Bathinda, April 7
Undeterred by the barbs sent his way by his uncle, Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal, his cousin Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal and his sister-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Congress-PPP joint candidate for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat Manpreet Singh Badal is campaigning far and wide in the constituency.

Maintaining all the way that action speaks louder than words, this estranged Badal tears apart all the claims of development in the constituency made by the state government.

The Tribune News Service spoke to him to ask him about his plans to devise ways to combat some of the real problems that the residents of the constituency are facing.

What are your plans for the youth and women of the city?

The youth in Bathinda and Punjab lack the skill sets required to gain employment. Not that the employment opportunities are available in Bathinda, they are available in other parts of the country. This is a telling comment on the situation of education in the state.

I think that the youth of Bathinda and Punjab should serve the nation. When I was the Finance Minister, I had introduced the scheme that any young boy from Punjab getting into the NDA would be given an annual stipend of Rs 1 lakh a year for three years. The scheme is still in place. We had also introduced Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory School in Mohali where young boys would be imparted training. Similar successful schemes need to be launched to bring the youth onto the right path.

As for women, we all talk about giving respect to women and putting them on a pedestal but we are doing only lip service. We need to give them equal opportunities in terms of employment which would make them self reliant and financially independent because till the time they are looking at the male members in the family to give them money, their uplift is not possible.

Made skilful by a strengthened education system in the state, these women, of all ages, will be able to decide the course of their lives.

How do you envision development of Bathinda city? As an (IT hub, education hub, textile hub or health tourism hub?

I envision the development of Bathinda as the most important economic hub of the South-Western Punjab. This would not only take the pressure off the GT Road-centric development but also provide opportunities to the city’s youth. For that, all we need is good governance, an end to political patronage, strengthening the crumbling police system since these are the things which are not letting the city develop and private investors come to the city.

Punjab has not invested in the education system for the last 30 years, at least in the government-run sources of education. You can’t rely on 40 to 50 new-age schools or a handful of private universities to say that we are doing better. The government has failed miserably in offering a strong education system to the children in the city. So, the city also needs development on that front.

The emphasis will be on making the government-run educational institutions strong enough to compete with the private ones. Apart from giving opportunities to the poor, it will also regulate the private institutions which have made their own sets of rules and regulations.

Water supply and sewerage facilities have always remained an issue in the city. With the burgeoning population, the local body has not been able to provide this civic amenity to everyone efficiently. Comment

Again, the political patronage, bad governance and a lack of rule of law come into play here. So, due to rampant corruption and no fear of law, whatever little the civic authorities have done in terms of providing basic amenities like supplying potable water and laying a reliable sewage system, has been sub-standard and shoddy.

Even in areas that have access to sewage and other civic amenities, the skies need to open up only once to lay bare the chinks in the planning and development. The Bathinda MP keeps talking about how well the city has developed. I would like to prove that development is not only about laying foundation stones of schemes but also about following up on the process which it entails and making sure that corruption doesn’t take away from it.

Bathinda, April 7
A frivolous complaint received at the office of the Returning Officer (RO) of Bathinda constituency alleging kidnapping of three women kept the district police and the election office on their toes.

However, after a detailed police investigation by the DSP (Rural), the complaint was found to be fake and it came to light that all the three girls reside in Bathinda city at a rented accommodation.

The incident has left the Election Office and the police bewildered and they have decided to be strict with those making such frivolous complaints.

Last week, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab, forwarded a complaint to the RO, Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, that stated that a man's three daughters had been kidnapped by three different people. "The complaint left us flummoxed as kidnapping of three girls was not a small incident. We then thought that if a man’s daughters were kidnapped, he would first exhaust the resources readily available, which is the district police in this case. Instead of going to the police, he made a complaint to the Election Commission, which created a suspicion," revealed an official of the District Election Office. The complaint was forwarded to SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar who marked an inquiry to DSP (Rural).

"The complainant named Boota Singh was a native of Katar Singh Wala village. During the investigation, the complainant agreed to have made frivolous complaint to settle scores with the person against whom he had complained," said SSP Bhullar. He added that the complainant's daughters deposed before the police stating that they were safe and were living in a rented accommodation in Bathinda city.

