Bathinda, September 10
The Northern Railway has started the much-needed process to bring the derailed porter facility at the Bathinda station back on track. Railway sources told The Tribune today that a circular in this regard issued by the senior divisional commercial manager, Northern Railway, Ambala has been received by the officials concerned here.

As per the circular, the railway would furnish licenses to altogether 54 'able-bodied' residents of Bathinda district to carry passengers' luggage as licensed porters at the Bathinda station.

The porter facility at the Asia's biggest railway junction got derailed last year when 57 out of 60 porters deployed turned into gangmen in one stroke under the former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's 'poll plan'. With that the junction almost turned 'porter-less' and nearly 20,000 passengers who use the station every day were left in the lurch.

The railway has invited applications from 18 years old persons till October 16, 2009 to fill up the posts which include vacancies for SC - 4, ST - 7, OBC -11 and rest are for general category. The candidates have to undergo physical efficiency test.

The last one year has been an ordeal for the passengers here as there are nine platforms at station and all are about half-a-kilometre long. And one has to walk nearly half-a-kilometre and also has to climb a foot over-bridge, which includes 60 stairs, to catch a train and come out of the station. Importantly, one can't escape the stairs at the station. Things get worse for one carries luggage.

Besides posing health hazard to the passengers, the condition has also caused serious security concern at the station as the rickshaw- pullers, grabbing the opportunity to earn easy money, have turned into 'part-time porters'.

Bathinda comes under the 'A' category of stations. On any given day, around 20,000 passengers use the station, which handles over 30 important trains everyday. In addition, the incongruent ratio between the porters and the passengers has given rise to a monopoly of porters.

The various railway passenger associations have welcomed the railway's move to appoint porters in Bathinda and other stations falling in Malwa. 

Bathinda, September 10
A full bench meeting of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) took place today at Chandigarh to discuss the level of uranium in the Malwa belt. But the hearing had to be put off till September 30 as one of the members of the commission failed to make it today.

The commission had designated three members and the chairman to be present for the hearing. According to the information given by PSHRC systems manager Rohit Chatrath, the environment engineer of Bathinda has been summoned at the next hearing because around 80 villages of the region have been found to be affected by uranium. According to recent reports published by the international media, children at Faridkot were found having 60 times more uranium than the safe limits.

Dr GS Dhillon, former chief engineer (research)-cum-director of irrigation and power, Amritsar, who has been asked to assist the commission in reaching a conclusion, was also present today.

A 45-minute discussion took place during the hearing in which all the members present agreed that uranium presence has been established in the area. Different permissible limits of uranium according to various organizations were also discussed.

Dr Dhillon informed the commission that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended 0.5 micrograms of soluble uranium consumption per kilogram of body weight. This limit is concerned with the toxicity of uranium as a heavy metal rather than its radioactivity.

Uranium found above the permissible limits in water of this area led to a discussion on how to provide uranium-free water for consumption in the Malwa region. Dr Dhillon suggested two ways: first was to treat surface water with reverse osmosis (RO) process, which is already being done. But groundwater is being treated with RO which is yielding no results, Dr Dhillon stated.

The second process suggested by him to the commission was treating drinking water with the ion exchange process. In this process, water at pH level of 8.2 is passed through a bed of ion exchange media. The uranium would be absorbed by the ion particles present. The bed should be reactivated once saturation takes place and this can be done by passing a chloride or high salt solution.

Bathinda, September 10
After much criticism from math and science teachers of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) regarding the forced purchasing of math and science kits, the Director General School Education (DGSE) has given a clarification on a website. The DGSE's clarification on the website ssapunjab.org states that no school would be forced to buy the kits.

A committee was formed for deciding the articles to be included in the math and science labs in government schools. The committee decided on the articles and called certain companies to check samples. The teachers alleged that this committee had tied up with two companies that could have lead to some kind of scam. The teachers had informed the DGSE recently that according to the DEO's orders, the schools were suppose to make drafts made in the name of the two companies when asked.

Teachers said that the prices of articles mentioned in the list were higher, teachers said, adding that a ruler that costs Rs 10-15 on an average was priced much higher.

The DGSE was told that some of the articles mentioned were not even needed and, if purchased, would have led to sheer wastage of money.

The DGSE had then cancelled the order in front of the DEOs present and later, when the DEO was contacted, he had stated that there were no orders from the DGSE for making a draft in the name of the two companies.

