Bathinda, July 28
The municipal councillors in the city have found a new tool to register their protests as well as pressurise the House and the municipal officials to yield to their demands. They squat on the floor of the meeting hall, in front of the officials presiding over the meeting.

During the meeting conducted on July 16, municipal councillor Prem Singh Maakar squatted on the floor and managed to get projects of his area cleared at the meeting during which any other agenda was not even discussed.

Following him, municipal councillor Mandeep Kaur Agrohia squatted on the floor during the MC meeting convened on July 27 while protesting against the municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta for not taking any action in a case of an illegal construction. A member of the ruling party, Mandeep, was repeatedly requested to sit on her seat and talk, but she refused to do so. It was only after much persuasion by the Mayor, Baljit Singh Beerbehman, that she got up and sat next to him to discuss the issue.

In both the cases, the councillors were from the ruling party. “Such kinds of protests are usually registered by the opposition. Municipal Corporation Bathinda is reeling under such crisis that even its ruling members have to lodge protests to get themselves heard. One can easily imagine the fate of issues raised by the members of the opposition party,” said Jagroop Singh Gill, the leader of the opposition in the House.

Some SAD members also agreed that such activities set a bad precedence, which others should not follow. “Usually a person resorts to such means to draw the attention of the house. But being the representative of a ward, it is not justified on the part of the councillors to stoop to such a low,” added a senior BJP leader, pleading anonymity.

Meanwhile, Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman said councillors should adhere to the decorum of the House. “We will request the councillors to be more rational and calm in their approach. After all, every problem can be solved through discussion,” he added.

Bathinda, July 28
Thirty-five-year-old Gagandeep Brar, who was arrested by the police on Thursday for executing snatchings outside the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP), belongs to a well-to-do family. While both his parents are retired teachers, his wife is also a teacher. It has now come to light that he turned into a snatcher to clear his debts.

Gagandeep’s family owns nearly 23 acres of agricultural land near Jhumba village.

Kotwali SHO, Jaspal Singh, said the family resides in a big house in Model Town Phase-1 and the annual income of the family must not be less than `10 lakh.

He said Gagandeep was arrested after a witness of a recent snatching case identified him while he was roaming around in a local market. During interrogation, Gagandeep admitted that he had snatched Paramjit Kaur’s bag, containing Rs `3.5 lakh. The accused snatched Paramjit’s bag shortly after she withdrew the money from the Civil Lines branch of SBoP.

Gagandeep also admitted to committing three more similar snatchings and a cash stash of `4.3 lakh was recovered from his possession.

Singh said despite the fact that the accused belonged to a financially well-off family, he took to petty crime a couple of years back.

The SHO said Gagandeep was hooked to various forms of habit-forming substances. Having no source of income and the family refusing to support his addiction, he turned to crime. He started borrowing money from friends and relatives and began snatching bags to clear his debts.

Earlier, he had told the police that he had cleared the C.P.Ed (Certificate in Physical Education) from Kurukshetra University but later it was found that he had only appeared for the certificate course but failed to clear it, the SHO said. The SHO also refuted the accused’s claim of being a sportsman.

A case under various sections of the IPC has been registered against Gagandeep Brar at the Kotwali police station. He was sent to judicial remand after his police remand ended. 

Bathinda, July 28
The interns at the Adesh Dental College protested against the institute today demanding an increase in their stipend, rollback of increased hostel fee charges and better food quality.

As many as 50 interns, holding banners and placards, raised slogans against the management of the college.

The interns, who are students of the 2008 batch, alleged that every year, their hostel fees was being revised by `10,000, which was a steep increase.

“Our hostel fee was `67,000 at the beginning of our course, and it has now increased to `1,04,900. However, the institute gives us receipts of `87,000 only,” they said.

Students also alleged that local students were forcibly made to pay `4,500 hostel charges although they did not avail of the facility.

They also accused the institute of not giving them the stipend they deserved during the internship period. Students threatened that if their demands were not met, they would sit on a dharna with their parents.

Students submitted their memorandum of demands to the principal of the dental college. Later, the institute’s spokesperson claimed that the issues had been sorted out.

“Students have demanded that they be given `4,800 as stipend, which is not possible as the MBBS students get that much money. For BDS students, `2,500 to `3,000 has been set as stipend,” he said.

The board of governors of the Adesh University will meet on Tuesday to take a final decision on fixing the stipend. The spokesperson added that the hostel fees included mess charges, which have increased due to inflation.

“The mess contractor has expressed his inability to run the canteen at the same rates on which he was running it two years ago. We will immediately float new tenders inviting bids for the same,” he added.

Bathinda, July 28
Yet another baby girl was found abandoned in the panghura (cradle) at the Mahant Gurbanta Dass School for Deaf and Dumb Children on Goniana Road.

Secretary of the District Red Cross Society, JR Goyal, said, “The day-old baby girl was taken to the Civil Hospital where Dr Anjali Bansal examined her and administered vaccines. The baby is healthy,” he said.

