R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL  POTPOURRI

• A gurukul for engineers

• Cure for TED!

AMRITSAR
FARMERS’ THREAT: Even as the procurement of paddy has just started farmers allege that officials of various government agencies are taking bribe to procure paddy from the market. Mr Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, convener, ‘Kisan Sanghrash Committee, warned the government and the authorities concerned that the farmers would not tolerate any ‘extra-taxes’.

GURDASPUR
MEDICAL CAMP: The Rotary Club here organised a medical check-up camp at Babowal village, 3 km from here, on Monday. More than 650 patients were examined for various diseases and were given medicine free of cost.

FOUR HELD: The police on Tuesday arrested Narinder Singh, Major Singh, Harjinder Singh and Yunus Masih, all residents of Waraich, on the charge of attempt to robbery outside the village on October 2. A case under Section 393 of IPC was registered against four on Sunday.

HOSHIARPUR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Telecom Engineering Officers Association: president — Mr Amarjit Singh Bains; vice-president — Mr Satwinder Singh; secretary — Mr Harpreet Singh; assistant secretaries — Mr Jagtar Singh and Mr Devinder Kumar and treasurer — Mr Sunil Malhotra.

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED: The Transport Department has launched a special campaign against those who are plying taxis and buses without proper route permits in the district. As many as 459 challans had been issued against such operators during September and a sum of Rs 6 lakh realised as fine.

LUDHIANA
HONOURED: The Ramgarhia Welfare Council, a social welfare organisation of Jagraon, in a function held on the occasion of birthday of Bhai Lallo, honoured Prof Baldev Singh, a teacher, educational administrator and social activist who is working as a lecturer in English at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Jagraon; Dr Gurpreet Singh Kalsi and Mr Gurmukh Singh, respectively, from the fields of medical sciences and art.

DECLAMATION CONTEST: An inter-class declamation and poetry recitation competition was held on Wednesday in Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town. Recitation Society of the college headed by Ms Indu Kaushal and Ms Surinder Bhathal. The function was inaugurated and presided over by the Principal of the college Ms Charanjit Mahal. Ms Harsimran Preet of English Department, Ms Sukhwinder Cheema of Punjabi Department and Ms Reema of Hindi Department were the Judges. Geeta Sharma (BA III), Damanjot Kaur (BA III) and Gurpreet Kaur (BA I) bagged the first, second and third positions, respectively, in the declamation competition. Sanjogata (BA III) and Amanpreet (BA III) were declared first and second while Parminder Kaur and Sheetal shared the third position for poetry recitation competition.

URGED: The Ludhiana Electroplaters Association has urged upon the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh to reconsider the Cabinet decision and withdraw the entry tax on yarn and paper. A deputation of the Ludhiana Electroplaters Association has already held a meeting with Mr Y.S. Ratra, Chief Secretary. Mr Mukul Joshi, Principal Secretary Excise and Taxation, Punjab was also present in the meeting according to the association. 

PROGRAMME: The College of Nursing, Christian Medical College will organise a health education programme on the occasion of International Mental Health Day on October 10 at the new OPD Reception in the hospital premises. Dr Rajeev Kapoor, Deputy Medical Superintendent in a press statement today said this year the theme was “Effect of Violence and Trauma on Children and Adolescents”, given by the World Federation for Mental Health and WHO. According to the International Society for Traumatic Stress, between 14 to 43 per cent of children had experienced at least one traumatic event in their life-time. Unfortunately, childhood violence and trauma were increasing in the world. The College of Nursing will also put up a poster exhibition at the new OPD Reception to educate public on how to protect children from the effects of violence and trauma by providing effective intervention and how to actually prevent violence.

MOGA
CHECK-POSTS: The police has launched a scheme to check the entry of criminals and unscrupulous elements into the district by setting up seven check-posts on the district boundary. The places where check-posts have been set up include Khkukhrana on the Moga-Ferozepore road, Chuharckak New on the Moga-Jalandhar road, Himat Pura on the Moga-Barnala road, Lopan on the link road connecting Jagraon and Kotisekahn on the Moga-Amritsar road, district police chief Shiv Kumar told reporters here on Wednesday.

