Bathinda, August 30
Public anger against the rising incidents of snatchings burst forth today when people took law into their own hands and severely thrashed three youngsters for snatching a gold chain from a woman near Ganesha Basti today in the afternoon.

The incident took place at around 1 pm when some shopkeepers and bystanders chased the snatchers who managed to take away the gold chain of a woman walking towards her house near street number six on Namdev Marg.

Two policemen, recently recruited in the department, reached the place to disperse the crowd but failed. People hurled invectives and blamed the police for its failure to control the incidents of snatching.

An onlooker said an ATM card and a large sum of cash was seen in the purse of one of the snatchers. The youths did not appear to be from poor families, he said. He added that people beat up the youths to enquire about their possible involvement in past incidents of snatchings. The crowd shouted slogans against the police and said the snatchers should be given exemplary punishment for their crime.

The cops later informed the SHO, Civil Lines police station, Gurdev Bhalla, who managed to get the snatchers released from the crowd.

The SHO, along with his subordinates, had a tough time controlling public anger and struggled for over half an hour to get the snatchers released from the crowd. People were trampling over the snatchers, dragging them and beating them up with sticks.

An eyewitness, Vijay Kumar, said the snatchers pushed aside the woman after snatching her gold chain and tried to flee. The woman raised an alarm and some shopkeepers along with some passersby chased the youths.

They caught one of the snatchers. Later, two more snatchers were caught as they were sandwiched between and a blind alley and the crowd. The SHO, who arrived in a private car, managed to arrest the snatchers and huddled them into his car. The crowd, however, again dragged one of the snatchers out and thrashed him severely.

The crowd also banged sticks on the car to show its anger against the police and the rising incidents of snatchings in the city. A photographer had also been brought to click photographs of the snatchers and circulate it in the city. The residents of the area said the photographs of the snatchers would be released to make people aware about their deeds.

The SHO told the car driver to leave with the arrested snatchers and the car had to be driven in reverse gear till it reached the main road because of the surging crowd.

The SHO managed to block the crowd's path as they were chasing the car. Bhalla later got lift on a motorbike and reached the police station. Some youths on motorbikes tried to chase the car in which the snatchers were being taken but the police managed to bring the snatchers safely to the police station.

Later talking to TNS, Bhalla refused to disclose the names of the snatchers or their addresses saying the matter would be investigated thoroughly. He added that the credentials of the snatchers will be ascertained later. It is not yet clear whether they are habitual offenders or are involved in past incidents, he said. The youths are accused of snatching a gold chain and the chain has been recovered from their possession, Bhalla added.

The SHO said a case in this connection would be registered against the accused. He also informed that one of the snatchers is a student of diploma in electrical engineering.

Bathinda, August 30
The Excise and Taxation Department today seized goods transported in a truck from Delhi for evading tax. The goods had been brought from Delhi by a local trader who did not pay the tax due to the department.

The officials said the truck driver took a route that is not very frequented to reach Bathinda to avoid paying tax.

Baldev Singh Gill of the excise and taxation department said he got a tip-off about a truck taking the unusual route to reach Bathinda and a naka was laid at around 5 am with the help of the local police.

The officials sought details of the goods carried in the truck but the people in whose custody the goods were lying, failed to produce any valid documents.

They also failed to produce the slips of tax paid to the department.

Gill said the retail goods were taken into possession and were shifted to a safe place in the city for proper assessment of the quantity of the goods.

According to Gill, the traders, with the aim of avoiding 5.5 per cent tax of the total value of the goods, take unusual routes to evade taxes. He said that now, the trader will have to pay 50 percent of the total amount of the goods along with the 5.5 per cent VAT to get the goods released. The officials said so far, nobody has approached them to release the material.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Excise and Taxation Department has geared up to impose heavy penalty on those who evade taxes while bringing or taking away goods from Bathinda.

The officials of the department said they have been told to pull up their socks following the instructions received by the top government officials to impose heavy penalties on the tax evaders. The officials said the penalties are imposed with the aim of filling up the empty coffers of the state government.

The excise and taxation department had recently resolved a tiff with the railway authorities also over the alleged tax evasion by traders. The excise officials were of the view that traders use the railways to bring their goods in a clandestine manner and avoid payment of taxes. The matter was resolved after the railway officials assured to cooperate in locating goods being brought without the payment of due taxes. 

