Bathinda, November 14
After promoting the rural game of kabaddi, Bathinda is all set to get an astroturf to boost the national game of hockey as well.

The laying of the turf and construction of the stadium is in full swing at the Government Rajindra College where the playground is being converted into a hockey stadium. Costing Rs 12 crore, the project is likely to be completed before January 2012.

Hockey coach Sukhdev Singh Bhullar, deployed to train the players by the District Sports Department, said the hockey turf is the first to come up in the area.

He pointed out that earlier, hockey players of area had been playing on rough patches, which did not help them in competing with the national level players. "There is a great difference between practicing on astroturf and a normal ground with or without grass. More energy and stamina is required for the astroturf as compared to the rough ground," said Bhullar. He said special shoes and hockey sticks are required to play on the astroturf.

Executive Engineer (XEN) in the Sports Department KK Mittal said that money to the tune of nearly Rs 4.5 crores would be spent on the turf. Machines would be installed to sprinkle water on the turf for which a 65 HP (horsepower) electric motor will be installed.

Apart from the turf, Rs 6.5 crores are being spent to install chairs and construct a dressing room for the players, toilets and an office. The hockey players said that the turf would surely encourage the players from Bathinda and surrounding areas who could now practice and compete with the other players.

"Since the state or the national-level competitions are always held on astroturf, we usually fail to perform due to regular practice on uneven grounds," said Malkiat Singh, a local hockey player.

The players demanded that stairs be constructed around the turf as dust may harm it. "The stairs will help in increasing the seating capacity of the stadium also and will not allow dust to enter the turf," they reasoned.

Bathinda, November 14
Diabetes management during the pregnancy needs better care. Not only pregnant women, even the obstetricians and physicians are not aware of the way diabetes should be handled at such time, revealed a study conducted recently.

Dr Vitull K. Gupta, Assistant Professor, AIMSR and consultant, Kishori Ram Hospital and Diabetes Care Centre, who conducted the study, said it was done to study the knowledge, attitude and current practices of detection and management of gestational diabetes mellitus (diabetes during pregnancy) by the physicians and obstetricians in Punjab.

Dr Vitull would present a paper on this study at the 67th annual conference of the Association of Physicians of India at Kolkata on January 13 next year. The study included 78 physicians and 56 obstetricians from all over the state.

Diabetes, during pregnancy, is a common medical complication increasing perinatal morbidity. It also has adverse long-term outcome for mothers and their children, posing a significant risk of developing diabetes later in life.

Despite well established Indian guidelines for detection and management of diabetes during the pregnancy, prevention, detection and management during the pregnancy presents many challenges, especially in the Indian set-up.

"We found that the primary care physicians and obstetricians followed only a few of the guidelines for the management of diabetes during pregnancy. Sadly enough, most of them ignored the standard criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes during pregnancy, neglecting oral glucose tolerance tests for detection, lacking in education and motivation aspects with negligible stress on prevention, practicing sub-optimal monitoring standards, achieving only moderate glycemic control and failing to guide the patients properly on the follow-up regimens and tests," said Dr Vitull.

He added that many expectant mothers initially visit the primary care physician or obstetrician for diagnosis, who are the most important link in early diagnosis and for guiding the patient properly. But the results of the study show that these health workers sub-optimally handle diabetes during pregnancy related issues and were found to be unaware of the latest trends leading to the mismanagement of diabetes during pregnancy.

Dr Vitull suggested larger studies to explore the status of knowledge, attitudes and current practices adopted by the primary care doctors.

He also laid emphasis on educational strategies that need to be put in place to educate the primary care doctors that will impact their knowledge, improve management strategies and equip them for handling diabetes during pregnancy issues optimally.

Bathinda, November 14
The vegetable market at the rear of the Government Rajindra College is in shambles and requires modern infrastructure to preserve fruits and vegetables. Besides posing problems for the sellers, poor infrastructure has put the buyers too at the receiving end.

Though officials of the market committee said they have made adequate arrangements for toilets, a visit reveals that the stench there is unbearable as people urinate in the open.

"Apart from the traffic chaos and the stench, pollution and dust too create problems at the market where fruits and vegetables are being sold for many years," said Prem Kumar, a resident of Model Town phase-1.

Earlier, the road passing through the market was full of potholes but was recently re-laid. The newly laid road too has brought little respite for the buyers or sellers at the market.

