Bathinda, May 25
High drama involving policemen, public and three women beggars was witnessed on Sunday morning on 60-Feet Road after a pregnant woman along with two other women colleagues was severely beaten up for seeking alms.

Sources said the incident took place when the woman beggar along with two other women entered a house in Model Town Phase-III, not far away from the residence of Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka and asked for Rs 1,000 from house lady who was alone at that time. When the house lady denied the money, all the three women beggars began cursing her and abused her.

When some neighbours rushed to rescue the house lady, all three women beggars fled from the scene. The local residents, however, chased them, who by that time had reached the 60-Feet Road from Model Town Phase-III. Those chasing the women asked some people sitting by the roadside, outside their respective houses, to catch hold of the beggars.

People got together and started beating up the three women beggars, including the pregnant one, without verifying their credentials or taking the matter to the police.

“We only went to beg for money and nothing else. Please forgive us and we will never be seen again in the area,” pleaded one of them, while refusing to identify herself despite being beaten up repeatedly by the residents. The woman, however, kept on saying that she was pregnant. Those engaged in beating her up refused to listen to her pleas and kept thrashing her.

“The three women barged into my residence and demanded Rs 1,000 and tried to remove my gold bangles. I could not chase them as I was wearing a night suit,” said the house lady, who too arrived at the scene. Her husband chased the women till 60-Feet Road where a crowd started thrashing them.

Two policemen reached the spot on the PCR after 40 minutes and asked the crowd not to beat them up. The angry crowd, however, defied the order and kept slapping the women. Unable to do anything as there was no woman cop or a four-wheeler with them, the policemen kept calling their seniors for further directions.

The crowd forced the cops to detain the three women and expressed their concern over their criminal background. The two policemen then requested the driver of a private vehicle to take the three beggars to the Cantonment police station for further investigation.

Following the incident, the Model Town Residents’ Welfare Association demanded completion of the construction of the boundary walls around Model Town Phase-III.

“We even met Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav a couple of days ago and gave him a written representation, but to no avail,” said the chairman of the association, Rakesh Arora. Arora expressed concern over criminal activities in the area where some young boys had pelted stones at cars parked outside breaking their windowpanes last winter.

Sub-Inspector Kuldeep Chand, in-charge of the Cantonment police station, said the beggars were let off after verifying their credentials. 

Bathinda, May 25
With the gap between the demand and supply of milk increasing due to the soaring temperature, people are complaining of adulteration in milk products.

Consumers are complaining of curd cups manufactured by a private milk products company containing more water than curd.

Similarly, people are complaining of the available milk not yielding enough cream after being boiled.

With the increase in temperature, the demand for milk products such as curd and lassi increases. However, due to high temperature, milk production is hit as the animals are not able to produce as much milk as they produce during the winter.

Gurwinder Singh, a resident of Power House Road, said a private curd seller fails to maintain the thickness of the curd and it usually contains more water.

Chairman, Verka Milk Plant, Sukhpal Singh Sidhu, while admitting to the shortage of milk, said there has been no complaints so far against their company.

"The complaints may relate to private milk plants as the Verka Milk Plant sells products after they undergo all the prescribed tests using modern technology," Sidhu said.

He said they combat this problem by collecting cream during the winter, which is stored and then processed into ghee. It is then sold during the summer.

"Due to advanced planning, we are not under undue pressure in summer to get more milk for ghee. Consequently, the supply is diverted to creating milk products like lassi and curd, whose quality is better than that of the private milk producers available in the market," he said.

A dairy farmer said milk production, less than the demand, is witnessed every year in the months of May, June and July.

Sidhu said the daily demand for milk and its products is 7,000 litres, while that in the Cantonment area is around 16,000 litres every day.

The plant has a capacity of 1 lakh tonnes for which 70,0000 litres is collected from the city and nearby areas. Rajasthan Milk Federation contributes around 30,000 litres. The plant also caters to the demand for 30,000 litres of milk in areas like Kotkapura, Faridkot and Ferozepur every day.

As many as 3,000 packets of lassi are sold daily and nearly 2,000 kg of paneer is supplied by the Verka plant every day.

The chairman said the Verka Milk Plant has now begun storing the fat collected during the winters to make ghee in a bid to sell it during summers. The milk sellers said the problem is faced by them every summer and the situation improves with the onset of winter.

Bathinda, May 25
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal seems to be upset with the leaders of Bathinda and Mansa city after the poor performance of the SAD in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the SAD candidate had trailed by more than 50,000 votes from both these segments.

Highly placed sources said Deputy CM Sukhbir badal would meet each municipal councillor and ask them to explain the reason why the SAD candidate had trailed from his ward.

Even leaders or workers involved in anti-party activities during the election with their motive to downsize the other leader in front of the party high command will not be spared. It is learnt that the Deputy Chief Minister had questioned senior SAD leaders of the area as to why after spending nearly Rs 400 crore on development in Bathinda and Mansa city, people had not voted for the SAD in large numbers.

