Ajitwal (Moga), December 13
Belonging to different religions, youths of Ajitwal village, situated on the National-Highway-95, have set an example for all.

They have renovated a mosque that was also a halt for commuters and traders, who passed through the National Highway-95 in the pre-Independence era.

The mosque was in a bad shape for decades until youths of the village took up the task to renovate it.

Shahi Imam of Punjab Moulana Habib Ur Rehman Saani Ludhianvi, who visited the mosque today praised the youths, particularly those belonging to Hindu and Sikh sects, for restoring the structure and setting up an example of religious harmony.

The act holds significance, as Muslim prophet Ajit Khan founded the village about three centuries ago. It was known as ‘Jittwal’ at the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The first inhabitants of the village were two brothers Bhai Karam Chand and Bhai Sahib Chand. Once, a caravan of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, including his relatives, was passing when a woman fell ill. Since there was no hakim (doctor) available, she was brought to Bhai Karam Chand. He offered her sand and the lady was said to be cured. Thus, people had built a spiritual connection with the village. Since the village is situated on the GT road, a mosque was established where Muslim traders worshipped and stayed.

Jalandhar, December 13
Except a few, hospitals in most new districts of the state have not been upgraded to civil hospitals. Civil hospitals in five districts, including Faridkot, are providing services equivalent to those provided by hospitals at sub-divisional levels.

The civil hospitals in Muktsar, Taran Taran, Nawanshahr, Mohali and Fatehgarh Saheb are operating with less than 100 beds in each.

Though the number of sanctioned beds is 100, Faridkot Civil Hospital and Bathinda Children Hospital are operating with 50 beds each. Whereas, Mansa, Moga and Barnala are exceptions, where in 100-bedded hospitals were established even before their conversion into districts. In addition to this, number of beds at Children Hospital, Patiala, Civil Hospital, Bathinda and Amritsar, is 154, 100 and 150, respectively, against the sanctioned number of 200 in each.

In 1946, the Bohr Committee had recommended that district hospital with capacity of 500 beds should be set up against the population of 10 lakh. However, as per norms of Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), annual rate of admission as one per 50 persons and average duration of stay in hospital as five days, a district with population of 10 lakh requires a 300-bedded hospital.

In all districts, where hospitals await upgradation, size of population is more than the available beds.

Ironically, in the IPHS norms, hospitals below the capacity of 100 beds are defined as sub-divisional hospitals. The number of beds is considered as a major requisite while determining the required strength of medical staff.

As per survey done in 2001, population of Jalandhar is around 19 lakh and there are 400 beds in the hospital. However, in Ludhiana, a 100-bedded hospital is operating against the population of 30 lakh.

DMCH and CMCH cannot be considered as an alternative to government healthcare services, a senior health official said.

Similarly, hospitals with over 300 beds are required in Amritsar and Patiala districts.

Jalandhar, December 13
Countering Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s argument that the parameters of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA)were not suitable for the state, the Pendu Majdoor Union said the government was not in favour of implementing the scheme.

“Who would not be prepared to work on Rs 137 per day for 8 hours out of the poor people?” asked Tarsem Peter, president of the union. He said earlier the rate under the NREGA was Rs 123 for 8 hours work per day but the wages had been enhanced to Rs 137 per day since September 1.

Giving instances Peter said women labour was given Rs 60 per head and men Rs 70 per head per day for picking up potato by farmers in Doaba region. Labour who came from far away border villages were given Rs 60-70 per day by potato growers. They would be glad to work at Rs 137 per day, he said. However, neither there was intention at the political level nor at the official level to implement NREGA for the welfare of the people of the state.

As the BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu had raised the issue of poor implementation of the NREGA scheme in the state, Badal had stated that its parameters were not suitable to Punjab. He had stated that no one was prepared to work on the wages offered under the scheme.

He said the officials given the task to implement the scheme in the state had distorted the scheme in their own way. At some places labour had been offered Rs 25-30 for working whole day, he said. Giving another example, he said most of the farmers give Rs 2,000 per month to their labour engaged on contract basis. “That means less than Rs 70 per day. And such labour had to work from morning till late evening at farms,” he said. “So, there was no logic in the Chief Minister’s argument that no one was prepared at the wages being offered under NREGA scheme.

Punjab has the largest population of poor people in the country. Dalit population was about 30 per cent. “NREGA should be most successful scheme in the state if it is sincerely implemented,” said Peter.

Ludhiana, December 13
Holding the Badal family responsible for the December 5 police firing, panthic organisations today resolved to boycott the ‘‘Badal Dal’’ in all religious and political elections.

The panthic organisations including Dal Khalsa, Delhi Gurdwara Dharam Prachar Committee, Tat Khalsa and several others said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was an ‘‘enemy of Sikhs’’ and appealed to Sikhs not to vote for his group in any elections.

