Bathinda, May 3
With 120 students, including 40 girls, the first session of the State Sports School, Ghudda, has begun at its transit campus located on the premises of Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology (GZSCET) here.

Since the school is in its early stage, the officials concerned are finding hurdles coming in their way but they are in high spirits and positive about its successful run.

The school has 180 seats (120 for boys and 60 for girls) but during the sports trials conducted recently, the selection team could find only 141 students in eight disciplines.

Meanwhile, the school authorities have recorded further decline in the number of students as only 120 enrolled themselves to avail of the benefits of the school, which includes free education and nutritious diet worth Rs 200 a day.

Initially, the school offers education in three classes, namely VI, VII and VIII. The first session of the school, which is affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), began on May 1. The government has a plan to expand it up to Class XII.

Earlier, the Department of Sports was also willing to start the first batch with 11 games comprising boxing, hockey, basketball, athletics, football, volleyball, kabaddi, shooting, wrestling, weightlifting and swimming. However, due to various reasons, including lack of infrastructure and coaches, the department had to drop four games i.e. shooting, wrestling, weightlifting and swimming.

Following a pre-settled condition, the state government had recently recruited nine teachers under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) but finding five of them reluctant to join, the Education Department made a provisional arrangement by deputing four teachers from other schools.

As the school is to function from the transit campus of GZSCET till the final building worth Rs 42 crore is completed at Ghudda — Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s ancestral village — the college authorities have provided 26 residential quarters, which were otherwise meant for the college faculty, to the school for the accommodation of students and its staff. To provide food to students, an arrangement has been made with the canteen and mess of the college. The academic session runs from 8 am to 2 pm while the sports classes are scheduled before and after the school timings.

Principal Charanjit Singh, who has also been sent on deputation, said, “Though the path does not seem to be smooth, we are committed to producing good sportspersons.”

Bathinda, May 3
Even as the sowing of cotton crop has been delayed to a considerable extent because of the delay in harvesting of wheat and less availability of water in the irrigation channels, the state agriculture department authorities have been making efforts to bring more than seven lakh hectares under cotton this season.

Regarding the cultivation of cotton as the best tool for agricultural diversification in the Malwa belt, where the water table has gone down alarmingly due to intensive paddy cultivation, the agriculture department has been trying to motivate a large section of the farmers to shift to cotton from paddy this season.

Ever since cotton cultivation started in reorganised Punjab, the highest area, which was brought under cotton crop about two decades back, was 7.1 lakh hectares. The state has also witnessed a record production of 26 lakh bales in one season.

With the attack of American Bollworm, which continued for years together, the area under the cotton crop start reducing as its cultivation started pushing the growers into a debt trap. The farmers, in their attempt to earn enough to make both ends meet, started shifting towards paddy cultivation.

However, with the introduction of Bt cotton a few years ago, its production started going up and the growers started earning a handsome amount of money, which also enabled them to come out of the debt trap.

The recently concluded cotton season enabled the farmers to fetch Rs 7500 per quintal of raw cotton from the markets, which witnessed a huge demand for raw cotton from the domestic and international buyers.

“Efforts are on to bring about 7.1 lacs hectares of area under cotton crop this season. The farmers are being supplied Bt cotton seeds in adequate quantity. The supply of water in irrigation channels has been ensured during the cotton sowing season, which has started,” pointed out Balwinder Singh Sidhu, Director, Agriculture, Punjab.

“I hope that the rates of raw cotton will be much higher in the next season than the highest rate fetched this season. About 30 lakh packets of Bt cotton seeds have been arranged to meet the demands of farmers.”

He said that some area outside the cotton belt, comprising Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Ferozepur, Barnala and Sangrur districts, was also expected to come under cotton crop this season in Punjab.

Bathinda, May 3
Even as people in the district have started availing of the ‘Dial 108’ free emergency response service since its inception on April 5 last, lack of awareness is proving to be a stumbling block in its effective utilisation. 108 is a toll-free phone number for procuring the emergency medical services.

As many as seven ambulances have been deployed at Bathinda, Nathana, Maur, Talwandi Sabo, Sangat, Goniana and Rampura in the district to provide free service in a range of 25 km to 30 km.

According to information gathered by TNS today, only 46 cases, including pregnancy and accident, have availed of the Bathinda ambulance service (Dial 108) so far. Likewise, over 15 cases took the service in Sangat while about 15 persons availed of the same in Nathana. In Talwandi Sabo, about a dozen cases took the benefit of the service so far.

The staff of these vehicles cited lack of awareness as the reason for the less use of the service. The staff is of the view that the state government should organise camps to create awareness among the people, especially villagers, about the service.

Each ambulance vehicle carries two oxygen cylinders, suction machine, pulse oxy-meter, blood pressure apparatus (manual and electronic), ambu-bag, emergency medicines etc.

A staff member said an ambulance van also provided first-aid medical services to the patients.

He said as they worked in rural areas, mostly they were called to shift a pregnant woman to a hospital.

