Bathinda, March 5
The Bathinda Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kamal Kishore Yadav and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sukhchain Singh Gill today reviewed the arrangements made at the centre set up in Government Polytechnic College here for the purpose of counting the votes polled in Bathinda (Urban), Bathinda (Rural), Rampura Phul and Bhucho Assembly constituencies.

The DC and the SSP held talks with the returning officers (ROs) of these four constituencies, namely ADC (Development) Dr Abhinav Trikha (Bathinda - Rural), ADC (General) Bhupinder Singh (Bhucho), SDM Sukhdev Singh (Rampura Phul) and SDM Harjit Singh Kandhola (Bathinda - Urban).

Yadav and Gill also visited the counting halls set up for counting of votes of these four Assembly constituencies and inspected the final rehearsal by the counting staff. The round-wise rehearsal was held today.

The counting of votes of Bhucho Assembly constituency polled in 160 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be done at 12 tables in 14 rounds and votes of Bathinda (Urban) constituency polled in 196 EVMs would be counted at 14 tables in 14 rounds.

Likewise, the votes of Bathinda (Rural) constituency will be counted from 140 EVMs in 10 rounds at 14 tables and the votes of Rampura Phul constituency that were polled in 148 EVMs would be counted in 11 rounds at 14 tables.

In the counting halls at the counting centre here, display boards have been prepared or installed for showing the round-wise results, containing names of the candidates and number of rounds. There will be one general observer in every constituency and one micro-observer at every table to monitor the counting process.

On the occasion, the Deputy Commissioner directed the officials to make arrangements for proper parking of vehicles on the premises of the polytechnic college here. He also asked the ROs to ensure arrangements for keeping the mobile phones of staff and the counting agents in safe custody.

A total of six observers and 82 micro-observers will monitor and supervise the process of counting of votes tomorrow at two counting centres set up in Government Polytechnic College, Bathinda, and the Dashmesh Public School, Talwandi Sabo.

At the Talwandi Sabo centre, the votes of Maur and Talwandi Sabo constituencies will be counted.

A media centre each has also been established at Bathinda and Talwandi Sabo with fax, internet and phone facilities. The mediapersons can use phone in the media centre but no body, except for the returning officer and the observer, has been allowed to use the phone in the counting hall.

Bathinda, March 5
Growing number of three-wheelers in the city has shrunk the space available for other vehicles on road. Furthermore, haphazard parking of these autos result in commotion at all the important intersections here but traffic cops show scant concern for the smooth flow of traffic movement.

The traffic officials deployed to check the unauthorised parking turn a blind eye to the violation and fail to initiate corrective action fearing protest from three-wheeler drivers especially at the bus stand and railway station where the number of these autos is more than 200.

A visit to the bus stand, railway station, Bibiwala chowk, Goniana road and ITI chowk revealed that most of the road space is utilised by the three-wheelers leaving little space for other vehicles.

"Traffic becomes irritatingly slow outside the bus stand due to the unauthorised parking of the commercial and private vehicles. The number of autos is on the rise for the past around two years and these vehicles remain parked on the roadside which lead to chaos," said Joginder Singh, owner of a driving school near the bus stand.

Situation worsens during the morning and evening hours when drivers park their three-wheelers on the roadsides while picking up passengers at the bus stand and railway station, said Gogi, a shopkeeper near the railway station.

Gursharan Singh, president of the three-wheelers association in front of the bus stand, said it was not only the autos but other vehicles also eat up the road space.

"Apart from the autos, there are taxis, rickshaws, buses and private vehicles that remain parked in front of the bus stand and the railway station. We have been parking our autos at these places for the last more than 10 years," he said.

He admitted that the number of autos have increased manifold in the city during the past two years.

Now, the number of autos has crossed 500 in the city. There will be around 80 autos in front of the bus stand, 40 near the TV Tower, 60 near Sirhind canal, 40 at Bibiwala Chowk, 50 at civil hospital and more than 250 autos in other parts of the city, Gursharan said.

He pointed out that more and more number of unemployed, illiterate people and those who failed to succeed in other works were purchasing autos 
and adding to its number in the city.

"Also, finance companies are quite active to offer attractive schemes to allure people to purchase autos. However there are only few people who manage to survive and return the monthly instalments," said auto driver Rajinder Kumar.

Some finance companies recently impounded 25 newly-purchased autos after its owners failed to pay the monthly instalments.

Bathinda city traffic in-charge Shiv Dayal said it was for the Municipal Corporation to see the illegal parking of these autos off road.

"We have passed strict instructions to the auto drivers against parking more than two autos on the road while picking passengers. Violators are penalised. However, we cannot do anything to stop parking of autos off road. The MC has to check the misuse of its space," Shiv Dayal said.

Admitting that complete chaos prevails due to illegal parking of the autos and other vehicles, in-charge of the city traffic-1 Natha Singh said they take strict action against the offenders but even then, there seems to be no let-up in the casual attitude of auto drivers.

