Amritsar, March 16
Is a pedestrian safe in the city? The answer to this vital question would be a probable “No”. The reason is the faulty planning of the road management and flawed traffic norms being followed in the city.

The millennia-old holy city is a favourite haunt of tourists- both foreign and domestic- who would love to move around the city on foot to feel the pulse and culture of the place. The city also has its fair share of elderly, women and children.

However, an extremely helpless situation would result when there are no footpaths for pedestrians. This, despite the fact, that Amritsar has been covered under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Tribune team took a random round of the city only to find that there were hardly any footpaths made exclusively for the pedestrian and if they were there, either they were encroached upon illegally by the vendors or the shopkeepers to display their goods.

Second astonishing finding was that at the traffic light points, apart from mismatch of the traffic lights, timings, the traffic is allowed to turn freely to its left irrespective of the traffic light signal.

Ironically, the administration bent upon forcing the vehicle owners to halt their vehicles before the zebra line, meant for pedestrians to cross the road, but in the absence of any footpath or divider on the other side, they remain left on the road only to encounter the vehicles moving freely towards their left.

This ‘out of order’ planning and lack of footpaths have put the lives of pedestrian in danger. No efforts are on the agenda of the administration to save the rights of pedestrians, who walk in extremely unsafe and hostile conditions, in constant conflict with motorised traffic and are easy victims to crashes and accidents.

At Lawrence Road, one of the most prominent and ‘up market’ area of the city, it is a Herculean task for a pedestrian to walk on or cross the road because of heavy volume of traffic and in absence of any footpaths. More interestingly, the width of the road is so uneven that just beyond the BBK DAV College, the whole stretch of road has been left narrowed down because of extra wide pavements but for makeshift shops and rehriwallas, not for pedestrians.

The authorities have turned a blind eye to this discrimination which has invited the ire of the residents. The situation was no better in other parts of the city namely, Queens Road, Court Road, Crystal Chowk, to name a few places which cater to common people most of the times daily.

Amritsar, March 16
One-way roads in the city, which do not have zebra crossings, have become a problem zone for pedestrians. Where there are zebra lines, there are no traffic lights to signal pedestrians to proceed and vehicles to stop.

Even as the district administration has earmarked several roads as one-way in order to facilitate smooth flow of traffic but it seems it has forgotten about the pedestrians.

Queen’s Road, Cooper Road, Railway Road, Hall Gate to Town Hall, Town Hall to Katra Jai Mal Singh, Pashim Wala Bazar, Chowk Farid, Katra Sher Singh to Pink Plaza intersection have been declared one-way roads and majority of these roads are without zebra lines.

Another problem for pedestrians is the absence of footpaths on these roads. Since the flow of vehicles remains high, pedestrians find it extremely tough to walk on the roads. From Town Hall to Katra Jai Mal Singh, Pashim Wala Bazar, Chowk Farid, Katra Sher Singh till Pink Plaza intersection, the road does not have footpath at all. The road is used as one way to facilitate flow of pilgrims coming out after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple.

He said excuse was always given that the road was not broad enough to build footpath. However, the open drain on either side of the road carrying waste water of houses could be covered and the space could be utilised for laying footpath.

From Crystal Chowk till Cooper Road turning, one side has a footpath but the other does not. It is one of the busiest lanes in the city as it receives traffic coming from Batala Road, Majitha Road, Railway Link Road, Lawrence Road.

At several roads, zebra lines are drawn but opening of central verges are not in synchronisation. At Crystal Chowk zebra line is painted but the central verge does not have gap to facilitate the pedestrians to safely cross over the road from one side to the other. In this scenario, they have to mount about three feet high central verge to utilise the zebra line.

Amritsar, March 16
The authorities have turned a blind eye to government-run TB Hospital, which is in dire need of power hotline to run its intensive care unit (ICU) and other sophisticated equipments.

