Amritsar, August 27
Exposing the lack of preparedness of the Municipal Corporation authorities in combating inundation, heavy rain experienced in the city in the afternoon today threw normal life out of gear. This led to inconvenience to the residents. However, the rainfall was erratic, as some parts of the city received heavy rain while others got only a drizzle.

Even the entry and exit points of the elevated road leading to the Golden Temple were glutted with water. Even as the MC had installed a water-pumping system on both sides of the flyover to clear the passage but this water is flushed back to the side-roads beneath the flyover. This arrangement too posed a hazard for the traffic moving on these down-lanes. In the absence of a proper outlet system for draining rain water, even posh areas like Lawrence Road, Madan Mohan Malaviya road, parts of GT road in the Putlighar area were affected. A lot of people in these areas were stranded in the middle of the flooded roads as their vehicles broke down midway.

“The civic authorities only made promises but do nothing at the ground level. It is the same story every time it rains,” said Jagdish Singh, a resident living inside the walled city. The choked sewerage added to the woes, he added.

The stagnant water on the roads hampered the business too. “With water getting stagnant at the entrance of our shops, it is a Herculean task to reach our shops”, rued a trader on the Madan Mohan Malviya road.

Meanwhile, the showers provided a much-needed relief to the residents from the prolonged hot and humid conditions prevailing in the region.

Amritsar Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dharampal Gupta: As soon as the matter was brought to my notice, I had sent the team to her house and the water was drained out. It was detected that the water drain line in her area was choked, that’s why the rain water got collected in the street and later it spilled over and entered the houses in her locality. We are on the job to rectify it.

Amritsar, August 27
Punjab Social Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who is a leader of the BJP, a coalition partner, had a taste of the MC’s failure with her house in Tunda Talab area being inundated.

Her residence that also houses her local office on its ground floor was under knee-deep water as her staff faced a tough time trying to salvage important records and files. Meanwhile, the minister, who was supposed to meet the local residents, had to suspend her programme.

A furious Chawla lashed out at the MC authorities, saying, “The total system of the Municipal Corporation collapses in the city during the rainy season. I have been living in this house for over two decades. Due to the lack of proper water drainage system, there is a perennial problem of rain and sewerage water blockage. This testifies the inefficiency on the part of the civic authorities here. If this is the situation in my house, you can well imagine the plight of the common man in the city.”

Chawla then apprised the Deputy Commissioner about the matter.

Amritsar, August 27
Scores of persons today evening blocked the elevated road on the Amristar-Jalandhar National Highway for about an hour in protest against the demolition of their shops at Vishkarma Market, near the Interstate Bus Terminal.

The protestors had first blocked the road near the ISBT, but after facing stiff resistance from the local police they shifted to the elevated road near the Alpha One Mall on the national highway and blocked the road at about 5.30 pm, thereby causing inconvenience to the commuters using the elevated road.

The traffic though did not come to a halt and was diverted to the adjoining road leading to Bhandari Bridge. The protestors lifted the dharna only after the intervention of the

ADCP Sat Pal Joshi and Sub-Divisional Magistrate I, Manjeet Singh Narang, all of who were provided the copies of the Apex Court order regarding

the stay on dispossession of shops. The SDM assured them that action would be taken in this regard against the officials of the corporation

or the Municipal Town Planner, besides reconstructing the shops and extending compensation to the aggrieved shopkeepers.

One of the shopkeepers, Amarjit Singh, claimed that they had a stay order from the Supreme Court in their favour which had still not expired.

He said about six shops have been demolished by the Corporation. He said there are about nine shops and 25 residential structures in the area

ADCP Joshi said the SDM has invited the protestors to present their case on Monday and after going through the documents, action would be

taken against the corporation officials, if they are found guilty.

Harpal Bhatia, delegate member of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, said that the shopkeepers had been fighting the case for the

last 40 years. He said that administration was responsible for the inconvenience caused to the general public.

Amritsar, August 27
On the invitation of Amritsar Games Association (AGA) to conduct a clinic to hone the cricketing skills of women cricketers in Punjab, South African senior women cricket coach Martelize Van Der Merwe began teaching nuances of the game at a three-day weekend special cricket clinic at BBK DAV College campus here. As many as 26 aspirants attended the clinic.

