Bathinda, October 27
Diwali remained a low-key affair in the city this time as compared to the previous year as not many people were seen bursting fire- crackers and distributing sweets. The sale of fire-crackers was also less in the city this time. The sellers said the variety of crackers was quite less due to the shortage of labourers and the high prices.

A visit to the different localities in the city including Ajit road, Model Town phase-I, phase-II, phase-III, Bhagu road, Civil Lines and the bus stand revealed that not many people burst crackers on Diwali night.

"While the people opted to burst crackers as early as 6.30 pm last time, this year, they burst crackers between 9 pm to 10 pm as the sound and pollution of crackers was the worst during this period," said Rippy, the owner of a departmental store on the Bibiwala road.

Different people cited different reasons for not bursting fire-crackers and distributing sweets on this Diwali.

Most of them termed dengue fever as the main reason behind the lukewarm response to the crackers and sweets.

"Apart from the steep rise in the price of fire-crackers, sweets and other items, many people were suffering from dengue fever in the city," said Jugnu, the owner of a car driving school near the bus stand area.

"Every third person in our street is suffering from dengue and those who are not affected do not wish to disturb others," said Jugnu.

He pointed out that his eight-year-old son had bought crackers for a mere Rs 300 this time as compared to the previous years when he spent Rs 2500 on crackers and sweets.

Jugnu's wife said that instead of distributing sweets, people are delivering packets of kiwi, apple and other fruits to wish a happy Diwali to families residing in their localities.

People are also more aware of the serious repercussions of pollution emanating from the fire-crackers this time, said Poppy Singh, a resident of Model Town area.

Tejinder Kaur of Model Town, Phase-III, said only one or two families in her locality had burst crackers for over two hours while the others had spent only 15 minutes to half an hour to burst fire-crackers.

• With many people suffering from dengue fever in the city, not many opted to burst fire-crackers this Diwali.

• Apart from distributing sweets to wish a happy Diwali, many people also opted to give kiwi fruit, apple etc to the families affected by dengue.

• While people used to start bursting crackers when it got dark at around 7 pm, this time, most people burst crackers between 9 pm to 10 pm.

• Steep rise in the cost of crackers, dengue, people's awareness about pollution and lack of variety in crackers lead to a decline in the use of crackers this Diwali.

Bathinda, October 27
The Education Department has issued notices to the government schools in the district for not providing data to the department under the Saksharta Mission 2020, a Government of India initiative to educate the elderly. Schools from 34 clusters of the district have been issued the notice directing them to submit a complete record about the programme.

Government-run senior secondary, high and middle schools from the clusters of Rampura Mandi, Mandi Kalan, Balianwali, Chauke, Bhucho Mandi, Chak Fateh Singh Wala, Bhagta, Jalal, Maluka, Bhai Rupa, Parasram Nagar, Bhokhra, Deon, Gobindpura, Nathana (Boys), Kalyan Sukha, Goniana (Boys), Goniana (Girls), Mehma Sarja, Kotshamir, Rai Ke Kalan, Kuti, Sangat, Maisarkhana, Talwandi Sabo, Shekhpura, Bhagibandar, Rajgarh Kubbe, Pucca Kalan, Bangi Kalan, Bathinda (Girls), Lehra Mohabbat, Mehraj and Kotbhara, have been issued the notices.

Bathinda is among the seven districts of the state, with a female literacy rate of less than 50 per cent, which has been selected under the Government of India's adult literacy project.

Other districts include Faridkot, Mansa, Sangrur, Barnala, Ferozepur and Muktsar.

"The government schools of the respective areas have been saddled with the responsibility of compiling information about these people and sending it to the Education Department. The department further sends the information to the office of the ADC (Development) Dr Abhinav Trikha," said the officials of one of the government schools in the city.

The schools have been directed to provide complete forms mentioning the gram panchayat profile, household survey schedule (compiled proforma) and the household survey schedule itself.

A household survey was conducted to collect the database about the illiterate. The district administration then directed the government senior secondary schools to conduct a survey in their respective pockets and submit the survey report.

The head of the respective clusters have been held responsible for completing the formalities. District Education Officer (Secondary) HS Sandhu said that while many schools have completed the formalities, only a handful is left.

In the initial stage of the project, those illiterate people have been selected who do not even identify the alphabets of the Punjabi language.

As many as 19,400 people in the district have enrolled themselves for the project in the initial phase, which is the highest in Punjab.

Also, the government has appointed motivators and volunteer teachers. For a group of every 8 to 10 people, a volunteer teacher has been appointed.

The government has fixed Rs 2000 per month payment for the motivators.

As many as 11811, of the total registered 19400, did not appear for the examination. Only 7589 people took the exam that was based on syllabus till class V in the month of October. The next exam is scheduled for March 31.

A survey of the illiterate villagers has evoked different kinds of responses.

Announcements for the same were made through public announcement systems installed in village gurdwaras.

The motivators found it difficult to motivate the illiterates, especially the elders, to study. A variety of reasons have been assigned for this ranging from loss of livelihood fears, language and other cultural factors, overcoming which would be a big challenge for the motivators for the programme.

Bathinda, October 27
Various NGOs in the city, working for the welfare of the road accident victims, have taken a lead in helping mishap victims leaving the Bathinda police far behind.

