INTUC teams up with Left parties for Sept 7 strike against inflation 
Amritsar, September 3
The Congress-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), besides other left parties and organisations, would participate in a countrywide agitation on September 7 in order to step up the pressure against the central government, which has miserably failed to control price rise.

Amritsar, September 3
Yet again, the political interference seems to overpower the administrative affairs when it comes to appointments.

In an unprecedented move, the appointment of new Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, has apparently been stalled ‘till further orders’.

The newly appointed Commissioner of Police RP Mittal could not take the charge from ‘outgoing’ Commissioner Varinder Kumar as the local unit of BJP has, reportedly, objected to this idea.

It is evident to mention that just yesterday, the Punjab Government transferred some district police officers. Under this development, IG- rank RP Mittal was ordered to replace DIG- rank Varinder Kumar.

As per schedule, RP Mittal had to take charge at 9.30 in the morning, but it was not to be. The whole battery of media kept on waiting for covering the handing over ceremony as per scheduled time, but later it was conveyed in vague manner that the new official had to leave for some urgent meeting and the official ceremony would be held on Monday.

On the other hand, local BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu straightaway denied the intervention of party in this affair. “It was never an issue for us.The party has nothing doing with it”, he said.

Nevertheless, the sources said the leaders of BJP today raised this issue with the Local Bodies Minister Majoranjan Kalia, during his visit to the city to conduct district grievances committee meeting at Circuit House.

It has been learnt that the supposedly appointee Commissioner RP Mittal had been called up at the Circuit house and a close door meeting held between him and the minister.

Later, the official left the city in a hazy manner without taking the official charge. It is evident to mention that just six months back, a former SSP too had been removed from the city following an interference of same political party.

Amritsar , September 3
The government is yet to deliver on its promise of City Bus Service (CBS), but it has come out with altogether a new concept of Personal Rapid Transport System (PRTS). It would provide hassle-free travel to tourists and pilgrims from railway station to the Golden Temple.

On the other hand, City Bus Service, sanctioned nearly three years ago, still remains a distant dream for the residents.

The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), mandated for the setting up of requisite infrastructure for the PRTS, has further outsourced it to a Delhi-based company.

The officials of the company this week held a meeting with the local officials of the Municipal Corporation, BSNL, Sewerage Board, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and carried out feasibility study of the route on which the PRTS would run.

They asked for the removal of certain electricity, telephone and street light poles installed en-route.

The PRTS, to be set up at Rs 325 crore, would see computerised magnetic podes running on an elevated road. Starting from the railway station, it would pass from Bhandari Bridge, Hall Gate, Town Hall, Jallianwala Bagh to conclude at the Golden Temple. In all there would be seven stoppages on the route.

Congested lanes, widespread encroachment, a lopsided traffic system are some of the major drawbacks being faced by the pilgrims, tourists and the locals, said Naresh Johar, a resident. “It seems that the various government agencies unable to remove encroachment and de-congest the area has decided to utilise the space route,” he added.

The government is yet to deliver on unhindered smooth flow of traffic, good roads and an efficient parking mechanism around the Golden Temple, visited by devotees across the world.

There would be about 200 driverless magnetic taxis would be pressed in service to take pilgrims and tourists from Railway station to Golden temple.

The elevated track would have a capacity of 200 pods with each pod having capacity of ten persons.

D.P.S Kharbanda, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, said the PUNSUP has been mandated with the task of running City Bus Service here and assured that within a couple of months it would be operational.

He informed as many as 30 low floor AC buses would be operational. These buses would cover area around the walled city and would connect peripheral area with main city.

Soon: Hassle-free travel for tourists and pilgrims from railway station to Golden Temple

Amritsar, September 3
In view of increased trade of fruits and vegetables with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah joint check post, the Punjab Mandi Board is going to establish a state-of-the-art fruit ripening plant-cum-packaging house at Amritsar.

The plant, worth about Rs 2 crore, would be set up by the board, in collaboration with the Central Government which will pool 25 per cent subsidy for the same. Half of the grant has been issued to the board.

