Punjab State IAS Officers’ Association’s new initiative to promote noble cause of organ donation

By Amrit Pal Brar

Chandigarh, August 26, 2019: Carrying forward its mandate of social responsibility, Punjab State IAS Officers’ Association took another initiative to promote the noble cause of Organ Donation among its members and organized an orientation session in collaboration with Regional Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) PGIMER at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, on Monday.

The session witnessed the participation of top brass of Punjab bureaucracy including Anirudh Tiwari, Tejveer Singh, Gurpreet Sapra, Hussanlal, Amrit Kaur, Rajat Aggarwal, Sibin C, Tanu Kashyap, Deepti Uppal and Girish Dayalan to mention a few, was presided over by Vini Mahajan, President, Punjab State IAS Officers’ Association.

Prof AK Gupta, Medical Superintendent cum Head, Deptt. of Hospital Administration, PGIMER was present on the occasion as the Guest Speaker.

Addressing the delegates at the inaugural ceremony, Mahajan said, “Considering the fact that organ donation is less not because there are no potential donors but because the potential donors do not convert into actual donors due to the lack of knowledge, awareness and socio-cultural views.

The cause calls for an integrated and sustained effort of the government, healthcare professionals, community and non- government organizations to create a culture of voluntary deceased organ donation.”

Mahajan also endorsed the need for top driven initiatives to promote community engagement towards the cause and assured the Association’s full support in giving a boost to the deceased donation programme in the state of Punjab.

Speaking as the Guest Speaker, Prof (Dr) AK Gupta highlighted, “In our country where over 5 lakh people are waiting for organ transplant, awareness about the cause can play a saviour for those suffering from organ failure and living in constant pain.”

Detailing about the key issues and challenges in the implementation of the transplantation programme, Prof. Gupta outlined a roadmap which emphasized the need for developing adequate infrastructure, training and sensitization of ICU/ Emergency staff, registration of hospitals as retrieval/transplantation centres, better reporting of brain death cases and the most importantly, public education about the cause.

Prof Gupta also shared about success story of PGIMER Chandiagrh in the field of deceased donation programme.

Commending Punjab State IAS Officers’ Association for its commitment to promote the cause, Prof. Gupta said, “The personal presence and keen interest by top leadership sends a very positive message and will help us in garnering traction towards this national mandate considering the cascading impact of the session.”

The session also had the august presence of Gandhi family from Chandigarh, who had showcased the magnanimous gesture of donating the organs of their 21-year-old deceased son Parth in 2013, which gave second lease of life to four terminally ill organ failure patients and restored the sight of two more, thereby, impacting six lives in all with the transplantation of heart, liver, kidneys and corneas.

Earlier setting the tone of the Session, Kavita Singh, Executive Member Punjab State IAS Officers’ Association said. “Nothing can be more selfless than truly giving those in need, a ray of hope and more precisely, a second chance to live. So the session was conceived with intent to build up focus on this altruistic cause of organ donation by engaging with top leadership from various departments to help boosting the donation/retrieval/transplantation activity in the State and thereby, help saving precious lives.”

The highlight of the event was the QA session that saw a very high level of engagement and interaction by the participants, who found the session an enriching experience.

The session concluded on a positive note with participants pledging for Organ Donation and filling up of 500 forms by the officers and their organisations.

Villages declared drug free by passing resolutions

By Amrit Pal Brar

Sangrur, August 23:

The anti-drug awareness campaign being run by the Punjab government to make the state drug free has started yielding fruits. Deputy Commissioner Sangrur who has been leading from the front for the implementation of this campaign on the ground level has conducted various seminars and other awareness programmes which has been showing great results.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said that the village panchayats of three villages of Block Bhawanigarh has passed the resolution declaring the villages’ drug free.

He said that the village panchayats of Sangatpura, Retgarh and Rajpura, inspired by the Punjab government’s campaign against drugs, have set a precedent by completely making these villages drug free.

Deputy Commissioner said that in Sangrur district under the leadership of Cabinet Minister Vijayinder Singla and Cabinet Minister Razia Sultana organised several awareness programmes time to time. After these programmes, there has also been an increase in the rate of those who expressed desire to shun drugs forever.

Thori said that all the SDMs have been directed to create awareness about the DAPO, Tandarust Punjab Mission, Buddy and Senior Buddy programs  in the villages in coordination with the DSPs.

Under this mission, people already fell in the well of drugs have also been identified and they are being guided to shun drugs forever so that they can become the part of mainstream society.

