Bathinda, August 2
Bathinda MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Excise and Taxation) Sarup Chand Singla today announced to revoke the CLU (Change of Land Use) charges in certain old city areas. These areas include Kikkar Bazar, Sadar Bazaar, Sirki Bazaar, Hospital Bazaar, Qila Road to Court road and a few other areas. The areas falling under the Town Planning Scheme will, however, continue to pay the charge.

The MLA said the CLU was abolished after he took up the matter with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and senior functionaries in the state government.

The CLU was vehemently opposed by city residents and some municipal councillors ever since its inception.

Singla was accompanied by Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman, municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta and other officials of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB) during a meeting with prominent people of the city, including businessmen, held at the office of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), today.

Municipal councillor of Ward No. 35, Raj Kumar Sood, who proved instrumental in taking up the CLU issue during the corporation meetings, said the CLU had burdened those who had been paying house tax as well as the CLU charge. He said the government was charging five per cent of the collector's rate of property which amounts to Rs 400 per square yard to Rs 4,000 per square yard. Residents who wished to modify their existing buildings were supposed to pay these charges on the area extended.

Those present at the meeting raised a hue and cry over the rising menace of stray cattle and dogs, waterlogging and traffic chaos on almost all the roads in the city.

People demanded immediate relief from the cattle menace in the city which has become a threat to the lives of motorists and pedestrians. Those attending the meeting expressed their concerns over the death of more than a dozen people during the past just one and a half years due to the stray cattle menace on the city roads.

While pacifying the residents, municipal commissioner Gupta claimed that the stray cattle menace would be tackled as the corporation was spending Rs 8 crore on a project wherein a gaushala would be built on five acres. He said the cattle heads roaming on the city roads would be taken to the gaushala, which was under construction.

Gupta also blamed that the people from nearby villages drive away their dry cattle to the city. He claimed that a contractor would be appointed to keep such practice under check.

As far as stray dog menace was concerned, the commissioner stated that the cost of sterilising a dog was Rs 500 and it would be done after funds were received from the state government.

Some shopkeepers also pointed out traffic chaos in Hospital Bazaar, near Gol Diggi and around the railway station due to roadside rehris.

MLA Singla and the municipal commissioner pacified the shopkeepers assuring them that their problems would be looked into.

Bathinda, August 2
To protest against the policies of the state transport department, the School and College Bus Operators' Association, Punjab, has decided to keep all the school and college buses off roads on August 12 and hold a conference in Bathinda the same day.

The decision was reached during a meeting of members of the union conducted in the city today. The head of the association, Gurpreet Singh Happy, presided over the meeting that was attended by members of the association from Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa, Faridkot, Bathinda and Barnala. They discussed the problems that the bus operators were facing due to the strict attitude of the transport department and the increasing number of taxes being levied on them.

Gurpreet Singh Happy stated that it was high time that the union took a bold step to oppose the policies of the transport department. It was unanimously decided that as a mark of protest the bus operators will keep their buses and vans off the road on August 12.

Bathinda, August 2
The Enforcement Wing of the Powercom raided the private house of a paediatrician Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon, situated on the 100-ft road here, and found a 'kundi' connection.

The doctor, who is working as the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at the Community Health Centre in Goniana Mandi has been penalised with a sum of Rs 2.13 lakh. A part of the penalty was paid by the SMO today.

Hardeep Sidhu, XEN, Enforcement Wing, along with officials of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Powercom) raided the residence of the doctor yesterday. Sidhu said a direct connection was given to the house from the electricity wire ahead of the power meter.

Sources said that the entire raid was videographed and the power cable being used for the crime has been seized by Powercom officials.

A case under Section 135 of the Electricity Act-2003 has also been registered against the doctor at the Anti-Power Theft police station, Bathinda.

The amount of penalty was calculated by the SDO Commercial-1 and a notice was sent to the accused.

Powercom officials said the doctor was also using the domestic power supply for commercial purpose at his house as he had apparently converted the ground floor of the house into a clinic or hospital though there was no signboard outside. A child was undergoing treatment there.

