Amritsar, July 27
The BJP declared the final list of candidates for the forthcoming municipal corporation elections today. But the final outcome left many of its applicants disgruntled.

On the condition of anonymity, a BJP leader, who was denied ticket, said going by the allocation of tickets, the party seems to have offered the entire south block to the SAD on a platter, fielding candidates in only five wards out of the total 18. “This has led to widespread bad blood among the winning applicants who have been denied tickets,” he said.

In another southern ward, the BJP applicants said the ticket had been given to a candidate who was a member of Akali Dal and had not joined the BJP by the time the list of party candidates came out.

Rajesh Soni, organising secretary of district unit BJP’s Yuva Morcha, who lost out the race for ticket to BJP’s district chief said he had accepted the verdict of the party and would contribute to the party’s programme to win the elections. The high-profile candidates so far are Sunit Dutti, Shwet Malik, BJP leader who was leader of the opposition in the last house, who is likely to be pitted against Dharam Vir Sareen of the Congress and district BJP chief Bakshi Ram Arora. By the way in the Congress camp, MLA O.P. Soni from Amritsar (West) and outgoing mayor Sunil Datti have reportedly sunk their differences and this would definitely help the party project a united image, even if it is not able to cash in on it in a big way.

Last time, the Congress had won 45 seats and this time the party leadership is 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,” says a Congress leader. The two alliance partners, SAD and BJP, have reached an agreement on numbers. While the BJP will contest 38 seats, the SAD will put up its candidates at 27 seats.

Amritsar, July 27
Every area has its own problem, whether small or big, and with the elections to the municipal corporation round the corner, city residents are hopeful that at least now their grievances would be addressed.

Visitors to the walled city area of the city are greeted by a massive web of wires. The wires, which have been put up by the telecom department, electricity board and even the local cable operators, are inseparably tangled with one another.

These wires are so low that they virtually touch the heads of the people living and crossing the area and these have caused fires and accidents in the area in the past. People living in the area avoid venturing out after dusk for the fear of touching a live wire.

Residents of the walled city areas told The Tribune that they did not even allow their children to play outside. The issue had been brought to the notice of the district authorities several times but of no avail. No senior official of any of the departments concerned had cared to visit the area and look into their problems, they said.

The wires are old and, whenever, there is a sparking, the electricity board only add more joints and do not replace the whole wire. The government has sanctioned high loads in the walled city but has not changed the meters of the houses.

The areas of Katra Khazana, Katra Safaid and Guru Bazaar are also facing the same problem. Jattanwali Gali of Katra Safaid is specifically known for this and in Khaiwali Gali there is a pole in the centre of the lane.

Dinesh Sharma, a resident of Katra Khazana, said it was the responsibility of the administration but it appeared that nobody was concerned about the wellbeing of the people. No one came to solve the problems of the area, he added. He said the wiring in the areas outside the walled city, where there was ample open space, was fully underground, whereas in the areas within the walled city, which were quite congested, the wires were hanging loosely on the poles.

The walled city area of the holy city was visited everyday by thousands of tourists for its wholesale fabric markets, he said.

Amritsar, July 27
The arrest of Santokh Singh, a Military Estate Service (MES) employee, and recovery of 3 kg of heroin from his possession has raised serious concern about the functioning of the security and counter intelligence agencies of the country. Earlier too such involvement of Border Security Force (BSF) and police employees have come to light.

Santokh, a resident of new cantonment road, was nabbed by the Special Narcotics Cell along with international smuggler Harchand Singh Narli who is a close associate of former Khalistan Commondo Force Paramjit Singh Panjwar.

Narli, a resident of village Narli situated near Indo-Pak border, was a notorious smuggler whose entire family comprising seven brothers including Davinder Narli and Sukhdev Singh Narli (who were currently in jail) and Bakhshish Singh Narli (released on bail) were involved in smuggling of herion and fake Indian currency from across the border.

“This was for the first time when Harchand Narli was caught red handed,” said SNC sources.

The SNC authorities said the consignment was delivered to the duo from Khemkaran sector during night following a fix up with their counter parts across the border.

“The culprits were nabbed while they were waiting for their contact man near the railway loco shed on the motorcycle.

We were waiting for them to deliver the consignment and kept a strong surveillance on them for last three days. A case under section 21/29/61/85 NDPS Act has been registered in this regard in Civil Lines police station here,” said the authorities.

The SNC authorities said the cell was working on several different lines to draw logical conclusion and nab other members of narcotics network having international operating in the country with international 
connections.

However, they added that still they were completing paper work and thorough probe into the. They said that they would inform the military establishments about the breach of the security.

Talking to The Tribune DIG counter intelligence said the matter was quite serious, which could have serious repercussions on the security of the country.

