Bathinda, July 29
The office-bearers of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a district-level political meeting pertaining to the membership drive at the confrence hall of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda today.

State BJP president Ashwani Sharma and state general secretary (organisation) Ajay Jamwal addressed the party workers at the meeting. The municipal corporation spared two of its employees to make arrangements for the meeting.

Opposition members, however, raised objections to the political meeting being held in government corridors. “It seems that the meeting hall has turned into a community hall with every Tom, Dick and Harry being allowed to use this hall without paying any fee,” said the Congress municipal councillors.

An opposition leader, Jagroop Singh Gill, said the hall belongs to the elected members who represent local areas. “If the hall has to be opened for the public, a resolution should first be passed in the general house and then implemented. What the BJP did today was against political ethics,” he said.

Even the BJP leaders in the city raised objections to public building being put to such use. “Tomorrow, the councillors of other parties may also start demanding the hall for holding their own meetings. We have set a bad example,” the BJP councillors said. In the government meeting hall, BJP workers raised slogans praising president Ashwani Kumar and the party.

Earlier, on Saturday, organisational secretary Neeraj Tayal had visited the corporation’s building to review the arrangements for the meeting, triggering controversy.

During the two-hour long meeting, that went on from 4 pm to 6 pm, president Ashwani Sharma asked the party workers to gear up for 2014 general elections. He told the workers to lay emphasis on the membership drive and ensure that every section of society gets ample representation in the party.

The presidents of the Mahila Morcha (women wing) and Yuva Morcha (youth wing) were specifically asked to undertake recruitments in their respective cadres only.

At the meeting, nine BJP municipal councillors, district president, general secretary, presidents of three mandal units and general secretaries, president of rural area and two general secretaries, presidents of women cell urban and rural, presidents of the youth wing (urban and rural), presidents of Kisan Morcha (urban and rural), presidents of SC cell (urban and rural) as well as representatives of other cells participated in the meeting.

Despite repeated attempts, neither Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman nor the municipal commissioner, Uma Shankar Gupta, were available for comments. Later, the BJP leaders visited their party leader Mohan Lal Garg, who is recuperating at a hospital. Garg had met with an accident while on his returning from Chandigarh.

Bathinda, July 29
The District Child Protection Society, which was set up in Bathinda in March this year, has not started functioning yet due to the non-allotment of budget by the government for running its affairs. Besides, the staff of the society is also yet to be appointed.

Such societies have been set up in the state by the Department of Social Security, Punjab, to protect the rights of the children and take care of them, especially the neglected and the orphaned. Besides, these societies will also work to prevent the children from getting involved in criminal activities. Bathinda district had taken the lead in the state by setting up the society in March this year.

Sources in the Social Security Department said not only in Bathinda district, the District Child Protection Societies in many other districts are also yet to start functioning either on account of non-allotment of funds or other reasons.

The Bathinda district had reportedly sought a budget of `43 lakh for one year for contingency, salaries and infrastructure.

As per the information, the Social Security Department, Punjab, after fixing the pay and qualifications of the staff, had recently written to the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Bathinda, to recruit the staff for the society. The DC, however, sent the letter back to the Social Security Department with suggestions as the recruitment of staff was to be done for all the societies of the state.

Reportedly, the Social Security Department has been suggested to give a single advertisement for the recruitment of staff for all the districts.

With this, the government will save a lot of money as instead of 22 advertisements for different districts, a single advertisement will serve the purpose for all the districts. Besides, the pattern of the advertisement will also remain the same.

Moreover, the Bathinda District Child Protection Society also doesn’t have funds for releasing the advertisement to the newspapers.

The president of the governing body of the society is the chairperson of the Zila Parishad while the Deputy Commissiner is the vice-chairman and the district social security officer is the member secretary.

Bathinda, July 29
As many as 15 passengers, including an elderly person and an expectant woman, received injuries when the bus they were travelling in overturned near Kotshamir village on Sunday evening.

Many passengers sustained head injuries and fractures and had to undergo treatment at the Civil Hospital. Some of the injured were shifted to other hospitals in view of their critical condition.

The PRTC bus, bearing the registration number of Mansa, was on its way to Bathinda from Mansa. The bus driver was trying to overtake a jeep when he lost control over the vehicle and the bus turned turtle. The passengers were pulled out of the bus by some passersby.

The 108 ambulance service and the volunteers of the city-based NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa, reached the accident spot and helped in shifting the injured passengers to the hospital.

Raman Garg, in-charge of the 108 ambulance service, said three ambulances were pressed into action to bring the passengers to the hospital. The 108 ambulances are equipped with paramedic staff and first-aid facilities.

Those identified are 70-year-old Sukhdev Singh, Chhinderpal Kaur, Gurcharan Kaur, Baldev Singh, Gurjant Singh, Harbans Singh, Raj Rani, Gurvir Singh, Sunder Kaur, Balwant Singh and Gurdeep Singh. Police is trying to ascertain the identities of the rest of the injured.

Bathinda, July 29
It is not just a sportsperson with Bathinda connection who would be taking part in the events at the London Olympics. The city also has its share of sports aficionados who would be jet-setting to watch the grand spectacle.

Though they may not match the ardour of the English soccer fans who travel with their team across the continent to watch the games, it is still an indication of the passion that the Olympics evoke.

