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Development projects all set to be sent for UMTA nod
chandigarh-amritsar superfast express
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Robbery case: Officiating SHO suspended for inaction
Station house officers reshuffled
Three booked for kidnapping
Artiste uses music to bridge cultural and social distances
Absorbable stents effective on diabetic heart patients: Expert
Drive against dowry launched
Youth killed in road accident
Man attacked over property dispute
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Development projects all set to be sent for UMTA nod
Amritsar, April 20 Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said the government formulated the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), 2006, which envisages setting up of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Agency. The development projects proposed by the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for infrastructure development and approved by the UMTA will qualify for the approval for grant from various agencies as per the policy. These are the conditions of the new policy. The Union Government would fund 50 per cent of the entire cost of the project, 30 per cent by the local body department and the remaining 20 by the state government. The state Cabinet gave consent to setting up the UMTA to oversee implementation of traffic rules and mobility projects undertaken by various agencies in the Municipal Corporations, besides ensuring an effective public transport system in the urban sector in the budget proposals approved last year. Among the first projects to be forwarded for ratification of the UMTA would be raising of the ROBs over Bhandari and Rego bridges and construction of ROB at Kot Mit Singh to pave way for smooth flow of traffic to and fro Tarn Taran. The project for resolving the traffic mess at Bhandari bridge has been taken on a priority basis and the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) has been directed to review the feasibility report prepared by RITES. The Railway authorities shelved the proposal to widen the busy Bhandari ROB, commonly known as Uchcha Pull, last year. The proposal of widening the ROB, which connects the walled city with the new city, was dropped after investing 20 months in planning, meetings and debates. The AIT funded the feasibility project and in the process has to forego the advance of Rs 12 lakh submitted to RITES to carry out the feasibility study. The railways rejected the proposal to widen the bridge as iron angles distinguishing its main road from pedestrian paths on both sides could not be removed. Besides, being a cantilever bridge and keeping in view its antiquity, it was not found feasible to spend so much money on its widening. Instead, it advocated raising of a new bridge after demolishing the present one. However, the administration did not commit anything on the same as it was primarily a technical matter and passed on the onus on the corporation to include the same in the CMP. According to RITES, over one lakh vehicles pass through this bridge in 24 hours. Another reason which attracted the attention of people and the authorities was the Punjab Pollution Control Board report on vehicular pollution around the Bhandari Bridge “being the most polluted due to vehicular pollution between 9am and 8pm”. At Bhandari Bridge, the particulate matter was as high as 599 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during peak hours while it was 232 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during lean traffic hours. Fact File
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chandigarh-amritsar superfast express
Amritsar, April 20 Passengers were jubilant at the reduction of the 30-minute distance as they can now easily head to their houses and have dinner with families after a day-long work. Rohan, a passenger, said earlier it was never possible to complete the day’s work out at Chandigarh and return the same day as freshly as now. Passengers from remote areas of the town and even rural areas could catch connecting means of transportation easily. Earlier, the train used to return from Chandigarh after 11 in the night and it was a little risky to travel to houses at that time. Locating rickshaws and autos for passengers was not easy at that time. Amit Mehra, another passenger, said earlier he used to travel to Chandigarh by train in the morning and return Amritsar by bus in the evening. “Over 20 minutes agonising wait for power change at Sirhind railway station, which is not even on the route to Chandigarh, made a major difference”. He felt that the fast-paced transportation on the route would herald innumerable business opportunities in the time to come. He felt that the government should plan to operationalise bullet train on this route, which would accelerate the economic growth of the region. Local Railway officials anticipated the occupancy rate of the superfast train to jack up, which is at present over 60 per cent. Earlier, this train was launched as Duronto on August 24, 2011. However, the authorities later gave into passengers demand and renamed the train as Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express with halts at Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
