Amritsar, July 8
After getting retired in 2004, Paijwant Singh never thought his post-retirement life would not let him have a sigh of relief. For the past four years he has been running from pillar to post to get his pension released.

Paijwant, who retired as chief telegraph master (CTM), has received only a month’s pension that too for May this year. His regular visits to the offices concerned and even intervention of the controller of communication accounts (CCA), Punjab, have not yielded any results.

Telling his tale of woe, Paijwant said, “I visited the pension branch of my department a number of times in the past four years. Every time they ask me to show an authority letter for my genuineness, but I have not even received that letter till date.”

He said, “In May this year I approached Manish Sinha, IP and TAFS, controller of communication accounts, Punjab, who telephonically intervened in my case.” Paijwant was asked to open a pension account, which he did, and handed over his passbook to the dealing hand who gave him PPO number 5195. “I was shocked when I saw my passbook as I had received pension for only May,” he said, urging concerned officials to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, the deputy controller of communication accounts (pension) has passed directions to the GPO, Amritsar, to immediately start pension of Paijwant and has asked the department to cite the reason for non-payment of the benefit.

However, general manager telecom R.K. Dawda was not available for his comments.

Amritsar, July 8
The central government has allotted Rs 1,636.29 lakh for the development of various tourism and heritage sites, besides upkeep of historical places in the holy city which has been declared as one of the most important heritage places in the world.

Revealing this, Congress MLA O.P. Soni said Union minister for cultural affairs Ambika Soni allotted the amount for the works, including preservation and development of Mai Sewa Bazaar, Guru Ka Bazaar (related to Maharaja Ranjit Singh), conservation and revitalisation of Town Hall, besides samadhs, tanks and ancient havelis and for the establishment of a rural art, craft and architectural interpretation centre. Soni said the funds would also be used for the development of transport modes, conservation of historic gates such as Lahori Gate, Hakiman Gate, Hathi Gate, Hall Gate, Khazana Gate, Sultanwind Gate, besides proper management of traffic.

The former mayor said the funds were allocated after a delegation of Congress leaders led by him met Ambika Soni and gave a list of works to be undertaken.

He said the Union minister had earlier provided Rs 6 crore for a light-and-sound system project in Jallianwala Bagh, which had already been set up.

Soni said the state government should invite and honour Ambika Soni for this gesture.

Amritsar, July 8
To commemorate the 16th death anniversary of its founder Bhagat Puran Singh, the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society is going to take up four new welfare projects this year.

Giving details, society president Dr Inderjit Kaur said, “We plan to set up a new complex for the school of deaf. The school would be equipped with the latest electronic audio-visual aids and project is likely to be completed by the end of this year.”

Besides, a special ward for the tuberculosis patients, which is under construction, would also be ready to serve the people by the year-end.

She said the society also proposed to start classes for girl students up to classes XI and XII at Bhagat Puran Singh Adarsh School in the next academic session. “Another project to be undertaken this year is an old-age home which we are hopeful of completing by April, 2009,” she added.

Dr Inderjit said the main focus of the commemoration ceremony this year would be environment and a special discussion on it would be held at Guru Nanak Auditorium on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus on August 6.

She said, “Bhagatji was close to nature and always wanted to have a pollution-free environment. Carrying his vision forward, a major tree plantation drive would be undertaken from July 16 to September 5 in which more than 60,000 saplings would be distributed free of cost.”

Amritsar, July 8
Shiromani Natak-kar award-winner Kewal Dhaliwal, who is the product of the National School of Drama, has been doing yeoman’s service to the theatre in Punjab.

One of the noted Punjabi directors, Dhaliwal entered into the world of theatre in 1978 by joining the team of Gursharan Singh (Bhai Manna Singh) as an actor. After completing advanced studies in this apex institute of India, Dhaliwal jumped into the ocean of Punjabi theatre in the border city of Amritsar.

He showed extraordinary courage, launching his theatre activities from the holy city in 1991 when terrorism was at its peak. He founded a theatre group under the name of Manch-Rangmanch and devoted himself to the Punjabi theatre.

