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Red Cross de-addiction centre serving its purpose
IAY a concrete reality in Muktsar
Domestic help may soon charge you more!
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Overflowing sewerage, poor roads causing concern
Jakhar demands probe in functioning of canal division
Inter-college sports meet concludes
BKU opposes PSEB ‘privatisation’
2 booked for duping youth
Man ends life
NGO lends helping hand to weavers
Laparoscopic surgery at Mansa Civil Hospital
2 killed in road mishaps
Worker commits suicide
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Red Cross de-addiction centre serving its purpose
Bathinda, November 8 Since its opening about 4500 drug-addicts had been treated by the centre as in-door patients while thousands of other drug-addicts had been examined by the doctors as OPD (out patient door) patient in this centre during the past seven years. Keeping in view the condition of the patients, they are kept in this centre from three days to four weeks to treat them fully by adopting various methods, medical treatment, counseling, yoga classes, religious lectures etc. The drug-addicts, who visit this centre, mostly use poppy husk, alcohol, medical intoxicants (pills, capsules, injections), smack, ganja, opium and white fluid etc. Twenty drug-addicts are undergoing treatment at the centre on Friday. One of them, Balram Singh from Bhagi Bander village, who was admitted to the centre today, told The Tribune that about a year ago he was treated at the centre for his addiction to poppy husk. Today, he had got himself admitted here to give up the habit of alcohol. "He consumes one and half bottles of country liquor daily," he said and also disclosed that after getting treatment for poppy husk he had brought about 15 drug-addicts to this centre for treatment, but unfortunately he became an addict to liquor after that, due to which he had to come here again. Talking to this reporter the project coordinator of the centre Roop Singh Mann said that only in the first 10 months of 2009 more than 7,700 drug-addicts had been examined in the OPD while 677 had been admitted to the centre as in-door patients during this period. He said besides medical treatment they also provided various facilities, including indoor games, like chess; newspapers, books and TV set to the in-door patients to keep them busy. He also said the centre was also providing 70 percent medicines to the patients free of cost. In the centre, close circuit TV cameras had also been installed in the rooms of the patients to monitor their activities, he added. Project in-charge Dr Nidhi Gupta said that not only men, women also took drugs and intoxicants, like poppy husk, capsules and injections. She said she had treated four women (two in OPD, two as indoor patients) in 2008 while she was treating two women patients in the OPD nowadays. She said she had even treated drug-addict children from the age of 12 years onwards. However most of the drug-addicts belonged to the age group of 20-40 years. They also monitored the activities of the treated patients by sending employees to their houses for two to three months, she added. |
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IAY a concrete reality in Muktsar
Muktsar, November 8 It is pertinent to mention here that due to a tug of war between the Central and state government, the scheme had come to an abrupt end in many districts. Under this Central government floated scheme, 75 per cent of the money was to be given by the Central government while 25 per cent was to be provided by respective state governments. However, for the current financial year, the Central government has pulled the rug from under the feet of the state government and has stopped its part of the payment forcing the state government to put the scheme on hold in many districts. However, Muktsar district seems to be an exception and the scheme is running successfully because the district had last year's surplus funds, which it is using now to implement the IAY. The scheme was launched in 1986 as a sub-scheme of Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) and the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, but later delinked from both the entities, aimed at providing grants for construction of houses to members of Scheduled Castes (SC), SC tribes, freed bonded labourers and to people living below the poverty line. Muktsar Deputy Comissioner Varun Roojam disclosed that for the current financial year, they had an amount of Rs 4.4 crores in their kitty, out of which Rs 96 lakhs had already been utilised for the construction of houses. He added that the district administration still had Rs 3.47 crore in hand and the amount would be utilised soon. Roojam said his district was facing no such financial crunch though he admitted that the state government had yet to dole out its share. He stated that the administration had last year's surplus amount, which was being utilised this year. Under the IAY, Rs 35,000 was to be given to people living below the poverty line for constructing a house in the plains while for building a settlement in the hills, the amount was fixed at Rs 38,500 and the payment was to be handed over in two equal installments. Sources disclosed that for the current financial year, the state government had decided to construct more than 40,000 houses. While funds have dried up in certain districts, Muktsar continues to implement the scheme successfully. A district administration official revealed, "The district rural development officer and the Zila Parishad are in the process of identifying the beneficiaries. So there is no question of the scheme not being properly implemented in this district. The availability of safe drinking water supply is also being kept in mind for the beneficiaries. Officials dealing with the Indira Awaas Yojana at Chandigarh, who keep on visiting us are happy the way things are progressing in Muktsar. We work in a totally transparent manner." |
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Domestic help may soon charge you more!
