Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal makes a point during the meeting held on Thursday. Tribune photos: Pawan Sharma

Bathinda, March 7
The Rs 116-crore budget of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) was passed today without protest from the Opposition.

With just 32 out of 50 municipal councillors attending the meeting, the last budget meeting turned out to be a mere eyewash.

All the SAD-BJP councillors present in the meeting promptly approved items listed in the agenda list while a handful of Congress councillors who were present, boycotted the meet by leaving the meeting hall — a move that was hardly noticed.

It was Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal who tried to take the bull by its horns. At the onset of the meet, Goyal said he would act in the place of the Congress to discuss the agenda instead of mutely agreeing to it.

Terming the war of words as a friendly match, the Senior Deputy Mayor bowled out MC officials and some municipal councillors. Goyal said the budget was not transparent and was instead misleading. "In the last four and half years, the budget has become a mere formality. There are no rules and regulations within which the budget is framed," he said.

Goyal said as per the rules of the Punjab Government, the expenses of the staff should be only 20 per cent of the entire budget but in the MCB budget, it was more than 50 per cent of the budget. "We, the representatives of people, are being fooled. We have not been provided any copy of the guidelines within which the budget is charted out. There are neither any provisions to lessen the expenses nor any provisions to increase the income," he said.

He said the budget did not reflect the actual economic health of the MCB, which has to pay a Rs 40-crore loan of the Punjab Industry Development Board (PIDB), wherein Rs 4 crore is charged as interest every year. Similarly, he said, another Rs 12.50-crore loan had been taken by the civic body, which found no mention in the budget.

He called upon the fellow councillors to be more mature and responsible towards the budget.

He said the contingency funds (two per cent of the entire budget) which had been earmarked should be specified with a list of probable expenses.

Bathinda, March 7
The Bathinda police today arrested 96 protesting activists of farmer unions. As many as 188 farmers were arrested yesterday.

SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said all the arrested farmers have been booked in FIR number 10 at the police station, Sadar Rampura, under Sections 283, 431, 148, 149, 188 and 511 of the IPC.

They have also been booked under Section 34 of the Police Act 1861, Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 39A of the Control of National Highway Land and Traffic Act 2002.

The farmers were arrested near Jethuke village today and were lodged at the Sangat police station.

In Maisarkhana village, the police rounded up around 50 farmers. Policemen remained on their toes coordinating on the locations of the agitating groups, action taken and the number of people arrested. SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar personally monitored the entire operation.

Under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugraha), the farmers had planned to disrupt the movement of traffic and demand freedom of the arrested farmers. Some of the farmers burnt the effigy of the Punjab Government on the railway line in Jethuke village.

On Wednesday, 17 unions had decided to hold a dharna against the government and disrupt the railway traffic. However, the Bathinda police arrested around 188 farmers.

In a press statement, BKU (Ugraha) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan stated that farmers had blocked traffic in Jethuke and Maisarkhana villages in Bathinda and Bhaini Bagha village in Mansa. He alleged that the police was trampling democratic rights of farmers.

Farmers have been demanding that their land be given back and debts waivered. They plan to hold meetings on March 10 at Bathinda and Amritsar.

The BKU (Ugraha) general secretary said taking the path of protest, the unions will get their arrested men freed without any terms or conditions and will force the government to take pro-framer decisions. He demanded "free and fair inquiry" into the death of an ASI at Tarn Taran.

Meanwhile, members of the BKU (Dakaunda) issued a press statement from within the jail demanding that they should be given facilities like meals, clean drinking water and medical help as per the jail manuals.

Bathinda, March 7
Had lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi been alive today, he too would have fallen victim to "commodification which is writ large in society", says lecturer Shubh Prem Brar, who has extensively studied the writings of Sahir. He would have been peeved to see art witnessing a slow death, Brar adds.

Born on March 8, 1921, Sahir was one of the most successful Punjabi lyricists in Bollywood, whose creations set the cash registers of the box office ringing.

