Bathinda, April 2
Owners of two rice mills have been booked by the police after paddy worth nearly Rs 1.23 crores was found missing from their shellers by the Markfed (The Punjab State Cooperative Supply & Marketing Federation Limited).

A case under the sections 420 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered in this connection at Dyalpura police station.

Mahesh Kumar, owner of Shiv Shankar Rice Mill, Jalal and four partners including Sukhdev Singh, Major Singh, Balwinder Singh and Jarnail Singh of BS Rice and General Mill have been booked by the police.

No arrests have been made by the police in this case so far.

The Markfed officials, including the complainant Om Parkash, employed in the office of senior branch office, remained tight-lipped and refused to part with any information.

“I am helpless and will not be able to divulge any details as I am busy with the preparation of the marriage of my niece. You may contact our Bathinda office for further details,” he said when contacted by Tribune News Service.

Passing the buck further, the officials at the Bathinda office said since Om Parkash was the complainant in the case, he could give the details.

Interestingly, both the investigating officers at the Dyalpura police station, Sukhdev Singh and Sewak Chand, too feigned ignorance about the case over one pretext or the other.

A section of the rice millers, while talking to TNS, said the paddy was provided by the Markfed to these rice millers for milling. After extracting rice from paddy, they were supposed to hand it over to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

The FCI officials, would then have facilitated shifting of the paddy to the central pool.

The nodal agency at the district level, District Food Supply Controller (DFSC), distributes various quantities of paddy to the rice millers.

The millers, in turn, are paid by the government agencies for milling paddy or converting it into rice at their rice mills.

The millers ought to convert the paddy into rice within a specific time period.

The millers are also supposed to put name tags of the agencies on the racks and plinths in their mills.

The quantity of paddy lying in the mills is inspected from time to time by the officials of the agencies concerned.

The millers said the deadline to hand over the prepared rice was still two months away. They also added that the officials had taken unusual stringent measure by getting cases registered against the millers.

A rice miller, pleading anonymity, said the millers usually complete the quantity as the deadline approaches.

Bathinda, April 2
For the common man, already hit by the ever-increasing prices of the essential goods and the resultant inflation, the new fiscal year, that began on Sunday is going to be a ‘taxing’ one with the increase in service tax.

With the hike in service tax, from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, everything from phone bills to eating out, from insurance policy to medical tests, is all set to burn a big hole in the common man’s pocket.

Moreover, going to a beauty parlour, gym or getting services of any kind, like car servicing or watching television, would now be a costlier affair.

Aprt from increasing the the rate of tax, this year, the budget also lengthened the list of services that attract tax by increasing the number of services from 119 to 129.

While criticising the hike in service tax and terming it as a ‘new burden’ on all, president of the Bathinda Tax Bar Association, PP Maheshwary, said getting services of any kind would be costlier from now onwards with the increase in the service tax.

Correlating the hike in the rate of service tax with elections, Maheshwary said, “A few years ago, it was 12 per cent. Later, it was reduced to 10 per cent around elections. Now, as the elections for the five states are over, it has been increased again.”

He also predicted that the service tax would again be decreased in the year 2014 when the country would go for general elections. “Changes in the rate of service tax can be viewed as a move to derive political mileage,” Maheshwary said.

Echoing similar sentiments, president of Bathinda Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BBCI), Raman Watts, expressed his reservation over the hike in service tax.

“The central government failed to live up to the expectations of the common man,” Watts said while batting for the decrease in the service tax that impacts day-to-day activities. “The service tax should have decreased,” Raman Watts said.

The increase would also bear a substantial impact on the bills for having lunch or dinner in a bar or club besides having catering services for marriage or party, said press secretary of the Bathinda Hotels and Resorts Association, Ashwani Malhotra.

Malhotra said the hike would not raise the bills for dining in restaurants as it was outside the ambit of service tax but dining in restaurants of bars and clubs would now be a bit costlier.

Bathinda, April 2
On the occasion of the World Autism Awareness Day today, a paediatrician at the local Women and Children Hospital, Dr Satish Jindal, said suspected patients of autism came to him in his OPD almost every month though their numbers remained small.

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan played the character of an autistic man in the film, ‘My Name is Khan’.

