Bathinda, June 27
The damaged portions of the railway under bridge (RUB) on the Bathinda-Mansa road will be reconstructed soon, said Divisional Commissioner, Faridkot, VK Sharma during his first visit to the city, adding that an alternative route was being laid.

The district administration has already written to the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Delhi division, seeking permission to lay a road on the muddy path nearby. Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav added that after the DRM’s nod, it would become a permanent alternate route on the Bathinda-Mansa road.

The inquiry on the causes of damage is under way. The technical adviser to the Chief Minister, Punjab, Lieutenant-General BS Dhaliwal (retd) is conducting the inquiry and will submit his report to the government soon.

Sharma said the contractor, who had got built the structure that collapsed after incessant rain, has been given the work of reconstructing the damaged portions as per the new designs that the government has approved.

Sharma also visited the Civil Hospital, Farad Kendra, Suvidha Centre, Cancer Stay Home, which is under construction, and the Astro Turf Hockey Stadium.

At the Cancer Stay Home, he was told that the short stay home was being constructed for the kin of cancer patients who visit the city for treatment. The District Red Cross Society will run it on no loss, no profit basis. The building is being constructed at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore and would have a capacity to house 100 people.

At Civil Hospital, he interacted with some patients and enquired about the facilities being provided to them. He also visited the railway over bridge being constructed on the ring road here.

Earlier, he visited the primary health centre (PHC) at Jeeda village and checked the attendance of staff members as well as the facilities available.

Prominent among others accompanying the Divisional Commissioner included Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) Damanjit Singh Mann, assistant commissioner (general) Sakattar Singh Bal, District Transport Officer Harjit Singh Sandhu, Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) chief administrator APS Virk, Superintending Engineer PWD (B&R) Madan Lal Bansal and others.

Bathinda, June 27
Two new trains have been included in the new timetable of issued for the Bathinda railway station.

The new trains include Dhuri-Ganganagar passenger via Bathinda and Ferozpeur to Delhi Intercity Express via Bathinda. Further, the route of the Bathinda-Delhi intercity express has been extended up to Fazilka.

The Passengers’ Welfare Association president, Jasvir Singh from Rampura Phul, said the new trains and changed timetable will be applicable from July 1 onwards.

He added that the Ganganagar-Haridwar Express has been extended up to Rishikesh. The new timings for Ferozepur to Mumbai Janta Express are 6:57 am as arrival and 7:05 am as departure time. Earlier, the train used to arrive at the Bathinda railway station at 6:35 am.

Similarly, the timings of the daily Ganganagar-Delhi train via Jakhal have been changed. Earlier, the train used to arrive at 8:25 pm and depart at 8:30 pm, which has now been changed to 7:55 pm and 8 pm, respectively.

The Dhuri-Ganganagar passenger train via Bathinda will now leave Dhuri at 4 am and will reach Bathinda at 6:25 am. It will leave for Ganganagar at 7:05 am.

Rlys releases new timetable Two new trains have been included in the new timetable. They are the Dhuri-Ganganagar passenger via Bathinda and Ferozpeur to Delhi Intercity Express via Bathinda. Further, the route of the Bathinda-Delhi intercity express has been extended up to Fazilka.

Bathinda, June 27
A marketing executive from Sriganganagar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel here today.

Vikas Grover (24), a resident of Basanti Chowk in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, was staying in room number 103 of Hotel Royal since June 25. At around 12 noon today, when employees of the hotel knocked at his door to ask for the payment of the day, they did not get any response. They called up on the phone numbers that Vikas had provided while boarding the room. They got to speak to his mother who further gave the phone numbers of his uncles staying on the Amrik Singh Road in Bathinda.

Kotwali Station House Officer (SHO) Karamjit Singh said the door of the room, which was locked from inside, was forced open only after Vikas’s uncles, Keetu and Davinder Singh, had arrived. On entering the room, they found Vikas’s body lying on the bed with some sedatives lying nearby.

