Bathinda, December 30
In the light of the ongoing election process, a team of the civil and police officials, headed by the District Mandi Officer, today seized an amount of Rs 1.60 lakh from a vehicle at a naka laid near the Civil Hospital here.

The amount was handed over to the income tax authorities for initiating further proceedings as the owner of the money could not reportedly produce details of the source of the amount and the purpose.

At the several nakas, laid in and around the city, hundreds of vehicles were searched by the teams to check the unaccounted money, if any, being carried in the vehicles by the people. Checking of the buses was also carried out.

A bus passenger said due to the checking of the vehicles passengers were facing inconvenience but it was a right step of the Election Commission to check the flow of unaccounted money in the elections.

Such teams have been posted at different places to control the illegal use of money and distribution of intoxicants, like poppy husk and opium, so that the Assembly elections in the state could be held in a free and fair manner.

To keep a further check on the teams posted at the nakas, the Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav and the SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill today jointly conducted surprise checking to ascertain the working of these teams.

The SSP said they checked the teams at the Rose garden Chowk, Paras Ram Nagar and near the Civil Hospital. The teams were found to be functioning in a proper manner. He said they also travelled to the Dabwali road and the Kotshameer road to check these areas.

Regarding the seizure of Rs 1.60 lakh from a vehicle near the Civil Hospital, the SSP said as the owner of the amount could not produce any proof on the spot, so it was handed over to the income tax department. He said now the income tax authorities would hold investigations into the matter.

The DC asked the officials to implement the guidelines of the Election Commission so that no violation of the model code of conduct takes place. He also sought the cooperation of the people.

Bathinda, December 30
The Election Commission's directive to keep a check on the unaccounted money by the political parties is not going down well with the traders and businessmen in the city who raise a hue and cry over the alleged biased attitude of the authorities concerned.

City hoteliers, businessmen and small traders alleged that instead of making enquiries from the political parties and their workers, the authorities are targeting the common man to check the use of money in the Vidhan Sabha elections.

A meeting was also convened today by the members of the Beopar Mandal and hoteliers wherein they alleged that the business community and the common people are in a state of panic over initiating 
any kind of financial transaction. They demanded a rollback of the order to bring respite from harassment.

Ashok Dhunnike, district president of the Beopar Mandal said the roadside nakas and the sudden strict norms adopted by the banks have brought their business to a naught.

"We are not against the orders to keep a check on the use of money during the elections but the way the common people are harassed is a matter of serious concern," he said.

Satish Arora, district president of the Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association said it is very common for hoteliers and small-time traders carry more than Rs 1 lakh these days.

"It is not possible for the businessmen to carry documents pertaining to such an amount all the time. It takes so much of time to arrange the documents to assure the officials concerned about the money," he said.

Arora added that the traders feel insulted whenever they have to unnecessarily wait for the government official's nod to move ahead with the money.

The traders said that the authorities waste their precious time while investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, city-based bankers, pleading anonymity, revealed that they have got instructions to give details of cash withdrawal of more than Rs 1 lakh from individual savings account on a daily basis. These details are sought by the government nodal officer appointed area-wise for election duty.

"Neither anyone is depositing more than Rs 1 lakh nor are they withdrawing money due to panic and detailed questioning about the source of money and its reasons behind depositing or withdrawing the amount," said a local banker.

Arora said that a similar report on a daily basis is sought from the liquor vend contractors and the owners of the printing press.

Bathinda, December 30
Roads in the city got choked today in view of the protests and religious processions passing through the busy stretch. The entire stretch from the Fauji Chowk to the Civil Hospital remained choked for more than two-and-half-hours following a protest march and religious procession.

Roadside encroachments, haphazard parking and the missing traffic policemen on the road further aggravated the problem. Family members of the patients admitted to the private hospitals situated on the road were seen fuming at the authorities for not taking any timely action in this regard.

Open parking outside the banks and shops too proved instrumental in creating the chaos.

Joginder Singh, who resides on the Guru Kashi Marg, said that he was supposed to take his ailing wife to a doctor but failed to get his car out of his residence due to the traffic logjam outside his house.

"People have parked their vehicles right in front of the door of my residence and there is utter chaos on the road. Earlier too, a similar situation was witnessed but I never waited so long to see the traffic get back to normal," he said.

The level of air and noise pollution too increases manifold whenever there is a traffic jam as the vehicles use unnecessary horn and drivers put pressure on the accelerator of their vehicles

A handful of the traffic policemen deployed were seen struggling and navigating the traffic helplessly. Many commuters flouted norms and crossed the Fauji Chowk by taking the wrong side right under the nose of the traffic policemen.

The drivers of small vehicles and two-wheelers were seen sandwiched between the overloaded trucks and tractor-trailers using pressure horns.

