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Central Jail’s drug de-addiction centre lying defunct
Mystery death: Body of missing driver found in drain
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A novel way to rob: First smash car window panes with a sling
Rift takes toll on senior citizens
Student leaders complain of bias
Delete invalid voter’s name: Cong leader
GNDU Prof inducted as Fellow of NASI
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Central Jail’s drug de-addiction centre lying defunct
Amritsar, October 16 In the absence of permanent and specialist doctors and psychiatrists, the jail officials face a tough time in handling addicts who are lodged here on various charges, including that of possessing drugs, snatchings or lootings. Shortage of necessary drugs issued by the government and department concerned for this purpose has aggravated the problems for jail authorities. They (jail authorities) had written a number of times to the government and higher authorities but it failed to evince any response from them. The result is the doctors and authorities find themselves helpless while handling the situation. The de-addiction centre was set up in the jail in year 2006 by the then DIG-Jails Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh as the part of operation clean-up in an attempt to turn the prison into a “Sudhar ghar”. And due to his earnest efforts, the jail became Punjab’s first ‘model jail’ and incidentally it was the first de-addiction centre in any Punjab jail. He made arrangements to get specialists from government hospitals who used to visit the jail twice a week and took the help of various NGOs like Civil Defence, Rotary Club, Art of Living etc who were inspired to devote their time for the welfare of the jail inmates and drug addicts. Within a year, he claimed to have cured more than 100 hardcore drug addicts. Yoga and meditation were also made part of the de-addiction course for which experts from the Art of Living used to visit the jail for yoga camps. If the sources in the central jail are to be believed, approximately 60 per cent of the inmates are drug addicts, while the availability and use of drugs and intoxicants is rampant in the jail premises. “Call it inefficacy of authorities or the cunningness of inmates who manage to find a way to sneak in drugs, it is still continuing unabated. Until the supply of drugs inside the jail premises is not curbed, the de-addiction centre would only be a formality and any steps in this direction would be a futile effort,” the sources pointed out. It required a multi-dimensional approach to achieve any success in de-addiction of jail inmates, including ending the availability of drugs in jail, sources said. The shortage of funds for the medicines used for de-addiction and proper staff has also added to the menace, they added. Dr Manjit Singh, Medical Officer, Central Jail, while admitting the problem of drug addiction and shortage of medicines, said that in emergency situations we have stock of medicines. “In case an addicted inmate suffers fits, we provide emergency medicines and if patients continue with the same for two to three days, they were sent to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital,” he said. We have written to the government and authorities concerned to provide medicines for drug addicts, which are very costly, he said. He had also written to the Government Medical College authorities to organise regular camps in the jail premises in this regards. Tejinder Singh Maur, Superintendent Jail said a specialised doctor or psychiatrist is required for running the de-addiction centre, besides a stock of essential medicines for treatment. We are thinking of providing training to doctors posted in the jail for handling such patients in an emergency, he added. The doctors here are already overburdened. He said he had written a number of times to the higher-ups for the same and was awaiting their response.
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Mystery death: Body of missing driver found in drain
Amritsar, October 16 Though the family members alleged that he was murdered, the Police Department said no injury marks were found on the body. The Chheharta police have initiated action under Section 174 Crpc in this regard. According to family members, Varinder Kumar, a resident of Valmiki Mohalla, Lahori Gate, had gone to office on Tuesday and never returned home. His family lodged a missing report at the Kotwali police station in this connection. Yesterday, the Chheharta police received information that a body has been found in the drain in village Wadali. This information was passed on to the family which identified him by his clothes and a tattoo of 786 on his arm. The body was in a very bad condition. The family members informed the police that deceased had been wearing gold jewellery weighing about 200 gm which was missing from his body. Ashwani Kumar, SHO Chheharta police station, said that during postmortem no injury marks, whether internal or external, were found on his body. He said his viscera would be sent to Pathology and Chemical laboratory at Kharar to ascertain whether he was poisoned or there was any other reason behind his death. The body was handed over to family members after the postmortem, he added.
