Bathinda, August 4
The lack of maintenance of eleven traffic lights points in city are adding to traffic woes of city.

As per rules, the civic body Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) is responsible for maintenance of all these light points. But no single authority has been designated to look after these important components of road safety. In absence of a dedicated wing, any technical employee corporation is handed over the job of maintaining these lights.

Traffic lights at Hanuman Chowk have been dysfunctional for past many days leading to chaos and accidents.

Today, a motorcyclist hit pedestrian Kiran, resident of area around bus stand, while crossing the road. She was knocked off unaware. In absence of traffic cops, the motorcyclist fled away.

Despite being the busiest round about of city, faulty lights have not been repaired. “Neither we understand technology of working of these traffic lights nor there are enough mechanics to mend it. Lights at Hanuman Chowk have display problem,” said a corporation official pleading anonymity.

Of the eleven traffic light points in the city, nine has power back up, while one each at Hanuman Chowk and Power House road do not have any backup.

Unable to maintain these lights, the BMC has recently floated tenders inviting bids for taking over maintenance on contract basis. Earlier, an advertising firm of Bathinda has expressed interest in maintaining the traffic lights but did not have an expertise to do so, the officials added.

Even the big plans to run these lights on solar energy have remained on papers only. BMC officials said that firms from Ludhiana and Chandigarh have installed lights. “When the lights were installed four years ago, the same companies should have been made responsible for its maintenance,” the officials suggested.

Meanwhile, SP (traffic) Sukhdev Singh said that police has written to the BMC innumerable times apprising it of inefficient traffic light systems.

“Power house road cross section has just three lights. Fourth one was never installed. We have written to BMC so many times but no one cares,” he added.

Bathinda, August 4
Theft incidents near the old bus stand market adjoining the Fauji Chowk are on the rise for the past few months.

According to the shopkeepers, thefts take place in the market after every two or three months. To reduce the frequency of thefts, 15 of the shopkeepers decided to hire the services of a professional watchman and every shop owner paid Rs 250 as his share for maintaining vigilance. Shopowners, however, rued that despite deploying the watchman, six shops were burgled last night and the watchman too is now under police surveillance.

The shopkeepers said that material worth thousands got damaged and stolen from the six shops as thieves also ransacked their venture.

They rued that the thefts took place after every two or three months but nothing has been done in this regard either by the police or the administration.

Thieves escaped with cash, a mobile phone, bicycle and important documents after breaking open the locks and the iron shutters. The market houses shops which sell automobile parts and one of them is an institute imparting coaching for professional courses. The affected shops are Radha Motor, Guru Nanak Tyres, Prem Motor Store, Gupta Motor Store, Vijay Motor and Grandeur Institute.

Rs 5,000 and a bicycle were stolen from Gupta Motor Store, Rs 500 and a mobile phone was stolen from Prem Motor Store and other shopkeepers were trying to assess their damage.

Manoj Kumar, the owner of Gupta Motor Store, said the thieves badly damaged the iron shutter of his shop before entering into shop.

“There are thousands of spare parts lying in the shop and it will take some time to ascertain the exact quantum of loss,” said the shopkeepers.

He rued that thefts in the market have now become common but nothing has been done in this regard.

“The manner in which thieves decamped with the material it seems they must have been more than three or four in number,” said another shop owner Raj Kumar.

The owners and workers of some other shops situated nearby revealed that they all have witnessed thefts in their shops on more than one occasion.

Bhupinder Singh, the owner of a software developing company, having its office on the first floor, said that some thieves broke into his office few months ago but did not steal anything except for a scissor.

However, thieves leave behind many beer bottles and eatables like namkeen and bhujia in his office. “It seems that there are only one or two gangs operating in the market and the police fail to arrest them despite the rising incidents of theft,” he said.

He added that the police only record the statements of shopkeepers whenever a theft takes place and barely manage to arrest or punish the thieves.

Sub-inspector Mohan Singh from the Civil Lines police station said the watchman hired by the shopkeepers has been rounded up and it seems that he is a drug addict. The matter is under investigation and the police is trying to arrest the thieves, he said.

