Bathinda, November 12
To check the speed of the state-run buses and other private and public transport vehicles, the district transport authorities would soon press into service a specially-designed interceptor van. The vehicle to be used in different localities on random basis would also help in reducing the accidents that takes place due to the reckless driving.

Admitting that drivers of the public transport vehicles, in order to reach their destinations on time, drive at a speed higher than the permitted limit, Manish Kumar, district transport officer (DTO), asserted that the district transport department had procured the van from the state government, which would be used for keeping a check on the overspeeding vehicles.

“Equipped with sophisticated devices for measuring the speed of passing vehicles, the van will be placed at some locations in the city. Feedback provided by those manning the van will be used to take action against the violators,” said Kumar.

Now rash drivers would think twice before arguing with the police after being stopped for violating speed limits in the city, said Bharpur Singh, traffic in-charge. “The interceptor would show the speed at which the vehicle was being driven. It aims at putting an end to arguments and disputes apropos speed of vehicles,” he added.

The device fitted on the interceptor vehicle would let the offender know from a distance the speed at which he was driving.

As per the Motor Vehicle Act, before issuing a ‘challan’, the traffic police has to provide proof to the erring driver that he was driving overspeed.

A senior police official said, “The device will prove handy while dealing with VIP brats in the city. In case of a dispute, the films can be produced in the court of law. It becomes essential in a city like Bathinda where almost every violator claims close association with bureaucrats, politicians or top brass of the Punjab police.”

Bathinda, November 12
Activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) got the colleges in the city closed in the morning today. They claimed to be protesting against growing terrorism in the country allegedly by Bangladeshis.

Students after reaching their colleges had to return when they saw that the activists were forcibly getting the colleges closed, shouting slogans and driving students out of the college campuses.

The government had declared a half-day holiday in the state on account of ‘nagar kirtan’ on the eve of the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev. At first, the students thought that the colleges were being closed a bit earlier due to the ‘nagar kirtan’ but the matter turned out to be different.

Puzzled Lakhwinder and Swati of the Government Rajindra College said, “We really don’t know why the activists are shouting slogans. We think that the college is being closed due to state-wide strike of buses. That our college students won gold in an international tournament could be another reason.”

The college prinicipals were found busy dispersing the students, who had come to attend classes.

Boys clad in white ‘kurta pajama’ were seen leading the group of activists to the different colleges in the city.

Asutosh Tewari, state joint secretary of the ABVP, who led the day’s activity, said, “The country is witnessing rise in terrorism and we feel that it is not being contained properly. Bangladeshis are one of the major reasons behind the growing terrorism in India. There are around 5 crore Bangladeshis in the country, out of which about 46 lakh are in Punjab only.”

According to sources, on an average, around 6,000 Bangladeshis cross the border everyday to enter India. A majority of labourers working in the local grain market are Bangladeshis.

Tewari said the government claimed that it had sealed 80 per cent of the border, alleging that the claims were false as not even 8 per cent of the border had been sealed yet.

“There are 3,000 ‘madarsas’ in Bangladesh where evils like smuggling are taking place,” he alleged.

The students’ leader said, “Every change in India, before or after independence, has taken place due to students and we want to save our country.”

Bathinda, November 12
The intellectual health of the region seems to be undernourished as the district library is in shambles. The library remains open from 10 am to 5 pm but members seldom visit the place. No book has been issued since April 1 this year. Significantly, the library runs without a librarian.

The library was opened in 1974 at the place where the local MC office is presently located. The library is being looked after by a watchman and a storekeeper, who does not mind leaving the library premises much before 5 pm, its closing time. Anyone, who visits the place after 3 pm and required someone to assist him, would only find the watchman to help him out.

The library had a class IV employee, Neelam Lata, who retired on March 31 this year. Since then, the storekeeper is looking after it. Two rooms of the library remain locked permanently. On April 1 this year, around 12 bags full of books were dumped in the library’s store and the place was locked up.

The government office also remains locked as there is no one to sit in the office. The post of a librarian remained vacant since 2000, which was abolished later. Around eight daily newspapers are subscribed for the library and it attracted around 25 members daily some time back but the number has came down to five.

