Bathinda, August 2
DAV College Bathinda has whipped up a controversy over the acquisition of the pond, located at its rear, for a residential-cum-commercial project of the Improvement Trust Bathinda.

The DAV College Management today convened a meeting, presided over by Swami Surya Dev, who is known to be a senior functionary of the Arya Samaj. President, Arya Samaj, Bathinda, and acting chairman of the local managing committee, PD Goyal, DAV College principal Dr Jernail Singh Anand and DAV School principal Dr Satwant Kaur Bhullar also attended the meeting.

“DAV authorities and the Arya Samaj have taken a serious note of the news reports appearing in the media about the MCB acquiring the playgrounds of DAV College, Bathinda. We want to remind them that we are not the encroachers but the owners of the land,” said Dr Anand.

Swami Surya Dev said the Arya Samaj and DAV institutions were with the government as far as its agenda of development was concerned. “But the 22 acres of land belonging to DAV institutions should be a sacred affair for the development agencies,” he said while appealing to the authorities to spare the DAV institutions and develop the remaining land in the way they wish.

Dr Anand pointed out that the filling of the area would cause problems for the college buildings which will get inundated during the monsoon. He said the government should act keeping in view the interests of the minority community. The institution wanted the 22 acres, of which it holds the registration deed, to be spared for the development of educational institutions.

He added that the Improvement Trust had invited objections over the project. “Citing our objections against the acquisition of land for the purpose, we produced all land deeds and registry that are in the name of the DAV management. Despite having cordial relatins with the government, we are being bogged down,” he said.

He claimed that of the total 22 acres of land, the college, playgrounds and school occupy only 10 acres, while the rest lies covered with rainwater. “Around 20 years ago, the corporation started dumping rainwater into the pond, but we remained quiet. Now we will not let the land fall under Improvement Trust’s project,” he added.

Dr Anand claimed that the DAV Management filed a case in a local court in 2003 when some people started encroaching upon their land. “Though the encroachers won in the local court, we filed a petition in the High Court. The HC ordered a stay on the land disallowing anybody from filling the pond or using any of its portions. If the corporation or Trust tries to include our land, we will file a contempt petition in the court,” he added.

However, the land under dispute has not been demarcated. Municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said the “inteqal” (mutation) of the land under the pond is in the name of the corporation and no one else had any right over it.

Bathinda, August 2
The Government Elementary School, located on the Mall Road, is all set to go under the hammer. The 1.5 acres of land would be converted into a multi-level parking lot to solve the parking woes of the city.

Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) has already prepared a feasibility report of the project under which 50 per cent area would be used for commercial purposes and the remaining for parking purposes. Besides, it would also have provision for civic amenities like public toilets. The entire project will be given on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

Confirming this, the chief administrator Uma Shankar Gupta said the elementary school would be shifted to the Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, which is located opposite the elementary school. However, the district education officer (secondary) Hardeep Singh denied having got any official intimation regarding this.

It has been learnt that the issue would be amongst the important ones to be discussed with the Deputy Chief Minister tomorrow. The entire plan and maps would be made available to him for consideration. “If all goes well, we are hopeful of auctioning off the land in another month or so,” added sources in the BDA.

Earlier, in the month of March, different teachers’ organisations had protested against the taking over of the school for multi-level parking purposes. Undeterred by the shrill voices, the government decided to go ahead with its plan and has now finalised the shifting of the school.

Besides having around 100 students studying in the elementary section, the 1.5 acres of land also has the office of the block education officer, which too will be shifted with the school.

In 2005, before the Bathinda municipal committee was upgraded to Municipal Corporation, a proposal was mooted to build a multi-level parking where the fire brigade station is located. A sub-committee was constituted that drafted a proposal and a private agency was roped in for the work.

“The private agency wanted to utilise some portion of the land for commercial purposes, which we objected to. So the project could not move beyond paperwork,” said the corporation officials. While the corporation objected to the commercial use of its own land, it has now readily taken over the project of dismantling one of the oldest educational institutes located in the heart of the city.

