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Promotions ordered, work not defined
Poor patchwork gives bumpy ride to commuters
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Crime graph dips
Murder case: Police fails to nab accused
Elections over, but no new work till March 6
First laparoscopic hernia surgery at Civil Hospital
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Promotions ordered, work not defined
Jalandhar, February 1 Even as the transfers were order in the nick of moment, the staff could not be delegated responsibility or area of work. The promoted employees have been sitting idle for the past over a month. Head draughtsmen, who were promoted as assistant town planners in the building branch, have not been allocated their respective areas. Post-promotions, there are two municipal town planners, including Tejpreet and Des Raj. Municipal town planner Hemant Batra was promoted as senior town planner. There are now five head draughtsmen with just one draughtsman. Vinod, Vikas Dua, Balwinder and Ashwini were promoted as head draughtsmen before poll code came into force. In many cases, the promoted employees were to be transferred, but it could not be done due to paucity of time. Superintending engineer AS Dhaliwal, who has recently been promoted as chief engineer (O&M), hardly has any work in city as his prime job now is to frame policies on water and sewage planning for the entire state. Even as his place of posting remains in
Jalandhar, he has to be away to Chandigarh for three to four days a week. Further, the MC now has many higher rung administrators. While Commissioner BS Dhaliwal already had joint commissioner DP Bhardwaj and assistant commissioner Ved Vyas to his aid, he now has additional commissioner VK Gupta and assistant commissioner Gurbinder Kaur Randhawa to assist him. Both the officials have joined, but they were away on election duty. No funds for development
Though the election code of conduct would be lifted on March 9, MC officials say the city will see no development for the next year-and-a-half as the MC has run out of funds. While the SAD-BJP government took over the reigns at the Rs 29 crore deficit, the expenditure increased by over Rs 100 crore. The water bill collection has gone down to half. There has been no income from the change of land use for over a year, say MC officials. Hodgepodge in local bodies dept
There is chaos in the Local Bodies Department too. While there were just two chief engineers - one for civil and another for O&M - it now has four chief engineers. The department now has two chief vigilance officers instead of one. More taxes on anvil
The new government will have to impose more taxes for development of the city. While the metered water supply is already on the anvil, property tax will also be imposed, say MC officials. |
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Poor patchwork gives bumpy ride to commuters
Jalandhar, February 1 The NHAI had last week started re-laying on the damaged stretch on January 22, but it turned out to be eyewash. Instead of a smooth drive, the condition of the road has deteriorated. Owing to the rough patchwork, the stretch leading to PAP Chowk has become accident prone, especially for two-wheeler riders. "It is a terrible experience riding motorcycles and scooters on this stretch as the poor patchwork makes it difficult to balance. We avoid commuting on this stretch," said Ravideep Singh, a commuter. "We had thought that after the re-laying work, driving on the national highway would become easy, but it the condition of the road has further deteriorated. The NHAI should ensure proper repair of this stretch to avoid inconvenience to commuters," said Tejinder Singh, a daily commuter. The NHAI also failed to start the re-laying work on the stretch from PAP Chowk leading up to Bhoor Mandi area and further till Rama Mandi Chowk. Even this stretch is nothing short of a bumpy ride as the entire road has developed large potholes. "It's strange that the NHAI authorities did not notice the poor condition of the road from PAP Chowk to Rama Mandi Chowk," said Jaspreet Kaur, a student of Lyallpur Khalsa College. |
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Factory looted, labourers held captive
Jalandhar February 1 Shashi Kumar, the owner for factory, said he was informed about the incident around 3.30 am. “After making hole in the outer wall, the miscreants eased their way in the factory and opened the main gate where sanitary goods were kept,” the factory owner said. The looters loaded sanitary goods worth around Rs 10 lakh and a computer in a four-wheeler and fled. |
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Crime graph dips
