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Blackout as power plant units trip
Denial of ticket creates rumblings
in Congress
Loot at Bathinda Civil Hospital
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PGI-like institution in Jalalabad: Sukhbir
VDO suspended for helping candidate
Malti frowns at ticket to Kaka but says loyal to party
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Blackout as power plant units trip
Bathinda, January 6 220 KV lines between Bathinda-Lehra Mohabbat, Moga-Bajakhana and Bathinda-Muktsar tripped at around 2:45 am. Technical experts in the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (Transco) said that 220 KV lines around Bathinda tripped two units at the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) Bathinda and two 210 MW units at the Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Plant (GHTP) at Lehra Mohabbat. In the last 20 days, this was the second case of tripping due to the fog. Earlier, power supply had tripped on December 16. Experts said that insulating discs installed on electricity poles get soiled up. Later, in winter, due to the fog, these conductors absorb moisture leading to current getting earthed instead of passing through it. “When the current starts getting earthed, it automatically leads to the tripping of the thermal power plants,” he said. Sources in the Transco said that it does not have enough funds to buy sophisticated equipment that cleanses live wires. "The National Grid Power Corporation has these machines, which are used to clean conductors on heavy duty 800 KV lines. Time and again, Transco has felt the need to buy these machines but could not due to the extreme fund crunch leading to poor maintenance," added an XEN level officer. In the absence of equipment, Transco depends on rains to wash away the dirt. With no rains this season, the problem has increased. As it started drizzling in the morning today, power to the area was resumed. Also, all the 132 KV lines tripped. Units at Lehra Mohabatt were revived in the early hours (unit I at 4:15 am and unit II at 5 am) but could not be run on full load as evacuation of power in the absence of the transmission system was not possible, sources said. By 4 pm, three lines were yet to be restored. Meanwhile, superintending engineer, Transco, Bathinda, Ajmer Singh said the power was restored in Bathinda by afternoon, while power supply in other pockets was being restored gradually. Many parts of the Malwa region were still without power till late in the evening even as supply was restored in Bathinda, it was learnt.
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Denial of ticket creates rumblings
in Congress
Bathinda, January 6 Natt and Dhillon had recently joined the Congress reportedly on the assurance that they would be given the party ticket to contest the assembly
election. Josan and Raghubir Singh had earlier represented the Jalalabad and Gidderbaha assembly segments, respectively, and denial of ticket to them this time has come as a shock to their supporters. Supporters of
Josan, particularly those belonging to the Kamboj community, came out in strength at Jalalabad today and held a rally against the decision of the high command to give the ticket to a new face, Malkeet
singh, who belongs to the Rai Sikh community. The Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is the SAD candidate from
Jalalabad. Josan had so far remained confident that the ticket would be given to him and as such had even started campaigning in the area. The supporters of Raghubir Singh in Gidderbaha were flabbergasted as the list of candidates issued by the AICC did not contain his name. A Youth Congress activist Amrinder Singh Warring has been allocated the
ticket. Raghubir Singh was considered a man of the captain Amrinder Singh's camp and had represented the Gidderbaha constituency in 1992. He lost the two subsequent elections in 2002 and 2007. It is to be seen whether the supporters of Raghubir Singh, who enjoys considerable influence in the area, join the campaign of
Warring. Natt was upset over the denial of the Congress ticket to him from the newly carved out constituency of Maur in the Bathinda district where the party has fielded Mangat Rai
Bansal, a sitting MLA of Budladha segment in the Mansa district. Natt had recently returned to the Congress on the “assurance” that he would this time be given the party ticket, said his supporters. He had shared the stage with Captain Amarinder Singh when he recently held a rally in his ancestral Mehraj village in the Bathinda district. He had unsuccessfully contested from Joga as a Congress candidate in 2002 and as an independent in 2007, but he secured a good number of votes. He said that he would not give any knee-jerk reaction to the denial of ticket and would discuss the matter with his supporters on his return from Delhi tomorrow. Meanwhile, he is learnt to have met the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh to express his anguish over the denial of ticket to
him. Dhillon, a former SAD MLA from Faridkot, who recently deserted the PPP and joined the Congress, could not be reached on phone. But his close lieutenants said that despite being denied the ticket, he would support the Congress candidate. However, there were reports that the Dhillon camp was upset and their future course of action would be known in a day or
two. Archit Watts adds from Malout: Annoyed over the allotment of Congress ticket to former MLA Nathu Ram from the Malout constituency, a senior Congress leader and former MLA Baldev Singh Ballamgarh today announced to contest the coming Assembly elections as an independent candidate. Talking over the phone, Ballamgarh said, “I am very keen to contest. Now, the party has denied me the ticket. So, I will contest the elections independently from the Malout constituency.” He further said that he would file the nomination papers on January 11. Ballamgarh had earlier won from here as the U-CPI candidate. He was in the queue along with Nathu Ram for the Congress ticket from the Malout constituency this time. |
