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Sharp rise in illegal colonies
Slow pace of work at Kitchlew Chowk flyover irks city residents
Traders for setting up think tank
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Giving all a chance to experience fame
City boy composes his way to Bollywood
Transformer stolen
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Sharp rise in illegal colonies
Amritsar, March 18 This has made the dream project of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to see the planned development of the holy city far fetched. Under the Punjab Apartments and Property Regulation Act (PAPRA) 1995, the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) is entrusted with the responsibility of detecting illegal colonies outside the Muncicipal Corporation limits. Even then, it could not check the mushrooming of illegal colonies. A real estate agent, dealing in approved government localities, said the continued trend of unapproved colonies indicated towards high demand of housing. It also belied the tall claims of the government to provide residential dwellings to the rising population through its various development agencies, he added. A Majority of these illegal colonies have developed along and around the bypasses of the city, which have become black spots on urbanised development. Residents of these localities are deprived of basic amenities like wide roads, sewerage and streetlights. Once the area is developed, it soon turns into a congested one and residents have to cope with traffic blues. Rattled with problems like the non-existence of private and government transport, absence of sewerage, potable water and many more, residents can neither live there nor find buyers. A resident of illegal colony, Amarbir Singh, said the rise in the number of nuclear families and high prices of approved colonies had pushed people to procure plots in illegal colonies. Almost all houses had installed submersible pumps to directly draw groundwater, while septic tanks have been constructed on the roads in front of the houses to discharge waste. Transportation is another major problem. Ashish Kumar of Suraj Avenue said to own a conveyance in these areas was almost a prerequisite, as many colonies were situated in the exteriors and neither the government nor private mass-transportation was available. A real estate consultant said high external development charges (EDCs) deterred investors from going ahead for a regularised colony. As per the rules framed in 2007, the external development charges (EDCs) had been divided into two parts constituting high potential zone of two categories. The category I is the area within the radius of 5 km outside the Municipal Corporation limit. For developing a residential area on an acre, one has to pay Rs 26.78 lakh as EDCs and Rs 3 lakh as the licence fee. The conversion charges for national highway are Rs 5.38 lakh, state highway Rs 4.53 lakh and Rs 3.60 lakh for other roads. With a view to developing the same area for commercial purposes, one has to shell out Rs 93.95 lakh per acre and Rs 1 crore as licence fee. Besides, for the commercial area conversion, charges for national highway are Rs 43.18 lakh, state highway Rs 35.98 lakh and Rs 28.81 lakh for other roads. Meanwhile, area outside the municipal limits within the radius of 5 to 15 km falls under category II. For the development of residential area on an acre, one has to pay Rs 22.76 lakh as EDCs and Rs 3 lakh as the licence fee. Besides, conversion charges for national highway are Rs 5.38 lakh, state highway Rs 4.53 lakh and Rs 3.60 lakh for other roads. To develop the same area for commercial purpose, one has to pay Rs 79.85 lakh as EDCs and Rs 1 crore as the licence fee. The conversion charges for national highway are Rs 43.18 lakh, state highway Rs 35.98 lakh and Rs 28.81 lakh for other roads. All these charges raised the cost manifold and would deter a large number of people from realising their dreams. He said properties developed under these parameters would be very costly and for a majority of persons to own a house would remain a dream. However, officials in PUDA say that once a colony is approved, it offers many civic amenities and services like roads, sewerage, streetlights and other works. ADA Chief Administrator Sandeep Rishi, who is also holding additional charge of PUDA, said the pace for the setting up of illegal colonies had come down after he joined the office. He said there was an acute shortage of field staff at the junior engineer (JE) level, whose job was to report the attempt of setting up of illegal colonies. He said a majority of these posts had been filled and the entire district, barring the MC area, had been divided among them. About affordable housing, he said the Amritsar Improvement Trust was raising hundreds of economic weaker section (EWS) units under the New Amritsar and Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar scheme.
