Amritsar, August 26
As the countdown begins for the culmination of the existing corporation house i.e. September 6, speculation is rife on some of the key contenders for the Mayor’s post.

From the BJP side, the front-runner in the race seems to be Bakshi Ram Arora. He won the elections from Ward No. 50 with a convincing margin, this time too. Despite having a vast political background, Bakshi Ram has been the district president of the BJP urban and held the chairmanship of the Improvement Trust in the past.

Second in the line is Sukhminder Singh Pintu, another BJP activist, who won from Ward Number 11 consecutively for the second time and registered the highest margin in the corporation elections.

The third one could be another young, energetic and easily approachable BJP activist Rajesh Hunny, who won from Ward No. 27. Honey has a reasonably good political background and headed the BJP Yuva Morcha (urban). Yet, both Pintu and Honey have negligible experience compared to Bakshi Ram.

Meanwhile, for the first time, the SAD has claimed its stake for the Mayor’s seat, keeping in view the 25 seats won by SAD contenders, while the BJP could garner 24 seats.

From the SAD’s camp, the prominently projected candidates for this post are ? Avtar Singh Trukkanwala, Geetinder Kaur and Amarbir Singh Dhot.

Avtar Singh won the corporation elections from Ward No. 29. He has political experience, but the only hurdle could be his less academic qualification. The second contender, Geetinder Kaur, who won from Ward No. 36, can enjoy the influence just by being the wife of MLA Inderbir Bolaria, but as an individual, she may find it tough to connect with the masses, being the first-timer with absolutely no political experience. The third name which comes to everyone’s mind is of Amarbir Dhot, winner from Ward No. 40. He held political positions like Sikh Students Federation (Mehta)’s district chief and member of the Jail Advisory Board.

Amritsar, August 26
Rana Jang Bahadur, the youth who had attempted suicide by consuming some poisonous substance and was later booked on rape charge by the city police, died in a private hospital here last evening.

His condition was critical since he, along with a young girl, was found in an unconscious condition in a car at a secluded place in the Ranjit Avenue area a few days ago.

The girl had later accused him and his friends of gangrape, besides alleging that they had clicked her obscene photographs.

The police had earlier booked the couple on attempt to suicide charge. However, the case took a turn when, after regaining consciousness, she alleged that she was raped by Rana Jang Bahadur along with his brother Mandeep and a friend Tarundeep Singh.

The victim had stated to the police that the accused took her from the bus-stand on the pretext that her mother had been calling her at a local clinic, where she had come to take medicine. She alleged that he took her to the Ajnala road area, where she was offered a cold drink mixed with some intoxicant, following which she went into a semi-conscious state. She alleged that she was raped by Rana Jang Bahadur and was later forced to sign some blank papers by Mandeep.

The police has registered a case under Sections 376, 294 of the IPC against the Rana, Mandeep and Tarundeep. Earlier, the Civil Lines police had booked the girl and Rana under Section 309 of the IPC for attempt to suicide case.

Amritsar, August 26
An evening of glitz and glamour ended with Punjab getting its fresh and new voice. One of the biggest reality shows of Punjabi entertainment, “Voice of Punjab”, concluded with Anantpal Singh and Nimratpal Kaur emerging as winners. The grand finale was held in Amritsar.

The duo won the coveted prize that included contract for their music album and a car each.

A bhangra team during the grand finale and famous Punjabi singer Malkiat Singh performing during the show. Photos: Vishal Kumar

Anantpal from Ferozepur, who was ecstatic after his win, said: “I feel so good today after finally achieving my goal. We all were working hard for the past few months for this contest”.

Nimratpal Kaur, who belongs to Gurdaspur, shared her joy as well. “It was a tough competition and to win means, I must have performed better than the others,” she said.

The mood for the evening was set by eight contestants who gave colourful performances dressed in traditional attires. The real entertainment was provided by high-energy performances by singer Diljit Dosanjh, who got high-decibel applause from the crowd. Other performances included Lakhwinder Wadali, Feroz Khan, Kaler Kanth and Rani Randeep.

While prominent persons from the Punjabi music industry were present at the event, the judges’ panel included singers Harbhajan Mann, Malkit Singh, Master Saleem and music director Sachin Ahuja, who admitted that this year’s contest was the toughest.

