Bathinda, September 1
The highest number of infants in the state are admitted to the Civil Hospital here but the facility for ventilators in its special neonatal care unit (SNCU) is not available. A ventilator was to be provide to the hospital under the public-private partnership (PPP). The SNCU was started in November, 2012, with the efforts of the hospital staff.

Under the PPP mode, the government had tied up with private hospitals to provide ventilators for the infants whose weight was less than 1,200 gm at the time of their birth or who were finding it difficul to breathe. The facility has already been provided at the CMC, Ludhiana, and the Chandigarh Childcare Hospital in Kotkapur under the PPP mode. The facility is also available at Government Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot.

Meanwhile, patients are being referred from Bathinda to the Kotkapura hospital that has six ventilators whereas the Faridkot medical college has only two ventilators.

Ten to 12 children are being referred to Kotkapura or Faridkot from Bathinda every month due to the absence of the facility.

Meanwhile, the scheme to provide ventilators under the PPP mode will end on September 6 this year and its continuance is now doubtful. The discontinuance of the scheme may land the patients in great difficulty as there is a shortage of ventilators in the government-run medical college and hospital in Faridkot.

Paediatrician Dr Satish Jindal said, “The infant morality rate has come down due to the availability of ventilators in Kotkapura. The government’s efforts should be appreciated until the hospital gets its own ventilators. The scheme was started for six months and probably, it would be continued. Our hospital is a level-II hospital and we refer only those infants whose wait is 1,200 gm. The patients aren’t facing a huge problem. However, the number of ventilators should be increased in the Faridkot hospital.”

Chief Medical Officer, Bathinda, Dr Tejwant Randhawa said, “The proposal for a tie-up with private hospitals is in the pipeline and soon we would hatch a deal. The neonatal care unit in Bathinda is running smoothly and patients have been provided the facility at the nearest hospital in Kotkapura. The scheme that benefitted a number of people is the need of the hour and it would not be discontinued by the state government.”

Bathinda, September 1
The wait for the complainants who had attended the sangat darshan held by the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg, on July 2 seems to be getting longer. After a gap of five months, Garg had organised the sangat darshan on July 2 and had promised that he would look into the progress that the departments concerned had made on the complaints brought to him during the event.

He had promised that he would hold a sangat darshan every month. The sangat darshan scheduled to be held in the first week of August was cancelled due to the imposition of the code of conduct for the Talwandi Sabo bypoll.

Though the result of the bypoll was announced on August 25, the DC office has not been able to finalise a date for the next sangat darshan since the DC is accompanying the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on his thanksgiving tour to Talwandi Sabo sub-division.

Meanwhile, several complainants who had attended the July 2 sangat darshan are still waiting for the next sangat darshan.

One of the complainants, Balkaran Singh of Naruana, who had requested the administration to repair a bridge on a minor, is still running from one department to the other. “I didn’t receive any word on the issue from the administration. I took up the issue with the Irrigation Department which told me that the funds were stuck with the panchayat. I then approached the DDPO after which I was told by the department that the funds would be released soon. I am willing to take up the matter with the DC again.”

Jarnail Singh, a resident of Parasram Nagar, who has been fighting to get his land back in Talwandi Sabo since 1992, has been called by the Talwandi Sabo SDM for a meeting on September 3. “My fields in Kot Bhakhtu village were encroached upon in 1992. I got a call from the SDM’s office only a few days ago. If the matter is not resolved during the meeting, I would like to meet the DC again,” he said. 

Bathinda, September 1
The court of Special Judge Jasjit Singh Bhinder today awarded life imprisonment to a resident of Jhumba village for killing a farmer in April, 2012.

The complainant’s counsel, Gurjeet Khadial, said Iqbal Singh of Jhumba village was battered to death by Pala Singh over a trivial issue. Iqbal belonged to a Jatt Sikh family and had gone to persuade Pala Singh to load wheat chaff onto a tractor-trailer.

Khadial said the accused argued with Iqbal Singh on the pretext of extending a helping hand in lieu of a trolley of wheat chaff. The complainant in the case, Jagjit Singh, the victim’s uncle, said it was Pala’s mother Paramjit Kaur who instigated her son to attack the victim.

The accused injured Iqbal with a “tamba” (wooden log). The victim received severe head injury and was rushed to the hospital from where he was taken to the PGIMER, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The Nandgarh police had registered a case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC against Paramjit Kaur and her son Pala Singh. They were arrested by the police.

