Bathinda, December 20
Expressing outrage against the gang rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi which left the girl fighting for her life at a hospital, the Bathinda Group of NGOs (BANGO) today took out a candle light march in the city.

Apart from the members of the various NGOs in the city, women, men and youngsters from all walks of life joined the candle light march to raise voice against the increasing number of crimes against women and the laxity with which such crimes were being handled by the police and the public in general.

The march began from the Fire Brigade Chowk and passed through the Arya Samaj Chowk, Dhobi Bazar, Sadbhawna Chowk, Hospital Bazaar, Railway Bazar, Mall Road, Amrik Singh Road before concluding at the Fire Brigade Chowk.

“One candle march is not enough to vent our ire at what has happened. It is not only about Delhi or some metropolitan city of this country; such crimes against women are being reported from all corners. Any punishment which is less than a death penalty will not serve the purpose. Only if the law gives death to such people, it will prove to be a deterrent,” said a BANGO member.

“Every time such a crime is reported, we thank God that it did not happen to someone close to us. But the fact remains that it can happen to someone close to us. We must take collective responsibility to tackle and stop such crimes,” said another member.

"We repeatedly told our daughters not to dress provocatively, not to step out late, not to go out alone, not to go out with male friends, not to retaliate if someone teases you on the road. Instead of telling women how to dress and behave in public areas, the men should be taught how to respect women. If they eye a girl, some other man can eye their sister or their wife as well,” said an elderly lady, who took part in the march.

Men who took part in the march also vehemently supported the demand of death penalty for the culprits. They said such incidents made them shiver with fear thinking how vulnerable the women in their families were. “The girl is fighting a spirited battle for life. Even if she comes out of this ordeal alive, the incident will be hard to forget,” said a young boy.

Raising slogans and carrying banners that said, "Death for rapists" and "Men can stop rape", "Help us fight against sexism" and "Girls are not just bodies to be used", the crowd was joined by many more on the way.

The BANGO announced that it would create an organisation that would come to the aid of the victims of such crimes. It also announced that anyone interested in being a part of the organisation was welcome.

The BANGO will be organising another candle light march in the city on Saturday.

Civil surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni addresses a meeting of the senior medical officers held at the Civil Hospital in Bathinda on Thursday. Photo: Bhupinder Dhillon

SMO Nathana Dr Aarti Singh, SMO Bhucho Dr Santokh Singh Romana, SMO Goniana Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon, SMO Dr BS Gill, SMO Dr Satish Goyal, Bhagta Dr SK Raj Kumar, officiating SMO Sangat Dr Deepak Rai, SMO Rampura Amrik Singh, SMO Raman Dr Avtar Singh and others were also present.

‘Drunkards picked by 108 ambulance create trouble’

Doctors pointed out that 108 ambulance often picks men in inebriated state and drops them at Civil Hospital. "Such men are abusive and at times go to the extent of stripping in front of patients and staff," they complained. They were advised to handle such patients determinedly and give them sedation, if needed.

Docs directed

• To clear the study leave cases of nurses as soon as possible.
• Cases for economic aide referred by the Deputy Commissioner be physically verified and cleared within three days.
• The PNDT follow-up of pregnant mothers from the city, Nathana, Cantonment area and Balliawanli be sent soon.
• The record of the JSSK should reach the office of the CMO by fifth of every month.

Bathinda, December 20
The District Tourism Promotion Society will put Bathinda on the tourism map creating opportunities for the tourism industry and the tourists.

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav said this while presiding over a meeting of the committee held here today. He said the committee will make people aware of the historical and cultural values of Bathinda.

Society member and president of the hotel association in the city, Satish Arora, member Harvinder Singh Khalsa and others suggested it was important to set up a museum to store the artefacts from Qila Mubarak. He said it was important to bank upon historical fort as a major tourism centre. Keeping this in mind, he added, the Punjab Government should be sent a proposal.

Other members suggested that places like Qila Mubarak, Takht Sri Damdama Sahib Talwandi Sabo, Lakhi Jungle, historical Maiserkhana temple and several other places of historical and religious importance should be paid attention to. Besides, the school and college students should also be made aware of the importance of these places.

