Amritsar, September 11
The Municipal Corporation is all set to kick off a drive to give the historic city a clean look from October 2. The target is to clean half a dozen wards each day in the special fortnight-long drive. The decision was taken at a meeting convened by mayor Shawet Malik on Tuesday.

“For beautification of the city, it is imminent that we start by launching a cleanliness dive to get rid of the piles of garbage in every nook and corner. The councillors would take care that their respective wards are cleaned up,” Malik said. Citing reasons, he said, “Thanks to a faulty garbage collection system of the MC, the walled city area is a picture of neglect. Garbage bins are either missing or are not used in most of the colonies. One reason is that the proposal to generate power from garbage with foreign collaboration has not yet materialised,” he added.

The corporation had recently declared that a proposal to generate power from garbage by using an integrated solid waste management technology had been finalised. Details of the Rs 36-crore project had been worked out and it was put up before the ministry of urban development for its final approval.

Presently, the garbage collection trucks go straight to the dump site and there was a need to set up transfer stations at different locations. Open trolleys needed to be replaced with different sets of vehicles depending on the density, road network and waste generation of each area. Garbage collected from different parts of the city is dumped in the middle of the Bhagtanwala grain market.

Spread over around three acres of land, heaps of garbage up to six feet in height are piled up everyday. Officials of the market committee of the Punjab Mandi Board say the issue has been taken up with the municipal authorities several times but to no avail. Every day, loads of garbage is brought to the grain market from the adjoining areas.

The road passing through heart of the grain market had also been closed due to the dumping ground, which has become a convenient place for getting rid of garbage from the city. Private traders, who had their offices near the dump have shifted away, thinking that the garbage dump is here to stay. “All these suggestions are under consideration,” says the mayor.

Amritsar, September 11
Have you ever imagined waking up one day and realising that you are the proud owner of $ 300 million. Sounds thrilling and a bit dreamy at the same time. But for 24-year-old Gurbaksh Chahal, a resident of Tarn Taran, the life has taken a turn of 360 degree. Only three years ago, Chahal floated an internet company with its headquarters located in San Jose and six other locations in California and international branches in England, Canada, Bellarus and France..

Today he is a rich man with $ 300 million in his kitty. The changing day of his life came on September 7 when Yahoo took over the company for $ 300 million.

Chahal’s father Avtar Singh Chahal, commissioner for persons with disabilities at Santa Clara County, California, had migrated to the USA along with his wife in 1985 with $ 25 each in their pockets. The kids followed them. At that time Gurbaksh was only two years’ old.

His first brush with the booming Internet industry came during his high school at the age of 17 when he floated an Internet company, Click Agents, which according to him was created out of his bedroom in December, 1998. Within two years, Chahal took the company into a strategic multi-million dollar merger in a deal valued at up to $70 million with its publicly traded competitor, ValueClick, Inc (Nasdaq: VCLK) to create the largest Internet advertising network.

From December, 1998, till November, 2000, Gurbaksh retained the role as the chairman and CEO. After the merger, Gurbaksh retained the role as president, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Click Agents/ValueClick, Inc as well as continued to execute the strategic vision of the company.

Unlike many other teenagers, Chahal didn’t waste the money, but raised another company named Bluelithium. However, the story doesn’t end here. Chahal brought extensive operational, leadership and management expertise to BlueLithium Inc. Chahal also spent three years leading venture firm HennaSky, where he focused on early stage startups in emerging markets focusing on high-growth technology companies.

In the present day, the company delivers over six billion ad impressions to over 60 per cent of Internet users every month for its growing customer base of Fortune 1000 corporations, direct marketers and advertising agencies.

Talking to The Tribune, Chahal said his dream had come true and he was extremely happy that he could be able to pay rich tributes to India and Punjab at such a young age.

“Ever since the word has gone out, I have received thousands of emails from every nook and corner of world. My son has made me proud. Not only has he brought laurels for his country, but also for his hometown Tarn Taran,” said Avtar Singh.

