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People voice concern over mobile towers
MC collects Rs 30 lakh as property tax from Focal Point
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HIV patients have ‘high incidence’ of tuberculosis infection
BSF’s de-addiction programmes in villages a hit
Labour unions hold protest
Members of the All-India Trade Union Congress and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions hold a protest outside DC's office in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Digital X-ray facility a boon for local residents
Lack of security proves costly for Government ENT Hospital
Members of an NGO, Sewa Bharati, collect unused medicines in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
GNDU hostel inmate lodges complaint
Suicide bid: MC employee refuses to initiate legal action
Newly married woman gang-raped
PUNSUP inspector arrested for ‘demanding’ bribe from arhtiya
Drug peddlers held,
narcotics seized by cops
Woman dies of infection, illegal abortion suspected
Green courts
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People voice concern over mobile towers
Amritsar, November 27 Unregulated growth of mobile towers in residential areas is a cause of concern. This is despite several studies showing that harmful emissions from these towers can lead to serious ailments among human beings, they said. In the absence of any mechanism to regulate installation of mobile towers, their number has increased tremendously in the city, which, according to experts, is a worrying factor. Medical experts say residents living around these towers are exposed to harmful radiation. These towers have come up at the rooftops of residential or commercial establishments and even school buildings. Residents just need to deposit the installation charges of Rs 10,000 to the mobile company and there is a guaranteed monthly income of Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. With no checks in place, the cellular companies are also spreading their net over the city. "Having towers on rooftops is best suited to the companies, as they don't have to engage a watchman or raise another structure to install towers," observed Harjinder Singh, a resident. Dr AL Adhlakha, a renowned ENT specialist, said, “One is not supposed to operate one’s cellphone in an aircraft, as its radiation could disturb the onboard mechanism of the aircraft. It is very unfortunate that the same analogy is not applied to living beings although everybody is vulnerable to these continuous radiations. The constant electromagnetic radiation being emitted from the mobile towers could lead to cancer and also cause neurological, cardiac, respiratory and ophthalmologic disorders. The pre-adolescent children, below 12 years, are more at risk than adults. Their still-developing nervous system and associated brain-wave activities are more vulnerable to suffer genetic damage. Children are at great risk, due to their thinner skulls and a rapid rate of growth. Similarly, these radiations are harmful for pregnant women and children. Also, the radiations adversely affect those who have pacemakers.” An environmentalist Deepak Babbar said, “Modern constructions deny space for birds as fast urbanisation leaves very little space for them and result in non-availability of food.” Sparrows once used to be a common sight in the city landscape; they are now a rare sight. He claimed that many studies in developed countries indicated that radiation from mobile phone towers were one of the major reasons for the dwindling sparrow population. "It is not that we are not sensitive towards the problem of people, but there should be some policy for all cellular operators, which should be binding on all. In the wake of stiff competition, every company tries to outdo each other, when it comes to network quality," commented a senior functionary of a cellular company, preferring anonymity. He said according to the Union Government directions in September, a majority of mobile companies brought down the exposure limit for radio frequency fields (base-station emissions) to one-tenth of the existing level. There is a common perception that there is radiation from mobile towers. But radiation is emitted from base stations atop mobile towers and is called radio frequency field (base-station emissions). The move was anticipated to not only bring respite to human beings but also to birds, especially sparrows, who had almost disappeared from the urban parts of the city.
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MC collects Rs 30 lakh as property tax from Focal Point
Amritsar, November 27 Meanwhile, the MC also conducted a seminar pertaining to property-tax awareness and its benefits at Guru Nanak Bhawan. The resource person was DR Gupta, the adviser to the Local Government.
He apprised the gathering about the tax structure and methodology to assess the tax of one’s property. Those who were present were City Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, councillors Rama Mahajan, Jaskirat Singh, Amrik Singh Lalli, Superintending Engineer O&M Jaswinder Singh, Superintendents Shushant Bhatia, Ashok Gupta, Pardeep Rajput and Subhash Chopra. They also answered the queries of the audience about property-tax assessment. Nonetheless, Bhatia said the OCM Mills paid Rs 16.5 lakh as property tax. “Today’s collection was quite handsome. I think we were somewhat successful in our mission to sensitise residents about property tax,” he said.
