Amritsar, October 12
Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi has ordered an inquiry to nail the officials responsible for making faulty 211-acre Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar scheme (better known as the Mall Mandi Scheme) and paved way for amendment to its layout plan.

Strict and swift move of Joshi, who was recently handed over the portfolio, may provide reprieve to thousands of suffering plot and flat holders, who have been waiting for years to shift and construct their houses once the development works are complete.Talking to The Tribune, Joshi said he wrote to Principal Secretary, Local Body Government, Ashok Kumar Gupta to hold an inquiry and submit its report in two months that how plots were allotted to the public without acquiring land by the Improvement Trust. He said many plot holders told their tale of woes to him and he was astonished to find that the half-baked scheme was publicised and plots and flats allotted through draw of lots years back leaving the buyers in lurch. He said the move was aimed at fixing the responsibility and introducing the culture of being answerable in the Local Bodies Department.

About the stalled work of road laying and other infrastructural works in the scheme on the alleged threat of certain families living in its vicinity Joshi assured that all development works would soon be resumed and the requisition would be made to deploy the police.

Under the scheme, about 700 plots were allotted in 2006 and around 500 were given in 2009, besides over 600 flats for the economic weaker section (EWS) were also allotted.

Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) Superintendent Engineer (SE) Bharat Bhusan Sharma, who represented the trust in the meeting with the minister, said firstly digital survey of the entire scheme would be carried out by hiring a private agency and then amended layout plan of the scheme would be readied within a month.

He said as per the Punjab Town Improvement Trust Act-1922 any amendment to the layout plan of the already approved scheme must be ratified under Section 43. Besides the technical sanction from the Director Town Planner was required to amend the same.

He informed that the report of the six-member multi-department committee on the realignment of the boundary wall of Government Senior Secondary Saragarhi Memorial School was delayed as the school administration did not submit the opinion of the school management over the matter. He said now a letter to the DEO (Secondary) has been dispatched seeking the report of the committee.

The multi-department committee is comprised of the District Education Officer, school Principal, AIT Superintendent Engineer and Town Planner, Galiara Project Executive Engineer and Municipal Town Planner.

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar Welfare Forum president Prem Sagar and general secretary Parminder Singh said earlier assurance of the AIT to complete the development works by February 28, 2013, could not be met. The then Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal during his stint as the head of the AIT had announced to provide all basic amenities last year to plot holders and flat owners under the scheme. The deadline ended about eight months ago and they were still awaiting the basic amenities. They claimed that the work of road laying was stopped midway about two weeks ago after the contractors expressed threat from certain people in the vicinity of the locality. They said now the Local Bodies Minister assured the plot holders and flat owners that the basic amenities would be provided within the next two months.

Amritsar, October 12
The Civil Lines police has arrested a maid, her husband and a relative in a theft case in which Rs 1.30 lakh were stolen from the residence of Rana Puri, a resident of Ranjit Avenue, here on October 9.

Rana Puri had told the police that she had kept Rs 1.30 lakh in the wardrobe in a bedroom on September 25.

Following preliminary probe, the police suspected the role of the maid, Pinki, for the theft. She was remanded in police custody. During interrogation, she admitted to the crime and named her husband Karamjit Singh, alias Karma, and an aunt Amarjit Kaur for their involvement in the theft.

Amritsar, October 12
With the arrest of three persons, the C-Division police today claimed have busted a gang of vehicle lifters and seized two stolen motorcycle from their possession.

Those arrested have been identified as Satnam Singh of Mander Wala Bazaar, Sultanwind Road, Shamsher Singh of Lakha Singh Di Bagichi, Tarn Taran Road, and Seizi of the Hathi Gate area.

Their two accomplices, Monu of Mander Wala Bazaar and Diput of Attari, are absconding.

A case under Sections 399, 402, 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against them.

Lakhwinder Singh, SHO, C-Division police station, said the accused were involved in lifting vehicles and looting instances. He said the police recovered two motorcycles (PB-38-AS-2915 and PB-02-S-9563) and two sharp-edged weapons from their possession.

He said raids were conducted to nab their remaining two accomplices. More recoveries were likely to be made during their further interrogation.

Amritsar, October 12
Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) has been facing an acute problem of garbage being not lifted from its complex now a days.

If the hospital authorities are to be believed, the situation arose after the shifting of the Gynaecology Ward and Children Ward, which earlier used to run from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, to the newly built Bebe Nanki Mother and Child Health Care Centre located in GNDH.

“The shifting of these two wards to the GNDH complex has resulted in the increase in the daily footfall of patients at GNDH. This has also contributed to a huge quantity of garbage being collected in the hospital,” said Dr KS Sidhu, Medical Superintendent of GNDH.

As per the annual figures of the patients, around 12,000-15,000 persons have been visiting the hospital daily, while the hospital has witnessed about 2,000-2,500 new admissions of patients, who are visiting the various OPDs.

Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, allied with Government Medical College, is one of the oldest and prestigious hospitals in the region. It caters to the patients belonging to economically weaker section and rural belt of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Dr Sidhu said around 500 cases of child deliveries are performed in the Bebe Nanki Mother and Child Health Care Centre in a month, while on an average 15-20 cases are performed daily. “If we see, there is a considerable increase of almost 20 per cent of patients in the hospital,” informed Dr Sidhu.

Though bio-medical waste was disposed of as per norms, the general waste produced by people accompanying the patients was really a cause of concern for us, said Dr Sidhu, while adding that the hospital authorities passed necessary instructions to the visitors from time to time, while the Class IV employees were also directed to look after the proper sanitation and hygiene in the hospital complex.

Dr Sidhu pointed out that the MC authorities lifted the garbage collection container placed by it on the premises once in a day and it had become necessary that the civic authorities got it lifted twice a day.

The hospital staff also took up the matter with Local Bodies and Medical Education and Research Minister Anil Joshi, who visited the hospital yesterday, besides urging the MC authorities to do the needful. Joshi assured them that he would direct the civic authorities concerned to pick the garbage twice a day.

Amritsar, October 12
An old man committed suicide by slitting his throat outside the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) here late last evening.

The deceased has been identified as Bhajan Singh, resident of Fatehgarh Shukarchak village, and had retired from the Border Security Force (BSF).

According to eyewitnesses, Bhajan Singh arrived outside bus stand around 7 pm and took out a sharp-edged weapon from his pocket. Before anybody could understand anything, he slit his throat and died on the spot. Nearby shopkeepers immediately informed the police, which reached the spot and took the body into its possession. Neeraj Kumar, SHO, Rambagh police station, said Bhajan Singh was a frequent visitor to a mobile phone shop located near the bus stand. The shop owner told the police that Bhajan Singh seemed to be upset from his family. It has been learnt that he was living separately from his family in an old-age home located in the Sultanwind area.

Amritsar, October 12
Even as the health officials seized a huge quantity of synthetic khoya being sold in the open market yesterday but it also pointed towards the possible sale of the same in sweet meats and other preparations in the market.

A vigilant citizen HS Dawar said the sale of sweat meats and other preparations made from spurious khoya and other sub-standard items cannot be ruled out. “The sale of traditional sweet meats pick up in the festive season and the fear of adding of spurious ingredients is also high in this season,” he said.

Traditional halwai shops churning out mouth-watering delicacies are situated in the nook and corner of the city. Apparently, the task of checking these products became a hilarious task for the Health Department.

A resident of Sultanwind road Surjit Singh said every year around Diwali and other festivals the news of adulterated khoya being confiscated gains currency and hogs limelight.He felt that the government’s department concerned must accelerate its activity to stop spurious khoya and other ingredients being pushed into the market. He expressed his apprehension that other adulterated food items and ingredients must also be pushed into the market by unscrupulous elements to multiply their profit margins. This despite the fact that the new Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was introduced in the country.

The District Health Office, which is tasked to nab the people involved in adulterating food and other eatables, has been deployed two Food Safety Officers (FSO), besides a trainee FSO has also been attached for the field duty.

Headed by a District Health Officer it has office staff in shape of a clerk and class fourth. Besides, the district does not have any food testing lab and each sample has to be dispatched to the Chandigarh laboratory. It took around 20 days to get the result of the food test.

Dr Shiv Karan Kahlon, District Health Officer (DHO), who is the designated officer for the implementation of the act, said Amritsar was not the only city that does not have a lab and each district in the state send its samples to Chandigarh.

He stressed that the confiscation of synthetic Khoya yesterday should not be seen clubbed with the festive season. He said that confiscation of adulterated eatables was a continuous process and his department was regularly spotting spurious khoya and destroying the same.

About the exact number of halwai shops in the city he said the data was not yet available as the registration under the new Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, was undergoing.

He shared that so far 6,000 shops got registered under the act while 700 licenses were issued as the deadline for registration has been postponed to February 4, 2014. It is relevant to mention that the food businesses, with an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh are required to get registered while those establishments with an annual turnover exceeding Rs 12 lakh are required to obtain a license.

Amritsar, October 12
Contrary to the common belief that HIV/AIDS is the most contagious disease and could be contracted in the hospitals, there are more chances of Hepatitis-B infecting the patients, their attendants and hospital staff.

Dr Avtar Singh, MD of local Amandeep Hospital, while quoting the study of National Board of Health and Hospitals (NABHH), said it had been found that among the infections caught in hospitals, chances of HIV infection is only 0.3 per cent while for Hepatitis-C it is 3.0 per cent of the total infections, however the highest chance of infection is by Hepatitis-B involving 30 per cent of all infections in the hospital, including to the staff, attendants of patients, doctors and tertiary staff.

Hospitals not only provide healthcare to patients but often become areas of infections due to lack of safety measures on the part of hospital authorities. Not only are patients, their attendants and the hospital staff are also at a greater risk to contract deadly infections in hospitals and healthcare centres.

Many health workers contract deadly infections, amongst all persons susceptible to infections including visitors of patients, 45 per cent of nursing staff is the highest segment that is prone to infections. As much as 33 per cent of patient’s attendants are also likely to catch these infections. Doctors proximity being less frequent 11 per cent are still susceptible to infections due to unhygienic hospital environments while technicians such as laboratory operators etc too record 11 per cent of total infections from hospital and healthcare facilities.

