Bathinda, April 19
Police force deployed in strength outside the Teachers' Home here today prevented protesting unemployed linesmen and their families to gherao the residence of Bathinda MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla.

Cops detain a couple of protesters; and SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar (right) listening to DSP (City) Gurmeet Kingra while Kotwali SHO Jaspal Singh looks on at the site of protest. Photos: Bhupinder Dhillon

On getting a tip-off about the protesting linesmen's move, the police had chalked out its action plan in advance. Around 250-strong crowd comprising linesmen and their family members thronged the Teachers' Home and decided to take out a protest march up to the residence of the MLA in Aggarwal Colony. However, the linesmen leading the protest entered into heated arguments with the police. A scuffle ensued leaving an unidentified linesman injured.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ravcharan Singh Brar accompanied by DSP (City) Gurmeet Kingra, Kotwali station house officer (SHO) Jaspal Singh and Civil Line SHO U. Cee Chawla took stock of the situation and passed certain instructions to control the protesters.

Some of the protesters were rounded up by the police in view of the situation. However, they were released later.

To prevent things from going out of hand, a few linesmen escorted by a police team were allowed to visit the MLA, who assured them to arrange their meeting with the Chief Minister in the coming days.

The state president of the Unemployed Linesmen Union, Pirmal Singh Sangrur, said they would not sit idle till all the 4,000 unemployed linemen get their appointment letters.

"The 197 linesmen and their family members arrested during the Baisakhi Mela for protesting against the Chief Minister were released yesterday from the Ferozepur jail and they also took part in today's protest," the state president of the union said.

An unemployed linesman Jagtar Mahinangal said the 'dictatorial' state government being run by the Badal family reminded them of the British rule. "It is ironical that on the one hand, the state government drags its feet when it comes to providing jobs to the unemployed linesmen while on the other hand, it makes claims about extending all possible help to the unemployed youth of the state," Mahinangal alleged.

He further alleged that the ruling party spent crores on its election campaigns, advertisements and Goa visit but did nothing for the unemployed youth.

Mahinangal said it was unfortunate that the Chief Minister, the deputy CM and others do not have time to listen to their grievances, adding that they had to plead before lower-rung party leaders several times to arrange their meeting with the policy makers in the state.

The linesmen said in February, the High Court had clearly stated that there was no ban on recruiting 4,000 linemen in the Powercom. Still, the government has turned a blind eye towards the problem, they said.

It may be mentioned here that the linesmen are protesting for the past three years to get appointment letters from the Powercom.

Bathinda, April 19
The decline in gold prices has pleased all but those who had obtained loan from various private banks by pledging gold, as their bankers are asking them to deposit money in order to reduce the principal amount of their loans.

While no such case has come to fore in case of customers of nationalised banks, customers of private banks are, however, getting phone calls in this connection these days.

Gurmel Singh, a doctor, said that he took a loan of Rs 1.6 lakh from a private bank by pledging gold worth nearly Rs 2 lakh a year ago. He said even as he had been paying the loan instalments on time bank officials were repeatedly calling him up on his phone to deposit more money in view of the fallen gold prices.

“I got interested in a gold loan scheme as my bank offered an attractive rate of interest, which was quite low as compared to personal loan. At the time of signing the loan agreement, the bankers did not lay emphasis on the price of gold. I was surprised when they asked me to deposit more money,” Gurmel said. He pointed out that the bankers did not inform him about such an eventuality even as it was a common knowledge that the price of gold keeps fluctuating.

“At that time, nobody expected the gold prices will fall in such a manner. Moreover, the banks always have a margin to recover their loan as they sanction amount only up to 80 per cent of the pledged metal’s market value,” the doctor added.

Kapil Sharma, another customer who too had been getting similar phone calls from his bank, said when the gold prices had increased last year the banks did not contact its customers to offer any increase in the limit of loan amount.

The customers claimed that banks making phone calls instead of sending written communication to its customers to reduce the principal amount of the loan was against the guidelines. The bank officials also did not inform their customers about the penalty in case their customers fail to deposit the money demanded.

The bank customers said they would soon move the consumer court if banks continue to harass their customers in this manner and would also approach the Banking Ombudsman.

Officials of a few private banks, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue claiming that they have not received any written complaint from any customer so far.

