Amritsar, July 4
The municipal corporation’s claim of making the holy city clean and green seems to have busted as most of the public parks under the civic body give a barren look.

Despite a lot of hue and cry by residents, these parks appear to be deserted, telling the story of neglect on behalf of the MC.

Interestingly, the corporation, which is responsible for managing the entire city, has not been able to employ a full-time landscape officer. Dr J.S. Bilga, a senior landscape officer, who has the charge of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, continues to shuttle among the three cities getting hardly any time to concentrate on any one city.

Every colony, especially in the Civil Line area, has large vacant tracts for setting up parks so that residents could have an easy access to clean air. But it seems as if the MC is least bothered to facilitate residents with it.

According to an estimate, there are more than 350 gardens in Amritsar and 223 out of them are under the MC, while the rest are with mohalla sudhar committees. Even these committees rue that they are finding it tough to arrange funds as they get only Rs 1,000 for the upkeep of parks from the MC.

Katra Moti Ram Welfare Society secretary Baljit Singh said, “The MC can only give assurances and nothing more. Our society gets a paltry sum of Rs 1,000 for maintenance while the expenditure is almost double.”

Regarding the Rs 5-crore grant given by the Punjab government to augment green cover here, residents and NGOs feel the MC should prepare a blueprint considering their suggestions.

Their proffer includes green areas should be handed over to functional and efficient resident welfare associations and various government agencies can offer financial help to these organisations.

Meanwhile, MC commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda said the sanctioned amount of Rs 5 crore would be spent on the maintenance of various parks and 
gardens and plans were being prepared in this regard. 

Amritsar, July 4
The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) debated on a charter for tourism growth in Punjab on Thursday.

Addressing mediapersons, CII Punjab vice-chairman Gunbir Singh said the UNWTO team led by Richard Batchelor 
discussed the Punjab Tourism Development master plan that would trigger economic boom in the state.

The proposal is to draft a 15-year plan which would be reviewed every five years.

Gunbir Singh said participants shared their views about the major constraints hampering expansion of the tourism and hospital industries and made recommendations for improving them.

Urging the team to focus on improving infrastructure at tourist destinations, he said discussion sessions provided an excellent opportunity for developing a fine blend of travel, hospitality and service.

Amritsar, July 4
Col Amrik Singh (retd) took the charge of the district BJP president in the presence of senior party leaders here on Friday.

Col Singh is the personal choice of Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP, who has been declared as party candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

Col Singh was district president when Sidhu had won the election from this constituency with a big margin.

Though a number of party leaders had opposed the nomination of Col Singh, almost all the senior leaders of the party were present on this occasion.

Earlier, former state BJP president Balramji Dass Tandon, who belongs to Amritsar, had described the appointment of Col Singh as district president as “most unfortunate development”. Tandon had threatened that he would take up the matter with the national leadership to change its decision in the larger interest of the party.

Amritsar, July 4
Even as the restoration work of the historic Ram Bagh gate, connected with legendary king, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, has commenced, but the shops alongside the wall of the gate have put a question mark on the seriousness of the civic and district administration about the project.

Various conservationists and heritage lovers expressing serious concern over this have opined that these shopkeepers need to be rehabilitated and the area around the wall be made encroachment-free for the proper face lifting of the momentous structure.

They criticised the administration for its half-hearted approach towards the project of prime significance.

Even the conservation experts, who have undertaken the project to restore the original gate, which was the traditional route of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the Golden Temple from his summer palace Ram Bagh gardens, have shown their concern.

They feel that some of the shops and kiosks need to be demolished or shifted for its complete restoration. The entire route through which the Maharaja visited Darbar Sahib would regain its old glory as the experts have already drawn out a blue print and have earmarked the material to be used to conserve the old structure made of mud and lime.

The wall of the Ram Bagh gate is allegedly encroached upon by shopkeepers, including a wine shop, a meat shop, a three-storeyed dairy, etc. Interestingly, much to the disappointment of heritage lovers, a public toilet also finds a place on the face of the historic gate. However, this is now being demolished.

Brij Bedi, president, Citizens Forums, and a heritage lover, said it would be a better tribute to the legendary king by preserving and saving the last of the 12 gates built by him.

The gate encloses about 5,000 sq yards of land in it, while the three-fourth of the gate has already become a rubble. Bedi said the government should rebuild the gate in the 
same style and architecture devoid of all encroachments.

He viewed that a museum, theatre and a cafe area should be established to apprise the tourists of the rich culture, heritage and history of the legendary king and his kingdom. Bedi, who had formed the Save Ram Bagh Gate Foundation about four years back for the preservation of the gate, said if properly preserved it would become a tourist attraction of the city.

Meanwhile, MC commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda said the department of tourism and culture in collaboration with district administration has been entrusted with the work of restoration and preservation of all historic and heritage buildings, including the gates. He said the preservation of all heritage buildings were their prime duty and all encroachments would be removed for this purpose and shops would be shifted.

The project in charge said the Ram Bagh gate would house a tourists and visitors facilitating centre helping the pilgrims and others in guiding them to visit different historical sites in and around the Golden Temple. The centre would also help people find a suitable accommodation and plan their visit to the city and places of the interest.

