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B A T H I N D A E D I T I O N

DAC in Barnala
Govt to auction land for funds
Barnala, March 2
In a case which reflects the poor state of financial position of Punjab, the state government here is selling a government owned land for constructing a district administrative centre in Barnala.

Dist exceeds ‘Janani Suraksha’ targets
Bathinda, March 2
Under the “Janani Surksha Yojna” of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), financial benefits from Rs 500 to Rs 700 each were given for deliveries to 4,649 pregnant women belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and below poverty line (BPL) families in Bathinda district till January 2010 against the target of 4,427 for the current financial year.

Few takers for Centre’s fish farming scheme
Bathinda, March 2
Saline water fish farming, a much-hyped Centre-sponsored scheme launched in six waterlogging affected districts of the state on an experiment basis, has apparently failed to elicit much response from the farmers.

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	DAC in Barnala Govt to auction land for funds Shariq Majeed Tribune News Service Barnala, March 2 In a case which reflects the poor state of financial position of Punjab, the state government here is selling a government owned land for constructing a district administrative centre in Barnala. Sources in the district administration divulged that faced with shortage of funds, the state government is selling a piece of government land in Barnala to construct district administrative centre for this newly carved 20th district of Punjab. They added that any private person can buy the land for constructing house on it or for building business institution like malls. They further said that the land located on the old Tehsil road which once used to house the office and residence of tehsildar years ago, also housed the office of home guard till last year. They added that the Optimum Use of Government Vacant Land (OUGVL) committee headed by Chief Minister decided to auction it to raise the funds for construction of a new district administrative centre in this new district which was carved out of Sangrur district towards the end of the year 2006. “This land, which once housed the tehsil office, measuring more than an acre is located in the heart of Barnala. Punjab Infrastructe Development Board (PIDB) will auction the land, price of which is being expected by the government at Rs 25-30 crores. The money raised will be used for construction of the district administrative centre since this newly created district does not have proper offices,” said an officer asking not to be named. “The government has already razed the old buildings on it to the ground to expedite the auction process and the process of auction will be set in motion very soon.” “The government has already identified the land for the new district administrative centre and even the architectural design for the office complex has been approved. The government is only waiting for the money which will be raised from the auction to float the tender for the District Administrative Complex,” said the officer. Senior officials in the district administration confirmed that the land is being auctioned for the construction of district administrative centre. Senior Congress leader from Malwa region and former MLA from Sangrur, Arvind Khanna revealed to TNS that he is shocked to know that the state government has stooped to such a level wherein it is selling assets for constructing the district administrative centre.
	Dist exceeds ‘Janani Suraksha’ targets Sushil Goyal Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 2 Under the “Janani Surksha Yojna” of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), financial benefits from Rs 500 to Rs 700 each were given for deliveries to 4,649 pregnant women belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and below poverty line (BPL) families in Bathinda district till January 2010 against the target of 4,427 for the current financial year. Likewise, under the NRHM, a compensation to the tune of Rs 650 each to members of the SCs and the BPL families and Rs 250 each to general category families was given to 3,438 women for tubectomy operations till now (against target of 4,229 during 2009-10) and Rs 1,100 each to 989 men for non-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) operations till now (against target of 1,300 for current financial year) in Bathinda district. Talking to TNS, district programme manager of the NRHM Dr Khem Raj Bansal said the district had received funds of Rs 1.78 crore till now for the year 2009-10 from the NRHM, of which Rs 1.38 crore had already been spent on various schemes. However, out of Rs 1.78 crore, another Rs 17 lakh had been distributed among 17 primary health centres (PHCs) of the district for upgradation of infrastructure and purchase of equipment through the Rogi Kalayan Samitis, he added. However, the NRHM has approved 10 PHCs of this district as delivery centres where woman doctors would be available round-the-clock. It may be noted that under the NRHM, only four PHCs could get MBBS woman doctors so far while in three PHCs, there are already woman PCMS doctors for performing deliveries. But woman doctors could reportedly not be available to the district health authorities for remaining three delivery centres so far. Significantly, the number of institutional deliveries has risen in a big way in the district as in the 10 community health centres (CHCs) of the district, as many as 3,554 institutional deliveries were performed till January 2010 during the current financial year as compared to 2,292 during the corresponding period of previous financial year, thus showing an increase of 55 per cent.
