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admn makes shelter for homeless cosy
Police seizes Rs
25.87 lakh unaccounted money
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Sambar strays into city, rescued by residents
Rs 73 lakh too small a budget for GND hospital
Fund crunch stalls Mata Kaushalya scheme
Despite ban, Chinese string menace goes unabated
Sanjha Morcha meets today to finalise poll candidates
Khalsa College wins softball tourney
Land row: Ranjit Avenue residents threaten to campaign against BJP
Horrific year for city residents
Tourist’s purse snatched
Breast cancer checkup camp on January 3
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admn makes shelter for homeless cosy
Amritsar, December 29 Further, the administration, through the state social welfare department, has sent a proposal worth Rs 40 lakh to the Centre to refurbish this structure, otherwise lying unused for the past more than five years when the ward was shifted to the multi-specialty ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. As an immediate measure, the administration has decided to replace its broken windowpanes and doors, apart from providing fresh set of blankets and quilts. Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Rajat Aggarwal, said estimates have been received to replace the broken windowpanes, doors etc. and the work will be awarded in a day or two. “We are waiting for the government nod to the proposal to make Karam Singh ward more comfortable. We aim to provide the destitute with shelter, food and bathing facility etc. We have also come up with a rehabilitation policy in collaboration with the district Red Cross Society, wherein those skilled among them were attached with various dairy, poultry farms or labour jobs in field. Arrangements have also been made for the mentally disturbed destitute in collaboration with the Dr Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health,” he said. “Earlier, we used to trace them during late hours but now we have launched a special drive to find them in the day too. We need to intensify our rehabilitation programme,” he added. Another major hindrance in the administration’s efforts is the fact that most of the homeless are found to be drug addicts as well. They do not want to be detected living under the administration’s vigil at Karam Singh ward. Randhir Singh, an official of the Red Cross feels that “A comprehensive report has been submitted recommending provisions such as box beds, support staff like helper, cook and box bedded rooms, proper drinking water, toilet facility and regular attendant etc. If such facilities are provided the destitute will prefer to stay here,” he said.
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Police seizes Rs
25.87 lakh unaccounted money
Amritsar, December 29
Satvir Singh, a resident of Karnan village in Nawanshehar had brought the money from a Chandigarh-based money exchanger owned by Gurdeep Singh Manchanda. The money was to be delivered to Avtar Singh here. Baljit Singh Randhawa, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special) said Satvir was intercepted at a naka laid by the surveillance team headed by Kirpal Singh, Sub-Divisional Officer, Irrigation department, near Mata Kaulan. The team searched his bag leading to the recovery of the money. Satvir Singh could not produce any documents regarding the cash and failed to give a satisfactory reply to the queries of the team. He only had the telephone number of Avtar Singh, added Randhawa. He said the cash was handed over to Income Tax officials who will further investigate whether the money was accounted or to be used for the elections.
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Sambar strays into city, rescued by residents
Amritsar, December 29
People of the densely-populated area tied the animal with an electricity pole and later handed it over to the Forest Department officials called in by the police. The animal was then taken to Kamalpura forest reserve located near Dera Baba Nanak area. People from nearby residents gathered at the spot to seeing the animal, which seemed to have strayed from near Ravi and Beas river side to the city. It also sustained some minor injuries. Residents said some stray dogs were following the sambar after which it entered a house and damaged some windowpanes. He said inhabitants shooed him away. The forest officials said it was very difficult to ascertain from where he had strayed into the densely-populated area. He said earlier too, such incidents have been reported in the city. Wilbert Samson, Divisional Forest Officer, said maximum number of cases of straying of animals from forests is reported in the winters. “As there is shortage of food in the forests in winters, animals such as sambar, barking deer, blue bull, porcupine etc usually strayed into city from river sides alongside canals and roads in search of food,” he said.
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Rs 73 lakh too small a budget for GND hospital
Amritsar, December 29 Sources said out of the total budget allocation made to the institution, which also acts as a clinical training institute of the Government Medical College students, nearly Rs 33 lakh are spent on buying various life saving gases for the patients on which nearly 45 per cent of the annual budget is spent. The hospital spends nearly Rs 7-8 lakh on buying medicines for the patients. In the end, the hospital is left with only Rs 32-33 lakh to manage its routine requirements for the entire year. Insiders say the hospital management has to buy various equipments such as gloves, surgical kits, tubes and chemicals needed to conduct diagnostic tests out these funds on a routine basis to continue the services. Considering the large flow patients as Out Patient Departments and Indoor Patient Departments, besides, emergency services, the hospital often fails to meet its requirement. A doctor said, "Everyone expects us to compete with the big private hospitals but sometimes we don't have the money to even buy new broomsticks. The hospital does have more competent doctors as compared to the private hospitals but they are unable to work because of financial constraints.” He said even small corner-hospitals have bigger yearly budgets than the hospital. Government Medical College Principal Dr SS Shergill said, “The funds are insufficient for the hospital. These need to be enhanced so that the hospital is made competent to serve the needs of the patients.”