They demanded a CBI inquiry into the firing incident. Stating that only an independent agency could bring forth the truth, the panthic leaders said after the inquiry, they would knock at the doors of the Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister, the President and the United Nations.

Holding BJP MLA Harish Bedi a prime accused in the firing incidents, the panthic leaders said he incited the violence in Ludhiana. They resolved to continue with the struggle till Bedi, his son, Honey Bedi, and police officials resorting to firing were booked for the murder of Darshan Singh, a victim of police firing.

Without naming any organisations and leaders, the panthic leaders named them as ‘‘agents’’ of Badals, who were indulging in ‘‘anti-panthic’’ activities. They would boycot them and warned to name them in public if they did not stop their activities.

Interestingly, the leaders today thanked AICC spokesperson and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari for taking up the matter in Parliament.

All these resolutions were passed during an ‘ardas diwas’ organised to pray for the health of radical Sikhs injured in the firing. Prominent panthic leaders present on the occasion included Bhai Ranjit Singh, former Jathedar of Akal Takhat, Bhai Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib of the Dal Khalsa, Bhai Tarsem Singh, chairman of Delhi Gurudwara Dharam Prachar Committee, RP Singh Chandigarh, Bhai Jarnail Singh of Tat Khalsa and Bhai Baljinder Singh Jindu. 

Patiala, December 13
Leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said today that the Congress would explore all possible options for the requisite action against state Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon for his indictment by the CBI in the alleged job scam.

Claiming that it had been nine months since the CBI had been demanding sanction from the state government for the prosecution of Kahlon, Bhattal said the Congress was committed to take the issue to a logical end.

Talking to mediapersons at the Circuit House here, she said the party was consulting senior lawyers in this regard, so that a challan against Kahlon could be submitted in a court. “We will meet Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in this regard,” she added.

Coming down heavily on the state government, Bhattal said in wake of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, it was must to impose President’s rule.

Bhattal alleged that the Opposition was not given time to raise public issues and Zero Hour was skipped in the brief winter session that concluded last week.

Bhattal also accused Akalis of resorting to hooliganism, as the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister failed to respond to questions put up by Congress legislators in the House.

Bathinda, December 13
Bathinda and Faridkot districts of the Malwa region are among the three districts of the state that have been selected for the implementation of the “Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness Project” on influenza. The third district is Hoshiarpur, in which this project will also be implemented by the Punjab Red Cross Society. The duration of this project is said to be one year.

This project has support of the USAID through International Federation of Red Cross for its implementation in letter and in spirit. To run the affairs of the project in a proper manner, three posts have been sanctioned under the project for each district --- district project coordinator, district communication and reporting officer and district finance and administration officer, who will be given a fixed amount as salary every month.

Under the project, district-level preparedness plans will be developed. Besides, training programmes for the volunteers, health workers and community members will be conducted for the proper implementation of the project.

The secretary of the Bathinda District Red Cross Society, JR Goyal, said under this project even the menace of the swine flu disease would also be covered. He said implementation of the project would be started in the district as and when the posts were filled by the authorities concerned.

When The Tribune contacted the project director of the Punjab State Red Cross Society, RP Verma, over the phone, he said the interviews for the posts would be conducted soon by the society. He said it was yet to be decided whether the interviews for these posts would be held at the state headquarters or in the respective districts. But the process to fill the posts would be completed in a fortnight, he added. 

Chandigarh, December 13
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced that the government would spend Rs 62 crore for the insurance scheme of animals recommended by the Punjab Farmers’ Commission in next five years. Further, the government would constitute a committee for the fixation of milk prices in the state.

It was announced by Parkash Singh Badal at Kisan Bhawan today during a seminar on ‘Commercial Dairy Farming - A Successful Venture’ organised by the Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association (PDFA).

Badal called upon the farmers with small land holdings to adopt dairy farming as full-time occupation. He said the state government had chalked out a programme to providing finical and technical assistance to promote commercial dairy farming and facilitate the farmers with land less than 5 acre.

Expressing concern over poor quality of buffaloes, Badal asked the PDFA to set up a breading centre to produce healthy animals and assured full support by the government.

He further said with collective efforts of the association members, a new era of commercial dairy farming had initiated.

Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister, Punjab, Gulzar Singh Ranike, invited the farmers to avail facilities of training offered by the dairy development department and GADVASU, Ludhiana. He assured that the farmers and the Animal Husbandry Department would soon launch a campaign to control brucellosis and other diseases.

He said a project for development of buffaloes was being implemented, under which facilities of artificial insemination in buffaloes would be provided. Initially, 600 Integrated Buffalo Development Centres would be set up, covering 3,000 villages in the state. The government had earmarked Rs 60 crore for the project, he added.

