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Water woes spill over in city
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Kaka supporters seek Central forces in Dharamkot fearing violence
Biometric attendance machines in offices fail to leave their print
Flood victims await relief, leaders busy in blame game
Loan
under DRI scheme
Teacher unions chalk out stir path
Athlete books passage to London for 2012 Olympics
Pak intruder arrested
Fire at Max hospital
Power cuts scheduled today
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Water woes spill over in city
Bathinda, September 9 "Of late, the Municipal Corporation has started diverting sewer waste of Paras Ram Nagar and Veer Colony towards our bazaar. We have just three motors meant for pumping out rain water. Of these three, only two are working and are unable to pump out sewage that has accumulated in the market," Sharma said. Traders reasoned that they are losing business due to dirty water flooding the market and have been unable to even open their shops. They also alleged that the open drain passing near the market has not been cleaned leading to the oozing sewage. "The authorities claim that they clean the drain every year, whereas there's so much of silt that the water carrying capacity of the drain has lessened," they alleged. Officials later reached the spot to pacify the irate shopkeepers. They were granted an audience with the Deputy Commissioner who assured them of visiting the affected place and finding a solution. However, the traders were dissatisfied. They claimed to have approached the Municipal Commissioner earlier and alleged that he did did not bother to solve their problems. Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner Umashankar Gupta said that that Rs 4.70 crore project is in the pipeline to augment the capacity of the existing sewer lines. "A large portion of the project passes through railways land. We have sought permission from the railways and deposited Rs 2 crore with the ministry. It is delay on the part of railways that is being awaited," he said. Gupta added that even demi-official letters written to the railways have failed to have an impact and the delay is causing problems to the residents of the area. "We can understand the problems that the shopkeepers face, but they should also learn to live with present situation. Water from the Sirki Bazaar is dumped into Sanjay Toba, which is already brimming over due to the rains," he said appealing to the shopkeepers. |
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Postal services hit as GPO faces staff crunch
Bathinda, September 9 Long queues of people from the rural and urban areas could be seen thronging the waiting hall. During the peak hours, the hall is unable to accommodate the crowd and consequently, people squat outside the building in the parking area waiting for their turn. The ones to suffer the most are the students and candidates waiting to send their job forms and elders waiting to withdraw money from their accounts. Sources revealed that against the sanctioned 47 posts, there are 44 people working at the post office. Of these, one employee has been spared to provide assistance for the Aadhar project being run to prepare I-cards for the Unique Identification Number (UID). There is no replacement for the employee deputed for the UID scheme. "Even the number of sanctioned post is not enough to meet the burgeoning requirement at the post office. The staff constraint has worsened these days with 10 people going on leave and no one to replace them," the sources added. In the absence of adequate number of employees, either people are refused services or the counters are simply shut down. An array of around 30 postal and non-postal services are offered here. The postal services include speed post, logistics post, parcels, registered posts, business post and direct post. Non-postal services include postal insurance, small savings accounts, Kisan Vikas Patra, monthly income accounts and international money transfer et al. Besides, the GPO at the Civil Station also handles the accounts of 34 post offices at Mansa and Bathinda. Post Master Purushottam Das Bansal said that work load has increased over the years and that some employees are on leave. "Daily, we have transactions of at least 50 parcels, 200 speed posts, 300 to 325 registered posts and over 300 small savings scheme besides other official work," he said. Bansal said that efforts were being made to serve the visitors in the best possible manner. |
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Gora confident of completing hat-trick