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HIV patients have ‘high incidence’ of tuberculosis infection
Amritsar, November 27 The study, ‘HIV-related Lymphadenopathy and its Co-relation with CD4 count’, was conducted by Dr Gaurav Khanna, a postgraduate student, under the guidance of Dr Amarjit Singh, Professor and head of the department. As many as 100 patients, 70 males and 30 females, belonging to Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Patti were examined by the department out of which 34 patients were found to be infected with tuberculosis which makes it a deadly combination. Besides five of the HIV patients were also found to be suffering from cancer. A majority of the patients, who approached the department with problems of Lymphnode in Cervical and auxiliary areas (78 and 6 per cent respectively), had contracted HIV through unsafe sexual relationships and a bulk of them was with truck drivers. Remaining patients contracted the infection through intravenous drug users (10 per cent), from mothers to their children (6 per cent), infecteded blood transfusion (3 per cent) and using infected needles (3 per cent). The basic reason behind this is that the immune system of HIV patients becomes very weak due to which the chances of contracting diseases like TB and cancer increase Dr Amarjit Singh said, “The risk of contracting TB is very high in patients suffering from the HIV infection. Such incidents are being reported in developing countries like India.” He said the study was vital as it is conducted research on patients from the Majha region and it would further help in chalking out plans to stem the problem of spreading of disease.
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BSF’s de-addiction programmes in villages a hit
Amritsar, November 27 Today's programme was held in border village of Daoke which is the fourth in a series of campaign against rampant drug abuse organised by the BSF. The BSF launched the campaign a couple of months ago with the aim of creating a "second line of defence" by involving the residents of border villages in curbing drug smuggling, with the result that more and more youths belonging to villages located adjacent to the Indo-Pak border are coming forward and seeking help from BSF authorities in getting rid of drug addiction. As many as five youths, who are natives of the adjoining villages, including the infamous Havelian village, today approached BSF authorities and urged them to extend help in giving up drugs. Out of these five, two are real brothers. While interacting with BSF officials, they said that they were hooked to drugs for quite a long time now. Fed up of their self-destructive inclination, they wanted to shun this habit. "This is a very good sign. This is a testimonial to the fact that the mission with which we have started this campaign has now started to yield fruits," said DIG, BSF, MF Farooqui, while adding that earlier also two youths had approached the BSF in a programme organised at Attari. "We will help in detoxifying them at Swami Vivekanand De-addiction Centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and later try to provide them with self-employment for their rehabilitation process," said Farooqui. He added that the BSF would intensify its campaign and has decided to stage Nukkad Nataks in every village. During the programme, the ALFAZ theatre group from Amritsar staged a play, "Teesri Jang", which encouraged the people to rise against drug abuse which has alarmingly spread its tentacles in Punjab especially in border villages. It has ruined many lives and families and therefore gave a message to start a war against this narco-terrorism. The play depicted how women can play a vital role in this and free society from drug addiction. Farooqui while addressing the audience emphasised that villagers themselves were capable to fight against this menace and the only thing they required was will power and determination. He said the BSF would extend all possible help and was trying to show addicts the right way.
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Labour unions hold protest
Amritsar, November 27 The protest was also attended by the Member of Parliament and the AITUC General Secretary, Gurudas Das Gupta. Speaking on the occasion, he said: "The issues concerning domestic servants are required to be addressed at national level." Gupta said all labour associations in country would be taking out a protest march at Delhi on December 12. He said the government should fix a minimum wage of Rs 10,000 per month for workers of the unorganised sector. He said facilities like pension, health services and social security should also be extended to workers in the unorganised sector. He said, "All the states should constitute welfare boards as are in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Registration of domestic servants should be made mandatory for the labour departments." Gupta demanded that domestic workers should be exempted from paying property tax. The protest was also attended by Vijay Mishra, president of the CITU, Punjab, Bant Singh Brar, president of the AITUC, Punjab, Amarjit Singh Asal, Amrik Singh, Daswinder Kaur and others. The speakers criticised the state government for levying property tax, increase in electricity bills and rising inflation.
