Amritsar, January 7
The Municipal Corporation has proposed to do away with conventional streetlights in the holy city to replace these with the energy-saving LED lights.

The project will encompass the replacement of about 15,000 streetlight points with Light Emitting Diode (LED) based on energy-efficiency equipment.

Under the pilot project, the areas are Lawrence Road, Civil Lines and Subdivision wards 8, 9, 11, 21, 22, 49, 50, 51, and 52.

The officials said that the “energy savers” installed in the existing tube light transmissions had already outlived their lives and it was not a viable idea to replace them with new ones.

City Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said, “These energy savers were installed around seven years ago and are outdated. Instead of installing new ones, it has been unanimously decided to adopt the latest and much more efficient streetlight system,” he said.

MPS Bedi, executive engineer, Streetlight Department, said, “If we talk about savings, these will be around 680 kilowatts alone for the Civil Lines and the Lawrence Road area as compared to the existing streetlights. This implies that it will be a net saving of Rs 8.47 lakh per month on power bill,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials have been instructed to furnish the tender formalities to hire a firm for the project.

Technically, officials would have to replace the existing sodium-vapour lamps with mercury vapour because each existing bulb is of 250 watts, said Bedi.

The LEDs have been designed according to the specifications given by the Research and Design and Standards Organisation (Ministry of Railways) and after the project becomes operational, all LED faults would be repaired within 48 hours and in case of failure, the company concerned would be liable to face a penalty of Rs 100 per light point per day.

Endorsing it, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said the MC would not have to spend a single penny on this project. “Whatever savings we will have through the LEDs, 90 per cent of these will go to the hired firm’s account, whereas the rest of 10 per cent will come to the MC’s kitty. Above all, the electricity bill, too, will be borne by the firm itself. This contract will be given for 10-12 years. If it succeeds, we will extend it for the whole city. Maintenance will be the liability of the firm,” he said.

Amritsar, January 7
The shortage of staff, regular supply of medicines and corruption free services continue to be the challenges ahead for the Health Department during the current year

Employees of the hospital are miffed with the attitude of the government towards their demands, which range from settling anomalies in pay and promotions to regularisation of contractual employees.

Continuing the scheme of supplying free medicines to all the patients at government hospital would also remain a challenge as patients during the past year continued to complain about the non-availability of many medicines.

There is a shortage of doctors,nurses, technicians in most of the health institutions. “The doctors are overburdened with duties. They attend the OPD, emergency, court cases, VIP duties and so on,” said a doctor.

The corruption in the Health Department offices is not only a problem for the general public but also for the department employees who have to use underhand means to get department related works done.

Another challenge is to ensure basic health services in rural areas. Rural dispensaries are in shambles.In a village near Ajnala, a government health centre is working from a room in a Gurudwara as the government building is in deplorable condition.

Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal said ensuring better services for the general public is her foremost priority.

Amritsar, January 7
The Amritsar airport has become an alternative for the IGI Delhi Airport, as over 13 flights diverted from Delhi to Amritsar due to foggy conditions were accommodated at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in the past 24 hours.

The reason is that geographically the Amritsar airport is the closest international airport to Delhi, strategically situated close to the Middle East and Central Asian countries and has a state-of-the-art infrastructure.

The Union Government carried out development at the airport in the latter half of the last decade with an investment of about Rs 150 crore.

At present there are two aerobridges in operation and the remaining two were likely to be operationalised after they were fitted with equipment.

These aerobridges will save passengers from the ordeal of travelling in coaches to board their planes.

There will be separate aerobridges for every flight. Besides, it will stop mingling of passengers of different flights and beef up security.

Its terminal building, spread over 40,000 square metres with peak-hour passenger handling capacity currently being 1,200 people, including 600 passengers for arrival and an equal number for departure.

Amritsar airport Director Suneel Dutt said the airport accommodated over 1,800 additional passengers from Delhi.

The airport boasts of a total of 14 parking bases, which can accommodate as many airplanes. It has to its credit the longest runway in northern India as it boasts of a 12,000-feet runway, which can accommodate the biggest aircraft available with Indian aircraft operators.

