Chandigarh, July 24
The “inquiry” being conducted by the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, authorities into the death of a newborn at the OPD counter faces roadblock with the registration card of the victim found to be missing. The document was crucial to nail the erring staff, including doctors who had handled the expectant woman, Bulbul.

Dr Rajiv Vadhera, medical superintendent, and Dr Raman Nijhawan, inquiry officer, confirmed that the card had gone missing and despite their repeated efforts it could not be traced.

“The last time the card was seen in the woman’s hand was seconds before she delivered the baby in front of the OPD counter. Already under trauma due to the loss, the victim and her husband are unable to recall to whom they had actually handed over the card,” said the inquiry officer. No one has come forward to submit the card with authorities, she added.

GMSH sources said in the absence of the card it would not be possible to fix the responsibility for the lapse. The card could have helped in revealing whether any doctor examined Bulbul or not.

Bulbul, who was writhing in pain, was forced to move from one room to another while leaning on her husband, Chhotu, shoulder, for 24 minutes before the baby was delivered. None of the staff members, including doctors, nurses, counter clerks, laboratory technicians or security personnel bothered to call for a stretcher or a wheelchair for the woman. Both of them were new to the hospital.

The CCTV footage revealed that Bulbul and her husband went towards the doctors’ room twice after getting the registration card made at the OPD counter following which her blood sample was taken at the laboratory. The name of doctor who examined her could be confirmed only after the OPD card is traced.

Meanwhile, the inquiry officer recorded statements of Jasjit Kaur, an employee of GMSH, besides that of Poonam and Sonia, the two eyewitnesses. Dr Vadhera, however, was seen instructing staff at both emergency wards to install signages at different places.

Defence

Chandigarh, July 24
“Police constable naka duty pe the, Laxmi Narayan Mandir, Sector 20, ke pas. Ek shaks Sector 20-21 ki lights ki taraf aa raha tha. Jab sub-inspector Harinder Singh ne Jagdish ki talaashi li, tab uski pant ki dahini jeb se polythene nikla, jisme se 50 gm charas baramad hui.”

The police has been using the same-old plot while filing recovery of contraband in the first information reports (FIRs).

Such cases are addressed by police officials as “chance recoveries”.

The plot runs on these lines almost all the time. In most cases, the police seizes contraband after setting up a checkpoint. The police usually apprehends the accused following a tip-off. In most cases, either the accused initially tries to flee or the police arrests him and seizes contraband from a bag or pocket. Interestingly, the contraband recovered from the accused is not of large quantity.

In the list of orders pronounced in the past one year, most cases have been of “chance recoveries”. The police usually follows this procedure to recover contraband.

Of the 30 orders pronounced in the past one year, accused in 16 cases have been acquitted.

In the orders of acquittal, the court usually questions the prosecution evidence stating: “After analysis of the evidence, the court is of considered opinion that link evidence is missing. The prosecution evidence is not reliable. The entire prosecution smacks doubt and the accused is acquitted of charge.”

Even if the accused is convicted, the sentence is either for one year, three months or seven days, as the quantity of contraband seized is not very high.

Usually, the quantity of contraband seized from most of the accused is either 25 gm of smack or a few kilograms of poppy husk.

The procedures laid down under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 provide for other means for the police to make a search.

As per the procedures suggested under Section 50 of the NDPS Act, “When a duly authorised officer is about to search any person under provisions of the Act, he shall, if the such person so requires, take the person being searched without unnecessary delay to the nearest gazetted officer or the nearest magistrate.”

According to legal luminaries, if such a procedure is followed the chance of acquittal will be far less.

Chandigarh, July 24
“Hain aur bhi duniyan mein sukhanwer bahut acheche, kehte hain ke Ghalib ka hai andaaz-e-byan aur.”Proclaiming his admiration for his own poetical prominence Ghalib sculpted this classic couplet, while Bollywood actor Tom Alter just bowed in reverence after he enlivened the legend in a perfect portrayal in an Urdu play Ghalib, as the National Chandigarh Theatre festival started here today.

The four-day festival is jointly organised by the Chandigarh administration in association with Pearls Institute of Hospitality and Management.

Scripted and directed by Sayeed Alam for Pierrot’s Troupe, Delhi, the play, while depicting the life, struggles and eminence of the greatest legendary Urdu poet, Mirza Asadullah Khan “Ghalib” brought alive the old Moghul splendour and culture.

The functional was designed to felicitate operating of many sequential acts simultaneously supported by proper chiaroscuro effects and recorded musical rendition of ghazals by Ghalib.

Modulating his voice, Tom Alter played the fag end of Mirza Ghalib’s life to perfection eclipsing the actors, who played Ghalib, as child and young poet. The dialogues had brilliance and drollery.

Besides, Tom Alter Sayeed Aalam, Neetu Phool, Harish Chhabra, Anil George, Kiran Pandey, Surabhi Pandey, Ram Naresh Divakar, Himanshu Shrivastav and others played multiple roles.

