Bathinda, June 12
A large number of consumers in the district have not received electricity bills for the last two-three months. The reason behind the consumers not receiving the bill was that the contract of the private company distributing the bills has expired. The contract has not been renewed due to the complaints received against the firm.

Highly placed sources in the Powercom claimed that a private firm was given the contract for a year to tabulate and distribute the electricity bills. The contract ended on March 31 and has not been extended as the company was flooded with complaints regarding the wrong calculation of the bills.

Instead of calculating the bill from the electricity meters, the private firm was distributing the bills that had been calculated on an average basis. Due to this, there was a public outrage against the private firm.

A new company was hired and given the task of preparing the electricity bills, but senior officials who visited some villages in the district recently were not satisfied with the work of the new company.

People are a worried lot as now they will have to pay the electricity bills for two-three months together and a huge burden will be put on the common man, as a person who had to pay Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 per month will now have to pay Rs 21,000 in lump sum.

Rajiv Kumar, a resident, said people should not be made to suffer due to the fault of the department that hired a wrong company. He said the department should receive the payment of the bill on installment basis, as otherwise, it would become difficult for many to pay the pending dues.

Sapna Verma, another resident, said paying the electricity bills of two to three months together will put strain on their budget. She also said it would be better if the department receives the payment in installments.

Mohan Lal Jhumba, president, Bathinda Urban Congress Committee, said residents of the city are quite worried as they have not received the electricity bills for the last two to three months. They will now have to pay the bill in lump sum which will hit them hard.

Sources in the Powercom claimed that a private firm was given the contract for a year to tabulate and distribute the electricity bills. The contract ended on March 31 and has not been extended as the company was flooded with complaints regarding the wrong calculation of the bills. Instead of calculating the bill from the electricity meters, the private firm was distributing the bills that had been calculated on an average basis.

Bathinda, June 12
Rampura boy Avneesh Kumar Rai has done the district proud by securing the 51st rank in the Civil Services Examination the result of which was announced by the UPSC today. While his father is the railway station superintendent at Rampura, his mother is a home maker.

Speaking to the Bathinda Tribune over the phone from New Delhi, Avneesh said, “It is still unbelievable for me that I have managed to do well in my first attempt. I give credit to my parents for constantly encouraging me. Credit is also due to my seniors in New Delhi who guided me through the time I took coaching for the UPSC examination.”

After graduating from the National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Avneesh worked with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for a year and followed it up with a job with the Ministry of Agriculture. As part of the job, he was posted in Nainital from where he went on study leave without pay and landed in New Delhi to prepare for the examination.

“I took coaching for about three months before appearing for the examination. I chose Public Administration as my main subject for the examination,” Avneesh said.

“I belong to a rural background and have seen the expectations with which those belonging to rural areas look up to the administration and senior officials. I would like to serve the people of such areas once I start working as an IAS officer. To begin with, I would like to look at the ground level problems and chalk out measures to solve the problems. If we strengthen our villages, the country will progress even more,” Avneesh said.

He added that he had given IAS as his first preference and the IFS as his second preference but with this rank, he sounded confident that he would get his first preference. 

Bathinda, June 12
Cloudy weather and mild showers have brought respite for the farmers resulting in paddy transplantation gaining momentum in the district.

As per the agri-met department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda, the maximum temperature on Thursday was 43.2 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature was recorded at 28.5 degree Celsius.

During a visit to the agricultural fields in various villages of the district, it was seen that the farmers have changed their technique of sowing and are opting for direct seeded rice by using a zero till machine.

Apart from this, the farmers are also using a laser leveller, which helps in saving water. As per the estimates, it helps save about 20-30 per cent of water. A laser leveller costs around Rs 3.5 lakh and the government provides a subsidy of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh. The machine is used to level the ground as earlier, more water was lost due to the uneven nature of the ground.

Manjit Singh, a farmer, said they opted for direct sowing method as well as a laser leveller machine as it meant less use of water for transplantation. Also, the farmers knew that the level of groundwater was going down day by day. "We don’t want to take any chances as the government announces eight hours of free supply of electricity every year but we hardly get the full supply," he said.

