Bathinda, August 27
Elections are over but the power cuts appear to have returned in the Talwandi Sabo constituency that witnessed bypoll on August 21. Besides Talwandi Sabo, the Bathinda city and towns are also witnessing power cuts.

Around three months ahead of by polls in Talwandi Sabo, the state government had started providing the regular power supply to Talwandi town and the eight-hour power supply to farmers for irrigation to lure the voters and besides the whole state running short of power.

The state government had also spent more than Rs 5 crore on providing transformers, wires, and other materials to give power connection to many residents to woo voters in Talwandi Sabo.

Bathinda city and towns, including Goniana, Bhucho, and others faced power cuts. Around-seven hour power cuts were being witnessed in Bathinda city before 6 pm while the towns faced four-hour power cuts, revealed sources. The farmers in villages are supplied four hours power for irrigation.

Farmers were supplied four to five hours supply in Talwandi Sabo against the eight to ten hours supply a few months before the bypoll. The bypoll had taken place in Talwandi Sabo constituency on August 21 leaving SAD (B) candidate’s win with a major victory with a lead of 4,700 votes.

The 66 KV grids each at Nangla, Rama, Bangi, Jagaram, Sangat, and Pakka under the PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited are supplying regular power here in Talwandi constituency while 66 KV Sangat-Talwandi partially feeder had then supplied the power to Talwandi Sabo residents.

Gurdial Singh, a farmer of Jaga Ram Teerath village, said, “It makes us laugh that the government befools its own people. The government supplied the promised power to one and all and there were no power cuts just to lure the voters here. Now, there are longer power cuts just from August 22 a day after the polling.”

Balwant Singh of Talwandi town said, “There was a regular power supply for about one and half month before the bypoll here but now, there are long power cuts. Consumers are in a poor state while the state government has failed to keep its promises. We fail to understand that why state face power shortage despite setting up a number of private thermal plants on agricultural land.”

Siddharth, an urban resident of Bathinda city said, “In our area (Amrik Singh Road), there was no power for many hours whereas in other areas also, I confirmed that there were power cuts for about four to five hours. The government is not complying with the orders of the court that had ordered that there would be no power cuts in 8 km radius of thermal plants.”

Bathinda, August 27
Social science teachers of government schools said they have paid from their own pockets to organise the district-level social science exhibition, which was held at MSD School here today.

Teachers Manoj Kumar, Mahinderpal, Kapil Kumar, Balraj Singh, Bhola Singh and Bhupinder Kaur collected the money for the exhibition. Manoj Kumar, who is also the district resource persons for social science, said, “The state Education Department is yet to release any grants for organising the district-level exhibition. We have requested the department to release the funds.”

The lack of funds for the promotion of students’ interest in social science projects is also spurred by the fact that the students have no option but to spend from their pockets and at times they are helped by their teachers in the endeavour.

“The students shy away from spending money to prepare the models. The Education Department should make sure that the grant is released for these projects as well the way it is released for the science and maths project work. We also demanded that on the lines of the Inspire Award exhibition which goes on to be held at national level, social science exhibition should also be held at the state level and then at the national level,” said Mahinderpal. District Education Officer (secondary) Dr Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, who was also the chief guest at the exhibition, said, “I have asked the teachers to submit a report with me regarding the amount that they spent on organising the exhibition and have assured them that I will take up the matter with the department and work towards swift release of money.”

Bathinda, August 27
Making a mockery of organisational skills, the District Sports Department failed to make basic arrangements for the players on the first day of the three-day District Rural Under-16 Sports Tournament that began here today. With the absence of a full-time District Sports Officer (DSO), the games began on a slow note and with lack of co-ordination being evident in the process.

The players reached the stadium at around 9 am in the morning but the matches started only in the afternoon. The two women teachers who were in charge of the wrestling event, said they did not know about the schedule and were waiting for instructions.

Even the ground was littered with stones where a football match was being played. The condition of the athletic track was pathetic with long grass and stones seen in the area where the athletes take part in field events. All this hampered the performance of the players.

The girl players had to face many problems as there was no changing room for them in the wrestling section. They even had to use the toilet in the servants quarter. The irony was that the toilets in the pavilion of the sports stadium were kept locked. Had the toilets been opened for the players, there would have been no issues as a long queue was seen outside the toilet in the servants quarter.

Even the schools did not seem to be interested and appeared to be there just for the sake of participation. Some school teams participated in the events wearing their uniform instead of proper sports kit. The girl students of government middle school of Bhao Yatri village played kabaddi wearing their uniform of salwar-kameez. They were able to score just one point and lost badly to their opponent.