Earlier, chief guest Ram Niwas, Home Secretary, inaugurated the festival. “Goswamy Tulsi Das” directed and enacted by Shekhar Sen will be staged tomorrow.

Chandigarh, July 24
A teenaged girl allegedly committed suicide after hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her room on the first floor of a church in Sector 24 today.The victim, identified as Maya (19), was working as a maid in the church and used to stay in the room along with her elder sister, Monika.

The matter came to light when the Father went to her room today morning and saw her body hanging with a dupatta from the ceiling fan. Her sister was reportedly sleeping in the balcony when this incident took place.

Maya originally hails from Tamil Nadu. As she was an orphan, her aunt had brought her to the city about eight months ago. Since then, she had been working in the church.

On getting the news her aunt, who resides at Maloya, reached the spot. Sukhbir Rana, SHO of the Sector 11 police station, said Maya’s aunt alleged that the victim had a relation with a boy, who also stays in the church. “It seems that the family was not happy with their relationship following which Maya went under depression,” the SHO said adding that the police would look into all angles in the case.

The post-mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow.Meanwhile, a case has been registered at the Sector 11 police station in this regard. 

Chandigarh, July 24
The spat between officials of the Chandigarh administration and elected representatives of the municipal corporation (MC) is out in the open again.

This time, Mayor Anu Chatrath has taken strong objection to UT officials not inviting her to the inspection of the Valley of Animals, Sector 52, carried out by Home Secretary Ram Niwas. The Mayor and the area councillor, Ram Sumar Morya, were not informed about the visit.

Elected representatives believed that since the Valley of Animals was being developed by the tourism department in collaboration with the MC, they should have been informed about the visit. The Mayor also expressed her displeasure to the Home Secretary on this count.

The Mayor said in the future, the UT administration should inform elected representatives and the Mayor about their visit to any ward of the MC.

Expressing his resentment over the visit of the Home Secretary, Morya said it had become a practice with the bureaucracy to sideline elected councillors from participating in projects being set up in their areas.

Clueless about the inspection by Ram Niwas, he said residents of the area called him this afternoon to inform him about it. Despite repeated attempts, the Home Secretary could not be contacted for comment.

Chandigarh, July 24
A 24-year-old recent passout of the local Dhanwantri College, Sector 46, went missing from the city yesterday morning.Bakul Goyal, hailing from Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, left her house on July 22 to collect her degree from the Panjab University here.

According to her father, Ramesh Goyal, she was in contact with them on her mobile till 8:30 am yesterday, when she was standing at a bus halt on the road separating Sectors 46 and 47 to catch a bus for Nahan.

After that, she sent an SMS to her friend Neha, at whose place at Sector 46 she spent the previous night after collecting her degree from the university.

She informed her friend that she took an auto-rickshaw to reach the Inter-State Bus Terminus at Sector 43.

Her father claimed that they tried to contact her twice, but she did not take the calls. After that, her phone was found switched off.

“We thought that the battery of her phone might have been discharged, but when she did not reach Nahan till 2 pm, we got worried,” said Indu Goyal, Bakul’s mother.

Bakul had been engaged to her college mate Praveen Sharma, who stayed at Sector 48 here and works at the Grecian Cancer Hospital, Sector 69.

“I met Bakul on July 22 and again the next day, when she was waiting for a bus at a halt the road separating Sectors 46 and 47. Due to my busy schedule, we could spent only two or three minutes there before she took the auto-rickshaw,” he claimed.

Their marriage was scheduled for November 28. Her parents filed a complaint at the Sector-34 police station.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Chandigarh administration has been adopting the carrot and stick approach over the transfer of V3 roads to the municipal corporation for maintenance.

In fact, the administration doesn’t have the power to transfer V3 roads to the corporation without the approval of the ministry of home affairs.

During a recent meeting of officials of the administration and the corporation under the chairmanship of UT Administrator Shivraj Patil, the issue of transfer of V3 roads had cropped up.

It was decided that the administration would work out a possibility on transfer of these roads and prepare a report on it.

Referring to the Government of India’s gazette notification, administration officials said national and state highways were not maintained by the local self government.

They said said around 370 km of roads fell under the V3 category and these were being maintained by the UT engineering department.

Sources in the administration said to date, the administration had not prepared any proposal to transfer V3 roads to the corporation.

A senior official of the administration said the administration could not transfer V3 roads to the corporation until the union government de-notified its notification on roads.

He added that the administration would have to send a proposal to the ministry of home affairs for its approval if these roads were to be transferred.

He said it would not be easy for the administration to get the proposal approved from the ministry, as many such proposals had been lying pending with it for the past over two years.

Panchkula, July 24
The Shivalik Vikas Manch (SVM) today demanded a CBI inquiry into the increase in the width of the Kaushalya Dam, which has caused losses of around Rs 62 crore to the state exchequer.

