Bathinda, March 2
The deer park-cum-mini zoo at Bir Talab is all set to have a 27-seater toy train for the deer safari area and an eight-seater golf cart for the rest of the zoo. The Bathinda division of the Forest Department has floated tenders for outsourcing these facilities.

“To be run on a monthly rental basis, the tenders for the facilities would be floated on March 5,” said the Divisional Forest Officer Dr Sanjeev Kumar Tewari. Sources said earlier, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal had promised to give funds for the toy train, a promise he could not keep. With the Deputy CM refusing to lend any support, the department went ahead and decided to outsource these.

The 27-seater toy train will have three coaches with nine seats in each coach. The train will run in the deer safari area where the animals have been given 130 acres to move around.

Meanwhile, the department has submitted a master plan to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for the dream project of tiger safari at the mini zoo. The tiger safari would require 20 hectares of land, while the deer safari needs 30 hectares as per the CZA guidelines. “Since the present area under the deer safari is more than required, we will divert some area to the zoo or the tiger safari,” said Tewari.

The master plan is supposed to come up before an expert and technical committee of the CZA that would give its final decision. In order to avoid the problem of inbreeding of tigers that the Chhatbir zoo is already facing, the department has decided to get the DNA profiling of bigger cats done from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

“The DNA profiling will give us exact mapping of genetic compatibility and closeness to other species. However, everything depends on the CZA’s approval,” added Dr Tewari, who is a veterinarian himself.

The department has also written to the CZA seeking animals under an exchange programme from the Chhatbir Zoo. The department expects to get the approval soon for animal exchange under which it would get a hog deer and two pairs of Indian barn owls.

Zebra, giraffe, exotic birds

Once given the nod for animal exchange, the zoo also will get zebra, giraffe and exotic birds on its wish list. The zoo has enough space and enclosures to accommodate these animals.

Better facilities

Tenders to operate parking and the food court have already been allotted. The canteen will have food as well as some games for children. Both are expected to start by next week.

Bathinda, March 2
Guru Kashi University (GKU) Gyan Vigyan Khetibari Mela is being held on March 3 wherein three progressive farmers would be honoured.

An ex-MLA and now Chairman, Punjab State Seed Corporation, Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh, will inaugurate the fair, while Chairman, Bathinda Zila Parishad, Gurpreet Singh Maluka will be the guest of honour.

In a press statement released here today, Dean, College of Agriculture, Dr Ajmer Singh Sidhu and organising secretary Dr DR Godara stated that special attention has been paid to enlighten farmers about all- round development of the agricultural problems being experienced in horticulture, challenges being faced in cotton crop, gainful utilisation of agriculture related professions and the threat to the standing crops.

PAU and Punseed will sell certified seeds of developed varieties. Besides, agriculture related literature, vegetable seeds and seedlings and fruit crop seedlings will also be available.

They added that eminent agriculture scientists of various disciplines will share their views with the farmers and will answer the queries of the farmers too. Chancellor Dr JS Dhaliwal, Chairman Gurlabh Singh Sidhu, Managing Director Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, general secretary Sukhwinder Singh and Dr Navjot Singh Dhaliwal will also be present.

Vice-Chancellor Dr NS Malhi will make a speech highlighting the various problems being faced by the farmers and suggestions to tackle them.

AIR FM, Bathinda, will broadcast the agricultural fair live.

Three progressive farmers of the region, Sukhpal Singh Bhullar of village Ghuman Kalan, Gurcharn Singh Mann from Tungwali and Sukhdeep Singh Chatha from Talwandi Sabo, will be honoured for their achievements in the fields of horticulture, bee-keeping and animal husbandry, respectively.

A delegation of the Punjab Agricultural University Kisan Club led by its president Ajit Singh Aujla and a group of the Ludhiana Navjivan Kisan Club Aliyana headed by president Karnail Singh will also participate in the fair. 

Bathinda, March 2
The issue of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and None of the Above (NOTA) option on electronic voting machines (EVMs) were among the issues highlighted today at the training session held for the Ferozepur and Faridkot division election staff.

The election staff of the Ferozepur and Faridkot divisions were imparted training for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections here. Divisional Commissioner VK Sharma presided over the training programme.

