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Civic body’s General House meeting convened on July 5
Panchayat poll of Talab Nehar Basti 1, 4, 5 deferred
Civil Hospital ward attendant gets bail after one month
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More aspirants, fewer seats at Rajindra College
Rain lowers the temperature
Youths robbed after falling unconscious at station
Woman held with 10 kg poppy husk
Voting today to elect 297 panchayats
Holiday today in factories, dist courts
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Civic body’s General House meeting convened on July 5
Bathinda, July 2 As per the agenda, which will be presented before the House, the MCB officials have expressed inability in repaying the first instalment of Rs 40 lakh of the loan borrowed for the development of the city. The officials have stated that within the given sources of income, the civic body is unable to repay the amount, but has not mentioned any options for paying the same. An advance of Rs 12.45 crore given to the MCB was used to run city bus service and lay sewers. Earlier, the MCB has moved an application with the state government requesting that the amount be declared as grant-in-aid given to the civic body. However, the government did not respond over the issue. Now, the PIDB is demanding the amount, along with interest, which amounts to around Rs 54 crore. The MCB is already bearing the cost of laying 100 per cent sewer, construction of a sewer treatment plant (STP) and laying roads. This has left the civic body with no means to pay back the amount. The issue was also raised during meeting with the chief secretary Punjab on June 14 wherein the MCB officials were asked to repay the amount. The House will also pass a resolution for an agreement with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for maintenance of street lights in the cantonment sub-division (8,774 in number), city sub-division (3,458), civil sub-division (5,081) and sub-urban sub-division (5,652). The House will also discuss objections raised on the final draft of the Municipal Advertisement Bylaws 2012 which can affect the income of the MCB from advertisements display. Kanhaiya Advertisers had objected stating that as per the bylaws no unipole can be installed within 10 feet area of another, which is not practical in the urban set-up. It has also mentioned that as per the bylaws from any power junction till 75 m of distance no advertisement could be displayed. If this is followed, many existing advertisements will have to be removed, which will have an adverse effect on the income of the civic body. The issue of taking over Sheesh Mahal Enclave on the lines of Home Land Enclave will also be discussed. The House may grant the City Development Plan (CDP) to Darashaw and Company Private Limited, which has been lowest bidder for the project. Other issues
The estimates for work of Rs 6.67 lakh for safai sewaks to be taken on temporary basis for the monsoon, fixing boundary pillars Rs 2.5 lakh, premix in remaining streets of the civil station Rs 9 lakh, laying interlocking tiles from the old bus stand to Fauji Chowk parking area Rs 9.2 lakh, laying DB paving in street of National Colony to Teacher Colony Nehru culvert Rs 12.98 lakh, supply of three sets of RO in the MCB office at Rs 1.7 lkah and laying interlocking tiles in the ward No. 37 Rs 11.92 lakh will be discussed at the meeting. No more free plastic bags
Plastic bags will not be available free of cost under the Punjab Pollution Control Board’s (PPCB) Environment (Protection) Act 1986, and Plastic Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2011. To dissuade the use of plastic bags, the rates of the bags will have to be fixed. A committee, comprising XEN PPCB, XEN, in-charge, project MSW, and district industries officers, will be formed to fix the rates. Sanitation dept to get more staff
A case for sanctioning posts in the sanitation department will also be presented. These would include one chief sanitary inspector (added to the one that already exists), five sanitary inspectors and three sanitary supervisors. Only seven sanitation staff members have been catering to all 50 wards of the city. Keeping in view the increased population of the city, extended limits, new housing colonies, slaughter house and for dealing with stray cattle, the more staff is needed. |
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Panchayat poll of Talab Nehar Basti 1, 4, 5 deferred
Bathinda, July 2 Confirming this, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Kamal Kishore Yadav said the Talab Nehar Basti 1, 4 and 5 would not go to polls on Wednesday. Elections for the same would be held later with the byelection of other panchayats that are left out due to one reason or the other. “After getting the orders of the government, we had carved out wards in this panchayat and almost done with the procedure. We then got a letter from the Director Rural Government, Punjab, asking us to exclude the area as it is set to be covered under the municipal limits,” Yadav said. Thereafter, revising its limits, the MCB issued a notification mentioning that the aforesaid area is being included within the MC limits and that all 432 electorates will be urban voters. However, the residents objected to their inclusion in the MC limits and filed the objection before the MCB. Accepting the objection, the Talab Nehar Basti 1, 4 and 5 were left out of the urban set-up. “We sought a report from the MC Commissioner, who mentioned that this area is not under the MC limits following the objections raised by the residents,” said Yadav. He said if the panchayat elections were not held in the area it would have been constitutionally wrong to deny people right to vote as well as right to contest elections. The district administration too learnt about the exclusion after the residents brought the entire matter into its notice through a representation. The administration will now again carve out wards in the area and again prepare the voters’ list. Since the task required time, the district administration decided to defer the elections. The same has been conveyed to the state election commission as well. More Reports and pics on Page 2
