Bathinda, January 31
The ‘VVIP’ road in Bathinda district that connects the city to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s native village Badal in Muktsar district is going to be four-laned soon.The Rs 62-crore project has been sanctioned by the Union government under the Central Road Fund Scheme, 2010-11. It includes the widening of another road in the Bathinda parliamentary constituency.

It is the Barnala-Mansa-Sardulgarh-Sirsa road (101 to 119.70 km), commencing from the border of Barnala district to Mansa town.

According to information available, the Bathinda-Ghudda-Badal-Kheowali road has been divided into three parts — from km 0-13.20; from km 13.20 to 17.50; and from km 17.5 to 33.91.

The construction on the middle part (km 13.20 to 17.50) around the village Ghudda (the CM’s ancestral village) is already in progress while the sanction for the remaining parts has been ordered now.

It may be mentioned that the Bathinda-Ghudda-Badal-Kheowali road crosses past Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s new residence at Badal village.

In a statement, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said that keeping in view the demand of the local population, she was constantly pursuing these projects. “After the sanction, the state PWD have been asked to expedite these projects and complete the construction within an year,” she added.

The sanctioning of the construction of the roads has also raised some eyebrows as the widening of the roads requires axing thousands of fully-grown trees of Tortalis, Neem, Kikkar and Sheesham.

Sources in the Divisional Forest Office informed that more than 1,200 trees standing on the under-construction stretch (from 13.2 km to 17.5 km) on the Bathinda-Ghudda-Badal-Kheowali road had already been axed and the widening of the whole stretch from Bathinda to Kheowali would further require felling of nearly 10,000 trees. However, DFO SP Anand Kumar claimed over phone that as per norms, the department would try to compensate the loss to the environment by planting saplings.

When asked if there was a political compulsion for the four-laning of the Bathinda-Ghudda-Badal-Kheowali road as the traffic flow was not much on this stretch, superintending engineer of the PWD (B&R), DS Chahal replied, “The step has been taken considering the future demand.” He denied any political compulsion behind the project.

Chahal named various development projects, including the Central University of Punjab, coming up at Ghudda village to justify the widening of the road.

Bathinda, January 31
Hundreds of applicants for the posts of constable had to bear lathi blows from the cops at the Police Lines here today. It was a totally mismanaged affair as the authorities had set up only one stall to deal with over 1,500 applicants, who came to get their roll number slips for the physical trial.

According to information available, as many as 7,827 candidates had applied for nearly 400 posts of male constable for Bathinda district. The authorities concerned had sent roll number slips to the applicants through postal service (Dak) and the candidates were called to the Police Lines to get their documents verified today. A number of stalls were set up for the purpose.

Meanwhile, the police authorities had set up a special stall to issue slips on the spot to those who did not receive their roll numbers through post.

It came as a shock to the police authorities when hundreds of applicants thronged the venue and started complaining that they had not received the slips. They were told to form a queue in front of a counter set up for the purpose. However, the cops failed to manage such a large number of applicants. As the applicants went out of control, cops had to resort to a mild lathi-charge.

Eye-witnesses said as the police used force, various applicants fell on the ground and some of them even lost their turbans in the melee.

Jagdeep Singh of village Baloo, an applicant, claimed that he had been standing in the queue since 7 am but he left the venue after he saw cops raining lathi blows.

Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill admitted to the flaw in the arrangements and said, “We had not expected that such a large number of applicants could not have received their roll number slips. After today's experience, we have chalked out fresh arrangements so that such a situation does not arise again.”

Bathinda, January 31
In a horrifying incident, two motorcycle-borne unidentified youngsters allegedly threw acid on the face of a girl and her mother, after they failed to snatch their purse from them.

The incident took place near St. Xavier's Convent School located on the Power House road at about 7 pm today, when the girl, Amanpreet Kaur (20), along with her mother Paramjit Kaur (45), was on her way home in a rickshaw.

The daughter-mother duo sustained multiple burn injuries on the face, chest and other parts of the body.

The acid, which was reportedly thrown at great velocity from a large syringe-like instrument, also damaged their eyes.

Finding their condition to be critical the doctors referred them to the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The incident has also raised security concerns in the city.

According to information available, Amanpreet Kaur and her mother Paramjit Kaur were returning from a beauty parlour located at Mehna chowk, on a rickshaw. They had reached near St. Xavier's school when two unidentified motorcycle-borne youngsters attempted to snatch a purse from them. They thwarted the snatchers attempt but the latter managed to grab a mobile phone from the girl. When the duo started shouting for help, the pillion rider threw acid on their face and fled.

