Bathinda, January 4
Close on the heels of the inauguration of a mediation centre at the district judicial complex here, comes the frontal office of legal aid clinics in the district.

Going a step ahead in bringing the legal aid at the doorstep of the common man, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) chairman and district and sessions judge 
SK Aggarwal inaugurated the frontal office of these clinics at the judicial complex today.

These legal aid clinics have been opened in the areas of Chugge Kalan, Mehraj, Chauke, Bhagta Bhai Ka, Pucca Kalan and Maur.

Six retainer lawyers have been appointed at the district headquarters frontal office and three each at the sub-divisions of Talwandi Sabo and Phul.

The district and sessions judge said these advocates would be paid an honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month at headquarters and Rs 3,000 at the sub-division level.

“These clinics would play a proactive role in providing all kinds of legal help not only for the court cases but for other government works as well. For instance, an elderly, who has unfortunately lost his or her son and does not know how to file a case and seek compensation, would be helped here. The basic aim is to ensure that justice does not elude anyone on the basis of his poor economic condition,” Aggarwal said.

The centre would extend a helping hand right from the pre-litigation stage, during the litigation stage and the post-litigation stage (such as execution of court orders). While the frontal office would work in sync with all working days of the court, the clinics opened at seven places would run only on Saturday.

At the frontal office, one retainer lawyer each would be posted for a day, while at clinics only one legal volunteer has been appointed.

“The sarpanch and panches of the village concerned, members of NGOs and other prominent people of the area would be part of the committees at the legal aid clinics so that people visiting these places can be counselled as well,” he added.

The selected retainer lawyers are:

Bathinda: Rakesh Kumar Gari, Bansi Lal Sachdeva, Mohinder Pal Garg, Harinder Singh Khosa, Pushwinder Kaur Randhawa and Daulat Ram Parihar.

Talwandi Sabo: Subhash Chander Garg, Amarjeet Singh and Jagjit Singh

Phul: Tarsem Raj Goyal, Gurcharan Singh Sidhu and Kushaldeep Garg.

Bathinda, January 4
The arms holders in district have demanded relaxation of norms pertaining to depositing of arms with the district police in view of the assembly elections.

Under Section 144 of the CrPC, the District Election Office has banned carrying of arms and directed all the licence holders to submit their arms with respective police stations.

Around 35,000 arms have been registered with different licence holders in the district. For the first time, the police officials have been visiting the residences of licence holders asking them to deposit their arms.

"Even during the last Lok Sabha elections, no cop came to us asking for arms deposition. This is for the first time when men in khakhi are moving from door-to-door. It has become harassment for peace loving people like us," said Jagjit Singh Dhaliwal, an arms holder from the Civil Lines area.

Most of the arms holders shy away from depositing their arms in the respective police stations.

"This is because arms are very expensive and cops do not take care while storing them. In most of the cases, arms are stacked up one upon another and kept in some dingy corner of the police station," pointed out Lieutenant-Colonel JS Mann.

As an alternative, the government also allows arms to be deposited with arm dealers. On depositing their arms with the dealers, the licence holders deposit the receipt with the police station concerned. Later, when the arms are to be released after elections, it has to be duly allowed by the police station.

Licence holders alleged that they face lot of harassment at the hands of the police officials, who do not hesitate from getting their palms greased to get the work done.

An arms dealer, requesting anonymity, said there were just 12 to 13 gun houses in the city whereas the number of arms was much more. "We cannot take all the arms. In many cases, the weapons were found to be damaged when returned from the police custody," said the arms dealer.

The licence holders demanded that the arms be collected only from those who have criminal history or some police record.

People demanded that licence holders, who have to deal with money transactions daily such as rice sheller owners, commission agents, petrol-pump owners, brick-kiln owners or god men, should be exempted from depositing their arms.

District Election Officer KK Yadav said in many cases, licence holders had either not provided exact addresses or the licensees were not available.

"To solve this issue, the Election Commission directed that physical verification of all licence holders be done and hence, cops are visiting different households. Our aim is not to put anyone at unease. We have been giving exemptions also, but to those who apply for it," the official said.

Yadav said the exercise is being monitored on a day-to-day basis with SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill.

Bathinda, January 4
The fate of the unfinished library, reading room, seminar hall, and a computer laboratory at the Government Rajindra College has been hanging in balance for almost two years now. The construction of the library in the college had started in the year 2008 with a grant of Rs 30 lakh. The work, however, had to be stopped in March/April 2009 as the entire amount of the grant had been spent.

