Bathinda, October 7
While the Supreme Court has directed the Centre and all the state governments to ensure the availability of drinking water and toilets in government schools, especially in the schools for girls, the Punjab government has no separate funds earmarked for the cleaning and maintenance of toilets.

A visit to various government schools revealed that while all the schools have drinking water available, only 50 per cent schools in the district have facilities for RO water.

In the Malwa belt, where the groundwater is regarded as unfit for human consumption, the students of government schools are at risk drinking untreated water.

"We do not have any RO plant that the government has provided. Albeit, a bank has donated us a 10 litre reverse osmosis (RO) plant and we try to use water from this plant in a rationed manner," revealed one of the teachers at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, which has nearly 2200 students.

This is not the only school to use donated RO plants. Nationalised banks have donated RO plants to other government schools in the district as well.

Though most government schools have toilets for students, there are no funds to clean and maintain these toilets.

In the absence of separate funds, the PTA funds as well as the amalgamated funds are being utilised for the purpose. Worn out and leaky taps, filthy toilet seats and damaged wash basins mar the hygiene in government schools. In the schools for boys, leaky and clogged urinals are typical problems.

In the government schools in the city that TNS visited, not even one school had phenyl tablets kept in the urinals to arrest the foul smell emanating from them. Irregular water supply is yet another problem that hampers the task of keeping the toilets clean.

Interestingly, the schools assisted by NABARD have separate sanitation blocks for the teachers, which have all kinds of facilities available. Teachers from these schools said the facility should be extended to the children too in order to provide better hygienic conditions.

"We neither have the funds nor sweepers to clean the toilets. For both purposes, we utilise the school funds, which are not enough. We have employed a sweeper at Rs 1,500 per month for our 700 children and the staff members. One sweeper cannot clean the school as well as toilets daily," said one of the teachers at the Government School, Goniana.

While boys and co-ed schools still have funds available, the financial condition of the schools for girls is worse.

Two years ago, the government abolished the fees for girl students. "Fees are a major source of running the schools. In an all-girls school, financial constraints have increased. At times, we don't even have enough the money left for paying the electricity bills. Though the government abolished the fees for girls, it did not give any alternate fund in lieu of the fees. It has become very difficult to run the school under such constraints," added another teacher.

Meanwhile, District Education Officer (Secondary) Hardeep Singh said 100 per cent schools in the district have toilets, while more than 50 per cent have the facility for providing treated drinking water.

"We have received a demand for RO treatment plants from various schools and forwarded the same to the senior education department officials," he said.

The Disrict Education Officer agreed that there were no separate funds earmarked for cleaning the toilets or to pay the sweepers. "But the schools have enough funds available to meet these requirements," he added.

Bathinda, October 7
Drug inspectors in Bathinda have sought to dissuade the chemists from selling abortion pills without the doctor's prescription and asked them to maintain the record of every such drug sold.

The directive was issued at the general body meeting of the Retail Chemists Association held at the Civil Lines club. The chief guests on the occasion were drug inspectors Lakhwant Singh, Prabhdeep Singh and Ekant Priya Singla.

Drug inspector Lakhwant Singh asked the chemists to maintain the record of the buyers and the doctors on whose prescription the abortion pill was being sold. He said over-the-counter sale of such drugs is harmful for the health of women and is against the provisions of the Drug Act.

The only member of the Indian Pharmacy Council from Punjab, Jagjot Singh Bahia from Nathana, was also present on the occasion. He called upon the chemists to get registered and contact him in case of any problem.

Prominent among those present on the occasion were the president of the association Jasvir Singh Mehraj, chairman Amarnath Jindal, organizing secretary Sharadpal Singh, Varinder Tayal, Satish Chawla, Amarjit Makkar, Sandeep Singhana, Sandeep Garg, Darshan Lal and Sandeep Goyal.

Bathinda, October 7
To celebrate the 119th anniversary of Swami Vivekanand's Chicago speech, the Swami Vivekanand Study Circle, Bathinda, organized a function at the SSD Girls College here today.

Head, Ramkrishan Mission and Ashram, Chandigarh, Swami Anupamanadji was the chief guest and while CS Talwar presided over the function.

September, 11, 1893 is regarded as a historic day in India's history, when Swami Vivekananda established the glory of India in Chicago, USA. In his three-minute welcome speech (Called Chicago speech) in the World Parliament of Religion to commemorate the 400th anniversary of America's discovery, Vivekananda had got a standing ovation from 7000 delegates.

