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Preserving Company Bagh’s heritage
Now, Shergill gets additional charge of GNDH Medical Suptd
Infrastructure blues, staff shortage ‘infect’ GMC
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Youth booked for beloved’s death
300 appointed as vet inspectors
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal honours social activists Ajit Singh and his wife Satpal Kaur. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Cashing in on cold wave
As MC can’t find an alternate site for garbage dumping trolley, students of Arya Girls Senior Secondary School have to bear with the stink and unhygienic conditions prevailing in the area. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Young World
City’s sewerage system being revamped
Govt holds camps to provide quality health services
Gang of robbers busted, 4 held
Plea to honour ‘Rukhanwala Baba’
Rickshaw rally for Pulse Polio held
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Preserving Company Bagh’s heritage G.S. Paul/TNS
Amritsar, January 21 The garden, developed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, has been declared a heritage site by Punjab, and the Archeological Survey of India too had initiated several times to get the site free from club activities. It is pertinent to note that there are three British-era clubs --- Amritsar Club, Services Club and Lumsden Club --- operating from Company Bagh spread in an area over 730 kanals. The new location has been identified at Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar. Under the Mall Mandi Scheme, two-acre of land has been proposed to each club at the collectorate rate of Rs 30,000 per sq. yard. It has been learnt that further negotiations on land rate could be expected. Deputy Commissioner K.S. Pannu said this site had been offered after having deliberations with the club managements, but it has been denied by the club managements.
Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu told that the offer came in the wake of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed some years ago with the Punjab and Haryana High court. “Describing it as a priceless treasure, the division bench of Punjab and Haryana High court had directed the shifting of clubs from the Company Bagh to some other site which has been finalized after getting the approval from the club managements”, he said. On the other hand, S.S. Chhina, president of Service Club, said though we got the offer, no club management has given its approval. “Since there is no adequate provision for electricity, water or roads, how can the government ask us to shift? We would be holding our joint meeting shortly to have discussion over the issue”, he said. Dr A. Adhlakha, who has been member of Service Club for last 40 years, said the Mall Mandi site would not be a convenient place for older and ladies members to reach.
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Now, Shergill gets additional charge of GNDH Medical Suptd
Amritsar, January 21 It is important to mention here that the Dr H.S. Lamba officiated as MS since the retirement of Dr Boparai. But a lot of hue and cry was raised as to who authorised Dr Lamba to officiate as Medical Superintendent. Dr Shergill handed over the charge to Dr Sidhu. Meanwhile, Dr Boparai was reemployed as orthopaedics professor at GMC.
— TNS |
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Infrastructure blues, staff shortage ‘infect’ GMC
Amritsar, January 21 The earlier assurances given by the governments have proved futile, while a number of ambitious projects are still hanging fire. Several of them got delayed due to ad hoc approach of the governments towards state’s indispensable health sector. Once a premier medical college of the country, which produced many eminent doctors, who brought laurels for the country all over the globe, is facing shortage of staff with a number of posts of specialist lying vacant for the last many years. While inaugurating the five-storey super-speciality block with much fanfare in 2007, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had claimed to provide every facility that was required in a modern hospital, but even after elapsing of three years, the situation remained the same. The hospital is still running without neuro, cardiac, gastro, nephrology, oncology and paediatric surgeons, while the facilities of cath laboratory and MRI is still a distant dream. At present the super-speciality wards contain orthopaedic, plastic surgery, urology and cardiothoracic departments. The neurology department, which is an essential part of the super-speciality wing, could not become the part of the existing super-speciality block of the hospital owing to vacant posts. Recently, the only neurologist, Dr Rajneesh Sharma, resigned from his post after a controversy. The present neurology department of the GMC also lacked in essential equipment, while the department has written a number of times to the government in this regard. Similar is the fate of the cardiology department, which has been shifted to the new super-speciality wing, which does not have any cardiac surgeon, while the conditions of the ICU and ICCU is not satisfactory. The only professor of the department of plastic surgery, Dr Vikram Gupta, will retire in March this year. It is evident to mention here that a section of media from Chandigarh published a report while quoting Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad that Amritsar Medical College would be granted the AIIMS status and a grant of Rs 115 crore would be issued before March 31 in this regard. The GMC, Amritsar, would be one of the six colleges in the country which would be upgraded to the AIIMS level in order to improve the health services in the country. He had also claimed that the government would fill the vacant posts of doctor and medical teacher on priority basis. OfficialSpeak
