Bathinda, October 2
Members of the Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) Union, Punjab, today blocked the various roads of Bathinda to register their protest against the Punjab government to get their long-pending demands fulfilled.

While the teachers continued their protest for over four hours in the city, commuters on the Bathinda-Barnala road, near the Fauji Chowk and Bibi Wala road, remained at the receiving end for the entire day today.

The teachers initially decided to march towards Badal, the ancestral village of the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, but were not allowed to do so by the police.

While a section of the ETT teachers, including some girls, were detained by the police on the Goniana road in the morning, the others were stopped near the bus stand.

State core committee member of the ETT teachers union, Jagsir Singh Sahota, said those detained at the Goniana road were manhandled by the police.

"The turban of the district president of BKU (Ekta-Ugraha) Shingara Singh Mann got removed during the manhandling by the police," said a member of the ETT union, Kulwinder Singh, from Mansa. The BKU leader came to support the ETT teachers.

The ETT teachers alleged that the state government had promised to take 13000 ETT teachers of Punjab under the wings of the Punjab School Education Board during the previous Vidhan Sabha elections but nothing has been done in this regard.

Presently, the schools in which ETT teachers are deployed are under the control of the Zila Parishad and the municipal councils which are managed under the Panchayati Raj system.

The salaries of the ETT teachers depend upon the annual grants-in-aid issued by the Centre to the state government.

"Every year, the Central Government releases a grant-in-aid of Rs 5 to 6 crores to the state for the teachers' salaries. We fear that this grant may be discontinued any time," said Jagsir Sahota, the core committee member.

He said the teachers are deployed in various government primary schools in the villages and urban areas of Punjab.

"In view of the regular protests for over four years, we are unable to concentrate on teaching. When we are not sure of our own future, how can we think about the future of the students," asked Kulwinder Singh, an ETT teacher from Mansa district.

He pointed out that a meeting of their union members and a senior government functionary was held yesterday failed to bear any fruits.

"Earlier, the government offered to take 6,000 ETT teachers under the Punjab government and yesterday, offered to include 3000 more teachers. But we are agreeing to this policy and demand that all the 13,000 teachers should be incorporated," Sahota said.

He added that the ETT teachers union wants that the primary schools, where the ETT teachers are deployed, should also be brought under the ambit of the state government.

The teachers threatened to launch a massive agitation in the coming days if the state government does not meet their pending demands soon. 

Bathinda, October 2
Appealing to the state government to stop churning out literate unemployed, the members of the private ETT teachers' area committee have opposed admissions for the ETT course being conducted across 50 colleges in the state.

A unit of the private ETT teachers from Moga, Abohar and Bathinda districts, the group has severely criticized the government for sleeping over the issue. They said that there are 50 colleges in the state divided into two federations with 5000 students under them. Students of 2010-12 batches are studying in the 15 colleges under the federation.

Convener of the committee, Gurpreet Singh, said that one of the federations, namely, the Punjab Self-Financed Educational Institutes, is a congregation of 15 colleges and is conducting admissions as per the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court under the civil writ petition, number 13125 of 2011, for staring a new batch for the 2011-13 session.

"People from amongst us are pass-outs from these colleges and have got no future. There are no direct entries into the government job sector for the ETT teachers," they added.

Last time, the rules and regulations of admission were not clear and neither were the all 50 institutes affiliated with the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), the affiliating body.

"When we brought this to the notice of the state government, its officials said they were not aware of any such admissions going on in the state. Consequently, students started an agitation and the first semester exams were held 11 months after the admission. These exams should have been taken after 100 working days," said a member of the committee, Amandeep Singh.

They said that the government should now make clear its rules and regulations pertaining to the present admission so the new batch of the students do not get affected. They suggested that the government should come out with an exhaustive list of institutes affiliated to the SCERT.