The district administration has identified five acres belonging to the Department of Rural Development situated on Mehta Road near the current vegetable market at Vallah.

“We have written to the Financial Commissioner (Development) to take up the issue with the state government and the Department of Rural Development to transfer the land in the name of the Agriculture Department or the Mandi Board so that further process of establishing the plant could be initiated,” said Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu.

At present, approximately 100 truckloads of fruits and vegetables are being exported to Pakistan through the Attari check post from just 10-15 trucks daily about three years back. The integrated check post (ICP), being constructed at a cost of Rs 150 crore, will further boost trade between the two countries. The construction of the ICP would be completed by June 2011.

Under the project, which is proposed to be completed by March 26, 2011, 10 ripening chambers, one cold room and one re-conditioning room would be built by the board. The construction has been handed over to Voltas India Limited.

Currently 4.8 per cent area of Punjab is under horticulture cultivation and there is a great scope of increasing the existing area to 6.25 per cent. Major fruits grown in Punjab include kinnow, guava and mango, besides sweet orange, lime, plum, litchi, grape, pear, peach, etc.

Pannu said the city had great potential of exporting fruits and vegetables to Pakistan and European countries due to the construction of ICP and presence of an air cargo with a capacity of 80,000 kg at Amritsar International Airport here.

Amritsar, September 3
The Congress-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), besides other left parties and organisations, would participate in a countrywide agitation on September 7 in order to step up the pressure against the central government, which has miserably failed to control price rise.

Amarjit Singh Asal

Informing this, representatives of various left parties, in a joint press conference here today, said it was for the first time that the Congress-backed INTUC is participating in a strike call given by left parties. This is clear indication that various groups associated with the Congress party are not happy with the efforts of the Congress-led UPA government to stem the uncontrollable inflation which has broken the backbone of the common man, said Vijay Mishra, who represents the CITU, while addressing the conference.

He said a large number of people belonging to the industrial labour class, from all over the country, would take part. All the industrial units in the country would remain closed on that day and the suffering industrial labour would also indulge in blocking traffic. He said the state-level protest rally would be held at the Putlighar area, followed by a protest march.

Amarjit Singh Asal, District Secretary CPI and AITUC leader, said they would press the government to implement labour laws properly, to strengthen the public distribution system, to remove flaws in provident funds and pension scheme, to stop the privatisation of public sector units, besides other demands. 

Amritsar, September 3
Sparing a thought for the security future of the private sector employees, the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) announced a new pension policy on the occasion of its 54th anniversary here today. Named as “Pension Plus”, this plan would be applicable for those persons, in the age group of 18 and 75, who have been the life insurance policy holders with the LIC, as per guidelines of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority IRDA.

Elaborating further, Senior Divisional Manager Narindra Kumar told that pension plus benefit would be extended to the policy holder after lapse of 10 years from the date of commencement of the insurance policy. The least premium per annum would be Rs 15,000 and on monthly basis an amount of Rs 1,500 has been fixed under the plan. “There is even a provision for one time premium of Rs 30,000 also”, he said. “But the minimum age limit for starting pension would be 40 years, no matter how early a person purchase the plan”, he added.

Citing an example, he told that if a person purchases the policy at the age of 18 years, he would be entitled for pension benefits under this plan only when he would turn 40 years of age.

It is evident to mention that the life risk factors would not be covered under the plan.

While meeting with the competitive era, the LIC has also endeavoured to introduce ‘online disbursal system” in next two months. Under the system, a policy holder would be able to make the payment of his instalment while sitting in any part of the country. Apart from this, he would also be able to access the details regarding his policy. The LIC is also on the line of digitalizing its data about the policy holders. “There are 34 crore policy holders associated with the LIC, we have put 18 crore of them under digitalisation process. It would take us few more months to put each and every one on this mode”, he said.

Amritsar, September 3
In order to promote cycling and to make the environment pollution free, the City Cycling Club, led by Vivek Arora, General Secretary of the club, today organised a cycle rally, which started from the Hindu Sabha Senior Secondary School here.