Amritsar, January 7
Expressing their deep concern over large-scale corruption in politics and the rising drug abuse in Punjab, the Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) says that the phenomenon has left a demoralising effect on the youth's lives.

The resolution adopted during a meeting held here today observes that as Jat Sikhs enjoy a higher status in the social hierarchy, the economic criteria should be made the basis for reservation for them and not caste. The organisation also favoured reservation to economically weaker sections of society irrespective of caste.

Earlier, members of the working committee nominated Noblejeet Singh to head the body for one year and made certain appointments to streamline the working of the body. The delegates from various districts of the state attended the meeting and dwelt on the need to channelising the youth's energy in the right direction and for right purposes.

Stressing that the communitiy's future lay in the hands of young Sikhs, the newly elected head Noblejeet said that their thrust would be on grooming new faces and bringing talented youth to the fore through this platform.

Touching a raw nerve, an engineer by profession, Sudeep Singh, said their outfit would educate youngsters about the pitfalls of nepotism and corruption, adding that systematic awareness would be spread so that they did not fall a victim to it.

The speakers, mostly youth, castigated politicians for “victimising them for their vested interests.”

“People who resort to looting are entering politics to amass wealth. They are exploiting youngsters, thus we have to free society from politics of corruption and loot,” said outgoing president Ranbir Singh.

Gurvir Singh, a college student, said, “Dynastic political families in Punjab and other states are an obstacle to prosperity and development of youngsters.”

“Though a majority of the youth do not want to enter politics, they have to come forward to rid society of exploiters,” Manjit Singh added.

Parbhjot Singh said by drawing inspiration from the teachings of the Sikh Gurus and incorporating the basic Sikh tenets, they would take an uncompromising stand on substantive issues that concern the Sikhs.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh, who was the guest speaker, assured the youth of full backing and logistic support in their pursuit to achieve success in their objectives. “Our mission is to assist the youth in becoming better leaders of the future so that they could help the community and society in an effective manner," he said. 

Amritsar, January 7
Residents of Green Avenue seem to be joining hands to make their surroundings green, like the name of the avenue goes. By participating in a simple yet effective example for others to follow, they joined in along with EcoAmritsar to re-designate their local park as an Eco-friendly Park this weekend.

The renaming ceremony, which was done by the president of the Resident's Association, Amanjit Singh Sandhu, in the presence of the residents of the area. The park was turned into areas with important ecological motives. "A portion has been specially designated as a bird-feed area, where arrangements for water and 'daana' to feed the birds have been created in receptacles specifically for the purpose. Specific varieties of plants have been planted suitable to all climates," he said.

To ensure bird and butterfly visits, the park residents have pledged not to use any pesticides and fertilisers, but only organic inputs in addition to the vermi-compost self-generated by the green foliage dumped in pits. Also dustbins have been put up for responsible citizens to use.

Appreciating the efforts of the area residents and lauding their ecological sensibilities, Gunbir Singh, Chairman, EcoAmritsar, assured that such efforts would help in changing the eco-system of the area as well as the city, which is facing major environment degradation. "Every neighbourhood should be encouraged to not dump waste by the park side and instead take the responsibility to maintain greenery," he said.

Individual efforts have earlier, too, been successful examples of taking responsibility of greenery in the city. The recently developed rose garden also was opened with the prospect of increasing foliage and greenery in the city. City-based Yogesh Aneja, a nature lover and a green warrior, had taken the responsibility of maintaining and grooming the rose garden under the beautification project initiated by the administration. "The city has lots of open spaces, but minus greenery. We have to make sure that our garden spaces are colourful, healthy and green with rare varieties of plants involving individual and citizen support," says Yogesh. "Such efforts are needed to create a bond between people and plants, make the children learn that nature is not to be messed with but enjoyed with all its beauty. And in doing so, I want to turn Amritsar into a clean, green and beautiful place," he adds. 

Amritsar, January 7
Despite repeated instructions issued by the state government to get the travel agents registered with the district administration under the Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, only a few have applied for the same even after the period has elapsed.

