Jalandhar, June 16
Infected or impure blood can prove to be fatal. It can cause a number of diseases or even death. Though there are 13 blood banks in the district that are licensed to test and provide blood to patients, they are being harassed by the blood banks running illegally. When it comes to keeping a tab on unlicensed centres, the authorities show helplessness in the absence of any complaint.

A patient said he received Hepatitis-C infected blood from a hospital recently. Patients are generally asked to bring donors. Exorbitant charges are levied for blood. While licensed blood banks are authorised to conduct these tests, unlicensed ones are also conducting the tests with impunity.

Meanwhile, nothing has been done to improve the situation as the health authorities contend that they are not authorised to take a call on the issue. Amar Singh Kailey, assistant public relations officer of the Sant Nirankari Mandal, said, ”During a time of crisis, the demand for blood has to be satiated. With the help of NGOs like Pahal, we are working in this direction since 1986. We are experienced but there are a lot of things to consider in these matters. Many hospitals cheat patients, ask for two to three units of blood where only one unit of blood is required. Sometime, they take blood and then dodge the patient or donor. The Civil Hospital blood bank is safe. At unlicensed blood banks, due to the lack of proper care, donors can contract diseases like HIV, Hapatitis-B and C, diabetes and typhoid.”

Prof Lakhbir Singh of the NGO Pahal said, “It is important to verify from where hospitals arrange blood. The most of the patients do not know about these things.”

Interestingly, the bodies responsible to keep a check on unlicensed blood banks hardly bother about it. Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bässan said, “As far as the price of blood in private blood banks is concerned, we have no control over it. We have received complaints that private blood banks charge exorbitantly but all we can do is write to the authorities concerned. Regarding infected blood, we never received any complaint. The Zonal Licensing Authority is responsible for this. They are in a better position to tell.”

Zonal Licensing Authority Dr Gurbinder Singh said, “We are regularly conducting raids at licensed blood banks and check the arrangements there. However, we never received any complaint on the issue. We can’t check any hospital in the absence of any complaint. I have not received any information about unlicensed banks in the district.”

Dr Sukhwinder Singh, Deputy Director, Drug Safety, PSACS, Punjab, said, “We regularly inspect blood banks. As far as illegal blood transactions are concerned, the Zonal Drug Licensing Authority knows better about it. Every month we ask for licences, which are checked and an extension is granted on the basis of the prevailing position.”

Patients having any complaint regarding blood transfusion at any hospital can contact Dr Gurbinder Singh, Zonal Drug Licensing Authority, on 098152-06006. Drug inspectors Dr Amarjit Singh and Dr Kamal Kamboj can be contacted on 094639-05820 and 098723-15225, respectively. 

Jalandhar, June 16
The meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) held today was a stormy affair. As soon as the meeting began, Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia asked Mayor Sunil Jyoti "What is the fun of holding a meeting when the decisions taken in previous meetings were not adhered to?"

"Through the resolution number 235 during the last meeting, it was decided that all works pertaining to recarpeting of roads would be done under the supervision of the committee members. But the B&R staff did not call any of the members while carrying out the work," he added.

Jalandhar, June 16
Even after carrying out a week-long child labour eradication exercise (June 9 to 15) in the district, the administration has failed to rehabilitate the rescued children. The Labour Department, which is facing a severe staff crunch, managed to rescue 30 children in the past seven days. Shockingly, the district administration handed over the most of the rescued children to their guardians without enrolling them in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana schools, which is mandatory under the Punjab State Action Plan for Total Abolition of Child Labour.

“The week-long exercise has gone futile. Though the administration tried to rescue child labourers, it failed to break the child labour cycle as it failed to rehabilitate them. Due to the inefficiency and the lack of coordination among various departments, most of the children were handed over to their guardians without enrolling them in the schools running under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana. Now, they may be forced to labour by their poverty-struck families,” said Inderjit Singh, Project Director, National Child Labour Project (NCLP), Jalandhar. "In the absence of a nodal officer in the district, there is no one to check the rehabilitation of these children," he added.

The government in its action plan had directed the Department of Women and Child Development to enrol rescued children in schools besides providing job-oriented technical education to children, if required. Surprisingly, most of the Child Development and Project Officers (CDPOs) are ignorant about the guidelines. “We do not have any role in the rehabilitation of child labourers. Our job is to accompany Labour Department officials during their raids,” said one of the three CDPOs posted at Jalandhar. She confirmed the handing over of 10 rescued children to their guardians without their rehabilitation.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav was also found ignorant about the lapse and said he would investigate the matter. “This shows the lackadaisical approach of the district administration. They have failed to bring all the departments together and apprise them of their responsibility. The Department of Education was not roped in for the drive,” said Surinder Saini, a social activist. 

