 |
|
|
Four children hit by rashly driven car; one dead
Nirmaya Health Scheme |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Awareness on drunken driving
An awareness campaign against drunken driving in Jalandhar on Saturday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh
Health dept to check employees too
Industrialists, PSIEC reach compromise
Catholic theologians hold meet to devise ways against corruption
Members of the Indian Theological Indian Association address a seminar in Jalandhar on Saturday. A Tribune photograph
College notes
Two held with 800 gm of opium
|
|
Four children hit by rashly driven car; one dead
Jalandhar, October 20 The deceased was identified as Prince (4), while his three other siblings, who were in a critical state, were identified as Heena (8), Shoba (12) and Bir Niranjan (5). The injured were struggling for life in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Johal hospital. Dr BS Johal said the injured were in a critical state as they had sustained serious fractures and other bodily injuries. The incident took place at 3.30 pm when the victims were walking towards their home from school. The moment they were crossing the road to reach the other end, they were hit by a speeding Alto car from the rear side. Soon after the mishap, police sources said, the car driver himself took the victims to the private hospital for treatment, where the doctors declared one of the children Prince brought dead. The father of the victim children, Choon Mandal, hailing from Bihar and now residing at Nouli village, said their children were returning from school when the mishap took place, adding that he was informed by his known villagers about the accident. A police official of Rama Mandi said they had recorded the statement of the deceased’s parents and the required action would be taken against the car driver if was proved guilty in the investigation. |
|
Prayas school blissfully unaware, parents groping in the dark
Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 20 There are a number of special children whose parents are daily wage labourers and cannot afford getting proper treatment for their children. A shocking new revelation made it clear that the health cards of 250 children had been made as early as 2009 but none of them have still got the benefits of the scheme so far. The officials of the education department had forwarded 250 cases of special children entitled to the Nirmaya Health Scheme (under which special children are entitled to medical treatment up to Rs 1 lakh per year by the government) to the district authorities, back then. But requests to get the forms uploaded to the national trust website from both the Prayas school and the DC’s office did not yield any results. After some time, the officials finally approached the Ashirwaad NGO in Ludhiana, who then submitted the forms on the website of the National Trust and got them made. The cards were made in October 2009. But what is baffling is that parents still could not get their children treated. “Some of the parents had taken their children to the local empanelled hospitals but they were not treated since the hospitals said they were not aware of the scheme or the fact that they were empanelled,” said an official. “Three years have passed since then but the parents, even those from the BPL families, are still paying for their children’s treatment because now their cards are not getting renewed. The response from the Prayas school continued to be the same. Even as Prayas School has officially been assigned the task coordinating regarding the scheme, officials in the school said they are not well informed about the scheme,” he said. The current state of the Local Level Committee (LLC) is also baffling. While there were earlier claims that Ranajna Bansal, the honorary secretary of the Red Cross Hospital Welfare Society, which runs the Prayas School is an LLC member, she presently claimed she was not aware of her current position and she hasn’t received any formal letter asking her to be a part of the LLC. The questions one would be forced to ask are: Are six months too few for the local authorities to constitute a proper Local Level Committee? Are six months too few to confirm Ranjana Bansal’s position in the Local Level Committee or issue her a letter? Since May, the Prayas School staff has been evading queries regarding the 25 to 30 odd forms which were submitted by parents to get health cards are for the treatment of their children. Earlier, the Paryas School staff said parents were not interested in the scheme and now they claim they do not have enough information about the scheme. Wasn’t this time enough for the Prayas School staff to acquaint themselves with the laws and guidelines of the National Trust regarding the Nirmaya Health Scheme? While the laxity of the concerned NGO and authorities can clearly be established, some sources say an ambiguity over the scheme, especially among the parents, is deliberately being promoted so that no one asks too many questions. Ashirwaad NGO in Ludhiana also confirmed that they were receiving forms from both Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. “Forms from Jalandhar keep coming to us. While over 200 came to us in 2009, which we got made. In the last two to three months we have received at least three forms from Jalandhar lying with us,” the NGO members said. Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti, when contacted, said, “While Suvira Aggarwal (the previous director of the Prayas School), was previously the member of the LLC, we had asked the present staff at the Prayas School to coordinate for the scheme. Procedure for the scheme to be properly implemented in the district shall be speeded up.” The 250 health cards made back in 2009 need to be renewed, many cards also lie pending with the education department and 25 to 30 were returned by Prayas School staff. All these health cards need to be made afresh. Unless there is proper follow up of the forms by the administration, nether can the pending cards be renewed nor the new ones made because most of the parents need the administration’s help to get cards made. Flipside
