Bathinda, December 8
The government’s claims of handing over the de-addiction centre on the premises of government hospital to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) by December have fallen flat.

During Principal Secretary, Health, Vinni Mahajan’s visit to the hospital in October, she had said that by December the varsity would take over the centre. The Vice-Chancellor of the university also visited the centre twice, while the Civil Hospital authorities have also been pursuing the process.

The centre has to be developed as a tertiary care centre at a cost of Rs 50 crore that the varsity will run. As it does not have fixed funding, the Bathinda district administration had requested that varsity take it should over before the building of tertiary care center is constructed.

Replying to the request of government, the varsity has asked for funds from the state government to run the project. In a letter to the government, the varsity had sought some corpus fund which would be used to run the centre that does not have any kind of external funding.

Sources said the file, pertaining to handing over the centre, has moved from the office of Principal Secretary of health to the Managing Director, Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC).

“The matter now lies pending with the PHSC. The earlier varsity takes it over, the better facilities and better administration we would get,” added the sources at de-addiction centre. The centre also runs methadone centre, a project of the UNODC for the drug users.

When contacted, Vice-Chancellor of BFUHS, Dr SS Gill, said the varsity was waiting for a nod from the state government to take charge of the centre.

“A meeting has been fixed on December 13 wherein the issues of the de-addiction centre will be taken up for review,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MD, PHSC Hussan Lal, said funding was not an issue. "We have enough funds collected under the Punjab State Cancer and Drug Addiction Treatment Infrastructure Fund-2013. We are yet to see whether the centre has complete staff and infrastructure for the varsity to take it over," he said. 

Bathinda, December 8
The state government has introduced changes in the Balri Rakshak Yojana, which aims at motivating birth of girl child, encourage fertile couples to adopt permanent methods of family planning and check the infant mortality rate.

The parents of a single girl child will get Rs 500 per month in girl’s account till the child attains the age of 18. Earlier, on birth of second daughter, the parents were given total Rs 700 for both the girl children. The benefit has now been raised to Rs 1,000 per month (Rs 500 per girl child) till the age of 18.

Also on second delivery, if more than one girl child is born, she too would get the benefit. Earlier, the benefit was transferred in the joint account of parents and the child. However, now, the money will be transferred in the girl’s exclusive account. Instead of allowing accounts in banks or in post offices, the guidelines allow accounts in the banks only, said the District Family Planning and Welfare Officer, Dr Ravanjit Kaur.

She said the policy has made clear about the eligibility of couple for being able to get benefit under the scheme. Man (not above 45 years) and woman (not above 40 years) who opt for permanent method of birth control after having two daughters only are deemed as the eligible candidates to avail benefit under the scheme. Neither of the parents should be income tax payers.

In Bathinda, there are only 61 beneficiaries under the scheme.

Bathinda, December 8
Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, today gave impetus to his pet project by laying the foundation stone of a special school on the premises of Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus in Bathinda today, on the occasion of his 87th birthday.

The school, announced by the CM in July this year, will impart totally free education with free hostel facility to the meritorious students of the state government schools, who secure 80 per cent or above in their Class X examinations.

“If a student of a government school is secures 80 pe cent or above marks, imagine how much he will secure if he were to be given the kind of facilities that the private schools offer to their students. The school aims nurture talent and potential of students of economically weaker sections by providing quality education,” said the CM while addressing a huge gathering on the campus. He added the school would cater to students of Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Ferozepur, Fazilka and Faridkot.

He also announced that while this was first such school to be opened in the state, there were five more in the pipeline. “On the lines of the school in Bathinda, five more such schools will be opened in the cities of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and SAS Nagar (Mohali). We chose to open the schools in bog cities since the teachers are not willing to come to schools situated in villages,” he said.

He also stated that the state government had already launched the Dr Hargobind Khurana Scholarship Scheme to bridge the gap of the quality of education between the affluent and poor students. He added that under the scholarship, the poor and bright students securing 80 per cent or above marks in Class X were getting Rs 30,000 per annum.

