Bathinda, February 18
Taking a strict notice of the women Multi-Purpose Health Workers (MPHW) who are on strike for the past 17 days, the Health Department has decided to take strict action against them and stop paying them salaries.

In a communiqué sent to the civil surgeons of the state, the Director, Health Services, Punjab, has taken strict action against the agitating workers. The civil surgeons have been asked to prepare a comprehensive list of the agitating contractual MPHWs who are absent from duty for long and have not reported for work. The civil surgeons have also been asked to serve charge sheets to such employees.

The Managing Director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Punjab, has been asked not to pay salaries to those MPHWs who are drawing salaries from the state NRHM funds. The salaries of these workers will also be stopped as per the no work, no pay norm.

It is learnt that the office of the Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, has directed all the Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) to report with lists of the absent MPHWs from their respective blocks.

There are 129 MPHW workers in the 136 sub-centres of Bathinda district. The government pays Rs 8,000 as monthly salary to each worker who are the ‘backbone’ of the reproductive and child care services in the district. They run the Health Department’s immunisation programme, ensure registration of pregnant women from ante-natal check-up to the time they deliver babies and further follow up the children for immunisation and contraception programme.

Besides, they also look after other health programmes. The agitating MPHWs are demanding full scale monthly payment of up to Rs 23,000 to Rs 25,000.

Though the ASHA workers in Bathinda district, too, are on strike, no such condition is applicable to them.

The Health Department officials said the ASHA workers are not employees of the government and are social activists who work on the basis of incentives.

Bathinda, February 18
Continuous protests by the teachers and farmers have kept the city residents on their toes. Apart from the irritatingly slow movement of traffic on the roads, hundreds of visitors at the District Administrative Complex (DAC) today remained at the receiving end following a blockade of all the four entrances to the complex by the farmers.

Nahar Singh, a transporter from Jaitu, managed to gain entry into the complex by climbing its boundary walls. But he failed to see anyone at the District Transport Office. "I was told to appear in an important meeting on the orders of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), but all the offices are locked," Nahar Singh said.

A visit to the complex revealed that the offices of the Deputy Commissioner, SDM, DTO and the ADC were locked. Some employees in the office of the ADC, the DPRO and at the Punjab Police Suwidha Centre were seen scribbling on paper and files. They, however, refused to entertain the people who entered the complex but carried out their own pending work. A handful of policemen were seen sitting outside the locked office of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) on the first floor and other police officers on the ground floor.

"I was told to leave the office as the situation could have turned violent in view of the farmers' dharna," said Manmohan Singh, who came to enquire about his ration card.

Though no policeman was seen around any of the protesters at the entrances of the DAC, the official residence of the SSP was secured by setting up barricades under the supervision of a DSP rank official.

Neither was any traffic policeman seen on the road today nor were commuters seen cursing the police, the administration and the Punjab government for its failure to take control of the law and order situation in view of the protest.

Bathinda, February 18
The state government once again succeeded in giving the guest faculty lecturers of the government colleges in the state a sweet pill in the name of a meeting. A deputation of the guest faculty lecturers today met Manvir Sidhu, principal secretary to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

During a meeting with the guest faculty lecturers who were on strike since January 21 across all government colleges of the state, the Deputy Chief Minister had promised that their problems would be solved and a meeting was fixed with Sidhu in Chandigarh for Tuesday.

State president of the guest faculty lecturers, Harmindar Singh Dimple said, "During the meeting, Manvir Sidhu agreed that our demands were valid and has now fixed our meeting with the principal secretary, Higher Education. The meeting will be held on Thursday. Till the time the government heeds our demands, we will not resume classes in colleges."

Dimple also alleged that the government was not serious about the state of higher education in Punjab. "Although the state government keeps praising the work done in the field of education, it is not much bothered about higher education. They are representatives chosen by us and we have to wait for months to meet them. We have been on a dharna since January 21 and no end seems to be in sight. The way things are moving makes us feel that what Arvind Kejriwal did in Delhi was the right way of getting heard," he added.

