Amritsar, November 5
There has been no let up in the incidents of police parties being attacked while going out to make arrests of anti-social elements. Today, the Sadar police has arrested three persons and booked over a dozen others for allegedly assaulting policemen under the influence of liquor on a street of a Majitha road locality.

Even as police officials stated that cases were registered and well followed up in such instances as the law takes its course, still it is the political patronage to the miscreants, besides easy availability of weapons and drugs, that make them attack the police.

Narrating the recent instance, SHO of the Sadar police station Vavinder Singh said three persons - Japjit Singh, alias Guglu, Khushdeep Singh and Jagminder Singh, alias Shelly - were arrested, while Manmeet Singh, brother of Japjit, Robin, Honey, Pappu, Golu and seven others were absconding after attacking a police team. They were drunk and creating ruckus on the ABC Street at around 1 am while playing loud music.

"When the police team went to stop them, they not only assaulted the policemen, but also tore the uniform of a Sub-Inspector and a head constable. They were all intoxicated and playing loud music. This was irritating the other residents, who approached the police to stop the nuisance," he said.

The SHO said though they did not name any political party or any individual leader, yet they threatened the policemen that that they would be lose their jobs if they took any action against them. "They said they have high connections and their uniforms could be removed within no time. This had infuriated the policemen, too, and the clash began. In the meantime, when we tried to arrest Manmeet, his sisters Puneet Kaur and Rajkamal Kaur and their father Sukhwinder Singh resisted the action by the policemen. This gave Manmeet a chance to escape. We are searching for other accused and an FIR has been lodged. We will make sure that they get punishment for their offence," he said.

A case under Sections 353, 186, 332, 333, 510, 506 and 149 of the IPC was registered against all of them at the Sadar police station.

Meanwhile, the same day a head constable Jang Bahadur was manhandled by a resident of Nangal Guru village, Rajbir Singh, while he was performing his duty at Ghah Mandi, Jandiala chowk.

Amritsar, November 5
In the wake of yesterday’s instance in which a 60-year-old man lost his life due to food poisoning after partaking of langar near Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai, the local residents feel that there is a need to evolve a system to monitor these events. Residents said not only the quality of the food, but also the way these langars are sometimes organised on roadsides is not very hygienic.

The residents said these langars on roadsides also cause inconvenience to commuters and disrupt traffic.

It has also been seen that organisers leave the place after the end of the event without clearing the place of discarded disposable utensils and food wastes.

Even these become a cause of traffic jams on roads as the vehicles are slowed down because of the rush of people partaking of langar on roads. While talking to The Tribune, residents said the Health Department should also keep a check on the quality of food served at langars and should collect samples randomly to asses the quality.

The langars organised by religious and social organisations should be checked for hygiene and quality by the Health Department. Even the general public has a responsibility to first verify and then trust. They should not partake of langar from anybody on the road. The government needs to implement laws without any relaxation to anybody. — KJS Ahluwalia, doctor

The food served at the langar should be of high quality. I have seen that people are neither bothered about the quality of the food nor the hygiene. They should give special attention to the cleaning of utensils in which food is served. Besides, they should also take due care to clean the place after the event ends. Sometimes paper plates and glasses are thrown anywhere and it should not be done. — Alambir Singh, NRI visitor

The religious bodies should have a moral responsibility to keep a check on the organisers of langars. Even if the Health Department officials are thoughtful of not hurting public sentiments as collecting samples from a langar is a sensitive issue, the organisers themselves have a bigger responsibility. — Naginder Singh Sandhu, farmer

The quality of food must be assured. We can expect that a shopkeeper can sell low-quality food to make more money, but it would be wrong if a religious or social organisation serves the same, knowingly or unknowingly. The food must be cooked in proper hygienic conditions. There is no bigger sin than serving a plate of unhygienic food to one who does not even know this. — Sultan Singh Gill, Advocate

Amritsar, November 5
Various traders gave a mixed response to the business generated during Diwali. Businessmen dealing in gold ornaments, firecrackers complained of low sales and hotels registered low occupancy this Diwali in comparison to the last year.

