A victim (top) shows the injury inflicted by honey bees at Rose Garden in Bathinda on Sunday evening; one of the several beehives at the Rose Garden. Tribune photos: Pawan Sharma

Fact file

Several beehives have come up at the Rose Garden which has been frequented by residents, including senior citizens, women and kids, of nearby places, everyday. There is also a children’s park in the Rose Garden.

Bathinda, March 4
Terming the ever-increasing rise in the price of essential commodities as unbearable, the pension holders in Bathinda have urged the railway minister to lend a helping hand to them by raising the concession limit given to the senior citizens in rail fare.

Urging the Rail Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who will table the rail budget in Parliament on March 14, to ponder over their request, the members of the Central Government Pensioners Welfare Association, Bathinda, said senior citizens above the age of 80 years should be allowed free rail travel. They should also be provided proper protection during the journey along with other rail passengers.

General secretary of the association, Ram Lal Garg, while highlighting the problems of senior citizens, demanded from the railway minister that the concession given to the senior citizens in rail fare should be raised from 40 to 50 per cent along with the permission to take along a caretaker on a similar concessional ticket.

Senior president of the association, BL Gupta, demanded permission for free travel to the senior citizens above the age of 80 years.

Ram Lal Garg, while explaining the problems being faced by the senior citizens at the Bathinda railway station, said it had became very difficult for the senior citizens to reach the platforms by crossing the foot over-bridge which is the only way.

Echoing similar sentiments, Jaswant Singh Sandhu, president, said the association had been demanding a direct approach to all the platforms through under-bridge and escalators.

Kharaiti Lal Kalra, vice-president, demanded the construction of toilets at each platforms and a separate booking window for senior citizens.

The members of the association also said that at present, there is not sufficient space for the passengers in the waiting room. More waiting rooms, particularly for senor citizens, should be constructed, the members said.

The pension holders also said that after the promotion of coolies to gangmen, there is an acute shortage of coolies at the Bathinda junction and the elderly have to face great difficulty in carrying their luggage across the platform and railway station. “The appointment of coolies at the station should be made without any further delay,” they said.

Bathinda, March 4
Under the ‘Balrri Rakshak Yojna’ of the Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department, the daughters of 52 couples in Bathinda district have been getting financial assistance to the tune of `500 per month each. The aid is being provided as their parents have adopted permanent sterilisation methods (tubectomy or vasectomy) after the birth of single girl child or two girl babies.

Besides, the cases of three more couples have also been passed a couple of days ago by the district health authorities here for providing the financial benefit under the scheme to their daughters.

Of these three couples, two have two daughters each while one couple has single daughter. Thus, there are now 55 couples (37 from general category and 18 from reserve category), in the district, whose daughters have been covered under the scheme since its inception in 2005.

According to information, among the 55 couples, 45 are such who have two daughters while the remaining 10 have one daughter each. As many as two couples had got the benefit in 2005-06, six each in 2006-07 and 2007-08, nine in 2008-09, 11 in 2009-10, 14 in 2010-11 and seven in the financial year 2011-12 (till now).

It is learnt that the Health Department provides a budget of `6,000 per girl to the district health authorities on an annual basis. The district authorities deposit the same in the bank or post office accounts of the girls. The benefit is granted to the girl from the date when one of her parents got himself or herself operated upon for tubectomy or vasectomy. The monthly financial assistance is deposited in the girl’s bank account or post office account till the age of 18 years.

The government had launched the scheme to improve the sex ratio, encourage birth of girls in the state, inspire eligible couples to adopt family planning methods on permanent basis, and reduce the infant mortality rate. Eligible couple means the age of the father should not be over 45 years while the mother’s age should not be over 40 years at the time of adoption of permanent sterilisation method. None of the girl’s parents should be an income tax payer.

March 4, Bathinda
Ever thought why you had a tough time removing the ‘pakka rang’ that your naughty neighbour threw on you last Holi? Remember getting wet on your way to office while you passed through a street and children aimed water balloons at you?

You must be all set to enjoy the festival of colours on March 8 and must have also planned how to play it. But it is time we planned about how not to play Holi.

MM Behl, convenor of the Joint Action Committee, has been playing Holi without water for the past three years. Giving him company in his noble endeavour are Panchwati Nagar Welfare Society president Janak Raj Garg and chairman Bhushan Agarwal.

“It was three years back that we came together and decided to play Holi without wasting any water. The area is anyway suffering from water shortage and the residents of the city should give thought to ways of water conservation. We play ‘Tilak Holi’, which is essentially dry Holi with the use of herbal colours. Herbal colours are easy to remove and one doesn’t have to take bath twice to remove the colours.”