“We had some of the best new talents on the show, each different from the other. All of them were hard working and better than the previous contestants. Judging them was really tough,” Sachin Ahuja said.

Elaborating the show’s attempts at exploring and recognising the next generation singers from the grass-roots level and providing them a platform to fame and glory, he criticised the doubts over the absence of clean music.

“Punjabi music has always remained rooted to its virsa and the recent controversies are just a passing phase. We have talented singers who are taking this industry to great heights.”

Singers Harbhajan Mann and Malkit Singh, who have been the torch-bearers of the Punjabi music industry in recent times, echoed similar views.

“Punjabi music and singers are not only popular but also have created an individual space in the entertainment industry,” said Harbhajan Mann.

Another judge, Master Saleem, believes that with the amount of talented singers in Punjab, Bollywood dreams are not far. “When you take a note, the number of Punjabi singers and artistes in the film industry is quite impressive. The Gen Next singers are quite talented and will definitely add to the growing list of popular Punjabi artistes,” he said.

The show was hosted by Rajiv Thakur and Sugandha Mishra, who kept the audience alive with their comic antics.

Amritsar, August 26
Industry and Technical Education Minister Anil Joshi, Antonius Jax, project manager, GIZ International Services, a German government agency, local industrialists and officials of technical education held a meeting here today to discuss various aspects of Multi-Skill Development Centre (MSDC) to be opened in Amritsar.

They also visited four different locations to choose an ideal site for the establishment of the Centre.

The Punjab Government, in collaboration with GIZ International Services, is in the process of setting up four MSDCs on the basis of 50:50 funding by the state and the Central governments at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Hoshiarpur. Barring Amritsar, sites for establishing the centres in three other cities have been identified.

These MSDCs would work on the “hub and spoke” model. The main centres would act as hubs and about eight to 10 satellite training centres would act under each hub.

The project would cost about Rs 65 crore and each hub would require nearly 10 acres of land. Four years after the establishment, the MSDCs would be in a position to churn out nearly a lakh skilled students every year.

The German agency has already signed an MoU with the Karnataka Government and have jointly established MSDCs at Banguluru and Gulbarga. Besides, the overseas agency is upgrading 75 ITIs in Karnataka under a similar scheme.

Joshi said about four lakh students between Classes VIII and XII drop out of schools every year in the state and the objective was to develop technical skills in them as per the industry’s demand so that they do not have to suffer unemployment pangs. He informed that senior Techncial Education Officials and representative of the Germany’s firm were visiting all four cities where the centres would come up and added that after this, they would hold their next meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh on September 1.

He said the visiting officials were also interacting with industrialists as they did today and hoped that it would eventually help in preparing curriculum accordingly. Semi-literate and school dropouts would be trained to enable them to get jobs in the local industry.

Besides, the state government is also contemplating to upgrade 50 ITIs in the state. Intelligentsia and industrialists have been clamouring for overhauling the obsolete curriculum of the ITIs.

Jax said his concern would provide expertise in management information system, equipment and curriculum to these four centres. In response to a question he said only yesterday he visited an ITI and found that major shortcomings afflicting them are obsolete equipment, shortage of faculty and lack of industry exposure. He added that these ITIs are in desperate need of technical education trainers. “To begin with courses like textile, pharmaceuticals, food processing and hospitality would be introduced as subjects,” he said. He added that otherwise his concern had 40 readymade courses tailor made for industry here. Only those courses, in consonance with the industry, would be introduced in these centres. He said the industry here was pleading the government for skilled workforce, which could be provided by unemployed youth who could join these courses.

Amritsar, August 26
The basic purpose of satellite hospitals - to provide child birth services at a place near the expectant mothers’ residence - gets defeated when most of the residents of Fatehpur village, where Bhai Saheb Singh Satellite Hospital is located, are not even aware of its existence.

The hospital building is located on a large chunk of land acquired by the government years ago. It is about 500m from the nearby approachable road.

“At least there should a direction board on the main road so that

people can come to the hospital during an emergency,” said Gurpal Singh, a village resident.

The employees, too, admit that the location of the hospital is such that most of the people do not even know that there is a hospital. “When I came on the first day of my posting after transfer here, I was puzzled as I could not locate the place,” confided an employee.

