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Woman killed as bus falls into ditch
Appalling condition of airport road leading to accidents
17 food samples collected from shops
Staff shut down water supply in protest at GNDH
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Girl dies in mishap, truck driver arrested
Cong condemns shifting of MC office to Ranjit Avenue
23,428 children administered polio drops
Rani Lakshmi Bai remembered on martyrdom day
Children perform a group song during a function to commemorate the martyrdom day of Rani Laksmi Bai in Amritsar on Tuesday. Photo: The Tribune
Basmati cultivation to get a boost in Majha region
‘Bromancing’ new trend among city youth
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Woman killed as bus falls into ditch
Amritsar, June 18 The accident occurred early in the morning today when a bus coming to the city from Ajnala tried to save an auto-rickshaw, whose driver had abruptly applied brakes to pick up a passenger. Eyewitnesses said the bus driver tried to save the vehicle from hitting the auto-rickshaw in front of it. At the time of the accident around 24 passengers, including driver and conductor, were traveling in the bus. Though the bus hit the auto-rickshaw before falling into the ditch, luckily all the passengers sitting in the auto-rickshaw remained safe. The bus driver lost control on the vehicle and the vehicle fell into the large pit on the side of the road. The injured were rushed to various hospitals in the city. A resident of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, Shanti Devi succumbed to her injuries, Sohan Singh, SHO of the Cantonment police station, said. Sohan Singh said all other injured were out of danger, but six of them were admitted to hospitals because of seriousness of their injuries. He said a case was registered against the driver of the bus. The driver of the bus had not been identified yet as he fled from the place after the accident. Residents of the area said the pit dug at the place for laying sewerage pipes was risky and the administration was required to barricade it so that drivers could notice it from a distance. The showers during the past few days had made the road slippery. The residents said the administration should also notify a speed limit for the road as a large number of accidents were occurring on the stretch. "The traffic police should also do something about the auto-rickshaw drivers, who apply brakes anywhere to pick up passengers and also take U-turns at their own will without following any rules," said Deepika Kaul, a private schoolteacher from the area.
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Appalling condition of airport road leading to accidents
Amritsar, June 18 Once hailed as the entry to the holy city for international tourists and celebrities descending at the Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, it attracted attention of the world-class hospitality chains, state-of-the-art private townships. Many private colonisers in order to earn hefty profit also carved out illegal colonies, which attracted a high number of people. To capitalise on urbanisation on this fertile agriculture tract, a number of shops were also opened up on both sides of the road. Already congested roads were further narrowed with shops on both sides resorting to encroachments, while the traffic police looked the other way. All these factors resulted in infrastructure blues, said Tarsem Singh, a resident of the area who had raised his house about two decades back. “Being among the earliest settler in the area I had closely observed that how unplanned development could spoil a precious tract of fertile land forever.” To gain the attention of the visitors coming and going to international locales, reputed international branded chains, including Radisson Blu, Omaxe Terminal, Ansals, and real estate concerns have either set up or are under process to raise residential and commercial projects on the road. The Golden Temple occupies the centre stage as around one lakh pilgrims and tourists from across the globe pay obeisance daily. This huge inflow has brought international focus on this glorious shrine. This resulted in massive construction activity with a large number of real estate builders going full steam ahead on commercial buildings, multiplexes and hotels.
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17 food samples collected from shops
Amritsar, June 18 In the inspections conducted today, the department took samples of food ingredients, including sausages. The DHO said sausages with expired date were also seized from a few shops. Dr Kahlon said all the samples had been dispatched to the food laboratory in Chandigarh for quality tests. The Health Department had collected 15 food samples from shops in the city on June 14. Earlier, the department had collected 20 samples on June 4. Dr Kahlon said in view of a large number of food samples failing tests on quality parameters, they had called a meeting of traders to apprise them of the laws pertaining to food safety. He said the owners of food businesses were required to get their workers medically examined and produce certificates to the inspecting team. He said the workers were also required to wear gloves and headgears at the time of food preparation. He said all the shopkeepers whose samples had failed the quality tests had been issued show-cause notices. The shopkeepers could opt for retesting of the samples if they had any doubts about the test reports.
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Staff shut down water supply in protest at GNDH
Amritsar, June 18
The employees, who alleged that they had not received their salaries, went on a protest today and closed the water supply. The supply was restored as the matter came into the notice of the hospital management. Visitors to the hospital said they had to search for places to get drinking water. “The way the water supply was shut off shows insensitivity of the employees. There are other ways to protest and patients should not be made to suffer,” said Kultar Singh, attendant of a patient.
Harnam Singh, a visitor said, “The water drainage points inside the washroom are not drawing water as such the water from washbasins and bathrooms in not going out.” He said people were facing problem in using the washroom. Visitors said the problem in the washroom near the emergency ward should be rectified as soon as possible. Another visitor, Bal Krishan, said, “We have been coming here for the past two days and the problem has not been attended to. The hospital authorities should take immediate action in this regard.” Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr KS Sidhu said the drinking water supply was restored as soon as the problem surfaced. About the choked sewerage, Dr Sidhu said a written complaint had been made to the Municipal Corporation (MC). He said the MC had been requested to deploy men to rectify the sewerage system. He hoped that problem would be solved soon.
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Girl dies in mishap, truck driver arrested
Amritsar, June 18 The deceased, Harmanpreet Kaur, was driving the scooter (PB-02- BA 7613) with her cousin Sukhmanpreet riding pillion from Ranjit Vihar towards the city area when the accident occurred. The driver of the truck has been identified as Avtar Singh, resident of Lakhuwal village, Ajnala. The investigating officer, ASI Mangal Singh of the Gumtala police post, said a case under Sections 279, 337, 338, 304 and 427 of the IPC was registered against Avtar Singh at the Cantonment police station on the basis of a complaint by Harmanpreet Kaur’s father Satinder Pal Singh, a resident of Hargobind Avenue, Majitha Road.