Jalandhar, February 1 Residents are feeling secure due to the presence of forces in every nook and corner of the city. Night dominations and 24-hour patrolling of the police has helped to check crime in the city. With polling over, a majority of paramilitary forces have been removed and only BSF personnel are engaged for the security of strong rooms . “The crime rate has decreased in the city and the paramilitary forces deserve the credit for it,” a police official said. “The local police will keep strict vigil in the city to check crime,” said another police official. He, however, said the city police is short of staff and present force is not enough to deal with the notorious elements. Prior to elections, the crime graph was at its peak and snatchings topped the crime chart. However, no such incident was reported in the past one month. |
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Three days on, HIV positive patient waits for transfusion
Jalandhar, February 1 The patient, a resident of Phagwara, said his doctor told him to arrange B negative blood three days ago. "Even though the blood bank had been asked to provide the blood, the staff says they do not have it and has asked us to arrange the same from some other blood bank," Singh said. "I only have one attendant with me. How can she leave me and go looking for the blood in the city. She doesn't even know about the city. So, we are waiting for fresh stock in the blood bank," he added. When contacted, the hospital staff gave contradicting statements. Though hospital staff agreed that negative blood types were rare, a lab technician on duty at the blood bank said: "There is an increase in the number of thalassaemic, HIV positive and cancer patients. The negative blood types are also rare. Hence, in these cases, the blood is provided on replacement basis." |
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10-year-old crushed to death in road accident
Jalandhar, February 1 After the collision, Rahul fell off the auto and was crushed under its wheels. The victim sustained serious head injuries and died on the spot, the police said. The driver of the four-wheeler fled from the spot. The police has registered a case of negligent driving against him under Sections 304-A and 427 of the IPC after impounding his vehicle. |
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Murder case: Police fails to nab accused
Jalandhar, February 1 The accused, who was then allegedly in an inebriated state, parked his car in front of the house of the labourer and asked him for an empty glass to consume liquor. When the victim refused, the accused allegedly hit him with a brick on his head, leading to his death. Inspector Jaswinder of Police Division No. 7 said: “Raids are being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the accused.” The Police Division No. 3 has arrested one of the accused in the gunshot case. As the accused was minor, the police had sent him to the juvenile home. The accused, identified as Rajat
Sikka, is a son of BJP leader Bobby Sikka. The duo was booked by the police in an attempt to murder case a few months ago. The main accused, Bobby
Sikka, who allegedly shot at Ishan, was still at large. Police sources said that following the tip-off, Rajat was arrested from the Islamabad locality. |
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Civil Hospital witnesses rush of patients
Jalandhar, February 1 The civil hospital laboratory was functioning without four employees as they were assigned elections duties. "Two have joined their duties, but we are still short of two staff members," Dr Devinder said. On January 30, only the X-ray machine was working at the scanning unit of the hospital and ultrasounds were not conducted. There was a rush at the scanning unit too as ultrasound unit became operational again. Patients in various wards, especially the male surgical ward, had earlier complained that they were not being taken care of, but with staff returning to duty, things are normal again. However, patients at the male surgical ward-cum-prisoner's ward were still complaining of lack of proper care. Avdhes, a patient admitted to the ward, said: "They have started morning and evening check ups, but patients are not being taken care of the way they need to be. Everything is left to us and the staff is slow to respond. I am thinking of shifting to a private hospital." Notably, a prisoner at the prisoner's ward had died a few days ago. Though staff said he was not taking his medicines properly. Sources at the hospital said the dresser for the ward was busy handling cases at the plastic surgery camp on January 30, even as he had been called several times by the hospital staff. When contacted, medical superintendent Avtar Chand said: "Patients in the male surgical ward have the habit of creating trouble for others. We are taking good care of them. There was a dearth of staff two days ago, but things are normal now." |
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Elections over, but no new work till March 6