Dr Avtar Singh said Amandeep Hospital had become one of the few hospitals in the country to get the ‘Safe-I’ certificate by NABHH.

Tarn Taran, October 12
Kinder Kaur (42), wife of Swaran Singh, a resident of Mehandipur village, and her six-month-old grand-daughter died on the spot in a road accident that occured near Bhura Kona village late last evening.

Kanwarjit Singh, nephew of deceased Kinder Kaur, was injured in the accident and has been admitted at the Community Health Centre, Khemkaran, where his condition was stated to be stable.

The Khemkaran police has registered a case under Sections 304 A, 279, 427 of the IPC against the driver of the truck allegedly responsible for the accident.

According to the information, the deceased Kinder Kaur along with her grand-daughter was coming back to her village on the bike being driven by Kanwarjit Singh. The truck hit them from the back.

Sub-Inspector Salwinder Singh, SHO, Khemkaran, told that the driver of the truck escaped from the spot after the accident though the truck has been taken into custody.

Amritsar, October 12
With the Punjab police taking tuff stance against the drug peddling rampant in the state, the Amritsar rural police booked another bunch of drug traffickers.

A day after the Gharinda police in Amritsar rural district booked around 11 persons, the Lopoke police has booked as many as 24 drug peddlers in a single go.

Among those arrested include Sukhjit Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Sarvan Singh, Gurvail Singh, Ranjit Singh, Jagri Singh, Heera Singh, Bir Singh, Mintu, Amarjit Singh, Germanjit Singh, Bhag Singh, Pappu, Gurjit Singh, Soni, Gurjit Singh, Dilbagh Singh, Angrej Singh, Darbara Singh, Guljar Singh, Guljar Singh Pehalwan, Gurbhej Singh and Hardayal Singh, all residents of various border villages falling under the Lopoke police station.

They have been charged with illegal border crossing, smuggling of narcotics, counterfeit currency, arms and ammunition besides spying for the Pakistan-based intelligence agencies.

A case under Sections 414, 411, 489A, 489B, 489C of the IPC, 25/54/59 of the Arms Act, 18/21/22/21/61/85 of the NDPS Act and 3 of the Official Secret Act has been registered against all the accused.

Tejinder Singh, investigating officer, said the accused used to smuggle the heroin from across the Indo-Pak border fence and supply it to their local contacts for
its further disposal. 

Amritsar, October 12
As popular during this time of the year, the evil comes in all sizes, shapes and colour. The effigies of Raavan, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad are in place for this year’s Dasehra celebrations, with some innovations and some increased worth. From rise effigies to the cut-down versions, the Raavan effigies come in new designs, the popular ones being the two-faced Raavan i.e. one in gold and the other in silver.

The walled city has become haven for artisans who have been in the business of making effigies for Dasehra as a family tradition. Some effigies have special lighting effects in order to look scarier while others carry some social messages. But for years these artisans have been making evil look good, for traditions’ sake.

Lying scattered all over, waiting to be dispatched, the business has increased input cost, but the tradition goes bigger and better. As innovative Raavans are available in cloth, paper and even neon electric lighting, those in business make most of it.

“I have been making effigies for 10 years, but the enthusiasm and devotion is always same every year,” said Ram Manohar, an artisan at the Durgiana Temple complex. The 50-year-old said, “Being in a family profession, we wait for the whole year for Ramlila. Every year, we come here and become a part of the celebrations.”

But with the changing time, even the art and its form used has evolved over the years. “Now in a bid to attract more people and make the ceremony more exciting, we use cloth, paper and plastic to build these effigies and also use various paints to make it attractive. We have also made a big gun, which will be used to burn the effigies.”

Raavan, which is usually in the brightest colour, has gone expensive. The effigies are priced from Rs 1,000 to Rs 18,000, depending on the size. “I have made some 30 effigies and the tallest one is 50 feet tall,” said Raj Kumar, another artisan from city who has been in this business for the past 25 years. For the rest of the year, he makes paalkis and dolis for weddings, but for two months before Dasehra, he makes only effigies. A lot of effigies have electrical lighting on them. “We‘ve made these changes at the request of our clients. One of the effigies has red lights for the eyes and tongue, so that it glows in the dark and looks scarier,” said Kumar. This effigy also has horns, glowing eyelashes and tusks.

The smaller variants are reserved for community and residential Dasehra celebrations, some even to be used as toys for kids. The by lanes outside the Lohgarh gate becomes a live display arena for these beautiful and larger than life effigies.

Sonu, who works as a vegetable vendor throughout the year, takes up to the art of making Ravan effigies during festivities. “I started doing it as a hobby, and over the years I have improvised on it. Though, it is a bit tough to survive only on this as a profession, but it does have its perks. Off late, small effigies have become popular since people have started burning them in their homes,” he said.

Priced between Rs 400 to Rs 2,000 depending upon the firecrackers and other material used in them, besides their height, this evil sure brings luck for the artisans.