Bathinda, September 6
Cracking the whip on consumers with illegal sewer and water connections, the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) has decided to conduct an official survey to find out the defaulters.

The MCB has decided to outsource the task for which tenders have been floated and bids have been invited. The tenders would be opened on September 9. "The company selected will have to conduct a survey of all the 50 wards in the city and make the exact entries of the defaulters. The data collected will then be utilized to penalize people and the arrears of the last three years will be recovered from them," said Municipal Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta.

After the work is assigned, the company would be given a time of three months to complete the task and submit the data. There are around 15,000 legal connections from which the corporation is collecting Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3 crore every month. With an estimated 20,000 connections, the corporation is losing Rs 3 to Rs 4 crore every month.

In the month of July, the corporation held camps at 15 different places appealing to the people to surrender their illegal connection and turn them into legal ones.

However, the drive evoked a poor response and not even 10 per cent of the people turned up voluntarily.

Around 5,000 people were expected to turn up for the regularization of illegal connections but only 1,600 turned up. Out of the 25,000 legal sewer and water supply connection holders, more than 9,000 are of houses that are below 125 square yards in area which the Punjab government has exempted from paying the water and sewer bills. Only 15,000 houses pay the water and sewer bills which are not enough to meet the expenses of the corporation.

After holding the camps, a team of officials from the Municipal Corporation has been visiting different households, appealing to the people to get their connections regularized, but none has obliged. "It seems people do not understand the language of politeness. They consider us timid. So, it has been decided to take the formal legal route and start slapping fines and arrears on the defaulters," said sources in the corporation.

Bathinda, September 6
Going retro in eating habits is the key to healthy living at a time when all kinds of dishes are available as packaged food. This was the view that emerged during the week-long National Nutrition Week observed from September 1 to September 7 by the Health Department.

Through the different activities conducted, the health workers promoted healthy eating habits. The camp was held in collaboration with Goodwill Society at Paras Ram Nagar while the talks and seminars were held at the Civil Hospital.

Laying emphasis on the need for consuming healthy food in the early years of one's life, paediatrician Dr Satish Jindal said as per the data of the Unicef and the National Family Healthy Survey (NFHS), 46 per cent of the preschoolers and 30 per cent of the adults suffer from moderate to severe malnutrition. The doctor also said 10 per cent of the children in the rural areas and 20 per cent of the children in the urban areas are obese.

"These days, we get children who are either underweight or overweight. Many children do not weigh the kilos they should at a particular age," he added.

In a prosperous state like Punjab, 50 per cent of the women have iron deficiency and are anaemic not because of the non-availability of food butdue to lack of healthy eating habits. "When was the last time someone remembers relishing jaggery after a sumptuous meal, which used be a healthy eating habit. Millets and cereals have done a vanishing act from our plates, while highly sugared and processed food like pizza and burger have taken their place instead," the doctors felt.

The doctors said the onus also lay on schools, especially the private ones, to promote health eating habits. It was suggested that the schools stop making junk food available at their canteens and instead replace it with protein rich diet. "The mid-day meals given in government schools is a very healthy diet that perhaps the private schools can also follow," added a doctor.

Bathinda, September 6
Despite the acute staff crunch, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) is tightening the noose around people who are converting the agricultural land into residential colonies without getting its approval.

The authorities, however, have deployed only one junior engineer (JE) who takes care of the registration of cases after identifying the unapproved colonies.

Sources in the department said a few years ago, there were seven or eight employees who were deployed to identify the illegal colonies and get the cases registered. "The number of employees reduced to two a few months ago and one of them retired on August 31. Now, there is only one person who looks after the illegal colonies in five districts," said a senior BDA official, pleading anonymity.

The officials said 18 cases have been registered in Bathinda during the last two months. Police booked 17 residents of Rampura on August 12 and today, 11 people of Maur village were booked for carving out residential colonies without getting the approval.

The officials said the Herculean task of identifying an unapproved colony becomes irritatingly slow when the revenue department officials do not cooperate. "We have to obtain the revenue records to ascertain the land registration of the buyers and scrutinize the other documents," the officials said.

Police have booked 11 persons in two different cases registered at Rama police station for violating the norms of the Bathinda Development Authority. The accused have converted their land into residential areas without adhering to the required norms and seeking permission from the BDA. The cases have been registered on the complaint of the Assistant Chief Administrator (ACA) under section 36 of the Punjab Apartment Property Regulation Act 1995.

Those booked by the police have been identified as Hem Singh, Nirbhay Singh, Mahesh Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Bhushan Goyal, Ved Parkash, Krishan Kumar, Channan Ram and Deepak Kumar, all residents of Rama village.

In the second case, police have booked Naib Singh, Balwinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh, all residents of Rama village. Police is yet to make any arrests in both the cases.

Bathinda, September 6
Colleges and universities in the district have been directed to display the list of important phone numbers at their campuses and hostels. The list should mention the number of police control room, the principal of the college and the number of the head of the anti-ragging committee or squad.

These instructions were passed by the ADC (General) during a meeting of the district anti-ragging committee convened today.

All the colleges were directed to submit the proceedings of their respective anti-ragging committees to the district administration periodically. He directed that all universities and colleges should have a complaint box installed.