Bathinda, April 19
Heads of as many as 59 schools of Bathinda district have been served show-cause notices by the District Education Officer (Secondary Education) for not updating information about their respective schools on the DEO website.

The DEO had provided the school heads with a performa, which sought details like the staff statement, enrolment of students, etc. The staff statement includes details (date of joining, designation, category, etc.) of all the teachers in a particular school.

DEO Harkanwaljeet Kaur told Bathinda Tribune that the schools had to upload a similar data on the E-Punjab website as well. "This data will help the office in circulating any kind of information among the schools and staff. Although the staff statement needs detailed work, once it is done, it will prove beneficial for both the office as well as the schools," she said.

Government Girls Senior Secondary School situated on Mall Road here is among the schools which have been served the notice. Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Maluka, has also been served the notice. 

Bathinda, April 19
Aiming to open up employment options for them, Institute for Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition has started food production classes for as many as ten inmates of the Central Jail, Bathinda. These classes are being held under the programme of the Central Government, ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’.

What is the scheme?

‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’, a two-month course is free of cost. The eligibility criterion for the course, which aims at improving the employability skills of the student, is Class VIII. Those pursuing the course are being given free uniform and tools to work with, apart from a stipend of Rs 2,000.

How did it begin?

“I had first been thinking of conducting the classes for the students of Mahanta Gurbanta Dass School for Deaf and Dumb. But the plan didn’t materialise. Then, I had a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner and he asked me if the institute could do something for the inmates and so, we decided to launch the programme in the jail,” said Kamal Piyush, principal of the institute.

After seeking permission from the Central Government, state government and jail authorities, the classes began a week ago. One teacher from the institute takes the classes of the inmates.

Selection process

The institute told the jail authorities that it wanted only those inmates to undergo the course who had only a short jail term left. “There was no point teaching those inmates who had several years to serve. The authorities concerned selected ten inmates for the course,” said the principal.

The process

Giving lessons in food production required elaborate infrastructure, which was not available on the jail premises. The institute had to shift ingredients, tool kits and other equipment to the jail.

To provide the feel of the classes, the inmates were given the uniforms, their personal tool kits and a book on food production authored by the principal.

What’s in store?

The course aims at making the inmates employable and worthy of commanding a respectable wage rate once they complete their terms and seek jobs in outside world. As per the rule of the Central Government, the inmates will also be given a stipend to the tune of Rs 2,000 at the end of the two-month long course,” said the principal. “As for the course, we will access the situation after the completion of the course. If we get a good response, we would like to continue it,” he said.

Bathinda, April 19
Delhi Public School, Bathinda, organised an inaugural ceremony of the inter-DPS basketball championship for girls (open) here today. The chief guest at the inaugural ceremony was Arjun Awardee and national-level shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu, who is currently posted as DSP Bathinda.

Addressing the students, Sidhu emphasised the need for sportsmanship. She also appreciated the fact that students still loved outdoor games in the era of electronic gadgets.

The teams will compete over three days and the final would be played on April 21.

Bathinda, April 19
Residents of Mehta village today launch a massive protest over the construction of a godown in their village. The villagers alleged that the godown was constructed without getting all approvals and clearances from the government.

The villagers expressed their fear over the use of chemicals to be sprayed on the food stuff to be stored in the godown and its side-effects on the residents.

Some of the protesters said they would intensify their agitation if the police and district administration failed to relocate the godown from the village.

Policemen reached the spot and tried to pacify the irate villagers.

However, the situation turned ugly as policemen and protesters exchanged heated arguments. The situation was controlled with the intervention of senior police functionaries and some villagers.

Bathinda, April 19
Students of Kalpana Chawla girl’s hostel of Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, recently went on a heritage trip to Jaipur, Pushkar and Ajmer. During the trip, Jagdeep Singh and Pavneet Kaur guided them about the places.

The students visited the city palace and Jantar Mantar in Jaipur and the Brahma temple in Pushkar. The Pushkar temple is regarded as the only Brahma temple in the country. They also visited the Dargah Sharif of Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti. They learnt a lot about the history and heritage of all the places. — TNS

Bathinda, April 19
In a noble gesture, a city resident donated a vehicle of Rs 10 lakh to Sahara Jan Sewa, an NGO. The vehicle would be used for transportation of injured people or accident victims, from or between places of treatment.

NGO president Vijay Goyal said, “People are coming forward for the social causes.” — TNS