Bathinda, October 18
With 20 more patients admitted to various hospitals during the last five days, the total number of dengue cases reported till Saturday went up to 74.

Fresh cases of dengue have fuelled the panic associated with the spread of the disease, transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Over 50 patients from the city were screened for the disease in the civil hospital, private hospitals and at DMCH, Ludhiana, in the past five days.

Patients lined up for screening in various other city hospitals also, all of which reported an increased admission of dengue cases. The total number of people infected with the deadly dengue disease in Bathinda has gone up as compared to last year and the large number of cases are being reported from the good localities of the city which shows that people are not paying any heed to health authorities in terms of helping them in eliminating Aedes Aegypti breeding. Kasturi Lal, district health officer, said, "Bathinda has reported 74 cases of dengue this year. No dengue death has been confirmed."

On Wednesday, a suspected death from mosquito-borne disease was reported from the Goniana area but still tests are needed to be done to reach any conclusion.

The local health authorities said the civic bodies are taking all necessary preventive measures, including checking of premises for mosquito breeding, to prevent the spread of the disease.

Kasturi Lal has asked the officials to get daily reports from the domestic breeding checkers.

Neelam Bajaj, civil surgeon, said contingency measures, including creating a special dengue cell in the civil hospital, were being taken to accommodate the patient turnout.

"Our casualty services are equipped to cope with the increased load of patients. We have also taken a decision to curtail admissions to accommodate dengue patients," she added.

Vipul Bindal, a resident of New Shakti Nagar and a functionary of the Residents Welfare Association claimed that they had not seen the anti-malaria spray or fumigation team of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) for days together. "May be these measures are being taken in posh localities or in the VIP areas but the localities where residents are facing real threat remain neglected."

Meanwhile, two non-governmental organisations--- Aasra Jan Sewa and Noujawan Welfare Society, Bathinda, have called upon the city residents to follow the preventive steps for checking the breeding of mosquito in their vicinity, wear full sleeved shirts and full length trousers, as also to use mosquito nets or repellents to guard against dengue fever.

Bathinda, October 18
Year after year, our politicians make tall claims regarding development and the projects that have been initiated under their guidance. The truth of the matter is that most of their claims are hollow.

Instead of making sincere efforts to give practical shape to their claims of development, most politicians encourage and indulge in activities that aggravate the problems of citizens in one or the other way.

Bathinda is no exception to the afflictions brought on by politicians for their personal gains. Nearly 100 jhuggis are located in cluster at the prime land, right on the Goniana Road here for the past three years. The dwellers are migrant labourers. Some of them work as daily wagers and rickshaw pullers.

The open secret is that these slum dwellers enjoy political patronage. That is why, that instead of making sincere effort to remove these illegal jhuggis, the Bathinda Municipal Council (BMC) installed water taps for their use about two years back. Interestingly, these slum dwellers are getting electricity through kundi connections but the Punjab State Electricity Board officials very conveniently turn a blind eye to the power theft under their very noses.

Commercial establishment owners of the area are the main sufferers as these jhuggis are located nearer to big restaurants. Most of them can't dare even to speak against these jhuggis openly for obvious reasons.

The restaurant owners said the children of the jhuggi dwellers answered calls of the nature on the road itself, while their parents went to the vacant commercial plots. The filth and the stink made it difficult for them to sit there. Most of the jhuggi dwellers had TVs and at least 100 units of electricity were stolen by the jhuggi dwellers daily. Most of the slum dwellers had ration and voter-identity cards. Residents of Vishal Nagar and New Shakti Nagar said these slum dwellers create public nuisance by using abusive language and quarrelling frequently on the road itself. They throw rubbish here and there, spreading the filth, which proves to be a fertile ground for germs and diseases.

"We have run from pillar to post to get these jhuggis removed but to no avail. The only result was a bit of paper work by the authorities concerned," said P.R. Jindal, a resident of Vishal Nagar .

Residents had submitted a written complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, Rahul Tewari, who asked the SDM to get a factual report. The SDM wrote a letter to the BMC executive officer (EO) to do the needful to stop the nuisance caused by slums in the area. Following this, the EO replied that a law and order position might be created during the removal of jhuggis, requesting the SDM and SSP to provide policemen to avoid any untoward incident during the removal of jhuggis.

But the jhuggis as well as their occupants are still going strong. Wonder if the police had refused to provide protection to the BMC officials. Obviously somewhere the chain of action was broken.

BMC executive officer, Kamal Kant, admitted that the slums in the city were a big nuisance. Surprisingly, he said. "If the MC tries to remove them through force, it may backfire. Secondly, the BMC has no alternative place to provide the jhuggi dwellers.'

On installation of taps, his reply was more interesting and diplomatic. "This is democracy. These types of work are often seen in a democracy. If people are living there for past several years, they should be provided with basic amenities."

