Bathinda, July 11
An iron rod pierced through the back of a 14-year-old child who was working as a labourer during the laying of a sewerage connection in Jogi Nagar. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon at around 1.30 pm.

The child, identified as Modan, was reportedly going to give water to the other labourers working at the site when he slipped towards the iron rods installed at the site.

The volunteers of the NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, along with the help of the labourers, 
first cut the iron rod using a sharp-edged knife-blade and then took the child to the Civil Hospital, a piece of rod still lodged in his body. The rod was taken out during a successful operation conducted by a team of doctors at the hospital.

Four persons have lost their lives in similar accidents earlier. Municipal councillor, Jagrup Singh Gill, alleged that the `40 crore contract was delayed unnecessarily by the contractor. He said the matter was taken up during the recent House meeting of the corporation but no action was taken against the contractor by the authorities concerned.

Gill demanded that the contractor get the labourers insured and also make sure that all precautionary measures are followed.

Meanwhile, former MLA Harminder Singh Jassi visited the hospital to enquire about the health of the child. He demanded strict action against the Municipal Corporation officials and the contractor for not taking precautionary measures. Jassi assured of extending help to the family members of the injured child.

Bathinda, July 11
BIG Cinemas, the power supply to which was snapped by the facility management company at the mall, is likely to be functional in the next 10 days or so. A notice, put up at the multiplex, a part of the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Media Works, says that the cinema has been closed for the “time being”.

It is learnt that the facility management company, Nimbus Harbor, had snapped the power supply to the multiplex owing to outstanding dues to the tune of `40-50 lakh. “The BIG Cinemas is yet to clear its outstanding power bill for the past six months. We had served them notices and e-mails but didn’t get any response. Finally, we had to stop the power supply,” said Gaurav Chopra, the manager of the Nimbus Harbor.

Gaurav added, “The local management of the multiplex says that it takes care of only the operations here while the finances are looked after by someone who is either located in Gurgaon or in Mumbai. The theatre’s assistant manager has asked us for the theatre licence as it needs to be renewed. The theatre management has now sought details of rent and power bill and there is a hope that the theatre may start working soon.”

The license of the theatre had expired on June 22. Amandeep Singh, who joined as the assistant manager of the theatre on June 29 said, “The power dues and the licence renewal should have been done earlier. Right now, we have a temporary licence for a period of one month. We have deposited the money with the departments concerned for licence renewal and it is likely to be done within a week.”

Talking about the outstanding dues for power supply, he said, “The higher authorities are in talks with Nimbus Harbor to reduce the amount. The cinema pays a rent of around `15-16 lakh. When the theatre had opened, the situation was different. Since then, the competition has risen while the City Centre Mall hasn’t developed much. Our competitor is paying rent which is approximately one-third of what we are paying. And hence, their profit margin is also quite more.”

When Bathinda Tribune contacted the divisional head of BIG Cinemas, Karan Singh, he refused to read too much into the development. “We have closed the BIG Cinemas in Bathinda for some time. Periodically, we close our cinemas for renovation and refurbishment during which carpets, AC and other equipment are checked and sent for maintenance or changed in case they are faulty. The multiplex in Bathinda has also been closed for the same reason,” he said.

Talking about when the management planned to open the multiplex again after the “renovation”, he said, “It is too early to put a time line to it. Probably, in a few days we would answer this query as well.”

Bathinda, July 11
The Government Rajindra College in the city is registering an unprecedented rush of candidates aspiring to take admission in the various courses being offered by the college. The college is affiliated to the Punjabi University, Patiala.

Going by the number of forms which have been submitted for a course, BA Part I is the most sought-after course at the college. While the number of seats for the course at the college is 660, the college has received more than 3,300 admission forms.

“Last year too, we had received close to 2,000 forms and we had admitted close to 800 students. The number of students a class may have oscillates between 60 and 80. This year too, it seems, we may have to take more than 660 students,” said Prof Gurjeet Singh Mann, who is handling the admission procedure for the course.

The admission for BA Part I had started on July 9 and the cut-off right now is hovering around 71 per cent for the general category and 65.1 per cent for the students belonging to the SC, ST and OBC categories.

Other courses seeing a rush for admission at the college are BSc and BCA. The college has 120 seats for B.Sc and has received more than 400 admission forms.

