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Bathinda votes 2014
Manpreet sets up election office in cinema hall
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Teachers in a fix on change in result date
Auction of liquor
vends
Shooting: Players shell out own money on guns
MCI elections
Punjab under heavy debt, says Manpreet Badal
Plastic material gutted
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As poll fever on, development works pick up
Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service
Bathinda, March 22 With sitting Akali MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal seeking re-election from the Bathinda constituency against Manpreet Badal, her brother-in-law and president of the People's Party of Punjab (PPP), any kind of civic work comes under scrutiny. Though no formal complaint has been made by the PPP or the Congress regarding these development works that may attract votes, the residents do not mind the development. Road re-laying project is mainly conducted at night. Beant Nagar, named after late Congress Chief Minister and also known as the 25-yard houses colony, near Dhobi Basti has witnessed a flurry of activity in last few weeks. The narrow streets, unpaved mostly or brick lined in-between have been laid with tiles. The colony came into being properly a decade ago but the streets have been laid with concrete tiles for the first time. It has 1,294 plots, most of which are occupied. A thickly populated section of the city, it has over 4,500 registered voters, claim the local leaders. "Now, we will not have to wade through poodles of water during Monsoons. The bumpy ride through the uneven streets may also be a thing of the past," said Sunil and his wife, who live in the colony. Ravneet Singh Ravi, who owes allegiance to the Akalis after fighting municipal councillor elections as an independent in the vain, said the government had announced sewer and paved streets way back in 1999 but the works were not completed. "Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pulled up officials at a Sangat Darshan programme held near the colony about three months ago. The work picked up pace in last few weeks. A tube well for installing a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant has been dug, "We had to fetch portable water from other colonies," he said. The Beebi Wala chowk which carried the chunk of heavy vehicles entering or exiting the city is being re-layed. The central railing announced long ago is being installed. The central railing, whose design was specially chosen by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, is also being repaired on the Gonyana road and the Mall road. Several parts of the railing had gone missing few months ago. An over zealous local police official got into trouble after he allegedly got duplicate railings recovered from an alleged gang of thieves and claimed praise only to face an inquiry MC Commissioner Vipul Ujwal said, “The works were awarded in routine and long before the election code of conduct came into force. We have documented the work allocation with pictures to avoid allegations." He said due to prolonged winter, the roads could not be re-laid as the bitumen needs sun to mix well with the crushed stone. He claimed almost all the roads would be re-laid in next few days as the works were allotted long ago.
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Manpreet sets up election office in cinema hall
Bathinda, March 22 The idea of choosing a dingy cinema hall with dim house lights, unkempt upholstery, buckled flooring and creaking chairs, for opening the main office for all the nine constituencies may sound weird but not in the light of the fact that it is owned by Manpreet’s nanke (maternal family). “When I have a place in the city which is owned by my family members, why I will take a showroom on rent or some other big place? Apart from having a huge seating capacity, the cinema hall premises also has a huge parking area which can accommodate nearly 100 cars,” said Manpreet Badal, adding that an office for Bathinda city will be opened at Gol Diggi or Mall Road. “The fact that it is owned by my family does not mean that it will be used for free. We will bear all the overhead expenses like the electricity bills and taxes etc. We will also pay the salaries of the employees of the cinema hall although they will not be working with us. We will also compensate for the loss of revenue of the cinema hall for the day it will remain closed due to our functioning,” he added. Manpreet held a meeting of Congress and PPP leaders and workers from the district on Thursday evening at the Harchand Cinema hall. However, it came to life on Saturday afternoon when party workers put up a huge flex poster on the theatre announcing that the place had been turned into main election office for the Congress-PPP candidate. The poster carried photographs of all the senior Congress leaders. The photograph of the president of the All India Congress Committee Sonia Gandhi, is followed by that of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then are the photographs of AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Shakeel Ahmed.
