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Historic area left out of sewerage revamp project
Rare manuscripts of Yajurveda, Padam Puran, Bhavishya Puran found
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Canvassing expressions
A Norwegian author who speaks chaste Hindi
BKU demands fertiliser-subsidy on per acre basis
Lesson For Administration
Govt supply medicines finding way to city markets
Young World
GND varsity approves budget estimates for 2010-11
CPM activists gherao police station
City girl wins Sohney Sohney Mukhde title
Benefits of wheat sowing: PAU organises field day
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Historic area left out of sewerage revamp project
Amritsar, March 12 And their troubles are not likely to be addressed in the near future. The hopes of setting up a sewerage and disposal system under the ambitious project funded by the Japan Bank Industrial Corporation too have shattered as it has been learnt recently that these localities would not be a part of the sewerage revamp project, due to increase in project cost, because of inordinate delay.
As the area lacks a water drainage and sewerage system, the sewerage found its way in the water channel alongside the UBDC canal in the outskirts of the area and took the shape of an open drain. “The industrial waste, which got mixed through the disposal pipes by pharmaceutical and other companies in the area, has contaminated the underground water, hence it is not fit for human consumption,” said one Bhupinder Singh, a shopkeeper. The residents have installed submersible and hand pumps to meet their water demand. Worst of all, now, even these efforts bear no fruits due to underground water contamination owing to the open drain. They have to depend on the government’s irregular water supply. The people have to go to far away places to take water from taps. “But fixed timings for water supply, added with frequent power shutdowns has led to the scarcity of water,” said Mukhtar Singh. “During the summer season, jaundice and other water borne diseases spread their tentacles in the area. A number of cases have been reported in the last season too,” alleged Bhupinder Singh, another resident. The high tension wires passing through the area have put the life of people in danger. Many incidents of fire involving the high tension wires have been reported in the past. Even properties belonging to the councilor were completely damaged several times. Like Ward number 31, under which majority of the Sultanwind village falls, the conditions are no better in this part of the area, which falls right behind the historic Sikh shrine belonging to the sixth Sikh master, Guru Hargobind. The huge pond serves as a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and insects while the authorities look the other way. The consecutive governments have bothered little for its development. “No plans were ever chalked out to get rid of this problem by any of the governments which ruled the state. The village, which was established much before the holy city itself, is nothing less than hell,” said one Monu, a resident of the area. “The residents are forced to live in unhygienic conditions. We have to close our doors and establishments early in the evening as mosquitoes and insects enter the residences,” he added. The huge water clogging problem has damaged many houses due to which residents have to shift to safer places, claimed another resident. Absence of road infrastructure in the interiors and street lights are other problems worth a mention. Other areas that fall in the ward, Kot Mit Singh, Davinder Nagar, Wadhawa Singh Colony, Bhai Manj Singh Road, Khalsa Nagar, Gurnam Nagar, Kapoor Nagar, Friends Colony, Akali Colony and Dashmesh Nagar. The residents of Gurnam Nagar and Nirankari Colony are still waiting for the construction of the road from Sultanwind Canal Bridge till Chhatiwind Canal. Baldev Singh and Satinder Kaur, both inhabitants of the area pointed out that a wall was also needed alongside the road as sometimes it led to mishaps in the dark. Shortage of water supply is another big problem for the residents, who allege that even as new tube wells were installed in the area, the connections have not been provided. Councilor Speak
Amrik Singh, SAD councilor of the area, while confirming that the areas has been excluded from the project, said they were seeking a separate project for setting up a new sewerage system for the two areas. “It was really unfortunate that such a step was taken, but I am in constant touch with the senior leaders of the party and the government. No stone would be left unturned to stem the problem,” he said. He said previous governments had deliberately ignored the area. Efforts are afoot for providing this direly needed facility for the residents of the two localities, he added. It is pertinent to mention here that the ambitious Rs 360 crore project of revamping the sewerage system was envisaged in 2006-07 with the collaboration of the Japan Bank Industrial Corporation. But the inordinate delay increased the cost of the project while the JBIC refused to augment the funds which forced the civic authorities to leave out these areas. |
