Bathinda, March 25
The postal department's claim of ensuring faster delivery of posts has been taking a severe beating in Bathinda of late as its modernisation programme has apparently backfired in the city.

In Bathinda city, the ordinary posts are reaching their destinations within 24 hours while the articles booked through the local speed post are being delivered in two to four days, far behind the deadline or norm of the next day.

The reason for such a delay is the "improper" modernisation programme, sources in the postal department said.

"The postal department set up a Speed Post Centre (SPC) sorting hub in Ludhiana," sources further said, while attributing the reason behind the delay in the delivery of local speed post, and added that the local speed post first goes to Ludhiana SPC where the posts are sorted and then returned to Bathinda for delivery. "The entire process takes time and leaves the customers high and dry," sources said.

As the name implies, customers expect the deliverance of post within 24 hours and curse the postal department and the postmen for the delay, a post man in Bathinda said on the condition of anonymity.

The postal department is aware of the situation and the inconveniences being faced by the customers and tried to solve the problem internally. But that is also not proving to be a customer-friendly step.

Sources in the postal department said the staff has been asked to suggest to the customers that they should book the local articles through registry instead of local speed post for ensuring faster delivery.

A letter in this regard, sources said, has also been issued by the official concerned at Chandigarh in the last week of February.

Sources said the department is aware that the local speed post articles booked by the post office in Bathinda city for locations being served through the local town delivery post office are being delayed due to their processing at the Speed Post Centre (SPC) sorting hub in Ludhiana.

The department admitted, sources said, that as per the expectations of the customers, the local speed post articles were supposed to be delivered the next day but in case of Bathinda city, it was not presently possible to meet the deadline.

So, till further orders, the customers booking local speed post articles at post offices in Bathinda city might be suggested to book registered letters instead of speed post articles for delivery next day.

But booking of registered letters for local delivery would be a costly affair for the customers, sources said, adding that as the cost of local speed post is Rs 12, the cost of a registered letter is almost double i.e. Rs 22.

That is why the customers do not prefer registered letters over the local speed post.

Sources, however, said the problem would be resolved soon as the department was making efforts to sort out the issue.

Senior officials of the department at Chandigarh could not be contacted for their comment on the issue.

Bathinda, March 25
Members of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Union today held a dharna against their long-pending demands including one rank, one pension and others.

The dharna disrupted the rail traffic and delayed some trains. It continued for over three hours beginning at 10 am.

The retired Army men also raised slogans against their pending demands. Speaking on the occasion, Captain (retd) Bhagwant Singh Bhatti said the dharna is being supported by the Indian Ex-Service league, State Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ex-servicemen grievances Cell and Ex-Servicemen Brotherhood, Mohali, rural retired welfare organization, Maur among others.

The retired soldiers said they have been demanding benefits for the ex-servicemen, disabled soldiers and widows which too are pending for a long time.

Meanwhile, passengers had a tough time waiting for their respective trains and many trains were running behind schedule.

Bathinda, March 25
The teachers of government schools are seeking the "help" of students in filling the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) record, instead of filling up these forms themselves.

CCE was introduced in government schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act to maintain the record of performance of the students of classes IX and X.

The system makes it mandatory for the teachers to review their students on a weekly as well as monthly basis. Already caught up in a plethora of non-academic work, some teachers get the CCE record filled by the students.

Taking strict notice of this illegal practice, even the office of the Director General of School Education (DGSE), Punjab, has issued a letter on March 21 to all the district education officers in the state specifically mentioning that some teachers are setting wrong examples.

The DGSE-cum-state project director of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) has warned that the practice not only violates provisions of the RTE Act 2009 but is also an evidence of performing duty without dedication. The DGSE has warned that if such anomaly comes to notice during the checking of records, the teachers and school principals concerned will have to face disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, a section of the teachers protested saying that not all of them indulge in such practices. "Not all of us do it. Though we know that some teachers do resort to unfair means to get the record completed, why should school principals be held responsible for what the teachers do," said one of the teachers at the government school in Kotshamir.

Other teachers said it becomes almost impossible to review the rural "annual confidential report (ACRs) of the teachers. It is dependent on the grades of the students he or she teaches. With students coming to the school irregularly, it becomes impossible to keep a tab on them, leave aside improving their grades," confided one of the teachers. She added that in order to have a good ACR, teachers resort to seeking the "help" of the students for filling CCE forms.

Bathinda, March 25
Protesting against the proposed winding up of the district rural development agencies (DRDAs) and the DRDA administration scheme, the employees of the DRDAs are up in arms against the Union government and they will stage a dharna and observe hunger strike on March 26 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi.

