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1.1 kg heroin dug out from vacant plots
Health Dept collects 11 samples of sweets from shops in Rayya
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TV anchor alleges misbehaviour by mall staff
Intoxicant, mobile phone recovered from jail inmates
Eight booked for kidnapping, trying to kill property dealer
Divisional Commissioner reviews paddy procurement work in dist
Medical college contractual staff go on indefinite strike
National Voluntary Blood Donation Day observed
Ministerial staff stage protest
Man crushed to death
6 Ryanites take part in World Scholar’s Cup
Handball meet organised
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1.1 kg heroin dug out from vacant plots
Amritsar, October 24 The police recovered a total of 1.1 kg - 600gm from near Balwinder's residence and 500 gm from near Gurjinder's home - worth over Rs 5 crore. The contraband was dug out from vacant plots located near their houses. Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said following the arrest of Ripudaman Singh and Baljinder Singh, alias Fukra, last month Balwinder Singh Billa and his cousin Gurjinder Singh had fled away after concealing the heroin. He claimed that more recoveries were likely to be made during further interrogation of both the accused. The police authorities revealed that Balwinder Singh, who was prominently known as "Sarpanch or Chairman", remained a blue-eyed boy of the intelligence agencies and worked as their tout. He had given inputs to the intelligence agencies about the possible smuggling bids. Taking the advantage of this he himself starting the illegal trade and earned a huge money from drug trafficking. The police was also investigating into his assets in various parts of the city and the border village of Hawelian (in Tarn Taran) where he resided.
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Health Dept collects 11 samples of sweets from shops in Rayya
Amritsar, October 24 The department had collected samples of gulab jamuns, barfi, cham-cham and rasgullas. All the samples had been dispatched to food testing laboratory in Chandigarh for testing. The adulteration of sweets and use of substandard ingredients is a common practice among various shops in the city to meet the increased demand of sweets. “It has came to light during the previous inspections that shopkeepers start using substandard materials to meet the increased demand,” said Kahlon, adding that substandard khoya was the most common item used by these shopkeepers. He said even as the quantity of milk during the season remaines the same as during the usual days, the demand of it increases, which pushes people to either use synthetic milk or its products. Kahlon said the department is also keeping an eye on the people ferrying milk to shops in city from villages as they have received the information that synthetic milk is also in use. The Health Officer said while the department was conducting regular inspections to curb adulteration, the general public, too, needed to be aware of the problem. “We advise that they should use fruits instead of sweets for their children. And even if they have to buy the sweets, they should do it from the shops which have a good reputation,” said Kahlon. He said test reports received by the department about the samples taken from a petha factory on the Batala road last month had stated that product was below the quality standards. He said action had been initiated against the factory owners.
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TV anchor alleges misbehaviour by mall staff
Amritsar, October 24 She had purchased some gadgets worth Rs 1 lakh from the outlet located on the Mall Road a few days ago only. She has also lodged a complaint about the misbehaviour and manhandling with the police in this regard besides taking up the matter with Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Kaustubh Sharma. On the other hand, the manager of the outlet, Gaurav Kumar, refuted the charges saying that it was she who had used abusive language with the staff. While detailing, Johal said she had purchased a mobile phone for around Rs 30,000 from the Chroma Mall on October 10 and within 48 hours it developed a snag. The outlet staff got it checked from a repair centre located in Hide Market, which asked them to replace it as it could not be repaired properly. She alleged that she made rounds of the outlet for getting it replaced while her communication was completely cut off from the organisers of various TV programmes and cultural events, due to which she suffered huge losses. “I gave a written complaint within two-three days, but they refused to replace the set as per the replacement policy. They wanted me to come to Croma Mall everyday to get it rectified. I went to them thrice but of no use. The mobile still does not work. When I shouted at them for troubling me, the store manager and his staff, including one Gurpreet Singh, manhandled me,” she alleged. Guarav Kumar said it was Baljeet who created a scene at the store and they had all the CCTV footage with them. He said if the police officials called him he would gave the footage to them. Kaustubh Sharma, DCP, said an inquiry had been initiated in this regard, while a case was registered in this connection. He said a woman police official would be deputed to probe the case after taking statements from both sides.
