Jalandhar, May 12
A girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her residence in Gajipur Mohala in Adampur this morning.

She reportedly took the extreme step as she had scored poor marks in the class XII board exams, the result of which was declared last evening.

The deceased was identified as Ravina (17), a student of Government Senior Secondary School in Hoshiarpur. Her father Vidya Sagar is a tea vendor. The girl was alone at home when she took the extreme step. The girl's body has been sent for postmortem. No suicide note has been recovered and further investigation is on.

Ravina’s uncle Paramjit Singh, who is in the Punjab Police, said after the result of the class XII board exam was out last evening, she was initially very excited. After she checked her marks on the Internet, she suddenly went into depression. Even the way she told her parents that she couldn't score well in the exams was giving the impression that she was under depression, Singh added.

Even the girl’s mother also called up her father and told him that Ravina was feeling dejected due to scoring poor marks. Ravina had also told her parents that she scored below 50 per cent marks against her expectations.

“Our daughter was a very bright student and she had high goals in life. In the matriculation exam, she had scored over 87 per cent marks. She used to tell us that she would do MBBS and would become a good doctor one day. Her suicide is quite shocking for us. She was a very jolly girl and we couldn't expect that she would take the extreme step,” bereaved family members of the girl said.

Raguvir Singh, assistant sub-inspector, Adampur police station, said the police had thoroughly searched the girl’s room where she hanged herself, but they couldn't recover any suicide note. Since her parents claimed that their daughter committed suicide due to poor marks in the class 12 exams, the police had initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC.

Jalandhar, May 12
Punjabi singer and actor Gippy Grewal recorded his statement with officials of the Enforcement Directorate here.

The ED officials reportedly quizzed Grewal for more than an hour.

Under lens for violating provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the ED is suspecting a multi-crore foreign exchange transaction racket. It is also suspected that since a number of Punjabi movies and Punjabi songs by these entertainers are shot in foreign locations, there is a likelihood of illegal transfer of money abroad through illegal channels of money transfer.

Also, the money being earned by these stars during performances abroad, and in the case of film producers, the money earned through selling of overseas rights, is also suspected to be illegally routed back to India.

It is pertinent to recall here that when ED officials were unable to track Gippy to give him summons in the past, ED officials had chosen an ingenious method to reach out to the singer.

ED officials had then swooped down on the Gymkhana Club at Jalandhar on April 13, where the singer was to perform. The summons were handed over to the singer just before he got on stage to perform.

Apart from Gippy, other Punjabi singers, including Jazzy B, Diljit Dosanjh and Miss Pooja, were also summoned by the ED in connection with overseas transactions.

Jalandhar, May 12
The staff at Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, remained on strike for four hours this morning, demanding the arrest of the persons who attacked a staff nurse and peon on May 4.

All 25 doctors and about 200 paramedical staff members refused to perform their duties at 8 am as the hospital opened its OPD for the day. They all sat on a dharna in front of the hospital building. The representatives of various associations, including the PCMS Association and the Pharmacists Association, offered to give support to the protesters for the cause.

As this happened, the patients who had come from far and near kept on waiting for the doctors to attend to them, but to no avail. The agitating staff refused to get back to work. Finally after four hours, Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh and DSP Headquarters Kapurthala Gurmail Kaur managed to convince the protesters to lift their dharna.

The staff said they had been assured that the arrests would be made this evening. The staff is also seeking some financial aid for Balwinder Sharma, the peon, who has his both hands injured and is recuperating at his place at Sheikhan Mohalla.

The staff lifted dharna around noon and said in case no effort was made by tomorrow morning, they would again resume their protest.

Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh said he had discussed the matter with Deputy Commissioner and SSP Kapurthala, apprising them of the demand of the staff. Over the demand to step up security, he said, “We earlier had five policemen in the compound in day and night shifts, but now we have been promised that five cops would stand guard at all time. The management of cops has been handed over to a psychiatrist doctor at the de-addiction centre, which was the target on the day.

It was on May 4 when staff nurse Sarabjit Kaur and peon Baljinder Sharma at the hospital were attacked with sharp-edged weapons by two youths, injuring them badly while they were on duty giving daily dosage to the 186 addicts registered under a programme of the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at Navjeevan Drug De-addiction Centre in the hospital. The hospital is running a pilot project on imparting Methadone Maintenance Therapy wherein addicts are required to visit the hospital for 365 days consecutively and take the dosage in front of the staff.

The peon has suffered sharp injuries on both his hands and has even undergone surgeries for the same. The nurse, too, sustained some blunt injuries and has not gone back to duty. While an FIR has been lodged in the matter under Sections 307, 323, 324, 380, 353, 186 and 34 of the IPC at Kapurthala City Police Station against the youth Deepu Kara and Sunil, alias Neelu, of Shergarh locality (identified on the basis of Platina bike they came on), no arrest has been made so far. 

Jalandhar, May 12
The Government Railway Police (GRP) has yet to nab any of the eight accused booked for abetting the suicide of a local industrialist.

Sources said all persons charged in abetment to suicide, fearing arrest, have gone underground.

