Jalandhar, April 11
Set up to provide free treatment to children suffering from thalassaemia, the thalassaemic wing at the Civil Hospital is going through a rough patch.

Presently, 85 children are undergoing treatment at the thalassaemic wing, out of which 15 to 20 children don’t get medicines. Reason: The hospital is short of medicines. As these children belong to poor families, their parents can’t afford expensive medicines.

Even though the government is providing free blood and blood transfusion at the hospital to these children, all their additional expenses, including medicines, filters and other supplements, have to be borne by their families.

The Thalassaemic Children Welfare Society (TCWS), which has been taking care of the wing, has sent list of 12 children to a local NGO - Childline - for urgent help. The case is, however, still pending with the NGO

TS Bhatia, president of the TCWS, said: “There are at least 15 to 20 families for whom it is extremely difficult to afford medicines for the treatment of their children.”

Medicines like kelfer and desirox, which cost Rs 350 and Rs 1,200, respectively, are made available to some thalassaemic children through the society’s special tie up with Cipla (the manufacturer of the medicines).

However, the society does not have enough resources to make the medicines available to all 85 children. “Our society runs on donations, but it is not enough for all 85 children,” said Bhatia.

Besides, the filters to purify the blood being provided to these children cost Rs 600. Parents of most of these children are unable to bear this cost, too, and are thus forced to compromise with the quality of treatment for these children.

Jalandhar, April 11
A five-year-old boy was injured yesterday when stray dogs attacked him while he was playing near his house at Meerpur village in Nakodar. On February 10, stray dogs mauled a 9-year-old girl, Mandeep, at Bulanda village of Mehatpur. Another boy was injured by stray dogs in Nakodar while he was playing with his friends.

These are some of the dog bite cases that have come to fore in the recent months. The ground reality is alarming as the authorities concerned have miserably failed to check the menace in cities as well as in villages.

Although a wake-up call, not much has been done by the district administration, the municipal corporation and the district health authorities.

The data gathered by RTI activist Sanjay Sehgal revealed that there were as many as 15,227 stray dogs in 2007 in the district. Sources say at present the stray dogs in the district have almost doubled. "It is high time that the district administration and the municipal corporation chalk out a policy to check the problem. Sinc, a majority of the carcass dumps have no proper boundary walls and mechanism to keep stray dogs away, the number of dog bite cases have been on the rise," said Sehgal.

Sources in the Civil Hospital reveal that 358 dog bite cases were reported in January and February this year. A total of 982 dog bite cases were reported last year and 1,100 in 2010. Moreover, the rabies vaccine is also not available in the Civil Hospital, primary health centres and dispensaries.

As if this was not enough, the MC, too, has remained a mute spectator to this grave problem. The MC just has a staff of six employees to catch stray dogs and one vehicle to ferry them to a distant location.

Yesterday, a five-year-old boy was injured by stray dogs feeding on a carcass in Nakodar. Recently, the district administration directed the block development panchayat officers (BDPOs) to conduct a census of stray dogs in the villages of the district. However, the data is yet to be compiled. The census of the stray dogs was also started following the sudden spurt in the number of dog bite cases in the district. 

We have recently passed a sterilisation policy for dogs in the city. The proposal has now been sent to the state government for approval. We also send our team of six dog catchers at 8 am everyday in various parts of the city.
— Ved Vyas, MC Assistant Commissioner

On March 22, we directed the BDPOs to conduct a census of stray dogs in villages and we are receiving data. However, data from some villages is still pending. We have decided to demarcate the area of carcass dump and get high boundary walls erected so as to bring an end to this problem.
— Priyank Bharti, Deputy Commissioner

There is no supply of rabies vaccine in the Civil Hospital for the past some months, but we have been directed by the Director Health to provide injections to the poor from the user charges that the doctors receive. However, there is no doubt that the number of dog bite cases have been increasing rapidly in the district.
— Dr RL Bassan, District Health Officer 

Jalandhar, April 11
Following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, officials of the building branch of the Municipal Corporation today razed 10 illegal structures along the GT Road.

The front portion of nearly 10 showrooms, shops and 'dhabas' were pulled down on the Jalandhar-Phagwara road near Ansal Plaza towards the octroi collection booth. The owners of the demolished buildings had violated Section 143 of the PUDA Act.

The MC had issued notices to owners of 90 illegal buildings on either side of the road. "A few of these which came up prior to the enactment of the Act in 1995, however, are to be spared," said Municipal Town Planner Tejpreet.

As many as 407 property owners along Kapurthala Road, Nakodar Road and Hoshiarpur Road have also been served similar notices. 

Jalandhar, April 11
Having done away with various means of attracting parents by popularising the concepts of smart classes, phonetics teaching and mathematics laboratory, most schools in the city have come up with a new concept this session - the fitness mantra.

Realising the parents' concern that more and more kids are getting obese and are used to sedentary lifestyle from the very beginning, city schools are adopting the concepts of having a gym especially for the tiny tots. Some schools have also tied up with private companies for arranging innovative outdoor games for children of each class at least once a week.

