Amritsar, June 1
The ticket race for the forthcoming Amritsar municipal corporation elections has begun. The elections for the 65 seats of the corporation are likely to be held sometime in July.

Even though the BJP has started the process of seeking applications from prospective candidates, the Congress is taking it easy for the moment.

The Congress leadership is utilising the time for massive spade-work to identify ‘winning candidates’ as feedback from party works about the achievements of sitting candidates would come handy while taking the final decision.

BJP district chief Bakshi Ram says the party had started inviting applications about a month back and as many as 247 applications have already been received so far. “BJP would fight elections at around 40 seats. A final list of candidates would be out in about a fortnight,” he says.

Ask him about key election issues and he takes no time to blame the previous Congress government for bringing development to a standstill. “Roads are potholed and buildings are coming up in the city without the maps being approved by the Municipal Town Planner. All claims of development have been made in newspaper advertisements and nothing has translated on the ground,” says the BJP chief.

Sunil Datti, MC Mayor, says, “We plan to field many new faces this time. The elections would be fought on issues of development. The achievements made by the previous government and the Congress counselors would be projected.”

O.P. Sareen, district Congress committee president adds, “Last time we had won 45 seats and we are confident of improving the tally. There is no dearth of issues and the voters are already fed up of the SAD-BJP alliance over the way it has handled the atta-dal issue and the Dera Sacha Sauda controversy.”

“Our feedback is that the trader community is going away from the BJP and this would result in gains for the Congress candidates. The development works taken up by the Congress MLAs and counselors by setting up tubewells and re-carpeting of roads would work in favour of the Congress,” he says.

Dinesh Sharma, who is in race for BJP ticket for ward number 44, which includes the area adjoining Lahori Gate, says there has been no development in his area during the Congress regime. “I am fighting elections for the MC for the first time and would promise cleaner neighbourhood for people of my ward by removal of heaps of garbage lying all over the area,” he says.

CPI’s district chief Amarjeet Singh Asal says his party would fight the elections at 15 seats and development or the absence of it would be the key issue. He said the list of candidates would be finalised soon.

The BSP has put its stamp on candidature of seven candidates out of the total 40-50 applications it has received so far.

The party plans to fight all the 65 seats and representation would be given to all castes in the final list of candidates. “Development of slum area, which is neglected by other parties would be the main poll plank,” says BSP leader Ravinder Hans.

Congress legislature party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, during her visit to the city last month said the party has already started uniting various factions to make sure the Congress wins by a considerable margin in elections of the municipal corporation in Amritsar, besides Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Bathinda.

The youth Congress also held block-levels meetings to boost the morale of the party cadre victimised by the political vendetta allegedly let loose by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance. The party cadre was enthused to gear up for the corporation elections.

Meanwhile, Surinder Arjun, president of the greater city unit of BSP, said even though political parties have started mobilising support for the municipal corporation elections, the district administration is yet to come up with the revised voter list, taking into account the de-limitation of wards.

“We have raised the demand that door-to-door survey of voters should be conducted but to no avail. As per our information, even the draft voter lists are not ready. Time is also needed for inviting objections and releasing revised lists,” he says.

Amritsar, June 1
Reports of more and more students scoring above 90 per cent marks continue to pour in from the city schools.

Satvir Kaur of MKD DAV Public School has scored 90.4 per cent marks in the Class X exams, which is the highest score in the history of the school located in the border area of Attari.

School principal Rajiv Arora said four students had scored more than 80 per cent marks and 16 students got the first division. Sumeet scored 86.6 per cent and Areet Kaur scored 83.3 per cent marks.

“We hope the school students would continue this winning spree in future as well,” he said.

Parmeet Kaur of Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School scored 96 per cent, followed by Navtej Singh (94.2 per cent) at the second position and Timardeep Kaur (93 per cent) at the third position. A total of 13 students of the school scored more than 90 per cent marks and 65 students scored between 80 to 89 per cent marks.

Ikdeep Kaur, Harsimran Kaur and Ravneet Kaur Sethi got 100 marks in mathematics. Sarabjit Singh got 100 marks in social science and Parmeet Kaur scored 98 in English.

