Amritsar, October 4
The Municipal Corporation (MC) employees, who are on a warpath against the non-payment of their salaries by the civic body, resorted to a road blockade for around four hours in the Hathi Gate area near the auto workshop here this morning, leading to traffic chaos.

They parked garbage-collecting vehicles in the middle of the road, causing inconvenience to the public.

Even as the MC has started the process of paying up dues to its employees, this gesture has not gone down well with them, as they demanded the full payment of their dues lying pending for the past two months. The MC is paying them one month's salary after the state government transferred an amount of Rs 2 crore in the MC's account.

Nonetheless, the agitating employees under the banner of the Sanjhi Sangharsh Committee have threatened to intensify their agitation from Monday, which include blocking the "Uchcha pul" in support of their demands.

On the other hand, the MC Commissioner had sent a communication to the employees' representatives to have a meeting tomorrow, but it was straightaway turned down by them.

Surinder Tona, president, MC Workers Union, said they had declined to accept the meeting proposal, as it would be nothing but just a formality.

"We had unanimously decided to decline the meeting proposal because Saturday would be a closed day and the meeting would just end up with no logical conclusion. We have replied to the MC Commissioner to fix a meeting on a working day only. The authorities could have done that but till this hour, no communication has come from their side," he said.

Charan Dass, another employees' representative said besides their pay, scores of their other genuine demands, too, could never find favour with the MC authorities which included their pending arrears against the Sixth Pay Commission, uniform allowance, regularisation of their jobs and filling of vacant posts.

"If the MC authorities maintained their adamant behaviour, we would resort to shun the MC machinery. I appeal to the residents of Amritsar to bear with us because it was our genuine cause, as there were some employees who did not have fire in their kitchen for quite some time and were unable to pay school fee of their children or pay their medical expenses," he said.

Amritsar, October 4
Keeping in view the coming festive season, Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh has appealed to the people to abide by the law and refrain from using loudspeakers after 10 pm.

In a press statement issued here, the Police Commissioner said the common man, students and especially the old people and patients face difficulties due to high volume of loudspeakers and DJs.

Amritsar, October 4
Even as the Railways has launched once-a-week Amritsar-Lalkuan AC Express, it is out of reach for the common man who can't afford an AC-class ticket.

A city resident Simarpreet Singh said it was astonishing that the Railways operated a fully AC train between the holy city and the town in Uttarakhand while ignoring the interests of the middle and lower-middle income group passengers.

He said his relatives reside at Haldwani and they want to utilise the direct connectivity of the train to reach the place. However, high fares of the air-conditioned coach deter them from journeying in the same. Notably, the train neither has any second-class coach nor general coach in it.

He said there were only two categories of fare and both of these were restricted only to AC travel. He said the per person fare for the AC 3 tier was Rs 850 and Rs 680 for the chair car from Amritsar to Lalkuan.

A travel agent Saurabh Mehra said the train had not gained much attention of the people due to poor publicity and its odd name. “Lalkuan being 'not much heard of place', people aren't aware about the destinations of the train”. He said a more prominent name must have been given to the train to help passengers to identify with its destination. For instance, Amritsar-Nainital would be more prominent, as Lalkuan is a nagar panchayat of the lake district, which is about 25 km from Lalkuan.

Railways officials said the coaches of the AC Express train were the same which were utilised for running the thrice-a-week Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath. Hence, its name was only changed. It ensured the optimum utilisation of the train and offered more connectivity to the passengers.

Thus, the train had 18 coaches, including 13 AC three-tier coaches, three AC chair car and two generator coaches to provide constant power to all compartments.

It may be mentioned here that the weekly train departs every Wednesday from Amritsar at 5:55 am, halts at Chandigarh at 10.20 am and reaches Lalkuan at 8.50 pm. En-route the train has halts at Beas, Jalandhar City, Phagwara, Ludhiana, New Morinda, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Chandigarh, Ambala Cantt, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Laksar, Nazibabad, Moradabad and Kashipur stations. On the same day, the train leaves Lalkuan at 11.15 pm for return journey. On its return journey, the train will reach Chandigarh at 9 am the next day and Amritsar at 2.45 pm.

Amritsar, October 4
The work on the state government's ambitious bus rapid transit system (BRTS) for Amritsar will begin in February 2014, while its detailed project report is being sent to the Union Government for approval by mid-October.