The sorry state of affairs has resulted in the loss of precious quantity of fruits and vegetables. "A strong stench welcomes the visitors who are forced to make their purchase amidst chaos and ear piercing horns and unbearable noise," said Tarlok Singh, a resident of Bhagu road. The situation worsens during the rainy season when the market gets flooded with slush.

"The market lacks drinking water, toilets, sewerage, lights, proper drainage and cold storage facilities," said a shopkeeper Baljeet Singh.

He said the shopkeepers occupy one portion of the market, taken on rent from the private persons while the others are paying rent to the market committee.

Bathinda, November 14
While the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) pays Rs 6 crores as annual maintenance fee for the de-silting sewer lines to the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), it has hired private companies for the same job at around Rs 2 crore, drawing the ire of the municipal councillors.

Objecting to the BMC move, councilor Jagroop Singh Gill said the decision was taken at the level of the Mayor. "Following the rules, the BMC should have convened a House meet, debated on the issue and then allocated funds meant to be given to private firms for cleaning the sewerage in the Mall Road and Thandi Sarak areas," he said.

Gill added that neither the sewerage board got any complaint regarding the blockage of the sewer lines in these two areas nor did the corporation get any such complaint. "How come the BMC suddenly "discovered" this problem without anyone ever complaining? If anyone had complained, the House should have been informed about it," he said.

The Mayor allotted Rs 98.99 lakhs for cleaning the sewers in these two areas using the anticipation orders. MC Krishan Kumar Garg too objected saying that handing over the work to a private firm proves that either the sewerage board is not functioning properly or the BMC officials have vested interests in giving away a huge amount to a private company.

"This is for the first time when in a corporation area, private contractors as well as the sewerage board is doing the work. Despite two agencies working on the same task, there is no respite for the people," he added.

The councillors demanded that the matter be thoroughly probed. They demanded that the responsibility of the authorities should be fixed for proving to be a failure in solving the problem relating to the main sewer line.

Earlier, private companies were entrusted with the cleaning of sewage in Ganesha Basti and Dr Mela Ram Road. Now, they have been asked to de-clog 36x24 inches sewer pipeline on Thandi Sarak across the railway line at Rs 49.49 lakhs and de-silting of the 30 inches diameter sewer line on Mall Road and other areas at Rs 49.50 lakhs.

Bathinda November 14
It is a trend that can put even the Munnis and Shielas of the film world to shame. And this competition is being posed by the heady world of the country-made or desi liquor brands that have names such as Raano, Heer, Paaro, Jugni and Khushboo.

However, for the womenfolk themselves, this is quite embarrassing as in a country where the woman is deified, the country-made liquor brands have been named after the females.

The traders may call it their USP or a mere co-incidence, but in a patriarchal society, it appears as if the degenerative transformation of such venerable figures into commodities has been taking place.

Expressing her views about the exploitation of women for the marketing of alcohol brands, the district leader of an organization, 'Aurat Mukti Morcha, Punjab', Mukhtiar Kaur said, "It seems as if society has become cultureless. The morals and values have been left somewhere. It is shameless that some of the traders use the females to this extent to make their ends meet."

"While buying these liquor brands, some of the males feel proud as if they have bought the female instead. These ads, which show the stereotype image of the women, increase the arrogance of the males. Hence, sexual abuse or the crime against female also increases in society," she added.

In the nineties, when the economy was being liberalized, the demand for advertisements was also created. Those years witnessed the rise of media channels and an increase in the production of advertisements by the business houses.

Sharing the experiences of those years, the president of the Lok Morcha, Punjab, Pushplata said, "From the 90s till 2000, the women became the source of entertainment and the trend of using them to sell the products began. Also, they are being used in work related to public dealing where customers could be attracted."

"Now the situation has been reversed. Due to unemployment, the females are forced to do such jobs where they can be easily harassed. Other reasons are the lack of awareness regarding their indirect exploitation and the charm of the glamour world, which attracts the young girls towards these businesses," she added.

"Being a girl, I find it abusive when boys shout the names of these liquor brands in front of the girls whose names resemble these brand names. I feel they should be banned and the traders should never be given approval for using such provocative labels," said Raman Mann, a student.

The Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Pawan Garg, said, "Undoubtedly, it shows indecency towards the women. All the labels are approved by the head office of the department. However, I will take up the matter with our higher authorities."

