Bathinda, November 18
A special trainer teacher, Harpinder Kaur from Ludhiana, observing hunger strike for the past five days ended her fast today following an assurance by the Chief Minister of Punjab.

The state press secretary of the special trainer teachers' association, Gursewak Raunta, said members of the association held a meeting with the Chief Minister last night following which they discontinued the strike. "We will, however, continue the dharna if the government did not fulfill the promises it made with the teachers deployed across Punjab," Raunta said.

He said the teachers were demanding their salaries which had not been paid since June 1, 2012. He said there were 1,894 teachers across the state and about 1,100 to 1,200 of them were awaiting their salaries.

BA, BEd-qualified special trainer teachers are deployed in various centres in the rural areas where school dropouts are taught.

The press secretary said the teachers were qualified and experienced but were being meted out a step-motherly treatment by the government.

Raunta said during the last night's meeting, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka and other senior functionaries of the education department were also present. It was announced that the salaries of the teachers would be released within a week and other demands too would be considered within the next two to three days.

He said the teachers had an agreement with the government till March 31, 2013, and the government assured them that they would not face any trouble before their contract period comes to an end.

He said there were around 600 centres in Punjab and the teachers having sufficient number of students in their centres were getting salaries but others had not been paid. They were under a constant fear of being shown the door anytime.

Bathinda, November 18
The Punjab State Rural Games (under-16 girls) began at the Sports Stadium here today.

The chief guest at the inaugural function, Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, declared the games open and took salute from the marching contingents of sportspersons from various districts.

The director of the Sports Department, Shivdular Singh Dhillon, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav, ADC (D) Mohammad Tayyab, BJP district (rural) president Dayal Sodhi and District Sports Officer Karam Singh Sandu were among the prominent persons present at the function.

In his address, Sekhon said it was a matter of pride to see a large number of girls from all over the state participating in these games.

He encouraged the girls to set new records, adding that girls were earning name in the field of sports. The minister spoke about the women players who won laurels for the country at the Olympics held in London recently.

Eulogising the state government's efforts towards raising the status of sports in Punjab, he said the Punjab Government was credited with promoting kabaddi. The World Kabaddi Cup had encouraged countries like Canada, England and US and African countries to form their teams.

Sekhon said it was all because of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that a rural game, kabaddi, was now getting international acclaim.

Sekhon distributed medals to the girls who won the 500 metre race. Harmanjeet Kaur of Tarn Taran secured the first position in the race, Navjot Kaur of Nawanshahr stood second and Rajvinder Kaur of Bathinda got the third position.

It is pertinent to mention here that nearly 2500 players are taking part in the games who would be competing in as many as 11 sporting events.

Athletics, kho-kho, kabaddi, weightlifting, wrestling, volleyball and boxing events will held in the Sports Stadium while the events of basketball would held in the Harkrishan Public School and the Guru Nanak Dev Public School. Hockey matches would be held in the Government Rajindra College while handball events would be held in the Saint Xavier's School.

Bathinda, November 18
Bathinda witnessed an unusual rush on roads today as nearly 30,000 students descended here to take the CTET (Combined Teacher Eligibility Test).

As many as 38 examination centres had been set up in Bathinda.

The test was held at three stations in Punjab, namely Ludhiana, Bathinda and Jalandhar.

Heavy rush was witnessed around Fauji Chowk, Hanuman Chowk, Mall Road, Amrik Singh Road, Gol Diggi, railway station and bus stand since morning.

An additional force of traffic police, including lady constables, was deployed at various roundabouts in the city.

The five cops at the Fauji Chowk had a tough time regulating the traffic.

One of the cops said he was deployed here since morning and had to blow the whistle almost continuously to ensure smooth movement of vehicles.

"It is quite difficult to regulate the traffic amidst unbearable pressure horns besides heat and pollution emitted by vehicles. We usually get upset with the rising traffic but could not get rid of it," said another traffic cop.

Commuters seldom bother to follow the traffic rules and avoid stopping when signaled to do so, he said.

He said unlike any other Sunday, the volume of traffic on the roads increased manifold in view of the test today.

Candidates accompanied by their relatives increased the flow of traffic choking various roundabouts in the city. The situation was pathetic near the bus stand, Fauji chowk, Hanuman Chowk, Mall Road, Dhobi Bazaar and Amrik Singh road.