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Teachers in a fix on change in result date
Bathinda, March 22 Rajesh Monga, a mathematics teacher at the Desraj Memorial Government Senior Secondary School, said: "While earlier, we used to prepare results and declare them on March 21, a letter was issued on March 21 asking the schools to hold parent-teacher meetings on March 26 and declare the results. This has put teachers in a fix as many of them are also on duty for the board examination of classes X and XII. How will we expedite the work to be able to declare the results four days in advance?" Members of the Sarkari School Sikhya Bachao Manch, Swaranjeet Singh, Lachhman Maluka and Darshan Maur, deride the Education Department of adding to the trouble to the teachers instead of addressing their problems. They also pointed out that students of Classes VI, VIII and IX appeared for their examination on March 21 as well and teachers who are responsible for checking the papers have also been given board exam duties. The teachers are also scheduled to conduct practical examination of their respective subjects, evaluate the same and then prepare the final results. The teachers have also requested the Education Department to ponder over the matter and taking cognizance of the problem change the date of declaration of results. "I was not aware of the fact that the teachers were facing problems. I will read the letter once again and if I receive a complaint from the teachers regarding shortage of time for declaration of results, I will speak to the higher authorities and solve the matter," said Bathinda District Education Officer (secondary) Harkanwaljeet Kaur. |
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Excise Dept generates
Rs 2.32-cr revenue
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, March 22 Excise Inspector Jeewan Kumar Singla said 617 applicants sought to get the one-year contract of the liquor vends falling under rural and urban areas. Last time, mere 37 applications were received to get the liquor vends contract. Three different parties got the contract of vends in four zones of Bathinda while one group got the contract of the Jethuke group. Maximum applications were received to seek liquor vends in the Jethuke area in view of its strategic location. Those who got the contract today deposited 2 per cent of the total amount of the yearly contract for the urban areas and one percent for the rural areas. The excise officials said that the reason behind increase in the revenue this time is due to the increased duty on per proof liter from Rs 200 to Rs 243 this time. Unlike previously wherein people seeking contract were called to pick the tickets of lottery, this time the government servants picked up the tickets. The Excise Department officials said the slips were mixed in a box using a machine and names were read out whosoever got the contract. The liquor contractors will deposit the 15 per cent of total amount of their contract before March 31.
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Shooting: Players shell out own money on guns
Bathinda, March 22 To address the problem of absence of guns, rifles and pistols to practice with and the college’s inability to bear the burden of buying such expensive shooting equipment, the players have no option but to burn a hole in their own pockets to buy the pistols. Talking about the problem, head of the Department of Physical Education at the college, Prof Surjit Singh, said, “The college developed a shooting range on the campus but lacks the funds to buy guns and pistols to help the players practise at the shooting range. The college also arranges coaches for the students but the players have no option but to buy the pistols themselves.” The college however, sometimes arranges for rounds of bullets which are used by the players at the shooting range. A round of bullets costs around Rs 800. Swaraj Jodh Singh, a student of the college has spent money on buying a pistol. “Although there is a shooting range and new machines have been procured, the college is yet to buy pistols and rifles for the players. Without hands-on training how will we win any competition or tournament? So, I had to spend Rs 1.40 lakh to buy a pistol,” he said. Another student of the college, Baljinder Kaur, spent her own money for buying a rifle. “I had always been interested in this sport. When I joined the college, I immediately got enrolled as a shooter but was surprised to know that the college didn’t have rifles and guns for the players. But since I didn’t want to give up the sport for the lack of facilities, I spent Rs 2 lakh on buying a rifle of my own,” she said. |
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Rajesh gets support of local IMA unit
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, March 22 Dr Maheshwari said the education and infrastructure standard of the government medical colleges in the country should be improved to produce good doctors. He also stressed upon the need for increasing the number of postgraduate medical seats in the country to match the number of MBBS seats. Meanwhile, the IMA, Bathinda unit also wished speedy recovery of a city dentist Dr Dheeraj Dixit who received serious injuries while on his way back from Mansa with his family members in a car on the day of Holi. Doctors said the condition of the dentist improved to a great extent and was shifted to the Fortis Hospital, Delhi.
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Punjab under heavy debt, says Manpreet Badal
Bathinda, March 22 He said the state was bearing a burden of more than Rs 1 lakh crore which had put a great pressure on the state treasury. He added that in the last six years only, the debt on the state increased by Rs 38,109 crore and in the public sector increased by Rs 69,270 crore which hit the public the worst. He also rubbished the claims made by the government that the state was developing by leaps and bounds. Manpreet said the thermal plants were lying shut in the state, government schools were tackling shortage of staff and furniture but the government was not paying attention to these problems. |
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Bathinda, March 22
