Bathinda, January 31
Members of the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) today staged a protest and burnt an effigy of the All-India Congress Committee vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, who recently gave a statement regarding the 1984 riots.

The workers congregated at one of the busiest intersections of the city due to which the traffic came to a standstill from 10 to 15 minutes. The activists then burnt an effigy of Rahul Gandhi and shouted slogans against the Congress party and the Central Government.

The protesters were led by senior vice-president of the All-India Youth Akali Dal and chairman of the Bathinda Zila Parishad, Gurpreet Singh Maluka and district YAD president Balkar Singh Brar. They also assembled at the Rose Garden roundabout and shouted slogans against the AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Addressing the gathering, the leaders said Rahul Gandhi’s statement had made it clear that the Congress leadership was involved in the 1984 riots. They also derided the Congress for drawing a parallel between the 1984 riots and the Gujarat riots of 2002.

They said the biggest difference between the two was the fact that after the special investigation committee looking into the Gujarat riots submitted its report, 131 persons found guilty were sent behind bars while 10 accused were pronounced death sentence and one leader was handed out a sentence of 28 years. But no one had ever been blamed or jailed for the 1984 riots even after 29 years had passed since.

They also added that instead of bringing the accused to book Congress leadership had been spending all these years in saving them. They also stated that it was high time that the Congress party gave its nod for a free and fair enquiry into the 1984 riots and stop saving its skin.

They challenged the Congress party to showcase that it cared for the public which also comprises families which lost their members 29 years ago and are yet waiting for justice.

Pointing out that justice delayed was justice denied, the YAD leaders demanded that the Central Government act with alacrity as time was running out before the families that suffered major setbacks in 1984 lost patience.

Bathinda, January 31
The local police today arrested Ajay Kumar, a resident of Gangaram Wali Gali, with China-made string. Head constable Manful Singh said that the accused was found carrying two banned packets of Chinese kite string near the Veterinary hospital.

In such another case, the police also arrested Sunny Setia from near the Mini Secretariat Road. The complainant said that the accused was found carrying two packets of Chinese kite string bundles.

Amritsar, January 31
A day after a cloth trader was robbed near Shivala Bhaiyan, another incident of robbery came to light in which an Airtel distributor was looted by three armed robbers late last night.

Suresh Sharan, a resident of Katra Moti Ram outside Hathi gate, stated to the police that he was just a few metres away from his home when three persons surrounded him and snatched his bag containing cash and important documents. Sharan is a distributor of Airtel telecommunications.

He said the accused were armed with a pistol-like weapon.

Surinder Mohan, SHO, Kotwali police station, said the matter was under investigation, adding that a case under Section 382, IPC, had been registered in this connection. He said the victim was yet to disclose the exact amount which he was carrying in the bag. According to the victim, he had collections of yesterday only in his bag besides vouchers and bills.

This is the fourth snatching incident in the past couple of days. A cloth trader, who had returned from Delhi after collecting payments, was looted by robbers.

From the Amritsar railway station he hired a rickshaw and was going to his home at Shivala Bhaiyan when the snatchers took away his bag containing around Rs 2.15 lakh.

A Scotland resident was also robbed of his belongings by snatchers.

Bathinda, January 31
The annual international festival, Vibgyor-14, of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) concluded here on Friday. The festival events were badly affected by the inclement weather as it led to the cancellation of the chief guest Deputy Chief Minister’s visit. It also dashed all hopes of the BFGI management of getting a grant as the chief guest for the day, Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka, stated that he was not prepared to be the chief guest since he had expected Sukhbir Badal to be there and do the needful.

Praising the BFGI management of setting up a great institution, Maluka also urged them to serve the society and make sure that the needy students were not denied admission into the institution.

He, along with Mantar Singh Brar and Darshan Singh Kotfatta, honoured the winners of various technical and non-technical events.

Addressing the audience, managing director of the BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, said that technology, management, culture, science and entertainment-filled second international fest will be beneficial not only to the students but also for farmers and people of the surroundings areas. He also lauded the achievements of the students of BFGI not only in the field of academics but also in sports, culture and the technical fields.

Vibgyor-14 also boated of an auto show, agri-expo, biz show and book fair apart from several other attractions. While as part of the biz expo, several international brands set up their information counters, the agri expo included the display of small tractors, potable biogas plants, power spray pump, sugarcane harvester, potato planter, happy seeder and various other machines.

Bathinda, January 31
Members of the Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa) convened a meeting at the Teachers’ Home here today and conducted the elections of its working committee.

Students from the Government Rajindra College, Regional Centre of the Punjabi University, Patiala, University College Sikhwala, Shaheed Udham Singh College, Sunam, Government College, Sardargarh, Guru Gobind Singh College, Talwandi Sabo and several other higher education institutes were present during the meeting.

Sarabjeet Maur, Sandip Singh, Kuldeep Kaur and Sumit were elected members of the working committee unanimously.

Addressing the gathering, Sarabjit said as the the Lok Sabha elections are approaching near, in the first week of this month the union would meet the political parties and raise issues being faced by the students of the region.

He also said the issues would include regulating fee structure of the private colleges and universities, increasing the number of government educational institutions and courses being offered at these colleges.