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Residents protest hike in price of milk, related products
Month on, unemployed youths’ protest continues on water tank
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Burgeoning handcarts add to traffic chaos in city
Licence fee on liquor doubled at party halls
Attack on Sarabjit a conspiracy, says Chief Khalsa Diwan
He wants to promote Sikh culture, heritage through his art
Social activists honoured
NIT Jalandhar and CTIEMT ink MoU to promote research
Workshop for govt school principals held
Cosmetic procedures to make good lapped up by many
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Residents protest hike in price of milk, related products
Amritsar, May 3 The price of milk has been hiked from Rs 2 to Rs 4 per litre, a kg of curd from Rs 45 to Rs 50, a glass of butter milk from Rs 25 to Rs 30, a kg of cheese from Rs 200 to Rs 245 and a kg of khoya from Rs 280 to Rs 300. The residents urged the district administration to intervene in the matter so that only a rational raise was effected. A resident of Dashmesh Nagar, Sukhdev Singh Dhanjal, said the hike in the milk prices at the onset of summer season was a rude shock to the residents. He said the government should act to rationalise the rise, as the hike was unilaterally decided following an agreement between milk suppliers and halwais. Both unions decided to raise the prices of milk by Rs 4 per litre. People, who are already reeling under an unprecedented price hike, have got another jolt in the form of milk price hike, he fumed. He added that when the government was providing various subsidies on cattle-rearing, it should also keep a check on its price hike which is more a marketing gimmick. A housewife, Rachna Mehra, said the hike in the prices of milk following an agreement between two unions signaled to a kind of cartelisation. She said this would work as a precedent, which would be followed by associations of other commodities. She said the hike in the milk price worked as a chain effect which consequently jacked up prices of milk products like curd, cheese, butter milk. A mason Satwant Singh said providing food to feed the family members is the main objective for the heads of lower-income group families what to talk about nutritious diet. He said milk is an inalienable ingredient in any family. If the same rate of increase in its price continuing, it would soon be out of the kitchen. Members of both unions maintained that the demand for milk was rising by the day, but the supply wa not increasing in consonance. Besides, at the same time the cost of transport and other labour cost go up very often. They said the government should look for measures to increase its supply and put a tab on its input cost to ensure adequate supply to meet the rising demand. A banker, Saurabh Kumar, in his mid thirties, said with salary not going up in league with expenditure, they were looking for alternatives to control the expenditure. In this process, his friends and he had developed a taste for lime tea, which tastes delicious and requires no milk at all. Black tea is good for health and really no milk is required to be added. However, a dairy farmer Joginder Singh of Jagdev Kalan village alleged that milk suppliers and sellers were pocketing the major profit, as they do not get more than Rs 21 a litre for cow milk and Rs 25 for buffaloe milk. Milk Plant, Verka, general manager, Harminder Singh Sandhu, said the government does not exercise any control over the price of milk. He said the milk plant Verka had recently hiked the procurement price by Rs 2 per litre to Rs 39 for ten fat. He added that so far no order has come to pass on the hike to customers. Meanwhile, the state government-run cooperative milk industry milk plant Verka sells various varieties of milk, starting from six fat. A litre milk of 6 fat is sold at Rs 36 in the market, which Amul sells at Rs 42. Similarly, 4.5 fat is sold at Rs 33, double toned milk, means 1.5 fat, is sold at Rs 27. It is still selling cheese at Rs 200 a kg. Now, it has supplied its various commodities in small packagings like 150 gm kheer for Rs 10, 100 gm curd for Rs 5, 100 gm cheese Rs 20, 500 ml plain buttermilk (lassi) for Rs 10. It is supplying 52,000 litre milk in the city. It has won contract to supply 1,200 metric tonnes of ghee annually and about 800 litre milk daily to the SGPC.
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Month on, unemployed youths’ protest continues on water tank
Amritsar, May 3 Eleven youngsters, whose parents had died while serving in the electricity department, had climbed the tank on April 3. Later on April 15, one of them Manjinder Singh had initiated an indefinite fast to pressurise the government. With the condition of Manjinder Singh worsening a few days ago, he was shifted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. The youngsters are demanding jobs on compassionate grounds, as their parents had died while in service. Even as officials of the power corporation and district administration have been visiting the place to talk to the agitators, they have failed to bring them down. The power corporation officials said around 340 cases of persons, who were demanding jobs on compassionate grounds, were pending. Originally, there were around 5,800 cases in the category, but most of them had accepted the compensation and the pension offered by the department. The power corporation officials said the matter was with the state government.