They regretted that there is also lack of job opportunities for the ETT teachers. As per the new rules of the SCERT department, it is mandatory for the ETT teachers to clear the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET). Of the 7000 candidates, who appeared for TET, only 1300 could pass the test, they added.

Bathinda, October 2
Members of the government school lecturers union today threatened to start a hunger strike from October 28 if their pending demands are not met by the Punjab government.

A large number of lecturers from the various districts of Punjab today take out a protest march and also staged a dharna near the district administrative complex.

The lecturers demanded that the amendment to the 2004 service rules should be done within a stipulated time-frame.

They demanded that vocational lecturers be given seniority with 90 per cent quota for promotion to the post of principal and arrangements should be made for 25 per cent direct recruitment. Their list of demands also includes the wish that the grade pay of lecturers should be fixed at Rs 6600, besides the practical increments for lecturers, among others.

President of the union, Hakam Singh and secretary general Sukhdev Singh Rana, while addressing the rally, said they had been taking up the demands for over four years but nothing has been done.

The leaders said that the government is delaying the issue of amendments on the pretext of seeking help from the other departments.

He added that the union leaders would take out a protest march in the villages after holding a massive rally in Lambi. "We would also sit on hunger strike after October 28," he said.

Those who addressed the rally today included Kashmir Singh Gill, Joginder Singh Ajaib, Pardeep Kumar, Ram Murti Goyal, Amrik Singh, Lachhman Das, Manjit Singh, Malwinder Singh, Santokh Singh Gill, Iqbal Singh, Dr. Narinder Singh, Jagdish Madaan, Gurlabh Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Rajeshwar Salaria, Sukhvir Singh, Kamaljit Singh, Parminder Singh, Vijay Kumar, Taj Singh and Jagdish Madaan. 

Bathinda, October 2
Unable to fetch a handsome amount in the mandis in Bathinda, cotton farmers are taking their produce to the nearby mandis to get a better price.

Though cotton has started arriving in Bathinda but its purchase is yet to pick up due to the lack of interest shown by the farmers in selling their produce at a price which is less than at the nearby mandis.

Arhtiyas in the local cotton market said the farmers here are getting nearly Rs 4,000 per quintal for their cotton crop while in the nearby mandis, they get Rs 500 to Rs 600 extra.

"Buyers offered me Rs 3,120 per quintal for my cotton but I am not interested as the same quality is sold for Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,600 per quintal in the adjoining mandis," said Net Ram, a farmer from the Behman Diwana village.

Net Ram was persuaded by his arhtiya to help get him more for his cotton but the farmer refused to sell his produce.

Arhtiya Pawan Kumar pointed out that the cotton brought by Net Ram was not inferior in quality as a bit refined cotton is sold for Rs 3,720 per quintal.

The maximum amount that has been fetched for good quality cotton in Bathinda mandi is Rs 4,000, he said. He admitted that farmers are getting a better price in the nearby mandis than in Bathinda.

The arhtiyas said that last year, the price of cotton reached Rs 7,000 per quintal but the starting price was at Rs 4,000.

But this year, it is even less than the starting price that was there last year. The strike by some cotton factories and a group's monopoly is being blamed by the arhtiyas for the low cotton price this season.

Lucky Bansal, an arhtiya at Bathinda, said farmers are taking their produce to Goniana, Mansa, Maur, Kalianwali, Gidderbaha, Bhucho, Rampura and even Dabwali in Haryana. He said farmers in Gidderbaha are getting a better price where the starting price for per quintal of cotton is more than Rs 4,000.

President of the Bathinda Arhtiya Association, Babbu said that though the quality of cotton has declined this season, but it has been compensated because of increase in the area under cotton cultivation this year.

Around 100 quintals of cotton has arrived in the Bathinda mandi while more than 400 quintals has arrived in the nearby mandis, said the arhtiyas. 

Bathinda October 2
People in the city will soon get to enjoy the Verka sweets which are to be launched this festival season. Earlier, the Milkfed plant in Bathinda used to bring the sweets from SAS Nagar and Chandigarh.

