NEIGHBOURHOOD

Factory worker dies of alleged poisoning
Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 17
Encroachers are having a field day all around the main bus stand. Everyone seems to be alive to the problems except of course the municipal corporation, which is yet to act against the encroachers.

The road between the two entries to the bus stand has been reduced to a narrow artery as both sides have been encroached upon.

Kiosks have been put up by unscrupulous elements, as the authorities have chosen to look the other way.

Fruit sellers have put up semi-pucca shops along the road even as a strong stench of flesh from the meat shops greets visitors to the city.

The problem has been further compounded by haphazard parking of vehicles. Locals avoid taking this route during daytime, as traffic snarls are too frequent.

City mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, at a press conference held on Diwali eve last year, had promised that encroachers would not be disturbed during festival season but would go permanently after that.

When contacted now, Kohli expressed helplessness saying that the public support needed for removing encroachers was missing.

The mayor was evasive when pointedly asked what the anti-encroachment staff of the municipal corporation was engaged for. On persistent queries, he said efforts would be made to clear the mess.

Incidentally, Punjab transport minister Master Mohan Lal had, during his maiden sangat darshan at the main bus stand, directed the mayor to get the roads around the main bus stand cleared of all encroachers within 48 hours.

When The Tribune spoke to Master Mohan Lal a couple of days back, he said he would again direct the mayor to remove the encroachers forthwith.

Old timers say middle-rung staff of the municipal corporation is encouraging the encroachers by allowing encroachments for a consideration.

They say concerted and coordinated efforts by the municipal corporation, district administration and the district police could help clear the area within a few days.

Ambala, February 17
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has achieved over 6 per cent reduction in the aggregated transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses up to December during the current fiscal.

The target was to reduce the losses up to six per cent during the current financial year. Giving details, a spokesman said here yesterday that the AT&C losses had been brought down from 40.51 per cent from April to December 2006 to 33.88 per cent from April to December 2007, which was 6.43 per cent less due to the efforts made by the field staff.

It has also been observed that the collection efficiency had also gone up from 83.76 per cent during April to December 2006 to 92.24 per cent during April to December 2007, which was 6.48 per cent more due to the campaign launched by the nigam to disconnect power supply of the non-payers.

He said the collection efficiency of the nigam had been more that 100 per cent during the months of May and November 2007 i.e. 104.63 per cent and 100.16 per cent respectively was mainly due to the electricity bills waiver scheme, surcharge waiver scheme and disconnections.

It had also been observed that district Yamunanagar had achieved collection efficiency of 103.50 per cent followed by 99.97 per cent and 99.58 per cent by operation circles Karnal and Ambala respectively from April to December 2007.

The spokesman further stated that the nigam had specifically directed the field officers to disconnect the supply of those non-payers immediately whose dues had been more or who had never opted for the electricity bills waiver scheme in rural and surcharge waiver scheme in urban areas.

It must be ensured that the disconnections were made physically and not on books, he said.

Patiala, February 17
“Globalisation is the highest stage of capitalism,” said heart surgeon from the US Dr Swaraj Singh during a seminar on globalisation and major issues organised by the department of journalism and mass communication at Punjabi University.

He said the present globalisation was not converting this globe into a peaceful place to live. He also put forward his concern regarding the wide gap between the rich and the poor.

Number of rich people and billionaires was increasing but the scenario in developing countries like India was totally different.

Still there were problems like water shortage, insufficient sanitation facilities, lack of health care and education, he said.

According to Swaraj Singh, the solution lied in Shri Guru Granth Sahib and its teachings, as it stressed upon spiritual and ethical perspective of the nature.

“He is my favourite and I wanted him to play for us. But, its eventually team India only and we must not forget we are all Indians,” said Preity.

While for Preity its cricket all the way, Ness said golf and hockey also interest him. So why invest their money in cricket leaving aside other sports?

“Where is the bid in other sports?” he said. “Cricket has been the most popular game of the country and we are putting our best foot forward.”

Mohali, February 17
Though Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia were all praises for the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, the organisation of the press conference left much to be desired.

During the first interaction of the Mohali team franchisee with the media at the stadium’s ground, the sound system failed repeatedly.

The embarrassed PCA officials showed their helplessness in improving the situation forcing the celebrities to address the pressmen without amplifiers.

Preity also got irritated at the constant disruption and said her voice
was loud enough.

Adding to the sound woes, the noise being generated by the construction workers within the main building of the stadium also caused awkwardness for the organisers.

The PCA president I.S. Bindra finally intervened and got the work halted so that the press conference could continue peacefully, something that could have been done before the starting of the conference.

