Patiala News - Patiala
June 19th, 2013
For the first time the three women cricketers Harmanpreet Bhullar (from Jalandhar), medium pacer Moksha Chaudhary (from Patiala) and the spinner Sneh Rana (from Amritsar) from Punjab are selected in Indian probables camp same time for the series against the Sri Lanka.
Harmanpreet is one of the regular members of the Indian team, however it is the second time when Moksha easily made it for Indian camp. This moment will also be very special to Sneh Rana. she is actually from Sinola; it is a village in the Dehradun, who has made it to the camp for the first time.
Sneh also tried her fate in the Haryana however then she came to the Punjab and she succeeded and earned a name as an off-spinner. The biggest benefit which Sneh got was that she was also very good with her bat.
Nine years ago, a Dehradun-based cricket club Little Masters Cricket Academy coaches Narinder Shah and Kiran Shah organised a match at a ground near Sneh’s village. Sensing the opportunity to finally catch the attention coaches, Sneh took the ball, rolled her arm over and clean bowled an established batsman with her off-breaks. Her performance did not go unnoticed and the coaches immediately took her under their wings. Sneh’s father, Bhagwan Singh Rana, a farmer, used to cycle 10 kms everyday to drop her at the academy where she learnt the early lessons of cricket. She shifted to Punjab three years ago.
Nine decades ago, a Dehradun-based cricket group of Cricket Academy trainers, Narinder Shah and Kiran Shah organized a cricket match near Sneh’s town. Detecting her ability the trainers took Sneh for the football, they also trained her with a fresh bowl and tested her skills with a recognized batsman for her off-breaks. Her performance did not go unseen and the trainers instantly gained a big popularity. However, after that she was put in the academy where she learned the beginning training of cricket. She moved to Punjab three decades ago.
Talking about Moksha, who is 23 years old, she is the second lady from Patiala after Anureet Dua to making it to the Indian cricket camp. Previously, Moksha was chosen in the India probables for the World Cup that was organized in Indian in January. Moksha asked her dad to let her adhere to her cricketing goals for a while after finishing her studies. It was challenging in the starting but she handled to persuade him. However, the camp is supposed to be held at the Bengaluru and it will end on the June 27.
June 18th, 2013
A man in Bhawanigarh attacked a woman at Bhawanigarh only on Sunday and threw acid on her after their alleged affair went sour.
The man fled away on a motorcycle along with one more accomplice who was waiting for him. The victim has got many burn injuries on several parts of the body has been admitted to the Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.
Sources revealed that the man has been identified and he knew the woman since a long time.
The victim’s sister said that an unknown man rang the bell and said he had some articles from the market committee office. When her sister opened the door, he threw acid on her face and fled away with his accomplice on a motorbike.
The victim was rushed to the Bhawanigarh Hospital from where she was referred to Patiala. The woman had got burn injuries on her neck, chest and arms.
The DSP of the Sangrur district, Gurpreet Singh has said that the attacker has been identified as Mangat Ram, who claims to have had an affair with the woman. The man wanted to revive the ties and upon failing, poured acid on the woman.
The DSP added that they have registered a case against Mangat Ram and his unidentified accomplice and efforts are being made to apprehend the culprits.
June 18th, 2013
It seems that the Public Works Department and the Municipal Corporation are waiting for a mishap to take place before acting against unsafe buildings in the district.
Over 12 buildings, many housing government offices, are in poor shape and need immediate repairs. A communiqué in this regard by the Patiala Deputy Commissioner last year remained unnoticed as the departments concerned failed to take any action.
The royal city has many heritage buildings. A number of these are being used as residences of administrative officers. Several others, most of which are unsafe, house government offices.
Most of these buildings are in Baradari Gardens. Most buildings house offices of senior police officers and are visited by hundreds of people from across the region.
He said that parts of these buildings keep crumbling. He told that a few years ago, some guests of the then IG were sitting in the office when a portion of the ceiling suddenly fell on the table.
Now the authorities fear that some mishap might take place, particularly during the rainy season. But, the authorities have never bothered to initiate the repair works.
