Bathinda, February 27
The Advanced Cancer Diagnostic, Treatment and Research Centre coming up at the Industrial Growth Center on the Bathinda-Mansa road will be completed over the next three months following which the building will be handed over to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot.

Talking to TNS, the vice-chancellor of the university, Dr SS Gill, said the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (HSCC) Limited was constructing the building at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.

"Within the next three months, the building will be handed over to the university. In addition, funds to the tune of Rs 32 crore have been sanctioned for purchasing machineries and setting up the establishment," said Dr Gill. He added that the guidelines for recruitment of staff to run the project have not been laid so far.

Initially, the hospital will be a 50-bed facility. The capacity would gradually be raised to 200 beds.

The upcoming institute is expected to bring a great relief to cancer patients as it will bring treatment and early diagnosis closer to their homes.

The project is coming up on the land given to the university by the Punjab State Industrial Export Corporation (PSIEC) and the Punjab Ex- Serviceman Corporation (PSECO).

PSIEC managing director MP Arora said the land was transferred in the name of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Jalandhar, which was to execute the project initially. The PIMS was given 2.4 acres at the rate of Rs 2,250 per sq yard. Later, the PESCO provided 2,032 sq yards for the project.

Sources said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visited the city a few days ago and reviewed the project.

There had also been a controversy over the building plan of the project not being passed by the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (MCB). However, assistant commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal said there was a row over the revised rates for providing civic amenities.

"There is no hitch as far as the building plan is concerned. However, the rates of water and sewerage connections were revised soon after the institute had applied for these facilities. We had sought additional fees, which has now been paid," he added.

Bathinda, February 27
A brief spell of heavy rains lashed Bathinda and some of its adjoining areas in the wee hours of Wednesday. The rains were preceded by strong winds. The residents, however, woke up to a sunny day and the weather remained pleasant throughout the day.

The city has received rains intermittently over the past three weeks.

As per the Agri-met department of the PAU regional station, Bathinda, the maximum temperature recorded on Wednesday was 24 degree Celsius while the minimum was 12 degree Celsius. Winds blew at a velocity of 8.5 kmph.

Post rains, wheat farmers are sitting with their fingers crossed fearing attack of yellow rust on the standing crop while the vegetable sellers are charging more from their customers to cover up the losses caused by the rainfall.

While the price of the green leafy vegetables has gone down, prices of other vegetables have escalated. "Green leafy vegetables do not have a long shelf life and the high-moisture content in the air will not let them last beyond two days. Also, this is the time when insects lay eggs (aphids, plant lice) on green leafy vegetables. It is better to recover the cost rather than eyeing profit," said a vendor at the sabzi mandi near Gol Diggi.

"Vegetables like peas, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, capsicum and others have a longer shelf life and since rain has reduced the supply of these end-of-season vegetables, their prices have gone up," he added.

Not surprisingly, the difference between the wholesale and the retail prices of vegetables is vast and is helping vendors reap profits.

The price of fruits has also been fluctuating tremendously due to rains.

The price of pomegranates has been oscillating between Rs 180 and Rs 250. Kinnow is the only fruit which is being sold at Rs 12 to Rs 15 per kg. Hybrid varieties of watermelons are also available in the market but apart from orders for weddings, there are no takers for them. However, with Mahashivratri (March 10) approaching, fruit sellers are pinning their hopes on the sale of bananas.

Bathinda, February 27
Members of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an NGO, the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugraha), the Lok Morcha Punjab, the Punjab Students' Union (Shaheed Randhawa) and others held a march in the city today to protest against the district police. They alleged that the cops had arrested the wrong man in the rape case of a six-year-old girl at Raman Mandi.

The state general secretary of the NGO, Pawel Kussa, said Akhilesh (21) had been arrested for the crime that he did not commit. "We met Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police on Tuesday and apprised him of the whole situation," he said, adding that on the day of the incident, Akhilesh was working as a labourer at Pucca Kalan village. He claimed that there were eye-witnesses to substantiate Akhilesh's presence at Pucca Kalan rather than Raman Mandi, where the incident took place.

Demanding a re-inquiry into the case, the members of the NGO said the police had failed to arrest the real accused. They alleged that the police hurriedly arrested the wrong person to avert any societal pressure and to prevent its image from being tarnished. They alleged that the state police was trying to create a false impression that the girls were safe in the state by cracking rape cases in such an irresponsible manner.

The rape case of the six-year-old girl at Raman Mandi has been mired in controversy. The child was violated on February 12 at Raman Mandi. When the victim was taken to the government hospital at Raman Mandi, people entered into an argument with the doctor present, who refused to attend to the victim citing lack of a gynaecologist at the health facility and the fear that major medico-legal evidences might get wiped.

