Bathinda, January 11
Preparing for the Lok Sabha elections 2014, the District Election Office has completed the procedure of conducting first-level checking (FLC) of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

EVMs’ two mains units are ballot units and control units. There are 2,829 ballot units and 2,150 control units in Bathinda. All these machines were thoroughly checked and sealed. The machines that have been sealed would be used in the Lok Sabha 2014 elections.

The exercise was conducted over a period of 16 days from December 18 2013 to January 6 2014. The entire procedure of checking has been video-graphed and the representatives of various political parties too were present on the first day of checking. District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Kamal Kishore Yadav, had overseen the procedure.

“After checking all the units have been sealed using pink slips issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI),” said Election Tehsildar, Bharat Bhushan Bansal.

Bathinda has six assembly segments and 1,029 polling stations. Around 70 to 80 EVMs would be used for training purposes in these assembly segments. These segments would be provided around six to 12 machines each for training. “The machines used for training will not be used at the time of elections. These machines would be sealed and stored separately from the other ones,” said Bansal. The pink slip of the ECI is removed before using and while storing, these machines will be marked “T” that is used for the training purpose.

Nine hundred and three of these machines are those that had been lying sealed at the circuit house store for the past seven years. These machines were sealed following writ petitions during the elections of 2002 and 2007. After seeking a necessary clearance from the Supreme Court, the ECI and the State Election Commission, these machines were included in the FLC exercise. A batch of 125 machines still lie sealed owing to a petition filed from the Rampura assembly segment.

One control unit can be attached to four ballot units. Every ballot unit has 16 ballot buttons, which means that every one control unit can support ballot buttons of 64 candidates. Each EVM has capacity to memory to store around 3,000 votes. In the Bathinda district, there are around 1,200 to 1,400 voters at each booth.

Bathinda, January 11
Alert Powercom officials deployed at a grid near the Thermal Police Station caught a thief around 2 am last night.

The thieves were trying to steal costly electric wires, worth around Rs 25,000. Sub-Station Attendant, Sukhwinder Pal, noticed some people who were trying to steal the costly wire after hearing noises outside the grid.

“Instead of catching the thief himself as the criminals could be equipped with some weapons, he instead called me,” said a lineman Gurmel Singh.

Gurmel further called up few other employees of the department and they all swung into action and caught one of the thieves and handed him over to the police.

The Powercom officials said earlier too, numerous incidents of theft were reported in the vicinity of their departments situated in the around the Thermal Police Station.

The officials said earlier, a sewerage cap, water taps, electric gadgets and costly wires were stolen in the similar manner.

Out of the 185-metre long recently introduced wire in the department the thieves took away 85 metre. Instead of traditional three wires that were installed on the electric poles the new wire comprising three wires in one is introduced to avoid short circuit. This wire reduces the chances of tripping to zero and thieves extract the costly copper to sell the otherwise costly wire at throwaway price of Rs 150 per kg.

Bathinda, January 11
The Bathinda Hotel, Restaurant and Resorts Association today decided to appeal in the higher court after losing a case in the High Court filed against the new policy of the Punjab government on marriage palaces.

President of the association, Satish Arora, said the association had filed an application in the court in last leg of 2011 against the revision of norms on setting up and operating marriage palaces.

“The double bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice RP Nagrath had been hearing the case. On January 10, our case was disposed off with the High Court maintaining that Punjab government’s policy is right and need not be changed,” said Arora.

He added that though the judgement has come as a setback to the 1,800 owners of marriage palaces in state, the association has decided to appeal the Supreme Court for seeking relief.

“We will also approach the state government requesting that either the policy be changed or the marriage palace owners be given time of three years as a gestation period for reconstructing respective commercial establishments as per the new norms,” he said.

The state government’s policy stated that half area of the marriage palaces should be reserved for providing parking space. The association members said that one-third of the total area was enough to serve as the parking space as many people come to attend marriages on public transport system or two-wheelers.

Similarly, the policy stated that the marriage palaces should have enough space on all its sides to enable the vehicles of fire brigade to move around freely in event of fire or any other accident. The association members reasoned saying that the marriage palaces were permanent constructions and functions were not held putting up shamianas, which could catch fire. — TNS

Bathinda, January 11
Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, today stated that the newly appointed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal needed to take a lesson from the Punjab CM who has been holding Sangat Darshans at villages across the state to listen to the grievance and come up with solutions for the same.

She said this when asked to comment on the novel idea of the Delhi CM of holding a janta darbar to hear out the problems being faced by the public. The Bathinda MP stated that the janta darbar held by Kejriwal held little importance as it resulted in a stampede-like situation and the Delhi CM had to sneak away to avoid being mobbed.

