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Kids’ death: ‘compounder’ was truck driver
Ludhiana, September 21 The police is investigating if he has even passed middle examination or not. Both had no medical qualification to prescribe medicines. It is surprising that the Health Department failed to check their qualifications. The Division No. 2 police arrested both quacks — Suman and Devinder — in a raid last night. The third accused, Jasbir Singh, administrator of Mata Prem Kaur Charitable Dispensary, where the children were given the medicines, is still at large. ‘‘Compounder Devinder Singh had been driving a truck before this job,’’ said Inspector Gurpreet Singh, SHO, Division No. 2. Mystery, however, shrouds the exact cause of the deaths. The post-mortem examination report of the three children could not pinpoint why the medicines caused the death. Police sources said the viscera of the deceased had been sent for chemical examination to find out the cause. The police has asked CMC doctors, who are treating two sick children, to furnish a report on the cause of the sickness. Meanwhile, the two children, Neelu and Dinesh, who were admitted to the CMC , have been declared out of danger. They had also taken the medicines from the accused in the dispensary yesterday afternoon. Two other branches of the dispensary, also being allegedly run by unqualified medical staff, have been closed down. The staff fled last evening, sources said. The incident seems to have shaken the district Health Department out of its slumber with the Civil Surgeon directing drug inspectors to check more such quacks. The Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajinder Kaur, said a special checking drive had been launched after the incident. She had directed drug inspectors to start from the Prem Nagar colony where the incident took place. The quacks have been playing with the lives of residents since long with government departments failing to co-ordinate with each other to stem their growth. Dr Rajinder Kaur said the Health Department had already identified quacks but action could be taken with the help of police protection only. The Police Department has been arguing that health officials have the power to seal such shops. The police argues that only the Health Department can take an initiative in this regard and the police can play a supporting role only.
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Drive against quackery
picks up
Ludhiana, September 21 The clinics-cum-chemist shops, including three charitable dispensaries run by the Naujawan Sabha in the area, were sealed by a team of health officials comprising district Health Officer Rajinder Singh, Drugs Inspector Sanjeev and area Medical Officer Varun Saggar. The raiding party was accompanied by the police.
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DC, Civil Surgeon visit bereaved families
Ludhiana, September 21 He consoled the parents and relatives of the deceased and mourned the deaths. He directed the Civil Surgeon to provide medical treatment free of cost to the two children admitted to the Civil Hospital and said full expenses incurred on the treatment of Neelu in the CMC would be borne by the District Red Cross Society. He also sanctioned Rs 20,000 for the treatment of Dinesh, who is also under treatment at the CMC. Agitated residents of the affected colony brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner several quacks practising illegally in the area, stating that they were playing havoc with the lives of the poor people. Taking a serious note of the incident, Mr Verma directed the Civil Surgeon to immediately take the strictest possible action as per law against the quacks/unauthorised doctors working in the area, especially against three other dispensaries being run by the owners of the same dispensary. The Deputy Commissioner asked the SSP, Ludhiana, to provide the required police assistance for this purpose on the request of the Civil Surgeon. He said if anybody obstructed health officials in performing their duties, strict action should be taken against him. The Deputy Commissioner has also written to the Secretary, Department of Health, Punjab, to issue directions to the Civil Surgeon to take action against the quacks working in the district. Dr Rajiinder Kaur said on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner, a special team of the Health Department inspected the premises of 14 suspected quacks and of these 11 had been sealed. The remaining three had been asked to produce original certificates. Cases against the 11 quacks were being registered with the police under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Punjab.
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Quacks having a field day
Ludhiana, September 21 According to rough estimates, nearly 8,000 unqualified and unregistered persons are carrying out medical practice in this district, with more than 2,000 in the mega city alone. Located in every nook and corner of the city, the clinics run by these quacks promise “magic cure” for every ailment under the sun and many of these “unauthorised” practitioners are also learnt to be performing minor surgical procedures, radiological and laboratory tests, thereby taking the unsuspecting poor patients for a ride. Not that the Health Department and the district authorities are not aware of the unlawful medical practice being carried out by thousands of quacks right under their noses but every time some action is contemplated to enforce the relevant law and bring the quacks to book, the affected persons bring up so much pressure from different quarters that the move has to be dropped. The medical fraternity here feels that quackery has become a necessary evil. “The unregistered practitioners take advantage of the lack of adequate health care facilities in the government sector. Moreover, the medical treatment in the private sector being unaffordable for the poor people, they have no other choice but to go to the quacks seeking cure for illness,” commented a senior medical consultant. Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, the Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajinder Kaur, along with other officials, visited the Prem Nagar locality today where wrong medication had claimed the lives of three children. Expressing shock and dismay over the tragedy, the Deputy Commissioner directed the health administration to launch a comprehensive drive against unlawful medical practice in the district. Later, talking to Ludhiana Tribune, the Civil Surgeon said the department was committed to dealing effectively with the menace of quackery. She said the lists of quacks under their respective jurisdiction had already been prepared by medical officers, both in the urban and rural areas, and the health authorities had asked for police assistance to carry out raids on the illegal clinics. “As and when police assistance is made available to the department, we shall start a crackdown against the quacks. The administration cannot remain a mute spectator to the fact that untrained, and in some cases, even totally illiterate persons, are engaged in medical practice, thereby posing threat to the life of poor people,” she added.