Bathinda, November 8 As the maids employed at the station have planned to go to the higher authorities there seeking more money per job, nearly between Rs 100 to Rs 200 more. "Spiraling prices of essential goods have forced us to demand more," maids at the station said, adding that sugar had started costing around Rs 40 per kg and vegetables were now beyond our reach. We have to sustain a living and cater to our children's education also. We have been left with no option except to demand more money after all we were doing such work not by choice but because we had no option. She also said that she has three daughters and she was making every effort to educate them so that they do not end up cleaning utensils at someone's house," said Sonali, who hails from Maharashtra and works as a domestic help. Most of the household in the city have employed maid who are migrants from states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. Maids in the city area charge from Rs 400 to Rs 600 while at the Bathinda Military Station charges are Rs 300. With prices of essential commodities getting out of reach, maids feel that an increased income would help. "For us even Rs 100 means a lot. Rs 100 means one week's vegetables for my family or my child's school fee. But our wage could increase only if everyone employed as a domestic help work in harmony with each other. If I ask someone to increase my wage they threaten to replace me with someone and there are many who would work in my place. I can not afford to lose my income so have to keep
mum," Asha, another domestic help, adds. |
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Sight lost but not the vision to give literacy a boost
Faridkot, November 8 Belonging to a family of daily wage earners, in Jaito, the two brothers, Param Jeet and Sukhbir, are so determined to achieve their goal that they term their blindness as a minor hindrance in their way to success. Paramjeet Singh is an old student of Ujala Special School for the Blind in Faridkot, from where he recently did his matriculation with 59 per cent marks under the Punjab School Education Board. His younger brother, Sukhbir Singh is a student of class eight in the same school. Excited about pursuing their objective, the brothers sounded confident of taking on any challenge that life throws at them. Replying to a query, Paramjeet Singh said they were the youngest among four siblings, including a sister. He said that their father was a daily wager, so his poverty stood in the way of the other two children's studies. Interrupting Paramjeet, Sukhbir said, "So what if we are poor, we will do our best to become a teacher, which is our target. Once we become a teacher, it will for sure provide mental satisfaction to our family members who pin a lot of hope on us." Paramjeet said he had come to the school to take part in a general knowledge competition, which was to be held on November 14 and 15 in Faridkot. He had opted for History, Political Science and Music as elective subjects along with Punjabi and English as compulsory in eleventh standard. "For higher studies, we can not find all the books in braille but it does not matter as I have developed the skill to learn by heart after hearing topics from others' mouth. For English, I have started preparing notes in braille on my own. So I hope to get through it." Giving details, the staff deputed there informed that there were 27 visually impaired students in the school. Though most of the special children were said to be quite happy in the school, yet some of them complained about the poor arrangement made for books in braille script. The staff deputed there cited the excuse of poor availability of books in braille as there was only one such printing press in Punjab, which was incapable of dealing with the demand. |
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Overflowing sewerage, poor roads causing concern
Mansa, November 8 District president of Punjab Istri Sabha Rekha Sharma advocate said that bad condition roads and over flowing sewerage water was showing the negligence of municipal council and administration. Members of rickshaw union staged a dharna in front of the municipal council office to protest against the poor condition roads and streets three days back. Municipal council president assured them that repair of roads would be done soon. CPI leader and ex- MLA Buta Singh said that problems of sewerage system and poor condition roads is serious in some wards of city and it would be raised during the meeting of district grievances committee on November 9. Meanwhile, DC Kumar Rahul said a pumping station would be set up for the disposal of sewerage water and for this work has been started. Speaking on the poor condition roads, he said that tender was passed for this purpose and repairing work would be started early on the roads. |
