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Brawls on the rise as election nears
Second rehearsal conducted for election staff
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Modi won’t be able to wash taint off the state govt, says Manpreet
SAD-BJP imposed property tax, admits BJP chief
Now, get medicines only on doctor’s prescription
Theatre artists make satire on corrupt political system
Promises galore ahead of LS polls
AAP members take out impressive road show
Teachers’ body meets ADC
PO escapes police custody
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Brawls on the rise as election nears
Bathinda, April 20 The incidents of crime are reported in the most sensitive villages falling under the Bathinda Parliamentary Constituency in Bathinda, Mansa, Maur, Rampura and other areas. Though the police claim to have tightened noose to curb such incidents with registration of cases everyday one or two episodes of heated arguments turning violent are being reported. The police officials deployed to investigate such incidents reveal that maximum violence was being reported during the evening hours when support extended to one party or the other is
argued at common place of the village. Last week, two incidents of heated arguments converting into violence were reported in Goniana and Bhucho Mandi and three separate cases of brawls were witnessed in Maur Mandi and Rama Mandi. Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Nandgarh village situated on the Badal Road, said he extended his support to his uncle during the sarpanch elections last year and this time again is canvassing for the SAD (B). “Poking fun of a candidate-who I supported and lost-the present sarpanch’s supporter took a jibe at me by saying whosoever I extended support always lost in the elections. The accused added that I had garlanded the candidate with his defeat,” Gurpreet said. “My uncle Gurmeet Singh fought elections on SAD’s ticket and lost to the Congress candidate. On April 12, the supporters of sarpanch taunted me by saying whosoever I supported, lost elections,” Gurpreet said. He added that the accused taunted him by saying that he had garlanded the SAD candidate with defeat. “Since it was dark and the accused were under the influence of liquor, they started arguing and entered into a brawl. After that incident, they again arrived on April 14, at my house, situated on the outskirts and fired gun shots at the boundary wall of my house on April 14,” Gurpreet said. He added that before the police arrived, the accused, in a car and mobike, kept on firing the gun shots while in defence, his family members pelted stones. Gurpreet pointed out that after listening to police siren, the accused fled and were chased up to a few kilometers by the cops. A case was registered in this connection under Sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others), 506 (criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly of people) and carrying of arms under Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act. The accused have been identified as Raja Singh, Balwinder Singh and five to six unidentified persons. The policemen said the number of cases registered after brawls and heated arguments have shot up ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. SSP Gurpreet Bhullar was not available for comments, DSP (Rural), Gurdeep Gosal, when contacted, claimed that all the preventive measures have been initiated to curb all poll related criminal activities. “Apart from impounding vehicles, we have also rounded up people whose probability is suspected in heated arguments and bloody brawls in the villages. We are already prepared to tackle every kind of criminal activity with sufficient number of police, paramilitary and other forces deployed ahead of the polls,” Gosal said. |
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Second rehearsal conducted for election staff
Bathinda, April 20 At an average, around 30 employees from each of the six assembly constituencies, were absent from respective duties. Of the 830 employees deputed on the poll duty in Rampura, around 27 were absent, of the 907 employees on the poll duty in Bhucho Mandi constituency, around 35 were absent and of the 1,041 employees on the poll duty in Bathinda urban 51 were absent. Similarly, from the 750 employees on the poll duty in Bathinda rural 25 were absent, at Talwandi Sabo 830 were put on the poll duty of which 35 were absent and in Maur around 30 employees were absent. The absent employees also included those who have been assigned duplicate duties. These are the employees whose names figure in lists of two constituencies and have to be removed. In all the constituencies, more than 80 per cent employees have submitted form 12 (for postal ballot) and form 12 A (for election duty certificate). Those pending will submit their forms by 11 am tomorrow. A few employees, who are residents of Haryana areas like Dabwali and have already cast their vote during the Haryana elections on April 10, will not be included in these lists. During rehearsal, the AROs and master trainers passed instructions to presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers from polling of votes to depositing electronic voting machines (EVMs) at respective strong rooms. The final rehearsal would be held on April 26 and on April 29 the polling parties will be dispatched for polling stations. Expenditure observer Sudipta Guha conducted training of the 422 micro-observers at local Government Polytechnic College. Addressing the poll staff, Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujwal motivated the election staff to cast their votes. |
