Bathinda, April 10
The candidature of five candidates has been cancelled and 32 have been left in the fray after scrutinisation of the documents here today.

District Election Officer Kamal Kishore Yadav said out of the 15 candidates contesting from various political parties, three were from recognised national and state political parties and the remaining 12 were from registered political parties other than national and state parties.

The observers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Dalip Kumar Wasinkar and K. Lalnghinglova, checked the nomination papers.

Candidates whose papers have been found correct after the scrutiny include Harsimrat Kaur from the SAD, Manpreet Singh Badal from the Congress and Kuldeep Singh from the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Interestingly, the namesake of Manpreet Badal is also in the fray with his papers having being cleared.

Besides, there are Shaminder Singh from the National Panthers’ Party, Sukhwinder Singh from the Bahujan Mukti Party, Suresk Kumar from the General Samaj Party, Geeta Rani from the Akhil Bharatiya Shivsena Rashtrawadi, Gurdeep Singh from the Indian Krantikari Lehar, Gurmeet Rangretta from the Punjab Labour Party, Jasraj Longia from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jagdish Sharma from the Nav Bharat Democratic Party, Navneet from Shiv Sena, Bhagwant Singh from the CPI (ML) Liberation, Makhan Lal from the BSP (Ambedkar) and Rajinder Singh from the SAD (Amritsar).

Independent candidates include Anil Kumar Jain, Ashish, Satish Arora, Swaran Singh, Sanjeev Kumar Thapar, Sushil Kumar, Surinder Kumar, Kartar Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Jaspal Singh, Dyal Chand, Jagdeep Singh, Bhupesh Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Ramesh Kumar and Vijay Kumar.

The candidates whose nominations have been cancelled include Kamaldeep Kaur from the BSP, Bikramjit Singh Majithia — the covering candidate for SAD’s Harsimrat, Gurdas Badal — the covering candidate for Congress’ Manpreet Badal and independent candidates Gurdarshan Singh and Malkit Singh.

The nominations can be withdrawn till April 12.

Fact file The observers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Dalip Kumar Wasinkar and K. Lalnghinglova, checked the nomination papers Candidates whose papers have been found correct after the scrutiny include Harsimrat Kaur from the SAD, Manpreet Singh Badal from the Congress and Kuldeep Singh from the Bahujan Samaj Party

Bathinda, April 10
The election office rolled out a specially decked van and a bus that would spread awareness about the importance of voting for the Lok Sabha elections to be conducted in the state on April 30.

District Election Officer Kamal Kishore Yadav and Additional Deputy Commisioner Sonali Giri flagged off the vehicle from the premises of the District Administrative Complex (DAC). Cautioning voters not to fall prey to unethical voting practices, Yadav said the vehicle had been launched under the Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.

The vehicles will ply in different parts of the district spreading awareness on the importance of voting and saying no 
to unfair means of seeking votes.

The vehicles carry slogans on them and also have boards for a signature campaign. The signature campaign will have youngsters putting their signatures taking a pledge to cast their vote.

The vehicles also have pre-recorded CDs and songs that will be played during the course. Pamphlets have been stacked in the vehicles on different aspects of voting, which would be distributed among the public.

Besides, voters will also be made aware of the provision of the NOTA (None Of The Above) option on the electronic voting machines.

Also, the Nehru Yuva Kendra, Bathinda, has prepared a team of youngsters that will enact street plays on voting without fear and other themes regarding elections.

Earlier, the election office had celebrated national voters’ day on January 25 roping in youngsters from different educational institutes.

Yadav appealed to the people to vote on April 30 and be a part of the world’s biggest democracy’s most important exercise.

Bathinda, April 10
Twenty-three schools of Talwandi Sabo will remain closed in view of the Baisakhi celebrations from April 12 to April 15.

Around 2,000 security men have been deployed to ensure the safety of pilgrims during the Baisakhi mela at these schools. The district education office has directed in-charges of the respective schools to make arrangements for lodging of security personnel.

