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RO systems Elude BMC Wards 5, 16
Pak kabaddi team official ‘misbehaved’
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Govt schools to hold Art of Living sessions as stress busters
ETT students accuse pvt colleges of misinforming on teaching sessions
Himankshi wins fancy dress contest
Students, job seekers among worst-affected; BMC yet to wake up
Principals told to submit ACr
Indira Gandhi remembered
C-section more preferred to ensure safe delivery: Expert
Man killed after being hit by train
Rally held to gear up for dist-level strike
Many ATMs sans security guards in Bathinda dist
37 BFGI's students selected by CCD
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RO systems Elude BMC Wards 5, 16
Bathinda, November 19 The councillor of Ward No. 5 Mukesh Kumar said his ward largely consists of unplanned area and had got no place to install an RO plant. "A large area falls under the power grid of the electricity department near Bibiwala Chowk. We had proposed that RO system should be installed there and separate entry be given to people. But the idea did not materialise," he said. Areas under Ward No. 5, including Hazura Kapura, Baba Farid Nagar, Guru Gobind Singh Nagar and nearby localities, get water supply from the Rose Garden water works. Residents complain that at times, muddy water is supplied to their area. "Not everyone can afford an RO system at home. Moreover, the public RO plants are technically superior," pointed out Jatinder Singh of Hazura Kapura. The councillor of Ward No 16, Parvinder Kaur, believes that area does not need any RO system. On her behalf, her husband Rajinder Singh said the ward consists of posh areas like Basant Vihar and Harpal Nagar and hence, does not need a public RO system. "The nearest RO system is just two lanes away in Ward No 18, which can be utilised in case there is a need," he said, adding that there was a proposal to set up a RO system on 300 yards of a park situated in Street No 7 of Basant Vihar, but the idea was shelved. "The public RO would have disturbed the symmetry of a beautiful park. Moreover, it would have also reduced the area of park to mere 200 yards," he said. However, the ward also includes areas like Chandsar Basti and Guru Teg Bahadaur Nagar, which are not-so-posh areas. In this regard, he said an RO plant was needed only in the vicinity of these localities and not for the whole ward. Meanwhile, the assistant corporation engineer, maintenance cell, Kishore Bansal, said residents and councillors of Wards 5 and 16 had not been able to spare 100 yards to install RO plants. "In the first phase, eight RO plants were installed and in the second phase, work of 40 RO plants was awarded. Of these, ROs at only Wards 25 and 45 are yet to be commissioned. It would be done within a week," said senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal. |
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Pak kabaddi team official ‘misbehaved’
Bathinda, November 19 The coordinator was not allowed by the hotel staff to leave before paying the hotel bills. The staff refused to recognise him and said he could leave only after paying the bills from his own pocket. “I am the guest of the Punjab Government and the senior officials of the district administration have arranged my stay at your hotel. I am not here to attend a marriage party, but I am on official duty,” Mander yelled at the hotel staff. However, the hotel staff asked Mander to call up the officials who asked him to stay in their hotel. The coordinator refused to call up anyone and asked the hotel staff to enquire themselves. The staff then told to name the official on whose orders he stayed at the hotel but the coordinator denied taking orders from the hotel staff. “This is not the way the hotel staff should behave with a person like me. If you will command me, I will not fulfill any of your wishes and will leave at my own,” Mander replied. One of the hotel managers even tried to stop Mander forcefully but restrained himself when Mander threatened to call the police. Later, talking to TNS, Mander said he would lodge a written complaint against the hotel staff that had been misbehaving with him since last night. The matter was resolved with the intervention of a higher official who asked the hotel staff to let Mander leave without paying any bill. The coordinator of the Kabaddi team also called up his colleagues over the phone and the coach of Pakistan kabaddi team arrived at the hotel with a police pilot gypsy. The kabaddi coach pacified the infuriated coordinator and his belongings were kept in the gypsy as he left warning the hotel staff. |
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Govt schools to hold Art of Living sessions as stress busters
Bathinda, November 19