Bathinda, August 2
Denied the Raksha Bandhan bonus, the garbage collectors in the city, working under the JITF Urban Waste Management, went on strike today. As a result, garbage was not collected from many primary and secondary bin collection centres in the city.

Sources said around 300 collectors and drivers employed for collecting garbage from the city demanded that they either be given Raksha Bandhan bonus or their salaries be given early so that they could celebrate the festival. However, the company officials did not oblige.

Project in-charge for Bathinda cluster said an understanding had been reached at unanimously and from now onwards, the employees would be given salaries by the seventh of every month.

“There was some misunderstanding that has been cleared,” he said.

The JITF has been unable to cope up with the garbage collection in the city leading to resentment amongst the residents who had protested by dumping the garbage on streets at 100-feet road near Clock Tower a few days ago.

Sources said as per the rules, the company was supposed to employ 25 per cent of the total garbage collectors, as substitutes. “Even if one garbage collector falls ill or seeks leave, there is no substitute. The agency doesn’t even have enough number of compactors to collect garbage from the garbage collectors and take it to the dump yard,” he added.

Municipal commissioner, Uma Shankar Gupta, said keeping in view the inefficiency of the company to ensure 100 per cent garbage collection, it has been issued a termination letter around 15 days ago. The company has bought some time to improve its working.

However, company officials in Bathinda said they had not received any such termination letter. "The matter might have been directly addressed to our Delhi office,” the official said, adding that the orders had been passed for employing substitute staff, which would be done soon.

The inefficiency of the company has also resulted in the MC not paying it `9 to `10 lakh per month. JITF has been working on garbage collection for the past seven months. As per an understanding between JITF and the corporation, the latter is supposed to pay the money every month. “We have not paid them as their work is not satisfactory,” the corporation officials said.

Bathinda, August 2
During the Raksha Bandhan celebrations organised at the Bathinda Central Jail, women outnumbered men when it came to coming to the premises to meet their siblings. While 150 females turned up to tie the sacred thread on the wrists of their brothers lodged in the jail, only two males came to celebrate the festival with their sisters lodged in the jail.

As many as 1,377 prisoners are lodged in the jail. Of these, 130 are females who are undergoing imprisonment or facing trials.

On special orders passed by the state government, the jail authorities had made arrangements for the celebrations. While earlier, the women used to tie rakhis to their brothers through the iron bars, this year, they were allowed to enter the jail premises. Wooden benches were also placed at the entrance of the jail in the presence of the security staff.

Usually, 225-250 family members or friends turn up to meet the prisoners at the jail. Today, however, as many as 480 people came to see their near and dear ones, said the deputy jail superintendent, Manjit Sidhu. He said out of the 480 visitors, there were 150 females who had come to tie rakhi to their brothers and did so in the presence of the jail authorities. While most of the visitors arrived even before 9 am, 98 persons were allowed to meet the prisoners before noon and 52 celebrated the festival in the evening. People were allowed to meet prisoners between 9 am and 5 pm.

Sidhu said most of the people came from nearby villages. A girl from Bolianwali village in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan arrived to tie rakhi to her brother, Manoj, who is facing charges under the NDPS Act.

Kanta, a girl from Talwandi Sabo expressed her gratitude towards the government for allowing the families to meet those lodged in the jail.

Bathinda, August 2
Six new cases of leprosy have been reported from the district during the current financial year while during the previous financial year (2011-12), 24 new cases of leprosy were detected.

It means that during the last 16 months, a total of 30 new leprosy cases have come to light in the district. Of these 30 cases, 23 were male and seven female.

Of the 30 leprosy patients, none is from Punjab as all are reportedly migrant labourers.

As per the information received, a majority of the leprosy affected patients come to Punjab from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. These migrants work at factories, brick kilns and other sites.

