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Lacunae in de-addiction drive exposed
Stray dogs on the prawl in city
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Non-functional streetlights worry commuters
Pre-monsoon showers bring smile to farmers
Gramin Bank union elected unanimously
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Lacunae in de-addiction drive exposed
Jalandhar, June 29 More shockingly, the department was also found to have been charging Rs 2,500 as meal charges for 10 days without giving them any receipt. The department has also turned away many families who were found incapable to bear the expense in these de-addiction centres. “The department is charging us Rs 2,500 as meal charges. As most of the families are coming from far-off places, they are unable to get the food from their home and have to rely on the arrangements made by the health department at the respective de-addiction centres. Even after charging so much, we are being served food by a street vendor who is not even registered with the Health Department,” claimed one of the families at the Civil Hospital. The family also revealed that besides charging meal expenses, the department was also charging them around Rs 300 as file charges and Rs 720 as various medical examination charges from each patient without giving them any receipt. “How can families like us pay so much when we don’t even have the money to buy poison? The government should have thought about the financial condition of the families of drug addicts and should have provided free services under this special drive. Most of us who are here are getting treated after borrowing money from neighbours and relatives,” revealed one of the patients getting treated at the de-addiction centre running at ESI Hospital. The families also raised suspicion on the alleged connivance of drug peddlers with the department, as the food vendor’s shop is located just between the ESI hospital and the Civil Hospital area, the place known to be most prone to drug peddling. Health officials, meanwhile, accepted the fact that they had never tested the food even once to check the quality or any traces of toxicants in it. “What if our children, despite getting treated at the de-addiction centre after paying so much, are getting consistent dose of these deadly drugs in their food provided by this street vendor in connivance with the drug peddlers active in this area?,” asked one family member from Danishmanda. While accepting the lapse, Dr Nirdosh Goyal, assistant professor and in charge of the drug de-addiction centre, Civil Hospital, said he would get the investigation done immediately.”It never stuck us to check the intention of the vendor or to test his food for the possible inclusion of toxicants, as everything was planned so hurriedly. But now since the matter has been brought to us, we will investigate it properly,” said Dr Goyal. He also accepted that he never checked the registration of the vendor with the Health Department. Also, while giving the reason to charge the money from patients he said that everything was being done according to the guidelines laid down by the Punjab Government. “As we do not have any manpower and other infrastructure, we have to charge money from these patients to get the centre running,” said Dr Goyal. But he failed to give a tenable reply for not giving receipts to the patients against the money charged from them. One of the families getting treated at the ESI hospital de-addiction centre even revealed that recently a 13- year-old boy was turned away by the centre in charge, as the mother failed to pay the meal expenses. “The centre in-charge told her to pay Rs 2800 as meal and file charges. As she did not have the money, all families, presently getting their children treated here, contributed Rs 100 each and managed to collect only Rs 1,500 for the child. Since we could not manage the entire money, she, along with her son, was shown the door by the health officials.”
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Stray dogs on the prawl in city
Jalandhar, June 29 Numbers
While NGOs have been crying foul over the issue, the MC has neither extended help to those already sterlising a minuscule number of the dog population on their own, nor has it even started a makeshift sterilisation project. Now, there is talk of a society to be formed jointly with NGOs as members and MC Commissioner as chairman for an upcoming dog sterilisation project to start in a the city. Experts say even the previous sterilisation project run by the MC was so badly run that 30 to 50 per cent of the dogs died owing to lack of expert hands, Dog bite cases and vaccination
Currently, on an average, at least 20 to 30 dog bite cases are being reported to the local Civil Hospital on a daily basis and about 30 to 40 injections (including old cases – because each bite requires a schedule of three injections) are being administered daily. While a couple of years ago, the average injections per day was 15 to 20, it has dramatically risen in the past some time. Earlier, the Civil Hospital usually used to be out of vaccinations. Currently, the hospital has over 1,500 rabies vaccinations lying with it. While 2,880 vaccinations were brought in the month of May, they are going to last a bit over two months.The members of the staff say the estimates are submitted regularly and in recent times the hospital hasn’t run out of rabies vaccine stock. Treatment
However,complaints of bad treatment to rabies cases abound. Last week, five children in the Abadpura area were bitten by a ‘supposedly’ rabid dog. Residents also say MC teams, which later came to the area to pick up the dogs , informed residents that the dog had died. Pawan Kumar – both whose children were bitten by the dog – said his family was kept waiting for about an hour at the Civil Hospital.A hospital staff member only discreetly told them to go for quick treatment on priority, because here they will keep guiding them around. Exasperated, they then opted for treatment at a local private hospital where the rabies vaccination was administered again. “At least the private guys didn’t ask us to make a parchi, before treatment.” The stay dog sterilisation project of the MC stopped in 2006. While sources say in all – even during the project – only a total of 500 to 600 dogs might have been sterilised, the lack of experienced hands caused the death of many. The MC also sterilised animals indiscriminately without any plan. Animals picked up from any area were brought and the right treatment and care needed after sterilisation was also not provided. These dogs were kept caged at a facility at the Burlton Park in Jalandhar, which was later closed up and the space now belongs to the project for the sports hub. Meanwhile, a team of five to six men stays hired as dog catchers. But neither do they have the proper equipment, nor transportation or purpose left for the same. So presently, with or without opposition, MC teams are only picking up dogs from one area and dropping them into another. There is no facility where these dogs can be taken or sterilised. Help from PFA and others
