Bathinda, November 15
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the allotment of 121 ration depots in the city. The petitioners in the case have alleged favouritism in granting fair price shop licences to various people in the city.

Justice K. Kannan stayed the allotment of all these licences ruffling many feathers in the political circles of the city. The petitioners, Newtan Kumar, Sukhdev Raj, Rohit Kumar and Sadhu Ram, had filed a civil writ petition (CWP) number 20683 of 2011 in the court stating that on May 25 last year, the advertisements were floated about the allotment of ration depots and licences to run the fair price shops in the state.

In May 2011, the petitioners got letters to appear in the interviews for the allotment of fair price shops. All the petitioners were interviewed on June 6. Tarvinder Singh Chopra, District Food and Civil Supply Controller, Bathinda, alone conducted these interviews. He alone constituted the selection committee and there were two people to assist him.

The petitioners alleged that Chopra did not ask any question related to the knowledge, experience or confidence. From June 6 till July 20, the applicants did not get any response. In the meantime, Tarvinder Chopra, who was working as the DFCS, Bathinda, was transferred to Jalandhar.

"The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections were also approaching. To satisfy the Akali candidates, the department started the process for making allotments so that it could be made before the election," alleged the petitioners.

It was alleged that Chopra did not ask even a single question pertaining to general knowledge etc. "For about ten weeks, no action was taken regarding the allotment. On October 21, the selected persons were called. Shops were allotted on the directions of the SAD Bathinda constituency in-charge Sarup Chand Singla, who gave a list including the names of the influential political personalities," added the petitioners.

They alleged that the District Food and Supply Controller did not base the allotment of the fair price shops on the basis of interviews conducted on June 6 and added that the authorities acted illegally, arbitrarily, and in violation of the provisions of the Control Order, 2003.

Meanwhile, District Food and Supply Controller Gulbahar Singh did not respond to calls repeatedly made to him.

Bathinda, November 15
Despite being called by the local Civil Hospital authorities to work in the laboratories and the Blood Bank of the Civil Hospital here, no private lab technician from the city today visited the biochemistry and haematology laboratories in the OPD and the Blood Bank. Due to this, emergency test services during the working hours (9 am to 3 pm) were affected as the medical laboratory technicians of the district are already on strike.

However, two laboratory technicians from the local Max Hospital today worked at the Blood Bank here.

Later, after 3 pm, in the light of a decision taken by the Medical Laboratory Technicians Association, the lab technicians who were on strike resumed their duties at the Blood Bank.

It may be mentioned here that ten private lab technicians from the city had worked in the laboratories and the Blood Bank of the local Civil Hospital yesterday on the request, made to the local private doctors by the hospital authorities.

According to sources, they did not turn up at the hospital today under pressure from the striking medical laboratory technicians.

Dr Mrinalini C. Kumar, pathologist at the Civil Hospital here, said though no laboratory test had been conducted at the biochemistry laboratory, with the assistance of an under trainee DMLT (diploma in medical laboratory technician), more than three dozen tests had been conducted at the haematology laboratory.

Dr Satish Goyal, SMO, Civil Hospital, said routine tests had been conducted at the hospital's laboratory. At the Blood Bank, besides the preparation of platelet rich plasma (PRP) units, the work relating to whole blood had also been done by the lab technicians, who had come from the Max Hospital.

Meanwhile, the striking medical laboratory technicians today staged a dharna on the premises of the Civil Hospital in support of their demands, including risk allowance, free accommodation, regularisation of the services of contractual laboratory technicians, re-designation of the post of senior medical laboratory technician as laboratory officer, and the cancellation of transfer of their state president Sikendar Singh Gharangna. Gharangna has been transferred from the Jhunir village (Mansa) to Nurpur Bedi (Ropar).

State president of the union Sikendar Singh Gharangna said the laboratory technicians would work tomorrow throughout the state. However, they would observe a pen-down strike on November 17 and go on mass casual leave on November 18 to stage a dharna outside the office of the Director, Health Services, Punjab, at Chandigarh, he added.