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Modi won’t be able to wash taint off the state govt, says Manpreet
Bathinda, April 20 “Even the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, Modi, will not be able to stop the winds of change which have started blowing. People are angry with the Deputy CM and his brother-in-law, Bikramjet Singh Majithia and Modi will not be able to douse this fire of anger,” he said, addressing a rally at Bhucho Mandi. Not letting the matter of alleged involvement of Bikramjeet Singh Majithia in a high-profile drug trafficking case, he accused the state government of sheltering drug traffickers and pushing the youth of the state into substance abuse thereby destroying the future of the youth and the state. He added that the SAD leaders were notorious for being a part of the drug trafficking system and hence, they were receiving requests for the habit-forming substances to be sold at legal vends opening vends on the lines of similar vends in Rajasthan. The same was promised by the SAD candidate from Faridkot, Paramjit Kaur Gulshan who had to later on furnish clarifications. He also rubbished the claims made by the Deputy CM that the people were happy with the state government and this was clear by the fact that in the past, several unions and associations had taken to staging protests in the Bathinda. “To keep the protests under check, Sukhbir gave the reins into the hands of the police which pulled out all stops to silence the protestors and stop them from maligning the image of the government. The police even resorted to filing false cases against the protestors to keep them off the roads,” Manpreet said. He further stated that the SAD-BJP leaders were so deeply involved in cases of corruption that even their own prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, would have to think twice before giving them a clean chit. He also stated that the Punjab CM had failed to understand the pulse of the public this time and his party is still confident that they would be able to buy the votes and win the seat. |
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SAD-BJP imposed property tax, admits BJP chief
Bathinda, April 20 He said Capt Amarinder Singh had initiated the property tax procedure and we waited for five years. And people for the first time voted positively for the development and we were left with no other option but to impose the property tax as the Congress-led Central government was meting a step-motherly treatment to Punjab. While interacting with mediapersons Kamal Sharma while replying on the clean chit given to Jagdish Tytler by Captain Amarinder Singh also said that the Congress had always helped openly or through back door persons like Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and HL Bhagat who were involved in massacre of Sikh in 1984 riots. BJP chief also stated that drug smuggling is the biggest issue in the state and its one of the priorities of their government to get state out of this menace and their government is committed to that. He said it’s a narco terrorism coming from across the border to destroy the youngsters of the Punjab and accused the Central government for it as first line of control at border is the BSF. Informing about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s poll rally, he said he will be addressing four rallies in the state on April 25 in support of the SAD-BJP candidates starting from Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Amritsar. He also said the SAD-BJP co-ordination committee have been set up which is looking after the rally jointly. The members who have been included in the joint committee are minister Sikander Singh Maluka, CPS Sarup Chand Singla, MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta, BJP Bathinda Urban president Parminder Goyal, Ex-deputy mayor Gurinderpal Kaur Mangat and ex-senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal. Earlier, Kamal Sharma held a meeting with the BJP workers at Mansa and later held a meeting with the workers of Bathinda (Rural) and Bathinda (Urban) constituencies at Bathinda. In the meeting, he encouraged workers to support Narendra Modi and asked to work for the betterment of the BJP-SAD alliance and make sure that their joint candidate won by huge margin from here. |
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Now, get medicines only on doctor’s prescription