The ‘People for Animals’ have been the only NGO in the city treating and sterilising strays.Since it was set up, in 1999, the PFA has sterlised about 350 stray dogs. Chander Bhushan who runs the People for Animals, says, “The Muncipal Corporation cannot independently sterilise dogs. They have never sought our advice on the issue. For us a surgeon from Ludhiana comes to conduct the surgeries every now and then.” A Cantonment-based facility with the help of the Army headquarters has also been sterlising strays which enter the cantonment. They have sterilised about 450 animals till date. The SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has also been working for the welfare of animals, including stray dogs. Pick and drop
In the lack of a plan, the standard MC procedure, during a crisis is picking a dog from one locality and dropping them to another, as was done during the Abadpura crisis. The families whose children were bitten last week, say the MC teams have been picking four to five dogs from their area after every few days to make it free of the threat of dogs but canines still make their way to streets and residents are scared. The society, jointly formed with PFA and SPCA as members and MC Commissioner as Chairman, shall jointly decide on the new plan. However, most NGOs say they are not being adequately consulted for the same. MC
Speak
MC Commissioner Manpreet Chatwal said, “The dog sterilisation project in the district, has indeed been lying stalled for the past many years. But with coming up of the new dog sterilisation project – the process for which is underway – within three years we expect the number of canines in the city shall start decreasing. Presently there are an estimated 6,700 dogs in the city.” “We have asked a local NGO to start the sterilisation project on its own (we would later join in), the said project did not take off owing to some reasons. Even a four kanal land had been allotted for the same. But the upcoming project might bring better days.” said Chatwal “We now plan to restart it within a few months from another land which has been identified. A three kanal land towards the Hoshiarpur Road has been finalised. An experienced doctor with specific training from Delhi and expertise in sterilisation has been roped in and we have also written to the government on the issue. A tender of Rs 12 lakh has also been invited and the work order for construction issued. It will be a compact but effective facility on which construction will start within few days. The doctor shall be operating upon dogs and the hospital infrastructure and capacity will enable at least 10 sterlisations per day. Only male dogs will be sterlised,” he added. Vet Speak
JS Ghumman Deputy Director Animal Husbandry says, “While we have been willing to undertake a sterilisation project in the city, the MC has never approached us over any such issue. Garbage dumps abound in the city and circumstances facilitate the growing of stray dog numbers. Neither such a hospital complex nor an animal birth control plan has been discussed with us by the MC.” |
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Non-functional streetlights worry commuters
Jalandhar, June 29 The problem of faulty streetlights is not new, but what is unfortunate is that despite giving assurances in the past one year, the civic functionaries have not been able to properly address the issue. The non-functional streetlights not only trouble the commuters but also give unscrupulous elements an opportunity to commit petty crimes, especially chain snatching. Due to the non-functional streetlights at the roads connecting the city bus stand, commuters have to face a lot of difficulty during the evening hours. “After the sunset, the areas in the vicinity of the bus stand plunge into darkness. Since the bus stand road is very busy, with auto-rickshaws plying till late evening, accidents because of low visibility are routine. The MC authorities should understand that proper working streetlights are a must on all roads that witness heavy vehicular movement”, said Jaskiran Singh, who runs a shop near Bus Stand. A visit to Ladowali Road, Bishanpura, Bus Stand Road, Railway Road, IndraPark, Garha Road, Baldev Nagar, Kishanpura Chuggitti, Gurjit Nagar, Garha and Labour Colony brought to light that the problem of non-functional streetlights has acquired alarming proportions. “Despite the fact that the maintenance of the streetlights is with private contractors, the Municipal Corporation authorities have miserably failed to solve the problem of non-functional streetlights,” said residents of a majority of the areas, having the problem of faulty streetlights. Leader of Opposition in the MC General House Jagdish Raja said streetlight points in a majority of the municipal wards were not operational. “It is understandable if bureaucrats and the mayor do not react to the problem, but it is surprising is that there are 60 municipal wards and not even the councillors of these wards have taken up this issue. Until and unless the matter is taken up seriously, its solution will remain a distant dream,” he added. Raja pointed out that he had filed an RTI application to know how much penalty was imposed on the contractors for the non-functional streetlight points during the period from January to September 2013. “The reply to my RTI query is that Rs 1.75 lakh was the total penalty. I surveyed four stretch of roads and the penalty for the non-functional streetlights for a period of just 12 days was calculated to be around Rs 4 lakh. Going by the figures, it is amply clear what was going on in the civic body,” he said, adding that soon he would be holding a press conference to expose the civic body over the issue.
