Hospital waste poses disease threat
SIRSA, May 24 — Waste from private nursing homes in the town is being thrown in the open, which has become a threat to the people as this can spread diseases.

331 leprosy patients identified
PANIPAT, May 24 — At least 331 leprosy patients had been identified till April 30 this year in the district and their treatment had been started, official spokesman of the Panipat District Leprosy Society said today.

VHP: give relief to 'refugees'
HISAR, May 24 — The Vishav Hindu Parishad has criticised the state government for its failure to provide relief to "refugees" who have arrived from Pakistan and are staying at Ellenabad in Sirsa district without any shelter.

Warrant against film lyricist
HISAR, May 24 — The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr S.K. Goel, today issued warrant against Dev Kohli, lyricist of the feature film ‘Kudrat’. The warrant was issued in a case about a song that was said to be indecent and obscene.

6 held for selling adulterated diesel
KURUKSHETRA, May 24—The police arrested six persons, including owner of a petrol pump, 20 km from here today under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, for allegedly selling adulterated diesel mixed with kerosene.

Govt flayed on voters’ I-cards
HISAR, May 24 — Congress leader and former MP O P Jindal today alleged that the government was creating hurdles for the voters whose names did not figure in the voters’ list and who wanted get themselves registered.

Home they brought the warrior dead
From Our Correspondent

YAMUNANAGAR, MAY 24 — Yamunanagar lost another son fighting for the nation, when 34-year-old Havaldar, Naveen Kumar Vaid was gunned down at Nowoshera on the Indo-Pak border, 120 km from Jammu, on Saturday.

A large number of men and women assembled today at Sarni Chowk to receive the body of Naveen Vaid.

Naik Subedar Jaswant Singh who brought the body of Naveen Vaid told The Tribune here today that Naveen with whom he worked for a number of years was an obedient and disciplined soldier and had sacrificed his life for the nation.

Naveen, who joined the Army in 1984, belonged to 23 Rajput, 80 Brigade, Nowoshera sector, Jammu and Kashmir. He was married in 1989 to Dolly of Saharanpur and had two children.

Naveen got inspiration to join the Army from his father Amarnath, an ex-serviceman.

Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, and Mr.K.K. Sindhu, SP, placed wreaths on the body of Naveen and condoled the bereaved family.

Mr Deepak Bakshi, Secretary, Lions club Yamunanagar, Jagadhri and Major T.R. Mehta (Retd) General Secy, Mohyal Sabha also placed wreaths on the body

The funeral was largly attended by the senior officials or Yamunanagar-Jagadhri. A number of ex-army officials were also seen at the cremation ground.

Major Neeraj Malik, another officer from Yamunanagar was killed in an ambush by the Naga militants on April 20 98. His Gypsy was ambushed by the militants while he was returning from operation at Mokochugung.

Support to HVP
BJP waits for high command’s decision
From Our Correspondent

FATEHABAD, May 24 — The Chief of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Om Parkash Grover, has said the state unit of the party was waiting for the decision of the BJP high command regarding the issue of withdrawal of support to the HVP government in the state. Mr Grover while speaking to mediapersons at Rattia, yesterday said the state unit had conveyed its feelings to the senior leaders of the party and it was now for the high command to take a decision on the matter. He said the party could endeavour to fulfil its pre-poll assurances like the abolition of octroi.

Mr Grover alleged that the Congress had brought about the fall of BJP-led government under pressure from the foreign forces and added that the foreign forces were disturbed by the fact that the country was becoming self-reliant in the matter of its security which was detrimental to their interests. He ridiculed the stand of the Congress in projecting Mrs Sonia Gandhi as a candidate for Prime Minister’s post and asked how could a lady who knew nothing about the culture of the country be its Prime Minister?

Earlier, addressing a public rally on the occasion, Mr Ganeshi Lal, State Food and Supplies Minister, said what the Vajpayee government had done in 13 months the Congress could not do in 47 years. He said the Congress was now a shattered house and its leader, who was earlier branded a foreigner by people was now being termed as such by her own partymen.

Chaudhary wanted to set up unit in Haryana
From Jatinder Sharma
Tribune News Service

ROHTAK, May 24 — Mr Mahendra Chaudhary, who took over as Prime Minister of Fiji on Wednesday, had intended to set up an industrial unit at Bahu Jamalpur village.

In a letter on March 31, 1994, Mr Chaudhary had told the then Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal that following the deregulation of India's economy, he intended to set up an industrial unit if the state government approved his proposal.

He told Mr Bhajan Lal that his grandparents had gone to Fiji in 1912 under the British Government's plan of settling indentured labourers from India in the various colonies of the then British Empire.