The hospital, which on an average helps in 30 child births every month, does not have the facility to conduct caesarian surgeries. “Almost every month, we have to refer six-seven cases to other hospitals,” said an employee.

The hospital also has a sanctioned post of a dental surgeon, but it has never been filled. The male ward of the hospital could not be initiated, though it was planned in the original proposal. Even the furniture from this ward has been shifted.

The hospital also grapples with the problem of finding sweepers for ensuring round-the-clock cleanliness. The availability of medicines is a problem common to all medical institutions as is with this satellite hospital.

The hospital staff also seems ignorant of disposing of bio-medical waste. Such waste is seen thrown in a pit dug on the rear side of the hospital. When the hospital was visited by the Tribune team, only a male employee, who claimed that he had just joined duty yesterday, and a female sweeper were available.

When asked about the Medical Officer, they claimed that she had gone for training. Both employees claimed that there was not even phone facility in the complex. In such a situation, it is hard to imagine what they would do in case a patient needs emergency care.

Amritsar, August 26
The CIA staff has nabbed a notorious gangster, Rakesh Kumar, alias Ricky Mahasha, from the “100-feet road”, where he was waiting for a party.

He was declared a proclaimed offender by a local court and had been evading arrest since March 2010. He was wanted in many “attempt to murder” cases and gambling cases registered against him at different police stations. He was produced before Duty Magistrate and sent to judicial remand in Central Jail.

Anil Kumar, investigating officer, said he was nabbed from the “100-feet road” following a tip-off. During investigations, it was found that he was an accomplice of notorious gangsters like Raju Chikna and Sonu Mota. He used to take “supari” for carrying out any criminal activity.

He was allegedly involved in gambling and betting in cricket matches. Three attempt to murder cases have been registered against him at B-division, Sadar and Maqboolopura police stations. The police said he would be brought on production warrant for further investigations.

Amritsar, August 26
Members of the Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Welfare Association (Mall Mandi) opened a front against the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) for the failure to develop its 211 acres Mall Mandi Scheme. Even after a lapse of over seven years, no civic amenity has been provided by the trust, which accumulated about Rs 150 crore from the allottees.

Harpinder Singh Walia, president of the association, held that the trust had breached the faith of about 1,200 people who could not raise their dwellings even after paying the cost of plots. He said even demarcation was yet to complete. He claimed that the trust was yet to do mutation of land in its name.

The trust has collected about Rs 150 crore under its 211 acres Mall Mandi Scheme but it has failed to give the possession of plots to the owners after providing necessary facilities like motorable roads, sewerage, water supply, electricity connections and others.

Parminder Singh, general secretary of the association, said even after giving full payment, a majority of the plot holders were still to know the whereabout of their plots.

Under the Mall Mandi Scheme, about 700 plots were allotted in 2006 and around 500 plots were given in 2009.

Parminder said he had approached the Revenue Department for registering his plot, but was told that it could not be done since the mutation was yet to be named after the trust. He said his RTI application to the trust did not elicit satisfactory response and was asked to approach the Revenue Department.

Ramesh Chand Gautam, a resident of Krishna Nagar who had bought the plot number A-256, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, under the scheme, said the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in response to his complaint had directed the trust to provide all the basic facilities to the allottees of residential plots under the Mall Mandi Scheme within six months.

He said even after the passage of the time, the trust failed to develop the area. He wondered that though the trust charged a non-construction penalty from the allottees, it had not provided the basic amenities.

Ramesh reasoned that he had not initiated the construction on the plot because of the absence of these basic amenities. He said the cost of construction material and labour had risen about 300 per cent in the past four years.

He added that the Consumer Forum had also ordered the trust to refund the amount paid by the complainant as non-construction penalty along with an interest of nine per cent.

Amritsar, August 26
Two minor boys who had gone missing on August 22 have returned safely to their homes. The police had registered a kidnapping case in this connection following the complaints of their parents who had suspected that they had been kidnapped.

The police authorities claimed that the boys had gone to Delhi after stealing money from their homes.

“Enthused after watching a dance programme in a TV channel, they decided to become dancers and left their homes after stealing Rs 3,000 from their houses,” said Preetpal Singh Virk, district police chief, Amritsar rural, in a press statement issued here today.