The phone number 108 is toll-free and can be dialled by anyone seeking medical emergency service. The caller will have to inform about the medical emergency.

In response to the call, the Amritsar-based staff manning the global positioning system (GPS) will provide the information to the ambulance in the area concerned to reach the site immediately.

Moga, May 3
Parm Gill, a clean-shaven Jat Sikh, hailing from Puranewala, a dusty village in Moga district, today defeated the glamorous Punjabi woman Ruby Dhalla, a three-time Liberal MP from Brampton-Springdale constituency, in the Canadian parliamentary elections.

Gill, a candidate of the Conservative Party, which has gained a majority in these elections, secured 49 per cent votes in the triangular fight while Ruby entangled in the ‘Nanny-Gate’ controversy managing just 29 per cent votes while another Jat Sikh Manjit Grewal of the NDP came third with 19 per cent support.

Gill laid the groundwork for these elections two and a half years ago by making a special visit to the Golden Temple at Amritsar and then to his hometown Moga where he interacted with hundreds of NRIs who came here to their native places.

A few days after he arrived here, in January 2009, the then immigration minister Jason Kenney arrived in India. Parm and Kenney promised to reduce the refusal rate of visa applicants from Punjab from 55 per cent to 20 per cent, a key issue for the huge number of new Canadians in the riding.

Despite the fact that he lost the last elections to Dhalla by 773 votes in 2008, Conservative Party's faith in Gill paid off, as the party flooded Brampton-Springdale with operatives and resources, while Stephen Harper made numerous visits to the area.

The interesting part of the election campaign was that it was more like an Indian election. A lot of mud-slinging in typical Punjabi style was reported among these candidates. Gill hammered away at Dhalla over lingering allegations that she improperly hired and mistreated her family's caregivers.

He also took potshots at her attendance in Parliament and repeatedly claimed that constituents had to go to him for help on matters such as immigration assistance. Both often used dozens of local Punjabi newspapers and radio shows to fight their war.

It may be mentioned that Parm arrived in Canada at a young age, immediately setting roots in the Greater Toronto Area. He now resides in Brampton with his wife Amarpal, his two sons, Raman and Daman, and his daughter Parmeet. Parm continues to be a successful entrepreneur in the hospitality and manufacturing industries. He has never held a public office in Canada.

Parm has been involved in Canadian politics for many years with the desire to bring about a change in Canada.

In 2006, he began his candidacy in Brampton-Springdale believing that Brampton-Springdale deserves a representative in Ottawa to strengthen the local economy and create job avenues.

Talking to this correspondent from Canada, Parm said he was hopeful of getting a ministerial berth in the new government as his party has got a majority in the elections. "My top priority will be to protect the jobs of immigrants, create more job avenues at a time when the Canadian economy is recovering from the recession and educate the Punjabi community living in Canada not to indulge in crimes in India to save the community from frauds.”

In his home village at Puranewala, there was no one from his family as all of them migrated to Canada but the locals were delighted to know that Parm won the elections.

Congress MLA from Moga Joginder Pal Jain has congratulated Parm Gill on winning the election. 

Abohar, May 3
The workers of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) observed a strike, organised protest march and staged a dharna to express resentment over the ransacking of the PWSSB office and thrashing of a Sub-Divisional Officer by an irate mob yesterday.

The strike has paralyzed the cleansing of sewer main holes besides routine work.

Meanwhile, the city police have registered a case under Sections 186, 427, 353, 148 and 149 of the IPC against some persons including senior BJP worker Titu Chhabra (husband of BJP councillor Suman Chhabra) and Usha Sabharwal, block president of the Shanti Mission of India.

Legal proceedings have been initiated on the basis of the statement given by Hakam Singh Sidhu, SDO (PWSSB) who had allegedly been dragged out of his office and thrashed by a frenzied mob.

The PWSSB workers along with other state government employees took out a procession and sat on dharna to express resentment over the unpleasant happenings in the water works complex describing these as unprecedented and most unfortunate. They demanded that all the accused, irrespective of their political status, should be arrested.

They warned that water supply might be suspended to 1.5 lakh people here if the police fails in taking strong action against those who had ransacked the PWSSB office and attacked the SDO during the working hours yesterday.

Meanwhile, scores of residents from the Panjpeer locality met SDM Jasdeep Singh Aulakh and submitted a memorandum against PWSSB SDO Hakam Singh Sidhu. BJP worker Titu Chhabra and others alleged during the meeting that Sidhu misbehaved with the women and two of them had to be hospitalized as they were physically attacked during the demonstration.

The residents said that about 150 families in Panjpeer locality had been getting drinking water only after expressing resentment for the past four years.

The soaring mercury forced them to roam in search of water carrying pitchers on their heads.

They demanded that a case should be registered against the SDO and FIR registered against the protesters be cancelled.

Abohar, May 3
Girls from Amritsar and boys from Ludhiana emerged as winners in their respective categories in the Punjab State Basketball Tournament that concluded last night at the GD Senior Secondary Model School here.