He has directed more than 100 plays so far and has acted in more than 150. Some of the plays, which earned great applause from the audience are “Eh Lahoo Kis Da Hai”, “Tarkalan”, “Jhalli Kithe Jawa”, “Mitti Da Mul”, “Dhamak Nagare Di”, “Chand Charya”, “Gaddar Di Goonj”, “Mawan”, “Luna”, “Kudesan”, “Mahan Bhoj”, “Itihas De Safe Te”, “Birakh Arz Kare”, “Court Marshal”, “Kanak Di Balli”, “Tutde Rishte”, “Khuni Vaisakhi”, “Mahan Pandit”, “Wapsi”, “Lal Batti”, “Balde Tibbe”, “Talaq”, “Sarak Nama”, “Sahihan” and “Vich Adalat De”.

The play “Luna” and “Birakh Arz Kare” are based on the poetry of eminent Punjabi writers Shiv Kumar Batalvi and Surjit Pattar. The audience has repeatedly applauded the performance of the scene in “Itihas De Safe Te” based on the history of “Kama Gata Maru”.

He experimented with the use of chorus in his plays based on Shiv Kumar’s “Luna” to make it one of the finest belles ever performed in Punjabi theatre.

He introduced “Rang Patti”, a theatrical device of Sanskrit theatre, to introduce the characters. He has smartly employed the Parsi theatre techniques in his plays. “We have to deploy different theatrical devices and techniques to play different cultures and situations to make theatre compatible with modern multimedia arts,” he says. At this time there are more than 40 well-trained artistes in Kewal Dhaliwala’s Manch-Rangmanch and a nursery of young artistes which is going to bloom in the near future.

Dedicated to the cause of theatre, he has mastered the art of going deep into the hearts of his audience, be it the urban elite, rural masses or world-class intellectuals.

Dhaliwal has been honoured by the Punjab Government’s languages department as Shiromani Punjabi Natak-kar 1997-98.

He was also awarded with the Manohar Singh Puraskar by the National School of Drama and Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademy. Recently, he bagged 25 awards out of a total 40 given by the Punjabi Academy, New Delhi. He was awarded the Sohan Singh Josh award by the Hashim Shah Memorial Trust. He is also the recipient of Safdar Hashami award and Balraj Sahni Memorial award. He has staged more than 25 plays on the golden period of Sikh history and Sikh Gurus. 

Amritsar, July 8
Patients of diabetes mellitus have now a reason to cheer as Amritsar-based Dr Jaspal Singh Gill has claimed to have found a treatment for the disease.

According to Dr Gill, a traditional Indian medicine called “isabgol” has some important ingredients which are very effective to treat diabetes type-II.

Dr Gill, who has been working as a medical officer at Police Hospital here, would now be presenting his research at the IX World Conference on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics to be held in Quebec City, Canada, from July 27 to August 1. The research paper is titled “Coparative evaluation of isabgol and glipizide on glycemic control and safety in patients with diabetes mellitus”.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Gill said, “A dose of one-and-a-half spoons that is approximately 3 to 5 gm of isabgol in its pure form twice a day can work wonders if the patient sticks to it strictly. One should also keep in mind not to eat or drink an hour before or after taking an ayurvedic medicine.”

Disclosing his findings, Dr Gill said, “I started my research during my postgraduation training at the pharmacology department of Government Medical College, Amritsar, in 2002.”

He said the main objective of the present study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of isabgol as an anti-diabetic agent in Indian patients and to compare its effects with glipizide.

“I conducted a randomised and an open standard control parallel study on 80 patients who were recently diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. The age group of these patients varied from 25 to 65 years,” said Dr Gill, adding that they were divided into two groups of 40 each.

He treated one group with isabgol, while the other was treated with glipizide 5 mg once daily. The treatment was continued for 12 weeks in both the groups and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were monitored regularly.

Dr Gill said at the end of 12 weeks FBG decreased by 23.06 per cent and mean levels reduced by 30.68 per cent in those treated by isabgol.

Amritsar, July 8
The Punjab government, in its bid to encourage a large -scale cultivation of newly-developed PUSA-1121, has strongly recommended to the central government to define this rice variety as basmati.

Punjab State Farmers Commission chairman Dr G.S. Kalkat told The Tribune that the Chief Minister had strongly pleaded with Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to issue notification for this variety to be defined as basmati as the state farming community had taken up the cultivation of this variety in a big way.

He said PUSA-1121 had found a big market in the West Asia and other countries and had managed to replace 40 per cent of Pakistan’s export market.

Dr Kalkat said he had personally been monitoring the case of this variety and hoped that the centre would come out with a notification soon. He said this basmati had a long grain and good taste and had created new markets in Iran and other countries. He said according to estimates in the current paddy season when sowing was in progress, farmers had gone ahead with 1121 cultivation in 30 to 40 per cent of the basmati-growing areas.