If the hospital management is to be believed, they have been running the hospital without mandatory ICU fearing that without proper power supply, the hospital would put lives of patients in danger.

“We cannot run the ICU until and unless we are sure that there would be constant power supply in between the treatment of the patient,” said Dr Nirmal Kajal, hospital’s Deputy Medical Superintendent.

“The staff is unable to run ventilators in case of emergencies as power shutdown during the treatment could be life threatening for the patient,” he added.

Similarly, getting the X-ray done at the hospital is also a tedious task in case of power cuts as generators could not bear the load of machines and sensitive instruments. The poor patients have to be shifted to private hospitals in absence of this facility.

It’s an irony that the government has spent crores of rupees to set up the hospital but due to inconsistent power supply system on the hotline all these equipments have become a trash.

The repeated requests by the hospital management to the authorities concerned have failed to bear any fruit while all the remaining hospitals are connected with power hotline.

Even the government-run ENT Hospital, situated just behind the TB Hospital, has the facility of hotline power supply.

Several staff members on condition of anonymity revealed that that earlier the hospital has the facilities of hotline, nothing substantial was found on how it was withdrawn.

Rajiv Kumar, Chief Engineer, Border Zone, said there might be some technical hitch in providing the hotline. However, he quickly added that the matter could be looked into if the hospital authorities again file a request and ready to bear to cost in installing the transformer and other equipments. He denied of any hotline provided to the hospital earlier.

Tarn Taran, March 16
The Raj Yog Vidya Sansthan, headed by Baba Anantbir Singh, started kar sewa to clean the stinking Kasur nullah today.

The nullah had been an unwanted source of smell and unhygienic conditions for past many decades. Vikas Manch, Punjab, an NGO, and the residents had been demanding for the cleaning of the nullah.

The followers of Baba Anantbir Singh with hundreds of resident of the area performed ardas at the local Sri Darbar Sahib. Panj Piyaras comprising Bhai Pholla Singh, Bhai Nirmal Singh, head granthi of Sri Darbar Sahib, Baba Mohinder Singh Gokalpura, Baba Amar Singh and Principal Bhai Jaspal Singh headed the kar sewa.

Baba Mohinder Singh, a representative of Baba Jagtar Singh Tarn Taran Wale and Baba Sukhwinder Singh, the representative of Bhuriwale dig the first step of the Sewa.

Baba Anantbir Singh said at the first step the drain would be cleansed. Then both the banks of the drain would be made pacca by putting earth. He said the drain would be made easy approach to reach the historic gurdwara constructed by Guru Arjun Dev.

Baba said saplings would also be planted on the banks of the drain.

He said crores of rupees would be spent for the purpose.

A large number of residents of the area participated in the sewa with their tractors, JBC machines, etc.

As it may take some time, the sansthan has established its temporary headquarter at the bank of the nullah.

Tarn Taran, March 16
The Municipal Council (MC) has sent a proposal for Rs 30 crore to be approved from the state government for developmental works in this historic town, established by Guru Arjun Dev more than 400 years back.

MC President Bhupinder Singh Khera here today said on the instructions of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the council in coordination with the Public Works Department (PWD) made these proposals and sent to the state government for approval.

Khera said the main road passing through the town would be made beautiful. There would be footpath on both sides of the road having provision of parking .He said this road would be beautified from Amritsar-drain to Sarhali-drain. He said there would be proper provision of disposal of rainy water as well as the disposal of sewage. Both the bridges on the drains of Amritsar and Sarhali sides would be doubled to avoid traffic hazards.

Green boards would be installed at certain places in the town for indication of special places of the town, Khera added.

He said the MC has already installed traffic lights on the Amritsar bypass and at the Jandiala bypass with a cost of Rs 13 lakh to avoid accidents.

Khera said the proposal was likely to be accepted soon as all this had been done with the consent of the Chief Minister.

