Amritsar, May 3
Water woes have hit Amritsar district badly. Residents of localities near Hakiman Wala Gate, Lohgarh Gate, Khazana Wala Gate, Dam Ganj, Islamabad, Nawa Kot, Majitha Road, Batala Road, Khand Wala, Chheharta and many more have been finding hard to quench their thirst.

People in urban areas, including New Amritsar, Civil Lines, part of Jagdambey Colony, Nehru Colony, Majitha Road, Gopal Nagar, Vijay Nagar and Indira Colony too face problem of water shortage.

“For the last few days, we haven’t got a single drop of water. For cooking we have to fetch water from nearby colonies,” said Harcharan Singh, a resident of New Amritsar.

Come summers, the top priority on the agenda of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation would be to meet the water requirements despite the fact that the groundwater table shows scary figure. The groundwater level of the district, which varied between 45 and 55 feet about 10 years ago, at present, has been rolling between 60 and 80 feet deep. The officials said the groundwater level on an average has been declining to around one foot with each passing year.

Despite the fact that the MC operates 13 tractor-pulled water tanks, each having a capacity in the order of 3,000 litres, and public stand posts, yet the scarcity remains.

Actually, it’s the system of distribution and maintenance which is old and poorly looked after. This lapse resulted in estimated water losses at very high rate. The supply system included over 500 public stand-posts that are un-metered and provide water free of charge. With no attendant in place, water would be left running for hours at many points (see pics).

Ironically, water metering is limited to a few domestic, commercial, institutional or industrial connections and estimates are made on the basis of pump hours run.

The consumers are also to be blamed for their casual and inept handling of water. Many of them have got loose tap installed on water supply pipes which leads to wastage.

Contrary to rules, well-to-do houses have bored submersibles for installing Tulu pumps. However, the biggest concern of the corporation is huge monetary loss since over 60 per cent of the total water supply remained unpaid.

“We have installed generators to run tubewells to ensure proper water sup ply during power cuts in most areas,” he said.

In affected areas, the MC is supplying water through tankers. The commissioner said by and large the problem of water shortage has been solved.

“If some areas are still not getting water, I will contact the SE concerned to ensure supply through water tankers,” he added.

AMC Commiossioner DPS Kharbanda said, “We are fully prepared to meet water requirements of the district. New chlorinators are being installed to ensure safe drinking water and we have been executing an amount of Rs 40-crore project to operate and maintain the water supply system. The local pilferage too would be taken into account on priority. We have also installed generators to run tubewells to ensure proper water sup ply during power cuts in most areas.”

Amritsar, May 3
Holding a protest against the state government, Congress members, led by PPCC secretary Raman Bakshi, demanded the formation of Punjab Drug Prevention Board to tackle drug menace.

He said earlier the Health Department had also suggested the formation of the board to the state government. However, the government did not pay heed.

He sought that a retired judge of the high court must head the body. He claimed that nearly 73 per cent of the state’s population was afflicted with drugs.

Bakshi opined that the board must be empowered to draw out excise policy and its nod must be made mandatory for issuing and renewing licensing of chemists.

He said the board should be in a position to dismiss the officials found involved with drug peddlers and mafia. He added that the board should also have the powers to disqualify the leaders who were found distributing liquor during election. He said the hunger strike would be launched here in case the demands were not met.

Meanwhile, reacting over the Congress leader Ravneet Bittu’s move of indefinite hunger protest against the drug addiction prevailing in the state, SAD MLA Bikram Majithia said the Congress which ruled the nation for over five decades never spared a thought to put a lid on the drug threat.

Consequently, the people have been facing drastic results and our youth, especially belonging to border area belt has been gripped with this menace.

“This also ends up in various other vices like unemployment, poverty and hunger etc. nevertheless, it is the black money accumulated by the rich and influential people which is the main fuel to prosper drug peddlers. Bittu instead should protest against black money accumulation but the most appropriate destination for protesting against it should be the residence of Congress President”, he said.