|
|
Awareness on drunken driving
Jalandhar, October 20 The NGO had adopted Dakoha, Jalandhar, on behalf of Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) to conduct the awareness campaign on the bad consequences of drunken driving on Saturday and Sunday. The president of the NGO, Harman Singh Sidhu said, “Besides making them aware of the consequences of drunken driving, high quality reflectors are being put on all NMVs of the colony on the lines of Pulse Polio vaccine campaign. The reflectors have been fixed on over 3500 NMVs on Saturday itself. This is to ensure everyone in the colony has been contacted. We appeal that corporate houses and philanthropists should come forward and adopt other colonies on similar lines to make our roads safer." This is the first time that an awareness workshop on not to drink and ride was held for the users of NMVs. The message of not to drink and move on road would be spread among all cyclists, rickshaw pullers, rehri walas and other NMVs users of the colony, he said. “It is very difficult to see cyclists, rickshaws, rehris and other NMV users at night, which increases the risk of them getting involved in fatal road crashes.” He said, “The reflectors will be an incentive to the NMV users and the increased visibility will make them safer.” ADCP traffic Sukhdev Singh and Manmohan Luthra of Arrive Safe started the drive by addressing the residents of the colony, he said. The awareness drive was being conducted with the active support of ACP traffic Parminder Singh Bhandal and the personnel of Jalandhar Traffic Police. Dakoha councillor Balbir Singh Dhillon addressed the audience and supported the activity by putting the first reflector. The act of Marasis by constables Raj Kumar and Henry of Punjab Armed Police and the songs and act by stand-up comedian Buta Singh Khaira were a special attraction. Dholi (Drummer) was sent to the different parts of the colony to apprise the residents of the campaign. This activity was being done as part of the RS10 project and Arrive Safe was doing the project as local partners of GRSP with support of Jalandhar traffic police. The non-homogenous traffic; buses, trucks, cars, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and NMVs like bicycles, rickshaws, rehris and animal-drawn carts share the same roads. Mostly, users of these NMVs are daily wageworkers and normally the only breadwinners of the family. As per the NCRB 2011 report, over 50 percent of those died in road accidents were users of the NMVs, two-wheelers and pedestrians. Alarmingly, as many as 452 deaths and 1,298 injuries due to traffic accidents are reported every day in India. Further nearly two-third (60.7 percent of the victims of accidents deaths were of age group 15 to 44 years. This is the most productive age group and they are the ones who support the entire family financially. |
|
Health dept to check employees too
Jalandhar, October 20 While the sale of sweet meats and other eatables associated with the festive season has already picked up, the health department clearly has a big task on its hands, as far as keeping checks on the thriving eateries across the district is concerned. While the usual checks and taking of samples will go on as usual, the health department, this year, has also plans to conduct medical checks on workers working at various establishments. Some of the workers have already been examined. Talking to The Tribune, District Health Officer, Jalandhar, Dr Jasvir Singh, said, “We have started drives across the city and from Monday on, our checks on sweet meat establishments and meetings with various eatery owners would be intensified to ensure clean and hygienic food for city folk this season.” In drives conducted in the city - Cool Road, Vasant Vihar Road, Urban Estate and Model House - yesterday too, the health department took 15 samples. So far, samples of cheese, milk, tomato sauce, mint sauce, sambar vada, chicken, imli (tamarind), barfi, laddoo, biscuits, soda and honey have been taken. The DHO said, “We intend to lay stress on preventive measures this year rather than going in an overdrive to take samples. Surveys will be conducted to spread awareness among sweet traders not to use unhygienic or adulterated material. Warnings have been issued that those found indulging in such practices will be punished. Legal action will be taken against those using adulterated material.” Talking about conducting tests on workers, the DHO said, “We have, so far, conducted medical examination of the workers of three to four sweet meat establishments. Blood tests are conducted on employees to ensure they have no diseases or serious medical conditions (like cough, TB etc), which might harm or infect the food they are making.” “We have already held meetings with bakers. On Monday, we