Bathinda, July 17
Under the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Regulations 2011, the licensing and registration of food businesses is on in the district.

As many as 120 licences and 225 registration certificates have been issued by the Designated Officer, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, in the district so far.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has fixed August 4 as the last date for the food business operators (producing, processing, transporting or trading in food items) for obtaining the licences and registration certificates. Registration of the food business is necessary if the annual turnover is up to `12 lakh and obtaining a licence is mandatory if the annual turnover of the business is above `12 lakh.

Talking to the Bathinda Tribune, District Health Officer (DHO) and designated officer, Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa, said 120 licences had been issued by his office to dairy operators, sweet shops, milk chilling centres, hotels, restaurants, “karyana” merchants, poultry business, slaughter houses etc.

Two hundred and twenty-five registration certificates had been issued to vegetable and fruit vendors, small shopkeepers, milk vendors, small icecream units, small sweet shops etc, he added.

Dr Randhawa said the licences were being issued after conducting inspection of the premises of food businesses to ensure that the food was being manufactured or processed in hygienic conditions. After the issuance of the licence, a food safety officer would visit the premises at least once a year, he added.

He also said the medical examination of the food handlers, like cooks and waiters, was also mandatory under the Act so as to curb the spread of contagious diseases like tuberculosis through food items. He also said if anyone was found running a food business without a licence in near future, he or she would be prosecuted and punished. Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, a fine of `5 lakh or six months’ imprisonment could be imposed on the violators.

Dr Randhawa said operator of a food business with an annual turnover of up to `12 lakh could get his/her business registered by depositing a fee of `100 with the district health authorities. If the turnover is above `12 lakh, a licence can be procured by depositing `2,000. The licence would be valid for one year and would need renewal every year, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Randhawa has reportedly issued letters to about 35 associations of various food-related businesses, advising them to ask the members of their respective associations to get their businesses registered or obtain licences before July 25.

Bathinda, July 17
Two persons sustained burns after an LPG cylinder caught fire in Parasram Nagar on Tuesday afternoon.

The injured have been identified as Harpal Singh and Deep Kaur. The incident took place when lunch was being prepared for the family. The children noticed fire emanating from the nozzle of the LPG cylinder and rushed out to save their lives.

Harpal, a carpenter by profession, rushed inside to enquire into the matter and came in contact with the fire. He received serious burns and was shifted to the local Civil Hospital from where he was referred to another hospital in Faridkot.

His relative, Deep Kaur, too sustained burns and is undergoing treatment at teh Civil Hospital.

Volunteers of the city-based NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital.

Police officials rushed to the spot to enquire into the matter and recorded the statements of the family members and the local residents.

This is the second time in two months that an LPG cylinder caught fire. 

Bathinda, July 17
The online admission process introduced by the Punjabi University, Patiala, starting from he academic session 2012-13, has been a huge hit. Apart from being the reason for a phenomenal increase in the number of aspirants applying to study at the university, it has also helped the university in drawing students from other states.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune over the phone, Dr Baljinder Tiwana, in-charge of the centralised admissions at the university, said, "This was the first time when the university started the online admission process, apart from the offline process. The response to the facility has been tremendous. The number of students applying to pursue further studies at the university has increased from 30-100 per cent for various courses."

"Out of all the admission forms that the university has received, 60 per cent were online submissions. The online process saved the students from other states and rural areas, the trouble of travelling all the way to the colleges, buying the prospectus and then coming back again and again," he added.

The university is going to organise entrance tests for MPhil and PhD in various courses. Thanks to the online process, the number of students applying to appear for these entrance exams has also increased by a heavy margin.

"Last year, the university had received close to 1,800 forms for the entrance tests for MPhil and PhD courses. The last date to submit forms for the entrance exam this year, along with late fee, is July 23. Till date, the university has received as many as 2,800 forms. We have received forms from students hailing from Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states," said Dr Tiwana.

"Apart from checking the status of their applications, the students appearing for the entrance exams can also download the admit cards from the university's website. This will save them a lot of time and money. They need not come to the university to collect the cards and can straightway arrive to appear for the exam," he added.

Since this was the first year the Punjabi University, Patiala, started with the online admission process, it also made sure that the offline admission process was also open to avoid any kind of confusion and inconvenience to the aspirants.

Bathinda, July 17
Adesh University would be admitting students to the MBBS and BDS course on the basis of merit in the Punjab Medical Entrance Test (PMET 2012) conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.

The merit list of Punjab Para Medical Entrance Test (PPMET-2012) conducted by the BFUHS will be used as the basis for admission to BSc (Nursing) and Bachelor in Physiotherapy courses for the session 2012-13.

