Bathinda, October 4
While paddy started arriving in grain markets, the previous backlog of milled rice at 76 rice mills in Bathinda is yet to be cleared. These mills have been declared defaulter and several cases of cheating and criminal breach of trust have been registered against many rice mill owners. A rough estimate reveals that the millers either embezzled or failed to return rice worth more than Rs 25 crore. According to the recent cases registered against the owners of rice mills in Rampura, paddy worth more than Rs 2.52 crores was misappropriated by the mill owners. At present, there are 224 rice mills in Bathinda.

The procurement agencies after purchasing the produce from farmers in grain markets hand over paddy consignments to millers to produce the rice. The millers are supposed to return 67 per cent rice on per 100 kg paddy, maintaining the rice quality as per the standards fixed by the agencies. The leftover 33 percent is obtained as byproduct in the form of rice bran, paddy husk and other, which millers can retain.

Rice millers took the plea of stringent yardsticks and measures adopted by the procurement agencies that do not allow them to return rice after milling within the stipulated time and maintaining the quality as per the government standards.

“There is hardly any rice miller who gets successful in returning the correct proportion of rice after maintaining the quality and quantity within the time frame. Sometimes, the moisture level fluctuates or the quantity fails to meet the standards," said district president of the Rice Millers Association Purshottam Kumar. He pointed out that at times millers fail to extract 67kg rice from 100 kg.

Nakesh Jindal, Sirhind-based member of the Punjab Rice Millers' Association, said apart from stringent guidelines this year, the millers were forced to pay back the cost of gunnies.

Officials in the District Food Supply Controller office said once a mill was declared defaulter, paddy stock could not be allocated to it. However, despite being defaulters, new rice mills have come up in the district. Last year five new rice mills were set up in the district, while one mill has been set up in Rampura and two others in Rama Mandi this year. Every season two to five rice mills are declared defaulter and a similar number of mills come up in the district.

“At present we do not have any space crunch. Even the last year we accommodated paddy from Muktsar district," said DFSC Parveen Vij. On rising number of defaulters, Vij said most of the rice mills were now clearing their backlog in view of the fresh arrival. He pointed out that as per the new figures the number of defaulters was likely to reduce to around 45.

He said as per a rough estimate, 8, 86, 460 metric tonnes of paddy is expected to arrive in the district as compared to last year’s 7,91,500 MT. 

Bathinda, October 4
Bathinda junction’s wait for a long-term solution to its sanitation worries got a little longer today when senior officials at Ambala said that the finalisation of the tender would take at least two months.

Gulshan, senior divisional commercial manager (SDCM), Ambala division, along with some other officials, visited the Bathinda railway station today and took a stock of the sanitation situation. Although chief commercial manager general Vidya Sinha was scheduled to visit the station, she had to terminate her visit. Though close to 20 cleaners and sweepers were sent from Dhuri, Saharanpur, Ambala and Kalka and close to 15 men were hired by the junction authorities to clean up the station before the visit, the officials looked dissatisfied with the condition of the station. Despite sprinkling of DDT and other insecticides, foul smell emanated from the tracks. Discussing the situation, the SDCM told the authorities that the clearance of tender would take at least two more months because of some “technical problems”. He added that till then the authorities could initiate the work of inviting quotations to give the contract to a firm on a monthly basis.

Interestingly, the earlier contract had ended on August 25 and the authorities had floated a new tender on August 12. When asked why the tender was floated earlier, the SDCM said, “We had floated a tender sometimes ago, but it had to be discharged for the non-compliance of rules and regulations. A minimum gap of at least 45 needs to be given before floating a tender.”

“There were inevitable technical issue due to which the tender couldn’t be completed in time. Till the time the work is handed over to a firm for three years, we have asked the junction authorities to hire private firms to clean up the station,” he added.

Meanwhile, the junction authorities are managing the situation precariously. “We hire at least 10 sweepers to clean up the washable aprons and tracks everyday. They are being paid wages at the rate of Rs 219. An additional four workers of the medical department are responsible for sweeping the offices and railway platforms,” said the station superintendent, Pradeep Sharma.

