Bathinda, May 28
The three-day long wait of the students, who had appeared for Class XII examinations, ended on Wednesday when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results of the Panchkula region. Ever since the results of Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram were declared on Monday, the students had been an anxious lot.

Students of St Xavier’s School; and (below) students of RB DAV School in a jubilant mood after the declaration of Class XII results in Bathinda on Wednesday

Mohak Gupta, a student of medical stream, St Kabir Convent School, topped in the city with 97 per cent marks. He scored 100 marks in physics, 99 in biology and 98 in chemistry. Natasha, a non-medical student of St Xavier’s School came second with 96.6 per cent marks. Abhishek Jai Singh of Lord Rama Public School stood third with 96.2 per cent marks.

Students of the St Joseph’s Convent School also brought laurels to the school by performing well in the examinations. Of the 82 students, who had appeared for the examination, 18 students scored 90 per cent or above marks. While Sonali topped the school with 95.2 per cent marks, Vani Jindal and Aayushi tied for the second place with 94.6 per cent marks while Bhavik Jain stood third with 94.4 per cent marks.

In the medical/non-medical groups, Irwin Sandhu stood first with 93.8 per cent marks while Inderpreet Kaur and Suha Soni tied for the second place with 93 per cent marks. In the commerce stream, Aayushi topped with 94.6 per cent marks, Rhythm Sharma stood second with 93.4 per cent marks and Akanksha secured 93 per cent to stand third.

At St Xavier’s School, Natasha and Anureet Kaur stood first and second in the science stream with 96.6 and 93.6 per cent marks, respectively. In the commerce stream, Komal Goyal stood first with 95.20 per cent marks. As many as 31 students of the school secured 90 per cent or above marks.

At the Police Public School, Abhishek Bansal, Harmanjot Singh and Harmanpreet Kaur secured the top three positions with 93.6, 92.4 and 91.2 per cent marks. In the medical stream, Harsimrat Kaur scored 91 per cent, Sukhmanjot Kaur scored 86 per cent and Harjot Singh scored 84.8 per cent marks.

In the commerce stream, Richa Saini secured 91.4 per cent, Shubham Bansal 75.2 per cent and Kajal secured 74.4 per cent marks. Humanities stream Aashan secured 85.4 per cent marks.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS: Students strike a pose with prizes after the declaration of CBSE Class XII results in Bathinda on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Medha Singh of science stream of DPS secured the first position in the school with 90.2 per cent marks. Harsimranjeet Kaut topped the humanities stream in the school with 92 per cent marks while Rashi Babbar secured the first position in the commerce stream with 87.8 per cent marks.

At DAV School, out of the 126 students, 56 secured more than 80 per cent marks. Icha from the medical stream scored 95.2 per cent marks while Navneet stood second 90.2 per cent marks. In the non-medical stream, Sumit stood first with 93 per cent marks and Suman K Batra stood second with 91.6 per cent marks.

In commerce stream, Preet Kamal bagged the first position scoring 94.8 per cent marks and Aakash Bansal stood second by scoring 94.6 per cent marks.

At Lord Rama Public School, Abhishek Jai Singh of non-medical stream topped with 96.2 per cent marks. Parneet Kaur of medical stream stood second in the school with 95.2 per cent marks and Palak Nagpal of humanities stream stood third with 90.6 per cent marks.

At the Sudesh Vatika Convent Senior Secondary School, Arushi Singla stood first with 94 per cent marks, Lovepreet Singh and Kanika Aggarwal stood second and third with 93 and 90 per cent marks, respectively.

Priyanka Garg of Saint Fateh Singh Convent School, Maur Mandi, also did her school proud by scoring 95.4 per cent marks in the non-medical stream.

As many as seven students of the school scored more than 90 per cent marks. Sahil Garg scored 94.2 per cent marks, Manraj Singh Bhullar scored 94.2 per cent marks, Harshita scored 94 per cent marks, Reema Singla scored 93.2 per cent marks, Sherry Goyal scored 91.8 per cent marks, Abhishek Singla scored 91.8 per cent marks and Bhuvnesh Kumar scored 90.2 per cent marks.