While holding Sangat Darshan programmes in the district today, she patted the back of the Punjab Government for hosting Investment Summit, NRI Sammellan and Agricultural Summit and stated that meets like these will give impetus to the growth story of the state. She stated this while addressing Sangat Darshan in Bathinda district.

Appreciating the NRI Sammellan, she added that while on one hand this will give a platform to Punjabi people staying abroad to voice their concerns, it would also open avenues for the development of the state.

She also added that seeing that the SAD-BJP government had a serious outlook towards taking the state down the path of progress, the NRIs had also shown interest in contributing to the development of the state.

Talking about the Progressive Punjab Investors' Summit, the MP stated that several leading business houses of the country had shown interest to invest in the state and several MoUs were also signed. She added that with the industrial development of the state, more jobs will be generated for the unemployed youth of the state.

Bathinda, January 11
With the AAP popularity on the rise, maximum number of queries to join the common man’s party in Bathinda are ‘from’ the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Apart from political leaders, 4,500 new members were registered today in the district with maximum registration of 200 from Ghudda and nearby villages. Over 3,600 members were inducted in the party yesterday.

Party workers said they got great response in Talwandi Sabo, Rama Mandi and Maur Mandi as well.

A city-based financer, Teenu Brar, who joined the party along with his three family members and a group of 15 friends today, said: “I liked rejection of the AAP to red beacon, gun totting security and plying in serpentine motorcade.”

“Apart from a former SAD MLA, a Congress leader from Rampura, maximum political leaders making queries to join our party is from the BJP,” said the AAP general secretary of Bathinda Bilas Chand Gupta.

He said that the candidates who fought independently during the previous Vidhan Sabha and general elections too are pouring in to join the AAP.

Bathinda, January 11
A meeting of the District Congress (Rural) was convened at the Congress Bhawan here today.

The meeting was presided over by Ghura Singh Tungwali and was attended by all the block heads of the party.

Among the issues discussed during the meeting, members of the party pondered over ways of making the political conference during the Maghi Mela at Muktsar a success and demanded the resignation of Bikramjit Singh Majithia, the state Cabinet Minister who has been named by the drug smuggling racket kingpin Jagdish Singh Bhola.

During the meeting, the block level leaders were given the responsibility to mobilise the party workers and supporters to participate in the party’s conference at Maghi Mela to make it a success.

The party workers also asked the state government to ensure that Bikramjit Singh Majithia resigned from his post till the time an inquiry panel absolves him of the accusation levelled against him.

They also said the state government and Majithia were not interested in handing over the inquiry to the CBI which was an indicator that they were scared of being indicted in the case.

They also announced that as an expression of their protest against the state government, the party has given a call for Bathinda bandh on January 16.

It also announced that on the same day, the party workers will block the roads linking the city to other cities for three hours, from 12 noon to 3pm.

Bathinda, January 11
Officials of the Health Department organised a camp at the Mal Godam Road, near Lajjawati Dharamshala, enabling the food business operators to submit forms for seeking registration and licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act of India (FSSAI) whose deadline expires on February 4.

Headed by District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa, a team registered around 60 to 70 karyana merchants.

Dr Randhawa said owing to lohri season, the response had been lukewarm. The department will hold camp again after the festival season is over.

Meanwhile, similar camp will be held at Goniana on January 14.

Bathinda, January 11
IIT Bombay today conducted a workshop at the Government Polytechnic College (GPC), here, as part of the Spoken Tutorial Project. Apart from the faculty members of the college, members of the polytechnic colleges in Mansa, Faridkot and Muktsar districts also participated in the workshop.

The workshop was inaugurated by principal of the college, Yadwinder Singh. He expressed his gratitude towards coordinator of the workshop, Jainendra Jaiswal and the faculty members of other colleges for attending the workshop.

Throwing light on the purpose of the workshop, he said the workshop would not only add to the knowledge base of the faculty members but also keep them abreast with the developments and innovations in the field of technology which would help them keep their students updated.

Addressing the gathering, Jaiswal said the Spoken Tutorial Project had been given to IIT Bombay as part of a project launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. He said through the project the students and teachers could get linked to IIT Bombay and be benefited by the Open Source Technology on which several softwares had been uploaded.

He said after learning these softwares, the students or faculty members could also procure certificates in the softwares from IIT Bombay.

Bathinda, January 11
The two-day judo championship concluded here today. Government College for Girls and Modi College, both from Patiala lifted the Punjabi University Inter-College Judo Championship trophy in the girls and boys categories, respectively.

The matches were played at the gymnasium hall of the Multipurpose Sports Stadium.

