Amritsar, November 13
The Municipal Corporation (MC) officials held a pre-bid meeting with the companies which have evinced interest in managing solid waste management project in the city.

Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said five Indian companies had shown interest in managing the project. He said the MC was very encouraged due to the interest shown by the companies.

During the pre-bid meeting with the companies, the MC officials clarified their questions about the needs of the city. A technical bid meeting and finally a financial bid meeting would be followed in the process.

The companies would submit their financial bids on November 29 said Kharbanda, adding that the solid waste management project would see the light of the day by the end of December. He said the MC was following all instructions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the process had been initiated as per the directions.

Earlier in April this year, the Antony waste management company, which was overseeing the garbage collection in the city, had pulled out of the contract, thus posing a problem for the MC authorities.

Later, the state government had formally terminated the contract with the company and since then, the MC had been managing the garbage collection through its own means.

With new companies showing interest in the project, it is expected that the garbage collection process would be outsourced to a private company which is further expected to solve the garbage problem in the city.

Kharbanda said the MC was keen to engage a company which was efficient in managing the process. He said at present, the MC vehicles were collecting garbage from the collection points and disposing it at dumps.

Amritsar, November 13
A man died of heart attack today following a road rage near the Chatwind canal which is located just a few metres from the Kot Mit Singh police chowki.

The deceased was identified as Vijay Kumar Arora (45), a resident of the Majitha road. He, along with his wife and two children Rahul and Ankit, was going towards Tahla Sahib Gurdwara, located on the Tarn Taran road in a car.

According to information, there was a traffic jam near Chatiwind Canal. Ajay Pal Singh, a dairy owner who was travelling in a four-wheeler, came from behind and stopped his vehicle in front of their car. This led to an altercation between Vijay and Ajay Pal. The altercation between them took an ugly turn when Ajay Pal entered in a physical duel with Vijay Arora. Later, he took out a kirpan from his vehicle.

Ankit had a narrow escape when he tried to intervene in the matter. Pushed by Ajay Pal, he narrowly escaped falling into the canal.

Seeing the situation turn ugly, Vijay suffered heart attack and later died.

Ironically, the whole incident took place just a few metres from the Kot Mit Singh police chowki. Eyewitnesses said had the cops taken a prompt action and pacified them, the situation could not have worsened.

The police has arrested Ajay Pal, while a case under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was registered against him.

Amrtisar, November 13
Stephen Masih (33), a resident of Ganda Singh Wala, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the roof of his house late last evening.

Following the statement of the victim's mother, Neena, the police arrested his wife Simran, a staff nurse, deputed with the Civil Hospital, in an abetment to suicide case.

She said his son was married to Simran of the Gopal Nagar area and they had a quarrel before her son took the extreme step. Stephen used to run a saloon in partnership.

The police said Simran (29) works as a staff nurse in the Civil Hospital here. She was instrumental in the opening of the saloon for her husband. However, some differences had cropped up between the couple, which led to the quarrel yesterday. At the time of the incident, Stephen was alone at home as Simran had gone to her duty.

He said following the complaint by Stephen's mother, the police had arrested Simran and sent her to judicial custody. 

Amritsar, November 13
The State Information Commission has penalised the Municipal Corporation (MC) for delay in providing the reply to an RTI application filed by a local resident.

At a hearing of a pending case through teleconferencing, the state information commissioner has fined the MC Commissioner Rs 5,000.

The application was filed by a local resident Ravinder Sultanwind in September 2012, seeking details for the documents issued by the MC which made possible the promotion of an employee guilty of theft of electricity.

Ravinder Sultanwind said, “An engineer with the MC Subhash Sharma was caught stealing power at his official residence. However, he was promoted to the post of XEN in the MC even as an enquiry was going in the case.”

Sultanwind alleged that MC officials had sent a wrong report, stating that no departmental enquiry was pending against Sharma which benefited him. “The MC officials had misrepresented facts. I had requested for details of the case along with the action taken report,” said Sultanwind, alleging that he was given only a few of the documents.

Assistant public information officer (APIO) XEN MPS Bedi confirmed that the MC Commissioner had been fined for delay in providing information. However, he added that they were still not sure whether the penalty was imposed on the incumbent MC or the one who was in position when the application was made.

He said the facts of the case would become clear only when they received a copy of the judgment pronounced today. The state information commission has asked MC officials to remain present during the next hearing of the case on December 4. The information commissioner has also issued a notice to the MC’s PIO for delay in the supply of information. 

Amrtisar, November 13
A tenant in a house stole cash, gold and silver jewellery worth lakhs, besides ATM cards of three banks after making the landlord heavily drunk and unconscious.