Prof Makkhan Singh, who is looking after the admission procedure for the course, said, “The rush for admission to B.Sc Part I is almost the double of what it was last year. While last year the cut off for the course was 66-67 per cent for general category and 52 per cent for the SC, ST and OBC categories, it is around 74 per cent for general category and 63 per cent for other categories.”

Elaborating on the rush for science courses, he added, “The fees at the engineering colleges are enormous. Many students, who either don’t get through these colleges or are unable to bear the expenses, seek to pursue B.Sc. There have been reports that seats at various engineering colleges have been lying vacant.”

The cut-off for BCA is around 73.8 per cent (general category) and 70 per cent for students belonging to other categories. “Last year, the cut-off for the students of general category was around 65-66 per cent. We have received more than 210 admission forms for BCA. The college offers 88 seats for the course,” said Prof Seema Gupta, who is handling the admission procedure for BCA.

Bathinda, July 11
The Czech proverb, “Learn a new language and get a new soul” is being closely followed by 34-year-old Mohammad Ghulam Ashraf Misbahi. Ghulam has been teaching Urdu, Persian and Arabic to the children and elderly persons of Bathinda at Awa Basti.

Ghulam’s school, Jame Ashraf Baba Haji Rattan Islamia School in Awa Basti, which started as a one-room establishment, now boasts of six rooms. The school is run with the help of the Muslim Human Welfare Society.

“When the schools started, there were only a handful of poor Muslim students, who came from far off places of Punjab. Now, we have 42 students including 17 Muslim resident children,” Ghulam told Bathinda Tribune.

He added that the school started imparting education to children from financially weaker background but as the word spread in the nearby areas, many lecturers, literate persons, with degrees from various universities, approached and six of them have so far successfully learnt Urdu, Persian and Arabic. A literate person takes at least three months to learn Urdu and after learning Urdu, it becomes easier to learn Persian. It takes two years to learn Persian and four years to learn Arabic, he said. Anyone who learns these languages from his school is given a certificate of learning.

Ghulam learnt these languages after spending 15 years at the Al Jamiatul Ashrafia University at Mubarakpur in Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh. “I have got the degree of ‘Hafiz Quari Alim Fazal’ from the university and am now teaching these languages to the children,” he said.

He also pointed out that five of his former students, Shabbir Alam, Ragib Ali, Riyaz, Gulam-e-Mustafa and Noor Mohammad, now assist him in teaching the students at the school.

“Earlier, I used to teach free of cost but now I have decided to charge `500 per month from those who fail to attend the free classes. Free classes are held from 8 am to 11 am and 3 pm to 6 pm in the evening. Those wishing to learn the languages during a time of their choice have been told to deposit the fees,” Ghulam added.

The expenses incurred on food and stay of the 17 resident students of the school is borne by the Mulsim Human Welfare Society.

JS Brar Rangi, a local contractor, who learnt Urdu from Ghulam, said he came to know about the school when he got the contract to construct a building near the school premises. “I could not resist myself from coming to the place to learn Urdu. Learn a new language and you will get a new soul,” Brar said.

Bathinda, July 11
“Increasing population is the main hurdle in the speedy development, progress and prosperity of the country".

Stating this here today, a state-level surveillance medical officer, Dr Mehtab Singh, said India was the first country that thought about population and started a population control programme in 1952. Though China followed India's population control programme, it surpassed India in controlling its population, he added.

Dr Mehtab Singh was speaking at a district-level programme, organised by the health authorities to mark the World Population Day on the premises of the Civil Surgeon's office here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said the nursing students, NGOs and the media could play a vital role in creating awareness in checking the population. Poverty and illiteracy were among the other reasons that led to an increase in the population, he added.

A member of the Bathinda Association of NGOs (BANGO), Dr AP Grover, flayed the leaders for not addressing the problem of increasing population. He said they should educate the people against the increasing population so that many of the problems related to it could be tackled.

Talking about the World Population Day, District Family Welfare Officer Dr Rawanjit Kaur said the World Population Day had been observed for the first time on July 11, 1987. At that time, the world's population was five billion which was now over seven billion, of which India's population is 122 crore.

District Education Officer (Secondary) Hardeep Singh suggested to the health authorities that the ASHA workers of the Health Department should visit senior secondary schools to create awareness about population control among the girl students studying in Plus Two classes.

A gynaecologist from the local Women and Children Hospital Dr Ritu spoke in detail about the various methods to control the birth of children. She spoke about the use of male and female condoms, Copper-T, contraceptive pills, tubectomy and vasectomy operations, and some natural methods.

