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US kabaddi team changes hotel
Rampura farmer comes up with machine to dispose of paddy stubble
Darshan Sidhu with his machine that disposes of paddy stubble at Rampura village in Bathinda on Monday.
A Tribune photograph |
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World aids Day
National School Games to close today
National school games
Polling booths to be painted white
Nursing students work while computer operators go on strike in Bathinda on Monday.
Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
NGO does fogging in parts of city
Chiranji Garg is election observer
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US kabaddi team changes hotel
Bathinda, December 2 Out of the total of 12 members of the teams, six have been given accommodation in Bathinda. The team of the USA team arrived at Hotel Krishna Continental on Saturday afternoon before the opening ceremony of the fourth World Cup Kabaddi tournament. The team stayed at the hotel till Sunday noon and demanded a change in hotel around 12.30 pm. Liaison officer for the USA team, Satpal Rana said, “The hotel wasn’t cooperating with the players and the team management. The staff didn’t talk properly to the team and the players complained about the standard of rooms given to them. The team demanded a change in the hotel which the district administration acted upon.” Coach of the team, Baljit Singh, added that the players had problems with the rooms given to them. “The beds and the rooms were a little too congested. A total of eight rooms had been booked for 12 players, coach and two managers. The members of the kabaddi federation in the USA are paying for their accommodation and meals. They were looking for better facilities,” he said. Owner of Hotel Krishna Continental, Choudhary Partap, refuted the allegations and alleged that the move was done with “political intentions”. “This is not the first time that we were asked by the district administration to host teams coming to participate in the tournament. Last year too, the teams from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka had stayed in our hotel,” he said. “The team had arrived on Saturday afternoon and didn’t complain me or to the hotel management about lack in facilities or service. It suddenly announced that it wished to move to another hotel. This is politically motivated. From a hotel centrally located in the city, the team demanded to be moved to a hotel which is on the outskirts of the city,” he said. He also stated that the players complained about the size of the beds was also just a hogwash. “All the beds in my hotel are 6.5 feet in length and breadth. I wonder by what standard the players complained that the beds were small. None of the other rooms in the hotel are occupied, so why would my staff not serve them well,” he asked. He also added that he spoke to the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, and he was told that the chairman of the Punjab Kabaddi Association had issued orders for the change in the hotel of the USA team. Why in Bathinda!
Coach of the team also expressed his bewilderment over the Punjab Kabaddi Association’s decision to accommodate the teams of Pool A-India (Sepal hotel), Spain (Comfort Inn), the USA (earlier Krishna Continental now Country Inn), Iran (Bahia Resort), Argentina (Country Inn) and Kenya (Best Western Stell)-in Bathinda while only the semi-final matches are to be held in the city. “Travelling to and fro the cities where the teams have to play matches is very time consuming and tiring. On Tuesday, we have a match in Hoshiarpur which is five hours away from Bathinda,” the coach, Baljit Singh, said. |
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Rampura farmer comes up with machine to dispose of paddy stubble
Bathinda, December 2 Having worked for over two years on the machine, Darshan now boasts of using the machine efficiently and handling crop residue specifically for maintaining soil, human and animal health. The machine, in a single operation combines the stubble, chops it and spreads it into the field. “I spent nearly Rs 2 lakh to devise the machine in which many changes were made,” Sidhu said. He has also started a profitable crop rotation of rice, potato, maize and cucurbits. Apart from saving micronutrients by not burning, Sidhu said he does not even spray pesticides and other chemicals on his crops and vegetables. "The neighbours and other farmers however, do not encourage me and declare my interest toward environment as sheer wastage of time and money," Sidhu said. Making bed to sow potato crop was considered impossible without prior burning of the rice stubble, but Sidhu’s machine has made the task possible. Also, wheat sowing becomes easier after incorporation of rice residues and its amalgamation in soil instead of burning. The machine could chop paddy residues of six to eight acres in a day. The chopped paddy residue is mixed in the soil by using rotary after irrigating it. Senior extension specialist, Farm Advisory Service Scheme (FASS), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Regional Centre, Bathinda, Jatinder Brar, said the increase in production of paddy stubble residue is due to shift from conventional ways of farming to mechanised harvesting. “Because of intensive agriculture, there is short time period between harvesting of one crop and sowing of the next one. Most of the farmers resort to burning of left over paddy straw as it interferes with tillage and seedling operation done for the wheat crop,”
