Bathinda, April 5
The incident took place at around 1 pm whereas the Mayor, Baljit Singh Beerbehman, and Senior Deputy Mayor, Tarsem Goyal, had taken stock of the work done at the sewer just half an hour before the incident.

Both Beerbehman and Goyal were shown the cleaned sewerage on CCTV cameras. However, neither the Mayor nor the Deputy Mayor was informed about the incident.

The calls made by the media informed both about the incident at around 3:30 pm. They said they were unaware of the incident.

Bathinda, April 5
The incident of the two labourers falling unconscious while executing work of cleaning the sewer near gaushala in Sirki Bazaar has brought forth the occupational hazards poor labourers are subjected to.

Labourers were neither given masks to withstand the effects of the toxic gases, nor were they equipped with gloves and shovels while unplugging the manhole. “Had they put on masks, the damage would have been lesser or the incident could have been averted,” said the doctors attending to the two labourers at the Max Hospital.

Looking back at the history of this project, it came to light that Sirki Bazaar shopkeepers had been facing problem of sewer water blockade. Trying to find a solution to the problem, the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) planned a project to lay new sewer pipe from grain market to Patiala railway crossing that would have served the Sirki Bazaar area too.

“However, the shopkeepers met us before Diwali last year saying digging up market around Diwali would sound death knell for their business. The shopkeepers told us that there was a sewer preset in area, which had been laid more than three decades ago,” said the senior deputy mayor, Tarsem Goyal.

He added that thereafter the old sewer system was detected and Jagdish Construction Company was entrusted with the job to clean the system and revive it.

The old sewer was cleaned over the past two months and today the Mayor and the Senior Deputy Mayor had been called to see the resultant work. Both the functionaries were shown clean sewer through CCTV cameras.

However, as soon as the functionaries left the spot, two labourers were directed to remove the plug that connected the old sewer to the main one. Both the labourers, bare handed, removed the plug and immediately fell victim to the gases emanating from the main sewer.

To clean the sewer, the company was given a sum of `25 lakh. Laying new sewer in the same stretch would have cost the MCB more than `1 crore. The same company had earlier cleaned the sewer on Thandi Sarak near railway colony and at two places on GT Road under a contract worth `49 lakhs.

Though the maintenance of sewer in the city is the reponsibility of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), the MCB gave work for cleaning sewer to this company at cost of `49 lakh. Several municipal councilors had objected to this contract during the MC house meeting convened in November last year.

Congress MC, Jagroop Singh Gill, said an inquiry should be done to ascertain why the labourers were not provided with adequate equipment. “This is clear violation of industrial labour laws,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MCB commissioner, Bhupinder Rai, was not informed about the incident till 4:30 pm. He said notices would be issued to the officials concerned and explanation would be cought from the company for the laxity on their part.

Bathinda, April 5
Pocketing the salary for three months without work and marking proxy attendance has cost nine Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) officials dear. The officials have been booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Those booked by the vigilance bureau include a retired general manager, bus drivers, bus conductors and inspectors.

The accused have been identified as retired general manager Iqbal Singh, driver Kirpal Singh, conductors Budh Singh, Darshan Singh, Amritpal Singh and Bhora Singh, retired inspectors Kaur Singh, Babu Ram and Baghera Singh.

The vigilance bureau officials said they had arrested Baghera Singh from his native village and efforts were on to nab the other culprits as well.

Complainant in the case, Ganda Singh, president of the PRTC employees union Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) said the case was registered after the intervention of the high court.

Ganda Singh said the accused officials took advantage of ‘Other Duties’ clause in their manual. The officials who fail to perform their duties sometimes due to ailment, injury or other reasons, are assigned light duties like streamlining of the PRTC buses, office work and other soft jobs at the bus stand under the ‘Other Duties’ category.

However, some healthy and fit workers too got themselves registered under the ‘Other Duties’ category using various unfair means.

