Amritsar, March 21
City residents couldn’t wait to play Holi and the holiday on Good Friday gave them a chance to begin playing with colours a day in advance. 

While the health conscious headed straight to the market to buy packets of skin-friendly “safe colours,” others decided to stock eggs in their refrigerators for some better use.

With their faces smeared with “gulal,” revellers went around the city on bikes and small children strategically positioned themselves on rooftops to target commuters with their water guns and water balloons.

The city markets wore a deserted look and the parking areas turned into Holi playgrounds for youth who started with their colouring expeditions early in the morning. The show was over by afternoon in most parts of the city.

Holi was also celebrated at the Durginana Temple and Golden Temple, where devotees had turned up in large numbers to celebrate the festival of colours with religious fervour. Men and women carried loads of “gulal” with them.

Like every year, a “rath yatra” was taken out inside the Durgiana Temple complex. Devotees also took a holy dip in the water tank. The highlight of the occasion was “matki” contest, organised on the lines of famous Janamashtami celebrations in Mumbai where youth climb on each other’s backs to reach the “matki” full of butter and curd at a considerable height.

Holi celebrations also took a murkier turn with the trend of playing with eggs catching up in most parts of the city. The district police rounded up youths found creating nuisance by forcibly throwing colours and eggs on passersby.

Youngsters made a beeline to buy water guns at wholesale prices in the Katran Baghian market, which had a whole bunch of shops setting up special Holi counters.

Ashwani Mahajan, owner of Bille Di Hatti, said bigger water guns, which come with a tank and can be hung at the back, are the latest rage among kids. Water guns with pictures of Bollywood film stars are also selling like hot cakes, he said.

The sale of “safe colours” has also picked up even though the ordinary “gulal” is much cheaper and a pack of 1 kg comes for only Rs 5.

Mohan Lal Mahajan, president, Mahajan Sabha, said the people of the walled city played Holi with great enthusiasm and by afternoon everyone was filled with colour from head to heels.

Amritsar, March 21
The Kesh Sambhal Sanstha (KSS) has now come up with a SACH centre being established in the Ranjit Avenue area in pursuance of its aim of propagating Sikh tenets among the people, especially the Sikh youth which is moving away from their beliefs.

The sanstha was established as a trust in July 1997 at Amritsar by former IRS officer S.J.S. Pall with an aim for translation of Sikh scriptures in various languages. The main aim of the sanstha was to spread the message of importance of unshorn hair and turban in Indian traditions whether of Hindu or Sikhs. The sanstha is also dedicated to the care of rich heritage of Punjab.

The proposed SACH centre will have a mediation room, a library related to Sikh and other religions. The centre is being set up on the land allotted by the state government to the sanstha in Ranjit Avenue for charity works.

Sanstha genenral secretary Sukhdev Singh Sandhawalia said the organisation was running a free dispensary, besides organising small-time courses in computer hardware and mobile repair at a nominal fee of Rs 500. It was hiring the faculty from Ludhiana for providing training to interested youngsters. However, due to a lukewarm response, they had to discontinue the course for some time.

Sandhawalia, who is a government school teacher, said, besides the library and meditation room, the centre would also consist of an auditorium fitted with modern gadgets for cultural activities. The construction of the auditorium was in the first phase.

About the funds for the construction of centre, he said, besides public donation, the trustees also provided Rs 25,000 annually for various works of the sanstha. Besides founder and chief trustee S.J.S. Pall, the other trustees included Sharanjit Kaur from Delhi, Swarn Singh from Delhi, Jugebir Singh Walia and architect and engineer Dr Satinder Singh Dhingra, who died in a road accident. 

Amritsar, March 21
Residents of Bagh Ramanand are having sleepless nights for many days. Their nightmare is big but the creature creating it is small. The rodents in the area are giving a tough time to the area residents, especially those in lane number 5.

The area is not alone. Even localities like Katra Ahluwalia, Lala Wali Gali, Kutcha Kalyan Dass Bhatia and Dharek Gali are in the grip of the menace.

