Bathinda, August 20
The report submitted by the local commissioner appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) came as a blow to the tall claims of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB).

In his report submitted at the NGT hearing on August 19, the local commissioner, Ritwick Dutta, categorically stated that the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules had been flouted and the steps taken at the municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plant site on the Mansa road were just “cosmetic measures” taken before his visit.

Following the complaint and photographs submitted by petitioners, the NGT had directed Dutta to find if dumping of solid waste was being carried out at the site in a scientific manner, if photographs depicted complete and correct state of affairs, was the solid waste being segregated and whether disinfectant had been sprayed in the area or not.

Dutta observed that the MSW treatment plant site is not in consonance with the MSW Management Rules-2000 and the present operation also seemed to be in violation of the rules. Of late, some efforts were being made to comply with the provision of the rules. However, it is a case of trying to ensure legal compliance only on paper, without actual effort at the ground level.

He has even raised doubts on how the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) authorised it as a site for dumping MSW.

In his key observations, Dutta noted that none of the directives have been followed in spirit. The barbed wires were recently put up on two sides and there was no fencing, providing easy passage for cattle and dogs. During his visit, he found a half dozen of cows on the garbage dumping site, which was in violation of the MSW Management Rules.

No plantation was found at or around the site. Just a few saplings planted towards the border were noticed. As against the NGT orders, no green belt was found and the thin plantation present was too recent to be termed as a buffer. He also pointed out that the waste has not been segregated. The entire organic and plastic waste is being dumped together.

Another important observation made was that of waterlogging and pools emitting methane gas. The drainage pattern of pools was such that eventually, polluted water would seep into earth or would end up in low-lying areas.

As against the orders of covering the waste dumping area with good earth, the practice has been carried out in not more than 10 to 15 per cent of the total area. Dutta states, “Despite claims about expenses incurred on earth works at the site in question, it is clear from the ground situation that not much (work) has happened.”

Bathinda, August 20
The Education Department has once again lined up a series of competitions for the students of government schools. While contests aid overall development of the students, holding such competitions at the school, tehsil, block and district levels takes away a lot of time of the subject teachers concerned.

The students were engaged in the Independence Day celebrations till August 15. Later, a Children Science Congress was organised on August 19. Now, the department has issued letters asking the schools to organise maths, science, role play and folk dance competitions. An adventure trekking camp (August 17-21) being organised by the Bharat Scouts and Guides, Punjab, is underway.

“Engaging students in extra-curricular activities is good but it hampers the flow of studies. For over a week, several students were busy with the I-Day functions held either at the school-level or the district-level. Due to the daily rehearsals, very few classes could be held. And now, we have been given a list of more events,” said a government school teacher.

Teachers have already been given the tools and questionnaire to conduct block-level maths competition on August 27. The district-level maths competition will be held on September 4.

As part of the Population Education Project 2013-14, the department also asked the schools to encourage students to participate in the role play and folk dance competitions. While tehsil-level role play and folk dance competitions will be held on August 22, the district-level competition will be held on August 30.

The school principals have also been asked to conduct school-level painting competition on the theme of energy conservation on a day between August 22 and 27.

While the competitions are yet to be lined up for September, the schools have already been asked to observe the International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer on September 16. The schools have been directed to conduct activities like lectures, competitions, exhibitions, rallies, skits, street plays etc.

A senior official at the office of the District Education Officer (DEO) maintained that since so many competitions and activities were to be organised in schools every month, the teachers tend to pay cursory attention towards the same. “The teachers are burdened not only with the work of conducting the activities and competitions but also compiling reports of the same to be submitted with the office of the DEO. Although these records hold little significance and are kept to be forgotten, they have to be submitted to prove that the word of the Education Department is followed,” the official said.

Meanwhile, principals and in-charges of 150 schools in the district have been asked to attend a day-long training workshop as part of the adolescence education programme. The workshop will be held at the Teachers’ Home on August 26 and 27.

Bathinda, August 20
The revamped Deer Park, Bir Talab, is witnessing an increase in the number of visitors during the past few months. The mini zoo witnessed a massive revamp with nearly Rs 7.5 crore being spent on constructing a boundary wall, repairing cages, segregating animals of different varieties and giving a facelift to the Deer Safari.

