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BMC in a soup as auditor refuses to clear bills
Candidates protest during police recruitment drive
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Varsity dress code raises eyebrows
Governor urged to order probe
More and more customers switching to BSNL
NREGA employees threaten to continue strike, want demands met
DAV College staff stage dharna
disease control
NGO lends helping hand to cancer patients
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BMC in a soup as auditor refuses to clear bills
Bathinda, November 16 Sources in the department said that a few months ago, a bill of Rs 43 lakhs was given for clearance. "The private firm had given the bill for carrying out the cleaning of the sewer in the city. The Corporation's auditor denied clearing the bill but he was put under a lot of political pressure. Finally, yielding to the pressure, the bill for Rs 43 lakh was cleared," the sources said. The company was verbally told not to start any new work in the city. Also, the auditor had then vehemently refused to extend any further "help" in clearing the bills. "Passing this bill set a bad precedent. This week again, the same private firm floated a bill for Rs 10 lakhs. The company had been carrying out another set of cleaning work at a cost of Rs 43 lakhs and this Rs 10 lakhs was a part of it," the sources added. Putting his foot down this time, the auditor refused to clear the bill. He raised objections stating that as the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) is already being paid Rs 50 lakhs per month for the maintenance of sewers in the city, private firms cannot be roped in for jobs of a similar nature. Sources said that the auditor might take up the issue with the local funds examiner of the local bodies. However, the auditor Hem Raj Mittal remained unavailable for comments. Meanwhile, the Commissioner, BMC, Uma Shankar Gupta said that the payment has not been stopped due to the objections. "The payment will be done only after the Mayor and the Senior Deputy Mayor are satisfied with the work. It is wrong to raise a hue and cry over such a petty issue. As the BMC Commissioner, I am responsible for the well-being of the city," he said. Gupta added that of the 142 kms of sewer lines laid in the city, only 3 kms has been cleaned by hiring the private firms. "This is specialized cleaning. Sirki Bazar, where a new sewer is being laid, had a problem area of 300 metres where the sewer has been blocked for a long time. The sewer board demanded Rs 50 lakhs for the job, whereas we got it done by the private firms, saving us a lot of money," he claimed. Gupta added that the problem of sewer blockage at the Amrik Singh road has been cleared resulting in respite from the sewer water and rain water accumulation.
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Candidates protest during police recruitment drive
Bathinda, November 16 The candidates blocking the road in front of the Police Lines were accompanied by their relatives who too raised slogans against the Punjab government for putting off today's interview to November 22. The candidates alleged that apart from delaying the interview, the authorities have also changed the norms to accommodate incompetent candidates. Bhola Singh Samaon from Morawal village in Ferozepur said that his daughter had been making rounds of the Police Lines for more 15 days and had undergone stringent physical tests. Now, a batch of incompetent candidates is being merged in their batch which is unfair, he said. "We arrived early in the morning and since then, we are waiting for our turn for the interview. But later, the authorities made the announcement that now the interview will be held on November 22. They have also changed the standards of the physical tests for those who are now re-appearing," he said. He said that the yardstick adopted to recruit one batch of candidates has now been changed for another batch to accommodate the incompetent candidates. The students and the parents, demanding fair physical trials and interview, threatened to launch an agitation if the authorities do not do justice during the recruitment. The family members of the candidates, Jagdev Singh, Darshan Singh, Gurdeep Singh, and the candidates Daljeet Kaur and Gurvinder Kaur, said the police dealt with their dharna with an iron hand. "They rounded up a few girls who were released later and the girls were forced to lift the dharna after around four hours of blockade," said Bhola Singh Samaon, the father of a candidate. Inspector General of police (Bathinda zone) Nirmal Singh Dhillon, while refuting the allegations of the candidates and their parents, said that everything is being done as per the norms. "It is perhaps the miscommunication that has lead to the unrest among the candidates. Now, they have been informed," he said. Meanwhile, commuters on the Bathinda-Mansa road remained at the receiving end in view of the dharna by the candidates who blocked both the lanes of the road between the Police Lines and the Civil Hospital. Commuters in the city, already a harried lot because the road kepps getting blocked by the protesters, even on earlier occasions, today again bore the brunt as the protesters unleashed their wrath. Patients at the local Civil Hospital too were a harried lot as they failed to get through the dharna and the heavy deployment of the police force.
