Bathinda, July 21
Protesting against the state government and the Education Department in particular, members of the Democratic Mid-Day Meal Cooks Front, Punjab, have announced that they will gherao various leaders who visit this assembly segment to campaign for the byelections.

State vice-president of the front, Jal Kaur, stated that the members were tired of raising their voice in favour of their demands and staging dharnas and protests in Bathinda and other parts of the state. She alleged that the ruling alliance gave the contract of preparing and delivering mid-day meals to schools in various districts of the state to private firms with an aim to fill their coffers and hence, the leaders were not ready to heed their demands.

They argued that while the neighbouring state of Haryana was paying its cooks Rs 2,500 per month and in Chandigarh the cooks are being paid a monthly salary of Rs 2,600, the Punjab government is paying the cooks a meagre salary of Rs 1,200. When the cooks demand a hike in salaries, the state government holds the Central government responsible for the low salaries.

The front announced that the cooks had now decided to gherao the ruling alliance leaders in Talwandi Sabo and Patiala, where byelections will be held for the assembly seats on August 21. The cooks, part of the Bathinda unit of the union, assembled at Gurudwara Haji Ratan.

During the meeting, the cooks argued that while the government had burdened them with work, they were being paid only around Rs 35 per day. They stated that at several government schools, there were only two cooks to look after the meals for more than 300 students.

They demanded that as per the norms, the state government should initiate the process of recruiting more cooks to raise the quality of mid-day meal being offered to the students of government schools across the state. They also demanded that they be given back the task of preparing food for the students inside the school since the private firms were delivering sub-standard food to the students.

Apart from a hike in their salaries, they also demanded that they be given professional training, benefits like leaves and insurance the way the employees of the government are getting.

Bathinda, July 21
The city railway station, one of the the largest junctions of north India, has become a nightmare for the passengers. There is no proper sitting arrangement on the platforms, due to which passengers are left with no option but to sit on the ground.

Shashi Kant, a passenger who was going to Rewari, said there was no facility to sit at the platform. Another passenger Vikas Verma said it was really unfortunate to see the present condition of the station with passengers having to sit on the ground.

Heaps of garbage can be seen on the platforms and railway lines.

Railway officials said they were aware of the issue but they couldn’t do anything as senior officials had to take a call on it. The Railways is going through a several financial crunch, they said.

There is a great footfall of the passengers at the station as 64 trains, including those starting from Bathinda and those using it as a transit point, leave for different destinations daily. They include 28 mail trains and 36 passenger trains.

At present, the Bathinda railway station boasts of a railway network covering six different routes — Bathinda-Bikaner, Bathinda-Hisar, Bathinda- Delhi, Bathinda-Ambala, Bathinda-Ferozepur and Bathinda-Sri Ganganagar.

Bathinda, July 21
A drunk policeman was suspended for assaulting a youth outside the Mittal Mall on Sunday night. As per the details gathered, the victim, Lakshay Jindal, had gone to Mittal Mall along with his two friends for an ice-cream around 10.30 pm, where drunk police officials beat them up with sticks. When the victims protested, the officials abused him and took him to the police station.

When the victim’s family received the information regarding the incident, they along with the other traders of the city went to the Kotwali police station and protested outside.

Even after protesting for an hour and a half, SHO, Kotwali police station, Mahesh Saini, did not listen to them. Thereafter, DSP City Gurjit Singh Romana reached the spot at around midnight and suspended the accused driver of the SHO and even conducted a medical examination of all three policemen accused in the case.

Pavas Jindal, the victim’s brother, said his brother along with his friends, Rishu and Sameer Chhabra, had gone for an ice-cream at the Mittal Mall where some other youngsters had a fight. At that time, ASI Jaswant Singh, SHO’s driver constable Sapinder Singh, constables Sandeep Singh and Sartaj Singh reached the spot and started beating up Lakshay and his friends without any reason. When they protested, constable Sapinder Singh, who was ‘fully drunk’ started abusing and beating up Lakshay.

Later, the victim’s grandfather and former president Beopar Mandal Kasturi Lal, Bathinda Chambers of Commerce and Industry(BCCI) Raman Watts, Panchvati Nagar Welfare Association president Janak Raj along with other traders met DSP City Gurjit Romana and demanded action against the drunk cops.

DSP Romana immediately suspended the accused driver of SHO Sapinder Singh, who fled from duty after the incident. Other officials were sent to the Civil Hospital with the police for the medical examination.

DSP City Gurjit Singh Romana said they have suspended the driver of SHO Sapinder Singh, who fleeced away from the duty after the incident and they were allegation against him that he was heavily drunken. The investigation of the case is going on and action will be taken after thoroughly investigating the matter.

Bathinda, July 21
A Mumbai-based insurance company has been directed to pay a sum of Rs 3.98 lakh along with a fine of Rs 25,000 on the complaint of former Budhlada MLA Hardev Arshi.

Arshi accused Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited, having its registered office at 6th Floor, Tower-3, India Bulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road in Mumbai, of cheating him.

He said the company assured travel insurance during his foreign tour and pocketed money from him. During his visit to Canada, Arshi underwent a medical check-up for which he paid a sum of nearly $6,600.

The company officials initially assured to refund the amount after returning back to India but later refused.