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Rare manuscripts of Yajurveda, Padam Puran, Bhavishya Puran found
Amritsar, March 12 Search of ancient manuscripts led Dr Harbans Lal Bawa, a survey scholar for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to the house of Khosla, who has taken up the unique task of conserving these rare manuscripts as per the guidelines of the Archeological Survey of India. The ‘Manuscript Man’ as Khosla is known in his friend circle, had such a vast treasure of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit and Persina, majority to them about more than 350-400 years old. It took several visits and painstaking hard work for Dr Bawa to trace some of very rare handwritten manuscripts in Khosla’s home. “Yes, these are very invaluable and needed more detailed study,” said Dr Bawa while talking to The Tribune. Besides above-mentioned purans, Dr Bawa also found a handwritten book on Ayurveda written in Gurmukhi describing various methods of treatment for different ailments. Pages of Ganesh Puran and manuscripts written in Persian language were also found. “As I have little knowledge of Persian language, these Persian scriptures required detailed study by experts having good command on that language to unravel its contents,” added Dr Bawa who used to visit various parts of the country to hunt for more such priceless ancient manuscripts. “I knew I have an invaluable treasure trove of rare manuscripts made off natural materials including birch, palm, leaf, handmade paper and cloth. Even the ink and colour used in writing these manuscripts were natural. Inherited from forefathers, it also required special efforts for preservation and conservation,” said elated Khosla. Kholsa spent from his own pocket with the help of experts for conservation process. He donated several rare manuscripts after preserving to various religious shrines in the country. |
Canvassing expressions
Amritsar, March 12 Meet the four --- Ramandeep, Sumedha, Swati and Sandeep, these postgraduate art students of BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar, who through their brush articulate on canvas with unique ideas and technique in acrylic medium. They have dreams in their eyes and set their goal to make big in art stream only. With a theme “In search”, Ramandeep, reflected her own state of mind by portraying a workman who was more of a confused character unable to decide what to do in life. “Actually it was the same state of affairs I was passing through while painting this portrait. I had no topic on which I could direct my brush. Unable to find out, I initiate to paint different posture and end up painting a man with blank mind with ‘spilled over’ paint and dribbled brushes”, said Ramandeep. But Sumedha had a subject with her and it was none other than herself. She painted a calm girl sitting all her own with pen and papers lying beside her and two lizards on the wall nearby with a theme “thoughtful state”. Out of curiosity, when asked, she said, “It was my own state of affairs which encouraged me to brush this idea. Just few months ago, I met with an accident and was prescribed total bed rest. So at that time, I had to constraint my outings. My room was the only world for me for few months till my injury got healed up. I was feeling myself to be the most unfortunate being having no one with whom I could even talk to. At that juncture, I noticed two lizards crawling all together on the wall of my room, as if they were accompanying each other. I consider them to be luckier than me. That was all, I portrayed on my board and the final outcome is before you”, told very confident Sumedha. Sandeep and Swati, too, were equally expressive in their creations. While Swati portrayed the dreams and feelings of a woman, Sandeep showed her mind struggle with colours and compositional spaces. “In my series ‘am at work’, it was the same state of affairs I pass through while I am at work. My painting is drenched with colours. When I paint, my colours enter in me and my mind and this is how I touch the state of purification”, said Sandeep in her words. Swati, while describing her theme ‘rhythm’, said her creations were her hidden desires, my dreams and my fantasies. “I wish I fly with these feathered wings I have painted at the backdrop. The graded skills denote dreams like situation”, she said.
