Bathinda, May 27
The cash-strapped irrigation department is delaying the repair of Sirhind Canal where a breach was reported about three weeks ago. With the monsoons only a month away, the repair of the canal is the need of the hour. But the state government is yet to release funds for the repair of the embankments of the Sirhind canal.

While talking to the Bathinda Tribune, Irrigation Minister of Punjab, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, said, “We had sent a demand for funds to the state finance department asking them to release funds for the cleaning, de-silting, lining and repair of embankments of canals, distributaries, dams and other water bodies in the state. Since we are yet to receive the funds for the same, the department hasn’t begun the work.”

While the danger of another breach in the canal looms large, two plans which were under discussion to repair the canal side walls never saw the light of the day. As per one of the plans, the Irrigation Department was chalking out the procedure to begin the repair work but the plan never materialised. Later, the Bathinda Development Authority offered to release an amount to the tune of Rs 40 crore for the work. Like the earlier plan, this too never took wings.

Before the May 11 incident, when a breach caused damage to newly-sown cotton crops and also destroyed the motors and tubewells installed in the fields near the canal, several major breaches had been registered in the past. A major breach in the canal was reported on June 7, 2012, when a 25-foot breach in the canal was reported and water had rushed into the mini-zoo and also damaged the new boundary wall of the zoo.

In November 2007, breaches were registered on November 1 when a distributary of the Sirhind canal near Bhai Mati Das Nagar had overflown its embankments. Its waters first entered the adjoining sewerage construction site and then into Bhai Mati Das Nagar. The breach was reported to be 10-12 foot wide. On November 8, a 30-foot wide breach in the embankment of the canal affected several persons as the water gushed into houses and hutments on the outskirts of the city.

On November 12, another breach was reported in the rivulet of the canal outside Burj Tharod and Dod near Bhagta Bhai villages in the district. On November 14, several hectares of agricultural land were flooded as the waters of the Behman distributary canal breached the embankment.

Second-time Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had till now been blaming the 150-year-old irrigation system for causing loss of almost 33 per cent of water meant for irrigation and had stated that funds to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore were required for revamping the irrigation system across the state.

Meanwhile, executive engineer of the Irrigation Department, Upkaranpal Singh stated that the nuances of the breaches were being studied and the SDOs had been directed to submit their reports. Based on the reports submitted by them, a plan will be chalked out for lining the embankments and a draft will be prepared listing the expenditure expected to be incurred and will be submitted to the state government. Initially, there were plans that the BDA had taken up the case of repairing the embankments but the BDA never released funds.

Varinder Singh Sharma, who has the additional charge of the chairperson of the BDA, stated that at present, no project pertaining to the repair of the embankment was under consideration. He, however, added that any project introduced before he took charge 8 to 9 months ago, has also not been brought to his attention.

Bathinda, May 27
The police force in the district is getting the fuel tanks of their vehicles filled on credit at private petrol pumps in the city.

As the department is facing a paucity of funds, the police have adopted a new tactics under which only one petrol pump in the city is used to get the fuel. When the credit reaches Rs1-Rs 2 lakh, they switch to another petrol pump. And when they are done with all the pumps, they pay the dues of the first petrol pump and the circle then goes on and on.

The petrol station at the Police Lines has been dry for the last one month and it has affected the patrolling duty of the force in the city.

Sources in the Police Department claimed that the reason behind the dry petrol pump was lack of funds. As the oil companies never supply fuel on credit, they do not even accept cheques.

Vinod Bansal, secretary of the Bathinda Petrol Pumps Association, said a bill of nearly Rs 30 lakh is outstanding against the Police Department in the district.

“As the use of police vehicles is high in the city-- Bathinda being a VVIP constituency-- the use of petrol by the police per day goes up to Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 on some days. So, a special package for fuel should be given to the police for Bathinda," he added.

Some policemen claimed they were spending from their own pockets to get fuel for their official vehicles to attend to emergency situations.

The owner of a private petrol pump in the city said some payment of the last financial year is also outstanding against the department.

Officials at the police petrol pump said they were not authorised to give any information regarding the fuel supply and advised TNS contact some senior official.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a police official said it was not just the fuel. Even the quantity of fuel being received was not enough to patrol the city for 24 hours as only two litres of petrol is supplied for a motorcycle instead of 5 litres which they were getting earlier for the Bullet motorcycle.

These days, the Police Department has provided Pulsar 150cc motorcycles for patrolling and the condition of these bikes is such that it gives an average of 15-20 km per litre as they have not been maintained for a long time due to paucity of funds, the source added.

Superintendent of Police (Headquarter) Jasvir Singh admitted there was shortage of funds. The department will soon be receiving funds and the police petrol pump will start working. the SP (H) also said that the department had to manage with whatever resources it had at its disposal.

Bathinda, May 27
If someone plans for an outing amidst the scorching heat this summer then the Bir Talab Mini-Zoo could be the perfect place for people of all age-groups as the temperature here is comparatively less than in the city.

Covered with thick vegetation, the area witnesses a flurry of activity where schoolchildren and families spend their time in the morning and evening hours.

The Forest Department has overhauled the zoo with an expenditure of around Rs 10 crore in the past three years.

Now, the visitors can see more animal and bird cages to see Indian and exotic birds and other species.

A toy-train (with rubber tyres) and a golf-cart have been offered to ferry the visitors inside the deer safari to enjoy the scenic beauty and get a chance to have a close look at the different varieties of deer and the state animal black buck.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjeev Kumar said the death rate of deer and black bucks has reduced to a great extent after these animals were released in the deer park.

