Jalandhar June 26
The city police seem to be hardly concerned about the security of the residents as the CCTV cameras that the authorities had set up at BMC Chowk almost a year ago are still not made operational.

Though the police authorities claim that the cameras would be functional by next week, the ground reality is otherwise.

Sources in the Police Department revealed that the authorities had swung into action and even called technicians of the company to make connections, but the process was left unfinished. The company abandoned the job two days ago, it is learnt.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mohinder Singh revealed that the work to reinstall the CCTV cameras was going on full swing and would be completed shortly. He, however, revealed that the technicians of the company did not come for the work today.

The cameras were removed from different locations at PAP Chowk and were set up at BMC Chowk flyover. The eight cameras, worth Rs 1.50 lakh each, removed from the busiest chowk on the GT Road had been gathering dust in the office of the ACP (Traffic) for a long time.

The CCTVs were donated by an NGO, Jalandhar Welfare Society, and were installed on various strategic locations to keep a close watch on the heavy volume of traffic and anti-social elements.

Jalandhar, June 26
The issue of shifting of a Red Cross Family Welfare Centre to a gurdwara in Central Town gathered another controversy with its management lodging a strong objection to it here today.

The gurdwara management has raised a strong objection to shifting of the dispensary to Gurdwara Diwan Asthan, Central Town, by the district Health Department.

The gurdwara management today issued a press note saying that the decision was not acceptable to it.

Earlier in the day, the Civil Surgeon, Dr RL Bassan, claimed that the dispensary issue was resolved with the department getting adequate and suitable space for running the dispensary from Gurdwara Diwan Asthan, Central Town.

Residents of Central Town and surrounding areas have been protesting against the move of the Health Department to shift the dispensary from the area in an effort to benefit a politically well-connected "land mafia" for the past over a month.

Jalandhar, June 26
With power demand in the state touching 8,300 MW, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has started imposing power cuts in the domestic sector. In Jalandhar, the power cuts varying from two to three hours are being imposed in different city areas.

Highly placed sources in the PSPCL have confirmed that in order to meet the gap between the demand and supply, the power cuts in the domestic sector are being imposed.

As per the information, the power remain disrupted in various areas, including Model Town, Bhagat Singh Colony, Maqsudan, Sodal, Gandhi Colony, Mota Singh Nagar, Gurjit Nagar, Sant Nagar, Adarsh Nagar and Defence Colony, in the city. "From the past few days, a half-hour power cut thrice a day is common", said Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Maqsudan.

Residents of Bhagat Singh Colony complained that they were facing a three-hour power cut in different shifts. "It is really surprising that the Punjab Government claims of making Punjab a power-surplus state, but every summer we have to reel under long-duration power cuts," said Kiranpreet, a housewife.

Here, it may be mentioned here that in second week of June, the power scenario was pretty comfortable and even the PSPCL had to shut its thermal units on account of low power demand. However, during the past few days, the mercury again started shooting up and because of no rainfall, the power demand has gone up considerably.

Meanwhile, some of the power sector experts feel that in wake of the fact that there is power problem, the PSPCL should approach the state government with the proposal that the ACs in the government offices and departments should not be allowed to be used till the power situation improves.

When contacted, CMD, PSPCL, KD Chaudhri said the situation was under control and they were hopeful that once their was proper rainfall, there will be no power cut at all. "Given the fact that the paddy season is in full swing, the power scenario in the state is still far better, because of the short-term power-purchase arrangements made by the PSPCL," he added.

Jalandhar, June 26
While various establishments are doing brisk business by displaying their advertisements at every nook and corner of the city, it is the mute trees which are bearing the burnt. This practise of hanging advertisements on trees with nails on their trunks and branches has been going on for the past few decades.

Defying the guidelines of the Indian Forest Act and various provisions of the Forest Conservation Act blatantly, scores of business establishments have been nailing the trees to put up hoardings and banners to display their advertisements in and around the city. Throwing all the norms to winds, owners of different educational institutions, hospitals, travel agents, advocates, vehicles-accessory sellers, liquor vends, dhaba owners, transporters and many more have been violating the Act with impunity while the officials of the Punjab Forest Department, the district administration and the local civic body are proving mute spectators.

