Jalandhar, April 9
Nearly 400 passengers suffered as a Jalandhar-bound DMU train had to halt for over two-and-a-half-hours at a deserted place near the Khojewal railway station on the Ferozepur-Jalandhar track due to the breakdown of its driving units at both ends, on Thursday evening.

The 400 odd passengers remained stranded at this deserted place from 5.25 pm to 7.30 pm until a driving unit reached there from the nearby Jalandhar railway station.

One of the passengers, Lokesh Vij told The Tribune he had boarded the 8 JF DMU train at the Lohian railway station to reach Jalandhar. The train reached at the Lohian station one hour and 17 minutes late than its scheduled time of 2.53 pm.

His co-passengers told him that the driving units of the DMU were not working properly even when the train left its starting point at Ferozepur and instead of fixing the driving units, a mechanic was sent along with the train to repair its driving unit in case of any problem on the way.

A businessman in Ayurvedic medicines, Vij who commutes from his house from Lohian to his shop in Jalandhar daily, further said the train was moving at a snail’s pace and suddenly it stopped about two kilometer after it left the Khojewal railway 
station at 5.25 pm.

Vij said he had to provide some emergency medicine to a patient in Jalandhar but the train reached at Jalandhar nearly four hours late than its scheduled time.

As a consequence, the Ferozepur-bound DMU started from the Jalandhar station at 8.30 pm, three hours and ten minutes later than its scheduled time of 5.20 pm.

Vij said the DMU trains on the Ferozepur-Jalandhar track 
usually ran several minutes late, for reasons best known to the railway authorities

Nawanshahr, April 9
A disease these days means more than an unhealthy body for the common man. It means inconvenient (sometimes embarrassing) tests and scans, long hours of wait in hospital queues and the added bonus of mounting medicine bills. As much as the patient is troubled, it’s no cakewalk for the doctors either, to deal with such a miserable janta.

But a hospital saga was carried too far here today when a doctor refused to see a patient at the civil hospital citing late arrival and misbehaviour as the reasons.

Adarsh Bala (59), a resident of village Garhi Mansowal (Hoshiarpur), has accused Dr. Rajesh Bhatia, specialist in medicine, at the local civil hospital, of misbehaving with her and keeping her waiting for almost an entire day, at the hospital.

She told mediapersons here on Thursday, that she had been taking treatment from Dr. Bhatia since April 1 and after prescribing her medicines for a week, Dr. Bhatia had asked her to come for check up again.

As per his advice, she came here for check up on Wednesday but she had to return as the doctor was on leave. Then, she again came here on Thursday at about 11 am but the attendant of the doctor refused to take her OPD slip on the pretext that there was a rush of patients. 

However, even as she was kept waiting outside the room of the doctor for about two hours, the attendant took OPD slips of some other patients who arrived after her, Bala said.

When the attendant was questioned for ignoring her, he started quarrelling with his son who had accompanied her to the hospital. On hearing the noise, Dr. Bhatia called them in and misbehaved with them, she further alleged adding that she still waited till the doctor came out of his room in the evening, but in vain. All through, the attendant had continued sending other patients in for check up.

Dr. Bhatia, when contacted on phone, while terming the allegations as baseless, leveled counter allegation that the patient’s son had misbehaved with him. He said the patient had come in ‘late’ to the hospital so her OPD slip was not entertained. 

But he could not give a satisfactory answer to the queries regarding the allegations made by the affected lady that while she was refused permission to enter, the doctor had continued to entertain other OPD patients.

Civil Surgeon, Dr. Chitranjan Brar, when contacted, said no time limit had been fixed for entertaining the OPD slips in the hospital here. If any patient had been refused treatment in the hospital, he would look into the matter, he added. 

Jalandhar, April 9
Going on the offensive against former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur, Bholath legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira has said the former had let a reign of terror on members from her community, including civil servants, who were not toeing her line.

He said he had taken the issue of Daljit Singh of Baagwanpur, who had been on the Sikh blacklist, with the Union Home Ministry and got his name deleted. Daljit would be shortly in India after 20 years, he revealed.

Claiming that he had always worked for the people irrespective of their caste or community, he paraded 16 elected representatives, former sarpanchs and panches from the Lubana community, who had been framed in false cases, before mediapersons.

“I personally took up their cases and helped most of them get justice from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. There are at least more than 50 other cases where cases have been slapped on frivolous grounds to teach them a lesson for supporting the Congress in the previous polls. I am taking them up and would ensure that justice is done,” he added.

He said the harassment was not confined to sarpanches and other leaders but local government servants as well. Those supposedly voted or supported the Congress had been posted to far-off places like Bhatinda and Ferozepur. “I got the cases cancelled with the help of upright officials of the respective departments,” he said.

“As per the wishes of the community members, I have also got a gate constructed in the memory of Sant Baba Prem Singh, who, incidentally, was the father-in-law of Jagir Kaur. She never bothered to do so during her term as an MLA and as the SGPC chief,” he pointed out. 

“Besides this, my family has tirelessly worked for the betterment of the community whereas she had only paid lip service and gathered votes in the name of her community,” he added.

Kapurthala, April 9
A RCF official along with several other persons allegedly attacked Cooperative Bank Khaira Dona Manager K.S. Cheema and bank guard Mangat Singh, near Dudianwal village on the Sultanpur Lodhi road on Thursday morning.

Talking to The Tribune at the Civil Hospital, Cheema said the RCF Senior Sectional Engineer P.K. Luthra along with his accomplices mercilessly beat them, when they were going to the bank at Khaira Dona on their motorcycle.

He further said he had reported the matter to the police about his attempt to unlawfully handing-over to someone else a piece of land mortgaged to the bank as security for the loan of Rs 5 lakh taken by his wife Geeta Luthra about four years back.

Cheema said his wife became defaulter as she failed to repay the loan.

He said he had come to know that Luthra signed an agreement with a person for setting up a memorial park at his land at Dudianwal, whose mutation was in the name of the bank.

A boundary wall was being constructed at the piece of land. When Cheema came to know, he informed the matter to the police. Subsequently, an ASI Sucha Singh visited the spot and stopped the construction on Wednesday.

However, when the bank manager was going to the bank with the guard on motorcycle, he noticed that construction was still going on.

At this, he informed the ASI. On seeing him, Luthra and his accomplices beat them up mercilessly, he alleged, adding that they made them hostages at his house. Later, the police reached the spot and rescued them and admitted them to the Civil Hospital. SHO Sarabjit Rai said an FIR had been registered under various sections of the IPC. 

Jalandhar, April 9
The District Bar Association (DBA) issued special stickers to advocates for their vehicles. SP (Traffic) Rajpal Singh Sandhu formally released the sticker in a function organised at the DBA office here today.

DBA president Balwinderjeet Singh Lucky said the special stickers containing logos of the DBA and Punjab Police were released on the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association pattern to avoid misuse of ordinary stickers being so far used for advocates here.

Earlier the ordinary stickers containing advocates’ insignia was easily available from book sellers at a nominal rate, he said adding that these stickers were also reportedly pasted on several those vehicles which had nothing to do with any lawyer and some of these vehicles were allegedly being used for anti social activities, he added.