Amritsar, April 17
Even as about three years have elapsed, the laying of overhead and underground cable wire along the ambitious elevated road project is still waiting for completion.

Although the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) authorities claimed that the work has already been completed, contrary to their assertion the project authorities hired for the construction of elevated road said the work of laying cable wire was still to be completed at several places.

The work of replacing the 11-KV high-tension power line with the crossed linked
poly ethene (XLPE) cable for providing electricity to the elevated road started in
middle of 2006.

It took about three years for the project of laying about five-kilometer long wire, which would otherwise take three months for the same work, says an official of PSEB on condition of anonymity.

He put the blame for the inordinate delay to shortage of manpower and non-availability of required material on time.

The sources in the department said whatever the works in uncompleted was
due to shortage of cable and the demand has been sent to head office for
allocation of same.

An official of Gammon India Ltd, which had been assigned by the government and the Municipal Corporation for the construction of ambitious elevated road, said the work was still to be completed from three or four places including Ram Talai Road and near the Bhandari Bridge.

The elevated road would connect entrance point to the holy city from near the Taran wala bridge up to Bhandari Bridge besides providing direct overhead road link to the Golden Temple from main GT Road.

Superintendent engineer Balbir Singh said the work from their side had already been completed. R.S. Rahi, Xen City centre division, added that if the Gammon authorities found any shortcomings they were ready to address it.

Meanwhile, the 300 mm XLPE cable would be connected with 132 KV grid power station situated at Mall Mandi. The cable would also provide power to Hussainpura and Ghee Mandi subdivision.

The main advantage of using this cable is that it would not have adverse effect of sweltering heat of sunlight during summer and torrential rains besides it is not prone to any immediate fault during storms.

He also urged the farmers that to bring in grain which is without any moisture and should be clean so that they don’t face any problem in getting the appropriate value for their produce.

Amritsar, April 17
Col. (retd) Harsharan Singh, president, Rashtriya Raksha Dal (RRD), a political party floated by defence personnel, lambasted political parties for using defence personnel and their families as vote banks.

Addressing an election rally here today, he said in order to extract votes from them, political parties opened ex-servicemen cells. But they never accepted any of the demands of defense personnel and ex-servicemen.

He said the party wished to eliminate parochialism, provincialism, and preferences on religion, caste and creed from the society.

The party has fielded Major (retd.) Gurnam Singh Gill for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. The party would release its manifesto on April 20.

Academically a civil engineer, Gill has been running an NGO - All India Social Service Volunteer Fore (AISSVF) - for gathering the masses against social evils.

President of the RRD said his party would raise the compensation amounting to Rs
10,000 per acre for farmers whose land fell under the fencing along the International
Border (IB).

He said agro-industry would be established in the border district apart from the revival of the ailing industry. Pension for the aged, widows and handicaps would also be raised besides implementing ‘one rank one pension’ for defence personnel.

Major Gill said in each ward and village, a Sanjha Chullah (community kitchen) and a health club would be set up. The health club would help in weaning away youth from drugs and intoxicants.

While the community kitchen, with a telephone service, would serve food to the hungry and would also be a center for getting skilled construction, carpenter, whitewash workers and unskilled labourers. He said his party was for giving free ration to employees of paramilitary forces.

President of the RRD said he was aware that his party could not win elections only with the support of defense persons so they wished to include other groups like farmers and traders to enlarge its scope.

Amritsar, April 17
A cultural troupe from Brittany province of France showcased the history of the picturesque valley of Ar Stangala in three acts in the auditorium of the BBK DAV College for Women on Tuesday night.

The 53-member group comprising seven musicians, 28 female dancers and 14 male dancers, narrated the history of Brittany in three acts with traditional dance, instruments and songs.

All of them belonged to the 60-year-old cultural troupe ‘Eostiged Ar Stangala’, a name which has become synonymous with the revival of Celtic culture.

The costumes of the artists conveyed the change of age. Accompanying the visiting troupe was Jean Leviol, Head of the Economic Mission of South Asia. He said over 600 varieties of costumes were prevalent in Brittany.

