Bathinda, September 22
Rampura block in Bathinda district has got the maximum number of 1,862 applications at the Fard Kendras as compared to the other blocks in the district. Stating this, Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg said the Fard Kendras are a unique initiative of the Punjab government which proved to be instrumental in providing access to the land revenue records for the people of state and also for the NRIs who can access to their documents online.

Garg said the people are able to have a copy of their land records within a few minutes saving valuable time and efforts. The Fard Kendra in Bathinda city is the first and the only one to have an ISO 9001:2008 certification for the best standards of service.

He said as per the Right to Service (RTS) Act, the centre is bound to provide a copy of the land revenue record within a day of applying. At the Bathinda Fard Kendra, it was being made available in less than 20 minutes at a nominal fees of Rs 20 per page.

He stated that in August itself, as many as 10,495 applications were received at all the nine centres across districts seeking different land revenue records and all have been issued required the copies. In August, Rs 12.54 lakh have been collected as fee.

Anyone seeking a copy of the records has to just apply at the centre and he will get a certified copy in less than 20 minutes. Earlier, people had to repeatedly visit the offices of revenue officers to get copies certified, which is not the case now.

The Deputy Commissioner said the entire land records of the district have been uploaded on the website www.plrs.org.in.

“Anybody looking for his or her land record has to enter the village and khewat number and he will be able to get the entire data. This is extremely helpful for the NRIs who are settled abroad and want to keep an eye on their land to avoid their land record from being tampered with,” he said.

He added that of the 292 villages in the district, 290 have been computerised and the remaining two areas of Bathinda city and Gillpatti village too would be computerised very soon. The centrally air-conditioned Fard Kendra at the Bathinda District Administrative Complex (DAC) has all sides of facilities available for people. Besides, the eight other kendras are located at Rampura Phul, Talwandi Sabo, Bhagta Bhai Ka, Sangat, Nathana, Goniana Mandi, Balianwali and Maur. The Nathana centre was first in Punjab to be opened.

In August, the Rampura Fard Kendra received the maximum number of 1,862 applications and all the applicants have been given requisite copies. Similarly, in Bathinda, 1,688 applications were received, at Talwandi Sabo 1,540 applications, at Nathana 1,406 applications, at Balianwali 9,36 applications, at Goniana Mandi 891, at Maur 884 applications, at Sangat 675 applications and at Bhagta Bhai Ka 613 applications were received and all have been given the requisite copies.

Bathinda, September 22
The last date to file nominations from eligible candidates for the coveted State Award to the Physically Handicapped for the year 2014 has been fixed for September 26.

Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg said the applicants can get the requisite proforma from the office of the district social security officer, first floor, room number 278 to 281 at the District Administrative Complex, Bathinda.

A district-level committee, constituted under the Deputy Commissioner, will consider the eligible candidates from amongst individual applicants and organisations. Without the recommendations of the district-level committee, no application would be considered for the award. Dr Garg appealed to people to draw the maximum advantage under the scheme and submit their nominations by September 26.

He said the honour would be conferred on handicapped individual, employee, players and the organisations working for handicapped people. He said the ceremony is held every year on December 3 on World Disabled Day.

The organisations working for uplift of the handicapped and the NGOs would be awarded Rs 25,000 in cash, handicapped male and female players with individual achievements would be given Rs 5,000 per player and employees, self-employed and individual handicapped achievers would be given Rs 10,000 per individual. In each category, only one employee, self-employed and individual would be selected.

Bathinda, September 22
Wrong parking of vehicles appears to be going on unabated outside the Mittal Mall where a large number of people park their vehicles despite the number of signboards installed by the police stating ‘no parking’ order by SHO Kotwali police station.

Even the traffic police personnel, who remain stationed here round-the-clock, never stop the people from parking their vehicles in the no parking area.

Many reports regarding theft of motorcycles from outside the mall have been reported in the recent past. But still, people are not taking any precaution and continue to park in the no parking zone.

The mall has big underground parking area, but since people have to pay for parking, they prefer the outside area that is for free.

Sometimes, even people coming in their car to mall, park their vehicle just outside the gate of the mall on the road, leading congestion and traffic jam mostly during weekends and again the police personnel seem to be just mute spectators.

Even the introduction of the towing away of the wrongly parked vehicles seem to have failed due to no vehicles are towed away from here. It is worth mentioning that when the Police Department had conceptualised the idea of engaging private players for towing away the wrongly parked vehicles, the residents were a delighted lot as such a move was the need of the hour to deal with parking woes in the city.

But after a while, this exercise proved to be a temporary relief, courtesy the casual attitude of the Police Department.

It is worth mentioning that Deputy Chief Minster Sukhbir Badal talked about introducing robotic parking in various cities last year, but Bathinda is still crying for basic parking facilities as haphazard parking can be seen at all the major places in the city.

Even the city does not have sufficient designated parking places in the city, due to which most of the vehicles are parked along the roads, the effective road width gets drastically reduced and causes traffic congestion, time loss, and inconvenience to commuters.

Mall authorities said that they want people to park in the designated parking lot built in the basement of the mall. But people prefer to park outside in the open as they are not ready to pay a mere fee of Rs 15 for two-wheeler and Rs 20 for a four-wheeler.

SHO Kotwali police station Mahesh Saini seem unaware of wrong parking outside the Mittal Mall and said we it is going on we will look into the matter and action would be taken against the violators.

