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PU don latest victim of ATM fraud
Chandigarh, August 22 In their complaint filed at the Sector 39 police station, Sangeeta Arora, a professor in the varsity’s statistics department, and her husband, Anil Kumar Arora, director of BIS, claimed they had lost Rs 80,060 in the fraudulent operation during the past two days. Like in the other cases the Aroras are also customers of the State Bank of India and have an account in the bank’s branch in Sector 14. Talking to TNS, the couple claimed the ATM card, which belongs to Sangeeta, was lying with them. “Everything was fine till August 17 as my wife had withdrawn Rs 2,000 from her account on that day. It came as a shock when we checked our account today and found someone had withdrawn Rs 80,060 from wife’s bank account on August 18 and 19,” Anil stated. The account statement showed the miscreants had used different ATM counters of different banks in the city. “According to the statement the cloned card was used ten times during the two days at seven different ATMs in different sectors, including Sectors 30 and 32,” Anil claimed. On the rising incidents of cloned ATMs being used to withdraw funds, SSP Sudhanshu Srivastava said, “It is certainly a matter of concern. We are investigating the cases and the CCTV footage at the ATMs would be seen to ascertain the identity of the suspects.”
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Six lives snuffed out in mishaps
Panchkula, August 22 The other victims have been identified as Sandeep, 30, and Palak, 5, all residents of Purkhowal village in Ropal district. The three were immediately rushed to General Hospital, Sector 6 in a critical condition where they were declared brought dead. However, Dimple’s younger daughter Arsh, 2, whom the deceased was carrying in her lap, escaped death but was seriously injured after she was tossed into a nearby field. She was referred to PGI where her condition is stated to
be critical. Giving details of the incident, Roshan Lal, Dimple’s brother, said his sister along with her husband and two daughters had visited his home house yesterday evening to enquire about the health of his father who was injured after he had slipped in the house. He added she also tied a rakhi on his wrist as only a few days were left for the ‘Raksha Bandhan’ festival and she had to return to her in-laws’ house soon. Unable to control his tears Lal said the family had left home on their motorcycle (registration no: PB12A 7289) at about 6 am and were involved in a head-on collision with a truck (no: HP12A 6614). “I along with my mother and father immediately left for the hospital and only came to know about the incident there after the police informed us at about 7 am. Sandeep and his younger brother were running a general provision store in their village,” he stated. The police has registered a case against the truck driver.
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Roof collapse kills couple
Chandigarh, August 22 Fortunately, the couple’s three sons were saved as they went to sleep in a nearby under-construction house last night. According to Gurmukh Singh, incharge of the police post of the area, the house was an old and ‘kutcha’ structure. “Its roof collapsed due to the continuous rain,” he said. Residents of the village including Balhar’s brother, who lives in the neighbourhood, pulled out the couple from the debris. They were taken to PGI where doctors declared them brought dead. The police was informed at about 6.30 am. Balhar was carpenter by profession who also dealt in the milk business.
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School principal run over by truck
Rajpura, August 22 As per the information, Joyce was going to inform her friends and relatives in Amritsar about her husband’s death anniversary. She left for Amritsar in a car with her driver. However, she got a call from some friends that they, too, are on way to Amritsar and she may come along with them. The principal asked the driver to take a U-turn on
the GT Road to wait for her friends on other side of the highway near Mc Donald’s outlet. When the friends reached, Joyce decided to cross the highway. Though the driver insisted to drop her on the other side of the road in the car, she asked him to leave. As soon as she crossed one side of the road, a speeding truck crushed her to death and fled. The principal is survived by a son, who is also running a school in Rajpura. A case in this connection has been registered against the truck driver.
