Amritsar, June 1
The concept of 3.5 km-long elevated road project has certainly opened a new chapter in obstruction-free driving pleasure, yet there are factors which the citizens have to keep in mind to ensure safety on it.

An Amritsar Plus team, when visited the road, found that some people were doing casual activities which could prove fatal. Police patrolling could control such activities.

A couple with children was seen enjoying a walk in the night while an old man was crossing the bridge on foot without knowing the fact that it could prove disastrous. The elevated road is a pedestrian’s nightmare as it does not have footpath. The elevated road is actually meant to assist the fast-moving vehicles to drive without any hindrance.

Pilgrims, tourists and visitors driving down from the Jalandhar-Amritsar GT Road to the holy city have long been complaining of traffic blues from the Tara Wala bridge till the Golden Temple. The motive of elevated road was to ease the rush on the stretch of the road. Hence, two-wheelers and four-wheelers have been allowed to commute on the elevated road, which have considerably reduced the driving time on the stretch. Currently, heavy vehicles and three-wheelers have not been allowed on it as both sides are barricaded.

Some people were also seen to be stopping their vehicles midway and looked downward to know where they had reached. A couple of youngsters were seen practicing stunts on their motorbikes on the road.

A resident of New Amritsar, Gurwinder Singh, said time of commuting for office-goers like him to go to office in Ranjit Avenue and other areas of the city had curtailed because of the elevated bridge. Giving a piece of advice, he said it would be better if regular police patrolling was done as there was no mechanism of security in between the road.

Amritsar, June 1
The Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) has decided to make some makeshift arrangements to counter the shortage of staff and manpower that jeopardise the functioning of the ambitious project of trauma centre established at Jallianwala Memorial Bagh Civil Hospital.

This was revealed by Dr Lehmbar Singh, Director of the corporation, in an interaction with Amritsar Plus.

“As the recruitment process of hiring specialised doctors, physicians and staff at Jalandhar and Pathankot is under process, we are planning to divert some of them to the Amritsar Civil Hospital. We have also urged the state government to provide some of the staff for the time being to meet the demand of specialised staff for the trauma centre here,” said Dr Singh.

It is evident to mention here that the trauma centre was established about one and half years ago with the help of a grant offered by the Central Government in order to provide emergency services to the accident victims.

However, due to a shortage of staff in the hospital the patients remained deprived of the services and the hospital authorities here had to refer them to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, said the authorities, which had requested the government for more staff and manpower.

At present the trauma centre has only one orthopaedic surgeon and one general surgeon, which is being run on the mercy of the Civil Hospital doctors who are overburden and no points for guessing about their output.

Meanwhile, Dr Lehmbar Singh said the corporation had launched a website to monitor the working of specialist doctors and hospital staff on day-to-day basis which had been started in approximately all the hospitals under the corporation.

Amritsar, June 1
In yet another jolt to the Amritsar administration, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) refused to give a green signal for the establishment of a food street in the city.

Reason: the new site chosen by the administration, too, could not match the specifications as stipulated by ASI norms.

It is for the second consecutive time that the administration faces rejection by the ASI for the 5-crore dream project which was conceptualised on the pattern of Lahore’s food street, to act as a one-stop-shop for the delicacies of Amritsar.

Ironically, the ministry of culture, which looks after the ASI affairs, had earlier accepted the ambitious project costing Rs 5 crore and had already released Rs 25 lakh as the first installment.

After rejecting the earlier site at the panorama complex of Ram Bagh, for its falling within 100 metres of the restricted zone, the district administration and the MC came up with a new site falling adjacent to the Victoria Jubilee (VJ) Hospital. But this site too was rejected by the ASI team during their recent visit to the city.

Confirming the development, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said, “We have been informed that this site too has failed to match the specifications set by the ASI. The reason told by the ASI team was that due to the historical significance of the over-a-century-old hospital and its proximity to the protected area of Ram Bagh, the alteration and repair work would face roadblocks.”

With no option left with them, the MC officials have been entrusted with the task of searching for a fresh site.

“But, it would be our priority not to let it get delayed any more. We would search for a fresh site within a week’s time”, said Kharbanda.

The Food Street project has been hanging fire for the last almost a decade. A lot of exercise and planning had taken place to bring out the best makers of Amritsari cuisines, including several varieties of kulche-chane, chaat, vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies and Amritsari fish.

