Amritsar, September 4
“I always wanted to be a part of television, but I had never imagined that I would win a reality show and that too at such an early stage in life,” says ecstatic Amritsar girl Kritika Sharma, winner of a comic programme on Zee TV “Hasne Hasane Ka Tonic.”

She was accorded warm welcome by her friends, relatives and school staff when she arrived her.

Kritika (17) won the grand finale of the programme which was telecast on July 29. She was adjudged the winner by two judges of the programme, pop and pap singer Baba Sehgal and actor and popular TV presenter of yesteryear Tabassum. She won a prize money of Rs 10 lakh, besides Rs 10,000 per episode and a trophy.

A class XI student at DAV Public School here, Kritika recently acted in a Punjabi play “Awaz Do” that was adjudged as winner for the bronze medal in the National Mahatma Hansraj Youth Festival held in Kota, Rajasthan.

Rajinder Sharma, Kritika’s father and President of the Boxing Association of Amritsar, said she used to observe every person minutely and later mimic them, leaving the family in guffaws over her act.

However, he added that he had never imagined that the innocent antics of his daughter would one day get popular enough to fetch her the topmost slot of a TV reality show. Her mother Vandana said Kritika was a confident and talented girl and knew how to win tough competitions.

Her teacher and mentor Gurbinder Bhatti said Kritika was a born artiste and was quick to catch on acting skills. Her acting prowess was singled out to be excellent in the team performance of the school which lead to a bronze medal in the National Mahatma Hansraj Youth Festival. This was for the first time that the school team was able to reach not only the nationals but also win a creditable position amongst 50 school teams nationwide that competed in the festival, he said.

Amritsar, September 4
Now you don’t have to wait for the district administration to act against illegal hoardings and banners, just dial 100, bring the matter to the notice of police and get them removed without any delay.

The police in a special drive launched today removed illegal advertising hoardings and banners from various areas that had led to the defacement of the holy city.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said the general public could also bring the matter to his notice on his mobile. Besides, the people could report to the SP (HQ), he added. He said they would personally review the progress of this drive. He said the DSP (Detective) had been given the charge of checking of illegal hoardings on day-to-day basis.

The SSP said the banners, hoardings and billboards for advertisements could only be put up after seeking permission from the Municipal Corporation. Prior permission would be required for erecting any hoardings, he said. He said immediate action under various sections of the Punjab Police Act, 2007, would be initiated against persons would put up any hoarding or banners without the permission of the authorities concerned. He said all the SHOs had been made responsible to keep the city free from illegal hoardings.

The state government recently formulated a policy to deal with unauthorised hoardings and banners. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had also directed all the administrative officers for removal of the unauthorised advertising and political hoardings and boards that led to defacement of the city.

Meanwhile, the Amritsar Vikas Manch has welcomed the orders issued by the Deputy Chief Minister regarding removal of hoardings and billboards. Manch general secretary Amrit Lal Manan said although the Punjab and Haryana High Court had banned the erection of such hoardings as they diverted attention of drivers and caused accidents, yet they cropped up in the city under political patronage while the action against them was half-hearted and incomplete. He said it was pleasing that the state government decided to end this menace. Manch leader expressed the hope that the decision did not remain on paper only and should be implemented in letter and spirit.

Social activist Brij Bedi, who raised a war against defacement by way of posters and hoarding, said it was irritating that direction towers meant of showing distances, direction of roads leading to prominent places and various areas of the city have become advertising hoardings. He said that earlier, the Deputy Commissioner had deputed its officials for removing such illegal hoardings, but he later gave up saying that it was not possible without the help of the police to end this menace. Urging the SSP to involve NGOs and set up a monitoring cell for this at the community centre, he expressed the hope that the police would be able to make a difference.

Amritsar, September 4
Aayush Mintri (13), ace lawn tennis player made the city proud by winning gold in the doubles at the Adidas national tennis championship concluded in Chennai recently.

Aayush partnered with Atul Shri Patel in the doubles to give a crushing defeat to the duo of Sushank Nautiyal and A.K. Parthasarthy in a three-setter match in the under-14 category.

