Amritsar, September 17
Even as a part of the much-touted elevated road project has become operational for the last few months, the remaining work on the project has become a nightmare for traders whose shops are located near it.

The over 30 shops located just opposite the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) have been vying to see the customers for the last few months. Reason: The approach road to these shops has as yet not been laid by the administration.

The authorities concerned revealed that the roads under the elevated road could not be completed due to official rigmarole.

Nevertheless, the plan says that a ramp has to be built from the flyover to reach areas located underneath. This ramp would end opposite to Pingalwara Home. Though the pillars have been erected by the Gammons Company which undertook the elevated road project, yet the job of constructing the ramp has been left incomplete.

Consequently, the business of these traders has been hampered. The traders rued that to construct the remaining pillars, large pits have been dug up for making bases for them at various points opposite to their shops, but the work has not seen the light of the day as yet.

The situation gets worse during rains. No vehicle can reach our shops, what to talk of pedestrians? Even during normal days, the sand accumulated in these pits spills over due to winds. Moreover, the nearby residents have started throwing garbage in these pits in the absence of any check by the authorities.

Talking on the issue, Inderjeet Singh Malhotra of Malhotra Cycle Store opined that as an immediate measure, the corporation should at least lay down a temporary passage made of bricks, leading to their shops.

Amritsar, September 17
The Guru Nanak Dev Hospital authorities have dismissed three of its class IV employees for submitting fake matriculation certificates during their appointment, while two others failed to join their job within the stipulated period.

Medical Superintendent Dr R.P.S. Boparai said during verification the matriculation certificates of three of the dismissed employees, including Arun Kumar and Kamlesh, were found to be forged, while the certificates of the remaining recruited employees were under scrutiny.

As many as 101 class IV employees were recently recruited in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital under Government Medical College, Amritsar, on contract basis in order to meet the staff shortage in the hospital. Besides the GNDH, class IV employees were also appointed in Government Medical College, Patiala.

As per the procedure adopted by the hospital, after offering appointment letters their certificates were sent to respective schools for verification.

Answering the queries as to why they the given appointment letters without proper verification, Dr Boparai said, “The verification of certificates is a time-consuming procedure as it is sent to respective schools which took considerable time for checking the records before making final certification.”

Certain candidates who were not offered recruitment letters had complained about cheating alleging that the favoured ones were offered the jobs. However, the hospital authorities had termed the allegation as baseless.

Tarn Taran, September 17
The district administration has made all arrangements for Khadur Mela to be held tomorrow for celebrating the anniversary of installation of Guru Anged Dev as the Second Sikh Master.

The mela has its special religious, political and social importance and more than three lakh devotees from different parts of the country take part in the mela.

The ruling SAD, opposition Congress and CPI will hold their respective political conferences in the Khadur Sahib township, 24 km from here.

Besides this, religious congregation will be organised by Baba Sewa Singh, head, Kar Sewa, Khadur Sahib. Langar (community kitchen) will be arranged by the Baba.

According to information here today, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and a other ministers are coming to address the conference of the SAD. On the other hand, PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa, Congress MP, besides state leaders of the CPI are coming here to address their respective political conferences.

The SSP, Preetpal Singh Virk, said here today that to make the visit of the devotees safer, secure and peaceful, elaborate arrangements had been made at the township. He said a camp office under the supervision of Rashpal Singh, SP (HQ), had been established. The town had been divided into four zones and an SP-rank officer had been deputed for each zone to supervise security arrangements.

As many as 10 SPs, 20 DPSs and 1,300 other policemen had been deputed in the town for security.

Arrangements for drinking water, parking for vehicles, medical booths, temporary urinals, etc, had also been made in the township, civil officials said.

Amritsar, September 17
“Irregularities” surfaced in the appointment of education volunteers with the Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan in the district. Currently an inquiry is being carried out by circle education officer, Jalandhar.

The Education Department had sent on deputation 160 block resource persons (BRPs) and district resource persons (DRPs) to the Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan.

With a view to filling the vacancies and provide impetus to the rural education, a decision was taken to hire three education volunteers in place of a BRP. However, a norm was laid that a native of the village concerned and its surrounding areas would be preferred for appointment. It was also decided to hire three education volunteers for a primary school being run by a teacher.

As per the norm, graduate education volunteers would be given a monthly salary of Rs 4,500, while BEd volunteers were to be given Rs 5,200 and MA plus BEd ones Rs 6,000.

