Bathinda, June 27
After the hike in train, bus fare and sugar prices, people are all set to get another blow as the state Health Department has directed its Civil Hospitals to increase the user charge due to which all the facilities which patients get here will get costlier.

Health Department has sent a revised list of its user charges to all the civil surgeons and officials concerned. These hiked rates will come into effect from July 1.

At the Civil Hospital, the department has increased the MLR (medical legal receipt) from Rs 200 to Rs 300. The fees of major operations has been hiked to Rs 1,000 from Rs 750, minor operation from Rs 100 to Rs 150 and minor operation to Rs 300 from Rs 250.

Even the department has also hiked laboratory test fee, so from now for the CVC (couplet blood cell) test will cost Rs 60 instead Rs 50. The fees of blood grouping has also been increased from Rs 20 to Rs 30. The total lipid profile will cost Rs 150 instead of Rs 75.

OPD fees doubled

The OPD fees has been doubled. According to the new rates, the OPD fees of Rs 5 has been increased to Rs 10. Indoor air conditioned room rent has also been hiked from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per day, whereas to use air cooler room patients has to give Rs 100 per day. The ambulance service will cost Rs 10 per kilometer.

Fees of tests increased

The fees of various test has been increased and now patients will have to spent more for the test at the Civil Hospitals. The ECG test will now cost Rs 60 instead of Rs 50. X-ray fee has been hiked to Rs 120 from Rs 100 and ultrasound fees has been increased to Rs 200 from Rs 150.

New charges to come into effect from July 1

Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) MD Husan Lal said the Health Department has changed the user charges slab 
and the new charges would come into effect from July 1. All the directions in this regard have been sent to the Civil Surgeons.

Residents flay hike

MM Behl, convener, Joint Action Committee, said: “By increasing the fees of treatment at Civil Hospitals, the state government has taken another step to crush the common man. Medical facilities are one of the basic primary needs of the common man and by increasing the fees, the government has made medical facilities out of reach of the common man, who is already suffering from hike in other amenities.”

Robin Jindal, a resident of Model Town, said: “We were expecting that newly formed government would control the inflation and give some relief to the common man, but this has surpassed previous government. They are hiking prices of all the commodities and facilities which has made the life of common man very difficult.”

“People of the country are being fooled again by the new government. Before the elections, each party claims that they will carry out work for the betterment of people. This increases peoples’ expectations. People of the country voted for the Modi for the betterment but in the first month only his face has being exposed with the anti-people decisions,” said Baljinder Kaur, housewife.

Akshu Bansal, a resident of Ajit Road, said: “With the back-to-back hikes, common man has been over burdened and it is impossible for them to bear this additional expense. The government should immediately roll back this announced hike.” 

Bathinda, June 27
The Education Department had to bow down in front of the demands of the teachers and revoke the transfer orders of four ETT teachers who had been transferred to other schools based on the complaints lodged against them by the panchayat members of their respective villages.

Members of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) had raised their voice against the transfer orders handed out to six ETT teachers on June 9 arguing that the transfers had been done under political pressure.

After several meetings with the officials of the education department, the teachers succeeded in getting the transfers of four of the six teachers cancelled. These teachers include Kulwinder Singh (who was transferred from Burj Mehma to Selbrah), his wife Balwjinder Kaur (tranferred from Virk Kalan to Bajuana), Satnam Kaur (transferred from Nandgarh to Rampura) and Lakhwinder Singh (transferred from Sardargarh to Raiya).

Of the other two teachers, Surjit Kaur (who was transferred from Bajjak to Rampura) did not come under the education department since she teachers at an Adarsh School which are governed by a separate department. The teachers also pointed out that the sixth teacher, one Gurjit Singh of Raike Kalan, in whose name a transfer order had been issued, did not exist.

Over a span of two weeks, the protesting teachers met the District Education Officer Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta and argued that the transfers had been done on the basis of complaints filed by the panchayat members but no enquiry had been initiated into the complaint.

They followed it up with a meeting with Bathinda rural MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta requesting him to look in to the matter. They also met the newly-appointed DEO (elementary) Shivpal Singh and explained the matter to him after which the department issued letters revoking the transfer orders of four teachers.

Apart from the school management committees, the village residents and parents of the students of schools from where the teachers were transferred out had rallied for the case.

Bathinda, June 27
Members of the ETT TET-1 Pass Teachers Union today convened a meeting at Teachers Home in Bathinda.

