Bathinda, October 8
The General House of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) today passed a resolution declaring that building plans in the areas designated as "developed" will be passed — a move that may draw flak from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In its directions, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the state government not to approve building plans in areas which are not approved colonies and stated that any violation would be viewed seriously.

These directions of the High Court created panic, especially in Bathinda city, where there are 44 unauthorised colonies and more than 90 per cent of the area within the municipal limits has been declared unauthorised.

The issue has its genesis in the 2008 list that the civic body submitted to the government mentioning the authorised and unauthorized colonies. Surprisingly, the old parts of the city, which have been inhabited for the last 100 years, too were added to the list of unauthorised colonies.

"The authorising agencies came into being barely 15 to 20 years ago and hence, the areas that did not have any authorization, were mentioned in the list. The irony is that most of the unauthorised areas have power, sewer and drinking water connections as well as road network. The list was faulty and our people are now bearing the brunt of it," said Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal.

With most building plans not being passed, people approached the Bathinda (Urban) MLA Sarup Chand Singla, who was present in today's meeting. Earlier, he had participated in the General House meeting immediately after being elected as an MLA.

The matter was kept before the House for its consideration. The members, in unison, demanded that the building plans should be passed as the people were facing a lot of inconvenience and property business had come to a standstill.

It was decided that the areas designated as "developed" in the 2008 list will be treated as authorised and their plans will be passed. MLA Sarup Chand Singla too endorsed the decision, while Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal, leader of opposition Jagrup Singh Gill and the MCB law officer OP Soni opposed the move.

Jagrup Singh Gill said said instead of facing contempt of court later, steps should be taken to redress the problem at the policy level. He said all legal aspects should be studied or a revision petition could be filed before the court. The matter could also be taken up in the Vidhan Sabha for further action.

"If passed at this stage, the decision could backfire. People will submit the fees for getting the building plan approved but the MCB officials will refuse to endorse it or pass it," he said.

Even the law officer OP Soni said the House cannot pass any resolution as the orders are from the High Court. He added that ultimately the plans will come to officials for being passed and no official will dare to defy the court's decision.

Soni added that the court had not defined the terms — developed and undeveloped colony — and hence, nothing could be said at this stage of time.

Bathinda, October 8
The General House meeting today saw the usually reticent Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman metamorphose into a witty politician taking potshots at the municipal councillors belonging to the opposition.

Arguing with the Congress MC Jagrup Singh Gill regarding the partisan attitude of the corporation, the Mayor claimed that the largest grant has been given to the ward represented by Gill.

"You should be thankful to the corporation for initiating unparalleled development in your ward. Instead, you are accusing us of bias," he said.

Drawing laughter and thumping of the benches from his party colleagues, the Mayor sang paeans to the SAD-BJP government in the state and did some Congress bashing, much to the chagrin of the opposition councilors.

Meanwhile, the General House today passed the revised users charges according to which the JITF Urban Waste Management will charge its commercial users in the city. The Comprehensive Mobility Plan Scheme (CMPS) of Bathinda was also passed, which is a project funded by the Centre.

The Corporation had proposed to earmark ten sites for putting up religious advertisements at the rate of 100 per day per pole for a maximum period of three days. This was aimed at attracting revenue and well as beautifying the city.

Also, the support of councillors was sought for collecting the sewer and water supply bills that people have not paid, leading to losses for the corporation. The corporation pays Rs 12 crore per year to the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) for the maintenance of sewer in the city. Another Rs 5 crore is spent to run the sewer infrastructure, whereas the corporation earns a mere Rs 3 crore from the water and sewer bills. This implies that the recovery of the user charges is poor.

On the directions of the Secretary, Local Bodies, Punjab, two teams were formed that recovered more than Rs 5 lakh. The councillors have been appealed to lend a helping hand by motivating people to covert the illegal connections into legal ones and pay the arrears and all dues.

Bathinda, October 8
A 20-year-old girl, who was reported missing since Tuesday, last, was found murdered today. Her body was recovered from a secluded hut in a farm meant to store dry fodder (turi) on Bir road.

The girl, Amritpal Kaur, was a school dropout and had left her studies after she failed to clear the class X exam a few years ago. She used to stay at home. Her father is in the business of repairing cooler and water pumps.

The owner of the farm, Teja Singh, reached the police station along with some prominent citizens of the area complaining that a foul stench was emanating from his hut.

He suspected that a body was lying under the turi as he had noticed blood stains there. Police reached the place to enquire into the matter and found the body of the girl that was wrapped in cement bags till her neck.

