Bathinda, February 8
Brushing the hurdles aside, the district administration today inaugurated the Maharaja Captain Amarinder Singh Transport Nagar—the most prestigious project of the Improvement Trust.

Initially, only the Truck Union, Bathinda, has been shifted to the transport nagar, which was reportedly a major source of traffic chaos in the city.

Acquiring a chunk of 67.88 acres of land, the project was initiated about a decade ago, but due to official apathy and getting victim of political arena, it was lying in doldrums, which The Tribune highlighted on February 5 in these columns. Following that, the district administration swung into action and held a meeting with truck union authorities and decided upon shifting all trucks to Transport Nagar till Saturday evening.

Chairman of the Improvement Trust Ashok Bharti said, “Now onwards, the truck union will operate from here and no truck will go to the city office. Initially, we have agreed upon giving land to the truck union on contract basis, which is set as Rs 50 per consignment. The trucks, which will be booked for NFL, will pay Rs 25 per consignment. At any stage, if they want to buy the land, we are open to negotiate for the price of land.”

Speaking on the occasion, deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari said soon the goods booking agencies, which operate from the city, would also be shifted there.

However, the inauguration reflected the hurried step of the administration as the transport nagar is sans proposed features like weighing scale, service station, bank, post office, dispensary, primary school and a fuel station. Except for roads, parking slot and few incomplete structures, hardly anything could be set up there till date.

Above all, neither the complex has drinking water facility for truckers nor a boundary wall to avoid mishaps like theft of the trucks parked, which the truckers have brought to the officials’ notice.

Talking to TNS, president of the truck union Deepinder Singh Kala said there were about 700 trucks enrolled with the Bathinda Truck Union and would operate from there today onwards.

Bathinda, February 8
Contrary to the repeated claims of the ruling Badals to develop the Bathinda lakes as tourist spot, hardly any tangible thing has turned up during the past couple of years, except for two foundation stones. Ironically, while the already laid stones are waiting to see the action in reality, the authorities are coming up with fresh ideas to start musical fountain as well as Shikaras in the lakes, which is now forcing people to suspect the policy.

About a year back, claiming to set a milestone in the development of Bathinda, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of a five-star hotel in the middle of Lakes number 2 and 3, which was allotted to the Vipul Hospitality Limited.

Though the stone was laid with much fanfare, the firm awarded with the contract did not turn up till date.

As per the information, suspecting the claims of leaders about the pace of development in Bathinda, the company officials had recently declared that they would start the project only after refinery and airport came into existence.

The huge stone of the hotel was already in controversy, when Sukhbir Badal again laid a stone for developing the lake sides as joggers' path on January 12 this year. Badal had then informed that the project would cost about Rs 60 lakh, which would include, path, lights, benches, fencing etc.

At the time of laying the stone, the deputy CM was quite affirmative for the construction of the project with an immediate effect.

However, sources in the district administration informed that the officials of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) as well as the forest department were still waiting for the drawings of the project to be approved.

A senior official said drawings of the project would reach them by February 10, after which tenders would be called.

“The project is still a distant dream as first of all the drawings are yet to be received, then tenders would be called, after which the allotment process would take place. Once the formalities are completed, the construction work would be started,” said the official, seeking anonymity.

When contacted, chief administrator of the BDA Ravi Bhagat said, “We have been completing formalities in a speedy way. With the best of efforts, all promised projects would be developed soon.”

Abohar, February 8
Hundreds of citizens from Bhagwanpura locality staged a dharna at the official residence of the DSP here and jammed vehicular traffic on the Sadar Thana road for half an hour last night.

They were protesting over inaction by the city police against a gang that had been occasionally attacking the residents.

The immediate cause of protest was the alleged attacked on one Satpal Yadav by five members of the gang who allegedly forced entry into Yadav's residence in Bhagwanpura at 9 pm and also assaulted Satpal's sister Nirmala with a sharp-edged weapon as she dared to save her brother.

