With 4 deaths, district tally reaches 60

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 1

Four Covid-19 deaths were reported in the district on Saturday, taking the toll to 60. With 87 fresh cases, the district tally of positive patients also reached 2,414 on Saturday. For the past about one week, the district is averaging 3 to 4 deaths a day, a majority of which happen at private hospitals.

The Mukh Sewadar of Gurdwara Tahli Sahib at Baler Khanpur village, Sant Daya Singh, an environment lover and social worker as well as a Ayurvedic physician who had hundreds of followers, died of Covid-19 last night. He died at the DMC Hospital in Ludhiana. Harjinder Singh, sarpanch Dyalpur village, Jalandhar, said: “It’s a great loss to humanity and society. He had released the poster of a sports tournament which was held at our village in March before the lockdown. The news of his demise is shocking and will leave countless people immensely sad.”

Alleging negligence in the demise of photojournalist Surinder Pal, president, PEMA, who had himself tested positive for Covid a few days ago, said: “There has been grave negligence in the way the case of the photojournalist has been handled. For seven days after his test was taken, no report was given, due to which he couldn’t take admission to a private hospital. He had co-morbidities, so any private hospital he had to go to, asked him for his Covid reports first, which could not be submitted because they hadn’t come yet. The report arrived on Friday night after he died. Due to the problem, he had to remain under treatment at the Civil Hospital. If this is the status of journalists, who will bother for the common man? Journalists are frontline workers. Seriousness is missing at the administration’s level in addressing the case and no one has even spoken to his family in official capacity so far.”

There are 621 active cases in the district. The 87 people who tested positive in the district on Saturday include people from areas such as Urban Estate 2, Bank Colony, GTB Nagar, Palm Royale Apartments, New Jawahar Nagar, Eldeco Green, Rama Mandi, Ghaah Mandi, Sant Nagar and Kartar Enclave among others. Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinder Kaur Chawla could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Baba Daya Singh had breathing problem

Baba Daya Singh, serving as the chief of historical Gurdwara Tahli Sahib at Baler Khanpur village of Kapurthala, succumbed to Covid-19 at Patel Hospital on Friday night. He had breathing trouble and was on ventilator after he was admitted here on July 28. A close associate of environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal, Baba Daya Singh, too, had a huge following. He, too, was known for his work to preserve the ecology, promoting growth of herbal plants and distributing these among the sangat and making ayurvedic concoctions from it to treat ailments. The 70-year-old religious preacher had been serving at the gurdwara for the past nearly five decades. The gurdwara is associated with the sixth Sikh master Guru Hargobind Singh as he had stayed here for some days and kept his horse tied to a Tahli tree at the site, hence, the name of the gurdwara. For the past 13 years, Baba Daya Singh was supervising the work to redesign and reconstruct the gurdwara building, which was now near completion. He used to organise the Parkash Utsav of the sixth guru every year on July 5 here, wherein over 50,000 devotees used to assemble. This time, however, there were no big gurupurb celebrations. Baba Daya Singh was also known for his work to collect and preserve the old manuscripts and granths. He had developed an expertise to preserve their pages and keep these intact.— TNS

13 fresh cases in Hoshiarpur

Of 811 reports received by the district administration on Saturday, 13 returned positive, taking the tally of cases to 564. The number of active cases in the district was 96. Of 13 cases reported on Saturday, six patients were from Garhashankar, three from the city (one each from Hoshiarpur Enclave on Dasuya Road, Dashmesh Nagar and Shivalik Enclave) and one patient each was from the health centre at Bhunga, Hajipur, Mukerian and Paldi. A total of 448 persons have won the battle against the disease while 17 patients have succumbed to the deadly virus. OC

Gurdwara declared micro-containment zone

Kapurthala: As many as 35 persons tested positive in Kapurthala on Saturday. Epidemiologist Dr Rajiv Bhagat said: "Baba Daya Singh was tested positive at a private hospital in Jalandhar about four days ago. After his condition worsened, he was referred to DMC Ludhiana. He was cremated as per the protocol early morning. He had about a 100 close contacts. They have been sampled. Gurdwara Tahli Sahib has also been declared a micro-containment zone keeping the quantum of people in mind who might go there." Those tested positive are residents of Bhadnur, Manav Nagar, Mansa Devi Nagar and Bhagatpura in Phagwara, Rawal Pindi, and areas including Bhagat Singh Street, Shra Wala gate and Domeli among others areas in Kapurthala.

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