Amritsar, January 14
The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) today seized fake currency notes worth Rs 3.5 lakh from Sukhjit Singh of Loharaka Kalan.

Today’s seizure has once again pointed towards the possibility of smugglers’ nexus operating from Amritsar Central Jail, sources in the Police Department observed.

As per the preliminary investigations, the recovered consignment was part of the bigger delivery which was recently smuggled from Pakistan on the directions of a notorious fake Indian currency smuggler, who is lodged in the high-security Amritsar jail.

A high-level team, comprising Magistrates and senior police officials, had recently conducted a raid on the jail and recovered mobile phones and narcotics from inmates. This forced the district administration to shot a letter to the government for appointing an IPS-level officer to look after the central jail affairs.

“The recovered currency is of a very high quality and Rs 1,000 in denomination,” said Manminder Singh, AIG, Counter Intelligence. Sukhjit was going to deliver the consignment on his motorcycle (PB-02-BH-7689), when he was caught by the SSOC, Counter Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police, after a tip off.

According to sources, a notorious smuggler and a relative of Sukhjit had been imprisoned on similar charges.

However, he continued to operate from the jail premises and have contacts with his Pakistani counterparts, who pushed the counterfeit Indian currency into the Indian territory recently.

“Rs 3.5 lakh were part of that major consignment and efforts are afoot to recover it,” said Manminder.

A case under Sections 489A, B, C, 420 and 120 of the IPC has been registered at SSOC.

Amritsar, January 14
Even as all formalities have been cleared to install LPG crematoriums in two cremation grounds of the city, but it will depend upon the receptiveness of the people to adopt them.

The move would soon see the daylight with the help of NGOs, religious organisations and the district administration. “Rising cost and less availability of wood are the factors which encourage us to introduce such a convenient and economical mode, said Harish Taneja, spokeman for the Durgiana Committee.

He said the traditional way of cremation cost nearly Rs 3,000, whereas the committee charged less money. He said wood was becoming costly, besides its burning resulted in serious environmental degradation effecting health of people. According to estimates, to burn a body a whole grownup tree was lost, whereas using electric, LPG or CNG crematoriums would cost peanuts.

Some concerned citizens of the city, led by Parkash Singh Bhatti, president, Pollution Control Committee, placed the idea before Deputy Commissioner K.S Pannu, who immediately decided to do something about it.

Pannu said initially two plants would be set up. A plant roughly costs Rs 16 lakh. He said the religious bodies running these crematoriums had announced to donate Rs 8 lakh, while the rest of the money would be contributed by the district administration.

He informed that the Shri Durgiana Committee (SDC) today handed over a cheque for Rs 6 lakh.

The Deputy Commissioner said religious beliefs of various sects and religions had been taken care of and engineers of Kerala-based HI-Teck Engineering and Eco Solutions Private Limited had been asked to do the modification accordingly.

He said there would be a provision for constant pouring of “desi ghee” over the body being cremated as per the rituals of the Arya Samajis. The provision would also be made to hit the scalp of the body being cremated as majority of the Hindus practiced this, he added.

Bhatii, who was one of the two-member committee, which recently visited the southern peninsula of the country to study its working, said it would be economical, pollution-free and less time consuming.

He said the traditional way of cremation caused pollution. A cremation at electric crematorium cost Rs 5,000, while the people living at height in its vicinity complained of smell. On the other hand, the CNG-run crematorium was an imported technology and CNG was not easily available.

He said an LPG crematorium took an hour to burn a body and cost nearly Rs 500. Each unit had a 100-foot high chimney and easy to operate. The technology was approved by acclaimed national and international agencies.

The SDC runs a crematorium outside Hathi Gate. It already has the facility of an electric crematorium, but it has hardly been used owing to various reasons, especially due to faiths and myths attached with cremation services. This electric crematorium has been lying in the state of disrepair since 1992.

Taneja said a body freezer would also be installed at the crematorium. He said as many parents had their children settled abroad. In the event of a death in the family, these children needed to travel from abroad, which took time.

