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Protest against State govt
MCB installs hand pumps even as water unfit for human consumption
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Growers see threat to PBW-621 wheat variety
Anti-social elements rounded up
Mid-day meal workers now cook trouble for govt
Glaucoma awareness march held in city
Top state award for Avneet Sidhu
Eight booked by police under Immoral Trafficking Act
Malwa College honours athletes on annual day
Tech workshop held at GKU
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300 farmers heading for dharna site held
Police was deployed in strength across the city with barricades installed at all the entry and exit points Tribune News Service
Bathinda, March 10 The BKU (Ekta-Ugraha) and labourer unions had announced to lay siege to the District Administrative Complex (DAC) to pressurise the state government to fulfill their long-pending demands. The protesters, however, could not succeed in holding the dharna as the police was deployed in stength in every nook and corner of the city. As a preventive measure, all the entry and exit points to the city were sealed with barricades. The farmers were arrested from villages near Rampura, Bhucho, Sangat, Jethuke and other areas. Those arrested were bundled into vans and taken to different police stations of the district. The farmers raised slogans against the state government for not allowing them to protest against the wrong policies of the state and central governments. On the other hand, the police said that they had special instructions against allowing protests as it led to utter chaos and traffic snarls putting people to inconvenience. Under the supervision of SHOs, DSPs, and SPs, barricades were installed at the major entry and exit points of the city. The police also diverted the routes of private and government buses heading for or departing the bus stand adjoining the DAC. The farmer leaders said that they were demanding a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the family members of the farmers who had committed suicide due to financial losses in agriculture. The labourers demanded a piece of plot in urban and rural areas of the state, as announced by various state and central governments in the past.
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MCB installs hand pumps even as water unfit for human consumption
Bathinda, March 10 Information procured under the Right To Information (RTI) Act revealed that in the last five years, 335 hand pumps have been installed at the cost of Rs 26 lakh. Of the total 640 hand pumps in the city, more than 50 per cent have been installed in the last five years since the MCB came into being. Hand pumps have been installed across the city - from government schools to cremation grounds, thickly-populated areas to markets, gardens to parks and in and around government schools. Pumps have also come up near the ponds such as Sanjay Tobba where underground water often gets mixed with the sewerage water of the pond, posing risk to the health of the people residing in its vicinity who use the hand pump to meet their water needs. Some of the pumps installed recently include areas on the Santpura road, the Power House road, the Oriya Colony, Lal Singh Basti and Parasram Nagar. "We are caught in a fix. Though we know that the water of these hand pumps is unsafe for human consumption, but we cannot resist the political pressure from municipal councillors and other political leaders of the area," said MCB officials wishing not to be named. They added that when confronted with the problem of unsuitable water, the politicians say water would not be drawn for drinking purpose but for washing and cleaning purposes. However, most of the people do not care for the quality of water drawn from these hand pumps and have been drinking it. They added that in the last five years, lakhs have been spent on installing hand pumps. "The money could have been used to install reverse osmosis (RO) plants. Presently, each ward (except for two in the city) has RO plant of its own. There is a need to set up one more RO plant in each of the densely-populated wards in the city," said the MCB officials. While the corporation is installing new pumps, notices are being pasted on the old ones informing that the water drawn from the pump is unfit for human consumption. Area residents demanded that instead of pasting a signage "unfit for human consumption", the MCB should seal such pumps. Mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman said though there was no official intimation from the Punjab Government to put a signage on each hand pump, the MCB did it on its own. "We thought it was better to caution people drawing water from these pumps. But we cannot seal them completely as people are dependant on these pumps for cleaning purposes," he said. Fact file
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Growers see threat to PBW-621 wheat variety
Bathinda, March 10 Farmers said they noticed the problem on the leaves of the crop around five days ago. They fear that it could be yellow rust, which had attacked this particular variety of the wheat crop in the villages. "But it could be alterneria leaf blight too. It has, however, hardly affected the PBW 621 variety," said a progressive farmer from Sivia village, Jagtar Brar. Another farmer Baldev Singh said they were continuously reporting the problem to agricultural experts in the department. The farmers said if not controlled now, they might have to face severe economic losses. Chief Agriculture Officer Rajinder Brar said though the temperature at present was ideal for the growth of wheat crop, it was to be investigated whether it had been attacked by yellow rust or something else. “It might be leaf blight. I will send a team of agricultural experts to the fields tomorrow to identify the disease and make the farmers aware of its cure as well,” Brar said.
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Anti-social elements rounded up
Bathinda, March 10 The operation was launched in view of the recovery of detonator from a person near a police station recently in Chandigarh recently. During the combing operation, the police rounded up thieves and vehicle lifters at various places in the district. A resident of Gillan village near Ludhiana was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) near Narinderpura village. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) too has launched operations against the unscrupulous elements roaming around the railway station in Bathinda. While the Punjab Police managed to arrest some gamblers, the cops said efforts are being made to put the anti-social elements behind the bars. The GRP said a man was arrested near the railway track in Narinderpura village as a 21-inch knife was recovered from his possession. The accused was found walking beside the railway tracks. The arrested person has been identified as Jaskaran Singh. During the interrogation, the police failed to extract any vital information from him about the weapon. An FIR was lodged against him with the GRP in Bathinda. He was later sent to the Central Jail. According to the police, the accused was arrested during an operation which was launched to check the credentials of the suspected elements. He has been booked under sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act at the GRP police station. A high-level meeting was held here in which senior police functionaries from Bathinda and nearby districts were present. Inspector General of Police, Bathinda zone, Nirmal Singh Dhillon, while terming the meeting as routine, said the policemen had gathered to chalk out a strategy to curb the menace of drugs, snatchings and theft. The meeting also discussed the law and order situation in the districts that come under the Bathinda zone, the IG said.
