Amritsar, October 31
The race for the chairmanship of the Amritsar Improvement Trust ( AIT) is hotting up with new faces in the BJP trying to stake their claim for the coveted post.

In the changed political scenario, the young turks in the party are doing the rounds of national and stateheadquarters to grab the post, thus affecting the chances of the senior leaders to get appointed as the chairman.

This is also likely to affect the party dearly in view of the parliamentary elections to be held next year.

There are 27 seats of chairmanship of the improvement trusts in the state and out of this the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would get 14 seats while the BJP is likely to get 13 seats. The SAD had already declared most of the names.

The senior BJP leader and former chairman of the improvement trust, who has put in more than 50 years in service of the part was fighting hard to get the seat.

On the other hand, another senior leader and former district president Om Parkash Kalia (also Sidhu’s close confidant) and former district secretary Satpal Mahajan are also in the race. Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, a new face in the party who has made entry into the state executive committee in the shortest time, is also in the race.

This is proving to be the main test for BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu as on the one hand he is going to contest the parliamentary elections from Amritsar while on the other he has to assert his authority to get his candidate nominated for the post of chairmanship of the improvement trust.

The discontentment among the seniormost members in the party from the district may prove costlier for Sidhu in the next parliamentary elections.

The appointment of Sidhu’s confidant Col (retd) Amrik Singh to the post of district president has already caused lot of resentment among party workers

Amritsar, October 31
Some office-bearers of the Brick Kiln Association here are using banned toxic fuel allegedly in connivance with officials of the pollution control department.

A brick kiln owner on the condition of anonymity told The Tribune that some office-bearers of the association were using banned fuel like discarded tyres, alkaline battery shells and mobil oil filtrate, popularly known as “gaad.”

He said whenever the department officials raided the brick kiln sites, such owners get prior information about the raids and remove the objectionable items.

He said members of the association were divided over the use of discarded tyres, alkaline battery shells and mobil oil filtrate. He said these were very cheap source of heat and burn completely as compared to coal.

He said the price of this type of fuel ranged between Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 per tonne, whereas coal cost Rs 9,000 per tonne and contained moisture and impurities. Thus there was a vast difference in the cost of production of bricks resulting in handicap to those brick kiln owners who use coal and refrain from using toxic and banned fuel, he added.

When contacted, Nazir Singh Mansahahia, executive engineer, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), said watch was being kept on the brick kilns in the district and action would be taken on those found using tyres and other material.

He said last year, too, they had made surprise checks on the brick kilns and about 25 owners were found using these and the matter was reported to the higher authorities.

He said the department had warned them to refrain from using the toxic materials and asked them to deposit Rs 1 lakh as bank guarantee, which would be forfeited in case they were found using the same material besides cancelling their licences.

He appealed to the people to come forward and bring to their notice if any brick kiln owner was using the toxic material.

The brick kiln owner urged the chairman, PPCB, for regular monitoring so as to check the use of banned fuel, otherwise most of the brick kiln owners would be forced to close their units and find some other source of livelihood.

He said uneven price structure of bricks prevailing in the market due to the use of banned fuel had hit those using coal hard.

He said the burning of toxic fuel resulted in high concentration of carbon monoxide and sulphuric acid in atmosphere causing lung cancer and other respiratory diseases among the residents living on the periphery of the city.

Amritsar, October 31
The Red Ribbon Express, flagged off by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, National AIDS Control Society and Nehru Yuva Kendra to spread major awareness on the dreaded disease, would reach Amritsar on November 5.

Addressing mediapesons, deputy commissioner (DC) Kahan Singh Pannu said seven coaches of the train have facilities of HIV/AIDS testing, counselling and conferencing with specialised doctors on board. He said special efforts are being made to make the high-risk groups like truck drivers and drug addicts aware of the disease.

The DC said during the three-day stay, the artistes accompanying the train would perform in cluster of villages around the city. “In total 72 villages would be covered. Local artistes have also been roped in to boost the campaign. Apart from it, the health department and anganwari workers would also put up stalls during the functions,” informed the DC. Around 4,000 HIV/AIDS patients have been identified in the border belt said Pannu, adding that they are being provided proper medicines, medical aid and counseling at AIDS counselling centre of government medical college. 

Amritsar, October 31
The Academic Staff College (ASC) of the Guru Nanak Dev University has rescheduled the commencement of refresher courses in computer science, electronics and information technology and chemistry.

Dr HS Bhatia, director, ASC said the three-week refresher course in computer science/electronics/ information technology would now be held from November 11 to December 1 in the ASC premises. The refresher course in chemistry, which was scheduled to begin from November 11, would now be conducted from November 28 to December 18, he added.