Bathinda, August 4
There is a need for setting up an observation home in Bathinda where juvenile delinquents from at least three districts, namely Mansa, Bathinda and Muktsar, could be lodged so that they could be reformed in a proper manner and contacted easily by their parents and guardians.

At present, there is only one observation home at Faridkot for lodging undertrial juvenile delinquents from six districts of the Malwa region, namely Bathinda, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozepur.

Sources in the Social Security Department said though juvenile justice boards had been constituted in the districts of the state, there were a few observation homes.

A juvenile justice board is headed by a principal magistrate and has two members having experience in child welfare or legal profession etc. The observation homes have been set up under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000.

It is learnt that the building of the observation home at Faridkot is not up to the mark, due to which it will be shifted to another place soon. Some years ago, on the instructions of the then Deputy Commissioner of Faridkot, the District Social Security Office, Faridkot, had prepared a project for constructing a new building of observation home on an acre of land situated near the old jail there. Drawings were also prepared but the government had not released funds for the purpose so far.

An official said the juvenile delinquents who committed crimes like rape, murder and theft, should be kept in the observation homes for lesser period as their company could have an adverse effect on those involved in minor crimes.

He said sometimes, the police also took several months to produce the challan before the juvenile justice board, which prolongs the stay of the undertrial juvenile concerned.

The official said sometime ago, the Union government had asked the state government to set up a juvenile home in every district. Even NGOs were also allowed to set up such juvenile homes, but no NGO has expressed its interest so far.

Bathinda, August 4
A 15-year-old boy from Kotshamir village drowned on Wednesday while taking bath in the sarovar (holy tank) of the village gurudwara. He was identified as Jaspreet Singh.

As per the information available, he came from school on a bicycle along with three or four other boys. They decided to take bath in the sarovar.

The student drowned as he did not know how to swim. While Jaspreet was drowning others fled in panic. His body was fished out by volunteers of an NGO.

The police said they would initiate inquest proceedings under section 174 of the CrPC. — TNS

Bathinda, August 4
The Congress municipal councillors have demanded convening of an emergency meeting over the burning issue of proposed solid waste management plant on 20 acres of land of the Roshan Lal Oil Mills in ward number 29.

In a representation shot off to the Mayor, Bathinda Municipal Corporation, senior Congress leader and municipal councillor Jagroop Singh Gill has raised doubts over the viability of the plant in the city.

“Such projects are valuable only if the calorific value (heat generated on burning a substance) is above 2000 cal/kg. An earlier such project set up in the 1980s in Delhi was closed due to the fact that the waste was of low calorific value. We would like to know the position of the Bathinda plant on this,” he said.

Gill demanded to know the fate of protest representations made by the resident of Nachhattar Nagar, Harbans Nagar etc against the project given on October 12 last year.

The councillor has also demanded to know the type of technology involved in the project and whether it is based on incineration technique, same as is being used for the Timarpur-Okhla Plant, Delhi. “If the proposed plant is based on incineration technology, we would like to know whether the House was apprised of the health impact from consequent plant emissions of organic pollutants like Dioxins, Furan etc,” said Gill.

Mayor Baljeet Singh Beer Behman said the entire project was being implemented as per the rules and regulations.

Barnala, August 4
The delimitation of assembly segments in Barnala is likely to throw a major challenge for the ruling SAD and Congress to decide on the candidates as many aspirants from these parties are eyeing the same seats. This would be the first state election after the delimitation of assembly seats in 2009.

While the ruling SAD is likely to face the heat in Bhadaur and the newly-carved Mehal Kalaan assembly segments, the Congress too is likely to find it hard to prevent dissension after handing over mandate to candidates in the Barnala assembly constituency.

With the principal secretary to the Chief Minister all set to contest the election from the Bhadaur constituency (reserved for SCs) as the SAD candidate, he is likely to unsettle things for the party. With DS Guru eying the Bhadaur assembly segment as SAD candidate, Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas, who has won from this segment thrice, has to look towards the newly-carved Mehal Kalaan assembly segment, carved from Sherpur assembly segment which has been disbanded after delimitation. Guru has been frequenting the Bhadaur constituency to do his homework well before jumping into the fray from here before the Election Commission (EC) stopped him from undertaking political activity under the ‘garb’ of official tours to oversee the development works.