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Varsity dress code raises eyebrows
Bathinda, November 16 From this session onwards, the department has directed all its hundred students to come dressed in assigned uniforms every Wednesday. The female students come dressed in a cream suit paired with a maroon dupatta, while the male students wear white shirt, grey pants and a maroon turban (in case of Sikh students). The department was started as a college of education in 2001. Later in 2008, the Punjabi University, Patiala, took over the college under its wing turning it into its department.,Since 2008, many teachers have been transferred from Patiala to Bathinda and vice-versa as part of the departmental transfers. As per the rules, the department itself cannot take the decision of imposing a uniform dress code on the students as such decisions are taken at the university level. "This has set an example for the other departments too who would not hesitate from implementing such a code of conduct. If the university approves this decision, it means that in a way the varsity is patronising and encouraging the departments to take their own non-financial decision without taking the university officials in confidence," pointed an academician. The head of the department, Dr Surjit Singh, claimed that permission has been taken from the Punjabi University, Patiala. "The National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has directed us to ensure that the students wear uniform every Wednesday. All the B Ed colleges in the state have been directed to follow this," he claimed. Dr Surjit Singh reasoned that even the law department has been directing its students to don white shirts and black overcoats during the moot courts organized in the department. Meanwhile, the Dean, College Development Council, Punjabi University, Dr Manjit Singh said that he was not aware of any such directions given to the B Ed colleges under the university. He also added that it was wise to introduce uniforms in the B Ed classes as it would instill discipline among the teachers-in-making. Dr Manjit Singh, however, skirted around the issue of the department being empowered to take its own decisions.
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Bathinda 3rd city in Punjab to get NCC naval unit after Ropar & Amritsar
Bathinda, November 16 After Amritsar and Ropar, the unit is being set up at Bathinda where the school and college students will learn water sports. Three boats have been brought from Chandigarh today for the purpose and a building of the Red Cross, Bathinda, has also been taken on rent for the instructors. The office for the NCC staff has been set up in the premises of the Mahant Gurbanta Dass School for Deaf and Dumb on the Goniana road. The children will learn water sports including wind surfing, kayaking, pulling boat, sailing and many other recreational activities done in still water. Apart from the water sports, students may also undergo training for shooting and parade. There are seven instructors deputed from the Indian Navy who will supervise the training process. The officials of the NCC said that a three-day training camp for 80 children is being organised within the next few days wherein students from different schools and college are likely to participate. Around 1700 children may undergo training at different centres in the district including the thermal lakes. A senior functionary of the NCC, pleading anonymity, said that training may be imparted to the children at Malout and Ghudda as well. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is likely to inaugurate the NCC unit on November 26. Officials supervising the process on the Goniana road said that three boats have been released today in the lake and the others are likely to be released soon. They are being assembled at the Red Cross Building.
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Governor urged to order probe
Bathinda, November 16 Interacting with the reporters at the Teachers Home here today, Raj Kumar and Sanjay Kumar also urged the Governor, Punjab, to order a probe by an independent agency into the alleged ‘irregularities’ to bring the truth on record. “Both the former employees claimed that if the bills of the medicines, supplied to the store by the medicine firms, were checked, it would come to light that the schemes, offered by the firms on the medicines, had not been included in the bills. Besides, the medicines for the store were also being purchased from the firms, situated in other cities, though there were big wholesalers in the city,” they added. They also alleged that when they had not been given incentive on the sale of the medical store since February, this year, why an amount of Rs 1.60 lakh had been paid as incentive during several months to a regular employee of the DRCS. They alleged that the discrimination had also been done by the DRCS while paying incentive to the employees time to time. They alleged that a medicine, which was available in the wholesale market at a rate of Rs 45, had been purchased by the Red Cross Medical Store at a rate of over Rs 100. So, it should also be probed, they added. JR Goyal, secretary, DRCS, said, “No discrimination was done at the time of paying incentive to the employees. As far as the question relating to payment of Rs 1.60 lakh as incentive to a regular employee was concerned, it had been given to him for performing the additional duties as per the decision of the DRCS.” Regarding the purchase of a medicine at higher price (more than Rs 100 in place of Rs 45) and other such matters, the secretary replied, “Without checking the records, I cannot state anything.” |
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More and more customers switching to BSNL
Bathinda, November 16 The performance of the state-owned telecom operator on the turf of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) during the last two months is indicative of it as the number of cell phone users selecting the BSNL as their mobile operator is now more than the number of mobile users leaving its fold. Though the BSNL has not been faring well on the MNP turf across the nation, cell phone users falling in the Bathinda Secondary Switching Area (SSA), which includes the Mansa district, has reposed their faith in the BSNL. The things had not been in favour of the BSNL in the twin districts in the first eight months of the launch of the MNP - which came into being on January 20, this year, as mobile users "fed up" with the poor connectivity of the BSNL got the opportunity to move on and opted the one "who got them connected". The scene, however, changed in the last two months when the MNP ratio turned positive for the BSNL in the Bathinda SSA. As per the BSNL's sources, in September mobile users moving out of the BSNL were 715 while mobile users opting for it were 748. Similarly, in October, mobile users preferring for porting out from the BSNL were 617 while porting in were 630. The difference between porting in and porting out were not big, admitted the senior officials in the BSNL, but they said, “The margin may be termed as thin but it is significant as it is encouraging.” “The image has now started changing as people have realised that it is worth being with the BSNL,” claimed the DGM, BSNL, Bathinda, Amit Garg. Citing the reasons for the people “reposing their faith” in the BSNL, the DGM said the tariff was affordable rather cheap in comparison to other mobile operators. “Besides transparency in billing, improvement in connectivity and good network are also encouraging people to opt for the BSNL,” the DGM claimed.
