Jalandhar, July 19
Jograj, a five-year-old boy, died on Sunday. A little over 20 days ago he was bitten by a stray dog in a street of his area while he and his friends were playing.

Jograj’s is the second rabies death is the city in the past less than two weeks and the seventh dog bite case to have been reported. Five children of the Abadpura locality in the city had also been bitten by a stray dog in June-end. That dog also reportedly died of rabies later.

While earlier, years passed before a rabies death was witnessed in the city, even a spate of deaths hasn’t moved the Municipal Corporation (MC), as the city’s dog sterilisation project stays stalled for the past seven years.

Son of labourer Varinder, Jograj was the only child of his parents. The other members of his family include his mother Jyoti and grandfather Avtar Chand.

Coming from a very modest family, his parents only sensed trouble when he started getting scared of water on Saturday. They took him to a local witch doctor and then to the Civil Hospital, from where he was referred to Amritsar. At Amritsar, his parents were told that Jograj couldn’t be revived.

Councillor of the nearby ward, Sushil Rinku, whose own ward saw a rabies death less than 20 days ago, said he was enraged at the stance of the municipal corporation on the issue.

“The issue has been taken up many times in the house. Every time there is a lack of proper response from the corporation. People are scared to venture out of their homes. In a small area, we have seen two deaths. Given the present crisis with respect to stray dogs, the behaviour of the officials is very irresponsible,” he said.

“The deaths of people are not jokes if the MC doesn’t so something soon, we shall ask people to file a criminal case against the corporation,” he added.

Notably, in both this and the previous case, lack of awareness also played a major role in the deaths. Most people from lower income groups, who are also the most common victims, are not even aware of a disease called rabies. A dog bite is taken lightly and due to delay, the infection spreads. So far, neither the MC nor the Health Department has started any awareness campaign or drive spreading awareness about the issue.

Jalandhar, July 19
In the ongoing awareness campaign on milk adulterarion, the Dairy Department, Jalandhar, collected 97 samples from various localities of the city with the help of residents. Out of these, 56 samples failed the test. However, no action has been taken against those who have indulged in milk adulteration.

Deputy director, Dairy Department, Jalandhar, Surinder Singh, said they had no power to take action against anyone, as it did not come under their jurisdiction.

He said before the amendments in the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, dairy inspectors were allowed to collect samples and take further. Meanwhile, it is the duty of the Health Department to collect samples and take further action.

Surinder Singh said most of the samples had failed in Jalandhar due to the adding of excessive water in milk. However, no sample failed because of adding of urea or starch in milk.

“We have been collecting samples to make residents aware of milk adulteration. We will approach the Health Department to take action against them. We have been demanding power for the Dairy Department,” he added.

He said it was possible to test the milk adulterated with water, starch and urea. So far, the department was yet to get a machine to check the level of oxytocin in milk since many dairy farmers used oxytocin injections to extract more milk.

The Dairy Department has launched a milk sample collecting campaign. Under this campaign, the officials would visit every locality of the city to collect samples and educate people.

“We provide bottles to collect samples to residents a day before. They get back to us with samples the next morning in the Dairy Department. A van has also been allocated for the door-to-door sample collection from the residents,” Surinder added.

Jalandhar, July 19
Following a report published in The Tribune regarding the death of seven-month-old child Preet Bhagat in the Gandhi camp area on Saturday, KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar, has ordered a probe into the case.

In the evening, a Health Department team visited the Kidney Lifeline hospital and began its investigation into the case. The Health team will investigate whether Preet was removed from the life support system (LSS) under the guidelines prescribed under the Indian Medical Council Regulations Act or was removed in a haste at the behest of the ignorant parents of the child.

“The Health officials visited the hospital in the evening and inquired about the conditions under which Preet was removed from the LSS. We informed them that the system was removed under ‘Left against Medical Advice’ (LAMA) case. In this, the system can be removed at the behest of the attendant if he does not want to continue further treatment,” said Dr RS Chahal, director, Kidney Lifeline Hospital.

Preet, a resident of the Gandhi camp area, was taken ill during the diarrhoea outbreak in the area on June 10. His parents took him to Civil Hospital, which further referred him to a private hospital. Finally, after the denial of treatment at various hospitals due to his worsening condition, he was admitted to Kidney Lifeline Hospital on June 16. A day later, he was taken from the LSS at the behest of his father who did not want to continue his further treatment, assuming him to be already dead.

