Amritsar, November 27
Even as the state government’s Municipal Outdoor Advertisement Policy, 2012, has yet to arrive to curb erecting illegal hoardings on the public land, the MC staff has already cracked down on this fraudulent practice in the city.

The credit for this goes to the stern directions issued recently by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this direction. Making the Local Bodies Department accountable for the lapse, the high court has ordered for the removal of these eyesores. These orders would be applicable to all illegal hoardings or posters belonging to any political leader, party or commercial organisation on road berms, rooftops of residential or any public complexes.

In Amritsar, despite staff crunch, the MC has formed a special team under the leadership of a superintendent and an inspector to ensure the compliance of the HC orders.

MC Additional Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said this advertisement policy, which is being introduced for the first time in the state, would be an apt tool to curb the menace.

“The policy was primarily designed to ensure that outdoor advertisement was not hazardous to traffic. The spaces meant for outdoor advertisement would be auctioned in a transparent manner to stop the illegal practice of erecting hoardings in public places. Once this policy comes in practice, no illegal hoardings or advertisement billboards would dot the city. In the absence of a concrete and uniform advertisement policy, we faced difficulty in implementing the HC directions in toto,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a rare gesture, MC teams were spotted removing the hoardings of political parties boasting their “hollow glorifications” or religious organisations bragging about their “holistic preachings". These hoardings have been dotting nooks and crannies of the holy city for the past several years.

The MC has almost removed the hoardings of private parties or even those installed by political parties or religious organisations.

Over 200 such hoardings have been removed from rooftops for the past two months.

About the sanctioned advertisement spots in the city to support advertisements and banners, official records say there were around 122 sanctioned spots of putting up advertisements under a "seven-year agreement".

Out of these, 89 were removed, as their term had lapsed. The remaining 23 cannot be disturbed for quite sometime as these have been engaged under a seven-year contract signed by the MC.

As many as 91 unipoles were engaged under a contract till December 2012. A total of 23 advertisement unipoles would remain occupied legally till September or October 2013, as the borrowers have entered into a pact with the MC. The rest of them have almost been removed.
— Sukhdev Singh, Superintendent of Advertisement Department 

Amritsar, November 27
Elaborate traffic plan put up by the traffic police, especially on the road leading to the Golden Temple, has failed to deliver the desired result, as private transporters continue to utilise a chunk of the busy road as an "illegal bus stand".

Private transporters, belonging to affluent industrial houses and politically well-connected persons, are running plush AC coach buses for ferrying passengers to and fro from Delhi and Chandigarh. Video coach buses for Jammu and Katra are also parked here. Over six transporters are operating their buses from here. These buses are plied in the morning, afternoon and evening. Afternoon and evening are the rush hours on this road.

Passengers board these buses and alight from them while these buses are being parked on the road. Hapless commuters are left high and dry, but with no option. They only wait for the road to be cleared.

Some private transporters park these buses on the vacant patch of land, known as old vegetable market, also located outside the Hall Gate. Officials in the district administration said transportation areas had been earmarked at the Gumtala road and Transport Nagar. Keeping in view the vantage location of the bridge, the transporters are reluctant to leave the place.

The small patch of the road from Bhandari Bridge to Hall Gate leads to the Golden Temple. Though more roads are available, this is the most popular among them. Hence, it receives the maximum volume of traffic. Apart from the general public, VIPs and VVIPs visiting the Golden Temple also travel on this road.

Strange enough, no authority --- traffic police, district transport office and MC --- ever bothered to rein in their activities. Apparently, the influential transporters' clout was strong enough to make the power of the authorities dormant.

The Hall Gate road also serves as a showcase for the entire city, as a majority of pilgrims and tourists pass through this road.

A resident of Para Das Chowk Bhupinder Singh said his locality was located close to the Golden Temple and he commutes on this road many a time to reach his office situated on Ranjit Avenue. He said many a time he, like other commuters, remains stuck, as the buses pick and drop passengers. He said it had become a perennial traffic problem, which leaves a bad impression on the pilgrims coming not only from the country but also from all over the world. He said the traffic situation turns to worse as autos and rickshaws were attracted around the parked buses to get passengers.

A study conducted by RITES, a Union Government agency, stated in its report, that over one lakh vehicles pass through Bhandari bridge in 24 hours. The bridge is situated a few metres from Hall Gate.

Coinciding with the outcome of this report, the Punjab Pollution Control Board, in a report on vehicular pollution around Bhandari Bridge, stated that it was highly polluted due to vehicular pollution between 9 am and 8 pm. At Bhandari Bridge, the particulate matter was as high as 599 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during peak hours, while it was 232 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during the lean traffic hours.

