Bathinda, September 11
Various religious and non-government organizations (NGOs) today observed a complete bandh in the city protesting against Inder Singh Ghagga who wrote an article that allegedly hurt the sentiments of a section of a community.

Activists of various organizations assembled at Sadbhawana Chowk in the morning from where the bandh call was given. A member of the Beopar Mandal tried to get some of the shops located in the area opened but was prevented from doing so.

Though the Bathinda police registered a case against the writer of the aforesaid article, Inder Singh Ghagga, the agitating activists demanded that the challan against the accused should be presented in the court as soon as possible.

The protesters also demanded that the publishing house at Baghapurana, which published the magazine carrying the defamatory article, be immediately sealed. The agitators demanded that the Faridkot Deputy Commissioner should close down the printing press concerned.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bathinda, Ravcharan Singh Brar and SP Desraj visited the Dhobi Bazar area and met the agitators. The SSP agreed to the demands of agitators and said a challan will be presented against the accused soon.

"We have already registered a case and the law will take its course. The agitation has remained peaceful and it was directed against the author and not the administration," the SSP said.

One of the agitators, Sonu Maheshwari, said the article was published on August 17 in a publication named Malwa Express. The same article was published three years ago also but went unnoticed as the circulation of the magazine was thin.

Maheshwari alleged that Ghagga had earlier also written articles that had drawn the ire of the Sikh organisations. "Ghagga was an employee of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and a case was registered against him in Bathinda in 1980. The government should ensure that such offenders are not easily let off the hook," he added.

While a complete bandh was observed during the first half of the day, shops started opening in the afternoon. Some shopkeepers were seen allowing customers to sneak in by lifting the shutters. 

Bathinda, September 11
Teachers of government schools of all the six blocks in Bathinda district today staged a complete boycott of the training camps held in the district. The teachers are protesting against the camps since these are being organised by a private firm, 'Learn Today'.

As many as 12 camps were held on Wednesday in Talwandi Sabo, Mandi Phul East, Mandi Phul West, Nathana, Bathinda and Sangat blocks. The camps were organised for the teachers of primary and secondary schools in these blocks.

"The camps were scheduled to start at 9 am and by 9.15 am, all the teachers staged a walkout and sat outside the training camps and raised slogans against the education department for roping in a private firm to conduct the camps," said Resham Singh, Bathinda block president of Democratic Teachers Front, Punjab.

The firm in question, 'Learn Today', had earlier held camps from August 26 to September 2 to prepare resource persons and now, from September 11 to 18, camps were scheduled to be held at places where these resource persons would train the teachers.

"For the secondary classes, the Summative Assessment-I examinations will start on September 13 and for the primary classes on September 17. At such a crucial time, the education department is holding camps. Where will the students go if they have any queries?" asked Singh.

District Education Officers (secondary and elementary) Harkalwajeet Kaur and Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, principal of DIET Malkit Kaur and the principal of the In-Service Training Centre in Bathinda, reached the training camp venues and tried their best to cajole the teachers into attending the camps but failed to do so.

DEO (Secondary) Harkanwaljeet Kaur said, "We visited the training camps and tried to reason with the teachers but they were not ready to hear us out. We have prepared a report and sent it to the education department. We will be able to plan our way of action only after we receive the report from the department."

Bathinda, September 11
The authorities of Government Elementary School in Parasram Nagar have been opening the school gate to a wet assembly ground for the past few days. This despite the fact that it hasn't rained for almost a month.

The ground is used by the 100-odd police personnel to take a bath. They have been staying in the school for close to a week now because of which the school staff and students have been facing inconvenience.

"The principal received a call from the Block Programme Officer (BPO) one night last week and she was asked to open the school gates since the police personnel had to be accommodated there," said Devinder Kaur, second in-charge at the school.

Initially, the police personnel had taken six rooms of the school but later they were adjusted in four rooms on the first floor after requests made to this effect by the school authorities.

Devinder Kaur said that while earlier they had occupied six rooms --- two on the ground floor and four on the first floor -- they vacated the two rooms on the ground floor after the school authorities asked them to.

As a result, the school has been facing a space crunch despite having 11 classrooms. Students of one section each of class I and V and two sections of class III, who used to be seated on the first floor, are being adjusted on the ground floor.

"Since we can't seat all the students of a class together in one room, we are left with no choice but to make the students sit in the corridors. We have become the laughing stock for making the students sit in the corridors," the teachers added.

She added that since there are only toilets on the school premises and no bathrooms, the school's 'guests' have been using the assembly ground to take a bath.

Keeping the gates of the school closed is also a problem. "In all probability, the personnel are working in shifts. Some of them go out in the morning and some go in the afternoon. We have to keep opening and closing the school gates for them. We can't keep the gates unlocked all the time since the school is located in the middle of a market and we have to ensure the safety of the students," Devinder Kaur added.

When asked when the police personnel were planning to leave, Devinder Kaur said, "I spoke to them only today about their departure plans. The police personnel said they didn't have any information themselves." 

Bathinda, September 11
The panchayat election candidates, who lost elections, are now giving tough times to the teachers who were posted for the election duty in respective areas.

A large number of such teachers appeared before the court of returning officer Bathinda-cum-SDM Bathinda today.

“We are paying the price of working for the state election commission,” said one of the teachers, whose name has been included in the complaint.

Advocate NK Jeet, representing a section of such teachers, said these people have landed in trouble by the virtue of government duty accorded to them. “The losing candidates file cases against different officials, including the ROs, wherein even the other election duty officials are dragged in,” he said.

