Bathinda, June 22
Thanks to the apathy of the railway authorities, especially the platform ticket checking staff, a majority of those visiting the Bathinda railway station to receive or see off their kin do not bother to purchase a platform ticket, which is otherwise mandatory.

The annual revenue collection chart of the railway station shows that the station had sold 2,22,761 platform tickets in the financial year 2010-11 that on an average, turns out to be nearly 18,500 tickets per month and 619 tickets a day.

The Bathinda railway station boasts of being one of the Asia’s biggest junctions and sends 68 trains in six directions daily. On an average, nine platform tickets are sold against one train.

It is learnt that the average sale of the passenger tickets at the railway station is 13,271 per day. Besides, there are number of passengers who commute on monthly or quarterly travelling passes.

As to why there was almost negligible sale of platform tickets, citizens point out that there is nobody to check whether people who enter/leave the station have bought platform tickets. Non-existence of separate platform ticket counter is another reason, they add.

“Though majority of the visitors hardly care to buy a platform ticket, long queues at the ticket sale counters discourage the one who wants to buy it,” asserted Prem Nath, an elderly citizen of Bathinda.

Meenal Singal, a student, said she was quite particular about purchasing a platform ticket but after finding people walking in and out freely, she too stopped buying them.

“The railway staff hardly bothers to check the tickets. Even if checking takes place some day, there are many entry and exit points for people to escape,” said Kamal, a teenager.

There are also a few people who commit the offence due to ignorance.

Sunita Jindal, who had come to receive her mother-in-law returning from Ambala, said she had not bought a platform ticket as she was not aware of it.

Speaking to The Tribune, some of the ticket inspectors admitted to the problem but rued, “We can nab all the offenders. But immediately after that, they start making calls to the senior officials and the politicians. So, we have now adopted an indifernt approach towards checking platform tickets.”

When contacted, assistant traffic manager (ATM) SP Bhatia agreed to look into the matter. He claimed to issue directives to the checking staff to perform their duty without any pressure and if somebody compels them to leave the offenders, the staff could lodge a complaint with me.

However, the ATM maintained that it would be not feasible to set up a separate counter for platform tickets as it would require extra staff to provide round the clock service, which was currently not possible.

Barnala, June 22
The Municipal Council here has failed to check the garbage being dumped in some selected places in the town even as the risk of malaria and dengue looms large in Barnala.

Locals said the Municipal Council has failed to prevent the dumping of garbage in certain selected areas, including that marked for the 25 acre colony by the Improvement Trust near the vegetable market, the area near the grain market adjacent to the SSP office and near the under construction park along the Kacha College road.

They added that since the Municipal Council has failed in checking garbage dumping, fear of malaria and dengue is prevailing people living there.

“There have been over 100 cases of malaria and 20 cases of dengue reported from Barnala last year. This is mainly due to the laxity of the Municipal Council here. They have failed to check the disposal of garbage at certain selected areas including the 25 acre proposed colony by the Improvement Trust,” said Manpreet Singh, a local.

He added that garbage is being thrown in the area meant for the proposed colony for the last 25-30 years.

“Though the Municipal Council has failed to check the problem, we are hoping that the Improvement Trust constructs the colony soon so that people in the surrounding areas do not throw garbage.

A doctor at the Civil Hospital, pleading anonymity, said there were at least 25 cases of dengue and about 50 cases of malaria reported at the hospital while some cases were not registered at the hospital since they went to the outpatient department of hospital.

“Malaria and dengue are mainly caused by mosquitoes, which breed in stagnant water and garbage. Hence, there is always a risk in the areas with stagnant water and garbage,” the doctor said.

President of the Barnala Municipal Council Paramjeet Singh said garbage has been thrown in these areas for the last many years.

He added that the Municipal Council does not have enough funds to ensure the safe disposal of the garbage. However, he refused to comment more on the issue.

The chairman of the Improvement Trust, Inderpal Singh was not available for his comments but sources in the Trust averred that the work on the proposed 25 acre colony has been started.

