Amritsar, March 23
Even as the hospitality industry is upbeat over the announcement of fund allocation for two tourism projects in the Punjab budget,it regretted that high taxes of various kinds and delay in commissioning of tourism projects were hitting the interests of the leading revenue earning industry in the border district.

Hotelier APS Chatha said it was a laudable move by the state government to announce fund allocation for Qila Gobindgarh Fort and Ramtirth, an ancient temple believed to be the hermitage of Lord Valmiki.

He added that the restoration projects of Qila Gobindgarh, Ram Bagh, value for being a summer palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Punjabi Heritage village in Guru Nanak Dev University were running behind the schedule.

The Punjab Heritage Tourism and Promotion Board (PHTPB), in a survey, found that about 2 crore tourists visited the holy city in fiscal 2011-2012 and average day visitors count was between 40,000 to 50,000, which rose over 60,000 on weekends. However, it found that not more than 25 per cent of these remained here for night stay. Chatha said this was a major area of concern for the hospitality players as the count of rooms was increasing every month.

Another survey by the PHTPB revealed that the number of hotel rooms in the holy city have now gone up to over 4,000. Availability of all categories of rooms in the hospitality sector was not more than 2,600 about five years ago. He said these rooms were available in 240 accommodation units, which included 198 hotels, besides Serais (inn), dharamshala, rest houses and guest houses.

He said over10 hotels with collective investment of Rs 500 crore were either under construction or recently became operational in the city. Of late, a spate of luxury hotels has been added into the skyline of the holy city. Interestingly, many star hotels are coming up in the walled city, characterised by its labyrinthine narrow lanes. For example, two five-star hotels are presently operational, while an equal number of these are anticipated to be added this year.

Another area of concern is high taxes of various kinds. Roughly a customer staying in a hotel and relishing food in the holy city has to shell out over 30 per cent in taxes to the central and state governments. These taxes are luxury tax, service tax, VAT on food and additional tax on Air conditioned restaurants.

The Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) has urged the government to offer respite to the industry from an array of taxes. It urged the state government to help promote medical tourism, as the holy city had got a majority of the necessary ingredients like quality medical experts, hospitals with state-of-the-art infrastructure, strategic geographical location of being situated close to Pakistan and landlocked countries like Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan, known as CIS countries. The Amritsar Airport is already receiving daily flights from the capitals of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and many passengers prefer to buy medicines from here,said a hotelier. 

Amritsar, March 23
Congress councillor Gurinder Rishi introduced four garbage- lifting rickshaws on the occasion of the martydom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh ,Rajguru and Sukhdev in ward No. 24 here today.

Costing about Rs 1 lakh, these four rickshaws would be pressed into service every Saturday and Sunday for door- to- door garbage collection.

Despite the fact that ward no 24 leads to religious destinations, including Golden Temple, Santokhsar Sahib Gurdwara, Guru ke Mehal Gurdwara, Toba Bhai Salo Gurdwara, Saragarhi Sahib, Darshani Deodi, Mata Longa Wali Mandir, Baba Lal Dyal Mandir and Marwari Mandir, the garbage lifting scenario was quite dismal in these areas.

Rishi urged City Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora to provide eight karamcharis who could operate these rickshaws. 

Amritsar, March 23
Schools and Anganwari centers are becoming soft targets for the miscreants, who successfully manage to decamp with valuable gadgets and even eatables from their unsecured premises.

In the latest incident, several unidentified persons scaled the wall of Government Elementary School, Chogawan, and stole an LPG cylinder and other articles from its kitchen.

Confirming the incident, school head Mandeep Kaur said a complaint had been registered with the Lopoke police station but the accused could not be traced yet.

Investigating officer Sukhwinder Singh said besides gas cylinder other articles worth around Rs 3,000 were found missing by the school staff. “A case under Section 457 (criminal trespass) and 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered but no arrest could be made so far,” he said.

It was the second instance in a span of fortnight when unidentified persons targeted a school. 

Amritsar, March 23
With the most vibrant fun festival round the corner, the city is gearing up to celebrate the festival of colours with great enthusiasm. True to its being, the festival promises a lot of colour, with dollops of mischief. But it also comes with a health warning.

As market places have donned a vibrant look, with mountain of colours erected, a string of water guns and other necessary equipment for the day, the colours of Holi come mixed with health hazards like renal failures, conjunctivitis and skin problems. But this year, Holi might actually turn green and safe for some, as natural and herbal colours are being endorsed days before the festivities begin. Green seems to be the colour in everyone's mind while they wait for Holi by opting for eco-friendly ways to celebrate the festival. Choosing not to sacrifice environment and health over festive spirit, organic products are all set to make their presence felt this time. Natural colours and organic colors are available in all leading retail shops around the city and even organic clothes for the day can be picked up.

"There are ways to play a safe Holi, found easily inside your kitchen. Natural or home-made colours using dry flowers and ingredients like turmeric and besan could replace the Chinese and other chemically laden colours found in the markets," says Narinder Bhatia, an activist and volunteer from the Greenpeace. The vendors, too, are taking a cue and selling natural colours. "Since Holi is incomplete without colours and keeping in mind the safety during the festival, we have herbal and natural colours available along with the usual ones. Turmeric, red sandalwood powder, amla, henna, beetroot and dry flowers like marigold, tesu, amaltaas, red hibiscus etc are used to make the colours," shares Balraj Sharma, a vendor at Putlighar. Popular brands of natural colours from Khadi, FabIndia, Antarkranti and Vedic colours are available in the city.

