Bathinda, November 21
As many as 14, 500 forms were sold across different banks in Punjab for the 220 plots marked under phase-IV and phase-V of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA).

Unprecedented rush was witnessed at the banks where the applicants thronged to submit their applications on the last day today. Going by the numbers, the BDA is expecting a whopping response to the project.

Earlier too, the BDA had floated 800 plots in the same phases. However, only 10,000 application forms were sold. The area under consideration now is the one that has reportedly been vacated from litigation.

“The sale of forms has indeed been tremendous. It is yet to be seen as to how many applications materialise and translate into actual applicants for these plots. We would start getting detailed figures in the next three to four days,” said BDA administrator Uma Shankar Gupta.

This may be the last project of the BDA floated in Bathinda before the 2012 assembly elections and hence, it has evoked great response from the public.

Banking on the soaring demand for the realty sector, the nationalized banks had even floated schemes giving loans to pay the earnest money needed with the application.

The banks, including the Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala, Central Bank of India and the Punjab and Sind Bank have had a hectic time selling these much sought after application forms.

Out of total 226 plots, 112 plots measure 100 square yards each; 35 plots are of 200 sq yards; 22 plots of 300 sq yards; and 57 plots of 400 sq yards each.

Bathinda, November 21
With the onset of foggy weather, the number of accidents has started increasing in Bathinda and surrounding areas. Two truck drivers lost their lives today when their vehicles rammed into each other head on near Jagaram Tirath village on the Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road. The deceased have been identified as Balvir Singh of Bhammipura village near Jagraon in Ludhiana, and Balwinder Singh of Mansa.

The incident took place at around 7 am when the visibility was reduced to mere few meters.

Police officials and the area residents, who visited the accident spot, said the accident seemed to have taken place due to poor visibility on the road.

While Balvir was driving a tanker loaded with oil from Talwandi Sabo to Mansa side, Balwinder was driving a flat-bed truck towards Talwandi Sabo.

Police officials said the collision damaged both the trucks badly and seriously injured the drivers. They were declared dead on arriving at local Civil Hospital. Two cleaners too received serious injuries and their condition is stated to be critical.

Meanwhile, two trucks were also found overturned on the Bathinda-Mansa road this morning. Villagers said the visibility had reduced to a great extent in the city’s outskirts, as farmers water their fields. The stagnated water in agricultural fields proves instrumental in forming smog on the roads these days, the villagers said.

Gursewak Singh, a resident of Kot Shamir, said most of the vehicles driven do not have reflectors or fog lamps, which can prevent accidents to an extent.

Last winter too, many people had died due to fog as visibility reduces on Goniana, Barnala, Mansa and Talwandi Sabo roads.

• City traffic in-charge Bharpur Singh said drivers should install reflectors and fog lamps on their vehicles so as to send an indication about their vehicle’s presence on road during foggy weather.

• Drivers should drive close to the yellow line and with absolute caution during wee hours and late night.

• The traffic in-charge claimed that the traffic policemen were geared up to sensitise commuters about the rise in accidents during foggy weather and have installed reflectors on tractor-trailers besides other vehicles in the city.

Bathinda, November 21
In a freak incident, a Youth Akali Dal leader died in an accidental fire from a .12 bore rifle in Talwandi Sabo city yesterday. Police officials said Sukhpal Singh (40) was driving a car when a bullet fired accidentally from his rifle pierced through his stomach. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

Family members of the deceased said Sukhpal was an active youth leader of the SAD and was also running a security agency in Talwandi Sabo.

“He was providing security guards to educational, financial and other institutions and was returning from an assignment when the incident took place,” said Gurcharan Singh Lelewal, the deceased’s father.

Gurcharan has three sons and Sukhpal was the eldest.

Gurcharan said his son had two kids, an eight-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl.

Talwandi Sabo SHO Paramjeet Singh said the family members of the deceased in their statements recorded with the police said their son died of accidental fire.

The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC.

The body of the deceased was handed over to the family members after conducting the post-mortem examination.

Bathinda, November 21
The Bathinda police has booked three youths belonging to influential families for firing gun shots at a shopkeeper over a trivial issue. The incident took place near the BSC Market of Talwandi Sabo this morning when some youngsters demanded a matchbox from shopkeeper of a grocery shop.

The accused have been identified as Manpreet Manna, a resident of Talwandi Sabo and two unidentified boys.