Election officers from Moga, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Ferozepur, Fazilka and Bathinda were trained about various aspects of the elections. They were told about publishing the final voters’ lists, voting machines, nomination filing, verification of the nominations filed, withdrawing names, notice publication, election arrangements, setting up polling stations, work related to polling and counting of votes.

During the interactive session, officers were informed about the VVPAT, which is a verification system for voting machines that has been designed to allow voters to verify that their votes have been cast correctly. Under it, a voter can ask the booth level officer (BLO) to give him or her print out of the vote cast.

On the issue of NOTA, which will be part of the EVMs in the Lok Sabha elections, the officials were told that NOTA would be provided at every voting machine. If there are 16 candidates, the 17th button on the EVM would be of NOTA, the officials were told.

The officials were also told about the form 17 A of the Election Commission of India (ECI) which deals with the scrutiny of register of voters.

Speaking at the event, Divisional Commissioner VK Sharma said that all the guidelines of the Election Commission would be followed in letter and in spirit. He added that the handbook for elections was the key to all problems and that all the officials should keep it with themselves.

Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg, Ropar deputy commissioner Pradeep Aggrawal and Additional Director Health and Family Welfare Dr Adhip Kartik gave information about the election arrangements.

In the interactive session, the election officers raised their concerns. They asked about the timings up to which nominations can be accepted. Election officers asked about the difference between classified and service voters.

Earlier, Bathinda DC Kamal Kishore Yadav welcomed the guests. DC, Moga, Arshdeep Singh Thind, Deputy Commissioner, Mansa, Amit Dhaka, ADC (D) Muktsar Rambir, ADC Fazilka Charandev Singh Mann and other officials were also present.

Bathinda, March 2
The Bathinda railway station, the largest railway junction of North India, is a nightmare for the passengers. Falling under the jurisdiction of the Ambala railway division, it has six rail routes extending from it and is listed as an A category railway station of the division, along with seven other railway stations of the same Ambala division.

The six rail routes extending from it include routes to Ferozepur, Bikaner, Ganganagar, Hisar-Sirsa, Delhi and Patiala-Ambala. Around 40 Up trains and 32 Down trains leave from here.

Besides, there is a huge footfall of the armed forces bound from the Bhisiana and Bathinda Army installations to respective places, goods of various industries such as cement, wheat, rice, fish and others being transported to and fro.

Lack of sanitation

Despite roping in a local contractor for maintaining sanitation and cleanliness at all the seven platforms, the state of sanitation is deplorable. Many a time, the platforms are swept and garbage is collected underneath the stairs of the foot overbridge.

The dustbins are not emptied on time leading to the garbage overflowing from it. Similarly, the urinals and toilets present a sorry state of affairs.

The entire railway station has toilets only on platform number 4. A display board at the entrance of the station points out the presence of toilets for the handicapped at platform number 6 but there is no facility for the handicapped to reach from the ticket window counter to platform number 6. Toilets at the entrance 
are locked, putting them out of reach for the passengers and visitors.

There are no ramps on any of the platforms for the handicapped. The foot overbridge does not have the ramp facility on which the handicapped can ply their tricycles. The steep flight of stairs on the foot overbridge is impossible to ascend.

Ticket counters remain closed

Despite having a huge passenger and freight rush, the railway station is ill-equipped in terms of giving tickets and reservation. There are four counters for reservation of which only two operate. Similarly, three touch screen machines have been installed near the entrance, which have been lying defunct for the past two years.

Security at stake

Portraying a picture of neglect and raising security concerns, there are no metal detectors and even the CCTV cameras installed to keep an electronic surveillance eye on the anti-social elements are out of order.

Following the mandatory provisions, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) had installed a public booth on platform number 4, which has been lying locked. This facility was aimed at providing easy access for passengers to the RPF, which, too, has miserably failed.

With several entry and exit points to the station and its installations, it has become a Herculean task to maintain security at the station.

No safe drinking water

There is no provision of safe drinking water at the station in the absence of which vendors make hay selling bottles and cups of packaged drinking water. Passengers often complain of over priced water and eatables being sold at the railway station, which largely goes unchecked.

Sources said platform number 2 has a number of illegal vendors who are doing brisk business without getting due permission from the railways.

