Bathinda, October 28
Taking a strict view of teachers been found absent during surprise checking conducted in various government schools across the state, the Director General of School Education (DGSE) has issued orders disallowing teachers from taking leave over the phone or through SMS without sending a formal application.

In a letter issued to all the heads of various components as well as the districts' education officers and school principals, the DGSE has stated that during inspection in one of the schools in Sangrur, it was found that three teachers were absent. All the three teachers had called up the school gardener apprising him about their leave and took the leave presuming it to be sanctioned.

It has also been noticed that the school principals allow leave of teachers just on a phone call and do not insist on formal application, which is mandatory. "Such practices increase the possibility of too many staff members taking leave together, while the students suffer," the DGSE observed.

The employees of government schools have been directed to give their leave applications at a least a day before taking the leave. In case of emergency, the employees are supposed to call or send SMS only to the school principal before the school opens on the day.

School principals and heads have been directed to mention it in the attendance registers that the leave has been taken on phone or through an SMS. Such leaves will also be mentioned in a separate register.

Schools have been directed not to give leave to more than 20 per cent of its staff so that students do not suffer.

It is pertinent to mention here that during the surprise checking conducted recently, almost 50 per cent staff at the middle school in Bir Talab was on leave.

Similarly, at the middle school in Singho, 60 per cent of staff was on leave and most of the leaves were taken on telephone.

During surprise checking, the teams found that attendance registers were being wrongly maintained and did not have entries as per the rules.

Schools have been directed to ensure that all kind of attendance is marked in red ink only. Also, it is mandatory that the kind of leave (half day or one-third) should be mentioned in the register itself.

Bathinda, October 28
The toll of fatal casualties increased to seven during the past eight days in Bathinda.

While the number of fatal accidents is on the rise, there seems to be no effort initiated either by the district administration or the police to minimise their occurrence. Most of the accidents involve heavy vehicles and occur due to human error, engineering faults in roads or the heavy flow of traffic on the road.

Apart from the fatal casualties, more than two dozen people have received serious injuries in separate accidents in the district.

Three retired schoolteachers lost their lives on the Goniana road, two farmers got killed near Bhucho Mandi, two persons lost their lives in separate mishaps in the city and one person died near the Bathinda Civil Hospital.

The traffic policemen maintained that high-speeding vehicles as wells as lack of night patrolling and check on drunken driving proved instrumental in fuelling the accident rate in the city and surrounding areas.

The police has cracked whip on traffic violators and has been issuing challans to the violators in the city areas during the day time and in the evening.

"The same, however, goes unchecked during night hours, especially on weekends when revelers are out on roads under the influence of liquor," said Pali, a volunteer of an NGO that shifts accident victims to hospitals.

Traffic policemen said human error was more at fault than the engineering faults in the roads.

Kiranjit, a city resident who fell into a deep pothole a few days ago in front of the DAV College, said he was driving his motorbike at quite a slow speed when his bike fell into the pothole due to which he got seriously injured.

"The pothole is still not filled appropriately despite the fact that so many accidents have taken place there. The hole was stuffed only with soil a few days ago and sewerage water could be seen accumulating around it," said Bhupinder, a resident of Bibiwala road who has a shop near the pothole in front of DAV College.

Area residents said apart from potholed roads, the stray cattle menace too was rampant in the city.

"Many accidents take place due to stray cattle on the Bibiwala road, the Ajit road, the Goniana Road, the Mansa road, the Dabwali road and on the slip roads of the city," said Rohit Paul, a resident of Jhujhar Singh Nagar.

Bathinda, October 28
This Diwali, people have found alternatives to sweets as gift. Since they are not sure that sweets they plan to gift to their near and dear ones would not be adulterated, they are looking for other alternatives. They are zeroing in on organic products, dry fruits and milk products.

Making a departure from the regular stuff purchased from local sweets producers, city residents are trying something different this year.

“I used to gift sweets, but this time I have purchased packets of biscuits from an exclusive biscuit shop on the Amrik Singh Road,” said Buta Singh, a resident of Multania road. A government employee, Buta said last year, he gave packets of sweet to his senior officials who had further passed it on to the junior workers or servants. “This time, I am planning to gift something that they will keep with themselves," Buta said.

Ashok Bansal, a shopkeeper on the Ajit Road, said with Diwali round-the-corner, people were exploring other gifts like organic edibles. He said various companies had introduced special items in the forms of juices, biscuits, specially-made milk products like chocolates, dhoda, panjeeri, milk cake, soan papri, kaju pini and barfi.

Many manufacturers were introducing products which are made especially for Diwali and its sale is limited to the festive season only.

"There are numerous qualities of biscuits ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 250 and above, which can be presented to one's relatives and friends. Then, there are gift packs of dry fruits also," Bansal said.

A beekeeper Gurcharan Mann of nearby Tungwali village said cashing in on people’s inclination towards alternatives to sweets, he was offering a gift pack containing two bottles of honey weighing 450 gm each and priced at Rs 200.

