Abohar, November 3
Even when some farmers had turned down the request from the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to spare three ft stretch from their land to strengthen the banks of a sub-canal that links village Gurusar Jodhan of his assembly segment Lambi, the Abohar canal division of the irrigation department has started construction of a regulator to lift water to this very sub-canal from the Malukpura distributary.

However, for the time being only the floor bed of the regulator will be constructed, sources informed this correspondent at the site near village Qabarwala. The Gurusar Jodhan sub-canal will draw seven cusecs of additional water from Malukpura distributary for the CM’s assembly segment.

The department had got Rs 18.77 crore project sanctioned for brick-lined slanting rising of 40 mile long Malukpura distributary besides 20 mile length each of Daulatpura and Ramsara minors (sub-canals). The work was to be completed during the last financial year.

However, the contractors abandoned the same as the department failed in making payments due to the financial crisis that the present government had been facing since its inception in February 2007. They resumed work only after clearance of the last year’s payment and assurance thereafter for present works.

In all work on 400 burjis, each measuring 1000 ft, is to be carried out. Earth filling on the banks had already been done. Slanting rising will widen the upper portion of each canal by eight ft making it fit to avail 20 per cent extra supply of water whereas at present none of the canals was in a position to avail even 10 cusecs of extra supply.

Farmers of the region resented that despite assurance reportedly given by the irrigation minister and deputy commissioner recently no efforts were made to speed up de-silting of the sub-canals during suspension of water supply.

JCB machines have not so far been pressed into service even when the district officials had realised that manual work under NREGS was not yielding expected results.

This will be disappointing again for the farmers of the tail-end villages, who need much of water in the coming days for sowing of wheat, gram, mustard and orchards. 

Fazilka, November 3
Fazilka is the only sub-divisional headquarters of Punjab to have the district-level office of Public Relations Department. However, it has been temporarily closed by the department.

The office that acted as a bridge between the government and its people was closed recently when the record, furniture and its only employee (cleaner) were shifted to the office of district public relations officer Ferozepur.

The reason of closure was stated to be that all more than one dozen posts of PR department officials of different ranks (except cleaner) including district public relations officer had been lying vacant for pretty long time.

Besides, the building in which the office was being run is in dilapidated condition. There was an imminent threat of roofs of three rooms building collapsing at any time. The government has closed the office on plea that it was not possible to run a district-level office on the responsibility of one class IV employee, said Ashok Handa, District Public Relations Officer, Ferozepur.

The government does not have enough employees to be posted in this Additional District Public Relations Office. Handa revealed that the vacancies of DPRO after the completion of process of recruitment of DPRO and ADPRO are likely to be filled by the next month.

He said by that time all the majority of offices of Fazilka may also be shifted to newly constructed mini-secretariat and it would be possible to re-open the office there at that time.

Since Ferozepur is the distance-wise longest district in Punjab, the government had decided to set up a second district-level public relations office at Fazilka to cater to the needs of Fazilka, Abohar and Jalalabad areas.

Since Fazilka was the oldest and one of the three largest sub-divisional headquarters of Punjab, the necessity of establishing the office at strategic border sub-division of Fazilka was felt. Hence, the office was opened here in year 1968.

Since then it had been helping the government highlighting its policies and benefitting the journalists to provide necessary information. There is resentment amongst the journalists of Fazilka, Abohar and Jalalabad over the decision of the government to close the office. Senior journalists Lila Dhar Sharma and Subodh Chander Nagpal have flayed the government's move.

They have demanded that it should be re-opened immediately with full staff and rendered it functional. One of the main reason cited for closure of the office is that almost all the officials posted here gradually retired from their posts leaving their incumbency vacant.

The government perhaps did not feel the necessity to fill up the vacancies. Besides, none of the District Public Relations officer of state was perhaps ever keen to be posted at Fazilka considering it to be at the tale of the state along the Indo-Pak border. 

Mansa, November 3
Mass counselling of students for the purpose of guiding them according to their interests for different jobs and courses is going on in Mansa district. The campaign was launched from October 10 and would continue till November 13. Nearly seven teams of lecturers and teachers have been providing guidance to the students from IX to XII standard.

Mass counselling campaign has been working under the inspection of deputy commissioner Kumar Rahul, district education officer Harbans Singh Sandhu and ADC Baljeet Singh Sandhu. They said the counselling of students would be helpful for them in selecting and adopting different lines and courses according to their interest at studies.

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 3
Rashtriya Sahitya Academy award recipient veteran poet Mohan Aalok has resented that the Rajasthan government had not so far been able to fulfill its repeated assurance on giving Rajasthani the status of state language.

While releasing ‘Beti’ a collection of poems composed by Manoj Swami during a function in Suratgarh on Monday evening, Aalok asked how long literates will tolerate step-motherly treatment to their own mother language and tongue.

Others, who joined Aalok in complimenting Swami over penning poems to expose gender bias included noted writer Om Purohit Kagad, Dr Madan Gopal Ladha, Neeraj Dayyia, Jai Chand Chawla and Mithlesh Katheria.

