Bathinda, October 31
A blanket of smoke has engulfed Bathinda following the large-scale burning of paddy stubble in and around the city. Apart from damaging more than 60 per cent potassium and a large number of other nutrients in the soil, the burning of paddy stubble also affects the human health.

Despite the ban on the burning of paddy stubble, farmers continue to do on the ground that there is no alternative. "Though wheat may be grown using the happy seeder, there is no other option for the potato growers and they have to burn the paddy stubble," said a progressive farmer Gurcharan Singh from Tungwali village.

Gurcharan Singh said the farmers have to burn the stubble which creates an umbrella of smoke all over, especially on the busy roads. The smoke creates risk for the commuters as the driver's vision could be affected due to the smoke emanating from the fields.

Another farmer, Jagtar Brar, said he had taken a baler last year from a private company on rent. They also charged him for the fuel and it burnt a hole in his pocket. "Since the cost of the machine is more than Rs 12 lakhs, the private companies charge a hefty amount to collect the paddy stubble", Brar said.

He added that no farmer would ever dare to spend Rs 12 lakhs on the machine which is used only for two days in a year. It is not economical even if the farmers buy it collectively, he added.

The farmer said it is the lignin and silica in the stubble which prevent it from developing into cattle feed. "The problem arises when the stubble fails to decompose due to the low temperature. It requires a spray of chemicals for the stubble to decompose," said Jagtar.

The farmers said those who have no other option but to burn the paddy to grow potato or other crops should be allowed to burn the stubble.

On the transportation of paddy for biomass, the farmers regretted that it requires labourers to chop the stubble and pack it to far off places.

Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Rajinder Brar said though the government has banned the burning of paddy stubble, there seems to be no alternative for the farmers.

"Though happy seeder is an alternative, their number is quite low in Bathinda. At least 50,000 to 60,000 happy seeders are required in the state to grow wheat without burning paddy stubble and it will take some time to acquire such a large number of machines," Brar said. He added that in Bathinda, there are hardly 10 to 15 happy seeders which are not sufficient.

Two farmers in Siriawala and a villager in Rampura have developed machines that chop the stubble and then distribute it in the fields. "We have seen the trial of these machines and if it proves successful, then these machines may remove the glitch in the coming years," the Chief Agriculture Officer said. 

Bathinda, October 31
The Bathinda district administration has found an economic way to comply with the directives of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on mapping polling stations as per their geographical coordinates.

The ECI has directed the states to map the polling stations as per their geographic locations for which an Android software was provided. The booth level officers (BLOs) were directed to upload the application in their mobile phones and use it for mapping.

However, only expensive smart phones could support such applications whereas most of the BLOs in the districts have got simple phones. Instead of jostling with the technology, the district administration decided to use Google Earth services for the purpose.

"We zeroed in on the buildings, froze the frame and mapped the coordinates. While some states had even taken expensive Android phones to complete the procedure, we went in for a simpler version using Google Earth and completed the task," said the District Election Officer Kamal Kishore Yadav.

Commenting on the accuracy of the collected data, Sanjay Bhatnagar, assistant professor, department of computer applications, from Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh Campus, said the information collected through Google Earth is as accurate as those collected using the application that the ECI has provided.

It is pertinent to mention here that states like Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have already completed the mapping while the exercise of collecting geographical coordinates of polling stations and uploading the details of officials concerned is in full swing in Punjab.

Other districts like Ludhiana have faced resistance from the BLOs who say that the procedure is tardy as they do not have smart phones. As per the directives of the ECI, a BLO is to go to a polling station and send an SMS from there to a particular number of the Election Commission. The server of the EC then automatically traces the location from where the SMS has been sent and identifies its coordinates. The EC had developed an application to upload the information relevant to a particular polling station on the map.

In the next stage of the project, all polling stations will also include the details of poll-related officers. A voter can select the state, district, assembly constituency and the names of polling stations and get the location of the selected area and the electoral roll on the EC's website.

By clicking on any polling station, the voter can get the name and contact details of the chief electoral officer, district election officer, electoral registration officer, booth level officer and the electoral roll of the polling station concerned. It would also be clubbed with the wider data of voters' list to enable the voters as well as parties to view the lists online.

The mapping will also serve as a data bank and help in identifying the sensitivity of polling stations and make security arrangements.

Fact file
Earlier, the six constituencies in Bathinda district had 928 polling stations. However, after the revised directives from the Election Commission of India (ECI) were received, the number rose to 964 booths when the polling stations having more than 1200 voters were carved again into new ones.

