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Parking complex to start in April
Frescoes, wall paintings in temples fast disappearing
Hotel assn seeks exemption from luxury tax
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‘Shifting’ the new buzz in bee-keeping
Closer to nature, closer to God - the Yogesh Aneja way
CPM activists gherao police chowki
People protest against the police inaction at Majitha road police chowki bypass in Amritsar on Tuesday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
GND varsity research fellow wins Rs 50,000
600 students receive degrees
Students of Sarup Rani Government College for Girls celebrate after getting degrees Amritsar on Tuesday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Delegation to meet Sonia Gandhi
Gang of vehicle-lifters busted
250 students get awards
‘Separate dept to fight cyber crime needed’
Schoolteachers stage dharna
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Parking complex to start in April
Amritsar, March 3 BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu accompanied by mayor Shawet Malik today did the realty check to find out the delay in starting the three and half storey parking lot at the Saragari School complex which has been hanging fire for last more than one year. Sidhu summoned the senior officials of the district administration including deputy commissioner Bhagwant Singh and the engineers from the Galliara project to get the first hand account of the project which have been delayed causing immense hardship to the devotees. He directed the deputy commissioner to compete the project by the end of this month and open it for public for use so that the people travelling by car to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple should not face problems in parking their vehicles. He said that the multi-storey parking lot could have place for more than 800 cars and the galliara engineers have submitted an additional plan to government of India to construct three more storey to house another 800 cars. Briefing the BJP MP and others the Xen Galliara project, Jasbir Singh said they were still awaiting an additional grant of Rs 3.35 crore to give finishing touches to the project which include modern lighting, fire fighting equipments and cafeteria for the visitors. He said they would soon go for public auction for car parking contract and likely to complete the arrangements by the end of March for its final commissioning. Sihdu said this project has been envisaged to totally decongest the surrounding of the Golden Temple and the police and the administration has been directed not to allow any vehicle to be parked in the vicinity of the Golden Temple. The deputy commissioner said Saragarhi parking and Kesari Bagh parking would provide space for 1,100 vehicles and would be connected with each other. He said the elevated road under construction which is likely to be completed in next few months would be joined at the second floor of the Saragarhi parking and all the vehicles coming from GT Road would be parked here. The mayor said that several development projects worth Rs 450 crore were in the pipeline and were expected to be completed within next three months. |
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Frescoes, wall paintings in temples fast disappearing
Amritsar, March 3 The city is replete with temples containing frescos and wall paintings with subjects taken from Hindu mythology. Located at Nawa Kot, Radha-Krishan temple has beautiful frescos painted on the upper portion inside the sanctum sanctorum. However, in an utter ignorance towards heritage, bottom portion of the walls have been covered with tiles. A glance over the beautiful paintings on the upper portion revealed that careless preservation has devoid the posterity of the heritage. According to Ravi Kumar, owner of a shop running from the temple premises, the temple was about two-century old. He said regularly a priest came to conduct prayers. Private management of the temple had conducted its repair with its limited resources. The publicity material written on the outer wall of the structure is a big eyesore. The Amritsar chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture (INTACH) had already documented about 300 buildings in the walled city, most of which are facing “slow death” due to indifferent attitude of the authorities. Experts do not hold back their apprehensions that many of these buildings would disappear if the state government failed to amend the law to preserve heritage sites. Nobody cared to preserve frescoes of Teja Singh Thakur Dwara built by a distant relative of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Located in the narrow lanes of the city, the temple was dedicated to Rasha-Krishan. Sky scrapping top of sanctum sanctorum was a landmark and its construction was typical of medieval temple architecture. Building of Veerbhan Da Shivala, dedicated to Lord Shiva, dates back to the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Singh. Its frescoes evoke devotion among people. Experts are of the view that haphazard and unplanned development of the city over a period of time posed a serious threat to heritage. With migratory trends from rural areas to the city, the city is growing to the status of the most vibrant city and metropolitan centre. However, in the frenzy of competing with modern cities its planners forgot to secure its enormous wealth in the shape of heritage. Rapidly changing city profile, misuse of built space, uncontrolled traffic and unauthorised building activities had damaged the very sanctity of the heritage areas.