The SHO said Vikas had had his dinner on June 26 at 10 and asked for mineral water from the hotel staff at around 11:30 pm. “He wasa frequent visitor to the city and used to stay at the hotel often,” he added. The SHO said the police has initiated investigations under Section 174 of the CrPC.

Bathinda, June 27
A city-based scooter dealer has been directed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to refund Rs 51,350 for selling a defected scooter to a resident of Bhai Rupa village.

In his complaint, Ajaib Singh said he had purchased a scooter (4SDX) from the Kissan Electricals Private Limited, an authorised dealer of the LML Limited, near Rose Garden Market, with one-year warranty on January 18 last year.

The vehicle had some manufacturing defect and was giving problems. The complainant approached the dealer who got it repaired by changing some of its parts. The ignition switch, starter, CDI unit flash make, head lamp and engine piston, ring and wrist pin of the vehicle were changed.

The engine of the vehicle was opened within 10 months of its purchase, but despite repairs, the vehicle was giving problems constantly. The complainant requested the dealer to replace the scooter with a new one, but the dealer refused to pay any heed to his request.

The dealer informed him that if there was any problem it would carry out its repairs only during the warranty period.

The complainant then sent a legal notice to the opposite parties on December 19, 2012, and on December 29, 2012.

The complainant then moved an application in the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum seeking directions to get the scooter changed.

The LML Limited, Kanpur, claimed that the complainant failed to place on file any expert evidence to prove that there was any manufacturing defect in the scooter.

All complaints of the complainant were duly attended and the parts, if any, found defective were duly replaced under warranty to his satisfaction, the opposite party stated.

It also stated that the reply to the legal notice was given on January 7, 2013. After filing the complaint, the customer again visited on February 26, 2013, when there was a problem regarding leakage. The air cleaner was changed under warranty and the complainant had signed the customer contact report that the said vehicle has been attended to his entire satisfaction.

The Forum, after listening to the arguments and pleadings of both parties, observed that the change of vehicle parts were sufficient to show that there was some inherit manufacturing defect in the scooter and repeated visits and rectification of the defects as well as replacement of the certain parts proved insufficient to remove the defects.

The Forum observed deficiency in the service on the part of the opposite parties and accepted the complaint with Rs 3,000 as the cost and compensation against the opposite parties who are also directed to refund the amount of Rs 51,350 ( the price of the said scooter).

In case of non-compliance, the interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum would yield on the amount of Rs 51,350 till realisation.

Bathinda, June 27
With the admission season picking pace, various private colleges and universities are making a beeline to Bathinda aiming to lure students from the city.

While the Aryans Group of Colleges organised a scholarship mela in the city on Tuesday, the Chandigarh University opened its counselling centre a couple of months ago. Admission counsellors of the GNA Institute of Management and Technology, Phagwara, organised a walk-in session on Wednesday.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, the chairman of the Aryans Group of Colleges, Anshu Kataria maintained that Bathinda has started attracting private institutes since it is the hub of education in the Malwa region. “Bathinda is the hotline and lifeline of the Malwa region. It is surrounded by various smaller towns and districts. The city is also the political capital of the region. Taking all these facts into consideration, we decided to open our gates to Bathinda and make its students aware of our colleges,” he said.

Although earlier his institution used to organise on-the-spot counselling activities, this year he decided to give it a push by investing a lot of money in bringing Punjabi film stars Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa to perform in the city.

“It is a win-win situation. The film got promoted, our institute also got some promotion and students got to know details about our institute. As many as 100 applicants are seeking scholarship to take admission in various courses being offered by us,” he added.

The Vice-chancellor of the Chandigarh University, RS Bawa, said the university opened its counselling and admission office here to help students. “We have been getting a sizeable number of students from Bathinda and so we thought of setting up an office in the city to facilitate aspirants. Earlier, students had to come all the way to the university and now, we are offering them the service in their own city. Students from far-off places like Sangrur, Fazilka and Ferozepur besides surrounding areas come to the city for academic purposes,” he said.

