Bathinda, January 23
“The youth in Punjab is taking to the road of drugs and other habit-forming substances since he has started believing in living off the family's money. Earlier, the state was known for its hardworking youngsters but that is not the case today. In the process, they are also moving away from their roots and culture," said veteran athlete Fauja Singh.

"They stay away from oily food thinking it will fatten them. But what is really fattening them is the fact that they sit idle the whole day. At this age too, I eat 'ghee' and 'sund ki sabzi' and walk for four-five hours everyday," he added.

The 102-year-old marathon runner was in Bathinda today to attend the hearing of a case which was lodged against a channel for telecasting a video which spoofed Fauja Singh. Taking the alleged insult lightly, he said, "The video did not harm my reputation. In fact, it made me more popular. Those who didn't know me earlier now know me."

Fauja Singh recently took part in the Mumbai Marathon. Talking about the marathon, he said, "I was impressed by the way the event was managed in a city like Mumbai. Had it been some other city in India or abroad, there would have been total chaos. There were thousands of people of all age and from all walks of life."

Giving the credit for his long life to the charity work that he does, he said, "The fact that I run for charity keeps me healthy. Had I been running and collecting money for myself, I may not have been as successful."

Comparing the India of the days when he left for the United Kingdom and the India these days, he said, "In these 20 odd years, a lot has changed in India. Abroad, the money collected for charity is used for real charity work. In India, half the money meant for charity is siphoned off. Indians lack a sense of contentment. Even those who have been blessed with financial stability want more money. This greed is leading to deterioration in the country."

When asked about the Indian sporting events, he laughed and said, "In India, in the name of sporting events, they play games."

Bathinda, January 23
The district health authorities have set up a control room after cases of the dreaded swine flu were reported from Bathinda to prevent the disease from spreading.

District Health Officer Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa has been designated as the nodal officer for swine flu cases. The control room, formed at the Civil Surgeon's office, can be reached at the phone number 0164-2212501.

The control room will work round-the-clock and any information on swine flu would be given on priority basis.

Isolation wards have also been set up in hospitals at the district level, block level and in sub-divisions. The ventilators of private and government hospitals have been checked to ensure that they work during the time of need.

The staff working amongst the swine flu patients have been administered its vaccine.

It was earlier reported that one patient was confirmed positive for swine flu while two were suspected cases of the H1N1 virus.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni said a patient of Paras Ram Nagar has been found suffering from swine flu and is presently undergoing treatment at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana.

"To check the spread of the disease, the rapid response team has given Tamiflu medicines to 20 households adjacent to that of the patient at Paras Ram Nagar. The patient had gone to Muktsar and perhaps contracted the disease from there," he said.

Besides, two suspected cases of swine flu are undergoing treatment at the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR).

The swabs of both patients have been collected and sent to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. A confirmation report regarding the disease is expected in the next three days, added Dr Sahni.

In addition to these, six samples were collected and the reports of four have been received.

All the four have tested negative, while two other reports are pending.

Bathinda, January 23
Taking the decreasing sex ratio in Bathinda district and an increasing number of cases of female foeticide as a clarion call, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Cell is planning to implement stringent rules to ensure that the menace can be curbed.

A meeting was held recently with the president of the PNDT Cell, Kamal Kishore Yadav, to discuss the execution of rules and regulations laid under the PNDT Act, 1994.

The stamp released by the Central Government to celebrate January 24 as the National Girl Child Day.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, project officer of the PNDT Cell, Sadhuram Kusla, said, "We have demanded that banners, carrying the numbers of the Deputy Commissioner, Senior Superintendent of Police, Civil Surgeon, PNDT project officer besides the toll-free helpline numbers, be pasted outside and inside the ultrasound scan centres.

“The numbers will come in handy in case someone wants to complain about a sex determination test being carried out."

The Cell also plans to make it mandatory for all the ultrasound scan centres to mention their registration number on their boards and also on the ultrasound machines. The aim is to root out the illegal and unregistered ultrasound clinics in the district.

The Cell may also make it mandatory for all the expectant mothers to have themselves registered at the office of the Civil Surgeon. They will be given a unique identification number which will help the health department in following up with the delivery. This was earlier being done though ASHA workers but the data collected was not exact.

