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Fire Wing on alert ahead of Divali
Boy missing: 2 days on, police registers kidnapping case
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Despite court order, man fails to get his house vacated
Celebrate Divali with eco-friendly crackers
First Punjabi conference held at Khalsa College
CBSE schoolteachers get training on formative assessment
Youth Festival
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Fire Wing on alert ahead of Divali
Amritsar, November 10 It has been learnt that the leave applications of the whole staff have been put on hold. Grappling with huge staff crunch, the MC has spared some of its employees from other wings to assist the fire wing till the festive season is over. The MC’s 10 tubewell operators, two auto workshop mechanics and two electricians would be at the disposal of the fire wing. Additional Joint Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal is in constant touch with the officials of the fire wing. At Jahajgarh crackers market, the fire tenders were placed on 24-hour duty from today. A communication has been sent to the police department to ensure that there are no encroachments on roadsides so that fire tenders face no difficulty in passing through these areas in case of any emergency. The water reservoirs have been checked. It would be ensured that the fire tenders leave the stations within a minute they receive a call about the emergency. Sabharwal has also instructed the fire officials to install caller IDs on the emergency numbers to trace fake calls. Special fire fighting bikes
Kudos to the fire department which has procured two motorbikes equipped with sophisticated fire fighting gadgets. These bikes would be of immense help to reach areas through narrow lanes. In the past, due to old topography of the holy city and the congested areas, the fire tenders had been facing problems to reach spots in case of any fire incidents. staff crunch: MC spares employees from other wings
Emergency numbers
Teams on duty
Teams on duty in each station comprise 14 employees, including one officer in charge, leading firemen, firemen and drivers. Tips and precautions in case of fire mishap
official speak It is true that the fire wing is grappling with problems, but we are prepared to meet any untoward incident. We have chalked out a special duty plan. What we now need is public cooperation. For those, who dial the emergency numbers for wrong reasons too would be booked by the police this time — Pardeep Sabharwal, Additional Commissioner , MC
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Boy missing: 2 days on, police registers kidnapping case
Amritsar, November 10 The case was registered on the statement of Angrez Singh, boy’s father. He said Gurkirat Singh had gone to play, but did not return. The Verka police has initially lodged a missing report. However, after preliminary investigations, the police found that an unidentified person had abducted him. A case under section 363 IPC has been registered in this connection. Meanwhile, the police officials visited the school where the boy studied and interacted with his friends. However, the police got no clue about case. Tarlok Singh, investigating officer, said the police interacted with the school authorities besides talking to his friends, but they had no clue about his disappearance. Even the family of the missing boy did not receive any ransom call in the case. The police is working on different theories to crack the case, he added. 10-year-old Gurkirat Singh went missing under mysterious circumstances from the Verka area at 4 pm on Wednesday.
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Despite court order, man fails to get his house vacated
Amritsar, November 10 A local court had given an in favour of Kewal Singh and ordered the tenants to vacate the house. Kewal alleged, “Instead of get my house vacated, the police booked my two sons for killing the tenant, Surinder Kaur. In actual, she died during a quarrel with her own family members who were insisting her on not vacating the property.” As his one son is in the jail and other working in Himachal Pradesh for the past several years before the incident, Kewal Singh, a mason, is now forced to beg on city roads for his living. He became a handicap after both his legs got broken when he fell down constructing a house a couple of years ago. “Even though my both sons were not present at home when the incident took place in which Surinder Kaur died, the Gate Hakima police registered a murder case against them on a false complaint of the family of Surinder and this was all done only to grab my property. I don’t have any money to fight a legal case for the release of my son,” said Kewal Singh. He has written an application to the Police Commissioner to reinvestigate the case and cancel the false case. Ram Singh, Police Commissioner, said the matter was not in his knowledge and he would now personally look into the case and if any police official was found guilty, action would be taken accordingly. “I will also get the case reinvestigated by an SP-rank officer and ensure that justice is done in the case,” said the Police Commissioner. Kewal Singh won the case against his tenants, but the police failed to get his property vacated
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Celebrate Divali with eco-friendly crackers
Whatever the pledges made every year to say no to crackers, but come Divali and the noisy celebrations are on. But this time the guilt of adding to the ire of eco-brigade seems to be lessened with some eco-friendly crackers in the market. It might sound weird, but the fact is that this Divali the market is flooded with eco-friendly crackers, the ones that claim to pollute less with low smoke emission. "Since there has been a lot of opposition about burning crackers from the environmentalists and people have become eco-conscious, the market is full of greener options. Most popular ones are the aerial crackers that give out less smoke, some advance electric and twinkling crackers that are called sound crackers," says Gulli, owner of Gulli Pataka Shop in Patakha market. With some improvised crackers to please both the environmentalists and the boom brigade, the sales are sure to pick up. "The thing is Divali makes everything special, whether plausibly or ridiculously. The fact that this practice adds some fun
to buying crackers, which otherwise will be loaded with guilt of adding to the pollution. So having some eco-friendly options would take some load off and I sure will look for these," shares Sahil Handa, a student from city. Even the names have been kept eco-friendly, like the flower-pot crackers that promise to have fewer chemicals and smoke emission or the 'light' and 'laser' crackers that emit light. "In countries like Australia, they use light and sound to celebrate and cut down on pollution that comes from fireworks. I believe we can follow and Divali would be brighter. But having eco-friendly crackers is a concept born out of the awareness that people now have. I would say it's a positive step towards green and clean Divali," shares Dipak Babbar, member, Mission Aghaaz, a NGO working for environment. Though, he still feels that more initiatives are needed to control the pollution caused in a single day of Divali festivities. "We had at least 30-40 percent more pollutants in air on Divali by just burning crackers. Also, the fact that crackers are being sold from inside the Company Bagh premises, which is probably the only and most important nature hub in city is appalling." Agreeing and voicing the same thoughts is Esha Kakkar, a Greenpeace volunteer from city. "Look at the amount of smog that Delhi has been witnessing in the past few days and even Amritsar is clouded with smog every year on Divali eve and days after that. The unhealthy habit of burning crackers should be replaced by green celebrations," she says.