While the police do the paper work, the volunteers of the NGOs have been extending a helping hand in shifting the victims to the hospitals and also helping them receive treatment. TNS spoke to volunteers of a section of the NGOs who have been helping the accident victims round-the-clock.

Vijay Goyal, president of one of the oldest NGOs in the city, Sahara Jan Seva, said his NGO has been working for almost 20 years and has 50 volunteers.

"We have been helping the road accident victims in shifting them to the nearby hospitals round-the- clock," Goyal said. He added that neither there is any help from the state government or the district administration nor would they seek help from them.

Goyal has ten ambulances which patrol the highways and city roads in search of accident victims.

"A former deputy commissioner had donated an ambulance around six years ago to the NGO but we never seek help from the government," added Goyal.

Sonu Maheshwary of the Naujawan Welfare Society said it is always the volunteers who reach the site of an accident first.

"Even if the police officials reach the spot, they only complete the formalities and leave after the paper work," he said.

Though there are more than 3000 registered NGOs working for various social causes in Bathinda, there are five or six NGOs who help the accident victims.

A volunteer of the Shri Hanuman Sewa Samiti, Sangat Sahara Kenchiyan said now, people have become so familiar with these NGOs that they first call them up instead of the police.

The volunteers said that despite the recent introduction of ambulances by the state government, their NGOs are still getting a good response from the public who call them up first to help the accident victims.

Pali Mashana of Sangat Sahara said they are five people helping the road accident victims for the last three years with just one ambulance. "We look after the Dabwali road and immediately rush to the accident spot to shift the injured to the nearby hospital," he said.

When asked about the role of the police during an accident, he said, "Some policemen reached the accident spot day before yesterday and told us to take the injured to the hospital. The cops were to follow us. Though we reached the hospital but the cops did not turn up."

On an average, five to six accients are reported in the city daily and volunteers of these NGOs come forward to help them out.

While the Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated calls, DIG Paramjit Singh Grewal said though the efforts initiated by the NGOs is commendable, the police patrolling vehicles are also doing a good job.

"We have three police patrolling vehicles that keep patrolling the Mansa-Bathinda and Bathinda-Barnala highways and help the accident victims round-the- clock," the DIG said.

Bathinda, October 27
Punjab Police has many government witnesses but the Faridkot police's favourite is Sukhdan Singh of Jaito. Sukhdan is a witness in 11 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) at the Jaito police station in the last seven years.

Anyone cultivating, producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting and consuming narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances illegally is liable to be punished under the NDPS Act.

Harish Chander and Satish Kumar have obtained information under the Right to Information Act in this regard. They said the police always seek Sukhdan's help as a witness after the arrest of the culprits under the NDPS Act.

Admitting that they seek the help of Sukhdan, officials at the Jaito police station said they have no way out but to call Sukhdan to become a witness in the court as nobody else becomes a witness for them.

Sukhdan said it is a coincidence that he became a witness in most cases registered under the NDPS Act. "I used to roam around on the city roads and witness the arrest and recovery of illegal drugs by the police. It is a coincidence," he said.

Sukhdan became witness in four NDPS cases registered in 2005 at the Jaito police station, one each in 2006, 2007 and 2009, three cases in 2010 and one on May 31 this year.

"It is not just the NDPS cases. We have to ask our sources to become a witness in many other cases as well. This is just a formality as physically, a witness is usually not present at the place of the incident", said a police official at the Jaito police station, pleading anonymity.

Even if a heinous crime takes place in front of the people, nobody comes forward to become a witness in the court and then people like Sukhdan have to be involved, the cops said.

People like Sukhdan get nothing in lieu of becoming a witness but the patronage of the police. Sukhdan's son was booked under sections 363 and 366 of the IPC in 2001 after which he came in contact with the police. The police always try to shield their witness and this is the advantage of being a police witness, said Harish and Satish.

Jaito police station in-charge Gurpreet Singh said it could be a coincidence that Sukhdan is a witness in so many cases under the NDPS Act.

Bathinda, October 27
Fire incidents were reported at seven places in the city on Diwali night. A timber store on the Amrik Singh road caught fire at around 4 am leading to losses worth lakhs. The building wherein wood was stored in the timber store too got damaged to a great extent.

Around 10 pm, a fire incident was reported at the office of the Power Department on the Power House Road. A fire cracker probably fell on the five old transformers housed in the area of power office. Around six fire tenders were pressed into service and flames were doused with much efforts.

The Power officials said the old transformers have some oil left in them. “The oil started leaking from the old transformers and it was the oil that probably caught the fire,” the officials added.

Fire also broke out in the State Bank of India in Chandsar Basti, a shop in the Mata Rani Wali Gali and another fire broke out at Annapurna Mandir in Nai Basti. A car on the Ajit road caught fire. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot that doused flames. No serious injuries were reported to anyone in the fire incidents.

Bathinda, October 27
The emergency wing of the Civil Hospital here witnessed decrease in the number of patients with burn injuries on this Diwali night.

Dr Manish Goyal, surgeon, who was at the emergency duty, said five youth between the age group of 15 to 30 years had visited the emergency wing with burns on their hands.

“None of them was admitted as they sustined minor injuries. Injections, anti-biotics, pain killers and other tablets were administered to the patients, the surgeon addeed.

He also said he had to apply stitches on the wounds of a person.

However, he expressed satisfaction over non-occurrence of major burn injuries due to fire crackers to any person.