage.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

Panchayat objects to PUDA colony in Muktsar village

Says land was transferred for hospital, govt houses

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 18

The panchayat of Udekaran village near here has raised an objection to the residential colony being developed over 12 acres there by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA).

The panchayat has approached the district administration demanding that the construction work be stopped immediately. It said that the land was transferred to construct a hospital and government accommodation and not for setting up a residential colony for commercial purpose.

Gurlabh Singh, Akali Sarpanch of Udekaran village, said, “The gram panchayat had passed two resolutions — on March 20, 1990 and January 22, 1998 — to give 12 acre and 2 kanal land along the railway line for the construction of a hospital and accommodation of government officers.

“Though some flats were constructed, the hospital has not been built till date. Now, the land has been transferred to PUDA for making a residential colony there.

“Had the government hospital been built, it would have been beneficial for the villagers. The colony is being built without the consent of the panchayat.

“The gram panchayat has not been paid even a single penny for this prime land which now is worth crores. We demand that the construction be stopped immediately,” said Gurlabh, who along with some villagers, again met the Deputy Commissioner today.

Kulwant Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Muktsar, who has been told to inquire into the matter, said, “An empowered committee of the state government had transferred the land to PUDA. We are investigating the matter.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

Muktsar college staff not paid for 4 months

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 16

Teachers and the non-teaching sstaff of the Government College in Muktsar are a harried lot as they have not been given their salaries for the last four months. Notably, this is the lone government college in the district.

They said they have put up their case before the authorities many times, but to no avail.

They have now started a protest and taken the support of students as well. Some students expressed concern that if the protest lasts longer, it would hit studies as examinations were just a month away.

“We have brought this matter to the notice of the higher-ups time and again, but to no avail. Irate over the lax attitude of the authorities, we have started a two-hour protest from today. It will last for a week and thereafter, we will lodge a protest in Chandigarh,” said Prof Parminder Singh, Secretary, Government College Teachers’ Association, Muktsar.

He said, “The Class IV employees are suffering more hardships due to the non-payment of their salaries. As many as 22 teachers and 13 non-teaching employees are without salaries since September. The staff of the Government College in Jalalabad will also begin from tomorrow.”

Notably, this college does not even have a regular Principal for long time.

The additional charge of the post has been given to the Principal of the Government College, Faridkot.

TK Goyal, Director Public Instructions (Colleges), said, “The matter has come to my notice and the salary will be given in a day or two. Action will also be taken against those found guilty during the inquiry.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

Month on, Muktsar villagers yet to get revised pension

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 15

Villagers in the district are yet to get enhanced pensions even though the gram panchayats have been given the money. The pension was to be disbursed among the people in January.

The state government recently hiked pension for the elderly, widows and the differently abled from Rs 250 to Rs 500 per month. On the other hand, the beneficiaries in urban areas have already been paid the revised pension.

As per the fresh policy, beneficiaries in rural areas will get pension through the village panchayats and those in urban areas will get the money in their bank accounts. In Muktsar district, 53,892 of the total 67,887 beneficiaries belong to rural areas.

“We haven’t been paid yet. The panchayats have been told not to disburse pensions until February 18. The government will hold a function that day to mark the launch of enhanced pension,” villagers said. Sarpanches of Udekaran, Haraj and Raniwala villages also complained that they had not got their pension yet.

Sources in the Social Security Department said they would start disbursing pension in rural areas after February 18.

However, Naresh Kumar, District Social Security Officer, said, “We have transferred the pension funds into the accounts of gram panchayats. They are free to disburse the money.”

The district had received Rs 3,39,43,500 to disburse among the beneficiaries for January.

Courtesy: The Tribune

MUKTSAR ACCIDENT: Being pressured to reach compromise: Victim’s kin

MUKTSAR ACCIDENT

Being pressured to reach compromise: Victim’s kin

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 6

More than 24 hours after SAD leader Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon’s bus reportedly mowed down a 27-year-old Dalit man at Kauni village, the police are yet to identify the accused bus driver. The driver had fled the spot, leaving the vehicle behind after the incident.

Dimpy Dhillon, who is the co-owner of New Deep Transport, is a close aide of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and his buses have reportedly claimed many lives in the past.

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Gurmeet Singh, who is investigating the case, said, “The accused driver is yet to be identified. So far, we had been busy with the cremation of the victim. Now, we will speak to the transporter about the driver.”

Meanwhile, deceased’s brother Jasvir Singh alleged some Akali leaders, including an SGPC member, had yesterday pressurised them, offered above Rs 15 lakh for compromise. "With this fake assurance, they managed the situation and we cremated the body today. However, we did not get a single penny. We will fight for justice," he added.

“They made my father consume alcohol and took him into confidence,” he added.

Courtesy: The Tribune

27-year-old crushed under bus owned by SAD leader

The accident victim’s body and motorcycle (stuck under the bus) at Kauni village in Muktsar district on Friday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 5

A 27-year-old Dalit man was crushed under a bus of New Deep Transport at Kauni village on the Gidderbaha-Muktsar road this evening. The driver managed to flee from the spot.

