Bathinda, August 10
The court of the judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) today extended the police remand of the arrested former DTO Bhupinder Mohan Singh for two more days despite vehement opposition by his counsel.

The police had arrested the former DTO on Thursday from his Sector 49-A residence in Chandigarh for cheating and forgery during his one year stint as the DTO, Bathinda.

Investigating officer in the case, DSP (D) Ranjeet Singh, who also pleaded the police case, informed the court about the investigation carried out in the last two days. He pleaded that files and missing registers are yet to be recovered from the arrested accused.

“Since one fancy number was illegally issued to many people with forged documents, the missing record will ascertain who the actual owner of that number is. Till then, confusion prevails,” the DSP said.

The former DTO may get reprieve in the court over the digitally prepared RCs, which are prepared by the computer operator but he cannot deny the certificates which bears his signature.

The DSP stated that the police managed to recover three missing registers and a thousand files from the official residence of the DTO in Bathinda and Muktsar. The DTO held the additional charge of Muktsar.

While the files have the details of the registration of new vehicles, old vehicles, transfer of RCs, driving licence, learning licence and other details of Muktsar district, the registers contain details of Bathinda district.

“Ideally, the files should be deposited back in the office but they were lying in his former official residence in Muktsar,” the DSP said.

The police escorted the accused last night to bring back the files and also recovered three registers from his Bathinda residence. The police said earlier, the DTO officials used to report to the police that the registers had gone missing from their office. The names, address and other vital details of registration of old vehicles is recorded in the files and registers.

At present, the police has the records of nearly 42 persons who have obtained the old series of fancy numbers from the DTO office by paying a hefty amount to the middlemen or agents.

“But we do not have the record of those who have actually been issued the old series numbers. If we get the addresses of these people, then we can easily prove the guilt of the former DTO and other officials,” said DSP Ranjeet Singh. He added that the registration certificate bearing the name of more than one person bears the signature of the DTO which puts him in a piquant situation.

Bathinda, August 10
The PWD (B&R) is likely to complete the Rs 600-crore road project of constructing the 204-km stretch from Bhawanigarh to Talwandi Sabo with an environment-friendly Cold Recycling Machine.

The machine recycles the construction material to relay existing roads. Only bitumen and water is used to construct the road as other material is obtained from the existing broken roads.

The machine, worth nearly Rs 12 crore, takes about one-fourth of the time taken to lay a road while using the conventional method. Further, the road constructed with the machine can be thrown open to traffic sooner.

The machine is being used for the first time in Punjab and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal is expected to have an on-road demonstration in Bhikhi, Mansa.

The PWD officials said a Gujarat-based contractor, Patel Infrastructure, was given the contract of the road for 10 years, which included maintenance of the entire stretch. The contractor will undertake construction activities that will be assigned to him at different times.

The road manager of Patel Infrastructure, Mukesh Kumar, said the machine does away with the transportation cost of construction material besides saving fuel and labour.

So far, the machine has constructed a 5-km stretch on Dhanaula-Bhikhi road where it has removed cracks and structural inadequacy of the road.

In the first year of the contract, the machine would be used to construct 20-km road from Mansa chowk to Kotshamir, 10 km stretch from Bhawanigarh to Mehlan chowk and 25 km stretch from Dhanaula to Bhikhi. The 106-km stretch from Bhawanigarh to Kotshamir will be widened from seven metres to 10 metres and the road from Mansa to Talwandi Sabo will be widened from five metres to 10 metres.

The road from Mansa chowk to Mansa city will be four-laned during the next year and the rest of the stretches will be constructed later.

Bathinda, August 10
Crumbling walls, surrounded by wild vegetation growth, plaster falling off, iron railings barely there and thick spider webs - the seemingly haunted building located on the premises of the Government Rajindra College is actually the boys’ hostel. A look at the hostel and one would understand why students prefer staying at rented accommodations in the city.