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Civil Hospital ward attendant gets bail after one month
Bathinda, July 2 The case Paramjit, a farmer, brought his injured nephew to the hospital after they received injuries in a village brawl. Paramjit, in his statement recorded with the bureau, stated that he enquired from Dr Ravinder Singla, who was on the night duty, to make a case against the opposite parties by writing that they received grievous injuries instead of the minor ones. Paramjit stated that Dr Ravinder asked him to meet his attendant for the purpose. It was stated in the FIR that Dr Ravinder assured Paramjit that the attendant would solve their problem. Paramjit further stated that the doctor had left the hospital next morning and he met the attendant who demanded Rs 15,000 to change the medical report. Paramjit contacted the officials of the Vigilance Bureau and filed a written complaint. Acting on his complaint, the vigilance officials laid a trap and arrested the attendant red-handed while pocketing the initial amount of Rs 5,000. The counsel for the attendant in the court, advocate Chander Mohan Ruby pleaded before the court that the case be investigated further to enquire into the role of any other person or persons involved. He said since an attendant has nothing to do in preparing the medico-legal-report, he cannot pocket money to change the report, which is prepared by the doctor only. One of the officials said they were still investigating the matter and the role of any other person, including the doctor, would be looked into and action would be taken accordingly. A case under Sections 7, 13 (2) and 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the attendant at the Vigilance Police Station, Bathinda. Timeline May 30: Attendant Nitish Kumar was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau for pocketing
Rs 5,000 as bribe to allegedly change a medico legal report. May 31: The attendant was sent in one-day police remand. June 10: The bail plea of the attendant was adjourned by the court of Special
Judge Avtar Singh. June 15: The bail plea was again adjourned by the court. July 2: Nitish got bail after furnishing a bond of ~50,000 and a surety. |
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More aspirants, fewer seats at Rajindra College
Bathinda, July 2 The college has received close to 2,400 applications for the 660 seats of BA-I. Out of these, 60 seats are reserved for the students hailing from the rural areas. Similarly, the college has received 600 admission forms to its B Com-I. The college offers 132 seats, including 12 reserved seats for rural candidates, for the course. As many as 320 students are vying for the 80 seats of B Sc (non-medical) in the college. For the 40 seats of the MA (Political Science), the college has got 200 applications. The case is the same for the courses being offered by the Higher Education Society of the college. For BCA-I, as many as 200 forms have been submitted while there are only 50 seats. For BBA-I, as many as 100 students have applied against the allotted 50 seats. For the 30 seats for the PGDCA course, the institute has got 100 forms. Reports say the college had first printed only 6,500 prospectuses. Gauging the rush for the admission, the college gave another order for the printing of 2,500 more prospectuses. College Principal Vijay Goyal said, “Last year too, we had seen heavy rush for the admission to the college. We had admitted close to 900 students in BA-I last year. We will do the same this year as well. We did not increase the number of seats for the science and commerce courses.” Talking about the popularity of the college, he said, “Our college enjoys popularity since it is the only government college in the city. Reasonable fees, regular classes and discipline are some other factors that contribute towards the popularity of the college among students and their parents in Bathinda and its adjoining areas.” Lagging behind Interestingly, while all the major courses are in demand, there are two courses for which the college has received application less than the seats available with it. The college offers 80 seats for B Sc (medical), it has got only 50 applications for it, similar is the case with the B Sc (Bio-tech). For its 40 seats in the course, the college has got only 30 applications.
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Rain lowers the temperature
Bathinda, July 2 While the maximum temperature on Tuesday was recorded at 40.2 degree Celsius, the minimum temperature was recorded at 27.4 degree Celsius. As per the latest forecast released by the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University regional station at Bathinda, there is a possibility of light rainfall in the region over the next two-three days. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has also predicted that the region will experience thunderstorm and rain over the next four days. The forecast released by the IMD for the next four days also stated that while the maximum temperature will be recorded at around 38 degree Celsius, the minimum temperature will be around 29 degree Celsius. The forecast also stated that the different moods that the weather has been showing are a result of the onset of the monsoon which entered the state on June 6. While the rainfall brings relief from heat, it also raises the humidity level. While the maximum humidity was recorded at 70 per cent on Tuesday morning, it fell to 30-40 per cent by noon.
