Jalandhar, September 19
Callousness on the part of the staff of the Civil Hospital in dealing with a poor, minor rape victim came to fore as her mother today lodged a complaint with the hospital administration that she was turned away last night and asked to return a day after.

The family returned home travelling another 15 km for Phoolpur colony, near Lambra, in the wee hours today after six hours of wait for the treatment of the bleeding girl. It was after the relatives of the victim contacted some political leaders, who held dharna at Jyoti Chowk this morning, that the girl was finally admitted and the accused rounded up by the police.

The eight-year-old girl had also been reportedly complaining of headache, vomiting since last afternoon and was in a state of shock as she had been brought to the hospital late in the evening. The mother of the girl, Manjit Kaur, said she was sent to the gynaecology ward where the Medical Officer made her wait till 4 am in the waiting area and did not attend her.

“After six hours of wait, the SMO told us to come a day after since she said it would be her off today. Upset by not just the traumatic incident, but also the lackadaisical attitude of the hospital staff, I shared my grief with some politically connected relatives. They then came into contact with Congress leaders, who came to our support, brought us here and took a stand for us,” she said.

Political support

Led by Sanjay Sehgal, adviser member, RTI and Grievances Cell, Punjab Congress Committee, party leaders held a dharna this morning at Jyoti Chowk levelling allegations against Medical Officer Dr Varinder Randhawa. Later, vice-president of the Punjab Mahila Congress Nimisha Mehta and general secretary Sushma Gautam met the girl at the hospital and assured help to the family. The duo even met the hospital authorities and demanded suspension of the doctor while raising doubts of any political pressure over the authorities to suppress the matter.

Sodal holiday

It being a local holiday on account of the Baba Sodal Mela, the girl had not gone to school and was all alone at her place last afternoon when the incident took place. Her mother Manjit Kaur works as a domestic help, while her father Mahinder Pal is in Dubai. The victim’s three brothers had been sent by her mother to collect wood for fuel and the girl was alone home cooking for the family when the crime took place. “It was at 5 pm when I came home and saw my daughter bleeding and lying unconscious. On my persistence, she told me the name of the boy behind the act,” she said, as she cried inconsolably. “Since then I have been shuttling between police stations and hospitals with her,” said the Dalit woman.

Accused a juvenile

Since the boy accused in the case is just 17-year-old, SHO, Sadar police station, Onkar Singh Brar said he had been arrested and presented before the Juvenile Court today. He was shifted to Juvenile Home at Hoshiarpur, the SHO said.

Officialspeak

Medical Superintendent, Civil Hospital, Dr JS Cheema said all allegations leveled against the Medical Officer were not true, but he had asked SMO Dr Sangeeta to conduct an inquiry into the matter. “As per the Medical Officer’s version, she had examined the patient last night and even submitted her medico-legal report. As per her assessment, she did not require admission to the hospital and was thus allowed to go back with her parents”, he said.

Asked as to why she was then readmitted this morning, the MS said, “There was an agitation and we were told by the SHO to admit the girl to pacify the protesters.” Further quizzed if the girl was bleeding and complaining of nausea and headache, Dr Cheema said he had not himself seen the medico-legal report and that the SMO inquiry would point out negligence, if any.

Jalandhar, September 19
Following the transfer of IAS officer Shruti Singh in barely eight-and-a-half months, her 2004 batchmate Varun Roojam today assumed the charge of Deputy Commissioner (DC) here.

Prior to this, Roojam was Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur. The DC said his priority would be to strengthen the grievances redressal system in the district and resolving public complaints at the earliest. He said he would try to ensure that the people at the grass-roots level should be able to quickly avail themselves of the benefit of the government schemes launched in health and education sectors. He said his focus would be to ensure punctuality of the staff, especially those working in education and health departments.

Roojan reviewed the progress of Jalandhar in the area of regularisation of illegal colonies and issued directions that the departments concerned should organise more camps in the colonies to facilitate the applicants. Earlier, the new DC was welcomed by the district officials and was given a guard of honour by a company of the Punjab Police.

The IAS officer, having BE (mechanical engineering) degree, has also worked as Deputy Commissioner of Mohali and Muktsar and on different assignments in Fazilka, Khadoor Sahib, Malout and Muktsar.

Jalandhar, September 19
In a yet another swoop by the Excise and Taxation Department, the officials today raided the premises of six metal traders in the city at different locations and confiscated their records and computers.

A team of Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Sarojini Gautam Sharda, two Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioners, six Excise and Taxation Officers and an Inspector raided the premises of Salasar Ispat, Subham Ispat, Sumesh Sales, Indermal Aggarwal, MS Metals and BM Metals.

All the six traders are said to be inter-linked and owned by Aggarwal families in Jalandhar. The six firms were found to be running at various locations including Industrial Area, Dada Colony, Shiv Nagar and Bhagat Singh Nagar. None of the six firms with a turnover in several crore of rupees reportedly had any board put up outside their shop-like premises giving the officials a tough time to find their whereabouts.

