Bathinda, July 16
Kamal Kishore Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, today said action would be taken against the colonisers who would not get their illegal colonies authorised as per the new policy of the Punjab Government.

He said this while presiding over a meeting of property dealers and architects held here. Addressing the participants, Yadav said the policy for authorising the illegal colonies was actually a development policy.

He added that while illegal plots, houses and colonies would be authorised under the new policy at a nominal fee, the amount collected would be spent on development of the same properties. These colonies would be provided with power, sewer, street lights and drinking water facilities.

Yadav said while the architects and property dealers were being made aware of the intricacies of the new policy, the colonisers were being encouraged to apply for regularisation of the illegal colonies they owned.

For regularisation of establishments within the area of Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB), application is to be given to the MCB commissioner. For municipal committees, the application is to be given to respective deputy directors of local bodies and for the colonies located outside municipal limits, the application is to be given to BDA chief administrator.

The applications will be accepted till August 25. There are separate forms for the plot holders or residents of unauthorised colonies and for the colonisers to apply for regularisation.

Plot owners will have to deposit 25 per cent of the amount of regularisation at the time of submitting their application. The rest of the fee amount has to be submitted in the form of three six-monthly instalments. Those who deposit the fee in one go will be given an off upto 10 per cent.

Yadav added that the building maps of only those houses would be passed which meet the safety standards. The money collected from the fee of these colonies would be used to develop them. As soon as 70 per cent houses got themselves regularised in such colonies, development work would be initiated, he said.

For regularising plots in colonies established before August 17, 2007, charges would be Rs 200 per square yard and for the colonies established after August 17, 2007, the rate would be Rs 400 per square yard.

The colonisers would have to pay Rs 2 lakh per acre for the colonies established before August 17, 2007, and Rs 12 lakh per acre would have to be paid for colonies developed after the same time period.

Under the policy, the houses or plots that are not regularised would not be allowed to avail power and sewerage connections.

Prominent among others present at the meeting were Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) chief administrator APS Virk, municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta and deputy director, local bodies, Bhupinder Singh.

Bathinda, July 16
The Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) is planning to impose cess under the Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act 1955, in order to raise revenue for constructing a cattle pound on 10 acres of land in Lal Singh Basti area.

Municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta convened a meeting today with the members of Shree Gaushala Committee and discussed the growing army of stray cattle that is risking the lives of people.

The city has got four cattle pounds that are already overcrowded. In view of this overcrowding, impounded stray cattle have been sent to the cattle pounds at Roomi Wala village in Bathinda and to Kotkapura.

Shree Gaushala Committee has 12 acres of land in Lal Singh Basti. A cattle pound will be developed in 10 acres while the rest two acres will be kept reserved for shops and other purposes.

To raise funds for the construction of this cattle pound, an idea was mooted to impose cess, as is being done by the Patiala municipal corporation. The MCB plans to impose a nominal cess on liquor, both English and country made, diesel and petrol carrying tankers, marriage palaces and on the power units consumed.

Under Section 4 of the Act, the local government can impose cess for protection and prevention of the slaughtering the cattle. The local government has to seek permission from the government, for which a detailed proposal is prepared.

Gupta directed Sadhu Ram Kusla, general secretary, Shree Gaushala Committee, to prepare a detailed proposal, clearly mentioning the roles of district administration, MCB, local government and other departments.

The group also discussed the idea of hiring a contractor, who shall be responsible to ensure that the stray cattle are kept off the city limits. Yet another idea of developing a cattle pound in villages was discussed. Since every village accounts for at least 30 to 50 stray cattle abandoned in the city and also has enough panchayat land, it was proposed that the villages be asked to develop their own cattle pound.

A proposal for setting up a cattle pound in the Bathinda central jail, which is to be shifted to periphery areas of city, is also in the pipeline with the state government.

Kusla, who has drafted a proposal for the same, said the proposed cattle pound would have a capacity to house around 2,500 cattle heads. “The corporation need not shell out any extra money for the same as it will not have to pay for land or for the manpower. Inmates can be employed for taking care of the cattle. MCB will only have to pay for the diet of animals,” he added.

