Jalandhar, September 30
Those who toiled in the fields have now shifted to high-tech equipment and migrant labourers and those who walked miles to go to work, now have cars and scooters to cruise along.

Punjab has advanced, but all’s not well with our little, throbbing hearts.

On World Heart Day, as The Tribune talked to city doctors about the state of the heart of the people here, doctors pointed out the bothersome increase in the incidence of heart diseases in the city. In most instances, a sedentary lifestyle is primarily to blame.

Ten per cent of the district population suffers from heart diseases and doctors warn citizens that the roots of the disease are somewhere in the childhood.

Interestingly, across the world, Punjab is a unique example wherein the incidence of the heart diseases in urban areas is equal to those in the rural areas.

Talking to The Tribune, heart specialist Dr Vijay Mahajan said, “Ten per cent of the district population is suffering from cardiovascular diseases. There is a bothersome increase in the incidence of coronary heart diseases among people and the prime reason for that is lifestyle changes. While earlier it was restricted to elderly people, now heart disease has started occurring at a very young age. Especially in our country, heart trouble is also starting among people aged 30 and in some cases even younger. In other countries, heart trouble usually comes later in life.”

“Coronary heart diseases are very common among people with diabetes, obesity and hypertension. If our OPD comprises 50 patients suffering from coronary heart diseases, at least 10 to 15 out of them are fresh cases of the disease. At least 25 to 30 per cent of the OPD comprises young people,” he added.

Quoting stats from the findings of a study conducted by his heart care centre in collaboration with the Panjab University, Chandigarh (published in the book Health Psychology released in 2004), Dr Mahajan said, “The findings of the study said Punjab (especially Doaba) is the only region across the world where the incidence of heart diseases in the rural and urban populace is equal. While elsewhere the heart disease ratio is 70:30 (70 for urban and 30 among rural), in Punjab it is the same for rural and urban crowds. The health of people in villages has taken a hit due to the increased reliance on modern machines and migrant labourers among farmers rather than exerting themselves, even as food habits remain the same.”

Dr Mahajan also said the other prime causes for the rise in heart diseases were increased alcohol consumption (which again has also increased substantially in villages) and feelings of hostility and anger.

Dr Kashmiri Lal, MD (medicine), at the Civil Hospital, while talking about the incidence of heart disease in patients at the hospital, said, “At least 70 to 80 per cent of the patients of heart diseases also have obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Smoking is also one of the prime causes of increased cardiac trouble being reported. We are getting at least 15 to 20 patients reporting heart trouble per day.”

City-based heart specialist Dr Raman Chawla, said, “Diet, exercise and smoking are the three prime things around which the incidence of heart disease revolves. Earlier heart disease was unheard of below the age of 60, now it is common at 40. It is very important that kids are discouraged from getting obese. Because once a kid develops a fat structure, it is very difficult to stay away from heart trouble for the rest of one’s lives.”

All doctors said childhood is the root of the trouble, if a bad lifestyle of TV watching, junk-binging and inactivity is avoided early on, heart worries can stay at bay.

Jalandhar, September 30
A teenaged domestic help allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in a room of the house where she worked in Model Town here last evening.

Daughter of a rehri vendor, Anju (14) was a domestic help with Amit Anand, a businessman, and was taking care of his children for the past couple of years.

The station house officer, police station, division No 6, said when Anju did not respond to the calls of Anand's wife from her room located on the second floor, the door was broken open and she was found hanging by the land lady. She immediately informed Anand, who subsequently called the police.

The police reached the spot and the body was removed from the ceiling fan. The body was later sent to the Civil Hospital for postmortem. Later, she was cremated.

Meanwhile, the police has initiated inquest proceedings in the case on the statement of Rinku, the deceased's father. — TNS

Jalandhar, September 30
Hundreds of students and people from across the city participated in a "Wellness Walk" organised on the occasion of World Heart Day here today.

Organised by the local Oxford Hospital and the Rotary Club, the walk started from the hospital, with participants walking across the city.

Flagged off by Mayor Sunil Jyoti, ex-minister Ch Jagjit Singh and civil surgeon Dr RL Bassan, the walk was specially organised on the occasion of World Heart Day to spread awareness among people regarding matters relating to cardiac issues.

Dr SPS Grover, Dr HS Dhillon, Dr GS Gill, among others, were also present on the occasion.

