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MC reworks tendering process
Illegal cracker-making units pose a threat to residents
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Private schools fail to get eating joints registered
Patwari, brother held for usurping land
4 snatchers arrested
Two nabbed for posing as scribes
Flesh trade racket busted
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MC reworks tendering process
Amritsar, October 14 Officials say the emphasis has been put on door-to-door collection, as the garbage collection will be bin-free. Secondly, the number of three-wheeler garbage carriers has been raised three times in
each ward to do the job of collecting garbage from the households. Besides, special amendments have been made in the condition factors, wherein the MC will have full governance over the private firm which will be hired, keeping in view that the workers' interest should not be defeated, as has been done in
the past with the private firm, engaged for lifting and dumping the garbage at Bhaktanwala. After having a tussle over the payment with the MC, the firm had withdrawn its machinery midway and shunted out over its 200 workers without giving them any benefits. Municipal Corporation Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said every care was being taken that the whole process of lifting and disposing of garbage was done as per the municipal solid waste (management and handling) rules,
2000, and for scientific disposal of the municipal solid waste. “During a meeting held under the chairmanship of Local Bodies Minister, it was reviewed to make Amritsar garbage-free. The minister himself proposed that the garbage bins lying on the streets or roadside should be avoided while making door-to-door collection more efficient. After deliberations, it was decided that instead of one garbage-lifting three-wheeler, at least three vehicles should be pressed into service. This way, the three-wheelers’ number would now be 195 instead of 65 to cater to all the wards,” he said. Talking about the apprehensions of a section of workers who threaten to launch a statewide strike in protest against the process under which solid waste management plants in Amritsar and Jalandhar were being set up, Kharbanda said a meeting to this effect had already been scheduled with
the minister at Chandigarh tomorrow. The workers had demanded the government’s stake in installing these plants so that the workers engaged by the private company should not exploit them. Surinder Tona, Municipal Corporation Workers’ representative, said they demanded that these plants should be installed by government itself instead of giving the sole rights to private hands. “We are having a meeting with Local Bodies minister at Chandigarh tomorrow to discuss the issue,”
he said.
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Illegal cracker-making units pose a threat to residents
Amritsar, October 14 Meanwhile, the administration has been found wanting to stop the growth of these illegal units. These illegal firecracker manufacturing units, using crude methods, do not follow any safety norms, leading to tragedies like a blast in an illegal firecracker unit in 2009 and two teenagers losing their lives in the blast. Notably, the illegal unit had been run by an SPO. Similarly, another accidental blast had taken place at an unauthorised unit in the Chheharta area a couple of years ago. Activist of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan Deepak Kumar said a majority of these units employ children and women as labourers to curtail investment cost and pocket maximum profit. In order to escape the long arm of the law, these units work surreptitiously and seriously omit following safety norms, which many a time cost dear to employees. Since the festive season of Diwali is fast approaching, illegal fire cracker units have reportedly got active in the city. In the past, several incidents of explosions at these factors, specially located in the Anngarh area, have taken place, but the authorities failed to locate these unscrupulous units. Known for bootlegging and drug addiction, Anngarh is also known as "mini-Sivakasi" of the district due to a large number of illegal firework and cracker units having surfaced there from time to time. Many more illegal units mushroom around the festival season of Diwali in other parts of the city also. What makes it tough for the police is the fact that several residents have migrated to other parts of the city to avoid being caught. They, thereby, take the skills of this life-threatening occupation along with them. An illegal factory in Chheharta area of the city had caught fire some years ago. A police inquiry later revealed that the family had migrated from Anngarh. Anngarh is a headache for both the civil and police administration. Adding to the menace is the problem of illegal storing and hoarding of these crackers. As per rules, the Amritsar Police Commissionerate issues licences to manufacture and store crackers as these fall in explosives category. Normally, around Diwali the police issues guidelines to act tough against the erring units to the police posts in the areas from where these illegal units are being run.
