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Water woes: Traffic moves at snail’s pace
City receives 112 mm rain in 48 hours
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PM’s speech: Students crowd corridors, auditoriums
Teacher’s Day
Ropar power plant shut down completely after less demand
Seven nabbed with contraband, liquor
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Water woes: Traffic moves at snail’s pace
Bathinda, September 5 Traffic moved at snail’s pace on Bathinda-Mansa-Goniana Road, Mall Road, Railway Road, both underbridges at Parasram Nagar and near the Central University of Punjab (CUP).
The otherwise 15-minute drive took around 40 minutes for commuters to reach from Government Rajindra College to Three Cinemas due to utter chaos and deluge on the roads. Only one entrance of the District Administration Complex (DAC) and District Courts was used by most of the visitors in view of the water woes at other gates. “Water is all over in front of the DC and SSP residence, IG residence, Power House Road light point which has led to traffic jams at other roads. People even entered into heated arguments, quarrels with each other in view of few roads in use,” said Dimple, a government employee. He added that there was no space to park vehicles in the parking areas of both the DAC and the Courts Complex. “We moved an application at the DC office for at least 300 blankets to be distributed among the poor family members who don’t have any other means of shelter in the 25 yard locality of the Dhobiana Basti,” said former councillor Asesar Paswan. Mohan Singh Mohni, a resident of Dhobiana Basti, said a few houses received chinks in the colony. A visit to the DAC revealed that many government departments wore deserted look as employees did not turn up on time due to heavy rain and water logging around the complex. Even the working of private offices and banks on Mall Road, Kikkar Bazar and Amreek Singh road was affected. Rickshaw pullers make fast bucks: Five to six rickshaw pullers were seen making fast bucks by ferrying people between the entrances of District Administrative Complex (DAC) and the Courts Complex. Since the 20-foot wide road between entrances of both the buildings was submerged in water, rickshaw pullers pocketed Rs 10 to Rs 20—to pick passengers from one gate to another.
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City receives 112 mm rain in 48 hours
Bathinda, September 5 As per the Agri-Met Department of the Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Centre, Bathinda, till 7 am on Thursday, the city had received 30 mm rainfall and till 3 pm on Friday it had received 82 mm rainfall increasing the total rain received to 112mm. The heavy downpour also caused the maximum temperature to fall by several notches to be recorded at 27.4 degree Celsius as compared to the 30.4 degree on Thursday. While the minimum temperature was recorded at 24.4 degree Celsius on Thursday, it was recorded at 24.6 degree Celsius on Friday. Dr Rajkumar of the PAU Centre stated that although the monsoon season had begun in India in mid-July, Bathinda is experiencing it now since there are several factors decreasing the chances of the city experiencing a good monsoon season.“Bathinda shares its boundary with Rajasthan and hence a large part of it is affected by the sandy terrain of its neighbouring state. Lack of a proper green cover in the city which helps in retaining the water added to the woes. Due to non-development of low-pressure area, high temperature and wind velocity, the city does not experience a uniform cloud cover and the pattern of rainfall in the city changes after every 2kms,” he said. He added that thermal plants and refinery in and around the city were also affecting its prospects to experience a decent monsoon season. After sweating over a drought-like situation, the farmers of Bathinda and its adjoining areas are now worried about the heavy rainfall which the area has received over the past 48 hours. Agricultural experts stated that the excessive moisture in the air was bad for both the cotton as well as the paddy (other than basmati) crops. Agricultural experts stated that although the paddy crop demands standing water stagnant water for more than 48 hours at this stage of the crop is not in favour of the crop. They also added that dry weather favours the cotton crop and hence, the rainfall would add to the woes of the farmers.
