Vacant plots turning dump yards irk MCB men
Bathinda, January 6
Hard as it may sound, people of Bathinda need taxes to mind their habit of littering and turning vacant neighborhood plots into garbage dumps.

Girl PGs on Ajit Road seek more police patrolling in the area
Bathinda, January 6
The Ajit Road, a hub of educational institutes in Bathinda, is one of the unsafe places for girls, who do not dare to go out alone for their tuition classes as they are afraid of men waiting there to tease them.

Pbi cinema experimenting with characters, says film director
Bathinda, January 6
Punjabi cinema is experimenting with characters. It was established actors like Harbhajan Mann and Jimmy Shergill who had set the ball rolling. Now singer-turned-actors have taken the baton and very soon we would see an entire new genre of heroes to represent the Punjabi cinema, said Dheeraj Rattan, the director of forthcoming Punjabi film Saadi Love Story.

Gulabgarh school honours its sports stars
Bathinda, January 6
Winners of various sporting events of state and district-levels were honoured at Government Senior Secondary School, Gulabgarh.

Commuting a risky affair on this stretch
Caught in a crawl
Travelling on Bibiwala road is not easy. No matter which vehicle you are sitting in or driving, you are always prone to major or minor accident on this road. According to traffic policemen and volunteers of various NGOs who rescue victims of road mishaps, this stretch has witnessed an accident involving different kinds of vehicles every third day.

Two unidentified boys loot city shopkeeper at knifepoint
Bathinda, January 6
Rs 2,000 were looted from a shopkeeper at knifepoint from his shop on the Power House Road. In a complaint to the police, Satpal, a resident of Ajit road, said that two unidentified boys, who were on a motorbike, came to his shop and took away Rs 2,000 while brandishing a knife. A case under Sections 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Civil Lines police station. The police has started investigating the matter.

Kill the chill

With the sun playing truant in this cold January, shopkeepers try to keep themselves warm by sitting around a bonfire in a city market. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Vacant plots turning dump yards irk MCB men
 Finding it tough to locate owners of such plots, staff awaits introduction of property tax to access details of properties 
Megha Mann
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 6
Hard as it may sound, people of Bathinda need taxes to mind their habit of littering and turning vacant neighborhood plots into garbage dumps.

Stray cattle litter garbage much to the chagrin of MCB staff and city residents. Photo: Bhupinder Dhillon

With the introduction of Property Tax, the sanitation department of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), is expected to get some relief from this habit of people.

Presently, it is a Herculean task for sanitation officials to find the owners of such vacant plots. "The moment you keep a dustbin in a vacant plot or try to take over its possession, its owner appears from nowhere. On the other hand, when we try to find the owner of a plot to penalise him or her for having garbage, the owners do a vanishing act and are never traceable," said sanitary inspectors.

With the introduction of Property Tax in April, the addresses of the owner of every plot will be duly registered with the MCB. The tax has provisions of taxing the owners of vacant plots too, which will make it easier for the sanitation department too to locate the owners. Fed up with the unclean habits of Bathinda residents, the sanitation department is looking forward to this tax.

A sanitary inspector revealed, "One of the leading cloth showrooms on the Mall Road is in the habit of keeping garbage-filled bags outside the shop only when we have swept clean the road. We have requested the shop owner and his staff a number of times to keep the garbage-filled bags outside while closing the shop at night. But all the pleas have fallen on deaf ears."

Quoting another incidence, a sweeper deployed on cleaning the Court Road near bus stand, said by 9:15 every morning, the road was swept clean, but caring two hoots for the efforts and the hard work of sweepers and other MC employees, shopkeepers dump piles of garbage just after 9:30 am.

MC officials said several campaigns had been held to convince people to keep their surroundings clean, but all efforts went in vain. "Everyone wants their houses and shops clean, but no one wants to walk to the nearest dustbin to dispose the garbage responsibly," regretted a garbage collector.

Similarly, in the areas beyond the railway lines, the condition of a sewer is in a shambles.

