Amritsar, January 29
The four-month wait finally came to an end today with the new MC House holding its first meeting since its inception and taking up vital issues which needed immediate redressal.

Irrespective of the party, each and every House member was concerned about the lack of cleanliness in different pockets of the holy city.

The House approved 56-item agenda. The meeting concluded with little resistance apparently due to a scant number of opposition members in the House.

The House proceedings started with Senior Deputy Mayor Avtar Singh Truckanwala admitting the failure of the MC in door-to-door garbage lifting and disposal. He said the situation deteriorated after the withdrawal of the private firm which was entrusted with the task of lifting garbage from 41 wards out of total of 65 wards.

“The present infrastructure and the manpower to maintain sanitation in the city is not adequate. In order to solve the crisis, we require more garbage bins, lifting trolleys and extra manpower on DC rates with immediate effect,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Avinash Jolly endorsed Truckanwala’s views. He also said that safai karamcharis and sanitary inspectors should be made accountable for maintaining cleanliness in the city.

“In my view, sanitary inspectors should be made answerable for any lapse on the garbage front,” he said. “The sewage disposal system should be expedited,” he further suggested.

Councillor Meenu Sehgal of Ward 52 said to prevent epidemics, the health department should provide adequate fogging facility. “A special committee should be formed which should ensure the process of fogging operations and the purchase/use of medicines for the purpose,” she added.

On water charges, she proposed that only commercial establishments should be made to pay water charges.

Computerisation of data

Assistant Commissioner Surinder Kumar said the birth and death certificate wing would be fully computerised soon. “We will computerise the entire data. The process will take few months. As an immediate measure, we will shortly introduce one dedicated computer operator and machine to expedite the process,” he said.

Congress councillor Kanwar Preet Singh Lucky showed concern over the dilapidated infrastructure on streetlight maintenance. He also demanded recruitment in the fire brigade wing to tackle the shortage of firemen.

The announcement of Congress councillor Gurinder Rishi to donate his five-year salary and urging others to follow the suit, did not find favour in the House.

Amritsar, January 29
The park, which finds its mention in the blueprint of the town planning (TP) scheme number 75 covering localities of New Partap Nagar, Sant Avenue, Gokal Ka Bagh, Azad Nagar, New Azad Nagar, Tirath Nagar, Pritam Nagar, Amrik Singh localities on GT road near Maqboolpura, could not see the light of day even after 26 years.

Thanks to the lackadaisical approach of the Municipal Corporation and alleged connivance of its officials with the land mafia, a plot of 2,200 square yards originally meant for the park was encroached partially and got entangled in a court tussle.

The TP scheme 75 was approved by the Local Government through a notification number 2534-1 C- 87/8955 on August 9, 1987.

Unauthorised ownership of the same plot has seen change of many hands. Residential dwellings have already been raised on a portion of the land leaving just about 1,000 square yards of vacant land.

Amritsar, January 29
With no check on the rising crime graph, criminals are becoming braver with each passing day. Two incidents (burglary at judge’s house and stealing of belongings from former DCP’s car) on a single day prove the point.

In the first incident, burglars struck at the house of Additional District and Sessions Judge Sham Lal at Canal Colony. It was learnt that miscreants broke open some window to gain access into the locked house at about 9.30 am on Monday and decamped with the television set, VCP, laptop and a gas cylinder with the regulator.

Importantly, the house is a government accommodation which is surrounded by official residences of high-rank police officers.

Even as forensic teams and dog squad examined the spot, the police got no clue about the accused. The Cantonment police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC.

In the second incident, miscreants decamped with belongings of former Deputy Commissioner of Police Satpal Joshi from his Innova car parked on the busy Lawrence Road. “I had parked my car just opposite the DAV Public School. After about half an hour, when I retuned, I found the door of my car open and the bag containing Rs 8,000 cash, registration certificate, an ATM card, copy of arms licence missing”, said Joshi.