Amritsar, July 4
The Confederation of Indian Industries and the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-India held a meeting on Friday and called upon the Punjabis to join hands to clean and conserve the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers. The meeting was presided over by WWF chairperson Gunbir Singh.

Participants said such an effort would help in preserving the river system and wetlands in Punjab. The meeting was addressed by divisional forest officer Basanta Raj Kumar, Sandeep Behera of WWF-India and Dr Anish Dua.

The delegates said the wetlands in these river system, especially at Harike, proved to be a niche for birds from all over the world.

In fact, presence of dolphins, which were sighted a few months ago at the confluence, proved that the site had the potential to be developed into an international tourist destination.

Senior coordinator of River Watch, WWF-India, Sandeep Behera said the rivers were habitats for aquatic fauna and it was very essential to save them. “Dolphins were first sighted in 1783 by a British national in Harike and last seen in December last year. This proved that the place had the potential to protect aquatic species. Besides, there was an urgent need to bring dolphin under the Wild Life Protection Act and the WWF was ready to support the cause,” he added.

Dr Anish Dua from the department of zoology of Guru Nanak Dev University said the university had been carrying out an extensive survey at Harike and other rivers like the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej to keep a check on their health.

DFO (Ferozepore range) Basanta Raj Kumar said he had already sent a proposal to the state ministry for forest and environment to include dolphin under the Wild Life Protection Act, which had to forward to the central government.

He said dolphins were also reported on the same river system in Pakistan and the government there was planning to declare it as a world heritage site. The same approach should be adopted by India also, he added.

Amritsar, July 4
The Mission Aagaaz has decided to replace the dried-up saplings planted under the “Go Green, Go Clean” campaign with new ones.

The much-hyped campaign was launched by the district administration to increase the green cover in the city by planting shade-giving and decorative plants, enclosed in iron guards. However, these plants dried up at many places like Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar-Attari Road and Civil Line areas.

Deepak Babbar, a senior member of the Mission Aagaaz, said the organisation had grown many plants in its own nursery. He said this time the nursery had distributed about 500 saplings, which were planted at various places. He said more saplings would now be prepared by them to plant them in place of dried-up plants.

He urged the city residents to inform them about the areas where these plants have dried up and they would replace them.

Meanwhile, the Mission Aagaaz held a meeting with the Pollution Control Committee and Amritsar Consumer Welfare Forum today and discussed various environmental issues and distributed the plants.

Mission Aagaaz members who were present during the meeting included K.S. Takkar, Dr Harjit Singh, Harinder Mohan Singh and Rattna Babbar.

The member also expressed concern over the spread of congress grass in the city, which is causing various respiratory diseases.

Amritsar, July 4
The Amritsar Medical and Dental Alumni Association of North America (AMDAANA) has donated an ultra-modern ultrasound machine to the radiology department of the government medical college (GMC), Amritsar.

Dr Satwant Singh, chairman, Amritsar Task Force, AMDAANA said the machine, purchased at the cost of over Rs 8 lakh, would fulfill the long-term need of the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and allied hospitals attached to the college. The installation of the new machine is going to improve the patient care, teaching and research work in the department. The machine was formally dedicated to the hospital by principal Dr Jagdish Gargi today.

Dr Singh said AMDAANA has been set up by more than 300 medical and dental graduates who are working in prestigious universities and hospitals of North America. He said AMDAANA Amritsar project was launched with a primary goal of enhancing the education and patient care at these institutions. Till June 2007, the association has spent over Rs 69 lakh on various projects, said the chairman.

“The association has so far equipped 21 departments of the college with computers, printers and scanners and plans to start student and faculty exchange program,” the doctor further added. — TNS

Amritsar, July 4
Gurbinder Singh of Guru Teg Bahadur Government College, Sathiala, was declared best camper, while Gurpal Singh Sandhu of Khalsa ColIege, Amritsar was adjudged second best camper in the Guru Nanak Dev University’s hiking and trekking camp which concluded at Dalhousie on Thursday evening.

MLU DAV College, Phagwara was declared the best disciplined team in the camp in which students from 12 different colleges affiliated to the university participated.

Baljit Singh Sekhon, director of youth welfare, said the students during this camp trekked 10-12 kms daily to different places, including Kalatop, Punchpulla, Dian Kund, Dalhousie and Khajjar. In addition to trekking, an academic session of three-hour duration was organised daily. Various events like poem recitation, declamation, folk songs & ghazals, dance, histrionics and mimicry were also held.

Dr SS Chahal, director research of the university presided over the valedictory function and gave away the prizes to the winners.

Amritsar, July 4
The Global Institute of Managesment and Emerging Technologies (GIMET) is the first college in Punjab to launch a scheme for starting professional courses for the matriculation pass students.

Stating this to the media here on Friday, GIMET vice-chairman Dr Akashdeep Singh said the institution would act as an umbrella which would offer courses in management and engineering. He said that theirs was the only institution in the state which would be providing MBA courses to the students who would be selected through counselling to be conducted by Punjab Technical University on July 13.

Dr Singh said they would soon start dual degree courses and would try to establish collaboration with foreign educational institutions under the student exchange programmes.

He said they would in future also start research-oriented courses to give boost to the educational scenario in the region which had lagged in the field of research.

The vice-chairman said that, besides a two-year MBA course, they were also staring various courses in the engineering stream which included computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering, information technology and mechanical engineering.