Bathinda, July 16
The residents of Bathinda and isolated areas adjoining the city were caught unawares after the skies opened up late this evening. The joy was, however, short-lived as it poured only for about 15 minutes. The rainfall was followed by a dust storm.

The change in weather brought a much-needed respite from the scorching heat since the it had been playing truant this month, so much so that the city had till now received only 33.3 mm of rainfall. This is quite close to the 37.4 mm of rainfall which the region received in the year 2008. In July 2004, the region received no rainfall in the month of July.

While 95.6 mm rainfall was recorded last year, in 2011, 115 mm of rainfall was recorded in the month of July. The data stands at 100.9 mm, 130.6 mm and 37.4 mm for the years 2010, 2009 and 2008, respectively.

On Tuesday, while the maximum temperature was recorded at 38.4 degree, the minimum temperature was recorded at 28.2 degree celsius. On Monday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 40.2 and 28.6 degree celsius, respectively.

As per the fresh forecast released by the Agri-Metreological Department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda, there is only a little possibility of rainfall over the next two-three days. The forecast predicted that only isolated places in the region will experience thunder storms or light rains in the coming days. It also predicted that the maximum and minimum temperatures may plummet by two-three degrees in the coming days.

The residents of the region still have hope as the monsoon season will last till mid-September. 

Bathinda, July 16
The residents of Paras Ram Nagar today lodged a protest against the increasing prices of essential commodities.

Led by former municipal councillor Vijay Kumar, people condemned the Central Governmentfor its failure to control the spiralingprices of fruits, vegetables and fuel.

Vijay Kumar buried himself in sand to signify the way in which common man felt burdened by inflation. People were also shown yearning for fruits and vegetables.

Vijay said in this year itself, the Central Government had increased fuel prices three times. Besides, the prices of flour, cereals, milk and grains were also skyrocketing.

Others who participated in the protest included Baldev Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Surinder Kumar, Vikram Singh, Satnam Singh, Anil Bakshi, Alamjit, Anjani Sharma, Tilak Raj, Chhinda, Somnath, Baldev, Bittu, Trilok and others.

Bathinda, July 16
As part of its measures to mark the observance of the month of July as anti-dengue month, the Health Department is conducting a survey of the identified high-risk areas.

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said those areas where more than 10 dengue cases were detected in the year 2011, have been marked as risk zones. In these areas, the Health Department is conducting a second round of door-to-door awareness campaign.

Starting from July 15, the teams will cover the areas of Ajit road till Ghode Wala Chowk, Power House road till the traffic light chowk,

backside of Power House road near Shiv Mandir area, all quarters located in Civil Lines, BSNL and Income Tax Colony, Gopal Nagar, Paras Ram Nagar street numbers 1 to 5, Pratap Nagar streets number 4, 6, 8 10 and 12, Malviya Nagar, Nai Basti, Shakti Nagar, New Shakti Nagar, Arya Nagar, Pujjan Wala Mohalla and Guru Nanakpura areas. Dr Randhawa added that these areas would be visited more frequently than the other areas in the city.

Also, for the year 2013, the government has declared dengue and malaria as notified diseases. All private medical practitioners and laboratories have been directed to report every suspected and confirmed case of dengue.

In May, three cases of malaria and in June, five cases of malaria were reported. No dengue case was reported in these two months. However, seven to eight suspected cases were reported from April till July, but all were negative.

Meanwhile, a Sentinel Surveillance Centre has been formed at the Civil Hospital where all kinds of suspected patients from the private and government hospitals are accorded free confirmatory Elisa test. A separate ward has been formed at the Civil Hospital.

The health authorities have set up a control room at the office of the civil surgeon and can be reached at 0164-2212501. Anybody can reach the District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa at his mobile phone number 9814348023 for problems related to dengue or malaria.

Also at the district level, a rapid response team has been constituted that will attend all calls related to the vector-borne diseases. Same teams have been formulated at the block level too. Under the anti-larva scheme, the kutcha pits and open drains are being treated every week with larvicidal medicines. 