Yadav said a thorough investigation would be done in the case to find out whether the child had been taken out from the LSS under the mandatory guidelines prescribed under the Indian Medical Council Regulation Act or was removed just at the behest of the ignorant parents in haste under LAMA provision. 

Jalandhar, July 19
For the second consecutive day, the District Bar Association (DBA) observed “no work day” against the parking problem. Yesterday also, the DBA had denied the entry of vehicles of visitors inside the court premises due to which traffic scene outside the court complex had remained chaotic.

The DBA members alleged that due to the shortage of parking space on the court premises, they faced a huge problem in parking their vehicles. They demanded that the district administration should arrange parking space for the lawyers.

“All visitors have been parking their vehicles inside the court complex due to which we face a huge inconvenience in parking our vehicles. Either the administration should arrange separate parking lot for us or the entry of private vehicles should be banned inside the court premises,” they said.

They warned that if some alternative arrangement was not made for the lawyers, they might intensify their protest

Meanwhile, the All India Anti Corruption Committee has also issued a press release in which it demanded that adequate arrangement for the parking of vehicles for litigants should be made on the court premises. They had written a letter to the District and Sessions Judge for the same. They also demanded the arrangement of drinking water for the general public in courts.

Jalandhar, July 19
Bowing to the demands of industrialists and traders, the state government today agreed to annul Ssection 13(1) of VAT Act with immediate effect. This was confirmed by K D Bhandari, MLA, North, Jalandhar.

Seeking the annulment of Section 13(1) of the VAT Act, the Jalandhar Industrial and Traders Action Committee had yesterday given a seven-day ultimatum to the state government. Members of the committee had also threatened to launch a strong protest in the state if their demand was not fulfilled. With the acceptance of the demand by the government, traders have now heaved a sigh of relief and have deferred their plan of protests.

MLA Bhandari told The Tribune that he had also raised issued the issue with Deputy Chief Minister Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal yesterday, who had then assured solution to the traders’ issues. “I had apprised the Deputy CM that the issue of industrialists was of serious concern and the amendment in the VAT Act would cause huge losses to industrialists and traders. Sukhbir had promised me solution and he did it,” Bhandari said. Today, he received a call from the Traders Board chairman, Narotam Ratti, who confirmed that Section 13(1) of the VAT Act had been annulled.

Ravinder Dhir, representative of the committee, said he had received a call from MLA Bhandari who confirmed the development.

Industrialists and traders of Punjab had opposed the recent notification regarding the VAT Act with the plea that it had a lot of complications. “Dealers cannot get VAT refund on the stock lying with them as the refund is being given only on the actual sales. It has also made the criteria of calculating the VAT refund cumbersome,” traders had alleged. 

Jalandhar, July 19
The police that issue challans to the common man for flouting traffic norms seem to look the other way when it comes to issuing tickets to the official vehicles of their senior officials that are being plied without the mandatory insurance cover.

Sections 146 and 196 of the Motor Vehicle Act make it mandatory to have an insurance cover for plying any vehicle on the road. Any violation of these provisions attracts challan.

According to information procured by this correspondent under the Right to Information Act, the official vehicle of the ADGP (Traffic) Dinkar Gupta, who is also the chief of the traffic wing of the Punjab Police, does not have the mandatory insurance cover. Dinkar Gupta is also the ADGP, Security (Law & Order). His official vehicle is an Innova bearing the registration number PB65 V 7636.

Two Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) in the security wing, Sanjeev Kalra and Khubi Ram, also use Innova that are without the insurance cover. Two AIGs (Security), Paramjit Singh who uses a Xylo (PB65V 2428- Xylo ) and Jaipal Singh, who uses a Scorpio (PB 11 Y 2394- Scorpio), also do not have the insurance cover for their vehicles.

DSPs of the security wing, Piara Singh who plies a Tata Sumo (PB 13 Q 6818) and Tajinder Singh who uses a Tata Sumo (PB 11 AE 2363), are flouting traffic norms by using official vehicles without any insurance cover.

ADGP, Security (Law & Order), Dinkar Gupta couldn’t be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts.

A senior Punjab Police official, requesting anonymity, said there might be hundreds of official police vehicles sans insurance cover. Nobody can dare to challan these vehicles as these belong to top police officials. “At the district level, there are several official vehicles of police officers having no insurance cover, but traffic enforcement agencies cannot challan them,” he said.

