Amritsar, May 14
The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, and its doctors to compensate an Amritsar resident to the tune of Rs 20 lakh for failing to diagnose her disease properly.

The commission has held the hospital and its doctors guilty of medical negligence and asked them to pay the amount within 45 days, jointly and severally.

Earlier Bhupinder Kaur, a resident of Guru Ram Dass Nagar here, had filed a complaint against Patel Hospital Private Limited, Jalandhar, and Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and their doctors accusing them of medical negligence. The commission has, however, absolved the Jalandhar-based hospital and its doctors of the charges.

In her complaint, Bhupinder Kaur filed in 2004, she had stated that she had become bed-ridden due to the gross negligence of the opposite parties. Her counsel Advocate Updip Singh said, “The doctors failed to detect thyroid cancer in time as a result of which has reached her present condition.”

Updip Singh stated that the complainant had approached the Jalandhar-based hospital in 1998, when she was 20 years old. The complainant was diagnosed with a nodule for which the doctors had suggested a surgery.

However, in her complaint she alleged that no pre-investigation was done to rule out malignancy. She stated that at that stage, with further investigation, if malignancy had been found and treated, she could have been saved from her present condition.

The complainant approached Apollo Hospital in 2000. She alleged that the hospital advised her surgery but without pre-operative investigations like Scintigraph or MRI or Bone Scan to evaluate the extent of metastasis.

The opposite parties had refuted the charges. In its judgement, the commission observed that “in case there would have been a timely deactivation of Carcinoma by undergoing pre-operative/post-operative test, then this condition would have been saved.” The commission stated that it was a lapse on the part of Apollo Hospital and its doctors for not conducting proper pre-operative/post-operative tests, which were required to be done to rule out metastasis in the bones, which was ultimately detected at a later stage when the complainant was fully parapleged (paraplegia).

“In case her disease would have been timely detected, she could have been saved from the wrath of the dreaded disease of cancer and she would have had a bright future. She was in the marriageable age and with this disease now her marital prospectus have also been diminished. Therefore, the compensation is to be fixed according to the suffering undergone by the complainant and the extent of negligence on the part of the respondents,” reads the judgement.

Amritsar, May 14
The District Education Office (DEO) has objected to the Amritsar Improvement Trust's move to transfer a vacant piece of land, situated in the posh Golden Avenue, to the Chief Khalsa Diwan, over a century-old Sikh educational body.

District Education Officer Shinder Singh in a communiqué to the Director Public Instructions (DPI) requested him to use his good offices to take up the matter with the Director, Local Bodies, Punjab, to get back the land.

In the communiqué, a copy of which is with the Amritsar Tribune, he stated that the District Bharat Scout and Guide Amritsar procured a piece of land measuring 2,000 square yards from the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) on February 28, 1979. With each square yard costing Rs 75, the entire plot had then been valued at Rs 1.50 lakh. The entire cost of the plot was given in instalments. The first instalment of Rs 37,500 was paid on July 18, 1979. It claimed that a total of Rs 1.75 lakh was paid, including penal interest, till January 25, 1985.

The DEO added that some amount of the penal interest was left to be paid. He said the foundation of the planned building was laid and a boundary wall was raised at the cost of Rs 3 lakh in 1996.

He stated in the letter that the AIT had forfieted the plot for not paying its entire value in 2006 and claimed that it was "entirely wrong". He said the organisation -- Bharat Scout and Guide -- was concerned with students.

He also stated that the administration of Sri Guru Harkrishan Public Senior Secondary School installed its board at the plot.

Meanwhile, the prime land attracted the attention of land mafia as its market value runs into crores of rupees. Sources stated that some people backed by politicians tried to usurp the land. They constructed a room, installed a gate and locked it.

When contacted AIT Superintendending Engineer Bharat Bhushan Sharma said it became necessary for the Trust to take concrete action as some individuals had been trying to grab the prime land. However, timely action by the Trust officials led to retrieving the land. He said the unauthorised room over it was demolished and the locked gate was taken into possession.

In the meantime, Sharma said, a request for procuring the land was made by the Chief Khalsa Diwan as its Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School was situated adjacent to the plot.

He said the plot was marked as institutional land in the blue print of the Golden Avenue scheme. It was sold at the collector rate which in this case was Rs 10,000 per square yard. It would earn the Trust nearly Rs 2 crore.

Amritsar, May 14
Chirag Gupta along with her sister, Mehak, have been the city's rolling little wonders. The brother-sister duo, who have won almost every district and state tournament in the book, are now gearing up for the upcoming CBSE National Skating Championship. The duo has been practising rigourously for the event at Company Bagh.