Talking to the media, Aayush gave the credit of his success to the support and trust of his parents and his coaches Om Parkash Gupta (Amritsar) and Gajinder Singh of Chandigarh who trained and acquainted him with minute details of the game. It would not be inappropriate to mention that he also recently won the doubles in the under-16 category at the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) championship series with Atul as his partner in Jassowal, Punjab.

Aayush, who started playing tennis at seven, has the rare distinction of being given the charge of captainship at the age of 12 heading a state team for the nationals, besides being sponsored by International Sports Giant "Head" for the second time. He has played more than 300 matches in his career so far.

He won the singles gold in u-16 at the AITA Tennis Series (TS) at Kolkata in January 2009. He gained the third position in both the doubles and the singles in the Asia Ranking Tennis championships in Pune in May 2009, besides another third position in doubles at AITA Super Series in the same month in Pune. In addition, he also won both the silvers in the U-14 doubles and singles in the 2009-CBSE nationals at Nagpur and was a winner in singles at the CBSE zonals in Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, he was accorded warm welcome at Amritsar railway station by his parents Alok Mintri (a former cricketer at the junior state level) and Sudha, besides friends and relatives.

Amritsar, September 4
Alleging large-scale bungling in the amount released under NREGA, the District Youth Congress (Urban and Rural) today threatened to gherao the office of the Deputy Commissioner if he failed to initiate any probe in this regard.

Addressing at a press conference here, Shailendarjit Singh and Dinesh Bassi, presidents of the rural and urban units of the DYC, respectively, said Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu had failed to provide any information regarding the works done and people benefited under NREGA in various blocks of the district.

They also raised a finger over the appointment of Dr Baljit Singh Virk, former Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) as Assistant Programme Officer, NREGA, as they alleged no advertisements were released to fill the vacancy. Shailanderjit Singh said as per the information provided by the DC himself under the RTI Act, no advertisements were released in any newspaper. Virk was appointed only after an interview conducted by the DC himself 
after merely seeing his past experience.

Shailenderjit alleged the Central government released crores of rupees under NREGA, but the administration had no records where the amount released and what works had been taken up and completed under the programme.

Terming the allegations baseless, the Deputy Commissioner refuted them, saying that sarpanches of various villages against whom action was taken by the administration over embezzling the funds had ganged up to raise petty issues. He said if they would lodge specific complaints, he would hold a probe followed by strong and immediate action against guilty persons. He said the administration had taken action against so many persons, including its employees, over charges of embezzlement after probe.

Tarn Taran, September 4
On the guidelines of the state government, the district administration has given the final touches for the overall development of three historic towns - Khadur Sahib, Goindwal Sahib and Chohla Sahib - of the district.

Urban-based civic and other facilities are to be given to the residents of these towns.

A meeting in this regard was organised today here, presided over by Lt-Gen (retd.) BS Dhaliwal, technical adviser to Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab.

Besides, Deputy Commissioner Khushi Ram and other officials of different departments participated in the meeting.

Lt-Gen Dhaliwal, while addressing the meeting, said the state government has reserved an amount of Rs 45.54 crore for different development works to give new look to these historic and religious places.

The residents of these places would be given sewerage system, drinking water, street light, water treatment plants, landscaping facilities.

The government also plans to build administration complexes for government offices at these places besides constructing bus stands, dharamshalas, gram sabha halls etc. with modern facilities.

The buildings of the schools, civil and veterinary hospitals too are to be given a new look here .The drainage system and the roads, streets, paths too are to be made pacca at these places with modern technique. These places would be connected with main roads with concreted roads.

The ponds of these places would be cleansed and retaining walls would be erected here.

Khushi Ram, Deputy Commissioner, while speaking in a meeting said the rainy drains in the district are being cleansed as the state government has released a grant of Rs 2 crore for the purpose. The officials of the drainage department were given proper instructions on the spot in this regard.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Sabharwal, SDM Bakhtawar Singh Shergill, DTO Angrej Singh Hundal and other officials too addressed the meeting. 

Amritsar, September 4
The British Council, UK, has invited Dr Daljeet Singh, Principal, Khalsa College, for participating in “Higher Educaiton Inward Mission” scheduled to be held from September 6 to 12.

