Bathinda, February 1
In keeping with the government’s decision to exempt the children of class I to V from attending classes in all government and primary schools of the state for a week because of the intense cold wave, the district education officer, Bathinda, today issued an order to this effect.

The extended winter vacations for children in primary classes will now continue till February 9. However, teachers would be reporting to the school as usual and continue teaching work from class VI onwards. Likewise, clerical staff would also be reporting to the schools as per the routine, the government order mentioned.

The decision evoked a mixed reaction from the school principals with some of them welcoming the step while others felt the decision had come too late. “The worst is now over and the days seem to be gradually getting warmer and it would not have mattered even if the schools had not been closed,” said one of the principals.

The principal of Delhi Public School, Arun Jee, appreciated the decision taken by the government. “We have already taken adequate precautions to protect the children from the severe cold,” he said.

However, the Army Achool authorities difffered saying they were comfortable with the weather as most students were from the cantonment only. “But since the government has taken the decision, we don’t have any other option as the buses for the Army School and the Kendriya Vidyalaya are common,” they said.

As reported earlier, the city witnessed a severe cold wave as mercury dipped seven times to sub-zero conditions in january with the minimum temperature being recorded at -2 degrees Celsius.

The government’s decision is being seen as late because as per the data received from the Indian Meteorological Department, Pune, the cold wave is likely to abate now.

Bathinda, February 1
No other state has managed what Rajasthan has, marrying the charm of its forts, palaces and havelis with the comforts of luxury hoteliering to convert it into heritage realty. 

And yet, it isn’t for lack of architectural precedents! From Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat and even in the south, there are enough examples of private entrepreneurship having triumphed over local ennui.

 And now Punjab, which has had a poor history in promoting tourism, might just follow that example. With several forts and palaces strewn across its rich plains, the state tourism department is putting in place an aggressive plan to commercialise returns from its heritage.

Already, the Nabha Foundation, which has been set up by Uday Khemka, grandson of Ripudaman Singh, the last independent ruler of Nabha, in collaboration with the Punjab government, is working on a plan for the conservation of Nabha Qila on a 99-year lease. There it wants to showcase the process of development of heritage in a manner that is useful to the community.

The Bathinda fort, which has stood since the period of Raja Deb (3rd century), one of the ancestors of Vinaipal is, an endangered structure now and badly needs restoration. The first woman ruler of India, Razia Sultana, was imprisoned in this fort. Due to its history, if this monument is promoted by the state government, it can be turned into a centre of attraction for the tourists.

In Patiala, Punjab Tourism has handed the 300-year-old Rajindra Kothi to the Delhi-based Neemrana group to develop it as a heritage hotel. This will make it, when it opens this year following extensive conservation and restoration work, the state’s first heritage hotel.

In Sangrur, Punjab Tourism has asked the department of health to transfer the 200-year old Kothi of the maharaja of Jind to the tourism department. This 40-acre property too will be developed as a heritage hotel.

Besides heritage tourism, religious tourism has a great potential in Punjab. The Golden Temple attracts a large number of devotees from all over the world. Sirhind, a great Sufi centre on the GT Road, can be a potential destination for Muslims from all over the world. A visit to Malerkotla, where there is a large Muslim population, can be a learning experience. Kapurthala has a beautiful Moorish mosque, besides beautiful palaces designed by French architects.

 Many other cities and towns that have the potential for economic growth by leveraging its local art, craft and architecture for development purposes, tourism can also be promoted for tourism and can become major revenue earners. 

Bathinda, February 1
The controversy over the shifting of three major educational institutes of the city, namely the Rajindra College, the ITI and the Polytechnic College, to a vacant land at Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, is gathering storm every day as more and more organisations are coming out to oppose the proposal.

The ITI employees union, students unions and the ‘late riser’ Congress party have also joined the protest against the alleged shifting.

Speaking on the issue, the members of the district Congress committee (DCC) criticised the government. DCC in-charge Ashok Bhola alleged, “The plan of the ruling party leaders to ‘sell’ all public properties in the city has other motives. The motive will be revealed soon and the ruling party will have to pay the price for it in the forthcoming municipal corporation and parliamentary elections.” If the proposal is not withdrawn, the Congress would launch an intense protest, he added.

Meanwhile continuing their protest, the activists of the Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa) today again staged a demonstration in front of office of the deputy commissioner. The state president of the union, Pavel and general secretary Manpreet Singh said, “The authorities are not concerned about the welfare of the students. They are just making plans for reaping profits.”

Holding a meeting, members of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) employees union, Punjab, today, criticised the policy of shifting the educational institutes and said that the union would join the protest movement and would not allow the authorities concerned to realise their aims.

Bathinda, February 1
Noted for the rising number of people hooked to drugs, the Malwa region of Punjab is seeing a change in the pattern of drug consumption.

Known for high consumption of opium and poppy husk, the Bathinda region is now witnessing drug addicts increasingly turn towards smack, regarded as a disturbing trend with serious social repercussions, like increase in crime.

Though the police claim that there has been a decline in cases registered under the NDPS Act, yet the ground situation tells a different story. The number of cases, as per the police records, has come down from 251 in 2006 to 180 till October 2007. But the number of cases registered on charges of consuming psychotropic drugs and poppy husk increased from 38 and 99 in 2006 to 124 and 145 in 2007.

