Amritsar, March 18
Private bus and truck operators have been ferrying passengers, packed like chickens, in and around the holy city, without any fear of the law - thanks to the lacklustre attitude of the authorities concerned towards the issue that has been putting lives in jeopardy.

These “danger on wheels” have been plying right under the nose of the authorities from Amritsar to Anandpur Sahib and Dera Baba Wadhbagh Singh Sahib to commemorate traditional Hola Mohalla celebrations.

The truck operators have fixed wooden planks on their trailers to enable them to pick up passengers double the capacity of the vehicle. Similarly, the bus operators do not hesitate to carry passengers on the roofs of the buses. The ride inside the bus would cost you Rs 110 per seat but for the rooftop, the ticket price is just the half. It seems as if the authorities are awaiting a tragedy before waking up from its slumber.

When asked about the police or the high patrolling squad midway, pat came the reply from one of the operators: “Eh saadi jimmewari hai, fikr na karo. Ohnan nu sab pata hai (Don’t worry, it is our responsibility to take you to your destination. They (the police) would evade it out rightly).

It is evident to mention that the Motor Vehicle Rules prohibit any kind of modification of the vehicle before putting it on the road and also cautions about carrying load more than the prescribed capacity.

The vehicle owners say: “What else should you expect for a ride to Hola Mela at just Rs 50? Moreover, it is every year’s practice. We carry passengers like this for the last many years and no mishap was ever occurred. Our drivers know what speed has to be maintained, when and where to stop.”

“When even animals are carted in trucks, basic measures are taken to give them breathing space, but here men ,women and children travel in trucks packed like sardines and the authorities do not care”, said Brij Bedi, a social activist.

Amritsar March 18
Even as the festival of colours, ‘Holi’, marks the advent of spring and the colours used in this festival reflect the various hues of spring, the festival is endangered by the Chinese invasion. The Tribune team took a random round of the holy city to find what was in store for enthusiasts this time.

Besides chemical-infested harmful colours, this time China-made pichkaris (water guns) and colour sprays are ruling the roost. The powdered colours, in vibrant and amazing shades, were actually poisoned urea.

The packaged colours specifically warn that the product is “for industrial use only” and the China-made pichkaris carry the tag “harmful choking warning: not to be used by children below three years”.

Unlike the traditional pichkaris, which have a brass cylinder and leather washers, the present ones are made of plastic or tine and use nylon washers. The fluid, if directed towards the face, can be harmful to ear, skin, eyes and nose.

The true spirit of the festival with the practice of using gulal, made of flowers from trees like Indian coral tree (parijat) and the flame of forest (kesu), both having bright red flowers, seems to be history.

“Most of these trees also had medicinal values and Holi colours prepared from them were actually beneficial to the skin. According to a research, the Chinese colours contain very toxic chemicals, which can have severe health effects,” said Dr Ashok Goel.

The colours generally come in two forms - dry and wet. The dry colours contain two components - a toxic colour concentrate and a base, which could be either asbestos, silica, mud or urea, all these cause serious health problems. Heavy metals contained in these colours can cause asthma, skin diseases and can adversely affect the eyes, say doctors.

The wet colours mostly use gentian violet as a colour concentrate, which can cause skin discolouration and dermatitis.

“What can we do when people prefer to buy cheap ones. A good quality gulal is four times costlier than the chemical-infested one. We have the branded, good quality gulals too, but people generally get discouraged after knowing its price. The chemical-infested shopping can be made spending less than Rs 50. We too get a good margin in it, so both ways it’s a happy going,” stated the traders.

Naushera, March 18
Inhabitants of Naushera village are a happy lot. The commissioning of Overhead Service Reservoir (OHSR) in the village means they would get potable water to their houses 24 hours. Earlier, the village was consuming unfit drinking water.

Parminder Kaur, among other villagers, gathered at the village to see her village being declared as a role model for other villages by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department (WSSD). She recalled that her husband like many others in the village were reluctant to contribute for the project. She said her husband a farmer, who earns handsomely by supplying vegetables to the closely located city, had apprehended scheme’s failure like many other government’s schemes.

The WSSD is implementing the Rs 1280.30-crore World Bank-funded Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (PRWSS) project for providing potable water to the inhabitants of 3161 villages.

