The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	State polls: Betting business gets bigger Stakes high on Faridkot, Kotkapura, Moga, Gidderbaha, Lambi, Dharamkot and Rampura Phul seats Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, February 4 Will the Congress sweep to power with a comfortable majority? How many PPP candidates and independents would make it to the Punjab legislative assembly? Wild guess is the order of the day and analysis a nightmare. If you are a good soothsayer or master of the arithmetics of Punjab politics, listen to the bookies and punters here. The polling having passed off peacefully and the cacophony of electioneering having quietened and the political leaders in a state of anxiety till the results finally come out, it is now time for betting (satta) in this part of Punjab which is in the grip of a betting fever. Move over cricket, the punters have staked crores on the outcome of the Punjab elections. First, the bookies accepted satta on the selection of candidates on some seats, including Faridkot, Kotkapura, Muktsar and Gidderbaha in the area. Now, the stakes are high and bets are being placed on the winnability of the candidates where the contest is neck and neck. Satta business has gained notoriety in this area. Having their headquarters in Dadwali, the sprawling network of punters and bookies operates across the state. Cricket, tennis or tension between India and Pakistan, the punters are always eager to trace the possibility of a bet in any incident. According to sources in the speculation business, the stakes on the winnability of the candidates from the Faridkot, Kotkapura, Moga, Gidderbaha, Lambi, Dharamkot and Rampura Phul seats in the area are high as all these seats are locked in a tough contest. The more fluid the prospects of winnability, the more intensive is the betting. Lower the chances of a candidate winning the seat, higher is the return in the satta market. If a candidate attracts huge bets on his chance of winning the seat, any person laying a bet on his defeat would get a larger amount if the candidate loses. Before laying bets on the number of seats a party would win, the punters minutely scan every opinion poll and keep themselves abreast with feedback from every constituency about the prospects of the main contenders at the hustings. Much to the glee of Congress, the punters are giving the party 63-64 seats. While the ground is flat for the Congress, the conquerors on horseback, the punters speculate that the SAD (B) would get 46-47 seats with the independents, PPP and the BJP each hovering around 2-3 seats. With a record voting in the Punjab elections, the punters believe this is a strong hint of the Congress coming back to power. For making bets on the victory of a particular candidate, where the contest was tough and the results could swing any way, like Gidderbaha, Faridkot and Moga seats, the bookies are taking a number of things into account. In semi-urban constituencies, the split of votes polled between the rural and urban areas, percentage of Dalit voters and which party command influence in which pocket, are all being calculated carefully to assess the winnability of the candidates because it is the possibility or likelihood on which the business of the punters is based. The police do not deny betting but it is very difficult to control the business as the punters have a sprawling network and lay bets on their mobile phones and in a code language.
	Traffic chaos rules Fazilka roads Praful Chander Nagpal Fazilka, February 4 There is total traffic chaos in the town these days with the police, administration and the residents blaming each other for the problem. A large number of residents get trapped daily in the traffic bottlenecks. The worst hit areas are Bansi Pakora Chowk near the Clock Tower, court road railway crossing, cycle bazaar, Gaushala road, old Abohar road, court road, bus stand road and the road connecting the Gaushala and the new grain market. “The local police organises meetings with few public representatives but it seems that the suggestions of the residents are thrown into the dustbin. The city police recently organised a police-public meeting to seek the suggestions of the resident on the issues of traffic, increase in sale of drugs and intoxicants, law and order, hooliganism and other problems but nothing concrete has come out,” alleged Satish Dhingra, a social activist. The vehicles are being parked on the main roads outside the banks and other commercial institutions. “We have issued notices to the bank authorities many a time to arrange for adequate space to park the vehicles but to no avail,” says Anil Sethi, president of the Municipal Council, Fazilka. Following the installation of a barrier around the clock tower area to make it a vehicle-free zone, traffic often gets stuck at Bansi Pakora chowk. The council has failed to provide parking space for the vehicle owners who visit the vehicle-free zone. Similarly, the court road railway crossing has to close many times daily. Hence, the passersby have to wait for a long time resulting in traffic jams. The demand and proposal for constructing an underbridge on the railway crossing is still hanging fire. On the other hand, the problem of hooliganism and eve teasing is continuing unabated as the triple riders use to roam around in the thickly populated areas frequently without any fear. “The traffic police personnel are seen busy making ‘entries’ in the note books of the truck driver instead of controlling the traffic menace and checking hooliganism in the town,” alleged Vijay Kumar, a resident of Radha Swami Colony. Patron of the Graduate Welfare Association (GWAF) Dr Bhupinder Singh says that since Fazilka has been accorded the status of a district headquarter, hence, the youth should prove that they deserve it. He said that the character of a nation can be judged by how its people move on the streets.
