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Farmers block NH, commuters suffer
A day after, chaos rules Civil Hospital
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Fire safety a casualty here
Finally, police to dispose of over 5,000 unclaimed vehicles
Mid-day meal scheme hit
MC round-up
Crime file
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Farmers block NH, commuters suffer
Nakodar, December 8 Hundreds of union members held a sit in on the road and not allowed even a single vehicle to pass. The protesters were raising anti-government slogans and also cursing the ruling alliance for not paying heed to their long pending demands. Commuters had to face tough time due to blockade. All vehicles, including buses, cars or two-wheelers, had to take alternative routes. "A bus from Jalandhar hardly takes 25 minutes to reach Nakodar, but with the blockade, buses have to take alternative routes and it takes about an hour-and-a-half to reach Nakodar," Surinder Kumar, one of the private bus operators rued. Kanav Sharma, who had to appear for a job interview in Jalandhar today, was not able to reach on time. Another commuter Nitin Sharma rued: "Last night, I had to attend a weeding at Nakodar, but policemen diverted the traffic from Kangsabu village. As we were unaware of others rural routes leading to Nakodar, we lost the way and finally reached Nakodar after three hours." Harmesh Malrhi, state finance secretary of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union alleged that the Badals had been deliberately ignoring the demands of the downtrodden. He said demands which had already been accepted by the government have not been implemented. "We have submitted a four-point memorandum to the Chief Minister" Malrhi said. Their first demand was to waive the electricity bill of landless labourers of the state. He alleged instead of waiving the bill, the government had decreased the allotted free electricity units limit from 400 to 200. The second demands was to allot a 10 marla plot to a landless labourer of the state and this was also promised in the election manifesto of the SAD, but the scheme has not been implemented, he alleged. The third demand was to give Rs 5 lakh along with a job to the kin of a poor landless labourer if he commits suicide under the influence of bad economic condition. However, the government has not fulfilled this demand too. Malrhi said, in fourth demand, was to cancel FIRs registered against union members who had been booked during protests. Malrhi claimed that a few months ago, they had a meeting with Powercom chairman KD Bhandari who revealed that around Rs 4.60 crore electricity bills were pending with the 10,900 landless labourers who had not been paying bills for the past many years.
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A day after, chaos rules Civil Hospital
Jalandhar, December 8 Even as a large number of patients made it to the scan section today, the presence of a lone radiologist added to their woes, forcing them to return disappointed. The corridor of the radiology department was chock-a-block with patients. At least 20 patients stood near the door of the ultrasound section, 50 were seated on chairs and the rest stood outside the department. As The Tribune tried to talk to some of them, a volley of complaints followed. Mariam and Pooja, both of whom had been denied a scan yesterday, stood in the queue and said there were no arrangements to ensure smooth treatment. “Yesterday, there were no scans and today there is chaos. While some pushed their way into the room, some have been handpicked and called inside before their turn. The very reason that patients have crowded outside the door is that there is no order and they think if they wait quietly, their turn will never come,” they said. There was no attendant or a security guard. Patients said they had been waiting for hours. Satnam Singh, who was accompanying his wife Ranjit Kaur for a scan, said: “We have been waiting since morning. But they started calling in patients at 11 am. There were at least 50 other patients who returned disappointed.” Deepak from Jalandhar Cantt said: “Our number is 12. Our patient is still standing outside while they say they have called in patients till number 16. Recommendations work and the poor man is made to suffer.” Staff shortage to blame
}I am the only doctor conducting scans today. The process may have started an hour late in the morning, but patients always blow it out of proportion. Since we have been instructed to give preference to emergency cases, we have to call some patients out of turn. The lone security guard in our section keeps standing inside. Disciplining patients or checking queues is not my job. The hockey team had come today, too, but I refused them because had I conducted their X-rays, some ultrasound patients would have had to go home again. Ideally, one doctor should not take more that 20 cases a day, but we are way overburdened. Even chances of error tend to increase in the way we are made to work. On top of that, there are MLC cases and it is also mandatory to check the patients' ID proof. There are even days we get 100 patients a day. It all comes down to staff strength.~ Dr Satwinder Singh, Radiologist, Civil Hospital |
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Fire safety a casualty here
Jalandhar, December 8 The anti-fire unit set up in the hospital has gone outdated for the past many years. The fire equipment, including fire extinguishers, smoke alarm system and fire alarm, have been gathering dust and have not been tested since long. Interestingly, the fire extinguishers on the hospital premises have not been refilled since long. Sources said the hospital has 51 fire extinguishers and all of them have not refilled for the past many months. The last refilling of fire extinguishers took place on March 15, 2010, and despite of its expiry on March 9, 2011, the hospital authorities failed do the needful. The main fire dousing unit (water pumps) have also been gone outdated for the past many years. Sources claim that water pipes have choked and the pumps will be of no use in case of fire. Hospital officials said some miscreants had even stolen brass nozzles of the water taps, hence rendering the water units useless. The miscreants have also broken the main glass door of water units. One of the officials said the main submersible motor was not enough to supply water in required pressure to all taps. “Hospital has a 30 HP motor, but it requires 40 HP motor to supply water in high pressure in case of an emergency. Hospital was also running short of fire extinguishers (cylinders). Sources revealed that the blood bank, the MS office and the inmate ward are short of fire extinguisher while the out patient department (OPD), which needs two fire extinguishers, has none. When contacted, Medical Superintendent Avtar Chand said: “We have already written to the higher authorities in Chandigarh about the plight of anti-fire devices in the hospital. The fire extinguishers will be refilled soon.” Chand revealed that a few years ago, a team of the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals also visited in the Civil Hospital and they had also raised questions on the feasibility of anti-fire units. Officials of the board then asked the hospital authorities to replace the existing fire fighting set up as a precautionary measure. He said a few months ago, officials of the fire brigade department carried out a mock drill and give safety tips to the hospital staff. “However, they were not able to carry out the mock drill on main fire units (water pumps) due to their poor plight,” he said.