Amritsar, September 3
Neetu Sidhu of Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, bagged the top position in Punjab in the first profession of MBBS examinations scoring 482 marks out of 600. While congratulating her, SGPC president Jathedar Avtaar Singh has announced to present her a gold medal.

Neetu has been emerged as topper among the 810 students of eight medical colleges in the examination. She has achieved distinction in the Anatomy Department.

“The gold medal announced by the SGPC president would be conferred upon her during the annual convocation of the institute,” said Dr AP Singh, OSD to Guru Ram Dass Institute.

Jubilant Neetu said after doing specialisation in medicine she would serve the humanity. Hard work and consistency was her mantra of success, she added.

Neetu’s father S Bohar Singh has been engaged in farming and her mother is a housewife.

Dr Geeta Sharma, Principal and Director of the institute, said though only the brilliant students opt for medical stream but only some special ones like Neetu make niche for themselves through their behaviour and presence. “I believe that good constructive rapport between the students and the teachers has to be maintained to yield good results,” she said.

Amritsar, September 3
Gone are the days when you had the facility to register your complaints online, an initiative taken by the city police two years ago. Courtesy: A former SSP of the city.

Ironically, to avoid getting the crime graph, showing an upward trend, the police discourages people from getting their complaints registered.

At least as many as 10 shopkeepers of Bazar Hansli, Dhab Wasti Ram, the area which houses city’s most prominent provision stores, felt the same.

After suffering loss worth lakhs, when some unidentified robbers broke open the shutters of at least 10 shops and decamped with goods stored there on the intervening night of August 30 and 31, these shopkeepers have been running from pillar to post to get their complaint of this major theft registered with the Police Station C-Division.

The SHO of the police station has allegedly been harassing them and forcing them, in turn, to show the proof of their stocks lying in the shops at the time of robbery.

“We approached SP City Dhanpreet Kaur, who further gave directions to the SHO concerned, Nirlep Singh. He along with ASI Harjinder Singh visited the spot, but instead of helping us out, he started harassing us with unnecessary questioning and till date declined to register any complaint,” said a shopkeeper, who also alleged the SHO of threatening him.

The shopkeepers argued that they just wanted the complaint to be registered keeping in view that if some robbers’ gang would be nabbed by the police in future and our description of stolen goods would be ‘on record’, they would be entitled to be claimants of it.

“But he rather threatened us and simply refused to entertain our complaint and his negligence in performing his duties should not be taken for granted,” rued the shopkeepers.

SHO Nirlep Singh denied all the allegations. “I personally visited the spot and heard their grievances. The FIR has been registered against the theft and investigation in the matter is on.”

Amritsar, September 3
The Tarn Taran-based Bir Khalsa Gatka Dal team has reasons to smile, for the team gave a magnificent “gatka” performance with the much-publicised seven-year-old participant and has cemented its position for the semi-finals of the TV reality show “India’s Got Talent”. Courtesy: the overwhelming response they got from the public which forced the judges of the show to invite them for the next round.

The 12-member gatka team arrived here late evening and got a rousing reception at Amritsar railway station. A visibly overjoyed Manpreet said, “I knew we would make it.”

This performance gained significance when during preliminary rounds, one of the judges of the show, Bollywood film-maker Sajid Khan walked out of the judgement panel in protest against the participation of seven-year-old Manpreet in the show by terming it as an act “too violent for his age”.

Miffed over disallowing Manpreet for the show, the SGPC, along with the Gatka Federation of India (GFI) and the Punjab Gatka Association (PGA), stressed that this art form is a Sikh tradition which signifies self-defence techniques and for this there was no age bar.

The association had demanded an apology from the TV channel and the ouster Sajid Khan from the show.

Ultimately, Sajid Khan had to apologise over his remarks and the team was allowed to appear for the quarter-finals, of course, with Manpreet as their team member.

Team leader Kanwaljeet Singh said the performance was made on August 28 and the team got an awe-inspiring applause from the audience.

The team has been given 10 days to prepare for the next episode of the show. “We have started planning for the next show and we are confident of bringing home the winners’ title,” said Harwinder Singh, father of Manpreet.