A PSEB official, on request of anonymity, said his department had removed unauthorised kundi connections two or three times from the jhuggis but in vain. "When PSEB staff go there to remove the kundis, the jhuggi dwellers gather there in large numbers, start quarrelling with the staff and sometimes hold them captive,” he said. 

Mansa, October 18
The problem of contaminated water has become a serious issue for the people of Mansa district. The people of the village are suffering from water-borne diseases. The ground- water of this area is not fit for the irrigation of the field as well. The officials of the health and agriculture departments too have admitted this.

Agriculture officer N.S. Aulakh informed that 33 per cent of the water was safe and suitable near canals and 66 per cent of the water was contaminated. He said the main cause of the contamination was due to more quantity of salt. Some areas as Budhlada and Sardoolgarh face a serious problem because of the shortage of canals. Meanwhile, Hardyal Singh Sidhu said big tanks had been constructed.

The deputy medical commissioner advised the people to use boiled water and tablets of chlorine were provided to the people.

Social workers Rekha Sharma and Kamaljeet Malwa said people were forced to use handpumps. Mangat Rai Bansal, MLA Budhlada, alleged that the government did not take sincere steps to solve the problem.

Bathinda, September 18
The Punjab government aided school teachers and other employees union held a protest rally against the non-implementation of the pension scheme for them as promised by the state government and later took out a march in the city here today.

Gurcharan Singh Chahal, president of the State Aided School Teachers Union, said the protest was in regard to their long pending demands of restoration of pension and gratuity benefits withdrawn from May, 2003, removal of ban from posts, enhanced medical allowance, interim relief of the pay commission, enhanced HRA for five government aided schools which come under the jurisdiction of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) and regular release of grants.

Chahal said that the Akali Dal, in its election manifesto, had promised that the demands would be met after coming to power in the state.

He reminded that the manifesto clearly stated that all the facilities of employees of such institutions that had been "snatched" away by the previous Congress regime would be met. But the promise had not yet been met, he added.

Reminding the SAD-BJP coalition, the union president said that the government aided employees, particularly in Malwa and Doaba areas, had helped the parties in returning to power.

The union leader warned the government that they would intensify the agitation and start "jail bharo andolan" from October 22 in case their demands were not met.

Later, a large number of teachers took part in the rally from the Court Road to Ambedkar Chowk here raising slogans against the state government for ignoring their demands despite repeated assurance by the chief minister and the education and finance ministers on different occasions. 

Mansa, October 18
The workers of Pepsu Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) numbering 1800, working on a contractual basis, are struggling hard to get their jobs regularised. These workers belong to different categories.

Propaganda secretary of PRTC Workers Union (Independent) Rupinder Singh said that they had submitted a memorandum to PRTC management on June 2, demanding regular jobs for workers, who are under direct contract of PRTC and workers under the direct contract of PRTC, serving through private contractors.

He further alleged that the PRTC management did not pay any attention to their demands and started victimising the union leaders. Some illegal salary deductions are also being made, he added.

Rupinder further informed that a big state-level dharna would be held on October 24 at Patiala.

Meanwhile, Manvesh Singh Sidhu, managing director of the PRTC, said that the process was on for the regularisation of the job of the workers.

Ferozepur, October 18
The Punjab government has embarked on a five-year plan to provide better irrigation facilities to 28.68 hectares of land belonging to over 6,000 villages in the state at an estimated expenditure of Rs 400 crore, stated Janmeja Singh Sekhon, irrigational minister, while laying the foundation stone of Rs 138-crore modernisation project of Ghal Canal near Ferozeshah village, 20 km from district headquarters, today.

The minister was accompanied by deputy commissioner Megh Raj, P.S. Bhogal, SE, Canals, besides officials from irrigation and drainage department and the Akali workers.

On the occasion, Sekhon said the Ghal gateway, which was constructed 30 years ago, supplied water for irrigation purpose to 3,168 hectare land belonging to Ferozshah, Ghal Khurd, Thether Khurd, Arazi Katoria and other villages.

He said the villages at the tail-end of this canal do not get sufficient water for irrigation due to which the department has proposed rehabilitation of the same. It would increase the water discharge to an extent of 30 per cent i.e. from current 9.80 cusecs to 11.95 cusecs.

Sekhon said the SAD-BJP government had undertaken irrigational projects under which Rs 1,043.93 crore would be spent on modernisation of main rivers in the state.

He added that in order to channelise Ghaggar river, the department had started two projects, one at Ghanauli costing Rs 123 crore and another at Khanauri at the cost of Rs 137 crore.

Condemning the union government for announcing a ‘meagre’ bonus of Rs 50 per quintal, Sekhon said it was for the first time that the recommendations of the agriculture price control commission had been ignored by the Centre.

