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Infant’s death: Another probe ordered
mishap at unmanned railway crossing |
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Tributes paid to martyr Udham Singh
School kids vulnerable
Toll in Doaba region 203, already
Come 2015, no unmanned crossing in Bathinda
Cong leaders oppose fresh taxes, power tariff hike
People need relief, not taxes: Manpreet
Milk prices up
Sikh varsity VC suspended
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Infant’s death: Another probe ordered
Jalandhar, July 31 Dr Sidhu said there were no specialist doctors on the preliminary committee. Hence, a fresh probe was being ordered. The CPS asked Medical Superintendent Dr Iqbal Singh and Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan to select members for the new inquiry committee. She recommended that specialists from hospitals other than the Civil Hospital be made members for a relook into the case. Sidhu said the new committee would be given the go-ahead to conduct the inquiry only after she had made sure that the team was competent for the job. Talking to mediapersons at the local Civil Hospital today, she said: “Since the Deputy Commissioner’s committee did not have any specialists, the inquiry is bound to have missed out on the technical aspects. Also, the previous inquiry report singles out staff nurse Harjit Kaur Oberoi as the culprit even though the infant’s parents have said that many more staff members were negligent in their attitude. “So, another inquiry shall be conducted taking into account the conduct of the staff, including doctors.” Doctors grilled The CPS grilled gynaecologist Dr Sangeeta Kapoor as well as paediatrician Dr Jaswinder Kaur in the presence of the media and hospital staff. Checking the records, she asked the hospital staff as to why nurses had not been making notings every hour. She also asked how an infant, whose condition was stable on July 24, had suddenly died the following day without the staff even knowing the cause of the death. She expressed shock at the family being sent home at 1.30 am in the morning without any transportation facility. Minister’s Take The Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Madan Mohan Mittal, denied that a new committee was being formed to look into the death of the infant. “The committee constituted on the instructions of the Chief Minister is supreme. No new or parallel committee is being formed. The visit of the CPS was to take stock of the hospital affairs,” he said. The CPS could send her observations to the Principal Secretary but a new committee could not be formed without the CM’s consent
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mishap at unmanned railway crossing
Amritsar, July 31 Harpreet, the younger brother of Sehajpreet and Manavpreet, who was also injured in the accident and is admitted at the local civil hospital, keeps asking about his elder sisters but doctors have advised hospital staff against it. “We have not told him about the tragedy. The doctors have advised against it. They don’t want to give him a shock,” said an attendant. The world of Sukhdev Singh, the father of the three children, has crashed. He says he had objected to the school bus driver taking the path which had an unmanned crossing. He had even planned to meet the principal to bring the issue to his notice. An attendant at hospital said that Harpreet often inquires about his elder sisters. “We have not told him about the tragedy. The doctors have advised against it. They don’t want to give him a shock,” said the attendant. The trio’s unlucky father, Sukhdev Singh said, “Losing a child is the worst thing in this world and I have lost two of them.” He recalls that how he had objected to the driver using the path which had an unmanned railway crossing. He said that he had even planned meeting the school principal to bring the situation into his notice. Villagers and neighbours gathered to console the families. Many houses were locked as villagers gathered outside the homes of the victims. “No one from this village would ever forget this tragedy. Four pyres were burnt in one day,” a resident, Sulakhan Singh Fauzi said. He said the entire village is behind the families who lost their precious ones in the tragedy. Here sorrow is mixed with simmering anger over the dilapidated condition of the road from Rayya to Kot Mehtab, which is the reason behind the accident, say villagers. “Earlier the school bus used this road but as its condition became worse, the driver started using another route.” The driver of the school bus, Milkha Singh earlier accused of negligence was arrested by the police today. Dr Sandeep Aggarwal at Civil hospital said, “All the four injured students admitted here, including Harpreet, are out of danger.”
