Bathinda, December 10
The Punjab government has turned a blind eye toward the plight of the people who are suffering due to dharnas being held frequently in the city.

The dharnas not only force the commuters to take alternate routes but also upset the people in the residential areas that witness manifold increase in the traffic due to the diversion of routes.

"We are quite upset over the dharna staged at the flyover on the Mansa road which diverts traffic from the Mansa and Dabwali side towards the Haji Rattan road, Lal Singh Basti and Baba Deep Singh Nagar. Though we face problems everyday due to the narrow roads and roadside encroachments, it becomes impossible to move out whenever there is a dharna on the Mansa flyover," said Sukhwinder Singh of Baba Deep Singh Nagar.

People were fuming helplessly at the police and the Punjab government yesterday as they caught up in a jam on the streets of Baba Deep Singh Nagar and Haji Rattan road.

"The commuters were seen enquiring about the road which could lead them into the city. Those in cars with families were the worst affected as they kept moving from one street to another searching for an exit," said Dinesh Kumar, another resident of Baba Deep Singh Nagar.

He said that most of the streets are blocked due to the laying of sewerage pipes. Two-wheelers too were seen sandwiched between the cars in the narrow blocked streets.

"We had a harrowing time yesterday, passing through the streets of Baba Deep Singh Nagar. It took two and a half hours to escape traffic snarls from Mati Das Nagar to the Haji Rattan gurudwara," said Gurmel Singh, an NRI.

The owner of a bicycle repair shop, Sukhdev Singh said that the traffic forced him to stay in his shop between 5 pm to 6.30 pm in view of the continuous flow of hundreds of vehicles on the Haji Rattan road.

He said that the bus passengers were seen enquiring about the alternate mode of transportation to reach their desired destinations till late at night as the buses too got stranded mid-way in view of the blockade by the protesters.

"There seems to be no rule for the protesters and no action has been initiated against the agitators who disrupt the life of an entire city," he said.

Another shopkeeper, Balvir Singh, said that the signboards installed outside the shops were damaged yesterday as the number of vehicles increased.

Surjeet Singh, another shopkeeper, said that it took three hours for him to bring his daughter from the bus stand area to Haji Rattan in view of the blockade yesterday.

"We helped the bus passengers in arranging taxis for different places in view of the chaos.

“People, especially the women, elderly and the children, bore the brunt of the protest by the teachers who cursed the police, the district administration and the Punjab government for the sorry state of affairs in the city," Surjeet Singh said.

Bathinda, December 10
For the last four days, the Bathinda police has been unable to correct its website that was hacked. The official website of the Bathinda police www.bathindapolice.com was hacked on the afternoon of December 6 by a group of people who identified themselves as the Muslim Liberation Army.

Till the morning on December 7, the defaced homepage of the website continued to display the message of the hacker, named Xtremist, who talked about the Muslim Liberation Army demanding freedom for Jammu and Kashmir.

By December 7 afternoon, the website started showing the message of being unavailable and for the last three days, the site states that it is under construction.

The website contains public utility data such as day-to-day crime diary, citizen's charter, phone numbers of all the police officials of the district, recruitment details as well as details of the cases registered at different police stations in the district so far.

SSP, Bathinda, Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill had said that the portal was being upgraded from .com to .nic.in and the problem seemed to have cropped up during the upgradation. He said that now, the new website would be commissioned and efforts were on to do it soon.

The hacking has, meanwhile, exposed the kind of dangers cyber security is vulnerable to. Cyber experts said that many a time, government officials get server from companies that ask for the least amount of money. "The company's credentials and antecedents are not checked. In order to spend less money, the officials end up compromising with the security of information provided through such web portals," added an expert.

While it is the police internet now, the next target could well be the intranet at a time when plans for setting up the State Crime Record Bureau are being mulled. 

Bathinda, December 10
In the light of a devastating fire, that killed at least 90 persons at the AMRI Hospital in Kolkata yesterday, a survey on the fire safety measures at the local Civil Hospital and the Women and Children Hospital was conducted today.

At first sight, it was noticed that neither the Civil Hospital nor the Women and Children Hospital had a smoke detector and hose reel.

During the survey, inadequate number of fire extinguishers was found in the emergency block on the ground floor, surgical ward (first floor) and medical ward (second floor) of the Civil Hospital here.

At the ground floor, there are four fire extinguishers while only one fire extinguisher each was found on the first and the second floors.

