Bathinda, May 25
North-bound mercury touched another high on Friday, surpassing the 44 degree Celsius mark, to record the highest temperature of this season so far and forced Bathinda and its nearby places to reel under intense heat wave conditions.

The maximum temperature recorded today was 44.2 degree Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) regional station, Bathinda.

The day’s minimum temperature was 24 degree Celsius, nearly two degree Celsius higher than the temperature recorded yesterday.

The maximum temperature on Thursday was 43.4 degree Celsius.

The effects of scorching heat started becoming palpable before the noon as all the busy roads of the city, including the Mall Road, Goniana Road and others, wore a deserted look almost throughout the day as residents preferred to remain indoors as a preventive measure to protect themselves from the heat wave.

Shopkeepers in the city said they witnessed considerable decline in the footfalls today till late in the evening.

Though the wind speed was relatively low today in comparison to the last couple of days, it was the heat that continued to wreak havoc.

Moreover, there is no respite from the scorching heat in the sight for at least the next two to three days as news emanated from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated that the entire area is likely to remain under the grip of heat wave.

The maximum temperature may even go up to as high as 46 degree Celsius during the period. The minimum temperature will also be around 30 degrees Celsius. There is also a possibility of dust storms in isolated places in Bathinda and its adjoining areas. 

Bathinda, May 25
With the rise in the temperature, the doctors are of the view that people should not donate blood at open spaces as it is practically unsafe, especially during the months of May and June.

The doctors exhorted the people not to donate blood in the open in the villages as the conditions for donating blood there could not be termed as appropriate.

A health official told Tribune News Service that they were not opposed to the donation of blood in the villages during May and June. But as compared to villages, the donation of blood in the city hospitals or blood banks was a safer option due to presence of appropriate conditions there.

The blood banks have air-conditioners, besides proper facilities to preserve the blood units at the required temperature, from two degree Celsius to six degree Celsius.

It is also learnt that if a donor donates blood in the open, the chances of the blood getting damaged to some extent due to high temperature remain.

When contacted, Blood Transfusion Officer (BTO) at the Blood Bank of the Civil Hospital here, Dr Inderdeep Singh Sra said in the months of May and June, the collection of the number of voluntarily donated units of blood gets reduced as compared to collection during the other months of the year.

This is because less number of blood donation camps are organised in the villages as people remain busy in harvesting or sowing crops during these months, he added.

Dr Sra said the Blood Bank here had all the facilities to preserve the blood units. He added that they normally preserved the blood units at 4 degree Celsius temperature.

Besides, after collecting blood units at the camps, they use the transport van to carry the blood units. This van has been available with the blood bank for nearly three years, he added.

He appealed to the donors to donate blood at the blood bank in a big way to contribute in achieving the target of 100 per cent voluntary blood donation.

He said at present, 70 per cent of the total blood units collected, are collected through voluntary blood donation.

Bathinda, May 25
The by-election for Ward 6 of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) seems to have become an acid test for the ex-MLA of Congress, Harminder Singh Jassi, who has fielded his right hand man, Iqbal Singh Dhillon ‘Babli’ in the election.

The seat of this ward had last time gone to the kitty of the SAD-BJP alliance, when Purshottam Gargi secured a win from here against the Congress candidate, Manohar Lal, by a margin of nearly 850 votes.

This time, the ruling SAD-BJP alliance has again fielded a candidate from the Gargi family, Madhu Gargi, wife of ex-corporator Purshottam Gargi.

Some local residents here feel that not only will the factor of the ruling state government or the MCB go in her favour, the sympathy factor will also play an important role as Purshottam Gargi had died during his stint as a corporator.

It may be mentioned here that since the announcement of the polls, Jassi has been regularly campaigning for his close aide, Babli. After he himself lost the state assembly elections against Sarup Chand Singla, this is the first election and he is in no mood to make any mistake.

Though no senior Congress leader, except Jassi, has so far accompanied Babli during his election campaign, a number of senior leaders of the SAD-BJP alliance are supporting Madhu. When she filed her nomination, she was accompanied by Mayor Baljeet Singh Beerbehman, who himself belongs to the SAD, apart from the BJP leaders.

Even those who had applied for the BJP’s ticket have decided to support her. The local residents now feel that all these things might go in her favour and win her the election. 

Bathinda, May 25
Bathinda police today claimed to have solved a theft case in which gold ornaments worth `13 lakh were stolen from a house at Rama Mandi. The police announced that it had solved the case after it arrested two thieves from Rama Mandi.

SSP, Bathinda, Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill said one Ramesh Kumar of Rama Mandi had lodged a complaint alleging that some thieves barged into his house after breaking the locks on the intervening night of April 25-26 and decamped with gold ornaments worth `13 lakh and `25,000 in cash.

“Acting upon the complaint, a team was constituted, which achieved success in cracking the case after arresting the two accused, Lakhan Kumar and Jeevan Dass, both residents of Rama Mandi,” the SSP said.

“They were in possession of the stolen ornaments, that wieghed about 320 grams. During the interrogation, they also revealed the place where they had kept the other stolen ornaments, which were also recovered,” added the SSP.