When the physical education teacher of government middle school heading the team was asked about their students playing the games in uniform, she replied that the Sports Department or the state government did not provide any funds and the school was helpless. However, the teacher said that from now on, she will provide sports kit to the students on her own.

The players were not even served refreshments during the games. Only lunch was provided to them. The players were given water from campers while the chief guest and other officials were served bottled water. This has raised a question whether the water served to the players was good enough to be served to the chief guest or other officials.

The sports department does not even have the ground and courts for various games and it has to take help from private parties. The department even organized the weightlifting event at Barbarian Gym, handball event at St. Xavier's School and the basketball event at Khalsa School in the city.

DSO, Muktsar, Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, who is holding the additional charge of DSO, Bathinda, said he along with the other officials was overseeing the games and there was no question of any lapse.

Another sport department official said the schools should arrange for kits on their own as the Sports Department does not provide kits to the players in district level tournaments.

The ground was littered with stones where a football match was being played. The condition of the athletic track was pathetic with long grass and stones seen in the area where the athletes take part in field events. 

Bathinda, August 27
Residents of Rambaag street of Parasram Nagar today protested against the Food and Supply Department for distributing rotten wheat under the Atta-Dal scheme.

Residents Deepak Kumar,Jaswinder Kaur, Rekha Rani, Vandana, Anil Mangal, Surinder, Paramjit Kaur, Shreshtha and Rajidner Kaur stated that they were given rotten wheat from the depot. They refused to consume the wheat stating that they feared for their health and hence would not consume the wheat. — TNS

Bathinda, August 27
Employees of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant with the backing of the Joint Forum, Punjab Power Corporation, staged a protest and burnt the effigy of Chief Minsiter Prakash Singh Badal in front of power plant gate today. They demanded action against PANEM for supplying less coal to the thermal plants in the state, leading to reduction in power generation.

Gursewak Singh, president of the GNDTP Employee Union, said, “The government is purchasing power from outside while it had ignored the thermal power plants in the state. There are a number of private thermal plants for which the government had purchased agricultural land but these could not come up.”

Bathinda, August 27
The residents of Bathinda and its adjoining areas, who had been reeling under hot and humid weather for the past couple of weeks, heaved a sigh of relief after the skies opened up in the evening and brought down the temperature.

Although the day began on a simmering note with the sun beating down harsh, weather became pleasant late in the evening as clouds hovered the skies, strong winds were followed by first a slight drizzle and then a downpour. Although the downpour lasted only a few minutes, it brought down the temperature and raised the expectations of the residents for a pleasant weekend as well.

Bathinda, August 27
The three-day District Rural Sports Under-16 Tournament under the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Abhiyan began at the multipurpose stadium today. Former Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman inaugurated the event by unfurling a flag. The event has been dedicated to hockey legend Dhyan Chand.

On the first day of the games, in the 800-metre race in the girls’ category, Raman of Sangat got the first position, Madandeep of Talwandi Sabo secured the second and Preetjot stood third.

In the 800-metre race for boys, Harmandeep Singh of Sangat won the first position. Sandeep Singh of Talwandi Sabo and Balvir Singh of Maur bagged the second and third position, respectively.

In shot put, Sandeep Kaur of Sangat won the first place while Karam Kaur of Phul got the second position. Harpreet Kaur of Maur won the third place. In the boys’ group, Vishu got the first position. Manpreet of Maur and Deepak Singh of Nathana secured the second and third position.

In Kabaddi, Rampura girls defeated Bhagta while Maur defeated Bathinda 32-2. Talwandi Sabo trounced Phul 22-6. In the boys’ category, Sangat beat Maur 52-29 and Nathana defeated Bathinda 61-23. Rampura defeated Phul 38-30.

In the wrestling matches of girls’ category (38 kg) Amandeep Kaur of Sangat defeated Veerpal Kaur. In the 40 kg category, Pooja Rani of Bhagta defeated Rajwinder Kaur of Sangat and Soma Rani of Sangat defeated Nimrat Kaur of Bhagta. In the 43 kg category, Veerpal Kaur of Bhagta defeated Pekha Rani of Sangat. In the 49 kg category, Ramandeep Kaur of Sangat defeated Kamaljit Kaur of Talwandi Sabo, Rani of Bhagta defeated Veerpal Kaur of Talwandi Sabo.

