Amritsar, November 20
Five armed persons barged into a house in posh Palm Groove colony on the airport road and decamped with cash and jewellery worth around Rs 70 lakh after holding a five-year-old girl hostage at gunpoint. The incident happened on Satruday night.

The family members had brought the diamond and gold jewellery from bank's locker only yesterday for a marriage function. The house belonged to one Manjit Singh Khuranna, a plywood trader.

The robbers entered the house between 7.30 pm to 8.00 pm when Manjit Singh's wife Maninder Kaur and his granddaughter and there maid servant were present.

They pushed Maninder Kaur and held her granddaughter hostage at gunpoint. They demanded all the cash and jewellery in the house. They went to the almirah and got opened the electronic locker while threatening to kill their granddaughter.

A relative said the family was still under shock after the incident.

All the accused were aged between 20-25 years.

"Maninder Kaur begged the robbers to spare her granddaughter and take whatever they want," he said.

Manjit Singh along with other male members of the family had gone to a marriage function at their relative's house in Ranjit Avenue. They got information on robbery at about 8.30 pm. They informed the police after reaching their residence.

The airport police has registered a case under Section 392, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC, and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against unidentified persons.

Neeraj Kumar, SHO, airport police, said some suspected persons have been rounded up for investigation.

"Insiders' hand could not be ruled out as the robbers knew of the movement of the family members. The miscreants also knew when the male members would return home. However, the police has been working on all the possible angels and trying to identify the accused," he said.

Amritsar, November 20
Notwithstanding the tall claims of the state government of providing pollution-free environment, residents in many localities on Majitha and Batala roads live in the most polluted surroundings.

About 1,200 industrial units here discharge untreated effluents in the drain and release polluted gases in the air with impunity.

Residents of these localities say the large scale pollution has become a part of their lives.

Rajinder Kumar of Chand Avenue claimed electrical appliances go out of order in his locality and many others located near the drain due to harmful gases emanated from factories.

He said residents of these localities have complained of eyes and skin ailments.

Gurcharan Singh, a resident near Verka bypass, said the polluted environment has had affected development of the area.

Deepak Babbar, executive director, Mission Agaaz, said many industrial units had switched over to pet coke as fuel as it was comparatively cheap. Majority of boilers, processing and dyeing units located around the city use pet coke, waste of petroleum refinery, as fuel. As per pollution control norms, all these industrial units have to install alkali scrubbers. But as the equipment was very costly, many of these units hardly bother about the norms.

The alkali scrubbers, costing between Rs 6 to Rs 8 lakh, control hazardous sulphur dioxide to release directly in the air.

There are nearly 1,200 units here registered with the board. These units are needed to take permission for running units with a rider of discharging effluents and releasing gases in air within a permissible limit.

Amritsar, November 20
The 8th Amritsar-Lahore Festival, popularly known as Saanjh, spread the message of harmony and peace between India and Pakistan.

Springdale Public School became a venue for a mesmerising interaction of souls, when known artistes from across the border shared the stage with their Indian counterparts.

The festival organised by Punarjyot, Amritsar, and Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, Lahore, had prominent artistes like Raza Khan, Arif Lohar, Rizwan Muazzam Qawwal and Sanam Marvi rendering the 'Sufi kalaam' in their own distinctive style, which lent an aura of mysticism, to the noble initiative of uniting the hearts of people on both sides of the border.

An annual event that brings together talent from both the sides together to promote harmony and peace once again proved its point. "My parents ignited this candle to teach people to live and let others live. It is not only my pleasure and prerogative to keep this flame aloft and ignited, but also that of my entire team, who have always put in their best efforts to make Saanjh a success, and all the peace lovers associated with the Spring Dales family, who have supported this peace initiative in a myriad other ways besides their presence," said Kirat Sandhu Cheema, Director, Punarjyot.

MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Singh Bularia and Tim Uppal, first Sikh Cabinet Minister of the Canadian Parliament along with Param Gill, MP from Canada were among the VIP guest list.

Amritsar, November 20
A Canada-based non-profit organisation Gandhian Initiative for Development of Support Services (GIDSS) has opened its Indian chapter in the holy city to help deserted brides and also to investigate the background of prospective grooms in the North American country.

Coordinator of GIDSS is a local resident Dr RB Singh, who migrated to Canada about three years back. He used to work as a lecturer at Christian Bearing College, Batala. He appointed Sunil Thakur, a resident of Kangra colony, a resource person of the NGO in India. He said the NGO would soon set up a call centre here to easily communicate with the counterparts of the NGO at Ontario.

He said Indian parents keen to marry off their daughters in Canada can approach them to investigate the background of prospective grooms so that the brides do not face post-marriage desertion in a foreign land.

GIDSS is a charitable organisation formed on January 31, 2011, in Ontario, Canada, with a base in India where the movement was started as Critique Youth Forum in May 1999. He said brides from Punjab faced especially two kinds of exploitation from their NRI grooms. One of these is that NRI grooms leave their brides here after marrying and they along with their families returned to Canada. Another kind of desertion happens at Canada that brides were abandoned in the alien land by the grooms.

He said the NGO had introduced a project called WIND (Women in Need - of Justice) to address these problems. The programme was designed to save women in South Asia in general and Punjab in particular from becoming a ‘means of transportation’ for their other family members to different developed countries around the world. It aimed at helping victims of violence and marriage frauds in getting justice by a global network system, he added. He said his organisation was stressing on preventive level to avoid breakdowns of marriages. He said spreading awareness among people not to use marriage as a means for their selfish interests. He said the NGO was working to establish a global network system around the world with the help of respective governments of different countries where high number of people suffer from this problem. It identifies the victims and offenders and helps the former to get justice.

He said the NGO aimed at helping and supporting victims of domestic violence and educating them about their rights in Canadian society, linking them to the available resources and other supportive agencies, and helping them in restoring their quality of life by preventing further victimization and voicing their concerns by a global network system.

He said the NGO provided support to victims of violence especially victims of marriage frauds, educating immigrants about rights of women and children in the Canadian society and providing immediate intervention in case of victimisation while firmly believing in Gandhian philosophy of preserving and promoting traditional skills in the society.

Amritsar, November 20
The Amritsar Bar Association will organise a five-day cricket tournament, Challenge Cup, from November 21 to 25. Bar Association president Pradeep Kumar Saini said the tournament will help reduce stress among advocates.

“We will also organise All Punjab Bar Cricket Tournament in January. The Challenge Cup will help advocates hone their cricketing skills before the big tournament,” said Saini.

He said six teams of advocates have got themselves registered for the tournament.

The teams will be divided into two pools. District and Sessions Judge HS Madan will inaugurate the cricket tournament on November 21, he added.

Vinod Marwaha, organising chairman of the cricket cup said, “We have six teams, Lions' eleven, Star eleven, Tiger eleven, Sultan eleven, Kings' eleven and Tiger eleven.”

Amritsar, November 20
The joint-action committee of the nurses, ancillary staff and safai sevaks at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital has decided to stop rendering services at the patients’ wards and Out Patient Department from Monday.

The decision of the employees to intensify their protest by boycotting the duties is expected to cause in convenience to the general public coming to the hospital.

President of the Joint Action Committee Raj Bedi Anand said, “It has been decided that the nurses will stop attending to the patients and the safai sevaks will not provide their services.” She added that the ancillary staff will also not join their duties at the X Ray rooms and laboratory services.

Vice president of JAC Narinder Singh said, “We demand that the contractual system of employing health staff in hospitals be done away with.” The committee has demanded that all contractual employees presently serving in hospitals should be made regular. He said the employees will continue their protest till the government fulfils their demands.