Bathinda, July 31
The power shutdown, for the second consecutive day today after the failure of the grids, left nearly 20 states sweating and threw normal life out of gear, but saw the petrol pumps doing brisk business with the demand for diesel, to run the generators, surging.

Though the city had witnessed severe power cuts way back in 2009 when the monsoon had played truant, this time because of the unpredictability of the shutdown and its impact on people’s lives, efforts were made by offices and business establishments to keep diesel handy so that important work did not suffer.

Baltej Singh Mann, the owner of Mann Petrol Pump, said there had been a ten per cent rise in the sale of diesel at his petrol pump since yesterday. “People from the rural and urban areas are buying diesel due to the rise in demand following the power failure", Mann said.

While the generators ran to ensure workplaces did not suffer, their contribution to air pollution was also beyond doubt. Household chores were also affected due to the power failure with people having no option but to wait for the power supply to be restored. Since it was a holiday today, many offices and schools were closed, thus mitigating the problem to some extent.

Station Engineer of Powercom, Inderjit Garg, claimed that power was restored in some residential areas of the city by 5.30 pm. However, the case was not the same for the agricultural and industrial sectors.

“The problem occurred due to the failure of the northern and eastern grids and there is no electricity in nearly 15 states of the country,” Garg said.

Garg added that a situation like this was last witnessed way back 
in the year 2001.

Small-time manufacturers and industrialists rued that continuous power failure had affected their business to a great extent.

Farmers’ organisations said continuous power failure had affected the paddy sowing season and the cost of farm input would increase manifold for them.

Jaswinder Brar, the owner of a tractor showroom on Mansa road, said customers who came from far off places to get their vehicles or agricultural tools repaired, had to return empty handed.

Brar added that he was now planning to install a solar-powered device to ensure regular power supply and get some respite from the power cuts.

Similarly, Kamal Mehta, a local entrepreneur, said losses to the tune of lakhs had been reported from the local industrial units and business houses on account of the power shutdown.

Bathinda, July 31
A total knee replacement surgery was today conducted on a woman at the local Civil Hospital. It was the third such surgery, conducted by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Ajay Gupta, at the hospital in three months.

Seventy-year-old Tarlochan Kaur, a resident of Bathinda, on whom the surgery was today conducted, had been suffering from serious knee pain and deformity for the past many years.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, Dr Ajay Gupta said during the surgery, he replaced both knees of the woman at the same time. He added that Tarlochan would be able to walk without any pain or disability within the next two-three weeks. Before the surgery, both knees were bent outwards due to which she had been suffering from severe pain, he added.

Dr Gupta said the woman had earlier visited some private hospitals in Ludhiana and Chandigarh as well. He said she would be discharged from the hospital after a week. After two or three weeks, she would get rid of the pain killers, he added.

Dr Gupta said earlier, he had conducted a replacement surgery on both knees of a local resident Prem Kumari and on one knee of Darshan Singh.

He had also conducted around 15 knee replacement surgeries at Civil Hospital at Mansa in the past years when he was posted there, he added.

The total cost of the surgery to replace both knees at the hospital is around Rs 1.70 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh, while the cost would be much higher in the private sector hospitals, he said.

Bathinda, July 31
Ten children precariously balanced on an improvised rickshaw, an auto stuffed with students and overcrowded mini vans dropping kindergarten kids to their houses — these scenes are as common in the city as stray cattle.

While students sweat and fight it out to eke a little more space for themselves on these vehicles, school authorities turn a blind eye saying these are privately hired vehicles and hence, their functioning can’t be controlled by the school authorities.

The principal of a prestigious school of the city told Bathinda Tribune that despite the school offering bus facility for students, parents insist on saving money and hire rickshaws or autos to drop and pick their wards from the school. “Parents come to us requesting us to lower the cost of the bus facility. With increasing fuel prices, how can we do that? Many parents then opt for these autos and rickshaws. We have no say in the matter,” she said.

“We have a pick and drop facility for the students of our school. Parents still endanger the lives of their children by hiring rickshaws and autos. Rickshawpullers and auto drivers often put the safety of the children on the backburner by improvising their vehicles to create space for more children. We are responsible for the safety of the children who are ferried by our school buses. But how can we keep a tab on these rickshaws and autos?” asked the principal of another private school in the city.

Parents, on the other hand, complain that only the private schools in the city offer the pick and drop facility and that too, for a hefty price.

“I have hired a rickshaw to drop and pick my children from the school. The rickshaw-puller packs more than six students on one rickshaw. I complained to him a couple of times but in vain. Even the autodrivers pack children like vegetables in their vehicles. We can’t help but reconcile with the fate,” said Meena Rani, whose daughters study at the government senior secondary school at Gol Diggi.

When Bathinda Tribune spoke to ASP Kuldeep Singh Chahal, traffic in-charge of the city, he said, “As far as improvised rickshaws are concerned, there is no rule under which we fine them. But we do run awareness campaigns against them in the schools. As and when we come across overcrowded autos, we issue a challan and warn them against jeopardising the lives of children for earning more money.”

Bathinda, July 31
The Department of Youth Services has fixed a target to form 68 NSS units and enroll 6,800 volunteers in the senior secondary schools and technical education institutes of the district during the current academic year. However, the number of NSS units may increase this year as the department has given new units to some schools and a college.

According to information, the enrollment drive is going on in schools and technical colleges in the district these days. The department is of the view that the enrollment target will be achieved by the end of August. The already existing volunteers would make up 50 per cent of the 6,800 count of volunteers.

On the demand of schools and technical colleges, the Youth Services Department has given new NSS units this year to the Government Senior Secondary School in Dhapali, Fateh Senior Secondary School in Rampura, Government Senior Secondary School in Kothaguru, Sunrise Senior Secondary School in Bhai Rupa, Polytechnic College of Giani Zail Singh Campus in Bathinda, Saint Soldier Senior Secondary School in Talwandi Sabo and DAV Senior Secondary School in Raman Mandi.

This year, 13 units have been formed in seven educational institutions in the district till now. These institutions are District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Deon, Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Rampura, MHR Senior Secondary School in Bathinda, SSD Senior Secondary School in Bathinda, Khalsa Senior Secondary School in Talwandi Sabo, Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Bathinda and Government Senior Secondary School in Multania. These schools have already been given instructions to start their regular NSS activities.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, assistant director of the Youth Services Department, Bathinda, Dr Kamaljit Singh Sidhu said all the NSS units would adopt one village or slum area to perform their activities there.

Dr Sidhu said the NSS volunteers from each unit would take part in six one-day camps while half of the volunteers from each unit would participate in a seven-day camp during the year. He further said at these camps the main emphasis of the NSS volunteers would remain on tree plantation, drug de-addiction and blood donation programmes.

During the last academic session, as many as 41 senior secondary schools and six technical institutes had formed 68 NSS units in the district. These units had enrolled 7,329 NSS volunteers (4,006 male and 3,323 female).