In the girls category, Modi College, Patiala and University Campus won the second and the third places, respectively.

In the boys category, JG College Gurne Kalan and NCPE Chupki won the second and third places, respectively.

In the girls 44 kg category, Pahul Verma of National College of Physical Education, Chupki grabbed the first place, while Anu Rani of Modi College, Patiala was placed second.

The third place was shared by Sukhjit Kaur of Government College for Girls, Patiala and Sukhvir Kaur of Government Rajindra College, Bathinda.

In the 48 kg category, Sukhjit Kaur of Government College for Girls, Patiala stood first and Anupal of University Campus Patiala second and Ramandeep Kaur of Mansa and Sukhvir Kaur of Guru Nanak Girls College, Bathinda shared the third place.

In the 52 kg category, Amandeep Kaur of GCG, Patiala bagged the first position while the second position was got by Tripti of University Campus, Patiala. Manisha Rani of Universirty Campus, Ghanaur and Mandeep Kaur of Government Rajindra College, Bathinda shared the third place.

In the 57 kg category, Pooja Chaudhary of Modi College grabbed the first place while the second place went to Suman Singla of University campus.

The third place was shared by Mangvir Kaur of Rajindra College and Pradip Kumari of Public College, Samana.

In the 63 kg category, Parampreet Kaur of GCG Patiala and Manjit Kaur of SD College for Girls Mansa grabbed the first and the second places, respectively. The third place was shared by Jugati Kumari of the MMC, Patiala and Ashima of SKR College, Bhago Majra.

In the 70 kg category, KM Aarti of ACPE bagged the first position and the second position went to Aashu of Public College, Samana. Sukhpreet of Government College for Girls Kotkapura and Parneet Kaur of MMC, Patiala tied for the third spot.

In the 78 kg category, Gurpreet Kaur of Talwandi Sabo and Paramjit Kaur of SDKMV, Mansa bagged the first and the second positions, respectively. Sarabjit Kaur of KMRD Jain College, Malerkotla and Sarbajit Kaur of Gurukul College, Kotkapura bagged the third position.

In the open category, Pooja Chaudhary of MMC, Patiala bagged the first place, Parul Verma of NCPE Chupki bagged the second place while the third place was shared by Pawanpreet Kaur of GCG, Patiala and Ashu of Public College Samana.

In the 56 kg boys’ category, Vikram Kumar of Samana and Devinder Singh of Modi College, Patiala bagged the first and the second positions, respectively. Baljit Singh of Gurne Kalan and Kulbeer Singh of Ropar bagged the third spot.

In the 60 kg category, Pawan Pandey of Modi College bagged the first position while Rajpal Singh of Gurne Kalan bagged the second position. Maninder of Samana and Manjeet Singh of Mansa won the third place.

In the 66 kg boys’ category, Anup of University Campus Patiala and Gurinder Singh of Malwa College, Bathinda bagged the first and the second positions, respectively. Krishan Kumar of GRC, Bathinda and Preet Mohinder bagged the third spot.

In the 73 kg category, Vashisht Gill of Modi College and Gurpreet Singh of GRC, Bathinda bagged the first and the second positions, respectively. Arun Kumar of University Campus and Harsimranjot Singh of Sunam bagged the third place.

In the 81 kg category, Sukhwant Kumar bagged the first position and Karanvir Singh bagged the second position. Harjinder Singh of University Campus and Hardeep Singh of Bhikhi won the third place.

In the open weight category, Vashisht Gill of Modi College and Harjinder Singh of University Campus bagged the first and the second places, respectively. Krishan Kumar of GRC, Bathinda and Anoop of Chupki bagged the third place.

The efforts of the Government of Punjab for the holistic development of Bathinda, can't yield the desired results without the active and positive participation of the residents of Bathinda.

City dwellers in almost all the major localities have encroached upon the streets by making oversized ramps in front of their houses, beginning almost from the middle of the road. The situation becomes all the more worse when these encroachments are made on both the sides, opposite each other in the street, thus making them prone to accidents and traffic hazards.

It is the basic duty of the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda to first convince the citizens to demolish these ramps of their own accord by making public announcements and organising awareness meetings under the chairmanship of the area municipal councillor.

In case the residents of the area do not respond positively, then it becomes the social and legal obligation of the corporation to do so in public interest. But it should be done without fear or favour. Instances have come to light when people having proximity to the ruling party are often spared under political duress. The pick and choose policy lowers the credibility of the department.

Without the cooperation of the residents, the steps taken by the government to improve the living conditions goes for a toss. If we actually want development, the residents must rise above the petty consideration of their personal comfort at the cost of public convenience.