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Hotel assn seeks exemption from luxury tax
Amritsar, March 3 Association chairman Surinder Singh Lali along with the members today handed over a memorandum to deputy commissioner Bhagwant Singh seeking his immediate intervention to exempt the hotel industry from luxury tax in view of the holy city status of the city. He said the Punjab government has imposed heavy tax on the industry after the Mumbai terror attack on the major tourist hub of Bombay wherein two major hotels were the main targets of the terrorists. He said the several holy cities like Varanasi, Hardwar and Katra have been given a tax holiday on the hotel industry and want a similar tax free environment for the city of the golden temple. He said the government has announced the cut of Luxury tax from eight to four percent all over the state but the Amritsar’s small hotel industry should be given total exemption in view of the thousands of pilgrims visiting the city to pay obeisance at the golden temple. He said the people from all walks of life and from different strata of income come here from all over the country and India to offer prayers and they should not be taxed for visiting the holy shrine. He urged the government to review the entire taxation structure on the hotel industry and give a special exemption to the city hotels for encouraging more tourists and devotees to visit. |
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‘Shifting’ the new buzz in bee-keeping
Amritsar, March 3 A significant amount of bee-keepers have been adopting the trend keeping in view the impressive returns. However, it requires high quality nectar and pollen for bees. Dr Ranjit Singh, horticulture development officer, Punjab Agriculture Department, said nectar and pollen were derived by bees from nearly 170 kinds of flowers. The region offers high and adequate quantity of barsin, fodder crop, sunflowers, oilseeds like sarson and toria, eucalyptus and arhar plants to bees. But the biggest hurdle is that they are not found throughout the year. Hence, whole timers in the profession do not hold back in taking their boxes of bees, along with other paraphernalia, to states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and cities of Punjab located near the hills. Sadhu Singh is one such beekeeper. Currently, he is camping in Hoshiarpur with boxes of bees to enjoy the benefits of variety of flowers there. He, along with other working hands, visits Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Hoshiarpur and other places, besides Amritsar, to feed his bees for extracting high quality and quantity of honey. According to Dr Ranjit Singh, a common belief among Indians was that thick honey was not of good quality as sugar was added to it. On the contrary, honey added with sugar cannot remain thick. Honey extracted in winters is thicker since it has more glucose in comparison to the one drawn in summers (which has more fructose). According to the agriculture department, not more than 250 families in the district were involved in the vocation. Expansion of human colonies, mobile towers and other technological developments releasing radiation may be proving costly to bee-keeping, said Dr Ranjit Singh. Against indigenous and traditional hives, boxes of different sizes and shapes are currently available. Each box contains four frames and each frame has a colony of nearly 2,000 bees. Beekeeping equipment like queen excluder, smoker, hive tool, pollen trap and honey processing plants are also used. Experts are of the view that due to health consciousness among people, the market for honey was growing at a much faster speed.
