Bathinda, October 20
On the one hand, the number of dengue cases in the Bathinda area has been rising and on the other, the district health authorities have no Mac Elisa test kit (a confirmatory test for dengue) in their possession for the past couple of days for the sentinel surveillance hospital (SSH), situated on the premises of Civil Hospital here.

As per information, the SSH staff here could not conduct Mac Elisa test on more than 30 blood samples as the Mac Elisa test kit is not available with it for the past couple of days. Every Tuesday and Friday, the Mac Elisa tests are conducted at the SSH here, but on last Tuesday (October 19) the staff could not conduct the test due to non-availability of the kit.

Sources in the district health office here said that till this evening no Mac Elisa test kit was received by the district health authorities from Pune. The state health authorities faxed the requisition, seeking Mac Elisa test kits, to the Central health authorities at New Delhi on October 17 last that further forwarded the same to the Pune institution.

The sources said as per the state health headquarter it had received a reply from the Central health authorities that the kits had been sent through courier which would soon reach to the district health authorities.

The local health authorities are reportedly in a desperate condition over the non-receipt of Mac Elisa test kits as the SSH could not conduct such a large number of Mac Elisa tests on Tuesday or Wednesday.

An officer of the Health Department said in case they received the Mac Elisa test kits on Thursday morning, then they would not wait for the Friday and would conduct the tests on Thursday to ascertain that how many suspected dengue patients are positive for dengue. 

Moga, October 20
Keeping in view the recent unprecedented spread of dengue in many parts of the country, particularly in Punjab, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed its affiliated schools to create awareness among the students.

According to a circular issued to the schools, the students would be asked to take up projects on dengue and mosquito control asking them to identify possible breeding sites like coolers, plastic cups and open water tanks besides flowerpots in the school, their respective homes and at public places.

The extent of participation would be reflected in the assessment of the students’ performance in extra-curricular activities. Each school has been asked to appoint a nodal teacher to organise these activities and submit a progress report every fortnight in this regard.

The main purpose of this exercise is that the Board wants every CBSE student to act as an ‘informed champion’ in the anti-vector campaign. As per the details available from Dr NK Kaushal, deputy director of the state health department, who is in-charge of the national vector-borne disease control programme as many as 1,183 cases of dengue had been confirmed in the clinical tests from across the state as on Wednesday.

He said Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts had been worst affected with 494 and 410 confirmed cases of dengue, respectively. The figures of other districts are Bathinda 50 cases, Amritsar 37, Gurdaspur 19, Hoshiarpur 28, Mohali 41, Moga 12, Ferozepur 7 and Faridkot 5 cases.

Dr Kaushal said the awareness programme launched by the CBSE was one of the initiatives taken by the union government. The figures relating to the spread of this disease were likely to increase keeping in view the climatic conditions. 

Bathinda, October 20
Less yield of cotton this year has not only left the farmers of the state disappointed but also put the ginners in a spot.

Observing a severe downfall in the yield of white gold (cotton) this season, worried ginners of Punjab have started feeling uncomfortable over the schedule announced for the export of cotton shipment.

Giving details, president of the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners' Association (PCFGA), Bhagwan Bansal said the Union Commerce Ministry had allowed 55 lakh bales for export out of the total 3.5 crore bales estimated by the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) for 2010-11.

“On the one hand, the international players and multi-national companies had already made 'future deals' with the country traders, and on the other, the yield is much below the expectations. Due to the unfavourable development, farmers and traders are in such a tight position that they are finding it tough to honour the already agreed contracts,” said Bhagwan Bansal.

Speaking further, the PCFGA president said, “Amid the present situation, the domestic ginner is finding himself worried. Despite being well aware of the situation, if the government allows the export shipment on its scheduled date, i.e. November 1, the domestic ginners will find they have run out of stock to run their units that may lead to a major economic disturbance in the state as it would not only make the domestic textile industries incur heavy losses but also create unemployment on a large scale.”

Highlighting the problem, the PCFGA members appealed to the Government of India to extend the date of starting the export from November 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011.

Meanwhile, they gave another suggestion that the Centre should fix a monthly quota for export by dividing it into three or five installments that could make the domestic industrialist heave a sigh of relief as it would give them a chance to purchase the cotton from market for their own units.

“We urge the Prime Minister to take immediate steps and call a joint meeting of the minister, spinners and textile companies to save the industry,” demanded the members of the PCFGA.

Ferozepur, October 20
It was a different day for the residents of Ferozepur district and its surrounding areas as they were deprived of the usual sunshine on the one hand and on the other, suffered from irritation in the eyes as a layer of smoke, generated due to the burning of paddy straw and stubble by farmers, enveloped the sky since late last night.

In certain pockets of this region, visibility came down drastically and some of the people had to switch on the lights of their vehicles during the early morning as well as in the evening. Most people also suffered from respiratory problems.

Despite the prohibitory orders issued by the district magistrate of Ferozepur KK Yadav to stop farmers to burn paddy straw and crop stubble, it has been going unchecked in Ferozepur and its neighbouring districts for the past many days and the situation has reached a point where a layer of smoke has enveloped the sky. A round of this district revealed that most of the farmers had been burning paddy stubble and straw during the night to avoid any action from the authorities concerned.

Almost all the pockets of Malwa region comprising Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Mansa and Ferozepur districts have been facing this problem.

Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Rajat Aggarwal, when contacted, while admitting the fact that it was a major source of pollution in Punjab, said they had made two movies — one of three minutes duration and the other of 45 seconds. The CDs of the three-minute movie had been distributed to the SGPC, Dera Radha Soami, Beas, and the agriculture department so that it could be screened before congregations to motivate people to shun this practice. The 45 seconds movie was being screened in cinema houses and other places where people gather as a matter of routine so that the mindset of those who indulge in such activities, could be changed.

