Bathinda, February 11
Plans for the modernisation of Bathinda have got a thumbs up with the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) granting a no objection certificate (NOC) for constructing a five-star hotel on the land lying vacant between the lakes here. 

Urban planners feel that the charm of the lakes near the thermal power plant in the city will increase further as the site has already been selected for conversion into a tourist spot with shikaras and boats plying on it.

As per the information received, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) has taken up the responsibility to develop these lakes as a tourist spot. Construction of the hotel is regarded as a prerequisite for the growth of infrastructure in the area, especially in the light of a plan to construct an international cricket stadium here. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had already laid the foundation stone for the stadium. Besides, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had also announced plans to develop these lakes as a tourist spot.

Following orders from the CM, the district authorities sought an NOC from the PSEB. After getting the NOC in writing, the authorities concerned now plan to conduct a survey. The names of the agencies that will conduct the survey, sources said, have been identified as M/s ILF and FS-IDC and M/s FVPL.

It may be mentioned that during the visit of the state and union tourism department officials to the city recently, when the deputy director, Punjab tourism department, Surender Bajaj, was asked about the project, he had emphasised upon upgrading the status of the existing two big hotels in the city.

According to information available, the PSEB will be a partner in the project as the land belongs to it. The lakes too are in the name of the PSEB. A private company has already initiated the construction of a shopping mall in front of the lakes.

So far, the lakes were not being utilised for any such purpose. But some time ago, it was lent to the Indian Army for the practice of jawans and water sports.

Confirming that the NOC had been received, Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) administrator K.K. Yadav said work on the project would start soon after the completion of the survey.

Bathinda, February 11
The streets of Bathinda were bustling with activity despite the chill in the wee hours today. A large number of people were seen moving on the roads in a festive mood and the reason was not far to seek.

It was ‘Basant’, the onset of spring and these people had come from Jalandhar to sell balloons, an added attraction of ‘kite flying’ on the auspicious day. The balloons, filled with hydrogen, are much in demand and these traders come every year to sell them.

Suresh Kumar, a trader from Jalandhar who has been coming here to sell balloons for the past five years, said, “It is a roaring business as balloons worth thousands are sold in a day.”

Suresh had come with a group of 15 persons. “We sell around 1500 to 2000 balloons and there is hardly any time to fill gas in the balloons after the crack of dawn as kite flyers virtually raid the shops.”

Kamla, a woman from Janta Nagar, who braved the cold to buy the balloons, said she ran a small shop, but preferred to sell only balloons on this day. “There is a great demand and people are crazy about buying balloons of different sizes to be flown along with the kites,” she said.

Another trader from Jalandhar said he earned about Rs 8,000-10,000 in a day. Balloons of an average size are sold for Rs 5 each and most people prefer these, he said.

Sunil, a 19-year-old said he had come to enjoy the fun of flying kites. “I have been doing it for the past many years and the joy of flying a ‘Doli’ is mind-boggling. Doli is an earthen lamp tied to the thread of the kite and the sight of thousands of lamps twinkling in the sky like stars is a delight,” he exclaimed.

On a day filled with sunshine, the sky was in full bloom as thousands of colourful kites and balloons floated in the air as shouts of kite-fliers rent the air.

Kites with different designs, lines, size and symbolic names were seen flying high in the sky with competitors trying to cut each others’ kite. Every rooftop had virtually turned into flying arena with people, young and old, flying kites and cheering and jeering at other competitors.

DJs and “dhol” were a common sight on rooftops today. Though power cuts played a spoilsport but still it could not dilute the festive spirit. The enthusiasm of the people indicated that spring has set in and winter has peaked. People wearing yellow clothes added colour to the occasion.

A change noticed this year was a large number of Chinese kites were giving competition to the traditional kites from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

However, the Basant was not so ‘cheerful’ for nine-year-old Shamim, a ragpicker, who was waiting for the kites to fall on the ground. “I collect the kites and join the threads to make them fly again,” he said with a glint in his eyes. 

Bathinda, February 11
Though people in the city celebrated the festival of Basant Panchami with great fervour by flying colourful kites, but the power situation in the city was in a bad state. Reason? The Chinese strings used by people for flying kites were coated with a particular chemical, which when came in contact with the power supply lines, resulted in a short circuit and the lines tripped.