Behl and his friends have been trying their best to make others aware to. “We send out mass messages and request people to play dry Holi and not waste water. We also go from door-to-door and tell people the benefits of playing dry Holi,” he adds.

‘Holi Ke Din Dil Mil Jaate Hain’, goes the ‘Sholay’ song. Interestingly, many youngsters these days take the festival as an opportunity to settle scores. Using pakka rang in the name of gulal, eggs, silver paint and grease to ‘enjoy’ the festival is not uncommon.

Elaborating on the problems that the use of the these non-gulal products bring about, skin specialist and Senior Medical Officer at the Women and Children Hospital, Bathinda, DR BS Gill says, “Every year, after Holi, many people come to us complaining of itching, skin irritation, redness and irritation in eyes. In severe cases, synthetic colours cause skin pigmentation.”

Talking about the precautions one may take to keep skin problems at bay, Dr Gill says, “As doctors, we would suggest playing Holi without much use of colours. But if that is unavoidable, the way out is to wash the colours off as soon as possible. That may reduce the hazardous effects of the synthetic and liquid colours.”

• Use gulaal that has natural colours or is made of dried and ground flowers.
• Before stepping out, generously apply oil to the skin that may be exposed to colours and your hair. This will prevent the colour from sticking to the skin.
• Use a bandana to cover your hair and glasses to save your eyes from the harmful colours.
• In case the colour gets into your eyes, rinse them with cold water. See an ophthalmologist if irritation persists.

• Stay away from paint, varnish, grease and synthetic colours as non-food grade dyes are used to make such colours.
• Be a good samaritan and conserve water by playing a dry Holi. If you must play with water, don’t throw all your guests into the same pool as this may cause infection.
• Don’t use gulaal that has mica (mirror-like particles). It can cut through human skin and cause permanent damage to eyes.

Bathinda, march 4
Three people travelling in a car were injured when their vehicle skided off the road on the Bathinda-Muktsar road at about 12.30 am on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

The passengers in the car, including Rajesh Kumar of Bathinda, Navin Singla and Paramjit Singh of Jagraon, were on their way to Bathinda when suddenly their car overturned.

Volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa rushed to the site of the accident and rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Meanwhile, in another development, a resident of Janta Nagar, who was travelling in a rickshaw, was hit by a car. In a road mishap on Bibiwala road, one Jasvir Singh was injured when his bike collided with a stray animal (roz) at night when he was on his way back to his village.

On the Bathinda-Badal road, the tyre of a tractor-trolley burst because of which two persons, Moku Singh and Rajvir Singh, residents of Jaisingh Wala, who were travelling in the vehicle, were injured.

The consistency with which road mishaps have been taking place in the city and its adjoining areas is alarming. Days back, a Powercom junior engineer was killed after being hit by a truck. Then, on Saturday, two youngsters riding a scooter were hit by an overspeeding car due to which they fell off their two-wheeler. One of them died after coming under the wheels of a heavy truck.

The incidents have underlined the need to ensure safety on the roads. Traffic police officials have time and again pointed out that people hardly bother to follow traffic rules on the roads and the present set of laws are ineffective in curbing recklessness on the roads.

While the union cabinet has approved tougher penalties for violation of traffic rules, its efficacy and deterrent effect will be put to test only after its actual implementation.

Bathinda, march 4
This seems to be the season of athletic meets. After Malwa College, SSD College for Women, Punjabi University’s Regional Centre and State Bank of Patiala, it is time for Government Rajindra College to host a sports meet on Monday.

Talking about the meet, Prof Surjit Singh of the college’s Physical Education department said, “As many as 250 students of the Government Rajindra College will take part in the sports meet, which will start at around 10 in the morning and will go on till afternoon.”

“The meet has track and field events for both male and female students. There are 100, 200, 400, 800 metre races in both the categories. Apart from these track events, the field events include tug-of-war, long jump and shot-put. Since it’s only a day-long sports meet, we couldn’t have managed any more number of events,” he further added.

He also shared the information that the chief guest for the occasion will be Dr RK Bangar, former principal of the college. The event will also have a march past and a Gatka show.

The meet will be organised at the ground next to the boys’ hostel.

Bathinda, march 4
On the occasion of ‘Baisakhi’ this year, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Dalit Sena will organise a “Gulami Torro, Apni Shakti Pachhano Rally”, dedicated to the birthday of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, at Talwandi Sabo. The rally will be addressed by national and state level leaders of the LJP and the Dalit Sena.

