Bathinda, January 8
Punjab Education Minister, Sikandar Singh Maluka, today conducted a surprise checking at the offices of DEO (Primary) and DEO (Secondary). The education minister closed the entry to the entire floor at 2 pm when it was time for the staff to return to their respective seats after lunchtime.

During the checking, Maluka found as many as 15 employees absent from their seats. Later, when the employees returned to their seats, the minister let off five after listening to their excuses but asked the other ten to give a written explanation for being late.

While talking to TNS, he said surprise checking had done wonders at various offices in the state. "We have suspended a large number of teachers following complaints by the students and surprise checking. I have been conducting checking on and off and also try to reach schools and offices at least once or twice a week," he said.

The minister also visited the government school in his village Maluka to enquire about basic infrastructure. He said the entire staff of the school was present during the checking.

He said the priority of the Education Department is to provide basic facilities to government schools. "We still don't have enough classrooms, separate toilets for girls, drinking water facilities, science labs and other basic amenities at many schools across the state. We are also facing problems of shortage of teachers at many places," he said.

Talking about teachers giving extra time to students, he said, "When we were students, teachers used to give extra time to extraordinary and weak students but these days, teachers hardly give time to students. I appreciate teachers who attend all their classes and give complete attention to the students."

Debunking the opposition's allegations about the education department not using the funds allocated by the Centre, he argued that many of the schemes introduced by the Centre were of no use to the department.

"For instance, there's a scheme under which the Central Government has assured to pay Rs 2,000 to motivators who would bring the illiterate people to study. But the government is mute on giving money to those who would teach the illiterate people and also on the place where the illiterate people would be taught," he said.

On the complaints received against Adarsh Schools, Maluka said out of 26 schools many were being streamlined by setting up a committee. He added that the priority of the state government was to appoint female staff and teachers in girls schools and also offering the female staff and teachers postings nearest to their residences.

He lauded the decision of appointing Dr Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal as the chairperson of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

He said the female students should be encouraged to participate in karate and gatka to make them ready for difficult situations.

He said although the government has initiated all the necessary steps to take care of the security of the girls and women in the state, the education department will train females to make them mentally and physically strong.

He added that cases of male teachers indulging in anti-social activities like harassment of females were reported in the past but dealing with such cases strictly had reduced the problem to a great extent.

Bathinda, January 8
Punjab Government will soon chalk out modalities to change the school timings as per the prevailing weather conditions, said the Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, who was on a surprise checking spree at the offices of the DEOs in the District Administrative Complex in Bathinda.

He said two months each of the summer, winter and rainy season would be considered to alter the school timings.

“We will soon make a plan to bring permanent respite from the problem. I have seen children going to school in scorching heat and chilling cold in many other countries too,” Maluka said.

The minister also expressed helplessness over stopping private schools from keeping the schools open in extreme weather conditions.

“Neither there is a law which allows us to implement the state government orders in the private schools, which are not affiliated to Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), nor do their authorities interact with us to get similar orders. Also, we have not received any specific written complaint in this regard so far,” Maluka said.

The Education Minister also pointed out that the government would soon chalk out a plan to check instances of cheating during examinations in schools.

Bathinda, January 8
With a dip in temperature, the number of patients complaining of respiratory problems has doubled at Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Children below the age of three are the most affected. “As many as 40-50 patients with respiratory problems like cough, cold and fever come to the hospital daily. Out of them, majority are infants,” Dr Satish Jindal, child specialist at the hospital told the Tribune News Service.

Dr Jindal suggested some important precautionary measures which one can follow to save their children from respiratory trouble.

He said, “Parents should avoid taking their children out before 9 am and after 6 pm in this cold weather. Keep the children well covered with woolen clothes and avoid sudden temperature change. Serve them hot food and plenty of fluids.”

“People drink less water in winters which adds to respiratory illness. To stay healthy they should consume plenty of water and other fluids,” he said.

Heaters, blowers and “angithi” also add to respiratory disorders. “One must not keep ‘angithi’ in closed rooms, as it is hazardous to health. Those who use heaters or blowers should keep a bucket of water in their rooms to balance the humidity level,” Dr Jindal said.

People must wash their hands frequently to keep viral diseases at bay.