After a long legal battle for three years, the court today acquitted the mother and ordered Pala Singh to undergo life imprisonment.

Advocate Gurjeet stated that the court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000, failing which the accused would further undergo imprisonment for a year. — TNS 

Bathinda, September 1
Three alumni of Malwa College have been selected for the 56-member Asian games squad. They will represent the country in the Asian Games later this month in Inchoen, South Korea.

Suresh Kumar will participate in the 5,000m race while Om Parkash Singh will represent India in shot put. Another student, Arpinder Singh, will take part in the triple jump event. All these players were selected for the Asian Games squad during the recently concluded 18th National Federation Cup Athletics Championship at the NIS, Patiala.

KPS Brar, secretary, Punjab Athletics Association, expressed the hope that the players would bring laurels to the country by their medal winning performances at the international sporting event.

Notably, all eyes are on Arpinder Singh, who had won a bronze in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Scotland.

After winning the bronze at the Commonwealth Games, Arpinder had expressed his desire to win a gold medal in the Asian Games for which he is practising hard at the NIS, Patiala.

It is worth mentioning that earlier this year, Arpinder created a new national record in triple jump during the National Inter-State Championship in Lucknow and 
qualified for the Commonwealth Games.

There are also high hopes from Om Parkash Singh, who had won a gold medal during the 6th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Hangzhou, China, and a bronze medal during the 20th Asian Athletics Championship. He holds the national record (20.69 metres) in shot put, which he achieved in May 2012 at Szombathely, eclipsing Shakti Singh’s 12-year-old national record of 20.42 metres. During the event, he improved the national record three times.

Talwandi Sabo, September 1
The victory of Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu with over 46,000 votes in the Talwandi Sabo byelection may speed up the work on the Talwandi Sabi-Rama Mandi rail link.

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu said soon he would meet Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda and Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal in this regard.

The rail link is important as the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib is the only Takht which is not connected by a rail link. All the other Takhts - Sri Harmandar Sahib, Sri Kesgarh Sahib, Sri Hazur Sahib (Nanded) and Sri Patna Sahib, have rail connectivity. “The rail link to Talwandi Sabo is also crucial due to the presence of a thermal plant in the area,” the MLA added.

Notably, in the 2013 railway budget, the then Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had announced rail connectivity to the Takht Damdama Sahib by extending the Talwandi-Rama rail link via Maur Mandi.

The project, however, lost steam with the unceremonious exit of Pawan Kumar Bansal following the leveling of corruption charges against him. Later, new Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge did not show any interest in the project.

Before the Lok Sabha elections, Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu joined the SAD. He contested the byelection on the SAD ticket.

Jeetmohinder assured that the work on the project would start soon as Harsimrat Badal was monitoring the progress on it.

Naresh Garg, a resident of Talwandi Sabo, said the work on the rail project should start soon as the residents were facing a lot of problem due to the absence of the rail connectivity.

Another resident, Sukhraj Singh, said as Jeetmohinder had won by a record margin, he should make efforts for the starting of the project. 

Bathinda, September 1
Gurdayal Singh, a granthi of a gurdwara in Gopal Nagar, has been booked by the Canal Colony police on the charge of molesting a minor girl in the gurdwara.

In a complaint to the police, the victim’s mother stated that on Sunday evening, she, along with her 11-year-old daughter, a Class VII student, had gone to the gurdwara to pay obeisance.

She stated that when she was paying obeisance at Nishan Sahib, her daughter went inside the gurdwara. Later, she found her daughter crying. She alleged that when she started shouting, the accused ran away.

The victim alleged that when she was praying at the gurdwara, the granthi grabbed her and started biting her on the neck besides molesting her.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said they had registered a case against the granthi. 

Bathinda, September 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Bathinda, to pay Rs 2.75 lakh to a complainant Ramesh Kanodia, a resident of Hospital Bazar, in a case pertaining to medical insurance policy.

The complainant’s counsel, Naresh Garg, said the opposite party issued a medical claim insurance policy under which the complainant and his family were insured for Rs 5 lakh.

The complainant suffered a heart problem in July 2013 and was admitted to a hospital on Power House Road, from where he was further airlifted to a hospital in Gurgaon for a by-pass surgery at an expense of Rs 15 lakh.

The insurance firm was asked to pay Rs 5 lakh out of the total medical bill, but it refused to do so despite written and verbal requests.

