Bathinda, November 5
With prices of fuel being hiked at frequent intervals and cost of essential commodities too heading north, the common man has been pinched the hardest.

The Rs 1.95 per litre hike introduced on November 3 is the eighth in the past 12 months.

"While the prices of diesel are bearable, the cost of petrol has simply gone out of reach. The day is not far when those with limited resources will resort to either using inefficient public transport or bicycles," said Rajvinder Singh, a student, who has to spend Rs 50 on petrol now using his pocket money as against Rs 200 that he used to spend on fuel earlier.

Baljit Singh Mann, owner of the Mann Petrol Pump in the city, said every time fuel prices were hiked, sales fell by 20 per cent. But in a week or so, sales return to normal. "However, the hike pushes down the total sale in a year. This is detrimental to our business. It does not give us margin to increase our income. Rather, it becomes difficult for us to sustain the same growth rate every year," Mann added.

Surinder Singh, a farmer from Goniana, said recently, he had bought his children a two-wheeler to facilitate their commuting to the school as well as tuitions. "I am hardly able to make both the ends meet. Income from farming is so meagre that it hardly covers the education expenses of my children. If the petrol price keeps on rising, life would become really tough for people like me," he said.

Not only the fuel prices, but the cost of daily commodities such as vegetables and fruits are also giving sleepless nights to the city residents.

Peas, which were available at mere Rs 20 per kg, are now available for Rs 100.

"There is no respite even in the wholesale vegetable market where peas are available at Rs 90 per kg while tomatoes are priced at Rs 40 a kg, cauliflower at Rs 30 and carrots at Rs 50 per kg. Such highly-priced vegetables, at times, make us feel as if we are having some exotic dishes," said Sudha, a homemaker residing in Sanjay Basti.

Raj, a vegetable vendor near Rose Garden, added that earlier, people used to buy vegetables in bulk, for the entire week. "With increased prices, people prefer to take vegetables in few grams, instead of kilos. Though rate of apples and bananas have climbed down by Rs 5 to Rs 6, respectively, the common man thinks twice before buying them," added Mohan Lal, a fruit buyer.

Another fruit seller Manoj said due to festive season a week ago, fruits had become very dear. "But priced at Rs 60 to Rs 70 per kg, the apples are still out of bound for poor people," he added.

Bathinda, November 5
As if the city could not have enough of the inaugural ceremony of the Kabaddi World Cup held on November 1 at the multipurpose stadium, the stadium's neighborhood now basks in the light emitted from the floodlights worth Rs 3 crore installed there.

Since November 1, the floodlights are lit with the onset of the dusk till dawn. At times, the lights are on even during daytime as if challenging the sun to shine brighter. These imposing 45 metre high metal halide floodlights were bought especially from the GE Countrywide plant located in China.

Apart from the cost of the light (Rs 3 crore), a huge amount was also spent on finalising the purchase. There are 48 lights installed on each of the four metre high masts, built as per the international standards.

For the inaugural ceremony, only a few lamps at each mast were lit. Though the ceremony ended on November 1 itself, the lights are lit every night. Presently, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) has been entrusted with the job to maintain the lights and keep them ready for the semi-final match slated for November 18.

It is the BDA that will pay the expenses for these heavy-duty lights. "For the five days, I have been noticing an unusual light streaming into my room. One day, I climbed the rooftop and saw the lights at the stadium. Though it was a marvelous sight, but one cannot live with such light throughout the night," said Palwinder Kaur, a resident of Model Town, phase-III.

BS Brar, Superintending Engineer (Electrical), Punjab Mandi Board said that keeping the halide lights lit throughout the night would prove to be taxing in terms of the power bill generated.

"Technically, it is mandatory to run these lights for at least 100 hours before the usage in order to ensure that when so many lights are suddenly lit, the power supply does not trip," he said.

However, Superintending Engineer, BDA, Paramjit Singh said the event organizing company, which held the opening ceremony of the Kabaddi World Cup, has been moving its stuff from the stadium.

