Bathinda, December 22
Once more, the patients, especially the poor, will suffer a lot even their compulsory laboratory tests will not be conducted in the hospitals and the health centres during the next two days as the medical laboratory technicians have decided to go on pen-down strike on December 23 and 24. Besides, the technicians will also not carry out emergency services, like work at the blood bank, during these two days.

Earlier, the laboratory technicians had observed pen-down strike from December 12 to 17 and resumed their duties only on December 19.

In the light of the pen-down strike by the medical laboratory technicians, the biochemistry and the haematology laboratories, situated in the new OPD block at the Civil Hospital here, will also reportedly remain closed. It may be recalled that hundreds of tests are conducted at both these laboratories on all working days. Due to the closure of these two laboratories, the hospital will also suffer a loss of about Rs 30,000 daily.

District general secretary of the medical laboratory Technicians Association, Resham Singh Jalal, said that despite observing pen-down strike for a week and giving assurances to them on accepting their demands, the government had been adopting an indifferent attitude.

He said though the Chief Minister, cabinet sub-committee, Health Secretary, and the Director, Health Services, had already accepted their demands and given assurances, nothing had been done to implement their demands so far.

He said in case their demands were not met by December 24, the medical laboratory technicians from all parts of the state would go to Gidderbaha on December 25 where a state-level rally would be held and an effigy of the state government would be burnt there.

The demands of the medical laboratory technicians include Rs 4,200 as grade pay for grade-II laboratory technician, Rs 5,400 as grade pay for grade-I laboratory technicians and Rs 6,600 as grade pay for senior laboratory technician, removal of disparity in pay scales, rent free accommodation, risk allowance and regularisation of services of contractual laboratory technicians.

Bathinda, December 22
Equipped with a degree and nowhere to go — that's the common fate of students who pass out of Bathinda's colleges. With a lack of concrete placement drives, the final year students across the city colleges scramble to find jobs on their own.

Blame it on the city's profile or its geographical location, but it is the reality that stares these students in the face. But relief seems to be in sight. While there are only a countable few colleges that have active placement cells in their colleges, other colleges are also slowly waking up to the importance of campus placements.

Aiming to provide the students a smooth path to enter the booming job market, campus placements bring the companies and the aspirants on a common platform.

The drive gives opportunities to the companies to interact with talented and motivated students.

According to the figures released by The National Association of Software and Services Compaies (NASSCOM), India's IT industry plans to recruit nearly 2.5 lakh engineering graduates from various campuses. In the year 2010-11, Infosys made offers to 1000 non-engineering graduates across various campuses in India. Apart from the country's IT companies, global players like IBM, Accenture and Hewlett-Packard also plan to recruit through campus placements in India. No prize for guessing how many of these companies will come to Bathinda's colleges.

"The concept of campus placements is pretty new to the city," said Prof Ashok Singh Mittal, who takes care of the placement cell at the Government Rajindra College.

"We also started the cell last year only. Till now, students used to think that finding a job after college was their own headache. But now, the interest in campus placements is increasing. Last year, 36 students had got jobs through campus placements. Six girls had also been chosen as airhostesses. This year, we had a placement session in September during which 19 students were placed. We plan to revive the drive in February next year," he added.

Prof Sanjeev Agarwal, who looks after the training and placement cell of Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, told Bathinda Tribune, "The problem with Bathinda's colleges is their geographical location. Since the city is at some distance from cities like Chandigarh and Ludhiana, companies are not aware that good engineering and technology colleges also exist in Bathinda.

“We have been working towards campus placements for many years now and send letters and invitations to companies and some of them respond as well. Since September this year, 25 students have been placed with different companies."

Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology has also established a training and placement cell that grooms its students to be at par with the expectations of the companies visiting the campus.

The college has tie-ups with many IT companies and also occasionally calls in experts to give comprehensive training to its students.

Bathinda, December 22
The court of sessions judge, SK Aggarwal today sentenced four people to five years of rigorous imprisonment for attempt to murder.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 failing which the accused have to undergo five months of further imprisonment.

The accused, Rakesh Singh, Rajinder Singh and Ramandeep Singh, all residents of Har Rai Pur village and Binder Singh of Goniana Khurd, were booked under sections 307, 148 and 149 of the IPC at Nehianwala police station in August 2010.

In his complaint, Surjit Singh of Goniana Khurd had alleged that seven of the accused had fired gun shots at him over a property dispute. Surjit, along with Jagmit Singh and Avtar Singh, received injuries in the firing and were admitted to a local hospital.

Gurdev Singh Sodhi, counsel of the complainant, said the complainant and the accused had purchased a piece of land from some women in the village.

The accused entered into a clash with the complainant in a bid to encroach upon more land than they had purchased.