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MC dallies on recouping mounting arrears
In some cases the MC is not even aware about the sources that have yet to pay outstanding dues. According to a clause of its regulations on collection of taxes or rent, if any defaulter does not clear due even after a number of reminders the civic body is empowered to seal his property to recover the arrears. However, very few defaulters have been penalised so far. MC records show the major defaulters include those, particularly liquor stores, who have not paid property tax and or water tariffs and have not heeded the notices and those who have yet to clear long-pending tax or rent arrears. The MC records also stated since the past two years the tender for advertisements on bus stops had expired. The corporation has failed to fix the monthly rentals for about 150 milk booths that are under its jurisdiction in the city. The records show in March this year the property tax department served notices to 18,556 defaulters owing Rs 17 crore to the civic body. Officials have to yet recover Rs 45 lakh from 14 liquor vendors that have not paid any rent to the corporation for the past two years. Among the liquor store defaulters the highest amount pending is of Rs 7.2 lakh that has not been paid for two years. Though the public health department had served notices to over 500 water tariff defaulters owing more than Rs 5 crore, the arrears have yet to be cleared. Notices were even served to 27 owners of owners of
sheds selling second-hand books in Sector 15, who have not paid any rent for the past nine months. There have also been cases in the property tax department where officials are clueless as to whom to serve the notices, as they have no records about who owns the property. As a result there are several property owners who have never deposited commercial property tax ever since it was introduced in the city in 2004. At a recent meeting of the MC’s finance & contract committee mayor Anu Chatrath had asked officials to recover outstanding dues and take stringent action against those who did not pay up.
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All Mohali PCR vehicles equipped with GPS
Mohali, August 22 The facility mounted on 18 vehicles, motorcycles and gypsies, guides the PCR party concerned to reach a crime spot, depending upon its location. Senior officials have also been equipped with the facility to check movement of the PCR vehicles while sitting in their office. Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar said the GPS facility was part of modernisation of the control room that has been set up at the Phase-VIII police station. Though functional for the past few months, the new building would be formally inaugurated soon by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Besides Geographical Information System and Global Positioning System technologies-based Automatic Vehicle Tracking System (AVTS) to track the PCR vans and motorcycles, data of all mobile subscribers of the tricity and Punjab region has also been fed into the record of the control room. “It will enable the control room officials to track down anonymous callers,” said an official. Mohali is among six districts selected by the Punjab police for the upgradation of the PCR facility. Officials informed that the digital map of the town and the location of the PCR vehicles could be seen on a central screen using a map projection system in the respective PCRs. It has been proposed to record all calls received on the helpline number at two places simultaneously - at Digital Voice Logging System for central recording and at the Local Area Network for individual recordings. Each call would be recorded and attached to a challan form and would be forwarded to the dispatch wireless operator on LAN, along with the challan.
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Power supply to city sectors
Inquiries revealed that the residents of northern sectors, especially Sectors 1 to 6, seldom feel the power cuts, which are a routine affair in the southern sectors.”The residents of the VIP sectors seem to be maintenance-proof regaring the power supply even though southern sectors reel under the unannounced shutdowns,” SK Khosla, a resident of Sector 40, alleged. Sources said given the VIP status of the areas in the northern sectors, the power supply is sourced from multiple sources so that there were no power cuts when power supply failed from one source. A senior official conceded that since these sectors were inhabitated by Punjab and Haryana Governors, Punjab and Haryana Chief Ministers, besides scores of ministers, judges and other dignitaries, the UT Administration could not afford to take chances on the power supply to these sectors. Besides these sectors, parts of Sectors 16 and 24, where senior bureaucrats and judges reside, were also “maintenance-proof” as far as the electricity supply was concerned. Another factor for lop-sided power distribution in southern sectors, the sources said, was the high-density of population.With the coming up of the multi-storeyed aparements, partcularly in Phase III sectors (Sector 48 onwards), the demand for power suddenly shoots up in summer resulting in frequent breakdowns. With an assured power supply of 184 mw, the UT Administration was able to muster a supply of 265 MW last year as against a peak demand of 300 mw.”In the backdrop of the mismatch between demand and supply, the southern sectors will naturally bear the brunt of the power cuts,” the official quipped.