Talking to The Tribune, Bagh Ramanand Welfare Association general secretary Jagdish Singh said, “Many burrows have been dug in the area for laying water pipes due to which rodents have become a common problem. At some places the burrows are so deep that even anti-rat sprays are ineffective.” Despite several representations to the municipal authorities, no action had been initiated, he added.

The residents alleged that the issue had been hanging fire for the last two years and every time work was deferred for paucity of funds.

“Though an estimate of Rs 1.21 lakh has been prepared for repair work in the area, the case has not been presented in the house meetings of the municipal corporation,” alleged Jagdish.

Association president Surinder Singh Gandhi said, “The rat menace is so severe that sewer pipes have become rat-infested. Besides, rats puncture pipes which lead to contamination of water and sometimes even damage old buildings.”

Municipal commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda said the corporation would soon act on the complaint and the corporation was working on a proposal to launch a drive against rodents in the affected areas.

Amritsar, March 21
An awareness programme on the schemes of “Cluster development” for the benefit of the Industrial Associations, Industrial Units and other stakeholders was organised by Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Institute, Ludhiana, under the union ministry of MSME here recently.

The programme was organised in association with the District Industries Centre in which leading industrial association and their representatives, besides government officers, participated.

Kahan Singh Pannu, deputy commissioner, while inaugurating the programme, insisted that associations should come forward to get the benefits of the scheme, which is specially designed for sustainable development of the industries.

D.P. Bhagat, general manager, District Industries Centre, spoke on the scenario of the Amritsar industries. He said the union and state government were taking keen interest for the industrial development under the cluster programme.

S.S. Bedi, assistant director and cluster development executive from MSME Development Institute, informed about the various schemes under the programme.

In the technical session, expert and guest faculty from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisations (UNIDO) and MSME Foundation, New Delhi, delivered talks.

Amritsar, March 21
The Punjab government should now announce the much-needed relief for the common man, especially waiver of farmer loans taken from arhtiyas, as the model code of conduct was no more in force following the postponement of panchayat elections.

Stating this in a release to the media here today, senior Congress leaders, inlcluding Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Harpartap Singh Ajnala and Tripat Rainder Singh Bajwa, said that while announcing the budget the state government had cited the model code of conduct as its main compulsion behind not giving any relief to the people. Now the government should announce people-friendly policies as the state election commission had deferred the panchayat poll and lifted the model code of conduct, they added.

Randhawa said as the election code of conduct had been withdrawn and the budget session was under way, the SAD-BJP government must come forward and waive Rs 13,000 crore burden that was due to arhtiyas or commission agents by the farmers of Punjab as it was a state subject. Besides, the government must announce relief to the employees and other sections of society, he added.

He said if the government failed to announce any major relief for farmers, employees and the common man, it would depicts that it befooled the common man in the name of code of conduct.

Describing the budget estimate exercise of the government as an exercise in futility, the Congress leaders said there was noting worth mentioning in the budget.

Lashing out on the SAD-BJP government, Randhawa said the coalition government had failed on the financial front and the budget had turned out be directionless as there was nothing worth mentioning on financial reforms, new plans for industry and generation of employment.

Amritsar, March 21
Though the fate of kidney scam unravelled in holy city few years ago is still to be decided, another case of kidney victim has come up to light. Satpal Singh alias Gora, resident of Khandwala, claimed that his right kidney was removed in 2000 without paying him enough compensation.

Showing the scar on the right side of his abdomen, Gora said he was contacted by a middleman who offered him Rs 40,000 for his kidney. The man took him to a laboratory in the Company Bagh where his tests were conducted and as his blood samples matched with the recipient, he was introduced to a person Vicky Bhatia.

“On the next day I was asked to visit a private hospital where Bhatia introduced me to the patient and told me that recipient was not financially sound,” said Gora. He added that Vicky had promised him additional Rs 50,000.

