Jalandhar, April 27
As many as 392 polling booths have been declared very-sensitive, 461 sensitive and 1,108 places have been declared critical in the district, said district election officer (DEO) Varun Roojam here today.

Atik Ahmed, deputed for the Lok Sabha constituency Jalandhar as observer by the Election Commission of India, today took stock of the security arrangements at the critical places, very-sensitive and sensitive polling booths in the district, at a meeting held with the DC-cum-DEO Varun Roojam, Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh and DCP Tulsi Ram.

Roojam said strong security arrangements as well as the deputation of paramilitary forces, webcasting and videography had been ensured at these booths. He said micro-observers were being posted at the very sensitive and sensitive booths.

Ishwar Singh said all sensitive booths shall have seven police personnel deputed at them - one NGO, one head constable, three constables and two Home Guards would be included in them. He also said flag marches would be held to spread awareness about peaceful polls. He added that on the poll day, police flying squads would also keep things in check.

Meanwhile, on the final day of the poll rehearsals ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab on April 30, training was given to 8,736 staff members from 1,814 polling parties today. The training for the staff of nine assembly segments was organised at various institutions by the respective assistant returning officers.

The rehearsal of the polling staff for the assembly constituency 30, Phillaur, was held at Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) Phillaur, that for Shahkot-32 at Shahkot Public School Moga Road, Shahkot, for Kartarpur-33 at the Khalsa College for Women, Cantt Road, Jalandhar, for Jalandhar West-34 at Red Cross Bhawan, Lajpat Nagar, Jalandhar, for Jalandhar Central-35 at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Auditorium near BMC Chowk Jalandhar, for Jalandhar North-36 at Government Model Senior Secondary School at Ladowali Road Jalandhar, for Jalandhar Cantt- 37 at Government Model Co-education Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, for Adampur-38 at Apeejay College near Guru Gibind Singh Stadium.

Jasbir Singh SDM Phillaur, Pritpal Singh SDM Nakodar, Dr. Sanjeev Sharma SDM Shahkot, Paramjeet Singh SDM Jalandhar-2, Harjit Singh Kandola Chief Adminstrator, JDA, Neeraj Kumar, SDM-1 Jalandhar, Manpreet Singh Chatwal Commissioner MC Jalandhar, BK Virdi AETC and Gurmeet Singh Joint Commissioner MC, deputed at these places, instructed the poll staff about the polling procedure.

The presiding officers were instructed to meticulously go through the presiding diary released by the election staff.

Jalandhar, April 27
The district administration was caught napping today over the two important notifications recently issued by the Department of Labour, Punjab, over declaring April 30, the polling day in the state, as a closed holiday.

According to these notifications, except the services that comes under the Essential Services Act like hospitals etc, all commercial establishments, including malls, multiplexes, factories, and markets, will be closed on April 30. However, in the absence of any announcement by the administration till date, confusion looms large amongst big business units whether to open their outlets on the polling date.

“We have so far not received any intimation by the district administration to close down on the polling day. As most of the time the booking of a day’s show is done two to three days in advance, we are not clear whether to accept advance bookings of our shows scheduled for April 30?” said RV Sharma, senior manager, SARB Multiplex. He also said that in the absence of any such notification, the multiplex would remain open on the polling day. Presently, there are around 200 people working in the multiplex.

Till date, the government has issued three notifications to facilitate the voters to exercise their franchise. Under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the government has declared April 30 to be a weekly paid leave in the state for all government employees. In another notification issued by the Labour Department under the Factories Act 1948, sub-section 2 of Section 65, all registered factories will observe a closed day on the polling day. In the third notification under the Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1958, all commercial outlets, including shops, markets, malls and multiplexes, will be closed on the poll day facilitating their employees to cast their ballot.

However, seemingly ignorant of the recent notifications, Varun Roojam, District Election Officer, said the administration would not force the private commercial establishments to close.“We cannot order the malls or multiplexes or markets to close on the polling day, as this would create havoc amongst the public. But we will try to convince them to allow their employees to cast their ballot,” said Roojam.

While slamming the district administration, the Labour Department said the opening of any commercial establishment would be a breach of the Representation of the People’s Act 1951 and the government had to ensure the implementation and the compliance of all the notifications issued to facilitate each voter to cast his ballot. “All establishments, including government, public and private, have to be closed to allow people to cast their votes. If any of the enterprise fails to do so, this will be in contravention of the provisions of the Representation of the People's Act, 1951, and is a punishable offence. The government has to ensure the compliance and complete implementation of the aforesaid notifications,” said Harish Nayyar, Additional Labour Commissioner, Punjab.