The state government has already started developmental works at historic townships of Chohla Sahib, Goindwal Sahib and Khadur Sahib with grants worth crores in the district. The townships have been given facilities of sewerage, drinking water, bus stand, school buildings, grain markets etc. 

Amritsar, March 16
Unlike contemporary human rights activists stressing on the rights of an individual, the ancient writings in Sanskrit kept social interest in view while granting individual liberties, said Prof Vachaspati Upadhayay, Vice-Chancellor, Shri Lal Bahadur Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, while delivering his inaugural address at the two-day National Seminar on “Concept of Rights in Sanskrit Literature”.

The Department of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit of the Guru Nanak Dev University, organised the seminar.

Prof Upadhayay said rights and duties were two sides of the same coin. He said in the present scenario, such a subject of global significance must be discussed in order to get fresh meaning of the word ‘rights’.

Sanskrit literature provided sufficient awareness and the need of the hour was to implement it in the common behaviour for common interest, he added.

Dr. Raghbir Singh, Dean Academic Affairs, in his presidential address, said, for the protection of human rights, the useful message about duties must be implemented.

He also emphasised on the implementation of the facts expressed through Sanskrit literature and added that Vedas still held great relevance on the protection 
of rights (even of animals), along with women and children. He said there was a great need to create general awareness among masses about the rights enumerated in Sankrit literature including, Vedas.

He said the theme of the seminar was very relevant in this era.

He hoped that the proceedings of this seminar would contribute significantly to the protection of human rights.

In his key-note address, Dr. Lekh Ram Sharma, Senior Professor from the Department, defined human rights as those which are protected with the help of legal measures. He said the aim of these rights was to provide fearlessness to the society.

Quoting examples from the epics, he said Maharshi Valmiki cursed the hunter for killing a bird.

Similarly, Kalidasa wished that all animals should live fearlessly in the Ashram of Kanva. He said adulterations in eatables, hoarding the commodities, wealth and others have been regarded as severe offences. He said such offenders deserved to be punished with strict and severe punishment.

Among others, Dr. Rashmi Khurana from All India Radio, Dr. Bhim Singh from Kurukshetra University, Dr. Ravinder Kaur from Punjabi University, Dr. Rajindra Sharma from Hoshiarpur and Dr. LP Upadhyay from Jalandhar were also present on the occasion.

Amritsar, March 16
Persistent play up of the plight of Gole Bagh in Amritsar Plus has at last led the municipal corporation to turn its central space into a beautiful green belt, along with landscaping and setting up of a herbal garden, yet a portion of it has failed to attract the notice of the concerned authorities.

The right portion of the historic bagh, which shares a wall with the truck market, has become a dumping ground for garbage and water. The prolonged discharge of waste has turned the ground into marshy and slushy land.

The setting up of Punjab’s first Herbal Garden on a patch of land in Gole Bagh has brought cheers as the land lying waste would now be optimally used.

The garden has 30 different species of plants, right from Kachnar (Bauhinia-varigata), Brahmi (Bicopa-maneri), Amaltas (Cassia-fistula), Amla (Embelica-officenalis), Vasa (Ada-toda-vasaka) to Kawargandal (Alovera).

Laxmi Kanta Chalwa, Health and Family Welfare Minister, inaugurated the garden. She said the garden was set up under the grand plan of the state government to set up Herbal Gardens across the state.

She hoped that herbal plants would reduce pollution and would provide a soothing effect to visitors. She informed that such Herbal Gardens would be set up in each district of the state and directions have already been issued to Deputy Commissioners, Municipal Commissioners and Civil Surgeons to find suitable spaces for setting up such gardens.

Besides, a nursery for preparing the saplings of herbal plants was also being set up at Dyalpur Sodhian in Mohali.

Mayor Shwet Malik assured on behalf of the municipal corporation that adequate provisions for planting herbal plants would be made in all the gardens falling in the limits of the MC.