Barnala, June 22
In the absence of a radiologist at the Barnala Civil Hospital, the poor patients are suffering a lot as they have to pay a huge fee for getting the test done outside at private diagnostic centres.

While the ultrasound is being done to ascertain the abdominal problems including liver, kidney and intestinal problems besides being used in gynaecology, the CT scan is mostly used to ascertain the internal injuries in case of accidental cases and also for paralytic attacks.

Sources at the Civil Hospital here said for the last six months, there is no radiologist resulting in inconvenience to the patients. He added that of the 500 patients coming on daily basis to the Civil Hospital with various problems, about 250 need ultrasound (including 100 pregnant women cases) and most of the patients belong to poor families. Besides, there are a large number of accidental cases, roughly 10 on daily basis, who need CT scan for ascertaining the injuries, he added.

Notably, the private clinics normally charge Rs 500 for ultrasound and Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 for CT scan while at the government hospitals it costs around Rs 150 and Rs 500, respectively.

“To solve the problem, the hospital authorities have recently sent a proposal to the government to enter an agreement with the three private diagnostic clinics here wherein the hospital authorities would charge a minimum fee for the ultrasound and CT scan from the patients and give it to the private clinics. However, the proposal is awaiting government's nod.”

“Since, there is no radiologist at the hospital, we are being overcharged for getting ultrasound and CT scan done. Poor patients are suffering a lot as they cannot afford to pay huge fee for the tests,” said Bablu Kumar, a patient. A doctor at the hospital pleading anonymity said there is overall shortage of radiologists in Punjab.

He added that every year, just about 8-10 radiologists from the government medical colleges (Rajindra Medical College, Patiala, Government Medical College Amristar and PGI Chandigarh) and private medical colleges (Dayanand Medical College) are added to the health sector in Punjab, which is too less in number.

Dr Kulwinder Singh, SMO (Barnala) confirmed that there is no radiologist at the Civil Hospital affecting ultrasound and CT scan.

Meanwhile, a doctor at the Sangrur Civil Hospital said there is no radiologist at the hospital and the ultrasound is being done by a MBBS doctor, who has received short-term training in radiology.

He added that the hospital does not have a CT scan machine.

Bathinda, June 22
As the prices of processed cotton have been falling continuously, a severe crisis has gripped the cotton business in the country, particularly in Punjab, as the traders, ginning and pressing mill owners, spinning mill owners and exporters have started suffering huge losses. The situation has reached a point where a sizeable section of cotton businessmen, including industrialists, are defaulting on the payment of instalments of the bank loans raised by them.

Perhaps, this is for the first time in India that cotton business has witnessed two severe crises in quick succession. Earlier, in November and December 2010, a large number of traders had backed out of their contracts with other traders after the rates of processed cotton went unprecedentedly high and they failed to honour their commitments.

Sources in the cotton market revealed that if the Central government failed to take corrective measures immediately, the cotton industry, which provided highest employment in the country, would run into deep financial crisis and would take years together to recover. About 40 industries have started facing closure in Punjab at the moment.

The crisis started gripping the cotton business when the prices of processed cotton, which touched Rs 6,785 per mound, started falling in May and kept falling continuously to reach Rs 3,760 per mound.

Besides, the Centre banned the export of yarn from January to April 2011.

When the ban was lifted in May, the spinning mill owners started scrambling to exhaust their stocks at the earliest and it triggered off a price war among them, which saw prices crashing down within few weeks.

Moreover, recession in international cotton market gave another jolt to the spinning mill owners and the demand of India-made yarn nosedived at international level in the past two months or so.

Bhagwan Dass Bansal, president of the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association, said crises had gripped the cotton business due to wrong policies of the Central government.

“If cotton stock in the country was surplus then why had the Centre not been allowing its export,” he asked.

Bansal said to stabilise the cotton business, the Centre must allow export of 25 lakh cotton bales immediately. The production of cotton in the country this season was around 3.3 crore bales against the domestic consumption of 2.4 crore bales. The Centre government had allowed the export of only 65 lakh bales despite the fact that 90 lakh bales were in surplus.