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Jakhar demands probe in functioning of canal division
Abohar, November 8 Speaking to the newsmen at his residence in village Panjkosi on Sunday, he alleged that the SAD workers were fraudulently obliged by approving tenders for repair work but cracks have appeared in the work carried just six months back siphoning off a few crore of rupees. The authorities had been under pressure to compromise with the quality. Most of the work was left incomplete resulting in virtual wastage of funds. The farmers of Abohar and Balluana Assembly segments have been crying for a few drops of water but the CM is getting another regulator constructed near village Qabarwala to divert water from Malukpura distributary to his home turf Lambi. Quoting irrigation officials, the legislator said so far only Rs 15 crore has been utilised to improve the canal system in the region but supply of water could not be increased even by a drop. This exposed the real image of Badals, who impersonated as messiah of farmers and used to shed crocodile's tears during the rallies when they were not in power. “The CM had convened a high-level meeting at his residence after I raised the issue on the floor of Punjab Vidhan Sabha during the last session but the fate
of the farmers remains unchanged,” Jakhar regretted. He demanded probe into the quality of the work that had been carried so far in the canal division. |
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malwa diary
Gold medal recipient Father Theodore M. Hesburgh had said, “The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet.”
Realising that only a few members of the Bishnoi community, dominating the Seetogunno belt of Abohar sub-division, were in a position to send only male children to high profile urban schools and most of the girls had to confine to household work after primary education, a visionary philanthropist Bhupinder Kumar Bishnoi initiated proceedings for developing an English-medium co-educational school using 45 acre land attached to the Guru Jambheshwar Mandir located on the sandy heaps of Dhora Mehrajpur close to Rajasthan border. The institution raised with first donation of Rs one crore was named Jhamkudevi Senior Secondary School. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal during a visit last year wondered that the school, in a short span, had excelled at national-level in sports as well as academic competitions. He tried to solve problems related to supply of water and electricity that the institution had been facing and also sanctioned grant for further development. Its then principal Kuriakose VK had been honoured at a national function held in New Delhi. Sahab Ram Bishnoi, who earlier used to spend most of his time in spearheading farmers’ agitation, channelised his energy to work as honorary manager. Senior advocate Ram Swarup Godara, who had earned name in legal circles in Rajasthan returned to his village saying goodbye to a high earning profession and was associated with development of the school. Now when Kuriakose chose to serve another big institution at Ghaziabad, one Bhavna Mittal, who had got a government job in Ambala, preferred to serve as principal at the Jhamkudevi School. IFFCO chairman, Surinder Kumar Jakhar, was among hundreds of viewers, who felt mesmerised by the cultural performance of the students. The budding artistes showcased their concern over social evils. Vice-president Sunil Kumar Delu said participation of all students was ensured to develop talent in them . The rural people seldom have good expression skill due to lack of education, he felt. The IFFCO will install RO system in the school besides sponsoring educative lectures on agriculture, chief guest Jakhar said. Earlier, IFFCO had gifted RO system to another rural based institution Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women in Kala Tibba of this region.
