Bathinda, April 20
The dream project of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to develop and beautify all towns of Bathinda and Mansa districts on the pattern of Bathinda city itself, has come under a cloud with the contractors, to whom the construction works were allotted through tenders, declining to carry out the work.

It is learnt that after providing a complete connectivity with water supply and sewerage pipelines, all these towns, including Bareta, Budhlada, Sardoolgarh, Bhikhi, Mansa city, Goniana, Bhucho, Maur and Rama, were planned to be provided with metalled streets, roads, pavements, street lights and plantation at the cost of crores of rupees.

The work was to be done by the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) through contractors following e-tender process. The successful bidders, after getting the jobs a few days back, had initied the work in some of the towns. The deadline fixed for these jobs was July 31 this year.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioners of the two districts, following the directives of some higher officials, issued letters to different departments mentioning that observing that the work load was beyond the handling capacity of the BDA as it did not have required number of executive engineers to monitor the whole work, the staff of two departments - the PWD (B&R) and the Punjab Mandi Board - had been given additional charge for some specific jobs.

The staff of the BDA and the contractors took the fresh order as a bolt from the blue. Reacting to it, the contractors suspended the whole work and gave a representation to the BDA officials declaring that they were not at all willing to work with any other authority except for the BDA that had assigned them the job through proper invitation of tenders.

The suspension of work put the administration in a fix as despite repeated assurances, the officials failed to convince the contractors to carry out the work till today.

Terming the process to change the excutive agency without prior consideration as unfair, the contractors even asked the officials to withdraw the contract from them and invite fresh tenders.

Sources in the administration said the main reason for the conflict was involvement of an excutive engineer with whom the contractors had an unpleasant experience. It is also learnt that a number of bureaucrats and politicians were also against roping him in for the work estimated to cost crores.

Finding that the matter was not being resolved, Rajya Sabha member Balwinder Singh Bhunder has also intervened. Holding a meeting at Mansa district today, he asked the senior officials to keep the executive engineer away and get the work resumed.

Speaking to The Tribune over the phone, Bhunder said, "After discussing all the related issues in detail, we are hopeful that the work will start soon."

On the other hand, Chief Administrator of the BDA Ravi Bhagat said, "If the contractors do not resume the work, I will have to take action against them, which includes blacklisting."

Bathinda, April 20
In yet another instance that exposes the poor implementation of the Union government's schemes in the state, the Punjab Livestock Development Board (PLDB) ended up at a dismal low against the target fixed for cattle insurance in Bathinda for the last fiscal year.

With the objective of providing protection to the cattle rearers against any eventual loss of their animals, the Union government had introduced a scheme to insure lactating livestock in the state, about four years back. Then, only a few districts were selected for the purpose. However, it was extended to all 20 districts of the state during the last fiscal.

The Animal Husbandry Department in Bathinda district was given a target to cover 5,278 milch cattle under the scheme, against a total population of 3.09 lakh cows and buffaloes in the district.

As per the scheme, the cattle owner (beneficiary) had to pay only 50 per cent of the premium. The benefit of the scheme was restricted to two milch cattle per beneficiary.

Due to the indifference of the officials concerned, during the entire financial year 2010-11, only 574 cattle were covered under the subsidised insurance scheme, which is far less than the target fixed for the district.

Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Surinder Kumar, when contacted, claimed that due to some formalities, the implementation of the scheme was delayed and the period to meet the targets had also been shortened.

"Despite the fact that the officials concerned did their best, they could not overcome the impact of delay and results were much below the fixed targets," he admitted.

It is learnt that the PLDB had entered into a contract with the United India Insurance Company to cover the whole state with the condition that the health certificate of the cattle would be issued by the veterinary officer of the Animal Husbandry Department.

The market value of the cattle was to be assessed by the veterinary doctor and the insurance agent in consultation with the beneficiary. The policy covered death due to pleuropneumonia and not in case of theft or injury.

Bathinda, April 20
In the absence of a radiologist for the past more than seven months, the ultrasound machine has been lying idle in the local Civil Hospital. Since September 3, 2010, when the radiologist reportedly absented himself from duty, no ultrasound test has been conducted in the hospital so far.

Due to non-availability of the radiologist, the mammography tests for detecting breast cancer have also been affected adversely as only the radiographer can conduct the test while the report is prepared by a radiologist. However, about 10 mammography tests were conducted by the radiographer in September, October and November 2010 on the prescription of a medical officer. When it came to the notice of the senior medical officer (SMO) of the hospital, he asked the radiographer not to conduct mammography tests in routine.

However, the mammography machine was used in February and March 2011 for conducting tests on 45 women, who were asked to undergo mammography tests at three cancer detection camps. But the reports of these mammography tests were reportedly prepared by the radiologists arranged by the organisers of the camps.

