Bathinda, July 8
Levelling a number of allegations on the commissioner of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Punjab Human Rights Committee (PHRC) lodged a complaint with the Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, along with other central and state departments.

It may be mentioned that the municipal commissioner K.K. Yadav who also holds the portfolio of chief administrator of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) and administrator of the Improvement Trust has already been in the news due to his alleged unauthorised use of the BMC fund for constructing his BDA camp office at his residence, bungalow number E-5.

Acting Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Vijay Zade has already sought a report in this regard.

In the complaint, general secretary of the PHRC, Ved Parkash Gupta, accused Yadav of corruption and of carrying out other illegal activities. The PHRC complaint accuses Yadav of being a favourite of the ruling party and says that it is because of this that he was allotted five major departments in the city. It is pertinent to mention here that as of now, Yadav holds charge of only three departments.

PHRC also accused him of misusing government funds as a number of official cars were at his disposal. He has also been accused of buying acres of land worth in crores in Churu, Rajasthan.

Besides the above said allegations, Yadav also has been charged with being hand-in-glove with the land mafia for allowing them to carry out construction activities at various sites. Despite repeated attempts to seek his version, Yadav could not be contacted.

Bathinda, July 8
Putting all speculations to rest, the new Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bathinda, Ashish Chaudhary has made it clear that his transfer to Bathinda, from where the Badal family is expected to contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections, was not part of any political gameplan.

"Had I been a favourite, then I would have been promoted as SSP along with my other batchmates who got the rank six months earlier," he added. A 2003 batch IPS, Chaudhary had been transferred to Ludhiana as SP (City) from his assignment as SP (D) in Ropar. Speaking to The Tribune, Chaudhary made it clear that he had brought no one along from his previous place of working. "I do not believe in having a personal team and taking them along as I pose faith in my subordinates and expect the same from them also," he said.

Disclosing his work methodology, he said, "I work in a systematic manner with a target-oriented approach. In Bathinda district, there are two pending cases including the bank dacoity. They are challenges for me. I would also look into the remaining cases that are pending."

Speculation is rife in the city that the transfer of Naunihal Singh was a step taken to mollify local politicians and a senior police officer whose feathers the former SSP is reported to have ruffled. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a police officer said Naunihal Singh was an eyesore for them.

The officer also confirmed that some local politicians were not on good terms with Naunihal Singh, which had evidently played a role in his transfer.

Muktsar, July 8
Despite being well aware of water-borne diseases spreading rapidly this season, the authorities concerned are showing callous attitude towards the filthy reservoirs of water works located near residences of the ADC and DC on Kotkapura road here in the city.

After receiving lot of complaints from the residents of various localities in the city, the TNS team visited the water works here and found the tanks filled with fully grown up weed.

It may be mentioned here that this water works supplies around 31 lakh gallons per day to 70 per cent of the city population.

On inquiring from the residents of the nearby localities, they rued the bad taste of water there. They even said that the water works had not been cleaned up and desilted for as many as seven years.

A senior citizen, Pritpal Singh, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar, rued that despite the authorities' claim of water being purified, the taste of water was not natural and it had been creating stomach disorders also among the people.

Amit Khunger, a businessman, revealed that some time back, a person committed suicide in the reservoir and his decomposed body remained lying there for many days. "Moreover, to stop dogs and other animals from falling into it, there should be a boundary wall around the reservoir," he demanded.

If one goes through the advice of the doctors, during this season, most diseases have been spreading due to polluted and unhygienic water. So water reservoirs should be timely cleaned up. But the cases of diarrhoea etc apparently are not sufficient for the authorities concerned to wake up from their deep slumber.

When contacted, X-En water works (urban), Dharam Pal, said, "We are aware of the unhygienic condition of the reservoir but during this summer season, it is not viable to stop the supply from the water works and clean it up. Moreover, it takes a lot of money to clean it, so we have taken up the matter with the DC, who assured of allocating funds for it."

Mansa, July 8
The main aim of panchayat lands was to provide income to panchayats but encroachments on these lands had been negating the aim. The shamlat land of village Mansa Khurd could be cited as example of this, said former sarpanch of the village, Daljeet Singh Mansahia. This village had about 30 acres of panchayat lands but due to illegal occupations, the panchayat practically had only 3 acres land at its disposal, he added.

