Bathinda, June 3
President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has called a meeting of the party’s constituency in-charge in Bathinda district for a discussion on the poll debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. The meeting will be held at the SAD headquarters in Chandigarh on June 5.

It may be mentioned that the meeting is being deemed important for the party’s future course of action as SAD candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is also the wife of the Deputy Chief Minister, was able to win by a slender margin of just over 19,000 votes from here.

The meeting is being touted as one called for discussions but sources in the SAD claimed that an explanation will be sought from the party in-charges of all the constituencies as the SAD lead has drastically gone down from 1.15 lakh votes in 2009 to 19,000 votes this time.

The leaders who are expected to be under fire are Bathinda Urban MLA Sarup Chand Singla who is also the Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Bathinda Rural MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta. Harsimrat Kaur Badal trailed by more than 29,000 votes from Bathinda Urban assembly constituency while from Bathinda Rural assembly constituency, Harsimrat trailed by nearly 4,000 votes.

Sources claimed that party leaders, especially CPS Sarup Chand Singla, are worried over facing the wrath of the Deputy CM as they had predicted a smooth ride for Harsimrat from here.

Even before the elections, Sukhbir Badal had asked several party leaders, particularly ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries, to be ready with their resignations if the SAD lost from their constituencies.

SAD MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta, while confirming the meeting, said he got a call for attending the meeting at Chandigarh on June 5. Kotfatta said he didn’t know much about the meeting as to why it had been called and who all had been invited.

Former MLA and Talwandi Sabo in-charge of SAD Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu said the meeting has been called to discuss and analyse the election results.

It is pertinent to mention that this meeting was earlier called on June 2 at Chandigarh but the meeting on Bathinda district was postponed due to some reasons. It will now be held on June 5.

It is worth mentioning that the SAD MP from here, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is reportedly upset with the results and has not visited the constituency after the verdict was announced. The SAD even did not take out a victory procession in the city on May 16 after the declaration of results.

Bathinda, June 3
Do you aspire to get your children admitted to the best CBSE-affiliated school in the city? If the answer to the question is in the affirmative, you need to analyse the data procured from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which reveals that only three CBSE-affiliated schools in the city recorded 100 per cent pass percentage in the recently-declared class XII results.

Two out of these three schools are Kendriya Vidyalayas, which are considered next only to government schools. Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 3, Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 5 and St. Joseph’s Convent School are the three schools in the city which registered 100 per cent pass percentage. All the 82 students of St. Joseph’s Convent School, 37 students of KV No. 3 and 42 students of KV No. 5 cleared the examination.

The other two Kendriya Vidyalayas —No. 4 and No.1 — also fared well enough with pass percentages recorded at 94.44 per cent and 97.66 per cent, respectively. While at KV No. 1, 86 students appeared for the examination out of which 84 cleared the examination and two were marked either failed or reappear in one or the other subjects. At KV No. 4, 34 of the 36 students cleared the examinations.

At St. Xaviers’ Convent School, 258 of the total 277 students cleared the examinations bringing the pass percentage of the school to 93.14 per cent. DPS recorded an overall pass percentage of 93.18 per cent as 41 of its total of 44 students cleared the exam. With only two of its 95 students having either to reappear for examination or failed, the Army Public School recorded a pass percentage of 97.89.

Of the 228 students of Police Public School, only 138 students passed the examinations. The school recorded an overall pass percentage of 60.53. The percentage for Lord Rama Public School stood at 78 with 78 of its total 100 students having cleared the examination.

St Kabir Convent School, Bhucho Mandi, which produced the district topper Mohak Gupta ( 97 per cent) recorded a pass percentage of 52.57. Only 92 of its total 175 students cleared the examinations.

Bathinda, June 3
The dream project of Punjab Chief Minister Parksh Singh Badal — the special residential school for meritorious students — which is being built on the premises of the Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus in Bathinda may not be able to begin classes on time for the new academic session.

While the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared its results for Class X examination on Monday, a large chunk of work on the school building still remains to be completed despite the fact that three contractors had been roped in to build different parts of the building and the construction is on in full swing.

The CM had announced the setting up of the school on July 26 and in the first week of September, the district administration earmarked vacant land on the premises of the Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus for its construction. The CM laid the foundation stone for the school on December 8 last year.

He had expressed his wish that the school building be completed by May so that the admission process for the academic session 2014-15 can be initiated immediately after the results for Class X are announced. While earlier, the deadline for the construction of the school was set for July, it seems the project will jump the deadline thereby creating a problem for the meritorious students seeking admission to the school.

Bathinda, June 3
The work of computerisation of the land records in Bathinda district is in its last leg. The records of 290 of the total 292 villages in the district have already been computerised, said the new Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda Dr Basant Garg. He added that the process will facilitate the procurement of copies of land records to rural population.

Deputy Commissioner Garg added that apart from Bathinda, Farad Kendras were being run at Rampura Phul, Talwandi Sabo, Bhagta Bhai Ka, Sangat, Nathana, Goniana, Balianwali and Maur. He stated that copies of land records were being provided over the counter to the applicants for a mere fee of Rs 20 per page at the Farad Kendras.

He further shared that at the Farad Kendras in the district, copies of a total of 82,469 pages had been provided against a total of 14,254 applications.

The Farad Kendra in Bathinda received a 
total of 2,294 applications in May against which copies of 15,215 pages were provided to the applicants.

At Rampura Phul Farad Kendra, copies of 12,804 pages were provided against 2,635 applications. At Talwandi Sabo Farad Kendra, copies of 12,396 pages were provided against 2,351 applications. At Bhagta Bhai Ka, 4,203 pages were provided against 1,038 requests for copies of land records.