The speakers recalled that Rajasthan was having literacy rate little above 61, female literacy rate was 44.34 per cent while sex ratio was 922 females per 1000 males.

Recent studies indicated that couples from neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana had started thronging Sriganganagar district for sex determination tests. — OC 

Moga, November 3
The Advanced Endoscopy and Scanning Centre, Moga organised a free medical check-up camp for liver disorders, heart diseases, blood sugar and eye conditions related to diabetes and hypertension here on Monday.

A team of doctors including Dr Nirmaljit Singh Malhi (Gastro and liver Specialist) Dr Ramanbir Singh (Diabetes Specialist), Dr Gagandeep Singh (Cardiologist), Dr Ravinder Kaur Malhi (Eye and Retina Specialist) and Dr Harpreet Kaur (Radiologist) examined more than 1,000 patients in the camp.

The District Magistrate Satwant Singh Johal while inaugurating the camp said awareness was must for good health. Dr NS Malhi said Hepatitis B and C were a major cause of liver diseases in the north India. He said, “Majority of the infected people are asymptomatic, being totally unaware of the ongoing damage, which in many people leads to liver shrinkage (Cirrhosis), liver failure and liver cancer.”

He emphasised the need for preventive measures that include vaccination against Hepatitis B, use of universal precautions by the medical and para-medical staff and strict use of disposable needles and syringes for administration of injections as this was the major mode of transmission of infection in Punjab. Special interactive session with patients was also organised in which the doctors educated the patients regarding the latest treatment of Hepatitis C with Interferon injection and anti-viral drug therapy, which results in complete cure of infection in more than 70 per cent of the patients.

A large number of diabetic patients also attended the camp, for whom, the need for strict sugar control and regular eye-check up was emphasised by the medical specialists. Dr Ramanbir Singh said early diagnosis by simple fasting blood sugar testing was essential and appropriate treatment could help patients.

Dr Ravinder Malhi raised concern over increasing problem of eye-complications in diabetic patients that could potentially result into loss of vision. She said routine periodic eye check-up and timely use of Laser Eye therapy could prevent vision loss in majority of the diabetic patients.

Dr Gagandeep Singh and other doctors from Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, examined the patients complaining of heart diseases and hypertension through echocardiography performed on the needy patients. He said recommended diet, regular exercise and low stress levels could vastly reduce the burden of this deadly disease in the community. 

Muktsar, November 3
The Muktsar Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam today called a meeting of representatives of all government procurement agencies and asked them to ensure "a hassle free paddy procurement process for farmers."

Roojam convened the meeting immediately after taking charge as the new Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar in place of his predecessor Rajat Aggarwal who today joined as the Chairman of Punjab Pollution Control Board at Patiala.

Roojam exhorted officials of the procurement agencies to work in the interest of the farmers and ensure that not even a single farmer went away from the grain markets without selling his produce. He expressed satisfaction at the procurement process till yet in various grain markets of the district.

He said that he was constantly in touch with each of the 105 purchase centres set up in the district.

Roojam said that till yet 6.12 lakh tonnes of paddy had arrived in grain markets of this district out of which 5.92 lac tonnes had been procured by different procurement agencies. The DC added that 92 per cent of the farmers who had brought paddy stocks the market had been paid for their produce by the state government's agencies. — OC

Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 3
The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BMB) has finally agreed to lease life to the Rajasthan government which had been vying to diffuse the CPM backed farmers' agitation for last three weeks.

Ram Lubhaya, principal secretary (PS) for the water resources department, claimed that the BBMB that was sticking to supply of 850 cusecs of water for Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan till November 10, has now agreed to enhance the supply up to 1200 cusecs, 300 cusecs of water had been released from the Harike headworks.

Taking another significant decision during the second visit to the border district in short span, Ram Lubhaya said all pending cases relating to farmers in his department will be settled within next three months besides filling the vacancies.

Three mobile teams would be formed in each irrigation circle to check theft of water and tempering of water outlets. He has allowed the officials to hire vehicles for this purpose. The farmer found guilty of theft of water will be deprived of next three turns in irrigation, he added.

Significantly, supply of water will now be gauged at the tail-end to streamline distribution of canal water. 

Bathinda, November 3
When women at national level are contributing more than half of the work force under the ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme, they are figuring quite below in Punjab.

According to recent assessment of the rural development ministry, about 51.15 per cent of the total persondays employment provided across the country under NREGA was given to womenfolk. On the other hand, in Punjab, out of the 26.79 lakh total persondays, only 7.29 lakh (26.83 percent) were provided to the fair sex.

The state wise chart of female participation shows that in Punjab, the number of women employment in some districts like Gurdaspur, Moga, Tarn Taran, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Amritsar, is a cause of concern.

The comparative details show that out of the total persondays employment in district Gurdaspur, women percentage was almost zero. Moga generated only 1000 women persondays employment, which was just 2.55 percent of the total. Providing 7000 women persondays employment, the number in Amritsar was just 4.76 percent of the total.

Further, district Bathinda—a part of MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s constituency, who claims to fight for women uplifting—is also falling in the same category, with just 7.31 percent women persondays employment.

