Bathinda, October 14
A survey conducted in the district to detect manual scavengers and their families has found six manual scavengers in Bathinda.

Under the National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their dependants and other such schemes of the Government of India (GoI), the survey was carried out in all the municipal towns of the district to detect manual scavengers.

“The aim is to rehabilitate the scavengers and their families by the means of providing them monetary help and an upgrade of skills that could make them employable in some other sector,” said Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav.

Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) appointed enumerators who conducted a door-to-door survey to locate the scavengers. During the survey, the MCB teams came across six people of whom four belonged to the Beant Nagar area in Dhobiana Basti and the other two belonged to the areas in Sanjay Nagar.

Though none of the scavengers are doing manual scavenging right now, they have been into the occupation for the past many years. They have also given self-declarations mentioning that they do manual scavenging whenever needed.

Assistant municipal commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal said the manual scavengers were put in demand while cleaning or draining the septic tanks built in the areas where the sewerage system was yet to be laid.

Sources said earlier there was a move to include the sewer men into the list of manual scavengers. However, the MCB senior officials thwarted the move saying that the sewer men and manual scavengers had been defined distinctly as per the government rules.

A survey was carried out in 136 towns of the state. The report is being compiled at the state level and will be forwarded to the Government of India for further action. Bathinda was among the 3,546 statutory towns of the country and 136 towns of the state where the exercise was conducted.

Bathinda, October 14
Advising advocates of Bathinda to desist from unprofessional practices and ethics, chairman of Bar council of Punjab and Haryana High Court R S Badhran today said there was a sharp rise in the number of complaints against lawyers.

Accompanied by senior advocate and member of Bar council Anmol Rattan Sidhu, Badhran addressed members of the District Bar Association, Bathinda, and urged them to take their clients into confidence while withdrawing cases on their behalf in different courts.

However, he later stated that most of the complaints either proved fictitious or the complainants failed to pursue the case in a professional manner.

“Many complaints have been received in the past wherein clients accused lawyers of withdrawing cases without taking their clients into confidence”, Badhran said while addressing the lawyers in the Bar room of Bathinda District Courts.

He said as per a rough estimate, around 5,000 complaints were instituted against advocates of Punjab in the past years.

He pointed out that most of the complaints were filed for not taking up the cases properly or not giving a patient hearing to the complainants.

Expressing concern over the falling professional ethics in the lawyer community, he urged them to shun the ways of dishonest practices and follow the path of honesty by helping their clients in the most honest way.

Speaking during the occasion Anmol Rattan Sidhu, Bar association president Mohinder Sidhu and former Bar association president Rajan Garg gave various examples of senior prominent lawyers of the country who refused to desist from the path of honesty and carved a niche for themselves in the Indian history.

Doling out a series of benefits for the lawyers, the chairman said apart from launching pension scheme for the lawyers, young lawyers would also be able to get monetary benefits soon to setup their practice in the courts.

Badhran said family members of nearly 100 lawyers from Punjab would start getting the benefit of Rs 1 lakh grant from the council after the death of the lawyer.

He added that modifications in the Advocates Welfare Fund Act would also be initiated soon, wherein a compulsory ticket of Rs 15 would be made mandatory to collect funds for the welfare. The grant of Rs 1 lakh accident claim would also be increased to Rs 5 lakh within a specific timeframe, he added.

Later, advocate J R Khattar and others, including Chandermohan Ruby, Tarun Kumar and Har Raj Singh, expressed their concern over the rising number of complaints against the practicing lawyers.

“We have expressed similar views with Badhran and assured him of cooperation on all fronts”, said advocate Khattar.

Bathinda, October 14
Education Minister of Punjab Sikander Singh Maluka visited Rampura today to inaugurate various development projects in the government schools located in the area.

While addressing the gathering at Ghumti Kalan, he congratulated the teachers for the good performance of the students of government schools in the last academic session.

Appreciating the stringent steps taken by the Education Department, he said the department had succeeded in rooting out the problem of teachers coming to schools in an inebriated condition.

He also announced that the Education Department was also finalising the process of introducing a yearly magazine which would have information about the functioning and results of all the government schools of the state.

He added that the magazine would carry the photographs of meritorious students and articles written by students and teachers. The aim of launching such a magazine was to bring transparency to the functioning of the schools, he said. 