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Slow pace of work at Kitchlew Chowk flyover irks city residents
Amritsar, March 18 The flyover at Kitchlew Chowk was conceptualised at an estimated cost of Rs 22 crore. The work was awarded to SP Singla Company in September 2011 and it was supposed to be completed in 15 months. The flyover being built on the central verge of the road would stand on 14 pillars. Further, each pillar would rest on five piles. Besides, a 5.5-m wide stretch will be available on both sides of the road along the flyover. The project had earlier suffered a setback when around 30 trees came in its way. It was after the Amritsar Improvement Trust provided a chunk of land at New Amritsar and paid nearly Rs 3 lakh to the Forest Department, that the permission was granted to uproot the trees. The fact is that the whole area comes under the forest department and it was obligatory on part of the Improvement Trust to seek "due permission" from the Divisional Forest Office. More than a year has passed since the work was allotted to SP Singla Company, but there is negligible progress. A visit to the site revealed that giant machines of the construction company, which had been hired to execute the project, had encroached at least 10- foot portion of the road from the middle to accommodate the supporting machinery and construction infrastructure since then. Electricity wires, water and sewerage pipes added to the woes of the commuters. Serpentine queues of vehicles stranded on this stretch are a common sight. It has reliably been learnt that the hired company has taken up the project on much lower rate and now it is finding it non-feasible to execute the job. The delay in the project further aggravated the rental quotient of hired machinery. It was an astonishing bid amount quoted by the company because it’s almost half the amount as estimated by the RITES team, which was Rs 34
crore.
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Traders for setting up think tank
Amritsar, March 18 Former president, Indian Economic Association, Dr RS Bawa,said proceeding without a plan was akin to roaming aimlessly and opined that guided development would help revenue- generating industries to realise their optimum level.
The city needed quality infrastructure and basic civic amenities. He said the blueprint must address issues like public transport system which would cover outer ring road of the city, connecting railway
station, bus stand and the Golden Temple. He emphasised the need to revamp chemical, electronics and information technology industries. He said all these industries
had never been introduced in the city. Industrialist Kamal Dalmia said announcements made for the economic development of this border city had never been
realised. “The city should be transformed into an industry hub, keeping in mind its proximity to Pakistan and gateway to Central Asia.Only then maximum benefit of the ICP could be realised” he remarked. He emphasised that
a state-level economic think tank, comprising economists, agriculturists, industrialists, must be formed to put the state on the path of guided development. The Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association general secretary APS Chatha said hospitality industry was the economic backbone of the city yet the government failed to lend any constructive support to it. He said the Parkash Singh Badal government gave industry status to the tourism but power tariff was being charged at the commercial rate. He said instead of support, the industry was battered with a group of taxes by the state and even central government. The Shawl Club of India president Mr PL Seth, said the combined share of shawl, stole and blanket industry of the city in the domestic and international market was nearly Rs 1,000 crore per year. He said the blueprint could ensure the development of Amritsar as a multi-functional
centre, commercial and trade capital of the state. “A master plan for the holistic growth of the city, including, tourism, aviation and hospitality, should be developed,” he added. He felt that all stakeholders must be involved in planning, development, marketing and management of these activities.
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Another big haul of drugs in the city
Amritsar, March 18 The police has also impounded the car (JK-02-AF-1809) and mobile phone of the accused. A case under Section 22/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against two persons, identified as Suram Lal, a resident of Pokhar and Shamsher Singh of Raipur, Jammu. While Suram was arrested by the police, Shamsher Singh, who was driving the car, managed to escape from the spot. The accused were arrested when a police party signalled them to stop the car near Celebration Mall, located on Batala Road. During the search, 10,000 capsules were seized from Suram’s bag. Assistant Sub-Inspector Anil Kumar, the investigating officer of the case, said during the preliminary investigations, Suram revealed that the contraband was procured by Shamsher, a driver. This is the second biggest haul of habit-forming drugs seized by the Punjab Police in the past couple of days. Yesterday, the police had recovered over 11,000 capsules in two separate instances. The CIA staff had seized 10,000 intoxicant capsules from Rakesh Kumar of Mustafabad, besides 1000 capsules from Tejwinder Singh of Patti Bage Wali. Dr Kaustubh Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, while admitting that there was a rise in seizures of habit-forming drugs in the recent past, he said the police department was taking all the necessary action after the recovery of the intoxicants. He said the department also informed the Health Department to look into the menace and enhance the vigil on erring chemist shops and illegal dealers. Meanwhile, B-division police station nabbed Randhir Singh of Ratta Gudda, Tarn Taran, with 7 kg of poppy husk. Mehta Police (Amritsar rural police) also arrested Sukhwinder Singh of Bhinder village with 300 capsules.
