Ludhiana, December 24
In yet another case of gross negligence on the part of the Punjab Health System Corporation, a village dispensary in the district received a bag containing sodium chloride and dextrose injections (IV fluid DNS) of different colours and fungus-infested solution.

The solution was a part of the supply sent to the dispensary run by a doctor appointed on a contract under the Rural Development, Punjab.

While on a visit to the dispensary, The Tribune team came across fluid, which manufactured by Punjab Formulations Limited, a pharmaceutical company located at Sura village in Jalandhar district. The solution carries a manufacturing date of February 2008 and the expiry date of January 2011.

The liquid is of brown colour whereas its original colour is crystal clear. Most shocking part is the presence of fungus and ants visible to the naked eye.

Rural Medical Service Association president Aslam Parvez while taking a strong notice of the substandard medicines supplied to rural dispensaries said,” We will send the medicine for laboratory test and the matter will be taken up with the corporation and the Rural Development Department."

The medicines were not supplied to the rural dispensaries for more than a year. Now, this dispensary has been supplied substandard medicines. The dispensaries are catering to the rural populace, who are dissatisfied with the supply of medicines as they hold the doctors responsible for dispensing substandard medicines, Aslam added.

The medicines like multi-vitamins, Cetrizine , CPM , PCM, Ciprofloxacin, Metrogyl and various other pain killers are not only substandard but were procured from 'unknown' units from and within Punjab.

A senior doctor while pointing towards the purchase of 'substandard medicines' by the purchase committees said,” The pharmaceutical company, which is supplying these medicines, is not so well known whereas almost all the reputed pharmaceuticals, including Glaxo, Ranbaxy, Cipla are manufacturing the generic drugs at a nominal price. Moreover, every rural dispensary has to be given medicine worth Rs 7,500 per month that amounts to Rs 90,000 per year which is not done so."

He further said the committees were blatantly involved in unethical practice as it clearly mentioned in the regulations that the companies that were supplying medicines to the public health sector should have a minimum annual turnover of Rs 5 crore per annum.

Ludhiana, December 24
Although the suspension of Dulcha Singh Brar has been revoked and he has been asked to join as professor in his parent department of entomology, the Board of Management (BoM) of the PAU, which met yesterday, also cleared the charge-sheet and accepted the report of the inquiry committee.

Dulcha Singh Brar has also been divested of the portfolio of the director, Students Welfare, till his exoneration.

The charge-sheet was served on him before the BoM meeting. Under the rules, he is required to submit this reply within one month of the receipt of the charge-sheet.

The Tribune has learnt that the authorities of the PAU were under tremendous pressure to reinstate Dulcha Singh Brar on his original post of the DSW. Even yesterday, some members raised the issue and pressed for the revocation of the suspension order.

According to the charge-sheet, Dulcha Singh Brar has been charged that he did not cooperate with the complaint committee and the statement of allegations have emerged on the basis of the facts enunciated in the report of the complaint committee.

The report of this committee was accepted by the Vice-Chancellor under rule 15 of the Rule 22A “Prohibition of sexual harassment of working women” contained in the chapter XLVI of the PAU calendar 2003.

The charge-sheet has further alleged that he is guilty of misconduct and has rendered himself liable to disciplinary action as per provisions made in the statutes.

There are in all eight charges against Dulcha Singh in the charge-sheet served on him.

It may be mentioned that a female employee of the DSW office had made a complaint against Dulcha Singh for alleged sexual harassment about three months ago and an inquiry committee was set up under the Dean, College of Home Science, as its chairperson. The committee held four sittings and Dulcha Singh appeared before the committee twice.

The Vice-Chancellor also gave two hearings to him and he availed of only one and did not appear for the second hearing. Three members of the committee signed the report and one member resigned. The inquiry officer would be appointed after the receipt of the reply of Dulcha Singh.

According to official sources, no decision was taken at the BoM that the inquiry would be conducted by a retired IAS lady Officer. However, the decision was that the inquiry would be conducted by a woman outside the PAU. The authorities maintained that no decision had been taken as to who would be the inquiry officer.

Ludhiana, December 24
Soon after the conclusion of the high-profile kabaddi event, the Canada-America Kabaddi Cup was embroiled in a controversy, as the kabaddi teams and sports department officials alleged that the organisers did not pay the due amount.

However, the kabaddi Cup organisers earned rich accolades for organising such a mega event, but it took all by surprise when the sports department officials disclosed that the organisers had yet to pay the whole fees.

Not even this, the girls’ hockey team from Persram Pur also alleged that it was not paid the match fees by the organisers of the kabaddi event.

