Bathinda, March 2
Amidst expectations of Bathinda emerging as a VIP parliamentary constituency during the coming elections, a number of organisations of unemployed youth and employees have pitched their tents outside the mini-secretariat here to focus attention of the government towards their long-standing demands.

Leaders of at least 11 different state level organisations have chosen the election season to get their demands implemented.

These organisations in the past generally organised protests in the state's capital at Chandigarh where they had greater visibility, but have now turned towards this town which was politically important for chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

These aggrieved organisations have made a beeline here in the hope of putting the SAD-BJP coalition on the mat and get their demands accepted in case the former gives the ticket to Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of Sukhbir Singh Badal, for the Bathinda seat.

A string of tents has sprung outside the deputy commissioner's office where the protestors raise slogans throughout the day. It was a field day for protestors, including teachers of various categories who took to streets and also climbed an overhead tank to create an embarrassing situation for Sukhbir Singh Badal during his recent visit here.

The town has suddenly become a favourite destination for employees, unemployed youth, farmers and others to lodge their protest. Fortunately enough, the student community has so far remained silent and was confined to studies and cultural activities within their respective campus.

Hundreds of teachers participated in a state level demonstration that was recently organised here by one of their associations.

Jasbir Singh Seera, president of the casual labourers of the forest department, who is leading one of the demonstrations here these days, said that the Punjab government has failed to take steps to regularize their services and wages were paid to them irregularly.

The diploma holder multi-purpose health workers, ITI trained electricians, contractual ITI instructors, qualified veterinary doctors, contractual doctors of rural medical services association, veterinary pharmacists and elementary teachers are among those demonstrators who have put permanent tents on the main road to mark their presence in the town.

Leaders of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal are learnt to have made futile efforts to persuade them to lift dharna.

A group of youth who have received police training today threatened to take the extreme step of self-immolation in case their absorption in police was further delayed.

What seems to have prompted these large number of organisations to simultaneously launch protest was the series of meetings that Sukhbir Singh Badal held here with various social, religious and other associations during his recent visits here in a bid to seek their support during the Lok Sabha elections.

Bathinda, March 2
The Lok Sabha election dates have been announced. Voters of Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency will enjoy their right on May 7. The administration here is also gearing up for the big day.

As per the details obtained from the administration, out of the total 422 polling stations and 830 polling booths in the district, 227 polling stations and 506 booths fall under the sensitive category.

The details show that in the Maur assembly constituency, 82 booths are declared sensitive, in Bhucho 89, for Bathinda (rural) 66, in Talwandi 76 and in Bathinda (urban) 58.

Though Rampura Phul assembly constituency is now is a part of the Faridkot parliamentary constituency, the responsibility for making police arrangements is still on Bathinda police. So, the police has declared 113 booths sensitive there.

According to a detail, barring the DSPs and more senior officials, there are10 inspector, 37 sub-inspectors, 104 assistant sub-inspector, 257 head constables, 1239 constables, 93 SPOs and 369 home guards in the Bathinda police who would be put on duty.

Though the number seems adequate but the number of total required staff is much more than the available force for election related duty.

SSP, Bathinda, Ashish Chudhary is learnt to have prepared a list, in which the required number of cops for election duty has been mentioned as 186 NGOs, (including inspector, SI and ASI), 693 head constables, 2044 constables and 702 SPOs/home guards. As many as 12 buses and canters and 49 jeeps also figure in the list.

It may be mentioned that of the total nine assembly constituencies, including Lambi (in Muktsar district), Mansa, Sardulgarh and Budhlada (all in Mansa district) and five in this district, under the Bathinda parliamentary constituency, except for two, all the sitting MLAs belong to the Congress.

When contacted, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Faridkot range, SS Chauhan said, "All the facts are being considered. The process to hold free, fair and violence-free polls has started."

Bathinda, March 2
Fulfilling its commitment to open generic drug stores, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, in collaboration with the Punjab Health Department, formally opened a Jan Aushdhi store in the local civil hospital here today. Commonly used unbranded generic medicines will now be available at cheaper rates at this store.

District Red Cross, Bathinda, would manage the shop and it would remain open for 24 hours. Two such shops have already been opened in Mohali and Amritsar.

Talking to TNS here today, J.R. Goyal, secretary, district Red Cross, said the shop would supply drugs on a no profit basis at least at 70 per cent discount and the common man would be greatly benefited due to the low cost of the medicines.

He said the medicines available at the store would be sold after the Red Cross charged 8 per cent of the margin for its wholesale operations and 10 per cent on the subsequent retail sale. Around 108 such medicines have been identified so far, he added.

A senior health official admitted that at the moment, the shop was not making available several medicines for heart problems but added that the state health department would also provide the stock of life saving drugs and those for other serious ailments. He said out of 80, about 20 top brands have been enlisted for supplies to Jan Aushdhi shop.

