Bathinda, December 17
Almost after nine months have passed of the academic session 2013-14 and a month since the winter has set in, students of government schools in the district are yet to get uniforms and particularly sweaters under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan. While most of the students are managing with uniforms and sweaters for the past year, some were provided woollens by the NGOs whereas the rest wear their own casual colourful sweaters to school.

Close to 460 students at the Government Elementary School in Parasram Nagar have started wearing colourful sweaters in the school to brave the chill while they sit on mats during classes. Talking to the Bathinda Tribune, Balwant Kaur, principal of the school, said, “Although I have been on leave till Monday yet the school had not received any grant for the uniform. As the winters have set in, we are letting the students wear their own woolens in the school.”

The scene at the Government Elementary School at the Mall Road is different as all the students were in uniform sweaters. Interestingly, students of the school are luckier since every year, social workers and some NGOs distribute sweaters among them for free. The school management received the grant for uniform on Monday.

At the Des Raj Memorial Senior Secondary School, the students are managing with the sweaters they were given last year. “In my school, boys belonging to the SC/ST, the BPL categories and studying in classes up to VIII standard receive uniforms. We are waiting to get the grant of this year. Till the time we get the grant, the students will manage with the sweaters they were given last year,” said the principal of the school, Bhupinder Kaur Dhillon.

The District Education Officer-cum-District Project Director of the SSA, Dr Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, expressed ignorance over the fact that the grants had not been transferred to the schools. “We had released the grants for uniform on November 25 and had directed all the block project officers to transfer the grants into the accounts of all the schools. I will check with all the BPOs to check if all the schools have received the grants or not. I will also check for the reason of delay in transfer of grants,” she said.

What does the scheme say?

Under the scheme, all the students belonging to below poverty line (BPL) families, the SC or ST categories and girl students, studying in primary schools up to Class VIII, are given two uniforms per year. The scheme is funded by the Government of India and State Governments in 65:35 ratio.

Rs 400 per student every year

The schools are given Rs 400 per student every year. The school management is to spend the amount in buying a salwar-kameez-dupatta set, socks and shoes for the girl students and shirt-trouser-cap set, socks and shoes for boys. It takes close to two weeks after the receipt of grants for the school management to order, receive and distribute the uniforms among its students.

Grant not sufficient, says minister

Interestingly, the Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka, had also expressed his view that the grant was not sufficient for buying good-quality uniforms for the students. He had however, added that the state government couldn’t do anything as it was a Central Government scheme. 

Bathinda, December 17
The fate of Central Government-funded Red Cross De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Centre near the Thermal Lake seems not to have been decided yet by the state government.

Started in the year 1992, the centre is funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment which gives it grant of Rs 8.45 lakh annually. The centre had been run without a licence since its inception.

For the fiscal year 2013-14, when the centre sought permission from the state government for the Central Government grant, the former directed it to seek a licence from the health authorities.

When the district administration applied for a licence, it has to now fulfill all the guidelines and conditions laid for running a de-addiction-cum-rehabilitation centre. Under the procedure, 13 of the working employees were found “ineligible” to work as per the norms. All these employees were given pink slip in September this year.

Confirming this, the Deputy Commissioner, Kamal Kishore Yadav, said the administration has now applied for the licence from the state government. Since the facility does not have a psychiatrist and is currently being run by an MBBS doctor, the licence for only rehabilitation centre has been applied for. “We have fulfilled all the conditions and applied for rehab centre licence. We would soon hear from the government,” he said.

He added that the Red Cross Society has initiated the procedure of hiring new employees to run the project. In case, the project does not get an approval, it would be shut down.

Meanwhile, the move of the state government has left the centre in a quandary where every Wednesday drug addicts were counselled and given medicines. The funding from Central Government has never been enough to run the centre. As per the funding pattern available, Rs 50,000 are earmarked as monthly salary for all the employees, whereas the least salary of a psychiatrist is Rs 70,000 per month. The doctor is paid mere Rs 5,000 per month who is available on call.