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Finally, police to dispose of over 5,000 unclaimed vehicles
Jalandhar, December 8 Finally, the DGP has issued standing orders to the police heads of all districts to comply with the apex court directions and auction condemned vehicles dumped at various police stations. With the issuance of the standing orders of the DGP, police stations of the city and the rural police, which have virtually turned into dumping yards for unclaimed accidental and seized vehicles, will get more space. Over 5,000 vehicles will either be taken away by insurance companies or will be auctioned. Rajpal Singh Sandhu, ADCP (Crime) said presently 2,000 such vehicles are rusting in different city police stations. The apex court has also asked the police to adopt a set procedure for the disposal of vehicles where owners have claimed insurance. A per the suggested procedure, information regarding the vehicles insured in the country is available with the Insurance Information Bureau, set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). The bureau has a toll free number (155255) and on the recovery or seizure of vehicles (the insurance and ownership and other details of which are not known), the police investigating officer (IO) shall call at the toll free number to know about the insurance company and the owner. The IO have to inform the insurance company and the owner about the recovery or send a report in form No 54 (Rule 159 of the Motor Vehicle Act 1998) to the insurance company and the claims tribunal in compliance of Sections 158(6) of the Act at the earliest. The company may apply for the release of the seized vehicle in the trial court. On receipt of release order from the court, the officer in charge of the police station should prepare a detailed memo in the presence of a representative of the insurance company. The vehicle should be photographed and videographed from every side, including engine no number and chassis number and the interior. The photographs and the videos should be preserved and a hard copy should be kept ready for the trial court. The police has to preserve the photographs and the videos for two years after the completion of the trial proceedings or disposal of subsequent appeals, whichever is earlier. The entire procedure starting from memo preparation photography and videography should be completed at the earliest and in no case later than 15 days from the date of release order or the request received from the insurance company whichever is later. In case the vehicle is not claimed by the owner, the insurance company or by the third party within three months of the seizure, the officer in charge of the police station should apply to the magistrate, with whom the trail is pending or to whom its seizure was reported, for sale/auction of such vehicle. This is in accordance with the provisions of Section 459 of the CrPC.