The “lapse and irregularities” came to light when the newly employed volunteers raised the alarm that they had not been receiving their salaries for the past many months.

The matter was reported to Deputy Commissioner K.S. Pannu who marked an inquiry to the District Education Officer (Elementary).

The inquiry conducted in Verka block brought out several irregularities like many candidates had given wrong residential addresses, were less educated than reported and volunteers, more than the number needed, had been hired.

When contacted, circle education officer Adarsh Kaur refused to comment on the matter since the inquiry was under progress.

Pannu said that the law would take its own course after the completion of the inquiry.

Amritsar, September 17
About 4,000 teachers working in 172 non-affiliated colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh protested against the indifferent and callous attitude of the Punjab Government towards their long-pending demands by wearing black badges here today.

Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) general secretary H.S. Walia said the demands included, inter-alia, release of enhanced grant for the proper implementation of the revised pay scales, implementation of career advancement scheme (CAS) for the DPEs and librarians as per UGC letter, relaxation from refresher courses as per UGC guidelines, implementation of revised house rent allowance and medical allowance and proper fixation of pay in revised pay scales by the DPI (Colleges). — TNS

Amritsar, September 17
He was born in India, got his preliminary education here but studied medicine and worked in Lahore. It was his this complicated identity that he had to remain behind bars for three years in India.

Named as Dr Ikrarullah Haq, this physician was among the 24 Pak prisoners who were released two days back by the Indian Government through the Attari-Wagah check post. He argued his best to stay back in India.

“I became an object of suspicion because of my complicated identity. Otherwise, I failed to understand what pressure resisted the Indian Government to own me and let me live in the place of my birth,” he said, while leaving for the other side of the border.

Dr Haq was born in Lucknow and did his matriculation from Allahabad University. He even approached the Home Ministry to seek Indian citizenship, but the efforts did not bear fruit.

“After Partition, my parents migrated to Pakistan but I stayed here with my grandparents and some of our close family members who preferred to stay here. I received my education up to the matriculation level in Lucknow but was sent to a medical college in Lahore to pursue MBBS, which I completed in 1968,” he said.

“I was even employed there for a few years but was deported as some of the Pak officials used to call me an ‘Indian agent’ due to my Indian background. I somehow, managed to come to Lucknow where we had a property before Partition. But my uncles, with political influence, put me behind bars on false pretexts, with an aim to grab the property which originally belonged to my parents. I kept coming to India to claim my property rights, but in vain. I was lodged in Lucknow jail in 2005, then in Tihar Jail, even though I had entered India on a valid visa.

“My passport was confiscated as I could not establish my Indian background correctly. I was booked under the Foreign Act though I kept pleading that my entry into India could be ascertained from the Attari-Wagah check post, but all my pleas fell on deaf ears,”he rued.

Dr Haq went back to Pakistan where his wife and children - two daughters and a son - live. His children too are doctors there.

Amritsar September 17
A 90-year old Government Primary School of the Bundala village, located on the outskirts of the city, was adopted by the local branch of the Delhi Public School to mark Hindi Diwas.

The government school was established in 1919, the year when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place.

DPS, principal, Sangeeta Singh informed that DPS, under its project “joy of giving” - aimed at achieving its commitment of holistic education to its students by imparting true values and sensitising them for community service - adopted the school in Bundala, which is presently in a dilapidated condition.

Besides, the students of DPS and government school, collectively undertook ‘tree plantation’ in the village school to give it a green cover.

She stated that DPS was working on a programme under which students of its fifth class would make “one-to-one-buddies” from the same class in the village school.

The government school has a strength of 434 students. Out of them, 40 are mentally challenged and 30 hail from the slum areas. In the first phase, DPS provided the pastoral school with blackboards, book racks, desks and teacher’s chairs.

DPS has also decided to provide a helping hand to students who are mentally challenged or belong to slum areas and are living below the poverty line. For the purpose of keeping records, the school has formed a seven-member committee, headed by co-ordinator Mukand Lal Sharma, which includes Satinder Singh, Sarika Sharma, Charu S Pannu, Surbhi Khanna, Priya and Narender Kaur.

The village school was adopted in coordination and with the active support of the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar Kahan Singh Pannu, the principal informed. 

Amritsar, September 17
An awareness programme and plantation drive was organised by Mission Aagaaz, an NGO, at Sr Buds School, Ranjit Avenue, to mark World Ozone Day yesterday.

