Bathinda, February 24
The eighth edition of Virasat Mela started on a happy note with a rally taken out from Gurudwara Haji Rattan all decked up with performers and the paraphernalia that had little to associate with heritage.

Men and women dressed up in Punjabi attire stood flaunting Toshiba laptops drawing puzzled expression from the people standing nearby who looked for traces of heritage in the rally. Adding to the glamour were state awardees from the field of education participating in he traditional phulkari.

The mela, which was to be held two months ago, started on a colourful note with Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav and district and sessions judge SK Aggarwal dancing on the beat of Punjabi dhol.

Organisers of the mela offered chadar at Haji Rattan dargah before starting the inaugural procession of the mela, which is dedicated to the legendary singer Kuldeep Manak. Before culminating at the heritage village Jaipalgarh, the procession passed through the GT road covering the bus stand and other major roads in the city.

The mela has people performing for whom it is the only fixed source of income during the year.

Three brothers, Bohar Singh, Shamsher Singh and Gurcharan Singh from village Aklia, have been participating in the mela with their three camels. These brothers get Rs 500 each per day for being a part of the fair. They feel their income should be increased keeping in view the response the mela evokes every year.

Similarly, Surinder Prakash, who plays the part of Bhundan Wala Baba every year, gets Rs 200 per day. Surinder does not have any other fixed source of income and he earns money performing for all the three days at the mela.

A marriage scene depicting the newly-wed couple was presented. Gatka parties from Gumatsar, Pathrala and Ranjit participated in the procession.

Bands of ex-armymen too were a part of the procession. The mela would be held for the next two days at heritage village Jaipalgarh.

Bathinda, February 24
Chaos ruled the roads as the Virasat Mela procession passed through the city today.

A large number of vehicles were seen following the procession which slowed down the traffic movement. The procession started from Haji Rattan chowk and culminated at Jaipalgarh village near the Sports Stadium.

The procession passed through all the main markets of the city, including the Mall Road, Dhobi Bazar, Post-Office Bazar, Mehna Chowk and Fauji Chowk.

The city traffic in-charge Natha Singh, however, claimed that there was no traffic chaos and nowhere did the traffic slow down due to the procession, which was well-planned. “We have already diverted the traffic on important roads and participants exhibiting the heritage moved in a peaceful manner,” Natha said.

Meanwhile, local residents regretted that traffic was irritatingly slow on the already over-crowded city roads.

“There must be many people like me who got late in catching their respective trains from the railway station today, as the entire traffic near the bus stand was brought to a standstill in view of the Virasat Mela procession,” said Ajmer Singh, a resident of Mansa.

Some local residents, including Manvinder Sekhon, Dr Dheeraj Dixit, Rahul Brar, Dinesh Kumar and a few others suggested that the administration should make arrangements for the smooth flow of traffic before allowing such processions in the city.

They added that specific timings of the procession and its route should be advertised beforehand so that people gear up for their respective journeys accordingly, instead of getting stuck in traffic jams.

Bathinda, February 24
The District Innovation Fund (DIF), an initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, would be utilised for strengthening data keeping at the District Administrative Complex and existing health facilities in the government sector.

Under the DIF, the Central government would provide Rs 1 crore to Bathinda over a period of five years (2010-15), in five instalments of Rs 20 lakh each. Bathinda district has already received the first instalment, which is being utilised to strengthen the data keeping system.

"Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, it has become mandatory to keep all kind of records that could be assessed on time. We are utilising the first instalment towards digitisation of the entire essential data. The basic aim is to manage the data scientifically, making it useful for the common man. This would enable us to respond to RTI queries in lesser time and more efficiently," said Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav, who is the chairperson of the district level authority meant for execution of these funds.

The district level authority is also studying the possibility of infusing new lease of life into the projects in health sector that have come to a halt owing to lack of funds. "We have studied the civil hospitals and dispensaries where inflow of funds could work wonders. At some places, we have machines that need minor repairs. These funds could be utilised to run such diagnostic machines and be helpful for people," he said, adding that the health sector projects are yet to be finalised.