As many as 450 students from colleges like CT Institute, Lovely Institute, Mata Gujri Nursing College, Adampur, Janta College Kartarpur and Guru Nanak Dev University College, Ladowali Road, Jalandhar, participated in the walk.

While World Heart Day is celebrated all over the world to alert people about this serious illness, today’s initiative was to spread awareness among the city folk on the issue.

The walk was taken from Oxford Hospital to Nakodar Chowk, Nakodar Road, Link Road, New Jawahar Nagar, Red Cross Bhawan and back to the Oxford Hospital from there.

Prominent personalities, including Civil Surgeon Dr. RL Bassan, walked throughout the period. Slogans to prevent heart attack were also raised. On the occasion, an awareness talk was also organised, which was presided over by Pawan Tinu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab.

During this talk, Dr Anwar Khan cardiologist, Oxford Hospital, emphasised on the increasing heart diseases among youngsters. Among the precautions given to prevent diseases were healthy food, regular exercise and stopping of smoking totally.

Dr Pawan Suri, cardiologist, also spoke about the latest techniques in cardiology and the prevention of heart diseases. The meeting was conducted by Dr SPS Grover (Managing Director) and vote of thanks was proposed by Dr GS Gill.

The walk and talk about heart was co-organiSed by the Rotary Club, Jalandhar West and Innerwheel Club, Jalandhar West. The president rotarian Dr Balvir Hastir, second rotarian Surinder Saini, rotarian Gurdip Singh, among others, actively participated in the programme.

Jalandhar, September 30
While the ruling BJP and its alliance partner SAD have already declared the names of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor on September 25, the Congress has failed to announce the name of the leader of the opposition so far.

The declaration of the name of the leader of opposition has reportedly been delayed as five Congress councillors are eyeing this post.

Now the announcement is likely to be further delayed as Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is visiting Punjab during the second week of October.

Though the in charge of Punjab Congress affairs Gulchain Singh Charak stated in Jalandhar on Sunday that the names of leader of opposition in all the four MC houses of Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab will be declared soon after completing the proper process, sources said the names of the leader of the opposition would be declared after Rahul Gandhi's proposed visit.

As far as Jalandhar is concerned, five Congress councillors, including the outgoing leader of opposition Jagdish Raj Raja, is keen to get the prestigious post again. Besides Raja, Congress councillors Balraj Thakur, Bal Kishan Bali, Shravan Grover and Sushil Rinku are leaving no stone unturned for lobbying senior party leaders for the post of the leader of the opposition.

Balraj Thakur (3,861 votes) has emerged victorious from ward number 57 by defeating his nearest rival Gurpreet Singh (2,214 votes) of the SAD by a margin of 1,647 votes. He has been contesting MC elections since 1997 as earlier his area did not fall under corporation and he remained member panchayat of Kingra village in 1993.

Bal Kishan Bali defeated his nearest rival Kishan Lal of the BJP in ward number seven in the recent MC elections. Though Bali's margin of victory was thin of just 40 votes this time, it went to his credit to defeat Kishan Lal, a former president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Either Bal Kishan Bali or his wife Ramesh Rani Bali has been emerging victorious in all the five MC elections held since 1991. While Bali won in 1991, 1997, 2002 and 2012 MC elections, his wife Ramesh Rani registered her victory in 2007 when the ward was reserved for women.

Shravan Grover (4,582 votes) defeated his nearest rival Dr Ajit Bhardwaj (1,899 votes) of the BJP by a margin of 2,683 votes, the highest among all the 22 wining Congress councillors. Like Bali, either Grover or his wife Kamlesh has been emerging victorious in all the five MC elections held since 1991. While Bali won in 1991, 1997, 2002 and 2012 MC elections, his wife Kamlesh registered her victory in 2007 when the ward was reserved for women.

In the same way, Congress councillor Sushil Rinku's family has been serving the Congress for decades. Son of late two-time councillor councillor Ram Lal, Sushil Rinku emerged victorious from ward number 46 this time.

Similarly the outgoing leader of opposition Jagdish Raj Raja emerged victorious from ward number 37 by defeating his nearest rival Rajinder Singh Bhatia of SAD with a margin of 683 votes. Jagdish (MA Part I) or his spouse Anita Raj has been contesting MC elections since 1991 when the voting for the first MC of Jalandhar were held. Either Jagdish or Anita has won the MC elections for the fifth time in a row.

However, the recent 2012 MC elections are exception for them, as the Congress decided to field both of them and they did not let it down. While Anita was allotted the Congress ticket from their home ward 36 as this ward was reserved for ladies, whereas Jagdish was asked to contest from adjacent ward number 37.

