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| Thursday, February 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Plague scare drives people to hospitals Chandigarh, February 27 The doctors too are a worried lot and not taking any chances with any case that arrives. Following the health authorities orders literally, every patient who comes with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is being tested for any plague-like symptoms. They are being X-rayed and some of them even admitted to be kept under observation. At GMCH-32, a makeshift trolley space has been created just at the entrance of the emergency where any person who comes with a complaint of pneumonic illness is kept till tests are done. Following some basic tests like blood and a chest X-ray, these patients are then either admitted for observation or sent to the requisite emergency wards. Many of them have been discharged after tests have shown negative signs of plague. Doctors on duty have been asked to take the complete history of any patient coming to the hospital with pneumonic illness. “Every person who comes to us with the LRTI may or may not show classical signs of a plague-like disease immediately, so one has to wait for some time after all the tests are done,” says a resident on duty at the GMCH-32. Although no one has been admitted to the isolation ward of the GMCH-32, there are three to four people in the makeshift
observation space where patients with serious pneumonic illnesses are being kept. The nurses on duty in the GMCH emergency are moving around with masks and the emergency doors are being kept sealed as far as possible. Interestingly, the sale of antibiotics effective against plague has gone up more than three times “Masks are in fact selling more. Even those who are coming to the hospital for administrative works first come buy masks and then get into the hospital
building”, says a chemist in the PGI. |
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A village that time forgot, but plague remembered Kansal, February 27 Villagers are demanding that Captain Amarinder Singh, who was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Punjab today, should first visit the village to get a first-hand knowledge of the problems being faced by them. Gian
Chand, a senior resident of the village alleged that successive governments in the past have ignored the village. “The village is adjacent to the Secretariat and we all are hoping Captain Amarinder will visit the village soon and solve our problems”, hoped Gian
Chand. “Whatever development that has taken in the village is not because of the government’s effort, but has been done through residents of the new colonies which have mushroomed in the village”, informed a Punjab Government employee, who has been staying in the village for the past many years. This correspondent was told that even for minor ailments, villagers have to go to the PGI or the General Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh. Though a large number of them take medicines from village chemists without consulting doctors. The village has a large population of people working in the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat and Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh. “This is a village with a large population and there should be a bank here”, was the view of
Rakesh, a local shopkeeper. For depositing electricity bills, villagers say that they have to travel to SAS Nagar and the absence of a post-office is also greatly felt by the residents. Meanwhile, the plague scare in the village is fading away but residents are taking all precautions. Even children can be seen moving around with their faces covered. However, residents of the adjoining Kaimbwala village still shy from going towards Kansal village.
Amrinder, a resident of the village, said, “There might be no plague in Kansal now, but why to take risk?” Ms Karmjit Kaur and her daughter,
Jasbir, wife of Krishan Singh, who died of plague, are undergoing treatment at the PGI and are being attended by the latter’s relatives. Their condition is said to stable. Ms Gurmail Kaur, sister-in-law of the deceased, admitted that she was still afraid. “We leave food for the relatives at the gate, which is forwarded to them by the hospital attendants”, informed Ms Karamjit and added that all of them were religiously taking the anti-biotic. |
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Dialysis machine for GH-16 Chandigarh, February 27 The machine, which has cost the hospital Rs 12 lakh, was installed on January 25 and has conducted more than 35 successful dialysis procedures till date. The cost of each dialysis is a nominal Rs 50. The patient has to provide for the disposables which can be reused twice. As a result, the first dialysis costs the patient Rs 1,200 while the next two Rs 150 each. The General Hospital will be getting the facility inaugurated officially soon, but already people, especially from the poor families, have started flocking the hospital. The hospital also claims that the facility is being offered at the lowest rates in the city. |
