Bathinda, November 27
Around 16,000 students studying in government primary schools of the district have not been assessed since July 2010 owing to differences between the school teachers and the Punjab Government.

These schools are run under the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) in Bathinda district. Teachers of these schools have been agitating since July 2010 demanding that the state government should fulfill its promise of taking the PRI schools under the wings of the education department.

One of the leaders of the teacher, Jagsir Singh Sahota, said the schools had completely boycotted the Punjab Government.

"The government has promised that we too would be given the kind of promotion policy as is adopted for the teachers under the education department. The government failed to keep its word and we had no option but to boycott,” Sahota said.

Since July 2010, 16,000 students studying in Bathinda district have not been assessed whereas under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan's (SSA) Parho Punjab project, all 48,000 primary school students are being assessed every six months. The PRI teachers have been taking annual exams of their students and the ambitious Parho Punjab project has been shown way out of these schools.

"In the tussle, it is the students who are suffering. Not even the district education officers are allowed to enter these schools.

“The DEOs too just check the attendance of teachers and cannot even step on the premises, let alone assessing the students," said one of the district education department officials.

Apart from the Parho Punjab, even the Right to Education (RTE) Act is not being implemented in full spirit in these schools as the teachers also boycotted the training sessions held for the RTE.

Though these schools are receiving all kind of grants and teaching aids under the Parho Punjab (which was run for just one year in these schools), no one knows about the teaching-learning methods (TLMs) being used to teach children, the sources said.

"In a way, the finances are going to these schools, but there is no one to keep a tab on them," added another official. Sources said the salary structure of the teachers under the PRI was the same as that of other government teachers. Even the supplementary study material has not been distributed at these schools and it is gathering dust, lying with the district education department.

Bathinda, November 27
Transporters are taking full advantage of the cancellation of 24 trains passing through Bathinda owing to the thick blanket of fog. While the railways are counting their losses, the transporters are busy calculating their profits. 

Railway authorities admitted that the winter season and the foggy weather has affected revenue collection, as most of the trains run behind schedule and many of them have to be cancelled.

“The cancellation of trains indeed increases our revenue as most of the train passengers opt for buses. All this, despite the fact that the bus travel is more expensive as compared to the trains,” said Raj Kumar, a transporter.

He said that people travelling on two-wheelers usually opt for public transport, mostly buses, during the winter period. The number of accidents involving two-wheelers too has shot up in the past and people prefer to travel in buses.

Moreover, the bus stand and the railway stations are not situated too far away and people could be seen walking towards the bus stand from the railway station during the winters.

People usually prefer to travel in buses during the winter and this has led to a rise in the revenue of transporters to some extent.

He, however, stated that sometimes, the morning or evening bus trips have to be cancelled in view of the fog.

“But we get compensated by getting extra passengers in view of the cancelled trains. Moreover, the head count increases and so does the revenue. It is a win-win situation for us during the winters, especially during the foggy season,” he said. 

Another transporter, Jatinder Kumar, said that the cost of travelling in a bus from Jakhal (Haryana) to Bathinda is Rs 39 but it costs a mere Rs 10 if someone travels in a passenger train.

“But most of the trains stand cancelled and are running many hours behind schedule. People have no other option but to opt for the buses,” he said.

The railway authorities said that in November 2010, 412041 passengers were registered at the Bathinda railway station and a revenue of around Rs 1. 53 crores was collected. Similarly, in December, 370456 passengers were registered and money to the tune of Rs 1.20 crores were collected.

The authorities said this was the lowest collection registered in 2010. The figures for November 2011 are yet to be tabulated.

Bathinda, November 27
A two-minute closure of the Rampura railway crossing results in commuters getting stuck on the Bathinda-Barnala road (NH-64) for more than an hour due to the poorly managed traffic and bullying by the heavy vehicles.

Apart from the vehicles of the VIPs and VVIPs, the bus drivers create the maximum nuisance whenever a train has to pass at the crossing.

"It takes over an hour during the peak hours in the evening or morning to get through the crossing," said Ramandeep Sidhu, a resident of Rampura.

While the Punjab government is spending hundreds of crores on the construction of heritage complexes, it hardly pays attention towards the problems faced by thousands of people in the state.

Private bus operators could be seen jumping the queues of the vehicles despite the presence of the traffic policemen.

"In view of the jumping of queues by the bus drivers, car drivers too chase them and cause more chaos. As a result, traffic remains blocked for more than two kilometers on both sides of the railway crossing.

"Now we take the Maur, Mansa, Sunam, Bhawanigarh and Patiala route to reach Chandigarh instead of travelling through Rampura, Barnala, Tapa and Sangrur," said Narpinder, a local trader who goes to Chandigarh twice a month.

Commuters prefer to take the Mansa route to travel to Chandigarh as there is hardly any chaos at the railway crossings near the Maisarkhana village. They only get stuck at the railway crossings near the Central University of Punjab. After that, there is no hindrance. However, after taking the Rampura route, commuters get stuck not only at Rampura but also at the Sangrur railway crossings which is equally bad as one can easily get lost in the traffic jam for more than an hour.

