Bathinda, October 30
More than six days after he was arrested after the registration of two cases against him, District Congress Committee president Mohan Lal Jhumba was granted bail in one of the two cases today. While he was granted bail in a case registered against him by Congress leader Inder Singh Sahni on Tuesday, he was granted bail in another case lodged against him by the son of a SAD leader, alleging that he was attacked by Jhumba.

As Jhumba stepped out of the premises of the Central Jail, he was garlanded by his supporters who raised slogans against the Punjab Government and the Police Department. Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Jhumba hailed the unity of Congress leaders and workers in Bathinda and attributed his release from the jail to the protest staged by the Congress leaders against his arrest.

“My arrest was a ploy by the police and some SAD leaders to muffle my voice against the state government and the police’s highhandedness. They arrested me because I had raised my voice against the misbehaviour of Gurprret Singh, SHO, Canal Colony. The Police Department played it smart by first sending the SHO on leave and then transferring him and then getting me arrested in a fake case,” said Jhumba.

Interestingly, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and former MLA Harminder Singh Jassi, who is spearheading a silent protest against the police and the state government and demanding release of Jhumba, was missing from the scene. He, however, said that in keeping with the plan, a dharna would be staged on Friday.

“The motive behind the staging of the dharna was to demand the release of Jhumba and lay bare the functioning of the police. We wish to make the residents aware of the way the police is hand in glove with the state government.The policemen are registering fake case against the common men to help the ruling party in suppressing the voice of dissent,” Jassi said.

He further added that the party would continue its silent protest on Friday and would also observe the death anniversary of former PM Indira Gandhi.

Earlier, during the day, 31 Congress workers, headed by Jassi, sat on a silent protest near Nehru Park. Deriding the state government for turning the police personnel into puppets, Jassi said the police was busy arresting people fake charges but had turned a blind eye to the “big sharks” who had been named in cases of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Iqbal Singh Dhillon, Jagmeet Singh, Rupinder Bindra, Ashwini Goyal, Suresh Bansal, Mukesh, Nachhtar Singh and Bhupinder Sharma were also present during the dharna.

Bathinda, October 30
The District Bar Association (DBA) today announced to go on indefinite strike following a dispute between a Civil Judge (Junior Division) of the Rampura Phul court and lawyers. Following the dispute, the work was suspended at the Rampura Phul, Bathinda and Talwandi Sabo courts. The lawyers refused to plead their cases in any of the courts.

DBA Bathinda president Navdeep Jeeda said the lawyers at the Phul court had been complaining against the judge over some issue, which was resolved with the intervention of District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh.

“We had a dialogue with the lawyers in Phul in the presence of the senior judicial officers to sort out the differences. The matter has been resolved and the strike has been withdrawn,” Jeeda said.

The president of the Lawyers’ Association of Phool court, Surinderpal Singh, said apart from being upset over the behaviour of the judge, the lawyers were complaining about the biased attitude of the court in dealing with numerous civil cases.

He said the issue had been resolved now after consultations in the presence of the District and Sessions Judge, DBA, Bathinda and the Phul lawyers.

Bathinda, October 30
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Limited and the HDFC bank to waive Rs 2.25 lakh to a complainant and also pay a compensation of Rs 17,000 as the company tried to recover a loan amount from the family members of a deceased whose loan was insured.

The bank deducted two installments of Rs 7,772 each from the salary account of the complainant’s husband in March and April even after the death of the man.

The bank then made all efforts to recover the loan amount from the widow, Manjit Kaur, as her husband died ten days after getting the bank loan.

The complainant’s counsel, advocate Naresh Garg, said as per the recent RBI guidelines, all the loans should be insured by the banks and similarly, this loan was also insured.

While the HDFC Bank, Grain Market, gave the loan, it was insured by HDFC Ergo General Insurance, he said.

The company had taken one time Rs 2,394 from complainant’s husband to provide him the insurance cover under which the loan amount was to be adjusted in case of the death of the person who had got the loan.

Instead of adjusting the loan amount, bank officials asked the family members of the deceased to pay the debt taken by him, Garg said.

The forum, after hearing the claims and arguments of both the parties, reached on the conclusion that the bank was unfair with the complainant.

Despite having the insurance cover under credit shield coverage, the bank tried to recover the loan from the complainant and even deducted two installments wrongfully, the forum observed.

The forum declared that the applicant is entitled to a credit shield of Rs 2.25 lakh with interest. HDFC Ergo has been directed to pay a compensation of Rs 17,000 to the complainant, failing which it shall be liable to pay interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of institution till payment.

The forum also directed the bank to return both the monthly installments of Rs 7,772 each deducted from the account of the complainant’s husband after his death.

