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4 candidates booked
3,000 kg of lahan seized
Extra vigil fails to curb snatching incidents
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Poll code hits
jewellers, filling station owners hard
Amritsar, January 20 Trade volumes in gold and silver jewellery have dropped by 80 per cent after the implementation of the model code of conduct for elections ahead of the Assembly election in the state.
This modest politician does not promise anything to electorate
City runs for a cause on Jan 22
Punjab talent test dates shifted
City girl breaks record in discus throw
Conference on librarianship
Mythology retold in theatre festival
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4 candidates booked
Amritsar, January 20 Those booked are BJP candidate from Amritsar (North) Anil Joshi, SAD rebel and Independent candidate from Amritsar (South) Gurpartap Singh Tikka, People’s Party of Punjab candidate from the same constituency Jasbir Singh Sham and BJP candidate from the Amritsar (West) constituency Rakesh Gill. The four Independent candidates from the Majitha constituency were also issued notices for failing to give their expenditure records to the election observers concerned. Manjit Singh Narang, Returning Officer of the Majitha constituency, said UB Mishra, election observer from the area, had summoned the candidates for showing their election expenditure with all the records on January 16 and 19. However, the candidates did not turn up. Narang said these candidates had been issued notices to present before the observer concerned on January 23, otherwise strict action would be taken against them as per the law. Meanwhile, Joshi was booked under Section 127-A of the Representation of People Act on the complaint of the Returning Officer of the area for putting up huge hoardings at Kichlew Chowk, Circuit House and Lawrence Road Chowk without the requisite permission, hence, disobeying the Election Commission’s order. In a similar offence, Jasbir Singh Sham, a candidate of the PPP, who has now given his support to the SAD candidate, was booked for putting up hoardings and posters of the party without permission, while Tikka was booked under Section 188 of the IPC for holding a rally on January 17 without any permission from the authorities. The BJP candidate from the Amritsar (West) constituency Rakesh Gill was booked for violating code of conduct. Parshotam Singh Randhawa, Returning Officer of the constituency, revealed that the candidate had pasted posters and advertisements of his party in the residential complexes of the Kot Khalsa area. A flying squad asked the residents about the posters and came to know that the posters were pasted without their written consent.
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3,000 kg of lahan seized
Amritsar, January 20 As much as 1,250 kg lahan was seized and destroyed by the excise team at Chak Mishri Khan village, falling under Lopoke police station, while 1,000 kg of lahan was recovered from Khiala Kalan village. An indigenously made illegal distillery unit was also destroyed at Chak Mishri Khan. According to information, acting on a tip-off, an excise team, headed by Excise and Taxation Officer, along with the police raided the residence of Narinder Singh at Chak Mishri Khan Village and recovered 850 kg of lahan stored in seven drums. The raiding party found seven drums and subsequently destroyed them in the presence of residents. The empty drums were impounded and a case under the Excise Act was registered against Narinder Singh, who was nabbed from the spot. The team recovered 400 kg of lahan from the same village - 300 kg from the house of Gora Singh and 100 kg from Tejinder Singh’ residence. Assistant Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Pawinder Kumar said while three drums of lahan were seized and destroyed at Gora’s house, one Lal Singh was found distilling illicit liquor at Tejinder Singh residence. He ran away after finding the raiding party. The team destroyed 100 kg lahan seized from spot. In another midnight swoop, the Excise Department recovered 850 kg of lahan from the residence of Gurcharan Singh at Khaila Kalan village. Pawinder Kumar said on a tip-off, the excise team along with policemen raided the spot and seized the illicit liquor. A case was registered. Meanwhile, the police in various successful raids recovered about 830 kg of lahan and destroyed an illegal distillery unit at Chak Mishri Khan. The unit was being run at the residence of Dalbir Singh, who absconded as the police team raided the complex. The police have booked Sahib Singh of Khiala Kalan, Avtar Singh of Chhidan and Bhola Singh of Chhana Kohali, who were at large.
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Extra vigil fails to curb snatching incidents
Amritsar, January 20 These unscrupulous persons have also enhanced their activities in the small townships if the recent incidents of snatching in these areas are anything to go by. In recent incidents, two petrol pumps were looted on a gunpoint by unidentified car-borne youths, while a jewellery shop, located on Majitha Road, was robbed by six armed persons. Even as the police was yet to make any breakthrough in these cases, the snatching cases were also giving a tough time to the Police Department. Besides posh localities, areas around the Golden Temple remained on the target of the snatchers. The Golden Temple witnesses a huge number of footfall everyday as a large number of devotees and tourists throng the temple to pay obeisance at the holy Sikh shrine. The snatchers after committing crime, ie robbing the tourists, manage to escape in the labyrinthine streets of the old walled city.Several unidentified youths snatched the purse of a Mumbai resident when she was going with her husband Ravi Vijayan to paying obeisance at the Golden Temple in a rickshaw. She was having Rs 35,000, two mobile phones, digital camera in her purse. In another instance, a CID cop was looted by auto-rickshaw-borne youths on the Ram Tirath Road. There is a sudden spurt of crime in Rayya township near Amritsar. A number of incidents of robbery and looting were reported in the area. A couple of days back, several car-borne youths looted Rs 24,000 from two vegetable vendors, belonging to Beas, who were going to the vegetable market for procuring vegetables, besides a mini-truck driver, who was carrying vegetables and was going to the market. “We are chalking out plans to provide security to jewellers at Majitha Road, where a number of looting incidents have occurred in the recent past, besides petrol pumps and other vulnerable points, which are soft targets of the robbers,” said RP Mittal, Police Commissioner. It is pertinent to mention here that five companies of paramilitary forces have been called to the city for security in view of the Assembly poll. These forces along with police jawans have been carrying out flag marches in various sensitive areas, besides police have been deployed at many chowks in the city.
