Bathinda, April 5
Having held public rallies to motivate voters to vote, the District Election Office has now started putting up posters, hoardings and boards to motivate people for voting. Some of the posters have already come up around the District Administrative Complex (DAC), while city will be decked up with hoardings tomorrow.

Additional District Election Officer Sonali Giri said order has been placed for 400 posters, 100 hoardings and around 2,000 appeals in the form of pamphlets. “The material published in these campaigning materials has been duly approved from the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab,” she said.

Campaigning material comprises of couplets, sayings, quotes and illustrations encouraging people to vote for the Lok Sabha elections and usher in a change.

The Election Office has partnered with different industrial houses and traders for the hoardings that will dot strategic points in the city. These hoardings will be installed at the bus stand, railway station, around DAC, the Mansa Road flyover, all main roundabouts and especially in the trans-railway line area, Adesh Medical College, PTU Giani Zail Singh campus, the Baba Farid Group of Institutes and other public places.

“The trans-railway line areas figure in our pocket of election expenditure sensitive areas. Here, people are more vulnerable to getting carried away for cash or kind in lieu of votes. The material displayed and distributed here especially talk about ethical voting and refusing to take bribe or any other kind in exchange of votes,” Giri added.

The flying squads will be given pamphlets carrying appeals that would be distributed in the city. The government is popularising the toll free number 1950 wherein calls can be placed in case of any incidence of bribery being offered in lieu of votes.

Bathinda, April 5
Seven-year-old case pertaining to alleged hurting religious sentiments by Sirsa dera head’s Gurmeet Ram Rahim was once again adjourned for April 15, here today.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Raman Kumar heard the arguments and announced adjournment amidst the presence of lawyer’s of both the parties and the Sikh religious leaders.

After 45 minutes of intense arguments between the counsel of dera head SK Garg, Kewal Brar and from complainant’s side-JR Khattar and Navkaran Singh the Assistant Public Prosecutor Sanjeev Kochhar expressed his helplessness to argue due to his unpreparedness and sought adjournment.

The complainant’s counsel and former Bar Association president JR Khattar said a case under Section 295-A of the IPC was registered on May 20, 2007 on the complaint of Rajinder Singh Sidhu and the police had presented cancellation report on January 25, 2012.

Before filing cancellation report, a complaint was filed under Section 295-A of the IPC by Jaspal Singh and Baba Hardeep Singh Mehrajwale after which Chief Judicial Magistrate had passed an order on April 2, 2012 to summon the accused for offence under Sections 295-A, 298 and 153-A of the IPC.

The dera head’s counsel took the plea that offence under Section 295-A of the IPC is punishable with maximum imprisonment of three years, offence under Section 298 of the IPC is punishable with maximum imprisonment of one year and offence under Section 153-A of the IPC is punishable with maximum imprisonment of three years.

In its view, the police did not presented challan within three years and now the accused could not be summoned as the time has lapsed.

The complainant’s counsel, however, stated that the sub-sections of Section 153-A has the provision of imprisonment of five years, the accused could be summoned.

Earlier, the dera’s counsel had moved to the High Court against the orders of summoning and in its order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered to remand the matter to trial court to look into the point of limitation under Section 468 CrPC before taking cognizance on the basis of the complaint and the cancellation report filed by the police in this case. 

Bathinda, April 5
Despite directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI) that no contractual staff be employed on the election duty, the District Election Office has deployed around 250 contractual staff members from teaching and the health department on the poll duty.

As per the directions of the ECI pertaining to training and deployment of personnel at the District Election Officer (DEO) level, the rule on page seven, instruction four, sub-instruction V reads that ‘No contractual workers or Anganwadi workers shall be deployed on poll duty’.

The department has deployed a teacher who was on maternity leave on the poll duty and in another instance has deployed a 60-year-old teacher who has taken a job extension. Both the cases are of schools at Bhai Rupa village.

District president and State Finance Secretary, the Government School Lecturers’ Union (GSLU) Iqbal Singh Bhairupa said that around 250 employees, who are working on contractual basis, have been deputed on the poll duty.

“A large number of delegates, including those of fellow employee unions, are demanding that keeping in view the above instructions, the contract employees be exempted from the election duties,” he added.

Bathinda, April 5
Lakhs of devotees today thronged the ancient temple of Goddess Durga at Myserkhna in the Bathinda district to participate in the Chhat ka mela. Devotees began reaching the temple premises, which houses the ancient temple and two more temples, as early as 5 am and as the sun rose and grew harsh, the temples premises grew was packed with devotees.

Religious importance

It is believed that a devotee of the goddess would go to the goddess’ shrines twice a year. A resident of Myserkhana, the devotee grew old and couldn’t travel to the shrine and prayed to the goddess asking for her forgiveness. The Goddess then appeared in his dreams and asked him to build a temple for her in Myserkhana. She also told him that the temple would grow in popularity as she would appear on every sixth navratri (chhat) and the day and Chhat ka mela would add to the celebrations. The Bathinda administration had also announced that it planned to develop the place as a tourist attraction.

