Bir Talab (Bathinda), September 24
Earlier, known as a haven for the drug peddlers, the village of Bir Talab in Bathinda is now witnessing a different kind of battle. The village is now home to the families of addicts and drug peddlers who are on the path of reform but find it impossible to kick the habit.

There is no de-addiction centre in the vicinity and the nearest government-run centre is 15 kms away - the Red Cross De-addiction Centre in Bathinda city.

A village, where even women and children were made drug couriers, residents of Bir Talab are awaiting rehabilitation. In the last three months, around 40 cases have been registered against different people for selling or consuming smack or giving shelter to people associated with the illegal trade.

Drug addicts resorted to stealing every household item including iron, plastic material and even utensils to buy their quota of smack.

Drug users, who want to come out of the vicious cycle, are now getting little medical help. In the absence of trained medical staff, it is the quacks that are making money.

Buta Singh, the president of de-addiction committee formed in the village, reasons that the drug users are already paupers and have lost all resources. It is impossible for their families to take them all the way to Bathinda for de-addiction. "Most of the drug users are on bed and receive treatment from the local quacks. When craving overpowers them, they hunt for drugs in other villages or in urban pockets. Some of them even suffer from seizures and can not be controlled at all," said Buta Singh.

In the absence of smack, addicts have now switched over to alternative drugs like poppy husk and synthetic drugs that are fetched from far off places.

A resident of the village, Soma Devi reminisced that it all began with a former sarpanch who was hooked to drugs and enticed many youngsters to get a kick out of smack. "He died a few months ago but left behind an army of addicts," she said. Villagers demanded that the administration should come up with a de-addiction centre in the vicinity so that youngsters could be saved.

Family members of five or six households selling drugs are now missing while more than eight families are behind the bars. There are many women whose husbands got hooked to drugs and are unable to earn. These women have abandoned their husbands and are now living separately.

A lot has been done but more needs to be done, said the villagers.

Villagers said that the local police's initiative to curb the menace is worth appreciating.

Earlier, smack was sold openly in colony number 2 and 3 of the village. "Youngsters, women and the elderly too got involved in the trade but now things have changed completely," said Balwinder Singh.

Another resident, Raju of colony number two, appreciated the efforts made by the police in dealing with the problem but claimed that the cops picked up his relatives without their being involved in any case.

Bathinda, September 24
Suvidha Centre employees in Bathinda would go on strike from Monday. In response to a call made by the State Suvidha Employees Union, the strike would be observed in protest against the government for not increasing their salaries since 2008.

Over a thousand employees of all 21 Suvidha Centres situated across the state offer 36 services including passport, driving licence, preparing arms files, birth and death registration, character certificate, verification, copies of RTI Act and many kinds of certificates of rural areas, border areas as well as the domicile certificates. These centres are the lifeline of governance in the state.

As part of a move to ensure good governance, these centres were started in 2004.

President of the State Suvidha Employees Union, Om Prakash Rana said that the per month salary of a data entry operator is Rs 5,000, a peon Rs 3000 to Rs 3500, of a system administrator Rs 10, 000 and that of a district system administrator Rs 16,000.

"These salaries were fixed after the revised pay-scale in 2008. While the government employees are getting 60 per cent dearness allowances to combat inflation, we are getting peanuts. How can one manage a family for mere Rs 5,000? We compromise with the needs of our children and families," said Rana.

The union had earlier sent representations to the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary, Information and Technology (IT) as well as the Director IT informing them of the impending strike.

"We don't want to go on strike unannounced as we know that ultimately, the people would be at the receiving end. We are amongst those protestors who did not climb the water tanks or set themselves on fire to be heard. We are peace loving people and don't want to harass anyone. But when our pleas are going unheard, we have no option but to protest," added an employee of the Bathinda Suvidha Centre.

Besides their daily work, the Suvidha Centre employees are also assigned election duties but are not given any kind of honorarium. They are not given even basic facilities like medical leave and maternity leave. While all other government employees get festival bonuses and increments, Suvidha Centre workers do not get anything.

Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, KK Yadav said that the administration has decided to depute employees from other departments to impart basic services to the people. "We had forwarded the memorandum of the Suvidha Centre employees to the people," he said.

