Bathinda, November 20
In a major breakthrough, the Bathinda police today claimed to have arrested four bookies for betting over yesterday's cricket Test match between Australia and South Africa.

The accused have been identified as Pankaj Kumar and Gaurav Garg, both residents of Parasram Nagar, Sanjeev Kumar of Nai Basti and Rattan, a resident of Thermal Colony.

Police officials said three others including Bittu, Raju and Vijay Juneja have also been booked by the police and will be arrested soon.

Rs 3.9 lakh in cash, nine mobile phones and two laptops were recovered from the four arrested by the police. They were asking people to gamble on cricket match in the residential area of Parasram Nagar yesterday in the evening.

A case under sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC and 13, 3, 67 of the Gambling Act has been registered against the accused. They were arrested from Paras Ram Nagar following a tip-off received by the officials of the Canal police station.

Canal police station in-charge Gurjeet Romana said that section 420 of the IPC rendered their offence non-bailable and the accused would be sent to jail after being produced before the magistrate.

Romana said that a decoy was sent to the foursome betting on the cricket matches.

The informer told the police that the accused were betting on eminent cricketers, centuries made by star batsmen and on the batsmen's run making abilities.

The accused are in the age-group of 30 to 35 years and they were eager to make fast bucks. They had been cheating people by offering them huge amounts of money in the gambling. Those arrested have also been accused of not returning the money given by their clients.

As per the First Information Report (FIR), the accused are in touch with four or five unidentified people of the city and an Abohar resident, Vijay Juneja. Vijay allegedly informed the four arrested about the rate of gambling in the market and entice the local residents to gamble on cricket matches.

The accused ask their customers to deposit money with them through online transaction and cash.

Bathinda, November 20
The residents of Bathinda today woke up to chill and fog. Agriculture experts said that the fog would create problem in harvesting cotton but would be beneficial for the wheat sown in the fields.

Today in the morning, while the city was covered in a thin layer of fog, the areas lying near the Sirhind feeder canal with thick vegetation had a thicker fog cover. This was the first chill experienced this winter. The lowest temperature was recorded at 18 degree Celsius.

With winter advancing, the visibility on the road is expected to get poorer. “Reflectors installed on the roads and vehicles come handy during such times. It is high time the district police start again its campaign of installing reflectors on various vehicles, especially the tractors and trucks, which move on the state and the national highways,” said Jatinder Pal Singh, a resident of Jujhar Singh Nagar.

The fog would, however, not be beneficial for the cotton crop. Farmer Ram Singh said that currently, the picking of cotton is on its last leg in Bathinda and Mansa areas. “The fogs do not allow the lint to open fully. These plants require plenty of sunshine to mature fully and be ready for picking,” he said.

Farmers start picking cotton early in the morning, but the fog delayed the activity. The fields, where the paddy was planted, already have sprouts of wheat peeping out of the soil, while the cotton fields are yet to be readied for sowing wheat.

As per the recommendations of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), wheat should be sown before November 6 for better yield. The fog is useful for the wheat sown on time and is favourable for this crop.

Meanwhile, no effect of fog has been noticed on the railway traffic yet, which is running smoothly.

Bathinda, November 20
Survival of babies born at the local Civil Hospital will be on the mercy of the Almighty, as the BCG vaccine administered to the newborns will soon run out of stock there.

The consumption of the BCG vaccine in the district is more than 10,000 doses whereas this time, the chief pharmacist received only 2,500 doses from the office of the Director Health and Family Welfare at Chandigarh. Out of these, only 1,500 are stocked at the hospital’s store.

The vaccine is kept in the office of the civil surgeon. Pharmacists of primary health centres (PHC) get the vaccines from this office. Private hospitals and clinics can also get these vaccines free of cost, if they demand.

It is learnt that after each month and a half, members of the paramedical staff bring the vaccine dosages from the headquarters at Chandigarh. Notably, this time, the vaccine was brought on 4th of this month and it was 7,500 doses short of the required quantity. Not only Bathinda district, the civil hospitals in other districts have also been allotted less number of vaccines.

BCG is a live bacterial vaccine given to newborns for protection against tuberculosis, mainly the severe forms of the disease. It is given within 15 days of a baby’s birth along with the oral polio vaccine. Moreover, it is mandatory in a country like India, where a child can catch the disease early in life and develop primary tuberculosis.

Not only that there is a shortage of BCG vaccine at the local Civil Hospital, it does not even have syringes in its stock for the past five days.

Gurjant Singh, chief pharmacist of the local Civil Hospital, said, “We have written to the authorities about the acute shortage of BCG vaccines at our hospital. We need the vaccines at the earliest for the safety of children taking birth here.”

He added, “As far as non-availability of syringes is concerned, we will get them in some days.”

Dr BS Gill, Senior Medical Officer of the Women and Children Hospital, said, “At present, the BCG vaccine and syringes are available with the Post Partem (PP) unit and every child born here had been vaccinated. However, we will demand for extra dosages of the vaccine.”

Bathinda, November 20
The park and the statue erected in the memory of Punjab Police commando Jarnail Singh, who sacrificed his life fighting militants in Jammu & Kashmir in 2002, are lying in a state of neglect.