Educationists say a spurt in the number of coaching institutes in the city has also contributed towards bringing private institutes to the city.

“Over the years, Bathinda has become the coaching hub of the region. Students from other places come here to take coaching for various competitive examinations. The private institutions want to target these students to take admission in their colleges,” said the owner of a coaching institute in the city.

Bathinda, June 27
Bathinda's adventure sports enthusiasts have a reason to rejoice. Now, they will not have to wait for some adventure sports carnival to satiate their hunger for adventure as the city will soon be offering adventure water activities like para-sailing and wave riding.

The activities, the trials for which began today at the Thermal lake No 3, will be inaugurated soon. Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Pawan Garg, the organiser of the activities, said, "The adventure sports carnival that we organised last year got an astounding response from people. We will soon open para-sailing and wave riding activities in the lake."

The Alfa Adventure Academy from Pune had brought the fortnight-long adventure sports carnival to the city last year. An array of sporting activities like hot air ballooning, parasailing, zorbing, river crossing, archery, banana boat ride and rappelling were hosted at the carnival.

"Unlike the adventure sports carnival, para-sailing and wave riding activities will be open to public round the year. We have bought the equipment for the same from Goa. The firm from which we bought the equipment has also sent two persons to take trials for the activities before we formally open it to public," said Garg.

Special arrangements have also been made to ensure safety of the enthusiasts. "We make sure that anyone who participates in these sporting activities wears a life-jacket. We also have 10 employees who would ensure their safety," Garg said.

Enjoying these sporting activities will, however, not come cheap. While one will have to shell out Rs 1,500 for para-sailing, Rs 500 will be charged for wave riding.

Garg said if the activities got a good response from public, more activities may be added.

Bathinda, June 27
Residents of Parasram Nagar street No. 10 today protested against officials of Municipal Corporation for not providing a permanent solution to the frequent problem of sewerage blockade in the area.

Darshan Sadiora, urban president, NGO Human Rights Youth Awareness Association, said the area had been facing problem of clogged sewers for the past two years. “Water stands stagnated in the street exposing children and elderly to a number of ailments. The matter has been brought to the notice of municipal councillor Darbara Singh a number of times, but nothing has been done,” he said.

Area municipal councillor Darbara Singh said the problem was persistent in the area due to a number of dairies present in vicinity. Animal waste and remains of fodder were directly emptied into the sewer leading to frequent blockage. MC workers de-clog the sewage pipes a number of times, but the same gets blocked within two days. “Either the capacity of sewage pipes should be increased or the dairy owners should be strictly told to move out of the city precincts,” the residents said.

MC Darbara Singh said he had repeatedly raised the issue with the authorities, but has failed to get respite for the area.

He added that the MC workers had cleared the pipes today, but was a temporary relief.

Bathinda, June 27
Five students of the Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh (PTU GZS) Campus, Bathinda, have been chosen to visit the Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea, for a period of six months under an international collaborative programme.

The students who have been selected for the trip include Amit Madahar, Gurveer Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur and Neeraj Kumar. All of them are pursuing BTech in Textiles Engineering. Kamalpreet Kaur, a student of Computer Science Engineering, has also been selected.

The students were selected on the basis of their academic performance throughout their degree programme. Dr Sanjiv Aggarwal, Dean (Training and Placement) of the campus, lauded the efforts taken by Punjab Technical University Vice-Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora.

The programme was negotiated with the Dongguk University, Dean (Academics) of PTU, Dr Buta Singh, during his recent visit to South Korea. As per the communication received from the university, the Korean Government has agreed to provide scholarship to these five students to pursue this studies and training programme. 

Bathinda, June 27
A man was killed in a road accident near Lehra Mohabbat village today. In his complaint to the Nathana police, Satpal Singh, a resident of Gill Kalan village, said Dallu Singh of Lehra Mohabbat village rammed his motorcycle into Satpal's bike on the intervening night of June 24.