Amritsar, September 26
Three drunk youths of Ramdass village today entered into a brawl with a police party accompanying a recovery van when it was removing encroachmenst from the busy railway link road here.

As per details, ASI Gurmeet Singh, head constable Harjinder Singh and a Home Guards' jawan Raj Kumar were removing the encroachments when the youths, who were in a car, refused to move their vehicle. They allegedly physically assaulted and misbehaved with the police party.

However, the senior police authorities said the youths had only misbehaved with the police and a case was being registered against them.

The eyewitnesses revealed that the three youths, who were later identified as Kuldeep Singh, Amarjit Singh and their brother, had physically assaulted the police party.

“As we told them to remove the vehicle which was parked in the middle of the road, they started abusing the police party and attacked it. They interfered in discharging our duties,” Gurmeet Singh said.

Rashpal Singh Ghuman, ADCP (Traffic), said , “As the youths were in an inebriated condition and misbehaved with the police party, we have got their medical examination conducted and subsequent action has been initiated against them.”

However, Circuit House chowki in charge said investigations were being carried out and action would be initiated accordingly.

Amritsar, September 26
Two robbers barged into a house at Indira Colony on Majitha Road on the pretext of checking the electricity meter and decamped with cash and gold jewellery.

Tilak Raj, owner of the house, said his teenaged son Karan was alone at home when the incident took place.

“I had gone for my duty at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, while my wife and other members of the family had gone to a marriage function at that time,” said Tilak Raj.

He said the two robbers had covered their faces. Immediately after entering the house they put a cloth on the mouth of Karan, after which he fell unconscious. They then ransacked the house and took away Rs 30,000, a gold chain and two gold rings from an almirah.

He said his son regained consciousness after half and an hour. He immediately called him and other family members up.

The police reached the spot and started investigations. The police said investigations were under progress and a case was being registered.

Amritsar, September 26
Even as the Heritage Walk will complete its maiden year tomorrow, the initiative is still grappling with teething problems like lack of sanitation on the route and the menace of dangling wires, which eclipse the facades of heritage buildings that are a crucial part of the walk. Besides, occupants of many buildings have changed the heritage structures and raised new concrete structures in these in the past one year.

The Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board launched the Heritage Walk here on September 27, 2011, to showcase 14 key religious, historic, architectural and traditional cuisine spots in the walled city for the tourists.

Piles of garbage dotting the route, people urinating in the open, hanging waste polythene bags containing refuse, shreds of clothes on various cables offer a nasty look to the tourists. A number of loose hanging wires concealing the facades of beautiful buildings remain the same. Loose cables were to be removed before the start of the walk, but even after a year the work is yet to start. Loose cables hanging over the facades of majority of the buildings to be shown block the front view.

All these problems persist, despite the fact that the district administration and Amritsar Tourism Development Board (ATDB) had constituted a committee of members drawn from various departments, including Municipal Corporation, Sewerage Board, private telecom, local cable network supplier, BSNL and others, to find a solution to remove these cables, but it seemed to have failed to deliver the desired result.

Meanwhile, deplorable roads, missing footpaths, widespread encroachment, unorganised traffic, loose and unorganised dangling cables of power supply, telecom and private satellite channels, poor garbage collection, unhygienic environment and lack of cleanliness present a bad picture of the city to tourists.

Among the 14-key spots, many are either losing their heritage value or being demolished to construct a new structure with contemporary design. The tempering has been going on all over the year, but the authorities concerned remained a mute spectator.

Meanwhile, the INTACH has recorded availability of over 300 heritage-value structures in the walled city and over 35 per cent of them are in need of conservation. For instance, heritage value of the two-and-a-half century-old Udasi cult's Chitta Akhara, near Harmandar Sahib, was seriously undermined as a wall of Nanakshahi bricks was replaced with a new one. Already, considerable damage has been done to the frescoes of the akhara as they have been given a touch of paint. Intricately carved doors and windows have also been brightened up with a green paint.

Another glaring example is of a demolished portion of Qila Ahluwalia situated at its entrance, which sends a wrong message to the tourists. A third key spot on the Heritage Walk route, the fort, has seen many shops and residential apartments with contemporary outlook coming up in its parts.

