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Patients suffer as
108 Ambulances remain off road due to staff strike
‘Minutes after we moved out of an inn at Gaurikund, it collapsed’
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Power cuts make residents’ life miserable
Elderly women using hand-held fans to protect themselves from scorching heat during an unscheduled power cut at Bhargo Camp in
Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh
Guru Gobind Singh Stadium opened for morning walkers
MLAs Pawan Tinu, Pargat Singh and KD Bhandari and president of the district (urban) unit of the SAD Gurcharan Singh Channi get the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium opened for morning walkers in Jalandhar on Monday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh
Inspire fellowship awarded to Hans Raj Mahila Vidyalaya student
Shopkeepers of old city markets take break from work, go on 2-day holiday
Plays staged to commemorate martyrdom day
panchayat poll
Municipal Corporation taps supply muddy water
One arrested for manhandling SHO
The accused, Vicky, at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, for medical check up on Monday.
Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh
Blood pressure is a silent killer, says medical expert
Punjab Youth Cong sends relief material for disaster victims
LPU ranked among top 3 varsities
Heatwave continues as temperature rises
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Patients suffer as
108 Ambulances remain off road due to staff strike
Jalandhar, June 24 As many as 19 vehicles of 108 Ambulance remained off road thus putting scores of the patients to great hardship. A majority of the vehicles were seen parked, while members of the local unit of the association held a protest on the Civil Hospital premises to press the authorities to accept their demands. The emergency medical technicians have been employed by Ziqitza Health Care, a Mumbai-based company on
contact basis and deployed with the 108 Ambulances in Punjab. The association complained that its members had not been vaccinated against various contagious diseases for the past over two and a half years. The company was terminating their services indiscriminatingly. Their duties hours had been increased to 12 hours a day against promised eight hours and they were under-paid. Talking to The Tribune, Mandeep Singh, president of the local unit of the association, said even after imparting them one-and-a-half-month training of basic life supporters, the EMTs were shown as cleaners, who assisted the drivers of the 108 Ambulances, by the company. The association even apprised former Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kant Chawla of their problems, who assured them saying that the issue would be taken up with the company management shortly. The Civil Surgeon, Dr RL Bassan, when contacted, expressed his ignorance about the strike by the EMTs. "I will talk to the company manager in this regard," he said. The Civil Surgeon, however, claimed that the 108 Ambulances would not remain off road. Drivers of the Health Department will operate them in case the company employees remained on strike. |
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‘Minutes after we moved out of an inn at Gaurikund, it collapsed’
Jalandhar, June 24 A city-based family recalls the horrendous experiences it went through during their pilgrimage to Kedarnath (which they could not complete) and came back last midnight terming the sequence of incidents of their life last week totally hellish. A retired NCC superintendent, Baldev Raj Sharma, his wife Vijaya Sharma, three daughters Seema, Kanchan and Neeru and son Sanjeev Kumar returned to their home at Rasta Mohalla here via a train from Rishikesh. "Unaware of the catastrophe happening in the area, we were to set out for Kedarnath the same day, but some girls from Delhi returning to the inn of Bharat Sewa Ashram Sangh cautioned us not to move ahead. We asked the inn owner to allow us to stay for another day, but he refused saying he already had a lot of advance bookings and we should look for rooms elsewhere. Fuming, we took out our five bags and set out upward in heavy rain looking for a new hotel when we saw the inn caving in. The sight refuses to go off my mind even nine days later," recalls Seema. She went on to share even more nightmarish experiences, "Just a few hundred metres upward, we chose to stay put at Hotel Vijay. Its rooms, too, were full. We were directed to go further upward in some lodge of Guari village. As we went up, we saw that hotel also crumbling, thanking the Almight once again but getting badly scared. It was night and raining and we were completely without shelter as we just kept on wandering about. Our clothes had got completely drenched and we were very hungry. What we got in the form of a shelter was just a shed of a house of a rather very hostile villager, who even locked the doors of his kitchen and toilet seeing us standing outside. Her sister Neeru narrated the story further, "The next day began and villagers told us to find some accommodation at Som Prayag. We had to trek through a slippery, narrow stretch of 4.5 km. Hundreds of people, who had been loitering around like us, walked with much difficulty. We all reached a point where we realised that a bridge on the river, which we had to cross, had got washed away. The same group started the 4.5-km trek backward with many saying that they were completely exhausted and they felt like jumping into the river flowing alongside." Mother Vijaya said since her family was used to keeping fasts, they managed for three days with just a slice of bread a day and very little water, which too was filthy. "Seema fell ill there and developed bad infection in her throat. It was on the fourth day that we got the sight of choppers coming, but they did not rescue them taking them to be villagers. The villagers told us to move little away and wave hands at them. We finally got some food packets that infused some life into us," she said. Seema was airlifted the same day owing to her bad health. Her sisters and mother, too, were rescued after much requests. The father-son duo was made to trek down on their own. "The next biggest worry for all of us was that we all got separated. Our phones were off. After day-long queries, we all reunited at Gupt Kashi, which came as yet another solace. We moved to Rishikesh and finally were sent back to Jalandhar. We were all stinking badly treading over bodies of mules, slush and debris. It was after nine days that we had bath, ate full stomach home-cooked food and had a good sleep till afternoon," the family said.