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18 days on, protesting youths fail to move govt
Amritsar, April 20 One of the youths had initiated an indefinite fast six days ago as a pressure tactics to move the government and the corporation. Though officials of the corporation and the district administration are regularly visiting the youngsters, no solution to the issue has been found
so far. At present, there are around 340 cases pending where one of the parents had died while in service. While of the total 5,800 cases in the category, around 3,500 had accepted compensation and around 380 had denied compensation and asked for job. Suchchain Singh, who is among the protesting youths, said: “The condition of Manjinder Singh, who is on a fast, is worsening each day but the government is not moving. The job is our right and we would get the same no matter how long it takes.” The youths had earlier organised two such protests atop water tanks but in each instance the authorities had managed to persuade them with assurances. However, this time, they seem adamant. Deputy Chief Engineer, PSPCL Border Range, SK Chawla said: “The matter has been taken seriously and discussed. It is in the notice of the Chief Minister.” He said while most of the electricity regulatory commissions repeatedly recommend cost-cutting, offering employment would add to economic crises. “The government had sought a legal opinion which stated that after giving jobs to these 340 persons, the remaining 5,500 would have a legal right to demand the same, even as they had accepted the compensation,” Chawla said. He said in most of these 340 cases the serving person had died within 2-3 years remaining in retirement. “The department had a policy of providing full pension with compensation that most had accepted. This full pension to the family was to be given till the dead employee had attained the retirement age, calculated if he or she was alive,” he added.
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Robbery case: Officiating SHO suspended for inaction
Amritsar, April 20 It arrested five persons in the case after some people reported the matter to the police. However, they were allegedly released by the police later without registering a case or taking necessary action. Residents got agitated over the police inaction. The victim Harjit Singh, a watchman from Daniyal village, went to the police station for registering a complaint when the head constable refused to file a complaint while stating that Sub-Inspector Sukhpal Singh, who was the officiating SHO, would take the complaint. However, when he approached Sukhpal he refused to do the same. The matter was brought to the notice of SHO Upkar Singh who was on leave. As per information, Harjit was returning home when about nine persons intercepted him and snatched his mobile phone and Rs 1,000 cash. When the police reached the spot they arrested five suspects in this regard in a late night raid. However, when Harjit reached the police station again the next morning to file the complaint, he found that the accused were released by the police. Manmohan Singh, SSP, Amritsar rural police, while confirming his suspension said the DSP (D) had been asked to conduct a probe in this connection. “Appropriate action would be taken after completion of the report and for time being Sukhpal has been placed under suspension,” he said. However, a case has also been registered against the nine persons in the robbery case.
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Case against sportsperson: SC/ST panel tells cops to conduct probe
Amritsar, April 20 The girl had approached the commission seeking impartial probe and justice. Rajkumar Verka, Vice-Chairman of the commission, had summoned IG Mittal in this connection. Mittal today personally appeared before the commission along with Manmohan Singh. The teenage girl alleged that she had entered into a relationship with Daljit Singh, son of assistant sub-inspector Kashmir Singh, about seven years ago. Later, she came to know that Daljit was involved in drug peddling besides several other criminal activities. Following this, she broke her relationship with him. She had alleged that to take revenge, the accused, along with his father and maternal uncle Hardeep Singh, who is head constable in the Narcotics Department, picked up her brother on March 20 from the Shaheed Udham Singh Colony. She said she immediately informed the Gate Hakima police station in this connection. She alleged that the family had received a call from the policemen who demanded Rs 1 lakh for releasing her brother and half-an-hour after they came to know that a case of possessing 300 gm opium was lodged against his brother. The commission took cognisance of the case and asked the IG and the SSP to submit a report within 15-days.
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Station house officers reshuffled
Amritsar, April 20 SHO, Sultanwind, Parvesh Chopra has been appointed as SHO, Gate Hakima police station. Jagdish Raj, SHO, Airport police station, has been shifted to Verka police station while Ashok Kumar, SHO, Verka, has been shifted to additional SHO B-Division police station. Inspector Mohan Singh has been made SHO, Airport police station.