A gold merchant, Anil Kumar Jain, said the customers did not evince any enthusiasm and were listless in their response this Diwali. He added that it was very difficult to give any quantum to describe the fall, but it was certain that traditionally best-buy gold jewellery was off the priority list of festive shoppers this time. About its reason, he said middle income group buyers were the mainstay of the entire clientele and they were made well aware of heavy taxation on the yellow metal by the government. Besides, high electricity cost, costly automobile fuel, vegetables, vegetable oil and other expenditure guzzled the major chuck of their income.

President of the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) APS Chatha said hotel occupancy and eating out at restaurants felt the heat this festive season.

He said traditionally Diwali of Amritsar is very famous among Punjabis and they make efforts to celebrate it in the city of the Golden Temple. However, this Diwali room occupancy in the hotels was about 40 per cent in comparison to 70 per cent last year’s. Consequently, restaurants have also recorded low sales on dining.

A firecracker trader, Harish Dhawan, said the sale of firecrackers was moderate this Diwali. He said the traders had to invest in setting up kiosks and paying rent to the Amritsar Improvement Trust for the space at Ranjit Avenue, despite having their permanent shops at the Jahajgarh market.

Amritsar, November 5
The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has announced to organise the eight edition of the five-day state event, PHD - Punjab International Trade Expo, 2013, PHD-PITEX, 2013, in Amritsar from December 5.

Punjab is the host state for the flagship event.

“Punjab being one of the highest per capita income states and with the government’s commitment to push the industrialisation and investment drive, it is the right time for the state to market and promote itself to the world as an ideal destination for growth of industry and investment,” said Rajiv Bali, chairman, Punjab Committee, PHD Chamber.

Reiterating PHD Chamber’s resolve to provide ample opportunities for the corporate sector and the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Bali said PITEX offers a platform for entrepreneurs, MNCs, and MSMEs, besides megabrands, and FMCG products to exhibit, network and explore business opportunities with their participating counterparts, from across the country and abroad, by showcasing their products, services and technologies.

To have meaningful interactions, the PHD Chamber has invited embassies, ambassadors, trade counsellors of the SAARC and Central Asian countries among others to participate in the ensuing edition of PITEX. Besides international chambers and trade associations, industry bodies at the local, regional and national level were also invited to discuss the bilateral trade opportunities.

He shared that the last edition of the exhibition saw the Indian trade and industry gaining good interactions with representatives of Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, UAE, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Poland, Iran, Malaysia, Vietnam, and other participating countries apart from Pakistan.

“We are expecting wider international participation this year”, added Bali.

Industry associations from Punjab had detailed meetings with the representatives of visiting 11 chambers of commerce and industry from Pakistan. Business communities on both sides showed keen interest in business opportunities available in respective countries, he said.

Sharing the details of the five-day mega event, Dalip Sharma, Regional Director, PHD Chamber, said the whole trade expo was being organised for the sixth consecutive year at the Ranjit Avenue area of the holy city.

He said 11 dedicated pavilions namely IndoExpo/Travel/Tourism and Handicrafts; Punjab AutoExpo; KitchenExpo/ConsumExpo/HomExpo; Food and FarmExpo; HealthExpo; EduExpo; TexStyle; BrandStreet; RealTex/FinancExpo, BikEx; and Globex/SAARC would be set up.

He termed trade fairs and exhibitions being a boost to the trade and industry at the national and international level, besides ensuring that the benefits were percolated down at the regional and local level as well.

He recalled that the last exhibition was a great success as it had generated business enquiries worth over Rs 250 crore.