Sources said that from January 2010 to September 2, 2010, more than 3900 ultrasound tests had been conducted in the hospital while from September 3, 2010 till date, no ultrasound test had been conducted, leading to monetary losses, especially to poor patients as the government's fee for an ultrasound test is only Rs 150 whereas they had now been paying around Rs 500 for an ultrasound test to private radiologists.

Besides, the Punjab government employees, ex-servicemen, freedom fighters and yellow card holders, for whom the ultrasound facility is available free of cost in the hospital, also had been paying hundreds of rupees for the tests.

Likewise, the fee for mammography test in the Civil Hospital is only Rs 100 whereas the patients have to pay several hundreds to the private radiologists for the tests.

When contacted, SMO Dr Vinod Garg said the radiologist had absented himself from duty on September 3, 2010. Since then, there has been no radiologist in the hospital, due to which the ultrasound and mammography work had been suffering.

Garg said that the district health authorities had held meetings with private radiologists to hire their services, but the radiologists had either not agreed to their proposals or declined to work for the hospital.

He said due to stoppage of ultrasound tests for nearly seven months now, the hospital had also been suffering a loss of about Rs 50,000 per month on account of user charges. 

Ferozepur, April 20
Tension has gripped Dona Telu (DT) Mal area and its surrounding villages, situated near the Indo-Pak border, across the cobra fencing, after some people, who owned land there, were stopped from harvesting their ripened wheat crop.

The situation has reached a point where the land owners, who have been prvented from harvesting their crop, approached the police today in the evening and demanded strict action against those who were trying to trouble them.

In 2009, the residents of this area indulged in a bloody clash over the ownership of land, situated across the cobra fencing in the DT Mal area. The residents, who were stopping the actual owners of the land from going to their fields, caused serious injuries to an owner, besides burning his tractor.

“A few residents, who have been opposing the harvesting of wheat by the actual owners of land, have been staging a dharna since April 10, this year. They also held a torchlight procession in the villages and raised slogans outside the houses of the actual owners of the land. They have declared that they would not allow anybody to harvest their crop even if they are registered land owners,” said Karan Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, Border Area Sangharsh Committee, Punjab.

He further said the district police chief Kaustabh Sharma had been apprised of the situation.

Sharma had been urged to take necessary steps to ensure that no one, who went for harvesting wheat in the land owned by him, gets harmed physically by the residents of the DT Mal area.

Dhaliwal said he had come to know that some persons, associated with organisations, which were being backed by the Maoists, were playing an active role in creating trouble in the area. He added that these elements had been instigating the residents to resort to violence.

He said if the authorities concerned failed to take preventive action, they would launch an agitation tomorrow. Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said the district administration would ensure that all the land owners are able to harvest their wheat crop without any problem. The DC said that nobody would be allowed to create any law and order problem.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that the district police authorities also initiated steps to deploy policemen in adequate strength in the DT Mal area to prevent any untoward incident during the harvesting of wheat by the land owners. 

Rampura Phul (Bathinda), April 20
Even as the production of potatoes has gone up in this belt, some of the growers have asked the Punjab government to make arrangements for the export of their produce to get better prices and resolve the issuse related to its storage.

The growers of the region, who managed to get a bumper crop of potatoes this season, were forced to store their produce in the cold storages, located in other towns of the Bathinda district after the local cold storages, having a capacity of storing 19 lakh bags, were packed to capacity. About six lakh bags produced by the growers of this region have been stored in cold storages, located at Bhucho Mandi and Bathinda. Initially, the growers had to sell the potatoes at a rate of Rs 200 per quintal in the wholesale markets. However, now the situation has started improving and the rates have crossed Rs 400 per quintal in the past few days.

“As no private traders from other states are coming to buy our produce, the Punjab government must make arrangements for its export,” said Jasvir Singh, a leading potato grower and president, cold store union, Rampura Phul. A few growers alleged that as the officials of the Punjab Mandi Board were harassing the traders on the pretext of checking the evasion of market fee on the produce. As a result of it, this region, which used to attract customers from all over India, now depend on the local customers.

Amardeep Singh Dhillon, another grower, said besides providing marketing facilities in Rampura Phul, the state government must make arrangements for providing quality potato seeds to the farmers at reasonable rates. At present, the growers had to get the potato seeds from Meerut-based unit of the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) at expensive rates. Sukhdev Singh Dhillon, former minister and leading potato grower, said besides facilitating the export of potato through its agency, the Punjab government must ensure that the market fee be charged on the produce whenever it reached its end consumers.

Vijay Kumar, secretary, Mandi Board, denying the allegation, said officials of the Mandi Board had made a detailed record of each farmer and cold store owner about their transactions. It was being done to frustrate the attempts of a few traders to evade market fee on their transaction regarding potatoes sale and purchase.