Amritsar, September 11
Punjab health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Akali MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha have crossed swords over the question of registering a case against Khehra Nursing Home, Valtoha, where illegal aborting of female foetuses was “detected” during a surprise raid about two months ago.

A case could not be registered on the intervention of the chief minister since the doctor is said to be a close confidant of the Akali MLA. Talking to The Tribune, Valtoha admitted that he had spoken to the chief minister for directing the police not to register any case since the doctor was “innocent.”

Valtoha alleged that the sealing of the nursing home and booking of the doctor would effect residents of about 40 villagers of the border area where government dispensaries and hospitals had failed to provide proper medical service to people.

He said he had found absenteeism quite common among doctors in government hospitals in the border area and people were dependent on the few private doctors there only.

It may be mentioned that Dr Amrit Kaur, civil surgeon, had conducted surprise raids on nursing homes in Patti Maur and Valtoha about two months ago and found ultrasound machines there for carrying out female foeticide. The nursing home was neither registered for MTP (medical termination of pregnancy) nor for ultrasound.

While a case was registered against a nursing home in Patti Maur, no action was taken against the nursing home of Valtoha, despite a number of reminders to the district police chief, Tarn Taran.

The health minister had to take up the case with the chief minister and DGP, who had promised registration of a case against the nursing home. But no action has been taken against Khehra Nursing Home so far.

However, Valtoha said he would raise the issue of the plight of government dispensaries, hospitals and absenteeism among doctors in the Punjab assembly during the forthcoming session. However, Chawla said the state government had allotted Rs 7 crore each to MLAs for providing better health and educational services to the residents of their constituencies. “Why can’t Valtoha spend this huge amount to streamline the health services in his constituency if the health system is poor in the region?” she quipped.

The health minister alleged that the border region was worst hit by drug addiction and her department had launched a campaign against the menace. On the other hand, Valtoha said he had conducted surprise checking in the community health centre, Khemkaran, where the doctor was found absent. He said instead of closing down the private hospitals, which had been doing “great service” to the border people, Ms Chawla should take action against government doctors who were not attending the hospitals, dispensaries for days together.

To a question, Valtoha said if at all the police booked the private doctor on “flimsy grounds,” the FIR would be scrapped after investigation.

Amritsar, September 11
With the arrest of former DGP S.S. Virk by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, Dal Khalsa has sought a comprehensive inquiry into the reasons for allowing an officer on deputation to continue for such a long time and into his unlawful policing methods.

Dal Khalsa spokesman Kanwar Pal Singh said, “Virk has got a taste of his own medicine.

Notoriety of the police has come full circle and the former DGP would now have to explain his illegal and unlawful deeds.”

Singh said Virk, who was coined as the blue-eyed boy of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, did injustice to all opponents of the then ruling Congress to remain in the hot seat. Virk implicated political activists in false cases and created fear psychosis in the minds of the people.

He said law had caught up with a person who considered himself above it. He alleged that Virk violated the rule of law under the garb of fighting militancy in the state.

Singh further said Dal Khalsa wanted that all vigilante groups and individuals created and patronised by Virk and his associates must be exposed.

This inquiry must be conducted by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he added.

Amritsar, September 11
Honking pressure horns in the city can prove costly now, as the district transport department has launched a special drive to check noise pollution.

The special drive, started a month ago, has already fetched record amount of Rs 7 lakh for the district transport office (DTO). As per the Motor Vehicles Act, violators have to shell out a fine of Rs 1,000 for using pressure horns. As the drive is still on the department is busy counting.

DTO Vimal Setia said the drive was not limited to heavy vehicles, but cars and jeeps were also being checked at the special checkposts put up by the transport department. “We have been stopping vehicles on the GT Road and are checking them for pressure horns. In some cases, the horns are removed on the spot,” he said.

