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First suspected swine flu death in tricity
Panchkula, August 22 The district health officer, Dr ML Garg, said the victim, Sheela of Kurukshetra, had been admitted to a hospital in Sector 21 on August 18. The hospital authorities informed the health officials that the patient was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome at the time of admission. Later, however it was observed that she had developed symptoms similar to swine flu. Her samples were taken on August 19 and sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi. After her death, health officials were sent to New Delhi to get her report, but due to a long queue, it hadn’t been possible so far, Garg said. The administration was mulling action against the hospital as it admitted a patient with swine flu-like symptoms even though private hospitals were not allowed to do so due to lack of isolation wards, he said. The medical superintendent of the General Hospital, Sector 6, Dr VK Bansal, said 14 cases of suspected swine flu had been reported at the hospital so far, but none of them were found to be positive.
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2 cholera cases confirmed
Panchkula, August 22 The district health officer said 11 patients complaining of stomachache, diarrhoea and nausea reported at the hospital during the past 24 hours while 14 such patients had been treated until last evening. All patients were discharged after their condition improved by late evening. Though health officials suspected cholera outbreak at Budhanpur village when patients started pouring in at the emergency of the hospital, the PGI report confirmed their apprehension today. A visit to the village revealed that most houses had a patient. “We have been receiving dirty water since last week and in the past two days, it had turned black. It is the prime cause of the deteriorating health of residents,” said Parkash, who was taking care of three of his sick family members. “It seems that sewage was getting mixed with drinking water pipes,” said Yogesh, a former panch. While the teams of the health department remained stationed at the village and distributed medicines and chlorine tablets among residents, HUDA also got its act together and started reporting the points where leakage in pipes could be expected. Water is being supplied to the affected part of the village through tankers.
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Elections over, leaders log out
Chandigarh, August 22
Harmohan Dhawan (BSP): Earlier, I was occupied with the elections and now with my business commitments, but it definitely needs to be updated. I will get it checked tomorrow. Amarjeet Sethi (Cong spokesperson):
This was Pawan Bansal’s personal website which was created during the elections. He is the right person to ask about it, but since he is abroad, this can be clarified only when he returns. Barring defeated BJP candidate Satya Pal Jain’s site, www.satyapaljain.com, which was updated with the congratulatory Independence Day message, the portals of union minister Pawan Bansal, and BSP’s Harmohan Dhawan are as good as “logged off”. Bansal’s portal, www.pawanbansalforchd.com gives a dubious warning “this site may be harmful to your computer” to visitors. The leaders had put their vision for the city on these sites and had even promised during their campaigns, especially at the university, to stay in touch with the “youth brigade”. However, barely three months later, they have forgotten the promise and their sites are worthless. “It’s a sad commentary on the state of our politics and politicians who say something and do the opposite,” said Sidharth, a student who was disappointed when he had logged on to Bansal’s site for bringing a local problem to his notice. This is ironical to Bansal’s reported statement made during the official launch of his website: “This will be a convenient way to get in touch with the general masses, especially the youth.” “It’s the case of an opportunity missed,” said Net savvy Karan, adding that interactive portals, websites and blogs were the best way for busy politicians to establish direct contact with people even when out of city. Dhawan, too, has not bothered to update his site, harmohandhawan.com. His homepage has an indomitable message: “Harmohan Dhawan will keep standing up for us. Stand with him by signing up for updates”, but he himself seems to have logged out for good. His blog says “no records” and the site was last updated on April 23. After the elections, he has apparently found no issues to talk about as the column on “issues” has no posts. The upcoming events column only mentions his public meeting at Sector 40, Mauli Jagran, scheduled for March 23, just for the elections.
