Bathinda, March 8
Learning no lessons from the accidents that occurred in the past that proved dangerous for the school or college students, the district administration and the police are yet to take a measure to ensure the safety of students travelling on road.

Three major accidents involving school and college students took place during the past six months in Bathinda district. The buses they were travelling in overturned and were badly damaged.

"Children meeting with accident fail to come out of shock for a long time and remain scared of travelling in a public transport," said Rohit Jindal, the father of an accident victim. He said it took more than three months for his eight years old daughter to forget the tragedy. Jindal said she had received minor injuries when the school van she was travelling in overturned on the Goniana road four months ago.

“My daughter had sleepless nights for many days after one of her classmates had received serious injuries in an accident and had scars on her body,” he said.

Nine students of a private school on the Bathinda-Malout road received injuries on May 3 last year when their school bus overturned on the Bathinda-Gidderbaha road. The bus was ferrying 30 children when the accident took place. Almost everybody had received minor injuries.

The president of a Chandigarh-based NGO, Arrivesafe, Harman Sidhu said despite the death of 13 schoolchildren on March 4 near Nakodar in Jalandhar, the state government seemed to be in no mood to prevent such accidents in future.

"The safety norms are not being followed anywhere in Punjab. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the safety of students, who are the future of our country, on their way to school or college or back home. The school authorities shrug off their responsibility by saying that the vehicles that met with accident were outsourced and they had nothing to do with it. On the other hand, the police usually try to make both the parties to reach a compromise," Sidhu said.

The school vehicle involved in the accident at Jalandhar was not even a school van or bus, but a taxi. "The vehicles carrying schoolchildren should be driven by an expert and not any commercial driver," he said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ravcharan Brar said necessary action had been initiated against all the drivers who were found to be at fault.

Bathinda, March 8
NGOs, hospitals and schools today celebrated the International Women's Day at various places in the city.

Max Super Speciality Hospital, Bathinda, organized a free medical check-up camp for the female students and faculty members of the Punjab Technical University (PTU) at the girls' hostel in PTUGZS campus.

As many as 300 women were provided free consultation by a team of doctors consisting of Dr Manjinder Sindhu, radiation oncologist, Dr Ritu Garg, gynaecologist, Dr Sonika Bansal, gynaecologist and Dr Ashish Dhamija, dermatologist. The day-long camp focused on cancer, gynaecology and skin related ailments.

Speaking about the camp, Dr Aniruddha Suranglikar said with the Malwa region becoming the cancer belt of India, the significance of imparting knowledge about cancer detection, prevention and cure among the womenfolk has been realized.

"On International Women's Day, we decided to organize a health camp, especially for women to educate them about the common forms of cancer prevailing in the region and the preventive measures that should be taken," she said.

Women's Day was also celebrated at Holy Rosary Church campus at Buladewala village. The event began with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest, Father Ivo Dias, the parish priest of Holy Rosary Church, Bathinda.

Cultural items highlighted the status, role and plight of the women on the occasion. One of the speakers, James, highlighted the role of women in maintaining and spreading health awareness. Sister Emerentia, with the help of her co-workers, shared the fellowship meal with other women who participated in the event.

Meanwhile, a legal literacy camp was organised by the District Legal Services Authority, Bathinda, at village Kotfatta. Advocates Shahbharat Sidhu and Poonam Goyal made the audience aware of the rights and schemes offered by the Authority for women. Speaking on the occasion, para legal volunteer Kirandeep Kaur said women should be made aware of their legal rights. The women were also informed about various monetary schemes under which they could avail of various benefits including the purchase of computers, free education for children, domestic violence and dowry.

The Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) also organized a seminar on International Women Day. Dr Harshinder Kaur was the chief guest on the occasion. Arjuna awardee Avneet Kaur Sidhu, PPS and Rupinder Kaur, PPS, were the keynote speakers at the seminar.

Gurmeet Singh, Director, Public Relations, warmly welcomed the chief guest and the resource persons. BD Sharma, deputy director (Activities), introduced the guests to the students and said it is the tradition of the BFGI to dedicate every year to a noble cause. He said the BFGI had decided to dedicate the year 2013 to women empowerment. The idea was to get noted women personalities to interact with the students.

Dr Harshinder Kaur made the audience aware of the problems that women face today. She emphasized that the male dominant society should have a constructive thinking towards women.

Avneet Kaur Sidhu addressed the students on the topic of women empowerment.

