Bathinda, September 11
Marking the attendance of her husband (a teacher) by his wife, who is a principal at a government school, has landed the couple in a soup. They have been booked by the police for cheating and forgery.

The couple deployed as a principal and a teacher in Government Elementary School, Gandakhana, have been booked for cheating and forgery for the purpose of cheating and using a forged document as genuine.

The local police have booked them under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC. They have been identified as Archana Dohre and her husband Jagsir Singh.

A case was registered on the complaint of Karnail Singh, deployed in the Zila Parishad, Bathinda.

The police said Archana was deployed as a principal in the school while her husband was a teacher at the same school.

Though the principal used to come to the school, her husband would remain absent most of the time.

The matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities and during the checking, the principal would show her husband to be on leave by putting his signature.

The process of forging the signature by the principal continued for a while after which a written complaint was filed with the police.

The complaint remained pending in the office of the SSP Bathinda for sometime and a case was finally registered today after a detailed inquiry.

The police said a surprise checking was also conducted by the chairman of Zila Parishad who also raised objections over the absence of the teacher and marking his half day leave in the register by his wife.

During a departmental inquiry, it was later found that the school teacher was not present for half a day in the school and the school principal—wife of the ‘missing’ teacher—had marked the half day leave in the register.

Bathinda, September 11
Admitting major flaws in the present slaughter house, the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) has mooted a proposal to set up a modern abattoir to be built on nearly five acres on the Badal Road.

The process of setting up the abattoir is being initiated on the advice of the Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal to provide hygienic food for the people. Apart from the hotel industry in Bathinda, the largest consumer of meat is the cantonment area where the processed meat will be supplied after the setting up of the abattoir. An amount of nearly Rs 15 crore is likely to be spent collectively by the state and the Central governments on the project.

A proposal has already been mooted by the corporations of Mohali and Patiala after which the same will be sent by the MCB. A private company, Mitcon Consultancy and Engineering Pune, empanelled by the Food Processing Industry, has been hired for the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The corporation officials said the existing slaughter house near Sanjay Basti has failed to follow the set standards due to lack of infrastructure and modern facilities. “Moreover, the animals are butchered without any medical assistance or check-up. The state in which the meat is prepared is disturbing and would surely be affecting health of humans,” said a senior corporation official, pleading anonymity.

He said if a non-vegetarian person visits the slaughter house once, he would surely never enjoy the meat. “I visited there once around one and half year ago and seeing the sorry state of affairs, including unbearable stench, creepy crawly insects on the meat and the polluted created by the animal remains—I did not eat meat for seven months,” said Pawan Kumar of Nai Basti.

The corporation authorities also admitted numerous flaws in the existing slaughter house. “This is the reason the plan is mooted to setup the abattoir so that healthy meat could be provided to the consumers,” said another corporation official.

Since the animals’ anxiety increases manifold due to manhandling and fear of being slaughtered and other reasons, the animal’s internal organs undergo certain changes and emits chemicals which are quite harmful for humans.

“Since nobody is bothered in the slaughter houses about the side-effects of slaughtering in such a manner, people continue to carry on the business as usual,” said a corporation officer.

But under the new system, he said the animals would be first brought into a state of confusion using a rubber bullet, before being slaughtered. “Proper medical examination, steel surface, steel knives, washing facility of running water would be provided without any stink,” he said. Unlike now, efforts would also be made to ensure that the animals do not suffer from any kind of disease before being butchered. He added that an effluent treatment plant (ETP) would also be installed in the new abattoir.

The officials said the land would be provided by the Punjab government with 50 per cent investment and the rest will be borne by the Central government.

Bathinda, September 11
Patients suffering from the cancer of head and neck can heave a sigh of relief. They can now undergo treatment at the NCD clinics. However, while the facility for chemotherapy and surgery is available free of cost, radiotherapy is not available at these clinics as of now.

The project was formulated nearly two years back and since then, 1,300 cancer patients have undergone treatment of which 750 underwent chemotherapy while more than 100 patients suffering from cancer of the head and neck have undergone treatment.

The Cancer Control Unit at these clinics was established with the aim of detecting the disease at an early stage and helping patients overcome it as early as possible. The facility was established vide a Central Government project on prevention and control of cancer under the National Programme for Control of Cancer, Diabetes and Cardio-Vascular Strokes (NPCDCS) at Bathinda, Mansa, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. The centre and the state are sharing the expenditure in the ratio of 75:25.

A Non-Communicable Disease Centre (NCD) tasked to detect the symptoms of cancer among the patients has a staff nurse, a laboratory technician, a counsellor and a health educator besides an oncologist.