The event was conceptualised and created for Women's Cricket World, a self-funded group for the promotion of women's cricket.

Sunil Yash Kalra, founder of the WCW and a sports filmmaker who made 'Poor Cousins of Million Dollar Babies', a 30-minute short film, based on women cricketers, showing the highs of a victory and the lows of a defeat in the World Cup encounters. Another star attraction of the clinic was the protagonist of the film and former Indian women cricketer Anjum Chopra.

Mohit Khanna, president AGA said the clinic would be followed by an Under-19 women cricket camp at the same venue. “This is the first of its kind initiative taken by any cricketing body in India. What makes this initiative truly unique is confluence of three important aspects at one forum-international expertise, experienced international women cricketer and previewing internationally acclaimed movie on the life of Indian women cricketers."

Martelize Van Der Merwe said, "With this progressive and encouraging attitude towards women's cricket, Amritsar will soon stand out as the hub of girls' cricket in North India. I look forward to foster the growth of women's cricket in India.”

Manawala (Amritsar), August 27
Eight-year-olds Sona and Mona may be conjoined twins but they are better than any normal kid next door in more ways than one.

Conjoined twins, also known as Siamese twins, are identical twins whose bodies are joined at the mid-waist and being conjoined is a rare phenomenon. Sewadars (attendants) at the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society, which has been the twins' home for seven years, admit that they are actually not double trouble rather doubly blessed.

Sons of a Delhi-based slum-dweller, Sona and Mona, were dumped on the roadside followed by an anonymous call to the president of Pingalwara Society, Bibi Inderjit Kaur, informing her about them.

"There is a saying that a good neighbour baby-sits and a great neighbour baby-sits twins. That's what the orphanage is doing here. We will house and educate the kids to make them evolve into good human beings," says Jai Singh, the administrative officer of the orphanage.

They live within the premises of the Pingalwara and study in Class III at the Bhagat Puran Singh Adarsh Senior Secondary School here. They make their teachers proud when they say the twins are better than many normal children in both studies as well as sports.

Sharing one body were two strong voices reading out lines from an essay: "My City is Amritsar" at their school today.

The orphanage was the permanent home of the boys and they had no plans to take the twins back to Delhi. Surgery to separate them has been ruled out by doctors of the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here as they consider it to be extremely risky and life-threatening for the twins.

"Surgery to separate conjoined twins is a delicate procedure. It requires precision and care of the highest order," said a doctor. Manjit Kaur, one of their teachers, said, "We have developed a strong emotional bond with the twins. Sona is good in studies which makes Mona angry. As a result, Mona sometimes starts beating up his brother. After some time, both make up and things are back to normal. At other times, the twins even give other students lessons in mathematics. Sona and Mona have a whale of a time playing with other students of their age."

Learning to take the good with the bad, these twins are ready to walk that extra mile to be winners in life.

I receive at least a dozen calls on daily basis from politicians asking her, rather directing her to let go the offender. — Kuldeep Kaur, asi (Traffic)

Amritsar, August 27
Harried cops are having a torrid time in managing youth, particularly students, who are in the habit of brazenly driving their two wheelers sans the mandatory helmet.

There are nearly 250 odd traffic cops who manage the flow of traffic in the city and a majority of them opine that they are happy with everything barring, off course, youths who unabashedly drive their scooters and motor cycles on the busy roads of the town without helmets.

Policemen say that whenever they catch hold of such helmet less drivers they are immediately handed over a mobile, by the erring rider himself, and are asked to talk to “someone important on the other side of the line.” Cops admit that in 90 per cent of the cases the “someone important on the other side of the line” turns out to be either the local MLA or some middle rung politician.

“Leave alone these politicians we even get calls from ministers asking us to let go the culprit. How do we control the offenders when politicians have made it perennial habit to interfere in the working of the traffic police?” remarked a livid cop doing duty near the busy Bhandari bridge.

Kuldeep Kaur, ASI (Traffic), makes an interesting observation when she says that she receives at least a dozen calls on daily basis from politicians asking her, rather “directing her” to let go the offenders.

“As a result we manage to challan just 20/25 helmet less drivers instead of our target of at least 50/60 challans per day in both Amritsar 1 and 2 areas. If we do not listen to the politician on the other side of the phone our job will be on the line. To top it I sometimes even receive calls from members of the judiciary.”