“Had this proposal been accepted this time, it would have been another landmark for the city and would have attracted the attention of a large number of tourists, who especially come here to savour the Amritsari flavour in the heart of the civil lines area on the Mall Road,” said NS Gabhria, a retired railway officer residing in the city for over half-a-decade.

Amritsar, June 1
Hard work and diligence she passed through the whole year has yielded results for Satinder Kaur who occupied the top position in Amritsar district in the commerce stream of the Class XII examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board. Satinder Kaur has secured 405 marks out of 450.

“Consistency and attentiveness helped me achieve this distinction,” she disclosed her secret of success, while paying obeisance at Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Sahib.

However, it was a celebration time at her home in New Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar. Hailing from a humble background, Satinder Kaur thinks big and wants to serve the nation.

“I want to pursue my studies in business, probably masters in business management. But my ultimate goal would be to go in for the civil services,” she said, while adding “corruption is the termite which has left our administrative structure hollow, otherwise it has been conceived in a very systematic manner. Corruption has bereft the common man to reach his voice to the governing bodies and the schemes chalked out by the government never reach the real beneficiaries. But when you are on a position and you determine to do something, the confidence automatically derive you.”

Sitting beside was her father Balwinder Singh, a construction contractor, and uncle Mukhtiar Singh, who were delighted to know about her vision. “She is the only girl child in whole of our family who has created history of sort to achieve this success. We are proud of her,” said her mother Baljeet Kaur.

Equally excited was her younger brother Sukhjit Singh, studying in Class III, perhaps more about the Scooty his sister was gifted on her success. “Yeh, but I would have to wait for another year to be eligible for driving licence,” Satinder said while exclaiming to have such a gift from her parents.

Nevertheless, Satinder never forgets to mention the names of her two teachers. “It was because of my teachers, especially Ashok Gupta, my accounts teacher, and Vikas Wadhwan, who taught me economics and finer nuances of business studies, that I was able to crack the question papers,” she said.

Amritsar, June 1
Finding no response from the SGPC to raise a memorial to martyrs of June 1984 military attack on the Golden Temple, Dal Khalsa, Khalsa Action Committee and SAD (Panch Pradhani) finally announced to hold a three-day silent sit-in in front of the entrance to the Golden Temple from June 3.

Dal Khalsa president H.S. Dhami said the protest would last for 72 hours and it would in no way obstruct the flow of devotees. He said his organisation had launched a “poster war” against the SGPC.

He said as per the announced schedule they offered the Shiromani Committee another chance and today submitted a request to build a memorial and presented a detailed report of its sit-in. He said had the SGPC announced a fixed date to build the memorial they would have dropped the plan of agitation.

The letter submitted to the SGPC said the sit-in would be peaceful. They said there would be neither sloganeering nor speeches during the 72-hour protest. It said maryada and convenience of devotees would be respected.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh Bittu said his organisation flayed the Parkash Singh Badal government for banning “ghalughara” march (genocide remembrance march) and crackdown on leaders of the SAD (Panch Pradhani). He said it was illegal and against the spirit of democracy. He said the present Akali regime was following the policy no different from the previous Congress government.

The Dal Khalsa leaders also released a poster with pictures of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Bhai Amrik Singh, Gen Subheg Singh and other Sikh leaders who were killed during Operation Bluestar and it also included posers to the SGPC pointing questions toward its indifferent approach towards the status of “martyrs”.

Bittu said these posters would be distributed among sangat to expose the working of the Badal family-run Shiromani Akali Dal and the SGPC. He said the posters were being dispatched to various units for distribution in different areas to create awareness among the masses. He appealed to the Damdami Taksal, Akand Kirtani Jatha and Sikh Students Federation leadership to participate in the sit-in as a majority of its members had “embraced martyrdom” during the operation.

Amritsar, June 1
Out of the one billion smokers in the world, 20 per cent are women while the number is pegged at 1.20 crore in India. Concerned over this, the World Health Organisation this year decided to observe Anti-Tobacco Day with the theme, gender and tobacco, specially focusing on women.

Although, a number of laws were enacted by the government and health ministries but still a lot of efforts are needed for proper implementation and creating awareness.

“Every year nearly 10 lakh people lose their lives to nicotine addiction. The government and the health department have intensified their drive against smoking in public places but a lot of awareness yet needs to be generated against the pitfalls of tobacco consumption,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Chandanjit Singh Kondal, while speaking on the issue, at a programme organised by Sant Sukha Singh, on the Senior Secondary School premises here to mark Anti-Tobacco Day.