“This was such an important occasion as the Mohali team franchisee were holding their first conference. First impression is the last impression.

What impression they got out of such follies is quite evident,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The conference was organised in open, contrary to the earlier practice of holding it in the hall.

The actress was also seen shading her face from the sun with the help
of a booklet.

Mohali, February 17
Bollywood top actor Preity Zinta and Bombay Dyeing scion Ness Wadia promise to create hordes of opportunities for talented cricketers of the region.

The franchise of Mohali team-Preity and Ness Wadia- asserted that their objective is to promote cricket.

“We are not here for business and making profit is not the objective. Providing ample opportunities to the cricketers of the region and development of the game will be our priority”, said Wadia at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, here today.

“I want to make it a point that local cricketers, who would not get chance this time in our team, should not feel disappointed. Lot of chances will be provided to them in the coming years”, said Preity.

Expressing happiness over taking over the Mohali team, Wadia said the region is a hub of sports activities. Working along with the PCA would be a rich experience.

“We have everything in place for training the cricketers. And it will be better than EPL football league”, said Wadia.

According to the IPL format, the franchisees have to opt for minimum four players from the region.

Chandigarh, February 17
Getting inspiration from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the young taekwondo player Dhanraj Gautam is keen to follow the footsteps of international wrestlers.

Six-year-old player, who had won a number of gold medals is now all prepared to participate in the upcoming martial arts championship to be held in April in Russia.

Having a craze for the game of wrestling, Dhanraj started playing taekwondo but gradually got adapted to the pace and is now keen to make his country proud.

“The reason I took to taekwondo was to be better than the others in fighting, but now I find the game interesting, and decide to pursue it.”

Though, Dhanraj has won a number of championships, but it is the age that matters the most, and it did for Dhanraj too, who could not stop his tears whiling sharing his experience of winning the first gold medal at the age of five.

“I am confident of annexing another gold, which will be my first in an international championship. I will give my 100 per cent during the championship in Russia”, said Dhanraj with an innocent smile on his face.

Chandigarh, February 17
In the backdrop of the prohibitive cost of the medicines primarily produced by the American, European Union and the Japanese multinationals, development of low-cost and safe medicines will be the underlining theme of a national workshop beginning at the PGI here tomorrow.

In fact, closer interaction between academia and the pharmaceutical industry will be debated at the “national workshop on clinical pharmacology” being organised by the department of pharmacology of the PGI.

“Currently, nearly 90 per cent of the drugs are produced by the USA, European Union and Japanese multinational pharmaceutical companies. The process of new drug development is very expensive and takes about $800 million to 1 billion (Rs 4000-5000 crore). The costs can be reduced by 30-40 per cent if this process is conducted in India,” Prof P. Pandhi, head of the pharmacology department of the PGI, said here today underlining the theme of the conference.

The speakers will give an account of how drugs are developed which include initial testing in animals followed by studies in healthy people and finally in patients.

The drugs are then allowed to be marketed only after its safety and effectiveness is established in intensive research in humans.

In this regard, the regulations are getting more and more stringent in India also.

The Drug Controller General of India is the regulatory authority, which gives permission for the human research and marketing of new drugs.

Professor Pandhi said who’s who of the pharmaceutical industry in India would assemble at the PGI to deliberate on the issues concerning new drug development and regulatory measures.

Prof R. Roy Chaudhury, chairman of the task force on clinical research, Apollo Hospitals, Prof P.L. Sharma, former Dean of the PGI, Prof VS Mathur, former director of pharmacology at Bahrain, Dr O.P. Asthana, head-clinical research division and deputy director, CDRI, Lucknow, and Dr J.S. Srivastava, deputy director of the CDRI will be prominent among those attending the workshop.

Eminent speakers from the pharmaceutical industry including Dr Shoibal Mukherjee, vice president-clinical research, Ranbaxy, Dr C.S. Potkar, senior director, clinical research, Pfizer, Mumbai, and Dr A. Pareek, senior vice president-clinical research, IPCA, Mumbai, will also share their experiences.

Good clinical practices, special issues of clinical research with herbal medicines, ethical aspects of clinical research and pharmaceutical promotion, scope for academia-industry collaboration in clinical research, challenges in clinical research training, data management, pharmacokinetics (how the body handles the drugs), biostatistics, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics and quality of life are also on the agenda of the conference.

Chandigarh, February 17
Over 250 patients were examined at a medical camp organised by the Bihar Parishad in Colony No 5 here today.

Several doctors from the PGI examined the patients for ailments related to orthopaedics, general medicine and eye.

The camp was inaugurated by M.K. Tiwari, an IPS officer from the Punjab cadre.