B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Set own shops to sell subsidised drugs, CM asks health varsity
Faridkot, September 22
To combat the menace of cancer in the state, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to adopt five villages of Faridkot district and make them disease-free.

Cancer-hit Malwa’s first modern soil testing lab comes up in Abohar
Abohar, September 22
With the inauguration of one of the most modern soil testing labs set up at a cost of Rs 40 lakh at the DAV College here today, it will now be possible to ascertain how much poisonous the soil had become due to the excessive spray of insecticides.

Scientists begin research to find cure for drug-resistant TB
Moga, September 22
Two scientists working at the Indo-Soviet Friendship College of Pharmacy at Moga in association with the scientists of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and the National Jalma Institute for Leprosy and other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, have begun research to develop lung specific drug delivery system to cure drug resistant tuberculosis with targeted lipid-based nano-carriers aiming to minimise the side-effects on the body without the use of chemotherapy

Fazilka MC asks Army to pay for ‘unauthorised’ use of its land
Fazilka, September 22
Municipal Council, Fazilka, has sought claims to the tune of Rs 1.75 crore from the Army authorities for alleged unauthorised use and occupation of its 35 kanal 6 marla prime land after the orders of the Sub-divisional Magistrate-cum -collector Charandev Singh Maan to vacate the land.

RMP killed in accidental fire
Fazilka, September 22
A rural medical practitioner (RMP) was killed after his pistol went off accidentally at his private clinic in nearby Jalalabad town today. The deceased has been identified as Darshan Singh (45).

Cop, doc & lawyer to be honoured for honesty,
Faridkot, September 22
Dr Rakesh Kumar, a physician serving in rural areas for the last 16 years, HS Phoolka, an advocate in Delhi High Court, and Mandeep Sidhu, a senior police officer, have been selected for the prestigious annual Baba Farid Awards-2013 for honesty and service to humanity.

BKU suspends stir for a week 
Moga, September 22
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) has suspended its agitation against the SAD-BJP government across the state for one week keeping in view of the observation of the second death anniversary of noted dramatist Gursharan Singh aka Bhai Manna Singh in Barnala on September 27.

Talent hunt: Akash, Himani adjudged best actors
Abohar, September 22
Akash Ahuja and Himani Garg were adjudged as the best actor and actress in the three-day annual talent search competitions that concluded at DAV College here. Principal Dr SK Arora said the winners might be shorlisted to participate in the Panjab University zonal youth festival scheduled to be held next month.

DTP vaccination drive launched after death of two kids
Abohar, September 22
The Health Department has launched door-to-door DTP vaccination campaign after the death of two children in village Danewala Satkosi near Khuyiansarwer sub-tehsil headquarter of Abohar sub-division.

Set own shops to sell subsidised drugs, CM asks health varsity
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 22
To combat the menace of cancer in the state, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to adopt five villages of Faridkot district and make them disease-free.

“I want the project to be replicated all over the state after its success in Faridkot,” said Badal while inaugurating North India’s first single emission computed tomography centre here today at the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital.

Exhorting the BFUHS to play an effective role in providing medical facilities to the people through research and development (R&D), the chief minister said it was painful to hear that many doctors were indifferent in their approach toward the poor patients and some chemists were fleecing the cancer patients by overcharging them for the medicines.

Instead of relying on the private chemists to sell the cancer drugs, the medical university should open its own shops to provide drugs for cancer at highly subsidised rates to the patients.

The chief minister was today sarcastic in his remarks about the fleecing of cancer patients, a day after the owner of five chemist shops at the Faridkot medical college were booked for the offence of cheating and selling the medicines at an exorbitant price.

"The treatment of cancer is highly expensive and the state government is helping the patients from a ‘corpus fund’ but fleecing of helpless patients is deplorable," the CM said.

The state government would soon set up two ultra modern cancer diagnostic and treatment centres at Amritsar and Patiala, for combating the menace of cancer in an effective way. He also said that the state government was mulling with the idea of sending the doctors to foreign countries to get specialised training for cancer treatment. "This would play an important role in the state government’s crusade against cancer in Punjab," said Badal.

However, in his address to the doctors and medical students of the medical college today, the CM was not sparing of the central government.

Terming true federal structure as the panacea for all the ills faced by the country, the Chief Minister said successive Congress governments at the Centre have turned the political structure of the country into a unitary form by usurping the powers of the states. He said the net result of this was that the states are at the mercy of the Centre to seek funds for development. The CM was accompanied by Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, MP, and Mantar Singh Brar and Deep Malhotra, both MLAs. 

Cancer-hit Malwa’s first modern soil testing lab comes up in Abohar
Raj Sadosh

Abohar, September 22
With the inauguration of one of the most modern soil testing labs set up at a cost of Rs 40 lakh at the DAV College here today, it will now be possible to ascertain how much poisonous the soil had become due to the excessive spray of insecticides. It was the dream project of former chairman of IFFCO, Surinder Kumar Jakhar, and he got it funded by the premier cooperative organisation of Asia.