State president of the LJP, Kiranjit Singh Gehri, said the decision had been taken unanimously at a meeting of the office-bearers of various wings of the party and the Dalit Sena.

To activate the state level unit of the Dalit Sena, Gurcharan Singh Atwal had been appointed convener of the body and Mandir Singh Dhaliwal the co-convener. These appointments had been made in consultation with national president of the Dalit Sena Ram Chander Paswan, Gehri said.

Bathinda, march 4
Two blood donation camps were organised in Rai Ke Kalan village and Kotbhara village today. As many as 70 persons volunteered to donate blood at both the camps.

At the Rai Ke Kalan village, in assistance with a local NGO, United Welfare Society, a blood donation camp was organised by Shaheed Udham Singh Samaj Bhalai Sanstha and the Dashmesh Sports Club of the village.

At this camp, as many as 40 persons, including one woman, donated blood. A member of the Shaheed Udham Singh Samaj Bhalai Sanstha, Gursewak Singh, said they had been organising blood donation camps every year for the past four years.

Another camp was organised at Kotbhara village in assistance with the assistance of a local NGO, Naujwan Welfare Society, by the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Welfare Club at the Panchayat Ghar of the village. As many as 30 donors, including two women, donated blood at the camp.

On behalf of the District Red Cross Society mementoes were given to the donors in appreciation of their voluntary blood donation.

The teams of the local Blood Bank of the Civil Hospital collected the blood at both the camps.

Bathinda, march 4
Goods worth Rs 10,000 have been stolen from the kitchen of a government school.

In his complaint, Gurjhant Singh, head master of government elementary school, Chaoke, said on the intervening night of February 11 and 12, some unidentified persons took away some kitchen goods from the kitchen shed of the school.

A case under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at the Sadar Rampura police station.

No arrests have been made in this regard so far.

Bathinda, march 4
Staff of the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP), Bathinda, shone in the battle for top honours in the two-day sports carnival which concluded at the Civil Lines Club here today.

Be it carom or musical chairs, members of SBoP Bathinda displayed their sporting talent and bagged the top prizes by scoring over their counterparts from other branches of the Bathinda zone of SBoP, during the zonal sports meet.

In the musical chairs men’s group, Rakesh Jain of zonal office Bathinda defeated BS Makkar, also from zonal office Bathinda.

In the women’s group of musical chairs, Karn Singla of regional office, Bathinda beat Geeta Bansal also from regional office Bathinda to bag the crown.

In the women’s singles category of carom contest, Vandana of regional office Bathinda scored more points than Trishla Jain of zonal office, Bathinda.

In the women’s doubles of the same sport, Trishla Jain and Neelam Gupta of the Retail Asset and Small and Medium Enterprises Centralised Credit Cell (RASMECCC) Bathinda, defeated Sunita Ahuja of RASMECCC, Bathinda, and Neera of regional office, Bathinda.

In carom, men’s singles, Gopal of regional office, Bathinda emerged winner by defeating Hukum Chand Soni of Sriganganagar.

In carom men’s doubles, Kulbhushan of Mall Road, Bathinda branc and Mahinder of Jaito beat the pair of Narinder Sharma of regional office, Bathinda and Hukam Chand.

In the badminton women’s singles in the 35-45 age group, Vandana Narula of regional office, Bathinda won the title while Gurmeet Kaur of Bibiwala had to settle with the runner-up title.

In upto 35 age group, Akansha of regional office, Bathinda bagged the title by beating Sikha of zonal office, Bathinda.

In badminton men’s, upto 35 age group, Gopal of regional office, Bathinda clinched the title while the runner-up prize went to Ravinder Pal Singh of zonal office, Bathinda. In the age group of 35-45, Poonam Goyal of Rama branch defeated Mangat of Muktsar.

The championship title of the above 45 age group was grabbed by Mahinder of Jaito as he defeated Prem Garg of regional office, Bathinda.

The winners in the zonal sports meet have been qualified to take part in the inter-zonal competition, said, Rakesh Jain, secretary of the sports committee.

Employees of the SBoP from the two states, Punjab and Rajasthan, took part in the sports meet in which bankers from Bathinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga, Sriganganagar, Ferozepur, Hanumangarh, Pillianbangan, Suratgarh, Anupgarh, Sangaria and others districts were seen battling it out for the top slots in badminton, carrom, table tennis and musical chairs and others games.

Later, senior officials of the bank, including SK Garg handed over the prizes to the winners during the concluding-cum-prize distribution function.