Kurukshetra, November 29
Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai called upon people to help handicapped persons because it was the best service to society.

In fact service to the poor was service to the Almighty, he said.

Dr Kidwai was speaking at a camp held for the handicapped on the premises of Shri Jai Ram Vidya Peeth. The camp was organised by the District Red Cross Society, the Bhagwan Mahabir Viklaang Sahayata Samiti, Jaipur - Delhi, the Shri Jai Ram Vidya Peeth, Rotary Club, Kurukshetra, the Sathaanu Sewa Mandal, Kurukshetra and the Shrimad Bhagwati Shakumbari Viklaang Aivam Jan Kalyan Sahayata Kendra, Shahabad Markanda.

Dr Kidwai said the Haryana government was determined to make Haryana handicapped-free state. Handicapped persons were being provided facilities to make them self- dependent.

He highlighted projects being launched in Haryana for the upliftment of the down-trodden.

Dr Kidwai called upon religious and social organisations, to organise more camps for the benefit of poor and handicapped persons.

District Red Cross Society, Chairman and Deputy Commissioner T.K. Sharma said handicapped persons were identified at all Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres in this district.

At a camp, on November 24, artificial limbs, hearing aids, wheel chairs and tricycles were given to more than 1100 handicapped persons, while 37 handicapped persons were provided with mobile STD PCOs by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) with the help of Punjab National Bank.

Panipat, November 29
In an alleged case of illegal removal of a kidney of an ailing woman at a Panipat-based nursing home has come to light. The infuriated family members of the women from Rohtak today visited Geeta Nursing Home and lodged a complaint with the local police.

Talking to The Tribune this evening, Suresh Malik, a resident of Azad Nagar, Rohtak, alleged that a kidney of his 35-year-old wife, Omal, was removed fraudulently on June 13, 2003, when she was admitted here for a minor operation.

Presenting documents prepared this month by a team of experts of the PGI, Rohtak, and other private diagnostic teams, he alleged that Dr S.N. Gupta had removed the kidney without informing them.

He said the fraud came to their notice only when his wife developed an abdomen ailment. The couple was shocked when the doctors informed that it was due to the “missing” left kidney.

According to Malik, the family approached various experts, including PGI doctors and private practitioners who informed them that the left kidney was “not visible”.

Documents presented to the media and the DSP, Mr Sahib Ram Nehra, by Malik alleged that the his wife was being operated at Geeta Nursing Home for stone in left kidney but the doctor illegally removed the kidney.

Visibly upset Malik further alleged that his wife was admitted on June 13, 2003, and operated upon within a few hours the same day without preliminary investigation. He claimed that there was no mention of kidney problem to its removal in the treatment slips provided by the nursing home.

He alleged that there was every possibility that the organ was transplanted in some other patient who was also operated upon the same day.

The doctor couple, Dr S.N. Gupta and Dr Geeta Gupta, have denied the charges. The couple said they had not removed the kidney from the patient’s body and said they were ready to investigate the matter with any of the medical experts.

The DSP, who also reached on the spot, said the matter would be investigated and an FIR registered 

Sonepat, November 29
At least 150 members of a marriage party, including the bridegroom and his father, have to spend the night in the lock-up last night at Nazafgarh police station, Delhi.

According to a report, the marriage party has gone to Nazafgarh (Delhi) from Kharkhauda town in this district yesterday where the marriage ceremony of Prem Kumar was solemnised.

After the performance of the marriage, the father of the bride started the loading the gifts and other articles in a tempo. Some members of the marriage party loaded a new bicycle in the vehicle.

This led to heated exchanges between the parents of the bride and the bridegroom. The father of the bride informed the police, alleging that the members of the marriage party were creating a scene and demanding more dowry.

The police took into custody the bridegroom and his father along with other members of the marriage party and put them in the lock-up.

On receiving information about the incident, several leading citizens of Kharkhauda town rushed to Nazafgarh for a compromise between the families. On their intervention, the Delhi police let off all members of the marriage party, except the bridegroom and his father.

Chandigarh, November 29
More than a decade after the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) at Karnal gave the world its first test-tube buffalo, Pratham, it is striving hard to clone a buffalo in its premises.

The scientists at the institute are working on transgenics, the science of transferring genes from one animal to another. This science helps to manipulate genes to create the “perfect” animal required.

When contacted, the Joint Director of the Institute, Dr SL Goswami, said that research on cloning had been initiated a year ago.

“Pratham was our first foray into producing a buffalo calf through the test-tube technique. We brought ovaries of a buffalo from a slaughterhouse in Delhi, took out its eggs, matured them in the laboratory and fertilised them in a test tube with the semen from a bull. The embryo so conceived was transplanted into an animal ready to receive it and Pratham was born nine months later”.

Since the maternal background of Pratham was not known, the institute, after keeping the calf in its premises for a couple of years, decided to auction it. The buffalo was auctioned along with the other animals during one of the half-yearly auctions held on the campus to “dispose of” animals, which have served their purpose. Since then the institute has produced several other calves using the same technique, improving upon and fine-tuning each successive calf to get the “near-perfect” calf.

Later, this same test-tube technique was applied to goats and only last year in September, the Institute produced four goat kids using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Here, too, the goat eggs were cultured in the laboratory for 24 hours and fertilised using sperms from select bucks. The embryos were allowed to grow for a few days in the laboratory and then transferred to surrogate goats using the laparoscopy technique.

“Being able to produce test tube babies of an animal is a pre-requisite to cloning. With this done successfully, the entire focus of our research has shifted to cloning the buffalo. We are at the 32-cell stage, which implies we are practically half way through to cloning the embryo. It will take another year or so to clone the embryos. After this stage is achieved, we would be ready for transplanting these embryos. If all goes well and according to plan, we might be able to give the world its first cloned buffalo in about two years time”, he stated.

Ambala, November 29
An Assistant Sub Inspector was caught while allegedly accepting bribe today.

This is the second incident of a police official being caught in Ambala while allegedly accepting bribe. A few days back, SI Baljit Singh, SHO of Parao police station, was arrested by the Director-General of Police, Haryana, Mr Nirmal Singh, after he accepted a bribe of Rs 20,000.

ASI Gurmeet Singh was caught this evening when he allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 2000 from a complainant in a case. He was caught red-handed in the court complex in Ambala City.

Complainant Raj Kumar had informed police officials that ASI Gurmeet Singh had demanded bribe for delaying the arrest of some accused persons in an altercation case. Raj Kumar is a resident of Bilpura village.

In July this year, an altercation had taken place between two groups following which a case was registered. While four persons had been arrested, the others were yet to be arrested.

ASI Gurmeet Singh had demanded money from Raj Kumar for delaying the arrest of the remaining persons.

When Raj Kumar handed over the money, a team of vigilance officials led by DSP, Mr Rajesh Duggal arrested ASI Gurmeet Singh.