The three kinds of sweets — dhoda, milk cake and Bikaneri roasted barfi— will be made in this unit. Packs of dhoda and milk cake will be prepared and a mix pack with three varieties will also be dished out to consumers.

The Milkfed had got the sugar to prepare these sweets from the adjoining cooperative sugar mills. The contract has been given to a local confectioner. The original recipe is being retained to preserve the taste. sweets.

The manufacturing started yesterday and the sweets will be prepared in the plant till October 22, to serve the customers for Diwali. On the first day of the launch, i.e., tomorrow, 500 packets of sweets will be sold. These will be available with all the dealers of Verka in the city.

General Manager of the Milkfed Verka plant in Bathinda, JK Gupta, said, "These days, people are getting adulterated sweets. However, the quality of Verka sweets will be the best as we are providing pure items. It is our first-time effort and we are quite enthusiastic as well as nervous." 

Bathinda, October 2
The Joint Action Committee (JAC), a body constituted to work for clean environment in the city, has written to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) demanding that the polluting unit number IV of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant should be shut down immediately.

Convener of the Joint Action Committee, MM Behal claimed that the GNDTP (Bathinda) is violating the Air Pollution Act 1981 for the last many years. Now, the unit IV is emitting unlimited ash and the residents are facing many difficulties.

The level of suspected particulate matter (SPM) of unit IV was found to be 333mg/NM3 instead of the prescribed limit of 150 mg/NM3, following which the PPCB ordered that the unit IV be shut down within 40 days. “It is a matter of surprise that when the unit IV is openly violating Air Pollution Act, why a 40-day time has been given?” he asked.

“We strongly demand that the PPCB should modify its earlier orders and keeping in view the problem of fly ash in the city, closure of unit IV should be immediately ordered,” he said.

Behal warned that if the PPCB does not order closure within the next ten days, the body would start a chain of protests to highlight the problem.

Meanwhile, the 920 MW Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat generated 231.41 lakh units of electricity at 104.81 per cent plant load factor (PLF), which is the highest generation in a single day so far.

A spokesperson for the plant said that the previous daily generation record were 230.84 lakh units set on March 25. The plant has two units of 210 MW and two units of 250 MW capacity and is rated for generating 220.80 lakh units daily.

Chief Engineer of the plant MR Parihar congratulated all engineers, officials and workers for the achievement.

Bathinda, October 2
The children celebrated the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. A play- way school Bachpan organised a baby show on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on the school premises. The kids within the age group of three months to three years were judged on the basis of their confidence, looks, health and appearance. Clad in colourful attires, the tiny tots were looking like angels. The kids left the gathering spellbound through their performances. The proud parents were equally enthusiastic.

"I am happy to see my child performing on the stage at this age. I hope my kids would become more confident individuals than us," said Neena, a parent.

The event was judged by Dr Manjinder Kaur Gill, Sarup Singla and Dr Harspreet Kaur.

Tanya Sharma was adjudged as the winner in the most active baby category while Pari was runners-up. In the most photogenic category, Ilakshi Bhatnagar bagged the first prize while Smarth Arora secured the second prize.

Faridkot MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan was the chief guest on the occasion. She applauded the efforts of the school for organising the function on Gandhi Jayanti.

The principal of the school thanked the chief guest and the judges. She spoke about Gandhiji's ideology and threw light on his principles and way of life that had captivated the world.

Bathinda October 2
A special training programme was organised to impart training to election registration officials and assistant election registration officials and make them aware of the technical aspects to prepare voters’ lists and make arrangements at the Mini-secretariat.

During the programme, Chief Electoral Officer Gurkirat Kirpal Singh provided detailed information on making voters, the arrangements, related forms, citizen service portal and other important things.

Bathinda DC KK Yadav and ADC Dr Abhinav Trikha were also present in the meeting. SDM Mohali Amit Talwar gave detailed information on a projector.