Phagwara, September 25
Eight persons were injured, three of them seriously, when the lintel of a house caved in at Onkar Nagar locality here this morning. The debris was being lifted till late evening today.

Phagwara SDM Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and City police station SHO Gurwinder Singh, along with some senior police officers, reached the site and initiated the rescue operation.

According to sources and eyewitnesses, more than 30 labourers were engaged in the work of increasing the height of the lintel when it caved in. The debris fell on the labourers and on the house of a neighbour. Some of the labourers were trapped under the debris. The injured persons were taken to the local Civil Hospital.

The injured have been identified as Abdul Ghaffar (38), a resident of Onkar Nagar in Phagwara, Mohammad Dukha (42), Mohammad Nazir (40), Mohammad Niroz (26), Abdul Zabbar (22), Mohammad Ghaffar (16), Mohammad Irshad (15), all residents of Ludhiana, and Sia Devi from Onkar Nagar in Phagwara.

A large number of residents gathered at the site, and the police personnel on duty had a tough time controlling the crowd. Several social organisations and leaders of various political parties have expressed shock over the accident.

Mr Joginder Singh Mann, local MLA, also visited the hospital to enquire about the wellbeing of the injured.

Phagwara SDM Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal has ordered a magisterial probe into the accident.

It has been learnt that the contractor, identified as Somi, a resident of Ludhiana, and the owner of the house, Chander Mohan Sharma, were absconding. 

Kapurthala, September 25
Lakhbir Singh, a jail inmate, has allegedly been beaten by some inmates in Kapurthala district jail. Instead of taking any action against the guilty inmates, jail officials also allegedly beat up the victim.

Lakhbir Singh’s brother Talwinder Singh from Khokhar village in Hoshiarpur district has levelled these allegations in a complaint submitted to Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh.

The complainant alleged that his brother Lakhbir Singh had been brutally beaten by some jail inmates on September 21 over some issue. When the matter came to the notice of the jail officials, they neither took any action against the guilty inmates nor provided any medical treatment to his injured brother, he alleged, adding that on the contrary, the jail officials themselves beat his brother.

Talwinder Singh further alleged that his brother’s life was in danger at Kapurthala jail. He demanded immediate action against the “guilty jail officials and inmates”. At the same time, he requested in his complaint to the DC that his brother should be shifted from this jail.

While the DC could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, it is learnt that he had marked the complaint to jail officials to provide him a report in this regard at the earliest. 

Phagwara, September 25
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association has threatened to start a state-wide stir if the state government did not cancel the transfers of more than 650 doctors working in various civil hospitals and dispensaries of the state.

This was disclosed in a meeting of the PCMS Association held here yesterday under the presidentship of Dr Sukhwinder Singh. The association’s organisational secretary, Dr Kamaljit Singh, alleged that the transfers of the PCMS doctors recently done by the Health Minister were ill-timed, ill-conceived and with malafide intentions.

He alleged that it was the second time that such mass transfers had been affected since the handing over of the health institutions to the Panchayati Raj. He alleged that most of the doctors in the latest transfer list had already been transferred a few months back by the former Punjab Health Minister.

The association members alleged that this mass transfer list had not touched the “favourite” doctors who had been posted on the same station for the last 10 to 15 years. Surplus staff had not been adjusted anywhere and doctors who were shifted in June 2006 had been reshuffled twice since then, they further alleged.

“There has been no uniformity of policy, and leaders of the PCMS Association have been victimised. The PCMS Association has not been taken into confidence for framing a transparent and viable policy for transfer of doctors,” alleged Dr Kamaljit Singh. 

Jalandhar, September 25
For the past 30 years, the Khosla family here has done a yeoman’s service by helping thousands of hearing-impaired children of the region get educated, acquire vocational training and get settled in life. It has also been providing treatment to these children.

Focusing on early diagnosis and prompt action, Khosla Deaf School at Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar here is unique. It trains even six-month-old infants at its infant centre. The infants are trained to respond to different kinds of sound vibrations using hearing aids.

Children below the age of four come with their mothers. They are first tested for their hearing abilities using Cochlear Emission Screener and Brain Stem Response Audiometre at the school’s Speech and Hearing Therapy Centre. They also undergo a complete check-up and are given hearing aids before they begin their formal training.

Nearly 165 students enrolled here take lessons in speech therapy and sign language in different centres set up in the school for them. They are also given a formal training in computer education, stitching, beautician course, drawing and painting. The school that currently has classes till X, with students appearing under the National Open School System, is now being upgraded to the Plus Two level.

