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Assembly elections
Poll season leaves families, neighbours divided
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Pleasant weather predicted for day of polling
Postal ballots yet to reach policemen
Voter awareness drive organised in Janta Nagar
110 cases of liquor seized
2 die as overloaded truck runs over tempo in Goniana
Lok Adalat settles 247 cases in a day
Transportation arranged for micro observers
School celebrates Basant Panchami
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Assembly elections
Bathinda, January 28 Hooda was addressing an election rally, organised in support of the Congress candidate from Bathinda (Urban) Assembly constituency, Harminder Singh Jassi, near Gol Diggi here today. Hooda said that he was sure the Congress would form the government in Punjab as it followed pro-people polices. Besides, the people of Punjab also relied on its leadership, like Sonia Gandhi. The Chief Minister said as Punjab was the elder brother of Haryana, so he was upset because Punjab had lagged behind on various development fronts in the past five years. Hooda also linked himself with Punjab, saying that he had been born in old Punjab and had also passed his matriculation from Punjab. This was the reason why he loved Punjab and its people. He said he had come here today to seek votes for Harminder Singh Jassi, and hoped that people of the city would accept his appeal. Hooda also compared Punjab with Haryana on various fronts. He said under MNREGA, Haryana paid wages at Rs 180 per day while Punjab gave just Rs 130. Likewise, Punjab was paying old age pension at Rs 250 per month while Haryana was disbursing Rs 750 per month. Haryana had constructed four thermal plants in five years while Punjab had not completed even a single thermal plant during this period, he added. Lashing out at the SAD leaders, Hooda also said they were misleading the people of the state on various fronts. He also alleged that the Badal family had "looted" the government while the Akali jathedars could not get anything except for raising slogans in favour of the Akali Dal. Hooda termed the BJP as "Bahut Jhoothi Party" and the SAD as "Son and Dad" Party. He said both the alliance partners had nothing in their minds for the welfare of the common masses. Harminder Singh Jassi, welcoming Hooda, urged the people to cast votes for the Congress to make Captain Amarinder Singh the chief minister of the state. Among others who also spoke on the occasion included a former minister who had recently joined the Congress after leaving the SAD, Chiranji Lal Garg, a former minister Malti Thapar, a delegate of Punjab Pradesh Congress KK Aggarwal, a senior Congress leader Jagroop Singh Gill, president of the District Bar Association Rajan Garg and district president of the Congress party (Urban) Ashok Kumar. Later, Harminder Singh Jassi took a round of some bazaars in the city and appealed to the people to cast votes in his
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Poll season leaves families, neighbours divided
Bathinda, January 28 Jaswinder Singh, a resident of nearby Nehianwala, said villagers were fighting among themselves over the issue of extending support to different candidates. “There are some families which are fighting among themselves over the issue of casting votes. While one family member supports a particular candidate, another opposes the same and this has led to tiffs between friends and family members,” Jaswinder said. Sub-inspector Jarnail Singh from Nehianwala police station said a petty dispute took an ugly turn after supporters of a SAD candidate accused Congress workers of distributing money among villagers on Friday. “All the SHOs from the district along with a DSP reached Goniana Mandi to bring the situation under control as a large number of people had gathered after a brawl erupted between the two groups,” said Jarnail Singh, who is the investigating officer in the case. He said the party workers fought with each other in ward number 6 of the mandi and election observers also reached the spot. The observers have found Rs 31,500 from one of the abandoned cars of party workers. A case has been registered against Babbi Master, Bhagwan Das and KK driver, all residents of Goniana Mandi under Sections 171-E and 34 of the IPC. A complaint in this regard was lodged by Ramesh Kumar Mantu of ward 7, Goniana Mandi. No arrests have been made so far. In another incident, nine persons, all residents of Gidder village, have been booked on the complaint of one Baltej Singh, a resident of the same village. Baltej alleged that all the accused entered his house at around 9 pm on January 26 and threatened him with dire consequences. He said the attackers were upset with him after his brother-in-law extended support to an independent candidate and arranged a meeting at his residence. A case under sections 452, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at Nathana police station. No arrests have been made so far. |
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Pleasant weather predicted for day of polling