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Power employees’ strike on September 7
Chandigarh: In pursuance of the call given by the central trade unions, the electricity employees of Chandigarh under the banner of UT Powermen Union will observe a one-day strike on September 7.
The decision was taken at the executive committee meeting of the union held under Ram Sarup, president of the union. A strike notice in this regard has been submitted to the UT Chief Engineer and a preparation rally was held before the electricity office at Sector 10. Addressing the rally, general secretary of the union Gopal Datt Joshi criticised the privatisation policies of the Central government and the UT administration. He said these policies were being implemented under the dictate of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. He also flayed the government for its failure to control the prices of essential commodities. Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh administration, Joshi alleged that already agreed demands of the union, including removal of pay anomalies between the senior and junior employees, amendments in rules of various categories, filling of vacant posts in all cadres, scrapping of 5 per cent ceiling on companionate appointments, regularisation of strike period and withdrawal of privatisation of the electricity department and scrapping of the contractual system had not been given due consideration. President of the union Ram Sarup accused the engineering department authorities of dragging their feet on the implementation of the agreed demands.
— TNS
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Double-decker train to chug in by next year
Chandigarh, August 22 Railway Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, rolled out its first AC coach in March this year. After that it went for extensive trial runs. The interior of coaches is similar to that of Shatabdi Express chair car. The difference being that double-decker coaches have two floors in the seating area — ground and upper. The staircase inside the coach will take passengers to the upper floor. The aim behind these coaches was to allow more passengers to travel in trains. Thus, two floors of seating area will double the passenger carrying capacity of the AC chair cars. Each coach of the train will have a capacity of 128 passengers as compared to 78 passengers in Shatabdi chair cars, thus increasing the space by almost 70 per cent. The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) started working on the design in February 2009 and within a year, coaches started undergoing static testing. The coaches have been planned as per the maximum moving gauge. While in a double-decker coach, entry and toilet area remains at the same level from the platform as in any ordinary coach, it is the seating area which has been horizontally divided into two levels, bringing ground floor of the coach at the level of the platform. The design has also been incorporated with crash worthy features, which will keep the passenger area safe against rail collision, derailment or any other train accident. It has entirely been an in-house design of the RDSO. The coaches are also fitted with control discharge toilet system.
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‘Simple surgical mask sufficient’
A triple-layered surgical mask is sufficient for persons providing care to such patients at health institutes. It prevents transmission of the virus from the patient, says Dr Ashish Bhalla, associate professor (tropical medicine), department of internal medicine. The masks are recommended for nursing staff and healthcare workers taking care of seriously ill patients on ventilators needing procedures like intubation, suction and nebulisation who cannot wear masks. Healthcare workers coming in casual contact with an infected patient wearing a mask should not insist on an N95 mask. Swine flu spreads with droplets of cough generated while coughing or sneezing, which cannot travel beyond 6 feet. Those settle down on surfaces around the patient (table, chair, bedsheet, handrail, doorknob, computer keyboard, mobile handset etc). Since those cannot remain suspended in the air for a long time, a simple mask worn by the patient is enough. This mask should be replaced when wet and should be discarded carefully. Keeping a distance of 6 feet from an infected patient can prevent exposure. Disposable tissues or handkerchief should be used while coughing or sneezing if a mask is not available. Hands should be washed after coughing or sneezing. Infected clothing should be washed separately. Shaking hands with infected persons should be avoided. Wearing a mask while on the road or moving outdoors does not serve any purpose. A person taking care of an H1N1 patient should use a mask and change it if it is wet or after 8 to 10 hours. The patient should also change the mask and dispose it properly every 8 to 10 hours. It is not mandatory to use N95 masks. An ill-fitting mask or a mask not properly worn is more dangerous than not wearing a mask. In case nothing is available, any cotton cloth can be tied around the face to cover the mouth and nose. The virus can survive on the surface for up to 8 hours. Repeated cleaning of the area where infected patients are decreases transmission of the virus. Last year, the demand for N95 masks had gone up and chemists had a good time, selling those on premium.
