Amritsar, June 8
Many families of the Sant Avenue locality on Mall Road are living under the fear of risk to their lives due to the ‘dangerous’ construction activity going on for a hotel adjacent to their houses.

Their repeated pleas to the officials concerned, including city Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, fell on deaf ears.

In May, the families had also knocked at the door of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where the counsel appearing on behalf of the Municipal Corporation had submitted to look into the matter and said ‘appropriate’ action would be initiated.

Though the work was stalled after the intervention of Bakshi Ram Arora and senior town planner, it happened to be a temporary relief.

It is astonishing that a government office of the Public Works Department (PWD) located nearby has also developed cracks on its ceilings and floor.

The engineer concerned has written a letter to the Municipal Corporation officials that the government building was caving in and that the construction at the hotel site was being done in an illegal manner and should be stopped.

A visit to the site revealed that for a three- storey basement of this under-construction hotel, 60-ft deep earth is being dug up near the houses. This has resulted in portions of the houses getting tilted while virtually leaving the pillars without any support.

Astonishingly, gauging the danger, the owners have placed building jacks to support the pillars to avoid their displacement but it is still a ‘horrible’ site to look at the cracks that have appeared between the pillars and the lintel.

To avoid seepage that may enter into their rooms in the approaching rainy season, the residents have put up tarpaulins over their roofs as a temporary arrangement.

Salil Mahajan, a resident of house number 29-A and his neighbour Rajinder Dhawan, a resident of house number 29, said they had not been going to their work as they fear that something unfortunate might happen anytime.

“Despite the High Court orders and the city mayor’s directions, the construction work is still going on. The rainy season is ahead and we are afraid that something worse may happen,” they said.

“We cannot sleep properly due to tension and fear that our houses may cave in any time. It is a criminal offence of not bothering to obtain the NoC before undertaking such massive construction. I fail to understand, under whose patronage the proprietor have been allowed to carry on such work at the cost of our lives,” said Rajinder Dhawan.

The letter specifically says that defying the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1997, the proprietor of this hotel never bothered to obtain any the NoC (no objection certificate) from the residents of nearby localities before commencing the construction and therefore stern and immediate action must be taken.

Giving reference of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the official of the PWD office appealed to the Municipal Corporation to take action as a number of residents, including the government staff of the PWD office, have been living under life threatening conditions.

Amritsar, June 8
With a large number of drug addicts thronging Swami Vivekanand De-addiction Centre at Government Medical College (GMC), people feel a need for more government-run de-addiction centres in the city.

The extent of drug addiction is very high in the border district. Though there are several private de-addiction centres, they charge exorbitantly due to which patients prefer government-run centres.

The Punjab Police have launched a crackdown on drug peddlers, which has led to the smashing of their network.

The police have arrested more than 400 persons involved in drug trafficking during the past 15 days. With the supply chain getting affected, the availability of drugs has become difficult and has increased the prices of drugs manifold.

Drug addicts, who cannot afford high prices, prefer to get detoxified rather than landing into the police net. This has lead to a huge rush at the de-addiction centre.

The GMC de-addiction centre is receiving nearly 400 patients daily at its OPD, which earlier figured at around 200 patients.

Given the magnitude of the problem, there is a need to open more de-addiction centres at government-run health institutions, including Civil Hospitals, Community Health Centres or Primary Health Centres, said a doctor in the Psychiatry Department of the GMC.

Besides Swami Vivekanand De-addiction Centre, the city as another de-addiction centre that is being run by SGPC-run Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Sciences at Vallah.

Out of the many private centres, only two are recognised by the government while some of them have just applied for permission, said Dr Shivkaran Kahlon.

A de-addiction centre being run by the Red Cross Society was closed down years ago due to lack of funds.

The SGPC-run institute has a 40-bedded de-addiction centre. Dr Geeta Sharma, principal of the institute, said they increase its capacity as per the requirement and number of patients.

She said they had adequate staff and infrastructure and give free treatment to patients recommended by the Dharam Prachar Committee.

Dr PD Garg, head, Department of Psychiatry and director of Swami Vivekanand De-addiction Centre said they had recently trained around 150 doctors for treating drug addicts.

He said that the government was going to open around 30 more centres all over the state. However, he admitted that a lot more was needed.