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Digital X-ray facility a boon for local residents Amritsar, November 27 Senior Medical Officer Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said the facility would provide better digital X-ray images which would help in the treatment procedures. The hospital is also coming up with a state of art diagnostic centre on its premises under a public-private partnership. The centre would provide facilities like CT scan, MRI scan and digital X-ray . The building of the centre is under construction. “While the upcoming diagnostic centre would be run under the PPP, the digital X-ray facility is being managed by the hospital itself,” said Senior Medical Officer Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai. He said the building of diagnostic centre for which the Punjab Health Systems Corporation had earlier sanctioned a Rs 51.5 lakh is being constructed at a fast pace. He said when the centre comes up; the Civil Hospital would have one of the best diagnostic facilities in the city. He said, “At present Guru Nanak Dev Hospital associated with Government Medical College is the only institution in public sector which provides such diagnostic facilities at subsidised rates.” — TNS
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Lack of security proves costly for Government ENT Hospital
Amritsar, November 27 The thieves have stolen costly copper fittings from the oxygen systems at the hospital. The hospital is said to have suffered losses amounting to at least Rs 6 lakh. Though the hospital has got the complaint registered with the police but still they are clueless about the identity of the thieves. The first theft at the hospital had occurred on November 17 and thieves had taken away parts of the oxygen system. However, they again broke into the hospital on November 25 to take away rest of the parts which were left in the first instance. The officials at the Government Medical College said a new building have been added to the institutions working under the college in the recent past. They said, "The number of security guards working with the college is too less to keep an eye on the huge infrastructure." The college has recently signed a contract with the Punjab Ex-servicemen Corporation for engaging security personnel. Under the procedure, the Punjab Ex-servicemen Corporation has provided 36 guards to the college. College principal Dr Karnail Singh said, "The huge infrastructure here needs at least 35 more guards so that the vigil could be kept around the clock." He said they had requested the higher authorities to make arrangements for sanctioning more guards. He said, "They are following up the case with the police and asked them to investigate the matter so that culprits could be arrested."
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NGO collects free medicines for poor
Amritsar, November 27 The room was provided to the organisation by the hospital management five years ago after seeing its members' zeal to perform service. The volunteers can be seen distributing medicines to the needy as prescribed by doctors from 11 am to 1.30 pm daily. "We all have some unused medicines in our homes. Sooner or later, these would expire if they are not used. In most cases we throw them when they are of no use. But it will be better if the medicines reach the people who cannot afford them," said Joginder Pal Mahajan, president of Seva Bharati. Mahajan said they also collected monetary donations from their known people to keep the system going. "We have some chemists associated with us, who help us buy medicines at a lesser price. We give these medicines to needy people free of cost," he said. Mahajan said none of members associated with the organisation is paid any remuneration for their services. "All members take out time from their busy schedule and spend as much time as they can spare," he said. Though the association had came into being around 30 years ago, Mahajan said they started providing medicines to needy people around six years ago. "Earlier we used to help people get medicines from chemists at affordable prices but soon we started buying them from our own pocket. Later on seeing our work, people started donating us medicines," he said.
