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Lawyers train guns on cops, intensify stir
Irregular payment of
salaries |
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Project makes students water ambassadors
Cancer camp for poor
rural women
Patients also seek govt help in meeting cost of treatment
Students allege police case only to suppress their agitation
Death of Jail Inmate
Talent hunt show
Students burn effigies of state govt, seek bus pass facility
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Lawyers train guns on cops, intensify stir
Bathinda, September 16 Taking the Bathinda police to task, members of the DBA left no stone unturned to accuse the senior police officials of indulging in malpractices. Staging a dharna outside the SSP office, advocates named a number of police officials charging them with corruption and for working as the “henchmen of ruling
Badals.” “It is now apparent that the police is indifferent and is shielding the transporters, because of their proximity to the
Badals,” they alleged. It may be mentioned that the advocates, who were to lodge a protest against the hike in judicial stamp fee outside the bus stand, had a clash with transporters on September 14. In the incident, several advocates sustained injuries after they damaged two buses. On complaints from both parties, police registered a case against unidentified persons. Advocates are firm over their demand to get a case registered against accused by their names. Addressing the gathering, Jasvir Singh, president of the District Bar Association, Bathinda, said, “We will fight for our cause till we get justice.” Former president of the DBA Raj Bhupinder Singh accused the police of ignoring the common people and favouring those who possess financial or political clout. Terming it as a matter of prestige, some advocates clearly stated that they would not allow any mischievous role of the police in this
case. Charanji Lal Garg, former SAD (B) minister and an advocate, said, “I will stand by my fraternity and am ready to sacrifice any thing for the cause.” Making a mockery of the police administration, advocate Balwant Singh
Dhillon, in his speech, accused all police stations in Bathinda of being involved in corrupt practices. He alleged that senior police officers, after taking grafts, allow land mafia to grab the land of the common people. Some advocates even spoke about the illegal activities being run in the bus stand. They alleged that the bus stand had become a paradise for drug addicts, as police has no checks there. Advocate Gur Iqbal Singh Chahal said, “Witnessing the advocates protest, people have lost faith in the Bathinda police. When officials are not ready to address the grievance of advocates, how can a common man expect justice?” According to information available, transporters too have been meeting the police officials and politicians to resist the pressure of advocates. |
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MC employees on the warpath
Our Correspondent
Abohar, September 16 The EO confirmed in a signed handout that out of a strong contingent of 378 employees, the council had deployed 58 of them to recover whopping arrears of taxes and fees. But they could recover only 49 lakh and 61 thousand during the past five months. This makes a nominal part of the budgeted income. Reacting to the agitation launched by the employees, the EO described it as totally unwarranted, unjustified and biased. He further said the council had so far paid Rs 242 lakh and 52 thousand to the employees till the last month on account of salaries, this makes 110 per cent of the income. "About Rs 31 lakh had been paid against the bills of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), sanitation contractors, diesel and petrol suppliers. Is it not equally important to provide amenities to over 1.5 lakh citizens," he asked. "We are facing a financial crisis but managed to disburse salaries, wages to the employees till July 31. If the employees fail to recover taxes and fees, how can the council pay salaries," he questioned? He said that the state government had been apprised of the demands of the employees. The council needs special grants. "We plan to pay provident fund arrears by sale of immovable property. They should end the dharna and resume work to make the council financially self-dependent," he added. The employees virtually paralysed the working of the council by continuing dharna inside the complex on Tuesday. They also kept the entry-gate closed. The employees are resenting irregular payment of salaries, failure of the authorities in depositing the share of the council in their provident fund accounts besides other allowances.
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Project makes students water ambassadors
Moga, September 16 Inaugurating the 100th clean drinking water facility at village Barowal Kalan on Tuesday evening, Martial Rolland, chairman and managing director of the Nestle said, “This is a special occasion for all of us. This programme that started in the town a few years back has now 100 such facilities in the district itself.” Adding that this model is also being adopted by all the industrial units of Nestle in the country, he said it has directly benefitted 35,000 students in the village schools, besides, thousands of village folk in this district. He said the officials of Nestle have been encouraging the village folk to participate in these projects so that the panchayats, schools, farmers and the village youth and sports clubs become 'joint owners' of this project. Undoubtedly, Nestle’s clean drinking water initiatives have helped to improve the health of students in the schools, besides, spreading education on conserving water. The students have become water ambassadors and when these children carry the messages home, they widen the impact of the programme, he claimed. It may be mentioned that some years ago in a survey conducted in the surrounding areas of its industrial unit, Nestle found that lack of access to clean drinking water in village schools was a matter of great concern. Since then, it has been working with the village schools to install clean drinking water facilities.
