Bathinda, February 21
A Branch Manager of the ING Vysya Bank situated at Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, along with some unidentified persons was booked by the Bathinda police for fraudulently opening two bank accounts in the name of a resident of Bhucho Mandi and executing transactions worth crores.

Taken aback after receiving an ATM card, debit card, cheque from the Delhi branch of the bank, complainant Khushvir Jindal, a cloth merchant, failed to figure out how the two accounts (saving and another current account) were opened in his name in New Delhi.

“I do not remember when the last time I visited New Delhi and opening a bank account there is uncomprehending,” Jindal said. He added that the local branch of the bank had refused to cooperate and instead asked him to sign on certain papers to close the bank accounts. “When I did not open the account, how can I close the same,” Jindal questioned the bank officials, suspecting bank employees involvement into the fraud.

While the saving account had Rs 15,000 bank the current account had money to the tune of crores. “Cheque transactions of self-cheque of Rs 1.25 crores were shown at one time in the account,” revealed Jindal.

The cloth merchant lamented that when he started enquiring into the issue by making phone calls in the New Delhi branch, the staff there began to threaten him.

The matter was brought into the notice of the police and with the intervention of the senior police officials a case under Sections 463, 465, 467, 468, 471, 420, 506 and 120 B of the IPC has been registered against the bank manager of the New Delhi branch of the bank, Rajesh Gupta, and some unidentified persons at the Nathana police station. Further investigation was handed over to the Economic Offences Wing of the Bathinda police.

Nathana SHO Malkit Singh said the motive behind opening the bogus bank accounts would be ascertained only after arresting the accused persons. He pointed out that it was yet not clear how the accused had obtained the address, phone number, signatures and identity proofs of the complainant for opening the accounts. “We are in pursuit of the accused and soon the police parties will be dispatched to arrest the guilty to establish the truth behind the bogus bank accounts,” the SHO said.

Bathinda, February 21
The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers today hold a protest outside the bus stand in view of their pending demands. The workers entered into heated arguments with some bus conductors and drivers over the issue of blocking the bus stand and not allowing the buses to come out.

The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers had been sitting on hunger strike in front of the Civil Hospital premises for the past few days. Deputy Superintendent of Police Gurjeet Romana interacted with the protesters who agreed to lift the dharna.

Bathinda, February 21
Manpreet Kaur, a sophomore student of Government Rajindra College was critically injured today after some construction material fell on her head inside the college.

According to sources, there was some de-shuttering going on at the laboratory construction site and one of the support platforms fell on her head. The victim is a resident of Lal Singh Nagar.

She was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital from where she was taken to the Max Hospital due to lack of neurosurgeons.

“She was brought in around 3 pm. She is currently undergoing treatment for bleeding inside her head. She has sustained multiple fractures in her skull bone. The next 48 hours are very crucial for her. She may require undergoing a brain surgery which will be done on Monday,” said Dr Manoj Manjhi, a neurosurgeon at the Max Hospital who is treating Manpreet.

Principal of the college, Vijay Kumar Goyal, said, “The accident took place at around 1.30. We took her to the Civil hospital and then to Max Hospital. We wonder what was she doing at the construction site despite the fact that the college authorities had put up a notice asking the students and staff members to stay away from there.”

He added that the onus of the accident did not lie with the college authorities as the work was being undertaken by the B&R Department of the Public Works Department and remains incomplete and is yet to be handed over to the college management. He also added that although the college was not responsible for the accident, it may extend some monetary help to the victim’s family on compassionate grounds.

The SDO of B&R Department Vishal Garg who is also part of the committee which is overseeing the work going, said, “Long before, we began the work on the college premises, we had asked the college authorities to notify the students and staff members to stay away from the site. During the de-shuttering support platforms are removed and heavy material falls on the ground. The accident was unfortunate. But our labour is not responsible for it. I was outside the city when the accident took place and I will visit the patient in the hospital soon." 

Bathinda, Feruary 21
February 21 is celebrated as the International Mother Language Day every year all over the world with the purpose of preserving, protecting and promoting the linguistic diversity. Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, organised lectures of history, economics, science and linguistics to celebrate the International Mother Tongue Day on its Bathinda campus today.

Prof Chaman Lal, welcomed the guests and expressed his views on the importance of the day. He also deliberated upon how the day came to be instituted. He said language and culture can bridge the gap between two nations or societies. The chief guest on this occasion was a Punjabi novelist Gurdial Singh who has won Padam Shree and Jananpeeth awards.

In his lecture, he said when the Punjab government incorporated English from Class I onwards a few years ago, few Punjabi intellectuals, including him and Prof Pritam Singh raised the demand for preservation of Punjabi language as a medium of instruction in primary class. He added that it was time for the Punjabi intellectuals, teachers and poets to join hands for the upliftment of the ‘Maa Boli’ Punjabi.

Prof Prithipal Singh Kapur, former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, was the special guest. He gave his views on the role of Punjabi in the construction of modern Punjab. He said the function of a language is to give identity to a race or to the society. He said we should be aware of our wonderful history, so that we may fulfill our duty towards Punjab. He also added that leaving mother tongue has a disastrous effect of every individual’s life.

Special guests Prof Surjeet Singh Dhillon and Prof Ramesh Kuntal Megh also expressed their views on the need to preserve diversity in the languages of people living in India and added that instead of dividing the society on linguistic basis, there was a need to promote folk lore and folk wisdom as failure in this regard would result in depriving the people of their culture. Special speakers, Prof Gyan Singh and Prof Paramjit Singh Dhingra spoke about the benefits of the use of mother tongue in imparting education at all levels. They said that that was the time when we all had to change our mind sets and readopt our mother tongue Punjabi, if we wanted to learn and grow in future.

At last, Vice-Chancellor Prof (Dr) Jai Rup Singh thanked all the guests and speakers and expressed concern over the diminishing role of Punjabi in higher education. He emphasised over the role of mother tongue for concrete growth in day to day life and further added that if today, we adopt mother tongue in learning process, the chances of growth will increase while exploring other languages.

The lectures were followed by a multi-lingual colourful cultural programme in which faculty and students presented songs and poems in their mother tongues such as Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Malayalam, Tamil and Pahari.

Mementoes were presented to guests and speakers at the close of the function. Prof P Ramarao, Dean (academic affairs), proposed a vote of thanks. Students, faculty, research scholars and intellectuals from the region participated in the programme. 

Bathinda, February 21
The Bathinda SSP today placed an ASI and two Head Constables under suspension for not taking seriously a complaint received through a police helpline number.

ASI Amarjeet Singh and Head Constables Pardeep Kumar and Balvir Singh were suspended for not properly taking a complaint’s letter forwarded by the police helpline.

The SSP said a Mansa resident had complained at the police helpline number that he had been receiving threats from an unidentified phone number. The suspended policemen have been sent to the Police Lines in Bathinda.

Bathinda, February 21
A two-day NSS camp was organised at Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus, Bathinda, on February 18-19. NSS volunteers painted the roadside bumps to give the campus a fresh and attractive look.

Campus director Jasbir Singh Hundal and registrar GS Bath and Prof Ranjeet Kaur, NSS coordinator of the campus motivated the volunteers.

The aim of the camp was to send a message to residents to keep the campus neat and clean.

Prof Neeraj Gill, Prof Dinesh Kumar, Prof Kalyan Rai, Prof Vivek Kondal also extended their full support to the volunteers. On the concluding day of the camp, a street play on the the themes, crime against women, was presented by the volunteers. All the dignitaries present on the occasion appreciated the effort of the NSS team.