“People encouraged me last Diwali to sell honey in gift packets and I managed to sell 2,300 packets last year. This year, I have already got orders for 5,000 such packets," said Mann who expects to sell around 7,000 gift packets this year.

"As compared to sweets, the home-made honey lasts long and could be used for over an year,” Mann said.

Bathinda, October 28
State Congress general secretary Harminder Singh Jassi today criticised Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for making "objectionable" remarks pertaining to assassination of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and death of the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent.

In a statement here, Jassi said Badal’s remarks were in "bad taste" and a senior leader like him should not have made such remarks about the leaders who sacrificed their lives for the country. He claimed that the CM’s statement would encourage fundamentalists and sympathisers of those who were involved in militancy.

Badal had yesterday said these leaders lost their lives after having taken wrong decisions.

The military operation in the Golden Temple was ordered during the regime of Indira Gandhi while Rajiv Gandhi sent Indian armed forces to Sri Lanka. Shastri died due to heart attack at Tashkent when he learnt that the people back in India did not relish the agreement that he had signed to return the captured areas to Pakistan after the 1965 war. — TNS

Bathinda, October 28
City lad Rhitvik Mohanty, a student of class VII in the St Joseph Convent School, has bagged the coveted Carlton Punjab Open Sub-junior Badminton Championship in doubles (under-13) category. Rhitvik stood the runner-up in the singles category during event held recently at Mukandpur.

His father Tapan Mohanty said Rhitvik had been running around the badminton court since he was three years old. "While I play badminton to maintain fitness, Rhitvik took it as a sport," he said.

While his father was Rhitvik's teacher in the initial years, the city lad now takes special training from his Malerkotla-based teacher Sakuran Begum. Every summer vacations and during holidays, he gets lessons from his coach. Sakuran Begum is former national player and a school teacher.

Bathinda, October 28
On the second day of the book fair organized by National Book Trust (NBT), India, a kavi darbar was held highlighting the different aspects of society.

Guest poets Dr Naresh and Parminderjit, the editor of "Akhar" magazine, presided over the session that witnessed a number of poets taking part.

Dr Naresh Mere spoke about the national issues saying, "Watan pe hukumat hai khud paraston ki, ye sochta hun to mera dimag jalta hai". Buta Singh Chauhan spoke about human bonds saying, "Har ik diwar sang ikko jeha yaaron jude rehna, samuchcha ghar hila dinda hai ik deewar da dhaina."

Parminderjit called upon human beings not to ignore morality for petty gains in his couplet. "Bauhat kuj de dena hai twahnu zindagi ne hi, zameeran vich ke na kite sheh di khareed kareyo."

Satish Gulati talked about commercialisation in modern times with his couplet. "Vikan da hor rasta labb leya hai, main khud nu online kar leya hai.

Ghaniya spoke about the times when even water is being bottled and sold in the market. "Ghade, nalke, te sab dareya namoshi vich dubbe ne, Jadon dan botlan vich band hoke vik reha pani," he said. C Markanda said, "Sitamgar sitam tere da pyala nakko nak bhar gaya hai, main bebas han, main munkar han, main pee nahin sakda."

Others poets at the event, Lok Nath, Amiya Kunwar, Bhupinder Kaur Preet, Gurpreet, Dr Satpal Kaur, Taras Pal Kaur, Tarsem, Dr HS Komal, Dr Labh Singh Khiwa, Janak Raj Janak, Mohan Sapra, Surjit Artist, Bhagwan Singh Deepak, Pardum Singh Mann, Kewal Kranti, Ranjit Gaurav, Satpal Bhikhi, Dr Ravinder Sandhu, Hardarshan Sohal and Gurprem Lehri also presented their poems.

The convener of the event was Tarsem and Surinderpreet Ghaniya. NBT chief editor Dr Baldev Singh Baddan thanked the audience and informed them about the activities of National Book Trust. 

Bathinda, October 28
The house of a doctor Jagtar Virk, who is abroad was burgled today. The house, situated on 100-feet road, was locked for the last two months. A TV, camera, three imported watches, a .12 bore rifle with 15 cartridges and Rs 15,000 in cash was found stolen from the house.

SHO, Cantonment police station, Kuldeep Singh said the house was locked as the doctor is away in Australia to meet his friends and relatives. Though a tenant residing in a nearby house used to open the house and water the flowers and plants, the house remained locked most of the time.

Bathinda, October 28
Students of computer science and management department of Malwa College organized "Aagaaz 2012" a freshers' party to welcome the new entrants to the college.

Solo and group songs, Indian and Western dances, mimicry, fun games and other items highlighting the cultural and patriotic aspects were the highlights of the event. Giddha and bhangra added enthusiasm to the event.

Principal NK Gosain called upon the students to be ready to face the challenges of the world. Chairman of the college Sewak Ram Singla, member Rakesh Goyal, principal Malwa College of Physical Education Darshan Singh, dean RC Sharma and president, Goodwill Welfare Society, Vijay Bareja, were also present on the occasion.