will be meeting dairy owners and later sweet makers and sellers. Our target before Diwali would be to conduct checks on all big sweet houses and checking not just those on shop counters, because they are usually clean, but even the cooks and workers making the sweets,” he added. Notably, sceptics have often alleged that the sample-filling business by the health department is a mere sham, as very few food samples in the district have failed, compared to the total samples actually taken. People have often wondered how so many samples from unclean and shady establishments have turned out to be right in the end. Even as sources in the health department do not deny the pressures posed by the sweet trader-politico nexus, and last-minute calls that let even guilty traders off the hook, officials say they are going to be cautious this Diwali. The DHO said, “Shady traders often store their supplies in shady stores before festivals and our teams are already on the lookout for such suspicious entities. They will be dealt with very seriously.” |
|
Industrialists, PSIEC reach compromise
Jalandhar, October 20 The industrialists have been seeing his formula as a "breather or tonic" for the already withering industry of
Jalandhar. The land in focal point extension was allotted to industrialists at Rs 150/sq yard in February,1992. However, in 1994 the PSIEC slapped huge land enhancement notices on the industrialists which were nearly 400 to 500 per cent more than the original allotment price. Earlier, the enhancement notices were slapped at Rs 703/sq yard. In the year 2010, this amount was reduced to Rs 690/ sq yard and then further in beginning of the 2012, this amount was further reduced to Rs 450/ sq yard. However, industrialists of the Focal Point Association were not happy with this decision, as the enhancement amount was too high and this amount was not acceptable to industrialists of
Jalandhar. Talking to the Tribune, Sharad Aggarwal, an industrialist, revealed that a compromise formula was worked out. Earlier the PSIEC was adamant in demanding enhancement as per the decision of lower court calculated at Rs
5,000/marla and Rs 690/marla. However, detailed calculations were done in which it was explained to the PSIEC that out of the sum of Rs 5000, a sum of Rs 3000/sq yard was refundable to the PSIEC from the Landlords. In fact, the PSIEC had already filed a recovery petition along with interest against landlords for this amount of 3000/sq yard. Under the compromise formula, a sum of Rs 2000/sq yard on part portions of land and Rs 690/sq yard on the balance portion of land was taken into account. This resulted into an interim amount of Rs 98sq/yard along with interest up to date. |
|
|
Catholic theologians hold meet to devise ways
Jalandhar, October 20 The symposium, which also marks the annual general meeting of the association, was inaugurated on October 19 by Jalandhar Bishop Anil Couto. Eminent sociologist Shiv Visvanathan presented the inaugural address. Papers on the issue of corruption were presented as well as panel discussion was held in which Supreme Court advocates Anil Naurya and Sr Mary Scaria and National Integration Council member Dr John Dayal participated. Bishop Couto, in his inaugural address, said the Catholic church was aware of the impact of corruption on the national life, particularly the marginalised and the poor, tribals and dalits. The speakers cautioned against the politicisation and fragmentation of the struggle against corruption, lest it dilute the impact. Sr Mary Scaria said corruption was also linked to the process of globalisation of the national economy. The scholars were considering an action plan for the church in India to spot and remove corrupt practices which might have entered institutions so that the church can become an example to others in eliminating all forms of corruption. |
|
Poster-making contest held
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 20 Placement drive
A recruitment drive was held at the Apeejay
Institute of Management. The drive started with a pre-placement talk from the officials of
HDFC, followed by an online test. The students, who passed the online test, appeared for a joint certification programme and training for it was provided by HDFC officials and the faculty of the institute jointly. After this training process, the shortlisted students appeared for the All-India Institute of Banking and Finance Certification
Programme. As many as 28 out of the 29 students cleared the test and at last, nine students -
Akanksha, Ankur Gaba, Guneet Dhingra, Gurpreet Singh, Nitika Chhabra, Prableen
Kaur, Rushpinder Singh, Shruti Junega, Vipul Tangra - got shortlisted after personal interviews. |
|
|
Two held with 800 gm of opium
Shahkot, October 20 The drug peddlers were identified as Bakhshish Singh and Balwinder Singh, both residents of Mehatpur. Prem Kumar, SHO, said police personnel had erected a naka for routine checking on the Moga road and on suspicion, stopped two bike-borne youths for checking. On search, the policemen recovered the opium from them. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Jalandhar, October 20
Taking a cue from the recent happenings, the Catholic theologians today held a meeting to devise ways to fight corruption.
Over 50 Catholic priests and nuns, members of the Indian Theologian Association, from all over the country, gathered here today for a four-day seminar to discuss the theological response to corruption in the public life.
