Bathinda, April 28
All 110 hostellers of the deaf and dumb school here remained hungry today as the kitchen and other staff went on lightning strike in support of their demands. The Red Cross Society runs the school exclusively for deaf and dumb children.

The students were not served breakfast and lunch as the staff insisted that their services should be regularised without any break. All 24 employees, including some teachers of the school, abstained from work.

However, principal Maninder Kaur arranged eatables for the students from a local restaurant. She said the arrangements had also been made to bring dinner for the students from outside.

She went to local gurdwara and also sought help of some former employees to run the kitchen till the issue was resolved.

Most of the boys and girls of the school sat in pensive mood when this correspondent visited the campus in the afternoon.

Many of the striking employees, working in the school on contractual basis for the past few years, were demanding that the authorities should not resort to breaking their service for a day or two every year. They struck work in the morning and trooped to the office of the deputy commissioner, who is the chairman of the District Red Cross Society.

DC Gurkirat Kirpal Singh asked them to immediately resume work failing which strict action would be taken against them. He said as per directions of the Punjab government, break of a day or two is given in service before renewing their contract so that they do not demand regularisation of service.

He regretted that instead of meeting higher authorities to resolve the issue, the employees went on strike. The SDM and the principal had to arrange food from outside.

The DC said the employees refused to talk to the SDM when he was specially deputed to listen to their grievances. He warned that the services of some of the striking employees could be terminated.

Bathinda April 28
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), which was started some months ago in the Bathinda district for the benefit of members of the below poverty line (BPL) families, has almost failed to attract beneficiaries.

As per information, only 25 persons had availed of the benefit of the scheme till March last in government and accredited private hospitals, nursing homes, clinics of the district. It is significant in the light of the fact that smart cards of 6,160 BPL families had been made under the scheme in the district. These families have got themselves registered under the RSBY by paying a registration fee of Rs 30 while the premium of the health insurance scheme had been paid by the central and state governments.

In the government hospitals of the district, only four persons had got themselves treated while 21 persons got treatment in the accredited private hospitals, nursing homes or clinics till March last. As per information, only one patient had got treatment from the Bathinda Civil Hospital while three got treatment from the Community Health Centre (CHC), Goniana, under the scheme.

There are 11 government hospitals/ health centres and 25 private accredited hospitals, nursing homes or clinics in Bathinda district where the smart card holders can avail of the free benefit. The government hospitals and health centres are situated at Bathinda, Rampura Phul, Talwandi Sabo, Goniana, Bhagta, Nathana, Sangat, Maur, Raman and Bhucho.

Under the scheme, beneficiaries are entitled to hospitilisation coverage of up to Rs 30,000 a year. The coverage extends to five members of the family. As per the census data of 2001, about 14,000 BPL families were identified in the district, of which over 6,100 have got themselves registered under the RSBY.

Bathinda, April 28
The city post office here might have undergone a makeover and may be providing a whole array of services to its customers. But one thing it does not provide to staff members and customers alike is drinking water, even in the scorching summer.

The staff here, in fact, have been buying chilled water to quench their thirst and beat the heat during summer for the last many years. Interestingly, almost everything has changed in the post office. From wall to window, furniture to software and even the staff were trained, in short — from man to machine— all underwent a massive revamp in September last year under the postal department’s much-talked about programme, the Project Arrow. The then director, postal services, Punjab Circle, Chandigarh, had inaugurated the new-look office.

But the years-old problem of unavailability of safe drinking water round-the-year and cold drinking water during the summer has been leaving the customers as well as staff high and dry.

Sources in the postal department said even post men were given corporate identity besides a trendy bag, an umbrella and others items. But apparently, nothing concrete was done to provide safe and cold drinking water to them. Sources in the postal department said the staff had been pooling money daily to buy campers of cold water. “When any customer seeks cold water, the staff share the water they bring with them from home or give them from what they buy,” sources added.

Besides a water cooler, the post office has also been awaiting for a water purifier to be installed. Needless to say that groundwater in Bathinda is contaminated to a great extent.

Sources said that senior officials of the department at the circle level had been informed about the problem and a proposal in this regard had also be sent for approval some months ago. The post office is planning to send fresh proposal for installing water cooler and purifier, sources added.

Bathinda, April 28
Despite spending a hefty amount of Rs 11 crore on revamping the Bathinda-Goniana road — the main artery of the town — the authorities have failed to bring a smile on the face of residents and commuters as they skipped providing basic amenities on the whole five-km long stretch.

Ironically, the authorities pulled down the greenery that served as road divider and replaced it with a concrete structure. This has created a problem as the glare of the sun makes the ride difficult for motorists and two-wheeler riders.

Further, while laying pavements and bus lanes, the officials forgot to provide basic amenities like sheds for passengers and public conveniences on the whole stretch, starting from the Rose Garden to the ITI chowk.

The absence of sheds also irks pedestrians, as on the whole stretch, except for an old one located opposite the Bhatti road, there is no shed to protect them from the scorching sun. In the rainy season, the problem is compunded as one has to urge shopkeepers to seek shelter.

Ironically, there is only one public toilet complex on the whole stretch, that too generally remains locked.

In the absence of proper arrangements, commuters as well as shopkeepers can be seen using some razed and old buildings as well as vacant plots to answer the call of nature.

Besides, there is not even a single water cooler or block of taps to help people quench their thirst in the hot weather.

Giving vent to his ire, a social activist, Ved Parkash Gupta, said, “Before spending such a huge amount on the revamping of the road¸ the authorities were supposed to plan for providing basic amenities for the public.”

“In the absence of basic amenities, the refurbished road has no charm,” said an elderly Som Parkash, who runs an electric appliances shop on the road.

