Amritsar, August 30
The Traffic Police seems to have turned a blind eye to the vehicles emitting heavy smoke. These vehicles can be seen plying on city roads regularly. Though traffic cops seem to be concerned with the “pollution- check certificate”, which is not hard to acquire by paying a little extra money, such vehicles go scot-free.

A local resident said, “The pollution-check centres issue certificates with remarks such as “pollution under permissible limits”, they don’t carry out the mandatatory check. Sometimes they even issue a certificate for a vehicle that has not been brought to the inspection centre.”

Though residents of the city often criticise the government for ill-planned cutting of trees to make way for broadening of roads, one of the most visible sources of pollution, the polluting vehicles ply without any check and escape the attention of residents.

The residents said that vehicles that emit thick, black smoke while running should be checked and owners of these vehicles should be penalised for their negligence. “Auto-rickshaws and some pick-up vans in the city are so old that they can be found emitting more pollutants than any other source,” said Kulwinder Khera, a senior citizen. He said though the Traffic Police was present in every nook and corner of the city, they were concerned merely with checking papers.

Another resident, Balram Kumar, said, “The traffic police should issue challans to people who speed, jump lanes, drive rashly and pollute the city. The police is not merely for checking documents. Some people who have all documents might have their vehicles emitting polluting smoke.”

Amrtisar, August 30
Hunardeep Singh Sohal, a Class XII student of the local DAV International School brought laurels to his alma mater with his remarkable performance in the 49th Punjab State Shooting Championship, held at Jalandhar from August 26-29.

Hunardeep exhibited his shooting acumen and won several medals. He won a gold medal in Air Pistol Shooting, a silver medal in .22 Sports Pistol Shooting and a bronze medal. He was awarded these medals and a cash prize of Rs 42,000 by Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia. School Principal Anjana Gupta said she was overjoyed at Sohal’s accomplishment. She said that with upcoming sportspersons like Sohal, the future of Indian sports seemed very bright. She congratulated the parents of the boy for this achievement.

Amritsar, August 30
The Out-Patients Departments (OPDs) at all government health institutions, including Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital, remained closed for two hours today as doctors stalled work to protest against the police inaction against Narang hospital.

A deserted look at the hospital as the doctors had stalled work in Amritsar on Saturday

The patients at these government health institutions suffered as doctors boycotted the services.

All health institutions also boycotted medical services related to the Police Department such as medico-legal reports, no-injury certificates and other reports remained suspended to express their anguish against the police.

The PCMS Specialist Association threatened to announce a complete shutdown of all services from Wednesday onwards if the accused were not arrested by then.

The president of the association, Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, said, “The Chief Minister while speaking at a function recently had urged doctors to stay in India and serve patients instead of rushing to foreign countries. Now, when the entire department is protesting to get a man arrested, who had wronged senior doctors, performing their duty, what incentive do doctors have to stay in the country.”

He said that the doctors felt humiliated in the present situation. “Does anybody have a right to abuse any senior official, who is merely performing his duty? Would the police have acted in the same way, if the same persons had behaved in a similar manner with a politician or a police official?” A team comprising the Civil Surgeon, the District Family Welfare Officer and other doctors was abused and threatened by the supporters of the owner of Narang hospital on August 21, when the latter had gone to conduct an inspection at the private hospital?

Sohal urged the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, to intervene and instruct the police to arrest all the accused, so that medical services for the poor were not affected.

Rajwant Singh Chinna, president, Employees Welfare Association, said, “The employees of all cadres in the department are disturbed because of the incident. If somebody can behave in such a way with the senior-most health officer in the district and then roam freely, how can the junior employees think of performing their duty without any fear?” He said that all associations of the Health Department would hold a rally in the city on Tuesday to sensitise the public on the issue.

Amritsar, August 30
Impressed with the cleanliness work being carried out on the Heritage Walk route by Baba Kulwant Singh and his volunteers from Ajnala, the Tourism Department is all set to provide him vehicles and equipment for the job.