As per the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) officials, there was a major breakdown at 15-16 places and the worst hit areas were Grain Market, Civil Station, Ganesha Basti, Town, Parasram Nagar, Kamla Nehru Colony, Jujhar Singh Nagar, Namdev Nagar, Tagore Nagar, besides others. Even the 66 KV power line tripped many times throughout the day.

This problem started around noon today, when people started flying kites and as a result, more than 100 employees of the PSEB were on their toes throughout the day. Karnail Singh Mann, XEN (City), PSEB, informed, “The Chinese strings have a particular chemical on it and that is why, whenever the strings touched the power supply lines, it resulted in a short circuit. Due to the chemical, the Chinese strings acted as good conductor of elctricity and turned into a live wire.” “Though no one got injured, but it could have lead to a loss of life. I just want to inform people that the use of such Chinese strings should be stopped. As a preventive measure, people should make sure that the strings do not touch power supply lines,” Mann explained.

Many people, who had specially set up DJs and music systems complained that due to poor power supply, they could not enjoy. But they should know that the PSEB employees also needed to celebrate this day with their families and they worked throughout the day so that the power supply could be restored.

Ferozepur, February 11
Kites of various hues donned the skyline today as residents of this border town celebrated the “Basant Panchami” with enthusiasm. The festival is quite popular here. People were seen climbing rooftops and flying kites with their families amidst the beat of ‘dhol’. 

Many from the adjoining villages apart from different parts of the state visited their relatives here to enjoy the festival.

Some of them had arranged DJs especially for the purpose as excited youths danced throughout the day.

Kite sellers, some of whom had come from places as far as Aligarh, Luchnow and Kanpur, did a brisk business as kites of all colours, shapes and sizes were in great demand. According to an estimate, the festival generates business worth crores in this sleepy border town sans industry, considered as economically backward area.

Residents of the villages situated in the vicinity of the Indo-Pakistan border celebrate Basant as a festival of peace and harmony. There are times when kites from Pakistan reach these villages and in response, the villagers here too send kites with messages of brotherhood, across the fence.

Some political leaders used the occasion to strengthen bonds with their supporters. Parminder Singh ‘Pinki’, the general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, was seen flying kites with his supporters.

While talking to The Tribune, Pinki said, “Considering the popularity of this festival in this border town, the government should take some initiative to attract tourists to the town for the celebrations.”

In addition to the festivities, the town also reportedly saw many accidents, where over-enthusiastic kids and youths became casualties as they fell down from rooftops while catching the kites and some even met with road accidents.

Radiologist Vikas Arora said many children, between 7 to 15 years, were brought for X-ray, ultrasound and CT scans today. One such child being serious was referred to the DMC, Ludhiana. Besides, some others suffered abdominal injuries and fractures, but were safe.

Arora said cases related to kite flying start coming about a week prior to the festival as children driven by passion for kite flying, ignore safety measures.

Teerath Garg, an orthopaedic surgeon, said many of the cases of fall from the rooftop occurred because people flying kites were drunk.

Abohar: Basant Panchami and “Balidan Diwas” of Haqiqat Rai were celebrated with fervor and gaiety by different organisations in the town. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) volunteers assembled in Arorvansh Dharamshala, where “Nagar Baudhik Pramukh” of the organisation, Dev Kumar, explained the significance of Basant Panchami in Indian culture and reminded the gathering about the circumstances which prompted Haqiqat Rai to sacrifice his life to upkeep religious traditions.

The volunteers, after jointly singing patriotic songs, marched through main roads and garlanded Haqiqat Rai’s statue near Krishna Nagar crossing. The Shri Sanatan Dharam Sabha celebrated “Balidan Diwas” at Veer Haqiqat Rai Chowk here. Former MLA Ram Kumar Goyal, Sabha president Pramil Kalani, secretary Vikram Garg, treasurer Kamal Mittal and Prahlad Rai Gupta, president of the Ramnatak Club, were joined by scores of citizens in offering floral tributes at the memorial.

Bathinda, February 11
It’s the same old story at the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) in Lehra Mohabbat. There was yet another technical snag in the oil guns of the unit III boiler, which comes just a week after the generation of power started in the state— for the first time in nine years.

Not only this, one of the coal mills (number ‘C’) that was fired on coal had to be shut down due to some problem, just a few days after it was established, but thankfully that problem is said to have been rectified now.

