B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Mahila Cong chief pays tributes to ‘visionary’ leader
Moga, August 20
The president of Punjab Mahila Congress, Dr Malti Thapar, paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 68th birth anniversary at Rajiv Gandhi Auditorium in the Shyam Lal Thapar Nursing College and Hospital here today.

Punjab Mahila Congress president Dr Malti Thapar pays floral tributes to Rajiv Gandhi in Moga on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Sr party leaders skip function in Bathinda
Bathinda, August 20
The 68th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi passed off virtually as a non-event here as sitting legislators and other senior Congress leaders skipped the function that was organised in the party office to mark the occasion.

Fazilka sub-division records revenue loss
Fazilka, August 20
The receipt of revenue in Fazilka sub-division has decreased considerably following the imposition of a ban on the registration of sale deeds of plots located in illegal colonies by the Punjab government and increase in the land’s collector’s rate. The inflow of revenue has even decreased to 20 per cent from 100 per cent during the last three months as compared to the corresponding months of the previous year.

Raids at eating joints to check misuse of domestic LPG cylinders
Abohar, August 20
Abohar SDM Vipul Ujwal led the raids at different roadside eateries, dhabas and restaurants last night to check the misuse of LPG cylinders meant for domestic use. The SDM here monitored the situation as the police seized domestic cylinder from road side rehris, snack bars and sweets shops.

Lawyers up in arms against evening courts, to hold stir
Moga, August 20
A five-member action committee constituted by the district bar associations to press for their demand to abolish the evening courts in the state has decided to hold a protest at all the district and sub-divisional headquarters on August 23. The protest is likely to affect the functioning of the courts on that day.

Chawla urges Gen-X to fight out corrupt system
Ferozepur, August 20 
Former Punjab minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla today called upon the youth to gear up for another freedom struggle, not against the oppressive rule of the British this time, but against the corrupt system and those shady leaders who were filling their own coffers rather than serving the nation.

Pious occasion

Children exchange greetings on Eid-ul-Fitr in Bathinda on Monday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

 Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary
Mahila Cong chief pays tributes to ‘visionary’ leader

Moga, August 20
The president of Punjab Mahila Congress, Dr Malti Thapar, paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 68th birth anniversary at Rajiv Gandhi Auditorium in the Shyam Lal Thapar Nursing College and Hospital here today.

Recalling his contribution to the nation and the great sacrifice he made for the unity and integrity of the country, she said, “Today’s resurgent India is a result of his farsightedness.”

Thapar said Rajiv Gandhi gave the idea to impart quality education for creating new job avenues to eliminate poverty, which was being followed by the Congress-led UPA government. She said with his secular thought, Rajiv Gandhi proved to be a great visionary who initiated Indo-Pak talks at the Prime Ministers’ level to end the confrontation between the two nations.

Dr Thapar said leaders of this age should learn a lesson from Rajiv’s visionary ideas, which according to her, was the need of the hour to serve the people of the country in the true sense. — TNS

Sr party leaders skip function in Bathinda
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 20
The 68th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi passed off virtually as a non-event here as sitting legislators and other senior Congress leaders skipped the function that was organised in the party office to mark the occasion.

While the day was observed with enthusiasm elsewhere in the state not even a single sitting or defeated MLA of the party, except for Harminder Singh Jassi, spared time to participate in the function in Bathinda that is known as the nerve centre of the politically sensitive Malwa region.

Only a couple of local level party functionaries and activists assembled in the party office to pay tributes to Rajiv Gandhi. Jassi was almost two hours late in reaching the venue of the function. This is not the first time that such lapse has taken place during such function in the Congress set-up here. 

 Fazilka sub-division records revenue loss
Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, August 20
The receipt of revenue in Fazilka sub-division has decreased considerably following the imposition of a ban on the registration of sale deeds of plots located in illegal colonies by the Punjab government and increase in the land’s collector’s rate. The inflow of revenue has even decreased to 20 per cent from 100 per cent during the last three months as compared to the corresponding months of the previous year.

The Additional Chief Administrator, Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), vide its letter dated May 28 this year, sent to the local revenue department, asked the officials to stop the registration of sale deeds of plots falling in illegal colonies.

As per the official record, the Revenue Department earned an income of Rs 1,50,88,572 in May this year as compared to Rs 2,78,29,633 during the same month in 2011. Similarly, in June this year, revenue to the tune of Rs 1,13,19,549 was received as compared to Rs 2,37,15,014 during the previous year in the same month. In the last month this year, revenue of only Rs 96,69,189 was collected here as compared to Rs 1,23,61,764 during the month of July in 2011.

Besides the imposition of ban, the other reason for the fall in revenue is that the government has also increased the collector’s rate of different areas from April 2012. Hence, the sellers and buyers have resorted to other means of dealing in land.

Notably, the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) has identified 22 illegal colonies in Fazilka town. Surprisingly, of these colonies, PUDA has failed to detect the names of the owners of 15 colonies. Therefore, these colonies have been listed in the column of “unknown owner colonies”. There are only two approved colonies in Fazilka town.

“The ones to suffer the most are the middle class people. The colonisers may have amassed wealth but now the government should approve the colonies after completing the norms so that those who have purchased plots do not suffer,” said Shagan Lal who lives near the Dera Sacha Sauda Colony on Malout Road.

Kranti Kumar, a resident of the area near Atam Vallabh School Colony on Abohar road added that the government should have checked the facts when these colonies were being constructed.

  Raids at eating joints to check misuse of domestic LPG cylinders

Abohar, August 20
Abohar SDM Vipul Ujwal led the raids at different roadside eateries, dhabas and restaurants last night to check the misuse of LPG cylinders meant for domestic use. The SDM here monitored the situation as the police seized domestic cylinder from road side rehris, snack bars and sweets shops.

 Lawyers up in arms against evening courts, to hold stir
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, August 20
A five-member action committee constituted by the district bar associations to press for their demand to abolish the evening courts in the state has decided to hold a protest at all the district and sub-divisional headquarters on August 23. The protest is likely to affect the functioning of the courts on that day.

Revealing this to The Tribune, advocate Sunil Garg, president of the Moga Bar Association, who is also a member of the panel, said the state-level protest would be held on the premises of the Moga district courts.

He said the presidents of all the district bar associations would meet along with the five-member panel at Moga on August 23 to decide their strategy for future course of action.

“If the high court does not withdraw its decision to set up evening courts, the protest will be intensified by the lawyers. We will also protest outside the office and residence of the chief justice to press for our demand if needed,” he announced.

The lawyers said it was practically not feasible to enhance the timings of the court till 7 pm.

“We have to write various applications, make arguments in the cases and prepare the documents for the next day’s work. Therefore, putting extra workload on us is nothing less than suicidal,” Garg said.

Moreover, the litigants who are coming from far-off places to attend the court hearings would not be able to go back home at night due to poor transport system in the rural and border areas.

The lawyers alleged that the union government has proposed to pay 25 per cent extra salary to the judges for working in the evening courts but there was no proposal of incentives for the lawyers.

Garg said the lawyers were demanding five-day week schedule for the courts in the state on the pattern of the high court and the demand had been pending for some time. 

Chawla urges Gen-X to fight out corrupt system

Ferozepur, August 20
Former Punjab minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla today called upon the youth to gear up for another freedom struggle, not against the oppressive rule of the British this time, but against the corrupt system and those shady leaders who were filling their own coffers rather than serving the nation.