Bathinda, November 18
Tension prevailed at the Cooperative Bank branch located at Grain Market in Bathinda when the farmers, who had reached the bank to apply for loans, locked the bank and gheraoed the officials. The farmers were protesting against the new rule which makes it mandatory for them to engage patwaris and get an attested copy of girdawari of the land against which they want to apply for loan.

The farmers were further infuriated by the statement made by the bank officials that the bank would release only half of the approved loan limit. It is pertinent to mention here that only a few days back, the farmers had staged a protest outside the bank when they were asked to open savings accounts in order to get their loans.

Harchet Singh, a farmer from Naruana village, stated that he had repaid the earlier loan of Rs 1.32 lakh which he had taken for buying insecticides and pesticides and had now approached the bank to apply for a loan to sow potato on five acres of his agricultural field.

He explained that despite the fact that his loan had been approved earlier, today when he reached the bank to collect the money, the bank officials told him that only half of the approved amount will be given to them. He also pointed out that right now the crop was being sowed and this was not the right time to get girdawari done.

Jarnail Singh, Gurbhagat Singh, Sadhu Singh, Beerbal Singh, Jagjit Singh, Jaspal Singh and Gurdeep Singh, all farmers, stated that the bank officials had announced that only half of the approved loan limit would be released with the sole aim of causing troubles for them.

They added that since the farmers had staged a protest against the bank officials last week as well, they had devised a new way of troubling them. They further stated that they would not abide by the new rule since the bank officials had failed to furnish any written document regarding the same.

Bathinda, November 18
Dismissing a plea of Pearls Infrastructure Projects Limited, the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has ordered that private companies or anyone else has no right to change the place of jurisdiction as laid by the law.

The commission pronounced that nobody can change the jurisdiction by way of agreement which has been provided under the Consumer Protection Act.

In their complaint, Dinesh Kumar of Bathinda and Narinder Kumar of Chandigarh said they had purchased a plot in the colony developed by the company (Pearls Infrastructure). The company had failed to provide all the basic necessities but demanded that the entire amount for the plot be deposited.

The counsel for the complainant, Naresh Garg, said the complainant moved the District Consumer Forum around six months ago where the company officials pleaded that the case cannot be taken up at the forum in Bathinda as the clause of agreement clearly states that in case of a dispute, the case could be taken up by the complainant in a court at Delhi.

The advocate stated that the complainant demanded all the basic amenities before depositing the final amount for the plot but despite repeated requests, they failed to get any response from the developer.

The complainant also accuses the company of demanding some extra amount as well which was not disclosed at the time of selling the plot.

The company also demanded five per cent last installment before completion of the colony despite the fact that it did not have any completion certificate issued by Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA)/BDA.

Despite the complainant’s pleas to take up the matter in the District Consumer Forum, the opposite parties moved an appeal in the State Consumer Forum over the jurisdiction.

Garg added the state consumer forum said that the private companies cannot change the jurisdiction on their own.

“It clearly stated that since the plot is situated in Bathinda and the transaction of money too has taken place here, hence the matter will also be taken up at the respective forum. The private companies cannot change the place of jurisdiction with their own clauses,” the lawyer said.

He said the private companies usually befool the buyers by declaring on their own about the jurisdiction of the legal cases at a far off place to make the buyer desist from travelling to far off places.

Jassi Pauwali (Bathinda), November 18
Residents of the city had to bear the brunt of negligence on the part of Canal Department when sewage overflowed in the heart of the city due to a breach in the sullage carrier of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) that carries water from the sewage treatment plant to the agricultural fields.

While senior officials were said to be unaware of the ground realities as nobody bothered to reach the site of the problem, this correspondent travelled all the way along the sullage carrier and found a breach at village Jassi Pauwali.

The sewage oozed out at Power House Road today and by evening, the area was flooded giving an impression of water accumulating due to showers. The unbearable stink from the sewage caused trouble for the people living in the area. The most affected areas were the official residence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Paramraj Umranangal and the District Court Complex. Hundreds of motorists bore the brunt of the problem.

Municipal Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh said there was a problem with the sullage carrier (a drain carrying treated sewerage water), which was damaged and that the problem would be resolved in an hour or two.

First-hand information gathered from the place, where a breach was reported to have taken place, however revealed that it would take another two days to one week to plug the breach.

Ninety per cent of the sewage in the city is pumped out using electric motors installed at a pumping house located under the railway over bridge (ROB) on Mansa Road adjoining the Civil Hospital. The sewage is then taken to the Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) – that has a capacity of 52 million litre per day (MLD), situated adjacent to Harbans Nagar on Mansa road through underground water pipes.

The sewage is then treated at the STP from where it is taken to the sullage (or drain) and then further taken to the Lasara Drain. The sullage carrier runs parallel to a distributary of Sirhind Canal. The treated water is used in the villages.