Patiala Deputy Commissioner GK Singh said that he had written to the PWD and the MC a year ago, but nothing has been done. It is not safe to work from such buildings. He said that he will again write to these departments. Meanwhile, several other buildings in the district are also in poor shape. The authorities blame poor maintenance on fund crunch.
June 18th, 2013
The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has accused the state government of working against the provisions of the Companies Act, by making book adjustments of Rs. 405.73-crore subsidy to the agricultural sector. It has asked the government to roll back the move.
Having failed to get the money, the PSPCL is unable to declare the dividend under the Companies Act, though it has registered a profit of Rs. 200 crore in 2012-13, almost after a decade.
Overall, the PSPCL is facing an accumulated loss of Rs. 1,700 crore since the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) was divided into PSPCL and PSTCL in 2010.
8
In a letter to the power secretary, HS Chaudhary, the financial adviser to the PSPCL, has written that as the state government had failed to pay the PSPCL Rs. 405.73 crore, as per the Companies Act, the PSPCL could not declare that it had accumulated loss in the last three financial years.
The book adjustment of subsidy is not only against the Companies Act but also against the power regulator directions, which bind the government to pay the subsidy amount in cash, says the letter.
Power engineers, under the banner of the PSEB Engineers Association, have also opposed adjustment of the subsidy amount. In the last financial year, the government had made a book adjustment of Rs. 952 crore for return of equity. Power engineers have also challenged the practice before the power regulator saying when the PSPCL is in losses, there should be no return of equity.
In view of the position explained above and the legal position regarding declaration of dividend as per the Companies Act, the state government is requested to withdraw the book adjustment of return of equity of Rs. 405.73 crore against the subsidy payable to the PSPCL during 2012-13, the letter said.
How PSPCL fared since 2010
Year                             Rs. (in crore)
2010-11 (loss)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1,639
2011-12 (loss)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 333
2012-13 (estimated profit)Â Â 200
Accumulated loss                1,772
June 18th, 2013
Once considered a lifeline for the villages alongside its bank, the river Ghaggar is now being termed as the ‘River of Sorrow’ due to the occasional floods it has caused in the past over a decade. While a majority of the north is hit by floods with the sudden and early arrival of monsoon, residents of nearby villages alongside the banks of the Ghaggar are a worried lot.
While the water level is below the danger mark as of now, villagers fear the worst if it rains more in the days ahead.
Seasonal floods during heavy monsoon are a norm in these areas with loss to both life and property after heavy inflow of water in Ghaggar which then floods nearby villages. While the district administration and the irrigation department has started some de-silting work to clear its bed, heavy rains in the hills and sudden rise in the water table causes floods as the sheet spread is not possible due to construction and agricultural activities near the river bank.
He said while Haryana has raised a concrete wall to save its villages, Punjab needs to do something similar to save its residents.
Flowing from the Shivalik hills, this seasonal river passes through the districts of Patiala and Sangrur, where it causes the maximum damage during monsoonal floods. In 2010, floods caused by this river had caused a huge loss to thousands of residents in Patiala and Sangrur. Deputy Commissioners of Patiala and Sangrur are on their toes to ensure that the 2010 situation is not repeated. Work on cleaning the river bed and strengthening the river banks is on.
The Sangrur administration has geared up with boats and temporary evacuation centers as well.
The Patiala DC GK Singh said that they have completed over 60 per cent of the work to tackle floods. Grants were released to the irrigation department ahead of the monsoon period to ensure that they are able to save our villages from floods, he added
he stated that they had set a control room for that and all flood control measures are in place to tackle the problem.
Meanwhile, even as the administration claims to have geared up for flood relief work, villagers are already prepared to shift their ration to the first floor of the house and have set up temporary kitchens.
Samana resident Parminder Singh, who runs a shop told that this is an annual ritual wherein they shift their belongings and kitchen on to the first floor.
A few decades ago, this river used to spread its water in its banks, which were almost 500-metres-wide at certain places, due to which, the excess water got spread and caused minimal damage.
But with the passage of time, illegal buildings came up alongside the river, and the damage increases every year.
