Amritsar, December 15
If the innumerable, haphazardly installed advertising boards all over Amritsar are to be taken as an indication, the holy city is gradually getting transformed into a city of hoardings.

Just a random ride in the city would be enough for one to observe these countless hoardings - be it green belts, footpaths, government or private buildings - which deface the city striving to officially get itself declared a heritage city.

Most of these hoardings are illegal and enjoy the patronage of political leaders who make big moolah by renting out these hoardings. The authorities, however, refute the allegations.

Giving scant regard to the orders of the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding banning these structures, the local civic and improvement trust authorities seem to be “granting permission” to these hoardings or they simply turn a blind eye to the practice.

Huge iron frames have been put up on rooftops for installing hoardings at busy intersections to catch the attention of the people.

The Supreme Court and the High Court have banned hoardings on highways and busy roads and chowks as they divert the attention of the commuters and can cause accidents. Giving two hoots to the order, a majority of the huge hoardings and billboards have come up on Lawrence Road, Crystal Chowk, Bhandari Bridge and Hall Gate. These hoardings could also be seen on the GT Road throughout till the Attari-Wagah international border.

Amritsar Improvement Trust Administrator M.P. Arora said a committee which was constituted under Executive Officer Rajkumar Kapoor much before his appointment, looked into allowing of hoardings or unipoles at trust places. Kapoor could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Amritsar, December 15
Believe it or not, the Public Health Department for the past over 20 years has been allotting two houses, supposed to be for the senior medical officers of the ESI Hospital only, to its officials.

The case has opened a Pandora’s box. Along with these two houses, there are another 18 houses located on the hospital premises, which were found to be unauthorisedly occupied by officials of different government departments for years.

The piece of land on which these houses have been built, is located in the residential complex meant exclusively for the doctors.

The Tribune team visited the site and came to know that Executive Engineer of Public Health S.K. Sharma and SDO Jasbir Singh have been residing in the two houses.

Ironically, these two houses, built on an area over one kanal, are situated just besides the residential accommodation of Medical Superintendent of the ESI Hospital.

For their privacy and convenience, a separate boundary wall and a gate has also been raised illegally. Astonishingly, a separate approach to these houses has also been opened on the back side of the boundary wall too, apparently to escape attention.

An official of the ESI Hospital, on condition of anonymity said these two houses were being given, purely on temporary basis around two decades ago when the construction of water tower was being initiated. Later, it became the precedence of allotting the houses to the officials of MC.

“Many a times, the voice has been raised from doctors’ side because of shortage of staff quarters, but due to political pressure, nobody could ever dare to take action against this wrong practice. I am witness to this discrimination and anarchy for the past 18 years since the officials of Public Health Department live here. These two houses could never be got vacated, despite the fact that there is written communication that these houses are property of ESI Hospital and only the senior doctors would be entitled to occupy these houses,” told the official.

Amritsar, December 15
The famous Amritsari vegetarian and non-vegetarian platter would become a costly affair with spiralling food prices which have snowballed into a major issue during the last one month on the lines of an across-the-board 30 per cent increase by restaurants and hotels in Mumbai.

The escalating prices of vegetables, pulses, grains and meat items, which have gone up by more than 30 per cent during the past three months, have forced the famed Amritsar dhabas, restaurants and hotels to jack up the menu rates with immediate effect to offset inflation which has gripped the nation.

Hotel and Restaurants Association secretary A.P.S. Chatha said he had informed members to go in for uniform rate hike in their menu card at the last meeting and added that a majority of the food outlets had already taken cognisance of the high prices which had virtually ruined the market and was eating into the revenue.

Recently, an established caterer, associated with a big hotel, who had booked it six months in advance to cater several large marriage and wedding receptions for the current season, has revised rates by at least 20 per cent.

A hotel owner, preferring anonymity, said it was within his right to hike the rates in view of the high prices of large food items, including meat, chicken and fish, which have shot up by 30 to 40 per cent.

He, however, added that in spite of the high prices, the rates had been increased by only Rs 100 per plate and they had not passed the entire hike on to the customers.

Meanwhile, small dhabas selling Indian snacks have increased their rates by 10 to 15 per cent, still offering affordable fare to a large section of lower and middle class families and the huge amount of tourists who visit these dhabas to have a taste of the famous desi ghee platter.

The biggest disappointment is in store for people who enjoy fish and chicken tikka. The prices of both the items have forced all the restaurants to restrict the varieties as the prices have skyrocketed.