A transporter of the village, Hani Mansahia said that market price of this panchayat land was about Rs 10 to 15 crore. The panchayat of the village had been fighting a legal battle in the departmental courts to get rid of encroachments.

This is not an isolated case as encroachments on panchayat lands have blocked income to several panchayats.

Daljeet and Hani demanded that government should frame a law and implement it properly to remove encroachments from panchayati lands.

Block development and panchayat officer (BDPO), Mansa, Surinder Kaur said that she had taken steps to get the panchayati lands free from encroachments.

Bathinda, July 8
The St. Joseph School Lower KG admission case was finally disposed of by the Additional District Judge (Civil) Baljinder Singh, with directions to the principal "not to make any fresh admission to LKG without prior permission of the court" during the 2008-09 session.

The petitioners had sought a stay on starting the classes after the school had admitted the students to LKG in spite of the fact that the some aggrieved parents had moved the court.

Some aggrieved parents whose wards were denied admission had filed a case alleging irregularities in admission, flouting of prescribed guidelines and charging of money and pleaded for declaring the entire process illegal and null and void.

The school authorities, on the other hand, denied all such allegations and said that the charges of interviewing the kids and the parents, irregularities and charging money were false and 'nothing wrong had been done'. The case was disposed of by the court after hearing the arguments of both the sides.

Mansa, July 8
DC Mansa, Surjeet Singh Dhillon, honoured Veerpal Kaur, a student of the Government High School, Jogga, who has brought laurels for the country by playing football at the international level.

At a function, which was organised by the Lok Seva Asra Club, she was gifted a football kit, a pair of track suit and a memento.

On this occasion, office-bearers of the club and project chairman Tarsem Semi were present. The DC assured that she would be honoured on August 15 too.

Barnala, July 8
Agitated over the proposed replacement of the only park with a parking lot in the Civil Hospital, Barnala, the NGOs have sought the intervention of health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla to take stock of the situation.

The Bhagat Mohan Lal Sewa Samiti, (BMLSS), an 80-year-old orgainsation, has raised objections to this move as it had played a great role in the construction of the hospital building and the park with the help of city residents. Samiti general secretary, Jagir Singh Jagtar, told the TNS that social organisations and NGOs of the city would oppose tooth and nail any such move.

He said that the hospital authorities had chalked out a plan to replace the park with a parking lot just to earn easy money.

Presently, there is enough space lying just opposite to gynaecological ward for the parking of vehicles of patients and hospital staff as well.

Social activist Ram Niwas Sharma, while criticising the proposal, said that this move had three major shortcomings. First, there was no other space to sit for the attendants of patients. Secondly, it would increase noise pollution and thirdly, it would mar the beauty of the hospital.

Former MP Simranjeet Singh Mann, who was on his regular visit to Barnala, also criticised the plan. He said that the law did not permit replacing the park with parking lot. If the health ministry failed to check it, the people would be left with no other option but to move the court. He alleged that the hospital authorities had awarded the contract for cutting of trees without inviting the tenders. He appealed to health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla to look into the matter.

Civil surgeon Balbeer Singh said that the directions for the construction of parking lot came from the health department. So, it was for the SMO to decide where to construct the new parking lot.

Bathinda, July 8
Widespread resentment is brewing among railway pensioners here over poor medical care and health facilities.

With the railway authorities failing to concede to the demand of both serving and retired railway employees to upgrade the existing health unit in the city to a full-fledged hospital, the latter are left with no other choice but to adopt the path of agitation.

In a memorandum submitted to the Northern Railway authorities, the Railway Pensioners Welfare Association has threatened to stage protests at local health unit, divisional railway headquarters at Ambala and central office in Delhi if the medical facilities were not upgraded immediately.

According to association chairman Lachhman Das, the railway health unit, catering to serving employees and pensioners, was ill equipped both in terms of specialised professionals and healthcare infrastructure. The unit has just two MBBS doctors who could provide only basic medical care and attend to routine problems.

However, those in need of specialised consultation for serious and life-threatening diseases like heart problems, renal complications, which were common among elderly pensioners, or those needing simple diagnostic tests like lipid profile, echocardiography or TMT, were referred to Ambala or New Delhi.

