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Angithi
proves fatal for guard CHANDIGARH A resident of Uttar Pradesh, he had reportedly covered the cabin window with a piece of cloth or a file after keeping the angithi on a plastic table near him, preventing the fumes from escaping. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the angithi fell on the floor after the table melted, resulting in the fire. The victim, working for a Panchkula-based firm providing security to the hotel on contract basis, had joined duty for the first time at 8 p.m. and had wrapped himself up in a blanket before reportedly locking himself up in the cabin. Tyagi, committed the mistake of not only covering the window, but also keeping the angithi on the plastic table. His body, lying flat on the floor with knees folded in a sitting position, was found by a room service waiter of the hotel at about 5 in the morning. The waiter, Balbir Singh, had reportedly gone to the kitchen to fetch tea for a visitor when he noticed smoke billowing in. He rushed outside the hotel from the back door to see the gnawing flames devouring the wooden cabin with the security guard in it. “All efforts to douse the fire with the help of extinguisher proved futile and the fire fighters were called in. The police was also informed,” disclosed the general manager of the hotel, Mr Anu K. Bansal. A team of the Central Science and Forensic Laboratory were also called in. The police reportedly took the angithi in its custody before sending the body to the Sector 16 General Hospital for postmortem. The chair and the table had completely melted. Ruling out the possibility of foul play, senior police officials said no one heard any screams. The victim did not even realise that fire was fast engulfing him or else he would have left the cabin. They added that Tyagi had probably gone off to sleep or lost his consciousness before his clothes caught fire. Police also claimed that further investigations into the matter were on. They would act in accordance with law after receiving the post-mortem report and recording the statement of witnesses. Inhaling carbon monoxide fumes can be dangerous. Experts insist that the gas combines with haemoglobin in blood 300 times faster than oxygen, leading to unconsciousness and other medical complications. Keep the windows open and switch on the exhaust fan if possible, whenever you are using a coal angithi, warn experts. |
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Simran mishap case: petition disposed of CHANDIGARH, Nov 22 — While disposing of writ petition filed by the World Human Rights Protection Council seeking directions to the PGI, Chandigarh, to give relief to parents of Ms Simran Uppal, who died in a road accident on June 27 last, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice K.C. Gupta yesterday observed that ‘‘There is a lot of room for improvement in the working of the PGI. The authorities concerned should look towards the difficulties which are being faced by the patients and attendants in the PGI.’’ The Bench further said: ‘‘The suggestion is that if there are certain sensitive machines on which certain tests are to be performed for diagnostic purposes or otherwise, there should always be a back-up machine because if there is only one machine and if it goes out of order the patients are made to run to the diagnostic institutions outside the PGI. Another suggestion is that life-saving drugs should be kept in the emergency ward and can be administered to a particular patient, may be on the replacement basis. The attendants need not be made to run for these medicines.’’ Disposing of the writ petition, the Bench said these were only some of the suggestions and by no means exhaustive. The petitioner had contended that due to non-functioning of the CT scan, non-availability of an ambulance and delay in the arrival of a barber, Ms Uppal could not be operated upon in time. It was averred that even her organs could not be donated as desired by her parents. The petitioner sought a probe into the matter and compensation to the parents of the girl. On behalf of the PGI, Mr Anil Malhotra replied that even though Ms Uppal met an accident at 9.30 a.m. on June 27, she was brought to the PGI emergency at 11.42 a.m. After she was referred by the Government Medical College Hospital in Sector 32. He said the attendants had a CT scan report from a private clinic. Further, her father never approached the PGI for an ambulance. Also a barber was available round the clock in the PGI. Mr Malhotra said a neurosurgeon attended her at 11.50 a.m. She was operated upon at 1 p.m. on the completion of necessary formalities. She was taken to the emergency operation theatre at 12-30 p.m. All necessary drugs were made available from the chemist shop located in the emergency ward. He said the relatives or the attendants expressed no wish to the attending doctors or the nurses to donate any organ of Ms Uppal, which in any case could only be done after following all necessary procedures. The Bench said in view of Mr Malhotra’s reply no further directions were required to be given. |
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Will steps to improve exams remain only on
paper? CHANDIGARH Repeated pointers at flaws in the examination process of Panjab University have fetched little rewards in matters of ensuring a ‘foolproof ‘system on the secrecy front, as is evident from the cases of paper leakages. One of the biggest question marks has been the alleged involvement of the Controller of Examination in a case of paper-leakage. He was booked by the police. The university still awaits a final decision in connection with this episode. Prof Charanjit Chawla, a senior Senator, had proposed in 1998 that at least three paper-setters be appointed for a single paper. Each should set a set of two papers each. This would widen choice for choosing the ultimate paper to feature in the examination. Another one could be used in the supplementary examination. The main aim was to give more papers as option to the examination branch for the final choice. At the same time the exercise would help maintaining ‘more’ secrecy. The matter was accepted by the Syndicate, which constituted a committee. The committee featured Prof Chawla, besides the Registrar. Sources said the university pointed to lack of money in the current budgetary