Bathinda, November 7
Thick algae, stagnant water, foul smell and mosquitoes - the four lakes at Joggers’ Park have become a pool of mess. The park was inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab amidst much fanfare but the lakes planned as a part of the project to beautify the place, now paint a picture of neglect.

The first-of-its-kind project with tracks exclusively dedicated for jogging and cycling alongside the water tanks of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) was developed at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore. The jogging and cycling track has two different sections separated by a green belt. Private consultants were roped in for the landscaping of the project. The jogging track is two-metre wide while the width of the cycling track is three metres.

The four lakes, fed by the Sirhind Canal, are not cleaned for days thereby turning these into an eyesore and also a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Municipal Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh said he had visited the place a few weeks ago and had taken a note of the fact that the water tanks needed cleanliness and wild vegetation also needed to be removed. “In fact, I wrote to the XEN of the Punjab Water supply and Sewerage Board, Ashwini Kumar, requesting him to look into the matter and direct the officials concerned to initiate the cleanliness drive,” the MC commissioner said.

XEN Ashwini Kumar, while talking to Bathinda Tribune, said the cleanliness work had begun. “The lakes are directly fed by the canal and the trash thrown into the canal by the residents of the nearby areas and devotees flows into these tanks. When the level of water in the canal is low, the level of water in the lakes also goes down thereby making it difficult for us to clean the lakes,” Kumar said.

“Now that the canal water has begun flowing into the lakes again, it has brought trash with it. MC Workers have started cleaning the first lake near the entrance of the park,” he added.

Bathinda, November 7
To check human trafficking and illegal immigration, the Bathinda administration have asked all travel agents to get themselves registered as per the Punjab Government policy under the Punjab Human Trafficking Control Act, 2013, by November 12.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg said after the completion of all formalities, licences will be issued to the travel agents. It will then become mandatory for the travel agents to mention their registration number on the advertisements in the newspapers or anywhere else.

He added that the travel agents would have to fill Form No. 1 and attach relevant documents before submitting these at the office of the Deputy Commissioner. He added that the form must have documents issued by the authority concerned, residence certificate, birth certificate or Class X certificate, Aadhar card, ration card, photo copy of the voter card, copy of passport, three passport size photos, copy of PAN card, copies of the income tax returns of three years, previous year’s bank statement and an affidavit attested by the executive magistrate, mentioning that the applicant was neither acquitted nor has any criminal case pending against him.

He added that the travel agents, who had been working for the past five years, would have to pay Rs 1 lakh as fee. Similarly, those working for less than five years time period will have to pay Rs 25,000 as fee.

Bathinda, November 7
The Punjab State Election Commission has begun the revision of the voters’ list for Goniana Mandi, Maur Mandi and Sangat Mandi.

Sharing this information here today, ADC (Development)-cum-Additional District Election Officer Sonali Giri said the municipal council, Goniana Mandi, had been divided into 13 wards. Of these, the ward nos. 1, 4, 10 and 13 are reserved for women candidates while ward no. 3 is reserved for the backward class candidates. While ward no. 7 is reserved for the women candidates for the Scheduled Castes category, ward nos. 8, 9 and 11 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes category.

Similarly, the municipal council, Sangat Mandi has been divided into nine wards. The ward no.1 has been reserved for women candidates from the Scheduled Castes category while ward no. 3 is reserved for the candidates belonging to the backward classes. Ward nos. 4 and 7 are reserved for women candidates and the ward number 9 is reserved for the Scheduled Castes candidates.

The municipal council, Maur Mandi, has been divided into 17 wards. The ward nos. 1, 7, 13 and 16 are reserved for women candidates while ward nos. 2, 8, 9 and 12 are reserved for the Scheduled Caste category. Ward no. 3 is reserved for the backward classes candidates and ward nos. 4 and 10 are reserved for the the women candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes category.

The voters’ list will be prepared from November 7 to November 13. Claims and objections to the voters’ list will be received till November 22. — TNS

Bathinda, November 7
The much-awaited cultural extravaganza of the year, Virasat Mela, went off to a colourful start here today. Dancing horses, camels walking in a line, adorned elephant walking majestically on the road and tractor-trailers carrying tableau depicting the long-forgotten culture of Punjab were some of the highlights of the procession taken out by the Malwa Heritage and Sabhyacharak Foundation, Bathinda, as part of the Virasat Mela.

While Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg inaugurated the procession and the mela by paying obeisance at the Haji Ratan gurdwara. He didn’t offer “chadar” at the dargah adjacent to the gurdwara. The “chadar” was offered by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla and DSP Gurjeet Singh Romana.

The procession passed through several areas of the city. This year, the route of the procession was changed and it covered Dhobi Bazar before culminating outside Jaipalgarh Village near Multipurpose Sports Stadium.

The tableau comprising the procession brought to life the lost and long-forgotten tradition of Punjab. While one tableau showed boys dressed in traditional Punjabi attire another had girls looking resplendent in heavily embellished kurti-salwars.

The centre of attraction remained the tableau showcasing ‘trinjan’. The chairman of the Malwa Foundation, Harwinder Singh Khalsa, said, “The procession showcases various facets of the Punjabi culture and how it has evolved over the years. In the times when the West is influencing our lifestyle, showcasing our traditional attire and how the people lived in the days gone by is very important.”

Jaipalgarh village had ‘zaildaar ki haveli’, ‘Kuldip Manak ghar’, ‘purana khu (well)’ to attract the visitors.