Bathinda, October 14
Lesser noise pollution was created this Dasehra with the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) registering lesser levels of noise pollution during its monitoring exercise carried out yesterday.

The PPCB environmental engineer, Joginder Singh, said the levels of noise pollution were checked at the grounds of MSD School where the biggest Dasehra celebration of the city was held. Using a decibel meter, the PPCB checked the pollution levels wherein the noise before burning effigies, during burning of the effigies and after the burning of the effigies was recorded.

“Eight minutes before the burning of the effigies, the sound was recorded at 73.6 decibels (dB), during burning it was recorded at 78.2 dB and after the burning it was at 63.2 dB,” he said.

As compared to the corresponding event last year, the noise during burning of the effigies was recorded at 97.3 dB. Similarly in the year 2011, the same was measured at 117 dB.

Joginder Singh added that the lowering levels of pollution pointed towards a shift in thinking pattern of people who were getting sensitised towards the wellness of the environment.

“Our sustained efforts are paying off. We were happy to register lesser noise levels and are quiet hopeful of people shunning crackers and fireworks altogether in the years to come,” he added.

Despite being low, noise limit of Dasehra this year was above the permissible limit. Permissible noise level limits during the day time in industrial area is 75 dB, commercial areas is 65 dB, in residential areas it is 55 dB and in silence zone it is 50 dB. At night, the permissible sound limit in the industrial areas is 70 dB, commercial areas is 55 dB, in residential areas is 45 dB and in silence zones is 40 dB. The MSD School lies in the commercial zone.

Bathinda, October 14
After an attack on forest guards late last night, the Forest Department officials have intensified their demand for firearms to counter wood smugglers in Bathinda.

A group of seven persons attacked two forest guards in Rampura Phul range of Bathinda after illegally axing six trees of Rs 1.56 lakh.

The forest officials are all geared up to save the existing green cover of the four ranges after numerous incidents of wood theft by professional smugglers.

Though an FIR was lodged today at the Rampura police station, the guards, narrating their experience of last night, said the attackers left no stone unturned to kill them in their bid to steal the trees.

“They had almost loaded the axed trees on their tractor-trolley and were about to leave when we thwarted their bid to leave the place”, said forest range officer Gurpal Dhillon. The forest officials managed to save all the axed trees and have taken them into their possession.

He said the thieves were aware of the fact that the forest guards never carry any firearms and are only equipped with sticks and baton.

Dhillon said though the department had recently provided them with Mahindra Bolero Jeeps for patrolling in four forest ranges, including Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo, Rampura Phul and Bir Talab, the proposal of weapons was in the pipeline.

The accused were identified as Leela Singh, Soni Singh and Baggi Singh, all residents of Mehraj village and four unidentified persons.

The accused had axed five sheesham (Indian rosewood) trees bearing 107,110, 136, 138 and 147 serial numbers and one shahtoot or morus tree (a genus of flowering plant) bearing number 137 in the forest area of Rampura Phul.

A case of theft, thwarting government officials and attacking them during duty has been registered against the accused under Sections 379, 353 and 186 of the IPC at the Rampura police station.

Policemen investigating the matter said raids were being conducted to nab the accused and to recover the machines used to axe the trees.

They had almost loaded the axed trees on their tractor-trolley and were about to leave when we thwarted their bid to leave the place. The thieves were aware of the fact that the forest guards never carry any firearms and are only equipped with sticks and baton.
— Gurpal Dhillon, forest range officer 

Bathinda, October 14
After hosting the Punjab State Games for Women and the 59th Punjab State School Sports Tournament, the city is now all set to host the District Athletics Meet from October 16 to 18. The meet will be held at the Multipurpose Sports Stadium.

Various track and field events, both for girls and boys, will be held during the meet. Over three days, heats and finals of javelin throw, long jump, 100 m, 200 m, 600 m, 800 m, 3000 m, hammer throw, 5000 m, 5000 m walk, shot put, triple jump, 1500 m, discus throw, cross-country, high jump, hurdles and pole vault competitions will be held.

The Sports Department is also gearing up to host the U-19 national-level competitions from November 28 to December 2, apart from hosting matches of the fourth edition of the Kabaddi World Cup.