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PM’s speech: Students crowd corridors, auditoriums
Bathinda, September 5 Mandeep Kaur, principal of the Government Senior Secondary School, Parasram Nagar, stated that as many as 1,000 students were present in the school and barring the minor glitch of power outage, the screening was conducted smoothly. The schools managed with two LCDs and one radio set which were to help the students hear and watch the speech while they sat in the school corridor. Government Girls Senior Secondary School, the school with possibly the largest number of students (over 2,200), had, earlier, planned to seat all the students in the school ground and use three TVs that it has for the screening of the speech. However, the incessant rains spoiled the school’s plan and the teachers were directed to accommodate the students in corridors and a big hall on the first floor. However, when The Tribune team reached Government Elementary School in Parasram Nagar, 15-20 students were seen sitting on the floor in a classroom without any radio or TV set. At Lord Rama Public School, LCDs had been set up in the school auditorium and generators checked for fuel to make sure a backup for power was available. Students sat in neat files and watched the telecast quite eagerly which were attached with speakers to ensure clarity of sound. Teachers’ Day
celebrated in schools
As per the directives of the District Education Department and under the guidance of the principal, Teachers’ Day was celebrated at the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students. The programme began with the principal of the school, Rajinder Kaur throwing light on the life and ideas of Dr Sarvapalli Radha Krishanan. Thereafter, members of the students’ cabinet presented the teachers with greeting cards prepared by them. All the constituent colleges of Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, also celebrated the day with enthusiasm. The eldest teacher of Guru Kashi University, Dr Narinder Singh, campus Director, was the chief guest on this occasion. In his address to the students, Dr Singh stated that determination and dedication are very important tools to success. He inspired the students to have some aim while studying in educational institutions. This was followed by cultural items presented by the students. |
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Baba Farid Group rewards 113 teachers with cash prizes
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, September 5 Apart from this, ‘BFGI Talented Teacher Contest’ was also organised. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, chairman, BFGI and Paramjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, director, administration, BFGI, started the celebrations with a candle lighting ceremony. The chairman addressed the gathering and emphasised on the duties and responsibilities of the teachers. He said the teachers are the best minds in the country and they should act as the role models for the students and help them to become better citizens. He said the institute was proud to have such dedicated, hardworking, sincere and loyal staff because of whose commendable work and commitment BFGI had achieved a respected position in the region. BFGI took the initiative to reward its teachers twice a year on the basis of 360 degree evaluation and they were honoured with cash prizes on Teacher’s Day every year, he added. The evaluation process comprised of four segments. The teachers falling in the top most segments were rewarded with Rs 30,000 and those falling in other segments were rewarded with Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000. “On behalf of the management, I would like to thank the entire staff of BFGI for helping it achieve every goal it sets for itself. I also congratulate the teachers who have been rewarded on this special occasion. We will make sure that BFGI continues to give such rewards to its staff in future as well,” the chairman said. Teachers also shared their views on the occasion. The day was made memorable with cultural performances. To unleash the talent of BFGI teachers, a competition was organised, which comprised of an introductory round, talent show round and question-answer round. BD Sharma, Amitoj Dhaliwal and Taranveer Kaur were the judges of the contest. After the final judgment round, Baldeep Singh and Razia were chosen as the most talented teachers.
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Ropar power plant shut down completely after less demand
Bathinda: September 5 The Ropar power plant, having six units, was completely shut down on Friday following less demand. Similarly, for last two days, both the Bathinda GNDTP and the Lehra Mohabbat Power plants have been witnessing shut down of two units each. However, the heavy rainfall had caused huge losses to farmers who have grown cotton crops and had got almost matured their paddy but the rainfall had decreased the temperature and thus the demand for power. These three state-owned thermal plants were already crying for coal shortage with daily half of the coal needed coming to power plants. Now, the closure of about 10 units out of total 14 the coal stock has reportedly increased from three to five days. The voluntarily shut down of power plants has thus increased the stock of coal. Against the availability of 21 days of coal stock, the state-owned thermal plants were running short of coal. The five-day coal stock does not fulfill their needs of availability but had thus given them a sigh of relief. Officials of these plants have alleged that PANEM, the company who is supposed to supply coal, is not supplying according to needs and the terms and conditions. The demand of power has declined to 5,100 MW, whereas the demand had touched its peak to 9,500 MW of power in last two months. All the six units of Ropar thermal plant have capacity of 210 MW. On Thursday, the four units of thermal plant Ropar were closed but today all six had been shut down with lessening of demand. The state-owned three power plants have capacity of producing 2,640 MW daily. The Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, has the capacity of producing 460 MW, Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Plant Lehra Mohabbat has the capacity of producing 920 MW and Ropar Thermal Plant 1,260 MW daily. Anil Kumar, a resident of Vishal Nagar, Bathinda, said, "We faced two-hour power cut today while on Thursday night, there was also a power cut for about three hours. The state government is not giving us the power in days when rain is in excess." Executive Engineer, Bathinda said, "The power cuts were only due to the ongoing repair of power lines that had faced little damage due to incessant rain. There has been no official power cuts ordered to us."
