Bathinda, June 13
Bathinda city observed a bandh once again as members of various social and religious orgnisations called for a complete shutdown in protest against the alleged cow slaughter in Joga village of Mansa.

Members of the Gaushala Committee Jeeva Ram Goyal, general secretary Sadhu Ram, Ashutosh Tiwari, Sandeep Kumar of Bajrang Dal, Rajinder Raju of Ram Sewa Samiti, Ashok Dhunnike of Beopar Mandal, Dev Raj of Gau Suraksha Samiti, Suresh Goyal president of General Samaj Party, member of Balmiki Samaj and others sat on a dharna for more than two hurs at the Sadbhawna Chowk.

Terming the cow slaughter in Joga village as “most unfortunate”, the protestors argued that it was the failure of the state government, police and the district administration that the act of cow slaughter went undetected for such a long time.

The protesters accused the officials of the Pollution Control Board, labour department, industries department and others for not bothering to visit the bone grinding factory where cows were being slaughtered.

The protesters demanded that such factories should be inspected by the officials concerned so that such incidents do not recur.

The protesters added that the matter was quite serious as it was also associated with the religious sentiments of the people and demanded stringent action against those behind the “ghastly” act.

The members of the Gaushala Committee also handed over a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the local officials of the district administration. Jeeva Ram Goyal said stringent laws should be formed against the culprits involved in killing cows and those found misusing the cattle and other animals.

Goyal said it was ironical that while the Western countries were researching on gaumutra (cow urine) to use it for various medicinal and other purposes, here people were heading towards the criminal act of killing cows.

The protesters demanded that the ban on cow slaughtering should be implemented in letter and spirit so that nobody could even think of either killing the cows or hurting them.

The agitators also demanded that the land should be provided for a gaushala (cattle pound) where the stray cattle could be housed.

Meanwhile, protesters forced shopkeepers and malls in across the main markets in the city to shut down their business and took out a protest march.

It is pertinent to mention here that villagers in Joga, Mansa, had unearthed a factory where cows were allegedly being slaughtered in a bone crushing unit.

The residents of Joga had dismantled the entire unit and had ransacked three houses that belonged to the owners of the factory.

Though a case in this connection has been registered against the factory owners and three of the accused have already been arrested by the Mansa police, the agitators demanded stringent punishment against the guilty.

Bathinda, June 13
The garbage collection in the city has come to a standstill with all 150 garbage collectors, known as safai mittar, going on strike against the JITF Ecopolis management, which has been entrusted with the work of door-to-door garbage collection in the city.

All the workers gathered outside the office of the company at Power House Road this morning and raised slogans against the company officials. They accused the company of not giving them salaries on time.

Protesters said they worked eight hours every day, in the scorching heat, collecting tonnes of garbage from 65,000 households across the city.

“We should be paid salaries before fifth of every month whereas we are yet to get teh salary for this month. We are paid mere `4,000 per month, which should be at least `6,000,” said one of the protestors, Babu.

Even the supervisors demanded that they be paid salaries on time or else garbage lifting would be hit in city. They also demanded that the drivers of garbage lifting vans be paid `8,000 salary and Sunday be announced a weekly off for all the employees.

Assistant manager of collection and transportation of garbage, JITF Ecopolis, Manoj Kumar said the garbage lifters had agitated due to some misunderstanding.

“The salaries have got delayed only this month. Employees assumed that they would get salaries late every month. The issue has been sorted out and garbage collection would begin tomorrow onwards," he said.

Bathinda, June 13
The two recovery vans pressed into service by the city traffic police are burning holes in the pockets of violators but it is filling the coffers of the van owner. Police employed these vans on contract basis after floating tenders. The lowest bidder, who agreed to pick vehicles at a cost of Rs 400 per vehicle, got the contract.

Anyone found parking his four wheeler outside the yellow parking line is issued a Rs 600 challan. While Rs 400 goes into the pocket of the van owner, Rs 100 is credited into the account of Police Welfare Fund and the remaining Rs 100 goes to the state exchequer.

Traffic policemen said the recovery van owner was earning almost Rs 10,000 per day for towing the wrongly-parked vehicles from the city area to the Police Lines. On the other hand, the police was getting a mere Rs 2,500 per day for the challans issued.

The cops said in view of inadequate space for parking in front of the city hospitals, banks and other business houses, residents usually park their vehicles by the roadsides. “Since there is hardly any parking space in the city, a large number of vehicles are issued challans by the traffic police daily,” said a cop.

The traffic policemen said on an average, nearly 25 vehicles were being towed away by the police from various city areas everyday. They added that 50 vehicles were found parked wrongly in the city today and the recovery van owner would have earned nearly Rs 20,000 while the police managed to earn a mere Rs 5,000.

City residents, JS Brar Rangi, Dheeraj Dixit, Manvinder and members of various NGOs demanded that the government should make parking areas mandatory for all the buildings that come up alongside the busy city roads. “The government should keep a strict vigil on the building plans that are approved without having any parking areas,” Rangi said.