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Mid-day meal workers now cook trouble for govt
Bathinda, March 10 In a press statement issued here today, the president of the Democratic Mid-Day Meal Cook Front, Punjab, Sinder Kaur Sibia stated that cooks from all over the state will assemble on March 17 outside the Vidhan Sabha during the Budget session and hold massive protest against the state government. On March 17, an agitation will be held outside the offices of the respective tehsildars at the district level. The cooks are demanding minimum fixed wages as per the labour law, regular wages and no deductions from the wages given to them. They also protested against handing over the mid-day meal scheme to the contractors. Sinder Kaur Sibia added that there are around 50,000 mid-day meals workers in the state who get a salary of Rs 1,200 per month. "The government increased the workload of the cooks by giving utensils for the mid-day meals, but is not ready to pay the cooks more," she said. The leaders of the union also appealed to the cooks not to allow the handing over of the mid-day meal meal work to the contractors. "We request the school management committees to pass an agenda against giving the work to the contractors and send the agenda to the state government for its consideration," she said.
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Glaucoma awareness march held in city
Bathinda, March 10 The students of Adesh Medical College, Nursing and GNM students, the staff of Max Hospital, members of several non-government organisations (NGOs) including the Bathinda Vikas Manch, Senior Citizens' Council, Swami Vivekanand Study Circle, Rotary Club and Bathinda Cantonment Innerwheel Club participated in the event. Starting from Rose Garden, the march culminated at the SSD College for Girls. President of the Bathinda Ophthalmological Society, Dr Amrit Sethi, while addressing the rally, said glaucoma (Kala Motia) steals vision but the malady is preventable if detected on time. A talk on glaucoma awareness was also given by the secretary, Bathinda Ophthalmological Society, Dr Shveta Grover and Dr RS Randhawa, highlighting the dangers and the signs of the disease. A scientific meet on glaucoma was also held on Saturday night where Prof SS Pandav from the PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr Parul Goel and Dr Anand Aggarwal from Amritsar highlighted the latest developments in diagnosing glaucoma and ways to manage it. More than 50 eye specialists of the area benefitted from the programme as the Punjab Medical Council had accredited this continuing medical education (CME) programme.
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Top state award for Avneet Sidhu
Bathinda, March 10 The highest sports award of the state government is being conferred on 15 distinguished sportspersons of the state including Avneet. The players who have represented Punjab in national and international championships in all Olympic disciplines including cricket, circle kabaddi and games for the handicapped, are honoured with the award. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a scroll and a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The sportspersons, who have earned a minimum of 40 points in the last five years, are eligible for the award as per the criteria laid down by the sports department.
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Eight booked by police under Immoral Trafficking Act
Bathinda, March 10 Police arrested Gurjit Singh from village Dhadde, Jaspreet Kaur from Mandi Kalan, Makhan Singh from village Bander, Paramjit Kaur from village Bhadaur, Hidarpal Singh and Anju Bala from Bargari, Amarpal Singh from village Ghaiya and Manjit Kaur from Kotha Guru. Police officials said further investigation in the case is on and further action will be taken based on the probe outcome.
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Malwa College honours athletes on annual day
Bathinda, March 10 The chief guest on the occasion was chief parliamentary secretary Sarup Chand Singla. Director, sports, Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr Raj Kumar Sharma was the guest of honour. Speaking on the occasion, Singla called upon the students to stay away from drugs. Dr Sharma said besides academics and sports, students should also maintain ethics and moral values. Malwa Advanced Education Society honoured the students who have brought laurels to the college. The students honoured on the occasion were Purnima, Praveen Kumar, Rekha Rani, Navtejdeep Singh, Anita, Amanpreet Kaur Jathoul, Tajinderpal Singh and Romit. They were honoured with cash prizes. A total of 74 athletes and players were honoured at the function.
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Tech workshop held at GKU
Bathinda, March 10 Kanchan Sharma, a software engineer with over 12 years of experience in Dot Net application, delivered an expert lecture to the faculty and the students of GKU. Dr RK Bansal, Dr Vijay Laxmi, Vinod Singla, Satinderjeet Singh, Manjeet Singh, members of the faculty and more than 60 students of the pre-final year of CSE, BCA, MCA and MBA departments, attended the workshop. Kanchan Sharma explained the basic concepts about the Dot Net framework. He said the knowledge of these concepts is important in today's requirement of industry. SK Ahluwalia, vice-chancellor, said the workshop was helpful for the students in learning about the latest technologies. He said such workshops would be held frequently to equip the students of the university with the latest knowledge about cutting-edge knowledge. The vice-chancellor said that the university has been taking initiatives to boost education in this hinterland of the state. From holding agriculture fair to scholarship tests and from placements for its students to steps to conserve environment, the university is striving hard to fulfill its aims and objectives, he said. It was with this in mind that the workshop had been held-- to boost educational standards, he added.
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Around 300 farmers, including around 100 women, who were en route to Bathinda city to hold a protest against the state government, were arrested by the police today.
Bathinda, March 10
