Bathinda, October 24
Learning from its mistakes over the last years, the city succeeded in celebrating a safe Diwali, this year as no major incident was reported from across the city wherein loss of life or property was recorded due to fire. The fire brigade office, located in the city received seven calls asking for fire tenders to be pressed into action on Diwali night.

“We received a total of seven calls on the night of Diwali but no major fire incident was reported. Most of the calls received were about fires which broke out in empty plots. We received calls from Ganesha Basti, Vishal Nagar, Ajit Road, Sirki Bazar, a village near Mal Singh Wala and Ballianwali village among other places,” said the District Fire Officer, Jaswinder Singh.

He added that there was no doubt that people had begun being extra cautious about celebrating the festival in a safe manner to ensure no loss was incurred. “Earlier, we used to receive a large number of calls regarding major fires breaking out due to a crackers being burst near inflammable items but that’s not the case now, thankfully,” he added.

The fire brigade office located near Gol Diggi had as many as 12-13 firemen working through the night to ensure any untoward fire incident was controlled in time. “All the employees took turns to go home and then come back to the office through the night. Ensuring that the residents celebrate a safe Diwali is part of our job. For years, we have not celebrated the festival properly with our families but the satisfaction we receive by being available to help people is paramount,” added Jaswinder Singh.

At many of the places, the residents had doused the fire even before the fire tenders could reach the spot. “Like in the case of the Ballianwali village, the residents had doused the fire before we reached the village which is more than 30 kms from the fire brigade office in Bathinda city,” said a fire tender.

The fire department in Bathinda was equipped with three big fire trucks, two mini-fire tenders, one jeep and one ambulance to attend to any fire incident in the district.

Bathinda, October 24
The sale of fire crackers has drastically come down this year as compared to the average turnover recorded in preceding years in the city.

The market witnessed a slow season despite being flooded with different varieties of firecrackers. Most retailers said that the demand for noisy crackers has gone down drastically this year, while that of light-emanating ones has increased. They pinned it down to awareness drives launched in schools.

Fire crackers while talking to the TNS stated that reason that this year’s sale is dull compared to the previous year. It is mainly because of the hike price of the fire crackers and unabated sale of Chinese firecrackers illegally in the market.

Moreover, the festival is being celebrated at the end of the month as a result of which there is a drastic fall in the number of middle class customers.

Pawan, a cracker seller, said we are selling fireworks and crackers during Diwali for the last five years but never before was the flow of customers so thin. The enthusiasm of people to buy firecrackers was missing this Diwali. Even this year, they had brought the stock much less as compare to last year but then also nearly more than 50 percent stock has been remained unsold this season.

Apart from the fact that Diwali is being celebrated towards the month-end, there are a number of other factors leading to dampening of sales of crackers, according to retailers and residents.

Another fire cracker seller said even the large sale of banned Chinese firecracker in the city also affected their business hard this season.

As these crackers are cheaper as compared to that of the local as people bought that.

Some said that children this year instead of going for firecrackers brought mobile phones, clothes or some other useful item for themselves Diwali.

Even the awareness regarding green Diwali or pollution-free Diwali had also played a great role in the keeping people away from the fire cracker stalls.

Ankush Aggarwal, a resident of the Civil Lines area, said it was good to see people switching to green Diwali. It’s a great step forward and it should continue, as fire crackers create lot of pollution which affects our environment.

Another resident, Vidhur Ahuja, said he had brought a new mobile phone instead of fire crackers this season and this was better as bursting crackers was a wastage of money.

Rajesh Garg, a parent, said: “We were concerned for the safety of our children, due which we convinced them to buy any useful thing for themselves of their choose instead of crackers.”

Bathinda, October 24
Once again District Congress Committee (DCC), Bathinda, urban president, Mohan Lal Jhumba, has been surrounded with the controversies after the police arrested him and his brother, Sohan Singh Jhumba, for threatening a former Congress president of the Bathinda unit, Inderjit Singh Sahni.

