Bathinda, July 3
A surprise mock drill conducted by the Railways Ambala Division left the city-based NGOs and mediaperons perplexed. The railways chose a rather busy day - panchayat samiti elections - to hold the drill.

At 3 pm, the media offices got calls from various quarters of the city claiming that a tragedy had happened at the unmanned railway crossing near Katar Singh Wala village. It was claimed that a truck rammed into a moving train killing four persons in the accident.

The office of the Deputy Station Superintendent asked the Sahara Welfare Society and Young Welfare Society to send three ambulances and manpower for the rescue work.

NGO president Vijay Goyal said two ambulances reached the spot, while third one was on its way when the NGO was told that it was a mock drill. “Whenever the oil depot companies hold a mock drill, they send a letter informing about the event to the NGOs at least 10 days in advance. It is up to the NGOs whether they want to participate in the drill or not,” said Goyal.

However, in this case, the railway authorities kept the entire mock drill under the wraps. A member of the NGO said people suffered because of the fake call as help could not reach them on time.

“Had we been informed that it was a mock drill, we would have preferred not to participate and instead concentrate on our social work,” said Goyal.

Government Railways Police SHO Kuljeet Singh and officials of the district police were not aware about the event.

It is learnt that even the railway officials were caught unawares. The office of Bathinda station superintendent got a call at 12.20 noon from the Ambala control room that a truck had collided with 
a train near the Katar Singh Wala unmanned railway crossing.

Following the protocol meant for such situations, the railway authorities at Bathinda got into action and immediately sent a medical train and an accident relief train to the accident site.

At 12.40 noon, when a team of 42 officials reached track near the Bathinda cantonment, they again received a call from the Ambala division headquarters asking the officials to report their geographic position.

“We told them that the entire team was on its way for the rescue operation. At this we were told that it was a surprise mock drill and that we have passed the test,” said one of the railway officials.

Bathinda, July 3
The Thermal police has booked the president of the Canter Union, Bathinda, besides six others for beating up an employee of a firm that deals in ferrying pharmaceuticals.

In his complaint to the Thermal police, Gurcharan Singh, a resident of Namdev Nagar, who works as the manager of Pravahan Private Limited Transport, stated that on the night of July 1, a driver of his company was coming after receiving a consignment of medicines.

The driver, Jeetu, was bringing medicines from the Royal Indian Company, Malout Road, in his canter HR 57 7295 when the accused attacked him, beat him up and snatched his mobile phone as well as the receipts of the consignment. Later, they threatened the driver Jeetu and forced him to sign a compromise.

Police has booked Nachhattar Singh, president of the Canter Union, Bathinda, Jeevan Kumar and Fauji Singh, both office- bearers of the union.

Besides, four unidentified people have also been booked under sections 382, 384, 341, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC. No arrests have been made so far.

Bathinda, July 3
The finance and contract committee of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) will meet on July 5 to discuss 22 developmental works of the city.

These works include laying of roads, interlocking tiles and laying of sewer pipes. The committee will finalise the lowest bidders in each of the cases.

Also, DB paving will be laid in street numbers ½, 1/3 and ¼ of National Colony for which a Rs 12.83-lakh tender through e-tendering procedure has been floated. Sewer pipes of 8-inch diameters will be laid in different areas of the city, for which a Rs 9.95-lakh tender will be considered in the meeting.

Similarly, a 20-mm thick premix carpeting will be done at Kamla Nehru Nagar ward number 6 at a cost of Rs 5.68 lakh. A similar premix carpeting will be done in the streets of Ganesh Nagar ward number 20 at a cost of Rs 78.12 lakh.

For laying concrete in the streets of ward number 36, a Rs 1.87-lakh tender was floated. Ten bidders responded but the lowest bidder’s proposal has been found on a higher side and so, the contractor may be called for negotiation.

