Jalandhar, May 4
Following the arrest of two persons on charges of being involved in a kidney transplant racket, the police today claimed to have nabbed the main agent running the business to sell the vital body organ. The main agent, Chandan Singh, was arrested late last night from Amritsar.

Rajiv Aggarwal, a resident of Sultanpur Lodhi, who used to bring donors willing to sell their kidneys, was arrested yesterday from the New Ruby Hospital, along with a donor, Raj Kumar, alias Raju, a resident of Ludhiana who wanted to sell his kidney for Rs 80,000.

During the interrogations, Chandan reportedly revealed that he used to look for those wanting kidney for a transplant through advertisements in newspapers.

The SP, City (I), Dr Surinder Kumar Kalia, said that on a tip-off, the police had arrested Rajiv and Raj Kumar. The three accused had been sent to three-day police remand by a local court, he added.

However, the authorities at the New Ruby Hospital have claimed that Raj Kumar had come to the hospital merely for preliminary tests.

Rajiv had reportedly admitted before the police that earlier he used to sell his blood frequently for Rs 4000-Rs 5000. He recently met Chandan, who recruited him as a sub-agent to pry on potential donors who wanted to sell their kidneys for money.

According to sources, Chandan had reportedly told the police that many influential bureaucrats, doctors and even lawyers were also involved in the racket. The kidney donor was given Rs 80,000 and Rajiv reportedly used to get a commission of Rs 5,000 for finding such donors.

A case under Sections 18,19 and 20 of Tranplantation of Human Organs Act and Sections 420 and 511 of the IPC has been registered. The SP said the arrests had put under scanner the activities of the New Ruby Hospital as well as the functioning of a committee headed by the ADC responsible for approving any kidney transplantation case. 

Jalandhar, May 4
Sitting in his aunt’s lap, four-and-a-half-year-old Arshdeep is unable to fathom the enormity of the tragedy which has struck him.

The treatment for the injuries accrued when the wall he was playing along fell on him, led to both the legs of the child being amputated.

According to the child’s father, Jagtar Singh, a resident of Gaggad Bhana village in Baba Bakala sub-division in Amritsar, was playing in a park when a wall fell on him on March 27. They said Arshdeep was admitted to the Beas Hospital from where he was shifted to the Ajit Singh Randhawa Hospital, Amritsar, after two days with high fever.

Jagtar Singh alleged that the doctors in the hospital prescribed ice to be administered on the injured legs. “Later, the child’s condition worsened and on April 12, both his legs had to be amputated after he was admitted to the DMC, Ludhiana,” he said.

The family members claimed that the report on the treatment given to the child from the medical experts at PGI, Chandigarh, mentioned that the legs had to be amputated because ice was administered on the legs.

The family is now demanding action against the doctors responsible for the criminal act of negligence.

The authorities at the Ajit Singh Randhawa Hospital, however, justified the treatment of the child and denied the charges of negligence.

One of the doctors there said ice had to be administered because the child had high brain fever.

Jalandhar, May 4
To facilitate quicker and better services to immigrant visa applicants, the US Embassy has allowed the local Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) centre to accept the required documents prior to the date of the visa interview of the applicants.

Ms Karen Schinnerer, Consular (Visa) Officer, US Embassy, said this during a press conference here today.

She added that the new facility had been started at the VFS centres in Jalandhar, Chandigarh and New Delhi.

Ms Schinnerer said with this facility, the applicants would have to visit New Delhi just once — on the day of interview — instead of making rounds twice or thrice.

The consular said the VFS would also help expedite immigrant visa processing procedures on the day of an applicant’s interview.

She said the VFS had been managing only non-immigrant visa appointment system for the US Embassy, but now it had been allowed to accept visa applications three days back, from May 1 onwards.

Ms Schinnerer said the facility had been started after the US Embassy felt that the number of applicants from the region had risen by 30 per cent in the past three years.

Explaining the new system, she said all immigrant visa applicants scheduled for interview after May 1 would have to submit their completed Packet-4 of “Information for immigrant visa applicants”.

She said the VFS would also provide a receipt at its offices and place a bar code sticker on the original passport.

The fee for the service was Rs 337 for each applicant, she added.

The consular said in case any additional documents and items were requested at the time of an immigrant visa applicant’s interview, these could be submitted at the VFS office. The fee for this service would also be Rs 337, she said.

Ms Schinnerer said the applicants must not submit the documents in parts, but they must submit all the requested documents at the same time. 

Jalandhar, May 4
Those candidates who were seeking admission to Classes VI and IX in the Sainik School, Kapurthala but had been declared permanently or temporarily unfit on medical grounds by the Military Hospital, Jalandhar, have been asked to appear for another fitness review by the Medical Review Board. The candidates had challenged the earlier medical report.

The second physical fitness test would now be conducted at the Command Hospital in Chandimandir on May 5 and 6.

The Sainik School staff informed that the students had been invited for a review and in case any of them failed to make it on either of the two days, he would be allowed to undergo an examination on May 12 in the same hospital.

Nearly 36 of the 72 candidates had passed the written test and interview for admissions had challenged the previous report and asked the Sainik School authorities to give them a second chance.

The parents of the students said that a month had passed since the new classes had begun at the Sainik School, but they were not being informed about the date of review .

Earlier, the medical review for the school candidates was conducted by the Military Hospital.

But the hospital authorities this time refused to take up the cases, as they had pointed out that only senior doctors at hospital like Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi, could conduct the reviews.

The New Delhi hospital authorities had said that the review would be conducted at Chandimandir.

Major J.S. Thapa, Registrar of the school, said all the seats of meritorious candidates who wanted to get a medical review had been kept vacant till the final report arrived. 

Jalandhar, May 4
Punjab Minister for Local Bodies, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour and Employment Chaudhary Jagjit Singh today laid the foundation stone of a rail over bridge (ROB) near DAV College here today.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said the work on the bridge would be completed in one year at an estimated cost of Rs 13 crore and 40 lakh. He said a private firm, Gamon India, would construct the bridge.

The minister also said that sewerage lines would be laid in Maksudan Chowk and Bhagat Singh Colony at cost of Rs 15 crore. For this, a Rs 8 crore cheque was handed over to the Municipal Corporation by the minister.

He also informed that proposal for a Rs 350-crore project for the development of the district had been sent to the Centre for approval.