Dr Gurpreet Singh Khadial, paediatrician, said the dip in temperature causes upper respiratory tract infection, chest infections and winter diarrhoea in children.

“In winter, parents should keep a check on what their children eat. They should be kept away from oily and junk food and given nutritious diet,” he said.

Bathinda, January 8
The teachers undergoing training in Maths and Science at the In-Service Training Centre here have been complaining of space crunch at the centre.

Under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), training is being imparted to the teachers teaching maths and science to students of classes IX and X.

The teachers say that as part of the training, they are supposed to prepare projects and charts among other things. "There is hardly any leg space in the room where more than 100 teachers are being trained," complained one of the teachers.

"While the sun has been hiding behind the clouds for so many days, we are forced to sit out in the open to prepare the projects," he added.

The protesting teachers also called the education department a foe of the students. "The education department has directed the teachers that they should try their best to ensure good results and then schedules back to back training camps for teachers," said Sukhdev Mittal, one of the teachers undergoing training in Bathinda.

"In December too, due to exams and Christmas vacations, we conducted classes only for 16 days. Now in January, we have been asked to attend training camps. How are we supposed to ensure good results? These training camps are being conducted to use up the grants allocated to the RMSA," he said.

The principal of the In-Service Training Centre, Khushbir Singh, however, refuted the allegations and said, "There are no days which are not important in an academic year. Anyway, the training camp is only for a few days."

These training camps are being conducted across the state. As many as 280 teachers of maths and 288 teachers of science from the Bathinda block are attending the training camps being held in the city.

The training is also being conducted at the Block Resource Centre and the Circle Resource Centre in Bathinda.

"The worst feature of these training camps is that all the teachers of a particular subject are called simultaneously. Since the science and maths training camps are going on these days, there are no teachers of the two subjects in any of the government schools across the state," said another teacher attending the camp.

Bathinda, January 8
While on the one hand, the district police is making efforts to safeguard women, the Red Cross Society today allegedly asked the female students living in the Red Cross working women’s hostel, near the Civil Hospital, to vacate the hostel premises on a short notice without making any alternative arrangement for them.

Crying foul over the eviction, around 25 hostellers, who are students of the Punjabi University Regional Centre, said they were served notices on December 16 wherein they were directed to vacate the hostel rooms by January 7 as the PWD buildings and roads department have declared them unsafe for living.

“We got calls from our hostel warden directing that the hostel rooms needed to be vacated as per the orders of the Red Cross Society,” they said.

The girls had then met the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) who assured them of making alternate arrangements for their accommodation. However, no such arrangements were made.

“When we had taken admission at the regional centre, we were told this building was our hostel. We were never told that we will have to vacate it. We have now been asked to vacate the hostel in the middle of the academic session leaving us with no option but to look for private accommodations,” regretted one of the girl students.

Besides these students, there are around 35 other women hostellers.

The activists of the Punjab Students’ Union (Randhawa), Lok Morcha, AFDR and Lawyers for Democratic Rights and Justice criticised the Red Cross Society for this move. They said at a time when women’s security is of prime importance, the incidence has highlighted the lackadaisical attitude of the administration.

Secretary of Red Cross Society JR Goyal said the orders were passed by the Deputy Commissioner (DC).

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said students were not permitted to live beyond January 7 as the building has outlived its life.

“We did not want to risk any lives and we are firm on shifting out the students,” he said.

The DC added that the students were not assured of any alternate accommodation arrangement as it does not come under the Red Cross Society’s purview.

“On the request of the students, we had sent a lady officer to conduct a checking. She also concluded that the building was not safe to live in,” he said.

Bathinda, January 8
The door-to-door symptom based cancer survey conducted in Bathinda district has found 3,488 people suffering from cancer-like symptoms.

Besides, 2,040 deaths due to cancer have been registered in the last five years and 1,596 people have been found undergoing treatment for cancer or have been cured of the disease.

Starting on December 1, the survey was conducted over a period of one month under which 2,61,223 households and 12,88,432 people were covered.

In all the three aspects— of cancer deaths, suspected cancer cases and people treated for cancer, the rural area has taken a lead over the urban areas pointing towards the malady being more prevalent in the rural pockets.