Jalandhar, September 30
While it’s a place where health services need to be upheld and people’s health safeguarded, the Civil Hospital here has recently been playing quite the opposite role, as far as hygiene is concerned.

Puddles of stagnant water, mosquitoes and flies abound on the premises.

While huge puddles by the maternity ward and the training centre have become permanent features scarring the face of the hospital, another huge puddle of water by the building of the TB ward has also defaced the hospital.

For weeks, the water puddles have stagnated and played breeding grounds for insects, but nothing has been done to get rid of them.

Insiders even said the old ward is also being used by people to urinate due to the closing of the other bathrooms at the maternity ward.

As the hospital authorities remain oblivious to the trouble, hygiene has certainly take a backseat at the hospital.

The Civil Surgeon had recently said the hospital authorities would be told to clean up the areas which could be giving rise to unsanitary conditions, especially the puddles all over the premises.

But even as health teams carry out spraying drives to deal with the dengue scare, the inside of the hospital still remains marred with the blot of apathy by the authorities.

Jalandhar, September 30
Special Secretary of Environment, Punjab, Bhawana Garg, visited the leather complex here and took stock of the functioning of the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) set up to control the discharge of pollutants into drains.

Accompanied by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Chairman, Ravinder Singh, the Special Secretary Bhawana Garg took a round of the areas and interacted with representatives of Central Leather Research Institute and members of the Punjab Effluent Treatment Society for Tanneries.

Steven Kler and Ajay Sharma, office-bearers of the society, briefed the secretary and other officials of the PPCB about the functioning of the plant. They also apprised the officials that the industry was spending Rs 25-30 lakh per month to run the CETP, which was constantly monitored by the Punjab and Haryana High Court through regulatory agencies.

They also claimed that their society had been sending hazardous waste to a dump in Nimbuan village near Dera Bassi in Mohali district and claimed that the COD level of 210-230 mg/litre, one of the minimum levels achieved by any of the CETP of Leather Industries in India, was being maintained here.

Jalandhar, September 30
The inauguration of KMV College’s week-long NSS camp was organised in Chittevani village.

The week-long camp will include various activities that will contribute to the betterment of residents. About 24 NSS volunteers will carry out the activities.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Atima Sharma, principal of the college, said KMV College had always made substantial contributions for the cause of fellow human beings. During the camp, many activities like cleanliness drive, tree plantation campaign, lectures on health and hygiene and women-related issues and literacy drive would be carried out.

The principal congratulated NSS in charges Ashima Sahni, Anupam, Sonik Bhatia and Dinesh Lakhanpal for organising the camp.

Mohan Singh, a social worker, Harsharan Kaur, headmistress of a village school, and Daljit Singh, teacher of a village school, were among those present.

Jalandhar, September 30
Even as the District Welfare Officer (DWO) had last month issued notices to all colleges across the district to furnish details regarding admissions of SC students and availability of Centre’s Post Matric SC Scholarship Scheme to them, only 10 of 83 senior secondary schools and colleges have reverted on the matter.

The district administration has taken a strict note of no response coming from the majority of the colleges and has even planned a meeting with the erring colleges on this front. Issuing reminder notices to the remaining 73 senior secondary schools and colleges, DWO Rajinder Singh has prepared a gist of the submissions of the 10 colleges. He said he would submit his report to the DC next week for further course of action.

The DWO had issued notices following directions in this regard from the Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti. The department had been asked to prepare a format for seeking information from all colleges.

The provocation had come when some SC boys from Mehr Chand Polytechnic appeared before the DC regarding a complaint against their institute authorities. Second-year engineering diploma students had complained they had been asked to deposit their original Class X certificates with authorities and even furnish an affidavit, failing which they would not be allowed to take the benefit of the scheme.

The students had rued that their certificates were important to them as they had to be used as ID proof for other works. They also claimed that affidavits instead of self-declaration were being sought from them, despite strict directives from the government on the matter.

Since a few colleges had responded saying that their last date of admission was September 30, the administration now plans to wait till Monday.

Chairman of the SC Commission Punjab Rajesh Bagha said, “The senior secondary schools and colleges should have responded. There must have been some goof-ups on the part of the institutes by not giving the benefit to deserving students. I have taken many initiatives from my side by organising seminars for students, parents and faculty in educational institutes insisting them to take advantage of it.”