June 17th, 2013
The Central government’s move of sending its team of fact finding for looking into the alleged scam of the education department of Punjab, the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) on Friday told that the leadership of Congress at the centre by doing so attacked the federal structure of the country. The district president of Patiala of YAD Preetinder Sing said in a statement that the team which has been sent by the congress led government of UPA for collecting facts on purchasing the books for the libraries in the primary schools, is an effort towards tarnishing the image of government of SAD BJP and was a conspiracy involving few of the leaders of the Congress.
The YAD chief of YAD was questioned regarding the illegal and unprecedented act of sending the self team of Congress for inspecting the irregularities while an inquiry was already being conducted. Various scams have come in light in the states which are being ruled by Congress.
YAD will be launching a state wide campaign opposing the government of UPA, he said, saying that the party will be burning the effigy of state and central Congress leaders for this action.
The leader of YAD said that since Congress has been demoralized after the defeat in a number of elections lately, the leaders of state were using the central government against the SAD BJP Government. The YAD leader said that YAD will not be tolerating any such attitude of the leaders of the State Congress and would be exposing them in front of the public along with the scams which have been committed by UPA government lately. The central government was supposed to send a team to Punjab for covering the failures of the Congress just before the polls of Lok Sabha started.
June 17th, 2013
The farmers in parts of Patiala district, including Rajpura, Samana and Nabha, are up in arms against the state government and the Wildlife Department for not helping them protect their crops from wild animals.
Not getting any assistance from the Wildlife Department, farmers have to keep vigil round the clock to save their crops.
The farmers seem to be stuck in a complex situation as on the one hand, they are not allowed to kill or trap wild animals as per the wildlife laws and on the other, getting compensation from the authorities is proving to be difficult.
Gurdeep Singh, a farmer near village Bapror, said that every day, they work long hours in the fields, from early morning to afternoon. But there is no solace at night, as they have to rush back to the fields again to keep wild animals at bay.
He complained that the procedure to get clearance from the Wildlife Department to shoot wild animals is very lengthy.
Farmers in forest belts complain that neelgai and wild boars damage a lot of their crop and cause them huge losses.
The problem is more serious in Rajpura where scores of animals can be seen in the fields even in the day.
Some farmers have illegally fitted electric wires near their farms to keep wild animals away.
Recently, hundreds of farmers from the nearby town of Nabha and Samana had held a dharna and complained about the menace of wild animals.
The state government had issued a notification and allowed the hunting of wild boar for domestic consumption in December 2009.
But, hunters alleged that Sub Divisional Magistrates and wildlife officials took a very long time to issue hunting permits.
Catch-22
Farmers are not allowed to kill or trap wild animals and the Wildlife Department doesn’t offer much assistance.
While on the other hand, if their crops are destroyed, getting compensation is a challenge
June 17th, 2013
The two recent spells of the heavy rains have led to a flood like situation in the city. The MC officials were nowhere in the sight during the weekend when most of the parts of the city were submerged in water.
Though the municipal corporation had spent crores of rupees on laying a new sewer and drainage system, it failed to serve the purpose. Rainwater had submerged in several localities, including Model Town, Lehal Colony, Charan Bagh, Gian Colony, Punjabi Bagh, Tripuri.
A few years ago, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had approved special grants for the Patiala Municipal Corporation for development works. In spite of having funds at its disposal, the MC has failed to solve the water logging problem.
Former Patiala Mayor Vishnu Sharma claimed that the nullahs in the city were covered during the Congress regime and it was made sure that the same were cleaned before the monsoon. He said that for the past few years, the MC has not been cleaning the nullahs. This year too, it started the exercise after the monsoon hit the region.
The Mayor of Patiala Amrinder Bazaz said that they are trying their best to get rid of this problem but not much can be done at this time due to the sudden showers.
June 17th, 2013
Members of the union of unemployed linemen, who were on a dharna for the last twenty days for demanding jobs, faced a wrath from the police while they were taken into preventive arrest outside the main gate of the office of the Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) in the wee hours.
Total one hundred and sixteen linemen as well as their families have been arrested by more than five hundred policemen at approximately 3 50 AM while they were sleeping on a dharna outside the main gate of the office of PSPCL. They were allegedly forcibly pushed in the buses of police.