However, the date of expiry of all these extinguishers is January 4, 2012. These fire extinguishers are of five kilogram capacity and are dry powder extinguisher, the stored pressure type.

However, in the new OPD block of the Civil Hospital, there are four fire extinguishers on the ground floor, six on the first floor and seven on the second floor. Some of these are dry powder extinguishers while the rest are carbon dioxide fire extinguishers. The total of 17 fire extinguishers can be termed as sufficient. Their expiry date is April 2012.

However, the local Women and Children Hospital has 11 fire extinguishers in its OPD, labour room, X-ray, maternity ward, children ward and operation theatre.

However, many of the fire extinguishers do not contain any date of expiry. When contacted, the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr BS Gill said he had all the fire extinguishers checked today in the morning and all were found to be functioning. Regarding their date of expiry, he said they had contacted the company that had informed them that these would function properly till the needle remained in the green indicator.

So the company had not written the expiry date on the fire extinguishers, he added.

Regarding the non-issuance of no objection certificate (NOC) to the Civil Hospital by the Fire Brigade Department, the SMO Dr Satish Goyal said they had already applied for it but the Fire Brigade authorities had not issued it on the plea that the new OPD block had only one gate for the exit of the patients.

When contacted, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Baldev Singh said as the Civil Hospital had no smoke detector and no hose reel, so the authorities had been told to arrange for a smoke detector and hose reel, besides 4.5 kg carbon dioxide fire extinguishers.

He said the hospital authorities had also been told to provide one more gate in the new OPD block as in case of any fire incident, one gate would not be sufficient for the exit of the people trapped inside.

He said the NOC would be provided to the Civil Hospital when it meets all the necessary requirements. 

Bathinda, December 10
The residents of 14 houses at Gopal Nagar have shifted to their "new" homes, but do not have a reason to rejoice. The houses allotted to them five years ago were handed over only last week. On December 8, SAD constituency in-charge Sarup Chand Singla distributed the keys of these houses to their owners amidst much fanfare.

But during these five years, these houses, constructed by the Bathinda Improvement Trust, fell victim not only to the vagaries of time, but to the thieves as well who stole the doors, electric and sanitary fittings installed there.

"To make the house liveable again, we will have to spend at least Rs one lakh. We have already lost our land and our sources of livelihood are meagre. We have no option but to continue living in these damaged houses, which are technically new, but too old to live in," said an occupant of one such house.

In 2005, the Bathinda Improvement Trust had acquired 17 acres of the land under the Rajiv Gandhi Development Scheme. The land had families living on it who had been cultivating it for the last 60 years.

When the Improvement Trust mooted a proposal to take over the land for the scheme, these cultivators (14 families) moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the acquisition. However, they lost the case as none of the cultivator was the actual owner of the land.

In 2005, the Bathinda Improvement Trust took over the possession of the land and adequately compensated the families of the cultivators and the amount of compensation awarded was submitted in the court of the district and sessions judge.

Municipal councillor Jagrup Singh Gill, who was the chairman of the Trust at that time, revealed that as per the Land Allotment Rules, 1983, the Act did not have any provision under which the cultivators could be given land for their rehabilitation.

"Due to humanitarian grounds, I got the resolution 42, dated August 8, 2005, passed. The resolution stated that these people would not only be given land, albeit they would be give constructed houses. We got 14 applications from the families of the affected people," he said.

The resolution passed made rules flexible, allowing housing solutions for the affected poor families. Each applicant was given a 100 yard plot and the letter was sent to the then Congress government for sanction. The Congress government under Amarinder Singh sanctioned it vide its order number 8/ 121/ 05 (5) - 1 SS 2/15784, dated October 3, 2005. The government also passed a grant of Rs 64,86,000 to be spent on the construction of houses on these plots. As per the government's letter, these were 100 yard plots but the scheme had 108 yards of plots.

"So, we passed a resolution making the applicants pay for the remaining eight yards as per the then prevalent market rate. The total amount for every house was calculated at Rs 32,318. Later, the government passed this too on September 29, 2006 and we held a draw for all the 14 applicants. The final list of applicants was sent to the Punjab government but before the approval could be received, the election code of conduct for the 2007 assembly polls was imposed," Gill said.

Gill then sent a letter to the Punjab government, on January 22, 2007, mentioning that the final list for the approval would be subject to the confirmation of directions of the government and allotment letters were given on March 1, 2007 to all the allottees.

