Bathinda, July 2
Around 80 unemployed agitating teachers, including about 12 girls, were taken into custody by the police here today. They had come to the city to participate in a “Chakka Jam” (blockade of road) programme, for which a call was given by the Unemployed Teachers Front, Punjab.

The programme was chalked out in protest against the arrest of 207 unemployed teachers on June 28 here, who were in the Central Jail here, and in favour of scrapping of the teacher eligibility test (TET).

When contacted, SP (Headquarters) Amarjit Singh said all the protesters, who were held today as a preventive measure, had been let off.

He further said that as per the government orders, all 207 unemployed teachers had also been released from the jail here. They were imprisoned on June 28 under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC.

Raising slogans, a group of around 60 unemployed teachers (B. Ed, ETT etc), including three girls, suddenly converged from different sides in front of the main gate of the bus stand here at about 3.45 pm today and laid in front of the buses and other vehicles to block the traffic there. Their agitation continued for about 15 minutes.

Later, the police started forcibly bundling some of them into two vehicles when they resisted the police action to take them into custody. The protesters also raised slogans against the Punjab Government and in favour of scrapping of the TET.

Earlier in the day, the police also took about 25 unemployed teachers in custody to foil the “Chakka Jam” programme. They were taken away to a police station in three vehicles. On the occasion, Satbir Kaur from Bhagta Bhai Ka (sister of an unemployed teacher Jagmail Singh lodged in jail), argued with a police officer when she was asked to leave the site. Jaswinder Kaur, mother of a leader of unemployed teachers Swaranjit Singh Bhagta, demanded release of all jailed unemployed teachers.

In view of the “Chakka Jam” agitation, the police today made elaborate arrangements in the city by deploying a large number of police personnel, including woman cops, outside the Mini-secretariat, the Teachers Home, the main bus stand and other parts of the city.

State spokesman of the Berojgar B.Ed Adhyapak Front, Punjab, Harjit Jeeda said in spite of the police "high-handedness", their agitation would continue till the government accepted their demands.

Bathinda, July 2
Focusing on young voters, the election office is involving all educational institutes in a drive to register voters.

Taking a step in this direction, district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner S Karuna Raju today held a meeting with the principals/representatives of all colleges, polytechnic institutions, IITs, engineering colleges and other educational institutes of this district.

Apprising all of the Election Commission's wish to involve the educational institutes in the vote registration process, the DC mentioned that during a recent survey, it was observed that the involvement of young voters in the election process was much less than the expectation.

In a reply to a query related to the enrolment of students belonging to other districts, the district election officer clarified that their forms should be filled at their respective colleges and later, they would be sent to the officials of the districts concerned.

The filling up of new voter registration forms along with admission forms on the premises of educational institution concerned would be a time saving process, the DC said.

Speaking to mediapersons, the DC said since every citizen above 18 years was an eligible voter, the election office was trying to register all of them in the voters' list.

“If we take the help of educational institutes and request them to ask the students to fill up the voters registration form along with admission forms, it will help in registering maximum young voters,” said the DC, adding, “those who have already registered themselves need not fill up the forms.”

Ferozepur, July 2
Even as the level of water in the Sutlej is below normal, many villages of this district have started facing flood like situation. The rain water has accumulated due to faulty drainage system.

Thousands of acres of land dotted with paddy crop in 100 villages, has completely submerged into water.

To drain out the water speedily, eight gates of Hussainiwala barrage were opened today and over 12400 cusecs of water was diverted to Pakistan through the Sutlej.

Sukhpal Singh Nannu, chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab, said the accumulated water from Gatti Rajo Ke cluster of villages had also been diverted into disused stretch of the Gang canal.

KK Yadav, DC, said, “The labourers engaged by the Drainage Department along with the BSF personnel have been pressed into service to clear the blockage.”

Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon said the officials of the Drainage Department were working round-the-clock.

Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Congress MLA, Guru Harsahai and vice-president, PPCC, demanded compensation for the affected farmers. 

Bathinda, July 2
The much-publicised promise of the state government to develop Bathinda as a mini-Kashmir by floating houseboats and shikaras on two of the three lakes belonging to the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) seems to be coming close to its realisation.

The boats and other equipment, including water scooters, water cycles, jetties, etc. have started landing at an under-development Bathinda Lake View Park situated between the lake II and III.

According to information available, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) after getting a no objection from the thermal authorities awarded the contract to operate the whole boating/water sports project to a local bidder Pawan Kumar Garg, who runs a hotel situated opposite the lake number III, for 10 years at the rate of approximately Rs 1.80 lakh per annum.

As per the details of the project, the contractor is supposed to arrange, start and maintain minimum 32 floating vehicles, including shikaras, houseboats, paddle boats, row boats and water scooter/cycles.

The BDA has fixed the boating charges as Rs 50 per head for 30 minutes for manual double-paddle boats and water cycles. For water scooters running with the help of a power motor, the charge has been fixed at Rs 300 per head for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the motor-run Shikaras would cost Rs 100 per head for 30 minutes. However, charges for the houseboats, which would be fully AC, have not been decided yet.

For the safety of visitors, trained divers and supervisors will be present in a sufficient number. Further, the contractor will ensure that everyone entering the lakes wears a life-saving jacket. In addition, each of the visitor/tourist will be covered under an insurance policy.

The contractor will be provided with a parking space on a condition that he would be responsible for its maintenance and upkeep and in return he would collect parking charges already fixed by the BDA.

Meanwhile, Uma Shankar Gupta, chief administrator, BDA said the whole boating/water sports project would come into operation within this month as infrastructure, including vehicles, had reached here from Pune and Calcutta while the remaining were on the way.

Bathinda, July 2
Even as the Bathinda district police yesterday claimed to have busted a gang of vehicle lifters here, almost new Bolero was stolen in the broad daylight today from outside an under-construction Mall near the thermal lake on the Goniana road.

The owner of the white Bolero, Sandeep Kumar, had gone inside a roadside house to meet his friend JS Chauhan after parking the vehicle outside. He was shocked to find the vehicle missing when he returned after about 15 minutes.

The incident was reported to the police control room, which immediately flashed the theft report to all police stations. However, there was no trace of the vehicle till late in the evening.

This indicates that other gangs of vehicle lifters were still active in this main town of the Malwa region.