Bathinda, March 30
As soon as Misbah-ul-Haq’s shot landed safely in the hands of Virat Kohli, the sound and light of fire crackers dominated the city skyline at night.

With India winning the much-hyped semi-final of the World Cup Cricket-2011 by 29 runs to ensure a dream final at home in Mumbai againt Sri Lanka, the excitement among the cricket lovers reached its peak and was quite visible even on the roads.

Visiting the city, at 11 pm, this correspondent witnessed a number of groups of motorcycle-borne youngsters cheering loudly by whistling and shouting slogans—Chak De India, Hip Hip Hurray, Bole So Nihal, India-India, etc. A group of youths displayed stunts on motorbikes and brandished liquor bottles. However, the police chased them away.

Not only the youth, the excitement of victory made the elderly as well as children and womenfolk tap their feet to the accompaniment of dhol beats. In some localities like Vishal Nagar, Tagore Nagar and Shakti Nagar, the cricket crazy fans were seen dancing to the tune of numbers belted out by the DJ.

Earlier, during the day, cricket fever had overwhelmed all business activities in the city with shopping malls wearing a deserted look. The usual hustle-bustle in the main markets like Dhobi bazaar, Mall road, Post office Bazaar, Sirki Bazaar, Bhagu road, etc. was completely missing.

A few minutes before the start of the major cricketing event, all roads and streets started presenting unusual scenes with people in a hurry to get glued to the television screens to enjoy the live telecast of the match from Mohali without missing anything. And once the match started, it seemed as if the city had come to a standstill.

The India-Pakistan match was not only seen as a game where one team was to win and the other to lose, it was like a battle for the country lovers, who were waiting for this day for long.

To enjoy the match in a big way, a local theatre had organized live telecast of the whole event over the cinema screen, while some groups had hired party halls in the city, where the match was showed on huge LCD/projector screens, obviously with charges applicable.

Some rickshaw pullers and labourers, near the railway station, were witnessed depending on radio for the match update.

Bathinda, March 30
In the light of its decision with regard to regularisation of the services of 1,186 rural medical officers (RMOs), working on contract basis under the Zila Parishads (ZPs) throughout the state, the Punjab Government seems to have started the process in this direction as the Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, has sought detailed information about the RMOs from all the ZPs.

The Rural Development and Panchayat Department has sent a fax message on March 28 to all the additional deputy commissioners (Development)-cum-chief executive officers of the ZPs seeking information about the RMOs working in their respective districts in the rural dispensaries.

The department has also asked the ADCs (Development)-cum-CEOs of the ZPs to ensure the requisite information is sent by March 30.

The information sought includes bio-data of all the RMOs, number of filled and vacant posts of the RMOs in the district, number of vacant posts (category-wise) etc.

Sources told this reporter that the Bathinda ZP authorities today sent the requisite information about the RMOs to the Director, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, through fax and e-mail. It is learnt that there are a total of 59 posts of RMO in the district, of which five are lying vacant these days.

Speaking to TNS, president of the Rural Medical Services Association, Punjab, Dr Aslam Parvez said the association thanked the state government as it had started the process to regularise their services by seeking information from all the ZPs.

Dr Aslam further said the step of the government would further strengthen the health services in the rural areas as the villagers would get regular doctors in the dispensaries of their respective villages.

Abohar, March 30
With signs of better environment emerging out of the cricket diplomacy, the Pakistan government, it is learnt, has accepted the long-pending demand from Hindu devotees for construction of a bridge over the Hingol river in Lasbela district of Baluchistan.

The cost of the bridge, 900 feet in length, has been estimated at Rs 75 crore. The Pakistan Hindu Council has been assured that the construction work would be completed before the next pilgrimage scheduled for April 2012.

Late Gauri Shankar Khatri, former patron of the Brahamkshatriya Khatri Sabha of Abohar, had long back requested the then Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to allow Indian Hindus to visit Shaktipeeth Hinglaj. But he was told by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the holy shrine falls in the prohibited region of Baluchistan. The governments of India and Pakistan had signed an agreement for allowing pilgrimage to Katasraj in Chakwal district of West Punjab province and Shadani Darbar in Ghotki, Sindh province.

However, some Indians led by the NDA Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh were later allowed to visit Hinglaj temple also.

