Amritsar, July 31
Junior doctors of the government medical colleges of Amritsar and Patiala today suspended their strike against the non-implementation of the pay commission recommendations till August 5 when a meeting of Tikshan Sood, Minister for Medical Education and Research, is slated to be held.

Among others who would be present in the meeting include Anjali Bhanwara, Secretary, Medical Education, Dr Jai Kishan, Director, Research and Medical Education, besides Principals of medical and dental colleges of the state.

Dr Vishal Garg, president, Junior Doctors Association, talking to The Tribune said although the strike had been suspended, but the doctors would work under protest till their demands were met. He said the agitation was suspended after the assurances given by the Principals of the medical colleges of Amritsar and Patiala and dental colleges to take up their demands with the government and authorities concerned.

Earlier, a meeting of the Principal, Government Medical College, and Heads of various departments with representatives of junior doctors was held at the Principal’s office wherein they reportedly asked the students to call off the strike in view of meeting held with Tikshan Sud yesterday. The minister had assured them to take their genuine demands with the government.

It is pertinent to mention here that the emergency services in the government-run Guru Nanak Dev Hospital was partially affected as junior doctors had went on strike in favour of their demands and senior doctors, including Professors, Assistant Professors and medical teachers, took the task on their hands to avoid any inconvenience to the public.

Besides implementation of recommendations, their demands include hike in the pay of junior residents and interns, regularisation of fee structure, improved security in hospital and college premises and improvement in hospital infrastructure.

Amritsar, July 31
As people face difficulties in getting their work done, various social organisations in the city have urged the state government to revert to the old timings in the government departments.

People say the employees do not adhere to the new time schedule.

Tarsem Singh, an old resident of the border village Ramdas, said whenever he visited the office in Amritsar, he did not find the babus in their seats and thus had to come several times to get his work done. He suggested that the government must resort to old timings to save the precious time of the common man.

Brij Bedi, social activist and chairman of Citizens Forum Vidya Mandir, says early timing is troublesome for the public and even the employees fail to join duty at 7.30 am. “People from the far-off places like Ajnala and Attari could not reach before 10 am and by the time half day is almost over,” says Bedi, suggesting that the government must change the timings of the office hours to mitigate the sufferings of the common man who have to travel long distances to reach offices of the district headquarters.

Bedi says with good monsoon, the government must review the time schedule besides adopt ways and means to conserve power by replacing the old lighting system to CFL to save electricity as was being done by the neighboring states like Himachal Pradesh.

A senior official of the district administration on the condition of anonymity says the new office timings declared are very odd as senior officers have to suffer as they have to work till late in the night and rise early in the morning to reach the office.

He says the government should have immediately changed the timings after the arrival of first monsoon showers to save the public from harassment besides improving the working of the government departments.

Amritsar, July 31
Real estate developer MGF Emmar Group, which was constructing a multiplex and hotel, is mulling to quit the project over “unfavourable environment” in the city.

MGF Emmar Group with foreign equity backing had bought a prime piece of land opposite the historic Ram Bagh during a public auction at a whopping sum of about Rs 78 crore.

Though the group had obtained permission and no objections certificate from the state government and the municipal corporation, the Archaeological Survey of India clamped ban on the building due to its proximity to the historic summer palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a nationally protected monument presently under renovation.

The corporation had invited bids in 2005 for 10,000-sq yard plot adjacent to the residential quarters of the MC. It gave the requisite approval to the MGF but after the initial construction of more than eight stories, the ASI raised objection and banned 
the construction.

The company has already invested more than Rs 200 crore and the project had been put in limbo after the ASI filed a petition in the court and managed to get a stay.

The spokesman of the company said the investment has gone down the drain and the entire project has been caught in the web of legal wrangling. He blamed the state government for putting them into this imbroglio and wasting their huge resources.

He said the company was not sure that if they would ever be able to salvage their money from this project which has got bogged down due to the wrong policies of the government.

He said they have urged the government to find a solution to the present impasse and allow them to complete the project which was already behind the schedule.

According to sources the corporation, the ASI should have objected at the first instance when it came to know about the project.

