Bathinda, November 27
The district health authorities have formed teams to monitor the health of players participating in the National School Games and the fourth edition of World Cup Kabaddi and provide them with medical aid.

For the National School Games, a control room has been set up at the office of the Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, while eight teams have been posted at the venues with ambulances where different events of the school games will be held.

The department has set up the phone number 0164-2212501 on which the authorities can be contacted in case of any exigency. The department is chlorinating water at the places where the players are staying. Their lodging venues are also being fogged. One medical officer has been deputed to look after the health of students staying at the two schools.

Meanwhile, for the inaugural ceremony of World Cup Kabaddi, the health department has formed six teams. These include two teams to look after the VVIPs and the remaining four for the VIPs visiting the city for the inaugural event. Every team has two doctors, a pharmacist, a lab technician and class IV employees. Two food sampling teams and a dope testing team have been formed with Dr Suraj Bhan as its head.

The non-communicable disease (NCD) unit at Civil Hospital, Bathinda, and Adesh Medical College has been designated as referral units. All the specialists at these hospital would be on call.

y For the inaugural ceremony of World Cup Kabaddi, the health department has formed six teams. These include two teams to look after the VVIPs and the remaining four for the VIPs visiting the city for the inaugural event. Every team has two doctors, a pharmacist, a lab technician and class IV employees. Two food sampling teams and a dope testing team have been formed with Dr Suraj Bhan as its head.

y The non-communicable disease (NCD) unit at Civil Hospital, Bathinda, and Adesh Medical College has been designated as referral units. All the specialists would be on call.

y For the National School Games, a control room has been set up at the office of the Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, while eight teams have been posted at the venues with ambulances where different events of the school games will be held.

Bathinda, November 27
Illiteracy proves to be detrimental for the Indian kabaddi players who, most of the time, are not aware of the banned steroids or performance enhancing drugs that prove instrumental in their names being struck off the list after testing positive in the dope tests.

The result of the Indian kabaddi team's dope test, conducted two days ago in Delhi, is to be released soon. The result of the dope tests was the only topic the players were seen discussing during today's practice session. The players undergo a rigorous practicing session, two hours in the morning and for a similar duration, in the evening.

India's coach Harpreet Baba, while expressing concern over the increasing disadvantages of performance enhancing drugs, which cause changes in the expression of genes in the body cells, said players with a rural background having little education and fall prey to such drugs.

"During our time, players only knew the names of one or two tablets and would take the medicines only on the advice of senior coaches. Now, the availability and advertisements of hundreds of steroids and drugs available at stores attract the players," Baba said.

He pointed out that players with little education are more prone to consuming the banned drugs. The use of any such drug is against the spirit of sports and its efficacy in the body too is temporary.

"If it takes five years to become a perfect kabaddi player without consuming steroids, then it takes a mere one year to achieve perfection after consuming the performance-enhancing drugs," said another coach.

To achieve perfection, one also requires rigorous practice in the morning and evening at least thrice a week. "Since these drugs increase the efficiency, the body does not respond after sometime and a player who would otherwise stay active for 15 years, fails to perform within a span of two to three years," the coach said.

The Indian coach has the names of only a handful of players on his tips who are either doing graduation or have recently completed the degree course. "Most of the players are either class XII, X or VIII pass with a rural background," he added.

A few years ago, 60 to 70 players were shown the door after they were found positive during the dope test but the number is on the decline.

"Last time, the names of six or seven players were struck off. This time too, I fear that the names of four to five players may be struck off the list after the dope test result," the coach said. He pointed out that the players are always made aware of the disadvantages of consuming such drugs. They are informed that its use would not allow them to rise above the village level.

"We are all sitting with our fingers crossed as the results are likely to be announced soon," said Harpreet Baba.

"While earlier, all that the kabaddi players got was desi ghee, the players these days are earning a lot from the game," said the coach of the men's national kabaddi team, Harpreet Baba. He has been training the 35 shortlisted players and testing them for speed, strength, endurance, footwork, neuro-muscle coordination and reaction time.