Brar said. The paddy burning also leads to respiratory problems in intensive rice production areas and despite banning, the practice continues unabated. Though some time and money was spent on the machine yet it helps enriching the soil and improves the crop sown in the fields to a great extent, Brar added. |
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India has 2.4 million people infected with HIV: Experts
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, December 2 To mark the event, all doctors and staff wore red ribbon which is a symbol of solidarity and support towards the people living with the HIV. Dr Parmod Goyal talked about the theme of year 2013 Getting to Zero: Zero Discrimination, Zero New Infections and Zero AIDS-related deaths. Principal of AIMSR, Dr Harkiran Kaur, spoke about risk groups. She said in India, the HIV is mainly concentrated among high risk groups who are 15 to 30 times more likely to contract HIV than non-high risk groups. The main high risk groups are intravenous drug users, men who have sex with men and female sex workers. Getting treatment for high risk groups is even harder because of the stigma attached to each of the aforementioned activities. If we like to limit spread of the HIV, then our efforts must be concentrated on the risk group, she said. Dr Tanvir Sidhu from the community medicine department highlighted the burden of the disease in India which has 2.4 million people infected with the HIV positive. It is estimated that out of these 61 per cent are male, 39 per cent are female and 3.5 per cent are children. Medical Superintendent, Dr Avtar Singh Bansal, said, “When we speak about getting to zero, we mean zero new HIV infections, zero babies born with the HIV and zero deaths from AIDS-related illnesses. The only way we can get that done is to know our HIV status and the only way to know, is to get tested,” he said. Dr Vippan Goyal informed the audience about manifestations of the HIV/AIDS skin disorders. He said that such disorders are commonly encountered in the HIV-infected patients and they may be the first manifestation of the HIV disease. Up to 90 per cent of the HIV-infected persons suffer from skin diseases during their course of illness. The most common skin disorder identified was fungal infection, followed by eczema, dermatitis and herpes. Dr Nitin highlighted the management of cases of the HIV with and without association of TB and chances of survival in such cases. The seminar concluded with remarks of Medical Superintendent Administration, Dr Gurpreet Singh Gill, that health education is best tool to generate spread among masses.
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National School Games to close today
Bathinda, December 2 The education department has released orders to as many as 26 schools of the district announcing a holiday on Tuesday. While the heads of all the government schools have been directed to be present during the closing ceremony, some of the schools have also been asked to send their students to the closing ceremony to ensure a full house. Once again, the costly Astroturf hockey stadium at the Government Rajindra College has been selected for hosting the closing ceremony. Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka will be the chief guest at the ceremony. The schools which have been directed to send their students for the closing ceremony include Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Shaheed Sandip Singh Memorial Government Senior Secondary School, Police DAV Public School, St Joseph Convent School, St Xaviers School, MSD School, Guru Harkrishan Public School, Guru Nanak Public School, Dashmesh Public School, Baba Farid Public School and Guru Kashi Public School. Food woes
Although while the organisation of the 59th National School Games in Bathinda remained a more or less successful event, teams complained about providing breakfast, lunch and dinner to all the teams at a central place. The arrangement for the food for the players and the officials concerned had been done at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School. While on Day 1 of the games, several players could be seen dragging their luggage along while going to have their meals, on the following days a couple of teams complained that because of the schedule of their matches, they could not eek out time to go to the Mall Road school to have meals. Even after the organisers began delivering food for the teams at the match venues, a few teams complained that the food sent was too little for the team members. The issue was soon settled. |
