Amritsar, December 9
With the PCMS doctors at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial (JBM) Civil Hospital proceeding on mass casual leave today to organise a protest at Chandigarh, the patients had to return without availing themselves of treatment.

Because of the protest by the doctors in support of their demands, the Out Patient Departments (OPDs) remained closed. The patients had to return without seeing a doctor.

Sikandar Singh, a visitor said, “The doctors had asked my mother to come today for an eye surgery. On coming here we came to know that the doctors are not available.” He added that they were returning home without getting the service.

With locks hanging outside the gates of the OPDs, the corridors presented a deserted look. The unhappy patients returned immediately after they came to know about the doctors’ protest.

Sukhjinder Singh, another patient, said, “We had no prior information of the doctors’ protest. Had we knew about it, we would have not come today.” He added that he had travelled 25 km in bus to reach the hospital.

Soma Devi, an old woman, said, “People like me cannot come daily because of the tiresome journey.” She added that it was unfair on part of the doctors to go on leave.

Mansa Ram, another visitor, said, “The general public is always at loss because of these strikes. The government must think about the people.” He added that people usually come here after taking leave from work and now they would have to take another off from work to get medical services.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said the hospital had managed to continue the emergency services. “Even two gynaecologists were arranged for emergency deliveries,” he said.

The PCMS doctors are protesting against the state government on its failure to issue notification regarding merging of the NPA with the basic pay.

Amritsar, December 9
Even as a fire tragedy at a Kolkata hospital has claimed 70 lives today, it seems the government hospitals in the holy city are waiting for a similar incident to occur before having proper firefighting measures in place in their institutions.

The Tribune team today visited Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) and Jallianwala Bagh Memorial (JBM) Civil Hospital and found that they are ill-equipped to tackle a mishap of the kind. Most of the firefighting equipment installed at these hospitals has worn out.

At the JBM hospital, the fire hoses, which carry water from the pressurised water source to the nozzle, were found missing. Even a few of the fire hydrants to which the hoses of the fire brigades are attached to replenish the water stocks were in a defunct state. The traditional firefighting equipment, as sand-filled buckets, were lying empty.

At Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, the Out Patient Department (OPD) was found lacking when it comes to firefighting arrangements. A few of the fire hoses here, too, were seen missing. The glass panes of the firefighting equipment storage cases were also broken. The emergency block seemed better equipped.

Gurjap Singh, a visitor to the Civil Hospital, said hospitals must have the state-of-the-art firefighting equipment to tackle any eventuality. “The hospitals have lots of chemicals, combustible gases and liquids that are prone to catching fire. Further they have many heat dissipating machines, which can ignite a fire,” he said, adding that safety measures needed to be taken up.

A visitor to GND Hospital, Anurid Kumar, said, “The fire incident at Kolkata has proved that hospitals are at a high risk of fire accidents. Moreover, the patients are not strong enough physically to save their lives.” He added that as the patients cannot move out on their own in case an accident occurs, the hospitals have a responsibility to take adequate safety measures.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said the hospital had six fire extinguishers installed in the emergency block. He added that the hospital had sent a proposal to the higher authorities for upgrading the firefighting infrastructure. Guru Nanak Dev Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Karnail Singh could not be contacted for comments.

Amritsar, December 9
With the farmers' blockade on the National Highway No I continuing for the fourth consecutive day today, the petrol filling stations in the city are facing problems with several of them having gone dry as oil tankers remained stranded outside the city limits.

Seven petrol pumps have gone dry in the past couple of days.

However, situation improved a little with oil tankers reaching the city via the Har Gobindpur-Mehta Road route late last evening covering about 50 km extra.

The problem may aggravate in the coming days in case the impasse between farmers and the Punjab Government is not resolved.

JP Khanna, president, Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, said two filling stations had completely gone dry during these days, while remaining petrol pumps either had petrol or diesel. Although the things had improved as oil tankers reached late in the evening, the government should initiate some urgent steps to resolve the issue.

"If the farmers block the Hargobindpur route then certainly it would be difficult for the petrol pump owners to sustain for more days. At present the vehicles are reaching five-six hours late," said Khanna.

The Petroleum Dealers Association urged the government to resolve the issue soon, otherwise the situation might worsen in the coming days, causing inconvenience to the commuters in the holy city.

Amritsar, December 9
It’s an art designed to transform perception. An art designed for space, derived from our everyday life. But sadly, the holy city has neither the perception, nor space for one of the most popular and growing contemporary art forms in India today. Installations became the next big thing in the contemporary art scene post Subodh Gupta’s critically appreciated series of installation work using steel utensils. But Amritsar still seems to be ignorant about its power of expression.

The cultural and literary hub of the region has numbered artists who are pursuing the art, not out of encouragement, but merely for their own passion for it. Hear it from the horse’s mouth.

“Installation is a highly perceptive form of art, purely based on an artist’s imagination and understanding. People here do not have the sensibility to appreciate such an art form,” says Gurdip Singh, an artist, who has been making installations for the past decade. “In my career spanning over 10 years, I have just had two or three shows here, while I have participated and displayed my works across the country,” he adds.

