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Rajasthan
cotton farmers reap profit in Fazilka
27 deaths in a village fuel demand for cancer hospital in Abohar
Door-to-door Cancer survey |
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Mill owner among 4 held for theft of rice
Exam season
Death due to ‘negligence’
Centre approves degree college for F’pur
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Rajasthan
cotton farmers reap profit in Fazilka
Fazilka, March 3 As per the officials of the Market Committee, the price of cotton was recorded at Rs 4100-Rs 4200 per quintal three weeks back. But it has increased gradually and was sold at Rs 5,171 per quintal on Saturday in the Fazilka grain market. “We are getting Rs 4,700 to Rs 4,800 per quintal in Rajasthan markets these days. After paying the freight charges, our produce is sold at a higher price, at about Rs 200 per quintal which is profitable,” said a farmer, Mohinder Kumar of village Orki district in Sriganganagar (Rajasthan). “The farmers bring their produce to sell in the Fazilka grain market as the prices often remain high here due to its long staple quality variety,” said SK Bishnoi, secretary, Market Committee. About 400 to 500 quintals of cotton arrive from the neighbouring state daily these days. Notably, the low quality cotton from Rajasthan is also purchased by the private traders here at competitive prices. Most farmers in the border belt of Fazilka had to sell their produce at a lower price of Rs 4,100 to Rs 4,200 per quintal during the peak season that commenced in the middle September due to recession in the international market. But as the market picked up, the farmers and the traders of Srigangangar and Hanumangarh districts in Rajasthan started bringing their produce to the Fazilka grain market due to the higher price here as compared to the other markets nearby.
Fact file
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27 deaths in a village fuel demand for cancer hospital in Abohar
Abohar, March 3 The survey indicated that six more persons are under treatment for the deadly disease for the last few years while seven more cases have been identified. The Punjab Chief Minister had assured at his Sangat Darshan programme on April 22, 2010 in village Dangarkhera that free of cost treatment for such patients would be ensured. The state government earmarked Rs 20 crore as special funds for the purpose and announced that each patient would be able to get up to Rs 1.5 lakh for treatment. However, the villagers said completing the formalities to get the funds was an uphill task. On October 4, 2010, a team of the Roko Cancer, a UK-based NGO, visited the village to conduct a survey to assess the number of residents, especially women, who have been suffering from carcinogenic diseases. About 75 women were examined and 25 suspected cases of cancer were detected who later underwent mammography. There has been a little effort on the part of the state government to give relief to the inmates from environment pollution and contaminated canal water so far. The villagers said more cancer patients in the neighbouring villages of Choohriwala Dhanna, Nihal Khera, Ghallu and Bazidpur Kattianwali can be detected. |
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Door-to-door Cancer survey
Faridkot, March 3 The first door-to-door survey to map the prevalence of cancer in the region found that even a persistent fever and benign tumour was suspected as cancer in many cases. Out of a total of 2,950 suspected cases of cancer detected during the survey in October last year in Faridkot district, thorough medical examination of 2,330 of these suspected cases could confirm cancer in only 27 cases so far. "One of the reasons for the cancer phobia is the increasing awareness about the disease and its causes. The people of the area are well aware about the
poor quality of drinking water, contaminated with toxic heavy metals and uranium, which is a major cause,” said Amar Singh Azad, a doctor. The cancer survey, conducted by the state’s health department in October last year in Faridkot district found a total of 785 positive and 2,950 suspected cases of cancer. But the detailed medical examination of these cases by the health department found that 29 of the 785 cases were not suffering from the disease. Among the suspected cases, only 27 confirmed cases of cancer were found,” said Dr Sanjeev Sethi, the nodal officer for the door-to-door cancer survey conducted in district. "People tend to associate cancer with death and suffering. Cancer is curable and there are plenty of success stories, but not many are aware of it," said Dr Rakesh Arora, Civil Surgeon,
Faridkot. |
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Mill owner among 4 held for theft of rice
