Chandigarh, January 20
Secretary Health, UT, has a long list of prescriptions to rid Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, of its ailments. On a visit to the hospital today, the official didn’t know where to go, thanks to the information delivery system which is conspicuous by its absence.

Appalled by the pitiable condition of patients in casualty’s surgical ward, the official directed the authorities to expand its area. Elaborate registration procedures, lack of hygiene and inadequate air-circulation systems at places where attendants wait were some other major observations the official made.

“A first-time visitor will be lost in the hospital, which does not tell you which block exists where. A guide map urgently needs to be installed at the hospital entrance. It should disclose the location of blocks and the facilities they offer,” Mr S.C. Poddar told Chandigarh Tribune today.

Inadequate information delivery system was one of the many loopholes Mr Poddar listed after his two-hour round of the hospital. He has asked the authorities to install a signage system to ensure the convenience of visitors. Sector 16 General Hospital has also been told to do this.

Registration procedures for patients visiting GMCH-32 will also be revised soon. That the registration form was available only in English indicates that the registration block of the GMCH has immense scope for improvement. Mr Poddar admitted, “The form is so elaborate that no one can fill it in less than an hour’s time. The system of registration is centralised. It results in wastage of time and energy.” People have to wait for long till their medical records are summoned from the record room.

To set things in the GMCH right, the UT Health Department will work out a decentralised system of registration as practised in the PGI. “We will work out a department-wise registration system for patients, besides ensuring that the rate list of medical tests conducted in the hospital is displayed prominently,” said the official.

This information is also being accommodated in the citizens’ charter being prepared for the GMCH. Details about free treatments and procedures to apply for them will also feature in this charter.

Another concern of health officials is the lack of space in casualty’s surgical wards. Many patients in the surgical ward have been found sharing space meant for one. Mr Poddar said the Medical Superintendent had promised to expand the area of surgical ward at the GMCH. “He can use the space of medical ward which gets fewer patients,” he said. Due to its location on the highway, the GMCH gets many cases of accidents and trauma.

The authorities have also been directed to replace knob taps with elbow taps to prevent infection. “Currently all taps are operated by knobs. It’s unhygienic and must be stopped. In the future we will use sensor taps,” said the Secretary, while also recalling the fact that the UT Administrator had suggested the GMCH authorities to construct more toilets at all places where attendants wait.

Chandigarh, January 20
An alleged assassin of Beant Singh, Jagtar Singh Hawara, and his two accomplices broke through the high-security Burail jail by digging a 94-foot-long tunnel a year ago. There is no “actionable” information either with the Chandigarh Police or with the Punjab Police and or any intelligence agency 365 days after the incident.

The Chandigarh Police had uncovered an alleged conspiracy within the jail and up to Sirhind, from where Hawara and others disappeared into thin air. This had been discovered within a few days of the sensational jailbreak, but now it is realised that a deadend had been reached then itself, with the entire police and intelligence force of the country having not moved an inch forward about the entire controversy in 12 months. The police claimed to have leads then but they seemed to have turned cold.

There are still theories as then.

Hawara is suspected to have joined his Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) boss Wadhawa Singh in Pakistan, a source, who is supposed to keep an eye on them, said. The source had communicated his information to appropriate authorities about the possibilities of jailbreak, transporting explosives in the jail and about another tunnel Hawara had dug up. All apprehensions had turned true.

Hawara, who is believed to have separated from his other jailbreak accomplices, Paramjit Singh Bheora, Jagtar Singh Tara and Devi Singh, is believed to be with Wadhawa Singh in a house on the outskirts of Lahore, the sources said. However, there is no corroborative evidence of telephone call details between Hawara, Wadhawa Singh and other militant activists in England and Germany. The absence of a telephonic contact between the two militants indicates they are at a distance where communication through telephones is not required as they may be in physical contact.

