Bathinda, November 1
Strict instructions issued to wholesale and retail dealers of crackers to put up stalls only in the designated areas apparently have not been followed in letter and spirit.

A number of retailers have put up stalls illegally caring two hoots about the safety of human lives. One such stall each was spotted at the Gandhi Market and near Des Raj Senior Secondary School area today. Crackers were being openly sold flouting safety norms. Besides, smaller stalls came up in the areas of Ajit Road, Bhagu Road, parts of Paras Ram Nagar and Amarpura Basti.

Grocers and gift shop owners put up such stalls to raise their sales in the festive season. "We request authorities concerned to look the other way so that we may make some fast bucks this season," said a shopkeeper on Ajit Road, who put up a few crackers on display and stored more in his godown without obtaining a licence. He added that his was not the isolated case.

Besides Diwali, crackers are also sold for Gurpurb and wedding occasions.

As per the rules, firecrackers are to be sold only at the designated places, which are open spaces. This is done to ensure that in the event of an accidental fire, loss to life and property remains less. Also, open spaces facilitate entry and exit of fire tenders. However, crackers are also being sold in the narrow lanes of the market around the Bathinda Fort area without keeping a fire extinguisher to meet an exigency.

Designated sale points

The district administration has notified places for the sale of firecrackers. These include multi-purpose stadium and grounds at Government Rajindra College, Railway Colony, Khalsa School and Thermal Colony for retailers, and the areas near Truck Union and the multi-purpose stadium for wholesalers.

A total of 250 wholesale and retail dealers have been allowed to put up stalls at the designated places. The maximum numbers of stalls, 95, are being put up at the multi-purpose stadium.

Tackling exigencies

On Diwali night, 16 employees of the fire station will be on duty with six fire tenders including two big and four mini units. Chief fire officer Jaswinder Singh said one fire tender each has been stationed on the Mansa Road and the Railway grounds.

The shopkeepers displaying fireworks in narrow markets have been directed to keep water-filled buckets, two sacks of sand and hand-held fire extinguisher at the stalls.

At the Civil Hospital too, doctors and other staff will remain on duty. Civil surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said all the specialists would be on duty on the Diwali night. At the district-level hospital, arrangements had been made for 50 patients keeping stock of intravenous fluids and antibiotics, in case of any exigency. Similar instructions have been issued to the health centres in the city's periphery.

Dr Sahni added that wards in the Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) Clinic had been reserved for patients on Diwali night. Besides, a minor operation theatre and three ambulances would be functional round the clock. All pharmacists have been asked to remain on duty.

Bathinda, November 1
Despite the police making claims about nailing fraudsters involved in organised frauds, many gullible people are still being cheated by unidentified phone callers declaring them lottery winners.

In a recent case of cheating, Bhinder Kaur, a resident of GGS Nagar, was lured by a caller making her poorer by Rs 35,550. She was told to deposit the money as income tax to claim Rs 15.80 lakh, the amount of lottery that she had "won".

A case of cheating under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered against the unidentified person at Thermal police station.

"Unaware of the nefarious designs, the woman rushed to the bank and deposited the money without giving it a second thought," said the investigating officer in the case, Sukhmandar Singh of Thermal police station. Declaring her the lucky winner, the caller had enticed the woman to deposit the money at the earliest so that the handsome sum could be given to her, he said.

As directed, the woman deposited the money with a local bank and the accused withdrew it in no time. The local bank officials expressed their helplessness in the case and asked the woman to approach the police. Bank officials said such incidents were occurring again and unwary mobile users who deposit the money to claim the lottery amount are left with a little chance to get it back.

Advising people not to fall in the trap of such fraudsters, Sandeep Singla, who works with HDFC Bank, said 99 per cent callers were network fraudsters. "Until and unless someone buys a lottery, he or she cannot win it," Singla said.

The bankers and policemen informed that people should never fall for any such temptation and should never call back if they ever get a missed-call from any unidentified number, especially the ones starting with the figure 92. Even if someone had actually bought a lottery, the actual serial number on the lottery ticket must be verified.

Bathinda SSP Ravcharan Brar said people should never believe any unidentified caller as numerous phone calls, mobile SMSs and e-mails were doing the rounds these days. "Many people get notifications of winning lakhs and crores of rupees. Almost all such declarations are fraud. People should be wary of such notifications," the SSP said.

He warned that anyone caught doing such tricks to make fast bucks would surely land himself in trouble as the Bathinda police was working on tracing such fraudsters.

As far as the case of the Army man's wife is concerned, the SSP said a team of policemen was looking into the case and the address of the account holder and phone number would be obtained soon.

Bathinda, November 1
The Sangat Darshan held by Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav failed to evoke response here today.

Starting at 11:30 am, the public grievance redressal forum was wrapped up within 30 minutes. A battery of district administration officials and the tehsil-level officials were present to receive complaints. However, all the three complaints received on the occasion were received during the previous Sangat Darshan programmes too. The last such programme was held on September 3.