Ganda Singh said this practice affected the work culture at the bus stands as many officials got their salaries without doing any work by simply getting themselves registered under the ‘Other Duties’ category.

The accused officials did not send the original attendance register, with absents marked against their names to the head office. Instead, they sent a verified mast-roll, verified by the inspectors, to the head office to get their salaries released.

Ganda spent more than `50,000 on various paper works and fees to bring the guilty to book. 

Bathinda, April 5
In an unexpected move, the Society for Service to Voluntary Agencies (SOSVA), North, Chandigarh, has stopped the annual grant to the Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre (SOSVA), situated on the premises of the Civil Hospital here, for the current financial year (2012-13). In other words, the SOSVA authorities have asked the authorities of the drug de-addiction centre to close the centre.

According to information, the de-addiction centre had been receiving the grant since its establishment in October 2002 from SOSVA. In the earlier years, the grant, to the tune of Rs two to three lakh, was being released to the centre by SOSVA. For the past few years, the centre had been getting a grant worth Rs five lakh per annum.

It may be mentioned here that the the 25-bed drug de-addiction centre has been serving the drug addicts for about 10 years by treating them and motivating them not to take drugs. All the beds of this centre remain occupied most of the time.

With the decision of SOSVA, it seems the functioning of the de-addiction centre will now suffer to some extent though it is being run by the District Red Cross Society (DRCS).

Sources said at present the drug de-addiction centre had some employees who were being paid salaries from the grant, released by the SOSVA.

The centre has a project director, two staff nurses, two multi-purpose health workers (male), a social worker and a yoga instructor. Besides, the centre was also using the SOSVA grant to purchase medicines for the drug-addicts to treat them.

The sources added that the grant also being used for organising awareness camps, awareness follow-ups, and distribution of awareness literature in the nearby villages.

An employee of the centre told this reporter that apart from hoping to get more money for medicines, they were expecting a hike in their salaries with effect from April this year but by stopping the grant, SOSVA had dashed their hopes.

Meanwhile, an official of the District Red Cross Society, on the condition of anonymity, said they had received a communique from SOSVA a couple of days ago, but the Deputy Commissioner had decided to continue the functioning of the drug de-addiction centre, so the centre would not face closure despite the stoppage of the SOSVA grant.

Bathinda, April 5
To monitor the functioning of the 'Methadone Maintenance Treatment Project' at the Methadone Treatment Centre located on the premises of the Civil Hospital here, and sensitise the persons, involved in the project, including the staff of the centre and the doctors of the Civil Hospital, the officials of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, today visited the Civil Hospital.

Sensitising the staff at a workshop held on the premises of the Civil Hospital, Dr Anju Dhawan, Additional Professor, Psychiatry, AIIMS, New Delhi, said as per a survey, there were 20 lakh opioid users (opium, heroin, smack and medicine opioid) and two lakh injecting drug users in India. Of the two lakh injecting drug users, there were 17,000 to 22,000 injecting drug users in Punjab.

Dr Ravindra Rao, a technical expert from the UNODC, New Delhi, said after the completion of the 'Methadone Maintenance Treatment Project' in five cities of the country, the project would be taken over by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) for continuation. He said the success rate of the Methadone medicine had varied between 60 to 70 per cent in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh, where it had earlier been launched.

The project coordinator (drug use and HIV prevention in South Asia) of UNODC, New Delhi, Kunal Kishore said the success rate of the Methadone treatment increased from 80 per cent to 90 per cent in the injecting drug users if they took the dose daily and the authorities followed up after the completion of the treatment.

As part of the project, the Methadone Maintenance Centre was opened for the treatment of intravenous drug users at the Drug De-addiction Centre, situated on the premises of the local Civil Hospital, here on February 15 last.

