Bathinda, February 1
The drinking water supply project that was to come up on the premises of Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh (PTUGZS) Campus has now been shifted to the Police Lines area in Lal Singh Basti. The new site is less in area than the earlier proposed site and the water tank that will come up here will also have less capacity than the one originally planned.

Former municipal councillor Rajinder Singh said the plan was to construct a water tank with a capacity of 2 lakh gallons on the premises of the engineering college on 9 acres of land.

The plan was conceived in 2002 but due to paucity of funds and technical reasons, it could not take off. Now the same project has been shifted to the Lal Singh Basti area where the tank would come up at half its originally planned capacity and in less area despite the fact that the population there has increased since 2002, he said.

Demanding the implementation of the project as per the old plan, Rajinder Singh said the new project in the Police Lines would be unable to meet the growing demand for drinking water from areas like Amarpura Basti, Sanjay Nagar, Sanguana Basti, Dhillon Colony and parts of Surkhpeer Road.

He proposed that instead of setting up the project in the Police Lines, the same could be set up on the Wakf Board land available in the form of a pond in Amarpura Basti, street number 3. The land is 8 acres in area.

The officials of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) confirmed that the project in Police Lines was to first come up at the engineering college. "Due to shortage of funds and non-availability of land, it could not take off. Now, we have got a grant of Rs 29.40 crore part of which would be utilised for setting up this project. Tenders for the project would be opened on December 7," he added.

Meanwhile, the director, PTU GZS campus, Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal said that the issue of giving land for the water works was discussed during the last meeting of the varsity's Board of Governors (BOG) in July last year.

"We are soon going to add a school for meritorious students on our premises and our need for water will increase. The matter was taken up at the last meeting of the Board of Governors of the varsity but it was deferred as the chairman was not available. It would be taken up for consideration again during the meeting scheduled on February 3," added Hundal.

Bathinda, February 1
The Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) clinic will conduct a survey to check the blood pressure and diabetes among the urban population under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS).

The survey is being conducted for the second time in the district. Last year, it was conducted in July when nursing students and the multipurpose health workers checked the blood pressure and blood sugar of people above 30 years of age. The health workers had conducted the survey by making people assemble at a common place like gurdwara or temple.

However, this year, the survey will be conducted differently and in a more extensive manner. In carrying out the task of covering 65,000 households in the city, the Health Department will be helped by the Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF).

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said medical officers posted in urban dispensaries will have 5 to 6 ANMs working under them. Each ANM will be assigned a pocket of around 10,000 people where the aanganwari workers will help her.

The medical officers will refer patients with diabetes or high blood pressure to the NCD clinic at the Civil Hospital where they would receive counselling and proper treatment.

The ACF, which has been operating in the health sphere in the city and has got workers that have mass contact, will also help the Health Department, especially in the slum areas.

The ACF and the Health Department had identified 25 hot spots in the slum areas that will act as centres where people would report for tests.

In the localities that have people from higher income group or middle income group, door-to-door survey and testing would be conducted by the staff.

DHO Dr Randhawa said two meetings with the health workers had already been held and the final one has been convened next week. “We will launch the survey by the last week of February,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that from December 2011 to August 2012, a similar survey was conducted in 285 villages. The survey found around 8 per cent of the population surveyed to be diabetic and 9 per cent to be hypertensive.

Around 3.9 lakh people of 30 years of age and above were screened for diabetes and hypertension. 

Bathinda, February 1
Aiming to improve the standard of facilities being extended to the girls enrolled with the Maluka Sports Wing, Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka has ordered that a hostel be constructed to provide a proper residence to the girls.

Right now, there are as many as 24 girls, kabaddi players and gymnasts, in the wing. These girls are staying in a hall on the first floor of the building of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Maluka.