The pregnant women will also be sent a congratulatory letter by the PNDT Cell, signed by the Deputy Commissioner.

The letter will also tell the woman about the various health schemes of the government and will also tell her to report to the authorities if she is forced by someone to either go through a sex determination test or abort the foetus.

"To take the sex ratio data out of the census report and into the villages, we are planning to erect boards in all the villages. The numbers of boys and girls born in the village will be noted on the board every month. This data will take into account both the institutional as well as the non-institutional deliveries. The responsibility of getting the exact data lies with the gram sewaks," said Kusla.

Another important plan chalked out by the PNDT Cell includes following up on the reason for the abortions carried out. This will also include a follow-up on the procedure adopted for carrying out an abortion. 

Bathinda, January 23
Advocate Yogesh Singla and his friend Sheetal Kumar, whose bodies were found in a canal near village Biring Khera in Muktsar, were cremated today.

Assistant Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Rajiv Prashar, DSP City Gurmeet Singh Kingra, SHO Jaspal Singh and judicial officials were present when the mortal remains of the two were consigned to flames.

Superintendent of Police (City) Dharampal said the case appeared to be an accident. "The youngsters went missing on January 10 and had probably met with an accident. As of now, there is no possibility murder. Things would become clear once we get the postmortem report," he said.

As per the complaint lodged with the police, the deceased Sheetal's family had last spoken to him at 7:10 pm on January 10 when he was at Santpura road with Yogesh.

Police apprehends that on reaching near the Janta Nagar bridge, along the canal, the youngsters lost control over the motorcycle that fell into the canal.

While police have recovered the bodies, there is no trace of the motorcycle that they were riding. The deceased had their gloves on and their wallets and mobile phones were found to be intact.

SP (City) Dharampal said the XEN, Irrigation, has been requested to decrease the flow of water in the canal, so that the motorcycle can be located.

"The XEN has written to the senior officials of the irrigation department requesting that the water level be lowered in the canal. We are also trying to trace the vehicle in the water," he said.

The SP City added that things would become clear after the motorcycle is recovered. It is only after looking at all the angles that the police would be able to reach a logical conclusion, he said.

The bodies were fished out of the canal and the mobile phones were found from their pockets. Since the bodies had decomposed badly, their identity could not be established. The lawyer's body had been reduced to a skeleton.

The volunteers of an NGO inserted the SIM card recovered from one of the deceased's phone into theirs and made calls on the numbers saved in the SIM book. The deceased was identified on the basis of these calls.

Meanwhile, the lawyers of the Bathinda District Bar Association today suspended work for a day to mourn the death of advocate Yogesh Singla.

Bathinda, January 23
Two youths were detained from the premises of the Government Rajindra College today for entering the college and creating a ruckus. As per the sources, at around 11.30 am, two boys went inside the college and entered into a physical fight with two students of the college. The college authorities caught hold of the outsiders and called the police. The PCR van arrived and detained the outsiders as well the students of the college. The boys were taken to the Kotwali police station.

SHO Kotwali, Jaspal Singh said, "After an hour and half, both the parties reached a compromise amicably and the boys were let off. No case was registered.”

Sources also claimed that the same boys had created a ruckus in the college about three months back as well.

Principal Vijay Goyal had recently told Bathinda Tribune that the college authorities had complained to the administration that outsiders managed to enter the college premises from the hockey stadium side and had requested it to demarcate the college area. 

Bathinda, January 23
Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, will hoist the Tricolour in Bathinda on the occasion of Republic Day at a function organised at the Multi-purpose Sports Stadium.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Mohammad Tayyab today conducted a review meeting of the R-day arrangements. He said the full dress rehearsal for event will be held on January 24 at the stadium.

ADC Rajiv Prashar, Municipal Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta, Assistant Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal, SP (Headquarter) Gurmeet Singh, Assistant Director Youth Services Dr Kamlajit Singh Sidhu, District Development and Panchayat Officer Rajinder Batra, Deputy District Education Officer (Secondary) Dr Amarjit Kaur and others were also present.

During the meeting, Tayyab reviewed the tasks entrusted to different departments. He said a march past will be held wherein contingents of Punjab Police, NCC, Home Guard, police, scouts and guides and other departments will participate.