Talking about how the sports has changed over the years, he said that earlier, a player could raid till the time he could say 'kabaddi kabaddi'. Now, a player has only 30 seconds to do the same. The pace of the game has increased manifold.

He added that from being a sport played in the villages of Punjab to being an international sport, kabbadi has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. "When I was a player, the kabaddi players in foreign teams were those who had Indian, especially Punjabi, roots. But that is not the case now," he said.

"Last year, several of the international teams which participated in the Kabaddi World Cup had members of Indian origin settled in those countries. But this year, many countries are sending teams which will comprise primarily of their own players," he added.

He regretted the fact that aspiring players had started relying on food supplements while all they needed was a nutritious diet and intake of ghee and milk-based products to help the body recover from wear and tear which it braves during the play.

"The earlier players did not have the option of supplementing their diet with synthetic products. They depended only on their diet and lived a long life even after suffering massive blows during the games. The younger generation of players does not entirely trust the diet for taking them far," he said.

Baba expressed the hope that like the last three years, this year too, the title of men's kabaddi will come to India. "The trials were tough and we managed to choose some really good raiders and stoppers. We will announce a strong team on November 28, a team which would ensure victory in the 4th World Cup Kabaddi," he said.

Harpreet Baba has headed the Indian team six times and steered it to a win all six times. He was the captain of the teams which went to Pakistan, America, England and Canada and won the tournaments in all these countries.

He began playing kabaddi in 1986 and progressed from forming a team in his village Kamalu Swaich to leading the Punjab team and going on to become the captain of the Indian national men's team.

Bathinda, November 27
While the state government, district administration and officials of the departments concerned are not leaving any stone unturned to make the inaugural ceremonies of the 59th National School Games and the 4th World Cup Kabaddi a success, they turn a blind eye towards the students who brave the cold as they sit on mats while attending classes.

"We have more than 600 students in the school and because of the shortage of classrooms and furniture we have no option but to make students of a few classes sit on the floor. Close to 100 students sit on the floor in the open," said Varinderpal Kaur, principal of the Government Senior Secondary School, Maiserkhana.

The condition at the Government Elementary School, Mall Road, is probably the worst. For 50 students, it has only one room. "The day all the students are present, at least 10-12 students have to sit on the floor on mats. Usually, 8 to 10 students are absent on any given day and we adjust the students on the benches that we have. The school hasn't received any fresh supply of furniture for long," said Gurpreet Singh, in-charge of the school.

At the Government Elementary School in Parasram Nagar, close to 130 students sit on the floor on mats everyday notwithstanding the changing weather. "We have 460 students and almost 125 students sit on mats everyday to attend classes. We had sent a letter to the office of the District Education Officer regarding the shortage of furniture in school. While action is yet to be taken in this regard, more benches have broken down," said Balwant Kaur, principal of the school.

When asked if the parents had raised their voice against the school authorities, she said, "A few parents did object to it. We had to explain to them that we didn't have any other option," she said.

District Education Officer (elementary) Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta, said, "I had received requests from schools regarding the shortage of furniture. We collected data about which school needed how many benches and sent the requisition to the office of the DGSE. We will soon get a reply from the DGSE office."

Bathinda, November 27
While the district administration and officials of all the other departments are working hard to prepare the city for the opening ceremony of the 4th World Cup Kabaddi, the arrangements for the 59th National School Games were being done till this evening.

The boundary wall of the Government Rajindra College, adjacent to the entry point to the stadium is still under-construction. As a last minute effort, labourers worked overtime to finish as much portion of the wall as they could.

The district administration employed labour to clean the rooms at the hockey stadium. The rooms, which had been built to accommodate hockey players, were kept locked ever since the stadium was constructed and never served the purpose for which they were constructed.

The 4th World Cup Kabaddi has taken its toll on the school games as the biggest venue for conducting indoor and outdoor sporting events, the Multipurpose Sports Stadium, was struck off the list of venues where the school games will be held.

St Xaviers School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Police Public School, Government Sports School Ghudda, Malwa College of Physical Education, Government Rajindra Colleges, Giani Zail Singh PTU campus and Sports Authority of India Academy at Badal village have been chosen as venues for conducting the boys and girls competitions in boxing, circle kabaddi, netball, basketball and hockey.