This is the 15th child to be left in the cradle since its installation in February 2009. The children are handed over to Yadvindra Puran Bal Niketan, Lahori Gate, Patiala from where they are handed over for adoption. A baby was left on July 9 this year. — TNS

Bathinda, July 28
Lectures, a quiz competition and a radio talk will mark the World Breastfeeding Week to be observed from August 1-7.

The aim is to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of a baby’s life and complementary feeding along with breastfeeding from six months onwards till the age of two years.

The secretary of the Bathinda Academy of Paediatrics, Dr Amit Aggarwal, today said during the World Breastfeeding Week, they would organise lecturers on ‘Importance of breastfeeding’ in nursing colleges and other educational institutes to create awareness among girls and women.

Besides, they would also organise a quiz competition for pediatricians on August 3 in Bathinda. On August 2, a paediatrician posted at the local Women and Children Hospital, Dr Satish Jindal, will present a programme on the local radio station at 4 pm to raise awareness on breastfeeding, he added.

While speaking to the Bathinda Tribune about the importance of breastfeeding here today, Dr Jindal said exclusive breastfeeding should be started within one hour of the birth of the baby. Pre-lacteal feed and ‘gurti’ should never be given to the newborn as it exposes the child to higher incidence of infection, he added.

Dr Jindal said exclusive breastfeeding significantly decreased the incidence of diarrhoea and pneumonia, which were the two main causes of infant mortality. He said the colostrum (yellow milk) was very important for the newborn as it contained antibodies, which provide resistance against various diseases.

Besides, babies require adequate nutrition, affection and protection and the breastfeeding provides the same, he added.

It is not that only infants are the beneficiaries of breastfeeding, mothers too benefit in the process. It reduces post-delivery bleeding, delays next pregnancy, helps in losing weight and most importantly, protects mothers against breast and ovarian cancers.

The society and the country as a whole benefit from breastfeeding as it lowers the healthcare cost by reducing child morbidity and mortality. Thus, it reduces the financial burden on the family and helps in improving the economy of the country.

So, all newborns should be given exclusive breastfeeding till the age of six months and thereafter, complementary feeding should be added along with breastfeeding, Dr Jindal said.

A doctor quoted a slogan for healthy babies: ‘Baby needs mom-made, not man-made foods’. 

Bathinda, July 28
As many as 152 cases were amicably settled at the monthly Lok Adalat held at the District Courts here today.

District and Sessions Judge SK Aggarwal said 248 cases were presented before the court. Of these, 152 were settled and claims and rewards to the tune of `2,48,40,699 were passed.

Among the cases settled were three family disputes that had been pending in different courts for the past many years.

The District and Sessions Judge said Lok Adalats were held every last Saturday of a month at Bathinda, Phool and Talwandi Sabo, while that of the labour court was held every last Friday.

He added that Lok Adalat was meant to settle cases amicably without any hassle to either of the parties.

Barring criminal cases of serious nature, all other cases were solved at Lok Adalat. Even those cases, which are not pending with the court, can also be brought before the Lok Adalat. The decision of this court is considered as the decree of a civil court and no appeal could be filed against the Lok Adalat's decision in any court.

Additional district and sessions judges Sukhdev Singh, Dilbagh Singh Johal, Lachhman Singh and H S Lekhi, civil judge senior division Harinder Kaur Sidhu, chief judicial magistrate Harjit Singh, additional civil judge senior division Kanwaljit Singh, civil judges junior division Karan Garg and Deepti Goyal, special judicial magistrate HL Kumar, assistant district attorney Surinder Sachdeva, president of the Bar Association Ranjit Singh Jalal and others were also present at the Lok Adalat.

Bathinda, July 28
The Punjab State Chess Championship (under-25 category) started at the Teachers’ Home today.

The Bathinda District Chess Association, which is affiliated to the Punjab State Chess Association, is organising the tourney.

President of the association Davinder Singh said 101 players — 93 boys and eight girls — were participating in the championship and top four players would be selected for the XXI National Level Youth (under-25) Chess Championship to be held in Maharashtra.

Vice-president of the association Vishal Garg said players from 12 districts, including Bathinda, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur, Faridkot, Moga, Barnala, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Mohali and Amritsar, were competing in the tourney.

As many as 30 players are taking part in the under-14 category. The youngest player is 10-year-old Gurjot Singh Dhaliwal.

All international rated players won the first round. The round was a pack of surprise with unrated players defeating the rated ones.

In the second round, Jaspreet Singh, an unrated player, dominated the game against an international rated player having the rating of 1669. In this round, another unrated player Karan Kapoor defeated international rated player with the rating of 1688.

An unrated player and Bathinda district champion, Love Jindal, defeated an international-rated player having the rating of 1,601.

Similarly, Naveen Kumar, another unrated player, defeated an international-rated player with the rating of 1,542.

Bathinda, July 28
The police has arrested two persons with 15 kilogram poppy husk.

The accused, identified as Raj Kumar and Nirmal Singh, were caught carrying the contraband under the patrolling area of the Kotfatta police station. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against them at the Kotfatta police station.

In a similar incident, a resident of Bhikhi in Mansa was arrested by the Rama police and 10 kg of poppy was recovered from his possession. The accused, Kuldeep, was caught with the contraband near Giyana village. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act 
has been registered against him at the Rama police station. — TNS