Bathinda, July 20
The much-awaited railway underbridge on the Bathinda-Mansa road near the Delhi railway line would be thrown open to the public on Saturday. Although only one side of the bridge would be opened, without any formal inauguration, it is expected to ease the traffic chaos on the stretch.

XEN, PWD, Adesh Gupta said the entire underbridge would be completed by August 31. “Around 20 per cent of the work, to be done by the railways, is to be completed. After one side was completed, the government thought it was better to utilise it rather than keep it closed till the formal inauguration,” he said.

The Punjab government has spent around `10.50 crore on the project, while the railways have contributed around `1.50 cr for the underbridge that has been a long-pending need of the region.

With the opening of the bridge, those travelling to Patiala and Chandigarh via Sardulgarh, as well as to Talwandi Sabo, would be greatly benefited while the railway crossing above would continue to work.

The area beyond the railway crossing comprises the Central Univeristy of Punjab (CUP), industrial area, the fuel hub at Jassi Pau Wali, a couple of private townships, schools and an upcoming five-star hotel.

With increased construction in the area, the road has been registering an increase in the flow of traffic over a decade.

Last year, the work on the underpass was affected after a cross-section of the villagers from Jassi Pau Wali approached the court seeking a stay in the month of July. On October 13, the court of the additional district judge, Sukhdev Singh, vacated the stay imposed on the construction. In their appeal to the court, eight residents of Jassi Pau Wali had stated that the underbridge was being constructed on their piece of land.

However, during the pendency of appeal, the state government submitted a demarcation report of the disputed land. The report revealed that the underbridge was not being constructed on disputed land.

Students wade through a flooded street in Bathinda on Friday

Bathinda, July 20
As the rain gods smiled once again on Bathinda and its adjoining areas today, the city recorded 27.4 mm of rainfall.

With the fresh spell of showers, the maximum temperature today tumbled down to 23 degree Celsius from the 37.4 degree Celsius registered on July 19.

Weather experts said the rainfall registered was not an appreciable figure. “The monsoon this year is weak and deficit,” said an expert of the Punjab Agricultural University’s (PAU) meteorological department.

Farmer Jagtar Singh Brar from Goniana said during July, only 80 mm of rainfall had been recorded so far while the figure for a sufficient monsoon was 150 mm.

Friday’s downpour left areas like Sirki Bazar, Mall Road, Mal Godam Road, parts of Civil Station and Power House Road flooded. The water ebbed only after three to four hours.

The rains in the city caused a roof to collapse in the Kikkar Das Mohalla area. Shinder Kaur, a 40-year-old woman, was seriously injured while her son, 16-year-old Chanan, sustained minor injuries.

Volunteers of the NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, rushed to the spot and took the injured to the Civil Hospital. While Chanan was discharged after being administered first aid, Shinder was referred to the Government Medical College, Faridkot.

Sahara volunteers said the roof seemed to have weakened due to the rains and collapsed.

In another incident, a mobile tower fell off the roof of a house it was installed on in street number 4 Paras Ram Nagar area. No loss of life was reported.

Former municipal councillor Vijay Kumar said the tower fell on the side of the house which wasn’t populated.

“The structure was very weak and had not been properly welded onto the roof. Fortunately, no one was hurt,” he said.

Bathinda, July 20
The state project coordinator, Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan authority, Punjab, has issued a letter to the District Education Officers, elementary and secondary, instructing them to withdraw the earned leaves of the teachers employed on contractual basis under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan.

The earned leaves, which were sanctioned for the teachers employed under SSA, through a letter dated February 3, 2012, have been withdrawn for the time being.

Expressing their protest over the announcement, the teachers employed under SSA said they would take up the matter during their next meeting.

It is pertinent to mention here that the SSA-RMSA teachers had been quite actively protesting against the state government and had accused it of ignoring their long-pending demands.

“While the government is yet to decide on raising our salaries and regularising our jobs, the state project coordinator has withdrawn our earned leaves as well,” said one of the district coordinators of the SSA-RMSA union.

The teachers have also been alleging that since the state government is not contributing its share in their pay, they have not been paid properly for the past two years.

Bathinda, July 20
It’s been three years since the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, was inaugurated in Bathinda.

Although affiliated to the National Council for Hotel Management (under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India), the institute is yet to gain popularity in the region.

