Bathinda, December 21
While the entire Northern India is in the clutches of a biting cold wave, it is the destitute and the homeless that are suffering the most. With no concrete roof over their heads at night, the city's impoverished class is finding it hard to survive the cold that is all set to break many records this season and is claiming lives. Coming to the rescue of these people is the Red Cross Society. "We have been distributing blankets to the needy. The demand for blankets has risen in the past few days. Everyday, we are giving out three-four blankets. If the temperature continues to dip further, the demand may rise too," said an official working with the society.

Apart from the Red Cross Society, many NGOs — Naujawan Welfare Society, Sahara Janseva, Bathinda Vikas Manch and Asara Welfare Society — have taken it upon themselves to help the needy. Apart from distributing blankets, some of these societies have also been giving out firewood to help these people make a bonfire to keep themselves warm.

Bathinda, December 21
The health services at the local Civil Hospital and the Women and Children Hospital here today remained paralysed for three hours as the doctors of both the hospitals went on pen-down strike from 12 noon to 3 pm in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands.

Not only the doctors, the senior medical officers (SMOs) of both the hospitals also took part in the pen-down strike due to which the patients were seen roaming around as there was no one present in the OPDs to examine them.

However, emergency services were not affected.

In these circumstances, many patients, including the elderly and children, had to return home without receiving treatment.

The patients today suffered in these hospitals on two grounds.

First, the doctors went on pen-down strike while on the other hand, the pharmacist were already on mass leave since December 12 due to which the patients have not been getting medicines free of cost from the dispensaries.

According to a doctor, they observed pen-down strike as the government had failed to issue the notification, regarding their already accepted demands so far.

Their demands include grant of six post-graduate (PG) increments to the doctors at the time of the implementation of the new pay scale every time, enhanced grade pay to the doctors on the Central Government's pattern after 20 years of service, house rent on non-practice allowance (NPA) and Deputy Civil Surgeon's designation for the senior medical officer.

The doctors said their demands had already been accepted by the Chief Minister some time ago at a meeting held with the PCMSA leaders, including patron of the association, Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa.

They said they were expecting that the state government would issue the notification without any delay. But now, they felt that the government was dilly-dallying in implementing their demands.

The doctors were of the view that in case the state government did not issue the notification soon, then they would be forced to intensify their agitation.

Bathinda, December 21
Two persons received fatal injuries when the scooter they were riding collided head on with a jeep on the Bhuchho road this afternoon.

The deceased have been identified as 30-year-old Ramesh Gora and 16-year-old Rupinder Singh, both residents of Bhucho Kalan.

While Ramesh died on the spot after a wheel of the jeep crushed his head, Rupinder Singh was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

The victims were taken to the hospital by volunteers of an NGO, the Bhuchho Sahara.

A case in this connection was being registered by the police.

The statements of the family members of the victims and the eye-witnesses were being recorded.

Meanwhile, the bus of a private school hit a stationary truck from the rear near Bhokra on the Goniana road. However, no casualties took place.

Bathinda, December 21
Members of the Punjab Draughtsmen Association, who were on mass leave from December 7 to December 20 in protest against non-acceptance of their demands by the state government, today extended their leave till December 23.

Draughtsmen work in different government departments, including irrigation, water supply, PWD B&R, sewerage board, Mandi Board, Panchayati Raj, PUDA and Forest. The draughtsmen from Mansa and Bathinda districts staged a dharna near the Mini-secretariat here today that was led by district president of the association Baljit Singh Virk.

Virk said the association had decided to hold a massive rally on December 23 at Mohali in which draughtsmen from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh would take part. He added that keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, the entire draughtsmen cadre from Himachal Pradesh would participate in the rally.

He said they have extended their protest as the state government had not made public the proceedings of the Cabinet meeting held on December 17 about the decisions regarding the demands of government employees. He also asked the government to make the proceedings public at the earliest.

During the dharna today, almost all the speakers flayed the dilly-dallying tactics of the state government in accepting and implementing their demands despite the fact that they were agitating for the past many days. They said the state government had increased the grade pay of the junior engineer from Rs 3,800 to Rs 4,800 while their grade pay has not been raised even as since 1986, there was parity in the pay-scales of draughtsmen and junior engineers.

The speakers said by raising the grade pay of junior engineers only, the government meted out injustice to them. They added that their main demand now was to bring their pay-scale at par with that of the junior engineers. Their other main demands were revival of three per cent SDO quota for circle head draughtsman, conveyance allowance and special allowance.

Among those who were present or spoke on the occasion included district secretary of the association Kuldip Singh, vice-president Baljit Singh Mansa and treasurer Bhushan Kot Fatta.

Bathinda, December 21
In protest against non-acceptance of their demands by the state government so far, the district unit of the Sangharash Committee Punjab State Pharmacists Association today took out a protest march, carrying black flags and effigy of the Punjab Government from the Civil Hospital to a chowk, near Mini-secretariat here. They also raised slogans against the state government and burnt the effigy at the Chowk.

