Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 12

The period of nationwide lockdown to mitigate the threat of coronavirus will not to count towards conduct of certain departmental proceedings actions like suspension, disciplinary proceedings, review, etc that were otherwise required under All India Service rules to be completed in a time bound manner.

“The intervening period of lockdown shall be excluded while reckoning the periods towards completion of activities within the time limits prescribed for the purpose under ALL India Service / IAS / IPS / IPS Rules and regulations or instructions issued there under,” orders issued by the Department of Personnel and Training state.

In view of the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19 and unprecedented nation-wide lockdown, it may not be feasible to carry out time bound activities or events and adhere to time lines prescribed under various extant rules, the orders add.

Validity period of suspension, including its confirmation, review order of suspension and its communication to the central government by states, submission of written statements of defence, completion and submission of inquiry reports, period of limitation, and disciplinary proceedings initiated against a pensioner fall under the ambit of the order.

Acceptance notice of voluntary retirement scheme, concurrence of vacancy to state governments under All India Service Pay Rules and intimation of movable and immovable property have also been included in the said order.

The central government has also decided that after the lockdown is lifted, a minimum period of 15 days may be granted to completing the required activity or event if the time left to complete any task is less than 15 days.

The orders add that these relaxations are applicable only in such cases where there is an intervening lockdown period and will also not be applicable in cases where, in view of the pandemic, specific relaxation in timelines have been allowed separately.

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 11

Chandigarh’s curfew will continue so long as nation lockdown continues, UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore said on Saturday.

Badnore, who attended the video conferencing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said: “It is heartening to know that Chandigarh has fared well in the first phase of curfew. The curfew in Chandigarh will continue as long as the lockdown in the country continues”.

He directed UT Adviser Manoj Parida to formulate a scheme for utilising the services of idle workers in the second phase of curfew, and said the farmers going for harvesting and marketing of their produces should be facilitated during the curfew.

The Administrator asked the UT’s Education Department to devise a mechanism for 40 book stores of Chandigarh to deliver books to students’ homes during the long curfew period, a press statement from the UT Administration said.

Badnore directed the Adviser to ensure that all students from North-east, Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir are taken care of in the city.

Badnore also launched a new mobile application developed by IT Department of Chandigarh to track quarantine corona patients.

The development comes at a time when state governments through India have asked the central government to extend its lockdown beyond April 14 to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Chandigarh’s coronavirus tally currently stands at 19 infections.

Chandigarh Administration ordered curfew in the union territory on March 23, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown.

Punjab has already announced it was extending curfew restrictions in the state until May 1.

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Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 12

Eleven persons were on Sunday arrested in connection with the horrendous attack on a police party at the vegetable market in Patiala in the morning, in which an ASI’s hand was cut off by a group of Nihangs.

The accused included the five persons involved in the brutal attack on the Punjab Police team posted at the vegetable market in Sanaur early Sunday morning.

They had crashed through a series of barricades and attacked the police personnel who inquired about their curfew passes, said DGP Dinkar Gupta, adding that Baba Balwinder Singh, the Nihang Head, was the main perpetrator of the attack on the police party at the Patiala Sabzi Mandi this morning. He came to the market with four other persons, in a Tata Xenon vehicle.

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The accused, including a woman, were nabbed after the Patiala Police Party led by Jatinder Aulakh IG Patiala Range and Mandeep Sidhu, SSP Patiala, were fired upon from inside the Nihang Dera Complex which also houses Khichdi Sahib Gurdwara. The operation followed several hours of stand-off and many rounds of appeals and negotiations led by Patiala SSP with the Dera Head Baba Balwinder Singh to surrender with their weapons and swords but the Nihangs refused to surrender. One Nihang, Nirbhav Singh, suffered an injury in the incident was taken to Patiala Hospital.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has condemned the attack and warned that anyone violating the curfew, imposed in the state since March 23 to check the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, would be strictly dealt with.

DGP Dinkar Gupta said a huge cache of weapons as wells as hand held weapons, such as ‘barchhe’ and ‘kirpans’, and some used cartridges were seized from the accused, in addition to two petrol bombs and LPG cylinders, five bags of poppy husk mixed with ‘sulpha’, other drugs in commercial quantity and Rs 39 lakh in cash. Some bottles with chemical substances were also found from the premises.

ASI Harjit Singh, whose hand was reportedly cut off with a sword during the attack at the vegetable mandi, is undergoing a plastic surgery at PGI, Chandigarh, for suturing back his hand, where he was rushed after the incident, said the DGP.

Gupta claimed despite repeated announcements from the public address system, the accused refused to surrender and, instead, abused the police and threatened them with serious consequences if they tried to come closer.