ASP City-II, who is also having the in-charge of city traffic police, said the vans were on contract basis and would be removed once the department got its own vehicle. He admitted that the van owner got Rs 400 out of every challan worth Rs 600.

He added that the vans were hired through a transparent procedure and the police had no option but to use these recovery vans.

Bathinda, June 13
One of the two groups of the SSA, RMSA and CSS Teachers' Union has managed to seek a meeting with the Punjab Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka. State convenor of this group, Ram Bhajan, told Tribune News Service that Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill conveyed the news to them.

“We had met the SSP yesterday and he had assured us that a meeting would soon be fixed with the education minister. When we met him today again, he told us that the meeting had been fixed for June 16 at village Maluka. We've been told that the Education Minister has agreed to hold an open forum to hear our demands,” said Ram Bhajan.

Confirming that in the wake of the meeting with Maluka, the group had decided to call off the rally that it planned to hold on June 16 outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Bathinda, he said, “For the time being we've cancelled the plan to hold the rally on June 16.”

“However, if during the meeting, the Education Minister doesn't agree to our demands, which include regularisation of our posts, fixing a pay scale and unconditional release of the 59 teachers who were arrested after lathicharge at Kotha Guru village, we will hold a rally on June 18,” he added.

When Tribune News Service spoke to SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, he confirmed that a meeting had been fixed between the education minister and the protesting teachers. He, however, denied the possibility of deploying police force in the Maluka village to meet with any eventuality.

“A deputation of the protesting teachers would meet the education minister and we don't feel the need to deploy police force at the village,” the Senior Superintendent of Police said.

Meanwhile, members of the other group of the union said they didn't have “any confirmed news about the meeting with Maluka” and added that they would go ahead with the rally that they had planned to hold on June 14 outside the Mini-secretariat.

“It is not acceptable that the government first intercept and then beat up a group of peaceful protestors, arrest many of them and then fix a time of meeting. Government will have to pay for the treatment that was meted out to the teachers at village Kotha Guru,” said Harjit Jidda, member of the state committee of the other group of the union.

Bathinda, June 13
Nehianwala police has booked 14 persons under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act for their alleged bid to encroach upon a piece of agricultural land in Har-Raipur village.

The complainant Nand Singh of Har-Raipur village said that he had purchased a piece of land in his village wherein he had grown paddy. The accused arrived on his recently purchased land and uprooted the entire crop. They opened fire and threatened him with dire consequences and created panic in the area. The accused had tried to encroach upon his land.

Bathinda, June 13
Due to the alleged indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards the upkeep of the Ambedkar Park, situated near the Mini-secretariat here, the park is in a bad shape these days. The lifesize statue of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar was unveiled on April 18, 1999 by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the site.

At the time of installation of the statue, a well-designed platform was constructed there. Fountains and lights were also installed there to give a beautiful look to the site. But today, this site is in a state of neglect due to which one can see garbage scattered here and there. It seems the sanitation work in the park has not been done for the past several months. The fountains are also in a broken condition and have not been functioning. The lighting system is also non-functional.

Growth of weds are also visible. Along with garbage, some broken bricks can also be seen. From the condition of the park, it appears that it has been abandoned. In fact, the Ambedkar Park needs improvement on all fronts whether it is lighting, fountains or the park itself.

A Dalit leader and state president of the Lok Janshakti Party, Kiranjit Singh Gehri said on behalf of the Dalits and the LJP, he had several times given in writing to the district administration to ensure the upkeep of the park. Besides, they had also staged a dharna for the improvement of the park in front of the office of the local municipal corporation some time ago, but to no avail.

He said he had even held meetings with the officials concerned, but no one had paid attention towards its improvement.

When contacted, assistant commissioner of Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Kamal Kant said this evening that the corporation had made a proposal for the improvement of the Ambedkar Park.

Kamal Kant said there was no shortage of funds for the improvement of the park and the corporation would do the needful soon.

Bathinda, June 13
The common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal plant being set up near Burj Mehma has been sealed by the district administration today. A large number of villagers of the surrounding areas including the members of the BKU had been protesting against the setting up of the plant. While the villagers said that the level of air, water and soil pollution will increase in the area with the setting up of the plant, one of its owners, Bir Bahadur, claimed that he had got the clearance from the authorities concerned in this regard.

Tehsildar Kuldeep Singh, SHO Gurjeet Singh Romana, the local patwari and kanungo today visited the plant and got it sealed.

The members of various Kisan Unions said they had planned to protest in front of the office of the deputy commissioner against the setting up of the plant. The administration, however, adopted a pro-active approach in this regard and got the plant sealed before the agitators could reach.

Block president of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) Gurmeet Singh said the farmers and villagers had been protesting against the setting up of the plant for over three months. He claimed that people of the area are already suffering from various diseases and setting up of such plants would invite more trouble in the area as the pollution level in the surrounding areas would increase manifold.

Bir Bahadur, one of the owners of the plant, told TNS over the phone in the evening said he was not aware of the sealing of the plant and would look into the matter tomorrow. "I will take legal action against the sealing of the unit," he said.