The situation is worst along the roads near educational institutions and the hospitals, where large hoardings have been nailed to the trees for a better display. Moreover, the hoardings have also been tied with the tree branches and stems with the help of steel wires and plastic strings.

The situation is more pathetic where the owners of the dhabas, liquor vends and taverns have wrapped live-electricity cables around the stems of the trees with nails in front of their establishments.

A random survey of the city and periphery by the Tribune team revealed that the violators had left no stone unturned to install their hoardings and banners on the trees. The worst affected was the road leading to Maqsudan from the Kapurthala Chowk, where the standing trees were dying a slow death as they had developed some kind of disease.

Ironically, the nailed-trees right in front of the offices of the Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner, Conservator of Forest, Municipal Corporation, the Deputy Commissioner, PUDA Chief Administrator, Jalandhar Improvement Trust and other competent authorities have failed to move the officials concerned. These hoarding are also endangering the people traversing on the roads as they were diverting the attention of the drivers.

Efforts to contact Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation (MC), Viney Bublani, proved futile while the divisional forest officer (DFO) Vishal Chauhan said as the violations were within the MC jurisdictions, they should be taken care of by the civil body authorities. “We have already served notices to the violators who fall in the Forest Departments’ limits. Even action has also been initiated against some violators,” the DFO said.

Jalandhar, June 26
Hailing the decision of the Punjab Technical University (PTU) and the AICTE regarding direct admission in the second year/third semester through lateral entry for the students of BCA, BSc (IT), BSc (Computer Science) and equivalent, director of the KCL-Institute of Management and Technology, Jalandhar, SK Sood, has emphasised this would save a precious one year of the students. He said the benefits of studying this course would remain same as that of student pursuing it under three year’s regular programme. “The curriculum of the MCA is designed as per the requirements of industry, teaching and other corporate sectors, inculcating the practical exposure to hardware, software, networking and web designing. These parameters enhance the employability and credibility of MCA postgraduate students. So, this course will serve the interest of students in a comparatively better manner,” he added.

Medical college

Manjot Kaur of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya has done the institution proud by getting selected in Sri Guru Ram Rai Medical College after clearing plus two (Medical). She has scored 65 per cent marks. Manjot Kaur thanked all her teachers for their motivation. Principal, KMV College, Atima Sharma, congratulated Manjot, faculty members and Manjot’s parents, for her achievement. Manjot was also felicitated by the KMV faculty, including Head of Punjabi Department, Daljit Kaur; Head of PG Department of English, Satinder Kaur; Dean, Student Welfare, Madhumeet, and Head of Department of Food Sciences, Latika.

GNA students secure top positions in BCA

Students of the GNA-IMT, Phagwara, have once again brought laurels to the institute by securing six merit positions in the BCA (sixth semester) exams of the Punjab Technical University (PTU) held in May this year. Manu Puri bagged third rank by securing 94.57 per cent, Nayia Bedi and Supriya Narang scored 94.29 per cent and secured the fourth rank. Bandhan Preet Kaur got eighth rank, whereas Heena Tabassum and Smridhi Jain secured ninth rank. Overall 12 students of the institute got more than 90 per cent marks and 27 students got more than 80 per cent marks. The president of the institute Gurdeep Sihra felicitated the students for their performance and wished them best of luck in their future endeavours. 

Jalandhar, June 26
More than 10 lakh newborns loose their precious lives in the world due to ‘asphyxia’ out of which three lakh deaths occur in India alone. Lakhs of precious lives of neonates are lost owing to “birth asphyxia” for want of prompt and skilled resuscitation which is simple, inexpensive and cost-effective but, is often not practised or adopted in developing countries like India. A large number of deliveries are still conducted by untrained people like “Dais” (Midwives) in rural and urban India and other South Eastern countries.

The Indain Academy of Paediatrics has already launched a nation-wide project called “Neo-natal Resuscitation Programme” aimed at dealing with the monster of “birth asphyxia”. Asphyxiated neonates require prompt, skilled resuscitation to survive the neonatal period. “Neonatal resuscitation training has been widely used in the developed world, but has had limited dissemination in developing countries (WHO Technical Working Group),” said Dr Navin Thacker, national convenor, neonatal resuscitation programme, originally conceived by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) and later on adopted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Government of India.

