Bathinda, January 19
Dismissing the years-long writ petitions against the 45.57 acre scheme of the Improvement Trust, Bathinda, that was renamed as Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhaya scheme, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today gave the administration a reason to smile as it was one of the major hurdles in the completion of phase-I of the ring road project.

The ring road, which will start from Barnala road near the cantonment and go up to Mansa road, was planned several years ago to check the traffic congestion and keep the city free from air and sound pollution by diverting traffic outside the city.

Giving details over the phone, Chairman, Improvement Trust, Ashok Bharti said the Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhaya scheme was a residential-cum-commercial scheme and a part of it also formed a part of phase-I of the ring road.

The scheme that was initiated in the year 2000 and notified in 2002, included 553 residential plots of different sizes, 20 shops, site for an educational institute, gurdwara and a temple.

“Announcing the awards, the land had been acquired. But later, lodging objections, some of the owners moved the High Court and got stay orders against the dispossession. After years-long proceedings, the double bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg dismissed the petition today,” informed Bharti.

With this development, the hopes of the PUDA authorities to revive the ring road phase-I project have also been rekindled.

As per information, the PUDA authorities had once started the project but they too got involved in court proceedings as objections some persons had objected to the project. Contesting the case, the PUDA once lost it in the High Court and then in the Supreme Court also.

Meanwhile, finding the 45.57 acre scheme of the Improvement Trust, through which the ring road had to cross, also trapped in litigation, the PUDA officials reportedly kept silent, leaving the dreams of the city residents shattered.

However, after the pronouncement of the judgment today, the chief administrator of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), Ravi Bhagat said, “It is good news for all as a major hurdle has been cleared. We will do our best to clear the hindrances and if required we will even go for re-acquisition of some parts of the project. But it will start at the earliest possible.”

It has also been informed that earlier, the Army authorities had raised objections to the construction of the ring road due to the ammunition depot located adjacent to it.

But some time back, the objection was withdrawn.

Bathinda, January 19
Bathinda police today nabbed three persons on the suspicion of their conniving with an assistant safety officer of a construction company working at Guru Gobind Singh refinery, who was accused of duping various persons of lakhs of rupees.

It is learnt that the three persons, namely, Nadeem Qureshi of Mumbai, Imran Khan of Delhi and Maroof Ali of Uttarakhand, hired a taxi from the city to go to Ambala. The vehicle had just moved when the driver got suspicious about their conversation and dialled up 100 to call the PCR. He informed the cops about his location. The PCR cops reached the spot and nabbed the trio and took them to the Civil Lines police station. Finding them to be allegedly involved in a duping case, they were handed over to the Economic Offences Wing staff.

It may be mentioned that acting upon the complaint of one Narinder Kumar of Gidderbaha and several others, the Civil Lines police had booked Mohammad Farooq, an assistant safety officer of a construction company working at the refinery, of duping them of nearly Rs 50 lakh on January 9. Farooq was accused of duping the complainant in the name of felicitating them to purchase tonnes of scrap at a cheaper rate. After a deal was entered into, they kept on providing him with cash for a couple of months before he fled. Police is interrogating the three accused to nab the absconding Farooq. — TNS

Bathinda, January 19
Following a series of crime in Bathinda, about a year back, the district administration with the support of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), Municipal Corporation (MC) and the police department had cordoned off all the 16 identified entry points of the city by installing barricades, close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and setting up beat-box like cabins, which were being manned round-the-clock.

But regretfully, about a year later, the project has been dumped. All the securitymen deployed there have been evicted and infrastructure worth nearly a crore, is languishing for no reason.

As per details, the project was the brainchild of the then Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari and SSP Naunihal Singh, who finding frequent incidents of snatchings, theft and kidnappings, taking place in the city, had identified all entry points of the city and then decided to seal the city by setting up permanent check-points, manned round-the-clock. At some sensitive points, close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras were also installed and the display screens were fitted in the SSP office and the police control room.

The construction had been assigned to the BDA authorities. The estimate for executing the plan was reportedly around Rs one crore, which included providing private security personnel to man the entry points for a year.

