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| Friday,
June 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Patients at the receiving end Ludhiana, June 27 Mr Jaspal Singh, a patient suffering from some skin infection, said that he had come all the way from Nawanshehar as his problem was being deteriorated. “But I am really disappointed because the authorities are not making any card or slip and there is a huge queue of patients. No one is properly attending the patients”, he said. Satwant Kaur, another patient complained that she had come in the morning to get her tests conducted at the hospital but due to the shortage of staff the tests will be conducted tomorrow. An employee of the Emergency Ward on condition of anonymity disclosed that due to this ‘war of words’ between the two parties, there were less admissions in the emergency ward. “Patients are worried because they know that they will not be taken care of properly”, he said. Due to the ongoing agitation of the employees, the working at various departments like billing, maintenance and telephone has also been affected. “Yesterday, the leaders forcibly took out the staff of the telephone exchange with an aim to paralyse the communication network inside and outside the hospital”, said one of the eyewitness. The management has been claiming that with an aim to paralyse the smooth functioning of the hospital, the union leaders were forcibly taking out the loyal and conscientious workers from performing their duties. One of the representatives of the management said that in spite of appeals from all quarters that the patient care was the primary responsibility, the union leaders resorted to an ‘unjustified, illegal and unreasonable agitation’. “Doubts and concern about the status of the employees of DMCH have been voiced in the past. To allay their apprehensions and misgivings, it has been reiterated time and again in writing by the management that the salary and service conditions and all other facilities enjoyed by the existing staff shall continue to be available in the new place. Even the heavily subsidised heart surgery facility in the Hero DMC Heart Institute will be available to them”, said the representative. Meanwhile, the union is adamant on their stand not to let shifting of any ward from the DMCH to Hero DMC Heart Institute till the status of the two institutes was not cleared. The union leaders alleged that they had been misled by the management several times in the
Dr John Abraham, Deputy Medical Superintendent and incharge of the administration of Christian Medical College and Hospital, admitted that there was definitely an increase in the admissions at the hospital. “The emergency and other admissions have been increased these days at our hospital”, said Dr Abraham. Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Superintendent, Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital, also said that in the last two or three days, some serious patients from DMCH were shifted to GTB Hospital. “Two serious patients who are on ventilating machines, have been admitted recently and there is an increase in the number of patients in the emergency ward also”, he said. |
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Grievances
Redressal Forum goes Ludhiana, June 27 The programme where general public could get its grievances redressed would not be organised anymore. Instead, the specially formed committee will take over the job. The development follows recent directions to all district heads that the committee would be the authority for redressing public complaints. The orders, however, do not say anything about scrapping the fortnightly forum. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Aggarwal, said he had decided to do away with the fortnightly forum as there could not be two panels for handling complaints. He also said he knew that all district heads had not done so. The state government has told all district heads to have a minister on each committee, besides members of various political parties, NGOs and social welfare bodies. The district administration has directed the SDMs concerned to ask political parties to name their members for the job. The DC said it would be a broad-spectrum committee for redressing grievances. He also said the closing of the ‘sangat darshan’ programme would not affect anyone as the district administration was already doing the job. The DC and the ADC are supposed to work in this direction and the city has a separate ADC for redressing public grievances. The committee was being formed, said Mr Aggarwal, but denied that the state government had ordered that the programme initiated by the previous government be suspended. He said, in anticipation of the formation of the new committee, certain district heads had themselves decided to scrap ‘sangat darshan’. ‘Sangat darshan’ had been introduced to provide general public with a forum to get their grievances redressed. The DC office used to take down the complaints and direct officials concerned to attend the programme. |
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2 cops in police net under
corruption Act Ludhiana, June 27 Head Constable Baljinder Singh was arrested while the second one, Head Constable Jaspal Singh of PCR mobile squad, managed to escape a special trap laid by the CIA police to catch them red-handed in Gobind Nagar yesterday. The police has also booked the two accused narcotics smugglers identified as Gajjan Singh and Sewa Singh, who have also been arrested by the Basti Jodhewal police. According to police sources, the shocking case came to light through an informer. Sources said the two alleged smugglers were caught near Sherpur Chowk by the two cops. They had caught the smugglers quite far from their area
