Bathinda, August 27
Rumours in connection with 'Kala Kachha' gang seem to have refused to die down, especially in the rural areas. While there is a drastic fall in such rumours in the urban areas, the gang continues to haunt people residing in villages.

Sukhchain Singh, a resident of Gobindpura village, claimed that some unidentified persons made a futile attempt to kidnap the child of a poor nomad temporarily residing on the outskirts of the village.

“They gave an intoxicant to the child and took him away. However, the nomads caught hold of one of the miscreants and the child was rescued. A black coat, which the miscreant was wearing, was pulled off in the scuffle," Sukhchain said.

The child was admitted to the hospital and the police was informed about the incident.

Nathana SHO Jeet Singh, however, denied any report of 'Kala Kachha' gang in the village. He said a police officer visited the village last night and pacified the villagers. “We are trying to instil a sense of confidence into the villagers as no such gang exists in our area. Some mischievous elements are spreading such rumours and they are being dealt with an iron hand," the SHO said.

Meanwhile, a 108 ambulance was attacked at Ghudda village on August 25 night leaving its driver and technician injured and the vehicle damaged.

The district in-charge of the ambulance service, Raman Garg, said the ambulance was plying on the Bathinda-Bajak road when at around midnight, some people stopped it near Ghudda village.

“People, who seemed to be observing a night vigil, stopped the vehicle believing some anti-social elements were moving around. When our employees said they could inspect the vehicle, the villagers got on board the ambulance and damaged it,” Garg said.

The ambulance driver, Kulwant Singh of Kotha Guru Ke, and technician Parminder Singh, a resident of Jaito, were beaten up. While Kulwant received injuries in his shoulder, Parminder was left with a fractured wrist.

The district in-charge of the ambulance service has appealed to the people not to target ambulance services as it hindered making health service reach needy at the right time. 

Bathinda, August 27
“All the scams that I was named in have been the makings of those who came to me asking for favours and were turned back. I have been targeted by nefarious elements. Now that the enquiry reports have given me clean chit in both the matters, the retractors have been silenced,” said Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka while addressing mediapersons here today.

When asked about what the Education Department was doing to upgrade its own schools while it was closing the private ones for not meeting parameters of the Right To Education (RTE) Act-2009, he said, “Unlike private schools that we have closed, government schools cannot be closed since thousands of children study there.”

“We know that the government schools are also not up to the mark when it comes to providing basic facilities to the students. But the department is slowly and steadily working towards improving the conditions of these schools,” he added.

Maluka refused to comment on the issue of schools bypassing the orders issued by the Director General School Education (DGSE) of demolishing unsafe buildings. “The orders of demolition were given by the DGSE. I didn’t pass the orders and hence, can’t comment on the issue,” he said.

He added that the work of the department was to provide funds to schools to construct new rooms in place of the unsafe ones. “We have released funds to the tune of Rs 5 lakh per room. It is for the school heads to make sure that the grants are used judiciously and for the purpose they are meant for,” he said.

Bathinda, August 27
The police today foiled the teachers' bid to take out a protest rally in the city. The teachers had assembled at the Teachers' Home in the afternoon today to raise their voice against the training camps for teachers being run in the city by a private firm.

A meeting of the members of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) and several other teacher unions was convened under the leadership of the head of the DTF's working committee, Resham Singh. After denouncing the state education department for allowing a private firm to train teachers, they tried to move out of the Teachers' Home and take out a protest march.

A few of the teachers who managed to sneak past the policemen, standing guard outside the gate, were rounded up and made to board a bus parked outside. The remaining protesters were not allowed to move out and sat near the gate itself.

Resham Singh said the state education department's nod to a private firm to hold training sessions in the city was a signal that the government was moving closer towards privatisation of education in the state. He appealed to all the teachers to boycott the training camps being conducted by the firm.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gurmeet Singh Kingra said, "We had asked the protesters to choose a deputation of ten persons to meet the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, and present him a memorandum but they didn't agree and instead planned a rally. We were left with no other option but to stop them."