Chairman, Punjab State Farmers Commission, Dr GS Kalkat, emphasised on the need to control incidences of brucellosis and IBR diseases in milch animals. He urged the government to facilitate the PDFA for importing sexed semen to ensure sufficient availability of female cows in future.

Abohar, December 13
To provide good quality kinnow to consumers in far-off states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, a number of grading, waxing and packing units in the private sector have sprung up in this belt which has emerged as the hub of the citrus fruit.

As many as 25 units were working round the clock and three more are in the pipeline. Each unit is handling about 600 quintals of kinnow every day for being exported to Bangladesh and consumption in various markets, including, Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

Orchardists, who were earlier dependant only on cotton and other crops, have now switched over to kinnow cultivation that was a lucrative business.

Madan Lal, sarpanch of Sappanwali, said more than 90 per cent farmers in his area have switched over to kinnow and about 3,000 hectares were under cultivation of the fruit. Abohar and areas in its vicinity have kinnow cultivation in an area of 37,000 hectares.

Surinder Kumar, whose waxing and grading unit was inaugurated on Wednesday, said three such units have been established in the Badal village and two in Hoshiarpur. Besides, 10 were in the neighbouring Ganganagar district of Rajasthan.

Surinder Kumar said consumers have now become quality conscious as a result of which proper grading, waxing and packing of the fruit was necessary. Waxing increases shelf life of the fruit that is transported all the way to Chennai and Karnataka where it takes six days to reach.

He said with the increasing production, 25 more waxing and packing units would be viable in the area.

Grower Raj Pal said he was harvesting a bumper crop of kinnow this time. However, lesser flow of irrigation water in the canals has led to delay in ripening of the fruit.

Surinder Kumar, who has himself acquired a couple of orchards on contract, said kinnow was available at Rs 12 per kg at the orchard and a carton containing 10 kg of graded and waxed fruit was fetching anything between Rs 280 to Rs 300.

About 50 trained packers from UP and Bihar were among the nearly 110 workforce that has been employed by him for the kinnow season.

Phool Chand has come with a group of 32 trained packers from Bihar for handing the operation in a local unit. They will camp here for four months. He said he had been coming here regularly for the past 10 years for working in different fruit packing units.

Kinnow cultivation has grown tremendously in the state during the past 16 years. The three grading and waxing houses established by the Punjab Agro in 1993 were sufficient to handle the entire production of the state. However, need for setting up more and more such units was now being felt.

Phool Chand said the grading and waxing house in which he was working was packing 6,000 cartons of kinnow daily.

Ludhiana, December 13
The managements of schools affiliated to Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) are up in arms against the board for withdrawing the affiliation of 187 schools of Punjab.

The board had withdrawn the affiliation for failing to have provided affidavits of salary payment to the staff.

The association of PSEB-affiliated schools of Punjab has decided to close the 2,880 affiliated schools across the state on December 15 and 16. The decision was taken during a meeting held here today.

Dr Ravinder Singh Mann, state president of the association, said the school managements are protesting against the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to fix Rs 5,480 as basic salary for teaching staff and Rs 4,550 for elementary teachers.

As per the board’s rules, the schools have to make the payments through account payee’s cheques, failing which, the board withdraws the affiliation of defaulters.

However, he said: “Many schools charge a meager amount from the students as fee. For managements of these, it is not possible to pay huge amounts to their staff.”

He said the school managements are protesting to protect 2,880 PSEB-affiliated schools in Punjab with over 60,000 staff members 
and 20 lakh students on rolls and their affiliation.

Total 187 schools situated in Ludhiana, Moga, Amritsar, Bathinda, Kapurthala, Barnala, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Mohali, Ropar, Patiala, Muktsar, Mansa and S.B.S. Nagar had lost affiliation, the decision of which was announced by the board through newspapers.

Gurdaspur, December 13
Throwing their addiction to drugs to the winds and embracing life in a positive and inspiring way, as many as 37 drug addicts joined hands and cleaned the civil hospital here yesterday.

Hailing from different parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and undergoing treatment at the Red Cross-run Drug De-addiction Centre, the youngsters earned applause from the patients and the hospital staff for their act.

These addicts, who age between 16 and 30 years, resolved to shun drugs forever. They have already won half of their battle against drugs by completing a major part of their ongoing 35-day long de-addiction course after being motivated by 
de-addiction centre’s project director Romesh Mahajan and counsellors, including Saroj Bala, HS Bedi, Raghbir Singh and Rajnish.

Patients and staff of the local civil hospital were amazed to see a team of youngsters descending early in the morning to pick up the job of cleaning the hospital complex. They not only made the OPD appear spick and span in no time, but also cleaned all other wards of the hospital during their three-hour long “operation clean-up”, which concluded at around 1 p.m.