Bakhshish Kaur, a resident of the Ghee Mandi area, stated to the Kotwali police that last evening when she returned from school, she found the locks of four almirahs open and all valuables missing from the almirahs. She said the entire house was ransacked by the accused.

She said her husband, who had retired from the transport department, was unconscious when she returned from her school.

She said Amandeep of New Hargobind Avenue had been staying at their house as tenant for the past one week. He had told the family that he had a quarrel with his family and that's why he wanted a rented accommodation. The accused had two autos which he used to give on rent.

Detailing the incident to the police, she stated that she had learnt that her tenant Amandeep, along with his friend, had come to the house and had drinks with her husband. After he fell unconscious, they lay their hands on the gold and silver ornaments and cash, besides three ATM cards of the State Bank of India, UCO Bank and Punjab National Bank. She said the accused also withdrew Rs 50,000 through ATM cards and did shopping in a showroom.

The police said that a case under Sections 454 and 380 of the IPC had been registered in this connection. He said raids were being conducted to nab the culprits, while further investigations were on.

Amritsar, November 13
The Railways is contemplating to hand over the Amritsar railway station to the Indian Railway Catering Travelling Corporation (IRCTC) for infrastructure development.

Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Division, Naresh Chander Goel, said recently a team of the IRCTC from the Chandigarh region and employees of a Mumbai-based food joint visited the railway station here to take stock of the situation.

Even as the Amritsar railway station was proposed to be developed into a world-class facility in the 2009 railway budget, infrastructure here is far from satisfactory.

The team was here in response to the Union Government’s announcement to provide fund to the tune of over Rs 10 crore for the development of the Amritsar railway station. The funding was a joint move of the ministries of Railways and Tourism to provide better amenities in the holy city, which is counted among the most visited destinations in the world.

The Tourism Ministry has provided the Railways with a grant of Rs 10.28 crore for the project. The Railways Ministry would provide the required land.

As per the proposed plan, the railway station would have a retiring room, a VIP lounge, waiting room, waiting hall, parking area, VIP parking lot, circulating area etc. The facilities will be added to the railway station as it witnesses the arrival and departure of as many as over 130 trains daily and records a daily footfall of over 30,000 passengers. The Railways authorities, facing criticism for not providing quality amenities, infrastructure and environment for sometime at the railway station, have proposed a slew of development projects here.

Officals of Mumbai-based private food chain La Festa visited the proposed Food Plaza site.

Once the agency for the setting up of the infrastructure and sprucing up of offices at the railway station was decided, the detailed project report (DPR) would be prepared.

Goel said state-of-the-art facilities would be offered at the railway station and its funding would be done by the Union Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Railways. He said the final call would be taken at the Railway board and as per its decision, the agency would be allotted the work.

Amrtisar, November 13
Three persons have been booked in an attempt to murder case following a firing incident that occurred in the Sultanwind road area a couple of days after Diwali.

However, the case was registered only today after the victim approached senior police officials.

Among those booked include Gagandeep Singh, Lovepreet Singh and an unidentified person. Gursharan Singh, the victim and resident of Sarwarpura street, Sultanwind road, stated to the police that he, along with his friend Harjit Singh, was going to pay obeisance at Gurudwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh while the accused came in a car (PB-02-BQ-9780) and opened fired at them with an intention to murder. He had a narrow escape and the bullets missed their target.

As per preliminary investigations, Gursharan had given Rs 1.60 lakh to Rajinder Singh and Lovepreet’s father was given the surety to return the money. He said he was asking Rajinder to return the same, but he was delaying the matter.

Arun Sharma, SHO, Sultanwind police station, said both groups had a clash on November 5. Gursharan said the accused were drunk and clashed with them. They saved themselves by running from the spot.

However, he added that both groups reached a compromise following the intervention of several known persons and they informed the same to the police.

Later, Gursharan appeared before senior police officials, pointing out that he was not satisfied with the compromise and wanted an appropriate action in the case. Following this, a case has now been registered after taking the statement of the complainant.

Amritsar, November 13
After the district administration failed to meet the target to prepare 19 lakh Aadhaar cards in the second phase ending November 2012, it is now claiming to have enrolled about 70 per cent residents of the district so far.

District Food Supply Controller (DFSC) Tarwinder Singh Chopra said that 18,78,556 enrollments have been made.

Earlier, a private firm which was entrusted to prepare 19 lakh Aadhaar cards in the second phase had fallen short of the target thus prompting the Food and Civil Supplies Department to approach the Central government recommending termination of the contract to the firm.

