Bhai Roopa (Bathinda), September 3
Bhai Roopa—a village in Rampura Phul sub-division of Bathinda district — has the rare honour of possessing a bundle of holy relics related to Sikh Gurus, which they handed over to the family of Bhai Roop Chand — after whom the village is named — acknowledging it as their own family.

As per the information gathered, the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji laid the foundation of village Bhai Roopa in 1687 Bikrami (1630 AD) in the name of his devotee Bhai Roop Chand.

Later, Guru Hargobind Ji, recognising the devotion of Roop Chand and his family, honoured him with the title of ‘Bhai’ (own brother) and put him in charge of the spiritual welfare of the new region of Malwa.

Bhai Roop Chand and his family also served seventh Sikh master Guru Teg Bahadur Ji and 10th Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Bhai Roop Chand and his seven sons had received ‘Amrit’ from the sacred hands of tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh Ji and enlisted themselves in his ‘Army of Lions’.

Showing the relics, Bhai Gurchet Singh, 12th successor of Bhai Roop Chand Ji, informed that due to the service to the Guru families, they possessed a bundle of Hukumnamas— royal warrants from the Gurus—in which, besides asking for men, money and war materials, the Guru acknowledged Bhai Roop’s family as his own family.

The family possesses a Rabab, wooden shoes of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, one Khadawan of Mata Ganga Ji (wife of Guru Arjan Dev Ji), some paintings of Guru Sahib’s era including one of Guru Gobind Singh ji’s childhood. They have preserved Mohrhi Sahib, the foundation of the village.

Old chulhas (burner), which were used for langar, bairagans, various utensils, many hand written literature, including one personally signed by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, a sword, rumal (handkerchief), an old chowki and various other historical and religious articles are lying with the family.

Besides, the family has a chariot (rath). The house, where it is placed, is now called as the Rath Sahib Gurudwara. To pay obeisance here, people come from all across the country.

Recalling the history of the chariot, Bhai Gurchet Singh said, “Khuda Bakhsh, a Kashmiri carpenter, to get his wish for a son granted, worked extensively to make the promised chariot for the fourth Sikh master Guru Ramdas Ji.

Later, Guru Arjun Dev Ji took possession of it and on the same chariot, Mata Ganga Ji went to Baba Budda Ji to seek blessings for a son. The same chariot was used by Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and then also by the seventh Sikh master Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji.

When after committing the mistake of changing sloka on his own, Ram Rai, the son of Guru Har Rai Ji, was debarred from Guruship, he had settled at Dehradun and used this chariot to travel to far off places. It was said that it became famous as the ‘flying chariot’ because Ram Rai used to fly it using his supernatural powers.

On request from Mata Punjab Kaur, wife of Ram Rai Ji, this chariot was brought by Bhai Gian Chand, grandson of Bhai Roop Chand Ji, from Dehradun for safe keeping. Till this time, it stands at his successors’ place in Bhai Roopa village. People come and offer a colourful top cloth over it, when their wishes are granted.

The family exhibits various holy articles at heritage fairs, organised from time to time at different places.

Bathinda, September 3
Even after the passage of more than two years of the state government’s promise to give a facelift to Bathinda bus stand with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, it is still lying in a state of neglect.

Visit the Bathinda bus stand and potholes, foul smell, broken urinals and irritating beggars are ever ready to welcome you. Even after moderate rain, the whole bus stand gets inundated. A knee-deep pit at its entrance poses a grave threat when filled with rainwater.

During a visit to the bus stand, this correspondent witnessed one portion was soggy while another part was turned into a pool of water causing inconvenience to the commuters boarding or alighting from the buses. In order to avoid their clothes from getting dirty, passengers were seen waiting and boarding the buses from the exit point of the bus stand only.

Due to the unchecked behaviour of miscreants, almost all the urinals there are lying broken.

Talking to a number of commuters, it was observed that shopkeepers inside the bus stand were flouting the Consumer Protection Act as none had pasted the rate list of eatables outside their shops.