The officials said that they were not concerned about the private practice being followed by the doctor but they certainly had business with domestic connection being used for commercial purpose.

They said the first time offender may be let off with the FIR if he deposits the fine depending upon certain conditions and approval of the Deputy Chief Engineer. In the other case, the accused would be arrested and would face a trial.

The officials said power load of 13 KV was found being used for domestic purpose despite the fact that the ground floor of the house having four rooms and a hall was apparently used as a clinic.

"Now, we have converted the domestic supply to the doctor's house into a commercial one till the doctor give us an undertaking that the connection would be used for domestic use only," a senior Powercom official said.

Dr Avtar Singh could not be contacted for comments.

the catch
Hardeep Sidhu, XEN, Enforcement Wing, along with officials of the Powercom raided the residence of Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon and found a direct connection given to the house from the electricity wire ahead of the power meter.

Bathinda, August 2
While the government has been laying so much emphasis on making private schools follow all the rules and regulations mentioned under the Right to Education (RTE) Act-2009, some of its own schools are in a shambles.

The Government Elementary School located on the Mall Road here speaks volumes about how the government was keeping its own schools. With thick algae 'adorning' the ground of the school, damp rooms smelling of seepage and classes being held in the corridor, the school paints a grim picture of neglect.

"Everytime it rains, the school ground and classrooms are deluged. We are left with no option but to take classes on a high-raised corridor in the school. Even after the water recedes, it leaves the rooms damp," said the principal of the school, Surinderpal Kaur, as she pointed at the marks on the walls in the classroom indicating the level that rainwater had reached after downpour last week.

Acute shortage of space is another problem that the school is facing. To accommodate the strength of 61 students, the school has only two rooms. "There are other rooms in the school which have not been given to us. Exploiting whatever we have got, we conduct Classes II and III and Classes IV and V together in the two rooms while Class I students are taught in the corridor."

Shockingly, half of one of the two rooms is also used by the principal as her office. While some of the students in the room are lucky enough to sit on benches, a few have to squat on the floor.

Call it optimum utilisation of resources or what you may; a part of the other room is used to store the foodgrain received under the mid-day meal scheme so as to save it from getting wet in the rain.

"If it rains, all the students don't come to the school. On days when we have full strength, we face difficulty in accommodating all the students. On a number of occasions, we have brought to the notice of the education department that we are facing difficulties in conducting classes here, but to no avail," said Gurpreet Singh, one of the three teachers, including the principal, of the school.

Interestingly, the school is scheduled to be merged with its slightly better-off cousin, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, which is located across the road. "We were told that the schools will be shifted to the other school. The building is yet to be completed. Till the time we don't get any orders for the same, we will have to work with what we have," said the principal.

What’s the matter
With thick algae 'adorning' the ground of the school, damp rooms smelling of seepage and classes being held in the corridor, the school paints a grim picture of neglect. The school is also facing space crunch.

official speak
I have ordered the officials concerned to vacate one more room and hand it over to the staff of the school. We can't open all the rooms for the students since some of the rooms have been declared unsafe by the B&R Department. The school will be shifted only after the building is completed. The paperwork for the construction of the building is complete but the work is yet to begin.
— Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, DEO (ELementary Education)

Bathinda, August 2
The police today booked five student leaders and three to four unidentified persons for firing gunshots following elections of a students’ union in Talwandi Sabo.

A case under Sections 336 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59-A of the Arms Act have been registered against former president of the Punjab Students’ Union Navjot Singh of Bangi Kalan village, Gora Singh of Rama Mandi, Sukhwinder Singh of Nagla, Gurpreet Singh Lehri and Kulwant Singh of Changli village. The police has also booked three to four unidentified persons in the case.

The complainant in the case, Yadvinder Singh, stated that he was elected the president of the union on Wednesday. His election, however, did not go down well with the former president of the union.