Amritsar, November 5
After Bollywood divas, its time for the Bollywood dudes to enter the Punjabi film industry. Just as Bollywood A-lister Akshay Kumar is gearing up for a Pollywood stint with upcoming ‘Bhaji in Problem, TV series ‘Superdude’ fame Ashmit Patel is making his debut in a Punjabi film.

The actor, whose last successful outing in front of the camera came with the thriller ‘Murder’ and reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, was in the city to promote his upcoming Punjabi film ‘Dil Sada Luteya Gaya’.

Starring along with Jividha Astha and Pooja Tandon, Ashmit seemed quite excited about his Punjabi experience.

Just as the name suggests, it is a love story, with a strong comic element. This film also upholds the moral values of the Punjabi culture.

Besides shooting in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, the crew also shot at various foreign locales in Moscow. The film is directed by Manoj Punj and Ashmit already seems to have found his comfort zone in Punjabi.

“Learning the language was not difficult as it’s similar to Hindi. The fact that the Punjabi films have such a huge audience overseas as well made me try out this one,” he says.

Visiting Golden Temple, the actor, who came along with Sudesh Lahiri and Mangi Mahal, who also feature in the film, is hopeful that the Punjabi audience will accept and love him in his new role.

“Being a non-punjabi, I had to work hard with my dialect and body language, about which I was a bit sceptical at first. But my experience with the film has been lovely and I am confident that it will workout for me,” he added.

Amritsar, November 5
The lifelong learning department of Guru Nanak Dev University has announced to start a six-month certificate course in cutting and tailoring from January 2014.

Rajinderjit Kaur Puar, director, said the admission to this course was open for Class X pass unemployed women candidates.

"The idea is to make them self-dependent. The candidates who wish to seek admission to this course should fill their application forms between November 5 and December 10. They can collect the forms form the department on working days," she said.

Meanwhile, the interview for the admission would be held in the department on December 12 at 11am and the classes would start in January 2014 from 1pm to 5pm. However, the tuition fee would be Rs 550 per month.

The admission fee to this course would be Rs 700 and the examination fee would be Rs 450.

Amritsar, November 5
The Global Institute of Management and Technologies has bagged the Dewang Mehta Award in the category of “Best Emerging Engineering Institute” and another one in the category of “Business School that Encourages Leadership as a part of Curriculum Award”.

On behalf of the Institute, its director Arvind Bhardwaj received the awards at the 21st business school award ceremony held recently at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. These awards are in recognition of leadership, development, and industry interface of emerging engineering and management institutes of the country.

These awards were given after a detailed research of various parameters and the institutes were chosen by an independent jury and a panel of professionals, he said.

He said corporate giants like Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Canon, Hexaware Technologies, Onward Technologies Ltd, IL&FS Financial Services Ltd, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank and Sony Entertainment were the official sponsors of this event that saw participation of a large part of the industry.

Earlier in 2012, the institute was awarded the National B-School Leadership Award by the Dewang Mehta Foundation Trust.

Global Institutes vice-chairman Akashdeep Singh Chandi congratulated the faculty and staff for their sincere and dedicated efforts towards imparting quality education to students.

He also appreciated the alumni who have been doing their job sincerely at their respective positions in the industry.

Dean, Academics, BD Sharma, said the global institute had been constantly recognised at the national level by eminent organisations for its quality education.

Jalandhar, November 5
The opposition Congress has flayed the ruling SAD-BJP alliance for the reported missing of a bronze statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from the storeroom of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (MC). Reacting to the missing statute, DCC (Urban) president Arun Walia alleged that local BJP leaders were not caring for our national heroes.

Earlier, the incident of the mysterious disappearance of Patel’s statue came to light a few days ago when the Congress demanded to install the statue at Patel Chowk.

When MC officials tried to find it, it was found missing.

According to information, Patel’s statue was installed at the railway station about six decades ago. Later the statue was removed and was lying in the storeroom since seventies. Mayor Sunil Jyoti said he had already asked the store manager to probe the incident. — TNS