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Poll code hits jewellers, filling station owners hard
Amritsar, January 20 He said their trade had taken a hit as due to the election code of conduct there was a restriction on carrying cash more than Rs 2.50 lakh, while the rates of raw gold and silver were quite high and a little quantity cost in lakhs. He said in comparison to the sales realised in November and December last year, sales had plummeted by nearly 80 per cent this month. Similar views were echoed by other traders in the market. Another gold jeweller Charanjit Arora, also president of the association, said two days ago he was held by policemen and inquired for carrying cash. He said excessive intervention in their trade had made their secrets open among the officials and public, which made them vulnerable in future as well. He said even after the conclusion of the elections, the fear of stalking and snatching would remain high in their minds. He said excessive intervention by the police and poll officials and slump in the trade had forced them to contemplate whether to vote or not. He added that there were about 300 members in their association with 250 of them having their centres in the city and the rest of them having their outlets in the Civil Lines area. Besides jewellers, automobile agency owners and filling station operators were also feeling the heat. Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) president JP Khanna said the Election Commission’s directive to restrict the cash carrying limit to Rs 2.50 lakh during the election period has upset the business of filling stations. He said after the implementation of the model code of conduct there was nearly 5 per cent slump in sales in comparison with the previous month. He said filling station owners were to bring daily sale proceed to their houses and added that owing to high cost of petrol and petroleum products the proceed generally cross the monetary limit fixed by the EC. Apart from this, he said as per the new rules, all filling station owners were to deposit the amount in advance for procuring petrol and petroleum products. He said this amount is deposited under the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) facility, which was available in selected branches of the banks. He maintained that there were number of instances when even after showing credential of petrol pumps, members were harassed by checking parties. Rohit Kapur, proprietor of Automobile Kapoor’s (I) Pvt Ltd, dealers of Tata Motors and Fiat, said there was nearly 30 per cent slump in the sales of automobiles in comparison to the sales of the last month. He said due to the limit of carrying cash customers from rural areas were holding back. He said this trend was visible from the customers coming from remote areas of the district and surrounding areas.
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This modest politician does not promise anything to electorate
Sanjha Morcha candidate from the Amritsar (West) Constituency Amarjit Singh Asal more often while on poll campaign drives his old Maruti car accompanied by merely one or two companions. But people are taking him seriously as during the 2007 elections he had secured 11,350 votes. And that too when Congress bigwig OP Soni and the BJP’s former Improvement Trust Chairman were also contesting. This time OP Soni is contesting from the Amritsar (Central) Constituency and Chinna is not in fray. Till date his election expenditure as submitted to the poll observer is merely Rs 42,000. With many of the posh colonies as Ranjit Avenue, Rani Ka Bagh, Basant Avenue and Medical Enclave, which usually were not confirmed communist sympathisers, excluded from the constituency in delimitation, Asal, CPI leader is upbeat. A postgraduate, Asal, had left his job of eight years in 1996 to become a CPI whole-time activist. He says, “We have never been welcomed by people when we go to their homes as this time. The youth and educated residents who are Manpreet Singh Badal’s supporters are a big support.” While he rings the doorbells, the young and old accompanying him raise slogans, “Takhat badal deo, taj badal deo. Beimanna di sarkar badal deo.” (Change the throne, change the crown. Change the government of the dishonest). A well-recognised face in the area, Asal does not needs an introduction. Even those who do not recognise him have heard of his name. Taking confident and fast strides in the streets, he does not promise any thing. “By this time they (people) already know what we stand for. We just hand over a copy of the Sanjha Morcha’s common minimum programme and that’s it. They know what to do,” he comments. Asal said the Sanjha Morcha, headed by the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), was committed to bring in clean administration, better health and education, de-politicisation of police and civil administration. “What role does a minister have in the transfers of employees? It needs to be defined. People have to bribe to get transferred or to stop it,” he quips. Discussing the local issues, he said, “The industry needs to be brought back. The city used to be a major industrial hub. Secondly the problem of traffic needs to be solved amicably.”