At the St Kabir Convent Senior Secondary School, Mohak Gupta secured 97 per cent marks while Bhavsimran Singh Malli scored 95 per cent and Raghuraj Chawla scored 93.4 per cent marks. As many as 15 students of the schools secured 90 per cent or above marks.

Bathinda, May 28
The local police arrested 12 persons again today who were protesting outside the office of the Inspector General of Police, Bathinda zone, Paramjit Singh Umranagal, demanding justice in the minor girl’s rape case.

Superintendent of Police (City) Narender Pal talks to the protesters outside the District Administrative Complex in Bathinda on Wednesday

It is worth mentioning that the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta Ugrahan leaders had given a call that each day their group of workers will protest outside the Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) office and would surrender themselves to the police.

The protesters alleged that even after four months, the accused was roaming free due to political pressure as the police had not arrested him.

It is pertinent to mention that the three accused had gang-raped a minor girl in Muktsar district on January 24. The police, however, arrested two accused and presented them before court, but the third accused, Gurlal Singh, is still absconding.

The victim’s parents were arrested yesterday for protesting outside the IG’s office as they have been demanding justice for a long time.

Bathinda, May 28
The city is again emerging as a favourite place for protests with Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, becoming the Union Minister for Food Processing. Protesters are again back on roads with their demands.

With the number of protests against the state government and the police administration increasing in the city, the police have evolved a new strategy to tackle the protesters.

The police have set up a control room in a tent in the open, outside the building of the Mini-secretariat.

SP (City) Narender Pal Singh has been made the in-charge to tackle protests.

The control room has been set up near the gate of the Mini-secretariat and it will not allow the agitators to get inside the premises.

Heavy police force has been deployed near the control room. SP Narender Pal Singh was seen giving instructions to the officials regarding the protests.

A leader of the Agitators Union said in future, the protests would increase as the NDA government had come to power at the Centre. Now, the state government cannot give the excuse of its inability to do certain things because of the Central leadership, he said.

Narender Pal Singh, while talking to Bathinda Tribune, said the tent had been erected to provide a seating place under the shade during the protests.

It is pertinent to mention that after the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections, the city has become the protest capital of the state.

Bathinda, May 28
A male foetus was found at the local Civil Hospital in the washroom of the Guru Amardas Ji Sewa Society rest house, which is located opposite the maternity and children ward today morning.

The foetus, that was presumed to be of a four-month-old, was found by a worker of the rest house, who immediately brushed the matter under the carpet and buried it. However, a person saw him digging the earth and reported the matter to senior doctors and the police.

After receiving the information, the hospital authorities got in touch with the local police. Later, a foetus was taken to the mortuary.

The hospital authorities maintained that medical termination was done on the hospital premises as the baby had died in the womb.

The foetus was given to the patient’s family who were told to bury it outside. But the hospital authorities couldn’t answer about how that foetus reached there.

Meanwhile, the police said that a patient named Sarabjit Kaur of Gidhar village was admitted to the Civil Hospital. She was aborted last night and the foetus given to her mother-in-law to bury it outside, but she instead dropped the towel in which the foetus was wrapped in the wash room.

Bathinda, May 28
City hotels owners heaved a sigh of relief after the district administration handed over cheques to them, clearing the payment dues ever since the fourth edition of the Kabaddi World Cup was organised six months ago.

President of the Bathinda Hotel, Restaurant & Resorts Association, Satish Arora, today handed over the cheques to the owners of nine hotels in the city. The owners thanked Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda Kamal Kishore Yadav for expediting the process of clearing the outstanding payment. Also present on the occasion were Anil Thakur, Vipin Garg, Swadesh Goyal, Sanjeev Sharma, Tarun Gupta, Rohit Garg, Vikramjeet Singh Bahia, Sikander Goyal and Gagan.

Bathinda, May 28
Taking a serious note of the complaints received against several government schools, the office of the Additional Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri has issued directions barring all the government schools from hiring cooks on their own to prepare the mid-day meal. The office of the ADC had received complaints from self-help groups which have been entrusted with the task of preparing and delivering mid-day meals to schools stating that several government schools were not availing their services and were rather hiring cooks on their own to prepare the food on the schools premises.

In the letter, schools have been directed to make sure that the rules and regulations laid down for the Centrally-sponsored scheme of mid-day meal under which free afternoon meals are provided to the students of the government schools.