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Thousands gather to listen to the ‘goddess’
Ludhiana, September 21 Thousands of workers kept on waiting for her without any langar. Everybody shouted and responded to the slogans "Behan Kumari Mayawati sangarsh karo, hum tumharay saath
hain. Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Behan Kumari Mayawati jaisa ho..." Ms Mayawati, who has been here since yesterday, is staying at Hotel Majestic Park Plaza. She was not being allowed access to workers or scribes. Very few leaders like Mr Atar Singh Karimpuri, state president, and Mr Narinder Kashyap, national general secretary and in charge of Punjab, remained the only link between the leader and the masses. The district administration also appeared to have given all regard due for the 'goddess'. A strong posse of police personnel headed by two SPs and several DSPs is ensuring foolproof security to her. Not just that, the entire traffic along the National Highway was blocked when her cavalcade arrived and left for the hotel, leaving thousands of passengers passing through the city ruing as the traffic was stuck for hours together. Given the impressive turnout at the rally, the BSP leaders were very excited, claiming that during the formation of the next government in the state, the BSP would hold the "master key", a term coined by Mr Kanshi Ram, Ms Mayawati's mentor. The party workers appeared to have done a lot of homework, painting the entire city blue. Flags and buntings of the party could be seen along all routes and crossings. Besides, the cutouts of Ms Mayawati and Mr Kanshi Ram were erected everywhere. Even the stage was managed well and the crowd was kept under strict control by the Bahujan Volunteer Force, which had been dressed in traffic cops' uniform. Prominent among those present included Mr Karimpuri, Mr Kashyap, Mr Gurmail Pahalwan and others.
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She underestimated enemies: Reema’s son
Ludhiana, September 21 He said his mother was a bold woman who always used to dismiss the threats to her life. He said she used to say that the family enemies would not harm her. At such a young age, he has been left consoling his 16-year-old sister and 11-year-old brother and carrying the weight of the alleged murders of his parents besides managing the multi-crore rupees business of the family. He expressed satisfaction over the breakthrough in the case with the arrest of his uncle, Micky Jain. Fighting tears, he said he and the elders in the family, including his maternal grandmother, were convinced from the day of her mother’s kidnapping that she had been murdered. “But the news of her murder reached the family through the police yesterday. It devastated the siblings, who were hoping against hope that their mother would return,” he said. Bhanu has kept his fingers crossed about the outcome of the case. Though the courts had acquitted Micky Jain in the murder case of his father, he still believes there was more than what the police investigation suggested in the case. “I hope this time the police will complete the investigation in such a manner that the accused are convicted,” he said.
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Fasting staff lose weight, but not will
Ludhiana, September 21 A team of officials deputed by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, including the SDM, Mr M.S. Jaggi, the DSP, Mr R.K. Bakshi, and a few doctors today visited the fasting employees urging them to end their fast. The doctors examined the two employees, who have grown weak, but were stated to be out of danger. Mr Satpal Sharma and Mr RS Arora, accounts officers in PAU, have resorted to fast unto death in protest against the alleged victimisation at the hands of the university authorities. The employees have been maintaining that they were served termination notices on flimsy grounds of defaming PAU. In fact, they said, they were being blamed for the campaign launched against the university by the joint action committee of the employees, led by Dr Balwant Singh. They claimed that the JAC had only been voicing its protest against the “dictatorship and injustice in PAU” for which they could not be victimised. The team from the district administration reportedly tried to prevail upon the fasting employees to break the fast. They were asked as
to why they had not replied to the termination notice. The employees held that since the notices were “illegal” they could not reply to these and the university should withdraw these. The two employees, who have been surviving on salted lemon water for all these eight days, have started growing weak. While Mr Arora is about 60, Mr Sharma is 58. They said so far they were able to move around, although with considerable weakness. They asserted that they would not break their fast until their termination notices were withdrawn. “Let us die so that others are not victimised”, the two officials told Ludhiana Tribune outside Thapar Hall, the administrative centre of PAU. They said they had an unblemished service record and had saved a lot of money for the university by their honest and sincere working. “Since we did not cooperate with the corrupt, we are being victimised”, they alleged.