Entire work under the project from pre-planning, planning and implementation to post-implementation is carried out by the community itself through the Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committee (GPWSC).

In this border district, the PRWSS project has been implemented in 15 villages, while the work is under progress in 23 villages. Now, 93 more villages have opted for the scheme. Superintendent Engineer, WSSD, G.K. Gupta said Naushera was chosen as a role model as its residents were the first to adopt the scheme.

He accepted that lack of receptiveness among the villagers had made scheme’s implementation slow, as they were wary of contribution.

A Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committee (GPWSC) is formed in each village with minimum 11 members to maximum 21 members depending upon the village’s population. Sarpanch of the village is invariably made to head it and 20 per cent seats are reserved for women.

The GPWSC is also tasked with the maintenance of overhead tanks and it collects Rs 70 monthly per household as water tariff. The project, which was introduced in 2007, entailed that the beneficiaries of the water supply would have to contribute 10 per cent of the project cost subject to maximum of Rs 800 per house for general category and Rs 400 per house for SC category. However, the dwellers of Kandi and water logged villages would have to contribute five per cent subject to maximum of Rs 400 per house for general category and Rs 200 per house for SC category.

Amritsar, March 18
Free ambulance services will be launched in the city at the end of the month. The city will get 14 state-of-the-art ambulances in the first phase of the scheme being launched by the state government under public-private partnership program. Amritsar has been selected as the headquarters for the service.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare has received 90 ambulances in the initial phase while the number would be increased in subsequent phases.

At present, there is no such government facility available barring police highway patrolling vehicles that are also ill equipped to handle the critically injured. The highway patrolling staff sometimes has to take the help of general public in order to take the patients to hospitals if the number of victims is more.

“In the name of first aid we only have a bandage, a small bottle of Dettol and a pair of surgical gloves,” said a highway patrol officer.

With the four-laning of the GT Road, majority of mishaps occur on the rural highways. Civil Surgeon Chandanjit Singh Kondal stated that at present there was no such facility in the civil hospital. “Medical vans are used for hospital purposes such as transferring of patients to other hospitals,” he said, adding that after the launch of the new project, free ambulance services would prove to be a boon for the injured persons. Many mishap victims die due to delay in getting medical aid. Similar views were echoed by Dr SS Shergill, Principal Government Medical College and Medical Superintendent Guru Nanak Dev and other allied Hospitals.

Deputy Medical Commissioner HS Ghai said the victims would have to just dial 108 and the high-tech ambulances fitted with global positioning system would reach the spot within 15-20 minutes. A control room is being set up at the district training centre here.

He said besides accidents, the ambulances would also be available for other emergency situations like fire, police emergencies, riots and medico-legal cases. The air-conditioned ambulance that costs about Rs 14 lakh would be equipped with life-saving equipments like ventilators and defibrillators besides one trained emergency medical technician. Services of emergency care physician stationed at the district headquarters would also be available.

Amritsar, March 18
The proposal to upgrade ‘Khalsa College’, to ‘Khalsa University’, which saw anger and discontentment from different quarters and which has been the hot topic of the debate in the Punjab Vidhan Sahba, has also invited the concern of its students.

While some students take it as just a weird move to smear its historic significance due to political intervention, others believe that it would be a right step to upgrade the college to a university for providing better infrastructure as well as facilities.

Gurshabad, a final-year student of BA, opined that the college has its own existence from the past over 100 years and the moment it would be converted into the university, a fresh chapter would start and rest would remain as part of the history, only in papers.

Endorsing the identical views, Harpreet, viewed that the university should not be conceptualised at the cost of the Khalsa College, which has earned its reputation when the erstwhile students of this college played significant role in India’s freedom struggle. “And if it is so urgently required, the management is in possession of vast land, a new university under the same banner can be established there only, but not in this campus. This college had been associated to the likes of eminent erstwhile students like Master Tara Singh, Partap Singh Kairon, Sohan Singh Soch. Even many personalities who at present have been serving as vice-chancellors of various universities were product of Khalsa College only. How can the existence of such a great institution be demolished for some vested interests,” he said.