On March 2, 2007, the SAD-BJP government came to power. Jagrup Gill said that he kept pursuing the matter with the Punjab government, but the matter was kept pending for five years.

Now, when the SAD-BJP government's tenure is coming to an end, the government suddenly granted permission in December. In order to cash in at the election time, the SAD constituency in-charge Sarup Chand Singla handed over the keys to allottees just last week, he alleged.

Gill said for last five years, the allottees of these houses lived on rent.

"If the rent is considered to be at least Rs 2500 per allottee, the amount for the 14 allottees in the last five years turns out to be Rs 21 lakh. Who would compensate for this amount," he asked.

Bathinda, December 10
After his retirement on November 30 last as lecturer (Economics) from the Government Senior Secondary School, Kot Shameer, a local resident, Sishan Kumar Jain, pursued a dream to start fund raising for the welfare of needy and poor intelligent students.

So on his retirement party, he made a proposal to launch a student welfare scheme in the school and donated Rs 51,000 for the purpose. Jain said, “I had been through bitter experiences during my school days. Even my name was struck off two-three times in the school as I could not deposit my fee in time due to poor financial condition of the family.”

“This was the reason as to why I initiated the step and launched 'Bhagat Puran Singh Student Welfare Scheme' with the help of others on that day at the Kot Shameer's school,” he added. Jain said on that day over Rs 80,000, including 51,000 by him and Rs 21,000 by an NRI Gurcharan Singh (Bathinda) had been donated by the people for the scheme.

“With this money, the poor students would be provided with uniforms, shoes and books,” he added.

Jain further said he would now visit various local schools to get such student welfare schemes launched there with the help of teachers, working in those schools.

He said he would make an appeal to the teachers that they should also launch such scheme in their school for poor intelligent students so that they can get every facility, which were being availed by other students.

He said, “Besides Bathinda, I want to introduce the scheme throughout the district, for which I would visit various schools.”

He further added that there would be no shortage of money as people donate money for such genuine purposes.

Jain said after his retirement he also donated Rs 5100 each to the Government Middle School, Kutiwal Khurd, and the Government High School, Maur Kalan, as he had taught the students there during his career in the past.

He appealed to the teachers tocontribute for the welfare of poor students after their retirement so that the poor students can fulfill their desire to pass higher study exams.

Bathinda, December 10
The chain-hunger strike and dharna outside the Mini-secretariat by the unemployed linemen here today entered its sixth day in support of their demand, appointment of 4,000 linemen in the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). According to the leaders of the unemployed linemen, counselling of 4,000 linemen had already been done but they have not been issued orders for appointment so far.

Along with hundreds of unemployed linemen, their family members have also been participating for the six days in the dharna. Even today, four generations of an unemployed lineman from Dhuri (Sangrur) today took part in the dharna. They were: unemployed lineman Sukhjit Singh, his grandfather Partap Singh (90), his mother Manjit Kaur, his wife Baljinder Kaur and his two-year-old son Gurtej Singh.

Sukhjit’s mother Manjit Kaur said, “In case the state government does not decide to provide the job of lineman to his son and others at the meeting to be held between the union leaders and the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh tomorrow, the family members of the unemployed linemen would be compelled to initiate some harsh step.”

State president of the union Pirmal Singh said as the state government is habitual of making false promises, we cannot trust the government till it finally implements our demand by providing jobs to us as we have been facing unemployment for the last 13 years even after passing their ITI certificate courses and doing apprenticeship of two years.

Vice-president of the union Rajinder Singh said in case the state government does not begin recruitment process after the meeting with the union leaders at Chandigarh tomorrow, they would convert their chain hunger strike into fast-unto-death. He also asked the people of the state to extend support to them so that they can achieve their goal.

Meanwhile, the state-level union leaders, including state president, today departed for Chandigarh to hold a meeting there tomorrow with the CM, power secretary, PSPCL chairman and the advocate general.

Bathinda, December 10
MLA Harminder Singh Jassi criticized Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and leaders of the SAD-BJP for inaugurating the solid waste management plant.

The Cong MLA said that how the leadewrs of the ruling alliance see development of Bathinda which would be receiving garbage from 17 other cities.

Jassi alleged that the interest of the people of Bathinda has been considered at the time of taking the decision. 

