Jalandhar, March 30
In spite of the fact that Jalandhar is one of the districts which witnessed a high death count during the swine flu epidemic, the district health authorities are still waiting for the consignment of the swine flu vaccine.

It is learnt that the Government of India dispatched the vaccine to the state health authorities approximately 15 days back.

However, neither district nor state health authorities bothered to consign the vaccine to the respective targets.

As per sources in the Health Department, district health authorities sought to administer the swine flu vaccine to approximately 2,100 health professionals, who fall under the high-risk category and authorities had put the demand of the vaccine for all such professionals.

District health authorities had to organise vaccination camps in the civil hospital and other major centers to administer vaccines to professionals scattered across the district.

However, nothing has materialised as authorities fail even at the earliest step of procuring the vaccine from the state health authorities.

District Health Officer Dr Roop Lal, who also serves as District Nodal Officer to tackle the swine flu epidemic, said district authorities would get the vaccine in a day or two.

“Some of our staff members are going to the state capital to attend an official meeting. It is expected that higher authorities might deliver a consignment of vaccine to them. We will start our vaccination campaign very soon”, added District Health Officer Dr Lal.

Low turnout of vaccine seekers is expected as viral outbreak is nearly over by now.

“Prevailing opinion amid professionals is that there will be no taker for vaccines as no case of swine flu has been registered in the past few weeks. Moreover, no propaganda campaign regarding the vaccine has been launched by the authorities. Though, as of now, the vaccine is meant only for scientific tempered health professionals, but it will definitely take time to sensitise them,” said a senior health official. 

Pathankot, March 30
Hide and seek play of children led to the revelation of the murder of a man by his wife with the help of her paramour.

The police today arrested Sukhwinder Kaur, alias Sukhi (45) and her paramour Bhushan Kumar for the murder of Rakesh Kumar, husband of Sukhwinder Kaur.

SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said the murder came to light when children of Luxmi Garden Colony here were playing in the backyard of the house located in the colony and during play the cover of the septic tank slipped to some distance. When the children tried to put the cover in its place they saw a human body in the septic tank. They told the owner of the house who informed the police.

A police team led by SHO Dev Dutt Sharma visited the site and recovered a headless body from the septic tank. The police inquired about the incident but no one told about the dead body. The police than mounted pressure on the landlord of the house and tenants Sukhwinder Kaur. Sukhwinder broke in and revealed the whole story of the murder of her husband.

Virk said during preliminary investigation Sukhwinder confessed that her husband Rakesh Kumar was working as carpenter in Srinagar and she was living here in rented rooms. Her daughter Aarti was married to Binder Kumar and Aarti’s brother-in-law Bhushan Kumar (23) was living with her.

Virk said Sukhwinder Kaur and her son Rikka (10) and Bhushan Kumar were living together in a house and in the absence of her husband, Sukhwinder developed illicit relations with Bhushan Kumar. They conspired to eliminate Rakesh Kumar. Rakesh Kumar came from Srinagar on March 9. In the evening Bhushan Kumar and Rakesh Kumar had some liquor. Bhushan attacked Rakesh Kumar with a baseball bat. When he fell down unconscious, Sukhwinder beheaded his body with a dagger and threw it in the Chakki river. The headless body was thrown in a septic tank to conceal the murder.

The police arrested both the accused under sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC.

Amritsar, March 30
The 16th battalion of the Punjab regiment, also known as 2nd Patiala Infantry, and one of the oldest battalions of the Army, celebrated its 300th year of raising at Tibri military station, near Gurdaspur, today.

The battalion’s history of 300 glorious years represents the legacy of honour, courage and devotion to duty, distinguishing itself in all fields. A large number of retired personnel of the battalion, travelled from all over the country to participate in the commemorative function.

The battatlion was raised as part of the Royal State Patiala Forces on March 31, 1710, by Baba Ala Singh who was the founder of the Patiala state. In 1920, the battalion was named as 2nd Patiala Infantry and was brought under the Indian State Forces Scheme. The unit was renamed as 2nd Patiala Yadavindra Infantry in 1928.

To mark the tercentenary of the battalion, a number of celebrations were held at Tibri cantonment, near Gurdaspur. A special sainik sammelan was organised and it was presided over by Major-Gen S.P.S. Sidhu (retd) and Col R.K. Tuli (retd).

War veterans and “veer naris” were specially invited to participate in the celebrations.

A coffee table book, specially compiled to cover the 300 years of the history of 16 Punjab (Patiala) was released during the function. Earlier on March 19, a commemorative postage stamp was also released.

The battallion has a rich and glorious history of martial spirit and personal valour during pre-Independence and post-Independence.

The battalion earned a name for itself in Suez Canal (Egypt) and Gaza (Palestine) operations during World War I and in Kohat/Thal Bandaur (NWFP) operations during World War II. During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, the battalion was responsible for the capture of Ichhogil canal in the area of Barki village astride Khalra - Lahore Axis - and was awarded battle honour “Barki” and theatre honour “Punjab”. 

Hoshiarpur, March 30
Cancellation of examination duty by Panjab University of a centre superintendent at TMD College at the 11th hour has raised many doubts on the functioning of the college management and university officials.

Moreover, this has exposed a major nexus between private colleges and certain officials of the university.

Dr Harsh Kumar Mehta, Associate Professor, Department of Sanskrit, Government Arts and Science College, Talwara, in a complaint to the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University has alleged that his duty as centre superintendent at TMD College, Bringli, near Hoshiarpur, was cancelled with an intension to facilitate mass copying.

A member of the Academic Council, Panjab University, Mehta was astonished on receiving a fax message from the university (letter No. 4094-98/c) regarding cancellation of his duty from the college due to some administrative reasons.

Mehta, who is also a member of the Undergraduate Board of Studies in Sanskrit, Panjab University, in a letter to the VC has also said that Dr Surjit Singh was also deputed as centre superintendent at TMD College, Bringli, for the past two consecutive years.

“The shifting of duty of Dr Surjit Singh from GN Khalsa College, Sham Chaurasi, to TMD College shows some mollified intension of some bickered minds,” the complaint reads.

“It is my right to know those administrative reasons due to which the university was forced to cancel my duty as centre superintendent from TMD College, Bringli and Dr Surjit Singh was deputed in my place,” says Mehta.