Bathinda, March 3 The accused have been identified as a rice mill owner of Bagha Purana Sham Lal, Jagdev Baljeet and Sandeep. While the latter three were accused of stealing the rice, Sham Lal allegedly purchased the stolen rice. It is learnt that grains worth nearly Rs 8.68 lakh were missing from the rice mill. Following the complaint of the district manager of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, a case was registered at the Nathana police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Sleuths of the Narcotics Cell arrested the accused. |
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Exam season
Faridkot, March 3 Under the special drive, a team of 20 women cops on specially designed bikes have started patrolling different areas, particularly in vicinity of the examination centres, to keep a tab on incidents of sexual harassment. “The women cops were trained at the Police Academy in Phillour before being put on duty,” said GS Toor, SSP, Faridkot. These cops will be especially vigilant at sensitive places and quickly respond to the complaint, said the SSP. Meanwhile, in its drive against the drugs trafficking, the Faridkot police has come across a new modus operandi of the drug peddlers — that of hiring the services of women to supply the consignment of drugs to the addicts. The police arrested two young women from Kotkapura town of the district this week who were supplying smack to the addicts. Both these women were drug addicts, said the SSP. These women were supplying drugs for the last many months. “We have requested the NGOs to help the police in identifying all those supplying drugs to check the menace,” said the SSP. |
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Death due to ‘negligence’
Barnala, March 3 Addressing the rally, the convener of the committee, Gurmail Singh Thuliwal, the president of Inquilabi Kendra, Punjab, Narayan Dutt, senior vice-president of the BKU (Dakonda) Manjit Singh Dhaner, and a leader of the Tarksheel Society, Hem Raj Steno, alleged that Sobrajjit Singh had died due to the negligence on the part of doctors at the DMCH, Ludhiana. It may be mentioned that Sobrajjit Singh, the son of the district secretary of the Association for Democratic Rights, Punjab, had met with an accident on January 28 last at Barnala. He had been admitted to the local Civil Hospital, from where he was shifted to the DMCH, Ludhiana, where he died on February 6. They alleged that during the post-mortem of the body of Sobrajjit, a piece of medicinal glove had been found in the lungs. They alleged that this showed grave negligence on the part of the doctors at the hospital. The leaders said due to the pressure by various organisations, the police registered a case under various sections of the IPC against those responsible for the accident of Sobrajjit Singh, including the municipal council and the sewerage board officials, but no action has been taken against anyone so far. |
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Centre approves degree college for F’pur
Ferozepur, March 3 According to the Ferozepur MLA, despite being the district and divisional headquarters, there was no college offering degree and vocational courses in the town, due to which the poor and the needy were not able to pursue higher studies. "I brought the matter to the notice of the Union HRD Minister M Pallam Raju who has agreed to extend all possible support for the establishment of this college," Pinki said. Sources said though there are four well-established private colleges in the town offering graduate and post-graduate courses in various disciplines, the residents have been clamouring for the opening of a government college as for many of them, especially those belonging to the economically weaker sections of society, higher education was still beyond their reach. "The issue was brought to the notice of the authorities many times but in vain. However, the day is not far off when the proposal to establish such a college will see the light of the day," said Dharamjit Singh, a local businessman. Earlier, during the pre-partition days, hundreds of youths from the town used to travel to Lahore for higher education. However, after the partition, the option ceased. Pinki said the proposed college will not only redress the issue of subsidised higher education, but will also prevent the youths belonging to the region from falling prey to evils like drug abuse. At present, there are two government colleges in the district at Zira and Guruharsahai sub-divisions. However, there is no government institute at the district headquarters because of which the students, who could not afford to go to private colleges, had to either leave their studies or traverse a long distance to meet their educational requirements. |
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Abohar, March 3
The price of long staple quality cotton, popular as white gold, has increased in Fazilka market over the last three weeks. The increase was recorded when cotton arrival is at its fag end.
With the Malwa region of Punjab becoming the hotspot of environmental toxicity of various types, a growing number of people in the area are developing phobia against several diseases among which cancer ranks the highest.