Bathinda, April 8
Paediatrician, retired principal and head pediatrics, Government Medical College Amritsar, Dr SK Kheterpal and retired principal and head paediatrics and neonatology, PGIMER Chandigarh, Dr ON Bhakoo, were conferred with the lifetime achievement award during the Pedicon 2012, the annual conference of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), held today on the theme ‘Smiling Faces, Smiling Nation’.

Dr ON Bhakoo and Dr SK Kheterpal (right) being conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Punjab Pedicon 2012.

Bathinda, April 8
Disturbed by the note from school mentioning his/her child as an inattentive kid is every parents’ nightmare. Before rebuking or punishing the child for such behaviour, remember it is the chemical imbalance affecting neurotransmitters that make children act in such way.

Renowned paediatrician and adolescent health expert, Dr CP Bansal from Gwalior said this while delivering a lecture on ‘Common Behavioural Problems in Children and Adolescence’, at Punjab Pedicon 2012.

Dr Bansal said in such cases genetic factors are responsible for 25 per cent of the problem. “Such children have always had similar parents and it’s commonly known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD can be heart breaking and nerve wrecking, but parents should not lose heart,” he said. He said once such children are identified, the treatment could be started from the age of three.

Talking about the taxing times we live in, Dr Bansal said children these days suffer from depression, which could be managed.

“Like grown-ups, children too need depression and anger management techniques. Parents should get in touch with pediatricians to provide the right kind of counselling and techniques to bring their children out of depression,” he said.

Warning parents against ignoring suicidal deviations in depressed kids, Dr Bansal said while females attempted suicides more often, the success rate was higher in males. Suggesting the best way to steer away children from depression, Dr Bansal said children should be taken to a religious place every day.

“The older sayings have a lot of wisdom. Visiting temples and gurdwaras may not be popular among youngsters, but doing so provides one with inner strength and calms the turmoil,” he added.

Arming parents with tips to deal with children who indulge in stealing and lying, Dr Bansal said parents were role models for children and first they would have to shun such habits.

“While stealing is uncommon, lying is a common practice in families. Parents should refrain and kids will follow,” he added.

Bathinda, April 8
There seems to be no end to the tug-of-war between the villagers and the factory owner over the issue of setting up of the Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Plant near Burj Mehma village.

While the villagers are bent on stretching their agitation by blocking the highways and taking out protest marches, the factory owner says he has got all the No Objection Certificates to set up the plant and is doing nothing illegal.

Large number of villagers, along with some supporters of the BKU, today blocked the Bathinda-Malout road.

Earlier, on April 5, the villagers had taken out a flag march in 15 villages on and had blocked the Bathinda-Muktsar road on March 26.

Gurmeet Singh, one of the leaders of BKU, supporting the agitation, said they would not allow setting up of the plant in the vicinity of their village.

“We expressed our concern over the issue of the release of obnoxious gases and other pollutants from the waste disposal plant. We have brought the matter into the notice of higher authorities umpteen number of times but nobody seems to listen to our grievances,” Gurmeet said.

BKU (Ugraha) district president, Shingara Singh Mann, added that the villagers were already going through harrowing times and suspect further spread of deadly ailments among the area residents.

Mothu Singh Kotra said a large number of villagers were already suffering from one or the other disease and had hence been opposing the setting up of the plant.

The villagers said they would not heave a sigh of relief until the district administration takes the initiative to shift the plant to some other location.

Plant owner, Bir Bahadur, said the villagers were being misguided by a section of local leaders and protesters.

He also added that pamphlets and other advertisement material, with examples of shelving of such plants in various developed countries, had been distributed among the 
villagers.

“There is no truth in the claims of these leaders who are misguiding the people and harassing the public by holding such dharnas”, he said. He added that there were eight plants each in Punjab and Haryana that were already running successfully.

He reiterated that he was setting up the plant only after taking all the required NOCs from the Central Government.

“I have assured the villagers a number of times that the level of pollution will not increase many fold after the plant is set up in Burj Mehma. The plant is actually being set up to reduce medical pollution instead,” he said.

