Bathinda, August 12
Muktsar, the home district of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, tops the Malwa belt of Punjab in theft of electricity. As many as 1327 cases of power theft have been detected in the Muktsar circle of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) during a random checking of 5326 connections. A fine of Rs.1.98 crores has been imposed on the defaulters.

The PSEB has sought the help of the village gurdwaras in the Malwa belt to check theft of 30 percent electricity in the area that was the highest anywhere in the country.

A senior functionary of the PSEB said that as many as 3895 cases of electricity theft have been detected during the fortnight long surprise raids in the four districts of Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozepur and a fine of Rs 7 crores imposed on the defaulters. The special checking drive was conducted from July 15 to July 31.

Taken aback by that high theft of electricity, the Member (Generation) of the PSEB has ordered the respective SDOs to involve the village gurdwaras in the drive against power theft by asking them to appeal against the menace.

It is worth mentioning that the state government had in a similar way involved the gurdwaras of the cotton growing Malwa belt in checking damage to the cotton crop that was infested by mealy bug last year.

The PSEB officer ordered the field staff to effectively check theft of power as the transmission and distribution loss has touched 30 percent. The union minister of state for power, Jairam Ramesh, during his recent visit here had also expressed anguish over Punjab being one of the states where the T&D losses were highest in the country.

As many as 16,334 power connections were checked in Faridkot where 1105 theft cases were detected and a fine of Rs.1.19 crores imposed. In Ferozepur circle, 5636 connections were examined out of which 642 were illegal and a penalty of Rs.2.11 crores was imposed.

As many as 8140 connections were checked in the Bathinda circle where 821 cases of power theft were detected and a fine of Rs 1.68 crores imposed.

The situation in the three divisions, Abohar, Fazilka and Moga, was found satisfactory. The PSEB has warned that strict action would be taken against those involved in theft of power.

Bathinda, August 12
Frustrated residents of the Dhobiana Basti today manhandled a C-II divisional engineer of the PUDA who had gone to cover a pond located in the area with barbed wire. The violent mob smashed the windscreen of his personal car also.

The tussle between the authorities and the residents of Dhobiana Basti once again came out into the open when the officer, H.S. Sahota, visited to implement the orders. Both the parties have their own versions of the incident.

Giving details, a number of residents of the area said that the land, Khasra number 2848 and 2866, was shamlat, which falls within the Mehna Patti area. In this regard, PUDA had issued a notification for acquiring the pond falling in the area in 1974.

The residents had filed petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, from where they got a stay over the matter.

Then in 1995, PUDA filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court where it was dismissed. Again, PUDA filed a review petition which was quashed because of the delay of more than 2110 days.

In 2004, PUDA filed petition in the Supreme Court, and a full bench of the court, on August 4, gave its decision in the favour of the residents of the locality.

Accusing the administration of violating the SC orders, the residents said that the officer today came in his car and was showing his arrogance, which instigated the mob that assaulted him. On the other hand, when contacted, the officer, H.S. Sahota, said, "I can not say anything as I was on official duty which was assigned to me by superiors. So they better reply to the query." Chief administrator, PUDA, K.K. Yadav said, "If they have some valid documents, they are welcome to hold talks. But assaulting a government official is a crime. We have filed police complaint."

Residents of the locality said they are planning to file a contempt of court petition. It may be mentioned that politicians, at times, had promised to legalise the locality, ostensibly inspired by vote bank politics.

Bathinda, August 12
Security has been strengthened at vital installations in the district ahead of Independence Day celebrations, Aashish Chowdhary, SSP, Bathinda, said here today.

Security personnel have been deployed in strength at vital installations, including railway stations, bus terminus, and telephone exchange in the district besides setting up of checkpoints to keep a vigil on the movement of vehicles and people.

Vigil on incoming vehicles at inter-state borders at various places has been stepped up, the SSP said.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) have intensified security at railway station and trains to thwart possible strikes by terrorists in the run-up to the Independence Day. In a major operation, the RPF and GRP searched a number of trains running on all the main sections of the district on Monday and Tuesday morning. The search parties paid particular attention to trains coming from or terminating at Jammu.

"The searches are part of the preventive steps in view of Independence Day',' Mukesh Panwar, RPF commander, told TNS. Panwar himself reviewed the security arrangements at the busy Bathinda railway station.

He said the GRP and RPF conducted searches on the Bathinda-Jammu, Bathinda-Ganganagar, Bathinda-Delhi trains and various others stations of other district.

They distributed pamphlets to make the public aware about not picking any unclaimed material and also made announcements in this regard. "No objectionable material or object was found during the searches and no one was arrested,'' he added.

Bathinda, August 12
An illegal structure on Bibi Wala road was razed to the ground in a special operation supervised by K.K. Yadav, commissioner and Sibin C., joint commissioner of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), here today. As per the details available, Darshan Garg, the owner of the building, had been raising a double-storeyed building, allegedly in violation of rules. The BMC authorities served him a notice for unauthorised expansion as the structure covered a 17 feet area on the 80-feet wide Bibi Wala road also. The area falls under the Town Planning scheme.

In the afternoon, a team of officials accompanied by a heavy posse of policemen, workers and two JCB machines, reached the spot. Finding the height of building to be beyond the reach of the JCB machine, a hydraulic machine was summoned, which left the officials waiting for over an hour. The hydraulic machine took just 15 minutes to demolish the structure. When asked about the remaining portion of the "illegal" building, BMC commissioner K.K. Yadav said that the rest of the portion could be authorized but only after receiving the sum imposed by way of fine. While razing the building, one side of the road was blocked and traffic was halted. As a precautionary measure, power supply in the area remained disrupted. There were, however, no protests.

The demolition process even caused losses to a neighbouring auto store. Accusing the officials, Kul Bhushan Singh, the owner of the shop said, "None of the officials had cautioned us about the demolition.”

Joint commissioner, BMC, Sibin C. said the loss would be compensated as per the rules. The owner of the structure could not be contacted, as he was not available at the time of the demolition.

Bathinda, August 12
Due to the alleged problems encountered in their ongoing affair, a married woman and her paramour, who was a divorcee, ended their lives at the Bhucho-Nathana road, here today. The couple consumed pesticide to commit suicide.

As per the details available, Shabnam Rani, in her early 30s and her paramour, Varinder Sharma (25), were neighbours at Ganga Ram Gali in Bathinda. Shabnam had an eight-year-old daughter, while Varinder was a divorcee. Both were having a relationship for the past couple of years.

Sources said that people had come to know about their illicit relationship because of which they had decided to commit suicide.

According to labourers working in the fields where they were found in a critical condition, the two were in a car that swerved out of control. The labourers rushed to the car and found the duo in a critical condition. The car was stinking of pesticide.

They immediately informed the NGOs, whose ambulances rushed to the spot and took them to civil hospital in Bathinda. But they could not be saved.

After the postmortem, Cantonment police initiated the inquest proceedings and handed over the body to the families.

As the families of the two were inconsolable, their version could not be taken.