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PU to declare all results by June 30 Chandigarh, February 27 Examination for BA I and B.Sc I will conclude by May 3. The tentative date for declaration of results is June 26. The examinations for BA II and B.Sc II will conclude by May 4 and the tentative date of declaration of results is June 28. The tentative date of declaration of results for BA III and B.Sc III is June 29. Examinations of various undergraduate classes of the commerce stream will conclude by April 26. The tentative dates for declaration of results is May 27 for B.Com I, May 29 for B.Com II and May 31 for B.Com III. Although timely declaration of results was ensured even last year, students, however, faced problems in getting copies of their detailed marks cards in certain cases. As a result certain admission dates had to be rescheduled. Mr Ashok Raj Bhandari, Joint Controller of Examinations, said care would be taken this time in compiling detailed marks cards. The cards had already been designed. “The university has got new printers to quicken result compilation,” he said. This time again, the university has failed to manage a minimum of two paper-setters for undergraduate examinations, despite a decision of the Senate to this effect. One papersetter is required to set three papers. In case of postgraduate examinations, the university, however, claims to have two paper-setters for each paper. The university findings it difficult to arrange sufficient paper-setters. “Not all teachers are forthcoming to take up the responsibility. Paper setting, examination invigilation and evaluation should in fact be included in mandatory duties of teachers”, a senior official said. As many as five centres of the university have become functional to fecilitate examination related activities for the benefit of students, particularly from far-off places. The university has opened centres at Muktsar (Regional Centre), Moga (Guru Nanak College), Ludhiana (Extension Library), Abohar (DAV College) and Hoshiarpur (VVBIS and IS Centre). The centres will provide for supply and receipt of examination forms, including revaluation results. Documents which the students had failed to submit along with examination forms can be forwarded through these centres. About 1,50,000 students appear in undergraduate examinations each year. At least 25,000 appear in the postgraduate examinations. |
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RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET Chandigarh, February 27 This decision could flood the market with funds from the parallel economy that is considered 3 to 4 times higher than the budgeted economy, said Mr Ajay Jagga, an income tax lawyer. Country needs resources to uplift the teaming millions (now over a billion) to turn each one of them into a kind of human resource to make them individually contribute to the national growth, but income tax is confined only to salaried class had only generated black money and depressed economic activity, he said. In a land or property transfer deal, people were generally showing value of their property much below the market price to save stamp duty due to income tax stipulations, causing a loss, as per an estimate, to the tune of the total gain from the income tax collection, Mr Jagga added. The Finance Minister should get a survey done for benami (fictitious) property and their assets should be taxed, he opined. "It is the right time that the big farmers should be asked to pay the income tax to broaden the tax base which is now confined only to three to four per cent people of the country. The agriculture has become the best sector to absorb black money of industrialists and the corrupt," said Mr Jagga. Asset tax will take care of benami land, which could be something around 75 per cent of the total land, he added. The 24-page new tax form should be replaced with a real saral of one page as earlier, on-line filing of returns and issuance of receipts, harsh punishment for officials who harass the people, tax deduction from interest and benefits to women should be substantially increased , he demanded. The new form is an admission of failure by the government that they could not get information from their own departments dealing with the people. At least the Finance Minister should consider incentives for the tax payers. The All-India Professional Photographers Association senior vice-president, Mr Tejbans S. Jauhar, demanded that the still photography should be exempted from service tax as those engaged in this profession were from the unorganised and small sector. The FM should withdraw last year's service tax also, he demanded. An income tax lawyer, Mr Mahavir Singh, said the idea of no tax on economic activity should be given a serious thought and individual taxes could range between two to 15 per cent without long lists of calculations. The ceiling of wealth tax from Rs 15 lakh should be increased to Rs 30 lakh and the tax limit should not exceed 30 per cent in any case beyond Rs 3 lakh income and minimum could be 10 per cent on an income up to Rs 1 lakh, he opined. Income from dual business activity including agriculture should be taxed as against the current provision of clubbing agriculture income with other incomes for the purpose of calculating taxable income, he said. The deduction on interest for the senior citizens should be increased as a social security measure because social insecurity creates black money which is three to four times of country's economy size, he said. Former Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Chandigarh Chapter, Mr S. K. Aggarwal, said the FM should not introduce service tax on new areas as it is an indirect way of collecting direct tax from the industry which is very uncompetitive in a globalised market. Giving an example of investments in infrastructure having failed to get much response, he said the people should be allowed to invest in this sector without giving any account of the money. |
