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MC forgets its orders, to ‘start’ process afresh
Police commando among four arrested for robberies
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Amritsar, January 21 A former SDO of Powercom was robbed by a group of persons at gunpoint. The police has registered a case under Section 395 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against five persons.
Pangura receives 58th girl child
Edu dept to open centre for special children in city
Police, BSF beef up patrolling in border villages along Ravi
Punjabis lag in investing in stock market: SEBI chief
Amritsar hotel association demands incentives under industry status
CPS seeks info on medico legal reports issued by health department
Seminar on women's rights organised
Govt urged to reimburse medical bills of pensioners
One lakh children given polio drops
Puppetry workshop begins
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MC forgets its orders, to ‘start’ process afresh
Amritsar, January 21 The MC officials have made it as a part of their agenda to be tabled in the first House meeting scheduled for January 29. In 2011, the then MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda had issued directives for organisers to seek prior permission from the department concerned of the MC for organising langars (free community kitchen) or chhabeels (free distribution of sweetened water or tea) in the holy city. As per the orders, organisers also had to inform the health officer of the corporation. The orders were issued to make organisers accountable. These events become a source of public inconvenience (obstruction of traffic on roads) and garbage (waste not disposed of). It was stipulated that the stalls be installed at least 10 to 15 feet away from the pucca road. Going strict against tent house, the MC had said that the material of tent houses would be confiscated for 15 days and fined if they caused any damage to roads while erecting tent poles. The then commissioner had even said the MC could even cancel the trading licence of the tent house. PS Bhatty, president of Pollution Control Committee, said stern directions should be there for tent houses, which damage roads while erecting tent poles. A resident, NS Gabarhia said the organisers should be made accountable to lift the refuse before leaving the events. The Act of forgetting
In 2011, the then MC Commissioner had issued directives for organisers to seek prior permission from the MC department concerned of the MC for organising langars or chhabeels at public placesy Now, the MC officials have made it as a part of their agenda to be tabled in the first House meeting scheduled for January 29 Grey areas
These events become a source of public inconvenience (obstruction of traffic on roads) and garbage (waste not disposed of)
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Police commando among four arrested for robberies
Amritsar, January 21 Ramandeep and Jaspal used to steal arms from the gun house (where Jaspal worked) and put these back after perpetrating the crime. Jaspal has been working in the gun house for the past seven years. Preet Paul Singh Virk, SSP, Amritsar rural police, said acting on a tip-off, the police raided a secluded place near Dag Toot village, where the accused were planning a loot incident, and arrested five members. The other accused --- Akash Masih of Aliwal Kotli and Mani Masih of Nangal Wanja --- managed to escape.
The SSP said as per initial investigations, it was found that Ramandeep had hired the remaining accused for killing his paternal uncle Bhupinder Singh. They shot at Bhupinder leaving him critically injured on the intervening night of November 20-21 last year. Bhupinder was, however, saved by doctors after over a month of treatment. Virk said the gang used a .32 bore revolver, two pistols (.32 bore) from the gun house to commit the crime. Ramadeep had promised to give Rs 6 lakh to other gang members for killing his uncle. A case under Section 459 of the IPC and 25 of the Arms Act has been registered at Bhindi Saida police station in this regard. The police seized .12 bore rifle with two live cartridges, three pistols and 12 bullets besides a Maruti car and two motorcycles from the spot. Investigations revealed that Akash Masih was the nephew of Jaspal and used to live with him. Jasdeep Singh, SP (D), said though there was no past criminal record of the accused with the police, their interrogation would help solve a number of robbery and other criminal cases in the police district. He said some of the members used to work as sanitary labourers and targetted those houses where they had worked earlier.
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Ex-SDO robbed at gunpoint
Amritsar, January 21 Avtar Singh, one of the accused, was a Powercom employee and was known to the victim, Satpal Singh. A resident of New Amritsar, Satpal in his complaint to the police alleged that Avtar Singh, a storekeeper, in the department posted at Butari village along with an unknown person had come to his house. As the accused was known to him, he served him tea and drinks. He said after some time, Avtar went out of the room and called someone over the phone. Following this, he said about three unidentified persons entered the house who pointed a gun at him. He said the accused took away cash, gold jewellery and bullets of his .32 licensed revolver after locking him in a washroom. He said he was alone at the time of incident. His wife and daughter had gone to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh. Parkash Singh, investigating officer, said Avtar Singh was the main accused as he conspired the looting. He said the police had launched efforts to nab the culprits.
