Amritsar, February 17
A number of Sikh organisations joined hands to make a world record in donating blood by holding a blood donation camp on the premises of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, Anandpur Sahib, on March 10.

They expected that the camp would be a landmark as it would be an opportunity to organise the biggest donation of blood in the world and it would be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Jaswinder Singh Jassi, a leader of the Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj (APKF), said about a million devotees reached Anandpur Sahib to celebrate Holla Mohalla.

He said the participating organisations had fixed the target for donating blood by 25,000 people in the first 24 hours, which would make it the biggest camp in the world.

He said members involved in the mammoth task had been divided in teams, which were consulting religious organisations, NGOs, political organisations, health organisations, besides government departments to make people aware of the camp.

He said SGPC president Avtar Singh had extended full cooperation to the humanitarian task.

According to him, a hukamnama (edict) of Giani Gurbachan Singh, jathedar, Akal Takht, asking Sikhs for donating blood, eyes and other parts of the body for the benefit of humanity propelled them to organise the mammoth blood camp.

Among religious and educational organisations, Baba Harnam Singh, head, Damdami Taksal, Bhai Guriqbal Singh, Mata Kaulan Trust and Sikh Missionary College and Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, both based in Ludhiana, confirmed to contribute for the noble task with its followers and employees donating blood in the camp.

An administrative committee for the event has been constituted under Bikram Singh Majithia, former cabinet minister. Notable members of the committee are Giani Tarlochan Singh, jathedar, Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Harbhajan Singh, chairman, Shahid Sikh Missionary College, Kiranbir Singh Kang, president, Youth Akali Dal, Rajinder Singh Mehta, interim committee member, SGPC, Charanjit Singh Chadda, president, Chief Khalsa Diwan, and many more.

Special trains would facilitate smooth transportation of donors residing in various states across the country.

Amritsar, February 17
A large number of private pharmaceutical companies are vying with one another to secure a place for themselves under the fair price shop concept launched under the banner of Jan Aushdhi by the Union ministry of chemicals and pharmaceuticals a few months ago.

G.S. Sandhu, former joint secretary, department of pharmaceuticals, government of India, who visited the Jan Aushdhi store established in the civil hospital, said at present the public sector undertaking drug units were unable to provide enough medicine stocks to these fair price medicine stores.

He said 80 private manufacturers had shown keen interest to participate in the government endeavour to supply quality medicines at almost the level of the cost price to these drug stores where a complete range of drugs would be available.

He said out of 80, about 20 top brands would be enlisted for supplies to Jan Aushdhi shops. He said at present these stores were providing medicines for about 12 hours and would soon be allowed to operate round the clock with the addition of one more pharmacist.

He said by March 31 these drug stores would become fully operational and would provide a complete range of medicines as several formulations were in the pipeline for the supplies to these shops.

Expressing his dismay over lack of coordination between the doctors and the dispensing chemists at the shops, he said they must work with complete trust and maintain proper liaison for the efficient functioning of the stores.

Sandhu admitted that the stores were not making available several medicines for heart problems but added that they would also provide stock for life saving drugs and for other serious ailments.

He said these shops were supplying drugs at no profit basis at least at 70 per cent discount and the common man would be greatly benefited due to the low cost of the medicines.

Meanwhile, he said the government was planning a fresh logo, design and stamp for the Jan Aushdhi supply to give standard packing to all its medicines, which would further stop its misuse and copying.

Amritsar, February 17
The municipal corporation has started an ambitious Rs 5-crore Go Green project to enhance green cover in the city. MC commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda giving details of this highly significant project to provide fresh oxygen to the residents of the city by planting more than 30,000 saplings of several varieties of all weather trees have been undertaken.

He said the work on planting of trees with varied heights ranging from 8, 10, 12 and 15 heights have already been planted with proper tree guards on the road sides starting from the entry point of the city.

He said royal class consultants with highly rated credentials Behad Horti Vision Limited, Noida, has been shortlisted for taking up this greening of the city project.

He said the company had been asked to plant trees of great religious and health sanctity including Figus, a variety of Peepal which would remain green through out the year along with Alstonia, Neem etc.

The state government has now allocated Rs five crore for the greening of the city and added that the holy city is the only town in the state who has been granted this amount.

Horticulture Xen A.S. Bilga said the company has been given the contract for three years for the maintenance of these trees as it would be obligatory of them to oversee and supervise its regular growth.

He said tree guards have also been erected to save the trees from animals.

The project has been started from the post Mall road cum residential area recently and likely to be completed by March 31st or latest by April 15 this year.

Amritsar, February 17
Turning the dreams into reality and claiming to turn the holy city into the metropolitan in the next two years, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of a Rs 2,500-crore world-class central business district project here on February 15.

The project would come up on more than 31 acres. The government has transferred it to PUDA under optimum utilisation of the vacant government land scheme situated near the medical enclave here. Sukhbir was accompanied by BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and former cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia during the 
ceremony.

Sukhbir said the project would consist of 22-storey luxury hotels to cater to the tourism industry, besides an electronic hub, IT business and entertainment centres. He said the 300-rooms five-star hotel would be the tallest in northern India.