Gidderbaha (Muktsar), September 9 During the past two elections in 1996 and 2004, he emerged the winner. This is the reason why he appears to be confident of repeating his victory of more than 36,000 votes, which he had gained in the 2004 elections, during these SGPC elections also. The man is Gurpal Singh Gora, a sitting SGPC member and candidate of the SAD from the Gidderbaha SGPC constituency. Besides Gora, there are two other candidates, Hardeep Singh of the SAD (Amritsar) and Mehan Singh of the SAD (1920) in the poll fray. Due to their presence, Gora has been campaigning actively. In this SGPC constituency, there are 70,647 voters from 56 villages and the Gidderbaha town. Gora has completed the first round of campaigning in all the 56 villages and the Gidderbaha town while he has also campaigned in 16 villages for the second time so far. During the campaigning, he does not make promises to the voters as he is of the view that people love him due to the work done by him as a member of the SGPC, and they will repose their faith in him this time too. He also said he would not go for door-to-door canvassing. Gora said his sole agenda was the fulfillment of his religious duties. He said during his second term, he had brought an SGPC school to Therri Bhai Ke village (near Gidderbaha) while he also got conducted the 'Kar Sewa' at some gurdwara sahibs, including Gurdwara Therri Sahib, Gurdwara Gurusar Sahib, through the Kar Sewa Wale Babaji. He said he had won the 1996 elections by a margin of more than 3,600 votes while he emerged victorious in 2004 by a margin of about 36,500 votes. Gidderbaha, despite being the stronghold of the People's Party of Punjab's chief Manpreet Badal, most of the people spoke in favour of Gora. Some of them even claimed that Manpreet was also not opposing Gora. However, Manpreet Badal could not be contacted. When a call was made by TNS to Manpreet's mobile phone this evening, it was informed that he was away in Delhi. In the Gidderbaha SGPC constituency for women, Kiranveer Kaur Bhullarwala, is the SAD candidate whose position is also said to be strong. In this constituency, Gurmail Kaur of the SAD (Amritsar), Hardeep Kaur of the SAD (1920), and Mohinder Kaur, an independent, are the other candidates who are giving a fight to her in the poll arena. |
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Kaka supporters seek Central forces in Dharamkot fearing violence
Moga, September 9 A delegation of over 50 supporters of the rebel SAD leader met Avtar Singh Narula, secretary, Gurdwara Election Commission at Chandigarh today and apprised him of the prevailing situation demanding to deploy para-military forces and conduct videography of the polls at sensitive booths. Pargat Singh, circle in-charge of Kot-ise-Khan block for Kaka’s election campaign revealed to The Tribune on phone that the secretary of the Gurdwara Election Commission has assured them of deploying a reserve battalion of the para-military force from Haryana in the Dharamkot constituency. He said the delegation also brought to the notice of the commission that there were possibilities of booth capturing in the area by the activists of the Students’ Organisation of India (SOI), a ‘youth brigade’ of the SAD, which may disturb the law and order situation. The members of the delegation revealed that the commission has asked them to conduct videography of the sensitive/vulnerable booths and the candidates would bear the cost. It may be mentioned that the SGPC seat is prestigious for the senior SAD leader Jathedar Tota Singh, who has fielded his loyal Gurmail Singh and he is eying to contest the assembly election from this area. Former Lok Sabha member Dhyan Singh Mand, a close aide of hardliner Simranjit Singh Mann and Jaswinder Singh Sidhu another candidate enjoying the support of the local PPP leader Kuldip Singh Dhose are also contesting the elections from here. Recently, attempts were made by the SAD president Sukhbir Badal to take him back in the party but the exercise proved futile. The Tribune tried to contact Avtar Singh Narula, secretary, Gurdwara Election Commission on his mobile but it was switched off. |
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Biometric attendance machines in offices fail to leave their print
Faridkot, September 9 However, a year down the line, the ambitious project failed to meet the desirous result — checking the habitual absenteeism and tardiness among the employees. After two months of working, all seven biometric machines, installed in the Primary Health Centers (PHC) in Faridkot district were rendered ineffective with glue like substance and the attendance registers were back. The biometric machines failed to rein in the truant employees and for the last over one year, the non-functional machines are gathering dust in the PHCs, in the absence of any repair. Faridkot Civil Surgeon Dr GS Chahal said the machines are required to be repaired. "The Health Department has raised the matter with the sellers of the machines for repair," he said. It is not only in Faridkot but almost all biometric attendance system introduced in 160 PHCs over the state failed in making any dent in the absenteeism among some errant employees. "I have come to know about the non-functioning of the machines some days back and the process for repair of the machines has been started," said SK Sharma, managing