“What proved to be most satisfying for us was the response of patients and the hospital staff,” said civil surgeon Dr NS Batra. “We are overwhelmed to see that we have not been discarded by the society. Now we have started feeling once again that we are also part and parcel of the society. We are very happy to have done this work for others,” said some of the visibly elated youngsters.

Most of them hail from far off places like Bilaspur and Chamba in Himachal Pradesh and they had been into drugs like cough syrups, charas, smack and liquor for a couple of years before landing at the centre.

Mahajan said the youngsters were strong-willed and had resolved against consuming drugs in future. 

Sangrur, December 13
Coke for Corex, kaju (cashew nut) for painkiller capsules, ‘kali nagni’ for opium, lal ghoda (red horse) for proxyvon painkiller and neela ghoda (blue horse) for pravonplas painkiller. These are the codes used by drug addicts for referring to these medicines, which they use as drugs.

Mohan Sharma, who is working as an administrator at the Red Cross De-addiction Centre here since 2005, revealed these codes.

Sharma, who has also written his experiences with addicts in a book “Nashe Vich Rurda Punjab”, says: “These names are used by addicts for procuring drugs from suppliers and also to communicate with other addicts.”

Sharma asserts that besides procuring drugs from medical shops, the addicts also avail the services of suppliers running mobile shops. They use code language - “Yeh slip doctor sahib ne bheji hai” (this slip has been sent by the doctor) - to procure their quota of medicines used as drugs from chemist shops while some suppliers also keep these medicines in scooters.

Sharma adds that some medical shops have even started giving home delivery of drugs. They also give them offers like they give one strip or one bottle (syrups) free of cost for the purchase of four to five strips or bottles.

Drug addicts, who are undergoing de-addiction at the centre, confirmed the codes being used by them. The police said it knew about these codes being used by drug addicts and efforts were on to arrest people selling drugs to them.

Ludhiana, December 13
Fire safety seems to be low on priority for the Punjab government. The fact could be gauged from the figures that only 242 firemen are available for a population of over 30 lakh in the five biggest

cities of the state i.e. Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala.

While the fire departments all over Punjab have been demanding for the past few years that the Fire Safety Act be implemented, no heed is being paid to them.

On the contrary, genuine demands of the fire departments like procurement of hydraulic stairs, etc have not been accepted, exposing the non-seriousness of the government.

Talking to The Tribune, officials said, "Even after the Jaipur incident, the Punjab government has not given any thought to fire safety. The last recruitment of fire officials was done in the 1980s after

which people were recruited only on compassionate grounds."

In 1981, Ludhiana had around 127 firemen, but today as the population is increasing, the manpower of the department has been reduced to 70.

Similar is the case for Jalandhar where there were around 100 firemen in 1980, but today there are only 46 of them.

Fire department officials across the state rued that multi-storeyed buildings were coming up increasingly in almost every part of Punjab. "There is not even a single fire department except Chandigarh that has a hydraulic staircase. Bathinda has such a big oil refinery and yet there are no reserves of foam," added a fire department official from Bathinda.

Similarly, staff crunch has paralysed the working of this department as officials are on duty for around 12 hours per day and that, too, without any extra payment. Another example is of Amritsar where the post of the ADFO has been given to ADFO, Jalandhar.

"Neither any training programmes are organised for us within the state,

nor are we sent for training to other states. There are many states where fire departments work swiftly and are uptodate," added the officials. They rued that most of them retired at the ADFO level without increments or better pay scales. 

Chandigarh, December 13
Jails in Punjab are all set to turn prisoner-friendly. It may send surprise bells ringing, but the jails will now have PCOs for inmates to make phone calls and de-addiction centres for getting rid of dependence on narcotics. Efforts are also on for decongesting the jails by constructing new prisons in the state.

A third eye will also keep a watch on the prisoners, with the jail authorities planning to install close circuit television cameras for effective surveillance.

The steps being taken by the state were yesterday brought to the notice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal is currently hearing a petition on conditions prevailing in Bathinda jail.

In the affidavit placed before the Bench, principal secretary, department of home affairs and justice, A.R. Talwar said the PCOs would prevent the use of mobile phones by the jail inmates. The facility would be provided in all jails; and to begin with a PCO had recently been installed at the Ludhiana central jail.

Simultaneously, the feasibility of installing jammers was also being explored for blocking the mobile signal.

Not refuting categorically the allegations on the use of narcotics in the jails, Talwar asserted the director-general of the Punjab police has asked the superintendents of the jails to be more vigilant for preventing the use of drugs; and the issue of establishing de-addition centres within the jails was being examined.

In an attempt to decongest the jails, Talwar said the state was actively pursuing the construction of new prisons. As of now, the process of setting up two new jails at Faridkot and Kapurthala was in advance stages. The feasibility of filling up 24 posts of assistant superintendents was also being explored.