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Transport Nagar flats an embarrassment for trust
Technology transforms election agents
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One-legged gritty dancer declares support for
AAP
Sukhbir’s dream project cries for attention
Penalty imposed on automobile dealer in city
Modi’s rally venue upsets many young cricketers in city
Harsimrat claims credit for cancer treatment facilities
Operators hold protest, block bus stand entry
Lok Morcha to begin poll awareness campaign
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Transport Nagar flats an embarrassment for trust
Bathinda, April 19 These revelations have been made in a reply of the Executive Officer of the Trust to a query filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act. Replying to the query of Pawan Kumar Goyal¸ a resident of the Court Road, the Trust EO has accepted that neither any selection committee was constituted to select the site for constructing flats under the self-financing scheme nor any leg work was done on getting a demand survey conducted to actually see if the city needed flat culture. The Trust has already made payments to the builder from its own pocket and its Rs 4.44 crore is still pending towards the allottees. The Trust is also fighting a legal battle against the owner of the land who had applied for enhancement fees of the land and is even unable to pay back the loans borrowed from banks to complete the project. The 96 flats and two penthouses are located far away from the city hub on the Goniana Road after crossing the Thermal lakes. Despite huge investments in the project, the Trust has been able to sell only 60 flats whose possession has also been delayed. Currently, 36 flats and two penthouses have not even been bought by anybody. The A and B block of the scheme have six floors plus the ground floor, whereas the C-section has seven floors plus the ground floor. The Trust spent a whopping Rs 20.75 crore on constructing these flats where power cables, fire fighting equipment and elevators have not been installed and moreover, not even landscaping has been done yet. The reserve price for per semi-finished flat was fixed at Rs 44,57,200 for the first-storey flat and Rs 43,12,000 was fixed for the sixth-storey flat on March 31 this year. Earlier, in June last year, the Trust had enhanced the value of flats adding an enhancement fees of Rs 6.20 lakh per flat to which the existing flat owners objected to. Thereafter, the Trust formed a sub-committee to look into the objections, whose report is yet to be submitted to the Trust. As per the rules, the Trust was supposed to install elevators and hand over the possession of the sold flats to their owners by October 28, 2013, which has not been done till date. For the un-allotted 36 flats and two penthouses too, there are no buyers in the market. The EO of the Trust has accepted that these flats have not been constructed in the larger interests of the Trust itself. |
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Technology transforms election agents
Bathinda, April 19 Interestingly, prominent political parties like the SAD-BJP and the Congress-PPP-CPI have given this role to agents who are lawyers by profession. The election agent for SAD is Gurmeet Singh Maan from Gidderbaha who was earlier an agent of Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal during the 2012 assembly elections. Similarly, the election agent for the Congress is a city-based lawyer, Rajan Garg, who was earlier elected as councillor on a SAD ticket, and later joined the Congress along with his father, ex-minister Chiranji Lal Garg, last year. Also, the election agent of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate is Arvinder Singh. For Rajan Garg, it is his maiden assignment as an election agent, and a challenging one too. “An agent has to be quick enough to get the job done without any margin for mistakes. Over the years, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) getting strict with each passing day, every move has to be made in a calculated manner to avoid being misinterpreted or being caught on the wrong foot,” said Rajan. Gurmeet Maan added that around 10 years ago, the role of an election agent was limited to only mobilising the political cadres and holding rallies. “There has been a huge diversification now. Hundreds of mails have to be sent, a number of permissions have to be sought and topping all these is the nitty-gritty of filing elaborate nomination papers and affidavits. At the same time, we act as the eyes and ears of the candidate’s war room, cross-checking the events unfolding in the constituency that can have an adverse impact on the candidates,” he added, quoting instance of vehicles being driven around in the name of the SAD-BJP that do not include the ones for which permission has been taken. In such