The residents first approached the city police but they allegedly did not respond. Then they marched to the official residence of the DSP late on Sunday night, staged a dharna, shouted slogans against the city police complaining that earlier too such attacks were made but the police did not book the culprits. The protesters recalled that the same gang had attacked shopkeepers in Sadar Bazaar a few days back but the police had not bothered to check their activities.

The citizens resented that the spurt in activities of anti-social elements remained unabated but the police had failed to initiate action. So grave was the situation that the miscreants had stolen the girder that had recently been installed by the administration outside abandoned office of the DSP last night to regulate the entry of heavy as well as overloaded vehicles on the circular road.

If the police can't safeguard the government property, what can be expected over the safety of the residents, the protesters questioned.

The police confirmed on Monday that a case has been registered against Sonu Swami, Bantu Swami, Kannu Swami, Bhim Sain and Jitender under sections 452, 323, 148, 149 of the IPC.

No arrest has, however, been made so far. 

Bathinda, February 8
Lodging a protest against the fresh “burden” of taxes upon farmers, activists of the Bharti Kisan Union Ekta (Sidhupur) staged a dharna outside the Mini-secretariat here today.

Submitting a memorandum to the district officials, farmers demanded the withdrawal of hike in petroleum prices and scraping of the Sukhbir-Kalia report. Meanwhile, they sought an early resolve of controversy erupted over faulty paddy planters.

The agitators threatened to intensify protest if the government did not accept their demands. — TNS

Mansa, February 8
Farmers and electricity board employee organisations are set to stage a state-level protest against the unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and withdrawal of subsidies from the farm sector on February 10.

Along with the strike by the employees, joint rallies of employees and farmers would be held at the district and tehsil level on this day.

State general secretary of Bhartiya Kissan Union Ugrahan Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan and state president of Punjab Kissan Union Ruldu Singh said that preparations are on for the dharna on February 10 and the issues of unbundling of the PSEB and withdrawal of subsidies from the farm sector would be raised during this protest.

They said that subsidies were being withdrawn from the farm sector on the basis of the Sukhbir Badal- Manoranjan Kalia committee recommendations. They further said that joint protests would be held along with electricity board employees.

Meanwhile PSEB employees joint forum leader Harbhajan Singh informed that the PSEB management today held a meeting with the employees forum leaders and provided an assurance that a letter had been written to the Central government for extending the date of the PSEB unbundling but a copy of the same letter was not provided to leaders of the employees who were participating in the meeting.

KD Chaudhry, member, distribution of the PSEB, Husan Lal, secretary, PSEB from the management side and Harbhajan Pal Singh, Mahinder Singh Pehalwan, Brij Lal, Kuljit Singh, Jagtar Singh, BS Sekhon, Swarn Singh and BS Saini were present from the employees forum side. 

Fazilka, February 8
A 20 feet wide breach has been reported in the Lamorchar Kalan minor, about 25 km from here. The minor forms part of the Eastern Canal.

It is stated that water flow enhanced near pillar number 23 and it crossed the banks of the minor causing the breach.

According to Irrigation department officials, standing wheat crop in acres of agricultural land around village Murkawala has been inundated. The damage is being assessed by the department.

According to official sources, flow of water in Lamoruchar minor has been stopped from the head works.

According to these sources, the direction of the minor has been diverted to Ladhuka distributory temporarily to prevent further damage to the crops.

The canal and its lining department jointly launched a breach plugging operation with the cooperation of the villagers today in the afternoon.

Bathinda, February 8
On the occasion of the eighth installation day of idol of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba at the SSD Sabha Complex here, an impressive “shobha yatra” was today taken out by the local Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Welfare Trust from the Sabha complex. The yatra culminated at the Hathi Wala Mandir after passing through various markets in the city. A large number of followers of the Sai Baba participated in the yatra.

