Bathinda, March 25
As many as 30 inter-state check points would be set up on the Punjab-Haryana border ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to be held on April 10 in Haryana and April 30 in Punjab on April 30. Officials from both the states would man the check points. The announcement was made by Returning Officer for the Bathinda parliamentary constituency Kamal Kishore Yadav after presiding over a meeting of Punjab and Haryana officers held here today. Punjab will poll 20 days, after Haryana, on April 30.

Yadav said the Punjab and Haryana police will hold joint inter-state check points in the border areas on the poling day for both the state.

Villages lying within 3-km radius of Punjab as well as of Haryana will have to abide by dry day rules wherein no liquor will be sold or served.

Mandi Dabwali, Kalianwali, Talwandi Sabo and parts of Mansa that lie on the Punjab-Haryana border, which will have joint nakas. It would also be ensured that neither on April 10 and nor on April 30 will voters, anti-social elements, drugs or liquor be allowed go from one state to another.

He directed the AROs to ensure that all political parties are timely given permissions.

At the meeting were present, DC Sirsa Dr Ansaj Singh, DC Mansa Amit Dhaka, SSP Bathinda Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP Mansa Bhupinder Singh, ARO Lambi Sandeep Rishi and AROs of different constituencies falling under the Bathinda parliamentary seat were present. 

Bathinda, March 25
Think twice before purchasing branded goggles next time as a case of cheating has come to light wherein glass frame of Rs 150 was sold as original Tommy Hilfiger for Rs 6,300 by a Chandigarh Optical Company, situated opposite to Gol Diggi on The Mall.

The shop owner, in July 2013, sold a glass frame to 28-year-old Gaurav Goyal, a resident of Power House Road for Rs 6,300 with claims of original Tommy Hilfiger glass frame.

Complainant’s counsel Sanjay Goyal said the complainant felt embarrassed when his friends poked fun of the fake glasses at a marriage party in Chandigarh, where he was boasting of wearing Tommy Hilfiger.

“Gaurav then went to a showroom of the company (Tommy Hilfiger) to check genuineness of the frame. He was informed that the glass frame was indeed duplicate and it could have been purchased for Rs 150 from roadside glass sellers,” the counsel said.

Upset over the revelation and cheating, the complainant thought it fit to take the matter to the consumer forum believing large scale cheating to innocent customers and minting money to the tune of thousands with sale of just one glass.

The goggle-sellers in Chandigarh informed the complainant that the original goggles bear two white and red dots on each side of the frame. It is white first followed by red on the one side and its red first and then white on the other side. The duplicate frame, however, bears red dots at one side and no dots on the other side.

The complainant approached the shop owner, Shashi Nagpal, who refused to listen and put the entire onus on the company manufacturing the product. “The shop owner claimed that it was the manufacturer that had developed the frame and he had nothing to do in it,” the lawyer said.

The opposite party after appearing in the forum through its counsel pleaded that they are only seller of Tommy Hilfiger in Bathinda along with many other brands and refutes allegations of selling duplicate frames.

The forum after listening to the arguments of both the parties reached the conclusion that the seller had cheated. The forum further observed that the original bill produced by the opposite party shows that the price of the frame is Rs 2,200 whereas the opposite party issued a whopping Rs 6,300 bill.

The forum pointed out that the product received from the company for Rs 2,200 cannot be sold on such a huge profit, even after adding various taxes or charges on it. This amounts to the unfair trade practice on the part of the opposite party. The forum also observed that the opposite party fail to put on record the original frame or the one similar to the one it sold to the complainant, saying that the stock is not available.

The forum accepted the complaint with Rs 3,000 as cost and Rs 5,000 as compensation against the opposite party, also directed the shop owner to refund Rs 6,300. The opposite party, if fails to comply with the orders within 45 days then interest of 9 per cent per annum will yield on the amount of Rs 6,300 till its realisation.

