|
|
|
|
Fearing EC action, admn carries out hoarding-removal task Residents’ term for casting votes Poll: Dry days announced |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Charmer Navjot resorts to direct measures this time Youth Akali Dal leader joins Cong NYKS motivating
the voters Amritsar Games Association
Govt Apathy
Fall In Wheat Production
Green gain loss The burnt trees, which were planted under the “Go Green, Go Clean” campaign, outside Guru Nanak Dev University in
Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar Amit Lall, a Mumbai resident on a ‘Peace
and unity’ mission, in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar Neurotherapy treatment camp: 150 kids examined
When medicinal brilliance couples up with linguistic genius Poor Pay Packages
Hired car snatched at gunpoint, five booked
|
|
Fearing EC action, admn carries out hoarding-removal task Amritsar, May 5 Fearing action by the Election Commission, the authorities today took action and removed hoardings put up in government buildings, poles and trees. However, the hoardings erected on private buildings and unipoles were saved from axe, as the Election Commission could not take action against
private players. It is pertinent to mention here that the city is defaced with huge billboards and huge advertising boards installed by private companies vandalising the holy city has drawn the ire of environmentalist who had been crying on top of their voice to stop this menace. Meanwhile, as many as 14 cases of violations of model code of conduct has been registered by Amritsar rural police district on a single day in view of parliament elections in the state. Amritsar rural police registered the cases against the unidentified workers of three major parties including the Congress, BJP and BSP for vandalising electricity and telephone poles besides government institutions by putting up flags. |
|
Residents’ term for casting votes Amritsar, May 5 Stating this to The Tribune here today, residents said the politicians had failed to take note of the foul smell emanating from the area due to sewage flowing in the nullah which had affected the lives of thousands of residents of Guru Nanak Avenue, Akash Avenue, Avtar Avenue and Medical Enclave. He said this had resulted in the spread of various diseases like viral, malaria, besides changing of genes of the residents as the contaminated water has seeped into the earth and mixed with the underground water. They said the residents would hold a protest rally on May 6 at the nullah near Medical Enclave. They said that in the previous assembly elections held in 2007 leaders of political parties had promised to cover the nullah but after coming to power they never turned up to solve the problems of about 50,000 people living in the area. They said if the politicians failed to remove their grievances they would abstain from voting
on May 13. |
|
Poll: Dry days announced
Amritsar, May 5 |
|
Charmer Navjot resorts to direct measures this time Amritsar, May 5 Sidhu known for his Sidhuism and charming the people with interesting anecdotes which had won him previous two elections to the Lok
Sabha, has now adopted more direct approach and was addressing smaller gatherings of people by talking about his singular contribution by bringing in various development projects to revamp the infrastructure and civic amenities in the holy city. He addresses more than a dozen rallies in the city as well as rural areas traversing the constituency for garnering votes during his hectic campaigning for about 16 hours a day. His main poll plank during highly intense electioneering is to attack the Congress-led UPA for failing to bring in several projects announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to the city in 2004. He said that the then congress government in the state had failed to implement the projects of the prime minister which shows that the central government was not sincere to develop the holy city. Adopting a novel and establishing a personal rapport with the small group of industrialists and businessmen, Sidhu has been visiting the residences of many traders in various assembly segments to woo them with his charm and direct interaction to seek their votes. He has been promising to come out with proactive industrial policy to revive the sick industry in the border belt in his bid to bring about general economic prosperity which had been the bane of the holy city for the last many decades. This approach have managed to win over many fence sitters in the business community who had promised to reciprocate his gesture, It may be mentioned here that various representatives of industrial associations have pointed out that instead of
SAD-BJP being in power for more than two years have failed to pronounce new industrial policy in the state which has already made the traders party BJP on the back foot. Talking about his future vision for the city, Sidhu said he would initiate steps to open visa centre here to facilitate the people especially the Sikh pilgrims and business to have easy access to visit Pakistan and neighboring counties. He said that his main emphasis would be for the extending of freight corridor from Ludhiana to Amritsar within 3 months and making the city as the main tourist destination in view of thousands of tourists and devotees visiting the city to pay obeisance at Golden Temple. He said for him it was a mission and not profession for him in politics and was to serve the people and not to hanker for any ministerial berth. However, there is a remarkable drop in decency level at the nukkad rallies wherein
Sidhu, who is otherwise articulate and eloquent, has lost his cool by using nasty using unparliamentary language while criticising the Congress. His image as a star campaigner for the BJP has somewhat been bruised as Sidhu has been single-handedly managing his poll campaign here. |
|
|
Youth Akali Dal leader joins Cong
Amritsar, May 5 Capt Amarinder Singh welcomed Gurmohan Singh and his supporters with siropas at a rally held here
recently. Gurmohan said he was greatly inspired by the ideology and policies of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and decided to join the Congress. He said he was proud of Dr Manmohan Singh who had announced various mega projects for this border region, including the Special Economic Zone. He assured the party that he along with his supporters would work for the victory of the party nominee who was also a local candidate.
