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Meritorious school fails monsoon test
Residents protest after being duped by fake company
MCB starts night patrolling to drain out water
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Now, state-of-the-art metal detectors for cops
NGO starts e-survey
Better bathinda—solid waste disposal
Rana Ranbir depicts angst in verses of Pash
Students resent reduced education budget
Girls’ college holds talent hunt programme
Forms of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya out
Driving course for ex-servicemen
Body found at Patel Nagar
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Meritorious school fails monsoon test
Bathinda, September 9
The school authorities brought it to the notice of the District Education Officer (Secondary) Dr Amarjit Kaur Kotfatta that the water seepage was so bad that water droplets had begun falling on the LED screen and the set top box installed in the mess on the campus and that they were left with no option but to remove it lest it could cause damage. Pawan Chhabra , SDO Market Committee, who visited the school to take stock of the situation stated that there was no technical fault in the construction of the building. “Construction of the mess is yet to be completed and the water is seeping in through the expansion joints on the walls. The treatment of the joints is yet to be done. The day grout was applied, the skies opened up and the city experienced heavy rain which led to the seepage. The contractor has been directed to finish the work as soon as possible.” He added that the heavy rain over the last few days had proven to be a litmus test for the building. “Had there been any fault in the construction, the damage would have been much more. We are in the process of completing the structure,” he added. DEO (Secondary) Dr Kotfatta, said, “The issue was brought to my notice by the principal of the school as she wanted that the walls be repaired immediately. We have taken up the matter with the contractor. We are yet to take over the mess building and will do so only after it is fully complete. Before taking over the buildings, we will have them inspected by experts.”
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Residents protest after being duped by fake company
Bathinda, September 9
Gurjit Singh, a resident of Gobindpura, said he (Gurjit) along with his friends Harpreet and Bhola had deposited Rs 47,000 with the company on August 7, 2014, so that he could get a loan of Rs 15 lakh and they could start a new business. He also stated that the accused had taken them into confidence regarding giving them loan. Bugar Singh, a resident of Jai Singhwala village, said he is a farmer and was keen to get loan so that he could start some business related to agriculture. Till July 15,2014 he had deposited Rs 35,000 in installments and in return the accused had promised to take him Rs 10 lakh loan. Nirmal Singh, a resident of Bucho Khurd, who runs a dairy farm had deposited Rs 22,000 with the company. He said he was assured by the accused that they would provide him a loan of Rs 6 lakh. Kuldip Singh, a resident of Jai Singhwala village had deposit Rs 25,000 and was assured of Rs 3 lakh loan.
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MCB starts night patrolling to drain out water
Bathinda, September 9
Upset over the allegations of water-logging the authorities said there are some areas where water remain stagnated for a couple of hours whenever it rains but their efforts, this time, are bearing fruits in draining out water within few hours. MCB Commissioner, Dalwinderjit Singh, said to drain out water from the low-lying areas of Power House Road, Sirki Bazar and other areas, they have deployed an SDO, JE and two drivers on night patrolling to start the water pumps even during the night hours. The officials said, earlier, they used to wait for the rain to over after which the process of draining out the water was initiated in the morning. “But now, we thought it fit to start the water pumps connections in the city immediately after the raining,” said Corporation Commissioner, Dalwinderjit Singh. He said the SDO and the JE have been told to remain on duty even during the night hours to check the water logging problems in the city areas. As compared to the previous rains, the issue of water-logging has been resolved to a great extent this season. “Earlier, the water would remain present on the city roads for over 10 to 15 hours especially on the Dhobiana Road, Power House Road, Ganesh Nagar, and around the official residences of the DC and the SSP. But now, it is drained out within less than 10 hours,” said Ravinder Cheema, president of the Municipal Workers’ Union of the MCB. He, however, demanded that the water pumps should also be installed in the vegetable market situated at the backside of the Government Rajindra College or some other measures should be taken to drain out the water stagnated in there. “Ten water pumps have been installed in Parasram Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Vir Colony, Aggarwal Colony, Railway Road, Thandi Sarak, Power House Road, Sirki Bazar and adjoining the official residences of the DC and the SSP from where the stagnated water is removed within few hours of its accumulation,” he said. The officials pointed out that now, they do not wait for the next morning to start up the pumps, which prove instrumental in draining out water as early as possible. The authorities said these duties will remain till September 30. If the rains continues after that then again the night duties will be assigned as per the requirements, the authorities said.