Amritsar, September 11
After retiring, this man had zeal to do something for society. Being an educationist, he decided to use the tool of education, to bring change in society and help downtrodden children. Ajit Singh Basra (80) has been imparting free and quality education to those children who are unable to pay school fees.

Basra, on the request of Master Ajit Singh, joined Citizens Forum Vidya Mandir School, Maqboolpura, for guiding teachers in imparting quality education to Classes IX and X students on every alternate day.

Born in 1928, Basra graduated from Sikh National College, Qadian, in 1948.

After doing BEd in 1953, he joined government service as a teacher and was promoted to the post of lecturer. He finally retired as headmaster in 1986. Besides being an educationist, Basra was also leader of various teacher unions and president of the Amritsar Lecturers Union.

Basra said, “After retirement I established Sri Guru Hargobind Public High School at Saidolane village.

The school has been providing free education to about 25 per cent of the students.” He said his aim was to help a large number of poor children by imparting quality education and giving them a dream to achieve something in life.

Basra, a member of the Khalsa College Managing Committee and executive member of Chief Khalsa Dewan, said the students had will to learn and capacity to grasp the subjects taught to them. Besides, Basra is also running an NGO from his ancestral village for guiding and training village farmers to start dairy farming.

Amritsar, September 11
A mesmerising “kathak” performance by Adnan Jahangir, an artiste from Pakistan, and “gatka” played by school students in perfect drill were the highlights of the musical evening, “Rainbow”, organised by the Indian Academy of Fine Arts at Art Gallery here yesterday.

With monsoon being the theme of the show, one artiste after another tried to cast a spell on the audience by describing how everything comes alive even after a brief shower. Dr P.S.Grover sang “Rimjhim geere sawan” from Manzil film, which was followed by “Mausam aayenge jayenge” from a Pakistani album and Balwinder dedicated the song “Kali ghata chaye” to Asha Bhonsle on her birthday.

Richa Aneja, a student of DAV School, who had made it to the top 10 of the Indian Idol contest, enthralled the audience with “Ab kisi din sawan mein aag” and Jyotisha of Class VII contributed to the mood with “Barso re megha megha.” Harinder Sohal sang “Khoobsurat hai tu.”

The even started with a traditional song by Hemant Bir Singh, a student of DPS School. Students of the Khalsa College for Women and Spring Dale School also performed on the occasion.

Information and public relations minister Bikram Singh Majithia was the chief guest. SDM Manpreet Singh, honorary secretary of the Art Gallery Rajinder Mohan Singh Chinna, district governor S.P.S. Grover, Arvinder Singh Chamak and Dr P.S.Chamak were honoured at the function.

Amritsar, September 11
Army School, Amritsar Cantonment, observed September 8 as Herbal Garden Day by inaugurating a new garden developed at the school. The garden spread over an area of 1000 sq metres containing different varieties of herbal plants has been established by teachers and students.

Inaugurating the garden, Major-Gen K.M.S. Shergill, general officer commanding, Panther Division, lauded the efforts of the school staff in bringing the students closer to a clean and green environment. He said India had one of the oldest and most diverse cultural traditions associated with the use of medicinal plants. He said the plant-based system of medicine like ayurveda was 3,000 to 5,000 years old and evolved through their use over centuries.

General Shergill rued that due to rapid urbanisation and pervasive use of modern allopathic medicines this system of medicine failed to get its due recognition. He said the present generation was losing touch with medicinal plants and their usage for preventive and primitive health care. A cultural programme was also presented by the students on the occasion.

Amritsar, September 11
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu visited the elevated road project site along with newly elected mayor Shawet Malik and other councillors to review the work undertaken by Gammon India Limited. Annoyed over the indifferent attitude of municipal corporation officials and Gammon India Limited in failing to provide service roads on both sides of the elevated road, Sidhu came down heavily on those officials who, during his previous visit, had assured him of the completion of the service lane within 15 days.