The insurance officials took the plea that the complainant was already suffering from some ailment and could not refund the amount.

The former MLA said after being influenced by one of the company agents, he purchased Travel Suraksha-Individual policy from the company officials.

He stated that all the information related to his health required by the opposite parties was given to the company officials before purchasing the policy. An amount of Rs 8,464 was paid to the company agent before purchasing the policy.

The policy was issued for medical care, accidental medical expenses, emergency evacuation, sickness medical expenses and emergency dental relief etc. It also included travelling inconvenience, hijack, benefit, loss of passport and personal care. The complainant alleged that he started the journey on 12-08-2013 for Ontario in Canada and stayed there and was proposed to return on 6-10-2013.

All of sudden, the complainant felt an acute pain in his head on 1-10-2013 and was admitted to Guelph General Hospital in Ontario after complaint of numbness.

The hospital authorities found that the complainant was conscious, having chest heaviness, pressure in digestion, radiation in jaws, shortness of breath, nausea and diaphoresis.

Routine tests were conducted and the complainant was discharged without prescribing any medicine. The bill of the hospital was to be paid up to 30-10-2013 in Canadian dollar 6622.35.

The complainant informed the opposite party and lodged a claim about his illness and medical check up on 2-10-2013 through telephone and gave full detail of illness and treatment taken at the hospital.

The opposite parties then sent information through internet on 3-10-2013 vide which necessary claim form and procedure was sent to the complainant.

The forum after listening to arguments of both the parties announced cost and compensation for the complainant to the tune of Rs 25,000. The opposite party is also directed to pay a sum of Rs 3,98,490 to the complainant along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum with effect from 1-10-2013.

Bathinda, July 21
Two persons have been booked by the police for allegedly gang-raping a minor girl. The victim is a 17-year-old girl. The incident occurred at the outskirts of Kuti Kishanpura village in Sangat block.

In a statement to the police, the victim reported that on the night of July 17, the two accused Avtar Singh, a resident of Kuti Kishanpura village, and Jagsir Singh, a resident of Behman village, entered her house and raped her.

The police said they were searching for the accused.

A case under Sections 458, 376,506, 34 of the IPC has been registered at the Sangat police station.

Bathinda, July 21
The Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested one person and recovered 750 grams of opium from his procession from near an under bridge.

As per the GRP officials, Malkit Singh, a resident of Chor Mar village, Sirsa, in Haryana, was passing from near the railway under bridge and was stopped on the basi of suspicions. During the checking, the officials found 750 gram of opium in his pocket.

They also stated in the initial interrogation that it was revealed that he had taken opium for an Ellenabad resident and was working as a carrier. He had to give the contraband to someone else. The police have registered a case and had started an investigation into the matter.

Bathinda, July 21
On the orders of the District Consumer Forum, Bathinda, Gurnam Singh (64), a Mohali-based farmer, who got pending dues of Rs 25,000 from the Agriculture Cooperative Bank after six years, also get interest on the amount after seven years. The forum also slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 on the bank.

In his complaint to the forum, Gurman said he owned agricultural land in 2002-03 at Lehra Saunda village of Bathinda. He had obtained a loan in 1997-1998,and again borrowed the money in 2003.

The farmer’s counsel Sudeep Singh said his client had sold off the land in 2006, and shifted to Mohali. After selling the land, he approached the bank to get a no-due certificate issued. Before issuing the certificate, the bank overcharged Rs 25,000 from him.

In December 2012, the complainant came to know that due to the negligence of bank officials, Rs 25,000 was still lying with the bank for the past six years. The bank neither contacted Gurnam, nor told him about the pending amount. After repeated requests, the complainant was paid the pending amount (Rs 25,000) in December 2012—after six years. But the bank refused to pay interest on the amount lying with it for the past seven years.

The bank officials said they were not supposed to pay the interest. The money lying with the bank was transferred to Amanat Khata (sundry account). The money could be retuned to the customer but not with interest.

The bank authorities said a letter regarding the pending payment was send to Gurnam at his residential addess in Lehra Saunda village. The forum, however, failed to find the letter on record in the file. The forum did not find any circular or letter, which clarifies that the balance lying in the sundry account could not be returned to a customer with rate of interest.

After listening to both the parties, the forum imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 upon the bank and also directed it to pay nine per cent interest to the complainant. 

Bathinda, July 21
Dr Gursharan Singh Mahal from the Department of Agriculture, Baba Farid College, Deon, a constituent college of Baba Farid Group of Institutions, has been nominated as a member of the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of Directorate of Wheat Research(DWR), Karnal.

DWR has the responsibility of coordinating wheat research in the country. Dr Mahal retired as director, Seeds, PAU, Ludhiana. He has 36 years of experience in wheat breeding and has been credited with the development of a number of wheat varieties.

Chairman of BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal congratulated Dr Mahal.

Bathinda, July 21
Four students of the Electronics and Communication Department of Government Polytechnic College have been selected by HCL Infosystem Limited during a recruitment drive conducted at the college. The selected students — Gurinder Singh, Arvind Kamboj, Harpal Singh and Avtar Singh — were given letters of recruitment by college principal, Yadwinder Singh.

Yadwinder said 24 students of the ECE Department have been placed with HMEL (Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Bathinda), Godrej And Boyce, Kores (India) Ltd and other companies. — TNS