Citizens’ nightmare-IX
Mounds of malba in vacant plots
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Dec 23 — Mounds of malba dot most vacant plots in the town, irking residents in the vicinity. These plots are already being used as dumping grounds for kitchen refuse.

Following the directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the issuance of notices by the Haryana Urban development Authority (HUDA) to residents seeking removal of encroachments in the form of hedges, grills, angle irons and fences, residents sprung into action and cleared these much before the stipulated time.

However, vacant plots became easy targets for dumping the malba and hedges so removed, thus creating another problem. Meanwhile, HUDA, on its part, had issued notices stating that the malba be removed from the plots or it would be got removed by the department at the cost specified in the notice. However, nearly three months later, the malba continues to lie in the vacant plots.

The regular dumpings have further led to a considerable rise in the level of the plot from the ground. This has led to the problem of refuse being scattered on to the road. A resident informs: "Stray cattle are forever rummaging through the refuse and throwing out whatever is not to there liking in the process. Resultantly, kitchen waste comes rolling down on to the road because of the incline.''

In the vicinity, none of the residents admit to having made use of the vacant plot though the mounds speak otherwise. One resident contends, "During the operation of removal of hedges, I did see a couple of rehris come and dump it here. In spite of my objections, the person emptied his rehri. There is already so much dirt and the stray cattle make things worse. Now we have even more to deal with.''

An owner of one such vacant plot says: "The department can't afford to penalise me for something that is not my doing. My only fault is that I have a plot in a congested area and people from allround have dumped refuse there. My plot did not have any encroachments and none of this can be mine. So, I should not be made to pay through my nose.''

Meanwhile, residents in the vicinity of such plots are of the opinion that since HUDA had issued notices for the removal of encroachments, it should press into service a few men and get these cleared of all that is a threat to the hygienic conditions and presents a dirty picture.

An old man in distress
From Gautam Dheer

PANCHKULA, Dec 23 — An ailing old man is forced to spend days and nights in his house in distress without electricity, following its disconnection by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN).

Mr V.P. Kapoor, a resident of Sector 16, says he’s a victim of the lack of accountability and mismanagement on part of the HVPN. He has been staying in his house for nearly 16 years. Mr Kapoor, who retired as a manager from the State bank of India, said the act of disconnection has been carried out without going into the details of the case. “I have felt deeply injured at the disregard meted to a senior citizen, especially one who is ailing since years,’’ he said.

On December 17, Mr Kapoor received his electricity bill for the current month, amounting Rs 12,970, to be paid before December 29. On the following day, a few employees of the department, reportedly on the directions of the junior engineer concerned, visited the house for removing the electricity meter. Mr Kapoor, who finds it difficult to move around, resisted the act following which the employees cut the connection direct from the electric pole.

Mr Kapoor lamented that he had not been issued any notice from the HVPN in this regard which, he said, was mandatory as per the department’s guidelines for disconnection. Also, the notice, he said, cannot be served before the expiry of the due date for payment of bills, which had almost 10 days remaining. “I have not been even given time till the due date to pay off my bill,” he said.

Mr Kapoor is a chronic orthopaedic patient since many years and also suffers from epilepsy. “My hands and legs get swollen in the cold and I cannot do without a heat convector,” he cried. Things are even worse during the night without power when I need assistance to use the toilet. More so, I am being looked down upon by others for power theft, something which I have not committed and is terribly humiliating”, he said.

The latest bill issued by the department also adds the arrears of the previous months. The bill receipts with Mr Kapoor show that the earlier bills have been paid to the department and no arrears are outstanding. However, the record books with the HVPN do not show any payment of bills by the client since June this year. The officials allege that Mr Kapoor has forged the bill receipts.

Mr Kapoor says he would go to the consumer courts if he was deprived of justice, for which he has written to the authorities concerned. “All the eatables in my house have got rotten without refrigeration”, he said.

The aggrieved, with his eyes full of tears, is worried and apprehensive of the many more nightmares he has to bear in the overall bargain.

Awaiting aid for heart surgery
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Severe difficulty in breathing a few years ago marked the starting point of a cumbersome ordeal. Mani Mari, a 12-year-old girl, wanders from place to place, and ends up struggling in her bed each day, waiting for financial or technical aid for her serious heart disease.

The total cost of the surgery with an estimated cost of more than one lakh rupees naturally means slogging in hospitals and requesting social organisations to contribute in this direction.One of the local organisations contributed over Rs 10,000 in this direction recently.The fathers leads the girl on all strolls each day.

The cost of artificial heart valves, cardiotomy, and other equipment is tremendous.

The treatment and cardio-pulmonary bypass will be over Rs 1.50 lakh. A letter of the Additional Professor and Head of the Department of Cardiology Vascular and Thoraic Surgery at the PGI has been issued in this direction. The treatment needs replacement of two heart valves.

The father migrated about a decade ago from Tamil Nadu.He has three daughters and a son.The son studies back home.Another girl carries the tragedy of lame feet because of polio.The father is a daily wage worker in a local factory.

Talking to The Tribune, the father said that girl was normal and went regularly to school. About three years earlier she collapsed with fever.She also had pain in walking.The girl was admitted in Government Hospital, Sector 32 for nearly 48 days before allowed to leave.