In the 52 kg category, Amandeep Kaur of Bhagta defeated Gagandeep Sharma of Sangat. In the 56 category, Jasmeet Kaur of Sangat defeated Ramandeep Kaur of Maur. In football, Bhagta boys defeated Maur 1-0. In hockey, Sangat defeated Rampura 5-0 and Nathana defeated Bhagta 4-1.

In the girls’ hockey, Sangat defeated Rampura 4-0. In basketball, Bathinda eves outplayed Talwandi 25-10. In handball, Talwandi girls beat Sangat 8-4 and Bathinda defeated Talwandi 10-6.

In the weightlifting matches of the girls’ 44 kg category, Gurinder Kaur of Sangat got the first position, Sukhbir Kaur of Phul got the second and Gagandeep Kaur of Phul got the third position, respectively. In the 48 kg category, Ninder Kaur of Sangat got the first position while Amritpal Kaur of Rampura and Sukhpreet Kaur secured the second and the third position.

In the 53 kg category, Rajpreet Kaur of Sangat bagged the first slot while Sukhbir Kaur of Phul and Ninder Kaur of Rampura secured the second and the third position.

In the 55 kg category ,Ramandeep Kaur of Sangat, Kamaljit Kaur of Rampura and Araspreet of Rampura got the first, second and the third place, respectively.

In the 63 kg category, Harpreet Kaur of Phul got the first position. Mandeep Kaur of Rampura secured the second spot while Lovepreet Kaur of Rampura stood third. 

Bathinda, August 27
A complex nasal surgery was performed on Gurnoor (4) at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Bathinda. The boy from Kotkapura had come to the ENT OPD of the hospital with a complaint of obstruction in the left nasal cavity, black coloured nasal discharge, headache and decreased vision.

He had been suffering from the problem for the past six months and had consulted various doctors but didn’t get any relief.

At Max Hospital, he was examined by Dr Rohit Goyal. His reports revealed that a large fungal mass was developing inside the nose, which was affecting all sinuses (cavities in bones or tissues) and was even entering into one of his eyes.

Dr Goyal said Gurnoor was diagnosed with invasive fungal sinusitis. After administering two days of IV antifungal agents, he was operated upon. During the two-hour-long surgery, the entire fungal mass was removed. After three days of medical supervision, the patient was discharged.

Dr Goyal said invasive fungal sinusitis was the most aggressive form of fungal sinusitis. It is mostly seen in elderly and diabetic patients

“It occurred due to the overuse and inadvertent use of antibiotics and steroids. Such a problem in a four-year-old child was shocking. Considering his young age, the surgery was indeed complex. But we were confident,” he said.

Gurnoor can see and read properly. There is no nasal obstruction. 

Bathinda, August 27
The Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students of Punjab has invited application from coaching institutes to give coaching to students of the newly opened six residential schools in Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Mohali.

The applications are invited for teaching 500 students in every residential schools for the session 2014-15 The institutes will have to impart special coaching to the students for entry into professional colleges after they pass the Class XII examination in non-medical, medical and commerce streams.

The interested institutions are invited for a presentation-cum-discussion at the office of the Punjab State Education Board in Mohali on August 31. The presentation should be of 30 minutes and 10 minutes are kept for queries.

As per the schedule chalked out for the students, the coaching classes will be held between 4 and 6 pm everyday. 

Bathinda, August 27
The ETT teachers, who have been protesting against the state government and the state Education Department, expressed dissatisfaction over the promises made by the government. They have been demanding that the primary schools under the Zila Parishads be brought under the Education Department. They threatened to intensify their stir, if their demand was not met.

In a statement issued here today, district president of the union of the ETT teachers stated that before the 2012 Assembly elections, the ruling alliance had promised that their demand would be fulfilled if it came to power but it didn’t keep its promise.

The teachers added that during a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on August 9, they were assured that their demand would be fulfilled. They added that on August 22, another meeting was held with Rural Development Minister Sikadner Singh maluka, Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and several senior officials and they were assured that the schools would be brought under the Education Department and a notification in this regard will be moved during the Cabinet meeting on August 26 but it was not done.

The teachers added that ETT teachers Jaswinder singh Sidhu, Vipin Lota, Lakhvir boha and Paramjit Singh Mann, who are on a indefinite fast, were facing health issues. 

Bathinda, August 27
The Halla Bol Committee and residents of Paras Ram Nagar today stage protest outside the office of the electricity board in Sikri Bazar against the installation of a transformer outside Punjab National Bank on Paras Ram Nagar.

The residents and the committee leaders said they had been demanding broadening of the road for the last year as it joined many colonies of the city and due to the narrow road accidents were taking place.