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Power cuts make residents’ life miserable
Jalandhar, June 24 Local faults at several places aggravated the problem of interrupted power supply in some parts of the city. At least three-hour power cut was experienced by the residents of almost all the localities. The worst hit was the localities around Dhan Mohalla as the power cut started here at 12.40 pm and continued till the filing of this report. Talking to The Tribune, BJP vice-president Satish Kapoor whose house is also located at Dhan Mohalla said: “I have talked to area JE Rajinder several times. He said the power supply cannot be restored due to some fault near Damoria bridge. Despite his assurance, the power supply has not been restored yet.”
Kapoor said the area residents were forced to live in pitiable conditions due to over eight hour long cuts. Water supply in the area was also affected due to long power cuts. “We are left with not even a single drop of potable water in our house in this scorching heat as the entire stored drinking water has been consumed and no water has been supplied so far,” Kapoor said. “Either PSPCL should not impose cut during water supply hours or municipal corporation should use generators to run its tubewells to ensure adequate water supply to the citizens in extreme heat conditions,” he added. When The Tribune team visited Bhargo Camp locality most of the women of the area were seen using hand fans in an attempt to get some relief from the heat wave while sitting on cots and folding beds outside their
houses. Rano, a woman from locality, said: “There is no fixed time for power cuts. The PSPCL authorities impose power cuts at their whims and fancies. Power cuts also affect supply of water throwing normal life out of gear.” The Bhargo Camp locality is not the only one, but thousands of residents of almost every locality, including Deep
Nagar, Golden Avenue and Birring village in cantonment and Mohalla
Gobindgarh, Thapran Mohalla, Mai Hiran Gate, Gopal Nagar, Globe Colony, Guru Nanak
Pura, Rail Vihar and Bhagat Singh Colony in the city are facing the same unscheduled power cut problem. Newly-wed Jitendra of Dhan Mohalla said: “He is facing more problems due to unscheduled power cuts during
night.” PSPCL deputy chief engineer (operation) Jalandhar circle, Gopal Sharma, could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts. An official said the PSPCL had to impose cuts to ensure eight-hour supply in rural areas for paddy season. Though paddy season started on June 10, initially cuts were not imposed due to rain. Now demand for power had gone up with extreme heat as compared to availability, the official said, adding that adequate arrangements were being made. Efforts were being made to repair local faults as early as possible, he added. |
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Guru Gobind Singh Stadium opened for morning walkers
Jalandhar, June 24 Morning walkers, led by Manmohan Singh Billa, had been long insisting that the stadium, being one of the only few open spaces around, be allowed to be used by the residents of surrounding colonies, including New Jawahar Nagar, Model Town and Lajpat Nagar, for taking a walk and doing exercise. The residents had been ruing that there was no point in spending Rs 23 crore on the renovation of the stadium and then not letting residents use it. In fact, even the politicians had taken up the issue. President of the district (urban) unit of the SAD Gurcharan Singh Channi said, "Many people from far off colonies also like to park their vehicles outside and exercise and jog on the green track inside it. Women, too, find it safe to take a walk inside the stadium." Today Chief Parliamentary Secretaries KD Bhandari and Pawan Tinu went to the stadium and got it opened for morning walkers. Pargat Singh, MLA and former Director (Sports), too, joined them along with Channi. As the stadium was opened, the foursome found that it had not been well-kept. There was wild growth of shrubs on the jogging track. Heaps of concrete waste, too, had not been cleared. They all insisted that proper maintenance was required, which was only possible if the gates were kept open and staff came on duty regularly. Executive Officer, JIT, DC Garg confirmed that it had been decided to keep the stadium open for morning walkers. He said machines would be hired from the Municipal Corporation (MC) to trim the wild growth and smoothen the track area. “Maintenance issue is likely to be resolved in a week's time,” he said. |