Bathinda Municipal Corporation Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman said, “The tender for revamping was allotted before the BMC house was formed. Sensing the public need, we will now float a fresh tender to provide for the basic amenities.”

Moga, April 28
The Sikhs for Justice, a human rights advocacy group based in New York, has announced it would challenge a Delhi court’s verdict giving clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on Tuesday in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The group would challenge the verdict through a petition being prepared by some of the eye-witnesses.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone from New York, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor of the Sikhs for Justice, alleged that the CBI did not investigate the evidence and documents provided by the key witnesses in this case when its team came to the United States claiming that there were several witnesses living in the US who had seen the Congress leader incite the mobs.

This organisation had originally challenged the CBI’s closure report in 2007 and is now preparing to challenge the Delhi court’s decision to acquit Tytler. “We still have many more key witnesses in this case, who will be produced before the appellant authority,” he said.

Pannun alleged that the two-member CBI team came to San Francisco and New York in December 2008 to record the statements of two key witnesses, Jasbir Singh and Surinder Singh with the premeditated notion of giving a clean chit to Tytler.

Pannun said the CBI team refused to record the statement of one Resham Singh who claimed that he saw Tytler at the Pulbangash Gurudwara standing in front of a mob as black smoke emerged from the Sikh shrine.

Meanwhile, Jasbir Singh said, “I think the CBI is under pressure from the Congress-led government.”

Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, president of the All India Sikh Students Federation, has announced that he along with other Sikh organisations would soon chalk out a programme to lodge protest against the Congress. “The Sikhs across the world are deeply hurt over this verdict,” he added.

Abohar, April 28
The Punjab agriculture department is all set to start conducting raids on the premises of those unscrupulous traders, who have been indulging in hoarding of the Bt cotton seeds with the aim of disposing them of to needy farmers at a premium.

Though the authorities concerned have decided to keep the raids a secret, state and district level teams would be constituted by Thursday. The time and place to conduct the raids by these teams would be made known to them by the Chandigarh-based senior functionaries of the department.

Gurdial Singh, joint director, seeds, state agriculture department, when contacted, said that the decision was taken when almost all the chief agriculture officers (CAOs) of the cotton producing belt of the state, in a meeting, reportedly alleged that some unscrupulous traders had been creating artificial scarcity of the Bt cotton seeds to sell it at a much higher price to the farmers than the control rate.

He added that the Financial Commissioner (Development), Punjab, had given him instructions to cancel the licence of those suppliers of the Bt cotton seeds, who had not been honouring their contracts.

He said the department had made arrangements for about 25 lakh packets of certified Bt cotton seeds to be supplied to the farmers in the current season.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that as the cotton crop, known as white gold, fetched a remunerative price for the farmers last year, the area under the cotton crop, sowing of which was already in progress in Punjab, was expected to increase.

The Punjab agriculture department had also fixed the target of bringing 5.30 lakh hectares of area under cotton crop this year.

Information revealed that shortage of the certified Bt cotton seeds had also taken place due to the fact that a section of the cotton growers of Rajasthan had also been purchasing their requirements for the same from the Punjab markets.

Besides, due to drought, which occurred in the southern cotton producing states, the certified Bt seeds had been witnessing a great demand in that area as well.

Ferozepur, April 28
The Punjab Unaided Private Dental College Association has urged the Chief Minister, Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal to carry out the rationalisation of fee structure for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) in government and management quota seats.

In a representation to the CM, the Association has pointed out that if the fee structure was not rationalised, most of the dental colleges, running in private sector, would face closure as they had already been running into losses.

“Out of the 13 dental colleges in Punjab, 11 are being managed by a private management without any financial assistance from the state government. Taking their income and expenditure into account, it becomes very clear that the colleges are running losses,” claimed representatives of the Association.

"What has been happening to the private colleges is that they are not even allowed to fulfill the management quota seats on their own as the same is being filled up by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and hence, they are being denied the opportunity to earn enough to meet a part of their expenditure,” they added.

Guru Har Sahai, (Ferozepur), April 28
As many as 28 children of Mata Gujri School, Chak Suhelewala, in Ferozepur district, were injured as the bus taking them to the school overturned near a canal distributary of village Jandwala Chotte in the area on Wednesday.

Police sources said that the school bus overturned when the driver lost control over the vehicle due to some problem with the steering. The accident took place at around seven am.

All the injured students were rushed to different hospitals immediately by the passersby, sources said.

There were 58 students in the bus. Sources added that all the injured students, except for six, who suffered multiple injuries, were discharged from the hospitals after being administered first aid while the six others were discharged later after they were treated.

Rattan Singh, SHO, local police station said that no case in this connection had been registered as no one had approached them to take legal action against the driver of the bus or anyone else.

Bathinda, April 28
Malkiat Kaur (35), a resident of local Mehna Basti, who had been observing hunger strike for an indefinite period since March 31, today ended her hunger strike at the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot. She was referred to the medical college on April 23 by the local Civil Hospital authorities when her condition started deteriorating.

Suresh Kumar Goyal, leader of the General Samaj Party, said Malkiat Kaur had ended the indefinite hunger strike this evening as the administration had given assurance to consider their demands sympathetically.

Ferozepur, April 28
The police have registered a case against four family members including two women for allegedly killing a woman identified as Soma whose body was fished out of the canal near village Ghal Khurd here on Wednesday.

As per the details, Naita, mother of the deceased, said that her daughter was being pressurised to bring more dowry by her in-laws.

Saraz, brother of the deceased, said that his relatives informed that Soma was allegedly beaten up by her in-laws and later when she succumbed to the thrashing, her body was thrown into the canal.

He said the villagers carried out a search for Soma. During the search, her body was found floating near village Ghal Khurd. The police have begun investigations.