A group of 101 women, who were carrying “Kalsh” on their heads, led the yatra. Tableaux of Hanuman Ji, Mata Durga and the Sai Baba were part of the yatra. Besides, a photograph of the Sai Baba and silver “Kharrawan” were kept in a palanquin carried by some persons. An idol of the Sai Baba was kept in a baggi while darbar of the Sai Baba was decorated in a vehicle. A contingent of band and a group of “dhol tasha” also performed.

Abohar, February 8
The DAV College here honoured meritorious students during the prize distribution function held in its auditorium today.

While inaugurating the function, Principal Dr BB Sharma paid floral tributes to former principal Narayan Dass Grover who had founded the college in 1960.

It was due to the untiring efforts of such saintly educationists that the campus has blossomed as a mini university now with three colleges and a model school, he said.

Those honoured during the function included Himanshu Sharma and Ankita who had shared the top position in MA (Hindi) in Panjab University, second position holder Aanchal and Amanpreet Ahuja who had got second position in MA (Political Science) in the PU.

Other top rankers included Amandeep Kaur, Harmesh Singh, Harsh Priya, Pawan Kumar, Pardeep Kumar Gaba, Kirandeep Kaur, Neetu Bala, Poonam Rani, Priyanka, Jyoti Bala, Palwi and Preeti.

Toppers in September and December terminal exams were also honoured. Vice-principal Anil Makkar conducted the proceedings. 

Bathinda, February 8
Continuing their splendid performance in track and field events, athletes of the Army Public School, Bathinda Military Station, have again proved their mettle. This time, they excelled at the Punjab Open Junior and Senior Cross Country Championship held in Sangrur recently.

Ace-runner and national record holder in the CBSE games Sujata Yadav, a student of class XII, clinched gold medal in 4-km run for U-18 girls. The silver in the event also came in the school’s kitty as Nisha Yadav bagged the medal for her institution.

Another student of the school also brought laurels to the city as Jagnandini grabbed silver in 3000-m race in the U-16 girls category.

Sujata Yadav had recently created history by breaking the national record in 1500-m race in the U-19 girls category at the National CBSE Inter-School Athletics Meet in Jaipur. She rewrote the record with a timing of 5.07.34 seconds while the old record was 5.08.1 seconds. Sujata had also won bronze in 3000-m run at the meet.

Besides Sujata, Jagnandini, a student of class VII, also shone in the meet and won the Best Athlete title in the U-14 girls category. She won gold medal in 400 m and silver in 800 m run.

Rohit Pandey won gold medal in javelin throw contest in U-19 boys category with a distance of 52.50 m.

Upbeat over the brilliant performance of his pupils, coach Sukhvinder Singh of the Army Public School said the athletes have the potential of excelling in sports at national as well as international levels. 

Bathinda, February 8
The Science Olympiad Foundation conducted the International Mathematics Olympiad in December 2009, in which thousands of school students from across the country participated.

The results were declared on February 1. Two students of West Point School, Kotkapura, Tanvi Gupta and Puru Garg, stood first and second at the national level. Savreet Kaur and Vansh Bansal of Class II, Mantaz Singh (Class III), Kunal Singla (Class IV) and Nivandeep Singh (class VII) all secured rankings in the competition.

The other students who top scored in their respective classes are Shriya Monga, Shubham Gupta and Anshuman Kataria. School principal Simrat Nakai and school director

Himmat Singh Nakai congratulated the successful students and school staff on their success.

Ferozepur, February 8
An inmate of the Central Jail, Amarjit Singh, died after he was referred to the Faridkot Medical College by the local civil hospital where he was sent for treatment.

Sources said, Amarjit, alongwith his son, Manjit Singh, were sent to the jail by a local court following their absence during the court proceeding.

Jail officials said Amarjit was not enjoying good health so he was being given treatment in the jail hospital. However, this morning when his health deteriorated, he was sent to civil hospital from where he was referred to Medical College in Faridkot. When he was taken there, the doctors declared him brought dead. — OC