Amritsar, October 16
A red alert has been sounded in Punjab, in view of the blast at Shringar cinema hall in Ludhiana. The security has been beefed up at major religious and tourist spots including the Golden Temple and Durgiana Temple here. Security has also been tightened at the Amritsar international airport, railway station and bus stand.

However, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, SSP, while talking to The Tribune said the police had already been put on a high alert for last three days due to Navratra festival and adequate arrangements have been made at religious places. Senior police officers including R L Bhagat, DIG border range along with SSP personally visited important places to oversee the arrangements and to get the proper feedback of the security around the sensitive places. The senior police functionaries held a meeting with cinema-hall-owners and gave necessary instructions to them to take precautionary measures to avoid breaches in security.

Meanwhile, police parties had been conducting search at Railway stations, bus stand and international airport since Monday night. It is still continued, said Vijay Partap. Senior police officials also visited the Durgiana Temple, Longawala Temple, Mata Lal Devi temple in Rani Ka Bagh besides nearby areas of the Darbar Saheb. According to reports, nakas have been put up at all entry and exit points of holy city. The SSP said policemen were also keeping a close watch on all heavily crowded areas.

Meanwhile, many social and religious organisations condemned the blast that led to the death of six persons including a 10-year-old child, while injuring about 12 persons. Khalsa Action Committee (KAC), while strongly condemning the attack, described it as inhuman and barbaric. Bhai Mohkam Singh and Kanwarpal Singh, leaders of KAC, urged the state government to hold a high level probe and order judicial enquiry to bring the real culprits  to book.

Manmohan Singh, UK based leader of the Dal Khalsa also condemned the attack.

Amritsar, October 16
With the introduction of online complaint system, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has become the first corporation in Punjab to do so.

Inaugurating the system, MC mayor Shawet Malik said now the people of the holy city would not have to wait for hours to make a beeline in the departments concerned for the redressal of their grievances. He said the residents could register their complaints on toll-free BSNL number 1800-1802-103 (from BSNL landline/mobile phone) thus saving their precious time and money.

He said that for other cellular users the number for registering their complaint was 0183-2540902. However, he clarified that this would not be toll-free and the consumers would have to pay for their calls. He said the complaint would go direct to the departments concerned who would be responsible for removing the grievances of the general public besides giving remarks on the complaint. He said proper records would be maintained and he would personally take initiative that no complaints remained unattended to.

He said the complaints could be registered after working hours also through interactive voice response system and answering machine system. He said the machine would further ask the residents to press 1, 2 or 3, as in the railways enquiry system, to record their complaints in the department concerned.

He said if the complaints remained unattended, the official concerned would be held responsible for that. He said the BJP and SAD had promised the people of the state to introduce modern techniques to facilitate the local residents. He said he had also taken round of the holy city during late hours to see whether there was proper street lighting in various parts of the city and claimed that after giving necessary instructions to the concerned officials in this regard he had been able to ensure 90 per cent street lighting in the city.

The mayor said under the automisation of the holy city, the corporation has recently introduced bus service on the trial run and had been successful in it. He said the corporation would introduce cheaper bus service from January so that the congestion on the roads could be lessened and the people don’t have the problem from moving one part of the city to the other.

He said the state-of-the-art buses having many facilities would be introduced in the city. He said under the Jawaharlal Nehru urban renewal mission, the corporation had sought funds of Rs 5 crore from the central government and soon work would be started on the major roads of the city to repair them for the smooth flow 
of traffic.

He said under the scheme the new sewerage and drainage system would be laid in the city. He said that the councillors along with BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu would urge Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to release funds for the repair of other roads of the city during his forthcoming visit on October 19. 

Amritsar, October 16
With crumbling walls and fading original designs, the palace of Maharaja Sher Singh, situated at Batala, is crying for immediate attention.

The outer walls of Maharaja’s palace, which is presently under lease and control of Baring Union Christian (BUC) College, need urgent repair. The plaster from the wall has come off from a lot of places.

The interior of the palace, which houses the administrative wing of the college, is being maintained by the college authorities. However, the outer walls need repair from a number of places besides few coats of paint to preserve the walls.

It is pertinent to mention here that Batala was one of the oldest towns in the province of Lahore during the mediaeval times. It was a home to nearly 14 monuments of religious and historic importance.

Of these five were mosques, two temples and two Gurdwaras. Besides, three monuments were connected with the Sikh history and two with the Mughal period.

Amritsar, October 16
The two-day exhibition-cum-sale of hand painted fabrics and other materials started at art gallery on Madan Mohan Malviya road today. The exhibitor Kiranreet Singh said the exhibition includes hand painted unstitched salwar kameej, shawls, sarees, dupattas, stoles and kurties with sequins work on cotton, georgettes and pure chiffons.

Giving details, she said the fabrics were painted with Acrymin dyes and steamed. They were also washable at home. Popularly known as Bugli, she had organised more then 110 exhibitions including two in Dubai.

Amritsar, October 16
Travelling fellows of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine(AFSM) from China, Hong Kong, Philippines and India undertook an extensive lab training in the department of sports medicine and physiotherapy of Guru Nanak Dev University here.

The travelling fellows, during their visit to the university, attended a three-day “Continuing medical education programme on Mulligan’s concept of manipulations” by Dr Deepak Kumar, certified manual therapy teacher of the Mulligan concept from Australia and a former student of the department of sports medicine and physiotherapy.

They also participated in “Pain management in sports medicine” workshop by Dr Sanjay Wadhwa, professor and head of physical medicine and rehabilitation, PGIMER, Chandigarh.

They also worked in various laboratories of the department of sports medicine and physiotherapy.

The fellows included Dr Yinghui Hua, attending doctor in the department of sports medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, Dr Eric Ho Po Yan, department of orthopaedics and traumatology, Chinese University, Dr Ma. Teresa Tricia M. Guison-Bautista, department of preventive, family and community medicine, faculty of medicine and surgery, University of Santo Tomas Espana St, Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines, and Dr Dhammapal Sahebrao Bhamare, consultant, Sancheti Hospital, Pune.

They also visited the Golden Temple, Attari border and other famous places of Amritsar during their stay before leaving for Thailand to attend the 10th Asian Federation of Sports Medicine Congress to be conducted in Pattaya.

Amritsar, October 16
A blood group testing camp was organised by the NSS unit of the laws department of Guru Nanak Dev University in association with Namita Nursing Home on the university campus here today.

While addressing the students, Dr Jai Rup Singh, vice-chancellor, shared experiences of his recent visit to China with them. He said the social transformation came there due to the contribution of the students.

The vice-chancellor honoured more than 50 NSS volunteers of various departments for donating blood more than once by presenting them mementos and certificates. Prof Kuljeet Kaur, head of the laws department, Dr Jaspal Singh and Dr Vimaldeep Singh, NSS programme officers, spoke about the objectives of the NSS.

They said during NSS camps in the adopted areas the volunteers undertook various social works of slum cleanliness, tree plantation, Pulse Polio and educating people about the menaces of drug addiction and female foeticides, etc.

Dr Jaspal Singh said a directory of 500 blood donors of the university would be prepared and needy patients could get blood by contacting the NSS units of the university.

Meanwhile, Raj Singh of the history department has been adjudged the “best volunteer” for the year 2006-07. Jaswinder Singh and Rajwinder Kaur were honoured for participating in the Republic Day Parade.

Dr Vimaldeep Singh proposed a vote of thanks.