Bathinda, June 19
Despite spending huge sums of hard earned tax payers’ money to grow plants and care for them, the state government’s initiative hardly seems to have had any impact at the grass- root level.

More than 50 per cent of the recently planted saplings in Bathinda have either dried up or died in the heat this summer.

Famous Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s thoughts: “Kujh rukh mainu putt lagde ne, kuj rukh lagde mawan. Kuj rukh noohan dhiyan lagde, kuj rukh wang bharawan, kuj rukh mere babe vakan” (some trees are just like my son, others like my mother, daughter-in-law, daughter, brother and some are like my grandfather), put on display by various departments too fail to prick people’s conscience.

The shady trees planted in the city include sheesham, kikar, eucalyptus, arjun, sukhchain, hibiscus, jamun, burma dek, siris and desi dek. Notwithstanding the axing of more than 10,000 trees for the widening of Barnala and Mansa road, the number of saplings planted is too less.

According to the Forest Department’s census, the maximum number of trees— 20,488 — are in Bir Dyalpura Bhaika. Bir Talab has 13,312 trees, Bir Mandi Phul has 7,324 trees and Bir Phul Town has 3,053 trees. These plants have been grown on 242 hectares of land and are numbered by the department.

As per the government’s claims, as many as seven lakh saplings were planted in the year 2013-14 in the district and the Forest Department officials admit that most of these plants have got uprooted due to various reasons or have been damaged.

The information procured under the Right to Information Act (RTI) by the chairman of an NGO, Sonu Maheshwari, states that the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) has spent Rs 4.32 lakh to purchase 12,500 saplings.

These are planted in the Rose Garden and main roads and of the city. Extra money is spent on the maintenance of plants having a considerable height.

The information also revealed that 1,000 tree guards at a cost of Rs 999 per piece were also purchased by the MCB during the year 2012-13 by floating tenders.

The MCB claims that all these plants are in good shape and are being cared for by the regular employees of the MCB and the workers outsourced by it.

A visit to the 100-Feet road, Power House Road, GT Road, Barnala Road, Mansa Road and Dabwali Road revealed that the plants there are not watered. Many tree guards have either been damaged or have gone missing. Also, the plants inside them have dried up.

There are many tree guards, including those in front of the residence of the former mayor in the Civil Lines, where the greenery is entwned in tree guards leading to stunted growth.

There are numerous plants in the city, the maximum being on Ajit Road where people dump and then burn the trash after placing the rubbish under these trees. Many of the trees are also burnt when safai karamcharis burn the garbage under these trees.

The plants in the District Administrative Complex, especially outside the office of the DIG, Bathinda range, were found to be in perfect shape. The dried up plants in the District Courts Complex are being watered since last week following the intervention of two senior lawyers.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjeev Tiwari said trees in the city area are taken care of by the corporation. “Apart from caring the already grown trees, we have plans to plant trees before the onset of monsoon,” he said. 

Bathinda, June 19
Continuing with the process of recruiting staff for the school for meritorious students, the Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students of Punjab has declared the dates for the interviews of the selected candidates to fill up posts of principal, teachers of various subjects and the DPIs for the school.

As per the directions of the principal secretary of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), the list of candidates selected for interviews will be declared on June 20 and the interviews will be held from June 21 to 24 at the office of the Punjab School Education Board.

While on June 21, interviews will be conducted for the selection of principal and lecturers in biology and accountancy, interviews for teachers in chemistry and English will be held on June 22, for physics and Punjabi language teachers on June 23 and for commerce lecturers and DPIs on June 24 as per the list to be announced on June 20.

Meritorious students show little interest

Although the special school for meritorious students is a pet project of the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, meritorious students of the district are showing little interest in seeking admission to the school despite the fact that the school promises to offer academics, accommodation, sports and other facilities to such students free.

Even after the Education Department directing the principals and teachers of all the government schools to encourage the students, who have secured 80 per cent or more marks in Class X examinations to seek admission to the school, not many students have submitted admission forms.

As many as 334 students from the government schools of the district had secured 80 per cent or more marks in Class X examination. Not even half of these students have applied to take admission to the school. While June 20 is the last date for submitting application for admission to the school, the Education Department has received only a little more than 150 applications.

Bathinda, June 19
Two children drowned in Sirhind Canal while bathing near Dhaliwala village. The victims were identified as Prince (9) and Deepu (11).

Sources said the incident occurred when six children of the labourers, working at the jail, went to the canal to beat the heat near Dhaliwala village. Residents of the nearby village reached the spot and started the rescue operation.

Sources added that after searching for half an hour, the bodies of both the victims were fished out. They were rushed to the Civil Hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead.

Bathinda, June 19
The state government has launched a 24-hour helpline to help those seeking information regarding abduction in Iraq. The government has set up a control room where the families may register their names, contact details and information of their employers.

The families can call on phone numbers 0172-2740397 and 0172- 2740035 or fax the details on 0172-2740936. — TNS

Bathinda, June 19
The health care centre at Dhobiana Basti lacks staff, infrastructure, maintenance and funds. The centre was opened with the vision of providing health- care facilities to the people residing in the basti and its adjoining backward areas.