“Earlier, numerous instances of death were reported as they were kept in the cages which were not built as per the stipulated requirements. So, the animals would die during fights or in stampede,” the DFO informed.

But ever since these animals have been released in the deer park, only the death of a black buck has been reported.

The DFO stated that with the reduction in death rate, the birth rate too has shot up. In the last two months, two spotted deer and three black bucks were born on the zoo premises due to natural environment and absence of confinement.

Apart from natural food, the zoo authorities also claim to provide fodder for these animals.

The new animals in the list of zoo are a pair of owl, porcupine, hog deer and painted stork. At present, the zoo houses a female porcupine and two male hog deer. Sources added that pairing would be done with the coming of new animals.

Though some visitors bring their own food and water for an exhaustive tour of the zoo, the food court, too, has started functioning at the entrance of the zoo premises and modalities are being worked out in consultation with the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to introduce a tiger safari.

The zoo authorities are busy these days in preparing summer preparations for the animals wherein they made arrangements for shade and water for the caged animals and birds.

Bathinda, May 27
The parents of a rape victim along with the workers of the Mazdoor Union and the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta-Ugrahan held a protest outside the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Bathinda zone, Paramraj Singh Umranagal, demanding justice for the victim, who is a minor.

Members of the farmers’ union and the victim’s parents alleged that even four months after the case, the accused was roaming freely due to alleged political pressure and had not been arrested by the police.

It’s worth mentioning that on May 26, the BKU Ekta Ugrahan had given a call to protest outside the IGP office, after which a huge police force was deployed in the district and a large number of workers were arrested yesterday. The police was taken by surprise when today in the afternoon, suddenly the protestors reached outside the IGP office and started shouting slogans against the police for not arresting the third accused. Later, the police arrested the parents and workers who were demanding justice, from outside the IGP office.

The BKU Ekta Ugrahan state general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said from now onwards, every day, workers of the BKU Ekta Ugrahan will protest outside the IGP office in groups and demand justice for the minor victim besides unconditional release of workers who have been arrested so far.

The parents also alleged that the accused, Gurlal Singh, was present along with his father and other family members while harvesting in his village, as immediate information regarding this was given to the SHO Lakhewali and the DIG Bathinda. But no step was taken by the police to arrest him.

Sources said that since May 1, Gurlal’s family is staying in the village and he was in constant touch with them. Even after giving the information regarding this to the police officials, no action was taken to arrest him.

It is pertinent to mention that the three accused had gang-raped a minor girl in Muktsar district on January 24. The police had arrested two of the accused and presented them before the court. However, the third accused, Gurlal Singh, is absconding and the police is not arresting him despite the court order. It’s worth mentioning that the victim’s parents were also arrested yesterday when they were protesting outside the IGP office demanding the justice and were let off in the evening.

Bathinda, May 27
The city residents demanded a rollback in property tax during a public meeting with the Secretary, Local Bodies Department, here on Monday.

Ashok Kumar Gupta, Secretary, Punjab Government, has been directed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to get a first- hand account of the issue. As part of the information gathering exercise, he visited the city after holding a similar meeting in Patiala.

A large number of residents from Bathinda, Mansa, Gidderbaha, Maur and other areas turned up at the meeting, held in the Meeting Hall at the District Administrative Complex.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishor Yadav, Municipal Commissioner Vipul Ujjwal, Assistant Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal, former Mayor Baljeet Singh Beerbehman, former Improvement Trust chairman Mohan Lal Garg, municipal councillors and others were also present during the meeting.

During the meeting, the people accused the Punjab Government of doing injustice by levying tax on empty plots besides evolving a cumbersome process of filing the tax and a bias for collecting money from property holders not having any other source of income. A councillor, Master Harmandar Singh, said the base of measuring tax on behalf of the collector rate was a cruel joke with the public.

Deputy Commissioner, Kamal Kishor Yadav, while pacifying the participants, said the collector rates are being revised and something good is likely to come out soon.

The secretary claimed that he would give his feedback based on public hearing to the Chief Minister who will be the final authority on the issue.

People participating in the meeting also accused the Punjab Government of spreading the wrong notion that property tax is quite less as compared to the earlier house tax.

A resident from Mansa said he used to pay Rs 1,200 as house tax but he has now paid Rs 22,500 as property tax. Had he not paid the amount, then after paying 100 per cent fine, he would have been forced to pay a sum of Rs 45,000.

A resident of Sirki Bazar said the collector rates were the same in the small and posh localities, where people have a flourishing business. 

Bathinda, May 27
The Centre for Comparative Literature of Central University of Punjab organised a special lecture on ‘Reading Film’ by Dr Prabhjot Parmar. Dr Parmar teaches at the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, Canada. She is the Co-Editor of ‘When Your Voice Tastes Like Home: Immigrant Women Write’.

Dr Parmar showed clips from some Hindi and Punjabi films and discussed how films can be interpreted, and can reveal certain markers of class, caste, religion and gender.

She also discussed influences on Indian cinema, which have changed it to become more realistic and meaningful. While exchanging ideas and information about cinema, Dr Parmar said the films from the partition era have changed the film production a lot. She said the Indian cinema is vibrant in nature and the light, sound and lyrics have an important role to play in the narration of the theme.

Prof Chaman Lal, COC, Comparative Literature, welcomed the guest and gave a brief introduction. Prof RG Saini, Prof RC Sharma, in-charge examinations, faculty and students were also present. The lecture was followed by an interactive session during which students and the faculty discussed several aspects of the cinema with Dr Parmar.