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City runs for a cause on Jan 22
Amritsar, January 20 The walk is being organised on January 22 to kick start a year-long programs for the ‘great run’. The Marathon aims to highlight city’s cultural and historical importance. ‘Pride of Punja’ Fauja Singh will lead the walk in which various NGOs, educational institutions, corporate houses and civil society members would take part. The route for the walk would be around the Golden Temple complex. Gunbir Singh, Chairperson, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), who has conceptualised the initiative, shared the focus behind the event. “The holy city is blessed with loads of cultural and modern spaces that have a great tourism potential, the Golden Temple has been the major tourist attraction. This annual activity is planned for augmenting that potential.” Apart from the walk and marathon, the proposed annual event would be doing a lot of promotion to reach out to more people each year. “We have set up the Amritsar Tourism Outreach (ATO) for the purpose and we plan to have city’s first marathon run by the year-end,” said Gunbeer. The motto of the run, he said, will be ‘Amritsar-My city, My Pride, My Responsibility’ and its primary motive is to make the citizens aware of making the city clean. “A series of programs are being planned for this Marathon year and we intend to involve person of any age or group to take an active part.” Apart from being a fun activity, the highlight of these events would be the city’s specific problems including traffic congestion, encroachments, and unsanitary conditions and need to make city clean. Fauja Singh too is the major attraction and would come to flag off the walk this Sunday, he said.
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Punjab talent test dates shifted
Amritsar, January 20 The SISE has not clarified any reason for deferring of the vital test, which was introduced on the lines of the National Talent Search last year. Apparently, assembly election ahead is cited to be the major reason. When approached Coordinator of the Test, District Science Supervisor Kailash Chander Sharma, said the test has been deferred following directions of the SISE. He said the communication only stated that for some unavoidable reasons the test was being postponed. As per the earlier directions, the Punjab Talent Search Test for eighth and matriculation students of government schools of the city was to be conducted at Government Senior Secondary School Town Hall, Mall Mandi, on January 22. The district election office will conduct rehearsals for the teachers on the same day (January 22) ahead of election duties on January 29 and January 30. About 500 students were expected to take part in the test. As per the latest directions, the test would be held at the same venue on February 5. Sharma said the test would be conducted as per the roll numbers already issued by the department. After qualifying the test middle standard students would be eligible for Rs 200 per month scholarship for a period of four years while the selected students of matriculation would receive Rs 400 per month scholarship for a period of two years. The winning students of middle standard would simultaneously receive Rs 500 per month scholarship after winning the National Mains-cum-merit scholarship.
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City girl breaks record in discus throw
Amritsar, January 20 Navjeet Kaur, student of Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School, threw discus at a distance of 46.48 meters. Navjeet yesterday also won a gold medal in shot-put category. Navjeet is a student of class XI. Navjeet’s father Jaspal Singh had participated in the world university games in shot-put. Her mother, Kuldeep Kaur, was a member of the 1986’s Olympic bronze medal winning team. The youngest in the family, Jasdeep Singh, is a bronze medallist at the Youth Commonwealth Games in shot-put category.
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Conference on librarianship
Amritsar, January 20 Dr Jagdish Arora spoke on the role of libraries and librarians in the digital era.
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Mythology retold in theatre festival
Amritsar, January 20
Maya Krishna Rao gave an exceptional solo performance in Ravanama. Through Kathakali dance form she retold the age old mythology with new zeal. “Apart from the main spine of the Ramayana, there are hundreds of other versions and they have contributed in the making of this piece. The musical piece is not just about Ravana, the evil king of Lanka, but it’s about Ravana, the great scholar, musician, lover of beauty, the supreme warrior and unparallelled disciple of Lord Shiva,” said the actor-director Rao. The element of difference here was not just the grand solo performance but also some aspects of the story like Sita here was Ravana’s daughter who was given away at birth as he was warned that she would be the cause of his death. The play was premiered at the Ramayana festival in Puducherry in February last year. ‘In the Name of Jacob S’ was about Jakub Szela, a Polish peasant leader who lead an uprising against the Nationalistic nobles in 1846. The play though complex in its sentiment with a blunt, cheeky and humorous language, had all the aspects of a Polish country side at the audience’s disposal. Monika Strzepka tried to raise some moral questions about class divisions, justification of the uprising and the basis of European society through this act. “Most of the Polish society has its roots in the countryside, There is still a lot of conflict between the old world and new world order in our society and the play is just an attempt to put some perspective through the story of Jacob Szela,” said Monika. The screenplay is written by Pawel Demirski who has won the top honours at the 2011 Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival. Monika said, “The city is so vibrant and warm in its character. Though it’s a little different experience for us as the way of life in Poland and India is pole apart.” But art, she says, connect us.
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The extra vigil and deployment of paramilitary forces notwithstanding, the incidents of robbery and snatchings go on unabated in the city.
Almost one or two snatching and robbery cases are being reported on the daily basis
Amritsar, January 20
A jeweller, Vinod Mehta, general secretary of the Bullion and Ornaments Merchants Welfare Association, claimed that the sales of gold and silver jewellery had dropped sharply.
Amritsar, January 20