Amritsar, June 8
An elderly man, identified as Mukhtiar Singh, a resident of Kot Khehra village, was allegedly murdered following a property dispute late last night.

The Tarsikka police (under the Amritsar rural police) have booked three persons in this connection while no arrest has been made so far.

Among those booked include Harwinder Singh, Balwinder Singh and his father Amrik Singh.

Gurwinder Singh, grandson of the deceased, said his grandmother Parkash Kaur had mortgaged her 3 kanals of land to the accused.

He said the accused had been digging soil from the land and putting it in their agricultural fields.

When they objected to this, the culprits entered into a brawl and beat up Mukhtiar Singh, he added.

He said his grandfather was rushed to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries late last night.

Police officials said a case under Sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Court had been registered against the accused following.

They said the accused were at large and raids were being conducted to nab them. 

Amritsar, June 8
A fresh fleet of 20 buses has been added to the city bus service, which has been operating since January 28. Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi flagged off the buses here today.

With this addition, the total number of buses has come to 60. A total number of 150 low floor AC, non-AC, midi and mini buses were proposed to be introduced in the city under the JNNURM scheme.

The service has gained tremendous response from daily commuters as well as tourists. The prime reason is safe journey at nominal fare.

Earlier, in the absence of any such service, the commuters were left on the mercy of overloaded auto-rickshaws, who charge high rates.

Joshi said the remaining lot of buses got delayed due to some problem with the bus manufacturing company.

“As many as 150 buses were sanctioned under the JNNURM’s Rs 33.30 crore project. We have received 60 buses as of now. The rest of the fleet will be procured as soon as possible. Besides this, we will have 90 buses running under the BRTS system on a dedicated track, which is under construction,” he said.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, who is also the director of the Amritsar City Transport Service Ltd, said the occupancy of city buses was above 80 per cent.

As per the demand, these buses would be allocated to busy routes.

“After getting such a huge response, we had to re-shuffle the number of buses as per the demand. Just as lately, we had to put on 15 more buses on route no 1 from Daburji to India Gate,” he said.

Amritsar, June 8
The clash between the SGPC’s task force and SAD (Amritsar) activists at Golden Temple recently, has taken a toll on the tourism and hospitality industry in the area.

Randeep Singh, owner of Blue Moon Hotel, said after Operation Blue Star in 1984, the current summer season has been the worst for the tourism industry.

Earlier, the general election and now the clash adversely affected tourism in the holy city, he added.

He said he could not quantify the loss at this juncture, but momentarily the loss was huge.

Randeep anticipated that the hotels would face low occupancy in the near future.

A hotelier in the walled city near Golden Temple, Satnam Singh Kanda, said, hotel occupancy had remained between 60 to 80 per cent in the last summer. However, it had now sharply fallen to less than 30 per cent, he added.

He said the tourists had cut short their visits in the present scenario.

Amritsar Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHARA) president APS Chatha said summer vacation was normally the peak tourism season in the city.

He said the city attracted tourists mainly for the holiest Sikh shrine - Golden Temple - and any law and order problem distracts them to plan a visit.

Chatha said during summers, the occupancy rises to around 80 per cent, but after this unfortunate instance, tourists have refrained from visiting the city and thus the occupancy dipped down to 30 per cent for the past two days.

He said the SGPC must take note of it and train its task force accordingly so that no such incident happens again in future.

He hoped that the Shiromani Committee and the state government would take steps to regain the confidence of the tourists and the hospitality industry. 

Amritsar, June 8
The severe heat wave conditions prevailing in the region have started taking its toll on the lives of the people as an unidentified man was found dead at Khandwala in Chheharta.

He was later identified as Om Parkash, who used to live by the roadside. He was identified by one of his relative living in the Chheharta area.

The police authorities said the post-mortem of the deceased would be conducted tomorrow.

SHO, Chheharta police station, Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, said following the information provided by the deceased’s relative, we had informed his sister living in Patiala, who would come by tomorrow.

The region is reeling under searing heat with the mercury reaching around 45 degrees in the city, which is well above the normal temperature. — TNS

Amritsar, June 8
The continuous reduction of the green belt in the holy city to save efforts on cleaning and pruning by unscrupulous elements and to pave the way for development is depriving the city residents of the essential green cover.

The burning of green cover, including half grown and full grown trees, saplings and bushes at the ESI hospital on the Majitha road is a recent incident. But the same practice has been adopted in various parts of the city with impunity earlier also.