There is no fund given to the library to purchase books, the Raja Ram Mohan Roy foundation sends books to the library. The monthly building rent is Rs 14, 000 in which the Zila Parishad office is operating. The power bill amounts to Rs 1,000 every month.

The situation turned worse when the DPI (colleges) raised the membership fee in January 2006. The fee for employee members was raised to Rs 250 from Rs 10. While general members have to shell out Rs 500 now, which was Rs 30 earlier, children have to pay Rs 50, which was Rs 5 earlier. The fine per day for a book was also raised from 5 paise to Re 1.

The powers of the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) were recently given to M.S. Dhillon, librarian at the Govt Rajindra College of the city.

When contacted and asked about the dilapidated condition of the library, he said, “I have just been given the DDO powers. My main job is at the Rajindra College. The higher education department is responsible for the library. My job is to get the salaries of the staff working at the library approved.” He added that his written requests to the department concerned for appointing a librarian at the library had been turned down time and again.

The watchman of the library, while removing dust off the shelves, said, “Being uneducated I cannot assist anybody who visits the library. The person who looks after the library leaves before 5 pm.”

Ironically, on the one hand, the government is promoting Punjabi language in the state while on the other the means to the language remains unattended. There is no proper seating arrangement or basic facilities available at the library and books vainly wait for someone, who would someday open their pages and look what lies in them.

Bathinda, November 12
If all goes well, the dream project of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to develop the mini zoo of Bathinda – Bir Talab deer park, which was running under a lot of flaws, is apparently going to see a total facelift.

Acting upon the directions of the CM given during his months ago visit to the park, the authorities have now come up with a draft proposal to give the place an attractive look. The draft has been sent to the CM and the principal secretary of the department concerned for approval.

According to the document procured from the divisional forest office, the department has focused over the knowledge providing aspect of visit besides new infrastructure.

The total cost of project is estimated to be around Rs 4 crore, out of which the major share would be spent over the chain linked fencing of the zoo spread over 161 acres.

Besides four watch towers for security, six view decks and two ‘machans’, to facilitate viewers to have an overview of the zoo, and an interpretation centre is also mentioned in the proposal.

In addition, to overcome the dearth of species, there would be seven artificial models of different animals. Apart from this, birds’ nests, sprinklers, sign boards, benches and wooden bridges have also been mentioned in the draft.

When contacted, Daljeet Singh, deputy DFO, who had drafted the proposal, said the proposal covered the whole Bir Talab forest area, including the mini zoo. He added that they would ask the central zoo authority to inform if any species of bird or animal could habituate here.

Confirming the details, SP Anand Kumar, DFO, said, “Though the project is at a pre-mature stage but due to the CM’s interest we are hopeful to get nod for the further course of action very soon.”

Bathinda, November 12
Chuspinderbir Singh and Kuljeet Singh of the Baba Farid Institute were given a warm welcome at Gurdwara Haji Rattan Chowk for bringing laurels to the institute here on Wednesday.

While Chuspinderbir had won gold in the Asian Kabaddi Promotional Games held in MunGyeong, China, for the Indian team, Kuljeet, a BA-I student of the institute, had participated in the Sixth Asian Championship for soft tennis held in South Korea.

Gurmit Singh Dhaliwal, managing director of the institute, was among others who welcomed the duo. Dalbir Singh, principal of the institute, appreciated the students for their achievements.

Meanwhile, the managing committee of the institute has announced Rs one lakh each to Chuspinderbir and Kuljeet.

Bathinda, November 12
The civil lines police has arrested three persons for assaulting a media person.

Jabbar Khan, a photographer with a Hindi national daily, had alleged that some unknown persons had assaulted him on Tuesday evening.

In the statement, he alleged that the accused snatched his camera while he was capturing on his camera a white swift car with an 'illegal' red beacon atop. He added that when he ran to save himself, the accused wrongfully entered the office of the newspaper located near Ghorewala Chowk and attacked his colleagues.

In this regard, a number of journalists of Bathinda today met SSP Ashish Chaudhary, who apprised that the case had been registered against unknown persons.

The police has arrested three persons in this regard and has taken the car in its custody.

