Phagwara, December 25
As many as 22 persons sustained injuries in four different road accidents due to thick fog around Phagwara early this morning.

According to police sources, nine vehicles, including a Himachal Roadways bus, were badly damaged in road accidents on the Phagwara-Jalandhar national highway and the Phagwara-Goraya, Phagwara-Banga and Phagwara-Zandiala roads 
this morning.

Most of the drivers involved in the accident were unable to see due to poor visibility because of the fog. Sources said that seven bus passengers sustained serious injuries, while 15 got bruises when a Dehradun-bound Himachal Roadways bus rammed into a truck going towards the same direction during thick fog near the 
Mehtan bypass.

All the seven injured passengers, identified as Karnail Singh, Kuldip Singh, Rakesh Sharma, Manveer Singh, Preety, Sham Lal and Des Raj, were admitted in the Phagwara Civil Hospital.

JALANDHAR: Although there was a dense fog in the morning hours and later it was greeted by sunshine and the minimum temperature was recorded at 3.8 degrees Celsius. Amritsar emerged as the coldest plain area of the region with the minimum temperature at 2.6 degrees, sources at Adampur Air Force Station said.

At other Air Force stations of the region, the minimum temperature was recorded as 7 degrees Celsius at Halwara, 8.4 at Chandigarh, 8 at Ambala, 6.6 at Bathinda, 7 at Pathankot, 8.4 at Jammu, 3 at Udhampur and at Sringar the minimum temperature was recorded at -5 degrees Celsius, sources added. Sources said there would be fog mist haze in the morning hour and later it would be a fair sky. — UNI, PTI  

Hoshiarpur, December 25
Gurdial Singh of Jatpur was crushed by an unidentified vehicle on Tuesday at Bassi Daulat Khan on Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road. Sadar police has registered a case under sections 279, 304 A and 427 of the IPC in this connection.

Chandigarh, December 25
Depending on home-devised remedies and aversion to surgical procedures have cost dearly a majority of Indians suffering from joint ache. A recent survey has revealed that squatting in a wrong way is among the leading causes of joint pain for about 70 per cent of Indians. 

It also reveals that 54 per cent of the patients are averse to a surgery for treatment.

The survey conducted by AC Neilsen for pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson says that joint ache was a major hindrance in the day-to-day life of most respondents. Key triggers for joint pain were sitting on the floor impacting 68 per cent of the male respondents and 71 per cent of the female respondents.

Travelling long distances impacted men more at 75 per cent, while only 64 per cent of the women saw this as a major trigger for knee pain. Bending and using the Indian toilets caused pain equally for men (67 per cent) and women (66 per cent). The study also revealed that women with knee joint problems (58 per cent) faced severe problems while visiting religious shrines.

Surprisingly, 38 per cent of the respondents thought home remedies were improving their condition nullifying the need to visit a surgeon. Yoga emerged as a primary means of tackling joint problems, with 57 per cent of the respondents saying that their state was improving with yoga and they did not need to visit a doctor immediately.

The respondents cited the following reasons for not going a the orthopaedic surgeon - fear (57 per cent), natural phenomenon of ageing (57 per cent), yoga (67 per cent) and obesity (43 per cent).

The survey was commissioned to determine the impact of joint problems on the lives of patients. 

Hoshiarpur, December 25
Lack of coordination among the leaders of the District Congress Committee (DCC), Hoshiarpur, has created frustration among the party workers as a result of which the district unit of the Congress has become almost ineffective.

The common workers are bitterly disappointed as they as they have to get even their petty works done from government offices.

The office of the DCC, which remained overcrowded during the past, now wears a deserted look as none of the local Congress leaders ever visit it now.

Member of the Rajya Sabha Dharampal Sabharwal, who has been assigned the duty of the president of the DCC, generally remains out of station due to his engagements in the Rajya Sabha. Moreover, he could not succeed in establishing harmony among the local leaders to bring all of them on one platform.

There was a time when the district was known for its pro-Congress attitude and all of its segments were represented by Congress nominees. Out of the eight assembly segments, all of its nominees, except Lov Kumar Goldy, were defeated in the last state assembly elections.

There are about half a dozen factions in the DCC led by present president Dharampal Sabharwal, former ministers Romesh Chander Dogra and Naresh Thakur, former MP Charanjit Singh Channi, former chairman Market Committee, Hoshiarpur, Sunder Sham Arora and former Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha Dr Kewal Krishan.

On the condition of anonymity, many of the Congress workers said union minister for tourism Ambika Soni, whose in-laws belong to the suburban village of Bajwara adjoining Hoshiarpur, got the president of the DCC appointed without consulting any of the party workers.

They alleged that some of the local Congress leaders, who had no base among the Congressmen, were being patronised by her in public. The real leaders of the party had been sidetracked and the workers were completely ignored due to which the party had become ineffective and had lost its base among the masses.

