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Neglect leaves city bus stand parked amid woes
33 contractors register for e-tendering
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suicide
case
New Shakti Nagar residents demand removal of hutments
World Philosophy Day
Workshop on art and graphics held
Bhai Rupa school wins quiz contest
BJP sets eyes on 2017 polls
Club cricket goes hi-tech
Seminar marks NCC Day at Baba Farid College
‘Chaar Sahibzade’ screened City ex-mayor bereaved Obesity and bariatric surgery camp today Two get 6-month jail term in drug smuggling case
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Neglect leaves city bus stand parked amid woes
Bathinda, November 20 Although the number of commuters coming to the Bathinda ISBT to take buses to other cities keeps increasing, little thought has been spared for the upkeep of the place. Big potholes welcome the commuters as they enter the bus stand. As the commuters make their way around the potholes, they also get ready to brave the stench coming from the urinals. One look at these urinals is enough to realise that all thought of ensuring sanitation at these washrooms has been thrown to the wind. If the apathy shown by the civic authorities is not enough to trouble the passengers, the shopkeepers here care two hoots about the rules and regulations when it comes to selling their items. Packaged food items, including water bottles, are sold at prices higher than the maximum retail price (MRP) printed on them. Kiosks selling cut fruits, the sale of which is otherwise banned, do brisk business as there is no one, including the health authorities, to impose the ban. A time-table is as important to a bus stand as an index is to a book. Interestingly, even this common sense has been shunned at the Bathinda ISBT. Despite the fact that the bus stand registers a daily traffic of almost 1,500 buses, bound for various destinations, the old time-table still guides, in fact misguides, the passengers. The passengers taking buses from the bus stand frequently say that the authorities concerned need to pay immediate attention towards the condition of the bus stand as it becomes almost impossible to enter the bus stand premises. Passing the buck, the General Manager (GM) of the PRTC in the Bathinda the bus stand, Rajinder Joshi, said, “The contract for maintenance and cleanliness of the bus stand had been outsourced to Sulabh International and the main office in Patiala wields control over the functioning and payment of the firm. All that we can do here is maintain a complaint register and submit a report with the head office. At our level also, we pull up the workers of the firm time to time but all in vain.” “Despite the fact that the firm charges the passengers for using the urinal facility, they don’t use the money to keep the place clean. Anti-social elements also strike at night when no one is looking. At times, I have spent from my pocket to get the taps repaired but overnight the same go missing. At times, the thieves take away the tabs and gag the pipes with corn cobs. Lack of civic sense is also hitting the bus stand,” he added. Like the city railway station, the Bathinda bus stand is also one of the busiest spots of the city and is equally neglected by the authorities. The government is always ready to increase the bus fare but never spares a thought on providing more facilities to the
passengers. — Harinder Singh, a resident |
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33 contractors register for e-tendering
Bathinda, November 20 Divisional Manager (DM) of the department, Harjinder Singh, said so far 33 applications had been received from various contractors. He said the department sells the standing green and fallen dry trees and the procedure of sale and disposing off the trees would now be done through e-tendering. He said, earlier, the process of tendering was done in a traditional manner by putting slips of contractors in a box under the lottery system. But now, with the introduction of the e-tendering the contractors will now be able to participate in the tender process without visiting the respective offices of the department. “All they need to do now is use their Internet and they may send e-mail
and log on to our website to participate in the purchase of the trees,” he said. The contractors willing to participate in the tender will have to first register themselves with the department by depositing Rs 4,850 for two years and another digital signature fees of Rs 2,247. As of now, the registration fees of Rs 2,247 is free for those who will register themselves before November 30. The department officials said the process of seeking applications from the contractors is on in all the four zones of Punjab, including Bathinda, Amritsar, Phillaur and Mohali. The process will be completed before December 2014. The officials of the forest corporation stated that earlier chaos was witnessed in their offices every time during the process of receiving and opening of the tender. “The contractors would sit around altogether and usually talk about the amount they mentioned in each others’ slips. But now, with the online process such problems will not be faced by the officials,” they said. |
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Police fail to arrest district president of Youth Akali Dal
Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service
Bathinda, November 20 The police have booked all the seven family members residing in the house in Goniana, including the mother-in-law, Jasvir Kaur, father-in-law, Ekattar Singh, uncle Balkar Singh—district president of the Youth Akali Dal—his wife, Rupinder Kaur, brother-in-law, Onkar Singh and his wife, Yashpreet Kaur, but no arrests have been made so far. Sources claimed that the police are working under pressure and are trying to brush the matter under the carpet, as Balkar Singh is a close aide of the Cabinet Minister and former YAD president, Bikram Singh Majthia. Due to which so far, no persons from his family has been arrested so far even after his sister-in-law committed suicide along with his two childrens by jumping into a water tank. DSP, Bhucho, Gurmit Singh, said many police parties have been made which are continuously raiding various places to arrest the accused, but so far they have not been succeeded. Balkar Singh, along with his entire family, was booked following suicide by his sister-in-law and two children on November 15. A case against the leader and his family members has been registered on the statement of the brother of the deceased Gursharan Singh. The deceased was working as a lecturer in a government school at Blahar Vinju village and was married to Gurlal Singh—nephew of SAD district youth Akali Dal president Balkar Singh, a resident of Goniana Mandi who had considerable agricultural land. The deceased had entered the water tank of the Goniana water works along with a 13-month-old baby girl and four-year-old girl. The baby boy—13 months old—was with her mother-in-law. It is pertinent to mention that after he was booked in a case, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had cancelled her visit to the area.