However, Satpal rued that he received only Rs 40,000 from the recipient. He said, “I have not received the amount promised by Bhatia till date”.

Gora said after the surgery he had not been able to do heavy work and was earning his bread by cleaning utensils at tea shops. He claimed that former MLA Vimla Dang had highlighted his case, but no one came forward to help him.

Talking to The Tribune, SSP Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said recently the police had cracked a gang which was alluring gullible people for donating their kidneys. SSP said the police was also investigation the gang’s connection with Dr Amit, who was involved in the kidney racket.

Amritsar, March 21
Taking a cue from a report published in The Tribune, the corporation’s town planning department swung into action to remove the encroachments on Mall Road and Lawrence Road here.

Talking to The Tribune, commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda said the civic authorities was serious to demolish the extra constructions made by the malls and other commercial establishments as they had covered large areas in violation to the building bylaws and the sanctioned plan of the buildings. He said the corporation was going to seal the buildings which had been constructed in violation of the existing approved plans.

Kharbanda said the corporation was planning to issue a public notice to the residents of the city that they should comply with the rules and regulations of the corporation and remove all kinds of encroachments within the stipulated period and after that no leniency would be shown to anyone. He said the holy city which received a large number of tourists and others should give a congestion-free look and the movement of traffic should be a smooth affair.

The commissioner said they had already worked out a comprehensive traffic plan for the city which would be implemented in a phased manner for a hassle-free movement of vehicles and pedestrians. He said all pavements would be cleared off encroachment and rehriwalas.

Amritsar, March 21
Revolutionising the working of rural police stations, the Amritsar (rural) police has taken a series of steps by computerising all the police stations and connecting these computers with the headquarters. The internet facility has also been provided at these police stations covering the entire rural belt of the district. Separate e-mail IDs have been enumerated to all the major police stations.

The basic aim of the internet facility and networking has been to provide free access of information to one and all. The general public could also give their valuable suggestions on the click of the mouse to the police authorities. This could also be used for passing information. SSP Iqbal Singh said this had been done to streamline the functioning of the police and bring about more efficiency and avoid cumbersome paperwork which generally resulted in delay. He said a large number of people now had access to computers and internet at home and they could seek and provide information under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

This is perhaps the first time that the police has offered transparent services to the public and even provide information under the RTI Act on internet.

The SSP said the police department had made special efforts to make the police personnel computer savvy as without proper IT knowledge it would not be possible to communicate in next few years. He said the police personnel had been imparted special training at rural police lines. He said high-level courses in computer would also be introduced for providing training to the policemen.

He said his own e-mail ID (helpline_sspasrr@yahoo.co.in) would be available for the general public for filing complaints. For seeking information under the RTI Act the public can sent their queries at prodpoasrr@yahoo.com  <mailto:prodpoasrr@yahoo.com> . The e-mail ID of major police stations of Amritsar police district are:

Ajnala: mhcajnala@yahoo.com <mailto:mhcajnala@yahoo.com> 

Ramdass: mhcramdass@yahoo.com <mailto:mhcramdass@yahoo.com> 

Majitha: mhcmajitha@yahoo.com <mailto:mhcmajitha@yahoo.com> 

Lopoke: mhclopoke@yahoo.com <mailto:mhclopoke@yahoo.com> 

Kathunangal: mhcknangal@yahoo.com 

Beas: mhcbeas@yahoo.com <mailto:mhcbeas@yahoo.com> 

Mehta: mhcmehta@yahoo.com <mailto:mhcmehta@yahoo.com> 

Amritsar, March 21
Mission Aagaaz - Earth and Resources Care Group, an NGO, has proposed to set up a pollution monitoring centre at Ram Bagh, popularly known as Company Gardens, for getting actual figures on daily basis.

NGO executive director Deepak Babbar said this would also help to make the historic garden an environmental hub where the visitors could be made aware of the environment degradation and its remedies by showing environment-related videos on a wide screen on the Company Bagh premises.