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Private schools fail to get eating joints registered
Amritsar, October 14 District Health Officer Dr Shiv Karan Singh Kahlon said so far a few schools had got themselves registered under the act. The Act makes it mandatory for the employees of these canteens to submit their medical examination reports. Besides, the health department is required to check the personal hygiene of cooks and other staff involved in food preparation. Personal hygiene like nails must be clipped properly and head should be covered while preparing food. Fast food must be discouraged, while it favours the sale of quality packed food so that ingredients and expiry of these could be determined conveniently. Senior BJP leader Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, who had been an educationist at the beginning of her career, said since the government had no control over the school education, a majority of these schools were no different from shops. “They do not leave any chance to increase the avenue of earning and maximise their profit. These institutes, which are supposed to be education lighthouse, are selling school bags, stationery and even dresses for commission. If any tendering is held, it is a mere eyewash.” Now, a new fashion of opening canteens dishing out even fast food has picked up. A retired government teacher Sarwan Singh opined that where is the need to open canteens in the schools. Instead, the school administrations must encourage students to bring along freshly cooked food from their houses, which is the practice otherwise. These school administrations could not use the ruse of canteens for faculty and other staff as traditionally they also bring in their lunch boxes to the school, which sets a good precedent for the students to follow.
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Punjabi film ‘Heer and Hero’ cast visits city
Amritsar, October 14 Releasing on October 18, the movie will bring another Bollywood actress to Pollywood. Minissha Lamba makes her debut in Punjabi cinema, playing Heer to Arya Babbar’s Hero. "I hope people will love me more in this role than the other ones," Babbar said. Lamba, who essays the role of fashion designer named Geet, said working for "Heer and Hero" was like returning to her Punjabi roots. The star cast also includes Manoj Pahwa, Mukul Dev, Yograj Singh, Balraj Syal and Hobby Dhaliwal in important roles. “The film has a lot of young minds with passion that is infectious, which is required for a film to do well. The film’s cast is also good, as actors Minissha and Manoj Pahwa make their debut,” said Sagar
S Sharma. Her recent Bollywood record notwithstanding, you have to hand it to actor Minissha Lamba for being the cynosure of all eyes while promoting the film. “It’s a matter of pride for me to be part of Pollywood. I play a happy-go-lucky girl, something that I hadn’t done in a long time,” said the petite lady. Confessing that her Punjabi was not that proficient, Lamba said she was tutored on the sets. But the industry has come of age, she believes. “Hindi and Punjabi-speaking audiences are the same. They will definitely watch and give respect to Punjabi films if they are good.” The actor, whose Bollywood run was patchy, will be seen in Bollywood flick "Black Currency". “It’s a thriller where I play a women spy. While Hollywood has strong
integral characters, Bollywood rarely gives female actors a chance.”
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Militancy victims’ families slam govt apathy
Amritsar, October 14 BR Hastir, chairman, All India Terrorist Victims Association, in a press release said, “Those who lost their kin to militancy in Punjab and got displaced are still battling
to settle down even after two decades.” “The successive governments in the Centre and the state have been
promising economic packages to the victims but nothing has been done in this regard so far,” Hastir added. The association submitted a memorandum to former Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader Dr Baldev Raj Chawla demanding the formation of a welfare board dedicated for the cause of rehabilitation of the terrorist victims' families. He said the state government after a lot of efforts started giving pension benefits to the aggrieved families. Dr Hastir, however, claimed that the families were not getting
the pension regularly over the years. "For the past 10 months, a number of families in Ajnala are awaiting their pension. Some families got pension this month," Hastir said. He said the families of terror victims were facing a lot of difficulties in getting the pension due to an indifferent attitude of the ministerial staff which sends the requisite details to the treasury department, thus leading to inordinate delay in releasing the pension. A couple of years ago, the state government had made the treasury department online and all
payments were made online. But the indifferent attitude of the staff concerned has been leading to harassment of these families, he said. Dr Hastir further said that the association would be forced to launch agitation if the governments failed to address their grievances soon. Dr Chawla assured them all the help in getting their problems addressed soon. Their demands
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MC holds property tax awareness camp in ward no 51
Amritsar, October 14 "We have format for self-assessment wherein the property owners would have to furnish their property details on the basis of which the dues against property tax are calculated," Bhatia said. "We are also being contacted by certain residential as well as commercial associations in East Mohan Nagar and the Jahajgarh area to conduct camps in their localities. It would be continued," he added.
