Chaos ruled the streets near the Hanuman Chowk traffic lights as a huge crowd turned out to watch the proceedings at the school. Tribune photos: Pawan Sharma

Bathinda, October 24
Dussehra was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety in Bathinda.

People from different religions were seen exchanging greetings since morning. The celebrations saw massive effigies of the demon king Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghnad going up in flames in various parts of the city at around 6 pm. Residents crowded these places to watch the event.

However, the organisers and the policemen deployed at the places failed to prevent the youngsters from running towards the burning effigies to collect the partially-burnt wood as they are believed to bring good fortune if kept at home.

Roads were crowded and roadsides encroached upon due to the parking of vehicles. Adding to the crowd were the roadside vendors. All this led to chaos on the city roads. Traffic cops had a tough time regulating the traffic and controlling the crowd.

The effigies were burnt at the MSD School ground, the Railway ground, the NFL ground, the Thermal Colony ground and the Partap Nagar ground.

Scenes from the lives of Lord Rama and his fight with Ravana were staged before the effigies were set ablaze at sunset.

People witnessed an impressive show of firecrackers as well as the bursting of cracker-stuffed effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad.

Unprecedented security arrangements were made to avert any untoward incident. A large number of policemen, who were on foot, motorcycles and four-wheelers, along with SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar made rounds of the city.

The cops deployed at a point in the city said the police was deployed in strength to ensure complete security to the people visiting the places where effigies were to be incinerated.

While Mayor Baljeet Singh Beerbehman was the chief guest at the Railway Ground event, comedian Jaspal Bhatti along with other artists and actors were present at the Partap Nagar ground.

Bhatti urged people to stand up against social evils like corruption, drugs, female foeticide, dowry and inflation.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav, Senior Superintendent of Police Ravcharan Singh Brar, Bathinda MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla, former Bathinda MLA Harminder Singh Jassi and other prominent persons of the city greeted residents on the joyous occasion wishing peace, prosperity and happiness for all.

Bathinda, October 24
This festive season is all set to become merrier for the bibliophiles in the city.

The National Book Trust, India (NBT) is holding a book fair from October 27 to November 4 at the Punjabi University Regional Centre here. Books of as many as 56 publishers will be put on display at 85 stalls to be set up at the nine-day book fair. It would be their 14th book fair in Punjab.

The NBT editor, Baldev Singh Badhan, said the maximum publications of the Trust (over 800 titles) were in Punjabi language.

"Reading and writing in Punjab is in its infancy as compared to South India where these habits are much developed. The upcoming book fair aims at promoting books and giving bibliophiles an indulgence of having so many books at a single platform," said Badhan.

All the nine days of the fair will have different events. A Jnanpith awardee, Gurdial Singh, will inaugurate the book fair.

Six books will be released on the occasion.

A 'Meet-the-author' programme would be held during the fair in which 16 writers, including Gurdial Singh, Baldev Singh Moga, Dr Vineeta, Dev Threeke Wale, Biba Balwant, Sukhwinder Amrit, Dalbir Parwana, Gurdev Singh Rupana, Jaswant Singh Kamal, Gurbhajan Gill, Mohan Lal Phillauria and Varinder Singh Walia, would participate.

Around 30 Punjabi poets will be taking part in a “kavi darbar” to be hosted on October 28. Nine writers will present their stories.

It will also have a detailed discussion on Punjabi children’s literature in present times which would see participation by 12 Punjabi authors.

There will be a panel discussion on the reading trend in Punjab which lags far behind the other states.

Eight papers on Punjab de tappariwas (the nomads of Punjab) will be presented, which will be later bound into a book.

The fair will culminate on November 4 with “sahityik gayki” (literary singing).

Bathinda, October 24
With two more deaths reported in two separate accidents, the number of fatalities in Bathinda during the past one week has increased to four. Besides, five persons have sustained serious injuries.

Two farmers were killed on October 17 on Tungwali-Bhucho Mandi road. They along with another farmer were riding a bike when the mishap took place.

Two deaths due to road accident were reported yesterday.

A resident of Guru Ki Nagri, Gurcharan Singh, who was driving an Activa, came under the wheels of a truck and died on the spot near the Civil Hospital yesterday.

Harjinder Singh of Gulabgarh village, the complainant in the case, said he was driving his bike just behind Gurcharan's Activa when a speeding truck overran Gurcharan. The complainant alleged that the truck was being driven recklessly.

The cops who reached the spot said a case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the accused, Rajpal Singh of Kotshamir village, at the Kotwali police station.

The police said the road connecting the Civil Hospital and the Police Lines was quite risky as vehicles remain parked on its both sides. The cops said vehicles occupying the road space put the commuters at risk. They said the situation worsens during night hours.

In another similar road accident, Angrez Singh of Pathrala village complained that on Tuesday afternoon, a speeding tractor-trolley hit the bicycle his father was riding upon. The collision proved fatal for his father. The deceased, Baldev Singh, was going towards Pathrala village from Jodhpur. A case has been registered against unidentified tractor driver under Sections 304-A, 279 and 427 of the IPC.

Kiranjit, a resident of the Ajit road, fell off his bike a few days ago when he bumped into a deep pothole near the DAV College. He received head injuries and fracture in his arm. Kiranjit said the deadly potholes are not filled by the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB) even as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal keep making tall claims of converting Bathinda into California.

He said potholes have been the reason behind several accidents taking place on the city roads, but authorities concerned did not care to fill them up.

