|
|
|
|
Hospital or haven for addicts?
Ultrasound centre reopens, conditions apply
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Civic body has no count of stray dogs roaming city roads
 Amritsar, November 29
The Amritsar Municipal Corporation is unable to control stray dog menace in the city. It has no system in place to either conduct a census of stray dogs or even to sterilise them. This information was revealed in the information received by Gurmeet Singh, chairman of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Youth Front, to an application filed under the RTI Act. Stray dogs raom freely in the streets of Amritsar. Tribune photo: sameer sehgal
AMC House meeting deferred, to be held on December 7
unstoppable spirit
Women’s college gets Rs 1.7-cr grant
Doctors’ ‘healing’ touch
Two arrested with drugs
Ministerial staff strike
3-day science exhibition begins
Comedy play hogs limelight at theatre fest
|
|
Hospital or haven for addicts?
Amritsar, November 29 Disposable glasses and wrappers of 'namkeens' were also found on the same spot. Earlier, the staff at the hospital had reported the recovery of objectionable items from a room near one of the wards for the patients. Sources say there is no check on the entry of visitors. "Sometimes miscreants enter the premises on the pretext of meeting some patient or to see a doctor. They use secluded corners which are not frequented by the staff to consume drugs,” an employee said. The employees here say silver foils used to melt smack had also been recovered. Yogita, attendant of a patient said, "The drug users can harm anyone barging into the place unknowing of their presence." She said at least the hospital authorities should deploy security staff at the entrance gates in the evening to ask visitors the purpose of their visit at least. Medical Superintendent of GND Hospital Dr Karnail Singh said they have failed in monitoring the activities of the visitors because of the absence of adequate security staff to guard the premises. He said, "Only 5-6 guards are available at the hospital. They have been also assigned the duty to guard the Nursing college hostel here." The hospital is in a dire need of security staff to keep an eye on the visitors, he said. Dr Singh said the shortage of the security staff is a result of the Punjab Ex-servicemen Corporation (PESCO) discontinuing its services to the hospital a month ago. Previously, 25 security men from PESCO guarded the hospital, he said. He added, "The recovery of these items make it evident that the place is being misused but because of lack of security staff we have not been able to catch anyone red handed so far.”
|
||
|
Ultrasound centre reopens, conditions apply
Amritsar, November 29 The Pre-conception Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) advisory committee had unanimously decided to allow the proprietor to conduct the ultrasound scans, but with a few riders. The centre will have to submit a copy of ‘Form F’ daily to the health authorities. The said form records all the information regarding the pregnant women who come for the tests at scan centres, it was decided. The machines at the centre were sealed after a complaint from Satnam Kaur, a resident of Jagdev Kalan village, near here. Satnam had refused to abort her child against the wishes of her husband and the in-laws. Satnam Kaur had alleged that the sex determination test on her was conducted at the said centre after which her husband and in-laws started pressurising her to get the child Later, Satnam Kaur was also bestowed with a state award for her act of bravery for standing against her family to save a girl child. Civil Surgeon Dr Avtar Singh Jarewal who is also the district appropriate authority under the PNDT Act said the owners have been allowed to conduct the tests on the condition that they will not sell, tamper or shift the machine so that these can be produced in court whenever the court asks. He said, “The reopening of the centre will not affect the case against the centre under the PNDT Act. the department is yet to renew the registration of the centre.”
|
||
|
Civic body has no count of stray dogs roaming city roads
Amritsar, November 29 In reply to a query, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation officials admitted that the corporation neither maintained any record about the total number of dogs sterilised nor has it made any case study about the dog-bite cases. Even city hospitals are ill-equipped to provide anti-rabies vaccines to treat such patients. Officials blame the Animal Welfare Board, representing the union government, for not having conducted the stray dog sterilisation programme under Animal Birth Control. However, questions are being raised about the seriousness of the AMC as to on what basis it would project its case when it does not have any record about the stray dogs in the city or the number of animal bite cases. For the rest of his queries,
In the absence of any concrete policy, the ambitious Central government-funded Rs 1.26-crore Animal Birth Control sterilisation project, through MIVOT technique, could not take off, due to inefficiency on the part of AMC officials. Some clerical error must have occurred in replying to the RTI questionaire. The questions were somewhat fuzzy. I have to check with the department how could the RTI activist’s query about the number of dogs or those who were operated upon, got overlooked. The exact number of dogs cannot be told off hand, but the last survey conducted some months ago had revealed that there are 25,000 stray dogs, but this figure must have increased by now. We have the record pertaining to the sterilisation of dogs. On an average, 30 dogs are sterilised in a month in collaboration with the Department of Animal Husbandry, said Yogesh Arora, Health officer, AMC. My assumption pointed towards the mass corruption prevailing in the AMC. The vague reply given by the officials to such a grave matter is enough to prove that their animal catching machinery seems to be defunct going by their denial of having any record about number of dogs they caught and sterlised. I am thinking of filing a PIL in the High Court against the leniency on the part of the AMC, RTI activist Gurmeet Singh said.
