B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Just 3 doctors take care of Gidderbaha Civil Hospital
Gidderbaha, July 6
The claims of the government of providing better healthcare facilities in the state notwithstanding, the ground reality here appears to be in deep contrast.

Water woes in tail-end villages
Farmers call off stir
Abohar, July 6
The farmers, who had plugged the Lambi sub-canal on July 3 and had been staging a dharna near the tail-end village Shergarh, have called off their stir.

Agro-experts advocate direct sowing of paddy
Moga, July 6
Keeping the delayed monsoons in view, the district administration has launched an awareness drive in association with the state agriculture department under the Agriculture Technology Mission Agency (ATMA) scheme of the Union Government for judicious use of groundwater. Farmers are being suggested to sow basmati, a late-sowing aromatic variety of paddy.

MCB house to meet on July 9
Bathinda, July 6
The General House of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) will meet on July 9. The House will review licence fees for various business establishments. The move is being viewed as an effort to generate sources of income for the Corporation that is running on shoestring budget.

Two-headed baby dies in Muktsar
Muktsar, July 6
After battling for life for almost 44 hours, the two-headed baby died at a private hospital here on Thursday morning.

Another insecticide fails quality test in Moga
Moga, July 6
A sample of an insecticide taken from a dealer in the old grain market of the town failed the quality tests today. Earlier this week, a sample of another fertiliser had failed the quality tests.

Just 3 doctors take care of Gidderbaha Civil Hospital
Archit Watts/TNS

Gidderbaha, July 6
The claims of the government of providing better healthcare facilities in the state notwithstanding, the ground reality here appears to be in deep contrast.

The Civil Hospital at Gidderbaha, a town which has always remained under the sway of the ruling Badals except for this time when it is being represented by a Congress MLA, is facing severe staff shortage. At present, the hospital has only three doctors against the sanctioned strength of 14. For the past one month, the three doctors have been braving all odds to run the OPD, IPD and emergency services in the hospital.

Determined to keep the services uninterrupted, they have chalked out an arrangement according to which one doctor remains on duty in the emergency wing throughout the day and avails his/her off the next day. Similarly, one doctor runs the OPD services in case the SMO is on leave or the SMO himself looks after the OPD services and does other official work.

Sources in the hospital said due to the acute shortage of doctors, many important facilities were lying unused. “The operation theatre is not in use these days, as the post of a surgeon is also vacant,” said the sources, adding that the hospital staff referred all critical patients to nearby Muktsar or other towns. “The ultrasound machine and other equipment are lying unused resulting in harassment of patients, who either have to go to other civil hospitals or to spend more money by visiting private hospitals,” said the sources.

The sources further said the sanctioned posts of orthopaedist, pathologist, gynaecologist, ophthalmologist, anaesthetist, radiologist, ENT specialist, paediatrician and three MBBS doctors were vacant at the hospital.

On a visit to the Civil Hospital here, TNS found most of the rooms locked and the huge building wearing a deserted look. The number of patients was also very less as compared to other civil hospitals in the nearby towns.

When contacted, SMO Dr Hari Narain Singh, said, “We have sent a report in this regard to the higher-ups but the staff is yet to come by. The situation turned worse after some doctors were transferred from here.” He said when the doctors were in sufficient number, the hospital was classified in the A+ category but now it fell either in C or D category.

Meanwhile, patients alleged that the ruling alliance had turned a blind eye to their problems because the people elected a Congress candidate to represent the constituency in the state assembly. Since then, the situation had been deteriorating day by day, they added.

The Congress MLA Amarinder Singh Warring “Raja” has also brought the issue to the notice of the CM, but to no avail.

Water woes in tail-end villages
Farmers call off stir

Abohar, July 6
The farmers, who had plugged the Lambi sub-canal on July 3 and had been staging a dharna near the tail-end village Shergarh, have called off their stir.

Irrigation department XEN RK Gupta along with sub-divisional engineer Pawan Kapur and junior engineers visited the sub-canal to negotiate with the protesters. The officials informed them that some of the ill-designed water outlets had been modified while others would undergo changes during a seven-day closure of the sub-canal beginning next Tuesday. They assured that water in sufficient quantity would be made available after cleansing of the sub-canal that would be taken up during the closure. Some changes in the duties of sub-divisional engineers would also be made to redress the grievances of farmers. — OC

Agro-experts advocate direct sowing of paddy
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, July 6
Keeping the delayed monsoons in view, the district administration has launched an awareness drive in association with the state agriculture department under the Agriculture Technology Mission Agency (ATMA) scheme of the Union Government for judicious use of groundwater. Farmers are being suggested to sow basmati, a late-sowing aromatic variety of paddy.

While flagging off a bus carrying a team of agricultural experts with publicity material that would go to far-flung rural areas of the district, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Joram Beda said it was the right time for policy makers to undertake long-term reforms to educate farmers about direct sowing of paddy by adopting new technology.

Beda said it would not only reduce the financial burden on the state exchequer in lieu of electricity consumption in the farm sector but would also help in maintaining the soil fertility giving enough time-gap between harvesting of wheat and transplantation of paddy.

Chief agriculture officer Dr Harpreet Singh and agriculture development officer Dr Jaswinder Brar said farmers should come forward to save the state, and its precious land and water by adopting latest technologies in the farm sector.

Dr Brar said the demonstrations of direct sowing of paddy, carried out by the department in the past few years, had shown high-quality results with good yields and a reduced intake of water by 30 to 35 per cent. Agro-experts of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, had also been advocating direct sowing of paddy to save labour cost, energy, groundwater resources and to preserve the soil fertility. 

MCB house to meet on July 9
Megha Mann/TNS

Bathinda, July 6
The General House of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) will meet on July 9. The House will review licence fees for various business establishments. The move is being viewed as an effort to generate sources of income for the Corporation that is running on shoestring budget.

The MC plans to impose licence fees on establishments like banks, cinema, photography film and shooting; on training schools for the same; installation of grinding machine for grinding spices and condiments; on printing and dyeing of cloth; thread and animal skin; on dhaba and catering works and on roasting grains. Even barbers, drycleaners, washermen, embroiderers, shops selling sweetmeat that do not have the licence to run a dhaba, autocar or auto-rickshaw service stations, carpenters, blacksmiths, those dealing in glass works, photography studios and furniture makers will have to seek licence.

In most cases, new licence fees have been fixed and in a handful of cases, the fee has been revised.

March 1 to March 15 of every year has been fixed as the period when new licences could be applied for or when old licences could be renewed with the licence branch of the MCB.

Two-headed baby dies in Muktsar
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 6
After battling for life for almost 44 hours, the two-headed baby died at a private hospital here on Thursday morning.

Dr Rajinder Bansal, the physician attending to the baby, said the baby’s condition was critical ever since it was brought to the hospital and it was not even possible to operate in such a condition.

“Though we tried our best, the baby could not be saved. He died of severe respiratory and cardiac problems,” added Dr Bansal.

Another insecticide fails quality test in Moga

Moga, July 6
A sample of an insecticide taken from a dealer in the old grain market of the town failed the quality tests today. Earlier this week, a sample of another fertiliser had failed the quality tests.

Agriculture development officer Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar said the sample of Cartap Hydrochloride (4 per cent), an insecticide, was taken from M/s National Agro-Service Centre, Moga on Thursday. He said the insecticide was manufactured by KPR Fertilizers’ Ltd, Puram, Andhra Pradesh. “We will issue a legal notice to the company and the dealer and then initiate a legal action against them.” — TNS