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PARKING BLUES-I Chandigarh, February 27 If you do not believe that parking is an ordeal in Sector 35, go to the market anytime during the day, even in the evenings. You will be forced to accelerate and deaccelarate while stepping up and down the gas pedal. This is not all. More than once, you will be stranded due to the cars parked in the middle of the road. Irritated and exhausted, you will be forced to repeatedly blow the horn, but no one will listen. After 15 minutes or so, the driver will come with a beer bottle in his hands, unmindful of the inconvenience he has caused to you. “This is exactly what happened to me last week,” reveals Sector 38 resident Vickey Dhawan. “I, along with a couple of friends, committed the mistake of going to a Sector 35 fast food joint in the evening last week. Initially, we could not find any place to park the car. As a result, we had to leave it at least half-a-kilometre away from the joint and were forced to walk down. When we came back, there was another car parked in front of our vehicle. For over 20 minutes, we had to wait for the owner. He finally arrived carrying a beer bottle. We did not comment, only laughed and started the car”. His experience is not very different from that of Abhey Sharma, a young executive putting up in Panchkula. “There were atleast three or four cars standing in a row right in the middle of the road,” he asserts. “Hoping that they would move on, I also parked my car in the queue. Impatient minutes rolled by, but the cars refused to budge. Soon I realised that there were at least three or four other cars parked behind my vehicle. I was in a fix, I could neither go ahead, nor could I back out of the situation. Finally, I drove the car ahead but not without scratching the paint”. A simple solution, claim traffic management experts, would be have the cars parked on one side of the road and the two-wheelers on the other side and avoid the creation of a bottle-neck, but, sadly, nothing has been done so far. A senior police officer, when contacted, said the proposal would be discussed and appropriate action would be taken soon. |
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‘Increase affordability of telecom services’ Chandigarh, February 27 According to Mr Vijay Kaul, Vice-President, Connect, the basic service operators are being charged import customs duty that is higher than the cellular operators which needs to be rationalised. “The Finance Ministry should rationalise import customs duty for the basic operators from a high level of 39 per cent to a lower rate of 27 per cent which is currently applicable to the cellular operators. There is absolutely no case to apply a higher rate of duty for infrastructure equipment for the basic service operator”, he said. He stated that service tax in some quarters should be raised from the current level of five per cent across all services. As this is likely to be passed on to the consumer, no further burden should be placed on the consumers of the telecom services, he said. On the high cost of handsets, he emphasised that Finance Ministry should go to the root of the problem by lowering import duties on the handsets so that there is no incentive to buy handsets from the grey markets. Regarding cellular services, Mr Vinod Sawhny, MD, Spice Telecom, said the key to increase cellular penetration lies in making the services more affordable. To increase affordability of services, he suggested that customs duty on the mobile handsets which is on the higher side and should be completely removed apart from withdrawing CVD on the handsets. “Custom duty on telecom equipments used in mobile phone infrastructure varies between 20 per cent and 48 per cent which is very high. This should be brought down to a flat rate of about 15 per cent”, he opined. Emphasising on the need to improve technology, he said the government should facilitate improving technology as well as production of telecom equipments within the country by offering various benefits to the Indian telecom equipment manufacturing industry and gear its R & D efforts. “At present, this industry is not able to compete with other multinational players on account of advanced technology and quality of equipment offered by them. The reduction in the custom duty and government’s efforts to enhance in-house production of the telecom equipment should go hand in hand”, added Mr Sawhny. He further suggested measures like increase of FDI limit in the telecom sector by speedening and simplification of the clearance process, a review for reduction of all government levies such as higher licence fees, revenue share with the government, port charges and service taxes. |
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Shocking condition for replacing power cable Chandigarh, February 27 Some linemen called recently by a person who lives in Sector 19 here refused to replace such a cable that had been joined at several places. They said: “The wire is not available in store, you will have to buy it yourself.” “Their reply did not surprise me at all,” says Dhiraj Sharma, an executive in a multinational company, who had called these linemen, “for I had heard this answer earlier as well. The reply is the same every time.” He also says: “I can easily spend Rs 1,000 or so as I spend much more on dining out, money is not the issue here, but principle. Why should I be penalised for something I have not done.” His neighbour, who is also tired of an erratic power supply, says: “My refrigerator got damaged because of the uninsulated half-burnt pieces of power cable joined at several places. The electrician told me that fluctuations had damaged the compressor, following which, I got a UPS installed for my computer.” A businessman who lives in Sector 35 says that the linemen who visited his house after such fluctuations were not even carrying a fuse wire. When contacted, the Superintending Engineer (Electricity), Mr J.N. Sachdeva, said the responsibility of replacing the cable to houses was of the department. “In no case, we ask anyone to buy his or her own wire.” He refuted the allegations of a shortage of wires in the store and said: “We have enough wires with us and can replace without any problem, but it gets difficult when complainants want the faulty wires to be replaced instantly, even at night, which is, sometimes, not possible.” He also said: “The linemen on call are not supposed to carry spare wire with them. If the wire has to be replaced, the officials concerned mention it in a register. The morning staff, then, replaces the wire.” He did not rule out the possibility of linemen misguiding complainants and said: “People should not take linemen’s word to be final. Rather, they should contact me or the officials concerned and we will rectify the problem.” |