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Three booked for kidnapping
Amritsar, April 20 Since then, Shashi Pal was running from pillar to post for the registration of a case of kidnapping and initiate steps to recover his son, but all in vain. Finally, the Police Commissioner took the notice and directed the ADCP (City) to look into the case a day before yesterday and today a kidnapping case was registered against three persons. The accused has been identified as Kulwinder Singh, the truck driver, Janak Raj and Shakuntala, all residents of Tibber village, Gurdaspur. While giving details about the incident, Shashi Pal said, “On March 5, I went home for lunch after my son arrived at the stall. Half-an-hour later when I came back, I found my son missing. A person, who sells calendar beside my stall told me that a truck driver had taken the boy away.” Shashi Pal said he immediately informed the police in this regard. He said on March 16, his brother-in-law Vijay Kumar received a call from his son, who secretly called him from the driver’s phone. But, before he could tell anything, the driver snatched the phone and since then the mobile number had been switched off, he said. Through the number, the family reached Kulwinder Singh, alias Sunny. They informed the police about the matter, but instead of taking any concrete step, it was busy in harassing the family, which is making rounds of the police station. “Instead of helping us in finding the boy, the SHO is issuing baseless statement that Varun might have fled away with a girl. The police is also unnecessarily harassing my brother-in-law Vijay, to whom my son tried to contact,” alleged Shashi Pal. Police commissioner Ram Singh said he had appointed the ADCP (City) to investigate the case. “I have also asked him to enquire into the reason behind such a long delay in the case. Stern action would be initiated against the policemen concerned, if found guilty,” said the Police Commissioner.
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Artiste uses music to bridge cultural and social distances
Amritsar, April 20 His fetish for music and social change has brought the California-based and LA bred artiste to Amritsar. Performing under the aegis of the American Indian foundation (AIF) and their Our Family, Our Neighborhood, Our world (O3) project, Mandeep gave a scintillating tw0- hour performances along with the local folk artistes and children from various schools at the Art Gallery. Mandeep has been conducting a workshop with these kids from rural and city wide schools for the past five days. “As a Punjabi who was born and bred in LA, I would say that my culture is hip-hop or the street music and my heritage is Punjabi. With such initiatives, I try to blend in the culture and heritage pf Punjab and take a humanitarian stand for peace and global harmony,” says the artiste. Confessing that he has not been exposed to all the culture nit bits of Punjabis, being part of this initiative is a two-way exchange for him. “It has been more than a learning experience as I got to know so much about the Punjabi folk music from the local artistes,” he said. The artiste has performed gigs at various international platforms and was also featured in MTV Coke Studio jamming with artistes Shilpa Rao, Benny Dayal, Shruti Pathak, Salim Merchant and music producer Karsh kale. However, dealing with a bunch of kids, training them with nuances of street and R&B music proved to be quite handful to this young man. ‘With some of these kids exposed to the commercial bollywood type hip-hop music, it was a bit hard to explain the technicalities involved in the hip-hop. But I related it to the Punjabi folk as DJ being the same as a dholi and the break dancers being same as bhangra dancers," he says. He says, “Most people perceive it as a violent, obscene and rebellious music, but the reality is quite different. It’s music of struggle. Young artistes in the US are creating powerful music. Even big labels and music companies too are using this power to influence the youth,” says Sethi, who is also a member of the universal organisation of street music. He agrees that most of this limited and negative knowledge about street and hip-hop music in Punjabis has been credited to some Punjabi artistes, who are spreading negative image about it. “I have heard some of the popular Punjabi artistes who are creating music irresponsibly," he said.
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125 doctors attend live surgery workshop
Amritsar, April 20 Dr Rajeev B Ahuja, secretary general, International Confederation of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (Asia Pacific Chapter) was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Amandeep Kaur, director of the hospital, said this was the first of its kind workshop, wherein live surgery was being performed at the hospital. She said management of jutting, protruding or receding jaw that could make an enormous difference to a person. She added that plastic surgery techniques to restore and make them workable were extensively discussed during the scientific session. A live transmission of surgeries, performed by a team, comprising Dr P Anantanarayanan (Chennai), Dr Krishnamurthy Bonanthaya (Bangalore) was shown to around 125 participating doctors.