Ghunas had won from the Bhadaur assembly segment defeating Surinder Kaur Baliyaan by a sleek margin of about 180 votes.

However, things are not going to be easy for the SAD leadership to decide the mandate for Mehal Kalaan as former cabinet minister and senior SAD leader Govind Singh Kanjala, who won thrice from Sherpur, of which Mehal Kalaan area was a part, too is likely to stake his claim for this assembly seat.

Kanjala has won from Sherpur Assembly seat in 1985 and 1997. He was made cabinet minister for social security, child and women welfare after winning from this segment. He won from Sherpur Assembly segment in 2002 as an independent before losing to Harchand Kaur Ghanauri of Congress in 2007 by about 13,000 votes.

For the Congresss too, deciding the mandate for the Barnala assembly segment is going to be a tough task as Kuldeep Singh Bhattal, sitting MLA from Dhanaula, is eying the seat after his constituency was disbanded during the delimitation. The Barnala assembly segment is presently held by Kewal Singh Dhillon, who is likely to retain his mandate in the end but after much political wrangling. However, the sitting MLA from Dhanaula, who also happens to be the brother of Congress stalwart and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal is likely to try his best to wrest the mandate for the Barnala segment.

Dhanaula assembly segment was disbanded during the delimitation and its three parts, including Dhanaula, was merged with the Barnala assembly segment. Longowaal area of the Sangrur district was included in Sunam assembly segment and Tapa area was made part of Bhadaur assembly segment.

Abohar, August 4
BJP councillor Ravi Makkar escaped an attempt on his life in the afternoon today. Notably, he had been arrested under the NDPS Act earlier and spent over a month in jail.

However, the inquiry conducted under the directions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal by a senior official had acquitted him of the charges. As per the information available, two dozen assailants carrying weapons attacked Ravi Makkar, while he was sitting at a gun house, located opposite the sub-divisional complex.

As one of his supporters Jagsir Singh intervened, he was assaulted while Ravi escaped the attack.

SHO Amarveer Singh along with police force rushed to the site and shifted Jagsir to the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital. Police have been deployed around the emergency ward where Jagsir is under treatment. His condition was stated to be stable.

In another development, while extending support to the farmers’ agitation in Mansa, the Powercom Technical Services Union organised a rally here at the Khuyiansarwar sub-divisional complex. The TSU members shouted slogans against the state government and performed ‘syapa’ during the dharna.

President Khushal Chand and vice-president Daya Ram said the alliance government in the state would be remembered as saviour of interests of multi-national companies and enemy of farming community, workers and state employees in the history of Punjab.

Moga, August 4
The management of the DM College (Moga) has refused permission to as many as 70 students, who got through B.Com (I) year exam, to continue their studies this year. Last year, these students were admitted in B.Com first year under the self-finance scheme, besides 70 other regular seats with the approval of the Panjab University, Chandigarh.

A total of 140 students were given admission in B.Com first year in 2010 including the regular seats. However, after the declaration of results last month, the college management refused to grant permission to 70 students to continue their studies under the self-finance scheme claiming that the university authorities have not granted them the approval.

The affected students carried out a protest against the principal and met the District Magistrate Ashok Singla today. The DM talked to the principal of the college Dr Deepak Kaushal, who expressed helplessness saying that the university authorities had not given approval to continue the classes under the self-finance scheme. “I would talk to the university authorities and summon the college management to help the students ,” Singla assured.

Abohar, August 4
Banking services in the rural areas are likely to be paralysed on Friday as over 70,000 employees of 82 Gramin banks are determined to participate in the day-long strike along with the employees of the commercial banks.

APS Brar, president, All Punjab Gramin Bank Officers Association and Central Committee member of the All India Regional Rural Bank Employees Association regretted that the Central government had not taken adequate measures to strengthen the banking services in the rural areas.

