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Punjab bandh brings life to a standstill
Government offices, hospitals, petrol pumps wear a deserted look
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Hotel occupancy hit as tourists check out
Amritsar, March 28 
Occupancy in city hotels dropped sharply owing to the bandh call in the state. A local hotelier APS Chatha said the state government must resolve the controversy to clear the clouds of uncertainty and instill confidence among the visitors. Most of the tourists left city yesterday. The occupancy in the hotels is likely to remain low up to March 31.A city hotel is closed during the bandh in Amritsar on Wedenesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Shots fired at auction of rural liquor vends
improved sex ratio
Manhole covers come in way of commuters’ safety
Seminar on Guru Granth Sahib
Bar poll on April 4
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Punjab bandh brings life to a standstill
Amritsar, March 28 Schools closed
Education was hit as private, aided and government schools and colleges were shut. About 872 privately managed schools here were also closed. A majority of the schools had already conveyed to their students and staff that the institutes will remain closed due to the proposed strike. As per the directions of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), the schools did not hold the matriculation examination of Punjabi subject today. District Education Officer Sukhwinder Singh said no fresh date of the matriculation examination of Punjabi subject has been announced by the board so far. The PSEB has set up 288 examination centres to conduct the matriculation examination. DEO (Elementary) Jaspal Singh said agitators stopped some seminars on education for children with special needs mid-way. He said these seminars were being held at 17 Block Resource rooms and Cluster rooms in the city. Brakes on transport
All modes of traffic, including rickshaws, autos, buses and even personal transport like two-wheelers and cars were also off the roads. City roads, where traffic jams are the order of the day, were empty today. On several city roads, youth could be seen playing cricket. Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-state Bus terminus, which witnesses 6,700 trips of buses from the bus stand to various destinations, also wore a deserted look. About 650 government-owned buses and 900 private owned buses operate from the bus stand. Chief District Manager Jatinder Mankotia said there was a dip of about 40 per cent in the business transactions of banks here. CII Amritsar Zonal Council chairman DP Singh said city based trades and industries must have sufferred losses to the tune of crores. He said peace and harmony must be maintained in the state at any cost as it was achieved after a long time.
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Government offices, hospitals, petrol pumps wear a deserted look
Amritsar, March 28 Very few patients were seen at Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital. The number of visitors to the district courts complex too was very low. Similar situation prevailed at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and several other private hospitals. The public dealing offices inside Deputy Commissioner Office, District Transport Office, Regional Passport Office and several others also saw very less number of visitors, the employees said. Residents had to wait till evening to buy food items as milk and vegetables. Milk and vegetable shops were opened in the evening where a heavy rush of customers was witnessed. Even petrol pumps and LPG gas agencies were closes. The petrol pump in front of Central Khalsa Orphanage was open. A customer said, "The general public was sent back by the bike-borne youngsters. We could not even argue with them." Residents could not get essential items such as milk and vegetables though the shopkeepers had ample stock. "We had received our stocks early in the morning as usual but we could not sell them," said a shopkeeper. He said the shopkeepers sat outside their shops. Children were seen playing cricket in the streets of the busiest markets of the city such as Pink Plaza. Roads too wore a deserted look except for the bike-borne youngsters as very few residents came out. Very few rickshaw pullers and auto driverswere seen. Shopowners did not open their shops in the evening.
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Hotel occupancy hit as tourists check out
Amritsar, March 28 He said tourism had become a leading industry in the city and crores had been invested to raise the more than 200 hotels in city at present. Thanks to the tourism industry, rickshaw pullers, auto operators, private transporters, shops and eating joints were also reaping profit. These trades were hit during the bandh today. Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) president Randeep Singh said on an average there was a 40 per cent drop in occupancy while the business of ready-to-serve food was a huge hit as the restaurants were shut. He said the situation is likely to remain the same till March 31. He urged the government to resolve the matter amicably for the sake of the tourism industry and the state. "Categorised as a sensitive industry, tourism is the first to takes a hit first because of any agitation. With the peak domestic season just round the corner, prolonging any agitation or occurrence of any untoward incident could have a negative impact on it," he said. He said many tourists who wanted to visit the city ontheir way back from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were canceling their stay in Amritsar. Director Public Relations and Sales of the first five-star hotel of the city Bikram Singh said the impact of bandh was palpable and the hotel staff had also received several calls asking about the law and order situation. He said it took them a lot of time to convince them that it the agitation was peaceful. General Manager of a leading hotel Piyush Kapoor said a bulk booking of 20 rooms from Delhi had been cancelled. In view of a high alert in the state, tourists are playing safe, he said.