Amritsar, December 15
Hell may not be an appropriate word for Mustafabad but it could well describe the conditions for the area residents, who are either poor or fall in the lower middleclass strata.

“We are virtually living in hell. The local leaders show their face only during elections and leave making tall claims of developing this area,” says a youth, Raju. “I have lived in these deplorable conditions since my childhood and nothing has changed till date,” he adds.

There is nothing in the name of sewerage or roads and what to talk about streetlights or any other amenities. When The Tribune team visited the areas of Mustafabad, Kundia Wala Khuh and Havelian falling in ward number 13, it saw drain water flowing in middle of the kucha road followed by stagnant water pools and heaps of garbage.

Rama Shama says every time the residents approached the local councillor, he claimed the funds had been released for area development but even after three years of the ruling government, not even a single brick has been laid in the name of development.

During nights, the whole area plunges into darkness in the absence of streetlights and it become a heaven time for anti-social elements, she adds.

The residents rue they have made numerous complaints to the corporation authorities and several elected representatives, including the MLA and MP, to take notice of the highly unhygienic conditions.

They point out that the private garbage collection company, which has been introduced in the posh areas of the city, neglects their area where it needed the most. In view of the lack of sewerage, some people have constructed their own drains to solve the mess.

Other areas, which fall in ward 13, include Parkash Vihar, Sandhu Colony, Gokul Vihar, several parts of Jawahar Nagar and new Jawahar Nagar, parts of Bohar Wala Shivala, Banke Bihari Gali and Jagdambe Colony.

Sunil Kumar, a resident of Sandhu Colony, says there is no sewerage has been laid in the street while all other streets of adjoining localities had been cemented. He says the residents of the streets have installed their private sewerage pipes and connected with the main sewerage.

B.R. Prinja, resident of street number 3 of Jagdambey colony, complains there is acute shortage of water in the area and garbage is also thrown by residents in vacant plots, which result in foul smell and become a breading ground for mosquitoes. He claims recently two children of a migrant had dengue but the authorities looked the other way instead of solving the problems.

Amritsar, December 15
It appears as the Amritsar Municipal Corporation needs to set its priorities right.

While the MC is particular about the decorative lights installed in various parts of the city, the basic requirement of proper streetlight fails to find a place in its agenda.

Even after four days, despite MC Commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda’s assurance to get the snag in the lights on the Majitha road rectified, nothing has been done.

On the instance of local residents, The Tribune highlighted the problems of law and order apart from the safety aspect on this prominent road through these columns. Following this, the MC Commissioner said though they were aware of these necessities and due attention would be given to street lights. “Some technical problem must be there with the Majitha road lights, which would be rectified on priority,” he had said.

The Tribune team also randomly checked other parts of the city during evening hours only to find the sorry state of affairs continuing.

For a change, the ornamental lights on Queen’s Road were found to be fully functioning but astonishingly the whole stretch of road leading to Hall Gate through Bhandari Bridge was in dark. Not even a single street light was found to be functional. It is evident to mention that the MC had installed special lights to illuminate this road, the busiest stretch all the time, but the whole area was found to be in a state of ‘blackout’.

Questions are undoubtedly being raised about prioritising the necessities. The decorative lights or the street lights? Probably both, but still the street lights are the main concern.

“What’s the logic of wasting public money and energy on such decorative lights when the MC cannot afford to keep the basic streetlights in order,” questioned the residents.

It is pertinent to mention that the MC is initiating to undergo a pact with the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) for installing the power conserving electricity bulbs in the city, but the prevailing ground realities need an instant check.

Due to heavy traffic volume on this bridge too, the chances of accidents especially with the manly dragged slow moving vehicles like cycles, rehris and cycle rickshaws cannot be ruled out in the absence of proper streetlights.

Amritsar, December 15
More than 200 agricultural economists and policy makers, including delegates from agricultural universitites, agricultural departments of state governments, officials from the Union Ministry of Agriculture, members of the Agricultural Price Commission, former Vice-Chancellors and directors of various institutions, are expected to participate in the three-day 69th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics to be held in the Guru Nanak Dev University from December 17.

The national conference would be hosted by the university under the auspices of its Punjab School of Economics, to promote wider understanding of the economic problems being faced by the rural society in particular and the country in general.

Dr. R.S. Bawa, an eminent economist and the Local Organising Secretary of the conference, said Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, would inaugurate the conference while his wife Ishar Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), would be the Guest of Honour on this occasion.