He is one of the five persons selected by the British Council for the mission. The others eminent personalities who would participate in the mission are Dr Kirti Narain, Principal, Jai Hind College, Mumbai, Probir Roy, Executive Director, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, Dr Meenakshi Pawha, University of Lucknow, and Dr Perumal Kaliraj, Director, Centre for Biotechnology, Ann University, Chennai.

The main objective of the mission is to gain firsthand experience of the UK’s educational system and build a foundation for future collaborations, curriculum development and student exchange programmes, to allow exchange of ideas and teaching and learning methodologies, to gain knowledge about the role of a Dean/Vice-Chancellor in academic leadership, besides gaining a perspective of student life in the UK, particularly concerning Indian students and their accommodation and welfare.

During the week-long visit to England, the participants would visit five universities - University of Kent, Kingston University, Nottingham Trent University, University of Nottingham and University of Northampton.

Dr Daljeet Singh said he would also gain knowledge about the role of Deans and Vice-Chancellors in academic leadership.

Patti (Tarn Taran), September 4
The Congress yesterday organised a dharna in front of the SDM office in this border township to lodge its protest against the “failure” of the Punjab government to provide proper facilities and better law and order situation to the people.

In spite of heavy rain, a large number of party workers, including women, participated in the event.

Former MLA Jasbir Singh Dimpa, S.S. Shahbazpuri, Dharambir Agnihotri and other senior party leaders, while addressing the workers, lashed out at the government and said the government had failed to fulfil the promises made to the people during elections.

Congress leader Harminder Singh Gill alleged that the ruling SAD-BJP alliance only knew to victimise Congress workers by registering false cases against them. The leaders added that the pro-Congress panchayats were being denied grants for development in their villages. The Congress leaders alleged that the representatives of the ruling party had been indulging in drug trade and other anti-social activities.

The party in a memorandum, submitted to the SDM, demanded release of grants for the development of Patti township, creating job avenues for border area youths and blocking flow of drugs in the area.

Amritsar, September 4
Hundreds of power-loom workers today observed a one-day strike in protest against the long power cuts which have hit production hard and resulted in heavy losses to the small-scale textile industry.

They demanded Rs 20,000 as compensation per worker against the loss caused to them due to the power cuts.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, various leaders pointed out that there were about 800 small-scale textile industry based on power looms and about 8,000 labourers working in these factories.

The strike was jointly called by the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU). The workers of the local Batala Road, Chhehatra township, Bakkar Mandi, Islamabad, Sultanwind, Dhapai Road, Khuh Bhalla, etc. where most of the textile industries are located, ceased work and marched to Company Bagh where a rally was organised.

Worker leaders Bant Singh Brar, Vijay Mishra, Amrik Singh, Kishan Singh, Amarjit Singh Assal, Jagdish Shrama and Charan Das were among others who addressed the workers. The leaders said the long power cuts had caused huge economic loss to the power-loom workers and they should be compensated with financial aid in today’s time of price rise.

The leaders said they had launched a signature campaign in which more than 8,000 workers had taken part, which was later forwarded to the Chief Minister through the Deputy Commissioner. However, they alleged that the state government failed to initiate any positive response.

Strongly criticising the policies of the state government regarding electricity, they said earlier there was no shortage of power in Punjab, but due to the wrong policies of the government, the state lay among the low power-generating states. They said due to the absence of electricity their wages had come down by 50 per cent. They threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not listened to their demands soon.

Amritsar, September 4
The second three-day annual Diocesan inter-school national integration camp and tournament-2009, which was organised at the local Alexandra School, concluded late last night.

The tournament was held for scores of schools of the Diocese of Amritsar (SNI) in football and basketball. Ten teams of boys and seven of girls, numbering about 250 officials and students from the Amritsar Diocesan-administered states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir took part in the tournament.

Diocese of Amritsar (CNI) Bishop P.K. Samantaroy in his inaugural address, welcomed the participants.

In boys football, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, remained the winner and Tyndale Biscoe School, Srinagar, runners-up, in basketball Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, was winner and Tyndale Biscoe School, Srinagar, runners-up.

In girls football, Mallinson School, Srinagar, was winners and Auckland House School, Shimla, runners-up and in basketball Mallinson School, Srinagar, was winner and Auckland House School, Shimla, runners-up.

Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, Chairman of the Improvement Trust and chief guest, gave away prizes to the winners.