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New Shakti Nagar residents demand removal of hutments
Bathinda, November 20 Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh, pointing at the legal complications of the land and difficulties to be faced by the poor hutment owners amidst chilling weathers sought some time before taking any action. The residents, however, were bent on immediate removal of the hutments by stating that those residing in the huts are already given enough time. The Commissioner then directed his staff to call the hutments owners in the evening so that they could be given two to three days time to leave their temporary shelters on their own. One of the representatives of the poor jhuggi owners, Prahlad while talking to TNS in the evening said they were ordered by DSP (City), Gurjeet Romana, and officials of the corporation to leave the place in next two days or else their hutments will be razed with bulldozers. “We have around 50 families in the hutments residing at the roadside for the last over 15 years. In view of coming winters, we have nowhere to go with our family comprising of women, children and elderly people,” Prahlad said. Another resident, Geeta, mother-in-law of a pregnant woman, said they tried to get some time till Holi, but the authorities refused. Most of the hutments belong to poor rag-pickers and junk-dealers who use illegal kundi connection for the electricity. While the representatives of people residing in New Shakti Nagar claimed that the hutment owners have modern electric appliances and vehicles and a few of them already have government quarters provided in the outskirts in the city, the poor family members however denied the same. “None of the family members residing in these huts have houses as our hutments in Parjapat Colony were razed a few years ago and since then, we have been staying at the roadside on the 100 Feet Road,” said another resident, Sonu. He, too, pleaded that to delay razing of their hutments in view of the winter. The poor residents said that they have 200 to 250 voters residing in the huts and they will plead their case with Bathinida MLA and CPS Sarup Chand Singla seeking delay in razing huts. Apart from removing hutments, Mohan Lal Garg and Satish Arora also demanded removal of faulty humps on Amreek Singh Road, patch work on roads in Veer Colony, remove encroachment on Mela Ram Road and its widening, construction of 45 feet road connecting Mela Ram road and Santpura road, removing of encroachment by a shop owner on a turn at Amreek Singh Road and Namdev Chowk. |
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Expert urges students to fight social evils
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, November 20 Vijay Kumar Goyal, principal of the college, welcomed the guests. Prof Dr Gurjeet Mann addressed the students and spoke on the importance of the World Philosophy Day. He also shared the thoughts and teachings of the philosopher Socarates. In his lecture, Dr Sachdeva elaborated on the topic ‘Applied ethics’ and explained to the students how to integrate ethics in their lives. He stated that in case one is in a dilemma, one should always take a decision based on ethics rather than feasibility. Dr Sachdeva said ethics and philosophy develop with four basic questions of what, when, how and why. It is human nature to be inquisitive and it is positive to be inquisitive. Speaking about the incorporation of ethics in our daily lives, Sachdeva gave an example of whistle-blowing and stated that it was ethical that one raised his voice against something wrong such as social evil. Students of philosophy and psychology who bagged the first, second and third positions in the university examinations were also felicitated during the function by the Philosophy and Psychology Association. Those who were felicitated included Nitish Kumar, Isht Preet Kaur, Rajni Rani, Savita, Jaspal Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur, Amritpal Singh, Kiranjeet Kaur, Rajiv Garg and Palwinder Kaur.