Mangal Singh, another farmer, said the laser leveller has given the farmers an additional source of income as some of the farmers give their tractors and machines on rent and earn money from it.

Gurdev Singh, a farmer using the method of direct sowing of rice, said it was a great technique and he had used it last year as well. "With this, water is saved and less labour is required," he said.

Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Rajinder Singh Brar said with the cloudy weather and the dropping of mercury in the region, paddy transplantation has gained some pace in the district. Brar said it was good to see farmers opting for direct sowing of rice in the district as with this technique, less labour and water is consumed, which benefits the farmers.

Bathinda, June 12
Keeping the impending onset of the monsoon season in mind, the district administration has begun pulling up its socks to keep a check on the effect of monsoon which, in the past, has led to waterlogging and flooding of fields in the district.

ADC, Bathinda, Sonali Giri, today convened a meeting of all the senior officials of various government departments and constituted committees comprising officials and entrusted them with responsibilities.

Also present during the meeting were Commissioner, Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Dalwinderjit Singh, SDM, Maur, Paramdeep Singh, SDM, Rampura, Sakattar Singh Bal, and Assistant Commissioner of Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Kamal Kant.

During the meeting, the ADC stated that the Bathinda city has been divided into 15 sectors and the responsibility for each sector has been given to a committee. She added that this was done considering the damaging effects of downpour during the monsoon season.

Elaborating on the responsibilities of the officials comprising the committees, the ADC stated that the officials will be responsible for keeping a check on their sector and recognise low-lying areas more prone to water-logging and flooding during heavy rainfall.

She added that in case the situation gets worse, arrangements be made to provide shelter to residents of the affected areas in tents. She also entrusted the officials with the responsibility of working in tandem with the NGOs of the district in case of need and the committees should also keep experienced divers on call.

Starting June 16, the officials of all the committees will have to start submitting the report of their respective sectors.

She also added that the next meeting to discuss the measures to check the impact of flood and waterlogging will be held on July 1. — TNS

Bathinda, June 12
Officials at the women's police station are using dowry material lying there for their own use. However, the police station does not even have seating arrangements for the public due to which they have to sit on the ground in the open.

A visit to the women's police station today belied the claims of the state government that these police stations have been opened in each district to provide better facilities to the women demanding justice.

Officials at the police station have set up a special room in which they have kept a bed for rest, a refrigerator to drink cold water and two television sets for their entertainment. But the articles that the officials are using are related to matrimonial disputes going on in the court. They are basically dowry material lying at the police station. This is the situation even as women coming to seek justice can not even be offered a chair and have to sit in the open under a blazing sun.

Even the dowry material is lying unattended, exposed to sun and rain and is occupying free space, as there is only one small godown and it is not enough to store the material in large numbers.

Women sitting outside in the open at the police station said they are sitting there as there no arrangements have been made inside the police station. She also said the police officials should provide at least seating arrangements for the visitors.

SHO of the women's police station, Beant Kaur, said, “While recording the statements, we want only the boy and the girl to be present in the room. So their relatives are told to stay outside. On the use of dowry material, she said they have kept the dowry material inside the room so that it does not get destroyed outside.”

Bathinda, June 12
Aiming to maintain the law and order situation in the city, Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda Dr Basant Garg imposed Section 144 of the CrPC thereby also imposing several restrictions on the use of services such as cyber cafes and the PCO booths.

As per the orders issued by the DC, the owners of all the cyber cafes and the PCO booths in the city have been directed to collect the identity proof of all those coming to avail the services and maintain with them for at least six months. The booth owners have been restricted from letting anyone use their services without furnishing any satisfactory identity proof.

The service providers have also been asked to maintain a register containing details like their name, address, telephone number and the signature or thumb impression. They have also been asked to report to the police in case of any person with suspicious identity approaches them.

The DC has also issued directions barring any heavy vehicle to be parked at any place in the city without a proper receipt of the material loaded in the vehicle. In case a vehicle is found to be parked in violation of the rule, action will be taken against the owner of the vehicle.

Directions have also been issued barring the people of the district from wearing military-coloured clothes or using any olive-green coloured vehicles.

