Bathinda, December 29
Crores of rupees would be spent on beautifying Bathinda city within a short span of time. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is learnt to have said during a brief visit to the city today to attend a private wedding party at a location on the busy Bathinda-Goniana road.

It was a personal visit and the CM did not speak to the media persons. Before reaching the venue of the wedding, Badal alighted at the PSEB field hostel from his chopper at 10:40 am where he is learnt to have held a meeting with senior district administration officials including the Deputy Commissioner, Administrator, Improvement Trust, Senior Superintendent of Police and the SAD (B) in-charge of Bathinda.

According to sources present at the meeting, Badal assured that there would be no shortage of funds for the development and beautification of the city.

Confirming the reports, the SAD (B), Bathinda in-charge, Sarup Chand Singla, said, “The Chief Minister expressed his concern over the pace of development and beautification of the city. He said that the Bathinda-Goniana section of the GT road would soon get a facelift. In this regard, he also added that on this five kilometre stretch, road dividers and bumps would be reconstructed. The CM also called up the Secretary, Local Bodies, to ensure that the work gets done and sanctioned an estimated Rs 10 crore for the project.”

“There is a need for more grids for better availability of electricity in the city for which proposal are ready. Bathinda will be free from the wire net, dangling in the air. All electric wiring will be made underground and the project would cost almost Rs 100 crore, which has been approved. The matter is being discussed with the Punjab State Electricity Board,” Badal said at the meeting.

Badal also enquired about the status of overbridges being constructed and condition of water supply and sewerage system in the city.

When Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari was contacted in connection with the CM’s statement, he confirmed it and said that road dividers will be constructed with state-of-the-art techniques. The saplings planted in the middle of the road dividers are proving to be an attraction for cattle and other animals. So, they would be uprooted and new material will be used to carpet the place, the DC added.

Bathinda, December 29
The shortage of LPG cylinders in the city today took an ugly turn after the employee of a gas agency allegedly gave tough time to a consumer whose only fault was that he became irritated.

The staff at the gas agency reportedly refused to give him the cylinder saying they were in short supply.

Sources said that there was a long queue of LPG consumers whose turn for refilling it was today outside the office of a gas agency situated on Railway road.

The scene started taking an ugly turn when the employees of the gas agency announced that the cylinders would be delivered only after three days due to the non-availability of cylinders.

After listening to the announcement, a consumer, Gora Lal got frustrated and called up the higher-ups and after a reported phone call, was asked by the employees of the gas agency to come in the afternoon for the cylinder.

When the consumer reached the gas agency at the appointed time, the employees present there allegedly beat him up and the consumer had to be admitted to the civil hospital.

The matter, however, did not get out of hand as it was reported late at night that both the parties had been able to reach a compromise.

It many be mentioed here that on the one hand, consumers are facing acute shortage of LPG for domestic purpose while many vehicle owners use the LPG cyclinders as fuel for their vehicles, which is very much against the traffic rules.

Bathinda, December 29
It’s time to ring out the old and ring in the new! For generations, ushering in the new year has been a ritual associated with grace and style and greeting cards have played a pivotal role in it.

But this year, a sea-change is being observed with people not quite showing their preference for the new year greeting cards as was the case earlier.

“Sending greeting cards was a trend that has ended,” says Sumit Bansal of the Janta Book Depot located at the Arya Samaj Chowk in Bathinda. Bansal goes on to point out that the emergence of mobile phones and the SMS facility have played a crucial role in bringing the era of greeting cards close to an end.

Sanjeev Singla who sells greetings cards at his outlet located in the busy Dhobi Bazaar area of the city agrees. Pointing out that SMS is a cheaper option than sending a greeting card, Singla says this is the reason why the cards find very few buyers these days.

“Different telecom companies offer various packages and when local SMS can be sent at 10 paise and others for Re 1, then why would people send a card that will at least cost Rs 15, postage included,” he asks?

Along with the SMS is the availability of e-cards that are both trendy and easier to send. No wonder then that the Gen-X is falling for it in big way.

Bansal laments that earlier, in the week preceding the new year, he would sell cards worth Rs 20,000 but now the sale has come down by half. Agreeing with this view, Singla says that in the days gone by, card sellers could be found a dime a dozen in the Dhobi Bazaar area but their number has come down drastically as the trade is no longer lucrative.

They point out that the only ones buying new year cards these days are either the institutional buyers like banks who purchase such cards in bulk for their business clientele or lovebirds who find it an apt medium for the expression of their feelings.

However, Ashok Goel, who has the franchise for branded cards like Archies and Expressions as also for cards made by HelpAge and CRY, begs to differ. “The sale is normal,” insists Goel.