However, an interesting aspect has figured that one of the arrested jailbreak accused Narain Singh Chaura was picked by the BKI for some other task but he had to be urgently asked to fail electricity in the Burail jail. An unidentified person had to perform this electricity failure task, but he could not do so at that time. Narain Singh Chaura was asked by Hawara to do this, and he delivered. It is also not known as to what original assignment Chaura was meant for. The person who was to perform this job has not yet been identified.

The sources in the police, which is still as clueless as at the time of jailbreak, say there is no credible information about the militants after the incident.

The investigation into the jailbreak case has only been confined to the negligence of jail officials and the trace of militants has not gone beyond Sirhind, where the four escapees had been dropped by a car. The Chandigarh Police is satisfied with only getting Hawara and others declared as proclaimed offenders. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) report on the situation inside the jail is yet to be finalised.

Chandigarh, January 20
A Kargil-like situation has developed on the Indo-Pakistan border following the ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch Sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night, Mr MS Bitta, chairman of the All-India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF), said here today.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Bitta advocated a hardline stance against Pakistan which had proved to be an "unreliable nation" and gone back on its promises of peaceful co-existence time and again.

Till Pakistan took concrete steps such as disbanding terrorist training camps in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), handing over the terrorists hiding in Pakistan to India, return of 1971 Indo-Pakistan War prisoners to India and an end to the subversive activities of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Union Government should not extend its hand of friendship to that country, Mr Bitta demanded.

He demanded the shifting of the trial of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) militant Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar from the local District Courts to the Tihar Jail, New Delhi, for security reasons. The escape of the three prime accused in the Beant Singh assassination case from the high-security Burail Jail last year has put a question mark on the credibility of the Chandigarh authorities and the escaped militants could get Bhullar released, he alleged.

Mr Bitta demanded that the file relating to the mercy petition of Bhullar, who had been awarded death penalty for his role in a bomb blast outside the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on September 11,1993 by the Supreme Court, was being not being forwarded to the President by the Home Ministry for the past about two years.

Dismissing the statement of Bhullar before the Press on January 18 here that the Delhi police had recorded his confessional statement forcibly, Mr Bitta claimed that the militant was involved in over 250 killings and any mercy shown to him will lead to the revival of terrorism in Punjab.

Mr Bitta, the then IYC chief, who had survived the attack, which killed several persons, alleged that certain vested interests were trying to get the death sentence of Bhullar converted into life imprisonment.

The AIATF planned to launch a sustained campaign against narco-terrorism, which was playing havoc with lives of Punjab youth, the president of the local unit, Mr Rajesh Sharma, said. In the first phase, the chemists selling medicinal drugs to the youth would be targeted by the front, he added.

Chandigarh, January 20
To orient nursing officers and paramedical staff in the increasing role and importance of information technology in medicare, a 10-day Continuing Nursing Education Programme on Information Technology for Nursing began at Command Hospital, Chandimandir, near here, yesterday.

In his inaugural address, Deputy Director, Medical Services, Western Command, Major-Gen M P Jai Prakash stressed upon the relevance of Information Technology in modern-day health care.

He said that the need of the hour for nurses was not only to be computer-literate, but they should also possess a certain degree of competence in the use of information technology. Stating that the hospital has started adopting computer technology in patient management system, he added that crucial decisions could be made online, which could result in saving crucial time.

The Deputy Principal Tutor, School of Nursing, Lieut-Col Jasbir Kaur, presented an overview of the course. About 30 participants comprising nursing officers from the western Command and their civilian counterparts from various hospitals in Chandigarh are attending the programme.

Chandigarh, January 20
About six years after the Army inducted Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), it has launched a project to upgrade the earlier Searcher Mark-I versions to enhance their operational capability.

Stating that the project is now underway, a senior officer said that the Searcher-I UAVs were being upgraded and retrofitted to match the capabilities of the Searcher Mk-II UAV. The Searcher Mk-II, which was subsequently procured by the Army as well as the IAF and the Navy, is a more advanced version of the Searcher Mk-I. The armed forces have over 100 UAVs in their inventory.