Protesting against the incident and demanding immediate arrest of the accused besides action against the doctor, the people of Raman Mandi went on strike, observed a complete bandh and even threatened to stop trains.

On February 13 evening, the police announced that it has arrested Akhilesh (21) for the crime. However, a few days later, the accused's family claimed that their son was innocent and was implicated.

Bowing to the public pressure, the government suspended the doctor in question. But he was reinstated soon after members of the PCMS Association protested the irrational suspension. Now, the arrest of the accused is being questioned. "We hope that the government does not have to beat a hasty retreat again," said the police officials.

Meanwhile, SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said the accused has been arrested after conducting a thorough investigation.

Bathinda, February 27
Over the past two days, the district education department had distributed the material to hold Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) examinations among the controllers and superintendents across the district.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, assistant education officer Dr Amarjit Kaur said, "As many as 71 examination centres under us have been provided with the examination material. In a meeting organised here on February 26, we made the controllers and superintendents aware of the guidelines set by the PSEB for holding the examinations by fair means. The principals and heads of all the schools under the PSEB were told to ensure that the exams were held fairly. The controller and the superintendent of the school will be held responsible if there is any complaint about students using unfair means during the examination.

While the principal of the school has been made the controller, the teachers on examination duty will be superintendents.

The exams for class XII students will begin on March 1 while those for class X students would commence on March 10.

The controllers and superintendents of sensitive centres have been asked to keep a strict watch to prevent any anti-social activity. The centres having students under the open school or students re-appearing in particular subjects or those with a larger strength have been labelled as sensitive.

Bathinda, February 27
On Day II of the Agriculture Punjab Fair 2013, organised at the Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, a huge gathering of farmers and vendors of agricultural machines and material was seen on the campus.

State Minister for Forest, Wildlife and Labour, Nand Lal was the chief guest. He along with the chancellor of the University, Dr JS Dhaliwal, managing director Sukhraj Singh Sidhu and vice-chancellor SK Ahluwalia visited as many as 80 stalls put up on the campus as part of the fair.

A mobile exhibition by the Punjab Environmental Development Authority (PEDA) and exhibition of a biogas plant and solar energy usage were the highlights of the fair.

Officials of many banks were also present at the fair to make the farmers aware of various schemes which are beneficial for the farmers.

Area in-charge and marketing manager at the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Bathinda, Rajveer Taya and his team exhibited a mobile soil testing laboratory which will help the farmers in selecting the right crops. Various projects, made by the students of the university, were also put on display at the fair.

While the minister asked the farmers to promote organic farming, the managing director of the university lauded the efforts of the staff members and students who proved to be instrumental in promoting the agricultural projects.

Speaking to the media, the chancellor of the university announced that the GKU would soon establish a helpline for farmers and a cell to assist the farmers and solve their problems via electronic modes of communication.

Shree Ram Fertilizer & Chemical, Vikram Seeds and Kohinoor Seeds bagged the first, second and third positions, respectively, for the exhibitions they had put up.

Farmers Gursharn Singh, Gurvinder Singh and Baljit Singh were adjudged first, second and third, respectively, for the advanced agricultural techniques that they displayed at the agriculture fair.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Talwandi Sabo Jagdish Bishnoi and president of the Municipal Committee, Gurtinder Singh Mann, were also present on the occasion. 

Bathinda, February 27
The district-level officer-bearers of the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Specialist Doctors' Association were elected here today.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni is the patron of association while Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Avtar Singh Dhillon is the advisor. Dr Ramesh Maheshwari has been elected as the president, Dr Usha Goyal has been elected as the general secretary, Dr Navdeep Sra has been elected as the treasurer,

Dr Rajinder Bhushan and Dr Narinder Bansal have been elected as the vice-presidents while Dr Satish Jindal has been elected as the joint secretary of the association.

The PCMS Association also submitted a charter of demands to the health authorities. They demanded a separate cadre for the specialists working in the government health set-up.

"In the last few years, many new programmes have been started in the health department, but only a few posts have been created or identified, resulting in stagnation, under staffing and a steep rise in the work load of specialist doctors. With the setting up of the Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC), a virtual specialist cadre has already been put in place," said Dr Maheshwari.

He added that due to the absence of an identified specialist sub-cadre, specialist doctors are entrusted with a number of responsibilities related to medico-legal work, postmortem examination and hearing in courts.

As a result, these doctors have little time left to attend to the patients of their own specialties. And these doctors are drawing salaries almost equal to that of the MBBS doctors.

Bathinda, February 27
Rs 11,000 will be charged from the applicants for new chambers at the District Court Complex.

This was decided at a meeting of the chamber construction committee held today under the Bar Association president Ranjit Jalal. Rs 10,000 would be charged as the first installment from 232 applicants, while Rs 1,000 would be charged to hold foundation stone-laying function.

