Bathinda, January 31
After days of hectic campaigning, the candidates of the Bathinda (Urban) assembly constituency seemed to be at peace today.

The Bathinda Tribune interacted with the candidates of the SAD, the Congress, and the PPP. While the Congress candidate and the sitting MLA Harminder Singh Jassi was visibly exhausted and down with a sore throat his rival SAD candidate Sarup Chand Singla expressed gratitude to a large number of supporters at a local marriage palace.

Jassi alleged that the government machinery was used to favour the candidates of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and he was harassed while he campaigned for elections. "I lodged umpteen complaints and made representations to the officials of the district administration, police and election officials but to no avail," said Jassi, who was surrounded by a handful of supporters.

Sharing his strategy prior to the polls, he said his approach to attract voters remained the same as it was in the past. “I have been into politics for the last over two decades and opt for organising rallies, door-to-door meetings well before the polling day. We carry forward the agenda of the party and ask voters support for a better tomorrow,” he said.

He alleged that development of the area, pending works and the problems being faced by the residents took a back seat while money, power and liquor were used to get the votes.

“My rivals tried to pocket votes by maligning my image and even resorted to get the power connection snapped wherever I went to address public gatherings. Besides, they bent to such an extent that they did not refrain from using cheap tactics against me by pasting posters with derogatory remarks,” he alleged.

On what was his assessment now when the polling is over, Jassi said his fate was now sealed by the electorate in the voting machines but he trust the people and the Almighty who would ensure another term for him.

On the other hand, the SAD candidate Sarup Chand Singla was seen surrounded by a large number of supporters at a local marriage palace. A meeting was organised there to extend gratitude for the support that his supporters extended to him.

Terming Jassi's allegations of use of power, money and liquor during the elections as farce, Singla said it was the support of the common people which kept him afloat the election tide. “I never asked anyone to purchase votes nor did we ever distribute liquor or use any muscle power. It is sheer familiarity and sense of belongingness with the common masses that would help me in achieving success in the polls,” Singla said.

PPP candidate from Talwandi Sabo Sukhdev Singh Chahal too expressed his concern over the use of money and liquor during the elections. He said the last three days of the elections witnessed flouting of norms despite the Election Commission's claims of maintaining strictness.

On the strategies adopted before the polls, he said PPP workers kept percolating the ideology of the party chief Manpreet Badal.

Bathinda, January 31
Home delivery of voter slips proved instrumental in raising the voter turnout during the Vidhan Sabha elections this time. It also put an end to the waves favouring one candidate or the other.

Unlike previous Assembly polls, voter slips were delivered at voters' doorsteps following the instructions of the Chief Election Commission.

A cross-section of city residents admitted that voter slips proved handy while casting votes this time.

DC KK Yadav too admitted that though there were various reasons behind the increase in the voter turnout this time, one of the chief reasons was perhaps an easy access to the voter slips.

“Earlier, people used to collect their voter slips from the polling tents of the candidates outside the polling stations, which led to chaos. This time, the slips were delivered at voters’ doorsteps under the supervision of the respective BLO (booth level officer),” the DC said.

“I went to cast my vote for the first time yesterday as the voter slip was handed over to me by an election official at my doorstep a day before the elections,” said Pawan Kumar, a resident of a locality on the Barnala road.

The supporters of candidates in fray admitted that it could be one of the reasons behind the lack of a visible wave in favour of a particular candidate this time.

Sushil Kumar, residing near Mehna Chowk, said his wife and daughter went to cast their votes after a long time due to easy accessibility of voter slips.

“Earlier, it was assumed that the candidate whose polling tent outside the polling station was more crowded could be the winner. But this time, very few people approached the polling tents to collect their voter slips,” said an area resident Gurjant Singh. 

Bathinda, January 31
Call it side-effects of the Assembly elections or what you may, but the city colleges wore an almost deserted look on Tuesday, a day after Punjab went to polls.

Teachers from almost all the colleges were on poll duty on Monday and after performing their duties, they were given a leave on Tuesday by their respective colleges. Sensing a golden opportunity to miss the college, students also decided to rest at home and this resulted in thin attendance at colleges.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, principal of the DAV College, Dr JS Anand candidly said, "There is nothing more that a student loves than a holiday. As many as 15-16 teachers of our college were on poll duty yesterday and there was an understanding that they will not come to the college on Tuesday. The absence of teachers certainly gave a boost to the plans of the students to bunk classes and hence, the attendance in the college was meagre. There were only some 20-odd students spotted in the college. They came, sat, chatted and left thereafter."

As many as 50 teachers from the Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh were given election duties and missed the college on Tuesday. Although the rest of the teachers conducted classes as usually, the attendance was "thin", said principal of the college Prof Jasbir Singh Hundal.

"A large number of teachers from our college were on poll duties and did not come to college on Tuesday. Although the non-permanent staff took classes, the attendance remained thin throughout the day. Students knew that many teachers will not be coming to college and hence, decided to stay away themselves as well," he said.