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Tourist footfall in city on the rise
Chandigarh, August 22 Interestingly, there has been a surge in the number of foreign tourists visiting the city. According to Vinod
Kalia, Deputy Director, Tourism, between January and July, 2009, over 20,000 foreign tourists visited the city against 18,465 in the corresponding period last year. In 2007, 26,567 visitors came to the city, while in 2008 their number was 34,762. As far as domestic tourists are concerned, 5.22 lakh have already visited the city in the past seven months, almost the same as in the corresponding period last year. In 2007, 9.28 lakh domestic tourists came to the city but their number declined to 9.08 lakh in 2008. There are 41 hotels in the city, including three in the state sector - Hotel
Shivalikview, Hotel Mountview and Hotel Parkview, which are run by the administration. The occupancy level in the administration-run hotels remained between 80 and 85 per cent in these months but touched 100 per cent during special occasions. He attributed the rise in the inflow of foreign tourists to the efforts made by the Chandigarh administration in upgrading the existing infrastructure and introducing the concept of affordable and reasonably-priced budget tourism. “A majority of tourists look for budget accommodation and we are trying to promote this concept so that we can provide clean and affordable stay to foreigners and domestic tourists,” Kalia said. An additional factor that seems to have played a role in enabling Chandigarh buck the trend is that the City Beautiful has since graduated from a seasonal tourist destination to a conventional and corporate resort with attractions like Rock Garden, Le Corbusier’s architectural designs, Sukhna Lake and well parks drawing in foreigners. These sites account for a lot of recreational value.
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Patrol intensified, but thefts on rise
Mohali/Zirakpur, August 22 In the past 24 hours, at least 11 cases of theft have been reported at Mohali, Zirakpur and Dera
Bassi. In Phase X, thieves decamped with a blank cheque and an ATM card from the house of Amrik Singh, who had gone to Fatehgarh Sahib to meet his relatives. When he returned, he found the house ransacked. Also five vehicles, including three motorcycles, were stolen from different parts of the city last night. At Zirakpur, thieves fled with four LPG cylinders, four inverter and bus batteries, a motorcycle and a Maruti car.
Tarun Bansal, a resident of Defence Colony, said his motorcycle, which was parked outside his house, was stolen on August 21. Miscreants took away two LPG cylinders from the house of Bhusan
Goyal, a resident of the same locality, while four batteries and two cylinders were stolen from the house of Iqbal Singh. His family said the thieves had probably struck after 2 am because they had boiled milk for a child around 1.30 am. In another theft case, a car was stolen from outside a house at Bharat Enclave.
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Fog’s here, already
Chandigarh, August 22 Met officials said this happened when there was an increase in humidity and fall in temperature due to high moisture. They said fog would be frequent this year as the city had received weak monsoon due to which horizontal movement in the air was very low, increasing moisture. Fog was common in Delhi, but Chandigarh had such weather after eight to 10 years. The officials said if there was low rain in the coming weeks, the city would experience fog more frequently. The maximum humidity was 96 per cent and minimum 61 per cent with a maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 23.4 degrees Celsius. Met director Chatter Singh said as there was a forecast of rain in the coming week, there would be less fog in the next fortnight.
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Ailing Naresh needs donations to survive
Chandigarh, August 22 Two months
after the transplant, he has developed acute post-segment complications
of graft versus host disease, once again putting his life in danger.
With all his savings exhausted, this young man’s only hope for
survival now is month’s dose of “Ramicade”, 300 mg per week worth
Rs 70,000 each. With no money at his disposal and no means to raise
the whopping Rs 2. 80 lakh, Naresh has approached the PGI’s poor
patients’ cell, which has urged to philanthropists and good Samaritans
to come to his aid. A father of a one-and-a-half year-old girl, Naresh
has been battling for life since 2004 when he was detected with aplastic
anemia, a disease in which the bone marrow stops producing blood cells,
leading to “extreme” weakness and loss of immunity. He was admitted
to the PGI in May and the doctors advised bone marrow transplantation
immediately. Fortunately, his Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) was
compatible with his elder sister and he underwent successful
transplantation in the same month. Initially, he showed signs of
recovery but two months later he developed post-transplantation
complication, which was life threatening, said Dr Pankaj Malhotra,
Department of Internal Medicine, PGI. Hailing from Uttarakhand, Naresh
could not even eat food as his intestine developed complications after
GVHD and he is being given food through Total Parental Nutrition (TPN),
which cost Rs 3,000 per day. “I have already spent Rs 10 lakh on
transplantation apart from medicine and other hospital expenses,” said
Naresh. Now, the cost of medicine and other expenses are beyond my
means, he added.
