Bathinda, August 5
Despite the revised rate list with considerable reduction in prices, the response for the BDA flats, to come up in the heart of city, is quite poor. Launched with much fanfare by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the scheme failed to draw ‘flat-seekers’ attention.

“With just seven days of the deadline, we have so far sold a mere 15 forms at our site office at the proposed site of the flats,” said a senior BDA official. He stated that though there are many other places from where one could purchase the forms, the poor turnout at their office shows that people are not much interested in the BDA flats at present. The forms are also available in various banks in and around the Bathinda district.

Against the proposal of the BDA officials, who initially suggested building of Shop-Cum-Flats (SCF), the Deputy Chief Minster insisted to build high-rise flats, so that the families could live in the strategically located area near the District Courts Complex, the District Administrative Complex, the Bus Stand and the market area.

The BDA vacated 11.82 acres after demolishing the dilapidating government quarters. At present, the price of a three-bedroom flat, with 150-square yard area is Rs 44.50 lakh. The cost was reduced from the earlier price of Rs 52 lakh.

The 1,400 square feet (or 150 square yards) three-bedroom flat—all with same dimensions and design—with have a drawing, dining, study and servant rooms. Every room will have an attached bathroom and a balcony. The 14-storey building will have two lifts and two staircases. Club with restaurant, bar, swimming pool, indoor games provision, gymnasium and yoga facility will also be provided along with terrace garden and outdoor restaurant etc.

People, making queries about these flats, said the concept of 14 floors was not going down well with them, apart from the same price for all the flats—whether it is situated on the first or top.

The department officials, however, blamed the lack of proper advertisements and keeping it up to the district level as the reason behind little interest of people.

“Had the scheme been launched at state-level people would have surely come out in large numbers. Also the shelving of initial plan of the SCF’s, too, has dented in the success of the scheme,” said another official.

Additional Chief Administrator (ACA) Dalwinderjit Singh said they were planning to advertise about the flats by holding interactive sessions at public, educational and market areas of Bathinda.

“The overall slump in the real estate seems to have affected the scheme but we are quite hopeful of getting good response from the public,” he said.

Bathinda, August 5
Members of the Punjab Students’ Union (Shaheed Randhawa) today assembled at Punjabi University Regional Centre in Bathinda and burnt copies of a newly introduced ‘Prevention of Damage to Public or Private Property Act 2014’.

As per the Act, anyone causing damage to public or private property can be imprisoned up to two years and a fine up to Rs 1 lakh can be imposed upon him. Under the Act, the term damaging act means an act, dharna, strike, demonstration, procession, agitation or protest resulting in damage to any public or private property.

During the protest against the Act, state convener of the union, Sarabjeet, state committee member, Sumit, Pawan Ghudda, Sukhpal Bangi, Hardeep Kaurand said close to 150 students of the regional centre were present.

Addressing a gathering of the students, Sumit stated that in the name of preventing damage to public or private property, the state government had rekindled the memories of the British rule in the state. He added that the Act was an attempt by the state government to suppress the voice of those revolting against the anti-people policies of the state government.

They added that representatives of various sections of the society and employees of different state departments were taking the path of protests to be heard and regain what is rightfully theirs. They added that the people were taking to the roads and protesting against non-payment of salaries, government not keeping the promises it made to unemployed youth or contract employees, deteriorating state of lay & order in the state, drug menace and other such issues.

The students added that instead of paying attention and working towards resolving the issues being raised by the protesters through dharnas and protests, the state government passed a bill to disallow holding such protests thereby taking away the democratic right of the people to express their thoughts in public.

Bathinda, August 5
The issuing of birth and death registration certificate has thrown a surprise in the city. A daughter, his third, was born to Jasbir Singh a few years after his son had died.

However, she was issued a death certificate within two weeks of her birth despite the infant being alive. The police is now investigating the matter after a whistleblower highlighted the case.

It was on March 27 this year that Jasbir Singh of Mehma Sarja village became the father of a girl child for the third time but on April 9, a death certificate was issued by the Health Department authorities in the name of the child.

A whistleblower reported to the Health Department that the girl child had been sold in some other state and the family had wrongly got the death certificate issued.

The Health Department reviewed the matter and constituted a team comprising an ANM, an LBH and a doctor to review the case.

The team said the death of the child had taken place due to jaundice. Senior Medical Officer, Goniana, Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon then constituted an inquiry team of two doctors to submit a report on the death of the infant but the members of the team mentioned the infant as being alive and that the death certificate issued was wrong.

Bathinda, August 5
Students packed like sardines in a room, TGTs teaching senior secondary classes, shortage of teachers and boundary wall almost giving away – these are some of the scenes that one gets to see when one visits the CBSE-affiliated Adarsh School in Canal Colony.

The breached boundary wall of Adarsh School in Canal Colony in Bathinda. Photo: Vijay Kumar

The school was opened by the state government four years ago, with the aim of providing quality education to the children belonging to villages and areas on the fringes of cities and belonging to families with annual income equal to or less than Rs 1.5 lakh.

The school, which was set up in 2010, was upgraded last year from Class X to Class XI. This year the school was upgraded further to Class XII.

Interestingly, the school began admitting students to Class XI for the new session, it was totally dependent on retired teachers. Now, since the school is short of nine PGTs to teach the students of classes XI and XII, it is managing with the TGTs.

Principal Surinder Nagar said the school was only one of the several government schools of the state which were suffering from shortage of teachers.

“We upgraded the school to Class XI last academic session and the same batch of students has been admitted to Class XII this academic session. As per the policy of the government, we had earlier roped in retired teachers to conduct classes and are now managing with the TGTs. Through several correspondences, I have brought the issue of shortage of teachers to the notice of the state Education Department. I have got an assurance that new teachers will join the school soon,” Nagar said.