He added that giving top priority to the education sector, the SAD-BJP government had established 19 new degree colleges in rural areas besides nine new universities in the state. He said to streamline the education in all the government schools of the state 72,000 teachers had been recruited, while 145 primary schools were established to ensure the reach of education in every nook and corner of the state besides upgrading 1,200 existing schools.

“It is a matter of pride for us that from being positioned at number 14 in the country in the field of education, the state had risen at rank three in the country and first in northern India,” said the CM.

Earlier, singing paeans in favour of the CM, his daughter-in-law and Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, stated that the CM himself had studied at a primary school in Badal village and followed it up with going to high school in Ferozepur and a college in Lahore. “He always says that education is something that we can neither loose it nor can it be stolen from us. He was the one who thought of the Mai Bhago Stri Vidya Scheme to make sure that a large number of girls pursued senior secondary education,” she said.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included the Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Sarup Chand Singla, MLA, Darshan Singh Shivalik, Principal Secretary Education, Anjali Bhawra, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, SDM, Damanjeet Singh Mann, former Bathinda Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman.

Taking a dig at his detractors, the CM derided the Congress for nitpicking in every step that the SAD-BJP state government takes. “I inaugurated the Thermal Plant in Banawali and the Congress workers say that it is not working. We should get hold of one of their leaders and make him sit on the chimney of the thermal plant and he would get to know whether it is working or not,” the CM said, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

Bathinda, December 8
Visibly elated with the results of the assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, chose to call it an “anti-Congress mandate of the people who have finally managed to see through the party’s hollow promises and Narendra Modi as the wave of change”. The CM said this on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a special school for meritorious students in Bathinda today.

“The results are pouring in and the top two Congress leaders, I don’t want to name them, may well be planning to leave the country for good. It is not the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, rather it is the anti-Congress wave which has won,” he said.

He also took a dig at the Congress leaders in Punjab and asked them not to take credit for development works in the state and asked them to take stock of how the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was overlooking Punjab and its demands.

Terming the assembly elections in the four states as the semifinals, he said, “Now that the results of the semifinals are out, we are sure that the BJP will win the final as well under the guidance of Modi. We are hopeful that Modi will hoist the tricolour at the Red Fort during the next Independence Day function in New Delhi.”

Clearly riding high on the Modi wave, the CM, when asked how coal will be supplied to the newly-opened thermal plants in the state in the absence of any railway link, he said, “We will have our government at the Centre soon. Once Modi comes to power, we will get coal and all the other requisite facilities for our thermal plants to generate power. Till we get railway links to these places, we have trucks ferrying coal.”

Bathinda, December 8
Delhi Public School, Bathinda, organised its annual sports meet here today. It commenced with a welcome speech by principal Dr Arun Jee followed by a welcome dance.

To make the event more colourful and musical, mass drill, puppet dance, Kalbelia dance and Bhangra were presented by the students.

The exciting competitions kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

The annual sports meet concluded with a felicitation ceremony during which certificates and prizes were given away to the students who had won in various categories of the competitions. 

Bathinda, December 8
Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, today visited the Multipurpose Sports Stadium to review the arrangements for hosting the semifinal matches of the fourth World Cup Kabaddi on December 11. He convened a meeting with the officials of the various departments and delegated duties.

During the meeting, the DC instructed the committees handling duties for barricading, VVIP routes, traffic, transportation, invitation, entry and exit points and other works.

Taking a stock of the arrangements, the DC stated that a total of four semifinal matches, two each in the men and women categories, will be conducted at the stadium on December 11. He added that the committees and officials needed to work together to make sure that the teams, audience and the guests didn’t face any kind of problem. Also present during the meeting were SSP, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, ADC (D) Sonali Giri, ADC (general) Rajiv Parashar among others. — TNS

Bathinda, December 8
Mid-day meal workers convened a meeting at Teachers’ Home here today under the presidentship of their district head Simranjit Kaur.

