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De-Addiction Centres
District-level panels fail to submit status reports
Jalandhar, May 13
Repeated directions and reminders of the state government have fallen on the deaf ears of the district-level committees, which were supposed to inspect the treatment quality and rehabilitation facilities provided by the de-addiction centres running across the state.

Bhinder announces candidature for Assembly polls
Gurdaspur, May 13
The political scene in the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency hotted up with PPCC permanent invitee Pritam Singh Bhinder starting his election campaign from the Gurdaspur town Assembly segment by addressing a series of rallies in nearby villages.

Khasla College Imbroglio
Teachers urge Akal Takht Jathedar to intervene
Amritsar, May 13
A delegation of Khalsa College teachers today submitted a memorandum to the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to intervene in the controversial issue of conversion of the college into a private university.

EARLIER STORIES

	Civil Services: Girls bring glory to region May 13, 2011
	Crime concern: Sidhu to meet public twice a week May 12, 2011
	Mob goes on rampage, 25 booked May 11, 2011
	Third eye all set to keep watch on Golden Temple May 10, 2011
	Army plans documentary to take on touts May 9, 2011
	Manepur shows interest in Congress ticket from Gurdaspur May 8, 2011
	Man burns 7-yr-old stepson to death over succession fears May 7, 2011
	RCF forms 2 panels May 6, 2011
	Police to install CCTV cameras at major points in Amritsar May 5, 2011
	Two children among 4 killed in mishaps May 4, 2011
	Labour unions observe May Day May 2, 2011

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Jaundice strikes Phagwara
Phagwara, May 13
Several parts of the town are again in the grip of jaundice. Nine residents of Katehra Chowk locality are presently suffering from the disease caused by contaminated drinking water.

Municipal staff to strike work from May 16
Hoshiarpur, May 13
All municipal employees in Punjab will observe complete strike from May 16 to May 18 in protest against the state government for not issuing the notification for their accepted demands ever after passing of about two months.

Lovers end lives by jumping into canal
Pathankot, May 13
A lover couple allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the UBDC here today.

3 killed in mishaps
Hoshiarpur, May 13
Two persons, including a schoolchild, died on the spot and four others were injured when a bus of a private transport company hit the school bus of Gem Cambridge School near Tanda Bypass Chowk here on Friday.