"The players have been given a hall in the school building but the players need better accommodation. We have spare land on the school premises and have decided to utilise it to build a hostel for the players. As of now, the hostel will have the capacity to accommodate 100 players and we will expand it according to future requirement," said Maluka, who was at the school this week to get the work started and hold discussions with the architect.

The land on which the school is built and where the hostel will come up belongs to the village panchayat. The hostel will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore, of which Rs 50 lakh has already been released by the state government. "The remaining grant will be released in the next financial year," he added.

The three-storey hostel building will have 30 rooms which will include well-furnished rooms for the players, warden, round-the-clock security staff and a common room which will also serve as a place for recreation. The building will also have a well-stocked mess where meals for the players and the staff of the hostel will be prepared.

"We have already increased the grant fixed for the daily diet of these players. Once the hostel is complete and the mess starts functioning, we will try and get more funds to offer a good and nutritious diet to the players," he said.

Maluka also shared his plan of having sports wing, dedicated to one sport each, across the state.

"If we have sports wings dedicated to one sport each, it will give a better platform to the players as talent will converge at one place. That is the eventual plan. If the plan works out, good quality coaching can be imparted to players beginning at school level," he said.

Bathinda, February 1
The police today thwarted the attempt made by the guest faculty lecturers of Government Rajindra College to take out a torchlight (mashal) procession across the city. The protesting teachers were stopped taking out the march and turned it into a "mashal dharna".

The lecturers, accompanied by a section of students, were all set to take out the march when they were intercepted by more than 15 police personnel who didn't allow them to continue with their plan. The protesters then squatted outside the college gate to protest.

While the lecturers had been raising slogans against the state government since January 21, the protestors had their mouths covered today with pieces of cloth as they staged a silent protest against the government.

The dharna by the lecturers of Government Rajindra College is part of the state-level protest by the guest faculty lecturers of all the 52 government colleges in the state. The lecturers have been boycotting classes demanding that they be paid Rs 10,000 as salary per month and a 10 per cent annual increment. Earlier, they had burnt an effigy of the false promises made by the state government.

The teachers have been on dharna against the state government since January 21. The guest faculty lecturers have also said earlier that in Rajindra College alone, 140 lectures were being cancelled everyday due to the stir but the government was not doing anything to solve their problems.

The guest faculty lecturers stated that they were being burdened with other college works quivalent to that given to the regular lecturers of othe colleges but their salary was not on a par with what was being paid to the others.

Bathinda, February 1
Members of the Punjab Adarsh Schools Teaching and Non-Teaching Association and Sikhya Provider Teachers’ Union will stage a joint dharna in the city tomorrow.

The Adarsh School teachers are demanding salaries according to the CBSE norms, regularisation of their jobs and are insisting on not dropping the word ‘government’ from the names of the schools.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, state president of the union Deepak Grover said, “There are 24 Adarsh schools in the state which were opened under the public-private partnership (PPP) model as part of a project under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA). Similarly, 21 model and four Adarsh schools were opened by the government under the same project. But there is difference between the salaries of the teachers of both the schools.”

“While the teachers of Government Adarsh Schools are being paid according to the CBSE grade, the teachers of the PPP schools are not being paid the same which was promised to them. We were also told that after a year of probation, our services would be regularised but nothing has been done,” he added.

Grover also accused the state government of meting out step-motherly treatment to the PPP model Adarsh schools. “The government is also planning to drop the word ‘government’ from the names of all the 24 Adarsh schools in the state. We will not let this happen,” Grover said.

Meanwhile, members of the Sikhya Provider Teachers’ Union, Punjab, are planning to distribute CDs and pamphlets during the dharna.

District president of the union, Gursewak Singh said, “Former Education Minister Sewa Singh had announced that the Sikhya Providers would be paid according to the revised pay scale starting April 2013, but the government later retracted. We have the former education minister’s statement on record and will distribute CDs of the same to tell everyone how the government went back on its promise.”

He also said the Punjab government was yet to release the hike of Rs 4,300 in the salaries of Sikhya Providers which was announced by the Central Government. 