The school administrators have an interesting way of putting forth the concept. As Ranjana Sud, director, Vasal Education Society, tells: "Most parents are upset over the fact that their kids are obsessed with the electronic gadgets at home, including TV, laptops, play stations and mobile phones. They have become lazy, do not like to go to playgrounds or run around. For the same reason, we have tied up with a private company 'KOOH' (Kids Out Of Home) which not just trains children for various games but also engages them in amusing physical activities. They also have plans for arranging common activities for students and parents on the campus."

Director of the society claimed that even tiny tots at Ivy World School were being coached on various basic concepts like even the style to be followed for throwing or catching a ball.

Likewise, Little Blossoms School has set up a gym, wherein the equipment especially designed for children has been installed. There are treadmills, weight rods and stretching equipment in colourful fibre material which is being put to use. Parvesh K Sharma, Head Administration, said, "We go by the old adage 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy'. Our education lays much focus on fitness and physical activity."

More and more schools are also adopting the concept of balanced diet, discouraging children from junk food. This they are doing by either having a compulsory diet menu ensuring inclusion of nutritious food items including soya nuggets, vegetables, fruits, sprouts and whole cereals. Even the government schools have been following the regime in their midday meal scheme.

Jalandhar, April 11
The zonal system followed successfully by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has been a total failure in the city.

The MC staff was split into seven zones over a decade ago with an aim to start the single window system to deposit house tax, water bills, issuance of licences for shops and factories and other works, but the plan failed.

Directions were issued to junior engineers, sub-divisional officers and clerical staff of the B&R and the O&M branches to operate from their zonal offices and redress the grievances of residents from their respective areas.

Due to the failure of the scheme, residents of some localities, including Maqsudan, Rama Mandi, Ladhewali, Birring and Basti areas, have to commute a distance of 15 km to get their bills deposited and files cleared at the main office near Shastri Chowk.

The MC area had then been split into seven zones -Model Town, Basti Sheikh, on Nakodar Road near Mini Lal Rattan Cinema, Dada Colony, Industrial Estate, Babrik Chowk and Madan Floor Mill Chowk.

Sources claim that perhaps for the same reason, the recovery of the MC office was low from various sources. “After all, the public needs to be facilitated by going closer to them. The zone system would have also helped keep a close eye on defaulters,” said sources in the MC office.

MC Assistant Commissioner Ved Vyas said the zonal system could not be a success owing to the shortage of staff. “Earlier, the staff shortage was due to deployment of clerks and inspectors for octroi collection. After the octroi system has been done away with, the shortage still exists as many employees have now retired,” he said. 

Jalandhar, April 11
With the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordering a ban on ferrying of schoolchildren in auto-rickshaws on Tuesday, the reactions from city schools are mixed.

It has come as a shock for schools, which were heavily dependant on auto-rickshaws for ferrying schoolchildren.

While some schools have already issued instructions to the owners of auto-rickshaws to change over to other vehicles or stop ferrying their children, other schools do not have any easy solution to the problem in sight.

With the high court giving a duration of only a week to the auto-rickshaw owners, the schools, especially those which have a large number of auto-rickshaws to deal with, have a tough challenge for them ahead.

Talking to The Tribune, Dhiraj Banati, Principal of Innocent Hearts School, said, “I have already held a meeting with the auto-rickshaw drivers bringing children to the school. They have been told to shift to slightly larger tempo vans so that children can safely be brought to the school. While many of then have already changed over, others will shift to other vehicles by the end of this week.”

However, things aren’t that easy for some others.

Satwant Gakhal, Principal of MGN Public School, says, “We own a fleet of buses, but many auto-rickshaws ferry our schoolchildren. They have all been arranged privately by the parents. But the problem is that it is a very tough task to convince parents to stop sending their children in auto-rickshaws. Most are not willing to understand and hence seem to disregard the safety concerns of their wards.”

“Many of these auto-rickshaws ferry children from streets where other vehicles can’t enter. With buses, children will have to be more punctual as a bus can’t wait for so long. Some parents are also uncomfortable with that. We are going to talk to auto-rickshaw drivers and discuss the issue with parents in our upcoming parent-teacher meet, but I don’t see an easy solution to the problem.”

Though a very few, but some schools are unaffected by the ruling because they never allowed auto-rickshaws to ferry their students.

Jaswinder Singh Hundal, Principal of Mayor World School, says, “We had already made it mandatory for all our children to commute by the school bus, so luckily the decision will not affect us.”

Jalandhar, April 11
Venting their ire against leaders of their own party after the debacle in the recent Assembly polls, workers of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) held a demonstration near the party office at Buta Mandi here today.

The workers threw eggs and tomatoes on the effigies of the party’s national general secretary Narinder Kashyap and Punjab coordinator Avtar Singh Karimpuri before setting them on fire.

The Bahujan Samaj Party workers claimed that the two leaders should have ideally stepped down from any portfolio after the poll debacle.

They also demanded re-installation of the state body in a democratic way after taking party workers into confidence. Those who participated in the demonstration included Jagdish Cheema, Tek Chand, Dharamvir Dhamma, Vijay Kumar and Rajesh Kaul.