	De-Addiction Centres District-level panels fail to submit status reports Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 13 Repeated directions and reminders of the state government have fallen on the deaf ears of the district-level committees, which were supposed to inspect the treatment quality and rehabilitation facilities provided by the de-addiction centres running across the state. Senior officials of the Health Department confirmed that although 63 such de-addiction centres have been identified in the state, no such inspection report have been received by the department. The department is a licensing authority for such centres and could issue licence only on the basis of remarks given in the inspection report. The laxity is despite the fact that it was only on the basis of inference given in such inspections, the Health Department has to submit its detailed report regarding centres, in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in the third week of this month. The committees are headed by the DCs. “We have only learnt through media reports that one or two inspections have been conducted in some districts. However, the documented inspection reports of even these inspections have not reached our office. Reports of all such inspections are awaited,” said a senior official requesting anonymity. Besides Deputy Commissioners, the four-member committees also included Civil Surgeon, District Social Security Officer and a psychiatrist working in government set up. The norms for such de-addiction centres were prescribed under the Punjab Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Counseling and Rehabilitation Centres Rules, 2011. The committees have to inspect that whether the de-addiction centers were adhering to the prescribed norms or not. Confirming the delay, Dr JP Singh, Director Health Services, said the department had sent reminder to all the district committees to submit reports as early as possible. key facts * As many as 98 de-addiction centres were identified by the Health Department across the state * All such centres were asked by the department to apply for licence before April 18 * Only 63 centres applied for licence * No private de-addiction centre from Tarn Taran district has applied for the licence
	Bhinder announces candidature for Assembly polls Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, May 13 The political scene in the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency hotted up with PPCC permanent invitee Pritam Singh Bhinder starting his election campaign from the Gurdaspur town Assembly segment by addressing a series of rallies in nearby villages. Earlier, this parliamentary constituency comprised 11 Assembly segments. However, after the delimitation exercise the number of seats has come down to 10. Bhinder, who lost the last election from this Assembly segment to his SAD-BJP rival Gurbachan Singh Babbehali by nearly 4,000 votes, lashed out against the SAD-BJP combine saying that the Badal government was registering false cases against Congress workers. Addressing a press conference, Bhinder cited the example of Amarjit Singh, sarpanch of Behrampur village, who, he said, had been falsely implicated in a criminal case at the behest of some local SAD leaders. Bhinder, a former Delhi Police Commissioner and husband of former Union Minister Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, claimed that when the Congress government came to power in the state, he would ensure that all cases registered against Congress workers were reopened and police officers responsible for registering these cases would have to face the music. Bhinder was accompanied by Ajay Verma, former Chairman of the Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank, Raju Gharala, Gurdaspur Block Congress president and Bhagel Singh, Gurdaspur Block Youth Congress president. Bhinder’s announcement of fighting the election comes days after the announcement of Major Amardeep Singh Manepur, OSD to PPCC Chief Capt Amarinder Singh of contesting the Assembly polls on Congress ticket.
	Khasla College Imbroglio Teachers urge Akal Takht Jathedar to intervene Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 13 A delegation of Khalsa College teachers today submitted a memorandum to the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to intervene in the controversial issue of conversion of the college into a private university. Meanwhile, the hunger strike observed by the teaching community, entered its 12th day today. Resentment prevailed among the teachers about the disruption of water supply to the official house of one of their colleagues, Prof Mohammad Arshad for the last six days. While the teachers alleged that the water supply was deliberately disconnected by the management to harass Prof Arshad, the management maintained that it was just by accident that the pipeline got damaged during some earth digging work being carried out near his house. Principal Daljit Singh said this matter came to his notice only this morning. He assured that the snag in the water supply system would be rectified soon. The Akal Takht Jathedar assured to look into the matter. Today, five members from Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, sat on a hunger strike.
	Jaundice strikes Phagwara Phagwara, May 13 Several parts of the town are again in the grip of jaundice. Nine residents of Katehra Chowk locality are presently suffering from the disease caused by contaminated drinking water. The patients are Tersem Lal, Sakshi Sharma, Bhupinder, Rajiv and Suman, who are getting treatment from different doctors in the town. Physician Dr S Mahindra told The Tribune that number of jaundice patients is increasing while child specialist Dr Punit Galhotra also said contaminated water is the main cause of disease. Senior Medical Officer Dr Rajiv Gupta that he had written many times to nagar council authorities to take required steps to provide fresh, clean and hygienic drinking water to prevent the disease, but nothing has been done by the authorities. Though the SMO said teams of the Health Department would soon be sent to the affected localities, the team that went to Katehra Chowk locality distributed chlorine tablets to merely few people and came back. — OC

Municipal staff to strike work from May 16
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, May 13
All municipal employees in Punjab will observe complete strike from May 16 to May 18 in protest against the state government for not issuing the notification for their accepted demands ever after passing of about two months.

In a press release by General Secretary, Punjab Municipal Employees Action Committee, Kulwant Singh Saini said the committee had taken the above said decision following the callous attitude of the Director, Local Bodies, Punjab, who was misleading the employees and people by issuing reverse notification in connection with the accepted demands of the employees. He said if the state government failed to issue a notification for their already accepted demands, then the municipal employees in Punjab would go on strike from June 8 for an indefinite period for which Director, Local Bodies, would be fully responsible.

Lovers end lives by jumping into canal
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, May 13
A lover couple allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the UBDC here today.

Their bodies were fished out. They have been identified as Deepak Sharma, resident of Kashmiri Mohalla, Sujanpur, and Sheetal, resident of nearby Samanta Lahri village.

According to information, employees posted at the canal saw two bodies floating in the canal and informed the police. The police took the bodies in custody.

The police handed over the bodies of the lovers to their respective families after postmortem at the Civil Hospital, said SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk.

3 killed in mishaps
Our Correspondents

Hoshiarpur, May 13
Two persons, including a schoolchild, died on the spot and four others were injured when a bus of a private transport company hit the school bus of Gem Cambridge School near Tanda Bypass Chowk here on Friday.

The deceased were identified as nursery student Sukhnoor Kaur (3) of Kandhala Jattan and school bus driver Jaswinder Singh of Deriwal.

Nakodar: Gyan Singh of Sadikpur was killed in a road accident when a tempo carrying passengers collided with the truck near Mohalla Ravidaspur here on Thursday. Two women Bhajno and Jeeto both of Sadikpur village sustained injuries.