Bathinda, May 1
Thousands of candidates, who were supposed to appear in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) at different venues of this town and its surrounding areas today, faced a lot of harassment and inconvenience after it was cancelled in the morning following leakage of its question paper in UP.

The candidates had come from faraway places like Amritsar, Gurdaspur and other parts of Punjab, to appear this prestigious test to book their berth in different engineering colleges dotting the country.

They had to wait for about three hours before they could take the test in their respective examination centre.

As per the official schedule, the test of AIEEE was to start at 9.30 am but was rescheduled to 12 noon.

As the candidates could not find a proper place near the venues of examination, to sit, a large section of the candidates along with parents and guardians, had to stand under the scorching sun.

Some of the candidates, who had come in their own vehicles, were found sitting inside and scanning the books to get maximum grip over the subject to utilise their waiting time.

A cross-section of the candidates said that the delay of three hours in holding the examination had upset their schedule as they would find it difficult to reach their destinations well in time.

Meanwhile, at most of the examination centres, vehicular traffic remained chaotic as no traffic policemen were deployed to regulate the flow of vehicular traffic.

Employees of some of the private engineering colleges of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pardesh and Delhi have pitched up tents near the examination venues and distributed information brochures of their respective colleges to the candidates.

Bathinda, May 1
The ban on recycled plastic bags was observed in defiance in most towns of the Malwa region when it came into force today in Punjab.

Vegetables and fruits were being sold to the customers in recycled black coloured plastic bags in the markets near the grain market and Amrik Singh road. Certain chemists on the Mall Road were also packing medicines in poor quality plastic bags for the customers.

The Punjab government had ordered that with a view to preserving the environment, the ban would be imposed strictly.

However, neither officials of the municipal corporation or the administration were seen anywhere enforcing the ban.

Deputy Commissioner S. Karuna Raju held a meeting with officials and representatives of various associations here and sought their cooperation in implementing the plastic ban.

Reports from Faridkot, Muktsar, Mansa, Ferozepur, Barnala and other towns indicated that the traders were continuing to use the recycled plastic bags. Only a handful of traders have shunned plastic bags and started using bags of jute or virgin plastic.

Plastic bags were creating unhygienic conditions as these choke most drains in the interior of the towns. The sewerage system was getting frequently choked because of accumulation of plastic bags in the pipes. Many cattle were dying after consuming waste polythene from the dumping pits.

The neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Chandigarh have already banned the use of plastic bags below 30 micron.

Those violating the ban could face a fine Rs 25,000 and imprisonment of three months.

Barnala, May 1
Two children of a Dalit family died in village Chananwal of Barnala district after drinking poisonous tea on Saturday morning.

Three members of the same family fell ill after drinking the same tea and of them two are being treated at home whereas one has been admitted to a private hospital.

Giving details about the incident, Sukhdev Singh, son of Ajmer Singh, said his brother used to live with his father at village Chananwal. On Saturday morning at 6 am, his 11-year-old daughter Sarabjeet Kaur prepared tea for the family members.

He added that the family members, including his father Ajmer Singh, brother Kuldeep Singh, Gurpyar Singh, Harpreet Singh Harman (both nephews) and niece Sarabjeet Kaur had tea.

After about two hours, white foam started oozing out of the mouth of the family members and they vomited.

Sukhdev Singh said that the neighbours, after coming to know about the incident, rushed the affected family members to a hospital in Raikot for treatment.

He added that on Sunday morning, the doctors rushed the seriously ill to another hospital but while they were being shifted to the hospital, Sarabjeet Kaur and Harman Singh died on the way.

Sukhdev Singh further said that Kuldeep Singh was shifted to Aastha Hospital in Barnala whereas Ajmer Singh and Gurpyar Singh received medical assistance at home.

Manager of the Aastha Hospital, Dr Rajneesh Kumar said Kuldeep Singh, who is being treated at the hospital, is out of danger and is responding to treatment.