As many as 2,200 students from 29 states and seven union territories of the country will showcase their sporting prowess to compete in various categories of five sports as part of the 59th National School Games which will be inaugurated tomorrow. Sikander Singh Maluka, Education Minister of Punjab, will inaugurate the games at a ceremony to be organised at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium.

The players will bring the games torch from Guru Nanak School in Civil Station to the stadium during the opening ceremony. As many as 220 students from various schools of the city will present cultural items during the ceremony.

Students of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School Mall Road, Dashmesh Public School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Guru Harkrishan Public School, Baba Farid School and Khalsa College for Women will present a gidda performance.

Students of Dashmesh Public School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Desraj Memorial Senior Secondary School, Government Senior Secondary School Parasram Nagar and Baba Farid School will present bhangra.

While the welcome song will be presented by students of St Joesph Convent School, students of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mall Road will present a shabad gayan and a choreography item will be present by students of The Millennium School.

Bathinda, November 27
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Partap Singh Bajwa will lead a protest dharna and rally here tomorrow against the taxes levied by the state government and demanding the resignation of the Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

It is learnt that the PPCC chief had decided to head the rally to avoid the chances of groupism among the district Congress workers, which has been the case during earlier rallies held by the district Congress leadership in the city.

Congress leaders Gurpreet Singh Kangar, vice-president PPCC, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, MLA, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, MLA, Harminder Singh Jassi, former MLA and Khushaldeep Singh Dhillon, former MLA along with party workers from the district will participate in the rally.

"The rally is being conducted in Bathinda as part of a string of agitations that the party is organising in some of the big cities of the state. Earlier, a similar rally was organised in Amritsar. We aim to make the masses aware of how the ruling SAD-BJP alliance is fooling them and will ask them to think before they vote in the coming Lok Sabha elections," said Jassi.

He also expressed hope that all the local Congress leaders will participate in the rally and ruled out that groupism among the party workers had been affecting the party's image in the area.

The party is demanding Majithia's resignation alleging that he has close ties with drug peddler and SAD leader Maninder Singh Bittu Aulakh who was recently arrested in a case related to synthetic drug smuggling by Patiala police for his alleged involvement in manufacturing and supplying drug to other countries with international drug smuggler Jagdish Bhola, a dismissed DSP of the Punjab Police.

Interestingly, the Congress protest rally is scheduled to begin when Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka will be inaugurating the 59th National School Games at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium.

Bathinda, November 27
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Member of Parliament from Bathinda, today said Punjab had been left alone in its fight against the drug smugglers due to absence of a national policy on drug abuse.

"Punjab is known for record production of foodgrain. The state does not produce a single ounce of habit forming substances. The drug abuse problem of the state can be attributed to the absence of a national policy on illegal trade of drugs. More than that, it is the ill-intentions of the Congress-led Central and other state governments which are lending deaf ears to repeated calls of Punjab to help it in its fight against drug peddlers," she said while addressing sangat darshan programmes in the district.

"Poppy husk vends are opened in Rajasthan from where it comes to Punjab. Opium is cultivated under the nose of agencies of the Central Government in Rajasthan and drug smugglers are allowed to smuggle the same into Punjab. Heroin finds entry into the state through the international border guarded by the BSF," she added.

"The Punjab government has declared a war against drugs and has sworn to make the state drug-free. The government is working towards having a two-pronged approach to handle this menace. While supply routes will be blocked through effective enforcement by intelligence and police, youth will be motivated by promoting sports and spreading awareness against drugs through seminars and talks," she said.

Patting the back of Punjab police, she said, "Arrest of smugglers by the Punjab police shows the zero tolerance attitude of the government towards drug peddling. Anyone found involved in the same will not be spared irrespective of his/her political affiliation," she further added.

Also present during the sangat darshan were Irrigation Minster Janmeja Singh Sekhon, SAD Youth National Vice President Sukhman Singh Sidhu, DC Kamal Kishore Yadav, SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, ADC(D) Sonali Giri among others.