While natural is the way to go, some even share their own recipes to prepare Holi colours in the kitchen. "Pomegranate boiled in water and kept overnight could be used as a red colour. Beetroot, too, is a natural colour ingredient and is good for the skin as well. Most of the natural colours could be made using dry flowers, which are readily available in the market," shares Neera Monga, who prepares homemade colours on order in city. "The herbal and organic colours, which are made from extracts of flowers, tree barks and leaves, do not cause any harm coming in contact with the skin, and are in high demand as well," she says. Some web portals, too, offer non-toxic Holi options. "We offer organic colours which are non-toxic and skin-friendly, scented gulabari, which is soft and smooth. It comes in five colours, with essential oil aromas like lemongrass, citronella and orange," said Mohit Taneja of Ebagsfull.com, an online portal.

So, get the message. Why suffer for months over one day of festivities, when nature gives you all the colours required. 

Amritsar, March 23
The police has impounded four trucks carrying sand which was illegally mined from villages located near the Ravi river belt.

The drivers of the trucks fled from the scene by jumping off the trucks after they were signalled to stop by the patrolling police party.

Two trucks, bearing numbers PB-11-H-9427 and PB-02-N-9805, were impounded from Talwandi Raidadu village, while two others, with registration numbers PB-10-V-0371 and PB-06-C-2387, respectively, were seized from Bhakhe village.

The Ajnala police has registered two cases of theft under Section 379 of the IPC and under Section 21 of the Mining and Mineral Act 1957 against the unidentified accused.

Illegal excavation of sand has been continuing near the Ravi river belt as indicated by the continuous seizure of many trucks. Police officials said they were taking stringent measures against the accused involved in the illegal excavation.

Amritsar, March 23
Various functions to commemorate martyr day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were organised in the city today. Former cabinet minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla along with others paid floral tributes to the martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh here. She said the government and parents had a duty to educate their children about the martyrs. She said people and politicians seemed to have forgotten the ideals for which freedom fighters laid their lives during the freedom struggle.

Meanwhile, Sarhad-e-Punjab Sports Club organised a function during which its president Gurinder Singh Mattu said the real tributes to the martyrs would be to eradicate drug addiction.

BJP leader Tarun Chug too paid tributes to the martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh. While speaking on the occasion, he said Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were the revered figures for the youngsters of country. He said yougsters should take inspiration from them and work for the progress of the country. 

Amritsar, March 23
The Millennium School (TMS), Amritsar, observed the Earth Hour and created awareness about its significance among the students, parents and residents on Saturday.

To mark the occasion, the school organised a host of activities aimed at creating awareness about the idea behind the day.

The students carried out a signature campaign at strategic locations in the city such as banks, government offices, parks and organised a candle march from Lawrence Road to Company Bagh with 500 eminent citizens of the city.

Initiated by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), the Earth Hour is celebrated every year on March 23 since 2009.

Every year, individuals and organisations come forward and pledge to conserve the energy for a better tomorrow. As a symbolic action, people switch off lights for an hour (8:30 pm to 9:30 pm). The Millennium School, Amritsar, has also signed up for global energy conservation initiative by the WWF.

Mita Nangia Goswami, Director, Environment Education, WWF India, said, “Earth Hour is all about cumulative impact of actions. Children can be the most active and effective catalysts of change in a society. We are glad that schools have decided to uphold the values of the Earth Hour. We want children to understand that they can make a change and work towards slowing down the degradation of Earth.”

Mukesh Shelat, principal of the school, said, “We wanted our students to be associated with the cause. They will be inheriting this planet and they will be its guardians. Rather than starting tomorrow, we want them to start today before it is too late.” The principal also expressed the hope that children will learn about energy conservation. 

Amritsar, March 23
In the local Bar Association elections, scheduled for April 5, three-time president Pradeep Kumar Saini is facing advocate Sandeep Gorsi who is in fray for the top post. In total, 20 candidates have filed their nomination for the 14 posts in the association.

For the post of general secretary, Gurpreet Singh Panesar and Mukesh Nanda are in contention.

In the present association, Panesar and Nanda are serving as general secretary and vice-president, respectively. Returning officer Ranbir Kaushal said advocate Sandeep Walia had been elected treasurer unanimously. Even the two executive posts, reserved for women lawyers, have been filled unopposed as Narinder Kaur and Rajni Joshi were the only candidates in the fray for these posts.

Ranbir Kaushal said all the arrangements had been made for the polls.— TNS 

Amritsar, March 23
The Swami Vivekananda De-addiction Centre, being run from the premises of Government Medical College, has adopted a novel way to rehabilitate the drug addicts, who are being successfully treated at the centre. Dr PD Garg, director of the centre, said the department had reabilitated many addicts.

”At present, we are providing them with free uniforms and food besides giving them some monetary benefits on daily basis through the NGOs, which are associated with the centre,” he said.

Dr Garg said rehabilitation is the most important step in the process of completely weaning away drug addicts from the menace.

At present, the centre has employed 15 persons, who belong to economically weaker sections. They were given the duty of security guards and safari karamcharis.

“It has not only helped in the proper functioning of the centre but also helped in proper follow ups for their treatment,” said Dr Garg.

The basic idea was to keep them busy and divert their attention towards some constructive work and providing them a platform to return to the mainstream,” he said.

“It has worked wonders till now as we are getting a very positive response,” said Dr Garg.