Bathinda, October 1
The quantity of paddy procured in Bathinda is likely to increase by 15 per cent as compared to the previous season.

On the first day of procurement in the district, nearly 1000 quintal of paddy was purchased by government procurement agencies, including Punsup, Markfed and Pungrain.

District Mandi Officer Gursewak Sidhu said as compared to the 7.83 MT of paddy procured in the district last season, the government agencies have procured 8.25 MT this season.

Arrival of paddy was more at the grain market in Goniana than those at Bathinda and Bhucho Mandi.

Bathinda (Urban) MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla visited the local grain market and took stock of the sale of paddy and had a word with arhtiyas or commission agents and farmers there.

Singla announced that farmers would not face any problem while selling their produce in the markets of Bathinda.

The legislator urged farmers not to bring their produce with high-moisture content to the market. He advised the arthiyas to keep the record of the varieties of paddy and coordinate with the officials of the procurement agencies so that farmers do not face any problem.

The District Mandi Officer said apart from 9 main yards, 170 procurement centres have been set up in the district. Besides government procurement agencies, paddy was also being purchased by private traders.

Bathinda, October 1
The decision of the Punjab Mid-Day Meal Society to assigning the responsibility of cooking and providing mid-day meal to close to 11,000 students apparently fell flat it, at least on the first day.

The task of cooking food for 31 primary schools and 17 upper primary schools within the limits of the local Municipal Corporation was given to a private firm from West Bengal, the Bishalakshmi Club. Earlier, cooks used to make food at schools. However, the schools were asked not to relieve the cooks. Although they are not supposed to cook food now, they will have to serve food to the students and later, wash the dishes.

Today, the firm failed to pass the litmus test as complaints of food reaching the schools almost half an later than the scheduled time poured in. Some schools also complained that the food provided by the firm did not meet the set standards.

The meal reached Government Elementary School, Parasram Nagar, an hour late.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, school principal Balwant Kaur said, "Our lunch break begins at 11.30 am but the meal reached the school at around 12.30 pm. The delay in serving the meal to the students further delayed the post-lunch classes."

The principal of Government Desraj Senior Secondary School, Bhupinder Kaur Dhillon, said, "The firm supplied us the food at around 12 noon. The firm's workers, however, regretted the delay and promised that from Thursday onwards, food would be supplied on time."

Meanwhile, it is learnt that food was supplied to Government Elementary School at 1 pm and the students got restless waiting for the mid-day meal. The food (chana dal and rice) which the firm had supplied was not satisfactory. While the dal had too much water in it, the rice was sticky. 

Bathinda, October 1
The district administration has not been able to find an alternative site for the municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plant, which is proposed to come up on the Mansa road.

In its reply to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Deputy Commissioner specifically mentioned that as per the orders of the tribunal, the administration tried to study the viability of alternate sites but could find none.

The NGT had directed the district administration to find alternate sites for the municipal solid waste treatment plant, strategy for handling the waste and technology to process it.

During its quest to find an alternative site, the administration zeroed in on 23 acres of the Horticulture Department at Jeewan Singhwala village in Talwandi Sabo and 30 acres at Jodhpur Romana village on the Bathinda-Dabwali road.

The land at Jeewan Singhwala is used for research purposes and has full-grown trees of ber, amla and guava. The Horticulture Department refused to give land for the plant. As per the master plan of the district, the land is to be used for industrial purpose.

The second site in question is under gram panchayat of Jodhpur Romana. The panchayat declined to give it for setting up a garbage treatment plant as it had reserved the land for some specific purpose. Moreover, the land being situated on a high area is not suitable for the plant.

Meanwhile, the DC's report stated that the existing garbage dumping site has been in existence for the past 30 years and has already been awarded clearance by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

The Deputy Commisioner has urged the NGT to allow developing the facility on the Mansa road itself.

The MSW treatment plant being installed here will cater to the Bathinda cluster comprising 17 urban local bodies (ULBs) generating 350 MT of garbage daily.