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A novel way to rob: First smash car window panes with a sling
Amritsar, October 16 This has come to light when the city police managed to nab one Akash, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, when he was fleeing after snatching a bag from one Gurpal Singh of Kapoor Nagar area, Drumma wala bazaar located at Sultanwind road here. In a press release issued today R P Mittal, Commissioner of Police said that the police also recovered 5 gm smack and a sling shot from him. A case under Section 379-B and 22/61/85 NDPS act has been registered against him in this regard and further investigations are under progress, he said. It is pertinent to mention here that about half a dozen cases were reported in the recent past in which unidentified miscreants decamped with valuables and cash from cars, after breaking the windowpanes. Commissioner said remaining members of the gang would also be arrested soon. Meanwhile, in another incident the city police nabbed two snatchers Simranjit Singh of Navi Abadi Karampura located at Fatehgarh Churian Road and Ravi Kumar of Karampura. They had snatched a purse from one Geetika, a resident of C-Block Ranjit Avenue area the day before yesterday. A case has been registered in this connection. 1. Thieves arrested: Chheharta police claimed to have solved the theft case in which valuables were stolen from the residence of on Sukhwinder Singh of Dashmesh Nagar, Kot Khalsa and arrested two persons including a woman in this regard. Those arrested were identified as Gurinder Kaur and Bikramjit Singh of same area. Police recovered two mobile phones from them. 2. Narcotics Seized: Kabir park police arrested one Satinder Singh of Colony Baba Farid for allegedly possessing 260 gm of narcotic powder. He was caught from near the University.
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Rift takes toll on senior citizens
In the wake of the ongoing rift which led to a disruption in the landline connectivity with Airtel, Spice and Vodafone mobile phones and vice-versa for over a fortnight, life has been adversely affected especially when it comes to contacting younger members of the family who work until late evening. The landline telephone is their only connect to the outside world. The scenario is worse for mobile phone users when it comes to contacting emergency services, be it the police, fire-brigade or ambulance services on the BSNL network. Dr AL Adlakha, an ENT consultant, said he had a number of patients who have been consulting him for the past 40 years. “Being a senior citizen, I share an intimate bonding with those patients who have long been relying only on me. I have a tendency to call them to check on their well being. Now, the problem is that their landline numbers are inaccessible for over 15 days. Neither am I able to reach them; neither are they,” he said. Naresh Johar, a serviceman said he was worried about his daughter who went to Delhi on a college project trip and met with an accident. “She was being looked after by one of our relatives who lives there. But he only had a landline connection at home. I faced a lot of harassment for quite some time each time I wanted to check on my daughter’s condition because I had to wait for somebody in their family to be available at home with a mobile phone,” said Naresh. PK Chopra, a trader, who runs a retail showroom dealing with elite populace of Amritsar, said, “I have a BSNL connection for the past 25 years. For the last fortnight, my two landline numbers were of hardly any use to me and I suffered a huge dent in my business. My suppliers generally use mobile phones and they were unable to reach me. I feel the telecom minister should take personal interest to eliminate this nuisance.” Jagdish Singh, another senior resident, is feeing resentful after finding it difficult to get a particular medicine prescribed by his doctor. He tried to contact his doctor on his mobile phone for his advice but in vain. “Since I could not get the particular medicine from the chemist, I had to consult my doctor for prescribing me a substitute medicine. I had to travel all the way to his clinic to find out. My doctor asked me to take a prior appointment before visiting, I have a BSNL landline connection at home and I had to be dependent on other family members to get an appointment through their mobile phones,” he said. Parkash Singh, a retired 80-year old army personnel, resented that this problem had put elders like him ‘cut-off’ from all’. “Due to old age and restricted mobility, the telephone is the only source of connectivity with us. Due to interruption in the communication, elders like me who feel loneliness. It is pity that in the telecom companies’ war, we are the ‘paid sufferers’. We are paying the fixed rent for not availing the services”.
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MC burns garbage dumps and risks residents’ health
Amritsar, October 16 The local residents said that the dump was put on fire at about 3pm. “We came to know about it after we saw smoke all around. The smoke had made breathing difficult,” said Amanbir, a student. Apart from causing trouble to the residents, the smoke also became a nuisance for commuters as they faced difficulty in finding their way through the smoke blanket that covered the road. Harmandeep Singh said while driving his car, “Because of the decreased visibility caused by the smoke cover, an accident can happen any time.” He added that burning the garbage dumps instead on lifting them is unhealthy and risky. Taking to The Tribune about the problems faced because of the smoke, Suman Kaur, a local resident said, “The oldies and the Kids were the most vulnerable. They had to stay indoors because of the smoke. It could have caused attacks to those who are asthmatic.” She added that considering the ill-effects smoke has on the health of the public, MC should not burn garbage at any cost. Only a few days ago, The Tribune had published a report that how MC employees are burning garbage dumps to end the problem. Even as the MC Commissioner Dharam Pal Gupta had issued instructions disallowing any burning, MC employees concerned seem to have turned a blind eye to their boss’s orders. When contacted, Dharam Pal Gupta said, “I have issued clear-cut instructions under which garbage dump cannot be burnt. May be the fire was ignited by some local resident.” He added that he would conduct an inquiry and ensure that the defaulter is punished.
