Amritsar, June 27
Known for his sharp wit and swashbuckling personality and always hit with the young generations, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who was responsible for creating history by liberating Bangladesh, erstwhile East Pakistan, passed away last night at a military hospital in Wellington after prolonged illness. He was 94 and was a highly decorated officer. The people of the city today paid their homage and tribute to the legendary Army officers who made the city proud.

Born and brought up in Amritsar, he brought glory to the holy city by rising to the top most rank of Field Marshal for his extraordinary military leadership. Recalling his early childhood, members of the family of late senior journalist G.R. Sethi said that during his younger day Sam would visit the Service Club with his father Dr H.F. Manekshaw. During a game of bridge he would play pranks and his father would chide him and he would hide himself behind family friends to escape a thrashing.

After early days of his schooling, he moved to a convent school in the hills and came down to the city to complete his intermediate studies at local Hindu College - the college that produced present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and many cricketing giants, including Bishan Singh Bedi and Madan Lal.

Nostalgic about his affectionate and affable attitude, he would solicit respect and warmth from a large number of local people with whom he developed instant rapport with his infectious smile. Racalling a number of incident, people here revealed that during a reception hosted by his alma mater, Sam came down the stage and touched the feet of elders present at the function.

During his many visits to the city as senior Army officer and later as Chief of the Army Staff, he would always make a point to visit his father’s clinic at Katra Ahluwalia where a chair of his father was kept vacant by the present owners who looked after their property and workplace for many years to keep their family’s memories alive.

A senior local historian, who had the fortune of studying the lives and history associated with many stalwarts, said that Maharaja Ranjit Singh in order to give a new dynamic political look to the local masses invited many progressive communities, including Marvaris, Naurias, Gujaratis, Kashmiri artisans, Parsis and allowed them to settle in Amritsar by offering them places for settlement. All these communities gave a varied contribution to the development of the city. It is revealed that during such invitation the Manekshaw family also decided to make Amritsar their home city in the early 19th century.

The Manekshaw family built a house on a 5,000 square yard plot on The Mall and became a notable social figure of Amritsar. Sam’s father was a founder member of the first Rotary Club in 1935 and also member of the Service Club and the Amritsar Club.

After the Bangladesh war, Sam Manekshaw, popularly known as Sam Bahadur due to his association with Gorkha regiment, was publicly honoured at a big reception hosted by all the rotary clubs and the people of the city at the historic Ram Bagh Garden. Addressing the gathering the Army Chief had said that he was proud to be honoured by his own people where he spent the best period of his life.

Amritsar, June 27
Citizens’ school Vidya Mandir, a school for poor children of drug victims in the Maqboolpura area, infamous as locality of widows, is contemplating self-help group for widows.

This was revealed by Brij Bedi, social activist and president of the Citizens Forum, during anti-drug abuse march organised by the school in the Maqboolpura area on the occasion of International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking here.

Brij Bedi, who was instrumental in setting up the school, said it was necessary to give employment opportunities to the womenfolk in the area who are forced to washing utensils in households, by starting small industry of spices or embroidery, etc.

It is pertinent to mention here that the school was established by Bedi along with Master Ajit Singh, a government teacher, with 20 students in 1999 after reading a story in The Tribune.

It was hailed as a unique experiment to fight drug abuse. Maqboolpura, on the outskirts of Amritsar, literally means a place of eminence but became notorious for it was losing its men to drug addiction. The school is known all over the world for its selfless service. It also runs a kitchen for 100 students for which the ration is provided by a group of five Marvari friends. The school has its own building.

Amritsar, June 27
The brunt of extreme anxiety due to mounting inflation is experienced both by the owners of eating joints and their customers.

Starting from vendors of street food to fast food joints and fine dining restaurants, all have revamped rates in their menu due to an increase in the cost of LPG, cooking oil and other raw material required by the food industry.

Ankur Khanna of Crystal, quintessentially an upscale restaurant among tourists and locales, has increased its prices attributing to the rise in the cost of commodities like vegetables, edible oil and gasoline. Vegetarian delicacies like “paneer palak” or “paneer kadai” which earlier used to cost Rs 100 will now be available at Rs 130 which means a substantial rise of 15 per cent, while cuisines for meat lovers have become dearer by 10 per cent. Rates of “naan-roti”, Chinese, aerated drinks and desserts have mounted up by 5 to 10 per cent, whereas sumptuous mocktails, which used to be priced at Rs 65 are now expected to cost Rs 85.

Navdeep of Astoria, a multi-cuisine family restaurant, has also revised its menu increasing rates by 10 per cent. Similarly, there is also cumulative hike of 5 per cent in the rates of Pizza Hut. Surplus street food vendors have modestly increased their cost by Re 1.