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How long will it take for the ongoing power crisis to be resolved? The ongoing power generation projects are likely to take three years to get into operation. All units of the Lehra Mohabbat project, for instance, are likely to be completed by 2007. Besides, we will also invite private companies for power generation. Moving towards this direction, we have decided to invite bids from international companies. The PSEB incurred losses last year. How is the situation in this financial year? Last year, the board incurred losses to the tune of Rs 570 crore, which happened due to tariff reduction. A year previous to that we recorded a cash surplus of Rs 170 crore. This year, we are expecting to break even. What is the percentage of transmission and distribution (T and D) losses? The T and D losses in Punjab are much lower in comparison to other states. The percentage of these losses is 24 per cent and we have set a target to reduce these to 22 per cent by the end of this financial. Every 1 per cent reduction in these losses means a saving of Rs 100 crore. When will the PSEB's unbundling process be completed? We are committed to stick to our deadline of December 9 to carry out the unbundling process, unless the government extends the date. — Shveta Pathak
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All for PM, nothing for
common man
Doraha, September 21 The overnight change in authorities attitude towards this road is a welcome step for the residents. The road bears a clean look now. The Prime Minister will land at this aerodrome. One of the commuters was heard saying, “All these years, the toll barrier authorities have been charging exorbitant fees from us. The authorities are required to improve the state of roads, provide aid to the accident victims, remove dead animals and accident vehicles from the scene and provide mechanics for the vehicle facing some defect on the road. Much against this, nobody has ever come to our aid at the hour of need what to talk of improving the quality of roads.” “The past two days have seen complete overhauling of the highway and roads in surrounding areas. The median line is being marked, cutting and pruning of trees and grass is being done, the road is being cleaned and potholes are being filled,” he said. “But beyond Sahnewal,” complained another commuter, “where the PM may not be probably going, the truth dawns upon us once again. You can see overgrown grass, there are no white lines on roads, reflectors or arrows are non-existent. The trees have not been pruned for a long time.” The visit of the Prime Minister has multiplied the problems for jhuggiwalas who have been rendered homeless. In order to provide an ‘ideal’ impression of the city, these people have been deprived of the roof on their head. The plight of these poor people is miserable. Instead of feeling elated at the arrival of the Prime Minister, they are feeling disappointed as they are now sitting as orphans on the graves of their shattered roofs. They say, “What do the authorities want to conceal from the Prime Minister? The cruel face of poverty, which is a hard and harsh reality, is bound to explode one day.” A social worker of Sahnewal commented, “The real face of India or for that matter Punjab cannot be hidden for long. If it is a bed of roses for the Prime Minister, the thorny path should also not be out of his visibility for in his hands is the plight of the common man and if he is made to live in a fool’s paradise, what shall be the fate of the ‘real’ India.”
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Congress sure of winning Amloh council chief post
Amloh, September 21 Out of 13 councillors, 11 were present at the meeting and 10 members have assured in writing that the candidate named for presidentship by him will be acceptable to them. Before the elections, the seat of council chief was understood to have been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidate but now the news broke out that the seat is not reserved and any candidate
can contest for it, resulting a new race for the post. Ms Seena Sedha, who won with the highest margin of 258 votes from ward no. 1, was also present at the meeting. Ms Neenu Bains (ward no. 2), Mr Paramjit Singh Rupal (ward no. 3), Mr Jatinder Singh (ward no. 5), Mr Jiwan Kumar Puri (ward no. 6), Ms Neena Shahi (ward no. 7), Mr Harpreet Singh (ward no. 8), Mr Balbir Singh (ward no. 9), Mr Thakedar Lal Chand (ward no. 11), Mr Budh Raj (ward no. 12) and Ms Parkash Kaur (ward no. 13) were among others who were present at the meeting. Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Dharamsot thanked the councillors for expressing their confidence in him for the selection of the council chief.
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SAD (A) condoles Nazi hunter’s death
Ludhiana, September 21 Prof Jagmohan Singh, general secretary, has said the party has drawn tremendous inspiration from the works of Simon Wiesenthal while dealing with human rights violations in Punjab. The party has appealed to the Sikh diaspora to participate in the funeral and memorial services for the departed soul as he was the greatest seekers of justice and rule of law this century has produced. For 50 years, he slowly and steadily tracked down Nazi war criminals all over the globe, he pointed out. He said when the Government of India obfuscated facts and showed no desire to do justice with Sikh community, we took inspiration from the life and work of Simon. Simon Wiesenthal was one of the few who survived the Nazi death camps of the World War II. Unlike many other survivors, Simon did not return to his pre-war profession as an architect, but instead became the world famous Nazi hunter, the conscience and voice for not only the Holocaust's 60,00,000 jewish victims but for the millions of others who were murdered by the Nazis as well, he said.
