Bathinda, September 22
Utter chaos prevailed today in the city following blockade of traffic by the college students and transporters at the Bibi Wala chowk and the bus stand. Both the students and the transporters held separate dharnas againt each other and levelling charges of misbehaviour, manhandling and abuse.

Students from the local polytechnic college held up traffic at the Bibi Wala Chowk following alleged mistreatment by a private bus operator today in the morning. The students said this is the second time they had been rough up by the 'influential' transporters.

The students, on the other hand, alleged that they are not allowed to travel even with a bus pass and are usually abused by the bus conductors.

The college students, lead by Sandeep, Harpreet, Lali Anku and others, alleged that the police never pay heed to their written complaints following the manhandling of the students.

While the dharns by the students continued from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm at the Bibi Wala Chowk, transporters held up traffic to ransom at the bus stand for one and half hours, starting from 1.15 pm.

The operators too demanded action against the college students for fighting with them over the issue of purchasing bus tickets.

Local transporters headed by the Mini Bus Operators Union chief Baltej Singh too expressed similar views and alleged that the police fail to act on their complaints as students enter into heated arguments and brawls with the bus conductors.

He claimed that the students are not allowed to travel in mini-buses with passes and need to purchase proper tickets.

Police, local administrative officials and the PRTC officials reached the spot and were seen placating before the students, asking them to put off the dharna.

Bathinda Tehsildar Avtar Singh Makkar even offered students free books, study material and any other help needed for their studies.

"But please lift the dharna and we will discuss the matter with the highest authorities. People are at the receiving end, so do not create nuisance,” he told the students.

Due to the dharna, the traffic police here had to divert the routes of passengers on the Barnala and Goniana roads.

Bathinda, September 22
The average diet of a person in Bathinda city exceeds Rs 32 per day, which is beyond the limit set by the Planning Commission of India in its report to the Supreme Court.

Even a lowly paid worker in Bathinda city is spending more than this amount on his or her meals for a day. According to the consultant, diet and nutrition, in Bathinda, minimum requirements of a vegetarian diet for a male weighing 55 kg and female weighing 45 kg costs around Rs 38.42.

"A common man needs nutritious vegetarian diet, which would cost anything between Rs 35 to Rs 50. But sadly enough, our people are not getting this diet," points out nutrition and diet consultant Dr Sonia Arora.

With stressful life, one needs more anti-oxidants to remain healthy. Fruits have plenty of anti-oxidants, but a daily wager or rickshaw puller cannot afford apples at Rs 100 per kg.

"Instead of fixing the baseline of poverty, why does the government not conduct surveys to find if the BPL (below poverty line) cards issued to the masses are genuine or not? Since neither the politicians nor the people in the Planning Commission have to work hard to earn two square meals a day, they do not know the hardship of a poor residing in the city," rued municipal councillor Krishan Kumar Garg.

Kanta Devi of Amarpura Basti said that after spending money for meals, there is hardly anything left behind for education, medical facilities and savings are non-existent. "Our children and elderly are the worst hit. Our future generation has hardly anything to eat and elders are dying for want of medical care," she said.

Senior economist Dr Sukhpal Singh is of the view that the word poverty line itself is a misnomer.

"It should actually be termed as a ventilator line meant for people on the verge of dying. International dignified living is at least $1.25 per day, which translates into Rs 60 per day per capita. By Indian standards, we are just half of it. When we compare ourselves to the Western countries, why not have same dignified living line as them?" he questioned.

He suggested that the government should withdraw education and healthcare from the private sector to control inflation.

"Sadly enough, Rs 32 per day is a figure meant to deflate the number of poor in India," he said. Per day diet chart for average 55 kg male and 45 kg female in Bathinda is given in the chart below.

Bathinda, September 22
Following news report published in the Bathinda Tribune about encroachment by the security guards of Congress MLA from Bathinda Harminder Singh Jassi, rooms built on an unsold plot worth nearly Rs 1 crore were demolished at the Urban Estate Phase-II here today.

The plot was converted into an accommodation for the security personnel of MLA Harminder Singh Jassi for the nearly one year. The MLA's brother, Gopal Jassi, is residing in the house adjacent to the unsold plot. It is, however, known as the house of MLA Jassi.

