Bathinda, December 21
No polio case has been reported in the country for the past two years. With one more uneventful year, India would be declared as a polio-free country, said World Health Organization (WHO) surveillance officer Dr Mehtab Singh.

In the city to conduct a workshop for the national round of pulse polio scheduled on January 20 and January 24, Dr Mehtab sdpoke to officials of the health department.

He said from January 2011 till date, no case was reported in the country and from October 2009 onwards, no case was reported in Punjab.

“If no case is reported for a period of three years, the WHO will declare India a polio-free zone,” he added.

In developing countries like India, where sewerage water often gets mixed with drinking water, the wild polio virus needs to be replaced with the vaccine virus. With all children being administered polio vaccine, the wild virus is eradicated and the vaccine virus runs in its system.

Once the country is declared a polio-free zone, the oral vaccines would be replaced by an injectible vaccine. Already in the private sector, children are being administered the injectible or combination vaccine.

In India, for introducing the injectible vaccine, the WHO help would be needed.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said nodal officers, district programme officer, medical officers of the local dispensaries and block educators attended the workshop.

Besides, health supervisors of the Bathinda cantonment, the ITBP, the Railway Rotary Club, the NFL and the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery were also present.

Dr Mehtab Singh called upon the representatives of various non-government organisations (NGOs), students of health institutes, health employees and paramedics to contribute in making the national round successful.

On January 20 and January 24, booths will be set up for administering polio vaccine to the children in the age group of 0 to 5 years.

Bathinda, December 21
Panic gripped the residents of Parasram Nagar in the city today after some children raised an alarm saying a child had fallen into an open sewerage manhole in the area. The residents, whose children were not at home started crying and frantically searched for their children.

As the news spread like wildfire, a large number of residents and volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa gathered at the spot.

A diver was called to locate the victim. The operation to recover the victim continued for over two hours but the rescuers failed to find anybody in the manhole.

The children who had first pressed the panic button retracted from their statements later and said they had noticed some bubbles coming out of the manhole and suspected that someone might have fallen into the open manhole.

Although the news turned out to a hoax at the end, the area residents complained that the manholes had been lying open for the past many days and a mishap was waiting to happen.

Although the news had reached various corners of the city, no police, corporation or district administration official could be seen at the spot.

Bathinda, December 21
A group of students from St Xavier's Senior Secondary School today attacked a class X student of St Joseph Convent School in the city. A senior student from PAU, Ludhiana, was also involved in the incident. The PAU student reportedly led the group of boys to attack the class X student after school hours.

The incident occurred after both the schools were closed for the day and the students were on their way back home.

As per the class X student's father, Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Model Town-phase-III, his son was attacked by more than three students, including some students of St Xavier's High School.

The boy, who was attacked, rushed towards a police PCR to ask for help. The police officials arrested one of the students who were in school uniform.

The PAU student was taken into custody from his residence and was taken to the Civil Lines police station.

Civil Lines SHO Ucee Chawla said all the students involved in the clash were minors and a case was likely to be registered against those who beat up the boy.

As per the child, who was beaten up, some boys waylaid him and started beating him without speaking to him. Two teachers from St Joseph Convent School first accompanied the injured child to the Civil Lines police station.

After he complained of severe stomach ache, he was rushed to the emergency ward of the civil hospital where doctors discharged him after giving first aid.

The doctors said no serious injury was found in the abdomen of the child. A medico legal report was sent to the police station from the civil hospital.

Jaswinder Singh demanded that a case be registered against the PAU student who had led the attack. Calling him a serial offender, Singh added that the boy had attacked a St Joseph Convent School student earlier as well.

The matter however, reached at a compromise in the evening and the accused boys were released after being warned.

Bathinda, December 21
The SHOs of the three police stations in the city, including Canal Colony, Civil Lines and the Cantonment, have been reshuffled.

Bathinda SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said the transfers were done in a routine manner.

Earlier, the Thermal Police Station in-charge SHO Harpreet Singh was suspended following his failure to communicate a road accident wherein a school student lost his life. Kabal Singh, in-charge, PO (proclaimed Offenders) staff, was posted as the SHO, Thermal Police Station.

Today, Canal Colony SHO Ucee Chawla has been shifted to the Civil Lines police station replacing Gurdev Bhalla.

SP (Headquarter) Gurmeet Singh said Bhalla has applied for leave and would be assigned a post after he reported back on duty. He said SI Karamjit Singh had been posted at the Canal police station. Cantonment SHO Kuldeep Singh has been shifted to the head the Women police station replacing Paramjit Singh who has been shifted to the Cantonment police station.

Bathinda, December 21
Child Line, an emergency free phone service, has been started in the district to help children in distress.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said the Child Line India Foundation has started emergency free phone services and Bathinda has become the seventh district in the state to get it.

The foundation is already running child helplines in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Faridkot.

A toll-free number, 1098, would be available round-the-clock to help children in distress. Besides, it would also work for rehabilitation of children.