Bathinda, November 12
Despite the tall claims of the state authorities of speeding up the process to remove the shortage of the DAP fertiliser in the state, farmers are still ruing its scarcity. To get the DAP bags, farmers were found queued up at the local IFFCO retail outlet.

Farmers coming out of the centre carried fertiliser bags but were not happy. They said despite waiting for hours in a queue, they could not get the required number of bags.

Raja Singh of Akalia Kalan village said he had come to buy 20 bags but the authorities gave him only four citing shortage as excuse.

Makhan Singh of Jeevan Singh Wala lashing at the state authorities said, "The policy of supplying the less number of bags is just to harass farmers. Since we could not get the required quantity we would have to come again and I don't know, how many times."

Meanwhile, K.J.S. Cheema, principal secretary to the CM, who visited Mansa and Muktsar today, claimed to resolve the DAP shortage, adding that the SDMs and DCs had been ordered to check the menace. He also requested farmers against stocking the fertiliser.

When contacted, Harmel Singh, district sales manager of the IFFCO, admitted the shortage and said, "I have talked to senior authorities and have been told that ships are ready with the loads but railway wagons were not available."

To a query, he said, "We had placed 4,000 bags at the IFFCO outlet here. There is a possibility that in the evening farmers might have thronged the centre and to entertain all, the officer there could have decreased the number. However, I will look into it."

Bathinda, November 12
More than 100 women visited the free skin and cosmetology camp organised here today by the Patel Hospital, Jalandhar, where consultant dermatologist and cosmetologist Dr Parminder Kaur Pasricha rendered consultation.

“The aim of the camp was to clear some misconceptions about skin care and at the same time educate the people about the recent advances in science and technology for skin care,” said Pasricha.

Interacting with women, she said skin diseases were incurable was the biggest of all misconception among people. Talking about skin disorders, she said: “Skin disorders have specific treatment. But these have to be continued for a long time, about six months to one year. Sometimes after stopping the treatment, the disorder may relapse.” 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 12
True to expectations which were rife for last three days, former Congress MLA Radhey Shyam who had been denied party ticket this time, today joined the BJP, reports reaching here from the capital said.

Rajasthan CM Vasundhra Raje was among the top brass of the saffron party who welcomed the dissident leader of Arora community to party folds. Family members promptly replaced the Congress flag that had been flying high on the roof top of their palatial house for last about 40 years and put BJP flag amidst clapping by his supporters.

There were reports that three former Congress legislators who were discarded this time yesterday had a meeting in the Punjab Bhawan at New Delhi and later were taken to the office of the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP L K Advani for final meeting.

Hanumangarh/Abohar, November 12
DC Mugdha Sinha today issued notices to four employees for abstaining from the training for the election duty staff on November 7 and 9, sources confirmed late in the evening. The erring employees have been identified as Daulat Ram of Meharwala, Satyavan of Kohlan, Jagdish Kumar of Bhakhranwali and Jagdish Ram of Suratpura.

Mansa, November 12
Principal secretary to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, K.J.S. Cheema, today held a meeting with district officials in Mansa and reviewed the arrangements for procurement of paddy in the district.

He instructed the officials concerned to make payments to farmers in 24 hours. He informed that Rs 333 crore had been given to the district for paddy procurement. District officials said that nearly Rs 310 crore had been paid to the farmers. They said that about 4, 06,000 metric tonne paddy was procured by government agencies till date.

About the shortage of DAP fertilizer, the principal secretary assured that there would be no shortage of fertilizer. Eighty per cent of the required DAP had been given to Mansa, he added.

Abohar, November 12
Students from altogether 11 schools today competed in the folk dances as part of the fortnight long Bal Diwas celebrations under the aegis of the Teachers Club at Swami Keshwa Nand Senior Secondary School here.

Divine Light Public School, Singh Sabha Kanya Pathshala and Swami Keshwa Nand School teams won first, second and third prizes respectively. However, Ashima of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School was adjudged as the best dancer in the individual category, Saroj Nagpal convener of the function informed. Social activist Sheila Chaudhary was the chief guest and Veena Ahuja graced the function with her presence as guest of honour.