Bathinda, November 8
City residents, under the banner of Joint Action Committee, have written to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Government of India, and the chief minister, Punjab, raising concern over the presence of uranium in groundwater of Bathinda and other districts of the Malwa region.

The convener of the committee, MM Behal, said in view of a spurt in the number of cancer and kidney failure cases, there was an urgent need to find the reason behind concentration of uranium and thorium in groundwater.

He said while conducting a study, the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) collected samples of water from Malwa region which showed that the presence of uranium in groundwater was much higher than the permissible limit prescribed by the World Health Organization (15 ppb). In one of the villages in Bathinda district, the concentration level of the element was found to be as high as 644 ppb. The situation was no different in other districts, he said.

The JAC demanded that a high level study be conducted to find out the cause of presence of uranium in drinking water. It was also demanded that the government should pay immediate attention to the issue. 

Bathinda, November 8
The project of rehabilitating urban slums under the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana has hit a roadblock in the city with the district administration being unable to find land for the purpose.

Bathinda is among the seven cities of the state, including Jalalabad, Patiala, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Batala, which are to made slum free under the project. The Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) has been given the task to implement the scheme.

The basic aim of the project is to rehabilitate slum dwellers and vacate the land where slums have come up. Under the project, the slum dwellers will be provided housing solution by constructing high-rise buildings on a lesser area.

Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujwal said the project had been taken up. “It is a proven fact that whenever slum dwellers are rehabilitated out of city, they tend to come back because of urban nature of their livelihood. We don’t want to get land out of the city and shift slums there,” he said. Ujwal added that getting a chunk of urban land was a challenge not only in Punjab but in other states as well.

Currently, the project is in the nascent state in Bathinda. The PMIDC has now floated tenders to hire a technical advisor for preparing the technical plan for implementation of the project. The work has already started in the cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar.

A similar project was floated in 2006. Under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP), a component of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a detailed project report was prepared and 1980 families were identified. As per the rules, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) was supposed to provide 10 acres to build houses for slum dwellers. The cost of construction of each house was Rs 2.67 lakh. However, the BDA could not find any suitable portion of land within the city.

Under the project, the Government of India was to give Rs 80,000 each for every house, the beneficiary was to contribute Rs 2 lakh and the state government was to chip in with Rs 1.67 lakh.

Neither the BDA could find 10 acres nor was the state government in a position to pay its share. Hence, the project was revised and limited to people who own land but do not have enough resources to build kitchen, toilet or rooms.

The MCB later identified 1,288 beneficiaries for whom houses will be constructed at the cost of Rs 1559.91 lakh. The Central government will give 80 percent, while the MCB and the beneficiary will contribute 10 per cent each. 

Bathinda, November 8
Tele Purifier Systems on Ajit Road has been directed by the Consumer Forum to pay Rs 25,000, including Rs 3,000 as cost and Rs 7,000 as compensation, and refund an amount of Rs 15,700 to Gurbachan Singh Bhasin of Khadar Bhandar Wali Gali.

The complainant stated that he had purchased Kent RO System from the opposite party by paying Rs 15,700 and there was one-year warranty on the product and was assured to replace the RO system in case of a defect.

The complainant stated that ants and unwanted elements used to enter 
the water tank through a gap between sidewalls of the system.

The matter was brought to the notice of the seller who sent a serviceman but the flaw could not be fixed.

The seller was urged to replace the RO system but the workers and manager of the company kept on delaying the matter on one pretext or the other.

The forum after listening arguments and claims of both the parties observed deficiency on the part of Tele Purifier Systems and Kent RO Systems Limited, Haridwar, and directed them to refund the entire amount, Rs 15,700, paid by the complainant along with Rs 10,000 as cost and compensation.

Bathinda, November 8
United India Insurance Company Limited on Mall road here has been directed to pay Rs 6.37 lakh to a Fazilka resident. The amount includes Rs 50,000 as cost and compensation. The orders were passed by the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum on a complaint filed by Ashok Kumar.

Advocate Ashok Gupta said the Mahindra Bolero SLX jeep purchased by his client was stolen from Ganganagar. Despite the fact that the vehicle was insured, the officials of United India Insurance Company Limited refused to pay the insurance amount on frivolous ground of delay in providing the information of theft.

