Amritsar, February 13
In spite of the global meltdown, especially in the real estate sector, which has resulted in the crashing of the land prices across the country, the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) has been able to sustain its property bubble.

The trust has received 6,670 applications for 459 plots recently put up for draw of lots.

Talking to The Tribune, AIT administrator Pardeep Sabharwal said they got overwhelming response to the four categories of plots measuring 100, 150, 200 and 250 square yard in the newly developed residential schemes of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar on GT Road near Mall Mandi. He said majority of applications were for 150 and 200 square yard plots.

Trust’s chief engineer Mukul Soni said the trust had planned to build up a big well-planned residential colony with all modern amenities on 100-acre plot strategically located on the main GT Road for the benefit of the people of this region.

He said the trust received 14 times the applications against 459 plots which was indeed surprised many realty sector groups in Amritsar.

He said Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar have been planned in a way to provide a composite commercial area, business centre and also earmarked site for schools and other institutions for the benefit of the residence.

He said the allotment of the plots through the draw of lots would be taken out somewhere in the May after scrutinising all the application forums received through the banks. The process would be notified to the people shortly and the work on the construction would begin immediately thereafter.

Soni said the trust had already initiated the process of laying roads, water and sewerage besides streetlights. He said the tenders of the first phase of development have already been started and the work for sewerage has already been allotted to Punjab water supply and sewerage board and the work in likely to be finished in next couple of months.

Amritsar, February 13
Thousands of couples would tie nuptial knots on Valentine’s Day.

The wedding season has come with a bang and tomorrow being the D-day, according to rough estimates, more than 2,000 brides and bridegrooms are likely to tie knots.

The city’s flourishing food and catering business has been stretched to its peak with all hotels and marriage palaces and farmhouses, gardens and even roads have been decorated for the big wedding fair.

A leading caterer, Shivi Tondon, said he had been engaged by a party in the city to organise the wedding of their daughter in a newly constructed farm house on Verka-Batala road, about 15 km from here, to cater to 800 plus guests. He said the farm houses have jacked up their rentals.

A reputed hotelier said the hotel has been booked full and all there conceivable halls and restaurants have been reserved for the wedding receptions, shaguns and sangeet ceremonies.

The band walas and ghori walas have been engaged at almost on hour bases with exorbitant charges. The marriage season has put the gold prices to a new high, which is hovering around Rs 15,000 per 10 grams and likely to shoot up in next couple of days.

The prices of flowers, fruits and vegetables, paneer, chicken and other items have shot up with the growing demand due to the huge wedding celebrations.

With more than 2,000 weddings lined up during this hectic marriage weekend, the pandits were running from one pandal to another to solemnise the weddings. Some of them have even hired cars to attend the ceremonies.

The event managers, including the decorators, were having a field day with thousands of workers have been deployed at various wedding locations.

Amritsar, February 13
The shortage of LPG gas cylinders and their alleged black marketing have left the residents high and dry as consumers had to wait for at least 15-20 days for the refill of their gas cylinders.

According to reports, cylinders are being sold at Rs 450 to Rs 600 in black market by the people who are hands in glove with various gas agencies in the city while in case of any emergency the rates further shoot up.

The use of household gas cylinders by commercial establishments has further aggravated the problem. In fact, it was commercial establishments, including rehriwalas and sweet shops, who are involved in the black marketing of household cylinders and they themselves use these household cylinders in their shops.

In winter season, the demands of LPG increases several folds. The household cylinders are also being used in four-wheelers, including cars, which has worsened the situation.

Surjit Bhardwaj, a resident of the Putlighar area, said they had to wait in long queues, yet it was not sure that they could get the refill of their gas cylinder. He is customer of a gas agency situated near Khandwala locality situated on the GT Road.

Consumers stressed that there was a need for the food and civil supplies department and oil companies to ensure that cylinders meant for domestic use were not used for commercial purposes.

Another resident said a big reason behind the problem was that hotels, sweets shop owners, etc, used domestic cylinders as these cost them less and the department concerned and oil companies were not doing enough to handle the problem.

Meanwhile, the department of food and civil supply has been planning to conduct raids on establishments misusing LPG meant for household purpose. Dr Anjuman Bhaskar, district food and civil supply controller, said there was no shortage of Indian Oil gas cylinders and added that whatever shortage was being experienced was due to closing units of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd refineries.

She said she had a meeting with agencies and asked them to give the customers waiting number and supply LPG as per these numbers.

She said the department was contemplating to conduct raids on commercial establishments using household cylinders. She said action was also being contemplated against the vehicles using gas cylinders.

Amritsar, February 13
Congress leaders are up in arms against the police administration, which allegedly at the behest of the ruling Akali-BJP government is registering false cases against Congress workers and sarpanches in the five constituencies of the Amritsar rural belt, including Rajasansi, Quadian, Ajnala, Dera Baba Nanak and Kathunangal.

More than 1,000 “false criminal cases” have been registered against Congress workers, claimed senior Congress leaders, including former MLAs Harpartap Ajnala, Sukhbinder Singh Sukh Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Swinder Singh Kathunangal, during a press conference here.