Bathinda, April 20 The move has drawn ire, especially of the retails chemists, whose paper work and record keeping has increased after the new rules were implemented. President of the Punjab Chemist Association Surjit Mehta lamented that the move will prove to be a major set back in far-flung areas where government doctors visit dispensaries just few days a week and the health facilities are mainly dependant on registered medical practitioners. “Illness comes uninvited and in rural areas doctors are not adequately available. The Government of India is blindly following directions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) irrespective of the fact that we are a developing country, which is poor in infrastructure,” he said. Mehta said the matter was taken up with the officials of the state government. “Since the state has little to do in it, we have decided to keep quiet till the time new government is formed. If the government does not withdraw its directions, we will be forced to go on a nationwide strike,” he said. The impact will begin from the retailers who will have to maintain record of the drugs sold for at least three years from the sale of drugs. The chemists will also have to maintain photostat copy of the prescriptions wherein medicines will be available only on prescription of a qualified doctor and not that of an RMP, said president of the Bathinda Retail Chemist Association, Ashok Ballianwali. While the chemist community is opposing it, the medicos feel that the step has been rightly taken to mitigate the growing menace of quackery. “Getting the OTC drugs in cases of the TB, means increasing numbers of multiple drug resistant (MDR) cases. No drug should be sold without the prescription except paracetamol and gelusil,” said physician Dr Vitull K Gupta. He added that with the prescriptions becoming compulsory, habit forming drugs leading to addiction will also be checked to a greater extent. |
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Theatre artists make satire on corrupt political system
Jalandhar April 20 Written by Gaurav Jyoti, theatre artists, including Gopal, Mayank, Balraj, Sandeep, Vidhant, Amit and Nipun played the role of various characters. The play was directed by Ashok Kalyan. Ashok said the theme of the play was to highlight corruption among the politicians. “We have clearly highlighted how these selfish politicians befool the public at the time of elections to garner votes. "They show greener pastures to the voters and make hollow promises but do nothing after winning the elections. The play has a motivational message that encourages the youth to use their right to vote for the right candidate,” he added. The character of a politician remained the main attraction of the play. It showed how a politician, instead of spending funds on development, fills his own coffers. The corrupt practices of the politicians were also highlighted through the Right to Information Act (RTI). The play vividly shed light on the RTI Act. During the play, a layman files an RTI application to inquire about the funds utilised by the minister for development in his constituency. The RTI reply exposes the minister’s claims of ushering in development and puts the minister in the dock. Towards the end, the play gave a useful message to the youth to utilise their right to vote and use the RTI as a weapon to expose the corrupt practices of the politicians. |
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Better bathinda sports stadiums—I Tall claims of the state government to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure to sportspersons have failed to take off in right earnest because of lack of funds. Bathinda Tribune delves into the problem… Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service
Bathinda, April 20 In the absence of sports stadiums, youngsters have started playing on the roads leading to accidents and traffic problems. The residents’welfare associations in various parts of the city don’t even allow them to play in the parks. While Bathinda has produced many sportspersons who have performed well at the international level in the recent past, the city no longer has the capacity to produce players for the national level, all due to the ailing condition of its stadiums. The huge ground behind the Rose Garden, where sportspersons used to gather in large numbers and play games like cricket and football everyday has now been converted into a joggers’ park and a part of it has been used to prepare a cycling track by the state government. Bathinda has four stadiums - the Multipurpose Sports Stadium, the hockey stadium at Government Rajindra College, the ground on the premises of Thermal Colony and Railway Ground, which are open for sportspersons, but their condition is deplorable at present. Multipurpose Sports Stadium
Best known for hosting the opening ceremony of the Kabaddi World Cup for three consecutive years, the district administration wakes up to its condition only when an event has to be organised. For the better part of the year, the condition of the stadium is quite pathetic as not only the ground is uneven it is also littered with small stones due to which many players have been injured during the matches. It is pertinent to mention here that the floodlights installed at the stadium are only used during the kabaddi world cup matches. These floodlights at the stadium do not have any electricity connection at present due to the non-availability of funds. During the last world cup, special connection from the Punjab State Electricty Board (PSEB) was arranged by the Sports Department for that particular event. While the building for the shooting range, also a part of the stadium, is lying defunct for want of funds, the condition of the athletic track is also pitiable. The project to