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Abattoir, hotel waste found dumped in Dadu Majra plant
Chandigarh, August 22 As the controversy over the “foul stench” emanating from the garbage plant rages, it has turned out that the waste from the slaughterhouse in the city, which otherwise has to be disposed off at the biogas plant, is being dumped at the plant’s site in violation of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management Handling) Rules 1998. A visit to the garbage plant by this correspondent revealed today that the waste from the slaughterhouse, fish market, vegetable market and hotels was lying in the garbage dump. However, contrary to the claims of the councilors the plant did not smell. The officials of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Board were monitoring the plant and they are likely to submit their report soon. While the biogas plant, set up at the cost of Rs 44 lakh, specifically for the disposal of animal waste, is lying underutilized. The litter from the slaughterhouse was being dumped at the plant site. Incidentally, the plant has no method of segregation of the garbage. Confirming this a Jaypee group representative, RD Sharma, said in the absence of any method of segregation of garbage by the corporation, animal waste from slaughterhouse and other places was finding way here. As per the municipal corporation’s record, the biogas plant has a capacity to dispose of three tones of animal waste per day and can also generate 100 KWs of power. However, because of the underutilisation the money invested seems to be going waste. Employees at the biogas plant site revealed that it was running only on Tuesday’s and that, too, for just an hour. As for power production, they said it was “hardly” on any consequence. When contacted Municipal Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria said they had asked the Jaypee group to send all waste related things to the plant and vegetable and hotel waste to the biogas plant but they are not sending it. He said the first step of the garbage plant was to segregate the garbage and if the biogas plant was not receiving it where they were disposing it. Dr Roshan Sunkaria said the authorities had directed the Jaypee group to immediately stop burning plastic with RDF or action would be taken against them.
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Still, no end to daredevilry in Leisure Valley
Chandigarh, August 22 Claiming that they had done their bit, SP (traffic and security) HS Doon said: “It is necessary to stop such illegal activity and we have reported this matter to the engineering wing to barricade the area with iron grills. If they are not taking it seriously, we will issue a fresh letter to them.” Youngsters continue to demonstrate risky moves in their cars near Stop ‘n’ Stare, an open food joint of CITCO, just opposite the Government College of Art and Government Art Museum and Gallery, jeopardising the lives of visitors. “These youths don’t seem to care two hoots about the safety of their life or that of others. They indulge in drifting, racing and pulling off stunts in SUVs and swanky cars. Clouds of dust left by the vehicles in the valley makes it unpleasant for visitors,” said a student art college. Roohi, another frequent visitor to the food joint, said: “Those responsible for maintaining law and order in the city seem to have turned a blind eye to this nuisance, which is increasing by the day.” “We have given several complaints to the departments concerned and have even tried putting rocks to block the track being used by the miscreants, but to no avail,” said Kashmir Chand, in-charge, Stop ‘n’ Stare. Sanjay Kumar, Secretary (Finance and Engineering), said: “The issue is serious and I was not aware of it. I will ask the official concerned of the engineering department to fence off the area at the earliest.