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Hit-and-run case
Chandigarh, August 22 A senior police official said a challan would be presented at the earliest, citing public pressure as the biggest reason. He said even the media was pursuing the matter “very vigorously”, making it very difficult to delay the proceedings. Meanwhile, the investigating team has visited the spot of the incident and certain other places, under surveillance, again to ascertain the facts before finalising the report. In the process, it has also procured the CCTV clippings of the Nik Bakers at Sector 9, where the accused had taken refreshments, just before the accident occurred. “We are relying over the CCTV recording of the Nik bakers showing whether the accused was inebriated at the time of the incident,” said the official. The official said preliminary investigations had been completed and a report was expected any moment now. SHO of the Sector 3 police station Mahavir Singh said the investigations were on. “We cannot disclose the latest developments of the investigation related to CCTV clippings,” he said. It may be noted that the functioning of the police was under scanner from the day the incident took place on August 17. Many sections of media have been accusing the police of favouring the accused Sukhman Brar, who belongs to a rich and influential family and had reportedly led to the death of 21-year-old Sukhwinder Singh and his 5-year-old cousin Harpreet Singh during her alleged car race with friends. Even the family of the victims had alleged about the unfair attitude of the police in the case.
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Open House Response
It is unfortunate, tragic and shocking that on July 21 Bulbul and her husband Chhotu lost their newborn baby in Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16, in full view of doctors, para-medical staff and others.
This is not for the first time that such a tragic incident happened in Chandigarh, but certainly, as indicated in the instant article by Sanjeev Singh Bariana, Bulbul case has become the take off point for yet another debate on the maimed healthcare system. It is common that such incidents happen off and on because of negligence on the part of administrative set up, but the administration wakes up of its slumber after the incidents like “Bulbul case”. In the case, neither anybody has been placed under suspension nor has any compensation been paid to the victim couple till today, except the fact that they have been given a shelter in the Panchayat Bhawan. The city’s medical facilities through PGIMER, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, and Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16, are insufficient to cope with the growing population where patients come from various parts of the region. Chandigarh has a high ratio of 23 beds per 10,000 persons, so one can expectedly experience serpentine queues of patients waiting for their turn. There is a greater need of setting up of another big hospital on the pattern of PGI, especially in the southern sectors at the earliest. There is a need to fix responsibility of officials and staff and take the guilty to task under various sections of the IPC for criminal negligence. The episode can serve as a lesson for others. SK Khosla Private clinics should share load of poor
The “Bulbul case” is certainly a tip of the iceberg. Numerous such cases go unreported. The writer has rightly observed “several babies are delivered on the hospital gate and corridors, while patients and relatives struggle with the procedural wrangling”. The poor and illiterate people visit government hospitals for treatment. But there is no one to guide these poor people. The ground reality shows people standing in long queues, first for registration and then waiting in queues in front of the doctor’s cabin. It is unjustified to blame Dharma, the maid, for serious lapses of the doctors, nurses and other hospital staff that stood shamelessly watching when Bulbul was “forced to move from one room to another in labour pain taking support of her husband Chhotu before the baby was delivered at the counter of the OPD. It is the harsh truth that people from the lower ranks of society are not treated properly in the government hospitals. Such an irresponsible attitude of the medical staff needs to be condemned and changed. The guilty staff of the hospital, right from doctors, nurses, attendants to Class IV employees should be punished in such a way that it serves as a deterrent to others in future. The private hospitals need to contribute their bit by treating at least a small per cent of the poor to ease the burden on the government hospitals. RK Kapoor Private-public
partnership in healthcare
