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Prajapat colony residents doubt MC’s claim to build road
Residents of the Prajapat Colony show the plot that they say will block the Bathinda-Goniana road plan.
Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
‘Number of female, minor drug addicts is increasing’
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3 injured in accident on Talwandi road
Experts say Need to rehabilitate addicts
Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav speaking at the meet on drug abuse on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
Couple robbed in Tagore Nagar
Adesh Group to start varsity
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Prajapat colony residents doubt MC’s claim to build road
Bathinda, June 26 The Corporation had planned to build the road for which it removed more than a dozen hutments during a demolition drive on Sunday afternoon. The residents of the colony are baffled over some people providing nearly 3200 square yards of land to the slum dwellers. While the Commissioner of Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Uma Shankar Gupta, denied providing any alternate land to the slum dwellers, the residents said an SDO of the Corporation and two junior engineers today counted the hutments to provide alternate land in Kheta Basti. “The officials, however, did not disclose the number of hutments counted and slipped away without giving any information about the counting,” said Lal Chand, president of the Prajapat Colony. He alleged that an influential person of the city, having association with politicians and senior government functionaries, had promised to give alternate land to the slum dwellers. He added that it was promised that every family will get 33 square yards of land in Kheta Basti. While the colony residents said they would get alternate land the behest of the government, Uma Shankar Gupta said no such proposal was made by the government. “We have nothing to do with the alternate land but we will raze the hutments to build a road connecting Goniana road with Barnala road,” he said. Gupta claimed that the encroached land would be used only for the purpose of constructing the road. “When the government is not giving us land in lieu of our hutments, why is some person allotting us 3,300 square yards of land in Kheta Basti,” asked Lal Chand. He said the residents had been living in Prajapat Colony for the past more than 15 years. They enjoyed facilities of power connections and got ration and voter ID cards, he added. He said the power connections were snapped by the authorities following which a three-day-old baby girl died last evening. Bimla Devi, grieving over the loss of her child, said her baby failed to bear the scorching heat after the authorities disconnected the power supply. Ajay Kumar, one of the leaders and residents of the colony, said the claims of building road after
razing hutments did not go down well with the local residents. “There is another encroachment by some influential person at the rear of the colony which will block the proposed Goniana-Barnala road. We have taken up the issue of the encroachment but the authorities have given no satisfactory reply,” Ajay said. He said there was also a possbility that some private developer might come up with a showroom or any other commercial construction once the hutments were removed. He pointed out that the land given to the dwellers was purchased by an influential person who wished to remove the colony and may start some business activity alongside the road. During the demolition drive on Sunday, a school where 40 children used to study was also razed. Saroj Rani, one of the teachers at the school said children from financially weaker families used to come to the school. She added that the school was inaugurated by former Punjab minister, Chiranji Lal Garg, a couple of years ago. “A foundation stone of the 100-feet road bears the name of the then public health minister, Surinder Kapoor, in one of the hutments. We got the hutment of the foundation stone converted into a school,” she said. She regretted that students studying in the school will not be able to continue their studies after the hutments were razed by the authorities. |
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‘Number of female, minor drug addicts is increasing’
Bathinda, June 26 While the overall number of patients wishing to undergo treatment at the Drug De-Addiction Centre in Bathinda has seen a steep rise in the past, the number of parents bringing their minor children for treatment is also increasing. The information was shared with the Tribune News Service by Dr Nidhi Gupta, psychiatrist at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda and also the in-charge of the Methadone Maintenance Centre. “There has been a change in the profile of the patients seeking treatment for drug addiction in the city. The most shocking of these is the change in the age group of drug addicts. While earlier, patients belonging to the rural areas were from the older age-group and those from the urban areas were from a slightly younger age group, now we are seeing parents bringing their children as young as 13-14-year-old for treatment,” said Dr Gupta. These children come from both socially backward as well as upwardly mobile families. “Some children are school dropouts while some are labourers. Some youngsters also belong to financially sound families. They either develop a habit of taking intoxicants under peer pressure or by imitating elders around them,” she added. Another shocking change in the patient profile is the increase in the number of women coming to undergo drug de-addiction. “Earlier, we used to register only 2-3 cases in six-seven months. But in the last two-three months only, the numbers have increased to five-six,” said Dr Gupta. While, surprisingly, some of the women were introduced to intoxicants by their husbands, some others got addicted to the common medicines used to control anxiety, insomnia, blood pressure and stress. Children begin with things as commonplace as ink erasers and tobacco and then slowly move on to alcohol and other habit-forming substances, she added. Dr Gupta also added that it was the easy availability of habit-forming medicines across the counter without a prescription that was making more youngsters try out a combination of various medicines for intoxication. “The implementation of laws needs to be stricter. While the bigger pharmaceutical stores may insist on a prescription, smaller stores don’t really bother. Then there are small pharmaceutical firms in the interiors of the city that have their own networks through which they supply their products,” she added.
