Bathinda, May 10
Large-scale burning of wheat stubble by the farmers in Bathinda appears to be going on unchecked despite the government’s directive. The practice could be seen in the villages and on the highways which remain engulfed in smoke emanating from the burning fields to clear them for sowing next crop.

Residents of the area and agricultural experts said farmers not only destroy the micronutrients of their agricultural land and environment but that the practice also poses serious health problems.

“The illegal practice becomes dangerous amidst high velocity winds when the fire lit to get rid of the dry wheat stubble spreads across many acres. The fire also poses a threat to residential areas situated nearby and the ripe standing crop and the vegetables grown can also be damaged,” said Sukhdarshan, a resident of Bhucho Mandi.

A visit to the nearby villages revealed that the farmers burn the wheat stubble late in the evening to avoid any action against the complainant.

As per fire officer Jaswinder Singh, as many as 65 calls of fire incidents have been reported in the less than a month starting from April 18.

“All these calls are related to the burning of wheat stubble by the farmers in agricultural fields. We usually rush with the fire engines to douse flames and it takes 20 minutes to an hour to control the fire,” Jaswinder said.

He pointed out that more than 50 per cent fire incidents related to wheat stubble were reported near the residential areas and it is a Herculean task for the firemen to control the flames.

“Apart from the fire trucks, we also hire services of the tractors to keep the fire at bay. The situation worsens when the fire spreads all over with high velocity winds,” the fire officer said.

Sources said there are numerous solutions and alternatives available for the farmers who can refrain themselves from putting the wheat stubble on fire, but these solutions fail to gain mass acceptance.

Darshan Sidhu, a progressive farmer from Rampura, laments that he has invented a tractor-driven machine which could be used as an alternative to the burning of stubble, but not many farmers opt for it. Sidhu said farmers are well aware of the fact that burning of wheat or paddy stubble destroys insects and micro-organisms. But even then, they continue to burn it without care.

Burning of stubble also leads to rise in air pollution and precipitates numerous ailments associated with respiratory tract. The number of patients complaining of such ailments too is on the rise at various hospitals in and around the city.

Bathinda, May 10
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is facing an acute shortage of storage, as a long fleet of trucks was standing outside its godown starting from Liberty Chowk to its gate in Bathinda since Friday evening.

Its godowns were seen fully-loaded with a glut of wheat bags and were even lying open not being covered with any sheet on a cloudy day. Due to the shortage of storage capacity, the FCI is directly loading the material loaded on a truck directly into a train for dispatching it to some other place.

A huge rush of truck has also affected the traffic, as this road always remain busy as it passes through the grain and vegetable markets.

Commuters had to face lots of trouble as they had to wait for long, that to putting there lives at risk as on the one hand, the FCI trucks were struck and on other, trucks were also coming as there are also godowns of other government agencies.

Gurcharan Singh, a truck driver, said they had been standing since last night without any food and water, as the FCI officials had told them to wait there as storage was full and then they would be loading this material on to the train directly.

Another driver Resham Singh said, “We were told to stand here till the special train arrived, but with that the work of the shopkeepers and traffic was affected. They should have told us to park vehicles inside the godown or at some other place allowing traffic to move freely as sometimes people abuse verbally.

While Sanjiv Kumar, a shopkeeper, said the FCI officials had told them to stand outside, but with that, their business had dipped as with the trucks standing outside their shop, no customer comes as there is no space left.

Ankush Aggarwal, a commuter, said he faced a lot of problem in travelling as he was going to his shop in the grain market. But with the road jammed with trucks on the one side, and trucks coming from the opposite side, it took more than 30 minutes to pass through the traffic which normally takes five minutes for him to reach his office.

Traffic police officials were also present at one or two location, but they were also not able to control the traffic chaos.

Bathinda, May 10
The teachers who had come to collect Rs 300 (the difference between their actual poll duty remuneration and what they were given) today alleged that the treasury department officials could not handle the rush of teachers and purposely delayed the process and kept the teachers waiting.