The symptom-based survey has revealed that 1,942 people suffer from cancer like symptoms in rural areas and around 1,546 suffer in urban areas.

Similarly, more cancer deaths have been reported in the rural areas than in the urban ones.

In rural pockets including areas of Goniana, Bhagta, Nathana, Ballianwali, Sangat and Talwandi Sabo 1,389 cancer deaths have been reported in the last five years. However, the figure stands at 651 for urban areas.

Even the number of people being treated for cancer or those who have already been cured too varies. In rural areas, around 1,012 have been cured or are undergoing treatment, while the figure stands at 576 in urban areas.

From amongst rural areas, Bhagta has been found having the highest number of suspected cases at 483. Talwandi Sabo stands second at 369 and Goniana at 368. Nathana has the least number of suspected cases at 210. However, Goniana has recorded the maximum number of cancer deaths at 336, while at 167, Nathana had the least number of cancer deaths. Sangat has maximum cured cases or those undergoing treatment for cancer at 266.

In urban areas, nursing colleges were made nodal centres for collection of data. These included Punjab College, Adesh College, Dasam Guru Gobind College, Guru Nanak College, Deep College, Baba Moni College and Government Multi-Purpose Health Workers (Females) Training Institute.

Punjab College of Nursing registered the maximum number of cancer deaths (149) and people undergoing cancer treatment or cured for cancer (134). Baba Moni College of Nursing registered the maximum number of symptom-based cases detected at 344.

District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said the data was now being segregated as per the organ specific cancer.

Travelling on Barnala road is not as easy at night as it is during the day. Frantic overtaking by buses and trucks without noticing the speed of the approaching vehicle, use of high beam and drunken driving has caused many accidents on the road.

Scene on barnala road: A tractor carries a vehicle damaged in road accident.

Though the Army authorities have tried to slow down the traffic by installing five temporary barriers-- which are removed at night-- and deploying Army jawans at various entrance points, still a number of accidents are reported on the road passing through the cantonment area.

With no check on drunken driving at night, use of high beam and trucks driven parallel on the road, the lives of people commuting in smaller vehicles is always at risk. Despite fixing boards, asking motorists not to increase the speed from 40 to 45 kilometers per hour, people are seen driving at a speed of nearly 120 kmph on Barnala road.

Not bothering about the little space left for the smaller vehicles at the temporary barricades constructed by the Army, buses and trucks drive past without caring about the small four-wheelers and two-wheelers.

A bus with international kabaddi players on board met with an accident on November 17, 2011 on Barnala road in which two persons lost their lives and many others were injured. The bus was escorted by a Gypsy travelling at high speed which collided with an Army truck.

Similar accidents involving Army vehicles and a large number of private vehicles are reported on the road.

According to the officials at Cantonment police station and volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Seva, most accidents happen on this road due to overtaking. "Accidents occur as the road is too narrow for the heavy vehicles to overtake and the use of high beam blinds the commuters sitting in smaller four-wheelers or two-wheelers," said Tarsem, who commutes daily to Bhucho Mandi on bike.

The commuters said there is hardly any help available on the road as the Army area falls on both sides of the road starting from Bibiwala Chowk till Bhucho Khurd. "If someone meets with an accident on the road, there is hardly anyone who bothers to stop his vehicle and enquire into the well-being of the road accident victims. At night, the road become quiet and the dark patches become too risky," said Prashant Jha, a civilian working in the Army area.

The double lane which starts from Bibiwala Chowk and ends just before the first TCP, the Army's entrance gate, separates the Barnala road and gives some respite to the commuters. But many accidents have taken place due to the divider as the vehicles collide with the divider near the cantonment police station.

The stretch near the Cantonment police station, near Bhatti road, Bibiwala Chowk, Rose Garden and near Kamla Nehru Colony are the places where many accidents were reported due to negligence and faults in engineering.

Problems you have to grapple with

Traffic lights at north estate: A car jumps the red light at the traffic intersection.

Kind of traffic: There are a few choke points on the road between Rose Garden Chowk and Bhucho Chowk. The traffic slows down temporarily near the Army barricades in the cantonment area, Adesh University, Bhucho Khurd and Bhucho Chowk.