Thori said that the administration is continuously coordinating with the police officers and cases are being registered against drug smugglers and they are being sent behind the bars. DC also said that the village panchayats of Bhawanigarh have made a commendable effort by passing the resolution of drug free villages and other villages should also step into the shoes of these villages to set an example.

Deputy Commissioner stated that people who started taking drugs always destroy their future and it is the duty of every citizen of Punjab to support such people and take them out of the drugs well.

Deputy Commissioner said that the village Sangatpura has a population of 1000, 1800 of Retgarh and 1400 of Rajpura and in the last days, awareness rallies and seminars on the ill effects of drugs set a good example.

He said that gram panchayats and people are also being mobilized against drugs and in the coming days, the initiatives of other panchayats will see impressive results.

Administration setup Unified control and Collection centre in Lohian

DC reiterated commitment to bail out people in this hour of crisis

By Amrit Pal Brar

Jania (Jalandhar), August 23-

The Indian Army today started a mammoth exercise to plug the biggest breach on Satluj at village Jania, which was around 500 feet wide in Shahkot Sub Division.

The unit of 267 Engineers Regiment led by Colonel Bharat Bhalla started the exercise in the presence of Lok Sabha MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, MLA Hardev Singh Laddi and Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma

The Jawans of Indian Army along with the volunteers of Baba Balbeer Singh Seechewal and Water Resources department started the exercise to plug in the breach which has resulted in flood in several surrounding villages. For ensuring the smooth and hassle free operation the district administration has pumped in lot of resources.

Divulging the details, the Deputy Commissioner said that in consonance with the firm commitment of the state government led by Chief Minister Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to bail out the residents of marooned villages the district administration had called in the Army to plug in this breach.

He said that required logistics for plugging in the breach like sand bags, boulders and others were being pumped to ensure that the work was completed without any delay.  Sharma said that necessary directions have been passed to the authorities expediting the work on this ambitious project.

The Deputy Commissioner further said that the Additional Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh was the overall incharge of this ambitious campaign to plug in the drive.

He said that the work of plugging in the other breaches at village Gatta Mandi Kassu, Mandiala and others would also be completed very soon. Mr

Sharma said that the district administration would leave no stone unturned to extend a helping hand to people in this hour of crisis.

Administration setup Unified control and Collection centre in Lohian

The district administration has established a Unified control and Collection and dispatch centre in Lohian to collect and dispatch the relief material for the marooned Lohian block. The centre has been set up in a marriage palace in Lohian which is working 24-hours.

Divulging the details, the deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said that with the heavy rush of generous people who have organized Langar and been distributing relief material in unorganized manner, there is huge traffic problem in town due to which the administration has been facing a lot of difficulties in carrying out the material for the plugging operations.

He appealed the people to hand over the relief material in this unified control and Collection and dispatch centre so that these can be provided to the flood-hit people through 21 dedicated boats (each boat allocated to one village).

The deputy commissioner said that SDM-2 Mr Paramvir Singh has been appointed as in-charge of the centre

Sharma said that in the boats, the officials from food and civil supply, health, animal husbandry, medicines, ration, fodder  with the help of SDRF and NDRF was covering the flood-hit villages.

He said that each team was visiting house to house in these villages on boats to extend a helping hand to people and rescue willing person who are ready to leave their houses.

Patiala administration plans massive campaign against Dengue on All Fridays

By Amrit Pal Brar

Patiala, 23 August 2019: The Patiala administration led by Kumar Amit Deputy Comissioner has launched a massive awareness campaign against the Dengue under a well planned program. The campaign has been given an appealing slogan “Iss Shukarvar Dengue te Vaar”.

The campaign has been launched with a series of operations involving various NGOs, Councillors, Sarpanches and other people to achieve a goal .i.e. Saada Patiala banega Dengue Mukt.

Speaking with APS Brar, DC Kumar Amit IAS said “We have chalked out a program in which various sections of the society will be involved to give it a missionery outlook”. The trained ground force NSS Volunteers along with Course Coordinator, All Councillors of MC Patiala and Nagar Councils in district Patiala, Sarpanches in all villages will participate in campaign against Dengue. They will carry out rallies, door-to-door campaign to awaken the masses about dengue- its prevention, consequences, added Kumar Amit.

A working plan has been announced by DC Kumar Amit as under:

1. NSS volunteers and their instructors- to visit the hotspot areas where maximum numbers of dengue cases were reported in past years.
2. Councillors- to visit wards in the areas of Municipal Corporation, all Nagar Councils and carry out door-to-door campaign.
3. School students- to inspect their houses and adjoining 3 houses and check water stagnation
4. Sarpanches- to carry out the awareness drive in their villages- door-to-door campaign, public meeting etc.