Bathinda, December 15
The district police have claimed to a solve blind murder case wherein a 20-year-old woman’s body was found badly decomposed in bushels at the backside of Vardhman Factory on December 11.

SSP, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said a distance relative of the deceased killed her after an unsuccessful attempt of molesting her. “The incident took place on December 3 when the deceased, Rajni, had gone to collect fire woods at the backside of unit number 4 of the Vardhman factory. After seeing her alone, the accused Jal Singh, who resides near Rajni’s home, followed her and tried to molest her. But when Rajni protested and threatened to tell about Jal’s misbehavior to everyone in the colony, Jal took a heavy stone and hit her head killing her on the spot. After which he hid her body in the bushels in a bid to cover up his crime.

Rajni, who was working as a sweeper at the Vardhman factory, had gone missing on December 3. Her husband, Ravi, told the police that he had looked for his wife everywhere but could not find her.

On December 11, some people found her body in the bushels and informed the police. SSP Bhullar said: “SP (City) Bathinda, Des Raj, DSP (city), Ranjit Singh, DSP Gurmeet Singh Kingra and SHO, Sanjiv Kumar, have worked in cracking the case. They would be honored for their work.” 

Bathinda, December 15
A voters’ awareness rally was held in the city which witnessed massive participation of students from different educational institutes, district administrative officials and representatives of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Everyone gathered at the Multipurpose Stadium from where the rally was divided into four groups each group covering a designated sector.

Deputy Commissioner, Kamal Kishore Yadav, administered oath to the participants in the rally motivating them to get themselves enrolled as voters and practice their right to vote without any bias. Also, officials were put under oath to ensure that polling is done peacefully and with complete transparency.

The participants in the rally carried different kinds of banners and placards carrying slogans motivating people to cast their vote.

ADC, Sonali Giri, flagged off the Sector 1 rally, while Municipal Commissioner, Vipul Ujwal, drove the motorcycle with Giri as pillion rider. Starting from the Multipurpose Stadium, the rally moved towards Mall Road, Dhobi Bazar, Amrik Singh Road and culminated at the Rose Garden grounds.

ADC, Rajiv Prashar, flagged off the Sector 2 rally. DDPO, Rajinder Batra, led the rally driving on a motorcycle with rally from the Multipurpose Stadium to Fauji Chowk, bus stand, Bhagu Road, Model Town and culminated at the grounds of Police Public School.

SDM, Bathinda, Damanjit Singh Maan, flagged off the Sector 3 rally starting from the Multipurpose Stadium and further moved towards Ghode Wala Chowk, Power House Chowk, Model Town Phase III gate, 60-foot road, 100-foot road, reached Bibiwala Chowk and culminated at Government Polytechnic College.

Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Gopal Sharan Gagneja, flagged off the Sector 4 rally from the Multipurpose Stadium. It moved towards the Goniana Road, Mela Ram Hospital, Paras Ram Nagar, Thandi Sarak and concluded at the railway grounds.

Prominent among others present at the voters’ rally included Ravinder Sandhu from zila parishad, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, Kamal Kant Goyal, Tehsildar elections, Bharat Bhushan Bansal, Deputy District Education Officer (secondary), Krishan Kumar Gupta, DEO (primary), Amarjit Kaur, Naib Tehsildar Subhash Mittal. 

Badal, December 15
Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, seems to know well how to use free time, as he was seen holding a meeting with the officials of Mata Jaswant Kaur Memorial School at Badal village, while waiting for the CM of Pakistan’s Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, and his family members.

Accompanied by his daughter-in-law, Bathinda MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Chief Minister asking the school principal about the problems of students and even solved a number of them within a few minutes.

He even met the students and asked them if they liked their new track suits or not, which he had got from Chandigarh.

As soon as the school Principal, Col Dr Anand Swroop Paul, raised demand of sports shoes for the students, Badal not only assured him to provide the supply, but also directed officials accompanying him to immediately select the model and place order to a Jalandhar-based company.

Talking to The Tribune, the Chief Minister said, “Whenever I find free time, I visit this school. I have some special affection for this school. Now, I am thinking that what these children would do after passing out from here.”

He further said a number of expensive paintings, which he had bought from foreign countries, were placed inside the school complex.

It is to mention here that the school is being run on the name of Chief Minister’s mother under the aegis of Chaudhary Devi Lal Memorial Trust. The Chief Minister is the chairman of the trust and all the students get free education, uniforms and books.

The school has state of the art building, which was inaugurated in 2011.

Later, Shahbaz Sharif too, met the students and distributed fruits and sweets among them.

Harpreet Singh, a student of class VIII, said, “I will never forget this day, as I not only got a chance to meet our CM, but with Pakisatn Punjab’s CM too.” 

Bathinda, December 15
The district unit of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Yuva Morcha held Run for Unity March- an event commemorating the death anniversary of Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Starting from Fire Brigade Chowk, the rally passed through Dhobi Bazaar, Sirki Bazar and Mal Godam Road, and culminated at the Subhash Market.

Workers of urban and rural wings of the BJP participated in the event.

Gurcharan Kaur Panjgrain, district president Parminder Goyal, Yuva Morcha president Vikram Lucky, rural unit president Gurvinder Bhagta among others was present on the occasion.

Bathinda, December 15
The District Congress Committee today convened a meeting at its office in Bathinda today. Addressing the workers, president of the committee Ashok Kumar, stated that the residents of the state were angry with the SAD-BJP government.

He said the government had burdened the residents of the state with property tax, increased travel fare, charges of water and sewage services and hike in electricity prices.