Similarly, no surgical facilities worth the name existed in the health unit.

He pointed out that even though the Northern Railway authorities had approved two local medical institutions -Apollo Hospital and Bikaner Labs- for emergency treatment, pensioners were not entitled to get diagnostic tests conducted at these hospitals nor could they avail of treatment for serious medical complications unless the life of the affected person was threatened.

"As a measure of providing relief to aged and ailing pensioners and save them from arduous train journeys to Ambala and Delhi, the least the railway authorities could do was to allow them to seek consultation from local recognised hospitals before referring them to divisional or central hospitals," he added.

The association demanded that till such time that the railway health unit in the city was upgraded to hospital status and medical and surgical specialists were appointed, the railways should make arrangements for visiting consultants who could provide medical and surgical advice to the beneficiaries on fixed days every week.

This would come as a big relief to serving employees and pensioners while the railways would also benefit financially in terms of expenditure incurred on rail journeys of the beneficiaries to Ambala and Delhi. 

Bathinda, July 8
Save electricity is the only way to escape power cuts or at least cut them down by a few hours. This is the message that the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has for the residents when queried about the increasing power cuts in the city.

Though the PSEB had launched a widespread campaign a few months ago to encourage replacing tubelights with Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL), there were not many takers for the proposal. The bulbs were seen replaced only in the PSEB offices.

According to a highly placed PSEB official, "On an average, if all government offices replace their bulbs and tubelights with CFLs, and also if two lights per house are converted into CFLs, the state can save up to 1,000 megawatt of electricity. This would be enough to prevent the existing power cuts."

The electricity board, meanwhile, also had plans to conduct street plays in rural areas to encourage power saving. The proposal, however, did not work out. The board is also learnt to have spent lakhs on commercials in the print media to encourage residents to shift to fluorescent lights.

Moga, July 8
A middle-aged person drowned in a canal near Dharamkot here last evening. His body was recovered from the water channel by the police today.

Police sources said that the deceased had been identified as Jaswant Singh, a resident of Jhandi village. He used to work as a mason. He was coming back from Sherpur village after work, on a cycle, when he slipped into the water channel. Since it was late in the evening, no one could rescue him as a result of which he died, added the sources.

In the morning, some people passing by that side saw the body floating in the water and informed the police.

The police after recovering the body sent it for a post-mortem examination. Later, the body was handed back to family members.

The police has initiated inquest proceedings into the incident.

Bathinda, July 8
Despite authorising party chief Sukhbir Badal for selecting mayor of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation, the SAD aspirants for mayor are still busy in manoeuvring.

In such an attempt, Master Harmander Singh, a councillor from ward number 15 and a loyalist of SAD area-in-charge Sarup Chand Singla, today took as many as 14 out of a total of 24 winning councillors to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

According to sources, Rajan Garg, Baljeet Singh Bir Behman, Bhupinder Singh Bhullar, Tek Khalsa, Banta Singh were the councillors who refused to join them.

Meanwhile, Santosh Mahant, Rajinder Kaur Brar, Gurpreet Kaur and Daljeet Singh Brar took leave after informing about their engagements.

It may be mentioned here that on July 2, SAD general secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder held a meeting with all municipal councillors, where they all individually gave their preferences for the post and in the end, the right was surrendered the right to select the mayor to Sukhbir Badal.

Today’s move by Harmander Singh to take 14 councillors to Amritsar provided enough fuel for speculations.

According to information available, the mayor will be declared on July 10.

Mansa, July 8
Race for the presidentship of the municipal council has begun. Till now, five persons are considered to be strong contenders for the post.

Atamjeet Singh Kala who won from ward 12 and is considered to be close to SAD leaders and Premsagar Bhola, who also won on a SAD ticket from ward 11, are strong contenders.

Many believe that Gurcharan Singh who had defeated outgoing president of MC Narotam Singh Chahal from ward 18 is another strong contestant. Political observers believe that he may be able to get support of political parties and independents. Two more candidates in the fray are Balwinder Singh Kaka, who won on Congress ticket from ward 9. Manish Kumar Babi who won from ward 14 is also in the race.