Bathinda, March 15
The stir by the PSEB engineers has started affecting the power generation in the state. As per the sources, repair work on the 250 MW unit number 3 of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat, is getting delayed as the engineers are working only from 9 am to 5 pm, that too on working days, sticking only to their “work to rule” decision.

The plant, which generates 60 lakh units every day, experienced a breakdown since March 13 and was expected to be revived on March 14. But the unit could not be started even today as being a holiday, no engineer was on duty today. The unit now cannot be made operational before March 18 as Sunday and Monday are holidays. Chief Engineer, GHTP, Lehra Mohabbat SK Puri said the work on repairing unit number 3 was going on.

Similarly, only one unit of the GNDTP, Bathinda, 120 MW unit number 3, tripped on the night of March 14 around 8 pm due to problem in its coal mills. The unit could not be restarted till now due to the ongoing “work to rule” agitation by the engineers.

The situation worsened further when today at 1.35 pm, the 700 MW unit of the Rajpura thermal plant also tripped. Power cuts have been imposed in many villages and agricultural feeders across Punjab today although no cuts were imposed in the urban feeders so far.

Sources said that the PSPCL Patiala authorities have asked for starting one unit at Ropar and Bathinda plants, which were closed due to less demand. However, these units are not likely to be started soon as engineers are on work-to-rule.

The power engineers are on agitation against the Punjab government and the managements of the power companies. They are observing ‘work-to-rule’ from March 12 to March 26. During their work-to-rule agitation, the engineers perform their duties strictly as per rules, from 9 am to 5 pm only but not the duties of the subordinates.

The PSEB Engineers’ Association had forewarned that in case any unit trips at any of the thermal or hydro plants or due to a fault in any transmission or distribution system during the off duty hours, generation and supply of power may suffer and responsibility for it would lie with the Punjab government and the management.

The engineers are agitated over the decision of the Punjab government to raise the retirement age of the CMDs and directors from 62 to 65 years and for allowing entry of the IAS officers in the management which is against the concept of professionalism in the power sector agreed to by the government in 2010 at the time of implementation of the Electricity Act 2003.

Bathinda, March 15
The postgraduate department of political science, DAV College, Bathinda, today organised an ICSSR-sponsored national seminar on the ‘Role of media in exposing scams’.

Dr KK Rattu, an author and media expert, and Director, Doordarshan, Dehradun and Chandigarh, was the chief guest during the seminar.

Prof Ram Lubhaya, head of the department, set out the parameters for the seminar while principal of the college Dr JS Anand welcomed the chief guest as well as Dr Dilbir Kaur Bajwa, professor and head of the department of political science, Punjabi University, Patiala.

In her keynote address, Dr Bajwa exhorted the young students to change with the times and accept women as their respectable counterparts. Simultaneously, she referred to the affirmative role of the media and bringing to light the multi-layered injustice to the poor and women, in the society.

Dr Rattu, in his speech, punctuated with Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi couplets by the likes of Bulle Shah, pointed out that the scams were a ticklish subject. He said the media had played a positive role in digging out scams at various levels, but he did not lag behind in underlining the fact that the media houses, who expose scams, are run by big business houses. Behind the curtains, the exposure of the scams too has an ugly reality.

Things, he said, are not so simple, because the media is not free of shackles. He lamented that the media was voiceless, because whatever it carried was not out of complete freedom of expression. It was deeply controlled by the media barons who cook up scams for various considerations, he asserted.

He also condemned the practice of trial by media and stressed that he wanted the media to be free and work for building a society and human beings who are incorruptible. Corruption, he underlined, had become our second nature. And for the society to get rid of it, it was essential that the teachers play their role well and create a social atmosphere where goodness and niceties of life are valued.

The afternoon session was presided over by Dr Sunil Khosla in which around 20 faculty members from various colleges presented their papers. PD Goyal, vice-chairman, proposed a vote of thanks. The stage was conducted by Dr Gurpreet Singh and Prof Narinder Kaur. 

Bathinda, March 15
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav today called upon the political parties to refrain from mud-slinging and using foul language against each other while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

Yadav said as per the directives of the Election Commission of India (ECI), such issues would be dealt with at the district level. So, the district administration and the police would send daily reports to the ECI.

He appealed to the representatives of various political parties that all the ECI guidelines should be religiously followed. Before holding any rally or public function, due permission has to be sought from the Election Office. “This is to ensure that the time and the venue of two functions of different political parties do not clash,” he said.