District Forest Officer (DFO) K Kannan said the number of visitors has increased from 750 per month to nearly 1500. However, a lot needs to be done to educate the visitors, especially children, about the wildlife here.

Spread over 161 acres, the zoo was started by the Red Cross Society in 1978 and was adopted by the Punjab Forest and Wildlife Preservation Department in 1982.

The Forest Department prepared a master plan for the zoo for the first time this year. The zoo will be upgraded in a planned manner as per the requirements of the National Zoo Policy to ensure optimum utilisation of land, water, energy and finance. A team from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), New Delhi, had visited and evaluated the Bir Talab zoo in 2006-07 and its findings were included in the master plan.

The DFO claimed that most of the flaws pointed out by the CZA have been removed. "Our main focus is on deer safari now. Upgradation of the zoo is a continuous process," Kannan said.

The zoo was revamped after 36 black bucks (Antilope cervicapra), including 29 females, died last year. It now has 44 heads of the state animal, including 32 males. The zoo houses 83 animals of different species and 190 birds.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav visited the zoo today ahead of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal's visit on August 22 to inaugurate the zoo. The inauguration, however, has been postponed.

Earlier, the CZA had observed that the zoo lacked a separate well-ventilated store to stock dry foodstuff, feed distribution platform, weighing machine, cleanliness of the park, path, lawns and gardens, office and an interpretation centre.

There is no permanent veterinarian. A part-time veterinary officer of the veterinary hospital, Teona village (about 5 km away), looks after the animals of the zoo. At present, there is one small makeshift treatment cum dressing room in the zoo. There is a need for a separate well-equipped dispensary equipped with modern facilities.

Forest officials said at present, the entry fee at the zoo was Rs 5 per head, which would be raised soon.

Bathinda, August 20
The district police chief today suspended the two head constables from whose custody a jail inmate escaped on the premises of the district courts here on Monday.

The police has booked head constables Bhola Singh and Pargat Singh under Sections 223 and 224 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for dereliction of duty due to which the rape accused, Raju Verma, a resident of Awa Basti, managed in fleeing.

The undertrial had escaped while he was being produced in the court of the Additional District and Session Judge, Mohinderpal Singh Pahwa. The accused was in the custody of the two constables.

The accused told the policemen that he wanted to talk to the judge and stood close to the exit of the court while the policemen remained seated inside the court room.

The accused made a whirlwind sprint downstairs.

The ground floor was congested with litigants and those filing their traffic challans. The accused easily managed to intermingle in the crowd and escaped.

Bathinda, August 20
The private laboratories and private practitioners are bound to report cases of malaria and dengue to the district health authorities.

The state government has declared the two vector-borne diseases as notified ones which makes it mandatory for every case to be reported to the district health officials, said District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa while addressing the Bathinda branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) during a continuing medical education (CME) programme held at Civil Lines Club.

The basic idea behind pursuing the private practitioners to declare the cases of patients suffering from these two diseases is to control the outspread of the ailments.

When a case of dengue or malaria is reported, the health department conducts a recce of an area of around 300 metre around the patient's vicinity, finds the breeding ground for mosquitoes and administers preventive action and medicines to the other people too. "In a way, the private labs and practitioners help us in containing the disease and prevent it from spreading further," he said.

Dr Randhawa added that the patients having a platelet count of 25,000 or more should not be declared as suffering from dengue. "As per the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, a person with a platelet count of less than 7,000 only can be termed as suffering from dengue," he said.

Dr Parmod Goyal from the department of forensic medicine, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR), delivered an interactive lecture on the legal aspects of medical practices.

He laid emphasis on maintaining medical records properly as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI). "As per the MCI, the doctors have to maintain a record of every patient for at least three years after his last visit. If any patient asks for his medical record, it has to be provided within 72 hours failing which action can be taken against the doctor," he said.

Dr Goyal added that the maintenance of medical record becomes useful in case of any litigation or police case or complaint filed against the doctor with the MCI or the Punjab Medical Council (PMC).

He talked about the informed consent of the patient, which makes it mandatory for the doctors to tell the patient about his or her disease, options available, treatment being given, total expenses incurred and prognosis.