The 23 schools include Dasmesh Senior Secondary School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School (girls), Government High School, Arya Putri Kanya Pathshala, Government Elementary School, Government Senior Secondary School Bhagi Bandar, Tagore Public School, Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh School, St Soldier Xavier School, Guru Kashi College, Government Elementary Schools at Jeevan Singh Wala, Lelewala, Gurusar Jagga, Sangat Khurd, Laleana, Fatehgarh Nauabad, Shekhpura, Jaga Ram, Tirath and Jajjal.

Security personnel will also be deployed at the office of Market Committee, Talwandi Sabo, guest house of Guru Kashi Complex and Arya Dharamshala near old DSP office.

Also, the district administration has diverted traffic on different routes from April 12 to April 15. An official said the traffic bound from Bathinda to Sardulgarh-Rori-Sirsa had been diverted to Kotshamir via Maur, Sardulgarh and Rori.

Similarly, traffic from Sirsa to Bathinda has been diverted from Nawan Pind via Raman, traffic from Bathinda to Kalianwali has been diverted via Bhagi Bandar to Raman, traffic from Kalianwali to Bathinda has been diverted from Malkana via Raman, traffic from Raman to Maur has been diverted via Behman, Gurusar, Nawan Pind and Shekhpura. Traffic for Maur to Raman has been diverted via Behman and Malkana.

Bathinda, April 10
The Multipurpose Sports Stadium of the city will soon be seen in a Punjabi film. The cast and crew of the film ‘Yarana’ reached the city today to begin the shoot at the stadium.

While the star cast of the film — Yuvraj Hans, Gita Jaildar, Yuvika Chaudhary and others stayed at a posh hotel in the city, the crew members undertook the cumbersome task of generating a buzz about the shoot, gathering locals and hiring ‘audience’.

The scene, which will be shot over the next two-three days at the stadium, showcases a football match between India and Pakistan teams.

Till late in the evening, the cast and crew were busy perfecting the scenes of a football match, which was being played by the extras while the audience waited patiently to get a glimpse of the stars in action.

It must be mentioned that Bathinda has long been one of the favourite cities for the cast and crew of Punjabi films to organise promotional events.

Apart from such events, the city also found mention in one of the most famous Bollywood films of recent times 'Jab We Met' in which the character of Geet played by actress Kareena Kapoor claims to be 'Bathinda ki Sikhni'.

Some of the notorious crime cases which were registered in the city and were solved have also made it to crime shows on the small screen such as 'Crime Patrol' and 'Savdhan India'.

The city has also been mentioned in several Punjabi songs.

Bathinda, April 10
Even as the witnesses in a case of abetment to suicide turned hostile, a woman residing in Panchkula, her mother and husband have been awarded seven years imprisonment by the court of Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh.

The trio was booked by the Canal police, Bathinda, after a man committed suicide in September 2012.

The court awarded the sentence today wherein, the sister in-law of the deceased, Anju Sharma, her husband Sukhwinder Kumar and Anju’s mother Sheela Sharma, were awarded the jail term.

They were booked by the police after Parmod Kumar, a resident of Janta Nagar, committed suicide and held the three responsible for their death.

The accused were named by the deceased in his suicide note written on his shirt and a paper, which were testified in the court by a forensic lab.

Duni Chand, the complainant and elder brother of the deceased, had complained that his brother, Parmod Kumar, was married to Rani Sharma of Panchkula. They had two children — a 4-year-old boy and ten-year-old girl.

Parmod Kumar, a small time electrician, had been residing with his wife and children at Janta Nagar in a rented accommodation.

His mother in-law, sister in-law and sister in-law’s husband had been intervening in the family affairs of the couple. The trio allegedly pocketed Rs 1.5 lakh from Parmod, and instead of returning the amount, demanded Rs 50,000 more.

When Parmod’s wife went to Panchkula along with her son, her mother and two other accused called up Parmod and demanded more money. Parmod was told that they (woman’s mother) would arrange a second marriage for Parmod’s wife if he failed to give them Rs 50,000.

Parmod got upset over the demand and went into depression. After consuming some poisonous substance, he hanged himself to death in his house.

His daughter spotted the body of her father, hanging from the ceiling in the house.

The services of NGO Sahara Jan Sewa’s volunteers were taken to shift the dead body to the Civil Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted and the body was later handed over to the family members.

