Bathinda, October 24
After remaining out of reach for the people of Bathinda for a week, the police control room (PCR) service, 100, resumed on Wednesday.

The police said all the five telephone lines in the PCR were now open in order to maintain the flow of information between the police and public.

It is pertinent to mention here that many important crime spots, including a large number of road accidents, went unreported while the service was disrupted.

The PCR receives around 150 to 250 phone calls a day before the telephone lines were abruptly snapped for a week.

Interestingly, the telephone lines were disconnected on Thursday, the very day when DGP Sumedh Saini was in the city and claimed to bring down the crime graph with the help of police-public relationship.

The reporting of crimes was also reflected in the daily crime report of the district police. As compared to 10 to 15 cases registered on a day in all 20 police stations of the district, the number of FIRs fell to mere three to four during the last week.

SP (Headquarter) Jasvir Singh said apart from restarting two HCL telephone connections out of five, three connections were now procured from the BSNL so that the functioning of the police control room could be resumed.

He expressed his helplessness in revealing the exact reason behind the discontinuation of the control room numbers and added that “the liaison between the service providing companies take place between senior most police functionaries and the state government bureaucrats and we are usually not taken into loop”.

While the PCR service has resumed, the policemen are still struggling to procure fuel for their official vehicles. They are even finding it tough to make alternate arrangements.

On the lack of fuel for police vehicles, the SP said the fuel deficiency too would be removed before Divali.

When asked how the police was running its affairs without fuel as petrol pump owners are not ready to provide fuel in view of pending dues of more than Rs 50 lakh, he said “We have paid an amount of Rs 30 lakh this month and three to four pump owners have been told to release supply.”

One or two pump owners were offered full payment of their dues and they have assured to further maintain the “relationship with us”, the SP said.

However, low-rung police officials, including the recently recruited young brigade, lamented that they were forced to use their private vehicles to discharge their duties.

“The government has provided Bajaj Pulsar bikes. Though these bikes are efficient, they consume more fuel and have high cost of maintenance as compared to Hero Honda motorcycles,” said a constable deployed at a PCR point while pleading anonymity.

The constables rued that though the government had provided efficient bikes there were no funds for getting them serviced and junior police officials have to spend from their pockets to maintain the vehicles.

The cops in the city are seen using private bikes instead of government vehicles.

Bathinda, October 24
A meeting of the designated nodal officers under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA) was held today.

Adherence to the COTPA guidelines is mandatory for a smoke free zone in terms of usage of tobacco and its products.

ADC Sonali Giri presided over the meeting wherein she took stock of the work done towards obtaining smoke-free status for Bathinda. She advised the nodal officers not to limit their activities merely on paper, but take it beyond the reams of paper.

She added that the emphasis was on creating awareness among people, especially tobacco users, against the deadly habit of smoking or chewing tobacco. Giri said the role of a nodal officer was not limited to penalising offenders and collecting fine. “We have to awaken the users of tobacco products to kick the butt for a healthy life, for their family, children and society,” she said.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said from April 2012 to September 2013, 1041 offenders under the COTPA were challaned and Rs 93,114 in the form of penalty was collected.

District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa detailed about the smoke free status accorded to the district and the activities being carried out in this regard.

PRTC Bathinda depot traffic manager Jaswinder Singh Chahal, representatives of various NGOs and others were present at the meeting.

Bathinda, October 24
The Powercom has imposed a penalty of Rs 17 lakh on a Congress leader from Rampura, the owner of a rice mill, for withdrawing power using a ‘kundi’ connection.

Ramandeep Singh, the owner of the under-construction Udey Rice Mill situated on Pitho-Rampura road, was caught withdrawing power from a 25-KV transformer near the mill by using about 20-metre-long power cable. Following a tip-off, the flying squad and local Powercom officials conducted a joint raid at the rice mill yesterday and found 17 kilowatt of power being withdrawn using an illegal connection.

The Powercom officials said a case of theft would be registered against the offender at the Anti Power Theft police station in Bathinda, if he failed to pay the fine within the stipulated 15 days.

Due to the mill owner’s political links and vehement confrontation, it took few hours for the Powercom to decide on the quantum of fine.

Earlier, the officials were pressurised to impose a penalty of Rs 3 lakh as the mill owner claimed to have been using the connection since the day he applied for a power connection around three months ago.

Officials said the mill owner had started repair and other work at his mill around a year ago and had applied for a power connection on August 17.

Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Baljeet Singh said the rice mill owner was to get the regular electricity connection with installation of a power meter in a day or two.

Repeated attempts made to contact Ramandeep Singh on his phone proved futile.

Powercom officials are aggressively detecting illegal drawing of power for the past sometime.

As many as 26 such connections have been detected in Rampura during the month of October only and penalties amounting to Rs 10 lakh have been imposed on various commercial and domestic supplies.

* Ramandeep Singh, the owner of the under-construction Udey Rice Mill situated on Pitho-Rampura road, was caught withdrawing power using an illegal connection.

* The crime came to the fore during a joint raid conducted by a flying squad and Powercom officials following a tip-off.

* The raiding team found 17 kilowatt of power being withdrawn using an illegal connection.

* A penalty of Rs 17 lakh has been imposed on the offender and in case of default, a case would be registered against him at the Anti Power Theft police station in Bathinda.

Bathinda, October 24
An innovative exhibition ignited young minds at the St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School today.

Students from the kindergarten section to the senior secondary classes presented innovative ideas drafted into working and static models. The mathematical section was full of fun with numbers, while the English section dwell on the lives of learned people. The Punjabi section beamed with rich Punjabi culture and heritage, while the science section out minds at work.

Students demonstrate models in English, Hindi and Punjabi. "Our aim was to reach out to as many people as we could. Students were asked to explain models in the language the visitor wants to hear in. This not only instilled confidence in them, but also struck the right chord with visitors," said Principal Fr Eulalio Fernandes.

Earlier, provincial and chairman of Delhi Province, Society of Pilar, Father Peter D'Mello inaugurated the exhibition and the cultural events.

Students of classes I, II and III presented a welcome song. Goan dance was appreciated by the audience. To depict the importance of manners and etiquette, an English musical play was staged by students of class IX to XII. Depicting the culture of Punjab, a colourful Malwai Giddha was presented by class I, II and III. 

Bathinda, October 24
An international conference on information and mathematical sciences was held at Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology today.

Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) chairman S Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal said the Punjab Technical University, Indian Society for Technical Education, Department of Science and Technology, Indian National Science Academy, Elsevier Health Sciences Reed Elsevier India Pvt Ltd, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, in collaboration with the Indian Society of Information theory and its application, were sponsoring the conference. The chief guest at the occasion was a professor of Mathematics, Caledonian University, Oman Dr SM Rizwan.

Singh inaugurated the conference. He said mathematics had engulfed all spheres of knowledge. “We have to integrate all other areas like languages and social sciences also to create something new so that the requirements of society are given preference,” he said.

During these three days, around 300 research papers will be presented in two plenary sessions and 25 technical sessions. Today, conference proceedings consisted of 119 papers selected from more than 300 research papers published by the International Publishers Elsevier Pvt Ltd. — TNS

Bathinda, October 24
The principal bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hear the cases of five solid waste treatment plants in Punjab, including the one proposed to come up in Bathinda, tomorrow.

The cases of municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plants proposed to be set up in Bathinda, Pathankot, Sangrur, Nakodar (Jalandhar) and Mansa were filed before the NGT and have been clubbed together. In its orders dated October 11, the NGT had directed the applicants, the counsels and the secretary, Local Government, Punjab, to attend the hearing.

The secretary, Local Government, was asked to submit his report regarding the time management for collection and disposal of solid waste, collection and segregation of garbage, distribution of bins, employees’ welfare, responsibility of various parties and the manner in which the responsibilities of all the parties should be fixed so as to ensure proper execution of projects.

All the parties appearing in these cases have also been directed to examine the model projects submitted by the authorities concerned in Pathankot and offer their suggestions, if any, in relation to all clusters, particularly the ones that are the subject matter of the NGT notification dated October 11.

From Bathinda, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav, newly appointed municipal commissioner Vipul Ujwal and a team of Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), officials as well as the complainant, Captain Mal Singh, his counsel Guriqbal Singh Chahal and others will appear.

With the local secretary submitting his reply tomorrow, the NGT might take some time to review the report. The final decision on the proposed site of the plant on the Mansa road here will hence be delayed.

During an earlier hearing, the district administration had written to the NGT expressing its inability to find an alternate site for the MSW treatment plant. The administration had laid emphasis on allowing the project to come up on the present site on the Mansa road that has already got the approval of the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

However, Captain Mal Singh, the complainant, and others had been opposing the setting up of the plant, which will treat the garbage collected from 18 urban local bodies under the Bathinda cluster. They had been pleading that the proposed site was surrounded by as many seven residential colonies and would pose a potential risk to the residents health.