Fact file

* The goods had been brought from Delhi by a local trader who did not pay the tax due to the department.

* Officials said the truck driver took a route that is not very frequented to reach Bathinda to avoid paying the tax.

* People in whose custody the goods were lying, failed to produce any valid documents. They also failed to produce the slips of tax paid to the department.

* The traders, with the aim of avoiding 5.5 per cent tax of the total value of the goods, take unusual routes to evade taxes.

Bathinda, August 30
The National Fertilisers Limited (NFL), Bathinda, is all set to reduce the per day coal consumption by introducing the ammonia feedstock changeover project which would cost Rs 1,295 crore. The project would replace the fuel oil with natural gas to produce urea and other products at the NFL.

The commissioning of the project, within the next five months, would reduce the coal consumption from the present 2000 metric tonne (MT) per day to 1100 to 1200 MT per day.

The natural gas will be supplied by the ONGC/GAIL and RIL through Bawana Nangal gas pipeline with spur line up to Bathinda. Nearly 95 per cent of the total cost of the project is funded through loan from financial institutions and the NFL will contribute 5 per cent of the expense. Almost 98 per cent progress of the project has been achieved and the project is likely to be commissioned within the stipulated timeframe, the NFL authorities said.

The officials said that the cost of the fuel oil to produce one MT of urea was 3711 in 1995-96, which increased to Rs 27,144 in 2008-09. Now, it costs nearly Rs 45,000 to produce one MT urea in the plant. The commissioning of the project would also reduce the cost of producing per MT urea. The cost to produce one MT urea would reduce to 11,852 per MT approximately, the NFL officials said.

The switchover to natural gas from oil would help in saving Rs 424 crores per year due to the reduction of subsidy outgo for the first five years and Rs 506 crore from the sixth year onwards.

The chief benefit of the project would be reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and it would contribute towards the global efforts being made to combat climate change.

The NFL has undertaken the project as internationally supported Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) concerning global warming.

The completion of the project would reduce the cost of production of urea by more than 60 per cent, based on the current feedstock price.

Consumption of coal will reduce by about 42 per cent and the energy (fuel oil) consumption per MT of urea will also be reduced by more than 25 per cent.

Speaking on the occasion, officials from the consulting agency, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Gurgaon, said the switch over to natural gas from coal would contribute in the overall reduction of 1.5 lakh tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere per year.

At present, the NFL is producing 1550 MT of urea per day by burning coal oil and dumping heaps of ash left after burning the coal. The experts said the project would be completed within 36 months after its beginning on January 29, 2010. The tentative date of commissioning the project is January 28, 2013.

NFL officials including KB Verma, executive director, RK Chopra, DGM Projects, panches and sarpanches of Gill Patti, Sivia and Nehianwala villages, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) officials, Renu RP Singh, Chief Manager, Personal and Administration at NFL, bank officials, local industrialists, stakeholder consultants from Deloitte, Harish Chander, Jangir Singh and Vikram Rawat, were among those who were present on the occasion.

Fact file

* The commissioning of the project will reduce the coal consumption from the present 2000 MT per day to 1100 to 1200 MT per day.

* The natural gas will be supplied by the ONGC/GAIL and RIL through Bawana Nangal gas pipeline with spur line up to Bathinda.

* Nearly 95 per cent of the total cost of the project is funded through loan from financial institutions and the NFL will contribute 5 per cent of the expense.

* Almost 98 per cent progress of the project has been achieved.

* The switchover to natural gas would help in saving Rs 424 crores per year.

* The chief benefit of the project would be reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases and combating global warming. 

Bathinda, August 30
The 54 rural medical officers (RMOs), working under Zila Parishads, have not been paid salaries for the last four months.

Sans basic equipment like scissors, gauges and threads, these doctors have been designated the task of implementing national health programmes, social service schemes like old age pensions, rural water supply and sanitation programmes, medically check students of government schools and aanganwaris as well as to remain present at government functions like sangat darshan.

For the last 16 months, they are forced to pay the power and water bills of dispensaries from their own pocket.

"We were regularised 16 months ago. Before that, we were given a lump sum amount, which included our salary, salaries of nurses and cleaner appointed, as well as amount to foot bills. We are paying for all the bills from our own pocket since then. Not even a single bill has been reimbursed," said the district president of the Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA), Dr Gagandeep Singh.