The complainant’s lawyer, Sanjay Goyal, urged the checking authorities for conducting a high-level probe to make the gullible customers aware of the cheating tactics by such sellers. He added that the shopkeepers get little margin from the company that sell branded items. Some shopkeepers resort to such tactics to make huge margins in connivance with the company officials.

The complainant, Gaurav Goyal demanding stringent action against such offenders, said customers should do little homework before purchasing branded goggles or other similar things to escape cheating to the tune of thousands on branded items. 

Bathinda, March 25
In the war of posters, part of election campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections the SAD-BJP seems to have outdone the PPP-Congress.

Bathinda city’s prime advertising locations, including poles, kiosks and bus shelters wear pictures of BJP’s prime ministerial seat candidate Narendra Modi and the Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.

The electricity poles on the Mall Road and bus shelters on the GT Road already have these posters, while the poles on the Mall Road too may be the next places destined to have these billboards and glow signs. The only prominent place in city, where the Congress has its poster is at its Election Office in Harchand cinema.

Assistant Commissioner Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) Kamal Kant Goel said as per the rules, local law allows putting up of hoardings, banners and buntings at the places respective local body has designated. In case of Bathinda, these sites have been given on contract basis to certain advertisers. These advertisers or agencies can further give these sites on rent to anyone, including the political parties.

Meanwhile, Manoj Gupta, the owner of an advertising agency which has put up these hoardings, when contacted said he was not very active partner of the agency. He added that the ads would be probably be put up by the end of April and he was not aware of the number of sites given for displaying political ads.

It is pertinent to mention here that the amount spent on hiring these sites would be added to the poll expenses of candidate of the concerned party. In this case, the expenses of these hoardings and glow signs would be added to the election expenditure of SAD-BJP candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal. 

Bathinda, March 25
Breach in sullage carrier near Gehri Bhagi village, carrying treated water from a sewerage treatment plant (STP) plant on the Mansa road, led to flooding of fields as well as that of the city roads.

Today morning, the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) got information that a breach had developed in the sullage carrier that had led to flooding of the fields nearby. Assistant Commissioner Kamal Kant Goel visited the place with a team of the MCB in the morning.

He ruled out any possibility of sabotage or mischief and said that the reasons behind 12 m wide breach were unknown. To plug the breach, all motors installed in the city to pump out sewerage water from various places, had to be shut down for 5 to 6 hours. This ended up with sewerage water getting collected at strategic locations in the city starting from the place where motors are installed.

The stretch of the Power House Road towards the GT Road T-intersection was flooded with sewer water making it difficult for the vehicles to pass by. At 2 pm, the entire breach was plugged and the sewer water pumping motors were re-started. Sullage carrier carrying treated water is supplied to the villages for irrigation purposes. — TNS

Bathinda, March 25
As many as 40 private schools in the district have been issued orders by the office of the District Education Officer to shut down by March 31, owing to non-compliance of the parameters laid under the Right to Education (RTE) Act (2009).

While nine schools have shut down on their own, the rest have been served notices to do the same by March 31.

During the inspection conducted by the teams of the Education Department, these schools were found to be lacking on several accounts. “The schools which have been served the closure orders either lack ramps for students with special needs or don’t have proper toilet or other basic facilities for students,” said Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, District Education Officer (Elementary Education).

“During the checking conducted in August last year, the defaulting schools were given a warning along with temporary recognition till March 31, 2014. The schools were asked to upgrade their infrastructure to match the norms under the RTE Act by March 31. We again conducted a surprise checking and found that several schools were yet to fulfil the norms and issued orders for their closure,” the DEO said.

Among other parameters, the teams checked whether the ground on which the schools were built were registered in the name of the school or not, whether they had fire and building safety certificates, and trained teaching staff members or not.

As per the RTE Act, the schools should have separate bathrooms for girls and boys, proper rooms for laboratory and office of the head of the school and students should be charged fee according to the rates set by the government.

Schools should also meet the student-teacher and student-classroom ratio as per the RTE Act and provide toilets, seats, portable water, playground, ramp facility to the students with special needs, a library with furniture and adequate stock of books, 25 per cent seats reserved for students belonging to financially backward sections of society and a boundary wall to ensure safety. 