Sidhu urged Malik and other councillors to take personal interest in the completion of the service road which should have been completed before the start of the project. He said the people were facing a lot of inconvenience.

The MP said whatever hindrances, including two eucalyptus trees, be removed and electricity poles shifted, which were obstructing the construction of a service road. He added that to compensate the loss of greenery 15 more trees should be planted by the forest department in the area.

He said the shopkeepers in the area had already suffered a lot on this count as they were not finding any customers due to the mud gathered around. He said time frame was must for completion of any project and the officers responsible should be made accountable. 

Amritsar, September 11
Nearly, 1050 students of BA, B.Com, B.Sc and MA (first year) took part in a talent hunt contest organised by the S.R. Government College for Women. The week-long event saw participants taking part in various contests, including quiz, declamation, poetical and shlok recitation.

Other contests included folk dance, rangoli making, mehndi application, embroidery, certificate writing, envelop making, cooking and gift wrapping. Principal Jasmeet Kaur, congratulated the participants and encouraged them to participate in extra-curricular activities for overall personality development. She also awarded certificates to around 150 students who secured top positions in various competitions. The most talented fresher award (graduate level) was won by Amandeep Kaur, while Priyanka Arora was secured the top position in the postgraduate category. 

Amritsar, September 11
A 10-day training course for NSS programme officers of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) was inaugurated by programme coordinator Sukhpal Singh Dhillon at Guru Nanak Bhavan of the varsity on Monday.

Training coordinator from Punjabi University Balwant Singh will discuss important topics of the NSS during this camp in which more than 35 NSS officers were participating. The camp will conclude on September 19. Dhillon detailed the importance of the NSS programmes. He said during this course, various NSS activities, challenges and problems faced during NSS camps would be discussed. He hoped that after the completion of this programme, officers would be able to impart adequate knowledge and direction to the NSS volunteers so that they could serve humanity as well as the country in a better way. — TNS

Amritsar, September 11
“We are still following the parameters set by the Britishers for census data collection and there is a great need to adopt a new mechanism to collect this data in the present conditions”.

This was stated by deputy commissioner K.S. Pannu, while presiding over a one-day workshop on “census data dissemination” organised by the Directorate of Census Operations, Punjab, at the conference hall of Guru Nanak Bhavan of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) here.

“In our country schemes are announced first and decisions are taken on these schemes later, but in other countries it is vice-versa. During data collection the administration has a lot of limitations like non-availability of staff and less response from the public,” Pannu rued. He exhorted the educational institutes and NGOs to come forward with their suggestions to improve the existing mechanism of data collection. “The desired and proper development of the rural and urban areas could only take place if the data collection methods are made flawless,” he added.

Inaugurating the workshop, vice-chancellor Jai Rup Singh said the data collected in the census of India-2001 had now become obsolete having no scientific value in the changed scenario. In the present era of information technology, the census should depict the true, clear and transparent picture of society with the data collected through scientific means, he added.

Expressing his concern over the data collected about six years back, the VC said there were a number of lacunas in this report which needed to be plugged. He said 80 per cent of the population of India was living in rural areas, therefore, there was urgent need of correct, complete, quick and genuine data through census, for proper development. This would help the planners and the policy makers of India and the state governments to formulate the schemes for the welfare and benefit of the general masses.

Talking about civil registration system, he said the births and deaths must be registered electronically. Expressing his concern over female foeticide, he said in spite of the ban, it was a rising trend while the data available at the moment was obsolete and irrelevant. He said there was the need to update the data based on actual facts and collected through scientific manner for better planning.

Madhav Shyam from the Directorate of Census of Punjab welcomed Jai Rup Singh, K.S. Pannu and the participating delegates. On the occasion he also presented a brief report of Census of India-2001.

Amritsar, September 11
Gunbir Singh, chairman, CII, Amritsar zone, has been invited by the board of trustees of World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) to join as honorary chairperson of the Punjab state committee of WWF-India.