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Shots fired at auction of rural liquor vends
Amritsar, March 28 Police Commissioner RP Mittal and the Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal, under whose supervision the allotment process was executed, did not come to know of any such incident. Some liquor contractors from Majitha alleged that the accused were trying to grab vends illegally. Randeep Singh Rimpal, who runs liquor vends in Majitha area and had applied for the next session, alleged that these politically influential group of people opened fire in the air to scare him and his partners away. “I am running liquor vends in Majitha area. This time too I had applied for liquor vends in Chaminda Devi, Pakharpora and Kathunangal areas. I received threatening calls from some influential people asking me to withdraw the application which I didn’t. Incidentally, under the lottery system, my name appeared. Today, they not only shot in the air but also attempted to break open my locked vends at Majitha,” he said. DC Rajat Aggarwal said, “Every proceeding was videographed and nothing of the sort was reported. There must have been some disagreement over the allotment procedure between the two parties but we did not receive any complaint in this regard. Police Commissioner RP Mittal said no one has approached the police with any complaint and everything had been done in a peaceful and transparent manner. No complaint has been registered in this regard. Majitha police station SHO Ravinder Singh said several persons tried to break the locks of the liquor vend in Majitha but did not succeed. “We reached the spot before the attempt to break open the locks. Whoever comes with the valid allotment letter will be handed over the keys. Otherwise, nothing untoward happened and no report has been registered,” he said. The administration earned Rs 29.94 crore by way of auctioning the liquor vends falling under the rural belt. This time, Amritsar rural was divided into two zones. Amritsar-I fetched Rs 18.52 crore whereas Amritsar-II brought Rs 11.42 crore. Compared to last year, there is an increase of Rs 4 crore this year, excise officials said.
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Cash prizes for four villages
Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service
Amritsar, March 28 In Harian village, which has a population of 1,370, the male children born during the year were 62 whereas female births recorded were 86. In Ram Diwali Hindua village with a population of 1,355, male and female births were 54 and 74, respectively. Chaarpur village having 1,006 residents has seen 53 male births against 72 female births. Othian village with a population of 1,694 witnessed 95 male births and 110 female births. Deputy Medical Commissioner, Amritsar, Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said, "The state government has decided to honour the panchayats where sex ratio is more than 1,000, which means that more girls were born than boys." He said the district has an overall sex ratio of 877. "The initiates and campaigns by the district health department, panchayats and even NGOs have resulted in improving the sex ration in these pockets," said Ghai. Officiating District Family Welfare Officer Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said, “We have received a letter from the state health authorities which has been passed on to these four panchayats." He said due to the state government announcing a high alert for the ongoing law and order situation, the function has been postponed. It was to be held on March 30 but no date has beenfixed so far.
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Manhole covers come in way of commuters’ safety
Amritsar, March 28 A random round of the holy city, be it Lawrence Road, Indira Colony, Majitha Road, falling in Ward 14, Aman Avenue, Indira Colony, road leading to Durgiana Temple, Sultanwind Road, Jahajgarh road, Majitha road, White Avenue and Green Avenue area, revealed that the roads have manholes either too low or too high on them. While at some places the concrete padding around the lids above the road has come off, at other places, the lids are placed much below the road surface. Accidents mostly take place when commuters suddenly notice the broken lids or the ones placed below the road level and get little time to negotiate them. A common man has a simple question: Why don’t the authorities coordinate in the work execution so that the roads could be made smooth for travel? Two-wheeler riders complain of backaches and other health problems due to travel on the bumpy roads. Even the newly laid Majitha road, where the work is still in progress, there are over six manholes in the middle of the road, whose lids are not at the road level, which can prove to be fatal for commuters. A manhole located on Lawrence Road caused many accidents with mostly two-wheeler riders involved in them. Here the manhole lid is 1 foot low from the road surface. Sujata Mehra, a resident, could not stop her Scooty while passing through the stretch and injured her leg after falling down this morning. A fruit seller on the roadside said even if two-wheeler riders spot these uneven manholes in advance, they often hit other vehicles or pedestrians. “I see at least 50 such instances daily,” he said. Another risky spot is on the Jahajgarh road where due to the missing lid of a manhole on the road, concrete tiles have been placed to cover it, which is dangerous. It has been learnt that the job of placing the manhole cover is done by private parties, yet it is the responsibility of MC officials to inspect and get them placed in a proper manner. Some contractors blamed that there is a nexus between MC officials and service providers. “The lids are bound to get damaged in a short span of time as the service providers have to compromise on the material to give commission to MC officials.” While most contractors in different wards have feigned ignorance regarding these mishaps, some tried to defend themselves saying the lids were damaged due to road rollers because many new road projects are under progress. “It is for the MC to see when and how the manhole lid job has to be executed,” they said. Some even come up with a justification that the lids are bound to be damaged due to the heavy volume of traffic. “This needs frequent maintenance, but who cares in the MC here,” said a contractor. Dharampal Gupta, MC Commissioner, said: “A special drive will be carried out to make manhole lids come on level with the road surface at the earliest.”