The protesters kept raising slogans against the government, administration and the police. The scene cooled down after the intervention of the executive magistrate Subhash Mittal. The teachers gave him their memorandum of demands and asked the police to release the teachers who had been rounded up. 

Bathinda, August 27
The closure of the Eye Bank at the Mahavir Dal Hospital around five years ago, due to non-renewal of licence, is costing dear to the patients in the city whose blindness can be cured with corneal transplantation.

The Eye Bank where donated eyes were stored and transplanted free of cost was closed following imposition of licence fees of Rs 1 lakh under the Human Organ Transplantation Act (HOTA).

“We run a charitable organisation and conduct eye transplantation free of cost. When we do not charge from patients, from where could we pay the licence fees of Rs 1 lakh,” asked Dr SK Bansal, the president of the hospital.

Dr Bansal said representations had been given to the offices of the Civil Surgeon, Bathinda (Urban) MLA Sarup Chand Singla, former minister Surjit Jyani as well as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal requesting them to amend the licence fees.

“We should be exempted from paying the hefty licence fees. The government should realise that we are working for the welfare of the poor and downtrodden,” added Dr Bansal.

Now, the centre has been reduced to a mere collection centre that gets eyes from donors. It works with the Mata Kartar Kaur International Eye Bank in Sirsa, run by the Dera Sacha Sauda. On the request from this eye bank, the Mahavir Dal team collects donated eyes and sends them to the places concerned.

President of the Bathinda Ophthalmological Association Dr Amrit Sethi said with the closure of the Eye Bank at Bathinda, patients and doctors have to depend on the eye banks of Ludhiana, Faridkot, Patiala and Amritsar. “Earlier, the eyes were harvested and transplanted in Bathinda itself. People did not have to run from pillar to post to either donate or get eyes. Being localised, the results of transplants were very good,” he said.

Narinder Goyal, the in-charge of the eye and cadaver donation of Dera Sacha Sauda, said the awareness on eye donation too was poor in the city. “Most of our donors are followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda. Every month, 15 to 20 pairs of eyes are donated in Bathinda. However, the trend could have been much better had the eye bank continued to operate,” he said.

The eye donation fortnight is being across the nation from August 25. 

According to a survey conducted by the Eye Bank Association of India, corneal blindness is rising at the rate of 25,000 people per annum. Majority of those afflicted by corneal blindness are children.

Eye donation does not disfigure face

Eyes have to be removed within six hours of the donor's death

When you pledge your eyes, inform your family

For eye donation dial 1919 

Bathinda, August 27
The monitoring teams, which were formed a year ago to keep a check on encroachments in the city, were today asked to inform the police if encroachers did not budge despite repeated warnings.

Municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said though the teams were formed a year ago, their review meeting could not be conducted. At a meeting today, the teams were updated and were appealed to immediately inform officials of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), and the police station concerned about the encroachments.

The teams were formed on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and their main role is to stop illegal constructions in the city. A team each was designated for the eight municipal administrative zones of the city. Members of these teams included three senior citizens, two women and the SHO of the area concerned.

Teams were empowered to stop illegal constructions as well as slap fine on the offenders. The teams were directed that if illegal constructions are not stopped, they are supposed to inform MCB officials and the police and an action in this context would be taken over the next 24 hours.

In the last one year, not even a single offender has been penalised while the city is chock-a-block with encroachments, especially footpaths and platforms.

Bathinda, August 27
"Being an Education Minister, if you can't get my son admitted to a good college, what else will you do? I'm asked this every time I put away a person seeking favours," said Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka.

The minister was talking at a lunch hosted to mark the launch of the state-level 'Anti-Copying Campaign' of the Education Department at a function organised at the Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) here today.

"Seeking favours is as bad as copying in examinations since we don't use our real potential and depend on other persons or means to reach our goal. Close to 2.5 lakh BEd students pass out every year but only a few of them are employable. Only when the students reach the job market do they realise their mistake when they face entrance exams and interviews," he added.

