Bathinda, February 5
Subsidised sanitary napkins, being provided to the adolescent girls in rural areas of district, will now also be available with the government schoolteachers who will be appointed as the nodal officers under the ongoing Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS).

Being run in seven districts of the state, including Bathinda, Moga, Ferozepur, Muktsar and Faridkot, since April 2012, the scheme aims at creating awareness on personal hygiene among girls in the age-group of 10 to 19 years.

District Family Welfare Officer Dr Ravanjit Kaur said the aim was to ensure that adolescent girls living in the rural areas have an access to clean sanitary napkins and were constantly in touch with the ASHA workers who could counsel them and give a tip or two on the importance of being clean.

“Unhygienic conditions may result in infections of the reproductive tract that can later affect the sexual life and create problems in bearing children. Since, families from the rural areas do not have enough means of livelihood, the scheme has been launched to benefit the adolescent girls living in the rural areas,” she said.

The Health Department has conducted meetings with the Education Department officials wherein the impetus is to appoint nodal teachers in each government school in villages who would distribute napkins to the students.

However, stigma related to reproductive health dissuades girls from approaching ASHA workers to buy a pack of napkins for a mere Rs 6 that has six napkins in it. “Reproductive health of women remains a taboo. Social stigma attached to it does not allow many women to come forward seeking napkins. For this, the ASHA worker visits households, distributes napkins and collects the money. An ASHA worker meets the assigned adolescent at least twice a month,” said Dr Ravanjit.

While the government school teachers have been sensitised on distribution of napkin, there is a hesitation amongst teachers in taking up the project. While all girls’ schoolteachers have readily agreed for the distribution, those teaching in co-educational schools are sceptical about the scheme.

Meanwhile, since its inception in April 2012, more than 3.35 lakh sanitary napkins have been sold in the district.

There are a total of 52,189 adolescent girls in the district in all six blocks and 850 ASHA workers are providing napkins to them. Till December 2013, the district had received a supply of 3,45,600 sanitary napkins. The maximum napkins have been sold in Bhagta block (55,680) followed by Nathana at 55,540.

Napkins are sold to the school girls at Rs 6 per pack of which Re 1 is the incentive for the ASHA worker while Rs 5 is sent to the Centre.

The ASHA worker also gets a complimentary pack of same sanitary napkin every month. 

Bathinda, February 5
Members of the Sikhya Provider Union and the Adarsh Schools Teaching and Non-Teaching Association would meet Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka at his residence here on Thursday.

The teachers, who had faced water cannons and lathicharge by the police as they were preparing to take out a protest rally from the Grain Market in Bathinda on Sunday, are demanding that they be paid according to the revised pay scale and that their jobs be regularised.

The teachers are also demanding that the cases which were registered against them by the police be cancelled.

Bathinda, February 5
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC ) chief Partap Singh Bajwa will lead a dharna by the District Congress Committee (Rural) on February 7. This was stated by District Congress Committee (Rural) president Gura Singh Tungwali during a meeting of party workers.

During this dharna, Congress workers and the PPCC chief will demand the resignation of Cabinet Minister Bikramjeet Singh Majithia who was named by drug peddler Jagdish Bhola during an interrogation.

The party will also take up issues such as lack of infrastructure in the state, lack of funds and corruption, said Tungwali. He said it was a shame that the state government was yet to ask for the resignation of Majithia and initiate a free and fair inquiry into the case.

Bathinda, February 5
Lacunae in the process of getting interlocking tiles tested for quality control is the civic bodies dear. The tiles, which are being used extensively in the state for the last 10 years, are finding their way into the market as spurious material.

In the absence of proper quality control, there are instances of tiles being replaced within a short span of time in different parts of the city. Peeved over sub-standard tiles finding their way into the market and the spurt in the number of units manufacturing these, the government even imposed a ban on the use of tiles in October, 2012.

The state government is also aware of the spurious and sub-standard tiles finding their way into the market. In the letter issued to all commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Punjab, it was noted for the last 2 to 3 years, a lot of spurious manufacturers have put up mini plants and started manufacturing non-standardised tiles in various towns and states. Though the ban was later lifted and laying of interlocking tiles was allowed, there is still lack of proper check on the quality of tiles being churned out one after the other.

The PWD has government-run labs at Patiala and Chandigarh. Besides, the civil engineering wings of the government engineering colleges in the state are also conferred the right to test the tiles and certify them.

"However, the problem arises when the government asks the manufacturers to get their tiles tested on their own. Acting cleverly, these manufacturers give the right kind of tile for sampling and sell sub-standard tiles in the market," revealed a senior official of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB).

Former president of the municipal council Bhupinder Singh Bhullar said due to lack of proper quality control, the public money is being wasted. "If the tiles of right specifications and strength are laid in a street, it need not be replaced at least for another five years. However, there are several streets in the city where tiles have been repeatedly replaced," he said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal said as per the government orders, the department has become more strict. "We now randomly collect samples and send the same for testing to the laboratory at the PTU Giani Zail Singh College," he added. 

Bathinda, February 5
The monthly meeting of District Education Officers (DEOs ) of the state was held at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Maluka, today. The anti-copying campaign, launched by Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, in August last year, remained the highlight of the meeting. The meeting was also attended by the Additional Director General of School Education, Parampal Kaur Maluka, Additional Secretary Gurdeep Singh, DPI (Secondary Education) Kamal Garg, DPI (Elementary Education) Darshan Kaur, Punjab School Education Board Chairman Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal and others.

