Bathinda, May 17
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Harsimrat Badal got a lead in just 13 booths in the city and also she was able to gain lead only in one ward of the city.

The SAD will introspect why its candidate trailed by a huge margin in the Bathinda (Urban) assembly constituency in this Lok Sabha election.

Sources claimed that Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who won by a narrow margin of 19,232 from the Bathinda constituency, is not happy with the results of the Bathinda (Urban) and Mansa assembly segments.

In Bathinda Urban, she trailed by more than 29,000 votes and in Mansa by more than 23,000 votes.

It is learnt that even senior SAD leaders were wondering why despite the party having done a lot of development work in the two constituencies, had the people not voted for the SAD.

The mood in SAD circles can be judged from the fact that their was no victory procession and celebrations at the Badal mansion in Lambi this time.

Instead of celebrating, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal held a meeting with CPS Sarup Chand Singla, who is also an MLA from Bathinda Urban seat and asked him the explanation why Harsimrat had trailed by a huge margin in the city.

It is also learnt that what has upset the SAD leadership was that even senior party leaders in the city were not able to ensure a SAD lead in their respective wards. In the ward of CPS Sarup Chand Singla, SAD trailed by 805 votes, while Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman who claims that during his tenure, Rs 225 crore was spent on the city’s development, was also not able to save SAD, as from his ward, the party trailed by 83 votes.

The Mayor was not even able to secure a lead for the SAD from his Bir Behman village from where Harsimrat Badal trailed by 424 votes.

CPS Singla said, “We all are upset with the results of Bathinda Lok Sabha seat as we were expecting a huge margin compared to last time. We are highly disappointed and unable to find what went wrong.”

He also stated that introspection will be done as to why people voted against SAD. If property tax or some other policies affected the prospects, the party will analysis and a new policy will be made, he added.

Confirming the meeting with Deputy Chief Minister on Friday evening, he said Sukhbir Singh Badal met him and they are all upset with the result.

Singla had won the assembly election by more than 5,000 votes in 2012 and Harsimrat Badal had won the last Lok Sabha election by a margin of 1.15 lakh from here.

There is speculation that CPS Singla can be marginalised due to the poor performance of the SAD in Lok Sabha election from his constituency.

Bathinda, May 17
The district health authorities observed the World Hypertension Day today with the aim of promoting public awareness on hypertension and to encourage citizens of all countries to prevent and control this silent killer and a modern epidemic.

The NPCDCS (National Programme for Control of Cancer, Diabetics and Cardio-Vascular Strokes) has been observing the World Hypertension Week from May 14 to 19 by visiting the government and private schools and creating awareness among the students and teachers. Increased blood pressure is a leading risk factor for death and disability globally as highlighted in the recent global burden of disease study and emphasised by the World Health Organisation on World Health Day.

Lack of awareness among the people about high blood pressure is one of the major barriers in effective control of hypertension. Simple affordable steps to incorporate routine blood pressure assessment into community programmes and workplaces as well as all health care settings could play a major role.

"World Hypertension Day, annually celebrated on May 17, is focused on improving prevention and control of hypertension. On Friday, the World Hypertension League (WHL) had initiated the celebrations by announcing the results of its 2013-14 campaign to assist national hypertension organisations in developing wide spread screening programmes to identify those with hypertension.

The campaign 'Know your blood pressure' will be repeated annually for the next five years to facilitate the development of programmes to screen for hypertension." said, Sachin Kumar, Finance and Logistic Officer NPCDCS, Bathinda. "Since May 14, we have been campaigningand organised a camp at the NPCDCS centre. Around 200 patients in a day have been made aware here at the camp. the number is more than 1,000 of patients in Bathinda." Sachin added.

Bathinda, May 17
Residents of the city have high hopes from country’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Residents’ expectations are high as the BJP on its own has got a comfortable majority. So, people think that now Modi has a free hand and can change the face and future of the country.

First, they expect Modi to give some relief by lowering the inflation. Rajinder Mittal, CMD BCL and the Mittal Group of Industries Pvt Ltd said it is very good that after ages, a stable government has come to power. “We expect that it will benefit us as the coalition government had its restrictions. More over, we have to see what new steps the government brings in for the industry sector. Meenakshi Goyal, a housewife, said the new government has come to power and people are expecting lots of changes as Modi during his campaigning has shown lots of dreams like bringing down inflation, and providing quality medicare and education. She also stressed that Modi should focus on women’s security.

Gurlal Singh, a student, said, “It is good that a stable government has come, but we will have to see how Modi treats Punjab, as Punjab has voted against Modi overall. It is the only state in which the BJP and its allies got 6 seats while the Congress and the AAP got 7 seats.

Gurpreet Singh, an advocate, said with the BJP coming to power with a thumping majority, now the blame game will be over in Punjab. As for the last few years, on each issue, the SAD leadership used to blame the Central government for meting out step-motherly treatment and now, more funds will come for the state from which Pujab will benefit and development work will take place with great pace.

Bathinda, May 17
Hopes are flying high for the inaugurationl of the Bathinda domestic airport, a brainchild of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with the change of guard and the NDA coming to power with a thumping majority at the Centre.

Though the SAD had brought this project airport to the Virk Kalan village, it seems that this has not brought any effect on the voters’ mind as the SAD had trailed by 170 votes from this village Virk Kalan in this Lok Sabha elections.

It is expected that the airport will be inaugurated soon in the future and the flights can only be made operational in October, as new flights are introduced in two seasons: summer and winter. Summer season is February-March which is over and the winter season which is October-November, in which it will be made operational.