The police have been conducting repeated raids at their whereabouts since the registration of the case, but have failed to trace them.

SHO GRP, Jalandhar, Davinder, said the police had conducted several raids at the houses of the persons figured in the FIR, but nobody was found. It seemed that the accused have gone underground.

"We have formed special teams who are searching every nook and corner to nab the accused," the SHO held.

The accused were identified as Yograj Puri, Neeraj Puri, Davinder, Naresh Sharda, Ramesh Sharda, Harish Verma, Sudesh Sharda and Rajesh Verma.

On May 7, the owner of a pipe-fitting factory, PN Metals, Chander Mohan Arora (56), had reportedly gone for a walk from his plush house at Kailash Nagar near the Sodal area. Two hours later, as the family was helplessly looking around for him, it received a call that he had jumped before a Ferozepur-bound train at the Sodal level crossing and died.

A suicide note had been left behind by the victim, which stated that he was into some property business and had given eight names in the suicide note, holding them responsible for not paying him dues in the business and causing him mental trauma.

Initially, the police were not registering any case against the persons mentioned in the suicide case on the pretext that the victim's family members were not cooperating in the inquiry. 

Jalandhar, May 12
Taking cognisance of a news report published in Jalandhar Tribune on Thursday highlighting the inability of many filling station attendants to deal with any fire exigency, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) today conducted a fire safety training module with live demonstration for its attendants at one of its training centres situated on Nakodar Road.

The training was provided under project ‘Chetna’, an IOCL’s recent initiative to empower its customer attendants with the latest automation practices, loyalty programmes and important areas of fire safety.

Around 20 people from various filling stations of the IOCL were selected randomly in a batch and were called by the IOCL officials at the company’s training centre for the one-day training module. They were informed about the preparations to be made before the opening of the outlet. Apart from informing them about outlet display, company’s core values and its actual practices, the trainees were also given live demonstration to handle any fire exigency. During training, many attendants were found to be ignorant of the working of fire extinguishers displayed at the petrol pumps. However, the IOCL officials, while giving them live demonstration, showed them the way to use these extinguishers during any fire outbreak.

“Fire safety is the most important issue for any oil company. We, under project 'Chetna’, have also highlighted the importance of following strict fire safety norms to avoid any untoward incident. We have started giving training in a batch of 20 people and have set a target to train all customer attendants employed at our various outlets by September this year,” said S Pandey, DGM, Retail Sales, IOCL.

The report had highlighted that most of the filling stations in the city were not following proper fire safety norms, posing a serious threat of a major fire outbreak in the city. The report had also mentioned that most of the filling stations did not even have adequate fire safety equipment and also the customer attendants employed at the outlets were found to be ignorant of dealing with any fire exigency. 

Jalandhar, May 12
Peeved over the enhanced rates of application forms for various works, especially those pertaining to services related with the Transport Department, the Jalandhar Scooter Dealers' Association gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner here today.

The members have demanding that the rates of the forms be slashed and their sale be allowed at counters other than that of Suwidha Centre. The members were led by BJP Transport Cell president Amarjit Singh Amri and president of the association Tejinder Singh Pardesi. They said that by removing the sale at open counters outside, the applicants were forced to make an additional visit to Suwidha Centre and stand in a queue on that day to get the form and checklist of documents which added to their inconvenience.

They have said the vehicle transfer form, which was earlier available for just Rs 5 now cost Rs 40, which was eight times more. "Similarly, other forms like those for learners’ driving licence, regular licence and renewal of licence, all of which now cost between Rs 60 to 80, much above the earlier price of Rs 10," they said.

The forms for sub-tehsils of the district, including those at Phillaur and Shahkot, would now be made available at counters to be set up by the Red Cross Society there. The forms thus sold would add to the income of the society which has been reeling under a financial crunch. Orders to this effect are likely to be passed in a day or two. —TNS

Jalandhar, May 12
On International Nurses’ Day, the city nurses speak out about their high and lows in the profession.

Gurbaksh Kaur, principal, School of Nursing, Civil Hospital, has been in the profession for the past 30 years. She took charge of the School of Nursing as principal in 2007 and believes the profession is better for a nurse today.

"A number of institutes have come up where parents are eager to send their daughters. In our time, it was restricted to a few women and parents were reluctant," she said.

Speaking about contemporary issues, she said: "I do believe nurses haven't received their due so far. They work amidst a lot of hazards and sometimes with limited equipment but their safety should be number one priority. There are some other issues — while the Florence Nightingale Award has been bagged by the nurses of several other states, in Punjab, it has been a long time since a nurse from the state was selected. Nurses epitomise care — some backing will give great encouragement."

Narinder Sodhi (52), Head Nurse, Cantt Board Hospital, started off as a nurse in 1986. Her father was a pharmacist.

"Usually, the doctors attract credit, which is nothing bad but if the nurses' observation go wrong or she errs, the entire blame might fall on the doctor. So she has a big responsibility on her shoulders. The establishment is meant to give that respect to the nurse," she said.