Meanwhile, when contacted, the Director, IT, Punjab, Kavita Singh said that matter was in her knowledge and she had informed the government about it. "We would soon be taking a decision that is beneficial for all employees," she said.

Bathinda, September 24
People living in the Defence pockets of Bathinda are more literate as compared to their rural and urban counterparts.

The 2011 census data reveals that 84 per cent people from the Defence are literate followed by 74 per cent living in areas under the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) limits, 66 per cent of those living in urban areas while the rural folks trail at a mere 56 per cent.

Rural areas n Rampura Phul tehsil n Bathinda tehsil n Talwandi Sabo tehsil n Thermal plant at Lehra Mohabbat Urban areas n BDPO Bhagta n MC limits Rampura n MC Bhucho n MC Goniana n MC Sangat n MC Kotafatta n MC Raman n MC Maur n Talwandi Sabo Defence areas n ITBP 7th Battalion Bibiwala road n Bathinda cantonment n Air Force Station Bhisiana n CISF unit Nangal

“Literacy is directly related to prosperity and the availability of infrastructure. Sadly enough, only the underprivileged are now left behind in the villages as those rich in the rural areas have moved to the cities to educate their children,” observes educationist Prof Paramjit Singh Romana, Dean, Students Welfare, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

While the rural areas are bereft of prosperity and infrastructure in terms of education, the rural illiterates mainly comprise of the lower-rung migratory population and domestic servants.

“The problem lies in the fact that whosoever studies from the village, settles down in the city for livelihood. This person is counted as a literate in the city and not that of the village to which he or she belongs to. Even the poverty alleviation projects in rural education sector, such as mid-day meals schemes or free books are limited to their materialistic boundaries,” says Sukhjinder Pal Singh, a teacher and resident of village Multania.

Professional colleges sprouting in and around the city have failed to have an impact on the rural literacy rate. Educationist Jagmohan Kaushal feels that those in the education sector itself have turned more into realtors rather than educationists. “When the fence starts devouring the fields, who would care for the crop? The so-called educationists have set up infrastructure in the rural areas but not even a single seat is reserved for children from the rural areas,” he adds.

The high literacy rate in the district has, however, failed to have an impact on the declining sex ratio. A professor in economics at the Punjabi University Regional Centre, Bathinda, RK Mahajan feels that there must be a positive correlation between the improvement in the literacy rate and subsequent improvement in sex ratio.

“However, this is not visible in Bathinda, which baffles us. There has been an improvement in literacy rate from 61.1 per cent in 1991-01 to 69.6 per cent in 2001-10 period. But during the same period, the sex ratio in the district has deteriorated,” says a concerned Mahajan.

Bathinda, September 24
Two passengers of a train were looted of Rs 11,000 and were found lying unconscious in the bogie of a train today in the morning.

A press release issued by the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa said that the two unconscious youngsters were noticed by the cleaners of the railway department.

Volunteers of the Sahara were informed and the two were rushed to the local Civil Hospital.

They identified themselves as 22- year-old Anyus of Darjeeling and 17-year- old Vikas Yadav.

Volunteers of the Sahara said that the two are yet to recover completely and are still undergoing treatment. They informed that some co-passengers offered them cold drinks after consuming which they fell unconscious. Besides their luggage, they also lost Rs 11,000 in cash.

The youth were employed in a hotel at Jammu and were returning home by the train.

They suspected that the cold drink was laced with some adulterated material and after consuming the drink, they fell unconscious.

Police officials were informed and a case in this connection was being registered.

Earlier too, similar cases have been reported emphasising upon the need for more vigilance on the part of the passengers themselves and the railway security personnel.

Bathinda, September 24
People living around the Bathinda Fort, a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), are facing problems in the construction and repair of their houses. The problem has arisen due to the strictures of the ASI that has barred such activity within the specified limits of the historic structure.

Earlier, people used to apply to the ASI authorities at Bathinda seeking a no-objection certificate (NOC) if they had to construct or renovate their houses. The local ASI office used to conduct a physical verification and send the matter to its Punjab circle office at Chandigarh for approval.

However, the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 was amended last year and in its place, the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010 was introduced by the Central Government. Violation of its provisions attracts imprisonment of up to two years and fine.

Under the new law, the Director, Tourism, Punjab, has been appointed as the competent authority. This authority is supposed to send its recommendation to the National Monuments Authority (NMA), a division of the ASI, for approval. There are 32 ASI protected monuments in Punjab including those at Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib.

