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Bathinda: Langar stopped at Bikaner cancer hospital

Bathinda: Six years ago, the residents of Koreana village in Bathinda had formed an NGO, Shri Harikrishan Welfare Society, to prepare langar at the Bikaner cancer hospital for the family members of the patients. A few days ago, the district administration had stopped the service much to the chagrin of the villagers.



On Saturday, Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) former MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu along with the NGO officials had met Bikaner MP and Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and urged him to direct the Bikaner administration to allow the langar to be served, as most families travel a long way to get their kin treated for cancer in Bikaner.

As affordable cancer treatment is not available anywhere in the Malwa region and the advanced cancer diagnostic and research centre at Bathinda is facing acute shortage of specialist doctors, a lot of patients from Malwa region visit Acharya Tulsi Dass Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Centre in Bikaner. Apart from Punjab, patients from Haryana and various places in Rajasthan, too, visit Bikaner for treatment and the NGO was serving langar to all.

Sidhu told TOI: “The NGO used to collect ration from Koreana and Talwandi Sabo areas and used to prepare langar at a dharmshala in Bikaner and serve it at the hospital. We had met the minister to urge the administration to allow the serving of langar to those who could not afford to spend on meals. The minister has assured to take up the matter with the administration. We, too, are trying to prevail upon the authorities to allow the NGO to prepare and serve langar to needy persons.”

According to hospital sources, pressure was put on the administration to stop the langar so that local eateries could make profit by catering to families visiting the cancer hospital.

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