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Varsity teachers hold protest, VC calls for dialogue
Amritsar, March 28 Guru Nanak Dev University Vice-Chancellor Prof AS Brar said he was always open to hold dialogue with the executive committee to resolve any discrepancies and most of the demands of the teachers were accepted. “An agreement over some of the demands raised by the teachers was reached between the management and the Guru Nanak Dev University Teachers Association. The teachers had ended their protests following the agreement. It seems the message was not communicated to the teachers properly, he said. “My doors are still open. I again invite them to deliberate over the remaining issues but it should all be within my powers and should comply with the UGC and AICTE guidelines,” he said. Terming all the invitation as being based on frivolous grounds, the teachers alleged that the V-C has been acting on personal vendetta against them. Carrying placards, the executive committee members of the Guru Nanak Dev University Teachers Association carried out a protest march from the V-C’s office and went across different departments. Some of the teachers pointed out how the VC had made PhD a necessary condition for appointment in the senior scale. The teachers also highlighted the uncertainty prevailing over the promotion policy of the teachers by twisting the AICTE rules, autocratic decision regarding the minor exams being set by a teacher of the varsity. Regarding promotion policy, the V-C clarified, “More than 85 per cent of the teachers have been promoted commensurate with their previous as well as ad-hoc service. The remaining cases too will be considered on the same basis. As far as the credit based system is concerned, it is as per the recommendations of the UGC and the Class size is as per the norms of the university. The demand of the AICTE teachers regarding pay has been accepted and the arrears are being paid. I clarify that the university does not have any overriding powers to change or modify the rules and regulations mandated by the UGC". "To keep uniformity in the evaluation system and to benefit the students, it was decided that the minor and major tests should be set by the University for its Regional Centres also,” he added. The Himachal Pradesh University Teachers' Association too has expressed solidarity with the Guru Nanak Dev University teachers.
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Seminar on Guru Granth Sahib
Amritsar, March 28 Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, former Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, presided over the inaugural session while the Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof AS Brar inaugurated the seminar. Prof Balkar Singh from Punjabi University, Patiala, delivered the keynote address. The director of the centre Dr Balwant Singh Dhillon spoke about the aims and objectives behind the establishment of the centre on studies in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. In his inaugural address, Prof Brar said the centre will be developed into a centre of excellence on Sikh studies and hoped that it will prove to be a step further in the direction of authoritative exposition of the Sikh scripture. Dr Balkar Singh, in his note key address, referred to the marginalisation of exegetes and stressed the need to bring them back to the mainstream. Giani Joginder Singh stressed on the need for a correct explanation of Gurbani. He felt that there should be a comprehensive and correct grammar of Gurbani and emphasised on the need to re-visit the available exegetical works. Prof Pirthipal Singh Kapur, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University presided over the first academic session. Dr. Balwant Singh Dhillon said the seminar is focused on the history of the exegesis of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, tools of exegesis developed so far and the approaches to the exegesis of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
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Bar poll on April 4
Amritsar, March 25 The scrutiny of nominations will be held on Wednesday and the nominations can be withdrawan on Thursday. Saini is likely to fight the polls for the third time. The general house of the Bar has already scrapped the clause barring re-election for the third consecutive term. Saini said, “So far we don’t see any opposition but the picture will become clear on Tuesday after all the nominations have been filed.”
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Life came to a standstill here as educational institutes, all kinds of transport services and trade activities remained closed throughout the day.