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Tributes paid to martyr Udham Singh
Sunam Udham Singh Wala
(Sangrur), July 31 After paying tributes to Shaheed Udham Singh on his 73rd martyrdom day at the state-level Shaheedi Samagam at the Grain Market here, Badal said insufficient rain, low water-level in dams and a couple of other factors had led to the severe power crisis. “If the power consumers switch off their ACs for a few days, I don’t think it will affect much - at least people will get air fans,” said
Badal, while adding that in the next one and half years, the three upcoming thermal plants in the state would be made functional, which would put an end to power woes of the people. Disclosing that he would be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise him about the prevailing farm situation in Punjab, Badal said he would urge the Prime Minister to allocate an additional power package and monetary assistance to deal with the draught-like situation and power crisis. Addressing a gathering, Badal said the Congress had always ignored not only the patriotic aspects of Punjab but also the hardship of Punjabi farmers in resolving the country’s food dilemma, even at the cost of state’s natural resources such as soil and groundwater. It was a matter of regret that the Congress had always ignored all the legitimate demands and interests of the state and its farmers, he
added. Badal gave a clarion call to the people of Punjab to unite again to get rid of anti-poor, anti-farmer, failure in controlling inflation regime of the Congress-led UPA Government in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. He announced that a world-class memorial
(Jang-e-Azadi) at a cost of Rs 100 crore would be established at Kartarpur to commemorate the remarkable contributions made by the freedom fighters of the country in general and Punjabis in particular during the national freedom struggle, for which the state government had already allotted 20 acres of land on the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway. Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa also paid tributes to Shaheed Udham Singh and said the state government had already made a budgetary provision of Rs 5 crore to develop a world-class museum at a cost of Rs 12 crore over a period of three years at Sunam in the memory of Shaheed Udham Singh.
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School kids vulnerable
Ferozepur, July 31 More than 40 persons have died in 44 accidents at such crossings over the last two years in Ferozepur division alone. More worrisome if the fact that majority of the victims comprised schoolchildren. On January 15 last year, four children died when their school van was hit by a train between Ladhuka and Fazilka stations. Another three school kids were killed in a similar manner at a level crossing between Nakodar and Nurmahal on September 12 last year. The list of victims runs long. But, that doesn’t appear to have moved the railway authorities concerned as no concrete steps have been taken to curtail such incidents. In the last financial year, 24 accidents were reported in the division and 19 persons lost their lives. The count is likely to be higher this year as 20 accidents —more than 15 casualties were reported — have already taken place so far. Railway officials claim a master plan to convert all such crossings into manned passages was in the pipeline. Of the total 509 unmanned crossings in Ferozepur division, 68 have either been converted into manned crossings or eliminated. But, 441 such crossings still exist. Of these, 33 are to be converted into manned crossings by the year-end. The master plan states that in all, 265 unmanned crossings will be manned by 2015. Of the remaining crossings, 72 will be closed by constructing diversions while another 29 unmanned where traffic flow was less than 500 vehicles will be closed permanently. Sources said at 25 locations, the department plans to construct subways to eliminate the crossings over the next three years. Railway officials said no unmanned crossings existed on the mail lines like Sahnewal to Amritsar where high speed trains ply. However, at certain branch lines like Amritsar-Khemkaran, Beas-Goindwal, Ferozepur-Fazilka and Ferozepur-Jalandhar sections, there are many unmanned crossings. Ferozepur has the maximum unmanned crossings and a special drive has been launched by the railway authorities to create awareness among the people on how to cross them. Railway officials say counselling camps have been conducted at more than 250 schools and colleges. Besides, ‘nukkad nataks’ were being staged. Figure it out 441 unmanned level crossings in Ferozepur railway division 33 to be converted into manned crossings by the end of the year 265 more will be converted into manned crossings by 2015 72 crossings will be closed by construction of diversions 29 crossings where traffic flow is less will be closed forever 25 others will see construction of subways over the next 3 years
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Toll in Doaba region 203, already
Of the total 346 crossings falling under the jurisdiction of Jalandhar Government Railway Police, 231 are unmanned. One such mishap in September last year at Mouwal village left three children dead. Two persons were killed and a man suffered serious injuries when the Ahmedabad-bound Jammu Tawi train hit a tractor-trailer near Khojewal village on September 7 last year. Most of these persons were killed allegedly due to the negligence of the drivers of these vehicles. Rajat Mohindru, a social activist, said: “Schoolchildren have been victims in most of the accidents occurring at railway crossings. Principals of all schools should ensure that the drivers of school buses do not use mobile phones when they drive.” Railway police SHO Balbir Singh Randhawa said, “We have already sent a recommendation to the Union Government for converting unmanned crossings into manned passages. A list of sensitive unmanned crossings is also being prepared.” A majority of these crossings are located on the branch lines of Jalandhar-Ferozepur, Nakodar-Lohian, Jalandhar-Nakodar, Phagwara-Dhilwan, Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar-Pathankot and Phagwara-Nawanshahr routes. All crossings barring a few on the main lines of the Amritsar-Ambala and Jammu-Ambala links are manned crossings. Two crossings located between Chugitti and Suchi Pind railway stations on the Jammu-Jalandhar track were converted into manned crossings recently.