In the second phase, which started in May last year, only 41,000 cards were prepared. The firm did not provide adequate number of biometric kits comprising fingerprint readers and eye iris capture devices.

Chopra said the firm supplied a plenty of gadgets and material to expedite the work. Men and material were then deployed at various places in the district and they were holding camps, he added.

As per the union government instructions, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies was to oversee the working of the project while the private firm was to prepare the Aadhaar cards.

The holy city became the first district in the state to initiate recording of biometric impression of fingers, thumbs and eyes of people in May 2011. In the first phase, which concluded in September 2012, about 7 lakh Aadhaar cards were prepared. The district has a population of 26 lakh while 19 lakh people were to be covered in the second phase.

Preparation of Aadhaar cards was a top priority of the Union government as it intended to release the cash transfer of subsidies directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries. However, delay in making cards in this border district would further hamper the direct cash transfer process.

In December 2012, the District Food and Civil Supplies Department embarked upon a project of integrating ration cards with unique identification number to help maintain complete transparency.

The project was also aimed for providing a correct data which would further facilitate the state government in extending various facilities to the beneficiaries.

The ambitious Unique Identification Project was initially conceived by the Planning Commission to simplify the identification of all residents.

The National Security Depository Limited (NSDL), Food and Civil Supplies Department, and the State Bank of India were empowered to release Aadhaar numbers to public in the state. The NSDL has outsourced the project to a Delhi-based private firm. At present, the private firm is solely engaged in enrolling people for the project.

Under Aadhaar, each applicant is allotted a 12-digit number which will enable them to benefit from government-sponsored schemes. The residents will have to furnish identity and proof of residence. They then will have to give the biometric impressions of their fingers, thumbs and eyes.

The entire data regarding applicants is sent to Bangalore to avoid repetition and duplication after which the UID numbers are despatched.

Amritsar, November 13
Shivpujan, a migrant labourer from Bihar, did not have any document to produce before the local authorities to avail various facilities provided by the government to the poor and needy for two decades.

This, until the Aadhaar card came to his rescue and now he is eligible to avail cash transfer schemes along with getting ration card.

“My two children were born and brought up here. They speak fluent Punjabi. Not having a ration card here always a problem for our family ever since,” he says.

Another migrant Jiwan was happy that the Aadhaar card would enable him to get kerosene oil, which presently costs him about Rs 45 a litre. His monthly earning is Rs 3,500 and he is left with no money to send back home due to high prices of grocery, vegetables, oil, rent and other expenses.

Within days of the state government announcing an extension for the migrants residing in the city to get permanent resident proofs like ration cards, Aadhaar cards, the administration distributed 3,000 forms for ration cards. About 700 enrollments were made for Aadhaar cards.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ravi Bhagat said a special camp was held in East Mohan Nagar and a day-long camp in its second leg would be organised at Batala Road on November 17.

About the criteria for accepting the application forms to make ration and Aadhaar cards, Bhagat said electricity bill, tenant documents and employers’ certificate and others are being sought as proof. Besides, witnesses from the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) are also being sought.

Officials from the Revenue Department, Food and Civil Supply, Local Government and the district administration took part in the camp. 

Amritsar, November 13
Members of the Amritsar Bar Association staged a protest on Ajnala Road outside the district courts to express their resentment against the Punjab Rent Control Act today.

Pradeep Saini, president, Amritsar Bar Association, said the advocate fraternity feels that the act is against the interests of general public and lawyers.

He said that all bar associations in the state today participated in the protest.

Traffic on the road was blocked for about half an hour due to the protest. However, the police had made arrangements to divert the traffic to other routes to control the situation.

Amritsar, November 13
The Kotwali police today claimed to have arrested Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Noor Mehal in Jalandhar in connection with fraud and snatching a Tempo Traveller from the Golden Temple area about a couple of days back.

The vehicle belonged to Chandigarh-based Vinod Kumar whose driver Vikram Singh had brought some tourists for a visit to Manali and Amritsar. Vikram had parked the vehicle near Bul Malkan Chowk.

The police had booked Mannu Sharma of Dusanjh village in Moga and Ashwani Kumar of Noor Mehal in Jalandhar while a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 382 of IPC was registered at Kotwali police station in this regard.

Vinod told the police that he had bought the Tempo Traveller numbering PB-01-2255 at Rs 7.52 lakh from Mannu Sharma who is a car dealer. However, it was later on found that Mannu was not the real owner. He had sold the vehicle to Vinod by forging documents and showing himself as the owner.