lay synthetic tracks is hanging fire from quite some time. Government Rajindra College hockey ground
Government Rajindra College ground was once considered the best place for sportspersons as games like cricket, hockey, football and basketball were used to be played here on regularly. But laying of astro turf on this ground has disturbed the schedule of all the players. Now, they don’t have any other place to practice. While the state government had incurred huge expenditure on laying the astro turf at the stadium, the dream project still waits for more funds for its completion even after two years of its commencement. The work on the international hockey stadium has been underway since 2011, but the intervals in the allocation of funds pose a huge
hurdle in the project’s completion. Railway Ground
Railway Ground has a cricket pitch and football ground in the same area, so it creates trouble for the players of two games as only one game can be played at a time. The athletic ground, the cricket pitch and the football ground is also not being well-managed by the Railways officials due to lack of funds and there is no caretaker of the stadium since its inception. Whatever little had been done to maintain it has been the initiative of the players. Ground in Thermal Colony
Another ground which could have come to the rescue of sportspersons is the one located on the premises of the Thermal Colony. But this ground has also been in an ailing condition. It is only during the Kabaddi World Cup tournament that the ground is put to use, that too to hold trials for selecting the Indian kabaddi team. Cricket stadium
The fate of the international cricket stadium is also uncertain. Announced with much fanfare in 2008, the stadium still awaits construction work to get underway. Its foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal on December 9, 2008. In a recent development, the district administration decided to use it for domestic matches. As per this decision, a pitch and ground will be developed at the international cricket stadium on the Dabwali Road addressing the concerns of cricket players who had no place to practice after the Government Rajindra College stadium was turned into a hockey stadium. Another cricket stadium has come up with the name of COPS Club in the police line ground. But players will have to take permission to play in the ground from the police administration. Few coaches for training
Boxers, judo players and players of some other games have been practising without a coach from a long time at the Multipurpose Sports Stadium in the city. Sportsperson are left on their own for training as there are no coaches available except for two games - volleyball and athletics. Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav while talking to Bathinda Tribune admitted that the facilities were inadequate and said there were no funds available for the upkeep of the stadiums. He added that he had written to the higher authorities to release grants for the above said projects. It is worth mentioning that with habit-forming drugs eating into the youth, sports find few takers in the state. The result is that the state’s share of sportspersons in national teams has been on the decline. If the same condition continues then the day is not far when there will be no players from Punjab in any of the national teams. |
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Promises galore ahead of LS polls
Amritsar, April 20 He said the candidates have said nothing about the long-pending issues of the the city. He said after decades of delay, the holy city was connected to Chandigarh by a train couple of years ago but the demand to extend the train to Kalka had not been met. Leaders of all hues are repeatedly saying that they would give an impetus to the trade and industry in the region. For this, they invariably look towards Pakistan and Central Asian countries without thinking that the city was not even well connected domestically,” Adlakha said He said the candidates have said nothing about connecting the city with Himachal Pradesh, which would eventually give a fillip to the tourism and trade. There is no rail connection between the holy city and the Malwa region of the state and there is no direct train to Ahmedabad. CII’s national policy member Gunbir Singh said the MP’job profile was larger than that of an MLA. “Therefore, we need know what they intended to do for the constituency,” he said. He said there was no word on the abolition of service tax, which had been a long-pending demand of traders. Another long-pending demand of traders is the availability of the visa facility at the Integrated Check Post at Attari. The demand did not find mention in any of the statements made by the contestants. Though these leaders accept that the Amritsar international airport is an asset for the state and could be a harbinger of prosperity for city residents, they never disclosed their views on its expansion. The direct Amritsar-London flight was discontinued a couple of years ago without assigning any reason. The local airport was being used used to export vegetables and flowers to Britain. Surinder Singh, a city resident, said the contestants in order to attract the maximum attention were promising the moon. “Almost all candidates announced to make the city a tourist hub but there was no word on the expansion of the infrastructure in the city. For instance, nothing has been said about the railway, which is a Union government subject. The city badly needs additional platforms at the railway station. Keeping in view the expansion of the holy city, a provision of another railway station is required. |
