R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional potpourri

• Awakening people to water conservation

• Treating piles  his forte

• Distinction of small town girl

PUNJAB

Patiala
Elected: A meeting of the Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar Welfare Society was held here on Sunday in which all members of the society unanimously elected its new executive body. The office-bearers are: Patron-M.S. Bhinder, president-Atma Ram Verma, vice-president-D.S. Shergill, secretary-Gobinder Sohal, press secretary-Surinder Sharma, joint secretary-Dr Gurnam Singh, cashier-Bhupinder Verma, legal adviser-Manjit Singh and convener-O.P. Chandpuri. 

CHANDIGARH

Panchkula
Honesty: Two waiters at Haryana Tourism resort Red Bishop, setting an example of honesty, returned an amount of Rs 50,000 to the visitors who forgot their bag containing the money and important documents at restaurant here today. 

HARYANA

BHIWANI
Sangharsh samiti to  stage dharna: Though the police have claimed of having arrested the motorcycle owner, whose bike had been used in the murder of municipal council chairman Nand Lal Chawla on June 23, but members of the Sarvjatiya Sangharsh Samiti do not seem satisfied with the case proceedings. The samiti has announced to stage dharna outside the DC’s office at 9 am on Monday. Chwala family, too, is not satisfied with the slow pace of the police process.

Sadhu found hanged: Somvarnath, a sadhu, was found hanged at Chhapar Jogian village on Sunday. Baba Hathodi Nath of dera alleged that some people wanted to grab the 700-acre land of the dera and they might have murdered him. The police arrived and sent the body for post mortem at civil hospital. A case has been registered.

JIND
70-yr-old widow raped: A 70-year-old widow, hailing from Kalwa village, was allegedly raped by Jai Singh (50), who is slightly ‘mentally disturbed’. The police registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC after the report of the medical examination of the victim. The accused is absconding.

Heroin seized: The police has seized 140 gm of heroin, which is worth of 1.40 lahk, from four youths traveling in a car on Sunday. The accused, Naresh, Dinesh, Rajesh and Sanjay, were going to Narwana when they were intercepted by the police near Baroda village

KAITHAL
4 rewarded by police: SSP Anil Kumar Rao awarded cash prize and appreciation letters to four persons at a function held at Mini-secretariat here on Friday. Karan Singh, Krishan Kumar and Bhale Ram of Khurana village, and Naresh of Pai village had helped a police party in nabbing a chain snatcher. The SSP said public-police cooperation could play an important role in curbing the crime.

KARNAL
Buffalo breeds to improve profit: Scientists at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here have recommended two breeds of buffaloes, Murrah’ and ‘Karan-Fries’, to the dairy farmers to improve their profitability. Experts at the Kriskhi Vigyan Kenrda (KVK) shared these views during a visit of certain dairy farmers from Meerut to the campus. They gave practical information on scientific farming at the dairy training centre.

SONEPAT
Two die in accident: Two youths, Sandeep of Gohana colony and Anil of Bali Kutub Pur, died in a road accident when their motorcycle went out of control and dashed against a car coming from opposite direction on the Gohana-Khanpur Kalan road on Saturday. The car driver, who also informed the family members of the victims, brought them to a private hospital at Gohana. However, they died on the way to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Nurpur
Youth commits suicide: Kewal Singh (28) of Batnial village in Kherian gram panchayat committed suicide allegedy by consuming a poisonous substance on Saturday evening. The police said the deceased, who came after doing work in his fields in the afternoon, consumed a poisonous substance in his room. When his condition deteriorated he was rushed to the local civil hospital but could not be saved. A case has been lodged. He is survived by his wife and a six-month-old child. The reason of committing suicide is not yet known.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
PoK refugees rue govt apathy: SOS International, an organisation of refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, has decided to intensify its struggle and mount pressure on the Central government to fulfill its long pending demands. Organisation’s chairman Rajiv Chuni said the state government has proved to be an utter failure because of its valley-centric attitude. He hoped that Governor N.N. Vohra, former interlocutor on Kashmir, would look into the grievances of the PoK refugees and would initiate steps to redress them. He, however, made it clear that keeping in mind the coming elections the refugees would not enter into talks with political outfits or the government. “We would not fall prey to the false assurances of the politicians again,” he said. On contesting the elections, he said a viable decision would be taken after taking into confidence all the members of the displaced community. Chuni also expressed regrets over double standards adopted by the successive regimes when it came to displaced communities.

