Jalandhar, November 6
The peculiar first-week-of-November dengue onslaught seemed to get fiercer today as the number of positive dengue patients rose from three to nine. New suspected dengue patients also came into the hospital as 15 to 16 suspected dengue patients were admitted to the male ward alone at the Civil Hospital since last night.

While in all, there were 37 suspected dengue patients in the male ward, the total number of dengue patients in both the wards were about 50 to 60 (as some also got discharged since yesterday).

While about two to three beds outside the female wards had been removed, the male ward corridors were still full with patients.

Only one nurse (each) in both the wards still took care of the patients and nurses cribbed that despite the steady arrival of serious patients, the hospital authorities had not bothered to provide them any extra staff.

Interestingly, the dengue outbreak is not restricted to any particular area as admitted patients were from various areas like Jaswant Nagar, Ram Bhagat Nagar, Abadpura, Model House etc.

Civil Surgeon HK Singla, when asked why new staff wasn’t being roped in to deal with the dengue inflow as has also been done by the hospital authorities in the past years, said, “The patient inflow is normal. Moreover, any such demand has not been brought to my notice by the Medical Superintendent either.”

While additional interns were seen helping the staff during the pre-Diwali bout of dengue, lone nurses (in some cases two) have been seen handling 40 to 50 patients of their wards - changing drips, providing medicines, answering report queries and playing counsellors to depressed and difficult patients - without any assistance during the recent influx, even as the Civil Surgeon says its normal.

Jalandhar, November 6
Residents on both sides of Chowgitti Chowk are a harried lot as they have to commute through an accident-prone stretch on the road daily. While the entire stretch of the Jalandhar-Pathankot bypass has been affected due to the construction of a flyover in the area, the worst affected is near Chowgitti Chowk where roads from Gurunankpura and Ladewali merge into the bypass.

Vehicles move around in all directions near the bridge underconstruction leading to traffic chaos near Chowgitti Chowk in Jalandhar, and (right) Vehicles move at a snail's pace owing to construction of a bridge near Chowgitti Chowk. Tribune photos: Sarabjit Singh

Residents of Gurunankpura, Surya Enclave, Guru Gobind Singh Avenue, Chowgitti, Ladhewali and the Abadi area here are the worst hit.

A small opening under the flyover is fenced and only pedestrians and cyclists manage to cross over. A fenced dust-bed right next to the under-construction flyover is conveniently used by two-wheeler riders, who have broken tapes on the fence, to cross over and drive on the wrong side.

For four-wheelers, a small cut on the road is the only place from where they than cross over to the other side. There are no traffic lights and people say they never saw a traffic constable at the spot.

RN Sharma, a resident of the Surya Enclave Area, said crossing through the stretch at the Chowgitti Chowk is an ordeal. “At any given time, attempting to make one’s way through the crossing takes at least 15 minutes. Due to the flyover, there is no way for those crossing over from Gurunanakpura to Ladhewali. There are long traffic jams in the area. The diversions create more problems. Since there is no other way for the commuters, they have to use the link roads which are narrow and add to the snarl-ups. There have been at least four to five accidents in the past two months on the stretch and minor mishaps are a routine. I would never have taken this road, but the railway crossing on the other side is mostly closed. It’s a continuous headache for us.”

JS Pabla, a construction engineer who has to commute to a construction site on Hoshiarpur Road daily, said: “Residents passing through Chowgitti Chowk have to bear brunt of traffic chaos from both sides of the road. I never saw a traffic police personnel regulating traffic there.”

Balbir Chand, a juice seller on the Gurunanakpura side of the road, said: “We have been witnessing traffic jams daily. Accidents are very common and there is no regulation of traffic.”

The lone traffic policeman in the area, when The Tribune visited the site, was not exactly regulating traffic. People were crossing over from the dirt-bed, going on the wrong side and some were hurriedly brushing past other vehicles as he watched.

Jalandhar, November 6
In a first-of-its-kind venture in the city, a bunch of city youngsters organised an art contest for about 1,600 underprivileged students of the city. Volunteers from AIESEC an international youth organisation held Balkalaakar, a large scale painting and dancing contest for the underprivileged children in the city.

As a show, it stood out because as a venture by students, it had got a lot of heart. These organisations have been working anonymously for children but the direct impact venture was a big success.

Most of these volunteers, mostly students of the Lovely Professional University (LPU), joined AIESEC about three years ago (the year it came to LPU) and have been organising little programmes since then.

But this was their first direct impact venture, a unique programme which saw the participation of six government schools, four city NGOs - Udaan, PAHAL, American Institute for Special Education and Nari Niketan (which also played the venue for last year’s Balkalakaar event held by AIESEC), various other city organisations and Remove Hunger (another Jalandhar-based LPU students’ success story) which was responsible to feed everyone during the afternoon.