According to highly-placed sources at the GHTP, “After a lot of technical snags left by the BHEL during the synchronisation of the stage II units, there was yet another snag in the oil guns of the 3rd unit’s boiler. As a result, the power generation by unit III, which went as high as 120 MW, has now come down to 85 MW.”

On February 5, one of the six coal mills at the unit three of stage II of the thermal plant were fired using coal. At that time, when TNS spoke to chairman, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Y.S. Ratra, he had said, “Three out of the six coal mills of the unit III have been established and very soon, all the six coal mills of the unit would be ready.”

But the sources informed, “A few days back, there was some defect in one of the coal mills (number ‘C’), which had to be closed as a result of that. When that problem was sorted out and we were to fire the boiler once again on February 9, the oil guns started giving problems. The oil guns (12 in number) fitted on the three levels of the boiler became unstable due to some electrical snags in the system and we had to shut down the system.”

“When we give firing command to the oil guns through a computerised system, first they get fired, and immediately, they stop functioning. Even the unit II got tripped 8-9 times on February 9. Now let us see when the problem gets sorted out. BHEL had assured us that this snag would be sorted out by today (February 11) evening, but all we can do is pray to god and hope for the best,” sources informed.

The commissioning of two units at Guru Hargobind Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant is already running almost 17 months behind schedule. Due to the slow pace of work, the cost of project has escalated from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,200 crore.

Barnala, February 11
To chalk out strategy in the light of the attempt by the local police to present an amended challan in the local court at Bhadaur, the Gurudwara Kand Virodhi Action Committee held a meeting at Bhadaur today. The meeting that was called at the local Government High School virtually turned into a rally due to people’s anger over the police action.

Hari Singh Bawa, president of the municipal committee of Bhadaur, and the action committee, presided over the meeting. Gurmail Bhutal, secretary of the action committee, and Lok Bhalai party leader Ajay Kumar, also addressed the meeting. At the rally, people pledged to fight tooth and nail till justice was meted out to the aggrieved person and cases were withdrawn against 152 people who cooled their heels in jail for about two and a half months.

Bhutal said the amended challan in Barnala court, in which section 302 of the FIR was lowered to 304-A, was not meant to help people. It was done to “save” the police officer who was “responsible” for the death of Ruban Masih.

He asked if the death of Ruban was due to negligence as per the section 304-A, then, who was responsible for the registration of cases against 152 persons, including SAD MLA Balbeer Singh Ghunus under section 302.

The committee also petitioned before the High Court to present the investigation report by SP (Crime branch) Ranjeet Singh Dhillon.

The inquiry which was presented before the HC on January 31, where the police officials had been given a clean chit, was incomplete as it didn’t include the statements recorded by four police officials, including DSP Baljeet Singh, under section 164 of the CrPC.

So, Bhadaur residents have a good basis for fighting against the inquiry report submitted by the state government, the committee said.

Abohar, February 11
A joint meeting of the village-level struggle committees and the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) today resolved to resume agitation against the proposed acquisition of 2,050 acres of agricultural land for setting up a 1,100 MW thermal plant in the private sector. 

The farmers are going to launch “pucca morcha” in Kundal, Bhangala and Chanankhera villages, where the government agencies had been conducting a survey for the project, from February 13.

Addressing the meeting, BKU block president Sukhmander Singh Bazidpur Bhoma, said there would be an indefinite sit-in at Bhangala, Kundal and Chanankhera villages to ban the entry of the surveyors.

District general secretary Gurmail Singh Burjan said the administration and some members of the ruling party were trying to mislead by claiming that the farmers were willing to hand over the irrigated and highly fertile agricultural land for the project. This might lead to another bloody struggle like in Dhaula, Chhanna and Sanghera for which the ruling party would be responsible.

He further said the promoters of the project must understand the feelings of the farmers who had migrated from the west Punjab province in 1947 and cultivated the land allotted to them in lieu of the immovable property left on the other side of the border. — OC

Bathinda, February 11
The rift between the coalition partners, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it seems, is increasing day-by-day. The tussle also threatens to cast a shadow on the future of the alliance in the forthcoming Bathinda municipal elections. 

The visit of Manoranjan Kalia, the minister for local bodies, to the city on Sunday, has added a new twist to the tale.

Taking a serious note of the alleged ignorance of the SAD workers during the visit of the minister, who belongs to the BJP, the SAD activists expressed their resentment over the issue by issuing a press note.

