Bathinda, July 27
The constitution of high-level five-member committee by the Punjab government on heavy metals, like uranium, in the canal and underground water in the state has come under fire with two environmentalists, executive director of Kheti Virasat Mission Umendra Dutt and a former chief engineer Dr GS Dhillon, rejecting it.

Talking to TNS today, Umendra Dutt said, “We have no faith in the newly-formed committee, as it will not be able to do anything concrete to resolve the issue relating to uranium and other heavy metals in canal and underground water of the state. It will meet the same fate as the committees formed to find the solution to the deadly disease of cancer had in the past. The cancer problem is still spreading in a big way in various parts of the state, especially in the Bathinda region of the Malwa-belt.”

Dutt said the heavy metals in the canal and underground water was an issue of multiple-environmental toxicity, so they had been emphasising time and again on holding of environmental epidemiology mapping in the state, which would bring the real problem to the fore. Otherwise, nothing would happen, he added.

Dutt also asked the state government as to why it felt that only it had experts. He was of the view that even outside the government machinery, there were many experts, who could contribute a lot to solve the problem.

He said the formation of five-member committee was not proper, as it had not even a representative from the Centre Groundwater Board.

Dutt said the matter was so serious and it could not be solved by adopting bureaucratic approach.

He also said that the entire process should be democratized, so that members from the civil society could also be part of the committee.

Dr GS Dhillon questioned the state government that why it had formed a new committee when it already had several reports/findings in its possession in this regard.

He asked the government to implement the already received reports/findings instead of constituting new committees time and again.

He said the committee would now take years to do the needful and till then, people of the state would have to suffer.

Bathinda, July 27
After playing truant for the last five months, rains have finally given the anxious farmers in Bathinda a chance to smile.

Further, the agriculture scientists are also terming the weather’s present behaviour as “optimal”. “It is good for all crops, including cotton and paddy,” they said.

In the first five months of the year, farmers of the areas remained an anxious lot, as the weather kept on exhibiting its true colour — unpredictability — because the downpour was recorded half from the normal to nil during the period.

Showing why it is called as mother of all vagaries in India, the weather scared all in the region between January and April this year. Urban populace reeled under unprecedented heat wave conditions in March and April while rural residents kept their fingers crossed due to lack of sufficient downpour.

January recorded 6.8 mm rains, almost half of the normal, while February registered rains well above the normal. But the twist in the tale came in March and April when rain was almost nil to nil, respectively.

May brought cheers as downpour surpassed the normal to record 11.3 mm while in June, it was recorded double of the normal, as per the Agro-met Advisory Services, PAU regional station, Bathinda.

In July, rains recorded till date is 100.4 mm, which is near the normal of 114.2 mm. More importantly, the month is yet to be over.

Commenting on the weather’s move, weathermen said while the pre-monsoon and early months of year failed to live up to expectations of everyone, monsoon so far appeared to be promising.

However, the story in the corresponding period last year was totally different. Downpour recorded in first two months in 2009 remained double than the normal while the next four month recorded rainfall below the normal. July, however, witnessed above-normal rainfall.

In the nutshell, like the last year, this year many farmers of the region have found a reason to thank God only in the month of July.

Overall, the rainfall between January and July in 2009 and 2010 remained near the average, as it was 223.5 mm last year while the average is 202.5 mm, and during this year from January till date, it is 193.3 mm.

But the experts also have some words of caution. The present pace is optimum and more than this might have adverse affect on cotton crops, they said.

Pleased with the weather’s present move, director of the PAU regional station here Dr GS Buttar said so far, things were beneficial for all crops, including cotton and paddy. He added that overall cotton crop in the region was in good health.

But all are not fortunate enough. Many farmers in the region have been facing floods due to heavy rainfall and breach in canals.

Bathinda, July 27
Jarnail Singh, a warder of the Central Jail here, was today beaten up by three undertrials when the former asked them to return to their barracks in the evening.

Jarnail Singh has been admitted to the hospital with multiple injuries.

Confirming the incident, jail superintendent SS Saggu said that an FIR in this regard had been registered at the Civil Lines police station.

Jarnail has reportedly identified three undertrials, namely Chairanjit Singh, Harjeet Singh and Avtar Singh, who manhandled him.

Saggu said these undertrials had been lodged in separate barracks.

Bathinda, July 27
On the orders of the Deputy Commissioner (DC), the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Bathinda, C. Sibin conducted a surprise checking in three schools yesterday — Government Senior Secondary School, Kot Shamir; Government Rashtriya Madhiamik Sikhsha Abhiyan (RMSA) School, Bhai Bakhtaur; and Government Senior Secondary School, Maisarkhana.

He also checked the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Maisarkhana village and the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Maur.

Sources said today that during the checking at the Kot Shamir school, the ADC (D) found that out of total 894 students, 93 were absent and 33 were on leave.

However, he found the quality of the mid-day meal ration there to be good.

In the school at Bhai Bakhtaur, the ADC (D) observed that the ration of the mid-day meal was in the possession of a self-help group while it should be in the school.

At the Maisarkhana school, the ADC (D) found that the students were sent to their homes half an hour before the closing time of the school without any valid reason.

He also found that the ration for the mid-day meal was exhausted at the school. However, the self help group was providing the meals out of its own resources.

According to information, during the checking at the PHC of Maisarkhana village, both doctors were found to be absent.

At the CHC, Maur, Dr Darshan Kaur was not present but as per the attendance register, she was on tour. However, the movement register was not shown to the ADC (D).

The ADC (D) will now send the report of checking of the schools, the PHC, and the CHC to the DC for necessary action.

It is learnt that the DC has been receiving complaints about poor functioning of the schools and the health centres for the past some time, due to which he asked the ADC (D) to conduct surprise checking.

Bathinda, July 27
Delhi Public School, Bathinda, is celebrating its Environment Week from July 26 to July 31. As part of the celebrations, inter-school competitions were organised in the following categories: drawing, essay, writing and debate.

Ten schools from Bathinda and nearby towns participated. The topic for the debate was ‘Are genetically modified crops good for the environment?’

The trophy for the best debating team was picked by St. Joseph Secondary School and the runners-up was Dashmesh Public School, Bathinda.

Judge Vicky Singhal, director, Sinesoft Education, appreciated the efforts of the teams and lauded the school for its efforts to sensitise the young minds regarding environmental issues.

DPS principal Dr Arunjee exhorted the students to instill awareness to prevent damage to the environment.

Moga, July 27
Judiciary has come down heavily on the Moga police for adopting an insensitive attitude in probing the case of a minor Dalit girl of the nearby Ramuwala Kalan village, who was sexually abused by the wards of influential families.

She gave birth to a baby girl on April 19, last year. Later, she was married off and her whereabouts were presently not known as her parents had left the village and migrated to some other place.

The additional sessions judge of Moga, Raj Shekhar Attri, while declining the request of the investigating official for cancellation of the case, has recently ordered for a reinvestigation by the senior officials of the police, even as, the police was trying to 
hush up this case.

Abohar, July 27
Panic over the fatal attack by white fly and leaf curl on the cotton crop has led to scores of farmers uprooting the cotton plants using tractors and other modes in this region.

A survey conducted during the past 48 hours of the sub-division indicated that failure of the irrigation authorities in making the required quantity of canal water available and high humidity had multiplied the woes of the farmers, who otherwise, expected a bumper crop for the second consecutive year.