He said that the splinters from the bullet fired by the accused are still embedded in the bodies of the complainants. Sodhi pointed out that the police did not initiate strong action in this regard and it failed to recover the weapon and vehicles used in the crime.

Three of the seven accused were acquitted in the case.

Bathinda, December 22
The biting cold wave has spelt boom time for the sellers of woollens in the city. With an increasing dip in the temperature, people are queuing up to buy more and more woollens to keep themselves warm and beat the chill.

Confirming that the drop in temperature in the last ten days has given a boost to his business, Ram Charan Sharma, owner of a retail store at Mall Road, told Bathinda Tribune, "In the past week, the demand for woollens has increased manifold. Jackets and long coats are more in demand."

As the shun shines, the market places can be seen bustling with people, thronging stores selling woollens. "In the last two days only, I have done sales worth Rs 30,000. As the fog set in, everyone expected the weather to get even colder and scurried to buy more woollens to be warm. The sale will increase for a few more days and will be stable after that," said the owner of a factory outlet of a major apparel brand on Mall Road.

As had reported earlier, the Christmas and New Year sales have also proved to be alluring to the buyers. "The chill in the air, coupled with the discounts being offered by various brands, made me shop for woollens and warmers for my children," said Anjana Sakhuja, a customer at one of the stores in Dhobi Bazaar.

Apart from the booming sales of woollens, the weather has also increased the sale of quilts and blankets. "This week, I sold more quilts than were sold in the entire month," said Rabnoor Singh, owner of a shop in Dhobi Bazaar.

Interestingly, the chill is also keeping the customers away from the markets in the evening. "While the market is quite crowded during the daytime, as the sun sets, the crowd thins out," said a shop owner.

Bathinda, December 22
Respite from the chill and a blind beginning to the day on account of the fog was thwarted again on Thursday morning when biting cold wave coupled with a blanket of fog greeted residents of the city as mercury took a U-turn towards the south.

The mercury touched the lowest temperature of the season so far, i.e. 2.2 degrees Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda. The day's high was 18.4 degrees Celsius, about 3.4 degrees up from yesterday.

Residents got up to a hazy start for the second consecutive day as dense fog engulfing the region paralysing the normal life. Traffic on the roads was affected while trains touching Bathinda station remained affected during the period.

The improvement began at around 10.30 am as sun rays succeeded in penetrating the veil of fog. Unlike in the past few days, the sun appeared brightly today making the mercury move northward in the afternoon.

Bathinda, December 22
The multi-purpose health employees (male and female) today went on mass leave for three days beginning today. They are protesting against the state government for not accepting their demands.

Due to the mass leave, the health-related services being provided by the multi-purpose health workers will be affected adversely. These services include immunisation of expecting women, issuance of birth and death certificates, different types of surveys relating to diseases, care of mother and child, preparation of slides for malaria tests etc.

Members of the district unit of the Multi-purpose Health Employees Union, led by district president Gagandeep Singh, staged a dharna near the Blood Bank at the Civil Hospital here today to compel the government to accept their demands, including hike in the grade pay of the multipurpose health workers and the supervisors.

The union leaders said at present, the multipurpose health workers were getting pay-scale of Rs 5,910- Rs 20,200 with grade pay of Rs 2,400 while they demand pay-scale of Rs 10,300 - Rs 34,800 with grade pay of Rs 3,600. Likewise, they demanded pay-scale of Rs 10,300 - Rs 34,800 with grade pay of Rs 4,600 for multipurpose health supervisors.

They also said the state government was doing injustice to them by not giving them the pay-scales that they were demanding. They said they would not tolerate this and would not even hesitate to intensify their stir.

They also said though the government was considering their posts as technical their pay-scales had been low even than that of unskilled persons.

They also said they were not being given risk allowance even as they performed several such works.

Gagandeep said a meeting of the state body of the union would be held on December 24 at Ludhiana to chalk out the further course of agitation in case the government did not fulfill their demands by then.

The dharna was addressed among others by district president Gagandeep Singh, general secretary Karamjit Singh treasurer Jaswinder Sharma, district president of Multi-purpose Health Workers (Female) Union Gurnam Kaur, and a sanitary inspector Harjit Singh.

Bathinda, December 22
Irked due to no positive response from the state government towards their demands so far, pharmacists, led by co-convener of the Sangharsh Committee Punjab State Pharmacists Association Swaranjit Singh, blocked the vehicular traffic on the main road in front of the Civil Hospital here this afternoon.

The blockade caused inconvenience to people, especially the school children who either remained sitting in their auto-rickshaws or adopted long alternative routes to reach their homes. Besides, a number of vehicles were also seen parked on both sides of the road as the traffic blockade continued for about half an hour.