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A Norwegian author who speaks chaste Hindi
Amritsar, March 12 Meet Elisabeth Jorgensen Singh, a Norway-based author and an artist. Barring her looks, she seems to be every bit an Indian. Having immense liking for the Indian culture and rich heritage, she developed the knack for writing and painting. “I started learning Hindi when I met Tej Pal Singh, my late husband, in 1974 at Copenhagen, Denmark. I spoke no other language with my husband, but Hindi and that’s how I learnt it so well. In addition to the language, I was also quite familiar with the food, the music, the Indian way of socialising and Indian customs. The result is that whenever I set my foot on the Indian soil, I feel a peculiar sensation of home coming,” Elisabeth said. “Actually, it was the biased picture of India, which was being projected in the Scandinavian media. This irritated me. Whenever on agenda, India would be presented in connection with famines, poverty, discrimination of women, corruption and other miseries, the thousand other aspects of India were constantly ignored. This injected me with a sense to let people out there know what true India is,” she said. Elisabeth has authored a total of around 20 books. But talking about the two books on India, one in English and the other one in Norwegian, the English edition “Namaste Delhi”, is about the real incidents. “All the events in this book have really taken place and in the same order as have been described in the stories,” she said. She has also painted everyday life of middle class Indian. “I observe that the lifestyle of middle class people remain the same throughout the globe. The only matter of concern is that at some places, they have been looked down upon. But the fact is that their lifestyles contain the true Indian culture having sense of bonding, sacrifices and feelings for each other, which is very touching, but strong aspect of life, which is missed by many all over. That’s what inspired me to express through my paintings,” she explained. Meanwhile, the walls of the Ishan Villa hotel, where she was putting up, would wear her paintings, depicting the real India.
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BKU demands fertiliser-subsidy on per acre basis
Tarn Taran, March 12 Major Singh Kadgill, District President of the Union, who presided over the meeting, while addressing the meeting, stressed that farmers be united to get their demands accepted. In a unanimously-passed resolution, it was demanded that the prices of the crops be fixed adding 50 per cent benefits on the total costs in growing crops. Other leaders of the unit too addressed the meeting. |
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Lesson For Administration
Amritsar, March 12 The statue of this committed patriot and visionary, before the Partition, has been enwrapped in a glass to get it free from any dirt or reach of unscrupulous elements in order to preserve its sanctity. Caretakers Parminder Sandhu and Ashish Kakkar said even the surroundings of statue was looked after like watering and trimming plants, cleaning etc on regular basis by the team of the Shaheed Nanak Singh Memorial Society. On the other hand, there are over 10 statues of his contemporaries in freedom movement and other great martyrs or warriors installed in various pockets of the city, which fell prey to insult due to political or religious intolerance and often, by birds for whom these statues serve as a “just right” place to defecate. Just today morning, the statue of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi in Company Bagh, was found to be littered with birds’ excreta. This was not the lone case. Be it the statue of Pandit Jawarhar Lal Nehru at Lawrence Road, Subhash Chander Bose at Bhandari Bridge, Shaheed Udham Singh’s statue at Hall Gate, Shyam Singh Attari’s statue at Chheharta byepass, and not to forget, Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s statue near MC office, all speak volumes about the neglectful attitude of the authorities. Consequently, the martyrs who laid down their lives to get the nation free from the clutches of outside rulers today stood only besides overgrown wild weeds, filth with broken compositions and bear the brunt of inclement weather conditions. While appreciating about the spirit of remembering great martyrs, the intellectuals believe that if the administration fails to take care of the statues of these great patriots, the idea of installing them and wasting public money is beyond understandable. Another school of thought came that the installation of statues have now constrained to just showing political clout. This fact too cannot be turned down. The recent controversial inauguration of General Shyam Singh Attari’s statue on Chheharta Byepass was the case in point. Who could have forgotten the tension and embarrassing recent incidents where some miscreant elements tied a liquor bottle to the statue of Mahatama Gandhi in Company Bagh, just a day prior to Gandhi Jayanthi and damaged the glass replicas of the statue. “The statue of Mahatma Gandhi or Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru attracts the administration’s attention only customary during the birth or death anniversary of these great souls, rest of them hardly find any place on the agenda of administration. Even if they do this bit, it would be just for getting them framed for newspaper reports. For rest of the days, only the birds perch on them”, opined Prof Mohan Singh, a social activist.
