Bathinda, April 6
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has fixed April 29 as the next date for hearing in the case of municipal solid waste management plant situated on the Mansa road.

During the last hearing on April 3, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) submitted its report on 17 samples of drinking water, which were collected from various sites around the proposed site as per the orders of the NGT. The samples were collected in the presence of the appellants.

Captain Mal Singh from Mati Dass Nagar area and other people had filed an appeal against the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) that gave the environmental clearance to the project last year.

The report has been submitted before the NGT chairperson, Justice Swatanter Kumar, a judicial member Justice P Jyothimani and expert members Dr GK Pandey, Prof AR Yousuf and Dr Ajay A Deshpande.

It is learnt that the PPCB has also mentioned its observations in its report.

Sources said though the groundwater samples collected have not been found fit for drinking purpose, the NGT experts will conduct a deep analysis of the various causes responsible for the pollution.

"There could be a possibility that the dumped solid waste may not have polluted the groundwater. The area around the site did not have a sewerage facility till 2010. People used to dig sewer pits and dumped sewage into it, which could have got mixed with the groundwater," reasoned a government official.

In the six hearings held so far, officials of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), and the PPCB along with the appellants have appeared before the Tribunal.

During the previous hearing on March 6, the NGT had directed the MCB to file an affidavit mentioning the issues that the appellants had raised.

The appellants had sought answer to their query whether the water in the distributary canal shall be affected. If yes, details of the steps taken by the Municipal Corporation to ensure prevention of water pollution.

The National Green Tribunal also sought to know if there was any residential area within a radius of 500 metres from the dumping site and whether these colonies were authorised or unauthorised. It had asked for the details of the groundwater contamination due to leaching.

The MCB has duly submitted an affidavit before the NGT.

Also at the same hearing, the Punjab Pollution Control Board was ordered to collect samples of groundwater and file its analysis report.

Bathinda, April 6
The 108 Ambulance Service has catered to 27,773 patients since its inception in April 2011.

The service, aimed at providing immediate help in cases of medical emergency, has benefited pregnant women the most. As many as 8,599 women in the family way were ferried to the nearest government health facility by 108 ambulances while 29 of them delivered babies on board. The women included those who had suffered miscarriages. A district has been provided with 12 ambulances.

The Bathinda cluster in-charge, Raman Garg, said, "Many a times, we get a call for help but before we reach the spot, the patient is already taken to a health facility."

Garg added that the number of women delivering babies on board the ambulance was not encouraging. In most of such cases, either the woman or her family had avoided the early signs of labour, which was neither good for the baby nor for the mother. "Though we have all kind of facilities in a 108 ambulance it is no substitute to the comfort available at a hospital," he said.

The maximum of five babies were delivered on board in a Goniana ambulance, four each in ambulances of Balluana and Bhucho Mandi, three each in Maur Mandi and Bhagta Bhai, two each in ambulances of Talwandi Sabo, Nathana and one baby each was delivered in the ambulances of Raman Mandi, Sangat Mandi and Bathinda city. The city is provided with two ambulances.

Besides, 5,835 cases of Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) and newborn; and 4,994 cases of sexual assault, assault and others were helped.

Apart from the genuine medical exigencies, pranksters too kept the staff of ambulance service on its toes. Though the number of fake calls was huge when the service came into being, it has started to dwindle.

Garg said efforts were on to popularise the ambulance service so that maximum people could be benefited.

Bathinda, April 6
A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped near the railway lines adjoining the Bathinda railway station lat on Friday night.

The incident came to fore in the afternoon today.

The victim's father, Sarwan Singh, alleged that his daughter was taken by one Bachhi who raped her. The incident came to light as the child was crying due to profuse bleeding.

Sarwan said he resides in a hutment adjoining the railway lines and the incident took place around one km away from his place.

The child, who was unable to speak much, said she was taken away by Bachhi last night. She was taken to the Civil Hospital for medical examination.

Canal Colony SHO Kuljeet Singh, who reached the spot and enquired into the matter, said action against the accused would be taken only after getting the medical examination report of the victim.

Bathinda, April 6
Congress workers are gearing up to participate in the political conferences on Baisakhi mela to be held in Talwandi Sabo on April 13.

The in-charge of Baisakhi conference, Jagmohan Kang, said senior political leaders including the newly appointed PPCC president Pratap Singh Bajwa, local Congress leader Gurpreet Kangar and party MLAs and workers would participate in the conference. Kang claimed that over 1 lakh Congress workers and leaders from all over the state and adjoining areas would participate in the conference.

He accused the Badals of controlling the government machinery for their own gains by sidelining the interests of the common man.

MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti, MLA Karan Kaur Brar, MLA Joginder Singh Panjgrain, Gura Singh Tungwali, Ajit Singh, Makhan Singh, Chiranji Lal Garg, Nathu Ram, Narinder Singh Bhaleria, Ashok Kumar, Harinder Mann, Avtar Goniana and press secretary Rupinder Bindra were among those present at the meeting held to review the preparations.