He said during the next season, it was expected that the cotton production would be around 3.8 crore to 4 crore bales and estimated consumption would be around 2.5 crore bales.

To deal with the situation, the Centre government must carry out a survey to estimate the production of cotton in the coming season and subsequently allow the export of surplus cotton stocks to keep the business economically afloat. 

Bathinda, June 22
Wednesday turned out to be a day of protests in the city.

On the one hand, activists of the Punjab Draughtsmen Association, who had been observing pen-down strike since June 20, were raising anti-government slogans at the Mini-secretariat while outside, there were members of the Class IV Government Employees Union, Punjab, and the volunteers of the AIE Teachers' Front protesting against the government.

The activists of the Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU) staged a protest at the railway station while seeking acceptance of their long-pending demands.

Addressing the gathering, the Punjab Draughtsmen Association leaders said it was the third day of their pen-down strike, which was completely observed in Bathinda and Mansa districts. The strike hampered work in 11 government departments, including irrigation, water supply, roads, sewerage board, forest, town planning, soil conservation and Mandi Board.

The association activists said they had been demanding promotion to the rank of ADE/SDO from amongst qualified draughtsmen, parity with junior engineer, removal of 12-year ban for promotion of junior draughtsmen and change in the nomenclature of designations of junior draughtsman and circle head draughtsman as draughtsman and senior draughtsman, respectively, as per the recommendation of the Fifth Pay Commission. Allowance on the pattern of engineers was also sought.

Meanwhile, 11 activists of the Class IV Government Employees Union who were observing hunger strike for the past 24 hours ended their fast at 1 pm.

Later, the protesters staged a demonstration and accused the government of being indifferent.

Conveyance allowance, special allowance, house rent, regularisation of the services of daily wagers, hike in the uniform allowance and implementation of the Pay Commission report were their main demands.

The agitators warned if the government did not pay heed to their grievance, they would stage a massive rally at the Chief Minister's home constituency Lambi on July 10.

Further, the NRMU activists raised anti-government slogans and in support of their demands, including filling the vacancies, revision of grade pay, pensionary benefits, resolving the irregularities of the Sixth Pay Commission, upgradation of the posts of the senior supervisors and repairing of the structures in railway colonies.

The NRMU activists said their protest would continue till June 24 at all branches and circles.

Mansa, June 22
The undying lust for acquiring the property has landed Buta Singh, a resident of Burj Dhilwan village of the district, into the police net as he along with his son was arrested for the murder of his younger brother Pargat Singh a few days ago.

To acquire the share of landed property of Pargat Singh, Buta Singh along with his son and two friends hatched a conspiracy to kill him.

All the accused first strangulated Pargat Singh to death on June 19 and subsequently threw his body along with motorcycle into the village pond to destroy the evidence to escape police net.

However, the police cracked the mystery behind the blind murder within four hours after the body was found.

Police sources said all the four accused, identified as Buta Singh, his son Jagmel Singh and Jagmel's friends, Harwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, were arrested by the police team led by inspector Paramjit Singh.

Sources added that Buta Singh did not want Pargat Singh to get married so that his share of land could be transferred to Buta Singh and his sons after his death.

However, the kin of Pargat found a suitable match for him and fixed the date of marriage.

When the body of Pargat was found, the accused cremated it without informing any kin. A case in this connection had been registered under Section 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC at the police station concerned. 

Bathinda, June 22
The first batch of MBA students of the Punjabi University Campus, Maur, got placed with various companies.

DK Madaan, Principal, said these placements have motivated students in this educationally backward area, thus fulfilling the aim of the university behind establishing the campus.

Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the Patiala-based Punjabi University, congratulated the teachers and the staff and hoped that the campus would continue to add more feathers to its cap by notching up achievements. — TNS

Ferozepur, June 22
Avtar Singh Zira, a leader of the ruling SAD (B) was unanimously elected as chairman of the Punjab State Cooperative Bank Limited, today.

Zira said election was held at Chandigarh and all the board of directors of the bank, who participated in the election, decided to elect him as chairman.

Notably, Zira was the chairman of the bank earlier as well.