Bathinda, March 6
The sitting Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu registered victory in the district by the highest margin of 8,524 votes over his rival Congress candidate Amarjit Singh Sidhu, while sitting MLA from Nathana Ajaib Singh Bhatti won by the thinnest margin of 1,288 votes from the Bhucho Mandi constituency.

Bathinda district saw two former ministers contesting the elections, including irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon from Maur and former power minister Sikandar Singh Maluka from Rampura Phul.

In Maur, Sekhon won by a thin margin of 1,387 votes against the Congress’ Mangat Rai Bansal. While Sekhon was a newcomer to the newly-carved out constituency, Bansal is the sitting MLA from Budhlada. Some of the villages of his constituency were included in the new Maur constituency. The People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal remained the second runner-up garnering 26,366 votes.

At Rampura Phul, Maluka defeated the sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar by 5,136 votes.

PPP candidate Lakhvir Singh was cast 10,062 votes, while BSP candidate Randhir Singh finished third runner-up with 1,453 votes.

Similarly, in Bhucho Mandi (SC), Congress MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti defeated SAD's Pritam Singh by thinnest margin of 1,288 votes in the district. The PPP candidate Harvinder Singh Laddi polled 16,200 votes.

In Bathinda urban, SAD's candidate Sarup Chand Singla defeated sitting Congress MLA Harminder Singh Jassi by 6,645 votes while PPP candidate Sukhdeep Singh Bhinder polled 10,730 votes. Independent candidate Vijay Kumar finished third runner-up with 2,731 votes polled in his favour.

At Bathinda rural, SAD candidate Darshan Singh Kotfatta got the better of Congress candidate Makhan Singh by 5,308 votes while CPI’s Surjeet Singh Sohi polled 17,650 votes. 

Bathinda, March 6
Government employees on election duty in the Bathinda district voted for the ruling SAD-BJP government in the state using their right to vote through postal ballot.

Service voters and government employees, however, failed to live up to the expectations of the election staff that claimed to have held awareness campaign encouraging them to cast votes using postal ballots. Of the 4,912 service voters and around 7,000 government employees, only 611 exercised their right to franchise.

Of the 611 valid postal ballots polled across the assembly segments in district, 288 were cast in the favour of the SAD while the Congress got 214 votes and the People's Party of Punjab (PPP) had 98 in its kitty. Five votes were cast in the favour of the BSP and one for the Lok Jan Shakti Party.

In Bathinda (Urban), 87 service voters cast their vote to the SAD candidate Sarup Chand Singla while sitting MLA Harminder Singh Jassi got 41 and the PPP candidate had 25 votes.

In the Rampura Phul constituency, SAD candidate Sikandar Singh Maluka got 78 votes while 53 were cast to Congress candidate Gurpreet Singh Kangar. Only three postal ballots went in the favour of the PPP candidate.

Interestingly, In Bhucho Mandi, the winner Congress candidate Ajaib Singh Bhatti was cast lesser votes (55) than the first runner up SAD candidate Pritam Singh (64). PPP candidate Harvinder Singh Laddi got 27 votes.

Similarly, at Maur, more postal ballots were cast in favor of PPP chief Manpreet Badal (32) who finished as second runner-up getting more votes than the winning SAD candidate, Janmeja Singh Sekhon (25), and the first runner-up, Congress candidate Mangat Rai Bansal (26).

In Bathinda (Rural), the SAD candidate Darshan Singh Kotfatta got 17 votes; two more than his Congress counterpart Makhan Singh from Congress.

In Talwandi Sabo, winning Congress candidate Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu got 24 votes, while Amarjit Singh Sidhu of SAD won 17 votes.

Bathinda Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said many voters had sent blank ballot papers which were ultimately rejected.

A rejected ballot is the one wherein the voter does not mark the ballot clearly creating confusion for the counting staff or had left it blank.

Bathinda, March 6
“Intezar ka fal meetha hota hai, ” — these were the words of Sarup Chand Singla on Tuesday evening when he had the last laugh after the 35 days of “tortuous test of patience.”

Almost 35 days ago, on the evening of January 30, when the Bathinda Tribune contacted Sarup, to know how would be the next 35 days for him, he had said, “Every second would seem like an hour.”

And spending every second would be difficult for him. “This month is going to be like a year for me,” Sarup had said, adding, “You must be knowing what happens during the intezar ki ghadiya (moments in waiting).” “I will be counting every day, rather every second, in the next 35 days,” the new representative of the residents of Bathinda (Urban) had said on the evening of the polling day.

Now, the wait is over and it has paid too?

“The wait and patience have certainly paid for me,” Sarup said and added, “But the wait was just not month-long, it seemed like years.”

“I have not been waiting just for the last 35 days. I have been waiting for years to win the hearts of the people. That is why, I kept serving the people of the area,” the MLA-elect for Bathinda city said, adding that today’s result was the outcome of the patience and relentless service to the people of the area.

“I have always been at the service of the people of the area over the years. That’s why they have showered so much love on me,” Sarup said.

Thanking the people of Bathinda, he said, “I do know that people have posed faith in me as I have always been with them and tried to solve their problems all the time. So, I would always be at the service of people in the future as well.” 

Bathinda, march 6
Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh campus organized a two-day expert lecture in the Department of Textile Engineering on March 3 and 4 wherein renowned textile consultant from United Kingdom, Dr Kim Gandhi, delivered a series of lectures to the students.

Dr Gandhi is the ex-faculty of Textile Department, Huddersfield University, United Kingdom. He conducted specifically-designed counselling sessions for various graduate, postgraduate and doctoral students providing valuable suggestions related to technical knowledge and career guidance.