He also said that the situation could have been better, if people had some civic sense. He also pointed out that the exit passageway near the railway ticket booking counter was being used by the public as open urinal. “Since there is no fine, people litter every nook and corner of the station and then complain of the sanitation situation. We all can play our part in keeping the place clean,” he said. 

Bathinda, October 4
Reiterating the demand of initiating a probe into the alleged role of senior SAD leaders in the killing of a PPP candidate, the PPP leader from Rampura, Lakha Sidhana, today demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

Lakha Sidhana said the call details of the accused should be checked by an independent central agency to ascertain the relationship between them and Akali leaders. Sidhana said despite the claims of fair investigation, the police generally danced to the tunes of their political masters, however, this time, they played an impartial role in the arrest of the four accused from a Talwandi village. The PPP leader said it was worrisome as political opponents were stooping low by taking the help of gangsters and robbers.

The PPP leader said his party would soon decide on taking up the issue by organising rallies to expose the leaders involved in illegal activities. — TNS 

Bathinda, October 4
An emergency meeting of the PSEB Engineers' Association of the GNDTP region was held today at the officers' club. The members expressed concern over the disciplinary action being initiated against the official of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Plant, Bathinda, after the incident involving the oil starvation of turbine of Unit III on June 13 this year.

They said the inquiry committee report was 'unfair" and action was being initiated against the GNDTP engineers which was not justified.

The PSEB engineers said the incident has occurred due to design failure and the casual approac project. The GNDTP engineers were forced to synchronise the unit despite the fact that there were serious discrepancies in view of the requirement for power. The engineers also held the PSPCL management responsible for the above incident as no separate construction wing was created for carrying out the renovation and modernization (R&M) activities of the units.

The GNDTP engineers said they have been left with no other option but to resort to agitation. The notice regarding agitation has been served to the plant management. The engineers will start their agitation from October 21. They will wear black badges during the first week of the agitation and hold gate rallies during the next week. The agitation will be intensified if the PSPCL does not withdraw the proposed action.

Among those who addressed the gathering were Devinder Goyal, regional secretary, Manjit Singh, Rajinder Singla and Ashok Arora, all executive members.

Bathinda, October 4
Gurdev Singh Chatha was elected as the district president of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union today.

Mahinder Singh Sachdeva has been elected as the general secretary, Rajesh Kumar as the cashier, Baljit Singh as assistant cashier, Gurmel Kaur as senior vice-president, Sadhu Ram, Jaswinder and Tirath Batra as vice-presidents, Rajwinder Brar and Narinder Kumar as press secretaries, Kulbir Singh as secretary and Bikkar Singh as organisational secretary. Jarnail Singh, Jiwan Kumar, Surinder Dheer, Makhan Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Paramjit Kaur have been elected as advisors. These office-bearers will discharge their duty till the their term lasts.

Bathinda, October 4
To make computer science students aware of the latest technology and know-how in software applications, students of Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, visited the 'One Infotech (OIT)' at Mohali.

During the visit, the students gained information about the different phases of software development and procedures followed in outsourcing activities.

Dr BS Dhaliwal, Dean, Academics, Guru Kashi University, said such visits strengthen the practical knowledge and also develop entrepreneurial skills. — TNS

Bathinda, October 4
"It's the most romantic, exciting and exhilarating scam of 2013, wherein a con woman ends up loving one of her victims. What ensues later is a hilarious comedy and some of the best moments the Punjabi cinema has ever seen," said actress Neeru Bajwa while talking about her upcoming film "Ronde Saare Vyaah Pichhon" (RSVP). The film has been directed by Vijay Kumar Arora.

Talking about his role in the film, Harish said, "I am playing the role of Ranvir, a handsome, sophisticated and rich young man, who marries a beautiful girl of his grandmother's choice. He is a man of principles. The movie will reinforce the value of relations."

