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4 officials to monitor collection
NGO to set up bird houses at religious places
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Health Dept campaigns for girl child
Officials honour a girl child during a function in Amritsar on Wednesday; and (right) people attend the programme. Tribune photos
Gender equality, status of girl child discussed
Marie Maclead, Member of Parliament from the UK, addresses a gathering during an interactive session in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Actor Neeru Bajwa in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Youth festival begins at GND varsity
Students perform during the Zonal Youth Festival of A-Zone at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar on Wednesday. A Tribune photo
Inconsolable family members of hawker Parkash Chand Sharma, who died in a road mishap, in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Employee’s wallet stolen from GNDH
Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar. A Tribune photograph
Youth booked for rape
Rs 3 lakh stolen from car
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4 officials to monitor collection
Amritsar, October 9 In compliance with the directions of the government, the Municipal Corporation has divided the city into eight zones for the collection of property tax. The zones would comprise 10 tax collection centres, which have been allotted to designated officials. These officials will be responsible for spreading awareness among the residents and achieving their set targets. They are four Superintendents of the House Tax Department, namely Shushant Bhatia for zones 6-A, 1 and 7; Subhash Chopra for zones 2 and 1-A; Pardeep Kumar for zones 3 and 8; Daljit Singh for zones 6, 5 and Town Hall. All these officials have been directed to monitor their respective tax collection centres and submit daily progress report in a stipulated format. It has been learnt that the Secretary, Local Government, Ashok Gupta, is likely to visit the city to review the progress of the implementation of property tax. The local civic authorities anticipate collection of Rs 40-50 crore property tax annually. With a view to spread awareness, the Municipal Corporation kicked off an awareness drive about the property tax norms, apparently due to the lukewarm response it got from the residents. The date of the payment of property tax in urban areas falling under the MC limits had been extended till November 30 as the MC could receive only Rs 4 lakh till now, officials said. To spread awareness about the property tax, the MC has initiated to hold a series of sessions with different sections of society to achieve the purpose. In the first session of the series, MC officials interacted with hotel owners of the walled city area. The MC has also put up hoardings to sensitise residents on the issue and it seemed to work, the officials believed. Just yesterday, an awareness camp was conducted in the Basant Avenue area and around 200 residents deposited their taxes on the spot. Commissioner, MC, DPS Kharbanda said the monitoring work had been rationally distributed among the officials at the tax collection centres set up in different zones. “The idea was to achieve the desired results of collection of taxes and held the officials accountable for any lapse. If everything goes according to plan, it will help restore the depleting fiscal health of the MC.
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NGO to set up bird houses at religious places
Amritsar, October 9 The message was loud and clear that nature belongs to all, and we all owe it to the creator to look after its beings and its bounties. Students of the Miri Piri Academy put up bird nests in their grounds with much celebration and delight. “We are heartily thankful and empowered to have many religious institutions getting together for conservation of biodiversity. This will definitely open doors of thought and action towards saving and reviving nature,” said Gunbir Singh, chairman, EcoAmritsar. Tarundeep Singh, programme administrator, Eco-Amritsar, said: “The rapidly growing population, increased traffic, excessive use of pesticides, noise and light pollution, garbage and reduction of forest cover are some of the major causes for various issues. Birds, animals and water species are facing a critical loss of habitat. The world is losing its biodiversity and people are not concerned about these issues." Eco-Amritsar also announced an annual excellence award in photography today. Published and unpublished works on the theme of ‘Best Projection of Amritsar’ taken during the course of this year shall be evaluated by renowned experts and awarded on the occasion of the next birth anniversary of Guru Ram Dass in 2014. The contest will remain open for photo artists and amateurs around the world alike for the year. The details will shortly be made available on the EcoAmritsar facebook page as well as EcoSikh website.
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Health Dept campaigns for girl child
Amritsar, October 9 The department has plans to organise functions at various places to honour the girl child. A function was organised at Bhai Mohkam Singh Satellite Hospital here. Civil Surgeon Yash Mitra said the functions were being organised as part of the programmes under the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Tests (Prohibition) Act. He said a few among the general public still feel that a baby boy was better than a girl child. “We are trying to create awareness among people that there is no difference between a male and a female child. People need to change their outlook,” said Mitra. Under the Beti Bachao drive initiated by the department, district immunisation officer Rajan Verma while addressing a gathering at Bhai Mohkam Singh Satellite Hospital said illiteracy and lack of awareness about the medical services available at government health institutions were some causes for the dwindling gender ratio. He said parents should focus on education and health of the child irrespective of the gender. Dr Verma said parents must ensure that children were immunised against various diseases as per schedule. He said government health institutions provide free immunisation services and parents must avail these facilities. Raj Kaur, mass media officer of the department, said with the state government bringing up various schemes for the benefit of girl child, the gender ratio had improved a lot in the past few years. She said parents need to instill moral values into their children so that they could make no differences disparities on the basis of gender. The girl children were also given refreshments and gifts on the occasion.