The cops recovered about 40 kg of poppy husk from the smugglers’ possession. However, instead of booking them under the NDPS Act or handing them over to the officials of the police station concerned, the cops struck a deal with the alleged smugglers. They demanded a sum of Rs 20,000 from the smugglers in lieu of letting them off. Sources said the cops returned half the quantity of poppy husk to the smugglers and pocketed Rs 5,000. They kept the remaining quantity of the drug with them and told the smugglers to arrange for the remaining amount and take the quantity as well as save themselves from a criminal case. The alleged smugglers shared their experience with some people while arranging for money. It was through one such informer that the information trickled to Mr Shiv Kumar, SP(D), who arranged with the smugglers to call the cops at a place. Mr Shiv Kumar told Ludhiana Tribune that one of the accused cop, Baljinder Singh, was arrested from Gobind Nagar where he along with the other had come to collect the remaining amount from the alleged smugglers. The second cop managed to abscond. The police recovered some quantity of poppy husk besides Rs 2,500 from the arrested cop. Mr Shiv Kumar said DSP P.S. Parmar along with a team of CIA police had laid the trap. He said the cops face immediate suspension besides strict departmental action against them. |
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Licence
plates: no fine after July 1 Ludhiana, June 27 The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr H.S. Sidhu, and the SP (Traffic), Mr Gurdial Singh, said this when questioned about the widespread confusion over the issue. “We advise everyone not to switch over to any design recommended by painters until the Centre makes available the HSRPs in India,” the officials said. Sources said the police and the District Transport Office was also in the dark regarding the actual position. Notifications in newspapers about a month ago had mentioned July 1 to be the deadline for complying with a Supreme Court order on switching over to the HSRPs. However, in the absence of the required licence plates, that were supposed to have been manufactured by a government-approved firm, the police and public don’t know what to do once the deadline expires. Mr Sidhu said the district police would adopt the stand followed nationwide on the issue, but public need not panic. He also advised everyone not to reverse the colours of licence plates as a lot of persons were doing. Once the HSRPs are
introduced in the market, people will require to get the plates changed again. Mr Sidhu said the HSRPs would go a long way in checking vehicle thefts. The issue has become sensitive ever since the Supreme Court order about a year ago that everyone must switch over to the HSRPs. The new licence plates were not available anywhere and painters used the resultant confusion to their advantage by advising everyone to get the plate colours reversed. The Supreme Court had, initially, given everyone six months to make the switchover and, then, extended the deadline to six months after again. Whenever the deadline draws near, there is widespread panic and a fresh paint-job rush.
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Alone against polluting unit Ludhiana, June 27 The complainant has also said that, irked by his persistent campaign against the polluting unit, a man called Sukhwinder Singh and his cronies attacked him and lodged a false complaint against him. “The police acted in a biased way and forced me to sign a compromise deal, threatening to arrest me for breach of peace, otherwise.” According to Mr Faujdar Singh, the bakery owners say that they are close to senior leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal, besides senior officials of the police and the administration. Due to this, he says, the affected persons are afraid of raising their voice against the menace. He says that the bakery unit is being run illegally from a residential area. He urged the PHRC to appoint a commission to visit the locality to see the miserable conditions for itself. |
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Bank men
resent VRS Ludhiana, June 27 At the rally, trade union activists, including Mr Naresh Gaur, secretary of the local unit of the PBEF; Mr Ashok Awasthy, its president; and Mr V.K. Sood, its senior vice-president; criticised the BOI management for reintroducing the VRS. “The scheme launched by all banks two years ago is anti-employee and infringes on the rights of workers,” they said. They said the other banks would follow the BOI example to reintroduce the VRS which was nothing but a crude way of kicking employees out of jobs to weaken the trade-union movement. The protesters offered support to agitating employees of Allahabad Bank, who were on a day’s strike today. The PBEF activists said the managements of the BOI and Allahabad Bank should scrap these policies. They also urged bank employees and the AIBEA to support their struggle. |
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Rain brings respite from heat Ludhiana, June 27 The residents had to switch over to their ACs as the air-coolers had been rendered ineffective by the humid weather. Moving out in the sun also proved very costly for some. Paddy farmers are also relieved.
