Amritsar, March 27
With the current financial year drawing closer on March 31, the Municipal Commissioner has not yet spared a thought to hold the House's annual budget meeting for 2014-2015. It is mandatory on the part of the MC to issue a notice for budget meeting 72 hours prior to the it, but no such exercise has been done till date.

This implies that the budget session is unlikely to be held within the stipulated time.

With the model code of conduct imposed ahead of general election, it may hamper the ongoing development projects as well as regular expenditure. Therefore, the MC budget meeting was the only hope left to set the ball rolling.

Even as the officials showed concern but were helpless due to code of conduct constraints, they stated that the civic bodies of Punjab, too, could not conduct their budget meetings for want of Election Commission’s nod.

With the depleting financial health, the MC authorities would be facing tough times to cope with its regular expenditure, including the salaries of its staff which rolls to somewhere near Rs 11 crore.

Last time (2013-2014), the annual budget for Rs 300.45 crore was held on March 20, 2013, wherein revenue-generation draft was deliberated at length. This time multi-crore civic works were under progress, but no policy was disclosed to generate funds.

Now, that the model code of conduct had been enforced, the MC could only convene the proposed budget discussion to pave the way for those projects which were under progress or had obtained approval in principle.

However, the discussions on the new development projects will amount to violation of the code.

MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said the annual exercise of presenting the budget could not be conducted as approval from the electoral authorities was awaited.

“We have already sent the request letter for holding the budget meeting to the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, through the Deputy Commissioner, who is also the District Electoral Officer, three days ago. Now, we are planning to send another request letter that the electoral authorities may allow us to hold the budget meeting in April. Rest assured, we will be making arrangements to meet our expenses like salaries, fuel bills and other miscellaneous ones through our resources,” he said.

NS Gabarhia, a resident, opined that the City Mayor, Bakshi Ram Arora, himself was busy with political activities which gained momentum for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and would seldom find time to perform his ‘duties’ towards the public.

“As the saying goes, “One who can, does. One who cannot, makes excuses.” Public interest seems to have taken a back seat. Why only Arora, the whole battery of officials has been pressed into service of facilitating the ruling party leaders in political activities for their Lok Sabha candidate, Arun Jaitley. Had they been serious, they could have held the budget meeting well in advance,” he said.

Amritsar, March 27
In a case of breach of trust, the operating firm of the City Bus service has abolished the least fare slab of Rs 2 for the first five km, without taking the civic authorities into loop.

This has defeated the basic purpose of the launching of the bus service, which was meant to be cost-effective and safe. This service was introduced to give relief to the commuters from auto-rickshaws, which used to charge a minimum of Rs 10 per head.

The commuters have been suffering the dent for the past one week and the matter was brought to the notice of Bakshi Ram Arora, who is also the director of the Amritsar City Transport Service Ltd, through these columns on March 11.

When MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda was intimated about the development, he said, "This is unfair. Even as the firm was engaged to run the buses, but we are there to govern them. The firm cannot alter the bus fare on its own. The ticket rates cannot be disturbed till the agreed period and the firm was on the wrong side of the law to enhance it on its own. I am going to issue a notice to the firm. The least ticket within 5 km travel is Rs 2 only," he said.

Ironically, Bakshi Ram Arora's reaction was identical when he was approached earlier. "The least ticket for non-AC travel will be Rs 2 only. It is surprising if the bus-operating firm had done away with it without any reason or intimating us. Now that it has come to my knowledge, it will be rectified immediately," he had stated then, but did nothing.

According to the contract, the Karnataka-based firm, which has been engaged for providing the bus service at the rates fixed were: for non-AC buses, the least fare is Rs 2 (up to 5 km), Rs 5 (5-10 km) and Rs 10 (more than 10 km). The fare for AC buses is Rs 5 (up to 5 km), Rs 10 (5-10 km) and Rs 15 (more than 10 km) .

