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Drain pain for walled city residents
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No MAKA trophy this time
One booked under NDPS Act
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Drain pain for walled city residents
Amritsar, August 28
In the walled city area, from where over 60 per cent of the total waste water of entire city emerges, has the same obsolete public underground piped sewerage, which had been laid during British era in India.
Few sewer segments are 50 years old and some even more.
A random round of the walled city would clearly testify the common residents’ plight. The open drains pose risk of health hazard. The drains are often found chocked for want of proper cleanliness. In the absence of adequate disposal system, the dirty water spills over from the side drains (along their houses or shops) and gets accumulated on the roads. At Katra Moti Ram, the corporation, for laying pipes for sewerage, has dug up the areas in front of houses for the past two months, but have left the job midway. Consequently, the piles of earth rubbles have chocked the passage of water. Similarly, at Katra Jaimal Singh, the traders rued that due to collapsing of sewerage, the water remained stagnated opposite to their shops which hamper their business. Other worst effected areas are Lohgarh, Kot Atma Ram, Katra Alhuwalia area, Katra Baghian, Katra Bhai sant Singh, Bombay wala Khu, Chhati Khui, Namak Mandi, Gali Chhajju and Guru Bazaar Pratap Bazaar, Cheel Mandi, Ghantagarh, Haveli Zamadara were almost identical. At Katra Moti Ram, the MC has for the last two months dug up areas in front of many houses for laying sewerage pipes. They have left the job midway. Fact File Total sewerage connections of walled city: 99,533 Domestic: 94,928 Commercial: 2,169 Industrial: 2,436
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Civil Hospital flouts biomedical waste management rules
Amritsar, August 28 A visit to the Civil Hospital revealed that used cotton, syringes and other medical wastes were lying scattered in the open. The place is also used by a nearby cafeteria to dispose of its food waste and plastic bags. It has also come to light that sweepers of the hospital in order to get rid of the waste burn it. Any rubbish that is generated during the diagnosis, treatment, or immunisation of human beings as well as animals is considered biomedical waste. And these wastes are later supposed to be transported to incinerators for their proper disposal. When contacted, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Balbir Singh Dhillon admitted that biomedical waste was lying scattered in the garbage and he himself had noticed it. But he stated that the waste was not thrown on the place by the hospital staff. “It has been noticed that a few ignorant patients or their attendants throw the rubbish that includes cotton and other things there,” said Dhillon, adding that they had a proper place for storing the biomedical waste till the time it was not transported and disposed of in a proper manner. The SMO informed that hospital had changed the storeroom as there were instances of theft of garbage from the previous storeroom by rag pickers. “Now we have the new storehouse for biomedical waste adjacent to the mortuary,” he said.
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Soaring vegetable prices
Amritsar, August 28 Residents are not only growing vegetables in their own backyard but are also using any vacant space available adjacent to their houses for the purpose. Shashi Sharma, a resident of New Amritsar, said the idea came to her husband PN Sharma, employed with a medical firm, in view of the rising prices of vegetables. She said as there was no space in her house they decided to grow vegetables in the open spaces around their house. “I use only manure or organic fertilizers. This not only keeps the vegetables non-toxic but also makes them taste better than the ones bought from the market.” She said her mother-in-law also helped her in her grow vegetables. She said as they belonged to the rural background, it was her desire to do some part-time farming and also to teach her children about the basics of farming. Talking about her plans of expanding her kitchen garden, she said though she had little space available, she would try to grow more vegetables. She said this also helps them keep the area clean from trash. “We mostly grow vegetables like bitter gourd, spinach, brinjal, coriander and lemon. Not only have our family members but our neighbours also relished the fresh and healthy food since we shifted to this area from the walled city,” she added. Another resident, Kuljnder Kaur, said the round-the-year supply of fresh vegetables can be turned into a reality by growing vegetables in the kitchen garden. “I have also planted fruit trees like papaya. Recently some people plucked papayas each weighing more than two and a half kg but still it gives me satisfaction that people in the area are relishing not only the fruits but also the fresh and non-toxic vegetables,” she said. Kulwinder Singh, a trader at Kisan City Centre in Ram Bagh, said more than 25 customers visit him to buy seeds of the seasonal vegetables which were available for Rs 10 per pouch. He said there is a growing awareness about the affects of the toxic vegetables that were available in the market. Now, the residents come to him to seek advice about farming techniques and how to grow quality fruits and vegetables without using fertilisers.
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Sampooranta Divas
Amritsar, August 28 Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh performed the ardas, after which Guru Granth Sahib was escorted to Ghanta Ghar by the devotees, led by the Panj Pyare, before installing it in a well-decorated palki (vehicle). The Jathedar said the SGPC had scheduled to organise various programmes to commemorate the occasion at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib on August 30. The SGPC secretary, Dalmegh Singh Khatra, said the holy procession would pass through Tarn Taran, Naushera Pannua, Sarhali, Harike, Makhu, Jeera, Talwandi Bhai and culminate for the day at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Sahib, Mudki. On August 29, the procession would leave for Faridkot, Kot Kapura, Jaito and move to Gurdwara Sahib Gobind Nagar Patshahi Dasvi Haaji Rattan at Bathinda for a night halt. The next morning, the procession would start its journey at 8 am for Kot Shameer, Kailevaandar, Jiyoun Singh Wala and Bhagivandar before reaching its final destination, Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, around 10 am.
