Bathinda, March 31
“The 1980s and 1990s were not periods of strife between Sikhs and Hindus. These were the periods of strife between the system and the rebels and our film shows the same,” said Kuljinder Sidhu, actor, director and writer of the controversial film, ‘Sadda Haq’. The film, which waited for four months for a green signal from the censor board, will finally be released on April 5.

Interestingly, the movie was banned by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) but was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT).

Sidhu said initially the film team was told that the “film could create problems in India which the government was trying to prevent”. He added: “Before watching the film, many opined that the film may cause trouble as it is based on a series of true events. We have tried to show the reasons behind the reign of terror in Punjab.”

Sidhu said as per the directions of the Censor Boards, a 2.5-minute-long montage was removed from the film and a 1.5 minutes of reel was added. The producers also blurred the face of an actor which resembled the character he was portraying. Sidhu said he did not mind editing out the scenes since it meant that their wait for the release of the film would be finally over.

“Although I am happy that the film is finally releasing, I am surprised by the fact that if our politicians express their minds about history, they are allowed the freedom of speech but if a filmmaker wants to show the same in a film, objections are raised. A filmmaker has only fettered creative freedom,” he Sidhu.

According to sources, the film is based on the events such as human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra’s murder, police torture and fake encounters, jail break and the assassination of a politician.

Sidhu added that since the film was based on historical facts, it would add to everyone’s knowledge the period of militancy in Punjab.

Talking about the business that he expected his film to do, he said, “I expect it to be a super hit since comedy films no more bring movie-goers to cinema halls. After ‘Jatt and Juliet’ and ‘Carry On Jatta’, no Punjabi film has done great business. It shows that the public has had enough of comedy films and it is time for serious issues to be raised through the medium of cinema. And that is where I think our film will score.”

Bathinda, March 31
A resident of Kotshamir got killed while four others were injured in an LPG cylinder blast at a house late in the evening today.

The victims were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, by volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa and villagers.

The deceased was identified as Harpal Singh (50) while three of the four injured as Paldeep (30) Leela Singh and Nand Singh (40). The identity of the fourth victim was yet to be ascertained.

It is suspected that the incident took place when a family was allegedly trying to transfer gas from an LPG cylinder into another cylinder.

The villagers said the family members might be trying to transfer the gas to be used as fuel in their Maruti Zen car.

The blast left the entire belongings in the house going up in flames. The matter was brought into the notice of police who rushed to enquire into the matter.

Fire tenders were still dousing the flames till the filing of this report. 

Bathinda, March 31
Despite various drives have been launched to streamline traffic in the city, chaos still rules the roads here.

There are certain areas in the city where traffic remain choked most part of the day even as numerous initiatives have been taken by the district administration, police and the local NGOs to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic. Areas behind the bus stand, near the Bathinda Fort, on the Amreek Singh Road, near Gol Diggi and on the Railway Road stand are the worst-hit.

Though the city traffic police claims to have reduced bottlenecks to some extent by introducing vehicles that tow away wrongly-parked vehicles on the busy roads in and around the city, the area residents beg to differ. A number of lives have been lost in road accidents.

Some city NGOs, including the Sahara Jan Sewa, have launched campaigns to raise traffic awareness aiming at bringing down the number of accidents.

Traffic policemen said since the volume of traffic has increased manifold something at the level of senior-most state government functionaries and the traffic police required to be done.

Traffic moves at a snail's pace on the Mall road, Dhobi Bazar, Amreek Singh road, Power House Road, Bhagu Road and Bibiwala Road, said Rohit Garg, a resident of the Civil Line area.

Residents said there was a need to check reckless driving in order to reduce mishaps on roads.

Volunteers of the local NGOs said lack of alco-meters with the traffic police and unchecked drunken driving too proved instrumental in the rising number of road accidents and the chaos.

SSP Ravcharan Brar said special measures were taken to check drunken driving. He added that late night nakas have been rescheduled to curb drunken driving during the evening hours.

Meanwhile, the traffic policemen said people have started parking their vehicles within the yellow line in the busy city areas.

Bathinda, March 31
Members of teachers' unions and parents of students studying at the primary schools, which are to be merged with their ‘richer’ cousins, today held a meeting in Bathinda to oppose the government’s move of merging primary schools with “better” schools.

Resham Singh, president of the Democratic Teachers’ Front Union, accused the government of coming up with policies to fill its coffers. He pointed out that while the number of liquor vends was increasing in the state, the government was devising ways to lower the number of schools.

“The policies of the state government are anti-people. Aiming to generate revenue and fill its empty coffers, the government has turned education into business. Ostensibly, the move aims at merging the schools that lack proper infrastructure with “better” schools. We would like to bring it to the state government’s notice that the “richer” schools also lack the infrastructure to support the merger,” said Singh.

Elaborating on his point, he said, “While some schools have shortage of rooms, others don’t even have basic amenities like drinking water. The government should have done some groundwork before announcing the move.”

He further said as many as five schools in the Talwandi Sabo block were to be given to the Bharti Foundation. “We oppose the move. The government is commercialising the government education sector by bringing in corporate players to the sector. The buildings that will be vacated after the merger of schools will also be given to corporate houses to start public schools. The government is eyeing to generate revenue by opening private schools in villages as well,” Singh said.

He said the teachers and parents would take out a protest march in Bathinda on April 8.

The meeting was also attended by members of the Elementary Teacher Training Teachers Union, Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), Special Trainer Teachers Union, Education Guarantee Scheme Union, TET Pass teachers, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) and various other organisations. 

Bathinda, March 31
The Amritsar police, investigating the Amritsar rape case, has made inquiries about relatives of the accused. Bathinda SSP Ravcharan Brar said the Amritsar police was in touch with the Bathinda police in connection with the rape case. The police visited the house of an uncle of one of the accused, identified as Sanju, in the rape case.

The uncle of Sanju is deployed as a ticket checker in the Indian Railways. The Amritsar police, with the help of the Bathinda police, located the uncle’s house and made some queries.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the vehicle used in the rape was recovered from Bathinda but SHO Canal Karamjit Singh denied the initial reports. He said the vehicle was recovered from Amritsar.

The 20-year-old woman was allegedly abducted and raped by four youths in a moving car in Amritsar.

Bathinda, March 31
A first-aid training camp was organised at the Guru Gobind Singh College of Education, a constituent college of the Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo. During the camp, training was imparted to more than 200 students by Kaka Ram, former secretary of the Red Cross Society, Patiala, and Jagwinder Singh Grewal.

Kaka Ram told the students that first-aid required alacrity of mind and a set of practices offering protective and life-saving measures to prevent, be prepared for and provide an essential response to health emergencies.

He said the emergency situations could include epidemics, heart attack, road accidents or any other unforeseen situation inside or outside one’s home. He also demonstrated how a patient should be treated in various emergency situations.

Addressing the students, SK Ahluwalia, vice-chancellor of the university, said, “A timely first-aid is the line between life and death. Offering a medical help to others is a gesture of solidarity.”

Bathinda, March 31
A man from Rajasthan has been booked for murdering his three-year-old step-daughter.

The police suspect that the child was also raped by her step father. Maur SHO Jaswinderpal said the complainant in the case, Lachhmi, had married second time to the accused, Sonu. She had two daughters from her first marriage. The SHO said earlier his son (third child) was also killed by her ex-husband as he suspected the character of Lachhmi. Her second marriage also proved unsuccessful after the murder and suspected rape of his child by her second husband.