The figures clearly indicate that addicts with a poor economic background are switching over to cheaper intoxicants like poppy husk and psychotropic substances. Further, these substances are easily available in the markets and unrestricted sale of sedatives is adding to the problem. The police have launched a drive to make the region drug-free and one village Behman Dewana has been adopted by the police, said DIG, Faridkot Range, Jitender Jain.

However, the drive is yet to touch the core areas in the region where addiction is no taboo and social contempt for drug addicts is not very strong. Smack, being costly as compared to other intoxicants, the addicts are indulging in petty offences like thefts of water taps, pipes, meters and other such articles to manage maoney for buying drugs.

Social activist Deepak Singla says there is no check on the sale of psychotropic drugs and there is only one rehabilitation centre at the local civil hospital with a capacity of 22 beds. A large number of people from the farming community are addicted to poppy husk due to the misconception that it increases work efficiency, said Nidhi Gupta, head of the rehabilitation centre.

Some other the causes for drug use is persuasion by friends, depression, tension, family problems, chronic pains and escapism and there is a need to tackle it both as a social malady as well as a law and order problem, she said.

Bathinda, February 1
It was a heady concoction of fun and introspection at the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research today when the medicos opened their hearts and set the mind thinking and the heartbeat racing, simultaneously.

The ‘would be doctors’ also displayed their hidden talent which enthralled all at the annual carnival of one of the renowned medical colleges of the region.

As many as 18 students of MBBS participated in the college’s annual festival — ‘Insomnia’ and the show included plays on several social evils that are inhibiting the growth of Indian society.

The topics in the play related to dowry, female foeticide and drug addiction. The performance by students was witnessed by eminent personalities, guests, faculty members and students.

Some students performed the mimicry on TV shows to a loud applause from the audience. The dance items and the songs performed by the budding doctors were followed by a chorus by the audience. The students proved that were not just adept at wielding the scalpel, but also microphone.

The chief guest at the function, L.S.Chawla, former vice- chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Science, Faridkot, appreciated the performance of the students and termed it as a good combination of socio-cultural events.

Chairman of the institute, H.S. Gill and the principal, V. Mohan, urged students to work for betterment of society. They said that making efforts for the development of society was the responsibility of everyone. 

Kotkapura, February 1
Over one hundred families of Dalits and other weaker sections of society today gathered at Vada Daraka village near here, vowing to get back their dumping ground which had been snatched from them by the village panchayat some six months back.

The agitated families have now formed an action committee, to gherao the Faridkot Deputy Commissioner’s office on February 5 after they were physically stopped from dumping the garbage and the animal waste at the disputed plot of three kanal which, they said, they had had been using for the purpose for the last 30 years.   

Alleging humiliation and harassment at the hands of the ‘zamindars’ (landlords) of their own village, panchayat member Bhagwan Singh said he was helpless in getting the dumping ground back to the Dalit families as the “village panchayat is dominated by the ‘zamindars’ who are adamant and biased against the Dalits.”

The garbage and the animal waste, commonly known as ‘roori’ in villages, was scattered in front of the houses of these affected families and along the link road adjacent to the plot in dispute, where now a volleyball net has been set up with the help of  the poles of the State Electricity Board by the men of the ‘zamindars’.

When contacted, village sarpanch Maha Singh maintained that the panchayat had all the legal rights over the disputed site. “That 3 kanal plot is not their private property and if they want the land to throw garbage and resolve the matter peacefully, the panchayat can think about providing 10 marlas out of that site,” he said.

It was nearly six months back that the village panchayat had laid a boundary wall around the dumping ground in front of the dwellings of the Dalit families. And when the deprived women, present at the site during the construction of the wall, objected to the act, they were allegedly “beaten mercilessly” by the ‘zamindars’.

Harpal Kaur, one of the victims of the alleged atrocities on the Dalits in the village, narrated an incident in which she and two other women were allegedly beaten up by some men when the boundary wall around the dumping site was being raised and how the police then lent a deaf ear to her complaint. 

Such incidents became a part of speeches at today’s gathering where the victimised families passed a resolution to “fight for justice and get the plot back for dumping the garbage.”

Several rounds to the DC and the SDM by these deprived and economically weaker families have not yielded any positive results so far. The action committee, which was today formed under the patronage of local Dalit activist Ashok Mahindra, said the February 5 rally in front of the DC office would be attended by several hundred men, women and children from not only Vada Daraka but also from other adjacent villages for the cause of meting out justice to the deprived families.

Abohar, February 1
Formation of district-level committees to redress the grievances of consumers and other trades has failed to serve its purpose as the authorities concerned have not convened a meeting for a long time.

Hanuman Dass Goyal, a member of the state executive of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, in a letter to the Chief Minister, has said that the additional secretary of the department of food and civil supplies, while complying with the instructions received from the central government, had issued a notification on December 8, 2005. Exercising the powers conferred vide section 8A (1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, (Central Act No. 62 of 2002), district-level consumer protection councils were formed by the state government.

The deputy commissioner was nominated as chairman of the district consumer protection council.

Goyal regretted that since then, the council held only one meeting, on November 27, 2006, whereas according to the notification, it was mandatory to convene not less than two meetings a year.

He alleged that the chairman, when contacted, feigned ignorance about the existence of any such council. What was the use of issuing advertisements on the protection of rights of consumers and awareness, asked Goyal. Interestingly, the district secretary of the youth wing of the Congress, Mangat Ram, had earlier raised a similar issue by submitting a memorandum to the CM to inform that the district sales and excise tax advisory committee had not been able to hold even one meeting during the last year.