He said, however, he examined around 20 patients in a year and referred them to the PGI, Chandigarh for management.

The World Autism Day is being observed since 1989 but the United Nations General Assembly, through a resolution in 2008 had unanimously declared April 2 to be observed as the World Autism Awareness Day every year.

Dr Jindal said Autism was a life-long developmental disorder of the brain that typically occurred in the first three years of life. He said it affected three main skills, communication (verbal as well as non-verbal), behaviour, and social relationship of the patient with others. These symptoms ranged from mild to severe impairment, he added.

Dr Jindal said the incidence of autism is about 20 in a population of 10,000 people. He said as per information, around 80 per cent of the affected autistic patients were boys. He also added that the autistic patients were found in families of varying backgrounds throughout the world.

The exact causes of the disease were not known though certain genetic conditions and viruses were associated with it.

However, the children suffering from autism could make significant progress with timely interventions in the form of applied behaviour analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Though there was no specific medicine or genetic test to detect autism, it requires a sensitive and experienced doctor for observing the child, he added.

Bathinda, April 2
No swine flu positive case came to the notice of the district health authorities during the fiscal year 2011-12.

Talking to TNS here today, district health officer (DHO) Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa said it was a matter of relief for the health authorities that during 2011-12 no swine flu positive case was reported from any part of the district.

He further said although no swine flu positive case was reported last year, they were taking precautionaru measures to check and manage swine flu.

Giving details about the measures taken by the health authorities, Dr Randhawa said a district-level rapid response team had already been constituted under his leadership.

In this team besides him, a child specialist, a medical specialist etc had been included. At the community health centre (CHC) level, rapid response teams had also been constituted to rush to the sites, from where they received information about any suspected swine flu patient, he added.

He said after getting information about the suspected swine flu patient, the rapid response team would visit his/her house and would also administer the medicine, Tamiflu, to all those persons who had come in his/her contact. Besides, survey of the area would also be conducted to detect any other suspected swine flu patient, he added.

With regard to admitting any suspected patient to the local civil hospital, an isolation ward had also been earmarked for the purpose. Besides, a room on the premises of the local Civil Hospital had also been reserved for running the swine flu OPD, he added.

He also said they had the medicine in their stock for the suspected swine flu patients, in case any person with the systems of the disease approached them for treatment.

Bathinda, April 2
Expressing concern over the acute shortage of staff in the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Bathinda, the district unit of the All India DRDA Staff Welfare Association has asked the state government to fill up the vacant posts at the earliest as due to shortage of staff several works, especially the Centrally-sponsored scheme, Swaran Jayanti Gram Swerojgar Yojna, have been getting affected.

District president of the Association Jaswinder Singh Walia said a large number of posts had been lying vacant for the last many years. He said many of the posts had been lying vacant since April 1999. Due to this, the DRDA is unable to run its functioning in a proper manner, he added.

According to the information, out of 51 sanctioned posts for the DRDA, about 36 have been lying vacant nowadays. The vacant posts include three posts of project officer, one post of executive engineer, one post of senior accounts officer, two posts of accounts officer, two posts of assistant project officer (APO), one post of project economist, two posts of assistant engineer, seven posts of technical assistant, two posts of statistical investigator, one post of stenographer, three posts of assistant, three posts of accountant/account clerk and seven posts of clerk.

When contacted, the national president of the All India DRDA Staff Welfare Association Sadhu Ram Kusla, who has been working as an APO in the DRDA here, said due to the vacant posts, the work in the DRDA here had been getting adversely affected, especially the work of the Centrally sponsored Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna.

Kusla said due to the shortage of staff it is difficult to contact all the self-help groups properly.

The staff could also not pay proper attention towards the marketing of the products, prepared by the self-help groups.

Besides, the implementation and monitoring of the Yojna was also difficult as under the scheme the DRDA had to prepare the self-help groups and arrange loans for them so that the beneficiaries could earn from the activities, started by them, he added.

He said the union had written several times to the state government for filling up the vacant posts during the last many years but to no avail so far. He said it might be mentioned here that four-five employees of the Bathinda DRDA had retired during the last three-four years. These employees included two accountants, one Gram Sewika and one investigator.