However, after residing in Fiji for a number of years, his grandparents returned to India in 1920 and started cultivating an orchard. After the death of his grandparents, the ownership of the land had passed on to his family through his father, Mr Ram Gopal.

The letter said that Mr Ram Gopal had his elder brother Mr Gopal Krishan had returned to Fiji after completing their education in India. But his aunt, Raj Kumari, stayed back in India, and had a daughter named Shanti.

However, before the proposal for the setting up the industrial unit on his ancestral land could be pursued further, he said in the letter, certain unruly elements tried to dispossess them of their land, which was entrusted in the care of Mrs Shanti, his cousin. Mrs Shanti Devi died a couple of years ago and is survived by three daughters and a son.

Mr Chaudhary, had through the letter, urged the then Chief Minister to help Mrs Shanti as she was finding it difficult to deal with those unruly elements. After the death of Shanti, her daughters are reportedly looking after the land and are struggling to get back the portion of land that had allegedly been usurped by these elements.

Meanwhile, Bahu Jamalpur has become a centre of attraction for the electronic and print media after the Tribune revealed that the Fijian Prime Minister, Mr Mahendra Chaudhary hailed from this village.

Wakf Board to spend 59 cr on development
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, May 24 — The Punjab Wakf Board has formulated plans to set up multi-purpose schools, hospitals, computer centres and Haj houses in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh at an estimated expenditure of Rs 59 crore, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the board, Mr M.K. Khan.

While talking to mediapersons here last evening, Mr Khan said that the money would be distributed as such — Rs 45 crore for Punjab, Rs 10 crore for Haryana, Rs 3 crore for Himachal Pradesh and Rs 1 crore for Chandigarh. He further said that the board was preparing a draft to be tabled in the Parliament for according status so that the financial aid could be obtained from the University Grant Commission.

He further said that to promote education among the Muslims, who were lagging behind educationally, socially and economically it was imperative to impart modern education for their uplift. Besides giving religious education, he stated, the board's schools would impart vocational training to the students in order to make them self-dependent. He said that until the draft was passed by the Parliament, the board would seek the recognition from the state governments for its vocational and technical courses of study.

Mr Khan further said that all offices of the board would be linked through the Internet and the board's office record would also be computerised for its better functioning.

The board was also providing scholarships to the poor and destitute students. Over Rs 3.35 lakh was given as scholarship to 386 students last year by the board. It was also planning to give scholarships to students of vocational and technical education in near future, Mr Khan stated.

Farmers uproot crop due to tomato glut
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, May 24 — Farmers in the district and nearby areas are facing huge losses due to a virtual tomato glut in the market this season. As a result some of the affected growers have already destroyed the standing fruit bearing plants, while some others are thinking of doing the same due to the glut in the market.

A survey of the market and complaints by the affected tomato growers have revealed that there was a bumper tomato crop in this region during this season. The supply in the market has completely overtaken the demand and as a result the market price of tomato has gone down drastically as compared to the position last year. Last year price of this vegetable had soared to Rs 20 to 40 a kg in the retail market. This season the price of tomato in wholesale and retail market has been hovering between Re 1 to Rs 4, respectively during the past few days.

Ramesh Parmar, a farmer hailing from Samr Gopalpur village in the district, complained that he had suffered a loss of about Rs 60,000 due to the glut. He said that there were at least 12 farmers in his village who were finding it difficult to sell their crop at a profitable price. He said the average profit this season had been only 50 paise to 75 paise per kg. Another farmer of the same village, Joginder Pal Singh said that the shortage of this crop last year had prompted several farmers to grow tomato this year but the results were devastating as there was no proper facility of marketing their produce in far-flung areas where the demand could be better and they could fetch a better price. Blaming the government for its ineffectiveness, he said the farmers were left on their own to face such a precarious situation.

The farmers in this region were already complaining of problems due to acute waterlogging in several villages. Alleging that they were still to receive any compensation for the loss caused to the standing crop in October last year due to unseasonal rains, they said that the 'tomato glut' had further worsened their economic condition.

Hospital waste poses disease threat
From Bhupinder Dharmani

SIRSA, May 24 — Waste from private nursing homes in the town is being thrown in the open, which has become a threat to the people as this can spread diseases.

There is nearly 10 to 15 kg of waste thrown by clinics in the open. The waste comprises blood-stained bandages, medicine wrappers, empty vials, syringes, needles and sometimes human tissues.

Such waste is full of infection and must be disposed of in an incinerator but none of the flourishing clinics have this. Another hygienic way of disposing of this dangerous waste is to put them in containers and sprinkle bleaching powder or some other disinfectant to kill infection-carrying germs.