Chief agriculture officer Bakhshish Singh Chahal said apart from holding block level camps to educate farmers to stop burning straw and crop stubble, happy-seeder technology, which allowed sowing of wheat crop even without destroying the paddy stubble and straw, was being popularised among the farmers.

DC KK Yadav, when contacted, said he would ask the district officials to find out where the farmers had been carrying out the burning of crop stubble and straw. 

Bathinda, October 20
Bathinda and its nearby places got up to a hazy start today as smoke due to 
stubble burning revisited the region causing not only inconvenience to the residents but also affecting the normal life throughout the day.

For many morning walkers, the prevailing atmospheric conditions marked by low visibility was due to fog and the early sign of winter but as the day progressed they came across the reality - the looming health hazard.

The unpleasant conditions besides being a reason for poor visibility caused irritation in eyes and the smell of burning straw lead to breathing problems, particularity for the elderly.

While many senior citizens in Bathinda city preferred to remain indoors and avoided evening walk under the shroud of smoke, kids were also found cutting short their playtime in the evening.

Moreover, the conditions not only posed a threat to humans but also affected the weather as temperature was recorded above normal. The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 32 degrees Celsius while the day’s low was 21 degrees.

Sources in the weather department confirmed that the above normal temperature the region is witnessing nowadays was due to stubble burning.

Sources also said that the prevailing conditions could not be termed as smog in technical terms. “Smog is the condition caused by smoke and fog,” sources said, adding that today’s low visibility was caused by smoke and dust.

It may be mentioned here that the entire region is reeling under straw burning and its ill-effects. 

Abohar, October 20
About hundred farmers belonging to different villages located at the tail-end of Malukpura distributary staged a dharna at the site of cross regulator, located near Kabarwala village, this afternoon today to lodge their protest against the move of the Punjab government to link Gurusar minor with Malukpura distributary to divert water to Lambi assembly segment represented by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Though the Punjab government promised to the farmers that cross regulator would not be constructed to feed water into Gurusar minor from Malukpura distributary and it would continue to take water from Karamgarh distributary, in April after they launched an agitation against the same, the irrigation department authorities ordered the civil works contractor concerned to start work for the construction of the same about two days ago.

Tejwinder Singh Aulakh, patron, Daulatpura Minor Tail Sangarash Samiti, said the farmers would make all kinds of sacrifices to stop the construction of cross regulator at Malukpura distributary.

Surinder Kumar, president, Malukpura Minor Tail Kisan Sangarash Samiti, said both the samities and other leaders would meet Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal so that he could be made to understand about the real problem being faced by them. The memorandum in connection with their protest against the construction of regulators would be sent to the SDM (Abohar), DC (Ferozepur) and Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab. XEN, Irrigation, Abohar, Ramesh Gupta could not be contacted despite repeated efforts. 

Chandigarh, October 20
The much-awaited electrified rail link between Chandigarh and Nangal Dam, via Morinda, is complete and is all set to be operational before the year-end. It will also pave the way for the Chandigarh-Amritsar train by the next year.

According to a railway official, the completion of electrification work of the Chandigarh-Morinda rail line was ready and the trial run on this track was successfully done yesterday. “Now, it is mere a formality when the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will hand over clearance letter on this rail link to the Northern Railways, Ambala division, he added. — TNS

Bathinda, October 20
The English Language Testing Systems Ltd, a subsidiary company of the University of Arts, London, accredited the local Brills Institute as the Password-ELT Centre.

The MD of the institute, Ashok Sadiora said they were the first in Punjab and second in India after Hyderabad to conduct the Password ELT (English Language Test).

The Password Test is emerging as the best alternative to IELTS and TOEFL for those students who are moving to Europe for higher studies due to the instant results. Sadiora said, “Password tests are approved by British Council and UK Border Agency, an official agency of the UK.” The Brills Institute has started registration for the Password Test and first test will be held on November 1, said Sadiora. — TNS 

Bathinda, October 20
Even after 24 hours, Bathinda police failed to arrest any of the 16 persons booked for opening fire and ransacking the office of a Congress leader, located in Lal Singh Basti. However, police ruled out any political rivalry behind the incident.

The incident took place on Tuesday, when more than a dozen persons allegedly opened several rounds of fire at the kin of the newly appointed block president of the Congress for Bathinda (Urban), Mohan Lal Jhumba and ransacked his office. No one was injured in the firing but a nephew of Jhumba had reportedly sustained minor injuries after the accused beat him up with rods and sticks. Acting upon the statement of Mohan Lal Jhumba, who alleged that the miscreants had come with the intent to kill him, the Canal Colony police lodged a case under sections 307, 427, 148, 149 of the IPC along with 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act.

The SHO Canal Colony police station, Ucee Chawla said during the investigation it had been confirmed that the incident was the fallout of a quarrel between schoolgoing children that took place about five-six days back. 

Abohar, October 20
Around eight new cases of suspected breast cancer have surfaced in Abohar region today. The eight women were examined at different medical camps organised by the Roko Cancer Trust, a UK-based charity in the past two weeks.

Earlier, 240 women were found suffering from suspected breast cancer out of 2,000 whose mammography was done by Roko Cancer in Muktsar, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Moga districts in the past few months. Co-ordinator, Roko Cancer, Dharminder Dhillon said the suspected cases were detected in the report received by Roko Cancer Trust in connection with the three medical check-up camps held in Abohar, Mauzam and Danngar Khera villages.

Sanjeev Godara, political advisor, SAD (B), a resident of Seetogunno, said he had been urging the state government to open a cancer hospital in the Malwa region. — TNS