While the unemployed line men were sent to various jails in the district of Patiala, Rupanagar and Sangrur, their families were released by the police in far off villages of the district of Patiala and Sangrur.
The party of police which was led by the SP of the city Daljeet Rana and the SDM of Patiala Gurpal Singh Chahal led the team and arrested the line men under sections 107/51 of IPC. Those who were opposing the arrest faced the anguish of the police men said the sources.
The SDM of Patiala, confirming the arrests said that the arrest was done as section 144 has come in force in the whole state with the announcement of the polls of panchayat which have been slated for 3rd July.
He said that the chief minister has promised the union of the linemen for looking in their demands. The prolonged dharana before the office of PSPCL may spoil the peace of the surrounding area during the polls of panchayat. The president of the union Piramal Singh said that women were beaten up so mercilessly and even the children were not spared.
June 16th, 2013
The Government of Punjab has given instructions for the computerization of all the land records on urgent basis and all the information related to zamabandis etc is also being updated online in the district of Patiala.
Mr. Surjeet Singh Rakhara, the minister for rural development and panchayati raj, disclosed here on Saturday that most of the work of digitalization as well as the online work of the land records has completed in the district.
Rakhara also said that out of the nine hundred and thirty three villages of the district, land records of eight hundred and seventy eight villages have been updated online by the officials of the department of revenue after hearing the objections till now.
He has given directions to the officials for completing the work for the rest of the fifty five villages and also asked them not to leave any laxity in the work.
The minister also told that all the land records are available in the website of the land record society of Punjab and any the can be seen by any land owner and they can also take a print out.
He said that out of the two hundred and seventy one villages of the district of Patiala Fard Kendra, two hundred and thirty six are online, in Dudhan Sadhan out of the ninety six villages, ninety five are online, in Nabha out of the one hundred and thirty one villages, one hundred and twenty eight are online, in Samana out of seventy three villages, seventy one are online and in Patran out of sixty nine villages land records sixty five are online.
He said that all the forty four villages of Bhadson and ninety four villages in Ghanour land records are available online. Rakahra said that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as well as the Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majitha has stringently instructed all the officials of revenue for making the system if revenue more people friendly and for maintaining transparency in the land records at various levels. The minister said that any applicant can get a copy of his or her land record within just fifteen minutes from 8 Farad kendras, working in the district of Pataiala.
June 16th, 2013
The University of Punjab will be setting up a committee for making it easy for the senior citizens and people who are settled abroad for doing a PhD or MA. This will assist people who wish to increase their knowledge as well as are doing research. But they are not able to get an admission in any of these courses because of the stringent eligibility criteria.
Dr Jaspal Singha, the Vice Chancellor said that they receive a number of applications from the scholars as well as senior citizens who are settled abroad but they are not able to meet the admission eligibility criteria. He also said that the committee will look for solutions for those applicants who wish to study further or conduct a research.
June 16th, 2013
The famous tele serial F.I.R. will very soon screen a ghost based episode, and Chitrashi Rawat, who is playing the role of a sub inspector as Jwalamukhi Chatala, is pretty excited about her role as a ghost.
“It’s extremely electrifying that I’m donning the role of a ghost,†Chitrashi added while she was interviewed on Thursday on the sets of the serial where she was shooting a sequence.
The show which is being telecasted on SAB TV will be showing a special episode depicting the spirit of a police officer who is dead and the ghost starts solving the cases and when Jwalamukhi encounters the ghost, she is bitten by him. Resultantly, the spirit enters her and she becomes a ghost.
After this incident she bites everyone.
Gopi Bhala, who is playing the role of constable Gopi in the serial, claimed that he has witnessed a ghost in his real life also.
“I am from Nabha region in the state where there was a gigantic banyan tree in my village.
As per the legends, ghosts live on that banian tree. Once while coming back from ramleela I passed the tree. I abruptly felt something tickling. I was riding my bicycle. However, I was forced to stop owing to some trouble in the bicycle,†Gopi Bhala stated on the show sets.
“I cannot clarify how I felt that time, however what I witnessed, I cannot forget ever. There was something actually that I saw,†Bhalla also said.
