Kidnappers dodge police, dump child near house

Interestingly, despite police claims of a high alert in the Cantonment area following the incident, kidnappers managed to dodge the police security and dumped the girl child just a few metres from the victim’s house. Surprisingly, when the police had laid several nakas in the vicinity and claimed to have sealed the entry and exit points in the area, how the criminals reached near the house of the girl was a matter of discussion among local people

Less security

Police sources said the kidnappers had on Tuesday called the family members to decrease the security around the house. Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh said security outside the house was withdrawn on the request of the family members

Arrested man’s father dies

Mohinderpal, father of Prince (running a telecom shop) who was rounded up in connection with the kidnapping case for supplying SIM to the kidnapper, died of heart attack late on Monday night at police station. Meanwhile, kin of the deceased person lodged a protest and threatened to block Nakodar Chowk this morning. They also demanded the suspension of the police officials who allegedly manhandled Mohinderpal at the police station. The administration later announced a government job to the victim's son Prince and Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia amount. Neeraj Kumar, SDM 1, along with senior police officials, held a meeting with the victim’s kin at the Bhargav Camp police station.

Jalandhar, February 25
A physically challenged, speech and hearing impaired six-year-old girl, Sangeeta, of a migrant family was burnt alive in a jhuggi fire at Kartarpur today.

The victim's parents had lit up the fire in the morning to keep the family warm. Before leaving for work at a potato farm in the neighbourhood, her parents had reportedly put out the fire. Sangeeta’s sister was then with her, but she, too, had gone to a dera in the neighbourhood to get her mobile phone charged.

A residual spark reportedly caused the fire in the jhuggi, made of dry straw. The hapless girl could not even raise an alarm or help herself and died. Jhuggi dwellers in the neighbourhood threw water to douse the flames, but the girl had reportedly already died, said SHO Maqsudan Piara Singh. Bablu, girl's father, returned home on getting information about the incident, but to no avail. 

Jalandhar, February 25
The dialysis unit at the Civil hospital here is being run by a staff nurse. In the absence of a surgical specialist and a nephrologist, a scientific procedure is being conducted rather unprofessionally due to the non-availability of specialised doctors in the hospital. More shockingly, the patients who want to get their dialysis done have to first get their arteriovenous (AV) fistula created at a private hospital and then go to the Civil Hospital for the remaining dialysis process. Presently, around 42 people are undergoing dialysis at the Civil Hospital.

For the dialysis to be performed on a patient, first a blood vessel, usually in the arm, needs to be enlarged. After that a surgery is performed to insert the catheter into the enlarged vein, and an arteriovenous fistula (AV fistula) is created. This is a surgically modified blood vessel created by connecting an artery to a vein. The fistula will usually be created in the wrist and upper arm. Creating a fistula by joining a vein and an artery together makes the blood vessel larger and stronger and makes it easier to transfer the blood into the dialysis machine and back again.This procedure is generally 
conducted by a surgical specialist.

Due to its non-availability in the hospital, the patients are paying anything between Rs 2,000 to 3,000 to get the procedure done in private hospitals.

“Since it is a secondary health care unit, we do not have the sanctioned posts for specialised doctors like nephrologist, urologist and surgical specialists. In the absence of a surgical specialist, dialysis patients although are coming here after getting the AV fistula process done from private hospitals, but again, in the absence of a nephrologist, it is very dangerous to put somebody on the dialysis machine. Even that, we have been given a full-fledged dialysis unit to perform the procedure,” said Dr Jagjeet Singh Cheema, Medical Superintendent, Civil Hospital. He also said that sometimes in emergency cases, the patient has to be given a neckline insertion which is again been performed by a medical specialist from the hospital.

Presently, the hospital is having two hemodialysis units catering to three to four patients in a day. Under the process, the blood circulates outside the body of the patient - it goes through a machine that has special filters. The blood comes out of the patient through a catheter (a flexible tube) that is inserted into the vein. The filters working like kidneys, filter out the waste products from the blood. The filtered blood then returns to the patient via another catheter. The patient is, in effect, connected to a kind of artificial kidney. 

Shahkot (Jalandhar), February 25
A train bound for Lohian Khas smashed a tractor-trailer, loaded with sand, that was stuck at an unmanned level crossing near Shahkot this morning. The driver of the tractor had a providential escape.

The incident took place at 7.30 am. Noticing the approaching train, the tractor's driver jumped off the vehicle and managed to save his life.

The impact was so intense that the tractor split into two, while the trailer turned turtle in the fields. The tractor driver fled from the spot immediately after the incident.

Meanwhile, the Government Railway Police registered a case of negligence against the unknown driver of the tractor-trailer and launched a manhunt to the nab him.

Jalandhar, February 25
The hobby of reading books is witnessing a decline among youngsters not only in the state but also in the country. However, the lack of proper libraries in the city has made the situation worse.

A library run by the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) was demolished a few years back, when the construction of the new building commenced. But the JMC officials seem have a turned a blind eye towards the necessity of rebuilding the library in the city.

Books in the MCJ library were shifted to some shops at the time of the demolition without proper care. These shops have also been shut down. Consequently, there is no space for the library.

Apart from this, the Guru Nanak Dev District Library has been in a dilapidated condition for more than a decade. It needs a proper revamp. Despite repeated demands, nothing has been done so far.