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Kailey’s name in record book for balancing feat
Ludhiana, September 21 He balanced an egg on a standing ballpoint pen, placed a weight of half kg over it and then placed a bottle of Limca and finally another egg and another bottle. He performed this feat in an airless studio. It was only after breaking several eggs that he was successful in his attempt. Earlier also his name had figured in The Limca Book of Records for almost a similar feat. Kailey possess a keen imagination and thus sets himself to very intricate tasks like passing 384 threads through an eye of a needle, stitching a trouser that can be worn in 10 different ways. Another very unique thing that he did was to create a set of 35 jackets that could be worn in 9,800 different colours and styles. His ingenuity is such that if one wears a design today, he will repeat that design after 27 years. Pawan has not received any formal education and cannot speak English. But that has not deterred him to visit foreign countries. He showed his feats in Germany, Italy and France and featured in newspapers there. He has done many unbelievable things like passing a kite through the eye of a needle, making world’s smallest photo album etc. At present, he is concentrating on his tailoring shop in Goraya as family responsibilities have increased manifold. He said, “I got an offer of Rs 5 lakh from a French firm for modelling, but I declined as I have to establish my shop that will ultimately feed my family. Let me settle down a bit and then I will come out with another feat.”
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Academic’s foray into policing
The fort that Maharaja Ranjit Singh built on the bank of the Sutlej at Phillaur now houses the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy. Some years ago, Dr A.A. Siddiqui, who later served the state as the Director- General of Police, organised a seminar on Sufi studies at Phillaur when he was the Principal of the academy. I was asked to present a paper on Bullhe Shah, the acclaimed Sufi poet of the eighteenth century. The seminar was a great success as the ambience of the academy gladdened the hearts of the seminarians as well as the poets who regaled the audience with their verses in the evening. Now again I had an opportunity to visit the academy on an invitation of Dr D.J. Singh, Deputy Director (Social Sciences) and Dean, Academics. He had been my colleague at the local Government College (Boys) before my retirement from that institution. Thereafter, in 1992 he joined the academy in an adventurous manner, so to say. For an academic, with a doctoral degree in applied psychology, leaving the portals of a temple of learning so as to join a police academy seemed to be a contradictory situation. However, he has proved his mettle in toning down the stiffness and sternness of the guardians of life and property. They are now inclined to gather the gems of knowledge in the field of academics so as to enlarge their vision of social responsibilities and humanistic concerns. Dr. D.J. Singh has inculcated the spirit of competitiveness among IPS officers and the PPS cadre to obtain MA, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in police administration. Guru Nanak Dev University has taken all such aspirants for academic excellence under its wings. Lately the incentive that the cops of the constable-to-Inspector ranks would be awarded ad hoc promotion on the basis of passing out MA (Police Administration) has been withdrawn. This has left many cops, particularly those at the cutting edge level, high and dry as they had burnt midnight oil to improve their academic qualifications. Indeed, individually police personnel stand to gain but collectively it is the police force that gets enlightened in the sphere of their duties. Ignorance, of course, cannot be termed as bliss in the arena of crime and punishment but a little knowledge is definitely a dangerous thing. In view of this, systematic education is the need of the hour. The Punjab Police Academy is committed to pursuing excellence in police academics so as to maintain high standards for providing high-quality service to the public. The quality of policing in society depends on the quality of social perceptions as well as the general approach at the level of the common man. For this purpose, Dr D.J. Singh has strained every nerve to raise the academy to the level of deemed university. At the national level, he has been instrumental in enrolling many police officers from different parts of the country in the on-going higher police education and research programmes at the PPA. He has brought great name and fame to Punjab through his achievements at the international level also. He was officially deputed by the Government of India to visit Ethiopia for helping the Ethiopian Police Department in getting its police training college affiliated with Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Dr D.J. Singh had brought laurels to Punjab by presenting the keynote address on NRI marriages in an international conference held in the UK in February this year. Now he has been invited to present the keynote address at the annual NBPA conference to be held in Cleveland, England, from September 28 to 30. He has also been actively associated with the welfare and protection of children, women, elderly and mentally challenged persons in Punjab through an organisation called Roshni, of which he is the president, with headquarters in Ludhiana. In view of the qualitative and innovative contribution to police education, research and training, Dr D.J. Singh had been awarded the Punjab State Award (Punjab Sarkar Parman Patra 2005) by the Chief Minister, Punjab, on the last Independence Day. Now his mind is attuned to the protection of human rights of the weaker sections of society. Primarily Dr D.J. Singh is a thinker who is ever in the process of devising new means to improve the academic standards of the academy. In my meeting with him on that memorable day, I was aware of his potential to bridge the gap between cops and the common man. The mutual distrust must go if the aim is to eliminate the element of fear in the police-public relationship. He told me that our police is still governed by the Police Act of 1861 that is aimed at defending the establishment rather than providing sensitive and friendly policing to the people. The advent of Independence changed the political system but the police system remained unaltered. The columns of the academy’s bi-annual journal, The Perspective, of which Dr D.J. Singh is the founder editor, aim at bringing about a change in the trained manpower from a feudal force to a democratic service. — N.S. Tasneem
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Unemployment worries senior citizens
Ludhiana, September 21 In a press note here yesterday, the organisation stated that the country needed immediate solution to the problem as over 10 million job aspirants were produced The country could not create more jobs as it had not switched over to job-oriented courses. They felt that employment exchanges were also not playing their role properly. Suggesting that job-oriented courses from Class V could ease the pressure on parents and their children, they asked the government to fill vacant posts in various
departments.