Children were told about the importance of ozone layer surrounding the earth that prevents harmful ultraviolet radiations of the sun from entering the atmosphere.

Gurbhej Singh, general secretary of the organisation, pointed out that out of the total energy received by the earth, 35 per cent is reflected back to the space by the clouds, dust-particles and ice particles present in the atmosphere. 14 per cent of the energy, which comes in the form of ultraviolet radiation, gets absorbed by the ozone layer, thus saving the earth from the harmful effects like over-warming of the earth or diseases like cancer. He said 34 per cent of the energy is radiated back from the earth in the form of direct solar radiation and 17 per cent radiated back from the earth in the form of terrestrial radiation.

The depletion of ozone layer provides the way for ultraviolet rays to enter the earth’s atmosphere, which can cause great destruction, catastrophe and diseases like cancer. Quoting recent report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that stated that earth’s temperature has increased by 0.74 per cent in the past hundred years, he said it has disastrous effects such as unexpected increase in the sea level that can submerge low-lying regions including the UK, and melting of glaciers like Himadri in India, which will first result in floods and then a long-lasting drought.

Amritsar, September 17
Two of the three chemist shops situated on the premises of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital have failed to pay the monthly rent running into lakhs of rupees since its auction in January this year, thus severely denting the hospital exchequer, thanks to the lack of coordination between the Government Medical College and the hospital authorities.

One of the shopkeepers has surrendered the shop and asked the hospital authorities to adjust the security deposit. The hospital, it is learnt, has written to the Principal, Government Medical College-cum-Chairman of the auction committee, to cancel the allotment of the second shop which claimed that they had not received any communiqué in this regard.

Dr S.S. Shergill, Principal of GMC, pointed out, “It was the responsibility of the Medical Superintendent of GND Hospital to look into the affairs of the shops after the college handed these over to the hospital authorities following the auction procedure.” He claimed that he had not received any communiqué from the hospital authorities for the cancellation of the shop.

Ironically, the inter-departmental coordination has virtually benefited the two shopkeepers Rajvinder Singh and Amrit Lal Jain who were rented out the shops at Rs 2.31 lakh and Rs 2.65 lakh, respectively. They had deposited security of approximately Rs 14 lakh and Rs 16 lakh, respectively.

Dr R.P.S. Boparai, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said as per the norms only the authorities, which had allotted the shops after auction, could cancel the allotment. He said they had written about five times to the Principal with copies to the Director, Research and Medical Education, to cancel the allotment of the defaulters, yet we are waiting for response from the other side.

Amrit Lal Jain could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Amritsar, September 17
The Amarinder Gill and Jaspinder Cheema starrer Punjabi movie “Ik Kudi Punjab Di” today released to a packed house at the local Cinepolis here today.

The movie is the story of a girl, who challenges the male dominated society and wants to be treated at par with boys.

Manmohan Singh, producer and director of the film, said, “Though we all preach that there is no difference between boys and girls, but the truth is something different.”

The heroin, the only child of her parents, understands that her struggle would not be easy and she is prepared to make any sacrifice for that. In order to achieve her goal, she has to fight with her lover, her parents and relatives. The protagonist understands her feelings and wants to help her but has to face the wrath of 
his parents.

Picturised at the campus of Panjab University, Chandigarh, the varsity campus provided an authentic and realistic feel to the film.

Among the star cast of the movie, heroin of the movie, Jaspinder Cheema, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Aman Dhaliwal, Guggu Gill, Rana Ranbir and others were present during the release of the film. Manmohan Singh said the movie was released in UK, America and Canada besides the northern part of the country at the same time.

Amritsar, September 17
Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School celebrated Grandparents Day on September 16 by inviting its students along with their grandparents at the school.

Amritsar, September 17
With a view to facilitating passengers alighting from national and international flights, the Amritsar International Airport (AIA) authorities yesterday signed an agreement with Mega Radio Cab Service on an experimental basis.

According to officiating director of the airport Anil Nanchahal, this arrangement had been done for the first time to ensure that passengers coming from outside the city or abroad were not fleeced by private taxi operators.

“We had received reports that private taxi drivers ask for exorbitant fares from foreigners or even from domestic passengers for visiting tourist destinations in and around the city. With this development, the passengers would have the option to hire radio cabs on call, at reasonable fares. If this experiment works well, we will let it continue,” he said.