Brar says in the time of capitalism today, art has taken a back seat. "Lyricists and poets today lack commitment and seriousness when everything has undergone commodification," he says.

He says the society has degraded in every sense and it's the name that sells now and not the quality.

"Poetry has not remained untouched from the surroundings, wherein instead of the use value, the exchange value of a thing is more," he says.

Lyricist Amardeep Gill says art has always been a reflection of society that we live in. He says Sahir was a product of the movement of progressive writers, who dreamt of making the newly independent India a better place to live in.

"The (progressive writers') movement is missing. All of us are comfortably nestled in our islands. We don't have time to cross the street and know our neighbours. Art never grows in such a suffocating environment. In such an atmosphere we can only have creations, such as item numbers in Bollywood movies, that have very short shelf lives," he says.

Similarly, lyricist Manpreet Tiwana says Sahir's serious 'shayari' has failed to get a replica, especially in Punjab. He laments that Punjabi songs are now known more as item songs in Bollywood movies rather than being known for creativity.

Bathinda, March 7
To mark the International Women's Day, Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, organized a competition on slogan writing and poster making. Women empowerment was the theme given to the students during the competition.

Fifty-one students from all the constituent colleges of the GKU participated in the competition. Speaking on the occasion, vice- chancellor of the GKU, SK Ahluwalia, said such competitions will strengthen the latent talent in the students and also make the celebration of important days more fruitful.

Ahluwalia also announced that GKU will honour the selected female staff member on March 8 for their immense contribution.

In the slogan writing competition, Gurjot Kaur came first, Amandeep Kaur was declared second and Neha Goyal was declared third.

In the poster-making competition, Parminder Kaur, Dhananjay and Rajnish Kumar were declared the top three winners.

Dean, Education, Dr AK Kansal, lauded the efforts of the co-ordinator Mandeep Kaur and the other staff members for the successful organising of the International Women's Day function. Yadwinder Pal Sharma and Jaspreet Kaur were the judges at the various competitions.

Bathinda, March 7
Six BTech students of the Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh (PTUGZS) campus have been placed with the Asahi Glass Company Limited at an annual package of Rs 3 lakh each.

In a press statement issued here today, the head of the training and placement department, Dr Sanjiv Aggarwal stated that all six students were from the BTech final year and were selected during the campus drive conducted by the company.

Meanwhile, the textile manufacturing companies such as the SEL Manufacturing, Vardhman Spinning and General Mills, Venus Garments (India) Limited and Aarti International Limited from Ludhiana have recruited 13 students of BTech (textile engineering) at an annual packages ranging between Rs 2 and Rs 2.5 lakh during a placement drive at the campus. PTU GZS campus is the only institution offering the undergraduate course in textile engineering in the state.

The conglomerate, Larsen and Toubro, has shortlisted 21 BTech students, including ten from mechanical, nine from civil and two from electrical branches for placement, during a joint campus placement drive held at Jalandhar. In another joint campus drive held at Thapar University, six BTech students have been shortlisted for recruitment by the Afcons Infrastructure Limited.

The spokesperson stated that in a placement drive conducted at the AIET, Amritsar, 17 students (12 students of mechanical and five of electrical branch) were shortlisted by the GVK Powers. Campus Director Jasbir Singh Hundal congratulated the students.

Bathinda, March 7
A farewell party was organised for BCom final year students of DAV College today.

Aditya was adjudged Mr Personality while Shamsher Singh and Nisha were adjudged Mr and Miss Commerce, respectively.

Lecturer Nidhi Sinom of the department of commerce conducted the programme while lecturers Beant Kaur, Sukhdeep Kaur and Vikas Katia were the judges at the event that saw a good turnout.

Bathinda, March 7
The woman police station has booked a resident of Barnala for demanding dowry from his wife. In her complaint to the police, Sarabjit Kaur, a resident of Amarpura Basti, stated that she was married to Harjinder Singh, a resident of village Mehna in Barnala, who used to demand dowry from her. Police has registered a case against Harjinder Singh in this regard.