Bathinda, April 20
Continuing its demolition spree, after winning the case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Bathinda Improvement Trust got the houses of the poor demolished today, while the rich were spared.

Two women try to fathom the storm in their life in the form of the demolition drive launched by the Bathinda Improvement Trust that rendered them homeless and without a shelter with nowhere to go. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

The demolition team, including cops from the district police, swooped down today in the morning clearing encroachments from the 16.44 acres scheme of the Improvement Trust, situated near the Mittal Mall.

Caught unawares, the slum dwellers did not even have the time to move their belongings to a safer place or look for alternatives. The machines dozed past the debris of bricks and mortar with household items strewn all around.

The hutment dwellers had to move their cupboards, television and furniture to make way for the machine. In many homes, men had already left for work while the women and children were alone at home. People like Uma Devi started crying on seeing their houses being demolished.

While the huts were levelled to the ground, the concrete houses were spared and their owners were served a two-day notice to move out their belongings. "If the owners of a house and a school situated in the area do not vacate the structures within the next two days, we would demolish them," said the Improvement Trust officials.

Cops prevent a man from moving ahead as demolition takes place. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Executive Officer, Improvement Trust, Harinder Singh, said the action has been taken on the orders of the court. "We are acting as per the government orders and the Improvement Trust does not have anything personal against the poor," he added.

Meanwhile, rising from its slumber, the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) conducted a demolition drive on the Barnala road near the Rose Garden where four houses were razed.

This section has a 100-feet road that would connect the newly-laid 60-feet road, thereby easing out traffic from the GT road as well as Barnala road.

This section of road lies under scheme 9, part 1, of the Town Planning department's scheme.

Bathinda, April 20
City residents' date with the vagaries of the weather continued on Friday as partial cloudy conditions accompanied by dust storms were witnessed in isolated parts in Bathinda and its adjoining areas almost throughout the day today due to the effect of the western disturbances.

The temperature, though, remained near to the normal. Moreover, the prevailing mood of the weather is likely to continue in the region in the next one to two days.

The mercury that was found hovering below the normal mark two days ago has started staying near the normal.

The maximum temperature recorded on Friday was 36.2 degree Celsius, equalling the maximum temperature recorded yesterday, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), regional station, Bathinda.

The day's low was 21.4 degree Celsius, almost one degree higher than on Thursday. The normal temperature during this period at the maximum level is 36-37 degree Celsius while the minimum is 20-22 degree Celsius.

On Wednesday, the mercury was found slightly below the normal with the maximum temperature recorded as 33 degree Celsius and the minimum at 18.5 degree Celsius.

As per the information from the weather room on Friday, dust storms and thundershowers are likely to be experienced in isolated parts of the region in the next 48 hours.

Mercury is likely to hover near the normal mark during the period, the weathermen said, adding that the prevailing weather condition is the effect of the western disturbances that have developed in the Himalayan region. 

Bathinda, April 20
Of the 16 sites meant for sand mining in the district, ten failed to invite even a single bid for the auction. The irrigation department had advertised twice for auctioning these sites, but no one turned up. The second auction was held on April 19.

"The contractors are more intelligent than the irrigation department officials. They must have gone to the ten sites to see if there was any possibility of making a good amount of money by bidding for them," said the officials of the irrigation department.

All the 16 sites are situated on the Sirhind canal bed. The water in the canal carries silt from the hills of Himachal Pradesh, which is then auctioned during the canal's closure every year during the wheat harvesting.

Officials said mining is done more intensively in the areas of Ropar, Nawanshahr and Ludhiana where it forms a major source of income for the government.

"In Bathinda, the quality of silt removed from the canal bed is not as good as compared to the canal bed before Doraha where the Sirhind canal splits into three branches," officials added.

Only six sites were auctioned. These include the area near the Tallewal village which was auctioned for Rs 55,000, the site near village Sehna that was auctioned for Rs 44,000 and the site near village Dhapali which was auctioned for Rs 65,000

The site near village Poohla was auctioned for Rs 60,000, the site near village Gobindpura for Rs 66,000 and the site near Behman Diwana road for Rs 61,000. The ten sites that failed to draw even a single bid include areas near village Chunga, two places near Sehna, Dhapali, Sidana, Gobindpura upper, Bibiwala headworks, near National Colony and two areas in the upper region towards Doraha.

Bathinda, April 20
The computer teachers, who have completed two-and-a-half years of service on April 1 this year, have not been given regularisation orders.

In a press statement issued here today, the president of Computer Teachers Union Gurvinder Singh said the office of the Deputy General of School Education (DGSE) should have issued these orders on time. The orders in that regard were still awaited, he said.

“The government has already issued notification that the computer teachers completing two-and-a-half years of service would be regularised,” he added.

The union demanded from the DGSE, the education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka and the Punjab government that the teachers who completed two-and-a-half years of service on March 31 should be regularized.

They also demanded immediate release of pending salaries of the computer teachers, clearance of medical reimbursement pending since long and transfers before the new recruitments.

District president and chief advisor Balkaran Singh said despite being regularised, the computer teachers were facing lot of problems.

He demanded that the government should redress these issues soon.