“Teachers have expressed keenness to take this programme to their schools. On Monday, we have decided to chart out the plan for holding at least one-day programme in government schools,” said District Education Officer (Secondary) Harbans Singh Sandhu. Besides, students of Government Middle School, Doomwali, and Government High School, Pathrala, presented skits based on the project being run to make government school students conversant with English and mathematics. The students of Doomwali school presented a short skit in English. “We wanted to inform the gathering that if these children from rural areas can speak fluent English, there is no reason that students of other government schools cannot do so,” said the school authorities. Similarly, students of Pathrala school presented a skit highlighting the importance of being good at numbers. The Education Department is contemplating on taking these two skits to places so as to motivate students and teachers of other government schools. Meanwhile, the in-charge of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (upper primary) was directed to get explanatory notes from the schools that were asked to open bank accounts for the scheduled caste girl students incentive scheme, but did not. These included government senior secondary schools at Multania, Bhagta Bhaika, Bhodipura, Jalal, Mehraj (Girls), Raike Kalan, Bhagivandar, Kalyan Sukha, Rampura (Girls) and Paras Ram Nagar, besides government high schools at Bhai Bakhtaur, Kamalu Sawaich, Maur Kalan, Poohli, Bhai Rupa (Girls), Bhunder, Ballo, Jeonda and Natheha. |
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ETT students accuse pvt colleges of misinforming on teaching sessions
Bathinda, November 19 “We attended the training sessions on November 15 and on November 16 but after that the schools at the Sangat block denied entry of us. School authorities said that they have not got any orders from the State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to convene any such kind of training,” the students said. They also pointed out that the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) that runs the ETT programme had not directed their students to appear for any kind of training. There are 17 DIETs in Punjab and around 50 private colleges that run ETT which is a two years course. Students undergo one month training programme each in the second semester and the fourth semester. Students appearing for the training sessions are assessed by their teachers who act as observers. The students oust from Sangat schools were from the second semester. There are 3,500 ETT students studying in private institutes, while Bathinda has 300 of these students. Students alleged that earlier too private institutes had tried to run ETT programme without the approval from the
SCERT. But when the students protested, the SCERT gave its consent. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Federation of Self Financed Colleges of Education, Punjab, Jagjit Singh Dhuri admitted that private colleges have wrongly assigned the training sessions to the students. “The SCERT is yet to issue a date for the commencement of teaching practices. Just last evening, we received communiqué from the SCERT concerning commencement of these classes from December 7. The federation will inform all the institutes in Punjab about the development tomorrow,” he said. |
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Himankshi wins fancy dress contest
Bathinda, November 19
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Students, job seekers among worst-affected; BMC yet to wake up
Bathinda, November 19 These colonies lie in ward number 3, 4 and 5 and include a large number of population that has settled here in the last four years. Municipal councillor, ward number 5, Mukesh Kumar has repeatedly raised the issue in the House. “Despite the issue being highlighted many times, there is no solution to the problem. The worst sufferers are the students and the youngsters who do not get their roll numbers and other communiqué related to education and employment in time,” said Mukesh Kumar. People with a similar name, living in the same locality, are amongst the sufferers. The municipal councillor of ward number 3, Rajinder Kumar said that around 15,000 people living in areas like Baba Farid Nagar, Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, National Colony, Shakti Vihar Nagar, Bank Colony, Balla Ram Nagar and some parts of Hazura Kapura are facing problems due to this. He added that the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not worked out any amicable solution to the vexed issue. The problem cropped up when the BMC authorities assigned numbers only to the constructed houses, leaving out the vacant plots. The BMC authorities said this happened due to the short-sightedness of the people at the helm of affairs. Instead of assigning a series of number to one colony, the numbers were assigned to all the colonies together. "For instance, houses in Hazura Kapura locality should have been assigned the 10000 series number and for the next colony, the 11000 series should have been used. If we start assigning numbers to the new houses, it would not be in sync with the existing series of that particular locality. Now even the corporation does know how to deal with the problem," added a BMC official. The problem persists in almost all the newly developed colonies in the state. While some local bodies have figured out a solution to the problem, the BMC is yet to wake up to it. The municipal councilors, at their own level, have found a solution wherein they have asked the people to mention the plot number of their neighbours and mark themselves as A, B and C keeping in view the position from the landmark plot. "But this is a temporary solution. The Corporation will soon have to find a solution to overcome this problem," added Inderjit Singh from Balla Ram Nagar.
