Jalandhar, September 18
Though the present authorities of the PIMS are trying hard to cast off the stigma of days gone by, a lot of stuff has become an indivisible part of this institute for the last one-and-a-half decades and serves as a source of bewilderment and continually embarrasses those concerned.

The most astonishing feature of this mega institute may not be its exemplary
building or ultra-modern medical equipment or the scale of expenditure, but the
incumbency chart of size 6 feet and 2 inches hanging on the wall behind the chair
of the Director-Principal.

According to the chart, the institute has had 17 Director-Principals even before it begun functioning.

This, in itself, seems an unparalleled record; and again unique to PIMS, that an institution has encountered 17 different tenures of its directors even before it started functioning.

The first charge was given to Dr. BD Gupta on September 1, 1994, approximately for the period of three years and nine months.

After this, Dr. Ravi Inder Kaur and Dr. SS Sidhu took additional charge for eight months and three months, respectively, along with their parallel charges as Principal GMC Patiala.

Next charge was given to Dr. Baljeet Singh who served as Director-Principal for almost three-and-a-half years.

Most of the directors, who came after this, were given additional charge - instead of an independent one - to run this institution.

Additional charge has been given to Dr. J.S Dalal for three times for short durations of 1 year and 4 months, 12 days and 3 months, who was also serving as Director Research and Medical Education (DRME) and Principal GMC, Amritsar, during his first term and DRME during his second and third term.

Similarly, additional charge was given to Dr. PPS Coonar for three times for the duration of 19 days, 3 months and 39 days while he was serving as Joint DRME.

Dr. Kiranjeet Kaur of GMC Patiala and Dr OP Mahajan, Dr. MS Khanna and Dr.Jagdish Gargi of GMC, Amritsar, took charge for less than a period of four months each.

Again, additional charge was given to Dr. Mahajan, Dr. Khanna and Dr. Gargi while they were serving as Prinicipal, GMC Amritsar.

Interestingly, senior IAS officer KS Pannu, currently serving as Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, has also been given additional charge as Director of the institute for approximately seven months while he was already serving as Special Secretary (medical education).

A senior officer, who was closely associated with the PIMS, said, “Former Chief Minister Beant Singh took personal interest to develop PIMS during his tenure. After his death, senior bureaucrats and successive chief ministers didn’t pay much heed to this institute. Ultimately, the governing body, which was made to oversee and develop PIMS, became defunct.”

Surprisingly, at least 12 dental and three medical colleges have been established after the announcement of the establishment of PIMS.

Repeated postings of doctors (in short intervals), as Director-Principal, clearly depicts the apathy of all the governments towards this institute.

Jalandhar, September 18
Amidst fanfare and enthusiasm the three-day-long third Mega Techno-Management Fest, “TechNITi’09”, began at the Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) here today.

An annual feature, the campus was humming with activity as students from the NIT, Hamirpur, Trichy, Kurukshetra, Allahabad, BITS, Pilani, IIT, Delhi, Thapar University, Patiala, and faculty of management studies, Delhi University, participated in the day one events.

The highlight of the first day was events like “Robo Roadies,” “Robotics,” “Da Vinci CRO,” “Auto Maxi,” “Robo-Combat” and workshops on aero-modelling and ethical hacking and a quiz competition. At “Robo Roadies” the students had a fun time enjoying the robot skills.

A video conferencing session with Dr Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission and current CEO of C-SAM, was held.

Students from various engineering disciplines participated in video conferencing. A magic show by techno-magician Chistopher James from Canada was show stealer.

Another attraction of the day was “Esthetique,” a garment-designing competition and fashion show that saw glamorous boys and girls of the local institutes showcasing their talent.

Fashion teams, including those from JD Institute, Ludhiana, Sportking Institute, Ludhiana, NIT, Jalandhar, INIFD, Jalandhar, and Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, took the centre stage and won applause from the audience.

Earlier in the morning, Venkatesh Hariharan, Director, Corporate Affairs, of Red Hat India, inaugurated the event.

The occasion was graced by Director of the NIT Dr P.K. Chatley, Dr Arvind Bhardwaj (Dean), Dr Rakesh Chandra (Dean) and Dr S.B.S Mishra.

Amritsar, September 18
Even as the Health Department claimed to have made its best effort to fight dengue, one confirmed case of the disease reported in the city, has put the health authorities on their toes.

The patient, a woman of Basant Aveune here, is being treated at a private hospital. Dr. Rohit Kapoor director of the private hospital, who has been attending on the patient, said the medical tests have tested positive, confirming dengue.

However, he added that the woman was out of danger and there was no risk to her life. Dr. Lehmbar Singh, Civil Surgeon, while confirming this, said he had come to know about the case, adding that sufficient steps were being taken to prevent it from spreading.

He said the area would be sprayed, as the department would not leave any stone unturned for its prevention.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Health Department had to face a lot of problems in this regard last year as more than 500 cases of dengue were reported in 2008, exposing the claims of the department.

Dr. Lehmbar said the department has pressed five bids and 11 small fogging machines to kill the mosquitoes responsible for the disease.

He said there were 34 multipurpose health workers of anti-larva squad and teams of 15 supervisors, including two insect collectors, had been pressed to service.

He said as per the plans chalked out by the department, three to four kilometers of area would sprayed with anti-larva spray daily.

The Civil Surgeon also stressed that people should be aware for fighting dengue. He said difficult for the health department to fight with the disease till the people realise their responsibilities.

On September 15, 2009, Gurpreet Singh left her at the bus stand, Hoshiarpur, from where bus conductor Rajiv of Azad bus company forcibly took her to Talwara and repeatedly raped her throughout the night there.