Bathinda, May 3
Members of the Muslim Human Welfare Society, Bathinda, today burnt Pakistan's national flag at two places in the city to express their anger against the attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail which resulted in his death.

The protesters assembled outside the Idgah Baba Hazi Rattan and a mosque in Kikar Bazar and set the flags ablaze.

The protesters criticised the way the Pakistan Government handled the entire case. They said the Pakistan Government had time and again shown that it was playing as a puppet in the hands of 'religious fanatics' in the country. They hoped the incident would not cause a rift between Hindus and Muslims living in India. — TNS

Bathinda, May 3
The police has launched a hunting operation to nab the three persons, including a couple, who allegedly cheated a city-based lawyer resulting in the latter committing suicide.

The lawyer, Darshan Dhillon, failed to bear the loss of nearly Rs 1.5 crore and ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling of his house at the Model Town Phase-III on Wednesday.

The accused persons had allegedly taken a loan of nearly Rs1.5 crore after pledging the advocate's commercial land situated on the Bibiwala road.

In his suicide note, Dhillon named the three persons for disturbing the peace in his life.

A case under Sections 306, 506 and 34 of the IPC was registered against Monica Garg, her husband Bhagwan Das, both residents of the Power House Road, and Himmat Singh, a resident of the Ajit road and an inspector with the Cooperative Bank at Nathana village, at the Cantonment police station.

The police said a look-out circular (LOC) has been issued to all the airports in the country. The circular carries the descriptions of the accused persons and their passport numbers. The aim is to prevent the accused from escaping to another country.

The police has also got the copies of documents pledged with a nationalised bank situated at the Bank Bazar here. The bankers informed the police today that after cheating the lawyer, the accused persons were seeking loan from various banks surrounding Bathinda and in Chandigarh.

One of the accused, Monica Garg, had also obtained a car loan of Rs 9 lakh. She defaulted on its installments as well, the police said.

"We are making all attempts to put the absconding accused persons behind bars and repeated raids are also being conducted at their residences and possible hideouts," said Cantonment Station House Officer (SHO) Paramjit Doad.

The SHO said the houses of the accused located on the Power House Road and the Ajit road were found to be locked since the news of lawyer's suicide spread in the city.

In his suicide note handwritten in Punjabi, the advocate had stated that he was taking the extreme step with a heavy heart. Seeking an apology from his wife, son and other relatives, he blamed Bhagwan Das Tony of taking him into confidence and cheating him.

The lawyer stated that the accused persons should not be let off if they failed to monetarily compensate his family members. He also accused Tony of disturbing the peace in his house by keeping him in dark over the loan.

The policemen investigating the matter said the lawyer got his land pledged in the bank as a guarantee for the loan obtained by the accused to start a business in sale and purchase of cement. The police said notices were issued to the two guarantors, including one Raj Kumar besides Dhillon.

The online auction conducted by the bank saw two bidders expressing interest in buying the piece of land owned by the lawyer. However, none came forward to buy Raj Kumar's land situated on the Dabwali Road.

Dhillon's plot was later purchased by his brother-in-law for Rs 1.1 crore.

Meanwhile, the bank officials told the police that they were yet to recover an amount of Rs 97 lakh from Raj Kumar.

Bathinda, May 3
The Special Trainer Resourceperson (STR) teachers have accused the police of following two members of their union, taking them to a police station and interrogating them about the whereabouts of other members of the union.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Ramandeep Kaur of Khayaliwala, a member of the STR state committee, alleged, "Kotwali Station House Officer Jaspal Singh followed two STR teachers, Gurpreet Kaur of Bhagiband and Naginder Kaur of Jaisinghwala, while they were on their way to a coaching institute. The two girls were taken to the police station and were asked to help the police in getting others members of the STR union arrested."

"The girls were not protesting and were going somewhere for their personal work. They also made the two girls call me up and speak to me while keeping the phone on loudspeaker. The police personnel broke the law," she alleged.

While SHO Jaspal Singh remained unavailable for comment, DSP Gurmeet Singh Kingra defended the incident saying, "The SHO has no personal enmity with members of the union. We had got the information that while some of the STR union members are lodged in Bathinda and Faridkot jails, the remaining members were planning to launch another agitation."

"It must have been only as a preventive measure that the two girls were taken to the police station and asked for information. The SHO in question was just doing his duty," he added.

The DSP said if the teachers would agitate at the Transport Nagar, the place allocated for protests and agitations, they would not be arrested. "They don't go to the designated place and instead block the traffic in the city and pose threat to the law and order. This may create further problems if an ambulance or a fire brigade gets caught in the traffic jam. We have no option but to round them up and gather information about their future plans," he added.

Bathinda, May 3
The police seized 700 boxes of a branded beer, worth nearly Rs 7 lakh, being transported illegally. The seized stock was sans permit and valid documents.