Jalandhar, July 19
To strengthen the existing relations with the border population which plays an important role in the management of that area, Ashok Kumar, Inspector General, BSF Punjab Frontier, has decided to lay special emphasis on the Civic Action Programme for the border population in Punjab in which the BSF will contribute to the betterment of society. Under these programmes which will be conducted in the nearby schools adopted by each company of the BSF, the paramilitary force will organize medical camps, conduct sports activities, impart pre-recruitment training and hold de-addiction programmes, construction activities and awareness campaigns.

The IG said it has also been decided to pay more attention to the drug awareness and de-addiction programme. The Amritsar sector of the BSF has already taken the lead and till date, 150 people have benefited due to this initiative which has received help from the other government agencies, civil society and the NGOs, he added.

The IG further stated that this has helped in developing a better synergy between the BSF and the population in the border areas which is having a positive impact on border management. This programme will be replicated in other sectors of the BSF under the Punjab Frontier so that the border population affected by the problem gets assistance.

“In addition, a comprehensive plan is being chalked out to generate awareness about the BSF which is the ‘first line of defence’ and the premium border guarding force of the country. As a first step in this direction, an interactive session of two hours each will be held in selected educational institutions,” he revealed. The IG disclosed that interactive session will include a demonstration on border management depicting the actual performance of duty by the BSF personnel at the border with Pakistan using various arms and equipment besides the use of dogs and horses, display of different weapons, documentary, presentation and interactive sessions with the students and teachers by senior officers of the BSF.

In addition, more boards and banners depicting the various activities of the force will be placed at the joint check-posts (JCPs) at Attari and Hussainiwala border. 

Jalandhar, July 19
The Punjab Bank Employees’ Federation (PBEF) today held a meeting to decide their further course of action to get their demands fulfilled. The representatives of the federation said they will stage a protest if the government fails to meet their demands.

Speaking about the demands, general secretary of the federation, NK Gaur said it include strengthening of public sector banks, more public sector branches in rural areas, more loan to priority sectors like agriculture, small and medium industry, education and rural development. Gaur said they have also demanded that all private banks should be brought under the public sector, licence should not be issued to private corporate houses and bad loans due from companies should be recovered by taking strict action against the defaulters.

He said recently, the RBI appointed the PJ Nayak Committee that recommended measures like privatisation of public sector banks, reduction in government’s capital to less than 50 per cent in PSBs, merger of banks, keeping private sector banks away from vigilance commission and the RTI Act. “We strictly oppose the Nayak committee report as it would further diminish the public sector banks,” he added.

Gaur said despite the achievements and significant performance of the nationalised banks, there is still a long way to go. More than 50 crore people still do not have a bank account. More than 5 lakh villages in India still do not have bank branches. A large part of savings of the people is still to be tapped and mobilised into the banking system. 

Jalandhar, July 19
Paramjit, an accused in the acid attack on a government school teacher is still at large.

Reportedly on July 15, Neeta, a government teacher, resident of Talwandi Mehma in Kapurthala was injured in acid attack by Paramjit when Neeta had turned down his marriage proposal. Neeta had sustained 30 per cent burns.

The victim was on her way to school, when the accused, a resident of Khera Dona village in Sultanpur Lodhi, stopped her and poured acid on her near Markfed Chowk. Paramjit, a father of two, had been pressurising Neeta to marry him, but the victim had denied his proposal.

Police sources said since the day accused had escaped from Kapurthala, the police had put his mobile number on surveillance. The police have been conducting raids at the suspected hideouts of Paramjit.

“Initially, the location of the mobile used by the accused was traced near Ludhiana, but the latest location has been traced in Madya Pradesh” sources added.

Jalandhar, July 19
Manjit Kaur, a private ambulance driver, attempted suicide at her residence in Model House area on Saturday. Kaur, runs an ambulance at the Civil Hospital. Ravinder Singh, son of Manjit Kaur, said her mother told him that she took the extreme step due to the alleged torture by Sukhwinder Sukhi, a private ambulance driver.

“Sukhi has been filing repeated complaints with the police that I don’t have the licence to run the ambulance. Due to the alleged torture, I was in depression “ Kaur told his son. Doctors said, victim, had consumed some poisonous substance and her condition was serious. Manjit has been undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital. — TNS