Gauri Shankar Khatri had scripted in his research book that legend has it that when Goddess Sati, the consort of Shiva, burnt herself in response to her father's anger for not inviting Shiva to a ritual, Shiva became furious and started destruction.

In order to calm his anger, Vishnu took the body of Sati. Its pieces fell at different places. It is believed that the head of Sati fell in the area of Hingol mountain in Baluchistan.

This was a prime pilgrim location for Indians until the partition in 1947 when Indians lost access to the cultural heritage, since it was bounded by Pakistan.

Interestingly the Muslims worship it as ‘Nani-Ka-Haj’ which means ‘grandmother's shrine.’ It is the first of 56 Shaktipeeths and is mentioned in religious scriptures like Durga Saptshati and Makarand Puran.

Once necessitating a travel of more than 150 km through the desert, the temple is now easily accessible through a newly built coastal highway.

Pilgrims also come from other countries. Thari Hindus clearly dominate the Hinglaj pilgrimage in terms of numbers. The deity takes her name from the mountain cave Hinglaj on the Makran coast in the Lyari district of Baluchistan in Pakistan.

Before pre-partition days, Rajput kings had been on pilgrimage to Hinglaj Mata from Rajasthan and Gujarat. There was no road and pilgrims had to pass through jungles, sandy routes, mountains and rivers, full of danger on the back of camels from Karachi onwards and it took months for the journey to complete.

But now, the journey has become easy and one can reach Mata Hinglaj temple from Karachi in six to eight hours using private vehicles.

Veera Mal K. Dewani, chief organizer, Shri Hinglaj Sewa Mandir Yatra, says that Hindus assemble at Swaminarayan Mandir located on the Mohammad Ali Jinnah Road in Karachi for pilgrimage to Hinglaj.

In recent years, devotees from Africa and European countries have also been to the holy place.

The Brahamkshatriya community in India, spread in different northern states, hopes that the present Pakistan President Asaf Ali Zardari, having endorsed cricket diplomacy, might consider allowing Indians to undertake pilgrimage to Hinglaj in Baluchistan after clearing the decks for the construction of the Hingol river bridge.

Ferozepur, March 30
Notwithstanding the ban orders issued by the office of the District Magistrate on March 21 prohibiting the installation of hoardings and flex boards along the roadsides and roundabouts without due permission from the municipality, Nagar Panchayat or the department concerned, the practice continues unabated. Hoardings and flex boards can still be seen near the major roads, bridges and chowks in the town.

Without caring for the DM's order, these flex boards, most of which represent social, religious and political organizations, have been affixed without any permission or depositing any charges with the department concerned.

Davinder Kapoor, president, Municipal Council, while admitting the fact that the hoardings have been put up at various places in the city without any permission, said the MC keeps removing all such hoardings on a regular basis. However, in the garb of religious sentiments, people insist on placing the hoardings at places, which are vulnerable from the traffic point of view, he added.

Kapoor said earlier also, the MC had mooted a proposal to auction the unipole sites and remove all unauthorised hoardings. However, the proposal had to be shelved down due to some unforeseen reasons.

Though, the MC is under debt and facing huge financial liabilities, still it seems it has not been serious in exploring the possibility of generating revenue from the unipole sites on the pattern of other bigger towns rather than leaving it to the whims of people to place hoardings at any place of their choice by either paying small amounts or in an absolutely illegal manner. Not to speak of huge hoardings, even posters of all kinds and sizes are posted on the public walls which give the town an untidy look.

At some places in the town, one can even see obnoxious movie posters pasted on the walls, which leave a bad impression on the passersby, especially the school and college students.

Amit Kumar, CEO, Cantonment Board, said most of the time people do not take any permission before fixing flex hoardings along the roads and chowks. He added that the Cantonment Board has to remove all such boards from time to time.

Kumar said the Board has planned to identify the places where unipoles or flex boards will be allowed after paying suitable amount so as to augment revenue generation. However, a final decision is yet to be taken.

Many NGOs have been complaining about the haphazard way, in which, the flex hoardings are placed all over the town following which the DM had issued ban orders. However, it seems that a stringent action is required to control the growing menace.

