Jalandhar, May 12
Redressal of power-related problems of city residents are just a phone call away with Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (Powercon) starting four nodal complaint centres (NCC) in the city.

Consumers will have to dial 0161-5055510 for getting their grievances registered regarding no supply, low voltage or any related complaint. The centres will cater to the people of East Special Operation Division, Model Town Operation Division, West Operation Division and Cantonment Operation Division.

Vinod Kumar, Chief Engineer, North, said the only information the consumers would have to provide to get their complaint lodged was the power connection number or complete address, the nearest landmark and contact number.

The NCCs had been outsourced and would be manned round the clock. The complaints would be automatically routed to the computer installed in the respective divisions. The staff at the NCCs would direct the staff at the complaint centre to deal with the problem and an official like a lineman, assistant line man would inform the NCCs that the grievance had been redressed, he added.

The system would not only result in better monitoring of the complaints as any unattended one would reflect on the computers, but also free the complaint centre staff for more field duties. Consumers, too, would be better served since courteous staff would attend them round the clock, he pointed out.

Listing the additional advantages, he said the NCCs, too, would inform the callers if there were any individual breakdown of a feeder of the grid. In this way accurate and reliable information would be available to the consumers, he added.

Jalandhar is the fifth city after Amritsar, Bhatinda, SAS Nagar and Ludhiana to have this facility.

Jalandhar, May 12
Expressing apprehensions of the medical fraternity over the Clinical Establishment Bill, 2010, the state unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) demanded that adequate representation of medical professionals and medical associations should be made possible in the bodies which would frame rules and regulations under the bill. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on May 5.

IMA state president Dr R.S. Parmar said the under-representation of the medical fraternity could be gauged from the fact that only one medical graduate would be taken as a member on a 20-member National Council which would be constituted to frame and implement the guidelines, once the bill would be cleared by the Rajya Sabha.

“Representation of the allopathy stream, which produces more than 30,000 graduates every year, would be the same as that of ayurveda, unani, sidha and homoeopathy, which collectively produce just a few thousand doctors across the country,” said Dr Parmar.

We demand that at least four medical graduates should be taken as members in such councils, both at national and state levels, he added. Questioning the need of such act, he said, “Organ Transplant Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Pre-Natal Determination Act already exist. What is the need of regulating the profession which has already been regulated through such acts?” — TNS

Gurdaspur, May 12
The Fateh march, being organised by the SGPC to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the victory of Sikh warrior Banda Bahadur, today entered Punjab at Madhopur, 40 km from here, amid an aura of festivity and gaiety.

The Fateh march is being held to commemorate the heroic deeds of Banda Bahadur, who took on the might of the Mughal empire in the Battle of Sirhind in 1710 and established Sikh rule in areas of present day Punjab. He was christened Banda Singh Bahadur by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, for his acts of bravery.

The 5 km-long march, comprising of hundreds of buses and other vehicles, was welcomed at Madhopur by Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, Public Relations Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Qadian MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodinagal and Gurdaspur Zila Parishad Chairman Talok Singh Bath.

The march originated from Banda Singh Bahadur’s birthplace at Rajouri and will reach the Golden Temple at night before it moves on to Sirhind tomorrow. At Gurdaspur the devotees were welcomed by local MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali. People had made elaborate arrangements for langar at various places in Madhopur and Gurdaspur.