The foundation stone of the centre was laid by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal along with the then Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla on Febrary 22, 2009. The centre started functioning in 2012.

The double storey building of the health centre has two wards, an operation theater, four huge cabins for doctors and a room for lab technician. But all this has been lying in a deplorable condition. There is no furniture in these rooms and even the doctors are not available.

At present, the centre is running in two rooms. One is used by a dentist and the other by a pharmacist. Due to non-availability of doctors, the pharmacist attends to the patients and prescribes medicines. There are no nurses at the centre.

The centre does not have any drinking water facility. Staff members carry their own water bottles from their homes.

Health workers, who conduct door-to-door surveys, have to compile their data while sitting over the table as there are no chairs available at the centre.

The centre also does not have any caretaker due to which the tube lights, switches and sewerage lids have been stolen. The wash basin in the washroom of the centre is broken.

When officials were asked about the issue, they claimed that once they go back at 2 pm when the centre closes, anti-social elements of the nearby areas enter inside the building through the broken window panes and use the building for wrongful purposes.

The staff members are upset as they don’t get their salaries on time. They say that they have to work very hard as they go for door-to-door surveys in this scorching heat but are paid just Rs 7,500.

Gurdas Singh, a pharmacist, said 20-25 patients visit the OPD per day. Some time ago, there were more doctors and other staff but they had been called to the Civil Hospital for work on deputation, he added.

Bathinda, June 19
Union Minister for Food Processing and local MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s visit to the district today affected the work at the women’s police station as the entire staff was deployed for the visit.

A visit to the police station today brought forth the reality in comparison to the tall claims of the government that the police stations were opened to provide safety and security to women.

Women were seen sitting under the shade of a tree waiting for the officials as there is no arrangement to seat the visitors inside the police station.

Many persons said such visits caused inconvenience to the general public rather than doing any good.

They said on the one hand, the Chief Minister was raiding government offices to check the work and the presence of officials and on the other, officials are being deputed for the visits of minister.

They should let government officials discharge their duties at their offices so as to save the people from harassment, they added.

Manjit Kaur, a resident, said, “We have come for the hearing of a case. But since morning, we have been waiting for the officials. We feel so helpless.”

Jagdev Singh said, “We have come all the way from Patiala for the hearing of a case. The visit has proved to be futile as there is no official here and we have been told to come next week. But we are still waiting for the SHO as it is not easy to come from Patiala.”

A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claimed that instead of doing the routine work, they are forced to remain present at the minister’s function where they had nothing to do except to keep an eye on the public.

A senior SAD leader said they had told Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at a meeting held recently that VVIP movement should be reduced in the city as the administration and police officials stay away from work and people have to suffer. This had been one of the issues which had affected the party’s perfomance in the Lok Sabha election, he added.

Bathinda, June 19
The management of Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) gave awards to 141 students for their outstanding performance in engineering examinations.

Group chairman Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal honoured the students of Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology, who bagged the top 10 positions in the university merit list announced by Punjab Technical University (PTU).

Manvinder Kingra, Binju P Raj, Mandeep Kaur, Kamaldeep Kaur, Deepak Verma, Mohika, Rupam, Ravinder Kingra, Gagan Priya, and Harkamaljeet Kaur were among those who were honoured during the ceremony.

A total of 141 students, including 26 who scored more than 85 per cent marks, and 115 who scored more than 80 per cent marks were honoured on the occasion.

Amanpreet Kaur, a student of BTech (IT) was awarded for maintaining 100 per cent attendance throughout the semester.

Manish Goyal, assistant director, Academics, and BD Sharma, deputy director, Activities, BFGI, congratulated the students and their parents.

Addressing the students, Dhaliwal expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the students. He gave the credit for the students’ success to their hard work and to the efforts of the faculty members. — TNS

Bathinda, June 19
The Drug De-addiction Centre located at the Civil Hospital is all set for a revamp. On the directions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, a list of the staff at the centre has been prepared and sent to the district administration.

It is expected that the centre will be overhauled and the contractual staff members hope that their service will also be regularised.

It is also expected that the centre will offer added services in the future.

Work on boundary wall to start soon

The de-addiction centre does not have a boundary wall and it was fenced by iron wires. But now, the iron wires have been removed and the work on the boundary wall is going to start soon.

CCTV cameras to be installed

To keep a tab on the movements of the patients admitted to the centre, close circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed and the department is also planning to make an entertainment room for the patients.

Discussions are on to construct new bathrooms and install water and air coolers in all rooms and an air-conditioner in the duty room. A list regarding this has been sent to the government.

The OPD for drug addicts has started overflowing these days as more than 300 patients visit the centre in a day.

A patient, Surjit Singh, said he had come here as he could not get drugs due to the government’s clampdown on drug dealers. Drug addicts from other districts also come to the Civil Hospital and the waiting list for the patients is increasing with every passing day.