Jalandhar, June 16
Punjabi singer Miss Pooja was quizzed for six hours by Enforcement Directorate(ED) officials for the violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) today. She was quizzed by a panel of senior officials.

When the singer was asked about the questions asked by the ED, she said," Everything is fine," and left in a hurry. The singer reached the ED office at 12.30 pm. She was carrying a stack of papers, reportedly the records of her foreign shows and money transactions. Sources said Miss Pooja appeared before the ED for the first time after she was summoned by the directorate last month.

Besides Miss Pooja, Diljit Singh Dosanjh, Gippy Grewal, film production companies Batra Showbiz and Gurfateh Productions are also under the lens for a multi-crore foreign exchange transactions racket.

The singers came under the scanner after it was suspected that since a number of Punjabi movies and songs are shot at foreign locations, there was a likelihood of illegal transfer of money through illegal channels.

Punjabi singer-cum-actor Gippy had appeared before the ED on April 22 and May 12 while Diljit Dosanj appeared before the ED on April 12.

Notably, when ED officials failed to deliver summons to the singers, they devised a novel way. They swooped down on the Gymkhana Club in Jalandhar on April 13 where Gippy Grewal was to perform and delivered the summons. 

Jalandhar, June 16
Mystery shrouds the death of a 35-year-old man, whose body was recovered from Dhaliwal village last evening. His parents suspected that their son was murdered while the police contended that he died to the excessive consumption of liquor. The deceased has been identified as Vikas Munna, a resident of Gautam Nagar in Basti Bawa Khel. Inspector Gurpreet Singh said they had received information that an unidentified body was found in bushes in Dhaliwal village. On finding the deceased unconscious, the police rushed the man to the Civil Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.

“As per the deceased’s kin, Munna had gone to some religious place at Kana Dhesia village on June 14 but didn’t return ,” the inspector said.

Gurpreet Singh said Munna had consumed excessive liquor on the day he left his house, fell unconscious in while returning home on the same night and died.

The post-mortem report also indicates the police version.

Meanwhile, the kin alleged that Munna was murdered by his friend who accompanied him. They alleged that the day Munna went missing, his friend also disappeared.— TNS 

Jalandhar, June 16
The Industrial and Traders Joint Action Committee has found several shortcomings in the state government’s Social Security Scheme for the business community and demanded that the government should increase the amount of insurance promised in the scheme for the industrialists.

Ravinder Dhir, convener, Khel Udyog Sangh, said under the scheme, three insurance covers were being extended, including life insurance (accidental death and disability insurance) to provide a cover of Rs 2 lakh per beneficiary, including accidental death and permanent or partial disability and health insurance cover to meet the expenses incurred on hospitalisation for medical treatment up to Rs 50,000 per beneficiary.

It also includes the fire insurance scheme, under which a cover of Rs 5 lakh per beneficiary would be provided for the losses caused due to fire, he said, adding that only VAT dealers having a turnover of less than Rs one crore could be enrolled under the scheme.

The scheme should have been launched after proper consultations with the state industrialists, he alleged.

“We demand that the life insurance cover should be increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, health insurance from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000 lakh and the fire insurance cover from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh,” Dhir disclosed.

The industrialists also demanded that VAT dealers who have turnover of more than Rs one crore should also be included in the scheme.

Jalandhar, June 16
Seeking support from former SAD vice-president and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans on the issue of the solid waste management project, the members of the Safai Mazdoor Union today submitted a memorandum to him here this afternoon.

The union members, led by Chandan Grewal, have been demanding that the Municipal Corporation should go ahead with the project on its own without engaging any private company.

After accepting the memorandum from the safai karamcharis, Hans announced that his meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister has been fixed for tomorrow. He added that it was on his intervention earlier that the project, which was scheduled to begin on last Saturday, had been put on hold.

The safai karamcharis have been openly supporting Hans ever since the latter took a stand against the Akali candidate Pawan Tinu during the recent Lok Sabha polls, in which Tinu lost.

The other SAD leaders, however, have started campaigning hard for the implementation of the project. The party's media cell in-charge, Charanjiv Singh Laly, today started a page on the social networking site Facebook, "MCJ should start solid waste management", and is inviting people from all walks of life to like it.