RB Singh, a resident of Samastipur (Bihar), and Lance Naik Chhote Lal of Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh), who have been residing in Amritsar, had lodged complaints with the Beas police that their sons, Sawan Kumar (13) and Sham Kant (15), had gone to play at the Beas railway station ground, but did not return home. They suspected that the boys might have been kidnapped.

However during investigations, it was found that the boys had stolen Rs 3,000 from their homes. Both of them study in the same class in Army School at Beas.

“Yesterday, the family received a call from a PCO in Amritsar that their kidnapped children have been released. Following this, a police team located the PCO and investigated the person who had called up their parents. The PCO owner said two children had come to the PCO to make a call at their home,” said Virk.

Later, the police got the information that the boys had reached their homes, he added.

For the past three days, they stayed in Delhi and watched movies. When both the boys spent their money, they returned home, the SSP added.

Amritsar, August 26
Notorious smugglers nabbed following an encounter with the Jalandhar police near Jandiala-Tarn Taran bypass recently were active near the Indo-Pak border. Gurjit Singh, one of the arrested smugglers, was a state-level volleyball player before he entered into the illegal trade to make an easy buck.

Kashmir Singh, another smuggler who managed to escape, was a dismissed cop.

Police sources said Kashmir Singh was dismissed from the police after he allegedly murdered his beloved. He remained a constable for nine years before he was lodged in the jail for the murder in 2010. He had participated in the police games as an athlete. He was released on bail granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court a few months back.

A sub-inspector was injured in the shootout and the police managed to nab two smugglers Gurjit Singh and Charanjit Singh while their two accomplices Surjit Singh and Kashmir Singh fled. Surjit Singh, a resident of Hawelian village in Tarn Taran, was wanted in many smuggling cases.

The Kartarpur police had signalled the smugglers, who were traveling in a car, to stop. But, the smugglers opened fire at the police party which left a sub-inspector injured.

The police party chased the accused. When the accused reached near Jandiala-Tarn Taran bypass road, their vehicle collided with a buffalo after which their car hit a truck.

Amritsar, August 26
A karyana store owner, Mangal Singh, a resident of Khabbe Rajputa, was robbed by two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths when he was returning home after collecting payment from a shop located in the Mehta area in Amritsar rural police district.

The accused took away his bag containing Rs 1 lakh. The police has registered a case under Section 382 of the IPC in this connection.

However, Vikramjit Singh, SHO, Mehta police station, said preliminary investigations had raised suspicions on his statements.

According to Mangal Singh, he had hanged the bag on the handle of his motorcycle. But the police is still investigating into the matter and anything concrete could be said only after the completion of probe, he added.

Amritsar, August 26
The Amritsar chapter of the Mid-day Meal Workers Union today held a meeting at Company Bagh to deliberate on the issues pertaining to their salaries, regularisation of their services, new uniforms and free insurance policy. They also raised slogans against the government’s attitude towards their cause.

The mid-day meal workers criticised the government’s proposal to introduce private companies while laying off their services. Mangal Singh Tanda, spokesperson of the union, said if the government did not pay any heed to their grievances, they would resort to a state-level agitation.

Amritsar, August 26
A wheat allergy check-up camp was organised by Celiac Society here today at Ranbaxy’s Super Religare Laboratory. As many as 40 patients were examined during the camp.

Former civil surgeon Kanwaljit Singh, who was the organiser of the camp, said patients were provided tests at subsidised rates.

“Celiac disease or wheat allergy is caused due to gluten that is present in wheat. Children are worst affected from the disease,” he said.

He said children affected from wheat allergy should be given gluten-free diet to save them from various problems.

“We have advised the people that in case of wheat allergy, children should be given gluten-free diet,” said Dr Kanwaljit, adding that it was hard for the people to believe that someone could be intolerant to wheat.

Pediatrician Dr Sandeep Aggarwal from the Civil Hospital said a few symptoms of celiac disease are abdominal pain, bloating, gas or indigestion, constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhoea (either constant or off and on), lactose intolerance, nausea and vomiting, stools that float and are foul smelling or bloody and unexplained weight loss.

“We have tried to create awareness among the patients. Most of the celiac disease cases are not reported due to lack of awareness,” said Dr Sandeep.