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State of Traffic— I
Amritsar, October 24 The rule is yet to be implemented in letter and spirit, while the commuters could be seen openly flouting the norms. This is happening despite the fact that the quantum of penalty has been doubled following the amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act recently. In fact it seemed that the people believe in the breaking the rules rather than adhering to the law. With the amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act, the traffic police has been empowered to issue on-the-spot challans. The department has initiated a concerted drive against the traffic norms violators, but the offenders seemed to be hardly bothered. A round of the city clearly pointed out that commuters consider the wearing of helmet as a "burden" rather than a safety measure. If the police officials are to be believed the
public gave scant regards to the norms and repeated instructions bore little results. “Though the number of people wearing helmets has increased in the recent past, but they wear it out of fear to avoid challans and not for their safety concerns,” said a traffic policeman, adding that but the good thing is that they had started wearing it. “Majority of the persons who lost their lives in road mishaps sustained serious head injuries in the absence of helmets. It is for their safety only,” he said. Instead of wearing helmet it has been observed that the residents prefer to hang it on their arms while driving and use it only when they see a traffic policeman standing on the road. Once they past the check post, they remove the helmet again and put it on their arm. Majority of the offenders are youths who move at high speed on motorcycles or scooters. “Is it the responsibility of the policemen only or the residents should also be sensible and take safety measures such as wearing helmet, put on the seat belt, etc, willingly?” questioned another police official.
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Intoxicant, mobile phone recovered from jail inmates
A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Section 42 of the Prisoners Act was registered against him today. In another instance, a mobile phone without SIM was found from undertrial Manish Kumar, resident of Gali No 4, Gate
Khazana, Amritsar. Deputy Superintendent RK Sharma said a case under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 42 of the Prisoners Act was registered against him at the Cantonment police station. “The intoxicants and mobile phone were recovered during the routine checking,” he said.
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Eight booked for kidnapping, trying to kill property dealer
Amritsar, October 24 Thakur Kultar Singh, a resident of Ram Nagar, Sultanwind Road, in his complaint to the police stated that he was returning home from the Daburji side when the accused intercepted his vehicle by stopping their vehicle in front of his vehicle. He said Kanda, who took out his pistol, along with his accomplices, identified as Pinka, Tangri and Kuldip Singh and around four unidentified persons, came out of their vehicle and entered his vehicle. He alleged that they took him towards Ajit Nagar where his several known persons, including Davinder and Raj, were standing. He said he jumped out of the car and tried to escape. He alleged that Vicky Kanda fired at him with an intention to kill him. The police has registered a case under Sections 364, 384, 307, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the accused persons. The police authorities said Thakur Kultar Singh had some financial dispute with Gurdarshan Singh, who was a friend of Vicky Kanda, which was the reason behind the incident. No arrest has been made so far. All accused were at large. Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner, said raids were being conducted to nab the accused.
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MC staff resort to strike again
Amritsar, October 24 The employees under the banner of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh today shun work and five among them sat on hunger strike allegedly for adopting delaying tactics by the MC authorities to fulfill their demands which included non-payment of salaries to a section of employees, arrears against pending dearness allowance and filling vacancies against compassionate grounds, etc. On the other hand, a spokesperson of a parallel union, preferring anonymity, told that they were in touch with the MC authorities after the intervention of Local Bodies minister Anil Joshi and that their demands had partially been accepted. “There was no point of raising hue and cry. We have been given salaries in a phased manner and the left over employees too would be getting their salaries in due course. The MC authorities had assured us that 65 per cent of our dearness allowance arrears would be disbursed before Diwali and other demands like allowances against mobile and uniform too would be met. The jobs on compassionate grounds too would be officially given shortly. It was unanimously decided to call off the strike. Now, another faction has raised the issues just to gain publicity and credit to establish an impression that they had set the things right,” he said. Narinder Sharma, general president of Amritsar Nagar Nigam Workers Unionsaid it was important to put pressure on the minds of the MC authorities. “Like in the past, all the promises made by the MC authorities turned out to be hollow in the past. It was quite immature on the part of some of our leaders to withdraw the strike just on the basis of assurances. It is an open secret that scores of workers belonging to Class IV are still devoid of their salaries and other benefits. We are fighting for their cause and do not have any vested interest. That’s why we assembled here and conducted the strike,” he said. He claimed that today’s protest was held by at least five mazdoor unions which were affiliated to Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh. “Five persons sat on hunger strike today. They were representing Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh, Safai Mazdoor Union, Maali and Beldaar Mazdoor Sangh, Punjab Municipal and Technical Workers Union and Fire Brigade Workers Union. It has been learnt that the representatives of these unions had met MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda in the afternoon but walked out after not being satisfied with his justification. “We would continue to stage protest from tomorrow onwards”, he said.
