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75 cattle charred to death in two incidents of fire
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Committee rejects plea of kidney patient
Only SGPC has right to send jathas to Pakistan: Bhaur
3 killed, 2 injured in firing
SHO caught taking bribe
‘New irrigation techniques can check depleting water table’
AIDS, drug awareness rally on Nov 28
Pak golfers get a warm welcome in city
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75 cattle charred to death in two incidents of fire
Jalandhar, November 23 Around 60 milch cattle perished when the shed under which they were tied caught fire at Nizamdinpur village on the Jalandhar-Pathankot Road. The animals could not run away as they were tied when the fire broke out. The fire spread so rapidly that despite quick action, the house of one Gujjar Ali that stood adjacent to the shed was also engulfed in fire. Various household items were damaged. The fire brigade reached the site, but could be of no help as the damage had been done. Gujjar Ali said he had lost his livelihood, as 60 buffaloes and two horses of his farm had been charred to death in the incident. His three buffaloes had also sustained burn injuries, he added. In another incident that took place in the wee hours today at Kot Sadiq village on the Kala Sanghian Road, 15 cattle were burnt to death, while 25 others sustained severe burn injuries after the shed of one Gujjar Roshandin caught fire. He said he was sleeping when he heard some disturbance in the shed. While 12 buffaloes died on the spot, three others later succumbed to their burn injuries, he added. The SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, visited the spot to take stock of the situation.
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MC orders clearing of choked roadsides as 250 trees perish
Jalandhar, November 23 The corporation yesterday deployed its men in the area to remove the buried inorganic waste, primarily plastic material, using two JCB machines. As the machines pulled out the waste, the stink coming from the garbage became unbearable for passersby. Students and faculty of DAV college, along the boundary of which the exercise was being carried out, were the worst affected. The roots of most of the trees on the roadsides had apparently become too weak to stand erect. Many of the trees had fallen down and hundreds were lying in inclined position. While the trees growing in clean soil nearby were healthy and green, those amidst garbage heaps were dried up, clearly indicating the death of the trees due to choking. Earlier this year, the MCJ officials had ordered the dumping of the untreated garbage from various parts of the city on this stretch of the road. After the residents complained about the stink emanating from the place, the authorities covered the dumped garbage with soil. While the residents got some relief, over 40 trees in the area had to face the brunt of the action. The forest department officials had criticised the civic authorities in this connection. They claimed that the department had suffered a loss to the tune of over Rs 60,000 due to the MCJ’s action. Senescence had set in untimely in hundreds of trees that were growing in the soil littered with garbage heaps that caused dehydration in the trees, leading to withering of leaves and weakening of tall trunks of the trees. A patch of the land just outside the girls’ hostel of the college had been converted into a dumping ground, which had turned marshy in monsoon. Mr Lakhbir Singh, an environmentalist, said the action of the corporation had come too late, as hundreds of trees had got choked. Intermingling of non-biodegradable waste with the soil had proved to be even more harmful to the environment as it did not allow the water to percolate into the soil, thereby affecting the water table level, he opined. The corporation and the pollution control board seemed to have turned a blind eye to the issue for over eight months, he added. Mr Surinder Mahey, Mayor, MCJ, admitted that some damage had been done to the trees. But the place, he added, was being cleaned so that no further damage could be done. Mr Sanjeev Kumar, Forest Range Officer, could not be contacted for his comments.
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Committee rejects plea of kidney patient
Jalandhar, November 23 With the ban on kidney transplantation by hospitals affecting genuine patients who needed to undergo the surgery, the Punjab government had formed authorisation committees at the district level to clear authentic cases. The six-member committee in Jalandhar, headed by the Deputy
Commissioner, Mr Ashok Gupta, has given a go ahead to eight persons for kidney transplantations in the past two months. Of the eight patients, five had approached the committee in November, which was being taken as a sign of increasing awareness among the patients and donors about the existence of such authorisation committees. The committee, comprising Mr Mohinder Singh Kainth, ADC, Dr Yash Sharma, a member of the Punjab Medical Council, Mr Khera (DSP-D), Dr Balraj Gupta, a local cardiologist, Dr H.S. Minhas, SMO, and Dr G.S. Nagi, Assistant Civil Surgeon, rejected the case of a Patiala-based patient, Mr Hardev Singh, at its meeting here today. On the other hand, cases of two other patients, including one of Mr Des Raj, received the nod of the committee. Sources in the committee revealed that the plea of Mr Hardev Singh was rejected by the committee because he neither had any blood relation with the proposed donor, Mr Harjit Singh belonging to Amritsar, nor did the case depict a sufficient level of affection between the two, who, they added, had met barely three months ago. During the questioning by the committee members, Mr Hardev Singh said he had met Mr Harjit Singh sometime ago in the Golden Temple complex and thereafter both developed an affinity and Harjit had agreed to “donate” his kidney to the patient. But this failed to impress the committee, which then unanimously decided to reject the case of Mr Hardev Singh. Dr Yash Sharma, a member of the committee, said, “Since we have received comparatively large number of applications in the first three weeks of November, during which five cases were cleared, we feel that more and more people have come to know about the role of the committee in ensuring genuine transplantations.” |