He added the people had been waiting to vent their ire against the state government and would do so in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Taking a dig at the SAD-BJP government’s reliance on the Modi wave, Kumar said the Congress had won elections in Uttaranchal, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh and if the Modi factor didn’t work in the favour of BJP in those states, there were fair chances that it wouldn’t work in favour of the SAD-BJP alliance during the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Addressing the gathering, Ashok Bhola, Makkhan Lal, Dr Mukesh, Surinderjit Sahni and general secretary Rupinder Bindra, stated that the state government was avoiding holding the elections of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation as it knew that the results would not be in its favour.

Bathinda, December 15
Bathinda unit of the Association for Democratic Rights organised a seminar at the Teachers’ Home here today on the occasion of Human Rights Day.

The programme started with paying tribute to the late Nelson Mandela who spent his life fighting against apartheid and equal rights for all irrespective of their race, caste or creed.

Present during the programme were the head of the department of political science at Delhi University, Ujjwal Kumar Singh, state president of the Association for Democratic Rights, Ajmer Singh Aulakh, vice-president of the association, Bagga Singh, state secretary, Tarsem Goyal, Gurmel Singh, Harcharan Chanda and others.

In his keynote address, Ujjwal Kumar Singh stated that the governments world over have been indulging in crushing agitations for democratic rights and not heeding the demands of its people. He also spoke about the problems citizens of various other countries were facing in their attempt to bring about a change.

Bagga Singh derided the state government for taking away the democratic right from the residents of Bathinda.

He stated that the state government feared the power of its people and hence, it had imposed a ban on staging protests, demonstrations and rallies inside the city.

He added that the government had earmarked a place for protests which was on the fringes of the city. He added that every time some union plans to stage a protests starting from the Teachers’ Home, a large number of policemen are posted to stop the agitators from taking out a rally.

Others present at seminar demanded that the state government should allow its people to present their views in public as the Indian Constitution gives this right to every citizen of India.

Badal, December 15
The native village of Badals today bore an altogether different outlook, as the entire village was cleaned and roads were washed, besides the newly transplanted 225 date palm trees giving it a look of any urban town. None other than the police and bureaucrats were visible on any road in the village. The Punjab police well-dressed jawans, sitting on horses were further giving colour.

CM hopes relations will improve

Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, who hosted the lunch to his Pakistani counterpart, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, and his family members today, said the visit would definitely begin a new era between the relations of India and Pakistan.

Dignitaries arrive late

Not only foreign dignitaries but the members of Badal’s family, too, arrived late than the scheduled timings. It left the officials of state government on their toes throughout the day.

Bathinda MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, reached the Badal village around 12 noon, while the CM himself reached around 12:10 pm. Later, Sharif family, which included Shabaz Sharif’s wife, daughter, his son-in-law and grand daughter, besides other members reached around 2:20 pm. Thereafter, after a gap of almost 20 minutes, Shahbaz Sharif along with the Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, Revenue Minister, Bikram Majithia, landed at the Badal village.

Lunch, talks lasted for almost 80 minutes

The talks, lunch of Sharif’s and Badal’s family did not last for more than 80 minutes. The members of both the families entered the Badals’ mansion around 2:35 pm and remained there till 3:55 pm. While Harsimrat accompanied Shahbaz Sharif’s wife and daughter, Sukhbir accompanied Shahbaz Sharif in a Mercedes S Class cars hired from Delhi. Sources said the cars were hired around Rs 80 per km.

Badals had prepared some dishes at home

Even though the ruling Badals had hired a Chandigarh-based leading private caterer to serve delicious food to the Pakistani guests, yet they had even prepared some dishes, including Bajra’s khichri and Sarson da saag at home, which the guests liked the most. A kulfi was also made at their home.

None of Sukhbir’s children were at home

None of the three Sukhbir’s children were present at the house today, said an official from the Badals’ personal staff. Only the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bathinda MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Revenue Minister, Bikram Majithia, and Finance Minister, Parminder Dhindsa, were there.

Local leaders not invited

Even though Badals’ residence always remain full of local leaders of the SAD, whenever any member of the ruling family comes to Badal, today none of them was seen inside. Only some policemen, bureaucrats and personal assistants of the leaders were given access.

Sukhbir’s horses displayed to Pakistani guests

As lunch was about to begin, suddenly, Deputy CM, Sukhbir Singh Badal, directed his staff to bring in some horses from the stud farm located opposite his residence. The pure black-coloured “Rajhans” horse, which has even won prizes at district and national-level championships, along with three small-sized horses from Dubai were especially brought to the sprawling lawns, where the Pakistani guests were sitting.

Zonal IG, DIG and DC welcome guests

IG Bathinda Zone, Paramraj Singh Umranangal, DIG, Yurinder Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Muktsar Paramjit Singh, SSP, Muktsar Surjeet Singh, were all present there to welcome the guests.

Locals delighted

The residents of the Badal village witness VVIP cavalcade almost everyday, but today they were seen delighted. Bugga Singh, a neighbour of Badals, said, “It was a special day today for the village, as not only a national but an international event took place in the village. Due to which we even got the facelift of entire village.” 

Bathinda, December 15
The annual function of St Kabir Convent Senior Secondary School was organised on Saturday. Judge at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, Justice RK Garg, was the chief guest while controller of examination at Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr Pawan Singla, was the guest of honour on the occasion.

The programme began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the chief guest. A floral tribute was paid to the founder principal of the school, Pushpa Arora.

The theme of the programme was unity in diversity and in keeping with the theme students presented Guruvandana, qawwali, and dances of Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and other states of the country.

School principal Anju Dogra read out the annual report of the school and threw light on the achievements of the school students in different fields. Managing director of the school, Prof ML Arora, thanked the guests.

The chief guest awarded the meritorious students for their outstanding performance in academics.