“The biggest problem in India and other poor countries is that trained people to receive the baby are still not there in adequate numbers. Trained professionals are needed to receive babies to prevent him or her from respiratory diseases,” said Dr Anil Sud, a Jalandhar-based national trainer of the IAP mission, aimed at saving newborns.

Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) has a network of more than 19,000 paediatricians with its 26 state branches and 282 regional district or city level branches. Along with NNF (Neo Natology Forum), Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India (FOGSI), the IAP has also established an alliance with other health care professional organisations, including the Indian Society of Perinatology and Reproductive Biology (ISOPARB), Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Society of Midwives of India (SOMI) to tackle the problem of birth asphyxia.

The ultimate objective of the project will be to have one trained person to effect neonatal resuscitation at every delivery.

“With India’s birth cohort of 27 million per year, this goal will require large number of trainers in each of 611 districts of India. This projects aims to train about 2,00,000 birth attendants in a period of five years in NRP, including trainers and providers. Apart from basic health care providers, the training is also imparted in specially designed regional workshops to MBBS and MD paediatricians to ensure proper care of newborns and to bring down the worrisome infant mortality rate in India,” said Dr Thacker.

“ The Jalandhar Academy of Paediatrics (JAP) was conducting workshops in which hands on training on how to receive a newborn baby at the time of delivery and how to intervene when the newborn has difficulty in breathing,” said Dr Puja Kapoor, the district coordinator.

“The infant mortality rate (IMR) was the indicator of health services of a nation. The IMR of our country stands at 44 per thousand now, whereas the IMR of Punjab has come down to 30 from 38 during past two years. What worries us is the IMR in UP and Bihar, where the IMR stands more than 50. Kerala has shown the way as it has the lowest infant mortality rate at below 10,” said Dr Thacker.

According to Dr Sud the high neonatal mortality rate could only be tackled by training health-care professionals and persons by apprising them as to how to deal with problems of newborns like difficulty in breathing and infections and by creating awareness among people that they should rely only on trained persons or professionals for deliveries. 

Fact file

Every year 10 lakh newborns die due to asphyxia out of which three lakh deaths occur in India alone. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in Punjab has come down to 30 from 38 during past two years.

The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) initiated project “Neo-natal Resuscitation Programme” to deal with the monster of “birth asphyxia”. The IAP aims to train about 2,00,000 birth attendants in a period of five years in NRP, including trainers and providers

A large number of deliveries are still conducted by untrained people like “Dais” (Midwives) in rural and urban India and other South Eastern countries.

Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) is the number of newborns dying below the age of one month. The NMR is two-thirds of the infant mortality rate (IMR). The major causes of high NMR are: birth asphyxia, infections and prematurity.

Khalsi is a village located at Leh in Jammu and Kashmir with a population of 1,600. The temperature here remains low up to -16°C. The IAP’s NRP activity has reached Khalsi, a hilly and coldest place, where deliveries are being conducted by IAP trained professionals now. 

Jalandhar, June 26
Taking serious note of releasing domesticated monkey and monitor lizard by the Punjab Forest and Wildlife Department officials in a Hoshiarpur-based jungle, animal lovers of the area have flayed the authorities for not following the proper procedure.

The animal lovers claim that a domesticated female monkey was rescued from the captivity of a lunatic man from Gandhi Camp area on Tuesday morning. The officials released the monkey in the forest without vaccinating and other veterinary care.

The animal lovers apprehended that as the animal was in human contact for over five years, it might have attracted diseases and lost its hunting stint.

“In the forests, the monkey might spread its disease to other wild animals and may face starvation as it had lost its hunting skills after being in captivity since its birth,” said Dr Sandeep Kumar Jain, a special officer of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

The Divisional Forest Official (DFO) ,Vishal Chauhan, however, claimed that the animals were released in the forest only after a proper medical examination and vaccination.

The animals - a female monkey and a monitor lizard -were rescued from the captivity of Joginder Singh, a lunatic person, residing in a jhugi in the Gandhi Camp area. Area residents, however, alleged that Joginder and the monkey had been staying together for the past over five years and often used to have ‘drinks’ in the evening.

The Wildlife officials swung into action after Dr Jain informed the DFO about the captive animals.