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Only SGPC has right to send jathas to Pakistan: Bhaur
Phagwara, November 23 During a brief stop-over here on way to his home town Banga, Jathedar Bhaur said the SGPC would provide all infrastructure and residential accommodation to the staff if a visa sub-office was set up at Amritsar for the facilities of Sikh pilgrims visiting “gurdhams” (shrines) in Pakistan. “The Govt of India should work in this direction, as the number of Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan is swelling every year and even the trade between the two countries has increased,” he said. “We would also provide a parking enclave for buses meant for taking pilgrims to the gurdwaras in Pakistan, ” he said, demanding that Sikhs should be allowed to visit gurdwaras in Pakistan without any hurdle. To persistent queries on his views on the style of functioning of the outgoing SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur, Jathedar Bhaur replied that Bibi had functioned according to her capacity. Mr Jarnail Singh Wahid, SGPC member cum Organising Secretary SAD and other party workers gave Jathedar Bhaur a warm welcome. |
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3 killed, 2 injured in firing
Hoshiarpur, November 23 Manjit Singh, a resident of Fatehpur, and Chotu died on the spot, while Suresh Kumar, a resident of Dholwha village, succumbed to bullet injuries on the way to the hospital, eyewitnesses said. Two salesmen of the liquor vend, Pawan Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar, were also injured. Later, the two were referred to the Civil Hospital in Hoshiarpur, where their condition was said to be critical, sources said. According to eyewitnesses, the miscreants demanded money from the owner of the liquor shop after the firing. SSP, Hoshiarpur, Mr Lok Nath Angra reached the spot to take stock of the situation.
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SHO caught taking bribe
Jalandhar, November 23 The team from Chandigarh conducted the raid around 7 pm near here. DSP Zora Singh, who was heading the team, also recovered the sum of Rs 40,000 from the SHO’s possession. The complainant, Gurdeep Singh, alleged that the inspector had actually demanded a bribe of Rs one lakh, and had threatened him with dire consequences in case he did not pay up. The complainant too was on a wrong foot, as he was trying to a passport for himself on another name. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the SHO.
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‘New irrigation techniques can check depleting water table’
Kapurthala, November 23 This was disclosed by the Chief Conservator of Soil, Punjab, Mr Sukhwant Singh Saini, while talking to media persons after addressing a seminar on water conservation at Arianwal village near here yesterday. As most of the districts in the state were facing the problem of depleting underground water level, the government had started educating farmers about the water conservation methods, he added. The worst-affected districts, where the average rate of depletion was 25 cm to 100 cm were Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Nawanshahr, Fahegarh Sahib, Sangrur, Patiala, Faridkot and Sangrur, said Mr Saini. Pointing out that the hesitation of the farmers in adopting the modern techniques was the factor which were causing depletion in the underground water at fast rate, he disclosed that a total of 60 per cent water used in the Kharif crop was consumed by paddy growers only. “To check the further depletion, farmers should adopt modern irrigation methods like underground pipelines, drip irrigation, micro sprinkles, bed sowing of wheat and paddy, besides crop diversification,” he said. Up to 30 per cent of water could be saved by sowing the wheat through the technique of bed plantation that would also increase the produce to three per cent, he claimed. |
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AIDS, drug awareness rally on Nov 28
Phagwara, November 23 Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti will flag off a rally for spreading awareness on the issues from Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Amritsar, on November 28. This was disclosed to this correspondent by Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, the author of the first multi-media CD-ROM Encyclopaedia on Sikhism. He is also Coordinator of the Sikh Education and Research Society of Canada. He said he was here to mobilise college students for the rally aimed at spreading awareness, reducing barriers to early diagnosis of HIV/AIDS infection and increasing access to quality medical service among students and the general public. Sponsored by the Sewa Singhji Khadoor Sahibwale, the rally, he said, would be attended by over one thousand students, including girls, NGO/community activists and others. A motorcade of scooters, motorcycles, cars and buses would carry the participants from the Harmandar Sahib, Amritsar, to a distance of 50 km to Khadoor Sahib, he said. Jathedar Vedanti would address the participants at Akal Takht Sahib. A seminar would also be held on the occasion. |
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Pak golfers get a warm welcome in city
Jalandhar, November 23 Punjab Golf Association has invited the players and the district president of the association, Mr Bhupinder Singh Makkar, welcomed the players on their arrival. The delegation was here to promote the game and also to increase the interaction between the players belonging to the two sides of the border. The Pakistan Golf Association president, Lt Gen Mohammed Tariq, said both the countries would benefit from such initiatives which would help them in knowing more about each other’s game. The delegation has 21 male and 13 female members. The golf players said that the improved bilateral relations between India and Pakistan augured well for sport persons. Sports could thrive in a peaceful atmosphere, they added. If the bilateral relations were not cordial, it affected all fields, including sports. |
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