Sources in the sports department said the organisers had only deposited Rs 1 lakh and did not deposit rest of the amount. The security fees of Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 for seating arrangement had not been paid by the kabaddi cup organisers.

The department officials alleged that the kabaddi event had caused a great deal of damage to the stadium. Further they had not deposited the security amount so that it could be spent on the maintenance of the stadium.

The motor cycle incident also drew lots of criticism. On Sunday, a synthetic track bore the burnt of a miscreant motorcyclist, who entered the ground from nowhere and took two rounds on the expensive synthetic track.

If the opening was marred by controversy, the conclusion was also not pleasant either. Yesterday, kabaddi enthusiasts entered to sneak into the ground either by cutting the fences or by jumping from it, which caused a great deal of damage to the fencing.

In the evening, the eve's kabaddi team from Persram Pur and HVM College Jalandhar alleged that they had not been paid the participation fees and travel expenses by the organisers.

Makhan Singh, president of the Canada- America Kabaddi Cup, passed the buck to the treasurer of the kabaddi event.

"I do not know about the money matters, kindly talk to the treasurer Inderjit Singh Kahira Bait."

When this correspondent asked him to provide the mobile number of the treasurer, the president replied that he did not have the mobile number of the treasurer.

Director of sports Pargat Singh said, "They will not be allowed to organise the event from next year onwards if the do not pay the entire amount."

Jagraon, December 24
A mini-bus overturned at Malla village, near here, injuring 35 passengers. As per eyewitnesses, the Rasulpur village-bound mini- bus (PB-29E-9426) of the Guru Tegh Bahadur Bus Service overturned near a primary school at around 5.30 pm, when it was about to enter the village.

The bus was coming from Jagraon. The driver reportedly lost control over the vehicle after the steering wheel broke due to huge potholes on the road. At least 45 persons were on board the bus.

Some of the injured have been admitted to Kalyani Hospital here, while others have been admitted to the civil hospital here and the Badhni village hospital. The condition of the injured was stated to be stable.

The driver of the Bus, Rana Rasulpur, and the conductor, Parminder Singh Happy, also got injured.

The villagers usually board this bus after completing the day-long jobs here. The families of the injured resented against the local leaders for not keeping their village road maintained despite assurances given several times.

Ludhiana: A 48-year-old woman and her 2-year-old granddaughter died after they were crushed under a truck, carrying gas cylinders, on the Dhandra road here this morning.

The woman has been identified as Sunita Bhardwaj and her granddaughter as Anmol. Sunita's daughter Neha (18) was also accompanying them. She was injured in the accident.

The three, residents of Nitish Vihar, were going to the market on a scooter. They were waiting on the roadside, when the truck driver started reversing the truck.

Both died on the spot, and Sunita was cut into two pieces. Neha was shifted to a private hospital, where she is stated to be out of danger.

Family members of the deceased said they were already in trouble as Sunita's husband Prem Kumar had left the house some time ago. The police has nabbed the driver of the truck.

Ludhiana, December 24
The most awaited festival throughout the world “Christmas” is finally here. With Christmas tree playing the centre stage, Christian families have tastefully decorated their houses. Plum cakes, puddings, pies, wines and champagnes can be found in abundance at their houses during this period of time.

We visited some of the Christian families in the city to get a real feel of the Christmas. Like every year Syvil Nathaniel, a resident of Issa Nagri, has prepared plum cakes for the festival. On the Christmas eve, her family and friends will get together and sing Christmas carols and a passage from Bible. Gifts will be hanged on the Christmas tree, which Santa will distribute to children. Her grandchildren Aharantiks, Anvita and Ahana are all excited about the festival and the most special thing for them is to savor the delicious cakes, which their grandmother prepares for them.

Adding Syvil said, “While for children Christmas means the festival to receive gifts from Santa but for the grown ups, the festival is special as God gave his son to the world with the message to spread love, joy and peace.”

Robert S. Lall, senior supervisor at Christian Dental College, distributes cake among his friends. “In the evening I will play piano and others will sing carols,” he said. This year Robert during the family prayer, will pray for those who lost their lives in Mumbai attacks and for their families.

The city hotels are also not lacking behind and are fully absorbed in the festival spirit. Hotel Park Plaza is holding a special carol singing session every day since December 19. A group of 11 girls sing carols every evening. The carols which they sing everyday are “Phillie Naoidia”, “O come all ye faithful”, “Mary’s boy child Jesus Christ” and “Jingle Bells”. Every evening Santa comes and distributes gifts among the children in the hotel. The hotel has put up a special igloo hut at the lobby selling mouth-watering traditional Christmas goodies like plum cakes, fig and honey tart, yule log, mince pie, ginger bread house, jujubes, just to name a few.