“In such limited resources, it is impossible to run a centre like this one. Rs 8.45 lakh of grants were revised in year 2008. Before that, we were not even getting half the amount,” confided an employee of the centre.

Performance of the centre was at its zenith during the days when psychiatrist, Dr Mehbood Singh Sra, headed it. Thereafter, Dr Poonam Middha too worked hard at the centre. In the absence of well-paid dedicated doctor, the staff faces challenge in dealing with patients suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Bathinda, December 17
Members of the Bathinda Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association, who are working to upgrade the facilities at the Mini Zoo and the Deer Safari in Bir Talab, have not been invited at the inaugural ceremony of the revamped project that will be inaugurated by the MP Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, on December 18.

President of the association, Satish Arora, said the association had been making efforts to get more funds for development of Bathinda as a tourism centre, especially the safari and the Mini Zoo for the past 15 years.

“Due to our efforts, the Central Government passed a grant of Rs 6 crore for developing tourism in 2008,” he said. Arora added that twice the Secretary of the tourism, Government of Punjab, Geetika Kalha, visited Bathinda and she was shown different places around the city that could be developed into tourism centres. Besides her, the Tourism Minister of Punjab, Hira Singh Gabria and Sarwan Singh Phillaur, too, visited the district for developing tourism plan.

“It was due to our efforts that the team of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) visited the district twice on April 15 and Sep 27 2008. A team from the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative New Delhi too visited in 2009,” he added.

Arora said the association members have worked hard to put Bathinda on the state tourism map, but have been forgotten on the day when the Mini Zoo and the safari project have been revamped. Arora, who is also the technical advisor of the Tourism Promotion Society of the district, said he has not even been invited as the member of the technical board.

Bathinda, December 17
One man was killed and three others were injured in a road accident near Machhana village. Sources said a resident of Natt village, Sukhwinder Singh, was taking his cousin Sandeep Kaur and her two friends to Gidderbaha for her exam today afternoon in a car.

When they reached near Machhana village, Sukhwinder suddenly lost control over the vehicle and rammed the car into a tree killing him on the spot.

Sandeep Kaur and her two friends were rushed to a nearby hospital where they are undergoing treatment, added sources. 

Bathinda, December 17
Aiming to keep the SAD-BJP vote bank in the state intact and add to it, the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, announced that within the next 15 days, Powercom would provide 1.5 lakh tubewell connections to those farmers who have less than five acres of agriculture land. He said Powercom officials would approach the farmers in the coming days as all the preparations and formalities have been finalised.

He made the announcement during his Sangat Darshan programme in Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda district. He also directed the authorities concerned to come out with a comprehensive plant for concrete streets, sewerage and water supply connections for all households.

He said that within the next six months, the area would be equipped with all the basic amenities besides having sewerage facilities. He along with the Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, presided laid the foundation stone of Government Primary School building at Ballianwali which would be constructed at a cost of Rs 16.5 lakh.

Answering a query regarding opening of the Fazilka border, he said it was possible in the regime of the UPA government but assured that opening of the border would be the priority of the NDA government, which is all set to form government at the Centre after a couple of months.

He added that not only the Fazilka border but several issues with the neighbouring country would also be sorted out as it was discussed with the Pakistan Punjab’s Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of the Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.

Talking about the recent judgment passed by the Supreme Court regarding entitlement of red beacon, the Deputy CM said it was a constructive decision and that it should be implemented in true spirit.

He said they would take necessary steps after studying the ruling of SC in this regard.

He also ridiculed the proposed plan of the Congress party to announce Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate against the BJP’s Gujarat CM, Narendra Modi. He added that Rahul was nothing in comparison to that of the Gujarat CM. He also stated that the NDA was keen to hear that the Congress announced Rahul’s name as it would prove to be the last nail in Congress’ coffin.

Also present during the Sangat Darshan were Irrigation Minister of Punjab, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Sarup Chand Singla, Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Kamal Kishor Yadav. 