MUKTSAR
BDS COURSE: The local Desh Bhagat Dental College has been granted permission to admit the third batch of students to the BDS course. This was stated in a press note issued here on Wednesday by Mr Anshu Kataria, Public Relations Officer, of the institute.

APPOINTMENT HAILED: The district unit of the Audit Staff Association has hailed the decision of the Punjab Government to appoint Mr M.P. Pandav as a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). Mr Darshan Singh and Mr Sukhminder Singh, president and general secretary, respectively, of the association’s district union, said in a press note here on Wednesday that Mr Pandav was honest and hard working, and would serve the PPSC in a better way.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CAMP: The Ambala City branch of Canara Bank will organise a blood donation camp on Friday in Nagar Sewa Sangh premises, Ambala City, with the assistance of the Red Cross Society. According to the senior manager of the bank, Mr Lalit Saini, the divisional manager of the bank. Mr P. Bhagwat, will inaugurate the camp.

INJURED MAN DIES: Neeraj, a resident of Railway Colony, succumbed to his injuries in the PGI, Chandigarh on Wednesday. He had sustained serious injuries when a motorcycle hit him on October 7 at Ambala Cantonment. The police has registered a case. 

LAWYER DIES: The work in the local and district courts remained suspend on Wednesday following the death of a senior lawyer of Ambala, Lekh Taj Taneja. He was around 75. He is survived by two daughters and two sons. The District Bar Association, a former Chairman of Municipal Council, Ambala City, Mr Nirmal Vij, and several social organisations have condoled the death of Taneja, a large number of prominent citizen, including MLA of Ambala Cantonment, Mr Anil Vij, attended the funeral procession. 

RAID: A village dispensary was found closed during a surprise check carried out by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam Kasni, here on Wednesday. Ms Kasni visited Kakru village at 9 am and the dispensary was found closed. The villagers had complained that the dispensary often remained closed. She said the Civil Surgeon had been informed about it. On her visit to the Anganwadi centre, she found that the staff came late. She had directed the staff to maintain punctuality, a press note said. She also visited the Uttar Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam power hose at Sadopur. Some of the employees had not marked their attendance, despite being present. They were directed to mark their attendance in time.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
TRAINING: The district police provided one-month training to girl students of middle classes in judo and karate for self-defence. Mr N. Venu Gopal, SP, presided over the valedictory function organised at Senior Secondary School for Girls, Sultanpur, here on Tuesday. He said the police had trained about 1000 girl students till date against a target of 500.

NCC CADETS: Wing Commander Anil Arora, Commanding Officer, 1 HP Air Squadron, said here on Wednesday that two teams of NCC cadets had left to participate in camps from here. Seventeen cadets, including seven girls, would participate in a pre-Vayu Sainik camp in Chandigarh. Selected cadets would leave for Bangalore for the All-India Vayu Sanik camp from there.

NAHAN
DEMANDED: Mr S.S. Gill, president, Sirmaur Kisan Mandal, has demanded that the state government should start the procurement of paddy in the Paonta valley at the minimum support price fixed by the Centre. He said farmers feared that middlemen would fleece them.

REGIONAL  POTPOURRI

A gurukul for engineers

The Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology can indeed be called a gurukul for budding engineers and technocrats. For the urban spoilt brats the idea of being cut off from the usual attractions that city life offers may not be attractive. But one has to visit the campus to understand the huge favour Rajiv Gandhi has done to Punjab by deciding to locate the institute in the native village of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal.

The institute is a tribute to the vision of Rajiv Gandhi and the contribution of Sant Longowal in restoring peace in Punjab at a very critical period in the history of the state.

Last week the nearly, 2,000 students and their teachers closed the laboratories and classrooms to celebrate another successful year in the life of the institute set up in 1986 by organising a Techfest-cum-convention on October 3 and 4. In Mr R. C. Chauhan the institute has an able administrator. He balanced the dilemma of being seen on the right side of the Congress government in Punjab and the NDA government at the Centre comprising the Akali Dal by inviting Ashwani Sekhri, a Punjab minister, to be the chief guest on day one (see photo), and Mr S. S. Dhindsa, a Central minister, on day two. The balancing act was necessary because the institute is located in Punjab but the funds come from the Centre.