Earlier, they staged a dharna, under the leadership of district president Ravinder Goyal, on the premises of the Civil Hospital here. They are on mass leave from December 12 to compel the state government to accept their demands, but to no avail so far. Due to their mass leave, the functioning in the dispensaries, from where the medicines are issued to the patients in the hospitals and health centres, has been affected.

Meanwhile, on the initiative of the Muktsar district unit of the association, the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has reportedly given them time for meeting to hold talks over their demands that will be held in Badal village tomorrow.

When contacted Swaranjit Singh, a co-convener of the Sangharash Committee, told this reporter this evening that he along with other members of the committee would also attend the meeting, to be held at Badal village tomorrow morning. He said that he was optimist about the meeting.

Their demands include hike in pay scales, pharmacy officer designation for grade II chief pharmacist, chief pharmacy officer designation for grade I chief pharmacist and pharmacy officer designation for pharmacist, district pharmacy officer designation for chief pharmacist grade I posted at Civil Surgeon office, creation of deputy director (pharmacy) post at state level and creation of new posts of pharmacist at hospitals and health centres.

Bathinda, December 21
Four persons sustained injuries in separate accidents that took place today.

Two truck drivers were injured when their trucks collided head on due to dense fog on the Muktsar road near Goniana Mandi in the wee hours. Volunteers of the Naujawan Welfare Society, an NGO, rushed the injured to nearby hospitals. The injured have been identified as Bisu of Uttar Pradesh and Gurmej Singh of Malout.

In another road mishap, a cyclist received serious head injuries after he fell down near the Mehna Chowk. The injured has been identified as Rajinder Kumar of Amarpura Basti. In yet another accident, an elderly, Ram Lal of Birla Mill Colony, got hurt after his two-wheeler skidded near hotel Bahia Fort. — TNS

Bathinda, December 21
Inter-college competitions are being organised at the Baba Farid College of Education (BFCE) on December 22.

Dr Naib Singh, principal, BFCE, said participants would compete in poem recitation, elocution and fancy dress.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Managing Director, BFGI, said these competitions give boost to the confidence of the students.

Meanwhile, the Department of English of the Baba Farid College organised an extension lecture on the history of English literature. Dr NL Sharma delivered the lecture to the students of BA-III. Jashandeep Kaur Romana, head of the department, thanked Dr Sharma for sharing valuable information with the students.

Bathinda, December 21
St Xavier’s Kindergarten celebrated Christmas and the annual sports day – ‘Let’s Count Our Blessings’ on Wednesday.

The children put up quite a colourful show.

The highlights of the events were colourful drills by children using different props, track events (monkey race, cap race, lemon and spoon race etc).

The little ones danced to the tunes of Bhangra and classical music and entertained the guests.

The event was attended by deputy district educational officer Amarjeet Kaur.

Father Ivo Dias, principal of the school, thanked the parents for their cooperation and support.

Bathinda, December 21
Anaemia or low levels of haemoglobin, is one of India’s major public health problems. The prevalence of anaemia ranges from 30 to 98 per cent in different studies conducted in different regions. The data from the National Family Health Survey-3 shows that Punjab along with Manipur, Mizoram, Goa, and Kerala has the lowest levels of anaemia throughout the country.

But a study titled “To study the prevalence of anaemia in young males and females in relation to the age, Body Mass Index, activity profile and socio-economic status in rural Punjab”, conducted by Dr Vitull K Gupta, assistant professor, AIMSR, and consultant Physician, Kishori Ram Hospital and Diabetes Care Centre, has been published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research.

The study has found high prevalence of anaemia in both males and females in the rural population of Punjab, which indicates that the problem of anaemia is related to a wider population than the traditional groups of the pregnant and lactating females and children.

The study included 1,221 young males (5-20 years) and 3,099 females (5-30 years) from rural areas around Bathinda during the heath check-up camps and from the medical check-up of the healthy attendants accompanying the patients visiting the hospital for treatment over a period of five years.

The prevalence of anaemia in young females in the present study was 89.5 per cent, which included 49.8 per cent mild, 38.2 per cent moderate and 1.5 per cent severe anaemia.

Prevalence of anaemia was 95.2 per cent among younger females in the age-group of 5-9 years, 87 per cent in the age-group of 10-19 years and 88.6 per cent in the age group of 20-30 years.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if the prevalence of anaemia at the community levels is more than 40 per cent, it is considered to be a problem of high magnitude.

The study states that anaemia is a global public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries and is an indicator of poor nutrition and poor health with major consequences for human health as well as social and economic development.

Globally, anaemia affects 1.62 billion people, which corresponds to 24.8 per cent of the population. Anaemia is one of the most common health problems in India, much more prevalent in rural than in the urban areas.

The overall prevalence of anaemia in young males and females from the rural population in the study was relatively higher as compared to the national standards, thus indicating that the traditionally rich state of Punjab, which was among the states with a lower prevalence of anaemia, as was documented by the National Family Health Survey-3, was in fact confronting an increased threat necessitating larger studies to be conducted to know its cause, health and socio-economic implications.

The study was co authored by Dr Arun Kumar Maria, Dr Jagjeet Singh Bahia, Dr Sonia Arora, Varun Gupta, an MBBS student, Dr Rakendra Singh and Dr Shelza.