J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Consumer Court
Hospital, docs ordered to pay for negligence
Amritsar, December 25
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has held Surjit Hospital, Gumtala, its two doctors, Manmohan Singh Khanna, former principal of Government Medical College, and Gagandeep Singh, responsible for negligence in performing an operation on Dulal Rai.

Confinement of chief engineer
PSEB officials demand adequate security
Amritsar, December 25
The Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers Association (PSEBEA) has taken serious note of detaining the chief engineer, PSEB, border zone, by farmers in his office for about five hours.

GND varsity gets Rs 3.27-cr project
Amritsar, December 25
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has sanctioned a major research project worth Rs 3.27 crore on “Novel biotechnological processes for production of high value products from rice straw and bagasse” to Guru Nanak Dev University for a period of three years.

Badals’ pre-poll development to mislead masses: Khaira
Jalandhar, December 25
A concerted and well-planned conspiracy is being executed by the SAD-BJP government to influence the course of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and for this purpose the civil administration is being misused.

Christmas celebrated
Hoshiarpur, December 25
Christmas was celebrated with enthusiasm here today. Hundreds of members of the Christian community thronged the Mona Memorial Church and offered prayers to Lord Christ. A free langar was organised on the occasion.

Akali leader killed in road mishap
Batala, December 25
Akali leader Kuldeep Singh, alias Koma, of Amon Nangal village died on the spot in a road accident on the Batala-Jalandhar road here last night.

HELP against drug trafficking
Nawanshahr, December 25
The non-serious approach of the Punjab police in curbing the menace of drug-addiction and smuggling in the state can be gauged from the fact that it is yet to comply with the orders of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (judicial division) of January 3, 2008, in which the DGP, Punjab, had been asked to examine the contents of the news item - “Well heeled fuelling drug trade in Punjab” published in The Tribune on November 27, 2007.

Undertrial prisoner assaulted
Hoshiarpur, December 25
Four prisoners, lodged in the district jail, Charanjit Singh of Daduwal, Harjit Singh of Chela, Jatinder Singh of Chandair Kalan and Avtar Singh of Talwandi Fatto, here allegedly assaulted an undertrial prisoner, municipal councillor of Garhshankar Som Nath Banger in his barrack early this morning. Banger was injured. The authorities of the district jail reached the spot and rescued Som Nath and later admitted him in the civil hospital.

Town to get Chetna Park by March
Hoshiarpur, December 25
Punjab minister for medical education and research, forest, labour and parliamentary affairs Tikshan Sud laid the foundation stone of Chetna Park at Bassi Jana to be established by the forest department, here today.

Consumer Court
Hospital, docs ordered to pay for negligence
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 25
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has held Surjit Hospital, Gumtala, its two doctors, Manmohan Singh Khanna, former principal of Government Medical College, and Gagandeep Singh, responsible for negligence in performing an operation on Dulal Rai.

The patient had died of cardiac arrest during treatment of the injury sustained during the operation.

The court asked them to pay Rs 1 lakh to the complainants in equal share and Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses.

The court stated that the doctors were negligent in performing surgery on Dulal Rai while removing his gall bladder which caused pain to the deceased and harassment to his relatives.

Rajiv Roy, Shampa Ghosh and Shivani Roy, relatives of the deceased, had approached the court for justice.

The court directed the hospital to pay the entire amount to the complainants within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of orders, failing which proceedings under section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act would be initiated against them.

Suffering from indigestion and heaviness in the stomach, the patient went for general check up at Surjit Hospital on May 31, 2007, and Manmohan Singh Khanna and Gagandeep Singh diagnosed him with stones and prescribed immediate surgery for removal of gall bladder. The same day he was operated upon for stones after depositing Rs 9,500 and was discharged from the hospital after nine days.

According to the complainants, Gagandeep Singh left for Delhi without giving post-operative treatment to the patient. They claimed that the patient had been writhing in pain even after the operation. Hence, Khanna advised him to visit the hospital every fortnight.

Subsequently, they took him to Mata Kaulanji Mission Hospital for check up on June 27, 2007. Doctors there advised ultrasound scan which brought out the shocking fact that the common bile duct of the patient had got damaged. The patient was operated for drainage at a private ultrasound centre.

