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Gastro claims another life in city
Woman abducted, robbed of gold jewellery, thrown out of car
epf embezzlement |
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Civic works suffer due to shortage of lower-rung staff
Gastroenteritis outbreak
KV No 1 students hold environment rally
From colleges
Street plays for awareness on heart disorders today
Animal waste left untreated at Leather Complex
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Gastro claims another life in city
Jalandhar, September 28 Kuldeep Kaur (55), a resident of Guru Nanak Pura (East) became the second victim of gastroenteritis yesterday. On September 22, a migrant woman from Guru Nanak Pura (West), Rupa Rani, had died of gastroenteritis, while many other residents were taken ill with symptoms of vomiting and dysentery. District health officials and Municipal Corporation (MC) today swung into action. While the health officials took water samples from Guru Nanak Pura (East), the Municipal Corporation authorities discussed the problem with the residents and later dug up a street in the locality to find out the cause behind the contaminated water supply. This morning a team of health officials conducted a door-to-door survey and distributed chlorine tablets to the residents. They also conducted medical check-ups and prescribed medication wherever necessary. The health officials organised a medical camp at Government Elementary School, Chowgitti, from where reports of gastroenteritis are also being reported. Earlier, yesterday, after receiving complaints of contaminated water supply, the MC authorities had disconnected 30 water supply connections. Meanwhile, the five water samples taken by the health teams from Guru Nanak Pura (West) on September 23 have failed, forcing them to intensify their survey in the locality. The Tribune conducted a random survey of the locality and found out that almost every second home has one person suffering from gastroenteritis, primarily due to faulty water connections and filthy living conditions of the residents.
Another resident, Parvesh Dada, said both the Municipal Corporation and the health teams woke up from their slumber only after two people died in the locality. “Our locality has a large number of migrant population, which have been worst affected owing to their unhygienic living conditions. Moreover, a majority of the lanes of our locality have broken water connections leading to such problems.” A large number of residents also blamed a cesspool in Guru Nanak Pura (East) as a major cause of the outbreak of gastroenteritis in the locality. “It has become a common trend that the MC and the health authorities usually take action only after a casualty is reported. But, thankfully they have started visiting the residents. At least our fears have reduced,” said Sunil Midha.
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Woman abducted, robbed of gold jewellery, thrown out of car
Jalandhar, September 28 The incident occurred at about 6 am when 65-year-old Davinder Kaur, a resident of Model Town, was on a morning walk and was just 100 yards from her residence. Narrating the sequence of events, the victim said a grey coloured car stopped adjacent to her. A masked youth came out and forcibly bundled her into the vehicle. She claimed that there were two more turbaned youths already seated in the car. After dragging her inside the car, the driver accelerated the vehicle even as two other occupants forcibly removed her gold bangles (two on each arm). The abductors, however, failed to pull out a gold ring from her finger despite a long struggle as it was quite tight, she recalled. The abductors later dumped her with minor injuries nearby and sped away. Both she and and her husband Bhupinder Singh informed the police who registered a case of abduction and snatching against unidentified persons in this regard at
the Division No 6 police station. The incident has created panic among residents of the area, who have demanded more security. |
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Education Dept initiates action against 3 employees
Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 28 He said that the issue was also brought to the notice of the higher authorities in the Finance Department and the Accountant-General in this regard, almost a month ago, the DEO revealed. As per rules, a government employee is automatically suspended if he remains in police custody for over 48 hours, says Aeri, so Gurdyal Singh, a physical education teacher of the school, will be suspended after 48 hours in police custody. On police action, a department inquiry will be initiated against them and could be terminated from the posts if found guilty, he added. Gurdyal Singh, a physical education teacher of the school was arrested by the local wing of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on the charge of embezzling Rs 9.5 lakh from the EPF accounts of eight employees of the same school. His two accomplices, Bodh Raj, a science teacher and Jatinder Kumar, a clerk, are absconding.The trio had allegedly been withdrawing money worth lakhs of rupees from the Employees Provident Fund accounts of their colleagues by producing fake documents and the same was credited to Jatinder Kumar’s account. A case under Sections 420, 409, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Prenal Code and various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against them at Jalandhar police station of the VB on Monday.