The park and the statue are situated on the Multania road and the authorities concerned seem to be little concerned about its condition.

Fountains installed in the park are not functioning for the past long time while uncovered electric wires in the pool pose danger. The statue of the martyr has not been painted since 2007. Over the time, it has also developed cracks.

"The statue and park is a perfect picture of neglect as authorities are not releasing even a single penny to maintain them. The location of the statue is such that there is a potential risk of commuters colliding with its boundary wall at night due to lack of proper lighting. Such accidents have taken place many a times but the authorities concerned are yet to wake up to the problem," said Avtar Singh Guga, member of the Shaheed Jarnail Singh Memorial Welfare Society Registered.

Avtar said the society bears all the expenses and its members are managing the maintenance of the two structures. "Miscreants tried to burn the statue a few months ago. Recently, some wrongdoers even succeeded in breaking all the electric bulbs and a floodlight installed around the statue. Now, we have fenced it with iron grills and also erected a shed to preserve it to some extent," Avtar said.

He pointed out that though the Punjab Government claims to have spent crores on various projects, it failed to release just few thousands to save the martyr's statue and dignity. Avtar said the society required a mere Rs 10,000 to paint the statue and a few more thousands to repair the fountain and maintain the park.

In June 2003, the then municipal council president Bhupinder Bhullar had inaugurated the park while former deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari unveiled the statue in June 2007.

The members of the society said the authorities concerned have been asked umpteen times to get the statue painted and ensure proper installation of lights so that commuters are not subjected to the risk of colliding with the statue during night, but to no avail.

Bathinda, November 20
Five people were injured in separate accidents during the past 24 hours in Bathinda city. Fifty-year-old Sudan Jatt and 37-year-old Om Parkash, both residents of Hanumangarh, received injuries when the truck they were travelling in, overturned near the Bibi Wala Chowk.

They were rushed to the local Civil Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries. The police officials who rushed to the spot said that the truck driver failed to negotiate the turn and the vehicle overturned. A case in this connection will be registered after recording the statements of the bystanders, victims and the owner of the truck, said the officials from the cantonment police station.

In another incident, two cars collided head-on near the Nehru Park today in the morning. The identity of the injured could not be ascertained as the commuters rushed them to the hospital. Both the cars got badly damaged in the accident, which could not be removed from the roadside till today in the afternoon. In yet another accident, the motorbike of Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Balluana, slipped off the road near the Rose Garden chowk. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a fracture in his left leg. The bystanders said that the biker failed to sight stray cattle and skidded off the road.

Residents of the area, Jaswinder Singh, Sarwan Singh, Rajeev Sood and Ashok Dhiman, said the number of accidents have increased manifold near the Rose Garden chowk due to a large number of stray cattle roaming around without any check. The residents said that many people from different localities have received serious injuries after they met with accidents due to the stray cattle menace. More than a dozen vehicles have got damaged in the last one month due to this. 

Bathinda November 20
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was observed by the Ambulance Brigade Division of the United Welfare Society to sensitise the people about the importance of first aid techniques by organising a first aid mock drill.

About 30 to 40 first aid providers of the brigade took part in the mock drill. The mock drill on first aid was organised at the Bathinda Fort under the guidance of the district training supervisor of the Saint John Ambulance Brigade Division of the Red Cross Society, Naresh Pathania.

The demonstration of various manual carrying methods like Human Crutch, Fore and Aft Carry, Four-Handed-Seat, Firemans lift were given by the NGOs workers to make people aware of the first aid measures. A demo on how cardio-pulmonary-resuscitation is done and lifting the casualties on canvas stretcher, blanket lift and on improvised stretchers were also performed.

Naresh Pathania and Vijay Bhatt, trainers, said the aim of the first aid mock drill was to sensitise people on life saving first aid techniques during any road mishap.

Naresh Pathania added that the Ambulanace Brigade Division, which is an associate training wing of the Red Cross, always visit the festivals such as Hola Mohalla and Visakhi fest at Talwandi to train people about first aid.

He said the brigade also visits the colleges and schools time to time for creating awareness among the students about the first-aid measures. 

Bathina November 20
The Unemployed Multipurpose Health Workers Male Union (Punjab) organised a meeting at the Teachers Home, today.

The workers of the Bathinda unit of the organisation burnt the effigy of the Punjab Government to express their resentment against the government, which has not approved their demands.

On the occasion, the district president Suresh Kumar Nathana alleged that the Punjab Government has been promising the union leaders to advertise the government posts for the multipurpose health workers. However, the government has done nothing in this regard so far, which has forced the workers to protest, he added. 

Bathinda November 20
A meeting of the Punjab Cooperative Society Employees Union of the class IV employees was organised at the Children’s Park under the leadership of the district president of Bathinda Baljinder Singh.

The employees from various districts attended the meeting. Baljinder Singh said the Punjab Government is not taking their demands seriously and despite the High Court’s orders for the eight-hour shift of the class IV employees, the workers have to work for 24 hours because they hail from the poor families.

He alleged tyhat even after submitting the demand letters several times, the government has not paid any heed to it.

“It is disgusting that the demands which are accepted by the government, have not been implemented yet,” Baljinder Singh rued.