He asked the political parties not to use the government or public property for pasting posters, putting up flags or any other kind of propaganda material. If any such material is pasted on a private building, written permission from the owner of that building will have to be sought. The parties are also not allowed to paste any kind of poster that defames other parties. Violation of these orders will attract legal action. — TNS

Bathinda, March 15
The strict orders of the Election Commission of India (ECI) barring the defacement of property by pasting election campaign material, limiting the number of handbills and pamphlets published and other rules have translated into lesser business for the printing presses.

During a meeting with the printing press owners in the city, District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav directed that all kind of election material being printed will have to bear the name and addresses of its publisher.

During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, cases were registered against the erring printing houses for not mentioning their names and addresses, thereby violating the ECI orders, which have made them cautious.

“The last Lok Sabha elections saw brisk business in terms of publishing campaign material. However, this time, there is not even five per cent work in the market till now,” said Vijay Verma, the general secretary of the Bathinda Printing Press Association, which has around 50 members in the city.

Besides mentioning names and addresses, the printing house owners are also given declaration forms to fill on per day basis. These forms contain details of the number of pamphlets, posters or other election material published every day and the details of customers getting it printed as well. Not abiding by the rules could attract revocation of licence of the printing press.

“With strict rules against defacing the property in the city, even the work of publishing posters has lessened to a larger extent,” added another publisher. 

Bathinda, March 15
The SSD Girls College, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Social Science and Research, today organised a national seminar on ‘Small, medium and large-scale units in Punjab: Opportunities and Challenges’. The seminar was organised under the guidance of Parminder Kaur Tanghi, principal of the college, and head of the commerce department, Dr Neeru Garg.

Dr Prem Kumar, Director of the BSL Munjal University, Gurgaon, and main speaker Dr BB Singhal, assistant professor, School and Management Study, Punjabi University, Patiala, were the chief guests during the seminar.

Dr Garg spoke at length on the subject of the seminar and stated that the college received as many as 70 research papers from Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Punjab, of which 40 were chosen to be presented at the seminar.

Dr Prem said opportunities were endless but one needed to face the challenges to tap them. Dr Anuradha of ITM University, Dr Navkiran Kaur and Dr Jaswinder Kaur from Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr Jivan Jyoti Maini from MIMIT and others also read out their papers.

Bathinda, March 15
A group of 37 students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University campus, visited the manufacturing plant of KB Spring Industries Ltd, Mapusa, Goa, and Godrej Industries Ltd, Vikhroli, Mumbai, recently. Faculty members Ripandeep Singh and Manupreet Singh accompanied the students.

The students watched manufacturing process of the springs at the KB Springs.

The students were enthralled to see automated process, from getting of raw material to the packing of finished products at the Godrej Industries.

The visit was funded under the TEQIP-II scheme. Campus director Prof Jasbir Singh Hundal said such visits helped students in understanding the practical aspects of engineering in the real world.

Watching the manufacturing processes fills the gap between the theoretical and practical study.

Prof Surinder Singh, coordinator of the Mechanical Engineering Department, said this was the second industrial visit to the state of Maharashtra and Goa by the students of the department. Prof Rajesh Gupta, tour in-charge coordinated the entire activity.

Bathinda, March 15
Thieves struck at a parked car on the GT Road today breaking the window pane and taking away Rs 60,000 in cash. The incident, which is the second to be reported from the area in the last three days, highlights the way parked cars are falling prey to thieves.

The incident took place in the afternoon, when a car was parked outside a furniture shop. The car owner, Sachin Baghla, who is a manager at Axis Bank, said he had parked his car near the Dena Bank around 11.30 am. When he returned at 2.30 pm, he found the bag missing from the car.

“I had left my bag on the driver’s seat. It contained Rs 60,000 and many documents. When I returned at 2:30 pm, the window glass was broken and the bag was missing,” he said. Baghla added that the theft took place between 11.30 am and 12.30 pm in the afternoon and the car was parked outside a shop, Varindra Furnitures. The owner of the Varindra Furniture has the same car as 
Sachin. “The owner of the shop received a call at 12.30 pm from his shop that his somebody had broken his car’s window pane. It was my car,” added Baghla.

Earlier, a similar incident was reported on March 13 wherein thieves took away Rs 10,000 and jewellery from an SUV, parked outside a private hospital near Mittal Mall. — TNS