"The UAVs are being upgraded in batches of four at a time," an officer said. "The essence of the upgradation lies in enhancing their surveillance capability and flying endurance," he added.

The induction of UAVs in the Army was first publically acknowledged in 1998, during Exercise Shiv Shakti, a massive wargame designed to ratify revolutionary warfare concepts based on joint operations. UAV's are used for surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition. These can relay real-time tactical information, including high-resolution pictures and signal intercepts, about enemy movements and positions, based on which commanders in the field can base or modify their plans.

According to available information, the Army had procured about 12 Searcher Mk-I UAVs manufactured by the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) in 1998. In 2000, it began the process of inducting 32 Searcher Mk-II UAVs. The production of the Mk-I variant has reportedly ceased.

Besides the Searcher series, the Army is also in the process of procuring more advanced and larger Heron UAV, also from IAI. The procurement case is reportedly being reviewed by the Commercial Negotiations Committee after the Defence Secretary granted approval to the Technical Oversight Committee's report last year.

You were born in Sri Lanka, but spent most of your life in Europe and Australia, where you are an established writer on Buddhist philosophy. What brought you to Chandigarh?

My friendship with Heidi Sabra, who now lives in Panchkula. On Thursday, I had a good interaction on J. Krishnamurti with students of the Department of English, Panjab University.

In the context of J. Krishnamurti’s teachings, what should today’s youth do?

Experiment with awareness (meditation). Book knowledge is gained by reading. However, self-knowledge is gained by observation or awareness of oneself in action from moment to moment. Book knowledge is not opposed to self-knowledge, the more intensely observant one becomes, the easier it is to understand the contents of books. Self-knowledge is the process of going deeply into oneself; thereby enabling the surfacing of all one’s hidden motives. It is knowing the hidden forces underlying our thoughts and speech.

Which books are you coming out with next?

Two new books, Nirvana the Highest Happiness and The First and Best Buddhist Teachings, are being published by New Age Books, an imprint of Motilal Bansarsidas, Delhi.

— Roopinder Singh

Zirakpur, January 20
Members of the Commercial Welfare Association, Bhabhat, yesterday met the Zirakpur nagar panchayat president and submitted him a memorandum regarding to their demands and facilities. They also alleged harassment by the officials of the civic body and stepmotherly treatment given to them.

Led by Mr F.S. Nagra, president of the association, the delegation met with Mr Narinder Sharma, president of the nagar panchayat, yesterday.

The delegation alleged that the re-export pass facility, admissible under rule V.32-A of the Municipal Account Code -1930, is being provided by the Executive Officer of the Zirakpur nagar panchayat by opting to the pick-and- choose policy.

The association pointed out that there were no provisions for passing a resolution by the civic body for issuing the re-export pass facility. The civic body officials have been allegedly harassing the re-export pass seekers by demanding money.

The association also claimed that the panchayat authorities have been charging House tax since 2001 without passing a resolution in a house of elected members of the civic body. The Tax could be imposed under Section 62 (10) of the Punjab Municipal Act 1911 on the proposal of the committee after passing a resolution at a special meeting held as per the provisions under sections 62(1) of the Act. The members claimed that the notification the regarding levying of House Tax was faulty and needed a review.

The memorandum also listed problems concerning gross violation of rules along the Chandigarh-Zirakpur highway. The members pointed out illegal construction and encroachment coming up in violation of rules and regulations right under the nose of the authorities.

The delegation also claimed that over 10,000 inhabitants of the godown area in Bhabhat village have been forced to live in inhuman conditions in the absence of basic civic amenities for the past over three years. The Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat has hardly considered the godown area of the village as part of the civic body despite collecting crores of rupees from traders in the shape of various charges.