This was stated at a workshop held here today for introducing the concept of the BRTS in the city. Presiding over the workshop, SK Lohia, ex-officio joint secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development, highlighted the opportunities for urban transport in India and the challenges faced by it. Terming the BRTS as a remedy to acute congestion on roads, Lohia said it was the most reliable, safe and affordable system of urban mobility. He said India was the world's second largest urban system with nearly 8,000 towns and cities. He pointed out that between 1981 and 2001, the vehicular population in six metro cities in India had increased four times the rise in population of these cities. He said keeping in view the unprecedented growth in vehicles, encouraging the use of public transport system was a must. He appreciated the initiative of the Punjab Government towards replicating the metro experience on urban roads by introducing the BRTS.

Later, Laghu Parashar, senior manager, Urban Mass Transit Company, gave a detailed presentation on planning, design and execution of the BRTS in Amritsar.

It was informed that in the first phase of the project, 65 AC buses would be operational in Amritsar and would cover a 31-km route. The presentation highlighted the key features of the BRTS, including dedicated bus lanes, attractive high capacity buses, closed bus stations, level boarding and alighting like metro stations, tactile tiles for differently abled people and wheel chair users, low floor, intelligent transportation system (ITS), GPRS and the like.

It was discussed at the meeting that the detailed project report (DPR) for Amritsar City with an indicative cost of Rs 500 crore would be forwarded to the Government of India for approval by mid-October. The BRT system designed for Amritsar shall not only provide a passenger transport solution, but also provide a long-term traffic solution for the city by providing interventions on Bhandari Bridge and Verka level crossing, thereby decreasing the overall traffic congestion in the city.

This approximately Rs 500-crore project will commence in February 2014 and the dedicated route of buses will include passage from India Gate (Nariangarh Chowk), Attari Road, GNDU, Khalsa College, Railway Station, Bhandari Bridge, Elevated Road, Jalandhar Road and another route will include Queens road, Mall road to Verka. The constraints in the way of the BRTS, namely high-tension wires on Verka Road, level crossing at Verka, conservation of the Ram Bagh area by the ASI and congestion on Bhandari Bridge were well taken care of and proposed solutions were also discussed.

It was informed that after Amritsar, the system would be introduced on a 48-km route in Ludhiana and the finalisation of technical plans for the system were in an advanced stage of completion. After the pilot project in Amritsar and Ludhiana, the same would be replicated in Jalandhar and Mohali.

Besides, the BRTS other initiatives of the Punjab Government in the field of public transport were also touched upon and it was informed that City Bus Service in Amritsar with a fleet of more than 100 buses would be operational soon. It was further informed that City Bus Service would also be introduced in Mohali soon.

PIDB MD Anurag Aggarwal, Ludhiana DC Rajat Aggarwal, Amritsar DC Ravi Bhagat and other officials were also present on the occasion.

Amritsar, October 4
With the arrest of seven persons, including four women, the police claimed to have busted a flesh trade racket operating in the city.

A case under Section 3, 4, 5, 6 of the Immoral Act has been registered against the accused at the A-Division police station.

Talking to the mediapersons, Superintendent of Police (SP-City I) Param Pal Singh said the accused were identified as Raj Kaur, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar in Jora Phatak area, Davinder Singh, a resident of Judge Nagar in Jora Phatak, Prince, a resident of Navchiri, Joginder Singh, a resident of Kanda Ghat in Solan (HP), Aman, a resident of Othian village, Narinderjit Singh, a resident of Sadhsi Kanda Ghat in Solan and Mahani, a resident of Lopoke.

Raj Kaur is the kingpin of the racket, the police claimed. Maqboolpura SHO Inspector Amolak Singh, the investigating officer in the case, said it was Raj Kaur who used to call men and women from outside and run the racket from here.

"We conducted a raid after we got a tip-off. We were informed that Raj Kaur had hired a room on rent from where she used to operate. The accused were caught red-handed. During the raid, we recovered Rs 4,200 in cash and condoms from the spot," he said.

It has been learnt that the police has got some vital clues from the telephone details of the accused. Several persons belonging to Tarn Taran, Batala, Majitha and Pathankot areas too appear to be involved in the trade.

The raid was conducted last night.

