Jalandhar, September 17
The ongoing controversy between doctors of the Civil Hospital and K.D Bhandari, MLA, Jalandhar (North), today took a U-turn.

In a press conference at the Punjab Press Club, presided by councillor and senior BJP leader Sunil Jyoti, a xerox copies of a letter, purported to be written by Dr Alfred of the Civil Hospital, was circulated among mediapersons. The letter, addressed to the district president of the BJP, mentioned that K.D. Bhandari never forced Dr Alfred, who was also the Emergency Medical Officer concerned, to declare any patient’s injury as “dangerous”.

Yesterday the medical and paramedical staff of the Civil Hospital suspended work for an hour against the alleged interference of local politicians into their work. The strike was organised in the backdrop of an incident happened during the night of September 11 when, as claimed by the protesting doctors, K.D. Bhandari along with his 200 supporters forced Dr Alfred to declare one of his supporters Ashwani Kumar’s injury as “dangerous.”

Sunil Jyoti said, “The actual issue is that three days after the incident, Dr Alfred recommended a skull X-ray of Ashwani, but Dr Ashok Bhagat of the Radiology Department refused to entertain this. He also refused request made by K.D. Bhandari and Civil Surgeon Dr S.S. Walia. He misbehaves with his patients and seniors as he is close to a senior BJP leader, Chunni Lal Bhagat, MLA, Jalandhar (South).”

“Doctors organised the strike on September 16 regarding the incident of September 11 as they simply wanted to settle personal scores with K.D. Bhandari,” said a BJP leader.

Dr Ashok Bhagat, who is general secretary of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association, while refuting the allegations said he was not associated with the case. “There are two radiologists in the department and the case was referred to other doctor. But the patient refused to get his X-ray done from that doctor. They were trying to get X-ray opinion from me as they felt that my closeness with the senior BJP leader will click in their favour,” he claimed. He demanded that matter should be brought to the court of law.

Meanwhile, members of the district unit of the BJP demanded that the issue must be addressed in the Privilege Committee of the state Assembly. A protest would be held if the authorities did not suspend Dr Ashok Bhagat and Dr Alfred, they said. Dr Alfred could not be contacted for comments even after repeated attempts.

Jalandhar, September 17
Alarmed at the rising air pollution, the district administration has formally introduced a batch of 10 LPG-run auto-rickshaws in the city as a move to promote the use of LPG or CNG as fuel instead of diesel for auto-rickshaws.

The decision was taken after the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) conducted a study which revealed that respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) in different parts of the city ranges from 330 to 730 microgram per metric cube. The permissible limit is 100.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu said the decision had been taken following the guidelines of the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling which stayed the registration of diesel-run auto-rickshaws and public transport. “Any auto-rickshaw plying without the necessary permit would be impounded,” he added.

It needs mention here that the introduction of CNG or LPG-run vehicles was a long-pending demand of city residents as hundreds of auto-rickshaws and buses have been spewing poisonous gases into the air.

And no pollution check certificates were being issued to them as per laid down instructions.

Ranbir Singh Tut, owner of Amar Highway Filling Station, said the move was a boon for the auto-rickshaw drivers as it was more economical compared to the diesel run auto-rickshaws.

“The move would lead to a direct saving of 40 per cent for these auto-rickshaws as LPG per litre is available at Rs 29.42 whereas they were paying Rs 32.32 for a litre of diesel. The worst part is that a majority of the auto-rickshaws are using diesel mixed with kerosene for transport, leading to air pollution,” he added.

At present, there are only two filling stations in the city.

Punjab Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal has said petroleum companies have expressed their approval to open adequate LPG outlets in the city within the next six months.

Meanwhile, nearly 100 auto-rickshaws have been impounded in a week’s time which were found plying without valid permits and causing pollution.

Jalandhar, September 17
Giving a slogan to channelise excess of vital resources of urban areas to villages and slums, Goonj, an award-winning voluntary organisation, is going to organise “vastra samman”, a nationwide clothe collection and promotion campaign under the slogan “Joy of giving week” from September 27 to October 3.

Goonj will initiate the campaign in the city through its sister organisation REACH. This campaign will be organised in the city along with other 25 major cities of the country.

Unfolding the details of campaign and the organisations itself, REACH coordinator Daljeet Kaur said, “The aim of the campaign is to collect one crore units of material ranges from used clothes, utensils, shoes, umbrellas and grocery items, and distribute them among poor people across 21 states as per the criterion of five units per person. After recycling, these collections will further be channelised according to the needs of the people of a particular locality.”

Bringing other initiatives of Goonj to the fore, she added, “Along with vastra samman, Goonj also organises a ‘cloth for work’ programme through which people work for the betterment of their own surroundings in villages and get clothes in return. Similarly, ‘school to school’ is another programme which channelises commodities like old books, uniforms, shoes, school bags, etc. from urban to rural schools. Goonj has also established landmark campaigns through projects like ‘Not just a piece of cloth’ in which poor women are provided sanitary napkins made after recycling old or discarded clothes.”

