Bathinda, February 13
The agriculture experts at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Bathinda, today said the level of nitrate in groundwater is on the rise due to lack of awareness among farmers over its use in the agricultural fields.

Associate director of KVK, Dr Jagdish Grover and Dr Amritpal Singh Brar, associate professor of agronomy, said the level of nitrate in groundwater is a matter of serious concern.

The issue was discussed in the second Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) for the year 2011-12 on February 8.

The meeting was also attended by four progressive farmers and the heads of all the allied agriculture departments including dairy, fishery and others.

Dr Amritpal Brar said the excessive use of nitrogen by the farmers is affecting the health of the people.

"Nitrogen, which is used unscientifically by most farmers, especially in the Malwa area, percolates down and gets mixed with the groundwater. The use of such water for human health is dangerous which may lead to diseases like cancer and other deadly ailments," he said.

The advice of the doctors regarding the use of boiled water for newborn babies helps in reducing the risk of nitrate intake, he said.

He pointed out that as per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the nitrate level in water should be 40 parts per million (ppn). However, in areas like Bathinda, it even crosses 660 ppm.

The experts said the farmers use fertilisers, water and other inputs in agriculture excessively despite the various awareness programmes.

"Most of the farmers are not ready to change and continue to make excessive use of the nitrate and other such things despite the awareness programmes," said the KVK officials.

He said that the 30 officials participating in the meeting were urged to created awareness among the farming community to use modern technology to get rid of the extreme use of medicines and water. A tensiometer, a small device, if installed in a farm, could help farmers in ascertaining the requirement of water in a field.

"The tensiometer with red, yellow and green colours alert farmers on the use of water. If it shows green colour, then there is no requirement of water. If it shows yellow, then the farmer should get ready to water the field and it should not show the red colour which shows acute requirement of water," the officials said. The use of tensiometer may save up to 30 per cent water. Similar is the use of the colour leaf chart which helps farmers in the judicious use of nitrogen and other insecticides/pesticides.

The officials said that not even one per cent of the farmers are using any such modern techniques to get rid of the excessive use of the material used in the field. The excessive use also creates holes in the pocket of farmers, they said.

The unmindful burning of paddy stubble by a large number of farmers in the area too was discussed during the meeting. 

Bathinda, February 13
There seems to have been no let up in the incidents of crime in the city. Following vandalising of a shop in broad daylight yesterday, some unscrupulous elements allegedly tried to loot a house late last night in Telian Wala Mohalla at the rear of the Bathinda fort.

The attackers scaled the wall of the house and got the doors opened forcefully. They injured the owner of the house, Raj Kumar, who is undergoing treatment at the local Civil Hospital since last night.

Rakesh Kumar, the brother of the injured, while talking to TNS, said the family deals in supplying readymade garments.

"While I am on rest after receiving injuries in an accident around one and half years ago, my brother used to do most of the work related to business and household," Rakesh said.

Narrating the harrowing last night tale, he said a youth, who appeared to be in an inebriated condition, first attacked his brother using an iron rod and then three or four more youths appeared and joined him. They fled from the house with some cash and jewellery after some neighbours arrived for help.

"My brother was rushed to the hospital with severe head injuries inflicted by the attackers while the other family members tried to trace the attackers at night but failed. We brought the matter to the notice of police today in the morning and our statements were recorded in the afternoon," Rakesh said.

Kotwali SHO Jagdeesh Lal said the police are verifying the facts and preliminary investigations reveal that the injured used to sell drugs and the attackers too are addicts.

"The alleged attackers had come to purchase the drugs from the victim who refused saying that he had discontinued selling drugs. Following this, heated arguments ensued and the youths beat him," the SHO said.

He said there seemed to be no truth in the claims of looting jewellery and cash using a pistol.

The investigating officer is recording the statements after which the registration of case would be decided by the police.

Investigating Officer (IO) Balkar Singh, when contacted, said the injured seems to be an addict and those attacked too are said to be smack addicts. The injured man named one "Prince of Bathinda" behind the attacks.

"Prince however is undergoing treatment at a local hospital and is unable to walk with the glucose and urine pipes administered by the doctors", the IO said.

“We will go into the depth of the incident after which a case would be registered,” said the investigating officer. 

Bathinda, February 13
In an irony, an elderly farmer died today engulfed by flames in his sleep even as his family members failed to notice his presence in the house during a fire that broke out there.

The body of the man was found today in the morning.

The incident took place at Balluana village on the Bathinda-Goniana road in the house of 60-year-old Naib Singh.

Volunteers of the NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa said that the elderly farmer had gone to water his fields and then after returning, slept in one of the rooms of the house where cotton stalks and other material was stored which caught fire.

The farmer failed to get up after the fire broke out and his badly charred body was recovered in the morning.