Bathinda, January 28 After reeling under severe cold wave conditions accompanied by brief spells of dense fog and drizzle for over a month, residents got a breather last week. The respite came early this week when the mercury climbed northward and hovered well over six degree Celsius in the morning and remained near 19 degree Celsius mark at noon. The mercury even crossed the 20 degree Celsius mark on Wednesday afternoon giving a much-needed respite to the residents. Mercury again took a U-turn two days ago and started dipping to bring the chill back in the morning, though the days remained pleasant because of the presence of the sun. The minimum temperature recorded on Friday was 4.2 degree Celsius, nearly two degree lower than on Friday. It plummeted to record 2.4 degree Celsius today in the morning, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), regional station, Bathinda. The day’s maximum temperature, however, was 19.2 degree Celsius, recorded at 2.30 in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the news coming from the weather room on Saturday, suggested that the sun is likely to shine bright all through the day on January 30. The weather is likely to be dry for the next two-three days with a little possibility of an overcast sky during the period, the weathermen said. |
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Kites dot skies on Basant Panchami
Bathinda, January 28 School and college students gathered in groups and flew kites holding competitions amongst themselves. Loud music coupled with winter delicacies and sweets kept everyone occupied. Balloons sold like hot cakes. The hydrogen balloons were in demand as some of the people tied balloons to their kites. Despite a ban, the China-made kite line remained hugely sought after amongst the youngsters. While few used the plastic China kite line, others used thread that had been glazed with a mixture of glass and silica. “There was no one to check the use of the China dor. Since the entire administration was busy with the elections scheduled on Monday, there was hardly anyone present to monitor the illegal sale of this kite line,” pointed out a shopkeeper near Fort. Meanwhile, the day was also marred with small incidents. At the Civil Hospital, a case was reported in the emergency ward wherein a child had received minor injuries while flying kite. |
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Postal ballots yet to reach policemen
Bathinda, January 28 “There are a number of cops in Bathinda, who had not received their postal ballot papers till the evening of January 27. Not only the cops, many government employees, who have been deputed on polling duties, are yet to receive their postal ballot papers,” he said. Pointing out that all these employees were being deprived of their voting rights, he has requested the Election Commission to intervene and issue suitable instructions to all the district election officers. Meanwhile, the district election tehsildar of Bathinda, Harphool Singh, said all the postal ballots were supposed to reach the respective voters by 11 am or 12 noon today. Around 12,000 voters from Bathinda district will cast their votes using the postal ballot facility. These include 4,912 service voters (armed forces personnel), 5,000 employees of various government departments and 2,000 police personnel on poll duty. |
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Voter awareness drive organised in Janta Nagar
Bathinda, January 28 The representatives of the NGOs created awareness among the people about the importance of their vote. They also urged the people to exercise their right to franchise on January 30 to ensure their participation in the democratic process. They also asked the people to not only cast their votes without any fear and temptation, but also inspire others to do the same. They also said democracy would flourish further if every single person goes to the polling booth to cast his vote. The public was also told that they get a chance to vote only once in five years and they should make the most of it. On the occasion, pledge forms were also filled by the voters, stating that they would cast their votes. An oath was also administered to the voters saying that they would not succumb to any pressure or allurement for exercising their right to franchise. Those present on the occasion included president of Bathinda Vikas Manch Rakesh Narula, yoga expert Radhey Shyam Bansal, president of Ek Noor Welfare Society Raj Kumar, retired deputy chief engineer DK Garg, Dr Pawan Pathania, Ramneek Walia and Brij Mohan Sharma. |
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110 cases of liquor seized
Bathinda, January 28 These included 840 bottles of PML, 456 bottles of rum and 24 bottles of whisky. The market value of the entire cache is around Rs 1,63,440. Acting on a secret information, the team raided Bablu's house and recovered the entire booty. Around 12 separate cases were recovered from an Innova car parked near Bablu's house. Police officials investigating the matter traced the car to be that of a person with the surname Mishra, a resident of nearby Kotli Kalan village. The impounded vehicle's number is PB 11 AU 9081. Excise and taxation officer Surinder Pal Pahuja said the accused Sanjiv Kumar Sharma alias Bablu, a bootlegger, is at large. The police has arrested his landlord Charanjit Singh, a resident of village Sandoha, red-handed with the liquor cases. Officials on election duty said the liquor was meant to be distributed amongst the voters from the night of January 28 to January 30. However, direct association with any particular political party could not be established. The police has registered a case. |
