Amritsar, July 15
Even as 7 lakh dollars have been given as just a “consultation” fee to a Japanese firm for laying the state-of-the-art sewerage system in the city, which would apparently provide good living conditions to the residents of the holy city, yet there are areas which could never get such projects for development.

The areas like Rasoolpur Kallar, Maqboolpura and their adjoining areas have been under the Municipal Corporation (MC) limits for the last over five decades, yet their inhabitants have been meted out with step-motherly treatment. The pathetic living conditions under which they are forced to live in and which become worst during the rainy season are a testimony to this.

Residents claimed that numerous requests had been made to the authorities but they had turned a blind eye towards them. “What is the logic of giving crores of rupees as a consultation fee to a foreign company, when only half of this amount can change our fate?” questioned the residents.

These are the areas, mostly occupied by low-income groups or small-time traders, where most of the cases of jaundice, hepatitis A and E surface. Courtesy: lack of drainage, water-choking, gandah nullah passing through them and heaps of garbage, which continue to pile up for days together. On the other hand officials stated that it was the residents only who lack basic civic ethics and have been responsible for their pathetic conditions.

Nevertheless, at Rasoolpur Kallar, the situation becomes worst during the rainy season and it becomes difficult for the residents to even enter their houses. The situation is worst at the lanes located on both the sides of the gandah nullah. Ranjit Kumar Saini said the water drainage had been blocked at various points in the area. “With the result, water remains stagnated on the road for weeks together. This breeds mosquitoes and other infectious diseases. Numerous times requests have been made to the authorities, but in vain,” he said.

Similarly, Maqboolpura, infamous for being the paradise for drug peddlers, has been the other most neglected area. Situated close to the entrance of the holy city from the main Amritsar-Jalandhar GT Road towards Mehta Road, the area has worst sanitation conditions with inhabitants complaining of major ailments, including skin problems.

Ingloriously labelled as the locality of widows where hundreds of households had been destroyed falling victim to the widespread drug abuse, the area also remained low in the priority list of the Municipal Corporation.

A local resident rued that the area, inhabited by the labour class, had no primary or secondary health centre and the residents had to go to private hospitals for treatment or they had to move to the Civil Hospital situated more than 5 km from the area.

Master Ajit Singh, social activist, who had launched a major literacy campaign to provide education to the children of the drug abuse victim, said even the NGOs shirked to visit the area because of unhygienic conditions in the inaccessible lanes and bylanes of the densely populated area.

“What to talk about governments, the local health authorities failed to organise regular health camps,” said Master Ajit Singh.

Another resident pointed towards the poor sanitation and garbage collection system in the locality and mentioned that the corporation had privatised the garbage collection in the posh localities of the city ignoring the area, which was susceptible to serious diseases due to poor hygienic conditions. He urged the government to immediately move its private machinery at least twice a month to clear the garbage dumps and clean the streets so that the people could live in a clean surroundings.

The inhabitants of the adjoining areas, which included Golden Avenue, New Golden Avenue, New Tehsilpura, Chamrang Road, parts of East Mohan Nagar, Industrial Area, etc, are sore over the apathetic attitude of the authorities.

Amritsar, July 15
Emphasising the need of more plastic surgeons in the country, the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India celebrated a first ever National Plastic and Reconstructive Day here today.

With new rapid advancements in the field of plastic surgery, its role has increased manifolds in treatment of patients especially in the trauma cases, felt the association, a representative body of 1,300 plastic surgeons in the country.

However, due to the dearth of quality plastic surgeons in the country, a large number of patients could not avail the benefits that plastic surgery offers. At present there are about 1,500 plastic surgeons in the country.

Keeping this in mind, the association recently met Union Minister for Health Ghulam Nabi Azad urging him to pay attention towards promoting plastic surgery, said Dr Ravi Mahajan, executive council member of the association.

Dr Mahajan said the minister assured all possible support while asking the association to hold regular meetings with the Secretary Health in this regard so that they could chalk out a plan (for the promotion of plastic surgery).

Dr Mahajan, who is also president of the north zone of the association, said we would also meet the state authorities for filling up the vacant posts of plastic surgeons in government hospitals besides creating new posts in order to the meet the requirement of the plastic surgeons in the country.

Amritsar, July 15
The Amritsar Computer Teacher Union (3rd phase) would organise a rally and block road in Muktsar district on July 17 to demand regularisation of their services, it was decided at a meeting here today.

Union president Gaganpreet Singh said the government had adopted double standards in regularisation of teachers. While teachers, in the first and second phase, who were deputed in various government schools in 2005 and 2006, were regularised, the teachers deputed in 2008 in the third phase were not regularised.