The meeting was convened under the leadership of the district convenor of the union, Balkaran Singh. During the meeting the teachers accused the state government and the state education department of adopting a lackadaisical attitude towards recruitment of teachers against the 4,901 vacant posts.

The teachers argued that the state government had issued an advertisement for recruitment of teachers to fill the posts of elementary teachers in government schools and the advertisement had rekindled the ETT TET-1 pass candidate’s hope of getting a job but the lax manner in which the recruitment was being handled had dashed all hopes of the teachers and they were left with no option but to protest against the government. 

Bathinda, June 27
Former Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, who had grabbed the headlines for defecting Shiromani Akali Dal weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in April, once again landed in a controversial place after he sat through a meeting convened by the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg.

The meeting had been convened by the DC to take stock of the development works in the assembly segment and representatives of various departments which have been allocated funds for the development projects announced by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal during his sangat darshan programmes conducted in Talwandi Sabo were part of the meeting. as per information, the former MLA attended the meeting for at least half an hour.

When questioned about the presence of a former MLA, who was now a part of the ruling alliance of the state, the DC said, "He had come to meet me and as a public representative he is free to meet me at any time during the office hours. Although he sat through a part of the meeting, he had no role to play in the meeting."

Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu said that he was foxed as to why his presence during the meeting was being objected to. "I had taken an appointment with the DC to meet him and submit applications for beneficiaries of cancer aid and tricycles and sewing machines which are given away by the district administration during the Independence Day function." "When I reached the administrative complex I got to know that the DC was in a meeting. I patiently waited before I was called in to submit the papers. When I entered the hall, the meeting was in progress and I sat through the fag end of it. I was present during all the sangat darshan programmes addressed by the CM and even if I was part of the meeting, what's the big deal. I didn't chair the meeting and as a former MLA, I have a fair knowledge of the area," he added. This is not the first time that the attitude of the Bathinda district administration towards the members of the ruling alliance has come under the scanner. earlier too, the former DC Kamal Kishore Yadav had been accused of favouring a 'dummy' candidate hoisted by SAD, a namesake of the Congress-PPP-CPI candidate Manpreet Singh Badal. Yadav was accused of rigging the draw of lots during which the namesake was allotted 'kite' as his election symbol, a symbol which was earlier with the PPP. Presence of Sidhu during the meeting convened by the DC holds importance since the byelections in the assembly segmnt are around the corner and Sidhu is most likely to be names as the SAD candidate for the seat. 

Bathinda, June 27
After the Lok Sabha elections, Talwandi Sabo has begun garnering attention of leaders of all the political parties. After Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal conducted a series of sangat darshan programmes in this segment, now Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Partap Singh Bajwa reached the place and met the party workers.

Making a last attempt to make sure that the party workers get together and work towards keeping the Talwandi Sabo assembly seat with the party in the upcoming bypoll, Bajwa addressed workers at several villages in Talwandi Sabo.

Although the seat has been known for favouring Congress candidates, party’s MLA from the seat, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu defected to SAD just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections. Congress leadership is at present sweating over the fact that Sidhu enjoys huge popularity among the masses and may manage to put the seat in SAD’s kitty.

Thanking the voters for extending support to the party during the general elections and asking them to do the same during the bypoll as well, Bajwa took a dig at the state government for increasing the rates of gas, diesel and other commodities. He stated that while the ruling alliance in the state used to blame the Congress-led Central government for inflation earlier, what reason did it have now for increasing the prices.

He also visited Sangat Mandi to meet the party workers to marshal them for the bypoll. He said Sangat Mandi was the worst example of the development model of the state government where despite spending a large amount of money on sewerage works, the situation had turned from bad to worse.

Bajwa also lent an ear to the residents of the area who complained about the problem of water-logging. He impressed upon the people to teach a lesson to the state government in the bypoll. He appreciated the voters for teaching the SAD candidate from Bathinda a lesson by not voting for her and asked them to do the same with the SAD candidate from Talwandi Sabo.

Owing to its impending bypoll, Talwandi Sabo is fast becoming the hotspot for political leaders. While visited the place today, CM held no less than eight sangat darshan programmes in the segment within a span of a little more than a month. During the sangat darshan programmes the strings of the treasury had also been loosened for initiating development works in the area.

Aam Aadmi Party is playing the wait and watch game right now and formal discussions are yet to begin as to who would be the party’s candidate for the segment in the bypoll.

Bathinda, June 27
Poonam Kumari, a polio-stricken student of MCA of Malwa College, Bathinda, topped her class in the third semester by securing 85.16 per cent marks. The result of the semester was recently declared by Punjabi University, Patiala.