Unfortunately the city's life savers have so far paid little attention to it and the sweepers have been throwing this waste in the open.

Human tissues in the waste are the result of MTP's carried out at private maternity homes. Dharam Singh, a sweeper, said the waste from these clinics often has bodyparts of under-developed infants and so they feel reluctant to work there.

Doctors blame the guardians of the patients for it as instead of burning them they throw it in the dustbin. This is one of the reasons the sweepers for whom doctors pay Rs 1200 to the municipal council, do not come for its disposal.

The president of the local unit of IMA, Dr M.M. Talwar, also agrees that there is a need for an incinerator for the disposal of hospital waste. According to him money and space are the biggest hurdles for these nursing homes in installing an incinerator.

They want to be allowed the use of one such incinerator at the local Civil Hospital. The Civil Hospital reportedly makes use of it only when the waste gets piled up.

The question, therefore, is not as such of funds and space as is of the will to do it. It seems that the situation is not going to improve and the threat of the spread of infection will loom large.

331 leprosy patients identified
TNS and PTI

PANIPAT, May 24 — At least 331 leprosy patients had been identified till April 30 this year in the district and their treatment had been started, official spokesman of the Panipat District Leprosy Society said today.

The medical and para medical staff of the society identified the patients during a house to house survey, he added.The Centre had provided a grant of Rs 10 lakh to the society for the treatment of these patients.

Out of 331 leprosy patients only 26 belonged to Haryana and the rest 305 patients were from different states, the spokesman said.

He said the treatment of 99 patients had been completed and 72 patients had left the district without any intimation.

He said the treatment of 160 leprosy patients was under-way and 42 leprosy patients, whose treatment had already been completed, were residing in ‘‘baikunth dham,’’he added.

The patients were provided treatment free of charge and a mobile unit had been pressed into service to provide proper treatment to the patients, who are working in various factories.

VHP: give relief to 'refugees'
Tribune News Service

HISAR, May 24 — The Vishav Hindu Parishad has criticised the state government for its failure to provide relief to "refugees" who have arrived from Pakistan and are staying at Ellenabad in Sirsa district without any shelter.

In a statement VHP leaders, including Mr Vijay Sharma, Major Kartar Singh and Mr Hanuman Prasad, alleged that the administration was "indifferent" to the plight of these "Hindu refugees from Pakistan". After visiting these people the VHP leaders demanded that the government should provide immediate relief to them.

As many as 311 Hindus from Pakistan, who arrived in India on May 3 refuse to go back and want to settle down here. All of them have valid passports and had come to India on the pretext of pilgrimage.

Warrant against film lyricist
Tribune News Service

HISAR, May 24 — The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr S.K. Goel, today issued warrant against Dev Kohli, lyricist of the feature film ‘Kudrat’. The warrant was issued in a case about a song that was said to be indecent and obscene.

Mr Kohli had been asked to appear before the court on August 5. He had, in a telegram, sought the dismissal of the case on the plea that the wording of the particular song had already been changed.

The court also issued summons to several others in the same case, including the heroine of the film Urmila Mataondkar and hero Akeshay Khanna.

The case had been filed by Mr Rakesh Sethi, District Vice-President, Bharatiya Yuya Janata Morcha, against the wording of the song Behan di takki. The wording of the song had already been changed.

6 held for selling adulterated diesel
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, May 24—The police arrested six persons, including owner of a petrol pump, 20 km from here today under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, for allegedly selling adulterated diesel mixed with kerosene.

Stating this here today, the district police chief, Mr Alok Roy, said the petrol pump owner Amarjit, salesmen Ravinder Kumar and Joginder Singh, truck driver Nasib Singh, cleaners Ravinder and Sukhdev, alias Sukhvinder, were arrested and confessed their crime.

Mr Roy said, they were caught red handed while they were adding kerosene to diesel. The police has seized the kerosene tanker and the petrol pump has been sealed.

Govt flayed on voters’ I-cards
Tribune News Service

HISAR, May 24 — Congress leader and former MP O P Jindal today alleged that the government was creating hurdles for the voters whose names did not figure in the voters’ list and who wanted get themselves registered.

In a statement here Mr Jindal alleged, on the directions of a local minister the administration was deliberately making it difficult for a large number of eligible voters in various localities to get registered as voters. He cited some examples, saying that hundreds of labourers and workers of various factories have been asked to cover long distances to get themselves photographed.

Mr Jindal observed the administration could have arranged for the photographs to be taken at the polling booths where they had submitted the forms. He alleged that the particular minister had taken the step as he knew that these voters were likely to vote against the government.