The total cost of all the recovered ornaments was calculated to be close to `13 lakh.

He further said the accused had also named their three other accomplices, namely, Ramesh Kumar of Rama Mandi, Sonu and Sunil Kumar of Bathinda. The trio is still at large.

The police further revealed that during the investigation, the accused Lakhan Kumar had disclosed that he had come out of jail after getting bail on April 9 and soon after, he planned to commit the crime.

With the arrest of these two, the police is expecting to solve more cases of theft.

Bathinda, May 25
There is good news for lawn tennis lovers of Bathinda as the city is all set to host the first-ever lawn tennis tournament.

The Cops Club Bathinda is going to organise the two-day tourney at the Police Public School, Bathinda, starting May 27. In a press release issued here today, the Cops Club stated that May 26 was the last date for the interested participants to send their entries.

Players can take part in the U-14, U-16 and U-18 categories in the competition.

Bathinda, May 25
The Ex-Servicemen Welfare Union, Punjab, at its meeting held under the presidentship of its president Capt Bhagwant Singh Bhatti today warned the union government that if the demand of the ex-servicemen, regarding one rank, one pension, was not accepted by August 15, then they would chalk out an agitation programme, including self-immolation and demonstrations at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

In this meeting, which was held at the Pensioners Bhawan here, district presidents of the union from Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala, Faridkot, Muktsar, Fazilka, Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Moga, took part.

Bhagwant Singh Bhatti said the ex-servicemen had been struggling since 1982 to get their one rank, one pension demand accepted but all successive governments had ignored their demand even after forming committees for the purpose. He said even the respective Prime Ministers, Finance Ministers and the Defence Ministers from time to time had assured them that one rank, one pension would be implemented but to no avail so far.

He said in protest, the ex-servicemen had also got their medals deposited at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in the past but neither the President of India nor the Union Government had paid any attention towards it. He said they had now no faith in the UPA government and were of the view that the UPA government would not do anything for them.

He said the ex-servicemen had also approached the leaders of various political parties to raise the issue of one rank, one pension in Parliament, but the parties had also not done anything so far.

Bathinda, May 25
Punjab Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka can breathe easy for now. The teachers employed under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), who had earlier announced to gherao the Education Minister, have dropped their plan for now.

The teachers were scheduled to meet the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, in connection with their long-pending demands on May 22 but could not do the same as the meeting was cancelled citing the imposition of the code of conduct for the upcoming municipal corporation polls.

Expressing their helplessness over the cancellation of the meeting, the teachers assembled for the state committee meeting at Jalandhar today.

Elaborating on the minutes of the meeting, state committee member Harjit Jidda said, “At the meeting today, it was decided that within the next one week, we will send our demand letters to all the MLAs, cabinet ministers, parliamentary secretaries and members of the opposition.”

“We want them to know what we are demanding. It will also be clearly mentioned in the letters that we expect them to accept our demands within a week of the code of conduct being lifted,” he added.

Talking about the initial plan to gherao Maluka, Jidda said, “The plan has been shelved for now. The committee realised that since the code of conduct has been imposed, the gherao would have no consequences. We have decided to build up pressure on the ministers for the time being and may gherao them after the code of conduct is lifted.”

Bathinda, May 25
A meeting of the district unit of the Darjachar Karamchari Union, Sikhiya Vibhag (A), was held under the presidentship of the state president of the Matric Pass Wing of the union Kaur Singh Doda here today.

At this meeting, the matter relating to promotions of the Class IV employees, was discussed at length.

Doda said there were about 400 matric pass class IV employees in the Education Department. Of them, 97 were in the Bathinda district alone. He said despite repeated requests, all these employees were not being promoted to the Class III posts by the state government. However, the government was promoting them in small numbers, he said.

Doda further said they wanted that all matric pass class IV employees should be promoted in one go in the light of the April 25, 1972 instructions of the state government, according to which, every regular employee had the right to get promotion after five years of service.

The union has appealed to the Education Minister Sikendar Singh Maluka to settle all their cases of promotions by June 15.

The union leaders also demanded enhancement in their pay scale and grade pay so that they could meet their domestic needs. 

Bathinda, May 25
Dr JS Anand, principal of DAV College, Bathinda, has been awarded a major research project by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The project has been entitled ‘A Study of Walt Whitman’s socio-spiritual and mystical concerns and their relevance to the biorhythm of post-modern Indian society’.

Expressing his gratitude to the UGC for funding the project, Dr Anand said the project would deal with the applied aspects of spiritual fundamentals preached by the American poet, essayist and journalist, Walt Whitman, and their application to conditions in the Indian context. The project will include a study of the spiritual outfits which have been engaging people in spirituality in order to assess their impact on the evolution of human behaviour. Dr Anand said, “Due to phenomenal changes, the post-modern Indian society is in turmoil. There are problems in the social set-up, which are manifest in the mind of man and his behaviour in society. Therefore, it is necessary that human mind retains its balance and harmony, which is possible only if we hark back to the Indian path of spirituality.”

About the relevance of the study, he said, “We live in a world which is ruled by competition and desire. Man needs to turn towards spirituality to improve the quality of life."