Head and neck cancers remain a leading cause of mortality among the Indian males and females. One single cause for this is the use of tobacco and its various forms.

The term "head and neck cancer" encompasses a wide range of tumours that occur in several areas of the head and neck region, including the nasal passages, sinuses, mouth, throat, larynx, swallowing passages, salivary and the thyroid glands. Skin cancers that develop on the scalp, face or neck may also be considered among the head and neck cancers.

Oncologists say late stage presentation is the order of the day in their OPDs. Cure becomes impossible due to reasons other than the severity of the disease and its late stage presentation.

Prominent extra-malignancy reasons for this are medical and social causes, including long waiting lists for treatment in oncology departments, unavailability of proper expertise, virtually non-existent 'combined modality or tumour board approach' in treating these patients and defunct radiotherapy departments with their moribund leadership.

Social causes for this include illiteracy, non-compliance to long treatment protocols, long distance from treatment centres, poverty and the daily rising cost of treatment besides nuclear families with their typical indifference towards the sufferings of a family member.

An oncologist at the NCD clinic in Bathinda said, "Head and neck cancer is a more serious form of the disease and the main cause for it is the consumption of tobacco. We have treated more than 100 patients here and all have done well. Awareness needs to be created by the media among the people about the causes of such forms of cancer."

"If a complete ban on tobacco comes into effect after making the tobacco growers aware and implementing the workers rehabilitation programme, we would be able to control head and neck cancer in India," the oncologist added.

Bathinda, September 11
Veterinary artificial insemination (AI) workers and veterinary pharmacists today staged a dharna outside the office of the deputy director of Animal Husbandry Department here today in favour of their demands.

Addressing the protestors, Maninderpal Singh Kotra alleged that the department of Animal Husbandry had meted step-motherly treatment to the veterinary AI workers and pharmacists of Phul tehsil.

He said the department had engaged the AI workers and pharmacists for conducting animal census in 2012 in Phul tehsil but they were still waiting for the remuneration for conducting the census.

The AI workers and pharmacists of the tehsil were left with no option but to stage a dharna since those who had conducted the similar census for Bathinda and Talwandi Sabo tehsils were paid the remuneration a long time back, he added.

The protestors said they had convened a meeting on August 25 and had communicated to the department to release the remuneration amount till August 30 but the department didn’t heed their demand.

They said they would intensify their protest if their demands were not met.

Bathinda, September 11
Members of the district unit of the DC Office Employees Union and Class IV Government Employees Union convened a meeting at the District Administrative Complex here today to share the problems that they are facing.

The employees alleged that the state government had pulled the strings of the state treasury as a result of which employees of some of the departments had not received their salaries for the last month.

They threatened that the employees had taken up the issue seriously and were planning to bring it to the notice of the state government in their own way.

They might go ahead and boycott the frequent sangat darshan programmes being held by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, they added.

While on the one hand the state government was claiming that the state coffers were empty, on the other, the CM was allocating funds in the name of sanagat darshan just to appease the vote bank.

The union members vociferously demanded that it was high time that the state government released the salaries of the employees or else the employees will be left with no option but to struggle for their rights.

Bathinda, September 11
The court of Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh awarded life imprisonment to a 20-year-old resident of Maur Mandi for raping and killing a girl of Gehri Bara Singh village in October 2012.

The police had registered a case against the accused, Sandeep Singh, on the complaint of the deceased girl’s father, Nazar Singh. The complainant accused Sandeep of killing his daughter and dumping her body in agricultural fields.

Nazar said he received a phone call from the accused on October 22, 2012 who informed him (the father) that since he (the father) did not allow the girl to marry him, he could see the body of the girl at his agricultural fields.

The girl had been missing from her house since a night before and the accused was later charged with abduction, rape and murder. A cold drink bottle and celphos tablets were also lying beside the girl’s body.

A case under Sections 302, 363, 366-A and 376 of the IPC was registered against the accused at Maur police station.

The girl’s father said his daughter was a student of Class XII and used to board a bus to her school. The accused boy came in contact with his daughter at the village bus stand. The father alleged that his daughter was a minor and the boy was unemployed. The boy’s house was situated near the village bus stand and his family had a shop nearby.

The father said that the boy enacted a drama of consuming poison along with his daughter but it was his daughter who was forced to consume the poison following which she died.

After hearings in the case and listening to arguments, claims and pleas of both the parties, the court has awarded life imprisonment to the accused with a fine of Rs 10,000.

Bathinda, September 11
The local police today claimed to have arrested a resident of Balianwali village for committing robberies and thefts.

The police said the accused, Hardeep Singh, 19, is a school dropout and had started driving private vehicles to earn a living.