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Improvement Trust to build commercial complex inside Durgiana Temple
Amritsar, October 16 The Rs 36 crore scheme, notified in 2007, may see spurt in the investment cost. After an arduous effort, the AIT located 49 owners and tenants of shops situated in the temple complex. The AIT is to beautify 3.03 acres of land around the Durgiana Temple. The State government came up with the ambitious beautification scheme with a view to add tourists’ attraction to the city. The Chairman of AIT, Sanjiv Khanna, said entire amount of nearly Rs 40 crore had been deposited by the Trust to local bodies to pay the owners and tenants. He said the Trust would allot one shop to each tenant and would give compensation and a shop to the owners at the upcoming shopping complex. He said since some of the shopkeepers, who are unhappy with the award, had gone to the court. However, he assured that the work on the shopping complex would start soon. The district police had already
vacated the police chowki, where the shopping complex would come up. The police chowki is now situated outside the temple. About Rs 29 crore was to be distributed among the land owners. He said as per the norms, the owners of the residential area would be paid at the rate of Rs 18,000 per sq yard. Following the same pattern, proprietors of commercial space would be compensated at about Rs 60,000 per sq yard. Spokesperson for the Shri Durgiana Committee, Harish Taneja, urged the people to put aside their differences to help in finishing the project. He said some property of the temple also came under the beautification scheme. Taneja said the Shri Durgiana Committee demanded the removal of encroachment from Bhandari Bridge up to Qilla Gobindgarh. The vacant ground at Qilla Gobindgarh would be turned into park, covering of both nullahs located near the temple. A new bridge will be constructed on the place of partially closed Mahavir (Rego) Bridge. He added that it would provide easy access to the devotees from another side.
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Vidya Shah’s tribute to Faiz
Amritsar, October 16 She today performed at the concluding session of the two-day programme dedicated to the birth centenary of her most endeared poet Faiz at Punjab Naatshala. Addressing the audience, she said Faiz Saheb had used plenty of metaphors to describe floods which once ravaged parts of Pakistan. She was thrilled to perform her maiden performance at Amritsar where Faiz had lived crucial years of his life, she added. She said for the past many years she has largely been singing Urdu Nazms of Faiz. She said during the course of her career she attempted different genres of songs, including, classical, khayal, thumri, ghazal, Sufi, bhakti and tribal songs. She had received training in khayal from Shubha Mudgal and learnt thumri, dadra and ghazal from Shanti Hiranand. She sang another popular poetry of Faiz, “Hum Dekhenge”, in the event. She said this performance was dedicated to the towering singers of yore like Iqbal Bano and Noor Jahan, who had rendered their voice to this song. She said Faiz Sahib had penned this poem following the partition of Bangladesh. Salima Hashmi, Faiz Saheb's daughter, after learning Vidya’s passion for singing Faiz, had commented that “I have been deeply moved by her understanding of what Faiz means to the people of the sub-continent.” Vidya performed at TV, radio, independent films documentaries and is also a social activist. During the course of her singing career, Vidya managed to get time to lend her voice for the social causes. Formally trained in the field of social work, she has been a Research Officer with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), a consultant with the Centre for Development Studies, a programme co-ordinator with the Naaz Foundation, Director of Education in Breakthrough, a human rights organisation and many more.
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Ranike faces protest from state’s veterinary inspectors
Amritsar, October 16 The association has demanded that the Veterinary Inspectors should be provided a pay grade equivalent to that of the pharmacists in the Health
Department. The association has also demanded amendment in their service rules. Sidhu added that the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, had issued orders to the officials concerned for reviewing their demands. “Five months have gone by, still we have not received any communication from the government,” said Sidhu adding that they would intensify their protest if the government failed to fulfil their demands.