Inder Singh Sahni said yesterday, he had gone to Vishkarma market, where Mohan Lal Jhumba threatened him by pointing his weapon towards him and even stopped his car. Today also, he threatened him on him mobile phone. After which, he went to the Thermal police station and filed a complainant against Mohan and demanded security stating threat to him life.

In another incident, Mohan Lal Jhumba has been accused for attacking a former municipal councillor and his son with sharp-edged weapons. Former councillor and SAD leader Shivji Ram Sharma has alleged that Mohan Lal Jhumba attacked him and his son with sharp-edged weapons today morning at his residence at Lal Singh Basti around 11 pm.

In the attack, Shivji Ram and his son Sunny Sharma has been injured. They were immediately taken to the Civil Hospital, where their treatment is going on.

Shivji Ram said at first Mohan Lal Jhumba called him up and threatened him, after some time he reached at his residence and attack him. When his son came in to save me he has been hurt with the sharp edged weapon.

After which they started shouting, in a while the accused fled away and near by people rushed them to the Civil Hospital. He alleged that in a political revenge the accused had attack him. He also filed a complaint against Jhumba at Canal colony police station.

CPS Sarup Chand Singla also visited the Civil Hospital to see the condition of the party worker. He condemned the attack by the Congress president on a former Municipal Councillor. He said a strict action as per the law should be taken against Jhumba for attacking law-fearing innocent people.

In the evening, the police team, headed by DSP Gurjit Singh Romana rounded up and interrogated Jhumba at the Canal Colony police station. Gates of the police station were closed and media persons were not allowed to enter inside.

DSP (City), Gurjit Singh Romana, said Jhumba has been arrested on a complainant of Inderjit Singh Sahni and case under Sections 341,323 and 506 has been registered against the Mohan Lal Jhumba at the Thermal police station.

Bathinda, October 24
Rockets not taking off and sparklers bursting were few of the several complaints that poured in from all quarters on the night of Diwali. Residents of several parts of the city also complained that while the Chinese crackers misfired, sub-standard crackers were sold by the stall owners in the name of India-made crackers.

“A ‘spiral-saucer’, which was supposed to go spiraling into the sky, didn’t exactly take off and went to the left or the right instead of going up thereby causing danger to others bursting crackers on the street. After trying two pieces, I closed the box and kept it aside. I regret wasting Rs 180 for a box of spiral saucer,” said Ravinder Singh, a resident of Vishal Nagar.

Amandeep Kaur, a resident of Nai Basti and a student of Government Rajindra College, also shared that several boxes of crackers that she bought bore Indian names but had photographs of Chinese models on them. “As many as four sparklers burst as soon as I lighted them. The same happened with the floor ‘chakris’ and ‘anaars’. To make profit, the cracker-makers have started playing with the safety of their customers. What is the need of buying bombs if the sparklers burst to cinders?” she asked.

Rise in the sub-standard Indian-made crackers being sold openly in the market can also be attributed to the ban on child labour at cracker factories, ban on Chinese crackers and decrease in the demand for crackers. “All these factors have come together to make the manufacturers produce sub-standard products without caring two hoots about the safety of the customers, especially children. Earlier, there used to be two three major cracker brands and the buyers used to be sure about the fact that those would be safe to use. But these days, there are so many low-priced brands which flood the markets that the buyers are spoilt for choice and more often than not settle for the cheaper options,” said Surinder Singla, a resident of Homeland.

Shopkeepers also shared that the Chinese crackers weighed little on the pockets of the customers and made the deal profitable for them as well. While a box of Indian brand of rockets would cost the trader Rs 35, a similar box of rockets made in China cost them Rs 18. To fool the district administration, the shopkeepers didn’t openly display the Chinese crackers and showed what they had only when the customers asked for them.

To hoodwink the government and violate the statement issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Union Commerce Ministry, making the possession and sale of imported firecrackers illegal, several wholesalers changed the boxes and stored the Chinese crackers in boxes bearing fictitious Indian brand names.

