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Rain throws life out of gear
Another robbery rocks city
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MC House meet scheduled for Jan 29
Amritsar, January 18 The Municipal Corporation has scheduled the first House meeting for January 29 five months after the House came into being. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora and the new MC Commissioner Bhupinder Singh have their task cut out. They are to set their priorities when it comes to redressal of a number of issues faced by the city residents. The MC has been grappling with acute financial crisis as the civic body has not received its due share to the tune of around Rs 100 crore from the state budget for various projects.
DAV, apss institutes to harvest rainwater
Tussle with brother leads to man’s suicide
Police accused of inaction in land grab case
Meerut varsity overall winners
Mixed response to Central government’s decision
Seminar on Punjabi manuscripts opens
1 booked for stealing jewelsAmritsar
catalyst for change
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Rain throws life out of gear
Amritsar, January 18 Having an obsolete British era sewerage system, the roads were flooded with rainwater and sewage in the walled city area. Rainwater entered houses in several localities and almost all the roads in the city got waterlogged due to the rains. The Town Hall area, Katra Jaimal Singh and even the entry point of the railway station speak volumes about the failure on the part of the MC to deal with rainwater drainage. In absence of a proper drainage system and no mechanism to pump out water, commuters were the worst affected. Many were stranded in the middle of the flooded roads as their vehicles broke down midway. “For Amritsarians, it is a given that they will have to brave the knee-deep waters after rainfall as it would be a folly to expect anything from the civic administration,” said Naresh Johar. Even the elevated road, known as the lifeline of the holy city, was down with water-logging at its entry point. Though the MC had proposed introduction of super-suckers during the last rains, till date, it has not materialised.The MC bragged about its special sewerage de-silting plan worth Rs 10 lakh in June last. MC had bragged about its 51-day cleanliness drive, conducted a few months ago, initiated to clear passage in all channels, road berms, water and sewerage drains. Calling it "futile" would be no exaggeration. As a result of heavy rains today, dirty water spilled over from drains located alongside houses and shops. Shopkeepers said the prevailing conditions had hit their business and had exposed them to various diseases. The winter chill increased after the surprise rain immediately after Lohri. “The post-Lohri chill and showers is a surprise. Usually, the chill recedes at this time of the year, for the festival is said to mark the end of the winter season. But this time, it's a different scenario,” said Kiranjit Kaur, a resident of New Amritsar. While some residents cribbed that the rain brings with it traffic jams and train delays, many enjoyed the cloudy weather. The coffee shops and dhabas in the city corners are packed with people enjoying the weather over cups of piping hot tea and pakoras. “Since one remains stranded within the four walls of the house, it’s the best time to savour hot tea with snacks. When it rains, one has got to enjoy the weather,” said Naresh Kumar. Meanwhile, doctors took it as a positive sign. “Now, the air will not be dry. It is considered good for the health and keeps the usual health complications associated with the winter at bay,” said Dr Rajiv of GND Hospital. Spelling trouble The sudden deluge on the roads added to great inconvenience for the residents, putting life out of gear for quite some time. It exposed the inefficiency and hollow claims of Amritsar Municipal Corporation pertaining to the drive entailing de-silting of drains.
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Another robbery rocks city
Amritsar, January 18 Charan Singh, a resident of Verka, said he and his son had been sleeping at his house when at about 2.00 am they heard some voices and found that six unidentified persons had entered their house. Two of the accused had their faces covered. He said the accused decamped with Rs 79,000 cash, gold jewellery and a mobile phone besides an iron trunk. He alleged the accused were armed with sharp-edged weapons. Ashok Kumar, in charge, Verka police station, said a case under Sections 380 and 457 of the IPC has been registered in this regard. He said preliminary investigations pointed towards the involvement of an insider who knew the door on the roof was open. He said investigations were going on. A few days back, a government eye surgeon Dr Beant Singh and his family were attacked and injured with sharp-edged weapons by unidentified persons who entered their house from the rooftop. They decamped with mobile phones before seriously injuring Dr Beant Singh, his wife and brother-in-law. They lived in a private residential locality on the Fatehgarh Churian road. The incident took place on January 12. In another instance, an elderly woman was robbed of gold jewellery worth lakhs by unidentified armed robbers who entered the house when she was closing the door when her husband left the house. The accused were armed with a country-made pistol. Incidentally, the police authorities were still clueless about the accused involved in these crimes. “There is sense of insecurity among the city residents. These instances have been occurring at regular intervals while the police had failed to nab the culprits,” said Surinder Singh, a resident of Putlighar area. Brij Bedi, a social activist, said though the police department had done an appreciable job by launching the PCR system and introducing a beat system, it should monitor PCR teams and beat officers on a regular basis. Bathinda merchant robbed of Rs 2.6 lakh
Amritsar: In yet another robbery, a vegetable merchant from Bathinda was robbed by four youths in the Jandiala area when he was going to Mallia village near here. The merchant, Tehal Singh, told the police that two youths who were driving a motorcycle intercepted his canter and signaled him to stop the vehicle. He said when he stopped the accused entered into a verbal duel saying that he had hit their motorcycle. In the meanwhile, he said, two more motorcycle-borne youths came and asked him to give whatever he had. He alleged the accused took his bag which was kept near his driver seat and took out Rs 2.60 lakh besides a mobile phone and fled away. The Jandiala police has registered a case under Sections 392 of the IPC in this regard. — TNS
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MC House meet scheduled for Jan 29
Amritsar, January 18 Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora and the MC officials are gearing up to prepare an agenda to be tabled at the house meeting. The main projects relating to solid waste management plant, entangled in the court after a private firm challenged the MC’s decision over the award of work, coupled with another private firm’s withdrawal of its machinery for collecting and dumping the garbage, have forced residents to live in unhygienic conditions. Similarly, augmentation of the sewerage system, undertaken by a Japanese firm under the JAICA project, too needs to be expedited. Staff crunch is another issue faced by various departments and even after lapse of over nine months, induction of sanitation workers could not be made for want of approval in the House meeting. This is also taking its toll on maintenance of cleanliness in the holy city. Some of the obligatory services of the MC like maintenance of roads, sufficient water supply, regulating property/house tax and building rules are also suffering on the same count.
