Bathinda, November 27
Dwellers of hutments along the main road leading to new Shakti Nagar area of the city today met the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg, and requested him to either direct the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda to halt its drive to clear the hutments or make sure that the corporation rehabilitates them before the hutments are razed down.

While submitting their memorandum with the DC, the hutment dwellers argued that more than 60 families have been staying in these hutments for several years but the MCB was suddenly asking them to leave the place.

Giving instance of the anti-encroachment drive launched by the MCB last year during which the road near the three cinema halls on the GT Road was cleared of illegal hutments and the hutment dwellers were rehabilitated to Kheta Singh Basti, the dwellers of New Shakti Nagar slums demanded that they should also be rehabilitated if their hutments are being removed by the MCB.

“I listened to their requests but also told them that whatever the Municipal Corporation will do will be in corroboration of the law. As far as rehabilitating the slum dwellers is concerned, that’s also a matter that the Municipal Corporation will settle,” said Garg, while talking to TNS.

Commissioner of the Municipal Coporation, Dalwinderjit Singh, stated that the hutments will be razed down on after December 5 and no alternate arrangement for rehabilitating the hutment dwellers was being made by the MCB.

It is pertinent to mention here that a team of the MCB officials had reached New Shakti Nagar aiming to raze down he hutments but following much wheedling and protest by the slum dwellers, the corporation team could not go ahead with its plan and gave them time till December 5 to vacate the hutments.

The MCB swung into action following long-drawn protests by the residents of New Shakti Nagar against the mushrooming illegal hutments along the road leading to the area and also the deplorable condition of the road.

Apart from meeting the MC officials, the members of the New Shakti Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association also staged a protest outside the office of the MCB.

I have listened to their requests but also told them that whatever the Municipal Corporation will do will be in corroboration of the law. As far as rehabilitating the slum dwellers is concerned, that’s also a matter that the Municipal Corporation will settle. —Basant garg, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda

Bathinda, November 27
BJP state president Kamal Sharma refused to comment on the media reports and the Opposition’s demand for the resignation of Bikram Singh Majithia after his name surfaced in the multi-crore drug scam.

Terming the statement of Chief Parliamentary Secretary(CPC) Navjot Kaur Sidhu over Bikram Majithia to quit as minister, Sharma called it a personal statement of her and not of the BJP.

“We had requested the CPC and her husband Navjot Sidhu not to take every matter to the media and instead bring it before the party. The party will not comment unless Majithia is summoned by the ED,” said Sharma.

“In the membership drive launched by the BJP, the party has a message of drug-free Punjab, ” he added.

Speaking on the BJP-SAD alliance, he said both parties would fight on the same number of seats as it fought in 2008 elections in the state. 

Bathinda, November 27
A meeting of the District Crisis Group was held under the chairmanship of ADC, Dr Sumit Jarangal, here today. Presiding over the meeting with heads of various industrial units and district administrative officials in district, Dr Jarangal said in the event of any accident, an effective and well-laid out disaster management plan should be prepared and that the plan for Bathinda would be prepared soon.

He laid emphasis on conducting mock drills in-site and offsite the industrial units, educating people and raising awareness in educational institutions about the ways to mitigate disaster such as an accident of high impact, chemical leakage, earthquake or any other natural or man-made disaster.

He said there had been nine major disaster-prone units in the Bathinda district, including oil depots of Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, LPG bottling plant of Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, National Fertilizers Limited, Guru Nana Dev Thermal Plant, Guru Hargobind Singh Thermal Power Plant and Hindustan Insecticides. He added that these units conduct their own in-site disaster management mock drills every three months and the need of hour was to formulate an off-site plan, which would include people living around these establishments. He added that the district administration will conduct surprise off-site mock drills of the major accident hazardous units to see efficiency and preparedness of these units in mitigating disasters.

He directed the industrial units’ representatives and the disaster management cell to upgrade the already existing disaster management plan as per the current need of Bathinda district. Once finalised, the plan would be circulated to all stake holders and their feedback would be invited.

He suggested that every industrial unit should adopt villages around their establishments to create awareness and train people on responding in event of an accident.

He directed the disaster management cell to prepare a module for the state departments such as health, police, animal husbandry, public health, civil defence, home guard etc making them aware of the roles they have to play in event of a disaster.