"The workers of the company work during the night too. It took them more than five days to install the stage, hydraulic lifts and other paraphernalia and it would take a similar number of days to remove it. The equipment is being moved to the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium in Ludhiana for the inaugural ceremony. But only a few lights of one mast are used at one time," he said.

However, when told that all masts are lit together, Paramjit Singh said he would look into the matter. He said that instructions have been passed to the people working at the stadium to ensure that the lights on the masts are used as per the requirement only.

District sports officer Karamjit Singh Sidhu said: “Innumerable times I have asked the workers at stadium to switch off the lights at night but no one pays attention.”

XEN, PSPCL, Hardeep Singh said: “PSPCL has sanctioned only a total of 24 lights. These 24 lights are connected to the 64 KV load connection given to the stadium. In case of load being more than allowed, we will penalise the department concerned Also, surcharge would be levied. Rate charged is as per the commercial unit.

Bathinda, November 5
An Income Tax Officer (ITO) has been booked by the police for abruptly opening the door of a car in the middle of the road which caused grievous injuries to a resident of Model Town, Phase-1.

ITO Mahinder Arora has been booked under sections 283,337 and 338 of the IPC at the Civil Lines police station on the complaint of Manish Kumar, the cousin of the injured Sushil Kumar.

In his complaint to the police, Manish alleged that the ITO opened the door of a white Indica car (PB-11-AT-9568) on Tuesday and Sushil, who was on a bike, collided with the door resulting in serious head injuries to him.

Sushil was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where he received three stitches on his head and is still lying unconscious at a private hospital on the Power House road.

The cousin alleged that the ITO failed to turn up even once to see Sushil and did not apologise for his mistake.

Sushil was on his way to deliver medicines to his aunt at the Civil Hospital. His cousin (complainant) was following him and helped in taking him to the hospital along with some other passersby.

Sushil has a boot house in Mehna Chowk area of the city.

Investigating Officer in the case, Harbans Singh said the incident took place in front of house number 476 in Model Town, Phase-1. The officer, reportedly deployed in Muktsar, has taken the house on rent.

The car is also hired by the Income Tax Department for official use.

It is yet to be enquired about the credentials of the car owner and the reason behind the car being driven by the ITO.

Preliminary investigation, in which statements of the onlookers and residents of the area have been recorded, reveals that the ITO was at mistake as he opened the door of the car abruptly without noticing the approaching biker.

The condition of the injured is still critical but the ITO failed to turn up to apologise, said the IO.

The relatives of the injured Sushil said that they may now have to shift him to the Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, for further treatment.

The relatives have demanded the immediate arrest of the ITO who neither apologised nor enquired about the health of the victim.

Bathinda, November 5
After the opening ceremony of the second Kabaddi World Cup, costly sports equipment worth lakhs was removed from the stadium and dumped in the open to make space for the 11 life-size hoardings as well as banners carrying pictures of the Chief Minister and the Deputy CM.

The sports kits were found dumped in the open this morning at a spot emanating much stench. Sports Department officials said they had been directed to keep the huge hoardings inside the stadium in “safe custody”. Employees at the stadium, who pleaded anonymity, admitted that the sports material lying outside could suffer damage. “There is also the possibility of the sports kits being stolen,” said an employee.

He pointed out that sports material, furniture of the District Sports Officer (DSO) and the recently purchased gym equipment had been shifted outside a few days ago on the orders of senior functionaries. “This was done to make space for the practising sessions of dancers and performers at the Kabaddi World Cup’s opening ceremony,” the employee said.

Sportspersons allege that the newly built sports stadium is touted as a multipurpose stadium “but actually there is neither any facility for sportspersons, nor any coach for boxers, judokas and kabaddi players.”

When contacted, District Sports Officer Karam Singh Sidhu said the problem would be sorted out soon.

Bathinda, November 5
The BSNL's bid to enter the hearts of the Armed force personnel by connecting them with their near and dear ones 'free of cost' has found many takers as within a short span of three months nearly 900 Army men chose the telecom major as their mobile operator.

