YEH MERA INDIA

No Reservations for standing

Mumbai: A reporter was in a packed BEST bus when a woman demanded that a man step aside and let her stand in the space `reserved’ for women.

The man did not like her tone but politely replied that only seats and not standing space was reserved. But the woman was in no mood to listen, at which he lost his calm and said, “Kahan likha hai batao? (Show me where it is written)’’

As the argument continued, the conductor was told to be the arbitrator. He ordered both of them to shut up or get off the bus. That was the end of the argument and both of them were quiet during the rest of the journey.

Justice 23 yrs after losing job

New Delhi: Twenty-three years after a railway employee was dismissed from the job for allegedly taking money in exchange for issuing fitness certificates to colleagues, Supreme Court has set aside the removal of the man, now 75-years-old, saying that the penalty had shocked its conscience.

A bench of Justices TS Thakur and Vikramajit Sen, said the man, who had served Railways for 23 years, should be treated as compulsorily retired from service and be given retirement and other benefits if he was entitled to the same, within a time span of three months.

“In the present case, the appellant has served the Respondents (Union of India and Railways) for a period of 23 years and removal from service for the two charges levelled against him shocks our judicial conscience.

Part III of the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968, contains the penalties that can be imposed on a railway servant. “We have already noted that it has not been established that the appellant had… made illegal demands from railway servants desirous of obtaining a fitness certificate.

However, since two of the three charges have been proved, we are of the considered opinion that the imposition of compulsory retirement i.e. Penalty 6 (vii) would have better and more appropriately met, the ends of justice,” the bench said.

The apex court verdict came on the appeals filed by Dr Ishwar Chandra Jayaswal against the orders of Allahabad High Court, which had upheld his dismissal.

Jayaswal was accused of demanding and accepting small sums of money — Rs 18, Rs 26, Rs 34 — from three railways employees for issuing fitness certificates to them.

Of the three, two charges were proved against him by the inquiry officer and the Disciplinary Authority on January 22, 1991 imposed the penalty of his removal from service.

Home Minister unfit

New Delhi : In a scathing attack on Sushilkumar Shinde, former Home Secretary R K Singh said he is not fit to be the Home Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram is “100 times better” than him.

“… He is not fit to be the Home Minister,” Singh told TV channels.

He was replying to a question on whether Shinde should resign for his alleged interference in the transfer and posting in Delhi Police and giving wrong information about the US helping India in bringing back underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Asked whom he considered to be a better Home Minister–P Chidambaram or Shinde–the former Home Secretary, who has recently joined BJP, said the current Finance Minister “is 100 times better” than the current Home Minister. Singh said Shinde has been “misleading the nation on Dawood by giving wrong information”. “The FBI never said that they would help in nabbing Dawood. I was also there in FBI meetings. Why would America help us in a third country,” he asked.

Alive man declared dead at city hospital

Mumbai: A 55-year old alive man was declared dead at Atharva Hospital and Research Centre, Sion. Chandrakant Gangurde, a resident of Dharavi, was hospitalised after he felt uneasiness. When the patient met a neurosurgeon at the hospital for a check-up, he was told that he has a blood clot in the brain. The surgeon soon started the treatment. After his condition deteriorated, he was kept on ventilator by neurosurgeon Dr Atul Chirmade. The following night Dr Chirmade declared him dead and asked relatives to take the body to Sion Hospital. But Gangurde’s son requested to keep the body for the night on ventilator. Meanwhile, all relatives from different places came to Mumbai for his funeral. The news of his death was displayed on various boards in Dharavi. When his children went to the hospital for claiming the body, the next day, they witnessed some movement. When asked, Dr Chirmade said the movement can be witnessed up to 30 minutes after taking the body out of the ventilator. But his respiration was still on and subsequently he was found to be alive and further treatment was continued. 

Lost in Translation

Mumbai: A correspondent of a local daily on his daily beat observed a resident doctor from Kerala unfamiliar with the local language Marathi, trying to interact with his Marathi speaking patient. As the doctor was trying again and again to explain the ailment, the patient was getting more and more confused.

He used every method; sign language, hand movements, pictures for making him understand what he meant and the nature of his ailment. The more he tried the more unsuccessful he became in his attempts.

After observing for a few minutes, this correspondent walked to him to understand the reason of why is he not getting someone for translation. The tense doctor said that his head of department wants him to make the patient understand everything as it is a part of his course.

As much as he tried, the patient was getting more and more disturbed and tense, thinking that he might have contracted a big incurable disease.

Soon, his daughter who must be in her late teens, started crying as she became scared for her father. The man was unwell and was admitted for a month in the hospital due to which his family was almost sure that he has acquired a terrible life threatening disease. The patient’s family became very scared.

The doctor was making every effort for making them understand that his ailment had almost been cured and it was just a matter of a week after which he would be discharged. Seeing the doctor infuriated, the patient’s family became even more scared of calling out for some other doctor and asking for help.

Finally, the head of the department walked to the doctor and told him to get someone else for translation. The family was relieved to know that their patient had recovered. All the members and the doctors started laughing while the doctor from Kerala left the room red-faced.

When First-aid kit couldn’t aid

Mumbai :There was no first aid for burn victims in the Dehradun Express which caught fire near Dahanu on January 8. In fact, insiders say that the first-aid kit of most trains does not even have items listed in the rulebook.

All that Dehradun Express had, was a few bundles of cotton, band-aid, scissors and antiseptic lotion. Doctors say that first-aid kits on trains should have Burnol, an eye-drop, which reduces burning caused by the smoke, an oxygen cylinder and clean water to wash the wounds.

Those in the know say that the rulebook for the first-aid kit in a long distance train has no provision for a burn victim. A burn victim of a train fire will have to wait until a medical van arrives even for first-aid. However, railway officials say maintaining an elaborate first-aid kit is a bother.

The only first aid treatment that a patient on a long distance train can get access to, is a small kit available with the guard. “The rule book for medical help only states that the kit should have an antiseptic liquid such as Dettol, a few bundles of cotton and an antiseptic cream such as Soframycin. There is no provision for the any medicine pertaining to a burn victim,” said Anil Tiwari, a former member of the divisional railway user consultative committee. Vishaka Iyer, who was in coach S-1 of the ill-fated train, said, “We had to wait for over an hour for the medical train to arrive. We were in the middle of a jungle and there was no network.”

Dr Ashok Gupta, a burn specialist with Bombay Hospital, said, “A burn victim should be kept in open air and the wounds should be washed with lots of water. Apart from that an antiseptic cream becomes a necessity for these patients.’’ A senior railway official said, “The maintenance of a first aid kit is not an easy thing. One has to keep track of the expiry date of medicines. What if a victim is given a medicine that has already expired? There are numerous trains that go on a journey of over 24 hours. During the period there are five guards changing duties. It gets difficult keeping a tab on the first-aid kit in these circumstances.”

Rajeev Singhal, a member of the zonal railway users consultative committee, said, “It is a known fact that the first-aid kit with the guards is mostly incomplete. The kit should have a blood pressure machine along with blood sugar testing instrument and pain-killers. However, no such thing is ever present in the kit.”