Addressing mediapersons here today, former chairman of the SVM and BSP leader Vijay Bansal alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, without seeking the advice of the technical committee, had ordered for the widening of the dam to benefit a real estate builder.

He said the money could have been utilised by the government on constructing Dewanwala, Dagrana and Chhamla dams on the Ghaggar.

He claimed that timely construction of these dams could have prevented recent floods in areas of Haryana and Punjab.

Bansal demanded the setting up of judicial courts and other administrative buildings at Raipur Rani and Kalka sub-divisions.

He also demanded the setting up of an environment court at Panchkula, as people had to appear before the court in Kurukshetra with regard to cases pertaining to pollution.

Alleging bias against Panchkula district, Bansal said even though the state government had set up 100 model villages throughout the state, it had failed to set up even a single model village in the district.

He said the government had announced the setting up of a polytechnic college in the town and also earmarked land in Sector 26 but the project had not seen the light of the day.

Panchkula, July 24
North India’s largest poultry farm belt in the Barwala block of this district has taken its toll on the health of the residents. With unabated fly menace people are complaining of unhygienic conditions leading to various diseases.

Jaidev Singh, a resident of Kot Barwala, said at least one person in each house of his locality was suffering from diarrhoea or some other diseases due to consumption of food prepared in unhygienic conditions. He said despite utmost care by the womenfolk to cover the food items in their houses, flies manage to sit on eatables thus making them unhygienic.

He said though the poultry farm owners carry out regular sprays in the area, the doses were high on water and low on insecticides, which nullified the impact of the spray. District health officer Dr Jagmal said poultry farm owners had been directed to spray insecticide around their farms to restrict the breeding of flies.

He said recently he had visited the area and directed the senior medical officer of Raipur Rani to periodically spray insecticides in the fields near these poultry farms. They were continuously monitoring the situation.

Bhanu Pratap, studying in BCA final year in Chandigarh and residing at Barwala, said: “We have submitted several representations to the district administration for shifting of poultry farms from the area, but to no avail.”

He said he had recently been bed-ridden due to stomach infection and had to miss his classes for about one week.

A sweetmeat shop owner said: “We were so sick of flies, as we barely managed to get any business. The flies gorged on everything we cook. The sales have gone down. Now, we spray the medicine immediately after our items are ready and there is temporary relief.”

Chandigarh, July 24
The Thalassaemic Children Welfare Association (TCWA) organised 116th blood donation camp, sixth in the series of blood donation camps this year at Zakir Hall, Block-A, PGI, here today.

The camp was inaugurated by Chandigarh Mayor Anu Chatrath. She congratulated and praised the efforts of TCWA (in saving several lives) especially during summers when there is an acute shortage of blood.

She congratulated the donors hailing from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh for the noble cause.

She said more efforts should be laid to prevent the disease from spreading further.

More than 228 donors came forward for the cause.

The camp was conducted by a team of doctors/technicians headed by Dr Neelam Marwaha, head of blood transfusion department, who is also the member of medical advisery board of the association. 

Chandigarh, July 24
The Panjab University authorities are all set to tighten the noose on protesters, who in a bid to get their demands fulfilled blocked the movement of traffic and pedestrians on the campus.

A circular cautioning student leaders about the same has been prepared by the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) office to be sent to all student organisations of the university.

University officials said an FIR would be lodged against individual protesters, who are found creating hindrance in the movement of the traffic or pedestrians or blocking the way outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office or any other important building. In addition to this, grievances of the student organisations will first be addressed to the authorities before they stage a protest.

With the elections for the student council expected to take place within the next two months, the authorities are now figuring ways to tackle the protests being staged by different student organisations, which has become a regular feature.

“Any kind of hindrance in the movement on the campus will be strictly prohibited. We have prepared a circular, which will be circulated to all presidents of the student organisations. The action, as per the law, will be taken against the violators,” said Naval Kishore, Dean Student Welfare.

According to the university officials, even those student organisations, which are generally inactive during the year, staged the protests on petty issues before the election time on the campus. In other cases, the protesters are often found raising slogans only for grabbing limelight.

Chandigarh, July 24
Panjab University in its bid to keep a check on ragging has introduced a system of induction programmes in all hostels from this academic session.

This programme has been introduced after receiving feedbacks from hostelers against the stringent anti-ragging rules, which, they claimed, didn’t gave them any opportunity to get familiar with others in the hostels.

This informal interaction programme will take place in addition to the formal freshers’ party in the hostels, said university officials. They added that during this induction programme between juniors and seniors, hostelers would get an opportunity to know each other. This programme is likely to start in all hostels from the next week.

“The hostel warden, staff and the students will meet over a cup of tea for an informal interaction. This programme will be organised in addition to the regular freshers’ party of the respective hostels,” said Dr Naval Kishore, Dean Student Welfare.

In addition to the induction programmes, hostel wardens had already put up anti-ragging banners near the gates and on notice boards to caution students against indulging any such act.