Bathinda, April 6
As a precursor to the mass protest rally to be taken out in Bathinda on April 8, teacher unions have started demonstrating in neighbouring areas to spread awareness about the wrong policies of the state education department.

Accordingly, the Democratic Teachers' Front Union organised rallies in villages Jandanwala and Deon.

Accusing the government of aiming to generate revenue by burdening the masses and by announcing anti-people policies, Resham Singh, the state head of the union said, "The policies of the state government are anti-people. The government is eyeing the education sector to generate revenue. All the recent policies are against the people. It announced the merger of schools. The move will help the government in handing over the empty buildings to the corporate sector."

He added that the unions will also protest against the government's decision to give five schools to the Bharti Foundation. "The corporate sector is being brought in by the government. If it is not to generate revenue, what else can be the reason behind the move to open private schools in the villages," asked Singh.

Teachers employed under Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) and Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS) have also announced that they would join the protest.

Bathinda, April 6
The state education department has burdened the staff members of government schools across the state with the responsibility of enrolling children from the neighbouring villages as students.

While some schools are yet to chalk out a plan of action, others have started taking out admission rallies in the adjoining areas to rope in children.

The students and staff members of the Government Secondary School, Maiserkhana, today took out an admission rally. Principal of the school, Varinder Pal Kaur, flagged off the rally.

The students and teachers went around speaking to the villagers and informing them of the various facilities being provided at the school.

The villagers were told about facilities like mid-day meal, free books, uniform and education for all students up to class VIII and regular medical check-up. They were also told that to contain the instances of anaemia in children, iron folic tablets are also given.

"Although this is an added responsibility, the teachers have to go out and try and convince parents to enrol their children in schools. It is wastage of precious time. Instead of asking the teachers to ensure the enrolment of more children, the state education department should take some concrete steps," said a teacher at a government school in Rampura.

Mandeep Kaur, principal of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, said, "We need not make special efforts to enrol students. There is a great rush for admissions at our schools. We have almost 100 teachers and wherever they stay and go, they always convince the parents to send their children to school."

Bathinda, April 6
The sensational case in which a husband murdered his wife on April 4, has turned out to be a tale of brutality and trust deficit between the couple.

The doctors who conducted the postmortem have reported 12 grievous injuries just on the skull of the woman.

The report compiled by Dr Gurmel Singh reveals that the main reason behind the death of the woman was head injury. There were six injuries on one side of the head, four on the other side, one on the forehead and one on the back.

It appears that the husband caught the woman by her neck and attacked her by inflicting repeated blows on her body.

The injuries were enough to cause the death of the woman, the report suggests. There were no other injuries reported on any other part of the body of the deceased.

The 35-year-old woman, Baljeet Kaur, mother of a class X student, was allegedly murdered by her husband, Harvinder Singh, following domestic disputes and the alleged illicit relationship of her husband.

The injuries revealed that the husband repeatedly struck her with the heavy metal butt of an air pistol. Police has already taken the pistol in its custody.

Doctors believe the woman might have fallen unconscious after the first or second blow itself. The blows completely damaged an eye of the woman and left a deep scar.

To rule out the possibility of poisoning, the doctors have suggested the testing of the viscera of the woman, which will take two to three months.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Cit) Gurmeet Kingra said the husband is now repentant. "He cries thinking of his son's future and worries about him," the DSP said.

He said the accused was in two-day police custody and would be sent to jail after being produced in the court.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police said there was enough proof that the husband had murdered his wife in a fit of rage following disputes that had been taking place between the couple over the years.

Bathinda, April 6
The body of a woman was found floating in lake number three of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) in the morning today.

Volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa fished out the body from the lake and sent it to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem. The woman appeared to be in her fifties and had two iron bangles in her arms.

Police failed to find anything which could lead to the identification of the deceased. The body has been kept in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital for identification.

Earlier also, bodies have been recovered from the thermal lake by the police and workers of the NGOs.

Bathinda, April 6
A resident of Birla Mill Road complained that thieves had stolen costly material, gold jewellery and cash from his house. The complainant, Rajiv Kumar, stated that apart from gold and other material, Rs 10,000 in cash was also stolen from his house. Police has registered a case under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC at the Kotwali police station.

In another incident of theft, a resident of Dhobiana Basti complained that material worth nearly Rs 49,000 was stolen from her house by the thieves. The complainant, Paramjit Kaur, said gold jewellery and cash worth nearly Rs 49,000 were stolen from her house by miscreants.

The woman said she had gone to drop her child at a school in Ludhiana when the incident took place.

A case under sections 457-a and 380 of the IPC has been registered at the Cantonment police station. Further investigation is in progress.