Amritsar, September 23
Even as the four-day impasse between the municipal corporation and agitating employees ended here today after a four-hour stormy meeting in the mayor’s office, the state government has given nod to recruit 600 employees to make the holy city clean.

After abolishing of the Mohalla Sudhar Committees, the state government would give Rs 7,200 per month to the employees who were earlier getting only Rs 2,880 per month.

The MC commissioner, D.P.S. Kharbanda, has claimed that the representatives of all 14 employees unions have called off the four-day-old strike, thereby paving the way for the implementation of the ambitious solid waste management (SWM) project, the brainchild of the BJP’s MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Members of the Safai Union had parked garbage-loaded vehicles in front of the mayor’s office in protest against the SWM project, fearing retrenchment.

The mayor, Shavet Malik, said the corporation had agreed in principle not to retrench even a single employee while implementing the SWM project.

Instead, the private player would be bound to recruit all drivers of the garbage-lifting vehicles from Amritsar.

Kharbanda claimed that the SWM project would be a boon for the holy city and the employees were carried away by the “false propaganda,” engineered by certain “vested interests.”

He said taking Amritsar as a roll model, the state government had decided to implement SWM project in all 127 municipal committees and corporations.

The state government had also engaged ILFS - a consultant agency for the implementation of the SWM project. The commissioner said the SWM project was likely to be implemented within 45 days.

On the other hand, neither Chief Minister nor Shiromani Akali Dal supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal have accepted the demand of senior deputy mayor Ajaybir Singh Randhawa and junior deputy mayor Kashmir Singh, who belong to the Shiromani Akali Dal, to cancel the tenders passed by the finance and contract committee.

They had boycotted the meeting in which tenders for the SWM project were passed on the pretext that they were not taken into confidence by the mayor, who belonged to the BJP.

Amritsar, September 23
While the government was contemplating to set up new thermal power stations in the state, the brick-kiln industry here feels it would land them in deeper mess as scarcity of coal would further increase.

Accusing government of framing policies which have proved ‘detrimental’ to the industry, the Amritsar Brick Kilm Owners’ Association today said the coal coal has become costlier by more than Rs 4,000 per metric tonne within four months. “Earlier, this basic raw material was available for Rs 5,500 per metric tonne and now we have to shell out Rs 9,500 for the quantity. The sudden and steep increase in coal prices has disturbed the industry and would adversely affect the state economy,” said the association president Inderjit Verma. .

Notably, there were around 2,700 brick kilns in Punjab, out of which 200 exist in Amritsar.

“The proposal to set up new thermal plants won’t do us any good as it would increase the demand for coal,” said Mukesh Nanda, general secretary of the association.

“Every year a new department is formed which starts collecting fresh taxes, putting enormous pressure on the industry.

There were only four departments around 20 years ago. But today there they have multiplied,” he further claimed.

Nanda said the government guidelines do not allow them to use briquette, an agro waste, to tackle shortage of coal. Regarding exploitation of labourers, he said proper remuneration was being given to the workers

Over the issue of use of highly-polluting fuels including discarded tyres, alkaline battery shells and waster obtained from discarded mobile oil in the kiln, Nanda said there may be isolated instances but not all brick kiln owners are indulging in the same. “Action should be taken against ‘erring’ persons,” he added.

Amritsar, September 23
The Indian Academy of Fine Arts (IAFA) here would exhibit rare paintings of the great painters of the 20th century and contemporaries of renowned artist Sobha Singh during the platinum jubilee celebrations to be held from September 27.

Stating this to mediapersons today, Dr Neeta Mohindra, secretary, performing arts, said the fine arts wing of the IAFA would hold an exhibition of the rare works of Hari Singh (1894-1970), S.G. Thakur Singh (1899-1976), Master Gurdit Singh (1900-1981) and G.S. Sohan Singh (1914-1999). She announced that six paintings each of these artistes would be displayed in the exhibition.

She said these artists were also the contemporaries of Avninder Nath, Raja Ravi Verma and Nand Lal Bose. She rued that Punjabi artists had been ignored where as much had been written and discussed about the great Bengali artists.