The family members of Parmod then lodged a complaint with the police and got a case registered against the trio.

The court of Sessions Judge held all the three accused Sukhwinder Kumar, Anju Sharma and Sheela Sharma guilty and convicted them under Section 306 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

Convict Sukhwinder Kumar pleaded that he was married and his wife Anju Sharma was also facing the trial. They have three children and there is nobody else at the house to look after them children. Convict Anju Sharma too pleaded in a similar manner. Convict Sheela Sharma said that she was a heart patient and also suffering from various other ailments and prayed for a lenient view.

After hearing the convicts, the court observed that the accused do not deserve leniency in quantum of sentence and hence they need to be reformed.

They were ordered by the court to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years each and to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 and in case of default of payment of fine, they would further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months.

Bathinda, April 10
With a group of modest party workers and a handful of lawyers, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for the Bathinda Lok Sabha Constituency, Jassi Jasraj, today visited the court complex, seeking lawyers support.

He visited lawyers’ chambers and greeted litigants with folded hands. “We have the power to change the system with just one finger and one should use the index finger for the change,” he announced amidst a group of lawyers and litigants in the court complex.

Jassi spent nearly two hours in the complex wherein he also met young lawyers and urged them to be a part of the political system by involving themselves in politics by casting their votes.

“I am here just to urge you to vote for a person whom you consider the most deserving. It is all up to you to decide. We have the power to change and improve the present system,” he said while interacting with lawyers.

Jassi passed through corridors and entered the lawyer’s chambers at will, touched the feet of the elderly lawyers, hugged the young ones and posed for pictures with villagers and litigants.

A section of young villagers who failed to recognise him as an actor and singer posed for photographs with him after they came to know about his role in the Punjabi movie, ‘Bikkar Bai Sentimental’.

Jassi also hugged a person, who was cleaning one of the lawyer’s chambers with a broom and said the person was holding his party symbol.

District general secretary Blas Chand Gupta, senior party leader Amrit Lal Aggarwal were among others, who accompanied Jassi during his visit to the court complex.

Blas Chand assured a section of lawyers, who raised questions over the ‘outsider’ status of Jassi.

Blas said nobody was an outsider in his party and everyone should chip in to fight against corruption, drug menace, VIP culture by casting his vote for someone, who the people considered the most accessible and able to bring overall development for the area.

Bathinda, April 10
As many as hundred volunteers donated blood at a camp held by the NSS unit of Giani Zail Singh (GZS) on the PTU campus.

The camp was held in association with the Blood Bank of the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. Campus Director, Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal, was the first donor.

In-charge of Blood Bank, Dr Inderjeet Singh Sra and his team of doctors collected 100 units of blood from students and faculty of GZS PTU campus. District Red Cross Society awarded mementoes and certificates to donors.

Coordinator of NSS Unit on GZS PTU Campus, Prof Ranjit Kaur, thanked donors, Dr Sra and his team for making the camp a success. In-charges of various NSS units, Rajesh Kumar, Kalyan Roy, Neeraj Gill, Dinesh Kumar, Vivek and Tejinder Singh were also present on the occasion.

Bathinda, April 10
District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 and directed Shri Ram Telecom, Street No 3, Nai Basti, Bathinda, through its proprietor/partner Samsung India Electronic Private Limited, Noida, to hand over a new mobile set to the complainant.

In a complaint to the forum, Mandeep Singh (26), a resident of Rampura, stated that he had purchased a Samsung mobile set (model 18552), for Rs 16,570 from Shankar Sales Corporation, Railway Road, Bathinda. The mobile handset came with one year warranty.

The complainant’s counsel, advocate Jasdeep Walia said the mobile handset started giving problems within a few days of its purchase. The handset became excessively hot after it was plugged in for charging the battery.

Walia said despite visiting the retailer several times, the authorised service centre did nothing.

The complainant visited the seller seven times at different intervals and every time he was assured that the problem would be rectified but the issue could not be resolved.

The advocate said the complainant made a request to replace the mobile hand set as it had a manufacturing defect, but his repeated pleas went unheard.

The complainant finally moved to the consumer forum for justice.

