Bathinda, October 7
After the recent axing of 9,000 trees on the Bathinda-Barnala Road, the Punjab government is all set to chop 1,200 trees in Rampura to pave the way for the construction of a veterinary college and hospital.

To be built at a cost of nearly Rs 200 crore, the veterinary college and hospital will come up on an area of 61 acres in Rampura.

Earlier, in view of the widening of the Bathinda-Barnala Road, nearly 23,000 trees were axed in Bathinda and then 9,000 more trees were axed on the NH-15 for the widening of the Pathankot-Abohar Road near Baghapurana.

Though the government is supposed to do the compensatory plantation in double the area, due to lack of land, it is nowhere in sight.

Chairman, Zila Parishad, Gurpreet Singh Maluka, said the veterinary college and hospital will prove quite helpful for the farmers of Rampura and its adjoining area.

The project was in the pipeline for the last few years and Maluka is among those who proved instrumental in getting the project cleared by the CM. He claimed that after the construction of the building, a large number of trees will be planted in the compound of the building with the axing of the existing ones

“This will be the second veterinary college and hospital in Punjab after Ludhiana which will cater to the entire population of the districts situated in and around Bathinda for which all adequate measures will be taken including the tree plantation,” he said.

The college will come up in the Bir area of Rampura where plants will be axed so that the construction of the college could be done. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is likely to lay the foundation stone for the building on October 26.

The auction of the trees would be done on October 20 and the building is likely to get ready for the admission of students after one and half years.

The first batch of the students may get admission to the college in 2016.

Maluka stated that the variety of bulls will be brought from Denmark for cross-breeding and modalities in this regard are being chalked out with the help of experts from the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana.

The existing plants at the site of the college have the maximum number of keekar trees having little girth which will be auctioned by the Forest Corporation on October 20.

Bathinda, October 7
With the coal crisis looming over Punjab, a state that Punjab Deputy Chief Minister had dreamt of making power plus, is now experiencing frequent power cuts for the last two days. On Tuesday, Bathinda and its surrounding towns faced five hours of power cut.

However, sources revealed that power cuts have been faced by many other small towns in the districts of Doaba and Majha region too. Bathinda zone faced power cuts from 10 am to 12 noon and then from 2 pm to 4 pm.

Gurbaksh Singh, a resident of Maur, said, “Power cuts were imposed here for four hours. The shopkeepers and industrialists, besides farmers, faced problems and losses. However, the change of season has not given much pain to local residents. The power cuts have now become common for the last three days. The government has established a number of power plants but Sukhbir Badal’s claims seem to have been only fake promises that are made to the people just ahead of elections.”

It’s pertinent to mention that coal for only two days has been left in all the three state-run power plants, whereas six units out of 14 have been shut down due to coal shortage. The PANEM that has been in agreement with the PSPCL to supply the coal from Pachwara coal block, Jharkhand, had, however, stopped supply from September 19 to these plants being run by the state government.

In the three state-owned thermal plants, the three units, each of 210 MW, in Ropar Thermal Plant and two units of 120 MW in Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant Bathinda and one in Lehra Mohabbat Thermal plant had completely shut down due to the coal shortage while the other units are running at low load producing half of the electricity.

All these 14 units own total capacity of 2,640 MW out of which Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant Bathinda has a capacity of 460 MW, Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Plant Lehra Mohabbat 920 MW, and Ropar Thermal Plant 1,260 MW at present.

Around 40,000 tonnes of coal is required to run all these 14 units but PANEM has stopped the supply. At present, around four to five rakes are being received from the CIL (Coalfield India Limited) whereas PANEM that was supposed to supply 11 rakes has stopped the supply.

As per the agreement, PANEM is supposed to supply 70 lakh tonnes of coal annually (about 6 lakh tonnes monthly) to the PSPCL thermals in Punjab but it had supplied every year less than the commitment.

The PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) that entered into a joint venture agreement March 21, 2001 with a private party, M/s Eastern Minerals & Trading Agency (EMTA) to form a JV company (M/s PANEM coal mines ltd.) for development and operation of a coal mine. The PSEB (Punjab State Electricity Board) was allocated Pachwara coal block in Pakur district in Jharkhand state by the Ministry of Coal, the Government of India in 2002. PANEM has signed a coal purchase agreement (CPA) with the PSPCL, earlier, known as the PSEB, on August 30, 2006 for 30 years to supply coal from this mine to the PSEB thermal plants. The mine has been in operation since 2006 by PANEM.