Sukhbir Badal is believed to be planning a new strategy for the Municipal Corporation election which is due for the last one year and will be held in four to five months. He is planning to field new faces which has spoiled the mood of many sitting SAD municipal councillors.

He is quite concerned over party’s performance in these two constituencies as in the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections, SAD candidates Sarup Chand Singla and Prem Mittal had won comfortable and this time the party has performed badly.

It is pertinent to mention that after the poll results, the SAD president had met SAD MLA from Bathinda Urban and CPS Sarup Chand Singla and asked them to explain the poor performance of the party in the poll.

Downsizing of many senior and new leaders is on the cards who performed badly in their own wards. As the Deputy Chief Minister is eyeing the corporation elections to set the SAD house in order, so the party should perform well in the civic polls.

It is worth mentioning that municipal councillors had said that the main reason for the defeat from here was that they are not allowed to meet the Deputy Chief Minister and the Bathinda MP due to which they keep away from ground reality and people around them give them wrong information.

Even Member of Parliament Harsimrat Badal is yet to visit the city after winning the election from Bathinda by a slender margin.

Bathinda, May 25
Residents of Natha Singh Nambardar Wali Gali have been complaining continuously about the supply of dirty water by the Municipal Corporation for the last six days which has led to various health problems among them.

Accusing the authorities of giving step-motherly treatment, residents of the locality said despite numerous written and verbal complaints, no action has been taken by the authorities.

“The bad days began around a week ago when we failed to get pure drinking water the whole day as dirty water kept flowing. The next day, however, the colour of the water changed to normal after five to ten minutes,” said Sukhdarshan Singh, a maths teacher residing in the locality.

He said the matter has been brought to the notice of the senior corporation officials, but no action was taken in this regard.

“We pressed the panic button when the elderly and the children started falling ill after consuming the dirty water which is mixed with the sewerage water for sure,” he said.

Another resident Bhupinder Singh alleged that some house owners in the Mehna Chowk area have dug up sewerage pipes in an ‘illegal’ manner during which the sewerage water got mixed with the pipes in which the drinking water runs.

Manjit Kaur, suffering from fever ever since she consumed dirty water, said earlier, the water was of black colour, but now, the blackness has reduced to a great extent, but the smell was still unbearable.

“Even the water purifying systems have developed snags in view of too much dirt entering the system as the cleaners fail to handle too much of it,” she said.

Mani, 17, too, is suffering from fever, reportedly due to the consumption of the dirty water.

“We have sent an alert to all the other residents in nearby houses and informed them about the outbreak of a possible disease as the water is not fit for human consumption,” Manjit said.

The authorities, when asked to redress the problem, cite various other ‘important’ works at hand and also give lame excuses of Saturday and Sunday being a holiday.

Showing the dirty water, the residents said despite calling the office of the Municipal Corporation umpteen times, the civic body officials failed to respond.

No corporation official could be reached for his comment despite repeated attempts.

Bathinda, May 25
A head-on collision between two cars took place near Balluana village, here on Sunday, leaving two persons dead. One person received head injuries in the mishap.

The injured was taken to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, by the workers of the NGO Sahara Welfare Society. Tek Chand, a social worker, said after receiving information about the mishap, they rushed to the spot.

Both cars have been completely damaged in the mishap. Persons travelling in both the cars, Sumail Singh, a resident of Sriganganagar and Manpreet Singh, a resident of Gidderbaha, died on the spot. Navjot Singh was injured in the incident. The police started investigations into the matter.

Bathinda, May 25
To check traffic rule violations, the police has started dealing with the violators with an iron hand.

At Ajit Road, the traffic police challaned more than 20 vehicles near Fauji chowk on Sunday morning.

Commuters also alleged that the police is wrongly issuing challans, as no signboard has been put up by the traffic police stating ‘Going this way is banned’ as otherwise, they have to come and take ‘U’ turn from far.

Police officials who were issuing challans said there was a signboard, but it seemed that somebody had taken away that board.

City traffic in-charge, Balwinder Singh, said the special drive launched by the police had led to an increase in the number of challans being issued to the violators. More than 100 challans were being issued every day. Apart from these, almost 15-20 vehicles were being impounded everyday.

Bathinda, May 25
The project of smart card driving licences and vehicle registration copies appear to have failed in fulfilling the purpose for which it was initiated. The reason for the failure is that the traffic police do not have card readers even two years after smart cards were had started being issued in district.

The smart card project was started in December 2011 with the view that every vehicle owner would get a user name and password for payment of online challan wherein the permanent record of previously paid challan of each vehicle would be maintained. If stopped by police or the transport authority to check the status of payment of challan of that particular vehicle, the user would just send an SMS and would get a reply by an SMS within 30 seconds showing a payment record of that vehicle and person.

Likewise, smart chip driving licence cards were started with the view that it would help the traffic police and district transport department in streamlining the records.

Till date, more than 1 lakh smart driving licences and registration copy of vehicles have been issued in the district so far. So, the traffic police is facing a problem — that they do not have card readers, due to which they are unable to get record detail in chips which can only be seen using card readers.

Traffic police officials saidthey have informed the higher authorities, but it is up to them to send card readers.