The narrative of the story was picked up from the famous legends of the region. The troupe also paid obeisance at the Golden Temple. They visited the Virsa Vihar, Punjab Naatshala and Preet Nagar village.

Amritsar, April 17
A three-day photo exhibition “The Third Eye” clicked by Aayush Goel, began at the Art Gallery here today. Jatinder Brar, founder director of the Punjab Naatshala, inaugurated the exhibition.

Showcasing his versatility, Aayush has displayed as many as 48 photographs of different themes featuring minute emotions, genius of moments with special emphasis and eye for composition, tone and colours.

The Oxford Photographic Society, London, published his one photograph in its
magazine Oxonian Review. His was among the six photographs selected from all
over the world.

His photographs had appeared in famous publications like An Indian Journey and
India Today. His photo documentation of a European Commission and UNCRD-
funded Disaster Management Project in Himachal Pradesh culminated into an
informative photo essay.

His exhibits showcased his novel experience and expertise into travel, portraiture, Indian street life and landscapes.

Amritsar, April 17
The residents of the various localities around the Hathi gate protested against the Durgiana Managing Committee (DMC) for stopping them from constructing a temple.

The people including women raised slogans against the DMC for lodging a complaint with the police against them.

They said they were simply constructing a temple at the site and have no intention of grabbing the land which was earlier being used as a garbage dump.

However, the tension was defused after the office bearers of the DMC led by
its General Secretary Sat Pal Mahajan visited the site and allowed them to
construct the temple.

Later giving the details about the incident Ramesh Sharma Advocate, Manager DMC, talking to The Tribune said they had received a complaint from the owner Yashdev Inder Singh, who is now residing at Vasant Vihar, New Delhi about the encroachment being done by some persons at the site of the Hanuman temple owned by them.

He said that they lodged a complaint in this regard with the police after receiving authority letter from him.

He said when the team visited the place and found that a temple was being constructed at the place they allowed the construction after withdrawing the complaint made to the police.

He said they had also assured the residents that they would provide funds for the construction of temple.

Amritsar, April 17
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu said with the active support of the Parkash Singh Badal- led state government Rs 162 crore were spent in Majitha under various heads for the development purposes.

Sidhu, who is seeking re-election from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency, addressed election rallies at Majitha, Chawinda Devi and Mattewal, yesterday.

SAD-BJP candidate Sidhu seeking mandate from people for the progress achieved during the past two years said education, roads and civic amenities attracted large chunck of funds in Majitha.

Sidhu claimed that majority of industry flew out of the state during O.P. Soni’s chairmanship of the Punjab State Industrial Corporation (PSIC). He said Soni failed to bring out any plan to stop flight of the industry.

He said major infrastructure projects like elevated roads, augmentation of international airport would be completed soon.

He said if the NDA government came to power then its sagging industry would be revived to give impetus to the economy of the holy city.

Youth Akali Dal patron Bikram Singh Majithia alleged that the Congress again evinced its anti-Sikh face by conspiring honourable acquittal of persons involved in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.

Signalling at the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Majithia said the Congress made the only Sikh Prime Minister so helpless that he was also forced to endorse candidature of the persons named in the anti-Sikh riots.

Amritsar, April 17
Concerned over the reports emanating from the Swat valley in Pakistan over the alleged grabbing of houses of four Sikh families by the Taliban and other militant organisations, the All India Hindu Shiv Sena (AIHSS) has urged the central government to take up the matter with Pakistan to secure the life and properties of the minority community including Hindus and Sikhs.

Surinder Kumar Billa, president AIHSS, while talking to The Tribune, said 1,500 Hindus have already migrated from Pakistan and sought asylum in India as the neighbouring government had failed to secure the life and property of the minority community including Hindus and the Sikhs.

He said the central government should provide citizenship to these families so that they could work to make both ends meet besides getting their wards admitted to schools. He said the government should also make arrangements for starting special classes for the students as they were facing problems in understanding the Devnagri and Gurumukhi script here.

