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Opium trade transcends borders
Varsity’s decision to charge
morning walkers draws flak
Tabir Ul Haque new Bishop of Amritsar
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Noorpuri — A Free Spirit
Kotak Mahindra to open 50 new branches
He finds poetry in life’s monotony
Mulekar’s efforts and the rise of
Amritsar airport V. S. Mulekar
Local doctor makes city proud
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Opium trade transcends borders
Mountainous area of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where opium has been grown for hundreds of years, is a major
source of narcotics. They find their way to Europe, with Amritsar as a transit point.
Varinder Walia writes of the murky deals and the illegal trade that is worth millions
The Golden Crescent is Asia’s principal area of illegal opium production. It overlaps three nations, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, whose mountainous peripheries define the crescent. In 1991 Afghanistan earned the dubious distinction of world’s primary opium producer with a yield of 1,782 metric tons, surpassing Myanmar. The Golden Crescent has a much longer history of opium production than South-east Asia’s Golden Triangle. The Golden Crescent emerged as an opium-producing entity only in the 1970s, after the Golden Triangle in the 1950s. Into international market
The raw material of heroin that costs between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per kg in the hostile terrain of Afghanistan goes up to Rs 4 lakh across the border at Amritsar. Middlemen who facilitate the illegal crossing pocket at least half of the amount while the couriers, who face even danger to their lives, charge a paltry amount. This 1 kg heroin fetches Rs 1 crore in the international market. Prior to the fencing of the border, heroin/opium was brought along with other smuggled items on unaccompanied horses in the Punjab’s border belt while camels were used in the deserts of Rajasthan.These horses and camels were made addicted to the drug and trained to reach specific spots where they would be given their next dose on arrival. With the fencing, people started smuggling drugs through the Samjhauta Express or through underground tunnels across the border. Another method used was to throw parcels over the fence, and certain individuals specialised in this activity. Family spirit Smugglers from Amritsar and Lahore have maintained cordial relations with each, despite Partition. Interception of their telephonic coversations by intelligence agencies makes an interesting study as they would enquire about the well being of the relatives of their Pakistani counterparts too. ‘It is like a joint family and they never think that they were ever separated at Partition’, quiped an officer from Intelligence agency. So much so, smugglers from Amritsar used to attend the marriages of the daughters and sons of their Pakistani counterparts before the 533 km zig-zag border was fenced. As part of the national efforts to reduce drug trade, the Indian Government set up an electrified fence along the border areas, where the terrain is conducive. This expensive proposition only modified the strategies adopted by the drug dealers to smuggle drug across the borders. Corruption in law enforcement
agencies
At the same time, corruption among certain law enforcement agencies in this area facilitates drug trade. There have been cases of personnel from certain agencies being caught and some of them even carried drug consignments to the cities to make a better deal. How the enforcement agencies facilitated drug smuggling after the border fencing? The facts reveal that in many cases the illegal trade of narcotics was possible with the connivance of BSF officials and the sister agencies working on the border. The facts speaks volumes about such activities. An Army man and two others were arrested and fake currency, narcotics and arms were seized from them in a joint operation by the Majitha police and the BSF at a police check post at Chakk Oul village under the police district. The arrested persons have been identified as Sepoy Ali Mohammad Khan of 4 J&K LI, Simon Pal of Chuchakwal village under the Lopoke police station, and Sukhwinder Singh of Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur district. Khan used to supply consignments to these two persons and evade frisking on the way by producing his identity card. The arrest of a BSF Deputy Commandant Harpreet Singh posted at Gurdaspur and his driver while smuggling 23 kg heroin has revealed some starling facts about the smuggling nexus in the area. The Deputy Commandant was arrested by the Pathankot police while he was trying to smuggle 42 cases of liquor from Himachal Pradesh into Punjab. Narcotics Control Bureau sleuths seized 4 kg of heroin, sourced to Pakistan or Afghanistan, from a jail warden after intercepting his car in Amritsar district. Satnam Singh, a Warden in Sangrur jail, was arrested and a case registered against him under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The Bureau’s preliminary investigations based on the stamps and markings on the packets showed the heroin as being sourced to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Major seizures