During the meeting, the mid-day meal workers discussed their problems and raised slogans against the state government.

Simranjit accused the government of ignoring the demands of the mid-day meal workers and stated that they were paid a meagre salary for their work.

She also pointed out that a majority of the mid-day meal workers belonged to economically weaker sections and found it difficult to make both ends meet. Stating the demands of the workers, Simranjit said that the mid-day meal workers should also be given annual leaves enjoyed by the employees of various government departments.

They also threatened to intensify their stir in case the government didn’t consider their demands.

Bathinda, December 8
The plan of the members of the Bathinda unit of Un-aided Staff (Aided Schools) Front to take out a protest march in the city was thwarted by the police personnel. The members were not allowed step out of the Teachers' Home where they were convening a meeting under the guidance of their district president Gurpreet Singh 
Lamba.

After the police stopped the union from taking out the protest march, a deputation of the union was allowed to meet the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda during which the union was assured that their meeting with the Education Minister of Punjab, Sikander Singh Maluka, will be held on December 9.

One of the leaders of the union, Jaspal Singh Gill, said on the one hand, the Chief Minister has laid the foundation of a school in Bathinda and on the other, he has forgotten the aided schools which were catering to the children of the economically weaker sections of society.

State advisor of the union, Jagnam Singh Dhaliwal, said: "Earlier, this year too, the union was assured that a meeting with the chief minister will be fixed for them on March 3 but the administration went back on its promise and the meeting was never conducted. "

The union members also derided the state government for emptying the coffers by spending crores on the 4th World Cup Kabaddi and paying a whopping sum to the Bollywood actors and other entertainers for the opening and closing ceremonies of the kabaddi event.

The union members also argued that while the state government was spending extravagantly on organising the sporting tournament, it had turned a blind eye towards the lack of facilities at the schools.

Bathinda, December 8
Billu Dhaba - the modest dhaba on Bhagu Road - may not be the perfect place for a foodie in the city, but it surely is the affordable kitchen that has been serving people for the past 28 years.

Perhaps, the only eatery in the city to offer dal similar to the homely flavour at Rs 30, Billu Dhaba’s owner Rakesh Kumar Sharma alias Billu says, “In the last 28 years, the city has undergone a tremendous change and so have the tastes of its residents. Though people are keen to gorge on junk food, it’s the simple dal-roti that ultimately fills the empty stomach.”

Billu’s Dhaba mostly receives people halting to get their food packed and eat it in the comfort of their homes. Cooked without using any strong masala, Sharma says that the masalas are missed out consciously.

Apart from six workers at the dhaba, the family members at home prepare the essential spices, instead of purchasing them from the market.

“Spices are no longer the same they used to be. They never dominated our cooking. While cooking, we deliberately keep the food less salty, so that the customer can add it as per his or her own taste,” he said.

Cooking dal, mix vegetable, saag, karhi and rajmah, with homemade spices, is his forte for the past 28 years. The reason behind the economical food offered at Billu Dhaba is his family including his wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law. Every member of the family chips in and contributes in preparing the food. Vegetables are chopped at home but they are cooked at the dhaba along with chapatis.

Sharma chose to rope in his family instead of relying on workers from outside. “Engaging my family not only ensures better work, better food quality, but also helps in keeping the rates of food slightly low,” he explains. 28 years ago, Billu started the dhaba, serving per plate at Rs 6. He then increased it to Rs 10, Rs 15. Rs 20, Rs 25 and now for the past five years, it is static at Rs 30.

The chapatis here are prepared with makki, besan and bajra which are highly nutritious. People have a choice to warm them at their place before consuming, unlike the naan (made of maida) which turns into a rubber-like substance if not consumed hot. One can have daal, mixed vegetable, rajmah-chawal and karhi-chawal for Rs 20 each or a thali comprising daal, five chappatis, chutney and salad for Rs 30.