M A I N   N E W S

Woman charged with sons’ kidnapping
From Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

RAMPURAPHUL (Bathinda), Sept 13 — A criminal case has been registered against Kashmir Kaur and her relatives in the police station here for kidnapping her two sons who were living with their grandparents, her in-laws and injuring her father-in-law and mother-in-law last night.

Police sources said that Kashmir Kaur and six of her relatives attacked her father-in-law and mother-in-law last night and kidnapped her two sons who were living with their grandfather.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier dismissed the writ petition of Kashmir Kaur for custody of her two sons who had been living with their grandfather ever since their father, a police constable, committed suicide.

In a sensational trial the two minor children, Maninder Singh and Varinder Singh had refused in open court to go to their mother. They even refused to talk to her. Following this the, Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the petition of Kashmir Kaur.

The boy’s father, Bhupinder Singh, allegedly committed suicide following harassment by his sister-in-law. The district police had then registered a case against Kashmir Kaur along with her sister Amarjit Kaur for forcing Bhupinder Singh to commit suicide.

Police sources said that the attackers were identified as Kashmir Kaur, her brother Dheeraj Singh, mother Joginder Kaur a former police constable and four unidentified persons. The police has registered a case under Sections 364, 307, 348, 149, 450 and 323 of IPC.

The police had registered a case on the complaint of Sukhdial Kaur, daughter of Amarjit Singh. The injured have been admitted to hospital. The police parties have been dispatched to nab the culprits, police sources said.

Top hospitals face action
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Sept 13 — The Punjab Pollution Control Board ( PPCB ) has issued notices to seven top hospitals in the state threatening to initiate prosecution proceedings against them for failing to create adequate facilities for proper disposal of bio-medical waste.

The Board , which is the prescribed authority for implementing directions of the Union Government on bio-medical waste, has issued notices to the local Government Rajindra Hospital, Government Hospital , Faridkot, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Government Hospital, Amritsar, Military Hospital, Jalandhar Cantonment and Military Hospital, Pathankot after the date allowed by the Union Government till June 30 to create these facilities passed.

According to the notices, which have been sent to all the hospitals with a bed strength of 500 or more , hospitals not creating medical waste disposal facilities will be liable for prosecution which could be punishable with imprisonment for a term extending to five years and a fine up to Rs one lakh or both. According to the notice an additional fine of Rs 5000 could be levied per day for which the contravention continues after the first failure. If the failure continues beyond one year after the date of conviction the offender will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years.

All the hospitals which have been served notices have been directed to apply on a prescribed application obtainable from the Board for grant of authority to create disposal facilities according to norms prescribed by the Board. Teams from the Board have also visited some of the hospitals to get feedback about the manner in which medical waste is disposed off at present and how it should be done in future.

A Board team which visited the local Government Rajindra Hospital found that all medical waste is dumped at one spot where what can be burnt is set on fire the rest lifted by the Municipal Corporation. The team found that the hospital has yet to start segregation of medical waste which sources said was to be done by the second week of August. It was also revealed that Rajindra Hospital is not using an incinerator installed in its premises to burn medical waste after due segregation. Board sources said a similar situation was prevalent in other hospitals also, with none of them segregating and disposing off medical waste in a proper manner.

Rajindra Hospital authorities, when contacted, said a notice regarding disposal of medical waste had been received last week and that the matter had now been put before the Director, Medical Education and Research. This they said, was because the PPCB authorities wanted a fee of Rs 1.50 lakh from the hospital per year for giving it the authority to use an incinerator and other disposal facilities. They said the hospital was not using an incinerator installed around ten years back as it cost around Rs one lakh to run it every month and it did not have the money to do this. They said any additional fee to be given to the PPCB would have to be decided by the higher authorities.

The Rajindra Hospital sources said unless they had a functional incinerator segregating medical waste did not serve any purpose as the segregated waste would still have to be disposed of by the Corporation authorities. They said medical waste could also not be dumped in envelopes for a long period. The sources said the government was seized of the problem of the non functional incinerator.

According to norms presently all medical waste has been divided into ten categories by use of colour coded envelopes which are to be treated and disposed off in different ways. The manner of disposal includes shredding, disinfecting, putting waste in secure landfills or ensuring deep burial and use of incinerators.