Amritsar, March 8
The Punjab Cabinet has approved a rehabilitation plan for 19 shopkeepers out of over 100 structures demolished on July 13, 2013, from Ghee Mandi Chowk to the Jallianwala Bagh area to widen the approaching road to the Golden Temple.

These 19 shopkeepers had lost their shops in the road-widening operation, said Improvement Trust Chairman Sandeep Rishi. He said though formal instructions were yet to come, it was learnt that their rehabilitation plan had been endorsed by the state Cabinet.

According to the rehabilitation plan, these shopkeepers will be provided shops at the reserved price in the shopping complex under the Ghee Mandi scheme. These shops will be available at Rs 38,000 per square feet and shops are available between 22 square yards to 27 square yards. It means that the shops will be available between Rs 8.50 lakh to Rs 10.26 lakh.

Rishi said in the normal course, the Improvement Trust auctioned its commercial properties and the auction would commence from Rs 38,000. However, these shopkeepers would have a golden chance to own commercial property in the Trust's scheme.

According to the procedure, these shopkeepers will need to apply to the Deputy Commissioner who will forward their cases to the Improvement Trust which will scrutinise these and then allow them to participate in the lottery to allot shops.

Earlier, these shopkeepers were offered alternative sites at Jahajgarh and New Amritsar, but they had rejected it saying that it was not financially viable for them.

Market association chief Manmohan Kundra said, "We were first of all uprooted from the heart of Amritsar and we cannot comment on the rehabilitation plan as long as we do not see the actual site. Apparently, we cannot rely on their assurances as we have seen that the shopkeepers who were displaced in 1984 are still seeking rehabilitation."

He said over 1,000 traders were affected, including 19 who lost their entire shops, their source of earning, while 16 were left with only eight-feet deep shops.

Earlier, the affected traders were offered sites at the Improvement Trust's four schemes, including Jahajgarh, Ranjit Avenue, Mall Mandi and New Amritsar. However, the offer was declined by traders as too far and too costly.

In 1998, the administration had conceptualised the Jallianwala Bagh road-widening scheme. The 1.5 km-road stretch was to be widened to 40 feet to ease traffic congestion on the way to the Golden Temple. Sometime ago, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also questioned the delay in the project even as compensation to the tune of Rs 8.98 crore had already been awarded to affected property owners on the stretch.

Though the road-widening scheme was about 15 years old, demolition was put on the backburner after resistance by the occupants backed by ruling political parties. 

Amritsar, March 8
The state government has finally decided to proceed against illegal hotels and lodges around the Golden Temple with the constitution of a three-member special investigating team (SIT). The SIT has been formed on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

There are two local officials in the SIT-- Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat and Chief Administrator, Amritsar Development Authority, Sandeep Rishi. The SIT would be headed by Rahul Tiwari, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana. The SIT is supposed to submit its action taken report by May 16. Members of the SIT said it was too early to comment on how they would proceed in the matter. They added that the scope of their work would be clear only after they receive the terms of reference.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued directions to constitute a three-member panel to probe illegal hotels/guest houses/inns around the Golden Temple a couple of weeks back.

It may be mentioned here that Senior Town Planner (STP) Hemant Batra had already issued orders to the proprietors of these units to comply with the norms and demolish the illegal part of their structures within six months. There are 131 illegal hotels/guest houses/inns located close to the Galliara project area around the holy Sikh shrine. The STP's orders, produced and duly approved by the HC Bench, were taken following special personal hearing sessions conducted by the MC with the hoteliers, under the banner of the Federation of Hotel and Guest Houses on December 16, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30 and January 3.

After hearing them and scrutinising various records, it was found that many of these commercial units seldom comply with the Municipal Building Bylaws, 1997, and Revised Building By-laws, 2010.

Keeping this in view, the STP had released the orders on January 23 to make amendments in the existing buildings to conform to the latest bylaws within six months from the date of orders failing which action would be initiated against them in accordance with law.

A separate list of violations and discrepancies which were in existence has been prepared by the MC and the same were displayed on the notice board of the Municipal Town Planner.

"The latest building norms would have to be complied with and the violators have been given six months to remove the objectionable portions of their buildings. This arrangement has also been approved by the HC. These orders were issued after conducting a personal hearing session with the violators by the MTP Department," he said.

Meanwhile, the proprietors of illegal hotels/inns/guest houses maintain that a majority of these buildings fall under the non-scheme area that allowed mixed use of land.

Further, they submitted that the prevalent municipal building by-laws, 1997, and 2010 were implemented to control the growing urbanisation of the city. It could not be applied to the existing buildings within the walled city. These by-laws were more appropriate for a modern style of construction which was in total contrast to the historical and ancient style of construction. Therefore, it could be suitable to the building by-laws prevalent before 1997.