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Man immolates himself Ludhiana, June 27 According to information, the deceased was undergoing domestic tension because of his daughter-in-law’s insistence on an early division of family assets. The case was registered on the statement of the wife of the deceased, Ms Usha Rani, a resident of Iqbal Ganj. Black-mailer booked:
Mr Ashok Kumar, a resident of Karim Pura Bazar, had stated in his complaint that the accused demanded Rs two lakh from his daughter, Ms Monika who now lives in Delhi, threatening her that if he was not paid the money, he would get her photographs published in newspapers. No arrest has been made so far. Booked for forgery:
Murder bid:
Kidnapping alleged:
Fraud accused held:
Case of kidnapping:
The complainant had alleged that the accused stopped her and her daughter in a playground on June 25 and teased them. They had also threatened them. Later, the accused kidnapped her young son and threw him into a canal. The boy was rescued by onlookers who gathered at the spot after which the accused fled from the scene. No arrest has been made so far. Eight booked:
The Division No 3 police arrested three persons in this connection. They have been identified as Bikram Singh, who parked his Canter on the Gaushala Road, Ramesh, who parked his Canter near Khud mohalla chowk and Ajit Singh, who parked his three-wheeler and jammed the traffic near Nikka Mal chowk. Four persons were booked by the Division No 4 police for the same offence. They have been identified as Kansi Ram, who parked his truck near Subhash Nagar, Lalit Tiwari, Hanuman and Rajpal, who had jammed the traffic by placing their stocks of vegetables on the road. The Sarabha Nagar police has arrested Ram Badan, a resident of Kot Mangal Singh, for parking his Swaraj Mazda truck near the Sunet village roundabout and jamming traffic. Khanna He has alleged in the complaints that he has a plot measuring 240 sq ft in Bhadewal village. It was in his possession till June 16, but on that day Achhara Singh, Bhag Singh, Mangal Singh, Chand Singh, Prem Singh and Baljit Kaur, along with some other unidentified persons, forcibly took possession of the plot and raised a wall there. They uprooted a tree standing on the plot and threw away some of the articles belonging to him. He has alleged that the local police also helped them under political pressure. The police official were told that a court had issued a stay order in his favour, but all in vain. Now Achhara Singh is in illegal possession of the plot. The complainant has urged the authorities to take action against the accused. |
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Man murdered over blocking cooler air Ludhiana, June 27 Police sources said after completing his shift, the deceased came to a room and sat in front of a cooler. Another worker, Daljit Yadav, directed him to sit somewhere
else and not block the air. The refusal of the deceased angered Daljit Yadav who beat him to death. The police has registered a case of murder. |
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Girl attempts suicide Ludhiana, June 27
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Man ends life Ludhiana, June 27 |
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Kids' clothes cost a packet Ludhiana, June 27 A survey by Ludhiana Tribune of stores stocking children's clothes in posh localities revealed that the stores were bursting with fancy, expensive and natty clothes for children of all age groups. Bipin, a salesman at one of the leading stores, said, "We have parents coming at all hours. The daily sale runs into thousands of rupees. The range of casual clothes starts from Rs 100 and goes up to Rs 500. The party wear frocks can go up to Rs 2,000. The boys clothes are also expensive. A kurta-pajama set with a jacket is priced at Rs 800 and above. The children are seen dictating their choices to the parents.'' A mother carrying shopping bags from a store revealed that she had to shop every month for her two girls. The girls are very clear in their mind what they want to buy. Sometimes they want hipsters which they saw some heroine wearing in some movie, next time it would be some shirt with some icon that is their favourite. Another shopper said how she regretted spoiling her son when younger. "While dressing him up when he was two I would insist that he wears matching T-shirt with his shorts and matching socks and shoes. Now he has become finicky about matching and would discard dozen of dresses before condescending to wear one. With a small kid on hands I find it very difficult to cope with his 'matching mania.' The young ones' clothes, nappies, feeding bottle, shoes, bag to carry his knick-knacks, everything is so expensive." The latest style jeans, parallels, sweat shirts carrying batman and spiderman baffle the parents. But the manufacturers never had it so good. It suits them that their designers are always coming up with new ideas to tempt the children and their parents. Gone are the days when the grandmother tailored simple ''jhablas'' or rompers for kids in summer and knitted sweaters in winter. |
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