Ludhiana, December 24
The differences between BJP councillors Gurdeep Singh Neetu and senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal were sorted out here today at a press conference.

Addressing mediapersons and refuting the allegations of being hand in glove with advertisers, Neetu said, "I never spoke against senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal, though I was of the opinion that the proposal of advertising rights should be given to one party and Rs 1.5 crore can be collected as revenue."

He said Bansal is like my younger brother and when the advertisers submitted the memo to deputy speaker Satpal Gosain, he was there because the MLA was going to address a press conference. He denied that he didn't speak anything against Bansal and his presence was misquoted.

Party's district general secretary Rajiv Katna said, "The BJP has always remained united and even today we are united. From now onwards no decision would be taken according to personal wishes and a collective decision policy would be implemented."

Interestingly, the press conference witnessed absence of Bansal and party president although the party general secretary gave different excuses.

Ludhiana, December 24
Feeling cheated by government of Punjab for ignoring claim for granting recognition as religious minority community in Punjab, Jains have moved the Punjab State Human Rights Commission asking for a direction to the government in this regard.

Stating that many states have already granted the minority status to Jains, which include Maharashtra, MP, Rajasthan, UP, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Jains said even Delhi had done it recently under the State Minorities Commission Act.

A petition filed by Dr Sandeep Kumar Jain and Dev Raj Jain from Ludhiana states that, "In Punjab, religion is always mingled with politics. It is claimed and taken for granted that Sikhs, who are minority in India, are minority in Punjab also (contrary to a judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court).”

They have knocked the door of the Supreme Court also. But it is a matter of fact that the number of Jains is not more than 1per cent of the total population of Punjab and they are not recognised as a religious minority by the state. Jainism is mentioned as a religion along with Buddhism and Sikhism in explanation II of the Article 25 of the India Constitution relating to the fundamental right to religions freedom.

Jains feel that it is a violation of the human rights and fundamental rights of members belonging to Jain religion, which are not been accorded status of the religious minority as other religious communities.

Many individuals and Jain organisations like Amrit Lal Jain, secretary, All-India Shwetambar Sthanakwasi Jain Conference, Jatinder Jain, a member, working committee, Atmanand Jain of Mahasabha Uttari Bharat, Punjab, Digambar Jain Samaj, Shri Jain Shwetambar Terapanthi Sabha, Shwetambar Sthanakwasi Samaj, Jain Mittar Mandal, SS Jain Sabha, Civil Lines, Amritsar, and Bhagwan Mahavir 2600th Janam Kalyanak Samiti, Punjab, which is representative of all Jain sects have been writing to the state government to get the status of religious minority but to no avail.

Ludhiana, December 24
School education is not one of the top priorities of the state government. The government's tall claims of doing a lot for the welfare of the school education seem to be hollow.

The government schools suffer from lack of basic amenities for schoolchildren. Some of the schools do not have proper infrastructure, classrooms, sanitation, etc.

Government Primary School, 1A and 1C, the Jail road, shows the government's apathy and the school is sans roof, room and sanitation. A portion of the building of Government Multi-purpose School, more than 100 years old institution, has been lying dilapidated since 1990.

No Class IV employees like sweeper, peon, waterman and gardener have been appointed for the last ten years against the vacant posts lying in the government schools. Government Senior Secondary Model School, PAU, with the strength of 1,900 students and 70 rooms has just one sweeper.

Although funds are charged from the students yet the heads have no authority to utilise the same for the welfare of the students and the upkeep of the building. Thanks to the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) fund, which has come to the rescue of the schools for their maintenance.

The mid day meal has given some relief to the poor children particularly of the migrant labourers and children have started sticking to the schools. The attendance chart has improved. The teachers working in the government schools are finding it difficult to cope with the burden of teaching. The government school teachers and the DEO (secondary) have been at logger heads with each other.

This year the Sarav Sikhsha Abhiyan is going to conduct class V examinations and the Punjab School Education Board has been divested of this responsibility.

English medium public schools run by private managements, although are making a good contribution in promoting the education but are charging hefty fees, ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. The teachers of these schools are making huge fortunes by imposing tuitions on the children. Tuition rates vary from Rs 800 to Rs 1,200 per subject per month and the strength of the students in a group ranges between 30 and 40.