Facing a stiff competition from the private players, the telecom major turned to Armed forces and launched two special plans, namely, 'Jai Jawan' and 'Rakshak' in the pre-paid and the post-paid categories, respectively, exclusively for the Central Paramilitary and Armed Forces, this year.

'Rakshak' was launched in March while 'Jai Jawan' came into being in July. Among the two plans, 'Jai Jawan' got a huge response in Bathinda Secondary Switching Area (SSA) as within the three months over 870 armed force personnel picked the call, sources in the BSNL told The Tribune on Friday.

However, the response to the postpaid segment was not as desired, sources said, adding that it might be due to the general response of the people towards the post-paid mobile segment.

Besides many features, the factors of the 'Jai Jawan' segment attracting more to the personnel are the 20-minute free calling per day on any two BSNL numbers anywhere in India and the roaming free factor on those numbers. Moreover, the plan also has the reduce call facilities for the local and STD call.

Upbeat over the 'overwhelming' response, the BSNL (Bathinda) is running awareness programmes in the military areas. Talking to the TNS, DGM, BSNL, Bathinda, Amit Garg said the programme includes distribution of pamphlets, advertisement in the Air Force and Army areas. Garg claimed that the cheaper call rate was making the personnel to go for the BSNL. He informed that connection under the plans could be taken from the BSNL Customer service Centers after submitting a photo copy of the identity card duly attested by the controlling official.

Bathinda, November 5
Jagdev Singh Jassowal, founder of Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation, inaugurated the second day of events at the ongoing Prof Mohan Singh Mela.

Artists from Punjab, Haryana, Hiamchal, Jammu-Kashmir and Delhi, who had come under the North Zone Cultural Center Patiala, too participated in the festivities.

Besides Kabaddi matches and antics of jugglers, the old village games such as wrestling, Gatka contest, Bandar Qilla, Pitthu Garam, old music instruments, Kavishree, Kaliyan and Punjabi artists’ record too kept the visitors regaled.

Mela president Jasvir Singh Grewal honoured all the artists.

The stall selling books of Punjabi literature evoked good response.

The Kavi Darbar started at the Teachers' Home today. President, Punjabi Sahit Kala Akademi, Gurbhajan Singh inaugurated it.

A seminar was held on the poems of Prof Mohan Singh. Dr Joginder Singh, Suhindervir Singh, Labh Singh Khiva and Gopal Singh Sandhu presented their research papers.

Later, singers Harbhajan Mann, Ravinder Grewal, Inderjit Nikku, Sukhvir Sukhi, Manpreet Akhtar, Mohammad Sadiq, Sukhjit Kaur and others regaled audience with their singing.

Bathinda, November 5
The number of confirmed dengue cases has risen to 563 in the city during this season while the total number of dengue cases in the entire district has touched the figure of 659 patients, so far.

As per the information, the dengue cases have also been reported from other parts of the district, especially, Raman Mandi area in the Talwandi Sabo block and the Goniana block. From the Talwandi Sabo block, as many as 50 confirmed dengue cases have been reported so far while 20 cases have been reported from the Goniana block, 12 cases from the Sangat block, six cases from the Nathana block, five cases from the Bhagta block and three cases from the Ballianwali block.

The maximum number of patients (465) have tested positive for dengue at the Blood Bank of the Civil Hospital (Bathinda) while 167 positive dengue cases have been reported from the district health authorities by the Civil Hospital (Ludhiana).

The DMC Hospital (Ludhiana) has reported 23 cases so far. Besides, two cases each have been reported to the district health authorities by the Apollo Hospital (Ludhiana) and the Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. 

Bathinda, November 5
The Bathinda police has booked two people including a woman for instigating a girl to elope with a boy of Barkandi village.

In her complaint to the police, Gurdeep Kaur, mother of the girl, alleged that Chhinder Kaur and another Sukhdev Singh of their village, had instigated her daughter to elope.

The complainant alleged that her 17-year-old daughter eloped with the accused on the night of October 21.

A case under Sections 363 and 366 A of the IPC has been registered in this regard. However, no arrests have been made in this connection so far. The police officials assured of nabbing the culprits soon.