Barnala, October 18
The SD College market observed a bandh today to lodge protest against the construction of railway overbridge (ROB) on SD College railway crossing. The bandh was observed by the Lok Manch with the logic that the construction of the overbridge would not serve any purpose to the public.

The residents of Barnala never demanded the construction of the bridge on this road.

Yadvinder Shunty of the manch addressing the public said the construction would spoil the market. “The people are already under financial crisis.”

These two are the most prestigious roads and have many commercial outlets and banking sector.

Hem Raj, municipal councillor and Mahesh Kumar Lotta pointed out that if the project continued then the people would face great difficulty.

It is pertinent to mention that residents here had a long-pending demand of construction of overbridge at Dhanaula road railway crossing, as this is the busiest road and divides the city in two halves. But SD College railway crossing is not solving the traffic problem at Dhanaula road, which is the need of hour.

Barnala, October 18
The Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dakonda) would block the rail traffic across the state on October 20 to lodge its protest against the low MSP of paddy and Rs 50 per quintal bonus on paddy.

Giving this information, the union’s state vice-president Manjeet Singh Dhaner said the traffic blockade would be held from 12 noon to 3 pm. The union was demanding a raise in the MSP so that farmers could meet the agricultural expenses which were quite high in the wake of he increased diesel prices and dearth of fertilisers.

To make the agitation a success, the union held awareness march in over 30 villages of the Mehalkalan block today and appealed to the farming community to join them.

Abohar, October 18
The budding horticulturists and ordinary farmers of the Malwa region used to visit hilly areas to update their knowledge but for last few years, officials, scientists and progressive growers from far off states, including the fruit growing areas of Himalayas, have started visiting this remote town of Punjab in order to get training as well as to discuss better prospects in fruit and vegetable industry.

A batch of dozen horticultural officials, including five women, from the Directorate of Horticulture and Food Processing, Uttarakhand, today completed a week-long training in the post-harvest management of fruits and vegetables at the Central Institute for Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET).

Surinder Kumar Jakhar, chairman of the IFFCO, gave away certificates to the officers during the valedictory function held today. Wishing them success, he assured that the IFFCO would extend all kind of cooperation in promoting fruit and vegetable processing in the hilly state.

Laying emphasis on strengthening cooperative farming and marketing, Jakhar said the country might face water crisis in the near future. The traditional system of flooding the fields with canal water needed to be done away with and the sprinkling/drip irrigation system was the need of hour, he added.

Referring to bumper paddy, wheat and cotton crops in Punjab, the chairman said though the governments had been trying the farmers were not adopting crop diversification.

Jakhar said the processing units needed to be installed in rural areas so that they were accessible to small growers. The state government installed a Rs 34-crore fruit and vegetable processing plant at Abohar but even after a year, the authorities were indecisive over how to run it, he added.

CIPHET in-charge R.K. Gupta said that the institution was a brainchild of Balram Jakhar, the present governor of Madhya Pradesh, and could now boast of receiving trainees and delegates from more than a dozen states.

Bathinda, October 18
All the LPG gas agencies in Punjab have been directed to ensure LPG refill bookings without any restriction of 21 days and a notice to this effect has been displayed at all the booking windows of LPG distributors of oil companies like IOC, BPCL and HPCL in the state.

In a press release issued here today, it was pointed out that there is no shortage of LPG in the state and there is no time-bound limit of booking for refill if the customer has an empty cylinder at the delivery time. But the petroleum ministry has imposed restriction to open new gas agencies. — TNS

Bathinda, October 18
A Special Lok Adalat will be organised at the District Courts Complex under the supervision of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, on December 20 and 21. Kuldip Singh, District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority, Bathinda, would preside over the meeting of the District Legal Services Authority.

According to a press note, Kuldip Singh, District and Sessions Judge, Bathinda, declared that this Special Lok Adalat would aim at cases relating to bank loans, recovery of mobile dues, VAT cases, matrimonial disputes, rent dispute cases and those falling under the Motor Vehicles Act. — TNS

Ferozepur, October 18
The Army recruitment drive received an overwhelming response as more than 4,000 candidates were screened and issued tokens by the Army recruiting authorities here on Friday.

Brigadier K.D. Malhotra, DDG, Recruiting (Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir), said the candidates who received the token would undergo physical fitness test (PFT) and physical measurements test (PMT) before going through a medical examination. As many as 1764 candidates from Bathinda and Muktsar were issued tokens, he added.

Malhotra said the candidates who met the laid standards and cleared the medical examination would appear in the CEE (Common Entrance Examination) to be held on October 26. The CEE for nursing assistants and some other categories will be held at Moga under the aegis of ARO Ludhiana, he addded.

The Brigadier expressed the hope that the ongoing recruitment drive would go a long way in meeting the aspirations of the youth of the border area desirous of joining the Army. — OC