Bathinda, September 22
The local police have registered a case against some unidentified persons for theft of valuable items worth Rs 90,000 from the Government Middle School in Chanarthal village.

In a complaint given to the police, the head master of the school stated that on September 21 night, some unidentified persons entered into the school and took away one 32 inch LCD TV, gas cylinder and other materials which cost worth Rs 50,000. — TNS

Bathinda, September 22
Three persons have been booked for molesting and beating up a middle-aged woman. In a complainant registered by the victim, a resident of Hazura Kapura colony, stated that she was going to the fields in her village Phulo Mithi when the accused Gurtej Singh molested her and tore her clothes. Later, she was badly beaten up by Amarjit Kaur and Babaldeep Singh, residents of Phulo Mithi village.

Investigative officer Harbans Singh said the police have registered a case against all the accused under Section 323, 324 and 354 of the IPC at the Sangat police station on the basis of the victim’s statement. He said the incident took place as both the parties have an old family dispute. The police have not arrested anybody so far. — TNS

Bathinda, September 22
A driving course started at Sainik Vocational Training Centre run under the aegis of the District Defence Services Welfare Office, Bathinda. District Transport Officer Latif Ahmed inaugurated the course.

The chief guest, DTO, Latif Ahmed, lauded the efforts of the District Defence Services Welfare Office. He said such vocational courses would not only be helpful for passing driving tests conducted by the government, but also enhance the chances of employability in public and private sectors and in self employment of the course participants.

In addition to gaining knowledge about vehicles and driving skills, the students would also be aquatinted with road safety norms, he added.

“To avoid road fatalities, we must act as responsible citizens and follow the road safety norms thoroughly,” he said.

Cdr (retd) Baljinder Virk, District Defence Services Welfare Officer, said such schemes were a golden opportunity for ex-servicemen, their wards and for people from weaker sections of society.

He said on special request by the department, the Directorate Defence Services Welfare Punjab had provided two light vehicles for the course.

During the course, the students would be given adequate theoretical knowledge of light vehicles, simulators and hands on practical training on road.

The department will run three courses in a row at a nominal course fee of Rs 1,000 per student.

Baljinder Virk said, “It has always been our endeavour to enable ex-servicemen and their wards in obtaining excellent vocational knowledge in different courses. The department has already conducted NDA/CDS classes, computer courses, fashion designing and beauty culture courses at nominal fee,” he said.

Col (retd) Shivdev Singh Mann, vice-president of District Sainik Board, appreciated the efforts of the department and said the course would provide avenues of employment.

Bathinda, September 22
Guru Kashi University(GKU), Talwandi Sabo, in collaboration with Desh Bhagat Memorial Hall, Jalandhar, organised a seminar on Ghadar Movement to create awareness among students about history and the freedom struggle.

Dr Harvinder Bhandal, DIET, Kapurthala, was the key speaker at the seminar. Vice Chancellor of GKU, Dr NS Malhi, presided over the function.

Dr Malhi welcomed the delegates and the speakers. He motivated the students to learn from the rich history and culture of Punjab.

Dr Bhandal said the Ghadar Movement played a vital role in the independence struggle.

“The Ghadar Movement touched the historical, economic, cultural and literary aspects and society can be enriched with the thoughts of great people associated with the movement,” he said.

Dr BS Dhaliwal, Dean, Academics of GKU, thanked Dr Bhandal and other delegates for the illuminating lecture. — TNS

Bathinda, September 22
To make people, especially the youngsters, aware of the ill-effects of drug addiction, its social implications and its link with unemployment, a seminar will be held on September 24. The seminar will be held at the Community Centre, Model Town Phase-III, at 4 pm.

Divisional Commissioner VK Sharma will be the chief guest at the event.

Presiding over a meeting held to oversee the arrangements for the event, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Sumit Jarangal said the main motive of the seminar was to create awareness on personal, social, psychological and other bad effects of drug addiction.

Jarangal said besides lectures by the experts, school students would present a skit, debate and give other presentations during the seminar.

Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) Charumita, GA Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, in-charge of the drug de-addiction centre Dr Nidhi Gupta, officials of District Red Cross Society and Education Department were also present during the meeting.

Bathinda, September 22
Balraj Singh (62), a jail inmate, was allegedly tortured by the authorities of the Bathinda Jail. He was reportedly admitted to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. Sources said that Balraj has been jailed for the last four years on charge of murder. He was admitted to the hospital after allegedly being tortured by the jail authorities who suspected him of taking money from other inmates.

Jail Superintendent, Bathinda, Raj Mohinder Singh, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

The jail has earlier also been in news over clashes and recovery of mobiles.

Bathinda, September 22
Gionee, a global designer and manufacturer of mobile devices, introduced a power-packed smartphone — GPAD G5 at Hotel Sepal here today.

Continuing with its endeavour to enhance mobile experience for its consumers, Gionee has added another product in its product portfolio, which comes in with a lot of promises.

Anil Sharma, managing director, UT Electronics, said, “I am delighted to present our consumers with our latest product, the Gionee GPAD G5. 

Our basic thought behind introducing this product was to give our consumers a superior product that can be handled with ease. There is a huge demand for premium features at affordable prices. Keeping consumer preferences in mind, we have introduced the device which is high on features and easy on the pocket. We are excited to get it into the market.”