Addressing the gathering and welcoming the guests, District Education Officer (Secondary) Harkanwaljeet Kaur, said, "I don't say one should not copy. Instead, I encourage that one should copy the deeds of the famous personalities. We should copy the success path of those who have progressed in their lives."

She also lauded the Education Minister for taking initiatives to bridge the gap between various levels of the department. "We recently launched the department's website which has not only brought transparency to various processes but has also helped in simplifying them. This has been possible only because of the efforts of the Education Minister," she said.

Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal, chairperson of the Punjab School Education Board, appreciated the Education Department for making efforts because of which the rate of copying has gone down. She added that children need to be told that shortcuts may damage their overall growth and future.

Shruti Shukla, who is the coordinator of the entire campaign, stated that students, parents, teachers and policy makers are to be blamed for the menace of copying. "And only they can come together to efficiently and completely root it out. The students resort to copying when they are under pressure to perform and score well. They are also under pressure to be praised by teachers, parents and society."

She stated that as part of the anti-copying campaign, seminars, rallies, competitions, exhibitions and other similar activities will be conducted across the state to spread awareness about the evils of cheating.

Chairman of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, appreciated the state government's efforts for rooting out the evil of cheating. 

Bathinda, August 27
Janamashtami was celebrated at Daddy's Teddy playway school in Jujhar Singh Nagar on Tuesday. The tiny-tots, dressed up as Radha and Krishna, performed to the accompaniment of devotional songs. Principal of the school Ritu Raonta told the students about the birth of Lord Krishna and distributed sweets among the children.

The festival was also celebrated at the Bachpan play school. The school's principal Palak Jaura told the children about Lord Krishna and the stories associated with him. 

Bathinda, August 27
Sinesoft Education organised a job fair on its premises on Monday. Companies like Samsung, Idea, Kent RO, Angel Broking and others participated in the job fair in which more than 200 aspirants of Sinesoft and other colleges participated. More than 30 students were shortlisted for various positions in banking operations, business development and analysis, etc.

Chetan Dixit of the placement cell of the institute said such fairs were important since they gave a common platform to the aspirants and companies. Director of the centre, Vicky Singal, said the institute was planning to conduct another fair in September.

Bathinda, August 27
"I was never a part of the rat race to be the top actress of Bollywood," said actor Tulip Joshi, who was in the city to promote her upcoming Punjabi film, 'Jatt Airways'" Tulip was in the city with her co-star Alfaaz.

She added that she was content with the way her career had shaped up. "I have worked with some good actors and big banners in Bollywood and I consider it my good fortune that I am getting to do the same here as well," she said.

Tulip added that she was in a hurry to sign many films in a year and then not being able to do justice to any of them. "I prefer doing only one or two films in a year. I prefer quality over quantity," she said.

Talking about the film, singer-turned-actor Alfaaz said that she was different from the others. "The title of the film has the word 'jatt' in it which is used often but I assure the audience that the film is different from the others. Through this romantic-comedy film, we are showing familial love."

Bathinda, August 27
Hosts Bathinda scored three points by beating their opponents Faridkot on the basis of their first innings lead on Day 2 of the Group B match of the Punjab State Inter District Championship for Katoch Shield, played at the Police Public School Ground here.

On Day 1, Bathinda had declared their innings at 427 runs for eight wickets. By the end of the day, Faridkot had scored 58 runs for the loss of two wickets.

On Day 2, Manpreet Singh scored 148 runs off 182 balls for Faridkot. The second highest scorer of the team, Harjit, scored 41 runs in 73 balls. The team buckled under pressure under the bowling attack of Bathinda and were bundled out for only 227 runs on board in 89.3 overs.

Bathinda's Manish Kumar clinched four wickets in 14 overs. He bowled six maiden overs and gave away 44 runs. Ajay Yadav and Navin Jindal took two wickets each.

OD Sharma, convener of the Plate Group Tournaments of Group-B and Group-C, said Bathinda will face Hoshiarpur on Thursday.