Another plot of a similar size in front of the unsold plot has also been encroached upon in a similar manner as it was converted into a park reportedly using the funds of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Labourers were seen demolishing the four rooms in the morning which were built with a temporary roof shed. The belongings of the gunmen were taken out from the rooms and were being shifted to somewhere else. The workers said the security guards of the MLA would now be shifted to some other place but it is not yet decided.

Though the encroachment was removed it is yet not clear if the BDA would take over the unsold plot.

Junior Engineer of Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) Anil Kumar, when contacted, said he did not initiate any action in this regard and he was deployed just two months ago.

"Otherwise, we register a case against those who encroach upon the Bathinda Development Authority land and raze the illegally constructed buildings or hutments", he said. He added that the plot was encroached upon during the time of JE Balwinder Singh who is now promoted as an SDO.

SDO Balwinder Singh, when contacted, said he was not aware of the encroachment as it was done during the tenure of Assistant Engineer (AE) Lachhman Singh.

AE Lachhman Singh, however, said it was not encroached upon during his tenure as well. BDA administrator Uma Shankar Gupta could not be contacted despite repeated phone calls.

Meanwhile, residents of the locality including Professor JS Brar Rangi demanded that a parking place should be constructed on the unsold plots as people who come for morning walk in the park used to park their vehicles in front of their houses.

"It leads to chaos and heated arguments and to remove the inconvenience, the authorities should create a place to park vehicles properly,” Rangi said. 

Bathinda, September 22
The Planning Commission is in the process of revising its criterion for identifying people below poverty line in which a person spending Rs 15 per day in rural areas and Rs 19 in urban areas are to be considered in the BPL category, based on 2004-05 prices. Neha Sharma of Bathinda Tribune spoke to some residents to know their views.

I earn Rs 150 daily or sometimes even less. My family has a daily expenditure of Rs 100, including the cost of inputs to run my vend and expenses incurred on household items. I have the responsibility of my whole family, including three children, wife and father. It is hard to feed the whole family with this meagre earning.
—Pala, Cobbler

I earn Rs 100 a day from which my spending is around Rs 70-80. I send the rest of the money to my family, living at my ancestral village in Bihar. I can't afford milk which is around Rs 32 per Kg. Even pulses are unaffordable by the poor man because of high prices. What can we do? We are totally helpless against such odds.
— Suresh, Rickshaw-puller

I am earning Rs 150. I purchase coal for Rs 30 per kilogram and spend Rs 60-70 on buying other useful items. With this, I have to feed my family also, which is in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. It is impossible to survive in the world today with such rising inflation.
—Ram saroop, Dhobi

Bathinda, September 22
To achieve her target, an Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) conducted vasectomy on an unmarried man of Joga Nagar. The vasectomy was conducted last year and a case was registered after the intervention of the High Court.

Head constable Nirmal Singh, ANM Amarjeet Kaur of Bhai Mati Das Nagar and Makhan Ram of Joga Nagar have been booked under various sections of the IPC at the Cantonment police station.

ASP City Vikrampal Singh said an inquiry in this connection is on. However, preliminary investigations reveal that the ANM had conducted vasectomy on an unmarried person, Raj Kumar, to achieve her target.

He said that the nurse gave some medicines to the complainant after he complained of fever.

However, after consuming the medicines given by the ANM, the man fell unconscious and the nurse allegedly conducted vasectomy on him, the ASP added. He pointed out that the head constable intervened in the case and asked the complainant to reach a compromise with the nurse. The victim however moved the court and a case was registered after the court's intervention.

Police booked the cop, nurse and another person after getting legal opinion from legal experts.

Police officials said that they are verifying the facts and documents provided by the victim and suitable action would be initiated in this regard. 

Bathinda, September 22
An Army jawan ended his life last night after hanging himself from the ceiling fan of his house using his turban.

The deceased has been identified as Harpreet Singh. He was a sepoy in the Army and had been employed for the past ten years.

He was residing with his wife and one-month-old son in the cantonment area here. Investigating officer in the case from the Cantonment police station said that the jawan was living with his family in the Peeruline Enclave near the Shivaji Enclave in the cantonment.

He added that there was no apparent reason found behind the suicide. He added that the jawan had recently brought his family with him. Further investigation into the case is on to determine what drove him to take this extreme step.

Inquest proceedings have been initiated in this regard.

Postmortem of the body was conducted at the Civil Hospital and family members of the jawan from Aladeen village near Tarn Taran had been informed.

Bathinda, September 22
Bathinda police have booked a woman and her paramour for allegedly murdering husband of the woman. The deceased has been identified as Gurmel Singh, a labourer who used to come to Bathinda from his village near Sangat everyday for menial jobs.