Regarding the claim of dismal sale of cards, he points out that it could be because most cards are of ‘desi’ variety and are just ‘cutting pieces’, being sold cheaply. The real buyer, for whom it is only the written word that will suffice, still frequent the outlet, he says.

The cards at Goel’s outlet are upwardly priced and it is also a fact that only the emotionally desperate go for it and price does not matter for them. But for the hoi polloi beyond the pale of market forces, costly cards are beyond reach. And the market that catered to them on the streets is quietly on the brink of disappearing.

Abohar, December 29
Reacting sharply over the suspension of nine teachers by Director, Public Instructions (DPI), Harcharan Kaur Brar for opposing the seminars during the winter break at Mohali, about hundreds of government school teachers in this sub-division today sat on a dharna to block the vehicular traffic for an hour this afternoon.

They chose the Aggarsain Chowk, located in between the official residences of the sub-divisional magistrate and deputy superintendent of police, to bring the movement of vehicles including buses and rickshaws to a halt.

As other roads were also sealed by the teachers after boycotting the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) seminars being held in different schools here, the vehicles were stranded during the agitation.

Women teachers could be seen in the forefront all over. The Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan members led by district secretary Gurmail Singh Burjan also joined the agitating teachers expressing solidarity with them for the protest against anti-education policies of the state government.

Those who addressed the gatherings included the Democratic Teachers Front district president Sushil Dhawan, Dalip Ram, Rajinder Brar, Lalit Madaan, Mohan Lal Kudal and Bhagwant Bhateja. The teachers sloganeered against the state government demanding that those sacked by the DPI arbitrarily should be reinstated immediately.

They reiterated that the SSA seminars had failed to serve any purpose other than wastage of huge funds received from the central government. They warned that the agitation might take a serious turn on re-opening of the schools after end of this month.

Barnala: The teachers’ union supported by 13 various farmers and other organisations blocked the traffic at the bus stand of Barnala here today for an hour. The situation became quite tense when a dispute arose between private transporters and teachers sitting on a dharna at the entry and exit gate of Barnala bus stand.

The transporters were lamenting that the teachers were causing hindrance to their work as a blockade means they would not able to do their routine work while teachers were adamant on staging a dharna to block the traffic.

A few transporters were reportedly seen abusing the teachers, even women teachers, and started to veer their bus while the teachers were sitting. Then senior leaders brokered a compromise over the issue and the teachers agreed to sit away from the bus stand.

Meanwhile, while addressing the dharna, teachers’ union leader Prem Kumar said that the teachers would oppose tooth and nail the state government’s move for privatisation of education and appointments on contract system.

He said CM Parkash Singh Badal was behaving in the same way as his predecessor Amrinder Singh. As during the Congress rule, the state government was misbehaving with the teachers.

Jarnail Singh Accarwal of the Democratic Teachers Front said the unions also demanded an immediate release of salaries of computer teachers.

He said the teachers would not attend any refresher camps held during the winter vacations as the teachers did have the right to enjoy their holidays.

Meanwhile, similar blockades of vehicular traffic by teachers’ union was also reported from Dhnaula, Shaina and Mehalkalan villages.

Abohar, December 29
Mobile phone shops here remained closed here as the dealers’ association gave a call for one-day strike to protest against the arrest of two employees of local shops under sections 420, 409 of the IPC for issuing SIM cards without proper identity verification.

They took out a protest march through the main roads of the town and raised anti-police slogans besides condemning the distributor of a mobile service company accusing him of releasing pre-active SIMs.

The distributor had closed down his office and was not available at his residence also, the dealers rued. Meanwhile, both the arrested employees were remanded to judicial custody by a court.

According to the information available, two residents of Fazilka, identified as Rajesh and Ghanshyam, who had been arrested for allegedly killing a Ludhiana resident, namely Vishal, recently had reportedly told the police that SIM cards for making fake calls to Vishal were purchased from different dealers based in the Jain Nagar road market and Sadar Thana road at Abohar.

Rajesh had allegedly used different phones to settle score with a girl friend in his hometown who had developed friendship with Vishal and to Vishal for trapping him.

Investigation reportedly indicated that Rajesh invited Vishal to Fazilka under the pretext of arranging meeting a with his girlfriend. On his way back, Rajesh and Ghanshyam allegedly served liquor to Vishal at Ferozepur and dumped his body after the brutal murder.

The police said the dealers had violated the mandatory code of conduct regarding the verification of identity of their customers. The dealers put the blame on the distributor.

Bathinda, December 29
The protest lodged by the relatives of Vijay Paswan who was killed in a road accident on Friday and villagers in the neighbouring areas, was resolved in the evening today.

The contractor owning the tractor trolley, agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the family members of the deceased.

