Bathinda, December 17
Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka today conducted a surprise checking at the Government School, Parasram Nagar. The minister inspected the school, checked the records and also served show-cause notice to a computer teacher who was absent.

The minister asked the teachers to pull up their socks or face action in view of the deteriorating educational standards in government schools. He said there are some teachers who are doing exceptionally well but there are many others who have failed to perform well.

The minister directed the teachers not to leave until they had finished their task for the day. After checking the attendance register, Maluka found a computer teacher absent and the teacher was served a show-cause notice.

Maluka also checked the attendance register of the students and found that the reverse osmosis (RO) system installed to provide drinking water to the students was also functional.

The minister asked the teachers and the staff of the school to set right such minor hitches. He also found that the doors of the girls' toilets were missing and ordered the teachers to get the doors repaired at the earliest.

Upset over the sorry state of affairs at the school, he instructed the school authorities to resolve the problem or face the music.

Maluka said teachers found absent without prior approval would be served with show-cause notices and strict action would be initiated against them.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier too, a large number of school teachers in various government schools across the state were found absent but were later given a chance to improve themselves and no action was taken against them.

"This time, the department would not tolerate any excuse and strict action will be recommended against those teachers who are found absent or who do not perform their duties properly," Maluka said.

He said the condition of the building is pathetic as the teachers who work there fail to treat the premises as their own. He also asked the teachers to keep the size of the class in mind while deciding the number of students for each section.

The minister said it is usually found that the distribution of students in classes is improper. Sometimes, there is less number of students in big rooms whereas more students are forcibly accommodated in bigger rooms.

Maluka also pointed out that he has written a letter to the Union HRD Minister so that the exams of students studying till class VIII in Punjab schools can be held. At present, students can study in Punjab government schools till class VIII without being declared as having failed. The minister asked the school teachers to give special emphasis on students till class VIII and those who failed to attend the classes should be dealt with strictly.

The minister, before leaving the school, claimed to have sanctioned a sweeper and a gardener for the school and also assured to release more funds for the maintenance of the school building.

Bathinda, December 17
The Lok Jan Shakti party today protested against the potholed roads in the Hans Nagar area. The members of the party, along with the residents of the area, held the protest outside the office of the Municipal Corporation in Bathinda.

A resident of Hans Nagar, Gurpyar, lost his life a few days ago in an accident due to the a pothole.

Apart from asking for the roads to be laid properly, the protesters also demanded suitable compensation for the family members.

State president of the party, Kiranjit Gehri, led the protest and demanded immediate repair of the roads in the area.

The protesters also included a large number of women who demanded immediate action to stop the rising instances of accidents on the road.

The protesters and the members of the party also held a meeting with the Assistant Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal who assured them that necessary steps would be taken.

It was decided that street number 15 to street number 26 in the area, upto 300 feet, be recarpeted and all the potholes be filled during the recarpeting of the roads.

It was also decided that the process of relaying the roads would be completed within a month and a case would also be sent to the government to compensate the family members of the deceased boy.

The protesters also gave a letter to the Kotwali SHO, Jaspal Singh in connection with illegal liquor vend in the area.

Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Dakonda) also held a protest outside the District Courts Complex in the city today.

The protest was led by the district president Baldev Singh Bhai Rupa.

The union was raising its voice against the state government’s decision to keep the minimum support price (MSP) at Rs 1285. The union complained that the MSP was the same last year too. They further added that freezing the MSP at Rs 1285 was not in favour of the wheat farmers.

They demanded that the MSP be raised from Rs 1285 to Rs 2150 in keeping with the inflation.

State president of the union, Buta Singh, told TNS that after staging a dharnas, the union members gave a memorandum of their demands to the Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav.

The union members added that if the state government failed to fulfill the union’s demand of raising the MSP, all the farmers’ unions would hold a joint meeting on December 21 in Ludhiana to chalk out their plan of action.

The union also criticised the deteriorating law and order condition in the state. During the protest, they highlighted the increasing number of crimes against women in the state.

Also present at the protest were Chand Singh Bhucho, Babu Singh Malkana, Sukhwinder Singh Phulewala, Jagga Singh Bhucho among others.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugraha) also announced its decision to launch a protest in favour of the landless and poor farmers. The union said the protests would start next month and various other demands would also be highlighted during these protests.

General secretary of the union, Sukhdev Singh Kokri said their demands would include law against people charging interest on loan to farmers and subsidy to poor farmers on materials of daily use.

Kokri said farmers also demand that all the promises made during the land acquired in Gobindpura village of Mansa be fulfilled by the government.

Kokri added that district-level public conferences will be held from December 26 to December 30 and district-level meetings would be held from January 18 to January 29.

The farmers discussed the deteriorating condition of the labourers and farmers having small land holdings. 

Bathinda, December 17
The police has been tightening the noose around drug peddlers to check the problem of addiction in the area. As many as four cases were registered in this connection and six persons, including a woman, were arrested by the police. Cops at the bus stand police post said three women are arrested in the last few months. They were found to be carrying narcotics.

Most women carry poppy husk in buses after purchasing it from Rajasthan or Haryana to further sell it in the border districts of Punjab, including Bathinda.

The police, acting on the basis of secret information, today arrested Sukhpal Kaur from the bus stand.

She was found carrying 5 kg of poppy husk. She was brought to the police station where she revealed that the drugs were meant for addicts in the rural areas. She had been involved in the illegal trade for a long time.

