Bathinda, June 9
The District Disability Rehabilitation Centre, situated near the Civil Hospital, may reportedly face closure in two-three months if the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment does not release the grants pending to it soon.

The last time the Centre had received grants was in the year 2009 when it was provided `8 lakh by the Ministry. Since then the centre has been waiting to receive grants from the Ministry.

Sources said the centre authorities had earlier sent cases for the release of grants worth `15 lakh each for the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12, but to no avail. The centre’s expenditure, including the salary of the staff, are being met till now with the grant that had been provided in November 2009.

A senior physiotherapist at the centre has been performing his duties at a meagre salary of `8,000 while the prosthetic and orthotic technician, data entry operator and accountant are getting `5,800 each. The peon is working at a salary of `3,700 only. The staff, complaining that the salaries are not sufficient to meet the rising prices, are demanding a hike.

Under the Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the District Disability Rehabilitation Centre, Bathinda had sought `1 crore in the beginning of the year 2011, but it got only `3 lakh only for providing wheelchairs, tri-cycles, hearing aids, walking sticks, brail plates and crutches to the needy persons, with which it could accommodate about 40 persons only.

The centre has been proving a boon for the patients, suffering from orthopaedic and neurological disabilities, for the past more than four years.

When contacted, the senior physiotherapist, Manas Ranjan Sethi, said 20 to 25 patients, suffering from orthopaedic and neurological disabilities like paralysis, Hemiplegia, cerebral palsy, cervical, back pain, joint stiffness and post management of fracture visited the centre daily for physiotherapy.

He said the patients were given physiotherapy treatment free of cost while the patients bought medicines from the market.

The centre has several machines for conducting the physiotherapy exercises, including SWD machine for the relief of joint pain of any type, traction machine, muscle stimulator, tilting table, static cycle, treadmill, shoulder wheel and pulley.

Bathinda, June 9
Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified unemployed teachers sitting on a dharna in Lehra Dhoorkut village for the past one week today said they would defer the dharna in view of state government’s assurance of talks with their union leaders.

State general secretary of the union, Raghubir Singh Bhawanigarh, said they would wait for the outcome of the talks with the minister before deciding their future plan of action.

“An ADC from Bathinda came to us today and offered fixing a meeting with Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka,” he said. He added that they would further intensify agitation if the government again failed to come up with a solution after the meeting. “We have a secret plan this time which would be revealed only after the meeting with the Education Minister,” he said.

The unemployed teachers are demanding their letters of appointment and have occupied the water tank of Dhoorkut village since Sunday afternoon.

Commuters had a tough time passing through the Bathinda-Barnala road and police is trying its best to divert the traffic through the village.

Bathinda, June 9
Gurlal Singh of Ganga village and his parents, Jarnail Singh and Rani Kaur, were booked by the police after his wife died under mysterious circumstances.

In a complaint, Malkit Singh, a resident of Sardul Shehar in Rajasthan said his daughter was married to Gurlal.

Singh added that a few days back, his daughter called him to say she was being harassed by her in-laws. When the family members went to enquire about her well-being, she was found dead.

A case under sections 304-B and 120-B of the IPC has been registered in this connection against Gurlal and his parents. — TNS

Bathinda, June 9
A large number of members of Valmiki Samaj, led by district president of the Bhagwan Valmiki Sabha, Hans Raj Bharti today staged a dharna outside the residence of deputy commissioner here, demanding arrest of the guilty persons, who had “beaten up” Balwant Rai, a former municipal councilor and a leader of the Bhagwan Valmiki Sabha on June 7, the polling day of by-election for the Ward No. 6 of local Municipal Corporation.

Earlier, they gathered at the office of the local Municipal Corporation and then reached outside the residence of the deputy commissioner to stage the protest and urge the deputy commissioner to provide them justice by arresting the alleged guilty persons.

Dr Dharamveer, general secretary of the Valmiki Chetna Manch, Punjab and a member of the deputation, that met the deputy commissioner in support of their demand, said the deputy commissioner had assured them that he would order an independent inquiry and on the basis of that inquiry, legal action would be taken against the guilty persons.

Hans Raj Bharti said on the polling day of by-election to the Ward No.6 in the city the activists of the SAD and the BJP made an attack on Balwant Rai, a senior Congress leader.

He said they were now demanding from the deputy commissioner that a case should be registered against the guilty persons under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and they should be arrested without any delay.

Bathinda, June 9
The Congress party will stage a protest dharna on June 11 from 11 am to 2 pm at Dr Ambedkar Park (near Mini secretariat) here.

The state level leaders have also been invited to participate in this dharna.