He said the corporation had declared 2010 as the year of green plantations and special efforts would be made during this year to make the city clean and green. He appealed to NGOs to assist the corporation in its initiatives.

Dr. Lehmbar Singh, Civil Surgeon, said the concept of Herbal Gardens would provide salubrious environment and medicinal value.

Director, AYUSH, Dr. Rakesh Sharma informed that a project for setting up a special Herbal Garden in Amritsar, spreading to about seven acres of land, is in the pipe line and it would be materialised as soon as suitable land was found.

The historic Gole Bagh had hosted several seminars, protests and agitations during the freedom struggle and post-1947 it was used as a cricket ground for a long time. In a portion of it, concrete steps could be seen.

Amritsar, March 16
It is the green belt that is the most sought-after thing in Ward 35 while the shortage of water is another major worry for the residents of area situated on the right side of Sultanwind Road.

Besides snatchings, thefts and rampant drug addiction are also worth mentioning problems being faced by the inhabitants.

“Though there are three small green belts, yet as compared to the vast areas of the ward, this is insufficient to cater to the needs of the people,” said Jaswant Singh, a resident of Jaspal Nagar area.

Interacting with the Amritsar Plus team, he pointed out that the residents had no proper place for morning or evening walks.

“As of now, there is no place in the ward which could be developed as a green belt, the local administration should develop a green belt adjoining the UBDC or Sultanwind canal,” he viewed. It would also help in beautifying the area, currently lying in a shambles which is also a reason for mishaps.

He said a large chunk of land alongside the canal is lying unused. The green belt developed here would serve the people of almost all the areas.

Poor water supply is a bane for residents of New Jaspal Nagar who criticise the civic administration for its failure to provide proper water facilities.

The fixed timings for water supply and frequent power shutdowns have created a shortage of water supply.

The conditions during summer become worse. Urging the municipal authorities, they asked to set up more water tubewells to maintain proper water supply.

The condition of streetlights in several parts of the ward has also been crying for attention. Due to defunct streetlights, the lanes and sub-lanes of the ward have become a heaven for snatchers and drug addicts.

“Mostly it was the drug addicts of the adjoining areas who were involved in snatchings. Recently, two motorcycle-borne snatchers took away the chain of a lady passing through the area,” said Bhagwant Singh, an inhabitant of Kot Atma Ram.

Talking to Amritsar Plus, he said the authorities should change the defunct streetlights, besides the police should also take stern steps and increase patrolling in the area to stem the problem of snatching and other petty crimes. The residents also urged the authorities to shift industrial units from the residential areas. He said the noise created by the factories and the generators installed there have become a nuisance for the residents. The ward has several iron nails and screw manufacturing units.

Other areas which fall in this ward include Namdev Colony, Kot Atma Ram, Jodh Nagar, Friends Colony, New Kot Atma Ram, Jaspal and New Jaspal Nagar. 

Amritsar, March 16
A click on Google displays 56,96,000,00 hits for ‘vastu’.

This enormous number of queries on the subject indeed implies the amount of interest and faith people have in this science.

While looking for some expert in the Vastu shastra, this correspondent came across Vaishally Joshi, probably the only gold medalist in the entire state of Punjab in Vedic Vastu Visharda, to know about what segment of people approach her to find remedial measures for their problems.

Generally, catering to women clients, Vaishally said it is mostly women between the age groups of 20 to 40 who turned up at her office “Vishwakarma Vedic Vastu and Astrology Centre” on Batala road, Amritsar and enquire mostly about match making, family problems, job profile etc. and men enquire about investment in particular business, while students’ queries concern study prospects or career-oriented future potential.

Vaishally emphasised that astrology and Vastu are inextricably united.

“Before counseling sessions, the person’s exact date of birth and time is asked for. After preparing the ‘greh positions’, further question hour session starts and after diagnosing the ‘dosh’ (deficiencies), remedial steps are recommended accordingly”, she said.

