Bathinda, January 20
Replicating the pattern of Delhi and Chandigarh, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) is installing city guide maps and locality-layout plans across the city.

The project, which would cost nearly Rs 92 lakh, began on Wednesday and in a month, all major roads, crossings, roundabouts and landmarks of the city will be covered.

According to BDA officials, there are a total of 12 guide maps, which are being fixed at different sites to guide people about the location of markets, important offices, localities and the roads leading to these places.

Further, the BDA is installing huge boards on all the seven roads leading to the city, which would not only welcome the visitors but also mention the vision of the BDA by displaying some of the upcoming projects.

Besides, some small signage boards are being installed in planned localities. These boards would bear the details of the locality, including the house numbers. To begin with the urban estate, around 180 such boards have been prepared and the installation will start soon, said the BDA officials.

Meanwhile, the BDA has replicated some pattern from the boards installed in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games. Such boards are being installed outside the important government offices here like the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The board shows the exact location by pointing out “You are here”.

Further, the BDA has decided to install 700 V-shape reflectors at all the crossings and main roads for the convenience of drivers during night.

Speaking to The Tribune, Chief Administrator, BDA, Ravi Bhagat said, “It is the first phase of the project, which will cost us Rs 92 lakh. After analysing the response, we will move towards the second phase under which some smaller but steel signage plates will be fixed.”

“It will not only beautify the city but would also prove convenient to the visitors to the city in reaching their locations,” he added.

Bathinda, January 20
Ahead of the Assembly elections, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has taken the Nitish Kumar route to make the administration in Punjab people-friendly in the hope of doing a Bihar in the polls next year.

Impressed by the recent electoral results in Bihar where Nitish Kumar not only returned to power but also emerged stronger, Sukhbir has started replicating his people-friendly policies in Punjab where the bureaucracy had so far generally remained insensitive to the problems of the common people. In his public meetings, Sukhbir has been telling people that like Bihar, the SAD-BJP government in Punjab would return to power shattering the dreams of the Congress.

On the other hand, ousted finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has also made Bihar his role model and tells people to hold his hand just the way the electorate there rallied around Nitish Kumar who has changed the destiny of Bihar that was earlier considered the most lawless and backward state in the country.

In a recent meeting of deputy commissioners and district superintendents of police, Sukhbir asked them to wake up and be responsive to the local issues.

Following his instructions, some DCs, particularly in the Malwa region, have started paying surprise visits to various offices in their respective jurisdiction in a bid to tone up the administration.

Sukhbir's handpicked DC in Bathinda, S Karuna Raju, was the first to raid the revenue offices that have become a den of corruption. Similar reports were received from Ferozepur, Moga and Muktsar districts.

The DCs and SSPs in the districts had so far rarely been moving out of their camp offices in their official residence and were generally cut off from the common people. Sukhbir has now ordered them to regularly go to their offices in the Mini-secretariat and to address the grievances of people within the shortest period.

He has already initiated the process to shorten the bureaucratic process in meeting aspirations of the people and remove the red-tape.

Sukhbir told TNS that he has asked the DCs to assert their authority and effectively coordinate between various departments within their respective jurisdiction. The administration has to be responsive to the problems of the people.

He said the officers would be rewarded or penalised on the basis of their performance.

Stress was being laid on streamlining the revenue administration that mostly covers the rural areas where the revenue related litigation was very high. The Financial Commissioner (Revenue) on Wednesday asked the DCs to quicken the computerisation of revenue records that would come as a relief particularly to the rural folk.

Under the administrative reforms, the government was planning to do away with about 15 types of affidavits to be replaced by self-declaration. The DCs have been ordered to further improve the functioning of 'Suvidha Centres' in their respective areas so as to bring down delays in disposal of files.

The social welfare and other departments concerned have been asked to release various types of pensions within the stipulated period in order to avoid inconvenience to the beneficiaries. The DCs have also been given powers to put to better use the 'Shamlaat' lands in the villages that have always remained in controversy.