Bathinda, October 24
Hosts Bathinda lost to Patiala in the gymnastics final in the ongoing 59th Punjab School Games.

In the girls U-14 gymnastics competition held at Maluka, Patiala scored first place followed by Gurdaspur and Amritsar. In all rounds of the same category, Suniat Shahi from Patiala stood first, Roshi from Gurdaspur bagged second place and Arshdeep from Bathinda bagged third place.

In the U-17 age group, Sports Wing (Maluka), Bathinda, stood first, Patiala got the second position while Jalandhar came third. In the all round competitions of same group, Rashika from Patiala, Sakshi from Maluka wing and Shabana Azmi secured first, second and third places, respectively.

In the girls U-19 grou,p Sports Wing Maluka, Gurdaspur and Amritsar secured first, second and third places, respectively. In the all round competitions of this group, Lovely from Gurdaspur, Kamini Singh Sports Wing Maluka and Pankhuri Rathore from Patiala secured first, second and third places.

In the boys U-17 competitions, Patiala Sports School bagged the first place, Jalandhar Sports School bagged the second place and Ludhiana got third place. In the all round competitions of this group, Harpreet Singh from Patiala, Arun Kumar from Patiala and Tushar Kumar from Sports School, Jalandhar, secured first, second and third places, respectively.

In the U-19 boys competitions, Sports School Jalandhar, Amritsar and Sangrur bagged first, second and third places, respectively. In the all round competitions of this category, Kuldeep Singh from Sports Wing Jalandhar, Gurpreet Singh from Sports Wing Jalandhar and Deepak from Patiala bagged first, second and third places, respectively.

In the hockey super league matches being played at the multipurpose stadium, Bathinda and Sangrur entered draw without scoring any goal. Ludhiana defeated SAI Patiala by 4-1, Muktsar defeated Nehru Garden Jalandhar by 2-1, Sangrur defeated Ludhiana by 1-0, Bathinda defeated Patiala by 2-0 and Nehru Garden Jalandhar defeated Ghudda by 2-0.

In the girls’ category, Badal Wingh defeated Sports Wing Ghudda by 1-0 and Badal Wing defeated Muktsar team by 3-0.

Zila parishad, chairman, Bathinda, Gurpreet Singh Maluka, and Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka’s wife Surjit Kaur awarded the winners.

Bathinda, October 24
Five members of a same family of Khialiwala village are booked by the police for demanding dowry, harassment and inflicting injuries upon their daughter-in-law.

The accused have been booked under Sections 498-A, 323 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Maur police station.

The woman alleged that she was driven out of her house by her husband and in-laws' over the pretext of demanding gold jewellery. She was now residing at her parents’ house in Raikhana village where the accused came over and beat her up and inflicted injuries.

The police has booked Balkar Singh, Makhan Singh, Gurnam Singh, Gurnam’s wife Chhinder Kaur, Gurnam’s daughter Rani Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh, all residents of Khialiwala village.

The police said they had arrested Makhan Singh and Sukhwinder Singh, who would be sent to jail. Efforts were under way to nab the other persons booked in the case. 

Bathinda, October 24
The police has registered a case against a car driver for rash driving and inflicting injuries upon a cyclist.

In a complaint to the police, Gurmel Singh of Naruana village, falling under the jurisdiction of the Sadar police station, said the car, bearing registration number of Bathinda, hit his bicycle.

He along with another villager were riding on the bicycle and received serious injuries after being hit.

A case under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is registered against the accused whose identity is yet to be ascertained. 

Bathinda, October 24
The police has booked three persons, identified as Jagjiwan Kaur, Amandeep Singh and Mintu, all residents of Ballo village, for inflicting injuries upon a woman, Gurmeet Kaur, of the same village.

The complainant, undergoing treatment at a hospital, said the three accused entered her house after a minor brawl with her and beat her up badly.

The three accused inflicted serious injuries upon the woman.

A case under Sections 452, 323 and 34 of the IPC is registered against the accused at the Sadar Rampura police station and further inestigations were on. 

Bathinda, October 24
The police has arrested Jagdev Singh, a resident of Tungwali village, with 15 kg poppy husk.

The police said the accused was found carrying the contraband near Mehta village and was taken to the Sangat police station where a case under Sections 15, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against him.