Sources said that Boota Singh had a dispute with his wife and daughters. Earlier too, he had lodged complaints against them at different police stations. The person, against whom Boota Singh had complained, was in touch with the latter’s wife and daughters and hence, became a victim of Boota’s ire.

Returning Officer-cum-DC KK Yadav said indeed a lot of time and efforts were spent on dealing with this complaint. "We appeal to the people not to make such frivolous complaints as it eats into the time and efforts of employees who are working hard for ensuring free and fair polls," he said.

SSP Bhullar added that under Section 182 of the IPC, action can be taken against frivolous complainants only by the person who first receives the complaint. In this case, it is the CEO, Punjab. 

Amritsar, April 7
Members of the 109-year-old Pinjrapol Gaushala claimed that the Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Gurpreet Singh, has given directions to review the Rs 9 lakh tax penalty levied on the gaushala.

It was for the first time in the past 40 years that the gaushala was asked to pay the income tax.

A call and text message to seek the remarks of the Chief Commissioner over the matter remained unanswered.

Honorary advisor and counsel of the Pinjrapol Gaushala, Rajan Kumar, today met the Income Tax officials. He said the IT officials assured him of reviewing Rs 9 lakh tax penalty.

He said the gaushala had been enjoying the benefit of tax exemption under Section 80 G for the past 40 years. “Levying of penalty is a rude jolt,” he added. Office-bearers of the gaushala were a harried lot after the Income Tax Department announced a penalty of Rs 9 lakh for not paying the tax.

Kamal Dalmia, advisor to the Gaushala Board said under Section 264 of the Income Tax Act, a Commissioner could review the decision of the department’s assessing authority. Pinjrapol Gaushala runs three shelters for cows located at Ghee Mandi, Focal Point and Manawala. All these three centers have combined strength of 1,300 cows. Of all these cows, only 190 were giving milk, which is given free of cost to the All India Pingalwara Dharitable Society, Kusht Ashram at Chabbal road and the other needy families with children. 

Bathinda, April 7
ADC Sonali Giri today visited the Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (R-SETI) of the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) being run at the Red Cross Bhawan.

Director of the centre, DD Sharma, said the R-SETI has organised 34 camps so far and had trained 808 people.

The centre trains youngsters in stitching, embroidery and cutting. ADC Sonali Giri appreciated the efforts of the institute in working for the upliftment of the people living below poverty line and help them become independent.

Prominent among others present included SK Batra, Kusum Sharma, Gurdeep Kaur, Ankit Garg and others. 

Bathinda, April 7
Negating all apprehensions regarding the distribution of books free of cost among students of government schools, the Education Department has shown an unprecedented alacrity in making sure that the books reach students well in the beginning of the new academic session.

Taking cognizance of the implementation of the model code of conduct, the department had earlier passed orders to the District Education Officers and other officials concerned not to distribute books free of cost to students under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan till the code was in force. The order, if it had been implemented, would have affected lakhs of students.

After an uproar on the issue, with parents and teachers arguing that this would affect the studies of children, the Election Commission of India clarified that there was no objection on the distribution of free of cost books to the students of government schools in the state for the academic session 2014-15 under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Department of Social Welfare.

“We had passed orders for the distribution of books under various welfare schemes and almost all the schools have been given books. The schools, which haven’t got the books will get them very soon,” said Principal Secretary, Education Department, Anjali Bhawra.

Reports from a couple of schools trickled in about the delay in the distribution of books, however, District Education Officer (Elementary) Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta said learning its lessons from the delay in distribution of books in the last years, the Education Department made sure that the books reach the students in time this year.

“This time, we kept the office open even on Saturdays and Sundays and directed all the block-level officers and district resource-persons to make sure that the books reach the schools. We even constituted teams to visit schools and check whether the books had been distributed among the students or not and if the schools wanted more books,” she said.

She added all the elementary schools in the district had been given books and almost 90 per cent of the upper primary schools had also been covered.

“The books are sent to block offices from where they are sent to schools. We try to cover ten schools in one route at a time. We have also directed the schools to make sure that the books are distributed among the students the same day they are delivered,” she added.

She said this was the first time the books had been distributed at such an early stage in an academic session.

Bathinda, April 7
The World Health Day was observed today at the GNM Nursing School in the Civil Hospital.