Bathinda, March 5
The three-day extravaganza of sports and outdoor events came to an end today. The meet opened March 2 with a formal march past by the participating teams. A total of 900 MBBS students and interns, in five teams, took part.

Dr (Lt Col) GPI Singh, Director-Principal, declared the meet closed. Bharti of 2010 batch and Paramjit of 2008 batch were declared the best sportspersons. 2008 batch topped the overall sports score. They lifted the "Pioneers Trophy" instituted by the first batch.

He informed that the institution believes that opportunities must be provided to the students to develop their personalities in a comprehensive manner.

It is especially important for the medical students whose academics curriculum is heavy and they must have positive personality traits as future doctors.

Dr Singh informed that in addition to sports, the institution observes a college week which includes inter-batch competitions in cultural, ethical and moral value events.

The college week culminates in the annual day celebrations.

The college students have also won laurels at the Government Medical College, Chandigarh, by winning a gold medal in volleyball, basketball and football and a bronze in bhangra in the inter-medical college competitions.

Bathinda, March 5
There seems to be no respite from water woes in some areas of the city following the repair of a water pipe near the Rose Garden.

A water pipe was leaking near the water tank adjoining the Rose Garden for some time and the authorities decided to get it fixed before the temperature rises in the coming days.

It, however, took a few days to repair the leakage following which some residential areas in the city remained deprived of drinking water.

"We are yet to get the water supply following the repair. Though some of the houses in our locality received water supply for a short duration yesterday and today, but others are yet to receive it," said Pushpesh, a resident of Poojan Wala Mohalla.

He said the residential areas situated around the Bathinda Fort are the worst affected as it took a lot of time to supply water to the houses situated in the high altitude areas surrounding the Fort.

Municipal Councillor of ward number 24, Darshan Kumar said he went to see the repair work in the morning at 5 am today. "I had a word with the officials who assured that the problem will be fixed within the next 24 hours. The leakage has been fixed and now the high-rise water tanks are being filled with water," said the councillor. He said it took more than seven or eight hours for the water tanks to fill.

The water tanks around the Rose Garden area supply water to various residential areas and markets of the city. Pushpesh said the areas situated at some height around the Fort water for around one and half hours today in the morning and for around 45 minutes in the evening but there are still some areas which have not received water.

Junior Engineer, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Balwinder Singh said he would visit the areas to ensure that water is supplied at full pressure in the localities situated at a height. 

Bathinda, March 5
Girls had all the fun in the 7th annual athletic meet of Dasmesh Girls College of Education, Badal, held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) grounds in Badal.

The chief guest on the occasion was DPI Colleges, Jaswinder Singh Brar. He took the salute at the march past.

NK Chaudhary, principal, Babe Ke College of Education, Daudhar, was the guest of honour. He hoisted the flag.

The oath was taken by Sharandeep Kaur, the best athlete of the college and winner of inter-college competitions in Panjab University's women 'C' division.

DPI schools Hardeep Singh was also present at the function. Principal SS Sangha welcomed the guests.

Manpreet Kaur was selected the best athlete of the college. Mother Teresa House was selected as the best House. A cultural programme was also held on the occasion.

A fancy dress competition and gidha also added colour to the occasion. The winner of tug of war was the Mother Teresa House.

Principal SS Sangha congratulated Sukhdeep Kaur, the staff members and the students for the successful completion of the athletic meet.

Bathinda, March 5
Taking serious note of the spurt in complaints concerning 'poor' catering service at Bathinda station, senior railway officials, including Area Traffic Manger (ATM) Bathinda, carried out a surprise inspection of catering stalls and trollies at platforms today.

Sources in the railway said that the team comprising ATM SP Singh Bhatia, station superintendent Pradeep Kumar Sharma, deputy station superintendent JL Tigga and others inspected the catering units situated at platform no. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 of the station.

The team inspected the uniform, medical card of the vendors, name and badge besides the arrangements for keeping the food in proper conditions.

The ATM gave warning to the erring vendors and also recommenced action against the some, sources said, adding that a report recommending action against some erring vendors was being sent to Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Ambala.

The railway officials also found unapproved brand of bottles of mineral water being sold at the station, sources said, adding that the bottles were immediately removed from the shelf and taken into possession by the railway and issued warming to the erring vendors. The issue had also been mentioned in the report, sources said.

The senior officials who had been receiving complaints about the "poor quality of tea" checked the tea quality by passengers today during the inspection and instructed the vendors to serve only hot and good quality food and keep the eatables covered.

The railway officials also checked whether the price lists were legible or not.

ATM SP Singh Bhatia admitted that the department had been receiving complaints regarding catering services at the Bathinda station.

Bathinda, march 5
Two teenaged girls are said to be missing from their home in Amarpura Basti area.

A complaint has been lodged in this connection by the mother of girls, both sisters, at Canal Colony police station. A case under sections 363 and 366 of the IPC has been registered in this connection against unidentified people.

The complainant Rekha Devi, the mother of the two girls, who is a migrant from Bihar, suspected that somebody had enticed away her daughters to leave the house.