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3 injured in accident on Talwandi road
Bathinda, June 26 The accident occurred at around 9 am. Volunteers of the city-based NGO Sahara Jan Sewa rushed the injured to the local Civil Hospital. They were admitted to the emergency ward of the hospital. Their condition was stated to be critical. The injured have been identified as Charanjit Singh, Nanak Singh and Rajwinder Singh. Relatives of the injured youths said they were returning to Bathinda from Talwandi Sabo when the accident took place. |
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International day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking Tribune News Service
Bathinda, June 26 Speaking on the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni talked about drug abuse and its symptoms. He said weight loss, dryness of mouth, loss of interest in work and increase in expenses are some of symptoms that an addict exhibits. He also gave tips on recognizing an addict in the family and encouraged the parents to keep vigil over their children and look for such symptoms. He advised people to extend a helping hand to an addict and help him or her come out of the quagmire of addiction. Warning the intravenous drug users, Dr Sahni said that sharing needles increases the risk of contracting HIV AIDS, Hepatitis-B etc. He emphasized upon the need to rehabilitate the drug users on the path of sobriety. "The need is to impart vocational skills to the drug users so that they can earn their livelihood and live a respectable life. These people do not need sympathy but understanding on the part of society," he said. Dr Indervir Kalra talked about the drug de-addiction centre being run at the Bathinda Civil Hospital. He also talked about the Methadone project of the state government stating that those who want to shun drugs can get the therapy free of cost at the de-addiction centre. Prominent among others present on the occasion included district school health officer Dr Kundan Lal Pal, district BCC facilitator Narinder Kumar, media wing in-charge Jagjeevan Sharma and Jagdish Ram. An exhibition depicting the effects of drug usage was also on display. Meanwhile, an awareness programme against drug abuse was organised at the Central Jail in Bathinda. While the chief guest on the occasion was the District and Sessions Judge, SK Aggarwal, jail superintendent PK Garg presided over the programme. During the programme, the jail inmates were informed about the ill effects of drug abuse and the preventive measures.
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Couple robbed in Tagore Nagar
Bathinda, June 26 He said three unidentified youngsters, all in their twenties, barged into their house at around 3 am and demanded that everything be handed over to them. The couple, fearing for life, offered every costly material to them and the accused fled along with the costly material. The robbers took away one gold kara, three rings, two bangles, one diamond set, Rs 42,000 in cash, a purse, two watches, one LCD TV, one laptop and two mobile phones. Police have registered a case under sections 458 and 380 of the IPC at the Kotwali police station. Moga resident arrested with 400 gm opium
The Civil Lines police arrested a resident of Moga with 400 grams of opium near Chhabra Palace. The accused has been identified as Jagjit Singh from village Ware. He has been booked under various sections of the NDPS Act. Youth killed in accident
A youth was killed in an accident near village Gill Kalan. In his statement to the police, the deceased's father, Bharpur Singh, a resident of Gill Kalan, stated that his son Rajwinder Singh was coming from Rampura to village Gill Kalan in his Alto car, number DL 3 CAG 2355. At around 11:30 am, when the car reached near Gill Kalan, a tractor-trolley coming from the opposite side rammed into the car, killing Rajwinder on the spot. Police have registered a case against the unknown driver of the tractor-trolley who fled from the scene of the crime. Man held with habit-forming drugs
The Dyalpura police held one person with habit-forming drugs near village Hamirgarh. The accused, Darshan Singh from village Hamirgarh, was held with 40 bottles of syrup, 5100 tablets of Phenotil and 500 grams of intoxicating powder. The accused has been booked under various sections of the NDPS Act. |
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Adesh Group to start varsity
Bathinda, June 26 The college has been equipped with the latest teaching aids, laboratories and workshops and sound proof air-conditioned lecture theatres. The faculty for the proposed university is being drawn from the best institutions of the country to deliver top-notch technical education to the students in the region. |
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Slum dwellers in Prajapat Colony are sceptical over the Municipal Corporation’s plan to build a road connecting Goniana road with Barnala road after razing nearly 200 hutments.
Bathinda, June 26