director, Punjab National Rural Health Mission. Sharma joined the department two month back. The biometric machines were vulnerable targets for some errant employees and were rendered ineffective after the employee stuck some glue like chemical on the pad that reads the fingerprints. It is not only in the Health Department where the machines are lying redundant. A year back, Vijay N Zade, Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot, installed two biometric machines in his office to keep an eye on the office 'entry and exit time' of 120 employees in various branches of his office. But six month back, the machines were not needed after the official was transferred out of Faridkot. Now, the machines are out of service. When the correspondent reached the DC office to check the functioning of the machines, many of the employees made a request not to write about the machines as the 'functioning' biometric machine was a big problem for them. "The machines were a big headache for us," said a woman peon in the Superintendent Office. Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said he was not aware of the functioning of the machine. "I would get it checked," he said. Principal Secretary of the Health Department Satish Chander said introducing attendance tracking system with biometric technology machines did not deliver the desired results. Unlike the Health Department, the biometric machines installed in 100 Government Senior Secondary schools in five districts of Punjab (including Bathinda, Muktsar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Mohali) in August, last year, brought encouraging results. After some glitches, most of the machines were functioning properly and helped a lot in checking ‘late arrival and absenteeism’ among teachers, said a teacher in a government school Ghuman Kalan village of Bathinda where the machine is installed. “Now, the teachers reach the school 15 minutes before the school starts,” said the teacher. After the ‘ambitious’ biometric attendance system in the government hospitals failed in checking absenteeism, the Health Department launched a new scheme of ‘online monitoring’ of the working of the employees in June this year. Faridkot is the first district in Punjab to introduce Skype, a system of web cameras, linked with internet, to keep a vigil on the working of the employees in various primary health centres in the district, said Dr GS Chahal. “The result of Skype system is encouraging,” he added. |
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Flood victims await relief, leaders busy in blame game
Fazilka, September 9 Apparently the heads of both the governments are at loggerhead over relief for the victims. The political parties have started playing the blame game. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit to the flood-hit district had stated that the Centre should take up the issue with Pakistan as the latter had shut the flood gates in the catchment area at Sulemanki headworks. As a result, the water started flowing back to Fazilka wreaking havoc in the border villages. On the other hand, when a delegation of the representatives of the Congress of Fazilka district led by the CWC member Jagmeet Singh Brar met the Home Minister P Chidambram, he reportedly remained evasive over any relief commitment. He instead told the representatives that the floods relate to the Punjab Government which has not asked
for any help to meet the eventuality. The Congressmen including former president of the District Congress Committee Ferozepur Gurbeer Singh Sandhu Lali, former PPCC secretary, Davinder Sachdeva, former Zila Parishad member, Harjit Singh Shahri, former Sarpanch of village Mahatam Nagar, Desa Singh, retired SDO Balbir Singh Jwala, an aspirant of the Congress ticket from Fazilka constituency, Youth Congress leader Vishal Kamra, Jagtar Singh Tarewala, Charan Singh Tahliwala Hithar, Mangal Singh met the Home Minister and apprised him of the demands of the border area residents. They demanded that a compensation to tune of Rs 10,000 per acres should be given to the farmers whose lands fall across the barbed wire fencing since they are not allowed to sow tall crops. They have also demanded that the proposal of relocating the barbed wire fencing near the international border should be executed soon. The leaders pleaded that with the shifting of fencing near the border, no farmer would be allowed to go across the fencing. Hence, the problem of smuggling of narcotics and arms would automatically be redressed. Balbir Singh Jwala demanded that a Welfare Board for the border area residents direct under the control of the Home Ministry should be constituted to redress the problems of the border residents at their door-step. Chidambram assured them of looking into the matter after consultation with the Defence Minister as most of the problems relate to the latter’s department. |
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Loan
under DRI scheme