In a major breakthrough, the Narcotic Control Bureau and the Border Security Force, following a joint operation, claimed to have seized 19 kg of heroin, a Pakistani made pistol, two magazines and 16 live cartridges with the arrest of an Amritsar resident from Indo-Pakistan Border. The accused, identified as Avtar Singh, alias Saba of Amritsar district, was caught from the Amritsar Sector near BOP Forward Kakkar, Indo-Pak border. The packets displaying Afghanistan/Pakistan specific markings like- round and rectangular shaped stamps, numbers likes 333, 999 and “Manzoor Pharmacy, Charahi, Pagwan”, pictures of lion and half moon and stars, suggested that the contraband was manufactured in that region. In the biggest narcotics haul in recent times, the Delhi Police seized heroin worth Rs 41 crore and arrested the alleged kingpin of an inter-state drug trafficking chain and his accomplice. In a major blow to narcotic cartels active in the region, Gurnam Singh, a resident of Amritsar, and wanted by the police in Delhi and Punjab, was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police from Mahipalpur near the Delhi-Haryana border in the wee hours after they got a tip-off. Thirty-seven kg of Afghan-origin high-quality heroin, worth Rs 37 crore in the international market, and the Hyundai Santro car in which he was travelling were seized. Local threat
Earlier, the Holy City was only a ‘Transit Point’ for narcotic smuggling to European countries via New Delhi. Maqboolpura and Chhehrta being the most vulnerable localities for the drug consumption that had already claimed precious lives of bread winners . Narcotics apart, Amritsar residents consume liquor worth Rs 40 lakh every day. Bootleggers are also active in the local areas. The state government has opened liquor vends on all the entry points of the Holy City . Initially a huge quantity of opium used to be sent into China from India by the East India Company through Amritsar’s land route. Chinese became regular opium smokers. A British company was the main supplier to China, using opium grown in conquered lands in India and the British government benefitted greatly from the tax revenue. The ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan triggered a series of narcotics smuggling cases from the border belt in the recent past. Major seizures in the past two months have revealed that villages in close proximity of the international fence have become vulnerable points for the smuggling of contraband, which is generally thrown across at predetermined spots. Cellphones have added a new dimension to these murky operations. The seizure of major hauls of heroin and narcotics is a pointer towards an organised drug smugglers’ network, which is operational in the border areas, targeting economically weaker sections in the border villages. Experts say villagers are being used as informers and couriers for safe delivery of the consignments to contact points across the country. Once the villagers are trapped in the vicious circle of the underground dealings, it becomes difficult to escape due to the clout of the operators. Quacks have a field day in the border belt. The roadside quack clinics have sprung up in different parts of the area. Even chemist and grocery shops in the countryside are openly selling the ‘wonder drugs’ with tall promise of aphrodisiac power. The trump card of most of the unscrupulous chemists and even grocery shops is, ‘fresh herbs from high altitudes’. It is enough to fleece gullible customers. The big hoardings such as ‘action …energy creator…safe harmless herbal capsules’ en route to this border town greet visitors. The chemist shops are doing brisk business. The health authorities are either indifferent or hand-in –glove with such unprincipled ‘practitioners’. The wrapper of one of such herbal medicine reads, ‘A triple energiser for all types of weaknesses’. The other capsules and tablets being sold in the border belt boast of costly and rare herbs. Wrapper of another herbal reads, “from despair to hope’ It says that more than 30 per cent men suffer from such diseases. “Quackery is the legitimate offspring of ignorance”, says Dr Suresh Chauhan, a qualified Ayurvedic doctor. Certainly, ignorance remains one of medical quackery’s major props. The qualified practitioners say most villagers are hooked to drugs or have become alcoholic and have been living under lot of stress. The stressful life has become curse for people, especially belonging to weaker section or lower middle class. A chemist, who pleaded anonymity said hundreds of customers, including women, demand for such ‘herbal medicines’ every day. In the given circumstances, the ‘medical messiahs’ who claim themselves as ‘Khandani Hakims’ (the ancestral Hakims) exploit ignorant people who hesitate to approach qualified doctors due to the ‘social stigma’ attached. |
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Varsity’s decision to charge
morning walkers draws flak
The move of the Guru Nanak Dev University to charge fee from morning and evening walkers in the campus has drawn flak from various quarters.