	Few takers for Centre’s fish farming scheme Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 2 Saline water fish farming, a much-hyped Centre-sponsored scheme launched in six waterlogging affected districts of the state on an experiment basis, has apparently failed to elicit much response from the farmers. Observing the huge chunk (more than 1.25 lakh hectares) of land in south-western Punjab affected by waterlogging and saline water, the Union government had come up with the project for Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepur, Fardikot, Moga and Muktsar—the badly affected districts of the state. Pushing it as a pilot project about two years back, the Union government had offered to bear 80 per cent of the total cost as subsidy and the farmers had to invest only 20 per cent. The subsidy was said to cover all aspects, including excavation, inputs, transportation charges and other miscellaneous expenses. Besides, it was proposed that officials of the state department of fisheries would be the caretaker of the fish farm for about two years and once it became fully operational, they would hand it over to the farmer, who would then be the sole owner of the project and get all benefits, including production. Terming it beneficial for the affected districts, the state government had directed the department of fisheries to execute the project by setting up one fish farm (measuring 2.5 acre) each in all the six districts along with transferring grants of Rs 2.20 lakh to the accounts of each district. Despite this, the project could not take off. Confirming the fact, officials of the department of fisheries informed TNS that almost every district had advertised public notices more than twice to make people come forward to derive benefits from the project but hardly any of the six district offices could get a response. In a state-level meeting held at Chandigarh, some of the officials offered to end the scheme. Sources disclosed that officials from Mansa stated that they had issued the notices four times, but hardly any interested farmer came forward. Speaking over the phone from Chandigarh, Director, Department of Fisheries, Punjab, BK Sood said, “We are concerned about the scheme, so a special meeting was called. No doubt the officials have been facing problems in the implementation of the scheme but we will do our best to ensure the utilisation of grants before the end of the financial year.”
	Army school principal killed in mishap Fazilka, March 2 Five persons including principal of Army School, Fazilka, were killed in different road accidents in the Fazilka sub-division. As per the information, Army School principal Vandna Doda was killed while her husband Om Parkash Doda sustained serious injuries in a car accident last night. They were returning from Ludhiana to Fazilka. As they reached near village Lalowali, a stray dog suddenly appeared in front of the car. The driver lost control and resultantly the car collided with the stranded truck on the roadside. In another head-on collision between two motorcycles, four persons were killed today near village Moolianwali on the Fazilka Malout road. According to the in-charge of police post in village Arniwala, Ranjit Singh, Pala Ram (50) and Hardayal Singh (30) were going to Mandi Arniwala on their motorcycle. On the other hand, two brothers Phoola Ram (22) and Mahesh Kumar (24) were going to village Arniwala. As they reached near village Moolianwali from the link road, their motorcycle collided with the motorcycle of Pala Ram and Hardayal Singh. The bike collision was so fierce that both the brothers Phoola Ram and Mahesh Kumar and Pala Ram died on spot while Hardayal Singh who was being brought to Bathinda for treatment succumbed to his injuries on the way near Malout. — OC
	Mock test result declared Bathinda, March 2 The results of the mock test conducted by Harbhajan Institute last month were declared today. The first three positions were bagged by girls. Manpreet Kaur of Shivalik Public School came first, Nafisa stood second while Harsimranpreet Kaur came third. The institute had declared that the three toppers would be given free coaching for classes 11th and 12th in medical and non-medical stream, and four-year BTech at the Guru Ramdas Institute of Engineering and Technolgy. Director of the institute Prof Harbhajan Singh said the aim of such tests was to prepare the students for the exams. Director Prof Jaideep Syal said he was happy that most of the students in the top twenty were girls. — TNS