	Signature drive for better rail services in the region Raj Sadosh Abohar, February 4 Learning that the Ambala and Bikaner railway divisions were exploring the possibility of introducing a train on the Sriganganagar-Abohar-Amritsar stretch, the NGOs have begun a signature campaign to reiterate that the region be equipped with better rail services. Rail Road Seva Samiti general secretary Gurprasad Behal said the Rail Bhawan had in principle, agreed to use the rake of the Nanded Sahib-Sriganganagar weekly superfast train, which remains parked at Sriganganagar, to run a bi-weekly train for Amritsar. Behal along with former Rajya Sabha member Virendra Kataria, Lok Sabha members Bharat Ram Meghwal (Sriganganagar) and Arjun Meghwal (Bikaner), had met the Railway Board officials to press for the demand to introduce a train to Amritsar, the sacred city. The Rail Bhawan has now sought comments from the local railway officials on the proposal. Kataria had recently discussed it during a meeting with Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi at his Parliament House office. The Railway Passengers Welfare Association (North Zone) general secretary Hanuman Dass Goyal has faxed a memorandum to the Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal suggesting an intercity/express train from Sriganganagar to New Delhi via Abohar, Bathinda, Hisar and Rewari in view of widespread social and commercial links with the people in Haryana. Shri Guru Nanak Khalsa PG College (Sriganganagar) students have kick-started a post card campaign. Lecturer Vidya Devi said the team led by Sandeep Malwana and Nishan Sekhon was inspiring the students to write and mail postcards to the Railway Board seeking provision of a double track on the Sriganganagar-Abohar-Bathinda section. In another memorandum, the Railways have been urged to make the Abohar-Fazilka rail line operational and sanction an express train to link the remote border area of Anoopgarh with Udhampur (J&K) through Abohar-Fazilka-Ferozepur-Jalandhar since it will also benefit paramilitary and Army personnel besides migrants from Himachal Pradesh who had been displaced due to the construction of the Pong Dam. The train will facilitate pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine, says CL Madaan, president, Shri Nav Durga Vaishno Devi Temple Trust.
	Thrashed for refusing to marry eve-teaser, minor ends life Three booked, absconding Raj Sadosh Abohar, February 4 A minor girl Madhu, studying in Government High School, reportedly ended her life by jumping into a reservoir at village Gidderanwali in the Abohar sub-division. Her father Onkar Nath alleged in a complaint lodged with the Khuyiansarwar police that one Sanju had been teasing Madhu (15) for the past few weeks. Yesterday, her friend and classmate Rajni, along with her mother Janak Rani, visited their house when the girl was alone at home and allegedly mounted pressure on her to marry Sanju. As Manju refused, the visitors thrashed her. Feeling humiliated, Madhu moved to a field and jumped into the reservoir last evening. Her body was spotted last night. ASI Harbans Lal said Madhu’s body has been shifted to the Civil Hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered under Section 306 of the IPC against Sanju, Rajni and her mother Janak Rani. All the suspects are absconding.
	26-year-old brutally killed; cops suspect gang rivalry Tribune News Service Faridkot, February 4 In a suspected case of gang rivalry, a 26-year-old youth was brutally killed in Faridkot town late in the evening yesterday. The body of Rohit Chawla was found lying in a field on Sadiq road today in the morning, with the face disfigured badly. Rohit had left his home on Friday evening but when he did not return home late in the evening, the family members started searching for him. The police suspected the involvement of three youths, one-time close associates of the deceased, in the murder case. Having a shoddy past, the youth had been released from jail some days back in an alleged case of dacoity. Last year, he was acquitted by the court in an attempt to murder case. In Nawansheher also, Rohit was facing a case under the Indian Arms Act. The preliminary investigations by the police revealed that Rohit Chawla was killed by some of his old-time associates. The police have started a search for the three suspected youths, said Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, SSP, Faridkot. Rohit Chawla was killed using sharp-edged weapons and there were many injuries on his face. Gang rivalry is believed to be the cause of the crime, said police sources.