R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

PUNJAB

HOSHIARPUR
PROTEST RALLY: Safai mazdoors of the Municipal Council, Hoshiarpur, will stage a protest rally on Thursday and observe a one-day token strike on Friday to show resentment against the formation of “mohalla sanitation committees” in the city. Mr K. Singh Saini, president of the action committee of the Municipal Employees said the decision was taken in an emergent meeting of the Safai Mazdoors Union.

BODY FOUND: The body of a new-born female child was found floating in a pond at Sahri village on Tuesday evening. According to police sources, the child’s unwed mother, Gurbax Kaur, after giving birth, threw the body into the pond. The police has registered a case under Section 318/34, IPC.

LUDHIANA
PROTEST: Students of the Punjab Agricultural University Students Association boycotted their examinations and classes and held a protest rally in front of Thapar Hall on Tuesday. Mr Kanwaljit Singh, president of the association, demanded an inquiry into the death of a second year student, Kailash Kalia, who died on April 23. He held university security responsible for the death.

FUSION DANCE: A cultural programme, ‘‘An evening of captivating fusion and classical dance’’, was organised here at Nehru Siddhant Kendra by the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam on Tuesday. The evening started with ghazals of well-known light classical vocalist Rekha Surya who is considered a disciples of late Begum Akhtar. Well known fusion dancer, Navtej Johar, ‘‘dancing sardar’’, gave a performance of Bharat Natyam.

NAWANSHAHR
ELECTED: Mrs Kusum Khosla and Mrs Resham Kaur have unanimously been elected senior-vice president and junior vice-president, respectively, of the local Municipal Council.

FERTILISER: The local district Agriculture Department took 100,167 and 595 samples of fertiliser, pesticides and seeds, respectively, of which two samples of fertiliser and one sample of pesticide were declared substandard on Tuesday. The department has cancelled the licences of the dealers concerned.

PATIALA
SUSPENDED: The Maharani Ladies Club on Tuesday suspended 16 of its members for causing unruly scenes at a recent meeting of the club. Announcing this in a press release, Ms Pratibha Jain, the President of the club, also denied reports that a dissident group had passed a no-confidence motion against her.

EXAMINED: More than 400 patients were examined and treated at a free medical check-up camp organised by Mr S.L. Jalota, former president, Municipal Council, at Nabha Gate on Tuesday. Dr S.P. Sharma, Assistant Civil Surgeon, inaugurated the camp.

PHAGWARA
TRACTOR FOUND: A tractor stolen from Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi was recovered from here on Tuesday. According to the police, one Angrez Singh of Khabe Rajputan village was booked under Sections 379 and 311, IPC. The tractor belonged to Satnam Singh of Jodhewal village.

CHANDIGARH

DC ORDER: The District Magistrate, Mr M. Ramsekhar, on Tuesday imposed orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, directing all those seeking employment in petty and non-formal trades or services provide their particulars, along with their passport-sized photographs, to the local police to enable identification or verification of criminal elements. Any breach of this order will invite action under Section 188 of the IPC. The order will remain in force till June 6.

SEMINAR: Oceanic consultants Private Limited will organise a one-day seminar on immigration to Australia on Sunday. The Managing Director of the company, Mr Naresh Gulati, said prospective immigrants to Australia could interact with experts without spending anything.

RATH YATRA: The local unit of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) will organise the Lord Jagannath rathyatra on April 29 at Patiala. The rathyatra will begin at 12 noon from Pracheen Kali Mata Mandir.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panjab University Sports Committee: President — Mrs Harinder Dhillon (Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana); Senior Vice-President — Maj D.P. Singh (Government College, Sector 46); and Vice-President — Dr Karamjit Singh Brar (lecturer, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sudhar).

SAS NAGAR
MANDATORY NOC SOUGHT: The Anti-Encroachment Committee on Tuesday urged the Local Government Department, Punjab, to make it mandatory for persons contesting the local municipal elections to produce a No-Objection Certificate from the council, stating that the candidate had not encroached upon public land. Mr Narinder Singh Minhas, President of the committee, said representations in this regard to the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority and the local council authorities had failed to yield any result.

ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of Residents Welfare Association, Phase 3B1: President — Mr Harmonder Singh Syal; General Secretary — Mr Karam Singh Babra; Senior Vice-President — Mr Igbal Singh’; Vice-President — Mr Davinder Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr S.S. Bhatia; Finance Secretary — Mr Kirpal Singh Bala; and Auditor — Mr Nirmal Singh.

DRINKING: The local unit of the Ranbaxy Community Healthcare Society organised a camp at Mohali village here to create awareness on safe drinking water and disposal of water. Thirtyfour persons participated in the camp, said Dr Usha Sharma, Medical Officer of the RCHS.

SECURITY REVIEWED: In the wake of heavy transactions of money during the ongoing harvesting season, a meeting of representatives of local nationalised and private banks was called by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr SS Gill, on Wednesday to review security arrangements at banks. Thirty five bankers participated in the meeting. In the recent past, incidents of robbers targeting people coming to banks for transaction of money have been reported in the region.

HARYANA

AMBALA
EXPORTERS' DEMAND: The Haryana Exporters Association on Wednesday demanded from the Ministry of Finance and Commerce deferment of the budgetary proposals to phase out the facilities to the exporters under Section 80 HHC and 80 HHE of Income Tax Act. Poor infrastructure, uncertainty in transportation, escalation in transaction cost, shipping freight, banking interests and shipping agents charges make the exporting community’s job unviable in the global scenario. Only compensation has been provided to exporters under Section 80 HHC and 80 HHE, a release said.