Quoting some WHO reports, Dr Kondal said more women and girls took tobacco in one form or another in the Asia-Pacific region. Stressing on a ban on advertising of nicotine products, WHO said approximately 4.7 million women used tobacco products in the Asia-Pacific region, he added.

As per the organisation’s reports, tobacco companies were targeting affluent women and girls. It is pertinent to mention here that tobacco was the second major cause of death in the world, he said.

Dr Ravneet Singh Grover, chest physician and interventional pulmonologist, said a women smoker with an age of more than 35, who used birth control pills, ran high risk of a heart attack, stroke and blood clots of the legs.

Women who smoke were more likely to have lower birth weight babies. Quoting data collected by US centres of disease control, Grover revealed that an adult male lost an average life of 13.2 years while a female 14.5 years due to smoking habits.

“Although the prevalence of smoking in Punjab is only 3 per cent against the national average of 30, unfortunately there is an alarming rise in woman smokers. In Chandigarh, women have already outnumbered their male counterparts (8.5 vs 9.8 per cent),” said Dr S.S. Chawla, Director, Satjot Human Reproduction and Research Centre, Amritsar.

Dr Chawla said tobacco consumption caused infertility and decline in the physical performance of a person. He revealed that the prevalence of infertility in Punjab among smokers was more than double, than the normal population. In a study of 1,000 patient couples who visited our centre during 2009-10, 7 per cent were smokers and infertile.

He said that in women, cigarette smoking could lead to ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility etc. Women who smoke cigarettes took a longer time to conceive.

Amritsar, June 1
Even as the organisers claim it to be an international-level practice camp for handball in preparation for the forthcoming Asian Games scheduled to be held in China in November, the matter of fact is that no physiotherapist has been engaged for these national-level players.

Keeping in mind the intensity of the injury involved in the game, experts believe that physiotherapists play a vital role for the players’ safety, especially in the game which involve speed, strength and agility. Even the national norms demand the presence of physiotherapists or physical trainers as a mandatory condition.

This 30-day camp is underway at the state-of-the-art gymnasium hall of Guru Nanak Dev University here.

The general secretary of the Handball Federation of India, S.M. Bali, who paid a visit to the camp, when asked about this lapse, said, “ Yes, it is a mandatory condition and we would be arranging physical trainers within 15 days.”

Meanwhile, as many as 21 handball players from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Railways, Maharashtra, Kerala, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir have been sweating it out at the gymnasium hall under the supervision of chief coach Shivaji Shinde, international coach Amita Dalai and assistant coach Poonam.

Poonam, herself a champion in handball and at present employed with the Indian Railways, said at present a few players failed to report due to disturbances in North-East states.

“But we expect them to join the camp in a day or two,” she said, while explaining that in the final phase only 17 players would proceed for the Asian Games for the seven-a-side game. Almost an equal number of players would accompany the team to meet any emergency situation.”

When asked about the ranking of the Indian team on the global parameters, Poonam said the team commanded reasonable position. “We bagged gold in Commonwealth championship, but it was in 1995. It is mostly the Korean, Chinese and Japanese players who dominate the courts,” she said, while explaining that it would be the genetic factor and the rich diet which had been an added qualification for them. “Our players’ average height would be about 5 foot 8 inches, whereas the players from Korea, China and Japan would have an average height of above 6 foot,” she said.

“Another factor comes about the diet part. They would be provided with rich meat products along with protein supplements. It is also true that our players cannot take in the kind of meat products they consume but in my opinion, protein supplements can substitute this shortcoming. But, due to funds constraint, it would not be possible,” she said.

“We appeal corporate sector to adopt the teams and help in organising camps and tournaments in handball, so that consistency should be maintained. We are thankful to the GND University authorities for providing us with such a well equipped infrastructure free of cost,” said Bali.

Meanwhile, handball coach Baldeep Sohi said out of six players from Punjab, there were four local girls who were participating in the camp, which included Supreet, Harpinder, Harleen and Gurminder Kaur.

Amritsar, June 1
Tejinderbir Singh, a student of VMC Mathematics Institute, got all India 612 rank in the IIT- JEE, while another student of the institute Rajan Gulati managed all India 2,152 rank, both in general category.