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Cong condemns shifting of MC office to Ranjit Avenue
Amritsar, June 18 Terming it as anti-people, Amristar District Congress Committee (U) president Jugal Kishore Sharma said it would cause inconvenience to the public and also burden the state exchequer by raising a loan of around Rs 24 crore from Asian Development Bank for constructing the new structure at Ranjit Avenue. “How rational is it to shift such a demanding public utility office to a far-off place, which is over 12 km away from the main town. This will be a sheer wastage of time and money. Moreover, harassment would be doubled, as the works pertaining to the MC are never completed in a go. People need to run long distances to get their works done,” he said. The Congress workers also raised question mark over the ‘reutilisation’ of Town Hall. They argued that it would be nothing more than handing over a prime property to private hands to garner money. As per the plan, the Town Hall building would be transformed into a multiple-tourist site under an agreement with the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board. Nonetheless, designed by the architectural wing of the GNDU, the new MC building at Ranjit Avenue will be constructed in a span of two years. It will have all its branches in the seven-storey building. Its exterior will be like exposed bricks and don the same century-old contours. On the other hand, the pink U-shaped British-era Town Hall building will be leased out through the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board to make it an apt mega tourist destination. The ruling alliance stated that it would also house an underground museum spread in the area of 5,000 sq m for showcasing articles pertaining to Punjabi cultural heritage and Amritsar’s historical significance. Point of contention The state government is going to shift the Amritsar Municipal Corporation office from its present location of the 140-year-old Town Hall building to the posh Ranjit Avenue area. This has gone down well with the Congress. The foundation stone of the MC’s new premises, spread over two acres, was inaugurated by Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal a few days ago. "How rational is it to shift such a demanding public utility office to a far-off place, which is over 12 km away from the main town. This will be a sheer wastage of time and money. Moreover, harassment would increase, as the works pertaining to the MC are never completed on time. People will have to travel long distances to get their work done." —Jugal Kishore Sharma, president, Amristar District Congress Committee (U)
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23,428 children administered polio drops
Amritsar, June 18 Dr Verma said because of the widespread polio-immunisation drives going on in the city for few years, the country was expected to be declared a polio-free nation by the end of 2014.
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Rani Lakshmi Bai remembered on martyrdom day
Amritsar, June 18 She said the youth, inspired by such freedom fighters, would be encouraged to overpower social evils like female foeticide, dowry, eve-teasing, drug addition etc. to make
the nation strong. She said Rani Jhansi was one the main architects of the first freedom struggle against the British. Students presented skits and recited poems on
Rani Jhansi to mark the occasion.
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Basmati cultivation to get a boost in Majha region
Amritsar, June 18 This was said by the Chief Agriculture Officer, Amritsar, Dr Dilbagh Singh Dhanju, here today. “The cost of production of basmati is less than paddy and profit is more. The state government wants to increase the area under basmati cultivation,” he said. It will save water up to 30 per cent. For the promotion of basmati export from the state to various countries, Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had announced incentives like 2 per cent rural development fund, 3 per cent Punjab infrastructure development fund and 2 per cent market fee. The initiatives will not only help the state promote basmati as an alternate crop to paddy, but will also ensure remunerative return to the farmers. “Majha is known for basmati cultivation in the country, so the government wants to give a boost to the basmati crop here,” he said. Dhanju said with the tradition of sowing paddy, the ground-water level had lowered in the area to an alarming level. The agricultural department experts had been educating farmers on the need of crop diversification for years. Now, the farmers were showing interest towards others crops, he said. This season, the area under the basmati crop would be one lakh hectares. Last year, it was 85,000 hectares. There is favourable climate of the basmati crop in the Majha area. “Three varieties of basmati are mostly sown in this area-- PUSA 1121, PUSA 1509 and Basmati 386. The PUSA varieties will occupy almost 80 per cent of the total area. Basmati 386 is also expected to occupy some of the area, as it is in demand by rice millers for export. Our department, rice millers and exporters jointly educate farmers for the cultivation of basmati. We have planned 350 exhibitions-cum-camps for this purpose,” he added.
The Plan
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‘Bromancing’ new trend among city youth
Amritsar, June 18 “Bromance is alive only till the school-college phase. Once you have set you priorities in professional and personal life, it takes a backseat,” feels media professional Harpreet Matharu. “I also have a gang of buddies and I hang out with them often. We also go on late night ‘gerhies’,” he says. Movie like Sholay and Dil Chahat Hai promoted the friendship aspect in real life, but well, the reality does undergo changes with time. “Of course, friendship has its ups and downs and one tends to lose touch friends over a period of time,” expresses Matharu. Amreek Singh, a student of Khalsa College, differs. His friends mean the world to him. ‘Bromancers’ vouch for their friendship. “It is all about having people who will never judge you and never leave you alone,” says Manik Khurana, a businessman. “Just like films, the concept of brothers for life exists among guys,” he adds.
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The Rani Jhansi Society today commemorated the martyrdom day of Rani Lakshmi Bai at Senior Study School.
In her address, BJP national vice-president Lakshmi Kanta Chawla stressed the need to educate the contemporary generation about the sacrifice of Rani Jhansi and her tales of
valour.
The choked sewerage system of the hospital also posed a problem to visitors as water could not be drained in the washrooms near the emergency ward. Visitors said the entire area inside the washroom was flooded and as such they could not use it.
Why basmati?