The state leadership also ignored the district as Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has not visited it after assuming the charge of the president of the PPCC.

According to party sources, the present president of the DCC is going to be replaced very shortly. The local Congress leaders have started campaigning to get themselves nominated as the new president of the party. 

Jalandhar, December 25
The music extravaganza which kicked off today at the Devi Talab Mandir witnessed a great participation in its music competitions. As many as 85 students enrolled for the competitions in the junior and senior categories scheduled from December 25 to 27. 

The venues of the competitions Ram Hall and Ramesh Chander Hall were buzzing with participants competing with each other or giving trials for the competitions.

Competitors between 13 to 18 years of age could be seen either practising or waiting for their turn. Excited and nervous, some of them were confident enough to prove themselves.

Jyotica Tangri (14) said, “Performing at Harballabh is just like dream coming true. I never thought I would ever get such a big platform to prove myself. I love to sing all sorts of music and wish to have a career in music.” Jyotica participated in the junior category of vocals.

This child with plaster in his left leg too was in high spirit. Divesh Krishan (15) said, “I met with an accident three months ago and was hospitalised for two months. I was discharged just a month ago. I wanted to participate in percussion as I love to play ‘mridang,’ which is also my speciality. But due to this plaster I would be now participating in vocals.”

This child has also performed with bhajan singer Vinod Aggarwal. Talking about his association with Vinod Aggarwal, Divesh said, “Six years ago in Vrindavan, I participated in Radha Raman Jayanti and there Aggarwal saw my ‘mridang’ performance. He asked me to become his student and since than I have been working with him.” Divesh’s younger brother Atul (13) loves to play flute and would participate in the non-percussion category. The seed for classical music in them were sown by their family.

The duo said they didn’t have any inclination to rock or remixes. “In fact, in our home only bhakti sangeet or classical music is played. So we love classical music and it has become an integral part of our lives,” said Divesh and Atul.

The competition has participants from other states. Ashish Dewang from Raigarh, Chattisgarh, said, “I had heard a lot about the Harballabh festival. Last year when I came to know about the musical competitions, the event had finished. So I decided to participate this time. Besides, it’s one of the greatest platforms for budding artistes of Indian classical music.”

The results of the first day competition are as follow: Vocal (junior): Satvinder Singh (first), Jyotica Tangri (second), Ramanpreet Kaur and Suman (third). Percussion (junior): Mani Kumar (first), Kalyan Ved (second), Simarpreet Singh (third). 

Nawanshahr, December 25
Rise in incidents of burglary is giving sleepless nights to residents here. After a series of burglaries in single night, recently, burglars struck again at a shop situated at Karyam Road here last night. 

Police officials however, rue non cooperation from the public in recruiting Community Police Officers (CPO) to put a check to incidents of theft.

According to Sukhdev Lal, proprietor of the shop said he received a phone call from an unknown person at about 7 am that the shutters of his shop were open. Thieves decamped with around 38 big and small batteries, eight inverters and a TV set worth Rs 1.5 lakh. SHO Rakesh Kumar, said the police has got some clue about the suspects, he claimed.

The SHO rued that people did not come forward to assist the police in launching the scheme of recruiting Community Police Officers (CPO) to check incidents of thefts in the town. The police will recruit night watchmen in different localities under the scheme.

In the absence of funds, the residents have been asked to contribute a nominal amount of Rs 50 per month towards the salaries to be paid to the CPOs but the response is not encouraging, says the SHO.

A meeting with the municipal councillors in this regard proved futile.

The CPO scheme, launched in Banga, proved successful in controlling burglaries, he claimed.  

Hoshairpur, December 25
Police, on Tuesday, arrested Gurwinder Singh of main market, Talwara in connection with stealing a stengun of head constable Chhaju Ram on the night of November 9, 2007.

According to the police sources, the stengun was recovered from the back of his house, where he had buried it.

The said loaded stengun, along with a magazine and five live cartridges, was stolen when Chhaju Ram along with home guard Jawan Mukhtiar Singh fell asleep after patrolling from J. K. Hospital to Kiosk market in Talwara town on Diwali night.

An FIR under section 380 of the IPC had been registered against Chajju Ram in this connection.  

Amritsar, December 25
With an investment of about Rs 30 lakh, the neurology department of the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) could be turned into a super speciality hospital for providing cheaper treatment to the people suffering from diseases like migraine, stroke, epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Stating this to the Tribune, Dr Rajnish Sharma, assistant professor and consultant neurologist at the hospital, said the neurology department had already submitted its requisition for the installation of state-of-the-art machines like video EEG, polysomnography, trans-cranial dopler and plasma exchange machines to provide better health care facilities to the people.

Sharma said their department had also urged the state health department for setting up a separate neuro intensive care unit, besides appointing a senior resident doctor, three junior resident doctors and six trained nurses.