— TNS |
|
|
NYKS motivating
the voters Amritsar, May 5 Stating this, Amardeep Singh Cheema, national vice-chairman of the sangathan, said under this programme the NYKS designed handbills and stickers in Hindi, English and regional languages of the country and is organising a series of activities, seminars, rallies, nukkad nataks, skits and cultural programmes throughout the country. Cheema, who was on the visit to the holy city, said the NYKS was committed to generate awareness among the youth for their development and nation building at large. He said with the right to vote at the age of 18, almost one-third of the Indian voters come under the youth age group and lakhs were added to the electoral lists every time. He said roughly about 12 crore newly-added voters, after the 2004 general election, needed to be educated and motivated to exercise their franchise.
|
|
|
Amritsar Games Association
Amritsar, May 5 The court has declared the new committee as illegal and null and void with a direction to hold the elections as early as possible so that the duly elected representative body is in place to run the affairs of the old association administering the cricket in the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Bhagwant Singh, who is also the ex-officio president of the games body, while confirming the court order, said he was yet to study the directions as at present the entire administration was engaged in the election process. He, however, added that the order would be studied in depth and appropriate action would be taken after the completion of the parliamentary electoral process. Meanwhile, the ousted honorary secretary, Mohit Khanna, who had been reinstated according to the court order, said the old managing committee had taken the charge on the basis of the verdict and said the election process would be initiated as per the directions of the court. The former president and Deputy Commissioner, Kahan Singh Pannu, had dissolved the previous governing body and had last year appointed former India captain and a local cricketing hero Bishan Singh Bedi as the administrator with a core committee to run the affairs of the one of the oldest cricket associations in the country. |
|
Govt Apathy
Amritsar, May 5 Only six to seven artisans in Gali Fakir Khana, situated at the back of Mai Sewa Bazaar, could be seen carving out various items on copper, silver and gold. The railing at Mata Vaishno Devi, Lion of Goddess Vaishno, Nishan Sahibs, and special open boxes for placing them around sacred flames at various historical temples, including Chintpurani, Naina Devi and Jwala Ji in Himachal Pradesh, are the products of their work. They also have got specialisation in making huge sliver and copper doors with different designs and they make these with their hands without using any machinery. Dharampal (75), one of the oldest artisans, claimed that his shop, which was established by his ancestor Bawa Dayal Chand, was as old as the Golden Temple as they prepared railings for the shrine besides designing the copper gates and domes. He said he had learnt the art from his grandfather Charcha Mal and the seventh generation of the family was associated with this profession. He rued that his grandsons did not want to adopt this profession as it involved hard work and a lot of concentration and were in search of other professions to make quick money. His son Parveen, who helps his father in making various artifacts, said this was not just a business for him and considered it a family heritage. Detailing about the process involved, he said they first arranged a large sheet of copper and then cut it according to the size of the item and after making a rough shape of the model gave final shape to the product. Parveen said after Delhi and Agra, Amritsar was the only city where this profession existed. He said till then they had made hoda (seat on elephant), chairs, and models of Jain temple besides making the special seat for a serial titled “Maharaja Ranjit Singh”, produced by Raj Babbar. He said there was great demand for the products in London and Germany and they have been exporting these for the past 12 years. He said presently he was busy in preparing the idol of Mata Lal Devi and other decorative items for the Vaishno Devi temple in Rani Ka Bagh. He said all families who had been associated with this profession were considering to adopt modern techniques to create interest in the younger generation. But this could be achieved only if the government supported them financially to purchase the latest machinery and other tools. He said this would also save their precious time on producing an item which generally took many days. |
|
Fall In Wheat Production