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Govt supply medicines finding way to city markets
Amritsar, March 12 The police investigations though brought out startling facts regarding deep-rooted nexus between pharmacists at government health centres in Delhi and private dealers, it is yet to find out the chain through which the medicines were stolen. The role of doctors at these health centres also came under lens, as their involvement could not be ruled out at one stage or the other, said the police authorities. Majority of these medicines contains analgesics, antibiotics, syrups, etc, with inscriptions of “For government supply” and “Not for sale”. “The health authorities have no power to check nursing homes where these could easily be sold by illegal drug dealers. The nursing homes can keep medicines for their hospital use. The drug inspectors do not have any authority to check these hospitals in absence of their registration (with the department) and hence does not come under the preview of the Health Department. In fact there is no authority or a body to regularise the functioning of private nursing homes or hospitals,” said a senior official of the department on condition of anonymity. If the medicines of government health centres can be smuggled into local market, the possibility of pilferage of medicines meant for government hospitals or health centres in rural belts through middlemen to the chemists could not be ruled out, said the official. Taking the advantage of this, the unscrupulous elements in the central government health scheme dispensaries in Delhi managed to slip out these drugs in the market. The illegal trade is thriving without any proper check causing huge loss to government funds. In December last year, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police nabbed persons in connection with alleged pilferage of medicines from two dispensaries after raids were conducted at two medical stores at Bhagirath Road. It is pertinent to mention here that during investigations, the CIA staff had also zeroed in on medical stores at Bhagirath Road where the accused (who were caught here) used to make order of the consignments. These accused further made the delivery through parcels or couriers. Civil Surgeon Dr Lehmbar Singh, when contacted, confirmed that private hospitals, nursing homes and physicians could keep medicines for patients. In absence of any nursing home act, they did not come under But if they were involved in selling government medicines, the police could take action besides taking the help of the Health Department. He added that if the department received any information regarding pilferage of medicines from government hospitals it would take immediate action.
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Young World
Amritsar, March 12 Kanwal Sandhu got 99.3 per cent while Pawan Sharma secured 99.54 per cent in the CAT. Cotton mela
The Rashtriya Sanskriti Samaj Avom Sabhyata group held a cotton mela showcasing cotton fabrics at the Rajendra Garden today. The exhibition organisers said stalls of cotton yarns from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat were being displayed. It would conclude Quiz competition
The Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of the Guru Nanak Dev University held a quiz competition on ‘Climate Change and Biodiversity’ and a Shramdaan Camp in the Botanical garden of the university.The event was organised as a part of the National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC-2010) and was jointly sponsored by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST), Chandigarh and Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. Seminar on biosciences
The post graduate department of Biotechnology of Swami Satynand College of Management and Technology held a seminar on ‘Biosciences- Challenges and Scope’ to celebrate National Science Day. Teachers and students from 13 colleges from Jalandhar, Gurdaspur and Amritsar participated in the event. Farewell party
Ajit Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School held a farewell party for the outgoing students of the school. The students displayed their skills in cultural programmes, folk music and other activities. Principal Rama Mahajan wished them good of luck for their career. |
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GND varsity approves budget estimates for 2010-11
Amritsar, March 12 Out of the total budget of 192 crore 85 lakh and 46 thousand, 63.56 per cent would be spent on education, applied education, research and improvement of education. A total of 12.51 per cent would be allocated for the general administration and 3.40 per cent to conduct examinations. In the budget, there would be a provision of 19.49 per cent for miscellaneous and health services expenditures and 1.04 per cent for construction of buildings. The separate Education Department would be started in the university; initially, admission to M.Ed. classes would be done. The Department of physics and applied physics, chemistry and applied chemistry and centre for genetics disorders and human genetics would be emerged from this academic session. All fixed deposits made by the university would be made online for more transparency. All teaching and non-teaching departments of the university would be interconnected through internet and all information would be available on the internet. For the convenience of students, the online submission of admission forms would be made available. The Vice Chancellor said the university was planning to meet the deficit of about Rs 32 crore from the fee hike and by reducing the posts of teaching and non-teaching staff of the university by 10 per cent. He said unnecessary expenditures would be reduced without compromising the quality of the education. He said for the students of the Guru Nanak Studies Department and School of Punjabi Studies, there would be no tuition fee as the Guru Nanak Dev University was committed towards the promotion and propagation of these two departments. He said about 10 to 15 per cent fee hike would be applied on the students of the university. He said for meritorious and deserving students, there would be provision for scholarships and fee concessions. He said from this academic session, about 1,000 more seats in various courses have been allotted and similarly additional seats have been allowed to the various affiliated colleges. He said more efforts would be made to strengthen the existing departments. He said the university would shortly start more need-based courses to meet international requirements. He said last year, the university granted fee concession, refunds and scholarships of about Rs 4 crore to the students. About Rs 5 lakh received from the government for scholarships had also been distributed to the students in addition to this. He said more concessions and scholarships would be given to the students in this academic session. He said the university was committed to provide hygienic and healthy atmosphere to the students of the university, for this more facilities have been provided in the departments and in the hostels. He said more cultural and sports activities and incentives would be provided to the students in order to encourage them. He said more international and regional-level interactions with high profile dignitaries would be conducted in order to facilitate the students of the university to share their views. He said as per the guidelines of the UGC, the new pay scales have been implemented. About Rs 2 crore have been reserved for the research in order to encourage teachers towards research along with teaching. For employees, the Vice-Chancellor said pay scales according to the fifth pay commission of the Punjab have been granted. He said that computerisation of whole examination system would be made more effective. He said the university spends Rs 1 crore every year for health-related-services of the employees and students of the university. In the budget, a provision of Rs 25 lakh has also been made for the health centre of the university to install an X-ray machine.