The ADC said the anti-ragging guidelines of the Supreme Court should be strictly followed. He added that no complaint of ragging has been received so far. Also, the District Development and Panchayat Officer Rajinder Batra has been appointed the coordinating officer.

Prominent among those present at the meeting were the SDM Talwandi Sabo Anil Kumar Garg, DSP Amarjit Singh and Deputy DEO Dr Amarjit Kaur. Representatives of different educational institutes, NGOs and student unions were also present at the meeting.

Bathinda, September 6
District Magistrate Kamal Kishore Yadav has imposed section 144 at all the examination centres in the district where the students of class X and Plus Two will be appearing for the exams. No one, except for the students, would be allowed within a 100 metre radius of the examination centre. The orders will remain in effect till October 6.

Centres for these exams include the Government Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Desraj Memorial Government Senior Secondary School, Shaheed Sandeep Singh Senior Secondary School, Paras Ram Nagar, Arya

Girls Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, MHR Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo, Government Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo, Dasmesh Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo and Bharatiya Model School, Rampura.

Bathinda, September 6
The Teachers' Day was celebrated with great zeal and fervour at the Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh Campus, Bathinda.

Tributes were paid to Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on his 124th birth anniversary. On the occasion, a function was organised by the Society of Electronics and Communication Engineers (SECOM), Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. A renowned educationist of the region and the Director Campus, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, Dr Narinder Singh, was the chief guest.

A researcher and an economist, the chairman of the Swami Vivekananda Study Circle, Punjab, Dr RK Mahajan, and assistant general manager of the Central Bank of India's regional office at Ludhiana, Rajeev Khurana, were the guests of honour.

In the welcome address, the head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr Jyoti Saxena, remembered Dr Radhakrishnan for his contribution to the nation.

Throwing light on the role of teachers in society, Dr Narinder Singh said teaching was not a profession but an attitude. Dr RK Mahajan stressed upon the role of teachers towards building up the moral character of students as per the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and Dr Radhakrishnan.

Campus director Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal stressed that in today's world, teachers needed more encouragement and support from society as teachers strengthen the base and build the foundation of a nation because students learnt more from their teachers rather than parents.

Teachers were honoured and felicitated by the Central Bank of India.

The function concluded with a vote of thanks by associate professor Neeraj Gill.

The Teachers' Day was celebrated today at various schools in the city.

The day was celebrated at RBDAV School wherein students and former students of the school congratulated their teachers.

Saplings were planted at Goodwill Public High School, Parasram Nagar, and a lecture was held on the life of former president of India Dr S Radhakrishnan.

However, the unaided staff of SSD Senior Secondary School observed the day as a black day and wore black badges to register their protest against the Punjab Government in view of their pending demands.

An RO system was donated to Government Senior Secondary School, Gill Patti, by State Bank of Patiala, Model Town, Phase II. School staff and bank officials were present on the occasion.

At St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, the Xavier's Singing Talent Hunt 2012 was held wherein 11 students from various classes participated.

In the first round, singers gave melodious renditions which was adjudged by Amita Sanyal, Shampha Bhattacharya, sister Elfrida and principal Fr Eulalio Fernandes. The best five went to compete in the second round which was the judge's choice round wherein singers had to perform extempore.

The winner of the event was Tejeshwar of Class VII D. The first runner up was Abhinav of Class IX B followed by Parminder of Class IX D. The winners were felicitated. The Army Band of 7, Garhwal, also performed on the occasion.

At Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, warm tributes were paid to Dr S Radhakrishnan. Kushaldeep of class X delivered a speech. Students of class III Samiksha and Manika recounted their first day in the school. Students of class IV sang a patriotic song. HS Mokha and advocate Gurjeet Singh were the guests on the occasion.

At Gurukul College, Dera Tapp village, Gurpreet Singh, a BCA student, talked about the life history of Dr Radhakrishnan, a teacher who rose to become the second president of India. The students of BSc (music) gave singing performances.

At Guru Nanak Dev Senior Secondary School, the language department celebrated the day by holding quiz competitions. Three categories of students were formed - class VIII, class XII and BA. In the first category, Gagandeep Kaur Sra of Baba Farid School, Ajaypreet Singh of Government High School, Bhucho Khurd, and Gurmehak Sharma of Baba Farid School secured the first, second and third places, respectively.

In the second category, Narinder Singh of Government Secondary School, Killi Nihal Singh Wala, Manpreet Kaur of Mata Sahib Kaur Girls' Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo, and Charanjit Kaur of Shaheed Kulwant Singh Government High School, Gillpatti, secured the top three positions in that order.

In the third category, Gurpreet Singh of TPD Malwa College, Rampura, Amandeep Kaur and Sukhdeep Kaur, both from Bhai Asa Singh Girls College, Goniana Mandi, won the first, second and third places, respectively.

District language officer Dr Surjit Singh Khurm and school principal Davinder Singh Bhullar honoured the winners.

Bathinda, September 6
The police has registered a case against a man residing on Ajit road for beating up a woman staying with him after the death of her husband. In her complaint to the police, the woman, Amandeep Kaur, a resident of Behniwal village, said she is residing with one Gurdeep Singh after the death of her husband.

Gurdeep had informed the woman that he was unmarried. However, later, it was found that he was married. The two started quarreling after the truth regarding his marriage came out.