Jalandhar, July 18
Following a public notice pertaining to the permanent closure of Mall Road in Jalandhar Cantonment by the Army authorities, residents of the cantonment and its adjoining villages of Sansarpur, Khusropur, Dhina and Sofi Pind have decided to file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court tomorrow.

In its public notice, the Army authorities have stated that owing to security threats and key military installations, the movement of traffic on Mall Road needs to be regulated and it would be permanently closed to the civilians from August 1 onward.

While the Army authorities have invited suggestions and objections from the residents in this regard, but the latter have gone ahead with the PIL, stating this as a completely autocratic move of the Army.

The residents maintained that the move would effect them badly. “A majority of the villagers and cantonment residents visit St Mary’s Cathedral for prayers and most of their religious functions are held there. Scores of ex-servicemen and their kin come to the Vajra Station Canteen daily, while the residents of the nearby villagers have been commuting through Mall Road since ages,” said a resident.

Shiv Kanwar Singh Sandhu, a Congress ticket aspirant from the cantonment Assembly seat, said security concerns of the Army were valid. “The cantonment residents as well as the nearby villagers have always supported the Army’s timely security checks. It is surprising that Mall Road, which remained opened for cantonment residents all these years needs to be closed to them all of sudden without any valid reason,” he said.

However, on being asked about the likely suggestions and objections by the cantonment residents and villagers concerning the issue, he said, “We have already approached the court and soon we will also conduct protests in front of the Sub Area Commander’s office. And if need be, I will also sit on a fast unto death to seek justice for the residents of the cantonment, who have been residing here before Indo-Pak Partition.”

When contacted, Defence PRO, Naresh Vig said, “In a democratic setup like ours, anybody is free to approach the court or file a PIL. It is now up to the court to decide the issue.”

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier in February this year, cantonment residents had conducted a protest against the sudden blockade of the Sansarpur road. The Army authorities had constructed a gate at the entrance of the Sansarpur village road leading to Mall Road, which rendered scores of residents of Sansarpur, Dhina and Khusropur villages helpless.

Amritsar, July 18
Even as the state government claims to have initiated the process of recruitment of faculty at Government Medical College (GMC) here, the education at the college took a hit as a number of professors and senior lecturers have retired or going to retire after completing their services.

Prof Jagdish Gargi, Head of the Department of Forensic Science, Dr Tripta Sharma, Head of the Department of Anatomy, and Dr Karuna Thapar, in charge of the Department of Paediatrics, Unit-I, have recently retired. Earlier, Dr Rajneesh Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, resigned after a controversy involving him erupted.

If the sources are to be believed, as many as 16 professors and senior faculty members would retire after completing their services from the GMC by December, 2012. Dr Vikram Gupta, Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery, would be retiring in August, while Dr Karnail Singh, Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Medical Superintendent of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, would retire in January next year.

“Quality education would be a major casualty due to non-recruitment of faculty members. Though a few lecturers have joined the services, but it is not enough for providing quality education as a number of posts of senior faculty at the professor level are still vacant,” said a senior doctor.

“Not only the education in the college is suffering, but also the office work as about 60 per cent posts of clerk have been lying vacant. The present staff members have been given the additional charges of vacant posts,” said another official in the college.

It is evident to mention here that the Central Government and state government ministers have a number of times claimed to upgrade the college to the level of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and issued grants for the construction of new buildings and infrastructure. A number of projects saw the light of the day to provide the state-of-art facilities in the college.

While inaugurating the five-storey super-speciality block with much fanfare in 2007, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had claimed to provide every facility here that was required in a modern hospital.

However, even after the elapsing of so much time, the situation remained the same. The hospital is still running without neuro, gastro, nephrology, oncology and paediatric surgeons, while the facilities of cath laboratory and MRI are still a distant dream.

At present the super-speciality wards contain orthopaedic, plastic surgery, urology and cardiothoracic departments.

Dr S.S. Shergill, Principal, GMC, confirmed that about 16 faculty members would retire by December, 2012, while adding that he had already written to the government and higher officials in this connection urging them to make new recruitments.

