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8 am proves to be too early
Poles on the wrong side of the road irk residents
Aspirants fail to meet benchmark for 9 courses at Central University
Charges fly fast as woman accuses in-laws of harassing her for dowry
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Panel to monitor female foeticide
Mother’s milk is good for child’s health, say docs
Another bike stolen from Mini-secretariat
Saplings planted
Rly Colony resident held with drugs
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8 am proves to be too early
Bathinda, August 1 When Bathinda Tribune conducted a reality check on Day 1 of the changed timings, it found that many of the government employees, especially women employees, could not reach their offices by 8 am. Many of them excused themselves by saying they came from adjoining areas and cities and hence, it was difficult for them to reach their offices on time, at least on the first day. Some female employees, who didn’t want to reveal their identity, said it was very difficult for them to reach the office by 8 am as they had to perform several domestic chores, including sending their children to school and husband to office, apart from preparing breakfast. From such a packed schedule, how could they spare time to get ready for the office, they reasoned. Some employees argued that the timings would pose a problem not only to them, but also to those who were to come to government offices to get their work done. Apart from facing the daunting task of reaching these offices early in the morning to meet the officials, they would be faced with the problem of shortage of time, as now, the offices would close by 2 pm instead of the usual 5 pm. Narinder Kumar, who works under the NRHM at the Civil Surgeon’s office here, said not all the employees were happy with the changed timings. While half of them liked it, the other half either disliked the change or chose to keep silent over the issue. Kumar, however, argued that those residing in the city would not face any problem as they could now relax at home in the afternoon while those coming from the adjoining areas and cities would have to brave the hot weather on their way back home. Harbhajan Singh, working at the Water Supply and Sanitation Office in the city, said the new timings did not suit the female employees as they would now face a time crunch in the morning. Besides, the general public would also face difficulties due to reduction in the working hours, he said. District general secretary of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU), Kewal Bansal, said despite the changed timings, there were many employees in government offices who would still have to work till 3 pm or 5 pm, because of the nature of their responsibilities. Grouses * Employees travelling to the city from adjoining areas and cities argued that 8 am was too early for them to reach office. They also complained that they would now have to face the hot weather on their way back home. * Female employees said the new timings caused a time crunch for them in the morning as they had to finish various domestic chores before coming to the office.
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Poles on the wrong side of the road irk residents
Bathinda, August 1
A local resident, Harmeet Singh, said the Patel Nagar colony was developed by the Bathinda Improvement Trust and hence, has a planned set of building bylaws and other civic utilities installed around. “As per the plan, the electricity poles and streetlight poles are to be installed separately on either side of the roads. Ever since the colony was constructed, around nine years ago, the rules are being followed religiously,” he added. However, few days ago, the workers of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) started digging pits to erect poles meant for installing street lights right in front of the houses. The residents objected to it and met the area executive engineer (XEN) of the PSPCL. “We requested him that the symmetry of the locality should not be disturbed. At this, the work in front of our house was stopped. But soon after, a cemented electricity pole was installed right next to the metallic streetlight pole,” Harmeet added. Other residents of the area, including Paramjit Kaur, Balwinder Singh, Varinder Kaur and Krishan, have also requested the PSPCL authorities to stop the installation of these poles on the wrong side of the roads. “Whenever wire fittings are to be done and the poles made functional, they would prove dangerous to the residents. The streetlight and the electricity poles erected together may lead to the problem of the current passing from one to another putting people, especially children at risk,” he reasoned. Meanwhile, XEN HD Goyal said he was aware of the problem. “I will look into the issue,” he said. Fact file
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Aspirants fail to meet benchmark for 9 courses at Central University