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Jana Shatabdi to be on rails by May Chandigarh, February 27 Sources said the Jana Shatabdi would start running between Chandigarh and Delhi only by May or June. However, the extension of the Lucknow-Saharanpur Sadbhavana Express would be possible much earlier. This would require a formal written permission of the Ministry and coordination of timings between Ambala and Lucknow railway divisions. The Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala, Mr Deepak Krishan, said the fares, timings and date of starting of the Jana Shatabdi were yet to be formally announced and conveyed to us. The train which promises to run at the speed of the Shatabdi, minus the frills and luxuries, has generated much excitement among city residents. The fares are expected to be around 60 per cent of the existing Shatabdi fares,” sources said. “Starting of the train is likely to take some time as the Railways may not have the required number of specially designed bogies to start 16 Jana Shatabdis announced by the Union Railway Minister. One or two Jana Shatabdis will start operating in April, but it is yet not known where on the priority list the Chandigarh-Delhi train stands. Each coach will have seating capacity for 80 to 85 people. The normal second class coach in day trains seats about 110 persons. AC chair car coach of the Shatabdi takes 67 passengers,” they said. On the Sadbhavana Express front, sources said, the existing timings of the train would be advanced by at least three hours to ensure its arrival in Chandigarh by 9.30 a.m. “This is aimed at benefitting daily passengers travelling from Yamunanagar and Ambala to Chandigarh. It takes about 2 hours by train to reach Chandigarh from Saharanpur. Under existing timings the train will reach Chandigarh after 12 noon,” they said. “On its journey from Saharanpur to Lucknow the Sadbhavana Express (train number 4232) starts at 7.30 p.m. to reach Lucknow the next morning at 6.30 a.m. Now for this to be achieved the train will have to depart from here at about 5.15 p.m. Thus keeping in mind office timings, the departure of the Sadbhavana Express from here will be just after the Himalayan Queen which leaves at 5.25 p.m,” they added. This would ensure arrival of the Sadbhavana Express at Lucknow around 7.40 a.m. The train has one AC II-tier bogey. This would be reviewed depending on the demand of city residents travelling to Lucknow, sources said. |
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Bank employees’ date with poetry Chandigarh, February 27 Among the poets who attended the symposium were Som Thakur, Madhav Kaushik, Harjinder Laltu, Subhash Rastogi, Amarjit Amar, Arun Aditya, Rajendra Nishesh, Jagmohan Chopra, Santosh Dhiman and Shyam Lal Mehta Prachand. The show was thrown open by Dr Subhash Gaur of Canara Bank. He gave an apt beginning by introducing the poets in his own verses: Kavi to kavi hai, kavita kehta hai, yatharth mein jita hai, kalpana ke sagar mein gote lagata hai, kavita se man behlata hai, dabe hue andekhe zakhmon ko sehlaata hai... As he left the stage, employees of various banks took control one by one and talked about the bitter and sweet truths of life. Mr O.P. Vanmali of Union Bank read out: “Tark kariye, kutark mat kariye, aadmi aadmi mein fark mat kariye; apni k\jeb ki tandurusti ke liye is desh ka beda gark mat kariye...” Central Bank’s Sneh Mirchandani’s poem on the worthlessness of spring in society’s rife with corruption was greatly admired. Titled ‘Aaya abhi basant nahi’, the poem said: ‘Aaj bhi pag pag par hain kantak, kahungi main to basant main bhi, aaya abhi basant nahi...’ Dr S.S. Sachdeva from Punjab National Bank broached the issue of Partition in a very subtle manner. A satire on the social tendency of dissecting the country, his poem was very well received, so was the poem by Kher Chand Sharma from the State Bank of India. Laced with crisp humour, Sharma walked into the hearts of the gathering instantly. NABARD’s Raj Kumar presented a poem titled ‘Mai bharatiya’. The poem read: “Mujhe lagta hai ki aaj main bharatiy nahi hoon; bharatiyata ke naam pe ek prashan chinha hoon...” After the presentations by bank employees, the invited poets took control of the evening, with Madhav Kaushik coordinating the rest of the programme. |
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Cong councillors hold meeting Chandigarh, February 27 Ten out of 13 councillors of the party attended the meeting. Those absent were Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, Mr Sohan Lal Vaid and Mr Kuldeep Singh. The Congress leadership informed councillors that the provision for the property tax was aimed at avoiding imposition of 10 per cent tax passed by the BJP-dominated House in 1997. The BJP passed the 10 per cent property tax and paid parking but kept these in abeyance, exposing the corporation for a legal intervention for implementation of 10 per cent tax like in the case of paid parking, the leadership told them. The Congress leadership also showed them minutes where the BJP leadership had advocated “10 per cent rate as the minimum possible.” The Congress is going to take the line that the party had been able to lessen the burden on traders by getting 2 per cent rate passed against the one passed by the BJP. The BJP resolution had left room for the Chandigarh Administration to order implementation under Section 406 of the Municipal Corporation Act at the same rate but the real fight would now be to get the Administration to accept the sentiments of the people represented through House resolution and prevent imposition of 10 per cent rate, the Congress leader in the House, Mr. Subhash Chawla, said. |