Srinagar
Two Nepali labourers burnt to death: Two young Nepali labourers have been burnt to death in a fire in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police spokesman said on Sunday. Jeet Bahadur (24) and Medhu Lansal (23), both Nepalis, were killed in the fire at the house where the duo were staying as tenants at village Bhimbhat in Drass sector of the district yesterday, the spokesman said. The cause of fire was being ascertained by police, the spokesman said. In two separate accidents, the spokesman said two persons were killed and four others injured in Kashmir valley. Giving details, he said one Nazir Ahmad Dar was killed and three others injured when two motorcyclists collided at Awantipora in Anantnag district. A girl student Rohi Jan was killed and her colleague Sami Jan was critically injured when they were hit by a car at Nepora in Kulgam district, the spokesman said. 

Job interviews postponed: The protests over the land transfer issue has made the Jammu and Kashmir government postpone interviews for the posts of agriculture assistants and teachers scheduled for tomorrow. As per a notification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, the interviews for the posts of agriculture assistants scheduled for tomorrow at its office here are postponed till further notice, an official spokesman said today. Similarly, he said the Service Selection Board has also postponed interviews for the post of teachers of all the districts of Kashmir region, scheduled for June 30, July 1 and July 2. The fresh date(s) shall be notified separately, he said. 

Regional potpourri

Awakening people to water conservation

Mahindra Kateva

Water resources on this planet are scarce and these not going to last for eternity. Who can know it better than a person living in a remote village of Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, where water is already a luxury?

Mahindra Kateva sarpanch of Bakhtavarpura village of Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan has taken the lead in conserving water and recharging of underground water in his village and has become a sort of icon in Rajasthan and neighbouring Haryana.

Kateva has been honoured for this by the President of India and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Kateva was recently in Fatehabad to speak on a seminar on water conservation and ever since he became famous for his good work.He has a number of invitations to address seminars and train other villagers in water conservation.

As sarpanch of his village Mahendra Kateva worked hard to make his village 'Nirmal Gram' and was awarded by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India on May 4, 2007. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia honoured him on October 18, 2007.

A citation was also given to him by the chief secretary of the state.

"We have made it a point that not a single drop of water is wasted in our village. Instead of allowing the waste water to flow into drains and streets, we have constructed soakage pits after every six households," says Kateva.

"The waste waster is allowed to go into these pits, which recharges the underground water resources of the area," he adds.

He also exhorted villagers to build toilets in their houses and not defecate in the open.

"Bakhtavarpura village is among the first villages of the country to have achieved target of 100 per cent sanitation campaign and become 'Nirmal Gram," informs Kateva.

Mahinder Kateva receives requests from other villages of Rajasthan and the neighbouring Haryana for sharing his experiences with them.

He has, so far, visited over 100 villages to teach villagers methods of water conservation and also addressed over 12 seminars.

Treating piles his forte

Dr Sudershan Chugh

Dr Sudershan Chugh, a surgeon with Saraswati Mission hospital, Pehowa in Kurukshetra district in Haryana, has had the distinction of his name appearing in the Guinness Book of World Records, Guinness World Records and World Record Academy.

He is the only surgeon in the region, having operated on 137 cases of piles in one day at a camp organised by the Pehowa- based All -India Sangmeshwar Dal, Khanna branch in Punjab on October 28, 2007. There was no case of complication after the surgeries. Only in one case there was bleeding, which was managed.

According to Limca Book of Records, an Indian doctor performed 27 minimal procedures in one day on May 22, 2005 and this record has been bettered by Dr Chugh with 137 surgeries in one day.

Dr Chugh claims he has developed special technique for operating on piles which he has named MISP - minimal invasive surgery for piles. He says it does not need general or spinal anaesthesia. No admission is required and it is effective in all grades and all stages of piles whether these are internal, external or interno-external and is painless. Patient is discharged after two hours of surgery and post- operation dressings are not required. The patient can go to work two / three days after the surgery while after conventional surgery patient has to be away from work for 10 to 34 days.

Chances of complications after conventional surgery are very high compared to MISP which takes five minutes to perform whereas conventional surgery takes 30 to 40 minutes. Also MISP technique does not require admission , says Dr Chugh.

The MiSP procedure can be viewed at google at " most successful piles surgery world record"

Distinction of small town girl

Dr Nidhi Rajpal

Dr Nidhi Rajpal of Nawanshahr has done the town proud by securing fourth rank in the All-India PGI MD/MS entrance examination. She secured first rank in the girls’category.

Daughter of a cloth merchant, Nidhi did her MBBS from Maulana Azad Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Besides, she also appeared in the Punjab postgraduate entrance examination and got 12th rank. She got 70th rank in the Delhi postgraduate entrance examination and 106th in the postgraduate entrance examination conducted by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

Nidhi has decided to do MD in radiology at the PGI, Chandigarh.

Contributed by Sushil Manav, D.R. Vij and Parmod Bharti