District Tourism Officer Balraj Singh said that the department was all set to provide equipment and machinery worth Rs 40 lakh to Baba Kulwant Singh’s NGO. These tools would include a two-tonne vehicle, a trolley-tractor, a water tanker and four autos with a garbage-carrying provision and a water suction pump.

Volunteers of the NGO, run by Baba Kulwant Singh, start the cleaning operation at 11 pm and finish the task around 3 am in the morning. Over 60 villages from Ajnala block are enrolled with the NGO.

Launched a few years back, the Heritage Walk takes tourists on a guided tour of historic landmarks in the holy city.

Baba Kulwant Singh from Ajnala with the support of the Tourism Department, the SGPC and hundreds of devotees has been leading a subtle revolution of cleaning roads on way to the Panj Sarovar (five holy ponds) Walk.

Hoping that one day it will develop into a movement and a habit, Baba Kulwant Singh and his volunteers not only clean the filth and litter from the streets, but educate residents to dump refuse properly and participate in the campaign.

Earlier, garbage lying on routes of Heritage and Panj Sarovar walks exposed the inefficiency and inability of the Municipal Corporation to clean these roads.

Baba Ji Ajnale wale, as he is fondly called, along with his volunteers, big iron bowls, cycle-rickshaws, spades and other instruments has been removing filth, garbage and refuse from the streets and small open drains en route the Panj Sarovar walk once a week since October 2011.

The roads connecting the five holy ponds associated with the Sikh religion are Santokhsar, Bibeksar, Ramsar, Kaulsar and the most sacred, Amrit Sarovar, in the Golden Temple complex.

At the outset, the cleaning drive was launched once in a week. Subsequently, it was turned into a regular affair.

Baba Kulwant Singh appreciated the cooperation of residents and shopkeepers on the route. He added that after cleaning the roads for sometime, he met them and apprised them of various solutions to the problems that were hampering the cleaning drive. He remarked that the impact was astonishing and people respected them for taking up the job without any monetary consideration. He said people were changing their garbage- throwing and dumping habits. Earlier, the SGPC provided them equipment for cleaning and offered a room in Bhai Gurdas Hall.

Amritsar, August 30
With the last date of depositing the property tax falling on Suday, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) is half way behind the target collection.

House Tax Superintendent Engineer Jaswinder Singh said so far, over Rs 21 crore had been collected while the target was for over Rs 40 crore. He said the tax would also be collected tomorrow despite it being a Sunday.

A major reason for the low property tax collection was the missing enthusiasm among property owners.

Surjeet Singh, a resident of Sultanwind area, said a majority of people gained the impression from the statement being aired by leaders of ruling coalition parties that a major overhaul was in the offing for the property tax.

Earlier, the last date of depositing the tax expired on June 30. However, the government extended the deadline till August 31.

Those who failed to deposit their dues, will now have to pay the penalty to the tune of 50 per cent with 18 per cent interest, applicable from April 1.

The defaulters have been cautioned time and again that they will have to pay heavy penalty if they fail to clear their dues on time.

“Even as the new policy on rationalisation of the property tax calculation formula is under consideration of the government, it will be implemented for 2014-2015, post-June 30, said Jaswinder.

The pending dues have been accounted for 2013-2014. Officials confirmed that half of the targeted amount could be realised till date.

The MC had set up a target of 40-50 crore as tax collection till March 2014.

The MC had identified around 3 lakh units, including around 45,000 commercial ones, in Amritsar’s urban area, which come under the ambit of property tax. Still, there are around over 2 lakh residents (both in the residential and commercial categories) who have not bothered to pay their dues.

In a posh locality like Ranjit Avenue, if any person has a one kanal house (500 square yard plot and Rs 20,000 per square yard of collector rate prevailing in the area), after deducting 10 per cent depreciation of his property, he shares a liability to pay around Rs 3,000 a year as property tax. The defaulter will have to pay around Rs 1,500 extra, besides interest calculated at around 18 per cent for the delayed period.