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Mid-day meal scheme hit
Jalandhar, December 8 Their absence is already telling on the coffers of the mid-day meal scheme. Teachers and cooks across the district express helplessness as many schools are already running out of ration to feed their schoolchildren. Many teachers express apprehension that if ABMs’ demands are not accepted soon, they might get irate parents knocking on their school doors even as complaints have already begun pouring in. ABMs are essentially mediators between the schools and fund-earmarking authorities. They are the ones responsible for fund transfer, monitoring quality of the mid-day meal, sending demands for ration, etc. In their absence many schools are running out of ration and others say even if grants for ration arrive, it will not make it to schools unless ABMs are present. Gurmeet Singh, a teacher at the Government Primary School, Mallian, says, “We are presently out of ration. We have got no money either. Our finances are presently running in figures of minus Rs 1,000. We have complained to the BPEO office time and again, but there has been no respite. Everyday we have some of the parents coming to fight with us. Most of the children from our school are also from poor families, they need food. But they are not getting it. If the ABMs don’t come, the ire of parents is only going to increase. We need ration urgently.” Kamaljit Singh Dhami, teacher at Government Primary School, Pattar Kalan, says, “Both demand and supply of mid-day meal stock for schools get affected due to the absence of ABMs. We have stock right now. But it is constantly being used up and if the strike is not called off soon we might get short of it. The backbone of the mid-day meal is broken without the ABMs.” The cooks in the government schools have also been without salaries for the last two months. |
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Residents will remember 2011 as year of flyovers
Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 8 The MC’s ongoing Rs 35-crore city beautification project, which involves relaying of tiles along footpaths and central verges and cat eyes (reflectors) on roads, too changed the face of the city. Civil works remained on at full swing till mid-year, bad times started when MC coffers became empty. The works remained standstill for good three to four months with the Mayor running hard to get grants via other civic authorities, including PUDA and Jalandhar Improvement Trust. The much-publicised works, including those of starting Rs 102-crore sports hub at Burlton Park and Rs 32.7-crore renovation project of Nehru Garden remained non-starters with one problem or the other. The biggest blot for the MC came when a five-year-old child of a labourer fell into an open manhole and died about two weeks ago. The year will also be remembered in the MC for the re-appointment of the retired officials, including Ved Vyas as Assistant Commissioner and PS Gill as XEN Horticulture. The decisions of the Mayor raised many eyebrows within the staff. The good news was the process of digitisation of birth and death records was started. Current records would go online from January 1, 2012. The door-to-door survey under Global Information System too brought much light on the issue of defaulters of water bills and house tax. There also was change of guards. Commissioner Viney Bublani was replaced by BS Dhaliwal. Assistant Commissioner DP Bhardwaj got promoted as Joint Commissioner.
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Crime file
Jalandhar, December 8 All of them were arrested on tip-offs. Roshan Lal, resident of Abadpura, was arrested when he was on his way to supply illicit liquor. A case of illicit liquor was recovered from him. Gurmel Lal, resident of Abadpura, was arrested when he was on his way to supply illicit liquor near Ravidas Chowk. Two cases of illicit liquor were recovered from him. Vinod Kumar of the Abadpura locality was arrested near Ravidas Chowk and two cases of illicit liquor recovered from him. Cases under the Excise Act were registered against the three at the Bhargo Camp police station. 2 arrested with intoxicant capsules, powder
Jalandhar: The Bhargo Camp police today
arrested two persons and recovered intoxicant capsules, tablets and powders from them. Acting on a tip-off
that some drug peddler was on his way to supply intoxicants in the nearby localities of the town,
the police laid a trap and arrested Arun Kapoor, resident of Charanjit Pura, and recovered 1,440 intoxicant capsules and 280 intoxicant tablets from him. Arvinder Kumar Jassal, resident of Butta
village, was arrested from Deol Nagar and 200 g of intoxicant powder and 200 intoxicant tablets recovered from him. Case under Sections
22, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act have been registered against the at the Bhargo Camp police station. |
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RTS Act: Erring officials to pay fine up to Rs 5,000
Jalandhar, December 8 SM Sharma, Chief Commissioner, RTS, who presided over a meeting of the district administration, besides sarpanchs and municipal councillors here today, said apart from the 67 identified services, more services would soon be brought under the ambit of the Act in the coming days. So far 43 services concerned the Health Department and the remaining were for the police. He said the teething problems and other difficulties being faced by the people would be removed. He said it had been seen that lack of awareness was hampering the smooth implementation of the Act. He instructed all the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that proper awareness meets were held at the tehsil, block and panchayat level. Adequate number of copies of the scheme should be dispatched to the sarpanchs so that they could distribute them to all the households in the villages. Sharma appealed to the general public to send their suggestions on making the scheme more inclusive and effective so that the maximum number of people could benefit from it. This would also ensure that the Act became more dynamic and the officials concerned could not take beneficiaries for a ride. He said he was touring the entire state and meeting both the implementers and the beneficiaries of thew Act so that their suggestions could be incorporated in any further amendment to the Act. Later, Sharma and his three colleagues - IS Sidhu, DS Verka, and HS Dhillon - visited the Suvidha Centre and Sanjh Kendras at the Division No 3 police station and oversaw their functioning. They also interacted with people there and sought their views for making the scheme more effective. They also directed the officials to provide receipts to all the people seeking redressal of their complaints so that the number of days in providing service could be ascertained since the Act provided for imposition of fine beyond the stipulated period. Others present included Priyank Bharti, DC, Ishwar Singh, IG, Gaurav Yadav, CP, HS Maan, SSP (R), Preneet Bhardwaj, ADC, Capt Karnail Singh, DD (Local Bodies), JS Brar, Secretary, RTA, DP Bhardwaj, AC (MC).
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Members of as many as 17 farmers and labourers unions of the state laid a siege to the Jalandhar-Nakodar National Highway since Wednesday night.
As a number of patients were denied ultrasound yesterday, the radiology department of the Civil Hospital witnessed a huge rush of patients today.
Jalandhar, December 8