It is pertinent to mention that the ASI had allowed the construction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh panorama within the protected area of the Ram Bagh. Several high-rise buildings including hospitals and commercial complexes have also been constructed in the close proximity of the garden. 

Amritsar, July 31
Friends are the most valuable and precious gifts that we can find for ourselves and the present generation has made an even bigger celebration out of relationship they share with their friends by presenting gifts to them on Friendship Day.

Young boys and girls throng shops and malls to select gifts of good luck charm to be presented on August 2 so as to strengthen the friendship bond.

Tarn Taran, July 31
The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has identified three government senior schools for boys in the district for starting cricket teams out of the school students.

Rajiv Mittal, Rural Coordinator of the PCA, handed over a letter in this regard to Waryam Singh, District Assistant Education Officer (AEO) here on Thursday. “The schools of the district selected by the PCA are government secondary schools in Patti, Khemkaran and Fatehbad,” the AEO informed.

The PCA would provide necessary support to run the school teams in shape of cricket mat, nets, wickets, balls, legs guards and batting gloves etc.

The PCA has requested the schools to provide ground where cement practice pitches would be prepared by the PCA. The schools would have to nominate a teacher interested in the game for the regular practice on the school premises.

The AEO said the move would help not only to promote cricket in the rural areas but would also produce better cricket players in the state.

Amritsar, July 31
Spring Dale Senior School under its project Umeed today distributed uniforms, shoes, bags and books to 450 students of Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir (CFVM), Maqboolpura.

Sahiljit Singh Sandhu, Director, Punarjyot, and managing trustee of Spring Dale Senior School, while distributing the goods also encouraged the students and inspired them to work hard and do well in their studies. He announced that 30 students of the school would be sent to Nurpur for a personality development adventure camp.

Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir is a school set up in an inconspicuous locality of Maqboolpura, an area where all existing families have been struck by the menace of drug addiction. Most women are widows and the youth is in the fold of active drug peddling.

Brij Bedi, social activist and co-founder of the CFVM, thanked the late Sandhu couple - Manveen Sandhu and Dr Shivinder Singh Sandhu - for their selfless contribution to the school. Master Ajit Singh, founder of the school, said the CFVM had been able to cover the milestones of success only due to the support of Punarjyot.

Under the project Umeed, the school has been organising a number of various co-curricular activities, including theatre workshops and creative art workshops, which enable the children to understand their hidden talents and creative potentials.

Amritsar, July 31
Vanamahotsav was observed by the Mission Aagaaz and Amritsar Vikas Manch in association with the staff of Government Elementary School at Chak Mukand village where about 75 saplings were planted. Students of the school showed keen interest in the plantation drive and vowed to protect the environment at their individual level.

Daljit Singh Kohli, vice-president, Amritsar Vikas Manch, explained the students about the various methods of water recharging. He said the government had made it mandatory for every house to have a rain harvesting system. He appealed to the students to minimise the wastage of water at their respective homes.

Deepak Babbar, Executive Director, Mission Aagaaz, made the students aware of the depleting environment and need to have maximum green cover. He said in the present scenario, when the people were least bothered about the plight of the coming generations, there was a need to expedite and intensify the awareness campaign on environment and volunteers should set an example for the elders to follow.

Amritsar, July 31
The district rural police has booked a head constable posted at Jasraur choki, under Lopoke police station, for allegedly opening fire at Jagtar Singh of Kotla Suraj Lohar village on June 16.

However, the case was registered only today after the completion of investigation conducted by the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station in this regard. A case has been registered under section 307 of the IPC and sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against head constable Jasbir Singh.

Jagtar Singh, the victim, in his complaint lodged with the police alleged that on June 16 evening he was standing outside his house along with his family when the incident took place. He said he had a land dispute with Surjit Singh of the same village who was known to the head constable.

He alleged that Surjit called Jasbir Singh armed, who was armed with a revolver and shot at him without any provocation. The bullet pierced through his leg and he was rushed to a hospital.

Rashpal Singh, the SHO of the police station, found the allegations correct and registered an attempt to murder case against the head constable. 