June 15th, 2013
Three people have died as a tanker of oil banged into a car and overturned and felt on a three wheeler with nine people who were seated in the tanker. The tanker hit the car near village of Wajidpur in the district of Patiala today. The driver of the tanker has been arrested and those who have been injured have been taken to the Government Rajindar Hospital by the head constable Nathu Rama and Indarjeet Singh.
It’s the policy of the government of Punjab that the Government hospitals treat all the victims of Road accidents free of cost. However, Rajnder Hospital has proved to be an exception to that rule. The authorities of the hospital did not start the treatment of the victims for more than half an hour. They stressed over following the technicalities of the procedure and procuring the suture things which were required for stitches and plaster of Paris (POP) which are required for starting the treatment of the victims.
One of the people who have died is an unidentified female aged around seventy years. One of those injured, Jyoti was referred to PGI, Chandigarh as she had some severe head injuries.
The other people who have been injured ere the three wheeler driver Dharampal Singha, Balwinder Kaur, Paramjit Kaur, Gagandip Kaur, Sarabjit Kaur and Jasprit. They were sent to the emergency ward.
As the hospital didn’t have any suture material and POP, the deputy medical superintendent asked the pharmacy shops for issuing the same but was refused. The pharmacists said that they couldn’t issue the required medicines without the signature of the medical superintendent Dr. V.K. Sharda, who was busy with an operation in the operation theatre.
Both the men had an argument and the deputy medical superintendent called the PS of the district red cross society Mr. Sidhu for POP. Sidhu confirmed that they had received the order for POP.
Dr. Sharada upon being contacted said that the relatives of the victims could have purchased the material from the outside chemists as they could not provide medicines to all the victims.
However, Dr. K.D.Singh principal of the government medical college and Rajindra Hospital admitted the patients, they were expected to offer free of cost treatment to the victims of the road accident. He said that he would check the matter.
The deputy medical superintendent confirmed that she ordered for POP for a small girl who was injured in the legs.
Violating Rules
It’s the policy of the government of Punjab that the Government Hospitals treat the victims of road accidents for free. The medical superintendent said that the victims should have bought medicine from the pharmacists outside the hospital.
June 15th, 2013
Huge claims made by the state power corporation limited (PSPCL) of Punjab authorities for upgrading and strengthening the system of distribution of power for the season of paddy and monsoon have been washed off with the first pre monsoon rains today.
The power supply has been disrupted in at least one fourth of Ludhiana locations for days together.
In most of the areas which have been affected where the supply of power has failed since the early hours of morning, people were compelled to go without any supply of water as well.
K.L.Sharma the Chief Engineer of the Central zone, PSPCL said that at least hundred feeders out of a total of five hundred in the city have developed snags because of the felling trees on LT as well as PVC, cables due to heavy showers and high power winds lashing the region.
He also said that by afternoon most of the disrupted feeders have been made operational and the supply of power was brought back. He told that about twelve feeders where cable end boxes were to be fixed are still not functioning but the regular supply of power will be restored in the city very soon.
In Patiala the pre monsoon rains have exposed the huge claims of the municipal corporation and turned various parts of the city into puddles.
Despite the municipal corporation investing cores on laying down the new sewerage system it has failed to solve the problems of water logging in the city. In model town, Charana Bagh, Sewaka Colony and Santa Nagar areas rain water has entered a number of houses.
June 15th, 2013
Patiala police has failed to trace out the nephew of the Panjabi pop singer Rabbi Shergill who is missing since 5th May. While the police of Patiala have not yet registered an FIR for the case, it has revealed that the police of Haryana have handed over someone else’s body to the family of the victim.
The family of the victim was informed that the sample of DNA of the body which has been cremated do not match with the mother of the victim.
Twenty two year old Chetan Shergill who is a resident of Delhi was going to Patiala in a bus one day before he went missing mysteriously.
In a shocking twist in the mystery environment the sudden disappearance of the nephew of the singer, the Forensic report has revealed that the body which has been claimed and cremated by the victim’s family is not Chetan’s body. According to the report generated by the Forensic Sciences Lab in Karnal, the samples of DNA of the body have not matched with the mother of the victim, Mohini. The FSl will be submitting the report to the Haryana police formally today.