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Closer to nature, closer to God - the Yogesh Aneja way
Amritsar, March 3 He said he had always loved nature and its bountiful gifts, including flowers, plants and grass. It was his love for nature that kept his dream to live in a house where he would be close to nature alive. In spite of the paucity of space and the green cover around his house, he decided to build a green terrace garden and manage to fulfil his desire. Interestingly, he painted the walls, even the ones adjoining his house, with the due permission of his neighbours. A true eco-lover, he even used waste material to create collage, artifacts and certain handicrafts to adorn the walls of the terrace and surrounding floors. A tea trader by profession, Yogesh said he was enamoured by nature and he built this garden brick by brick without the help of an architect or landscape official. He created a small waterfall with an artistic background and water-plays to the tune of music. He said a meditation room had been built on one of the sides of the terrace while another small room had been constructed for entertainment. The creator of the terrace garden said he spent more than two hours every day in the morning to tend to the flowers and the garden. He said especially during the summer, he took special care to sprinkle water so that the flower and plants did not dry up during the intense
summer heat. The best time of the year is spring when all the flowers are in full bloom, he said. He said he had planted more than 70 varieties of flowers and some species of cactus. He said he also created some art pieces and painted the walls to give it a scenic look while a lot of effort was required to recreate the fading paintings. |
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CPM activists gherao police chowki
Amritsar, March 3 The activists raised slogans against the police for its inaction to arrest the culprits who had been absconding for many months. Giving an ultimatum to the police, the CPM demonstrators said if the police failed to nab the accused by March 14, they would resort to traffic blockage. The area was virtually turned into a police cantonment with a large posse of policemen present on the occasion with an anti-riot squad. Jagtar Singh Karimpura, secretary, urban unit of the CPM, said the police had assured them that action would soon be taken against the culprits. He alleged the accused were not being arrested due to police and political pressure. Karimpura said about six persons critically injured Inder Kumar of Majitha bypass chowk with sharp-edged weapons and threw his body on the bypass considering him dead. A case was registered by name against the accused under relevant sections of the IPC. However, he alleged the police officials were not arresting the accused although a year had elapsed since the incident. In another incident, he alleged that Ravinder Singh was killed in Lakshmi Vihar in December 2008 and two persons were booked in this regard. But no arrest had been made so far, said the CPM leader. He said if the police failed to arrest the accused within eight days they would stage dharna on March 14. Meanwhile, DSP Paramjit Singh Virk who reached the spot pacified the agitators and assured them of necessary action. He said that action would be taken against the accused soon.
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Campus Buzz
Amritsar, March 3 Dr Dayanand Dongaonkar, secretary-general of the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi, awarded the certificate of merit to Tilak Raj. After a grilling competition spread over many months, 15 candidates were selected for funding their research projects. In the selection process, universities from France and the Netherland were also involved. Earlier, he stood first in the north zone in health and allied sciences in the same competition, which was held at Guru Nanak Dev University. His work was highly appreciated by eminent scientists of India. Memorial lecture
Noted linguist Dr Kapil Kapur of Delhi would deliver a “Dr Paramjit Singh Walia memorial lecture” on “Studies in linguistics: Indian
perspective” being organised by the GND University under the aegis of its School of Punjabi Studies on March 9. Dr Dharam Singh, professor and head of the School of Punjabi
Studies, said Dr Joginder Singh Puar, former vice-chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, would preside over the event. Associate dean: Dr Tajinder Kaur, professor of Punjabi at GND
University Regional Campus, Jalandhar, has been assigned the duties of associate dean, academic affairs and students welfare, for the leave period of Dr Baljit Kaur, the present associate dean. Refresher course postponed: Dr R.K. Mittal, professor of commerce at Kurukshetra University, would deliver the valedictory address at the three-week refresher course in
commerce and management to be concluded on March 4 on the premises of the Academic Staff College of GND University. Meanwhile, the refresher course in Punjabi scheduled to begin from March 7 at the Academic Staff
College of the university has been postponed, ASC director Dr H.S.
Bhatia, said. Foundation day: The 23rd foundation day of Gurdwara Sahib of Guru Nanak Dev University would be celebrated on March 4. In the day-long celebrations, besides bhog of Sri Sehaj path in the morning, prominent gurbani reciters Bhai Davinder Singh and Gulbagh Singh Bodlan Wale, Bhai Gurmeet Singh Shaant and university students would recite gurbani kirtan, while scholars like Prof Harpal Singh Pannu from Punjabi University, Patiala, would speak on the shakhis of Guru Nanak Dev and Prof Jagdish Singh from Amritsar, would deliver the gurmat discourse. The kavishri jatha of Bhai Ravel Singh Varnala would also perform. A langar would be held in the afternoon. Among other religious personalities, Baba Dya Singh and Baba Avtar Singh Sur Singh Wale, Baba Darshan Singh Gumtale Wale, Baba Nihal Singh Panth Akali Tarna Dal Harian WelanWale, Singh Sahib Giani
Gurbachan Singh, jathedar,Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Singh Sahib Giani Jaswinder Singh, head granthi, Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, and other heads of religious sects would grace the occasion. Various exhibitions on books
and paintings depicting the Sikh art, history and literature would be organised by “Naad pragas”, “Dharam
parchar committee” and noted artist Phulan Rani. |
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600 students receive degrees
Amritsar, March 3 Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala was the chief guest. While congratulating the students in his convocation address, he exhorted them to play an important role in the overall development of the country. He expressed his concern over the declining sex ratio and gender bias in education. He stressed on taking the quality higher education to the villages. He said educating women could play a vital role in building up a nation and it was need of the hour to have more and more women getting education. Barnala was accompanied by his wife, son Gagandeep Singh and daughter Amrit Kaur. College principal Jasmeet Nayyar highlighted the achievements of the college in various fields. She honoured the Governor with a memento and a shawl.