A decision was taken at the governing body's meeting held yesterday. A varsity spokesperson said eligible students of Punjab stand to benefit from this process for admission in the current session. "The total MBBS seats available under the PMET merit is 920 and not 770 as some reports suggest," said the spokesperson.

In the interest of the students, the date for counselling will be fixed in such a manner that there is no clash with the schedule of BFUHS, Faridkot. — TNS

Bathinda, July 17
To cope with the rising demand for High Security Number Plates (HSNP), the District Transport Office has installed two number plate embossing units.

To reduce the possibility of theft of their vehicles, residents are turning up at the department’s office to get their vehicle’s number plates exchanged with the HSNPs.

While it is mandatory for all the new vehicles to install HSNPs, owners of old vehicles have been given two years’ time to replace the old plates with the new ones.

District Transport Officer, Bhupinder Singh said the HSMPs helped in reducing the risk of vehicle lifting to a great extent. He said a second unit to fix number plates had been installed to cater to the rising demand.

“Now, people will not have to wait for a long time to get the HSNPs fixed on their vehicles,” the DTO said.

He added that as many as 29,070 applications had been received in the past one month in Bathinda and so far, HSNPs had been fixed on 2,210 new and old vehicles.

The DTO officials said that were some teething problems in fixing the number plates and efforts were on to redress the same.

Those who got the number plates embossed on their newly-purchased two-wheelers said authorities concerned fixed number plates on their vehicles even though there was no provision offered by the manufacturers.

The number plates are installed after making holes on the front chassis of the vehicles.

“The front portion of my new two-wheeler was drilled by the authorities to fix an HSNP,” said Santosh, a resident of Pujan Wala Mohalla. He also added that dealers had been charging more than the amount fixed by the government for various vehicles.

DTO Bhupinder Singh admitted to getting complaints pertaining to dealers charging extra money but expressed helplessness in taking action as nobody wished to give a formal written complaint against any of the dealers.

A section of the workers installing ordinary number plates in the city said the introduction of HSNPs had ruined their business. They said there were nearly 100 such shops in the city, employing three to four workers, all of whom were now unemployed.

They said the HSNPs being installed by the government were not accurate. Instead of installing yellow plates on heavy vehicles —as per fresh instructions — white plates were being installed by the authorities.

The authorities are also damaging the chassis of two-wheelers on which there was no provision of installing HSNPs.

DTO said while the rate of an HSNP for tractors and two-wheelers was Rs 100, for three-wheelers it was Rs 135, for cars it was Rs 195, for buses it was Rs 315. The prices exclude Rs 13.75 VAT.

The number plates are fixed along with a hologram pasted on the vehicle that carries details of the vehicle registration, engine and chassis numbers.

In case one tries to remove the sticker or the number plate, it gets damaged and the same can be installed again only from the office of the District Transport Officer.

Bathinda, July 17
The clerical and officers’ organisations of the banks staged a dharna today in support of their demands in front of the PNB circle office, Model Town.

The dharna was held under the banner of the local unit of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). The convener of the local unit of the UFBU, Pawan Jindal, led the protest.

Jindal said the bank employees were protesting against the policy of liberalization being pursued by the Central Government which was "anti-people". He said they were also opposing the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2011 which was yet to be passed by parliament. Jindal said if the Bill was passed, then the voting rights of the share holders in private banks would be enhanced to 26 per cent from the existing 10 per cent. He alleged that foreign investors would hold the sway if the Bill was passed by parliament.

Jindal said the government was putting emphasis on the outsourcing of jobs while the bank unions were asking the government to recruit staff through the recruitment board so that permanent employees could be appointed in the banks.

Another demand of the bank unions was jobs on compassionate ground to the wards of the deceased bank employees. Besides, the unions were also demanding revised housing loan scheme, improvement in pension scheme, defined and regulating working hours and five day banking, among others.

The protesters also opposed the Khandewal Committee Report, saying that all the steps, recommended by the committee, were anti-trade union and targeted to accelerate the process of weakening of the unions and associations.

Today's dharna was staged as a precursor to the call for strike given by the United Forum of Bank Unions, for two days, i.e. July 25 and 26, throughout the country in support of the demands of the bank employees and officers.

Those who were present on the occasion included Pawan Jindal (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur), KK Singla and RD Singla (PNB), NK Bansal and Sunita Ahuja (State Bank of Patiala).

Bathinda, July 17
Police has booked a resident of Aggarwal Colony for cheating a person of Rs 7 lakhs.