Amritsar, August 26
Anubhav Mahajan (21), a final-year student of B.Com at DAV College, was critically injured in a road accident here on Monday morning while on his way to college.

The accident took place when a private bus, reportedly belonging to Sahni Transport, coming from the wrong side hit him when he was near the youth hostel close to Mall Mandi on the GT Road.

Incidentally, it was the conductor of the bus who was driving it, alleged Ashok Mahajan, father of the victim, in his complaint lodged with the police today.

Giving the details of the accident, he said Anubhav suffered serious head injury and had been admitted to the local private hospital where he was in a critical state.

The police has impounded the bus. The conductor, who was driving the bus at the time of the accident fled. The police is yet to register a case in the matter.

Amritsar, August 26
It’s a unique endeavour aimed at addressing two serious issues plaguing Punjab. To raise awareness on environment and female foeticide, the state government and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have collaborated with a corporate house for a novel project ‘Nanhi Chhaan’, wherein saplings would be gifted to women devotees visiting the Golden Temple.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal would launch the scheme from the ‘Galliara’ around the Golden Temple by distributing ‘buta prasad’ amongst female devotees tomorrow.

The initiative is said to be the brainchild of Harpal Singh, chairman of Impact Projects Pvt Ltd, which is involved in the project.

According to him saplings of plants and trees mentioned in the “Bani” such as ‘Neem’ and ‘Ber’ would be given along with others species, beneficial for the environment.

The project recognizes the strong parallel in the bonds between the mother and the child on the one hand and trees and the Earth on the other.

So these two ideas are brought together and saplings could be acquired from Harmandir Sahib or from any other gurdwara in control of SGPC.

These little trees will be planted at home either by a bride who comes into her new house or by the mother who gives birth to a girl child or by her daughters.

This would add a new dimension to the concept of sewa, a cornerstone of the Sikh faith, by involving the community in protection of the girl child and the environment.

Amritsar, August 26
Despite a vociferous protest and agitation by various NGOs and environmentalists, the Punjab government, through PUDA, today went ahead with the auction of 5.54 acres of prime land dotted with hundreds of century-old trees in the Vidhya Sagar Institute of Mental Health.

Some of the trees like kikkar, bohar, peepal, ber, neem, amaltaas and sheesham had been here for centuries and the environmental groups, led by Mission Aagaaz, Tarksheel Society and the Pollution Control Committee, had been spearheading a campaign to save the trees which constituted an important part of the green cover which protected the holy city.

BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, who launched a unique “go green, go clean” campaign, funded from his own pocket, had also voiced serious concern over the auction of this prime green area.

He had viewed that the government must put a rider to the successful bidder for this prime commercial plot to save and protect the trees.

He said the builders should make a building plan to maintain the area so that it would set an example for others to follow.

He said he would take up the initiative to add hundreds of more trees to maintain the ecosystem and environment for which he had mortgaged his personal savings.

Environmental group spokesman Deepak Babbar said the entire complex had more than 540 trees of historic origin which had been there for centuries on this land where thousands of mentally imbalanced patients were treated by the late saint doctor Vidhya Sagar.

Amritsar, August 26
Moving ahead with its “Save the environment” campaign, the district administration has decided to make the city congress grass-free by 2009.

This was revealed by deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu on Sunday. He said a special workforce of around 4,000 people had been deployed to uproot the weed from various areas, including roadsides of the Tarn Taran road, Batala road, Sultanwind road, Chabal road, Chheharta road and Mirankot road.

Besides, similar exercises had been going on in government institutions like medical college and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, he added.

Pannu said he had instructed Amritsar Improvement Trust officials to initiate steps for removal of the weed from the areas falling under it.

Giving details about the campaign, the DC said the administration had launched the campaign in the rainy season because it was the best time for uprooting the weed.

He said spraying would be done in March next year and the exercise would be repeated in August to check the growth of the weed.

Moreover, the district administration had written to the Punjab government to
include congress grass in the “Obnoxious Weed Act” so that a strict check
could be imposed.

Amritsar, August 26
The Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) has offered its highly post-doctoral fellowship to Dr Navdeep Singh Sodhi, reader in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU).

The fellowship is given by the JSPS to young foreign researchers to pursue advance research in Japanese universities/institutes. Dr Sodhi will be conducting advance research at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation of Japan for a period of two years.

Earlier, Dr Sodhi was honoured at the national level with the “INSA medal for young scientist-2007” by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi.

Interested candidates should bring all the original certificates, along with admission fee of Rs 21,000, on the day of counselling.