Investigating officer Parveen Kumar said the accused could not be identified. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered.

Posh area The house at Canal Colony belonged to Additional District and Sessions Judge Sham Lal. Miscreants broke open some window to gain access into the locked house and decamped with the television set, laptop and a gas cylinder. Importantly, the house is a government accommodation which is surrounded by official residences of high-rank police officers

Amritsar, January 29
The police busted a gang of criminals who used to loot commuters at gunpoint. Five gang members, identified as Ankush Sharma of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Dharam Pal of Mustfabad, Harpal Singh of Sangat Pura, Rahul Batti of Gopal Mander area and Babbu of Tungbala, were arrested.

The preliminary investigations revealed that they were also involved in the drug trade. The police seized one sickle, 200 gram of intoxicating powder and one motorcycle from Ankush; one pistol, three cartridges and 220 grams of intoxicating powder from Dharampal; 70 grams of intoxicating powder from Harpal Singh; and 300 gms of intoxicating powder from Babbu.

A case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC, Sections 21, 22, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act, 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, has been registered against the five.

Davinder Kumar, investigating officer, police post at Majitha, said the gang members were planning a decoity when arrested.

In another incident, the police arrested Resham Singh of Tarn Taran with 100 grams of intoxicating powder.

In another case, Tirath Nath of Baba Jiwan Colony, Anngarh, was nabbed with 100 grams of smack. Separate cases under relevant sections of the NDPS Act were registered against the accused. 

Amritsar, January 29
With the Punjab Health Department Subordinate Offices Clerical Association continuing it pen-down strike hampering work at various health department institutes, salaries of employees are expected to be delayed.

Jagdish Thakur, association general secretary, said the ministerial staff had stopped all works, including sending of salary bills to the treasury, processing of registration applications under the food safety Act and all other administrative works.

Thakur said the association would gherao the residence of Ashok Nayyar, Director, Health, tomorrow.

He said the association might extend the protest as it had not received any word from the department regarding their demands.

The association had earlier announced a pen-down strike for three days.

The association has demanded filling of higher posts by promotion and not direct recruitment; new postings only at junior levels; allotment of revised pay scales to clerks in the statistical department, computerisation of GPF statements and removal of non-ministerial staff employees posted at ministerial posts.

Amritsar, January 29
Activists of the Shiv Sena, who had given a call to stop the Delhi-Lahore bus, were today arrested by the police. However, they were released later.

Lodging their resentment against the brutal killing of two Army jawans on Jammu and Kashmir border recently, the Shiv Sainiks had threatened to disrupt the bus service being run under an Indo-Pakistan pact at the Attari-Wagah check post. The agitating sainiks assembled in Naraingarh area near Chheharta. Before they could proceed towards the bypass road, a police party arrested 70 activists and released them only after the departure of the bus bound for Lahore.

Senior vice president, Shiv Sena, Punjab chapter, said following the incident of jawans’s killing in J&K, they had demanded to snap the bus service, rail and trade relations with Pakistan. He alleged that it was an open secret that drugs, arms and fake Indian currency were smuggled by Pakistan to create disturbances here.

“In such a scenario, Pakistan does not deserve to get along with us. We had plans to stop the Delhi-Lahore bus service but our move was scuttled. We will continue to lodge our protest in days to come,” he said. Some of them who were arrested by the police included Sachin Behl, Avinash Chawla, Manoj Kumar, Vikrant Banti and Bobby.

Amritsar, January 29
General Secretary of International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) Harinder Singh today visited the Golden Temple to offer prayers. He was welcomed by local leaders of International Human Rights Organisation during his visit.

Talking to mediapersons here, Harinder Singh said human rights were universal. Getting works done without bribing the government officials the right of every citizen, he added.

He said IHRO would soon start its awareness campaign about human rights from Jammu and Kashmir. He also criticised the Pakistani military for beheading two Indian soldiers. He termed it as a great violation of human rights.