“We are forced to pay almost double to buy an item from here, as a packet of chips, which carries an MRP of Rs 20, is being sold at Rs 25. A bottle of cold drink also costs Rs five more than what is available outside,” said Parkash Chand, a businessman from Rampura.

When asked about the fleecing, shopkeepers had their own version. “We have to pay heavy contract fee. Then, the electricity bills and free service to officers is also to be borne by us,” a shopkeeper said.

Bathinda, September 3
Members of the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation (PFUCTO), Bathinda zone, have hailed the issuance of notification by the department of higher education, Punjab, granting new UGC pay-scales.

Terming the notification as a Teachers’ Day gift from the state government, the teachers said one year of their struggle came to an end yesterday evening. Prof N.K. Gosain, district president PFUCTO, Dr G.S. Brar, president, Bathinda Government College Lecturers’ Association, Dr Satnam Singh, head of department of post-graduate studies, and Dr V.K. Kaushik, head of law department, Bathinda regional centre, thanked the state government for issuing the notification.

The teachers of universities, government colleges and government-aided colleges would be holding thanksgiving rallies on September 5 to mark the Teachers’ Day celebration.

The teachers, however, demanded that anomalies be removed, particularly in the case of teachers of physical education and librarians, and allowances be given to the teachers at the earliest.

According to the government’s notification, the pay in the revised scale shall be payable in cash with effect from August 1 this year. The arrears for the period from January 1, 2006, to July 31, 2009, would be released in installments in due course of time.

The notification states that the revised pay-scales are applicable to the teachers and equivalent cadres of the universities, including Panjab University, Chandigarh, government colleges, government-aided private colleges and directorate of colleges only and are not applicable in case of the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, the Guru Angad Dev University of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Ludhiana, and medical, veterinary science, technical and engineering universities and colleges.

A committee has been constituted to consider the other recommendations, benefits and allowances mentioned in the notification of the sixth pay commission issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Meanwhile, the rally, which was to be held at Patiala today by the teachers of Punjabi University, college teachers of Bathinda, Mansa, Budlada, Barnala, Sangrur, Nabha, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, was called off following the issuance of notification.

Bathinda, September 3
With the construction activity at the Guru Gobind Singh refinery here in full swing, the influx of truckers carrying cement, steel and other construction material has increased.

Understanding the peculiar lifestyle of truckers, authorities of the Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) have been organising counselling and awareness programme on AIDS for these drivers.

The state health department is supporting these programmes. During the counselling sessions and lectures, the drivers are explained about the causes, symptoms and prevention of HIV and AIDS.

As truckers are most of the time away from homes, they develop a tendency to fall for sex workers en route. Besides encouraging them to go for voluntary testing for HIV, condoms are also being regularly distributed free of charge.

They are also being advised not to indulge in sex while under influence of liquor as they may forget to take precautions in such situations.

Giving information, volunteers of the camp said that during one such session held recently, 75 truck drivers voluntarily gave blood samples for HIV test. It was a highest collection on a single day in the region.

However, the results of samples were yet to come.

Bathinda, September 3
Passengers of the Punjab Mail and the Toofan Express faced inconvenience at the Bathinda station on Wednesday night when hundreds of passengers, mostly farmers, entered into reserved coaches without carrying bonafide tickets. \

The railway, however, got the coaches vacated and persuaded them to travel by general coaches. In the process, the trains got delayed for several minutes, railway sources confirmed. — TNS

Fazilka, September 3
Karnataka beat Telangana while Chandigarh beat Mumbai in the matches of the national-level Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak Mega Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament which commenced here today.

Altogether 32 teams from different states of the country are participating in the tournament.

Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya inaugurated the tourney which is being organized by Fazilka Twenty-20 Cricket Association with cooperation of Punjab State Twenty-20 Cricket Association.

Indian Twenty-20 Cricket Federation national general secretary Piyush Rana, deputy general manager of Mount Shivalik Beverages (Thunderbolt) Avinash Wadhera, director of the tournament Karan Gilhotra, Municipal Council president Anil Kumar Sethi, Market Committee chairman Ashok Jairath, veteran Congress councillor Davinder Sachdeva and other dignitaries were present at in opening ceremony.