Most walkers who visit the university campus in the morning said there was no other space left for them and the campus was the only place that was free from pollution and heavy traffic. They said if the university does not relent, then they would have to discontinue the practice of morning and evening walks, as their life would not be safe on the busy GT Road. Moreover, the area in the campus was serene and they could interact with the academicians, the added. Mr Satyapal Dang, veteran CPI leader and a former MLA said he had requested the university Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jai Rup Singh, to reconsider his decision of charging Rs 120 per month for taking a morning walk. He said the people who go for morning and evening walks would have to shell out Rs 240 per month. He said this proposal would bring a bad name to the august educational institution of Punjab, as such a practice was not prevalent in any other university of the state. While ridiculing the step of the university, Mr Dang said the campus was mostly used by the elderly conscious about maintaining their health. He said the health of some of these persons would surely be affected as they had meagre resources at the fag end of their lives. He said though the university’s main aim was to restrain anti-social elements from using the campus, but it could have easily been achieved by introducing a small token fee. He said there should not be any fee for children accompanying their parents or guardians. Mr Dang added that the imposition of a fee would not improve the financial condition of the university, as the number of people who visited the campus daily is not large. Moreover, health-conscious persons were unlikely to harm the university in any manner. |
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Tabir Ul Haque new Bishop of Amritsar
Father Tabir Ul Haque was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Amritsar by Rev John Augustine, Metropolitan of India, Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (CIPBC), here recently. Rev Augustine, who is also the chairman of the World Missionaries Evangelism of India, told The Tribune said that there were certain organisations and individuals in the Christian community who were playing up with the sentiments of other religious communities by converting poor people intom Christians for their ulterior motives. He said Christianity never allowed forced conversion as it was against the tenets of Christianity. He further claimed that property worth Rs 400 crore belonging to the churches had been grabbed by unscrupulous elements. He said a petition had been filed in the courts. Citing the a 2005 decision of the Supreme Court 2005 in which the court had ordered that Church of North India could not be the successor to the properties owned by the Church of India, Rev Augustine said they had been able to retain the church properties in Batala and Gurdaspur. He said they would seek help of the state government in setting up educational institutions for providing free education to 10,000 poor children without considering caste, creed or sex. They were successful in running 250 schools in Andhra Pradesh providing free education to the needy.
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It’s the oft repeated and unheard story of a poet’s legacy, in the city he lived, amongst people who still look for him
and those who don’t remember. Sourabh Gupta writes about Nand Lal Noorpuri, and his poetic spirit
On the night of May 13, 1966, in Model House Colony, Jalandhar, Gurbachan Dua, a young student, heard a loud splash from the well outside her house. She ventured out to have a look. Pair of slippers was lying beside the well. Horrified, she had a peek inside and shuddered. The poet had committed suicide. This is account of old-timers of the locality. Punjabi poet Nand Lal Noorpuri, a free spirit, brought down by the times was no more. His friend, Charanjit Punj, who had edited a book of his, had said in 1971 that Noorpuri was free spirit; fame was not his aspiration. But yes, they said: “Noorpuri boleya, Punjab boleya”. Another scholar Mohan Singh had claimed that the poet has refused to live with illness and penury.
