The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Chain-snatching incidents on rise in Kapurthala
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Ms Sunita Sood, municipal councillor, Ms Neena Sharma, a gynaecologist at the Civil Hospital, Ms Jaswinder Kaur, a teacher of MGN Public School, and Ms Ruchi Gupta, a housewife, are apparently from different walks of life. However, one thing is common about them that either their chains or purses have been snatched or attempts were made to do so in different parts of Kapurthala in the recent past.

Women and girls scare to go outside alone in the city nowadays as the chain snatching incidents are on the rise.

Contrary to the data provided by the district police of just 13 chain or purse- snatching incidents this year in the area falling under the city police station, more than 30 such incidents have taken place in different parts in the past two months.

One of the victims, Dr Neena Sharma says the police should take special steps to stop or at least minimise such incidents but nothing is being done.

Two motor cycle-borne youths tried to snatch her necklace near Sabzi Mandi a few weeks ago, however, they could not succeed as it fell on the ground in panic but her locket was lost in the incident.

However, Ms Ruchi Gupta was not so lucky. Her chain was snatched by a pedestrian in Model Town on October 13. An FIR was also registered, but the case is still untraced.

Interestingly, two motor cycle-borne persons tried to snatch purse from Ruchi’s mother-in-law, Ms Anita Gupta, a few weeks later on November 11 when she was returning to her house in Model Town after paying obeisance at a “jagran” organised near her house. The police was informed but the case is untraced so far.

Ms Anita Gupta demanded that the police should deploy more PCR teams in those localities which are vulnerable to such crimes. The movement of the police will act as a deterrent effect to minimise the incidents of chain and purse snatching. The police should also act promptly as and when it is informed about such incidents, she said.

In a recent case, teacher Jaswinder Cheema’s chain was snatched at Gopal Park on November 26 when she was returning from MGN Public School to her house. In this case, a youth approached her near Gopal Park and snatched the chain. When she cried for help, the youth fled on motor cycle driven by another person.

According to police sources, most of the youth involved in the incidents of chain or purse snatching are drug addicts. They mainly adopt two types of modus operandi.

One of them is that a youth snatches the purse or chain in some busy market and disappears in the crowd, whereas in second modus operndi, a gang of at least six criminals work and they commit the crime on open road or small lanes. Mobiles and motor cycles are used to commit the crime and flee from the spot after committing the crime.

After identifying the victim, two motor cycle-borne gang members informed their two teams of two members each on as much motor cycles on their mobiles. The other team approached the victim, commits the crime and fled from the spot. The other two teams keep on making rounds on their motor cycles near the site of the crime to save their companions in case of any problem.

SSP’s version

The SSP, Mr Rajiv Ahir, says 13 cases of purse or chain or bag -snatching incidents have been registered this year. Out of them, eight have been traced whereas just five are untraced.

One of the incidents was traced within minutes after occurrence of the crime. Two boys were fleeing after snatching a bag containing Rs 15 lakh from a person outside a bank in the city. As and when the police was informed, it acted instantly and laid nakas at different places and nabbed the culprits and recovered the money within minutes, Mr Ahir adds.

He says cash or items worth Rs 16.32 lakh were snatched in the 13 registered cases and the police succeeded in recovering Rs 15.54 lakh after tracing eight cases.

While he denies that the chain snatching incidents are on the rise but admits that the figure of occurrence of this type of crime might be much higher as some victims prefer not to report the matter to the police. At the same time, Mr Ahir says that if requires more PCR teams may be deployed according to the requirement after assessing the situation.

Reality bites: Patients continue to suffer in villages
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Imagine the condition of a dispensary where there are no basic medical equipment, including thermometer and sphygmomanometer. There is not just one but a host of rural dispensaries in the district where doctors are finding it unable to discharge their duties for want of proper instruments and adequate infrastructure for examining the patients.

Dispensaries located in Paddi Jagir, Kaudhala Guru, Beas Pind, Kapoor Pind and Haripur villages, all functioning under the Zila Parishad, are without such equipment. Not just that, many dispensaries such as those in Boparava, Mundh, Haripur and Ladhar villages falling in the Mehatpur area do not even have refrigerator to maintain vaccines.