Faridkot, September 9 Against the Government of India’s fixed target of one per cent of loans advancing under the DRI to the poor, the banks in Faridkot gave only 0.005 per cent loans in the last financial year. The Government of India has formulated a scheme for giving bank loan assistance to the poor at the concessional annual interest rate of four per cent. The loans are meant for selected low income groups for productive endeavous by the banks under the DRI. While the banks charge four per cent annual interest under the DRI, the Union Government compensates the banks by paying the interest subsidy. During a meeting with various banks in the Faridkot district some days back, the DC found that against one per cent target of the total bank loans under the DRI scheme, the banks in Faridkot gave only 0.005 per cent of the total loans to the eligible beneficiaries. As per the RBI guidelines, the borrower’s eligibility criteria for availing of loan under the (DRI) scheme is that his annual family income in the rural area should not be more than Rs 18,000. In urban area, the income limit is Rs 24,000 to avail of the loan. “To advance loans, the banks seem to be interested only in big traders and rich but they do not care for the poor,” said the DC. The DRI loan scheme is aimed at making the economically weak people self-reliant using the subsidiary loans to run small-scale business, said the DC. There are many complaints from many eligible poor that the banks harass them on the one pretext or the other and ultimately deny the loans, said Harjinder Kaur, the district assistant project official in Faridkot. The banks failed in meeting their targets in advancing the loans under the DRI despite the fact that many banks were already issued the subsidy amounts, the DC pointed out. For such attitude of the banks, the district administration would be compelled to take strict legal action if the banks do not improve their loan advancing rate under the DRI, said the Deputy Commissioner. |
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Teacher unions chalk out stir path
Bathinda, September 9 They had planned to burn an effigy of the CM but could not do it due to inclement weather. In a meeting held today they condemned the SAD-BJP government for not fulfilling promises made during election time. They discussed problems of being posted far away from their home towns, women teachers are not being given maternity leave and regularization of services among others. A rally at Ludhiana on September 25 remained the main issue at the meeting. They said that if the government does not issue a notification regularizing the services of these teachers, they would oppose every SAD candidate in the SGPC elections.
— TNS |
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Athlete books passage to London for 2012 Olympics
Bathinda, September 9 Trained by his coach Sukhvinder Singh at the local Army Public School, Om Prakash had broken the nationa CBSE record in the year 2005. He has also represented India at the Asian Games and the Comonwealth Games 2010 besides winning medals at the Asian Grand Prix Athletic Meet. Meanwhile, Mamta Mishra of the Army Public School, Bathinda, secured the second position in the Under-16 javelin throw in National Junior Athletic Meet at Bhopal from September 2-4. Jagnandini, a student of class IX in the same school, got the second position in 600 metres in the Under-14 girls category in the North Zone Junior Athletic Meet held at Lucknow from August 5-7 this year. |
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Pak intruder arrested
Ferozepur, September 9 The Pakistani intruder has been identified as Mushtaq Mohammed alias Pannu, son of Qutubdeen, aged around 20 to22 years, hailing from village Jhaggal Tehsil Chunia in the neighbouring Kasur district of Pakistan. The BSF has handed over the intruder to the police for further action. SSP Surjit Singh said, “A case under the Indian Passport Act and 14 Foreigners Act has been registered against the intruder. He would be presented in the court tomorrow.” |
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Bathinda, September 9 Baldev Singh said they had got a call from the hospital at 7.55 am about the fire. Two fire tenders had been rushed to the hospital to extinguish the flames. He said paint was lying in open containers in the room and the plywood etc must have that caught fire due to a short-circuit. However, no major loss occurred.
— TNS |
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Power cuts scheduled today
Bathinda, September 9 Due to this, the power supply to the following colonies will remain affected: Hazura Kapura Colony, Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Ganesha Basti, Bhatti Road, Kishori Ram Road, Aggarwal Colony, Basant Bihar, Namdev Road, Housefed Colony, Harbans Nagar, Baba Deep Singh Nagar, Hazi Rattan, Civil Lines Area etc, an official information said. |
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Gidderbaha (Muktsar), September 9