Mohindra said the culture, which was much a part of Punjabi’s life, was not recognised as a “special activity” and thus was not documented and added that Punjabi humility goes so far as to call itself as having no culture but agriculture. She said the exhibition was an endeavour to give the work of these great masters its due in the history of art. She said the postcards of their works would also be released on the occasion and later the prints of their works would also be made for the general public.

She said a three-day national workshop of postgraduate students was also being organised from September 25 in which 26 students of 13 postgraduate colleges and universities would be participating. She said the workshop was being organised along with the exhibition so that the art scholars could also witness the works of great masters of Amritsar.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhupinder Singh Nanda, vice-president, IAFA, said they had approached the family members of these great painters to provide them the paintings for the exhibition purpose, which would be returned to them later. He rued that instead of showing the works of their forefathers, they preferred to keep these works in their store houses. He said they were able to acquire some of the paintings from SGPC officials and other organisations. 

Amritsar, September 23
As many as five lakh people in the country suffer from epilepsy. This was revealed by Dr Rajneesh Sharma, head of department of neurology, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, during the inauguration of series of neurology camps, being organised by the institute, here on Tuesday.

These camps would be held on September 22 & 29, October 6 & 13. He said people suffering from various problems like paralysis, headache, migraine and loss of memory could avail the benefit of experts’ advice.

Dr Rajnish said nearly 40 percent of the patients, who visited the camp, were suffering from epilepsy. He said tapeworms in the brain (neurocysticerosis) were one of the major causes of epilepsy in the country.

Unfortunately, no survey had been done at state and district level regarding this, he said, adding that neurocysticerosis could be treated with medicines. He said people should desist from going to quacks who would only aggravate the problem. Avoid pork and wash the vegetables thoroughly with clean water to cut the parasite risk.

Amritsar, September 23
“I want to do something significant for my state and country after completing my study in UK”. These were the words of Jasvir Kaur, a Punjab girl, who left for UK on Monday on a scholarship, provided by University of Wolver Hampton, to pursue her higher studies.

Belonging to a middle-class family, Jasvir is a role model for students who dare to dream big and then work towards it with unflinching devotion.

Hailing from a remote village, Kotli Than Singh, near Jalandhar, she completed her basic studies from a government school in her village. She never wanted to stop right there.

She had a dream, to go to college and pursue a career in IT sector. But she did not know how to achieve it as she was well aware of the fact that her father, with his mediocre earnings, would not be able to afford her studies.

However, the ray of hope came in form of Prof Harbans Singh Bolina, who spotted her outside the office of principal of Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.

The philanthropist not only sponsored her three-year education but was also offered his valuable guidance to the girl. And indeed Jasvir did not disappoint him.

She is one of the two students from Punjab who have been selected by the delegates of University of Wolver Hampton, who were here to meet the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had urged them to provide scholarships to bright students who hail from a weak economic background

Jasvir has been picked up for MSc (Computer Science) course and will get a scholarship of Rs eight lakh.

Before leaving for UK from Amritsar, she gave all credit of her success to Prof Bolina. Jasvir received the scholarship letter from the office of the British High Commissioner on September 4.

Amritsar, September 23
Jyot Parkash of DAV College, Jalandhar, was declared winner in the inter-college debate on “Population explosion is threat to environment,” organised by Guru Nanak Dev University and sponsored by the Association of Indian Parliamentarians, New Delhi.

Amritsar, September 23
Newly elected president of the Punjab Ayurvedic Medical Services Association (PAMSA) Dr Atamjit Singh Basra today said that his first priority would be to nominate the remaining members of the executive committee in the coming few days.

Dr Basra, while talking to The Tribune, said after the formation of the executive committee he would take up the matter of treatment of ayurvedic doctors at par with their allopathic and Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) counterparts with health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla.

Seeking cooperation from the opposite group to further the cause of the association, he said their role would also be important as they could only solve their problems by putting pressure on the government by showing their unity.

Dr Basra said he would work for uplift of the ayurveda stream of medical treatment. He said that one of the oldest therapies had remained in the backdrop for many decades. However, recent times had shown a rising trend as more and more people were expressing their trust in ayurvedic medicines and way of treatment.

He said he would also work for opening more auyurveda centres in the state in order to promote ayurveda