Bathinda, October 30
Bank employees, under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), today held a demonstration in front of the Union Bank of India, Mall Road, demanding immediate finalisation of the 10th wage revision settlement.

Addressing a rally, Pawan Jindal, convenor of UFBU, condemned the negative attitude of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the government, regarding the wage revision. He said wages and service conditions in the banking sector were governed by the industry-level bipartite settlement signed beween the Indian Banks’ Association and the Workmen’s Union and the Officers Association operating in the banking industry.

“The wage revision settlement in banks is due since November 2012. The IBA has been delaying the matter despite 13 meetings with the negotiating committee of the UFBU over the past two years. The workload on the bank employees has increased due to the increase in business,” added Jindal.

“Since the IBA has offered to increase the wages by 11 per cent, which is not acceptable, the members of the UFBU will observe a strike on November 12,” said the employees.

The rally was also addressed by NK Bansal, Rakesh Jain, Sunita Ahuja, Kamal Sachdeva, KK Singlam Charanjit Sharma, Prem Bhushan, Jasbir Singh, NK Taneja, MM Behl, Gulshan Grover and RD Singla.

Bathinda, October 30
Residents of Mungaska village in Alwar district of Rajasthan, who were uprooted following the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, continue to struggle even 30 years after the violence that shook the nation in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Unlike Delhi where the government to offered help to the victims after the riots, people from this part of the country have no hope of any help.Even those at Hondh Chillar village in Rewari district of Haryana where 31 were killed and the entire village uprooted have come under the limelight and can expect a delayed relief.

In Mungaska village and nearby areas, houses and shops of the Sikhs were torched by the mob on November 1. Surjit Singh, who was only 10-year-old at the time of the riots and escaped death, remembers how the Sikhs saved themselves by hiding in a gurdwara for more than 20 days.

“It was November 1, 1984, when the mob came to our village. Besides Sikhs, other communities, including Muslims, Gujjars, Jats, were also living in the village. The mob torched some of the vehicles, including our two tempos. My father was a transporter and the vehicles were used for transportation.”

“As the mob torched the vehicles, the people belonging to the other communities defended our village and did not allow anyone to enter it. We took shelter in the house of a Hindu family in the village. Later, all Sikh families took shelter in the village gurdwara. We, along with other Sikh families, stayed inside the gurdwara for 20 days and the villagers protected us from the mob.”

“Our houses were locked and the villagers told the assailants that some Sikhs had been killed and others had left the village. The villagers didn’t allow anyone to enter the village and the gurdwara. Later, our family came to Bathinda where my sisters were married. After the 1984 riots, my father went into a deep shock and died of heart attack in September 1985 in Bathinda.”

I do not remember the village’s name where a number of Sikhs were killed in Alwar district but my father Matwal Singh had then told me that almost all Sikhs were killed in that village, including his friends. As a transporter my father used to visit the village and had good relations with some of the Sindhi Sikh families. In our village, no one was killed but the Sikh families lost everything, including their business and houses,” added Surjit Singh.

Similarly, another victim Dr Anokh Singh has been residing in Bathinda since the riots and lost his clinic that he used to run in Jaipur, Rajasthan. “I worked hard and learned acupuncture treatment therapy from Singapore and used to run my centre in Jaipur but on November 1, 1984, it was set on fire by the goons. I returned to my family in Tibbi village of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan. After some days, we shifted to Bathinda. I did not lose anyone from my family but my business was ruined,” said Dr Anokh Singh.

Bathinda, October 30
The police have booked five persons, including two women, for demanding dowry in two separate cases. They have been booked under Sections 498-A and 406 of the IPC at the woman police station today.

Atinderpal Kaur, a resident of Mehraj Basti in Rampura Phul, alleged that her husband Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Badunder Road, Patiala, had been demanding dowry from her since their marriage.

In another case, a woman from Janta Colony, got a case registered against her husband and in-laws for demanding dowry. A case has been registered against her husband Om Parkash, mother-in-law Salochna Devi, brother-in-law Kewal Krishan and sister-in-law Rupali at the women police station.

Bathinda, October 30
While the Sikhs uprooted during the 1984 riots are still struggling to come to the terms with life, a section of the Sikh intellectuals is trying to restore the glory of a large number of places of heritage destroyed during the riots. Gurdwara Gyan Godhri, Haridwar, is one of the places destroyed during the riots.

The chief of the Panthic Sewa Lehar, Baljeet Singh Daduwal, is making efforts for the re-construction of a gurdwara that was demolished completely in Uttarakhand during the 1984 riots. Daduwal, who is also a member of the ad hoc HSGPC, had earlier demanded the reconstruction of Gurdwara Gyan Godhri at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar.