Earlier, the protesters had blocked the gate of the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) at Siviyan-Kheta Singh Basti road as the contractor was in the service of that very firm.

The pyre of the deceased was lying as the protesters had rejected the offer of Rs 50,000 compensation presented by the contractor at the police station.

The protesters were demanding a higher amount as compensation and diversion of the NFL traffic to some other road on the ground that the road was narrow and did not belong to the NFL.

Dalit Sena president Kiran Jeet Singh Gehari and another leader, Satpal Bharti, in an attempt to resolve the matter, met the Chief General Manager, NFL, along with a delegation of the protesters. After the involvement of the CGM, the contractor agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation and the protesters concluded their agitation.

The protesters also demanded raising of speed-breaking humps on the road which was accepted by the administration and the NFL CGM also assured them to keep in mind the school timings during the transit of vehicles being loaded and unloaded.

Senior district administration officials comprising the ASP (City), DSP (Security) and the Tehsildar were also present on the occasion.

It may be mentioned that Paswan was riding a motorcycle when the tractor trolley hit him. He was an employee of the JB Factory. Sources said he had got married just seven months back.

A case has also been registered in connection with the mishap.

Muktsar, December 29
The kin of a 42-year-old woman, who died after a long illness, donated her body to the state health authorities here today.

 The deceased, Taro Bai, who was unmarried, had been mentally upset for the last many years and was living with her aged parents and four brothers.

“We unanimously decided to donate her body for the good cause of humanity,” Taro Bai’s brother Jeevan Singh said as the representatives of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot and a non-government organisation (NGO), the Sahara Welfare Society of Faridkot, arrived at their residence to take away the dead woman. 

The body has been donated instead of being cremated after deriving inspiration from the Tarksheel Society’s Krishan Bargari, the first person in Punjab to donate his body. The social activist had died in 2002.

Bathinda, December 29
The ‘Sikhiya Te School Bachao Manch, Bathinda’ continued its boycott of the refresher camp during the winter break.

Teachers protested against the suspension of nine of their colleagues in Mohali, raised slogans and demanded their immediate reinstatement.

A protest march was taken out at Parasram School, Des Raj School, M.S.D. School and later at Hanuman Chowk where traffic was blocked for over an hour.

The teachers accused the ruling SAD(B)-BJP combine of breaking its promise and said that the government had insulted the teaching community by holding seminars during the vacations. Democratic Teachers’ Front leader Major Basant Kumar warned that if their demands were not met, the struggle would continue beyond December 31.

Sukhdev Mittal, associated with the protest, said the teachers’ union would oppose the ruling combination in the next Lok Sabha elections, a press release informed today. He said that the suspension of teachers in Mohali only showed the desperation of the government in power.

A press note issued by the Bathinda unit of the Government Teachers Union of Punjab, indicated that now teachers unions are finding support from farmers’ organisation as they too took part in the ‘chakka jaam’.

The teachers expressed their resentment against the privatisation of education and the opening of Adarsh Schools by the present government. They also demanded the inclusion of teachers selected by the Zila Parishad into the education department.

Mahesh Kumar, SC/BC president Harpal Singh, Baljeet Kaur and Karam Singh also addressed the meeting.

Bathinda, December 29
The local branch of the UCO bank in Bank Bazaar celebrated 48 years of its existence today. The bank that now caters to 20,000 customers was established on December 29, 1959.

Speaking on the occasion, AGM R.K. Mittal announced that the branch will also be incorporated into the core banking services (CBS) by March 31 next year.

Incidentally, the UCO bank is also completing 65 years of public service on January 6, 2008. To commemorate the achievement, 65 new branches would be opened across the country, 65 new ATMs would be installed, 65 existing branches would brought into the CBS system and every branch would open 65 new bank accounts, Mittal informed.

On being asked whether the management was interested in opening branches in rural areas, Mittal said it was a nationalised bank with agriculture as its main focus.

He further said that in the last two months, the bank had issued agricultural loans worth Rs 25 crore. Director, UCO bank, P.L. Mittal, senior manager J.P.S. Sidhu and president of the UCO bank, SC, ST and OBC Employees Council of Punjab, O.P. Pardesi, were also present on the occasion.

Barnala, December 29
The district unit of the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) Lakhowal has expressed concern over the non-payment of bonus on paddy.

Giving this information, Gurbaksh Singh Kaleke, district president of BKU, Lakhowal, said the farmers had decided to stage an agitation for not having received the Rs 50 per quintal bonus on paddy.

The farmers took the decision at a meeting held at Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Barnala, here on Saturday. The farmers also expressed concern over the erratic power supply even during the winter at the meeting.

The farmers also complained that they were getting power supply only for five hours in a day, which caused disruption in their agricultural as well as domestic work.