Apart from the traffic jam, there is also so much of dust around the railway crossing that it becomes quite difficult to come out of the car. "The two-wheeler riders remain at the receiving end, especially during the summers, and are forced to inhale the dust and pollution. Car occupants do not come out of their AC vehicles," said Karanbir, a marketing executive.

He said that heated arguments between the drivers of the small and heavy vehicles has now become a norm and many incidents of quarrels have also been reported in the past due to the chaos and everybody's eagerness to get past the crossings.

The XEN of the Public Works Department (PWD) Daljeet Singh said there is a proposal for constructing a flyover on the Patiala-Bathinda railway track in Rampura but it will take some time. The process of floating tenders on build, operate, transfer (BOT) basis has been initiated and the four-laning of the road from Zirakpur to Bathinda will be started in the next few months or so. Under the project, a flyover would be built in Sangrur and Rampura, the official informed.

Bathinda, November 27
People will face inconvenience in getting their work done for the five more days in the government offices throughout the district as members of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU) will go on mass casual leave from November 28 to December 2 (Monday to Friday) in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands by the state government.

Earlier, the ministerial staff (clerical cadre) in the state had gone on mass casual leave on November 22, 23 and 25 while November 24 was an official holiday.

However, on November 26 and 27, the government offices remained closed being a Saturday and Sunday. Thus, due to the mass casual leave for five more days by the ministerial staff in the state, the functioning in the government offices will remain paralysed to a great extent.

The demand of the union is a pay scale of Rs 10,300-34,800 with Rs 4,600 as grade pay for clerks, pay scale of Rs 10,300-34,800 with Rs 5,400 as grade pay for senior assistants and pay scale of Rs 10,300-34,800 with Rs 6,600 as grade pay for the superintendents.

Talking to this reporter today, the district general secretary of the PSMSU, Kewal Bansal said they did not want to go on mass casual leave for five more days in view of the inconvenience that would be faced by the public. But the state government had forced them to do so by adopting an indifferent attitude towards their demand, despite the mass casual leave taken by them for three days.

He also said that during these five days, rallies and protests would also be organised at the district headquarters by the ministerial staff to compel the government to accept their demand.

He said the PSMSU had also chalked out a plan to gherao Tikshan Sood, Upinderjit Kaur and Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, all ministers or their residences on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Amritsar districts, respectively.

He also said that for the inconvenience to be faced by the public in the government offices, the entire responsibility would lie with the state government as it had not been paying attention towards their demand by adopting an indifferent attitude. He said due to the strike by the ministerial staff, the normal functioning in many departments, like excise, health, education, revenue and treasury, had been affected adversely.

The PSMSU has also warned the state government that if it fails to accept its demand soon, then the agitation would be intensified further.

Bathinda, November 27
Increased stress and strain among the school-going children has become a cause of great concern for the parents, teachers and paediatrician, who are dealing with the adolescents.

The high expectations of the parents and teachers who want that their children should fetch higher marks in the competitions result in the children being caught in a cleft, said the secretary, IAP, Bathinda, Dr Amit Aggarwal, during a lecture on adolescent healthcare and the role of adolescent immunization delivered at St. Kabir School, Bhucho Mandi.

The lecture was a part of the Indian Academy of Pediatricians (IAP), Bathinda, branch's celebrations of child and adolescent healthcare week wherein the theme was “Adolescent immunization - need of the nation.”

Dr Aggarwal said that such stress and mental strain has become a cause of learning disability. Learning problems are increasingly recognized among schoolchildren in India and this has become an issue of concern. President, IAP, Punjab, Dr HS Narang said that paediatricians are going deep into the reasons as to why a child is not able to read and write properly. If he does so, then why is he not able to understand and grasp it fully?

Dr KK Bajaj, a senior paediatrician, delivered a talk on the role of vaccination in the adolescents and laid upon the role of vaccines. He also wanted the young girls to get the Human Papilloma Vaccine (HPV), so that they will be protected against cervical cancer in their later life. Dr Jyot Ram Jain thanked the speakers. A questionnaire was also distributed among the students regarding the poor scholastic performance and specific learning disability.

A prize distribution function was also held at both the schools. At St. Kabir School, Pawanpreet Kaur stood first, Venus Singla second and Simran Kaur stood third. At KV 4, Sushmita stood first, Pooja secured the second place while Riya stood third.

As part of the celebrations, Children's Day was celebrated at the Ludhiana Hospital. Dr Ajay Gupta and Dr Amit Aggarwal laid emphasis upon healthcare. Dr Ajay Gupta organized a camp in which the growth parameters were discussed.

Bathinda, November 27
More than 1500 students appeared in the first stage of the Aakash National Talent Hunt Exam, (ANTHE-2011), in which students from all parts of the city took part.

On the occasion, Sanjay Mehrotra, manager, AESL, said that students of class X were participating in the exam for the future preparation of their engineering and medical exams. In the first stage, 3200 students would be short-listed and in the second stage, 800 students will be finally selected. Scholarships worth Rs 14 crore would be given at the all India level.

Managing director of the institute JC Chaudhary addressed the parents through electronic broadcast.