situation in affording three teachers. A proposal of two teachers setting two question -papers each was passed . This was also accepted by the Syndicate. The proposal came in 1998. But still the university awaits implementation. The annual examination for the past academic session featured one paper-setter only. Each paper-setter was required to set three papers each till now. One is used for the annual examination and another for the supplementary. There are also cases where the third paper is used in one of the examinations for the forthcoming session. Senior sources in the examination branch remembered the developments, but agreed on non-implementation of any such move. It was also pointed out that the renumeration for setting papers was not too much. It was approximately Rs 125 per paper, Prof Chawla said. With more cases of paper leakage, teachers are more reserved about paper-setting, being conscious of their name being possibly singled out in case of a leakage. Prof Chawla said more setters would mean less pressure on the non-teaching lot as they would be more independent of the final choice for the paper. A committee was constituted earlier, which had drafted measures for overall improvement of the examination system. A close perusal revealed that some of the suggestions were impractical in the current scenario. No developments have been reported on this front for long. Examination system was the backbone of the education system in the country and needed serious paper work and not mere verbal reformation, a student said. |
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Kesar Singh market
committee chief CHANDIGARH At the election held here, Mr Kesar Singh, a resident of Hallo Majra,who polled six votes, defeated his rival candidate, Mr Rambari Bhatti by three votes. Mr Kuldip Singh, who was elected vice-chairman, defeated Mr Rattan Lal, by an identical margin. Mr Kuldip Singh belongs to Kajheri village. The directors, who voted for the winning candidates were Mr Bhupinder Singh Badheri, Mr Gurdeep Singh, Mr Om Parkash Chawla, and Mr Gurdev
Singh. The defeated candidates could muster support of only Mr Des Raj Gupta, besides themselves. It may be recalled that earlier Mr Gupta had announced to contest the election for the post of the chairman. But later, he fielded Mr Bhatti at the eleventh hour. After the election, which were supervised by Mr Pirthi Chand, SDM (Central) ,a cavalcade of cars of the supporters of the winning candidates went round the Grain Market and several villages, including Hallo Majra, Attawa, Badheri and Kajheri, to thank their supporters. |
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Businessman
shoots self CHANDIGARH The reason behind his taking the extreme step was “yet to be ascertained” as no suicide note was found. Sources said Gurpreet, along with certain other persons, was accused of committing a criminal offence in 1997. Gurpreet had reportedly gone to his ground floor room in his Sector 22 house after having dinner with the family members before shooting himself at about 12 p.m. The bullet reportedly pierced through his head. Struggling hard to control his tears, Gurpreet’s father Malkiat Singh, owner of a tyre shop in Sector 22, said, “We reached the room after hearing the shot. There we saw Gurpreet lying on the bed with blood oozing from his temple. He was immediately taken to the hospital where he died”. He revealed that 21-year-old Gurpreet, running a water-tanker business had been with him throughout the afternoon. He had given no indication of his intention to end his life, Malkiat added. Describing him as “otherwise a cheerful person with a lot of respect for the elders, he said Gurpreet had never talked about the reason behind his sometimes feeling low. “No, there were no financial problems,” he declared. Denying any foul play behind his son’s death, Malkiat Singh added that the licenced revolver, had been purchased by him about two years ago. Senior police officials, when contacted, said further investigations into the matter were on. They added that the police would proceed after going through the post-mortem examination report and recording the statement of the witnesses. |
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New Civil Judge for city CHANDIGARH The order, passed by the Chief Justice, Mr Arun Bahadur Saharya, and Judges of the High Court, said Civil Judge/JM Surinder Singh had been transferred to Chandigarh against the newly created post by the Government of India’s letter issued on May 4, 1999. With the joining of Mr Surinder Singh, the number of Civil Judges/JMs in the District Court will increase to 19. |
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Citizens’ Chronic Problems-2 CHANDIGARH The almost four decades old PGI does not have a single comprehensive chart which either gives details the different OPD days and special clinics or their location, neither in the reception area, nor anywhere else in the institute. Not having displayed or an easily accessible OPD chart means initiation of chain of never-ending chronic problems for each visiting patient and subsequently for the staff too. For getting an answer to the most basic query will mean tapping at the enquiry window every time. The patient can just hope for an answer, depending upon the current mood of the enquiry clerk, who may not be so forthcoming each time. Every morning, Monday to Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., hundreds of new patients line up the PGI main reception area in front of the Central Registration Department (CRD) to get their OPD cards made. Out of these, many are first timers to the city. Many do not know whether they are standing in the right queue or not. The CRD makes cards only for the general medicine and the surgery departments. For a medical problem related to the ENT, dermatology, eye, gynaecology and orthopaedics, there is a special registration window outside the department concerned, where the OPD days of the respective department can be displayed. The patient gets to know this most basic information , when and only when he or she has stood for an hour in the queue meant for the general medicine and surgery. The struggle does not end here as nowhere in the reception is it mentioned where and on which floor the department concerned is located. This means another visit to the enquiry window. On any given