Amritsar, July 31
Members of the Lok Sangharsh Committee held a dharna outside Khalchian police station, 25 km from here, for its failure to arrest woman sarpanch and panchayat secretary for disposing of funds allotted to them under the NREGA scheme.

The committee, led by spokespersons Ravinder Singh Chhazalwadi and Raghubir Singh Sarja, along with residents of various villages, submitted a memorandum to the SSP (Rural) through the SHO for the arrest of sarpanch Harbhajan Kaur and the panchayat secretary for disposing of the grant of Rs 60,000 allotted to the village.

Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu after investigating into the complaint had directed the Jandiala Guru police to register a case against the accused under section 409 of the IPC. The accused had filed an application for anticipatory bail in the court of Sessions Judge, which was rejected.

Chhazalwadi, while demanding arrest of the accused, urged the government to implement the NREGA scheme in a transparent manner for the overall development of the villages. He warned that if the police failed to arrest the two, they would be forced to intensify the agitation against the police and the government.

Amritsar, July 31
President of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics and Associate Professor of Government Medical College Dr M.S. Pannu said about one-fifth of deaths of children up to five years of age were directly or indirectly related to diarrhoea.

He expressed these views at a seminar under the theme of ORS Day and week-long celebrations held in the Department of Paediatrics in collaboration with the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

Pannu stressed on the need of safe water, food hygiene, personal hygiene for prevention of diarrhoea and timely use of home available ORS in the management of diarrhoea offering real solution. Avoiding cold, fruit and soft drinks and continue normal feeding are the other important aspects in the management.

Dr Tejpal, Professor, Community Medicine, Government Medical Collage, described the effects of diarrhoea on health of the children and how important was to prevent the disease.

Dr Ravi Dutt Sharma, Secretary, Indian Academy of Paediatrics, spoke on the method of preparing and administering ORS. They said diarrhoea occurred more commonly in malnourished babies who were given bottle feed instead of breastfeed.

Doctors stressed on the safe water and hygienic food. More than 200 persons, including Arun Khanna, Chairman of the Global Institute for Childhood Disability, IAP members and staff of paediatrics, attended the seminar

Amritsar, July 31
Even though 95 per cent of the people of Pakistan, during the last census, recorded Punjabi as their mother tongue, due to some prejudices regarding the language and some political and social problems, Punjabi was denied its due status.

However, with the support of the Pakistan government, Punjabi-loving people have started the initiative to translate the Urdu literature into Punjabi.

Right from the establishment of Pakistan, the Punjabi language did not get any place in higher educational institutions, but bowing to the pressure of Punjabi lovers, a full-fledged postgraduate Punjabi department came into being in 1970. With this arose a need for degree holders at colleges and universities for research work in Gurmukhi.

The first Punjabi thesis on the subject “Ahmedyar: Fiqr Te Fun” by Shahbaz Malik, was approved by Panjab University, Lahore, in 1982. Since then, approximately 40 theses have been accepted by universities, including Panjab University, Lahore, Bahauddin Zakria University, Multan, and the Lahore College for Women University, Lahore.

Now Punjabi research in Pakistan is gaining momentum with each passing day and in terms of output, less than two theses per year are being accepted by different universities. Incidentally, some of them have been examined by Dr Dharam Singh, head of the department of Punjabi Studies, Guru Nanak Dev University.

Dr Dharam Singh, while talking to The Tribune, said when he looked back at the progress and quality of Punjabi research in Pakistan, it was not disappointing. To one’s satisfaction there are some special features of this research. First, he found that most of the theses covered a vast range of history, traditions and trends of a particular literary genre.

Giving some examples, Dr Singh said the thesis by Sayyad Akhtar Hussain Akhtar on “Punjabi Vars” (ballads) explored a history which went back to the pre-Nanak age. Nasir Rana wrote his thesis on “Pakistani Punjabi Tehqueeque Te Tanqueed” in which he had evaluated more than 400 Punjabi books and journals published in Pakistan.