The winner of state Lalit Kala Akademy award, he specialises in making religious and spiritual installations, working on Hindu rituals and surrealism. His most awarded installation has been “Saptjeeba”, meaning God of Fire. “Its difficult for installation artists to find patrons and that eventually forces them to take up alternate career paths,” says the artist, who is associated with the Miri Piri foundation.

Sumedha Khanna, an artist and lecturer of designing at BBKDAV College says, “Installation is an elaborate art, involving lot of assemblage. The varsity youth festivals were once a good platform for budding artists to put together their installations, but now even they have omitted it from the competition, reason being that it requires a lot of space. What would you call that?”

But that hasn’t made Sumedha take a detour. “I keep competing in exhibition in New Delhi, Chandigarh and elsewhere, working with ropes, nails and waste material. Installations are inspired by our day-to-day experience and its time people understand the art rather than run away from it.”

The reason is creating a negative environment for contemporary art forms to grow in Amritsar. “Installation is not a modern concept, but it is present in our folk art. The decorations on Diwali are a proof of that. Just modern technique and tools have made it more interesting. Sadly, people here have never really given the art its due recognition and its more about the economics than the emotions. They have no time for any kind of art, leave aside installation which is site-specific,” says Dr Baldev Gambhir, a senior artist from city. “We don’t lack talent but just the motivation.”

The solution is not a hard one to come by. “The closed and rigid mindset of people here would change for better if some corporate or patrons lead by example. Installations are a popular art form now, challenging yet interesting. Chandigarh is not far from here and it has build upon its art status impressively, thanks to a little awareness about art. If more workshops, exhibitions and aesthetic space is provided to the artists, things can improve,” says Shefali Johar, lecturer at the Fine Arts Department in BBK DAV College.

Amritsar, December 9
Authorities of Hindu College and BBK DAV College for Women had to cancel their second terminal house tests today as the staff of the two colleges observed a complete strike on a call given by the Joint Action Committee (JAC). The JAC comprises Managements' Federation, Principals' Federation, Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union, and private colleges employees union.

The JAC has called for a two-day strike beginning from December 8 and the next course of action will be chalked out tomorrow.

Today was the first day of the terminal examination at BBK DAV College while Hindu College authorities could not conduct examinations on both days since they began on December 8.

Hindu College Principal PK Sharma said the dates of cancelled examinations will be announced later. On the status of the syllabi covered for various courses, he said it was on track as the college had adequate staff working on an ad-hoc basis. He said with the government moratorium on new recruitment there were about 30 permanent teachers while ad-hoc staff strength was 62. He said with the support of later category of staff the college had managed to complete the syllabi.

BBK DAV College Principal Dr Neelam Kamra said today was the first day of the second terminal examination in the college which had to be abrogated and a fresh date sheet will be announced later.

DAV College Principal Dr KN Kaul said his college had already postponed the second terminal examination to the next month in view of the agitation.

Teachers of the government-aided colleges struck work to exert pressure on the SAD-BJP government to accept their long-pending demands. Studies suffered on account of consecutive strikes could not be denied but there was no effort on the part of government to take stock of the situation, teachers said. Colleges which are going ahead with conducting the examination are facing great difficulty, sources said. Studies were disrupted due to back-to-back strikes and holidays, which fell in the recently concluded festive season.

Earlier, a three-day complete bandh was observed followed by a two-hour strike for 15 days in these colleges in November. About 80 per cent of the total strength of students in the city study in eight government-aided colleges. Students said the syllabi of commerce, economics, computer and mathematics were behind the schedule. They said the teachers had now accelerated their pace to finish the syllabi unmindful whether the students are grasping their lessons or not. There are 500 permanent and equal number of temporary teachers and 300 non-teaching staff in eight colleges which have been agitating for pay and perks at par with their counterparts in government colleges.

Teachers held a rally at DAV College today. PCCTU general secretary Prof HS Walia said the demands of the agitating employees of the aided non-government colleges include, the implementation of pension and gratuity scheme passed by the state Assembly on March 30, 1999, and approved by the government on December 12, 2001, etc.

Amritsar, December 9
Restaurants, dhabas and street food vendors in the city have been using domestic LPG cylinders against norms.

Assistant Food and Supplies Officer Raminder Singh Baath said 27 domestic LPGs were confiscated from 10 restaurants, dhabas and sweet shops in the city during raids on Tuesday.

He said these commercial establishments are Crystal Restaurant, Crystal Plaza, Bubby Chicken Corner, Hotel Basera, Sharma Sweets, Sanjha Chullah, another Sharma Sweets, Janta Vaishno Dhaba and Sharma Milk House.

He said all LPG cylinders have been returned to these commercial establishments and notices of warning have been served. He said undertakings have been received from these commercial outlets. He said as per the provision if these shops violate norms again, police complaints would be lodged against these units.

Residents of the city felt there might be a nexus among gas agencies, delivery boys, owners of these outlets and officials of the District Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Baath said the department invariably aims at keeping a check on any kind of nexus. Hence, he said, raids are conducted from time to time.

As many as 27 domestic LPGs were confiscated from 10 restaurants, dhabas and sweet shops in the city during raids on Tuesday. All LPG cylinders have been returned to these commercial units and notices of warning have been served. Undertakings have been received from these commercial outlets— Raminder Singh Baath, Assistant Food and Supplies Officer, Amritsar