According to Mamta, a traffic constable, “Out of all the organs in our body, the heart and the brain are the most vital ones. When a motorcyclist is involved in an accident, it is the brain that is at a greater risk of injury. A brain injury can result due to skull fracture, a concussion or even brain haemorrhage which can result in death.” There are may be many dissenting voices among the youth as far as the usage of helmets is concerned.

However, some saner sense also prevails. Said Bhupinder Singh, owner of a shop near Bhandari bridge and who is regularly witnesses students being challaned near his shop, “students should know the importance of wearing a helmet.They should understand that instead of flaunting a helmet on their arms they should rather put it on their heads.

Parents, too, should inculcate the importance of wearing a helmet while driving. Better sense will prevail if traffic cops hold regular camps in educational institutions where students can be taught the importance of wearing helmets.”

Amritsar, August 27
In the Lok Adalats held here today 545 cases were disposed off through compromises between the litigating parties and an amount of Rs 1.02 crore was awarded as compensations.

In total 669 cases were taken up for hearing, informed District and Session's Judge-cum-chairman of the Legal Services Authority, HS Madan.

The chairman further informed that in total 13 benches were constituted to settle civil, criminal, matrimonial, rent cases.

The Legal Services Authority had inducted social workers, professors, and Advocates from the local courts to assist the benches.

The District and Session's judge, HS Madan has appealed to the litigants to resolve their cases through Lok Adalats as the same provides prompt and inexpensive justice.

Amritsar, August 27
Mission Aagaaz held Dastak programmes aimed to promote conservation of the environment at Thathhal, Gumanpur, Kotli, Baserke and Gillan villages today.

A press release issued here today stated that a team of mission Aagaaz visited these villages and exchanged views on environment and current topics, including the issues of corruption and importance of Jan Lokpal bill.

Saplings of habiscus, Jamun, Sukhchain, Amaltas and Suhanjana were also distributed. Environment awareness camp on values of trees and conservation of water was also organised.

The statement added that the team comprised office-bearers of Mission Aagaaz Deepak Babbar, Gurbej Singh, Dr Harjeet Singh, kuljeet Singh Takker, Kashmir Singh Gill and Jagmohan Singh of Lok Kalyan Samiti. Many Sarpanchs from the nearby villages also attended the programme. They said people from urban areas must visit rural areas to have better understanding towards nature. — TNS

Amritsar, August 27
The National sub junior sports climbing contest concluded at Spring Dale Senior School here today.

Sports climbing is a variant of rock climbing wherein the participants climb up a wall with the aid of an assortment of blocks.

The goal is to reach the summit or the end point without having a fall. It is a physically demanding sport and tests the climber's strength, agility, endurance and mental strength.

In the boy's category, Lokesh Rajan Chandra and Bharat Periera, both of Bangalore and Parikshit Singh of Haryana were placed joint first while Jaipal Kumara of Haryana and Daksh Jotwani of Bangalore bagged the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

In the employees' category, Sadhvi Prem Kukreja of Bangalore bagged the first place followed by Alankrita Semwal of Haryana and Laxmi Singh Shkhawat of Delhi.

Shivpreet Pannu and Sanjoli Jain bagged the fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Rajat Aggarwal, gave away the prizes.

Amritsar, August 27
Khalsa College for Women organised 'Phulla Bhari Changare' programme to welcome entrants for the new academic session. Students took part in folk songs, giddha, poetry, discussion and declamation competitions.

Sikh martial art of gatka yielded much applause from the audience. Many students took part in a fashion show showcasing traditional Punjabi dresses.

Leading software company Wipro Limited has selected Global Institutes, Amritsar, to hire students from the B.Tech and MBA courses passing out in 2012.

Global Institutes, Amritsar, Training and Placement Officer, Bikram Pal Singh attended the placement officers' meet organised by Wipro Limited at its Noida office recently.

He said the participants discussed the forthcoming recruitment season for the students of the outgoing batch of B.Tech for the next academic session.

He said about 30 placement officers from various institutes of north India took part in the meet.

He said the meet highlighted career growth opportunities for students under multiple sectors, including, banking, capital market, hi tech manufacturing, telecom, health care and others.