— Raj Sadosh |
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Inter-college sports meet concludes
Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 8 The three-day meet concluded in Sriganganagar on Saturday evening. District Collector Ashutosh AT Pednekar gave away the prizes. Twenty girls' colleges and 32 boys' colleges participated in the tournaments. Results of the last day's events are: Boys: 100 meter race: Gurpreet Singh (I), Vikas Chaudhary (II) (both SGN); 200 meter race: Gurpreet Singh (I) (SGN), Surinder Kumar (II) (SP College Padampur); 400 meter obstacle race, Rakesh Kumar (I) (SGN), Hanuman Singh (II) (Mohta College Sadulpur); High jump: Dharminder Sharma (I) (PG College Suratgarh), Rajesh Kumar (II) (Subhash Chander Bose College Sadulshehar); Javelin throw: Dharminder (I) (SK College Gharsana), Manjit Singh (II) (SGN); Triple jump: Mukesh Sagar (I), Sushil Nehra (II) (both SGN) ; 21.8 km race: Sultana Ram (I) (BR Government College Sriganganagar), Shravan Kumar (II) (Govt College Ratangarh); 4x100 meter relay race: SGN Khalsa College Sriganganagar (I), PG College Suratgarh (II); 4x400 meter relay race: SGN Khalsa College Sriganganagar (I), Mohta College Sadulpur Girls' events (II): 100 meter race: Suman Swami (I) (GVH Science college Sangria), Darshana Kumari (II) (MRM College Nirwana); 200 meter race: Suman Swami (I) (Sangria), Pushpa (II) (Nirwana); 400 meter obstacle race: Darshana Kumari (I) (Nirwana), Suman Swami (II) (Sangria): Hammer throw: Narinder Kaur (I), Veerpal Kaur (II) (both SGN) ; 21.8 km race: Pramila (I) (NDB College Nohar), Manju Godara (II) (Churu); 4x100 meter relay race: GVH Science College Sangria (I), MRM College Nirwana (II); 4x400 meter relay race: MRM College Nirwana |
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Award for DIG’s book
Bathinda, November 8 The compilation has also been awarded for being the best printed book. The award consists of Rs 5,000 in cash and a plaque that would be presented to Jain on November 14 by the education minister Upenderjeet Kaur at a function in Patiala. A former DGP and chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, Gurbachan Jagat, has appreciated the work of Jain. Jain, besides policing, has authored a series of books in English, Hindi and Punjabi. He was also actively engaged in de-addiction among the youth in the Malwa. The Bureau of Police Research and Development has recommended his book in English "Who Cares", which discusses the problem of alcoholism, behavioral problems and corruption in the police force, for being read by senior cops. The book on "NRI-Problems and Solutions" authored by Jain in English, Punjabi and Gujarati, discusses various NRI related problems faced by the people. He has authored several books and produced short films on the problem of drug abuse particularly among the youth. |
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BKU opposes PSEB ‘privatisation’
Bathinda, November 8 The BKU said that privatisation of PSEB was not in favour of farmers. In the memorandum, the BKU stated that if electricity was privatised then the subsidy given to farmers on power would be reduced and free electricity being given to poor masses would also be stopped. “Private companies would eye only for profit and poor classes would have to bear the brunt of this,” said Shingara Singh Mann, district president of BKU. Apart from this, the members of the union demanded that families of farmers who died in a lathicharge at a rally in Chandigarh on September 8 should be given Rs 10 lakh each as well as government job to the kin of the deceased. The union also demanded Rs 50, 000 for the injured. “Around 45 farmers were granted bail and seven are still lodged in jail after the Chandigarh rally. Three farmers had died on September 8 and one was severely injured. He succumbed to his injuries a week ago at a hospital in Chandigarh. Cases registered against farmers should be taken back and a case should be filed against the SSP of Chandigarh,” said Jasbir Singh. BKU also resisted the installation of electricity meters outside the houses in villages. Terming it as a step towards privatization of the PSEB, the members said that they would protest any such step taken by the PSEB authorities. The MLA assured BKU members of raising the issues in Legislative Assembly soon. — TNS |
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ITBP beat Press Club in cricket encounter
Bathinda, November 8 Rakesh Gosain of ITBP scored unbeaten 35. He took two wickets of media persons. Laxmikant Tota of ITBP was declared man of the match as he took four wickets in a row. The ITBP won the first innings by eight wickets, while the Bathinda Press Club was all out at 61. The ITBP again defeated the Press Club with eight wickets in the second innings during which the latter scored 72 runs. Press Club player Harbinder Sharma with 22 runs was the highest scorer of the team. RK Verma, second-in-command of the ITBP, who was captain of the team, scored 21 runs in 9 balls and remained unbeaten. Shridhar Raju, captain of the Press Club team, was out on zero as the ITBP team was in high spirits.