Rather a benchmark was set as per a new notification released on December 2, 2010, according to which the teachers would have to undergo a test again and obtain a minimum of 35 marks out of 100 under general category and 20 out of 100 for the reserved category, before claiming a regular appointment letter.

This lapse, they claimed, had impacted over 1,000 computer teachers.

“Even as the government has regularised the services of those who have completed two and a half years in the profession of computer teaching in the first and second phase, the third phase teachers have been left out, whereas the fact is that all have been deputed on the basis of merit only,” he said.

“If the Government of Punjab does not consider our demands, we will resort to protest,” he added. Other union members Manpreet Singh, Karanbir Singh, Amandeep Kaur, Sukhwinder Kaur were also present here.

Tarn Taran, July 15
The Improvement Trust would send three projects to the state government for approval, said trust chairman Chander Aggarwal, while resuming the charge of his post for the second term.

He said the trust plans to set up a commercial unit here at the local old bus stand in one and half acre land for which the initial proceeding has been started. Similarly, he added, shops at Goindwal bypass would be made available for sale. The Trust also plans to set up a residential colony in 40 acres of land in Kakka Kandiala village, four kilometers from here, said Aggarwal.

Amritsar, July 15
The Guru Nanak Dev University today denied the allegations regarding the vacation of a rented building in Jalandhar.

Prof AS Brar, Vice-Chancellor, in a press statement, said all the allegations were false, frivolous, misleading and defamatory and were against the judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Congress leader Harpal Singh Bhatia had accused the university administration of giving away college land easily in the HC under the diktat of the SAD-BJP government.

The Congress smelt a rat in the case. He said the matter would soon be brought into the notice of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh. Bhatia alleged that the SAD-BJP coalition had turned towards educational institutions to fill its coffers.

“The university was running its college from an old dilapidated rented building in Basti Nau in Jalandhar for the last more than 40 years. The university was never the owner of the building. It was owned by an NRI family. The university was paying the rent to the owners regularly. The owners had been asking the university to vacate the building and had approached the court for this purpose,” Brar said.

However, the situation took a new turn in 2001 when the Rent Act was amended by the Government of Punjab and a new section ‘13-B’ was inserted to help NRIs to safeguard their interests. The owners of the building taking strength from the new provisions (Section 13-B) filed a new petition for getting the building vacated from the University.

The High Court, after hearing both the parties, pronounced its judgeme

nt on January 8, 2010, that the university would have to vacate the building. However, keeping in view the interests of the studies of students allowed the university to stay on the premises for one year more. The university had no option than to obey the orders of the court.

In the meantime, lease of a building on a seven acre land on the Ladowali Road, Jalandhar, that had been held by the Punjab Technical University expired in July 2010.

The lease was not renewed and the Education Department, Government of Punjab, handed over this building to Guru Nanak Dev University in December 2010 without any monetary consideration. Now the university college is being run from a much safer and spacious building.

“It is absolutely false and malafide propaganda that LLB three-year course of the university in Jalandhar is closed. The said course was shifted to a new building in the Regional Campus of the university at Ladhewali Road, Jalandhar, in September 2009 and is functioning to its full strength,” said the VC.

Amritsar, July 15
The Punjab Chemist Association, a part of All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, has urged the Union Government to formulate a national policy on prescribing guidelines for use of antibiotic before implementing the proposed amendments in the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945.

The government, in order to curb the misuse of antibiotics and habit-forming drugs, has decided to include certain antibiotic drugs in a separate schedule - Schedule HX.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Drugs Consultative Committee, a statutory body (held in October last year) to regulate the sale of antibiotics more stringently in the country taking in view the antimicrobial resistance because of its indiscriminate use.

“Though we appreciate the concern of the government but the proposed amendment would prove an effort in isolation if the government failed to address the other factors responsible for the problem. It would only act as a hurdle in the availability of life saving medicines to patients especially in rural areas,” said Surinder Duggal, general secretary of the association.

Stressing that a multi-pronged strategy is required to tackle the problem and imposing additional restrictions on retail chemists would not serve the intended purpose.

He said various reports have pointed out that not only the irrational use of the drugs but also the misuse of antibiotics by quacks and public due to lack of knowledge, therapeutic use of antibiotic in animals was several other factors responsible for antimicrobial resistance.

“If we continue with the present trend of prescription by all kinds of practitioners, the purpose of bringing out such notification would be defeated and limiting the sale at tertiary hospitals and to certain class of practitioners would lead to scarcity of these scheduled drugs in rural areas,” said Duggal. Moreover, with new rules of prescriptions the chemists would not be able to serve the prescriptions of government run health centres, he added.