These employees have been demanding their merger with the Zila Parishads so that they could also avail the facilities at par with the government employees.

Talking to this reporter, the president of the All India DRDA Staff Welfare Association, Sadhu Ram Kusla, who has been working as assistant project officer in the Bathinda DRDA, said thousands of employees, working in the 627 DRDAs of the country, would throng Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday to put pressure on the government to give up its “anti-DRDA employees proposals”.

He said he had already received information that the DRDA employees from various states, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Mizoram, would take part in the protest.

Kusla said they did not want the DRDA Administration Scheme to be discontinued by the Union Government.

Besides, the DRDAs should also not be wound up by the government as these steps would spoil the career of thousands of employees. He said they were also demanding their merger with the Zila Parishads and avenues for progress of the employees.

They were also seeking service benefits for the DRDA employees at par with the state government employees. Their other demand was filling up of vacant posts in the DRDAs, Kusla added.

Earlier, through a representation, the DRDA employees had urged the Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to absorb them in the Zila Parishads with separate identity by issuing a notification in this regard.

They had also asked the CM to direct the office of the Joint Development Commissioner, Punjab, to put up the case of absorption before the Cabinet at the earliest.

Bathinda, march 25
Following close on the heels of vow taken by the top brass of the city a few days back to check dengue cases in the ensuing season, a city-based NGO, Bathinda Vikas Manch, organised a dengue awareness drive in Dhobiana Basti here today.

The gathering was asked to maintain cleanliness to check the breeding of the Aedes mosquito that spreads dengue.

President of the NGO, Rakesh Narula, told the residents how the disease had Bathinda and its adjoining areas in its grip last year.

The gathering was also asked to look for symptoms for early detection and cure of the disease. The symptoms of dengue include high fever, bodyache, red rashes on the skin and presence of blood in vomit. They were requested to consult a doctor as soon as they could after detecting any of the symptoms.

The NGO volunteers threw light on how by cleaning coolers once a week, using mosquito repellent creams and sprays, covering water tanks and preventing water from stagnating in puddles or tyres, the disease could be prevented.

The volunteers also told the gathering that the tests for dengue were done for free at the local dispensaries and Civil Hospital.

“Prevention is better than cure. It is advisable that we consult a doctor if fever continues,” said Rakesh Narula.

Bathinda, March 24
Bathinda seems to be fast gaining notoriety when it comes to female foeticide and infanticide as the bodies of five newborn baby girls and foetus have been recovered during the past five months.

Despite tall claims of the state and district administration to check female foeticide, there seems to be no effort made either by the district administration or the state government to curb the menace.

Admitting that the authorities concerned lack of sense of responsibility, Vijay Goyal, president of a city-based NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa said the body of a baby girl was recovered by the volunteers of his NGO last evening. The total number of bodies and fetuses found in the last five months has now increased to five, he said.

The NGO volunteers fished out the disfigured body of nearly one and half-year-old girl from the water channel near Teona village, around 20 kilometres from Bathinda, he said.

He said the girl was wearing a shirt and half-pants and the body was at least four or five days old.

Earlier, the volunteers of the NGO had recovered four bodies from near the Bathinda railway station, Nachhattar Nagar and Dabwali road.

Though the police register cases after the dead bodies are recovered but hardly any action is taken to go into the depth of the case and trace the culprits behind the heinous crimes, the volunteers said.

Expressing concern over the menace, Vijay Goyal added that despite the fact that the girl child is worshipped in many religions, there had been no letup in killing of babies.

He added that families’ desire for a male child, the belief that a girl child is a burden on the family and children born out of illicit relationships, were leading to a rise in feticide.

A lack of interest shown by the authorities concerned, including the police, administration and health authorities, in conducting surprise checks at private clinics was also lead to a rise in the problem, he said.

Calling upon the residents to put an end to the problem and give a serious thought to the already-skewed gender ratio, Goyal said stringent measures needed to be taken to check female foeticide.

Meanwhile, officials from Sadar police station said they had shifted the dead body of the girl child to the Civil Hospital for a post- mortem and a case had been registered in this connection against unidentified persons.

Bathinda, march 25
The Punjabi Univesity Regional Centre, Bathinda is organising a two-day conference on Punjabi language.

The conference, beginning on Monday, will focus on the evolving Punjabi language, culture and civilisation.

Vice-chancellor of the Punjabi University, Dr Jaspal Singh, will inaugurate the conference.

Dr JS Garewal, vice-chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar will be the chief guest on the occasion.

The 2012 Padma Shri Awardee, Punjabi poet, Dr Surjit Patar will be present as a special guest.