Bathinda, May 28
Assistant block managers, recruited by the state government under the mid-day meal scheme of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, will hold a state-level rally in Bathinda on June 2.

They also announced that before the rally, they would sit on a protest outside the DGSE office. They said the state government would be solely responsible if any untoward incident happens.

Members of the managers’ union met the Deputy Commissioners of their respective districts and submitted a charter of demands.

They said the state government had followed a long procedure to recruit them in 2009 to oversee the mid-day meal preparation and distribution of cycles, but the government had been paying them meagre salaries.

They added that the government was yet to regularise their jobs and didn’t consider them when it regularised the non-teaching staff recruited under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, a Central Government scheme.

They said they had been peacefully fighting for their rights for a long time but the government didn’t pay any heed to their demands.

They added that they were being made to do additional work for other blocks as well.

They demanded a pay grade of Rs 10,300-34,800 (5,000) and regularisation of their jobs in the same way the government had done in the case of Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board employees.

They said they had recently met the Principal Secretary, State Education Department, Anjali Bhawra, but no concrete solution was offered to them.

Bathinda, May 28
The Bathinda police claimed to have foiled a robbery bid by arresting five persons, who had planned to execute the robbery in the city.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police got a tip-off that a group of miscreants had planned a major robbery.

The Sangat police conducted a raid at Jassi Baghwali village and arrested three persons and recovered two motorcycles, two Maruti cars and sharp weapons including swords.

The SSP added that the police had identified the three accused as Sukhjit Singh, a resident of Kot Guru, Jagdeep Singh and Kuldip Singh of Sema Kalan.

Two others, Jaspreet Singh, a resident of Sema Kalan and Jagmeet Singh, a resident of Jai Singhwala, were at large and the police would arrest them soon, he said.

All the accused have been booked under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC at the Sangat police station.

Bathinda, May 28
Nearly 73 per cent of the auto-rickshaws in the city are plying on the roads without getting any permit from the authorities concerned.

As per the record of the district transport office, out of the 91 three-wheelers, which have been registered this year, only 31 have got permits. Despite the tall claims of the traffic police of tightening the noose around such vehicles, violations continue.

Even the records in the district transport office are not maintained properly as the computerised details provided to Bathinda Tribune lack many entries of auto-rickshaws registered with the department.

An auto-rickshaw bearing the registration number PB 03 AF 6622 has been entered twice in the list.

Sources in the department claimed that they had not issued many challans to auto-rickshaw drivers violating the norms under the Motor Vehicles Act in the recent past.

These illegally plying vehicles are not only violating the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, but also putting the lives of commuters at risk.

A majority of the auto-rickshaws carrying schoolchildren don’t adhere to proper security measures. Most of them are in a run-down condition. Neither the transport authorities nor the city traffic police pay attention to these vehicles.

As per the rules, auto-rickshaws can carry only four passengers but nobody cares to follow the norm. Auto-rickshaw drivers argue that they cannot earn profit if they ferry only four passengers.

Due to violations of rules, the city witnessed several accidents in the past in which many people lost their lives.

Sources also claimed that the MLA from Bathinda, CPS Sarup Chand Singla, had provided many auto-rickshaws to poor families on low easy monthly instalments (EMI) before 2012 elections.

District Transport Officer Damanjit Singh Mann said the permits were being issued by the ADC office. Talks were going on to synchronise the working of the ADC office with the district transport office.

On mistakes in the computerised list, he said the register entries were fully correct and computerisation of records was in process, which might be the reason for the discrepancy.

Amritsar, May 28
A three-day conference, organised by the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation in collaboration with Lahore University of Management Sciences, concluded at the DAV Public School, here today.

This was the third conference of the series. The first and the second conference was held in Mumbai and then Lahore, respectively. The seminar was attended by as many as 37 educationists and environmentalists from Karachi, Lahore, Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar.

The conference was aimed at exchanging and developing new ideas and strategies to enhance and enrich the education system of both the countries. It also deliberated upon the environmental concerns and discussed the developing mutual co-operation for improving the environment the world over.

During the conference, intense deliberations were held to discuss a wide range of non-political issues for promoting peace between the two countries through constructive engagement.