Political fervour

It is election season and the air is full of political activities. Sohan Lal Sharma, a resident of the district and a supporter of the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) was present as the mela to “spread awareness” about the party and request people to “bring about a change in the way the nation is being governed by voting for AAP”.

“All the leaders are corrupt and Arvind Kejriwal is the light at the end of the tunnel. I am here since the place is very crowded and I thought it would be a good opportunity to spread awareness about the party,” he said adding that he was also trying to ask the people to stop female foeticide and consuming drugs.

Police twiddle their thumbs

As thousands of devotees jostled and broke queues to save themselves from the harsh sun and get a glimpse of the idol of the goddess, police personnel sat in the shade and chatted all the time turning a blind eye to the melee.

Sharda Dua, who had come all the way from Hisar to attend the mela, said, “Even though the administration knows that lakhs of devotees come to the mela it makes little efforts to iron out the problems. The presence of police personnel is just a show since they are not doing anything to settle the skirmishes.”

Open kitchen for all

Several organisations organized langars for the devotees after they had had darshan at the shrine. The offerings at these langars ranged from puri-chhole to simple roti-sabzi fare. Those who were observing fast could choose from swang ki kheer, allo ki tikki, fast-special pakore and tea.

Time to fleece

Residents and owners of land surrounding the temple premise made a killing by offering their land vacant land for parking facility for vehicles. Depending on how far or near to the temples one parked the vehicle, the charges varied from Rs 20 to Rs 50. As per the ritual of buying toys for children and bangles for girls, devotees also thronged the tuck shops selling toys of various shapes and sizes at a much higher prize than what the same are available in the market for.

Bathinda, April 5
Doctors at Max Hospital performed carotid artery stenting on a 45-year-old woman patient. Cardiology team led by Dr Sharad Gupta performed the procedure, which it claimed to be first of its kind. The complex procedure saved life of 45-year-old, Sumitra Devi, who had a high risk of suffering an acute stroke due to severe carotid artery disease (CAD).

The carotid arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to brain, face, scalp, and neck. Carotid artery disease is an ailment in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside carotid arteries. When these arteries get clogged due to increasing deposits of fatty substances and plaque, they narrow down and over period of time blood flow to brain decreases.

“In more than 50 per cent of the cases of CAD reported patients have succumbed to death due to an acute stroke caused by disrupted blood flow to the brain,” said Dr Gupta.

He said for the last one month, Sumitra Devi had been suffering from recurrent black-outs and headache. Her carotid angiography showed a 90 to 99 per cent narrowing in her left common carotid artery.

“We were shocked to see that carotid artery of patient was blocked up to 99 per cent. Any further increase in blockage could’ve disrupted blood flow to brain resulting in stroke and paralysis of one half of the body. As the patient had a history of diabetes, risk of suffering a stroke was even higher,” he added. During the procedure, a stent was placed inside carotid artery at site of blockage which widened artery and increased blood flow to brain. This is a minimally invasive procedure and can be performed while the patient is awake, hence reducing the recovery time.

Meanwhile, the symptoms of CAD are loss of vision, difficulty with speech, difficulty in limb movement, sudden and severe headaches and numbness in any part of the body. The risk factors are smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and family history of atherosclerosis, either coronary artery disease or carotid artery disease.

Bathinda, April 5
Following a dispute and written complaints over removal of the Returning Officer (RO) for the smooth and fair conduct of District Bar Association (DBA) elections, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court today appointed an observer to look into the issue.

The secretary of the council, Advocate Karanjit Singh while talking to The Tribune over phone from Chandigarh said BN Goyal, an advocate from Mansa, had been appointed as observer. Goyal would talk to the bar association members and would submit a detailed report to the council afterwards. Karanjit stated that the chief decision depends upon the majority of the lawyers in the general house and they had no right to replace the RO. “But in case of a dispute the decision will be taken only after the report submitted by the observer”, he said.

A high drama was witnessed on Thursday when a majority of lawyers raised objections over striking off the names of some non-practicing advocates from the voters list. The lawyers raised a hue and cry and demanded that the RO, Balwant Dhillon be replaced. The Police were also deployed, as some young lawyers, following heated arguments, serious threatening allegations and scuffle dialed Police Control Room number 100.

The issue blew out of proportion when Balwant Dhillon, RO, refused to vacate the office and handed over the documents pertaining to the voter list and other papers. Dhillon had alleged that the lock of the room of the office of bar president was broke open and entire record was taken into possession forcefully.

Refuting the allegations, Mohinder Sidhu, president, DBA, said in no way the lawyer could act against the set guidelines and norms. “Election is a regular process and everyone know his duty. Nobody has to teach anything as the office-bearers are elected every year”, he said.