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Commuters have a tough time
Six booked for clash in Civil Hospital’s Emergency Ward
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Six new diarrhoea cases reported in Abadpura area
Unscheduled power cuts leave residents fuming
Residents of Gopal Nagar and Mohalla Karar Khan stage a dharna at the Patel chowk in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh
Army jawan commits suicide
Angry Birds become the latest fad among children
Seminar on ‘Environmental stress’ organised
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Commuters have a tough time
Jalandhar, July 24 Since the PPCC chief was to address a gathering in front of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office, a heavy posse of police was deployed, which in turn barricaded the approach road to the District Administrative Complex (DAC). Daily visitors to the DAC were left approaching and exiting the complex from the back gate near the commissionerate office as well as from the Tehsil Complex entry gate. Even the entry from Ladowali Road and from various other routes towards the DC office road was completely closed by the city traffic police. While Capt Amarinder Singh arrived at around 11.30 am, but his party workers, supporters and the local residents had gathered since early morning. Further, when Capt Amarinder Singh arrived at the venue, a huge crowd rushed to greet him, leading to a complete blockade of the road for about half an hour, which gave a tough time to those visiting the DAC. Even those, who had parked their vehicles in front of the DC office near the PUDA office and PUDA market in front of Suwidha Kendra, were left trapped. “We reached PUDA Complex from the road facing the Government Polytechnic for Women. The police did not allow us to approach our vehicles from the entry to the DAC,” said Kamaljit Singh, a resident of Jandu Singha village. However, there were some daily visitors who had no idea that their visit to the DC office would coincide with that of the visit of Capt Amarinder and they would get a chance to see him closely. “We were waiting to go inside the DC office when Capt Amarinder waived at us from his Innova car. It is for the first time that we saw him from close quarters,” said a group of boys. Sidelights *
Despite humid weather, people reached the venue in a large number and many of them stood in the open to hear the address of Capt Amarinder Singh. *
The rally was no less than a “dress code party” as all the men were seen wearing white kurta-pyjamas and those in turbans added colours to the gathering with colourful turbans in different shades. *
In an attempt to have a glimpse of Capt Amarinder, many party workers ended up in verbal feuds and fights. *
As a sea of men gathered to greet the PPCC chief, many party workers fell amidst the crowd. *
The road side eateries and tea stalls had a brisk business during the rally as a huge rush of people were seen at these kiosks. *
Almost all the surrounding areas of the DAC were chocked with vehicles parked at every nook and corner. |
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Six booked for clash in Civil Hospital’s Emergency Ward
Jalandhar July 24
The youths fled only after the doctors switched on the emergency siren. The incident occurred at 11.30 on Monday night when members of two groups, who were already having some past rivalry, got admitted to the hospital for medical treatment. Sources said before this bloody clash in the hospital both the group had a scuffle at around 10 pm on the same night in the Chuggiti area, in which members of both the parties got injured and were admitted to the hospital for medical check-up. The police said Haripal, his brother Ravipal and friend Parveen had a scuffle with Baljinder Singh and Muchar Singh. When members of the first group were getting their medical check-up done in the Emergency Ward, members of the second group also reached there. Both the groups first exchanged heated arguments, which later took the shape of a bloody clash. Meanwhile, the police reached the spot and rounded up some youths. The police said on the statement of Dr Sukhwinder Singh, witness to the incident, six persons, including Haripal, Ravipal, Baljinder, Parveen Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Manswinder, alias Saba, had been booked under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
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Six new diarrhoea cases reported in Abadpura area
Jalandhar, July 24
But even as suspicion hovered over the cause of the last death in the area (that took place yesterday), many residents maintained that clean water supply was still not available in the area even as both the Health Department and Municipal Corporation (MC) teams have been working 24x7 to deal with the outbreak. A relative of deceased Jeeta Ram Jassal (who was among the first victims in the Abadpura area) said, “We are still getting unclean drinking water at our home and due to that my health is bad.” While Abadpura falls in Ward 55, residents of Ward 53, from where the death of 13-year-old Hrithik was reported yesterday, also complained of similar problems. Sushil Sondhi of Ward 53 said, “Despite the deaths, our area is still getting unclean drinking water. We know our water is contaminated. There are many patients in our own street, but the official version surprisingly says the water is clean.” Sushil also said there were two jaundice cases in his own street. The family and neighbours of Hrithik, who died last night, said they were still getting unclean drinking water at their home. In some areas, however, a marked difference in drinking water supply was noted. Chaman Lal of Abadpura said, “We were getting unclean drinking water till morning, but after the MC teams cleaned up the pipes in the area, the water is now clean.” MC teams were also seen working in the area.