The complainants showed the report to Khanna who admitted that the common bile duct was damaged during surgery and the patient was admitted again in the same hospital for a brief period. Ultimately, the patient was taken to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he developed upper gastro intestinal bleeding and died of cardiac arrest on August 7, 2007.

Confinement of chief engineer
PSEB officials demand adequate security
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 25
The Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers Association (PSEBEA) has taken serious note of detaining the chief engineer, PSEB, border zone, by farmers in his office for about five hours.

In an emergency meeting held here today, regional secretary of the association Ashwani Kumar Mehta said the chief engineer was illegally held captive resulting in the feeling of insecurity among the board officials.

He said when the activists of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee were coming to submit a memorandum of their demands, the chief engineer requested them to send a five-member team to his office. However, more than 100 activists forcibly entered his office and started misbehaving with him.

It is pertinent to mention here that activists of the KSC had gheraoed the office of the chief engineer on Tuesday airing their grievances against the working of the board.

The committee demanded assured 16 and 24-hour power supply to the farm sector, release of new connections to those applicants who had deposited securities till 1992, besides seeking free tubewell connections to farmers who possessed less than five acres of land as promised by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) before the assembly elections.

Mehta urged the board management to make adequate security arrangements in the region so that the board officials could perform their duties fearlessly.

GND varsity gets Rs 3.27-cr project
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 25
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has sanctioned a major research project worth Rs 3.27 crore on “Novel biotechnological processes for production of high value products from rice straw and bagasse” to Guru Nanak Dev University for a period of three years.

Dr S.S. Chahal, director of research, said the project had been awarded under basic and strategic research in the frontier area of agricultural sciences of the World Bank-funded National Agricultural Innovative Project (NAIP).

He said the project would be undertaken by a consortium and Guru Nanak Dev University had been identified as the consortium leader with Dr B.S. Chadha, reader in the department of microbiology, as principal investigator. The Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, had been taken as the consortium partners, he added.

Dr Chahal said the project aimed at developing novel technologies for separation of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin using membrane-based technology and thermo-stable enzymes for bio-conversion as well as utilising protein-enriched rice straw as animal feed.

Badals’ pre-poll development to mislead masses: Khaira
Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 25
A concerted and well-planned conspiracy is being executed by the SAD-BJP government to influence the course of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and for this purpose the civil administration is being misused.

In a letter written to the Election Commission of India, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has said although the regime has been in office for approximately two years, there has been propaganda but no development.

Now that elections are due early next year, the Badal family, with the active support of the public relations minister, who incidentally is the brother-in-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, has embarked upon an ambitious plan to influence the electorate by issuing misleading advertisements through the PR department.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has embarked on a tour of various parliamentary constituencies in the name of development. Although the Congress welcomes the development of the state, the way the government has chosen to project its achievements amounts to corrupt practices to influence the people.

The CM has announced a plan of Rs 555 crore for over 12,000 villages that was highlighted through all major newspapers at a cost of crores.

Thereafter, instead of depending on the news coverage, the PR department is further spending crores by inserting ads in all the newspapers to show the popularity of the CM among the masses.

Khaira said the money couldn’t translate into actual works well before next six months. This so-called development plan is nothing but political gimmickry to garner votes in the elections. According to laid-down provisions of law, any distribution of government grants must be planned in advance with appropriate estimates, whereas the present programme is more for public consumption and votes.

He has urged the commission to take cognizance of this grave misuse of government funds by one-sided publicity in favour of the ruling alliance. The way the administration is being misused puts the Congress to an unfair disadvantage, he pointed out.

Christmas celebrated
Tribune Reporters

Hoshiarpur, December 25
Christmas was celebrated with enthusiasm here today. Hundreds of members of the Christian community thronged the Mona Memorial Church and offered prayers to Lord Christ. A free langar was organised on the occasion.

Amritsar: Students of Senior Study School, situated in Amritsar cantonment, celebrated Christmas with fervour today. Santa gave gifts and sweets to children, who gave delightful performances. Prince and princess from the 5th standard were chosen. School principal Kanchan Mehra said they celebrated the event with students of Mother Teresa Home and distributed gifts. 