They said they had met Municipal Commissioner and the DC many a time over the issue but now Powercom had installed a transformer on the road, causing inconvenience to the residents. Committee president Sanjiv Soni said they had gone to submit a demand letter to the electricity board office but the officials were not present there.

SDO Hemant Kumar said to run machines of the bank, there was a need of more voltage and the bank had paid the charges for this. He said one pole of the transformer had come up on the road while the other one was on the land of the bank and they did not have any solution to it. — TNS 

Bathinda, August 27
Despite public outcry over the deplorable condition of roads in the city, the situation remains the same. Even after the death of many persons, the civic authorities have still not woken up from their slumber.

The roads near Rose Garden, Lal Singh Basti, Veer Colony and Paras Ram Nagar are crying for attention. Potholes have developed on the stretch near DAV College.

The deplorable condition of the roads is resulting in fatalities. The use of substandard material in the construction work is resulting in the poor condition of the roads. Commuters face a tough time in passing through the roads in the Lal Singh Basti and Amarpura Basti areas.

The trans-railway line area also lacks good roads as the work on sewerage is going on. “Unfortunately, accidents take place often. The civic authorities take action only after someone dies,” said Ankush, a resident.

Another resident said before the Lok Sabha elections, the authorities hurriedly laid new roads to woo the voters without checking the quality of the material being in their construction and now the condition of the roads had started deteriorating.

An MCB official said, "The authorities are aware of the bad condition of the roads but we are waiting for the funds to carry out the repair work.”

Notably, more than 511 persons were killed and 419 injured in accidents in Bathinda in the past three years. As many as 677 cases pertaining to road accidents have been lodged with the city police from 2011 to 2013. 

Jalandhar, August 27
An auto-rickshaw driver, who was accused of killing a woman last year, was acquitted of the murder charge as all the witnesses in the case turned hostile.

In May last year, the body of Poonam, a resident of Waryana village, was found in the village. On the basis of the call details, the police had come to know that the girl was murdered by auto-rickshaw driver Hira Lal of Waryana village in Jalandhar.

The police had said that the accused had illicit relationship with the woman and he killed her after some problem in their relationship.

The woman was a divorcee and she was survived by a six-year-old daughter.

Amritsar, August 27
Owners of plots are happy at the state government’s decision to extend the deadline for the regularisation of houses in unauthorised colonies by another year, but the property dealers and investors are cautious. The council of ministers, headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, took the decision in this regard yesterday in Chandigarh.

Plot holders said they were unable to register their properties for various reasons. Stopping of the issuing of the no-objection certificates (NoCs) had left them in lurch as the Revenue Department did not issue registries without the NoC.

A city resident, Satbir Singh, said he had purchased a plot on Verka Bypass in April. In the meantime, the government departments stopped issuing the NoCs, without which it was not possible to complete the registration process. He said all stakeholders, including sellers, property agents, besides him were uncertain about the legal status of the plots sold and purchased by them. The move came as a relief to the plot holders like him, he added.

Earlier, the impact of not issuing NoCs was negative on the earnings of the Revenue Department. Sources in the Revenue Department said the number of registries per day had plummeted from over 200 to 30. As many as 250 properties were registered in sections I and II of the Revenue Department every day before July last year.

Amritsar Property Dealers and Colonisers Association president Surinder Vashisht termed the Cabinet announcement a mere eyewash and vague. He said it was yet to be known whether the resumption of regularisation policy was limited only to plot holders. The government must have made it clear whether it was opened for colonisers or not, he added.

According to the regularisation policy, defined last year, the deadline was to end on October 7, 45 days after the notification of the policy. The government extended the deadline for facilitating the regularisation of properties several times. The deadline has been extended four times and it was now extended for the fifth time. However, those who were left out of this arrangement had been pleading with the government to extend the deadline further.

In the district, Municipal Town Planning Department of the Municipal Corporation is collecting the regularisation fee from the public residing in its jurisdiction and the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) is doing so from the residents in the rest of the district. There are over 405 illegal localities in the city. Of these, 242 colonies are under the Municipal Corporation and 167 under the ADA.

According to the Act, the composition fee for the regularisation of the unauthorised colonies, constructed before August 17, 2007, is 0.5 per cent of the collector rate as on April 1, 2013, subject to a minimum of Rs 25,000 and a maximum Rs 1 lakh per acre. For unauthorised colonies constructed after August 17, 2007, the fee will be 2 per cent of the collector rate, subject to a minimum of Rs 1 lakh and a maximum Rs 5 lakh per acre.