The health authorities examined patients at the Government Subsidiary Health Centre (SHC) in the village and also held an awareness lecture on the prevention and cure of jaundice at Government Senior Secondary School of the village.

Charanpreet Singh, a jaundice patient, said he developed the symptoms of the disease around a fortnight ago, but it was just recently that he got to know that it was actually jaundice.

“I took medical prescription from a private hospital as there was no doctor at the SHC in the village. Last week I got to know that almost every other villager was having the same symptoms and then we got to know that it was a jaundice outbreak,” he added.

His mother, Harjinderjit Kaur, is also suffering from jaundice. The health team visited her and conducted medical check-up of her. “It was persistent vomiting which raised alarm for us. The health teams swung into action only after the disease spread in the village,” she said.

Villagers said summers were yet to arrive and people had already started contacting such communicable diseases. “The health authorities should ensure that even in summers and further in monsoons they should hold such awareness exercises and medical camps to avoid any outbreak of diseases,” they added.

Earlier in the day, four water samples were also collected from different locations, which would be sent to the water-testing lab of the Municipal Corporation (MC). Meanwhile, one positive case of jaundice was also reported from Patara village, situated on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road.

Sarpanch of the village Sukhwinder Singh Kotli said the villagers were getting water supply from the central water tank situated in the village. “There is no fault with the supply of the water from the tank. Rather it is a set of houses in the villages, where this problem has been reported. The problem lies with the water connections, which at many places come in contact with open drains and sewers. I have asked the water supply people to rectify such connections,” he added.

Jalandhar, February 27
A labourer was badly injured when he was hit by a speeding car on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road last night. The occupants of the car, on the pretext of taking him to a hospital, threw him out of the vehicle on the road near Gajipur village to let him die.

The deceased has been identified as 35-year-old Sitaram, hailing from Bihar, but living in Jandu Singha village, near here. The deceased has been survived by four children.

Sources said Sitaram was going to market on his bicycle from his home to buy some household things when a speeding Indica car hit him from the rear.

The impact of the collision was so intense that Sitaram fell yards away from the road. Many people gathered on the spot, the sources said.

Four occupants of the car, including two women, came out and told the gathered people that they would themselves took the injured to the Adampur Civil Hospital for treatment.

In charge of the Jandu Singha police chowki Pushp Bali said instead of rushing the victim to the hospital, the car occupants threw him out of the car near Gajipur village and fled away.

When the car occupants were throwing Sitaram out, some passersby noted down the car registration number.

Meanwhile, emergency ambulance 108 was called, which took the injured to the Adampur Civil Hospital, from where doctors referred him to the Civil Hospital here, where Sitaram succumbed to his injuries.

The police has registered a case under Sections 304 A and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Jalandhar, February 27
Of the nearly Rs 2 crore embezzled in the forgery case in the office of the Divisional Commissioner, the administration has so far recovered only Rs 3.5 lakh. The amount recovered so far has come from Hamira-based Jagatjit brewery, which has deposited it under protest. A notice had been sent to the company as it had been found during auditing that in one of the entries wherein the liquor distillery had got the embossing work done, the amount paid by it had not got deposited in the treasury.

Giving details, Divisional Commissioner Anurag Verma said after the notice, brewery officials paid the amount in protest, while blaming it all on Charanjit, a clerk in the office who is behind bars now. The role of an agent involved in the deal was still under investigation.

The three agents who had been arrested earlier, including Ajay Soni, Yogesh Soni and Rajesh Anand, are in judicial custody. The police is also said to have recovered rubber stamps used to fudge the records and siphon off the amount. Recoveries from the trio are yet to be made.

The case had come to light about three weeks back during an auditing of the finances. It has also exposed the fact as to how the office supervisors or even their higher-ups ignored a very important aspect of monthly or annual reconciliation of accounts.

While during the last five months of the case, Anurag Verma has been the Divisional Commissioner, SR Ladhar was the official on the seat prior to that. Since the older records are yet to be audited, the role of their predecessors is yet to be ascertained. A practice on the part of the officials to run the show from the camp offices set up at their official residences had also perhaps given a free hand to the miscreants.

Jalandhar, February 27
Controversy has erupted over the axing of a 30-year-old tahli tree at the Baba Budha Mal Park in Bhargo Camp here on the orders of area councillor and Deputy Mayor Parvesh Tangri without the due permission from the authorities.

The tree with a diameter of seven feet was cut from near the base in the presence of Tangri by a saw mill owner of the area. The value of the tree, which is said to be of over Rs 25,000, has been reportedly given to the mill owner for just Rs 2,500. The residents of the area alleged that the tree had been axed as it came in the way of the newly erected fancy lights in the park.

Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation BS Dhaliwal has order an inquiry into the matter. PS Gill, Executive Engineer, Horticulture, said he was yet to submit his report to the Commissioner. An FIR would definitely have to be lodged on the matter.