Akali leader killed in road mishap
Our Correspondent

Batala, December 25
Akali leader Kuldeep Singh, alias Koma, of Amon Nangal village died on the spot in a road accident on the Batala-Jalandhar road here last night.

The leader was going to Chowk Mehta on his motorcycle when the accident took place. He had not even reached the village when a car (PB-08-AQ-3021) collided with his motorcycle. Koma was injured seriously.

The leader was being taken to the civil hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on the way.

The Rangar Nangal police sent the body to the civil hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The driver of the car fled from the spot. No arrest has been made so far.

HELP against drug trafficking
Parmod Bharti

Nawanshahr, December 25
The non-serious approach of the Punjab police in curbing the menace of drug-addiction and smuggling in the state can be gauged from the fact that it is yet to comply with the orders of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (judicial division) of January 3, 2008, in which the DGP, Punjab, had been asked to examine the contents of the news item - “Well heeled fuelling drug trade in Punjab” published in The Tribune on November 27, 2007.

This was stated by Parvinder Singh Kittna, general secretary, Human Empowerment League of Punjab (HELP), while talking to mediapersons here today.

The issue was brought to the notice of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission through a complaint filed by HELP on November 28, 2007.

Kittna said in compliance with the orders of the commission, the DGP had sent a letter to all the DCs, SSPs, civil surgeons and director, social security and welfare to send their comments in this regard on February 5, 2008.

But, so far the comments from the SSPs of Tarn Taran, Bathinda, Ferozepore, Mansa, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdaspur, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Faridkot, Khanna, Batala, Jagraon and civil surgeons of Ropar and Sangrur have been received.

This information has been provided by the ADGP, Punjab, in a letter dated November 17, 2008, in response to the information sought by him under the RTI Act regarding the action taken report by the police, added Kittna.

“But, HELP sees no logic in demanding reports from the different district officials to combat the drug menace as the report published in The Tribune was based on the ‘secret police report’ passed to the CM regarding involvement of well-established people in the murky drug trade in the state. The police had passed on the information to the CM after preparing a detailed report on this sensitive issue,” said Kittna, adding that the police should have taken strict action against the drug traffickers instead of trying to dilute the sensitive issue by merely seeking report from the district officials.

Congress MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira, while talking to The Tribune on the issue, lamented that though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had been “shielding” the drug traffickers. He demanded that the report should be made public and action taken against the drug traffickers in public interest so that the youth of the state might be saved from the menace of drugs.

Similarly, Vidhan Sabha former deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh said the state government should take preventive, detective and punitive measures to curb the menace of drugs.

Undertrial prisoner assaulted

Hoshiarpur, December 25
Four prisoners, lodged in the district jail, Charanjit Singh of Daduwal, Harjit Singh of Chela, Jatinder Singh of Chandair Kalan and Avtar Singh of Talwandi Fatto, here allegedly assaulted an undertrial prisoner, municipal councillor of Garhshankar Som Nath Banger in his barrack early this morning. Banger was injured. The authorities of the district jail reached the spot and rescued Som Nath and later admitted him in the civil hospital.

An old enmity is stated to be the reason behind the attack. According to the hospital sources, Som Nath is out of danger. DC N.K. Wadhawan told mediapersons that he had deputed the SDM to probe into the incident. — OC

Town to get Chetna Park by March
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, December 25
Punjab minister for medical education and research, forest, labour and parliamentary affairs Tikshan Sud laid the foundation stone of Chetna Park at Bassi Jana to be established by the forest department, here today.

Sud said Rs 1 crore would be spent on its establishment and its construction would be completed by March next. With the completion of this project, the environment of the area would get improved. He also briefed on the various ongoing schemes for the development of forest growth in the state.

To enhance the income of joint forest management committees of Dasuya, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Garhshankar forest divisions, 46 cheques amounting to Rs 31.75 lakh had been provided to them.

Finance commissioner and forest secretary R.C. Nayar presided over the function. Clean and Green Project chairman Deepak Mittal, deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan, SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, senior officers of the forest and wildlife department and local BJP and SAD leaders were also present on the occasion.