Bathinda, August 21
Voting in the Talwandi Sabo constituency has witnessed an increase of about 11.50 per cent from the General Election held in April this year. However, it has decreased than the assembly election of 2012.

On the polling day, the voters voted enthusiastically on Thursday in Talwandi Sabo that witnessed a bypoll after Congress MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu switched to Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) on March 6 this year.

Jeet Mohinder Sidhu, however, was now a candidate of the SAD (B) in this bypoll against Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi and AAP candidate Baljinder Kaur.

The voting started at 7 am in the morning and witnessed only seven per cent voters till 9 am. However, till 11 am, it was 25 per cent and till 1 pm, the polling reached 38 per cent. At 3 pm, 53 per cent polling was witnessed while till 5 pm, the poll percentage jumped to 68 per cent. In the final two hours, the poll percentage reached up to 80 per cent till 7 pm.

It’s pertinent to note that there are 1.44 lakh voters and 159 polling booths in Talwandi Sabo out of which 38 were declared sensitive and hypersensitive whereas paramilitary force was deployed at 83 polling booths on Thursday.

In the 2014 General Elections, only 68 per cent polling was witnessed in Talwandi Sabo constituency. Till 9 am, it witnessed 10 per cent polling, by 11 am, it witnessed 18 per cent polling, while by 1 pm polling percentage jumped to 36 per cent. The poll percentage reached 42 per cent till 3 pm, while till 5 pm, it reached 51 per cent. By 7 pm, it touched 68.50 per cent.

In 2012 assembly elections, Jeet Mohinder won on Congress ticket bagging 53,730 votes and defeated the then SAD (B) candidate Amarjit Singh Khana in Talwandi Sabo. The total voters were 1,38,078 in 2012.

SDM-cum-Returning Officer Sakattar Singh Ball said, “The total polling is about 80 per cent and there was enthusiasm among the voters. Though we have received some complaints today through messages and phone calls, we are investigating it deeply. Till yesterday, we received a total of 18 complaints. Out of that, six were disposed of after they were found to be invalid.”

Bathinda, August 21
The police have not only failed to register a case against the accused who had attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and its workers on Wednesday but have also found Dyal Singh Kolianwali absent from the crime spot.

The police had not received the medical report of the injured Gurbaksh Singh, the driver of the AAP candidate, in a clash that took place in Jaga Ram Tirath village of Talwandi Sabo on Wednesday morning and was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Talwandi Sabo.

However, the police claimed to have got the proposals of both the parties to enter a compromise but the AAP candidate Baljinder Kaur who had lodged a complaint with the Bathinda police for an alleged attack by an Akali leader and SGPC member Dayal Singh Kolianwali and accomplices had maintained that she would not effect a compromise with the assailants.

Baljinder Kaur maintained that the driver sustained injuries in the morning when he resisted Kolianwali who was distributing money among the voters in Jaga Ram Tirath. She also claimed that doctors are not issuing Gurbaksh Singh’s medical report under pressure.

Baljinder Kaur said, “Kolianwali along with his accomplices attacked us but the police are trying to wind up the case by a forcible compromise. We lodged a complaint with the police but under ruling the government, the police have not registered any case yet. Dyal Singh himself made statements that he had gone to the sarpanch’s house in village Jaga Ram Tirath whereas the police is trying to absent him from the spot.”

On Wednesday, the AAP leaders, including Jarnail Singh, Kultar Singh and others submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP Bathinda to register a case against the accused Akali leader Dayal Singh Kolianwali and his accomplices.

SSP, Bathinda, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said, “There is no political pressure on us and we are investigating the case in depth. We had received complaints from both the parties and legal action would be taken only after investigating the facts. Both the parties have proposed a compromise but we would take action if the compromise did not take place. We had received a medical report of the Akali worker who was injured but not of the AAP worker though they had filed the complaint.”

Bathinda, August 21
The traffic police have installed signboards on the major roads stating the toll-free number 1800 1804040 and requesting the people to call on this number during any road accident or road blockade. These boards can be seen installed on the Bathinda-Mansa road.

The ever-rising number of road accidents in the city has put the administration on its toes as since the last month, more than 150 persons have been injured and nine persons have been killed in various road mishaps in the city and its adjoining areas.

With this, the traffic police have made an effort to provide support immediately to the victim. When a call will be received on this toll free number, an ambulance of a social welfare organization or from the Civil Hospital would be rushed on the spot.

This will also help the stranded commuters on the road. After receiving the call on the toll free number, the police would swing into action immediately and would clear the road as soon as possible so that the commuters should not suffer.

It is pertinent to mention that more than 511 persons have been killed and 419 injured in road mishaps in Bathinda in the last three years. As many as 677 cases pertaining to road accidents have been registered with the city police from 2011 to 2013.

The main reason behind the spurt in accidents appears to be traffic violations like wrong parking and overspeeding. It is worth mentioning that as per the World Helath Organisation (WHO) report, 3,35,805 people in the age group of 15-29 years die in road accidents annually. At least, 30 per cent of the road fatalities in India are in the age group of 15-25 years.

Road injuries are a second major reason for deaths in the age bracket of 5-14 globally.

Road traffic injuries are the third major cause of mishap deaths in the 30-44 age group. In the 25-65 age group, 51.9 per cent of the road casualties in the world take place in India. Over 30 per cent of the deaths under the age group of 15-24 years take place in India. Road accidents will become the fifth leading cause of deaths by 2030, killing an estimated 2.4 million people every year.

Bathinda, August 21
Once again the security arrangements at the Bathinda Central Jail have come under the scanner following the recovery of narcotics from a prisoner.