All the applicants have been asked to deposit the charges by March 15.

Prominent among those present included convener of building committee Sudhir Goyal, lawyers Surinderpal Sharma, Aman Aggarwal, Krishan Oberoi, Rajinder Prasad Sharma, Gurvinder Mann and others. — TNS

Bathinda, February 27
The Senior Citizens' Council, Bathinda, headed by Prof DS Mastana, organised a glaucoma awareness meet at the Dr Ambedkar Bhawan here today.

Eminent eye specialists from the Ophthalmological Society of Bathinda, Dr HS Sodhi, Dr GS Khurana and Dr Shveta Grover, informed the members of the council about the symptoms, precautions and cure for the disease. The members of the council underwent a check-up for the untraceable pressure in the eye, which causes glaucoma.

Bathinda, February 27
Surinder sits idle on the cot outside his hut while two of his pet lambs frolic around. His eleven-year-old son, Akshay, shows off his dancing skills to his mother, aunt and grandmother. Who would not want to have such spare time to bask in the sunshine and watch his children dance?

Yet, this is something that Surinder and his family hate. Having spare time means being out of work for this family of sculptors, which has been residing by the GT road for almost two years now.

"We don't lead a lavish life and there is no fun in sitting idle and watching television or listening to music or just sleep the day off. We feel healthy when we work hard and that's when we get a good night's sleep," Surinder begins telling us.

"I would like my son to grow up and work hard and support his family rather than dancing his day away to entertain the family members. If he doesn't learn the art, what will we tell our family members back home," he adds.

By home, he means Odisha, a state which he left more than 15 years back to begin his nomadic life. "I was married when I was 15 years old. I knew I had to fend for myself and my wife. When we left our village in Odisha, we had only two bags and my sculpting skill. Since then, we've stayed in Bihar, West Bengal, Darjeeling, Paharganj in Delhi and finally here in Bathinda," he says.

Surinder and his family makes idols of goddesses to be sold before Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja (Basant Panchami). Although both the festivals are less popular in Punjab as compared to Odissa, West Bengal and the north-eastern states, Surinder says he makes more money here than he would have made back home.

"Although both the festivals are very popular there, there is also strong competition even within joint families. There the markets are flooded with sculptors offering idols are competitive prices. Here it is the opposite," pitches in Rahul, Surinder's brother.

"Also there, the women of the house are not allowed to work but here my wife helps me in painting the idols. That helps us save time and labour," he adds.

These days, with both the Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja over, his family is dependent on the passers-by who stop by to buy idols of gods and goddesses.

"There is a joke in our family. There are two business seasons — one in which we have money to buy fish and the other when we can't afford fish," Rahul laughs.

Till they begin making the Durga idols again for the next season, sometime in September, they will have enough time to either bask in the sun or laze around.

Bathinda, February 27
The two-day annual athletic meet of the post-graduate, degree and diploma wings of the Punjab Technical University Giani Zail Singh Campus (PTUGZS), Bathinda, concluded today.

Former Olympian and Arjuna awardee Rajinder Singh Rahelu, was the chief guest on the occasion. Additional superintending engineer, Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited, Jaswant Zafar was the guest of honour at the event.

Campus director Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal welcomed the guests and appreciated the efforts of the students. The chief guest and the guest of honour, Jaswant Zafar, encouraged the students.

Apart from various flat, relay races, jumps and throws, many informal games were also held at the two-day annual athletic meet. A musical group and bhangra performance entertained the audience.

The chief guest and the guest of honour gave away the prizes to the winners in various athletic events. The position holders in academics in various disciplines were also honoured.

Dr Seema Sharma and Reetipal Singh were the coordinators of the event.

Paras Jain, Sajan Kumar and Vivek Preet Brar won the first, second and third positions respectively, in hammer throw (men). Swati Rana, Gurvir Kaur and Manprett bagged the first, second and third positions in 1500 m race for women.

In the 1500 m race for men, Saurabh Deopary, Sandeep Singh and Mohit Sood won the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Malvinder, Prabhdeep and Rupanshi won the first, second and third positions respectively in discus throw (women). Harmanjot, Husan Deep and Rohit Dubey bagged gold, silver and bronze medals in the same event for men.

Sahil Islash, Gurdip Singh and Nitish Choudary won the first, second and third positions in the 200 m race for men.

In triple jump, Simramjeet Singh, Jatin Saini and Rohit Trivedi bagged the gold, silver and bronze, respectively. Rupinder Kaur, Mankita and Rajni Kamboj won the first, second and third positions in triple jump (women). 

Bathinda
Man held on gambling charges: The Phool police has arrested a man, Budh Singh, from village Bhai Rupa, on charges of gambling. The police also recovered Rs 400 from the possession of the accused. A case has been registered under the Gambling Act in this regard.