The college authorities say that they don’t know when the request for more funds will be accepted and when the construction of the building will resume. In the meantime, however, college authorities have been trying to get a nod for more funds. In January 2010, Special Secretary, Higher Education, GK Singh, had visited the college to examine the proposal for more funds for the college. The same year, the college authorities called Manpreet Singh Badal, the then finance minister of Punjab, to the college to see the half finished building.

The political turmoil that ensued in the SAD after Manpreet revolted and was sacked, affected the promise that he had made to the college authorities. With his ouster from the ruling government, the release of funds to the Rajindra College stopped again.

“It’s been a long time since the construction of the college library has been on hold. The structure that stands in the college premises is what we managed to make with the Rs 30 lakh grant that we got from the government in 2008. After we got the grant, we gave the money to the PWD’s B&R department for constructing the structure. After Manpreet Badal left the government, the hopes of getting more funds also went with him,” says Dr Ramesh Chander Pasrija.

“In 2010, we had sent a fresh request for more funds and now we feel we’ll have to send the request again. We will not get anything till we ask for it. The funds have been stuck for almost two years now, but we don’t know where,” he adds.

Principal of the college, Prof Vijay Goyal adds, “We had tried very hard to get time with Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the SAD MP from Bathinda. We wanted to show her the state of the library so that she gets a fair picture about the urgency of the funds required by the college. But we couldn’t get her to come to the college. Now that the election code of conduct has been imposed, we can just wait and watch for the next couple of months. We will now have to prepare a fresh plan to be presented to the new government.”

Bathinda, January 4
Taking no lesson from the recent mishap that took place in Ambala killing 11 schoolchildren, illegally-modified vehicles continue to ferry children more than their permissible limit.

A visit to some schools of the city today revealed that most of school vehicles were modified to accommodate more kids than what is legally permissible. These vehicles bear registration numbers of Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal and other states.

A matador with actual capacity of 16 persons was modified in such a manner that 40 children can ‘sit’ in it. Similarly, a tempo traveller having a capacity of 12 persons is modified to carry 25 children. A three-wheeler has been modified to carry 15 children against the capacity of three.

“I had spent Rs 70,000 on a 1996-model matador three years ago and carry 40 children in it everyday. Originally, it was meant to accommodate only 16. We pick children in the morning and drop them in the afternoon at their respective homes within the city. For the service, we charge Rs 350 a month per child,” said the driver of a school vehicle.

He said the seats installed in these vehicles were replaced with long benches so as to accommodate maximum children.

“Since the parents pay only between Rs 300 and Rs 500 a month, the owners of these school vehicles don’t purchase new vehicles. We will be able to earn only if we carry maximum number of children with little investment and expenditure,” said the driver of another vehicle.

The drivers of these vehicles — mini-bus, tempo and matadors — demand at least Rs 5,000 per month as salary.

“Owners cannot afford conductors for these small vehicles and a driver is supposed to do the double task of handling children as well as driving,” the drivers said. They added that it was quite difficult to drive and keep an eye on the kids sitting behind but they have to manage somehow.

The drivers claimed that no major accident was reported in Bathinda in the recent past. However, a large number of minor accidents, which had led to injuries to children, did occur in the city and its surrounding areas during the past few years.

The children are crowded in the school vehicles in such a manner that it is quite difficult to take them out or rescue them in case of any eventuality or accident.

District Transport Officer Bhupinder Singh admitted that the self-modification of vehicles to accommodate more passengers was illegal.

“We have impounded and issued challans to numerous vehicles but failed to curb the menace. We impound the vehicles but its owners get them released after paying the fine and these continue to ply on the roads,” he said.

Bathinda, January 4
Mercury nowadays is on a roller-coaster ride.

After registering 1.6 degree Celsius on Tuesday morning, the mercury shot up on Wednesday morning to record 6.2 degrees Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University, regional station, Bathinda.

The day’s high was 18.4 degree Celsius, about 2 degree Celsius lower than yesterday.

According to the weathermen, mercury took a U-turn towards the north following the appearance of the clouds due to the prevailing western disturbances.

The residents of Bathinda and its adjoining areas today experienced the vagaries of weather as the sun did not appear throughout the day as clouds reigned supreme.

The mercury’s behaviour on Wednesday, though, sprung a surprise for the residents as it was on expected lines as far as the weathermen are concerned.

The weathermen’s prediction on Tuesday had indicated about the chances of clouds in the next 48 hours with the possibility of light showers in isolated parts of the region. The weathermen had said that the clouds would increase the night temperature.