Talwandi Sabo SHO Paramjeet Singh said some notorious boys of the city, including son of an influential person, identified as Manpreet Manna, quarreled with shopkeepers over a matchbox.

The boys tried to leave without paying for the matchbox and got infuriated when the shopkeeper demanded that either the matchbox be returned or they should pay for it.

Infuriated over this, one of the boys, who was allegedly in an inebriated condition, threatened the shopkeeper of dire consequences.

On hearing heated arguments, a barber from a nearby shop tried to intervene and asked the boys not to create a ruckus.

One of the boys, however, took out a pistol and fired a gun shot at the barber.

The barber got aside and bullet hit the wall.

Other shopkeepers of the market too gathered around the attackers and countered them. On seeing that they were surrounded, the attackers fled from the spot.

The matter was then brought into the notice of the police.

Police officials said a case in this regard has been registered against the boys on the complaint of the barber, Happy Singh, and the boys would be arrested soon.

Bathinda November 21
It is no longer an ‘idiot box’ placed in a corner and staring at everyone passing by. Rather, television has become an important source of information. However, various studies conducted over the years have concluded that the TV made its viewers addict, which can cause plenty of problems in their lives.

On the World Television Day, TNS tried to find out the reasons why kids and women get addicted to TV and what implications does it have on the society.

A social thinker of the city, Jagmohan Kaushal, said, “These days, the electronic media have an awful impact on the society. Family ties, personal relationships and social circles are being spoiled due to television shows.”

He added, “Undoubtedly, a technology has both positive and negative aspects. Sadly, only the grey side of the media has captivated the youth. More importantly, the kids are more prone to become the victim of violence shown on television.”

It is worth mentioning here that the newly-appointed chairman of the Press Council, Markadey Katju, has alleged that 90 per cent coverage of the media is devoted to entertainment such as lives of film stars, fashion parades, pop music, disco dance, cricket and superstition whereas 80 per cent of the issues like poverty, massive unemployment, inflation, lack of medical care and educational facilities and barbaric social problems like honour killing, dowry death, caste oppression and religious bigotry are never addressed by the mainstream media.

Dr Nidhi Gupta, a psychiatrist at the Civil Hospital, said, “There are thousand channels which cater to all types of viewers. Children are exposed to every programme, whether it suits their mental level or not. The programmes based on Western concepts are making them more violent. Moreover, due to TV viewing, the outdoor activities of the kids have become nil.”

Kids are more vulnerable as they cannot differentiate between the reel and the real life. Gupta said, “The kids are full of energy and if their energies are not properly channelised, it will lead to behavioural problems such as irritability. Children also throw tantrums to demand things they watch on TV. ”

Another local psychologist Dr SK Verma said, “In routine, many parents complain about behavioural problems of their kids. They find it difficult to manage them. Though the root cause for this cannot be attributed to television, a majority of problems arises due to it. Many parents are worried about falling academic output of their kids because of continuous television viewing.”

He added, “The more a child watches TV, the more would he become unable to concentrate on other things. It can lead to problems in their mental development and IQ level.”

The doctor advised, “The parents should always supervise and guide their kids on the programmes that they should watch.”

Not only kids, middle-class housewives are also devoted to TV channels, which alienate them from other worldly affairs.

Dr Nidhi said, “Housewives watch television for longer periods than kids. The societal issues like extra-marital affairs and divorces have been accepted as a part of our culture due to the TV serials being shown these days. Undoubtedly, the rising trend of TV is taking us away from our cultural roots and values.”

However, Babli Sharma, a housewife who watches television shows for more than five hours a day, justified her habit.

She said, “When my husband and children go to their office and school, respectively, I am left with no other option but to watch TV. Usually, I watch few programmes. However, I am not addicted to it as I don’t watch it at the cost of my family life. I watch TV just to while away my free time.”

Bathinda, November 21
The potholes on the roads inside the premises of the Bathinda Civil Hospital would soon be the things of past as the construction of the internal roads in the campus of the hospital is in full swing.

Besides, the works concerning the laying of storm sewer lines, the construction of red-stone footpaths and the parking area are also in progress. These works are being got done by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC).

The SDO of the PHSC Dinesh Kumar told The Tribune over the phone today that the construction of the internal roads, parking lots, footpaths and laying of storm sewer lines would be completed at a cost of Rs one crore. He said storm sewer lines were being laid from the local Women and Children Hospital to the main gate of the Civil Hospital. The internal roads were also being constructed with the re-enforcement cement concrete (RCC), he added.