Police officials said that unmindful of the presence of the elderly man in the room which caught fire, the family members thought that he might have slept at the farm house.

The roof of the house collapsed following the fire and when the elderly did not returned even in the morning, they searched for his body in the room.

It was later extricated with the help of the villagers.

Police officials and volunteers of the NGO reached the house and shifted the body to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

A case in this connection was registered at Balluana police station. Police is investigating the matter.

Incidents of such fire had been reported from the city also in the past with its attendant casualties. 

Bathinda, February 13
Guru Hargobind Singh Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat, is leading its older counterpart Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, in fly ash utilization.

While the Lehra Mohabbat plant has utilized 97 per cent of its fly ash for 2011-12 (till January), the Bathinda plant has used a mere 58 per cent during the same time period.

A glance at data for the last three years reveals that the Lehra Mohabbat plant has increased its fly ash consumption, while the Bathinda plant has registered a decline.

Sources said that since the Lehra Mohabbat plant is equipped with newer equipment and machinery, the fly ash produced is of much better quality (less coarse) than that produced from the aged Bathinda thermal power plant. Fly ash produced from Lehra Mohabbat has very less unwanted carbon content.

A major byproduct of thermal units, the fly ash is extensively used in cement and brick manufacturing industry. While fly ash is used for commercial purposes, the wet ash is collected in dykes.

Four major cement units including Ultra Tech Cement, ACC cement, Ambuja cement and Binana cement plants use fly ash from the Lehra Mohabbat plant at the rate of Rs 315 per tonne, excluding different taxes imposed.

Ultra Tech and Ambuja also buy fly ash from the Bathinda plant wherein Ambuja takes 25,000 tonnes every month.

Not only the cement industry big-wigs, but small-scale cement industry also buys fly ash from Lehra Mohabbat as well as Bathinda thermal plant.

Twenty firms take fly ash from Lehra Mohabbat, which has been allocated from the office of the Director, Fly Ash Management, Patiala.

"These firms mainly include brick manufacturing firms that are given the allocated lot at the rate of Rs 125 per tonnes. When these industries exhaust the allocated supply, they are charged Rs 315 per tonne," said the officials at Lehra Mohabbat plant.

The officials at Bathinda thermal plant said that fly ash is in great demand by the brick manufacturers who devise Fal-G technology to make bricks. "This technology works with the combined strength of fly ash, lime and gypsum and is known to produce much stronger bricks than the usual ones," added another officer.

Meanwhile, chief engineer Harinderpal Singh Sandhu said that fly ash consumption is less from Bathinda as many factors, including pollution emitted from the plant, is to be monitored.

"We have sent a proposal to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), proposing pressure conveying system for the ash clearance system. If our proposal is accepted, we will modify the procedure that would lead to more consumption of ash," he added.

Bathinda, February 13
It may sound strange but it is true that as many as 75 per cent posts of the Ayurvedic Medical Officer (AMO) have been lying vacant in the Bathinda district nowadays, putting an adverse affect on the functioning of many Ayurvedic dispensaries of the district.

According to information there are 28 posts of the AMO in the district, of which 21 have been lying vacant on account of one ground or the other. However, at present only six AMOs and a senior physician are working in the district, including two at the Government Ayurvedic Hospital (Backside Government Rajindra College) at Bathinda and two at the Swasthaya Kendra, Maur.

Besides, the post of the District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer has also been lying vacant. Due to this, Dr Satish Jindal, a senior Physician in the district, has been working as officiating District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer for the past some months.

Not only these posts, even eight posts (out of 28) of the Up Vaids (Pharmacists) are also vacant in the district these days. Besides, 10 posts of the trained dais have also been lying vacant in the district. The hospital and dispensaries have also been facing shortage of medicines in the district.

Besides district Ayurvedic hospital at Bathinda and the Swasthaya Kendra at Maur, there are several Ayurvedic dispensaries in the district, situated in the villages and towns including Rampura, Raman, Kotfatta, BSS Dharamshala (Ajit Road, Bathinda), Amarpura Basti (Bathinda), Chak Kharak Singh, Mehma Sarja, Daan Singh Wala, Maur Charat Singh, Kuttiwal, Golewal, Sheikhpura, Bhagi wander, Chanarthal, Nandgarh, Pathrala, Bhagwanpura, Rae Ke Kalan, Nathpura, Dayalpur Mirza, Kotha Guru and Ali Ke.

When contacted Dr Satish Jindal said the selection of 136 AMOs had already been done, but due to a stay by the High Court, none of them could be appointed so far. Regarding shortage of medicines in the dispensaries and the hospital, Dr Jindal attributed the shortage to the closure of Government Ayurvedic Pharmacy at Patiala for the past about six months. He said, however, there were no funds for the local purchase of medicines.