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Coffers nearly empty, MC mulls sale of its 63 shops
Jalandhar, September 28 Although the shops had been constructed almost two years ago, the decision to sell these shops has come at the fag end of the term of the ruling government. The sale of the shops located on the Manmohan Kalia Marg is also likely to come as a major boon for the fund-starved MC. MC officials confided that the fiscal condition of the corporation was not comfortable enough for even honouring payments to the contractors that has been due since long. Sources claimed that the budget deficit was at on an all-time high and the MC coffers were nearly empty. During the finance committee meeting yesterday, it is learnt that the members had raised the issue that while the MC was clearing projects worth Rs 8 crore, the office was not in a position to go ahead with the works. Ravi Mahendru, councillor and committee member, had even raised the issue that a Rs 100-crore grant be demanded from the state government to get out of the situation. Mayor Rakesh Rathour is then said to have replied that a Rs 10-crore grant was likely to come and another Rs 30 crore could be earned through the sale of shops. However, there are some legal lacunae in the case, which the officials are waiting to get cleared before they can proceed with the sale. The SE (B&R), Kulwinder Singh, said the office had sought a legal opinion from its Law Officer. Law Officer, MC, Varinder Khanna said the file of the case was not with him. “It has gone back to the Commissioner’s office. The officials will probably consult a lawyer from the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the matter,” he added. Chetan Mittal, a lawyer representing the MC case in the court, said, “I am yet to receive the copy of the order from the MC on the PIL pertaining to the mortgage or sale of MC properties for raising funds for the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC). There is a little confusion and I have suggested that the clarification be sought.” |
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Civic works suffer due to shortage of lower-rung staff
Jalandhar, September 28 Several top positions have up to two each. There are, for example, two Assistant Commissioners, two Superintending Engineers of the B&R branch and two Deputy Controllers (Finance and Audit). The office also now has P.S. Jaggi as SE, Design. The post had been lying vacant for the past four years. The corporation suffers on account of shortage of masons, road baildars, surveyors, junior draftsmen, gardeners, drivers and recovery staff. The number of Inspectors and JEs in various departments is also much less than the sanctioned number of posts in the MC. The situation has arisen because of a void created at the junior level due to no fresh appointments following promotion of staff posted in the junior ranks. In order to overcome the situation, most works are now being given to private contractors. The job of tubewell operation and streetlight patrolling have been given on contract. The staff that has been relieved from these two jobs is now working as recovery staff, which was short in the O&M and house tax branches. The number of drivers for plying cars of officials is also short and fitters have been appointed to the job. The O&M branch also suffers from a shortage of JEs. There are just four JEs against the sanctioned posts of 16.There are just three masons in the B&R branch, while there are 14 persons sanctioned for the job of doing minor repair works. There are nearly 65 road baildars, who have to be engaged for patch work, whereas there are 150 sanctioned posts. The building branch does not have even a single employee working as a surveyor, who is vested with the work to check declaration of roads on account of payment of development charges. The work has been entrusted with junior draftsmen, whose job otherwise is to measure the road lengths and get estimates. They too are short in number. The number of gardeners is also just 80 as compared to the sanctioned posts of 260. The work has now been entrusted with private welfare societies and the MC has been just paying the matching grant for the gardeners’ salaries. The SEs of all departments said the only way out was to assign certain works to private contractors and pull out staff from those works for other jobs. Assistant Commissioner D.P. Bhardwaj said, “Shortage prevails in all offices. We have to carry on with the manpower that has been provided to us.” When asked about any plans for fresh appointment, his reply was, “Not as yet.”
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118 students of DAVIET get jobs with WIPRO
Jalandhar, September 28 The two-day long placement drive was carried out on September 26 and 27 during, which the students appeared for the written test, technical aptitude and HR interview. During the placement, 25 students were selected from computer science and engineering, 50 from electronics and communication engineering, 11 were selected from electrical engineering, 19 students bagged placement from Information Technology, three students each from mechanical and civil engineering and five students were selected from MCA. The Regional Director of DAV College Management Committee, C.L. Kochher said, “This was the biggest-ever recruitment drive conducted by a single major company in the institute. Wipro had been a major recruiter for our institute over the years”, he added. The officiating principal, Dr S.C. Ahuja said that even last year the company selected as many as 93 students from the institute. “Soon we will be conducting more placement drives with leading companies for the passing out batches till 2012”, he added. The college management said that the placement drive was a big morale booster for the students as rarely such a large number of students bag placement with a single company in one go.