The rickshaw-puller was also injured in the incident but fled leaving his rickshaw on the spot, it was learnt.

Immediately after the incident, the two were rushed to a private nursing home, the Wadi Hospital. However, on finding that the acid had entered their eyes, the doctors referred the mother and the girl to the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

On receiving the information, the police reached the spot and launched an investigation. Police officials, who recorded the statement of the duo, said they would examine if rivalry was the cause behind the incident. No case had been registered till the filing of the news, late in the evening.

Father of the girl Kirtan Singh told TNS that they did not have rivalry with anybody and believed it was a case of snatching.

Fazilka, January 31
Hundreds of villagers of about half a dozen villages staged a dharna on the unmanned railway crossing near village Chandmari on the Ferozepur road recently. They demanded that the five-decade-old unmanned railway crossing that was closed by the railway department some time back by laying old railway lines around it, should be re-opened.

Sarpanch of the village, Farmanwali Krishna Bai, former sarpanch Gurvinder Singh, Nambardar Wasawa Ram and others said hundreds of villages had been using the railway crossing for over five decades.

After closing the Chandmari railway crossing, the road traffic was diverted to another distant unmanned railway crossing of a nearby village, Theh Kalandar, after covering an additional distance of more than five kilometres causing inconvenience to them, they maintained. — OC

Fazilka, January 31
A one-year-old boy, Gurjot Singh of Singe Wala village of this sub-division, allegedly fell ill seriously minutes after he was administered the polio drops on January 28 by a team of the state health authorities under the pulse polio programme.

Though Mohan Singh, father of Gurjot, said his son had high temperature, suffered swelling on face and ulcers in mouth minutes after he was administered polio drops, Gautam Rikhi, nodal officer, polio campaign and RK Arora, SMO, Jandwala Bhime Shah Hospital, said Mohan Singh was levelling false allegations to extract money from them.

Mohan, while talking to TNS, said the pulse polio team came to their village on January 28 after the deadline of the campaign expired on January 25. As his son developed complications after being administered polio drops, the team immediately broke the vial carrying the polio vaccine.

His son was the first child in the village to be administered polio drops and after Gurjot developed complications, an announcement was made on the public address system of a religious place warning the residents against the ill effects of polio drops being used by the health department authorities in that village.

He said Gurjot was taken to a doctor immediately. On January 29, he was shifted to a private hospital.

As his condition did not improve, he was shifted to the civil hospital here on January 30. He was discharged from the hospital today.

However, Arora said drops from the same vial of vaccine were administered to other kids and no one complained of any adverse effect of the vaccine. He said Rikhi, who along with child specialist Hans Raj Malethia, examined Gurjot, found that he had been suffering from infection of the upper respiratory tract.

Mehtab Singh, surveillance officer, also claimed that Gurjot did not fall ill due to the polio drops. 

Bathinda, January 31
As many as 12 posts of rural veterinary officer (RVO) against 50 are lying vacant in this district.

According to information available, there are 50 rural veterinary dispensaries in this district that function under the Zila Parishad (ZP). However, there is no full-time RVO posted at 12 such dispensaries nowadays. These are located in Jethuke, Peerkot, Chaoke, Rayia, Ghanda Banna, Selbara, Malkana, Sigo, Behman Jassa Singh, Kanakwal, Adampura and Rajgarh villages. In such a situation, the functioning of these dispensaries has been badly affected.

Furthermore, the RVOs from another 12 dispensaries have been given an additional charge for the dispensaries where the posts are lying vacant. They have to visit the dispensaries of which they have been given an additional charge, for at least three days in a week thereby hitting the functioning of their own dispensaries.

Sources said that ZP authorities had made it mandatory for the RVOs to visit the additional charge dispensaries on alternative days i.e. for three days in a week. Earlier, it was not compulsory. Though the RVOs have been given an additional charge, they will reportedly not be paid any extra amount for working at two places.

It is learnt that the government had advertised the vacant posts of RVO some months ago. While five to six candidates applied for the posts vacant in the Bathinda district, only two candidates turned up at the counselling for the posts held on December 15 last. Of them, only one doctor joined the duty.

The RVOs are appointed on contract basis by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats on a ‘meagre’ monthly contract of Rs 32,260 per month, which includes pharmacist’s pay of Rs 6,250 and Class IV employee’s pay of Rs 2,500 etc. It is worth mentioning that the RVOs have been demanding regularisation of their services so that they could also avail of the facilities that a regular doctor is entitled to.

Fazilka, January 31
Setting all controversies, which erupted after news appeared in a section of the media that BKU (Lakhowal) would part company with the SAD (B) in the coming assembly elections, to rest, its president and chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal dubbed it as a rumour spread by vested 
interests.