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DAV, apss institutes to harvest rainwater
Amritsar, January 18 All India Director of DAV Public and Aided Schools JP Shoor said the move was anticipated to recharge crores of litres of water as 80 educational institutes were operating over 1,200 buildings and acres of land in different parts of the country. He said all 800 institutes had been asked to submit their proposals to install the system individually and the required amount would be released by the committee. He said the systems would be installed in these institutes within this year. He said various such steps were being undertaken as part of the water conservation initiative called "Project Boond" taken up by the DAV College Managing Committee. Dr Neelam Kamra, president, Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Up-Sabha Punjab and also principal, BBK DAV College for Women, said as part of Project Boond, a rally would be organised here tomorrow to raise awareness among masses. She said programmes and activities to conserve water are scheduled to continue up to March 22. She said the UN had already declared the year 2013 as the "International Water Conservation Day" and in this connection, the APPS has chalked out its plans. She said scarcity of water has never been so acute as it is now and the situation, it is apprehended, could deteriorate further. She said the message of water conservation would be taken to villages, towns and cities. The message will be conveyed by the students and staff members of all DAV institutions. Throughout the country, various programmes are being organised to support this cause through street plays, debates, recitations, declamations, workshops, radio and TV discussions, marathons, human chains, repair of broken sources of water to conserve water etc. DAV College principal KN Kaul said awareness will also be created through pasting of stickers on vehicles, placards, banners and posters while the project would continue for a year.
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Tussle with brother leads to man’s suicide
Amritsar, January 18 The victim, identified as Sunil, a resident of Gali Ave Wali, Gate Bhagtanwala, is survived by his wife and two children Rishabh (14) and Aniket (10). The Government Railway Police has handed the body over to the deceased’s family. Sunil was reportedly under stress due a dispute with the brother and A day before yesterday both the families had a verbal duel during a function of a relative. The police authorities said his brother and family members allegedly physically assaulted Sunil at his shop. Perturbed over this, he decided to take the extreme step of ending his life. He went away from the house without informing his family and committed suicide by jumping before a train. GS Nagra, Inspector, GRP, said action had been initiated under 174 CrPC and the deceased’s body had been handed over to the family members after post mortem examination today. Later, a case would be registered after recording the statement of the family members and train driver, he added.
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Police accused of inaction in land grab case
Amritsar, January 18 He also urged the government to take stern action against the police officials who had helped the accused persons go “scot-free”. Holing a press conference today, Randhawa said several armed persons headed by Shiv Singh of the same village grabbed over one-kanal land belonging to Gurcharan Singh (80). He said Gurcharan along with his family had been residing in the area for the past over four decades. He said on October 13, 2012, the accused broke the 85-feet-long wall and forcibly occupied the said land. He alleged local authorities belonging to the Amritsar rural police had been helping Shiv Singh in the case. He said after the intervention of PHRO, the police registered a case in this connection and later arrested three persons. However, he alleged that they were later released at the behest of a
DSP-level officer.
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Meerut varsity overall winners
Amritsar, January 18 In the men's section, Punjabi University Patiala was second while Panjab University Chandigarh stood third. In the women's section, Delhi University Delhi got the second position and Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar stood third. In this championship, 374 shooters from 45 universities participated. GNDU Vice-Chancellor Prof Ajaib Singh Brar presided over the valedictory session. Prof Brar gave away the certificates, medals and trophies to the winners. Dr Inderjit Singh presented the vote of thanks.