Yadvinder said he along with a few others were on the way to the GGS College, Talwandi Sabo, on bikes when the accused persons opened fire at them. He said luckily, none of them received any bullet injury. — TNS

Bathinda, August 2
Deriding Congress MPs of Punjab for not taking up issues plaguing the state during Parliament sessions, SAD Member of Parliament from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal today asked them to rise above petty politics and be sincere towards the development of the state which they represent.

She said this while addressing mediapersons during her sangat darshan at a village in Bathinda district. She visited many villages in the district.

She also took the opportunity to express her displeasure over the shoddy functioning of the UPA government, especially issuing of the wrong statistics on “poverty level estimates”.

She said the entire exercise done by the UPA government together with the Planning Commission was a step towards exploiting the poor and luring them to vote for the “most corrupt Congress party”.

She said it was a sheer mockery with the plight of poor people and it was misleading them in a bid to cover less people under the Food Security Act.

She said the recent hike in the prices of petrol and diesel had again proved that the Union Government had failed to check the prices of essential commodities.

It was for the 33rd time in a year that the prices of petrol and diesel were hiked, the MP said.

Hailing the Punjab Government for helping poor people in the state, she said the state government had decided to widen the ambit of the Atta-Dal Scheme by doubling the number of its beneficiaries from the current 15 lakh to 30 lakh persons. The state government would provide these items to the beneficiaries at rates cheaper than the existing Rs 4 and Rs 20 per kg, respectively.

She added that the sole aim of extending this scheme was to ensure that not even a single person should starve in the state.

Bathinda, August 2
Computer teachers working at government schools across the state will stage a state-level protest at Mohali on August 8.

This was stated during a meeting of the Computer Teachers’ Union, Punjab.

The meeting was presided over by the union’s district head Amritpal Singh and general secretary Zafardeen Khan. They said the government was yet to fulfil demand of regularisation of their services.

They also accused the higher officials of turning their demand for regularisation of services to a demand for regular pay-scale.

They added that the computer teachers were not being paid medical reimbursement, handicap allowance and other benefits mentioned under the Punjab Civil Services Rules and this was causing severe financial crunch.

The members of the union said the lax attitude of the department was forcing them to stage a protest to make the authorities lend an ear to their demands.

Mahinder Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, Rajni Bala, Harmanjit Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Khushpreet Singh, Harjit Singh, Paramjit Kaur, Shashi Bhushan, Mamta Rani, Monika Rani, Ritu Raj and other members of the union were among those present.

Bathinda, August 2
The Bathinda District Cricket Association will conduct trials on August 4 at the Government Rajindra College ground to select the probables for the training camp for selection of the district team for its participation in the Punjab State Inter-district tournament for Catoch Shield (Senior Group) starting from August 28.

As many as 14 district teams will participate in the tournament. Any player belonging to the district can take part in the trial irrespective of his age.

OD Sharma, the convener of Plate Group tournaments, said the teams had been divided in two pools. While one pool will comprise teams of Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts, the other would have Muktsar, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Nawanshahr, Moga and Gurdaspur teams.

Arun Wadhawan, the selector of the Punjab Cricket Association, will convene the trials, while PCA's qualified coaches Ravi Kohli and Satya Bhushan will conduct the trials.

The selected probables will join the training and conditioning camp starting from August 7 to be held at the Police Public School ground and for net practice at the Government Rajindra College ground.

Ravi Kohli, Satya Bhushan and Ranjit Bhola will be the coaches during the camp. On the basis of their performances and fitness level, players will be chosen for the district-level team on August 24.

Bathinda, August 2
The police has arrested a resident of Yatri village of the Maur Mandi area with 10 kg of poppy husk.

He has been identified as Lakhwinder Singh.

The police said Lakhwinder was found carrying the contraband near Bhundar village. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act had been registered against the accused at the Balianwali police station.

In another incident, the police has arrested two persons with 3 gm of smack. Satnam Singh and Ramandeep Singh were found carrying the contraband near Talwandi Sabo.