Muktsar, September 10
The lure of the lucre coupled with good matrimonial prospects is forcing hundreds of young women of this educationally backward district to take up nursing as a profession abroad.

This is also reflected from the fact that nursing institutes have become a dime a dozen in this city, where not a long ago, nursing as a profession was viewed with skepticism. However, with the change of times, this vocation has taken on a different veneer with nursing institutes here reporting a spurt in admissions to their colleges.

Here young women might not have heard about the lady with the Lamp-Florence Nightingale- but their obsession for the foreign land borders is fanatical.

Says the erudite Jasneet Sukhija, a lecturer in Adesh College of Nursing, "Money is just one of the factors. Getting a good life partner is another thing.

Earlier, a nurse never had a young man's family knocking at her door. Decades ago people often questioned her purity knowing she touched strange men unsupervised. That talk has not completely silenced today but nurses from this area have persisted. They are now spreading confidently across Western countries, particularly US and Canada."

‘Life is full of choices — choose carefully — reads a poster in a cyber cafe often frequented by young nurses. And these women are indeed choosing the careers carefully.

The promise of money and respect makes it all the more worthwhile for them. Says a nursing lecturer, "These young women normally hear stories of their ilk earning good money abroad from the drones of 'didis' who come on leave to India from foreign lands. And respect is just not in their jobs. Now, they are respected at home as well."

Says Ashish Sukhija, chief administrator, Adesh Hospital, where nursing courses are also run, "Earlier, nurses from Philippines and China were in great demand. However, Filipino nursing skills are not up to the mark while China has a language barrier.

The world needs nurses, and the biggest pocket is in India. I feel that there shouldbe more such nursing institutes in the area to cater to the demand." He adds that the aging population and increased life expectancy hasincreased the need for nurses in the West.

Says Jasneet who has done her nursing degree from a reputed Bangalore based institute, "Nurses are making good money now. Over a period of time their success abroad has got them attention and unexpected leverage.

Today, a woman can get more from nursing than a career — she can change life for herself and her family. And like Florence Nightingale showed the way by travelling around the world, including India, to contribute to medicine and gain respect in a male-dominated world, nurses from South West Punjab too want to show the way in their own way".

Moga, September 10
A resident of the nearby village arrested on charges of murdering his wife, who was alive indeed, was released from the jail by a local court here on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The High Court had on Tuesday asked the Moga police to get Chamkaur Singh, a resident of Jalalabad East, released, who was arrested by the Dharamkot police on charges of murdering his wife Charanjit Kaur, who was actually alive.

He was released from the judicial custody late on Wednesday evening after the police filed an application before the local court of Anantdeep Singh to release him as per the directions of the high court.

The high court had also ordered Charanjit Kaur, who appeared in the high court first on August 27 and also on Tuesday to appear before the Special Investigation Team headed by Superintendent Police (D) Ferozepur HS Pannu on September 11 at Moga for further investigations.

Zora Singh, father of Chamkaur Singh, had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 27 along with his daughter-in-law Charanjit Singh alleging that his son was booked on charges of murdering his wife by the police.

They alleged that the police had registered a false case against him. They also alleged that after picking up Chamkaur Singh on August 14, the cops tortured him and demanded Rs 4,00,000 as bribe for his release.

The high court had ordered to constitute special investigation team for probing this case and submit the report as early as possible after identifying those persons responsible for planting the case against him.

Interestingly, Charanjit Kaur's father Sukhdev Singh, on whose complaint the case was registered, also identified his daughter in the high court on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the home department has today faxed a letter to the district magistrate Satwant Singh Johal to provide adequate security to Chamkaur Singh, Charanjit Kaur and Zora Singh. On the basis of this, the SSP Ashok Bath had provided security to all of them. 

Abohar, September 10
Hanuman Dass Goyal, a member of the state executive of Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat, has requested the Punjab and Haryana High Court to make a provision for opening consumer forums at the sub-divisional level.

In a letter, which was faxed to the high court on Tuesday, he said that a number of pending cases in the district forums had piled up with awakening in the consumers increasing many folds.

In a district like Ferozepur, a consumer is forced to traverse 320 km to and fro to pursue complaints against those who keep on victimising the public by charging more than the MRP and deny after-sale service besides selling defective equipment.

An ordinary consumer cannot be expected to bear whopping travel and incidental expenses besides spending full day on hearing of the complaint. Moreover, when the high court had expressed commitment to provide justice at the grassroot level and doorstep, the beginning can be made through the sub-divisional consumer forums, Goyal said.