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GNDU hostel inmate lodges complaint Amritsar, November 27 The instance occurred at around 4 am when the accused barged into a girl student’s hostel room and misbehaved with her. The victim said she has lodged a complaint at the Cantonment police station. Investigating Officer Narinderjit Singh said the victim hails from Gurdaspur and was staying in the GNDU hostel no 2. A case under Sections 294/451/380 of the IPC has been registered,” he said.—TNS
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Students win laurels
Amritsar: Ball badminton team of the BBK DAV College for Women bagged the runners-up position in the GNDU Inter-College Ball Badminton Championship held on the GNDU campus. Five players of the winning college Sonia, Namasatdeep, Gurbir, Amanpreet and Gurwinder were selected for the All-India Inter-Varsity Ball Badminton Championship which is going to be held at Kuppam in February. Quiz competition
A quiz competition was organised at Khalsa College Public school to test the mental ability of the students in mathematics, logical analysis and current affairs.“The quiz was held in collaboration with the Derek Associates,” said Principal Dr Sarvjit Brar. The students from classes VI to IX participated in this contest and the winners were given prizes Judo championship
DAV Public School bagged top position the in the Rana Sartaj Singh Memorial Judo Championship and the Idea District Judo Championship held at Sri Guru Ramdas Senior Secondary School and Khalsa College Senior Secondary School, respectively. In the first event, Vijay Thakur and Shivam Salwan bagged gold medal, Kabir Sharma and Jatin Thakur won silver medal and Abhishek Mahajan and Bharat Arora bagged bronze medal. In the second event, Abhishek Mahajan and Shivam Salwan bagged gold medal, Jatin Thakur, Bharat Arora and Vijay Thakur bagged silver medal and Kabir Sharma won bronze medal. Neelam Kamra, Regional Director, Amritsar Zone, Principal of the BBK DAV College for Women and Manager of the school Dr KN Kaul Principal DAV College, congratulated the team members for their brilliant performance. School principal Neera Sharma also applauded the efforts of the students and the teacher for the stupendous performance. She said that consistent efforts always bring success.—TNS
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Suicide bid: MC employee refuses to initiate legal action
Amritsar, November 27 A few days back an MC official had died of heart attack apparently due to increasing workload. Moreover, the employees alleged that the MC was in the process to extend a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the deceased's kin as against the government policy to extend a minimum of Rs 2 lakh in case of death on-duty. Nonetheless, giving reference to yesterday's suicide attempt instance, Harjinder Singh Walia, president of Nagar Nigam Karamchari Tal Mel Dal, Amritsar, claimed that Balwinder took to this extreme step as he was constantly being harassed by the upper-level officials since the time he was transferred and faced excessive work pressure at his new posting. "He had even named the two sanitary inspectors who were harassing him. It is not the only case. There have been numerous instances wherein the employees suffered undue harassment at the hands of the management," he said. It was on November 20, when Harpal Singh (52), a bill clerk, while on the house tax recovery drive had suffered a heart attack and later died. Superintendent Shushant Bhatia admitted that the staff was virtually overburdened and it was well conveyed to the higher authorities about reshuffling the manpower and provide extra hands, but in vain. With the holy city, being the city of Local Bodies minister, the MC staff also alleged that each and every ruling party councilor, bully them for no reasons. Giving reference of a government communiqué dated October 13, 2010, Walia said it was clearly mentioned that ex-gratia grants for death of a government employee while on job could be anything between Rs 2 lakh. "But, it has come to our knowledge that the MC is extending just Rs 1 lakh to close the chapter. We have seen the cheque that would be handed over to deceased's kin. It was not acceptable to us and we have decided to lodge a protest," he said. The clause no 2 under the heading says 'Where death occurs in harness due to causes attributable to service i.e. for reasons which are directly or substantially connected with the performance of official duties….the payment of ex-gratia shall be equal to 24 times the revised basic pay of the employee on the date of his/her death, with a minimum of Rs 2 lakh and maximum of Rs 4 lakh. Narinder Singh Gill of Talmel Committee said that a representation to this effect has also been submitted with the MC Commissioner. "These orders were deemed to have come into force retrospectively from January 1, 2006, which was little known to anybody here. We somehow procured these orders and claimed to extend benefit to the deceased's kin as per the government norm," he said. MC Commisioner DPS Kharbanda said that no discrimination would be meted out to any employee as far as departmental benefits are concerned and the MC has recently shuffled staff to absorb the pressure of extra burdened sections. Regarding the yesterday's suicide attempt case, SHO of Kotwali police station Surinder Mohan said that no proceeding was done as persuaded by the victim.