He said the committee had already provided three automobile and six manual hearses for conveying bodies to the crematorium. Another crematorium in the city is run by the Shamshan Sew Samiti outside Chattiwind Gate. The samiti would donate Rs 2 lakh for the project.

Amritsar, January 14
The Amritsar (Rural) police in collaboration with the CIA Staff busted a gang of robbers by arresting two of its members and seized arms and ammunition from them.

However, other five members of the gang managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness last night.

The arrested gangsters have been identified as Satnam Singh, alias Satta, resident of Daduwal Guman village, and Yodhbir Singh, alias Yoda, resident of Timmowal village.

The gangsters who managed to escape have been identified as Gurdev Singh of Rimidi village, Makhan Singh of Sarli village, Sono of Mandiala village and two others.

The raiding party, comprising sub-inspectors Harkishan Singh and Sikandar Singh, recovered a .12-bore double-barrel gun with three cartridges, country-made .315-bore pistol with two cartridges, sickle and a Bollero (PB-06 H-4129) from the arrested gangsters.

Following a tip-off, the police raided the garden situated on the Jandiala-Devidaspura road and busted the gang, which had been snatching tractor-trailers and other vehicles at gun point.

During preliminary interrogation, the accused confessed to have stolen a Mohindra International 575 D.I. Sarpanch tractor along with trolley. A case in this regard was registered at Khilchian police station. The same was recovered from the accused.

Amritsar, January 14
The district administration, along with the Health Department today, carried out raids at various medical stores in Katra Sher Singh, Attari, Rajasansi and Kukkranwala village here today.

The raiding parties recovered medicines including intoxicants and physician samples worth Rs 1.50 lakh from them.

The owners of chemist shops could not produce sale and purchase record of the medicines and were found selling the drugs illegally.

The teams led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Paramjit Singh also consisted of executive magistrates, five pharmacists besides drug inspectors from various parts of Punjab.

The teams raided Dhillon Medical Store, Raj Dhillon Medical Store and Guru Nanak Medical Store at Rajasansi and Kukkranwala villages.

Besides, four shops at Katra Sher Singh — Chopra Enterprises, Ghanaya Agencies, Dhawan Pharma Agencies and Dhillon Medicine Centre — were also raided.

The teams also conducted raids at Bharat Medical Hall and Sri Bala Ji Medicos at Attari.

The health department had recently seized medicines worth Rs 50,000 during raids at Katra Sher Singh and Saggu Medical Store at Baba Bakala.

Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu said the drive launched by the district administration in collaboration with the Health Department would continue in the future too. He said those found indulging in the illegal practice would not be spared. 

Amritsar, January 14
The Guru Nanak Dev University has strengthened its position to garner the status of University with Potential for Excellence and claimed a grant package of Rs 50 crore. Applications were invited by the UGC from Indian universities to illustrate their performance graph in infrastructure, academics, research, sports and cultural activities, to claim this grant.

GND University Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar, while confirming this, said as many as 39 applications were received to seek claim for this grant, out of which only 10 were shortlisted by the UGC.

UGC would extend a Rs 50 crore grant, each, to six universities.

“A team from the UGC came to gauge our potential and now a confirmation has reached us that we are in the race for this grant package,” the VC said.

According to a latest survey, GND University occupies the 16th position among the first 50 universities of India in terms of academics, research and other extra-curricular activities. But if we exclude the central and centrally-funded universities from this list, we stand at number nine in this ranking, said the VC.

The university also boasts of being accredited with a CGPA of 3.5 out of 4, with an A grade, which is the highest for any university, by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

While talking about future plans, the VC said the Guru Nanak Dev University would introduce new courses of M.Sc physics in material sciences, M.Sc chemistry in polymer sciences, post graduate programmes in computer science engineering and electronics technology from the current session.

We have plans to increase the seats of B.Tech electronics and computer science courses too.