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Loot at Bathinda Civil Hospital
Bathinda, January 6 The SMO of the Civil Hospital Dr Satish Goyal said today that according to the victims, four persons looted them last night while they were taking rest in a room of the surgical ward. He said four persons entered the hospital premises and went to the surgical ward, where they knocked the door of a room that had been opened by a lady, presuming that someone from the health staff had come to the room. Dr Goyal said on this, the looters frightened the persons (six patients, besides their attendants) at knife point and looted them. He said the assailants looted two mobiles from a person, besides Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,000 from two persons. He said later, the looters fled after bolting the door from the outside. During the night, the victims remained in the room and got the door opened in the morning, he added. He said he along with the Civil Surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh today met the Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav and informed him about the incident. The SSP had also been informed about the looting incident, he added. He said he had sent a letter, along with the complaint of the victims, to the Civil Surgeon for initiating further proceedings. He said he had also got information that two of the four looters had been held by the Vardhman Chowki police when they had been fleeing after looting the victims. |
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PGI-like institution in Jalalabad: Sukhbir
Chakbaroke (Jalalabad), January 6 Sukhbir was addressing massive rallies here at Singhewala, Bummeywala and Simarwala villages where a large number of people, braving fog, mist and intermittent rains, came to listen to him. He said that he had focused on improving the basic infrastructure of Jalalabad constituency during the last three years and his focus was on improving civic amenities including water supply, sewerage network besides construction of link roads to the villages. He said that he also strived to provide sports infrastructure to utilise the energy of youth and in the next term, he would strive to bring world class industry in the region besides improving health infrastructure. He said that he had already requested the central government to sanction separate border area package so that multinational companies could be attracted to set up their ventures in the area. Promising opening ceremony in Jalalabad town for the next edition of the World Cup Kabaddi, Sukhbir said that his only aim was to bring Jalalabad on the world tourist map so that development could be focused here. Sukhbir accused the Congress of having ignored the rural areas and neglected their development. |
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VDO suspended for helping candidate
Moga, January 6 Revealing this to The Tribune, the District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer of Moga, B. Purushartha said a complaint was received against the VDO, Baljit Singh Bagga, and some other government employees. A preliminary inquiry was conducted by the Returning Officer Ram Singh against him, after which, he has been suspended and sent to the Ferozepur district, he said. However, when contacted, Bagga alleged that the RO did not call him for personal hearing before recommending action against him. Denying the charge of helping any candidate, he said that such allegations were vague. The Election Commission should look into the misuse of power by the official machinery in the name of poll complaints and one should be given proper hearing before taking any action, he demanded. Meanwhile, the DM has asked the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to issue directions to relieve the District Education Officer (Secondary) Bhupinder Kaur from the additional charge of her office, being the home district. Moreover, her husband is a councillor and an active member of the ruling SAD. The leave application of Ajmer Singh, a panchayat secretary, whose wife Rajwinder Kaur has been named as the SAD candidate from Nihalsinghwala constituency, has been turned down by the district administration and a request has been sent to the CEO for issuing directions to transfer him out of the Moga district, said Purushartha. The executive engineer of the PWD department, Balwinder Singh, has been transferred out of the Moga district following complaints against him. Similarly, seven cops, including two SHOs of the Moga police stations (south) and (rural), had been transferred with immediate effect. These police stations fall under the Moga constituency and the former DGP Paramdeep Gill is the SAD nominee from here. |
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Malti frowns at ticket to Kaka but says loyal to party
Moga, January 6 However, she expressed concern over the ticket allotment from the Dharamkot constituency to rebel Akali leader Sukhjeet Singh Kaka who joined the Congress recently, saying had the ticket been given to a Congressman, she would have been much happier. “The Akalis have committed atrocities on our party workers by misusing the official machinery registering false and fabricated criminal cases, which the Congress workers will never forget,” she said. Thapar said she was happy that the party high command has given tickets to 11 women candidates but said the list prepared by the state unit of Mahila Congress was never looked into by the senior leadership. “Our senior leadership felt that the women candidates, the list of which was prepared by us, are not in a position to win the seats. The priority, they felt, was to form the government, due to which, we were denied the tickets,” she said. When asked about whether she would campaign for Kaka, Thapar said she will abide by whatever role or assignment the party leadership gives to her at this crucial time of elections. Thapar said she would actively campaign for the women candidates across the state to ensure their win. |
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