Jalandhar, July 11
Residents of the Baba Budha Ji Nagar locality in Rama Mandi are a harried lot owing to the problems posed by stagnant water and high-tension wires in the area.

The street edges of the Gali No 2, 3 and 4 of the area are lined with slimy moss and even if housewives launch a street cleaning campaign with brooms and wipers in the morning, the sewerage overflows back in the evening, bringing with it a brigade of mosquitoes and worms (as they claim).

A resident in the area for the past 20 years, Gurmukh Singh, said, “We have time and again complained to the councillor. We have been wading through three to four-feet deep water for the past few days. There is no way to move normally in this locality.”

Bimla Rani, said, “My back hurts because we have been cleaning the street since morning and MC officials wouldn’t turn up. The water wouldn’t go down. We can’t step out and our children can’t either. Everyday we ask each other whether the bathrooms and kitchens have overflowed or not, and mostly they have. We came for Dakoha a few years ago, but now I want to go back. Our new house already looks old due to the constantly standing water.”

Another resident Usha Rani said, “Bathrooms and kitchens remain flooded with water and even our washing machine has stopped working due to the water constantly standing in the house.”

Satwant Kaur, who has been living in the locality for the past 15 years, shows the slowly eroding ground beneath a transformer near her house. While her street ends in a low-lying ground (used by nearby Railway Colony residents to plant trees and vegetables), the water flows with great speed during rains on the street. While one of the pillars of the transformer have been secured with cement (by Satwant’s own family), the bricks under the other are so loose that that stepping on them causes them to move. Due to constant water flow into the ground, the soil had eroded. Due to the loosening of earth, an iron grill fastened with the street bricks has also tilted to the other side.

Satwant Kaur says, “Another rain or two and we fear the transformer might fall down. There are houses on both the sides and it poses a huge threat to our safety. The high-tension wires passing over our houses have already caused plenty of accidents, the transformer will snuff out lives. But the administration seems to be totally oblivious of the problem.”

Sources said the sewerage problem would not be solved until the Jaitewali treatment plant came up because the pipes in the area were too small and the trouble could not be fixed until large scale tasks were undertaken or the entire sewerage line was laid again.

Councillor of Ward 13 Mandeep Jassal said, “I did receive complaints about the sewerage. The problem happens mostly only in the rains. However, the problem might be fixed after the Jaitewali treatment plant comes up. As for the transformer, I will get it checked and see what can be done about it.”

While the area has water trouble on the ground. Over it, high-tension electric wires run all over the place. Many pass directly over terraces and roofs of houses, others touch their walls. In case of a crack or a wire falling down, inmates are directly threatened. Resident Palvinder Singh said his daughter had survived an electric shock from the wires passing over the roof of his house. While she had a narrow escape, there have been deaths and short-circuiting of home appliances in residents’ homes due to the wires touching walls. Standing water adds to the threat from the wires.

Jalandhar, July 11
While the scare posed by drugs in the city isn’t a hidden fact, the dearth of de-addiction centres in the city is a problem which has made the process of treating patients and dealing with the drug menace a more trying ordeal than it would normally have been.

Quacks, who have surfaced across the district claiming to serve the cause of de-addiction, mar the lives of hapless victims even further.

In drug-hit areas like Bhargo Camp, Kazi Mandi and the Basti area belt, numerous quacks offering sure-shot treatments to addicts are known to be drugs suppliers working in the guise of doctors.

While there are thousands of such establishments in the city, at these hubs, youths are injected with drugs and the choicest intoxicants are available, albeit at much higher prices. While a victim of such clinics falls into a much tighter death grip of drugs, the exorbitant prices claim precious finances.

The other (sadder) side of the story is that some established and relatively reputed clinics in the city are also said to be pursuing similar interests, though in a much discreet manner.

There are four to five private de-addiction centres of repute in the city. Sources say while the prime concern of these centres is earning money, success rates have been low.

Sukhjinder Saini, member of the district anti-tobacco task force, said, “As per conservative estimates, there are at least 5 lakh addicts in the district. There are over 10,000 tobacco, cigarette vends across the district and majority of these supply drugs to residents. There should be ample de-addiction centres for these youths and the centres, which presently exist, aren’t enough to do the job.”

Speaking about government’s inability to root out illegal vends, he said, “While we can nail those within 100 yards of an educational institute, it takes government will to act against the rest because we are powerless regarding them.”

There are only two government de-addiction centres in the city. There is one government de-addiction centre at the Civil Hospital (currently housed at the ESI Hospital), which will be a 50-bedded facility for addicts in the future. The OST (Opioid substitution therapy) centre at the Civil Hospital, on the other hand, has about 400 registered addicts. Experts say for the entire district a much bigger number of centres are required, which might comfortably cater to the population of lakhs of addicts.

There are two to three regional de-addiction centres, run by NGOs, which get supplies and support from the government. These too are not said to be enough for the drugs-affected city pockets.

Dr Sanjay Khanna, psychiatrist at the Civil Hospital, said, “While we presently have regional de-addiction clinics in Kazi Mandi and basti areas, one cannot deny that the city needs more centres. Addiction is endemic, every addict adds more to the gang. Notably, with better policing in the past some months, the drugs are getting more and more inaccessible for some addicts. So the popularity of the de-addiction centre at the Civil Hospital has only increased and in future it might rise further. For now, the hopes are pinned on the 50-bedded new centre. The sooner it comes up, the better equipped we will be. Five government regional de-addiction centres have also been allotted to us, he added.”