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CPM activists gherao police station
Amritsar, March 12 Demanding immediate arrest of the accused, they also urged the authorities to take action against the Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and in charge, Sardar Bazaar Chowki, who according to them deliberately failed to arrest them. They raised slogans against the police and agitated for about two hours. They threatened to intensify their stir if the police authorities failed to take action within a week. CPM leader Jagtar Singh Karampura said he along with other senior party members approached the SHO Civil Line and SP (Headquarter) but it also proved a futile exercise He also alleged that the accused was roaming freely and trying to intimidate the victims by hook or crook.
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City girl wins Sohney Sohney Mukhde title
Amritsar, March 12 Daughter of an industrialist, Sabina also took part in PTC Ms Punjaban Contest besides participating in other beauty contests during her study. She has bagged titles of Ms Charming, Ms Beauty, Ms Expression, Ms College, Ms Beautiful Face and Ms Sweet. Sabina (23) is student of postgraduation at S R Government College for Girls. She would also have an opportunity to come on mainstream television. Navneet Kaur of Patiala was adjudged the first runners-up while Rubina Pannu from Ludhiana was the second runner-up. The other prizewinners included Gurpreet Kaur and Nazma Mohd (both from Patiala). Out of over 2,000 entries, 750 participants were shortlisted from five city finales. The 15 city finalists were selected by independent judges following several intense rounds of auditions - introduction round, the ramp walk round and a question-answer session. The winners were chosen from among the 15 finalists who were selected after several rounds of screening and auditions held across the five cities of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Patiala and Jalandhar. —
TNS |
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Benefits of wheat sowing: PAU organises field day
Tarn Taran, March 12 As many as 100 farmers of the area participated on the occasion. Dr. Raminder Kaur Hundal, agriculture specialist, while addressing the farmers, told about the benefits of sowing wheat with happy seeder. She added that this method is not only easy as it involves the wheat straw in the earth but it is also economical as it decreases the agriculture expenditure. Dr. Sukhjinderjit Singh from the Animal Husbandry Department stressed to adopt co-agriculture businesses like dairy farming, bee keeping, hen-keeping to increase their income. Kisan leader Amarjit Singh Usman advised farmers to sow only the varieties of crops according to the suggestions of the agriculture specialists, particularly the PAU. He also stressed on sowing crops consuming less water, keeping in view the decreasing water levels. The agriculture specialists highlighted the possible diseases of the wheat crop and also suggested precautionary measurers. Deputy Director Dr. BS Dhillon of the PAU explained the activities of the KVK for the benefits of the farmers. — OC |
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of historic Sultanwind village is unimaginable.The ponds of disposed sewerage water in the absence of any disposal system have been the bane of residents in one of the oldest localities of the city.
Amritsar, March 12
The incredible upkeep and level of maintenance of Shaheed Sardar Nanak Singh’s statue at Ranjit Avenue could indeed be an example for the Amritsar administration as far as conservation of statues and avoiding unpleasant incidents of defaming them is concerned.
“Kot Mit Singh, established before the Partition, remained neglected for more than six decades. Although some works have been done under the present councilor, a lot is needed to be done. We feel cheated due to the exclusion of the Kot Mit Singh and the Sultanwind area from the project,” said Prof Sakatar Singh of the area, who has also filed a petition with the Punjab State Human Rights Commission. 