Head, Department of Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Prof. D.K. Marothia, would be the conference President and would present a key-note address while Dr. S.S. Johl, a distinguished economist and former Vice-Chairman of the Punjab State Planning Board, would preside over the inaugural function.

In the inaugural session, Dr. Romar Correa, Professor of Economics at the University of Mumbai, would speak on 'Future Markets in Indian Agriculture and Its Impact on Production and Prices', Dr. Abhay Pethe, Professor of Economics from the same university would present his paper on 'Urbanisation and its Impact on the Farm Sector' and Dr. R. Balakrishnan, former Executive Director, NABARD and present Director, School of Management, VLB Janakiammal College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, would speak on 'Implications of Corporate Entry into Agricutural Input and Output Market and its Impact on Small Producers and Consumers'.

Dr. K.G. Karmakar, Managing Director, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Mumbai, would also deliver a special lecture on the occasion.

Amritsar, December 15
It was a different day all together for jail inmates when the members of the Innerwheel Club Amritsar (South) visited the Central Jail, Gumtala.

The visit, which was a part of the clubs’ achievement commemoration ceremony, was not only aimed at helping the inmates but also to share their problems.

A special talk on psychological support was delivered by Surjit Sharma, Chief Warden, Civil Defence. “We were moved by the condition of inmates, who seemed to have lost all hope, and so we decided to make them our regular beneficiary,” he said.

“As if now the club aims to provide woolen clothes to these inmates and over a period of time regular health camps will be organised in jail,” said Club President Dr Renu Goel.

Welcoming these initiatives, Deputy Jail Superintendent Balbir Singh said they would extend all support for the club activities in jail.

Following this, the club members proceeded to hold its official meet wherein the president elaborated upon several socially relevant endeavors undertaken by club this year.

Dr Renu Goel also gave away donations in form of cash and kind for leapers’ home and awarded academic sponsorships worth Rs 11,000 to needy students.

While the dance performance by the students of Government Elementary Labour

School, Tung Bala, enthralled one and all, the expression of gratitude by the kids of Global Institute of Childhood Disability too made its presence felt.

Amritsar, December 15
Vietnamese paintings which were exhibited for the art lovers of the city received an enthusiastic response here.

Bringing this exhibition for the second time to the city, Gaurika Miglani, a native of Amritsar and promoter of art around the world, said after the successful exhibitions, the aspiring and budding artistes from Vietnam would get an exposure through the exhibition in Punjab.

Gaurika, while talking to the media, said during one of her trips to Vietnam, she had the opportunity to meet young artistes of the country and was fascinated not only with the country but with the art they produced.

She said the local artistes had a unique style, which found expression through different hues and several art forms in their individualistic painting style.

Vietnamese art has a distinct and unique identity and rapidly gained recognition in the international art world with good demand from art lovers across the globe.

Amritsar, December 15
A teacher in Social Studies, Inderjit Singh has been serving the Punjabi language and literature in myriad ways.

He did his Ph.D in “Punjab Di Kisani Naal Sambandhit Tuaharan De Manav Vigyanic Adhyayan” (Anthropological study of festivals related to farmers in Punjab) from the Guru Nanak Dev University.

He penned a book ‘Roh-Rittan Te Tuahar’, which yielded him the famous M.S. Randhawa Award from the Language Department, Punjab, in 2005. According to him, festivals are well ensconced in the fabric of the society for their common beneficial values.

Historically speaking, the festivals in a particular geographical area developed for allowing the people of that region to come together and celebrate the occasion.

Inderjit said from times immemorial, Punjab has been highly inclined towards agriculture. Hence, it was known as Sapt-Sindhu (the land of seven rivers) in the ancient times and in medieval times earned the name ‘Punjab’. Rivers made its land highly fertile and people inclined towards agriculture settled down here to join the profession, which was is its mainstay.

His book on the historic Bhakna village, which produced renowned freedom fighter Sohan Singh Bhakna, traces the history of the village and is about to hit the stands. Bhakna is linked to Wagah village.

According to him, a man named Wagah had come from Malwa and settled down in the village giving it its present name. The village now falls in Pakistan. The source of his information was Kursinama, a record of lineage, of Wagah which he stumbled upon through a family based in Cheecha village near here. He said the family whose ancestor was once the Patwari of the area, had preserved the Kursinama written painstakingly, in Urdu. He contributes articles in Punjabi journals Punajbi Duniya and Jan Sahit, which are published by the Bhasha Vibhag, Patiala.