The police sources claim that new defence dimension has created ripples in the security apparatus of the country that were looking out for ways to counter the involvement of armed forces employees in cross border narcotics smuggling. 

Amritsar, July 27ADr Atul Kapur, chief consultant at the Advanced Diagnostics and Institute of Imaging, has been elected active member of the American Society of Spine Radiology (ASSR) at its annual business meeting held at Chicago, Illinois. This was communicated by Dr Alyssa T. Watanabe, president of the ASSR. Kapur is the first radiologist from India to be elected as an active member to this 
society . — OC

Amritsar, July 27
Delhi Public School, held a special assembly in school to mark the French week. School students also sang a poem in French. Sangeeta Singh, principal of the school while addressing the students said liberty; equality and fraternity were the three most important principles that France given to the world. Great architecture and high fashion are also gifts of France to 
the world.

The celebrations came to a close with the singing of the French national anthem. A model of the beautiful Eiffel Tower was the main attraction at 
the function.

Amritsar, July 27
The Guru Nanak Dev University has permitted its colleges to admit five poor students in each course under the existing rules of the university for this academic session. Such students would have to submit an affidavit that their income is less then 24,000 per annum. These students would have to pay a fee of Rs 2,000 only to the college 
per annum.

The university has provisionally allowed the compartment candidates of +2 examination for admission to B.A. (part-I) in its affiliated colleges under the Faculty of Arts for the current academic session 2007-08. But such candidates would have to clear their compartments in the respective subjects till December 31 otherwise their provisional admission would be treated as cancelled. This decision has been taken by the College Development Council which met here recently.

GNDU vice-chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh has categorically stated that no blanket increase could be made in the allotted seats of the units of different courses to the colleges. However, on the suggestion of some members, he said NRI and sports seats could be considered sympathetically.

The university would analyse the entire matter course-wise. The council finally decided to constitute a five-member committee consisting of four principals and one senior faculty member of the university to suggest ways and means in this regard.

The pear ( Pyrus pyrifolia ) is one of the six main fruit crops of Punjab. The fruit originated in China and was introduced in India during the reign of Lord Kanishka (120-170 A.D.), who helped some Chinese tourists settle near village Harsha Chhina of Amritsar. The pear’s cultivation then spread to other parts of Northern India.

There are many orchards of pear (pathar nakh) in Amritsar, including government ones at Attari, Patti etc. Pear is one of the superior temperate fruits having good taste and flavour. In India, its largely grown for consumption as a fresh fruit. The pear has received a boost as a commercial crop in Northern India and the area under it has been steadily increasing because of its high yield potential and good economic returns. Well managed pear orchards may yield a net income of Rs 20,000 - 25,000 per acre.

The cultivation spread to the temperate and sub-tropical regions because of its high adaptability.

The fruit is doing well in the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Patiala with maximum area under cultivation in Amritsar.

The reasons behind the switch over are many. The foremost being that the fruit is not confronted with serious problems like 'citrus decline and ‘mango malformation’. The pear needs relatively less care due to its robust nature which enables it to flourish well even on water-logged soils, where most other fruit trees fail to grow. It is also well known for its keeping quality and stands transportation well. The fruit is a nutritious one and can be used for preparation of jam, juice and chutney. Patharnakh variety is considered best for canning. Processed and preserved fruit can be transported easily to foreign markets. 

Amritsar, July 27
City’s Escorts Heart and Super Speciality Institute has been approved by the National Board of Examinations (NBE), a premier medical body for academic activity under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for starting the super speciality academic course in cardiology.

Escorts Executive Director Lt Gen (retd) Dr M.L. Chawla said the admission criteria would be on merit basis and only one student would be admitted every year for the course.

“The faculty, for the course, would comprise of four top-specialists in the field from the hospital. The candidate should at least have a post-graduate degree duly recognised by NBE/ MCI (Medical Council of India) or University to be eligible for the course.

The three year duration course would start by January 2008,” said Chawla further.

“We are planning to make a presentation to the ministry for starting the super-specialty course in two more fields including cardio thoracic surgery and cardio thoracic anesthesia which were related fields to the above mentioned course, he added.

Though many city roads, including the ones in posh colonies like Rani Ka Bagh, Anand Avenue, Ranjit Avenue, Kennedy Avenue etc, look presentable due to the work done in the recent past, the speed breakers on them are awful and a potential safety hazard. Most of them are like a ‘camel’s hump’, built haphazardly without skill or sense. The fact that these speed breakers are not highlighted with paint bands only makes the matters worse. As a result the commuters have to daily bear bumpy ride to office or home. The Amritsar municipal corporation should solve the problem as soon as possible to ensure safety and comfort of residents. I have approached the authorities a number of times but there has not been any enthusiastic response from them.