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Patwari, brother held for usurping land
Amritsar, October 14 Reports said a written complaint was lodged at the NRI police station against the accused following the statement of Dilbagh Singh, a resident of Friends Colony in Majitha Road and a relative of Chur Singh. Dilbagh was given the power of attorney by Chur Singh’s children Kuldeep Kaur, Joginder Kaur and Ranjit Singh in to fight the case on their behalf. Gurbir Singh, SHO NRI police station, said Chur Singh shifted to Malaysia in 1950 and settled there after his marriage. He had around five-and-half acre agricultural land in Rahal Chahal village which he had given on contract basis to Surjit Singh and Jagir Singh of the same village. Both are sons of Chur Singh’s brother Roor Singh. He said Surjit Singh and Jagir Singh in connivance with patwari Sawinder Singh forged a fake death certificate of Chur Singh to grab the property. Earlier, the victims had filed a case in Tarn Taran in 2005, but due to some alleged political pressure from a senior Akali leader the police did not register a case. Later, the victim filed a complaint with the NRI police and an investigation was carried out by Jastinder Singh, DSP NRI police, Jalandhar. “The probe revealed that Choor Singh died in 1970 in the death certificate while he died in 1980,” said Gurbir Singh, SHO. He said the accused described Choor Singh as childless and presented themselves as their legal heir and later usurped his land. Following the investigations, a case under Section 420, 465, 467, 471, 474 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against Surjit, his brother Jagir and patwari Sawinder Singh, late last night. Gurbir Singh said the police has nabbed Surjit and Sawinder Singh while Jagir Singh was still at large.
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4 snatchers arrested
Amritsar, October 14 She was going to her parents’ house on a rickshaw when the two accused, who were driving a motorcycle, came from behind and snatched her purse containing Rs 1,500, besides other belongings near the Shivala turn on the Batala road. The woman immediately raised an alarm. The PCR team in the area chased the accused and arrested Sahil Ram Pal with the help of people. However, Ankit managed to escape. He said Ankit
was later arrested in the evening. They had been booked under Sections 382 and 34 of the IPC, while further investigations were on, said Neeraj Kumar, SHO, Rambagh police station. Meanwhile, the Civil Lines police arrested Hardeep Singh of Kale village and his accomplice Gurpreet Singh of the Ghanupur road during a naka close to the Civil Lines police station.
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Two nabbed for posing as scribes
Amritsar, October 14 Neeraj Kumar, SHO Rambagh police station, said the accused, identified as Harpreet Mintu, a surveyor associated with a vernacular newspaper on daily wages basis and Sarabjit Singh of Kot Baba Deep Singh were drunk. He said when the police signalled them to stop, they entered into an altercation with the police party. “When they showed their identity cards, the police team got suspicious and later enquired about their authenticity from the organisation,” said Neeraj. He added that during investigation it was found that Harpreet had scanned his identity card and later tampered and forged and given the copy to his friend. He said the officials of the newspaper gave in written against the two for misusing their organisation’s name following which a case under Section 420, 468, 471 of the IPC has been registered against them.
— TNS
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Flesh trade racket busted
Amritsar, October 14 The police said they got a tip-off that a woman residing in Toot Sahib Bazaar ran a flesh trade racket from her residence. A police team conducted a raid and arrested Rajan Kumar along with a woman.
— TNS
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