Speaking to the Bathinda Tribune, Resham Singh, a member of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, stated that the teachers were a harried lot as the district administration had cheated them. He claimed that while earlier, the teachers, deputed on the poll duty in Rampura, were not given the entire remuneration, when they approached the officials, they were told that the money will be transferred into their accounts. Finally, the teachers were asked to come and collect the money from the district administration’s office.

As per a letter issued to the teachers, they were asked to either collect the money from the treasury office at Phul on May 8, 9 and 12 or from the treasury office in Bathinda on May 10 and 11.

While waiting for their turn, the teachers had to brave the hot weather as well since the District Administrative Complex was reeling under a long power cut. However, the teachers alleged that they were being harassed and shouted slogans against the state government.

The teachers pointed out that while the polling officer were to get a total amount of Rs 1,250 they got Rs 900 and the presiding officers who were to get Rs 1,750 got only Rs 1,450.

Bathinda, May 10
A steep hike in matrimonial disputes has been witnessed in the last two to three years in the district. Eighty cases were registered in 2013, 42 cases in 2012 and this year till now, 204 applications of matrimonial disputes have been reported at the women’s police station.

Even the dowry material is lying in the open at the police station which was given by the girls’ parents with much fanfare during marriage, but with time, the relationships had taken a sour turn. So the dowry material is lying unattended, exposed to rain and is occupying space, as there is only one small godown to keep the dowry material, which is not enough to keep the material in such large numbers.

Even sometimes, the matter takes such an ugly turn that the police recover the dowry material given to the girl by her parents that remained in police custody till the matter gets over at the court.

Beant Kaur, SHO at the women’s police station, said access to mobile phones, rising drug addition and unnecessary intervention by family members are the main reasons behind these disputes.

She also stated that it’s not always dowry that becomes the issue, but the interference of girls’ family in the couples’ day to day life.

Beant Kaur added that their first preference is always to solve the issues through counselling. But some couples make it a prestige issue both claiming that they are right and will settle the issue in the court itself.

She further said that people were becoming aware day-by-day, due to which a number of applications and cases were increasing year-by-year. In this regard, the women’s helpline 181 is also playing a great role, as any woman who is feeling harassed, can call on this number and action is taken immediately.

Bathinda, May 10
After the liquor vend located in Jogi Nagar, today, it was the turn of the one located near the Patiala railway crossing to come under fire from the residents. Headed by the local unit of the Shiv Sena, the residents gathered and demanded the shifiting of the liquor vend.

The protesters argued that the vend was located in close proximity of a dargah and a temple. The protesters sat on a dharna outside the vend for two hours and also raised slogan against the owners or the contractors of the vend.

The agitators also demanded that the district administration pay heed to their demands and either shut down the vend or shift it from its current location. The Tehsildar, who reached the spot to represent the district administration, accepted a memorandum of demands. State president of the Shiv Sena, Punjab, Ravinder Kumar also told the officials that the district administration had time till next Saturday to shift the vend. He threatened that in case the same was not done by Saturday, he would attempt self-immolation outside the liquor vend.

Addressing the gathering, another leader of the party Chanrajit Thapar stated that the party, in support with the Lok Jan Shakti Party and residents of the areas concerned will continue its tirade against the liquor vends located in residential areas or those which are located in close proximity to place having religious importance and educational institutions.

The row surrounding the liquor vend located in Jogi Nagar is also yet to die down. After the meeting between a deputation of the residents of the area and Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav, the agitators had continued their dharna outside the vend and raised slogans against the district administration and the owners of the vend.

As directed by the Deputy Comissioner, a team of experts, including the AETC GS Tiwana, measured the distance between the vend and vegetable market and temple and stated that the distance was more than 50 metres and hence, the vend was at a permissible distance. The residents claimed that the measurement was not done in a satisfactory manner. They claimed that the district administration was working under political pressure.

Bathinda, May 10
Due to maintenance work in the power lines, the city witnessed a nearly eight-hour long power cut today, which left the residents sweating.

The power supply went off at 10 am and was restored only after 5.50 pm in areas like the Civil Lines, Bhagu Road, Civil Station and other near by areas. People from all walks of life, especially the children and elderly, were seen affected.