So busy is the sports department with the preparation of the upcoming sporting competitions that it is yet to finish the inquiry into the allegations that some of the players in the Ludhiana Academy and Patiala Wing had furnished false information to be included in their respective teams and participate in the 59th Punjab State School Sports Tournament.

After some players raised an alarm regarding the same on Friday, the Patiala-Bathinda basketball super league match in boys’ category was stopped after the half time and did not resume. To sort out the matter, the Deputy Director (Sports), Education Department, Sarabjit Toor, had taken the documents with him to Chandigarh and had announced that the matter would be sorted out.

Additional Education Officer (Sports) Pavittar Kaur said the matter was yet to be resolved as the department was busy compiling the requisite documents for the national-level competitions to be held in Bathinda.

Bathinda, October 14
Government Rajindra College today organised a function to honour the students who had participated in the zonal youth festival of Punjabi University, Patiala, held at Malwa College earlier this month. Youth coordinator of the college Prof Gurjeet Singh Mann was also honoured.

Owing to the outstanding performances of the students of the college in the festival, the college had managed to lift the overall trophy, apart from grabbing the first, second and third prize in many competitions in which contestants from almost 54 colleges from the Bathinda-Faridkot zone had participated.

Students of Rajindra College grabbed the first positions in group shabad, Indian group song, folk orchestra, percussion (tabla), folk song, Western group song, Western instrument, rangoli and photography.

The college was given the second prize in Indian classical vocal, ghazal, non-percussion (sitar) and gidha. It also got the third position in bhangra, clay modelling and collage-making competitions.

The college lifted the overall trophy in music, Western music and fine arts to register an overall first position in the zonal youth festival. The students who won the first and second positions in various competitions will now compete at the inter-zonal youth festival which will be held on the Punjabi University campus later this month.

Addressing the gathering, principal of the college Vijay Kumar Goyal appreciated the hard work and determination put in by both the students and the convenors.

He also wished the students luck for the inter-zonal youth festival.

Bathinda, October 14
Guru Kashi University, in collaboration with the Punjabi Sahitya Academy, Ludhiana, will organise a seminar on health services on October 21. Prof Rajinder Bhandari, vice-chairman, Punjab State Planning Board, will be the chief guest and Dr NS Malhi, vice-chancellor, will be the guest of honour.

Dr Amar Singh Azad and Dr Dharmveer Singh will deliver the keynote addresses on the topic. Prof Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Director (Planning and Development) at Guru Kashi University and president of the Punjab Sahitya Academy, Ludhiana, will share his views along with Dr Harshinder Kaur, Dr Piare Lal Garg, Dr Ajit Pal Singh and Dr Shyam Sunder Deepti on the scenario of health services in Punjab.

Dr Sukhdev Singh, General Secretary of the Punjabi Sahitya Academy and Senior vice-president Dr Anoop Singh have invited intellectuals and educationists for the seminar. — TNS

Bathinda, October 14
Five persons received injuries in separate road accidents in the city today. The victims were rushed to the hospital by the volunteers of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa.

NGO president Vijay Goyal said the accidents occurred on the Dabwali Road, Barnala Road, Bibiwala Chowk and Santpura Road.

In most of the accidents, two-wheelers were hit by four-wheelers.

The accident victims were all in the age-group of 25 to 35 years.

The injured were initially admitted to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital and were later shifted by their relatives to different private hospitals for treatment, Goyal added.

Bathinda, October 14
A 16-member team has been selected to represent the Bathinda district in the Inter-District U-14 Cricket Tournament to be held in the city from October 31.

The selection trials for the team were held at the Police Public School grounds on October 11.

Bharat Dubey, Shehaz Dhawan, Harpal Singh, Sunil, Sarbjit Singh, Bharat Aggarwal, Parmjit Singh, Sarbjit Singh, Sahil, Harmandeep Singh, Rayman Singh, Karan Narang, Lovish, Jaswinder Singh, Jashan Jindal and Veeru have made it to the team.

OD Sharma, Arun Wadhawan, Ashanand Saini, Ranjit Bhola, Satya Bhushan and Ravi Kohli comprised the selection committee. The Inter-District (U-14) Cricket Tournament is being jointly organised by drug de-addiction team, the Cops Club and Police Public School.

Teams of eight districts will participate in the tournament. These include Patiala, Sirsa, Suratgarh, Firozpur, Muktsar, Mansa, Faridkot and Bathinda.