It is to mention that Bittu has also resorted to an SMS campaign and has launched a site www.drugfreepunjab.com to bring public on board.

Amritsar, May 3
In another significant initiative, the Citizens’ Forum Vidya Mandir, a school for children of drug addicts, has started providing coaching to children, belonging to rural and poor families, for competitive entrance examinations for higher studies.

The school has set up a coaching centre in its premises to tutor the students for matriculation-based competitive exams of ITI and JET.

For this, the retired as well as the serving teachers have rendered their services voluntarily to prepare these children for the competitive exams. They are giving coaching in English, mathematics, science, aptitude and mental ability subjects.

A resident of Chogawan Sidhwa village, Navneet Kaur, is preparing for competitive exams for ITI and JET. She is a daughter of a sewadar working in a gurdwara in Kapurthala and has limited resources to fulfil her dreams.

“I could not afford to pay for tuition and coaching centre for getting myself prepared for competitive exams. But the school has given me an opportunity to think big in my life. I am thankful to Master Ajit Singh and social worker Brij Bedi besides the whole staff whose initiative has given a reason to the children like me to smile,” she said.

Gurpreet, a resident of Gunowal village, near Jandiala Guru whose father works as a rajmistri (mason) while appreciating the teachers said they (teachers) not only train and educate us but also encourages us to become a better person in life.

Brij Bedi, who is also the patron of the school, said last year one girl Kiran of the school got selected in JET.

Master Ajit Singh, a government teacher and founder of the school, said at present there are 46 children belonging to different villages and students of Citizens’ Forum Vidya Mandir School are getting coaching in the centre. The coaching centre has provided a platform for downtrodden children to realise their dream of higher education, he added.

“There is a need to encourage technical education and selection of Kiran provided us the requisite enthusiasm to venture in this direction,” said Master Ajit Singh while adding that the association of various retried teachers and senior teachers currently serving in different government schools, have only boosted our moral.

Maqboolpura, an area notorious for rampant drug addiction came into highlight lose its young boys to the menace. Industrialist and social worker, Brij Bedi joined hands with Master Ajit Singh, popularly known as Master ji to shape the school after the issue was highlighted in The Tribune columns leading to the foundation of Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir.

Started with just 20 students, the school now has strength of about 450 students who were being taught by the senior students of the school.

Amritsar, May 3
The augmentation and bone grafting technique has proved to be a boon for the patients whose fractured bones fail to heal. This was caused in cases of high impact injury.

The new technique which was used in 110 patients has given cent per cent result, said Dr Avtar Singh, famous orthopaedician, after he returned from Spain. He gave a presentation on the technique at an international conference in Barcelona.

The patients treated, also included those persons, who were suffering from diabetes and smokers or having infection.

“Significantly, there is 100 per cent success rate while in conventional methods, the success rate differs from 40 to 80 per cent and the patient was made to wait for 9 months in excruciating pain for the next surgery. The earlier method not only caused a long period of unbearable pain and disability,” said Dr Singh.

He explained that the new technique allows a re-surgery to suffering patient merely after two months of first surgery using plinths to join the bone. He claimed that the technique is very useful in Punjab where, as per police records, the accident cases on roads are alarming.

“According to data collected through police records, as many as 311 persons die in road accidents every month and there is 13 per cent increase in accidents in 2010 compared to previous year,” he said.

As many as 6,642 accidents occurred from January 2010 to November as many as 3424 deaths and 5854 severely injured were reported following these accidents, he added. He said that as per the police records 10 more deaths were reported every month in accidents compared to corresponding number of deaths in 2009. He said in year 2009, 5674 persons were severely injured due to high impact accidents.

The number of injured thus in 2008 were 4868, in year 2007 the injured numbered 4430, in 2006 the injured reported were 4270 and in year 2005 as many as 4120 were injured. Significantly, as many as 90 per cent of those injured have become handicapped for life and incapable to handle their work, he revealed.