Bathinda, April 26
Bathinda residents are not new to prolonged spell of power cuts. On Friday, hundreds of patients admitted to the local Civil Hospital spent a sleepless night because a snag appeared in the hotline power connection (express feeder) attached to the Civil Hospital, Courts Complex, Secretariat building, Circuit House, residences of Deputy Commissioner and SSP and other important government buildings in the city.

The power supply went out around 11.30 pm and it was restored only around 4.15 am. It was again cut from 10 am to 12 noon today. Some other parts of the city also saw spells of darknes due to unscheduled power cuts.

On November 18 last year also, the hotline went without power from 11 pm to 2 am as all four units of Bathinda Thermal Plant tripped. Even some other residential areas had faced shortage of power at that time.

Every day, the city witnesses scheduled power cuts three times a day, from 6 am to 6 30 am, 10.30 am to 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

According to highly placed sources in the PSEB, “Last night, the hotline was without power supply because some of the disc insulators installed on the power supply line got punctured. It happened because the fly ash from Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and dust, settles on the disc insulators. When there was a dust storm and rainfall last night, the disc insulators got punctured, resulting in snapping of power supply to the hotline.”

“It takes time to identify the place, from where the disc insulators have got punctured. Supply was restored only after the disc insulators were changed. Power supply was restored last night only,” sources informed.

Gurnam Singh, a resident of Namdev Marg in the city, rued, “Power cuts have now become a regular feature. They start from early morning and continue till evening. Sometimes, we have power cuts during the night time also.”

A patient admitted to the Civil Hospital said, “Yesterday, I could not sleep the whole night because there was no power supply in the hospital.”

Barnala, April 26
The residents here faced a tough time today, as the power supply in some of the areas remained suspended for 18 hours altogether.

In major areas of the city, power cuts of up to six hours at a stretch on a sultry day disrupted life as the domestic and official work remained suspended for want of electricity.

In some areas like Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar and court road and colonies situated on Handiaya road, the power supply was cut for as many as 18 hours. Following the strong gust that blew on Friday night, the power supply broke down and could not be restored till 6 pm today. To add to the woes of the residents, the telephone number of the Punjab State Electricity Board and complaint centre phone number of this district was not answered despite repeated calls. — OC

Bathinda, April 26
The Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities today bore the brunt of Sanjay Nagar residents’ wrath before clearing the land for raising a wall around the traditional sludge water body there.

MC officers led by executive officer Kamal Kant, along with the police party, went to Sanjay Nagar to clear the land for the construction of the covering wall around the ‘Sanjay Nagar Toba.’ When the MC staff razed three houses, people started anti-establishment slogans and the situation became tense when they threatened to hurl stones at the EO and others.

After the ongoing drama continued for nearly 30 minutes, the MC staff informed the commissioner K.K. Yadav about the situation seeking further order.s

Later, Yadav along with tehsildar Savita, reached the place. After a round of negotiations and showing them the orders, the MC official succeeded in their plan.

When contacted, Yadav said, “The wall is part of a Rs 40 crore project and it was the need of the hour because people have been encroaching upon it. It was decided to raise the wall and in this regard, we had served a notice to the Waqf Board, the owner of the land. After interaction with the residents, we prevailed upon them to allow the work to continue.”

“One side of area has been cleared up and for the rest, work is going on. A team of engineers will construct the wall within a month,” said Yadav.

“As per the scheme, the plan was that all the four existing traditional sludge water bodies in the city would be covered with a wall and then plantation would be undertaken along the walls. We have also planned to de-silt the bodies and to fix the level of sludge accumulating over there,” he added.

Abohar, April 26
Finding that highly contaminated black water was flowing in the canals here, the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) last night decided to stop getting supplies for its storage tanks.

A senior councillor Vimal Thathai told the TNS that he had last evening informed the authorities that the water released by the irrigation department after 24 days of closure was hazardous for people and the PWSSB did not have any advanced system to purify such water.