Jalandhar, February 1 One of them include the patchwork of various roads located in and around the city, which were damaged during rain just before the code came into force. When contacted, Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, Commissioner BS Dhaliwal confirmed that no new work could be started till March 6. Almost all city roads are full of potholes. What to talk of other roads, the roads around the MC office and the District Administration Complex have been damaged at several places. Further, the condition of roads at various state highways, including Jalandhar-Nakodar road and Jalandhar-Kapurthala road is also no better. A social activist, Rajat Mohindru, urged the Election Commission of India that as there is a gap of 35 days between polling and counting, it should allow new development works, including patchwork of roads, laying of sewer and water pipes for the benefit of the common man. However, no foundation stone should be laid for the initiation of these works, he said. |
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Taps stolen from doctors’ rooms
Jalandhar, February 1 The taps were stolen from washbasins installed in the rooms of dermatologist Dr Shiv Dayal Mali and Dr GS Pawar. The hospital administration came to know about the theft on Wednesday morning when a class IV employee noticed the broken wash basin in Dr Mali's room. While the main gate of the OPD was locked, thieves had entered the doctors' rooms after breaking the iron mesh. Civil Hospital medical superintendent Dr Avtar Chand had informed about the incident to police division number 4 but no first information report was registered till the filing of this report. Earlier also, several theft incidents were reported on the hospital premises. Three incidents of theft had taken place since August 1, 2011. CCTV cameras on anvil
Installation of eight CCTV cameras for checking the incidents of thefts and for providing efficient services to the patients is already in the pipeline. Two CCTV cameras will be set up at the entrance of the Civil Hospital, one each at the registration of patients counter, one each at the OPD and the gyane ward, in the laboratory and in the X-ray department, said MS Dr Avtar
Chand. |
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Latest navigation system for orthopaedic surgery unveiled
Jalandhar, February 1 Stryker, a US-based orthopaedic implants and devices company, recently introduced intuitive software eNact, which runs on the state-of-the-art navigation hardware, eNlite. This has been installed today at Dr Sanjiv Goel’s ultramodern operation theatre in the city. High precision surgery, smaller scar, low risk of infection and full mobility within days are the main features of the new procedure. While joint replacements such as total knee replacement (TKR) or total hip replacement (THR) are accuracy demanding surgical procedures, the new system will act as a boon to achieve all that. Dr Goel said, “The newly-launched navigation system scores exponentially over its predecessor. The machine is first of its kind in the region. The eNact software offers three-dimensional digital imaging, which enables automatic implant sizing and positioning with highest precision, unlike older machines.” According to him, earlier, the surgeries were done on the basis of X-rays, CT scan or MRIs alone, while any minor movement of the patient on the operating table generally went unnoticed and therefore, the position of the surgical tools in relation to the bone/joint being operated upon, could not be evaluated precisely. Dr Goel explained that improper alignment of the orthopaedic implants in relation to the bones may lead to unevenly distributed load, which determines the process of bone adaptation. Even a few degrees of deviation of the mechanical axis of
the bone significantly increases the risk of complications and failure of surgery. |
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First laparoscopic hernia surgery at Civil Hospital
Jalandhar, February 1 Pyare Lal (55), the patient from Partap Pura on whom the surgery was conducted, was discharged today. While the same surgery is done at exorbitant prices in private hospitals, at the Civil Hospital the surgery is conducted at just Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500, which has come as a boon to poor patients. While Dr Rajnish Kumar conducted the surgery with equipment like tackers and nashers at his own cost, he said it would of great help if the equipment was provided by the hospital funds. MS Dr Avtar Chand said, “We encourage more people to come for this advanced treatment. The latest technique also enables them to have surgeries with much smaller cuts and get discharged much earlier.” |
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Booth-level officers get raw deal
Jalandhar, February 1 The BLOs, most of whom are government schoolteachers, said they had spent much more from their pockets, including on photostat of voter forms. The BLOs said they had to skip their classes or other official duties in far flung areas to attend several meetings in Jalandhar. They ended up spending much more than the amount they have received from the election commission, said the BLOs. Their grouse seems more relevant when they tell that micro observers got Rs 1,000 just for a few days of duty and presiding officers got Rs 1,450 for five days charge. Interestingly, the honorarium this time also included diet money of Rs 100 per day for staff deputed for all jobs, including police, polling staff and ROs supporting staff. |
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