Starting with just 67, Goonj has now turned into a strong force of 300 volunteers providing approximately 40,000 kg of clothes per month and highlighting the importance of clothes and needs of the poor in urban areas.

Goonj was awarded the “NGO of the Year” award along with World Bank’s Development Marketplace award and Changemakers award for its various initiatives in public concerns.

Goonj played an active role in major disasters like Chamoli earthquake, annual disasters like floods in Assam and West Bengal and recent floods in the Kosi river through its disaster management initiative named “RAHAT”. Continuing work to provide clothes to poor people evolved from the concept of Goonj, which establishes winters as the natural disaster, at least in India.

Jalandhar, September 17
Demanding provision of better roads, service lanes, parking lots, streetlights and other provisions, the members of the PUDA Complex SCOs Owners Association has decided to lodge a protest with the JDA officials tomorrow morning.

The members have said the parking lots in the market areas were in the worst state. “These have deep trenches, scattered stones and wild growth all around. The worst part is that most corners remain littered with filth which is not picked for days,” said Manjit Singh, an SCO owner.

Rohit Ahuja, another owner, said the service lanes were in such a bad condition that these had rather become a hiding place for anti-social elements.

“These need to be cleaned and laid out with concrete. We sometimes do not get the proper value of our shops from the tenants for the same reason”, he rued.

Another SCO owner, Rakesh Behl, said the streetlights were in a bad condition.

“Many of them do not come on in the night, causing much inconvenience and safety risk to the employees working till late night”, he pointed out.

Jalandhar, September 17
A seminar on music trends in traditional and modern system of teaching music was held at the APJ College of Fine Arts here.

Beginning with chief guest Harjinder Kaur, Chairperson of the Punjab Art Council, Chandigarh, who spoke on the importance of traditional Indian music, the seminar was addressed by others like C.L. Verma, Dr Harvinder Sharma, Dr Pankaj Mala Sharma, Dr Saubhagyavardhan, Chandigarh, Jagdish, Dr Somdutt Battu, Dr Bhagwant Kaur, Swapn and Maghar Ali, all holding eminence in music world.

The quondam perspective to the guru-shishya tradition was emphasised by Dr Pankaj Mala Sharma and Dr Saubhagyavardhan, who took the audience down the memory lane quoting Sanskrit shlokas to wake up the present-day teachers to the “science” of the teacher-student relationship.

Lost of eye-opening trivia like - a last rite came in the form of a snan (bath), following which the student was known as snatak, was performed when the guru decided that he had passed off all he had to his shishya - were doled out.

There were other tips considered sacrosanct in the erstwhile gurukuls - a guru is not supposed to criticise other gurus, shouldn’t tell his shishya to carry out his personal tasks and the shishya, in turn, will not take any support or stretch out his legs while in front of the guru and when the guru’s angry, he won’t make an eye contact with him, etc.

Valuable sitar, vocal and violin lessons by Dr Harvinder Sharma, Dr Somdutt Battu and Swapn, respectively, gave a practical edge to the seminar.

The seminar was concluded by young Maghar Ali who enchanted the audience with brilliant sufi compositions.

Jalandhar, September 17
“Asli cheez nu dikhana theatre nahi, balki cheezan di asliyat dikhana theatre hai”. With these words, theatre personality Kewal Dhaliwal of Manch-Rangmanch, Amritsar, took his place at the podium. It was his fine description of the varied facets of “stagecraft” which ended up in an applause from students and other theatre personalities.

Acclaimed as the man who brought village children into the fold of theatre through his workshops, he was an epitome of knowledge for one and all. The theatre person was here to attend a one-day UGC-sponsored seminar on “Modern theatre techniques” conducted by the Department of Performing Arts of the local Apeejay College of Fine Arts on September 11.

Expressing his thoughts on the stagecraft, the artiste said the very meaning of the play might remain obscure if the stage direction is poor. He said if an actor is an important part of the play, so is the stage direction without which the spirit of the play goes missing.

“How well one uses the props is an art. Theatre cannot work without a good set, direction, lights and sounds, costumes and make-up which is an integral part of theatre,” he added.

The artiste, who is also a member of the Punjab Cultural Policy, said, “Various theatre groups spread across Punjab stage as many as 2,000 plays in a year in villages.”

Dhaliwal, who is credited with staging intellectual productions on poets like Paash and Shiv Kumar Batalvi in the rustic lanes of Punjab, said his group had been making a report annually giving yearly round up of theatre activities in the state. “Ever since I started Manch-Rangmanch, it remained an annual feature with us to maintain a record of theatre festivals.”