The inverters at shops and houses also got exhausted after almost four hours and thereafter, people were left with no other option but to sit and wait for the resumption of power.

It is pertinent to mention that each year, repair work on the lines in the city takes place in February and March. But this year, due to the Lok Sabha elections, the repair work got delayed and after the voting, complaint centre of the power department remains flooded with grievances these days. The authorities say that the repair work is in progress and such cuts will continue in the coming days as well.

It is worth mentioning that there have been four to six-hour-long power cuts in various parts of the city since May 1.

Hardeep Singh Sandhu, XEN, Powercom, said every year, weather remains cool in February and March. So, the Powercom conducts annual maintenance of the system. But due to the busy schedule in the Lok Sabha election, the yearly repair did not take place.

So now, for four hours, power cuts are imposed in various areas and this will also continue in the coming days as well.

Bathinda, May 10
Launched with the aim of providing immediate help to patients, the 108 ambulance service has gained substantial ground in the field of encouraging institutional deliveries in the Bathinda and Mansa districts ever since its inception on April 3, 2011.

Over the last three years, the ambulance service has attended to a total of 13,803 cases of delivery and 9,938 cases of dropping the new mother and child back at their homes under the Janani Shishu Surakhya Karyakram (JSSK).

“In the first year of the service, we didn't get many cases of bringing an expectant woman to the government hospital since the larger perception was that the 108 service was for accident and mishap victims or other patients. In the year 2011-12, we received 3,117 requests in pregnancy cases and only 60 requests for the JSSK service,” said Raman Garg in-charge of the service for Bathinda and Mansa.

“As the service gained popularity in 2012-13, we attended to 5,118 pregnancy cases and registered a huge jump in the JSSK cases as we got requests for 5,677 cases. In 2013-14, we attended to 5,597 pregnancy cases and 4,201 JSSK cases,” Garg added.

Garg further stated that despite best efforts of the department and the company to make people aware about the service, residents of far-off villages are yet to be apprised of the usability of the service for delivery cases.

Bathinda, May 10
The National Programme for Control of Cancer, Diabetics and Cardio-Vascular Strokes (NPCDCS) centre in the city has turned out to be a a blessing for the patients suffering from cervical, paralysis and other diseases, where physiotherapists Paramjeet Kaur and Sukhmeet Kaur are working tirelessly for hours.

A large number of patients had undergone treatment here in the past two years. The doctors and paramedical staff create awareness among patients about the precautionary steps to avoid cervical especially.

From August 2011 to January 2012, around 2,155 patients have undergone treatment at the centre. In 2012-13, about 3,320 patients falling in the age group between 20 to 60 years and more than 1,700 patients above 60 years were treated here. Similarly, in 2013-14, around 3,261 patients under 60 years of age and 1,541 above 60 years were treated.

The facility at this centre was established as a Central government project on the Prevention and Control of Cancer under the National Programme for Control of Cancer, Diabetics and Cardio-Vascular Strokes (NPCDCS). The Centre and the State are sharing expenditure in the ratio of 75:25.

Machines, including interferential therapy unit, shoulder wheel, hydrocallator with hot pack seat, cervical traction manual, callipers, lumber traction ordinary, lumber traction electric, ultrasound therapy, electronic treadmill, wheel chair, trans electric nerves stimulation, infrared lamp, continuous passive motion unit, short wave diathermy, and exercise stationary bicycle are being used to treat the patient.

The therapists also provides the walking stick ordinary, walking stick adjustable, knee cap, collar large, inhalers, collar small, abdominal belt, collar medium, pelvic traction belt from 32 to 44 in size to the needy and poor patients.

“Around 50 patients get treatment here daily. We give them details about the exercises for speedy recovery,” said Sukhmeet Kaur, physiotherapist. Patient Bimla Rani said, “ At home, it is difficult to do all the exercises but the physiotherapist and other staff here support us and give us the best treatment. My neighbour was suffering from paralysis but she has been treated here successfully.”