To further strengthen post graduate studies, the semester system would be implemented in its affiliated colleges from the coming academic session 2011-12 and at the under graduate level from the session 2012-13 in these colleges, said the VC.

Apart from this, the university would start new courses with enhanced number of seats at its constituent colleges situated at Mukandpur in the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Niari in Gurdaspur from July 2011, while three more colleges would start functioning in the rural areas at Verka (Amritsar), College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Chung village in the Taran Tarn District and College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Narot Jaimal Singh in Gurdarpur.

Bebe Nanaki College at Mithra in Kapurthala has already started functioning from the last session.

In yet another first, the university has also computerised its examination and its registration branches and from this academic session, students sitting in their homes can have access to their results through SMS service.

Keeping in view the good placements in IT courses last December, the university has also decided to enhance the seats of B.Tech electronics and computer science and engineering courses. Certain multinational companies had selected 540 students this month.

He said the accountability of teachers had also been taken care of. Under the new guidelines from UGC, teachers’ performance is evaluated by students in the middle of the semester (mid semester evaluation), end of the semester and teachers are asked to give self appraisal reports at the end of each year.

Amritsar, January 14
The Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP), affiliated to Dal Khalsa, has sought the holy city status to Amritsar. Gurpreet Singh Mann, after being reelected president of the SYP in an election held today, made this demand. He said a memorandum in this regard and addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be issued soon.

To mark the occasion of the foundation day of Darbar Sahib, newly appointed office-bearers of the SYP paid obeisance and performed ardas at the Akal Takht.

He said the motive of the organisation was to pursue the socio-cultural agenda. The SYP was launched here in December 2008.

Other elected members are Noblejeet Singh, vice-president; Parbhjot Singh, spokesperson; Tarjinder Singh Sohal, general secretary; and Paramjeet Singh, organising secretary. They said obtaining the nomenclature (holy city status) would pave the way for the authorities to free the city from tobacco and other intoxicants.

Amritsar, January 14
Though traditionally thought of as a charming sport, and a favourite with the masses of the region, kite flying, this season, is in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The plastic strings of the kite have invited more concern than cheer this time, thanks to the number of accidents that have been blamed onto them.

Surinder Singh, along with his wife and two kids, on Thursday morning, had a miraculous escape when the scooter they were riding on, almost collided with a speeding jeep on the hectic elevated flyover on the GT road.

The culprit, as was later found out, was a kite string lying on the road, which had gotten entangled in the tyres of both the scooter and the jeep which tried to overtake it.

A few weeks ago, a kite string claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy in the Sultanwind area. He was riding pillion with his brother when a kite string got entangled in his neck. He ended up with a slit throat.

As many as 10 per cent of birds get injured or killed due to kite flying, opined district forest and wildlife officials.

A common factor in all the kite-string accident cases was that the strings were made up of a stretchable plastic substance coated with razor-sharp “glass-masala” (powder), which is a cause for harm not only to human life but also to birds.

Sadhu Singh, District Forest and Wildlife officer, describing it as a threat to birds, said in the absence of any stringent Wildlife Protection Act, no action can firmly be initiated.

“Though, schedule V birds, which belong to rare species, fly at very high altitudes, 10 per cent of the birds like pigeons, crows and sparrows generally fall victims to kite strings. Moreover, except the one run by the Jain sect in Hoshiarpur, there is no provision or centre in the district for the cure of any injured bird,” he said.

Rohtash Jain, president of Jain Sewa Sangh, Pakshi Vihar, Hoshiarpur, said, “Within a one-week period, as many as 25 cases of injured birds like pigeons and parrots had been referred to our centre. We run a fully equipped clinic at Hoshiarpur. It is a matter which has to be looked into carefully by the authorities concerned,” he said.

Amritsar was the first place which imported the Chinese string, to replace the traditional cotton strings. Soon, homemade strings, popularly known as Bangalore-manufactured Monofill and Gurgaon-made Monokite brands with flexible and unbreakable properties, followed.

According to an estimate, the plastic string trade in Punjab is a business worth crores.