A thesis by Asma Ghulam Rasool is on “Pakistani Punjabi Ghazal: Qadeem Te Jadeed Rujhanaat” (old and new trends in Pakistani Punjabi ghazal). The other category of thesis is about the individual literary contribution of Punjabi authors like Joshwa Fazaldin, Nwshah Ganjbakhsh, Mian Mohammad Bakhsh, Fazal Shah and others. However, he rued that only a few of Punjabi theses approved in Pakistan had been published.

Apart from degree-oriented Punjabi research, a bi-annual and bi-lingual research journal “Khoj” was started in 1978 which is dedicated to Punjabi research both in English and Punjabi media. By now 60 issues have been brought out and out of these two issues contain bibliography of Punjabi books in Persian script. Another issue is about banning of Punjabi books by the British regime.

The Punjabi scholar, who acts as a bridge between Punjabi literature of India and Pakistan, said there was an acute shortage of standard Punjabi literary terminology pertaining to research and political concepts. He rued that instead of coining new vocabulary or finding it out of indigenous sources, scholars there felt easy in borrowing it from Urdu. He said no standard reference Punjabi book was available in Pakistan. There was only one book “Mudhli Lafzali” which was a simple collection of Punjabi words. “There is hardly any book or thesis in which we can find references to earlier Punjabi research work done in Indian Punjab as most of them were unable to read books in Gurmukhi script,” he added.

Amritsar, July 31
He has been an inalienable part of local theatre, which dates back to the glorious pre-partition era. An adept stage artiste, Vijay Sharma is loved and respected among people associated with theatre.

Vijay has acted in shows relayed on radio and television. Among his famous plays telecast on Doordarshan Jalandhar are “Thank You, Mr Galad”, “Peharedar”, “Juttian Da Jora”, “Apna Apna Hissa”, “Sanjh”, “Adjustment”, “Ek Kahani”, “Chippon Toh Pehlan” and “Khoon Dan”.

Removed from the far-fetched image of joining theatre to reform society, his idea of theatre is something that keeps him fresh and provides an internal satisfaction. “I strongly feel that theatre is a medium to present a viewpoint and show the talent and it depends upon the viewers to infer from it the way they like,” he said.

He has been part of many productions of Doordarshan and has worked with noted directors like Sarbjit Bawa, Daljit Sandhu, Harjit Singh, Baldev Salto, Chaman Bugga, Haque and Vinod Dheer.

However, he is of the opinion that his best came in the plays he did in association with Punjabi playwright Atamjit. He played lead roles in almost all the plays of Atamjit. Famous among them were “Sadde Tin Latan Wala Mej”, “Murgi Khana”, “Hawa Mahal”, “Bed Tea”, “Lok Nath Akalmand”, “Rishtian Da Ki Rakhie Na” and “Honeymoon”.

After Atamjit shifted to Mohali, Vijay associated with all the established directors of the city, namely Varanjit (“Is Chowk Ton Saher Disda Hai”, “Natak Nahin”, “Masiha”, “Mansoon”), Ved Sharma (“Inspector-General”), Suresh Pandit (“Othello”), Dr Neeta Mohindera (“Abhisarika”, “Jine Lahore Nahi Dekhia...”), Kewal Dhaliwal (“Lal Batti”, “Loona”, “Ashad Ka Ek Din”), Jagdish Sachdeva (“Khusre”, “Train to Pakistan”, “Kabira Khara Bazaar Mein”, “Hamida Bai Ki Kothi”, “Saavi”) and J.S. Likahri (“Aadhe Adhure”).

Employed with a soft drink major, Vijay began his theatrical journey by performing in cultural shows at school.

Amritsar, July 31
The Guru Nanak Dev University Pensioners/Retirees Welfare Association today condemned indifferent attitude of the Punjab government for not implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission with regards to the pensioners.

Association President Amarjit Singh Bai said the delaying tactics of the government were deplorable and amounted to injustice towards pensioners. He said the association would support the agitation programme chalked out by the Punjab Pensioners Federation and would participate in rallies and dharnas being organised in the three assembly constituencies of Jalalabad, Kahnuwan and Banur.