Regular customers, especially the ones with families, are stunned due to such 
skyrocketed prices. They feel indiscretion made to them, which is pilfering 
their pockets.

Exploring other food establishments like Burger King, Kobe and coffee houses like Café Coffee Day have maintained resilience by themselves absorbing the inflation costs, retaining rates of previous menu.

Amritsar, June 27
Imagination, creativity and hard work combined together make the life of theatre artiste. Theatre is a universe and artistes working for it are the stars twinkling in the galaxy. An artiste working for theatre should know how to pen down the thoughts, emotions and expressions into a real drama.

Amritsar city is the proud owner of Punjabi Virsa Vihar, which is now making waves in getting the world acknowledge the rich cultural heritage of Punjab. Story of Virsa Vihar dates back to 1947 when India got its freedom. During that period it was the age of open-air theatres as eminent artistes were fully dedicated to perform plays and dramas based on emerging social and political conditions of the country. Gursharan Singh and Balraj Sahni were among the stalwarts who, with their immense talent, had performed in several live shows.

The brainchild of Kartar Singh Duggal, the famous Punjabi writer, Punjabi Virsa Vihar came into being on January 13, 2007, when alongside the Lohri festival the members celebrated the beginning of dramatics.

Although Duggal contributed Rs 2 crore to this institution and deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu helped to relive the dreams of prominent actors, the five-storey building is still waiting for the infrastructure. The main objective of Virsa Vihar is to promote the talent among the youth of the region who want to carve a niche for themselves in the field of theatre, besides making the holy city the centre for promoting heritage and culture of Punjab.

Virsa vihar is currently running its five prominent wings and all these are enlisted as Amrita Pritam Sahit Sadan, Gursharan Singh Rangmanch Sadan, Baiju Bawra Sangeet Sadan, Natraj Nritya Sadan and Amrita Shergill Fine Art Sadan. And then there is a library, Dhani Ram Chatrik Library.

Amritsar, June 27
The play, “Main Punjab Bolda Haan”, based on the epic “Panj Nadian Da Geet” (The song of five rivers), authored by noted Punjabi poet Harvinder, covered a vast canvas of more than 4,000-year history of Punjab.

The play, directed by Kewal Dhaliwal, staged at Naatshala for the first time, here on Thursday evening enthralled the jam-packed audience. The spectators gave a standing ovation to the artistes of India and Pakistan who performed in the play.

The play was prepared during the month-long theatre workshop, organised by Manch Rangmanch in collaboration with the National School of Drama and Punarjyot. This is was for the first time that the young artistes have joined together from areas as far as Queta, Multan, Kasur and Baluchistan, besides Lahore, and worked with young Indian artistes, thereby depicting true composite Punjabi culture of the joint Punjab.

“Main Punjab Bolda Haan” is basically based on the evolution of Punjab and its current pitiable economic and social situation.

The play, loaded with heavy facts and figures about the deteriorating economy of Punjab, calls upon the Punjabis from all over the world to join hands to revive the pristine glory of the state. The play also draws the attention of the audience about the tragic suicides being committed by the Punjabi farmers.

Starting from the days of ancient Punjab, the play touches the medieval period of Naath Jogis, era of Sikh Gurus and the golden period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, besides the modern period. Tracing the history of the magnificent cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro that lived and died along the banks of the mighty Indus and its tributaries, the play pointed out the fast depleting underground water table due to over-exploitation of natural resources.

Amritsar, June 27
After facing a flak from the public for its inability to nab the culprits of the sensational Rs 37 lakh bank heist case, the district police is finally close to crack down the mystery.

According to sources, the police has got vital clues from the crime spot and bank van which was taken away by the dacoits. The vehicle was later recovered by the police from Bohru village on Jhabal Road.

Sources said the cops took more than 100 persons into their custody for investigations and more than 250 phone calls were traced to get evidence.

Though the sources said the prime accused of the crime had been arrested, district police chief Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh denied it. However, he confirmed that culprits were in their reach and would be arrested soon.

It may be recalled that on June 3 four masked men looted Rs 37 lakh from the cash van of the Bhagtanwala branch of the State Bank of India.

The van had been carrying Rs 57 lakh, but Rs 20 lakh was dropped out of the van as the robbers fled from the scene. The thieves also injured security guard Gurmeet Singh during the crime.

Amritsar, June 27
Dal Khalsa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enforce the anti-tobacco act strictly, besides setting up of a national-level task force to stop drug trafficking along with international borders of Punjab and the local borders with Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Dal Khalsa leaders Kanwar Pal Singh and H.S. Dhami also urged the PM to instruct the respective ministries to launch a special health awareness and sports participation programmes.