Amritsar, March 8
The residents of Maqboolpura, one of the highly drug-affected areas in the city, which is termed as a colony of widows, has demanded from the state government to provide a permanent place for running a drug de-addiction centre here.

The district administration had earlier on January 31, 2013, started a drug de-addiction centre in the area and a private hospital, Guru Nanak Mission Hospital had provided space for running the centre.

A noted philanthropist from the area and the caretaker of the Citizen Forum Vidyamandir School, run for the children of drug-affected families, Master Ajit Singh, said, “The starting of the centre was a good initiative and it provided excellent service to the area until recently when Guru Nanak Mission Hospital is working to establish a private de-addiction centre of its own.”

He said the official centre started by the district administration along with the Swami Vivekananda De-addiction Centre has no place now. “The working at the centre has also been affected, as a psychologist who used to come here is on a long leave and student volunteers of Government Medical College, too, are busy with their exams,” said Ajit Singh.

The Swami Vivekananda De-addiction Centre had organised its recent meeting at a gurdwara in the area, but a fight among the drug addicts reportedly erupted there, which is worrying the doctors.

Ajit Singh said, “Now the centre has informed us about sending a mobile team on three days in a week. At present around 42 drug addicts were availing de-addiction services at centre. It will be better if the government provides a permanent place.”

Social service volunteers from the area, Judge Singh, Balram Singh and Gursevak Singh, said deaths due to drug addiction were frequently reported in the area. A person named Pamma had died two weeks ago, then another drug addict committed suicide by jumping in front of a train near the Verka byspass, said Judge Singh, adding that intensive de-addiction facilities could help solve most of the problems of the area residents. 

Amritsar, March 8
In order to commemorate the contribution of women to society, DAV International School, Amritsar, today celebrated International Women’s Day.

An informative and educative programme was planned in which the students of Grade V along with the faculty members paid a visit to the two inspiring women of the society, Abha R Singh, Additional Commissioner Income Tax Range (5) and Dr Tarajit Kaur, Commissioner IRS.

The visit proved a learning experience for students. Interacting with the students, Abha R Singh said that it was her parents, who despite her being a girl child, inspired her for higher education and motivated her to join civil services. She said students should be keen observant and aware about their surroundings. Dr Taranjit Kaur, in her meeting with the students, conveyed a message to society that parents should be unbiased towards their children and should motivate the male child to help in household chores.

She stressed on the implementation of moral education in right way so that girls may know what they should do in different life situations. On this occasion, Principal Anjana Gupta extended her warm wishes to the faculty members and students.

In her address, she said that the International Women’s Day is a tribute to the economic, social, cultural and political achievements made by women.

"Therefore, we should stand in solidarity with women in every corner of the world who are working for positive in their families, their communities and in their countries," she added.

Amritsar, March 8
Yet another road mishap occurred reportedly due to utter neglect of the school bus driver, snuffing out the life of a 10-year-old schoolgirl when she was returning home.

Arshnoor Kaur, Class IV student of a private school located on the Amritsar-Attari bypass road, was alighting from the vehicle when the mishap took place. Police officials said as soon as the girl, who resides in Partap Avenue, situated on main GT Road, stepped down from the bus, the driver of the school bus started the bus due to which the girl fell down and was run over by the vehicle.

The driver, identified as Baldev Singh of Akalgarh, fled leaving behind the bus. The Division B police station registered a case under Section 304-A (causing death by a rash or a negligent act) has been registered following Manjinder Singh's statement who is the father of the victim.

Police investigations revealed that the accident occurred as there was no helper or conductor in the bus who could have signalled the driver to stop or run. The absence of a helper in the school bus is criminal neglect and violation of guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for running school buses.

"The absence of the helper from the school bus is the primary reason behind the accident. We have mentioned in the FIR about the lapse on the part of the school management and I will also write to senior police officials in this connection," said Madan Singh, investigating officer and in charge of Pul Taranwala police chowki.

The incident has once again brought forth the casual approach of the authorities towards the safety of children. Even as the apex court has issued guidelines for plying school vehicles, these are hardly followed with the police administration, district authorities and the district transport office looking the other way. If they outlined some steps or gave some directions in this regard, it was barely followed in letter and in spirit.

The school managements are also equally to be blamed for the mess. It is mandatory for the school bus operators to comply with the Supreme Court guidelines.

Amritsar, March 8
Even as the government has enacted a number of laws for the protection of women, there is still need to create a woman-friendly environment at various work places, in government as well as private sector.

While stating this, various woman activists belonging to the All India Working Women Forum and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) said, women were being exploited at work places, especially, in private sector.

They had gathered at Ekta Bhawan to mark the World Women's Day.