The police then persuaded the sarpanch and some villagers to go in and persuade the men to come out but they failed. Soon thereafter, the police party heard loud shouts and noises from inside the gurdwara premises, suggesting that some innocent people and hostages within might have got caught in the trouble, according to the DGP.

A Patiala Police team led by IG Patiala and SSP Patiala along with a team of the Special Operations Group (SOG), led by ADGP Rakesh Chandra, moved into the premises to flush out Nihangs. A few shots were fired by the accused at the police personnel before they were nabbed, said the DGP, adding that entire operation was handled delicately so that the maryada and sanctum sanctorum of the Gurdwara Sahib was not disturbed in any manner.

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Jammu: The Army is reaching out to people by launching a multi-pronged campaign in its fight against coronavirus. It has been undertaking awareness campaigns and educating people during the pandemic. It has also established multiple telephone helplines for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from providing essentials, such as ration, medical aid, masks, soap and sanitiser to the poor and needy, the Army is making announcements on loudspeakers asking people to restrict their movement as part of the lockdown. It is also distributing pamphlets in bilingual language in remote areas, especially among the nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal communities, to provide important information related to Covid. All field hospitals of the Army have been instructed to be ready to set up an isolation facility exclusively for the Covid patients. TNS

Community policing upped in villages

Jammu: While the government is working at its level to tackle the spread of coronavirus in Jammu, people have started to restrict the entry of outsiders in their villages and localities. Community policing is being done to ensure the success of the 21-day lockdown period. People are guarding the entry point to Chatta village on the outskirts of Jammu to ensure that no one enters there without any reason. The sarpanch of Chatta Farm, Avatar Singh, on the outskirts of Jammu has involved village youths to barricade the village entry to check people from entering the place. Whoever moves outside the village for essential works or comes to the village is asked the purpose of his work, and his identity papers are checked. To ensure the regular supply of the essential commodities in the panchayat, people contact youth volunteers constituted by the sarpanch, who are contacted in case of any emergency via phone. OC

SMC carries sterilisation drives

Srinagar: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) conducted prompt sterilisation drives in the Hyderpora and Natipora areas after two cases tested positive for Covid. Officials said a fully equipped team of 50 members took to these areas for conducting fumigation and prescribed chemical spraying around 300-meter radius of these areas. All connecting lanes, bylanes, mohhallas, mosques in Natipora and Hyderpora were sanitised under the supervision of ward officers, sanitary supervisors and inspectors concerned after the news came that two persons had tested positive, which created panic among residents. TNS

Press club flays gag on covid info

Srinagar: The Kashmir Press Club condemned the attempts by authorities to “throttle information on coronavirus” amid the lockdown. The press club said the recent order issued by the Director, Health Services, Kashmir, ordering the doctors and paramedics “not to share information with the media about the ongoing crisis” was nothing but a crude attempt to further stifle the freedom of the press in the region. “Stopping the information flow amid the unprecedented situation is highly condemnable,” the KPC said in a statement. It said putting out information during the pandemic through the media was of vital importance as it helped to stop the flow of unverified information and rumours. TNS

Residents urge L-G to ban polybags

Jammu: Amid the coronavirus pandemic and as the UT is seeing a rise in the number of positive cases, residents have appealed to Lt-Governor GC Murmu to replace polythene bags with paper bags, which are safe and less harmful. Many researches claim that the virus vitality lasts longest on plastic but polythene carry bags continue to be in use and people carry their daily items, including vegetables and groceries, in them. People have also requested the Jammu Municipal Corporation and the UT Pollution Control Board to immediately launch a drive and confiscate the polythene bags from the shopkeepers. TNS

Board exams evaluation suspended

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education has extended the suspension of the evaluation process of the Class X and XII annual exams of the summer zone amid the coronavirus outbreak. Sources said the board had taken the decision in view of the lockdown and advisories issued by the government of Jammu and Kashmir. The exams of Class X, XI and XI, which were postponed till March 31, have now been postponed till further orders. The new dates for the exam will be communicated by the board separately. TNS

Tele-counselling helpline launched

Jammu: In a significant move to guide students, parents and teachers if they have any anxiety or other issues arising out of the Covid situation, the Directorate of School Education, Jammu (DSEJ), has decided to extend special services of its tele-counselling helpline “Aao Baat Karein”. The counselling cell of the school directorarte, which runs the tele-counselling helpline has collaborated with the Brainpreneurs – Child Development Centre (CDC), Jammu, an organisation dedicated to the cause of child mental health. The trained clinical psychologists of Brainpreneurs-CDC will be available for counselling on the helpline number 6006800068 along with their teacher counsellors/counselling psychologists. TNS

IIT-Jammu starts online classes

Jammu: To ensure that there is not much academic loss of students due to the ongoing campus shutdown amid the Covid pandemic, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) -Jammu has started online classes for its students from Thursday thorough learning management system (LMS). For the students attending online classes through the LMS, there are different categories of courses, including computer science, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, humanities and social sciences, chemistry, materials enginering, common courses etc. TNS

Chandigarh, April 7

The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday made it mandatory for people to wear masks in public places to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We have made it mandatory for people in Chandigarh to wear masks or cloth on their face from Wednesday,” the Union Territory of Chandigarh Adviser Manoj Parida said here.