Yadav said the proposed tourism information centre will be of great help to the tourists. He asked the committee members to find people in the district who have detailed knowledge about historical facts of various places so that their services can be taken for collecting information and uploading on the district website.

After the committee members give suggestions, the same would be assigned as duties to the officers of various departments. He said: “It is very important to associate people, especially youngsters, with the rich heritage we have.” He added Bathinda has an edge over other nearby districts as it is well-connected through rail network with major cities of the country.

The members also proposed that thermal lakes and deer park in Bir Talab should be developed as centres of attraction.

Municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta and district development and panchayat officer Rajinder Batra were also present.

Bathinda, December 20
The Special Trainer Teachers' Union today held protests in the villages of the Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka's constituency, Rampura Phul, garnering the support of the villagers towards their demands.

Union president Davinder Singh Muktsar said the workers of the union had started reaching out to public. A group of union members held agitations in the villages.

"We will now make common people join our cause. The villagers were told about the hollow promises the Punjab Government had made us. We are planning for a bigger demonstration that will include not only the special trainers but people from all sections of society," added the union president Davinder Singh Muktsar.

He threatened that if the state government did not accede to their demands, it will have to bear the outcome. “If anything goes wrong with our protestors, the government will be responsible for it,” he said.

The volunteers of education guarantee scheme (EGS) and Alternative Inclusive Education (AIE) Mansa have also extended their support to the agitating trainers and threatened to go on strike with them.

Meanwhile, the condition of special trainer teacher Jasbir Kaur who is on a fast-unto-death is now stable. Four days ago, she was rushed to the Civil Hospital where she is being given intravenous fluids.

Besides her, Paramjit Singh from Kapurthala and Balwinder Singh from Mansa are also on hunger strike. There was a move to shift them to the Civil Hospital today, but it did not happen.

Doctors attending to Jasbir said her sugar level was low. Also, infection was detected in the stomach. The kidney and liver were functioning fine. Since she is not taking anything orally, she was administered injective antibiotics.

Bathinda, December 20
Bathinda city continues to deal with the same set of problems that it witnessed in 2011. Despite the fact that a year has passed, little has been done to give residents relief from the problems concerning garbage, supply of drinking water and sewerage services.

This Baisakhi, the city got a gift with the introduction of city bus service. A concept new to the city, the service is trying to find a firmer footing here.

The trans-railway line area too is expected to get buses soon with the general house of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB), already having passed a resolution to buy more buses.

Thought in the early part of the year, the city boasted of being the first to have launched a garbage collection service by roping in the JITF Urban Waste Management, the service has failed to live up to the expectations of public. An issue of late payment of tipping fees and alleged lack of coordination between the JITF and the MCB have left people devoid of a cleaner city.

The mid of the year saw MCB officials on their toes with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) being given the case of a scam in land acquisition at Mandi Khurd village for the waste management plant.

In May, four sewermen were killed while working in a sewer leading to an outcry among the sewermen’s union followed by a sharp public reaction.

Despite a number of representations and reminders, the sewermen are yet to get safety gears to avoid any such untoward accidents.

August saw one of the firsts in the history of Bathinda wherein city residents moved to the court against the MCB accusing it of not providing proper service and starting a sewer project without finalising its disposal.

The Lal Singh Basti sewer case found the government agencies, including the MCB, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) and others on one side and the people on the other. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for January 21.

The cash-starved MCB started looking for other sources of income. Not only it started recovering water and sewer bills from the city dwellers, 127 types of professional set-ups were slapped with mandatory licence fees.

At the fag end of the year, people were burdened with the property tax and the MCB promptly passed an item on the agenda to borrow Rs 100 crore for providing 100 per cent sewer services and water supply to the city population. With the introduction of the property tax, even tenants and jhuggi dwellers would have to loosen their purse strings.

The MCB has decided to shift its office to the Civil Lines area and the prime land on which it is presently situated will be sold off by the PUDA to generate revenue.

With impending elections in 2013, the city's limits have also been increased. With the inclusion of new areas, the responsibility of the MCB has also increased.

The city now looks forward to improvement in the garbage collection system, better supply of water and sewerage connections, GIS system and others. It also looks forward to the ambitious project that the MCB has launched for developing commercial sites in the area covered by a pond behind the DAV College.

