Bathinda, December 10
The new bus stand, proposed to come up on Barnala Road, will be an air-conditioned building with food courts and other commercial spaces carved out.

Improvement Trust, Bathinda, the executing agency of the project, had passed an agenda to ask the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) to assign its empanelled architects for designing the building. The agenda has been sent to the state government for consideration.

"As soon as the PUDA approval comes through, work on designing the building will begin," said the Improvement Trust chairperson Varinder Kumar Sharma. He added that commercial pockets have been carved out of the bus stand whose total covered area would be 10 acres. "It will be a self-sustaining model having ten shops-cum-offices (SCOs) and several other public utilities as well as smaller commercial set-ups," Sharma added.

Based on the design of Sector 43 Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Chandigarh, it will also have a PRTC workshop, offices of PRTC officials, dormitories for drivers, cloak rooms and other facilities. It will also have a night bus halt shelter to park around 100 buses together.

There would be a concourse for boarding the bus, while separate areas would be provided for the alighting of passengers. After the passengers alight, buses will be parked in their earmarked areas. There would be around 50 bus bays.

The cost of construction of this bus stand has been pegged at around Rs 25 crore which will be run by the Improvement Trust. The buses would be charged on the basis of per trip. Its charges might be on a higher side than the usual trip charges.

The modern bus stand will also have a public relations office, tourist information centre, ramps for the handicapped, a parking lot for paid taxi cabs and private parking space for 50 two-wheelers and 130 cars, an inquiry office, food courts, book stores, cloak rooms for men and women besides confectionery shops.

It is pertinent to mention here that for the past many years, the government has been claiming to shift the bus stand outside the city. Presently, the bus stand and the PRTC workshop occupy around 13 acres of prime land in the heart of the city whose value runs into crores. 

Bathinda, December 10
A day after the body of a 22-year-old plumber was found at his aunt's residence in Mata Jeevi Nagar, the policemen probing the case came across doubtful leads after parading over 100 plumbers of the city for identification.

The hacked body of Bunty, bearing multiple injury marks on the neck, arms and his private parts, was found lying in a pool of blood yesterday.

Though the mist over the murder is yet to be cleared, initial reports reveal the role of someone known to the deceased, who is believed to have committed the heinous crime over an illicit relationship.

Police today asked all the 120 members of the Bathinda Plumbers Union to be present at the office of the Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) in the morning at around 10 am where they were paraded and questioned. Apart from questioning their credentials, they were randomly questioned by the cops.

"None of the city plumbers worked today as all of them were present at the police station following the murder," said Devinder Shukla, the cashier of the union.

"To ensure that no one was suspected by the police, everybody was present at the police station till 3.30 pm. Initially, the police announced they would show a CCTV footage, but it could not materialise till late in the evening," the cashier said.

The members of the union said ten of their members were detained by the police in the evening and after persuasion, seven of them were released. But three of them have been detained for further questioning.

The needle of suspicion is also being pointed by the plumbers at two missing migrant plumbers who used to work with the deceased.

Apart from them, the owner of a sanitary store where the deceased plumber worked, was also questioned by the police along with the owner of an iron store from Hajura Kapura Colony adjoining Mata Jeevi Nagar.

Though Thermal SHO Harpreet Singh and the SP (Detective) remained tight-lipped over the issue, sources said the police got a CCTV footage in which the scooty of the deceased is being seen as taken into possession by the police.

The footage has been recorded at around 4.30 am by a camera installed outside a shop near the house where the body of the plumber was found.

It seems that the scooty was stolen from the house of the deceased plumber and was driven by someone who was in an inebriated condition.

Last night too, the police picked up a young boy residing near the house of the deceased for dialling the cell phone of the deceased plumber.

"The boy called up Bunty's number to enquire into the 'missing' cell phone, which was actually lying with the policemen. The cops immediately swung into action and picked up the boy," said a close relative of the deceased, Satpal Sharma.

The boy was, however, released with the intervention of the local residents within an hour failing which he would surely have been 'interrogated' by the CIA at night.

Expressing satisfaction over the police action, Satpal said a team of policemen again visited the scene of the crime along with a posse of policemen. He added that the way the policemen were dealing with the case, the accused would soon land in 
police net.

Meanwhile, the young plumber's body was consigned to the flames by the relatives and friends of the boy amidst heart rending scenes today in the afternoon.

The incident has spread panic among the people residing in the locality where young children are not allowed by their families to roam out.

Spreading more panic, rumours are also doing the rounds in the nearby areas which has instilled a sense of insecurity among the residents of nearby localities including Mata Jeevi Nagar and Hajura Kapura Colony. 

Bathinda, December 10
The case of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment plant proposed to be built on Mansa Road will come up for hearing before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), New Delhi, tomorrow.

While the commissioner, Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB), Vipul Ujwal will attend the hearing along with the MCB officials, the deputy commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav will seek exemption. The counsel for the MCB will move an application before the NGT requesting that DC Yadav be exempted from appearance due to the semi-final matches of the fourth edition of World Kabaddi Cup to be held on December 11.