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Come 2015, no unmanned crossing in Bathinda
Bathinda, July 31 Railways Divisional Engineer Ranjit Singh said there were 190 crossings from Dhuri to Ganganagar. “Of these, 15 are unmanned. But, a project is on the cards to convert all of them into manned crossings,” he said. In the last two years, more than 10 persons have been killed at level crossings in Bathinda alone. Over 50 suffered injuries. Pali Mashana, member of an NGO, said: “Only incidents where casualties are reported are brought to the notice of the Railways. Minor accidents where people escape with injuries go unreported.”
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Cong leaders oppose fresh taxes, power tariff hike
Chandigarh, July 31 Bajwa, a contender for the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee post, took the initiative in the absence of PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh who has gone abroad for two weeks. Claiming that Punjab had the highest level of inflation in the country due to double taxation by the state government, the leaders said the government had misled the people by not placing the proposals for discussion in the Budget session of the Assembly. They also accused them of delaying the proposals to keep the Dasuya voters in the dark to win the by-election. Bajwa and other leaders, including MLAs Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Navtej Singh Cheema, Aruna Chaudhary and Bharat Bhushan besides former legislators Jasbir Singh Dimpa and Raman Bhalla said Punjab had the highest level of VAT on petrol at 12.5 per cent. Petrol in the state is Rs 5 to 8 costlier than other state. They said similarly Punjab had hiked power tariff by 12 per cent and also imposed 5 per cent VAT on sugar in the state. The leaders said by proposing to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60 years, the government would further aggravate the issue of unemployment. It would not only frustrate the youth but would also boost drug trade and crime in the state, he said. Sukhpal Khaira condemned the policy of the SAD-BJP combine, claiming only recently the SAD had held a dharna on the issue of price rise and inflation. It is like “running with the hare and hunting with the hound,” they said.
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People need relief, not taxes: Manpreet
Chandigarh, July 31 Manpreet said the SAD leadership had conceded to the BJP demand to charge farmers for power. He claimed the BJP had agreed to new tax proposals on the condition that the SAD leadership would charge farmers for power. “As Finance Minister, when I had mooted the same proposals to generate additional revenue, I was opposed by the SAD top guns. Had the SAD leadership agreed to my proposals then, Punjab would have benefited tremendously. “After repeated efforts, the Centre had then agreed to waive most of Punjab’s debt on the condition that the state took steps to generate more revenue at its own level”, said Manpreet. Opposing the raising of retirement age from 58 to 60, he said it was a retrograde step.
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Milk prices up
Chandigarh, July 31 Milk will now be available between Rs 38 and Rs 40 per litre. Jaswinder Singh, general secretary, Punjab Livestock Farmers’ Association, said they were facing huge losses on account of the soaring prices of mustard, cottonseed, rice bran cakes and fodder. He said mustard cakes that were sold for Rs 1200-Rs 1300 per quintal until two months ago were now available at Rs 2,200 per quintal. The price of cottonseed cake had gone up to Rs 1,800 per quintal from Rs 1,150. Similarly, the cost of rice bran cake had more than doubled to Rs 900 in a few months. Green fodder prices had gone up too. “The milk yield decreases during the summers and the cattle needs to be provided extra nutrition. This raises the input costs,” explained Jaswinder. Dairy farmers in Punjab produce 260 lakh litres of milk everyday, according to Inderjit Singh, Director, Dairy Development. This is the second time in the last six months that milk prices have been revised. Earlier this year, the farmers had hiked the milk price by Re 1 per
litre. Milking Consumers
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Sikh varsity VC suspended
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 31 Speaking at a press meet at Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College here, Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, senior SGPC member, said action had been taken against Ahluwalia following complaints by the trustees. He said an inquiry officer would be appointed to look into the charges against the Vice Chancellor. Bhaur announced that Prithipal Singh, university Registrar, would look look after the university affairs for the time being. He said Nirvair Singh Jaula, Dr Jaspal Singh and Ranjit Singh Virk had been appointed trustees of the university. Member trustees of the university had repeatedly complained of “irregularities” by the Vice Chancellor. Various Sikh organisations, like the Dal Khalsa and the All-India Sikh Students Federation, had been demanding his removal from the post. Ahluwalia was seriously injured after he was shot at on August 1 last year. Legislator Kuljeet Singh Nagra had filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, alleging violation of UGC norms. The case hearing was listed for August 9. Various Akali leaders have welcomed Ahluwalia’s suspension by SGPC president Avatar Singh Makkar, who is Chancellor of the university. They say this will help improve the university’s academic environment. The SAD (Mann) president, Simranjit Singh Mann, and MLA Nagra said the SGPC should have dismissed
Ahluwalia.
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Jalandhar, July 31