Fact file

* The computer teachers, who have completed two-and-a-half years of their service on April 1 this year, have not been given regularisation orders.

* Teachers said the government has already issued notification that the computer teachers completing two-and-a-half years of service would be regularised

Bathinda, April 20
A railway employee and a female marketing executive were robbed at knife-point in two separate incidents. Two cases have been registered in this connection at the Canal Colony and the Civil Lines police stations.

The railway employee, a resident of Partap Nagar, was robbed of Rs 2,500 at knifepoint.

The complainant in the case, Manjit Singh, said he was on way his to home at 11.30 pm when some unidentified persons intercepted him. He said the incident took place in the area falling under the Canal police station.

The miscreants asked Manjit to hand over all the money. When he refused, they threatened to stab him. Later, the miscreants took away Rs 2,500 from the railway employee.

Police has registered a case under Sections 382, 506 and 34 of the IPC at the Canal Colony police station.

In a similar incident, a female marketing executive was robbed off her belongings near street number 10 on the Ajit road.

The incident took place on April 14, when the girl along with her father was standing near Ajit road.

In a complaint to the police, the girl’s father, Narinder Singh of Bibi Wala Road, said he had asked his daughter to wait for a few minutes on Ajit road. As soon as, he left someboys with sharp-edged weapons came near his daughter and asked her to hand over her belongings.

They snatched the purse of girl, which contained a mobile phone, identity card, bus pass and Rs 300 cash.

A case under Sections 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered at the Civil Lines police station.

A resident of Parasram Nagar has been booked by the police for allegedly demanding Rs one lakh in ransom for a missing resident of Hanumangarh.

In his complaint to the police, Gurpreet Singh said his cousin Baljinder Singh had been missing for many days and his family members released an advertisement along with the photograph of the missing man and the contact numbers.

A phone call was received and the caller identified himself as Baldev Singh and demanded Rs one lakh in lieu of releasing the missing person.

He also threatened to kill the missing person if they informed anyone about the ransom.

A case under Sections 384 and 511 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at the Canal Colony police station.

A resident of Jodhpur Romana has been booked by the police for allegedly kidnapping a woman of the same village.

In a complaint submitted to the police, Paba Singh said Balraj Singh of his village kidnapped his wife with the intention to kill her.

A case under Section 364 of the IPC has been registered at the Kotfatta police station.

A motorcycle and a Honda Activa scooter were stolen from outside the local DAV College and the Civil Hospital.

Sarvesh Kumar of Ganesha Basti said his bike, which was worth nearly Rs 30,000 was stolen from outside the DAV College. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at Civil Lines police station.

Pritpal Singh of Kamla Nehru Colony said his scooter, which was parked outside the Bathinda Civil Hospital, was stolen on March 28. 

Bathinda, April 20
The two-day training programme, organised for the women municipal councillors of Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts by the Mahatama Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) Punjab, concluded here today.

The programme was organised to increase the efficiency in the working of the women councillors by imparting them knowledge about their rights, responsibilities, their role in the development works, constitutional commitment, and municipal organizational set-up etc.

The training programme was inaugurated by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, Uma Shanker Gupta. On the occasion, he appealed to the participants to know about their rights and responsibilities so that they could play a vital role in the functioning of the municipal councils and the municipal corporation.

On the first day of the training programme, engineer BS Gill told the women councillors about the good qualities of a councillor and basic amenities in the cities. Associate professor, Punjabi University Regional Centre, Bathinda, Dr Sharanjit Kaur gave information about the laws, related to the women.

On the second day, Joint Director BR Gupta gave information about the basic municipal set-up, Municipal Act and bylaws, and proceedings of the meeting. A retired professor, Dhanwant Kaur, spoke on the topic, "The role of women councillors in society and urban development".

Mayor of Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) Baljit Singh Beer Behman, deputy mayor Gurinder Kaur Mangat and project coordinator of the district centre of MGSIPA, also expressed their views.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla, who was the chief guest at the concluding function, spoke about the role of the women in society.

Singla said being women councillors, they could play a vital role in ensuring urban development in a really big way. 

Bathinda, April 20
Bathinda police has booked four persons for allegedly preparing fake land registration. The complainant, Manjit Singh of Chak Atar Singh Wala village, stated that Parkash Chand, Resham Singh, Paramjit Singh Sarpanch and Pishora Singh got some fake papers prepared to execute the registration of a piece of land in Bathinda.

Police officials said one of the accused, Resham Singh, has been arrested in this connection.

A case under Sections 419, 420 467 and 468 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at Civil Lines police station. — TNS

Bathinda, April 20
A resident of Gidderbaha was killed in a road accident involving an unidentified vehicle and a motorcycle. The deceased, Ramesh Kumar, presently residing in Deep Nagar, was on his way to Talwandi Sabo from Maur on Wednesday. He was hit by a vehicle near the Sekhpura village.

Some passersby rushed him to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the unidentified driver at Talwandi Sabo police station.

The body of the deceased has been handed over to his family members after conducting a post-mortem at the hospital.

ML Tuteja has been elected as circle finance secretary, Ashwani Bansal and Ashwani Bhatia have been elected as zonal secretary and zonal vice-president, respectively.

The North West Circle represents the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh (UT). — TNS