While inaugurating the lab, CLP leader Sunil Jakhar said the Malwa region had a high incidence of deaths due to cancer and most of the victims belonged to the rural areas since there had been no check on spraying insecticides to save crops that included grains, fruits and vegetables. The state government had provided soil testing lab but that was based on old technology.

Now, DAV College will be the second such institution besides the Punjab Agricultural University, to offer state-of-the-art technology in soil testing. This will help in the diversification of crop pattern besides telling the farmers how much poisonous they had made their soil.

DAV Managing Committee advisor and veteran academician HR Gandhar said the lab would be highly beneficial to the students of biotechnology and agriculture as the college here had taken a lead to offer such courses for studies.

College principal Dr SK Arora welcomed the guests and thanked the IFFCO for providing such a facility here.

Scientists begin research to find cure for drug-resistant TB
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, September 22
Two scientists working at the Indo-Soviet Friendship College of Pharmacy at Moga in association with the scientists of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and the National Jalma Institute for Leprosy and other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, have begun research to develop lung specific drug delivery system to cure drug resistant tuberculosis with targeted lipid-based nano-carriers aiming to minimise the side-effects on the body without the use of chemotherapy.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, has sanctioned the research project keeping in view that 20 per cent of the world’s TB cases are reported in India and the disease infects 3 million people and kills over 3 lakh people every year.

Over the years, the TB bacterium has developed a resistance to basic drugs used to fight the disease leading to newer variations like the MDR-TB (multi drug-resistant), XDR-TB (extensively drug-resistant) and TDR-TB (totally drug-resistant) forms.

Prof RSR Murthy and Dr Amit Kumar Goyal, who are working on the new project, said under the prevailing situation, the project was highly relevant in finding a radical solution for overcoming the menace of drug resistance in tuberculosis.

“In scientific terms, the project aims at finding a novel system by utilising the principle of site specific delivery to improve the safety and efficacy of existing drugs and also reduce the incidence of multi-drug resistance by silencing the genes of ribonucleic acid in the cells,” they said.

Dr Amit Goyal said there would be no need for applying chemotherapy on TB patients if they managed to develop nano-carriers, which target the exact portion of the body or the cells required to be treated for the disease.

Fazilka MC asks Army to pay for ‘unauthorised’ use of its land
Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, September 22
Municipal Council, Fazilka, has sought claims to the tune of Rs 1.75 crore from the Army authorities for alleged unauthorised use and occupation of its 35 kanal 6 marla prime land after the orders of the Sub-divisional Magistrate-cum -collector Charandev Singh Maan to vacate the land.

The Municipal Council, in an execution petition before the SDM-cum-Collector, Fazilka, has stated that the same court exercising the powers of Collector under the Punjab Public Premises (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act had asked the respondents, Secretary, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi, Defence Estate Officer, Bathinda Circle and Station Commander, Infantry Brigade, Fazilka, on June 25 this year to evacuate the land within 15 days and pay a penal rent of Rs 55,000 per acre per month from August 1, 2007 till the handing over of the possession.

But the respondents filed an appeal before the higher court of District Collector -cum-Commissioner, Fazilka, Dr Basant Garg. The Commissioner, in his decision on August 27, upheld the decision of the Sub-divisional Magistrate by dismissing the pleas of the Army authorities.

After upholding the decision in favour of Municipal Council, Fazilka, the council through its counsel have prayed that as per the decision of the court, an amount of Rs 55,000 per acre per month for 4.4 acres, from August 2007 till date (a total amount of Rs 1.75 crore) be got delivered from the respondents (judgment debtors) for alleged unuthorised use and occupation of land.

Notably, the Municipal Council and the Army authorities had been at loggerheads over the possession of this prime piece of land for long.

The 35 kanal and 6 marla (about 4.4 acres) of Old Islamia School prime land belonging to the Municipal Council is situated adjacent to the Deputy Commission's office on Abohar road here. The land was leased to the Army 59 years ago by the Municipal Council. The market value of the land is estimated to be around Rs 25 to Rs 30 crore. The land was leased to the Army through a Municipal Committee resolution, number 54, dated June 7, 1952, for setting up of an Army supply point, at a nominal rate of Rs 40 per year. The collector's rate of this land is Rs 2,700 per square feet at present.

It is stated that the Army offered to surrender the possession twice on May 21, 2007 and July 31, 2007 but when the representatives of the Municipal Council went to take possession, it was refused citing one reason or the other.

It is pertinent to mention here that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had laid the foundation stone of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) on the first anniversary of the district headquarters status for Fazilka on July 27, 2012 and some parts of the land under the possession of the Army was also to be inducted into the DAC but the project did not take off.

