Bathinda, April 11
Members of the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association from four districts held a rally at the local Civil Hospital today to press for their demands, including salaries and perks as recommended by the Pay Commission. They decried the state policies, which in their view were demoralising the PCMS cadre.

The working president of the PCMSA, Dr Nishan Singh, who led the protest rally attended by members of the association from Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala and Muktsar districts, said while the government was claiming that it was committed to provide best health facilities to the rural people, its policies were in fact worsening the working conditions of doctors.

"Due to such policies, specialist doctors are not willing to join the government set up while those already in government service were calling it quits. Recently, the government had revised the policy to make selections for post-graduate (PG) courses. As per the new PG policy, a doctor has to serve for six years instead of three years to become eligible for post-graduate courses," he said.

He reasoned that the policy would delay the entry of specialist doctors to government institutions and thus, it would be patients who would be at the receiving end.

He demanded that the eligibility criteria for admissions to PG courses should be immediately revoked and that PG increments be allowed to all specialists without any condition.

The regional secretary of the PCMSA, Dr Gurmail Singh, said the post of emergency medical officer (EMO) should also be included for the post-graduate service and the government should make sure that there was parity in the pay and perks of PCMS doctors.

The district president of the Association, Dr Beant Singh Mann, demanded conveyance allowance for every doctor as per the Pay Commission. He said the government should create and fill more posts of EMOs so that specialists could concentrate on their job rather than performing EMO duties.

The general secretary of the Bathinda PCMS Association, Dr Jagroop Singh, said though the Chief Minister of Punjab had issued directions claimed to be encouraging PCMS doctors to serve in rural areas and remote districts, the government's new policies were doing just the opposite.

He further said there was a 26 per cent shortage of general doctors and 38 per cent of specialists in the state's health system.

Muktsar general secretary Dr Arpan Brar said the government should immediately address the 21 demands of PCMS doctors so that they continue to have faith in the government set-up.

The district secretary of the Barnala unit, Major Kanwaljit Bajwa (retd), said repeated meetings with and written communications to the higher-ups had not yielded any positive outcome which led to discontentment among the PCMS cadre.

The vice-president of the Bathinda unit, Dr Ravi Kant, besides Dr Arun Bansal and Dr Manoj Mittal also addressed the rally.

Bathinda, April 11
The city will be getting rationed supply of water till April 24 owing to the closure of the Sirhind canal.

The Sirhind canal off taking from the Ropar Head works would remain closed from April 10 to April 24 for early completion of the southern bypass project on the canal.

Ahead of the Baisakhi mela at Talwandi Sabo and the Maiserkhana fair, the canal closure will tax the water collected in the storage tanks of the various municipal bodies in the vicinity of the canal.

Even the two thermal plants in the region have collected water that would last at least for the next 15 days.

Municipal commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said the existing tanks of the waterworks in the city had water enough to last for 16 days. "Though our tanks are designed to store water to meet the city's demand for at least 20 days, some of them required de-silting," he said.

He added that keeping in view that the canal would remain closed for a fortnight, rationing of water had been started. The areas getting water supply for four hours a day will now get it for two hours. However, water tankers would continue to supply the quintessential natural resource in the areas that did not have direct access to water from the waterworks.

The rationing has rung alarm bell for the residents of higher areas around the Fort such as Pujjan Wala Mohalla where in normal days too, supply of water is inadequate.

Last year too, the canal was closed on October 23. However, the water supply was not restored within the stipulated time period which worried the officials of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP), Lehra Mohabbat. The authorities had pressed the panic button on November 1 when they were left with water enough for just four days. However, the government responded to their plea and restored the water supply by November 2. Earlier in April, the thermal power plant had faced a similar problem when the canal was closed near Doraha and the water supply was also stopped to de-silt the bed of the Bathinda branch of the Sirhind canal.

Last year, both the thermal plants - the Guru Nana Dev Thermal Plant at Bathinda and the GHTP - had raised an alarm over depleting supply of water as it could have hit the power generation.

Bathinda, April 11
The local cotton spinning, rice milling and other small-scale industries are lamenting the revised power tariff, which has been increased by 12.5 per cent for the industrial sector.

PS Randhawa of the Dasmesh Textiles said the small-scale industry was the worst-hit. "The big industrialists are drawing power through open access (from other states) whereas the small-scale industry is dependant on the state government. While in the open access, power was available at just Rs 2.50 per unit, the rates are astronomically high in the state power sector," he said.

Randhawa added that the small-scale industry was already in crisis as of the four spinning units in Bathinda district, three have already been shut within a period of just a year.

"The industry is fleeing Punjab and heading for better states like Gujarat that have enough power to sustain big and small units as well as provide better working conditions. We wish the Punjab Government could follow the Gujarat model," he added.

The president of Rice Millers' Association, Narayan Garg, said the hike was not justified in the times when not even a single power generation unit had been added to the power sector in the state.

"Last year, the power tariff was revised in July, but we were asked to pay the charges from April 2012. Industry representatives requested the state government to waive off the power bill of four months. However, we were slapped with huge bills," he said.

If the industrialists do not pay, the charges will be added to the next power bills.

The president of the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Raman Watts, said not only the rice millers but all industrialists were getting these bills. "On the one hand, the Chief Minister makes fervent appeals asking its officers to frame policies that could bring in more capital investment while on the other hand, we are saddled with the increased tariff," he added.

Meanwhile, SDO (retd) Baldev Singh Kamal said the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had proposed a two-part tariff, which included fixed charges on the sanctioned load and charges on energy consumption. "However, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) did not implement the plan. Had it been implemented, the domestic as well as the commercial consumers would have been in trouble," he added.