While the district administration seems to be in no mood to declare the polling day as a closed holiday, many people are expected to miss their chance to cast their vote on the polling day.

Jalandhar, April 27
The Jalandhar rural police today nabbed a dreaded robber along with his accomplice who had escaped from police custody three days ago.

The accused were identified as Harkishan Singh, alias Monu, a resident of Dhapayi village in Kapurthala and Hari Om, a resident of Lahori Gate, Kapurthala. The main accused Monu had looted seven petrol pumps in the recent past.

Superintendent of Police, Detective, HPS Khakh, Jalandhar rural police, said Monu had escaped from the Jalandhar rural police custody on April 24 when he was taken to be produced in a Moga court. His accomplice Hari Om had helped him in fleeing from the police custody.

Following his escape from the police custody, a special investigation team (SIT), under the leadership of SP Khakh, was formed. In charge, Special Branch, Angrej Singh and CIA sub-inspector Jarnail Singh were also part of the SIT.

Khakh said the police had today received a tip-off that the escaped criminal, along with his accomplice, was heading towards the Kapurthala road from Kartarpur to deliver a consignment of heroine.

Accordingly, police erected a naka on the Kapurthala road and after intercepting the bike-borne men, signalled them to stop. Instead of stopping, the two attempted to flee, but were chased by the cops, Khakh added.

During search of Monu, the police recovered 200 gm of heroine concealed in a pocket. The value of the recovered drugs was Rs 1 crore in the international market.

During preliminary interrogation, Monu told the police that he had looted several petrol pumps at Bhogpur, Kartarpur, Tanda, Kabirpur, Sultanpur Lodhi, Subhanpur and Moga in the recent past. Monu said he had orchestrated the crime, being member of the Manpreet Singh, alias Manna gang.

Khakh said the police would seek police remand of both accused to inquire their links with other heroine smugglers.

Jalandhar, April 27
Around 2,000 people visiting various dispensaries of the Employees State Insurance (ESI) hospital in the city are a harassed lot due to the acute shortage of doctors here.

The ESI dispensary on Ladowali Road in Jalandhar

As the ESI hospital itself is working with almost 50 per cent strength against the sanctioned posts in various departments, the administration is left with no option but to call doctors employed at these dispensaries during emergencies. This is causing a lot of harassment to the people coming to these dispensaries for treatment.

"We are facing a lot of problem due to the acute shortage of staff. Unlike other government hospitals, we do not have the option to hire contractual staff at our level. We have to work only with the given resources, which, presently, are very less. We have informed the higher authorities about the crisis and soon it will be taken care of," said Dr Mahender Singh, acting Medical Superintendent, ESI Hospital, Jalandhar. He also said that even with such a huge staff crunch, the hospital authorities were also taking care of the ESI dispensaries of Kapurthala, Hamira and the ESI hospitals of Phagwara and Hoshiarpur.

Presently, five ESI dispensaries are running in the city. While No.1 and No.3 are running on the hospital premises itself, No. 2 is running on the Ladowaali road. Another dispensary no.4 and 5 are running in the Focal Point and the Maqsudan area, respectively. As soon as some emergency case is reported at the ESI hospital, doctors from these dispensaries are called to operate upon the patient, leaving the patients visiting these dispensaries harassed.

"We are often called by the hospital authorities to assist senior medical officers (SMO) in various emergency cases, leaving our patients in a lurch. We have around 200 to 300 patients visiting our dispensary every day," said a doctor posted at a dispensary. A grim situation was reported from the Focal Point area where around 400 to 500 cases pertaining to various industrial accidents are reported every day. Presently, only three doctors are working here against the sanctioned post of five.

With the state government turning a blind eye towards the country's first multi-dimensional social security scheme for workers in the organised sector, lakhs of beneficiaries coming under the district ESI hospital, are denied their right to health.

ESI scheme

The Employees State Insurance Scheme was established in India by an Act of Parliament in 1948, known as Employees State Insurance Act, 1948. The concept of this enactment was based on the social security scheme in Europe and other developed countries in the world. The scheme is meant for the organised workers and to safeguard their interests against the hazards of employment injury, occupational diseases, sickness and death due to employment injury. The scheme is based on the concept of pooling of risks and resources, in which every contributor is a benefactor and a beneficiary. It is a scheme in which the workers contribute according to their capacity and derive benefits as per their needs. The scheme provided the conceptual breakthrough in the development of social security that has, over the years, emerged as the largest workers' welfare programme in terms of geographical reach, demographic coverage and multi-faceted services. But with the state government not been able to depute adequate staff in these hospitals, lakhs of people are being denied their basic right to health.

