Bathinda, November 18
Litigants continue to suffer as the protest of the District Bar Association (DBA) against the SHO, Civil Line, remarks entered the eighth day today. The lawyers have suspended the work, bringing the functioning of the court to a standstill.

The lawyers blocked the road outside the SSP office while holding a dharna for over three hours today and raised slogans against the Punjab police, the SHO, Civil Line. They also criticised the Punjab Government for the political appointments of the policemen.

A high drama was witnessed when the lawyers assuming the arrival of new SSP Gurpreet Bhullar, stood up and intensified sloganeering against the Punjab police.

The officer who alighted from the vehicle, however, was former Bathinda SSP Ravcharan Brar. Brar offered the lawyers to find a solution to their problem through talks at his office. The bar members went to meet the SSP, but came out disappointed.

"The SHO is ready to apologies but not in public or in the bar room, but any other place. The SSP once again has given a fake assurance," said senior advocate JR Khattar.

Association president Mohinder Sidhu, vice-president Shaminder Sohal, joint secretary Sandeep Kangar, former secretary Gurwinder Mann, Chiranji Lal Garg, Rajan Garg, Guriqbal Chahal, Gurpreet Bhasin, Sukhdarshan Sharma, Harraj Channu, Navdeep Jeeda, Manpreet Brar, Ranjeet Jalal and Ved Parkash Singh Khurmi addressed the lawyers.

SHO Sikandar has already refuted lawyers' allegations and a departmental inquiry has been recommended against him by SP (D) Naveen Singla.

The SP said the inquiry will will be over in 10 to 15 days. " The statements of both the parties required to be recorded and the lawyers are not on talking terms as of now. It is not clear what was the exact wording of the SHO," Singla said. Interestingly, the police had got the report of the Municipal Corporation within two days to enquire into the case and removed section 3 of the Damage to Property Act from the FIR.

Later in the evening, the bar association president met the new SSP Gurpreet Bhullar over the issue. the SSP has assured to take some action by tomorrow.

Bathinda, November 18
A delegation of the residents of ward 32, Naruana road, met the Bathinda Deputy Commissioner today and demanded that the 32-inch-wide sewer pipes be laid in the area instead of the 16-inch wide pipes that are being laid now.The residents told the DC that the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), was laying sewerage in the area whose dimensions were not wide enough to serve the future needs of the area. “There are 25 streets on the Naruana road besides hundreds of houses. The main sewer line has 16-inch wide pipe, in which sewer waste from all the streets will be emptied,” they said.

They said in view increasing population, 16-inch-wide sewer pipes would not be able to meet the need. If this problem is not addressed in time, it would lead to frequent sewer clogging and overflow,” said former MC Rajinder Singh. The residents said this would also mean the wastage of resources as narrow sewer pipes would have to be repaired repeatedly.They added that the sewer of wards 32 and 33 had been emptied into the main sewer line on Thandi Sarak, which was technically wrong. The Thandi Sarak main line does not have a place of disposal. The waste from Thandi Sarak and Lal Singh Basti is being drained into the Sanguana Basti pond with the help of motors installed at the Sanguana Basti disposal. Now, even the sewer of Amarpura Basti is being drained into the same pond.With an increase in the volume of sewer, the Sanguana Basti pond frequently overflows. “It is a nightmarish experience to live in the filth and foul smell of sewer. Our lives have become a living hell,” said Harbans Singh, a resident of the area.

The people demanded that the sewer be emptied into the Sanjay Nagar pond. DC Kamal Kishore Yadav has assured to look into the matter.

Bathinda, November 18
Rekindling the case wherein a 20-year-old student, Gurpreet Singh, was allegedly beaten up by workers of a private bus company, students of ITI, Bathinda, took to roads, blocking the traffic and questioning the silence of the administration and the police on the case.

The students demanded a clarification on what was being done in the case and why the culprits had not been arrested.

While sending the traffic for a toss, the students also protested against the private and government bus operators for not stopping buses outside ITI. They said this attitude of bus operators was causing trouble to the students every day.

The students accused the state government of being two-faced.

“On one hand it is distributing cycles to the students , the government is turning a blind eye towards the travail of college students. Neither the state-run buses, nor the private ones halt outside colleges to pick students. They are busy in minting money,” said one of the students.

Another student added that the government didn’t heed to their demands and the students would come together and stage an intensive protest.

Bathinda, November 18
The announcement made by the Punjab Technical University (PTU) to begin a second admission process in January apart from the July-August format, is set to spell boon for the students.