Charanjit Singh Chadha, president of Chief Khalsa Diwanand School and principal Dharamvir Singh congratulated the students.

Students of St Francis School have also done well in the ICSE examinations. Jasmeetpal Singh got 95 per cent, followed by Raghav Dogra (94.5 per cent), and Ekta Jain and Dhawani scoring 93.3 per cent marks.

On the basis of his good performance in the CBSE Class X results, a city boy, Manmohit Singh Bhatia, has already got admission in the IB course at Kings College and School in London. He has scored 94.4 per cent with 100 per cent marks in science, 99 per cent in mathematics and 95 per cent in English.

Amritsar, June 1
Many city residents have expressed reservations over the practice of repair and maintenance work by Punjab State Electricity Board officials during the daytime, instead of night hours when the traffic is less and there’s no wastage 
of power.

Sanjay Sen, deputy chief executive officer of the Perishable Cargo Centre at Rajasansi Airport, in a letter to Amritsar Plus said, “During the last week, people taking the Lawrence Road or going to the Guru Nanak Dev University must have seen repair of the street lights underway in broad daylight. For the purpose, the lights have to be switched on. It’s sheer wastage. Also results in traffic bottlenecks. I wonder why instructions are not given to undertake the maintenance job during the night when it is convenient for all.”

Amritsar, June 1
Punjab Government Progeny Orchard and Nursery, situated a stone’s throw from the Indo-Pak border offers great export potential. Established by the Britishers in 1925 it is situated just 1 km away from Attari town. Spread over an area of 101.4 acres, the nursery caters to the needs of research students of Khalsa College, Amritsar.

Dozens of peacocks here add to its beauty. Thus it also plays a pivotal role in preserving one of the endangered species of birds. Situated near the international railway station, Attari, the orchard adds to the export potential and thus gives handsome profits. Last year agriculture minister of Orissa Surinder Nath Nayak on his visit here said the orchard had great export potential and could bring good returns.The Indian Railways has prepared a blueprint for upgrading Attari railway station into a world class station and improve trade facilities. The mango and jamun trees of old days are still here.

Before independence this orchard was midway Amritsar and Lahore but today it is situated at the last milestone of Amritsar. Before the Punjab Agricultural University was established, this orchard used to be a premiere research and development centre for citrus varieties.

The fruit plants are raised with the help of new improved techniques. Fruit varieties grown here include quality kinnow, malta, baramasi lemon, kagzi lemon, grapefruit, pummelo, mango, guava, litchi, pear, plum, papaya, peach, grapes, pomegranate, phalsa, jamun, etc. These are propagated through seeds, budding and grafting. The fruit plants are also available for sale where customers get healthy and good-quality plants at a marginal price. The blood red variety of sweet orange growing here enjoys unmatched status in the country.

Amritsar, June 1
The police here recently nabbed nine snatchers who were actively involved in about a dozen cases of chain, purse and mobile snatching for the past couple years in the city. The accused have been identified as Vishal Kumar, alias Kali Chor, a resident of Ghitta Katra, Raman Kuman, alias Happy, a resident of Haripura, Vikram of Lohgarh, Honey, Gurmeet Singh, alias Kabutar, Harjeet Singh, alias Happy, Harpreet Singh, alias Monu, and Rinku, all residents of Chehharta. Cases have already been registered against the accused in various police stations under section 382, IPC.

District police chief Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, talking to the media, said the accused had formed their own gangs to carry out their nefarious activities. He said four motor cycles, two mobile phones and some currency were recovered from them. He said that action would be taken under Section 411, IPC, against those in whose possession stolen goods would be found. — TNS

Amritsar, June 1
It’s celebration time for Harmeet Singh, Amik Singh and nine others who have qualified the IIT-JEE. Harmeet and Amik have secured 337th (highest in Amritsar) and 575th position in the country. Amik has also bagged the 25th All India Rank with state rank of two in AIEEE.

Talking about his dream, Harmeet says he will seek entry into the Silicon Valley of California and to fulfilling this dream he wants to pursue engineering in computers or electronics.