Allocated to the Punjab government, the Pachwara coal block is one among the 214 coal blocks declared illegal in a recent decision of the Supreme Court and now the PANEM would supply the coal only up till March 31, 2015. An official, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that power cuts were imposed in Bathinda and Mansa districts while Bathinda city witnessed less power cuts.”

Bathinda, October 7
Manpreet Kaur, a student of Government Rajindra College, who had sustained serious head injuries after construction material fell on her on the premises of the college in February this year, is facing severe fund crunch due to which a crucial skull surgery that she is to undergo is getting delayed.

Manpreet underwent first surgery on February 23, two days after she sustained injuries. The surgery which lasted for three hours, dealt with multiple fracture fragments over the vertex which were compressing the superior sagittal sinus. During the operation, fractured fragments were carefully removed from the head and duroplasty was conducted. Manpreet was discharged from the hospital in March and the entire operation and other expenses cost the family Rs 1,84,351.

She is now scheduled to undergo another major operation during which parts of her skull bone are to be reconstructed. As per the doctors treating her at a private hospital in the city, the cost of the surgery would be between Rs 55,000 and Rs 70,000. Unfortunately, due to the precarious financial condition of the family, the surgery is getting delayed.

“Apart from the bills that we settled at the hospital, we paid for the regular visits to the doctors and the medication all these months. Till now, we have spent more than Rs 2 lakh and are not in the situation to shoulder more expenditure. While the contractor, in a bid to hush the matter, paid us a compensation of Rs 1,10,000, the college authorities and students managed to collect Rs 57,000. We also borrowed money from our two married daughters. It’s getting harder to make the ends meet,” said Manjeet Kaur, mother of Manpreet.

Manpreet’s father, Nirmaljeet Singh, works as a tailor on daily wage basis and the annual income of the family is a mere Rs 55,000. Barring the initial financial aid which the college authorities and contractor extended, the family relied on its savings and exhausted the same.

“My younger brother is in Class VIII and we have no other source of income. We just have a house in Lal Singh Nagar and no ancestral property to tide us through tough times. We are pinning our hopes on the college authorities, students and other non-profit organisation,” she said.

Principal of the college, Vijay Kumar Goyal, stated that the college authorities will not be officially announce for any further financial help to the student. “If any teacher, student or a group of students wish to come forward and help her on a personal level, they are free to do so,” he said.

Bathinda, October 7
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Avtar Singh awarded life imprisonment to a man for killing his brother around a year ago.

Complainant’s counsel advocate Gurjeet Khadiyal said the victim Gurmeet received a fatal blow by the accused following a dispute arose over the division of 9 acres. The family is residing at Jhanduke village in Bathinda.

The complainant in the case, Beant Singh, said they were three brothers and the eldest of them was married and was addicted to liquor. When their father announced to divide the entire land—nine acres—in four parts, the eldest one raised a hue and cry and demanded one third share of the entire land by keeping the father out of the division.

The father, however, stated that since two of his sons were yet to get married he would keep one share with him.

The accused separated himself from the family and started residing separately in the village with his wife in the village. On the night of June 7, 2013 the accused—Hardeep Singh—arrived in the house where his younger brother was residing. He was in an inebriated condition and threatened to kill all the family members, including his two brothers and father, to claim over the entire agricultural land of the family.

The matter was resolved with the intervention of some village residents. The accused, however, went to the fields where he found his younger brother sleeping and hit him with a spade which caused his death.

The court, after hearing the arguments and claims of both the parties, today announced life imprisonment to the accused in case.

Bathinda, October 7
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Raman Kumar today declined the bail application of the two accused arrested in connection with the eve-teasing incident on Ajit Road. The accused Jaspreet Singh, a student of BA and another person named Shivkaran today applied for the bail application in the court. They were arrested along with third and main accused in the case, Gurwinder Garry with accusation of eve-teasing on Ajit Road.

“The process is under investigation”, said DSP Palwinder Cheema.

The three accused arrested by the police are allegedly backed by a local SAD leader who helped the accused in shielding from the policemen after the incident.

Investigating officer in the case stated that the three primary accused in the case are already arrested and further action would be initiated after the completion of the enquiry.

Bathinda, October 7
University College of Commerce and Management of Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organised an industrial visit for MBA students.

Students visited the Coca Cola plant of Kandhari Beverages Private Limited at Nabipur (Fatehgarh Sahib).

The purpose of this visit was to familiarise students with corporate environment and working of industrial organisations.

Students visited the bottling plant and were given a detailed presentation about the working of the plant by the authorities of Kandhari Beverages and were briefed about the international quality control measures followed by the company.

