Jalandhar, March 16
Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal today said that cancer patients in the state would soon be provided medicines at rates discounted by 90 per cent.

Mittal said the state government had signed an MoU with various companies (manufacturers of cancer medicines), on the basis of which patients will now get the medcines at 90 per cent consessional rates.

The medicines would be available within this month or the next, he added.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a two-day ayurveda conference held by the Gogram Sewa Samiti, Ayurveda Department and Guru Ravidass University, Mittal expressed his concern over the cancer situation in the state and conceded that with medicine costs rising and treatment getting more and more unaffordable with every passing day, poor patients needed medicines at lesser costs.

"Cancer is in a worrisome phase in the state, but the government has already started the process of ensuring medicines to patients at 10 per cent rates (with 90 per cent concession) and these will be available to them soon at the empanelled hospitals in the state," Mittal said.

While at the ground level, basic health care still continues to be elusive for the poor and the underprivileged, the minister, like always, continued to maintain that the government was making sincere efforts to ensure proper health facilities for its people.

When asked about the sorry state of Jan Aushadhi stores where the listed 159 medicines were often found to be unavailable, the minister said the government had recently provided the said 159 medicines at all stores in the state.

"We have provided them the medicines and they will soon be available for all. In Januray 2013, we have made arrangements for the provision of medicines to people at subsidised rates. The government will ensure that medicines in adequate amounts are available to patients across Punjab."

When questioned on the issue of the state government's plan of action against government doctors indulging in private practice, the minister said, "We issued a warning to these doctors through the media. Doctors are already given a non-practising allowance. There is no need for them indulging in such practices. The government will look into these cases."

Though the minister did not comment on the possibility of an upgrade in the Ayurveda budget in the upcoming Punjab budget, he expressed faith in the Ayurveda system and said some of his personal recommendations included the recruitment of Unani doctors in the state as well.

Further endorsing the ayurveda philosophy, Mittal said, "I have always said after allopathy, there is ayurveda. Years of slavery have caused India to regress as far as research and advancement in ayurveda are concerned. But we will be facilitating upgrades in the ayurveda department and shall be ensuring better research too."

The minister said ayurveda is an older system of medicine, it is embedded in the Indian culture and treatment through ayurveda also means no side-effects, but India has a lot to make up on the lost research.

Also a votary of "Gau Mootra" (cow urine), Mittal said being a health minister, he had facilitated the opening of many gaushalas (cow sheds) in his own district.

Jalandhar, March 16
The Department of Excise and Taxation is likely to fetch a licence fee of whopping Rs 252.23 crore during the draw to be held in the district on March 22 at Red Cross Bhawan here. The total collection will be up by Rs 16 crore this year compared to the last year.

The draw of 414 vends in Jalandhar-1 comprising MC areas, Phillaur and Goraya is likely to bring a revenue of Rs 185.78 crore, almost Rs 14.36 crore more than the previous year. In comparison, Jalandhar-2, which includes Kartarpur, Adampur, Alawalpur, Bhogpur, Lohian, Nakodar and Nurmahal will have 498, vends bringing in a revenue of Rs 66.45 crore.

The department will levy a licence fee of Rs 200 per litre as per the new policy for the financial year 2013-14, Rs 4 more than the previous year. The liquor quota is also up by nearly 5 per cent.

In Jalandhar-1, MC areas alone will fetch an amount of Rs 158.73 crore. While the number of zones this year has fallen to 11 from 14 last year, the number of vends has increased to 322 vis-a-vis 301 last year. Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Gurtej Singh said that the new zones had been planned in such a way that each of them generates an equal revenue.

Almost all zones in the city will have revenue collection in the range of Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore, which would imply that the non-refundable application fee from each zone would be Rs 70,000. Maximum applications to be received for each zone would be 15 as per the excise policy.

The department started receiving applications for the purpose today in the office of Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner-1. The last day for giving applications has been fixed for March 19.

In Jalandhar-1, the quota for the PML has increased by 1.9 per cent from 42,25,969 litres against 43,07,027 lites last year. The quota for the IMFL has increased to 0.41 per cent from 45,19,965 litres to 45,38,904 litres.

In Phillaur, the number of vends has increased from 60 to 72 and in Goraya the total vends will be 20, four more than the last year.

Jalandhar, March 16
After giving a slip to the policemen accompanying him, a prisoner escaped from the police custody from the district court premises this afternoon.

The accused, Sunit Mehta, a resident of the Satoshi Nagar area, escaped from the custody of the Kartarpur police while he was being taken back by Pradeek Kumar, a head constable, after his production before a local court.

The city police has booked the head constable for performing his duty negligently. A case under Sections 223 and 224 of the IPC has been registered against him at the New Baradari police station.

Station house officer, New Baradari, Kunwar Vijay Pal said Mehta was arrested by the Kartarpur police in a theft case and was lodged in Modern Jail, Kapurthala, some days ago.

After producing him in the court, the police brought him outside the court room while he gave the policemen a slip. As he was not handcuffed while being taken back by the policemen, the prisoner ran away, the SHO added.

Jalandhar, March 16
Passengers faced a lot of inconvenience as a number of Congress workers gathered at the city railway station to welcome newly appointed Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa at the city railway station. The Congress leaders and workers started gathering at the city railway station much before the scheduled arrival of the Shatabdi train in which Bajwa was travelling.

As soon as the train reached at the platform number 1 of the station, the Congress workers ran towards the E 1 coach to have a glimpse of the newly-elected state party chief. As a consequence, a number of passengers faced difficulty in alighting and boarding the train. Moreover, a band party was also arranged by the workers to accord a rousing welcome to Bajwa. Interestingly, someone pulled the chain of the train soon after the train left for Amritsar after its scheduled halt of two minutes. As a result, the train was stopped again and stayed there for nearly two more minutes. Jalandhar city railway station superintendent Ashok Kumar told The Tribune that Bajwa was travelling in E 1 coach and the chain was pulled in C 6 coach. 

Jalandhar, March 16
Taking note of the complaints by some city-based Sikh organisations against a private TV channel for telecasting serial "Gurbani", the city police has registered a case against the channel.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Navjot Singh Mahal said that a case under Sections 295 of the IPC for hurting religious sentiments of the community was registered against Colors, a private TV channel, at the Division No. 4 police station this evening.

The case was registered on the complaints moved by members of Sikh organisations this morning, Mahal added. The Sikh organisations had been objecting to the telecast of the serial by the channel for the past couple of days.

Jalandhar, March 16
A private passenger bus reportedly caught fire while it was parked at the Model House locality in the wee hours here today. Owned by transporter Kishan Singh, the vehicle was parked adjacent to his house when the incident took place at about 4 am.

A fire engine and a team of firemen reached the spot and took almost 30 minutes to control the blaze. However, a major part of the vehicle had been damaged by then, claimed Kishan Singh.

Kishan Singh apprehended foul play and alleged that certain unscrupulous persons of the locality might have set the vehicle on fire. Meanwhile, a case has been registered. — TNS