Other cases to be considered are laying of cement concrete in streets of ward number 25 at a cost of Rs 2.94 lakh, constructing a hall at Shiv Mandir Dharamshala at a cost of Rs 3 lakh, laying of interlocking tiles on berms and widening of the road in the civil station area at a cost of Rs 8 lakh and supplying labour for plantation maintenance in Bathinda from July to September at a cost of Rs 9.88 lakh will be considered.

Drains will be laid in ward number 24 at a cost of Rs 1.37 lakh, in ward number 22 at a cost of Rs 1.95 lakh and cement concrete will be laid in the streets of Ahata Lehre Wala ward number 22 at a cost of Rs 3.77 lakh.

Concrete will be laid from Gali Sucha Singh to Bangi House to the right of Mehna Chowk to old bus stand ward number 22 at a cost of Rs 3.29 lakh. It will also be laid in Ganga Ram Wali Gali from Qila Road to Heera Chowk ward number 24 at a cost of Rs 5.53 lakh.

A footpath will be made in the park number 4 under the town planning scheme in ward number 35 at a cost of Rs 1.59 lakh.

During the meeting, the rates of eight unipoles for advertisements, which will be given on the built-operate-tranfser-cum-revenue basis, will also be finalised. The licence fee will be increased at 10 per cent every year in a cumulative form.

The licence fee for a unipole of size 18’ by 8’ is Rs 10,000 per month and that of a unipole of size 12’ by 8’ has been reserved at Rs 4,000 per month. Besides this, advertisement tax will also be charged.

The committee will also finalise the contract of the Rose Garden cycle to be awarded at a cost of Rs 26.2 lakh. The canteen of Rose Garden is to be given at a cost of Rs 45.5 lakh after having received the auctioning quotations.

Bathinda, July 3
The passengers catching trains from the Bathinda junction are facing a peculiar problem these days. While some passengers have missed their trains in the past few days, others have been reaching the station much before the scheduled time of the train.

The confusion among the passengers can be attributed to the time-table of the trains on display at the railway station. The schedule of a couple of trains has been changed since the routes of some of the trains passing through the junction have been extended.

Nor have the trains started running on the extended routes neither have the revised timings been displayed at the station for the convenience of the passengers.

The trains the route of which have been extended are the Shri Ganganagar-Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dilli-Bathinda, Shri Ganganagar-Bathinda, Chhindwara-Bathinda and the Dhuri-Bathinda trains.

“We are yet to get the nod from the higher authorities regarding the extention of routes of these trains. In all probability, the trains will start travelling on their extended routes by the mid of this month,” said the station superintendent, Pradeep Sharma.

He added that since the junction authorities had not got the permission for running the trains on the extended routes, the revised time-tables had not been displayed.

“Changes in the timings of other trains will be revised soon on the display board. The painters are at work regarding the same. However, the revised time-table of the trains the routes of which have been extended will be display only once the trains start running on their designated routes,” he added.

When asked about the confusion the changed schedule was causing to the passengers, he assured that it would last only for a few more days. “We are aiming to revise the time-table display in a day or two. The confusion is unavoidable. We are in the process of changing all the boards which display the train timings at the junction,” he said.

Till then, the passengers will have to face the problem with advance information for the ernquiry office being the only way out.

Bathinda, July 3
Dr Amanish Singh, who has been appointed the principal of Adesh Institute of Dental Sciences, Adesh University campus, will present a paper at an international conference in Turkey.

He has been invited for a guest lecture at the mid-year convention to be hosted by the Turkish Orthodontic Society and the Indian Orthodontic Society at Istanbul on July 6.

Dr Amanish Singh will speak on the topic "Orthodontic care and considerations for patients with diabetes".

According to his research, the number of juvenile diabetic patients seeking orthodontic treatment has increased over years. The development is indicative of a new trend and also underlines the need for proper healthcare.

Bathinda, July 3
The body of a newborn baby boy was found floating in the Bir Talab water channel. The volunteers of the NGO Sahara Welfare Society received a call informing that the body was floating in the water. The volunteers reached the spot with the Sadar SHO Amritpal Singh.