Meanwhile, they can rope in new a flight company Air Asia, which can start its operations early as it is a new company and Bathinda already lies on the air route of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), as A-320 flight career is goes to Punjab, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir crossing through Delhi circuit which includes Delhi via Karnal, Ambala, Chandigarh, Shimla, Bilaspur, Jammu and Ladakh. While returning, due to cloud cover, flights takes the Jammu via Pathakot, Amritsar, Firozepur, Bathinda, Rewari and Delhi route.

The first airport of the Malwa region is lying idle for the last nearly two years after its completion waiting for its inauguration and start of flights.

As per sources, reason behind its non-operational was that the Union government and the state government had locked horns with each other, as both wanted to get the credit for this for their vote bank politics.

The Congress-led UPA government did not want to start it till the general elections, whereas the Badal family wanted it to start it before the elections at any cost as it lies in the constituency of the MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Due to which, Sukhbir Singh Badal lambasted the UPA government for not starting the Bathinda domestic airport from the stages during campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.

Deputy commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav said all district administration and state government formalities have been completed, we just waiting for the inauguration for which center government's aviation ministry has to give nod.

It’s worth mentioning that civil airport has been built at a cost of Rs 25 crore with the state government acquiring and providing 40 acres of land belonging to Virk Kalan village. The airport is situated just adjacent to defense airbase of Bhisiana having no runway of its own and poised to use the 9,000 feet runway of the Bhisiana airbase.

The airport has been constructed with the conditions required for the traffic flow of two 50-seater aircrafts (ATR) at the same time.

The building which is fabricated of glass and steel is called a pre-engineered building that houses a VIP lounge, two check-in counters, a 30-seater fully air-conditioned security hold, two conveyer belts and various other standard infrastructure required for a domestic airport.

As the airport has been constructed on the sand dunes, the AAI, giving due importance to the environment issues, is also putting efforts on the proper landscaping around the aviation terminal. Keeping the further provision for expansion, in the first phase, the airport will have parking space for nearly 25 cars.

This catchment of at least 100 km radius has no air facility for civilians as of now. Besides the overall development of the region, the Rs 20,000 crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery and Baniwala thermal plant are the major push factors for the project.

Bathinda, May 17
Hotel Sweet Milan, situated on GT Road, opposite three cinemas, has been using the land of the Improvement Trust, for commercial use in the evening without the permission of the authorities concerned.

In the evening, the hotel staff put up tables and chairs for dining outside the shops adjacent to the hotel in the open, restricting the movement of the public. Half of the road has been blocked by the hotelier permanently by putting up a tent. The hotelier has even set up an open kitchen outside the premises, thus encroaching the land of the Improvement Trust.

The hotel staff have been allowing the people to drink inside or outside the hotel restaurant without a liquor licence, and also provide liquor on request.

The other issue is of land change use, as the hotel is illegally going on in SCF commercial pockets of the Improvement Trust, as the land was taken for a provision store or book store. But the hotelier has been running the hotel by clubbing two-three commercial pockets.

The officials have turned a blind eye towards this.

When contacted, Improvement Trust official, Jawahar said it was illegal and they would take action. When asked about the reason behind the delay in taking action, he said there were only eight officials working with them and all were busy with the elections.

Bathinda, May 17
Nearly 2,000 stray cattle, most of them cows, roam freely on the busy city roads, and wreak havoc. Fatal road accidents, serious injuries, panic among commuters and damage to vehicles are reported every day because of these.

The most accident-prone areas are Barnala Road, Goniana Road, Ajit Road, Parasram Nagar, Power House Road, Namdev Road and Mansa Road.

A herd of animals seriously injured two students, adjoining the residence of the Bathinda MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla. In a similar incident, a farmer trying to save his produce from these animals, also received serious injuries at the grain market on Wednesday night.

Abandoning dry cattle by herdsman and leaving them out in the open at congested roads has aggravated the problem. Apart from commuters, the vegetable sellers near the grain market and farmers too are upset over spoiling of edibles, put up for sale, by the animals.

“Though no survey has been conducted either by the district administration or the government to assess the exact number of such animals, its estimated number is between 1,500 to 2,000 in and around the city area,” said Sadhu Ram Kusla, general secretary of Shree Gaushala.

He said villagers in rural areas, to save the cost of their feed, leave the milk animals loose to graze outside, but most of the stray animals in the city areas are non-milch cattle.

Untrained manpower with the Municipal Corporation to catch such animals, paucity of funds, and a very few number of gaushalas are the major setbacks in solving the problem.

“Also, people offering green fodder to these animals by the roadside, too, has led to numerous road accidents and injuries during bull fights,” Kusla said.

The solution lies with the state government which is not acting on a detailed report submitted to the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal through the Deputy Commissioner in this regard. “Sukhbir Badal promised to clear the file once the election code of conduct is over. The file contains a proposal for constructing 15 gaushalas in nearby villages and collectionof cow cess from the liquor vends which will go directly into the coffers of the village panchayat. These animals will be removed by expert manpower,” Kusla added.

At present, there are four gaushalas in the city which house 2,600 animals with a minimal daily expenditure of Rs 40 to Rs 45 per animal.

Former Municipal Councillor and advocate Rajan Garg said the use of dry fodder in the cardboard factories and brick kilns, too, aggravated the problem of providing dry fodder for such animals, which needs to be taken up seriously by the authorities. 

* Untrained manpower with the Municipal Corporation to catch such animals, paucity of funds, and little number of gaushalas are the major setbacks to solve the problem.

* At present there are four gaushalas in the city which houses 2,600 animals with a minimal daily expenditure of Rs 40 to Rs 45 per animal.