While the Sangat Farad Kendra furnished 5,461 pages against 765 requests, Nathana Farad Kendra furnished copies of 11,270 pages to settle 1,974 requests it registered in May.

While Goniana Mandi received as many as 1,096 requests for which it provided copies of 8,146 pages, Ballianwali settled 1,040 requests by furnishing copies of 6,032 pages. At the Farad Kendra in Maur, copies of 6,042 pages were handed out against 1,061 requests for computerised record of the land.

Bathinda, June 3
After the Punjab Police cracked the whip on drug peddlers, it is now the turn of the local courts to hand over verdicts to those convicted in cases of smuggling drugs. In three separate decisions, pronounced in two courts, five drug peddlers, including a woman, have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) with heavy penalties.

All the drug peddlers are below 30 years of age except for a woman who is 42. While two of the cases were pending in the court for three years, one has been decided after two years.

Setting aside the plea for leniency, the special courts of Jasjit Singh Bhinder and Rajwinder Kaur gave their verdict today.

The court of special judge Rajwinder Kaur ordered Suresh Rani of Parasram Nagar to undergo ten years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh for carrying medicinal drugs without the requisite prescriptions. In case of default in payment of fine, she would undergo imprisonment for one more year, the court ruled.

The woman was arrested by the police in April 2013 from Thandi Sarak near Bathinda railway station. She was carrying a bag containing 30 vials of Rexcof to sell them as drugs.

The woman failed to produce any permit, licence or bill to carry the vials and a case under sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act was registered against her at the Canal Colony police station.

Due to lack of substantial evidence, the court refused to believe the plea of the accused woman’s counsel about the non-examination of an independent witness in the case, non-examination of the woman constable and the delay of 15 days in sending the sample to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

The court observed that mere delay in sending the sample of narcotics to the chemical examiner was not sufficient to conclude that the samples had been tampered with. There is sufficient evidence to connect that the delay was not intentional and the points argued by the learned defence counsel were without merit, the court observed.

The court also refused to entertain her plea that she was the only breadwinner in her family and that her children would be left alone if she was sent to jail. In a similar order passed by the special court of Jasjit Singh Bhinder, 26-year-old Ripjeet Singh of Kotha Guru Ka village was sentenced to imprisonment for five years along with a fine of Rs 20,000. In case of default in payment, he would undergo further imprisonment for six more months.

The accused was arrested by the police in October 2011 with 600 tablets of Phenotil, meant to be sold as drugs.

In another case settled within two months, the special court of Jasjit Singh ordered three persons, all below the age of 30 years, to undergo ten years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh for carrying a huge quantity of poppy husk in a jeep on 1 April this year.

The accused Dheeraj Kumar of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, Sewak Singh of Charik village in Moga and Mithu Singh of Dhodipura, were found carrying the drugs in a jeep. They were sent to jail today after the court’s orders.

Bathinda, June 3
As many as 51 activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta Ugrahan were detained today near the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP). They were demanding the release of their leaders and workers who were arrested on the first day of the protest in a minor girl’s rape case.

BKU Ekta Ugrahan state senior vice-president Jhanda Singh Jethuke, district president Harjinder Singh and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union state general secretary Lachman Singh today announced that their protest would continue until 14 members of their union are released.

They alleged that the police and the SAD are hand in glove with the accused. Though the police have arrested the accused due to pressure, no interrogation has been done, they said.

BKU activists came from Mansa to court arrest when the police stopped them at Bhaini Bhaga village and attacked district president Ram Singh.

Condemning the arrest, they said the SAD government had already proved their stand in the Faridkot incident and now in the Gandhar rape case by supporting the accused.

However, in the evening, eight BKU activists were released from the jail.

Bathinda, June 3
A man created a ruckus outside the Railway Police Force (RPF) post at platform number 7 by accusing RPF officials of beating him up badly today in the afternoon. He remained standing outside the RPF post and was shouting against the RPF officials for 30 minutes. RPF officials, inside the post, however, refuted the allegations.

As per information, a man was crying in front of the RPF post in the scorching heat accusing the officials continuously. He stated that he was a resident of Baghapurana and his name was Jaswant Singh. His wife was leaving him and was going with some other person. When he stopped her, the RPF officials stopped him and beat him up badly. He also alleged that they took his purse and made his wife leave with some other person.

Meanwhile, RPF sub- inspector Harbans Singh, while refuting the allegation of beating and snatching his purse, said nothing like that had happened at all. He said the complainant himself was beating up his wife and they (the RPF staff) intervened and stopped him. After this, both were taken to the RPF office, where his wife said she was staying separately for the last one year and the man had given her an affidavit stating that she could stay alone and that he will also stay alone.

She also said that two of their children were staying with her and two with her husband after which the lady was let off. He stated that the man was unnecessarily creating a scene.

When contacted, RPF police station in-charge Rajesh Kumar stated that he was out of town and did not have any knowledge regarding the case.

Bathinda, June 3
Net vibes Technology beat DLC Dhabha in a fourteenth match of the 2nd Drug De-addiction Bathinda Premier League Cricket Tournament. The match was played at the Police Public School on Monday.

After winning the toss, Net Vibes Technology put DLC Dhabana to bat. Innings of Krishan (51 runs) and Hardev (18 runs) led the DLC Dhabha to score 139 runs at the loss of ten wickets in 19.5 overs. Parminder took four wickets.

Net Vibes Technology achieved the target in 18.3 overs with four wickets in hand. Mahesh and Akshay scored 52 and 35 runs respectively.

During the felicitation ceremony, Mahesh was given the title of Man of the match and Parminder of Net Vibes Technology was given catch of the match.

Krishan and Mahesh were also honored for scoring fifties.