Amritsar, January 29
The holy city of Amritsar, which draws a large number of tourists from both India and abroad, has the potential to become an international medical tourism hub.

Experts and people from the hospitality industry feel that the city has many of the necessary ingredients, such as quality medical experts, state-of-the-art hospitals and geographical advantage of being close to CIS countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan.

Hotelier APS Chatha says the need of the hour is to chalk out a comprehensive strategy and follow it.

The Amritsar Airport receives daily flights from the capitals cities of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and many passengers prefer to buy medicines from here since they are of good quality and are cheaper as well.

Chatha said the fields in surrounding areas of the city were not cultivated where more hotels could be built. Many city hospitals were receiving NRI patients from developed countries like England and Canada among others, he said.

Dr Sharda Adlakha, Beams Hospital, which receives patients for infertility and fibroids, says she has been running the fertility centre for the past over 40 years. Her clinic receives about 40 per cent of patients from outside Punjab and nearly 10 per cent are NRIs settled in developed countries.

Patients visit the hospital from Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and central parts of the country.

“NRIs and their acquaintances prefer to get operated here for these ailments as they pay five times less than what they need to pay in the country they reside in,” she says. The normal waiting period for infertility treatment in developed countries is three years, she says. Dr Amrit Adlakha says there is a need to channelise this potential with the help of the government to create hassle-free visa regime.

Dr HP Singh of Fortis Healthcare, Amritsar, is of the view that majority of the hospitals have missed out on marketing aspect.

The hospital has a dedicated wing for international patients for anthroscopic surgery, bariatric surgery, neurosurgery, kidney and liver transplant.

“There is a drastic need to create awareness among people of the targeted areas about the kind of quality services being offered here. The city has skilled specialists in cardiac, eye and orthopedic with state-of-the-art infrastructure,” Singh says.

Hotelier Piyush Kapoor opines that patients and their families coming from different parts of the country stay in hotels while majority of the NRI patients who are from the region do not need to stay out.

A high number of tourists come for eye treatment at Dr Daljit Singh Eye hospital. A bypass surgery here costs Rs 1.70 lakh while the same treatment costs Rs 15 lakh in the UK.

Local orthopedic centres offer knee replacement through ortho-pilot computerised equipment between Rs 1.2 to Rs 2 lakh while a similar replacement would cost three times more in Pakistan and at least 10 times more in Europe and America.

Why prefer holy city
The city offers quality medicare and geographical advantage of being close to CIS countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan
Normal waiting period for infertility treatment in developed countries is three years while the same can be done in few weeks here
A bypass surgery here costs Rs 1.70 lakh while the same treatment costs Rs 15 lakh in the UK
Orthopedic centres here offer knee replacement at Rs 1.2 to Rs 2 lakh while the same will cost three times more in Pakistan and about 10 times more in Europe

Amritsar, January 29
A captivating performance by eminent violinist Kala Ramnath was held today at Springdale School here. The performance was organised by the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY).

The violinist held both the staff and students of the school spellbound with her recital. She was accompanied on tabla by Mithilesh Kumar Jha.

Kala, brought up in a family of musicians, was training under Pandit Jasraj, the doyen of Mewati Gharana. The granddaughter of famous violin exponent Vidwan Narayana Iyer, she in her duets with singer Sanjeev Abhyankar created a storm in the music world. Her recent foray into fusion and the world music has earned her recognition among critics and experts alike.

She acquainted the staff and students with the nuances of classical music, particularly her skill of making her “violin sing”. She performed Raag Shudh Sarang and taught the students the finer aspects of playing a violin.

At present, Kala Ramnath is the director of Pandit Jasraj School of Music Foundation in Tampa, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia of the United States.

Amritsar, January 29
GD Goenka Public School organised a Republic Day carnival on Sunday with enthusiasm. All teachers and classes put up games at their stalls, including darts, towers of Hanoi and Hoopla. Amusement rides and a giant wheel were other attractions of the event.

Stalls of delicious food and various other items were also put up.