Gurdaspur, August 27
Notwithstanding the tall claims made by the district health authorities, of regularly cracking a whip against quacks, fact remains that thousands of fake doctors are ruling the roost in the Majha belt by taking advantage of people’s ignorance and illiteracy.

The district health authorities have unofficially pegged the number of quacks operating in Majha at 4,000.

Add to this reports that spurious drugs have found their way into the area and the Majha belt, comprising Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts, and you get a pretty unhealthy region.

Ramu Naik, a migrant labourer from UP working at Dhariwal, had such a lean figure that fellow labourers labelled him a ‘walking skeleton.’

Naik decided to put on some weight and got in touch with a quack who recommended him the steroid Methyl Prednisolone. After a month, he put on enough weight and stopped the steroid.

However, a few days later, Naik suddenly started suffering from nausea, which led to constant vomiting and now he can not even move without making an effort.

The reason for Naik landing himself in such a pathetic condition was that instead of visiting a government hospital, he called upon a Dhariwal-based quack. Naik is not alone. Thousands of poverty-stricken rural people, who can not make it to the government hospitals, deem it right to visit quacks like Naik.

Says, Prabhjinder Kumar Anand, president of the Gurdaspur District Chemist Association, “People are being taken for a ride by these quacks because of the archaic Indian Medical Degree Act of 1916 which still goes by fines it imposed almost 83 years ago. That means a penalty of Rs 250 for people flaunting fake medical degrees and Rs 500 for any subsequent offence. That's not all. The Punjab Government does

not have an anti-quackery cell. Out of 1,000 patients going for treatment, 100 go to MBBS doctors, 100 to super specialists while 800 end up at the doorsteps of quacks.”

Dalip Kumar, Civil Surgeon, Gurdaspur said, “Whenever we receive complaints against quacks operating in our area, we form teams under the supervision of Senior Medical Officers (SMO) who raid the premises of these fake doctors. We have also been vested with powers to produce such ‘doctors’ in front of judicial officers.”

However, there are no official figures on how many quacks have actually been produced before judicial officers although such a notification was made by the health department in January this year.

Rakesh Nanda, vice president of the Punjab Chemists Association, disclosed, “The favourite areas of operation of these quacks are those suburbs where the migrant population lives. Time and again, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab Police and the civil administration to crack down but there are enough loopholes in the law, which are exploited to the hilt.”

Says a senior health official, “Apart from quacks, there are some people who pursue a diploma in Bachelor of Electro-Homeopathy and Medical Science (BEMS) and start telling people they are doctors. This system of medicine is not recognised by the government. However, there are scores of institutes which dole out BEMS diplomas. There should be a check on the growth of such institutes.”

Jalandhar, August 27
Scores of residents of Lidraan, Faazalpur, Salempur Mussalmana and Gadaipur villages today held protest in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, against the decision of the Improvement Trust, Jalandhar, to acquire their village land to develop a township.

Demanding a roll back on the decision of land acquisition from the local authorities, protestors claimed that if implemented, the decision would be deadly to those 300 families which depend on their lands for their livelihood. Residents of the villages submitted a joint memorandum to the Prime Minister, Governor of Punjab, Chairman, Human Rights Commission and Manoranjan Kalia, state cabinet minister for Local Bodies.

In a joint statement, residents claimed that acquisition would be the fifth such blow to the residents of Lidhraan village especially, as the village’s land had already been acquired for four major projects in the past.

“Earlier, the land of the village was acquired to set up a military station and then for the railway station. Government again acquired village land for a third time to establish an engineering collage and fourth time for the CRPF training center,” reads the memorandum.

Terming the decision of land acquisition injustice to them, agitating residents aired their woes and said the decision was in no way in the interests of the local population.

Hoshiarpur, August 27
Rivalry between Inderjit Singh of Rasoolpur and NRI Kashmira Singh of Sehbajpur, presently working in Italy, over a girl, led to a murderous attack on the former, who is under treatment at the local Civil Hospital.

Following the murderous assault, the Tanda police booked NRI Kashmira Singh and six other unidentified persons under sections 307, 323, 324 and 34 of the IPC.

According to the investigating officer ASI Shiv Singh, Inderjit Singh claimed that he was having an affair with a young girl of Dhugga Kalan village for the last seven years. Kashmira Singh, who also claimed to have a love affair with the same girl, used to threaten Inderjit on telephone from Italy to end his relations with the girl.

He further alleged that on the instigation of Kashmira Singh, at least six unidentified persons, equipped with sharp-edged weapons, assaulted him with the intention to kill him on the evening of August 23. Inderjit Singh got 22 wounds from sharp-edged weapons on his body. He was admitted to the local Civil Hospital where he is under treatment.