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Advisory council still eludes city
Chandigarh, August 22 With less than three months remaining for Rodrigues’ term to end, questions are being raised on the proposed formation of the council. In fact, it is being debated whether the AAC will even see the light of the day with the Administrator demitting office on November 16. “Since the AAC experience seems to have failed during the tenure of the current Administrator, the administration should let the new incumbent form the committee. To form the committee for a couple of months will be a waste of time and resources,” Ajay Jagga, a lawyer and president of the local unit of the Janata Party, said. Sources said certain names that had been recommended after police verification were awaiting the final nod from the Administrator’s office. Though it is the prerogative of the Administrator to select members, different lobbies and pressure groups work extra time to get the names of their representatives included in the AAC, as it is considered to be “status symbol”. Apparently acting on the directives of the ministry of home affairs (MHA), the UT Administrator had announced the reconstitution of the AAC. Surprisingly, the previous AAC, constituted on February 9, 2007, completed its two-year term without holding even a single meeting. In fact, inclusion of a large number of bureaucrats and “favourites” of the powers that be had given it a “non-representation” character with political parties crying hoarse over alleged “step-motherly” treatment to them.
Who constitutes AAC?
With Administrator as chairman and Adviser as the vice-chairman, the council has senior bureaucrats and public representatives, including administrative secretaries, IGP, SSP, MC Commissioner, Mayor, Deputy Commissioner, chairmen of zila parishad and panchayat samiti, as ex officio members. Eminent persons from different walks of life and representatives of major political parties are also part of the council.
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MC plans bus queue shelters, other amenities
Rajiv Bhatia
Zirakpur, August 22 Sources in the MC said apart from cleaning up the area, the facilities would allow people to wait for buses and enjoy movement of leisure. At present, jhuggis are standing on the land. A proposal in this regard has been sent for a no objection certificate (NOC) from the NHAI and after getting the clearance next step would be taken. An official in the MC said a private company was to be appointed to draw final design of Green Park, along with bus queue shelter and public toilets for which tender would be called after getting the NOC. Sources revealed that the residents of Zirakpur and nearby areas are demanding for designated bus stop and taking it seriously, the proposal has been discussed between the MC officials and local administration in the various meeting from the past few years. After discussing the matter with the NHAI, the officials from local administration, along with NHAI officials, had visited the spot and submitted the report to the authority concerned, sources added. However, officials stated that according to the proposal plan, the bus lay line with two bus shelters would be constructed on Chanidgarh-Ambala and Zirakpur-Kalka highways with proper entrance and exit points. A public toilet is also on plan for both genders. For providing facility of food for commuters, a special booth with fresh food items is also on plan. The rest of the area would be left for Green Park. Executive officer, Zirakpur, Sukhjinder Singh Sidhu said the proposed plan had been sent to the NHAI for NOC after that the tender would be called up.
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Progress of rural health mission reviewed
Mohali, August 22 Health Minister Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla, while addressing the participants, emphasised that the doctors must serve people selflessly and in a dedicated manner. She said doctors were blessed with the ability to save lives of people and hence should do their duties as a service to humanity. She urged the female doctors and gynaecologists to take good care of pregnant women in their hospitals so that more people should come forward for deliveries in the government hospitals. She further appealed them not to restrain themselves to the urban areas, but also provide good health care services to the people in the rural areas. She further revealed that Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad and other officials appreciated and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements and steps taken by Punjab to combat swine flu. While giving the credit to the doctors and paramedics for the same, she said that it was their hard work and efforts which had resulted in winning appreciation from the Central ministry. During the occasion, the Health Minister also presented mementoes to six officers. Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, health & family welfare, emphasised upon the reduction in maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) in the state and stressed for increase in institutional deliveries as these were the major issues under the NRHM. He stressed for increased convergence with other departments like water & sanitation; public health; local bodies; education; panchayati raj institutions etc for effectively implementing the NRHM. Anurag Agarwal, Secretary (health-cum-mission), Director (NRHM), reviewed the various components of the mission with the doctors and programme managers. He asked them to visit the health sub-centres to create awareness about the services given under the rural health mission and also listen to the health problems of the community. He discussed the performance of districts under the components like maternal health, child health, school health, Janani Suraksha Yojna, PNDT - save the girl child etc.