Sriganganagar, April 20
The Dera Sacha Sauda has decided to implement the Right to Education Act (RTE) in letter and spirit in all the educational institutions run by it in Haryana and Rajasthan with immediate effect.

While speaking to the media after inaugurating state-of-the-art school for boys at village Gurusar Modian, located on the Sriganganagar-Suratgarh (NH-15) road, this afternoon, the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh said 25 per cent seats have been earmarked for the students from economically backward sections. Reiterating his resolve to develop his native village (Gurusar Modian) as an educational hub, he said a senior secondary school and a degree college for girls had already been raised here.

As many as 450 students have been enrolled in the school for boys that was recently raised in a record time of 45 days here.

Some of the students belong to other states and Lebanon as well. 

Budhlada (Mansa), April 20
Hundreds of farmers belonging to Gobindpura, Jalbehra, Sirsiwala and Bareta villages of the Mansa district today took out a march and burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in front of the local SDM’s office to protest against the forced acquisition of their landholding by the Punjab government.

The farmers held the protest under the command of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).They alleged that the authorities concerned were pressurising them to accept the cheques of payment in lieu of their land, which the government wanted to hand over to a private company for setting up a thermal power plant.

The Punjab government has identified about 850 acres of land, belonging to four villages of the Mansa district, for acquiring it for a private company, willing to set up the thermal power station.

The notification in this connection has also been issued by the Punjab government. The farmers staged a dharna in front of the SDM office here for five days consecutively.

They also blocked traffic on the Bareta-Budhlada main road for hours a few days ago. However, they lifted the blockade after a senior functionary of the district administration assured that the Punjab government would be asked for the cancellation of notification issued for the acquisition of over 850 acres of land.

Ram Singh Bhainibhaga, district president, BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), who led the agitation, alleged that the state government was acquiring the land at throwaway prices. He warned that if the Punjab government did not withdraw the notification, the farmers would launch an intensive struggle after the wheat harvesting operations were over.

Deputy Commissioner Ravinder Singh said the farmers accepted the payment in lieu of their land without any objection.

Only a few of them were protesting as they were involved with those, who are opposing the setting up of power plant in the area, for the sake of opposition, he added. 

Abohar, April 20
About 100 sanitation workers have gone on strike to express resentment over their exploitation under the contractual system. While organising a demonstration in the Municipal Council complex here, they alleged that each of them was paid Rs 1700 only after deducting Rs 800 per month on different pretexts.

The ruling politicians had engaged the party workers as sanitation contractors but they were denying even the minimum wages to ad hoc employees. Sanitation work was affected in some localities due to the strike.

The protesters resolved to take out procession on April 22 before submitting a memorandum to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during the Sangat Darshan programme. 

Bathinda, April 20
After coming to know that the proposed astroturf, to be laid down in the grounds of the local Government Rajindra College by the Punjab government will destroy its regional coaching centre and cricket ground, the Bathinda District Cricket Association (BDCA) has urged Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to intervene in the matter.

The BDCA has been running an academy and a regional cricket coaching centre in the college ground for the last nine years. The regional coaching centre and the cricket ground was set up in Government Rajindra College after a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the college management, Punjab Cricket association (PCA) and BDCA.

Now with the decision of the Punjab government to lay astroturf for hockey in the ground, the BDCA has been left with no other option but to close its activities. With the laying of the astroturf, the cricket pitch of international standard, laid down by the curator of PCA stadium, Mohali, after spending a lot of money, will be destroyed.

OD Sharma, honorary general secretary, BDCA, in a letter written to Badal, urged him to either save the cricket pitch, regional coaching centre and cricket academy, being run in the college ground with PCA sponsorship or finalise the project connected with the construction of an international level cricket stadium in the city so that the BDCA could shift its activities there.

He pointed out that initially, the astroturf was planned in the spare area of the ground and it was not affecting the cricket nets, pitch and other areas where cricket facilities had been set up. Now, it had come to the notice of the BDCA that the entire ground had been taken over to lay the astroturf.

Meanwhile, Sukhchain Rai Garg, Principal, Government Rajindra College, said the college authorities were not involved in any decision taken in connection with laying of astroturf on its ground.

He added that whatever decision had been taken had been at the level of the Secretary, Higher Education and other departments of the Punjab government.

Confirming that work for laying the astroturf had been started by an agency engaged by the Punjab Mandi Board, he said that earlier, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) was to construct it.

The college principal added that there were many differences in the map prepared by the BDA for the astroturf and the map, which had been prepared by the Punjab Mandi Board for the project.

He also declined to comment on the representation made by the BDCA to the Deputy CM.

Garg said that as per his knowledge, the college would remain the owner of the land on which the astroturf was being laid. However, the college authorities would not be involved in any decision being taken in connection with the project.