GENERAL SECRETARY: Dr Sudarshan Gasso of Gandhi Memorial National (GMN) College of Ambala Cantonment has been elected General Secretary of the Haryana College Teachers Union.

BOOKED: The police registered a case on Tuesday against Rulda Ram and four of his family members for allegedly murdering Darshna. According to police report, the couple was not having good terms since their marriage in 1991. The father of the deceased, Mr Barkha Ram, alleged that Rulda Ram and his family members had been torturing his daughter and they had murdered her.

SYL CANAL: The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, on Tuesday sought the intervention of Centre for early completion of the SYL canal. Mr Chautala said decision of Eradi tribunal must be implemented. He also said it was important to impose taxes for progress of the state.

MISHAP: Four children sustained injuries when the three-wheeler they were travelling in, met with an accident with an Army three-ton vehicle on Tuesday. The incident took place in the afternoon, when the three-wheeler was travelling from the Supply Depot Chowk and the Army vehicle was coming from the other side. The accident took place near the Cantonment Board office. The children were taken to Military Hospital.

DROUGHT-HIT: To provide assistance for drought-hit areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the Deputy Commissioner appealed on Tuesday for foodgrains and cattle feed in large quantities. He said foodgrain, cattle feed and monetary help was being collected. The monetary sum and other goods can be deposited with the District Red Cross and a receipt will be issued.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

JWALAMUKHI
BOY KILLED: An eight-year-old boy, Jasvir, was run over and killed by a speeding truck at Bankhandi village in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district. The victim was brought to a Dehra hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The police has registered a case against the driver.

NAHAN
KANDI PROJECT: Dr Shushil Kapta, Assistant Project Director, Kandi Project, said on Tuesday that a sum of Rs 3 crore had been spent during the past financial year on the project with nine micro watersheds being implemented in Sirmour and Solan districts. The project cost for the current financial year is expected to be around Rs 6 crore. 37 village ponds 30 water tanks, 6.5 km pucca roads and three foot bridges were constructed during the past financial year and 1025 hectares of land planted with fodder, fruits and other grass varieties.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Making kidney treatment affordable

Kidney failure is fast becoming commonplace scaring the common man rather than spreading its awareness preliminary precautions about kidney-related diseases.

Dr Basant Pawar, Head of the Nephrology unit of Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, expressing his concern said: “Currently 250 people per million population are in need of dialysis and renal transplantation”. This figure does not include those who die unnoticed or suffer due to ignorance or for want of medical facilities.

Referring to seven-eight critical cases in the 18-25 age group whose kidneys have recently been transplanted and are being hospitalised in the CMCH nephrology ward, Dr Pawar urged the necessity of precautions as a vital concern for good health. “The common causes of kidney diseases include hypertension, diabetes mellitus, kidney stone disease and some form of inherited diseases”, he stated.

In March, the CMC replaced all old machines at a cost of Rs 52 lakh. The department is well equipped with sophisticated Braun haeno dialysis machines of German make. The induction of these machines along with the experience of the team provide, comprehensive renal health services of the highest quality at affordable prices.

Dr Rajan Isaacs and Dr Sajiv Cherian have been involved in launching organ donation campaigns and tapping financial sources for the poor and needy through to charitable agencies.

Dr Varinder Bansal and Dr Harish Ishwariah, both kidney transplant surgeons, giving a brief account of surgical procedure, said: “Kidney is maintained with the help of special drugs and helps the patient to live a normal and long life”.

The duo added: “Protein or albumin and blood in the urine is a sign of kidney disease. Any such sign should not be ignored”.

Mental patients’ home in Gurgaon

The Richmond Fellowship International (RFI), a non-government charitable organisation working in 34 countries, is going to establish a halfway house, in Gurgaon for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and other affective disorders.

With the establishment of ‘‘Vishwas’’, the half way house in Sector 22, Gurgaon, this will be the first centre of its kind around Delhi. The inspiring force behind this project has been Dr Krishan Khurana.

Dr Khurana took early retirement from the National Health Service, UK, in 1996 after 20 years as a general practitioner in Greater Manchester. At the time he was quoted in British newspapers as saying ‘‘Many people in India are unable to afford a doctor when they are ill. I plan to help, wherever possible. I shall not be working for money — solely for the good of the local population.’’

Dr Khurana states ‘‘Mental illness, particularly schizophrenia, is known to be a common illness affecting about 1 p.c. of the general population. In Delhi alone there are approximately 1.5 lakh people suffering from this illness. Schizophrenia usually strikes young people between the age of 15 and 25 — the most productive years of one’s life. Unfortunately, the treatment and rehabilitation facilities for such affected persons are limited in our country.’’

‘‘Vishwas’’ will be part of the Richmond Fellowship Society (India), which was established in 1986 at Bangalore. A day care centre is also planned at Gurgaon in the near future to impart vocational training facilities for both men and women. The centre aims at providing job placement to the members after completion of training.

At ‘‘Vishwas’’, the centre would have a comprehensive programme of activities designed to help members. The focus would be on the development of social and practical skills to overcome their deficits in personal, social and vocational functioning.

Recalling the hurdles faced by the project at the start, specially with regard to finances, Dr Khurana recounted how at the instance of its Treasurer Prakash Seth, the society members contributed from their own resources to get the project going. Now, with grants coming in from UK’s National Lottery Charities Board (NLCB), ‘‘Vishwas’’ is going to be a reality. Dr Khurana hopes that philanthropists and organisations would contribute generously to ensure that ‘‘Vishwas’’ compares favourably with the best of half way homes across the world.
Contributed by TNS and Sameer Sabharwal