In a similar incident, a worker, who lived in the Thermal Colony area, was arrested with capsules. Investigation officer in the case Kashmir Singh said the accused is a drug addict and had bought the capsules from Dabwali. He had brought huge quantities of the capsules from Dabwali and had been 
consuming the drugs to satisfy his craving for narcotics.

Policemen said they have launched a special drive to nab the drug peddlers to reduce the problem of addiction to some extent.

Similar arrests were made at the Rampura city and Kotwali police stations. 

Bathinda, December 17
Sitting on dharna or a fast-unto-death to protest against the non-fulfilment of your long-pending demands seems to be a rather costly affair. The costs may rise even further if the protest is held during the winter season or gets prolonged in case the authorities concerned keep procrastinating.

The Special Trainer Teachers, who have been camping outside the Mini-secretariat in the city for close to two months now, have till now spent almost Rs 2.5 lakh on the protest.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune about the cost being incurred by the Special Trainer Teachers, the union's state cashier, Satinder Singh said, "We have been sitting on protest for 54 days now. We are somehow making the ends meet when it comes to bearing the cost of the protest. The district coordinators of the union collect contributions from the members of the union from across the state and the money is used to sustain the protest."

Although it remains to be seen whether (or when) their demands would be met by the state government, the protest is making the union's pockets lighter by almost Rs 3,000 everyday.

Apart from paying the rent of the tent that they have been camping under, money is also being spent on 'durees', quilts, food items, utensils and wood to cook the food. "At least 40 of our members are present at the protest everyday. Tea and three meals are cooked for everyone present. Food items worth Rs 1500 and firewood worth Rs 300 get used everyday. Apart from this, we have rented the utensils at the rate of Rs 400 per day," said the cashier.

Since it is winter season, the protestors need quilts to beat the cold. The union members have taken the quilts on rent at the rate of Rs 10 per day and the total rent of the quilts totals up to Rs 300-Rs 400 per day. The "durrees" have been rented at Rs 150 per day.

"This is the daily expenditure. Last week, when rains lashed the area, our tent was uprooted and we had to buy 'tirpal'. We ended up spending close to Rs 1,500 on that as well," he added. The situation becomes more taxing for them as they have not been paid salaries regularly since November 2011.

Satinder Singh said the last time the police had dispersed their protest, uprooted their tent and taken the mattresses away, the shoes and bags of many protestors had gone missing from the site. He also alleged that the female protestors had nowhere to go to relieve themselves as they were not allowed to enter the District Courts Complex.

Bathinda, december 17
The Indo-American Cancer Centre, Patiala will be organising a cancer detection camp in the city on December 23-24. at the Seth Bhana Mal Trust. The camp is a part of the ‘Awareness For Life Campaign’.

The pan cancer marker, which makes possible the detection of 13 types of cancer and all kinds of blood disorders at its earliest stage will be used at the camp. Those who undergo the test will have to bear the cost of only the pan cancer marker kit which will be provided at the camp on cost to cost basis.

Apart from paying `2,000, which is the cost of the pan cancer marker, a person need not pay for any other tests, collection of samples, pathological tests and reports of the tests conducted.

The free-of-cost facilities at the camp include registration, documentation, blood sampling, courier of samples to the labs and delivery of reports at the doorstep. Those who would be detected with the disease or its symptoms, will also be offered free of cost consultation with doctors.

Bathinda, december 17
The NSS volunteers of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh Campus (PTUGZS) have arranged ‘Online Cancer Data Transfer Training Programme’ in the campus.

Dr Rakesh Goyal, district immunisation officer, started the camp with an awareness speech on ‘Cancer awareness training programme’. He revealed many facts related to various stages of cancer and the precautions that can be taken against the disease.

Prof Dinesh Kumar, NSS programming officer, Department of CSE, welcomed the volunteers and staff from the block level civil hospitals and nursing institutions of Bathinda district and told them about the activities organised by the volunteers at the programme.

As many as 25-30 computer operators, faculty members and doctors participated in the programme. The experts appointed by the state government, Dr Gaurav Chauhan and Dr Kaushik trained the participants.

Prof Gagandeep Kaur, coordinator, NSS, also addressed the gathering and informed them about the cancer and hepatitis awareness camp which will be held in Talwandi Sabo on December 18-24.

Commending the efforts of the NSS volunteers, Prof (Dr) Jasbir Singh Hundal, director, PTUGZS campus said this kind of activity would be helpful in spreading awareness about the deadly disease.

Bathinda, december 17
Police arrested three persons, including a woman, in three different cases for possessing habit-forming substances.

Police arrested a woman carrying five kilograms of poppy husk. The accused, Sukhpal Kaur, was arrested from near the bus stand during a checking by the police.

Police said the woman was carrying the substance in a bag. During preliminary investigations the woman revealed that she had been selling poppy husk to the drug dealers in rural areas of Bathinda.

Police have registered a case against her under the sections 15, 61, 85 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psycotropic Substances (NDPA) Act at the Kotwali police station.

In another case, police arrested a resident of Thermal Colony for carrying drugs. The accused has been identified as Gursewak Singh.

He was found carrying 58 capsules of a habit-forming substance during checking by the police.

Police found the accused roaming in an inebriated condition near Joganand Road. He failed to give a satisfactory reply when the police asked him what he was doing there.

The accused was brought to the Thermal police station where a case under the sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused.

In yet another case, Police arrested a person with 500 gram of intoxicating powder and 10 vials of drugs without having any doctor’s prescription or licence to carry the drugs.