Built almost four decades ago, the hostel is now lying in a state of neglect. Only one of the total three blocks is habitable now. “We have a total of 99 rooms out of which several are not suitable for living. Two years ago, the college had got one of the three blocks renovated. Thirty three rooms in this block are habitable and can be given to the students,” said Prof Sukhdev Singh, the hostel warden.

A crumbling building is not the only thing which plagues the hostel. Several other infrastructural lapses add toward making the experience of staying here a gruelling one. The college charges Rs 3,000 per year for hostel accommodation. This amount does not include the mess charges.

“The hostel has a mess which works like a cooperative. The students contribute money and the responsibility of arranging for vegetables and other ingredients and a cook is also shouldered by the students. The college does not offer food to the students,” informed Singh.

Considering that belongings of the hostellers are kept in their respective rooms, 24x7 presence of a guard becomes imperative. Shockingly enough, that is another aspect that the college has turned a blind eye to.

“A housekeeping person (safai karamchari) has been asked to work as a night watchman. But there is no such arrangement for ensuring the safety and well-being of the students and their belongings during the daytime,” Singh said.

Singh added that proposals for the maintenance and upgradation of the hostel have been sent to the DPI (Colleges) a number of times but to no avail. “In fact, the college has also sent a proposal as part of the Babu Jagjivan Chhatrawas Yojna seeking funds from the Central Government to build a hostel for girls belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. We didn’t get any response so far,” Singh said.

He shared that the rooms were in such a bad condition that students prefer staying at rented accommodations in the city to staying at the hostel.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, principal of the college Vijay Goyal said, “When we had submitted the proposal for development grant, we had included Rs 40 lakh for repair and renovation of the hostel. However, the committee removed it from the priority list. Now, we are planning to spend a part of the Rs 53 lakh grant which the college has received on the repair and renovation of the hostel.” 

Bathinda, August 10
The impending state-wide strike by the operators of the buses and vans ferrying students has placed two unions at loggerheads and left the parents confused. Following the August 12 strike announcement made by the School and College Bus Operators Association, Punjab, the Bathinda School Bus Welfare Association has announced that it will not follow suit.

While the two unions will slug it out on Monday, several schools in the district announced a holiday on Monday while a few refused to make an announcement leaving the decision to the school committees.

The School and College Bus Operators Association is claiming that as many as 5,000 bus and van operators will assemble in Bathinda to take part in the state-level rally which will begin from the grain market here.

"Any other association saying that it will not take part in the strike will not be allowed to ply its buses to ferry the students. We are fighting for the demands of all the operators. We don't have any personal vendetta," said Gurpreet Singh Happy, state president of the School and College Bus Operators Association.

Devinder Pal Singh and Gurmeet Singh Sidhu, president and chairman of the other union, said, "We will not take part in the strike. We don't favour hampering the studies of the children and the Independence Day preparations. Keeping the buses and vans off the roads is not the right way of protesting against the government policies."

Meanwhile, parents have been left in the lurch. "We heard about the strike and the fact that several schools in the district have announced a holiday on Monday.

“We also called up our daughter's schools but were left confused. We were told that the school was yet to decide," said Gurmeet Kaur, a resident of Housefed Colony. Her daughter studies in St Joseph's Convent School.

Another worried parent, Sahil Lamba, a resident of Panchvati Nagar in the city said, "My son studies in Silver Oaks and the school has announced a holiday on Monday. Schools of many of his friends are yet to announce an off. We wonder what's happening."

Bathinda, August 10
Nearly 1200 workers of the Thermal Contract Workers' Sangharsh Committee of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat, today took out a massive protest against the state government and the management of the power plant for not converting the unskilled workers who have been working for many years into skilled categories.

General secretary of the committee, Rajinder Singh Dhillon, alleged that the authorities give a meagre Rs 5,600 to the unskilled workers at the plant and Rs 7,200 to the skilled workers. "This despite the fact that the actual amount released by the management is Rs 10,000 for the unskilled workers and Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 for the skilled workers," Dhillon said.