Another vital spot on the walk map is Thakurdwara Dariana Mal, situated near Patel Chowk. The temple is well equipped with a unique wooden system installed over it and attached to a window on the first floor to draw out water from it and directly supply to the first floor. The view of the wooden system was lost forever as a concrete roof and walls have been raised around it. It is being taken care of by the Shri Durgiana Temple Committee.

Heritage lover Balvinder Singh said this way the city would gradually loose its old charm forever as many private structures with heritage value on the walk's route, though not mentioned as key spots, are being replaced with new ones.

The board did not shoulder the responsibility on the pretext that it pertained to the Municipal Corporation (MC) and as per rules the occupants could not carry out any construction without its prior approval. Board officials maintain that since majority of these structures were in private hands, the government could not interfere and only sensitise people to take care of the heritage.

Meanwhile, officials of the board said plans to remove these blocks were being taken one by one, funds from Asian Development Bank were being sourced to conserve precarious heritage value buildings and structures on the route of the Heritage Walk, while beautification of their surroundings had already been taken. Baba Kulwant Singh from Ajnala had been roped in to clean the route of the walk and sensitise people. They said an idea had been mooted to put all wires in a hollow cable to provide a clear view of the front portions of the buildings.

Amritsar, September 26
Amidst huge inflow of tourists, the Municipal Corporation has not set up adequate number of public toilets in the city. Though “planned” in every ward, as many as 43 out of 65 wards in the holy city are reportedly without public toilets.

The situation is worse for women or persons with disabilities as the number of toilets for them is negligible.

The information procured by a local resident, PS Bhatti, under the RTI Act few months back, revealed that wards including No 1 to 19, 2 to 21, 25, 27 to 36, 38, 39, 43, 44, 50, 57, 59, 60 and 61 to 65 did not have public toilets.

The MC, in its RTI reply then, had admitted that these essential services could not be provided even in the fully occupied shopping or residential areas.

Though MC officials claimed that the information stands obsolete, a random survey of several key points of the city presented a dismal scene.

There are three main shopping complexes - Nehru Shopping Complex, District Complex, Ranjit Avenue and Dharam Singh Market, near the Golden Temple. All these places do not have functional public toilets. The traders said they were forced to go home to urinate.

The historic Company Bagh, the only place where residents come for morning or evening walks, too is without a proper toilet.

In the absence of proper facility, people resort to urinate in the open.

Even as the MC officials argued that an NGO Sulabh International Social Service Organisation has been engaged for the purpose of providing toilet facilities at key locations in the holy city, it is a ‘pay and use’ facility.

The situation is no different at the railway station. Going by the inspection report of the Railway Board, there is no provision of public toilets on platform number 2, 3, 4 and 5.

NS Gabarhia, former Deputy Station Superintendent, said “Two toilets on platform number 2 and 4 have remained non-functional for the last over two decades,” he said.

Amritsar, September 26
Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora today summoned key Municipal Corporation (MC) officials for a meeting to discuss important issues like solid waste management plant, poor state of garbage collection system and staff crunch ahead of the first meeting of the new MC House, the date for which is yet to be announced.

Those who attended the meeting held at the Mayor’s guest house located near Customs Chowk included MC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta, Additional Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal, Senior Deputy Mayor Avtar Singh and Deputy Mayor Avinash Jolly.

The idea behind the meeting was to get updates about the vital projects of the city which could not be executed for want of the House approval.

The most prominent issue discussed during the meeting was the execution of the municipal solid waste management plant and making adequate arrangements for garbage lifting, especially when the garbage-lifting firm, Antony Waste Handling Company, has refused to perform the job. The case got entangled in the high court, which has directed the MC Commissioner to make adequate garbage-lifting arrangement and report the matter back to the court by October 3.

According to information, two proposals have been finalised to be tabled in the upcoming House meeting. One, to terminate the contract with the present firm officially, and second, get approval for launching the formalities to engage a new firm.

Similarly, cleanliness of the city also suffered a hit due to shortage of staff with the Sanitation Department. Even as the MC had already conducted interviews for recruit 346 safai karamcharis in May, but due to the sudden announcement of corporation polls next month and the House becoming defunct, the recruitment process got stalled.