a situation, the SAD office informs the district administration about the vehicles moving around carrying fake stickers of the party. “This is a measure to check that expenses incurred on fake vehicles are not added to that of our candidate,” he said. Not taking chances to avoid drawing the ire of the Election Commission, Rajan asked the Congress leadership to delegate the work constituency wise. Consequently, in all nine assembly segments, the nominees of election agents have been appointed, who represent him at different places. The election agent for AAP, Arvinder Singh, who is the brother of the candidate Jassi Jasraj, said he has been handling his brother’s finances since the time Jassi has been singing and acting. “Now it’s a job of a different kind. There are so many formalities to be completed. But I am lucky enough not to handle everything on my own. We have a very supportive state member Amrit Lal Aggarwal who takes care of all the permissions that we have to seek,” he said. |
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One-legged gritty dancer declares support for
AAP
Bathinda, April 19 Walking confidently on crutches with a smile on her face, she met the commoners and shopkeepers on Ajit Road adjoining the party office of the AAP. She urged the people to extend their support to the party to fight against the drug menace, rising road accidents, stray cattle menace and social evils. She told the people about the party candidate Jassi Jasraj who she has known for the last three years. “It was Jassi who was one of the first persons to have come and met me in 2011 after we came in contact with each other over the social networking site Facebook. Jassi encouraged me and offered all possible help in dancing and other cultural events,” she said. The dancer added that she will stick to the party as long as the party wishes her to continue extending support. Subhreet was the first runners-up in one of the famous TV shows “India’s Got Talent” last month. A resident of Jhundan village of Sangrur, Subhreet fell off a two-wheeler while riding pillion in Zirakpur in October 2009. One of her legs was amputated after a doctor accidentally cut one of the veins while fixing screws in her broken leg at a prestigious hospital in Chandigarh. The dancer lost her limb during the course of further surgery in Chandigarh. “I refused to give up and decided to resume dancing. I used to dance before the road accident at school and college functions,” she said, adding that it took more than a year to maintain the balance on a single leg with enough stamina. It was not an easy task to pursue professional dancing as the dance academies or professional dancers showed her the door once they came to know about the missing limb. “I finally got my foot in the door after Sameer Mahajan of Rockstar Academy gave a one month training. I sent them my videos which they liked and offered to train me after many refusals by the other academies,” she said. Once she made it to “India’s Got Talent” show, there was no looking back. “I feel contented and confident after meeting Bollywood actors and celebrities like Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Karan Johar and Madhuri Dixit,” she said, adding that she now has two movies in her hand wherein the producers and directors have promised her leading roles. Subhreet has recently signed a Bollywood and a Punjabi movie.
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Don’t give in to temptations offered by SAD: Veenu
Bathinda, April 19 Terming the taxation policies devised by the state government ‘anti-people’, Veenu Badal asked the shopkeepers to not give in to temptations offered by the SAD or BJP leaders and workers and vote for a change in the government. Meanhwile, Manpreet Badal accused Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal of “resorting to dirty tricks to confuse and mislead the voters”. “He is scared as the public has started showing its anger against the inefficacy of Bathinda MP and his wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal. She is facing boycotts and black flags during her rallies and this has brought them face-to-face with the reality,” said Manpreet. Manpreet also accused Sukhbir of harassing his opponents after having failed to lure them to join SAD. “In the last five years, the Badal family has been telling the people that a large share of funds is diverted to the Bathinda constituency but the reality is that the funds are transferred to their own accounts, in the name of the constituency,” he said. Also accusing Sukhbir of using “goonda elements”, he said, “This time around, the public will not bow down in front of the bullying by the goonda elements being used by Sukhbir. The public is no more scared of them and the same will be shown when the state goes to poll on April 30. Even bribing will not help Harsimrat retain the seat.”