Bathinda, October 31
The officials of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) today began a two-day training camp on ways to deal with natural calamities like earthquake. The government officials from various departments of Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar took part in the training camp.

Teams formed by the National Disaster Management Authority carry out rescue operations to demonstrate their preparedness in times of natural calamity in Bathinda on Wednesday. Tribune photos

Speaking on the occasion, Major General VK Datta said the exercise was conducted to learn about the methods of coordination among the government functionaries at the time of natural calamities.

Datta informed the officials present about the importance of the exercise. Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayyab, District Revenue Officer SS Dhillon and Naresh Kumar from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were also present.

The experts laid stress upon the need for coordination among the government officials at the time of such eventualities.

The rescue teams, after gathering at the stadium rushed to different places in the city to carry out the exercise.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni, while appreciating the exercise, said, "Though we were aware of the coordination process theoretically, the exercise updated our knowledge."

The Civil Surgeon said the exercise was a lesson for the government servants present. "The doctors were advised not to treat the patients in hospital buildings and to shift the patients out in the open camps during an earthquake. The patients can be marked with red, blue and green stickers with which the seriousness of their condition could be noticed," the officials said.

The officials taking part in the exercise informed that live demonstration of the patients being lifted with and without stretcher was also done.

The contingents of the NDRF and the officials also visited Manocha Colony, MSD School, Civil Hospital and Mittal Mall to sensitise the people and the government officials on ways to deal with the situation at the time of earthquake and other natural calamities.

The officials said it was a preparedness exercise done after a meeting held with the Bathinda DC.

Bathinda, October 31
The dharna by the special trainer teachers today entered its fifth day. The teachers have been staging the dharna in front of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) here demanding the fulfillment of their long- pending demands.

The teachers said they would not call off their protest until the government met all their demands.

The agitating teachers took out a protest march in various markets of the city and swept the streets to highlight their plight.

Sitting on dharna along with their family members, the teachers have been receiving support from various quarters including other organisations and NGOs.

Satinder Tarn Taran, Jarnail Singh, Jagdeep Barnala, Lokesh Dhand, Jagdeep Kaur, Anita, Gurcharan Singh, Namdev Singh Moga, Beant Muktsar and others were among the activists of the union present.

Meanwhile, the dharna of the unemployed linemen today entered its seventh day with the government yet to fulfill their demands.

The union members yesterday launched a massive protest against the Punjab government for not heeding their grievances and not taking up the matter in the court properly.

One of the members of the linemen union Bhola Singh, who is on hunger strike, said the union members would continue their dharna till the demands are met.

It may be mentioned that on December 16, 2011, 1,000 linemen were offered appointment letters. The linemen union is protesting against the delay in giving appointment letters to the remaining 4,000 linemen all over Punjab.

Among the activists of the linemen union present today at the site of dharna were Devinder Singh, Kirpal Singh, Chet Singh, Karnveer Singh, Iqbal Behla and Manmohan.

Bathinda, October 31
Bathinda will play host to the Punjab rural games in the under-16 girls' category from November 18 to November 20. Presiding over a meeting held here today to review the arrangements, Bathinda SDM Ramvir said teams from all districts will be competing in 11 events. These events would include basketball, badminton, hockey, kabaddi, kho-kho, handball, gymnastics, table tennis, lawn tennis, volleyball and athletics.

SDM, Talwandi Sabo, Anil Garg, district sports officer Karam Singh Sidhu, SP (Headquarter) Gurmeet Singh, district development and panchayat officer Rajinder Batra and deputy district education officer (secondary) Dr Amarjit Kaur were also present at the meeting.

The SDM directed the officials to ensure that the playgrounds are levelled, security is deployed, proper arrangements for the stay of players is made and mobile teams are formed for the providing medical facilities.

All the departments were directed to submit their list of officials deputed on various duties.

Reception counters will be set up at the bus stand and the railway station so that players coming from outside the district do not face any inconvenience and their needs are taken care of adequately.

Bathinda, October 31
A seminar was held on Vigilance Awareness Week at the Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI), Deon, today. SSP, Vigilance, Sukhdev Singh Chahal presided over the function.

Speaking on the occasion, Chahal said the campaign cannot succeed without public participation. He sought support from all quarters and informed the people about the working of the vigilance department. The issues of bribery and corruption were also discussed at the seminar and people were encouraged to come forward against these malpractices.

BFGI Deputy Director (Activities) BD Sharma welcomed the guests and shared his thoughts on emergence of corruption in society. Dean, students' welfare, Ranbir Kaur Brar gave suggestions on rooting out bribery and corruption.

