Bathinda, April 12
The office of the Returning Officer for the Bathinda parliamentary seat allotted election symbols to the candidates here today.

The recognised political parties will contest the elections on their regular symbols. SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal will contest the election on the scale symbol. Congress candidate Manpreet Badal will contest on the hand symbol and Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) candidate Kuldeep Sigh will contest on the poll symbol elephant.

Shaminder Singh from the National Panther’s Party will contest on the symbol cycle while Bahujan Mukti Party candidate Sukhwinder Singh will contest on the poll symbol cot. Similarly, Suresh Kumar Goyal from the General Samaj Party has been allotted sewing machine as the poll symbol. Geeta Rani from Akhil Bharatiya Shivsena Rashtrawadi has been allotted slippers as symbol while Gurdeep Singh from Indian Krantikari Lehar will contest on the poll symbol of candles.

Candidate Gurmeet Singh Rangretta from the Punjab Labor Party will contest on the gas cylinder symbol. Jasraj Singh Longia of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will have broom as symbol, Bhagwant Singh Samao from the CPI (ML) Liberation will contest on the symbol three-cornered flag, Makhan Lal from the BSP (Ambedkar) will contest on the symbol diesel pump while Rajinder Singh from the SAD (Amritsar) will contest on the symbol of hockey stick and ball.

Independent candidates contesting include Ashish with bread as symbol, Satish Arora with telephone as symbol, Swarn Singh with camera as his symbol. Sanjeev Kumar Thapar is contesting on the symbol ceiling fan, Sushil Kumar Jindal is contesting on the symbol cake and Kartar Singh is contesting on the symbol television.

Similarly, Gurcharan Singh has got carpet, Jaspal Singh has got slate, Jagdeep Singh has been allotted window, Jagdeep Singh Gehri has been allotted cauliflower, Dyal Chand has been allotted letter box, Bhupesh Kumar has been allotted battery torch, Manpreet Badal has been allotted kite and Vijay Kumar has been allotted bat. 

Bathinda, April 12
Twenty-nine candidates have been left in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections from the Bathinda parliamentary seat after three candidates withdrew their candidature today.

Returning Officer (RO) Kamal Kishore Yadav, general observer Dilip Kumar Wasnikar and the police observer M Nanjundaswami were also present during the occasion.

With 29 candidates in the fray, every control unit (CU) of the electronic voting machine (EVM) will have two balloting units (BU). Each ballot unit has 16 buttons. Twenty nine buttons will be the symbols of various candidates, while the 30th button will be of None Of the Above (NOTA) option, which has been introduced in the EVM for the first time.

The independent candidates include Ashish, Satish Arora, Swarn Singh, Sushil Kumar, Kartar Singh, Sanjiv Kumar Thapar, Gurcharan Singh, Jaspal Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Dyal Chand, Jagdeep Singh, Bhupesh Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Ramesh Kumar and Vijay Kumar.

A total of 37 candidates had filed their nominations and after the scrutiny, the candidature of five contestants was cancelled. General observer Dilip Kumar Wasnikar said any kind of election related problem could be reported to him at 8427531627. 

Bathinda, April 12
All the election related complaints can be lodged at the toll-free number 1950.

The complaint cell can be reached at the phone number 0164-5004762 and the toll- free number 1800-180-2021.

Also, documents can be faxed at the number 0164-222922.

Complaints can also be sent by those interested at the email ID electiondcbti@gmail.com.

Bathinda, April 12
The teachers employed under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) scheme have started crying foul over the duties that are being given to them in the centres they have been allotted.

The AIE-EGS teachers had staged a week-long protest in Bathinda in February to pressurise the government to reinstate them in the centres. During the protest, a 14-month-old daughter of one of the protesting woman teachers had also succumbed to her ailment.

Sukhchain, who had also participated in the agitation in Bathinda, said, “While several teachers were given jobs only a week ago, others are upset with the kind of work that they are being made to do. At the EGS centre-turned primary school, where I have been given the job, there is one sikhya provider teacher and seven AIE-EGS teachers. We have not been given the charge of any of the classes. Sometimes, we are also asked to teach the dropout children and the weak students.”

