Amritsar, January 7
After the retirement of Dr RPS Boparai as the medical superintendent of the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, under the Government Medical College, the race for the prime post has begun.

Dr Boparai retired on December 31 and currently, Dr HS Lamba works as the officiating MS of the hospital.

According to sources in the college, Dr Boparai also tried getting an extension, but the government did not show interest in extending his services.

Although doctors have not been expressing their interest for the post openly, they have been exerting their influence through sources to get the post, it is learnt.

On the other hand, the government has kept mum over the issue.

As yet, there have been no disclosures about who would be handed over the reins of the GNDH and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital running under the GMC.

If the seniority list of professors in the Medical College is considered, Dr Karnail Singh of the department of pediatrics, Dr Adarsh Kumar of the department of cardiology, Dr Jaswant Rai of the department of pharmacology, Dr Santokh Singh of the department of medicine and Dr Kanwaljit Kaur of the department of radiology are among the leading contenders for the coveted post.

However, sources in the college suspect that that like the earlier times, seniority might again be overlooked this time.

Dr Boparai himself was handed over the post after the seniority of 15 other senior professors was ignored.

“We sincerely hope that the government would keep the seniority of teachers in mind before filling the post of the MS. Dr Karnail Singh is the senior most professor in the medical college, among all the teachers contending for the post at present,” sources said.

Amritsar, January 7
A house on street no 2, Vijay Nagar, here, has been inviting attention for the strangest of reasons. About 15 days ago, all the water taps connected to the submersible pump installed in this house began supplying hot water, with temperatures ranging from 50 to 60 degree Celsius, while the water in the taps elsewhere in the city was freezing cold.

The hot water supply at the house continues and evokes mystery, leaving the residents of the area, as well as the local civic authorities confused.

Getting popular with residents, the house now attracts people from the neighbouring areas who queue up to collect the water.

A section of religious people even terms it as an outcome of a divine miracle.

Though, the TDS (total dissolve salts) and sulphur contents of the water are within permissible limits, as claimed by the officials of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation, they haven’t yet reached at a logical conclusion for this phenomenon.

“I, myself, have checked this strange development, but efforts are on to establish the exact scientific cause of this occurrence. It could be due to some hydro-geological factors”, said MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda.

The MC authorities have also approached the Office of Engineering Geology Division, Chandigarh, to get the spot examined.

Rajesh Arora, the owner of the house says they had occupied this place about eight months back and everything was normal till the last fortnight.

“We had installed a 10-foot-deep pipe into the already existing 110-foot-deep bore, to install the submersible pump. Just two days later, it started supplying lukewarm water. Later, the water got as hot as the one you get from a geyser. I got it checked from mechanics and on their advice, I got it replaced, but there was no change in the situation. People in my neighbourhood, too, have submersible pumps with bores as deep as mine, but everything is normal there,” he said.

Arora’s mother Uma Rani believes that the hot water is the outcome of some divine power at work in their house, since her son has been a regular visitor to religious shrines like Chintpurni and Jwalaji.

Amritsar, January 7
Historic baulis (water tanks) belonging to the medieval and ancient eras dot the urban and rural areas of the district. But unfortunately, they lie in a state of neglect. Notwithstanding the fact that baulis are excavated at regular intervals here, neither the state, nor the Archeological Survey of India ever expressed a keen interest to preserve them.

Relics of a bygone era, these water bodies used to be a mandatory part of gurdwaras and temples. Consonant with nature, they also played a major role in recharging groundwater.

Recently, the Heritage Club of the local Cambridge International School, comprising students and teachers, stumbled upon a historical bauli at the Bhaini Gillan village on the Fatehgarh Churian road.

In pursuit of discovering and associating with the history of the region, the team of students, headed by their teachers Sharanjit Kaur and Sandeep Singh, went to the bauli site and studied the unexplored physical aspects of the site, which is situated on a common spot of the village.

The teachers said the bauli was about 300-250 years old.

As per oral history, the place was the site of the Hola Mohalla fair in the past. However, with human migratory trends, the place fell to disuse and only remains of the bauli are left today. Sharanjit said there are godowns on the upper periphery of the bauli.

A local numismatist and history lover Dev Dutt remarked that the bauli system was a vital source of potable water in the old times. Many baulis were found in the Punjab region and many of them were associated with the Sikh Gurus. He said one such famous bauli was appreciably maintained at Goindwal Sahib.