About the percentage of result yielded through Vastu, “Up to 55 per cent, I can say, according to my experience and expertise. You have to adapt yourself to be a shock absorber and how you do this depends upon your patience, skill and conscience”, she said, while adding “Actually, Vastu can be explained with an example of what an umbrella does during rains”, explained Vaishally, the qualified member of the International Council of Astrological Science, Chennai.

Vaishally advocated for having faith before going in for Vastu counselling, “Only when you have belief in it, you can undertake the curative steps with full zeal and energy. And the results could be tremendous.”

Beside this, sparing a thought for the needy and downtrodden, Vaishally never forgets to donate some percentage of her total earning to needy but deserving children to help them in their education and health. 

Amritsar, March 16
“Each child has unique abilities, and parents and teachers often become so obsessed with children’s weaknesses that they fail to notice and celebrate their strengths. The fact is that many parents and educators lack critical knowledge of the human brain and the learning process. However, it is a proven fact that specific techniques can be used to enable children to overcome their weaknesses.”

This was the essence of the seminar focusing on “Multiple intelligence” addressed by Steven Rudolph, who has been educational consultant to World Bank, UNESCO, Microsoft, NCERT, ICSE and CBSE and MHRD, for the faculty of DAV Public School today. Steven from the USA, is also a Director of JIVA (Educational Foundation) and Senior Editor of Primary Plus.

Referring to Aamir Khan’s film “Taare Zameen Par” about a dyslexic boy, Steven said the film was clear depiction of the multiple intelligence concept. The concept stated that there were multiple intelligences, like linguistic, logical-mathematic, musical, bodily, visual, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

“Exercises have been developed that make use of bodily intelligence (writing numbers in the sand or on a person’s arm, or counting by walking up and down stairs), and visual intelligence (e.g. writing letters and words in large typeface, in colour, or on grids). This enables the weaker intelligence to get due attention,” he explained.

“It is critical for us to understand the uniqueness of the child and using different techniques to address different intelligences we can help learners achieve their full potential and further groom them for global fields,” he added.

The educationist threw light on optimal use of potential to increase and develop quality learning. Calling it humorously as “There are more than one ways to be smart,” he delved into recognising hidden abilities of students and bringing them forth to become useful in learning processes by creating and designing superior learning environment.

Laying focus on challenging questions that stimulate critical thinking, mental resting techniques, “teaching differently” he gave demonstrative examples of increasing interactive learning, engaging emotions, stimulating all senses, including visual, audio, kinaesthetic.

Amritsar, March 16
Square, a group of four artists based at Malda district of West Bengal, have expressed their feeling of bringing back ace painter M.F. Husain to India, who has been on a self exile from the country after some Hindu radical groups objected and protested against his portrayal of Gods and Godesses.

Husain was recently in news for accepting citizenship of Quwait. The artists, who have been exhibiting their creations at the Central Hall of the Art Gallery, are of the view that the artists only give expressions to their figment of imagination at a spur of the moment. These spontaneous expressions could not be limited to a narrow frame.

Parthasarathi Nath, whose forte lies in oil on canvas, said the aim of the group was to hold the exhibition at internationally acclaimed art galleries of Paris. He said the group would soon hold its first international exhibition at Dhaka, Bangladesh, as the talks were at the last stage with worldwide acclaimed Bangladeshi painter Qazi Salah-u-din.

He said the group was trying to display its exhibits at the Jahangir art gallery Mumbai. However, the internationally acclaimed Indian Art Gallery had its schedule fixed till 2015.

Inclination to paint Mahatma Buddha, especially in meditation posture, led him to even study past sculpture genres, in general, and ancient, in particular. The Gandhara School of Art, a blend of Indian and Greek arts, which had once flourished in and around Taxila, fascinated him the most. Evidently, his paintings on Buddha had unmistakable impression of the ancient art.