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Fund-raising the fun way
Amritsar, October 16 The motto of the expedition is ‘challenge of a lifetime---for the charity of your choice’. Each individual would garner donations of his or her choice and donate it accordingly. They stated this while talking The Tribune during their stay at Hotel Grand, one of the oldest hotels in the city. The members of the expedition today paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and watched the retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post in the evening. The real thrill of the rally would begin on the fourth day of the ten-day expedition, which started with the group departing from the UK on October 14. On day four they would reach Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama, after travelling nearly 200 km. The next day, after covering a distance of 80 km, they would be visiting the best paragliding site in the world, Bir. From there they would go to Manali, 200 km from Bir. On the seventh day they would be at Chail over the Jalori pass at 10,000 ft. The next day they would be riding 340 km to reach river Ganges. On the penultimate day of their expedition they would ride from the river Ganges to Delhi. The next day they would fly back to the UK. Dave Hunt, an official of the Global Adventure Challenges, said riding over 1,300 km would not be easy. This challenge would certainly test skills and ability of the challengers as they would experience twist and turns through out the foothills of the world's largest mountain range-the breathtaking Himalayas. He said this rally had become a permanent feature in India, as it offers an incredible variety of landscapes to the challengers. From the bustling sights and sounds of Delhi to the laid back attitude of Dharamsala, challengers can experience everything. A member of the mountain bike rally, Mike Hart, said he is collecting donation by holding birthday parties for over fifty years old and sky diving for supporting children with cancer. Another participant, Loren Hill, said she was raising money by holding music event and motorcycle rally for the Spinal Injuries Association. Husband-wife duo, Nic and Caroline, are raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. They are funding to finish tests in gene therapy treatment which will save many lives. Paul Hogwoo, who has come to India for the first time, wished to see operation of the massive railway network in this country as he was a railway employee back in his country. Another participant, Sammy Morton, a resident of Isle of Man, said she was working to contribute for the Joey Dunlop Foundation. The foundation is running a house for disabled visitors on the island. She said for her it was a time to pay back as once her father had utilised the services of the foundation. Mike Dawes, Yorkshire, said he was collecting donations for the patients
of cerebral palsy.
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Student leaders complain of bias
Amritsar, October 16 The students alleged that they are been victimised by the college principal for playing an active role in the Khalsa College Bachao movement. In a press release issued to the media, the Punjab Students’ Union Secretary, Jaswant Singh said the principal is not allowing the three students, Rajinder Singh Majhail, Harpreet Singh Dharar and Malkeet Singh Aulakh, to give in-house tests. The topper of M.Sc Agricultural Economics in first two semesters, Rajinder Singh Majhail, said, “Earlier we had been refused admission to the college after which the High Court had issued directions allowing the admission. Now, we are been victimised again.” The three students alleged that the college management is asking them to pay more fees than that specified in the college prospectus. “We have already paid the fee that was mentioned in the prospectus. Our refusal to pay the additional fees has earned us the wrath of college authorities.” College principal, Dr Daljit Singh, said, “The college had earlier refused admission to the three boys because they were booked by the police under Section 307 of the IPC for taking part in movement related with the Jallianwala Bagh. They were involved in the acts of causing damage to public property.” He said the students had given an undertaking as per which they are liable to pay the additional fees. “Of the 12 seats, only seven had been filled because of shortage of applicants. The students are yet to pay for the seats,” he said.
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Delete invalid voter’s name: Cong leader
Amritsar, October 16 Addressing a press conference here, Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli alleged that the SAD MLA from Majitha, Bikram Singh Majithia, has used his clout in the government and administration to circumvent all procedures and system to his benefit. He alleged that some of the BLOs refused to issue receipts for documents submitted by eligible voters for their enrolment. He said maximum discrepancies have come to light at Jantipur village of the constituency. He said, “In this village, people from the adjoining villages have been enrolled as voters. Some of the people have been listed twice in the list.” Lalli has requested the Chief Electoral Officer to issue instructions to the Assistant Enrolment Officers-cum-SDMs and BLOs to delete such names.
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GNDU Prof inducted as Fellow of NASI
Amritsar, October 16 He had already been bestowed with awards as Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and JC Bose National Fellowship of Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology. He will be inducted as Fellow of NASI in the 81st Annual Session of the Academy to be held in the University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram. Results of B Com Professional Part III and BBA Part-III examinations, held by the GNDU in September 2011, were declared today. Dr RK Mahajan, Professor In-charge (examinations) said the results were available on the university website www.gndu.ac.in. A NCC cadet of the BBK DAV College for Women, Jui Pandey, successfully attended the NCC Girls Mountaineering Expedition to Mount Thelu (19,780 ft) held recently.
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Amritsar, October 16