Stating that the guest faculty lecturers worked as much as the regular teachers in the colleges and also the part-time lecturers, Dimple said they were being paid a paltry sum by way of salary and that too for only seven months a year. "We work as much as the other lecturers in the college and we are still paid for only seven months and that too, a paltry sum. All the lecturers are well qualified but are being paid Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 per month. The government doesn't care how we manage to make ends meet," he said.

Bathinda, February 18
In a series of events being organised to celebrate the fifth Foundation Day, Central University of Punjab (CUP), Bathinda, organised a debate and creative declamation competition here today.

The topic of the debate was ‘Environmental Pollution is the cause of cancer’. A total of 10 participants gave their views in favour and against the motion in an exciting and absorbing competition.

The topic of creative declamation competition was ‘If you had the power to change, how would you change the world’. A total of 12 participants showed different ways in which the world could be changed for the better.

In the evening, the cultural competitions were organised.

In the poetry recitation competition, 22 students regaled the audience with beautiful poems. This event was followed by solo and group song competitions in which 12 participants and 6 teams showcased their singing talent. Prof P Ramarao, Dean, Academic Affairs, presided over the programme and gave his suggestions to improve and nurture the talent of the students.

The programme was the first in a series of activities to be organised to mark the Foundation Day celebrations of the university. Other activities which will be organised as part of the celebrations are blood donation camp, painting, photography, poster-making, mother tongue day, annual sports meet, cultural competitions and foundation day lecture.

Bathinda, February 18
To beautify thermal lakes that have turned into a picnic spot for the city residents, 100 palm trees are being transplanted from the nursery of the Forest Department, Sangrur division. While 60 of these overgrown trees have been transplanted, a batch of 40 others would be transplanted soon.

A project of the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), the Forest Department is imparting technical know-how and installation facility. Palm trees have been selected due to the aesthetic value that they add to the surroundings.

Sources in the Forest Department said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had set a target of 1,000 palm trees for the entire department. The department was also allocated separate funds for the task. “We uprooted the palm trees that grow in the wild and are tending to them in their respective nurseries. Most of the trees have been uprooted from along the Sirhind canal on the path that is being widened. They have been uprooted and brought to nurseries to acclimatise them them to changed surroundings,” said the forest officials.

Divisional Forest Officer Sanjeev Tiwari said before transplanting trees, the earth was treated for termites and added with nutrients required for the palm trees to grow. For every tree, a square pit of 4 feet by 4 feet has been dug deep enough to sustain the tree and aid its growth.

“The palm trees have a success rate of 70 per cent on transplantation. We have taken overgrown plants that have height ranging from 8 to 15 feet. Before plantation, the soil profililing was done and the trees were sought from only those places whose soil profile matched with that of the site in Bathinda,” said Tiwari.

To ensure that most plants live long and have a good success rate, the department will wrap their trunks with gunny bags keep them wet throughout the summers to ensure that trees are properly hydrated. Instead of watering them from roots, water would be sprinkled from top. While transplanting and transporting these trees, care has been taken to ensure that their uprooted pink mass of earth ball in the root system is not damaged.

The department is providing technical expertise for this project. For this, the Forest Department has especially trained its employees. While the cost of hiring private expertise for transplanting every tree is around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000, the same has been done at less than half the price with the help of the Forest Department.

Chief Administrator, BDA, Varinder Kumar Sharma, said the cost of beautification of entire lake project was Rs 3.5 crore. “For the palm trees, we are bearing just the cost of transportation,” he said.

Bathinda, February 18
The story of Sukh Brar and her friend Disha Sethi seems to be straight out of a television advertisement wherein employees of an office put in their resignation protesting against the discriminatory treatment meted out to an HIV positive patient.

Not the one to look the other way while people discriminated against her thalassemia-stricken friend Disha Sethi, Sukh took it upon herself to spread awareness about the disease in the state.

