Amritsar, January 11
In a second attempt to launch community-oriented policing, the district police has identified six points of the city that will help safeguard the interests of the tourists.

The Amritsar cops will be on the vigil 24X7 at the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir, Guru Ram Dass International Airport, bus stand, railway station and Attari border. Special police ‘kiosks’ would be erected at these places for the purpose.

Interestingly, about four years ago, the same initiative was taken by the police and similar ‘kiosks’ were installed but they disappeared into oblivion, leaving the dilapidated unmanned kiosks with signboards to remind the city of their ‘once upon a time’ existence.

“The police is serious this time,” the officials said.

Nevertheless, keeping in mind the orientation and job requirement, the police has chalked out a special plan to make this endeavour a success.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Central) Inderbir Singh, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of heading this job, said efforts were being made to make it a foolproof initiative.

“You need somebody who can understand and speak English, especially when we are dealing with foreign tourists. Therefore, we have chosen those police personnel who were relatively more knowledgeable. We would release special helpline numbers soon, but for the moment the Kotwali police station’s number would be available for their services. Besides this, we are also working on the possibility of gaining access through Amritsar police’s website,” said Inderbir Singh.

Meanwhile, a separate 20-member (both males and females) tourism wing has been established, dedicated exclusively for tourists. The cops would be put on duty under the roster system.

Apart from this, a separate tourism wing has been established at Kotwali police station, which would operate the activities and duty assignments of the cops associated with these kiosks.

“This move has been taken just to expedite the issues pertaining to tourists, who would generally have a short stay in the city. If any tourist would have any problem or issue, the kiosk personnel would inform the Kotwali police and the rest would be looked after,” told the Deputy Commissioner of Police A.S. Chahal.

“Amritsar is an important tourist destination and according to an estimate around 1 lakh tourists visit the place everyday. The objective of Amritsar Tourism Police would be to avoid harassment to the tourists by touts, to help in getting transport and lodging at appropriate rate and providing a hassle-free journey at the railway station, airport, bus terminal and other important tourist places, like malls, clubs etc. Apart from this, they would also guard tourists from cheaters and snatchers.”

“The need to introduce such a system was felt because a large number of devotees come here to pay obeisance to the Golden Temple and Durgiana Tirath and they face several problems related to transport, accommodation, getting tourism related information. It was during those occasions that this special wing would be there to assist them,” told Chahal before pointing out certain precautionary measures to be taken by the visitors. 

Amritsar, January 11
With rising inflation causing prices of eatables to rise to new heights, it seems that consumers will have to pay through their nose to relish the Lohri goodies this year.

A sweet maker, Mohan Singh, said across-the-board rise in items during the past couple of months has forced them to jack up the prices of all seasonal eatables, highly consumed during the festival.

The trend is largely evident in the prices of eatables like gachak, rewri, sut laddu, chirvare (beaten rice), bhugga and khajoor - made from sugar, jaggery, vegetable oil, pure ghee, till (sesame seeds), groundnuts and dry fruit. Majority of these ingredients are being sold at prices higher than last year.

Though, sugar is being sold at Rs 32 per kg this year, a price much lesser than the Rs 50 per kg last year.

Groundnut is being sold at Rs 60 to Rs 70 per kg, salted groundnut at Rs 80 per kg, reori at over Rs 70, gur gachak at Rs 80, sugar gachak at Rs 80 and beaten rice is being sold at Rs 60 per kg this year.

These items have recorded a 10 to 20 per cent increase in prices. The tradition of Lohri commands the exchange of eatables like gachak, reori, tilbhuga or specially made khajoors among relatives, especially when there has been a marriage or the arrival of a baby in a family.

Harman Kaur, a housewife, reacted on the constant rise in inflation. She said, “Earlier we freely used to exchange Lohri delicacies within our friend circles and relatives and the money factor was never considered. However, with the changing times, the practice has largely been restricted to the nearest of relatives.”

Traditional Bhad Bhunje Wala Bazaar
Located in the narrow arterial lanes of the walled city, shopkeepers at Bhad Bhunje Wala Bazaar have been dishing out these preparations associated with the festival for the past many centuries. It is said the market is as old as the city.

The market is located in Qilla Bhangiya, named after one of the Sikh Misls.