Former councillor and SAD leader Darshan Singh also today issued press a release saying that starting a plant for solid waste management was the need of the hour and there was no alternative to handling the refuse. He said he had been spreading the word not just in his area but had also been convincing the councillors from other areas to support the move.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti, however, stuck to his stand. "The project had been put off for 10 days. We are all geared up to launch it on June 24."

Regarding the issue of pollution from burning of waste that is being raked up by the opposition leaders, he said, "The project is running successfully at Okhla. Even the methane discharge there has been effectively controlled as it is being redirected through suction channels for production of more power from the plant."

Jalandhar, June 16
Long queues in front of the scanning units, patients picking up fights while awaiting their turn and the exhausted staff calling it a day before the turn of many patients (who are already visiting for a second time) comes! These are the regular scenes at the Civil Hospital almost every day.

For ages, the Civil Hospital has been managing with two radiologists and when they too go on a holiday, the situation takes a turn for the worse.

There are two X-ray machines, one ultrasound machine and a CT scan machine at the Civil Hospital. But these are unable to bear the load of hundreds of patients from various departments. As many as 50 to 60 ultrasound tests (reaches 100 on crowded days), five to eight CT scans and over 80 X-rays are done per day, with only two radiologists available for the job. All this is putting an immense burden on the staff.

While the TB wing has its own dedicated technician for CT scans, the situation doesn’t provide for much because the two radiologists are responsible for preparing reports of various scans of patients, medico -legal cases and court evidence as well. The long-pending demand for radiologists of the various departments is yet to be fulfilled.

To add fuel to the fire, patients have also been turned away on occasions when both the radiologists were on leave.

“As many as 40 to 60 X-rays take place in the TB unit alone. On the other hand, 30 to 40 ultrasound tests are conducted for patients in the maternity unit per day. To add to it, the other departments like trauma, emergency and paediatric, among others, have their own requirements. Because of this, the total number of X-rays and ultrasound tests performed could reach 80 to 100 at times. In six hours, how many tests can just two radiologists conduct? Most patients are asked to come in the morning or are turned away because the numbers pile up. When the technicians are on a holiday, some are discreetly sent to other centres. But the poor just have to wait. This has been the story for years,” said a source.

While the new 24-hour diagnostic centre coming up in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode at the Civil Hospital will have new machines for MRI, ultrasound and X-ray, there are still some months to go before the project turns into a reality. Till then, long queues of patients will continue to form at the Civil Hospital.

Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, “With the coming up of the new centre after a few months, this problem will come to en end. While there certainly is a shortage of radiologists, it’s a common problem ailing the hospitals in Punjab. New hands aren’t available. The other district units are also expecting experts to join. But with the coming up of the diagnostic centre, we expect most of these problems to get resolved."

Jalandhar, June 16
The leaders of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), who have been at loggerheads with the Police Commissioner after an exchange of arguments at the latter's office on Friday, were not allowed to hold a meeting at the Circuit House today, despite having taken permission for it.

As the BSP leaders, led by the party's general secretary Sukhwinder Kotli, arrived at the venue at 11:30 am, they found that both the gates had been locked and cops were preventing them from going inside. Kotli said he told ADCP Naresh Dogra present there that they had booked the meeting hall through the GA to the DC today.

Kotli said he had even paid Rs 1,000 in advance after seeking approval for it from the GA to the DC-cum-SDM, Shahkot, Sanjeev Sharma, to use the hall for the meeting from 12 noon to 5 pm. He said the policemen were not ready to buy any of his arguments and told him that it was the Deputy Commissioner who had objected to the meeting.

The BSP leader said that since he did not want to disturb peace and also because the party leaders had started arriving in Jalandhar, he quickly moved to his party office on Nakodar Road and held a meeting there. He said the meeting was to be held to discuss the matter pertaining to the alleged behaviour of the Police Commissioner, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, besides the party's own internal matters. Kotli reportedly had a showdown with the Police Commissioner in the latter's office on Friday.

After holding the meeting, the party leaders approached Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav. Yadav told them that he had brought about certain changes in the working of the Circuit House. "Those wanting to hold a meeting will also have to get permission from the Commissioner of Police and the SDM-1, in whose jurisdiction the Circuit House falls," he said.

To pacify the agitating leaders, the DC even apologised for the inconvenience caused to them owing to some communication gap and offered that they could hold a meeting in his conference hall. At this, the BSP leaders were placated and went back. Heavy police force remained deployed at the Circuit House and at the DC office during the day today.

Asked if the amendment in rules for booking at the Circuit House had been done after the recent gherao of the Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi, the DC said there is no such correlation. "The rule has been made just to ensure proper security and to keep the police in the loop," he said.