"We lack potable water and power backup. Electricity wires at dispensaries are very old with open joints at many places. These pose danger and need to be fixed at the earliest," Dr Gagandeep said.

RMOs are appointed at subsidiary health centers (SHCs). Each SHC provides healthcare to 10,000 people and has to be equipped with basic health facilities and drugs.

In the name of infrastructure, the doctors do not even have furniture.

“We either borrow tables and chairs from villagers or some good samaritan happens to donate the same,” added another doctor.

Doctors demanded that they should be paid Rs 1.75 lakh annually as was being done in the case of medical officers working under the health department.

"In the name of maintenance funds, we do not have even a single penny," said another doctor.

Doctors said while all other districts were paying conveyance allowance to RMOs, Bathinda doctors were not getting it.

Advisor of the RMSA, Bathinda, Dr Manish Gupta said payment of arrears was pending for the last 16 months and contributory pension scheme (CPF) accounts have not been opened.

There are 59 SHCs in the district: Bathinda block has 17, Sangat 5, Nathana 11, Talwandi Sabo 8, Rampura 9, Maur 5 and Bhagta 4.

ADC (D) assures help

CEO Zila Parishad ADC (D) Mohammad Tayyab held a meeting with the RMOs today and assured them of solving local problems as soon as possible.

He added that help of the director, Rural Development & Pachayats, would be sought for problems pertaining to the state level.

Fact file

* Rural medical officers (RMOs) are appointed at subsidiary health centres (SHCs). Each SHC provides healthcare to 10,000 people and has to be equipped with basic health facilities and drugs.

* Sans basic equipment like scissors, gauges and threads, these doctors have been designated the task of implementing national health programmes, social service schemes like old age pensions, rural water supply and sanitation programmes, medically check students of government schools and aanganwaris as well as to remain present at government functions like sangat darshan.

* There are 59 SHCs in the district: Bathinda block has 17, Sangat 5, Nathana 11, Talwandi Sabo 8, Rampura 9, Maur 5 and Bhagta 4.

Bathinda, August 30
A TB awareness workshop was organised at the National Public School, Namdev Road, today. The students and the school staff were informed about the symptoms, precautions and treatment of the disease.

Gagan Goyal, communication facilitator District Health Society –Revised National TB Control Programme, RNTCP, made the students aware about tuberculosis.

Goyal said TB could be dangerous but with full treatment, lives could be saved. He said the government had started a DOTS system under which treatment and medicine were available absolutely free.

The communication facilitator urged the people to get their sputum examined immediately in case symptoms of TB, like cough for more than two weeks, blood in sputum, loss of appetite, loss of weight, pain in chest etc., were discovered.

The audience was also informed that treatment for TB should not be left midway because then the disease becomes incurable. Medicine is given free of cost under the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short course) at government hospitals.

School principal SS Middha asked the students and the staff to be informed about this this disease and take steps for its prevention and cure.

Bathinda, August 30
The Bathinda district courts will remain closed for two days i.e. on August 31 and September 1. In a press statement issued here today, the president of the Bar Association, Ranjit Singh Jalal, stated that the lawyers would be participating in a dharna to be staged outside the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh on August 31.

On Saturday (September 1), the courts will remain closed as it has been decided to observe strike every Saturday in protest against the operation of evening courts.

Lawyers said daylight murders were being reported in courts. "In such times, it is not safe for people to attend evening courts and return home after dark," said the general secretary of the association, Gurwinder Singh Mann.

Under the Negotiable Instruments Act, witness of bank employees was mandatory. Opening evening courts would mean burdening bank employees who will have to work even after office hours.

Bathinda, August 30
A resident of Sanguana Basti has been arrested for possessing 1,200 capsules without having a licence or doctor's prescription. Following a tip-off, the Canal Colony police arrested the accused, Baljinder Singh, from near Sanguana Basti. He was brought to the Canal Colony police station for questioning.

A case under Sections 22, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. The police said the accused had been selling capsules to drug addicts in the city.

In another incident, the police arrested one Jasvir Singh of Guru Nanakpursa area in Rampura with an intoxicating liquid mixture and a large number of capsules. He was nabbed near Kapah Wale Mehraj village.