Answering a query pertaining to the role of the government in promoting theatre, the artiste said he never begged for funds from the government. “However, we have been demanding a tax waiver on theatre. Theatre should also be incorporated as a subject from class V in schools,” quipped Dhaliwal.

Jalandhar, September 17
A four-day Jalandhar Youth Festival of Schools organised by St Soldier Group of Institutions began at St Soldier Divine Public School, Kapurthala Road, here on Wednesday.

On the first day of the festival 200 students participated in the solo and group categories of dance competitions “Zara nach ke dikha”. Students from more than 15 local schools participated in the event. Renowned folk and Sufi singer Puran Shah Koti inaugurated the event.

On the second day, a singing competition “Awaaz mein hai dum” was held. Students sang variety folk, classical and western songs. Vice-President of the St Soldier group Sangeeta Chopra lauded the performance of the students.

University toppers

Prabhjot Kaur, a student of BEd of the Kamla Nehru College of Education, Phagwara, got the sixth position in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Seema Rani, a student of bachelor of design (VIII semester) of the APJ College of Fine Arts got the first position in the university, followed by Anurati Pathak of the same college. The third position was achieved by Khushpreet Kaur followed by Aditi Mehta again of the same college.

Seminar on swine flu

An interactive talk on swine flu was organised by the postgraduate department of zoology under the aegis of the Kashyap Biological Society at DAV College on September 15. The district epidemiologist from the Civil Hospital Dr T.P. Singh spoke on the various aspects of the disease.

World Ozone Day

The science department of the Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, celebrated World Ozone Day. Students of BSc-III prepared science models showing the depletion of the ozone layer and excessive release of the CFCs leading to diseases and adverse effects. A poster making competition was also held on the theme.

Meanwhile, Guru Amar Dass Public School celebrated World Ozone Day on Wednesday. Principal Harminderjit Kaur Chawla said the day was being celebrated for the past 10 years after the signing of the Montreal Protocol on September 16, 1987.

The department of zoology and environmental science of DAV College also celebrated World Ozone Day. A slide show was held depicting the need to protect the ozone layer.

Extension lecture

An extension lecture on “Plant biotechnology” was organised by the biotechnology department of DAV College. Dr Sharda M. Potukuchi from Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, spoke.

Choreography contest

The MAC forum of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts organised a choreography competition on the college campus. Students presented choreography on social themes like drug abuse, global warming and gender difference.

Judo championship

A three-day district-level judo championship was organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, in which the judo team of BD Arya Girls College, Jalandhar cantonment, won one gold, four silver and five bronze medals.

Dance competition

An inter-house dance competition was held at Seth Hukum Chand SD Public Senior Secondary School, Sangal Sohal. Patel house stood first, Laxmi house second and Tagore and Gandhi houses third and fourth, respectively.

Freshers’ night

Hostel students of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya held a Fresher’s night to welcome them. Students presented a cultural programme. Anupam was declared as “Miss Fresher”.

Jalandhar, September 17
Guess what irks a common man the most every first week of the month. Of course, it is the payment of various bills, including those of power, water and sewage supplies, house taxand telecom services.

Since the city lacks a single unified system of payment of bills, the hapless, increasing busy people find it extremely difficult to visit payment collection centre of each of the services separately, stand in queues and make the payment. Each time they do this, they wonder why they cannot enjoy the “suwidha” of a common collection centre in the vicinity of their residence, where they can deposit all bills at one go, on the lines of Chandigarh.

Balraj Thakur, Congress councillor, says that people in his ward had been raising the issue for quite sometime. “That is why I have been making the point repeatedly in the MC House meetings. The officials have begun working on this direction and are planning to get a geographical survey of the city done,” he said.

He is of the opinion that the various departments, including those of the civil supplies, police administration, local administration, electricity, post office, various branches of the MC, including those of house tax, water supply and building branch, be divided on a universal pattern based on a physical survey.

“Each time that a person has to get his work done in various departments, he has to know as to which office of the block or zone of the department concerned he has to move to. An MC zone for getting a ration card may be located at another end from an MC (O&M) branch of his area. The range of the DSP is different from that of an SDM of the same area,” he said, adding that the residents often felt harassed for the same reason.

MLA K.D. Bhandari, too, pointed out that the residents faced much of a problem owing to the same reasons. “I hope that the idea of the Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal to have a geographical division of all departments based on the area falling in an assembly constituency gets implemented. The suwidha of deposition of bills at a common centre will be possible only after a common division of various departments gets regularised. I guess it is quite sensible to have a common DSP and SDM for all areas falling in the same constituency,” he opined.

He said for the convenience of the residents of the area falling under 66 KV sub-station near HMV College, an electricity bill collection site for all areas falling in the interiors of the city around it had been set. This would benefit the residents who had to commute 4-5 km along the dirty alleys of Qazi Mandi to reach Bashirpura collection centre.