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Follow Guru’s
teachings: Governor Panchkula, February 27 Speaking on the occasion of the 625th birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas, he said the Guru was a great social reformer. He believed and practised karma theory and worked for the eradication of social evils prevailing in the society in his time. He said Guru Ravidas belonged to the whole humanity and all ages. He also released a souvenir on the life of Guru Ravidas on the occasion. Deputy Commissioner, Jyoti Arora, Superintendent of Police Manoj Yadav, ADC S.K. Goyal, ASP Bharti Arora, senior officers of the District Administration and office-bearers of the Guru Ravidas Sabha were also present on the occasion. Meanwhile, the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas was celebrated by Saint Sivananda Divine Mission at Industrial Area Phase I, Chandigarh. The president of the mission, Mr Romesh Chander Sharma, and other members participated in the function. Havan and prayers were organised for peace. Teachings of Guru Ravidas were also highlighted at the function. |
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Bees attack lensman Chandigarh, February 27 He was taken to the Sector 16 General Hospital and, later, discharged after treatment. Three other persons — two reporters of a Hindi Daily and a security man — were also stung by bees there. The president of the District Bar Association, Mr H.S. Hundal, said the Municipal Corporation and the Administration should destroy the beehives on the premises. |
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A clarification Panchkula, February 27 He further said that the said shares, in the name of Mr Anurag Aggarwal, were purchased in 1993 and when sent for transfer, the same was refused transfer by the UTI due to the fact that duplicate shares were issued on the address — 407, Sector 7, and were advised to contact the seller at this address. However, Mr Nehra says that when they tried to contact him at this address, they found the address fake. He further stated that the cheque amount Rs 960 as alleged in the news item had never been credited to his account. The amount was lying in suspense account of the bank which Mr Aggarwal had refused to collect. This amount was returned to UTI on December 2, 1999. |
Attempt to snatch briefcase Chandigarh, February 27 Accident Mr Rohit Verma, a resident of Sector 34, escaped unhurt when the car he was driving was hit by truck near the Transport Chowk traffic-light point yesterday. The truck driver, Parmod Kumar, a resident of Kangra district, has been arrested by the police. A case under Section 279 of the IPC has been registered.
Vehicles stolen White Gypsy (HR-01-C-(HQ) 8613) of Mr Kulwant Singh, a resident of Rajpura, was allegedly stolen from Sector 29 yesterday. In another case, Mr Harish Gupta, reported to the police that his car (CH - 09 - 2406) was stolen from Mani Majra yesterday. Vespa scooter (HR - 03 - D - 2722) of Ms Monika Pathania, a Sector 19 resident, was reportedly stolen from Sector 22 on February 19. Separate cases of theft have been registered.
Liquor seized The police arrested Papu and Om Prakash, residents of Ram Darbar, under various Sections of the Excise Act yesterday and seized 46 pouches of liquor from their possession.
Woman consumes poison A 30-year-old woman, Radha, a resident of Nehru Colony, reportedly consumed some poisonous substance this morning. As per police sources, she was rushed to the PGI by her husband and her condition was said to stable.
PANCHKULA One booked In a case of alleged elopement of a minor girl, the Panchkula police has booked a resident of Karnal, Jogga Singh, under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC. Mr Manoj Yadava, SP, Panchkula, in a statement said the mother of the victim had alleged that her adopted daughter was lured by Jogga Singh on the pretext of getting her marriage to one of his relatives. In a complaint to the police, Ms Paramjit Kaur, mother of the girl, said she, along with her 16-year-old daughter, had been staying in a room of a ‘sarai’ of Nadha Sahib Gurdwara since 1997. She worked as a sewadar in the gurdwara. On Thursday evening, when she returned from the duty, she found her daughter missing.
Theft case The police has booked Jyoti, a resident of Rajiv Colony, on the charge of stealing some goods from the jhuggi of Mr Desh Raj of the same locality. The complainant had alleged that Jyoti broke into his house on the night of February 14 and took away a bicycle and some utensils from there. A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered with Sector 5 police station. |
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25-yr-old commits suicide Panchkula, February 27 Police sources said that the body of Rajeshwar Giri, who was working with a construction company as head mason, was noticed by his colleagues in a shed adjacent to the HAFED building. Sources also revealed that a suicide note, confirming his failure in love, was also found from the pocket of the deceased. After registering a case and conducting postmortem examinations in the Panchkula General Hospital, the body has been handed over to his younger brother, Lal Bahadur here today. |
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