Adampur (Jalandhar), November 27
In an effort to bring down the mortality rate in road accidents and other critical emergencies at home, around 90 ambulances will soon be on the roads to provide emergency transportation of patients to the nearby hospitals.

Such ambulances, which would have all the necessary equipment required to provide basic critical care to the patients, would be a phone call away and reach the accident spot in less than half an hour after a call made to them. For the purpose, a global positioning system (GPS)-equipped control room, at a cost of Rs 5 crore, is being set up in Amritsar.

This was revealed by Punjab Health Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla who was here to inaugurate the Community Health Centre (CHC) upgraded from the Primary Health Centre (PHC).

She said caretakers of the patients would have to call the ambulance at the accident site or at the home at phone number 108 from any landline phone connection. She said the total cost of transportation would be borne by the government.

Asked about the results of research aimed at finding out the reasons behind the massive dengue outbreak in Jalandhar, she said the disease history of the patients and the pattern of the outbreak had been forwarded to the department concerned of the Central Government and government medical colleges of the state and the research process was still under way.

Earlier, while addressing the gathering, Raji. P. Srivastva, Managing Director of the Punjab Health System Corporation, said the 30-bed upgraded CHC would have seven various OPDs, an X-ray unit, a laboratory, ECG facility, pharmacy, operation theatre and labour room.

S.S. Makkar, MLA, Adampur, highlighted the need for a blood storage unit and residence quarters for doctors in the hospital.

Besides senior health officials and local politicians, senior Akali leader Pawan Kumar Tinu was also present.

Nawanshahr, November 27
A large number of political and social leaders and people converged on the bhog and shradhanjali samaroh organised at nearby Sloh village to pay tributes to former Parliamentary Secretary Parkash Singh, who died in New Delhi on November 17.

PPCC President Capt Amarinder Singh and Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Parneet Kaur, while paying tributes to Parkash Singh, said he belonged to the rare breed of politicians dedicated to the development and selfless service of the people. While expressing his condolences to the bereaved family, the PPCC chief said though the family had to suffer due to the disease of Parkash Singh, his wife Gur Iqbal Kaur (Babli) and son Angad Singh, served the party.

He assured his family members that they would continue to be part of the Congress and would be given due regard and support in the party to carry forward the legacy of late Parkash Singh.

Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, chief adviser to the Chief Minister, Bahujan Samaj Morcha president Satnam Singh Kainth, SAD MLAs Jatinder Singh Kariha, Nand Lal and Mohan Lal also paid tributes to the departed soul. Prominent among those present on the occasion included several former ministers, sitting and former MLAs, people from different walks of life.

Jalandhar, November 27
The city police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of cheaters with the arrest of its three members. The gang was reportedly operating from the region with its links in like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.

ADCP (Crime) Rajpal Singh Sandhu said the gangsters had been alluring people by giving fake advertisements in newspapers promising easy loans from various banks and financial institutions. They had opened offices in various cities and towns of the state and were charging 2 per cent commission for a loan case from the seekers, Sandhu said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of the CIA staff rounded up three members of the gang - Shakti Arora of Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar, Rakesh Arora of Neela Mehal and Sunny Mahendru of Dhariwal in Gurdaspur - from near Peer Chowk and seized documents in bulk from them.

CIA staff in charge Satish Malhotra revealed that they had even engaged fake surveyors who used to charge Rs 3,000 per case. In addition to an office in Hoshiarpur, the gang was operating from six offices in the city.

Even after cheating scores of people of crores of rupees, not even a single victim had got loan from them till date, he added.

A case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against them at Division No 2 police station.

Jalandhar, November 27
Two persons have lost their lives in separate accidents in the city in the last 24 hours. A resident of Dhogari village, Surinder Pal Singh, was reportedly crushed to death under a truck on the Jalandhar-Pathankot at Reru village late last night.

Surinder Pal was riding a motorcycle when an unidentified truck, heading from the opposite direction, collided head-on with his vehicle. The motorcyclist died on the spot.

According to eyewitnesses, the truck dragged the motorcycle and its rider for a long distance, thus badly mutilating the body.

Surinder Pal was on his way back to home after job. He was crossing the road after refilling petrol in his vehicle at a filling station on the highway. The truck driver reportedly sped away from the scene after the mishap.

The police has handed over the body to the family after post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital and a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against the truck driver at Division No 8 police station.

In another accident, Sher Singh, a gatekeeper of Prime Traders, a leather industry in Leather Complex, was sandwiched to death between a tractor-trailer and wall here today.

The accident occurred when the driver of the tractor-trailer lost control over the steering wheel. The vehicle rammed into the wall of a security post at the main gate of the factory killing the gatekeeper on the spot.

The police has arrested the tractor-trailer driver, Kulwinder, and a case has been registered against him at Basti Bawa Khel police station.

Jalandhar, November 27
Temporary employees of the Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department yesterday alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had failed to keep his promise of regularise them after winning the assembly election in 2007.

The representatives of the employees, who held a press conference here to highlight their long-pending demand of job regularisation, said even three years after the promises made by the CM, over 3,500 such employees, who had been working in the department for the past around 20 years, were still working as contractual employees. All of them were working as class III and IV employees.

Talking to the media persons, Sukhnandan Singh, Water Supply and Sanitation Muster Roll Union, Punjab, said the union had decided to hold a state-level protest at Lambi, home constituency of the CM. He said if the administration would stop them from reaching the protest site, the employees would start an indefinite fast.

Among other, Harjit Moga, Kulwant Bathinda, Mukesh Patiala and Sukhjit Gurdaspur were also present at the conference.

Phagwara, November 27
Tension prevailed in the town when agitating employees belonging to the ITI Class IV Employees Union, who were demonstrating in support of their demands, attempted to proceed towards the local residence of Technical Education Minister Swarana Ram and the police prevented them in Town Hall this afternoon.

The tug of war between the civil administration and the agitating ITI teachers continued for more than an hour. Later SDM Amarjit Pal sent Naib Tehsildar Mulakh Raj to receive the memorandum from the agitating employees.

The civil and police administration heaved a sigh of relief when the protesters led by union state president Sukhdev Singh submitted the memorandum to Mulakh Raj in Town Hall. Their major demands include regularisation of services and grant of better pay scales.

Nawanshahr, November 27
S.R. Ladhar, Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, yesterday held a meeting with officials related to the revision of electoral rolls in the district.

He visited some booths falling in the Nawanshahr, Banga and Balachaur assembly segments to take stock of the progress of the work at the booth level. He interacted with the EROs, AEROs and BLOs and asked them to achieve 100 per cent target of preparing electronic photo identity cards (EPICs) with utmost care and responsibility.