Bathinda, October 24
Despite the several disclaimers issue by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) pertaining to a rift between the party and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janta Party, the Bathinda unit of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) today demanded that the Punjab government should slash the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the diesel in the state.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Bathinda, urban president, Parminder Goyal, while talking to the TNS today demanded that the Punjab government should reduce the VAT on diesel in the state as, earlier this month, they had levied 1 per cent surcharge on diesel and now when the Central government has slashed Rs 3.26 on diesel, but the state government has not reduced full VAT on Rs 3.26.

He said this is putting extra burden on the common man and affecting the traders as diesel affecting the common man hard as prices of all the commodities increases with the hike in the diesel prices and it was farmer section which would suffer the most from this decision in view of the fact that the farm sector in Punjab was known to be the main consumer of diesel.

Rasing questions on the working of the state government he said this was not the way the government could run.

SAD MLA and CPS Sarup Chand Singla, who holds excise and taxation charge, said on the levying of surcharge that he couldn’t comment as these are policy issues decision which are taken after decision at Cabinet meeting and their alliance partners have any issue. Their leaders which are cabinet minister should speak there. On VAT reduction he said VAT is reduced on the basis of percentage and we have reduced after the prices of Rs 3.26 were slashed.

It is worth mentioning that the Congress is also attacking the SAD-BJP government for levying 1 per cent surcharge on the diesel in the state.

Bathinda, October 24
As many as six cases of minor burn injuries were reported on the day of Diwali, including the one that was not the outcome of burning crackers. However, no major case was reported and the minor burn injuries were treated at the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Taking initiative, the Health Department, Bathinda, however, on the festival day had instructed the doctors to remain available at single phone call to counter any crisis situation. The department had timely given call of alert to staff and doctors besides the ambulances. Six cases ageing between 10 to 45 years with minor burn injuries were witnessed and treated at the Civil Hospital whereas a case of minor girl facing burn injuries with hot milk was also treated.

“Patients suffered minor injuries with crackers and almost all of them were treated the same day whereas a 45-year-old also got injured his both hands with crackers but as he was facing minor injury he was given the first aid and then treatment following which he was discharged voluntarily. Unlike the last year, the burn injuries were recorded less and this time the Health Department along with the district administration had created awareness among the masses for taking precautions,” said an Emergency Medical Officer at the Civil Hospital, Bathinda.

Bathinda, October 24
In an effort to counter dengue that usually witnesses increase in the Autumn season, the Health Department, Bathinda, is creating awareness among the masses to counter the dengue menace. About five cases have been reported this year, but no new case has been witnessed in the district.

Dengue menace is under control in Bathinda but the Health Department has been creating awareness among the masses. Besides, it has also followed up the cases found positive and in each case the health team has visited the houses and other spots to spray inside the houses.

Among the total 87 patients found positive in Punjab, five are from Bathinda, whereas more than 950 people have undergone tests. In Bathinda alone, about 177 cases of dengue were reported in 2013 whereas the number in 2011 had reached to around 1,000 cases.

An amount of Rs 20.48 lakh only month of April, May and June this year has been spent on fogging by Bathinda Municipal Corporation whereas in 2013 about Rs 50 lakh have been spent on fogging.

Water-holding containers, including plastic, metal drums and cement tanks facilitate breeding of dengue mosquito. Dengue is one of the major public health problems which can be controlled with active participation of the community and for this the need is to organise health education programmes about dengue disease to increase community knowledge and sensitise the community to participate in integrated vector control programmes.

Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, Tejwant Singh Randhawa, said, “Steps are being taken to prevent the deadly disease and the awareness among the masses is our keen efforts to control the dengue. Timely spray in all the areas of towns of Bathinda district is being done. Follow-up of all those patients found positive were done twice to avoid any risk and people have been detailed about the precautions.” — TNS