Bathinda, October 4
The number of dengue cases is rising in the city but arrangements at the Civil Hospital to deal with the epidemic are inadequate. Though the administration has started awareness drives, the Civil Hospital here has done little for the sufferers.

There are 76 positive dengue cases registered at the Civil Hospital. For these patients, only one staff nurse, a pharmacist and three doctors have been put on duty.

On entering the medical ward of the emergency, the condition of the dengue patients does not go unnoticed. The patients, who can't even walk due to the high grade fever, have to look for the sole nurse and the pharmacist to get their glucose drip changed. Those who have no attendants have to go to the new building for the laboratory tests.

Geeta Rani, a widow, has been admitted to the hospital since October 1. His son Jatin is also suffering from the disease. They have nobody to attend to them. "I have to go all the way from the third floor to the new building for my blood tests. I have asked the staff for help, but nobody heard my requests. We both have to care for ourselves," said Geeta. The patients have to even look for their registration files in the ward due to the staff crunch.

"We have become helpless after being admitted to the hospital. I have been searching for the nurse as my daughter's glucose bottle has been empty for the last one hour," said Kaushalya Devi. Her daughter Lalita is also a dengue patient and has been admitted for the last two days.

It is worth mentioning that in dengue, the fluid requirement of the patients becomes very high. Due to the high fever, the patient suffers from vomiting and is unable to eat properly. Therefore, the outer support of fluid is necessary in cases of dengue and time to time fluid replacement is required for such patients.

As there is shortage of staff, timely medical support for the patients has also been halted.

"It has become very difficult to deal with such a large number of patients with so little staff. We cannot give proper attention to all the patients. We all remain on our toes for the whole day. Even the patients get frustrated and sometimes abuse us. Their problem is justified as they are in trouble. But what can we do as we are handicapped," said Varinder Kaur, the staff nurse.

When asked about the ill-equipped staff, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Satish Goyal said, "We are also facing a problem due to the shortage of staff. No special staff has been employed for the dengue patients. The regular employees are managing with this epidemic. The workload on the staff has also increased."

Blood Bank in-charge, Dr Inderdeep Singh Sra, said that with such an increase in the number of dengue patients, daily 60-70 units of blood are being used. From September 1 to 30, 700-800 units of blood have been used.

Bathinda, October 4
During the Mac Elisa test, conducted on blood samples of 63 suspected dengue patients at the Blood Bank situated on the premises of Civil Hospital here last evening, 30 patients were found to be suffering from the disease.

Of these 30 patients, 29 were from Bathinda city while one was from Bangi village in the Talwandi Sabo area. With these 30 new cases, the total number in the district has risen to 208 this season. With the addition of 29 new dengue positive cases, the total number of dengue patients from the city during this season (from July 15 onward) has risen to 172 so far, whereas with the detection of one more patient in the Talwandi Sabo area, the number of dengue positive cases there has risen to 23. Besides, six dengue positive cases have been reported so far from the Goniana block, three from Sangat block and two each from Nathana and Bhagta blocks.

These 29 new cases have been reported from various localities of the city including Guru Ki Nagri, Kamla Nehru Colony, Partap Nagar, Bank Bazar, Model Town, Nai Basti, Industrial Area, Dhobi Bazar, Paras Ram Nagar and Amarpura Basti. Besides, there are several other localities in the city from where dengue positive cases have been reported so far. These include the Ajit road, Prinda Gali, Arya Nagar, Saguana Basti and Qila Gate.

Of these 208 cases, 149 have been declared positive by the Blood Bank of the local Civil Hospital while 33 cases were reported by the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, 23 cases from the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, two cases from the Apollo Hospital, Ludhiana, and one case from the Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala.

An officer in the Health Department said but a majority of the dengue cases had recovered after treatment. So the total number of cases in the district was a bit misleading.

Bathinda, October 4
A special drive has been launched to enroll the students of schools and colleges, who will be of 18 years of age on January 1, 2012, as voters. This is being done to ensure the participation of youngsters in the 18 to 19 year age-group. These children have largely remained out of the ambit of the voting process till now.

The District Education Officer (Secondary) has issued orders to the principals of 30 senior secondary schools in the district directing them to ensure that the eligible and interested students are enrolled from October 4 to October 20.

As per the figures available with the State Election Commission, around 12 lakh youngsters are not enrolled as voters. A large number of these include youngsters in the 18 to 19 year age-group.

"The exercise has been initiated to empower the youngsters and equip them with the decision-making power. The entire exercise of voting is futile if the youngsters are not a part of it," said the District Election Officer KK Yadav. He added that when the age cohort was compared with the census cohort of the state, the ratio of voters in the 18 to 19 age-group was the minimum. "Not only the schools, the colleges also have been asked to start enrolling youth," he added.

The move, however, has drawn the ire of the teachers of government schools who are already saddled with numerous tasks like examination duty, as enumerators for the census as well as other non-academic work.

The teachers reasoned that students of Plus Two would be eligible for the process. Currently, the children are taking their first semester exam. While the exercise would be conducted till October 20, the children would be free only after October 28.