Amritsar, October 4
On the second day of the ongoing Zonal Youth Festival of the government colleges, constituent colleges and associated institutes affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, competitions in the categories of one act play, group shabad/bhajan, group song Indian, preliminary quiz, vaar, kavishri, phulkari and rangoli were held.

Jagjit Kaur, Director, Youth Welfare GNDU, formally started the competitions. In the one act play category, student artists gave a performance on the social evil of female foeticide prevailing in our society.

In the category of group shabad/bhajan, group song Indian, vaar, kavishri, phulkari and rangoli were held.

Competitions in the category of folk orchestra, western vocal, group song western, classical dance, classical instrumental (percussion and non-percussion), elocution, classical vocal, poetical symposium, debate would be organised on Saturday.

On the final day (October 6), competitions in the category of group dance and gidha will be held.

Prize distribution ceremony would be organised at 4 pm, said Guru Nanak Dev University Vice-Chancellor Prof AS Brar.

Amritsar, October 4
The SGPC is now gearing up to expand to the foreign shores by setting up the Global Sikh Centre for Learning and Information at Yuba City in California, US.

Talking to the mediapersons here today, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said they have floated a parallel body named SGPC USA Inc. to run the affairs of the centre which will be spread over 13 acres of land in California. He said Sikh philanthropist Deedar Singh Bains has donated the land to the SGPC for establishing the centre whose foundation stone would be laid in February next year. He said the centre was aimed at sensitising the people there about the Sikh religion. He said the four-member SGPC delegation led by its senior vice-president Raghujeet Singh Virk has already taken stock of the property about which all the legal formalities have been completed.

The delegation also held a series of meetings, besides opening up the centre's account with the Bank of America. A management committee has also been formed to run the new body, SGPC USA Inc. This committee will work under the SGPC. This panel comprises Avtar Singh Makkar, Raghujeet Singh Virk, Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, Rajinder Singh Mehta, Mohan Singh Bangi, US-based Deedar Singh Bains and his son.

Makkar said a gurdwara will also be constructed along with the centre. He said the Global Sikh Centre for Learning and Information will have the distance education programme about Sikhism in English language in the online format so as to facilitate propagation of Sikhism there. He said the centre will also have Gurmat classes and turban-tying classes for Sikh children. Besides, seminars will be organised and literature in various languages distributed to spread awareness about the Sikh religion. On printing of Guru Granth Sahib and other religious literature in the USA, Makkar said these issues are also under consideration of the SGPC while adding that the supply of 'birs' and other religious literature will be made from the Yuba City Centre in future. The SGPC efforts in this direction assume significance in wake of the hate crimes against Sikhs post-9/11. The Sikhs in the USA and other countries have been facing various problems due to mistaken identity and security barriers.

Amritsar, October 4
In his first meeting with the principals and medical superintendents of Government Medical Colleges (GMCs), Medical Education and Research Minister Anil Joshi has asked them to give a 20-day academic leave to faculty members participating in international conferences.

He said the move would encourage the faculty members to participate in international events and gain relevant experience. He said the experience would be useful for the general public.

Joshi said the academic leave should be given at least once in two years. He also instructed the authorities to encourage faculty members to participate in international events as it would advertise local doctors' expertise in other countries.

Joshi instructed the principals and medical superintendents to work for restoring general the public's faith in government medical services.

He said people were losing faith in government institutions and they preferred private hospitals.

He said medical college hospitals should also start providing facilities at their private rooms so that even well-to-do can avail these facilities. He said that facilities such as television and other which are given at private hospitals should be provided at these rooms. He said that government would earn revenue only if people start using services provided by government hospitals. —TNS

Amritsar, October 4
The Rotary Club South has honoured Mandeep Kaur, principal of Government Senior Secondary School, for her contribution in the field of academics, culture and sports at the national level.

Chief guest Rajinder Mohan Singh Cheena, honorary secretary of the Khalsa College Charitable Society and Tilak Raj Mahajan of Rotary Club handed over a shawl and a memento to Kaur.

Mandeep Kaur said a missionary education system could not be imagined until teachers started exhibiting dedication and devotion while rendering their duty. She said it was a responsibility of the teachers to guide the society to follow the correct path.

Kaur has been honoured by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the Republic Day and by Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal on the Independence Day.