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Principals told to submit ACr
Bathinda, November 19 The district education officer has issued instructions to all the school principals, who have yet not sent the ACR reports of head teachers, lecturers, masters and other teachers. The DEO (Secondary) has issued a list of defaulter schools, who have not sent the reports despite being reminded on phone repeatedly. The defaulter Government Senior Secondary schools include girls school at the Mall Road, Paras Ram Nagar, Des Raj, Bhagivandar, Bhagta, Bhucho, Gobindpura, Goniana Mandi (Girls), Ghanda Bena, Jalal, Kalyan Sukha, Kotfatta. Kotha Guru (Boys), Mehma Sarja, Maisarkhana, Maluka and Ranike Kalan. High schools in the defaulters list include schools at Ballo, Beewala, Bandi, Burj Gill, Bhagu, Bhunder, Hamirgarh, Kaureana, Natheha and Lehra Dhurkot. The principals of these schools have been directed to send the ACR reports within the next two days or else face action from the Education Department officials. Meanwhile, in-charge of one of the government school pointed out that every year pro forma for the ACRs is changed. “While all the other government departments have been using the same pattern of pro forma for the last many years, the ACR pattern of the Education Department keeps changing every year. As a result, the heads of schools have to understand new pro formas either from each other or from the officials sitting at the Bathinda headquarter,” he said. Others said the government teachers are laden with so much of non-academic work that they do not have time left for many important tasks such as preparing the ACR reports. The ACR report is an integral part of the career of teachers. It is the annual assessment report and on the basis of this report, the teachers’ performance is assessed. The Education Department officials have also sought explanation for the delay in sending the ACRs. Some of the head teachers pointed out that they have shortage of the clerical staff and hence end up either doing the clerical work on their own or the work piles up. “We are not trained to do any kind of clerical work. Since we do not have enough staff, many important tasks get delayed,” t |
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Indira Gandhi remembered
Bathinda, November 19 Among others, who paid tributes, included district president (Urban) of the party, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Bhola, Harpal Singh Bajwa, Balwinder Singh, Ganda Singh, Jagdish Mittal, Parveen Kalia, Om Parkash Sain and Avtar Singh Neetu. A two-minute silence was also observed to pay respects to Indira Gandhi.
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C-section more preferred to ensure safe delivery: Expert
Bathinda, November 19 According to a gynaecologist even 80 per cent people now do not mind to go for caesarean, if advised. This is the reason that during the last few years, the number of caesarean cases has increased by about 10 per cent. About eight years ago, caesareans were done in 15 per cent delivery cases while the figure has now risen to 25-30 per cent. According to the information, out of the total 2,398 deliveries, done in the local Women and Children Hospital during the last 10 months of the current calendar year (2011), as many as 591 (25 per cent) deliveries were caesarean section deliveries while the remaining were normal. Dr Dheera Gupta, Gynaecologist, local Women and Children Hospital, said C-delivery could have been avoided in many cases by adopting some measures, including proper registration of the expectant mother, anti-natal check-ups and regular medical advice. Dr Dheera said the common reason for caesarean section is obstructed labour because of handling of delivery by an untrained person while another reason is fluctuation in the normal heart-beat of the foetus. Meconium passing by the foetus in the womb also compelled a gynaecologist for caesarean section. Other reasons for the caesarean section include improper dilation of cervix, if mother's pelvic bone is tight as compared to baby's head size, and if placenta is in front of the baby, she added. She said the main reason behind the number of caesarean cases at the Women and Children Hospital is that this hospital is a referral centre. Besides, people preferred this hospital for caesarean as it is done free of cost here while they have to pay thousands of rupees in a private nursing home or hospital. Dr Rupinder Kaur Romana, a private gynaecologist here, said people want to ensure safe delivery of the child. She said the percentage of the caesarean cases every month varies from 25 to 40. Dr Sunit Chahal, another gynaecologist, said people preferred for caesarean, if required, as surgery of the patient is now safe as compared to earlier days. She also said due to it, the mortality rate of the babies and mothers has also decreased. Dr Surinder Kaur, Gynaecologist, said the percentage of the caesarean cases varies every month but it remains between 30 to 40 per cent. |
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Man killed after being hit by train
Bathinda November 19 The Sahara life saving brigade was informed by the people who were present on the spot. Police station in-charge Gurlal Singh reached the site immediately and investigated about the incident. The deceased was identified as Rajbinder Singh, son of Jail Singh. According to the family members, the mental condition of the deceased was not stable. The body was brought to the Civil Hospital by the Sahara workers and handed over to the family after the post mortem.
