Bathinda, December 28
A meeting of the zoning committee meant for dividing the city into eight zones for the purpose of property tax, was held today under its chairman, the director, Local Bodies, Punjab, Ashok Gupta. The committee passed the proposed eight zones of the area under the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), with minor changes.

Based on the district collector rates, the area has been divided into zones that do not have any geographical contiguity.

The zones are designated in descending orders in terms of district collector rates.

Areas having higher rates and better infrastructure (such as water supply, sewerage and roads) have been placed in the first zone while the eighth zone has areas with the least collector rates.

The zone 1 includes areas of Mall Road and Dhobi Bazaar. The second zone has five to six areas clubbed together and the third zone has around 11 to 12 areas combined together.

Besides, the director, Local Bodies, the members of the committee included Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman, senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal, local MLA Sarup Chand Singla, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav and assistant commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal.

Having decided the areas under different zones, the MCB would now issue a notification inviting objections from the general public.

These objections will be settled and later, final notification would be issued.

After this, a committee with the Deputy Commissioner as its chairman will fix charges per unit. Again, a notification would be issued inviting objections on the rates fixed and final notification would be issued after dispensing all the objections.

While the owners of commercial property, who are already paying house tax, will start paying the new tax from April 1, 2013, the owners of houses of 50 square meter and 100 square meter areas will have to pay the tax before March 31.

Meanwhile, the officials of the JITF Urban Waste Management Limited too met the director, Local Bodies, complaining him against the municipal authorities of Bathinda cluster of cutting down their payments to charge penalty.

Gupta is the appellate authority for taking up the penalty cases.

Pleading their case, the JITF authorities said the company had so far invested Rs 46 crore so far in the Bathinda and Ferozepur clusters for the purpose of waste management. "Of this, we have invested Rs 34 crore to Rs 36 crore in the Bathinda cluster alone. Our monthly expenses for the Bathinda cluster are Rs 40 lakh per month. Of this, only Rs 27 lakh has been recovered. If the situation persists, we will be running into losses," the officials added.

They said any amount could be deducted as penalty only after an independent agency or consultant reviews its working. They added that the penalty clause had been misread.

The JITF officials alleged that they had been served termination notice many times without any valid reason.

Fact file

The committee comprising Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman, senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal, municipal councillor Daljit Singh Brar and assistant municipal commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal, passed awarding of works for purchasing light fittings for public parks under the MCB, buying slake lime and buying stationery for the MCB office.

Bathinda, December 28
Learning a lesson from the last year's experience, the hotels and restaurants in the city are planning to play it safe and host low-profile New Year parties. Unlike last year when some hotels in the city had brought dancers to entertain the guests, most of the hotels are either organising quiet sit-down dinners or hosting simple cultural functions.

On the condition of anonymity, many hotel owners alleged that although the hotels had got all the required permissions from the district administration, the police kept creating a nuisance last year.

To make sure that no trouble brewed while the parties were on this year, the Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association had even issued a directive to all the hotels in the city to host family entertainment programmes.

The association had also directed the hotels to ensure that the dancers were appropriately clad and there was no vulgarity in their dance movements.

While many hotels are yet to chalk out their plans for New Year bashes, the Bahia Fort has zeroed in on hosting a qawwali night and the HBN Country Club has called in a DJ to play music.

The hotel owners regretted that while Bollywood actors and actresses could come and perform at various ceremonies in Bathinda and other cities of the state, when it came to calling dancers for the New Year bashes, the administration created problems for the hoteliers.

The association has asked the police to inform it in case any hotel in the city hosts a programme that was either vulgar or unfit for the entire family to sit together and enjoy.

Bathinda, December 28
Safai sewaks in the city today accused the officials of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), and the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), of jeopardising their lives by not providing them with safety gears.

They vented their anger during a meeting held with the chairperson of the National Safai Karamcharis' Commission, Hari Ram Sood.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (D) Mohammad Tayyab, assistant municipal commissioner KK Goyal and municipal councillor Balwant Rai Nath were also present at the meeting.

The Balmiki Samaj, the Safai Sewaks' Union and the Sewermen's Union presented their charter of demands to Sood.

The union leaders said sweepers were working round-the-clock to keep the city clean. "Despite the efforts put in, we do not get weekly off nor are we paid on time," a leader of the Balmiki Samaj, Naveen, said. He added that the department does not provide any facility.

Leaders said while cleaning sewers, the sewermen should be provided with gas cylinders, masks, gloves and search lights. Besides, an ambulance should be stationed at the site of work to meet with any kind of exigency. "However, we are not provided with any such facility. In case of any untoward incident, neither the MCB nor the contractor concerned takes any responsibility," added another union member.

They added that safai sewaks work without any measure to guard them against diseases they were prone to while discharging their duties. There is no arrangement on the behalf of the department to provide treatment to workers that contract infection while cleaning the mess in the city.

They said this year, four people had lost their lives while cleaning sewers in different accidents, but the department was yet to give any kind of compensation or jobs to the next of kin of the victims.