Elaborating on garbage handling and treatment, the DC report mentions that the garbage will be segregated at source through public participation. It will be collected and transported to the plant where it will be converted into compost. Besides, refuse derived fuel (RDF) will be produced from the waste. The compost will be marketed to the industry and inert material will be dumped at the engineered sanitary land filled facility (SLF) in Mandi Khurd.

While the DC has filed the report, the chief secretary, Punjab, has endorsed it.

The NGT has already summoned the chief secretary for hearing on October 3, seeking a similar report on all garbage treatment plants of the state.

Bathinda, October 1
The Zonal Youth Festival of the Punjabi University, Patiala, began with a bang today at the Malwa College. Students of as many as 54 colleges affiliated to the university and falling in the Bathinda-Faridkot zone are participating in the three-day festival.

On Tuesday, giddha competitions, classical dance, shabad gayan, on-the-spot painting, theme painting, clay modelling, folk songs, folk percussion besides other competitions were held.

The audience greeted all the giddha performers with applause and clapped and laughed along as the participants sang boliyaan. While the colourful attire, props and language of the participants brought people closer to the Punjabi culture, the sweet-naughty tease that the boliyaan comprised made everyone laugh. The contest also registered the largest audience.

At another stage, students showed the deftness of their hands as their fingers shaped small mounds of clay into beautiful structures depicting the importance of a family. The participants were instructed to make a family of at least three members.

While a contestant showed the family of the deities, Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha, another moulded the clay to make a family of animals and another showed a mother cuddling a newborn while the father safeguards the family.

Denouncing the popular perception that today's generation is moving away from spiritualism and doesn't spare a minute to remember the Almighty, a large number of youngsters sat with their heads covered listening to the group shabad gayan.

‘Classical performing arts losing sheen’

The festival also made it evident that while the students participated in all the events with a lot of enthusiasm, the same seemed missing when it came to Indian classical performing arts. While only two teams participated in the Indian classical dance contest, the Indian classical vocal had only four contestants.

Director of the Youth Welfare Services Department of the university, Dr Satish Kumar Verma also expressed his concern over the lack of interest in these art forms. Addressing the audience, he said, "Indian classical dance is the only competition wherein we have three judges and two contestants. We had even thought of taking the category off the list of events but decided otherwise."

"Instead of demoralising the two participants, I would like to ask the colleges to ensure that Indian classical performing arts also get an impetus. Next year, I would like to see as many participants as there were in the giddha competition today," he added.

Uproar over giddha results

As soon as the results of the giddha competition were announced, while the winning teams cheered and clapped, team of the Khalsa Girls College, Bathinda, accused the judges of being biased.

"We are not asking them to give us any position but we have a problem as they have adjudged the DAV College team as the best. They flouted several rules. Not only did their pot break on the stage, they forgot their words as well," said a member of the Khalsa College team.

Results

The teams and participants bagging the first and second positions at the zonal youth festival will participate in the inter-zonal youth festival to be held at the university campus later this month.

In giddha, DAV College and Government Rajindra College, Bathinda, won the first and second positions, respectively. In the Indian classical dance, Himani Ghai of DAV College and Archie Mehta of Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI), won the first two positions.

The team from Government Rajindra College came up trumps in group shabad gayan and were followed by the Government Barjindra College, Faridkot. Simrita of Government Barjindra College won in the Indian classical vocal category while the second place went to Maninder Kaur Dhaliwal of Government Rajindra College.

In clay modelling, Jaspreet Kaur of Mata Sahib Kaur Girls College, Talwandi Sabo, stood first while the second position was grabbed by Sandeep Kaur of Guru Kashi Regional Centre, Bathinda.

Bathinda, October 1
The concluding ceremony of the Hindi Pakhwara was organised by the Official Language Implementation Committee at the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. The university had celebrated Hindi Pakhwara from September 16-30, which consisted of various activities and competitions in Hindi such as story writing, essay writing, poetry writing, poetry recitation, elocution, handwriting, typing, declamation and translation.

