Bathinda, December 15
Normal functioning at the BSNL offices in Bathinda telecom district remained paralysed throughout the day on Thursday as the employees of the telecom major went on a day-long strike in support of their demands.

Responding to the strike called by the All India Joint Action Committee, the executives and non-executives of the BSNL secondary switching area (SSA) which includes Mansa district, observed the strike.

BSNL sources said that no fault rectification work was carried out today due to the strike while the customer service centres (CSC) meant for collection of bill payment and other work remained suspended. The CSC at Gol Diggi wore a deserted look as all the counters remained closed. The account section and other departmental work at the offices were adversely affected, sources said.

BSNL staff also held a demonstration in front of the GM office here at Bharat Nagar. Addressing the employees, the union leaders criticised the management for not accepting their ‘legitimate’ demands.

The demands of the agitating employees included no voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), immediate repatriation of ITS non-optees and handing over charges to the absorbed executives, immediate payment of bonus, restoration of medical allowance, leave encashment and LTC, 78.2 per cent IDA fixation instead of 68.8 per cent, immediate procurement and supply of equipment, including GSM, BB Modem, cables, trans SMS, MLLN etc and implementation of important business projects like ERP, NGN and Transmission NMS.

The also demanded compensation for the loss making rural services according to policy commitment, pension contribution to DOT only on the basis of actual pay instead of the maximum of pay scale, refund of Rs 8,313 crore paid towards non-standard BWA spectrum band already surrendered by the BSNL, immediate cancellation of licences of private operators who are illegally providing 3G services without 3G spectrum allocation, quantifying of access deficit charges (ADC) through adequate and appropriate mechanism paid to BSNL, reimbursement of license fee to BSNL as assured at the time of corporatisation, refund of the notional loan of Rs 7,500 crore with interest collected by DOT from the BSNL and discontinuing all telecom advisory committees.

The office-bearers of the association and the unions, including Manohar Lal, district secretary, BSNLEU, Tara Singh, district secretary, SNEA and others were present at the site of the dharna.

Bathinda, December 15
People in Paras Ram Nagar are full of stories of valour of the 21-year-old sepoy, Sandeep Singh, a martyr, who died fighting for his nation during the Kargil war. The son of an ex-serviceman, Ratha Singh, who has served in the Army for five years and fought in the 1965 Indo-Pak war in the Khemkaran sector, Sandeep joined the 20 Sikh unit during a recruitment drive at Kapurthala in 1997.

Ratha Singh always wanted Sandeep to be a police officer. "But the mannerism of police personnel did not impress him. He always wanted to be a decorated Army personnel - immaculate and elegant," reminisces Ratha. Sandeep always looked upon his uncle Subedar Gurdayal Singh and his father Ratha Singh as his source of inspiration.

He used to appear in the Army recruitment camps frequently without informing his family members. "He informed his family members about the armed forces only after he was selected for it at the Kapurthala recruitment camp in 1997," remembers Ratha.

Such was his love for his country that in a letter, written from his base camp at Poonch, to his friend Gurjant Singh, on July 11, 1999, Sandeep had written, "I can sacrifice my life for the sake of my country." During the 13-hour long firing at Poonch, Sandeep attained martyrdom on August 2, 1999, fulfilling the promise that he had made.

After Sandeep left, things changed. His sister was given a government job and an NGO came up in his memory. The Paras Ram Nagar government school has been named after him and a gun-toting statue of Sandeep stands at the roundabout at Paras Ram Nagar.

"Had my son been alive today, I would have been a grandfather. But I am proud of my son, who continues to live long even after being gone, a feat not possible for everyone to emulate," adds Ratha.

Ratha Singh is also unhappy with the treatment given to the park set up in Sandeep's memory. In 1999, a resident of Paras Ram Nagar donated around 1000 yards of land for setting up park, which bore the name of Sandeep mentioning his contribution.

However, three year ago, the municipal corporation constructed a water tank in the same park. "The water tank was needed for the people. But at the same time, the board bearing Sandeep's name and information about him, has gone missing. This is how the martyrs are treated here," he lamented.

Bathinda avidly remembers not only Sandeep Singh, but even squadron leader Ajay Ahuja from the Indian Air Force (IAF) who was killed on May 27, 1999 during the Kargil war. Ajay Ahuja was posted at the Bhisiana Air Field and was the first casualty in the Kargil war.

Later, Ahuja's wife Alka and son Ankush shifted near Delhi to live with Ahuja's parents. Though Bathinda city does not have a memorial commemorating the martyrdom of Ajay Ahuja, he continues to live in the memories of the people here.

Bathinda, December 15
Instructions have been issued to tabulate the religious encroachments on government land and government property in the district. In his letter to various district officials, Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav has mentioned that proformas have been sent to all the government offices to collect information and report at the earliest.