While the shot putter from Bathinda, Om Prakash, who would be participating in the track and field event on August 3, had left for training at Hungary in early May, to prepare for the London Olympics, a sports lover, who works as a security officer at State Bank of Patiala, Captain (retd) Ravinder Singh Gill, will be leaving for London from Amritsar with his wife Paramjit Kaur and son Sukhman Gill on August 4. Gill resides at the Power House road in the city.

The family had lost out on viewing the glittering opening ceremony of the games due to family’s engagement with Sukhman’s school.

Gill intends to watch the women football semifinal matches on August 6, hockey match between Australia and Pakistan as well as the hockey match between Korea and New Zealand, athletics and boxing events on August 8 besides other events.

“We expect the closing ceremony to be as breathtaking as the opening ceremony,” added Captain Gill. The Gills would be returning on August 17 from their maiden London trip.

Bathinda, July 29
Power deficient Bathinda city, which consumes 16 to 17 lakh units of energy every day, has started looking for alternative sources of energy in order to meet its increased demand for uninterrupted power supply.

A few residents have installed solar appliances that work on sun’s energy, thereby getting relief from the power cuts. While solar geysers have been in demand for the past six-seven years, solar devices are now being put to use for serving purposes other than just warming water. With devices such as mini solar power plants available in the market, people are slowly moving from the energy provided by he state power department to completely relying on solar energy.

Captain Ravinder Singh Gill, a resident of Power House Road, installed a solar power plant at his home, thereby minimising the use of power from the thermal plants. “We had grown tired of repeated and undeclared power cuts that had made our lives miserable. That’s when we came across the mini power plant on which we run a one tonne air-conditioner too,” says Gill.

As per a rough estimate, there are around 50 households in the city that have installed these power plants. The plant, which costs around `30,000 to `40,000 at the time of installation, has not only given people freedom from power cuts but also from hefty electricity bills.

Apart from the mini power plants, the year also saw an increase in the demand for solar cookers owing to the nutritional advantages they have over pressure cookers. “People have been demanding solar cookers, which is happening for the first time in the city,” says Sachin Verma, an executive of one of the companies that deals in solar-powered devices.

Bathinda, July 29
The elections for the Government School Lecturers' Union, Bathinda, were held at the local Teachers' Home here today. In a press note issued here, the newly-elected district press secretary of the union, Pushpesh Kumar, said the district president of the Muktsar chapter of the union, Charan Dass, was appointed the observer for today's election.

The delegates discussed the various demands of the union including increasing the quota of promotions as principals from the present 55 per cent to 70 per cent, rationalization of the workload of the lecturers and grant of salary.

Those who addressed the delegates included Shiv Pal Goyal, Naib Singh, Harbans Singh Sidhu, Sunil Kumar, Sukhdev Singh Dhadhe, Sikander Singh and Charan Dass. — TNS

Bathinda, July 29
To promote menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls, the accredited social health activists (ASHA workers) of the Health Department have distributed or sold 26078 packets of sanitary napkins (each packet contains six napkins) among the adolescent girls, especially in rural areas, in six blocks of the district in the months of May and June.

These sanitary napkins were provided to the adolescent girls in the age-group of 10 to 18 years under the menstrual hygiene scheme of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Bathinda is one of the five districts of the state, besides Faridkot, Ferozepur, Muktsar and Moga, selected for implementing the scheme by providing sanitary napkins to the adolescent girls at a nominal price of Rs 6 per packet.

Under the scheme, all six blocks of the district, namely, Bhagta, Talwandi Sabo, Nathana, Sangat, Ballianwali and Goniana, had received 1,05,600 packets. The six blocks managed to distribute or sell 26078 packets in May and June. However, Nathana block remained on the top among the six blocks in the sale of sanitary napkins, selling 6363 packets while Goniana block remained at the bottom with a sale of only 1346 packets.

According to sources in the NRHM here, the ASHA workers registered 46,892 adolescent girls in six blocks of the district by the end of June. Of them, 25,740 were visited by the ASHA workers. However, the number of adolescent girls is expected increase in the months to come, the sources added.

Sources said the ASHA workers had held meetings with the adolescent girls and educated them about menstrual hygiene. These ASHA workers also visited the girls in houses and schools to impart them knowledge about the menstrual hygiene scheme of the NRHM.

Bathinda, July 29
Volunteers of 'India Against Corruption' organised a demonstration at the Fire Brigade Chowk for the fifth consecutive day today.

The activists raised slogans like "Anna Hazare sangharsh karo hum tumhare saath hain" and "Jan Lokpal lana hai, desh ko bachana hai".

They argued that the Central Government should bring a strong Jan Lok Pal Bill. On the occasion, Rajiv Sharma, president of the Patanjali Yog Samiti, Inderjeet Gupta, DK Garg, Dr JS Romana, Sanjeev Sharma, Sandeep Parchanda, Sonu Oberoi, Sukhpal Singh Sra were present. — TNS

Bathinda, July 29
Gursher Singh from Ludhiana was declared the champion at the Punjab State Chess Championship held for the under-25 category. The championship concluded at the Teachers' Home today. Gagandeep from Jalandhar came second followed by Pankaj Sharma of Bathinda, who was declared third.

Sukhjeer Singh Sivia from Moga was fourth, Sahil Batra from Ludhiana came fifth, Sharad Arora from Ludhiana was declared sixth, Naveen Kumar from Sunam seventh and Jaspreet Singh from Patiala eighth. — TNS