Bathinda, January 20
Before setting out on the second phase of his ‘Jago Punjab Yatra on January 23, former finance minister Manpreet Badal has sent the "Mera Rang De Basanti Chola" ring tone to his phone book contacts.

The ring tone has two voice inputs of Manpreet, "Jago Punjab-Jive Punjab" (awaken Punjab-long live Punjab) and in the last "Haq te sach da saath deo-Khushali zaroor milegee" (stand up for your rights and support the truth-prosperity will surely come).

It is worth mentioning that Manpreet has chosen the saffron scarf that symbolises Shaheed Bhagat Singh as the identity of his supporters. He himself dons the saffron scarf while addressing public meetings. Manpreet has been using the Facebook, SMS and internet extensively to reach out to his supporters and the media.

He would begin the second phase of his ‘Yatra’ by addressing a public meeting at Anandpur Sahib. During the second phase, which would stagger over two months, Manpreet would address 32 public meetings in 24 Assembly constituencies. The last public meeting would be held on March 23 at Khatkar Kalan, the birth place of Bhagat Singh, where Manpreet is expected to announce the formation of his own party. Among the places in Malwa where he would address public meetings are Ferozepur, Bhadaur, Guru Harsahai and Zira.

Abohar, January 20
Two villages of this sub-division, Raja Wali and Himmatpura, have turned out to be places which could make the wildlife conservationist happy. This is because the population of peacocks, India’s national bird, which had become a rare sight in this region in the past decade or so, has started increasing.

The credit for this goes to the extra care being taken by the residents for their breeding and protection besides providing them with a safe habitat. The Abohar and Fazilka sub-divisions, which had peacocks in large numbers and attracted people many years ago, witnessed a large-scale killing of these birds after their habitats were endangered by reckless use of pesticides in agricultural operations, especially in cotton cultivation and kinnow orchards.

The situation reached a point where the national birds nearly disappeared from these two sub-divisions.

“Now, the members of the state wildlife department with the help of the residents of Raja Wali and Himmatpura villages, have been trying to help the peacocks breed by providing them with safe habitat and by protecting their eggs so that their population could increase,” said Sanjeev Tiwari, District Forest Officer (Wildlife), Ferozepur, adding that this exercise would continue.

As per random counting, about 20 peacocks were living at village Raja Wali and about eight peacocks were in village Himmatpura. Their number was expected to go up significantly, if their habitat was not disturbed or endangered, he added.

Tiwari, while disclosing that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had urged the Union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh to give enough funds to Punjab for carrying out the breeding of peacocks to increase the population of the national bird, said developments, which had taken place at village Raja Wali and Himmatpura, established the fact that Punjab needed breeding centres for peacocks.

Some of the kinnow orchards located alongside the irrigation water channels at Raja Wali and Himmatpura villages had become a natural habitat for peacocks, he pointed out.

Sanjeev Godara, Member, Punjab State Wildlife Board, said the population of peacocks had been increasing in some of the villages of Abohar sub-division due to the efforts being made by the members of the Bishnoi community, known for its love and care of animals.

Making it clear that the state wildlife department had been doing nothing for the protection of peacocks, Godara said he had urged them to make sincere efforts to provide a safe environment for peacocks to grow in the region. 

Abohar, January 20
The reoccurrence of multi-billion scams and accumulation of black money in the foreign banks can be checked only by overhauling of the 147-year-old Indian laws speedily, said Joginder Singh, former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Speaking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the national seminar on human rights in India at the local DAV College here today, he said the government should take strong measures to bring home black money that the Indians had deposited in the foreign banks.

There is no harm in bailing out the depositors by allowing conversion of 50 per cent of the deposits as white money, he pointed out. The former top cop agreed that the CBI was overburdened with probes since more and more scams were being unearthed.

Quoting official reports, he said 140 MPs were facing trial in criminal cases as per the affidavits filed by them while filing nomination papers. The BJP had 42 and the Congress 41 of them. If the electorate keeps electing such lawmakers, rights violations cannot be stopped, he said.