Bathinda, December 10
The members of the 7654 United Teachers Front held a state-level dharna here today. Irate over the apathetic attitude of the state government, the teachers started their agitation from the Dr Ambedkar Chowk. They further marched towards the Gole Diggi via Amrik Singh Road and then held a meeting at the Teachers’ Home.

One of the teachers Ranjodh Singh said that the Bathinda tehsildar has promised an audience with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit to the city tomorrow. “A delegation of the three teachers would meet the CM at 9:30 am tomorrow at the circuit house,” Ranjodh Singh said.

Many of the agitating teachers, including Ranjodh Singh, who is an Economics lecturer at the Government School (Ghudda), are Ph D, while 70 per cent of the teachers are MPhil. Despite having high qualifications, these teachers are drawing salaries from Rs 3,100 to Rs 6,400. “We are told to motivate the students for higher studies. How can the motivation come when we are paid to less to meet the basic requiremnts,” questioned one of the agitating teachers.

Teachers said with an average life expectancy of an Indian of 60 years, they have already spent half of their life in penury and unemployment. The teachers demanded that they be regularised in August 2012 keeping in view the date of advertisement of their posts issued in September 2009.

Recently, the Punjab cabinet decided that all the government employees, who have completed three years of service from their date of appointment, be regularised.

The government is yet to issue a notification. The agitating teachers reasoned that their three years be counted starting from September 2009. “It was a folly on the part of the government that delayed the procedure. Instead of regularising us in 2014, the government should regularise us in 2012 itself,” they said. They also demanded that they should be given salaries as per the revised scales. All the government employees recruited after these teachers are being given revised pay-scales.

“People doing the same work are getting six times more than us while the Supreme Court of India advocates equal pay for equal work,” they said.

Bathinda, December 10
The wedding season is in full swing. In Indian weddings, costumes play a significant role as the brides are attired in auspicious colours while the bridegrooms get dressed up to exude a regale aura. However, choosing a perfect costume at times cause confusion as suggestions pour in from well-wishers.

As the time is to dress up for once-in-a-life, being a bit choosy is obvious. To fulfill the wishes of brides preferring traditional outfits with a contemporary touch, a wide range of exclusive wedding dress collection is available in the market.

“Traditional lehengas are out of demand while the preference for designer lehengas has considerably increased. The prices of the lehengas vary depending upon the size, quality, work and stuff. The designer lehenga’s ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 are evoking good response. Those who cannot afford to buy, arrange it on rent,” said Bittu, a shop owner at Dhobi Bazaar.

“The bridesmaids also wish to dress up themselves in par with the brides but tone themselves down a bit as the day belongs to the wedding couple. The bridesmaids mostly prefer lancha in trendy colours. Most of the brides too buy lancha for various pre-wedding functions such as Haldi, Mehandi, ladies sangeet and others. Maroon colour is mostly preferred for the wedding day while for other associated rituals onion, pink and others colours matching with the skin tone are in demand.”

“The range of lehengas include from Rs 5,000 to 80,000 while lehengas ranging within Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 are more in demand,” stated Sanjay, another local shop owner.

“A wide variety of consumes was confusing me at the beginning. I bought a designer lehengas in net in pink colour. For the other occasion, I have got a red colour suit with bridal embroidery,” said Manpreet Kaur, a bride-to-be.

“Traditional costume lehengas-choli is the most preferred outfit of brides. I have selected a golden colour lehengas of net having heavy embroidery on it with a maroon colour dupatta. To make it more graceful, I will wear Kundan jewellery set on it.” Mandeep Kaur, another bride-to-be.

“The combination of kundan jewellery also remains an integral part of the traditional wedding trousseau for a bride. Of late, the traditional settings such as kundan, thappa and ras rawa are experiencing a revival. Perhaps, the modern brides wish for a perfect blend of traditional and modern values,” said a local jeweller Ashok.

Bathinda, December 10
The Zee Learn Ltd. would organise a Talent Hunt for children in the age group of 3 to 12 in Bathinda On December 11. The event would provide the children with a platform to display their talent in dance, music and art. It would also include a unique ‘apply your knowledge’ quiz for children in the age group of 7 to 12. The event is scheduled between 10:30 am and 5pm at the Mount Litera Zee School campus.

The Talent Hunt is accompanied by a seminar for parents on ‘the changing face of 21st century world and how to prepare our children to face the demands of future’. The seminar would discuss in details the facets of the 21st century world, skills aptitude and attitude required for growing kids.