Making the announcement, university's top administrators said the move was expected to come to the rescue of the students who got their results late and missed out on the July-August admission process. According to the Dean (Academics), PTU, Dr Buta Singh Sidhu, the bi-annual admission process will help students, especially from Jammu & Kashmir, the North-East region and from other countries.

The move is being hailed by academicians and students alike as this would also pave the way for students who wish to migrate to a college affiliated to the university in Punjab. The university will however, make admissions against the seats left vacant after the first admission process.

"This is being done on the lines of the foreign universities which conduct admissions twice a year. Unlike the first admission process, this time the admissions will not be done through counselling. Instead, the colleges will notify the vacant seats in each trade and call applications and then admit the students on the basis of merit," said Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Technical University, Dr Rajneesh Arora.

"The colleges will first give preference to the JEE score secured by the aspirant and then to the marks attained by the student in the higher secondary examinations," he added.

For now, most of the BTech courses the syllabus does not require completing the first semester prior to the first, students will be directly admitted to the second semester. These students will be allowed to attend lectures with the existing batches.

He also clarified that after the admissions, the students will attend classes for the first and second semesters simultaneously. "It will be at the college's discretion as to how it plans to take the new students through the lectures conducted before January. The colleges may opt to conduct classes over the weekends, during summer vacations or in the evening," he added.

He further said in case colleges were short-staffed, they could conduct combined classes for the students taking admission in January. 

Bathinda, November 18
Under the guidance of Prof Sukhdev Singh, head of the history department, a seminar on the traffic rules was organised at the Government Rajindra College. Sukhraj Singh, traffic in-charge, Police Education Wing, was present on the occasion.

During the seminar students were given detailed information pertaining to the increasing number of road accidents owing to the non-compliance with the traffic rules. The students were also informed about various traffic rules and penalties in case the rules were flouted.

Apart from the traffic rules and regulations, the students were also made aware of various traffic signs and lights. The seminar was followed by a Q&A session during which the students clarified their doubts.

Dr Usha Kiran, Prof Satwinderpal, Prof Surjit Singh, Prof Paramdeep Singh, Prof Gurjit Singh Mann were also present on the occasion. 

Bathinda, November 18
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) held dharna outside the BDA office, near Model Town phase I and observed pen down strike today.

Officers and junior employees raised slogans against the government. President of the JAC, Sukhpal Singh and chairman Navreet Grewal said if the government did not fulfil their demands, the agitation would be spread all over the state.

They said the employees were demanding pension benefits, separate plot allotment to its employees, declaring ex-gratia for class one, increase in two years of service on the pattern of the Punjab government employees, promotion of class four employees (as per their qualifications) to supervisors, regularisation of 45 daily wagers and promotion of stenographers. Despite repeated requests and agitations, the government has failed to take any notice, the employees said.

The JAC has decided to hold dharna from November 19 to 22. "If the government does not yield to our demands, we will intensify the agitation," they said. The members of the JAC, including Arvinder Kaur, Sukhdev Singh, Shyam Lal, Balwinder Singh, Bhushanpal Bansal, Satnam Singh, Balwinder Singh, Vijay Kumar, Iqbal Singh, Mohan Singh and others were present. 

Bathinda, November 18
Students of Baba Farid College (BFC) got positions in various events of Punjabi University Inter Zonal Youth Festival held at Punjabi University campus, Patiala. All the colleges affiliated to the university participated in this festival. The students of BFC bagged gold and bronze medals.

While Jaspuran Singh, a student of MA (History) second year won gold in the folk song competition and Amandeep Kaur of BSc final won bronze in the elocution competition.

Dr Pardeep Kaura, Deputy Director (Academics), BFGI congratulated the winners. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, chairman of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions, appreciated the students for participating in such competitions and congratulated the winners. 

Bathinda, November 18
Members of the Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union will gherao the treasury office of Bathinda tomorrow. This was announced during a meeting held here today. The meeting was presided over by Mann Singh Khalsa.

It was announced that the teaching and non-teaching staff members of the 12 aided schools of Bathinda district will assemble in the city tomorrow and gherao the treasury office as a mark of protest against the state government.

The teachers said they had not been given salaries after September and the second instalment of the arrears according to the revisions in the second Pay Commission was also outstanding.

The employees said they were forced to stage an agitation against the government to get their salaries. Also present during the meeting were Pawan Sharma, Deepak Kumar, secretary Shrikant Sharma, Satish Kumar and members of the executive body.