The CCTV footage shows the entire Bulbul episode, as it unfolded in the city’s prestigious GMSH, Sector 16. The incident, which is only a pointer of the agony of the patients, has exposed the callousness and indifferent attitude of personnel manning the multi-specialty hospital. Home Secretary Ram Niwas rightly rubbished the earlier report in the matter and ordered afresh inquiry to fix responsibility. We know how inquiries in routine are conducted in our country. Even the outcome is a pre-thought conclusion in a majority of cases. In simple words, the good intention of the Home Secretary needs to show results on ground. The CCTV footage has clearly shown that the hapless poor woman had been running from pillar to post to get a bed to deliver her child. The footage exposes the truth that neither doctors, nurses, attendants nor any other person bothered to do be humane, which led to the child’s death. Sanjeev Singh Bariana has vividly mentioned the state of affairs in the city hospitals where everyday several babies are delivered at the gates, staircases or corridors, while the hapless family members struggle with the procedural wrangling. Also it is true that the doctors complain of being overburdened
and there is an acute staff shortage. Even our Prime Minister has advocated a public-private partnership in the health sector. It is the time we should introspect on improving the system by promoting public private funding, encouraging charitable institutions to come up in the health sector and evolving insurance schemes on family pattern, besides encouraging the private players to adopting a separate mindset, while dealing with non-corporate sector patients. Satish Sharma Murder of humanity
The Open House on “Bulbul case” in the Chandigarh Tribune was so touching that it must shake the conscious and inner feelings of the doctors working in the government
hospitals. Nothing could have been more painful and unfortunate for an expectant mother to deliver in the corridors of a reputed government hospital. Nothing could be more shameful for the administration, in case it gave a clean chit to its fellow doctors and blamed an innocent maid, Dharma, for not guiding Bulbul properly. This clearly indicated that this multi-specialty hospital was ailing and government doctors had become insensitive to care for human lives. The death of Bulbul’s newborn child was in fact a murder of the humanity by the careless doctors. I discuss certain questions with my friends regularly and have not found any definite answers. Why the UT administration has not created a dedicated hospital for maternity purposes? Why has the administration not created such multi-facilities hospitals in other sectors to ease the pressure from the Sector 16 government hospital? Why is the UT administration not enforcing a strict discipline on the private sector hospitals, who have been allotted costly land on affordable rates with a condition to give cheap or free treatment to weaker sections of society and poor? The best solution to the problem could be having a few dedicated government maternity hospitals at certain other sectors, especially in the southern sectors. NGOs can also make a contribution in childcare activities. Capt Amar Jeet Kumar An example of
mismanagement
The baby’s death in the corridors of GMSH-16 was an instance of absolute mismanagement and apathetic approach to the sensitive issue of delivery under the existing conditions. I am sure had the woman not been in this government hospital, but even on the roads, many people would have come to her help. All those involved in the criminal negligence should be brought to the book after holding a thorough inquiry. Gurmit Singh Saini
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Autonomy for Valley
Panchkula, August 22 KK Koul and Vinod Razdan, president and general secretary of the Kashmiri Pandit Sabha, said the Central government should be concerned about the safety of life and property of the minority communities living in the state. They alleged that people of Jammu, Leh and Ladakh region felt discriminated whenever special packages were given to people of Kashmir. Koul said in the past 20 years various governments had done nothing to rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiri Hindus. He said the successive governments expressed no concern over the denial of fundamental rights to Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs, besides failure of the government machinery to protect Indians, including Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in Kashmir against systematic plan of ethnic cleansing by Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists. Demanding their geo-political settlement in Kashmir, the community members also sought protection for their age-old religious places, temples and properties. They urged the government to understand the deep-rooted conspiracy behind the stone-pelting culture prevailing in Kashmir, as their gun culture had not fulfilled their desire. The president said it was their first protest rally and they would take out more rallies throughout the country, including Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
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Tribune initiative on N-Choe hailed
Chandigarh, August 22 Speaking on the occasion, Gurdev Ram, president of the association, said: “The Punjab and Haryana High Court took immediate notice of the news report in April this year and summoned the Chandigarh administration. It is highly appreciable that the newspaper gave full page to the report of public concern and carried out a sustained report till it reached its logical conclusion. The administration was forced to give an undertaking about sealing all the leakages that flowed into the choe.” Chief engineer of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation SS Bida gave away prizes to 19 meritorious students of Class X and XII on the occasion.