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Now, state-of-the-art metal detectors for cops
Bathinda, September 9 In the new modernisation plan of the state police, the security branch of the department is planning to buy hundreds of hand metal detectors, portable door frame metal detectors, deep search metal detectors, fixed frame door metal detector, density metal detectors and non linear metal detectors. With these metal detectors, the state police will now be able to detect small sharp-edged objects during frisking. With the portable door frame metal detectors, the police will be able to detect small arms and with the door frame metal detectors, the police will able to detect alloys and live cartridges. While non-linear metal detectors will be use to detect all kind semi-conductor devices. A senior state-level official of the Police Department said the decision has been taken under the plan of the state government to modernisation of the Punjab Police. We are going to purchase all the latest technological equipment as to make foolproof security arrangements in the state. Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said as it is an era of technology; it is great that the Punjab Police is undergoing a modernisation phase. He also told that this will benefit a lot and it would also bring down the chances of the security lapse during events. It is worth mentioning that now with these metal detectors, even small things like sim card, hair pin, needle, coins and many more things can be detected.
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NGO starts e-survey
Bathinda, September 9 Winner of the prestigious Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award 2013 and various others prizes, and a victim of road accident himself, Harman is fighting a lone battle to bring reforms and mitigate road accidents for the last more than a decade. After successfully taking up the issue of shutting down the liquor vends on the main highways in Punjab and Haryana, Harman has now launched a survey named e-drive to know views of people over drunken driving. Harman said the form the NGO is available at www.arrivesafe.org and requested people to fill and contribute for a change in the present traffic system of Punjab. The questionnaire is based on the information provided in the Drinking and Driving - a comprehensive road safety manual, published jointly by World Health Organisation, Global Road Safety Partnership and other stakeholders. The questions are about road users’ perception on risks of drinking and driving and on the enforcement on the issue. “I have decided to gather information from at least 3,000 respondents over the Internet.
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Better bathinda—solid waste disposal Gurdeep Singh Mann Tribune News Service
Bathinda, September 9 Though garbage collection from posh areas has been streamlined to a great extent, there are many other areas in other pockets which are totally neglected. Bathinda was the first city in the state where a private company was roped in for the collection and transportation of garbage. But, due to the lack of coordination, safai workers’ long-pending demands and constant strikes have put a question mark over the functioning of the company. JITF, a private company, has been assigned the task to collect 115 to 120 tonne of garbage every day. The company has roped in private workers to collect garbage. The workers deployed by the company collect the garbage in two shifts — in the morning and in the afternoon. The otherwise smooth process of garbage collection comes to a standstill the moment safai workers announce strike to press their long-pending demands. “Whenver there is a strike, it disrupts the entire system and even the workers of the company become lax in doing their duty. The city witnessed the strike for more than a week last month,” said Gurcharan Singh, a resident of the Power House Road. Despite having a workforce of more than 850 regular and daily wagers, the issue of lack of workers and safai sewaks rocks the meetings of the authorities, which hire more workforce on contract basis. “The problem is not the lack of helping hands but their proper utilisation. There are numerous workers who have been working in the houses of senior government officials,” said an MC official. “Instead of cleaning the drains, sweeping streets and opening the blockades, the workers choose to work at houses of government officials,” he added. Apart from the corporation’s workforce, the JITF has nearly 350 garbage collectors, with more than half of them having carriages to collect garbage from more than 45,000 houses. “If we club together the private and MC workers and assign them the task of collecting garbage and cleaning the city, there is no need of extra hands. But since officials deploy most of the workers for their own personal works, the cleanliness drive is put on the backburner,” said a safai worker. Still, the burden of collecting garbage is on the public as the cost of per tonne collection of garbage is nearly Rs 800. But, the MCB pays around Rs 300 per tonne. The rest of the amount is collected from the households, which pay monthly charges to the JITF so that the work of collecting garbage could be carried on. Piles of garbage can be seen on the city roads, in the main markets and around the commercial establishments . “Since people in residential areas are paying regularly to private companies to keep the areas clean, commercial establishments such as the shops and showrooms don’t do it,” said Tota Ram, a safai karamchari. Another worker said this is the reason that Mehna Chowk, Amreek Singh Road, Railway Road, Dhobi Bazar, Sadbhawna Chowk and other areas have maximum garbage littered around whenever the safai karamcharis hold strike. The JITF officials say the collection of user charges in the residential areas is quite high (70 per cent) as compared to the commercial areas, where hardly anyone bothers to pay the monthly charges for collection of garbage. Those who pay monthly user charges regularly include restaurants, marriage palaces and the prominent hotels in the city. The claims