They said it was time to wake up to the occasion and declare a full-scale war on these enemies of society and humanity. The leaders alleged that the younger generation was the victim of manufactured drugs. They alleged smack from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka reached Punjab with the complicity of the administration and politicians.

Coming down heavily on the bogus pharmaceutical companies in and around Delhi for manufacturing fake drugs, the Dal Khalsa leaders allege that these drugs were sold in bulk in Punjab without bills and prescription in clear violation of the drug and cosmetics act and blamed political leaders for rise in the drug abuse as they used liquor and narcotics substances to woo voters during elections.

Meanwhile, the Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) today organised a motorcycle rally to spread awareness against drug abuse. The rally started from Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh, passed through various bazaars of the city and culminated at Chatiwind Gate.

Amritsar, June 27
The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) stated that it would not tolerate any discrimination against “sabat surat” Sikh players.

In a press statement issued here on Thursday, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Makkar said that Pushpinder Singh who was allegedly harassed and disqualified during the 41st junior national boxing championship held at Nagpur on the basis of rules of the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) saying that no one with beard and moustache could take part in the tournament.

Makkar said that Pushpinder would be honoured by the Shiromani committee for uncompromising attitude regarding his Sikh identity.

Amritsar, June 27
Though he is busy throughout the day managing administration of the Golden Temple, he spares time for selfless service of gurbani and kirtan singer.

Bhai Harbhajan Singh, who holds the post of manager at the Golden Temple, has been reciting gurbani since his childhood. Calling his father Amar Singh as his inspiration, Harbhajan said, “Singing kirtan and gurbani are gifts of God and only a few are blessed. It’s only God’s grace that I am able to manage all my daily chores along with kirtan without any hassle.”

This staunch Sikh said a meeting with Bhai Mahinder Singh, member of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, changed his life. “I always wanted to be a perfect kirtan singer like him and he gave me that opportunity. I became a member of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and my dream came true,” he said, adding that hymns were like food for his soul.

Popularly known as Bhai Harbhajan Singh Tarn Taran Wale, he joined the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in 1980 as a clerk. His determination, honesty and hard work raised him to the post of manager at the Golden Temple in year 2006. He also served the mini-parliament of Sikhs at various positions.

Interestingly, it is perhaps for the first time in the history of the SGPC that a kirtan and gurbani singer holds the post of manager of the Golden Temple.

Popular for his versatile and loving personality, Harbhajan has performed kirtan in various countries on the invitation of different religious organisations.

Amritsar, June 27
There are many issues which he wants to address for the overall development of the holy city, but expansion of the Amritsar international airport and a joint integrated checkpost at Attari are on top in Sidhu’s priority list now.

Without mincing words with his unequivocal stance, Sidhu said the government should immediately order acquisition of 44 acres of land for the expansion of Amritsar airport. “The plan would help to meet requirements like shifting of some of the Air Force facilities which would give more land for the airport terminal building and parking,” he added.

Sidhu said, “We have already identified the land and now I would take up the issue with the Punjab government so that we get a final nod for completing the formalities and hand over the land to the airport authorities.”

Sidhu, who visualises a major role of the airport in the development of Amritsar, said the airport would need at least 1,000 acres of land and the development of air operational terminal would commensurate with the GDP of the city. However, he expressed fear that the airport project may become stagnant in case the projects were not cleared on time.

Talking about integrated checkpost, Sidhu said his efforts bore fruits as the government allowed movement of cargo trucks across the no-man’s land.

He said the Central government had prepared a comprehensive project report with the help of Rites Consultant Company of the Railways.

The report has recommended an investment of Rs 360 crore for a six-lane cargo road on 120 acres which would facilitate faster movement of goods truck with proper inspection and rummaging. Besides, the project envisaged installation of truck cannons to avoid movement of illegal elements, he added.

Amritsar, June 27
The Coordination Committee of the Paramedical and Health Workers (CCPMHW), Amritsar, has urged the Punjab government to hold a vigilance inquiry against ESI medical superintendent (MS) Jatinder Mandher.

The committee members alleged that Mandher had been claiming house rent and non-practising allowance even though she was not eligible for it as per the rules. They also organised a dharna today against her “autocratic” and “dictatorial” attitude.

Addressing the protesters, CCPMHW state chief Avtar Singh Baath lashed out at Mandher for withholding increments of some staff members. He said Mandher was suspending and terminating ESI employees on one or the other pretext for her own interests.

He alleged that she hardly remained in the city during working days which had been impairing working of the ESI hospital. Besides, in her absence, the administration was being run by a hospital pharmacist and a clerk, he added.

“Lack of infrastructure and medical back-up services is reducing the number of patients to the ESI hospital and immediate attention is required,” he said. — TNS