This is because a number of dairies are located in residential areas that dispose cow dung and fodder residue into the sewer. "Sewers are not meant to carry dung and fodder residue. But people fail to understand this. How would these structures function if they are burdened with such heavy materials," questioned the employees of the sewerage board.

Girl PGs on Ajit Road seek more police patrolling in the area
Tanbir Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 6
The Ajit Road, a hub of educational institutes in Bathinda, is one of the unsafe places for girls, who do not dare to go out alone for their tuition classes as they are afraid of men waiting there to tease them.

A view of the Ajit Road in Bathinda. A Tribune photo

Shivani Bansal, a BCom student, said, "The Ajit Road is very unsafe. Boys and middle-aged men follow us, pass cheap comments and abuse us when ignored."

Gagandeep Kaur, a medical student, while sharing her experience, said, "The Delhi gang rape incident has shaken me to the core. Not only Delhi, but Bathinda is equally unsafe for girls."

She and her roommate complained, "A middle-aged man has been noticed many a times wandering on his silver-blue bike on the Ajit Road. He follows girls and tries to abuse them physically. It has happened twice with our friend. We feel very scared and have stopped going out alone."

In the wake of increase in crime against women, the owners of paying guest (PG) accommodation have tightened rules for girls and have put restrictions on their entry timings.

Gurpreet Kaur, a PG owner on Ajit Road, said, "We don't want to take any chance with regard to the safety of girls staying at my place. We have made it compulsory that no girl will go out after 7 pm."

Jasvir Kaur, a commerce student, said, "We are not allowed to step out of our PG after six in the evening."

Female students have demanded more number of police personnel, especially lady police, be deployed on the Ajit Road and increased police patrolling.

"With more police patrolling in the area, we will feel secure and can go out freely. Also, complaint boxes should be placed at main squares," Harshdeep Kaur, a student, said.

"Fear of boys taking revenge and less faith in the police are the reasons that cases of eve-teasing are not reported to the police," she said.

Pbi cinema experimenting with characters, says film director
 The director along with actors, promotes upcoming film Saadi Love Story
Megha Mann
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 6
Punjabi cinema is experimenting with characters. It was established actors like Harbhajan Mann and Jimmy Shergill who had set the ball rolling. Now singer-turned-actors have taken the baton and very soon we would see an entire new genre of heroes to represent the Punjabi cinema, said Dheeraj Rattan, the director of forthcoming Punjabi film Saadi Love Story.

Director of the upcoming Punjabi film ‘Saadi Love Story’ Dheeraj Rattan (right) speaks to mediapersons in Bathinda on Sunday. He is flanked by one of the leading actresses of the movie, Neetu Singh. Photo: Bhupinder Dhillon

Rattan was in the city with one of the lead actresses Neetu Singh for the film's promotion.

Interacting with mediapersons, Rattan claimed that the movie was a perfect blend of romance, drama and comedy that would put the Punjabi cinema at a higher pedestal.

The movie is shot extensively in and around Chandigarh, including areas of Kurali and Landran, over a period of 35 days. Its lead male artistes are singer-turned-actors Diljit Dosanjh and Amrinder Gill.

While Dosanjh plays the character of an aspiring singer, Amrinder Gill is playing the role of a fashion photographer.

Actor Jimmy Shergill has is the co-producer of the movie.

"Punjabi film industry has risen as a strong regional and entertaining cinema. The presence of Jimmy Shergill has given us a mentor to reckon with. With a Bollywood A-star Akshay Kumar foraying into the Punjabi cinema, its horizon has indeed widened. The industry is looking forward to the talent that magnets like Akshay and Jimmy will attract," said Rattan who has earlier penned hit movies like Mel Karade Rabba and Jatt and Juliet.

Saadi Love Story is his directorial debut.

The movie makers promise it to be a family entertainer with a U certification granted by the Censor Board of India. The movie has six songs by Jaidev Kumar and is slated for release on January 11.

Besides the four lead actors, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Mukesh Vohra as a comedian are part of the film. The movie also has Neeru Bajwa in a cameo appearance.

Actresses Neetu Singh, Surveen Chawla and director Dheeraj Rattan also promoted their movie at the Mittal Mall in the city taking advantage of the holiday.

‘Delhi crime is bestiality’

Commenting on the Delhi gang rape episode, Dheeraj Rattan said it was the most unfortunate incident that was laced with bestiality.

Gulabgarh school honours its sports stars
Tribune News Service

Commuting a risky affair on this stretch
Travelling in the city during peak hours can be a test of nerves. In the first of the series, Bathinda Tribune reporter Gurdeep Singh Mann and photographer Bhupinder Dhillon take the Bibiwala road — considered to be the city’s entrance — to ascertain the problems faced by commuters

scene outside the city bus stand

Traffic snarls outside bus stand is common. The slip road outside the bus stand has been encroached upon by auto-rickshaws.

caught in a crawl
Travelling on Bibiwala road is not easy. No matter which vehicle you are sitting in or driving, you are always prone to major or minor accident on this road. According to traffic policemen and volunteers of various NGOs who rescue victims of road mishaps, this stretch has witnessed an accident involving different kinds of vehicles every third day.

"There is hardly any stretch on the road which is safe for the commuters as heavy vehicles, including oil tankers, heavy machinery for the refinery and Army vehicles pass through. We used to shift two to three road accident victims every week on this road," said Vijay Goel, president of the NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa.

near court complex

The traffic on the road leading to the bus stand from Rajindra College witnesses a long queue of vehicles.

Expressing similar views, Sonu Maheshwari, the president of Naujawan Welfare Society, another NGO in the city, said the most accident-prone stretches on this road are near DAV College, Hotel Krishna Continental, Bibiwala Chowk, Liberty Chowk and Fauji Chowk.

He said an Army jawan and his 15-year-old daughter lost their lives while his wife lost both her legs in an accident when they were dragged by a truck near Bibiwala Chowk over a year ago.

Maheshwari said two young boys sustained fracture in the leg at a divider near the sports stadium around a month ago and a teacher from Patel Nagar lost his life while crossing the road. 

Problems you have to grapple with
Kind of traffic: The vehicles on this stretch include heavy Army trucks, overloaded trucks and vehicles bound for Haryana passing through the city, students travelling to attend classes in DAV College and school.

Kind of vehicles: Majority of the vehicles include trucks, cars, two-wheelers, buses besides tongas. carrying material of all sorts which in itself can be a problem for the motorists stuck in a jam.

Presence of policemen managing traffic

Bibiwala Chowk: No policemen

Fauji Chowk: NCC cadets managing traffic.

Liberty Chowk: No policemen 

Outside DAV college: The potholed road outside DAV College has resulted in many mishaps in the past.

Bibiwala  road: The iron railing on th road divider has gone missing, having fallen prey to drug addicts.

clock tower, 100-feet road: NCC cadets distributing pamphlets to create traffic awareness among the commuters.

Choke points
Clock Tower, Fauji Chowk, Bus Stand, Liberty Chowk, near DAV College and school, Bibiwala Chowk are the main choke points.

Barricades outside bus stand slow down traffic

The recently installed iron barricades outside the bus stand plays a major role in slowing down the traffic outside. The space on the road gets narrowed and because of the big size of the buses, smaller vehicles have to wait before they can move ahead. The rickshaws and auto-rickshaws occupy the entire slip road towards the residence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Accident points identified on the stretch
There are as many as 15 cuts on the road between Bibiwala Chowk and Liberty Chowk. The entire iron railing on the road is missing as thieves and drug addicts have taken it away to sell the scrap. The vehicles taking turn at the cuts and people crossing the road are more prone to the accidents.

No survey conducted by the officials so far
So far, no particular survey has been conducted either by the district administration or the police on the stretch though two more traffic lights have come up near the Clock Tower and Liberty Chowk to streamline the flow of traffic.

Confusion created by buses seeking passengers
Commuters going towards Bibiwala Chowk from 100-feet road near the Clock Tower fail to notice the fast approaching vehicles as buses usually halt for passengers on both sides of the road. 

COMMUTERS speak
Mishaps not ruled out

While the heavy vehicles always use high beam, two-wheelers and cars bang their vehicles into people crossing the road using cuts. The heavy vehicles have collided many times with vehicles coming out of residential areas like Kamla Nehru and Patel Nagar, situated on both sides of the road. The stretch between Bibiwala Chowk and Clock Tower has witnessed 15 accidents this winter.— Manvinder sekhon

The auto-rickshaws commuting between the bus stand, railway station and Bibiwala Chowk can be seen parked anywhere without any check. They pick up passengers anytime and disturb the pace of other commuters. The pollution from the auto-rickshaws also leads to health problems including irritation in the eyes. — Sanjeev kumar

The number of accidents could be reduced if the encroachments and wrong parking can be tackled. The wrong parking of vehicles and vendors on both sides of the road, between Bibiwala Chowk to the first traffic light point, have caused many accidents. — Parveen kumar

The problem has been created by the commuters and the solution too lies with them. Drivers lack driving sense, there are engineering faults and policemen are not deployed round-the-clock at traffic lights. The numerous cuts on road too should be plugged. —Vijay goyal

A pothole on the road in front of the DAV College has become the reason for accidents. The authorities are yet to fill the pothole. — Kewal bansal

official speak
Measures being taken
A lot has been done to streamline the flow of traffic in the city. Numerous traffic lights have been installed. We are also in the process of installing CCTV cameras at major intersections to keep an eye on traffic rule violators.— Ravcharan Brar, Bathinda SSP

bibiwala chowk

mehta motors light point

clock tower chowk

fauji chowk

liberty chow

Two unidentified boys loot city shopkeeper at knifepoint
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 6
Rs 2,000 were looted from a shopkeeper at knifepoint from his shop on the Power House Road. In a complaint to the police, Satpal, a resident of Ajit road, said that two unidentified boys, who were on a motorbike, came to his shop and took away Rs 2,000 while brandishing a knife. A case under Sections 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Civil Lines police station. The police has started investigating the matter.

Ahmedabad resident booked for Rs 6 lakh fraud
The police has registered a case of cheating against a resident of Ahmedabad. The accused duped a resident of Gandhi Market in Bathinda of Rs 6 lakh. In a complaint to the police, Manish Kumar said that Tarak Aggarwal, the director of the Ahmedabad-based Liverpool Retail India Limited, promised to provide him an agency of readymade garments. The complainant said the accused later retracted from his promise. After detailed investigations by the police, a case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Kotwali police station.

Four of a family booked for demanding dowry
The police has registered a case of dowry against four members of a family. In a complaint to the police, Kavita Bhatnagar, a resident of Aggarwal Colony, stated that the accused had been harassing her over the pretext of bringing inadequate dowry. Acting upon her complaint, a case under Sections 498-A and 406 of the IPC has been registered Manish Bhatnagar, Dinesh Bhatnagar, Kusum and Rishu, all residents of Amreek Singh Road, Bathinda, at the Women police station.

3 Chandigarh residents booked in dowry case
The police has registered a case against three residents of Chandigarh for demanding dowry. The case was registered on the complaint of Shivraj Kaur, a resident of Harbans Nagar, Bathinda. The complainant stated that the accused persons, all residents of Sector 41-D in Chandigarh, had been harassing her for dowry. The police has registered a case against Satwinder Pal, Balwant Singh and Gunjeet Kaur. No arrest has been made in this regard so far.

Vehicle stolen
A Mahindra Scorpio, worth nearly Rs 8.5 lakh, of a resident of Ajit road has reportedly been stolen. In his complaint to the police, Harvinder Singh stated that some unidentified persons had stolen his vehicle which was parked on the Ajit Road. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered at the Civil Lines police station.