Traffic in charge of the area inspector Anup Kumar said though he had recently taken over the charge here, he had directed drivers not to park their buses on roadside. He said the issue of parking buses on the vacant plots could be studied and the matter would be taken up with his seniors. He said he had already initiated a campaign to remove vehicles parked wrongly on the Hall Gate road. He urged shopkeepers and their employees to at least park their vehicles in parking lots of Deen Dayal Upadhayay, Fish Market and Kairon Market. Similarly, the campaign to resolve traffic chaos at Hussainpura Chowk and Sangam Chowk, intersections infamous for frequent traffic jams, and near the bus stand had been initiated.

Amritsar, November 27
At the tender age of 11, Agam Shinghari is an ace tabla player as his skill is being acknowledged by various organisations from government to private entertainment channels one after another.

A sixth standard student of DAV Public School Agam bagged the Pogo Amazing Kid Award from Punjab recently. Earlier, the Union Government bestowed him with the National Children Award for Exceptional Achievement on this Children’s Day last year.

School principal Neera Sharma said Agam won the award for his exceptional talent as a tabla player in the U-15 age group. There were eight categories in all - painter, singer, actor, social worker, musician and dancer. He won the award for the best musician in his category.

The award was instituted to encourage young talent nine years ago. Agam won a laptop, a mobile handset, shield, flag, certificate, a mug with his name on it and CDs of Zakir Hussain. The award was conferred upon him by Monica Tata, vice-president and general manager, Entertainment Network, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt Ltd.

A visibly beaming Agam, who was accorded a warm welcome by his alma mater DAV Public School upon his arrival in the school today, credited his family and school teachers for the national award.

His mother Shaweta Shinghari credited Agam, his teachers and mentors for the achievement.

At this tender age, Agam has enthraled thousands of viewers with his performances on the tabla at many prestigious stages of the country. He was the youngest performer at the famous Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar in 2005, as he was over four-year-old then. He featured in the 2007 edition of the Limca Book of Records as the “youngest tabla player”.

With numerous awards under his belt, he performed at “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’s L’iL Champs” and appeared on Zee’s popular show “Shaabash India”. He also figured in “Funjabi Chak De”, a show on Star One channel. He received many state-level awards.

The All-India DAV College Managing Committee presented him a gold medal in New Delhi in 2008. Agam also appeared on a show, “Jhil Mil Tare”, on Doordarshan continuously for three years from 2007.

Agam is fondly called “Future Zakir Hussain”. His mother Shaweta says, “His skills of effortlessly playing tabla on the dining table at the young age of two and half years dawned on the family to introduce him to the instrument.”

Agam thanked his trainers Mukesh, a tabla teacher in Khalsa College, and Lakihchand and Shama Sharma, supervisor co-curricular of the school for enabling him to achieve the award. At present he is being trained by Punjab Ghrana Guru Balwinder Vicky from Kapurthala.

He practises for four hours daily and is comfortable in playing tabla for various genres of music, including bhajans, ghazals and songs.

Amritsar, November 27
Khalsa School was declared the winner of the latest edition of Idea Juniors Championship League (IJCL) and won a cash prize of Rs 20,000 at an inter-school sports championship, which concluded here today. The championship aimed at identifying and recognising the best sporting talent from across 180 schools in Punjab.

The Amritsar zonal finals, held on the premises of Khalsa School, saw participation from 31 schools which competed against each other in seven sports categories, including races, long jump, shot put, javelin throw, volley ball, hockey, judo etc.

The Grand Finale, similar to last year, received a phenomenal response from the participants, along with their coaches, parents and schools. The finalists selected from amongst 35 schools in Jalandhar competed with each other with full zeal and excitement.

The gold medallists across the seven categories will now be trained by senior coaches of the Punjab sports department for six months. The winners of the IJCL who go on to win any national-level tournament will stand a chance to win an exclusive Rs 10,000 worth branded sports kit from Idea.

Anish Roy, chief operating officer, Punjab, J & K and Himachal Pradesh, IDEA Cellular, handed over certificates to all participating players. He congratulated the winners and all school children from across the city who participated in the league. This has provided them a platform to enhance their sporting skills and showcase their talent on a bigger platform. He said, “Idea is the first telecom brand to reach out to children with Junior Championship League, and we hope to build it further, in the coming years.”

He said this being the second year of Idea Juniors Champions League, there were new features like a cash award of Rs 20,000 for the school winning the championship in each city, six months' free training by senior coaches of the Punjab Sports Department for gold medallists; and an exclusive Rs 10,000 worth branded sports kit for the Idea JCL winner, who also goes on to win any national-level tournament. Also, exclusive counselling sessions were held in each city with child psychologists and sports personalities.