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Cancer camp for poor
rural women
Boha (Mansa), September 16 A team of about 10 members arrived in a fully-equipped mobile breast cancer detection unit to diagnose the women belonging to the poor rural strata and complaining about any kind of breast disease. Free-check up was provided to about 35 women, who were suspected of ailment out of about 150 women examined at the mini-hospital of this village. The
van (unit) will further visit four other blocks of Mansa — Joga on
September 17, Sardulgarh on September 18, Lahiaakalan on September 19
and Jhunir on September 20. Today’s camp was titled ‘Together we
can fight cancer,’ which was inaugurated by Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur
Badal, who emphasised, “Breast cancer is curable if detected early.”
The camp included various activities as physical examination,
mammography, counselling, screening of breast cancer awareness films,
etc. Speaking to TNS, Isha Bhandari, director, operation- India, Roko
Cancer, said, “Women tend to understate their health issues. Others in
the family are always important but women must change their attitude,
especially towards self-examination and regular check-ups. The first
reaction to the word cancer is fear. We want people to realise that
breast cancer is curable, if caught early. People should not be afraid
of cancer but fight it.” “It was the initiative of Harsimrat Badal,
who asked us to hold a campaign in this remote area where people living
under odd circumstances are the worst-affected,” she added. Talking
about the origin of the campaign, Bhandari said, “It is all an effort
of a UK-based NRI, APS Chawla, who is the chairman of the MKC Trust. His
wife Manjit Kaur Chawla was 43 years old when she succumbed to breast
cancer. Then, Chawla decided to fight the disease by empowering women
with knowledge. The MKC Trust is named after his wife. He started the
campaign by donating Rs 1 crore, with which the first mobile unit was
purchased.” About the charges for such a camp, she disclosed that
they charged about Rs 8,000 per camp from the organisers. Today’s camp
was sponsored by the Sun Foundation. According to information collected, the unit undertook a long journey for the cause through various states of the country. It has conducted about 8,400 mammograms and detected 263 cases out of the total 30,660 women examined. |
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Patients also seek govt help in meeting cost of treatment
Boha (Mansa), September 16 Narrating her plight, she said, “I have to discharge the responsibility of being a mother but due to the breast cancer, it is tough to live for long. My mother-in-law also died of cancer. I have already undergone mammography and cancer is suspected. But despite this, I do not have the resources to undergo surgery.” Urmila was not the only one, found worrying about the wherewithal to get treatment for the disease, at the camp organized here for breast cancer detection. Another patient, Jaswinder Kaur of Mal Singh Wala village, said she had undergone surgery but due to the poor economic condition of the family, she finds it impossible to get the diet recommended, as a result of which her body had become too weak to withstand the disease. “I have again started feeling pain in breast, so I humbly request the government to lend a helping hand as I am unable to cope with the ‘expensive’ diseases any more,” said Jaswinder, wiping tears from her eyes. Rani Kaur, who is in her forties, said, “I had three tumours in the breast, which I got removed at a private hospital in Bathinda after bearing huge expenses. Now I have been suffering the after-effects of the surgery, but I have no capacity to shell out expenses incurred on treatment. My sister-in-law also died of cancer. Despite this, my husband is not bothered about me.” “Besides such detection camps, if our woman MP, understanding the pain of the womenfolk, could come up with monetary help for surgery and treatment, it would be a noble act,” she said. Shinder Kaur of Shekanwala village, whose mother-in-law died of breast cancer, said, “Three years back, I got operated for tumours in the breast, but it has again started developing. This time, in the absence of resources, I would prefer to die than to beg in front of any one.” “After the test, if we are told about the suffering caused by this disease, it would serve no purpose other than the onset of an early death. As nobody will come forward to lend monetary assistance for treatment, the tension will squeeze the life out of me,” said Mohinder Kaur of Maghania village. |
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Students allege police case only to suppress their agitation