The area has been completely ignored by the authorities, putting its inhabitants to a great hardship in the absence of any provision of potable water, sewerage system, drainage systems and streetlights besides damaged and kutcha roads.

Mr Nagra also claimed that the association had given repeated representations to the Executive Officer and other authorities concerned of the civic body but no action has been taken in this regard.

The association also submitted copies of the representations given to the EO and other officials concerned of the civic body given from time to time in the last three yeas to the Secretary, Department of Local Government Punjab.

Mr Sharma assured the delegation that he would look into the matter and take up their problems on a priority basis. He also claimed that action would be taken against the officials who demand any bribe provided they submit two affidavits against the official concerned .0

Panchkula, January 20
Years ago, the Town Planning wing of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) failed to plan for parking places in most markets and public offices of the township. Now it is the visitors and the traders in these markets and the public who are facing traffic snarls, even as HUDA and traffic police choose to look the other way.

Though market places in various sectors of the township have turned into important commercial hubs, the parking blues at these places is causing inconvenience.

With Sector 11 market turning into the most important commercial centre, and the Sector 7 market being the most popular hang-out, the roads, surrounding the two market places and the miniscule parking space here, remain jam packed throughout the day. With traffic moving bumper-to-bumper at both these market places, especially in the evenings, it requires artful dodging by a commuter to pass through the area.

The shopkeepers and traders in the Sector 11 say the thousands of people visit the market every day. “There are as many as 15 banks, a number of offices and shops, besides some educational institutions and eateries. If the morning sees the student and office goers rush, the afternoon and evenings see the rush of shoppers and those visiting the eateries.

“Hundreds of vehicles remain parked in the market throughout the day, leading to total chaos. There is limited parking in the market and no place in the vicinity, where a new parking area can be established,” said Mr Tarsem Chand, hardware trader in the market.

It is only for the past four years, since a number of outlets of multinational brands and all major banks opened branches here, that the parking blues have surfaced. Mr Narinder Chaddha, general secretary of the Traders Association of Sector 11, said they had taken up the matter with the HUDA authorities, but they said that now, while new markets are being planned, they were taking into account the future logistics.

He said the problem could be sorted out if traffic cops were deployed permanently by the police. “They can ensure that all vehicles are parked in a systematic way, which would help. But no traffic police has been posted here,” he added.

In Sector 7, parking blues can be witnessed in the evenings. For a place which sees hundreds of visitors a day (and over 1500 on week ends), the parking space here is only meant for 50 vehicles.

Mr B. B. Kochchar, president of the Market Welfare Association, Sector 7, said they had taken up the matter with HUDA and the Municipal Council (MC) authorities.

“The MC had earmarked a site for converting into a parking place and the work had started, but this was later stalled. We have now asked the authorities to at least rework on the parking demarcation, so that at least 10 more vehicles can be accommodated,” he said.

The problem is not just restricted to the above mentioned markets. Even in Sector 8, especially after the Post Office has shifted here last year, there has been a parking problem in the market place. The District Courts and the Mini Secretariat too have inadequate parking place for the public.

Chandigarh, January 20
The Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), today extended greetings and good wishes on the occasion of Id-ul-Zuha.

General Rodrigues said “Bakrid” symbolised sacrifice, devotion to God and compassion for the poor. “It reminds us once again of the need to foster peace and harmony among all and to care for the deprived and underprivileged in society,’’ he added.

The Governor appealed to the people to join our Muslim brethren and observe the festival in a spirit of devotion, compassion, brotherhood and faith in the creator of mankind.

Panchkula, January 20
The BJP candidate, Mr Sham Lal Bansal, today toured various parts of the constituency in the Doon and Morni area and villages falling in Panchkula.

Election meetings were held at various places where the BJP sought votes on the issue of development works initiated by the BJP-led NDA government from 1999-2004. Mr Bansal said the development in the state was done only after the money was released by the Centre.