SDM Damanjit Singh Mann, district transport officer Latif Ahmed AGM HR Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Ravi Yadav, AGM constructions Rajiv Parmar, AGM fire and safety Ramesh Nandan, deputy manager fire and safety Aman Chopra, public relations officer Waheguru Pal, assistant director factories Vishal Singla, district response center professional disaster management cell Puneet Bansal, officers from Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, army, were also present during the meeting. 

Amritsar, November 27
In a development that is likely to bring back on track the peace-building measures that had been derailed by the recent skirmishes along the LoC and the International Border, a 41-member delegation of artistes, singers and musicians from Pakistan is all set to cross over the Attari border tomorrow to participate in "Saanjh: 11th Amritsar-Lahore Peace Festival" here on Saturday.

The festival is being organised by 'Punarjyot' in collaboration with its Lahore-based counterpart Rafi Peer Theater Workshop (RPTW).

The celebration of Saanjh is scheduled for November 29 evening at the Spring Dale Senior School.

“As is customary for Saanjh, this year, too, the Indian artistes will share the stage with their Pakistani counterparts to spread the message of peace,” said Dr Kirat Sandhu Cheema, director, Punarjyot.

She maintained that besides spreading bonhomie between the nations over the years, Saanjh had also served as a launch pad for emerging young talent seeking global audiences. “Hence, this year’s celebration of Saanjh will witness the Sufi renditions of Dhruv Sangari, a budding singer of Coke studio fame,” she said.

Cheema said that music lovers in the city were all set to be regaled by music maestros from Pakistan, including Mian Meeri Qawal, Sain Zahoor, now an internationally acclaimed folk singer from Pakistan, Wahadat Rameez and Krishan Lal Bheel.

“In short, the event will not just be a musical treat for the residents of the city, but it will also help subdue the jarring notes added to the joyous symphony of mutual bonhomie by the random acts of terror,” she said. 

Bathinda, November 27
In yet another blot on khakhi, the Bathinda police today booked an ASI and SHO—Sikandar Singh—of Sadar Rampura along with seven persons for cheating and threatening and pocketing Rs 13 lakh. An SHO, ASI and five others have been booked by the police for cheating and threatening a rich man of Ghumman Kalan village over the pretext of registration of a case of rape against him.

SHO, Sikandar, had entered into a verbal duel with the members of the District Bar Association (DBA) a few months ago and is famous in the city for registration of false cases, said sources.

Sources added that earlier in the city, he had a false case of the NDPS registered against a city resident on GT Road a few months ago.

He, along with an ASI, and six others, including a woman, have been booked today for pocketing Rs 13 lakh on the false pretext of registering a rape case.

DSP Janak Singh said the accused SHO—Sikandar Singh—in connivance with the woman, with the help of another ASI, Farwinder Singh, threatened the ‘accused’ of registration of a rape case against him.

The complainant, Gurcharan Singh, said he had ample agricultural land and could not be married due to some domestic problems and engaged a woman for her natural desires. The woman, however, threatened to get a case of rape registered against him after mutual understanding of staying with her for two days.

The DSP stated that the woman spent two days with the complainant and after developing relationships with the ‘accused’ she threatened to get a case of rape registered. Middleman, Lajpat, brought the matter into notice of SHO Sikandar who too expressed his desire to ‘earn’ the money with mere threatening of the registration of the case against the ‘accused’. When the matter formally reached the police, the SHO had a compromise reached between both the parties with Rs 13 lakh and handed over Rs 2 lakh to the ‘victim’ woman. The middleman, however, raised a hue and cry who got a little amount and then reported to the police.

Jalandhar, November 27
The Jalandhar rural police has claimed to have busted the “Swift car gang” which had been committing robberies in the Jalandhar city in the past few days.

The gang members were identified as Jagsir Singh of Model Town Moga, Gurvinder Singh of Bagha Purana Moga and Jaswant Singh of Kairowal Moga.

The police also recovered a white car PB10 DE 7992 from the accused. The police had been on their toes to nab the gang members had also sounded an alert.

SSP, Jalandhar, Narinder Bhargav and Superintendent of Police, Detective, Jalandhar, Harkanwal Preet Singh Khakh, said the gang had been looting people from the city for the past few days. Last night also, the gang had looted two people of cash from the city and later moved towards Lohian Khas.