Sources said one of the problems that the MC teams were confronted with in the area was that unlike the Manjit Nagar area the pipes here were laid deeper and it wasn’t possible to detect illegal water connections, without first digging considerably deeper. MC sources, however, said, the pipes were 5 feet or at the most 8 feet deep in some of the areas and the MC teams were not having any difficulty in cleaning the pipes of the area. MC Commissioner, Vinay Bublani said, “We have taken samples from the area, the results of which will come soon. Our teams are working hard in the area to fix the trouble. The water in the area is not contaminated and in the recently affected areas MC tankers are supplying clean drinking water to residents.” Meanwhile, Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan confirmed that six new diarrhoea patients were found in Abadpura and adjoining areas. Health teams today surveyed 310 houses in the area and checked 3,210 persons, out of which six patients were diagnosed with diarrhoea. Only 13 persons turned up at the medical camp in the area today, out of which none had diarrhoea. Residents continued to report jaundice cases in the area, but not a single jaundice case figured in the health team reports for another day today. Hrithik had meningitis?
Even as the parents of 13-year-old Hrithik, who died last night, maintained that he was suffering from diarrhoea, the Health Department maintained that he had been suffering from meningitis and the diarrhoea outbreak had nothing to do with his death. Talking to The Tribune, Hrithik’s mother Aarti vehemently denied that he died of meningitis. She said, “At 2 am on Monday morning, he started having bouts of vomiting and loose motions. As it intensified till morning, at 10 am on Monday we took him to a private hospital and from there he was referred to the Civil Hospital, where he died late in the afternoon.” “We believe the contaminated water is the reason for his illness and death. People all over our neighbourhood are suffering from the same disease. My son wasn’t suffering from brain fever, because in that case we would have taken him to the hospital earlier.” The health authorities, however, said the statement of the boys’ parents was untrue. Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, “The reports at both the private hospital and the Civil Hospital say that Hrithik was suffering from meningitis. The boy’s parents seem to be harbouring a misconception. Any death is unfortunately being linked with the outbreak. This was certainly a death due to meningitis and not diarrhoea.” Dr Jaswinder, who was treating Hrithik at the Civil Hospital said, “The boy’s mother was already receiving treatment at the Civil Hospital and had been operated upon. Hrithik died of brain fever, convulsions and vomiting, and not diarrhoea. Hrithik’s sister had confirmed his history saying he had previously also suffered from convulsions. He had also fallen unconscious due to the ailment.” Hrithik was the only brother of three sisters, all elder to him. |
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No case registered after four days of accident
Jalandhar, July 24 Bikramjit Singh, father of injured Charanjit, alleged that ASI Manjit Singh instead of feeling sorry for the accident, tried to victimise his son by terming him a looter. Reportedly, the ASI claimed that Charanjit along with his accomplices tried to loot Parminder. Bikramjit alleged that the police is trying to shied Parminder as he was the son of a police official. Charanjit, who sustained serious fractures on his both legs, was first admitted in a private hospital from where he was shifted to another private hospital, victim’s father said. “On Monday, doctors again refused to treat my son, who was then again shifted to Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS),” he said. “Even the doctors at PIMS asked me to shift him to some other hospital,” he said. “A day after the accident, the ASI instead of feeling guilty on behalf of his son released a statement in the media that my son along with his accomplices
armed “But on the very next, the ASI confessed that incident was not of loot, but an accident,” Bikramjit alleged. He said he had to make several rounds of Rama Mandi police station to make them accept a complaint against Parminder. “I gave complaint to Santokh Singh, the investigating officer, but he refused to give me the complaint number,” he said. “But even after three days, no police official has come to record statement of my son.” Many a times, he tried to meet the Police Commissioner but to no avail, he added. Santokh Singh, IO, said, “After receiving complaint from the victim’s father, I sent policemen to record the victim’s statement. But it couldn’t be recorded because the victim was not in a position to give statement.” ASI Manjit Singh said he did not give any statement regarding loot in the media and rather accepted that it was an accident. |
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Unscheduled power cuts leave residents fuming
Jalandhar, July 24 The residents are not just bearing the brunt of prolonged power cuts, but also facing the problem of voltage fluctuation, adding to their troubles. Residents also maintained that it had been over a fortnight that they were forced to remain awake during nighttime due to five to six hours electricity cuts daily. Earlier this evening, residents of Gopal Nagar and Mohalla Karar Khan held a dharna at the busy Patel chowk in protest against no power supply since last morning. While it has been around four days, since there has been any water supply in their locality. “With no water supply and regular power cuts, we are left at the mercy of the Almighty. Today, we held a protest against the Powercom authorities for snapping power supply to our localities, which also led to shortage of water,” the residents maintained. Further, low-scale monsoons in the region, too, have been