The insurance firm took the stand that their officials were deprived of tracing the vehicle on their own. The company repudiated the claim due to the delay in supplying certain other documents, Gupta said.

The insurance company also took the stand that the complainant had violated the Motor Vehicle Act by not getting the vehicle registered. The forum, however, observed that the complainant had informed the insurance company about the vehicle within a time period, which could not be termed late. A perusal of the documents provided by the complainant also reveals that all the papers sought by the insurance firm were provided by the complainant.

It was also observed by the forum that the temporary registration number of the new vehicle still had the validity of more than 30 days and there was no point of violating the Motor Vehicle Act. The forum observes that the firm refused to pay the insurance amount on frivolous grounds.

Declaring deficiency in services, the forum directed the insurance company to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 and 75 per cent value of the IDV (Insured’s Declared Value) i.e. Rs 5,87,995 along with the interest of 9 per cent per annum from October 9, 2010. The opposite party has been directed to comply with the order within 45 days. 

Bathinda, November 8
The Civil Lines police has booked five people for damaging public property. In a complaint to the police, Ved Prakash Khurmi, a resident of Ajit Road, stated that on August 17 few area residents had damaged the tiles on the pavement in the Civil Lines area. The police has booked Aman Jain, Mukesh Jain, Dhanraj Jain and two unidentified people under the Prevention of Damage to Property Act, 1984. The accused allegedly threatened the complainant to withdraw the complaint.

Four booked for fraud

The Kotwali police has booked four people on the charge of fraud. In a complaint to the police, Ramandeep Singh, a resident of Power House Road, stated that the accused duped him by getting land registered in the name of a person other than the owner. The economic offences wing of the police conducted an inquiry into it after which Rajinder Singh from Jujhar Singh Nagar, Gurcharan Singh from Ganesha Basti and Vaqil Singh and Ajmer Kaur from Mehma Sarja village have been booked.

Scooter stolen

An Activa scooter was stolen from a house in Shant Nagar on Amrik Singh Road on the Diwali night. In a complaint to the Kotwali police, Balwinder Kumar of Shant Nagar stated that on Diwali when his family was asleep the scooter was stolen. The gate of the house was found open and some unknown person and stole the scooter (PB 31 H 5830). The police has registered a case. 

Bathinda, November 8
The disbursal of grants to government schools for buying winter uniforms has been hit due to the pen down strike of the SSA, RMSA Non-Teaching Employees' Union that entered its19th day today.

Union president Pradeep Bansal said due to the strike the disbursal of grants and the work of sending reports to headquarters was suffering. The union is gearing up to attend the state-level rally to be convened at Ropar on November 9.

The union has been demanding pay parity with the teaching staff working under centrally- sponsored Sarvh Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA). 

Bathinda, November 8
Students of Baba Farid Group of Institutes (BFGI) visited different industrial houses under the industrial visit programme of the institute. Students of MBA (final year) of Baba Farid College of Management & Technology visited Nahar Spinning Mills, Ludhiana. Another batch of MBA (semester) students visited Yakult Danone India (P) Ltd. the students were explained about the entire process in a sequential manner from seed formation to culture and fermentation process and simultaneous processes like water filtration and laboratory testing.

Similarly, Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology (BFCET), Bathinda, also organised an visit to Sebiz, Mohali, Netsmartz, IT Park, Chandigarh, for BTech (CSE) third semester students. The students visited various development centres, including I-Phone application development centre and android application development centre . They also visited the online database management system and network operations centre (NOC) of these companies. — TNS 

Amritsar, November 8
After over a six month-long successful run of the daily Superfast Express train between Chandigarh and Amritsar via New Morinda and Sanehwal, the Railways is anticipating to commence another train between the two cities.

The Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway, Naresh Chander Goel, said the exact date of the launch of the train was not certain as official communication in this regard was still awaited. He added that any comment over its schedule, timing and commencement date could only be made after he received the written orders from the office. He said it was expected to land within a couple of days. The Ferozepur Division has its jurisdiction spread across parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

At present, the Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express train departs from Amritsar in the morning and makes the return journey in the evening. However, there has been a demand to run a parallel train starting from Chandigarh in the morning and returning the same day from Amritsar in the evening.

