Gurdaspur, January 16
The Gurdaspur health authorities seem to be on the right track as far as tackling the menace of the dreaded swine flu is concerned. Not even a single causality has been reported throughout the district ever since the epidemic broke out early last year.

Statistics culled from the Civil Surgeon’ office revealed that the first case of suspected swine flu was recorded in July last year and till date there have been just six confirmed cases but no causalities.

The authorities believe that by following the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Emergency Medical Relief) to the hilt, they have been successful in keeping swine flu cases to the bare minimum.

Dr Adarsh Jot Kaur, an epidemiologist at the Civil Hospital, said their focus was on keeping a strict observation on relatives and other contacts of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus due to which they managed to keep the disease at bay.

She said recently two contacts of a Gurdaspur-based suspected case of swine flu disappeared from the queue at the swine flu screening counter at the Rajasansi International Airport, Amritsar. Both the relatives had arrived from Dubai and sensing harassment at the hands of the airport authorities, managed to pull wool over the eyes of the doctors manning the swine flu counter.

However, the duo was later tracked down to this city and immediately put under observation. “District Health Officer Dr Ram Lal, who is also the Nodal Officer of swine flu cases in this district, played a pivotal role in tracking down the contacts. In this way we prevented the possible outbreak of the disease,” observed Dr Kaur.

Till date the District Health authorities have put 104 contacts under observation.

Civil Surgeon Dr H.S. Batra admitted that the health authorities were quite up to the mark in handling the disease.

All the 14 primary health centres of the district have formed their own teams which visit educational institutions in their respective areas to make students aware of the disease. “If any suspected case is found, the team relies on containing the flu by performing ‘ring prophylaxis’, a method that uses anti-flu drugs, vaccines and quarantine to isolate outbreaks of the infection.

Schools are also being discouraged to send troupes and excursions abroad and if at all students do have to go abroad they are advised to stay at home for a minimum period of seven days when they come back,” said Dr Adarsh Jot Kaur.

The Civil Surgeon added that his department was following the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, which is intended to detect early warning signals of impending outbreaks and helps in initiating an effective and early response.

Phillaur, January 16
A Lohri function hosted by NRI Bahadur Singh Virk in nearby Masani village, late on Wednesday night, wound up in an ugly turn of events as an Apra village resident, identified as Jagdev Singh Somal, was reportedly murdered with sharp-edged weapons by some assailants during a Lohri function.

The deceased was first admitted to a Phillaur Hospital, but was shifted to a private hospital in Ludhiana where he scummbed to his injuries in the wee hours of Thursday. Reports said a minor quarrel during the cocktain party of the Lohri function was said to be the cause of murder.

Unfortunately, the functioning of the Phillaur police gave in to favouritism and could not dare to book a close aide of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarwan Singh Phillaur, despite repeated demands of the citizens to book and arrest the assailants, including former Masani village sarpanch.

Irate residents blocked traffic on the national highway near the main bus stand in Goraya on Thursday and long queues of vehicles were seen stranded during the blockade.

Later, Phillaur DSP Kamaljeet Singh Dhillon reached the site of the blockade and assured to act according to the law. The blockade was lifted when DSP Dhillon announced that the Phillaur police has registered a case under section 302, 148 and 149 of the IPC against about 10 persons, including Sukhpalbir Ruby (ex-sarpanch of Masani village), and Bhagu Ram along with half a dozen other accomplices.

Though the police has registered a case against the accused, no arrest has been made so far and all the accused are still at large.

Tarn Taran, January 16
A scuffle among transporters over weighing of trucks first, at a weigh bridge, in the border township of Chabal, 20 km from here today, led to firing.

Manjit Singh Sodhi of the township had a narrow escape in the firing. However, Bakshish Singh and his son Ajaybir Singh have been booked under section 307 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act by the Chabal police.

SSP Sukhdev Singh Brar told this correspondent that the accused have been arrested. He added that Manjit Singh was weighing his trucks over the weigh bridge when the accused tried to get their trucks weighed first, out of turn. Both the parties had a heated exchange and then the accused opened fire on Manjit Singh but he escaped unhurt by hiding behind a truck.

Firings in Phagwara: SHO removed

Phagwara: Taking serious notice of the increasing incidents of firing and rampant violence in Phagwara during the last 15 days, Kapurthala SSP Ram Singh has removed SHO (City) Amrik Singh Chahal and appointed Sarwan Singh Bal as new SHO (City) Phagwara. Bal has been instructed to take his charge immediately. — OC

Kapurthala, January 16
With an aim to reduce the chances of impersonation and maintenance of transparency in the recruitment process, the Army has introduced the Interactive Voice System (IVS)-biometric authentication.

This was disclosed by Deputy Director General (recruiting) Headquarter Recruiting Zone (Punjab and J&K), Jalandhar, Brigadier K.D. Malhotra during the Army open recruitment rally at the Guru Nanak Stadium, Kapurthala, yesterday. The recruitment rally was a three-day affair.

Addressing the media, Brigadier Malhotra said the introduction of the biometric system has not only reduced the chances of proxy candidates but reduced the amount of paper work as well.

“There have been cases of impersonation in the past and the biometric system is an attempt to curb this malpractice in the Army”, he added.

The system was introduced in December last year during an Army recruitment rally at Faridkot. It was introduced as a trial at a recent recruitment rally at Ludhiana as well.

The biometric system includes a complete scan of human physical characteristics with face shape, fingerprints for identification and a web image of the candidate. The system also includes details like the state, district and run groups of the candidates.

Answering a query pertaining to the candidates having faced a difficult time in finding a shelter yesterday night, the officer said the district administration had made adequate arrangements for the boys.

“The local gurdwaras and the Red Cross came forward to lend a helping hand to the candidates. Enough arrangements pertaining to the langar were also made”, he added. The officer also said the next recruitment rally would be held at Patiala on February 3. It might be noted that the rally was meant for Soldier General Duty Category the candidates of four districts of Punjab - namely Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar.

Further talking about the number of youth who joined armed forces, Brigadier Malhotra said approximately 3,000 youths got selected in different branches last year under various recruitment rallies held by the recruitment office.

“We have seven Regional Recruitment Headquarters at Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir under which we carried out recruitment drives,” he added.

The physical fitness tests (PFT) and physical measurement tests (PMT) would almost be completed by January 16 whereas medical tests for successful candidates will continue till January 17.

In addition, the recruitment rally was also open for all districts of Punjab for Soldier Technical and Soldier Clerk/Store Keeper Clerk Categories for all candidates hailing from Punjab.