SDM N.S. Brar today inspected the Malukpura distributaries and both water works along with officials of the health department and mediapersons. He expressed “shock” over the quality of the water that was flowing and contacted S.R. Bajaj, sub-divisional engineer (SDE) of the PWSSB on his cell phone. The SDE, who was away to Ludhiana on some official work, was asked to rush back and ensure proper purification of water before supplying the same to over 1.5 lakh citizens in the sub-divisional town. Samples of water stored after chlorination were also taken in his presence. Brar, agreeing that the canal water was unfit for human consumption, said he would speak to higher authorities also to get the problem resolved. Health department officials said that water samples had failed test.

The TNS team during a visit to neighbouring villages found that the farmers were avoiding taking animals/cattle to the ponds as well as  sub-canals due to unbearable stench from the flowing water. However in villages like Dhaani Bashesharnath and Kikkarkhera some women were found washing clothes in the black water for lack of alternative.

Sources in the irrigation department said the canals were closed in the region as repair work in the Rajasthan Feeder and Indira Gandhi Canal was to be taken up using funds released by the Rajasthan government. They accepted that the work was schedule to be started by April 1 but began a week later due to technical problems. The sources revealed that the effluents discharged by some industrial units in Ludhiana and adjoining areas besides the sewerage water disposed of by the “Buddha Nalah” in Ludhiana had accumulated in the Sarhind Feeder and Sutlej Canal during the 24 days of closure and had now ot mixed up with canal water.

Interestingly the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken a suo moto notice of the reports published in these columns in 2006 and directed the state government to get discharge of effluents and sewerage water stopped. 

Bathinda, April 26
The state government has ordered the departments engaged in the lifting of wheat to pull up their socks and accelerate the lifting process within the next 48 hours. This was informed by Gurinder Singh Grewal, managing director of the Markfed, while talking to TNS here today. “The chief secretary held a meeting of all departments on Friday and issued these directions.”

“For this purpose, extra labour and vehicles are required. So, I have directed my district managers and district food and supply controllers to request the truck unions carrying out the lifting of wheat to allow tractor-trolleys to aid the lifting process. Even the deputy commissioners would be involved in this process,” Grewal said.

Wheat output this year is expected to be around 76.78 million tonnes, against 74.81 million tonnes estimated earlier and 75.81 million tonnes harvested  in 2007.

India harvested a record 76.37 million tonnes of wheat in 2000. But the farmers are not a happy lot, as in most of the grain markets across the state, the lifting process has been severely affected due to shortage of labour.

Experts feel that last year, the wheat season started around April 4 and this year, it started around April 14 due to unexpected rainfall early this month. “Last year, the farmers stored their produce privately with the hope of getting a good price later. But this year, they are bringing all of their produce to the grain markets. Resultantly, there is a glut in the markets.”

“One of the reasons for shortage of labour is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), as the labourers that used to come to the state during the harvesting season from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were now getting better job prospects back home. During my visits, I found the grain markets in Sangrur and Mansa districts as the most affected,” Grewal further said.

Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda Rahul Tewari said, “Another reason for the labour shortage is the untimely rainfall. Some of the crop has flattened and cannot be harvested using a combine. The farmers are forced to use manual labour. Therefore, most of the labour was presently involved in manual harvesting.”

Bathinda, April 26
Three cars were gutted while one person sustained injuries in a fire caused allegedly due to a spark in the AC kit of a car which was being refilled, at a mechanic’s shop on Barnala road here today.

According to sources, by the time fire tenders reached, everything was over. Sources said the mechanic, Jaspal Singh Kuka, was refilling gas in the AC kit of an Opel car bearing number DL 2CH 4467, when all of a sudden, a spark caused a sound in the car. The flame reached a Zen car bearing number PB 04G 1615, in which an LPG gas kit was reportedly installed “illegally.” In the incident, a private school van, which was there for some repair work, was also damaged. Two fire tenders reached the spot, but by then, the cars were gutted.