This transport company is co-owned by SAD’s Gidderbaha constituency incharge-cum-chairman, District Planning Committee, Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon.

This is the third fatal accident involving the bus of the same transport firm in less than two months.

A 12-year-old Dalit girl was crushed under a bus of the same company at Channu village in Lambi Assembly segment on December 11 last year. Then on December 17, a 10-year-old Dalit girl was killed in an accident involving another bus of the same firm in Ferozepur district.

As per sources, the deceased, Sukhvir Singh of Kauni village, was standing next to his motorcycle on the roadside. He was talking to someone over the phone when the bus (PB 30 F 4578) hit him from behind and dragged him along 100 feet.

The bus was on its way from Gidderbaha to Faridkot and the victim was going to Assa Buttar village to meet his relatives.

A large number of people gathered at the spot after the mishap. A police party from Kotbhai police station also reached the site and took the body to civil hospital, Gidderbaha, for the post-mortem examination.

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Gurmeet Singh, investigating officer, said, “A case has been registered against the unidentified driver under Sections 304-A, 279 and 427 of the IPC.”

SSP Kuldeep Chahal said that the police were trying to identify and nab the accused.

Transport firm co-owner Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon said, “It is an unfortunate incident. But as per my information, the motorcyclist, all of a sudden, took a u-turn which resulted in the accident. We are co-operating with the police and the bus has been taken to the police station.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

WW-II veteran awaits gallantry reward promised in 1944

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Khirkian Wala (Muktsar), February 5

A 94-year old World War-II veteran, Karnail Singh of Khirkian Wala village, claims he is still to get the gallantry award promised to him for showing exemplary courage in 1944 in Italy.

A Lance Naik in the British Army, Karnail Singh was honoured with the Indian Distinguished Service Medal (IDSM) on May 11, 1944. “The award carried a medal and Rs 5,000 or 25-acre land. Though I was given Rs 2,500 by the then Deputy Commissioner of Ferozepur in 1946, the remaining amount has not been given till date,” claimed Karnail Singh.

Showing a bunch of documents, Karnail Singh said, “I am not seeking any favour, but demanding what was promised to me. The correspondence done over the past 58 years, which I started in 1958, has so far failed to have any result. I have contacted everyone, right from top state politicians to the Army and British High Commission too. Everyone has passed the buck to another authority by forwarding a letter. Even the applications sent to the Sainik Welfare Office have failed to give me any satisfactory reply.”

Recalling his service days, Karnail Singh said that he served in various countries, including Iran, Africa, Sudan, Alexandria and Italy. “I proved my mettle in Italy when all the soldiers except me and platoon commander were killed while fighting the enemies. Suddenly, they hurled a bomb which wounded me badly. But I continued firing and killed a number of enemy soldiers. Later, they surrendered to me. I, along with my commander, was admitted to a hospital there,” he claimed.

Notably, this old man was once honoured in 1998 by the district administration during the Republic Day function. Further, Kripa Shankar Saroj, the then Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar, had sent a letter on February 1, 1999 to the then Principal Secretary, Defence Services Welfare, Punjab, with his recommendation of giving the remaining amount to this former soldier.

Karnail Singh now lives with his adopted son Iqbal Singh and his family at his ancestral house in the village that is located 10 km from Muktsar town.

He joined the British Army in 1939 as a sepoy in Sialkot Depot and after Independence, he was shifted to 4 Sikh Regiment. He retired as a havildar in 1958 and is getting a monthly pension of nearly Rs 20,000 and Rs 1,650 annuity.

Further, during a visit to the Sainik Welfare Office, Karnail Singh’s framed photograph was found displayed on a wall and a huge file had been made on his name.

Commander Baljinder Singh Virk (retd), District Sainik Welfare Officer, who holds the additional charge of Muktsar district, said, “As per a letter received in 1997 from the Directorate, there is no provision to give cash award to pre-Independence gallantry awardees in the state. The state government gives annuity to them. But this is a very old case and we will have to find out all the related documents from Ferozepur, Faridkot offices as Muktsar was earlier part of these two districts. Besides, we will put up this case before our Director.”

When contacted, Brig JS Arora (retd), Director, Sainik Welfare, Punjab, said, “He should meet us and we will definitely honour him. But I am not aware of this case. He should have taken up the matter with the Centre.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

Thoughts from the ‘Tropic of Cancer’

by Archit Watts

I LIVE in the Malwa area of Punjab that has earned notoriety for being the favourite haunt of the “Emperor of all Maladies”. Cancer is not just a disease that got Siddhartha Mukherjee the coveted Pulitzer, it is a dreaded disease that has stricken this hinterland of the state, making the government take note of the lives being lost to this scourge.

As a journalist, I have traversed this region and come across villages and families affected by cancer. But little did I realise that the devastated lives I have documented for the print will replay itself in my own life when my unsuspecting progenitor, all of 59, fell prey to it three years ago.

Life then came a full circle for me.

A pious man, spartan in his habits, he did not smoke, was a teetotaller and believed in the virtues of a vegan diet, all qualities that are supposed to keep the disease at bay.