Yadav said anyone could call on this number seeking help for children. — TNS

Bathinda, December 21
The year 2012 was marked by various high and low points for the Central University of Punjab (CUP).

The university got its first chancellor, introduced new courses and got a good response during its admission process. On the other hand, problems like delay in the construction of main campus in Ghudda and the staff shortage persisted.

The CUP appointed a renowned economist, an agricultural expert and a Padma Bhushan awardee Dr SS Johl as its chancellor. Dr Johl visited the university’s campus for the first time to inaugurate its fourth book fair.

While the university introduced new courses, it also registered an increase in the number of candidates applying for admission in various courses. The university offered many courses that squarely focus on the environmental and health problems of the region.

However, despite the rise in the number of applicants, the university did not choose any student for admission to five of its integrated programmes and four of its post-graduate courses. Although the university had received applications for these courses as well, during the interview round a panel of experts felt that the candidates, if chosen, would not be able to meet the basic benchmark of the university.

Staff shortage was another low point that haunted the university authorities this year too.

Despite regular advertisements in the media, the university could not fill all its teaching and non-teaching posts. While the widely believed reason for staff shortage is cancer infestation in the area, sources in the university cited the problems of connectivity and standard of living in the area as the reasons.

This year too, the university had to function from its transit campus on Bathinda-Mansa road. The construction of its main campus in village Ghudda got delayed yet again. Apart from the land acquisition issue, the firm that was awarded the contract for constructing the main campus of the University on 500 acres started demanding a price higher than what it had quoted at the time of bidding for the contract.

Apart from looking for a new contractor to begin the work, the university authorities were faced with a peculiar problem regarding the main campus site. As the construction kept getting delayed for one reason or the other, heavy growth of weeds and shrubs proved to be the perfect breeding ground for the Ak (calotropis) grasshoppers that attacked and damaged the crops of the farmers who had land adjacent to the campus site.

This year also marked the development of the region as a hub for higher education.

The Adesh Institute got the nod for university status and became the only university in Punjab to have a medical college under its wing enabling it to conduct its own admissions.

Apart from the Adesh and the CUP, the region also has the Guru Kashi University and the upcoming Baru Sahib University, both in Talwandi Sabo. Following the footsteps closely is a private institute near Deon which is also trying to apply for private university status.

Many private universities and colleges from across the state also organised admission camps in the region to woo students. The Chitkara University, the Aryan Business School, the Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering and Technology and others set up their admission camps in the area.

Bathinda, december 21
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) Punjab will hold its annual conference PIMACON on December 23 at the Adesh University.

Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal will be the chief guest while Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal will preside over the function. Chief Parliament Secretary Saroop Chand Singla, chairman of Adesh Foundation Dr HS Gill and VC of Adesh University Dr GPI Singh will be the guests of honour.

The CM will inaugurate the Adesh Advanced Imaging Institute, which has Magnetom Avanto 18 Channel 1.5 Tesla MR which is the world’s first Tim MRI and Somatom Emotion - 16 SliceCT Scanner.

The annual state council meeting of the IMA Punjab will be held on December 22 at Hotel Sepal. Consultant Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP) Punjab Dr KK Bansal will deliver a lecture on programme and management of drug resistant TB. An IMA spokesperson said the IMA, Bathinda, would host the December 23 conference in collaboration with the Adesh University.

The renowned experts from eminent institutions of New Delhi, Rohtak, Gwalior and Punjab, etc, will deliver talks. Dr SK Bakshi from Muzaffarnagar Medical College will talk on buffalopox, Dr Sachin Gupta from Max Hospital Mohali will talk on targeted therapy in cancer and Dr AK Datta from Lady Hardinge Medical College will speak about immunisation time table-2012 and newer vaccines.

Also, Dr HK Bali from the Fortis Hospital, Mohali will talk on ‘Chest Pain: What to do?’. Pediatrician from Gwalior and national president elect Indian Association of Pediatricians (IAP) Dr CP Bansal will talk about adolescent health problems.

A panel discussion on infectious diseases will also be held wherein the principal of DMCH, Ludhiana, Dr Daljit Singh, professor Government Medical College Amritsar, Dr Tejbir Singh, Dr AK Maria from Adesh College and Dr SK Bakshi will be among the panelists.

VC of Pandit BD University Rohtak, Dr SS Sanghwan will talk about management of trauma, while Dr Vaneet Kaur from Apollo Hospital Ludhiana will talk about preventing medical mortality.

Bathinda, December 21
The PEPSU Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) today started giving a facelift to the bus stand after being rebuked by the managing director of PRTC for poor maintenance of the area.

Without informing the traffic police, PRTC started laying the left side of the road at the entrance of the bus stand. The work brought the traffic on th emain road to a halt. The traffic snarl lasted for almost three hours.

Ttraffic police in-charge Jaskar Singh said the traffic police had not been informed about the relaying of the road.