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Gender equality, status of girl child discussed
Amritsar, October 9 She said: “Issues related to gender equality in India need special focus. Society in general needs to change its perspective.” She also keenly listened to suggestions made by delegates to improve the situation at grass-roots level. The session was jointly organised by the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab and Action Aid, an NGO. Action Aid’s programme, ‘Beti Zindabad’, was also launched on the occasion. Manmohan Singh, executive director, Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, said gender ratio had improved a little in the state with religious bodies spreading awareness against female foeticide and other such vices. He said, however, the gender ratio in Punjab was still less than the national average and there was a need to educate people about the same. He added that the gender ratio should also be considered as one of the indexes for assessing development of a particular region and economy. Speaking about the ‘Beti Zindabad’ programme, Bipin Roy, regional manager, Action Aid, said the NGO was running the programme in 25 states of the country. He added that the objective of the programme was to ensure gender equality by challenging the prevalent disparities. Prominent among those present on the occasion included Masqoor Alam, Sawaraj Grover, Deepak Babbar, Rajiv Chaudhary, Brijmohan Sharma, Dr Alma Ram, Parminder Kaur and Dr Ranjit Atwal.
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RSVP star cast comes calling
Amritsar, October 9 The film, which releases on October 11, stars Neeru Bajwa, Harish Verma, Guggu Gill, Jaswinder Bhalla and Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav. Addressing the media, actor Neeru Bajwa said it would be a completely different film in which the story would be the real crowd-puller. “Most Punjabi films today have ensemble star cast and revolve around humour as the main element. But RSVP is a love story and humour is it’s another part,” she said. Harish Verma, popular ‘tinka jatt’ of the Punjabi cinema, too is hopeful about the film. “It is a complete film, as far as production, actors and direction are concerned. The film is technically sound and I play a decent guy in it, quite contrary to the loud and bubbly characters I have been playing previously,” he said. Directed by Vijay Kumar, the Rs.2.5-crore budget movie will release across 500 screens in the country and overseas. “For promotion, we are active on various radio stations and have used online platforms too. Our film is the first Punjabi movie to have an official website,” said Brinder Sran, who has co-produced the film with Aparna Sud. In addition to promotions and a strong story, the makers are also banking on the star cast of the film as it does not star singer-turned-actors, which is a popular trend in the Punjabi cinema. “The flick has Harish, who is an award- winning actor and Neeru, who is probably the most versatile female lead actor in the Punjabi film industry today, along with Guggu Gill and Jaswinder Bhalla. And icing on the cake is actor Rajpal Yadav who plays one of the main characters in the film,” said Brinder.
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Youth festival begins at GND varsity
Amritsar, October 9 First Lady Vice-Chancellor Sarvjit Kaur Brar inaugurated the festival by lighting the ceremonial lamp. Major-General (retd) PK Puri, Chief Judicial Magistrate PS Roy, Registrar Inderjit Singh and Dean (Students Welfare) PK Shejpal were among those others present. Dr Jagjit Kaur, Director, Youth Welfare, welcomed the guests and detailed the activities and achievements of the department. While speaking on the occasion, Dr Brar appreciated efforts of Dr Jagjit for organising the festival successfully. She encouraged the student-artistes to perform better in every field to achieve success. She said besides cultural activities, the university had also achieved success in the field of academics, research and sports. Today’s competitions started with bhangra followed by group shabad/bhajan, group song Indian, vaar, kavishri and fine arts.
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Two killed in road accidents
Amritsar, October 9 The accident occurred just a few metres away from the Circuit House and Civil Lines police station. According to information, Parkash Chand was distributing newspapers when a rashly driven white colour Hyundai Santro car hit his cycle. He died on the spot. While the Civil Lines police has registered a case, the accused is yet to be identified. Police officials said efforts had initiated to identify the accused. Meanwhile, Sarwan Singh (60), a resident of Loharka, was killed when a speeding truck hit the motorcycle he was riding near Pakharpura village. Sawinder Singh, brother of the deceased stated to police that he along with his brother were going to Jaintipur on separate motorcycles when the a truck crushed his brother to death. The police has registered a case against the driver of truck, Gursahib Singh of Burjpura, Harike, who fled away from the spot, under Section 304-A of the IPC.