Chamkaur Singh, press secretary of the SAD in the area, said his party had never ignored the BJP workers. But it was shameful that they had not informed SAD leaders about the visit of the minister. Singh further said that the SAD leaders in Bathinda condemned this and would inform the party high command. The BJP should avoid such acts as it can result in a loss in the MC elections.

SAD area in-charge Sarup Chand Singla said, “It was painful as the BJP leaders did not inform any of us. Even I was not invited to the meeting but I went, just to pay my respects to the minister.” He added, “We have never shown any bias but the BJP leaders have presented a picture of rift. The local level leaders blame us for their weaknesses, which can never be justified.”

Lashing out at the local BJP leaders, Singla said, “At the district level, the BJP has split. There are many factions but it does not bother the district president. As for our responsibility, we share views with district BJP president Narender Mittal as it is impossible to share views in every matter with all the BJP workers.”

Defending his party, Mittal said, “The meeting with the minister was meant for the BJP workers to enable them air their grievances before him. Therefore, SAD workers were not invited.”

About the alleged statement of Singla, regarding the BJP split, he said, “All such talks are baseless. We are ready to forget the air of superiority of local SAD leaders towards BJP workers, if in future, they mend their ways.” 

Barnala, February 11
The Industrial Training (ITI) Employees Union, Punjab, has decided to oppose the move of privatising the ITIs in the state. A meeting to this effect was held here today. It was presided over by local union president Inderjeet Kaur.

After the meeting, Inderjeet Kaur and local secretary Shamsher Singh Bhathal, in a joint press statement, said that privatisation was against the interests of the teaching staff and students. The state union was going to launch a chain protest in the state against the decision of the government. Kaur said the ITI Union, PSEB Struggle Committee, Government Teachers Union and PWD Field and Workshop Union would collectively oppose the move against privatisation. The government was shirking its responsibility of providing quality education to the students at an affordable price, she added.

She alleged that under a secret agreement, the government was offloading public properties to the private sector. — OC

Moga, February 11
About 3000 guards manning prisons across the state are performing their duty without promotions, warm clothes and irregular supply of annual uniforms apart from invariable fear of transfers.

Little wonder that countless discrepancies plaguing the prisons come to the fore from time to time and doubts are expressed over the efficiency of the staff deployed. But hardly any thought had been spared for the conditions in which the personnel perform the assigned jobs. Shortage of staff is just identical to any other department of the state government.

Though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal headed SAD-BJP coalition government had announced in its manifesto that all vacant states in the state would be filled up if it came to power. But the promise has not seen the daylight yet.

Jail wardens were not issued their summer and winter uniform kits last year. The persistent pleas made by the Punjab Jails Guard Association failed to generate any response. In this regard, its representatives even met to Izhar Alam, DGP (Prisons) on January 22.

Jaswant Singh Dhande, the president of the Association, said that they could not expect uniform kits on time this year as the past year’s kits were yet to be released.

A uniform kit comprises a trouser, a shirt, cloth for turban, a pair of shoes and socks. For winters, they also receive jacket and other warm clothes.

The Association sought that nomenclature of the Jail Warden be changed to Jail Constable. Besides, it strongly felt that minimum qualification for the recruitment be raised from under matriculation to 10+2.

“We understand that the force requires educated youngsters for efficiency,” Dhande maintained.

In the absence of promotion, the job does not offer any encouragement to the staff to deliver good results. Even after spending a 25-year long career, a Jail Warden remains at the same post, he added.

He sought release of one month additional salary every year against the gazetted holidays.

Bathinda, February 11
In a bizarre incident, the management of a private club allegedly confined five policemen of Rampura, including a sub-inspector, when they reached there to check gambling and consumption of liquor on Sunday evening.

A case under sections 353, 186, 342, 506 and 148 of the IPC has been registered against the five accused and eight unidentified people. However, no one was arrested till the filing of the report.—TNS

Faridkot, February 11
One person, a scooter-rider, was killed while ten passengers onboard sustained serious injuries as a private transport company’s bus turned turtle here today. The fateful accident took place near Sugar Mill on Faridkot-Kotkapura road. The passenger packed bus was heading to Abohar from Amritsar.

The deceased was identified as Dullah of Bhana village.

The police sources said, a front tyre of the bus suddenly came out while it was overtaking a vehicle. Consequently, the driver lost balance and a scooter-rider was crushed to death.

The seriously injured passengers were rushed to local Guru Gobind Singh Medical College. — TNS