After covering more than 1,200 kms while visiting several cities and villages in the state, the journey which Sukh took up on January 10 on her bicycle, brought her to Bathinda today. At Government Rajindra College as part of her ‘Thalassemia Walk’, Sukh spoke to the students of the college and shared information about the disease.

Sukh said meeting the Punjab Heath Minister, Surjit Kumar Jayani, has been the most promising moment of her trip so far. “After hearing about the reason behind organising Thalassemia Walk in the state, he promised me that a project will soon be initiated in Punjab which would make it easier for the people to have their blood samples checked for the presence of thalassemia, which refers to the weakening and destruction of red blood cells,”she said.

Recalling the most memorable moment during the walk, Sukh said it was seeing a six-month-old thalassemia patient at a hospital in Amritsar. “It was heart-wrenching to see a six-month-old baby suffering from this disease. The meeting made me think that had I started my walk a year back, that child and several others like him could have been saved from contracting the disease. It also made me think about the lack of awareness among people regarding the disease.”

She also added that the kind of response that her walk garnered was overwhelming. “Through my walk, I have been trying to disseminate the information regarding the disease among students and teachers since they will be able to share the information further. I want the people to realise that getting their blood samples tested before marriage for the presence of thalassemia or any other disease. In case traces of any disease are found in the blood samples, situation can be controlled with timely medication and this way our future generations may be saved from such diseases,” she said.

Inspiration behind Sukh’s walk, Disha Sethi was also present with her at the college. Appreciating her initiative, Disha said, “I am thankful to Sukh for she stepped in to take up the fight on behalf of thalassemia patients in the state. I would like to request the society to treat the patients of thalassemia like normal people and allow them to lead a normal life.”

Bathinda, February 18
Baba Farid Group of Institutions(BFGI) is all set to organise a three-day international conference on “Issues and perspectives in brand management”, from February 20-22. Delegates from Ethiopia, Nepal, New Zealand, United Kingdom and other neighbouring countries will be participating in the conference.

A large number of delegates from across the country will also be participating in the event.

The most interesting part of the conference is the students’ participation as students are participating in two ways — as contributors of research papers and as evaluators — where they will be involved in the evaluation of the sessions.

Sharing information about the conference, Dr Manish Bansal, director principal of Baba Farid College of Management and Technology and the convener of the conference, said the college was determined to provide the best growth opportunities to the students and the faculty in research.

Bathinda, February 18
Members of the Aam Aadmi Party today take out a jhadu yatra in various parts of the city. State committee member of the party Amrit Aggarwal said the yatra was taken out to make the city residents aware of corruption and value of votes in eradicating corrupt practices.

He said apart from corruption, people were also made aware of the AAP's ideology of not eulogising red beacons and unnecessary security, which had become a norm for the political leaders these days.

Others present on the occasion included Ravinder Bharti, Upinder Thakur, Amit, Prem Kumar, Pankaj Mittal, Bhagwan Das, Prem Lata, Rupinder Kaur, Paramjit Kaur, Rajni, Achla, Harjinder Kaur and Sushil Bhagnagar, Malkit Singh, Balwinder Singh, Bhupinder Bansal and others.

Bathinda, February 18
The Red Ribbon Club of Malwa College, in association with the District Youth Services Department, organised a quiz and power point presentation competition in the college here today. Students of Malwa College of Education, Malwa College of Physical Education, Government ITI Bathinda and Baba Shri Chand Government College, Sardargarh, participated in the competitions.

In the quiz competition, Surjit Singh of BBA (part-III), Malwa College, Bathinda, won the first place while Pradip Singh of DPEd (Part-II), Malwa College of Education, won the second place.

In the power point presentation competition, Smriti Sachdeva of Malwa College won the first place while Pradip Singh of Malwa College for Physical Education won the second place.

Baljit Singh Mann, Baljit Kaur and Teenam comprised the panel of judges during the competition. Also present during the competition were the block nodal officer Manpreet Singh Tiwana and Harjit Singh.