Ram Sood expressed unhappiness over the working of the department. He said the Commission was dedicated towards betterment of safai sewaks. All the problems of sweepers and cleaners would be taken up with the state government, he said, adding that the matriculate, higher secondary and graduate employees would be given jobs as per their qualifications. Arrangements would be made to make their children study in model schools.

Sood said an awareness camp would also be held in the Balmiki Basti to make people aware of their rights. He said the safai sewaks should be given at least one weekly off and suggested that the sewaks, who have done good service, should be honoured at Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations. He also directed that special changing room be made for the women employees.

Assistant municipal commissioner KK Goyal asserted that the matter of allowing one day weekly off would be considered soon.

He said the contractors concerned would be directed to pay for the treatment of employees falling ill while working. If they do not pay for the treatment, the amount would be deducted from the security that the company had deposited with the department. The companies would also be directed to get its employees insured.

He said any employee, who was being exploited, should come out openly against the accused.

Goyal also asserted that action would be taken against the contractors that do not provide safety gears to the sewermen while working.

Bathinda, December 28
To curtail the consumption of liquor at open places in the city, the police has launched a special drive to curb the menace.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ravcharan Brar said an initiative had been taken to book all those who consume liquor by the roadside either while sitting in their cars or by keeping the liquor bottles on their bonnets or roofs of their cars.

After numerous complaints in this connection, the police finally got moving last night and ten persons were arrested from various areas of the city.

In separate cases, police booked as many as 10 persons for consuming liquor at open places. They were booked under the Sections 68, 1, 14 of the Excise Act at Kotwali and Civil Lines police stations.

The accused have been identified as Avneet Sharma of Model Town Phase-III, Gurjeet Singh of Parjapat Colony, Jagdeep Singh of Mehna Chowk, Rupinder Singh of Bibiwala road, Gurinder Singh of Power House Road, Sonu Kumar of railway quarters, Dasrath of Dhillon Colony, Raj Paswan, Ranjeet Raja and Nandu of Harpal Nagar.

The Bathinda SSP claimed that the drive against those consuming liquor while sitting in their cars or in the open areas in the city would continue and strict action would be taken.

Although the police booked ten persons on Thursday night, the residents said the menace needed to be dealt with more strictly.

With the dip in temperature, the consumption of liquor by the roadside and other open places has increased.

Volunteers of the non-government organisations said that incidents of brawls were being reported every night from outside various eating joints and ‘rehris’ on GT Road, Amreek Singh Road, Power House Road, Mansa Road and Dabwali Road.

City residents said that people create a nuisance after consuming liquor. Such brawls disturb the commuters, especially women and children.

Shahbharat, a lawyer and resident of Model Town, Phase-II said liquor consumption by roadside and outside eating joints had become a common sight in the city and it was high time stringent action was initiated against such persons.

“The police has launched a drive to curb the menace of consumption of liquor in open areas. The problem with such drives is that these are not a regular feature. After just a few days people begin flouting the law again. Earlier too, such drives were launched but failed to affect the anti-social elements due to lack of continuity,” the lawyer said.

Sumer Sekhon, a resident of Dabwali road, argued that people eating from ‘rehris’ selling vegetarian and non-vegetarian food also create a nuisance.

Harvinder, an employee at an office on GT road, said people place orders at eating joints and go back and consume liquor while sitting in their cars.

“Under the influence of liquor, the drunkards attend to nature’s call by the roadside, unmindful of those passing by. The matter was brought to the notice of the Kotwali police umpteen number of times but no action had been initiated in this regard,” Harvinder said.

He added that it was high time police started taking note of such complaints and acted swiftly to arrest people creating trouble after consuming liquor.

A major road accident involving two cars was reported from near Ghorewala Chowk on Christmas eve.

A Bathinda resident, his two children and the driver of the other car had received injuries. The driver of the other car was found to be in an inebriated condition when his car collided with the Bathinda resident’s car.

Earlier also, people drinking in the open by the roadside and sitting in their vehiclesd was an open sight near the Rose Garden chowk and other areas which had inconvenienced the residents in adjoining localities

Bathinda, december 28
A delegation of Bathinda Association of NGOs (BANGO) met the SSP Bathinda in his office today and discussed the law and order situation in the city.

Issues including violation of traffic rules and ban on China dor and its implementation were also discussed during the meeting. BANGO members pointed out that an increase in the cases of thefts, snatchings and drug-addicts indulging in anti-social activities hasd instilled a sense of fear in the hearts of the city residents.

Appreciating BANGO for showing keen interest in the city's law and order situation and ensure the association that all requisite steps would be taken by the police to rein in the anti-social activities.

The city-based NGOs had been quite vocal when it came to expressing anger and outrage against the Delhi gang rape case.The NGOs, accompanied by city residents had taken out candle light march in the city not once but thrice over the last 10 days. 

Bathinda, december 28
Guru Gobind Singh College of Engineering & Technology, a constituent college of Guru Kashi University, was awarded the Best Chapter Award 2012 by the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE). 

The college was selected on the basis of overall educational activities carried out during the academic year 2012. The 42nd annual convention of ISTE was held at Anurag Group of Institutions, Hyderabad. The VC of Guru Kashi University Dr DS Hira received the prestigious award on behalf of the university. — TNS