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Burgeoning handcarts add to traffic chaos in city
Amritsar, May 3 Scores of rehris (handcarts) have added to the traffic chaos in the city even as these daily clog the labyrinthine network of lanes and bylanes here. These handcarts can be seen plying on busy areas like Court Road, Lohgarh Chowk, Rialto Cinema, Putlighar and the Irrigation Office. The situation is even worse within the walled city. Once a handcart selling snacks, vegetables or fruits enters the narrow alleys of the walled city, it becomes almost impossible for a motorist to negotiate his or her way through the lane. Harminder Singh, a shopkeeper, who lives near Katra Karam Singh, fumed, “It is impossible for me to drive my bike through the lanes. The MC had earmarked a site for these handcarts near Ram Bagh some years ago, but for some inexplicable reason, the proposal failed to materialise.” However, the rehriwallas contend that the rehris which keep on moving do not pose that much problem compared to the rehris which station themselves permanently on the roadsides. A rehriwalla, Raju, said, “Rehris selling vegetable are not the offenders as they have to go from house to house to sell vegetables. In that way, they keep on ‘floating’. Fruit-selling handcarts pose the bigger problem, as they station themselves on roadsides throughout the day. This leads to traffic chaos and if the traffic cops are missing, this chaos becomes almost impossible to control.” Pawan, who sells "puris", "kachoris" and "karrah" in the morning near Lohgarh Gurdwara accepted that “the number of handcarts have grown remarkably in the past couple of years in his area”. Earlier, the area around the gurdwara was known for selling fruit and vegetables on handcarts. The number of handcarts selling snacks can be spotted dotting the roads in the evening. These have further reduced the road’s width. Talks with the Municipal Corporation officials revealed that they did not have any plan to eradicate this menace. The MC presses its wagons to remove handcarts being plied illegally on roads, but rehris resurface once it leaves the area. Prof Sukhdev Singh Sohal of School of Social Sciences in Guru Nanak Dev University said the increase in the number of handcarts being plied in the city signal towards the wide gap between haves and have-nots. The high cost of commercial property and soaring rentals make these unaffordable for youths coming from low-income group families to start a vocation. A large number of migrants selling vegetables and fruits are also adding to the trouble. He does not foresee that the setting up of a foodcourt or rehri market will be sufficient to address the demand. He added that traditionally the residents of the walled city prefer to eat out. He felt that the need is to regulate these handcarts dishing out cooked food. Then these handcarts must be provided potable water and clean surroundings to ensure serving of the hygienic food.
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Licence fee on liquor doubled at party halls
Amritsar, May 3 Excise and Taxation Commissioner Varinder Kaur Pannu said liquor from outside the area cannot be allowed to be served as the licence lasts for 12 hours. Besides, the time and travel involved in arranging the liquor could result in misuse of the licence. However, proprietors of marriage palaces and hotels with banquet halls are annoyed at the rule and maintained that its violation swiftly invites raids by sleuths of the department during a party. They said it would malign the image of their hotels and palaces in the market. Meanwhile, the Excise Department has doubled the licence fee for various categories of hotels and palaces. The party throwers have to shell out more price. The licence fee for the A category party venues, which charge rent above Rs 50,000, has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. The B category venues, which charge rent between Rs 25,000 to 50,000, fee has shot up from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000. The licence fee for the C category venues, which charge rent up to Rs 25,000, has been increased between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000.
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Attack on Sarabjit a conspiracy, says Chief Khalsa Diwan
Amritsar, May 3 An ardaas was conducted by granthi Baldev Singh and Jagjit Singh praying for the departed soul to rest in peace. Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha termed the murder a conspiracy and condemned the Pakistan government for inhuman treatment given to Sarabjit. “The Pakistan government did not heed India’s repeated pleas to send Sarabjit to India or any other country for treatment, nor did it accept the appeal of providing efficient doctors from for his proper treatment. Had Sarabjit been provided with better medical facilities in India, he would have been alive,” Chadha said. Principal, Chief Khalsa Diwan Institute of Management and Technology, Dr HS Sandhu said Sarabjit had been continuously suffering from death pain for the past 23 years in Pakistan jail. His struggle met with such a tragic end. It is violation of human rights,” he said. Chadha also made an appeal to the high authorities to take strict action against Sarabjit’s attackers and take steps for security of Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jail so that such acts were not repeated again. Chief Khalsa Diwan members expressed shock and anger against the court verdict on Sajjan Kumar, one of the main accused in 1984 Delhi anti-Sikh riots. They described the court functioning as eyewash. Others present on the occasion were resident president S Nirmal Singh, honorary secretary Santokh Singh Sethi, additional secretary Narinder Singh Khurana, joint secretary Harminder Singh, director education Dr Dharamveer Singh and other staff members.