As per an affidavit submitted by the Commissioner, MCB, door-to-door collection of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is done by the MCB in all areas of the city. No solid waste is dumped on the roadside. The MCB has executed an agreement with the JITF Urban Waste Management Bathinda Limited. This agency is responsible for door-to-door collection of solid waste from whole of the supply area, its transportation to solid waste dumping/processing site, its processing and final disposal, all in a scientific way as per the norms fixed by Government of India, Central Pollution Control Board, Punjab Pollution Control Board and any other directions issued by any Government authority like the National Green Tribunal. It is further submitted that the agency (JITF) provided 198 tri-cycle rickshaws to safai sewaks for door-to-door solid waste collection. Two bins of different colours have been distributed in each household of the city for keeping the waste. A total of 1.37 lakh household bins have been distributed in the city. The problems
The residents, mostly shopkeepers, who dump garbage on roads or area residents who refuse to pay the monthly charges to safai workers and dump their daily garbage on roads, causing various problems. “Since the number of workers deployed to collect the garbage is quite less or those assigned the task are deployed somewhere else, the garbage dumped at the roadside or empty plots remains there for a long time,” said Seema Sharma, a resident of Bibiwala Road. Moreover, the safai workers, either the private or the MC workers, hardly make regular visits and collect garbage intermittently. Also, the sporadic incidents of strike led to the piling of the garbage all over the city. The solution
If the authorities really want to make the city a better place, they should start by pulling workforce of more than 100 workers from government offices. Deployment of safai karamcharis on their actual place of duty will bring the city residents Inculcating work culture among the workers will help in mitigating the problem. The roads appear clean during VIP visits but on other days, they look otherwise. The habit of burning small heaps of garbage in the middle of the roads should be stopped immediately. The burning of small heaps of garbage every morning not only creates pollution but also puts the passing vehicles in danger. The violators, who dump the garbage in the open, should be penalised. Safai workers rarely seen
Safai workers of the private company who have been assigned the task of collecting garbage visit our residence irregularly. The safai sewak has not been seen for the past around 20 days. The intermittent visits of the safai sevaks force the residents to dump the garbage either in the nearest empty plot or by the roadside. Harjeet Kaur, a resident of GT Road Monthly payment
The safai sewak visits our residence after a gap of two days. Despite clearing his monthly payment, he fails to collect garbage from the houses situated in our locality. In view of the irregular visits, some of the households have stopped giving him the monthly payment and the daily garbage is now dumped in the open Manjit Kaur, a resident of Ganesh Nagar Bad impression
Though a safai worker of the Municipal Corporation comes regularly at our shop, there are shopkeepers and visitors who do not throw garbage in the wastebins and just litter it anywhere. It gives a bad impression whenever someone visits our shop and see loads of trash all over the roads in the market. Vinod Gupta, a shop owner at Sirki Bazar Other problems
Apart from garbage, we also face problems due to the closed sewerage manholes lying choked for long. Despite repeated requests to remove the blockage, the authorities did not respond. Varun Kumar, a shop owner in Sirki Bazar |
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Rana Ranbir depicts angst in verses of Pash
Bathinda, September 9 Ranbir, who has already made a mark in the field of TV and films, shone through his act, which offered a contained expression of the angst felt by the renowned revolutionary Punjabi poet Avtar Singh Sandhu, better known in the literary circles as Pash. The play, based on the poetry of Pash, laid bare the sufferings of farmers and the down-trodden sections of society, made one think about these issues in the present times as well. Interspersing his dialogues with the some of most popular poems by Pash such as ‘Supneya Da Mar Jana’ and ‘Bedakhli Layi Vinay Patar’, the actor brought to fore the oppressive attitude of the government toward the backward sections of the society. The beautiful play of light brought to life the struggles of the poet against the government and his journey from darkness to enlightenment. Centre for Comparative Literature and Centre for Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture of Central University of Punjab, organised the performance of the play ‘Khetan da putt’ to mark the birth anniversary of the poet who used his pen to comment on the deteriorating farming condition in the state and continuously argued in favour of the peasantry and labour class. Before the staging of the play, Vice Chancellor Prof RK Kohli said it was the time when people should learn from Pash who selflessly struggled for the weaker sections. After the programme, Prof RK Kohli honoured Rana Ranbir and his team. Prof Chaman Lal formally introduced various facets of the poet’s life and literary world to the spectators.