It was one unfortunate incident that led to the starting of the Khosla School for the Deaf at Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar here. An ENT specialist, Dr R.C. Khosla’s younger daughter had birth anoxia that caused mild hearing trouble. This prompted his wife, Ms Aruna Khosla, to take training from Mumbai to educate hearing-impaired children.

When her daughter was barely two years, she felt like helping other parents who had children suffering from a similar ailment. She got a good response and thus started the school under Dr Satya Paul Khosla Charitable Memorial Trust. As the two daughters of the couple grew up, they, too, got involved in the mission and started helping in the school. The older one, Dr Arpana Khosla, is an ENT Surgeon, while the younger one, Ms Geetanjli Khosla, is a speech therapist. Both are currently in London for pursuing advanced courses.

Dr R.C. Khosla, president of the trust, said that the school also aimed at helping the parents communicate with their children in a better way. “The parents and volunteers also have an option of taking up training courses being conducted through the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) on our campus. At the teacher training wing here, B.Ed (special education) and Postgraduate Professional Diploma in Special Education are also being offered,” he added.

Dr Kholsa added that the school was also facilitating employment of the students in various industrial houses. In fact, a few passout students of the school were now serving as teachers. Ms Ruchi Kapila and Ms Reena, both alumni of the school, were now working as painting and stitching teachers, respectively. 

Jalandhar, September 25
Various youth organisations celebrating Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s 99th birth anniversary on September 28 here seem to be on a mileage-gaining spree, particularly in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections. These youth organisations are being supported by different political parties, it has been learnt.

The youth organisations have been making separate schedules for organising processions, gatherings and other events. In the run up to the final day, they also have been arranging separate press conferences to announce their programmes.

Led by the communists, the Democratic Youth Federation of India has planned to hold a youth brigade march from Banga to Khatkar Kalan on September 27, following which the gathering would be addressed by Mr Tapas Sinha, All-India general secretary, at Shaheed-E-Azam S. Bhagat Singh Yadgar Bhavan. Mr Asha Nand, state secretary, said that the association had planned to hold 100 rallies till the 100th anniversary.

He said that statues of the martyr would be put up at roundabouts in different cities. He added that a calendar in the memory of Bhagat Singh would also be released. Besides, an issue of magazine “Naujawan Lehar” would be dedicated to the martyr.

He talked at length about the “failures of the government”. He stressed on unemployment, unchecked hike in education fees, privatisation of health and other departments and rebates being given to various MNCs while ignoring the demands of local industrialists.

Shaheed-e-Azam Adarsh Yuva Morcha has planned a youth awareness rally for September 27. The rally would start from Doaba Chowk and move towards Adda Hoshiarpur Chowk via Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk. The chairman of the association, Mr Gurpreet Singh, said efforts were being made by the organisation to beautify the statue of the martyr at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk by giving a fresh coat of paint. He pointed out that the area around the statue had been largely covered by hoardings, posters and poles.

He lambasted the government for “rising unemployment and drug addiction in the region”. Sahara Youth India, another organisation, too, had announced its schedule earlier. 

Nakodar (Jalandhar), September 25
Environmentalists, intellectuals and bureaucrats have expressed concern at deteriorating environmental situation on account of a steep rise in pollution levels and fast depletion of groundwater in Punjab.

They have also attributed social vices — female foeticide and drug abuse — mainly to lack of awareness among people and to “feeble and half-hearted efforts” on the part of the government to control these problems.

Addressing a state-level conference on Environment and Health Awareness, organised jointly by the Punjab Panchayat Federation, the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development, Mr A. Venu Parsad, Deputy Commissioner, observed that female infanticide and drug abuse could not be contained until awareness was created among the people. The Tribune was the media partner for the programme.

“Illiteracy plays a role in the proliferation of these vices. For example, farmers burn paddy straw, and the resultant smoke causes a high level of air pollution,” said Mr Parsad.

Dr Rajesh Kumar from the PGI, Chandigarh, said it was a matter of sorrow that environment was being degraded, and its outcome was that the people were suffering from deadly diseases like cancer. Dr Arun Mittar explained how carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases emitted by vehicles were harming human health.Ms Inderjit Kaur Mann, federation president, said it was polluted water that had claimed four lives in Nakodar recently, apart from causing gastroenteritis to several other residents. She blamed corruption in government echelons for most of the problems.