Majority of the families here have been involved in the profession of selling and preparing these items for generations. The young generation has mostly switched over from manually preparing these sweets, to machines, to reduce the preparation time and dependence on labour.

These items are generally consumed in the winters.

However, modernisation has had its effect as a large number of people have either deserted the trade or installed machines to prepare these items in factories.

Amritsar, January 11
Sounding an alarm for diabetics, an international study has found that the infection rate due to influenza virus is six times higher in patients suffering from diabetes.

So, when the diabetics are down with fever, headache, soar throat or cough, it’s not just the climate change, it might be the high blood sugar in their bodies, which is acting as a deterrent in the immune system.

Revealing this, Dr Rohit Kapoor, famous diabetologist while quoting the study, said elevated levels of glucose in the bloodstream could slow down the body’s ability to detect and fight bacterial and fungal infections.

According to it, the surface of infection causing bacteria and virus is similar in structure to the surface of sugar. When the blood sugar is high, body’s defense mechanism attacks sugar surfaces rather than virus surface due to the similarity in surface structure and therefore allowing virus to breed and infect.

But, it can be prevented by taking precautionary measures said Dr Kapoor. The first and foremost is to bring blood sugar under control by adhering to strict diet and exercise plans, taking medicine on time and continuous monitoring of glucose under the supervision of diabetologist.

Not only diabetics but obese people also have high risk of virus attack. Younger population who digress themselves from a healthy lifestyle are equally vulnerable to the infection attack. 

Amritsar, January 11
The bone-biting weather has left the destitute in the city a harried lot. Living on roadsides and shanties, rag-pickers and people doing other menial jobs have nowhere to go and nobody for help.

The shanties, majority of them made of tarpaulin sheets, don’t help them fight the chill in anyway.

They can be seen sleeping on footpaths. Their numbers are particularly high near the Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, railway station, Andhvidhyalya, bus stand, court road and markets.

Rajesh, 16, a rag-picker, says these days he is the lone person going to work as others in his family are down with common flu or some other disease.

“With these meagre means, we can’t even dream of a concrete roof over us,” he adds.

Another rag-picker Tarlochan says the cold weather have affected us badly. “For better part of the day and night we just sit around the bonfire to keep ourselves warm.”

For the past some days, the minimum temperature in the city is hovering at around 3°C, forcing the people to remain indoors.

Some beggars, still, are a lucky lot. The district administration housed a number of beggars at Karam Singh Ward of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital last year, which still remains their home.

The residents of the holy city, who have an inherent tradition to donate eatables, blankets and warm clothes to impoverished people, continue to do the good work.

Dr Hari Om Goel, a social activist, demands that like in Delhi, night shelters must be built here for these destitute. He said these shelters must be conveniently located so that underprivileged people could approach them easily and the philanthropists could distribute eatables effortlessly.

Amritsar, January 11
Mystery still shrouds the incident wherein scorching hot water began flowing from the taps of a house in Vijay Nagar here. The team of hydrologists from the Geological Survey of India, too, could not zero in on any logical reason behind this sudden development.

For further experimentation, they have decided to go in for special mock digging at some distance from the existing bore.

Apart from this, hydrologists have also prescribed to alter the electricity phases and run it with another submersible motor.

For the past 20 days, all the water taps connected to the submersible pump installed in this house have been supplying hot water with temperatures varying between 50 to 60 degree Celsius. A team of the geological wing from Chandigarh was approached by the Amritsar municipal corporation, which arrived in the city yesterday.

Nevertheless, the Commissioner of the Amritsar municipal corporation, DPS Kharbanda, confirmed that no concrete reason for the phenomenon could be established as yet.

“But we are still on the job. Earlier, we were of the view that the water might be getting hot after the emersion of calcium and exothermic reactions, but the possibility of rocky strata underneath was ruled out, because Amritsar falls under the tectonic earth zone. Moreover, we have already checked the TDS (total dissolve salts) and sulphur contents of the water, which were within permissible limits and were not hazardous,” he said.

The team has also checked the heat-leach factor. By checking the water supply of at least 10 houses falling adjacent to the house in question, but that, again, plays no role in the development.

Dr Pardeep Singh, the hydrologist, said the water supply at all the adjacent houses is normal.