Bathinda, June 12
Duping a Bathinda resident on the pretext of selling a piece of land in Zirakpur cost a Chandigarh-based coloniser dear. He has been directed to pay a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh and refund Rs 8.21 lakh with 9 per cent per annum rate of interest from February 2013.

The ex-parte (hearing plea of one side after the failure of the opposite party’s appearance) decision was given by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Bathinda.

A complaint was submitted in this regard by Bhupinder Pal Singh of Bibiwala Road, employed with Powercom at a senior position. Pal levelled allegations against UK Homes Private Limited, having corporate office: UK Group at SCO 68, 69, 70, Level-IV, Sector 17-C, Chandigarh.

His counsel, Ashok Gupta, said an agent of the developer came to Bathinda to lure the complainant to purchase a 125-square yard plot in ‘Capital Greens’ project at a cost of Rs 13,500 per square yard in Zirakpur.

The agent, who ‘enticed’ the complainant to purchase the plot, showed all the related documents pertaining to the colony, developer and government authorisation certification after many meetings.

After paying a booking amount of Rs 1,87,500, the complainant also made another payment of Rs 2,34,375. Though he was promised to get the allotment letter after another payment of Rs 1,99,657, all pleas of the complainant fell upon deaf ears.

He, however, was promised to be given plot number 711 by the developer.

The monetary transactions were done through online internet banking and the RTGS, through different bank accounts of the complainant. The amount paid to the developer reached 50 per cent of the total amount: Rs 8,21,219.

The complainant regretted that despite paying his hard-earned money to the agent, he failed to get any agreement or allotment letter.

In spite of making several rounds to get the allotment letter and possession of the plot by paying rest of the amount, he got nothing.

Despite sending a registered notice to the firm in March 2014, nobody appeared on their behalf despite receiving the summons from the consumer forum.

In its decision, the forum observed that though there is no record placed on file by the complainant to prove that the agent of the developer came to Bathinda, a perusal of the record, however, shows that the payment was made from Bathinda through the RTGS. Thus a part of the cause of action arises in Bathinda and the forum has territorial jurisdiction to try and entertain the present complaint.

The forum after hearing all the pleas of the complainant reached the conclusion that there is deficiency on the part of the firm. The complaint was accepted with Rs 1 lakh as compensation and Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses to be paid by the firm. The developer has been directed to refund the amount of Rs 8. 21 lakh with 9 per cent rate of interest from the date of the last deposited amount — February 16, 2013.

In case of non-compliance of the order within 45 days, 9 per cent per annum rate of interest will be given on the amount of Rs 8.21 lakh.

It is pertinent to mention here that last month, the consumer forum of the UT, Chandigarh, also passed a similar order against the same developer. The Chandigarh forum, on the complaint of a couple from Sector-49, had directed the developer to refund an amount of Rs 3.75 lakh.

Bathinda, June 12
Net Vibes Technologies team beat the Tornado team in a twenty-20 match of the 2nd Drug De-addiction Bathinda Premier League Cricket Tournament.

The match was played at Police Public School ground today in the evening.

After winning the toss, the Tornado team elected to bat first. Sukhveer scored 31 runs off 28 balls, which helped the Tornado team score 126 runs for the loss of just nine wickets in 20 overs. Jatin took three wickets for the Net Vibes team.

Chasing the target, the Net Vibes team were able to chase the target easily in 14.3 overs. Mohit’s innings of 79 runs off 49 balls helped the team chase the score. Net Vibes scored 129 runs for the loss of three wickets. Net Vibes won the match by seven wickets. Mohit was given the man of the match award. — TNS

The Bathinda police have booked two persons for fraud after they allegedly duped a city resident of Rs 6 lakh, promising to send the person abroad. In a complaint lodged by the victim, Ajaib Singh, a resident of Lal Singh Basti, stated that he had given Rs 6 lakh to the accused Kuldip Kaur and her son Ajaib Singh, residents of Kotkapura.

They allegedly acted as agents and promised to arrange a visa for him to Australia. However, they did not keep their promise once they received the money, he added.