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Inspire fellowship awarded to Hans Raj Mahila Vidyalaya student
Jalandhar, June 24 Six top in BSc (home science) exam
Students of BSc (home science- third year), from Kanya Maha
Vidyalaya, have bagged top six positions in the results declared by Guru Nanak Dev University
(GNDU). Jobanpreet Kaur stood first by securing 1,922 out of 2,400 marks. Sukhpreet secured second position, Amandeep third, Sukhdeep fourth, Baljit fifth and Lovedeep sixth with 1,877, 1,875, 1,847, 1,807 and 1,806 marks, respectively. Principal Atima Sharma congratulated the students, their parents and home science head of the department Niti
Talwar. BCA, MCA result declared
Students of Innocent Hearts Group of Institutions have bagged top ranks in BCA (sixth semester) and MCA (sixth semester) results declared by the Punjab Technical University. In MCA, seven students scored 95 per cent marks or above, while the rest scored 85 per cent or more marks. In
BCA, two students scored more than 90 per cent marks, seven students scored above 85 per cent and the remaining got above 80 per cent marks in the examination. The management and group director of the institute Dr Sayeed
Zafar, congratulated all the students and their families for the achievement. |
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Shopkeepers of old city markets take break from work, go on 2-day holiday
Jalandhar, June 24 While shops remained closed yesterday it being Sunday, the shopkeepers of Sheikhan Bazaar, Attari Bazaar and Guru Bazaar have announced to keep their shops closed for two more days,ie today and tomorrow. The announcements to this effect have been made through banners and posters put up in the markets. The markets wore a deserted look with not even vendors putting up counters outside the shops. Sukhwinder Bagga, president of the Attari Bazaar shopkeepers' association, said, “We keep our premises open six days a week with no break for family. This is that time of the year when we unanimously decide to at least spare some hours for our family, visit our relatives and socialise.” However, there are a few shopkeepers who have not gone with the decision of market associations. Buta Singh Sachdeva, who owns a textile shop in Sheikhan Bazaar, said, “Our association was divided on the issue. With tragedy in hills, no one wants to go anywhere for an outing. So they all insisted that there is no point in closing the shops and we can do it sometime later. So we chose to go with this argument and have kept the shop open.” |
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Plays staged to commemorate martyrdom day
Jalandhar, June 24 Students of Guru Amar Dass Public School staged another play ‘Kalam boldi
hai’ urging the spectators to promote mother language Punjabi. The third play ‘Mukti’ was staged by Life Theatre Group, which presented a picture on deterioration of human relations in present day society. The conduct of plays was well-received by the congregation as such events in gurdwaras are not much heard of. Gurdwara management president Atam Parkash Singh said he had been experimenting in various ways to spread social messages. The gurdwara management also presented awards to five environmentalists for promoting greenery. Last year, the management had started gifting saplings to the visitors. Recently, a seminar had been organised wherein families were urged to curb the practise of splurging in marriages, to cut down their expenditure by not distributing sweets with invitation cards and keeping functions and food simple.
SGPC member Kulwant Singh Mannan, SAD (Urban) president Gurcharan Singh Channi and former Improvement Trust Chairman Tajinder Singh Bittu were among those who attended the event. |
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panchayat poll
Jalandhar, June 24 Shahkot had 31 rejections for panchayat members, leaving 322 candidates for sarpanch and 1,172 for panches in fray. Adampur which got 265 papers for sarpanch and 1,006 for panches got three for the latter rejected. Lohian Khas too had 30 rejections for panchayat members with now 300 candidates in fray for sarpanches and 867 for panchayat members. After scrutiny and rejection of 13 papers of panchayat members in Bhogpur, 333 papers have been left for sarpanch and 1,116 for panches.