|
||
|
AMC House meeting deferred, to be held on December 7
Amritsar, November 29 Sources said the meeting has been postponed by the ruling alliance to strengthen its position in wake of the upcoming elections. Sources say the entire battery of the ruling alliance is busy cementing its position by gifting thousands of contractual workers with regular service letters before a meeting of the House. The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has been instructed to announce the same in its meeting. Since the Amritsar Municipal Corporation authorities were not prepared for the same, it sought more time to prepare the antecedents of the contractual employees who can be awarded regular service letters after deliberations on the same in the meeting of the House. With this move, the ruling alliance is anticipating that thousands of contractual employees associated with the Mohalla Sudhar Committees and those working on the Deputy Collector (DC) rate for the past one decade, will be their ‘committed voters’. Otherwise, pressurised by the opposition, the BJP city Mayor Shwait Malik, despite the fact that his son’s wedding was to be held on that day, had to call a meeting of the officials and communicate to the AMC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta to fix the date of the meeting for November 30. Amritsar Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dharampal Gupta said the date of the meeting had to be postponed by a week because of some official formalities. The opposition today gave another ultimatum that if the ruling alliance still could not hold the meeting on the new date, they will conduct the meet on their own as they have the majority required to hold the same. Congress spokesperson Ranjan Aggarwal alleged that the ruling alliance in the state is adopting a dilly-dallying approach. “The ruling alliance has no guts to face us. Even as we had pressurised them to hold the meeting and the Commissioner had fixed a date to hold the House meeting, why was it deferred? Now, they are seeking a week’s time to prepare their strategy for the elections as they know they will not be able to come clean on the allegations imposed by us over the development funds they claim to have spent on various projects,” he said. On November 16, the Congress councillors, led by Aggarwal, had alleged that the House meets only once or twice in a financial year, leaving no chance to have a constructive debate over the problems faced by people and various development works on which the ruling alliance has been claiming to spend crores. Mayor Shwait Malik said the house meeting could not be held on a regular basis because of the execution of various development projects already underway in the holy city.
|
||
|
A winner hands down
Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service
Amritsar, November 29 A man of indomitable spirit, he has overcome his physical loss and still is a living lesson in independence. Just as a winner always inspires others, his colleagues and customers to the Bank as cannot be anything but impressed. One of the customer of the bank Lakhvir Singh Sehmi, an Advocate, said it is people like Manohar Lal who are the brand ambassadors of human endurance. He said he first noticed him working at a branch of the SBI 15 years ago. "I was astonished to see him writing in the ledger books with the help of his limbs," he said. He said looking at him gave him inspiration to perform his own job sincerely, honestly and dignity. Father of four, including a daughter, Manohar has his children studying in leading schools and colleges of the city. He says he has led a beautifully successful family life. A resident of New Medical Enclave, Manohar Lal was only nine when he lost both of his hands to an accident during bursting of fire crackers on Diwali in 1965. The world of his parents was shattered as the eldest of their two sons and a daughter had been crippled to accidents. However, Manohar Lal passed his matriculation examination from PBN School. “Even after the life turning accident, I did not lose heart and learnt to write with my other limbs. Constant practice made me proficient in writing with my limbs," he says. He cleared all his examinations up to matriculation on his own. He joined the SBI as messenger under the handicapped quota in 1979 and is working as an Assistant with the cantonment branch of the bank. All he wants is to do his job well.