Water flows in the distributary without any obstruction till village Jassi Pauwali. As soon as it crosses the village, it gets covered by wild grass and other fully grown plants which block the flow of water. This blocked flow of water damaged the sullage carrier on Monday morning and created a breach more than 20 feet wide.

“We noticed the breach in the wee hours today and informed the canal department officials but nobody bothered to come. We then raised a hue and cry as our standing cotton crop got damaged,” said Sukhbir Singh, former sarpanch of the village.

He said the matter was brought to the notice of the MCB authorities who got the sullage carrier blocked by switching off the electric motors installed on Mansa Road. “The electric motors that went off led to the blockage of sewage on Power House Road, which is the lowest lying area in the city causing flood-like situation,” he said.

Gurwinder Singh, husband of the present woman sarpanch, said the stone laid to inaugurate the project along with the siphon hole was washed away due to the breach. He said the stone of the siphon hole was laid by former MP Chitan Singh Samao in 1998, which proved instrumental in providing irrigation water to 250 to 300 acres of land. “The breach will now affect the irrigation of nearly 300 acres of land,” he said.

Bathinda, November 18
Taking a strong note of issuing a cheque with zero balance account in the bank, the court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) Pushpa Rani ordered an accused to undergo six months of rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 10,000 and ordered to refund the entire amount on the cheque — of Rs 6 lakh.

Advocate Sanjay Goyal said a complaint in this regard was lodged by Sita Ram, a commission agent at Bhucho Mandi against a farmer, Nachhattar Singh.

The complainant stated that he had received a cheque from the farmer who had been selling his crop time to time to the complainant’s firm. The complainant stated that he had been maintaining regular books of accounts and it was subject to income tax.

The complainant stated that the farmer obtained a loan of Rs 6 lakh from him in lieu of a cheque by completing all the paper formalities in this regard on 15 per cent rate of interest. The accused, however, failed to return the loan amount and when the cheque was presented in the court, it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds.

The complainant then moved an application in this connection in the court under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The lawyer stated that taking a strong view of those who give cheque amounts with zero balance and cheat the public, the court believed they should be treated severely.

The court ordered the accused to undergo six months of rigorous imprisonment (RI) along with a fine of Rs 10,000 and refund the entire amount of Rs 6 lakh which he had obtained in the form of a loan from the complainant. In case of default of the fine, the accused would further undergo an imprisonment for two months. 

Bathinda, November 18
One person has been arrested by the police for raping an 18-year-old girl, a resident of Uttar Pradesh in the last three months on the pretext of marrying her at his house and later left her in a train in an unconscious state.

In a complainant filed to the police, the victim stated that the accused Gora Sharma continuously raped her during the last three months on the pretext of marrying her and three days ago, the accused administered some intoxicating substance, after which he left her on a train in an unconscious state.

The girl gained consiousness when the train reached Jakhal in Haryana. Some people noticed her condition and they took her to a hospital. Later, the police was informed about the issue.

Station House Officer (SHO), Mahesh Saini,said that the accused had brought the girl to his house from Ludhiana and had been raping her for the last three months.

A case under Section 376 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at Kotwali police station.

Bathinda, November 18
Secretary of the Zonal Cultural Committee, Bathinda Zone of the State Bank of Patiala, Narinder Bansal, today stated that at the 98th Foundation Day celebrations of the bank, an inter-zone cultural programme was held at the auditorium of the head office at Patiala. Teams from nine zones and one team of the head office participated in the event.

Bathinda Zone performed in two items — ‘Nanhi Chhaon’ and giddha.

Vice-president of the Zonal Cultural Committee, Bathinda, DK Dhawan, shared that the theme of the ‘Nannhi Chaon’ was based on female foeticide. Bathinda zone stood first in this competition. The second place was won by the teams of the head office and Haryana zone and the third position went to the Jalandhar zone.

Bathinda, November 18
Only a few students turned up for the trials for the selection of teams for the Under-19 netball and basketball teams in both girls and boys categories for representing the district in the 60th Punjab State School Sports Tournament.

Initially, only 12 girl players reported for the trials for selection of the basketball team and the number increased after some time.

As many as 14 to 15 aspirants appeared for the trials and 12 were selected to constitute the basketball girls’ team. Interestingly, the boys did not appear for the basketball trials at all.

The trials were held at St Xavier’s School. Twenty girls and 22 boys appeared for the trials for the selection of the netball team comprising 12 players.

Manpreet Kaur, who was supervising the trials refused to comment on the lack of interest among the schools and their students in participating in the trials for the state school sports tourney. She was seen calling the heads of a few schools and directing them to send their players for trials.

On the condition of anonymity, a physical education lecturer of a government school of the district stated that the directions pertaining to sending students for the trials were uploaded on the website only on Monday and that could have resulted in fewer players turning up for the trials.