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Employee’s wallet stolen from GNDH
Amritsar, October 9 The Civil Lines police has registered a case on the complaint filed by GNDH employee Nishu against an unknown person. Nishu stated that the thief withdrew Rs 80,000 from her account using her ATM cards. Earlier this week, the police had booked six persons for their involvement in cases of theft at the hospital. Even as the hospital has recently signed a contract with the Punjab Ex-servicemen Corporation for ensuring security of the premises, identifying miscreants among the visitors is not an easy job. The hospital had under the contract got 36 security guards. The hospital is visited by a large number of patients and their attendants daily. In view of the large rush of visitors, the security guards too seem helpless. “We cannot tell just by looking that who is a thief or a drug addict. The people would have to be more careful and watch their belongings,” said a guard. Earlier too, the incidents of theft have been reported from government hospitals. Even the washrooms and rooms at the hospital have become hot spots for drug addicts to consume drugs. The sighting of burned silver foils, used to consume drugs, is common at most of the washrooms in the hospital. Taking a clue from the incidents of theft, the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital had recently installed CCTV cameras on its premises. “If cameras could possibly be installed at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, it would most likely prove a deterrent to the anti-social elements as they would fear being caught,” said Kultar Singh, a resident.
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Youth booked for rape
Amritsar, October 9 As per the complaint lodged by the mother of the victim to the police, the accused also pushed her into prostitution. The police has registered a case under Sections 376 and 406 of the IPC and Sections 4 and 5 of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act against the youth, identified as Palwinder Singh, resident of Housefed flats in the New Amritsar area. The victim’s mother alleged that Palwinder Singh abducted her daughter about one and half year ago on the lure of marriage. He took her to Chandigarh. She alleged that during the period Palwinder Singh did not marry her and continue to sexually harass and rape her. She alleged that Palwinder Singh also got her signatures on different papers and got a two-wheeler financed on her name. The victim alleged that Palwinder Singh also forced her to make physical relations with unidentified persons. Arun Sharma, SHO, Sultanwind police station, said the case was registered after preliminary probe. The victim’s mother had given a written complaint to the police about a month ago. According to the victim, the accused had a number of identity cards on different names. Arun Sharma said the further investigations had now been handed over to the ACP (South) by the Police Commissioner. Gurwinder Singh, ACP (South), said he was yet to go into the details as the case was registered only last evening and he was yet to receive the file. He said a thorough probe would be conducted and guilty person would not be spared.
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Rs 3 lakh stolen from car
Amritsar, October 9 Naveen Mahajan, an iron trader and a resident of Shivala Colony, said last night when he was returning home after closing his shop located near Mata Kaulan Hospital and reached near Ram Talai Chowk, two motorcycle-borne youths came from behind and told him that two tyres of his car were punctured. He said after reaching near Pingalwara he stopped his car and found two tyres of his car punctured. After removing the tyres, he went to a shop for repairing them. He said when he returned after a couple of minutes, he found a windowpane of his car broken and bag containing Rs 3 lakh stolen. He suspected that it was the handiwork of the two motorcycle-borne youths. Satnam Singh, in charge of the bus stand police chowki, said a case under Section 379 of the IPC was registered at the Ram Bagh police station in this regard while further investigations were under progress. He said preliminary probe pointed out that the thieves had observed the movement of the victim before striking and committing the theft. Meanwhile, a motorcycle was stolen in the Hall Gate area here. Amarbir Singh, a resident of the Ganga Building area said he had parked his motorcycle in front of a shop in the Hall Gate area in the walled city. He said when he returned, he found his motorcycle (PB-02-AV-1952) stolen. He lodged a complaint in this connection at the Hall Gate police chowki.
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collection of property tax, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has held its officials accountable for the job. 
EcoAmritsar, an NGO, today collaborated with Dara Singh, famous bird house maker, to set up bird houses at Harmandir Sahib, Khairuddin Mosque, Radhe Krishan Mandir and St Mary’s Church here.
Amritsar, October 9
In an interactive session with members of social organisations and community representatives, Marie
Maclead, Member of Parliament from the United Kingdom (UK), expressed concerns on gender equality and status of girl child.
The four-day Zonal Youth Festival of A-Zone Amritsar district kicked off at the Dashmesh Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University
(GNDU) today. More than 600 student-artistes are participating in 28 items of music, theatre, dance, literary and fine arts.
Number of theft cases in government health institutions in the city are rising as a new case has came to light with a Guru Nanak Dev Hospital
(GNDH) employee complaining of theft of her wallet from her duty room.