While giving the detail of today's matches, the general secretary of Fazilka Twenty-20 Cricket Association Pankaj Dhamija said that six matches were to be played today. Four matches were washed due to rain. Each team was given one point.

Only two matches were played in the cricket stadium of Government M.R. College in which Karnataka beat Telangana team and in the second match Chandigarh beat Mumbai. 

Muktsar, September 3
Gursewak Singh Sidhu, principal, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Bring Khera village, near here, and another teacher of the same school, Radhe Shyam, will be visiting the United Kingdom (UK) from September 12 to 19 under the 'Dreams and Teams' project being sponsored by the British Council.

Both Sidhu and Radhe Shyam will visit the Worcestershire-based King Charles-I School to attend a sports festival. The British Council functions internationally to develop links among schools worldwide to enhance leadership skills through sports and physical activities.

There will also be an exchange programme of students who will share their sports and cultural experiences. This project is also associated with Olympic Games-2012 slated to be held in London.— OC

Sriganganagar/Abohar, September 3
One person was burnt alive while two heavy trucks were charred in the head-on collision near Piprana on the Sriganganagar-Bikaner road (NH-15) today leading to traffic jam for over four hours. The occupants of the trucks, including cleaner Raju, tried to escape but one of them was injured seriously.

As per sources, the driver of a truck that was carrying stone metal from Didwana to deliver the consignment at Sriganganagar, reportedly tried to overtake a military vehicle but the vehicle collided head-on . Both the vehicles caught fire while the Army vehicle too was damaged in the melee.

Circle inspector from Suratgarh along with fire-fighting equipments and ambulance reached the spot. It took more than an hour to douse the fire.

Senior Army officers too rushed to Piprana and shifted one of the jawans who had sustained injuries to the civil hospital. The police had registered a case. — OC

Abohar, September 3
Three leading cotton traders of the town were injured while the driver of the car that they were using for pilgrimage was killed in a road mishap near Rawatsar in the evening, sources said.

As per information, traders Surinder Goyal, Pardeep Nagori and Vinay Rathi were going on pilgrimage in a car. Stray cattle suddenly entered the road and the driver tried to escape collision with the cattle but the car collided with a private company's bus head-on. Car driver Surinder Kumar of Malout died on the spot while other occupants sustained injuries. — OC

Fazilka, September 3
The rural sports meet was organised at village Shahtirwala in memory of martyr Gurjit Singh who attained martyrdom five years ago in Jammu and Kashmir.

A kabaddi tournament was orgainsed by the Amar Shaheed Gurjit Singh Sports Club to mark the occasion. The programme was presided over by senior Congress leader Davinder Sachdeva.

In the two-day meet that concluded here today, several teams took part in the 45 kg, 56 kg and 64 kg weight category kabaddi events. Davinder Sachdeva donated Rs 5,100 to the club. — OC

Bathinda, September 3
Sleuths of the Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda range, today booked a revenue official after he was caught red-handed while accepting graft for issuing mutation of a property.

According to details available, Baljeet Singh of village Sedha Singh Wala in Faridkot district had lodged a complaint against Rajesh Bhandari, a Patwari of village Jhakhra in Jaito sub-division.

He alleged that Bhandari was seeking Rs 5,000 as graft for issuing mutation (Intkaal) of a piece of land measuring two acres, which was transferred in his name after his father’s death.

After informing the VB officials, Baljeet settled a deal with Bhandari for Rs 4,500, out of which Rs 2,000 were to be paid in advance and the rest was to be paid after the procedural formalities were completed.

The VB officials laid a trap and nabbed Bhandari red-handed while receiving the payment from the complainant. Manjeet Singh, the District Education Officer, Faridkot, and Jaswinder Singh, a clerk with the Education Department, were eye-witness to the crime.

Confirming the facts, Chaman Lal, SSP Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda range, said, “The accused is behind the bars and a case has been registered under sections 7, 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”