He was unable to clear IIT last year though got admission in the Electronics and Communication course of the Punjab Engineering College after clearing the AIEEE with all India rank of 2145.

But his determination to make a mark at the IIT speaks for itself. And accordingly he gives credit to his parents and teachers along with the hard work he had put in (eight to ten hours daily) for his success.

Amik Singh jubilant over his qualifying the IIT-JEE and securing second position in Punjab in AIEEE has more celebrating moments than words.

However, he says he will try to become better citizen and love to serve the country.

The other students who had qualified IIT-JEE were Mehak, Vishesh Mehra, Amanbeer Singh Bains, Varun Singh, Danish Sahni, Gulsher Singh, Tushar Mahajan, Atinder Pal Singh and Jaskirat Singh Jassal.

The other students who have qualified the AIEEE were Anmol Singh Kahlon, Vishaldeep Sharma, Smedha Sharma, Navjot Singh, Ravdeep Singh, Vaibhav Khanna, Karan Narang, Sahil Gupta, Sugeet Singh etc.

Both Harmeet and Amik got their coaching at Radical institute, whose director Surat Singh Virk, talking to the Tribune says 11 of their students have got selected in IIT-JEE, while 43 students have been selected in AIEEE, the highest in Amritsar from any single coaching institute. In addition to top faculty, the institute provides suitable methodology and congenial environment for better results, he adds. Virk says they have providing evening coaches to +1 and +2 students to prepare for these competitive exams.

He says besides the board syllabus the institute provides classroom study, tests and assignments under one roof, and its students come from Batala, Pathankot and Gurdaspur.

Another institute FIITJEE Amritsar which had started its operations only last year feels proud that 11 of their students have qualified the AIEEE exams. Jaspinder Singh, Gurjyot Singh, Navit Sethi, Ajaybir Singh Gulati, Uday Sadana and Navdeep Bal were among those who cleared the competitive exams. 

Amritsar, June 1
The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has established sub-division wise centers at various places in the city to redress the grievances of the consumers. The deputy chief engineer, operations said the consumers can lodge their complaints on the following phone numbers.

The deputy chief engineer said XEN D.S. Narang (9872513011) would be looking after the Durgiana Temple, Ghee Mandi and Hussainpura centres, while XEN K.L. Sharma (9872513010) would be looking after Sultanwind, Chatiwind and Golden Temple. XEN Tilak Raj (9872513013) would be in-charge of Lawrence Road and civil lines and XEN P.D. Lufa (9872513012) would be looking after the Beri Gate, Hakima Gate and Tunda Talab centres, he added.

Amritsar, June 1
The Krishi Vigyan Kendra organised a seminar-cum-field day on ‘laser leveller’ in collaboration with the NFL, Amritsar, at KVM farm, Usman.

Terming the laser leveler as need of the hour, district co-ordinator S.S. Bhinder advised the farmers to use the leveller, which would save about 10 per cent water, besides increasing the yield.

He also spoke about the current issues facing farmers of the region, like depleting ground water table. “Using new technologies like laser levellers, tensiometers and bed planting of paddy can help save water to a large extent,” said Bhinder.

Dr Sat Pal Saini, deputy director, KVK, told the farmers about various activities of the KVK.

Amritsar, June 1
A two-day exhibition of garments and other articles designed by the students of adult, continuing education and extension department of the Guru Nanak Dev University would be organised on June 5 and 6 at the working women hostel of the university, said Prof Subash Chander, director of the department.

He said Dr Inderjit Kaur, president of All India Pingalwara Charitable Society, Amritsar, would inaugurate this exhibition, which will have garments stitched and designed by the students of dress designing, cutting and tailoring and textile designing courses.

Amritsar, June 1
Hindu Shiv Sena president Surinder Kumar Billa here on Friday alleged delay in renewal of the arms licence of his revolver, permission for which had been duly granted by the Union Home Minister.

Billa said the application for renewal was submitted by him in October last year but the dealing staff was dilly-dallying, asking him to make repeated rounds of the office.“There have been attempts on my life in the past and it was in view of the threat perception that the licence was issued to me in the first place,” he said. The district administration official, however, said the case was being processed and the renewal would be granted as per the rules.