Deputy Director (Academics) Dr Pradeep Kaura appreciated the efforts of the vigilance department in fighting against the menace.

Member, Block Samiti from village Virk Kalan, Dr Gurcharan Singh said

holding the awareness week was a good initiative on the part of the vigilance

department and hoped that it would yield good results.

Students of Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology, Apurva and Avantika, delivered a speech on corruption. They said honest officials should be awarded publicly for their services and a public campaign should be started against the corrupt elements. They said apart from giving lawful punishment, social boycott of the corrupt officers should also be done. SSP Chahal and Deputy Superintendent of Police Janak Singh were also honoured on the occasion.

Prominent among others present at the seminar included the general secretary of the SC wing of SAD, Bathinda, Angrez Singh Deon, panches and sarpanches of different villages and officials of the vigilance department.

It may be mentioned that the National Fertilisers Limited (NFL), Bathinda, had also recently organised a seminar to mark the Vigilance Awareness Week.

Bathinda, October 31
An awareness programme on tuberculosis (TB) was held in schools located in the slum areas today. The schools where the awareness camp was held included the BDS Public School and HPS Public School, Baba Deep Singh Nagar.

Communication facilitator of the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) Gagan Goyal made the students and the school staff aware of tuberculosis, its symptoms and treatment.

Gagan Goyal said TB can be completely cured provided the patient regularly takes his medicine. He added that with complete treatment through the DOTs and the DOT Plus systems, precious lives can be saved.

The government started the DOTS system under which patients are given medicines and free treatment. He said in case anyone comes across a TB patient, he should be made to immediately contact the nearest government health centre. The students and the school staff were informed about the symptoms, precautions and treatment for TB. Goyal urged the people to get their sputum examined immediately if the symptoms of TB persisted. The symptoms include persistent cough for more than two weeks, blood in sputum, loss of appetite, loss of weight and pain in chest.

Sputum examination is done free of cost in government hospitals. He appealed to the patients not to leave the treatment midway. aIn case any patient has given up the treatment halfway, then the disease becomes incurable. Therefore, the patient should complete the course of medicine ranging from six to eight months, he added.

Bathinda, October 31
The chief engineer of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabbat, MR Parhar retired today after putting in 34 years of service with the power department. Parhar headed the team of engineers at Lehra Mohabbat that detected the poor quality of coals being supplied to thermal plants in Punjab and raised an alarm. It was his whistle blower's act that led to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to lay a new policy for testing coal and saved it from paying crores to the coal companies.

Hailing from Dharampur area of Solan in Himachal Pradesh, Parhar did his BSc (Electrical) from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana. — TNS

Bathinda, October 31
A resident of Dhillwan village in Moga has been booked by the police for rash driving which lead to the death of a Bajakhana resident. In a complaint to the police, Anil Pandit, a resident of Motihari in Bihar, said his brother was riding a motorbike and was crushed by a speeding bus being driven by the accused. The accident took place near Jeeda village. The police have registered a case under sections 279, 304-A and 427 of the IPC at the Nehianwala police station.

In another accident that took place near Seengo village, a man was seriously injured. In a complaint to the police, Makhan Singh of Sirsa said the accused Gurpreet Singh of Mansa hit the motorbike of his friend Manjit Singh with his vehicle. A case under sections 279, 337, 338 and 427 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Talwandi Sabo police station.

Motorcycle stolen

The motorcycle of a city resident was stolen by some unidentified persons. In a complaint to the police, Rishi Garg said he had parked his bike near the Mehna Chowk from where it was stolen. The cost of the stolen bike is estimated to be nearly Rs 22,000. A case in this connection has been registered against unidentified persons at the Kotwali police station.

Three booked for looting

Police have registered a case against three persons for looting a resident of Hans Nagar.

The complainant, Vipan Kumar, said the accused, Ravinder Kumar, Vijay Kumar and Rahul had snatched his cell phone besides Rs 150. The accused managed to flee after the complainant raised an alarm.

The matter was brought to the notice of the police and a case under sections 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Canal Colony police station.

Three of family booked for demanding dowry

Police have registered a case against three of a family for demanding dowry. In a complaint to the police, Jyoti, a resident of Bathinda, said her husband Pardeep Kumar, mother-in-law Shakuntla Devi and father-in-law Satpal, all residents of Preet Nagar in Bhucho Mandi, had been harassing her on the pretext of not bringing enough dowry.

After a detailed investigation, the police registered a case under sections 498-A, 406 and 109 of the IPC at the women police station. No arrests have been made so far in this connection.