After the test got over in the evening, the city roads were bursting at their seams with traffic moving at a snail's pace.

It took more than three hours to streamline the vehicular traffic on the Mall Road, Amrik Singh Road, GT Road, Ajit Road and the roads leading to the Bibi Wala Chowk and Bhai Ghanaiya Chowk in the city.

Bathinda, November 18
The District Traffic Police today organised a traffic awareness rally that began from the Hanuman Chowk and passed through the city.

Highway Traffic in-charge Karam Singh, sub-inspector Bharpur Singh, traffic education in-charge Sukhraj Singh, ASI Balkaran Singh, munshi Jaspal Sharma, principal of the Police Public School Monica, school students and volunteers of the Asra Welfare Society and the Naujawan Welfare Society took part in the rally.

The in-charge of the Traffic Education Cell said awareness on traffic rules was of utmost importance for the smooth flow of traffic and it was a challenging task.

The traffic cops said the aim of the rally was to make people aware of the consequences of rash driving, taking wrong turn and jumping red lights. Besides, it also aimed at highlighting the importance of wearing helmet, seat belt and not listening to mobile phone while driving. They said most of the road accidents take place due to human error.

Volunteers of the NGOs that shift the accident victims from the city roads to hospitals said there was an urgent need to curb drunken driving. The police miserably failed to stop rash driving during night hours when the probability of drivers being under the influence of liquor was high, which poses a serious threat to the pedestrians as well as those riding two-wheelers, they said. 

Bathinda, November 18
Three Armymen got injured late last night while they were trying to save the driver of an ambulance involved in an accident near the Chetak Park on Barnala Road.

Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa, who rushed to the spot to shift the injured persons to the Military Hospital, said an ambulance was coming from the Bhucho side and overturned after it was hit by a speeding canter. Three Armymen deployed at the Choudhary Marg Gate noticed the accident and immediately rushed to help those in the ambulance.

While the jawans were trying to bring out a Sewadar, who was sandwiched in the badly broken van, a speeding pick-up truck hit the ambulance lying on the road. The collision left the Armymen and the person in the van seriously hurt.

On getting the information about the accident, the volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa, Munish Sain and Harbans Singh, rushed to the spot and shifted the injured persons to the Military Hospital.

The condition of two of the three injured jawans is stated to be serious. The injured Armymen have been identified as 35 years old Deefan Marco, Vijender Yuvi Pandey and Sanjeev Kumar.

The president of the Sahara Jan Sewa, Vijay Goyal, said the accident took place at around 11.45 pm and when Sahara volunteers reached the place, the jawans were lying on the road.

Senior Army officials too reached the spot and shifted the jawans to the Military Hospital. Goyal said the truck that hit the ambulance was at high speed and the possibility of its driver being under the influence of liquor or some other drug could not be ruled out.

Bathinda, November 18
The state committee of the Lok Sangram Manch, Punjab, organised a convention at the Teachers' Home in memory of Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha and to mark the 100th anniversary of Gadar Lehar.

A two-minute silence was observed by the members of the Manch for those who laid down their lives fighting against injustice.

Member of the state committee, Rajesh Malhotra, said Kartar Singh Sarabha fought against injustice even at a tender age. "We should learn lessons from the sacrifice made by the great martyr,” he said.

Member of the state committee of Krantikari Grameen Mazdoor Unions, Punjab, Sukhpal Singh said those involved in the Lehar Gadar movement did not care about their own interests while supporting the nation's cause. A cultural function was also held.

Bathinda, November 18
Police have registered a case against three persons for stealing material from the Army area adjoining the Bathinda cantonment.

In a complaint to the police, an Army jawan, Om Parkash, said he noticed three persons carrying some suspected material in a tractor-trolley.

Om Parkash said he was deployed as sentry at the main gate of the camping ground when he detected the suspected material being taken out from the cantonment area by the accused.

The sentry saw empty bottles, scrap material including iron, 800 metres of military wire and sockets. He enquired about the material being taken out from the cantonment area, entry to which is strictly prohibited. The persons on the tractor-trailer failed to give a satisfactory reply and the matter was brought to the notice of senior Army officials.

The police was also informed and the cops recorded the statements of the Army jawan and a case under sections 457, 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against three persons at the cantonment police station.