Rupinder Kaur shared tips on self-defence with the students and answered the queries of the students.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, chairman, BFGI, proposed a vote of thanks. He said women are treated as unequal in society and efforts should be made to end this discrimination.

The Guru Kashi University (GKU) also celebrated International Women's Day on its premises on Friday. The event was aimed at celebrating the achievements of women who have excelled in various fields within and outside the university campus. Shruti Sharma (IAS), officiating sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Bathinda, was the chief guest at the function.

Vice-chancellor SK Ahluwalia and the chief guest honoured 20 women staff including teaching, non-teachings members and also the girl students. Shruti Sharma and the singer Miss Pooja were honoured by the university officials for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields.

To encourage girls to participate in extra-curricular activities, a 50-seat common room for girls was inaugurated by the officiating SDM in the campus.

Laying emphasis on women empowerment, vice-chancellor SK Ahluwalia announced that every year, the university will honour and felicitate the women employee for their dedication and contribution. They will be given two extra holidays in a year, he added.

Among the teaching and non-teaching staff, Dr Vijay Laxmi, Dr Gagandeep, Prof Baljinder Kaur, Navdeep Kaur, Upasna Garg, Kamaljeet Kaur, Binder Kaur, Alka Rani, Simi, Kuldeep Kaur and Chinder Kaur were honoured.

Among the girl students, Harpreet Kaur, Gurpreet Kaur, Kriti Lata, Sukhdeep Kaur, Priti Sood, Perminder Kaur, Harpreet and Sarabjot Kaur were honoured.

Bathinda, March 8
Farmers and labourers of Kotra Kaura village burnt an effigy of the state government today.

The farmers said they were demonstrating against the state government in protest against the raids conducted by the police at farmer leaders’ houses.

A farmer leader, Lachman Das, said instead of rescuing the farmers from the economic crisis, the government was trying to stamp down their agitation.

The farmers said they would not end their protest until their demands were met by the state government. They said they would hold a road blockade on March 10. — TNS

Bathinda, March 8
DIG (Jails) LS Jakhar today visited Bathinda to take stock of the case wherein a jail inmate had escaped a few days ago.

An inmate, Gurwinder Bindu, had managed to escape from the Civil Hospital with the help of his accomplices, who threw chilli powder in the eyes of the security personnel escorting him.

Jakhar today passed certain instructions to the jail staff, security and other senior functionaries in connection with the security of inmates.

Jakhar said the officials concerned would soon send a detailed report of the incident to him.

Bindu, a murder accused undergoing trial at the District Courts here, was lodged in the Bathinda Central Jail. He complained of acute pain and fever a few days ago. As soon as the jail security staff got him admitted to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital, his accomplices, around 8 to 10, reached there and threw chilli powder in the eyes of the guards. The accused fled from the scene taking Bindu along. They also took away a carbine.

The claims made by the police notwithstanding, the accused are yet to be arrested. A case was registered by the police and efforts were on to nab them, the police said.

Bathinda, March 8
The eighth annual athletic meet of Dasmesh Girls College of Education was organised at the Sai Grounds today. The chief guest on the occasion was Amandeep Bansal, Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM), Malout.

The guests of honour at the function were Jagdish Kaur Sidhu, principal, Dasmesh Senior Secondary School and Vimlanshu Malik, principal, Mata Jaswant Kaur Memorial School.

The students of the college were divided into five houses — Mother Teresa House, Mata Gujri House, Rani Luxmi Bai House, Kalpana Chawla House and Mai Bhago House.

Parmjit Kaur, a Bed student from Mata Gujri House was declared the best athlete. The overall trophy was bagged by Rani Luxmi Bai House.

The event began with the oath-taking ceremony by the captains of all the Houses. It was followed by the flag hoisting ceremony. After that, the meet was declared open.

The first event of the day was the tug-of-war between the Houses. The other events were track and field events.

The other events at this athletic meet included were the 100 metre race, 200 metre race, 400 metre race, 800 metre race, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, 1200m walk and the 400 metre relay race.

Shopkeeper booked for manhandling govt official: Police has registered a case against a shopkeeper for manhandling the assistant food and supplies officer during a raid conducted to check the use of illegal LPG cylinders near Haji Rattan Chowk. In a complaint to the police, Amarjeet Singh said he along with his team of officials went to check the misuse of LPG cylinders in shops and other commercial areas. He said the shopkeeper entered into a brawl with the team after the seizure of an LPG cylinder from a jewellery shop. A case under sections 353 and 186 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at the Kotwali police station.