Bathinda, July 16
The activists of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Association held a gate rally against the government outside the District Administrative Complex (DAC) today in the afternoon.

Addressing the activists, general secretary of the Association Kewal Bansal said the Punjab government was not implementing the demands of the ministerial staff to which it had agreed in principle.

The Association said the pay scale awarded from December 1, 2011 should have been given from January 1 2006. "This wrong system has created confusion and led to resentment among the ministerial staff," Bansal said. Secretary of the Association, Tirath Batra, condemned the government's plan to abolish the scheme of promotion.

President of the DC office unit of the Association, Harbans Khichi, said there are many categories of clerks among the ministerial staff who have not got the requisite benefits. The activists threatened to stage protest if the government did not yield to their demands.

Bathinda, July 16
Observing deficiency in the service provided by Metlife India Insurance Company, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the company to refund Rs 2.40 lakhs to a resident of Guru Ki Nagri along with Rs 3,000 as cost and compensation.

The Forum also observed that the documents provided by the company were generated a long time after the sale of the policy.

A complaint was lodged with the Forum by Sawinder Kaur whose case was pleaded by advocate Sanjay Goyal. The counsel for the opposite party was NK Batta.

The complainant said she purchased the insurance policy by paying Rs Rs 80,000. The opposite party had stated that she is required to pay money only once and that she will be insured for Rs 8 lakhs. In case she wants to get the refund, she will be given Rs 80,000 along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum and no amount will be deducted and she can claim the refund anytime.

The complainant paid the premium of Rs 80,000 in the month of January 2010 and was assured that she is not required to make any further payment as the insurance amount was to be paid only once.

Neither any cover note or separate terms and conditions nor free look period was ever provided to the complainant.

In the month of December 2010, the complainant sought a refund of Rs 80,000 but was refused and she was told to make the payment for a minimum period of three years failing which she will not be entitled to get the refund.

Under the compelled circumstances, the complainant paid Rs 80,000 each on December 2010 and December 2011 and the total amount paid by her was Rs 2.40 lakhs.

The complainant again sought a refund of Rs 2. 40 lakhs along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum but she was again denied the same.

A notice was sent to the opposite party which appeared before the Forum and pleaded that the complainant paid the premium till December 27, 2011 and did not make any further payment. Therefore, her policy has moved into the premium discontinuance status. Also, the complainant purchased the policy after knowing the terms and conditions of the policy, said the opposite party.

It stated that as per Clause 6 (2) of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Protection of Policyholder's interests) Regulations, 2002, the opposite party should inform the complainant by sending the forwarding letter that she is given a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the policy document to review the terms and conditions of the said policy.

The policy was issued on December 31, 2009 and the policy documents were dispatched to the complainant's address on January 11, 2010 through Blue Dart courier. The same were received on January 15, 2010 by Sawinder Kaur, the complainant herself.

After hearing the arguments and pleas of both the parties, the Forum observed that the opposite party did not place on file the POD number of the courier containing the welcome letter and other documents pertaining to the policy.

Also, there was no postal receipt or dispatch register produced before the Forum. The policy containing pages from 1 to 55 did not contain any document which showed that these had been sent to the complainant through Blue Dart courier. It was found that the welcome letter was generated on February 27, 2013, which showed that it was never sent to the complainant before this.

The Forum, observing deficiency in service, directed the opposite party to return the premium amount to the complainant after making the deduction of the proportionate risk premium for the period on cover and the expenses incurred on medical examination of the proposer and stamp duty charges.

The order has to be complied within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy and in case of non-compliance, the amount payable to consumer will carry interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum till its realisation.

Bathinda, July 16
A one-week short term course on 'Energy Sources and Computational Techniques in Electrical Engineering' was started by the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University (PTU GZS) campus, Bathinda, in collaboration with the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training, Chandigarh, on Monday.

The course is being conducted under the sponsorship of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme stage-II of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, (TEQIP-II Project). Thirty faculty members are participating in the programme.