day, one can see confused patients, at times ailing and elderly, struggling through the corridors to locate where to go. The problem can be easily simplified with detailed layout of the building at the reception, indicating clearly the location of each department. In this case, the NGO’s can be of some help to the people by providing them directions. This can, of course, only happen if their counters are in the vicinity of the reception area. Though these organisations exist in the institute, getting to them is not an easy job for any newcomer to the PGI. The problem of a newcomer to the institute does not end just by getting his OPD card made and making to the department concerned without extra effort. But that is another part of the story. The fact is that a simple display at various vantage points, indicating which special clinic is held where and when, will save some a lot of time. A special clinic for rheumatology runs only on Tuesday and Friday. Similarly, a special clinic for hypertension is on Saturday. It means that if on any other day a patient gets referred to these special clinics, he will not be attended to. Though an OPD chart does exist, it is only on paper. The official version has always been that with the new OPD on the anvil, all these problems will be subsequently tackled. |
Confusion over DSP’s
posting ends SAS NAGAR, Nov 22 — The confusion over the posting of two Deputy Superintendent of Police
(DSP) in the town against one sanctioned post ended today with the Punjab Government transferring one of the
DSP, Mr Sukhwant Singh Gill, to the Commando Unit at Patiala. His place would now be taken by
DSP, Mr Amarjeet Singh Bajwa, who had been recently transferred to the town. The outgoing
DSP, posted in the March this year, has to his credit initiation of a number of steps to improve the police-public interaction. Though no apparent reason has been given by the department for the transfer of Mr Gill, sources in the Police Department said the new
DSP, Mr Bajwa, had been transferred to the town on the insistence of a local Youth Akali Dal leader. Mr Bajwa has been transferred from Kapurthala. During the local civic body elections, held in August this year, the youth Akali leader had been booked by the police for assaulting the supporters of a rival candidates. However, later the FIR against him was cancelled. |
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Call letters
despatched CHANDIGARH According to a press note, the candidates, who do not receive the call letters by November 24, are advised to contact the board's office on any working day till December 1 for the issue of the duplicate call letters with full particulars about their candidature, proof of remittance sent by them as the application fee and postal charges, and proof of the despatch of the applications. |
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Water problem in Sector 29 CHANDIGARH Complaints on the telephone to the officials concerned have not proved helpful in getting the required pressure of water supply. |
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‘Reschedule
holiday’ SAS NAGAR The government has declared November 24 as a closed day. However, the religious bodies have claimed that according to the Nanakshai calender, the gurpurb falls on December 1. Meanwhile, the procession on the eve of the gurpurb would be taken out in the town on November 29. |
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40 take part in Dancer 2000 CHANDIGARH The programme started with the dance of Jassmirat Kaur to ‘Dupatta tera saat rang da’. After this Suruchi Sharma, in the age group of 10 - 15 years, danced to ‘paan khaaye saeyan hamar’. |
26 more arrests by
police CHANDIGARH During the drive, 10 persons were taken into custody as neither the landlord nor the tenants had informed the police about their antecedents. Two more were apprehanded for selling illegal liquor. They have been identified as Jagan Nath and Anil Kumar of Colony number five. The duo were booked under the Excise Act after 119 pouches of liquor were recovered from their possession. Another two were arrested for moving about “under suspicious circumstances”. The police also booked six persons for creating nuisance at public places after consuming liquor. Four more persons were arrested following apprehension of breach of peace. Two others were arrested for eve-teasing. According to sources, residents accused of not informing the police included, landlord Piara Singh, besides tenants Sikkander Yadav, Salinder, Hans Raj, Ansari, Nizamudin Ansari, Rehmat Ansari, Rakesh Kumar and Shiv Bhadur. They had been booked under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. |
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Rs 50,000 stolen from car CHANDIGARH A case under the Section 379 of the Indiand Penal Code has been registered. One arrested He was arrested after getting him medically examined. A case has been registered under Sections 279 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. Held for stealing Navdeep was allegedly caught red-handed while he was stealing the briefcase from Room No 508. A case under the Sections 380 and 411 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. 3 held for gambling Whisky seized A case under Sections 1, 14 and 61 of the Excise Act was registered against them.
SAS NAGAR Travel agent booked A case under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC has been registered against the travel agent, Bheem Singh Chauhan, a resident of Sector 20, Panchkula, on the complaint of the father of the boy, Mr Preetam. Case registered |
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Chain snatcher
held after chase CHANDIGARH According to sources in the Police Department, the accused was taken in custody after city resident Paramjit Singh, who was chasing him on his motor cycle, cornered him with the help of a constable. The accused, sources said, was taken to the spot of offence on Mr Paramjit Singh's motor cycle. Sources said that the accused had allegedly snatched the chain of a Sector 32 resident, Harpreet Kaur, while she was shopping along with her mother-in-law. Senior police officials, when contacted, said that further investigations into the matter were on and they would proceed after recording the statements of witnesses. |
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