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Fund crunch stalls Mata Kaushalya scheme
Amritsar, December 29 Under the scheme, each expectant mother, who comes to government hospitals is to be given a reward of Rs 1,000 besides Rs 200 as the transportation charges. The scheme has been responsible for a decrease in mother and child mortality. Sources say the authorities had sent a request to the government for the release of funds but to no avail. Sources add that the file is pending with the finance department. Another scheme for the women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL), Janani Surksha Yojna (JSY) is also in place to attract institutional deliveries. Under this scheme women from the urban areas are given Rs 700 and those from the rural areas Rs 600 besides Rs 200 as the conveyance allowance. However, as the JSY is only meant for BPL cardholders, the government had launched Mata Kaushalya Scheme to extend the benefit to wider sections. The BPL cardholders were entitled to get the facilities under both the schemes. Sunita Devi, a beneficiary said, “Government hospitals are visited mostly by the poor. The money given by the state government was a huge help. However, people are sad as the facility is no longer available.” She said the government should send money for the scheme. Director Health Services (Family Welfare) Dr Dalip Kumar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Cash on delivery
Under the scheme, each expectant mother, who comes to government hospitals, is to be given a reward of Rs 1,000 besides Rs 200 as transportation charges. The scheme has been responsible for a decrease in mother and child mortality.
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Despite ban, Chinese string menace goes unabated
Amritsar, December 29 Majority of these cases are being reported on the elevated road. Kulwant Singh and Sakatar Singh, both employees of local Amandeep Hospital, sustained grievous injuries on their hands as a Chinese dor dangling across the elevated road came in their way. Both sustained deep cuts on their hands and the doctors attending on them have to stitch the wounds. They were returning to the city from Jandiala Guru side when the incident took place. On December 11, a three-year-old child, Kanishk of New Azad Nagar area sustained deep cuts on his neck and face on the elevated road. As many as 19 stitches were applied on the child's neck, face and arms. He was coming with his paternal uncle during the incident. The hanging dor stuck in his neck and face injuring him critically. One Gulshan Mahajan of Majitha got cuts on his neck due to Chinese string. These incidents are a proof that there is no stopping sale of Chinese strings in the city. Even birds have been injured after getting caught in Chinese string. A couple of these birds were found hurt by an NGO, Mission Aagaaz, a couple days ago. It is pertinent to mention here that keeping the dangers and injuries in mind, the Police Commissioner and district administration had already banned the sale and use of Chinese string for kite flying. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Agarwal said the administration and police officials have raided a number of establishments selling Chinese strings. "Now traders have changed their modus operndi and are selling the Chinese dor only to the children. They have hidden the strings at their houses or some other places and without any specific information we cannot raid their complexes," said the DC. He said the district administration is also trying to spread awareness among people against Chinese strings. He said every possible step is being taken to stem this problem. Police Commissioner RP Mittal said earlier too, they have conducted joint operations with the administrative officials. "I have directed all the SHOs to strictly keep a check on the sale of Chinese strings. Also we will take more steps to make the awareness campaign more effective." Injuries on the rise
* Several persons have been injured with the banned plastic thread *
Majority of these incidents have been reported on the elevated road. *
Admn plans to start people awareness programme
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Sanjha Morcha meets today to finalise poll candidates
Amritsar, December 29 Probability is that the PPP and the SAD (Longowal) would contest on the same symbol while the CPI and the CPM would contest on their respective symbols on at least 30 to 35 seats. Confirming it, Dr Joginder Dyal, a member of the national executive committee, said the Sanjha Morcha would have a common election strategy which would be revealed after December 30 meeting. "We will officially announce the entire list of Sanjha Morcha after the joint coordination committee meeting on December 30. The CPI would contest on at least 20 seats and CPM from 12 to 13 seats," he said. It has been learnt that under the morcha banner, probables likely to be emerged from five constituencies fall under Amritsar would be Amarjit Singh Asal from Amritsar (west), Balwinder Singh Dudhlana from Majitha, Vijay Mishra from Amritsar (central), Jasbir Singh Shyam from Amritsar (South), Baldev Verka from Amritsar (East) and Manmohan Singh Gumtala from Amritsar (North). On the other hand, Amanpreet Singh Chhina, joint secretary and in-charge of PPP's NRI wing, said in a state like Punjab where every second family has a relative settled abroad, the central government's notification which enabled NRIs to vote or contest election, would result in seeing a phenomena which was never witnessed earlier. y Strong contenders for five constituencies falling under Amritsar are Amarjit Singh Asal from Amritsar (west), Balwinder Singh Dudhlana from Majitha, Vijay Mishra from Amritsar (central), Jasbir Singh Shyam from Amritsar (South), Baldev Verka from Amritsar (East) and Manmohan Singh Gumtala from Amritsar (North).