He stated that at present, patients bought medicines from big companies at a huge cost. If these drug stores were opened, contracts from the five public sector units at much cheaper rates could be obtained which would facilitate availability of such drugs at a rate that is 60 per cent cheaper.

Citing an example, he said an amoxycillin 500 mg capsule being sold in the market for more than Rs 6 would be available at for Rs 2.31 only at such stores. Similarly a flauconazole 150 mg capsule would be available for only Rs 2.10, while its average market price was Rs 7.50 per capsule.

Similarly, a new antibiotic tablet of Cefuroxime 250 mg would be available for around Rs 10 whereas it costs around Rs 35 in the market.

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers would provide logistic support to the pilot project and the drug stores will be run on minimum profit with no subsidy from the government, he added.

Bathinda, March 2
As part of Operation Sadbhavna, a group of 24 senior citizens from Meander, Surankot and Poonch from Jammu and Kashmir, are here for a national integration tour. The tour has been organised by the Army. It is a 12-day tour and is assisted by Capt S.B. Kelkar from the Rashtriya Rifles and others. The tour reached Jammu yesterday and would head for Ajmer tomorrow and would go to Jaipur, Agra, Delhi and back. Lt Gen D.S. Chauhan, GOC 10 Corps, interacted with the group and shared their problems.

On being asked about the condition of Jammu and Kashmir and the Army's role there, Lt Gen Chauhan said, "Militancy started in 1989 from across the border. It is Pakistan's policy to make India bleed with a thousand cuts. Youth from India were lured and trained as militants in terror camps. But the people of Kashmir have known that the Army has always had good intentions and strives for peace. We are the face of this country and J&K is our part."

The senior citizens, who mostly retired as head teachers, have never stepped out of J&K. "I have stepped on 'Indian' soil for first time. I never thought I would do so. It feels great and I have seen what real 'India' is,” said Munir Hussain, a retired police personnel.

They unanimously supported what the Indian Army was doing to curb militancy in J&K. "There is less militancy in our area now because of the Army and the cooperation it has received from the civilians. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Jammu and Kashmir should stay united. I really want to visit places like Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib. The far-flung areas there, especially in Jammu, are a neglected lot and no development has been initiated there. Lobby system exists in J&K and every politician is concerned about his seat. People there fully support India," said Khaleel Ahmed Khan, a retired teacher.

They requested Army officials to help their youth get into the forces. "We are poor and politicians there do not help the poor. I want to request the government to help our children,” Khan added.

Abohar, March 2
The organisers of the cricket tournament ran helter-skelter as the winning teams ransacked the Nehru Stadium here late on Sunday evening.

The chief guest Sher Singh Ghubaya, SAD-BJP candidate for the Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency, was escorted out safely by the party workers.

The players, however, damaged the huge flex hoardings, which carried the photos of the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Vinod Khanna MP, Dr Ram Kumar Goyal ex-MLA, Gurtej Singh Ghuriana MLA and others not only within the stadium but also outside it. Some of the players were seen taking away sofas, chairs and other material using four- wheelers, witnesses said.

The trouble started when the organisers expressed inability to give Rs 21,000 to the winners and Rs 11,000 to the runner-up teams besides Rs 5,000 to the man of the series. The players lamented that the organisers insisted upon accepting small amounts to which they declined. The organisers had allegedly collected Rs 72,000 from 64 teams on account of entry fee. They had not declared or rewarded the man of the match in any of the matches held during the fortnight, the irate protesters said.

Interestingly, the tournament was allegedly organised to score a point over the Congress workers, who had earlier organised the national tournament in the stadium with active support from the legislator Sunil Jakhar. But the tournament proved to be a spoilsport for the pro-alliance players.

Meanwhile, Dr Rajinder Girdhar, principal of the Homoeopathic Medical College, who had served as organising secretary for the previous events, expressed shock over the incident. He said on Monday that all the aspects of such tournaments were discussed during a meeting with Shiv Raj Goyal, president of the Municipal Council. Some rules and regulations will be framed to check recurrence of such an ugly situation, he assured.

Moga, March 2
The much-publicised Nature Walk project of the state government spread in more than four acres of railway land, presently leased out to forest department, has ran into rough weather. The senior authorities of the railways have refused to grant permission for this purpose.

Annoyed over the alleged indifferent attitude of the railways, workers of the SAD-BJP staged a protest against the Congress-led UPA government here, this morning.

Jathedar Tota Singh, senior vice-president of the SAD alleged that the Union government and railways had developed indifferent approach over the issue at the behest of certain local-level Congress leaders.

Chairman of the Moga Improvement Trust, Yogesh Goel, president of the MC Barjinder Singh Brar and many other leaders of the SAD and the BJP addressed the protestors and lashed out at the UPA government.