Amritsar, October 23
“This house was constructed more than 150 years ago by my forefathers. I have been living here since my childhood and now the administration claims that I have encroached upon the area in historic monument Serai Amanat Khan,” 
said 80-year-old Parkash Chand.

He said the administration had even installed electricity meters since it was first introduced in the state more than 50 years ago. And now the district officers and politicians were claiming that we had encroached upon the area after Independence.

“Our houses are in very dilapidated condition. The restrictions imposed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) would damage them further, if not repaired,” he added.

Another resident Vijay Kumar, showing his ancestral house, rued that the ASI was not allowing him to repair his century-old house constructed by his forefathers. He said if the government wanted to acquire his house for establishing a national monument it should give adequate compensation for his house which was presently valued Rs 50 lakh.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ASI had taken up the project of repairing the monument 10 years ago which was constructed during the reign of Mughal king Shahjehan. Badshai Road passed from Attari and Goindwal via Serais Amanat Khan, Nurdin, Naurangabad and Fatehabad. These were of the same design and dimensions. The outer walls of the serai have already fallen, whereas its two gates still stood in a dilapidated condition. Outside the serai is the tomb of Amanat Khan, now in ruins.

Village sarpanch Sarwan Singh Bittu said 95 per cent of the population in the area belonged to the backward class or Dalits working in the farms of zamindars of the area.

Only 5 per cent of the population was capable of buying land and construct houses outside the complex.

He rued the district administration and said that political leaders of the area were not taking any interest to safeguard residents’ interests. Showing the houses whose roofs had fallen in the absence of necessary repairs, Bittu said the people were now forced to move out of the area.

It is putting financial burden on those who were already reeling under the increasing prices of the essential commodities. It was not possible for the poor and Dalit residents to spend Rs 10 lakh to construct a five-marla house outside the serai, he added.

Amritsar, October 23
Despite clear instructions to government hospitals to provide separate queues for senior citizens, aged in the holy city have to jostle in common queues for hours, waiting for their turn.

The consumer rights protection society has now taken up the matter with the health authorities stating that instructions issued by the secretary, health and family welfare department, Punjab in 1993 that there should be a separate queue for pensioners and elderly persons in government hospitals, were not being implemented in Amritsar.

General secretary of the society BR Preenja said the then director, research and medical education, Punjab, had also issued letter to all principals of government medical colleges, to follow the department’s directions. In January 1999, the Centre formulated uniform national policy on older persons and sought several benefits and concessions for them, he said.

The secretary, social security women and child development, Punjab, in his letter dated February 25, 1999, has also sought provisions for separate queue for senior citizens in the hospitals and dispensaries, bus stands and libraries, said Preenja. “The medical superintendent, SGTB, hospital also circulated the government directive in this regard on August 1, 2001 after realising that the directive was not been complied with in the hospital. The circular was addressed to all professors and heads, professor in-charges and all the clinical departments of the GMC,” he said. The Punjab governments vide its notification August 27, 2004 decided to treat persons who have attained 60 years of age as senior citizens and declared them eligible for the benefits explained in the national policy on elder persons framed by the union government.

The national policy on older persons also seeks, among other benefits, that public hospitals be directed to ensure that elderly are not subjected to long waits. The hospitals were also advised to provide separate counters to the senior citizens, he said.

The sad part of the story is that the national policy is not enforced even in the central government offices - general post office, railway station and banks.

“She is a blessing of God and my wife and I would bring her up like our own daughter. My daughter has grown very fond of her and has decided to call her Jyoti for bringing a new ray light into our lives,” he said.

He said the formalities for adoption had been completed. “We also met Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain, who appreciated the fact that families from the city had instantly offered to adopt the child,” Walia added.

SSP Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said so far this year, five abandoned babies had been found in the city and all the babies were females. Besides, one case of infanticide was also reported, wherein the body of a newborn female child was found.

Though families volunteer to adopt abandoned children. But if no one turns up, the police hands over the children to the local Pingalwara on the orders of the court.

Hakam Singh, field exhibition officer, DAVP, Chandigarh, said the train exhibition was widely publicised through advertisements in the print and the electronic media.

The 12-coach Azadi Express train have three sections covering the first war of independence in 1857 and the events which led to it, period of freedom movement and lastly the country’s progress in the post-independence period. The events are depicted through panels, graphics, dioramas, projection screen and through an audio system.

The first section of the train deals with the revolt of 1857 portraying events from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the major popular uprisings leading to the great revolt of 1857. The highlight of this section is the 1857 revolt and various flash points such as Barrackpore, Meerut, Lucknow and Delhi, which are presented artistically through sketches, cutouts and other audio-visual formats.

The second section shows details of the 90 years of freedom struggle beginning with the proclamation of bringing India under the British Crown up to the attainment of freedom in 1947.

The third section is on the post-independent era portraying India’s achievements in various fields such as framing and adoption of the Constitution, democracy, democracy in action, planned development, building of strong industrial base, Indo-Pak conflicts, nation’s economic success and achievements in science and technology and IT.

The 12th coach has sales counters selling mementos, khadi and other products connected with India’s freedom struggle. It also has facilities for briefing on the exhibits through audio-visual presentation. — TNS

Amritsar, October 23
Professor Robert Arnott, director of the centre for history of medicine of University of Birmingham, UK, visited the Guru Nanak Dev University here today and interacted with the vice-chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh to identify the academic areas of mutual collaboration. The VC apprised Professor Robert about the various programmes available at the varsity. He said GNDU has a state-of-the-art infrastructure in biotechnology, human genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, botanical & environmental sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, sports medicine & physiotherapy. Prof Robert revealed that his varsity was keen on having an academic exchange programme with the GNDU, especially in medical sciences.

He said they could also consider entering into an agreement with the GNDU in other disciplines. Dr SS Johal, a former VC of Punjabi University and vice-chairman of Punjab Planning Board who accompanied the guest suggested that before the final collaboration, a model should be developed for joint programme and exchange of faculty and students. Johal added that a joint degree programme at the graduate and postgraduate level could also be considered to provide exposure to the students.

Amritsar, October 23
Guru Nanak Dev University would host “JNC frontier lecturers and learning science” from October 24 to 26. The programme is being held in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

Stating this, professor emeritus Harjit Singh said C.N.R. Rao, chairman science advisory committee to the Prime Minister of India and president of JNCASR, Bangalore, would deliver the inaugural lecture on October 24. The programme would be inaugurated by GNDU vice-chancellor JaiRup Singh.

Professor Harjit Singh said, “Rao would be addressing on chemistry of nano materials.” The event would include participation of scientists of international and national repute.

They would deliver lectures on application of DNA chemistry in therapeutics and materials, click chemistry and organic synthesis, bio-inorganic chemistry, organic reaction on water, femtosecond spectroscopy and macro cyclic coordination compounds and beyond Van Der Waals.

The scientists participating in the event include Prof. , professor at JNCASR V. Krishnan, S. Chandrasekaran of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, K.N. Ganesh, director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, N. Satyamurthy, director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Kankan Bhattacharya of the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, and R.N. Mukherjee of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Professor Harjit Singh said, “The frontier lecture programme aims at introducing young postgraduate students, researchers and teachers in chemistry and physics to the exciting world of contemporary education and research in chemical and physical sciences.”