They said they were going to meet the election commission and union home minister for deploying paramilitary forces in the state during the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Challanging the Akali leaders for open debate, they demanded a high-level enquiry from a sitting judge or an independent agency like the CBI in all these cases. They claimed that if enquiries were conducted in these cases, majority of them would fall flat. They even urged the media to look into these “false cases,” which would nail the ruling party.

Giving details, Harpartap said more than 400 cases had been registered in his constituency only while 400 cases were registered in Rajasansi, 250 in Dera Baba Nanak, more than 350 in Kathunangal area in Majitha constituency.

They alleged that the law and order situation in the rural areas had deteriorated from bad to worse during the Akali reign where even SHOs in various police 
stations were behaving like an autocrat and pawns in the hands of the ruling party MLAs and ministers belonging to the Majha region.

Amritsar, February 13
The area development committee of Dashmesh Avenue, Shori Nagar and Vikas Nagar adjacent to Guru Nanak Dev University today submitted a 13-point memorandum to the mayor and commissioner of the municipal corporation regarding the civic problems being faced by the residents of these colonies.

Prabhpal Singh Dhillon, president of the committee, said the committee had drawn the attention of these functionaries of the municipal corporation towards the deteriorating conditions of the Government Polytechnic Road, proper sewerage system, installation of traffic lights on the old octroi chowk by widening it besides providing streetlights on the road and regular lifting of garbage and cleanliness of the colonies.

The committee also demanded construction of overhead water tank with a capacity of two lakh litre for the smooth supply of drinking water to the residents of these colonies.

Amritsar, February 13
“We have to identify ourselves as Indians first and rise above affiliations with our states, religions and castes and should accept meritocracy besides enthusiastically playing the role we are best suited for,” said Dr S.P. Singh, former chairman and dean, University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Addressing the participants on the inaugural day of a three-week refresher course in commerce and management organised by Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr S.P. Singh emphasised, “We have to put the interest of our nation ahead of our personal interests, subordinating our egos and biases. Finally, we have to put in tremendous hard work and make short-term sacrifices for long-term glory.”

Amritsar, February 13
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu today created a flutter in the Lok Sabha raising his voice for extension of dedicated rail freight corridor till Amritsar during the railway budget by union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Sidhu carrying a black flag, lodge a strong protest against the discrimination of the holy city by the union government as they failed to extend the freight corridor to benefit the trade and industry of this border region.

He said the union government was deliberately neglecting the aspirations and the needs of the people of this area and added he would continue to raise his voice against the discrimination.

The BJP MP accompanied by several Punjab members of Parliament, including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Tarlochan Singh and others, expressed their distress over the step motherly treatment to his constituency which is most important, significant, religious and commercial centre of the country.

Talking to The Tribune from New Delhi, he said he went to the well of Parliament and stalled the proceedings of the Lok Sabha for 45 minutes to put forward his point of view and explained the difficulties faced by the business and trading community of this holy city.

He said he would continue to pitch for Amritsar and would force the government to extend the dedicated freight corridor to revive the sagging industry of Amritsar.

Earlier, the BJP MP and party workers had organised a symbolic protest at the railway station to raise their concern about Amritsar, they said in case the BJP-led NDA government comes to power, this project would be immediately extended to Amritsar and the people would be able to reap its benefits.

Amritsar, February 13
The All-India Combined Entrance Examination (AICET) for admission to M.Sc (biotechnology) in Guru Nanak Dev University will be held on May 18 while the last date for submission of application form is March 16.

The forms of the AICET to be conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, are available with the department of biotechnology of the GND university.

Of the 18 seats in M.Sc (biotechnology), 10 are to be filled through the AICET, six seats on the basis of merit in the entrance test to be conducted separately by the same department of Guru Nanak Dev University while two would be filled by Punjab domicile candidates on the basis on merit in the AICET.

The candidates with bachelor’s degree under 10+2+3 pattern of education in physical, biological, agricultural, veterinary and fishery sciences, pharmacy, engineering/technology, four-year B.Sc. (physician assistant course); or medicine (MBBS) or BDS with at least 55 per cent marks are eligible for admission to the course.

Amritsar, February 13
American chain ABC Montessori organised a seminar ‘Montessori concept of learning’ at Amritsar and Tarn Taran recently to popularise its three projects --- Pre School, Teacher Training Institute and Day Care facilities --- with an emphasis on the selection criterion of franchises for these projects.

“We have been working to spread our way of knowledge of how children naturally learn across India as its effort to improve education,” said Gurmeet Singh Arora, chairman, ABC Montessori. He said ABC Montessori had an alliance with ‘The Academy for the Brilliant Child, Inc. Georgia, USA’ and ‘Montessori Teacher Training Institute, Inc. California, USA’.

He said the ABC Montessori network presently exists across India in places like Chennai, Bangalore, Assam, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh and is rapidly developing across the country.

The admissions for children at this American pre school starts at the age of 1 and a half up to 6 years for pre nursery, nursery, LKG and UKG levels and in Day Cares from Birth onwards up to 6 years.

The Teachers Training Institute offers internationally recognised diploma to graduates. The ABC Montessori has more than 12 schools in its network in Punjab, spreading its reach to small towns as well.