PC Kumar, president, District NGOs Coordination Committee, while demanding a strict action against the offenders said the illegal hoardings were causing a lot of traffic woes in the town. Kumar said they have approached the authorities umpteen times and if need be, they will now approach the courts to prohibit erection of unauthorised hoardings and pasting of posters at public places.

Abohar, March 30
Claiming to have solved the case involving the loot of about Rs 4.5 lakh by pillion riding motorcyclists within 10 hours of the incident, the city SHO Sukhdev Singh Brar revealed at a press conference this afternoon here that Kuldeep Singh Raisikh of Dhaani Karnail Singh, who had been working as salesman at the Burjmuhar Petro Center has been arrested. Rs 1.5 lakh has been recovered from a place identified by him.

Investigation conducted in the presence of the district officials indicated that Kuldeep had informed his brother and a cousin that heavy cash was to be deposited with the local branch of the Oriental Bank of Commerce located in street number 10 of the old walled city. They intercepted the motorcycle used by Kuldeep Singh and Ashok Kumar, manager of the Petro centre located on the outskirts of the town, in between gate number 1 and 2 of the Military Station on the Abohar-Fazilka road (NH-10) and snatched the cash by putting red chilly powder in the eyes of the manager.

The police had registered the case on the statement of Krishan Kumar Kamra, owner of the Petro centre. Kuldeep Singh’s call details of his mobile phone helped in solving the case. Police parties have been rushed to nab his relatives who had decamped with the rest of the cash to take shelter in a neighbouring state. Kuldeep Singh, along with the cash recovered, was produced before the media. — OC

Moga, March 30
Scientists have called upon medical scientists and pharmacists in particular to regulate the use of drugs to minimize its side-affects and improve the quality of life for the community.

They were addressing pharmacists and young scientists at the two-day national seminar on 'Rational Use of Drugs and Clinical Trials' organised at the Indo-Soviet Friendship College of Pharmacy here, this week.

Dr SS Gill, Vice-Chancellor of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, stressed upon the need for appropriate use of drugs in terms of dose and right combination. He said there was a need for training the doctors to upgrade their knowledge on the rational use of drugs.

Dr PL Sharma, a globally recognized scientist in the field of clinical research, said more than 50 per cent of the medicines prescribed to the patients across the globe were being used irrationally because of the lack of public awareness.

Dheeraj Mittal, who is doing his master's pn Pharmacology, presented his paper on 'Mechanism of erythropoietin induced cardio-protectine effect of pre-conditioning in rat heart'. He said that erythropoietin not only increases the RBC (Red Blood Cell) count but also reduces cardiac injuries during bypass surgery. It may be mentioned that this research work on human heart was in process, he said.

On this occasion, as many as 34 students of pharmacy were awarded scholarships for pursuing their studies. The Chairman of the ISF College of Pharmacy, Parveen Garg, gave away prizes to the students of pharmacy who were adjudged best in the paper presentation competition. Shveta Sharma of pharmacology department, Vinay Yadav of pharmaceutical chemistry department and Sandeep Sharma of pharmacology department got the first, second and third prize, respectively.

Eminent scientists Dr RSR Murthy of ISF College of Pharmacy, Dr Shabbir Sidhu from Punjab Technical University, Hardyal Singh, who retired as Director, Research from the Medical Education Department of Punjab, Dr JN Singh from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Education Mohali, Dr Shahid Karin from Abbott Laboratories Gurgaon, Dr Sameer Malhotra from the PGIMR Chandigarh and many other scientists from reputed institutes of the country participated in the seminar.

Ferozepur, March 30
The Central Government has initiated ‘National Skill Development Programme’ under which more than 50 crore unemployed youth will be provided self- employability skills so that they can become self dependant and earn their own livings, revealed Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Technical Education, who was here to inaugurate the fourth batch of the plumbing course being run at the vocational training centre established in the local Industrial Training Institute (ITI) under Swaranjayanti Swai Rogzar Yogna.

On the occasion Dr Rajneesh Arora Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Technical University, Sanjay Ganjoo CEO Bhaskar Foundation, Kamal Sharma General Secretary BJP, Kaustabh Sharma SSP, Basant Garg ADC , Vikram Kantore Project Manager besides other officials and ITI faculty were also present. Suresh Kumar lauded the efforts in starting this course. — TNS