Amritsar, June 21
Vivek Sahai, chairman, Railway Board, announced that the Railways would start a holiday train to Amritsar to Hazoor Sahib for the convenience of Sikh pilgrims.Talking to mediapersons after paying obeisance in the Golden Temple along with his family, he made this announcement after the SGPC apprised him about the problem of ticket reservation in Nanded Express train, which connects Amritsar with Nanded (Hazoor Sahib).

He assured that en-route the train would connect other Sikh pilgrimage destinations like Tarn Taran, Beas and Goindwal Sahib.

Sahai also said a double decker train would be introduced between Amritsar-Delhi circuit. On delay in the launching of Duronto between Amritsar and Chandigarh, he said the train would run at a speed between 100 to 110 km per hour. Hence, it needed special safety clearance. “Once these measures are satisfactorily verified the train would be introduced,” he added. He reiterated that the train would be launched in this financial year.

During his visit to the Amritsar Railway Station, Sahai was unhappy with lack of cleanliness at many parts of the station and he made the local staff aware of the gap.

Later, Social Security Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla also met Sahai at the railway station to take up the cause of early launch of Duronto.

Amritsar, June 21
Crucial points in the city would be now under surveillance.The police in association with the Amritsar Improvement Trust kick-started Intelligent City Surveillance Project here today under which 35 major intersections and places would be monitored with the help of close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras round the clock.

Funded by the Improvement Trust, the Rs 4-crore project would be fully operational by year end.

“It is a revolutionary step in the history of Amritsar city as the security would now be electronically managed. This would make the police department more accountable besides proving a deterrent factor in traffic violations and petty crimes,” said Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP MP.

He said the Punjab Police would be first in the North India to have such an advanced surveillance system.

The points have been identified by the police department. As many as 175 cameras including 100 fixed cameras would be installed.

Sidhu, while addressing the mediapersons here today, said according to the company officials engaged for setting up CCTV cameras, this is one of the top five surveillance systems in the country.

“These high resolution day and night cameras are to be connected to a centralised control room at C-division through dedicated broadband lines. The real time footage would be available in the control room to watch all the happenings occurring in the entire area,” informed Police Commissioner Parampal Singh Sidhu while detailing.

The system would also help in increasing conviction rate as the department would have visual evidence to support their cases, he added. He said the police would now have database of record footage for a period of minimum fifteen days or more as per requirement. The activities/movement of suspects/suspected vehicles can be kept under surveillance and help in nabbing the criminals by alerting the parties on the track being followed by them. It would also help in better management of traffic and also bringing traffic rules violators with the help of photographic evidence, he added. Sanjiv Khanna, Chairman AIT, said the trust would do its utmost to give the country’s best system to the city police. 

Amritsar, June 21
The eye bank in the ENT hospital, under the Government Medical College, would be upgraded to a model eye bank. A four-member team of Central and Punjab health services today visited the hospital and announced a grant of Rs 15 lakh for the upgradation of the eye bank.

Confirming this, GMC Principal Dr SS Shergill said the team expressed satisfaction over the facilities and equipment available in the eye bank, which was established in 2008. The bank was recently upgraded with modern gadgets and equipment with the help of Rs 60-lakh grant, issued by the government to Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, for its renovation and development.

The team members who visited the eye bank, included Dr Rakesh Gupta, Deputy Director, Health Services, Punjab, Dr Shalu Agarwal of District Blindness Control Society and Dr Ravijit Singh.

“With the grant to be issued by the central government, the college would procure specular microscopes and other requisite equipment besides purchasing required furniture,” said Dr Shergill.

Dr Shergill while detailing said at present about 10 eye transplants were conducted every month at the eye hospital while 136 patients were in the list of eye transplant. He said after its upgradation they would try to achieve the target of 200 eye transplants in the hospital.

There are about seven eye banks in the state out of which Amritsar eye bank was selected by the government to be upgraded as model eye bank.

As per the data available at present about 5,000 cornea transplantations are being done at various hospitals in Punjab per year while there is requirement of about 2 lakhs annual transplantations.

Dr Shergill said 50 to 60 per cent of eyes donated by the donors were not suitable for the transplants. 

Amritsar, June 21
Intensive summer wave in the north India has caused sales of ACs, refrigerators, coolers and summer clothes to rise.

In electronic appliances used for cooling, air conditioners have registered the highest growth. The Rs 30,000-crore national consumer durable market is expected to garner more profit this summer in the face of constant heat.

Manjit Singh, owner of a leading wholesale and retail electronic appliances shop, said overall market sales were expected to grow at 25 per cent for ACs this year. “Sale of ACs were much more than cooler”. Consumers preferred ACs over coolers as there was a price difference of few thousands only, reasoned Manjit.

He said prices of ACs rose by two to three per cent from the last year yet the people preferred ACs more than coolers. He added that 0.8 tonne AC was available at Rs 10,000 and consumed 150 watt electricity in an hour. He said coolers were available in the market at a minimum rate of Rs 5000 to maximum Rs 20,000. However, coolers lose in the race as they became less effective in monsoon season.