Five of the six firms were found to be locked and the officials had to insist upon the owners to open them for confiscation of papers and six CPUs. All the firms have been reportedly involved in trading of iron, copper and brass and had been doing sale-purchase without stocking of any stuff anywhere.

The officials had to face some confrontation as the leaders of trade unions came in support of the industrialists.

Sharda, when asked about the same, said it was a suspected case of tax evasion which would be clear only after examining the records and its tallying with the tax deposited.

Jalandhar, September 19
Punjab Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal stressed on the need for generating awareness among the masses about the need and urgency to get their illegal colonies, buildings and plots regularised in the stipulated time frame to avoid any legal action.

In a statement issued here today, Bhagat issued advisory to officials of his local bodies department to conduct special drive to aware the public in this regard.

The minister said the applicants must be treated harmoniously during the regularisation process and every help must be extended to them so that they could get their illegal structures regularised up to October seven.

Bhagat said the Punjab Government on public demand has extended deadline to get the illegal structure regularised by October seven. He urged the public to make optimum use of this initiative and get their illegal colonies, buildings and plots regular by depositing nominal amount with the application. This policy is applicable only on the structures constructed before April 2013, he added.

Explaining the qualities of this policy, Bhagat further stated that all such colonies which were thus regularised would be extended basic amenities and infrastructure by the government. The basic amenities of potable water, sewerage, street lights and roads would be provided to these colonies, he added.

Jalandhar, September 19
Employees of aided schools in the district haven’t got their salaries for the last six months. The instalment of the dearness allowance which had to be implemented from July 2013, hasn’t been announced so far. The aided school employees haven’t received their salaries since April.

The due installment on the basis of the revised pay scale — which had to be made before August 2013, also still lies pending.

District president Arvind Bains and treasurer Jasvir Singh said due to various payments being stalled by the treasury department, teachers are still waiting for their respective payments.

Officials said funds for salaries had been released by the government, but hadn’t reached the district treasury offices or the schools.

The teachers of as many as 63 private colleges are yet to receive their salaries.

While teacher activists say the bigger college managements still manage to at least pay their employees, the prime sufferers are the smaller colleges whose staff has no resort left but to wait for the government to bestow their much needed rights on them.

“Many colleges haven’t received their salaries for the past nine months. Even those who have received it got them through their managements while the government has still not released the grants meant for these colleges,” a teacher said.

As many as 650 CCS teachers across the state and 10 in the district haven’t received their salaries for the past many months.

Jalandhar, September 19
The case of missing domestic help of BJP Mahila Morcha president Renu Thapar’s home remains unresolved even a week after the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sought a report on the issue from its state wing.

Sameer Kumar, secretary of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, said, “A week ago, we had asked the concerned parties to submit a report on the issue to us. But then the case was shifted to Ludhiana. We don’t know on what pretext that was done. The Jalandhar police was supposed to complete the task.”

When asked whether the commission would initiate any action against the said departments for initiating the move without informing the commission, Kumar said, “Currently we are waiting for the report on the issue. Once we have it, the action against the erring parties will be initiated.”

Speaking on why the commission had not been able to book the offenders of child labour across the state, Kumar said,

“The commission is the supervisory body. We are the department that people are supposed to resort to when the other departments have failed to do their job. We haven’t received any cases where offenders are going unpunished, but if we get such cases, action shall certainly be initiated.” Referring to the specific case, he said, since the investigation had now moved to Ludhiana, both Ram Singh, Police Commissioner, Jalandhar and PS Gill, Police Commissioner, Ludhiana shall be expected to submit the report on the issue. When contacted, Ram Singh, Police Commissioner, Jalandhar, said, “We shall be submitting a report on the issue.”

When asked on what pretext the child had been moved to Ludhiana, without asking the commission first, he said, “I do not have the concerned papers in front of me right now.”

Responding to queries about the non-registration of FIRs in almost all cases, where child labour is being reported in the district, Singh said, “So far no such cases have come to our notice. Once we get them, we shall initiate action.”

The girl (12) in question had escaped from the BJP minister’s house on September 7.

The girl alleged that she was being mistreated and beaten at the BJP leader’s home. The leader in turn had said she kept the girl with her to educate her.

Phagwara, September 19
Residents of Hargobind Nagar, Bhagatpura, Rattanpura, Onkar Nagar, New Model Town are facing a lot of problems due to stagnated sewerage water in their areas, which can lead to water-borne diseases such as jaundice, cholera, gastroenteritis or dengue. They are feeling helpless due to inaction of the municipal corporation.

Former minister Joginder Singh Maan and former state PYC general secretary Bal Krishan Wadhwa alleged that despite repeated representations submitted to corporation commissioner Kuldip Singh and other officers concerned, but yields no results. The residents threatened to launch an agitation, if the authorities failed to take any action.