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Workshop on art and graphics held
Bathinda, November 20 The session was preceded by a lecture on art and aesthetics and the importance of creativity in architecture. On the concluding day, Mithun Mandal, graphics artist, photographer and sportsperson, presently working at DAV School, Bathinda, conducted the workshop. The interactive workshop was attended by 100 students and 10 faculty members. Apart from demonstrating new techniques of rangoli making he talked about the installation of objects for creating various sculpturesque elements. Faculty convenor, Prof Jatinder Kaur, welcomed the experts and stressed upon the need to acquie knowledge about the new techniques of art. Head of the Department, Prof Bhupinder Pal Singh Dhot, said the Department of Architecture shall be organising more such expert lectures and workshops in future also. |
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Bhai Rupa school wins quiz contest
Bathinda, November 20 Students from six blocks of the district, Bhagta, Rampura, Nathana, Bathinda, Sangat and Talwandi Sabo participated in the competitions which were held under the guidance of District Science Supervisor Baljit Singh Sandoha. Teams representing the blocks had one students each from Class VI, VII and VIII. The teams had to go through two rounds of maths and two rounds of science quiz. Based on the results of the four rounds, the team of Government High School, Bhai Rupa, won the competition. Two extra rounds had to be conducted as tie-breaker to select the winners for the second and third places. Following the results of extra rounds, the team of Government Senior Secondary School, Kotfatta, and Government High School, Bhucho Mandi, bagged the second and third places, respectively. The teams winning the first three positions were given a cash prize amounting to Rs 2,400, Rs 1,800 and Rs 1,200, respectively. |
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BJP sets eyes on 2017 polls
Bathinda, November 20 Moreover, the RSS has revived the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, its unit for the Sikh community. Observers say this will benefit the BJP in the Assembly polls. A senior district BJP leader said they had been told by the high command to concentrate on urban areas as in rural areas, the RSS has taken the charge to expand the party base. He also stated that the party’s main focus is to strengthen the organisation rather than its coalition with the SAD. “The BJP has appointed separate office-bearers for rural and urban areas. The rural wings have been asked to start working for ‘Mission 2017’,” he added. Sources claimed the saffron party’s recent success in neighbouring Haryana was scripted due to its efforts made to galvanise the cadre down to the grassroot level. Encouraged by it, the party is mainly eyeing to
tap the young and new supporters. BJP Bathinda Urban president Parminder Goyal said the party workers in Bathinda were waiting for a signal from the party high command and were all set to contest and win all the 50 wards. He added that BJP workers and leaders were buoyed by the success which the party was witnessing in the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was palpable in Punjab as well and the residents of Bathinda believed that the BJP leaders would do justice to their demands and needs. |
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Club cricket goes hi-tech
Bathinda, November 20 It has become a great hit among the club members who are downloading it with great interest.
Pushpinder Jaggi, owner of the GAT, said observing the demand of the club members, he had prepared a mobile application for the club members so that they could get the score updates live at their places.
Tata Cup Cricket Tournament started in September and it will continue till February. The matches are played on all week days from 6.30 pm onwards. More than 250 club members and 21 teams are participating in the
tournament. Manoj Khosla and Arun Wadhawan, members of the sports committee, said it was the only club in north India, which was organising night cricket tournament from the last 10 years. “Every year, we are bringing something new into it and this season it is the digitisation of the scoreboard and the mobile application,” they said. |
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Seminar marks NCC Day at Baba Farid College
Bathinda, November 20 Ranbir Kaur Brar, Dean, Student Welfare, Baba Farid College, delivered a lecture and motivated the students. Manish Bansal, vice-principal of the college, encouraged the students to fight corruption. The students presented patriotic songs and dance. They took an oath to keep their life disciplined and to help the poor and the needy. Dr WS Brar, principal of the college, assured the students that such programmes will be organised in future also. |
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The police
appear to have failed to arrest the district president of Youth Akali Dal (YAD)
Balkar Singh, who was booked in a case for demanding dowry along with his family
members five days ago. The police have booked all the seven family members
residing in the house in Goniana, including the mother-in-law, Jasvir Kaur,
father-in-law, Ekattar Singh, uncle Balkar Singh—district president of the
Youth Akali Dal—his wife, Rupinder Kaur, brother-in-law, Onkar Singh and his
wife, Yashpreet Kaur, but no arrests have been made so far.
Bathinda, November 20
screen theatre here.
The aim of showing the movie was to propagate the teachings of the tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh and develop religious interest among the students.
The expenditure incurred on the show was borne by the organisation.
TNS