BSF DIG Vimal Satyarathi and SAD youth wing leader Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi from Muktsar honoured the winning teams.

Punjab Police coach Navdeep Sharma informed that in the final match for boys, Ludhiana District Sports Academy beat Ferozepur in a thrilling match with a final tally of 55-45. Amritsar eves clinched the trophy by trouncing Jalandhar 43-14. Notably, this was the maiden event held under the floodlights here.

National basketball team captain Jagdeep Singh stressed the need for making sports a regular feature in all the educational institutions besides promoting traditional sports in the rural areas since this could be the only antidote against the drug menace that had spoiled the youth in Punjab. — TNS

Abohar, May 3
Former PPCC president Virendra Kataria was joined by Dr BB Sharma, Regional Director, DAV Schools, Om Parkash Kaushik, president, Akhil Bhartiya Brahmin Seva Sangh and Ved Parkash Diggaj, convener, Sarv Dharam Sangathan in paying floral tributes to veteran social activist Shanta Kataria (82) at a prayer meeting on Tuesday.

The speakers recalled that her five daughters led by Sumedha Kataria, presently working as Additional Deputy Commissioner at Kurukshetra, had set an example by performing the last rites of their mother who had no male child. Sumedha had not been permitted to perform the last rites in 1981 of her father Sardari Lal Kataria, a veteran freedom fighter of the region. — OC

Patiala, May 3
The department of physics, Punjabi University, Patiala, is working on a project for the manufacturing of silicon wafers in its lab, which, if successful, will help in solving electricity crisis. The project titled “Preparation of silicon sheets by capillary action shaping technique for solar cell applications” is being carried out under senior Prof RC Verma of the department.

The project is based on the idea of Indian-origin scientist SMD Rao, who is working with Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He is at present working as a project investigator with the physics department. The team which is carrying out this research includes investigator of the physics department Prof VK Mittal; Dr Sanjeev Kumar from College of Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala; HR Vaish, managing director of Instapower Limited, New Delhi; and research scholars Leena Garg, Shivani Sharma and Pooja Seth. Giving information, Prof Verma said this research was sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, and it began in 2008.

He said: “Once I met Rao and he suggested we work for the preparation of silicon wafers and lay stress on the use of solar cells. As the silicon sheets are manufactured abroad, they are expensive. We thought if we manufacture them in India, usage of solar cells could be cost effective.” The project has been distributed in four phases and its cost is around Rs 5 crore. — TNS

Sriganganagar, May 3
Cautioning that child marriage is a major stumbling block in achieving human rights, the state home department has alerted the administration in all the districts to prevent child marriages on Akha Teej (Akshay Treetiya), considered an auspicious occasion for marriages.

Akha Teej is falling on May 6, this year. Sources said that the district collectors have been advised to be on alert and take preventive measures against child marriages on Akha Teej. A control room will be set up in all the district headquarters where incidents of child marriages can be reported. — OC

Bathinda, May 3
The blue bulls (Neel Gai) are giving sleepless nights to the farmers of Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepur districts these days. Entering their fields in hordes, these bulls cause a widespread damage to the standing crops. Besides, the blue bulls are also leading to various mishaps while crossing roads in bewilderment.

Though the wildlife and agriculture experts are aware of the problem and also express concern about the loss to farmers and road users, they are not much enthusiastic about taking effective steps to check the same as a community in this belt holds religious sentiments towards this animal.

During a visit to the Bathinda-Abohar road, this correspondent today found two herds of blue bulls — one at village Pakki Tibbi (Muktsar) and another near village Karam Garh (Bathinda). The bulls were destroying the standing wheat crop and also damaging the kinnow plants. The commuters had to stop their vehicles fearing that they may hit the animals crossing the road haphazardly.

Farmers, who have to bear loss of crops due to the blue bulls, lamented, "It is either due to the weather god or the blue bulls that we have to face losses in this season every year."

"Earlier, we used to burn animal excreta to produce a foul smell to keep the blue bulls away, but the latter got immune to it very soon," informed the farmers.

The farmers also disclosed that sometime ago, they had surrounded their fields with live electricity wires but immediately after realising that it was illegal and dangerous to the lives of not only the blue bulls but humans also, they removed it. "As hunting blue bulls is a crime, the officials concerned must either take steps or suggest us on how could we save our crops from their fury," they said.

Divisional Forest Officer, Bathinda, SP Anandh Kumar said, "There are some provisions under which we can go for killing blue bulls. But the conditions, which are mandatory to be followed beforehand, are very complicated. Therefore, we are looking for some other innovative measures to check the problem."

Bathinda: Dr SS Sangha, Principal, Dasmesh Girls College of Education , Badal (Muktsar), has been elected as president of the Panjab University Sports Committee (PUSC ) for 2011-12 at the general body meeting in PU, Chandigarh. He has been elected unanimously. Management committee of the college, principals of Dasmesh

institutions Dr Kuldeep Kaur Mann, Jagdish Kaur Sidhu, Bimlanshu Malik, staff members and students congratulated him. — TNS