After the agitation, the Punjab government had agreed to bear the burden of the two schemes as ‘Special state funded schemes' for a period of two years. As per the settlement, the teachers will have to utilise the two years to clear the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET).

The government had also decided to enhance the consolidated honorarium of those EGS volunteers from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, who had earlier worked under the EGS in the state and have cleared the ETT/BEd. Likewise, the EGS volunteers who have not yet cleared the ETT/Bed, would now be taken in the revived EGS scheme with a consolidated honorarium of Rs 25,00 per month till he/she cleared the ETT/ BEd.

A woman volunteer Sukhpreet Kaur said, “For the initial two to three weeks, I was not given any work at the centre allotted to me. Even now, on some days, I am asked to either teach the academically weaker students or look for the dropout students in the nearby areas. We are qualified to do better work. But the Education Department is playing with our career.”

Other EGS volunteers also concurred that the kind of work they were being made to do at the centres made them feel alienated and a force-fit in the system. They argued that the volunteers who had cleared the TET could be given charges of classes.

Deputations of the AIE-EGS teachers across the state had met and submitted a memorandum of their demands with the Deputy Commissioners of their respective districts on Friday.

After the protesting teachers and the government had reached an agreement in February, the Education Minister of Punjab Sikander Singh Maluka had stated that after these teachers clear the TET, their names would be added to the list of the already TET-passed candidates and ultimately, they will have to wait for their turn to get permanent jobs after a lapse of two years. 

Bathinda, April 12
The Indian Institute of Architects installed its sub-centre in Bathinda on Friday. A meeting in this regard was held which was attended by all architects in the Bathinda region who are the members of the Indian Institute of Architects.

While Ashok Pupneja has been appointed as chairman, Parshotam Dodje was selected as the vice-chairman, Ishwar Garg as joint secretary, Bhupinderpal Singh as joint secretary, Mala Joshi as the treasurer and Vikas Bansal, Nehdeep Matharu, Guneet and Harvinder Singh as the executive members.

IIA vice-chairman SD Singh was the chief guest on the occasion. Also present at the function were the IIA treasurer and joint honorary secretary Suriender Bagha and Sanjay Goel, respectively.

Addressing the audience, Pupneja said the aim of the Bathinda sub-centre will be to grow the number of architects in the Bathinda sub-centre from 23 top 40 by adding architects who are working in the nearby towns. He added that the architects will prepare a report and submit their ideas to make the city greener.

He also pointed to the scarcity of parks in the city and the need to sort out the problems of traffic congestion in the city because of the absence of a bypass. 

Bathinda, April 12
As many as 1,147 cases were settled during a Mega Lok Adalat held at the District Court Complex here.

The Lok Adalat was held under the presidentship of Tejwinder Singh, District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman, District Legal Services Authority, Bathinda.

Out of 1,804 cases, 1,147 cases were settled and awards amounting to Rs 7.83 crores were passed by 17 different benches.

Tejwinder said the basic objective of holding the Lok Adalat was to settle the disputes between two parties amicably. He pointed out that apart from ever-rising matrimonial disputes, cases pertaining to Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) too have gone up during the recent past.

Increasing intervention by the elders or other relatives in a family has become a major reason for dispute between the couples, he added.

Jasbir Kaur, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Bathinda, said efforts were made to find an amicable solution to disputes among two parties during the Lok Adalat.

Bathinda, April 12
Members of the Hotel, Restaurant and Resort Association extended its support to Satish Arora, an Independent candidate for the Lok Sabha elections. Arora is also holding the post of the president of the Hotel, Restaurant and Resort Association.

Addressing a meeting of the association here today, Arora said the Punjab government had crushed the hospitality industry under the burden of taxes.

Taking a dig at Congress-PPP jointcandidate Manpreet Singh Badal, he said, nothing can be expected from a man who did not abide by the rules of his own party.

Bathinda, April 12
Shah Satnam Ji Green S Welfare Force wing of Dera Sacha Sauda held blood donation camps here today, wherein 910 units of blood were collected. The camp was organised with the slogan ‘Largest Simultaneous Blood Donation Camp’.

The camp was held at the Civil Hospital, Max Hospital, Adesh Hospital, Blood Bank Cantt and Gupta Blood Bank. The donors were served refreshments at the respective venues.