Bathinda, April 26
Raj Bhupinder Singh Sidhu has been elected president of the District Bar Association, Bathinda, while Kapil Bansal got the better of Mandeep Singh Brar, defeating him in the race for the post of joint  secretary.

The elections for the posts were held at the judicial complex here today.

Laxmi Narain Goel, the returning officer, informed that Aman Pal Singh Sekhon and Sandeep Singh Jeeda had already been elected unopposed as vice-president and secretary, respectively.

Executive members of the Bar Association will be nominated on Monday, added Goel.

Bathinda, April 26
It initiated a new chapter in their lives, as Pinki and Daya Ram, Sudesh Rani and Sanjay and 10 more couples tied the nuptial knot amid the recital of vedic shlokas here today. The mass marriage ceremony was organised by the Lions Club and the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha at a dharamsala.

A large number of people from the nearby villages and slums attended the ceremony. Families of the wedding couples expressed their gratitude at the benevolence of the members of the Club and the Sabha.

Vidyawati from Gidderbaha, whose nephew was one of the bridegrooms, said, “We could not have done so much for him.”

The marriages were performed according to Hindu, Sikh and Christian rites. The couples were also given some necessary items to begin their life, like sewing machines, folding beds, crockery and clothes besides gold and silver jewellery.

It is learnt that the members of the two organisations had donated from their own pocket to arrange for the occasion.

Prahlad Sharma of the Sabha said a screening committee had been set up to ensure that only genuine couples were married off. “It is after a thorough verification of the age of the couple and their economic status that they were considered for the free marriages,” he said.

Bathinda, April 26
There is no short-cut to success. The two youths who allegedly made a bid to become rich overnight must have realised the moral of the time-tested saying after landing in the police net.

Jatinder Kumar, an employee of a building material firm, in a complaint filed with the Civil Lines police, said that two motorcycle-borne unidentified youths, after throwing red chilli powder in his eyes, hit him on his head and snatched Rs 4.05 lakh from him near the Barnala bypass, police said.

He was returning from villages after collecting money for his employer, police said, adding that according to Jatinder, he could not see the miscreants properly as he was not able to open his eyes.

Considering the huge sum of money, police swung into action and started investigation from all possible angles. The matter was also reported to the senior police officials and a CIA team was pressed into action, police added.

But a surprise was in store for the cops, who, during investigation, found that Jatinder, a resident of Jogi Nagar, with his friend Mohan Lal of Budhlada, had plotted to earn easy money. He himself poured chilli powder in his eyes and registered a fake case in the presence of ASI, Civil Lines, Amarnath.

Both the accused were nabbed when they were distributing money. A case under section 406 of the IPC has been registered against them. Police have also recovered Rs 3.80 lakh from their possession and is making attempts to recover the rest. 

Barnala, April 26
As many as 100 car owners of this city were surprised in the last 10 days when they found the petrol pipes of their vehicles cut in the morning. A gang of petrol thieves is active in the city. Though the matter has been brought to the notice of higher police authorities, yet no check is evident on such incidents.

Satnam Singh, a local trader, informed that during the past 10 days, he sold over two dozen pipes of Maruti Zen and Wagon-R cars, whose petrol pipes were cut off by miscreants at night while they were parked outside the owners’ premises.

It is pertinent to mention that it is the sale record of just one shop.

The petrol pipe of Suresh Sharma’s car was cut twice while it was parked outside his house. He informed that it was not the theft of petrol that disturbed him but the unnecessary wastage of time to get it repaired. “You get ready for your office and you find that the car’s petrol pipe was cut off at night and it is really annoying. And instead of going to the office, you have to visit a motor garage,” he lamented.

Sharma added that it was really difficult to park the car outside these days.

Makhan Singla of Santa Wali Gali rued that the petrol pipes of his two cars parked outside his place were also found cut off in the morning. “But it is a common man’s problem and the police has nothing to do with it,” he remarked.