Prosenjit Dasgupta, specialising in acrylic, has painted several forms of life, nature and society. His inclination lies towards painting scenes from the Hindu mythology.

The third member of the group is Sumit Das. His paintings frequently portray womanhood, especially in folk outlook, and even contemporary modern woman as well. His forte lies in acrylic. The paintings, he had brought with him, illustrated women in different traits like in rural surroundings and praying deities.

Ashis Sarkar also paints in acrylic. Apart from painting human forms, his paintings find frequent mention 
of landscape. Sarkar says all of them have been exhibiting their paintings and creations under the banner of Square for the past nearly 21 years, yet they never ventured out for a solo exhibition. He said it was never their aim to hold solos but they wanted to progress individually under the same group.

Amritsar, March 16
Kendriya Vidyalaya-3 Principal Amarjit Singh Gill is running from pillar to post to get the allotment of his residential plot auctioned in June 2007 under the New Amritsar scheme of the Improvement Trust.

His repeated requests have fallen on deaf ears as the trust authorities have failed to provide him of allocation of his plot measuring 250 yards even after more than two and half years. Gill said he had deposited 25 per cent (more than Rs 8.55 lakh) of the total amount as per requirement of the trust scheme. Interestingly, all the remaining beneficiaries received the allotment of their respective plots in the same year.

Perturbed over the attitude of trust officials, Gill approached Amarjit Singh Asal, district secretary of the CPI and met the authorities which told him that the area of the plot had increased from the auctioned size as this plot existed in the corner of a block and, therefore, A.S. Gill had to give consent of acceptance of the increased area at the collector rate.

Asal pointed out that Gill gave his consent to purchase the plot with the increased area, but the authorities were deliberately not giving possession of the plot. He said even the order of the Deputy Commissioner proved futile. Smelling a rat, the CPI secretary, in a communiqué to the Chief Secretary, urged him to hold a high-level inquiry.

Meanwhile, Administrator M.P. Arora, EO Rajkumar Kapoor and Superintendent Parkash Singh of the Improvement Trust could not be contacted even after repeated attempts.

Amritsar, March 16
Amardeep Singh Cheema, Vice-Chairman of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), has requested AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to make Punjab a pilot state for the ambitious Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGREGS).

He said he suggested this during a meeting with Rahul Gandhi. He said the programme would improve the farm income and would help in stopping urban and overseas migration from the frontier state.

He said the state had the needed infrastructure and wherewithal in the shape of young educated persons from agricultural families, who could turn to farming in a big way.

Cheema suggested that there was a wide chasm between research and farm-level application in the agriculture sector. He stressed that there was need to have goal specific science and technology and farm practices to augment the earning and produce of farmers with a targeted approach for small and marginal farmers.

He said the debt waiver and special efforts for increasing the farm productivity had not delivered desired results. 

Amritsar, March 16
Guru Nanak Dev University honoured its 370 outstanding sportspersons with cash prizes worth Rs 25 lakh in the 40th annual sports prize distribution function held here on March 13.

Besides cash prizes, trophies and blazers were presented to the players. The presidents of the university sports committees (men and women), coaches and team managers were also honoured. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Sports Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was the chief guest, distributed the prizes. Vice-Chancellor Prof A.S Brar presided over the function.

Amritsar, March 16
Anjuman Bhaskar, District Controller, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Department, said one lakh bags of wheat flour were distributed among the families through the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) in urban areas and 50,000 bags, each weighing 10 kg, in semi-urban areas.

The Punjab government had initiated the “poshtik atta” (nutritious wheat flour) scheme in the district from January 26 to check inflation, she added. Under the scheme one kg of flour cost Rs 12. She said the department had directed the flour mills to add nutrients like iron and folic acid in the flour as per the requirement. The Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Department had also provided 30 kg wheat to the families at Rs 8.06 per kg in February. This month the families were supplied 10 kg flour and 10 kg wheat. — TNS