It helped to rediscover India's real nature and ethos instead of its usual image of being a land of snake-charmers.

While addressing the gathering, Swami Anupamanand said Swami Vivekananda was desperate about the miserable social and economic condition of the Indians who were under the British rule.

"The rulers were not doing anything to improve their condition. Swamiji went abroad to do something to benefit the Indians.

He was highly impressed by the technological development of America and wanted the Indian youth to follow it. He taught spiritualism to the West. This made Swamiji an apostle of spiritualism and humanism in the world," he said. Vivekananda believed that welfare of the self was econciled with the welfare of the universe, he pointed out.

CS Talwar said the teachings of Swami Vivekanand were more relevant for the masses today than before. Vivekananda gave the country its socialist ideals and stressed upon the need for mutual tolerance, respect and recognition. "He alone lives who lives for the others. The rest are more dead than alive," he said quoting Vivekananda.

A book in Punjabi on Swami Vivekanand, "Jiwan Ate Updesh" was released at the function. Makhan Lal was the stage secretary at the function while Lalit Sachdeva and president of the circle, Mohinder Singh, welcomed and thanked the guests.

The dignitaries present included Prof VK Mahajan, Dr Amrit Sethi and Vijay Singh, Sandeep Parchhanda and Nandlal Garg, among others. 

Bathinda, October 7
Three firing incidents last month and two similar incidents this month have caused panic among the residents and raised a question mark over the functioning of the Bathinda police.

The residents of the area said five firing incidents have shaken their faith in the police. Three people have lost their lives during these firing incidents, which included a dreaded gangster. All the incidents have taken place in busy markets or residential areas, which have created panic among the residents.

In the latest incident, a 42-year-old transporter and a resident of Bhagu village lost his life in the firing over a property dispute.

While the police officials claim that they have intensified patrolling and nakas are regularly being set up at various entry and exit points in the city, residents term the efforts as inadequate. "Laying nakas will not suffice and massive combing operation should be launched to check the use of weapons by the unscrupulous elements," said Dr Dheeraj Dixit, a city-based doctor.

"In the wake of five firing incidents, the city does not appear to be secure for the common man who now fears venturing out at public places especially at night," said the doctor.

Having set up his clinic in the heart of the city, Dixit regretted that his female workers are afraid to leave the clinic at night. "After one of the workers became a victim of the snatchers who took away her purse last month, the women are quite afraid to venture out," the doctor added.

A marketing executive, Ajitpal Singh Ruby, said he works at a car showroom on Malout road.

"I escaped unhurt when two drunkards fighting with each other near the Rose Garden chowk at around 8.30 pm almost collided with my bike. Instead of apologizing, they brandished a pistol and threatened me with dire consequences," Ruby said.

Bathinda, October 7
Sant Isher Singh Public School, Sangrur, entered the semi-final in the girls' category of the CBSE cluster X inter-school Punjab-Haryana kho-kho tournament being held at the Lord Rama School here today.

Sant Isher Singh Public School, Sangrur, defeated OS DAV Kaithal 7-5 to enter the semi-final. Guru Teg Bahadur School, Dhuri, defeated Sanawar Public School 28-1, while in the match between OS DAV Public School, Kaithal and Sanawar Public School, Bathinda, the Kaithal school got a walkover as the Sanawar team was marked absent.

In the boys section, Lord Rama Public School, Bathinda, defeated Sant Nischal Public School, Kurukshetra, 14-0.

Also, Sant Isher Singh Public School, Sangrur, defeated MDN Senior Secondary School, Kalayat, 19 - 9. LM DAV School, Budhlada, defeated OS DAV Public School, Kaithal, 22-14.

Sant Ishar Singh Public School, Sangrur, defeated DAV School, Pundri, 6-2, while Gurukul School, Kurukshetra, defeated Guru Teg Bahadur School, Dhuri, 13-2.

Bathinda, October 7
The staff of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Deon, opposed the conduct of the inspection team that visited the institute on October 4.

In a press statement issued here today, the members of the staff stated that one of the teams sent from the office of the Director General of School Education (DGSE) had members that did not behave properly.

"The institute is located just beyond the grain market and does not have a separate boundary wall. During the paddy procurement season, a visitor to the institute has to cross the mounds of grains to reach our building. Because of this, we got delayed by a couple of minutes.

Moreover, the attendance of the last employee was recorded at around 9:15 am. Despite this, we were marked absent by more than half an hour," they said.

The employees have raised the matter with the in-charge, apprising her of the misconduct of the visiting team members.