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Municipal Corporation taps supply muddy water
Phagwara, June 24 Child Specialist Dr Puneet Galhotra and school teacher Kiran said they were shocked to see black muddy water supplied from municipal corporation pipelines. Most of the children, including their parents, were helpless as they didn’t have water even to brush their teeth. On the other hand Municipal Corporation Commissioner Kuldip Singh could not be
contacted. Recently Punjab Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal while talking to media in Phagwara had cautioned the concerned departments and advised them to take all necessary steps to prevent the
outbreak of water-borne diseases due to onset rainy season. But none of the departments, including Health, has done the needful. |
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One arrested for manhandling SHO
Jalandhar, June 24 Man booked for selling spurious cement
The Bhargo Camp police arrested another person in connection with running a cement godown on Kala Sanghian Road without any
licence. The ACP (West) said Hardyal Shah, hailing from Bihar, had been mixing cheap cement brands and selling them as Ambuja Cement. He said many sacks of Bestway Cement and Jangrodak Cement were found on the godown premises. The owner of the
godown, who had wrongfully rented out the premises, was also being traced, he added. The cement samples had been sent to laboratories for testing and a case has been registered under Section 420 of the
IPC. |
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Blood pressure is a silent killer, says medical expert
Jalandhar, June 24 Dr Grover was delivering a lecture to the staff of the Food Corporation of India, for making them aware of high the BP and its management, here today. He also talked about the consequences of the high BP which directly affected vital organs like heart, brain, kidneys and blood vessels. He said high BP could damage the organs and once it occurred, the damage was irreversible, so prevention was better than cure. Dr Grover said: “The best way to control high BP is regular and life-long use of medicines along with regular 40-minutes daily exercise and less salt-intake (5-6 gm per day).” “Smoking is prohibited for the persons having high BP and alcohol if at all should be taken in moderation,” he advised. He warned that the BP was a silent killer and may not give any symptoms, so it should regularly be checked by the family doctor.
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Punjab Youth Cong sends relief material for disaster victims
Jalandhar, June 24 The relief material containing rice, flour, sugar, salt, mineral water, ghee and pulses has been donated by Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary. The three trucks reached Indian Youth Congress (IYC) office at New Delhi. Talking to The Tribune on phone, Vikramjit said the AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vohra and AICC general secretary Ambika Soni flagged off over 100 trucks carrying relief material from IYC office for Srinagar in Uttarakhand today. The PYC chief along with volunteers from Punjab will reach IYC camp at Srinagar tomorrow along with the trucks. He said more youth Congress activists from Punjab would reach Srinagar in the coming days.
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LPU ranked among top 3 varsities
Jalandhar, June 24 A survey, conducted by the company on various Indian universities was based on a study on HR managers, recruitment firms and job boards. The university has also been ranked among top four MCA institutions in the north zone, according to a press note released by the LPU. A magazine of the company has published the list of the top-10 private universities of India based on the parameters, including CTC of a graduate after five years of work experience.
— TNS
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Heatwave continues as temperature rises
Jalandhar, June 24 According to the weather forecast, the sky is likely to remain fair and partly cloudy with occasional mist and haze in the morning on Tuesday.
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The joy of the people on receiving uninterrupted power supply proved to be short lived as the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited
(PSPCL) resorted to unscheduled power cuts again. Both rural and urban PSPCL consumers in Punjab had to face as much as three to eight-hour long power cuts on Monday due to huge gap in availability and demand of power in the state.
Jalandhar, June 24
The city police today arrested fifth person in connection with the manhandling of Bhargo Camp SHO Dharamvir two months back. Assistant Commissioner Police (West) Ravinder Pal Singh said Vicky alias Prince had been arrested from Pathankot Chowk and sent to remand. He said two of the five arrested had already taken bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Nine persons who had beaten up the
SHO, who had come to meet his beloved in the colony on the night of April 19, are still absconding.