Why Nand Lal Noorpuri decided to end his life, only the poet knew. The coming end was alluded to and reflected in many of his compositions just before his final walk. “That night, grandfather woke my father, who was in his teens then, and asked him to recite a couplet from his ‘Bhola Panchi’. Then he went out, never to return again,” Inderjit Noorpuri, the grandson, recounts. No one can fathom a poet’s fragile mind. For him death had become an inseparable part of living. Noorpuri heard the ‘bhola panchhi’ lines that he had written in context of another death, at another place, in another job. The beginning
Nand Lal was born at the beginning of the last century, in 1906 in Nurpur, district Lyallpur, now in Pakistan. At the Khalsa College in Layallpur, he got involved in the spirit of literature that would eventually provide him fame and ultimately lead to his demise. Slowly at college, poetry won against studies and Nand Lal immersed himself into the varied hues of poetical compositions. He quit college and joined as a schoolteacher to earn a living. This dichotomy of the need to earn a living and write poetry as a free spirit dogged him throughout his life. It also took him into other professions, but the need to write always won in the end. The job of a schoolmaster failed to fulfill the inner urges of the poet and he finally called it quits. His next professional venture was as unlikely a venture could be for a sensitive poet. He joined the police force as assistant sub-inspector and the destination was Bikaner. There three persons were shot dead by the police in an encounter. Nand Lal was leading the police party that was attacked by persons who were brewing liquor illegally. Police officer Noorpuri received a bravery award for it but it left an indelible mark on the poet
Noorpuri. Poetry takes over
In 1940, he left Bikaner to come back to Punjab and the poet in him took over completely. That year he wrote songs for the movie ‘Mangti’, launching his career as a film lyricist. Experimenting, he got into uncharted waters. He wrote an opera on the ill-fated lovers, ‘Mirza-Sahiban’,which has been irretrievably lost now. He got a contract with Colombia Film Company as a lyricist. He had fame and he got ample remunerations for doing what he wanted to do. What more could have a poet asked for. Change of fate
Destiny had something else in store for Noorpuri and India. Our Independence coincided with the biggest holocaust witnessed by the region. The partition changed everything for him. He lost his home and livelihood and came to Jalandhar, which would be his home for the next two decades. Sources of income dried up. In the time of upheaval, poetic sensibilities were the last things on their minds. House and hearth took precedence over all else. Noorpuri found work in the radio but the income was never enough for the family. Times had changed and how. He then got employment in the newly formed State Language Department. Poet’s nature again took over and he left the department after about two years. He limited himself to the radio and kavi darbars for income, which was erratic and in fits and starts. Slowly, poverty increased its grip on Noorpuri and the family sunk deeper into it. Depression and suicidal thoughts followed. Noorpuri loved life and words. He wanted to write the thoughts churning in his mind. But the rigours of life, earning a livelihood were the ultimate winners. Family’s struggle
Life after the demise of the patriarch at 60 was never easy for the family. Noorpuri’s eldest son, Satnam Singh Noorpuri, the father of Inderjit, was given a job in the Punjab Roadways. The rough life made him an alcoholic and the liquor claimed his life in 1994. The other son, Satkartar Singh Noorpuri, refusing to put up with the hard times, migrated abroad. He now lives in Switzerland with his family. The grandson continues to live under his famous grandfather’s shadow: the same city, the same locality and the same house (constructed over a small piece of land the state government gifted to the family). The glory and the tragedy of Noorpuri’s life continue to haunt his next generation. Inderjit could not secure a job in his father’s department. “My mother and I kept going to the offices. We even met ministers. They promised us that something would be done. But nothing happened,” he says. Twenty seven-year-old Inderjit, married, with a child, now works as an employee on contract..He goes to work crossing a road named after his grandfather. He was there when the Chief Minister came to attend a function in the city. He will be there again. Noorpuri Society
Some years back, a few scholars and journalists formed a Nand Lal Noorpuri Society. The aim, as they said, was to spread the poet’s golden words. Now, the society lives only in the annual award it gives to singers and poets. Early this year, it was singer Sarabjit Cheema for writing a poem against female foeticide. It is hard to find the works of Noorpuri: in bookshops or college libraries. The ones exsiting are 20 to 30 year old : tattered, yellow and fragile. New publishers are not interested in taking out an anthology. We found three books on Noorpuri’s poetry from the archives of the Lyallpur Khalsa College, the institution he once enrolled into when it was located in Lyallpur, now in Pakistan. “He is being forgotten. He is absent from most syllabi,” Dr Satish K. Kapoor, Principal of the college, admitted. On August 1, Mayor Surinder Mahey laid the foundation stone of a Nand Lal Noorpuri Yadgari Bhavan on the Model House road. The building will house a library of his