Chetan aged twenty two; a New Delhi’s resident disappeared from the district of Patiala in Punjab while he was travelling to Patiala for attending an exam of his degree of Journalism at the University of Punjab in Patiala on 5th May.
According to the family of the victim, he must have been pick pocketed while on his way to Patiala. He also called his mother and the singer who is his uncle to rescue him and take him home. Soon after this his phone was switched off. This made his family start a search at the location from where his last call was traced, Saddowal which is in the district of Patiala.
On 13th May, the police of Harayana along with a local Punjab based driver Ashu found the body which matched the appearance of Chetan and handed it to the victim’s family. The family members of Chetan including his uncle and mother identified the body which was discovered and claimed it. The post mortem report states that the viscera, 4 teeth and 2 bones have been sent for forensic examination. The blood samples of Mohini have also been sent for a DNA test.
The family of the victim has performed the lat rituals in Delhi after they were handed over the body which was assumed to be of Chetan. However, they have claimed that they are not too sure if the body is that of their son as they told that the doctor who had conducted the post mortem of the body told that the body was approximately 7 to 9 inches taller than that of Chetan who is five feet and eight inches tall.
June 15th, 2013
With the failure of the bureau of vigilance for presenting a challan in the court, the main accuse of the land scam Patiala, the former deputy commissioner Vikasa Garg was given bail this morning. The IAS official had applied for the pre arrest bail earlier but it was rejected by High court as well as the Supreme Court, after which he had been arrested on 14th March.
The bureau of vigilance failed a challan in this case which was filed against 3 other men accused on 9th May. It was planning for filing a substitute challan also against Garg, before his ninety day period in the jail ended.
The senior superintendent of Police (SSP) Pritama Singh, VB Patiala, said that the bureau was not able to present the challan due to certain sanctions which were yet to be received. He denied any other statement.
Sources highly placed told that the officials of VB had also prepared a final Challan for the case which had been cleared by the headquarters of VB in Chandigarh.
â€But, the personnel section did not turn back the file together with the authorization to challan the administrator. As a result, the VB could not confront his appeal for bail bond in the court.â€
“While the State administration is quite capable to grant the approval in cases of other charged, the support from the administration of the country is required in the case of the IAS administrator,†stated the spokespersons.
On 9th May, the VB Patiala submitted a challan protesting Yashpal Agarwal, Devindra Sandhu, Jaswanta Singh, who were believed to be the middle men in the deal of the land, one day before the judicial remand of the accused was suppose to end.
Garg was, allegedly instrumental in the marking of the Government owned six thousand square yards of the land on the grand post office road in Patiala, as a private property for allowing its sale further. “Every representative who has been charged in the case has shifted the charge on Vikas stating that he had pushed them for marking the land to be private,†added the sources.
The Case
On 9th November 2012, an FIR was registered against the former DC Vikasa Garg and the nine other accused.
The FIR was registered after the orders from the Chief Minister Parkasha Singh Badal.
The FIR had also mentioned the names of NP Singh, Yashpala Agarwal, Devinder Singh Sandhu, Ravdeep Singha and Jaswanata Singha as the middle men in the land deal.
All the efforts were on the arrest of NP Singh as well as Ravdip Singh who are the proclaimed accused of the case.
On 9th November last year, the Bureau registered a case, under section 409, 467, 420, 471, 120 BIPC and 13 of the prevention of corruption act at the police station VB Patiala against Garg, 4 former revenue officers of Patiala and 5 private individuals for fraudulent sale of the land of the government.
Garg also made efforts for securing pre arrest bail from the High Court on 21st December last year which was denied. He then tried in the apex court but there also his plea for relief was denied.
June 14th, 2013
The strike which was called by the Association of Civil Medial Services, Punjab early this week couldn’t succeed as most of the doctors were on a very weak and imperative footing for being accumulated in a few pockets only, depriving huge communities of people from medical aid. That government has sanctioned total four thousand and one hundred PCMS physicians out of whom seven hundred vacancies are still vacant. The ret three thousand and four hundred doctors are yet to attend the administration work as well as the patients in the twenty two hospitals, forty one sub district hospitals, one hundred and fifty one Community Health centers, four hundred and forty six Primary Health Centers and a lot of dispensaries, ESI and sub centers.