Now, I am not alone in my grief. My sense of loss and its impact on my life may only be marginal and will pale before those whose lives have been destroyed by the disease, both emotionally and economically. But it sure has set me thinking.

How to combat the disease over which we do not seem to have much control?

Perhaps the answer lies in the dictum, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Most times, the disease spreads because the warning signs are ignored and preventive health check-ups are not undertaken. But again, there is no simplistic solution. Does the disease go undetected because the healthcare and diagnostic facilities in small towns are not on a par with those in cities? And by the time one goes to a bigger health centre, it becomes a case of too little, too late. The interpreters of maladies have only consolation prize to offer by then.

My father suffered from fever and after some tests, was referred to a major medical institute where a tumour was detected in his liver. But by then, the disease had reached an advanced stage, where the curative option was not available. He departed this world less than six months after a session of chemotherapy.

It was only after my bereavement that I realised that it is not just the high and mighty like Surinder Kaur Badal, wife of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, or Kanwarjeet Singh Brar ‘Sunny’, son of former CM Harcharan Singh Brar, to whom the disease was fatally attracted to. The commoners have fared worse when it comes to confronting cancer because of its capital-intensive nature.

The government keeps evolving health programmes and attention no doubt has shifted to the intensity of the scourge of cancer. But just as it has been possible for the government to eradicate diseases like polio and small pox, and control tuberculosis through intensive programmes, there is a need to press the pedal for preventive programmes on cancer, including conducting awareness drives and prescribing dos and don’ts.

Priority should be given to areas that are prone to the disease. People should be encouraged to opt for prevention to remove the stigma, just as is being done with mental health programmes to bring them out of the closet.

The battle is long drawn, but the cause is not lost. And one may take heart from the utterance of Barack Obama: “For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make the country that cures cancer once and for all.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

WORLD BANK GRANT FOR TOILETS: Villagers ‘forced’ to sign blank cheques

WORLD BANK GRANT FOR TOILETS

Villagers ‘forced’ to sign blank cheques

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Lambi, February 2

Throwing norms to the wind, leaders of the ruling coalition in CM’s home turf Lambi are allegedly taking four blank cheques from villagers to construct toilets in their houses under a World Bank project.

Villagers allege they are being forced by sarpanches and other leaders to give four blank cheques to get the benefit of this scheme, which is jointly funded by the Centre and World Bank.

Sources say: “As per the Centre’s instructions, the toilet has to be built by the beneficiary and a sum of Rs 15,000 will be deposited in his account in two instalments. But in waterlogging-hit areas, the cost of toilets was higher and a proposal was sent to increase the amount to Rs 28,400, which is yet to get approval. In such a situation, the construction work was getting delayed, thus the assistance of sarpanches and other politicians was sought. They have now taken initiative to construct toilets and withdraw the amount later from the bank account of beneficiaries.”

Recently a senior official in the district administration visited some villages when some residents of Badal village alleged that they were being told to give blank cheques, but no action was initiated.

Gursewak Singh, a panchayat member of Bodiwala Kharak Singh village, alleged: “There are nearly 15 families who have been deprived of the benefit as they refused to give cheques.”

Baljit Singh, Junior Engineer, Malout, said: “People are voluntarily approaching the leaders in their villages to make toilets in their houses. The amount has to come in the account of beneficiary and he/she can make it own.”

Courtesy: The Tribune

Few takers for state govt’s health insurance

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, February 1

Even though the state government is providing free health cover of up to Rs 50,000 and life insurance of Rs 5 lakh to the poor under the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna, the scheme has got a poor response.

Ever since the process began in October, just 46,000 of the 1.39 lakh people from the below poverty line (BPL) category have got enrolled under the scheme in the district. The government has now extended the last date to make the smart cards for beneficiaries from January 31 to February 8.

But the staff of the private firm that is developing the smart cards do not expect to achieve their target of registering 60 per cent people under the scheme.

They have reportedly visited each village four to five times, but people showed little interest. So now they have now sought help from the district administration. Sources said that in comparison to Muktsar and Malout sub-divisions, the response was better in Gidderbaha.

Sources said people weren’t showing interest in the scheme as some of those who opted for the scheme were denied free treatment at hospitals.

“Since the state government is not even granting any benefits under older schemes, the public is not keen on opting for new plans. Further, the beneficiaries are not ready to pay Rs 30 to get registered under the scheme,” said a village sarpanch pleading anonymity. Sources claimed the situation was similar in other districts too.

Kulwant Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Muktsar, said, “We have now roped in our BDPOs and panchayat secretaries to assist the company staff. Besides, sarpanches and municipal councillors have been told to urge people to register for the scheme.” He added with their efforts 15,000 more people opted for the scheme in the last about 20 days.

Meanwhile, the state government has asked farmers and traders to get registered under the scheme. As of now, nearly 25,000 farmers in the district opted for the scheme, said officials of the District Mandi Board.

They said farmers only needed a ‘J’ form (document establishing that a person is into farming) and an Aadhaar card to get enrolled under the scheme.

Courtesy: The Tribune