Addressing the DEOs and other officers of the Education Department, the minister said, “Plugging all loopholes in the security system to root out the evil of cheating should be the focus of all the schools in the state this examination season. The lax attitude of the examiners is as much to be blamed as the students. The examiners will have to make sure that students don’t succeed in copying during an examination.”

Harping back to the launch of the state-level anti-copying campaign in August last year, he appreciated the efforts of the DEOs and principals of the government schools in reducing the instances of cheating in schools under them.

“When we allow a student to cheat, we are helping him ruin his future. Cheating may bring good marks but it will be harmful for the student's professional career where his skills and knowledge will be tested at every stage, everyday,” he added.

He also directed the DEOs to prepare a master plan of all the schools and list in detail the individual needs and requirement of the schools under them. “We are doing well in the field of education but a lot more remains to be done. To make sure that the enrolment rate increases in the government schools and our students are able to compete with the students of private schools, we will have to make sure that we first upgrade the infrastructure of the schools and extend all the basic facilities to the students and staff members,” he said.

The official website of the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Maluka, was also launched on the occasion. Students of several schools from across the state participated in the competitions conducted after the meeting.

Akjeet Kaur of Amritsar won the sewing competition while Mandeep Kaur of Faridkot won the chart-making competition. Jagdeep Singh of Bathinda won the landscaping competition, Seema Rani of Fazilka bagged the first position in paper craft, Kamalbeer Singh of Fazilka won the best prize in the use of waste contest, Amandeep Singh of Mohali won the clay modelling competition. In the bhangra contest, the Amritsar team won the first place while the Patiala team came second. 

Bathinda, February 5
A two-day inter-school Kala Mela will begin at the Malwa College here tomorrow. Shabad gayan, poetry recitation, song, folk song, choreography, dance, rangoli, skit, poster-making, collage-making and several other competitions will be held at the mela.

On the first day, District Education Officer Harkanwaljeet Kaur will be the chief guest while the station director of the AIR, Bathinda, Rajiv Arora, will preside over the function. On the second day of the mela, Chief Administrator of the BDA and the Improvement Trust will be the chief guest, while chairman of the Zila Parishad, Gurpreet Singh Maluka, will preside over the function. 

Bathinda, February 5
A two-day national seminar, on “Excellence in Teacher Education: Need of 21st Centry”, began at the Aklia College of Education for Women here today. Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka inaugurated the seminar by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

Chairman Gurtej Singh Brar welcomed the minister, speakers, principals, faculty members and students of various educational institutions. Maluka appreciated the efforts made by the institution in organising a national seminar and spoke about the achievements of the state government in the field of education. He also inaugurated the basketball court of the institute and gave away the annual scholarship and the best teacher award.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr JD Singh which was followed by experts’ sessions moderated by resource persons Dr JD Singh, Dr Rajinder Singh Yadav, Dr Parmod Kumar, Dr Murlidhar Mishra, Dr GS Sodhi and Dr Raminder Singh. 

Bathinda, February 5
Twenty days after a man committed suicide, his son says he was murdered. The man was presumed to have committed suicide but his 10-year-old son spilled the beans and told the police that his father was murdered.

On the intervening night of January 20-21, Balwinder Singh alias Kindi, a resident of Kotha Guru village, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house. Presuming that Kindi had committed suicide, his relatives cremated him.

However, Kindi’s son saw his mother Amandeep Kaur and uncle Bhinder Singh of Malkan village killing Kindi and later hanging his body from the ceiling to give an impression that the latter had committed suicide. Amandeep Kaur threatened the child to remain quiet about the episode.

However, the child gathered courage and told his uncle Gurdeep Singh (Kindi’s elder brother) about the murder, who reported the matter to the police.

SI Manoj Kumar said Amandeep and her paramour Binder had been arrested and they had accepted the crime. The accused told the police that Kindi had come to know about their illicit relation and had objected to it. To remove the “obstacle”, the duo murdered him.

Chinese kite string harms biker

In a first of its kind case pertaining to the Chinese kite string, the Kotwali police have booked an unknown person for selling the string that caused harm to a biker. In his complaint to the Kotwali police, Darshan Kumar, a resident of Lal Singh Basti, said he was going on his bike towards Lal Singh Basti. When he reached near the statue of Shaheed Jarnail Singh, a China-made kite string, hanging loose from a building, ended up tearing his clothes. Since the use and sale of the string has been banned, the police have registered a case against unknown persons for selling the same.

Man killed in accident

Sadhu Singh, a resident of Sivian village, was killed in a road accident near Harraipur village. In his complaint to the police, Mandar Singh said he was going on bike with his father Sadhu Singh and brother Lakhwinder Singh to Sivian village. When they reached near Harraipur village, a Tata 407 vehicle coming from the opposite direction hit the motorcycle. Sadhu Singh died on the spot. The police have registered a case against the driver of the vehicle, Laddu Singh of Dhelwan.

Wheat stolen from govt warehouse

Around 33 quintals of wheat, worth Rs 46,000, have been stolen from the government-run warehouse on the Kamalu Road near Raman Mandi.

In his complaint to the police, security guard Nachhattar Singh said around 10 to 15 persons had entered into the warehouse on the intervening night of February 3 and 4. They beat up Nachhattar as well as the other security guard, Amar Singh, and locked them up in a room and took away the wheat.