Students were made aware about the latest developments in various textile processes and machineries happening all around the world in the form of video and power point presentations.

He gave a comprehensive coverage of the five-day international xhibition of the Textile Machinery (ITMA) fair held at Spain last year.

ITMA showcases latest machines and equipment of various manufactures coming from different regions across the globe. The exhibition is organised every four years by one of the European countries.

Principal, Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh campus, Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal appreciated the efforts made by the Textile Engineering Department and congratulated the faculty and students for their efforts in organising the programme, which proved to be of help for students as well as the faculty members.

Bathinda, march 6
Guru Kashi University recently organised Faculty Empowerment Workshop at its Talwandi Sabo campus. The workshop was conducted in two parts.

The first part of the workshop was organised from February 6 to February 12.

In the first part of the empowerment workshop, Aditya Sharma, Vishavanath and Kalpana Arora were the trainers from the Mission 10X by Wipro Technology.

The second part was organized from March 5 to March 6. During this part of the workshop, Dr Harpal Singh played a pivotal role as a trainer from Wipro Technologies.

This workshop aimed at inculcating different qualities in the faculty members to improve the teaching-learning process through interactive learning, by using various pedagogical techniques, through group discussion, to presentation.

The workshop proved to be quite fruitful for the faculty members and many faculty members agreed that with the help of the workshop, the teaching-learning process can become more interesting and comprehensible.

The workshop was conducted under the guidance of the vice-chancellor of the university, Dr DS Heera.

Dean (Academic) Dr BS Dhaliwal and Rajdeep Kaur were the convener of the programme.

Bathinda, march 6
Two students of Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR) bagged meritorious ranks in Postgraduate Entrance Test.

Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot had conducted Post Graduation Entrance Test – 2012 for admission to postgraduate degree and diploma courses in various medical colleges of Punjab.

College spokesperson said Dr Navdeep Kaur Dhillon and Dr Harpreet Singh of AIMSR secured fifth and sixth ranks in the merit list in their respective categories. Dr Navdeep Kaur ranked first among all girl aspirants.

Dr Princy Mittal, Dr Natasha Gautam and Dr Avneet Kaur also secured good ranks in the merit list.

Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research students appeared for the first time in PGET as the first batch of MBBS passed out in December 2011.

Bathinda, march 6
As the festival of colours, Holi, is nearing, a local NGO has launched an awareness campaign to educate the people about playing Holi with natural colours, instead of chemical colours.

President of the NGO, Rakesh Narula said Holi is celebrated in the country as a festival of happiness, and hence people should not use chemical colours which prove to be harmful for the skin, thereby causing worry and distress.

He said natural colours could be prepared at home using beetroot, turmeric, mehndi and flowers.

He also said how making colours at home was also an economical method. Speaking to people, he added that playing with natural colours prepared at home will also increase the enthusiasm of people.

He also asked the city residents to involve their children in spreading the message of playing a safe Holi among their friends and the masses.

He also asked the children to stay away from playing Holi with dangerous items like petrol, eggs, grease and colour which contains mica.

He said with this, the use of chemical colours would be discouraged on Holi.

He also emphasised that use of natural and herbal colours will also protect everyone from contracting skin diseases caused by chemical colours.

Bathinda, March 6
A teenaged trickster succeeded in stealing gold and cash worth Rs 14 lakhs from a car parked near the Bhagu road yesterday morning.

In its complaint to the police, one Ranjit Singh of Fatehgarh Dabrikhana village said he was carrying gold worth nearly Rs 12 lakhs and Rs 2 lakhs cash in an Innova Car.

The gold was to be deposited in a bank to get a loan against it. The bank officials, however, asked the complainant to come after around two hours as the bank officials were busy in some other official work.

The complainant said he came to spend two hours at the residence of his relative on the Bhagu road. He entered the house and left the vehicle with its driver sitting inside.

The prankster came walking near the vehicle and told the driver about leaking oil from its engine.

The driver opened the bonnet of the vehicle and tried to peep into its engine. The trickster took away the bag containing gold from the vehicle.

The driver then brought the matter into notice of his employer and tried to locate the accused but failed.

Ranjit Singh said he had been making rounds of the a bank near the Bathinda Bus Stand to deposit gold. However, the officials remained reluctant to take it in their possession.

“I requested the bank officials that it is quite difficult to carry gold. Officials however asked me to complete some paper formalities before getting loan,” Ranjit said. He added that the bank officials told him to open the bag containing gold and they scrutinised it in the bank. “I visited the bank today and watched the CCTV footage to see people surrounding me at the bank,” he said.

He added that the empty bag with few cheque books and other papers were found near the Sirsa railway lines. The bag was noticed by a passerby who called him taking phone number from one of the papers.

Investigating officer in the case Piyara Singh at the Civil Line police station said the driver of the vehicle seemed to have spent some time peeping into the engine and in the meantime, the trickster took away the bag containing gold and cash.

Preliminary investigations reveal that the prankster seems to have been chasing the victim from the bank itself.

Investigations are still on in this connection and appearances of the accused have been noted down and a message has been spread around all the police stations about the accused.

A case under Section 380 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at Civil Lines Police Station and police is trying to nab the culprit. 

Bathinda, March 6
A truck loaded with 350 cement bags is missing along with its driver from Rampura since February 18.

In his complaint, Jeewan Kumar of Janta Colony in Mandi Rampura stated that his 10-tyre truck was driven by one Charna Singh and he was to deliver the cement bags at Mohali. He loaded the bags from Lehra Mohabbat on February 18.

Neither the truck reached Mohali nor did it return.

A case under Section 364 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at city Rampura police station. Police is investigating.