works and will be built by the Municipal Corporation. Students from various schools were called to sing Nand Lal Noorpuri’s songs that day. But as Charanjit Punj had written: “Even if we are to bound his books in gold, he won’t return.” When a poet secures the love of the people, when children in villages and towns sing his creations, when college text books discuss his contributions to Punjab’s poetic tradition, when film songs are composed on his words and singers like Mohammad Rafi and Surinder Kaur sing those lines, he also becomes a myth, for people who have neither met him nor known him. He refuses to be real. Forty years have passed. The well that fatally attracted Noorpuri was filled up and a sapling planted over it, as a memorial. It has grown into a lush, heavy tree. As if the seed was words and the tree a breathing poem. “Chal jiya ghar apne chaliye na kar malan adiyan eh pardesh desh nahi sadda ethe gunjhalan bariyan.” |
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Kotak Mahindra to open 50 new branches
With a view to make its presence all across the country, Kotak Mahindra Bank would invest Rs 20 crore for opening up 50 new branches in the next one and half years. K.V.S Manian, Group Head, Retail Liabilities, Kotak Mahindra Bank, stated this at the opening up of seventh branch of the bank in the state here last week.
He said Punjab and Gujarat had been identified to have the maximum number of branches. The bank would go deeper in these states by opening its branches in its remote areas. Besides, Guwhati (Assam) in the North East and Jammu would also have its branches soon. He specified that under this expansion plan Punjab would receive eighteen branches which be opened in those regions and cities where the company did not have presence so far. These areas included Patiala, Bathinda and border districts. As per the expansion plan in the northern region the bank has identified besides Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as the next destinations. |
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Emergence of new prospects
One of the very few cities of the world that was founded with a plan ((by Guru Ram Das in 1575) and that flourished as a hub of trade and commerce in north India, Amritsar, the site of the Harmandir Sahib, had to bear the brunt of first the partition of Punjab in 1947, then the two Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971 followed by the dark decade of militancy. But that is not reason why this Vatican of India remained untouched by sundry five-year plans or even corporate initiative. But thanks to efforts of NGOs and some well-meaning leadership at the Centre, this energetic centre of Sikh faith and Punjabi culture is one again making fast strides on the road to development. The sifting of all animal dairies to the suburbs, the up gradation of the Rajasansi Airport, opening of the Wagah border, shuttling of inter-country celebrities and cultural troupes, introduction of regular bus service to Lahore and Nankana Sahib from Delhi and Amritsar, respectively, have suddenly made the “Indo-Pak border” almost insignificant and pitch-forked Amritsar as a new priority for government action and as a slew of opportunities for the corporate group. Amritsar seems to have taken yet another giant step on the path to development, literally, after the foundation stone laying ceremony of the elevated road over the national highway. It will surely ease congestion and the concomitant traffic snarls on the section of the GT Road passing through the city. Otherwise also, the traffic scenario in the city is unique, with all sorts of liberty being enjoyed with impunity, by all sorts of vehicles. But why cannot we maintain a healthy convention and enjoy separate lanes for motorised and non-motorised vehicles, and disallow overtaking on city roads? Importantly, roads are the arteries and veins of a city and if they remain clogged with merchandise, or haphazardly parked cars and two-wheelers or with heaps of construction material, it is bound to affect peace and clean air. However, a piecemeal approach in this respect would not achieve the desired result. A concerted and sustained drive, unhindered by political expediencies will pave the way for pleasant and pollution-free driving. Amritsar is proud of the museum of its past. Perhaps we can also create a museum of its present. Some of its once lush and orderly parks like Skattri Bagh need to be retrieved from gamblers and pathway cricket. The two-km stretch of the Upper Bari Doab Canal, between the GT Road and the Tarn Taran road is ideal for water sports. The Municipal Corporation has purchased new tractors and new garbage trolleys, fine. But the task of lifting and disposing garbage should be done during the night hours or early in the morning, as was the practice in the past. In this connection, much of the responsibility lies on the residents. Their active cooperation and involvement in this task is indispensable, so is the role of shoppers and shopkeepers. It is nice to watch the state and the city developing. But littering the roads and the cityscape with hundreds of hoardings at every nook and corner or square or before police stations is not the best way of self-praise. It is bad in taste. The city, blessed by the gurus, the city nurtured by the British before Partition, the city that produced freedom fighters like Udham Singh, the city that has produced a Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and numerous administrators and warriors, should be reflected in its healthy heritage and culture.