Likewise, penalty will also be charged for self-occupied houses up to 50 sq yards, on which a consolidated Rs 50 per year as property tax has been imposed. For houses between 50 to 100 sq yards, the annual consolidated tax of Rs 150 will be charged.

“The government was already on the job of rationalising the tax structure, but this would be implemented for the taxes applicable for the next year. The current-year tax liability was to be paid according to the old pattern. “Since August 31 was the deadline for paying the dues, now the defaulters will have to pay the penalty too,” added Jaswinder.

Amritsar, August 30
The controversy surrounding the ban on Punjabi film, “Kaum De Heere”, has not deterred other film-makers to take up sensitive issues as the central theme of their films. The latest controversy has been generated by an upcoming film on the assasins of Gen AK Vaidya.

Announcing the film based on the lives of Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Harjinder Singh Jinda, assasins of the late former Army chief, who led Operation Bluestar, director Sukhjinder Singh Sehra adressed the media in Amritsar. Sukha and Jinda were given death sentence and hanged in 1992.

Amritsar, August 30
The weekend at Punjab Natshala brought in two different flavours of the slice of life. The two plays staged by the Sparsh Theatre Society had contrasting moods and stories, but realism was the common factor.

Noted playwright Pali Bhupinder’s dramatic story of love, hate and war, “Terrorist di Premika” was the story of a woman caught between love and hatred. The story was seeped in the emotion of love — how one can love a person one moment and kill him in another. Presenting a triangular relationship between a police official, his wife and a terrorist, the play had elements of feminism, strange emotions and war adversaries. Director Gaurav Vij introduced the right amount of drama and realism in the play while keeping the irony intact.

The second play, staged on Friday, was a satire. A sharp take on the ‘baba’ culture that we Indians are so used to follow blindly, the Hindi play, “Goodbye Swami”, was received with aplomb. The comical play, which exposes bogus swamis, was also directed by Vij.

Written by playwright Sushil kumar Singh, the play highlights the plight of devotees taken in by bogus swamis and how such swamis exploit these innocent people, who come to them, seeking solutions for their problems. The story of a thief on the run, who enters an ashram by chance and sees that the swami has a big following besides wealth and an easy life, sees an opportunity to become a swami himself.

By a stroke of luck, the thief becomes the head swami and revels in his new position. His followers blindly accept his ‘preachings’ and start worshipping him. The interaction between the swami and his followers makes the central storyline of the play. The shocking end where the original swami also turns out to be fraud makes it all the more relevant.

Amritsar, August 30
The graphic tees , a latest fashion fad is turning out to be the secret style pick of the season.

Designer Manish Arora, Ed Hardy and the likes could be credited with making kitsch and mythical stylish in the industry. But the trend has now progressed into a viable fashion-turned-art form.

Lately, comics brand Vimanika launched a collection of tee, with graphical designs based on mythological characters.

The collection has T-shirts based on comic characters like Karna, Shiva from the legends of immortal series and various other Gothic designs. Targeting youth, especially in the 18-25 age group, the tees have been launched in the state.

Similarly, graphic tees based on Marvel comics characters like Iron Man, Batman, Captain America are selling like hot cakes. Ritu Kumar too has had limited collection of graphic tees in her flagship store. Popular Punjabi fashion label 1469 has made Punjabi culture staples a cool fashion accessory thanks to their graphic tees.

What makes it interesting and successful is that it makes for a comfy and easy style statement. “Who has the time to dress up elaborately for college or a quick hang out with friends? Tees are the easiest wardrobe choice for anyone and making them interesting is the graphic detail. It allows you to stand out without a fuss,” shares Harpreet Kaur, a city based fashion student.

The big brands have already tied up with graphic artists to come out with limited collection graphic tees, several design shops have been offering customised tees at affordable prices.

“Pictures, personalised messages and art work, can be turned into your personal style statement. Caricatures and personal portraits too are being turned into fashion fad through graphic tees,” says graphic artist George Emanual.

Karan Vir Arora, Chief Executive Officer of Vimanika Comics too feels that graphic tees are a way to wear history and some culture staples on your sleeve.