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Rally held to gear up for dist-level strike
Bathinda November 19 This strike is planned to protest against various issues such as to withhold the PTA fund in schools and colleges, regularisation of temporary staff and to uninstall the CCTV cameras in the educational institutes. General Secretary, PSU, Rajinder Singh and president of the college Jashan Gill said, “The Punjab Government is blindly implementing the policies of privatisation in the education sector, due to which all the grants for the government institutes have been reduced. And the students are forced to pay extra money to meet the expenses of these institutes.” They said it is the duty of the government and not of the students to meet all the expenses in the government institutes. Speaking on the occasion, the college leaders Preetam Aulakh and Laali Sidhu said, “The government should regularise the teachers in the colleges and their salaries should be given from the government’s treasure and not from the PTA fund.” They alleged that in the name of the PTA funds, lakhs of rupees are being collected in the colleges and no check is kept on the account of the funds. They said the money of PTA funds is being illegally used by the managements and principals of some colleges.
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Many ATMs sans security guards in Bathinda dist
Notably, the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) has 28 ATMs in the district and 15 machines are installed in the city. However, none of the ATM has any security arrangements. Most of the ATMs of the SBOP are on-site, which means that they are located adjacent or within the branch of the bank. However, there is only a guard deployed to look after the branch besides guarding the ATM site. In view of the huge rush of visitors at the bank as well as the ATMs, it is very difficult for a single person to vigil both the things. Interestingly, one can easily witness people flouting the instruction that the doors of the ATMs bear. As per the instruction, there should be a single person in the cabin to do instant banking while at times over five persons can be seen standing inside the cabin waiting for their turn in any of the ATM site in the city. Moreover, the access log facility has also been demolished in the ATMs, in which, a customer has to swap the card on the door. After the recognition of the card, the door lock gets opened automatically. The technical maintenance of the ATMs is being done by the private companies on a contractual basis. However, the security issues are decided by the bank officials while taking in loop the head office of the bank. The sources in the SBOP revealed that if the branch authorities feel any need to deploy a security guard for the machine, they can ask the head office for it. "However, the bank does not prefer to employ the security staff as the money spent on the salary of a gunmen would be more than the loss due to any mishap," sources added pleading anonymity. An official of the SBOP on the condition of anonymity said as the machine is very heavy and cannot be lifted easily; therefore, there are not major chances of any loss. To the maximum, one can break the glass of the door or the monitor, which are already insured by the insurance company. Assistant General Manager (AGM), State Bank of Patiala (SBOP), Shushil Kumar Jain said, "There has been no policy formulated regarding the security issues by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). However, in case of repeated incidents of crime on some particular site where the machine is installed, the security can be provided by the bank." The Axis Bank has a single branch in the city, where it has a common guard both for the bank as well as the ATM. It has a total of 12 ATMs in the city, out of which five have security guards and the rest are unguarded. Manager, Operations, Axis Bank, Dharminder Ballana said, "The security is provided depending on the location of the machine. The site where police station is nearby can be skipped from providing the guard while the ATMs in the vulnerable places or the busy areas such as the railway stations and national highways guarded as the miscreants can easily escape." He added, "There is no guard at the ATM of the Axis Bank in the cantonment area as the Army persons do not allow the bank to recruit guard there." On the other hand, the State Bank of India (SBI) has a total of 12 ATMs and all of them have a security guard. Senior Manager of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) Balraj Singh said, "The on-site ATMs of our bank are unguarded while rest of the off-site machines, where there is no branch of the bank, are always provided with a gunmen." There are five ATMs of the PNB in the city. Of which, two are off-site ATMs near the station and in the Model Town area while other three are on-site.
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37 BFGI's students selected by CCD
Bathinda November 19 A total of 37 students were selected for the training at Mumbai. The trainees would get Rs 5,000 per month, along with free accommodation and food facilities. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, MD, BFGI, congratualed the students.
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For want of 100 yards, two wards in the city are "managing" without a public RO (reverse osmosis) system.
Notably, the region is infamous due to high incidence of cancer.
Bathinda, November 19
The government schools in the district would soon hold Art of Living courses to de-stress teachers and students.
In a programme held during the monthly meeting of the education department held at the Teachers’ Home today, teachers were given an hour-long lecture on the ways to de-stress themselves and their students in today’s world of commotion and hectic life.
Bathinda, November 19
Bathinda, November 19
Bathinda, November 19
Bathinda November 19