Bathinda, January 7
For creating traffic and road sense to save human lives on roads, Punjab Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal today called upon drivers, transporters and common masses to open their ‘third eye’ and see how precious the human lives are. He also expressed concern over an estimated 4,000 deaths occurring in road accidents across Punjab every year.

The minister was addressing a state-level function organised on the concluding day of the Road Safety Fortnight here today. Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, PRTC Chairman Ranjit Singh Ballian and Transport Secretary SK Sandhu also attended the function.

To a query, Mohan Lal said Pathankot should be accorded district status, besides creation of a Municipal Corporation there.

With regard to the fast-unto-death by the BJP MLA from Fazilka seeking district status for the sub-division, the minister said the MLA was left with no other option as the demand of the residents of the area was not being considered despite a long agitation.

The minister said issuance of old registration numbers to new vehicles was wrong and such registration numbers would be cancelled by the department. He also said the government was also going to open a driving institute at Pathankot. Besides, the Punjab Technical University would be asked to introduce driving as a subject, he added.

Harsimrat Badal exhorted the minister to initiate steps to challan the VIPs vehicles, which violate traffic rules.

Transport Secretary SK Sandhu said after June, the issuance of driving licence would be made difficult and it would be issued only after proper training. He said driving schools were being opened in engineering colleges and polytechnic colleges. The powers to issue driving licences would also be allocated to these colleges, he added.

Meanwhile, experts on road safety Dr Kamaljit Sohi, Prof Balwinder Singh and Prof Lakhbir Singh educated the gathering about road safety measures.

Earlier, Harsimrat Badal inaugurated a programme at the office of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Bathinda. Under the programme, transporters from Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar would get national permit for goods vehicle here itself instead of going to the RTA office at Ferozepur. 

Bathinda: About an hour after MP Harsimrat Badal left the function, when Transport Minister Mohan Lal did not find any police official near the dais, he got agitated and asked one of his aides to call up a senior cop over the phone. The minister apprised the police officer that the road safety programme was in progress and there was no cop present at the venue.

He even expressed his anger over the phone as he was heard saying that he (minister) would set himself ablaze at his office. He also asked the cop to send some police officer at the venue.

During a press conference later, when the minister’s attention was drawn to his comment, he tried to parry the same saying he had been talking to a friend. However earlier, he had told the media that he had called a senior cop as he wanted a police officer to be there to speak on traffic rules. — TNS

Bathinda, January 7
In an irony, while the administration was celebrating the successful conclusion of the Road Safety Week with fanfare at a local resort, the traffic in the city was left on its own creating chaos all over.

The road from the Fauji Chowk, the heart of the city, right up to the bus stand was choked. In the absence of a traffic cop, the traffic bottleneck at the chowk was severe.

"While taking a turn at the chowk, a scooterist hit my car. But it was not his fault as it was chaos there. Is this the kind of road safety awareness that the authorities were claiming to create," asked an agitated bank employee Harish Lal.

Parkash Bansal, another commuter, rued, "The administration, specifically the traffic cops, have hung posters in the city stating that the district was celebrating the Road Safety Week. But have they done anything beyond that in the last six days."

It was also learnt that the officials concerned did not even invite the traffic advisors and marshals appointed in the city to give suggestions on regulating the traffic.

When asked, traffic in-charge Jagdish Kumar said he was not aware of any traffic snarls in the city. He also passed on the buck for not inviting the traffic marshals and advisors to the officials of transport department.

DTO Amandeep could not be contacted as he did not respond to the calls made to him.

Bathinda, January 7
The mercury, being recorded at below 10 degree Celsius at the maximum level for many days past in Bathinda, is upstaging the record of the past decade.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 8.2 degree on Thursday, which is the lowest of the season in Bathinda. Though it crossed the 9 degree Celsius mark today, it is still hovering between 8 and 9 degrees Celsius below normal.

On the other hand, the minimum temperature on Friday was recorded at 4 degrees Celsius, which is said to be nearly normal. The wind speed was recorded at 2.5 km/hour today.

According to information received from the weather office, the state meteorology department has predicted that the chill may continue for the next two days. In some parts of the district, frost and in some others, fog may be witnessed.

It has also been forecasted that the frost, which adversely affects crops like potato, tomato and peas, may intensify in the coming two days.

However, the agro-met officials informed that wheat, the main crop of the region, would bear the frost and the low temperature and the present weather would help the crop in better tillering.

Meanwhile, the officials informed that the frost would not affect the oil seed crops as their tolerance level is much higher, but maintained that if the frost continues for more than a week, it would start showing adverse effects on the oil seed crops too.

Fazilka, January 7
The situation in the town became tense after a resident of village Muthianwali climbed on an overhead water tank and held out a threat that he would commit suicide if the Punjab government failed to accord district status to Fazilka. However, police along with other residents persuaded him to climb down from the tank.

The town observed a complete bandh for the third day today following the call given by the Beopar Mandal in Fazilka. Only chemist shops and vegetable shops remained open. Besides, Arniwala and Mandi Ladhu Ka also observed a bandh in support of the demand.

Meanwhile, Mohinder Partap Dhingra, Chairman, Improvement Trust (Fazilka) today joined the BJP MLA Surjit Jiyani and Charan Singh, president, SAD (B), Fazilka circle in their agitation. Former Congress MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, who along with other party leaders, have extended support to the Sanjha Morcha, addressing the gathering at the Clock Tower, said Badal must honour the promise that the BJP leadership had made to people of Fazilka on the eve of the last assembly elections. He said Badal could also hold a referendum to see the genuineness of the demand.