He said anybody flouting the order will be warned by the police. However, the decision regarding levying penalty on violators is yet to be taken, Parida said.

He said Chandigarh will be the first Union Territory (UT) that has made wearing masks mandatory.

The UT of Chandigarh has reported 18 coronavirus cases so far and of them, seven have been cured, Parida said.

Besides, the administration has also decided that the payment of water and electricity charges and payment of house rent, including for rehabilitation colonies, will be deferred, he said.

Chandigarh administrator VP Singh Badnore on Tuesday held a meeting to view the situation here.

Parida informed Badnore that the number of positive cases had come down in Chandigarh to 11 because of curfew measures and observation of social distancing by residents. PTI

handigarh, April 9

An 81-year-old woman, who defeated coronavirus in Punjab, here on Thursday urged people to stay indoors to protect themselves from the infection.

According to a video shared by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Twitter, Kulwant Nirmal of Mohali, a diabetes and hypertension patient, tested positive for coronavirus.

But her will to fight overshadowed everything, and now she is healthy and at home.

She is among the patients in the state who have recovered from the infection. In her video message, she said with folded hands: “Doctors took care of me. Never be afraid of the disease. Follow whatever the government and the doctors are saying.”

“Keep your will power strong. Have courage and do prayers. Waheguru will save you,” the octogenarian said.

Her son Gurminder Singh said he was quarantined in the home along with the other family members when her mother was admitted to a private hospital.

Her mother, a diabetes and hypertension patient for 30 years, was the only coronavirus case in the family, he said.

Harpal Singh, sarpanch of Pathlawa village, as well as seven others from S.B.S. Nagar, tested negative multiple times for COVID-19 and were declared fully cured. Fourteen patients in Punjab have been cured. IANS

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 9

The coronavirus breakout may end Punjab’s wait to get the Clinical Establishment Act as the government is planning to bring an ordinance to end the plunder by private doctors.

The draft of the act has been hanging fire in the state for the past eight years.

According to sources, the state government is planning to bring an ordinance, ‘the Punjab Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation & Transparency) Act, 2019’, in the cabinet meeting slated for Friday.

The Chief Minister has announced that it is not acceptable that the way private doctors have shut down the OPDs. He said they would cancel licences of all the clinics and doctors, who have refused to give services in these testing times. The CM also confirmed in a TV interview that the government would bring in the ordinance regarding the act on Saturday.

Interestingly, with a view to regulating the functioning of private hospitals in the country, the Centre had enacted the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010, which was adopted by several states. But instead of adopting the same act, the then Punjab government decided to draft its own act and in 2012 constituted a Clinical Establishment Act Drafting Committee.

However, thanks to the powerful lobby of the private health care practitioners, the draft was never accepted.

After a series of meetings, the committee headed by Dr Rajesh Kumar, former head, School of Public Health, the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, submitted the draft of the bill to the state government in 2013. The draft had important provisions like every private or government hospital has to display the services it offers and will also mention the fee it charges for all the services. Besides, it was also proposed to make it mandatory for all private hospitals to get themselves registered.

However, the draft was neither cleared by the cabinet nor it was taken to the Assembly. The members of the committee had publicly said that the draft of the move regarding the act was scuttled by the lobby of big corporate hospitals.

After formation of the current government in 2017, the then health Minister Braham Mohindra had also announced to implement the act but he also failed to do anything.

In November last year, the state government once again posted draft of the bill on its website and had asked for feedback.  But once again, the powerful body of private doctors was successful in scuttling the move. Soon after that, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu assured an IMA delegation that all their genuine demands would be incorporated before finalising any decision. But the act could never see the light of day.

 Provisions of the act

* Mandatory for all private hospitals to get themselves registered

* Private or government hospital has to display the services it offers

* Display the fee it charges for all the services

* Every hospital with more than 100 beds to set up Fair Price Medicine Shop and Fair Price Diagnostic Centre

* Free treatment to 20 per cent of Outdoor Patient Department patients and 10 per cent of Indoor Patient Department patients