This is clearly evident from the dismal response that the admission process at the institute is getting this academic session.

Saturday is the last day for filing applications for admission to the BSc Hospitality and Hotel Administration course. Although the institute offers as many 125 seats for the course, only 60 students have been chosen through counselling so far.

The last academic session saw the institute introducing on and a half years diploma courses in food and beverage service, accommodation management, front office management and bakery and confectionary. The courses, however, could not be started as they got absolutely no response.

“This year, we are hoping that these courses will get a slightly better response. People of this part of the Malwa region do not understand that these vocational courses guarantee excellent placement opportunities. We have 30 seats for each of these diploma courses and whether we will start them this session or not will depend entirely on the kind of response we get,” said Kamal Piyush, principal of the institute.

Elaborating on the possible reasons behind the dismal response that the courses at the institute have been getting, he said, “There is no dignity of labour in India. People don’t prefer to work with their hands. Irrespective of the fact whether a child is competent or not, his parents want him/her to be an engineer or a doctor.”

“It’s a common notion that only the students not good at academics pursue vocational courses. Out of the 60 students we’ve admitted for the next academic session, many hail from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra, Aligarh and other cities. Ironically, only four to five students are from the Malwa region,” he added.

The institute has also not left any stone unturned when it comes to promoting the courses it is offering. “Last year, in collaboration with the education department, we had conducted a counselling session for students of classes XI and XII. Still, we didn’t get a good response.”

“This year, we are thinking of holding an open house wherein the students from various schools can be brought on a trip to the institute so that they get to know about the courses and the waythe hotel industry works,” added the principal.

The institute also offers ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’, a two-month course, free of cost. The eligibility criterion for the course, which aims at improving the employability skills of the student, is class VIII. Those pursuing the course are being given free uniform and tools to work with, apart from a stipend of `2,000.

“The course has been getting a good response and till now, we’ve conducted more than five batches successfully. Again, for this course as well, the response has been more from other areas rather than the Malwa region. Our emphasis is on encouraging people from the Malwa region to undergo the course,” the principal said.

Bathinda, July 20
Owing to the rising demand for water, unauthorised sale of water at a higher price is going on at the Bathinda railway station.

Indian Railways have fixed the prices of edibles, including water, to be sold at vends at railway platforms and have also approved particular brands of mineral water to be sold at these vends.

The Railways have fixed `12 as the price of a bottle of Rail Neer. All the vendors have been instructed that in case of shortage of Rail Neer, they may sell bottles of only the approved brands, including Bisleri, Kinley, Aquafina, Keystone, Tawan Aqua, Bibo, Bailley, Icelings, Mount Kailash and Health Plus.

However, Bathinda Tribune found that some vendors had been buying water bottles of a local brand in bulk at a lower rate and selling the same to the passengers at a higher price.

As the Tribune Team reached platform number 5 at 8 am, some workers were busy in carrying the unauthorised water bottles kept in two opaque containers.

While the water bottles of the approved brands were displayed openly, they hid the unauthorised bottles in the containers. The workers brought the containers into the Intercity Express and started selling the same. The bottles bore the address of a local company at Bibi Wala Chowk.

When enquired about the reason for selling unauthorised water bottles, that too at `15, the worker said they had been doing so on the orders of a contractor.

When the matter was brought to the notice of the station superintendent, the worker said it was only today that they had resorted to selling the bottles of the unauthorised brand due to the shortage of bottles of the approved brands of water. The commuters, however, said they had been purchasing such bottles for the last many days.

The water containers were removed from the train on the orders of the station superintendent, Pradeep Sharma. He asked the worker to swap it with the bottles of the approved brand.

Assistant area traffic manager, SP Bhatia, said the vendors at the railway station had been selling bottles of only the authorised brands. “I would monitor the sale of water and take stringent action against those selling the sub-standard water at higher prices,” he said.

Bathinda, July 20
Volunteers attending the training programme organized by the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA), Punjab, were today urged to spread their learning at the grassroot level so that the rural youth could be empowered through information and awareness.

Speaking on the concluding day of the three-day training programme, Assistant Director, Youth Services, Bathinda, Dr Kamaljit Singh Sidhu urged the volunteers to spread awareness among the masses about the policies of the government that were framed to benefit the people like RTS ACT.