Forest Minister, Punjab, Tikshan Sud, Rajesh Bagha and Manjeet Singh Rai (both senior leaders of the BJP), who reached the town as representatives of the state government and the BJP, respectively , to take stock of the situation, said things were going in the right direction as Badal had constituted a sub-committee in this regard. Sud said both the Punjab government and BJP leadership had been taking the demand seriously. However, he refused to comment when asked as to why the BJP did not take the issue with Badal in the last four years. The Beopar Mandal has decided to continue its bundh tomorrow as well. A few social organisations have also offered to join the hunger strike.

Bathinda, January 7
As the nine-day book fair organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) at the local Government Rajindra College is inching to a close, the number of visitors is increasing day by day. The seventh day of the fair today saw a record footfall on the college ground.

Initially, the cold weather had affected the strength of the crowd at the fair but now in its last lap, people from all walks of life have started turning up, said coordinator of the fair Amardeep Singh Gill.

According to details collected from about a dozen book stalls, a majority of visitors looked for books related to history, religion and the culture of the state and most of the books sold were in Punjabi language. However, books penned by of Chetan Bhagat— the Three Mistakes of My Life and the 2 States-The Story of My Marriage’ (both in English) — were also selling like hot cakes.

Books authored by eminent personalities like Amrita Pritam, Jaswant Kanwal, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Veena Verma, Dilip Kaur Tiwana, Rattan Singh Jaggi, Darshan Kaur Jaggi, Gurcharan Arshi, Dr Manjeet Singh and Surjit Patar were much in demand.

‘The Last Sunset’ penned by former CM Amarinder Singh was also sought after at the fair. “The book was well-publicised but being expensive, people shied away from buying it. We are offering handsome discount on it and now, there is an ample demand for the book,” said a book seller.

Further, the stall arranged by the People’s Forum witnessed a heavy rush. The books and posters related to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, a special date dictionary and books related to the RTE Act were also in much demand.

While youth were looking for general knowledge books to prepare for entrance tests, drawing books and material fascinated school-going kids.

Meanwhile, a seminar organised to hold interaction between visitors and authors received a good response. Some books were also released on the occasion.

Baldev Singh Badhan, Chief Editor, NBT, said the record of Rs 55 lakh created during the 2007 book fair had been surpassed this time just on the seventh day itself.

Bathinda, January 7
To mobilise workers and activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the party’s Maghi Mela conference to be held at Muktsar on January 14, SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal held a meeting with the partymen from the Lambi block (Muktsar) at his residence in Badal village today. However, the meeting turned into a rally.

In his address, Sukhbir Badal appealed to the party workers to mobilise villagers in large numbers so as to make this year’s SAD conference at Maghi Mela a historic one. He also asked them to attend the conference in a record number to show to everybody as to what extent Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was loved by people.

Sukhbir said the Badal government was bringing new projects to the Muktsar district to tackle the water-logging problem in the district.

Among others present on the occasion included Major Bhupinder Singh Dhillon, political secretary to the Chief Minister; Gurtej Singh Gharriana, MLA from Balluana; Harpreet Singh, MLA from Malout; and Tejinder Singh Midukherra, chairman of the Central Cooperative Bank, Muktsar.

Meanwhile, former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has also been holding programmes in the Lambi Assembly constituency these days to mobilise people for his Maghi Mela conference. Manpreet will visit the Lambi constituency on January 8 and 9 in connection with the conference.

Besides, the Congress is also busy in ensuring heavy participation at its Maghi Mela conference. The Congress MLAs and leaders are holding meetings with people in this regard.

Abohar, January 7
The Border Security Force (BSF) authorities have decided to open a series of Subsidiary Training Centres (STC) in the state to impart training to those personnel, who are being recruited in its different wings under its special recruitment drive launched recently.

Besides, imparting basic training to the recruits, the STC also runs different special courses for them. The BSF has its only STC at Kharkan in Hoshiarpur district that has been imparting training to recruits every year.

Sources said the BSF had launched a special recruitment drive to raise about 29 new battalions. The recruitment drive was being carried out in a phased way in all parts of the country. Under the special recruitment drive, constables and non-gazetted officials were being recruited.

Sources said about four STCs in its Abohar, Ferozepur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur sectors would be opened and all the centres were expected to come up within a few months. The STCs were being opened in other parts of the country as well. Sources said about 5000 personnel, who would be recruited in the special drive of the BSF, would be trained in the STCs, two of which would come up in Abohar and Jalalabad.

After training, the recruits would be deployed in different sectors to beef up the security arrangements in the Indo-Pak border belts, Indo-Bangladesh border belt and other border areas. A senior functionary of the BSF pleading anonymity said the Indo-Pak border in different states were being guarded by less number of the BSF battalions at present than the sanctioned strength of the BSF battalions as the BSF had been deployed for the internal security duties in various states.

After the new battalions would be raised, the adequate number of battalions would be deployed alongside the border, he added.

Barnala, January 7
Two workers of a private factory were killed on the spot as the scooter they were riding, was hit by a truck near Tandya Wala Dhaba along the Barnala-Dhanaula highway here this morning.

Sources said Mangal Singh, son of Ganda Singh of Jagraon and Gurmeet Singh, son of Ranjeet Singh of Rampura Phul, workers of a private factory, who were on their way for some fabrication work at a marriage palace in Dhanaula died immediately after the scooter, bearing number PB-25A-7996, was hit by a rashly driven truck bearing the number PB-13T-9777.

The truck driver fled from the spot. Meanwhile, the police have lodged an FIR under relevant sections at Dhanaula police station and has started an investigation into the matter.