The mercury’ mood swing during the last five days is depicting a picture on the ups and downs, particularly in the minimum temperature.

On Wednesday, the minimum temperature was near normal while on Tuesday, it was almost near to the freezing point. On Monday last, the mercury had recorded 3.6 degree Celsius in the morning while at New Year dawn, it hovered around 6 degree Celsius.

Before the New Year, the mercury recorded even sub-zero temperature three times with the lowest of the season so far recorded at – 0.5 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, the weathermen said that the rise in the minimum temperature these days may be a temporary affair as cold wave conditions may get renewed.

Bathinda, January 4
City hoteliers today demanded their pending dues of the Kabaddi World Cup wherein the kabaddi players and the organisers stayed in some city hotels on behalf of the Punjab government and the district administration.

A press conference was organised by the hoteliers today who alleged that though the government is flying high over organising the Kabaddi World Cup and is terming it as one of its major achievements, it has cost the hoteliers dear.

President of the Hotel, Restaurants and Resorts Association, Satish Arora said that an amount of Rs 1.4 crore is pending with the Punjab government.

“We were pressurised by the district administration through different department officials concerning the hotel industry to arrange rooms for the Indian and foreign players. We gave rooms despite knowing that it was the marriage season and offering rooms to government guests is not viable for us,” Arora said.

He pointed out that the hoteliers got appreciation letters from the players and the Bathinda Deputy Commissioner for hosting the guests. “But despite efforts made by the Deputy Commissioner, nothing could be done to release the pending payments. We also met the local Akali leaders including Sarup Chand Singla, but nothing could be done in this regard,” Arora said.

He added that the hoteliers gave a reasonable bill on a no profit, no loss basis, to the district administration and still await its clearance.

The hoteliers alleged that they were also not given any advance payment despite their requests.

A similar delay was made during the previous event held in the city and the payment was released after six months.

Hoteliers said that they felt ashamed in front of the food vendors as they owe Rs 50 lakhs to them.

The payment for food items like milk and others is given to the vendors after the completion of functions but the duration is becoming too long and the vendors have threatened to stop the supply of food items in view of their pending payments.

Hoteliers said they will be forced to take stringent action within the next one week if their payments are not released within ten days. Others who were present at the press conference included Chaudhary Partap Singh from Krishna Continental, Bikramjit Singh Bahia and Rana Bahia of Bahia Resorts, Vijay Katia of Hotel Sepal, Rajawat of Comfort Inn and Anil Thakur from Hotel Sangam.

Bathinda, January 4
The farmers today blocked the Bathinda-Pathankot road near Jeeda village to protest against the shortage of urea. They raised slogans against the Punjab Government for their failure to provide urea to farmers in view of the wheat sowing season.

The agitation was supported by the members of the BKU (Ekta) and its leaders also addressed the farmers. Addressing people, block president of the BKU Jagsir Singh Jeeda said the farmers are in trouble due to the shortage of urea.

The wheat sowing is it full swing but the farmers are now forced to purchase the fertiliser from far off places, which create a hole in their pockets. He said the urea is also not available through the Cooperative Societies.

BKU leader Kaka Singh demanded that the urea should immediately be provided to the farmers.

Meanwhile, the traffic moved at snails pace in view of the farmers’ dharna and commuters were seen fuming at the agitators.

Bathinda, January 4
To improve the teaching methodology, faculty development programs were held at the Baba Farid Group of Institutions.

These programs were run from December 26-30. In the morning session, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Managing Director, BFGI and Dr (Col) Rakesh Sharma, Director, Academics, BFGI, motivated to the facility members to adopt the latest methods of education to make teaching more interesting. They exhorted to use power point presentation to make teaching methodology exciting.

Bathinda, January 4
The indefinite dharna launched by the unemployed linemen entered its 31st day on Wednesday. With the implementation of the model code of conduct, government officials concerned or leaders of the political parties are not in a position to talk to the protestors.

Chief advisor of the protestors Soma Singh alleged that the state government published an advertisement in January 14 for the post of 5,000 line but only 1,000 linemen were recruited. The remaining 4,000 linemen had been staging a protest in support of their demand braving the chill.

Soma Singh claimed that the chief minister during meetings held in December had assured them the unemployed linemen would be recruited but nothing was done in this regard.

Chet Singh, Kulbir Abohar, Surinder, Harjeet, Manmohan, Navin, Pritam Singh Moga and others were among the protestors who have been staging indefinite dharna. — TNS