Paramjeet Singh, Deputy Commissioner Barnala, said he will get the matter enquired and will try to get those ill treated at the Civil Hospital.

Bathinda, May 1
Aiming at the exploration of talent among young students and produce budding scientists, the state education department, funded by the department of science and technology (DST) of the Central Government, is going to conduct statewide Inspire Award project competitions.

The district-level exhibitions of the projects is scheduled to take place in two parts — junior wing (class VI-VIII) and senior wing (class IX and X) — this month.

It is learnt that the award stands for innovation in science pursuit for inspired research (INSPIRE), an initiative of the Union ministry, under which an amount of Rs 5,000 is given to each selected student.

Out of the total money, half would be spent on preparing the model project while the rest would be for transportation.

The district science supervisor Hardeep Mann, who is the nodal officer for Bathinda, informed that the DST officials recently sent the amount of Inspire Award projects to all selected students of 124 schools in the district, which were not covered last year.

The nomination of the students was to be done by the principals and head masters/mistresses of the schools, who were directed to find the deserving student from their respective schools to prepare the model projects based upon a science topic of their choice, he added.

The objectives of the Inspire Award are reportedly to communicate the excitement of creative pursuit of science to the students and to attract their talent in Maths and engineering as well. The award would also help in building a pool of human resources for escalating and expanding the science and technology system.

All awardees will get opportunities to display their project at the district level exhibition to be organized by district authorities, which would be held between May 23-28 in the state.

The projects, judged best by a three-member jury, would get the opportunity to participate in the state-level exhibition and selected projects would further get a chance to participate in the national level exhibition, to be organized by the DST.

In a letter to all district education officers, the Director-General School Education (DGSE), clearly directed that if any of the participants was found using a readymade model project (purchased from the market), the subject teacher would be held responsible for dereliction of duty to check this practice.

Fazilka, May 1
A nine-year-old student of class IV, Ikshit Thakral of Fazilka, has won the champions trophy in the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) in the state-level test held at Mohali, recently.

Ikshit has won the trophy by solving 150 questions out of 200 in just five minutes.

He participated in the competition in the age group of 6-9 years. A total of 800 children participated in the Punjab and Chandigarh state-level arithmetic competition.

The competition was held at Manav Mangal Smart School at Mohali, which was organised by the Holistic Brain Education Pvt Ltd.

Similarly, Arshia Thakral (12-yr-old), Ikshit’s sister, too bagged the third prize in the 9-13 age-group in the same competition.

She solved approximately 300 questions. She is a student of class VII at the local Sacred Heart Convent School.

Neena and Rakesh Sachdeva, both principals of Manav Mangal Smart School (Mohali) and DAV School (Chandigarh), respectively, gave away the trophies to the winners to the brother-sister duo.

Ashwani Thakral and Parveen Bala, parents of the two children, said their children got training for UCMAS from a local computer centre managed by Saurav Doda.

Abohar, May 1
AICC general secretary and in-charge of the Youth Congress affairs Rahul Gandhi has asked Maharashtra Youth Congress leaders to chalk out a plan for campaigning during the Punjab Assembly election slated for February 2012.

Maharashtra YC leader Siddhartha Khosa (son of Warsova MLA Baldev Singh Khosa) during an hour-long meeting with the district Ferozepur YC president Sandeep Jakhar here, discussed the modalities of the election campaign that is expected to be spearheaded by the workers of north Indiaian origin, who had settled in Maharashtra. They will be comfortable in conversation with the electorate in Punjab, it is believed.

Though Khosa evaded elaborating on the issue, he confirmed that boarding arrangements for the Maharashtra-based Youth Congress activists would be made in different segments of Punjab immediately when the Election Commission announces the schedule for the next Vidhan Sabha elections.

They will serve as pillars of the party campaign and assist the senior leaders in developing an environment free of fear and malpractices.