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AAP members take out impressive road show
Bathinda, April 20 Party workers, including a retired Punjab Police DSP, software engineer, students and a large number of youngsters, who promised to shun the path of drugs, were among those who participated in the rally. “Many youngsters, who were earlier addicted to drugs, have expressed their desire to do something for the nation and joined AAP. The youth is simply carried away by the ideology of party convener Arvind Kejriwal,” said party candidate Jassi Jasraj aka Jasraj Longia. He said parents of youth addicted to drugs had approached him to give space to their wards, who are jobless and hence found an escape in drugs. “Though I informed them that our party lacks resources and access to funds to the tune of crores of rupees, we try to accommodate each and everyone with whatever resources we have at our disposal,” Jassi said. He pointed out that people are chipping in with whatever they have to offer to the party, which they think is a better option in this deteriorating scenario. Jassi said many youngsters were impatient and the senior party workers tried their best to make them realise that the AAP is not a political party like others but it is an effort made by a group of people who were away from politics so far. “We have people who have dropped their highly paid jobs, businesses and careers to fight for a cause. Those who carry the broom are those who wanted to see a change today and we try not to rupture the faith they have in the party,” Jassi said, adding that he reposed faith in youth with the saying, “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life’s hard.” |
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AIR Bathinda celebrates 23rd anniversary
Bathinda, April 20 In a press release issued by AIR Bathinda director Rajeev Arora, it was said since AIR FM Bathinda came under the category of LRS of AIR, the focus of discussion was on the functioning of this station. People from all walks of life expressed their views on the subject. Professor and head of the Department of English at Punjabi University Regional Centre Bathinda, Dr Paramjit Romana, Editor of a vernacular newspaper Ajay Purshotam, president of Intezaar Radio Listeners Club Ashok Grover and social worker Rajinder Chawla were among those who conveyed their views to listeners at a live programme during the occasion. The participants opined that people considered AIR as a medium to eulogise the government, but now with the improvement in programme contents, the intellectual liberty given to the participants of various programmes has falsified this myth. Rajeev Arora assured the listeners that AIR FM Bathinda would continue to raise issues concerning common people. |
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Teachers’ body meets ADC
Bathinda, April 20 During the meeting, the teachers told Parashar that although the government had kept its promise of giving them jobs in schools and the EGS centres for two years, they had not been given clear directions regarding their job profiles in the schools and centres. They also told him that their salaries for the past two months had not been released and that Taranjit Singh, father of 14-month-old Ruth, who had died during the protest by the teachers in Bathinda in the first week of February, was still waiting to get the job which the government had promised him. Parashar assured them that while their salaries
will be released soon, a meeting will be fixed with the officials concerned to settle the matter of their job profiles. He promised them that the meeting will be held by April 23. Expressing helplessness in the case of giving a job to Taranjit Singh, he stated that Taranjit would be given a job only after the code of conduct is lifted. |
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PO escapes police custody
Amritsar, April 20 According to ASI Narinder Kumar of Fatehgarh Churian road police post, Nanak Singh was nabbed in a case registered under the NDPS. At about 12.15 pm yesterday, when he was to be taken to the court for a hearing, he ran away from police custody. “He didn’t show his ill intentions. Even as we didn’t loosen his handcuffs and head constable Jasbir Singh accompanied him up to the toilet but he pushed the head constable and ran away,” said ASI Kumar. A case under Section U/S 224 of the IPC has been registered.
— TNS |
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