Brar urged the Centre to implement the Karnataka High Court decision regarding parity in pension and computer increment to the regional rural bank staff besides other benefits. — OC

Bathinda, August 4
Great resentment prevails among the master cadre teachers as the state government has not revised their pay scale, as per their demand, from January 1, 1986, after the classical and vernacular (C&V) teachers' cadre recently started getting pay scale, equal to the master cadre pay scale, from that very date.

The master cadre is now demanding higher pay scales, Rs 1800-3200 from January 1, 1986, Rs 6400-10640 from January 1, 1996 and Rs 10300-34800 plus Rs 5000 as grade pay from January 1, 2006. At present, the master cadre has been getting a pay scale of Rs 10300-34800 plus Rs 3600 as grade pay from January 1, 2006.

District president of the Master Cadre Union, Punjab, Pritpal Singh said here that they were demanding these scales from January 1, 1986 in view of their higher qualifications as compared to the C&V teachers (art and craft teacher, sewing teacher and the PTI).

He said they were also fighting now for the revival of their status and honour. He said due to non-fulfillment of their demand, they were agitating against the state government. District press secretary of the union Sukhdev Mittal said even the computer teachers (who had been earlier recruited on contract basis) had also been given higher pay scale (10300-34800 plus Rs 4200 as grade pay) as compared to them.

He said the master cadre teachers had been holding B. Ed. degree while the computer teachers had not any such degree, so they felt "cheated" at the hands of state government. Besides, their workload as compared to the C & V teachers was also more, he added.

Mittal said there were about 70,000 master cadre teachers in the state, so the state government should pay special attention towards them for granting higher pay scale as per their demand from January 1, 1986.

He said their other demands, included time bound scale for master cadre on the pattern of college lecturers, 15 percent quota for master cadre teachers for promotion to the post of principal after 10 years of service.

Meanwhile the district unit of the Master Cadre Union, Punjab yesterday organised a convention at the local Teachers' Home here, where almost all the speakers emphasized on their demand and urged the state government to fulfill the same at the earliest.

Ferozepur, August 4
Government teachers working in schools which were upgraded from higher to senior secondary under the Nabard scheme, are up in arms as they have not been paid their salaries since March this year.

As per the information, around 24 schools in the district were upgraded from high er to senior secondary level. Besides, in some existing senior secondary schools, additional streams like science, commerce and vocational courses were introduced for which new posts were created under the plan scheme.

All the lecturers besides masters cadre teachers, classical and vernacular teachers (C &V) posted in these schools under the plan scheme did not get their salaries as drawing and disbursing (DD) powers have not been entrusted to the principals till date in the absence of any budgetary allotment. Lecturers in these schools said they have been managing without salaries for the last five months due to the negligence of the government.

When contacted, Naresh Kumari, District Education Officer (DEO) admitted the fact. She informed that the matter was pending with the Finance Department, adding that as soon as the budgetary allotment is approved, the salaries would be released.

An official in the Education Department said to improve the quality of education in the government schools, it was planned to upgrade some existing schools as ‘Model Schools’, for which an amount to the tune of Rs 50 lakhs was sanctioned for providing modern building and the latest infrastructure under the Nabard scheme.

The posts in these schools were also immediately sanctioned by the Education Department under the plan scheme. However, due to procedural wrangles, the budgetary allotment could not be made for it.

Notably, the teachers revealed that even after spending a huge amount, nothing has improved in these schools.

Moga, August 4
An octogenarian couple has filed cases against each other in separate courts. Simerjit Singh Sekhon and Ravinder Pal Singh Rattian, the counsels of 89-year-old Harbans Singh, said their client has filed a case in the court of Suresh Goel under Section-9 of the Hindu Marriage Act for ‘restitution of conjugal rights’ seeking the court to direct his wife to come back home.

While Amar Kaur refused to return home and has filed a separate case through her counsel KK Mittal in the court of Gurmail Singh demanding Rs 10,000 per month as maintenance allowance from her husband. — TNS