The family members of the workers too accompanied them during the protest. The workers laid a dharna at Fountain Chowk, Bhucho Mandi, where heavy police force was deployed to thwart the bid to hold a dharna against the state government.

The workers said they had announced they would protest during the visit of Chief Minister Parkash Badal to Bhucho Mandi but the CM's tour had been postponed today.

The members of the committee also said that they had been protesting against the contractual system for over two years and had submitted a memorandum to the senior government functionaries but nothing had been done so far.

Bathinda SDM Damanjit Mann, Nathana Tehsildar Kamaljit Singh, DSP Bhucho Harpal Singh and SHO Nathana Jeet Singh pacified the agitators and listened to their demands. The government officials promised to take up the issue with the senior authorities and asked them to lift the dharna.

Bathinda, August 10
Aiming to assess and increase the interest of students in social science, an exhibition of models was organised at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Bathinda. The exhibition was organised under the supervision of the District Education Officer (Secondary) Harkanwaljeet Kaur.

Models prepared by the students of classes VI-VIII of the government schools of six blocks - Bathinda, Nathana, Talwandi Sabo, Rampura Phul East, Rampura Phul West and Sangat - were displayed at the exhibition.

In the category for geography, a model prepared by Gurprakash Singh of the Government High School, Chughe, bagged the first place while the second place went to the model prepared by Navjot Kaur, a student of Government Girls School, Goniana Mandi.

In the category for history, a model made by Rajiv Bhatti, a student of the Government Senior Secondary School, Multania, bagged the first position while the second position went to the model made by Kinnu Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Behman Diwana.

In the civics category, Government Senior Secondary School's Arshdeep Singh and Government Senior Secondary School, Goniana Khurd, bagged the first and second places, respectively.

The panel of judges included Balraj Singh Sra, Pawan Kumar, Baljeet Singh, Mahinder Pal, Radheshyam and Gursharan Kaur. 

The vehicle lifters in police custody. Tribune photo

Police said the accused swapped the number plates of the stolen vehicles with fake ones and then further sold these vehicles to make fast bucks.

Corporation employee killed in bus-car collision

An employee of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) was today killed in a car-bus collision on Bathinda-Muktsar road. The deceased, identified as 32- year-old Harjinder Singh of Burj Mehma village was married a year ago. He got the MCB job after the death of his father who was also working in the corporation.

Harjinder with his brother- in-laws Balwinder Singh and Gurmeet Vicky was on his way back after condoling the death of his mother-in-law in a Tata Indica car when a speeding bus collided with their vehicle.

Bathinda, August 10
Only a year old and the Shri Shyam Vaishno Dhaba is already enjoying a base of loyal customers. After all, at how many road-side dhabas can you get delicacies like kesar lassi for a beverage and kesar kheer for a dessert.

Located near the Rose Garden, the dhaba is run by partners Ratan Lal and Narendra Kumar. "We had the space and we decided to open a dhaba and try our luck. We were not sure whether we would be able to handle the business or not and started off by offering only paranthas and mixed thali," said Ratan Lal.

As their customer base expanded, the duo's confidence increased resulting in the expansion of the dhaba menu. "Now, we have two types of mixed thalis. The one with sabzi, dal, raita, salad and roti is for Rs 50 and the other one, which also has rice in it, costs Rs 70," he said.

He also attributed the success of their dhaba to the quality they offer at a reasonable price. "We use only branded ingredients and condiments. We also make sure that the vegetables we use are fresh and we never use leftovers. The oil and ghee that we use are also of good quality," he explained.

From among the various popular dishes at the dhaba, Ratan Lala considers the tawa roti, kofta kadhi, cheese chilli, palak paneer, kulcha naan, kesar kheer and kesar lassi as specialities. The popularity of the dhaba can be gauged by the fact that there are as many as 18 workers putting their culinary skills together to offer delicious meals. The dhaba remains open from 9 am to 4 pm and 7 pm to 11 pm.