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Mixed response to Central government’s decision
Amritsar, January 18 A housewife Anu said the decision to increase the cap on subsidised cylinders a year by three has given their family a sigh of relief. She said it was an economic burden on middle income and low income group families to foot the payment for non-subsidised cylinders costing upward of Rs 900. She said it was sending the entire kitchen budget haywire. Gaurav, a shopkeeper dealing in electronic weighing machines, welcomed the move to raise the cap on subsidised cylinders, but was apprehensive about companies being allowed to effect small hike in diesel prices. He said diesel would also fall under the category of those commodities whose prices hardly remain stable. He said this would impact the prices of those articles which are transported in diesel-run trucks and wagons. A woman entrepreneur Jeewan Jyoti Sidana, who is running a public school, said hike in diesel prices would eventually translate into increase in travel tariff of students. She said many students reach the school after covering 40 km in buses. She added that since the transportation has been outsourced, after every hike, they come to increase the fare. A senior citizen BR Prinja felt that hike in diesel prices would ultimately cause increase in prices of different commodities. He said diesel-operated vehicles being the major source of transportation, prices of essential commodities would escalate, upsetting the domestic budget. Hotelier APS Chatha felt that marginal reprieve as far as petrol prices were concerned, was an eyewash and would serve little purpose. He said small hike in diesel prices would become big after a couple of months. He said this would increase the expenditure on operating generator sets as the power cuts have already become the order of the day. Amit Kumar, a readymade garment shopkeeper, said hike in the number of subsidised cylinders and marginal decrease in rate of petrol were little steps to offer respite to inflation-battered consumers and public at large. He said these steps were aimed at diverting attention of the public from a major move authorising the companies to increase diesel prices. He said unstable price of diesel would spell a lot of troubles for trade and industry and the burden of the hike would be passed on to the consumers.
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Seminar on Punjabi manuscripts opens Amritsar, January 18 Prof Deepti S Tripathi, Director, National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi, was guest of honour. Dr HS Chopra, librarian, Bhai Gurdas Library, spoke on historical background and status of preservation of Punjabi manuscripts lying scattered in deras, temples etc throughout Punjab. He said thought content enshrined in these manuscripts should be propagated without addition or deletion. Dr SP Singh, former Director of National Museum, New Delhi, said, "Endangered Punjabi manuscripts should be preserved and natives should be vigilant so that these manuscripts are not smuggled,” he said. — TNS
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1 booked for stealing jewelsAmritsar
January 18 Rajesh Kapoor, owner of famous jewellery house, Malliram Jewellers, in his complaint to the police alleged that the accused was his employee who had gone to Guru Bazaar market in the walled city for polishing and repair of gold ornaments weighing over 314 grams on January 14. However, he did not return while his mobile phone was also found to be switched off. Mohinder Singh, investigating officer and in charge Circuit House police chowki, said a case under Sections 408 and 420 of the IPC had been registered. — TNS
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catalyst for change Amritsar, January 18 Looking to build culturally sound and meaningful relationships between future citizens of India and Pakistan and trying to give such students a platform, O3, and project undertaken by American Indian Foundation would feature these students’ documentaries in their programme. Nimisha Mahajan, a student of Class X at Sri Ram Ashram School, has taken up the mantle to spread awareness on traffic violations. Her father fell prey to rash driving and lost his memory in an accident and that prompted this spirited girl to take up the issue through a short film. “Traffic violations and irresponsible driving have taken many lives on roads. Drunken driving is a major problem not just in Amritsar but everywhere in the country. Most people ignore or blatantly flout traffic rules knowing that they can get away easily. This has to change and so I have emphasised on it in my documentary,” says Nimisha. She is being supported by her friend and classmate Surabhi Manwal. “The main problem is that there is no strict punishment for traffic violators. We have taken up major cases of negligent driving in our film, the most accident prone areas in the city and the reasons and possible solutions to keep a check on it,” says Surabhi. Doing their bit is another duo of Mehak Aggarwal and Mannatpreet Kaur from Cambridge International School. The 16-year-old Class X students have taken up a cause they felt could help them and others socially responsible. “I am making a documentary on community living. It’s a concept that was prevalent in erstwhile Punjab and still remains a part of heritage,” says Mehak. Featuring the Preet Nagar, a village situated between Amritsar and Lahore that became a blooming community living centre and a platform to share literary ideas between the two countries. “Preet Nagar was an ideal community living centre that eroded with time and tragedies like the Partition and militancy in Punjab. But since 2011, re-construction and rehabilitation work has started at the site and its community kitchen and hall have been re-opened,” Mehak adds. Inspired by the idea of many families living and functioning together strikes her as an answer to many social problems. “Safety for elders and children, cultural vibrancy and coexistence would result in better functioning of society,” she concurs. Mannatpreet too has taken up cultural binds between the two neighbouring countries of India and Pakistan in her film. “It’s called Amritsar to Lahore and is a joint venture between students from both countries. Our journey started at the Amritsar railway station and moving towards the Wagah Border, the film features all the historical and cultural places of importance like Khalsa College, Attari village and many more. We highlight the similarity and never-ending bond between the cultures on both sides, which are beyond the geographical and political demarcations,” says Mannat. The journey from the other side will be documented by students from Pakistan, who will travel from Wagah to Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. The US-based NGO, which focuses on Indo-Pak peace process through students, will have an event where such social documentaries made by students will be shown.
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Amritsar, January 18
Guru Nanak Dev University has organised a three-day national seminar on Punjabi manuscripts at Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium of the university. The seminar was organised by Bhai Gurdas Library of the university in collaboration with National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi. Dr Rajinderjit Kaur
Pawar, Dean, Academic Affairs, presided over.