After a year, completed sometime back, the BDA authorities handed over the infrastructure to the district police. Ironically, the day police took over the project, it was dumped with indifference.

When asked, Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said though initiating the project itself was appreciable, it had various flaws. The CCTV cameras, installed at the entry points were not up to the mark as it was bereft of the zoom feature without which tracing the number of any vehicle is impossible.

“Moreover, the check points required about 90 personnel to be deployed for manning them round- the-clock, which was quite impossible for us as the district police was already facing staff shortage and sparing such a large number of cops for that duty was not viable,” said the SSP.

Asked if the public money spent on the infrastructure would be allowed to go waste, the SSP said, “We will try to utilize it in some way.”

Panj Kosi (Abohar), Jan 19
Leaders cutting across the party lines and people belonging to every section of society from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and other parts of the country have been the visiting the bereaved family of BalRam Jakhar, former Lok Sabha Speaker and a Congress stalwart at his village to express condolence over the sudden demise of his son Surinder Jakhar on January 17.

Surinder Jakhar, was the chair person of the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) four times. He was also a member of an international body on cooperative movement. Surinder Jakhar died on Monday after he suffered a bullet injury in his head at his farmhouse at Mauj Garh village.

Those who visited the bereaved family today included former chief minister and president, PPCC, Capt Amarinder Singh, irrigation minister, Punjab, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, chief whip of the Congress in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, senior leader of the Indian National Lok Dal Abhay Chautala and senior leader of Rajasthan state Congress unit Ajaib Singh Bhatti, MLA, Nathana, Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, former MLA, Fazilka and Rohit Vohra, president, Youth Akali Dal (Urban), Ferozepur.

Talking to the media, Capt Amarinder Singh said with the untimely demise of Surinder Jakhar, the farmers had suffered a big setback. He said the untimely demise of Surinder had caused a great loss to him as well. The void caused due to the death of Surinder Jakhar was difficult to fill, he added.

Sekhon said Surinder was a great soul, who always remained on his toes to extend help to farmers to make farming a profitable venture.

Abohar, January 19
Former Punjab Pradesh Congress president Virendra Kataria has urged the Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai to allow more stoppages of the 12455/12456 Delhi (Sarai Rohila)-Sriganganagar AC Express to ensure its financial viability.

The former MP said during his meeting with Sahai today, he sought to convey that the AC train was running with 35 per cent occupancy so far even when scores of Abohar residents were boarding the train at Sriganganagar.

The 13007/13008 Udyan Abha Toofan Mail remains suspended till January 31 as of now. This has deprived the commuters of facility of night journey for the state and national capitals.

The joint action committee of the local organisations had lodged a protest by detaining the Intercity Express at Abohar on the day of launching of the AC Express.

The committee had threatened to block the rail traffic for full day, if genuine demand for stoppage of the AC Express at Abohar was not accepted.

The Railways earn Rs 7 crore as annual revenue from Abohar and had also included it in its Adarsh Railway Station Development Plan. Since brigade headquarters of the Army and divisional headquarters of the Border Security Force (BSF) is also located here, the defence/security officers too were facing inconvenience in the rail journey for the national capital and beyond that. People from Fazilka had been boarding Delhi-bound trains at Abohar while the residents of Muktsar preferred to board the night train at Malout, which is just 30 kms away.

So, it will be desirable to sanction stoppage of the Delhi-bound AC Express at least in Abohar and Malout, Kataria said.

The AC train might have to be withdrawn under the pretext of poor occupancy, if more stoppages were not allowed, he cautioned.

Bathinda, January 19
The Mansa police has arrested one Mandhir Singh in connection with a case, related to the murder of Dera Premi Lilly Kumar.

Lilly Kumar had been murdered on July 28, 2009 and the Mansa police had registered a case on that day under sections 302/34/120 of the IPC and section 25 of the Arms Act etc against some persons.

In a press note issued by the Mansa police today, it was stated that Mandhir Singh had been avoiding arrest since long in this case. But on Tuesday, a police party arrested him when he alighted from a bus near a naka, laid by the police at Tikoni in Mansa. According to the press note, during interrogation, Mandhir told the police that he had done B. Tech from Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College, Fatehgarh Sahib in 2001 and during his studies, he formed the Sikh Students Federation.