The situation is that there is a symbolic possession of the Army on the land as it has pitched a tent there. The supply point has already been shifted but the Army is yet to vacate the land.

RMP killed in accidental fire
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, September 22
A rural medical practitioner (RMP) was killed after his pistol went off accidentally at his private clinic in nearby Jalalabad town today. The deceased has been identified as Darshan Singh (45).

According to the statement of Sukhwinder Kaur, the wife of the deceased, he was cleaning his .32 bore pistol at his clinic situated at Inder Nagri in Jalalabad. His pistol went off accidentally and the bullet hit him resulting in his death on the spot. Darshan Singh is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.

Cop, doc & lawyer to be honoured for honesty,
 service to humanity
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 22
Dr Rakesh Kumar, a physician serving in rural areas for the last 16 years, HS Phoolka, an advocate in Delhi High Court, and Mandeep Sidhu, a senior police officer, have been selected for the prestigious annual Baba Farid Awards-2013 for honesty and service to humanity.

These awards will be bestowed on the last day of the five-day Baba Farid Agman Purab on September 23 at the historic Gurdwara Gordri Sahib in Faridkot.

At a time when many doctors are routinely supplementing their salaries with income from pharmaceutical companies by receiving cash payments, research money, free meals, travels and other perks, a doctor serving in rural health centres since 1997 has been selected for the prestigious Bhagat Puran Singh Award for Service to Humanity for the year 2013, said Inderjeet Singh Sekhon, chairman of Gurudwara Tila Baba Farid Society.

A shining exception, Dr Ashwani Kumar is presently serving at the primary health centre at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda district.

"How this doctor, living with certain values and principles inspired people from far-flung areas to receive treatment from him? This is unusually good," said Sekhon.

Fearing that his MD degree will bring him a posting in the urban area and distance him from the needy rural populace, this doctor opted not to upgrade his medical degree and continues to serve in the rural areas with contentment and a low-profile lifestyle, said Sekhon.

For Baba Farid Award for Honesty, the society has selected Mandeep Singh Sidhu, a senior police officer, now posted as SSP, Sangrur. "The police is mostly in the news for the wrong reasons. But there are some good samaritans like Mandeep Singh who were never cowed down by the prevailing circumstances and made all attempts to nurture the confidence of people in the police service," said Sekhon.

A zealous and hard-working officer who joined Punjab Police 25 years back, Mandeep has many highly commendable achievements to his credit. As a police officer, who rose from the rank of an inspector to district police chief, he was unflinching and a thorn in the side of wrongdoers, said Sekhon

HS Phoolka, a senior advocate in Delhi High Court and a human activist known for spearheading legal cases to get justice for the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, has been selected to share Bhagat Puran Singh Award for Service to Humanity with Dr Ashwani Kumar.

BKU suspends stir for a week 
Tribune News Service

Moga, September 22
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) has suspended its agitation against the SAD-BJP government across the state for one week keeping in view of the observation of the second death anniversary of noted dramatist Gursharan Singh aka Bhai Manna Singh in Barnala on September 27.

Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary, said BKU activists from all parts of the state would take part in the function where cultural events, including street plays, would be organised to pay tributes to the noted dramatist.

Talent hunt: Akash, Himani adjudged best actors
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 22
Akash Ahuja and Himani Garg were adjudged as the best actor and actress in the three-day annual talent search competitions that concluded at DAV College here. Principal Dr SK Arora said the winners might be shorlisted to participate in the Panjab University zonal youth festival scheduled to be held next month.

Scores of students also showcased their talent in skit, mimicry, dance and other streams. The winners included Mohit Kalra, Avtar, Harpreet, Chandan and Gurinder Singh.

DTP vaccination drive launched after death of two kids

Abohar, September 22
The Health Department has launched door-to-door DTP vaccination campaign after the death of two children in village Danewala Satkosi near Khuyiansarwer sub-tehsil headquarter of Abohar sub-division.

CLP leader Sunil Jakhar along with Sarpanch Gurlal Singh and block Congress president Balbir Singh visited the houses of the affected children to express condolence. Jakhar said the neighbouring villages need to be covered by the vaccination campaign.

Residents have been put on alert as five other children have shown symptoms of the disease that could turn fatal, visiting medicos said.

As per the available information, Sandeep and Ramjot died after they complained of throat infection and severe pain. Later, five other children, identified as Ajay Kumar, Gaurav, Veerpal Kaur, Paramjit Kaur and Soni developed similar symptoms. Four of them have been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. A team led by Senior Medical Officer Dr Kanwerjit Singh has been told to stay in the village for the next 24 hours keep vigil.

Civil Surgeon Dr Baldev Raj who visited the village said most villagers had not cared to get their kids vaccinated. However, some of the villagers said there had never been an official call for vaccination. — OC