Daswinder Kaur of Working Woman Forum while speaking on the occasion said," The government and private sector in India lacks in favourable atmosphere in which women could work safely." She said different laws enacted by the government were still to be implemented in letter and in spirit.

Amarjit Singh Asal, district secretary,CPI, pointed out that the labour laws lay down equal work, equal pay for men and women which were yet to be implemented in right way. He said women labourers are the most exploited community in private sector. He said the labourers should be aware of their rights and they should gather under a flag and platform. 

Amritsar, March 8
At least eight villages in the district have managed to turn the balance of sex ratio in favour of the girl children. The panchayats of these villages were honoured with a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and a certificate by the Health Department.

The state government had started a policy to honour all such panchayats where the number of female children born was more than the number of male children. The panchayats of Supariwind and Birbalpura villages in Majitha block, Bua Nangli, Riaru and Gurala in Ramdas block, Shahpur in Baba Bakala block, Lopoke and Veroke were selected for this honour, said Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal.

She said only those villages which had shown improvement in the sex ratio and where the number of female children born is more than the number of male children is selected for the award.

Dr Bansal said the Health Department was keeping a close eye on the ultra sound centres to check the sex determination tests and female foeticide. She said as a result of the efforts of the department, the sex ratio is fast improving in the district.

Dr Bansal said in the last year, four of the villages from the district were selected for the prize and a cash award of Rs 1.5 lakh was given to panchayats of these villages.

The villages honoured previous year were Harian and Ram Diwali Hindua in Majitha block, Chaarpur in Ramdass block and Othian in Verka block. Dr Bansal said the department had made the registration of pregnant women compulsory within 12 weeks of the pregnancy which would further help it in checking the female foeticide cases. 

Amritsar, March 8
The city police have arrested Jasmeet Kaur, a woman driver, who was involved in a fatal road accident on elevated road, which claimed the lives of two motorcycle-borne persons. However, she was later on released on bail.

She was booked under Section 304-A (causing death by rash or negligent act) and 279, IPC, following the incident occurred yesterday. Preliminary investigations by the police had revealed that her car hit another car after hitting the motorcycle.

Those killed were identified as Gurmeet Singh and Ladipal Singh, both residents of Majhpur village near Jandiala Guru. — TNS

Amritsar, March 8
The city police have nabbed five persons in separate instances for allegedly possessing narcotics and illegal liquor in the past 24-hours.

Among those who were arrested were Raj Karan Singh of Fatehgarh Churian, Deepak of Jawahar Nagar and Channa of Patti Verka village. The police officials seized 40gm heroin, 350gm and 50 gm Charas from them respectively. All the accused have been booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic substances (NDPS) act and the further investigations were on.

Meanwhile, the city police have arrested Tinku of Jhugianwala Chowk, Mohkampura and Gurmej Singh of Ghanupur Kale area and seized nine bottles and 30,000 ml of illicit liquor from their possession respectively. — TNS

Amritsar, March 8
The Sarbat Da Bhala Trust distributed cheques of Rs 1,000 as monthly pension to the widows of Maqboolpura. Earlier, noted philanthropist and Dubai based industrialist, SP Singh Oberoi had announced to provide monthly pension to the widows during his previous visit to the area.

A social activist and care taker of Citizen Forum Vidyamandir School being run for the children of drug-affected families, Master Ajit Singh said, “The trust has identified and decided to give pension to 30 widows in the first phase.” He said SP Singh Oberoi had announced to send the money regularly for monthly widow pension. The local members of the trust, Sukhjinder Singh Heir and Sukdeep Singh Sidhu, were also present on the occasion.

Amritsar, March 8
The department of Human Genetics of the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) today organised two special lectures on different aspects of genetics. Prof Saurabh Ghosh, Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata and Dr Simanti Datta of Institute of PG Medical Education and Research, Kolkata delivered these lectures.

Dr Saurabh Ghosh delivered his lecture on Analytical Challenges in Genome Wide Association Studies. Dr Ghosh explained the terms linkage and association during research. He said that association is based on the extent of linkage disequilibrium. He explained the difference between candidate gene approaches and Genome-wide association study (GWAs). He also detailed about the main two statistical tests used for interpreting the data. He explained the relative risk and genetic power calculation. He said the GWAs findings are statistical outputs to be used as genetic inputs and only provide signals to start the biology. So the GWAs only provide statistical clue to localise a gene. But biology of the disease cannot be understood functional studies.

Dr Simanti Datta delivered her lecture on tracing the dynamics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and host immune response in E-negative chronic infection. She said that HBV infection is a global public health problem. She said over 2 billion people were infected worldwide, 360 million had chronic infection and 5,000-7,000 die each year form HBV. She highlighted that India forms the second largest pool of HBV chronic infection. The main cells infected by HBV are liver cells. She said HBV is a partially double standard circular DNA genome.