He said the Congress was anti-poor party and the three-time Congress MLA , Mr Chander Mohan, had never done any work for the betterment of the constituency. In the evening, an election meeeting was held at Abheypur village. Senior state BJP leader, Mr Ram Vilas Sharma, who was to address the election meeting in favour of Mr Bansal, reached here after the meeting was over.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Mr Sharma said the party position in the state had improved considerably as the electorate was dismayed with the rising prices ever since the Congress rule began at the Centre. He said there was rebellion in the Congress, and there were 12 claimants for the CM’s post. He also highlighted the promotion of family by senior leaders of all parties in the state and said in this scenario, the BJP stood to benefit.

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate, Mr Chander Mohan today addresses a meeting of the party workers and leaders and asked them to go to various places in the constituency and ensure the party’s victory at different booths in each block.

Dera Bassi, January 20
Unable to enforce the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders to remove encroachments from the Kalka-Ambala highway in Dera Bassi, the local civic body authorities have written to the police to register cases against the violators.

The Municipal Council authorities have also written to the District Transport Officer (DTO) for taking action against the truck drivers who park their vehicles along the highway, resulting in congestion on the road.

The encroachers, a majority of whom are auto-mechanics, have virtually taken over the highway here in violation of the court directions right under the nose of the civic body. The Municipal Council’s office is hardly 50 yards from the encroached area but the ‘daring’ encroachers have occupied the government land, making the highway accident-prone.

Following the court orders, the civic body had erected iron railings along the highway in the township by spending huge amount in May last year but to no use. The encroachers have either broken or uprooted the iron railings at various places to make way for their shops.

Residents of the area complain that parking of the trucks along the busy highway has been causing great inconvenience to the commuters and motorists. The spot has been witnessing frequent traffic jams on the highway, as truckers often park their vehicles on the road, leaving limited space for the vehicular traffic to cross.

Moreover, mechanics have been adding to air pollution by burning solid waste, including rubber tyres and other trash, in the open. The area has become a health hazard for residents and the shopkeepers of area since long, claimed Mr Balwinder Singh, a local resident.

Sources revealed that the civic body has been ignoring the encroachments by the auto-mechanics, as a majority of them were either related to the civic body employees or have strong relations with the municipal councillors and other local political leaders.

Mr Amrit Pal Singh, president of the Dera Bassi Municipal Council, said the encroachers were given notices in this regard many times but to no avail. To curb the menace, the civic body had also seized their goods and penalised the violators a couple of times but they come up again, he claimed.

Apart from this, a traffic police post was also set up at the site to avoid traffic congestion but the encroachers and the truckers have also “won over” the traffic police personnel on duty, claimed Mr Amrit Pal Singh.

“We have written to the police to register FIRs against the encroachers, who have broken the iron railings. The DTO, Patiala, has also been approached to take necessary action against the truckers who park their vehicles along the highway”, added Mr Sukhjinder Singh Sidhu, Executive Officer of the civic body.

He added that the enforcement wing of the civic body has been removing encroachments from the local market and other government land regularly.

Following directions of the Sub Divisional Magistrate, the enforcement wing of the Municipal Council today also removed encroachments from the local market. 

Mohali, January 20
Members of the House Welfare Association, Phase V here today handed over a cheque of Rs 60,000 to the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mrs Seema Jain, for the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to help tsunami victims.

According to a press note issued by the association general secretary, Mr Albel Singh Shyan, the association members had gone house to house and collected the money.

Chandigarh, January 20
A couple of Mani Majra in connivance with a man duped ICICI Bank of Rs 1 lakh by allegedly submitting fake documents.

Mohali, January 20
One person was injured when the motorcycle he was riding on met with an accident. The police has booked the unknown driver of the Maruti car (PB-65A-0192) following a complaint from Tushar Prashar, a resident of Phase X here.

According to the police Tushar and Naresh Kumar were on the motorcycle when they were hit by the car. Naresh Kumar was injured in the accident and was admitted to a private nursing home.