Mansa, December 29
Usually associated with the rites of passage, the cremation ground in Mansa stands out for its beauty and the sheer peace of mind that it brings to people who pay a visit there.

The place is quite different from the usual cremation ground. It has become more of a public park where people sit during their free time and get peace of mind.

This is a contrast in a city where the proposed rose garden has not yet quite seen the light of day.

Madan Lal, Raj Kumar and Pala Ram Parocha, the municipal council functionaries, who were present at the cremation ground, informed that the Gurudwara Committee of Mansa city had made a valuable contribution in it by collecting funds from people.

The place where the cremation ground is located was initially on the outskirts of the city but as the place developed, access to it became easy.

People visiting the place said that there were no parks or garden in the city and therefore, they fulfilled their desire for a break from the daily humdrum of life by visiting the cremation ground.

Men women and children throng the place in the morning and evening and enjoy their free time there.

Large pictures of deities have been placed there to provide peace of mind. They were also of the view that it was difficult to identify the cremation ground in Mansa because of the way it differed from other such places through its ambience and the thoughtfulness that had gone into its planning.

Abohar, December 29
The NITCON chief consultant Balbir Singh had to say ‘very good’ repeatedly today as the participants at the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) responded promptly to his queries objectively.

This indicated that they had gained much during the last six weeks in the ICAR-run Central Institute for Post Harvest Engineering Technology (CIPHET) here.

The North India Technical Consultancy organisation had organised the programme exclusively for young women from science and information technology streams under a project sponsored by the Union Ministry for Science and Technology with funds received from the World Bank, project officer Prince Gandhi informed.

Other than the chief consultant, experts from other organisations had also delivered lectures during these six weeks.

V.K . Pubby from the State Bank of India spoke on banking loans, R. K. Gupta lead district manager of the State Bank of Patiala spoke on financing for small entrepreneurs.

CIPHET scientist D B Singh spoke on pomegranate and ber processing, CIPHET in-charge R K Gupta on scope of amla and guava processing units, J.L. Kakkar, former deputy director, dairy development, on soya milk industries, B.S. Bedi, assistant director, small and medium enterprise institute, discussed hosiery projects while B. K. Chaudhary spoke on chemical-based industries.

An entrepreneur, Dhanendar Chanana, revealed secrets of his success in mushrooms. Parthasarthy Walia explained mineral water project. Munish Bansal head of the department at MIMIT discussed marketing management.

NITCON consultant Vijay Arora enlightened the participants on project report formulation. Another consultant, Prince Gandhi, gave details of industries which could be promoted by the trainees after completing the programme.

Anita Kaun from Jammu when asked to comment as a participant, said the way the key speaker Balbir Singh today conducted mock exercises on preparing models and managing business was amazing.

“We were responsive to tips on proper estimation, on how to utilise resources and qualities in achieving production. This will certainly be a right step towards women empowerment,” another trainee observed.

Abohar, December 29
Keeping in view the ever-rising cost of treatment in the allopathic system of medicines, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) area office here arranged a homeopathic medical camp at Mahnikhera village today.

The organising officer R.K. Upveja said Harinder Singh in charge of the government dispensary in Enakhera village, examined about 200 patients and free of cost treatment was provided to all.

People had started thronging the venue from the morning itself. Ajaypal Singh, sarpanch of the village, endorsed their request that a resolution should be forwarded to the state government for opening a homoeopathy dispensary at Mahnikhera village so that patients could avail of the treatment besides escaping the side-effects of allopathic medicines.

Harinder Singh delivered a lecture on healthcare and also gave useful tips to people which could be taken up without incurring too much cost and with beneficial effect on them.

Ferozepur, December 29
Freedom fighter Sham Singh Sodhewala passed away today after a prolonged illness. His last rites were performed here this evening with full state honours as a contingent of police force reversed their arms and saluted the departed soul.

Earlier, SDM M.P. Singh and DPRO Ashok Handa laid wreaths on his body on behalf of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Information Minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia, respectively.

In his message, the Chief Minister, while condoling the death of Sham Singh Sodhewala, said that it was owing to the supreme sacrifice of these freedom fighters that India was the largest democracy in the world today.

Sham Singh Sodhewala alias Ram Singh Panchi was born in 1909 in village Taragarh in Lahore. He was a close associate of Shahid Bhagat Singh who gave the prime of his youth for the cause of the motherland. He also used to work as a courier for the leaders who were waging a war against the British.

Sham Singh was arrested in Amritsar in 1938 and spent several months behind the bars. Later, after the country gained independence, he shifted to village Sodhewala in this border district of Ferozepur. He had not been keeping good health after he met with an accident on November 11, 2003.

Prominent persons from all walks of life, social workers, leaders representing political parties and religious organisations were present at his funeral.