The preliminary task assigned to the youth wing by Rahul Gandhi would be to contact each family and apprise the electorate of welfare activities taken up successfully by the UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh.

Moga, May 1
Lifting of wheat from the grain markets in the Moga district by the procurement agencies is slow. As a result, almost all the markets have been witnessing a glut of wheat these days.

The authorities attribute the glut to the sudden arrival of wheat in a short period and shortage of labour but the arhtiyas allege lack of supervision by the administrative authorities.

According to the figures provided by the local market committee office, 4.90 lakh MT of wheat has arrived in the grain markets in the district till Saturday evening. However, the quantity of procured wheat lifted is just 2.55 lakh MT. As the bags used for filling wheat are of 50 kg denomination, around 4.70 lakh bags of wheat are still lying in the grain market besides the open stock being brought by the farmers.

The district food and supply controller Baljinder Singh Dhillon claims that the Central and state agencies have purchased 4.75 lakh MT out of 4.90 lakh MT arrived till Saturday evening. "No matter, lifting seems to be slow but as per the 72-hour time framework given by the government, we have lifted more than 80 per cent of wheat lying in the markets," he said.

He also attributed this to the arrival of larger quantities of wheat in a short period of time. He claimed that the district administration has made adequate arrangements for the procurement and lifting of wheat in all grain markets of the district. He assured that the glut of wheat would be cleared in a few days.

On the other hand, Gursharanveer Singh, an arhtiya in Balkhandi grain market, revealed that lifting is very poor due to which they are suffering losses. More than 50 per cent of the wheat purchased by the PUNSUP, the purchase agency at Balkhandi, is lying in open and waiting for lifting.

The payment of farmers is also not regular. It has been delayed by over a week even as the government has made tall claims of paying the farmers within 48 hours of purchase. Similar reports are from the grain markets in Baghapurana, Moga, Kot-ise-Khan and Dharamkot areas.

Abohar, May 1
Thousands of workers participated in the rallies held here and in the neighbouring areas of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts to celebrate the May Day on Sunday.

Women too registered overwhelming participation in the rally that was organised by the Kisan Mazdoor Mulajim Talmel Sangharsh Committee.

President Balwinder Singh Jhurarkhera, chairman Jaimal Ram and secretary Shiv Charan spoke about the sacrifices made by workers at Chicago.

Technical and Mechanical Employees Union organised a meeting at the children park.

A huge procession that emanated from the CPIM office in Kesarisinghpur passed through the main roads carrying banners and beating drums.

CITU president Lakhwinder Singh, sarpanch Inderaj Naik and Sohan Singh spoke about the victimisation of workers.

Processions and rallies were also organised by the left wing trade unions at Sadulshehar, Sangria, Hanumangarh, Sriganganagar and Suratgarh.

Abohar, May 1
A social activist, Bhagwan Bhai, has been honoured by the publishers of the India Book of Records and Asia Book of Records.

The team led by chief editor Biswaroop Roy Chaudhary, while presenting a citation to Bhagwan Bhai, said he had contributed for humanity by providing value-based education, morality and positive change programme in 5000 educational institutions and 800 jails till March 27, last year. Notably, he is a regular faculty member of the Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation. Claiming that lakhs of people were benefited through this programme, Bhagwan Bhai revealed that it was done absolutely free of cost.

His programmes were viewed on ETV Marathi channel and more than 2000 articles have also been published in journals and newspapers of different languages. Born on June 1, 1965, Bhagwan Bhai dedicated his life to social welfare activities after getting diploma as a civil draftsman.

He had been instrumental in organising rehabilitation camps for the people affected by floods and earthquakes in different states.

Abohar, May 1
Alarmed over the detection of jaundice patients, reportedly due to consumption of contaminated water at village Taja Patti of Balluana segment, the authorities in the neighbouring twin districts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh have taken several preventive measures.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spokesman Subhash Sehgal and Hans Raj Poonia, husband of Zila Parishad chairperson Shanti Devi Poonia, have urged the administration not to store canal water in drinking water reservoirs for two days after its release from the Ferozepur headworks.