He said out of the total land, Tata Realty and Infrastructure for developing shopping mass and multiplex had already bought 5.54 acres at the complex site for Rs 181 crore. He said the mega project would have different themes for commercial and retail growth. Located in between the medical enclave and Basant Avenue, the new city centre would have six different sites, he added.

The present project was likely to generate revenue of Rs 1,350 crore and would be completed in next four years.

He said the main objective of the project was to develop the tourism industry. He said the government would be bringing in more development projects in the city. He said whatever money would be generated from the project, it would be spent on beautification 
of the city.

Amritsar, February 17
The economic experts, while deliberating on the issue of “global financial meltdown - its impact on Indian economy” held at Khalsa College, were of the unanimous view that the economic slowdown, which has now engulfed the whole world, is the creation of the developed countries.

However, India, due to its economic policies would successfully come out of this global financial crisis, they pointed out in the seminar, which was organised by the postgraduate departments of economics and commerce of the college here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Karamjit Singh, University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh, felt that although India was fully capable of overcoming the economic crisis, the IT sector, fundamental and financial services had been hit due to it, while he pointed out that several segments, including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, media and entertainment sector would continue to remain buoyant.

Dr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, a professor in the department of economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, here said the biggest worry had been the slowdown in the realty sector which generally generated a large-scale employment and job opportunities.

He said the Indian stock market had plummeted with the withdrawal 
of money from large firms based in the USA and Europe.

Dr Jaspal Singh, commerce department, GND University, said certain corporate houses in the USA had lost several billion dollars due to their personal greed and profit motive which had led to the collapse of several American financial institutions which had triggered a worldwide economic recession.

He said India with strong economic fundamentals and banking institutions had managed to withstand the economic tremors.

Amritsar, February 17
Gurveen Kaur, an M.Phil student of the department of botanical and environmental sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University, has been conferred with the best poster presentation award at the international conference on changing environmental trends 
and sustainable development concluded at Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, recently.

She presented a poster on the research topic “Digital database of trees and shrubs of Guru Nanak Dev University botanical garden.”

She is working under the guidance of Dr Avinash Nagpal and Bhupinder Pal Singh for the creation of the database, which will serve the purpose of storing, organising and providing combined text and multimedia data on each plant of the botanical garden.

Dr Saroj Arora, head of the department, said the database content would focus on the full description of botanical characters; photographs of different views/parts of the plants, including full plant, twig, leaf, inflorescence, flower, fruit, seed; flowering time; fruiting time and economic importance of each plant.

Musical function

A renowned musician of the Indore Gharana, Baldev Raj Verma, performed at a musical function arranged by the music department of Guru Nanak Dev University 
here today.

Earlier, Dr Bhagwant Kaur, head of the music department, Tejinder Ada and staff welcomed Verma.

Verma recited various ragas, including mian ki toddi, hansdhawni, ahiri.

He also spoke about the Indore Gharana and shared his experiences of life with the students and the faculty.

Amritsar, February 17
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been enlisted as the first alumni of the recently set up Hindu College Alumni Association.

The old students of the Hindu College with number of eminent personalities have decided to pool their resources and talent for furthering the development of the alma mater. A meeting of the alumni association held here recently has decided to set a financial corpus with equal matching amount to be provided by the Hindu College Managing Committee to look after the needs of the college.

Addressing the old students, Satpal Mahajan, chairman of the Hindu Sabha, said the college was indeed feeling grateful to them for coming together in large numbers to participate in the various activities of the college.

He said the college was proud of its distinguished students who had reach pinnacle of their glorious career and has brought name and fame not in India but in the international forum.

Naming some of the great achievers, including the former chief of the Army staff, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, former union cabinet minister P Shivshankar, governor of Bihar R.L. Bhatia, former governor of Punjab Lt-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber, late justice Supreme Court of India Hans Raj Khanna, former foreign secretary, M K Rasgotra, former DGP Uttrakhand Kanchan Choudhry Bhattacharya, former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi, former Indian all rounder and member of the victorious World Cup team Madan Lal and Arjuna Awardee former Indian Badminton champion Davinder Ahuja and others.

The dean alumni association, Dr Arun Mehra highlighted the achievements of several alumni and said this association would take several steps to build up a complete directory of its old students.

Earlier, principal V.P. Lumba exhorted the old students to come forward with a suggestion to build up a modern institution to achieve its old glory. Later, the old students voluntarily offered contributions for the old students corpus funds.

Amritsar, February 17
Ravinder Singh and Harpreet Singh of the physical education department of Khalsa College were honoured by the college for their excellent performance in bodybuilding and taikwando competitions.

While congratulating them, Dr Daljit Singh, principal, Khalsa College, said Ravinder bagged second position in the national-level open bodybuilding championship, while he also got gold medal in the senior federation cup held at Singapore besides remaining first in the north India competition. 

Harpreet bagged gold medals in the national-level senior open championship and inter-college competitions in Taikwando.

Amritsar, February 17
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is all set to install the third-generation network worth Rs 170 crore in 23 cities across the country.