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Grim traffic scenario haunts city
Amritsar, November 10 Wednesday’s incident in which a pregnant woman, Kamaljit Kaur, was killed after being hit by a speeding bus points at the shortcomings, which need to be plugged immediately. High number of heavy vehicles, majority of these not following norms, on city roads jeopardises safety of commuters. Prof Paramjit Singh Mahoora, also former Dean of Faculty of Physical Planning and Architecture, said infrastructure development should not be carried out in isolation. Construction of a road, bridge or elevated road must be viewed within the holistic development plan of the city. Besides, infrastructure development must be carried keeping in view the future needs. He said advanced planning must be in place and the thrust must be upon creating infrastructure for decades ahead. Besides, hierarchy of roads like national highways, city and links roads must be put in place and honoured to get desired results. He said many cities in the country have prohibited movement of animal-driven carts and bicycles on many roads keeping in view the heavy flow of fast moving vehicles. And there are many cities which have banned plying of three-wheelers on several roads. He said the similar planning is required for the holy city. Auto-rickshaws, buses add to woes Unorganised plying of auto-rickshaws and buses causes frequent traffic jams around Shahid Madan Lal Dhingra Inter State Bus Terminal. The traffic police has been found helpless as the civic authorities have failed to provide adequate infrastructure to auto-rickshaws waiting for customers. Between the GT Road and Ram Bagh chowk, all roads around the bus stand lead to chaos. Spread on an area of about eight and a half acres, the state-of-the-art bus stand and the outside roads present a contrasting picture. “Unauthorised” auto-rickshaws, often overloaded, continue to have a free run in the holy city. Their drivers flout traffic norms and put lives of riders as well as other commuters in danger. The District Transport Office records say that there are 9,342 officially registered rickshaws plying in the city, but unconfirmed reports put the figure to be over 25,000. Even as elevated roads have been set up to decongest the area, but there is no end in sight of traffic congestion around the bus stand. Auto-rickshaw drivers apply brakes anywhere to pick passengers. Similarly, buses also de-board and board passengers anywhere on roads. Residents speak The government has failed to check over speeding by heavy vehicles. National Highway-14, also known as TT road, witnesses heavy bus traffic throughout the day as it is connected with the Malwa region. This road also passes through Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Shahid.~ — Shamsher Singh Tall claims of the authorities regarding managing traffic on the GT Road with the completion of elevated road have fallen flat. Though plying of heavy vehicles on the elevated road is prohibited in morning till evening, buses and trucks can be spotted on the road throughout the day. — Naresh Johar Traffic chaos is a regular thing. In case of emergency, it will be very difficult to carry out rescue operations. The government must designate a place close to the bus stand as auto-rickshaw stand. — Nirmal Singh Parking by vendors selling fruit, juices, vegetable and other eatables further deteriorate the traffic situation. — Mangat Lal official speak Policemen cannot implement rules in isolation. Without offering auto-rickshaws and other such vehicles a designated place, it is not possible to force their removal from roads — Harjit Singh, ACP, Traffic We are considering setting up of a taxi stand near the bus stand. A final decision will be taken soon — DP Gupta, MC Commissioner
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First Punjabi conference held at Khalsa College
Amritsar, November 10 The occasion was the First Punjabi Conference, organised by Global Punjabi Organisation (GPO) in collaboration with Khalsa College, which saw a galaxy of writers and poets presenting their views. Guru Nanak Dev University Vice Chancellor Dr Ajaib Singh Brar and Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) honourary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina appreciated the efforts put in by GPO to organise such a gathering. Referring to the glorious history and scientific base of the Punjabi language which is gaining acclaims all over, they said more such conferences were needed. They said the enterprising Punjabis, spread world over and penning down great pieces of literature and texts, need to be together to discuss issues confronting the language. Khalsa College Principal Dr Daljit Singh said GPO's primary aim was to work for the proliferation of Punjabi language and culture and also to become a link for the serious Punjabi writers all over the globe. He also said there were some misconceptions and misleading assertions that the Punjabi language is becoming an endangered language. "The truth is that Punjabi is the 11th most spoken language of the world," he said. He termed the writers and poets as the torch-bearers of the movement to promote the language. The top Punjabi writers, including Khoji Kafir, Kewal Dhaliwal, Dr Harbhajjan Singh Bhatia, Baldev Singh Saraknama and Dr Joginder Singh Kairon read their research papers on the occasion, touching diverse topics and currents in the language's history and challenges in the modern times. In the afternoon session on Punjabi poetry, the poets, including Surjit Patar, Sukhwinder Amrit and Gurbhajjan Gill, read out their creative writings, earning applauds from the audience.