Investigations revealed that Ashwini Kumar was the real owner who had purchased the vehicle after taking loan from a bank. However, he sold it along with the loan to another person who promised to deposit the remaining loan installments to the bank. He further sold it to another person and this person further sold the same vehicle to Mannu Sharma.

But in this process, the bank authorities started bothering Ashwini, the real owner, for paying the installments. Fed up of this, he started following the vehicle and later snatched it from Vikram Singh from near the Golden temple. Vikram alleged that the accused also took away Rs 30,000 cash and other documents along with the vehicle.

Surinder Mohan, SHO Kotwali police station, said while Ashwini was arrested, the police was trying to nab Mannu Sharma who had fraudulently sold the Tempo Travellor to Vinod Kumar. He said Ashwini has been taken into police custody for further interrogation. 

Instructions have been passed to the officials to curb the snatching instances and nail the miscreants involved. A majority of these "elements" are drug addicts and the police department has already launched a drive against the menace Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner

Amritsar, November 13
The incidents of snatching are once again on the rise in the city with such cases being reported on a regular basis.

The snatchers, most of whom are young, have been targeting women wearing gold jewellery. The perpetrators then decamp with their purse containng cash, jewellery and other valuables.

Womenfolk here in the city have been feeling unsafe of late as snatching instances have become a regular feature.

Tourists coming from across the country and abroad also fall victim to them.

The snatchers have become so bold that they continuously follow their targets and try to befool them in order to execute their plans. With such tactics, their main aim is to inculcate a sense of fear in their target.

A local government college teacher faced similar instance when she was returning home on a rickshaw. About four youths followed her on two motorbikes for at least a kilometre to make a snatching attempt. However, she got suspicious of their movement.

“I was so frightened for a while. I asked the rickshaw puller to speed up. I saw a police chowki near Kabir Park and asked him to take her there. On seeing this, they fled away,” she said preferring not to be named.

Parwinder Singh, a resident of Bibeksar Road, became a victim of snatchers when two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths snatched from him Rs 20,000 outside an ATM machine.

Though he noted down the motorcycle number and informed the police about this, the department is yet to nab the culprits.

Unidentified miscreants snatched the purse of Sawita Arora of Bank Avenue in Majitha Road when she was returning home on her two-wheeler earlier this month. She had Rs 35,000 cash besides a mobile phone, other valuables and documents in the purse.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said, “Instructions have been passed to the officials to curb the snatching instances and nail the miscreants involved. A majority of these “elements” are drug addicts and the police department has already launched a drive against the menace,” the Police Commissioner further said.

Recent instances Parwinder Singh of Bibeksar was robbed of Rs 20,000 by unidentified youths by snatchers on November 11 Unidentified men snatched the purse of Sawita Arora of Bank Avenue on November 2 Miscreants snatched the purse of a Jalandhar-based couple on Chamrang Road on October 31 Sunita of Housing Board Colony was robbed off her gold chain by some miscreants near Gate Hakima vegetable market on October 24 Gagandeep Kaur of Jaffarwal in Gurdaspur was robbed off her gold chain by unidentified men on October 21

Amritsar, November 13
Religious programmes to mark the death anniversary of Baba Deep Singh were held in the holy city.

The Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Shahid was decorated beautifully on the occasion and fireworks were performed at night.

After two-day-long akhand path (continuous recitation of Guru Granth Sahib), bhog was performed today.

Jaswant Singh, Former granthi at the Golden Temple, presented katha over the Mukh Vak released by the Harmandar Sahib and narrated the life and sacrifice of Baba Deep Singh for the sangat which had gathered in large numbers.

A nagar kirtan team arrived today after covering the entire distance on foot. Members of the nagar kirtan group had started the journey from Talwandi Sabo on November 9. Bhai Santokh Singh brought a pitcher of water from Amrit Sarovar of the Golden Temple in early morning and mixed it with milk.

Jalandhar, November 13
A war of words is on between the contractual employees of Sarv Shikhya Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhymic Shikhya Abhiyaan (SSA/RMSA) and the teachers deputed as district coordinators as part of these schemes, especially those with the Management Informatics System (MIS).

The contractual employees under the MIS are raising objection over the deputation of teachers as district MIS coordinators.

That the job of contractual employees in the MIS component is to update the computerised data relating to the school education system and it requires technical skills, only computer literate persons should be deputed as district MIS coordinators to plan education policies in a better way, they say.

The teachers deputed as coordinators at the district headquarters say that the contractual employees under SSA/ RMSA were employed for making data entries on computers and assisting the district coordinators to do bulk entries, said some district MIS coordinators.