A student of the local Multi-purpose Health Workers (Female) School, Manpreet Kaur, recited a poem on "increasing population" while another student, Inderjit Kaur, delivered a speech on the subject. She emphasised upon the need to adopt the small family concept.

Among others who were present on the occasion included the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr BS Gill, SMO Dr Satish Goyal, District School Health Medical Officer Dr Kundan Kumar, District TB Officer Dr Ashok Monga and representative of various organisations including the Red Cross Society, the Goodwill Society, the Gagandeep Shiksha Society, the Nehru Yuva Kendra and the students from the MPHW (Female) School, Bathinda.

Bathinda, July 11
About 200 students from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Deon, today took out an awareness rally to mark the World Population Day. The rally was flagged off by Malkiat Kaur, principal of the DIET. Earlier, principal Malkiat Kaur, Manchhinder Kaur and Rajinder Sharma expressed their views about the population explosion at the morning assembly. The main aim of the rally was to create awareness among the villagers about the adverse effects of the increasing population. The students were told to visit door-to-door to make the masses aware.

Meanwhile, World Population Day was also observed at Government Senior Secondary School, Maisarkhana. Principal of the school, Varinder Pal Kaur, presided over the programme. The NSS programme officer Rakesh Narula and the Eco Club in-charge Binderpal Singh said the students expressed their sentiments through posters. The students also expressed their worry over the increasing population through speeches and poems. A lecturer, Amarjit Kaur, emphasised upon the importance of small family, saying it is the basis of prosperity. — TNS

Bathinda, July 11
After intensifying the drive against wrong parking and not maintaining proper documents of the vehicles, the city, traffic police has now cracked the whip on drunken driving.

ASP City-II Kuldip Chahal said there will be no respite from challans for wrong parking and other traffic offences in the city. The increase in incidents of vehicles being towed away has streamlined the flow of traffic and instilled traffic sense among residents to some extent, he said.

"Apart from the challans, we have now started a special drive against drunken driving. Our aim is to reduce the number of accidents and to save as many lives as we can," Chahal said.

The ASP added that the drive against the traffic rule violators during the past two months have started yielding results. He said that apart from the decline in the number of accidents, there has also been some respite from petty crimes. Petty criminals do not dare to move freely in view of the deployment of heavy police force round-the-clock, especially during the evening hours, Chahal said.

He said that 12 challans were issued for drunken driving on Tuesday night at Fauji Chowk. "Today, we will locate a different spot to lay naka to nab drunken drivers. Now, it will be a routine feature and nakas would be laid every night," Chahal said. He said that they have been provided with two alcometers and may start laying two nakas simultaneously in the days ahead.

Being Tuesday, only 12 people were caught driving vehicles after consuming liquor. "We will ensure drink-free driving, especially on Saturdays and Sundays," the ASP said.

He said that those driving vehicles after consuming liquor may have to pay Rs 2,500 as fine in the court. The court may also punish such violators by awarding three-month imprisonment.

Bathinda, July 11
An unidentified person snatched Rs 30,000 from a woman who had withdrawn the money from an ATM near the Haji Rattan chowk. As soon as the woman came on the road after withdrawing the money, the miscreant, who was on a Pulsar motorcycle, took away her bag containing the money. The incident took place at around 11.30 am.

The woman said she had Rs 5,000 in her bag and had withdrawn another Rs 25,000. The victim has been identified as Ajmer Kaur, a resident of Parasram Nagar. The matter was brought to the notice of the police and statements of the woman and bystanders were recorded.

Local residents said this is the third such incident in as many days. Earlier too, incidents of snatchings have taken place near the Civil Hospital and in the main market. — TNS

Bathinda, July 11
Keeping in view the ensuing dengue fever season, an awareness camp on the disease was organised at the Saint Heart Public Senior Secondary School, Paras Ram Nagar, here. The sanitary inspector, Om Parkash, presided over the camp. Besides the students and the staff, the principal of the school, Rakesh Verma, also took part in the camp.

At the camp, the students and staff were told about the causes of dengue and malaria diseases and their treatment and the preventive measures. The children were also educated about maintaining cleanliness in and around their houses.

Baldev Singh told the students about the types of mosquitoes and the time when the vector mosquitoes bite the people. He also informed the students about the methods to kill the mosquitoes.

Hundreds of persons from Bathinda city had been tested positive for the disease during the last season. — TNS