Students of hotel management from the same college visited hotel Country Inn and Suites, Bathinda. The visitors were given real time training during the visit. Students experienced working of different sections of hotel. They were also briefed about the logistics management in the hotel industry.

Dr NS Malhi, Vice-Chancellor, appreciated the efforts of Dr Amandeep Singh, dean and the faculty for undertaking the visit and motivated them to regularly arrange such programmes.

Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, managing director, lauded the efforts of the UCCM and said such industrial visits develop corporate attitude among students and also help them to collect practical information.

Assistant Prof Rinki Garg, assistant prof Jitin Sharma, assistant prof Gaurav and assistant prof Monika guided the students during these activities.

Bathinda, October 7
The Animal Husbandry Department is holding medical camps in 50 villages for treatment of cattle from October 4 to March 31. The camps would be conducted from 10 am to 2 pm and Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 would be spent on each camp.

Addressing a meeting, Assistant Commissioner (General) Dr Narinder Singh Dhaliwal said as per the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Basant Garg, these 50 one-day camps were being held under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

“A programme has been charted out to take cattle care to every village. According to the schedule issued, the animals would be given medicines for de-worming and for restoring their fertility. The expert veterinarians will examine the animals” added Dhaliwal.

The farmers will also be given mineral mixtures at subsidised rates in order to supplement their nutritional needs. The mineral mixture also helps farmers to remain healthy and produce good quality of milk.

Dhaliwal appealed to the dairy owners to take advantage of the camps by contributing towards the White Revolution and develop dairy farming as a successful allied venture. He appealed to the panchayats to bring maximum number of dairy farmers to these camps and also be a part of it. The camps would be held at Dhapali village on October 11, at Sangat on October 14, at Dulowala on October 16,at Bhagta on October 28, and at Balahar Vinju village on October 30.

“The state government is committed to work for the development of cattle and dairy farming. The development is possible only when the cattle are healthy and disease free,” said Dhaliwal. — TNS

Bathinda, October 7
Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) organised an event to honour the winners of the Zonal Youth Festival.

Chairman, BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Deputy Dean (Cultural), Jagmeet Singh and coordinator (activities) Chandani said, “The participants worked hard for the fest. The victory was made possible by the financial aid and sufficient paractice time given by the management.”

In the competition held at Gyan Jyoti Girls College, the students of the BFGI bagged the first position in group shabad, geet, classical instrument, mime, debate, elocution, Western group song events.

Students bagged the second position in bhangra, classical dance, mimicry, rangoli, Indian group song and Western solo song events and third positions in play, clay modelling, poster making as well as photography.

The teams also bagged fourth positions in giddha, on-the-spot painting and collage-making competitions. The BFGI bagged the second overall position and won the literary trophy. Deputy Director, Activities, Dr Pradeep Kaura and the staff of BFGI congratulated the winners.. Dhaliwal congratulated the winners who were presented mementos.

Bathinda, October 7
Taking a serious note of the recent statement made by the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, wherein he had asked the people to manage funds through whichever means and assured them that the police would not take any action against them, Congress leaders on Tuesday demanded that the Chief Minister should resign since he has exposed the real face of the Punjab Police himself.

In a statement issued here today, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) and former MLA Harminder Singh Jassi demanded that the Chief Minister should resign since he had exposed the real state of law and order situation in the state inadvertently through his comment.

“Several cases remained unsolved and the graphs show that there has been a rise in criminal activities in the crowded markets of the city,” added Jassi. — TNS

Bathinda, October 7
After waiting for the last four months, PRTC retired employees today staged a protest near the Bathinda bus stand and raised slogans against the government demanding the release of their pensions and clearance of medical bills for June, July, August and September.

Members of the PRTC Pensioners Association staged a dharna and blamed the state government for formulating policies that are against the retired employees.

There are around nine depots and above 4,000 employees across the state who are not getting their pensions, claimed the district president of the PRTC Retired Workers Union, Gurbachan Singh.

The pensioners said they were facing a tough time due to shortage of money and that too in times of rising inflation.

“We have been protesting since September 6. On September 17, a big protest was staged in Patiala where all the protesters from across the state gathered. On September 20, officials of the PRTC and the state government pacified us by promising the payment of our pension very soon but nothing was done. The government is not willing to give us pension. We would intensify our agitation if a need arises,” Gurbachan Singh added.

“If the government is running short of funds, it should write to the Governor to impose financial emergency. There are numerous such pensioners for whom pension is the only source of income. Since 2006, we are facing this untimely payment of pensions. Earlier, the government used to release pension after two to three months but this time they have crossed all the limits as four months have already passed,” he said.