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Gurdeep Singh Mann Tribune News Service
Bathinda, September 5 The parks, which are managed by the Mohalla Park Management Committee, are being maintained to an extent while others, which are under the MC, BDA or the Improvement Trust, remain neglected. About 13 parks are under the town planning scheme of the Improvement Trust and 35 are under the mohalla committees. MC officials said the lack of maintenance by the designated workers and employees for these parks had led to the sorry state of affairs. “The gardeners or safai workers, who are suppose to work in these parks, are forced to work in the offices or residences of the senior government servants,” said a safari worker of the MC, pleading anonymity. There are many parks in the city, which are not maintained by anyone and have become a haven for unscrupulous elements. “Such parks have become a den for the drug addicts and young boys or girls who find such places perfect for doing whatever they want to,” said Santokh Singh, a retired teacher. The parks maintained by the mohalla committees get maximum Rs 1,000 per park per month. The payment is made by the MC authorities with the norm of 50 paise per square feet. “Even if the area of a park exceeds 200 square yards, the authorities will only pay Rs 1,000 per month, which is not sufficient,” said Manjinder, a member of the mohalla committee. He said there were many parks, which were quite small but the same amount is paid for their maintenance. Though the footfall in Rose Garden Park has been increasing considerably, there is a lot to be done to encourage the morning and evening walkers. The small park near Bhai Ghanaiya Chowk, maintained by the Forest Department, too needs to be spruced up as it has become a place for drunkards and families hardly turn up for morning or evening walks. “We raise money from the donors who visit the park every morning and evening. Most of the retired people are chipping in for the maintenance. A few others have initiated steps to rope in their private gardeners to do small jobs at the park and have planted saplings,” said Balkaran Brar, a resident of Ajit Road. “At least Rs 5,000 is required every month for the maintenance and care of a 300 yard park as a major chunk of the money goes into the pocket of gardeners and for purchasing saplings,” said former councillor Rajan Garg. Garg said councillors, in the general house meeting, had mooted the idea to increase the money released for the maintenance of parks but nothing could be materialised. “Some lawyers have taken the initiative to plant 40 saplings in the District Court Complex with the help of the District Forest Department and similar initiatives should be taken by the public to increase the green cover in the city,” Garg said. Corporation authorities said out of 35 mohalla committees, 27 were functioning with whatever finance or resources they had. “Apart from the huge railway ground, there is one park for the trans railway area, including Partap Nagar and Parasram Nagar. Authorities are in no mood to initiate steps for building new parks in this area,” said Pardeep Kumar, a financer and a social worker. Residents of Lal Singh Basti, Sanjay Basti, Sanguana Basti and Dhobiana Basti said due to lack of any outdoor recreational activity or parks, the youngsters in their locality had fallen into bad company. They said a few parks were constructed on the Gurukul Road but were not maintained properly. Similar views were expressed by residents of Green Avenue and Bharat Nagar. The way out
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Seven nabbed with contraband, liquor
Amritsar, September 5 The Division A police arrested three youths, identified as Rajiv Kumar, Ramandeep Singh of Kairon Road, Patti (Tarn Taran) and Sandeep Kumar of Sarhali Road Patti and recovered 120 gms of heroin from their possession. As per the police report, 60 gm heroin was confiscated from Rajiv while Ramandeep and Sandeep had 30 gm each in their possession. The Division A police also arrested Jasbir Singh of Vallah village with 50 gm of narcotic powder. Similarly, the Chheharta police have arrested Raj Kumar of Patti for allegedly possessing 240 capsules of habit-forming drugs. Mohit Kumar of Sandhu Colony, was arrested by the Sadar police with 200gm of intoxicant powder. The Gate Hakima police held Daljinder Singh of Bharariwal with nine bottles of illicit liquor.
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Water today proved a nightmare for commuters, pedestrians and those residing in the low-lying areas of the city following a heavy downpour.
All the complaints of the residents of Bathinda and its adjoining areas about an exceptionally parched monsoon season were washed away in the last 48 hours.
Contrary to expectation, the government schools managed to put up a commendable show when it came to screening the live stream of the special speech delivered by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra
Modi. Relying on the LCDs and TV sets used for the Edusat telecasts, Receive Only Terminals
(ROTs), radios, generators, the government schools managed to abide by the orders given by the Central government.
Nearly 100 parks, most of them maintained by the Municipal Corporation
Bathinda, are crying for attention. Lack of funds and manpower to maintain them, roaming of unscrupulous elements and the practice of people to litter garbage are some important reasons behind their pathetic state.