As per the amended Act, a minimum of 100 metre area, measured from the boundary limit of the protected monument is specified as prohibited area. Beyond this, a minimum of 200 metre in all directions is categorized as regulated area.

“The constitution of the NMA is taking time. Its chairman and members are yet to be designated though the member-secretary has been designated. It is the delay on the part of the Central Government and the laidback attitude of the state government that is costing us dear,” said the residents of the area.

The ASI has been forwarding applications to the competent authority for the last four months. None of the applications have been processed and elicited any response owing to the problem. Consequently, people have been making rounds of the ASI office at the Bathinda Fort to enquire about the status of their applications.

Municipal councillor Rajinder Mittal said the government should not harass people with genuine problems in granting permission. “Since the area around the Fort is thickly populated, strict implementation of the Act is creating problems for us. Imagine, people not able to do anything on their own property,” he said.

Bathinda, September 24
A large number of vehicles impounded by the police are dumped near the old Civil Lines police station at Dhobiana Basti for a long time now. Police officials said the vehicles were case properties and required during the hearing of court cases.

The Civil Lines police station was recently shifted to the Model Town, Phase III, but the stolen, impounded and abandoned vehicles besides the ones involved in accidents are still lying near the old building of the police station.

These vehicles include few cars, a large number of bicycles and a truck. Most of these vehicles have been stolen by drug addicts.

Residents of the area said drug addicts could be seen searching for material of their interest from these vehicles, in the morning and late at night.

Miscreants leave no opportunity to take away the iron material, tyres, useful engine material and other things from these vehicles. Many children from the Basti also play with these worn-out vehicles during the day time, said the area residents.

“Though a gate has been installed on one side of the plot, it is open from the other side. The police should intervene so that the dumped vehicles could be shifted to some other place,” said Suresh Kumar, a resident. Police officials said vehicles associated with accidents, crime or those found abandoned were dumped there as cases pertaining to them were pending in the courts.

“Since there is no other place to store these vehicles, the department kept them near the old building of the police station,” said a police official, pleading anonymity.

Area residents said earlier, miscreants stole fuel from the vehicles and now tyres, iron material and machinery, which could be further sold in lieu of few hundred rupees, were also missing.

Civil Lines SHO Jaspal Singh, ASP Vikrampal Bhatti and SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

The munshi on duty at the police station, however, said that so far, they had not received any report of theft of vehicles or their parts.

“The vehicles are locked in the open space adjacent to the old building of the police station. The material could not be removed without a crane. Vehicles are case properties and are required during the hearing of court cases,” he said.

Bathinda, September 24
The youngsters are the future of the nation. What if the young blood does not find its future? On the one hand, the Punjab Government spares no effort to bring Bathinda on the world map and on the other, the youth of the city have been desperately moving to other destinations to make their future bright.

Karamjot Kaur is pursuing her BSc final year of Biotechnology in the Government Rajindra College. Expressing lack of opportunities, she stated, “No doubt, the city is developing fast. Still, it has a long way to go. As for my post- graduation, I am aspiring for Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh or Thapar University (Patiala) as I have no option here. Moreover, for a better job opportunity, one needs to get a tag of a good institute.”

After completing their education, some students want to come back to the city for work.

Like Pardeep Singh, who wants to be with his family after studies, finds it hard to get a good job in his hometown. He is a student of MTech in the Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh.

He said, “Except for the oil refinery, I can’t apply anywhere. The city has good institutes for entrance test preparation, but lacks reputed colleges for higher studies and job opportunities are nil. If the students get 100 per cent placement from the local colleges, why would they prefer other institutes. Well, after the launch of Central University, we are hoping for a good future of students.”

In this growing world, the youngsters are working hard to secure their place. Moreover, this is the phase of life, when one can put maximum effort to fulfill their dreams.

Param Raj Buttar has been selected for merchant navy and is getting his training from the International Maritime School, Greater Noida. After doing BTech from Giani Zail Singh College, he had to leave the city as he had seen no future here.

“The city has many colleges but each of them lacks quality. They have no comparison with the best engineering colleges and medical institutes of the country. One can imagine that the product of these colleges would not be preferred anywhere. The students have to leave Bathinda for their better settlement,” he said.