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He finds poetry in life’s monotony
Have you ever thought that topics as trivial as portrait, file, address and paper could be the subject of imagination of a poet who could produce musical connotations of words out of these monotonous things?
However, spontaneous feelings of B.S Rattan are stirred in minor and significant objects alike, and the poet within never loses sight of them. His poetry brings out the subtle facts of life and makes readers brood over and interpret themselves. As a poet, he firmly believes that his vocation is also to bare the inner most feelings of a mind in a lyrical way. Commissioner, Income Tax, by profession, Mr Rattan found time to pen his feelings. His few poems got a place in Punjabi Sahitya Academy and it published his “Nav Kav Sitare”. The anthology was translated into 18 Indian languages. A post graduate in English, he did not lose touch with his mother tongue, Punjabi, though he had to remain out of the state for a long period due to his job. He has penned two books, “Avesh Parvesh” and “Khali Darya”. The later was translated into Gujrati by Professor Iyana Patel as “Kori Nadi”. Rattan says Gujarati readers “are much aware and keen to read poetry and literature”. Born and brought up in village Kot Fatta (Bathinda), he is currently posted here and has illustrious academic record under his belt. Before joining Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in 1978, he had been a lecturer of English in Rajindra Government College, Bathinda, from where he had graduated. Besides serving in different states, he had a stint as advisor to the Staff Selection Commission. His first book, Avesh Pravesh, depicts the struggle of life and love as major themes, highlighting the youth of the poet. The second book delineates the stream of thoughts of a modern mind which grapples with traditional thinking in a modern environment. The emotions he experienced following a glance at an old picture of his friend found evocative expression in his poem “Purani Tasvir”. His poems reflect the impact of capitalism on human relations and how easily they cave in under the burden of money. |
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Problems galore for Chheharta residents
Chheharta seems to have fallen on bad times ever since the Chheharta Municipal Council was merged with the Amritsar Municipal Council. Residents of the town rue the day, as the town is not high on the list of priorities of the Amritsar Municipal Council and there has been no development in the area. Veteran CPI leader and former MLA, Mr Satya Pal Dang, said despite sending several missives to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the Mayor, Mr Sunil Dutti, regarding various problems faced by the residents of Chheharta there has been no change in the scenario. The two have not even deigned to reply to the communications, let alone initiate action. In what amounts to courting trouble, there is no available fire brigade in the bustling township. In case of emergency fire tenders would have to be called from the Model Town. The population of the area has seen a manifold increase over the years, expanding from a mere 8,000 in 1952 to 2 lakh now. The administration will have a lot to answer for in case of a tragedy. A fire two months back has failed to move the officials concerned. Demanding a probe into that fire accident, Mr Dang said due to the absence of fire brigade in the area a local tent house was totally destroyed in the fire. He said the fire tenders reached the venue only after the affected party visited their office but by then the fire had taken its toll. Had the fire brigade been available in the area then the damage would have been substantially reduced. Calling attention to the condition of roads in Pratap Bazar and other residential areas of the town, the veteran leader said there were huge potholes in the roads and accidents had become regular feature there. They amounted to small craters rather than mere potholes, he added. The corporation had recently re-laid the roads but the sides of the road had been left as such. It had increased the height of the road, while the sides were lower, causing accidents. He further alleged that the administration had laid cemented roads in various streets a few years back but they are also giving way due to the poor quality of material used. The neglect shows in every nook and corner of the town. Parks of the town are in better shape. The corporation had installed a tubewell in a park and built a room over it leaving very little space for the children to play. The swings and other material for the children, which was removed for construction, were never put back. Some parks do not have concrete pathways for the morning and evening walkers and are without any provision for lights. He said the administration had replaced streetlights but they had failed to light up. The water supply is precarious and the women have to go to far off places to fetch the water for daily needs. He further said that the corporation had engaged sweepers in the area on contract basis but they rarely visit the area. Heaps of garbage could be seen on various roads. Garbage near the Azad Road emanates foul smell and is a health hazard for the residents of the area and visitors alike.