Librarian Gurdial Singh said they had been asking for grants to renovate the building from the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) Higher Education for the past several years. Even the estimate for renovation work of more than Rs 14 lakh was sent to the DPI, but nothing has been done.

The district library has more than two lakh books on various subjects, including Punjabi, English, Hindi, historical, science and children books. Interestingly, there are only 20 to 25 people who visit the library daily.

Kanishka Aggarwal, a student of Apeejay School, visits the library regularly. He said he was the only one from his school, who regularly came to the library.

“Despite being a science student, I am interested in literature. I also find the atmosphere conducive for studies in the library.

Therefore, I come here regularly,” he added.

Gurdial said in order to inspire more people to visit the library, a Wifi system was going to be installed on the premises very soon.

The Postal Department had been contacted for the same, he added.

Speaking about the library under the MCJ, he said MCJ officials had approached him to shift books in the district library, which was refused on some technical conditions.

Director of the DPI Higher Education, Dr Kamal Kumar Garg, was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him on phone. Mayor Sunil Jyoti was approached for his comments twice, but he refused to say anything citing his busy schedule.

Gurvinder Randhawa, Assistant Commissiner of the MCJ, said, “The proposal to rebuild the library will be produced in the next budget. A suitable place will be found, although it’s a very old issue. I am a literary person and love to read books. It is very bad that books are being ruined in the store.” 

Jalandhar, February 25
Mid-day meal cooks have been working on meagre daily wages. The Punjab government seems to have turned a blind eye towards their plight despite repeated wage increase demand by the mid-day meal workers.

State president of the Mid-day Meal Worker’s Union, Satish Rana, said the cooks had been working for Rs 1,200 per month, which was a paltry sum to live upon. He said they were employed for only 10 months in a year and not provided even the minimum wages.

“Six incidents of gas burn have been reported during the last year from several districts, including Gurdaspur and Amritsar. Cooks should be provided an insurance cover as they are vulnerable to mishaps while doing their job. Apart from this, victims of such incidents should be given compensation as soon as possible,” added Rana.

In a protest rally organised by the Mid-day Meal Workers’ Union, Manjit Kaur, general secretary of the union said the mid-day meal cooks were getting Rs 2,500 per month in the neighbouring state of Haryana, whereas in Punjab they were working on a small amount of Rs 33 per day, in spite of spending full time in schools. 

Jalandhar, February 25
City industrialists held a meeting with Labour Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal, Principal Secretary (Labour) Vishwajeet Khanna and other officials of the department, here today.

The industrialists were represented by Jalandhar Industrial Focal Point Extension Association president Narinder Sagoo and Northern Chamber of Small and Medium Industries convener Sharad Aggarwal. They sought relaxations in getting prior approval of the plan from the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation Limited (PSIEC).

Officials and the minister assured that the industrialists would only be required to submit the plan made by their architects. No prior no-objection certificate (NOC) would be required. The industrialists, including Suresh Sharma, Mankaran Bhandari, Ashwini Kumar, Deepak Aggarwal and RS Bedi, also demanded a relaxation on maintaining as many as 12 separate registers for leave, wages, national holidays and other purposes as per the Labour Act. They said only two registers would now be required to be maintained by all factory owners.

The industrialists were also told that they could pay wages to labourers by cheque or direct money transfer in accounts. They would not be required to carry cash, which was quite problematic.

The industrialists also demanded appropriate utilisation of labour welfare fund collected from them and labour cess levied for the welfare of labourers on the construction work by setting up separate schools and vocational centres, which would help in getting skilled labour.

The industrialists also sought handing over of vacant plots in Focal Point on allotment rates for which Bhagat Chunni Lal assured them of consultation with Industry Minister Madan Mohal Mittal. Regarding improvement of the condition of ESI Hospitals, Khanna said the matter would be taken up with the health secretary. The industrialists also sought devising
of a scientific way for rationalising wages of the labourers. 

Jalandhar, February 25
In spite of displaying skilful footwork, formidable defence and deadly offence, the Sansarpur lads finally lost to the Amrit Sports Club 3-2 in the final match of the Sansarpur Cup here on Tuesday.

Gurvinder Singh of the Amrit Sports Club sounded the score board for the first time in the eighth minute of the game followed by Vishal Singh of Sansarpur Club to equal the score in the 29th minute. Later, Amrit Sports Club sounded the score board twice in the 45th and the 48th minute. But the last goal in the 59th minute by Amarjit Singh of Sansarpur could not help the organising team to win the tournament.

Pawan Kumar Tinnu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Sports, was the chief guest on the occasion. He announced Rs 2 lakh for the Sansarpur Hockey Club. He also handed over a cash prize of Rs 35,000 to the winner team and Rs 25,000 to the runners up.

The winners in the 55 kg catergory were awarded a cash prize of 11,000 and the runners up Rs 9,000. All the participants were also given tracksuits.

The tournament was revived after 20 years. Youth and budding players collected money from the villagers. They organised the tournament with the support of the NRIs. As many as 15 teams participated in the event under various categories. None of the Olympians from the village came to witness the three-day tournament. Some of them had reportedly closed their doors to the youth, who had gone to ask some donations to hold the tournament.