As far as the direct recruitment of doctors was concerned, only a few teachers at the lower level had joined the services. While at the higher levels the college was still waiting for new recruitments, said Dr Shergill.

Jandu Singha (Jalandhar), July 18
It has been a long wait for residents of the Ghagpur Putti locality in Jandu Singha village. Sans water for the past 15 days, they have been depending on a village gurdwara for potable water. For the rest of the village too, the supply is not smooth enough. The power connection to the village has been cut and the sarpanch quotes pending bills as the reason for the connection being cut.

Jagdish Kaur of the locality says, “There has been no water for the past 15 days and it has made our lives miserable. The bore-well of the gurdwara has been our only support. People fill utensils, even wash clothes at the gurdwara tap, because there is no water at home.”

Charanjit Chopra of the area says, “At least 750 villages of the area have been hit by the problem. But there is no respite for us. We get water for one day and then for 20 days there’s no water. It’s such a big area and there’s only one water tank to meet our daily requirement. We pay our bills, still we are denied the facility. This is so unfair. Except our locality, the water supply to the rest of the village is also often interrupted.”

Pyari, another resident, says, “If it wasn’t for the gurdwara bore-well, we and our kids would have suffered in thirst. The landlords have got motors and pumps to get water from, but we have no other means of water supply.”

Kanshi Ram Kaler, sarpanch of the village, says, “I do agree there’s a problem in the village. About 25 years ago demand for water was lesser, but with passing time the demand has increased with more people settling in the village but the supply is not adequate. There is a problem in the summers. There’s a water tank, with a capacity of 1 lakh litre for the village and it has to meet the needs of about 5,000 people.”

The sarpanch also admitted that the water supply connection to the village has been cut. “Pending bills have caused the problem. The bills were overdue so the connection was cut. Many people do not pay their bills but raise hue and cry when they do not get water. The village’s pipe network is also 25-30 years old and there are leakages at many places. I have written to the authorities but no action has been taken,” Kaler adds.

“Though I am doing what I can. We are using a power generator as an alternative to draw water and I personally oversee that it is working properly. Still, in the summers there are problems and it is also an ordeal to deal with people who don’t pay their bills,” says Kaler.

Nakodar, July 18
The Lohian block unit of the All-Punjab Anganwari Employees Union staged a dharna in front of the SDM office at Shahkot here today and raised anti-government slogans.

A number of women protesters demanded that the state government must recruit supervisors as promised by the Chief Minister in July last year, give priority to eligible workers in the ETT recruitment, provide gas cylinders to anganwari centres and promote helpers to workers.

Shinderpal Kaur Thandewal said if their demands were not met, they would intensify the protest.

Jalandhar, July 18
Kartar Singh, who had been working as the Sports Officer, Badminton, in Jalandhar, was appointed District Sports Officer, Nawanshahr, today.

A postgraduate in public administration from Punjabi University, Patiala, he joined the Punjab Sports Department in March, 1989, and had a coaching stint of 21 years at Jalandhar and Faridkot.

He was the coach of the Punjab team during the Indo-Pak Punjab Games at Patiala and was the member of the organising committee during the preparatory coaching camp of the Indian badminton team, which took part in the Thomas/Uber Cup in 2006.

Kartar also coached the sub-junior Indian probables (2007-08) as appointed by the Badminton Association of India and was also deputed court official by the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, during the World Cups in 1987-88 and in 1995-96 as a technical delegate in New Delhi.

Having done a degree in journalism and mass communication from GND University, he has also been looking after the Press and Media Section of the Punjab Sports Department for the last seven years.

Nakodar, July 18
The decomposed body of an unidentified person was found from the Sutlej at Rajewal village in Shahkot here on Sunday evening.

Onkar Singh Brar, SHO, said a former sarpanch of the village after noticing the body informed the Shahkot police. The police reached the spot and fished out the body from the river, which got stuck at the Dhussi Bandh. The age of the deceased seemed to be between 20 to 22 years. The SHO said the body was sent for postmortem at the Civil Hospital here on Monday.