Bathinda, November 27
After the stray cattle and dog menace, now it is the free roaming of pigs in various parts of the city that is leading to major incidents of scuffle between the pig owners and those who oppose its rearing in public places.

People living in the underdeveloped and also posh areas of the city, including Dhobiana Basti, Ring Road, Indira Awas Colony and Model Town-Phase-II, have continuously been complaining against illegal pig rearing and no interest has been shown by any of the Municipal Corporation officials to sort out the problem despite repeated complaints.

A clash between the pig owners and those opposing the rearing of these animals was averted in the wee hours today when a speeding truck ran over a pig on the recently laid ring road.

The truck driver was thrashed and abused by those rearing pigs who sought compensation to the tune of Rs 6,000. Residents opposing pig rearing in the locality, however, entered into heated arguments and a brawl over the issue of allowing pigs to roam free on busy roads.

The residents opposing pig rearing sided with the truck driver and bailed him out from the 'clutches' of the pig owners. Though the truck driver offered Rs 2,000 but the protesters did not allow the truck driver to give money as compensation after the killing of the animal on the road.

Local residents raised slogans against the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance.

"Though the government is 'wasting' Rs 6.5 crores on enjoying the dance of Bollywood actors in the name of kabaddi cup, it shows empty coffers when it comes to improving the situation in the areas where the poor and lower middle income groups reside," said Surat Singh, an ex-serviceman, residing on Cantonment Road near Dhobiana Basti. He said class III and class IV workers and employees of the corporation are rearing the pigs and nobody dares to ask them to remove these animals from the roads and streets.

JS Brar, a resident of Model Town, said that pigs usually enters the gardens and lawns of the residents and have lead to a lot of chaos but the authorities do not have enough money to sort out the problems faced by hundreds of people but have crores to spend on the Bollywood actors.

He lamented that streets and the ring road is full of potholes where stray pigs exude unbearable stench and the dirty water is full of mosquitoes leading to outbreak of diseases.

"Every member of families residing in our locality is suffering from one disease or the other due to the roaming of a large number of pigs on the roads," said another ex-serviceman Darshan Chahal.

A retired Punjab Police constable, Devinder Singh, also residing in the area, lamented that the stray pigs roaming openly on the main roads of the city, lead to accidents.

"The number of pigs is on the rise and their owners do not take care of the animals and allow them to roam on the main roads," said Janta Singh, another resident.

Janta said the free roaming or wandering of stray cattle comes from the unlicensed roadside cattle sheds. Delhi High Court (HC) has ruled that the menace to the city dwellers is a violation of the Right to Life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Bathinda, November 27
The Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association today exhorted the state government's Hotel Industry Policy 2013, which they claim has relaxed the norms and will buoy the business.

Addressing mediapersons here, members of the association said under the new policy, hospitality sector was considered an industry. "Being an industry, we will have to pay lesser property tax, lower power tariff and the rates for sewer and drinking water connections will also be on the lower side than the existing ones," said Satish Arora, president of the association.

The hospitality industry is also entitled to have plots in the industrial area the way industrial houses are entitled to get.

Arora said the hospitality industry would get power 6 to 7 paise cheaper per unit. Similarly, though the new rates of water and sewer are yet to be declared, Arora said in sync with the new policy the new rates would be lesser than those imposed on commercial ventures.

The state government has declared hospitality an industry since the year 1997.

However, the state government did not implement any of the benefits or incentives. To begin with, the hotel, restaurant and resort owners have started paying the property tax, which has been lessened from three per cent to 1.5.

General secretary Anil Thakur said it was the Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association, which took up the issue with the government. "We gave repeated representations to the government for issuing notifications declaring us an industry. Now instead of commercial rates, every hotel, restaurant and resort will pay industrial rates of taxes in the entire state," he said.

The association members, including J S Rawat, Swadesh Goyal, Vipin Garg, Rohit Garg, Sandeep Bansal, Vikramjit Singh Bahia, Rajesh Gupta, Ramesh Sardana, Rohit Sardana, Sikandar Goyal, Gagan, Kapil Pahuja, Vijay Katia and others were also present at the media briefing.