Bathinda, February 10
Banking services were severely hit and transactions worth Rs 180 crore could not take place in Bathinda district as the employees of nationalised banks went on a two-day strike that began here today.

The strike began following a call by the United Forum of Bank Unions. No banking transaction was conducted and no cheque was cleared.

The clearing house located at the service branch of the State Bank of Patiala in Kikkar Bazar receives around 1,200 cheques daily amounting to Rs 180 crore approximately. But due to the strike, no transaction was conducted there.

President, PHD Chamber of Commerce, Raman Watts said the strike had badly hit traders and businessmen. “Saturday and Sunday were holidays and we expected the work would pick up pace today. But the banking staff went on a strike. The banking staff should not have held a strike right after the weekly holidays,” he said.

Former municipal councillor Rajinder Singh said today was the last date to fill forms for the vacancies for junior engineer (civil engineers) advertised by the Civic Bodies Department. “Due to the strike, the applicants could not fill online fees and hence, lost an important opportunity. The government should extend the date in view of the strike so that maximum number of people can apply,” he added.

Members of different bank unions held a dharna at the Mall Road and took out a procession passing through the main commercial areas of the city.

Officers and employees assembled in front of the Union Bank of India at Mall Road and demonstrated in favour of their demands. The employees demand immediate wage revision and an end to the banking reforms.

Addressing the rally, convener of the United Forum Pawan Jindal said the 10th bipartite settlement for wage revision was due since October 31, 2011. United Forum of Banks Unions and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had held only eight rounds of discussion regarding wage revision and compassionate appointments, he said.

“The offer made to the IBA was not satisfactory in times when workload in banks has increased substantially due to increase in volume of business and also due to lesser staff and officers,” he said.

He added the Central Government refused to implement these demands.

Bathinda, February 10
The police today registered a case against three persons for allegedly killing a cop’s son. In a complaint, Vineet Sharma, son of a Punjab Police official, complained that some young boys administered poison to his brother, Harmeet Sharma.

The complainant said the accused, Yudhvir Singh of Ajit Road, Satti Gill of Homeland Enclave and Lakhvir Singh of Mehma Bhagwana village carried out this act. The complainant said the accused never wanted his brother to go abroad.

He said his brother was to board a flight to New Zealand in the next few days. Investigating officer, Mohan Singh, said the three used to spend time with the deceased and were reportedly involved in taking drugs.

“Initial investigations show that the complainant’s family accused the boys of kidnapping their son. We are still verifying the complainant’s claims to reach the truth,” Mohan said.

He added the family members are yet to submit the proofs of the deceased boy’s foreign tour. It was, however, clear to some extent that one of the three accused was involved in drug trade, he said.

One of the boys has a palatial house on Goniana Road and the family of another boy recently opened a jewelry showroom in Bathinda.

A case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC had been registered in this regard and further investigation was on, he said.

Bathinda, February 10
Fifty new BSNL towers are being erected in the Bathinda district to improve the penetration of mobile network. Of the 77 towers targeted, 12 have been installed for 2G technology and 15 for 3G technology. It was discussed at the meeting of telephone advisory committee held at the BSNL office today.

GM Amit Garg said the work of laying optical fibres in villages would begin soon under the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) project of the Government of India to connect all the villages with the district head quarters for e-governance. The survey regarding it has already been completed.

The NOFN project is aimed at providing connectivity to all villages through Suwidha centres, fard kendras, online counseling for agriculture sector, video-conferencing and other such projects that will deliver services on the doorsteps of villagers.

fact file BSNL GM Amit Garg said the work of laying optical fibers in villages would begin soon under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project of the Government of India to connect all the villages with the district headquarters for e-governance. The NOFN project is aimed at providing connectivity to all villages through Suwidha Centre, Fard Kendra, online counselling for agriculture sector, video-conferencing and other such projects that will deliver services at the doorsteps of the villagers.

Bathinda, February 10
The sun played hide and seek on Sunday last week. In the wee hours of that day, several teachers sneaked into Bathinda to stage a protest against the state government. In the arms of one of the teachers, her 14-month-old daughter Rooth had slept well only to be awakened by the loud slogans raised by the teachers early morning.

The sun refused to shine once again, today, when the lifeless body of Rooth was kept inside an ambulance and was taken back to where she had come from, Bambiha Bhai, a small village in Moga.

After the protesting AIE/EGS teachers and the state government reached a settlement during a panel meeting held in Chandigarh on Sunday in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the district administration tried its best to make the protestors leave the city and take the body away on Sunday night.

With two ambulances parked at the site of the dharna to take the body of the girl to her village, her parents, relatives and teachers decided that instead of sneaking out of the city in the dark of the night, they would take her away in the morning.

“We were fighting for our rights. We had never thought that the name of such a young girl would be added to the martyrs’ list. Considering the feelings of the family and the child’s right to last rites, we had to settle for whatever the government offered,” said Gagan Kaur today.