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Khalsa College wins softball tourney
Amritsar, December 29 Brain Bee 2012 Gurrein Kaur Madan of DPS Amritsar emerged as the regional ‘Brain Bee Champion -2012’ at the 5th Chandigarh Regional Brain Bee Championship-2012 (a Neuroscience Contest), organised by Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and Indian National Brain Bee (INBB ), Hyderabad. — TNS
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Land row: Ranjit Avenue residents threaten to campaign against BJP
Amritsar, December 29 The Joint Welfare Forum Ranjit Avenue has shot a letter to the Chief Election Commission, India, Chief Election Commissioner, Punjab, besides Chief Secretary, Punjab Government alleging that AIT headed by BJP leader Sanjiv Khanna passed a resolution in this connection in a hurried manner and within two days the Local Bodies Ministry gave its go-ahead on the proposal. Now, the welfare forum, said it would campaign against the ruling BJP MLA from area in case the trust failed to rollback the decision and would appeal to residents to vote against him in the coming Assembly elections. “The resolution was passed during a general meeting on December 22 while the Local Bodies Ministry granted approval within a couple of days i.e. on December 24, when the model code of conduct came into force. Thus the order is clear case of violation of code of conduct,” said Sukhwinder Singh Dhanjal, president of the welfare forum. Earlier, the forum has decided to hold dharna in protest against the Improvement Trust. Dhanjal said residents have decided not to hold any agitation in view of the Assembly elections. The forum general secretary Gurdev Singh Kang said the land belonged to residents of Ranjit Avenue which was established under Ajnala Road scheme. He said setting up of an office of a political party would add nuisance and would disturb its inhabitants.
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Year Ender
2011 PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service
Amritsar, December 29 Daylight robberies, lootings, snatchings and burglaries have shown an upward trend and jewellers, ATMs, traders became frequent target of the looters. The much-hyped project of installation of CCTV cameras in order to curb crime and increase police efficiency in arresting miscreants remained a non-starter. Though the city's over all crime graph showed a dip this year and the police busted a number of gangs, snatchings, robberies and thefts remained a headache for the department as well as for residents of the holy city. Whether it is the sensational kidnapping of a four-year-old son of a Delhi-based builder from posh Lawrence Road area in February this year or an ATM guard of Axis bank located on Majitha Road and a cashier of Axis bank situated on Court road losing their lives in April, the city was in the grip of terror throughout the year. The sensational kidnapping of two Chinese nationals in which three Railway Protection Force jawans were held by the police hit the headlines in May. Jewellers and traders remained on the target of snatchers and looters with a number of such incidents occurred in the holy city. Various gang of looters and snatchers raised their heads especially during the year. Five unidentified armed looters decamped with Rs 9 lakh after barging into a house in the Green Field Avenue in August. In another incident a jeweller and his son were shot at in broad daylight robbery in September. The looters decamped with all the jewellery displayed in the shop. In another incident, robbers barged into a posh locality of Palm Groove Avenue and looted jewellery about Rs 70 lakh after holding a five-year-old girl hostage. As per the crime data, snatchings and robbery cases have doubled and burglary and theft cases have also gone up. The city witnessed 161 snatching cases and 109 burglaries cases in comparison to 84 and 85 cases during the corresponding period in 2010 respectively. There are 12 robbery cases as compared to 6 and 197 theft cases in comparison to 155 last year. The percentage of these cases traced also remained low. However, there is a decline in murder, attempt to murder, cheating, kidnapping and abduction cases. As compared to 48 murder cases reported in the city in 2010, 29 murders took place this year. Surprisingly, the number of cases under NDPS Act has also declined which is unbelievable giving the rampant drug addiction and peddling in the city. Facts say it all
* There were 161 snatching incidents and 109 burglaries in 2011 in comparison to 84 and 85 cases, respectively, in 2010 respectively. *
12 robberies took place in 2011 as compared to 6 in 2010. There were 197 theft cases in 2011 in comparison to 155 last year. *
Number of murder, attempt to murder, cheating, kidnapping and abduction cases saw an decrease.
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Tourist’s purse snatched
Amritsar, December 29 The Kotwali police has registered a case under Section 379-B IPC. Gurmeet Kaur, a resident of Juhu, Mumbai, in her complaint stated that she had Rs 40,000-50,000 in cash, three diamond rings worth Rs 6 lakh, a mobile phone, ATM card and some important documents in her purse. She said she was going to Darbar Sahib from Kesar hotel in the walled city on a rickshaw when the motorcycle-borne youths snatched her purse.
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Breast cancer checkup camp on January 3
Amritsar, December 29 Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said the test reports would be delivered to patients within 10 days. He added mammography tests would be conducted on only those who would be listed as doubtful cases in the preliminary investigations. The Roko Cancer Charitable Trust which had began its efforts in district on September 1 had earlier too organised a camp at the hospital. The trust had announced to hold 45 free checkup camps in the district. The campaign is run by UK-based MKC Trust. In Punjab, the state government had earlier signed an agreement with the trust for the campaign. — TNS
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Amritsar, December 29
Amritsar, December 29
Amritsar, December 29
Amritsar, December 29