In his complaint to the police, Jagmel Singh, brother of the deceased, said Kuldeep Singh and his sister-in-law Sukhpal Kaur killed Gurmel Singh by strangulating him with a piece of cloth. Investigating officer SI Karamjeet Singh said a case under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC has been registered in this regard. — TNS

Bathinda, September 22
On the one hand, the dengue scare has started taking roots in the city, on the other, the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) is ill-equipped to deal with the crisis. Stagnant water in potholes and lack of fumigation encourages the growth of the mosquitoes.

“We are already facing the problem of poor and insufficient sewage system. Now, potholes and puddles due to stagnant water have further added to our woes,” rued Tejinder Kaur, a resident of Ganesh Nagar, one of the low-lying areas in the city.

For fumigating surroundings to prevent mosquitoes breeding, the BMC has three fogging machines. The fumigation machines are insufficient to fumigate 50 wards under the corporation, having a population of around 2.80 lakh. Notably, of the three fogging machines only two are functional. Another one could not be used in the absence of an educated operator. Moreover, one of the three machines is 22-year-old and other two were bought in 2009.

Hypothetically, a machine covers two wards daily and two machines cover four wards daily. "This way, each ward gets fumigated after around 13 days and that too no one knows, if proper fumigation is done or not. At times, the machine moves around making noise but does not billow smoke," said Tarsem Mangla from Paras Ram Nagar. The worst affected placed in the slum areas include Jogi Basti, Janta Nagar, Alam Basti, Harbans Nagar, Sanjay Basti, Subhash Basti, Chandsar Basti, Amarpura Basti as well as small hamlets which are scattered on sporadic places in the city.

“Educated people know the usage of mosquito repellants while the slums and remote areas are not aware of it. Education makes a lot of difference and the corporation too should do its duty well,” said Pushpinder Singh from Pujan Wala Mohalla.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner, BMC, Kamal Kant said the third fogging machine would soon be run.

“The government does not provide us with any kind of operators. We train our people and appoint them to run the machines. I will check if the operator on leave has returned or not,” he said. He added that the proposal of buying more machines could be mooted, if the need is felt.

Bathinda, September 22
Activists of various NGOs today burnt an effigy of the Punjab Health Minister in front of the main gate of the Civil Hospital here. They were protesting against the local health authorities for failing to make requisite arrangements for dengue patients.

Various local NGOs, including the Naujwan Welfare Society, the Asra Welfare Society, the United Welfare Society, the Sewa Bharati, the Hanuman Sewa Samiti, the New Generation Welfare Society and the Bathinda Vikas Manch participated in the protest.

The protesters also raised slogans against the health authorities. President of the Naujwan Welfare Society Sonu Maheshwari alleged this morning that the health authorities were ill-equipped as they were out of stock of Apheresis kits meant to segregate platelet concentration. 

Bathinda, September 22
The principal of the Government Adarsh School, Canal Colony, and its mid-day meal in-charge have been indicted in the report submitted to the Director General of School Education (DGSE), Chandigarh, today.

District Education Officer (Secondary) H S Sandhu said during the inquiry conducted, principal Surendra Nagar and mid-day meal in-charge Surinder Singh were found responsible for accumulating surplus stock without informing the higher authorities.

"Accumulation of surplus stock is not possible without the knowledge of the principal and even the mid-day meal in-charge could not take a plea that he was not aware of the stock," Sandhu said.

While the principal came to the school today, the mid-day meal in-charge had taken leave stating that he had to attend the funeral of his relative.

Three bags of rice were recovered from the school's toilet on Wednesday when mid-day meal officials conducted a surprise raid there. The stock was meant for 686 children.

Bathinda, September 22
Seeking hike in their pay-scales, ANMs (auxiliary nurse mid-wife) and LHVs (lady health visitor) in the district went on strike for the second consecutive day today. They protested in support of their demand at the Civil Hospital here.

The state committee of ANMs and LHVs had given an ultimatum to the government to either revise their pay-scales or they would go on strike and also boycott the migratory pulse-polio and other immunisation programmes.

Gurnam Kaur said in 1984, their designation was changed from ANM to multipurpose health worker but their grades were never revised.

Also, the LHVs were named health supervisors but their pay-scales remained same. She said if the government did not accept their demand, they would intensify their stir.