Preeti bagged that second position by securing 84.5 per cent marks. The college management, principal Dr Shardev Singh Gill and director Dr Balbir Singh Chhillar congratulated the meritorious students on their success.

College dean Prof NK Gosain shared that Poonam belonged to a family with modest means and her father worked with the National Fertilizers Limited. He said she had topped her class in the second semester as well and that the college management had already given her fee concession and announced to extend more benefits to the academically brilliant students.

Bathinda, June 27
The cabinet committee approved the minimum support price (MSP) of kharif crops for 2014-15 year. They have announced Rs 50 per quintal increase in the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 1,360 to encourage farmers to cultivate rice, but this decision has failed to bring smile on the faces of the farmers in the region.

The farmers are upset with the minimal hike on the MSP of paddy. They feel that inflation is increasing on such a high rate that hike of Rs 50 will not be able to cope with the present inflation.

Darshan Singh of Harraipur village said, “Every year Rs 50 hike is given to the farmers, so there is nothing new in it. With the change of government at the Centre, we were expecting that this government will do justice with the farmers.” Another farmer Satnam Singh of Khiyaliwala village said, “Rs 50 hike has been announced and government is claiming that they have done something big, sometime they feel they are playing an important in feeding the country but in return the government is ignorant about the ground realities and hit us badly with their wrong policies.”

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ekta Ugraha state leader Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said this newly formed government has joked with us by hiking the MSP of paddy per quintal by Rs 50 only. He said in the manifesto of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) it had written that they would enforce the recommendations of Swaminathan committee report. We were also hoping that this government would fulfill its promise but within one month only it has shown its true face. He said the government should take back its announced hike and revised decision should be taken as per the Swaminathan committee report. 

Bathinda, June 27
The ASP, NRI wing, Alka Meena, has instructed SHOs of eight districts, Mansa, Muktsar, Firozepur, Faridkot, Fazilka, Barnala and Sangrur, to streamline the working of the wing during a meeting at Mini Secretariat in Bathinda.

In the meeting Alka Meena instructed her team that all the application coming to them be thoroughly investigated without any bias and justice be given to the victim within 30 days. As she said “justice is delayed is justice denied”.

Alka Meena while talking to Bathinda Tribune said she has instructed the officers that all the application should be disposed off in a time frame of 30 days, so that people coming to the NRI police station don’t run from pillar to post seeking justice.

She also instructed the officials to do their job with utmost sincerity and discipline. She asked the officers to be polite to the persons coming to the police station seeking justice, especially women.

ASP Alka Meena said Punjab government has established independent NRI police wing for the speedy and transparent disposal of complaints.

She said it has become easy for NRIs to register complaints and action would be taken within the time frame of 30 days. NRIs can send their complainant through e-mails at nriwingbtimail.com. Once we receive the compliant by the NRI or against the NRI we take statements from them living overseas through e-mail only, she said.

If the accused does not respond to our mails or phone calls, then we can attach his property in India and release look out circular notice at all the airports and declare him proclaimed offender. 

Bathinda, June 27
The city police have arrested two accused who had looted jewellery at gunpoint last night from the Ajit road area.

One of the accused is a close relative of the victim. The police have also recovered one pistol and live cartilages from the accused.

Senior Superitendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said last night at the residence of Amritpal, alias Pali, a resident of Ajit road, his paternal uncle, a resident of Rampura Phul, along with his associate covering their face looted 8 gm gold, including one kitty set, six gold rings and one chain. 

Bathinda, June 27
The Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI), organised a campus placement drive for its engineering students during which Data64 hired 13 students. These selections were based on their key technical skills as well as effective communication skills. HR officials of Data64 conducted a group discussion and personal interviews. The company has offered the students packages up to 10 lakh per annum.

The students who were selected by the company include Kartika Vasant, Karamveer Kaur and Amarveer Kaur who were offered pay package worth Rs. 10 lakh, Anmol Baweja, Vanshita, Kashish Kakkar, Anmol Monga, Deepali Verma and Manpreet Kaur recruited for a package of 4.5 lakh while Ninderpal Kaur, Samta, Chanchal and Sumit Singh got selected for a package of Rs. 3.5 lakh.

Chairman of BFGI, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, congratulated all the students on their selection. “The credit of this success goes to the students as well as their teachers who are continuously providing knowledge to the students as per the innovative teaching methodologies adopted in BFGI campus.” 

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