RK Verma, superintendent engineer, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, was the chief guest at the programme's inaugural session. While addressing the gathering, Verma touched upon various issues related to saving energy and drew the attention of the participants towards the present power generation scenario.

The guest of honour at the inaugural session, Ashok Arora, additional superintendent engineer, GNDTP, shared practical experiences.

Dr Lini Mathew, associate professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, NITTTR, prepared a brief about the contents of the course and their relevance in solving day to day problems.

Dr Jasbir S Hundal, campus director, said such courses will help the researchers.

On Day 2, resource person Dr Satbir Singh Sidhu from Shaheed Bhagat Singh State Technical campus, Ferozepur, delivered a talk on optimisation techniques used in engineering. In the afternoon session, Dr Chatterji from the NITTTR delivered a lecture.

Bathinda, July 16
Former senior editor, Punjabi, at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and two-time president of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi (PSA), Ludhiana, Prof Gurbhajan Gill has been appointed as the director (planning & development) at the Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo.

Prof Gill took charge in the presence of Dr JS Dhaliwal, chancellor of GKU, chairman Gurlabh Singh Sidhu, managing director Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, PAU VC Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon and other officials.

Prof Gill has a rich experience of over 30 years as an editor and a prolific writer. He also served as a Punjabi teacher at Lajpat Rai Memorial College, Jagraon, and Guru Nanak National College, Doraha.

He has published 13 original Punjabi poetry anthologies: Mor Pankh, Pardarshi, Dharti Naad, Fullan di Jhanjhar, Khair Panjaan Paanian Di, Mann De Boohey, Baarian, Agan Katha, Kaimrae Di Akkh Boldi, Do Haraf Rasidi, Surakh Samundar, Bol Mitti Dea Baawea, Har Dhukhda Pind Mera Hai and Sheesha Jhooth Bolda Hai.

Bathinda, July 16
Although the seats of almost all the subjects have filled during the first counselling at the Government Rajindra College, the college will release the list of students chosen for admission through the sports quota.

Surjit Singh and Jagjivan Kaur, lecturers of physical education at the college, scanned more than 100 application forms that the college received for the 15 seats under sports quota.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Singh said, "The number of applications that we received far exceeded the number of seats that we have in the college under the sports quota. Only two per cent of the total number of seats are reserved for students of the quota."

He also explained that while compiling the list for the quota, the percentage of the applicants is not considered. Their performance at the national and state level sporting events is what helps them make to the merit list. "Students from general, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward classes are given equal weightage," he added.

He also shared that the merit list includes national-level volleyball, boxing, gymnastics and archery players. He also added that more number of students belonging to rural areas have made it to the merit list as compared to those belonging to urban areas.

The fee submission will begin on Wednesday.

Bathinda, July 16
Quackery cost a villager from Balahad Mehma his right eye. Twenty-four-year-old Sabar Khan, a resident of Balahad Mehma, reported loss of vision at the hospital of eye specialist Dr Amrit Sethi, on Sunday evening.

Sabar's brother Sikandar said, "Sabar had been suffering from irritation in the eyes for the last few days. He bought eye drops from a local dera and put the medicine in his right eye. Soon after taking the medicine, he started complaining of increased irritation in the eyes. We then brought him to Bathinda city."

Within minutes of administering the medicine, Sabar's eye became red and watery and later his vision became blurred. By the time Sabar Khan was brought to the hospital, he had lost vision.

"When he reported at my emergency room last night, he was in great agony with almost total loss of vision in the eye and a large central corneal ulcer. Even if his ulcer may heal with time, the visual prognosis is poor," said Dr Sethi.

Fortunately, Sabar used the drops in one eye only, said Dr Sethi. — TNS 

Bathinda, July 16
Of the six bodies recovered from Sirhind Canal, five were cremated today by the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa. The bodies were put in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital for identification but the police failed to make any headway into their identification. Inquest proceedings were initiated in this connection at the Talwandi Sabo police station.

President of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa Vijay Goyal said the bodies were cremated 130 hours after being fished out from the canal near Talwandi Sabo. Of these, one body was identified and handed over to the family members who were from Khanna.