The opposite party was summoned, which pleaded before the forum that their obligation under the warranty was to set the mobile handset right by repairing or replacing the defective parts. The problem of heating after usage was due to the continuous use of the mobile handset for playing games, music or movies. It was not a defect, pleaded the opposite party.

The defendants further stated that the complainant neither pointed out any specific irreparable manufacturing defect or inferior quality of any specific part of the product, nor did he file any documentary evidence to support his claim i.e. authenticated report of expert and qualified person of Central Approved Laboratories in support of his allegations.

The opposite party also claimed to have replaced all major parts of the mobile handset, which included motherboard, charger, data cable and battery without any cost.

The forum, however, observed that replacement of all the major parts of the mobile set proved the fact that a defective handset was sold to the complainant, which amounts to unfair trade practice as well as deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party.

The forum also observed that replacement of parts showed that the set had major defects in it.

The forum directed the seller to pay Rs 5,000 as cost and compensation to the complainant. It also directed the opposite party to hand over the mobile handset in question to the complainant with one year fresh warranty.

Bathinda, April 10
The cash and jewellery, confiscated by different static surveillance teams (SST), has been found to be genuine. The authorities concerned returned the cash and jewellery to its rightful owners.

Two cases of cash and one case of 10 kg silver were registered in Bathinda. In view of the code of conduct imposed due to the Lok Sabha elections, carrying more than Rs 2.5 lakh in cash is not allowed. For carrying cash above this amount, the person concerned should also have valid documents for proving its transaction.

The SST teams recovered Rs 30 lakh on March 24, 10 kg silver on April 3 and Rs 16.50 lakh cash on April 7. Inquiries were conducted in all the three cases and the owners of cash and jewellery proved their genuine transactions in their cases respectively.

On April 7, SST recovered Rs 16.50 lakh cash near Jodhpur Romana village. Harpal Singh a resident of Hakuwala village in Malout was carrying the cash. The District Election Officer (DEO), Kamal Kishore Yadav, in his report stated that Harpal produced the documents before his office which proved that he had taken money from a commission agent. The owner of 60 acres of land, Harpal, had taken money Pawan Kumar, a commission agent from Sirsa. He was bringing the money from Dabwali. Yadav ordered the release of Rs 16.50 lakh to Harpal.

Similarly, on April 3, 10 kg silver jewellery was recovered during a special checking at a naka laid near Giani Zail Singh College. The jewellery was recovered from Vishal Sharma, a resident of Bathinda. Vishal produced documents claiming that he was into trading gold and silver. He also submitted papers showing the purchase transaction of silver and succeeded in getting the metal released.

On March 24, the SST confiscated Rs 30 lakh from Jaskaran Singh of Maujgarh village in Dabwali tehsil. During investigation, Jaskaran, a farmer owing 132 acres of land, produced documents and papers of land mutation, which proved his rightful ownership of the money. The transaction was found to be genuine and the amount was released.

Bathinda, April 10
As many as 90 employees of the National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Bathinda, attended a health awareness programme organised by Max Super Speciality Hospital at the NFL here on Thursday. The programme was held to mark World Health Day and to spread awareness on common vector-borne diseases and its prevention.

Speaking on the occasion, Consultant, Internal Medicine, Dr Saurabh Tandon, said dengue had emerged as the fastest growing vector-borne disease with a 30-fold increase in incidence in the past 50 years. He said, “Vectors cause diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and kala-azar. These are commonly found in areas, which lack hygiene, safe drinking-water and sanitation.”

Dr Tandon explained that dengue and chikungunya were caused by mosquito, which was active during day and bred in water storage areas, whereas malaria was caused by mosquito which was active during night, dusk and dawn.

Tips to prevent vector-borne diseases Get vaccinated Use mosquito nets, mosquito repellent sprays/oils and creams etc Install window screens that help prevent entry of mosquitoes and bugs in house Wear light-coloured, full-sleeved shirts and trousers when outdoors and at places where there are more bugs Avoid leaving any containers of standing water outside where mosquitoes can breed Prevent stagnation of water in broken bottles, flower pots, buckets, tyres etc and keep water pots covered Put one tablespoon of petrol/Oil over standing water to prevent mosquitoes from breeding