Meanwhile, a deputation of the association met the Deputy Commissioner here today. District general secretary of the association Resham Singh Jalal said this evening that during the meeting, the DC rang up the Secretary, Health, Punjab, and the Director, Health, in connection with the cancelling of the transfer of the state president.

He said the DC had also assured them that on November 17, when the Deputy Chief Minister would visit Bathinda, he would arrange their meeting with him for holding talks over their demands.

Bathinda, November 15
The Education Department has directed all the schools to make children studying in government schools take an oath of honesty every morning during the assembly. The order is to be effective from the Children's Day onwards.

The Director General of School Education-cum-state project director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan, has issued a letter to all the district education officers in the state mentioning that the children should be made to take the oath every morning so that it instills honesty and feelings against corruption in the young minds.

The oath is a message from the Minister for Education, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, for the students. Educationist Jagjit Singh Sidhu from Talwandi Sabo, who retired as the DPI (Secondary), Government of Punjab, said that administering such oath to young children daily is an exercise in futility.

"Instead of improving itself, the government is trying to whitewash its image and sadly enough, the children have been roped in for the task," he said.

Sidhu added that today, children need role models to follow and not mere words to be uttered daily, to ensure that they grow up with a strong character. "When the people administering the oath are not honest, how can we even think of children becoming honest,” he asked.

Another government teacher, pleading anonymity, said that nearly a month ago, the Education Department had directed the government schools to hold a rally to motivate the farmers not to burn the paddy stubble. Though most of the schools took out the rally, its result was not quite tangible.

"One of my students said that when the law prohibited the burning of paddy stubble, why no one has ever been prosecuted for not following the orders. I had no answer to the question. We should present a precedent for the children to follow and not merely ask them to mug up a few lines and say them everyday," she said.

The teacher said that the Education Minister should first take the oath himself and follow it word by word so that the kids have an example to follow. The teacher was of the opinion that otherwise, there is no point in implementing a rule that loses its meaning in the long run.

Bathinda November 15
The visits of the VVIPs during the election days affect the health services at the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. As the trend of the bigwigs visiting this politically crucial city increases, it keeps the doctors of the district on their toes.

On the one hand, the doctors at the Civil Hospital are working round-the-clock besides rendering proper services to thousands of patients visiting the hospital daily, and on the other, they are assigned special duty for the VVIPs, who are visiting the city on a daily basis.

Notably, around 30 years back when the Civil Hospital started functioning, it had only 100 beds. But subsequently, the population in both the urban as well as the rural areas has increased.

The sanctioned posts in the hospital have been filled up but the requirement for more staff cannot be denied in view of the rush on the hospital premises during the peak hours.

Besides the visits of patients, the Kabaddi World Cup and the upcoming assembly elections have left the doctors pre-occupied.

Whether it is the inaugural function of the World Cup Kabaddi or the BJP supremo LK Advani's Rath Yatra, three to four teams of the doctors were put at the service of the VVIPs.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Satish Goyal said, "Every time, the team of doctors is sent on time at the place of their duty. However, there is always an uncertainty about the timings of the visitors' arrival due to which the doctors have to suffer. They may be positioned anywhere even without food or water where they are made to wait for the service of the VVIPs."

"The doctors cannot work if they are given extra load for this kind of activities. It is understandable to deploy them during a match to take care of the players in case of any injury. However, deploying the doctors unnecessarily on the roads where the players are expected to visit or pass is not justified," he added.

Admitting to the shortage of manpower in the hospital, he said, "We have three orthopaedists. Notably, they often have to go to the court as witnesses in police cases. Due to their absence, the out-patient department (OPD) is affected. We have only two EMOs, but there is a requirement for more than seven EMOs. All the duties have to be distributed among the other doctors too as we have a shortage of emergency medical officers ."

Bathinda November 15
The Punjab Health Systems Corporation's (PHSC) telemedicine scheme could not attract the doctors towards the hi-tech health service system at the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Though it has been two years since the system was launched, it was found that only ten cases have been discussed by the doctors through the video-conferencing with the doctors at the PGI and the other medical hospitals such as the Government Medical Colleges at Patiala, Faridkot and Amritsar.