Bathinda, October 24
The National Book Trust, India (NBT) is all set to start publishing e-books as its initiative towards diversifying the book industry, said the editor of the NBT, Baldev Singh Badhan, here today.

In the city to foresee arrangements of a book fair to be held in Bathinda from October 27 to November 4, Badhan said within a month, the NBT would embark upon publishing e-books. "The NBT has conducted surveys to assess the impact of Internet and e-books on the paperback versions and conventional reading habits of people. We found that the new-age technologies did not dent conventional reading practices even a wee bit," said Badhan.

Rubbishing the reports about paperbacks losing their existence to e-age, Badhan said no media could replace the conventional form of books. "In 1986, we were earning Rs 1.5 crore per year. The earning now stands at Rs 50 crore. However, in order to keep pace with the technology and offer new alternatives to our readers, the NBT is coming out with e-books," he said. He added that besides, the NBT had published Braille books in at least 250 titles in eight languages.

Conferred with the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award for his rich contribution towards Punjabi language, Badhan is known for his works on translating books written in Marathi and other languages into Punjabi. He is now busy completing Tasveeran — Ganje farishtey — a collection of Saadat Hassan Manto's writings. He added that the NBT was looking forward to holding World Book Fair, which is the second largest in the world after the one held at Frankfurt in Germany. Instead of once in two years, the fair will now be held annually. It will be held from January 4 to January 10 at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

Talking about the Bathinda book fair, he said the city would be hosting the third NBT book fair in the last five years. The previous fair was held in the city two years ago.

"The Malwa belt of Punjab gained notoriety for drug abuse. But we want to show the other side of this pocket, which is hungry for good literature. We have had the best of writers and avid readers in this region of Punjab who haven't had enough in the terms of quality of writings. This book fair is meant to quench the literary-thirsty minds," he said.

Bathinda, October 24
Comedian Jaspal Bhatti's own experience with the electricity department has come in handy in writing and shaping "Power Cut", his new Punjabi movie that comes 14 years after his earlier venture, "Mahaul Theek Hai".

A retired senior XEN from the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Bhatti is the son of a former chief engineer at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant in Ropar.

"Though it was the poor power scenario in the state that motivated me to come up with this movie, it was my experience in the department that proved useful while writing the script of this movie," said Bhatti who was in Bathinda today to promote his new Punjabi movie.

It took Bhatti eight months to come up with the final draft of the movie, which he claims will set new standards in comedy. "Power Cut" is set for release on October 24 with a star cast of three debutants.

Comedian Jaswinder Bhalla partners Bhatti in the movie as a "marassi".

"Being a marassi was a tough job for us urbanites. We went all the way to village Mohal in Amritsar, which is known for a large number of marassi families living there," recalled Bhatti. There he met Jeeta and Preeta who perform together.

Bhatti and Bhalla spent time with Jeeta and Preeta while shooting for the movie as well as before the shoot. "We picked their nuances and expressions. Bhalla and Bhatti will be the most intriguing marassi the Punjabi audience will have ever seen," he said.

Commenting on the new golden era of Punjabi cinema, Bhatti said the financial constraints as well as dearth of good scripts plague the Punjabi film industry.

"Though we have established houses running Punjabi cinema, yet there are financial constraints. Because everyone is eager to achieve success through short-cut routes, people do not research on scripts and are churning out whatever comes to their mind easily," said Bhatti.

He added that the Punjabi cinema lacks iconic heroes, who are supposed to be the backbone of the film.

In most cases, it is the singer-turned-actor phenomenon that is working. "But we will have to understand that a singer has limitations in terms of expressions and acting. We urgently need trained people to fill this void. With 'Power Cut', we will be introducing two such trained actors, Zafar Khan and Jasraj Singh Bhatti," he said. Bhatti said comedians like Jaswinder Bhalla, Binu Dhillon, BN Sharma, Gurpreet Ghuggi and others supplement the actors and are now the pillars of Punjabi cinema.

Earlier, to promote the movie, the lead characters in the film, Bijli and Current, portrayed by Surilie Gautam and Zafar Khan, today sought "blessings" from the towering chimneys of Punjab's first thermal power plant — Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda.

"The god of luck will refuse to smile on us unless and until we don't take the blessings of the gods billowing smoke from their long pipes," said Bhatti.

Bathinda, October 24
Unidentified miscreants tried to take out money from an ATM of the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) installed at Parasram Nagar, but failed. In a complaint to the police, the manager of the bank, Gurjeet Singh, said the ATM was found tampered with but money was not found missing from the ATM.

Bathinda, October 24
Police have registered a case against a resident of Bhagta Bhaika village for uploading songs in mobile chips without having any licence or authority to do so. In a complaint to the police, Jawahar Singh, the investigator, said the accused was found uploading the songs without getting the requisite licence. A case under sections 51, 52-A, 63 and 65 of the Copy Right Act has been registered against the accused Amit Kumar at the Diyalpura police station.

Meanwhile, in another incident, police have registered a case against five persons for beating up a resident of Lelewala village. In a complaint to the police, Sukhmandar Singh said Balwinder Singh, Binder Singh, Lakhvir Singh and two unidentified persons attacked him and injured him seriously.

He was taken to the hospital where he is being treated by the doctors. The complainant said he was beaten up by the accused as the rival group harboured a grudge against him over a trivial issue for a long time. A case under sections 341, 323, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Talwandi Sabo police station. No arrests have been made.