The association urged that for the judicious use of antibiotic and habit-forming drugs, the government should deploy sufficient numbers of qualified doctors in rural areas and continuous education to them besides organising training programmes for pharmacists managing retail outlets. Awareness programmes for public to sensitise them on the hazards of illogical use of antibiotics. He said the government should also make a list of registered medical practitioners in all states of the country.

Amritsar, July 15
The Centre on Studies in Sri Guru Granth Sahib of Guru Nanak Dev University organised a special lecture on “Global ethics and world religions” at the Syndicate Room here yesterday.

Dr Daniel. C. Smith of the University of Virginia delivered the lecture, while Prof Rajinder Pawar, Dean, Academic Affairs, of the university, presided over the function. Dr Balwant Singh Dhillon, head of the centre, welcomed the chief guest and others.

Dr Smith discussed important global issues like clash of different countries, selfishness of the modern man, nature and role of ethics, etc. He said the modern world is following the policy of “quick-fix” as generated by the USA according to its interests.

While talking about ethics, he said scriptures, taboos maintained by traditions, experience of past and social laws give birth to ethical values. Differentiating the eastern and western perspectives of ethics, Dr Daniel said the eastern ethics were inspired by the self-realisation, whereas the source of western values was covenant or contract between the God and man.

He said the eastern values system concentrated upon internal knowledge and on the other hand, western ethics were based on external perception, In fact human behaviour determined the nature of ethics. He said ethics meant “behave yourself according to the principles”.

About contemporary world, he asserted that America was violating human rights and other fundamental values of the mankind. It was spending more money on defence and arms in the name of curbing terrorism than any other country in the world. Different communities were fighting with each other just to rule over the other one. He said the basic reason of conflict was control over resources, be it Iraq, Egypt or Libya.

Prof Jaswinder Kaur Dhillon, Prof Shashi Bala, Prof Sulakhan Singh, Prof Harish Chander Sharma, Prof S.S. Narang, Dr Aziz Abbas, Dr Manvinder Singh and research fellows and students from the related faculties participated in the discussion. 

Amritsar, July 15
“In our society, families still long to have a son, however educated or advance it may be. I myself have observed in my family that my parents always regretted not having a son. My serial revolves around the same plot,” said Ankita Sharma, the lead actor of “Sawaare Sabke Sapne - Preeto”, being aired on Imagine channel.

During a promotional tour of the serial in the city today, Ankita said her character Preeto traces the journey of one such daughter who is an obedient and a caring sister, a trustworthy friend and a confidante. Surpassing all this, she takes up the onus of fulfilling the dreams of her family upon her slender shoulders like the son of the house.

“Sawaare Sabke Sapne - Preeto” is a story of a Sodi family, set against the backdrop of Punjab. At the head of the family is a retired schoolmaster Gangandeep Sodi, who lives with his wife Kanwal and have not one or two, but five charming grownup daughters.

The eldest daughter is Meeta, followed by Ishmeet, Manpreet fondly known as Preeto, Bani and the youngest being Sonu. With the father struggling to make both ends meet and with no son in the family to depend on, the show traces the journey of Preeto, the third daughter, who shoulders the responsibilities like the son of the family. She happily puts her own dreams on hold in order to realise the dreams of her sisters.

From taking charge of her elder sisters’ marriages to the younger ones’ studies, Preeto is the veritable son of the house, who does not see these responsibilities as a burden upon herself. She gracefully faces all obstacles and strives forward with her undying positive attitude and continues to shine.

An excited Ankita Sharma said, “At the risk of sounding cliche I have to admit that this is a dream role. The very fact that my character is so simple yet complex at the same time is what made me fall in love with it. It is a very challenging role and I have put in a lot of efforts to bring Preeto to life. There is a bit of Preeto in every girl and I am sure that audiences will love her. I am delighted to be here in Amritsar and am extremely thankful to the people for their love and support.”

Produced by Creative Eye Limited, the serial has Ankita Sharma as the spirited Preeto along with a lineup of noted actors like Susheel Parashar, Nitika Anand, Divya Bhatnagar, Ira Soni, Devoleena Bhattacharjee and Mahima Makwana playing her loving family members.

Announcing the launch of the show, Saurabh Tewari, Head, Programming (Fiction), Imagine TV, said, “Preeto is a story for everyone. The story brings forth to the viewers several facets of a woman, who not only supports her family financially, but also be the emotional anchor for everyone. It is a powerful story of self reliance, determination and family values told in a simplistic, real and light-hearted manner. We are optimistic that with this show we will get the entire family together in front of the television, every evening.”