Punjab circle CGM P.K. Paliwal said here recently this district, apart from commercially important cities of Punjab, would be covered in the mega expansion phase.

It would ensure speedy transfer of data from 384 KBPS to 2 MBPS. The customers would be able to enjoy superior quality of video, TV reception, high-speed data transfer and other banking facilities, he commented.

Paliwal was here to inaugurate a media gateway of 12,000 erlang capacity and a mobile switching centre (MSC) of two lakh capacity.

With a view to improving the mobile service in and around the district, the BSNL installed state-of-the-art equipment worth Rs 4 crore here, he added

After the installation of the sophisticated equipment all mobile calls in Amritsar and neighbouring Tarn Taran district would be handled by the MSC. Earlier, the calls used to be handled by the MSC, Jalandhar. It would ensure improvement in the mobile service in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Tarn Taran districts.

He said the recent commissioning of the MGW (media gateway) was part of expansion of the cellular mobile traffic service (CMTS) network for 3.9 lakh lines for second-generation network.

According to Paliwal, equipment being commissioned were compatible for graduating to third generation and informed that with this all 57 base terminal source (BTS) towers had been installed in the city. Besides, additional 90 new BTS towers would soon be installed here. He hoped that the work was likely to be completed by the end of this year.

Amritsar, February 17
It was a feast for the aficionados of classical music as seasoned vocalist Pandit Baldev Raj Verma left them spellbound through his rendition of various ragas at the annual classical music festival concluded here recently.

Organised by Swar Sangam, an institution in the service of Indian culture and music, the festival was dedicated to late Dr Shivinder Singh Sandhu and his wife Manveen of Spring Dale School, who recently died in an accident.

The presentation of raag Puria Kalyan in his full throated voice regaled the audience most.

Initiated into classical vocal music by his father Kashi Ram, Verma honed the skills under the tutelage of various masters of the rich tradition. He got trained under Pandit Amarnath, a prime disciple of Ustad Amir Khan of Indore gharana and Pratap Chand Arora of Amritsar.

Imprints of the Indore gharana, known for its sedative and tranquilising music, could be spotted in his presentation.

His singing was marked by a reposeful elaboration of the raga with a subtle rhythmic consciousness. He eloquently fused together seemingly incompatible patterns which enthralled the listeners.

Flutist Rupak Kulkarni, disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, mesmerised the audience with rendition of beautiful notes from the flute.

Kulkarni said he became the disciple of flute maestro Chaurasia at the age of 
nine. Known for his proficiency over Dhrupad, Khayal and Tantrakari styles, Kulkarni has given countless solo performances.

Apart from them, local artistes also made most of the opportunity. Kaveri Sharma sang raag Ahiri Todi, Sumit Sharma presented Yaman, Prof Rawel Singh rendered numerous ghazals, while Pawan Preet and Surpreet sang raag Bhairavi.

Amritsar, February 17
He says his present status and accomplishments are a gift of God. A solid education given to me by my parents and grandparents has made me carve a special place for myself in the fields of sculpting, painting and acting, Maninder Jabbal, the scion of the Jabbal family, goes on to add.

Maninder said he picked up the finer nuances of acting as a viewer of the plays of his grandfather - renowned TV, theatre and Punjabi film personality Harbhajan Jabbal - who holds a special position in the field of theatre. Acting in plays and telefilms, he has performed in famous plays like “Chandan De Ohle”, “Suchi Saanjh” and “Sirjna”.

“My father Satnam Singh Jabbal, a manufacturer of chessboards and a reknowned sculptor, is the inspiration for him to take to sculpting.” He has been making sculptors of wood as well as camel stone. His art works, Prince Charles, Elizabeth, Doctor and Death, King Porous and Maharaja Dalip Singh, have been widely acclaimed. He has also exported his art figures to foreign countries. He said he had taken training from an art gallery and showcased his creations at various exhibitions held in Amritsar and Ludhiana. He said his parents and grandparents had established themselves in several segments of art and created a niche in performing arts. 

Amritsar, February 17
Scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with members of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India (AOI) were on the verge of developing electrodes for healing deafness of poor patients in the country.

AOI honorary treasurer Dr Arvind Soni, talking to The Tribune here said the DRDO decided to develop electrode following intervention of former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He said once it was produced in the country, a piece of it would cost nearly Rs 1 lakh and would restore hearing power of lakhs of people.

Currently electrodes imported from the developed country, normally of a needle’s size, cost nearly Rs 9 lakh each, he said. According to him, a number of patients had remained deaf due to extremely high cost of the cochlear implant, as the surgery was called in medical parlance.

Soni of Government Medical College said a delegation of the AOI had called upon Dr Kalam and discussed the issue of developing the device in the country.

Senior consultant of Apollo Hospital, Delhi, he had cured hearing deficiency of over 400 Iraqi children through cochlear implant in the past two years.

A majority of his Iraqi patients had lost hearing capacity in the carpet bombing and high velocity bombings in the ongoing emergency in Iraq, besides congenital hearing deficiency.

Having worked in the Middle East for five years in the 80’s had provided him practical knowledge of Arabic, which came handy in the present assignment with the Iraqi children.