District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said the theme for the World Health Day this year was ‘Vector-Borne Diseases -Small Bite, Big Threat’. He emphasised on maintaining cleanliness in and around houses and at work places as a measure for prevention of mosquito breeding.

While malaria mosquito breeds in stagnant unclean water, the dengue mosquito breeds in clean water. He said while the bite by malaria mosquito affected just one person, the dengue mosquito could infect 18 persons.

Dr Beant Mann delivered a lecture on the life cycle of a mosquito, its effect on human body, the kind of medicines to be administered and ways to prevent it.

District epidemiologist Dr HS Hayer gave information about the active and passive surveillance being conducted in the district to control vector-borne diseases.

District Transfusion Officer Dr Inderjit Singh Sra said a malaria or dengue affected patient and his/her relatives should not panic. They should rather opt for the right approach to seek medical help. If the platelet count in the blood of the patient is low, it can be easily transfused from the blood available at the district blood bank.

He added the tests for these vector-borne diseases were free of cost at the Civil Hospital. The district in-charge of Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), Sanjay Singh, also spoke at the event.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni talked about lifestyle diseases, the need to adopt healthy exercise routine and balanced diet. Earlier, District Mass Media Officer Usha Singla welcomed the guests and participants at the event.

Bathinda, April 7
Baba Farid Senior Secondary School organised a prize distribution function to honour the students who made it to the merit list of the scholarship test conducted in January this year.

Deputy director, Activities, BFGI, BD Sharma, extended a warm welcome to the winners of the scholarship test and congratulated them on their achievement.

He said, “Students tend to choose wrong career options in this competitive era. To address this issue, Baba Farid Group of Institutions has, apart from conducting the scholarship and aptitude test, organised a career guidance programme to give detailed counselling related to different streams and subjects to its students.”

BFGI chairman Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal also congratulated the winners for clearing the test.

“It’s been noticed that parents exert pressure on their children to choose the much-hyped streams, which usually disillusions students as they don’t have any interest in the field they are thrown into. This tendency also ends up in creating unemployment,” he said.

Amritsar, April 7
In a major catch, the police arrested youths for allegedly committing snatching instances in various parts of the city. They used to primarily target women, standing outside their homes besides other passersby.

The police have recovered a revolver, gold earrings, stolen motorcycles, a laptop besides illicit liquor. Among those arrested include Balbir Singh, Jaspal Singh of Faizpura, Malkiat Singh of Kot Atma Ram, Harpreet Singh fo Vichhoya village, Sandeep Singh of Narla village, Tejinder Singh of New Gurnam Nagar and Jagjit Kumar of the Azad Nagar area.

Gurvinder Singh, ACP (south) stated that the accused used to stand in different roads of an area. Two motorcycle-borne youths used to commit snatching incidents and they used to hand over the robbed material to their accomplices waiting for them. He said during interrogation, they admitted to have committed a number of snatching incidents in the recent times. Police authorities said the accused had been brought on police remand and further investigations were under progress to ascertain the number of robberies committed by them and to whom they used to sell looted material. — TNS

Bathinda, April 7
A 55-year-old woman died and two others were seriously injured in a road accident here today. The victim has been identified as Paramjit Kaur, a resident of Jodhpur Pakhar village. The deceased was riding pillion on a motorcycle that was being ridden by her 35-year-old nephew Gurjeet Singh Neki. Gurjeet’s son Kewal Singh,11, was also riding along with them on the mobike.

Sources said that the trio paid obeisance at a religious function on the Mehraj Road and were returning back towards their village at around 6.30 pm. On the way, a speeding truck hit them and inflicted fatal injuries upon Gurjeet and his son. Paramjit died on the spot after her head was severed from her body.

Paramjit was also a member of the BKU. Irate over the incident, many members of the BKU and the Bhullar Bhaichara blocked the Rampura-Maur Road for over five hours. The agitating members sat on a dharna and blocked the main road connecting Rampura with Maur Mandi.

The accused truck driver escaped along with his vehicle from the spot. The local residents suspected it to be a murder case and demanded immediate arrest of the driver. The residents later demanded Rs 5 lakh for the victim’s family members.

The protest forced the Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Bhullar to reach the spot and enquire into the incident.

Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Bhullar said the truck driver has been arrested as the registration number of the truck was noted down by one of the onlookers. The driver has been identified as Tarsem Singh and has been booked by the police.

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