The organisation also expressed its concern over the increasing air pollution by three-wheelers in the city. He said it was quite surprising that even after a number of representations to the district administration, nothing had been done to check the problem. He alleged vehicles using spurious fuel were emitting poisonous smoke and running on the roads unchecked. These vehicles could be well dubbed “cancer machines”, he added. He urged the district authorities to apply stringent measures to control this menace before it was too late.

Meanwhile, the Mission Aagaaz celebrated Holi as “world water day”, besides planting 120 saplings on the Polytechnic road here. It stressed on celebrating Holi with natural colours and urged the people to desist from using water on this festival of colours.

Amritsar, March 21
The special narcotics cell here achieved a major breakthrough with the seizure of 5 kg of heroin and arrest of three smugglers and managed to unearth a major drug syndicate operating in the border areas of Punjab. The suspected consignment had the Pakistani origin on the packets.

SSP of the SNC Tulsi Ram said that a special party had the information about the presence of three heroin smugglers, all belonging to the Ferozepore belt, Balkar Singh, alias Bara, Jagga Singh and Kulbir Singh, who had earlier been involved in smuggling of a major consignment of arms and ammunition from Pakistan in the Khemkaran sector. They were nabbed by the BSF last year and released on bail recently. According to preliminary investigations, the notorious smugglers have close links with Pakistan smuggler Waris Khuni who had sent him this consignment and other contrabands.

The SSP said investigations were being conducted on different lines in order to unearth a nexus and network of the smugglers. He said the accused were apprehended on March 18 from Jandiala Guru when they were waiting to deliver the consignment at the T-junction on the Tarn Taran-Jandiala road in a silver colour Accent car with local a registration number. The police has registered an FIR under sections 21, 25, 59 and 85 of the NDPS Act. — OC

Amritsar, March 21
North India Technical Consultancy Organises, a private sector joint venture company with financial institutions, organised a faculty development programme here.

Company spokesperson Sunil Kumar said the basic objective of the programme was to inculcate entrepreneur education among the lecturers. It would help them to take entrepreneurship as a part of the syllabus and it as one of the career options for the students.

The programme emphasised on the need to generate interests for self-employment among the students. On the concluding day, participants were awarded certificated by Focal Point Industrial Association chairman Harminder Singh.

Amritsar, March 21
The Idiot Club here put up a parody show to highlight the disastrous show of the Indian hockey at Santiago where the team was ousted from the qualifying round of the Olympic hockey to be held in Beijing this year.

Rajinder Ricky congratulated K.P.S. Gill for the shameful defeat and held a “chautha” to “celebrate” the debacle. He said Gill should be honoured by the Government of India for removing the Indian hockey from the International scene as he had done to the militancy in Punjab.

Amritsar, March 21
Former Punjab BJP youth wing president Tarun Chugh today demanded that the Indian government should exert pressure on China to stop attacking the Tibetan people and their culture in the name of people’s war, besides interfering in the internal affairs in Tibet.

Chugh said the Communists, supporting the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, were not denouncing the Chinese attack on helpless Tibetans on the ground that it was Beijing’s “internal matter” whereas it was criticising the UPA government for interfering in the internal affairs of Nepal.

He said this was another fine example of the never-ending double standards of the Leftists who had earlier too failed to condemn the Chinese aggression against India in 1962.

He said these Communist leaders were still not coming out with any statement against the Chinese army for killing hundreds of helpless Tibetans.

He further said that the Congress was treating the matter as such to win the Communists.

Amritsar, March 21
In campus interviews organised at the Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology (ACET), 77 students of B Tech (electronics) from the institute were picket up by NR Switches and Radio Company.

Department of training and placements head Gaurav Tejpal said this was the third campus placements in the institute and earlier Infosys and HCL had picked up 117 and 118, respectively, in the joint campus placement held during 2007-08.

College principal Dr Rajneesh Arora said 90 per cent students of the 2007 batch had been successfully placed and expected that students of the 2008 batch would also be employed by June 2008.