leading to tough time for the residents, as people are left bearing the sultry weather and that, too, without any regular supply of electricity. “The Powercom authorities should issue the timings of power cuts so that residents don’t suffer. Since there is no regular power supply, even the inverters don’t get charged, leaving us with no option but to bear the humid weather,” said Raj Rani, a mother of two. Such is the crisis that the residents fail to even get cold water for quenching their thirst. “Since the power cuts are unscheduled and prolonged, it is difficult to get cold water as well as ice from the refrigerators. We hardly get a regular supply of one hour and in such conditions, one cannot even think of getting cold water from refrigerator,” said Kishan Lal. The residents also blamed fluctuating voltage as a major problem as that abstains them from using coolers and air-conditioners (ACs). “Recently, the Powercom has appealed to the masses to conserve power and restrict the use of ACs. But, with fluctuating voltage, we cannot even think of using not just coolers and ACs, but fans too. This is height of problem and there seems to be no solution as well,” said Ravideep Singh, an elderly person. Most of the residents in the suburban areas of the city also maintained that they were forced to sleep in the open or on the terraces, as that was still a better choice in the wake of acute power cuts. “We don’t have the luxury of an inverter and as the children have to go to school, we are left using hand fans to ensure that they get a good sleep. During daytime, we hardly get regular supply of one hour daily, which speaks about the problems faced by us,” said Mandeep Kaur, a mother of two from Sansarpur village. Chief Engineer, North Zone, Powercom, SS Sarna was not available for comments. |
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Army jawan commits suicide
Nakodar, July 24 Acting on the statement of the deceased’s brother, the police arrested his wife Amandeep and mother-in-law Bhajno on the charge of abetment to suicide. The deceased has been identified as Kulwinder Singh (29), resident of Mullapur Dakha village, near here. Kulwinder Singh left behind his three-year-old son and a year-old daughter. The deceased’s brother told the police that Kulwinder got married to Amandeep in 2008 and after his marriage he started living with his in-laws at Adhi village. “As my brother had come on leave, he wanted to live at his native village Mullapur Dakhan, but his (deceased) wife and mother-in-law were pressurising him to reside at their house only. Due to this, Kulwinder was living in tension and took the extreme step of committing suicide, he alleged. |
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Angry Birds become the latest fad among children
Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 24 Starting from games on Apple phones to T-shirts, socks, schoolbags, soft toys, pencil boxes and a range of related stuff, the kids have become crazy about their new found fascination. Unlike previous characters which were meant either for boys or for girls, the Angry Birds are favourite among all children. It is through an addictive video game on Apple phones and computers that the colourful stylised wingless birds with angry expressions first got introduced to the children. It was later that the character also became available on kids’ stuff in the market and through online shopping. In the game, the players use a slingshot to launch birds for an attack on the pigs. The birds are angry and attack pigs as their eggs have been stolen by a group of pigs. As the game advances, new birds keep on appearing, some with special abilities on an activation by the player. There are different types of birds used in the game. In the first level, only red birds are available. As the game advances to difficult levels, additional types of birds become available. The pigs, too, appear in different sizes. While small pigs are relatively weak and are easily destroyed, larger pigs are able to sustain more damage. In addition, there are pigs with helmets, crowns and moustaches, which are more hardened. Angry Birds till sometime back were only in the game format, but with designer stuff available, kids have been after their parents with their demands. Kimi, mother of four-year-old Anhad, said, “Ever since my son has seen his classmate dressed in Angry Birds T-shirt, he is after me to get one for him before his birthday next month.” Neelu, also a mother, said, “My daughter Noor already has Angry Birds bag. She now wants a pencil box with the same character. The fad started with a game on her dad’s phone and now on our PC.”
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Seminar on ‘Environmental stress’ organised
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 24
Key speakers Dr Jagbir Singh from Punjabi University, Patiala, and Dr Gurtej Gandhi spoke at length on the issues like global warming, pollution, and environmental hazards. HMV topper Saru Arora, student of MA (English)-IInd year of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya (HMV) brought laurels to the institution by bagging fifth position in the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, examination. NAAC accreditation The Kamla Nehru College of Education for Women, Chak-Hakim, Phagwara, has been accredited by the NAAC. A NAAC peer team had visited the college on June 7 and 8 and gave its report after visiting different departments on infrastructure, teaching methodologies and the overall functioning of the college. The NAAC team gave the college “A” grade with 3.13 CGPA
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Unscheduled power cuts by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) varying between 10 to 12 hours have been taking a heavy toll on the residents of the city giving them sleepless nights and forcing them to resort to hand fans in the humid weather during the daytime.