Amritsar, May 5 Sangathan vice-chairman Amardeep Singh Cheema, in a communiqué to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said unprecedented rise in temperature during the grain-filling period and untimely rain during harvesting had resulted in an unexpected fall in the wheat production. He added that no where in the world had a margin of more than 7 per cent been recorded with respect to agriculture’s contribution to the GDP at large, while here agriculture was the major contributor to the GDP and had resulted in production losses of more than 10 per cent which made it all the more important for this issue to be addressed immediately. Cheema said to make agriculture a more viable option in the future, agriculture insurance needed to be extended to the whole country and agriculture-based public sector units and cooperatives should be assigned the job to act as active insurance companies for the benefit of agriculture economy. He said the government should also take urgent steps for the development of heat tolerant, disease resistant and hybrid seeds for wheat to take the yield potential beyond 6 tonnes per hectare. |
|
Green gain loss Amritsar, May 5 The intensity of the fire increased due to the winds and dry leaves collected which not only destroyed the green grass but also burned the stems and roots of the trees grown up to six or seven feet. Almost 80 per cent trees planted under the “Go Green, Go Clean” campaign launched by BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu vanished. However, there seems to be no caretaker for looking after these green patches. There was resentment among the nearby shopkeepers, especially the rickshaw-pullers, who used to take rest under the shadows of these trees during the sweltering heat. Brij Bedi, a social activist, said a strict action should be taken against the guilty. He said the university authorities should also look into this deplorable act as it was the moral responsibility of everyone concerned to save the green environs of the city. Municipal Corporation Commissioner D.P.S Kharbanda said the university authorities were maintaining the green stretch outside the university complex with the assistance of the MC. Dr Raghubir Singh, Dean, Academic Affairs, who has also taken additional charge of Registrar, when contacted, said he would look into the matter. He, however, added that he would ask the officials concerned to clean the area and plant new saplings, besides maintaining the whole stretch. The residents living near the area said the security guards at main gates of the university should have taken note of this fire and inform the authorities concerned or the fire brigade to douse the fire. |
|
Mumbaikar on peace mission Amritsar, May 5 A garment merchant, Lall launched his expedition after 26/11 terrorist attack in the financial capital of India. He resides a few metres away from the Taj and Oberai Hotels where the terrorist had struck and killed more than 180 innocent persons. Expressing his dismay, he said though a lot of campaigns had been launched to awaken the public and political leaders after the terror attack, the percentage of voters who had polled during parliamentary elections had disheartened many. However, he added that educated people were debarred from voting due to alleged discrepancies in the voters’ lists. He advocated that the voters should have the right to reject candidates, besides fixing a retirement age for politicians in order to give a chance to the young generation. Talking to media here today, he said there was a need to launch a second freedom movement, to get freedom from corruption, injustice, poverty and terrorism. He said everybody should be united to accomplish the cause as politicians had failed on all fronts. Lall launched United Force of India (UFI) to bring all the NGOs, student unions and everyone of all the 28 states on a common platform to help one another to uplift society and get rid of casteism, regionalism and religious differences. He said he would try to bring all the major business groups to join hands for setting small-scale industries in various parts of the country to
generate employment and eliminate poverty. During his mission, he visited various parts of the country, including north-eastern side, South India and Jammu and Kashmir. |
|
Neurotherapy treatment camp: 150 kids examined Amritsar, May 5 Neurologist Prabhjeet Singh addressed the gathering and informed as to how to take care of children suffering from fits. He also told them about the precautions to be taken during the fits. A debate on cerebral palsy was also organised in the camp in which Dr Hardev Singh, Dr S.K. Khetarpal and Dr Navneet Grewal expressed their views about the disease and how to effectively meet the challenge of children suffering from the disease. Brij Mohan Kakkar of Sam Saran Dass Kishori Lal donated a check of Rs 10,000 to the GICD, besides promising to adopt the poor children who were being given specialised treatment at the centre. More than 150 children, who were examined during the camp, were also given chocolates by the organisers. Speaking on the occasion GICD chairman Arun Khanna informed about the treatment being given to the children suffering from cerebral palsy free of cost. He said that the centre would make every effort to rid the children of the disease and to enable them to lead a normal life like their counterparts. He said that the centre which was established about 4 years ago was the first of its kind in northern India. |