Speaking on challenges of the profession, she said, "There have been plenty of crisis. One time during a crucial phase in the delivery of a patient, she went into shock and had to be shifted. It was a terrible state. We worked tirelessly to recover her. There were other cases where babies didn't cry after being born and when they revived, the joy was overwhelming. For every moment like these, the nurse feels she is suffering as much. Sometimes, it also feels bad when later, the attitudes of attendants or relatives change after the treatment. We don't do it just for the money. Much more is at stake."

Baljit Kaur (65), a nurse at the local Civil Hospital, said, "I have been working for the past 32 years in the medical profession and at the Civil Hospital for the past 13 years. There have been many trials and tribulations that a nurse goes through. Al one needs is respect in return. At the hospital, we deal with 20 or more patients at a time. Giving due consideration to our needs, adequate staff should be provided."

Mamta, a nurse at the local Chawla Hospital for the past five years, said: "I joined the profession because my parents asked me to. But over time, I developed a lot of respect for it. From irritable patients to rude attendants, we have to take it all. But what is good is the joy one gets in return."

Navdeep Kaur, an under-training nurse presently pursuing a course, said, "I joined the profession for its human touch and that's what makes me love it. Extending care to an ailing person is very satisfying." 

Jalandhar, May 12
In 1974, the tradition of formally observing the birth anniversary of the famous war nurse Florence Nightingale as the International Nurses’ Day began in the UK. Since then, every year, it marks the day on which the women belonging to the profession are lauded and celebrated for their undying contribution to the sick and the ailing of the world.

While the understaffed hospitals of Punjab accentuate the contribution of nurses – the unsung heroes of the medical profession — the first thing one realises is that even to this day, their core issues and needs have never gained official priority.

The irony begins at the very onset — Jalandhar has thousands of nurses, but their actual number is so far unaccounted for, since no survey was ever conducted to count the total nursing staff working in private institutes. While the ratio of nurses is one per six beds, presently, one nurse is handling 20 to 40 (even 70) patients, at least in government establishments (and some private ones as well).

At the civil hospital, there are 120 nurses for the 420-bedded hospital which has a footfall of over 1,000 patients per day.

Across nursing institutes in the city, about 1,500 nursing students study and they often double up as trainee nurses for various establishments for various hospitals. The seniors in the nursing profession say, so far, there hasn’t been a constructive answer to the nursing crisis by the government despite requests.

Gurbaksh Kaur, principal of the Nursing School at the Civil Hospital, says, “While there are about 1,500 nursing students in the city, the account of the total nurses at the private hospitals has never been kept. Many of these nursing pass-outs also move abroad. Clearly, the ratio of 1:6 is not being maintained. However, even in these circumstances, nurses have unfailingly performed their duties and took on great challenges.”

She also adds that at many private institutions, women are casually (without degree) trained to work at a hospital and after some time, inducted as nurses. They are not registered and hold no degree. There is no way to tell the number of these women is in the district,” she says.

While the civil surgeon appreciates the contribution of the nurses and says they are vital pillars for the ideal care of patients, he concedes that so far, no count of the exact number of nurses in the private hospitals in the district had been maintained by the health authorities.

Dr JS Cheema, Medical Superintendent of the local Civil Hospital, said, “Undoubtedly, the right ratio for nurses doesn’t exist but this being a delicate profession, nurses are on the job like soldiers. They care for patients 24 hours. Their well- being should be a major priority. While at the PGI, there is one nurse for every 10 beds, here (Jalandhar), that the ratio can’t be maintained. Undoubtedly, the state authorities know about it and it is time that the problem is revisited.”

The state of the nurses at the government hospitals, meanwhile, is interesting. They have aided deliveries by the lights of the mobile, worked without food, water or clean linen. Conversations have also revealed that on hour-long stretches, especially in tricky wards like emergency and maternity — hypertension, nausea and even loss of consciousness has been reported among the nurses.

Jalandhar, May 12
Holding a weekly makeshift sabzi mandi at the Guru Nanakpura locality has become more of a political issue between the two rival groups of the BJP.

While the local MLA Manoranjan Kalia has been supporting the vendors fully, Mayor Sunil Jyoti today asked his staff to disallow the vendors to erect any tents today for squatting along the road.

As the Lok Sabha polls were on, the vendors were allowed to put up stalls on April 28 (two days ahead of elections) and on May 5 as well but the Mayor's fresh directives today dissuaded the fruit and vegetable sellers from holding mandi all over again today.

After the Municipal Corporation had recently relaid the road to the locality, the officials had said the vendors had been leading to breakage of the road by making a hole to peg tents there. Taking this as the ground, the officials have been stopping holding of mandis with relaxation coming only in election days. The agitated vegetable and fruit sellers, who had come with truck- loads of produce which they could not sell, went to the residence of Kalia to seek his support but by that time, half the day was already over.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti said that the mandi had been causing a lot of disturbance to vehicular traffic as the vendors, instead of confining themselves to the footpath, often encroached up to the middle of the road.

He said that the frequent cutting of roads too was a problem. "We have asked the vendors to come up with a provision to have stands for the umbrellas which they said that they would do in future. I intend to discuss the matter in detail with the officials before arriving at a consensus on the matter or giving a final decision," he said.

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