"After October 28, the students will have to appear for their practical exams and they would be free only after November 14. Moreover, many students are not appearing at their own school's examination centres, which makes it difficult for the teachers to track down the students and enroll them," the teachers added.

DEO (Secondary) HS Sandhu said a meeting of the principals has been convened tomorrow to discuss the issue.

Bathinda, October 4
Some of the bidders for the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns in Bathinda today alleged that wrong methods were adopted in opening the tenders to hire the godowns on rent for a period of ten years in Goniana Mandi.

The FCI has invited tenders to lease out godowns for ten years to store food grain across Punjab.

In a written complaint to the FCI's executive director, North Zone, Noida, three bidders present during the bidding process, alleged that the officials of the tendering committee opened a tender that was not eligible despite their protests.

As per the guidelines and norms fixed by the Central Government, preference should be given to those godowns which are within a radius of eight kilometers of the railhead. This is done to reduce the transportation cost, cut down hassles and reduce the time taken to transport food grain between the grain market, godown and the railhead.

The complainants, however, said that a bidder whose land is situated more than eight km away, got his tender opened in the presence of all the other bidders.

The three bidders, Malwa Godowns, Kissan Godowns and Jai Manav Godowns, alleged that an incorrect method was adopted by the officials to open the tenders and it will lead to losses worth over Rs 5 crores in ten years.

One of the bidders, JS Brar Rangi said a bidder whose land is situated more than 8 kms away from the railway shed, is not considered eligible. This happens when three or more bidders within an 8-km radius have also applied for the same and fulfill the other prescribed parameters as well.

As per the guidelines issued by the FCI to Pungrain (nodal agency), the instruction is not to consider the price bid of those whose location is beyond 8 kms from the railhead.

Tenders invited by the Pungrain on behalf of the FCI were opened by the tender opening committee on August 26 in the presence of all the bidders.

Out of the 12 parties, eight parties, whose tenders were opened, were found to be eligible. However, out of these eight, one bidder was not eligible as his godown was located more than 8 kms away from the railhead, Rangi said.

He said that the bidders protested against the opening of this faulty tender. "But the complaints fell on deaf ears," he alleged.

Pointing towards clause 23, 24 and 25 on page 10 of the instructions, Rangi said that tenders for the sites within the prescribed limits are eligible for getting the price bid opened.

Terming it as blatant misuse of power to allocate contract to a bidder who is not eligible, Rangi said if the contract is given to a person whose godown is far away, then it will lead to losses for the FCI worth Rs 5 crores in ten years.

He said tenders that are not eligible should not be considered because of the wrong process adopted.

Dr Bhupinder Singh, Joint Director, Food and Civil Supplies, Chandigarh, claimed that the officials are strictly following the process as per the guidelines issued by FCI and ministry officials in Delhi.

He said tenders are invited under the Public Entrepreneur Godown (PEG) Scheme and the Pungrain is the nodal agency for it.

Singh added that so far, no complaint from Goniana Mandi or Bathinda has been received in this regard and strict action would be initiated whenever any complaint is received.

Bathinda, October 4
Power supply will remain disrupted for four hours between 9 am to 1 pm in different localities of Bathinda for the next three days.

This was stated in a press release issued by SDO Raj Singh and XEN Hardeep Singh Sidhu of the Powercom.

Power supply will be disconnected owing to the repair work of power cables.

The areas where power supply will remain disconnected for four hours on October 5 are Model Town phase-II, Ganesh Basti, Basant Vihar, Agarwal Colony, Bhatti road, Mansa road, Mati Das Nagar, Joga Nagar, Nachhattar Nagar and Sirki Bazaar.

On October 6, power cut will be imposed in areas like Baba Farid Nagar, Patel Nagar, Bhagat Nagar, Mehna Chowk, Power House Road, old bus stand and Hari Nagar.

On October 7, localities like Malout road, Muktsar road, Sivian road, IGC growth centre, Civil Station, Civil Lines, Jail and the Civil Hospital will be affected by the power cut scheduled by the Powercom.

Bathinda, October 4
Two employees of the Punjab Land Records Society (PLRS) Gurtej Singh and Harpreet Kaur, observing fast-unto-death since September 30 outside the Mini-secretariat here in support of their demand regarding regularisation of their services, fainted today.

However, when even after informing the administration about the fainted protesters, the ambulance did not reach there to take them to the hospital for more than an-hour-and-a-half; the protesters blocked the road near the Mini-secretariat for some time. They lifted the blockade on the arrival of the ambulance van.

It may be mentioned that under the banner of ‘Computerised Land Records Employees Welfare Association’, Punjab, as many as 13 employees of the PLRS, working in various Fard Kendras of the state, have been observing fast-unto-death here.

The fast will continue until their demand is fulfilled. A large number of employees have also been staging indefinite dharna here since September 26.

Meanwhile, a deputation of the Association led by the state president Harpreet Singh today met the Muktsar DC Arshdeep Singh Thind at Muktsar seeking a meeting with the CM Parkash Singh Badal.