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Haryana lift overall trophy
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, December 2 Punjab however, suffered a setback when Haryana beat it 55-36 in the final to win in the circle kabaddi under-19 boys competition. While Punjab bagged the second place, Delhi beat Chandigarh 38-28 to bag the third place. In the girls' under-17 hockey competitions, Haryana beat Bihar 11-0, Orissa beat Gujarat 9-0, Punjab beat Maharashtra 10-0, Chandigarh beat UP 6-2. In the semi-final matches, Haryana beat Orissa 4-3 and Punjab beat Chandigarh 1-0. In the boys' under-17 hockey quarterfinal competitions, Punjab beat Haryana 7-2, UP beat Uttarakhand 8-0, Delhi beat Chandgarh 3-0 and Orissa beat HP 1-0. In the semi-final competitions Delhi beat Orissa 1-0 and Punjab beat UP 2-0 to enter the finals. In the boys' under-19 netball final competition, Punjab beat Delhi 35-20 to win the first place. While the second place went to Delhi, Chhattisgarh beat Andhra Pradesh 38-14 to win the third place. Earlier, in the quarterfinals, Punjab beat UP 47-7, Delhi beat Chandigarh 27-7, Chhattisgarh beat Maharashtra 23-11 and Andhra Pradesh beat Haryana 26-18. In the semifinals, Punjab beat Chhattisgarh 30-18 and Delhi beat Andhra Pradesh 31-13. In the girls under-19 basketball semi-final competitions, Punjab beat Maharashtra 50-26 and Delhi beat Chandigarh 47-26 to reach the final. In the boys' under-19 baskteball semi-final competitions, Rajasthan beat Chhattisgarh 72-60 and Punjab beat Karnataka 75-50 to enter the final.
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Polling booths to be painted white
Bathinda, December 2 Also, stamps on My Vote-My Right have been carved out and would be used at all the Suwidha Centres, Police Saanjh Kendras and Fard Kendras as a part of running the campaign to motivate people to exercise their right to vote. Also, under the new Atta-Dal scheme of Punjab, the district administration has decided to detect new beneficiaries. DC Yadav said under the first phase of the National Food Security Act, the present BPL and blue ration card-holders are being kept in the priority householder category. Also, the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration card-holders have been included in the Antodaya category without any survey. If anyone wants to object on inclusion of these families, the objections can be filed with the respective SDMs from December 1 to December 10. The objections would then be given to district food and
civil supplies office for further action. For the second phase, the blue card-holders verified lists are being prepared. The claims and objections received till December 16 will be verified. Other officers present included ADC, Sonali Giri, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, Kamal Kant, SDM, Damanjit Maan, SDM Sakattar Singh, SDM, Shruti, DDPO Rajinder Batra and others. |
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Hospital OPD computer operators go on strike
Bathinda, December 2 The nursing students manually issued OPD slips to the patients. About 700 patients visit the OPD everyday. With the nursing students deputed at the task, the OPD services largely remained unaffected. In the year 2011, the state health department had recruited around 150 computer operators all over the state on contract basis. These operators are now demanding regularisation of their jobs. In wake of it, they went on strike today, said sources. The strike was observed today only and the OPD staff will be on job tomorrow.
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NGO does fogging in parts of city
Bathinda, December 2 Starting from Veer Colony, the fogging was done in all streets of Shakti Nagar, Singh Sabha Gurudwara Street, Afim Wali Gali, Baba Mandir Wali Gali, area near Des Raj School, Dhobi Ghat Road, Aggarwal Street, Basant Vihar Streets, Masjid Wali Gali, Bank Bazar, Middu Mal Street, Dhobi Bazar, Hathi Mandi Wali Gali, Arya Samaj Chowk, Dev Samaj Chowk, Nasi Batsi area, Ganesha Basti main road, Aggrawal Colony main road, Sarabha Nagar main road, Manocha Colony main road, Harpal Nagar main road and nearby areas. Sonu Maheshwari, president of the NGO, said they would continue till the temperature dipped enough to eradicate
mosquitoes. |
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Upset over the rising pollution emanating from the burning of paddy stubble, a Rampura-based farmer has devised a machine that disposes off the paddy stubble without burning it.