Jalandhar, April 27
Harvesting of the wheat crop has been going a full swing, which is also affecting the election campaigning in villages. The changing weather conditions in the past few days have forced the farmers to take care of their crops instead of attending political rallies or meetings in villages.

The harvesting has already been delayed by nearly 10 days due to prolonged winters and mild to heavy showers in the region.

As per the data of the District Agriculture Department, 1.69 lakh hectare in the district is under the wheat crop, which is a major cause of concern for the farmers.

Notably, the wheat crop takes five months to ripen, whereas farmers spend thousands of rupees from sowing till it is harvested. Therefore, like all other crops, wheat too is precious to the famers.

Former sarpanch of Nahal village, Mohinder Singh, who has around 5 acres under the wheat crop, said due to the ongoing wheat harvesting, big election rallies had turned into small meetings in the village, where only 10 to 20 people from the entire village turned up. The reason behind the low attendance in the meetings was that the farmers treated their crop like their offspring. “There have been many election meetings in my village. The maximum number of people who turn up at these meetings is only 100. However, we have 1,250 votes in the village,” added the former sarpanch.

Mohinder said now politicians listened to their problems during their brief halt at the village. They did not deliver long lectures as nobody had time to listen to them.

Gurcharan Singh of Gillan village, who has around 15 acres under the wheat crop, said the election campaigning had been affected in villages due to the late harvesting of the wheat crop. People did not take interest as the politicians made false promises. Farmers wanted to harvest their crop on time before the weather conditions turned adverse.

Charanjiv Lali, media in-charge, Shiromani Akali Dal, Jalandhar, said it had certainly affected the election rallies and meetings in villages. Ongoing wheat harvesting had made the politicians more time specific. Earlier, the scenario was like if the politicians promised to arrive at a certain place at a given time, they would usually turn up late by one to two hours. But now, they reach their destination on the given time and hold a brief session.

“I have realised that there is around 30 per cent less gathering in villages due to the ongoing harvesting. We are still trying hard. What can we do if elections have come up during the harvesting season,” added Lali.

Jalandhar, April 27
Justice Kuldip Singh, a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, educated students about the importance of law in life during a visit to the St Soldier Group of Institutions, here today.

Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice Kuldip Singh gives away degree to a student at the annual convocation of St Soldier Law College in Jalandhar on Sunday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

The event was a convocation organised by the St Soldier Group on its campus for the students, who passed out from LLB, LLB, BA, BCom, BCA and BPT courses from St Soldier Law College and St Soldier Degree College (co-education). The chief guest was given a Guard of Honour by the Army band.

As many as 200 students from St Soldier Degree College and St Soldier Law College received their degrees during the ceremony. The students were joined by their parents in the cap-throwing ceremony after receiving their testimonials.

In his address, chief guest Justice Kuldip Singh stressed on the need to promote law education among youth. He said India being a country of young people needed skilled and aware citizens, who could contribute in the real sense for the growth of the mother land. He stressed that the youth must understand the importance of their role to make India a leader in the world with their knowledge, training and passion.

Earlier, the convocation began with a procession led by the faculty members of law, humanities, commerce and information technology.

Chairman Anil Chopra, vice-chairperson Sangeeta Chopra, managing director Manhar Arora, principal of St Soldier Law College, Subhash Sharma, principal of St Soldier Degree College, Veena Dada, institutional heads, faculty besides the distinguished guests were among those present on the occasion.

Chairman Anil Chopra presented a vote of thanks.

Jalandhar, April 27
The Doaba Homeopathy Study Circle observed the 259th birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of the alternative system of medicine of homeopathy, at a restaurant here today. More than 100 homeopathic doctors from across the state paid tributes to Dr Hahnemann.

The event kicked off with garlanding of a portrait of Dr Hahnemann by Dr Ravinder Kocchar. Dr Manjit Kaur from Chandigarh, Dr Sayyad Tanveer Hussain from Malerkotla, Dr Charanjit Lal from Jalandhar and Dr Subhash Nistandar also paid tributes to Dr Hahnemann.

Speaking on the system of medicine devised by Dr Hahnemann, the doctors said homeopathy could cure all kinds of maladies without any side-effects and that was its triumph.

Dr Ravinder Kocchar was awarded for his achievements in the field of homeopathic medicine. Dr Sayyad Tanvir Hussain from Malerkotla also released a book during the occasion. Dr Mohammed Altaf Chauhan, Noor Mohd Noor, Dr Arvonder Kumar from Abohar, Dr Umesh Kant from Ludhiana, were among those present on the occasion.