Burning crop residue in the rural belt, surrounding the holy city, coupled with occasional burning and removing of trees and shrubs to pave the way for the development work or commercial purpose is wreaking havoc on the flora and fauna in the city.

In June last year, many trees, shrubs and green vegetation along the Airport road were set on fire. International bodies have earmarked various days to nature and environment in order to make the public aware about the deteriorating environment and the efforts required to improve and preserve it. Over the years, various educational institutes and organisations have held rallies and seminars, but its impact is expected to be visible in the long run only.

Many trees on the Mall road and surrounding lanes were cut one by one. It was shown that they fell naturally, but that was not the case. Garbage was regularly placed around these trees and set on fire to make their roots weak so that they eventually fell on their own. These trees obstructed the façade of commercial buildings, which have come up on the road in the last decade, after the change of the land use. However, absence of action and omission of fixing responsibility by the authorities concerned on those involved contributed to the rise of menace.

Earlier, in order to beautify the Durgiana temple, centuries old trees were uprooted and new concrete buildings were raised.

Scores of trees were axed on Saifuddin Kitchlew Chowk, popularly known as Court Chowk, to raise a flyover. Similarly, trees were axed on Tarawala Pul to raise a new flyover. Now, many trees were being uprooted to build the BRTS, also known as the metro bus service, in various parts of the city.

Environmentalists are of the view that the urban green vegetation plays a vital role in the ecology of human habitat, as these filter air, water and sunlight, provide shelter to animals and recreational area to the people. They moderate the effects of the local climate and assist in conserving energy.

There is an urgent need to prevent the anti-environment activities like burning of crop residue by farmers and a large-scale burning of wild grass in the city.

Amritsar, June 8
Former Chief Minister and Amritsar MP Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday thanked the party president Sonia Gandhi, for appointing him the deputy leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). He also thanked the city residents for extending their support without which it was not possible for him to win the Lok Sabha elections.

In a statement from New Delhi, Capt Amarinder said: “The new role has put an additional responsibility on my shoulders of representing the party and projecting effectively and forcefully the Congress point of view in the Parliament, besides representing the people of Amritsar.”

Reiterating his commitment, the former Chief Minister said he always felt blessed for getting a chance to represent the holy city. “It is only with the blessings of the Guru that I have been honoured with the post of the deputy leader of the CPP in the Lok Sabha,” he said, adding that he would ensure that the mission, he had taken upon himself, was accomplished.

The Captain said he would remain available for the people of Punjab and Amritsar in particular, despite his busy engagements in New Delhi. “I reiterate that this is just the beginning of the blessings that the holy city is showering on me,” he said, adding that, “It is not only an honour for me, but for all the people of Amritsar, who ensured my victory and everyone in the city, whom I am representing in the Parliament”.

Amritsar, June 8
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has quashed the demand raised by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) from a local woman, whose brother living near her house had not paid his electricity dues of Rs 15,741. It has also directed the power corporation to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses to the complainant.

Earlier, Kulbir Kaur, a resident of Varpal village, had filed a complaint against the PSPCL stating that she had been regularly paying her electricity dues, but she received a bill demanding Rs 15,741 as sundry charges.

The power corporation in its reply stated that adjacent to the property of Kulbir Kaur, another electricity meter was installed in the name of her brother Gurdip Singh.

The PSPCL stated that Gurdip’s electricity connection was disconnected due to non-payment of consumption charges and an amount of Rs 15,741 was outstanding against him. The corporation reasoned that as Gurdip was Kulbir’s brother, the outstanding amount against him was transferred to her account as per rules.

The forum observed that the PSPCL could not prove the existence of any rules, regulations or instructions, as per which any amount of electricity charges outstanding against a brother and that too installed in a separate property, could be transferred to the sister’s account. The forum stated that the corporation could recover this amount only from Gurdip and not from Kulbir Kaur.

“No law permits recovery of consumption charges for the electricity used by a brother and that too for meter installed in a separate property, from a sister, when there is no proof that the opposite party Kulbir Kaur, the complainant and her brother, Gurdip Singh, have been residing jointly. They have admitted that both have been residing separately and in different houses,” states the judgement passed by the forum.

Amritsar, June 8
A workshop on cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was held at Talwalkers gymnasium for fitness enthusiasts in order to teach them dos and don’ts about a cardio emergency.