“It is the only case and it appears that some electric disorder while fixing the submersible motor might have caused the problem. But that too is just a guess. We have advised the house owner to install another motor and change the electricity phases on an experimental basis. Apart from this, we would also be carrying out special mock drilling beneath the ground at same points, as well as at some yards away, for further investigations,” said Dr Pardeep Singh.

Meanwhile, the occupants of the house maintain that they are bothered by the continuous visitors who perceive the entire situation as a divine miracle.

“The geologists’ team, too, went back empty handed. We have already changed the submersible motor, but there is no change in the situation. Secondly, people have started pouring in to our house from the day the news about this development spread and in order to be polite to their sentiments, we have to let them in. This has also has encroached upon our privacy”, said the occupants of the house.

Amritsar, January 8
The Government Medical College, Amritsar, has written to the Punjab Government to create new posts and fill up vacant ones for running the newly established Swami Vivekanand Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre on the college premises.

The construction of building of the ambitious project of the state government has almost completed and would be ready for operation within couple of weeks. The 50-bedded centre is being constructed by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board at a cost of Rs 4 crore. The work was started in 2008.

Although the majority of equipments have already been fitted in the centre, shortage of staff has delayed its opening, it is learnt. It is pertinent to mention here that the centre would be run under the Department of Psychiatry, GMC, which is already facing staff shortage.

According to the proposal sent to the government, the unit requires a professor, an associate professor, two senior resident doctors, four junior resident doctors, a clinical psychologist, 20 staff nurses besides a social worker and two counsellors for its smooth and efficient functioning. The college has also proposed for a yoga instructor and security guards for the centre.

The authorities of the medical college said for time being they would start operations at the newly constructed building with the existing staff hoping for positive and early response from the government.

The sources in the college said the state wanted to set up the centre on the pattern of National Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre, AIIMS.

Earlier, the 10-bedded drug de-addiction centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital was converted into Opiod Substitution Therapy (OST) Centre for injecting drug users. The de-addiction centre, which was established in year 1992 under United Nations Drug Control Programme, was shifted in the general ward of the department as a stopgap arrangement.

Punjab has the highest number of HIV patients who contracted the disease through injections used by addicts for taking drugs. Ironically, the holy city of Amritsar topped in this category. Keeping this in view the National AIDS Control Organisation had also established the first OST centre here at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

Amritsar, January 11
In yet another step to curb the black marketing of LPG cylinders, the District Food and Civil Supply Department has planned to identify the bogus connections listed with gas agencies in the district.

In the initial stages, the department identified five gas agencies where authorities would verify the list of consumers. They would visit the given addresses on a door-to-door basis, in order to verify the authenticity of consumers.

The five gas agencies are the Ajnala Gas Agency, Ajnala, Arsh Gas Agency, Tarsika, Premium Gas Agency, Ranjit Avenue, Jaskaran Gas Agency in Rayya and Neelam Gas agency, Chheharta.

There are about 34 gas agencies in the district.

“The department would verify every gas connection listed in the district,” said Dr Anjuman Bhaskar, District Food and Civil Supply Officer.

“This would not only help in the identification of bogus connections but also in stemming the problem of rampant black marketing of LPG cylinders,” said Dr Bhaskar.

She said bogus connections would be discontinued and explanation would be sought from the concerned gas agencies.

The department has miserably failed to prevent the black marketing of LPG cylinders in the district, due to the alleged corrupt practices prevailing in the department.

Taking a serious view of this, Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla had also thought of penalising the officials under whose jurisdiction the area falls.

However, this had little impact as black marketing continued unchecked.

An LPG gas cylinder, which usually costs Rs 360, would be available at nothing less than Rs 600 to 700 in the black market. 

Amritsar, January 11
Students of Dasmesh Parivar International School won the overall trophy at the Indo-Nepal International Table Soccer Championship held at Birat Nagar, Nepal.

As many as 18 countries participated in the championship, which was organised by the Nepal Table Soccer Federation.

After Rakhi Sawant and Rahul Mahajan, its Ratan Rajpoot's turn to find her life partner through swayamvar on television and the actor says she it is her opportunity to realise her childhood dream.The Bihar-born actor, who shot to fame as Lalli on TV soap Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo, is all set to tie the knot on Imagine TV's Swayamvar Season 3: Ratan Ka Rishta, a reality show which helps a celeb choose a life partner from among a list of suitors.