While sharing her experimental results, she said in their lab they found a very distinct pattern of mutation in HBV which will help in predicting clinical outcomes of various other infections. She said it will also be possible to identity high risk individuals well before clinical diagnosis of advance liver disease. She said that NK cells frequency increases with the spread of disease.

Dr AJS Bhanwer, Coordinator of the lectures welcomed the guest speakers. Dr Vanita Kumar, Head of the Department, presented vote of thanks.

Amritsar, March 8
Even as the death of two persons on the elevated road in a mishap yesterday had cleared that the driving on it is not safe, the drivers continue to drive their vehicles on the wrong side of bridge thus throwing all traffic laws to the winds.

In a visit to the elevated road today, it was found that people’s love for wrong-side driving on the bridge still goes on. The elevated road is the stretch where people usually drive at a high speed presuming that the road is allowed for one-way driving.

However, a few drivers continue to drive on the wrong side to save some distance, which results in accidents.

It seems that instead of their personnel safety they try to sneak on the wrong side when traffic policemen are not there. “The personal safety and safety of others on roads is the foremost duty of every driver. Why it has to be a policeman always to tell us what is right or wrong,” said Hirdeypal Singh, a retired college teacher.

The wrong-side driving on the elevated road seems more prominent among two-wheeler drivers than the four-wheeler drivers. Even potholes on the stretch on the elevated road are also a cause of concern for drivers.

“Usually when people are driving at a high speed of 100 or 120 kilometres per hour on this stretch, there are chances that they might lose balance if they hit the pothole or try to apply sudden breaks,” said another driver Kirti Sharma. She said that at least the administration must get these potholes repaired.

Amritsar, March 8
The Railway police today arrested two persons and confiscated huge quantity of habit forming drugs from them during checking on platform number 1 of Amritsar railway station.

They have been identified as Pargat Singh of Tarn Taran and Dalbir Singh of Gharinda.

"The seizure once again brought to the fore the smuggling of banned drugs from outside Punjab. The two accused procured the drugs from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," said Dharminder Kalyan, SHO GRP police station.

The police recovered around 1,100 capsules, 1,800 tablets and 140 injections from Pargat Singh while Dalbir was arrested with 432 capsules and 2,280 tablets. He said the police had registered separate cases under the NDPS Act against them.

This shows that the habit forming drugs are flowing not only from other parts of Punjab, but from other neighbouring states also. The trains have become an easy route for the drug peddlers to smuggle the consignments without any proper check.

Meanwhile, the GRP today claimed to have busted a gang of robbers who used to loot migrant labourers coming to Amritsar from Delhi.

Among those arrested include Jagsir Singh of Sangrur, Vijay Kumar, Daleep Kumar and Sunil all residents of Uttar Pradesh.

Kalyan said the accused were arrested from beneath the Rigo Bridge while planning to loot rail passengers. He said though the police did not have any complaint in this regard but they were involved in the committing robberies.

They will be produced in the court tomorrow. 

Amritsar, March 8
The city witnessed yet another instance of snatching in the past 24 hours. This time the incident reportedly occurred just a few metres away from a police naka on Sant Singh Sukha Singh (SSSS) chowk.

According to information, Sandeep Kaur, a resident of Makhanwindi, said that she was returning home after finishing some work in the city. She said she hired a rickshaw and as soon as she reached near the SSSS chowk, two motorcycle -borne youths came from behind, snatched her purse and fled. She alleged that though she had raised the alarm, policemen cared little to pursue the accused who sped away within no time.

However, Sukhjinder Singh, SHO, Majitha road police station, said the victim had not approached him till now. If he received a complaint, he would take appropriate action. Repeated instances of snatching have become a cause for concern among city residents while the Police Department has been claiming to have initiated a number of steps to curb the menace. 

Pollution is a health hazard that affects us. But the common man does not understand its side-effects.

Keeping this in view, two LPG-based crematorium were installed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh at Amritsar. It took almost five years to convince the public and the administration to install these machines. But sadly, their functioning is discouraged. The cremation rates are not settled, the caretaker is on leave, the keys are missing and even gas is not available some times. Even the sentiments of the people are exploited.

Many factors are pushing this state-of-the-art machine toward failure. The district administration too seems to be lacking interest. The municipal commissioner has undertaken to appoint separate employees to run these machines at a salary of Rs 4,000 per month.

Lately, Mr Thomas from Kerala offered to train three operators and bear the cost for it. Old employees at the cremation grounds are also an obstacle in its working. Since the system is based on commission, as it involves the purchase of various items, any new system will impinge on their earnings.

A little effort by society will save thousands of trees and millions from pollution. In a state like Kerala, cremation is done on gas or electricity-based machines. Burning wood is discouraged. We should follow suit.

—Dr Ranbir Singh Pannu, Amritsar