“Had we known about it beforehand, we would have diverted the traffic in the morning itself and saved many people from wasting their time,” he said.

PRTC officials claimed to have informed the bus stand police picket officials just an hour before the work started. The buses entering and leaving the bus stand were queued on GT Road. As the vehicles honked, traffic cops had a difficult time navigating the traffic.

PRTC is supposed to give the bus stand a facelift before December 31 so that all the grants allocated to it are utilised.

It is pertinent to mention here that PRTC managing director DPS Kharbanda had paid a surprise visit to the bus stand on December 14. He had come across potholed roads at the bus stand and concluded that the bus stand was in need of urgent repair and maintenance.

Bathinda, december 21
Teachers of Kendriya Vidyalaya 1 and Kendriya Vidyalaya 5 brought laurels to their schools when they won the prestigious Regional Incentive Awards.

Kulwinder Kaur of KV No.1 and Balpreet Kaur of KV No. 5 were honoured with the Regional Incentive Awards at a function organised at KV No. 2 Ferozepur Cantt. The teachers were awarded for their meritorious services in the field of academics.

The chief guest on the occasion was the Deputy Commissioner of Sirsa region, Dr VK Agarwal. He gave away the cash prize, a shawl and a citation to the winning teachers on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Kendriya Vidyalaya School.

Bathinda, december 21
A large number of farmers today protested against the Central Government’s Economic Affairs Cabinet refusal to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat.

Members of BKU (Ekta-Sidhupur) raised slogans against the state government and accused the Central Government of adopting wrong policies.

Demanding a hike in the MSP of wheat, the protesters said the government was exploiting the farmer community.

District president of the union, Baldev Singh Sandoha said farmers would intensify their agitation if the government failed to listen to their demands.

Meanwhile, members of the Special Trainer Teachers Union also organised a protest march in the city today. Raising slogans against the state government, and accusing it of turning a deaf ear towards their long-pending demands, the protesters urged the public to join them in their protest.

Bathinda, december 21
A mock parliament was held today at the RBDAV Senior Secondary School. Head of the department of economics, Punjabi University Regional centre Bathinda Dr RK Mahajan, and a ex-student of the school and a student of the University Business School, Chandigarh, Sidaq Bhullar was also present on the occasion.

Students from class XII (commerce) became parliamentarians and debated on the issue of implementation of foreign direct investments (FDI ) in India. The mock speeches highlighted the predicament of Indian farmers and effect of FDI on Indian economy. The issue of Gandhiji’s preference for ‘swadeshi’ goods was insisted upon by the opposition.

While the sarcastic comments of various leaders added a bitter tinge, the jokes and couplets of other leaders left the audience laughing.

Dr Mahajan appreciated efforts of the students adding that the presentation was one of its kind. He also said it was essential for the students of commerce to be aware of present economical and social problems being faced by the country so that in the future they could come up with novel ideas and new policies to handle various national situations effectively.

Sidaq said such mock sessions could help students in understanding situations better.

Bathinda, december 21
Members of the IDPD (Indian Doctors For Peace and Development), students and faculty members of the Adesh University expressed their solidarity with the Delhi gang-rape victim and demanded severe action against the accused.

Staff members and students took out a candle vigil praying for the speedy recovery of the 23-year-old girl who sustained severe injuries.

Vice-chancellor of the Adesh University and also a senior member of the IDPD, Dr GPI Singh said the incident was not the first one to occur. “Many girls are raped daily, but they go unnoticed, out of fear or embarrassment. This case can act as a matchstick to ignite the flame for taking action against each and every culprit,” he said.

Director, student welfare, Dr Harkiran Kaur said rape was worst than murder because the affected person lived in agony forever. The culprit should be punished in a manner that makes him feel guilty for his entire life. The punishment given must be such that it serves as a deterrent.

Associate professor, department of medicine, Dr JS Bahia, said the incident should be dealt with an iron hand and culprits deserve death penalty. Police should intensify patrolling and make the country a safer place, he said.

IDPD student members Dr Ankush Malhotra, Dr Manmeet Singh, Dr Amandeep Gill, Dr Satveer Singh Jassal, Dr Chetna Hans, Dr Pawandeep Singh, Dr Ankit Jain, Akansha Gupta, Kajol and Mohnish expressed gratitude to all present there for their support.

Bathinda, december 21
The Punjab Volleyball Association will be holding selection trials in the city to choose players for the Senior State Volleyball Championship to be held in Faridkot.

The selection trials for both male and female players will be held at the DAV College grounds on December 24.

District Volleyball Association secretary Shammy Sharma said the trials would be held under the supervision of president of the association Gurpreet Singh Peerkot and senior vice-president Jasvir Singh Sidhu.

Gurpal Singh Garewal and Prof Nirmal Singh of DAV College, and volleyball coach Harpreet Singh will select the players during the trials.

Shammy Sharma stated that only those players who would take part in the selection trials would be able to play in the tournament to be organised from December 28 to 30.