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Prisoner serving life term dies in hospital
Daljit, a murder convict had tried to commit suicide by hanging himself in the bathroom of the jail factory. He was serving life term. He was lodged in Amritsar Central Jail
since 2009. He had hanged himself with a string in the bathroom located in the factory on the jail premises. He was rushed to hospital by the jail staff . Following the incident, he was booked by the police for attempting suicide.The Jail authorities had said that he was under depression.
Nirvail Singh, decesed's elder brother , alleged that Daljit’s condition deteriorated last evening evening at the
GNDH, where he was admitted on March 8. “Doctors operated upon him on March 16. Before that, he was responding very well to the treatment. Yesterday his condition deteriorated ,but there was no senior doctor present at the hospital, while junior doctors did not give proper attention to the patient.,” alleged Nirvail Singh. He also demanded action against the erring doctors at the
GNDH. Meanwhile the Hospital authorities said they had not received any written complaint.
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Registry of properties: District administration’s methodology, transparency bears fruit
Amritsar, March 18 It was the token system, coupled with the parallel processing system, which worked wonders and put Amritsar to be on a better performance graph in terms of the registration of properties. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said that against a set target of Rs 295 crore, around Rs 261 crore could be achieved by February. “The target is almost achieved. The exact position could be evaluated after the expiry of the financial year i.e. on March 31,” he said, adding that the registries would be accepted beyond this date, subject to the condition that original buyers and sellers produced themselves in person and the transaction amount was credited in the sellers’ account and an undertaking with original papers would be put in place. According to officials, after studying the lacunae in the process of registration, the administration had devised a parallel programme to get the requisite formalities furnished simultaneously. Besides initiating to introduce "token system" at the Sub Registrar office I and II, a parallel computer system, along with printer, was programmed with the main terminal to save time and energy. The aspirants, both buyers and sellers, would be issued specific tokens, which would facilitate them to get the formalities done at the first instance. The token depicted a serial number of the applicant, date and time on which parties must be present before the sub-registrar for the registration of a document. Besides, special counters had been established at Suwidha Centre which would exclusively cater to senior citizens, handicapped and NRI citizens in issuing them tokens between 9 am and 12 noon. It is clarified that either the buyer or the seller has to be from the above class of applicants and document has to be submitted at Suwidha centre itself complete in all respects. For general categories, three copies of registries must be submitted at counter No. 1. Incomplete documents will not be entertained. After that, the parties must be present at counter No. 2 at the office of the Sub-Registrar on the date and time allotted to them. After presenting before the Sub-Registrar, they must go to counter No. 3 for signing the documents. The delay between counter No. 2 and counter No. 3 is about one and a half hours. After signatures, the applicant must move to counter No. 4 to deposit government fees and registry will be delivered at counter No. 5 on the next working day after 2 pm. The DC said parties, either seller or buyer, must submit documents complete in all respects before obtaining their token and that nobody was allowed to be accommodated out of turn. A new initiative
DC Rajat Aggarwal said that a proposal had been submitted with the government for allowing stamp duty payments through credit cards of designated banks too. “We have submitted a proposal to even include those bank branches also which do not come under the purview of the government treasury branches. This would help the beneficiaries to complete formalities through their respective banks. The whole methodology was adopted, keeping in mind the infrastructural constraints and convenience to the public. This will avoid unnecessary crowding at the sub-registrar’s office,” he said.
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Giving all a chance to experience fame
Amritsar, March 18 With her upcoming and recent shows, all of which deal with fans and their objects of obsession, Baljit is happily helping fans and admirers taste a bit of stardom. “All my new shows are about star-fan relationships and deal with common people,” says the anchor. Her popular shows include PTC Superstar, a chat show where she hosts internationally acclaimed Punjabi stars, Hello PTC, where she takes fan calls and interacts with anxious callers ready to share interesting tit-bits with her and the more recent ones include Dinner Date with the Stars, a concept based on popular international show Dining with the Stars. “Every episode will have a new star from Punjabi entertainment industry and one chosen fan will get a chance to meet and dine with their favourite stars. We have shot an episode with Jazzy B and many more stars, including Diljit Dosanjh, would be featured interacting and entertaining their fans on a dinner date,” she says. Her job, she says, is made more entertaining by fans who come prepared with some antics to be televised. “There was this guy from Ludhiana, who had travelled to Jalandhar on bike, just to be a part of the show. Then there was this girl from Gurdaspur who did not want to end her call on my show Hello PTC because she had so much to talk. Through these shows, I get to meet such interesting people, some even bigger stars in their own right,” says Baljit. A popular face herself, Baljit believes that in any entertainment industry, star value runs the business. “It is very important as that is what keeps the fans following and shows running. It is star value that makes meeting them an event and not just another chance encounter.”