Mehak is already a previous champion at the CBSE national meet while Chirag hopes to achieve success and beat his sister to it. "I aim to win the gold medal at the games," said the 13-year-old roller-skating champoin and world-record holder. Recently both had the honour of being invited as chief guests at an event organised by Santa School. "They are probably the youngest chief guests at any event and I feel honoured at their level of achiements," said their mother, Anju Gupta.

Chirag was recently honoured with the National Child award for Exceptional Achievement in the field of sports and Mehak is already an established rollar-skating champion since the age of nine. "Both are being trained for at least five-six hours daily by their coach at Company Bagh and want to add to their achievement by setting new record timings," said Anju.

Mehak already has numerous records and achievements from being a national skating champion to becoming a Guinness World Record holder by dancing for 30 seconds on roller skates. "She won her first medal in skating when she was three and went on to become a national champion, making it to India Book of Records and Limca Book of Records. Watching her achieve so much with her dedication, I, too, have set my eyes on winning at the national level," said Chirag.

Amritsar, May 14
Government Girls Senior Secondary School achieved 100 per cent pass percentage in the Plus Two exam, the result for which was announced by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) recently.

School principal Mandeep Kaur, while congratulating the students, said all the 631 students, who appeared in the examination succeeded. As many as 484 acquired first division. She added that the credit for this achievement goes to the dedicated faculty.

Besides, 50 students of the school scored between 80 to 90 per cent marks, said the principal. Nitikia (commerce group) stood first, Malti Kumari (science group) and Pinki (vocational group) stood second and Mandeep Kaur (vocational) got the third position respectively in the school.

In the results declared by the PSEB, four students were declared state merit holders. Bandeep Kaur stood first in the district with 95.56 per cent (commerce group), fourth in state, second in district (overall) and 13th in state (overall). Kashika Khemka and Shivani Chabra stood third at the district level with 94 per cent marks (commerce group). Vasudha Bansal with 93.33 per cent got the fifth rank in the district (commerce group).

The students of BBK DAV Collegiate Senior Secondary School for Women also attained 100 per cent pass percentage.

As many as eight students got marks above 90 per cent, 25 were placed above 85 per cent, 47 got above 80 per cent marks and 134 scored above 70 per cent.

School principal Dr Neelam Kamra congratulated the students and motivated them to work hard in future also.

Amritsar, May 14
Despite opposition by Laxmi Kanta Chawla, a senior BJP leader, against holding of a religious function at the beautifully landscaped garden, the Municipal Corporation (MC) did not withdraw the permission it had given for the event.

The MC has given Gol Bagh to an organisation for holding religious programme from May 15 to 16.

Chawla, along with her supporters, went to meet MC Commissioner, DPS Kharbanda at his office today. However, she could not meet him since he did not come to the office and attended work from his residence, added Chawla. She said the organisers of the religious programme had installed iron frames on the lush green ground of the main park in the Gol Bagh today.

She recalled, “After the deplorable condition of the Gol Bagh was brought to my notice, when I was a minister during the previous stint of the Parkash Singh Badal government, I gave funds out of my discretionary quota for its landscaping and plantation of saplings.”

Chawla is also credited for the setting up of the state’s first herbal garden in Gol Bagh in 2010. However, the poor maintenance of the park destroyed as many as 30 saplings of kachnar, brahmi, amaltas, amla, vasa and kawargandal.

She said around 20,000 people were expected to converge at the place and it was highly possible that they may trample plants and saplings.

Organisers of the religious programme were given the main park, which was the only portion in the entire garden with the green cover. The rest of the patch without green cover was used for the purpose, added Chawla.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said the organisers had given in writing to his office that any kind of loss would be borne by them. Besides, they would also ensure cleanliness after the conclusion of the programme, added the Commissioner.

Amritsar, May 14
The local Municipal Corporation (MC) officials have started the work on changing water supply line in Kot Mehna Singh area, where death of a 10-year-old due to alleged drinking of contaminated water, was reported last week.

The samples collected by the Health Department from the area have shown bacterial contamination in the water. The report was forwarded to MC authorities.

The MC has also collected samples on its own to ascertain the facts. Water Supply Superintending Engineer (SE) Jaswinder Singh said, “It sometimes occurs that samples were collected from overhead tanks or submersible pumps installed by the people. We have asked the Health Department to take one of our men along so that he can tell which tap is supplying water from the MC tubewells.”

He said the report of water samples collected by the MC team would clarify the picture. The department had disconnected at least 14 defective water connections in the area, which were the cause behind the contamination, added the SE.

He said, “Sometimes the water supply pipes connected to the homes, which are buried in soil, get damaged leading to the contamination.”

Meanwhile, the MC official claimed that they were sending potable water containers to the area so that people could use it. “Until we are satisfied with the test results, we will continue to take precautions,” said the official.

Talking about the corrective measures taken by the Municipal Corporation, Jaswinder said, “The fault has been found and repaired. If fresh samples are taken, we are sure that theywill not show any contamination.”