Tikshan Sood, Minister for Medical Education and Research, talking to The Tribune, however, expressed his ignorance about any such move. “As far as the filling of vacant posts of specialists is concerned, this is very much in the mind of the government. We are looking into it,” said Sood. He claimed that there was no shortage of staff in the medical college. “This is for the first time that the majority of posts have been filled through departmental promotions and direct recruitments as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of India. Whatever seats are vacant, they would be filled during the next DPC,” he added. The Punjab government has planned to make direct recruitment of doctors, which were otherwise recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). About 25 per cent posts of various government medical colleges are filled by the PPSC, while the remaining 75 per cent vacant posts are filled by way of departmental promotion. Dr S.S. Shergill, officiating Principal and officiating Medical Superintendent of Government Medical College and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, said the authorities had written a number of times to the state government for recruitment of specialist doctors. He said after spending huge funds the government was upgrading the medical college and hospital and hopefully it would also fill the vacant posts. |
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Youth booked for beloved’s death
Tarn Taran, January 21 Sukhjinder Singh (24) had fallen in love with Mandeep Kaur (23) of the same village three years back and the couple wanted to marry each other. The parents of both boy and girl declined to give their consent for their marriage. The couple consumed poison, as a results the girl died and the boy was admitted to the Makhu hospital in serious condition. The Harike police had lodged a report under Section 174 of the CrPC on the statement of the girl’s uncle, Subeg Singh, the day (two days back) her body was recovered from the roof of Sukhjinder Singh’s house. Subeg Singh by giving another statement to the police against Sukhjinder Singh today got a case registered under Section 309 of the IPC. The police has taken Sukhjinder in its custody.
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300 appointed as vet inspectors
Amritsar, January 21 He expected that these appointments would expedite the functioning of the Veterinary Department in rural areas. Ranike stressed that these inspectors would play a crucial role in guiding the youth to adopt professions of allied farming like diary farming, bee -keeping, poultry, fish farming and others. He informed that the Animal Husbandry Department had approached the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to recruit 125 veterinary officers for the department. He apprehended that these appointments would consolidate the administrative and field wings of the department, which would ultimately help in providing medical aid to the livestock of rural folk and they would also disseminate state government’s welfare schemes among them. He said in order to make available veterinary doctors in the state, the government had granted permission to five private colleges to run veterinary courses. |
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Teaching children of addicts
Amritsar, January 21 Ajit Singh and his wife Satpal Kaur are among them. Apart from their job as teachers in government schools, the couple would teach free of cost in the second shift at Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir, a school for destitute in Maqboolpura, the locality synonymous with drug addiction. Ajit Singh is a teacher in Government Secondary School, Katra Safeidan, while Satpal Kaur teaches at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sultanwind. Just recently, the couple was felicitated at a state-level function organised on the martyrdom day of Baba Jiwan Singh Rangretta here. On how they got inclined towards serving this section of the society, Ajit Singh said a lot of NGOs, socialites or administration would help the drug addicts by establishing de-addiction centres, but seldom do they spare thought for their families, who would be constant sufferers, for no fault of theirs. “Drug addicts would always be looked down upon in our society and it is a justified move to some extent, yet I believe that their families should not get the same inhuman treatment. I wanted to help those children who would be ignored due to their fathers’ ill habits. We thought that as teachers, our real contribution would be to save their next generation from falling pray to such vices and education was the only medium through which they could be taught about well-being,” said Singh. Ajit Singh has to his credit many accolades earlier too, the most prominent is the Krishan Jai Dayal Award he received from current Buddhist religious head Dalai Lama, but this state honour was the first for his wife Satpal Kaur. Visibly excited, Satpal Kaur termed this school as their “karambhumi” (field of action). “Due to drug addiction, male members of the majority of the families here have died. And those who are there, hardly bother about their children’s education. So, in the collaboration of social activist Brij Bedi and NGOs, we thought of helping these children by educating them,” she said.
