Bathinda, October 2
The birth anniversaries of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri were celebrated in the city today.

Congress workers paying floral tributes to the two leaders.

The Daddy’s Teddy, a playway school, celebrated the day with tiny-tots dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

The Different Convent School organised a drawing competition to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The students drew paintings depicting the life of Gandhi and about Indian culture.

Local unit of the International Human Rights Organisation celebrated the occasion at the KV Public School here. Members of the organisation paid tributes to both the leaders.

Lala Sant Ram Memorial Library, Civil Station, also celebrated the day under the presidentship of Sukhdev Bansal.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders and workers paid floral tributes to the portraits of the great leaders at the Congress Bhawan here.

Bathinda, October 2
In protest against the non-fulfillment of their demands, members of the Unemployed DPE/ M.P.Ed (Physical education teachers) Union, Punjab, burnt the effigy of the Badal government in front of the main bus stand here today. The protesters, who reached the city from various districts, took out a protest march, blocked the traffic for about an hour near the bus stand and raised slogans against the government.

Earlier, the union members held a meeting at the Teachers’ Home here, which was attended by teachers and lecturers from Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Muktsar and Patiala districts. They discussed the government’s attitude towards their demands. They also contemplated the next course of action of their agitation to compel the government to accept and implement their demands, including filling up of vacant posts of the DPE teacher and M.P.Ed lecturer.

President of the union Jagdish Kumar Jaggi accused the Badal government of not paying attention towards their demands despite receiving their memorandums time and again. He alleged that the government had only made false promises to them but had done nothing in concrete to implement their demands.

A leader of the union, Sukhdeep Singh Happy, said that the number of teachers employed by the government since 1996 was much less than those retired. Due to this, a large number of posts of DPE teacher had been lying vacant in the schools, he added.

Kulwinder Singh, another leader, flayed the ‘Khedo Punjab’ policy of the state government by saying that nothing had been mentioned in it with regard to recruitment of DPE teachers and M.P.Ed. lecturers.

Satish Kumar, a lecturer, said if the state government did not advertise 3,000 posts of DPE teacher and 1,000 posts of M.P.Ed lecturer soon, the union would be compelled to intensify its agitation.

Faridkot, October 2
Amidst reports of presence of uranium in the drinking water at several places in the district, the Punjab government has prepared a Rs 13.71 crore project to augment potable water supply in this historical town.

The clock tower in the main bazaar of Faridkot. Photo by writer

The drinking water was being supplied to households from the canal and deep tubewells that was highly contaminated.

Reports of water in the area being unfit for human consumption had initially started pouring in around early 1970s, but the situation has taken a serious turn with various laboratories confirming presence of uranium in certain samples.

A report in 1970 had declared the water unfit for human consumption here as it was brackish, saline and contained high percentage of fluorides. However, with the passage of time, the situation has become alarming as presence of uranium and arsenic has now been detected.

Deputy commissioner S.Karuna Raju said that steps were being taken to supply safe drinking water in the taps. The water supply and sanitation division has prepared the estimates for setting up another water treatment plant and augment the supply in the town.

Demand of water was sharply growing due to rapid growth of population in the town.

On the other hand, the World Bank sponsored scheme to build water supply infrastructure in rural areas on funds sharing basis by the beneficiaries has hit roadblock in several villages that have failed to deposit their share. Many other villages have so far not deposited their full share. Residents of most of these villages were consuming highly contaminated canal water as the Reverse Osmosis (ROs) has not yet been installed in all villages.

Of the 60 villages of the district that were selected for implementation of the scheme in the first phase, 35 villages have not deposited their share.

The contribution of two villages, Chameli in Faridkot and Bishnandi in Kotkapura, was short by a small amount of money. Against its due minimum share of Rs 1.22 lakhs, a sum of Rs 1.21 lakhs has been deposited. Similarly, the Bishnandi village has deposited a sum of Rs 3.04 lakhs against its due share of Rs 3.33 for building the water supply infrastructure.

The other 22 villages have deposited small amount of money that was too short of their due share as a result of which work on the drinking water infrastructure could not be taken in hand.

Bathinda, October 2
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) C. Sibin has begun the magisterial inquiry that Bathinda DC entrusted him with on a representation submitted by the staff of the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, in connection with alleged attempt to falsely implicate a college professor in corruption case by the father of a student on September 30.

The ADC (D), in the capacity of additional district magistrate, has written to the principal of the engineering college to send the professor concerned and superintendent of the college along with records on October 6 to his office to join the inquiry.

He also wrote to the DSP, Vigilance, to send the record related to the case on the day.

It is learnt that the father of the student will be summoned later to join the inquiry.

Abohar/ Ferozepur/ Fazilka, October 2
Gandhi Jayanti and birthday of the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was observed by different organisations here. The Punjabi Sabhyachar Manch organised a function at Maharishi Dayanand College of Education.

Former SDM BL Sikka was joined by dignitaries, staff and students in offering flower petals on the portraits of the great leaders. Principal Dr RP Asija was honoured for pursuing the ideals of simple living and high thinking. Manch president Gurcharan Singh Gill thanked the gathering.

The Social Welfare Society Trust organised ‘Vichar Manthan’ to debate ‘Relevance and significance of non-violence in present day violent environment’ at the Sewa Sadan complex.

The St. Alphonsa Convent School in Abohar also celebrated the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi on Friday. Principal Jijoe Augustian exhorted the students to observe the day as ‘Service Day’.

In Ferozepur, to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, the district Congress committee organised a function. Many Congress leaders and workers led by president Gurnaib Brar, ex-MLA, paid floral tributes to both the national leaders.

The health department in association with the local administration organised ‘Leprosy Awareness Rally’ on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. District leprosy official Dr GS Dhillon said the rally was flagged off from the Leprosy Colony. The rally finally culminated at the civil surgeon’s office where Dr Kanwarjit Singh Kakkar (CMO) highlighted various concerns about the leprosy and the initiatives being taken by the health department to eradicate it.

Meanwhile, in Fazilka the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri was celebrated at the local Shastri Chowk. The members of the Citizen Club (Fazilka), who have been looking after the maintenance of the Shastri Chowk for the last about one decade garlanded the statue of Shastri.

While paying tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri, the patron of the club Dr YN Soni, and president Dr Narinder Mohan Chugh said it is a rare example that a person from a simple and humble family rose to be the Prime Minister and served the country with dedication and honesty.