Amit Chawla co-ordinator of the Executive body of AIESEC, Jalandhar, and a mechanical engineering pass out from LPU, said while the organisation was earlier restricted to only LPU, it recently became an independent Jalandhar chapter and will look to rope in many youngsters from the city.

Amit himself chose to stay on in Jalandhar so far only because of the AIESEC responsibility. “My tenure will be coming to an end soon and then I can join my job.”

He will be joining a corporate firm in Oman next year as an intern under AIESEC.

Talking about the little ones was, “Gurpreet Singh, a special child from a local school, who can barely move, drew a painting calling India great. It is the bravery and the spirit of children like him that makes us go on.”

The interns coming in from other countries under AISEC are already working at various city colleges and also with various city NGOs.

Anya Biley, one such intern from Ukraine, an invite to the programme, teaches German to batches of school and college students at the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV). She said, “I felt lucky to be a part of this event. India is about a lot of traffic and a lot of hospitality. Watching these kids laugh today was one of the rich cultural experiences of India that I will always cherish.”

On a five month visit to the country, Anya has completed three already and says so far it has been fun.

Jalandhar, November 6
Deadline! It seems, this is the word that is keeping officials of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) on their toes 24X7. The task is completion of the renovation of Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in the city before matches of World Kabaddi Cup scheduled for November 16.

Probably, this is the reason, why the last minute efforts of the JIT has started bearing fruits as the renovation work of the stadium now stands near completion.

Jalandhar Tribune team visited the stadium and found that JIT officials were on duty on Sunday too. In fact, the work is carried out day and night to complete it before November 16.

The reconstruction work of one out of the two pavilions facing each other has almost been completed with red stone being fitted on the spectator's stairs giving it a decked-up look. Even the work on the canopy of the pavilion has also been completed.

Superintending Engineer JIT, Mukul Soni who was present in the stadium along with other officials, said the work on phase-I and II of the Rs 23 Crore multi-discipline sports stadium would be complete by the coming Sunday. "Now, we are about to begin the work of lifting excavated mud from the stadium following which it will get a cleaner look", he added.

He said the canopy of the second pavilion would be constructed later and for the time being it will be decked-up with tents on the November 16. "The ground where the kabaddi matches are to be held have been protected and fencing will be installed within a day or two", he stated. Sources also added that Punjab Mandi Board was assigned the job of installing state of the art floodlights in the stadium, as the matches would be held at night.

Jalandhar would witness Kabaddi matches on November 16 when international teams- Pakistan, Spain, Italy, Germany, America and Norway would reach the city for matches. The Kabaddi tournament would be held from November 1 to 20.

Meanwhile, the work on the VIP lounge, hi-tech media centre, commentary box and an open coffee shop on the terrace would be completed in third phase. The stadium would be equipped with 5000 additional steel-chairs in this phase.

Jalandhar, November 6
Members of the Danga Peerat Sangarsh Committee have accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal of ignoring the demands of the victims of 1984 riots.

“Badals prefer kabbadi over us, who are forced to live in utter penury,” said committee members. They are on fast unto death outside the Deputy Commissioner office demanding their rehabilitation. The fast entered fifth day today.

Hakikat Singh, president of the committee, said Badals have been squandering crores of rupees on organising ‘kabbadi’ tournament but these (Badals) selfish politicians are least interested to distribute even a penny to citizens, who deserve the most.

“We have been fighting for our rights for the last 27 years, but every state government has ignored our genuine demands,” he said alleging that Badals are busy in amassing wealth and have no time for people who are struggling for their rights.

As per the recommendations of the Nanawati Commission, the state government has already issued plots to riot victims residing in Chandigarh, Mohali, Ludhiana and Patiala. “Why have 1,600 victims of Jalandhar been ignored by the Badals?” victims asked.

“Now we are adamant to our demands and we hardly care even our fast unto death takes our lives,” riot victims alleged. “Health of four persons, who are on the fast, has been worsening day by day and if anyone of them dies, Badals would be responsible,” they said.

Jalandhar, November 6
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, won the trophy North Zone Inter-University Badminton Tournament in the men’s category. The tournament hosted by Punjab Technical University Jalandhar at the local DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology, concluding here today.

While Panjab University, Chandigarh, stood first runners-up, Delhi University ended up as second runners-up in the men’s section.

In the girl’s category, Delhi University won the trophy followed by Guru Nanak Dev University and Delhi University. As many as 38 teams participated in the tournament.

Dr S. K. Das, Director Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, gave away prizes to the winners. Regional Director of DAV Engineering Colleges, Professor C.L. Kochher was also present on this occasion.