The university, however, has declared that no student has been chosen for admission to five of its integrated programmes and four of its post-graduate courses. These courses include MA-PhD integrated programme in comparative Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, a highly-placed source at the university maintained that although the aspirants had appeared for the entrance exam for all these courses, it was during the interview round that the panel of experts decided that the candidates, if chosen, would not meet the basic benchmark of the university. “The university has a benchmark that it wants all its students to meet. Students had appeared for the entrance exams for all the integrated and post-graduate courses but for some of the courses, no students have been chosen. “The panel of experts evaluating the aspirants held the view that aspirants for some of the courses were not up to the mark,” said the source. “The experts also opined that even if the students were admitted to the post-graduate courses, they wouldn’t be able to pursue the subjects further. The university thought it best to take no students rather than taking sub-standard students,” added the source. Interestingly, the nine-semester MSc-PhD integrated programme in environmental science and technology is part of the university’s emphasis on addressing the environmental and health problems being faced by the Malwa belt. The seriousness with which the university takes the course in environment science and technology can be gauged by the fact that this was one of the first few subjects that were offered by the university the year it started functioning. Power outage delays fee submission Owing to the power outage in Northern India on Monday and Tuesday, many of the wire transactions by the students to submit fee could not be done. Many students, selected for admission to the academic session 2012-13, informed the university that they could not transfer the money due to power failure. The university, in its bid to allay difficulties faced by the candidates, extended the last date of submission of fee by two days. While earlier, the last date to submit the fee was July 31, now the students will be able to submit fee till 5 pm on August 2. Fact file * After the submission of fee, all the candidates will have to report for registration and orientation programme on August 13. * Those seeking admission to the university hostel can submit the hostel accommodation fee on the day of registration.
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Charges fly fast as woman accuses in-laws of harassing her for dowry
Bathinda, August 1
Nishi, an MBA (Finance) degree holder from Lovely Professional University (LPU), said she was married to Yavist Garg, who owns a paint factory in Delhi. She said she was shown the door by Yavist and her mother-in-law, Sunita Rani, a councillor in Kotkapura, within a few months of her marriage for not bringing enough dowry. She added that though she gave birth to a baby boy, her in-laws never turned up to see the baby and continued to harass her on one pretext or the other. Nishi’s marriage was solemnised with Yavist in 2011 and her family members claim to have spent `7.5 lakh on the marriage. She also accused her in-laws of demanding `1 lakh and later, `50,000 a few days after their marriage. These demands, she said, were fulfilled by her family. Her family said her father was lodged in jail for a week following the registration of a fake case of theft against him by Yavist’s family. Nishi alleged that her in-laws had pressurised her to abort her baby when they had come to know about her pregnancy. Nishi said despite meeting senior police officials, including the Bathinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, IG and Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal, no help was extended to her. She added that though the state government claimed it takes action against people demanding dowry, the police was yet to register a case against her in-laws. Nishi has also filed a case of domestic violence against her in-laws. “Now that I have a seven-month-old baby, it is impossible for me to make rounds of police stations. I wish to start a normal life with my husband but he has refused to accept me,” she said. When contacted over the phone, Yavist refuted all the allegations levelled by Nishi and raised a finger at her character. “I have proofs of phone calls and SMSs that one of her college friends used to send her. I caught Nishi with her friend at Raman Mandi once after which I decided to separate from her,” he said. He added that Nishi stayed at her house for nearly two months and once she left for Mohali without informing anyone and when she returned, she tried to commit suicide by slashing her wrists. Yavist also accused Nishi’s family members for trying to drag his family members into false cases. He said he and his family members had to make rounds of police stations for the false cases registered against them. When asked if there were any plans to accept Nishi and their son, he said, “There is no question of accepting her back. So many people, including the panchayat and some prominent people, intervened in the case but nothing came of it,” he said.