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He wants to promote Sikh culture, heritage through his art
Amritsar, May 3
“It was a significant landmark and I wanted to commemorate the amount of labour put into constructing it,” said the artist. This is not the first piece of perfection from the 31-year-old artist. Gurpreet’s earlier works include miniature models of Nankana Sahib, the smallest turban weighing seven grams and other symbols of Sikh heritage. “My aim is to promote the culture and heritage of Sikhism through my art. I have displayed my work at various art exhibitions and festivals across the country and my works have been appreciated,” he says. He feels that more should be done to promote the art. “There are some 115-odd paper artists in the world and most are from South Asia. The famous Chinese paper art is all about cutting the paper into various patterns but a lot of Indian artists specialise in creating things out of paper. This should be encouraged,” he says. For his miniature version of the Golden Temple, Gurpreet has installed it with lights and live gurbani. “I am playing with the idea of putting electronic Gurbani and lightings so as to give it an authentic appeal,” he says. He wishes to display the replica at the upcoming museum inside the Darbar Saheb premises.
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Social activists honoured
Amritsar, May 3 Those honoured were activists who have been instrumental in changing the lives of hundreds of people with their tireless efforts. Among those honoured were Prof Bahadur Singh, Amarjit Singh Anand, Harinder Singh Suhana, Jot Jeevan Singh and Taranpreet Singh.
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NIT Jalandhar and CTIEMT ink MoU to promote research
Jalandhar, May 3 Both are leading institutions in the field of higher and technical education. To promote academic and research cooperation and their development as centres of excellence of higher and technical education and scientific research, both institutions agreed to support each other in delivery of academic programmes and research activities through exchange of scientific and technical information, joint supervision of postgraduate and PhD students, undertaking collaborative research activities through participation in nationally and internationally-funded projects, jointly organise events such as seminars, workshops and conferences and training programmes. They mutually agreed to identify various areas of interest and depute faculty as per requirements. Both the institutions will organise regular faculty interactions to promote research interaction and collaboration. Prof SK Das, Director, NIT Jalandhar, Dr Ajay Kumar Sharma, Dean (Administration) NIT Jalandhar, Dr SB Kaith, Dean Planning & Development NIT, Dr SK Sinha, Dean Students Affairs NIT, Sarabjit S Bedi, Technical Advisor to Director NIT, S Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman CT Group of Institutions and Dr Manoj Kumar, CT Group Director were present. The MoU was signed on the NIT Campus by Prof SK Das and Dr Manoj Kumar. Prof Das said the initiative would be helpful for the development of students. Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman, CT Group of Institutions, said, “It gives us extreme pleasure to be associated with a leading university. The exchange programmes between the two organisations will bring a positive change that will be beneficial for the nation.
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Workshop for govt school principals held
Amritsar, May 3 Other team members were programme officer Chaitali Nandi and manager logistics Dayashankar Sharma. Ghosh has held over 1,100 national and international seminars and workshops for individuals, institutions and business organisations having touched the hearts of over 1,10,000 people. An alumnus of the Faculty of the Management Studies, Delhi University, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and Mcgrath Institute Of leadership Training, Asit has worked on senior positions in UB Group, Gem Refineries Ltd and other groups before entering the training world. He informed that workshops for about 3,000 heads of government schools in the state would be held this year. The training was imparted to 202 heads and principals of schools in Amritsar, he said. He said the head of an educational institute must possess confidence, positive thinking and positive approach towards people and their students.
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Cosmetic procedures to make good lapped up by many
Amritsar, May 3 People's continuous obsession with looking attractive by visiting cosmetic clinics has never looked back. With corrective cosmetic surgeries and non-clinical procedures becoming routine for women and men alike, it seems nobody minds a slice here and a cut there to get a compliment. “Cosmetic surgeries have always come with some medical myths and stigmas attached. Today’s lifestyle comes with flaunting your physical attributes and looking good has become important. That’s what creates a market for cosmetic procedures,” says Fakrul Khan, marketing head of a brand that has brought a UK-based cosmetic clinic chain to city. Cases like 13-year olds getting nose jobs after being bullied on Facebook do reflect the importance attached to it. “We have young brides-to-be, girls asking for hair removal surgeries, chemical peels, corrective surgeries for eyebrows, nose and lips. It’s become routine procedure,” he says. Popular procedures like Botox and anti-ageing procedures, eyebag removal, wrinkle and line smoothing, too, are keeping cosmetic clinics busy by the day in city. "These days, everyone wants to be popular. Most of them are not happy with their features. Nose correction, lip enhancement, breast augmentation, eyebrow lift and cheek enhancement and laser treatments are popular among girls and boys," says Dr Paryesh Gupta, who is a consultant in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.
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Amritsar, May 3
Amritsar, May 3
Amritsar, May 3
The artist, an interior designer by profession, is probably among very few specialised paper artists in Punjab. He has created a miniature replica of the Golden Temple, Taj Mahal and the White House among others and has recently created a replica of the Great Wall of China to commemorate the May Day.