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Gastroenteritis outbreak
Jalandhar, September 28 A huge rush of gastroenteritis patients from the Guru Nanak Pura (East and West) and Chowgitti localities of the city was witnessed at the hospital this afternoon after the health teams prescribed them timely treatment. The patients were left to fend for themselves in the corridors, as the hospital was reportedly short of beds. Rinku, attending to his father Jagdish Singh from Chowgitti, said they rushed to the hospital after his father’s condition deteriorated due to gastroenteritis. “Surprisingly, the hospital staff instead providing a bed, told us to wait in the corridor. We reached the hospital at noon and till now there is no hope of any help from the hospital,” said Rinku. Another patient, Jogindero Rani, also from Chowgitti, said although the paramedical staff came to attend her, but none of them assured her of providing a bed. “I was administered a glucose bottle through drip, while lying in the corridor. Moreover, my condition is deteriorating and I am not in a position to even walk. Until I get a bed, I will have to wait here,” she maintained. Usha Rani, another gastro patient, lambasted the Civil Hospital authorities for such a lapse on their part. “We cannot afford expensive treatment in private hospitals. Even if we are asked to stay in the corridor, we will have to,” she fumed. Surprisingly, when approached even the paramedical staff expressed helplessness in meting the demands of the patients. They said, “We are just two staff nurses on duty to deal with such a huge rush. The patients will have to bear with us. We cannot do anything as other nurses are attending on the patients in different wards.” The Civil Hospital has a capacity of 400 beds with another 30 beds at the recently started Trauma Centre on its premises.
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KV No 1 students hold environment rally
Jalandhar, September 28 The students carried placards having various slogans on saving environment. The rally was flagged off by Principal of the school A.S. Gill and member of the Jalandhar Cantonment Board Nistha Goel.—tns
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From colleges
Jalandhar, September 28 The selected students include Jagpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Arun Thakur, Sukhvir Kaur, Rahul Handa, Anmol and Harneet Kaur. Extension lecture
The Physics and Electronics Department of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV) organised an extension lecture on “Computational technologies in physics”. The lecture was delivered by Dr A.K. Dham from the Department of Physics, Punjabi University, Patiala. He explained subjects to be kept in mind while writing Fortran language, numerical methods like Trapezoidal, Simpson Monte Carlo and much more. |
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Street plays for awareness on heart disorders today
Jalandhar, September 28 Dr Raman Chawla, heart specialist said timely effort on the part of the patients to reach the hospital, treatment facilities at the doorstep, medical insurance and preferential use of primary angioplasty could reduce the mortality rate from 14 per cent at present to 2 per cent.
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Animal waste left untreated at Leather Complex
Jalandhar, Sep 28 The two warring groups are Punjab Leather Federation (PLF), led by president Col JS Paul, and Punjab Effluent Treatment Society for Tanneries (PETS), led by Steven Kler, brother of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Avinash Chander. The PLF president claims that he has been handling the matter and issuing coupons to the tanneries for the disposal since the past many years after an agreement in this regard with the Sakay Industries, where the job is done. The PETS, represented by its CEO Kler, claims that since his society has been managing all operations and maintenance works in the complex and was supposed to handle fleshing as well. The situation took a turn for the worse yesterday with the owner of Sakay Industries, Amit Katyal, taking PLF’s side and refusing to accept trolleys sent by the PETS today. As two trolleys of the fleshing, used for making byproducts like gelatin and other items, sent through PETS reached the industry premises this morning, the gates of the industry were locked from inside with the trolleys unable to move. More trolleys were later parked outside. Tanneries have been producing as much as 70 tonnes of solid, recyclable waste daily. The fleshing contains proteinous matter which if left untreated for long, starts getting putrefied, resulting in an obnoxious smell. Col Paul alleged that Kler was unnecessarily politicising the issue and interfering in the affairs of the PLF as the process involved collection of money from the tanners. “PETS was actually formed under us to take care of the two treatment plants on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The members are only supposed to look after the sullage part”, he said. Kler, on the other hand, claims that as many as 90 per cent of the tanners were siding with him for he had an arrangement of charging less for the process from each tanner and was even returning the money to them after subtracting the expenditure incurred for operations and research works which was close to Rs 17 lakh per month. Amit Katyal claimed that since the agreement was signed between him and the PLF, he could not take fleshing sent through PETS.
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Three car-borne youths abducted an elderly woman, robbed her of gold jewellery and threw out of the moving vehicle in Model Town here early this
morning
Rita Singh, a migrant resident of Guru Nanak Pura (East), said a week ago her daughter was also suffering from gastroenteritis and was on the verge of dying, but timely treatment from the ESI Hospital saved her life. “Recently, whenever it rained, the water supply was badly affected. It has been more than a fortnight since we are drinking the contaminated water,” she added.
Modification of life style: We have to be active, exercise regularly