Ludhiana, December 1
The “stigma and discrimination” against people living with HIV/AIDS is one of the major reason, that is not presenting the real picture of the actual number of people living with the killer disease. As per the figures with the Punjab State AIDS Control Society, 263 cases were reported from all districts of Punjab till August 2003.

But NGOs, volunteers and medical experts working on the project maintain that this could just be the tip of the iceberg, because a majority of the people living with the disease are reluctant to disclose the problem as they fear discrimination, denial of their rights to health care and other socio-economic rights by the society.

According to the data available with the district Health Department, about 35 HIV positive cases have been reported this year.

The data also shows that two persons had died of AIDS across the district so far (this year). But the sources revealed that the number of unreported cases and deaths with AIDS could be much more.

Dr Deepinder Singh from Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, who has been working under the AIDS Awareness Campaign for the past many years said: “The number of AIDS patients in the district will be much more than the reported ones. Ludhiana has a flourishing transport business.

The truckers and truck drivers are the most targeted carriers of the infection. The AIDS Control Society, Punjab, reveals that 3500-4000 people in the state were suffering from AIDS, whereas in Haryana, about 40,000 people was HIV positive. The number of HIV patients in Punjab was much higher, but there cases will not reported”.

HIV patients, the worldover might be leading a healthy and happy life but here in the country, they are still considered a curse with no cure.

“People talk to them from a distance, but do not touch them and try to keep away from their breath. They are not given treatment and are left isolated. This is perhaps the major reason that infected people try not to disclose their disease”, said Dr Deepinder.

Dr Manjit Kaur, SMO, Civil Hospital, said that they every possible effort was being made to create awareness among people about the deadly disease, still a majority of people were reluctant to cooperate because of social stigma attached to the disease.

She said in order to promote awareness regarding the killer disease, the hospital authorities were testing the patients for the past three years. “In the year 2001, 4246 persons were tested out of which 21 were found to be HIV positive. More than 4690 persons were tested for HIV infection, 28 were found to be positive and in 2003, 5169 persons were tested, 13 were found to be afflicted with HIV virus.

The government, has recently launched a programme called Voluntary Counselling Testing Centre (VCTC) in which people come and get themselves tested for HIV. As many as 22 persons had come this year and 12 out of them had been tested positive.

All HIV patients are regularly being given medicine by the hospital authorities”, said Dr Manjit Kaur.

Mr Avinash Sharma, a psychotherapist from Canada said that there was a need to save the future generation. There was a need to generate psychic energy among the AIDS victims.

Ludhiana, December 1
If we want to compete with other nations in hockey, we should encourage the game at the college level. This was stated by the national hockey coach, Rajinder Singh, here today. He was in the city to preside over a meeting of the Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association of which he is also the chairman. The association is organising the second edition of the All-India Guru Gobind Singh Inter-university Namdhari Seed Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here at the astro turf ground of the Punjab Agricultural University from December 2 to 6.

Rajinder Singh was of the firm view that in the eighties when India dominated the game, the players used to come into the national team after playing the game in schools followed by their participation in college tournaments. Then they were given a chance to represent the country at the international level meets. But at present, the hockey players after playing in the school-level tournaments got job opportunities and figured in the national teams which deprived them the chance of playing the game at the college and university levels.

The national coach clarified that this was the only reason that the association had resolved to hold All-India inter-varsity tournament. Eight teams from Mumbai University, Kurukshetra University, Meerut University, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, Ch Devi Lal University, Sirsa, Jamia Milia University and Delhi University would be vying for top honours in the tournament. Four teams (women) have also been invited by the association, Rajinder Singh said.

Amloh, December 1
The local municipal council heaved a sigh of relief when the auction of octroi was finally awarded after it failed eight times, said council chief Baldev Singh Aulakh addressing media persons here today.

The auction was earlier held on August 7, August 19, September 12, September 29, October 6, October 20 and November 18. The council had to spend a lot of money on advertisements in the leading newspapers in this connection. All times the auction was cancelled as it had failed to touch the target fixed by the local government. Now the auction bid of Bachittar Singh (Rs 45,55000) had been approved from November 28, 2003, to November 27, 2004, he added.