Amritsar, September 26
Ruling party MLA Anil Joshi and the district police have again crossed swords, creating an unsavoury situation in the holy city, which is considered as one of the most vulnerable cities of the state from the security point of view.

Since Joshi and district police chief Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh have been at loggerheads on certain issues for a long time, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP have found themselves in a piquant situation.

Though Joshi is a protégé of BJP MP Navjot Sidhu, the latter has been supporting the SSP.

The recent provocation is the cutting of the lock of the “back door entry” of the bus stand by the MLA himself, which had been put up by the police to regulate the entry. The BJP MLA and his brigade of youth workers announced that they would cut the lock again if the police put it up in future. Joshi said such decisions on the part of the police caused inconvenience to the common people.

Earlier, the Joshi brigade and the Mahila Mandal had drawn daggers in March when two factions of the district unit of the BJP had taken diametrically opposite stands over the demand for action against two police officials facing assault allegations.

While health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla was in favour of retaining the SHO on the basis of his track record, the other faction, close to Joshi, had served an ultimatum to get the SHO shhifted.

The local police had also faced a lot of embarrassment when the MLA himself had led the protest dharna on Lawrence Road following challan of a vehicle which was lifted on the assurance that the ASI responsible for challaning the supporter of Joshi would be placed under suspension.

Though Navjot Singh Sidhu had arranged at least two meetings to find an amicable solution to the impasse, nothing concrete had come out of it.

However, the state government and the BJP had failed to bring a rapprochement to save the situation. If the state government and the ruling party didn’t come up with a solution soon, it could lead to some unsavoury situation in future.

Amritsar, September 26
Multi-slice spiral CT scan would soon be part of the government-run Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. Significantly, the charges of scanning would be much less than the market rates and even than in Government Medical College, Patiala, and Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot.

The CT scan machine, which would help in early and correct diagnosis of diseases, would start working in the first or second week of October. The original cost of the machine is Rs 4.5 crore and is being installed by Advanced Medical Imaging and Research Private Limited, Bathinda, under the public-private partnership programme.

The multi-slice spiral CT scan would provide round-the-clock services on all working days, besides all holidays.

Dr G.S. Shekhwat, director of Advanced Medical Imaging and Research Private Limited, said the facilities were also provided to the needy and economically weaker people as about 10 per cent of scans would be done free of cost for them.

He said this was the latest machine with the facilities of sub-second, sub-millimetre, multislice spiral i.e. Helical CT scan which would enable to complete scan within no time with excellent high-resolution contrast images for diagnostic information.

Tarn Taran, September 26
The district unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) organised an awareness seminar against TB here in association with the health department .

Civil surgeon Dr Amrit Kaur was the chief guest, while district president of the IMA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal presided over the seminar.

The others who addressed the gathering were district TB officer Dr Gagandeep Singh Grower, Dr Dinesh Gupta, Dr Harjit Bharti and Dr Ramandeep Singh who spoke about the steps to be taken to stop the spread of the disease. The speakers said that one patient suffering from this disease affected about 20 other persons. The specialists said it was a matter of great satisfaction that its percentage of recovery was more than 85.

Dr Amrit Kaur spoke about the steps taken by the department to prevention and cure of the disease. She added that under the DOT scheme all the tests of the patient were conducted free and the medicines too were given free of cost by the department. — OC

Amritsar, September 26
Irked over the hue and cry raised by various Hindu organisations over the holding of the “Changai” sabha here, various Christian associations have urged the Hindu groups to participate in the meeting to see for themselves whether Christian organisations were indulging in conversion or not.

Addressing mediapersons, Daniel B. Das, coordinator of the socio-economic development programme, said they had simply organised a prayer meeting to promote the cause of prosperity, brotherhood and peace in the country.

He said they always welcomed criticism but it should be based on facts.

He said certain Hindu organisations, without knowing the facts, were criticising them for even holding small functions.

It is pertinent to mention here that the district administration had diffused the tense situation arising out of the Bajrang Dal’s protest march on Tuesday against the Christian missionaries over the issue of holding a “Changai” sabha at Alexendra School.

The sabha was to be addressed by foreign missionaries who had come to India on a tourist visa. A large number of activists of various Hindu organisations had gathered in the Shivala Bhaia area and had planned to organise a protest march up to Alexendra School to protest against the sabha.

Amritsar, September 26
Even as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had announced exemption of entertainment tax on Punjab Naatshala in June this year, the bureaucracy failed to implement the decision even after three months.

Ruing the fact, Naatshala founder Jatinder Brar said it was the long-pending demand of theatre lovers and artistes who had been fighting for waiving the entertainment tax on live performing arts.

Punjab Naatshala had done yeoman’s service in the revival and promotion of theatre in the border district and its adjoining areas. Badal had declared the exemption while watching a play “Faasle” at the Naatshala. He was impressed with the efforts of Brar who selflessly created the Naatshala which not only helped in saving theatre and encouraging theatre artistes but also played a vital role in generating a lot of theatre audience and lovers who regularly visit the place.

The Naatshala has been equipped with the latest gadgets and technical backup and has become a place of importance for visitors and tourists. Many budding artistes, schoolchildren and theatre legends have performed here.

Brar said the authorities had failed to clear the file even though they approached them a number of times. He said he himself got the file cleared from the Chief Minister and gave it to the authorities concerned, but the decision was not implemented.

He said now when the government had even exempted cinema halls from the entertainment tax, what was the hurdle to waive off the tax from the Naatshala.

He urged the Chief Minister to look into the matter and get the exemption soon.

Amritsar, September 26
Unaware of her father’s roots in the holy city, a Thai teacher has landed here to trace her father’s relatives and his landed property which he had abandoned to migrate to Thailand after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.