A consumer Sarbjit Singh of Akash Avenue said he came to purchase a small AC as its cost was reasonable and it consumed less power. He said two rooms of his house were already fitted with a cooler and his family needed an AC.

Similarly, sales of summer clothes have gone up this year. Proprietors and sale managers of city’s leading stores said that sales of summer clothes increased between 20 to 25 per cent this year. These people held prolong spell of summer responsible for rise in sales.

A sales manager of a leading apparel store, Aman Kumar, said demand of clothes made of cotton was much more. 

Amritsar, June 21
With a view to providing better living conditions, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) Commissioner and Mayor jointly conducted a meeting on Monday with corporation teams.

The main areas focused during the meet were to gauge the water supply and sewerage system, recovering dues, scrutinising defaulters who have been living in the accommodation, having 1,800 sq ft or more area but avoiding the mandatory condition of building rainwater harvesting unit in their houses.

To make advance preparation in the wake of monsoon season ahead, the authorities were banking upon the rising main project worth Rs 1.34 crore on the Majitha Road which would facilitate the accumulated rain water from over 10 localities to safely flown into the main reservoir on the Majitha road.

The authorities have also decided to depute at least 10 sewer men for de-silting to be executed in 68 wards.

According to Commissioner DPS Kharbanda, the safe drinking water and prompt sewerage system would be the top priority on the agenda of the civic authorities.

“Today, we gauged the facts and figures pertaining to the water supply system. An amount of Rs 19 crore has been spared for the purpose of installing 22 water supply stations for the city. Similarly, the existing sewerage plan was monitored and steps were discussed to make it more efficient,” he said.

It has been deliberated upon to tighten the noose around the defaulters. About the defaulters, Kharbanda told that 27 challans have been issued to those occupants of houses, who did not care to build up rainwater harvesting system in their houses. Apart from this, the house tax recovery staff was too geared up to collect the dues and hit the set target of around Rs 17 crore.

“It is pity that why do people refrain from complying with the laid down conditions After all, these norms are stipulated keeping in mind the benefit of society at large. It’s a compoundable offence which amounted to more than Rs 40,000 per head. Similarly, the house tax defaulters who have been carrying out commercial activities in their residential premises and enjoying the water and power supply on domestic rates too would be taken to task,” he said.

Meanwhile, the growing population of rats carried on with their mission of damaging the sewerage lines causing leakages and choking drainage flow, besides contaminating the food items and other essential commodities. Health officer Yogesh Arora has been directed to make sure of proper implementation of the anti-rodent campaign. The MC office has disclosed a number 98886-14953 through which the anti-rodent drugs can be asked for. 

Amritsar, June 21
If you are a food lover and intend to try on something different, then this is the occasion you will never want to miss out on. Hotel HK Clarks Inn brings to the holy city the Mediterranean food festival — “Flavorfully Med”. The festival is on till June 24.

Gunita Garewal, principal of Step by Step High School, who came along with her family to try the food, viewed it as a healthy intake, which reminded her of vacations they spent in Greece.

Her daughter Mehar, a student of class VIII, takes it as some relieve from the existing ‘boring’ joints of Amritsar. “I am trying this food for the first time and it is a refreshing change,” she said.

Harjot, a businessman, viewed it as a good stopover to hold his business meetings.

Dr JS Grover termed the Mediterranean food as exotic food. “I ordered the delicacies without knowing the exact ingredients it would have. But believe me, every dish was enjoyable,” he added.

Accompanying him was his friend Dr Rajiv, who found it to be a bit matching with the Hyderabadi style. “Moreover, some of these dishes match our traditional way of preparing vegetables, but with some different flavour,” he said.

Rajiv Sharma, General Manager of HK Clarks Inn, said, “We have tried to create a very warm and friendly atmosphere paired with the real Mediterranean ambiance. Our stewards will be dressed in Arab style and special palm trees have been incorporated in our theme which will allow our guests to have the feel of traditional Mediterranean hospitality.

Nevertheless, Satish and Madan, told that countries like Italy, Greece, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, France, Turkey ring the Mediterranean Sea. Though they have some common characteristics, the cuisines of these countries vary.

“One of the reasons for the increasing popularity of Mediterranean food in India is similarity between the food of two countries. Many of the Indian dishes have a Mediterranean counterpart. What we have here as ‘baigan ka bharta’ can be found as ‘babaganouj’ over there. Even the fast foods are quite familiar. The Mediterranean cuisine ‘butitos hara’ is actually our ‘aloo chaat’ and falafel is very close to Rajasthani pakodas,” they added.

The Mediterranean food has a distinct flavour and is spice-rich. Here, spices are added to enhance, not mask, the flavour of food.“Cumin, coriander, saffron, chillies, dried ginger, cinnamon, and paprika will be on our shelf. The cuisine are served with specially made dips ranging from ‘tazatki, muttabal, mukhallil, humus, scordalia, muhmara, marinated assorted olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta dip’,” they added.