Amritsar, May 14
Just as the prestigious Cannes Film Festival opened and global big shots of cinema descended in the French Riviera, Amritsar too made its presence felt. City-based film maker Navtej Sandhu is at Cannes with his Punjabi short film Nooran.

The film, based on women empowerment, was selected for screening at the prestigious event, making it the first ever Punjabi film to make it to Cannes.

Nooran, a half an hour-long film, is based on a short story by famous Punjabi writer, Balwant Gargi. It tells a story about a woman belonging to the Marasi community woman, who is sold in marriage to an old man. The film depicts emotional upheavals, socialpressures, bondages and finally coming out of Nooran as a free, independent and empowered woman.

The film stars Sardar Sohi, Kul Sandhu and Amritsar-based actors Jaswant Jas, Gurinder Makhna and Gurvinder Bhatti. Even the music of the film has been given by the city’s famous Chaturvedi family.

While his father represents the film at Cannes, Aftab Sandhu, 18-year-old son of Navtej, says, “It’s a proud moment for the Punjabi cinema, to be competing amongst internationally acclaimed films. I hope Nooran is appreciated.”

The film had won best short film honour at the Delhi International Film Festival and was first runner-up at the Mumbai International Film Festival. It also found audience appreciation at the Goa International Film Festival. The father, son duo is working on another short film, Kambhdian Deordhiyan.

Amritsar, May 14
The city police have booked a 15-year-old boy for allegedly sodomising his 11-year-old relative. The police have registered a case under Section 377, IPC, against the accused, identified as Anand Singh of Guru Ram Dass Nagar area in Chheharta, while no arrest has been made so far.

Raj Kaur, mother of the victim, stated to the police that her son was not going to school for the past few days. When she enquired about this, he narrated the whole instance. He said the accused took him along on the pretext of playing and committed the crime. — TNS

Amritsar, May 14
Mystery shrouds the death of a 14-year-old boy whose body was found hanging from a tree in Dussehara ground in the Jandiala Guru area on the Amritsar-Jalandhar road here.

The deceased was identified as Karan Kumar, a student of Class VII in the local government school. Sunita Kumari, the mother of the deceased, said that Kumar was missing since Monday evening and yesterday his body was found hanging with a tree in the Dussehara ground.

Suba Singh, DSP, Jandiala Guru, said that at present the police had initiated action under the CrPc, but there were many questions which were yet to be answered. He said the exact cause of death would be ascertained after the medical examination report. According to police authorities, the boy used to live with her divorced mother. They said that following preliminary investigations, the matter seemed to be suspicious and further investigations were under progress. The post-mortem examination report was likely to give some clues about the mysterious death of the boy.

Amritsar, May 14
The local Bar Association has called off its protest today against a murderous attack on advocate Vaneet Mahajan and his brother. The advocates sat on a chain hunger strike throughout the day to demand an independent enquiry in the case and arrest of the accused.

Bar Association president Parminder Singh Sethi said, “The Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has filed a PIL in this case. The high court has entrusted the enquiry to the DGP.” Sethi said as the court had asked the DGP to file the report before May 22, they decided to call off the protest till then.

He said they expected an impartial and independent enquiry, would bring out the people behind the attack.

Vaneet Mahajan had earlier alleged that Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi was behind the attack as he along with Sandeep Gorsi had filed complaint against him for having double votes.

The advocates sat before the gates of the judicial complex and disallowed anybody from entering the building. The general public faced problems due to the protest as advocates refused to attend the court hearings today.

Sethi said the advocates were united in the fight against lawlessness and would not allow anybody to act in such a manner.

The association had reportedly decided to call off the protest yesterday evening, but with many of the members against the idea, the protest was extended.

Ryan International School students with trophies and certificates won at various state-level competitions in Amritsar. A Tribune Photograph

Of these 10 students, eight won positions in the event. Parkhi Gupta and Namit Mehra made it to the merit list. Lovepreet Singh and Paawani Jain were declared second runner-up, Arsh Gupta third runner-up, Kavis Gupta fourth runner-up, while Bhavya Gupta and Krishnam Jain were declared fifth runner -up.

New shotput record

A student of Khalsa College for Women (KCW) and a budding national-level athlete, Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, set a new national record in shotput, covering the distance of 15.89 metre in the Junior Federation Cup, which concluded in Chennai today. Navjeet was also selected for Junior World Championship and Junior Asian Championship,s to be held later this year.

KCW principal Sarvjit Kaur Brar, while congratulating the athlete for the marvelous performance, said it was due to her hardwork and her father Jaspal Singh Dhillon guidance that she rose in the higher echelons of sports. Navjeet thanked the college staff, including Dr Mahal, sports in-charge Sukhdeep Kaur and her family for the achievement. She said her eyes were now all set for better performance at the upcoming international sports events. — TNS