For a while, congestion was witnessed outside the District Administrative Complex. A similar scene was witnessed at Dhobi Bazar as well. The police also did a good job, diverting the traffic for the convenience of commuters.

Bathinda, November 7
Despite tall claims of providing basic facilities to Bathinda, the state government have failed to check the stray cattle menace, which resulted in a number of deaths in the past two years.

Though the traffic police and the Municipal Corporation have failed to maintain a record of the number of deaths reported due to the menace, city NGOs, including the Sahara Jan Sewa, Noujawan Welfare Society and others contended that more than 12 people have died due to it in the past two years.

The initiative of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (MCB) to shift 500 stray animals from Bathinda to a gaushala in Kotkapura was stopped midway after some resident of Faridkot raised a hue and cry over the shifting of animals.

“We held a meeting with the Faridkot employees who stopped our employees from shifting stray animals. We are likely to restart the process of shifting stray animals from Bathinda to Faridkot gaushala as due to some misunderstanding the Faridkot residents objected to it,” said Municipal Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh.

The city NGOs have complained a number of times about the menace.

“The situation worsens at night. Many road accidents have taken place in the recent past on Barnala Road, Goniana Road, Mansa Road and on Dabwali Road,” said Sonu Maheshwari.

Sonusaid a large number of stray cattle were suffering from numerous diseases, including the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). “While the villagers shoo them away to avoid damage to the crops, the city residents offer green fodder and drinking water,” Sonu said.

“Though MC officials always blame the lack of manpower for their failure,.we are ready to help them but they are not ready to take our services,” Sonu said.

Chief Sanitary Inspector Jaspal Mankhera said they were waiting for the process of the shifting of stray cattle to start, which was closed after catching 270 animals. “The process was initiated after around two years and 300 stray animals were removed from the city roads,” he said.

Bathinda, November 7
Residents of the Ajit road are up in arms about the haphazard laying of the waterpipe. After accusing the authorities of creating a chaos on the Ajit road by digging a trench and dumping the soil at roadside unattended, the residents today blocked the road in protest against pick-and-choose policy of laying a ‘T’ at the entrance of the streets on the roads.

“There are few streets in which a T was installed, but there are others which are bereft of it.The T helps in increasing the water pressure to the area,” said Kala, a shopkeeper.

“When the residents of street number 25 came to know about the installation of T in other streets, they raise a hue and cry. They stated that either it should be installed in all streets or not at all,” said Balkaran Brar, a resident of Ajit Road.

“Suspecting lack of water pressure in their streets residents blocked the road. They protested haphazard execution of work and dumping of soil at the roadside, which enters their houses and create problem for the commuters as well,” said Brar.

The XEN and JE of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board reached the spot and tried to pacify the protesters.

“We have told residents to let us lay the pipes and assured them of water supply. Lying of water pipe would help in getting drinking water for the residents of Ajit Road, street number 1,2, and 3, Power House Road and some houses of Jujhar Singh Nagar,” said JE Balwinder Singh.

Though initial time period to lay the pipes is 60 days but the authorities claim to complete the work a week ahead of the deadline.

Bathinda, November 7
The police today registered a case against a resident of Faridkot on the charge of sending vulgar messages over the phone to a woman of Kothe Sukhanand Wale Bhairupa village. The complainant alleged that the accused, Raminder Kumar of Vaival Khurd village of Faridkot, had been sending objectionable messages at the cell phone of his wife.

The policemen from the Phul police station investigated the matter and after initial queries registered a case has been registered against the accused.

Bathinda, November 7
The Health Department is observing National Vasectomy Week from November 7 to November 13 to promote the birth control method amongst men.

Presiding over the district-level function of World Vasectomy Day held here today at the Civil Hospital, Deputy Director-cum-Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, Dr Tejwant Singh Randhawa said during the week various camps will be held in the district.

“Married men undergoing vasectomy will be given Rs 1,100 honorarium and the motivators will get Rs 200 for bringing the patient to the hospital for vascetomy,” said Randhawa.

District Family Welfare Officer Dr Ravanjit Kaur Brar said vasectomy was the only permanent mean of birth control for men. Listing the benefits of men adopting this birth control method over women going in for tubectomy, she said that vasectomy was a minor non-scalpel operation.

Dr Vireshwar Chawla said vasectomy was a minor procedure wherein neither any cut nor any stitch was involved.

“After the operation one can go home the same day. The procedure does not affect the normal life of men. Non-scalpel vasectomy was introduced in the country with the support of the World health Organization (WHO) in1998. It is a very easy and successful method of permanent birth control,” added Chawla.

The senior medical officers, specialists, paramedical staff, patients and their attendants were also made aware about the programme.

Talwandi Sabo, November 7
The NSS unit of Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organised a one-day cleanliness camp at Kalpna Chawla Girls Hostel here today.

Around 50 volunteers from Computer Applications and Management College participated in this camp. Dr DR Godara, Dean, Students Welfare, Dr Arun Kumar Kansal, Dean, Basic Sciences, and Prof Jitin Sharma, NSS co-ordinator guided the students during the cleanliness programme.

Volunteers cleaned pantry, dining hall, garden, lawns and indoor activity halls. Dr NS Malhi, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Kashi University, appreciated the efforts of the NSS Unit and volunteers of staff for this series of cleanliness work.

Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, managing director, lauded the efforts of everybody associated with this project.— TNS