The SP said they had already sounded an alert in the district about the white Swift car. Last night, the rural police had installed a naka on the Lohian-Makhu road and after intercepting the white car when cops signaled the vehicle to stop, the car-borne miscreants accelerated it, but were chased by policemen.

SP Khakh said the gang had confessed to having committed 15 looting incidents and over a dozen were committed in the Jalandhar city area, adding that the recoveries ofthe looted cash and valuables were expected from the accused.

The police conducted a press conference about the busting of the Swift car gang. Following series of robberies in the city, the police had also sounded an alert and had sealed the entry and exit points to the city. “Our police was in touch with the police of several other districts. On Wednesday, in the wee hours, the Lohian Khas police intercepted a Swift car and nabbed the three car-borne persons.”

Bathinda, November 27
Students of Baba Farid brought laurels to the college by excelling in the BSc (CSM) and BSc (MCM) fourth semester examinations conducted by Punjabi University, Patiala.

BSc (CSM) students Priya and Ramandeep topped the list by obtaining 88.44 per cent marks followed by Harpreet Kaur and Nampal with 83.33 per cent and Kimmi Mittal with 83.11 per cent marks. Nine students scored above 80 per cent, 22 students scored more than 70 per cent marks and 34 students scored above 60 per cent marks.

Students of BSc(MCM), Shiffali stood first with 84.57 per cent marks. Amanpreet Kaur got 82.71 per cent marks and Parneet Kaur fetched 80.43 per cent marks. Five students scored above 80 per cent , 17 students more than 70 per cent and 17 students scored above 60 per cent.

Dr Pradeep Kaura, Deputy Director (academics), Baba Farid Group of Institutions, and Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, chairman, BFGI, congratulated the students. 

Bathinda, November 27
The Guru Gobind Singh Refinery authorities today released grant for the evening schools run by the Red Cross Society in Beant Nagar of Dhobiana Basti, Ganesha Basti and at Panchayat Bhawan near the multipurpose stadium.

General Manager (human resources) Ravi Yadav, general manager (constructions) Rajiv Parmar, DGM (marketing) Rajpal Singh and public relations officer Waheguru Pal handed over a cheque for Rs 1.86 lakh as annual grant for the schools that cater to the educational needs of children from the slum areas.

The refinery had been donating annually to the evening schools for the past five years.

Dr Basant Garg appreciated the efforts of the refinery and thanked its officials for the help. He said the aid for the evening schools was being used for the education of the poor children. 

Bathinda, November 27
The two-day district-level animal fair and milking competition concluded on Thursday in Bathinda.

Bathinda, November 27
On the fifth day of the Drug De-addiction Champions League Cricket Tournament, Mansa Club beat Dera Sirsa while Barnala beat Mansa District team in their league matches. In the first match of the day and ninth of the tournament, which was played between Mansa Club and Dera Sirsa, Mansa club won the toss and elected to bat first. Rinku’s knowck of 30 off 23 balls helped Mansa put a score of 124 runs at the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs.

From the beginning, the batsmen of Dera Sirsa struggled to score and despite Sunil’s brave effort of 36 runs in 45 balls, the team ended its innings with 115 runs on the scoreboard in 20 overs. Mansa Club won by nine runs. In the second match of the day, played between Barnala and Mansa District team, Barnala won the toss and elected to bat first. Ashish scored a half century in 28 balls. Barnala scored 142 runs in 20 overs at the loss of five wickets.

Mansa District team was bowled out on 118 runs. Barnala won the match by 24 runs. 

Bathinda, November 27
Devinder Singh, a Class X student of PKS International School, in Baluana, brought laurels to the state by winning the bronze medal in Wushu championship held as a part of the 60th Wushu School Games in Jabalpur.

Devinder took party in the 75.8 kg category.

He was felicitated during a small ceremony held at his school in the presence of school principal Fateh Singh, general secretary Mahinder Singh, chairman Sukhdev Singh, District Wushu Association general secretary Pradeep Sharma and school staff.

Appreciating his efforts, the principal encouraged Devinder to work hard.

Bathinda, November 27
The police today claimed to have arrested two women with 5 kg of poppy husk. The accused have been identified as Gurmeet Kaur of Talwandi Sabo and Harjeet Kaur of Jalalabad.

A case under Sections 15, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against them. — TNS