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MC mulls fire brigade station at focal point
Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said as the matter of a part of the grant lying unutilised with the corporation has now been brought to his notice, he would look into the matter. He said the MC was ready to raise infrastructure to house a fire station if a plot in this regard is lying unutilised in the area. Earlier, the Focal Point Industries Association moved a communiqué to the Mayor for maintenance of industrial focal point. Association president DS Goraya wrote a letter in which he said the state government had allocated a grant of Rs five crore in 2009 and the responsibility was vested with the MC to carry out the development works. He claimed that the development grant was meant for sewerage system, roads, drinking water, street lights, green belts and fire brigade station. Even after two and a half decades of setting up of the focal point on the GT Road in the holy city, it is waiting for the installation of the proposed amenities specified in its blueprint. Established in the early 1980s with mixed-use industrial units, the focal point doesn't have a power station, fire station and ESI hospital to cater to thousands of labourers engaged in 435 units. Kamal Dalmia, operating a thread mill from the area, said though the plots had been earmarked for these facilities, but they have not been set up. Spread over about 175 acres, the industrial area has as many as six gardens which are lying in neglect. Unattended these plots have become a perennial source of dust, he said. He said since the setting up of the focal point, a plot measuring about 1000 square yards was kept for establishing the fire brigade station. However, till date the plot is lying vacant. Besides, he mentioned that some sewerage lines needed repair while speed breakers at many points were also required.
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CBSE schoolteachers get training on formative assessment
Amritsar, November 10 Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Principal, Spring Dale Senior School, said since the CBSE has made the board exams at Class X stage optional, most of the schools are opting for school-based exams which cover a span of two years ie Class IX and X. Within these two years, there are four semesters and each semester has two formative assessments and one summative assessment. The summative assessment exam is more on the line of annual examination, which tests memory and recall-based learning. Schools are familiar with this form of assessment and are able to do it without much trouble. However, it is the formative assessment which forms 40 per cent of the total marks where most schools and teachers need more clarity and training. The purpose of the workshop was to train teachers to manage the formative assessment efficiently. As many as 50 schools from the region sent five teachers each in the subjects of English, Hindi, mathematics, science and social science for this training. The two resource persons appointed for the workshop were Dr Rashmi Vij, Principal, PAP DAV Public School, Jalandhar; and Deepa Dogra, Principal, Cambridge International Girls School, Jalandhar. Through a powerpoint presentation, they made the teachers go through various activities to understand the techniques and tools to be used to assess students in a better way. The day-long workshop was successful in satisfying many queries of the teachers.
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Youth Festival
Amritsar, November 10 On the fourth day, the competitions of folk orchestra, group song (Indian), light vocal and rangoli making were organised. As many as 18 teams participated in the competition of group song, 21 in light vocal and 19 in rangoli making. The theme of rangoli was basic forms, Basant and folk. Dr Sharad Manocha from DAV College, Jalandhar; Dr Anjna from APJ College of Fine Arts; Ranjit Singh Tapiala from Sri Guru Angad Dev College; Khadur Sahib; Parmod Grovar from SSM College, Dinanagar; Amandeep Kaur from Guru Nanak Dev University; and Ashvind Kaur from the architecture department conducted the stages.
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With four days left for Divali, the fire department of the Municipal Corporation has been put on alert.
Amidst, inadequate fire fighting equipments and staff crunch, the MC has chalked out a 12-hour roster schedule of the firemen which would be applicable from November 10 to 14.
Amritsar, November 10
Amritsar, November 10