|
||
|
Women’s college gets Rs 1.7-cr grant
Amritsar, November 29 College Principal Dr Neelam Kamra said it was a proud moment for the institute to have been chosen out of a list of 91 colleges across the country. She said eight-lane swimming pool and indoor sports training gymnasium would be raised out of this grant in the college campus. She said it would make the institute first women’s college in the city to have a swimming pool on its campus. Over the years, the college has produced an Arjuna awardee, an Olympian, three international ball badminton players, an international cyclist and an international Taekwondo player. Besides, 68 of its players have participated in national-level competitions. Located at Lawrence road, the college is spread over 65,000 square yards. The institute offers sports infrastructure for various sports disciplines.
|
||
|
Doctors’ ‘healing’ touch
Amritsar, November 29 The PCMS association had earlier decided that the doctors would stage protest for two hours daily. Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, state secretary, PCMS Association said, “The decision has been taken to save patients from inconvenience.” The doctors said they are aware of their responsibility towards the general public but apathy of the state government has pushed them towards the protest. The PCMS doctors are protesting against the state government on its failure to issue a notification regarding merging of the NPA with the basic pay. Even as the doctors had reduced the time of their protest, the patients were seen waiting for them at various departments. Deepak Kaul, a patient, said, “It is good that doctors have decided to cut short the timing of the protest. Another visitor Satish Kumar said, “If a class of society as educated as doctors have to protest to get perks, then it is clear that the government has failed in keeping up with its promises.” Meanwhile, the health employees at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital held a protest rally. The employees are protesting against the state government to get their services regularised. As the employees, including the class IV workers, were on strike, patients had a difficulty in finding stretchers and wheelchairs. Deepak Kumar of East Mohan Nagar, who had broken his leg, said, “My mother brought me down from the hospital with the help of other people as she could not find a stretcher.” Kumar was lying on the footpath outside the hospital as his mother stopped to catch breadth. The pharmacists association also culminated its 24-hour hunger strike at the civil surgeon office today.
|
||
|
Two arrested with drugs
Amritsar, November 29 The police said 18 packets of Finotic tablets and 20 packets of Moralit. In another case, the Sadar police arrested Sultan Singh, a resident of Anand Nagar Nangli Bhatta area, with 50 grams of toxic powder. A case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against him. Cheating case
Rakesh Kapoor has been booked for cheating. Vipin Gupta file a complaint in this regard. The accused is still at large. A case under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC has been registered. Vipin Gupta, who deals in carpet business, said the accused decamped with Rs 3 lakh and raw material given by him.
|
||
|
Amritsar, November 29
|
||
|
3-day science exhibition begins
Amritsar, November 29 Organised by the State Institute of Science Education, a wing of the State Council of Education and Research Training (SCERT), over 100 students took part in the exhibition. They were selected after their performance had been assessed in the sub-divisional-level exhibitions. District Science Supervisor Kailash Chander Sharma said a written science quiz test was also conducted in which students from 45 schools of the city took part. Of these, teams from eight schools got selected. These schools are SSS School MS road, SSS School Ram Bagh, DAV International School, Prabhakar Senior Secondary School, DAV Senior Secondary School, Ashoka Senior Secondary School, SH School Karampura and Raj Memorial Senior Secondary School. These school teams will take part in the quiz contest tomorrow. Meanwhile, a three-day 19th state level Children’s Science Congress 2011 on the theme of ‘Land Resources’ started at Khalsa College’s Sardar Sundar Singh Majithia Hall today. The event is being organised by the College with collaboration of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) Department, said Principal, Khalsa College, Dr Daljeet Singh. Nearly 350 students and over 100 teachers from all over the state are taking part in the event which will conclude on December 1. The science projects prepared by the students on the main and six sub-themes will be presented before the judges out of these 16 projects will be sent to the national-level Children’s Science Congress 2011, Programme-Coordinator, Dr Jasjeet K Randhawa said.
|
||
|
Comedy play hogs limelight at theatre fest
Amritsar, November 29 ‘Anurati Maya’, directed by Beharul Islam, narrated the story of a protagonist, belonging to middle class family, who migrated to the tinsel town to earn name as an artist. However, he loses his existence in the struggle. ‘Khadd’, directed by Palli Bhupinder, stressed on the need of family. Play ‘Chehre’ portrays the people from the contemporary society who are drowned by commercialisation. It was directed Sudesh Sharma. Based on the autobiography of writer Amarjit Kaur, play ‘One Zero One’ poignantly portrayed the feelings of a helpless mother.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Lack of adequate security at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here is fast turning it into a safe haven for anti-social elements.
The Tribune team recently spotted empty liquor and soda bottles near a washroom on the premises of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.
Amritsar, November 29