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Ghazal singer from Pak regales audience
Chandigarh, August 22 The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Routes 2 Roots featured the acclaimed Karachi-based ghazal maestro Tina Sani decorated with President’s pride of Performance-2004, the highest civilian award. Tina opened up the concert with a free floating exposition of a nazam “bahar aayi toh jaise” by Faiz Ahamed Faiz that melted into another Faiz ghazal “dayam pada
hun” by the time she established a rapport with audience and on request she doled out a nazam “har ke baat pe” by Mirza Ghalib before another romantic ghazal “mujh se pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang”. She, however, struck the right chord with the audience moving to Sufiana couplets by Kabir and later Bulleh Shah and Shah Hussain. She presented rare Punjabi songs like “meri arz suno” and “rabb sacheya”, penned Faiz before bringing alive the pathos of an unrequited love in a ghazal “dasht-e-tanhai mein” and many more. Blessed with a
powerful melodious voice Tina chose to give rarely sung ghazals laced with cumbersome Urdu phrases while
her Sufiana, which spelt mysticism charmed the audience despite the accompanists being too loud at times.
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Woman sustains 90 pc burn injuries
Chandigarh, August 22 According to the police, Pari Amma, the victim, who was cooking food on a stove, accidentally caught fire. Her family members, who were in another room, ran for cover after hearing her cries. They raised an alarm following which the neighbours and the police reached the spot and doused the flames. The woman hails from Madras. She is a divorcee and mother of two daughters and a son.
Govt official beaten up
Vinod Kumar, Deputy Director Public Health, Punjab, Sector 34, was allegedly beaten and threatened with dire consequences near his office on August 13. Kumar in his complaint alleged that at least five occupants of a Maruti Zen car (PB-08-V-2182) sped away after beating him up in the evening. A case has been registered in the Sector 34 police station.
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Lecturer succumbs to injuries
Zirakpur, August 22 The police said the incident took place when Balwinder Kaur, a resident of Phase XI, Mohali, was moving towards her home, after meeting her brother who is admitted at a Patiala hospital, on her Honda Activa. When she reached near Apsara Resort, near Chhat village, the unknown vehicle hit her scooter. A passer-by informed the patrolling team about the accident. The police team reached the spot immediately and rushed her to GMCH-32, Chandigarh, where she died on the next day, the police added. Balwinder was a lecturer with a Patiala-based college. A case has been registered against the driver of the unknown vehicle.
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Labourer found dead
Zirakpur, August 22
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Reinstatement of ex-Principal Neha Miglani Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 22 While the principal claims it to be a foul play by certain non-performing staff members, an inquiry has been marked by the DPI in the case. In a complaint to the DPI (S), Samwartak Singh, PTA members of the school have objected to the transfer of Jaswinder Kaur, who was allegedly transferred from GSSS-37 to GSSS- 38 (W) after serving in the school for five years as principal and have accused the school officials of operating two PTA accounts in the past. As per the complaint, two accounts were being operated by the school management in the name of PTA funds earlier, one in the State Bank of India, Sector 37, (A/c No. 445271) and another in the Punjab State Cooperative Bank, Sector 37, (A/c No. 2030131075). While the PTA members knew about the former account, the latter was being operated secretively, claim the parents. “Rs 100 was being charged as PTA fund from the students of classes I to IX, Rs 150 was charged from classes XIth and XIIth. Out of Rs 100, Rs 80 per student and out of Rs 150, Rs 130 per student was being deposited to the account known to the PTA members. While the rest, Rs 20 each, was being deposited in the other account,” said Jaichand, president, PTA. However, contrary to these claims, the principal said an account was operational even before she had joined the school and when she came to know about it, she informed the education department. “The former DO Kushwinder Sharma had conducted an inquiry into the matter and found all accounts complete. I welcome any inquiry into the matter, as we have nothing to hide,” said the principal. Surprisingly, there was no deduction in the inquiry why two accounts were opened in the past before she joined and by whom, the account was closed and the matter was closed one year ago. Meanwhile, according to sources, Jaswinder was transferred not on complaint basis, as the parents claim, but as per routine transfer and Nirupama Krishan, had been deputed as the new principal in the school.