Following a tip-off received by the Mobile Wing of the Excise Department, the excise officials along with the cops from the Thermal police station laid a naka near the Barnala bypass between midnight and 1 am. The truck carrying the stock was flagged down.

Confusion prevailed among the police and excise officials when an excise official got a phone call from a ‘VIP number’ claiming that the beer was being transported legally and its documents would be shown to the officials within 15 minutes.

The person asked the officials to release the vehicle along with the boxes containing beer.

The officials, however, failed to get the valid documents till late in the evening and a case was finally registered in this connection. The boxes of beer were seized.

Excise officials said the stock of beer belonged to a liquor contractor of Muktsar and according to the truck driver, it was being transported to Patiala.

The excise officials said that in a bid to increase their sales, contractors sell some quota of their liquor at slightly lower prices in other areas, which results in other contractors in the area reducing the prices of their stock as well.

Thermal Station House Officer (SHO) Kaabal Singh said a case under Section 61 of the Excise Act has been registered in this connection and the boxes of beer have been seized.

The truck driver, Jasvir Singh of Muktsar, has been arrested, the police said.

Bathinda, May 3
Initiating the process of beautifying the college, the management of Government Rajindra College has begun the work of laying interlocking tiles on the path joining entrance of the college to the girls’ and the boys’ canteen.

Notably, the Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka, had visited the college for its annual convocation ceremony this year and had directed the college management to beautify the college. He had asked the management to make sure that wiring across the college was made underground. He had also directed to plaster the patchy walls.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, principal Vijay Goyal said, “The minister had directed us to begin the work of making the college beautiful. Paths inside the college have already been laid with tiles and now we are laying tiles on the path near the entrance of the college. After this, we will take up other development works.”

He added that the construction of the girls’ canteen and laying of interlocking tiles would cost the college around Rs 10-12 lakh. “The college is spending the money from its own funds as none of the grants announced at different times have reached the college,” he added.

The Education Minister had visited the college on February 24 and had asked the college to prepare an estimate of the financial grant required by the college to undertake various development works and upgrade its infrastructure. Earlier, the college had sent an estimate to the government in 2008. Considering the escalating prices, the college had sent a revised estimate of Rs 2.86 crore to the government in 2010.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla had visited the college on March 16 and had announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the upgrade of the auditorium but the college is still waiting for the grant.

The college will also be using its own funds to complete the construction of the library. “The construction of the library will resume shortly. The college is spending its own funds for its construction. The only grant that we have received till now is the Rs 1 lakh grant, which was given for cultural activities. We received the amount about 10-15 days ago,” said the principal.

Bathinda, May 3
Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, observed the Press Freedom Day on its campus today. A seminar-cum-discussion was organised to mark the day. As many as 10 speakers from different constituent colleges of the university attended the programme.

SK Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor of the university and former director of public relation, Punjab, was the chief guest and the keynote speaker on the occasion.

As the theme of the year 2013 for press freedom is to ensure safety of journalists and media in society, the discussions revolved around the theme.

The VC said proper freedom should be given to the press because its efforts could remove social evils and reflect the real picture of society.

On the occasion, silence for two minutes was observed as a tribute to the mediapersons who sacrificed their lives while performing their duties around the globe.

Bathinda, May 3
The police has arrested three persons with 720 kg poppy husk. Accused Jaswinder, Mandeep and Ajaib Singh were found carrying poppy husk in a truck near Talwandi Sabo.

Bathinda, May 3
Dr Karam Singh, a noted economist, was delivering a special lecture on the topic, "Sustainable Agriculture with Special Reference to Punjab", at the seminar hall of the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, today and just five minutes after his lecture began, he paused for a moment and fainted on the stage. The medical officer of the university attended to him and he was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Dr Karam Singh was on a two-day visit to the university for the lecture and an interactive session with MPhil and PhD students of the university. Dr Karam Singh, an internationally acclaimed economist, was the chairman of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Punjab Agricultural University, for several years. He remained with the World Bank for about 10 years and spent more than four years in Nigeria as a World Bank consultant.

Dr Karam Singh was presently consultant to the Punjab Farmers' Commission. He was also the president of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics. A condolence meeting was held in the university after his death.

Bathinda, May 3
The department of electrical engineering of the Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology (BFCET) organised an industrial visit for its students to the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala.

The students of the second semester of the course were taken to the Rail Coach Factory where they were given information about the concepts of various engineering streams, which are applied simultaneously to meet the everyday requirements in the Railways.

The students also got to have a close look at various vital sections of the factory.

The head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Harsimran Singh, said such visits help students to develop a practical outlook towards various subjects thereby making them interesting.

Managing director of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal appreciated the elecrical engineering department for its endeavour.

Bathinda, May 3
The Bathinda Municipal Corporation will press fog machines into action to kill mosquitoes in all residential and commercial areas in the city.

In a press release, the assistant commissioner, Kamal Kant, said the machines would make a round of every area of the city during evening hours from 5.30 pm every day.