Guggu Gill added that he was sure that the audience would easily connect with the characters in the film. Besides them, the movie has actors like Rajpal Yadav, Jaswinder Bhalla, Navneet Nishaan and Rana Ranbir.

But the scene turned gloomy when actress Neeru Bajwa showed her angry side and stormed out of a press conference here today. The press conference was the part of the promotional tour of her upcoming "Punjabi film, Ronde Saare Viyaah Pichhon" (RSVP). Actors Harish Verma and Gugu Gill were also present. The actress lost her temper, and rightly so when someone said that he wanted to be clicked with Verma and Gill. The actress, who was sitting in the centre, offered to get up to make space for the person and walked out of the conference. 

Bathinda, October 4
Mismanagement raised its ugly face on Day 2 of the ongoing Punjab State Games for Women. While Amanpreet Kaur from Patiala, lost and found her shoes, several players complained of a foul smell pervading the area where the players were being served food.

A javelin thrower from Patiala, Amanpreet Kaur, had to inform her acquaintances to get her shoes back. "I had taken off my shoes to participate in the javelin throw event and when I came back, I found them missing. My uncle who is from Gidderbaha, then exerted pressure on the police officials here who helped me find my shoes," she told Bathinda Tribune.

It so turned out that one of the workers hired for marking lines with limestone had picked her branded shoes and walked away. "Although the shoes were recovered from him, he refused to accept that he had picked them. He kept saying galti se aagaye," Amanpreet Kaur added.

District Sports Officer, Bathinda, Karam Singh Sandhu, said, "The workers have been hired for a few days. On the pretext of watching the matches, they don't leave the ground even after their work is done." When asked about the snack vendors who were also openly roaming inside the stadium, he said, "We have no option but to leave all the gates open to let the spectators in. in such a situation, we have no control over who is entering and leaving the stadium."

Meanwhile, players from several teams complained that it was impossible to sit inside the canopy where the food was being served because of the foul smell in the area. "The leftovers from breakfast have been discarded nearby from where the stench is emanating. In a lame attempt to cover up for their mistake, the workers have placed an upturned table on the discarded food items," said a player from Sangrur.

Several players could be seen carrying water bottles of their own since they didn't want to drink the water "which is used to douse fire", as one player put it. "Although there are campers from which we can drink water, when we on the field, the sole source of potable water is a water tanker. When we checked with the persons serving water where they had got it from, they told us the tanker had been filled with water from the fire brigade station. One can imagine how safe the water is."

"It is such a big stadium and there's not even a water cooler here. When we asked someone if there was a water cooler around, we were told that the officials also get the water for drinking from the campers," added another player.

Bathinda, October 4
Lawn tennis players from the GZS-PTU campus, Bathinda won a gold medal at the PTU Inter-College Lawn Tennis Tournament held at RIMIT, Mandi Gobindgarh.

The team comprised Shapenpreet Kaur, Deep Kamal, Karanjot Kaur, Satinderjeet Kaur, Prabhjot Kaur and Karamjeet Kaur. The team fought against GNE, Ludhiana, to bring back the overall lawn tennis trophy.

The boys team, comprising Akashdeep Sandhu, Harjeet Singh, Navjot Singh, Harminder Singh, Sukhbir Singh and Ayush, also grabbed the bronze medal, defeating RIMIT, Mandi Gobindgarh.

For his outstanding performance at the tournament, Harjeet Singh has been selected for the All India Inter-University Tournament to be held at Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram University, Murthal.

The girls basketball team of the GZS PTU campus also won a bronze medal and two members of the team, Swati Rana and Ashima Sharma, have been selected for the Inter-University Tournament.

Campus director, Jasbir Singh Hundal, expressed his happiness over the the performance of the players.

Registrar Prof GS Bath, president, sports, Prof Bhupinder Pal Singh Dhot, assistant president, sports, Dilbagh Singh and DPE Gurneet Singh and Harmanjot Kaur congratulated the teams and encouraged them to keep up their splendid performance in future events also.