Dr Vandana, in charge of the OST centre at the Civil Hospital, said, “Presently we have about 400 registered patients at the Civil Hospital (on OST) and about 200 of these are dropouts. The areas of prime concern are those near the railway station and the basti areas. While there has been a rise in people opting for OST, there is certainly a concomitant need to increase the number of facilities. We have witnessed the lifestyles of people being changed after therapy and more facilities will help us ease the burden on patients.”

While doctors refrain from citing numbers, experts say at least 10 to 20 addiction-hit pockets in the city and as many in seriously affected villages should be provided with de-addiction facilities immediately.

They also called for foolproof government surveys to ascertain the actual number of addicts.

Jalandhar, July 11
In a shocking incident which highlighted child labour and abuse, students were caught washing utensils in the mid-day meal kitchen of the two urban local bodies (ULB) primary schools, running under the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (JMC), here today.

The students of JMC-run Governnment School, Rainak Bazaar, were washing utensils with the cook and also cleaning up the kitchen area. The students of Government Primary School, Gandhi Camp, also agreed that they used to help their cooks and teachers in washing their used plates every day.

“We clean our plates daily. Sometimes we also help in cleaning other dishes of the mid-day meal kitchen. Most of the time we are given the task to wipe the kitchen shelf and clean the gas stove by our teacher herself,” revealed one of the students (name concealed).

When contacted, the District Education Officer Kuldeep Kumar Sharma was caught unaware of this practise of washing utensils and cleaning the kitchen area in primary schools across the district. “This is really shocking! I was not aware. According to me, mid-day meal is one of the best running projects in our district. Now, since you have informed me, I will take immediate action,” he assured.

However, Amarjeet Singh, senior manager, primary wing, said it was happening according to the policy of the Punjab Government. “According to the latest mid-day meal policy 2006, the students have been asked to clean their plates after eating. This is to teach them manners. Nowhere, it is mentioned that the students of primary wing should not clean their plates. In the absence of clear orders, this practise is prevalent in most of the schools. We are only following government orders,” he said.

“Although, it is not a good practise, so we urge primary teachers not to make small students clean their plates yet the cooks in connivance with the local schoolteachers do take help of students in cleaning the dishes and the mid-day kitchen,” he added.

“This is really disgusting! A case should be registered under child labour and child abuse. Children under the age of eight years should not be allowed to do such menial jobs in the presence of government teachers. The teachers allowing such practise should be expelled forthwith,” demanded Surinder Saini of NGO Child Helpline, running in the city.

The kitchen area was also found to be in a filthy condition in most of the schools. In ULB School, Gandhi Camp, cooks were using dirty tank water used in toilets to prepare the food for the primary-wing students. “Most of the time electricity is not there. In the absence of motor, we have to use the tank water to cook food. We don’t have any provision to store fresh water,” said a primary teacher at the Gandhi Camp school. The only water purifier was also not working. Also due to erratic power supply, there was water scarcity in the school. Children were seen washing their hands in dirty toilets. School kitchen was located just outside the unclean bathrooms. Due to delayed supply of LPG cylinders, cooks were also using chullahs to cook food. The smoke emanating from chullahs could be seen irritating the eyes of the yound students studying nearby. 

Jalandhar, July 11
During a drive launched under the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme, the health teams today visited the rainwater affected Nurpur Colony, Nurpur and Hargobind Nagar areas. The health teams distributed as many as 5,000 chlorine tablets among the residents of areas.

The health officials also sprayed temephos in stagnant water, which had accumulated in low-lying areas. Lead by senior health supervisor HS Atwal, the health officials advised the residents to drink boiled water or to use chlorine tablets in potable water. The residents were also given posters educating them to use clean water and prevent dengue and malaria by avoiding collection of water in their surroundings. They were also advised to wear full arm clothes. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 11
The much-apparent ongoing friction between Mayor Sunil Jyoti and Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia took a new turn today. Following several episodes of ego clash between the two in the recent past and Jyoti going on a vacation, Bhatia today showed a much authoritative stand. He announced having officially taken the chair as the first citizen for three days.

Since there have been reports in media of piling up of garbage across the city, Bhatia took a shot calling up mediapersons for a press conference and announcing his plan for a total clean-up at the earliest. Sounding much emphatic at getting the opportunity, Bhatia said, he in association with his party councillors Parminder Kaur Pannu and Deputy Mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi, had managed to get two plots on temporary basis at Adda Hoshiarpur Chowk and Nakodar Chowk, for dumping of garbage till the time the passage to Wariana village gets fit for vehicles to reach the main dumping site.

Bhatia went through the city with his supporters to check as many as nine dumping points today. He said garbage dumps outside the BSNL Colony and at Plaza Chowk, which had become major eyesores of the city would be removed soon.

Surprisingly, Bhatia has also managed to win the goodwill of Deputy Mayor Oberoi, with whom he had been at loggerheads since the past six years. Both being SAD leaders, had problems of upmanship. The party has twice chosen Bhatia over Oberoi couple for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, which the latter had earlier openly regretted. The equation, however, has changed and both have joined hands to down Jyoti.

Bhatia has since last week garnered much publicity over the issue of openly admitting to corruption prevalent in the MC office during the House meeting. He also took much limelight showing his stance against Mayor over the issue of sale of properties, for which Jyoti had to finally give up. Local Bodies Minister and Mayor’s own legislative party leader Bhagat Chunni Lal, too, had come out issuing statements against Jyoti’s decision. This has made Mayor’s position all the more awkward.

Bhatia had earlier shown his polarity against Jyoti by missing the much-important Finance and Contracts Committee meetings. He had also issued statements few months back saying that even as Mayor hailed from his alliance party, he was being ignored in decision-making in the MC.