Hoshiarpur, January 11
Ram Bahadur, son of Jeet Bahadur of Nepal, a watchman, was found murdered at a valve and tap factory at Bharwain road today, where he worked. The victim was presently a resident of Sukhiabad. According to the police, the assailants attacked Ram Bahadur with sharp-edged weapons after tying his legs.

Owner of the factory, Arun Kumar Jain, a resident of Jain Colony, came to know about the murder first when he went to his factory in the morning and found the factory locked from inside. he scaled the boundary wall and found the victim’s body lying inside.

He found that goods in the office were lying scattered on the ground, while the victim’s body was lying in a pool of blood. Goods lying in the two godowns and a store were found missing. The loss is yet to be ascertained till the filing of this story. Police has registered a case under section 460 of the IPC.

This is the second such incident of dacoity on the Bharwain road within a week. Earlier, robbers struck at a Khushi Ram and Sons petrol filling station in the wee hours of January 5 and decamped with 
Rs 60,000 and left a revolver behind.

Jalandhar, January 11
The Punjab government would formally launch a pilot project of the national programme for prevention and control of diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and stroke (NPCDS) at the civil hospital here on Saturday. Jalandhar is among seven districts in as many states being selected for the implementation of first of its kind central government initiative envisaged under the 11th Five-Year Plan.

Punjab health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla would unveil the programme at the civil hospital tomorrow. The central government has introduced this programme to control non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, stroke and chronic lung diseases, which have emerged as the major public health problems these days.

Chawla told The Tribune on the phone that a door-to-door survey would be conducted once during a period two months in all the three blocks of Jalandhar where the local auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) and aanganwari workers would be trained for this purpose.

Sources revealed that the central government had sanctioned Rs 49.16 lakh to every state for this pilot project. The project has been launched under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Besides Jalandhar, the project is being implemented in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.“In Punjab the project will be carried out in three blocks of Jalandhar - Kartarpur, Kala Bakra and Jamsher,” said district nodal officer Dr Ranbir Singh.

He added that out of all these states the situation in Punjab was grim. The changing lifestyle and bad eating habits of the people were largely responsible for the NCD deaths. “Though this is a pilot project and if it ended up successfully the survey will be carried out in other districts and blocks as well,” said Dr Ranbir, also the medical superintendent of the civil hospital.

Talking about the increasing deaths due to NCDs, Dr Ranbir said, “We have witnessed an increase in the number of deaths due to diseases like diabetes, hypertension, depression, strokes and cardiovascular problems. With this project we hope to promote healthy lifestyle and strengthen public health management.”

Under this project the patients would be referred to block and district-level NCD clinics. However, the complicated cases would be referred to Government Medical College, Amritsar, and the PGI, Chandigarh. 

Jalandhar, January 11
The sex ratio revealed by Ch Swarna Ram, minister for social security, women and child development, Punjab, has raised an alarm in the state that needs to be taken care of immediately.

Addressing a state-level Lohri function of 28 girls from Jalandhar and its periphery, the minister said according to the latest report the sex ratio in the state has gone down from 874 to 793. Terming it to be a critical situation, the minister said, “It seems the state is heading towards a highly unbalanced society.”

The minister said he was planning to write to the Centre about a proposal of forming a legislation demanding registration of criminal case against the parents, who abandon their newborn daughters in garbage dumps, under section 302.

Ch Swarna Ram said he was planning to spread awareness about gender equality by putting up banners at bus stands, railway stations and anganwadi centres. “The signboards carrying information about schemes for the expecting mothers, welfare of women and children will be put up soon at 20,169 anganwadi centres in the state. Besides, the government plans to regularly update information on expecting mothers and put it on the boards there,” he added.

Informing the gathering, primarily comprising of anganwadi workers, the minister said he was planning to set up Mahila Bhavans in 15 blocks of the state. “Under Mahila Jagriti scheme, around 1,961 women groups would be imparted training in different vocational courses here,” he said adding that the bhavans were likely to come up by March 31.

Trying to inspire gathering, the minister said, “There is no need to take examples from history. Look at the women administrators around you working in your own state.” 

Jalandhar, January 11
A written communique from the Jalandhar BSNL officials has come as a rude shock to a bunch of advocates here. The chief accounts officer of the BSNL has dispatched individual letters to standing counsels here asking them to sign legal notices — which would be, in turn, send to defaulters — for Rs 5 per case. The officer has written, “The BSNL has decided to issue notices to all the defaulters of telephones through advocates. 

The GMT (D), Jalandhar, has approved Rs 5 per case for signing the legal notice by the counsels. All other charges such as stationery, typing and postage shall be borne by the BSNL”. The advocates, who have received the letters, are understandably unhappy. “Even beggars get a better deal. If we are signing the notices, we are also sharing the legal responsibility. We find this BSNL gesture extremely disgraceful,” they said.

The BSNL officer, through the letter dispatched on January 4, has also asked the advocates to give their consent within 10 days from the date of receipt. Advocate K C Sharma, when contacted, expressed his anger saying, “It is shameful on the part of the telecom officials to offer Rs 5 to the lawyers who have a standing of more than 35 years.” 

Hoshiarpur, January 11
Four persons have been killed in separate road accidents in the district since last night.

According to the police, Pankaj Sharma (24), a resident of Mohalla Chhatta Bazar, died on the spot when an unknown vehicle hit his motorcycle on the Mall road here last night.

Ramesh Sharma, a resident of Tanda Road, was also killed when an unknown vehicle hit his motorcycle near Nasrala last night.

Another motorcyclist Ranbir Singh, a resident of Baincha Khurd, was killed on the way to the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur, last night.

He was seriously injured when an unknown vehicle hit his motorcycle near Handowal on which he was on his way to Hoshiarpur.

Ram Parkash, a resident of Sakna Sataur also succumbed to his injuries at the Civil Hospital last night. He was seriously injured when he was hit  by a jeep near Bagpur  last evening.