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Students resent reduced education budget
Bathinda, September 9 Committee member Sumit said education was no more considered a basic facility that the government should provide to the people. Rather, it was being looked at as a means of generating revenue by introducing larger number of private players, he added. It was not just the education, the government was making the students pay for basic facilities being provided to the students at the educational institutions, he said. The union members alleged that while the state government had reduced the budget for education, it had passed on directives to the educational institutes for managing funds on their own because of which the students were being burdened with the escalating fee structure. Giving an example of Punjabi University, Patiala, the union members said the university increases the fee every academic session thereby reducing the number of students hailing from rural and financially weaker sections of society studying at the university. Student leader Ashwini Ghudda said this academic session, the university increased the annual fee by almost Rs 1,800. He said instead of asking the state government for funds for development and maintenance of infrastructure, the colleges passed on the burden to the students. He pointed out that while the students were made to pay Rs 200 for electricity and water facilities in the college, both the facilities are not satisfactory. Every student was made to pay Rs 900 as sports fund but the colleges had failed in offering good quality sporting facilities to the students, he added. The union leaders said they would continue to hold similar meetings. — TNS
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Girls’ college holds talent hunt programme
Bathinda, September 9 Students of the college participated in rangoli-making, on-the-spot painting, declamation, poster-making, fancy dress, shabad singing, group song, group dance, solo dance, folk song, skit and gidda competitions. Charanjit Kaur won the first position in the rangoli making competition, Shailja Gupta won the poster making contest, Haminder Kaur won the mehendi contest, Kulwinder Gill won the facny dress competition, Tejpal won the folk song competition and Manjula bagged the first place in the poetry recitation competition. While the Saloni group won the group dance contest, Shikha Gupta won the solo dance competition. — TNS
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Forms of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya out
Bathinda, September 9 The last date to submit the forms is October 31, 2014. The school has residential facility for the students and is affiliated with the CBSE. — TNS
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Driving course for ex-servicemen
Bathinda, September 9 The Directorate, Defence Services Welfare, Punjab, has started the course at SVT centres for the ex-servicemen, their wards and the weaker sections of society so that they could find employment. The course will commence from September 22 and its duration is of 15 days. The trainees will be charged Rs 1,000 for the course. Cdr Baljinder Virk urged the ex-servicemen and their wards to avail of the opportunity. The interested candidates can approach the District Defence Service Welfare Officer, Bathinda, with required documents for registration. — TNS
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Bathinda, September 9 SHO, Cantonment police station, said the deceased was staying as a tenant in house number 233 of Patel Nagar. — TNS
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Even as the duty of collecting garbage in the city has been clearly divided between a private company and the Municipal Corporation Bathinda
(MCB), maintaining hygiene remains an unresolved issue. Though garbage collection from posh areas has been streamlined to a great extent, there are many other areas in other pockets which are totally neglected.
Bathinda was the first city in the state where a private company was roped in for the collection and transportation of garbage.
Rana Ranbir today stood taller than he actually is after the auditorium of Central University of Punjab, where he performed his solo act play, ‘Khetan Da Putt’, reverberated with rounds of applause.
Ranbir, who has already made a mark in the field of TV and films, shone through his act, which offered a contained expression of the angst felt by the renowned revolutionary Punjabi poet Avtar Singh
Sandhu, better known in the literary circles as Pash.