Citing an example of a teacher from Kamalu Swaich village, whose case NK Jeet is contesting, he said the winning candidate had encroached upon shyamlat land of the village. “As per the rule, an encroacher of shyamlat land cannot contest panchayat elections, which should have been taken care of at the securitization of candidature papers filed. In this case, the teacher, whose sole duty was to get the elections conducted, has no role to play but still has been dragged into it,” he added.

Meanwhile, the teachers rued that the litigation was the reason teachers avoid election duty and leave no stone unturned to not be deputed in the exercise. They said instead of giving them cover of security, the election commission was shying away from its duty of minimising trouble for the election officers.

“85 percent staff on election duty is deputed from the education department. Neither the state election commission nor the education department gives us any election duty honorarium. It’s only the central government that gives honorarium for Lok Sabha elections,” said one of the teachers.

In few cases, teachers have to appoint own lawyers and pay from their own pocket for the affidavits and other papers filed before court.

He added that whenever the concerned teacher has to appear in court regarding election complaints, the schools’ heads refuse to give leave. “We are marked absent or take special leave to attend the hearings. It would be good if government made some provisions shielding us from getting involved in the court activities,” added another.

Besides giving duty on the day of elections, these teachers also participate in rehearsals twice as well as counting of votes.

Teachers felt that the litigations have increased this time due to ward system in villages. “A ward is a very small unit in village having 400 to 600 votes. It becomes easier to point out election officer’s mistake, which was not possible when village was counted a unit as a whole,” reasoned a teacher from Goniana area. Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav said the schools’ heads cannot deny giving leave for attending the court hearings. “Moreover, the teachers in question have to visit hearing just once and clear their stand. They will not be asked to come repeatedly when the matter is cleared in one go,” he said.

Bathinda, September 11
A race to celebrate 120th anniversary of Swami Vivekanand’s iconic lecture at Chicago “Bharat Jago Daur” was held today wherein students and city residents from various walks of life participated.

The day also commemorated World Brotherhood Day spreading a message of peace and harmony. IG (counter intelligence) Dr Jitendra Jain flagged off the event which started from Subhash Park, near Gole Diggi and passed through Amrik Singh Road, Veer Colony, Railway Station, Dhobi Bazar and Fire Brigade Chowk culminating at Subhash Park.

Dr. Jitendra Jian and Vijay Singh, convener of Swami Vivekanand 150th Birth Anniversay celebration Samiti, delivered a keynote address. Vijay Singh exhorted today's youth to dedicate their lives for the country.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav was also present on the occasion. He suggested the youth to follow the path of Swami Vivekanand and Bhagat Singh. He said Swami Vivekanand was way ahead of his times and said the youngsters do not belong to temples, but to the football grounds motivating them to take up physical and mental fitness to new levels.

Students from various colleges and schools and residents aged between 18 to 40 years participated in the event. Students of PTU Giani Zail Singh Campus, Rajindra College, Government Polytechnic College, Gurukul College, Swami Vivekananda Girls College, SSD Senior Secondary School and other educational institutes participated in this event.

Continuing in the same series, Swami Vivekananda 150th Birth anniversary samaroh samiti will organize Yuva Sammelan on September 29 in Bathinda. 

Bathinda, September 11
The district-level Children Science Congress 2013 will be held in Bathinda on October 4. The aim behind organising the congress is to develop a scientific temper in children and make them aware about the technological development in the field of science.

The congress is conducted every year at the district, state and national level. This year, the theme of the science congress is ‘Energy: Explore, Harness and Conserve’. A training workshop regarding the same was held on August 19. — TNS

Bathinda, September 11
Several government senior secondary, high and middle schools of the district have been named in the list of the schools which didn’t furnish the details regarding the beneficiaries under various scholarship schemes for students from the scheduled class and backward classes.

The DEO has issued a letter asking the schools to fall in line and furnish details about the students. Through the letter the DEO has also rapped the school on the knuckles for not following the orders issued not once but thrice.

Bathinda, September 11
The department of health started Panchkarma Ayurveda Center at the premises of civil hospital today. Speaking on the occasion, civil surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said the aim was to include panchkarma therapy in the main stream of treatment so that people can get detoxed and be fast on the road to recovery.

District ayurveda and unani officer Dr Satish Jindal said panchkarma treats back ache, neck problems, joint problems, chronic cold and cough, allergy, migraine, skin problems, liver diseases, obesity and problems related to menstrual cycle. A special panchkarma camp will be held on September 14 from 9 am to 2 pm wherein patients will be given free check up. 

Bathinda, September 11
The Bathinda police today arrested a woman and her lover in a case involving the rape of an 11-year-old girl from Bir Talab, Basti Number 1, area.

SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said the girl lived near the house of Jasvir Kaur who has a relationship with the accused, Gurdeep Singh alias Fauji.

On September 6, Jasvir Kaur took the girl with her on the pretext of taking her to a bank. Jasvir Kaur took her to an undisclosed location where Gurdeep was already present.

Gurdeep first molested the victim to which she objected. Thereafter, Jasvir and Gurdeep allegedly gagged and beat up the girl, after which Gurdeep raped her. The couple threatened her with dire consequences if she informed anyone about the incident.

Scared, the girl did not inform anyone about the crime. However, today she suddenly started bleeding and fell unconscious at home. Her parents rushed her to the village midwife in whom the victim confided the crime. The midwife recommended that the victim be taken to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda. The girl was taken to the hospital where doctors confirmed rape.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ravcharan Singh Brar confirmed that the two accused have been arrested.