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Pre-monsoon showers bring smile to farmers
Jalandhar, June 29 The farmers have been waiting for pre-monsoon rain to speed up the process for paddy transplantation and maize sowing. As per information collected from the Agriculture Department, Jalandhar, had the monsoon not delayed, the paddy transplantation would have been finished till now. Only 60 per cent of paddy transplantation has been done so far. Similarly, the pre-monsoon rain has been a boon for the maize farmers. So far, only 50 per cent of the maize crop has been sown. Chief Agriculture Officer, Jalandhar, Suttantar Kumar said, “We expect that the maize crop will be sown fully by the end of the first week of July.” Amarjit Singh of Chak Chela village said that he was eagerly waiting for pre-monsoon rain as he wanted to speed up the sowing process. “I have already sowed around 10 acre of maize, ” he added. Amarjit said he had 13 acres of land under maize crop last year. But this year water table seems to have gone down significantly as water pumps are giving nearly 30 per cent less water. Apart from this the other crop like sugarcane and cattle fodder also need water subsequently. Another farmer from Allowal village, Sukhjinder Singh said he had around 20 acre of land under paddy cultivation, including basmati and non-basmati. “Due to lack of rain, I was not able to accelerate the process of paddy transplantation. Since I have managed to do it in 10 acres only. The recent rain has given a big relief to farmers like me,” he added.
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Gramin Bank union elected unanimously
Jalandhar, June 29 Mangat Ram Pasla, Punjab General Secretary, CPM, was the chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, chairman of bank, BS Raina, assured the staff members that their welfare schemes falling under the jurisdiction of the bank will be accepted. A resolution was placed in the house by the general manager APS Brar on formation of new bodies of officers’ associations, while employees’ unions were elected unanimously. GM APS Brar and GM Surjit Singh were elected president and general secretary respective fifth time.
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YUVA group enacts plays
Jalandhar, June 29 The play depicted the narrative of a young man who assumes that the life is for today only and there is no tomorrow. His lax attitude towards life leads him to cruel end. He gets infected with AIDS. The play was originally written by Dr Chander Shekhar Phansalkar, which was later adapted in Hindi by director of YUVA, Dr Ankur Sharma. Before this, a play titled ‘Seva des di jindarhiye barhi aukhi’ written and directed by Niraj Kaushik of Style Arts Association was also performed, which ends with the message that seeds of struggle never die. However, it has to go through certain odd circumstances. Convener, cultural wing of Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Committee, Amolak Singh said the only purpose behind Sikhiarthi Chetna Camp, which concluded today, was to spread awareness among the youth to shed drugs. Students from all over the state participated in the camp. Scholars from different fields delivered lectures in the three-day camp, which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the ‘Komagata Maru’ incident.
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The city teems with a bustling population of stray dogs.
Notwithstanding the tall claims of providing basic amenities to the people by the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation, the non-functional streetlights in many areas have left the commuters high and dry.
The problem of faulty streetlights is not new, but what is unfortunate is that despite giving assurances in the past one year, the civic functionaries have not been able to properly address the issue.
The city teems with a bustling population of stray dogs. They sit at house and shop thresholds, chase bikers, kids, cycles and cars, fight, create over garbage get wounded and die. The MC says a plan to counter the dog population is being formulated, the veterinary staff disagrees. A systematic survey of the dogs in the city has never been carried out, so it is difficult to reach at the exact number.
MC estimates put the stray dog population at roughly 6,700. Experts and NGOs however, say the city has about 20,000 stray dogs. While the MC’s reputed dog sterilisation project in the city remains stalled for the past seven years, in the meantime, the population of canines has rapidly increased.