People also expect their municipal councillors to behave well in the general house meeting of the MCB instead of squatting on the floor of the meeting hall to stage a protest.

Bathinda, December 20
The General Categories Welfare Federation (GCWF) today raised slogans and burnt effigies of the Congress and the BJP while protesting against the caste-based reservation.

Members of the GCWF carried the effigies on a donkey cart during a protest march which started from Teachers’ Home and concluded at the Fire Brigade Chowk after passing through the various bazaars in the city.

Activists demanded that the 117th constitutional amendment bill passed in Rajya Sabha should be rolled back and added that a high-power comm-ission should be established to review the continuation of caste-based reservations.

District president of General Categories Welfare Federation, Shiv Pal, who led the token demonstration of GCWF activists, said the impact of the caste-based reservations, which had been continuing since the Indian constitution came into being, need to be studied extensively before passing important bills in the Parliament.

He demanded that a commission to study the impact of caste-based reservations should be established immediately and should be headed by a former Supreme Court Chief Justice.

The commission should be asked to submit a detailed report in a specified time, he added.

He said initially, caste-based reservations were introduced for 10 years but without analysing the impact of the policy, governments kept increasing the time over which the policy would be applicable.

He said as there was no exclusion clause in the reservation policy, generations of families have been enjoying the benefits of their caste for all these years now.

He pointed out that while caste-based reservations were meant to uplift the Dalits, no criteria for specifying the Dalits as uplifted had been provided.

Giving examples, he said it seemed that those who had sought and got government jobs on caste basis, had not managed to uplift their status otherwise they would have stopped using their caste to get reservations.

He demanded that all government employees, elected representatives and all those who earn more than the tax-free limit, as specified by the income tax authorities, should not be extended caste-based reservations.

Harbans Singh Sidhu, state spokesman of the federation said by accepting caste-based reservations in promotions, both the Congress and the BJP had demonstrated that they were short of progressive ideas and needed caste-based vote banks.

Bathinda, December 20
Bank officers and other bank officials today observed a one-day strike and gathered at Kikkar Bazar to protest against the attempts made by the government to expedite the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012, .

Addressing the protesting bankers, Pawan Jindal, general secretary of SBBJ Employees Union, Punjab, said the strike was being observed in all the banks across the country to oppose the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012.

He added that the bill was not in the favour of bank employees and customers.

The bankers raised slogans against the bill and said they would fight against the bill.

The bankers threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not yield to their demands.

The employees and officers from various banks were addressed by K K Singla, Charanjit Sharma, NK Bansal, Sunita Ahuja, Kamal Sachdeva, Paramjit Singh, Jasbir Singh, Krishan Yadav and Ashwini Monga.

Meanwhile, public remained at the receiving end due of the strike.

The Bill which has now been cleared by both the houses of the Parliament, seeks to increase the voting rights of investors in the private sector banks to 26 per cent from the existing 10 per cent.

Right now, shareholders' voting rights in the public sector banks is capped at 10 per cent.

Bathinda, December 20
Police today arrested a man and a woman for carrying 10 kilograms of poppy husk. The accused have been identified as Beeru Singh, a resident of Balraj Nagar and Raj Kaur, a resident of Sangat Kalan.

The duo were riding a motorcycle when they were intercepted by the police near village Sangat Kalan.

Bathinda, december 20
A head constable was injured in a road accident when the bike he was riding was hit by a speeding car near Police Lines.

The injured cop has been identified as Baldev Singh. A case in this connection has been registered against the unidentified driver of the car with registration number PB-03U-2026.

The complainant in the case, head constable Harjinder Singh, said the registration number plate of the car fell off but the accused did not stop and fled from the spot.

The case has been registered under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code at the Kotwali police station.

In another case, a woman sustained serious injuries after the Activa scooter that she was driving slipped on the road.

The woman was taken to the hospital by volunteers of the Naujawan Welfare Society.

The victim has been identified as Pooja, a resident of Sanguana Basti.

Bathinda, december 20
Indian Medical Association (IMA) Punjab president Dr Shiv Dutt Gupta has been selected for the president IMA appreciation award for being adjudged the best president of a state branch for the year 2011-2012.

He was selected by the Indian Medical Association Awards Committee. The award would be given to him at a special ceremony to be held on December 26 at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.