All schools lay maximum emphasis on cultural and sports activities. With the recent introduction of the Right to Education Bill 2008, when implemented will change the entire scenario of the education in India putting more responsibility and accountability of the teachers and decreasing the burden of the children.

Ludhiana, December 24
In the course of ongoing drive for energy conservation, officials of special division Model Town of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) today conducted a mass contact programme at Dhandra village to motivate people for switching over to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Speaking at the occasion, Harjit Singh Gill, senior executive engineer and Gurmail Singh Cheema, assistant executive engineer, urged the rural population to replace ordinary bulbs with CFLs, which will not only save a lot of electricity but also cut down their energy bills.

Prominent residents of the village, including Jagjit Singh, sarpanch, Lakhbir Singh, Amarjit Singh, Kesar Singh, Jarnail Singh, Gurmel Kaur, Amarjit Kaur, Dalip Kaur, all members of panchayat and Parwinder Kaur, member, zila parishad, assured the PSEB officials that they would carry forward the message of power conservation and motivate the people for switching over to CFLs.

A new transformer was installed at Government Senior Secondary School, which was formally inaugurated by village sarpanch Jagjit Singh. Pushpinder Kaur, principal and Veena Jain, a teacher of the school, extended welcome to the PSEB officials and other dignitaries.

The event witnessed startling performance of students of classes from Nursery to 10+2. Students staged English play “Macbeth”.

Other items on national integration, female foeticide and child psychology were also presented. The chief guest gave away prizes to achievers in the field of academics.

Ludhiana, December 24
A major project was sanctioned by the World Bank to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, for conducting research and dissemination of recommended technologies to alleviate poverty of the rural masses.

At the same time, the Planning Commission of India identified 150 disadvantaged districts for sustainable rural livelihood security in different states of India.

In Punjab, only Hoshiarpur district was included in the list of disadvantaged districts. Under this, a sub-project entitled "Sustainable livestock-based farming system for livelihood security in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab" was awarded to Guru Angad Dev Veterinary And Animal Sciences University.

Jagraon, December 24
A patwari has been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau accepting bribe. A team, headed by DSP (vigilance) Gurcharan Singh from Ludhiana has arrested patwari Gopi Nath red-handed taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant, Gopal Kishan.

The vigilance team had raided the office of a tractor agency, situated near Sherpur chowk here. The patwari had called the complainant at the site to deliver the amount demanded.

The DSP said a cousin of Gopal Kishan had a plot of four biswas in the village, but due to clerical mistake, it was recorded as three biswas in the revenue record.

When Gopal Kishan asked for the rectification of the revenue record, the patwari demanded Rs 20,000 for the same, and after negotiation, the deal was struck at Rs 10,000.

The patwari was planning to make changes in the mutation after receiving the amount. Gopal Kishan complained the matter to the vigilance office here.

The vigilance team recovered the marked currency notes issued by them from
the patwari.

Ludhiana, December 24
Saminder Singh scored three goals to fashion Jarkhar Academy's thumping 6-0 win over Moga in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Hockey League for Boys being organised by the Punjab sports department at the Prithipal Singh Memorial AstroTurf Stadium of Punjab Agricultural University here today.

In a group A match in the u-14 section, Jarkhar Academy drew the first blood in the 17th minute through Saminder Singh. Six minutes later, Paramjit Singh increased the lead to make it 2-0.

After changing ends, the academy players further consolidated the lead when Amardeep Singh struck while Saminder Singh added two more goals (43rd and 45th minute) to cement the lead 5-0. Lakhwinder Singh found the target in the 48th minute to complete the rout 6-0.

In another u-14 section match (group B), Santokh Hockey Academy, Roomi defeated Faridkot B 3-1. The winners were leading 2-1 at half time.

Roomi lads gained an early lead as Darshpreet sounded the board in the sixth minute. Harpreet made it two nil in the 22nd minute.

However, Satvinder Singh of Faridkot reduced the margin (2-1) immediately through a penalty corner conversion.

The third goal for Roomi came off Harpreet Singh's stick in the 39th minute, which sealed Faridkot lads' fate 3-1.

The last match of the day was played between in the group B (u-16) Amloh and Grewal Academy of Kila Raipur in which the former managed to squeeze past 2-1.

Amloh players opened the account in the fourth minute through Harpreet Singh but squandered away the advantage in the 10th minute when Hardeep Singh of Kila Raipur scored a field goal to make it 1-1.

The match-winning goal was scored in the 46th minute by Dalvinder Singh, which enabled Amloh to romp home victorious 2-1.