BR Pareenja, general secretary of the Consumer Rights Protection Society, Amritsar, said, "All were oral assurances by authorities, whereas all are busy with election arrangement. Still, the bus operators are charging Rs 5 as the least fare," he said.

Another resident, Jagdish Singh, said the buses had been procured under the Government of India's JNNURM scheme and had been let off to the firm at a nominal rent. "We feel cheated and the authorities have turned a blind eye to this loot. It's not a matter of a difference of Rs 3, but of principles. The firm, that might have quoted the least operating rate during the tendering process, is now fleecing commuters by defying the conditions stipulated under the agreement," he viewed.

With the addition of 20 more buses, a fleet of 60 buses is being run on different routes, including AC, non-AC, mini and midi-buses. These buses are being operated on the NCC (net cost contract) mode by hiring a Karnataka-based company.

It will be the liability of the company to operate and maintain the buses. In lieu, the company will also pay the MC an amount of Rs 1,250 every month for each bus.

Amritsar, March 27
It is embarrassing to see that government health institutions are least bothered about providing basic facilities like clean toilets and safe drinking water on their premises. Washrooms at most of the government hospitals and dispensaries are in a shabby condition and require immediate attention.

Sanitary fittings at most of the washrooms in government hospitals are either broken or too dirty to use. Water taps run loose leading to wastage of treated water. Temporary arrangements like insertion of wooden blocks or wrapping of plastic sheets are done to stop the outflow of water on pipes where taps have gone missing or are broken.

The provision of clean drinking water is again at the bottom of the priority list. The water coolers at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital are lying defunct. An official, on condition of anonymity, said, “The water coolers need immediate repairs before they are used again in summers.”

In absence of water coolers, which are attached with RO systems, people can be seen drinking water from taps in washrooms or in corridors that have a supply from the main tank.

The sanitary conditions of washrooms and water supply at the Civil Hospital, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and Employees State Insurance Hospital is deplorable. The conditions at five satellite hospitals, dispensaries and other health centres, catering to people in different localities, is more worrisome.

Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal said she would issue instructions to all the heads of institutes to ensure proper cleanliness and hygiene at washrooms. She said the general public must also be conscious about maintaining cleanliness at public places.

Amritsar, March 27
The clash of the titans has already begun as heavyweight politicians - Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh - are contesting from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Their war of words revolves around “who belongs to Amritsar and who is an outsider”, without taking into account the opinions of the city residents.

During the last 16 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won the seat for a record nine times, followed by the BJP - four times, Jan Sangh, Janata Party and independent candidate - only once.

Daniel B Das

Naresh Johar

Harpinder Singh Walia

Sardar Gurmukh Singh Musafir of the Congress was elected thrice from 1952 to 1967. The grand old party lost the seat to Bharatiya Jana Sangh’s Yagya Dutt Sharma in 1967. Congress’ Durgadas Bhatia fought back in 1971 and introduced the Bhatias, who represented the Amritsar seat six times.

In 1977, Baldev Prakash of the Janata Party won it riding on the pan-India anti-Congress wave following the emergency period. A relative of Durgadas Bhatia, Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, who was elected for a record five times, won the seat for the Congress in 1980 and he was re-elected in 1984. Repeating the same in 1991, 1996 and 1999, he finally lost in 2004 to BJP’s Navjot Singh Sidhu.

It was only once that an independent candidate, Kirpal Singh, was elected in 1989.

Fielding an outsider for the Amritsar seat started with former cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. At present, both the Congree and the BJP have pressed in their stalwarts.

It is learnt that local aspirants of both the parties are sulking as the trend of fielding candidates by parachute washed away their chances of fighting elections. A party worker said, “Localites can never match the clout, mass appeal and charisma of the candidates sent from outside as they are no less than celebrities in their fields.”

Amritsar Tribune talked to a cross-section of people for their views.

Though Capt Amarinder Singh is an outsider, he was the chief minister of the state and knows the border district thoroughly. He is familiar with its social fabric and other aspects. During his tenure, there were rumours that it was difficult for the masses to meet him, but these wrinkles in his nature must have been ironed out with time. It seems that he has united different factions of the Congress in Amritsar. On the contrary, Jaitley came here looking for a convenient seat.