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City boy composes his way to Bollywood
Amritsar, March 18 Composing music for a song Raghupati Raghav in RGV’s recent drama, based on Mumbai attacks, ‘The Attacks of 26/11’, Vishal has officially entered Bollywood as a composer. The Amritsar born and bred youngster’s work impressed RGV in the first go. Vishal shares the rest of the story himself. “My brother, who is an actor based in Mumbai, had arranged for an audition for a small character role in the film and I bagged it. But since my actual passion was music, I approached Verma with my compositions and he liked them and offered me the song,” he says. Stretching his talent, Vishal is also seen playing the role of a terrorist in the film. But that he does not want to add to his profile. “See, I was never an actor, it just happened to me. Though the role became a reason for my debut in the industry, music is my only focus.” Vishal has composed two versions of the song, one with a mellowed down emotional tone and the other with an aggressive one. “I have experimented with different genres, zeroed down to orchestral and Indian fusion mixed with the flute. I believe myself to be a thinking composer, one has to see if the composition gels with the required mood in the film,” says Vishal. Struggling for a while, he had been composing jingles and music for commercials. As every small town talent of the country who struggles with lack of exposure early on, Vishal too had to adjust moving to a big city. “In Amritsar, I did gigs that lacked the right audience but Bollywood is a different ball game. The professionalism and no-nonsense attitude did get to me at first, but I enjoyed my first outing," says the boy, who comes from a family of a doctor father and a housewife mother. He was pushed towards music by his teachers and now he is working with his brother Susheel R Khosla, who is an actor and a composer himself. Happy with his work for now, his biggest compliment came from RGV himself, "After listening to my composition, he said it was superb. He gave me all the liberty to work on it and got a bit emotional about it too." As for his future in the industry, Vishal does not want to stop at anything now. 'One has to be the part of the race always and be open to anything. If you have quality work to show, only then will you be entertained in the entertainment industry," he says. Working on various projects for now, he is ready for a longer innings in B-town. 'I admire the likes of Amit Trivedi, who have made it big, coming from humble backgrounds and given niche music to Bollywood. I want to do the same."
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‘Ferrari ki Sawari’ kid comes calling to Amritsar
Amritsar, March 18 To make optimum use of his stay in the heart of Punjab, he is busy learning Punjabi. It would brighten his prospects in Punjabi cinema, which beckons him for its nice presentation, vivacious songs and music. In a highly competitive tinsel town, Ritwik managed to make his presence felt by his maiden flick. Answering a query about how he landed the role in “Ferrari Ki Sawaari”, he said it was while his house, situated in Kandivali (East Mubai), was being renovated about four years ago. In order to escape all the din and noise, he had gone to a mall with his
mother and the casting director of the film had spotted him then. The director thought that he looked like Sachin
Tendulkar and would fit the role. The 13-year-old said his acting in the flick did not disturb his studies as the director shot with him only on those days when there was no school. He was only 10 when he had acted in the movie. Ritwik is the first in his family to have made a foray in the acting arena. His father Rajesh is a Mumbai-based businessman, while his mother Monica is a house wife. Rajesh said following the success of “Ferrari Ki Sawari” at the box office and the appreciation of Ritwik’s acting, many more offers, especially of television shows, had
been coming in. He said they had not decided on them yet and wantedhim to concentrate on his studies first. His mother Monica did not mince words and hoped that one day his son would make a mark in the tinsel town. Ritwik’s favourite actors are Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Boman
Irani and undoubtedly Sharman Joshi, with whom he did his first movie.
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Transformer stolen
Amritsar, March 18 The transformer was installed in the fields of Lakhbir Singh. On the complaint of Ashwani Kumar, SDO, Powercom, Kathunangal, the police has registered a case against unidentified persons. Arms seized:
The Majitha police has arrested Nishan Singh of Majitha for allegedly possessing a country made pistol of .315 bore along with three live cartridges. A case under Section 25/54/59 the Arms act has been registered against him.
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Amritsar, March 18
