Bathinda, October 31
Kin of Talwinder Singh Toor, the young kabaddi player who died in a 'freak accident' on October 10, today accused the state government of being indifferent to the deceased's family.

The relatives announced that they would launch a massive protest during the inauguration ceremony of World Kabaddi Cup in Bathinda. They accused the SAD-BJP-run government of not giving adequate compensation to the bereaved parents.

"It was not a freak accident but negligence of officials of the Municipal Corporation," said Avtar Singh, the deceased's uncle. He said while the government spends crores to organise World Kabaddi Cup before elections it failed to even sympathise with Talwinder's family.

A municipal councillor of Bhawanigarh, Avtar Singh, was accompanied by a former chairman of Bhawanigarh Market Committee and other prominent persons of the town while meeting senior administrative and police officials of Bathinda district. "We came here just to forewarn the authorities and to apprise them of the public strength. Over 5,000 people attended Talwinder's bhog ceremony and everyone criticised government servants and political leaders for not doing anything for the bereaved family. The government thinks that offering Rs 2 lakh as compensation and a few minutes of condolence were enough for the family of a promising kabaddi player. It must offer a government job to one of the members of the bereaved family besides an adequate compensation," he added.

Meanwhile, SP (Detective) Naveen Singla has assured the family members of the including the names of all guilty officials of the MCB or the Powercom in the case.

Bathinda, October 31
Good news for animal lovers! The authorities of the Bir Talab Mini Zoo have announced an animal adoption scheme to associate animal lovers of the city in management, conservation and animal breeding programmes of the zoo.

Under the scheme, one can adopt an animal or a bird in the zoo for a stipulated annual cost.

"Besides getting acquainted with the animal behaviour, the adopters will receive formal invitation for all functions, including wildlife week or state level events," said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dr Sanjeev Tiwari.

One may keep the track of the adopted animal's growth and suggest remedies.

Zoo officials said the scheme had earlier got good response from corporate houses in other cities of the country as well as zoos in Punjab, including the biggest Chhatbir Zoo in Mohali district.

The DFO stated that names of the people adopting an animal or a bird would also be put on display at the main entrance of the zoo. Five of their family members or friends will be given free visitor's pass for a year and the person availing of the scheme will be declared ex-officio member of the zoo development society. The adopter will also be awarded a certificate.

The zoo authorities stated that in a bid to make the scheme more attractive, large animals like tiger and lion would also be brought to the zoo soon as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has recently shown keen interest in the initiative.

Sources in the Forest Department said at present, there were three enclosures in the Mini Zoo for the deer safari and one could be vacated for a big animal.

"To bring a tiger, the zoo authorities will have to undergo a lot of paper work and will have to obtain sanction of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)," said department officials.

Also there is a proposal to buy a toy train at the estimated cost of Rs 30 lakh as an added attraction at the zoo. The proposal is awaiting approval for required funds.

Bathinda, October 31
The 370 plot holders of Patel Nagar area are yet to become the owners of land they bought 15 years ago. Unable to pay the enhancement fees that the Bathinda Improvement Trust imposed on them, people are unable to get their work such as registering of land in their name, passing of building plan, adding construction, getting sewer and water supply, done.

Falling in the 49.5 acres scheme of the trust, the land for the colony was acquired in the late 1990s. The owner of the land, however, moved the apex court stating that he has been paid less compensation. "The case was decided in his favour and the trust paid him the enhanced rate. Thereafter, the trust divided the enhanced rate into 370 residential plot holders leaving out residential pockets as well as the owners of the plots that were bought on the basis of auction," said a resident of the area and a member of of Patel Nagar Welfare Society, Randhawa Singh.

The current pending amount for enhancement is Rs 6 crore, which the 370 plot owners are unable to pay. Another resident Sukhvinder Singh added that the trust has assets worth Rs 252 crore lying unoccupied with it in the commercial pockets of this scheme. These include the bus stand on Barnala road, 20 shops-cum-flats (SCFs), land for primary school, Yatri Niwas, bank site, hotel and restaurant site, petrol pump site and others.

"The Trust can earn enough money from these commercial ventures and exempt us. We have been burdened even with the rates of commercial land, which is not our responsibility. Why ask only 370 people to pay for the entire 49.5 acres of the land's enhanced rate? The Trust should deduct the area covered under commercial pockets, parks and roads," the people reasoned.

Since the residents of the area are unable to pay the enhanced rates, they are not even allowed to carry out any work on their plots. People said that whenever they approach the trust office to get the building maps passed or to get sewer and water connection, they are first asked to pay 25 per cent of the enhancement fees.

"We took up the matter with the IT authorities. The local MP, CM and Deputy CM, along with a battery of Punjab government officials, have been sent representations, but all pleas have fallen on deaf ears," said Randhawa Singh.

During the last Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal had assured the people of a waiver of the enhancement fees if his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal came to power. "Despite being in power for the last five years, even Harsmirat has not been able to do anything," said members of the welfare society, demanding that the government should give them a waiver the way the occupants of the illegal colonies are being benefited. The enhancement rate was one of the main reasons why the ruling SAD-BJP government lost in the municipal corporation bypoll to the Congress candidate Iqbal Singh Dhillon Babli. Dhillon claimed to have raised the issues at different levels but failed to evoke a positive response.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Improvement Trust, Varinder Kumar Sharma said since he had recently joined, he was not aware of the issue. "I will seek the records tomorrow and study it," he said.

Bathinda, October 31
Centre for Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture of the Central University of Punjab (CUP) will organise a series of lecture on the occasion of Punjab Day on November 1.