To tackle the parking problems on the hospital premises, a parking lot will be developed in front of the old emergency block. The parking lot of the new OPD block is also being extended. On another side of the new OPD block, extra provision has also been made for the parking lot. The parking lots will be prepared with inter-locked tiles.

The SDO said that they were trying to complete the entire work as early as possible so that the residents of the city, especially patients and their attendants, could get relief from the dust and pollution on the premises of the hospital. He said after the completion of entire work, the parking problems on the hospital complex would also end.

It may be mentioned here that due to bad conditions of the roads on the campus of civil hospital, the residents of the city were so upset that sometimes they even did not hesitate to curse the hospital authorities for turning a blind eye towards the problems plaguing the hospital.

The construction of the internal roads on the premises of the Bathinda Civil Hospital is in full swing.

• Besides, the works concerning the laying of storm sewer lines, the construction of red-stone footpaths and the parking area are also in progress there.
• These works are being done by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation.

Bathinda November 21
The students of Baba Farid Senior Secondary School (BFSSS) participated and won in various events in the Punjab School Education Board's (PSEB) zonal level competitions held on November 17 at Bathinda.

Khuspreet, a student of Class 12 of arts stream won first position in poetry, Veerman of Class 11 (arts) got second prize in speech competition, Manveer, a non-medical student of 12th standard won 1st position in handwriting contest. The Bhangra and Giddha teams of the school won first and second positions respectively in the competitions.

In Zonal Science fair competition' which was conducted at MHR Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, the students of BFSSS won in all the projects. The participants from the school were Ajitpal, Harpreet, Ritu Rani, Ashwani, Paras, Jatin Dhemija and Jatin Aggarwal. The projects were on various themes like science, society, environment, vitamins and their resources and explanation on mathematical theorems etc.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, MD, Baba Farid Group of Institutes, congratulated the students and encouraged the students for extra-curricular actitivities. Baljinder Singh, principal of BFSSS and Navinder Kaur, vice-principal of BFSSS also motivated the students.

Bathinda, November 21
The state government's failure in releasing the funds to the District Social Security Office (DSSO) here is resulting into the non-payment of the old-age pension and other financial assistance to the over 95,000 beneficiaries for the months of September and October.

The beneficiaries, include over 69,000 old-age pensioners, over 13,700 widows, over 100 dependent children, and over 7,200 disabled persons. They get a sum of Rs 250 each per month from the government under its social security schemes.

These beneficiaries have not been receiving the old-age pensions and other financial assistance for the past some months as the funds are not being released to the DSSO in time.

It may be mentioned here that for the months of July and August, the urban beneficiaries received old-age pension and other financial assistance in October as their payments were transferred to their bank accounts directly by the DSSO.

In the case of rural beneficiaries, they got the pensions and financial assistance for July and August months in November due to the pen-down strike by the Panchayat Secretaries, though the requisite amounts of the rural beneficiaries were transferred to the bank accounts of the village Panchayats in October by the DSSO.

For the months of July and August, the state government had reportedly released the funds to the DSSO in two installments in October. The DSSO after receiving the funds immediately transferred the funds of July to the bank accounts of the Panchayats in the second week of October and for the month of August in the third week of October.

Due to irregular payments of the old-age pension and financial assistance, the beneficiaries, especially elderly persons, are seen making queries at the office of the Social Security Department here.

The state government is yet to release the funds to the District Social Security Office. This is resulting into the non-payment of the old-age pension and other financial assistance to the over 95,000 beneficiaries for the months of September and October.

• The beneficiaries, include over 69,000 old-age pensioners, over 13,700 widows, over 100 dependent children, and over 7,200 disabled persons.
• They get a sum of Rs 250 each per month from the government under its social security schemes

Bathinda November 21
The Punjab Students Union (PSU) observed a strike in the 52 Government Colleges across the Punjab today. The students of the Government Rajindra College here staged protest against the PTA funds and for the reimbursement of the money deposited in the name of PTA funds. The students also highlighted the issue to regularise the temporary teachers.

Speaking on the occasion, the Rajindra College leader Jashan Gill said, “The students will do every possible effort to get our demands accepted. The CCTV cameras in the educational institutes should be uninstalled.” He said the salaries of the teachers should be given from the treasure of the government rather than from the PTA funds.

The leader said the students are being looted in the name of PTA funds, students welfare funds etc. And whenever the students raise their voice against these highs, they have been suspended and even expelled. The students demanded to restore the suspended students in various colleges.