The PHSC is funded by the World Bank to improve the efficiency and quality of health care in the state. The telemedicine is the delivery of the health care remotely from a distance. It was started in December 2008 at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda. The doctors at the hospital can consult the super-specialists of other hospitals to take advice and discuss any case sitting here in the hospital.

Interestingly, around 30-40 times, video-conferencing has taken place between the hospital and the PGI. However, only ten of them were done to converse about the patients and the rest were either done to test the system or when the delegates, during some conferences at the PGI, wanted to speak to the doctors about any latest study. Therefore, the rate of discussing the patient's problems through the telemedicine is much less.

On the other hand, the second system of consulting the specialists through the data transfer, has been done for over 500 patients. This figure is also not quite impressive as the Civil Hospital is visited by thousands of patients daily from the city as well as the adjoining areas. In two years, the number could have risen, if the technology's benefits had percolated down properly.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Satish Goyal, in-charge of the telemedicine at the hospital, admitted that the service is not being used the way it should have been. However, the doctors are not to be blamed for this as the workload on each doctor is so much that they do not have the time for seeking these measures.

He added that the government should first resolve the problem of inadequate staff at the hospital. After that, each and every service would be availed of by the doctors, who are working round-the-clock to manage thousands of patients daily.

Technical supporter Gursewak Singh said, "Through documentation, the doctors have discussed the cases with the other doctors. However, the service is mostly used by the medicine department as they have more staff while the doctors from the other departments come occasionally to avail of the telemedicine."

Bathinda, November 15
Five members of the class IV Government Employees Union of the district today began a 24-hour-long chain hunger strike outside the Mini-secretariat here in support of their demands. The names of the employees are: Suresh Kumar, Lal Chand, Rajveer (all from the Irrigation Department), Surjit Singh (Education Department) and Balwinder Singh (Giani Zail Singh Engineering College).

The chain hunger strike, which started at 1 pm here today, would continue till November 18 to compel the state government to accept their demands at the earliest. After every 24 hours, a new group of five members would observe hunger strike.

The class IV employees also held a rally outside the Mini-secretariat and raised slogans against the state government. The rally was held under the presidentship of the district president of the union Manjit Singh.

Addressing the rally, the employees' leaders asked the state government to appoint a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as the chairman of the anomaly committee formed to remove the pay anomalies. Gurbans Singh, general secretary of the union, also warned that if their demands are not met, the union would further intensify its agitation in future.

Bathinda, November 15
A young man committed suicide at his house in the Nai Basti area. In her complaint to the police, the victim's mother, Babita Gupta, stated that her son Aseem Gupta had married Meenakshi from Tohana, in Haryana, on October 16, 2010.

Babita said that the couple used to have frequent altercations. Around a month ago, Meenakshi's mother and uncle took her to Tohana. On November 13, Aseem went to fetch his wife. Instead of accompanying him back to Bathinda, Meenakshi and her father Tarsem Jindal allegedly insulted Aseem.

A disturbed Aseem came back to Bathinda alone and took celphos tablets to commit suicide. Aseem has left behind a suicide note stating that he took this extreme step because of Meenakshi and Tarsem. Police have registered a case against Meenakshi and his father Tarsem Jindal under sections 306 and 36 of the IPC for abetment of suicide.

Quacks arrested: The police have arrested two quacks and recovered habit forming drugs from their possession. The accused have been identified as Sanjeev Kumar from Bhuleria Wala Mohalla and Rohit Kumar from Qila road. Police officials said these youngsters were matriculate but used to pose as qualified doctors. 900 capsules were recovered from their possession. — TNS

Bathinda, November 15
A total of 70 units of blood were collected today during the blood donation camp held at the MG DAV College, Bathinda. Principal Dr JS Anand said the camp was held as part of the NSS activities in the college.

Arya Samaj president PD Goyal inaugurated the camp and appreciated the efforts of the NSS in-charge Ram Lubhaya, Sandip Bhatia and Manish Gupta in inspiring the students. Principal Dr Anand thanked PD Goyal and encouraged the students to accept blood donation as a way of life.

The girl students outnumbered the male donors. The camp was organised in collaboration with the Naujwana Sabha.