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Sarpanch, brothers booked on assault charge
Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 21 Ujjagar Singh, son of Bachan Singh of Nangal Khurad, had lodged a complaint that he had been assaulted by Surinder Singh Shindi, sarpanch, and his brothers, Joginder Singh and Narinder Singh. The accused had allegedly attacked him with rods and crude weapons after an altercation in the presence of a large number of villagers while an inquiry into the verification of pension cases was in progress yesterday. The complainant alleged he was assaulted due to political rivalry. He had contested civic body election against Ujjagar Singh, who had won it. The faction led by the complainant had earlier alleged that Shindi had been acting arbitrarily and discriminating against beneficiaries having alliance to his faction. Acting on the complaint of victims, the department had suspended the sarpanch. The district administration had ordered a fresh probe on the request of the village chief. “It was in the presence of a team of officials from the DC office, Ludhiana, that Surinder Singh and his associates started threatened us and assaulted me with iron rods and other weapons,” reported Gulzar Singh. Preliminary investigations revealed that violence was preceded by hot exchange of words between two factions. The supporters of the accused alleged that complainant had allegedly tried to hurt religious sentiments of Surinder Singh by pulling his beard publicly. Mr Shawinder Singh Dhillon, SHO, Sudhar, said the police had been raiding hideouts of the accused, but to no avail. Truck driver
held The Sudhar police has arrested a driver and impounded his truck for allegedly damaging an official vehicle of the CIA wing of the Jagraon police. Sources said the official vehicle was damaged after being hit by truck (PB-11X-9244) driven by Avtar Singh of Bhateri village in Patiala district. The accident took place near Jodhan village on Wednesday when the speeding truck of Libra Company rammed into the state government vehicle. The driver tried to sped away but was chased and vehicle impounded. The accused has been arrested and booked under Sections 279 and 427 of the IPC. Jagraon Avtar Singh, Jagrup Singh, Jagmohan Singh and Simranjit Singh of Galib Kalan are alleged to have assaulted Ranjit Singh and Chamkaur Singh of their village with sharp-edged weapons and iron rods. The police has registered a case under Sections 323, 452 and 34 and IPC. They had allegedly passed indecent remarks against the wife of Chamkaur’s brother to which they objected. This led to assault. Injured have been admitted to the local Civil Hospital.
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2 booked for violation of building bylaws
Ludhiana, September 21 Mr G.S. Dhillon, SSP, Ludhiana Vigilance Bureau, said a businessman, Ajay Dhanda, had, along with former ATP Vinod Mahajan, building inspector Basant Kumar Datta and head draftsmen Avtar Singh Bhatia and Krishna Murti, had allegedly encroached upon a part of a public park for the building . They, along with two other businesspersons Gaurav Arora and Neerja Aggarwal, have been booked under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC, besides various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He said the MC employees were paid a handsome amount to ignore the encroachment and violation of building bylaws. He said the main accused Ajay Dhanda had constructed a three-storeyed building in violation of rules. He then sold the roof to Gaurav and Neerja, who constructed five storeys on it. The MC employees allegedly helped them in the purpose.
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Currency racket busted
Ludhiana, September 21 CIA-I in charge Mukhtiar Singh told mediapersons that Rs 73,000 in fake currency had been seized from Harjinder Singh of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar here near Samrala Chowk. A computer has also been seized from him.
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