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Cashing in on cold wave
Amritsar, January 21 While warm clothes, shawl and blanket traders are doing soaring business, many traders in heaters, geysers and blowers found their stocks exhausted. There is a tremendous burden of meeting the supply targets for the manufacturers of shawls, blankets and shoddy. The holy city is home to a number of units manufacturing these products in the country. In the domestic market, Amritsar shawls find markets in West Bengal, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. With cold wave sweeping across the country and mercury dipping in other parts of India, the sale of blankets had soared. “Sale of caps, gloves, mufflers and scarves has gone up manifold,” observed Santokh Singh, a woolen cloth shopkeeper. He added that this time winter arrived late October and intensification of the cold wave proved good for their business. About four-month-long winter was an ample duration for the traders to invest accordingly and expect handsome returns. Another shopkeeper at Katra Jaimal Singh Surinder Singh said big traders found that about 80 per cent of the season’s stock had been exhausted while the small outlets had to refurbish their stocks many time. Owner of a blanket and shoddy manufacturer unit Ravi Malhotra said the demand for these materials from UP, Bihar and other states was far more than previous year. He said low cost shoddy and blankets were in great demand in rural and remote areas of these states. Sunil, a salesman at an electric appliances shop in Hall Bazaar, said we sold geysers, blowers and room heaters like hot cakes this season. He said stocks of some of these items had exhausted and repeated requests to companies to provide them had not elicited positive response. Apparently these companies were not able to match the manufacturing target.
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Stinking trouble hits girls’ school
Amritsar, January 21 This dumping spot is located just 10 metres from the main entrance to Arya Girls Senior Secondary School, Lahori Gate, in Khu Bambewala. The solid waste of areas like Katra Sher Singh, telephone exchange, Katra Moti Ram Tikoni Park, Lohgarh Gate and Guru Bazaar, is brought here before getting it transported to its final destination to the solid waste management plant in Bhagtanwala. The Municipal Corporation officials tried to pass the buck, in a way justifying their inability to shift the dumping site. The MC authorities turned a blind eye to the unhygienic condition prevailing in the area, which has created problems both for the students and residents. The officials maintained that in the absence of any alternate site, this garbage trolley could not be removed from here. Though the school authorities and residents suggested a dumping spot, it did not ‘appeal’ the MC officials, as it was half a kilometre away from the present spot and they were not ready to exert more. “There is a dumping site located just at the back of Bijli ghar (electricity office). It was reasonably away from the school and our residences,” rued the residents. But the MC was just not interested. The Tribune had highlighted their plight a few months ago, on which the MC officials had said the garbage trolley could be shifted to some other place, but the people of the area were divided over the issue. Taking no further chance, the school authorities, along with large number of residents, submitted a written plea with the MC Commissioner to get the garbage trolley shifted. But nothing happened after that. Thereafter, an application was filed under the RTI Act with the authorities to reveal the antecedents of those opposing shifting of the garbage trolley, the reply to which stated ‘it was a verbal request from their side and no such record is available in writing about the names of the individuals who were against the shifting of garbage trolley from its present place’. Above all, Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board chairman Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, who belong to this area only, did nothing on the matter. “Though the state leaders spoke vehemently about protecting girl child and their rights, in actual our girl students had to be study under most unhygienic conditions,” said the schoolteachers. OfficialSpeak
Chief Sanitary Inspector J.S. Bhullar: It’s a stinking site. It poses danger to schoolchildren as well as residents. I too feel that this dumping site should be shifted. I have instructed the sanitary inspector to search an alternate site, but I have not yet received any feedback. Sanitary Inspector Maninder Singh:
This dumping trolley is there for the last 32 years and in the absence of any other location nearby, it is hard to get it removed from its present location. But still, if the higher officials come out with some solution, we would do accordingly. Health Officer Yogesh Arora:
We could not find any suitable alternate site, but sometime ago, a proposal was mooted to build an enclosure over the same site but it too could not be materialised because residents opposed this move. Still, we would try to find some solution to their problem. MC Commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda:
I would send my team to visit the suitable alternate site. I myself have found it inappropriate to place garbage trolley near the school but it could not be shifted due to difference of opinion among the residents of the locality themselves. But I assure you, if they really want to get it shifted, just convey them to meet me on Monday, it would be done on priority. |
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Road safety tips for Spring Dale students
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 21 Addressing the students, ADCP Traffic Satpal Joshi said though traffic rules had been coined in the interests of safety of the commuters, these were witnessed more as an obstacle than as an advantage, which often leads to accidents and in most cases, life long misery. “Following the traffic rules carefully would not only ensure smooth flow of the vehicular movement on the roads, but also the longevity of life of the commuters,” he said. Hindi