With its start, passengers from Chanidgarh can arrive here in the morning and return to the Union Territory in the evening as the passengers from the holy city have been enjoying the same with the already functioning Surperfast Express.

Pilgrims and tourists from Chandigarh and surrounding areas can come here to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, savour mouth-watering Punjabi delicacies and enjoy shopping traditional style in the markets of the walled city and return the same day.

It may be mentioned here that the travel time of Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express has been reduced by 30 minutes after the start of the newly laid Mornida-Sahnewal-Ludhiana section of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana track on April 19.

Earlier, the Duronto train was introduced between Amritsar and Chandigarh, which did not find favour with the passengers as it did not have stoppages at Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The response picked up after the stoppages were introduced at these two stations.

Dr AL Adlakha said,“It is a welcome move by the Railways to introduce a parallel train between the two destinations as it will bolster business, tourism and professional ties. The train should be extended to Kalka, which is nearly 28 km from Chandigarh, to link the holy city with Himachal Pradesh. It would offer another tourist circuit and choice to the visitors.”

Bathinda, November 8
The team of Government School, Jhumba, won the district-level science drama competition. the competition was held at Teachers’ Home. District science supervisor Jarnail Singh Bhodipura said six teams from three tehsils participated in the competition. The teams that won the first two places at tehsil-level competitions held at Bathinda, Rampura and Talwandi Sabo participated in the event.

From Bathinda tehsil, Government Senior Secondary School, Jhumba, and RBDAV School, Bathinda, participated. From Rampura, Government High School, Pitho, and Government High School, Bhunder, participated and from Talwandi Sabo tehsil, RMM DAV School, Raman, and St Soldier National School, Talwandi Sabo, participated.

The main theme of drama was science and society, which was further divided into five sub-themes, including green energy, water, health and cleanliness, need for scientific bend of mind and lives and works of scientists.

The team from Jhumba secured first place followed by St Soldier School team. DAV School, Raman, grabbed the third place. The Jhumba team will participate in the state-level competition. 

Bathinda, November 8
The Punjab State Women Commission will hold a court of four districts in Bathinda on November 11. The event will be held from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm at field hostel, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant Colony.

Commission Chairperson Paramjit Kaur Landran said 50 complainants of Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala and Muktsar districts had been summoned for hearing. She added new complaints could be submitted for hearing on the same day.

The Punjab State Women Commission has started an awareness campaign to spread awareness about women’s rights and the women courts are being organised at various places to provide justice to the women on their doorstep.

Paramjit Landran said the commission had already held courts at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Faridkot, Ferozpur, Sangrur and a special court of Ludhiana was held at Chandigarh. She said about 400 complaints were heard during these courts. “The first phase of the campaign will be complete after November 11 event ,” the Chairperson said Chairperson said that she would also visit Bathinda Jail along with women commission member Veerpal Kaur and other administrative officials.

Bathinda, November 8
The placement-cum-information brochure of Government Polytechnic College was released today. Principal Yadwinder Singh and Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujwal released the brochure. 

Yadwinder Singh said the brochure contained all information about all the placements. He added that the brochure would enable companies to identify the deserving candidates. 

Bathinda, November 8
An awareness programme on cancer was held at Government Senior Secondary School, Maiserkhana. Principal Varinderpal Kaur apprised the students of causes of cancer, symptoms and treatment.

“A cancer patient needs support besides treatment and good diet. Anyone having symptoms of cancer should report at the nearest government hospital for treatment at the earliest,” she said.— TNS

Bathinda, November 8
Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organised a seminar on Punjabi poet Sant Ram Uddasi. Prof Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Director (Planning & Development), GKU, presided over the function.

In his key note address, Professor Gill said the poems of Sant Ram Uddasi reflected the pain of the earth.

Punjabi NRI from Canada Ajmer Singh Sidhu was also present during the event.

Principal Dr Balwant Singh Sidhu said the message of Sant Ram Uddasi needed to be disseminated in the villages across the country.

Dr Sunil Kumar anchored the event. Olympian Dr Tarlok Singh Sidhu, Dr Ravinder Kaur and Dr Simarjeet Kaur were also present on this occasion.