If the Mumbai film makers get wind of the location of the institute, they may destroy its gurukul character by deciding to use it as a backdrop for their inane films on inane themes. Although it is only 20 km from Sangrur, the absence of wide roads puts off the aimlessly curious from invading the campus. For the students the lush green farms that surround it are a blessing. The forced distance from the distractions of civilisation and proximity to mother nature helps the students remain focused on their studies during their stay at the institute. Most students begin their career by joining the two-year certificate courses after passing the Class X examination and end up doing the two-year diploma and three-year degree course in any one of the subjects offered by the institute. Indeed, the Longowal Institute students spend an extra year for their degree, but it is worth the wait. The advantage of starting early is obviously. However, at every level internal candidates have to compete with outside candidates by taking the prescribed all-India entrance tests for the diploma and degree courses.

The gurukul character is the institute’s USP. However, it is also proving to be a handicap because most industries are reluctant to accept invitations for campus placement schemes, so popular in institutes located in urban centres. However, from next year the campus placement scheme may see a minor modification. The management has accepted a suggestion for organising a 15-day placement mela in Sangrur. The students have offered to raise the money for meeting the hospitality and other placement-related expenses. Of course, once the stand off between the Centre, that has offered to provide funds for constructing a wide road connecting the institute to the nearest urban point, and the state, that has refused to get involved in the process of land acquisition, the captains of industry may begin sending teams for on-the-spot job offers to students.

At last week’s Techfest Mr O. P. Munjal of Hero Cycles was the only big name from the industry. He was generous in extending to the students an open offer to spend time at his plant as part of their training. However, for the industry-institute linkage to be effective the country needs many more Munjals than the one who has made Indian bicycles popular across the globe.

Cure for TED!

An Ambala based doctor, P.D. Gupta, who claims to have found a cure for exophthalmos, commonly known as Thyroid Eye Disease(TED), is at his wit’s end. His request to various medical institutions for evaluation of the results have been stonewalled, though his patients, including many members of the medical fraternity, testify to the efficacy of his treatment.

The eyes of a person suffering from TED protrude out of the bonny socket, leading to vision complications, besides disfiguring the face of the patient. No known treatment for TED exists in allopathy or any other system of medicine. The available treatment is only symptomatic and supportive.

Dr Gupta, who himself suffered from TED, stumbled upon the treatment in naturopathy after a 14-year-long research. He tested the treatment upon himself, with encouraging results. Understandably reluctant to give out the details of his line of treatment, Dr Gupta says: “My method is non-medicinal in which the effect of two forces of nature is absorbed in already existing medicines, which only act as carriers and have no effect of their own.”

Dr Gupta has now written to the Prime Minister, the Union Health Minister and the Haryana Health Minister, urging them to ask a medical institution of repute to evaluate the results of his treatment. His only desire is that the evaluating institution should give him his due credit and the treatment should be patented in his name. So far two prestigious institutions in the region have declined his request for evaluation because they are not willing to give him the credit if the results are to be found encouraging.

Dr Vinod Gupta, a surgeon posted in the Ambala Cantonment Civil Hospital, whose wife took treatment for TED from Dr P.D. Gupta, is highly impressed. He says his wife was treated at reputed hospitals in the region but with no effect.

But after treatment from Dr Gupta for three months, the eye ball has retracted inside the socket by over 50 per cent.

Similarly another doctor, Dr Rekha Goel, who herself took the treatment for “Exophthalmose in Graves Disease”, for three months, says she is now almost near normal. Rekha and her husband, Dr Subhash Goel, have even permitted Dr Gupta to display her photographs on his website : www.tedcure.com. Several patients from abroad, including the USA and Mexico, have contacted Dr Gupta after going through his website and have sought medicine from him. A number of them have reported improvement in their condition and have sought additional medicine.

Will the Indian institutions wake up to Dr Gupta’s request before he hands over his treatment, in frustration, to a foreign institution or a company? He says it is his earnest desire to make his discovery public through some Indian institution. “But if my desire is not met, I will have be left with no other way but to hand over my treatment to a foreigner for the benefit of the human race. At present about 2 per cent women in the world suffer from TED,” Dr Gupta says ruefully.

Contributed by L.H. Naqvi and Y.P. Gupta