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Mulekar’s efforts and the rise of
Amritsar airport
Amritsar International Airport has emerged as the fastest growing airport in the country with an annual growth rate of more than 25 per cent and the contribution of Airport Director V. S. Mulekar in this regard would be written in golden letters. The task for building the new international airport was cut out for Mr Mulekar who was appointed director of the Amritsar International Airport in July 1999. The dream was to transform this smalltime one-plane operation airport into a modern international airport providing global connection to a large number of NRIs living in Doaba and Majha. Mr Mulekar recently retired after putting in 33 years of illustrious and unblemished service to the Airport Authority of India. He was given a warm farewell by his colleagues and staff at a special function held at the airport lounge. Mr Mulekar was specially picked by the director of the Airport Authority of India to take up the onerous task to construct a new airport with international specifications because of his vast and varied experience in airport construction and other allied services during his six-years of service. Mr Mulekar earned rare appreciation for establishing the Goa Airport for the Commonwealth Head of Government Meet (CHOGM) in 1982-83. He received acclaim during the period from both the Government of India and the Government of Goa for exceptional services rendered during the completion of the Goa Airport in record time. Recalling his days in Goa, Mr Mulekar said he was personally picked up by the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi to undertake this gigantic task. The Government of India allocated nearly Rs 80 crore in 1999 to expand and add a new terminal building, besides extending the runway creating more parking bays, a fire station and parking areas. The task commenced earnestly in 2000 and was slated to be completed in five years, but due to some procedural delays, the project was extended in 2006. Mr Mulekar felt the government must prepare a Vision 2020 and 2050 document to plan its future expansion in view of the huge glut of passengers and cargo. The director pointed out that the export and import potential of the airport has to be marketed. He suggested that the government must prepare an action plan to boost tremendous cargo off take of this airport so that to give boost to the economic prosperity of this region. Mr Mulekar firmly believes that growth of the airport is linked with the per capita income of the area and as the airport grows, the prosperity of the area goes up in proportions. After completing his bachelor degree in science and holing commercial pilot license he joined as an air traffic controller at the Mumbai International Airport in 1973. He worked there till 1978. He was later posted at Goa as Aerodrome Officer In-charge and earned his appreciation for the record up gradation and development of the airport. Later, he was posted at Porebandar in Gujarat and remained there for seven years. After brief postings at Patna and New Delhi, he was posted at Amritsar. Mr Mulekar also attended in 1997 one-month training programme at Montreal Airport as part to understand the privatisation process. |
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Local doctor makes city proud
Dr Simarjot Singh Sarin made Amritsar proud by securing a seat in the prestigious Doctorate of Medicine (DM) (Cardiology) of the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. He made it through after a grueling competition among 400 postgraduate doctors from all over India. Dr Simarjot, son of Professor Surinder Singh Sarin, former vice-principal, Khalsa College, graduated from the Government Medical College. Throughout he remain scholarship holder and passed with distinction. In view of his top ranking in the CBSE entrance test for post-graduation, he was placed in the Maulana Azad Medical College, where he was also deputed as a senior resident. He completed his schooling from Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School and also studied in the Khalsa College. |
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Mountainous area of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where opium has been grown for hundreds of years, is a major
source of narcotics. They find their way to Europe, with Amritsar as a
transit point.
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Amritsar
International Airport has emerged as the fastest growing airport in the
country with an annual growth rate of more than 25 per cent and the
contribution of Airport Director V. S. Mulekar in this regard would be
written in golden letters. The task for building the new international airport was cut out for Mr Mulekar who was appointed director of the Amritsar International Airport in July 1999.
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