The programme was organised by the district centre of the MGSIPA on its premises at the Mini-secretariat here. In this programme, 24 volunteers from various village youth clubs, sent by the district office of the Youth Services Department, took part.

Dr Sidhu also told the volunteers that their contribution to society was important. Therefore, they should play a major role in eradicating social evils like dowry, female foeticide, drug abuse, from society.

While speaking on "health habits", the head of the centre for participatory management and voluntary organisations (MGSIPA), Chandigarh, Col R. Kumar (retd) said in today's fast moving world, it is important to take care of mental health. He also asked the youth to avoid junk food to stay healthy.

An assistant professor in the local Government Rajindra College, Seema Gupta, spoke on the 'Importance of ethics and values'.

She told the volunteers about the need to build good character and dwelt on why the social values were declining rapidly.

The project coordinator, MGSIPA, Bathinda, Mandeep Singh talked about 'Direct training skills' He told the participants how a volunteer could become a good trainer. He asked the volunteers to identify the requirements of the trainees before designing the training programme.

In the end, the participants were told to give their feedback about the three-day IEC training programme.

The volunteers told the MGSIPA authorities to increase the duration of the training programme to five days from the present three. They also sought inclusion of several other topics, like dowry, female foeticide and first aid in the future training programmes.

The training programme was attended by the presidents and office-bearers of various village youth clubs from the district.

Bathinda, July 20
Former MLA from Bathinda and general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Harminder Singh Jassi today flayed the Punjab government and the local municipal corporation (MC) for making tall claims about the elaborate arrangements made by them to tackle the problem of waterlogging in the city.

He said the half an hour downpour today exposed the tall claims of the corporation.

Jassi said the administration should have made proper arrangements earlier for the disposal of rain water especially in the low-lying areas.

But the administration had failed in this despite the fact that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh had also visited these areas in the past.

The former legislator said that due to the negligence of the municipal corporation, a mobile tower today fell in a colony in the city. Besides, the roofs of some houses were also blown away.

He said his party had asked the state government to compensate the affected families and make elaborate arrangements for the disposal of rain water.

Bathinda, July 20
An Army jawan from Sivian village got killed in an encounter between the Army and terrorists near Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir. The jawan has been identified as 28-year-old Govind, son of Bhajan Singh. Govind was expected to arrive at his village today but the Army authorities informed his family members about the tragedy by calling them over the phone from Jammu.

Govind reportedly lost his life in a gun battle during a combing operation against the terrorists on Wednesday evening.

His family members said he was deployed with the 47 Rashtriya Rifles and had joined the Army around 10 years ago. He is survived by his wife and two minor sons. After being injured, he was taken to a nearby military hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Block president of the BKU (Ugrahan) Amrik Singh said no official from the district administration or the Army reached the house of the deceased jawan and only the local police authorities enquired into the incident.

The district administration and the Sainik Welfare Board have no information about the death of the jawan. Deputy Director of the Welfare Board, Colonel (retd) SS Mann said he had come to know about the death of a jawan but he had no official intimation about the exact reason behind the death. "His body is expected to arrive tomorrow in the morning," Mann said.

Bathinda, July 20
Police have arrested three suspected criminals from near the Mittal Mall. The trio, identified as Sanjeev Kumar of Haji Rattan Gate, Rajan Kumar of PNT Colony, Bhagu Road and Guggu Singh of Raipur village of Mansa, were arrested at a 'naka' laid by the police.

Police said the accused were involved in looting people, especially women wearing jewellery. Investigating officer Malkit Singh said a motorbike and seven mobile phones worth nearly Rs 45,000 have been recovered from their possession. A case under sections 382 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Kotwali police station.

Bathinda, July 20
A Lok Adalat would be held in the courts of Bathinda, Phool and Talwandi Sabo on July 28. In a press statement issued here today, the district and sessions judge SK Aggarwal said cases of a civil nature and those that can be resolved amicably could be brought to the Lok Adalat. He said the Lok Adalat can prove beneficial for the litigants and will also help reduce the backlog of cases in the courts.

He added that a special mega Lok Adalat of the Bathinda sessions division would be held on December 1 this year on the orders of Justice Jasbir Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who is also the officiating chairman of the Punjab Legal Services Authority.

Civil judge (senior division) Harinder Kaur appealed to the lawyers, litigants, social workers, bank managers and others to bring their cases to the Lok Adalat for everyone's benefit. — TNS