*y Gandhi Model School, Rampura Phul

* Guru Nanak Dev Public School, Kotbakhtu

* Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Mehta

* Khalsa School, Bangi Ruldu

* Dashmesh Public School, Sekhon

* Shanti Niketan Model School, Maur Mandi

* Mata Gujari Public School Ballianwali

* Gurleen Memorial Public School, Gobindpura

* Guru Nanak Public School, Lehra Mohabbat

* Adarsh Model School, Jagga Ram Teerth

* Baba Eliana Public School, Kamalu

* Guru Nanak Public School, Mehma Sarja

* New Khalsa Public School, Ganga Ablu Ki

* Akali Bakshish Academy, Nehianwala

* Goodwill Public School, Nehianwala

* PVS Public School, Kheta Singh Basti, Bathinda

* Mata Gujari Public School, Kheta Singh Basti, Bathinda

* Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, Kheta Singh Basti, Bathinda

* Mother’s Pride School, Naruana

* Happy Public School, Paras Ram Nagar, Bathinda

* Lucky Public School, Paras Ram Nagar

* Evergreen Public School, Arjun Nagar, Bathinda

* Guru Gobind Public School, Bhagu Road, Bathinda

* Bibi Karm Kaur Memorial Public School, Chandsar Basti, Bathinda

* Her Jewel Convent School, Killi Nihal Singh Wala

* Shri Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Deon

* Bathinda Public School, Bathinda

* Dashmesh Public School, Gehri Devi Nagar

* Meenakshi Vatika Public School, Rampura

* BSH Public School, Rampura Phul

* Dashmesh Public School, Khemuana

Bathinda, March 25
Teachers of government schools across the state heaved a sigh of relief today after the Education Department issued a letter stating that the examinations results would have to be declared on March 31, instead of March 26.

A letter released by the department on March 21 had made the teachers too nervous as it directed them to declare the results of Classes IV-IX and XI on March 26. Teachers across the state had protested against the advanced date.

The teachers had argued that many of them were also on duty for the board examinations of Classes X and XII and the last practical examination for Classes IX and XI was conducted on March 21. They said it wasn’t possible to evaluate the answer sheets and declare the results four days in advance.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Principal Secretary of Education Department, Anjali Bhawra, who had issued the letter, said, “We have changed the date for declaration of results to March 31 and directed the schools to hold parent-teacher meetings on April 7. We got several complaints from teachers who expressed their inability to prepare the results by March 26 since they were also on duty for the board examinations.”

Bathinda, March 25
The Red Cross Society performed the last rites of Dalip Kaur yesterday. Secretary of the society, Col (retd) Mukhtiar Singh Kullar, laid a wreathe on the body and lighted the pyre in the presence of her brother and other relatives, just the way she wanted it to be.

Dalip Kaur was associated with the society for more than a decade. Dalip Kaur and her husband Kunda Singh, who didn’t have their own child, donated their house, spread over 400 sq ft, located on the prime 100-feet-road in the city, to the Red Cross Society.

"Although they were issueless, they could have given away the property to their extended family members. But they chose the good of society over family relations and gave their prime property to us expressing only two conditions. Firstly, they desired that the property be used in a manner that serves the needy and the poor. Secondly, the Society should look after them till they are alive," said Kullar. The Society paid them a monthly amount of Rs 1,500 per person till this month. Both of them stayed in Bathinda till the end. — TNS

Bathinda, March 25
The static surveillance team of the Bathinda police today rounded up two persons, idendified as Jaskaran Singh and Babaljit Singh, both residents of Maujgarh village in Dabwali, for carrying Rs 30 lakh cash in a Tata Indica car in the expenditure sensitive Bathinda parliamentary constituency.

SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the car was intercepted in the area falling under the Sangat police station. “The duo could not give a strong reason behind carrying the huge amount of cash,” Bhullar said.