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NREGA employees threaten to continue strike, want demands met
Bathinda, November 16 District president of the NREGA Contract Employees Union Damandeep Singh said, “Due to their strike, the development works in the rural areas of the district had been adversely affected during the last one month. He claimed that even the payments could also not been made to the labourers at many places. Besides, on line data entries, relating to the NREGA works, were also not being done due to the strike, he added. According to the information, there are about 95 Gram Rozgar Sahayaks, eight technical assistants, eight assistant programme officers, 11 data entry operators, one information technology (manager) and one accounts manager in the Bathinda district. However, two posts of the technical assistant and the post of information technology (manager) have been lying vacant. Sources in the Zila Parishad said that the development works in the villages had certainly been affected though at some places the works were being got done by the Panchayats and the Panchayat Secretaries. They also said at many places the NREGA funds could also not be utilized due to the strike. State press secretary of the union Sikanderjit Singh said, “They were observing strike, demanding regularisation of their services along with the pa-y scales.” He said now they had asked the state government that in case if it could not regularise their services now, it should give the NREGA staff administrative and financial powers. Besides, the government should also give them pay-scales along with job security. He said their other important demand is that the NREGA employees-related all works should be done at the state-level, in place of the district-level. He said, “Their transfers could not be done now from one district to the other while they wanted such a provision at the state level.” He further added that their dharna in front of the office of the head office of the Rural Development Department at Mohali would continue until the government issues a notification with regard to accepting their demands.
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DAV College staff stage dharna
Bathinda, November 16 The agitating employees demanded the disbursement of arrears of pay revised in 2006 for the period of January 1, 2006 to March 31, 2010. They also demanded the implementation of pension and gratuity scheme, lifting of ban on recruitment procedure for both teaching and non-teaching staff, enhancing retirement age for teachers to 65 years as per the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC), inclusion of teachers working against the unaided posts in the ambit of the Punjab Affiliated Colleges Act 1974, extension of date for participating in orientation and refresher courses up to March 31, 2010 and review of sanctioned posts after Novemebr 1, 1981. Union president Beant Kaur, secretary, Varesh Kumar and the non-teaching vice-president Sat Pal Sharma threatened that the agitation would be strongly intensified, if demands of union are not fulfilled. |
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Instructions on inhaler packs insufficient
Megha Mann Tribune News Service
Bathinda, November 16 It was learnt during a detailed survey conducted in the Bathinda city, where a large number of people are suffering from respiratory problems. A team of doctors from the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR), Kishori Ram Hospital and Diabetes Care Centre, Bathinda, (Punjab) conducted the study wherein 1,950 persons were studied on the subject. Dr Vitull K Gupta, Dr Ashwani Maheshwari, Dr Sonia Arora, Dr Varun Gupta, Dr Arun Maria, Dr Rakindra Singh, Dr Jagit Bahia and Dr Shelza studied the effect of education in improving errors in the inhaler techniques committed by patients on the inhaler therapy for chronic pulmonary diseases in Punjab "We found that a large number of patients 79.8 per cent (1556/1950) do not take inhalers properly, which may result in inadequate drug delivery to the lungs and poor disease control. It was also found that written instructions inserted in the inhaler pack are not sufficient to educate the patients about the proper technique to be adopted," Dr Vitull said. He added that education of patients in the form of verbal instructions, demonstrations and practice sessions significantly improved error rate in the inhaler techniques from 79.8 per cent (before education) to 23.6 per cent (after education). "We recommend proper health education programs incorporating verbal instructions, pictorial charts, and demonstration tools including practice session that target proper and correct use of inhalers. We also recommend that doctors be sensitised to educate patients as to how to use inhalers correctly and also re-check correctness on the inhaler techniques on subsequent hospital visits," he added. During the study, a total of 1,950 patients of chronic pulmonary diseases attending the OPD were studied, who were already using various types of inhalation devises. They were questioned about the type of inhaler device used, frequency of use, as to who imparted education about the inhaler technique and observed their actual inhaler technique. The educators for inhaler device use were classified as self-education, education by chemist, by hospital staff and by consultant. Errors in the inhaler techniques were categorised into mild, moderate and sever on the basis of a subjective assessment by the physician using a 10-items checklist. "Every patient was educated about the disease, usefulness of inhalers and errors committed in using. Instructions were imparted in smaller groups of two or three or larger groups of over five patients by the principal investigator using verbal instructions, pictorial charts, demonstration tools including their participation in the practice session where the patients were asked to repeat the use of inhaler to check improvement," Dr Vitull added. The patients were called after a month to re-check improvement in the errors committed by the patents. After a month, 1,159 patients reported back for the re-examination and the data was analysed.
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NGO lends helping hand to cancer patients
Bathinda, November 16 These children are the students of the Punjabi medium section of St. Joseph High School. The parents of these children have been cancer patients and the NGO has adopted their educational sponsorship till the completion of their senior secondary schooling. Deputy Director of the organisation Vineet Marwah thanked the donors and the supporters.
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The refusal of the auditor of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) to clear the bills footed for getting the sewerage in the city cleaned by the private firms has landed the civic body officials in a soup.
Bathinda, November 16