“Our collection of graphic tees has mythological warriors and heroes like Karna, Dashavatar, Shiva as design element. They focus on the youth culture that it believes in and maintains what inspires them. Apart from being cool, hip, trendy, fresh and young, the tees are also a part of our culture, a connection to our history.” said Karan.

Amritsar, August 30
Perturbed over the allegations of theft, a 17-year-old youth identified as Harjit Singh, a resident of Sultanwind village, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the fields.

He, along with another youth, Ravinder Singh Kaalu, of the same village were arrested by the Tarn Taran police, a couple of days ago on the charges of theft, after a complaint was lodged by a municipal councillor and an SAD leader.

Ravindr Singh Kaalu was still missing and the police was trying to locate him. Sultanwind police have initiated the action under the criminal procedure code after taking the body of the deceased in custody on Saturday.

According to information, Harjit and Ravinder were arrested by the Tarn Taran police and taken into custody a day before yesterday. They were allegedly subjected to inhuman torture. But the police failed to achieve any breakthrough and did not make any recovery from them. They were left yesterday. Arun Sharma, SHO Sultanwind police station said at present they had initiated action under 174 CrPC and further action would taken after recording the statement of the family members.

Tarn Taran police on the other hand refuted the charges and said the two youth were let off after preliminary investigations.

Amritsar, August 30
The Counter Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police have reportedly arrested a notorious smuggler, along with a cop, for allegedly possessing 10kg of heroin worth Rs 50 crore in the international market.

Though the police officials were tightlipped over their arrest, the duo were produced before the Duty Magistrate in the late evening. They were sent to four- day police remand.

Angrej Singh, a notorious Indo-Pak smuggler was recently released on parole. He was accompanied by Head Constable Prabhjit Singh who is reportedly posted at Chheharta police station here. Both were arrested from Loharka Road following a tip off, said police sources.

Amritsar, August 30
Though vehicle theft cases in the border are rising, the pace of installing the High-Security Registration (HSR) plates is moving at a slow pace.

The local Transport Office has so far covered a little over 1.19 lakh vehicles out of over 9.17 lakh vehicles registered with it. The Transport Office has received requests from over 1.40 lakh vehicle-owners for registeration.

Interestingly, over 21,000 applicants after depositing the requisite charges did not turn up to collect their HSR plates. The staff of a private company engaged for installing the HSR plates has been stocking these on its premises. The move aimed to discourage vehicle thefts failed to a large extent because the work progressed at a snail’s pace. The Transport Office initiated the allotment of advance HSR plates in March 2012.

Under this process, the registration numbers of vehicles are also stamped on the chasis to avoid tampering. Hundreds of vehicles are stolen every year and a majority of these remained untraced. This necessitated the use of sophisticated tools that could help in tracing the thieves.

Two years ago, Amritsar became the first city in the state to initiate the work on HSR plates. A private firm was assigned the job with centres at Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda and Amritsar. Under the new technology, the registration number is embossed on a number plate made of nickel. Subsequently, the number plate will be stamped on the chasis of vehicles to lock it. Once so done, a stolen vehicle can never be registered again.

Around five years ago, the Supreme Court had issued directions to all states and Union Territories to implement the HSR plates project.

According to rule 51 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, specific guidelines have been issued regarding the height, thickness and space in between each letter on number plates of vehicles. Each letter on the rear plate must be 35 mm high, 7 mm thick and there should be 5 mm distance between each letter. The letters on the front plate must be 35 mm in height, 5 mm thick and there should be equal distance between each letter.

Amritsar, August 30
Employees of Punjab and Sind Bank took out a rally to create awareness about the cleanliness and greenery in the holy city on Friday. Carrying placards, bank employees marched through the streets.

“As the state government has initiated a number of projects to bring the Holy City to the level of a world class city, the residents, too, are required to take responsibility of the cleanliness, traffic management and heritage preservation,” said Sukhwinder Singh Bedi, General Manager.

The bank is ready to play a role in creating awareness about these problems along with the government agencies and social organizations, already working for the cause,” added Bedi.