Prephaiporn Hanjra, who landed in the city carrying photographs with a hope in her heart and prayer on her lips that she might locate her close relations to whom her father had been sending regular money till he died.

She said according to her mother’s account, Buta Singh, her father, was sending financial support to her aunts and uncles (father’s sisters and brothers) and to freedom fighters known to him.

Talking to The Tribune, she said that after the 1919 incident, her father had a quarrel with a Britisher and during the altercation Buta Singh had accidentally killed him. To avoid arrest and punishment, he managed to sneak out of India and reach Thailand where he married her mother Vien.

Her parents had seven children and she was the youngest among the siblings. Her father used to talk about his days in Amritsar and said that during partition of the country he had 100 acres of land here. The government here was in constant touch with him regarding the compensation of the land. According to her, there was also some information about her father receiving the amount but somehow he could not come to India to pursue the case for compensation from the government.

A teacher by profession, Hanjra, a resident of Chumporn province, near Bangkok, has come along with her friend Makawan, who is a student in Kolkata. Buta Singh died in 1976 at the age of 78 when she was seven-year old. Her mother also died in 1986. She revealed that the most redeeming feature of her family was that they continued to have full faith in the Sikh religion, while her mother was a devout Buddhist.

Hanjra said it would be very disappointing if she was unable to trace any of his relations and roots in India. She said that she had deep commitment in her mission and after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple yesterday, she prayed that the Almighty give her strength to accomplish her task to locate the close relatives of her late father.

Amritsar, September 26
Bharti Singh, who created a record of sorts by reaching the grand finale of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge-IV being telecast on Star One, is a versatile theatre artiste.The city girl made a mark in the field of humour and laughter, a field hitherto considered as the domain of men.

“What is unique in her performance is that she laughs on herself to evoke humour rather than laughing on others,” said Jatinder Brar, a renowned theatre personality and founder of Punjab Naatshala here.

Appealing to the people for her unique art, he said voting Bharti would be like voting for art.

A student of the local BBK DAV College for Women, it was not easy for Bharti to reach the top. She had to struggle in her life as she had lost her father when she was just five, Brar said and added that she was a natural theatre artiste and humble human being.

A champion at histronics, she had won national awards during her stint as a theatre artiste. Out of 900 theatre shows at Punjab Naatshala, she had performed in almost 350 plays, Brar said. Another aspect of her theatre persona was that she writes scripts herself. She is a national-level champion and gold medalist in drama.

Ritu Sharma, a lecturer at BBK DAV College, said another male bastion had fallen to women with women making their strong presence felt at a tough platform.

She said Bharti proved her mettle in her first performance at the college. “We believed and trusted her talent and she made us proud,” she added. She said all DAV institutions, including her own college, had been voting for her and appealing to the public to vote for her.

Amritsar, September 26
Students of Alpine Public School today returned after securing an overall third position in the AISSCE north-west region sports held at the university campus of Jaipur in Rajasthan. The school won two gold medals and eight silver medals. The school basketball team won a bronze medal.

Jugraj won gold medal in 400m race and Rhythm in 3 km walk. Jugraj won a silver in 800m race, Germanjeet in 5 km walk, Gurjant in 110m hurdles, Gurwinder in discus throw, Germanjeet Singh, Johndeep Singh, Jugraj Singh and Gurjant Singh in 4x100m relay.

TSRS Aravali won the first overall position and Mayo College second.

The management and staff of Alpine Public School have congratulated the winners and their parents.

Amritsar, September 26
Jasbir Singh, secretary to vice-chancellor and the oldest employee of Guru Nanak Dev University, resigned after putting in 39 years of service here on Thursday.

In his brief resignation letter, he said that circumstances did not allow him to continue as secretary to the vice-chancellor.

It may be mentioned here that after retiring in 2000, Jasbir Singh continued to be secretary to Dr H.S. Soch and Dr S.P.Singh. He also worked in the same capacity with present VC Dr Jai Rup Singh for more than two years.

Jasbir Singh had joined the university as personal assistant to the then vice-chancellor Samundri who had joined on November 1 (Punjab Day) in 1969.

They continued to work with the makeshift arrangement till the new VC office (later converted into the guest house) came up in the university complex.

Amritsar, September 26
Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School (SGHSSP), GT Road, won both the junior and  senior categories of the Sahodaya schools folk song competition held on the school premises in which more than 30  students from CBSE schools participated.

Renowned folk singer Gurmit Bawa was the chief guest on the occasion. In the junior category the SGHSSP, along with Sri Guru Harkrishan International School, was declared winner, while in the senior category the SGHSSP and Khalsa College Public School jointly bagged  the first prize.

Earlier school principal Dr Dharam Veer Singh welcomed the dignitaries. The star attraction of the programme was folk song sung by Lachi Bawa and Guleri Bawa and their mother Gurmit Bawa who regaled the audience with their famous folk songs “Jugni” and “Doli Na Chahiyo — TNS

Tarn Taran, September 26
In a bid to transform the man-dominated rituals, Baljit Kaur lit the pyre of her father Kirpal Singh (83) who died here on September 23.

Baljit is the eldest of the two daughters of Kirpal. Her sister Daljit Kaur is a college lecturer at Amritsar, while Baljit is a PCMS. Kirpal never regretted that he had no son and provided higher education to his daughters. The two sisters always helped their father in performing day-to-day chores and took proper care of him during his old days, besides taking him to the doctors for routine check up.

Kipal had been associated with a number of social organisations. The parents of Baljit’s mother reside here and the family has a large number of male members. When they were ready to lit the pyre, Baljit Kaur stopped them from doing so and said that she being the eldest child of the family would perform all the last rites of her father. She herself brought the body to the cremation ground in a car.