One room, 70 students

Talking about the shortage of rooms, the principal said the school was yet to get nine rooms and two multipurpose halls, which were part of the plan of the school. He added that due to the shortage of classrooms and teachers, as many as 70 students were being packed in one room for conducting classes.

“The situation of shortage of rooms in the school is so acute that even the teachers don’t have a staffroom to sit in. The school was set up in 2010 and in 2011, a proposal was sent to the DGSE regarding the shortage of rooms but nothing was done,” he said.

Breach in boundary wall

Adding to the woes of the school is the breached boundary wall. Owing to the construction of the sewerage waste disposal plant near the school building, the Municipal Corporation of Bathinda has dug up land on the school premises to lay sewer lines.

Although major chunks of the dug up land was refilled with mud, the breached boundary wall is yet to be mended.

“The corporation had mended another part of the breached boundary wall but that has already developed cracks and may collapse any day. Another breach in the wall has been lying unattended for the past seven-eight months,” he added.

Bathinda, August 5
Tension prevailed here on Tuesday when unemployed linesmen gathered at Children Park decided to hold a protest march towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner. When they were coming out, the police deployed outside the Children Park tried to stop them.

On the one hand union leaders were stopped by the police from coming out of the park, while on the other hand the wife and children of union leader Raj Kumar who had committed suicide were adamant to take out the protest march.

Later,senior police officials arranged a meeting of deceased’s kin and union leaders with the SDM.They were given assurance of resolving their issue at the earliest.

It is pertinent to mention that eight months ago Raj Kumar in Islamewala village of Fazilka district had committed suicide. His wife Rani Devi is still running from pillar to post demanding justice from the state government and the administration.

She has taken a decision not to immerse the ashes of her husband, until she gets the justice. While protesting Unemployed Lineman Union headed by state president Pirmal Singh, had gathered to take out a protest march towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner office to submit a reminder letter.

State president Pirmal Singh said that after the death of their member Raj Kumar they met the Deputy Commissioner Fazilka and Bathinda. Later they met many ministers demanding job for the family member of the deceased and compensation, but so far noting has been done.

He said if the demands of the deceased’s family and recruitment of the 4,000 members were not fulfilled,then they will hold a protest rally with the ashes of the deceased at Talwandi Sabo on August 14.

Bathinda, August 5
The School Zonal Sports Competition, which began in the city on Monday, was today marred by a controversy, after some badminton players alleged that the matches were not being held as per the international rules and regulations.

Ritveik Mohanty, an under-13 state champion(open), who is representing Saint Joseph Convent School along with other badminton players Baukaran Singh , Harshit and others, accused that as per the badminton rules, the matches cannot be played in the open as the air diverts the shuttle,which can change the result of the matches.

They said today around 8.30 am they were called for the badminton match at MSD School.After reaching there when they saw that the organising committee is holding matches in the open, they raised objection to it.

Suddenly they were told that their venue has been shifted to Multi Purpose Stadium at DAV College. There the matches were played on cemented floor,due to which many players got injured while playing.

The players said the badminton matches could only be played on the wooden or synthetic floor. “ We don’t have synthetic floor in the city, but we have very good wooden floor badminton halls at Dunes Club and Civil Line Club, where the District Badminton Association also holds matches,” they said.

Urging the Education Department the players stated that school-level games should be organised in a much professional way. As at present the department is holding the matches just for formality sake.

Education Department Zonal Secretary while talking to Bathinda Tribune said he is unaware of this, and will check into it.

Bathinda, August 5
The indefinite strike by PRTC employees entered the fourth day today.The employees burnt the effigy of the state government near the bus stand.The strike had also left the commuters in lurch with the protesters stoppinmg local city buses and many PRTC buses.

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) employees are demanding regularisation and fulfillment of their demands, including discontinuation of plying of kilometre scheme buses. PRTC Worker Union Azad on Saturday had staged a protest against the state government and the PRTC management and went on an indefinite strike.

The protesters raised slogans against the PRTC management and the state government demanding that buses running under the kilometer scheme should be stopped as the owners of these buses are making losses to the PRTC to the tune of around Rs 7 crores every month.

The employees alleged that the drivers buses running under kilometer scheme are pilfering daily 20 liters of diesel and making loss to PRTC in connivance with PRTC management.

Harbans Singh Bhola, president Bathinda Worker Union Azad said, “Workers are demanding that contract system should be abolished and they should be made regular. Overtime should be given, suspended employees should be reinstated, Pay grade of workshop employees, the deserving catagerically promotions, and in time pay and pensions should be given are some more demands that should be fulfilled immediately.”

“There are about 10 local buses and 78 buses of PRTC that had stopped plying from Saturday while only 22 PRTC buses are running in the strike period. We are on indefinite strike until the government fulfills our demands. We are now in Talwandi Sabo and may be the Deputy Chief Minister will meet us tomorrow.” added Bhola. — TNS

Mansa, August 5
Jagmel Singh (38) of Akalia village of Mansa and Paramjit Kaur (40) of Joga village were found murdered in Ralla village of the Mansa district.The police claimed that Jagmel having head injuries was killed with a blunt weapon while Paramjit Kaur was strangulated with her own dupatta on Monday night.

The bodies of both the victims were found at irrigation pump in Ralla village.

Station House Officer Joga said, “A case has been registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified person at police station Joga of Mansa district.”

“Extra-marital relation is suspected as one of the reasons behind the murder. Both the victims were married and had two children each. Both had illicit relations a few years ago as reported.”he added. — TNS