Parvesh Tangri, however, has another point of view. “The tree had bent downward and could have fallen on visitors to the park. It, of course, was my mistake of not taking due permission from the Commissioner. But in any case, he, too, would have agreed to it on seeing the lurking danger,” he added.

He said, “The tree was also proving to be a hindrance to the lights in the park. There are women, elderly persons and children visiting the park and the park has to be well-lit up for security purposes.”

Jalandhar, February 29
Two days from now, it will indeed be a special moment in the family of Sarabjit Singh Syal and Kamalpreet Kaur as their son, Ishkirat Singh, who will turn four on February 29, will be able to celebrate the occasion for the first time on his birth date.

As Ishkirat Singh was born on February 29, 2008, his parents have been celebrating his birthday for the past three years on March 1. “Everyone in our family suggested that we should celebrate his birthday a day later in the non-leap years. Since it is a leap year this time, we are all excited about his birthday. We are planning a get-together at our place,” said Sarabjit, a resident of New Ujala Nagar, near Basti Sheikh.

Kamalpreet said it was perhaps this year that her son had understood the concept of leap year a bit. “Now he remembers his day of birth. In fact, he had started a countdown to his birthday using the calendar more than a month back,” she added, joking that whenever anyone asked her about his date of birth she simply replied that her son was a “leaping baby”.

The day will also be special for Vishawdeep Chaudhary and Ruchi Chaudhary as their son Anmol was born in the previous leap year. Chaudharys, who run a medical shop in Jalandhar Cantonment, are planning to hold a havan on that day inviting all their relatives and friends.

February 29 is a special occasion for a yet another couple who have their wedding anniversary on the date. It will be the 20th marriage anniversary for OP Rana, a manager in a hotel, and his wife Divya Rana even as they would get a chance to celebrate it on the actual date for the fifth time.

The Ranas laugh, “Since 25 is not a multiple of four, the date won’t arrive in our silver jubilee year. We will have to celebrate it in the midnight between February 28 and March 1.” The couple, residing in Surya Enclave here, plans to visit Chintpurni temple on that day. “We also may go out for dinner or go by what our daughter Shefali plans for us,” the duo said.

Asked how come they planned their wedding on an unusual date, the couple explained, “We come from a simple village family of Himachal Pradesh. We did not realise the importance of the date till we were married for a year.”

Jalandhar, February 27
Up in arms against the failure of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to initiate action against a hand tools industry in the city, the residents of the local Dilbagh Nagar Extension Welfare Society today staged a dharna outside the PPCB zonal office in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar.

The residents raised voice against Inder Industries situated on 120-feet road, which has become a cause of concern for them.

The hand tools industry installed hammer some time back, owing to which the walls and roofs of around 250 houses of this colony developed cracks.

Parminder Singh Dhingra, an advocate, said the dharna was staged after the PPCB officials failed to implement the orders of closure of the hammer in this factory. The orders were issued by the PPCB on January 1, 2012.

“We handed over a memorandum to Environment Engineer Arun Kakkar in this regard and demanded that if action was not taken against the owners of the industry the residents would gherao the office of the PPCB,” he added.

The agitated residents, which included a large number of women, also handed over bangles to the PPCB officials for failing to take any action against the factory owners. “The orders should be implemented at the earliest,” he added.

Jalandhar, February 27
A 22-year-old youth allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Lamha Pind Chowk this afternoon. The police has booked three persons, including a woman, on the charge of abetting him to commit suicide.

The deceased has been identified as Surinder Kumar, alias Mintu. Surinder Kumar’s mother in her complaint to the police alleged that a few days ago a woman, Gogi, had levelled false allegation of eve-teasing on her son and later she along with two other persons beat him (Surinder Kumar) badly.

Her son could not bear the insult and today took the extreme step of suicide, she said.

As per the statement of the deceased’s mother, the police has registered a case of abetment to suicide against Gogi, Shinda and one unknown person of the same locality at the Division No 8 police station. No arrest has been made so far.

Jalandhar February 27
A 23-year-old girl student was crushed to death near Wadala Chowk this morning. She was a student of mass communication. The deceased has been identified as Punam, daughter of Om Parkash, resident of Khurla Kingra, near here.

Sources said Punam was heading for a coaching class on her scooter early this morning and when she reached near Wadala Chowk, she was hit by a truck from the rear and crushed to death.

The truck driver fled from the spot.

The police said after impounding the truck, a case of negligent driving was registered against the truck driver.

Jalandhar February 27
“India is currently the world’s fifth largest energy consumer and will move up to the third place by 2030-only behind the USA and China,” said Dr RS Khandpur DG, Science City, on the occasion of National Science Day celebration here.

He said extensive use of fossil fuel-based energy has resulted in the emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gases in the upper atmosphere.

He revealed that a state-level Energy Education and Awareness Park has been set up in the Science City to create awareness and educate visitors about the importance of of renewable energy resources.

He said the day is celebrated every year on February 28 to pay tribute to the discovery of the Raman Effect, which subsequently led to conferring of the Nobel Prize on Sir CV Raman.