Daniel B Das, director, Social Economic Development Programme

Being a resident of some other city doesn’t matter at all in national politics. There must not be any restriction in this regard. Being a parliamentarian means that the person will represent the constituency. It is needed that he must have ideas and strong will to take all sections of society together for the development of the country. A minister has to work not only for the welfare of his constituency, but for the whole country.

Naresh Johar, senior citizen

In a way both of them — Arun Jaitley and Capt Amarinder Singh — were outsiders. Both leaders have their advantages.

In case the NDA comes to power and the Amritsar seat is also won by their candidate Jaitley, then it can prove to be a booster for the development of the holy city. On the other hand, Capt Amarinder has a charismatic grip among the masses of Punjab in general and Amritsar in particular.

However, local leaders, who have been toiling hard for decades, are disappointed at being denied the ticket.

Harpinder Singh Walia, real estate agent

Amritsar, March 27
Considered a young maestro of the the Kirana gharana and one of the celebrated talents of Indian classical music internationally, Pandit Kaivalya Kumar performed at the local Indian Academy of Fine Arts for a packed audience.

Accompanied by the fluid and powerful renditions of the 'khyaal' style of singing, Pandit Kaivalya Kumar made the audience savour each musical moment of the evening. A third-generation musician, Kumar studied engineering before taking up his family tradition. "My grandfather, Pt Ganapatrao Gaurav, was a first-batch disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the founder of Kirana gharana. And my father and guru, Pt Sangameshwar, trained by Pt Ganpatrao, was well known for singing in the true Kirana tradition. So, my association with music is in my genes," the artiste said.

Hailing from Dharwad, Karnataka, and having won several awards and recognitions for his performances at home and internationally, Kumar has many titles like Surmani and honours like Sarva Shrestha Kalakar to his credit. He has performed at prestigious music festivals in India and abroad. He specialises in unusual compositions (bandish) and abhang, bhajan, Kannada Vachana, Marathi Natya Sangeet and Dasara Pada with equal finesse, winning critical acclaim from listeners and critics.

He credits his father, his guru, for his talent as a vocalist. "He groomed me with the fine nuances of the style of singing we were known for. With natural rhythm and voice, you also have to have the imagination to go beyond the traditional content and an aesthetic approach towards your music, which I learnt from him."

The artiste was happy to be performing in Amritsar, as he considers it culturally rich and a traditional city. "I have had a good audience here, they appreciate music as it is supposed to be. Since Kirana gharana is quite significant in North India, we have a lot of classical artistes from the gharana in the city as well," he signed off.

Amritsar, March 27
Even as the police authorities have got busy with election duties, criminal activities continue unabated in the city.

A jewellery shop was targeted by robbers in broad daylight a day before yesterday despite the fact that CCTV cameras were installed in the shop while the city witnessed as many as three snatching incidents in the past 24 hours.

A couple of unidentified youth driving a motocycle snatched a gold chain from a woman, identified as Siya Sharma, when she along with her husband, Garuav Sharma, a resident of Gobind Vihar, was going to BK Dutt gate. Gaurav stated to police that the accused snatched the gold chain with a diamond locket worth Rs 65,000.

In another incident, a young girl identified as Radha, was robbed by unidentified motorcycle-borne youths near Bakkar Mandi in the Islamabad area. The complainant told the police that she was going by a rickshaw near Bakkar Mandi when the accused came from behind and ran away after snatching her purse. She said she had a mobile phone, Rs 2,000 in cash besides other important documents.

Dhiraj Mehta, a resident of Ajit Enclave, Gumtala, was robbed allegedly by Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, of Patii Jaidara Verka who has been booked by the police under Section 382, IPC.

Amritsar, March 27
A 22-year-old engineering student, studying at a local college, was allegedly raped repeatedly by a property dealer who has been booked by the Sadar police following her complaint.