After that, he went to Canada and returned to India in July 2004. Later, he came into contact with Daljit Singh Bittu, a leader of Panch Pardhani.

He also told the police that after the murder of Lilly, the police arrested their men. So on September 28, 2009 he fled and remained in hiding. Mandhir Singh is reportedly a former president of the Sikh Students Federation.

Ferozepur, January 19
To make the tax collection policy trader-friendly, the Punjab Small Traders Board has drafted a proposal, which has been submitted to the state government for necessary approval, revealed Madal Lal Kapoor, chairman of the Board, while talking to the media here today. Kapoor said at times, the small-time traders, especially in the border areas, are not aware about various kinds of applicable taxes and its payment procedure, due to which, they refrain from depositing the taxes and shy away from taxation offices. He said in the proposal, the Board has also recommended to the state government to offer special tax concessions and incentives to the traders in the border and backward areas.

He informed that one of the proposals is that in case of fire or natural calamity, a special grant of Rs 10 lakh be given to the traders, who have suffered losses, provision of educational loans to the children of small-time traders, uniform tax policy for branded and non-branded items, pension policy for traders, immediate decision on all pending tax evasion cases related to financial year 2005-06 and 2006-07 besides strict implementation of the Punjab Vat Act - 2006. On the occasion, DP Chandan, vice-chairman of the Board and senior officials from the Excise and Taxation department were also present.

Abohar, January 19
While inspecting the three-month motorcycle repair training camp in the Panchayat Samiti complex here today, Balbir Singh, operating officer of the North India Technical Consultancy Organisation (NITCON), said such projects were being pursued to provide self-employment avenues under the SC Sub-Plan Chandigarh Welfare Department and office of the ADC (Development) Ferozepur at Abohar, Fazilka, Jalalabad and Ferozepur in this district.

Deputy Manager Prince Gandhi said financial help would be arranged from the listed banks for the entrepreneurs.

The NITCON has decided to arrange lectures by taxation and accounts advisors during the camps. — OC

Ferozepur, January 19
The focus of the police in Ferozepur district has primarily been on checking drug trade and attempts to push fake Indian currency from across the border in an attempt to create some disruptive influence on the Indian economy.

But Naxalite activities too, on and off, have vied for attention from the police authorities. However, its magnitude fails to parallel that of the above two criminal activities with the police authorities describing them as the ‘mischief of individuals’ instead of being organised attempts to bring about ‘revolution.’

The police here, in 2009, arrested Harnek Singh, a close associate of Naxalite leader Surjeet Singh Phool, with a foreign made .32 bore revolver of Smith and Wesson make. Harnek Singh was the member of a Naxalite organization---Karantikari Kisan Union. Phool was a close associate of Kobad Gandhi, a top Maoist leader.

Last year also, two activists were arrested in the district. Posters motivating people to join the Naxalite movement, appeared in Zira. A number of landlords and traders of Zira and its surrounding villages received letters from the so-called Naxalite organisations demanding money to fund the movement.

Two active members of Naxalite groups were arrested. One was identified as Dilbagh Singh, who was arrested for his involvement in pasting the posters in Zira. He was sent to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC), Amritsar.

Harbans Singh, who was working under the name of Balbir Batala, and was involved in printing and distributing literature connected with Naxalism, was arrested from a local workshop. He was working as a mechanic under the pseudo name of Jai Parkash Dubey.

Harjit Singh Pannu, SP (D) said most activities, which had taken place in this district, were mischief created by individuals. He said stray incidents could not be dubbed as resurfacing of Naxalism in Ferozepur.

Ferozepur, January 19
To make the students aware of various career options and vocations, a career counselling fair was held at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School (Ferozepur).

The fair was orgainsed by an NGO, Action Group for Education and Environment Development, in collaboration with Satyam Career Consultants and Education department (AGREED). Dr Satinder Singh, president, AGREED, informed that more than 2,000 students participated in the fair.

In the fair, several government departments such as fisheries, dairy development, small savings besides hosts of engineering, nursing and technical colleges gave their presentations. — OC