sahitya
A UGC-sponsored two-day seminar on “Hindi Ka Kaljai Sahitya : Mulya Evm
Mulyankan” was organised by the Department of Hindi, Khalsa College, Amritsar. Dr Dharampal Saini said ‘Satyam Shivam
Sunderam’ is the basis of all classical literature. Describing the ‘Bani’ of Guru Nanak as classic, he said the soul and its purity leads one to write classical literature which transcends all ages and times. “Real literature follows the norms of society,” he stressed. Dr Harmohinder Singh
Bedi, in his keynote address, said classical literature goes beyond its time and acts as a bridge between the past and the future. It becomes the literature of the entire world. Dr Srijana Vedi from Government College,
Sunam, spoke on the topic “Hindi Ka Kaljai Sahitya: Ghatak, Adhaar or
Avdharna.” Principal Dr Daljit Singh said literature was like a beacon of light that shows the right direction. Many renowned scholars from all across the region presented papers in this seminar. The most prominent among them were Dr. Sudha Jatinder of Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr Srijana
Vedi, Dr.Vinod Shahi, Prof. Atula Bhaskar, Dr. Poonam Sharma, Dr. Vinod Kumar and Dr.Balwinder Singh. Seminar
A seminar for girls of Class XII was organised today by DAV Public School here. The aim was to impart knowledge and awareness about the courses at undergraduate level, the vocational subjects at BA level, postgraduation and diploma courses under the distance education programme of GND University and other add-on courses available to them at the BBK DAV College. |
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City’s sewerage system being revamped
Amritsar, January 21 It might sound strange, but it is true that within the walled city area, which accounts for 63 per cent of the total wastewater collection of the city, there exists an obsolete underground piped sewerage system, which was laid during the British era. Few sewer segments are older than 50 years while some even more. In the absence of an intermediate pumping station (IPS), the wastewater is collected by the force of gravity. There is no existing sewage treatment plant and untreated wastewater is being discharged through Fatehpur main pumping station to the “ganda nullah” and eventually to Hudiaar drain, which flows into Pakistan. The AMC, in collaboration with the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), has undertaken two projects in the Lohgarh and Sultanwind areas. DPS Kharbanda, MC commissioner, said against the population of around 3 lakh, there were around 1 lakh sewerage connections (94,928 domestic, 2169 commercial and 2436 industrial). Kharbanda said the work was being undertaken for the first time after 1947. “It is for the first time that a Rs 40-crore project is being executed in the Lohgarh area which would cater to about 50,000 people living in 31 localities and another project costing Rs 1 crore in the Sultanwind area would benefit the rest of the city population,” he said. GK Goyal, superintending engineer, who heads the operation team, said after laying new pipelines, a major chunk of wastewater would be diverted to the main Hudiaar drain. “We have been receiving at least 20 complaints daily about chocking of the sewerage system. This project would redress the problem permanently,” he said. The total population of Amritsar is around 11.5 lakh. For peripheral establishments, the PWSSB, in collaboration with Japan International Corporation Agency, has drafted a plan to rejuvenate the existing sewerage system under JNNURM with an estimated cost of Rs 440 crore.
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Govt holds camps to provide quality health services
Amritsar, January 21 Under the programme, a medical camp was organised at the Primary Health Centre at Wadala Viram village in Sahiyewal block, in which gynaecologist, paediatrician, orthopaedist, dental surgeon, ophthalmologist, ayurvedic doctor, homeopathic doctor and other medical specialists participated. Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Punjab Health Minister, inaugurated the camp. Speaking on the occasion, she said the main objective of the RCH medical camps were to provide quality health services to mother and child living in remote areas, who did not have any access to health services. She said such camps helped in reducing morality rate among children and mothers. Dr Chandanjit Singh Kondal, Civil Surgeon, pointed out that the RCH camps are being organised in very block. He urged people to participate in such camps. Meanwhile, 736 patients got themselves registered during the camp.
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Gang of robbers busted, 4 held
Tarn Taran, January 21 The SSP, Preetpal Singh Virk, said a case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered. The arrested gang members were identified as Bhupinder Singh of Lauka, Nishan Singh of Dhariwal, Sahib Singh of Dhotta and Jaswant Singh of Kotli Saru Khan, whereas the ganster who fled away was Harjit Singh of Dhariwal village, said the SSP. He said two .32-bore pistols, four live cartridges, sword and a “barchhi” were recovered from the four.
— OC |
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Plea to honour ‘Rukhanwala Baba’
Amritsar, January 21 |
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Rickshaw rally for Pulse Polio held
Amritsar: In order to make people aware of the ensuing Pulse Polio campaign in the district, a rickshaw rally was organised by the Health Department here today.
Dr A. Gaba, district Immunisation Officer, flagged off the rally which passed through various bazaars. Dr Gaba appealed to the people to get their children below the age of five years immunised by administering two drops of polio vaccine.
— TNS |
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In a significant move, the state government, for the first time, took serious note to preserve the Company Bagh’s heritage existence by offering alternate land for three clubs, presently being run from the bagh’s premises. Yet the club managements seem to be in denial mode to this offer.