The dispensary at Pandori Khas village also does not have any examination table and beds for the patients. There are numerous such dispensaries where lack of furniture is a major problem.

Mundh, Haripur and Alowal village dispensaries do not even have a chair for the doctors to sit.

The condition of lot many dispensaries which are without toilets is even more adverse. The doctors said since they were asking patients coming for gynaecological examination to come full bladder, construction of toilets in the premises was an urgent need.

The rural dispensaries which sans any toilets include those in Pandori Khas, Alowal, Bir Pind, Chak Dhodra and Dhadial villages. Toilets need repair at Mohem and Maldi villages of Mehatpur.

Some of the dispensaries do not either have an electricity connection or water supply, making the working conditions extremely difficult. Dispensaries in Boparava, Haripur and Heran villages of Mehatpur, Bhoor Mandi in cantonment area and Lassara village are functioning without power and water supplies.

Surja and Paddi Jagir dispensaries have electricity connection but no water supply.

Staff working at Mansurpur village said power bills to the tune of Rs 50,000 were pending for their dispensary and they were being threatened that the connection would be cut.

They said they had informed in this regard to the Health and Family Welfare Department but to no avail. The rural service providers rue that the electricity bills of dispensaries had not been paid by the department owing to which connections of some of the centres had also been snapped.

The doctors working in rural dispensaries said they were assured that those dispensaries which do not have their own building and were being run elsewhere would be soon provided with a new building. They said nothing was being done in this regard even still. The rural dispensary situated in Sikanderpur village is functioning in a gurdwara.

The timely supply of medicines is yet another problem that the doctors are facing. The service providers have also written that the medicines were of poor quality and ineffective which was bringing a bad name among the rural population. They added that many vital generic medicines were not even included in the list of the ones supplied to them.

They further said no paediatric or gynaecological medicines were supplied to them even as these were in maximum demand.

The Zila Parishad chief, Mr Surinder Singh, could not be contacted as his phone was switched off.

Euphoria to rock Jalandhar
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

The city youth rock with Euphoria, a versatile Indi-pop band, which will perform Live at Apeejay College of Fine Arts on Sunday evening.

The band calls their melody and lyrics “Hind Rock”. Their style is a refreshing alternative to the dominant Indian film or classical music and has helped them create an audience for themselves.

Mixing electric guitar with traditional instruments like tabla, dholak and sitar to create mesmerising musical effects, Euphoria was among the first to bring rock culture to India.

Euphoria’s first album was titled ‘Dhoom’, followed by ‘Phir Dhoom’, ‘Mantra’ (single) and ‘Gulley’. Their latest album called “Mehfuz” was released this year.

The six-member group, known for playing a natural rhythm, will include the lead vocalist Palash Sen.

The other band members are Debajyoti Bhaduri on bass guitar, Benjamin Pinto on keyboard, Hitesh Madan on guitar, Ashwani on drums, Rakesh on dholak and Prashant on tabla.

The event is being organised by the District Red Cross Society and Spice Telecom. Mr Mukul Khanna, Assistant Vice-President, Marketing, Spice Telecom, said the event was being organised exclusively for the young-at-heart subscribers.

Young World
Kindergarten students impress audience
Tribune News Service

Little Blossoms School organised its annual day, Saturnalia, on Wednesday at Urban Estate, Phase-II. Pre-nursery and nursery students enthralled the audience with their power-packed performances.

The whole event was compered by students of Class I to V. The items performed during the show included Vandana, welcome song, western dances and songs, modeling, cartoon character play, Latino dance, Goan dance, a play “Cindrella”, Rajasthani and Punjabi folk dance.

Lecture

The Department of Biotechnology, Lyallpur Khalsa College, organised a lecture on “Malaria as re-emerging global health problem” on Tuesday. Prof Prati Pal Singh from NIPPER, Mohali, said even as quinine was the oldest anti-malarial drug known, genetic engineers were trying to find out other cures against it. Various vaccines had been developed to cope up with the deadly microorganism, he added.