Letters issued to the SDMs of Rampura, Bathinda and Talwandi Sabo, Deputy Director, Local Bodies, Bathinda, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, Estate Officer, BDA, executive officers of Maur, Sangat, Raman and Talwandi Sabo civic bodies, District Education Officer (Secondary) and block development and panchayat officer state that during a meeting conducted under the Chief Secretary, Punjab, on March 1 this year at Chandigarh, it was decided that information be collected through the proformas provided.

The exercise is an integral part of the proceedings of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha cabinet sub-committee for regularization formulated to look into religious encroachments on government land and property. On the basis of the report received from the respective district headquarters, the committee would decide whether these encroachments would be dismantled or regularized. "The basic aim of the committee is to clear the cases in case the government bows out of office on the completion of its term," said the district officials.

Following the orders of the Supreme Court, the Chief Secretary, Punjab, had filed an affidavit before the court informing it about the religious encroachments in the state. On September 13 this year, the Supreme Court directed all the district magistrates that they should send a quarterly report about the religious encroachments for their removal, regularisation and relocation to the Chief Secretary, Punjab.

They were also asked to ensure that in future, no government land or property is encroached upon by any religious organisation. On the basis of the information collected, the Chief Secretary will again file an affidavit about the status of encroachments before the Supreme Court.

In many cases, the encroachments identified in Bathinda are fractional. For instance, an encroachment identified at village Maur Khurd mentions the presence of two religious structures near the government school building. "This cannot be termed as an encroachment as the religious structures share the boundary wall with that of a school. A double passage has been constructed that leads to the school as well as the religious buildings," said District Education Officer (Secondary) Harbans Singh Sandhu.

Besides Maur Khurd, four other schools with a similar pattern have been identified.

Bathinda, December 15
The cold wave conditions which have been developing in the region for the last four days intensified on Thursday as the plummeting mercury took another dip to settle at 2.6 degrees Celsius, recording the lowest temperature of the season so far.

The day’s high was 21.2 degrees Celsius, as per the Agro-met department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda.

Mercury almost repeated its yesterday’s behaviour. The highest temperature recorded on Wednesday was 21.4 degrees Celsius while the day’s low was 4 degrees Celsius.

The mood of mercury which changed at the beginning of the week bringing nip in the air as mercury adopting southern path dipped to reach below the normal temperature. Before the week, the region had been witnessing mercury hovering well above the normal.

The weatherman had predicted that the winter though delayed would likely stay with a possibility of shallow fog/mist in isolated places in the region.

The region has been a witness to the vagaries of weather as the winter in this season was delayed for about 15 days. Only on Monday, the characteristic winter of December’s second week, announced its arrival with mercury taking an abrupt dip on Sunday last and another one on Monday last to settle below the normal. It may be recalled that temperature on Monday last was 3.6 degrees Celsius.

The dip in temperature was termed beneficial for the wheat growers as conducive conditions cropped up for tillering or branching of wheat crops. However, if the mercury plummets further to one degree Celsius and causes frost like conditions, worry on the faces of the potato growers may appear.

Bathinda, December 15
Due to the pen-down strike by the medical laboratory technicians for four consecutive days, the biochemistry laboratory and the haematology laboratory, situated in the new OPD block of the Civil Hospital here, have been suffering financial losses worth about Rs 30,000 daily.

According to the official information at both the laboratories, over 1,500 tests are conducted daily but since December 12 no test has been conducted in these laboratories as both the laboratories remained locked due to the strike.

Further, the patients have also not been getting medicines from the dispensary at the Civil Hospital here as the pharmacists are on mass leave since December 12. As per the information, before the mass leave agitation, the patients were getting medicines worth about Rs 5,000 daily. Thus, the poor patients are the worst sufferers. Meanwhile, the dharnas by the pharmacists and the laboratory technicians on the premises of the Civil Hospital here today entered its fourth day in support of their respective demands. Besides other demands, both categories are demanding hike in the grade pay and re-designation for their posts.

The pharmacists held dharna under the leadership of the district president of the association Ravinder Goyal.

The pharmacists today also took out a protest march from the Civil Hospital to the Mini-secretariat, raising slogans against the state government and in favour of their demands. They also burnt the effigy of the Punjab Government in protest against non-acceptance of their demands by the state government so far. These days the pharmacists are on mass leave and they would remain on mass leave till December 17.

The pharmacists are demanding a pay-scale of Rs 10,300-34,800 with a grade pay of Rs 4,800 for pharmacist, Rs 15,600-39,100 with Rs 5,400 grade pay for the chief pharmacist-grade II and Rs 15,600-39,100 with Rs 6,600 grade pay for the chief pharmacist grade-I, 25 per cent of the basic pay as non-dispensing allowance, Rs 500 per month as academic allowance and Rs 1,000 per month as patient care allowance.