Bathinda, February 1
Max Super Speciality Hospital (MSSH) will organise a two-day cancer screening and prevention camp on February 3 and 4.

In a press statement issued here, a spokesperson for the hospital said the camp would be held from 10 am to 3 pm. During the camp, patients can avail of free consultation from a team of doctors, including Dr Rajesh Vashisht, Dr Manjinder Singh Sidhu, Dr VP Kalra, Dr Vikas Jindal, Dr Rohit Goyal and Dr Ajesh Bansal. At the camp, people can also undergo various tests for screening cancer.

The hospital will also organise a cancer awareness rally on February 3. It will start from the Max Hospital and move towards GT Road, Hanuman Chowk and will culminate at the District Administrative Complex. 

Bathinda, February 1
Workers of 108 ambulance service, plying under the primary health centre, Balluana, held a demonstration at the Government School, Deon.

Bathinda district in- charge Raman Garg and Muktsar in-charge Joginder Thakur told the students and staff members about the importance of the 108 ambulance service, its functioning and on ways in which its service can be availed.

Driver Gurpreet Singh and technician Baksheesh Singh held demonstration about patients being carried and transported in the ambulance. 

Bathinda, February 1
Vibgyor '14, the annual cultural festival of the Baba Farid Group of Institutions spluttered with Pakistani tadka on Friday night. A special musical evening was organised for a select gathering on the campus. The highlight of the evening was the performance by the renowned Pakistani Sufi singer, Arif Lohar, who mesmerised the audience.

Although Lohar was scheduled to perform at 8.30 pm, his performance began at 10 pm. But the wait proved to be worth it as he sang, 'Jugni', 'Challa' and other songs much to the crowd's delight. The crowd erupted with joy as he started rendering his father Alam Lohar's song, 'Bol mitti de babeyaan'.

Punjab Minister Madan Mohan Mittal was the chief guest at the evening and the function was presided over by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mantar Singh Brar. Addressing the gathering, Mittal said the need of the hour was collaboration between the corporate sector and educational institutions so that the purpose of both can be served. — TNS 

Bathinda, February 1
The police today booked the unidentified driver of a heavy vehicle (canter) for dragging a car with his vehicle after the accident. Ravi Kant of Dabwali said a canter travelling ahead of his relative's car applied brakes after which the car got collided with the rear of the canter. He said his sister, brother-in-law and their child were travelling in the car on the Dabwali Road. Despite the car being stuck in the rear of the canter, the driver did not stop his vehicle. The driver, in a bid to escape, kept on increasing the speed of the canter in which cement was loaded.

The complainant said he too was travelling and was behind his brother in law's car and spotted the car get stuck in the canter. The complainant, after overtaking the canter, blocked the road and rescued his relatives.

Investigating Officer Harbans Singh from Sangat police station said the driver of the canter had been identified but he could not be arrested as he managed to flee after the incident.

The car that got stuck in the canter could not be detached manually and the services of a JCB machine would be required to separate the car from the canter, the policemen said.

A case under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the driver of the canter. 

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Check speed limit in the city

The traffic police in Bathinda is more focused on issuing challans to motorists for incomplete paperwork rather than taking them to task for specific violations such as overspeeding or driving in the wrong lane. Traffic cops should focus on ensuring that the two-wheelers or four-wheelers in the city drive at a controlled speed. Areas like Ajit Road, 100-Feet Road and Power House Road, which are home to innumerable coaching institutes, witness the maximum number of incidents related to rashly driven vehicles. Though unplanned speed-breakers have been constructed on Ajit Road, due to lack of policing, these structures do little to dissuade rash driving.

At the roundabouts, the frequent violators are those who take the wrong turns. Instead of issuing challans to the people for this violation, the policemen check only the papers which do not serve any purpose. It is high time the police understood the need for issuing violation-specific challans and do not let off people lightly.