Mansoora of BSc final, emphasised that it would take years to attain the same kind of reputation, after converting it into university, the Khalsa College has attained over the past so many decades. “Moreover, when it comes to the question of higher studies on university level, we would only prefer the already established universities like the GND University or the Panjab University, Chandigarh. No student would opt to take risk of having associated with a private university which had just a start,” she said.

Jagbir Singh of BA-I and Dilbagh Singh of BA-II, said after getting it converted into a private university, the fee structure would skyrocket and it would end up just being a commercial venture.

On the other hand, Lovepreet (BA-I) viewed that its sprawling campus should be converted into a university campus as it would offer better infrastructure and better facilities for honing the skills of the students.

His classmates Dilbagh Singh gives further support to his views. “ I think it would be a stiff competition for the management to introduce better courses at affordable fee especially when an already established GND University is standing besides it. Ultimately, it would be a win-win situation for the students only,” he said.

Another student Rajbir Kaur, Prabhdeep Kaur and Rupinder Kaur of BSc, opined that the reputation of the college couldn’t be affected if efforts are being made to upgrade it for higher studies. “It would be beneficial for us because not only us but our parents too would not be worried to face the hassles of admissions in the university again, as we would get the higher education facility in the same campus which is very close to our heart and we would not like to leave it”, they said.

Amritsar, March 18
People residing in border villages are wasting water in their residences as well as in fields. These are the findings of Mission Aagaaz, an NGO on environment, after it visited various border villages under its Dastak Programme.

“Almost all the houses have open-ended pipes where water keeps on flowing consistently into the overflowing tanks. No one bothers to switch off the submersible pumps even if the tank is overflowing,” said Gurbhej Singh, general secretary of the NGO.

“They have a common reply ‘ehda kehdha bill aunda hai’ (no charges for this) and this attitude of the people especially women was quite disappointing and dangerous for the environment,” he said.

He said it is absolute must to spread awareness among the people to save this precious source of life whether it is billed or not.

By adopting such a careless and negligent approach, we are not only showing disregard to nature but are also making the survival of our future generations gloomy, he added.

Members of NGO put taps on these open-ended pipes. Dr Harjit Singh donated more than 100 taps to the villagers in different areas.

Meanwhile, the organisation activists rued that huge, fully grown trees like pipal, sheesham, bargad, mango, neem etc were being chopped on the roadsides for vested and petty gains. “Although, the district administration with the help of various NGOs planted new saplings in large numbers in order to make up for the lost green cover but due to lack of maintenance most of the saplings did not survive,” they said.

After seeing the indifferent attitude of the people of these border villages, Mission Aagaaz has resolved to visit these villages one by one every week and urge the villagers to conserve water, plant more saplings and help them in understanding the nature. It is the need of the hour to develop love for natural resources and save our mother earth from destruction.

Amritsar, March 18
Head-neck surgery is an upcoming speciality in the field of medicine and requires to be promoted in Punjab.

This was pointed out by Dr Prahlad Duggal, an otolaryngologist (ENT specialist) whose research paper on “Treatment of life threatening tumours in lower face and upper neck” was adjudged best at the annual conference of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India, Punjab Chapter, held at Jalandhar recently.

He explained how the parapharyngeal space tumours could attain huge size before diagnosis and can be life threatening.

“These are dreaded tumours because of the important structures lying adjacent to these tumours. These are difficult to operate and need specialised surgery,” Duggal pointed out.

The study included a series of parapharyngeal space tumours operated at Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and also at Amandeep Hospital recently.

Duggal added that as the parapharyngeal space was located deep within the neck lateral to the pharynx and medial to the ramous of the mandible, it is difficult to examine clinically. Tumours of the parapharyngeal space are rare. Majority of tumours in this region are benign with surgical excision being the primary treatment.

He further pointed out that the incidence of cancer was increasing in Punjab and head-neck cancer constituted a major part of the problem. Hence, there is an urgent need for a population-based programme in the state to spread awareness about the ill effects of the tobacco use that is increasing day by day along with other intoxicants.

Earlier, Duggal’s paper on surgical management of cancer of the oral cavity (mouth) has been adjudged as the best paper in Consultant Award Paper Category in North-West Zone annual conference of Association of Otolaryngologists of India held at Ludhiana.