Bathinda, December 17
Mansa city would get a state of the art sewage system in all its 21 wards by mid January. This was disclosed by the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal, while inaugurating the sewerage treatment plant here yesterday. He directed the sewerage and water supply authorities to ensure sewerage connections for all households before that date. He asked all the municipal councillors to verify this in writing after completion of connection delivery in their respective wards.

He also ordered that a dedicated officer from the water and sewerage department would be deputed to redress all related complaints within two days.

He also laid the foundation stone for the upgrading of a bus stand worth Rs 50 lakh.

Earlier, during a Sangat Darshan, local MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had called upon the local residents to become active partners for ensuring holistic development to make Mansa a model district in the state.

She said she would review all the development works after every six months and also appealed them to keep a check on the ongoing projects besides and bring any irregularity to her notice or the DC.

She also directed the Deputy Commissioner to sort out grievances of local resident on the first of every month in his office by holding Sangat Darshan from 10 am to 12 noon.

Bathinda, December 17
The Central Government Pensioners' Welfare Association, Bathinda, today observed Pensioners' Day at the local public library.

A member of the Central Government Pensioners’ Welfare Association speaks during a function organised on Pensioners’ Day in Bathinda on Tuesday. photo: Bhupinder Dhillon

Pensioners of the railways, postal, BSNL, Income Tax and Defence, participated in the celebrations. Association general secretary Ram Lal Garg said on December 17, the Supreme Court of India had delivered an important decision about pensioners stating that pension was a right of the retired employees and was not any kind of alms. The decision had stated that no government had any right to stop anyone's pension.

Garg said the Central Government gave Rs 300 medical allowance to the pensioners that sound like a joke in the times when minimum consultation fees of a doctor was Rs 150. He demanded the Central government should pay leave and travelling allowance like the state governments do.

Association president Rajinder Singh said the pensioners should keep on raising their demand. Secretary KC Garg said the government should re-start the medical allowance of the BSNL employees and pensioners that had been suspended.

As many as 15 pensioners were also honoured at the event. These included Sucha Singh, JC Sharma, KC Garg, SR Bansal, Ram Chand Gupta, Ram Lal Khichi and JS Ghai. 

Bathinda, December 17
Ninety-one per cent of the expectant mothers in the district are registered with the health department and their pregnancy is monitored.

Civil surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said this while presiding over a meeting of the district health society here today. Sonali Giri, ADC, was also present at the meeting. Dr Sahni also discussed the achievements so far and works undertaken in the government health sector in the district.

He said institutional deliveries were being conducted and all the new mothers were covered under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). He added that to create awareness on gender issue under the Beti Bachao campaign, a district-level seminar of the PNDT Cell was being held tomorrow.

School health officer Dr Kundan Pal said the folic acid tablets were given to the school students every Wednesday, while the de-worming tablets were administered every six months. Dr Rakesh Goyal said the national round of the vaccination would be undertaken from January 19 to 21. Dr Ashok Monga gave details of the ongoing efforts to control and treat TB.

Besides, the vector-borne diseases and blindness control programmes were also discussed. 

Bathinda, December 17
As many as 225 students of Classes V to XII from all the government schools of Bathinda block appeared for sports trials vying for scholarships to be granted by the state government to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) category who excel in sports.

Under the scheme, while the students of Class V will be given an amount of Rs 500, students of middle school (Class VI-VIII) will be given Rs 750, those of higher secondary (Classes IX-X) and senior secondary (class XI-XII) will be given Rs 1000 per year. While the preliminary trials were conducted by the schools at their own level, selected students appeared for the trials held today at the Multipurpose Sports Stadium. Competitions in kho-kho, kabaddi, athletics (high jump and long jump) and gymnastics were conducted. After the trials, three boys and three girls will be chosen from in each sport.

The trials were conducted by State Education Department under the guidance of convener Harmander Singh, lecturer, physical education at Government Senior Secondary School in Gulabgarh.