Bathinda, December 30
With the mercury again dipping to freezing point today, the information from the weather room may not be outrightly termed as 'cool' for party-goers and New Year revellers. While the cold wave is likely to continue in the next 24 to 48 hours, fog and light rains may also play spoilsport in isolated parts of the region.

Meanwhile, continuing its roller-coaster ride, mercury dipped again touching freezing point on Friday morning and causing the prevailing severe cold wave conditions to intensify in Bathinda and its adjoining areas.

Fog also made a comeback in some parts to add to the woes in the harsh winter, though frost took a break after a long time.

The city recorded zero degree Celsius at 7.30 am today, as per the agri-met department of the PAU, regional station, Bathinda. The day's high was 20 degree Celsius, which was near to normal in December.

It may be mentioned that the mercury has been hovering below the normal in December at the minimum level for the last several days. The normal in December at the minimum level is 4 degree Celsius.

The cold wave is likely to continue in the next 24 hours while there is a possibility of light rains in isolated parts.

Though respite from the frost is likely as minimum temperature may hover around 3 to 4 degree Celsius, there is a possibility of fog during the period, weathermen said.

Bathinda, December 30
The crime statistics for the year 2011 reveal that the year brought good as well as bad news for the residents of the city. While the overall crime rate declined, heinous crimes including rape, robbery and kidnapping, registered an increase. Apart from this, the movement of heavy vehicles on the congested city roads led to accidents — a number of which go unreported.

Residents of the city wait for better policing, while the police department itself looks forward to new recruits to deal with the ever increasing pressure of VIP duties in a situation where they are facing staff crunch

Bathinda is among districts with the highest number of community policing (Saanjh Centres) opened at various police stations and police posts meant to give the force a people-friendly face.

Bathinda police records reveal that the incidence of cheating, theft, burglary and murder have climbed down but other crime incidents have shot up.

The number of rape cases shot up from 29 to 37 this year, kidnapping cases increased from 14 to 19 and robbery cases increased from six to eight.

The maximum difference is seen in the number of cheating cases, which got reduced to 132 this year as compared to 195 cases registered at various police stations of the district last year.

Despite a hue and cry by the residents about the rising cases of theft in the city, there has been a decline in the number of such cases registered in the district, which reduced to 234 this year as compared to the last year's figure of 283.

There has been a sharp decline in cases of burglary, which was 167 this year from 205 in 2010. The number of murder cases too has come down from last year's 58 to 48 this year. There was no case registered under the Explosives Act last year but one such case has been registered this year.

Similarly, there has been a decline in the number of attempt to murder cases which climbed down to 56 from last year's 65.

The cases of criminal breach of trust, registered under sections 406 and 409 of the IPC too witnessed an increase from five to 13 this year. Cases of assault on public servants, registered under sections 353 and 186 of the IPC, too declined this year from 39 to a mere 16 cases.

Cases of culpable homicide reduced to one this year as compared to three cases registered last year.

The cases registered under the Arms Act have fallen from 31 to 19 this year and a similar fall has been witnessed in the cases of NDPS Act, which came down from 359 to 341. No case has been registered under the Essential Commodities Act as compared to one case registered last year. The recovery under the Copyright Act too has witnessed a steep increase.

While last year Bathinda police recovered seven computers and 8232 CD-DVDs, this year, 22 computer sets and 3090 CDs and DVDs have been recovered.

Compared to last year, the recovery of opium declined from 34.5 kg to 23.4 kg. Poppy husk recovered last year was 4500.5 kg and it got reduced to 3349.5 kg while the recovery of ganja/sulfa increased from 22.18 kg to 40.23 kg.

Bathinda, December 30
A team, including drug inspectors Prabhdeep Singh and Nisha Rani, conducted surprise checks at two medicine shops here yesterday.

In a press note issued today, the civil surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh said during the checking, 12 types of medicines, worth Rs 94,342, had been seized from M/s Pankaj Pharma, Aggarwal Colony, and M/s Trade Centre, Aggarwal Market.

He said the owners of the shops could not show the sale and purchase records of the seized medicines to the team.

Bathinda, December 30
Goodwill Society, in association with Medanta – The Medcity, Gurgaon, organised a two-day-long heart check-up camp at the Goodwill Centre and Hospital in Parasram Nagar. Doctors from the team of the heart specialist Naresh Trehan checked 545 patients. ECG, sugar teast and blood test of the patients were also done for free by the technicians at the camp. – TNS

Bathinda, December 30
After covering various cities across India in the past 18 days, the All India End Polio Now road show reached Bathinda recently. The members of the team, headed by George Kutti, and members of the Rotary Club, Bathinda Cantt, met at a city hotel and discussed ways of eradicating polio. Also present at the meeting were Rotary Club’s president Rajinder Jain.