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2 die as overloaded truck runs over tempo in Goniana
Bathinda, January 28 It is learnt that the vehicle, a Tata tempo (Chhota Hathi), had got sandwiched between the truck and the road. After receiving the information about the accident, volunteers of the Goniana Welfare Society, an NGO, rushed to the accident site. However, the two persons travelling in the tempo had died on the spot. Sandeep Kumar, one of the volunteers who had rushed to the spot, said the truck was heading for Bathinda while the tempo carrying a generator was going towards the Kotkapura side. One of the deceased appeared to be in his twenties while the other was around 40 years old, he said. A JCB machine had to be brought in to extricate the tempo along with the bodies. The volunteers of the NGO and the policemen, who reached the spot, said the truck was overloaded with gravel. The policemen said the truck driver fled from the spot leaving his vehicle behind immediately after the accident took place. The truck has been impounded and a case has been registered against the truck driver. The bodies of the deceased have been taken to the Civil Hospital here to conduct the post-mortem examination. The family members of the deceased have been informed. |
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Lok Adalat settles 247 cases in a day
Bathinda, January 28 District and sessions judge SK Aggarwal said the Lok Adalat is held on the last Saturday of every month at Bathinda, Phool and Talwandi Sabo. Lok Adalat is also held at labour court on the last Friday of every month. He said the main aim of Lok Adalats is to reduce pendency of cases in courts and provide speedy justice to people. Apart from the criminal cases of a serious nature, all other cases are dealt with at the Lok Adalats. Those disputes that have not reached the court yet can also be brought to the Lok Adalat. Civil judge, senior division, Harinder Kaur, said decisions of Lok Adalat are considered decree of civil courts and the decision cannot be appealed against. Additional district and sessions judge Sukhdev Singh, additional district judge Dilbagh Singh Johal, additional district judge Lachhman Singh, additional district judge HS Lekhi, chief judicial magistrate Harjit Singh, additional civil judge senior division KK Singla, civil judge junior division Karan Garg, special judicial magistrate HL Kumar, judge junior division GS Sekhon, assistant district attorney RK Sharma, president of Bar Association Rajan Garg and others were also present on the occasion. Fact file
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Don’t follow beaten path, choose new careers, students told
Bathinda, January 28 For a city like Bathinda, obsessed with engineers and doctors, this was the first time that career options other than engineering and medicine were discussed and the information was shared with students and parents. The group chose the day of January 26 to organise the seminar at Hotel Krishna Continental. Some of the key speakers were Ravinder Gupta (ex-alumni, IIM Lucknow), Col Rakesh Sharma (director, academics, Baba Farid College), Dr Anil Goyal (MD, Psychiatry), Sanjay Goyal (senior advocate of Bathinda), Arun Jee (principal, DPS), NK Gosain (Dean, Malwa College), Swati Goyal from NIFT Kolkata and Kamal Piyush (principal IHM). They spoke at length about the career options available to students after they pass out of school. They spoke on careers in the fields of fashion designing, law, journalism, hotel management, defence and many more. Sony Goyal, director, My Career, thanked all those present and asked the students to break away from the present trend and think about new and exciting careers open to them and make use of the information to its optimum. |
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Transportation arranged for micro observers
Bathinda, January 28 All the vehicles would leave from the bus stand, Mini-secretariat and polytechnic college Bathinda. While the buses for Bathinda (Rural) will leave from gymnasium hall, Polytechnic College at 5.30 am, vehicles for the Maur constituency will leave at 4.30 am. Buses for Bathinda (Urban) will leave at 5 am from near the auditorium of the Polytechnic College. For Bhucho (reserve), four buses will leave at 4 am from Polytechnic College. For the Talwandi Sabo and Rampura Phul micro observers, the buses would depart from the bus stand at 4:30 am.
— TNS |
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School celebrates Basant Panchami
Bathinda, January 28 The mandap was adorned with twigs and paintings. The students and teachers came dressed in hues of yellow and orange as it was the special dress code for the day. Pushpanjali – an offering of palash flowers along
with recitation of hymns – was made and the students of the school worshipped the items they use in school, like notebooks, pencils. etc. |
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