The ‘tank’ system shows that long before the great dam-building projects of the 20th century, the people of this part of India had a firm grasp on hydraulic engineering, he said, adding that unlike many big dams, this system of water management was in tune with the environment.

The tanks also provided a vital habitat for birds such as pelicans, painted storks, and common cranes, and wildlife as well. He said an ancient mound was detected in the Kotla Vasawa Singh village in the Khemkaran Sector near the India Pakistan border.

“Relics found there pointed that it was home to a prosperous civilization,” he added.

The retrieval of three idols - one of them being that of Lord Mahavira, the 24th and last Tirthankara of the Jain religion - from the tank of Kotla Vasawa Singh pointed towards the antiquity of the place.

Unfortunately, two of the idols were lost, while the third was kept outside a religious shrine, without any protection.

The Lok Kalyan Samiti identified at least 20 water bodies - located at Serai Imanat Khan, Kahngarh, Kotla Wasava Singh, Attari, Boparai Kalan, Kahangarh, Rajatal, Dhand Kasel, Chawinda Devi, Bhakna Kalan, Baniye Ke, Preet Nagar, Pul Kanjri, Fatehabad, Gandiwind, Naurangabad, Ramtirath and Chamiyari, some years ago. Usually each water body had a temple on its bank.

Amritsar, January 7
The local Bawa family is making a remarkable and unmatchable contribution to keep Punjabi folk singing alive.

The family labours to locate fast-disappearing folk songs and releases them in the shape of albums. Punjabi melody queen Gurmeet Bawa has lent her sonorous voice for these songs.

Her new album, “Meeti Di Khushbo” was recently released by Virsa Vihar. Apart from Gurmeet, her three daughters Lachhi, Galori and Poppi also sung numbers in the album.

In all, there are nine songs in the CD and local Harinder Sohal gave the music.

Gurmeet is known for her unparalleled long hake (breathless alaap). She found her alaap to be the longest in the world during a performance at Tablisi, a city in Georgia. She recalled after the presentation, a young girl approached her and said it was a 45-second-long note.

A student of Narinder Chanchal, Gurmeet was born at neighbouring town of Batala. She was more given to Ghazal singing. However, her husband Kirpal Bawa, a veteran singer, found her sonorous voice to be more suitable for folk singing.

He said they retrieved about 40 songs after interacting with aged villagers living in remote rural areas. He said on the request of the government, as many as six CDs containing folk songs from birth to death were prepared some years ago. However, the project was yet to see light of the day as the government’s agency did not evince interest thereafter.

In her over four-decade-long career, Gurmeet had belted out thousands of songs and gave many presentations. She lent her voice in almost all genres of Punjabi folk like ‘ghori’, ‘suhag’, ‘lambe’ and others. One of his popular number is ‘Charheyan Di Nazar Buri’. Connoisseurs of Punjabi traditional singing hold her in high esteem for her earthy music.

Amritsar, January 7
As many as 42 patients were operated upon during the free eye check-up and surgery camp held at Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital here today. The camp was organised by the District Blindness Control Society, headed by Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, who also inaugurated the camp.

Dr Chandanjit Singh Kondal, Civil Surgeon, said till now 518 successful eye surgeries had been conducted by the society at various camps in two months. Today, the patients were operated upon by Dr Shalu and Dr Chander Mohan.

Pannu later on informed that more such camps would be organised throughout the district. If any person was not able to attend these camps, then he could approach the Civil Hospital, while the ASHA workers, who would bring patients to the camps, would be given Rs 175 per patient.

Dr H.S. Kochhar, District Health Officer, Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai, Deputy Medical Commissioner, and Dr Balwinder Kumar Kakkar, Senior Medical Officer, were also present on the occasion.

Amritsar, January 7
Fortis Escorts Hospital observed the foundation day of Nanhi Chhaan, in which about 200 saplings of plants were distributed among staff members, nursing students and patients of the hospital.

The day was observed to spread the message of saving girl child and environment conservation. MLA Om Parkash Soni was the chief guest. Daughters of employees planted saplings on the premises with commitment towards environment protection.

Soni, while addressing the gathering, said the Nanhi Chhaan initiative was of utmost relevance in the present scenario in view of dwindling sex ratio in Punjab and widespread deforestation.

Dr H.P. Singh, Medical Superintendent, Fortis Escorts Hospital, reiterated the commitment to the cause and promised to take it to the next level soon. Sanjay Joshi and Col Balwinder Singh from the Impact Group also participated.