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Panel to monitor female foeticide
Bathinda, August 1 The committee was formed today at a meeting of the PNDT (Pre-natal diagnostic techniques) Cell of the district, held under the presidentship of deputy commissioner-cum-president of the PNDT Cell Ravi Bhagat and the IG (Intelligence) Jatinder Jain. The following have been included in the committee: deputy commissioner Ravi Bhagat, IG (Intelligence) Jatinder Jain, SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni, DPRO Jagdip Singh Gill, district programme officer Shashi Tyagi and project officer of the PNDT Cell, Sadhu Ram Kusla. As per official information, the committee will work for the eradication of female foeticide besides creating awareness by seeking the cooperation of the youth clubs, Panchayats, government institutions and NGOs. Ambuja Cement Foundation will also launch an awareness campaign against female feticide in Bhucho, Rampura and Bathinda areas. The Foundation will also adopt three villages, where the sex ratio is very low. Likewise, Guru Gobind Singh Refinery will also adopt three villages which have low sex ratio. These organisations will launch a special campaign to create awareness among people in these villages. Addressing the meeting, Jatinder Jain called upon the people to cooperate with the administration to fight female foeticide. He said though the government had enacted laws and the administration had been initiating steps, but people's cooperation was imperative. He also said the NGOs, the youth clubs and the industrial houses would create awareness against female foeticide with documentary films, posters, literature and painting competitions etc. He further said the helpline service for pregnant women, whose toll-free number is 1091, would be started soon. It would function round-the-clock. The meeting also asked the Health Department and the district programme officer to direct the ASHA workers and the Anganwari workers to register the names of every pregnant woman. The meeting also said if any pregnant woman's name is not registered, then the responsibility would lie with the ASHA worker of the area concerned. Ravi Bhagat asked the Health Department to send the statistics, relating to registration of pregnant women and the newborn babies, to the PNDT Cell, regularly. He also emphasised on forming a special task force, comprising officials of the health department, police and the PNDT Cell, so that raids could be conducted after getting information about cases of female foeticide.
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Mother’s milk is good for child’s health, say docs
Bathinda, August 1 A large number of women, some of them accompanied by children, participated in the programme. In his presidential remarks, Dr Gill said breastfeeding was a boon for the mother and the child. So, every mother should breastfeed her child in the first few hours of its birth. He also appealed to the women to disseminate the message regarding the benefits of breastfeeding, at least among five expectant mothers, so that they could benefit from it. Dr Satish Jindal said breastfeeding reduced the rate of mortality among the children. So every mother should breastfeed her child. He said it is called yellow milk (colostrum) which is very important for the health of the child as it provides strength to the child to fight against the diseases. Dr Jindal further said that all newborns should be given breastfeed for six months exclusively as it reduced the incidence of loose motion and vomiting. After that, breastfeeding should continue along with complementary feeding, like 'khichri' and 'dalia'. He said those children, who took mother's feed up to six months, also emerged intelligent. Dr Jindal appealed to the grandmothers saying they should understand the benefits of breastfeeding, especially in the first hour after a child is born, as they are the only ones who could break the myth of 'Gurti' . He said if they do so, then the message of the Health Department about breastfeeding would disseminate automatically among all sections of society.
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Another bike stolen from Mini-secretariat
Bathinda, August 1 The complainant said the bike, estimated to be worth Rs 20,000, was missing when he returned after finishing his work. Police officials said earlier too, many vehicles have been stolen from the Mini-secretariat and cases have been registered against unidentified thieves. Police have registered a case under section 379 of the IPC at the Civil Lines police station for further investigation.
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Saplings planted
Bathinda, August 1 The chief guest on the occasion was MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla. Municipal councillor Daljit Singh Brar was the guest of honour. Campus Director Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal and Registrar GS Bath said 500 saplings were planted on the first day of the drive and 500 more will be planted in the next few days. Singla spoke about the contribution of NGOs and educational institutions in promoting this mission. He also discussed environmental issues with the students and NSS volunteers. A spokesperson for the college said Minister for Technical Education Anil Joshi, had conveyed in his message that the country needs industrial growth to stabilize the economy and promote employment but it has to be environmentally sustainable. — TNS |
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Rly Colony resident held with drugs
Bathinda, August 1 Eleven booked for encroachment bid Three booked for beating up shopkeeper One booked for molesting minor One arrested with 6 kilogram poppy husk One arrested with drugs Woman, seven others booked for beating villager Two arrested with smack
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Bathinda, August 1