The protesters lifted the blockade only after tehsildar-cum-executive magistrate Avtar Singh Makkar reached the spot and appealed to them to end the protest. He told them that their demands were already on the agenda of the Punjab Cabinet, so they should wait till a decision was taken on their demands.

Earlier, while talking to TNS here, co-convener of the sangharsh committee Swaranjit Singh said that they met Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at Badal village today and apprised him of their demands.

They also told the Deputy CM that they held two meetings with the Chief Minister and three meetings with the Cabinet sub-committee, but to no avail so far. He said the Deputy CM had assured them that their demands would be discussed at the Cabinet meeting.

Protesting against non-acceptance of their demands, the pharmacists are on mass leave from December 12 due to which dispensary work in hospitals and health centres has been affecting adversely, as medicines are not being distributed among patients these days. The worst-affected are the poor patients, as they have now been buying medicines from the market.

After taking mass leave, the pharmacists also staged a dharna on the premises of the Civil Hospital here today.

Led by district president Ravinder Goyal, they also raised slogans against the government for not accepting their demands, including pay-scale of Rs 10,300 - Rs 34,800 with Rs 4,800 as grade pay for pharmacist, Rs 15,600 - Rs 39,100 with Rs 5,400 as grade pay for chief pharmacist grade II, Rs 15,600- Rs 39,100 with Rs 6,600 as grade pay for chief pharmacist grade I besides changing the designations of grade II chief pharmacist, grade I chief pharmacist and pharmacist to senior pharmacy officer, chief pharmacy officer and pharmacy officer, respectively.

Bathinda, December 22
Farmers, who were protesting after the death of an agitator in Jethuke village near Rampura Phul, called off their stir today following an assurance by the district administration.

District president of the BKU (Ugraha) Shingara Singh Mann said 55-year-old farmer Darshan Singh from Puhla village died while sitting on a farmers’ protest in Jethuke village on December 6.

Farmers and members of the BKU (Ekta-Ugraha) were demanding Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the deceased farmer, government job for one of his family members and waiving off his loan. They also sought an action against the health department officials who failed to administer required medicines to the ailing farmer.

Shingara Singh said the farmers had refused to take away the dead body of the farmer from the mortuary of the Civil Hospital at Bathinda and decided to launch an agitation for compensation. He said the SDM today pacified the farmers and said the Punjab Government was ready to accept the demands of the farmers, including Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family members of the deceased.

He said an enquiry would be conducted by the additional deputy commissioner to look into the complaints of the negligence by the health department officials while giving medication to the farmer.

It may be recalled that farmers had blocked the railway line at Jethuke railway station near on December 6. Amidst cold, farmers slept on the railway lines to get their demands fulfilled.

Bathinda, December 22
A seven-day-long National Social Service (NSS) camp started in Government Rajindra College in the city on Wednesday. As many as 200 students, both boys and girls, of the college are participating in the camp.

Talking about the camp, Prof Ashok Singh Mittal said, “It is an annual camp. The projects that are being undertaken by the volunteers during this camp include pruning of trees on the college campus and taking care of close to 600 trees that were planted last year. The campus, which is spread over 28 acres, will be cleaned and weeding will also be done by the volunteers. They will also clean the rooms of the college.”

The college has also called in experts from various fields to address these volunteers on issues like employment, self-employment, first aid, the RTI Act, AIDS etc.

Bathinda, December 22
A mother and her son have been booked by the police for beating up a resident of Rama village. On the complaint of Jasvir Singh, the police has registered a case against Satnam Singh and her mother Palo Kaur under Sections 323, 325 and 34 of the IPC.

In his complaint, Jasvir alleged that the mother-son duo beat him up following a scuffle. He alleged that the accused had broken an electricity wire of his house.

No arrests have been made in this regard so far.

Bathinda, December 22
The Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) won a 20-20 cricket match against the Central District Kookaburra Club, Queensland, Australia, played at Chandigarh on Wednesday.

The Australian team was on a 15-day tour in India to play seven matches. It played three matches each against the Himachal Pradesh Board and a Chandigarh club besides one against the BFGI team.

Batting first, the Australian team scored 121 runs in stipulated 20 overs. In reply, the BFGI achieved the target in 19.3 overs, winning the match by five wickets. Manil and Prince scored 42 and 25 runs, respectively, while Sonu took two wickets.

The Australian coach Scott Barret and captain O’ Connel appreciated Sonu for his fast bowling.

Captain of the BFGI team, Karan, gave the credit for the victory to the team’s hard work.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Managing Director, BFGI lauded the students for the “brilliant” performance.

BD Sharma, head, Career Guidance and Counselling, said that the team was going to Australia in February to play a three-match series against the Kookaburra Club.