Despite getting sanction, the installation process of tubewells in certain wards of the city too got stalled for want of House nod.

“The first House meeting’s schedule would be announced shortly. Even as being a councillor I had vague ideas about these issues. Before conducting the first House meeting, it was necessary to know the technicalities ,like I know that the city is in a dire need of solid waste management plant to solve the garbage problem, but I had little idea about the alternate arrangements made for lifting garbage after the firm withdrew its machinery. I also wanted to know the exact directions of the high court on the issue. Similarly, the recruitment process and other development projects suffered a hit because of want of House nod. Today’s meeting was conducted just to brush up our knowledge with the updates on these problems,” said Mayor Arora.

Amritsar, September 26
The party, which has lost the confidence of people and even its own allies, has no right to stay in power, said Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

In a press release issued here today, Majithia, referring to the Congress, said the President of India should call an immediate session of Parliament and ask the UPA to prove its majority.

He said the Congress was actually in minority and the fact would come to the fore during such a session of Parliament. He said in a democratic set-up, the decisions that affect the masses directly should be taken after evolving a consensus on the same by calling all-party meet but the dictatorial attitude of the Congress was self-evident by its stance towards FDI, limiting subsidised LPG cylinders and hike in diesel prices.

“It’s high-headedness to such an extent that what to talk of other parties, it did not even care for the opinion of its own allies,” he said.

He said: “People are reeling under the pressure of escalating inflation and are fed up with the corrupt set up. Adding insult to injury has been the decision of the Congress to permit FDI into multi-brand retail. The decision has laid bare its anti- people attitude.”

Nation-wide protests against the Congress were being held to exhibit the wrath of public. Allies had withdrawn the support from the Congress and so would people of the nation, he said. The days of the Congress were numbered, he added.

Amritsar, September 26
Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) president Satyajit Singh Majithia will felicitate athlete Khushbir Kaur, who has set various national and international records in walk events, at the Khalsa College for Women (KCW) tomorrow.

He will also be inaugurating the six-storyed new block of the college, comprising a girls' hostel, common room and convention centre. Principal of KCW said honorary secretary of the KCGC Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina will also be present to honour Khushbir, who had been selected again for international championships to be held in Japan and Russia later this year.

Khushbir, who hails from Rasulpur Nikka village, near here, belongs to an ordinary farming family, but gained nationwide fame when she broke records in inter-colleges, inter-university and national events in 20-km and 5-km walk events. She participated in a pre-Olympics camp in Japan and Russia earlier this year. For want of a few points she could not take part in the recently held London Olympics. Presently she is undergoing training at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala.

Khushbir said she was happy to receive honours tomorrow. She had been supported by the KCGC and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) financially to take part in the world events. "I feel sad that I could not take part in the Olympics, but I have already started preparing for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Brazil," said Khushbir. Her present time record in 20 km walk event is 1 hour 37 minutes and 24 seconds.

A BA-I student, Khushbir, said she had been working hard on her timing and would improve further under the able guidance of the coaches in Japan and Russia.

The titles in her kitty included a gold medal in 20-km walk event inthe Open Indian National Athletic Championship, Kolkata, gold medal in the Federation Cup, record and gold medal in the Youth Asia and Youth Olympics, gold medal in the Asian Walking Championship and gold medals in 5-km walk in inter-colleges athletic championship and inter-universities championship.

Amritsar, September 26
The Mohkampura police has nabbed six persons on gambling charges and recovered Rs 48,800 from them following a raid.

Those arrested were identified as Kashmir Singh and Rahul Kohli of Judge Nagar, Gurmeet Singh of Choudhary Hari Singh Nagar, Balwinder Singh of Krishna Nagar, Nitin Mahajan of Kharasian Katra Baghian and Jatidner Kumar of Dashmesh Nagar, Jora Fatak.

The police authorities said on a tip-off about the gambling, they conducted a raid on the designated place. A case under Sections 13, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act was registered against them. The accused had been released on bail.

Amritsar, September 26
A budding kick-boxer Vaishali, who won the first position in the 48-kg category in the state level kick-boxing championship concluded at Faridkot on September 22, was extended a warm welcome today upon reaching her school, Prabhakar Senior Secondary School.

The management committee of the school, faculty and students congratulated her for her achievement.