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Delegation to meet Sonia Gandhi
Amritsar, March 3 Baserke said a majority of the Congress voters came from the backward classes and Scheduled Tribes. He said he would also apprise the AICC President of the current situation in Punjab. He said though the SAD was primarily a party of Sikh farmers, it gave the ticket to two BC candidates in the last Lok Sabha elections who won the elections. He said senior Congress leaders from the state must bring the fact to the notice of the high command so that its position could consolidate more in the ensuing elections. He said other members of the delegation would include former ministers Jasbir Singh Sangrur and Guljar Singh and senior Congress leader K.K. Bawa, chairman of the Punjab Congress Backward Cell Gurinderpal Singh Billa and Rajinder Rasrania, Punjab Congress Sewa Dal chief.
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Gang of vehicle-lifters busted
Tarn Taran, March 3 SP (detective) Malwinder Singh Sidhu told newsmen here today that four of the accused had been identified as Rashpal Singh, alias Shallu, of Dhotian, Palwinder Singh, alias Soni, of Lohar village and Kala and Shaba both of Tur village. The rest are yet to be identified, he said. The SP said the accused had been coming in the qualis vehicle near Khawaspur village, 18 km from here, last late evening. When the accused saw the naka party they fled, leaving the vehicle there. — OC |
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250 students get awards
Amritsar, March 3 He encouraged the students to work for society. Damanpreet Kaur was presented the Sardar Sant Singh Memorial trophy for being the best student in commerce and Sania Talwar was given Dr Manmohan Singh trophy for being the best student in economics. The Charles Babbage trophy was received by Manpreet Kaur for being the best student in computer science and Raminder Kaur bagged the Bibi Gujri Memorial trophy for being the all-rounder. Prabamrit Kaur of B. Com-III and Manwinder Kaur of class XII were awarded for the best “hukamnama” and ardas recitation, respectively. Principal Dr Navdeep Kaur presented the annual college report. College president Dewan Singh presented the vote of thanks. —
TNS
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‘Separate dept to fight cyber crime needed’
Amritsar, March 3 The participants were of the opinion that the government must enact stringent laws to curb hacking of websites by terrorists who were using technology to achieve their nefarious designs. They opined that the government must institute a separate department manned only by technocrats who could devise ways and means by which the information sites of the terrorists could be cracked and their effects nullified. As many as 103 papers were presented for discussion at four sessions of the conference. Addressing the valedictory function, Dr Rajneesh Arora, vice-chancellor, Punjab Technical University, said Indian education should be exported to different countries as it is second to none. “We should not run after foreign universities to update knowledge but should concentrate on our own education sources which could offer much more than one gets from the universities in Australia, America and elsewhere.”
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Schoolteachers stage dharna
Tarn Taran, March 3 Addressing the gathering, Sarabjit Sigh Dhillon and Khajan Singh condemned the state government for not accepting their demand of restoring pension and other pensionary benefits.The union in its memorandum presented to the deputy commissioner to be forwarded to the Punjab Chief Minister demanded early acceptance of their demands. —
OC
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Amritsar, March 3
Amritsar, March 3
Amritsar, March 3
Amritsar, March 3