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Sukhbir’s dream project cries for attention
Bathinda, April 19 The condition of the stadium is such that last month, XEN of the Sports Department visited this hockey stadium and found 37 faults in the building. Some of the major points of fault which officials have mentioned are that there is no proper boundary wall of the hockey stadium adjoining Rajindra College due to which students enter the stadium premises unnecessarily during the day. There are gaps in the roof sheets of the stadium due to which the sheets have been damaged and the sandstone laid for seating the audience has also started coming off. Much to everybody’s concern, the astro turf had started drying as water sprinklers to keep it wet were not working due to technical problems in the motor installed at the stadium for more than 10 days. Adding to the worries is the dust which is also affecting the layer of the astro turf as the stadium does not have a dust cleaner despite demanded by the coach of the stadium from the Sport Department a number of times. Experts who laid the turf had instructed the officials of the Sports Department to sprinkle water over it thrice a day to keep the dust away and prevent it from getting heated. It is worth mentioning that pained to observe the players’ plight, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal along with the authorities had initiated the multi-crore astroturf hockey stadium in 2012 terming it his dream project. He kept a check on the pace of development and the project was to be completed by January 2013 but after a delay of more than a year, many things are still incomplete. As per the architectural drawing of the state-of-the-art hockey stadium, along with parking lot, a mini-astro turf ground for warm-up and practice was also supposed to come up which is not there in the stadium. Sources said that at first, the government had fixed Rs 11 crore as the budget for the stadium, which is now falling short and requires Rs 3 crore more for completion. Rajwant Singh, coach of the hockey stadium, while talking to Bathinda Tribune, admitted that there was still a lot of work to be done in the stadium and even the Sports Department had refused to take it over from the company due to its ailing condition and defaults.
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Penalty imposed on automobile dealer in city
Bathinda, April 19 The counsels for the complainant Gurdeep Singh and Sanjeev Narowal said the complainant had purchased one Mahindra Maxi Canter, manufactured by Mahindra & Mahindra for employment in 2010. The vehicle developed a snag in October 2013 and he got it repaired by purchasing a spare part to be inserted in the steering wheel. The authorised dealer charged Rs 1,238 from the complainant in lieu of the spare part. The complainant, however, said he noticed the maximum retail price
(MRP) of Rs 840 as its print. He took up the matter with the cashier and was told that the prices of the spare parts usually comes down and also goes up. His repeated requests to refund the excess amount of Rs 398 failed to bear any fruits despite sending e-mails and written complaints. The complainant finally moved an application before the Consumer Forum. The opposite party appeared before the Forum and pleaded that the prices of spare parts usually increase and decrease. They added that the price of the spare parts was indeed Rs 1,238 and that there was no point in overcharging. The authorised dealer stated that the price list could be checked with the one issued by the company, Mahindra &
Mahindra. The Forum, after listening to the arguments of both the parties, came to the conclusion that the opposite party had overcharged the complainant. The Forum observed that the opposite party had failed to put on record the actual rate list of the company which shows the price of the spare parts. The Forum observed unfair trade practice on the part of the opposite party, Imperial Associates Motors Private Limited and ordered it to refund Rs 398 along with a cost and compensation of Rs 4,000 to the authorised dealer. The compliance of the order is to be done within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy of the order or else, interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum will be levied on the amount of Rs 398 till
realisation, the Forum ordered.