"I was surprised when I got this offer, I could only imagine such a thing in my dreams! It's every girl's wish to have a lavish wedding and I am lucky that my dreams are coming true," Ratan said.Unexpected as the offer was, the actor couldn't take the decision herself and turned to her family for support."I am a very family-oriented person and my parents are involved in all my decisions, including this one," she said.One of the major reasons why she took up this form of marriage is that Ratan wanted to save her parents from the trouble of hunting a groom for her.

"I was going to get married in any case and this show is going to spare my father the trouble of trying to find the suitable guy for me as the channel is going to take up that job.

"Also I will get the right to choose my own life partner, which is hardly ever the bride's prerogative in Indian marriages," said Ratan.She is aware of the trials and tribulations of marrying on television with the whole country watching and Ratan is hopeful that despite the pressures she will be able to find the man she wanted. "Nobody gets married alone. Family, friends, relatives and neighbours always get involved. In my case, its just going to extend up to my audience who have appreciated me as an actor, now they are going to be a part of my marriage as well," said Ratan.

The actor is hoping that the suitors turning up on the show will accept her real self and not expect her to be like her onscreen persona."I hope they come expecting the real Ratan and not some character I have played on a show. And I do not expect my would-be groom to be anything extraordinary, he should be a simple, caring and understanding person.

" The first season of Swayamvar had item girl Rakhi Sawant choose a groom, but she ended the show with her engagement, which did not last long.Rahul Mahajan went all the way to tie the knot with Kolkata's Dimpy Ganguly in the second season and the two are still a couple, despite some initial hitches in the relationship. — PTI

Popular television actor Shweta Tiwari tonight won Bigg Boss season 4 after 14 weeks of her stay in closed boundaries, becoming the first woman to be crowned winner of this reality show.

Tiwari took away Rs 1 crore prize money, beating likes of WWE star The Great Khali, actors Ashmit Patel and Dolly Bindra at Salman Khan-hosted grand finale in Lonavala.The Great Khali garnered second highest number of votes, while Ashmit Patel stood third.

After emerging victorious, an overwhelmed and emotional Tiwari said, "I am very happy for winning Bigg Boss. I never expected that I would win this show." Earlier, three seasons of the show were won by actors Rahul Roy, Ashutosh Kaushik and Vindu Dara Singh, respectively.

On where she would spend the prize money, Tiwari, a single mother, said "I will use this for future of my daughter." During her stay in the house, Shweta was active in the household chores and her behaviour was cool and composed throughout the show.

Runner-up Khali congratulating Tiwari said, "I am happy for her. She was really nice at the Bigg Boss house." The three runners-up got a bike each, while actor Sameer Soni received a Chevrolet Cruze as a prize for being the boldest and most stylish participant of this season.

Apart from Salman Khan's dance on Dabangg number Peeni hai, the grand finale also saw performances by former contestants Sara Khan, Veena Malik, Aanchal Kumar and Manoj Tiwari.

Bigg Boss 4 started with 14 contestants, and had two wild card entries in subsequent weeks, with a three-day guest appearance by Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson. — PTI

TV actor Anna Friel is all set to set the screen on fire as a sexy pirate in new movie Neverland. Described as a "bold new take" on JM Barrie's classic Peter Pan, the 34-year-old actress plays power-mad pirate Elizabeth Bonny in the television film produced by Sky Movies, reported Daily Mail.

Neverland also stars Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, 43, and 14-year-old child actor Charlie Rowe. The movie sees the return of Oscar-winning actor 68-year-old Bob Hoskins to the role of Mr Smee, which he first played in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991.

Neverland depicts the story of orphan Peter (Rowe), who survives on the streets of London with his close friends as pickpockets and traces their journey to the mystical land called Neverland.

"The legend of Peter Pan spans generations, and never fails to delight and entertain. Despite many different interpretations, there's never been a movie of how it all could have come to be - this is that story. Neverland is a fantastic coup for us and a landmark event for Sky Movies," said Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies.The movie will be released in two 90-minute sections on Sky Movies Premier HD later this year. — PTI