Bathinda, November 14
In protest against the non-issuance of notification regarding their already accepted demands by the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on October 31 last, on the call of the Medical Laboratory Technicians Association (Punjab), the laboratory technicians of this district today began a 24-hour-long strike and also staged a dharna on the premises of the civil hospital, here.

As per the decision of the association, the protesters did not perform even the emergency services to compel the government to accept their demand, issuance of notification. However, civil surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh made arrangements to continue the emergency services in the laboratories, biochemistry laboratory and haematology laboratory and the blood bank in the local civil hospital.

Senior Medical officer, civil hospital, Dr Satish Goyal said, “The civil surgeon had arranged 10 private laboratory technicians on a request basis from the private doctors for running the laboratories and the blood bank.”

He added that six laboratory technicians had been deputed in the blood bank and two each in the biochemistry laboratory and the haematology laboratory.

On the other hand, the association leaders objected the deployment of private laboratory technicians in the civil hospital laboratories and the blood bank, stating that who would be responsible in case anything untoward happened to any patient due to the tests, done by them.

The private laboratory technicians worked in both laboratories, situated in the OPD block, during the working hours.

However, the technicians, who were working in the blood bank, left it around 3.15 pm.

On being contacted, civil surgeon Dr Iqbal Singh said he had made all efforts to run the blood bank and the laboratories, but as even the private laboratory technicians had left the blood bank at about 3.30 pm, he had again arranged a new laboratory technician so that the blood bank functioning could not affect in any way.

On the other hand, district general secretary of the association, Resham Singh Jalal said, “All the 33 regular laboratory technicians and 15 contract-based laboratory technicians had been observing 24-hour-long strike throughout the district.”

He claimed that the emergency services in the hospitals and the community health centres (CHCs) in the district were adversely affected.

The demands of the protesters included risk allowance, free accommodation, regularisation of the services of contractual laboratory technicians and re-designation of the post of senior medical laboratory technician as laboratory officer. 

Bathinda, November 14
Three people received injuries in separate accidents in the city during the past 24 hours. In a car collision, two residents of Bathinda received injuries. The injured have been identified as Karamjit Singh and Malwinder Singh.

Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa who rushed the injured to local civil hospital said the injured were occupants of one of the two cars that collided head on at Liberty Chowk. The accident took place at around 10.30 pm. In another accident, Ravi Kumar, a resident of the city fell off from his scooter and was rushed to local civil hospital by volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa. 

Bathinda November 14
The markets in the city are facing an acute scarcity of currency coins. Because of the shortage, traders are finding it difficult to return the amount to the customers due to the paucity of small change.

Normally, the traders offer candies in lieu of small change which is often not acceptable to the customers. Even the banks lament the shortage of coins when approached by the traders.

The currency coins and notes are supplied in the currency chests of some branches by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

These are basically the storehouses, where from time to time, the RBI sends coins and notes for distribution to the other branches. In Bathinda, the currency chests are with the four main nationalised banks. They are the Oriental Bank of Commerce, the State Bank of India, the Punjab National Bank and the State Bank of Patiala.

The manager of the Punjab National Bank, bank street branch, Sabh Singh said, “There is no single coin of any denomination here in the bank. The RBI is more focused on supplying coins to the bigger cities like Ludhiana and Chandigarh. We have no answer for the shopkeepers as we can't even demand the coins from the RBI. The supply is not done on the basis of demand as they have their own system for the distribution of the currency chests.”

He said they got two bags of coins two months back. However, they were consumed within a month and the bank now has nothing for the customers.

Generally, the coins of the denomination one, two, five and ten rupees are provided by the RBI. The shortage of coins of Re one and Rs two denomination is there. But the businessmen say that the shortage of five rupee coin is bigger and it cannot be fulfilled even by the banks.

Sukhpal Singh, owner of the National Bakers, said, “The five rupee coin is more in demand by the customers and there is always a dearth of it. We have approached the banks and requested for the coins. However, when the coins are available with the banks, they prefer to provide these to their near and dear ones.”

The owner of the food joint Amantran, Bobby, also spoke about the problem arising from the paucity of the coins. “The customers demand five and ten rupee coins from us. However, we can't provide them due to their non-availability,” he said.

Somehow, the shopkeepers are managing with the shortage and they purchase the coins from each other, where the stock is available. In the market, eighty coins of Rs five denomination can be purchased for hundred rupees. The coins of Re 1 and Rs 2 are also less available in the market.