Amritsar, July 8
“The walking stick and walker are the things of the past and I think I will be able to run in a few weeks time,” remarked B.N. Kapoor, a New Delhi resident, who has undergone a successful replacement of both knees at the age of 84 years at the Escorts hospital here recently.

Coming all the way from New Delhi to the Fortis Escorts Hospital here, Kapoor’s only hope was Dr Manuj Wadhwa, senior orthopaedic and joint replacement surgeon. In the last two years he was discouraged for surgery at many renowned centres in New Delhi until he heard about Dr Wadhwa, who assured him of getting rid of his crippling condition and gave a go ahead for the surgery.

Dr Wadhwa, who has to his credit the maximum number of joint replacement surgeries in Punjab this year till date, was all smiles to see his oldest patient walk with minimum discomfort. He said the new technique of minimal invasive joint replacement surgery helped reduce the hospital stay considerably anddid not lead to muscle weakness post surgery.

Dr Wadhwa, who has the distinction of performing more than 1,000 knee replacement surgeries, said there are 15 million patients suffering from arthritis and the figure is likely go up four times by 2011. He said it is very important for the people suffering from osteoarthritis to change the life style and take proper medical advice to avoid surgeries at later age.

He said the highest number of people suffering from the disease reside in northern India. The country was getting a lot of NRI patients and even foreigners are visiting medical institutions here for treatment. He favoured a comprehensive policy for encouraging medical tourism in the country and added that the holy city with its close proximity to Pakistan could become a major hub for excellent medical treatment.

Amritsar, July 8
Guru Nanak Dev University would hold counselling for admission to the five-year integrated courses of MBA and MCA on July 14 in Guru Nanak Bhavan Auditorium of the University here.

Test coordinator Dr R.K. Bedi said the counselling for all the reserved categories would commence from 10 am while the general category candidates would appear for counselling at 12.30 pm on July 14.

He said the counselling would be made strictly as per merit list of the entrance test conducted by the university. The letters for counselling to the qualified candidates have already been sent by post.

Amritsar, July 8
The 31-member team of DAV Public School returned after a study tour to NASA. They also had a chance to visit the Disney's Theme Parks. Enthused over their experience, the group said they were fascinated to see NASA's spacecraft and launch site.

They visited the ‘Astronaut Hall of Fame’ besides a theme park devoted to study of marine biology - where the first killer whale ‘Shamu’ was born in captivity 23 years ago - and challenges faced by marine wildlife. They also visited the 'Lunar Theater' and were proud to learn about the exploits of Indian astronauts Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. The group told about their visit to Moon Rock Café besides a trip to the International Space Station Center where real parts of the space station were being prepared for the launch.

Amritsar, July 8
Director airport Arun Talwar inaugurated the ultra-modern aviation lab in BBK DAV College for Women here. Addressing the students, the director apprised the students of scope in the aviation industry, adding that there were ample job opportunities available in the sector.

Dr Neelam Kamra, principal of the college, Neelam Prabha, coordinator of aviation course, Smriti of aviation department and Neha Bhatia of tourism department were also present on the occasion.

Dr Kamra said the college has three aviation courses, including PG diploma in air travel services, diploma in air hostess training program and an add-on course in aviation hospitality and catering, besides tourism and travel management as one of the vocational subject at graduation level. The fully air-conditioned lab is equipped with a public address system. 

Amritsar, July 8
With an aim to give a platform to the contemporary artistes, the Indian Gallery of Fine Arts was founded by Master Gurdit Singh and Sardar Dharam Singh.

The academy has been playing an important role in promoting different forms of arts like paintings, photography, craft, etc. since its inception.

It offers infrastructural facilities like halls and galleries for sales and exhibitions to nurture young talent. Besides, free board and lodging facilities and honours like the S.G. Thakur Singh Memorial award and the Dharam Singh Engineer Memorial award are also given to the deserving artistes.

The academy’s “Amrit Kala Kumbh”, an all-India senior artiste workshop in 2004 was a hit among those in the art field. The workshop witnessed participation of more than 100 candidates from all over the country. The works of various artistes during the workshop were later donated to the academy.

The gallery now houses a collection of many Indian paintings, sculptures, graphics and photographs, reflecting abstract and realistic paintings.