The key speakers at the workshop were Dr Naresh Grover, Dr Arun Chopra and Dr Sandeep Thakkar. While speaking at the workshop, the experts said the immediate time after the cardiac attack was very crucial as the patient’s life could be saved if the person standing next to him knew about what to do.

Dr Grover said trainers of various other gymnasiums in the city were also called to the workshop so that they could further educate people, who came to them.

He said they would organise a similar workshop for students of schools and colleges.

The participants of the workshop were given a detailed presentation and training on resuscitation skills by using dummies.

Amritsar, June 8
The local chemists association has threatened to start a protest if the Health Department and the police continued to harass them on the pretext of inspections and checking of habit forming drugs. The Punjab Chemists Association has announced to shut down their shops on June 12 against the alleged autocratic behaviour of the Health Department and the police. General secretary of the association, Surinder Duggal, said chemist shop owners were being harassed and their shops were being sealed without any valid reasons.

“The shopkeepers are often summoned to police stations. The shops are being sealed even if the pharmacist has gone to some place,” he said, adding that chemists, too, were against indiscriminate sale of the habit forming drugs, but it was wrong to project that the entire industry was corrupt.

Duggal said the chemists association had submitted memorandums to various officials of the district administration and the Health Department to streamline the system. “We will go on an intensified protest from July onwards if the government fails to rein in officials, who are harassing innocent shopkeepers,” added Duggal.

He said the association was always ready to cooperate with the department for checking sale of habit forming drugs. — TNS

Amritsar, June 8
The Indian Council of Astrological Science (ICAS), Amritsar chapter, held a seminar on astrology and remedial measures at DAV College, here today. The seminar was organised by chapter chairperson Kiranjit Kaur. ICAS national vice-president MN Kedar presided over the seminar.

In his presidential remarks, Kedar enlightened the students about the depth of the knowledge of the heavenly science (astrology) and ways by which harmony and healthy lifestyle could be maintained by simple remedial methods. He emphasised that the present materialistic lifestyle, which created health related complications, could be rectified by introducing simple alterations and adopting remedial measures, which were inexpensive and simple.

Later, he discussed advanced techniques on every aspect of life with students, which included marriage, education, foreign travel, life, death, weather forecast and earthquake prediction etc.

He also distributed certificates among students, who had successfully completed their course on jyotish praveena, jyotish visharda and post visharda. The seminar was attended by several students, who hailed from all streams of life, including doctors, teachers, bankers etc. — TNS

Amritsar, June 8
The Punjab Police have arrested 19 persons on charges of possessing narcotic substances and bootlegging.

The Division A police arrested Jaskaran Singh of Dadia Kialer village with 20 bottles of liquor. Division C police arrested Gurpreet Singh of Urban Estate, Ludhiana, and Yudhvir Singh of Ajnala and recovered 250 gm of narcotic powder from each.

Chheharta police nabbed Dilbagh Singh of Kale Ghanupur with 200gm of narcotic powder. Puran Singh and Kamal Nayyar of Bhakna Kalan village were arrested with 60gm and 10gm heroin, respectively. The police also impounded their motorcycle (No. PB-02-Y-7981). Islamabad police arrested Happy Kumar of Khoo Bhalian Wala with 100gm narcotic powder and 15gm heroin while Civil Lines police arrested Sukhpal Singh of Kot Atma Singh with 50gm intoxicant powder. The Cantonment police held Tajinder Singh of Chawinda Khurd and Gurpreet Singh of Kotli Sakianwala village and recovered 100gm narcotic powder from each.

The Majitha police in Amritsar rural area arrested Chanan Singh of Bhangwan village and Sukhwinder Singh Gallowali with 200 and 100gm narcotic powder, respectively. Jandiala police confiscated 110gm narcotic powder from Sarabjit Singh of Wadala Johal village. Bhindisaida police nabbed Dilbagh Singh of Bhaggupur with 5gm heroin and 250gm synthetic powder. Ajnala police arrested Sukha Singh of Badewali village with 250gm narcotic powder. Kathunangal and Mehta police nabbed Kanwalbir Singh of Jaintipur and Baljit Singh with 100 and 110gm narcotic powder, respectively. Surinder Singh of Dehriwal village was arrested by Tarsikka police with 7,500 ml illicit liquor.