The project is also facing other problems. As per the directions, driving licence is to be given to the applicant seven days after applying and many cases of wrong entries of name on the licence have also being reported.

Officials added that the delay is on the part of the Chandigarh-based Smart Chip Limited Company that has been given the contract to make the smart card licence.

District Transport Officer (DTO) Damanjit Singh Mann said at first, the work of digitisation will take place, which is going on and after that, the card readers will be purchased. 

Bathinda, May 25
Opened by the state government four years ago with the aim of providing quality education to the children belonging to villages and areas on the fringes of cities and to those belonging to families with an annual income equal to or less than Rs 1.5 lakh, Adarsh Schools paint a picture of neglect these days.

The Government Adarsh Senior Secondary School, at Canal Colony in the city, affiliated to the CBSE, is reeling under an acute shortage of teachers for Classes XI and XII.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, Rajinder Singh, father of a student, said, “The school, set up in 2010, was earlier a high school. Last year, the school was upgraded and started admitting students to class XI. This year, the school was again upgraded and started admitting the students to Class XII as well. The school is dependent on retired teachers.”

He said the school management was not serious towards the education of the students and was not taking up the issue of recruiting more teachers.

“It was only after a dharna staged by the parents last year that the school management swung into action and hired retired teachers to take classes,” the parents pointed out.

“We upgraded the school to Class XI last academic session and the same batch of students has been admitted to Class XII this session. As per the policy of the government, we roped in retired teachers to hold classes. We have already brought the issue of shortage of teachers to the notice of the State Education Department and have been assured that new teachers will join the school by the end of June,” said Surinder Nagar, principal.

He further stated that the State Education Department had issued a notification for the recruitment of teachers and the counselling of the shortlisted candidates had also been conducted.

He said at present, the school required nine more teachers for Class XI and XII. While the admission to Class XI for the new academic session began only a few days ago, after the results of Class X were declared by the CBSE, there were 15 students in Humanities stream and 10 in the Science stream in Class XII in the school. 

Bathinda, May 25
ETT teachers employed under the Panchayati Raj and Zila Parishad have announced to continue their protest against the state government during the summer vacations. At a meeting convened at the Teachers’ Home here today, the teachers announced that on June 2, they would reach Badal village to stage a dharna .

While addressing the protesters, state president of the union Jagsir Singh Sahota and district president Gurmukh Singh Nathana, stated that on June 2, the leaders of the union from across the state will assemble at Badal village to meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and ask him to keep his promise of bringing all the ETT teachers under the State Education Department.

They said as preparation for the June 2 protest, meetings were being held across the state to call upon all the teachers working in the schools under the Zila Parishad and Panchayati Raj to participate in the protest. 

Bathinda, May 25
Do you have a thing for Awadh-ka-Andaaz and Lucknow-ki-Tameez? Have a foodie hidden in you who doesn't care for the girth and finds mirth in a scrumptious spread? If your answer to both the questions is in the affirmative, then the royal feast at the Hotel Best Western Stella and the fragrance of ground and whole spices like nutmeg, mace and star anise, beckons you.

A lady, dressed in a floor-length Anarkali suit welcomes you with an 'adaab' as you make your way to the restaurant, tastefully done up to match the theme of the food festival. The menu, prepared especially for the festival, makes the mouth water with its sections--- 'shuruat', 'shorba', 'kebab' and 'khana-e-khas'.

For the shuruat (beginning), Aam Panna and Thandai command your attention in equal measure. The salty-tangy taste of the first is balanced with the aromatic sweetness of the latter. Just as you are settling in for a journey into the gastronomic world of imperial kitchens of the Mughal empire, the dilemma to choose between a Yakhni and a Palak-Dal Shorba seizes you. A word of advice - if you want to enjoy your main course, settle for the soupy shorba.

In the kebabs section, there is something for everyone - from the mildly spiced dahi-ke-kebab to the chicken seekh pao wrapped in a thick sauce of mint, cream and spinach which catches your attention. If you haven't had your fill of appetisers, you could also try the nawabi paneer tikka with the mint and onion chutney to enhance the experience.

The khana-e-khas is the real deal. From delights like chandi kaliyan (meatballs wrapped in silver warq) to murg khurs-e-tursh (chicken breast stuffed with minced chicken and dry fruits) for the non-vegetarians to paneer reshmi, angoori kofta and several other delicacies for the vegetarians, the main course menu spoils one for choice. Rice lovers may choose between Biryani Wahid Ali and veg biryani while the bread lovers could settle for the crispy ulte tawe ka parantha or the warqi parantha.

If you think you have eaten to your heart's content, don't leave yet as there is the kesar-streaked svaiyyon-ka-muzzafar and badam phirni.

Prepared under the expert supervision of executive chef Sanjay and sous chef Mohinder, the richness of the Mughlai cuisine has been neutralised a little to suit the taste of the diners. "Although we had our apprehensions when we planned the festival, the response has been good and we may extend the dates of the festival by a few more days," said the general manager of the hotel, Rajiv Sharma.