Accepting the invitation, Singh said he would take great pleasure in working with the Punjab government, the NGOs and citizens at large to protect and preserve whatever was left of our ecological footprint as also evolve ways and means to maintain a balance in nature for a healthy tomorrow. He felt that it was the moral responsibility of every citizen to preserve nature for the survival and sustainability of our future generations.

Lauding the initiative of the forest minister to put forth a new legislation for forest protection, he expressed the hope that the government would involve the counsel of the WWF in providing the required inputs for the policy. He felt that there was a great opportunity in the wetlands of Punjab, including Harike Pattan which was an established Ramsar International site and was home to millions of winged visitors each year. A careful approach to tourism of this and other sites such as Kanjli and Ropar would also be welcomed, he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) is part of the World Wide Fund for Nature, an international organisation with a mission to promote nature conservation and environmental protection as a basis for sustainable and equitable development. It is perhaps the most respected NGO in the domain of wildlife and ecology conservation for a better world.

Meanwhile, WWF-India secretary general Ravi Singh welcomed Gunbir Singh as a valuable friend of the WWF and a member of the fraternity for the past 35 years.

Amritsar, September 11
The next time a streetlight in your lane stops working, just call up the municipal corporation, even at midnight. The “dial to complain” project is a brainchild of new mayor Shawet Malik.

Talking to The Tribune, Malik said the numbers would be toll free for the callers as the charges of incoming calls would also be borne by the corporation. The two numbers would be circulated soon.

The entire system would be computerised and in case of calls received after office hours, the message would be recorded.

Two complaint registers have been placed in the mayor’s office and the complaints would be attended to in a time-bound manner, says Malik.

“The attempt is to make the corporation available to the general public and make sure that one does not have to run from pillar to post to get complaints registered about anything concerning the corporation. The new system would also ensure that there is no backlog and an attempt is made to set deadlines,” he said. The number and kind of complaints would also be analysed by the corporation to chalk out policies in case a particular area is facing a particular problem.

“We have also asked the sanitation staff of the corporation to hit the roads and make sure that people of Amritsar have better civic amenities,” he said.

Amritsar, September 11
With the aim to gift eyes to those who cannot see, Rotary Eye Bank is proving to be a boon. Presently situated in the Daljit Singh Eye Hospital, this eye bank has already registered 72 societies with it and encouraged many to donate eyes. As a result 8,344 persons have already pledged to donate their eyes to the bank with a cause that somebody could see the world with their eyes.

Established in May 2002, the bank conducts corneal transplantation giving a hope to the visually challenged and lead a normal life. Besides holding conventions, the bank also puts up hoardings in the city to educate public regarding common causes of blindness that can be avoided.

Interestingly the setting up of this bank was the club’s dream, says eye bank secretary V.P. Lakhanpal. He said, “The club always wanted to promote eye donation and conduct corneal transplantation. With this view we approached eye specialist Daljit Singh.” The club asked Daljit Singh to set up an office in his hospital where the members could work under his guidance.

Lakhanpal said, “The Amritsar Rotary Club had around Rs 7 lakh from the Rotary World Intra Ocular Lens Society. The society’s financial secretary Inderjit Sud gladly gave us the money.” As far as expenditures are concerned the eye bank uses the interest of the amount only, he added.

Later, a committee was formed with Daljit Singh as president, Lakhanpal as secretary and Sud as financial secretary.

Talking about the bank’s projects, Lakhanpal said, “The eye bank also conducted check-up camps for eye tension because glaucoma was one of the common causes of blindness.” More than 16,000 persons were examined during the various camps with auto-tonometer donated by Rotary International which could detect eye tension without touching the eye cornea.

The bank has extended its project for testing eyes of children belonging to slum areas. Eyesight of aboutm 40 students from different schools was checked every week and free spectacles were provided to the needy, he added.