Besides, school students will present a physical training drill, choreography on patriotic songs, giddha and bhangra. The winners of various events will also be honoured on the occasion.

Tayyab said all the main roundabouts of the city would be decorated and different departments had been assigned specific chowks.

He reviewed the arrangements made for cleaning the stadium, drinking water facility, first aid, transportation, security, seating arrangements and decoration, etc.

The ADC (D) directed officials of all the departments to be present at the event.

Bathinda, January 23
The opening of shopping malls-cum-multiplexes in the city has left no scope for the sustenance and growth of the old single-screen cinema halls in Bathinda.

The charm of watching movies in single screen cinemas has almost vanished from amongst the residents of Bathinda, ending the more than decade-old journey of such theatres in the city.

The deserted look at the four cinema halls on the Bathinda-Goniana Road clearly depicts their plight. Major Singh, the manager of Ajaib Cinema, said, “The business of the single-screen theatres was badly impacted after the multiplexes opened in the city. We have been incurring losses for the last seven to eight years.”

He further added, "Despite the fact that the tickets for all the four shows here are much cheaper than at the multiplexes, sadly not more than 100 tickets are sold in a day. However, in the earlier days, we used to have a huge crowd and a sale of more than 500 tickets per day was a common thing.”

Sanjeev Kumar, manager of Harchand cinema, confirmed the decline in the business of single-screen cinema halls. "The multiplexes have cut into our business. No one comes to these theatres now to watch movies. Hardly three-four migrants come to watch films in a day," he said.

"All old theatres are incurring losses and the owners have to spend from their pockets. Within a few months, you will not find any single-screen theatre by the Bathinda-Goniana Road," he added.

On the contrary, the multiplexes in the shopping malls have become a crowd puller in the city. Rajinder Mittal, owner of the Mittal Mall, said, “The multiplex at Mittal Mall has four screens and 1,013 seats. As far as business is concerned, I guess around 40,000 tickets are sold every month."

Talking about the crowd, he said, "People, especially youth and families from the middle to upper middle class, prefer going to the multiplex to watch movies.”

Bathinda, January 23
The education department of the Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organised Alumni Meet-2013 today.

Under the guidance of Dean (Education) Dr AK Kansal, the students from previous batches were invited to the meet. More than 150 students were present.

During the event, an alumni association was also created. Gurpreet Singh was elected as the president, Rajinder Singh as secretary, Balwinder Singh as vice-secretary and Gurpreet Kaur as the PRO of the association.

The proposal to register the association was also given. The GKU principal said the college was known for its qualitative and moral education.

Chairman Gurlabh Singh Sidhu and vice-chancellor SK Ahluwalia honoured the students who got first three positions in the annual exam of 2011-12.

While Paramjit Kaur bagged the first position, Saranjit Kaur and Gurpreet Kaur got the second and third positions, respectively. They were given cash awards of Rs 3,100, Rs 2,100 and Rs 1,100, respectively and an appreciation letter.

Bathinda, January 23
A number of functions were organised in the city to celebrate the 116th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Members of the General Samaj Party also held a programme to celebrate his birth anniversary.

Addressing the gathering, Suresh Goyal of General Samaj Party said, “The freedom of India is a gift of martyrs like Subash Chandra Bose, but it is sad that they are not given due importance today."

He added, "I do not think that having public holidays can mark the importance of the lives of these martyrs, but on such days every organisation should spend an hour and educate others about the ideology of such great personalities."

At the event, party secretary Prakash Singh Sahota, Nachattar Singh, Ashok Goyal, Naresh Goyal and others were present.

City-based NGO, Bathinda Vikas Manch also celebrated Netaji’s birth anniversary at the Red Cross Evening School located in Beant Nagar.

Students, teachers and parents were told how Netaji’s ideology and teachings were important in today’s age as well.

Government Senior Secondary School, Maiserkhana, also organised a function to celebrate the day. The programme was held under the guidance of under the guidance of the principal Varinder Pal Kaur.

Students were told about the life of Netaji. Teachers also spoke on the role that he played in India’s struggle for independence.

Giving the example of Netaji’s brilliant academic performance, teacher Amarjeet Kaur exhorted all the students to focus on their studies. The students also pledged to learn from the sacrifices made by the freedom fighter.