He pointed out that every problem had a solution and soon a way out would be decided upon with the help of the Bathinda deputy commissioner.

Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka being felicitated during a tour of his Rampura Phul constituency on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Bathinda, April 8
The state government is committed to improving the literacy rate in Punjab and will not allow the paucity of infrastructure or shortage of teachers to be a deterrent. All efforts will be made by the state government to bring education even to those sections of society deprived of its benefits.

This was stated by Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka during his trip to various areas of Rampura Phul constituency today.

He visited the villages of Burj Baror, Siriewala, Bhagta Bhaika, Burj Laddha, new Kesar Singh Wala, Kesar Singh Wala, Bhodipura, Kehar Singh Wala, Hakam Singh Wala, Ramoowala, Aklia, Gurusar and Kotha Guru.

Maluka met the people, listened to their problems and assured them of solving them expeditiously. He said the state government would continue the facilities and subsidies given to the poor in the state.

He said all the pending payments under the Shagun scheme would be paid within the next two months and those who give their applications 15 days before the marriage of their daughters, would be given the payment on the spot.

He added that from now onwards, pensioners would get their pensions at home with bank officials being entrusted the task to disburse pensions.

The minister also asserted that all-around development would be done without any bias.

Member of Parliament Paramjit Kaur Gulshan too addressed the people. SDM, Rampura Phul, Sukhdev Singh and Gurpreet Singh Malula accompanied him.

Bathinda, April 8
A few city-based NGOs have come together and have taken it upon themselves the task of spreading awareness among the city residents about the importance of following traffic rules.

Taking initiative to improve the fast deteriorating traffic condition in the city, Naujawan Welfare Society, Aasra Welfare Society and the Civil Defence Warden Club have started erecting slogan boards at various traffic signals in the city.

These slogans boards have already been erected at Hanuman Chowk, Mini-secretariat, Fauji Chow, bus stand, Power House road, Teenkoni, Rose Garden chowk and Sirhind Nagar. Other busy roads and traffic signals will also be covered soon.

The heads of these NGOs said the special drive would be taken up with even more fervour in the coming days to make sure that the residents of the city wake up to the deadly results of neglecting traffic rules. 

Bathinda, April 8
The district unit of the Berojgar Multipurpose Health workers (Male) Union, Punjab, has urged the Punjab Government to issue advertisement for the recruitment of 976 multipurpose health workers in the Health Department.

A press note issued here on Saturday informed that the demand was made at a meeting of the union, held under the leadership of district president Suresh Kumar Nathana at the Rose 
Garden.

The district president said before the Assembly elections that the SAD-BJP government had given an assurance to the union that the advertisement would be issued soon to fill up the vacant posts of the multipurpose health worker on a regular basis. But due to the imposition of the model code of conduct, the advertisement could not be issued at that time. So, the process for their recruitment could not be started at that time, he added.

He said as the then SAD-BJP government had made a commitment to the union, regarding the issuance of the advertisement, so the new government should now advertise their posts to start the recruitment process. He said in case the advertisement was not issued soon, then the union would chalk out an agitation programme. As part of the agitation programme the unemployed multipurpose health workers might initiate steps, like road blockade, dharnas, rallies and demonstrations.

The district president said due to their agitation, if anything untoward occurred, then the entire responsibility would lie with the state government and the administration as they were struggling for the past several months to get their demand accepted but to no avail so far. He said, however, their agitation would remain peaceful.

Among others who attended the meeting included Manjinder Singh, Amandip Singh, Amardeep Singh, Jagsir Singh, Bhola Singh, Soni Singh, Pretty Sharma, Kuldip Singh, Jagjit Singh and Balraj Singh, all belonging to different parts of the district.

Bathinda, April 8
The gold ear-rings of a woman, Pushpa Devi, from street number 4 in Pratap Nagar were snatched by motorcycle-borne youths.

In her complaint to the Canal Colony police, Pushpa Devi stated that she was sitting outside her home when two motorcycle-borne youths approached her on the pretext of asking the way to someone's house.