The water is to be released on completion of the Gang (Bikaner) canal renovation work by Sunday after three-week long closure. They feared that the contaminated water would carry all the garbage that was dumped during the repair work.

It would be less hazardous if is released to irrigate fields. Quoting official reports, Poonia said 1350 samples of water taken during the last year had failed tests as the Punjab government had not bothered to check the flow of chemical waste mixed water through the Sirhind feeder.

In Abohar sub-division, a team led by Dr Gobind Aggarwal (SMO) Seetogunno and Dr Sunita confirmed after visiting village Taja Patti that 17 persons including Roshani Devi, Radhey Shyam, Faquir Chand and Praveen Kumar were suffering from jaundice.

They observed that the ground water too had got contaminated. The team distributed chlorine tablets and advised residents to use boiled water.

The media team was informed that Taja Patti has not so far been provided independent water works, supply is made from Roohrianwali village waterworks, located about four kilometers away.

The residents demanded that RO system should be provided at the earliest. Meanwhile, during a meeting at Hanumangarh, Divisional Commissioner SM Meena asked the officials to augment arrangements for providing potable water in all the segments.

The heads of the Water Resources and Public Health departments were directed to check chlorination process at all waterworks and ensure uninterrupted power supply.

Fazilka, May 1
Under ‘Roko Cancer’ campaign, the National Rural Health Mission and Health Department (Punjab) has launched a drive to check the dreadful decease.

For this purpose, a fully equipped mobile van would reach the Civil Hospital (Fazilka) on Tuesday to conduct on-the-spot mammography of women.

According to the Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Civil Hospital, Fazilka, Dr SP Garg, a team of lady doctors comprising Dr Renu Dhuria, Dr Kavita Singh and Dr Daya Bhukal would conduct screening in the special check-up camp and recommend mammography for necessary cases free of cost. He said early detection of cancer goes a long way in fighting the disease.

An awareness drive to check the occurrence of cancer in women would also be launched during the camp. A team of technicians and doctors would reveal in detail the necessary steps to be taken for prevention of the decease.

Abohar, May 1
To keep the body temperature of the jawans cool during their duty hours under the scorching sun, the Border Security Force (BSF) authorities have started serving lemon tea, ‘thandai’ and cold water at their duty points round-the-clock in the Indo-Pak border area, falling in this sector.

Last year, the BSF authorities served only lemon water and Roohafza (a refreshing concentrate) to its jawans, who were on duty, guarding the Indo-Pak border to check infiltration and smuggling of narcotics. As compared to other areas near the Indo-Pak border in Punjab, a large stretch of the Indo-Pak border in Abohar sector has desert-like situation where the mercury touches the 48-49 degree Celsius mark.

Every year, incidents related to jawans suffering from sunstrokes take place in this sector. Besides, the area remains in the grip of hot winds for months during the summer.

“We have fitted every observation towers with an ice box so that cold water can be made available to the jawans round-the-clock,”pointed out Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar.

He added that all the Border Observation Posts (BOPs) had been equipped with deep freezers and refrigerators. Desert coolers had been installed in all the barracks. The water tankers had been placed at the central points to ensure the supply of cold water.

The fly catchers had been installed at observation towers to save them from mosquito bites. They had been provided with sun glasses to avoid sun glare during daytime.

The observation towers have been given a cover of Khus (a weed) to avoid its heating up due to the searing heat.

Satyarthi said jawans had been asked to cover their head, face and ears with white cotton clothes while performing their duties on the observation posts and observation towers. The quantity of fruits like watermelon and melon has been increased.

“The longer duty hours of jawans have been shortened by splitting their total duty time period into phases, each comprising 2-3 hours,” he said.

The DIG added that special officials including the skilled workforce had been put on duty to ensure that all the facilities, which had been given to jawans, remain functional.