Amritsar, December 15
Even as MP Navjot Singh Sidhu made a vociferous demand for conferring heritage status on the holy city in Parliament, but the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had already rejected the proposal of the UNO, routed through the Union Government, to enlist the Golden Temple as a World Heritage site.

After returning from Parliament to the city, he told mediapersons that he would hand over a memorandum, seeking heritage status for the holy city, to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He returned to the city after delivering an emotional and forceful speech over the calling attention motion on conferring heritage status on the city in Parliament.

He claimed that as per the data tourists inflow at Agra’s Taj Mahal was nearly 30,000, while the SGPC recorded that on an average 1.25 lakh people visited the Golden Temple daily and the number surged to nearly 2 lakh on weekends. He added that during the centenaries falling in the last couple of years and Gurpurbs number inflated to a million.

According to political observers, by raking up the issue of heritage status Sidhu wanted to resurrect his image, which was beaten down following his self-imposed exile from the city. He had taken umbrage at the appointment of a local BJP leader, Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, as the Chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust without even talking to him about it.

Sidhu sounded optimistic that meeting with the Prime Minister would yield positive outcome as almost all parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and TDP, had backed the motion in favour of granting heritage status to the holy city.

The Central Government’s ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme aimed at providing planned fast-track development of select cities was initiated in 2005-2006 and will conclude in 2011-2012. In all, 63 cities were bracketed under three categories.

Currently, the city is placed in the B category under the JNNURM. As per the present status, it is drawing 50 per cent grant from the 
Central Government.

As many as five projects have been approved by the government for upgrading infrastructure of the city. They are water supply and sewerage treatment, construction of two-lane elevated road and four-lane elevated road, rehabilitation of existing sewerage system for the walled city, integrated solid waste management project and rehabilitation of existing water supply system for the walled city.

The total cost of these projects is Rs 484 crore and the Union Government committed to give additional central assistance of Rs 242 crore.

If the calling attention of Sidhu bore fruit, the city would be placed under category C, with which the Central Government’s financial assistance would be raised to 80 per cent.

Sidhu said insistence of the Minister of State for Urban Development, Saugata Roy, that the holy city did not quality for the C category on the count of population was not the entire picture. He said as per the laid down procedure the National Steering Group might consider the addition or deletion of cities and towns under the category C (other than state capitals) based on the suggestions received from the state government.

Earlier, the SGPC had turned down the proposal of the Union Government of declaring the Golden Temple as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The then president of the Shiromani Committee Bibi Jagir Kaur had stated that it would invite trouble to the Shiromani Committee so far as the management of the Golden Temple as per Sikh maryada was concerned. The SGPC had incurred expenditure of Rs 40 lakh preparing 400-page dossier for presenting the case in the UNESCO.

It had also pushed the Municipal Corporation to chalk out a comprehensive development plan for the area around the Harmander Sahib specifically keeping in view its inclusion in the World Heritage Sites. As per the then mooted integrated development plan, the walled city area being a vital part of “buffer” and “core” zones was demarcated in the dossier prepared for the Golden Temple for its recognition as a World Heritage Site. It also included roughly Rs 25 crore for heritage conservation of old buildings in the demarcated area.

The Sikh intelligentsia was divided over the issue of declaring Harmander Sahib a World Heritage Site. A section of them apprehended that as per the provisions of UNESCO, the Central Government would get a right of direct interference in the management in case the Golden Temple was declared a World Heritage Site.

Meanwhile, the other section had described the apprehension as baseless and claimed that the SGPC would exercise total control over the Golden Temple property, while the state government would manage the buffer zone and the surrounding area of the holiest Sikh shrine in consultation with the SGPC only.

It would have made the state government responsible for keeping pollution under control, managing traffic and urban planning in the area surroung the Golden Temple termed as the buffer zone.

General secretary of the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association A.P.S. Chatha welcomed the move to announce the holy city as a heritage city. He hoped that it would portend well for the city and its hospitality and other allied industries. He lamented that they had earlier lost the opportunity to declare the Golden Temple as a World Heritage Site. According to him, instead of rejecting the dossier, the SGPC should have removed the discrepancies and distortions in it.

Following recommendation of the Shiromani Committee, the Union Government had officially withdrawn the nomination of Harmander Sahib as a World Heritage Site proposed to be taken up for consideration at the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee.