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2 die as car falls into water channel
Cops resort to mild lathicharge to avert clash
Beggars pester motorists at major intersections in city
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Garbage collectors return to work
Chemists’ Self-imposed ban on sale of sedatives
Buy herbal colours & help rehabilitate Tihar Jail inmates
Police steps up patrolling in city ahead of Holi
Suffering from depression, man fires at wife, teenaged son
Release compensation for dead farmers’ kin: BKU
Feminism is the leitmotif of this play
Seminar on legal aid held
Engg college organises lecture by expert
Court acquits villagers in loan recovery case
TSU holds rally against Powercom
Four held for theft
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2 die as car falls into water channel
Bathinda, March 25 Gursewak, the brother-in-law of the bridegroom Ramandeep Singh, and Sukhdeep were on their way to Rampura city when the car they were travelling in fell into a water channel adjoining the Rampura-Mehraj road. The duo had come to Mehraj Basti to attend the wedding. Villagers said commuters usually fail to differentiate between the water channel and the non-metalled road. A similar judgement error could have possibly proved fatal for the occupants of the car on Sunday night, they said. The relatives said both the boys were the only sons of their parents. Gursewak was a sales manager in an automobile company in Bathinda while Sukhdeep was a transporter. The villagers, who reached the spot, said a few of them jumped into water to rescue the duo but failed to open the doors of the car which was probably equipped with a centre locking system. After many efforts, the victims were brought out and taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared them dead. Area residents told the police that a villager, who was riding a bike, had lost his life in a similar incident around six months ago. The police said a case in this connection would be registered after recording the statements of the relatives and the villagers.
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control over Gurdwara
Bathinda, March 25 Heavy police force was deployed in and around the gurdwara to avert any clash between the groups. Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ravcharan Brar along with a battery of policemen and senior administrative officials rushed to the village and pacified both the groups. SSP Ravcharan Brar said, "We are trying to make both the groups bury the hatchet. The situation is completely under control and both the groups are listening to our requests as well as orders." The bone of contention between the groups was the control over the gurdwara by a religious sect and the villagers. One of the groups had organised a 'path'. During the bhog ceremony today two parties entered into heated arguments over a trivial issue. Members of one of these groups sat on a dharna, which was lifted after the administration officials and the police intervened. Sources said that both the groups have been told to maintain low profile for the next three days after which the matter would be sorted out with the help of local residents and others.
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Growing Menace
Bathinda, March 25
Women carrying toddlers besides children pester commuters for alms. Most of the beggars hail from Rajasthan. As soon as vehicles halt at traffic lights, beggars start cleaning off dust from the vehicles voluntarily and make gestures seeking money, food or anything. Members of an NGO said many beggars claiming to be physically-challenged were actually healthy and able-bodied. "Beggars know that they can play with people's emotions," said the president of Naujawan Welfare Society, an NGO, Sonu Maheshwari. He added that last year, volunteers of his NGO had caught a beggar at the Hanuman Chowk who had tied a blood-stained bandage around his head with flies sitting on it. "It appeared that the beggar was wounded. We got the bandage removed publicly and were surprised to find a piece of flesh and blood oozing out of it," he said. Maheshwari said kids from slum areas were forced into begging and paid Rs 150 a day. He added that the matter was taken up with the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights a year ago. The Commission issued notices to the district administration following which the police ensured that no child indulged in begging. "However, child beggars are back. We will again take some action in this regard," he added. The president of Sahara Welfare Society, Vijay Goyal, said everyday around 8 to 10 new beggars were added to the city known for being helpful to the underprivileged section of society. "Taking advantage of this, people resort to begging instead of earning a livelihood," he added.
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Garbage collectors return to work
Bathinda, March 25 According to sources, the garbage collectors were asked to call off the strike and discuss the issue with the management rather than giving the city residents a tough time. The workers were complaining that while the festival of Holi was approaching, they were still awaiting their monthly salary. — TNS
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Chemists’ Self-imposed ban on sale of sedatives
Bathinda, March 25 This has been done in the light of harassment faced at the hands of the police when chemists were booked under the NDPS Act, which defamed them. A memorandum to this effect was submitted to the Civil Surgeon by the Bathinda District Chemists' Association here today. The president of the Association, NL Kansal, said their grievances had not been resolved even as they were brought into the notice of the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, MM Mittal, at Ludhiana sometime ago. "Our trade is being targeted unnecessarily and the drug authorities were acting as deterrent in issuing licences to qualified and competent persons holding a diploma or degree in pharmacy. The authorities are also red stamping their licences and asking for affidavits in violation of the Drug and Cosmetics Act," he pointed out. Hence, many persons interested in starting a business in veterinary, dental or surgical products were unable to start their ventures. This at a time when the government wants young and qualified persons to become entrepreneurs, Kansal said. Another hurdle is the constant harassment by policemen. They register cases under the NDPS Act, which have stringent penalties/imprisonment and show all of them in bad light, he added. Kansal warned that if the patients faced any problems in procuring their medicines the blame would be at the door of the government. |
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Buy herbal colours & help rehabilitate Tihar Jail inmates
Bathinda, March 25 Herbal gulal, completely handmade by the jail inmates is on the sale in the city. The products have been made under the Skill Development and Livelihood Generation initiative of the Antarkranti. The initiative gives the inmates an environment to reform and rehabilitate thereby preventing their return to the world of crime. The colours are completely handmade, soft and glossy. They have natural fragrances, are finely filtered and made of maize starch, edible ingredients and petals. A lady working at a store of the Divyajyoti Jagriti Sansthan, one of the few places where the herbal colour is available, said, "We are left with only a small lot of colours. Although these are costlier than the colours available in the market, people are buying it. Since the colour is made of edible ingredients, it is not dangerous even if it enters our mouth." Meanwhile, the Bathinda Association of NGOs (BANGO) organised a meeting wherein volunteers of various NGOs decided to ensure that the city plays a safe and water-free Holi this year. The volunteers will spread awareness and appeal to the people to opt for natural colours. The NGOs also decided to ask the city residents to save water and play a dry Holi. |
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Centre stage
Bathinda, March 25 Raina, known to the Bollywood lovers as the father of Anushka Sharma in 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi', as Sonam Kapoor's father in 'Aisha' and the school principal in 'Taare Zameen Par', was in Bathinda to stage his play 'Buhe Barian' at the ongoing theatre festival. "My association with the Punjabi theatre began in 1976 when I did my first Punjabi play 'Parai Kukh', which was an adaptation of a German play, 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle'. The play became a milestone and Doordarshan invited us to stage the play as part of the national television network's tribute to its playwright, Bertolt Brecht. Since then, the Punjabi theatre never looked back," said Raina. Raina remarked that the Punjabi theatre was popular to the extent that theatre lovers would not mind buying tickets to watch their favourite plays. "Ideally, people should pay to watch theatre. It lends dignity not only to the audience, but also to the theatre as a professional activity and the artistes. Theatre is now developing as a professional activity, which should not to be treated as just an extra-curricular activity. I am a professional theatre artiste and would want my plays to be ticketed," he said. When asked if theatre was now lucrative enough to motivate youngsters to take it up as a profession instead of just a vocation, he said, "One would be surprised to see the number of schools of acting, theatre and direction that are mushrooming across the country. Television channels, Bollywood and regional films are enough to lure youngsters towards the showbiz industry. Youngsters take theatre as the stepping stone to enter the world of showbiz." He added that today's youth was intelligent enough to understand and appreciate theatre. "They are more intelligent than I was. Take any classical, fusion or pop music concert and you would find youngsters flocking to the venue. Once, I was watching a play in Delhi but could not understand the language and the story. A youngster sitting next to me immediately looked it up on the internet and asked me to read the story. That's the power the youth has got," he added. What does he find more satisfying - theatre or films? Raina replies, "Creatively, I find theatre and making short films more satisfying. When I go to Bollywood, it is like a picnic." |
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Police steps up patrolling in city ahead of Holi
Bathinda, March 25 Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ravcharan Brar, while talking to TNS, informed that the initiative has been taken to curb eve-teasing, hooliganism, road rage and other incidents on the occasion of Holi. “Usually, such incidents come to light during this pious festival and to completely check the menace, the special initiative has been taken to help people celebrate Holi peacefully," the SSP said. He pointed out that the entire police force has been instructed not to disturb anyone celebrating Holi with colours. “But we will not hesitate to make Holi a black and white affair for those found to be disturbing peace by shouting, honking or driving rashly on city roads,” Brar said. He said special parties have been formed to chase hooligans. They have been provided with two-wheelers, policemen and female cops in plainclothes on bikes and Honda Activa scooters. Special points and chowks have been identified where the police public friends (PPF) and police sources would be deployed for the entire day to keep a check on the nefarious activities of the hooligans. “We urge the people to honour the sentiments of others and at the same time, control their own feelings to help society celebrate the festival peacefully,” he said. Any act of rowdyism on the road or at a public place would be considered against the law and this time, the police would not listen to any ‘sifarish’ (recommendation) from any political or government servant in favour of the accused, the SSP warned. Police said the public has been urged to keep the police informed about the wrongdoers in all the residential and commercial areas of the city. The police has already taken several steps in the city to boost security. From deploying female cops on Activa scooters to patrol outside educational institutions to check incidents of eve-teasing to installing CCTV cameras at various intersections in the city to keep an eye on mischief makers, the men in uniform in Bathinda are trying to ensure that law and order does not go out of hand. |
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Suffering from depression, man fires at wife, teenaged son
Bathinda, March 25 SHO, Rama Mandi, Sikandar Brar said the accused has been identified as 43-year-old Balvir Singh, a resident of Jajjal village, who was residing with his two teenaged sons and wife. With 15 to 16 acres of land, the family was into farming and grew crops and vegetables on their agricultural land. While the younger son used to help his father in agriculture, his elder son was studying in a college at Talwandi Sabo. The SHO said Balvir suspected the character of his wife and used to quarrel with his sons and his spouse. "Though preliminary reports suggest that there seems to be no iota of truth in the claims of Balvir, yet we are looking into the exact reason behind the fit of rage," the SHO said. He pointed out that Balvir did not have any licensed weapon and it appears that either he has procured the revolver or pistol illegally or may have borrowed it from some other person. The accused fled from the house after firing three to four shots at his wife, Charandeep Kaur, and son, Sukhpreet Singh. While the wife received bullet injuries just below her neck, their son was injured in the arm. The SHO said the police are enquiring into the victim's claims that eleven shots were fired by the accused and that he had two pistols. Police said the elder son managed to escape while the mother-son duo was caught unawares. A case under sections 307 and various sections of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused at Rama Mandi police station. Police said they are conducting raids to arrest the accused.
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Release compensation for dead farmers’ kin: BKU
Bathinda, March 25 A delegation of 150 affected families led by Shingara Singh Mann, district secretary of the outfit, today submitted a memorandum to the DC and urged him to not only release the amount of Rs 2 lakh announced by the state but also revise the official list of those who took their lives for defaulting on their farm loans. He said the authorities had informed him that a sum of over Rs 6 crore had been released by the government but it had not been disbursed to the distraught families so far. In case the state was serious in providing solace to the affected families, the official estimates should be revised since their survey had identified 650 -700 families while their estimates were around 2000, he pointed out. The compensation was too meagre and should be hiked to Rs 5 lakh and since the destitute families had no source of livelihood one member of each family should be provided with a government job. Additionally, the state should waive the loan amount of such families, he demanded. |
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Feminism is the leitmotif of this play
Bathinda, March 25 According to Raina, the play is a representation of 50 years of Punjabi literature. There are a total of four stories, written by eminent Punjabi authors-- Amrita Pritam, Ajit Kaur, Veena Verma and Kartar Singh Duggal. The four stories have been woven into one. The leitmotif of the stories is feminism. “The stories are interlinked with the common strand of feminism. The play tells the stories of women from a rural, urban, neglected and overseas background,” said the director.
"Buhe Barian" is a solo play and celebrated Punjabi theatre artiste, Neeta
Mohindra, plays the lead. Mohindra brings to life women who put up with the miseries inherent in a patriarchal society. |
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Bathinda, March 25 The seminar was presided over by Kawaljit Singh, Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, who made the villagers aware about the provisions of laws on women like the Prevention of Women from Domestic Violence Act, Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. Naranjan Singh, labour inspector, also spoke about the welfare provisions for workers in the construction industry. — TNS |
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Engg college organises lecture by expert
Bathinda, March 25 Dr Marwaha initiated the lecture with the basics of the topic following which he touched upon the subject in depth. He kept the audience interested in the lecture by adopting a student-friendly teaching methodology. Another expert lecture was organised by the electrical engineering department of the Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology on ‘Boolean Algebra amd Minimization of Logic Circuits’. Bharat Naresh Bansal, assistant professor and head of the department of the Malout Institute of Management and Information Technology, was the key speaker. In his lecture, Bansal included practical ways of teaching. Bansal addressed all the queries of the students to make sure that the topic was clear to the students and faculty members. After the lectures concluded, Harsimran Singh, head of the department of electrical engineering, proposed a vote of thanks. |
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Court acquits villagers in loan recovery case
Bathinda, March 25 The counsel for the accused argued that the bank was supposed to recover the loan within a stipulated time-frame and the bank officials had failed to do so. A complaint was filed by branch manager Gurdeep Singh of the Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank Limited, Beer Behman branch, against Joginder Singh of Basti Number 3 of Bir Talab village on August 2, 2011 for his failure to repay a loan obtained from the bank on September 1, .2005. The counsel for the accused stated that the loan was to be recovered within a period of three years. In a similar case, the court also acquitted Satpal Singh of Basti number 2 of Bir Talab. Both the accused had obtained a loan of Rs 30,000 each from the Cooperative Bank. While Joginder obtained the auto loan in September 2009, Satpal obtained the same for household purposes in February 2004. The bank officials claimed that both the villagers failed to repay the complete loan amount due to reasons best known to the accused as their loan accounts had become irregular. The bank officials said that when asked to repay the loan, Joginder Singh handed over a cheque of Rs 52,520, dated June 16, 2011, to the bank officials for discharge of his legal liabilities. The bank officials stated that the cheque bounced due to insufficient funds in the account of Joginder Singh. The branch manager of the bank filed a case under section 138 and 142 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The arguments put forward by the counsel for the accused, Sukhdarshan Kumar Sharma, stated that the complaint was filed by an unauthorised person since no resolution had been passed by the board of directors of Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank before the filing of the instant case by the branch manager. The advocate further argued that as per the files and papers provided by the bank and the accused, it was not clear whether the payment was released by the bank in name of the accused or the vehicle seller. Similarly, in the case of Satpal Singh, the bank officials failed to produce adequate proofs to plead their case against the accused. |
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TSU holds rally against Powercom
Bathinda, March 25 The leaders of the union said they have now decided to hold a massive rally in Patiala to press the authorities for the acceptance of their demands. Speaking on the occasion, the leaders of the union, Ram Lal, Veer Singh and others said they are demanding a practical agreement between the employees and the management of the Powercom. The employees have been demanding perks on the lines of the employees of Punjab Government. Body found A body was found near platform number six of the Bathinda railway station. The volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa shifted the body to the Civil Hospital with the help of the Government Railway Police (GRP). Volunteers Tek Chand and Harbans Singh said the deceased appeared to be a vagabond of around 60 years of age. The volunteers were informed that the deceased had been collecting waste from the railway station for a living. The body was kept in the mortuary for the post-mortem. |
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Four held for theft
Bathinda, March 25 In another case, police has arrested Karanveer, Amandeep, Gurpreet and Ranjit, all residents of Bathinda, for stealing two-wheelers from various parts of the city. The complainant in the case, head constable Kulwinder Singh, said the accused was arrested on the basis of a tip-off provided by a police source. During the interrogation, the accused admitted to having stolen the two-wheelers from near Mittal Mall and other areas. Police has recovered two stolen motorbikes from the possession of the accused. The thieves were arrested from near Dabwali road. A case under sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against the accused. |
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A marriage party turned into mourning when two close relatives of the bridegroom got killed in an accident near Rampura on late Sunday night.
The deceased were identified as Gursewak Singh, a resident of Raj Nagar, and his cousin Sukhdeep Singh Baba of
Phul.
Patients taking habit-forming drugs as part of their medication will be hit following a decision by the chemists not to sell such formulations across the district from today onwards.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta- Ugrahan) has demanded the release of the compensation amount announced by the government to the families of farmers who have committed suicide.
A delegation of 150 affected families led by Shingara Singh Mann, district secretary of the outfit, today submitted a memorandum to the DC and urged him to not only release the amount of Rs 2 lakh announced by the state but also revise the official list of those who took their lives for defaulting on their farm loans.
The play ‘Buhe Barian’ was staged at the Balwant Gargi Open Air Theatre in Rose Garden here today as part of the ongoing theatre festival. The play was directed by the veteran theatre artiste and director, MK
Raina. According to Raina, the play is a representation of 50 years of Punjabi literature. There are a total of four stories, written by eminent Punjabi authors-- Amrita
Pritam, Ajit Kaur, Veena Verma and Kartar Singh Duggal.
Well, you have a way to save yourself from fretting over the hazards this Holi. You have an option of picking up herbal colours to play a safe Holi while doing your bit for rehabilitation of the inmates of Tihar Jail.