Bathinda, September 16 Pavel Kussa, state president of the union, said, “The police wants to suppress our agitation by involving us in other things. Out of 25 cases, only four are against identified students. The rest are unnamed and if the police want they can put any student under those cases. Our state committee member Sarabjit Sharma has been also booked. The police took his father to police station when he was not found at his house.” “Sarabjit had hurled a stone at one of the Orbit buses near the ITI during a statewide protest on September 9. The SHO who had come to the spot had agreed that he had just hurled a stone and there was nothing major. Apart from this, the police tried to disturb our protest today also, as it was deployed in huge numbers at the Government Rajindra College, the Government Polytechnic College, the Regional Centre of the Punjabi University and the ITI here. It also threatened us with lathi charge if we did not stop the protest,” Pavel added. According to the registered cases, the incident of breaking the window panes of a bus occurred at 9:30 am on September 9 whereas the students said their protest rally started at 10:30 am. The students had gathered at the Regional Centre and proceeded towards the Fauji Chowk where they blocked the traffic for about 30 minutes. Later, they went to the Mall Road where the police stopped and told them that they cannot go any further. They returned to the Mini-secretariat where they ended their protest. When contacted, SSP Ashish Chaudhary said there was only one case against the students in which around four names were listed, as it could not be ascertained who actually broke the window pane. “Till now, we have not done anything against the students. The police was deployed to maintain peace. The aim was not to disturb the protest,” he added. |
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Probe indicts authorities
Chandigarh, September 16 The report, placed before Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, asserted: “There was a sheer negligence on the part of Dr Raj Kumar of the Bathinda Central Jail (BCJ) in not giving treatment to Jaskaran when he came to him and when he was lying on the bed in the jail hospital on September 3 and 4.” It added, “It was further found that Dr SK Raj Kumar and his pharmacist, Kulraj Singh, sought money from the patient for referring him to the Civil Hospital; and there is an evidence that Sarabjit Kaur, Jaskaran’s sister, was compelled to cough out Rs 2,500 on September 4 by a jail official for payment to the doctor”. “Kaur Singh, deputy superintendent, BCJ, failed to exercise proper supervision and send the patient to the Civil Hospital on time even when the matter was brought to his notice.” It has also indicted Bathinda medical hospital’s medical officer Dr Parmod Kumar for taking the “matter very casually” — TNS
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Students
exhibit hidden talent Our Correspondent
Ferozepur, September 16 Principal of the college, Dr Pushpinder Walia said that during the first day of the talent hunt show, various competitions like rangoli, mehandi, collage making, rakhi making and crochet were organised for the new entrants to the college. She said the idea behind this talent hunt show was to boost self-confidence and foster espirit de corps amidst the college girls, besides, providing them with a platform to develop their personality and get rid of stage fright. Walia further said that on the second day of the show, students participated in the cultural events, which included dance, music and theatre competitions. Bharti Sodhi was the guest of honour on the first day while Dr Ragini Gupta presided over the valedictory ceremony. The guests appreciated the initiative being taken by the college management to help the girls realise their extraordinary talents which they are endowed with. On the occasion, the students presented a play titled ‘Thalli Kithe Jave’ followed by a Hindi skit, ‘Hamara Kadam.’ Dr Ragini gave away the prizes to the students, who bagged top honours in various events during the show. She applauded the performance of the college students and wished them success for their future endeavours.
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Students burn effigies of state govt, seek bus pass facility
Barnala, September 16 The students of local SD College and other educational institutions burnt the effigy of the Punjab Government at a chowk near the SD College here. The students condemned the state government for allegedly extending support to the private transporters for ‘misbehaving’ with the students. They demanded withdrawal of the case registered against Dharminder and other students. They also sought implementation of student concession bus pass facility in all buses.
— TNS |
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Intensifying their protest, members of the District Bar Association, today gave an ultimatum to the police to book all accused transporters and their ‘goons’ by Thursday otherwise they would lodge a state level dharna here on Friday.
Boha (Mansa), September 16
Bathinda, September 16