Amritsar, January 7
The Artistes Writers Welfare Fund (AWWF), formed under the aegis of Virsa Vihar Society, has come forward to extend financial support to veteran litterateurs and artists in an hour of need.

The AWWF has decided to fund the publication of anthology of Guraan Das Verma, an 80-year-old unsung Punjabi poet. He is immensely happy to see his lifelong wish getting fulfilled.

The AWWF keeping in view his weak economic condition also started a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 from January. However, he is more than happy with the offer of publication of his poems.

He said with his meagre resources he could have never realised his dream of getting a book of poems published.

Verma has forwarded about 100 poems to the society, which would be published on 96-page book, named ‘Meriya Reejhan’ (My desires).

Meanwhile, he has been famous among locals for his recitation of Punjabi poetry on stages.

Parminderjit, General Secretary, Virsa Vihar Society, said the AWWF was initiated with Rs 1.5 lakh, garnered from various resources, including from the district administration, last year.

He recalled that Deputy Commissioner Kahn Singh Pannu, who is also patron of the society, had supported the move as soon as the idea was forwarded to him and resolved to extend all financial and other possible support for the cause.

Besides, two veteran theatre artistes were extended financial support for meeting their medical expenses.

Parminderjit said the AWWF aimed at extending a helping hand to the lives and needs of artistes and writers by its own resources.

He said various means for get more funds were being explored.

One of them could be revenue gathered from the advertisements from its newly circulated Punjabi quarterly newsletter, started from this month only. Besides, a souvenier would be published on the forthcoming Baisakhi, he added.

Another recipient of the scheme is octogenarian veteran Urdu short story writer Shrawan Kumar Verma. He was the first to receive pension of Rs 2,500 last year.

Recipient of prestigious Shiromani Sahitkaar Award, he is the only surviving noted Urdu writer in the city.

The Language Department, Punjab, honoured him with the Siromani Sahitkar Award for his contribution to Urdu language in 1993.

He spent 10 years of his life in Lucknow as his father, a barrister, had shifted to the UP capital before Shrawan’s birth in 1930.

His works include five books of short stories and three novels.

He penned about 250 short stories during his five-decade-long literary journey and produced poems, too.

The turning phase in his career came in 1953, when his story appeared in Urdu magazine “Afkar”, a reputed monthly published from Karachi (Pakistan).

Shrawan Kumar nurtures a grudge that he could not meet his icon Sadat Hasan Manto, also a local.

Amritsar, January 7
A state-level art exhibition jointly organised by the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi (PLKA), Chandigarh, and the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar, kicked off at the Art Gallery here on January 6. As many as 103 artists are exhibiting 116 artifacts at the 4-day event.

Secretary, PLKA, R.M. Singh said it was for the first time in 34 years of the existence of the exhibition that the art pieces were being taken to various parts of the state.

Earlier, the exhibition was held at the state-level annual art exhibition of the PLKA at Chandigarh.

After holding the exhibitions at Ludhiana and Jalandhar, it would be taken to Bathinda and Patiala for developing taste for art among the people. This year, the art exhibition was dedicated to commemorate the 110th birth anniversary of Sardar Sobha Singh, a pioneer of realistic art in Punjab.

The Punjab Rattan Award was forwarded to B.R. Rattan, a veteran artist, for his contribution to art through his landscapes in watercolour and oil. Five student artists and equal number of professionals were given awards. Besides, eight professionals and six students were given certificates of appreciation.

Amritsar, January 7
The traffic police under the Amritsar (Rural) police district interacted with taxi and rickshaw drivers to spread awareness about various traffic rules and regulations during the Road Safety Week observed in the first week of this month.

A painting competition was also organised in which about 250 students from various high schools took part. The winners were awarded commendation certificates and cash prizes. The winner was given Rs 3,100 as prize money, while the first and second runner-up were awarded prize money of Rs 2,100 and Rs 1,100, respectively.

Ram Singh, DIG, Border Range, talking to mediapersons pointed out that during the week-long programme, emphasis was more on awareness rather than taking punitive measures against the defaulters.

He said special stress was given on taxi, bus and rickshaw drivers. He said the traffic staff of the police educated the taxi and rickshaw unions at Ajnala subdivision, Kathunangal and Khasa. They also visited various schools in order to educate the young generation about the traffic rules and regulations.

He appealed to the public to obey traffic rules and come forward to help the police in maintaining the traffic system smoothly.