Successive Governments of the state are politicizing about transferring the doctors and favorites somehow managed to obtain the districts of their preference leaving a good number of far away areas of the state, specifically the area in the rural areas in ignorance.
Out of a total of five hundred and twenty three doctors who were conducting a strike, two hundred and fifty ortho pediatricians, gynecologists, radiologists, anesthetists, pediatricians, eye specialists, pathologists and dermatologists including micro biologists and bio chemists, were posted at non sanctioned designations.
According to Health Minister, Madan Mohan Mital, there was a need for rationalizing the medicine services of the specialists of Punjab. “We have not conducted the transfers for punishing anyone. Our goal was for providing health in the whole state.†Added Mittal.
The president of the PCMS association Dr. Hardeep Singh admitted that they had initiated the transfers in order to ensure the specialist’s services at the right place. “The strike happened as the Government was not able put the real motive behind the transfers across to the doctors,†added Hardeep.
HT made enquiries which revealed that out of the sixty pediatricians who are available with the State Government, eighteen were in Mohali as well as Ludhiana until recently. Most of them were working in the dispensaries even though there was no post of a specialist. Ferozepur which is a broad district didn’t even have one pediatrician in the civil hospital of the district.
Out of the two hundred and fifty one gynecologist’ posts, just one hundred and thirty two physicians were available. They were mostly concentrated in Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar and Mohali.
Amongst the anesthetists, out of the total one hundred and twenty five designated posts, just seventy seven were available. While these were in excess in the district of Jalandhar and Ludhiana, there was only one doctor against six designated positions. In Muktsar as well as Sangrur, there was just one anesthetist as against seven and eight designated posts
Against the sixty four sanctioned posts of the radiologists, just twenty one are available. In Faridkot, Barnala, Mansa, Ferozpur and Muktsar there was not even a single radiologist.
Amongst the pathologists, out of the eighty eight designated positions only fifty three are available. The District hospital in the district of Muktsar did not have any pathologist; Tarn Tarn had only one pathologist as against the sanctioned posts of three: Faridkot, Bhatinda and Barnala had 1 each against the designated 3, 2 and 6 positions of the pathologists respectively.
Transfer Cases
Dr Renu Sungal, radiologist who was posted in the office of civil surgeons in Ferozpur, in an administrative wing, was being asked to work in the District civil hospital for 3 days in a week.
Dr. Puneet Juneja, pediatrician, posted in the anti retro viral therapy center of Ludhiana was moved to sub district hospital of Pillaur which is twenty kilometers away.
June 14th, 2013
In a bid for providing relief to the patients of cancer in the state of Patiala, which has earned itself a cotton producing region Malwa, a Sobriquet cancer belt, the government of Punjab has entered into a contract with the Tata Memorial Centre of Mumbai for giving a training in oncology to the doctor as well as paramedics of the state on the subject.
The proposal, for providing the six month’s training, was signed jointly by the director of the Tata Memorial; Centre, Dr. Rajender A Badwe and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal, during the latter visited Mumbai.
“This agreement will sharpen the skills of the doctors and will strengthen the potential of human resource in the field of medicine and research,†said Badal.
With the rising cases of cancer in the district of Malwa fame cotton belt, the government of Punjab in December last had finally released the first ever state wide survey for cancer.
With the assistance of the Tata Memorial Centre, some relief may be realized by more than twenty three thousand eight hundred and seventy four people who are suffering from cancer at present in Punjab, as per a recent survey conducted in the state. As many as thirty three thousand three hundred and eighteen deaths have been claimed due to cancer in the past five years in the state.
The data of the survey was revealed by the health minister of Punjab Madan Mittala.
A group of official so the government of Punjab’s department of health including the Health secretary, Vini Mahajan, led by Prakash Badal, met the doctors at the Tata Memorial Centre and emphasized on the requirement of initiating a 6 months training programme for oncology in Punjab.
During a session, Badal stressed on the requirement of improving the research at the state of the art cancer centers if Patiala, Faridkot, Amritsar, Mohali and Bhatinda. He also urged the management of TMC for adopting the hospital of Bhatinda, which is well equipped. Badal demanded that a similar kind of institute for radio therapy should be opened in the state of Patiala.