Among others who were present at the workshop included a research officer from UNODC, New Delhi, Debashish Mukherjee, in charge of Methadone Treatment Centre Dr Nidhi Gupta, deputy medical commissioner Dr Vinod Garg, SMO Dr BS Gill, SMO Dr Satish Goyal, secretary of District Red Cross Society JR Goyal and project in-charge of Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre, Civil Hospital, Roop Singh Mann.

Later, the UNODC and AIIMS officials met the intravenous drug users at the 'Methadone Treatment Centre' here. 

Bathinda, April 5
Regional Polytechnic, Behman Diwana, Bathinda, organised its fourth annual function, 'Spark 2012’, today. MLA Bathinda (Urban), Sarup Chand Sngla, was the chief guest at the morning session of the annual function.

The students of the polytechnic presented various cultural items including shabad, bhangra, giddha, Malwai giddha, and other folk dance forms.

Principal of the Polytechnic, Iqbal Singh Romana, Sarup Chand Singla, chairman Gurlab Singh Sidhu, Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu and Sukhraj Singh Sidhu felicitated the meritorious students of the polytechnic.

It was also announced that the Polytechnic College team had won the first prize in bhangra and the third prize in folk song at the inter-polytechnic youth festival. In the inter-polytechnic sports meet, the students of the college won the third position in javelin throw and triple jump and the second position in volleyball meet. 

Bathinda, April 5
Social activist Birbal Bansal, in association with the city-based NGO, United Welfare Society, organised a blood donation camp at the Civil Hospital today. As many as 10 persons donated blood voluntarily at the camp. Birbal Bansal and his wife Savita Bansal also donated blood.

Calling upon the youngsters to come forward and be associated with the blood donation drive, he said, "If the youngsters associate with this noble cause, more and more people will be inspired to donate blood and save lives."

Also present was Blood Bank in-charge, Indrajeet Singh. He praised the efforts being made by the NGOs to organise blood donation camps. — TNS

Bathinda, April 5
The jewellers, who have been on an indefinite strike since March 17, protesting against the proposed changes relating to duty in the Union Budget, met the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, today and submitted their charter of demands.

Heads of the Bharatiya Swarankar Sewa Society, Punjab Swarankar Sangh and Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal alleged that the union finance minister has given a step-motherly treatment to the jewellery sector in the budget.

Ten days ago, the finance minister had assured the jewellers of a patient hearing, but nothing has happened. The jewellers said they would not open shops till the excise duty is rolled back.

They reasoned that paper work and details required by the excise department is applicable for factories and for the products, which are similar in nature. "Jewellery is an art and no one can keep track of the trade the way the excise department wants."

They said the union government has introduced a provision to tax large jewellery purchase at the selling point. All transactions above Rs 2 lakhs done in retail shops now need to charge one per cent extra as income tax and the jewellers are bound to remit it to the government.

The jewellers reasoned that at present rate, not even 60 grams of gold could be bought for Rs 2 lakhs. They have demanded the abolition or roll back of the same.

Terming the increased import duty from one to four per cent as wrong, the jewelers felt that a mere two per cent increase was reasonable enough keeping in view the present rate of gold.

They said the industry employs more than two crore people, including goldsmiths and artisans. People in the industry are

socio-economically backward skilled craftsmen and women. The product they manufacture is India's culture. By levying such high taxes, the government aims at the closure of the industry and subsequent loss of livelihood for these people, they added.

Bathinda, April 5
The students of the polytechnic wing of Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh College brought laurels to the institute in the recently held Punjab Technical Institutes' sports inter college meet held at Jalandhar.

A spokesperson for the institute said the meet was held at Government Polytechnic College (Girls) Jalandhar on April 2 and 3. Around 84 colleges participated in the tournament.

Students of PTU GZS campus polytechnic wing, Simarjeet Singh (second year electrical engineering) won a gold medal in 400 meter, Amanpreet Singh (first year computer science) won a bronze medal in 110 meter hurdles and Kamalpreet Kaur (second year electrical engineering) won a bronze medal in the 400 meter. — TNS