Bathinda, April 11
A section of lawyers and litigants today demanded revival of the online FIR system on the website of the Bathinda Police.

The uploading of FIRs on the Bathinda police's website www.bathindapolice.com was stopped nearly a year ago. Earlier, the FIR's registered in 20 police stations of the district, including the Woman Police Station, were uploaded on the website.

However, the practice was stopped after March last year.

Rahul Jhumba, an advocate, said earlier, people used to obtain the copies of FIR free of cost with a click of mouse. "It has become quite a tedious task to get the copy of FIR since the police stopped uploading it on its website," he added.

The officials, who are supposed to upload the FIRs, said the uploading of FIRs stopped following the transfer of former SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill. The current SSP, Ravcharan Brar, opines that the persons, whose names figure in FIRs, make counter strategies to avoid arrest and to contradict the complainant and the contents of the FIR.

Jaswinder Singh, a resident of a nearby village whose name figured in an FIR registered recently, said he faced a lot of difficultly in getting a copy of the FIR as cops refused to provide it despite repeated requests by his family members. They finally obtained it from the district courts through his counsel.

SSP Ravcharan Brar could not be contacted as he was busy in preparations for Baisakhi Mela to be held in Talwandi Sabo.

Bathinda, April 11
The headmaster of the Government High School, Giana, has been booked for defaming, using derogatory remarks and obstructing a public servant (DEO) from discharging her duty.

A complaint in this connection was filed by former Deputy DEO (Secondary) Dr Amarjeet Kaur Kotfatta, who was having an additional charge of the DEO (Secondary) and is now posted as the DEO (Elementary). The official is the wife of Bathinda (rural) MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta.

The headmaster, Labh Singh, was placed under suspension a few days ago, allegedly for misbehaving with the DEO at her office in the District Administrative Complex (DAC).

Labh Singh has been booked under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

In her complaint to the police, Amarjit Kaur stated that the headmaster barged into her office on Monday without prior appointment or intimation. She alleged that he got infuriated without any provocation after she declined to attest the experience certificate of his wife. She advised him to adopt the official route to get the certificate attested as she was bound to follow the guidelines issued by the government.

The headmaster was also accused of distributing a large number of photocopies of his complaint written to the Bathinda SSP, in the DAC.

In his complaint addressed to the SSP, the headmaster had levelled allegations against the DEO, including calling him and forcing him to sit in her office for long hours and talking about things which were morally wrong.

Civil Line station house officer U. Cee Chawla said though a case in this connection had been registered against the headmaster, he had not been arrested yet. He said the police might arrest him soon for maligning the image of the DEO. — TNS

Bathinda, April 11
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Sarup Chand Singla today paid a surprise visit to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, in the afternoon when the government doctors under the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association were holding protest.

The CPS visited the emergency ward as well as the OPD and laid emphasis on improving cleanliness in the hospital.

He spoke to the patients admitted to the Civil Hospital and directed the doctors to take care of them. He also asked the doctors not to prescribe branded drugs and instead prescribe generic medicines, which are available in the hospital and are available at lesser rates in the market too.

Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni and Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Satish Goyal accompanied Singla during his visit.

Singla enquired about the drinking water facility available for the patients and was told that five reverse osmosis (RO) plants are in working condition while another five are being serviced to make potable water available to the patients.

The CPS directed that new overhead water tanks be constructed as the existing tank was not enough to fulfill the needs of the patients and the hospital staff during the summer. He also laid stress on appointing more staff in order to deal with manpower shortage that the hospital faces.

Dr Satish Goyal told him that the demand for a generator of 30 kilowatt for the blood bank has already been sent to the Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) for approval.

The Chief Parliamantary Secretary also discussed the arrangements made at the hospital for treating dengue and malaria and directed that adequate measures be taken in advance to prevent the outbreak of these diseases.

Bathinda, April 11
The recent study, conducted by a group of doctors at the Adesh Institute Medical of Sciences and Research (AIMSR), has felt the need to create awareness among the doctors for prescribing inhalers to the patients who suffer from respiratory problems.

The members of the team, Dr Vitull K Gupta, Dr Prabhat Shobha, Dr Arun K. Maria, Dr Vinod Kumar Narang, Dr Sonia Arora, intern Varun Gupta, and students Meghna Gupta and Sahil Nohria conducted the study on the prescription pattern of inhaler devices and medication in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the primary care practice in Punjab.

The study has been published in the international official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, volume 18, supplement 1, April 2013.

A total number of 4,287 COPD patients were studied. To treat COPD, inhaled drugs are preferred over oral medication. But results of the study showed that only 29.5 per cent of the patients were on inhaled medication and the majority-- 70.5 per cent-- were on oral medication.

Dr Vitull stated that the study presented a snapshot of primary care prescription patterns in the management of COPD.

Bathinda, April 11
The Bathinda unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is holding a sport meet — Aura 2013 — for the doctors of the city on April 14 at the Civil Lines Club.

General secretary of the Bathinda chapter of the IMA, Dr Rohit Goyal, said the event is being held to break the monotony of work in the medical profession. "Doctors seldom have time for themselves," he said. Doctors can participate in games such as chess, carom, table tennis and badminton. A cricket match will be held in the evening.

Bathinda, April 11
SSD Women's Institute of Technology organized Gyan Tambola for the students of BCA, MCA, BBA, MBA, MSc IT and PGDCA. The event was aimed at increasing the knowledge of students.

President and secretary of the SSDWIT, Nand Lal Garg and Ramesh Kanodia, and principal Manisha Bhatnagar, were present. — TNS