The Director of TMC told Badal that they set up a state of art hospital for radio therapy with a cost of twenty two crore in Sangrur.†TMC has already started its work on setting up a hospital but the pre requisite permission from the government is still waiting,†Badwe said.
June 14th, 2013
Inundated roads and blocked drainages are continuously haunting the city year by year and the first pre monsoon rain on Thursday’s morning made the people witness some uncanny incidences of the royal city.
Heavy rains that are continuing for hours together are not only exposing the poor preparation of the Municipal Corporation of the city but they are even bringing the inability of the municipal corporation in dealing with the problems of water logging in the city.
The streets which are seen with water logging have totally paralyzed the routines life of people who are experiencing huge inconvenience. The markets, especially the ones which are located inside the city are mostly empty as the shopkeepers as well as traders kept their shops closed owing to the water logging.
Even VIP lanes are facing the same problem. The road which runs in front of the residence of the Deputy Commissioner GK Singh at the Leela Bhawan was seen all flooded and jammed with traffic. The boundary of the house of the DC collapsed because of the heavy rains in the Patiala city.
A survey recently conducted in the city exposed that the problems due to rains were more threatening in the low lying parts of the city where the houses of the people were full of water.
The administration shamelessly pointed fingers at each other rather than solving the water problem.
The Mayor of the city, Amrindar Bajaj blamed the former Chief Minister Capt. Amrandar Singh for the situation.
“The water logging problem is occurring because of the covering of the Storm water channels during the tenure of Capt Amrindar Singh. As the nullah was fully covered, it choked and now it has become difficult to clear it on a daily basis.†Bajaj added.
Bajaj expressed his inability for doing the needful for the people. He said†This problem is so complex that it cannot be fixed in a day’s time. Concrete solution is required which will be figured out in sometime. We have although drained out the water in wee hours.â€
Pertinently, it’s been more than 6 years since Capt. Amrindar’s regime got over, still today the municipal corporation has not been able to come up with a concrete plan for the problem.
As the water inundated the houses, the life came to a complete halt, causing damage to the property.
Kamaljit Kaur, a local resident of Model town, said that the irony of situation is that staffs of sanitation department who are sweeping the roads and streets are shoving the muck in the drain itself which is choking the drains during rains.
“If first showers and that too just the pre monsoon rain have paralyzed the life of the city, what will happen when the monsoon will occur? The management should think of a temporary solution for this problem so that they can give some relief to the residents in the rainy seasonâ€, she said.
Balvinder Kaur, a local resident of the Book market said†Since water has collected up to the knees. It is very difficult to go out of the house. Customers are not able to reach the shops as the whole street along with the markets is flooded.â€
June 14th, 2013
The residents of the city got some relief from the scorching heat as city was covered with thick clouds on Wednesday’s morning. But their relief was short lived as the rainfall was just 6.8 mm, making the city a pool of rain water, and exposing the poor preparation of the Municipal Corporation of the city for the rainy season.
Although, the Municipal Corporation has spent a lot of money in putting down the new sewerage systems and the drainage systems, huge claims and promise of the corporation have fallen down flat with the water clogging everywhere.
The rain water has crept into the houses which are located in the low lying areas and small puddles of water were also seen in many parts of the city. Much before the arrival of the Monsoon, a thin shower of rain has all exposed the corporation’s commitment and seriousness towards ensuring a proper drainage system for the city.
Parmindar Pal. A local resident of Ananda Nagar said†The city has been witnessing the problem of water clogging since ages. Every year, monsoon brings a lot of miseries for the city. We have to take our own preventive measures for protecting our property from damage from the rain waterâ€.
In the low lying areas, the municipal corporation has constructed new roads which are above ground level, which has resulted in rain water entering the houses of the people.
“Heavy showers usually bring garbage in the colonies, flooding the houses with polluted water which leads to an outbreak of a number of diseases,†said Harprit Kaur, a local resident of the Tripari area.
The Meteorological Department has forecasted that for the next 4 days short spells of rain with clouds will be seen. This is bringing a threat to the local residents of the city.