The same way, the details show that Tarn Taran district provided only 10.71 percent women persondays employment under the scheme.

In contrast, SAS Nagar (Mohali) tops the chart as out of the total 4000 persondays employment the whole number was of women, which includes 3000 belonging to schedule caste and 1000 others.

Sangrur and Nawashahar have taken a march over all other states on the number of women participation followed by Muktsar, the home district of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

As per statistics with the Ministry, women in Sangrur constituted 64.74 per cent of the total 1.56 lakh persondays employment, which were provided under the Rural Employment Guarantee Act since last update in October 2009.

In Nawashahar, the percentage of women persondays employment stood at 55.2 among a total of 1.13 lakh under the Act. Along with the abovementioned two, only Muktsar could cross the half of the total percentage as 50.07 percent women persondays were recorded there, constituting 96000 of the total 1.92 lakh total persondays provided under the scheme.

Going through the details, it is apparent that when the Central Government is giving impetus to the women employment under NREGA, the state government should also take step in this regard.

Bathinda, November 3
Students in the city remained a confused lot this morning for they were not sure whether or not their school would be open today as the bandh call was given by the Sikh organisations to protest against the delay in delivery of justice to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots even 25 years after the holocaust.

A majority of schools in the city like the Delhi Public School and Silver Oaks School remained closed today while those open witnessed a considerably low attendance. The functioning of government schools, however, was normal.

Keeping the safety of their students in mind, the authorities of various schools preferred to remain closed as talks about no vehicular movement in the state went around.

“It was difficult to convey to the students about the closure of the school today as schools remained closed on Monday also on the account of Gurpurb. However, we managed. The teachers sent SMS and called up as many parents as possible. It gets difficult to shut the school without a prior notice. Parents had been coming to us since Saturday asking whether the school would be closed on Tuesday. It was only by 4 pm yesterday that we decided against opening the school today. We had asked the district administration on Saturday if there were any instructions about closure of schools. We were told that they did not have any such instructions,” principal of the DPS Arun Jee said.

Gurdeep Singh, principal of Government Girls’ School, Mall Road, said the school was open but the attendance was low. “We did not get any instructions from the administration for keeping the school closed,” Gurdeep said.

The principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 in Bathinda Military Station, TD Garg, also said there were no formal orders to keep the school closed. “All government offices were open so why government schools should be closed,” Garg asked.

Bathinda, November 3
Dental check-up fortnight today began in Bathinda, Rampura Phul and Goniana Mandi of this district. Bathinda civil surgeon Dr Neelam Bajaj inaugurated the event at the civil hospital here.

The district health authorities have planned to check thousands of persons, including school students, for various dental ailments during the fortnight.

Talking to The Tribune today, the civil surgeon said the district health authorities had also fixed a target to provide dentures to 100 persons, belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) families, free of cost.

Dr Bajaj said the dental doctors would examine the students of various schools in large numbers as dental care was needed more during early years. She added that the dental patients would be examined, especially at Bathinda, Rampura Phul and Goniana Mandi, as the hospitals at these stations had dental doctors.

The civil surgeon said the health authorities would also motivate the people and aware them to get their dental examination done free of cost during the drive. — TNS

Bathinda, November 3
Bathinda might not be as developed a city as compared to other cities of the state but it has been able to gain an entry into the tinsel town.

The city shot to fame after Shahid-Kareena pair highlighted Bathinda in ‘Jab we met’. The situation is such that people have now started referring to the Shahid-Kareena movie when someone mentions Bathinda.

People whistle and clap, as excitement sweeps across the movie hall here when Bathinda is said time and again by Salman Khan, the lead actor, in recently-released London Dreams. In the movie, Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan belong to Bathinda.

Bathinda figured in the all-time hit Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for the first time when Anupam Kher says that ‘main Bathinda se aaya hoon’. It was followed by ‘Patna ho ya Bathinda’ in a popular song ‘ande ka funda’ filmed on Govinda and Sanjay Dutt.

The city’s name also found a place in Advaita Kala’s Almost Single, a novel popular among youngsters. One of the characters of the novel and the peppiest one Misha hailed from Bathinda. The author has, however, stated that the city had girls clad in salwar and kameez, but it seems that slowly Bathinda is undergoing a makeover.

Sanmaan Singla, a student from a local college narrates his experience, “Earlier, when I used to tell people that I belong to Bathinda they used to retort ‘where is it’. But recently during an interview at Mumbai, the interviewer asked me where I came from. On my response, he said, ‘Oh Bathinda, the Jab We Met place. For the first time I had felt proud of belonging to Bathinda.”

Chavvi Sharma echoed the same viewpoint. She stated that she studies at Bengluru and people there had never heard of Bathinda until the city figured in movies. Now, she does not have to explain.

Bathinda, November 3
Aman Deep Kaur (17) of Kotfatta village died after she sustained severe burn injuries while igniting a stove in the kitchen at her house this morning.

Giving the information, volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva said that soon after receiving the information, they reached the spot and rushed Aman Deep to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

The girl could not survive the burn injuries for more than two hours.

The Kotfatta police initiated the inquest proceedings after recording the statements of the bereaved family members.