Lakhowal, who visited the house of Parduman Kumar, Block president, BKU (Lakhowal) at Bagenwali village of the sub-division today, said BKU (Lakhowal) was strongly with the SAD (B) and hence, the question of parting company with the SAD (B) in the next assembly election did not arise.

“The decision to get BKU (Lakhowal) associated with any party is to be taken by delegates of the organisations. There is no move in the organisation regarding its future strategy as of now,” clarified Lakhowal. He said the BKU (Lakhowal) would hold a meeting with Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal on February 2 in connection with the demands of farmers.

He said the BKU (Lakhowal) would stage a dharna in the national capital on March 9 to press the Centre to accept the ‘genuine’ demands of farmers.

Moga, January 31
In yet another instance of the growing incidents of crime against woman in the district, an attempt to rape was made on a nine-year-old minor Dalit girl studying in the residential bridge course centre run under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan at Moga by the centre’s security guard and his son on Thursday night. Perturbed over the incident, the district administration shut down the centre the next day.

A senior police official revealed to The Tribune that both the guards, Jagjit Singh and his son Jaspreet Singh, had been arrested by the police after registering a criminal case against them in the city police station at the district headquarters.

The mother of the girl, Sarabhjit Kaur, in a statement recorded before the police, revealed that when she went to see her daughter, the panic-stricken girl narrated the tragic tale to her.

She stated that her three children were residing at the centre since April 2010 for preparatory courses to get admission in regular classes at the government school.

“My daughter said these two men used to pass dirty remarks and tried to rape her while she was sleeping in the hostel. I have also come to know through another woman that in the past also, these men had indulged in such activities with other girls. However, fearing social complications, no one came forward to file a complaint in this regard,” she told the police

District Education Officer (Elementary) Baldev Singh confirmed that the administration had shut down the centre with immediate effect.

He said the maximum term for running the centre was till February 28. However, the students studying here were well prepared by the teachers. Hence, after adjusting them in various schools, the centre has been shut down by the administration. There were a total of 46 students including girls residing at this centre. The administration was running this centre in a rented accommodation on the outskirts of the town. 

Abohar, January 31
Students took up multifaceted activities during the daylong NSS camp that was organised at the Government Senior Secondary School at village Kerakhera near here on Monday.

Principal Sushil Kumar Goyal, social activist Mukand Singh, project in-charge Bhupinder Utreja and Suman Phutela enlightened the participants about the significance of the National Service Scheme (NSS) in day to day life.

Saplings were planted in a a big way to beautify the school campus.

Abohar/Sriganganagar, January 31
The Railway Passengers Association (North Zone) and Zila Rail Road Sangharsh Samiti (Sriganganagar) have urged the Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee to be generous to the region, while drafting the next rail budget. Both NGOs today faxed memorandums listing their demands to improve the status of the rail services.

They said instead of detaining the rake of 12485/12486 Nanded Sahib-Sriganganagar weekly train at Sriganganagar, it should be utilised for introducing an express train to Amritsar. The NGOs also requested that another rake be arranged for the12455/12456 Delhi (Sarai Rohila)-Sriganganagar AC Express to run it daily with stoppages at Abohar, Malout and Gidderbaha since it had low occupancy at present. — OC

Abohar, January 31
The science block of his dreams has emerged as the first memorial for former IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar in the Bhag Singh Hayer Girls College, located outside village Kala Tibba on the Abohar-Seetogunno road here.

His younger brother Sunil Jakhar performed the opening ceremony during a solemn and brief function during which complete silence prevailed today. Surinder Jakhar, who had been nominated as one of the trustees of the institution a few months back, died on January 17. He had been instrumental in getting the RO system installed on behalf of the IFFCO to provide potable water to over 2,000 students and staff in the college campus that had grown up as one of the prime educational institutions in the Malwa region within a short span of time.

Principal Dr Parminder Sharma, IFFCO senior area manager RK Upveja and members of the Bhag Singh Hayer Trust were present during the inaugural ceremony. — OC

Bathinda, January 31
The National CBSE Inter School Athletic meet was held at Kottayam in Kerala in December. The Army Public School, Bathinda, won 17 medals, including two gold, eight silver and seven bronze. The school also stood third in the overall championship with 63 points.

Jagnandini won four gold medals in U-14 events. She also broke the national record with a timing of 2.25.73 seconds. Principal Anu Gupta and vice-principal Harihar Pandey complimented Sukhwinder Singh and Raj Pal Singh Shergill for excellent coaching. — TNS