Bathinda, March 23
Overflowing garbage containers, scattered filth, choked drains, stagnant water and foul smell expose the chinks in ‘preparedness’ of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities to ward off seasonal diseases this summer.

With interior as well as posh localities having been turned into garbage dumps, the BMC authorities seem to be awaiting outbreak of an epidemic before swinging into action.

Stagnant drains throughout the city have become a breeding place for mosquitoes.

The residential colony located behind the wholesale cloth market in the heart of the city is crying for attention for the past couple of years. Due to BMC authorities’ apathy, the area has been turned into a garbage dump.

Two uncovered garbage containers are lying just opposite Shiva temple. The overflowing garbage is not regularly picked up. Stray dogs virtually invade the area by noon.

The situation is similar on the Naamdev Marg where the authorities had recently replaced huge steel dustbin with two plastic containers. But with passage of time, these uncovered dustbins emit foul smell in this densely-populated locality.

Even after spending crores to make the city beautiful, the drains in various localities here are lying open. During a random visit to various colonies, this correspondent witnessed many of them lying choked and emitting foul smell.

Sanitation on the Bathinda-Goniana main road, which is the main artery of the city, remains as bad as the interior lanes. Underground sewerage system mostly remains non-functional and dirty water stagnates along the roadside.

Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman said, “Though we are making people aware about the cleanliness drive, I accept that there are still a lot of things lacking at our end. I have recently issued a strict direction to all BMC officials to keep the city clean.”

Bathinda, March 23
With the onset of summer, people have started contracting seasonal diseases, like gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, malaria and dengue. Children in particular are the worst affected with water and bacteria-borne diseases on the rise.

Flies hovering around or settling on uncovered food items and fruits on rehris and shops is a common sight here. The sugarcane juice extracting machines also invite flies. The settling of flies and dust on uncovered food items besides impure drinking water are major health hazards for people.

When brought to the notice of district health officer (DHO) Dr Dharampal Singh Sekhon, he claimed they were already conducitng weekly inspections of rehris and shops. During past some weeks, they had got destroyed rotten fruits and uncovered food items unfit for human consumption, he added.

The district health authorities have also issued letters to the owners of ice factories to get the water used for making ice checked. As many as 10 such water samples were sent to a laboratory at Chandigarh yesterday.

Meanwhile, the health authorities will organise a workshop on March 26 here to raise awareness on malaria and dengue fever among the executive officers of the municipal councils, block development and panchayat officers, senior medical officers and representatives of public health.

Regarding spray of insecticide to kill mosquitoes spreading malaria, the health authorities said the government did not issue Benzene Hexa Chloride (BHC), an insecticide needed for the purpose, to Bathinda district as its annual parasitic index (API) was below two. The government issued BHC only to the districts with API over two, which meant that over two cases of malaria against 1,000 persons in a district.

About prevalence of diseases like gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, hepatitis, malaria and dengue fever, among children nowadays, child specialist with the local civil hospital Dr Satish Jindal today said about two dozen children suffering from fever, loose motions, vomiting etc report to the hospital daily. He said with the increase in temperature, the number of cases was expected to rise.

Bathinda, March 23
The martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev was observed here today. Several NGOs besides some educational and professional institutes organised cultural and patriotic events to mark the day. Blood donation camps were also held.

The Aasra Welfare Society in collaboration with the State Bank of India held a function at Kikkar Bazar. A number of school children participated in cultural and patriotic events organised on the occasion. Besides paying homage to the martyrs, as many as 30 persons made voluntary blood donation. Hameer Singh, regional manager of the SBI, was the chief guest while Jaskaran Singh, chief manager, SBI, Kikkar Bazar, was the guest of honour. Among others, Ramesh Mehta, Vinod Goyal and Sadhu Ram Kusla were prominent who addressed the gathering.

Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva, a local NGO, decorated the Arya Samaj chowk here. To pay homage to the martyrs, the volunteers wore yellow turbans. They also lit candles to pay respects to the ideology of the martyrs. President of the NGO Vijay Goyal said the volunteers would also hold a candle march in the evening.

DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, who paid a visit to the venue, was all praise for the sense of patriotism among the Sahara volunteers.

Members of the Lala Sant Ram Memorial Library paid floral tributes to the martyrs on the library premises.

Associates of the Public Library, Bathinda, also paid homage to the martyrs. General secretary of the library Kuldeep Dhingra informed that among others, Dr HS Dhaliwal, PD Goyal, KK Sharma, Jatinder Goyal and Jagmohan Kaushal attended the event.

Youth Congress activists, under the leadership of district president Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, observed the day at the Congress Bhawan here. Paying floral tributes, they raised slogans “Bhagat Singh Amar Rahe” and urged all to follow the path that the martyrs had shown to the country.

Twenty two persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Pariwar Welfare Society here on Monday.

To spread the ideology of martyr Bhagat Singh, activists of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Yaadgari Library held a seminar at village Ghudda on Sunday.

Bathinda, March 23
Though the cause of the major fire that broke out in a pesticide godown at the new grain market here last evening is yet to be ascertained but the cause of serious concern is the failure of fire-fighting agencies in dousing the flames. The fire could be extinguished only after it had gutted the entire godown.

The fire brigades of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC), NFL, Bathinda thermal plant and the Army, failed to control the fire. Sprinkling of water further spread the fire as the pesticide contained Minco Zeb, a chemical. Secondly, due to the devastating fire, the fire-fighting staff was unable to pour the dry chemical powder (DPC) at the exact site in the godown where it was mainly required. Thirdly, there were 10 to 12 drums of liquid sulphur in the pesticide godown that added fuel to the fire.

Additional divisional fire officer of the local fire station Baldev Singh said that due to the presence of Minco Zeb in the pesticide, the efforts of all fire-fighting agencies proved to be futile.

He said there was no lack of manpower, oxygen cylinder, DPC cylinder, foam and water, but the reaction of burning Minco Zeb with water proved every effort useless.

Keeping in view the seriousness of the situation, president of the local unit of the Punjab Fertiliser, Pesticide and Seed Association Ramesh Garg today urged the BMC to purchase a foam tender, which carried foam and water to douse the fire, as the city had depots of three national oil companies. He also asked the BMC authorities to procure 42 meter or 54 meter-long turn table ladder to tackle a major fire mishap as the city had some big shopping malls now.

Meanwhile, the fire safety arrangements of the Mini-secretariat here are in a bad shape. The carbon dioxide-based BC fire extinguishers installed there had expired in 2008, but have not been refilled yet. The other handy ABC fire extinguishers also expired two months back.

Executive engineer of the Public Health, division III, Jasvir Singh Aujla said, “The issue is in our notice, we will place the matter before the maintenance committee of the Mini-secretariat and once the funds are released, all fire-safety norms will immediately be adhered to.”