The manager, accounts, of the State Bank of India, MR Jindal, also admitted to the shortage. “We have received the consignment from the RBI last week which has not been opened yet. However, there is much shortage of coins and we are hopeful that it would be resolved soon,” he said.

On the other hand, the Chief Manager of the State Bank of Patiala, Narinder Kumar Goyal, is of a different opinion.

“No doubt, there is a shortage of coins in the market. However, it is created by the people themselves as while leaving their home in the morning, nobody wants to carry the coins in their pockets. Most people keep the coins ether in the piggy banks of their children or inside the drawers of their tables. If the currency coins remain stuck in homes, how is the problem going to be resolved?”

He added that in three years of his posting at the currency chest branch, coins worth more than Rs three crores have been supplied by the RBI to their branch. 

Bathinda, November 14
The District Red Cross Society (DRCS) has accepted the resignation of pharmacist Preeti Goyal, a qualified person, posted at the Red Cross Medical Store, situated at the Civil Hospital here, to pave way for the appointment of a new qualified person after the submission of resignation by her on November 8.

Talking to the TNS over the phone, secretary, DRCS, JR Goyal said, "Even before the receipt of a notice from the district drug inspector today for appointing the qualified person at the Red Cross Medical Store, the DRCS had already completed all the formalities to appoint the new qualified person."

He said after receiving the notice from the drug inspector, they had informed his office that the DRCS had appointed Jaswinder Singh, a pharmacist, as the new qualified person at the Red Cross Medical Store, here. He said Jaswinder Singh today joined at the medical store.

When his attention was drawn about the notice, issued today by the District Drug inspector to the Red Cross Medical Store's proprietor (DRCS) regarding the closure of the shop, Goyal said, "Every medical store gets 30 days for appointing new qualified person, however, they had appointed the new qualified person at the earliest."

Besides Preeti Goyal, another pharmacist Parlahad Parshad, had also been working at the Red Cross Medical Store for the last two years, he added.

He said, "Preeti Goyal should have given 30-day notice to the DRCS in connection with leaving her post, adding that despite this, the DRCS had accepted her resignation in a week."

Besides Preeti, two other employees (an accountant and a salesman) of the Red Cross Medical Store had also resigned on November 8. All of them had reportedly resigned from their posts in protest against not giving them incentive on the sale of the medical store by the DRCS since February 2011. Before resigning from their posts, they had submitted a notice to the Red Cross authorities in this regard through their counsel in the last week of September.

Bathinda, November 11
On the occasion of the Children’s Day, the Radiant Kids Playway School celebrated the day by holding a fancy dress competition, in which, about a total of 125 children participated.

Clad in colorful costumes, the tiny tots presented different themes such as clean environment, eradication of social evils, historical legends. Principal R Lawrence spoke on the occasion.

On behalf of Dr Sukhdev Singh Grover (USA), his nephew Harvinder Singh Grover ‘Tinku’ today handed over a cheque for Rs 2,500 dollars (Rs 1.25 lakh) for the welfare of students of the local Mahant Gurbanta Dass School for deaf and dumb to the Deputy Commissioner-cum-chairman of the school KK Yadav, here.

Dr Sukhdev Singh Grover belongs to the Mehma Sawai village (Goniana). The cheque was handed over on the occasion of the Children’s Day, today. Last year, on December 15, an amount of $ 2,500 was also given to the school by Dr Grover, which is being run by the District Red Cross Society.

Meanwhile, as per the instructions of the National Legal Services Authority, an awareness convention was organised in connection with the rights of the children at the courts complex, here. Assistant District Attorney RK Sharma presided over the programme.

The Punjab States Freeom Fighters Youth Forum paid tributes to Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru on his 122nd birthday. President, Forum, Ashok Seth said his father Seth Ram Nath, who was veteran freedom fighter and former minister of PEPSU, had saved the life of the great leader Pandit Nehru at the risk of his own life. 

Bathinda, November 14
An elderly man, in his seventies, was taken to the hospital in a critical condition by volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa.

The identity of the old man could not be ascertained. The volunteers of the NGO said that the man was lying neglected on platform number 7 of the Bathinda railway station.

One of his arms was broken and was looking helplessly at passengers. President of the NGO, Vijay Goel said that the old man was unable to speak and was wearing shabby clothes.

He was provided washed clothes and was taken to hospital where he is being treated. It seems that somebody left him stranded on the railway station.