In a press note, issued here today by the district press secretary of the party Rupinder Bindra, it has been stated the dharna would be organised to protest against the “high handedness and injustice”, done to the Congress office-bearers and workers by the SAD-BJP during the by-election to Ward No.6 of the local municipal corporation on June 7.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the District Congress Committee (Urban), held under the presidentship of district president Ashok Kumar, here today.

In the meeting office-bearers and workers of the party took part.

Bathinda, June 9
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has issued notices to three educational institutes in city for defacement of public property. The notices have been issued of the N Walia English College, the Tikhila School of Management and the Goyal Institute of Commerce.

Notices have been issued under a campaign of NCP launched against defacement and disfiguring of public property. The party spokesperson claimed to have constituted three-member committee, including GC Bansal, Anil Gupta and Harinder Singh to identify institutions that were violating the defacement Act.

In the first phase, defacement at the Ajit Road and the Mall road has been taken up for legal action. Party engaged local lawyers Jaideep Nayyar and Gian Prakash Joshi to file cases in appropriate courts of sub divisional magistrate under Section 133 Cr Pc (conditional order for removal of nuisance) and in judicial courts.

The three member committee has identified 17 institutions that have allegedly defaced city by pasting posters on the walls of houses and properties of Municipal Corporation Bathinda and the BSNL.

The violators have been asked to remove posters within a week, failing which further legal action would be taken.

Bathinda, June 9
The Vivekananda Institute of Management and Technology has announced commencement of new courses in mass communication, advertiment and journalism starting the academic session 2012-13.

The Institute will now also offer a diploma course n mass communication, advertisement and journalism. Under-graduate students may also opt for B.Sc. mass communication, advertisement and journalism. A post-graduate diploma course and an M.Sc. degree course are also available in the subjects.

Students who've cleared their senior secondary exams in any stream are eligible for the under-graduate courses while graduates in any stream/subject are for the post-graduate degree and diploma courses.

The institute will start these courses under the distance education programme of Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar.

Bathinda, June 9
Youth Clubs Organisation Punjab, which runs many libraries in villages with Punjabi Sahit Sabha New Delhi, honoured litterateur Rachpal Singh Badhan.

Clubs working under the organisation manage the rural libraries. On the behalf of Punjabi Sahit Sabha, Badhan visited different libraries and expressed happiness over the arrangements.

The organisation's state president Jasvir Singh Grewal said that the NGO was trying to wean away village youth from drugs and inculcate the habit of reading among them.

Senior youth leader Jagmohan Singh Makkar and Suresh Gaur said it was youth's duty to propagate use of mother tongue and its literature.

They demanded that the government should open libraries in village so that youngsters get enlightening atmosphere.

Prominent among others present at the occasion, included Kanwaljit Singh Kuti, Rajinder Grewal, Chananpreet Singh Dhillon, Rishabh Kataria and others.

Bathinda, June 9
A brilliant performance by Sukhmander helped Bathinda in defeating Sangrur in the first match of the Inter-District Cricket Tournament (U-22) for Plate group played here at Police Public School on Friday and Saturday. Sukhmander took 6 wickets in 17 overs.

Bathinda is hosting the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (U-22) for Plate group. The Bathinda District Cricket Association (BDCA) is organising the event under the banner of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA).

In the first match played between Bathinda and Sangrur, Bathinda defeated Sangrur on the basis of first-inning lead. Bathinda scored 305 runs. Harpreet Singh scored 81 runs while Manil Bajaj, Kamaljeet and Gurjant Singh scored 58, 46 and 30 runs, respectively.

For Sangrur, Makhan Singh took 3 wickets by giving 64 in 12 overs while Harinder Singh and M. Zuhaib picked up two wickets each.

In reply, Sangrur managed to score only 190 runs. M. Zohaib with 84 runs was the highest scorer for Sangrur while Rohit and Suraj Singh scored 19 and 16 runs, respectively.

For the host, Sukhmander sent six batsmen to pavilion by giving 54 runs in 17 overs while Amrinder took two wickets.

Honorary secretary of the BDCA and convener of the tournament, OD Sharma said Bathinda will now play against Mansa on June 11-12 and would take on Barnala on June 14-15 at the Police Public School here.

Ravi Kohli and Satya Bhushan, the official coaches of the BDCA, have been assigned to prepare the district team for the tournament. The PCA deputed Arun Wadhawan, chairman, Selection Committee of the PCA, to observe all matches and to spot the promising players for the Punjab State Team.

Bathinda, June 9
A resident of the Romana village under Bathinda district has been arrested with three kilogram of poppy husk.

The accused Jagroop Chand has been arrested by the police from Jodhpur Romana village.

A case under various Sections of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused in this connection at Kotfatta police station.