Kind of vehicles: The vehicles on this stretch include Army trucks, tractor-trailers, buses, trucks, vehicles carrying marble from the market, cars besides others.

Presence of policemen managing traffic

Rose Garden Chowk: Two traffic constables
Bhatti Road light point: No policemen
Dhillon Collony light point: No traffic police
North Estate light point: No traffic police
Bibiwala Chowk: Police naka with temporary barricade, ambulance of Sahara Jan Sewa
Bhucho Chowk: No traffic policemen

Choke points

at the Cantonment police station: Vehicles involved in road accidents are lying at the cantonment police station.

Rose Garden Chowk, traffic lights near Dhillon Colony, traffic lighs near Bhatti road, Bibiwala Chowk, temporary Army barricades, Adesh University, Bhocho Khurd and Bhucho Chowk are the main choke points.

Accident points on Barnala road

A large number of accidents were reported on the Barnala road due to overtaking and vehicles that try to cross or reach the main Barnala road without noticing the high-speed vehicles coming from both directions. Accidents are reported on the road cuts near Kamla Nehru Colony, Dhillon Colony, Bibiwala Chowk, Rose Garden, near Cantonment police station, Bhucho Khurd, Marble Market and Bhucho Chowk.

No survey conducted on this road so far

So far, no survey has been conduct either by the district administration or the police despite the loss of numerous precious lives in road accidents..

Buses at high speed pose danger to smaller vehicles

The high-speed buses that always try to overtake the other vehicles near the barriers pose a serious threat to the smaller vehicles. Despite little or no space for the cars and two-wheelers, the bus drivers always try to cross the vehicles on the road.

Bathinda, January 8
The Farmers' Organic Outlet, located opposite the Mela Ram Bansal Hospital, was inaugurated today.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav inaugurated the outlet where organic produce including fruits, vegetables, pulses, maize, wheat, rice etc will be available.

Programme manager, Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), Tanu Agrawal said the Foundation is supporting more than 300 farmers in organic farming since 2007. Due to the non-availability of market for organic produce, the ACF supported the organic farmers by opening an outlet in the city. It will also help the poor women in self-help groups by allowing the sale of vegetables grown in kitchen garden, he said.

The ACF is trying to form a Farmers Producer Company.

ADC Mohammed Tayyab, SDM Ramvir, vice-president Ambuja Cements, Sanjay Vashist and regional head of the ACF, Narendra Gupta were also present at the inaugural function.

Bathinda, January 8
The state-level function to observe the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda will be held at Bathinda on January 11.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav held a meeting today to discuss the arrangements for the function.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be the chief guest at the function that will be held at Jeet Palace on Barnala Road.

A day before, on January 10, a procession will be taken out in the city starting from the local sports stadium.

The DC said on January 11, Lohri for the girl child will also be celebrated. Member of Parliament from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal will participate in the Lohri function that will be held at Urban Estate phase III wherein girls who have excelled in education, science, sports and other areas will be honoured.

ADC (Development) Mohammad Tayyab, SDM Bathinda Ramvir, Jagjit Singh Mann from Nehru Yuva Kendra, Deputy District Education Officer (Secondary) Dr Amarjit Singh and other officials were also present at the meeting.

Bathinda, January 8
Jethu Ram Bansal, a freedom fighter and a prominent educationist and social worker of the city, breathed his last in his house at Old Focal Point last evening.

He was cremated at Ram Bagh this morning. He was 84. Bansal had suffered a heart attack.

People from all walks of life including MLA from Bathinda Urban Sarup Chand Singla attended the cremation.

Bansal was imprisoned as a freedom fighter and headed several social organisations besides establishing education institutions.

Bathinda, January 8
As many as 240 residential quarters have been constructed to accommodate the government employees working in Bathinda district.

In a press statement issued here today, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav said the government has spent Rs 2219.72 lakhs on constructing these quarters on 7.42 acres of land.

The three-storey buildings have 144 quarters (on an area of 3.52 acres) for class III employees and 96 quarters (on around 3.90 acres of land) for class IV employees.

The Punjab public works division has constructed these quarters, which the DC said, are equipped with the latest amenities. — TNS