Jalandhar, October 1
Considering the severity of the ongoing dengue outbreak in the state, the health department will ponder over the issue of providing free treatment to all the confirmed dengue cases.

This was stated by Dr JP Singh, director, health services, who was here to take stock of the situation and arrangements made by the local health authorities in this regard.

The visit was conducted a day after the issues of high incidence of dengue fever and tightening of the grip by a typical form of fever in the city were raised in the 
state legislative assembly by the MLAs of the opposition.

It was also being determined whether the private hospitals and clinics are exaggerating the dengue outbreak and are indulged in creating panic by diagnosing fever-ridden patients positive without getting a McELISA test done, he said, though he could not comment specifically over the practice of private hospitals in this regard.

We expect them to follow the ethics while treating fever-ridden patients and dengue suspects.

We also appeal organisations like the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to sensitise their members in this regard.

He said so far 344 cases have been detected positive for the disease in the state and the Jalandhar figure is 206.

Asked about the arrangements made by the health department, he said the department has taken all measures to deal with the outbreak.

“A meeting of senior officials of various departments concerned has been conducted by Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal, yesterday. The government is satisfied with arrangements made by the department”, he added. 

Jalandhar, October 1
The city police today arrested a proclaimed offender (PO) who is a son of a former Superintendent of Police, Punjab, for his alleged involvement in a drug peddling case. Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassi, a resident of the Raja Garden locality, was evading arrest and was declared a proclaimed offender by the court almost a month ago.

Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap and nabbed Jassi from near the railway station this evening. Talking to The Tribune, ACP Ravinder Pal sdaid that Jassi, son of Narinder Singh, was wanted in the case on the statement of Dharma, a resident of Qazi Mandi. Dharma was nabbed with 1 kg of heroin in June.

During interrogation Dharma had disclosed that he was working for Jassi and the contraband he was carrying belong to the former. The police has already arrested Ajay, his accomplice, in this case.

Jalandhar, October 1
Depressed after being allegedly harassed by his superiors, an employee of First Source Solutions Limited, a service provider to a call centre, committed suicide by hanging himself in a toilet of his rented accommodation in the Basti Bawa Khel area here this evening.

Hailing from Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, Kishan Avtar was staying with his friends in a rented accommodation. According to the friends and colleagues of the deceased, Kishan was harassed by the management during the day accusing him of his involvement in a Rs 1.50-lakh bungling case in an Amritsar-based office of the company a couple of days ago. Feeling humiliated, the boy returned to his room and took the extreme step this evening, colleagues alleged. Meanwhile, employees of the company boycotted the office and assembled outside the office late in the evening.

Basti Bawa Khel SHO J.S. Randhawa said the body had been removed and his family members informed.

After recording statements of his friends, the police has booked Vikash Bhandari, marketing manager of the company, under sections 306 of the IPC in this regard.

Jalandhar, October 1
The 14th national conference of the All India Youth Federation was concluded today here, with the unanimous election of Aftar Jharkhand as president, P Santosh from Kerala as the general secretary and Kashmir Singh Gadaiya as its national secretary.

Addressing delegates during the concluding session of the federation, P Santosh said the federation had decided to wage a struggle to press the government to frame a Right to Employment and include it in the list of Fundamental Rights.

He said the government had framed policies for the benefit of each section of the society, except the youth of the nation. He said the federation also demands the launching of an employment scheme for the urban youth on the pattern of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in villages.

In a press statement released by the convener of the organising committee of the conference, Pirthipal Singh Marhimegha, it was demanded that both the central and state governments should lift the ban on recruitment in various public sector units and departments and also demanded employment allowance for the unemployed 
youth of the country.

The statement also mentioned that as traditional sports are rapidly vanishing in the country, instead of promoting a single game, the government should frame a policy to equally promote all sports.

Dr Joginder Dayal, central committee member of the CPI and Comrade Jagroop, chief advisor of the Ruzgar Prapti Muhim, congratulated the youth for organising the successful delegate conference.

Rajinder Mand, Cahnd Fatehpuri, Paramjet Singh Dhabaan, Sandeep Daulike and Kuldeep Bhoal, all members of the organising committee, thanked the foreign delegates for participating in the conference.

Jalandhar, October 1
Over 13 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is expected to arrive in different grain markets of Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts. While arrangements have been made to accommodate 7.93 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in Jalandhar markets, 5.40 lakh metric tonnes arrival is expected in Kapurthala grain markets.

Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner S.R. Ladhar in a press note revealed that 122 purchase centres had been set up for the procurement of paddy in both the districts. He declared that farmers would be paid within 48 hours of the arrival of their produce in the markets and the paddy lifted in less than 72 hours.

The administration has also completed all the arrangements like bags, light, potable water and public toilets for the convenience of farmers at every grain market.

Earlier Ladhar held a meeting of the officials of both the districts and asked them to stop late night harvesting of paddy with harvesters in their areas to avoid moisture in the grains.