People seek new overbridge

During his visit in August last year, the DRM was informed of the people’s demand for new 20 feet wide railway footbridge in place of the existing one with the ramp facility to enable cycles and two-wheelers to pass.

The iron railway footbridge connecting platform 3 to 7 has been lying defunct and locked for the around 25 years. People had demanded that the bridge be shifted towards the area near the Church on Railway Road with the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) office located on the Mall Road.

We are doing our best despite fund crunch: DRM

Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ambala Division, Anil Kumar Kathpal, said the Bathinda railway station faces the problem of not having enough funds at its disposal coupled with staff shortage.

“Facilities are being provided at the railway station as per the category the station has been enlisted in,” he said. Talking about the locked toilets, he said the toilets were meant only for passengers and not for the beggars who live in and around the station.

“If any ticket holder wants to use the toilet, he or she can approach the railway station administration for the keys. We cannot let people, other than passengers, use the facility,” he said.

He added that the touch screen machines are lying defunct due to some dispute with the firm that had installed it. “We are ironing out the differences and the same would be made functional,” he asserted. The Divisional Railway Manager said the closed ticket counters could not be operated as there was not enough staff to run them. 

Bathinda, March 2
The Government School Lecturers’ Union (GSLU), Punjab, today demanded that the quota for promotions as school principals should be allotted to the feeding cadres based on the numerical strength of the same.

In a press statement released here today, the district president of the GSLU Iqbal Singh thanked the government for increasing their promotion quota from the existing 55 per cent to 75 per cent. However, it also raised demand of quota based on numerical strength.

The union has alleged that representation of headmaster and vocational lecturers’ cadres was more than their numerical strength. Punjab cabinet had recently increased the promotion quota of the lecturers but even then the lecturer’s cadre had not been given its due representation.

He said Punjab cabinet had granted only 75 per cent quota to 12,642 lecturers, while 1642 headmasters had been given 15 percent quota and 1,425 vocational lecturers had been given 10 per cent quota for promotions as principals. Based on the above strength, promotion quota for school lecturers cadre should have been at least 80 per cent, he reasoned.

Iqbal Singh alleged that in the past also, the lecturers’ cadre had been discriminated against and in 2004, while framing the promotion quota rules, a section of officials of the school Education Department allegedly represented fabricated figures of the feeding cadres.

He alleged that the numerical strength of lecturers was shown to be 5,943, headmasters as 1,742 and vocational lecturers as 1,225. These cadres were allotted 55 per cent, 30 per cent and 15 per cent quota in promotions as school principals.

He pointed out that even going by the above figures, the quota of lecturers should have been fixed at 66.7 per cent, headmasters at 19.5 per cent and vocational lecturers at 13.7 per cent.

However, in 2004, the numerical strength of lecturers cadre, which was actually 10,590, was shown to be 5,943 and the same was based on figures of 1995 and the figures of the vocational lecturers (originally 225) was inflated to 1,225 by adding the number of vocational masters to the same.

“No employee of the Education Department was indicted for this wrongdoing despite complaints by the union. In 2004, lecturer cadres should have been allotted a promotion quota of 84 per cent based on the numerical strength of the cadre,” he said.

He added that the union had fought a long battle for true representation of its cadre and during the past year alone more than five high-powered meetings had been held, including three with the Education Minister, one with the Chief Minister and top officials of the department.

Giving details of the meetings, he said that the union had met Punjab Education Minister on March 29, 2013. On July 6, 2013 the Education Minister had called union representatives of the lecturers union, the head masters association, the vocational cadre and the Adhyapak Dal also.

Another meeting of the union was held with the Education Minister on October 13, 2013 and the union once again met the state Education Minister on November 29, 2013 where the Secretary Education, Director General School Education (DGSE), Punjab, and Director, Public Instructions (DPI) Secondary Education, Punjab, had also been called.

“In all these meetings, officials as well as the minister had admitted that the lecturers’ cadre had been discriminated against in the past and that the cadre needed due representation in the promotional quota. When all these meetings did not yield positive results, the union was forced to meet the CM on January 7, 2014 where in it was decided that promotion quota for the lecturers’ cadre would be increased based on the proportional strength,” added Iqbal.