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Modi’s rally venue upsets many young cricketers in city
Bathinda, April 19 Modi’s rally is taking place in the heart of the city which is a residential area where hundreds of youngsters gather and play cricket every morning and evening. But the cricket lovers have been left in the lurch nine days prior to the event due to security reasons. The CRPF has cordoned off the area and is only allowing the vehicles to pass after thorough checking. Youngsters are not finding any such place in the city to play cricket as they used to play here. As after the Model Town Phase-III area, Rajindera College ground and the large space behind the Rose Garden was the other destination where youngsters used to play cricket in
the city. But these two areas have been changed as the Rajindra College Astro Turf Hockey Stadium has come up, while free space behind the Rose Garden has been converted into a cycling track and joggers’ park by the Punjab government. One of the youngsters, Shikhar Goyal, who used to play cricket in Model Town Phase III, said that Modi’s rally had upset their schedule of playing cricket everyday here as tents have been erected on the ground where they play and even the security personnel were not allowing them to play in the free area opposite the venue. Another local cricket player Robin Jindal said it was unfortunate that they were stopped from playing even eight to nine days prior to the rally. But what is more unfortunate is that the city does not have a huge ground where we can play cricket. However, there is one cricket ground at the Cops Club in the Police Lines area, which is well-maintained and has a good cricket ground and pitches. But there, outsiders are not allowed to play cricket at random. Even the Punjab government had announced building an international cricket stadium in Bathinda in 2008 and for which land was also acquired. But the work on the stadium is yet to be started even after five years. |
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Harsimrat claims credit for cancer treatment facilities
Bathinda, April 19 Addressing political rallies held today, she said the state government had introduced cashless facility for the patients in government and empanelled private hospitals since January this year. Earlier, Congress candidate Manpreet Badal had issued statements that the SAD MP Harsimrat Badal had failed to provide low-cost cancer treatment to the poor of the area and was unable to give free cancer treatment. Meanwhile, Harsimrat said for diagnosis, the Punjab government has engaged the Tata Memorial Institute and allocated 50 acres of land for establishing a Rs 450-crore cancer hospital at Mullanpur which will include a 100-bed hospital. Similarly, a cancer treatment facility is being established at
Sangrur, which would become functional by November this year. The state government was also establishing a cancer diagnostic centre at Bathinda under the guidance of Tata Memorial Institute, which would become functional by July this year. She added that the super-specialty PET scan testing machine, which was available only in metropolitan cities, had been installed at the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences
(BFUHS), Fairdkot. Besides, the government was also upgrading the cancer diagnostic facilities at the Patiala and Amritsar medical colleges and is establishing a state cancer institute at Amritsar. “We have also started a process of training our doctors so that they are up-to-date with the latest cancer treatment,” she claimed, adding that doctors from the Tata Memorial Institute were visiting the Amritsar and Patiala medical colleges regularly to conduct operations as well as to train the doctors there.
— TNS |
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Operators hold protest, block bus stand entry
Bathinda, April 19 Following a complaint by the victim, a case was registered at Talwandi Sabo. The PRTC bus operators, however, stated that the accused were not arrested by the police yet. They held a protest against the delay in the arrest and blocked the bus stand. A team of policemen headed by DSP City Gurjeet Romana reached the spot and pacified the protesters. After Romana assured by the agitators of arrest of the accused within less than 24 hours, the dharna was lifted. |
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Lok Morcha to begin poll awareness campaign
Bathinda, April 19 In a press release issued here today, the members of the committee said they wanted to tell the people to move away from infighting and petty issues and work towards changing the state and society. They added that the committee will soon begin holding meetings, conventions and distributing pamphlets. They added that ever since the country gained independence, political leaders and corporate houses have benefited the most from the democratic system in the country. They stated that while on the one hand, the common man was dealing with problems like unemployment, poverty, debts, substance abuse, corruption, etc, on the other, the political parties were busy sanctioning subsidies for the big corporate houses. |
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Bathinda, April 19
The one-legged gritty dancer, 27-year-old Subhreet Kaur Ghumman today announced her wholehearted support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). She arrived in Bathinda to canvass for the party candidate Jassi Jasraj who is in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections from the Bathinda parliamentary constituency.
The PRTC and the private bus operators today blocked the bus stand entrance for nearly half-an-hour following the delay in the arrest of assailants who attacked a PRTC bus conductor.
A PRTC employee Simarjeet Singh said that a section of private bus operators entered into heated arguments and scuffle in Talwandi Sabo on Baisakhi fair. He said the bus conductor, Sukhram was beaten up.