|
When medicinal brilliance couples up with linguistic genius Amritsar, May 5 He is perhaps the only government doctor (Medical College, Amritsar) who also boasts of a master’s degree in Punjabi literature and Sociology. He has also done his MSc in applied psychology. He had earlier done his MBBS (1978) and then MD (community medicine). Born on April 30, 1954, at Abohar (Ferozepur), Dr Deepti has made Amritsar his second home. Father of Ritu (daughter) and Prayas (son), Dr Deepti said he is inspired by his wife Usha Rani to work relentlessly for literature. Interestingly, Dr Deepti did his housemanship in gynaecology and psychiatry in 1980. Then he did rural service at Biroke Kalan, Mansa district in 1981-83. He was assigned the duty of Registrar at Government Medical College,
Patiala, in 1984-87. At present, he is working as Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Amritsar. As many as 35 original books, 37 edited and five translated from English or Hindi to Punjabi are to his credit. His love for short stories has earned him a distinctive name in the field of literature. His booklets relating to health - Sugar Rog Naal Sehatmand Zindagi, Blood Pressure Noon Kaabu Heth Rakho, Cholestrol Ate Dil Diyan Bimarian, Motapa Kiven Ghat Kariye - are always in demand. He has authored two (health and environment) books for children, Pita Putri Samvad - Sehat De Pehlu and Jiun Joga Chogirda. He has edited many magazines, including Hond (Punjabi) and Astitav (Hindi) - 1985-1987, Chintak from 2000 to 2005, Sehat Sankalp (2005-2006), Minni (quartely magazine of mini stories) from 1988 and 83rd issue is in publication, Social Medicine (English journal), from 2006 till date. He held many positions from time to time including his stint as president of the Minni Kahani Lekhak Manch, Society for Action & Awareness through Health Information. He has also served as vice president of Majha Sahit & Sabhiyacharak Manch, vice president (twice) Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, member executive body (Twice) Punjabi Sahit Academy (Ludhiana), district co-ordinator, District Drug De-addiction Committee, general secretary, Indian Associate of Preventive & Social Medicine. The Languages Deptt (Pb.) adjudged his book Sirf Ek Din as the Best Poetry
Book in 1986. |
|
Poor Pay Packages
Amritsar, May 5 Govindarajulu, who was here to address the fourth working committee meeting of the AIUBOF, said a national-level meeting of the various banking federations would be held on May 11 to chalk out the strategy to pressurise the management of various banks for initiating steps for making better salary packages for its employees. He lashed out at the management for not filling the vacant posts. Giving the performance of the banks, he said the growth rate of the banks was around 35 per cent and would soon open more than 50 branches outside the country. He said those who had left the public sector banks for greener pastures due to the recent economic slowdown, had risked their jobs. However, he added that there was no effect of the economic recession on the public sector banks and there was no fear of any retrenchment. Among others, vice-presidents P.B. Thomas and A.P. Singh, general secretary P.K. Sarkar and officer federation director Debasis Ghosh addressed the gathering. The meritorious children of Union Bank employees were honoured with trophies. |
|
Hired car snatched at gunpoint, five booked Amritsar, May 5 Police have registered a case against the robbers under sections 392, 148 and 149 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. However, no arrest has been made so far. According to information, complainant Bagga Singh, a resident of Chatiwind, owner of the snatched Indica car (PB02-AA- 5968), had parked his car at the Bhagwati taxi stand situated outside the Hathi Gate area. Two persons hired his car for Sensaran village. However, they took him from Loharka village to Muradpura side from where two more persons joined them. He said they asked him to take the car towards Rampur village. Later on the way, one of accused stopped the car to answer the call of nature. He said another unidentified person, who was waiting for them at the spot, took out a pistol and snatched away his car and mobile from him. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