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Youths robbed after falling unconscious at station
Bathinda, July 2 Volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa shifted the three victims to the Civil Hospital after someone informed them that the youths were lying unconscious. President of Sahara Jan Sewa Vijay Goyal said a phone call was received at around 7 am and volunteers Sandeep, Anil, Vicky, Om Parkash and other workers picked up the passengers who were lying on a platform of the railway station. The unconscious persons were rushed to the Civil Hospital in an ambulance of the NGO where they are being treated. Sahara volunteers said the matter has been brought to the notice of the Government Railway Police (GRP). Goyal said that earlier too, similar incidents have been reported at the railway station which underlines the need for security at the railway station. He said that a bag containing edibles and tickets of a train was found lying beside these youths whose condition is said to be critical. The amount of money or details of belongings taken away by the looters will be ascertained only when the youths regain consciousness, the volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa said, and added that the unconscious youths may take 48 hours to recover in view of their medical condition.
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Woman held with 10 kg poppy husk
Bathinda, June 2 Police has also arrested Kulwant Singh of Kotbhara village near Maur Mandi with 1.3 kg of poppy husk. The accused was found carrying the contraband near Talwandi Sabo. A case under sections 15, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered against the accused at the Talwandi Sabo police station. Mehraj
Basti resident arrested for gambling
Police has arrested Ranjit Singh of Mehraj Basti, Rampura, for gambling. An amount of Rs 620 has been recovered from the possession of the accused and a case under sections 13-A, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act has been registered against the accused at the Rampura city police station. Man booked for fake registration of land
A resident of Burj Sema village has been booked by the police for cheating a resident of Partap Nagar. In her complaint to the police, Angrez Kaur said the accused Sukhdarshan Singh fraudulently got a piece of land, which was 10 kanal and 10 marla in size, registered in the name of someone else. A case under section 420 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Maur police station. |
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Voting today to elect 297 panchayats
Bathinda, July 2 In Bathinda block alone, polling will be held for 65 panchayats. There are a total of 1,22,150 voters in the block of which 64,809 are men and 57,341 are women. While 167 candidates are vying for the posts of sarpanch in the block, 783 candidates are in the fray for panch. As many as 22 panchayats were formed unanimously. For these 22 panchayats, 40 sarpanch and 33 panch have been elected unopposed. As per the orders of the ADC (Development) Mohammad Tayyab, the security personnel posted in these villages will be mobilised to other places as per requirement. While as many as 715 polling booths have been set up in 335 buildings of the district for the smooth conduct of elections, polling will be held only at 693 booths since 22 panchayats have already been chosen. Out of these, while 86 booths have been declared hyper sensitive by the administration, as many as 59 booths have been declared sensitive. Keeping in mind the hyper sensitive nature of some of the booths, the state election commission has asked for videographing the election process at these booths. Interestingly, considering the high number of absentees during the first and final rehearsals, the administration had called a meeting of bank employees on Monday. More than 120 employees agreed to perform election duties. Now, as many as 3,465 government employees will be performing elections duty and 2000 security personnel have been deployed.
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Holiday today in factories, dist courts
Bathinda, July 2 July 3 has also been declared a holiday in the factories in view of the gram panchayat elections. In a press statement issued here, District Election Officer Kamal Kishore Yadav stated that the holiday has been declared to enable workers to exercise their right to vote. July 3 will be a paid leave and no one would be marked absent from work.
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The first set of elected representatives of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) will meet for the last time on July 5 before their term expires on July 9.
The panchayat elections of Talab Nehar Basti 1, 4 and 5 have been deferred and will
not be held with that of the other panchayat samitis poll scheduled for Wednesday.
Students seeking admission in Government Rajindra College this year are caught in the web of cut-throat competition due to limited intake capacity of the college. The number of forms received by the authorities concerned for the courses being offered by the college far exceeds the number of seats for each course.
Residents of Bathinda and its adjoining areas were in for a surprise on Tuesday evening when the weather changed for the better. While the sun had been beating down harsh throughout the day, a cool breeze lowered the temperature in the evening. Light showers were also recorded in several areas of the region.