Mani Mari said that she did not know what went wrong with her” I played with other children and went to school regularly. I enjoyed it. I also got water for home and did other menial jobs. About three years ago I started having regular fever and lost energy to do work. Initially I was given injections for one month. I get confident when the doctors say that everything is going to be normal. But seeing my father afterwards hurts me”, Mani said.

The father says: I lose a lot of cash as I cannot be regular with my job. Seeing no hope, I and my girl get up daily and visit social organisations.This is followed by visits to certain people who could help. The entire day is spent without any ray of hope. The evenings bring us to the media where we hope our problem is highlighted and someone comes forward for help”.

Villages to be given facelift
From Vishal Joshi

ZIRAKPUR, Dec 23 — The Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat has prepared a Rs 75 lakh project to provide street lights as part of a plan to give villages, near here, a facelift.

The Executive Officer (EO), Nagar Panchayat, Mr A.L. Bansal, said that other development works planned for the area included sewerage network, bus stand, drinking water facilities and other civic amenities.

He said all this was part of the guide plan under the master plan, about 60 per cent of which would be implemented by March next year.

Initially, street lights would be installed on the main roads, said the EO. A contractor had been allotted the task and work on this project would start soon. The marking of the positions of poles had already started.

Village roads would be taken up in the second phase at a cost of about Rs 15 lakh.

He said for the plans to be implemented, the residents needed to have no-objection certificates. Facilities such as sewerage, water supply, street lights, garbage disposal could not be provided unless the constructions were regularised, he said.

Considering the high volume of vehicular traffic in Zirakpur, mast lights would be installed at both intersections. The master plan also contains a proposal for a bus stand. The Nagar Panchayat is looking for a site for the bus stand which will be equipped with all facilities, including adequate space for parking the buses, STD booths and restaurants.

The EO said that the panchayat had plans for laying sewerage network in the entire area. For this the panchayat would take a loan from HUDCO. Under the scheme, against the total cost, 50 per cent of the total amount would be loaned from the HUDCO and 30 per cent would be used under grant by the Punjab government. The remaining 20 per cent expenditure would be provided by the Nagar Panchayat.

Unique repair of brain arteries
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Patients suffering from obstruction to arteries of the brain need not despair. Cardiologists in the PGI have achieved yet another distinction by applying the technique of angioplasty and stenting for repair of extensively diseased arteries of the brain and both the upper limbs. In this way, they have completely repaired , non-surgically, all the branches of the aortic arch.

Although stenting of the carotid arteries is being carried out quite often, it is the first time in the world literature that such extensive repair of all the aortic arch branches has been carried out in a patient.

The procedure was carried out by Dr Harinder K Bali, senior cardiologist along with Dr Mandeep Bhargava. This minimally invasive technique has yet again bestowed boon of life on 24-year-old Ashok Kumar, who would have eventually suffered a paralytic stroke or died. He was suffering from extreme form of pulseless disease (Takayasu Arteritis). This is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology that involves the aorta and its major branches leading to arterial obstruction or occlusion with subsequent ischemia (lack of blood supply) of the involved organ — be it the brain, kidneys, intestines, limbs or heart.

The institute, which has been examining many patients suffering from this disease, and doctors have come to the conclusion that with the extensive use of arterial stenting, the disease can be successfully managed.

Dr Bali said that the patient had complained of postural blindness and recurrent syncope ( reversible loss of consciousness) , which had made him completely bed-ridden. When we had examined him in July this year, it was found that both the carotid arteries supplying blood to the brain and the arteries supplying the arms were blocked and the blood was being supplied by small collaterals ( See the diagram), revealed Dr Bali.

Dr Bali also disclosed that the diseased segments of the arteries were very long extending from the origin till they enter the skull.

Since no surgical treatment was possible, complete non-surgical repair of all the four diseased vessels was carried out by endovascular route.Two long stents measuring 110 mm, covering the entire length of the diseased segment have been deployed in the two carotid arteries, while the multiple obstructions and total occlusion in the arteries to the arms have been subjected to plain balloon angioplasty. After the procedure, there is normal and uninterrupted blood flow to the entire brain and both the upper limbs, said Dr Bali.

Dr Bali explained that the brain receives its blood supply from four arteries — two carotids and two vertebral arteries. The vertebral arteries arise from the arteries to the arm ( the subclavian arteries). He pointed out that blockade in any of the arteries to the brain can cause irreversible damage to a part of the brain leading to paralytic stroke. When more than one vessel is obstructed as in case of this patient, the life is endangered.

The entire procedure of repair of all the four vessels was carried out in two sittings on nearly three and a half hours each over a gap of few days.

“I am feeling hale and hearty now,’’ said Ashok Kumar, a resident of Ram Durbar colony for whom till recently no treatment modality was available. “I could not see anything, and would often fall down unconscious after giddiness,’’ he disclosed. But things started improving after the repair of the first carotid artery, and now I am feeling completely normal” , he added.

The cost of the procedure has been around Rs 1 lakh. While Rs 70,000 has been paid by the patient towards the cost of the stents, the remaining for the equipment has been borne by the PGI authorities.