The Punjab Home Department had asked the travel agents to get themselves registered under the Prevention of Human Smuggling Act by October 21. The date was later extended by November 30 and then by December 31.

As per the district administrative officials, till now only 19 travel agents have filed their applications for the same. But no one has got any license so far as the verification of some of these applications were found incomplete and verification process was under progress in remaining applications.

There are a number of instances in the past where the people in the state, especially youth, were defrauded by fake travel agents. They charge heafty amount and use fraudulent means to send them abroad. Later in foreign jails they face uncertain future. Some of them had even lost their lives.

The government had also passed instructions to the Deputy Commissioners to initiate action against offenders who failed to register. It asked the administrations to book the offenders under non-bailable offence with an imprisonment up to five years.

However, the move was later opposed by the travel agents and challenged in the court in view of charging of non-refundable huge amounts for issuing license and completing the formalities for registration. 

fact file Ravi Bhagat, Deputy Commissioner, said the travel agencies had met Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia seeking more time for completing the formalities required for registration. Besides, he added, a court case was pending over the punitive clauses in the Act and charges being levied for registration, the hearing for which is slated for January 13. He said there were around 50 such travel agents in the district and a survey would be conducted to find out the exact number of travel agencies after all the matters regarding this were sorted out.

Amritsar, January 7
The role of a warder deputed at the Amritsar Central jail has come under scanner, when the wife of an inmate alleged that he had been harassing her constantly over phone.

The accused has been identified as Paramjit Singh, a resident of Jawahar Nagar, Mehta road. In a complaint to the police, the victim Palwinder Kaur said her husband, Baldev Singh, had been lodged in the jail for the past two years. She alleged that the accused had been continuously harassing her on mobile phone.

A case under Section 354-D of the IPC and 66-A of the IT Act has been registered.

Amritsar, January 7
The Health Department has started identification process for the beneficiaries of Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna with Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi inaugurating the process of issuance of cards in his constituency.

Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Prabhdeep Kaur said all the families availing the Atta-Dal Scheme would be issued cards. She said the smart cards issued to the beneficiaries would be valid for one year.

The scheme is aimed at providing free medical services to all the family members of the card holders. Under the scheme any new- born child in the family would automatically become the beneficiary of the scheme.

The beneficiaries would have to pay a one-time premium of Rs 30 per family and medical expenses of Rs 30,000 would be covered. She said a total of 1,04,611 families would be brought under the ambit of the scheme.

ADC Pradeep Sabarwal and Councillor Aman Aerry were also present on the occasion.

Amritsar, January 7
Canadian Minister Tim Uppal along with his family visited the main branch of the Pingalwara Charitable Society here today. He said it was his second visit and that he was impressed with the services being provided by the society to vulnerable persons.

Uppal had earlier visited the place in November 2012. He donated tabloids to students besides making a monetary donation.

President of the society Dr Inderjit Kaur said Uppal was apprised of the achievements and services being provided by the society. Other members of the society Muktar Singh, Dr Jagdeepak Singh and Dr Rajbir Singh were also present on the occasion. 

Amritsar, January 7
The 'Parkash Utsav' of Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated with devotion and fervour at Khalsa College by Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) here today.

Amritsar, January 7
The shortage of staff, regular supply of medicines and corruption free services continue to be the challenges ahead for the Health Department during the current year.

Employees of the hospital are miffed with the attitude of the government towards their demands, which range from settling anomalies in pay and promotions to regularisation of contractual employees.

Continuing the scheme of supplying free medicines to all the patients at government hospital would also remain a challenge as patients during the past year continued to complain about the non-availability of many medicines.

There is a shortage of doctors,nurses, technicians in most of the health institutions. “The doctors are overburdened with duties. They attend the OPD, emergency, court cases, VIP duties and so on,” said a doctor.

The corruption in the Health Department offices is not only a problem for the general public but also for the department employees who have to use underhand means to get department related works done.

Another challenge is to ensure basic health services in rural areas. Rural dispensaries are in shambles.In a village near Ajnala, a government health centre is working from a room in a Gurudwara as the government building is in deplorable condition.

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