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Pangura receives 58th girl child
She became the 63rd child received by the society under Pangura scheme since its launch in January 2008 by the then Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu. Out of the total, only five children were male. The girl, received today, was declared healthy by a private hospital where she taken for her medical examination. She has been shifted to Swani Ganga Nand Bhuri wale adoption centre in Ludhiana where she would be handed over to a needy couple after completing all the legal formalities, said Ritu Agarwal, wife of Deputy Commissioner Rajat Agarwal. It is pertinent to mention here that this is second baby girl received by the Red Cross Society this month. Earlier, a mentally challenged girl was left by her family. Taking a cue from local Pangura scheme, a number of districts have started this novel scheme to save the unwanted children who otherwise were thrown in garbage dumps or empty plots. Randhir Thakur, an official of Red Cross Society, said the adoption centre at Ludhiana has also installed a cradle on its premises. The authorities at Bathinda have also started the scheme, he added. He said wanting to launch the scheme, the authorities at Ferozepur have also come forward and took details about the functioning of the scheme.
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Edu dept to open centre for special children in city
Amritsar, January 21 He said the centre would take care of the holistic development of neurotically challenged children as it would impart general education, provide vocational training, organise physical activities apart from treating and mainstreaming them. Pannu said the subject of mainstreaming special children had earlier been ignored but had now gained significance. He said as per this idea, children who regained physical control and intelligence would be admitted to general schools. He said teachers would be sensitised to train these students in such a way that they could gel well with the mainstream students. The Education Department will also seek cooperation of the parents of these children. He said Inclusive Education Resource Teachers would be appointed to educate these children. Gurminder Singh, a member of Amrit Parivar, an organisation of parents of special children, said as far as the education and upkeep of special children was concerned, NGOs had been doing most of the work in the country so far. He said the government's attempt was a welcome step. The building of Government High School, Maqboolpura, will be used for this purpose. The students and teachers of this school will be shifted to Saragarhi Memorial Government Senior Secondary School, Mall Mandi. However, the decision to shift the school has made parents of students studying in the Maqboolpura school apprehensive. Sharanjit Kaur, a parent, said her two children were studying at the school which had a strength of around 400 students and the shift to a bigger school might not be good as they might not get the same attention of teachers in the new school. Another parent, Amar Singh, expressed similar concerns. However, Education Department officials said nearly 19 teachers were imparting education to over 400 students at Government High school, which was being run on less than an acre of land with 23 rooms. On the other hand, they said, Saragarhi Memorial Government Senior Secondary School was being run on nearly six acres of land. They said the school was raised in 2006 to educate about 2,000 students but it had a strength of 850 students and about 50 teachers, adding that it had a massive infrastructure, including 72 rooms, an indoor gymnasium and an auditorium besides baselball, basketball and kabaddi grounds.
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Police, BSF beef up patrolling in border villages along Ravi
Amritsar, January 21
Preet Paul Singh Virk, Senior Superintendent of Police (Amritsar rural), said they had received certain inputs from the intelligence agencies which revealed that unscrupulous elements, including smugglers, based in Pakistan would try to sneak into the Indian territory during the current foggy season. To a question whether the step was a fallout of tension at the Line of Control following the beheading of Indian soldiers, he replied in negative. However, the sources in the department said due to tension at the LoC following the incident, the Border Security Force and police had been asked to be more
vigilant.
Importantly, the riverine belt alongside Ramdass and Ajnala areas become porous as the flow of the river usually damages border fence creating holes which is usually exploited by anti-national elements especially the smugglers on other side of the border. Following the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist responsible for the Mumbai terrorist 26/11 attack, various Pakistan-based terror outfits have threatened to revenge his death. Virk said though the international border is fully guarded by BSF jawans, they have deputed extra police force to patrol villages adjoining the border fence. He said the strength of police force has also been increased at the Beating the Retreat ceremony at Attari-Wagah joint check post due to security reasons.
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Punjabis lag in investing in stock market: SEBI chief
Amritsar, January 21 Sinha was speaking at a seminar-cum-interactive lecture on 'Opportunities in Financial Markets and Investor Awareness' at Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) today. The seminar was organised by the Department of Punjab School of Economics in collaboration with the SEBI. Sinha said the SEBI had taken enough measures to regulate and punish offenders and defaulters in India's Capital and Stock Market. He said it had also set up a mechanism to redress investors' grievances arising out of the securities market. “Planning of finances is essential for each and every person to meet our future goals. Every individual should understand the need to manage his or her finances. There is a need to exhort young investors, particularly students who are on the threshold of taking up jobs. The need of hour is to propagate the message of safe investment and savings among people, specially those living in rural areas,” he said. GNDU Vice-Chancellor Prof AS Brar in his address said most of the people were misguided about investments. He said due to personal motives of agents, many people took up wrong investment plans. “To generate awareness among the masses, educational institutes need to produce qualified advisers, who would not only provide guidance for safe investments but also contribute towards the development of the country by encouraging more and more investments in the stock market. This will strengthen the economy of the state and the country,” he said, adding that the university was going to start an interdisciplinary course on Financial Market Practices and Policies under the aegis of the Punjab School of Economics. This can be taken up by any student of the university to gain knowledge in the field of investments.