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Absorbable stents effective on diabetic heart patients: Expert
Amritsar, April 20 Having recently treated a 50-year-old diabetic cardiac patient with an absorbable stent in a first-of-its-kind successful treatment, Dr Anand said there were numerous challenges in treating the heart patients also suffering from diabetes. “With the help of absorbable stents, which are also known as bioresorable vasular scaffold, we have been able to overcome these challenges to a greater extent,” he said, adding that absorbable stent is made of a soluble material coated with drug which cures diseased heart arteries. Diabetes patients have multiple risk factors as compared to non-diabetic population. Diabetes has been consistently shown to be an important predictor of poor outcomes after stent procedure. “Diabetic patients have an increased risk of re-block of artery and in their clinical follow-ups we come across higher incidence of death, heart attack and need to do a bypass surgery,” he said.
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With new movie, Gippy
ready to make you laugh
Amritsar, April 20 "Unlike my previous films Carry On Jatta and Singh V/s Kaur, in this film, I am playing the role of an honest guy who attracts trouble whenever he speaks truth," he said. Well, with his films,
trouble means good business. With the film, bollywood actor Jackie Shroff will appear in the Punjabi cinema. "Jackie plays a gangster in the film and it was really amazing working with such a seasoned actor. I am excited to see how the audiences will react after seeing him in a Punjabi character," said Gippy. The film also stars surveen Chawla along with the regular gang of actors Binnu Dhillon, Jaswinder Bhalla and Gurpreet Ghuggi. Like always, it's a fun-filled movie with the promise of full entertainment. It will release on April 26 and will be kicking off with an official launch event and world premier screening on April 25 in Toronto," the actor said.
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City school celebrates Earth Day
Amritsar, April 20 Various inter-class competitions like declamation, poem recitation and paintings were also held. The 'best out of waste’ models were the centre of attraction during the occasion. School principal Nirmal Kaur urged the students to take the pledge of making the environment clean and pollution-free. Ryan Internationa School win football match
The team of Ryan International School outplayed Senior Buds School, Ajnala, 2-1 in an action-packed football match today. It was really a nail-biting match, which engrossed everyone around. The players were felicitated for their outstanding performance. Film promotion
Actor and singer Gippy Grewal and his crew visited Sidana International School, Khiala Khurd, today. In a press released issued today, the school stated that the students extended a warm welcome to Gippy Grewal. KL Sidana auditorium was jampacked with students, teachers and parents. Everybody encouraged singer-cum-actor Gippy Grewal when he promoted his film ‘Lucky Di Unlucky Story’. Dr Jeewan Jyoti Sidana, director of Sidana Institutes congractulated the actor. The students performed with Gippy on stage.
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Drive against dowry launched
Amrtsar, April 20 President of the NGO, Swaraj Grover, said dowry was a blot on society and was leading to other social evils like female foeticide, domestic violence and child marriage. She stressed on the need to root out the evil from society. She said under the programme, people would be requested to take a pledge that they would neither accept nor give dowry. Besides, the families performing marriages without dowry would be honoured, she said.
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Youth killed in road accident
Amritsar, April 20 The deceased has been identified as Dharminder. The injured has been identified as Sahil. A case has been registered under Sections 304-A, 279, 338, 427 of the IPC at the Civil Lines police station. Honey Sabharwal, brother of the injured, in a complaint to the police, stated that Sahil, along with his friend Dharminder, was going on his scooter (PB-02-BX-9388) when the car hit their scooter near Vishal Megamart.
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Man attacked over property dispute
Amritsar, April 20 The victim, Kewal Singh, a resident of the Indira Colony Gate Hakima, was admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. He sustained injuries on his neck. He was attacked by some sharp- edged weapons. The police has registered a case under Sections 323, 324, 34 of the IPC against four persons in this connection. No arrest has been made so far. The accused have been identified as Pal Singh, Soni Singh, Veeru and Buta Singh. Kewal Singh stated to the police that as he was entering his house when the accused, attacked and injured him.
— TNS
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