The same was the scene at the Government Rajindra College as well. Very few students were seen on the campus in the afternoon today. "The absence of teachers who had been on election duties for the past couple of days did affect the attendance in the college. About 15 teachers from our college were on poll duty and didn't come to the college on Tuesday, while the rest of the teachers took classes as usual," said vice-principal of the college Prof Malkiat Gill.

Bathinda, January 31
Scrap material of the railways was gutted today in the evening when fire broke out in an old railway godown situated here on the Thandi Sadak.

Two fire tenders took nearly an hour to douse the flame that gutted the scrap, mostly wooden slippers, kept in the godown.

Eyewitnesses said the fire was suspected when smoke emanating from the godown was noticed around 4.15 pm.

Role of miscreants is being suspected behind the incident as the godown was not in operation and has been locked since long.

Railway officials present at the site said following the information about the fire around 4.20 pm, they rushed to the site after informing the fire-fighters. Officials said that two fire tenders took over half-an-hour to control the fire.

“It is too early to comment about the extent of loss and the cause of the incident,” railway officials said and added that an inquiry would be carried out to find out the cause of the fire.

Railways sources said that the inoperative godown situated in the campus of an old workshop of the railway turned into a “haven” for the miscreants and drug addicts who reportedly have been frequenting the place.

The suspicion about miscreants being involved in the incident was strengthened following the detection of a big hole in the wall of the godown, the officials said, adding that it appears that miscreants made a passage to enter the godown.

Railway officials ruled out chances of a short circuit as power to the godown was snapped long ago.

Bathinda, January 31
Under the RNTCP (Revised National TB Control Programme) of the Government of India, against the target of 3426 tuberculosis (TB) cases, given to the Bathinda district by the state health authorities for the year 2011, as many as 2002 TB cases were detected and put on DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) in the district in the year. Thus, the district achieved 58 per cent of the target in 2011.

Out of these 2002 cases, 809 were new sputum positive cases while the rest were sputum negative and extra-pulmonary TB cases. Extra-pulmonary TB means the TB in body parts other than the lungs, like TB of kidney, lever, bones, skin, intestines and urinary organs.

During the year 2011, as many as 129 TB cases were reported from Goniana primary health centre (PHC), 79 from Bhagta community health centre (CHC), 159 from Nathana CHC, 46 from Ballianwali PHC, 188 from Talwandi Sabo, 142 from Sangat PHC, 805 from district TB centre (Bathinda), 87 from civil hospital, Raman, 113 from Maur and 254 from civil hospital, Rampura Phul.

Regarding non-detection of 42 per cent TB cases of the given target in a year in the district, the health authorities gave several reasons due to which TB cases could not be detected.

The reasons include many patients from well-off families and unmarried persons, especially girls, prefer to get treatment from private doctors due to the stigma attached to the disease.

Also, many patients continue to get treatment from quacks in the villages instead of going to hospitals or qualified doctors and the rest are the hidden cases as the patients remain ignorant about their disease and don’t visit the doctors.

Under the RNTCP the sputum tests of the suspected TB patients are done free of cost at the government hospitals and health centres where designated microscopy centres (DMCs) have been set up. In Bathinda district there are 13 such DMCs in Bathinda, Goniana, Rampura Phul, Ballianwali, Nathana, Bhucho, Bhagta, Talwandi Sabo, Raman, Maur and Sangat. Under the RNTCP, the treatment of the TB patients is done free of cost for six to eight months.

A health officer said the patients should take the medication regularly for six to eight months and complete the course. If any patient leaves the medicine mid-way then his/her disease may become almost incurable at a later stage. Doctors recommend that the patients should not miss the medicine even for a day. 

Bathinda, January 31
Police have registered a case against unidentified persons for alluring voters using dummy Electronic Voter Machines (EVMs).

In a complaint lodged by head constable Manjit Singh, it is stated that some unidentified persons had used dummy EVMs in Parasram Nagar. He said some persons complained that workers of some political parties, on the pretext of creating awareness among people, were misusing the EVMs.

The accused, however, fled from the spot leaving behind the dummy EVMs. A case has been registered at Canal Colony police station. No arrests have been made in this regard so far.

Meanwhile, another case has been registered at Rama police station against purchasing of votes by a resident of ward number 2 of Kothavas near Rama Mandi. Santosh Kumar Gupta, in-charge of flying squad number 94 of Talwandi Sabo constituency filed a complaint.

He said the accused, Darshan Singh, was found purchasing votes from people. An amount of `17,000 has been recovered from the accused. The accused has been released on bail.

Bathinda, January 31
To make the students aware about the developments in the field of education, an extension lecture was organized by Baba Farid College of Education. Dr Kulwinder Singh was invited to deliver a lecture on “Developments in Educational System of India in Current Era”.