Dr Arun Dev Sharma from the host college said through transgenic technology, comparative genomics and chemical genomics, the new DNA sequences of all causal organisms was under process so that new vaccines could be produced. He said various international bodies were also active to control the disease.

The Roll Back Malaria in partnership with United National Development Programme and Medicines for Malaria Venture, another Swiss-based foundation, are playing a major role to control the disease, he added.

Media workshop

On the third day of the media workshop organised by Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Ms Jyotika Grover, anchor and newscaster on various channels, was the resource person. She said command over language, clarity of voice, brevity, correct body language, proper facial expressions and dress were essential for a good anchor.

Students were trained in writing scripts for anchoring programmes. An easy listening formula with a sentence not more than 13 to 14 words was told to them.

Alumni meet

The Department of Management Studies, Lovely Institutes, organised its maiden alumni meet on Tuesday.

Nearly 50 students from the pass-out batches of MBA and MCA participated. The alumni met students and guided them on choosing their career and grooming themselves to meet the challenges of corporate world.

Games were played to help demonstrate the concepts of motivation, team work, relationship management and stress management.

Career exhibition

The career and guidance cell of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1 and 2 organised a career counselling exhibition at Jalandhar Cantonment on Wednesday. Schools, colleges, computer institutes, NCC and Army recruitment wing set up their stalls. The exhibition was opened by Ms Aruna Patil, wife of Brig B.B. Patil, Station Commander, Headquarters 91, Sub Area.

Visit

Students of diplomas in air hostess and flight stewards and air travel services from Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya and DAV College visited Air Squardon to see the models of different aircrafts.

Wg Cmdr H. Singh, Sqn Ldr Sachin Arora, Sqn Ldr Trivedi and Lt (Dr) Jyoti Narula interacted with them.

College fetes

The annual fete was organised at Banarasi Dass Arya Girls’ College in which 25 stalls of eatables and games were organised. The departments of fine arts, home science and fashion designing put up a sale and exhibition of various items made by them.

Visitors enjoyed dancing to the tunes of DJ.

A fete was also organsied in the Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women. There were stalls of eatables, games and tombola. A raffle draw was also taken out and winners walked away with gifts.

Dental check-up

The Nirman Educational and Welfare Society held a free dental check up for 500 students of ND Victor Senior Secondary School. Dr Sachin Dev Mehta, president of the society, also distributed toothpastes and tooth brushes free of cost among students of all classes.

Toppers

Students of Guru Nanak Dev University College, Basti Nau, have got top positions in MBA (second semester) examination held this year.

Ritika Mahajan, Vimaldeep Kaur, Navpreet, Ravinder and Syma Singh have got first, second, third, fifth and seventh ranks, respectively, in the university.

The CT Institute of Management and Information Technology bagged top four positions in Punjab Technical University in postgraduate diploma in airlines, tourism and hospitality.

Pooja Sareen with 77 per cent, Prabhjot with 76.25 per cent, Deepak Kumar with 71 per cent and Sandeep Kaundal with 66.25 per cent marks hold the top ranks in PTU.

Pharmacy week

The department of pharmacy, Lovely Institutes, organised a seminar on “Self-medication-How safe? Ask your pharmacist”.

Dr Saranjit Singh from NIPER, said: “Drugs purchased over the counter with a prescription often led to immediate relief of symptoms but it often led to addiction and dependence, besides leading to side-effects on long term use.

Contests were held on poster making on topics related to AIDS awareness, blood donation, malnutrition and healthy lifestyles. Mr P.K. Sharma, Registrar, Punjab Pharmacy Council, also attended the seminar.

Best polytechnic

The Government Polytechnic for Girls, Jalandhar, has been adjudged as best polytechnic in the North by the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training, Chandigarh.

The institutes were evaluated on the basis of the students’ performance, infrastructure available, previous year results, placement of students, performance in sports and cultural activities, internal revenue generation and community polytechnic activities.

Prize

Mohit Dhir and Guwinder Singh, students of MCA seventh semester from Guru Nanak Dev University College, have won the first prize in software development event organised during inter-college contests held at Hindu Kanya College, Kapurthala.