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Newly married woman gang-raped
Amritsar, November 27 The victim had lodged a complaint with Majitha police which have registered a case in this connection and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the culprits identified as Jeeta of Ugar Aulakh village and his unidentified friend. The victim told the police that on November 22, the accused took her to in-laws' house at Jajjoani village and told her that her mother was waiting for her at the Block Development Office at Majitha for getting the cheque under the Shagun scheme. She was married around three months ago. She alleged that the accused took her to Amritsar where Jeeta along with his friend raped her in a residential building. She told the police that the accused left after threatening her of dire consequences if she spoke to anyone about the incident. She narrated the whole episode to her relatives who took her to Majitha police station and lodged a complaint against the two culprits. The police said that a case under relevant sections of the IPC had been registered while raids were being conducted to arrest the accused. Game of deception
The victim told the police that on November 22, the accused took her to in-laws' house at Jajjoani village and told her that her mother was waiting for her at the Block Development Office at Majitha for getting the cheque under the Shagun scheme. She was married around three months ago
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PUNSUP inspector arrested for ‘demanding’ bribe from arhtiya
Amritsar, November 27 Parwinder Singh, a resident of Ghania Ke Bet falling under Tehsil Dera Baba Nanak, lodged a complaint with the Vigilance Bureau while stating that the accused, identified as Puran Chand, inspector, PUNSUP, was demanding Rs 20,000 for clearing the bills and releasing the money. SS Mann, Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, in a press statement issued here today said that the deal was later struck at Rs 15,000. As Parwinder was against giving any bribe, he lodged a complaint with SP Vigilance, Gurdaspur , in this connection, he added. He said the accused called Parwinder Singh near Oberai Hospital, Gurdaspur. As soon as Parwinder Singh took money from Parwinder, the Vigilance officials arrested him and recovered the amount from his possession. Mann said a case under Sections 7, 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered at the Vigilance police station here. He said further action was being taken against the accused after police remand.
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Drug peddlers held,
narcotics seized by cops
Amritsar, November 27 Among those who have been arrested by the Amritsar rural police include Surjit Singh of Chougawan village, Heera Singh of Bhilowal, Gurnam Singh of Baba Bakala, Naval Kumar of Khasa, Jagga Singh of Chak Phulla, Balbir Singh of Chatiwind, Jaspal Singh of Bachiwind, Harpreet Singh of Khasa, Lal Singh of Gehri Mandi, Kirpal Singh of Bhilowal, Rakesh Kumar of Ajnala, Ranbir Sing of Rajasansi, Anokh Singh of Rajasansi and Karnail Singh of Pandher Kalan. The police recovered 250 gm and 200 gm of narcotic powder from Surjit Singh and Heera Singh while Gurnam Singh and Naval Kumar were arrested with 10 gm heroin each. Jaspal Singh, Lal Singh and Kirpal Singh were held with 90gm, 50gm and 170gm of intoxicant powder. Similarly, Jagga Singh, Balbir Singh, Harpreet Singh, Rakesh Kumar and Anokh Singh were arrested with habit-forming drugs. Ranbir Singh was arrested with 5 gm smack while Karnail Singh was arrested by the police for manufacturing illicit liquor. The police confiscated an illegal distillery and 40 kg Lahan (raw liquor) and 4500 ml illicit liquor from his home. Meanwhile, the city police also arrested Partap Singh of Drummanwala bazaar and seized 12 bottles of illicit liquor from his possession.
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Woman dies of infection, illegal abortion suspected Amritsar, November 27 Earlier, the hospital authorities had reported the matter to the district health authorities with remarks that the case appears to be of illegal abortion. The district health department has asked the police to get the post mortem done to ascertain the facts. Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra said the patient died this afternoon. As per the information from her relatives, she had got the abortion done from a midwife around three months ago. He said that the police department has been asked to get the post mortem done as per the procedure. "It would be after the report of the post mortem that things would become clear. If the statement of the relatives of the deceased matched with the findings of the report, a though enquiry as to from where the sex determination test was got done and who had helped in aborting the child would be conducted," said Mitra. The deceased woman has been identified as Navpreet Kaur, wife of Milka Singh of Nawa Pind village, in Gurdaspur. —TNS
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Staging protest against setting up of a mobile tower in their area, residents of the Puttalighar area have voiced concern over the iron towers which have changed the holy city’s landscape.
Amritsar, November 27