President of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa Vijay Goyal said volunteers were sent to bring the body.

He said the pyjama string of the girl and a chunni was wrapped around her neck and it appeared that the murderers first used her chunni and then the cord to strangulate the girl. Goel said it appeared that her face too had been disfigured by the criminals.

The farm owner told the police that he used to lock the hut and keep the key under a brick nearby so that anyone from his family or the workers visiting the farm could use it to get the utensils or fodder.

Police said the accused had left the body inside the hut after opening the door using the key and locked it again. It appeared to be the work of someone who knew where the key was kept, the police said.

Canal Colony SHO UC Chawla said a case under sections 302, 201, 376 and 511 of the IPC has been registered against unidentified persons.

The body was brought to the police station in an ambulance of the Sahara Jan Sewa and was then taken to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

Chawla said initially, two persons have been rounded up and the police was trying to reach the bottom of the case. "It will take some time to crack the case and arrest the culprits after we get some vital clues left behind by the murderers," the SHO said.

Bathinda, October 8
Farmers today lay siege to the regional office of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) in protest against the non-procurement of cotton in seven districts of Malwa.

Press secretary of the BKU (Ekta-Sidhupur) Jagdeep Singh Mann said the office of the CCI in Kamla Nehru Colony was gheraoed.

He said the farmers from Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda and Faridkot districts raised slogans against the CCI for delay in the procurement of the cotton crop. He said the delay has translated into profit for the local businessmen and losses for the farmers due to lack of competition. If the CCI came to the mandis to procure cotton, then the prices of the crop may rise, he said.

He added that the General Manager of the CCI was on leave for a week.

However, the junior officials have assured to take up the matter and start purchase of cotton in the next one or two days, said the farmers.

The officials assured the farmers that their inspectors would be present at all the 24 purchase centres. Later in the evening, the list of names along with the mobile numbers of the inspectors too was given to the farmers.

Bathinda, October 8
The CHOINAR Regiment is completing its 50 years of raising on January 1, 2013. To commemorate this historic day, a trekking expedition is being undertaken by the gallant soldiers of the regiment, continuing its past history of adventure and bravery.

The trekking expedition was flagged off by Lieutenant General Sanjeev Anand, GOC, Chetak Corps, from the corps headquarters today at 9.30 am.

The team comprises an officer, a JCO and 12 ORs, who will start their expedition from Manali and terminate it at Bir village near Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. The total distance of 201 kms will be covered on foot in 11 days.

The team led by Lieutenant Sangeeth VK will trek through difficult peaks and passes and scale heights varying from 11,000 to 16,000 feet.

This is the second such expedition being undertaken by the unit after successfully completing the first of its kind trans Arunachal cycle expedition in 2009. During this expedition, the team will also encourage the local people to join the Army.

Bathinda, October 8
Gurukul School, Kurukshetra, bagged the CBSE cluster XV kho-kho championship in the category for boys. Sant Ishar Singh Public School, Sangrur, came second while DAV Public School, Pundri, bagged the third position in the tournament played at the Lord Rama Public School.

In the category for girls, Sant Ishar Singh Public School, Sangrur, bagged the first position while Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, Dhuri, came second. OSDAV Public School, Kaithal, came third. Principal, Lord Rama Public School, Suraj Setia, thanked his staff for organizing the event. President of the institute, Chiranji Lal Garg, was the chief guest, on the finals. — TNS

Bathinda, October 8
Students of the Baba Farid Senior Secondary School (BFSSS) shone in the PSEB zonal and district tournaments in disciplines like badminton, lawn tennis, yoga, judo, baseball, shooting, taekwando, cricket, weightlifting, wrestling, netball, handball, table tennis, football, kabaddi and chess.

In the previous zonal tournament, BFSSS students won 53 gold medals, 12 silver and 3 bronze medals.

The BFSSS students participated in the district-level tournament. Playing with the teams of Bathinda Zone-2 they bagged the first position in wrestling, basketball (boys), baseball (girls), fencing (boys), weightlifting (boys & girls), taekwando (boys) and judo (boys).

The school bagged the second position in lawn tennis, baseball (boys), ball badminton, boxing (boys) and handball (girls & boys).

The school secured the third position in ball badminton (boys), gun shooting and badminton (boys).

BFSSS won 68 gold medals, 25 silver and 9 bronze at the zonal and district level.

Principal S. Baljinder Singh and vice-principal Navninder Kaur Dhillon appreciated the efforts of the students. Director Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal congratulated the students on their success.