Amritsar, October 31
The first phase of the mini-secretariat to be established in the holy city has been complete as the architectural plan of the building has been prepared and the work on the construction is likely to begin in January 2009. With the establishment of the mini secretariat, all the offices in the district would start functioning under one roof to facilitate the general masses who have to move from one place to another to get their work done.

Deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu said all the formalities have been completed and the work would start from January 2009. He said no changes would be made to the present DC office and efforts would also be made to maintain the heritage building. The suvidha kendras would also be set up in the secretariat, he added. Besides the offices of the district administration, police and tax offices would also be set up in the secretariat so that people don’t have to face any difficulty in locating the offices.

The decision to construct the secretariat at an estimated cost of Rs 35 crore was taken by the state government more than two years ago but due to scarcity of funds during the last one-and-a-half-year, the project could not be started.

Now, as the architectural plan of the mini secretariat is ready and funds have been provided by the state government, it would soon see the light of the day.

Amritsar, October 31
The commuters are having a tough time while travelling on the GT Road near bus stand area here as one side of the road has been dug up for laying sewerage system.

The service road was recently relaid by Rohan and Rajdeep Company. The road was earlier full of potholes giving hardships to the commuters using the road in view of the construction of highly ambitious elevated road project, the completion of which have been delayed.

Brij Bedi, a social activist, who travels on the route daily to go to his school in the Maqboolpura locality, said the civic authorities should use common sense to avoid the harassment to thousands of commuters.

He said they should streamline the traffic and the construction of sewerage. They should have constructed double road to avoid traffic congestion. He lamented that the municipal corporation was not concerned about the plight of the people of the areas as well as of the commuters. He said MC officials should have applied their mind to solve the problem rather than adding to the confusion on the roads. The traffic jams were frequent, which resulted in brawls further adding to the chaos. He said they should have devised a traffic plan to ease the traffic along the elevated road.

The digging up of road for laying sewerage showed lack of coordination among various departments of the government as the service road was recently built to ease the traffic snarls. The point of lack of coordination was raised many times but the authorities turned a deaf ear to the suggestions of the public. Bedi said the authorities were least concerned about the public convenience.

Residents and the shopkeepers of the area rued that first it was the chaos created by the elevated bridge project construction and now the digging of the sewerage have further compounded their harassment. They had not only suffered due to loss of business but also due to a lot of dust in view of the construction in the area.

Earlier, the half-a-kilometre stretch around the bus stand on the GT Road was used to be covered in couple of minutes, but now with the construction going on both sides of the road it takes half an hour and even more to cover the same.

D.P.S. Kharbanda, commissioner, municipal corporation, said they had asked the sewerage board to dig up the road that was immediate required to lay the pipes and that also on a side of the road to avoid traffic congestion on the busy thorough fare. He said the elevated road project was likely to be completed till Bhandari Bridge by March next year.

Amritsar, October 31
Inspite of the directives of the state government, terrorism-affected families in the districts of Tarn Taran and Amritsar have been forced to observe a black Divali this year as they have not received enhanced pension for the last six months.

Stating this to the media here, Dr B.R. Hastir, chairman All Indian Terrorist Victim Association and All India Migrants Federation, said the district administration was responsible for not depositing the money in the banks.

He said pensions were revised from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per month in April this year but none of the families have received the increased pension for the last six months.

The arrears and funds have also not been deposited in Baba Bakala, Batala, Zira and Patti.

Deputy commissioners of Tarn Tarn and Amritsar, Khushi Ram and Kahan Singh Pannu, respectively, while admitting scarcity of funds, said efforts were being made to arrange the funds so that payment could be made to the terrorist victims as soon as possible.

Dr Hastir said the SDM’s account in the Punjab National Bank’s Lawrence Road branch showed only Rs 5,100 while the payment due to the terrorist victims was about several lakhs of rupees. He said same was the position in the bank’s branch in Jandiala Guru. He said the matter had been brought to the knowledge of the district administration which had assured that payment would be released before Divali. He rued that nothing had been done in this regard.

Amritsar, October 31
Spring Dale School was declared overall winner at 6th Davinder Pal Kaur memorial basketball tournament that concluded here recently. As many as 12 teams from various schools participated in the tournament.

International basketball player and DSP (detective), Batala, Kulwant Singh, presided over the inaugural ceremony while AEO Khyala was the chief guest at the valedictory function. Dr Shivinder Singh Sandhu, managing trustee of the school, extended the formal welcome to the chief guest, officials and participating teams.

Earlier, Kulwant Singh, in his address, said he was pained to see the increasing indiscipline and waywardness amongst the youngsters. “Sports help one value discipline besides improving the health. Therefore, every youngster should take up some sports activity,” he added.

In the girls’ final, Spring Dale Senior School outsmarted DAV Public School. St Francis School go the third position. Similarly, Spring Dale boys outwitted their SD Public School counterparts in the final. The third position was bagged by Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar. Principal Manveen Sandhu congratulated the winners.