The office of the District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer has also not its own building, due to which it is being run from the building of Government Ayurvedic Hospital here for the past about three years. Earlier, the office was housed in a rented building in Mehna Chowk area here. 

Bathinda, February 13
The demand for the “proper and safe conveyance” of mails between Bathinda Railway Mail Service (RMS) and Bathinda Head Post Office has come to fore again following the recent mishap that occurred on railway tracks involving a goods train and a hand truck of the RMS.

A hand truck of the Bathinda RMS turned into scrap on Thursday evening when a goods train hit it near the parcel office at Bathinda station.

It may be mentioned that the incident had occurred when staff of the Head Post Office, Bathinda was pulling the hand truck loaded with bags of mail to deliver the same at the RMS office situated at the platform no. 6 at the station. During the transportation, the wheels of the hand truck were stuck in the railway tracks and in the meantime a goods train that was being shunted hit the hand truck, causing irreparable damage to the hand truck. Fortunately, the postal staff had escaped unhurt and mails were also not destroyed.

Claiming that the practice for conveyance of mails between Bathinda RMS and Bathinda HO was unsafe, the Group-D staff of the postal department here said that the recent incident proved that their demand was genuine.

Pleading anonymity, the G-D staff said that they had been making the higher authorities aware about their problems for the last several years but nothing had happened so far. “As if the department is waiting for some major mishap to occur before taking some step,” postal staff alleged.

Sources in the postal department said the All India Postal Employee Union, Postman & G-D, Bathinda had put the matter before the higher authorities concerned several times. And the matter has been cropping up at meetings of Union.

Demanding “proper and safe” arrangement, the staff said they had been demanding engaging of Group-D of the RMS for conveyance of mails between Bathinda RMS and Bathinda HO or shifting the RMS somewhere at the station so the practice of crossing the trail could be avoided.

“The on-going system of delivering the mails at RMS Bathinda is prone to mishap,” claimed the staff while explaining the present practice.

“An employee of the Bathinda HO alone pulls a hand truck loaded with bags of mails to deliver the same at the RMS which is situated at the platform no. 6 at the Bathinda station,” said sources, adding that, “In the process, the staff crosses railway tracks amid train movement that exposes the staff to accident.”

“The recent incident is proof of that,” said the staff urging the department to take the step to put an end to the dangerous practice.

Bathinda, February 13
Thirty-three schools in district have been declared defaulters for not depositing the details of expenses incurred for the month of December.

The district education officer (secondary) has issued a list of 33 government schools and directed them to bring along the details of expenses during the monthly meeting of education department convened on February 14 at Teachers’ Home.

The 33 defaulters include schools at Behman Diwana, Bhucho Kalan, Bhodipur, Deon, Dhadde, Goniana (girls), Gulabgarh, Jodhpur Pakhar, Kotshamir, Meha Sarja, Mehraj (girls), Maluka (boys), Nathana (boys), Rampura (girls), Ramnagar, Sivian, Selbrah, Salabatpura, Virk Kalan, Burj Mehma, Bandi, Bhaini Mehraj, Chugge Khurd, Harraipur, Jodhpur Romana, Jai Singh Wala, Kotha Guru (girls), Kamalu Sawacih, Kalal Wala, Khiali Wala, Lehra Dhurkot, Sandoha and Teona.

Bathinda, February 13
The sports club of Guru Ram Das Institute of Engineering and Technology (GRDIET), Lehra Bega, prayed for the speedy recovery of cricketer Yuvraj Singh. The president of the club said it was unfortunate that Yuvraj was now battling cancer.

The club prayed for the recovery of Yuvraj and urged the state government to do all it can to ensure that the cricketer is back in the pink of health. 

Bathinda, February 13
Under the Eye Donation Awareness Week campaign, the Bathinda Vikas Manch organised an eye donation awareness programme in Beant Nagar here.

President of the Manch Rakesh Narula said the Manch was organising eye donation awareness programmes at different places to make this drive a mass movement.

He said there were 1.50 crore visually impaired persons in the country, of them 18 lakh could be provided eye sight by transplanting cornea in their eyes.

Narula also appealed to the people to fill the eye donation pledge forms in maximum numbers to provide eye sight to the visually impaired persons.

He said in India every year about 40,000 operations were being conducted to transplant cornea while the need was about one lakh such operations.

So maximum number of people should come forward to donate their eyes, he added.

On the occasion, about 30 persons filled the forms to donate their eyes. 

Bathinda, February 13
The class X students of St. Kabir Senior Secondary School were given a farewell by the class IX students. A colourful cultural programme was also organized on the occasion in which songs and dances were presented.

A song in the memory of the school's founder principal Sudha Arora was also presented. Managing director of the school ML Arora and principal Anju Dogra exorted the students to focus on studies and the all-round development of their personality.