Officials said since Member of Parliament Harsimrat Badal too held a Sangat Darshan in the district in the afternoon, the DC's programme received poor response. The old complaints included one wherein the complainant sought help of the administration and the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), to get his tenant evicted. 

Bathinda, November 1
Member of Parliament (MP) from the city Harsimrat Kaur conducted a sangat darshan programme at Sangat Mandi here today. She listened to farmers who were facing problems at the grain market in Sangat. After listening to their grievances, she directed officials concerned to personally visit grain markets regularly for monitoring the progress of ongoing paddy procurement. She also gave instructions to make all out efforts to ensure smooth and prompt procurement of paddy and facilitate farmers in getting timely payment of their produce.

She blamed the Congress-led UPA government for discriminating farmers of the state by using moisture content and discoloration as excuses for not procuring paddy.

The MP also visited Jassi Bagh Wali, Sangat Kalan, Chak Ruldu Singh Wala, Machana, Gehri Butter, Mehta, Gurusar Sainewala villages and Nar Singh Colony during her sangat darshan programme. She addressed grievances of villagers on the spot, besides disbursing developmental grants to these villages.

While addressing the public, the MP lashed out at the Central government for crossing all limits of corruption and betraying the citizens of the country.

She said multiple scams had been the government’s undoing and the public had lost faith in the Congress-led UPA government. She expressed her confidence in the people, who she said were waiting impatiently to throw Congress out of power in the next Lok Sabha elections. She also criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to control inflation despite being a world-renowned economist.

The MP credited the SAD-BJP government for performing its duty toward all sections of society in a transparent and accountable manner.

Bathinda, November 1
On the New Punjab Day organised by the Post Graduate Department of Punjabi, Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, Prof Joga Singh, former head of the Department of Languages and Lexicography, in his lecture dwelt on the international research carried out on the framing of policies on our mother tongue. He said Indian languages had not been given the place they deserved after Independence. Their condition had deteriorated during the last three decades.

He said the dominance of English language was instrumental in eliminating Indian languages. Joga Singh said the Russians, Germans and the French took pride in their scientific inventions. He said they had achieved the same without the knowledge of English language.

He said world-renowned researchers and experts testified that success of education was possible in one’s mother tongue. “Our main objective is to bring them out of this ignorance. We have to make them realise that success can be ensured only if the medium of instruction is our mother tongue ,” he added.

Prof Gurbhajan Singh Gill, director (planning and development) GKU, laid emphasis on learning from the booklet ‘International Research about Language Policy’ by Dr Joga Singh. The booklet was released by GKU Vice-Chancellor NS Malhi, on this occasion. Malhi said the thought-provoking speech delivered by Joga Singh was indeed a tool for bringing about changes in our educational system established by the British.

Satish Goswami, registrar, Dr Sunil Kumar, HOD, Dr Ravinder Kaur and Dr Simarpreet Kaur from the Department of Punjabi were also present on the occasion.

Bathinda, November 1
Bathinda lifted the overall trophy in the 59th Punjab State School Sports Tournament that concluded here today.

In the national style kabaddi, netball and handball competitions held over the five days, teams from Bathinda bagged the maximum prizes. In the Under-14 handball competition (girls), while Bathinda secured the first place, the Kairon Wing Tarn Taran and Ropar were the runners-up in that order. Scores: Kairon Wing Tarn Taran beat Ropar 7-4, Bathinda beat Ludhiana 16-6, Kairon Wing beat Ludhiana 11-5, Bathinda beat Kairon Wing 19-14, Bathinda beat Ropar 10-4 and Ropar beat Ludhiana 13-8.

In the Under-19 netball competition (boys), Bathinda and Barnala tied 15-15 and Mansa beat Tarn Taran 25-23. Barnala was placed first while the second spot went to Bathinda and Tarn Taran settled for the third place.

The matches were conducted in the presence of the District Tournament Committee general secretary Hardeep Singh Mann and members Karanjeet Singh, Sher Singh, Father Eulalio, Gurmander Singh, Gobind Lal, Iqbal Singh, Jugraj Singh and others. The results of the competitions held today at various venues across the city were shared by members of the press committee Harmander Singh Gulabgarh, Balvir Commando, Gurinder Singh, Surinderpreet, Sukhwinder Singh Manshahia and Gajinder Singh Deon.

During the closing ceremony, District Education Officer (Primary) Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta gave away prizes to the winning teams.

Bathinda, November 1
Students of Delhi Public School (DPS) took out an anti-cracker cycle rally to make the public aware about the environment pollution caused by bursting crackers. With placards urging the residents to celebrate Diwali in an eco-friendly manner, schoolchildren cycled around some of the major locations of the city.

The cycle rally was flagged off by SP (City) Desraj who congratulated school principal Dr Arun for organising the rally and wished staff and students a safe and happy Diwali. As many as 180 students, principal and staff members peddled for the social cause.

Bathinda Vikas Manch,an NGO, also organised an anti-cracker rally with students of Bhai Vir Singh Sainik School in Dhobiana Basti. Volunteers of the association educated students about environmental contamination due to bursting of crackers and made them pledge that they would celebrate Diwali without polluting the environment.