— TNS |
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2 booked for duping youth
Bathinda, November 8 Amandeep Singh of Janda Wala village lodged an FIR against Ram Singh and Bikkar Singh after a "harrowing experience" at Malaysia. Amandeep alleged that Ram had demanded Rs 8 lakh from him on the pretext of sending Amandeep to Australia. Initially, Ram asked for Rs 1.5 lakh for sending Amandeep to Malaysia first and after a month's time to Australia. Amandeep somehow managed the money and handed over to Ram. He was sent to Malaysia by Ram and as soon as Amandeep got down at the Malaysia airport, Bikkar came posing as an agent working with Ram and took Amandeep's passport and other necessary documents. Bikkar promised Amandeep that within a month’s time he would be sent to Australia. But for four months, Amandeep was left to fend for himself. Amandeep called up Ram and realised that he had been duped. He then approached the Indian High Commission in Malaysia and got a passport and then get back to India. Nehianwala police investigated the matter and registered a case under section 420 of the IPC against Ram and Bikkar. |
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Man ends life
Bathinda, November 8 Sources in the village Siviyan said that the deceased was working as a sewer cleaner on contract basis. Due to personal problem, he underwent mental depression about a couple of days ago, sources said. When contacted, the GRP staff said that inquest proceedings were initiated under section 174 of the CrPC to ascertain the details.
— TNS |
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NGO lends helping hand to weavers
Sriganganagar/Abohar, November 8 While leading the team, Parul Bhatia, director of the institute, revealed that the artisans had once been exporting handlooms to Canada but the practice lost support from the government for a last few years. An NGO BJ Shikshan and Prashikshan Sansthan has now offered assistance in arranging direct tie up between the weavers and export houses to bring prosperity for the less educated but professionally expert workers of the small hamlet. Senior weavers Jena Ram and Gulab Ram informed that their production capacity was limited to a thousand shawls and lohis which are marketed in Abohar, Malout and Muktsar areas of the Malwa region. So far, they have been able to develop 15 designs. Earlier, some traders had exported designer shawls to Canada, England and Pakistan but they now avoid visiting this far off and remote area. The traders visit the village in between November-February. Textile designer Ankita explained to the students functioning of handloom units besides suggesting some new designs. |
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Laparoscopic surgery at Mansa Civil Hospital
Mansa, November 8 Dr Bharti Tanwar, a noted surgeon, successfully operated a patient through this technique yesterday. After conducting the operation, she said gallbladder stone was removed through laparoscopic surgery. Earlier, patients were bound to take major surgeries as this technique was not available here. The facility was available only at Patiala for the people of this region, she said. She further said the major surgeries cost around Rs 5,000 to 15,000 while through the laparoscopic technique the patients could get operated at affordable prices from Rs 1500 to 2000. The patient could go back home after two days after the surgery.The new technique would be helpful especially for poor patients, she added. Meanwhile, deputy medical commissioner Dr Rupinder Kumar Singla said pain free surgery at cheaper rates through laparoscopic was the need of people of this area, which has been fulfilled now. |
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2 killed in road mishaps
Abohar, November 8 Her grandson, Jagdeep, who was driving the two-wheeler, fell on the roadside and escaped with minor injuries. Jagdeep said they were returning from Kailash Nagar when the bus hit the motorcycle. The GRP has registered a case. Meanwhile, Ajay (6) of Dhaani Kesar Singh was crushed to death by a truck as the child was trying to cross the road near village Balluana on the NH-10 on Sunday morning. The Sadar police is investigating the case. Bodies of the two deceased were shifted to the civil hospital for postmortem, sources said.
— OC |
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Worker commits suicide
Mansa, November 8 As per the statement of Boota Singh (brother of the deceased), Bhola Singh, a resident of Nangal Khurd village, was under the burden for some days due to a loan, which he had borrowed for some domestic reason. After conducting a postmortem, police had given the body to his family. Meanwhile, Pujab Kissan Union leader, Balkaran Singh Balli, has demanded a compensation for the family of Bhola Singh. |
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