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Amritsar hotel association demands incentives under industry status
Amritsar, January 21 President APS Chatha said the sector had been denied incentives which are being given to other industries. He said hotels had been paying eight per cent luxury tax apart from a slew of taxes to the Municipal Corporation, Health Department, state and central governments. He said hotels pay conservancy tax, commercial sewerage tax, commercial water tax, commercial power bill, sales tax and VAT. Chatha said all kinds of taxes had been imposed on the industry, but the state government has not shown urgency to take up steps to prolong the stay of tourists in the holy city. He said projects, including restoration of Qila Gobindgarh and Ram Bagh, are running behind schedule. “There have been no attempts to popularise Pull Kanjari, Heritage and Panj Sarovar walks,” Chatha added. Piyush Kapoor, another member of the AHRA, said stats released by the Ministry of Tourism reveal that the arrival of tourists to the city had increased. He said the government must assist in the growth of the tourism industry as it provides employment to various sections of the society including rickshaw pullers, taxi operators, tonga wallahs and traders of various kinds. He said the tourist potential of Hari Ke Patan wetland, which is only 35 km from here, had not been tapped. He said hotels in Haridwar are not charged luxury tax.
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CPS seeks info on medico legal reports issued by health department
Amritsar, January 21 Recently, Dr Sidhu in a presentation made to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had brought to light the nexus between the police and health staff in forging MLRs. “It has been learnt that in most of the cases the injuries are self inflicted,” she said. She revealed that in some cases the doctors are also pressurised by the police or politicians to write false reports. “There used to a column in the MLR report in which the investigating doctor could write his remarks that if the injuries could possibly be self-inflicted or not. In the recent times, this column has been done away with,” said Dr Sidhu adding that this column must again be added to check fraudulent reports. She said under the new system, only the police could ask a doctor for a separate report to testify if the injuries were self-inflicted. “Why not include a column where in doctor can write his or her observation without anybody asking for it,” she said. Considering the reports from the general public about corruption in writing MLR reports, a scrutiny of the past reports would reveal that how reports are manipulated to serve personal goals. Dr Sidhu said she had got information that prices have been fixed for writing fake reports. She said she has also demanded the transfer of class four workers and other paramedical staff who have not been transferred for years. The transfers would help in breaking the nexus that helps in forging the medico legal reports, she said.
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Seminar on women's rights organised Amritsar, January 21 Elaborating on the rights of women, Chief Judicial Magistrate Arun Kumar Aggarwal said there were enough provisions related to women in the Indian Constitution. He said not just rape and kidnapping, physical or mental torture pertaining to dowry and outraging the modesty of a girl were also identified as crimes under the Indian Penal Code. Manoj Kumar, Assistant District Attorney-Legal Services, talked at length about sexual harassment laws in India and the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. He also emphasised the role of para-legal volunteers in increasing awareness about women's rights. College principal Dr Neelam Kamra encouraged the students to be torchbearers of society.
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Govt urged to reimburse medical bills of pensioners
Amritsar, January 21 Union general secretary BR Preenja said many pensioners, whose medical bills have not been reimbursed, had even written to the Finance Minister in this regard, but to no avail. Preenja said the amount, due to pensioners, was meagre as compared to other expenditures made by the government, but it meant a lot to pensioners who have no other means of earning. “I do not understand if large sums can be paid to singers and actors for their short performances at state-sponsored functions, then why are pensioners made to wait for their money,” questioned Preenja. He said that some of the medical bills have not been reimbursed for the past five months. He said the delay in the clearance of bills had caused widespread resentment among pensioners. The union has asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to pass immediate instructions to the finance department to ensure early release of pension.
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One lakh children given polio drops
Amritsar, January 21 On the first day of the drive, around 1,70,149 children were administered polio drops at booths set up for the purpose by the department. Dr Mitra said the target was to visit 4,53,423 homes and immunise a total of 3,39,113 children during the three-day drive. He said the teams would be visiting the remaining houses on the last day of the drive tomorrow.
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Puppetry workshop begins
Amritsar, January 21 Khalsa College principal Dr Daljit Singh said the workshop aimed at highlighting the significance of science through puppets. He said more than 35 teachers from across the district were participating in the program. Singh said the participants would also be taught the art of making hand-held puppets and given tips on developing a storyline.
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(in which it was made mandatory for citizens or organisations to take permission before organising langars and chhabeels at public places), the MC is again mulling the idea of ‘drafting strictures’ for organisers of such events.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman UK Sinha today said Punjabis liked to spend money on luxuries but they seldom invested in the stock market. He said a very small amount of money was invested in mutual funds from Punjab as compared to other states.
Amritsar, January 21
Coming ahead of Republic Day, the move has been taken following inputs from intelligence agencies which have alerted that unscrupulous elements could try to cross the international border to enter India and disrupt peace in the region.