During the question-answer round, a doctor said that a 14-year-old rape victim refused to undergo physical examination despite the fact that she was brought to the hospital by her parents and the police.

Dr Goyal clarified that as per the law, the age of consent for medico-legal examination is 12 years. A victim cannot be forced to undergo examination if he or she is above 12 years. However, the same thing is not applicable on the accused.

He encouraged the private doctors to conduct reporting of medico-legal cases as is being done successfully at the AIMSR for the past many years. Meanwhile, prominent among others present at the CME included Dr Shiv Dutta Gupta, Dr Rohit Goyal, Dr Rajesh Maheshwari and others.

Bathinda, August 20
The boundary wall of the Adarsh School, located near the Canal Colony Police station here, collapsed on Monday, just minutes before the school was to close for the day. A couple of bicycles which were parked near the boundary wall were also damaged due to the wall collapse and had to be retrieved from the debris. Luckily enough, no student was injured. As per reports, the collapse is being attributed to a large heap of concrete lying outside the wall. The concrete had been kept there by a contractor who was handling the work of the sewerage disposal near the school.

Hearing the loud noise of the wall collapse, the teachers ran out to see what had happened and also instructed the children to stay inside the classrooms. The teachers realised that while a portion of the wall had already collapsed, the rest had developed wide cracks.

The teachers argued that the contractor had unloaded concrete by the side of the wall and this may have caused the damage. The contractor assured the school authorities of constructing the wall and also bearing the cost of the damaged bicycles.

Fact file The collapse is being attributed to a large heap of concrete lying outside the wall. The concrete had been kept by a contractor who was handling the work of the sewerage disposal near the school.

Bathinda, August 20
A medical camp, pension adalat and a recruitment inquiry rally will be organised on August 25 at the Bhai Mastan Senior Secondary School, Muktsar. This was stated by the Commander (retd) Baljinder Virk, District Defence Services Welfare Officer.

The rally is being organised under the aegis of 16 Artillery Brigade, Faridkot. It is being organised for the ex-servicemen of Faridkot, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Muktsar districts.

A pension adalat will also be held during the rally to resolve the pension related issues of ex-servicemen and their families. Representatives from various Army units will be present to resolve the record-related issues.

A free medical camp will also be organised to provide medical aid to the needy ex-servicemen and their families. A recruitment inquiry rally will be held to spread awareness among the youth about a career in the Army.

The Army authorities have made elaborate arrangements to pick up ex-servicemen for the rally from various places like Bathinda, Faridkot, Abohar, Ferozepur, Malout and Kotkapura.

Commander (retd) Baljinder Virk appealed to all the ex-servicemen of the region to participate in the rally. The ex-servicemen can approach the District Defence Services Welfare Office, Bathinda, for any query regarding the rally.

Fact file A medical camp, pension adalat and a recruitment inquiry rally will be organised on August 25 at the Bhai Mastan Senior Secondary School, Muktsar. The rally is being organised under the aegis of 16 Artillery Brigade, Faridkot. It is being organised for the ex-servicemen of Faridkot, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Muktsar districts.

Bathinda, August 20
As many as six students of the Baba Farid Group of Colleges (BFGI) have been selected by the Lloyd Electric & Engineering Ltd. The company's HR manager Abhishek Bhargav and technical manager Dilbag Singh interviewed the students as part of the selection procedure and selected six students. Chairman, BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, appreciated the efforts of the Department of Training and Placement and lauded the selected students.

Lloyd is uniquely positioned in the mobile HVAC systems space as well as in the heat transfer industry. Analysts say the company has attained a leading position in each of the markets that it operates in.

Bathinda, August 20
A tree plantation drive and a free-of-cost dental health check-up camp were organised on the premises of the Mahatma Hans Raj (MHR) Senior Secondary School. The camp was inaugurated by the head of the school management committee, Om Prakash Garg.

As many as 200 students were examined at the dental health check-up camp by Dr Ashok Gupta, Dr Preeti and Dr Suraj Arora. The doctors also updated the students on maintaining oral health.

Also present on the occasion were the members of the school's management committee, Pratap Singh and Ravindra Bansal, principal of the school Sunita Singla, Ashok Shastri and Deepak Singla.