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Divisional Commissioner reviews paddy procurement work in dist
Amritsar, October 24 The Commissioner directed the officials to adopt a pro-farmers approach and make the procurement system efficient to meet the aspirations of the farmers. While expressing satisfaction over the paddy procurement he stressed over the need for speedy lifting of the crop and timely payments to the farmers. He instructed the officials to make arrangements for the lifting of procured crop with in 72 hours. He said defaulting agencies and officials should be made accountable for their negligence and the subsequent losses. He also stressed the need for better synergy between the departments concerned to remove bottlenecks in the procurement process and to ensure that the farmers do not face any problem. It was observed that farmers face hardships in the sale of the grains which had been considerably discolored due to recent rains and storms across the district. Venkatrattnam said a technical team of the officers of the Government of India would come to the district on Friday to take a stock of the entire situation and assess the extent of damage caused to the paddy in terms of discoloration and moisture. Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said out of 1.38 lakh metric tones (MT) paddy, 1 lakh MT paddy was purchased by various procurement agencies and millers till Wednesday. He said 70 per cent of the purchase had been lifted from the grain markets and timely payment was being made to the farmers.
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Medical college contractual staff go on indefinite strike
Amritsar, October 24 Around 250 staff nurses and 52 Class IV workers refrained from attending their duties claiming that they would not join back until their services are regularised. The protest was also supported by contractual workers such as radiographers, Operation Theater Assistants, EEG and ECG technicians. As a result of the protest, the impact was seen on all medical services, including emergency and operation theatre. However, in the absence of the contractual workers, the regular staff is trying hard to continue the services. The hospital has only around 200 regular staff nurses. “It has hit the services hard as over 50 per cent of the staff nurses are working on contract basis,” claimed Nursing Association President Raj Bedi Anand. The contractual workers said they were paid Rs 7,500 per month but they were doing the same duty as done by regular workers. “We have same qualifications and same conditions of service but we are paid less,” said a contractual worker. Even as the association has not yet initiated a call for meeting from the government but sources in the college and hospital authorities have shoot off letters to the senior officials apprising them of the situation. The Punjab Nurses Association Action Committee has also supported the protest and demanded from the state government to meet their demands. President Kulwinderjit Kaur said the contractual workers had been working at the hospital for the past 4-5 years and government should regularise their services.
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National Voluntary Blood Donation Day observed
Amritsar, October 24 The function was presided over by health minister Surjit Kumar Jiani. He honoured 64 voluntary organisations working for promoting blood donation and 68 prominent blood donors from the state. Speaking on the occasion, Jiani said donating blood was a noble way to express gratitude to the Almighty. He said health institutions should create awareness among the general public that the blood donated by them could help save precious lives. The members of employees’ welfare association also submitted a memorandum with the health minister about the various problems faced by the employees of the Health Department. Chairman of the association Rakesh Kumar said they were facing problems in getting the dearness allowance installments and GPF statements. He said the promotions of the employees should be made as per the policy. The association also highlighted the problem of shortage of staff in few cadres and demanded that the control of rural dispensaries working under Zila Parishad should be given to the Health Department.
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Ministerial staff stage protest
Amritsar, October 24 Association general secretary Jagdish Thakur said 30 per cent of the arrears of the dues were still pending. He said the installments were due since January this year. He further said the employees were expecting that the government would release the due before
Diwali. “The government has imposed a number of new taxes on public and we fail to understand why it does not have funds for paying to the employees,” said
Thakur. Association leader Tajinder Singh said the employees were agitated because of the attitude of the government against their needs. “We have a meeting on October 26. The association leaders would discuss measures to intensify protest on the issue,” he said.
— TNS
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Man crushed to death
Amritsar, October 24 Preetpal Singh, investigating officer, said the driver of the Punjab Roadways bus numbering PB-07-U-5986 identified as Jagtar Singh, fled from the scene leaving the bus behind. The police has initiated the action to register a case against him. While detailing, he said Tehal Singh, who resided in New Partap Nagar area located on main GT Road, probably lost his balance while alighting from the bus which led to the incident. Investigations are on in the case.
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6 Ryanites take part in World Scholar’s Cup
Amritsar, October 24 Among those who participated include Snover Singh, Harshit
Bhardawaj, Sukhmannat Singh, Parneet Kaur, Harnoor Kaur and Inder Partap Singh. They were among 1,500 students from over 70 schools across India who took part in the event inaugurated in the presence of Ryan International Group MD Grace Pinto, CEO Ryan Pinto and World Scholar’s Cup Founder Daniel
Berdichevsky. It was a unique kind of scholastic extravaganza hosted in
Mumbai. As many as 500 teams participated in various scholastic events which tested their inter-disciplinary skills in an engaging way. Over the course of the three-day event, teams debated pressing global issues related to the theme. They worked together to research and write papers on topics covering various subjects they had explored all year long. Networking and community-building events were at the heart of this World Scholar’s Cup.
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Handball meet organised
Amritsar, October 24 The match was won by the former with a score of 15-10. Meanwhile, GPCG Dinanagar; GIGT Amritsar and GPCG Amritsar scored victories in their subsequent encounters. Chief guest Sandeep Rishi, chairman, Improvement Trust, said such tournaments emanate a sense of sportsmanship.
— TNS
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Amritsar, October 24