Daduwal had planned to visit the gurudwara in Haridwar along with a number of Sikhs to celebrate the gurparab this year in November. Earlier, he was not allowed to cross the Paonta Sahib gurdwara by the police. In 2012, the Uttarakhand Government had arrested him when he tried to celebrate gurparab there. The Sikhs had submitted a memorandum to the Uttarakhand Governor on January 10, 2012, demanding rebuilding of the gurdwara.

It is believed that Guru Nanak had visited Haridwar and in his memory Gurdwara Gyan Godhri was constructed. Daduwal had claimed that it was unfortunate that after the demolition of the historic gurdwara, the Uttarakhand Government constructed shops and toilets at the site. Baljit Singh Daduwal said, “We are trying to communicate with the CM of Uttarakhand to submit our demands regarding the gurdwara. We will visit the gurdwara site this year too. The government should reconstruct the gurudwara where the Janvi market has been constructed. A granthi of the gurdwara and a woman ‘sewadar’ was drowned by the mob in Uttarakhand in 1984. We will try to meet the Uttrakhand CM and request him to rebuild the gurdwara.”

Bathinda, October 30
A two-day inter-school literary and cultural festival began at The Millennium School today. As many as 250 students from The Millennium Schools located in Bathinda, Noida, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Karnal, Patiala, Amritsar, Agra, Indore and Meerut participated in the festival.

Students of the Sirsa school, Takshila School Barnala, Mata Harki School and Rajindra Public School also participated in the festival and showcased their talent during various competitions organised on the first day of the festival.

The festival began with rendition of a prayer, following which Anju Dhawan, principal of The Millennium School, Bathinda, and Anju Nagpal, principal of The Millennium School, HMEL, welcomed the director of the school, Bindu Rana, and member of the advisory committee, Beena Rao.

Over the two days, several competitions will be organised.

Students will participate in competitions such as theme story, literary wall, ad-mad show, ‘I am My Hero’, spell-bee, debate, poetry and wikipedia among others.

Bathinda, October 30
Dr Vitull K Gupta, consultant physician, Kishori Ram Hospital and chairman, Association of Physicians of India (Malwa Branch), will attend the third annual World Congress of Diabetes-2014 (WCD-2014) from November 13-16 in Haikou, China.

He will deliver a lecture on blood glucose testing and diabetes management during the event.

Mansa, October 30
Talwandi Sabo Power Limited organised a mass plantation drive in which all employees of the company actively participated and planted 1,000 saplings to show their commitment towards the environment.

TSPL has 222 acres under green cover and this year it has decided to add more than 100 acres to its green belt.

To enrich the green belt, different types of plants such as neem, jamun, arjun, karanj, chukrasia, amrud, kachnar, eucalyptus, sheesham and others were planted in the last three years.

In the past, various initiatives had been taken by the organisation to protect green environment by developing a green belt inside the premises as well as in the local area.

TSPL is also creating awareness among the local communities to promote environment.

It is developing Government Senior Secondary School at Musa village as the first green school in Mansa.

Talwandi Sabo Power Limited is one of the greenest power plants in Northern India and has set up the project with a commitment to protect the environment during the construction and operation phase.

The company has adopted state-of-the-art supercritical technology, high concentration slurry disposal system (HCSD), Zero Discharge Unit, Hybrid ESPs to protect the environment.

Bathinda, October 30
In a series of events being organised under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Central University of Punjab organised a concluding programme on its city campus here today.

During the programme, Vice Chancellor, Prof RK Kohli, honoured various participants of the campaign.

The Vice Chancellor said the dream of clean India was yet to be achieved and everyone had to put in sincere efforts to make the surroundings clean. He said in the absence of serious efforts, the dream of clean and green India could never be achieved.

He assured that the programmes like clealiness drive would continue in future on the university campus.

Later, the VC and and Prof P Ramarao felicitated winners of the debate competition, essay writing competition and participants of the cleanliness drive.

Earlier, a report regarding the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was presented by Dr Anjana Munshi, programme coordinator.

A vote of thanks was delivered by Prof AS Kahlon, Associate Dean, Students Welfare.

Prof P Ramarao, Dean Academic Affairs and Prof RG Siani, were also present on the occasion. — TNS

Bathinda, October 30
A person lost his life in a road accident in the city today. According to volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa, 20-year-old Sandeep Singh of Malout was killed after he met with an accident.

He was driving a bike. Sandeep was accompanied by Gopi Singh (21), a resident of Malout. The injured was referred to a private hospital by doctors at the Bathinda Civil Hospital.

Vijay Goyal, president of the NGO, said there had been a sudden rise in the number of road accidents due to reduction in visibility in the early morning and late night hours.

Goyal demanded strict implementation of the traffic rules to curb the rising number of accidents.