The victim, a resident of Bhutanpura village, stated to the police that the accused used to blackmail and threaten her. She told the police that the accused, identified as Ram Sharan, a resident of Ganda Singh Wala village, repeatedly raped her in a hotel and sometimes in his office located on the Majitha road here. She alleged that he threatened to eliminate her if she told about this to anyone. Perturbed over the repeated sexual assaults, she informed her mother about the incidents. Her mother encouraged her to lodge a criminal complaint against him.

Prem Pal, investigating officer and in charge Majitha road bypass police chowki, said the case was registered following an enquiry conducted by senior police officials and after taking the opinion of the DA legal.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that the accused earlier had illicit relations with the victim’s mother who used to work at a PCO. He said further investigations were under progress and medical examination of the victim was being conducted at the local Civil Hospital. He said a case under Section 376, IPC, had been registered against the accused, following the statement of the victim. He said no arrest had been made so far in the case.

Amritsar, March 27
The Regional Passport Office has initiated a number of steps to ensure faster delivery of passports to applicants, the latest one being the organisation of a passport mela to deal with the heavy rush of applicants.

Passport applicants generally complain that they have to wait for a long time to get an online appointment. People have raised concerns about this and have asked to sort out the problem.

Regional Passport Officer JS Sodhi said, “The passport office and Passport Seva Kendra is usually closed on Saturdays. However, we have started working on Saturdays to help more people in getting their works done.”

The office has decided to organise a passport mela on March 29 at the Passport Seva Kendra. The office will deal with normal and fresh/re-issue category cases only. Sodhi said an additional working day would help in facilitating the people waiting for an appointment.

Earlier, the passport office had organised Lok Adalats to clear the pending cases. The passport office had called all applicants to visit the office along with required documents so that their cases could be decided on the spot.

Sodhi said all the pending files had been cleared and it would be ensured that no file is kept pending in future.

Amritsar, March 27
Sukhminder Kaur Brar, president, World Punjabi Heritage Foundation, Mohali, said culture was an important aspect of any society, which expressed and showcased the rich tradition and heritage of any community. She was here to deliver a special lecture today at the Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University.

She said the Punjabi culture was one of the oldest in the world history, dating from ancient antiquity to the modern era. Sukhminder said it could be found throughout the world because of the migration of Punjabis to different lands.

She viewed that the strength of any community could be easily judged from its mother tongue, literature and rich cultural heritage.

She lamented that the Punjabi language was losing its purity due the intervention of western culture.

“The youth should not follow western culture blindly. Instead, they should be encouraged to revive our rich cultural heritage,” she said.

She said the seminars and symposiums organised for the development of Punjab language should not be restricted to two-three days. She also offered scholarships to financially weak girl students on behalf of her foundation.

Dr Jagjit Kaur, Dr Sohal and Prof Sukhdev Singh honoured Sukhminder Kaur Brar with a memento on behalf of the university. Head, Physical Education Department (T), Dr Sukhdev Singh, presided over the function. Dr SS.Sohal presented a vote of thanks.

Amritsar, March 27
A person died at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Martyrs Civil Hospital after an alleged fall from the stairs on the second floor. The deceased was identified as Tora Singh son of Veer Singh of Goluwal village near Garinda.

Hospital authorities claimed that the victim was found in an inebriated condition and a bottle of alcohol was found from his possession. The incident occurred at around 11 am when he was coming down from the second floor.

The hospital authorities stated that Tora Singh lost his balance and fell sideways from the stairs leading to a free fall alongside the stair case. Tora Singh had come to the hospital to visit his wife who was admitted here.

Bystanders reported the accident immediately to hospital employees who shifted an unconscious Tora Singh to the hospital emergency.

Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal said, "The hospital staff did everything to revive him but the head injury was severe." She said that family members of the deceased had informed them that he was a chronic drinker.

The deceased's wife had given birth to a third baby girl at the hospital, said Dr Bansal.