It may be mentioned here that with the large scale intrusion of Taliban, Lashkar-e-Toiba and other militant organisations, five families from the Ghotki district of the Sindh province of Pakistan had bid adieu to their motherland and decided to settle in India about one month ago.

He further claimed that Pandit Devi Dayal Sharma, along with his wife, daughter and son, had arrived in India from the Hangu district of the NWFP area of Pakistan and had sought asylum in the country.

He said they would stay with their relatives in Amritsar after getting relevant documents from the central government.

Amritsar, April 17
The crew of Punjabi movie ‘Mini Punjab’ including Vivek Shauk, Jividha Aastha and producer Dinesh Sood, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple for the success of the film, which opened to a packed house here today.

The film is based on the families of the Punjabi community, which had migrated
to Mumbai for a better livelihood but never forgot their tradition and culture
besides their language.

The movie is a joint venture of leading music company Speed records and OXL films staring Punjabi folk king Gurdas Mann in the lead role.

Dinesh Sood, one of the producers of the film said it is shot on the pattern of Hindi movies and would hopefully create a revolution in Punjabi cinema.

The music score of the movie has been done by music director Jaidev Kumar while the songs were written and sung by Gurdas Mann himself.

Talking to the media, Vivek Shauk, famous comedian of Punjabi and Hindi films, during the premiere of the film, said the film was shot in a single building in Mumbai which had a large number of people from the Punjabi community living in it.

Vivek Shauk, who plays the role of a music director in the film, while talking to media, detailed some of the scenes of the movie.

He said 412 students of different courses of batch 2009 of the varsity have been placed in 29 different national and multinational companies till the mid of this month.

These students would join their jobs in June this year after their final examinations,
he added.

Amritsar, April 17
Students and faculty of the DAV Red Cross School for physically and mentally challenged, had a “unique experience” of an interactive workshop, conducted by German expert Christa Drack, on the school premises today.

DAV management invited Drack, a German expert working with “Senior Experten Service” (SES), a non-government organisation of Germany, funded and supported by the German Government and Economic community of the country, for ulitilising lifelong experience of retired experts for benefits in developing countries.

Drack is a special educator with more than 40 years experience under her belt. She specialises in educating people with special needs, in the field of imparting education to mentally and physically disabled persons.

DAV Public School, principal, Neera Sharma was introduced her to the 
staff and students of the special school.

It was inspiring to watch Drack, who is herself a hearing impaired, to establish immediate rapport with the special children using sign language.

The German expert who has worked as Team Leader is Kindergartens for Children and Educational establishments, effortlessly led the children to understand and innovate during a drawing workshop session, in the local school.

She gave tips on teaching, home economics, working with clay, fabrics and working for their training to get jobs.

It was received by teachers who listened in rapt attention as she gave them useful tips on tackling complex situations with such children.

The German, whose work involves sharing of expert knowledge with the teachers, training- based on latest techniques in Germany, helped teachers to understand how to make best use of this knowledge with special children.

She taught them ways by which they could draw attention of children in larger measure than the conventional teaching methods employed to make lessons and activities more interesting and interactive.

Drack has earlier performed successful assignments at various schools for mentally disabled persons based at Shimla, Trivandrum and Pune.

He has also urged the Edhi Foundation of Pakistan, founded by Abdul Sattar Edhi, to help the widow, who is running from pillar to post to arrange Rs 1,40,000 for the cardiac surgery of her son.

Amritsar, April 17
JDS Public School, Fatahpur, organised second Punjab Virasat Mela and seventh annual prize distribution function at school premises here recently in which the students of the school presented the rich heritage of Punjab.

The children exhibited various traditional folk items including girls doing Phulkari work and girls graining the flour presenting a picture of traditional Punjab.

S.S. Pannu, chairman and director of the institute announced that the school would provide free education to as many as 50 poor students as per the ICSE syllabus so that they could become self reliant.

Kanwaljeet Singh Sandhu, president International Wrestling Organisation, donated Rs 1 lakh for the construction of the school building.