Harpreet said their talks with the Muktsar DC remained inconclusive as the DC only gave them an assurance that after some days when the CM comes to Muktsar area, he would arrange their meeting with the CM. Following assurance they returned from Muktsar, he added.

Arshdeep Singh Thind said the Association leaders had come to him as an appointment was fixed the previous day.

He said he had tried his best to contact the officials concerned to arrange a meeting of Association leaders with the CM but could not succeed.

Harpreet also the protesters on their own informed the Health staff for sending ambulance van to take the two fainted protesters to the hospital.

He said though they blocked the road for 20 minutes but lifted the blockade immediately on the arrival of ambulance van.

He said both the fainted protesters had been examined at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda and administered treatment there.

He said both of them are now stable and returned to the venue of the agitation.

Bathinda, October 4
The occasion of ‘Kanjakan Pujan’ (tradition of serving small girls on the last day of Navratras) today witnessed people hunting for the young girls.

While a few experienced devotees performed the ritual of ‘Kanjakan Pujan’ a day before to make the affair hassle free as it is tough to arrange girls on the main day due to their hectic schedule, who remain most sought after.

“Every year, I face problem of getting nine female babies for ‘Kanjakan Pujan’. So I went around in the neighborhood and invited the children to my place in advance on Monday in the evening,” said Hema Arora, a resident of Amarpura Basti area.

On the occasion of ‘Kanjakan Pujan’, girls less than 13 years of age are worshipped. With the dwindling sex ratio of the city, it has become difficult to find the sufficient number of girls. Consequently, many children end up visiting multiple houses.

However, the day proves to be a boon for the children of underprivileged section of the society whom people want to feed while in ordinary days these children hardly get anything nutritious to eat.

“The problem is not as simple as it seems to be. It is a multi-dimensional. Today, it is ‘Kanjaka’ that we are not getting. Later, there may be inadequate number of daughters and daughters-in-laws. We are heading towards a serious crisis,” said social worker Raj Gupta.

“It is an irony that while people consider it a sin to kill even a cat or cow, killing unborn daughters does not bat an eyelid,” rued Inderjit Kaur, a resident of Jujhar Singh Nagar.

Bathinda, October 4
Businessmen and shopkeepers don roles of Rama, Laxmana, Sita and Hanumana in the Ramlila stage by the Shri Ram Charitra Kala Kendra. Being run for the past 19 years, the group consists of 60 artists, all male, who enact different roles at the Ramlila being held in the SSD Sabha School.

“While playing roles of the divine, we maintain complete purity of mind and body for all the time we are enacting roles,” said Harish Batra, who has been playing the role of lord Rama. Harish is a businessman. The group starts practicing a month before Ramlila takes off and during the nine days, they practice for the act during the day time. Director of the Ramlila Babu Ram Anand, who has been directing and narrating the acts, said over the years depiction of Ramlila has changed but devotion of the artists remains intact. “With better lighting facilities and sound effects, the work has become a bit easier. Earlier, to impart a special effect we had to put in hours of ideating, now the things have changed. The youngsters associated with us manage the technology giving artists ample time to refine their act,” he said.

“Instead of seeking funds from various quarters, all the 11 committee member of the Shri Ram Charitra Kala Kendra contribute money to arrange sufficient funds for preparing dresses, props and other paraphernalia required for the Ramlila,” said Vinod Singla, who plays the role of Laxmana and runs a shop of selling laptops.

Over the years, most of the artists have started remembering their dialogues by heart. Rajinder Jindal, who portrays the strong Hanuman, added that unlike other Ramlilas, there is no one standing at the back of the stage to make them remember the dialogues.

Bathinda, October 4
Expensive fireworks and the lord Rama-Ravana's battle in the air would steal show at the Dussehra celebrations in Pratap Nagar.

To give different look, the Rama-Ravana battle would be fought in a similar way as is shown on the television. Chariots have been prepared for both the protagonists. During the battle scene, chariots would run around. Rama and Ravana would even have an air fight sequence wherein both of them would be lifted on cranes 51-feet above the ground level and enact the fight scene.

Organiser Vijay Verma said four effigies have been prepared including that of Ravana, Kumbhkarana, Meghnada and Tadka (the paternal aunt of Ravana).

The 51-feet long effigies have been prepared at a cost of Rs 80,000 and crackers worth Rs one lakh have been stuffed into them. When set on the fire, the effigies of Ravana and Tadka would start rotating and exhale 15-feet long fire flame from its mouth adding a dramatic effect to the celebrations.

The workers from the Tohana area of Haryana have been roped in to prepare the effigies. They have prepared the effigies in a span of 30 days at Rs one lakh including the cost of crackers.

Bathinda, October 4
Children of Different Convent School today took out an awareness rally against female feticide and other social evils on the occasion of ‘Durgashtmi.’

School principal Dr Lakshmideep Goyal said the students of her school also raised slogans ‘Save the girl child’ and appealed to the people to love the girl child and shun the practice of female feticide considering yje present situation.

The awareness rally was taken through the Hospital Market, Dhobi Market, Arya Samaj Chowk, Bank Bazar, Sirki Bazar and Sadbhawna Chowk, Post Office Market and culminated near the Municipal Corporation office.