Along with the Bathinda cluster of the MSW plant, seven other clusters of the state will be discussed at the hearing tomorrow. The NGT has directed the secretary, local government department, to prepare a state policy for the scientific management of garbage.

The state government has prepared the policy and submitted it before the NGT. The NGT then directed the state to make some changes as per its observations. Tomorrow, the policy with the necessary changes will be tabled before the NGT.

"The NGT is especially enthusiastic over the policy as once implemented, Punjab will become the first state to cover all its districts under scientific management of garbage project. The state of Punjab would be a model in itself for the other states to follow and the plant at each cluster is also supposed to be a model of its own kind," said the MCB officials who will attend the hearing tomorrow.

The state government had proposed setting up a garbage treatment plant on Mansa road where municipal garbage is being dumped for over three decades. The State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) also gave environmental clearance to the project.

The residents of the areas around the proposed site moved the NGT demanding quashing of the SEIAA clearance and shifting of the project to some other side. Led by Captain Mal Singh and advocate Guriqbal Singh Chahal, people have put up a brave front against the state government. Their struggle has resulted in the entire state getting a uniform and a first of its kind policy for the scientific management of garbage.

THE MOVE

The state government had proposed setting up a garbage treatment plant on Mansa road where municipal garbage is being dumped for over three decades. The State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) also gave environmental clearance to the project.

THE OPPOSITION

The residents of the areas around the proposed site moved the NGT demanding quashing of the SEIAA clearance and shifting of the project to some other site. 

Bathinda, December 10
The deadline for paying property tax with 10 per cent rebate has yet again been extended to December 31 providing people with an opportunity to pay the tax on time.

Today was the last date as per the earlier notification. Till December 9, the total collection through property tax was Rs 4.5 crore and around 20,000 applications have been received. It is expected that the collections would zoom higher as the government may keep extending the last date with 10 per cent rebate up to March 31, 2014.

With the rebate, owners of commercial establishments have started turning up. Until now, they had chosen to remain silent and had waited for the tax to be rolled back.

"However, people have now realised that tax on residential property is very less, while the commercial rates too are bearable. Since the tax is being paid after self-assessment, most of the people have chosen to go ahead and pay," said one of the officials of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB). Till November 30, which was fixed as the last date, Rs 2.60 crore by way of property tax had been collected. Of the 65,000 households, several commercial establishments and industries, the MCB had received 15,000 applications and collected Rs 2.60 crore. 

Bathinda, December 10
A seminar was held marking the Human Rights Day at Teachers' Home today. The district legal services authority (DLSA) had organised the event with the support of the district education department.

Speaking at the event secretary, DLSA, Daljit Singh Ralhan, said December 10 was celebrated as the World Human Rights Day. The motive behind holding celebrations on the day was to make people aware of their rights and help poor and needy know the free legal aid available to them.

He said every individual enjoyed equal rights irrespective of caste, colour or creed. He added that any needy person could approach the front office at district administrative complex or the offices of the DLSA seeking free medical aid.

Lawyer Kamaljit Singh Kuti talked about the importance of Human Rights Day. Yashasvi Raghuvanshi, a law student, delivered lecture on the rights of women and need to awaken them as well as the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

In-charge, legal literacy club, Harcharan Singh and Kapil Kumar thanked the participants.

Bathinda, December 10
A section of people today demanded beginning of distribution of wheat at Re 1 per kg under the new scheme launched for people whose income is not above Rs 60,000 per year.

In a press statement issued here today president of the Freedom Fighter Lala Sant Ram Memorial Library, said the government should immediately start distributing wheat under the new scheme to the poor people.

He also alleged that the forms were not available in enough number at the Suvidha Centre. He said today some people had gone to collect forms for getting new below poverty line (BPL) cards made, but were asked to come after 2 pm. “When people went after 2 pm, they were asked to come tomorrow. Poor are being harassed,” he alleged.

However, in-charge of the Suvidha Centre, Jaswinder Singh, said there was no paucity of forms. “We have given more than 6,000 forms so far.

Around 1,000 forms are being distributed daily. Only those people are being refused who have collected multiple forms and whom we suspect might be selling the same outside,” he said. 

Bathinda, December 10
One of the world's largest information technology and business services company, IBM today hired five students of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions during a placement drive organised on the campus.

Company officials selected the candidates with good communication skills and knowledge in computers was considered secondary factors in their recruitment process. The selection criterion was based on extempore, voice accent, written test and personal interview.

After the final interview, the company officials announced the names of the five selected students who will join the company after the completion of their final exams. Japji Kaur from BSc (non-medical), Vishal Guleria from BA, Manthan Singh from BCA, Aseem Sharma and Aarti Tomar both from BBA were chosen.

Chairman of the BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, congratulated the students and appreciated the efforts of the training and the placement department.