The district unit of the Association has also asked the Punjab Government to fill up the vacant posts without any delay as the Government of India had been paying funds to the DRDAs at a ratio of 75:25, which meant the Centre contributed 75 per cent and the state 25 per cent. 

Fact file

* A large number of posts have been lying vacant for the last many years.

* Out of 51 sanctioned posts for the DRDA, about 36 have been lying vacant nowadays.

* Due to the shortage of staff, it is difficult to contact all the self-help groups properly. The staff also can not pay proper attention towards the marketing of the products, which are prepared by the self-help groups.

Bathinda, April 2
A teenager was killed in a road accident after being hit by a speeding unidentified vehicle near Balluana village. Mangtu, a watchman of the village, in his statement to the police, stated that he heard someone crying at the roadside at around 1.30 am while he was returning after watering his fields.

Mangtu immediately called for help over phone and the 108 ambulance service reached the spot. The injured was rushed to the civil hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Investigating official in the case Sandhura Singh at the Sadar police station said the deceased could not be identified. He said the deceased seemed to be in his twenties.

He had sustained serious injuries in the mishap. A case under Sections 304-A and 379 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at the Sadar police 
station.

Two arrested with arms

Two residents of the Nai Basti and Sirsa town in Haryana have been arrested by the police with a pistol and two live cartridges from near Multania village.

The accused has been identified as Sanjay Sharma of Nai Basti and Abhimanyu of Sirsa.

A case under Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused at the Sadar Police Station.

Nambardar, two others booked for fraud

A village Nambardar and two others have been booked by the police for preparing fake documents of a piece of land.

The complainant, Piyara Singh, a resident of Ganganagar in Rajasthan, said the accused prepared fake documents of his land and got it registered in their name with the help of some officials of the Revenue Department. A case under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered in this connection at the Nathana police station. No arrests have been made in this regard so far.

One arrested with habit forming drugs

A resident of Sekhpura village has been arrested with habit forming drugs from near Talwandi Sabo. The accused has been identified as Harmeet Singh. During a police naka, 230 vials and 3000 tablets have been recovered from his possession. A case under Sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against him at the Talwandi Sabo police station.

Bathinda, April 2
The Institute of Computer Accountants, Bathinda, is organising an educational awareness seminar, ‘Grow Education, Grow India’, in the city on Tuesday. The aim of the seminar is to give education its real value and to create a link between the teachers and the students.

The Institute of Computer Accountants, Bathinda has been providing skilful training in accounts for the last six years. 

Bathinda, April 2
Names of 15 cricketers of Malwa for participating in the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) training camp have been announced. Altogether 15 players from seven districts have been selected for learning the nitty-gritty of cricket at the PCA Mohali in the next month.

Three players have also been chosen as stand-by, said OD Sharma, honorary general secretary of BDCA and convenor for the trial.

Five players from Bathinda, namely, Arjun, Manpreet Singh, Kamaljeet, Navdeep and Sagar while two players from Mansa, Harpreet and Mandeep Singh have figured in the list of the selected players, Sharma said, adding three players from Muktsar, namely Sherbaz Singh, Mahavir and Mandeep Kumar and three players also from Faridkot, namely Manish Kumar, Sumit and Rawinder have also been selected for the camp.

One player each from Ferozepur and Sargrur, Gurukaran and Digvijay respectively, have also been selected, Sharma said.

Names of three stand-by players are Anmol of Barnala, Atul of Bathinda and Md. Bilal of Sangrur. Sharma said the secretaries of districts would be requested to make proper arrangements for the players to report at the PCA Mohali on due date. Budding cricketers would be imparted training at the camp from May 7.

Bathinda, April 2
A district-level Kisan Mela will be organised by the Agriculture Department here on April 6 at the Kheti Bhawan. Giving the information, District Agriculture Officer Dr Rajinder Singh Brar said the farmers will be given information on crops and about the ongoing schemes, which they could tap for their welfare.

The chief guest on the occasion will be Punjab Education Minister Sikender Singh Maluka. Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav will preside. MLA from Bathinda (Urban) Sarup Chand Singla and MLA from Bathinda (Rural) Darshan Singh Kotfatta will be the guests of honour on the occasion. An exhibition will also be held on the occasion to disseminate information among the farmers about growing and protecting crops. Agro scientists will impart technical know-how to the farmers on the occasion.