During the closing ceremony, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Jai Rup Singh welcomed the distinguished speakers and guests, Padam Bhushan Dr Sardar Anjum and Prof MN Rai, and spoke on the importance of simplification of all the languages. Dr Rajinder Kumar introduced the work and achievements of the chief guest and the main speaker.

Prof Anjum, eminent poet and philosopher, author of several books, who has served Panjab University as the head of Urdu Department and as the chancellor's nominee at Punjabi University, Patiala, was the chief guest on the occasion.

He praised the efforts of the university in organising such a lavish programme for the promotion of Hindi language and literature.

He said Hindi is a receptive language and is instrumental in joining the whole nation. He also delighted the audience with his poetry in his inimitable style.

Prof Rai, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Benaras Hindu University, was the chief speaker on the occasion. He spoke on the condition of Hindi in India. He deliberated on the status of Hindi language in the country and expressed satisfaction over the current state of the language in a globalised world. He said Hindi is expected it to be the lingua franca of the world in the near future.

Prof RG Saini, professor in-charge, examinations, read a report of the activities and competitions organised in the university during the Hindi Pakhwara celebrations. Prizes were distributed to the winners of various competitions.

A colourful cultural programme was also organised as part of the ceremony. Eminent ghazal singers, Dr Tejinder Gulati from Department of Music, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Pradhyuman Narang from HMV Jalandhar, charmed the audience with their soulful renderings of beautiful ghazals. Registrar, CUP, Col (retd) Jagdev Kartar Singh proposed a vote of thanks at the conclusion of the event.

Bathinda, October 1
Following a call given by the Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa), students of Government ITI, Bathinda, held a protest rally today. During the rally, leaders of the union appealed to all the students to participate in the protest to be organised by the union, in association with the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

They told the students that the protest, which is being supported by various farmer unions and teacher associations, will be held outside the Cantonment police station on October 10.

They also told the students that on September 20, a student leader, Gurpreet Singh, was beaten up by the workers of a private bus company. The union is protesting against the fact that despite registering a case in the regard, the police is yet to make any arrests.

They also informed the students of a meeting which was convened in Bathinda on Monday during which heads of several farmers and teachers' associations participated and the decision to hold a protest outside the Cantonment police station was taken.

The union also denounced the increasing crime rate in the city and accused the police of supporting the criminals and delaying their arrests.

Bathinda, October 1
The election for the three posts of sarpanches and 29 posts of panches lying vacant will be held on October 20.

The villages that will elect their sarpanches include Bir Lehar (seats 1-4-5 (general) in block Bathinda, village Kanakwal Rattangarh (general) in block Talwandi Sabo and village Hamirgarh (SC) in block Bhagta Bhaika.

For the panches, elections would be held for Talab Nehar Basti ward number 1 and 2 (women), ward number 3 to ward 7 (general), Balahad Mehma ward 4 (women), Gillpatti ward 8 (general), Phoos Mandi ward 5 (women), Khemuana ward 4 (SC women), Karamgarh Sataran ward 3 (SC women), Chughe Kalan ward 8 (general), Bir Behman ward 4 (SC women), Goniana Khurd ward 4 (SC women), all blocks of Bathinda, Jawahar Nagar ward 3 (SC women) block Rampura, Sidhana ward 3 (SC women), Bajoana ward 2 (SC women), Batth ward 4 (women), Chak Ram Singh Wala ward 3 (SC women), Thamangarh ward 2 (SC women), Sawaich ward 3 (women), Kanakwal Rattangarh ward 1 (Scheduled Caste), ward 2 (SC women), ward (women), ward 4 (backward class) and ward 5 to ward 7 (general).

The candidates can file their nominations between October 3 to 7 at the offices of the BDPO offices. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on October 8 and the nominations can be withdrawn by October 10. — TNS