A checking was carried out by the jail authorities during which 300 capsules were recovered from the prisoner on August 20. The inmate from whom the drugs were recovered has been identified as Monu Kumar, a resident of Maur Mandi.

A mobile phone was found hidden in the soap dish of a prisoner. The accused has been identified as Kuljit Singh, alias Ruby, a resident of Jalandhar.

Drugs and mobile phones have been recovered from the prisoners in the recent past. A mobile phone battery was recovered from an inmate on May 30. Another mobile phone was recovered from a prisoner on May 10.

The problem is on the rise in all prisons across the state. Cell phones help criminals in threatening witnesses beside planning their escape from the jails. Sometime, they extort money while staying in the jail. The issue had come to the fore when two groups clashed inside the Bathinda jail on May 15. They blamed each other for using mobile phones and supplying drugs in the jail.

Source inside the Central Jail said in many cases, relatives of the prisoners gave mobile phones to them. Similarly, narcotics and other communication devices were found in cement blocks and bricks in the past.

Notably, the state government has decided to install jammers in all jails but the project is yet to begin in the absence of funds. However, Rs 4 crore was earmarked to provide modern communication devices to the jail staff in 2012.

Bathinda, August 21
The Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, Bathinda, has been allotted to 58 students during the second round of the admission process. The second round concluded on August 20 after which a merit list of 290 students was issued by the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students of Punjab.

As per the merit list, 58 students have been allotted the school. This is the highest number of students allotted to any of the six residential schools after the second round of admissions.

The Amritsar school has been allotted to 51 students. Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana schools have been allotted to 48, 46 and 45 students, respectively. The Mohali school has been allotted to 42 students. Apart from the allotment of centres to 290 students, the society has also made public a waiting list of 63 students. The students in the waiting list had opted for the medical stream.

Notably, despite being the brainchild of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the residential schools for meritorious students of the state failed to fill 500 seats during the first round of admissions. The schools began functioning in the first week of August.

Since the schools began functioning late, several students who had applied for admission to these schools had to seek admission in other schools to make sure that they didn’t lose time in waiting for the schools to start.

Till the second round of admissions, 120 seats were lying vacant the Bathinda school. These include 34 seats (27 for boys, seven for girls) in the medical stream, 53 seats (21 for boys, 32 for girls) in non-medical stream and 33 seats (22 for boys and 11 for girls) in the commerce stream.

Of the 380 students who took admission in the schools during the first round, 247 (148 girls, 99 boys) were in the non-medical stream, 67 (49 girls and 18 boys) in the commerce stream and 66 (53 girls and 13 boys) in the medical stream.

Bathinda, August 21
The Bathinda railway station lacks fire safety equipment. There is no fire extinguisher, sand buckets or water hydrant system besides any other fire-fighting gadget at the railway station.

Meanwhile, the railway authorities have turned a blind eye towards the safety of the passengers who come to the city from various places. As many as 72 trains halt at the railway station everyday, catering to the needs of a large number of people from the city and the nearby areas.

Notably, the station has always been on the radar of the terrorists as it is an important rail link for the supply of various needs of the Army. The Laskar-e-Tohiba (LeT), a terror outfit, had threatened to carry out a bomb blast at the railway station last month.

Moreover, no metal detector has been installed at the entry and exit points of the station. A large number of passengers can be seen walking or crossing the railway tracks everyday but no action has been taken against them.

Sukhdev Singh, a passenger, said despite paying huge taxes to the government, it had failed to provide safety to its citizen. He stated not only the railway station but all public offices should have fire-fighting equipment. Another passenger, Suraj Kumar, said the government had no right to levy taxes as the people had been left on their own in an untoward situation.

Anand Kumar, a passenger, said the authorities had failed to provide fire safety equipment besides proper seating arrangements at the police station.

Meanwhile, officials refused to comment on the issue, stating that they were not authorised to comment on it.

As many as 72 trains halt at the railway station everyday, serving a large number of people from the city and the nearby areas Notably, the railway station has always been on the radar of the terrorists as it is an important rail link for the supply of various needs of the Army The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a terror outfit, had threatened to carry out a bomb blast at the railway station last month

Bathinda, August 21
A person has filed a complaint with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Mohali, against Ranbir Singh and Harjeet Kaur, both directors of Sujas Capital Private Ltd, Hemant Goel, a resident of Bathinda, and Karambir Singh Kaith, a resident of Delhi, for duping them on the pretext of sending his brother-in-law abroad.

Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Bathinda, complained on behalf of his sister Harpreet Kaur Anand, a resident of Zirakpur. He alleged that the accused had promised to send his brother-in-law to Dubai.

The brother-in-law of the complainant, Arshdeep Singh, did not have any permanent job despite being well qualified, therefore the complainant started making plants of sending him abroad. Later, Ranbir Singh met the complainant and his sister at their residence in Zirakpur and told them that he along with Hemant Goel, his brother Karamvir Singh and his wife was into the business of sending unemployed persons abroad.

At the next meeting, they demanded Rs 10 lakh from them. However, Harpreet and her husband showed their inability to pay such a huge amount immediately and they told the accused that they could pay only Rs 8 lakh to the accused.

On Febrary 24, Ranbir Singh, Hemant Goel and Karamvir Singh Kainth came to the residence of Harpreet for receiving the money. The complainant alleged that they handed over a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to the accused while Rs 6 lakh was paid on March 1. He alleged that after receiving the amount, the accused started making excuses. Later, the accused stopped taking our phone calls, the complainant alleged. The police have marked an inquiry to the economic wing. — TNS