The complainant moved the consumer forum with the plea that he was never admitted to a hospital before and was leading a healthy life. Despite the fact that under the scheme he was supposed to get cashless facility with direct payment to the hospital by the company, he didn’t get any financial benefit.

The opposite party was summoned by the forum who admitted to the sale of medi-claim policy to the complainant but denied that his (complainant’s) wife too was fully covered for up to Rs 5 lakh under the scheme.

The opposite party claimed that the complainant concealed the fact of the pre-existing problem of hypertension, which was mentioned by the doctors in the Gurgaon hospital.

After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the forum observed that minor hypertension and diabetes was common and it couldn’t be termed as a pre-existing disease.

The forum said the opposite party failed to produce any document on record to prove that the complainant was suffering from hypertension for the past many years and was undergoing treatment at any hospital.

The forum directed the Oriental Insurance Company Limited to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 along with the claim amount of Rs 2.5 lakh with 9 per cent rate of interest from the day when the complainant was admitted to the hospital in Gurgaon.

Talwandi Sabo, September 1
On the occasion of the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, organised a sports day and also held a seminar on its campus.

International hockey player Harpreet Singh Grewal, presently working with Punjab & Sind Bank, was the key speaker at the seminar.

Around 120 students of the Department of Physical education and the faculty members participated in the seminar.

Olympian and director, Sports, GKU, Dr Tarlok Singh Sandhu, welcomed all the delegates and the audience.

Harpreet Singh Grewal shared tips with the students regarding free time, practice time and the tournament tenure. He also suggested that the students should play with true sportsman’s spirit.

Vice Chancellor of GKU, Dr NS Malhi, appreciated the efforts of the Physical Education College in organizing the seminar, which he said was going to be very fruitful for the students.

Managing director, Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, lauded the efforts of Dr Sandhu and his team in bringing out the best in players. Registrar Satish Goswami presented a vote of thanks.

Dean students’ welfare Dr DR Godara, HR Babbar, Satpal Singh, Surinder Kaur Mahi, Sukhdeep Rani, Gurdeep Singh, KPS Mahi and other staff members and students were present during the seminar.

Bathinda, September 1
The court today awarded 10-year imprisonment to a resident of Partap Nagar for carrying a huge quantity of narcotics.

Gursewak Singh was caught with drugs by the Kotwali police in May, 2011. He was booked under various Sections of the NDPS Act. The police said the accused was caught with 150 vials and 50 packets of tablets.

The accused was arrested by the police during a checking near the city bus stand. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the accused, failing which he would further undergo two-year imprisonment. 

Bathinda, September 1
Aiming to provide the students with an opportunity to showcase their talent and innovative ideas, Baba Farid College of Management and Technology (BFCMT) organised an inter-college competition that included debate, poetry recitation, skits and singing.

More than 75 students from different courses participated in various contests. BFCMT also held an inter-college competition in fine arts wherein more than 100 students from various courses participated.

The students participated in six competitions, namely: rangoli making, on the spot painting, poster making, collage making, photography and cartoon making, among others.

Nutan (MBA-IB), Inderjeet Kaur (B Com Professional-I), Vikrant (BBA-III), Manjot Singh (ATHM-I) bagged the top positions in rangoli, collage making, photography and poster making competitions, respectively.

Vikrant Tangri (BBA-III), Pushpinder Singh (BBA-III), Abhimanyu (BBA-I), Rajpal and Group (MBA-III), Pushpinder and Group (BBA-III) and Manpreet Singh (MBA-III) bagged the top honours in debate, elocution, poem recitation, skit, mime and solo singing competitions, respectively. — TNS

Bathinda, September 1
A body was found in mysterious circumstances at Santpura Road here today. Sources said NGO Naujawan Welfare Society received the information in the morning that a body was lying at Santpura Road. Immediately, volunteers of the society reached the spot and informed the police.

A police PCR and SHO, Kotwali police station, Mahesh Saini, reached the spot.

The deceased has been identified as Girish Chander, a resident of Aligarh, who was staying at Janta Nagar. The deceased used to run a tea vend near Blue Fox Complex. He had wounds on his face. Nothing was found from his clothes. The body has been handed over to the relatives.

As per the relatives of the deceased, Girish used to return home by 10 pm, but yesterday he didn't return home.

They also suspect that somebody might have attacked Girish in an attempt to loot him.

ASI Pardip Kumar said they had initiated action under Section 174 on the basis of the statement of the relatives. — TNS