As many as 332 crore cases were pending in the courts across the country and a Delhi High Court survey indicated that it would take 466 years to dispose of the same.

Dr Ronki Ram, HoD, Political Science Department, Panjab University, also spoke on the occasion.

Principal Dr BB Sharma welcomed the dignitaries that included Dr Rajiv Lochan, Dr Vijay Nagpal, Dr ID Gaur and Dr Lallan Baghel. Scholars from northern states have also participated in the seminar. Prof Gaurav Vij and Prof Rekha Sood conducted the proceedings of the inaugural session. Convener Dr Vandana Munjal joined Principal Dr BB Sharma in honouring the guests.

Ferozepur, January 20
The Railways has launched a new express train service between Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which will start running between these two stations shortly.

As per the details, the train named as ‘Janambhoomi Express’ will connect these two stations via Jammu, Kathua, Sambha, Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Hanumangarh, Bikaner and Jodhpur, besides other stations. “The train is likely to be inaugurated by the CM of J&K Omar Abdullah early next month,” sources added.

Rail officials said initially the train will commute between Udhampur and Ahmebadabad on a weekly basis and offer first AC and second AC besides sleeper coaches and general compartments. All the arrangements have been made for the inaugural run of the train and officials were waiting for the conformation of date from Abdullah,” said Railway officials.

Another train between Hoshiapur and Amritsar stations will also be launched soon, sources added. — OC

Barnala, January 20
After Deputy Chief Minister and president of the SAD Sukhbir Singh Badal used the martyrdom day function of Sant Sewa Singh Thikriwala to attack the Congress and highlight the achievements of his government, the Congress and other opposition parties used the same stage to criticise the ruling regime.

The Sikh Students Federation, SAD (Amritsar), SAD (Panch Pardhani), SAD (Longowal) and Sant Daduwal, missed no opportunity to attack the CM Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal.

SSF leader Paramjeet Singh Gagi, SAD (Panch Pardhani) leader Kulbir Singh Barapind, SAD(A) general secretary Gurinderpal Singh Dhanola, former MP Rajdev Khalsa flayed Badals for ‘denigrating’ the Sikh tenets.

Fazilka, January 20
Despite the blot of female foeticide on the Malwa region, girls here are surpassing the boys in various fields. A teenaged girl of Fazilka, Vasundhara (14) has achieved the rare distinction of winning a bronze in the national rural games that concluded at Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab recently.

Vasundhara

A student of class VIII at the local Army School, she is the daughter of a sports teacher, Neeraj Bhaskar, and a BSNL employee, Pawan Sharma.

Vasundhara has won the bronze in the under-16 category in the national-level badminton tournament. Notably, Vasundhara had led the Punjab state badminton team in the tournament in this category.

She has been shining in the games at the state and national-level during the past two years. In November 2010, in the state-level tournament, held at Ludhiana, the badminton team of Ferozepur district led by Vasudhara had also won the gold medal.

An all-rounder, Vasundhara has not only exhibited her talent in sports but has also proved her capability in the education. The achievement of Vasundhara has become more significant as she belongs to a border town where the basic facilities are negligible.

Despite repeated demands, no wooden badminton court has been set up in any of the government or private institutions. Moreover, no good badminton coach is available in the town to boost the game.

“I am fascinated with Gopi Chand Pulela, a former All-England badminton champion. My target is to win the reputed international grand slam for my country,” said Vasundhara.

Sriganganagar, January 20
Three youths were killed as the Alto, in which they were traveling, collided head-on with a truck on the Sardarshehar road near Rawatsar in Hanumangarh region last night. Sources said Kamal Aggarwal (22) along with his friend Ramji Lal Swami (21) and cousin Ajay Aggarwal (23) had gone on pilgrimage to Salasar. 

On their way back, the car collided head-on with a truck near village 29-Chak. They died on the spot. The body of one of them could only be dragged out today after cutting open the ill-fated car. The driver of the truck fled from the spot. — OC