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Together they break the
divider
Chandigarh, August 22 The decision that is being claimed as their victory by both the parties comes across as the triumph of persevered efforts of students. “Its our victory. We took the issue with the university several times and even protested but in vain. The university authorities kept telling that it was in administration’s hands and they had forwarded the complaints. It was only then, we decided to sit on hunger strike and were even hospitalised in the process. Vice-Chancellor took a note and met finance secretary and finally the divider was removed today,” said Simranjit Dhillon. “We gave a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor who in turn demanded time to solve the matter. We kept on pursuing the issue and also protested. Owing to the deteriorating conditions the police rushed two boys to a hospital yesterday. The Vice-Chancellor finally took up the issue with the administration and the decision came in our favour.” The students were protesting against building a divider in front of UIET, as they had to travel more causing inconvenience to them. The members of PUSU sat on a hunger strike five days ago and a few hours later the SOPU members followed the suit. Though the strike seemed to have had its effect from the day one but last night when the condition of the boys of both the parties on the strike deteriorated, the police removed them physically and took them to GMHS, Sector 16. DSW Naval Kishore seemed relieved. “It was not that we were not taking the issue but in wake of forthcoming elections things have been blown out of proportion. We were worried about the boys whose condition was deteriorating. I am happy that it’s over and appeal the students not to resort to protests.”
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PU counselling under scanner yet again
Chandigarh, August 22 As per the complaint, Sahil was fourth in the waiting list and the university officials had confirmed that he would be counselled in the first week of August. However, when no letter was received by him, nor any public notice regarding counselling appeared in the newspaper, he called up the university and he was informed that the seats had already been given to those at a lower ranks than him in the list. “They told me that they had called on my mother’s mobile and no one answered, so they marked me absent in the counselling. They should have informed through a written communication or a public notice if the counselling was rescheduled. Authorities in the department told me that I could take admission as 17 seats earlier reserved for the SC/ST quota had been converted to general but when I went to the DUI they refused the seat to me,” said Sahil. According to Sahil’s family, even after their repeated visits to the university they were not allowed to meet the Vice-Chancellor or even the DUI.
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Irregularities in HCS examination
Panchkula, August 22 They also burnt the effigy of the HPSC to express their resentment. The main exam for the HCS began today. The INLD secretary general and Rajya Sabha MP, Ajay Chautala, on Wednesday, circulating a list of 21 such candidates alleged that they were declared unsuccessful in the preliminary exams, but were allowed to appear in the main exam. Addressing the students on the occasion, INSO Haryana unit president Vikas Rathee alleged that students’ community had been feeling that main examination had been rendered to become a farce upon them as merit had been totally disregarded as many family members of HPSC members have been declared pass. Rathee further alleged that there had been reports of large-scale corruption, underhand dealings and favouritism in government appointments, but the latest job scam has put the whole youth of the state feel cheated.
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CITCO warns education dept
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 22 The CITCO MD DK Tiwari said precautions would be taken in the preparation of the meal from now on. He added that more containers were being purchased for the midday meal and announced the launch of mechanised process for washing rice grains. “We have issued directions to depute kitchen supervisor round-the-clock. Additionally, we checked the meal today before dispatching,” he said. Meanwhile, the education department has also been cautioned by the CITCO to take care of fumigation of stock received from the Food Corporation of India and stored for months with the department. “We received the stock from the education department only two days in advance. It is also for the department to ensure proper fumigation to ensure cleanliness,” said Tiwari. Yesterday the incident took place in GSSS- Behlana, which is among the 28 schools where ShivalikView caters midday meal. Reportedly, a worm was found in a Class VII student’s plate.
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Sacred Heart principal awarded
Chandigarh, August 22
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