The 13th Finance Commission has underlined the need to support and promote innovation. It stated that innovation can play an important role in providing better alternatives, reducing costs, improving service levels and governance and delivering justice.

Punjab has been allocated Rs 20 crore for 20 districts. The funds are to be utilised for increasing the efficiency of capital assets already created and providing immediate benefit. It has been recommended that projects can be taken up for improving implementation of flagship schemes in education, health and social sciences.

Only 90 per cent of the cost of the project can be met with the DIF and the balance 10 per cent would be met with non-governmental contributions, either from public or the NGOs. The 10 per cent of amount has to be collected and deposited with the district agency before the scheme is sanctioned.

In Bathinda, the health sector projects would see public participation wherein non-governmental elements would chip in for value addition of the project.

Bathinda, February 24
A delegation of computer teachers’ union today met the district education officer (secondary) Khushbir Singh apprising him of their long pending demands. The delegation met DEO under president Balkaran Singh.

During the meeting, Balkaran told DEO that on December 20 last year the Punjab government’s education department released a notification under PICET Society stating that the pay scale and grade pay of computer teachers has been revised from January 1, 2012 onwards. Computer teachers demanded that district Bathinda education department should also endorse this.

It was also demanded that the cases of those computer teachers, who shall complete six months of their service by March 31, should be sent for being regularized. “All the school heads and principals should be asked to complete the service book of computer teachers, which is not being done presently,” Balkaran added.

Union members stated that as per the instructions of education department, all the school heads and principals should be directed to free computer teachers from the clerical work given to them.

“Many computer teachers are asked to do the clerical work at school. Most of the computer teachers are females and hence abide by the orders passed without any reasoning, whereas the education department has given strict instructions that computer teachers should not be put on clerical work,” the union members said.

They demanded that the online instructions issued on the website of DEO should be sent in excel or word format instead of the present PDF format being sent.

“PDF files cannot be edited or altered and hence, the entire file has to be re-written, which wastes lot of precious time,” said the union members.

Balkaran Singh said the DEO (secondary) Khushbir Singh has assured the computer teachers for fulfilling their demands and passed necessary instructions.

The union members including vice-president Sukhdev Singh, general secretary Pradeep Maluka, treasurer Gurpreet Lehra, press secretary Jagwant Singh, Kulvir Singh, Paramvir, Kulwant Singh, Vikas Garg, Harcharan Singh, Veer Inder Singh, Vishwajeet Singh and others were also present at the meeting.

Bathinda, February 24
Seven workers of a factory today received injuries after the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck on Bathinda-Goniana road.

The injured girls were on way to a factory situated on the Goniana road. The private bus was carrying 35 girls in the age-group of 18 to 20 years, along with five other women and a driver.

The bus collided head on with a truck being driven at a high speed.

The driver and six girls received injuries in the accident and were taken to the local civil hospital by the volunteers of the Adarsh Welfare Society.

A case in this connection was being registered by the police after recording the statements of the eyewitnesses.

It may also be mentioned here that in the recent past two accidents, involving the six-tyre trucks, had taken place.

Bathinda, February 24
The Bathinda chapter of Punjab Beopar Mandal has released the third list of the office bearers. Punjab Beopar Mandal president, Ashok Kumar Dhunikay appointed the members in consultation with senior leaders of the Beopar Mandal.

While Ashok Kumar Buttar was named senior vice president, Jagdish Goyal, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Vijay Singla, Tek Chand Goyal, Satinder Mittal and Surinder Pal Singh were named vice-presidents. Pawan Bansal, Manoj Dhir, Chander Shekhar Sood, Lokesh Kumar Jindal and Jugal Kishor Mittal were named the joint-secretaries.

Parmod Jhamb, Gyan Prakash Goyal, Vinay Gupta, Inderjit Singh are the executive members. — TNS