During the current financial year, four cases of paucibacillary leprosy (mild form of leprosy) and two cases of multibacillary leprosy (severe form of leprosy) have been detected in the district. Of these six cases, four are male and two female patients.

During the previous financial year, out of the total 24 new cases of leprosy, seven were paucibacillary and 17 were multibacillary cases. Of these 24 cases, 19 were male and five female.

Talking to this reporter here today, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the local Women and Children Hospital-cum-District Leprosy Officer Dr BS Gill said leprosy was an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, involving skin, eye, nose, peripheral nerves and other organs. He said leprosy is caused due to long contact with infectious material, especially discharge from nose and chronic ulcers.

Dr Gill said the main symptoms of leprosy are hypo pigmented lesions on skin, loss of hair, loss of sweating, ulceration, loss of fingers and toes and deformities of limbs.

With regard to treatment, Dr Gill said in a paucibacillary case, the patient has to take medicines for six months while in a multibacillary case, the patient has to take medicines for a year.

He said early detection of leprosy reduces deformity. He also said that a majority of the cases, handled by them, are that of skin leprosy. To control leprosy in the district, a non-medical supervisor does regular check-up by visiting factories. To detect new leprosy patients, camps are also held. Besides, the leprosy colony is visited by the supervisor where the patients receiving treatment reside.

These treated patients are also given medicines free of cost by the authorities, he added. 

Bathinda, August 2
Police have booked four persons for beating up a shopkeeper of Dhobi Bazaar. The accused, Sham Lal, Rohit, Ram Parkash and Hitesh, residents of Nai Basti, were booked by the police on the basis of a complaint filed by Ashok Kumar of Mata Rani Wali Gali.

Ashok alleged that the accused entered his shop and beat him up following a dispute over the ownership of the shop.

Police have registered a case under sections 452, 323 and 34 of the IPC at the Kotwali police station. No arrests have been made so far but further investigation is on in the case.

Three villagers booked for violence

Police have booked three villagers from Mehma Sarja village. In a complaint lodged with the police, Jagsir Singh of Mehma Sarja village said the accused, identified as Chamkaur Singh, Gurmel Singh and Amritpal Singh, beat him up and inflicted serious injuries following a dispute over a trivial issue.

Bathinda, August 2
The Cantonment police has failed to identify the body of the man who was found murdered near the railway tracks in the industrial area here on Monday.

Earlier, the area where the body was found was caught in a jurisdiction dispute between the railway police and the Cantonment police. While the railway police officials washed their hands off the case saying the crime spot did not come in their area, the officials from the Cantonment police station too expressed their helplessness in registering a case due to dispute over the jurisdiction.

A case was, however, registered at the Cantonment police station after the intervention of senior police officials. But the slow pace of investigation has lead to nowhere. The postmortem of the body kept in the mortuary of the

Civil Hospital was conducted today and the body was handed over to the NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, for cremation.

Investigating officer in the case, ASI Mohan Singh, claimed the police tried to trace the body of the deceased but failed.

"We had made announcements and spread word in the factories to identify the deceased but failed. We failed to find any identity card or other documents through which we could have identified the murdered man," Mohan Singh said. He said only a packet of tobacco was recovered from the pocket of the dead man.

The ASI pointed out that according to the doctors who conducted the postmortem the neck of the deceased almost got separated from the body. It appeared that somebody tried to chop off the neck using some sharp-edged equipment. 

Bathinda, August 2
Two children, both cousins, were electrocuted this morning in Bandi village near Sangat Mandi. The deceased, Mohar Singh (6) and Gurvinder (7), had handled a table fan kept in the house.

As per the villagers, the boys had come out after taking a bath and one of them switched on the fan and came in contact with electricity. While trying to pull him away, the other boy was also electrocuted.

They were rushed to a hospital in Dabwali where doctors declared them “brought dead”.

The bodies were brought to the Bathinda Civil Hospital where the doctors conducted a postmortem. The bodies were then handed over to the relatives for cremation. — TNS