The pharmacists said, “In case our demands are not fulfilled at the Cabinet meeting to be held on December 17, we would further intensify our agitation.” Likewise, the district general secretary of the Medical Laboratory Technicians Association Resham Singh Jalal also said they would continue the agitation until their demands are accepted.

Bathinda, December 15
In protest against the non-acceptance of their demands by the state government the draughtsmen, working in various government departments, today extended their mass leave for two days more (December 15 and December 16). In the beginning the draughtsmen had gone on mass leave from December 7 to December 9 and later for three days more from December 12 to December 14.

The draughtsmen, belonging to Bathinda and Mansa districts, today staged a dharna under the leadership of district president Baljit Singh Virk outside the Mini-secretariat here.

They also raised slogans in support of their demands. The speakers also urged the state government to accept and implement their demands at the earliest.

A senior leader of the association Jagroop Singh said that at a meeting, held between the association and the Cabinet sub-committee at Chandigarh yesterday, it had been assured to the association that the demands of the draughtsmen cadre would be discussed at the Cabinet meeting, to be held on December 17.

He asked the government to clear their demands in the Cabinet meeting without any delay so that they could get justice, especially in the pay parity with the junior engineers.

Virk said in case the state government did not accept the demands of the draughtsmen cadre at the Cabinet meeting then the draughtsmen from Punjab, Haryana and Union territory of Chandigarh would be forced to chalk out a decisive agitation.

He said there was a great resentment among the draughtsmen as the state government had hiked the grade pay of the junior engineer from Rs 3800 to 4800 whereas the grade pay of the draughtsman had not been revised to maintain the parity with the junior engineer.

Other main demands of the draughtsmen are: revival of three percent SDO quota for circle head draughtsman, conveyance allowance, and special allowance.

Among others who were present or spoke on the occasion included Baljit Singh Virk, district general secretary Kuldip Singh, Paramjit Kaur (Mansa), Balwinder Singh, Amrit Lal, Rupinder Singh and Mohinder Singh.

Bathinda, December 15
The district police claimed to have busted a gang of vehicle lifters, that was allegedly involved in selling the vehicles after stealing the same from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh etc.

The gang was also allegedly involved in preparing fake RCs (Registration Certificates) of the vehicles in connivance with the staff of office of the district transport officers of two districts, including Bathinda.

A case under Sections 379, 411, 420, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC has been registered against them at the Talwandi Sabo police station.

The police has recovered 13 vehicles (seven Ballero, four Alto, one Swift, one Zen) from the arrested persons. The cost of the recovered vehicles is said to be about 53 lakh. Stating this here today the superintendent of police (Detective) Sukhdev Singh Chahal further said the police had arrested two members of the gang, Gurpreet Singh and Palwinder Singh while the master-mind of the gang Gurbaz Singh and Amritpal were still out of the reach of the police. He said after the arrest of Amritpal the names of the persons, belonging to the offices of the district transport officers, would come to light.

The SP said they had got the remand of the two alleged accused from the court. He said during interrogation the arrested accused had told the police about 11 vehicles which were recovered later while two vehicles were recovered from them at the time of their arrest.

He said during interrogation Gurpreet and Palwinder had confessed that the recovered vehicles had been given to them by Gurbaz Singh by stealing the same from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Delhi etc.

He further said that Amritpal (Talwandi Sabo), who worked as an agent for getting new RCs prepared, was involved in preparing fake registrations of the stolen vehicles.

And later he got the entries of these fake registrations in the records of the DTO offices in connivance with the staff of the DTO offices, the SP added.

Bathinda, December 15
The Bathinda chapter of the Art of Living, is organising a youth concert, "Rock the Spirit", the first of its kind in Punjab at the lawns of the Civil Lines Club, on Sunday, December 25, from 5 pm to 8 pm.

The concert shall comprise a new generation live electronic music performance based on spiritual lyrics and chants by young, AOL singer and guitarist Namita Malik.

The playful and dynamic music will make the youth and those present dance followed by moments of stillness and meditation. It shall create a beautiful experience of connection to the self. The concert is another endeavor by the Art of Living towards a stress and violence free society.

A gathering of over 500 people is expected at the event the proceeds of which will go to the drug de-addiction project being carried out in Bathinda by the foundation. 

Bathinda, December 15
An essay writing competition was held at the MHR Senior Secondary School for the students of classes IX and XII. District Science Supervisor HS Mann said around 50 students participated in the competition.

The topic of the essay writing contest was ‘Parliamentary democracy: gateway to good governance’.

District Education Officer (Secondary) HS Sandhu said the first five students would compete at the state-level competition. Those who secure first, second and third position, respectively, at the state-level would be honoured by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Parliament House, New Delhi.

The essays written in English would appear in the English national newspapers and those written in Punjabi would appear in a leading Punjabi newspaper.

The essays written would be adjudged on the parameters of research, accuracy, creativity, organisation and spelling.