Experts from varied disciplines will present their views on the reconstruction of Punjab from scientific, social and cultural perspective.

In a press statement issued here, a spokesperson for the varsity said the aim of the programme is to understand the past and search for possibilities in the future.

Prof Prithipal Singh Kapoor will be the chief guest on the occasion while Prof MS Kang will be the special guest. The programme will also include special lectures by Dr Ranjeet Singh Ghuman and Dr Satnam Singh Ladhar.

The spokesperson added that the formation of Punjab state on the basis of linguistic uniqueness on November1, 1966 was an important event. Various factors like geography, society, economics and culture play an important role in the construction of a state.

The seminar will understand and discuss divergent views of experts from various disciplines about the present situation of Punjab. Therefore the centre is organising a series of lectures by experts in history, economics, science and linguistics to understand the possibilities in Punjab's future.

Bathinda, October 31
The UPA chairperson and head of the vigilance monitoring committee, Rae Bareli (UP), Sonia Gandhi has assured the employees of the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) of taking up the matter of non-payment of salaries as well as that of proposed winding up of the DRDA.

In a press statement issued here today, the president of the All India DRDA Employees Association, Sadhu Ram Kusla stated that Sonia Gandhi was informed of the issue during a meeting of the vigilance and monitoring committee in Rae Bareli held on October 8.

The Association had submitted a charter of demands against the winding up of DRDAs and DRDA Administration Scheme from April 1, 2014 by the Union Ministry of Rural Development, without deciding the fate of 18,000 employees already working in DRDAs since 1970-71.

She was also informed that with the implementation of the decision of MoRD, more than 18,000 employees will lose their jobs which will impact one lakh family members all over India. Due to less budget sanctioned under the DRDA Administration Scheme, salary to the DRDA employees in a majority of the states have not been paid for the last 6-9 months.

Now, after issuing letters to the ministries concerned and the Planning Commission, a copy of these letters has been sent to the association.

"Private secretary to the chairperson, National Advisory Council, New Delhi, Dhiraj Srivastava, while forwarding the representation of the association along with its enclosures, also made a request to the ministries concerned to look into the matter for appropriate necessary action and also sought factual status in this behalf for the information of the chairperson, UPA," said Kusla. 

Bathinda, October 31
National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Bathinda, distributed sewing machines to 30 women at village Gillpatti who had been imparted three months' training in tailoring.

General manager in-charge, NFL SC Singla donated 86 desks for the Government Primary School in the village. Singla said under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, the NFL has spent about Rs 11 lakhs for carrying out various social welfare activities in the village.

Also, the NFL has installed 20 street solar lights at different places in the village. An RO system of 100 litre capacity has been also provided to the senior secondary school at Gillpatti.

Senior NFL executives, representatives of the employees union, officers association, SC/ST Employees Welfare Association, Natha Singh, member, Block Samiti, members of the Panchayat, Rajwant Kaur, principal, primary school, Gillpatti, Anita Rani, principal of secondary school, Gillpatti and the staff members were also present.

Bathinda, October 31
A youth was killed in an accident after he fell off an overloaded bus and was run over by an oil tanker on the Bathinda-Mansa Road opposite Sartaj Palace.

The incident took place when the 20-year-old youth, identified as Bir Devinder Singh from village Jassi Pau Wali, was travelling in a private bus headed for Talwandi Sabo.

Cops stationed at the Vardhman police post said as the bus was overloaded, Bir Devinder was standing near its front door. Suddenly, an oil tanker running parallel to the bus hit it throwing Bir Devinder off guard on the road. He was crushed to death under the oil tanker.

Cops said cases have been registered under section 304-A of the IPC against the drivers of both the vehicles. Police has booked the bus driver Amarjit Singh as well as the truck driver Malkit Singh.

The volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa reached the spot and took the body to the Civil Hospital. The deceased Bir Devinder Singh of Jassi Pau Wali used to learn computer graphics at an institute in Mehna Chowk.

Meanwhile, the occupant of the car, who was charred to death on Bajakhana Road on Wednesday night, has been identified as Manish Kumar, son of an employee of National Fertilizers Limited (NFL).

The Maruti Alto car he was travelling in caught fire and he was charred to death.

Bathinda, October 31
Hosts Bathinda bagged the first place in the national style kabaddi championship defeating Amritsar by a big margin at the ongoing 59th Punjab School Games.

In the kabaddi super league matches for boys in the Under-19 category, Amritsar defeated Sangrur 35-15, Bathinda defeated Sangrur 26-11, Amritsar defeated Muktsar 39-16 while Sangrur defeated Muktsar 28-11.

For the first two positions, Bathinda played against Amritsar wherein Bathinda raider Sandeep Singh and Sagar Singh played well tilting the match in favour of their team. Bathinda bagged the first place defeating Amritsar 36-11, while Sangrur bagged the third place defeating Muktsar.

In the kabaddi super league matches for the Under-19 category for girls, Hoshiarpur defeated Maluka Wing 38-33, Ropar defeated Ferozepur 58-56, Hoshiarpur defeated Ropar 19-18 and Ferozepur defeated Maluka Wing 38-19. Ferozepur bagged the first place, Hoshiarpur stood second while Ropar was third.

In the matches being held at St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Tarn Taran defeated Faridkot 14-2 in the netball for boys. In the other matches, Bathinda defeated Ludhiana 24-4, Barnala defeated Muktsar 17-4 while Mansa defeated Amritsar 16-12. In the super league matches for girls in Under-14 category, Bathinda defeated Ropar 14-2, Bathinda defeated Tarn Taran 10-7, Tarn Taran defeated Ludhiana.