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Bunking of schools by students
Chandigarh, August 22 In a letter shot to DPI (S) PK Sharma, the associations have complained against the ever-increasing nuisance created by hundreds of such students, who instead of going to schools spend their day either in parks or troubling residents. The associations’ members claim to have brought problems to the notice of school principals, who have till date failed to take any major steps. “The problem is not confined to a few sectors, but if you go anywhere in the city, you will find groups of boys and girls in their school uniforms veiling away their time either in the parks or markets and even at bus shelters. The department has been issuing instructions to all schools, but unfortunately, the problem has increased further,” said a senior official of the UT education department. As per the directives of the department, the school principals are suppose to create discipline squads comprising minimum of two teachers. The squad members are required to visit the parks and markets near the schools during school hours to catch hold of such miscreants. Though aware of the directives, the principals cite several reasons of non-compliance. “A few days ago, a peon h ad complained about four boys who had been bunking classes for about a week and loitering around in the park. They threatened him and he withdrew the complaint. When the students, half our age, slap us then why would any teacher get into this trouble? Give us assurance and security, we will maintain discipline,” said a school principal.
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Non-issuance of I-cards worries students
Chandigarh, August 22 For not being able to produce their I-cards, security persons on the campus sent half a dozen students of the department of laws to the Sector 11 police station two days back. The Dean University Instructions (DUI) has issued a circular to chairpersons of all departments and directed them to issue I-cards within two days. Earlier, Dean Student Welfare Naval Kishore directed the university security to check the identity cards of students
randomly. Following the instructions, the PU security prevented a major clash outside the department of laws and nabbed a few outsiders from outside the arts block a week ago. On the same issue, members of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) during a press conference on Saturday, said the university
must identify, who the outsiders were? “Are students studying in PU-affiliated colleges, who come to enquire about examination and admission on the campus, to be considered outsiders?,” questioned a SOPU leader.
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CBSE prepares month-long stock of question papers
Chandigarh, August 22 In addition, the Board has directed all affiliated schools in the region to begin first-term summative assessment (exams) from September 10, though the datesheet would be worked out by schools themselves. Like last year, the board would be providing centralised question paper for all subjects, which would be different for each day. “All schools across the country that will conduct exams on a specific day, say Monday, will get the same question papers. And the schools that conduct the exam of the same subject on some other day will get an entirely different paper. The Board has prepared 30 question papers for each subject to ensure that they do not get leaked like last year,” revealed DR Yadav, Regional Director, CBSE, Panchkula. Last year, the Board designed papers for Class IX and over 50 schools in the same city ended up having same papers for various subjects. Due to different datasheets, students of various schools were able to share question papers, thus resulting in a mass leak. The Board offered an option of re-examination, but the schools did not opt for it as the academic calendar would have been disrupted.
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Scaling Mount Everest
Chandigarh, August 22
Karwal scaled Mount Everest in the first attempt at the age of 42 without having any experience of scaling high mountains. He emphasised that he could succeed because of his mental and physical preparation, family support and inspiration and above all his strong desire to scale the Everest. He related his experience with the world of management and also spoke about effective leadership. He encouraged the students by suggesting that one can leverage success out of fear and be enterprising. He concluded his talk with a powerful quote of Late Sir Edmund Hillary: “It is not the mountain you conquer, you conquer yourself!”
— TNS
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From Schools
Government Middle School, Sector 46-D, organised a cycle rally to mark the Akshay Urja Diwas. Principal Ram Singh Sandhu led the rally. A paper bag-making competition was also held. GMHS-22
GMHS-22 celebrated the Akshay Urja Diwas. An essay-writing competition. Science models were displayed at an exhibition. Three models were selected for the national-level science exhibition. DAV school
DAV Public School, Sector 8-C, celebrated the Akshay Urja Diwas on the school premises. A painting competition was organised to create awareness about conservation of energy resources. Caps and T-shirts were distributed among students.
— TNS
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Chandigarh, August 22
Chandigarh, August 22
Chandigarh, August 22