As Gagan and another teacher lifted Rooth’s body from the air-conditioned glass casket to shift it to the ambulance, her mother Kiranjit Kaur couldn’t control her tears. A similar emotional burst was also witnessed when the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, handed over the compensation cheque to her yesterday.

“No compensation or job can fill the void that Rooth left in our lives. I don’t know what to say to her sister Ribkah when I reach home. The government says it gave in to our demands, but at what cost? To the leaders who accused us of bringing her to the city in chilly weather and held us responsible for her death, I just want to say that no one else can understand what the loss of a child means to parents,” said Kiranjit.

The full-bloomed marigolds, adorning the ambulance which had a garlanded photo of Rooth, couldn’t stop the teachers and a handful of passers-by from grieving her demise. The ambulance moved forward as the teachers saluted the little martyr. The city also moved on.

Bathinda, February 10
To know the reaction of the people to the problem, Bathinda Tribune spoke to a cross-section of the residents. This is what they said.

Markets sans washrooms

More toilets are needed at the strategic locations in the city, especially in the markets. Anyone, who wants to use a toilet, comes to us to locate one. All we do is guide him or her to the public toilets that are located near the fire brigade as well as at the Subhash Market. The toilet near the fire brigade is being renovated but that too will be a urinal. There is no place where the women can go.

Vikas Goyal, shopkeeper near Fire Brigade Chowk

No toilet on Bibiwala Road

It becomes very difficult for women to answer nature’s call. We get a number of female customers requesting us to locate a toilet. We have made a makeshift arrangement for the females. The toilets located on Bibiwala Road do not have any facility for the females. To add to this, it is not sufficient for the males as there are no doors. The MCB should build toilets for females and introduce paid service.

Shinderpal Kaur, dhaba owner on Bibiwala Chowk

Common washroom for both genders

We are sitting in a dense commercial zone of the city that gets a huge footfall from city dwellers and villagers alike. At times, there are elderly and the ill who require toilets on an urgent basis but are unable to locate. Though there are urinals at the bus stand, these are not enough. Also, there is just one toilet each for males and females, which is insufficient to serve a large number of people. The toilets can be constructed with the help of shopkeepers and given for maintenance to the traders and shopkeepers’ association for maintenance. It will at least ensure that the toilets remain clean and are in usable condition.

Sudarshan Kumar, photo studio owner, near bus stand

Need for community cleaning

The city definitely requires more toilets and urinals, but provided people know how to use them the right way. Most such establishments battle against the problem of frequent theft taps and pipes. How do we expect the government to do everything when we ourselves don’t care for the facilities granted? Community cleanliness is something that should be instilled in children at the school level and in homes.

Tinku Sachdeva, shopkeeper near Fire Brigade Chowk

No space for public utilities

We have got three urinals, which the MCB constructed for us two years ago. Now, we have given a request for female toilet also, which has been accepted and we expect funds for the same. It is not that the government forgets to provide urinals and toilets. It is just that there is not enough space to build such structures. Every inch of prime land in the market is occupied by the MCB or other government agency having limited land. Some kind of project should be run in association with the people, such as shopkeepers, making them stakeholders in maintaining these places.

Uttam Singh, president of Hath Rehri Association

Proper upkeep needed

Though we need to add more toilets and urinals, the state of existing ones too is not good enough. The existing toilets are too dirty to be used. It becomes very difficult to manage. We as shopkeepers are ready to pay for the facility, provided it is cleaned properly. At the same time, we need to create awareness in people on the right way and importance of using toilets.

Kuldeep Singh, shopkeepers on Bibiwala Road

Bathinda, February 10
The Postgraduate Department of Political Science of DAV College, in collaboration with UN affiliate International Human Rights Observatory (IHRO) organised a debate on human rights in which 35 students participated. Dr Jupaka Madhavi, director of international relations, New Delhi, was the chief guest. The function was presided over by Dr JS Anand, principal of the college.

Welcoming the guests, Dr Anand focused upon the idea of human rights. Prof Lam Lubhaya, head of the department, introduced the theme of the function, while national president, Sanjay Chauhan threw light on the working of the IHRO and invited the students to make efforts for implementation of the human rights.

Dr Madhavi observed that human rights violations are taking place in the world at a large scale and, therefore, the awakened citizens must join hands, to ensure that the UN Charter of Human Rights is implemented in letter and spirit.

Addressing a query, she stated that citizens have to organise themselves, and open a dialogue with the powers that human rights are given due respect.

She also referred to the right of the child to play, and right of the young people to marry. An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Dr Madhavi is heading the research wing of the National Mission for Empowerment of Women under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

In the first phase, 20 students took part in the debate for which the judges were IHRO general secretary Saudagar Singh and Santosh Sharma, a human rights activitst. BA (Part 1) student Shubham Singla bagged the first prize while Baljit Kaur and Ramandip Kaur were adjudged second and third respectively.

The second phase of the debate will be organised on Wedensday, in which 20 more students will participate.

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