Hardeep, however, fell into the company of unscrupulous elements and in a bid to make fast bucks, he started stealing household materials from the residential and commercial areas.

Bathinda, September 11
The police today registered a case against three persons, including a woman, for cheating. The accused are Jagvir Singh, Jaskaran Singh and Tar Kaur, all residents of Mohkam Singhwala Chak-8 village in Raipur tehsil of Rajasthan.

Complainant Sukhwinder Singh of Baba Farid Nagar said the accused had cheated him of Rs 12.5 lakh over the pretext of selling a piece of land.

A case under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Thermal police station. — TNS

Bathinda, September 11
Taking a strict view of the teachers serving in the government schools of Bathinda, claiming ex-India leaves of a duration of one month or more, the state Education Department has shot off letters to the District Education Officers (DEOs) to collect data pertaining to such teachers.

The DEOs in turn have directed the school principals, in-charges and head teachers to collect the data regarding the teachers who are on such leaves.

The heads of the schools have been directed to collect and share with the Education Department the data pertaining to the teachers who have claimed ex-India leaves of one month or more in the past five years. The schools have been asked to share the details such as name and post of the teachers, the date, duration and purpose as told by the teacher and mentioned in school records and whether the leave was approved of by the officials concerned.

It is pertinent to mention here that long ex-India leaves have always been a bone of contention in the Education Department since the posts of the teachers, who claim such leaves are virtually vacant but can’t be filled by the department since the teachers are on leave. The students are at the receiving ends in such cases.

As per information, the Education Department is all set to review the cases if teachers who have been on such leaves and may take disciplinary action against them since it believes that any teacher wishing to go on a leave, which is too long, should resign so that the post can be filled and the students don’t have to suffer.

Over the last two years, the state Education Department had to dismiss several teachers for being absent from schools for several months and in some cases, for years, at a stretch in the name of ex-India leaves.

Bathinda, September 11
Students of MCom second and fourth semesters of Baba Farid College performed brilliantly in the examinations conducted by Punjabi University, Patiala.

Heena Jindal of MCom second semester has topped the list with 83.11 per cent marks followed by Shikha Aggarwal with 82.89 per cent marks and Rakesh Kumar with 81.56 per cent marks.

Overall, four students got more than 80 per cent, 9 students got more than 75 per cent and 15 students got more than 70 per cent marks.

The college has registered 100 per cent results in MCom fourth semester wherein Nardeep Kaur has topped the list with 78.91per cent marks followed by Gurpreet Kaur with 78 per cent marks and Shanky Kumar with 77.82 per cent marks.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, managing director of Baba Farid Group of Institutions praised the students and said, “Our students have made us proud with their extraordinary success. Our primary objective is to make all the students employable and capable enough to deal with industry challenges.” — TNS

Bathinda, September 11
The state Education Department is all set to host sports competitions for SC students studying in Class V in the government primary schools tommorow.

Interestingly, the students who had participated in the tournament last year are still waiting to get the scholarship.

Under the scholarship scheme, sporting events are held for students of Classes V, VII and X on the basis of which they are given scholarships.

As per the scheme, the students winning in the competitions held for Class V are to be awarded an annual scholarship of Rs 500 to be given during their courses in Classes VI and VII, those winning in Class VIII competitions will be given Rs 750 for Class IX and those winning in the competitions held for the students of Class X are to be rewarded with an annual scholarship of Rs 1,000 for Classes XI and XII.

“The scholarship scheme was introduced by the state government last year. The tournaments were hosted but since it was the first time such competitions were held under the scheme, there was some confusion over the rules regarding the selection of students. Despite that, we prepared the cases of the students who won in different categories and sent it to the higher authorities but the scholarship amount was not released,” said AEO (Sports) Pavittar Kaur.

She, however, said since this time around the rules and regulations were quite clear, the students winning in different categories would be given scholarships.

Talwandi Sabo, September 11
Physical Education College of Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, organised a kabaddi intramural competition for its students. Dr Ravinder Sumal, head of the Department of Physical Education, said the competition was to be carried out within the premises of the institution.

On the basis of the matches during the competition, fifth semester students were declared the winners. Sukhwinder Singh of the first semester and Sharanjeet Kaur were declared best players.

Managing director Sukhraj Singh Sidhu appreciated the efforts of the Physical Education College for frequently organising sports activities. These competitions will definitely develop the sports skills among the players, he added.

Vice Chancellor Dr NS Malhi lauded the efforts of staff members and students. He assured all support to the students/players to promote sports culture among the students.

Prof Satpal Singh, Prof Gurdeep Singh, Prof Sukhdeep Rani, Prof Surinder Kaur Mahi and Prof KPS Mahi worked towards the successful completion of the competition.