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Punarjot honours kin of eye donors
Amritsar, August 28 As many as 40 families, who donated the eyes of their near and dear ones after their demise, were honoured at the function, presided over by Amritsar Police Commissioner
RP Mittal. Associated with the Punarjot Eye Bank Society, a non-governmental organisation in Ludhiana city, this centre has been working towards generating awareness on eye donation in Punjab. Meanwhile, sitting beside was Vinod Kumar, a cloth merchant. His wife Saroj Devi (49) had wished to donate her eyes after she was diagnosed with renal failure. He said the centre informed him that the two recipients were from Muzzafarpur in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. It would be a new experience for me of seeing the world through the eyes of my wife if ever I happened to meet them in future, said Vinod. Earlier, addressing the gathering, Dr Ramesh Kumar said, “Our centre has been conducting eye donation awareness camps not only in Amritsar, but also in other 19 centres. About 19 corneal transplants were conducted last year and the figure has gone up to 40 this year. The operations are being conducted free of cost and the centre is also making free arrangements for the attendants of the eye recipients. More than 6,500 donors have pledged their eyes with the centre during the last two years.”
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Food fest spreads flavours across borders
Amritsar, August 28 Titled ‘Line of No Control’, the festival would be open till September 4 and would witness a delectable spread to savour food
and music. Nonetheless, for 72-year-old Jaswant Kaur, who hails from Peshawar in Pakistan, it was the right occasion to go down the memory lane. Before moving to this side of the border after the Partition, she was married in a family, belonging to a place Lalla Mussa and she had spent her early years of married life. “As soon as we reached the hotel, I instantly enquired if we can have Lalla Mussa Dal here and to my luck they had it. Actually, I have a very deep connection with the place Lalla Mussa. Our elder ladies at home used to teach us the technique to preserve the sumptuous flavour while preparing the daal. I could savour the same flavour after over so many decades,” she said. “My mother-in-law used to tell us about this dish but because of scarcity of exact spices needed to make it we could not make it here. We had the real taste of it here,” said Dr Baljit Waan. Her husband Dr Rabinder Singh Waan, a critical care specialist, said he got the true flavour of mutton biryani along with Lahori Tangri and Kababs here. Sitting on the next table was Delhi-based Ravi Kumar with his family. “I am here for second consecutive day. It was the Hyderabadi style biryani, severed the traditional way and the ambience which brought me here again,” he said. A bank officer Arun K Sharma too came because of the Indo-Pak theme of the festival. “I am a foodie and always want to try something different. So I could not afford to miss out on such an occasion”, he said. Gajinder Singh, proprietor of the hotel, said since the way to anyone’s heart is through the stomach only, he and his team comprising the Executive Chef Pawan Sharma, the Resident Manager Chandrakant Dubey, the Manager (Operations) Vandana had conceptualised the Indo-Pak Food festival. “We were aware that many families living in Amritsar have family connections on the other side of the border and they must be missing out on the Pakistani delicacies which we normally don’t get here. So, the idea was conceptualised to bring the best of both Pakistan and Indian delicacies on one table,” he said. Executive Chef Parveen, who picked up his culinary skills from Dubai, told that the Multani chicken tikka, Peshawari Kerala kebab, Murg Peshawari karhi, Lahori Tangri, Awadhi Chandi Kaliya, Lahore-style tawa taka-e-tak, Makhani chooze, Mahi anarkali, Paneer Baloochi tikka, are perfectly complemented with India’s Murg Yakhani Shorba, Paya shorba, Khumb Badam ka shorba, Kashmiri shabnam, Lukhnawi Galouti Kebab, Kashmiri Nallii gosht. Adding to the feast is “Meethi Yadein (desserts) with Gulaab-e-Gulkand stuffed with rose compote, topped with saffron orange sauce and Seviyon ke Muzzaffar, an Awadhi cuisine, vermicelli fried in pure ghee and cooked in milk with sugar, garnished with dry fruits and the aroma of saffron.
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Anna’s victory brings jubilation to the holy city
Amritsar, August 28 The president of the MCSMU Sanjay Khosla said all the three demands of Anna
Hazare, including citizen charter, lower echelons of bureaucracy under the Lokpal through an appropriate mechanism and establishment of the Lokayukta in the states, were accepted by
Parliament. BJP activists, led by Youth Development Board vice-chairman Tarun
Chugh, also held a programme and distributed sweets among people. They raised slogans in favour of Anna
Hazare. Social activists coming from different walks of life held a march from the historic Rambagh to Jallianwala Bagh in the evening.
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No MAKA trophy this time
Amritsar, August 28 With this decision, the dreams of Guru Nanak Dev (GND) University of picking up the trophy for the 22nd time have been smashed even as the university had been claiming that it had garnered enough points in the inter-university meets, national championships, national games and international competitions to annex the trophy. This development has forced GND University Director (Sports) Kanwaljit Singh to write to the Union Sports Ministry seeking a probe. The prize is given by the President to the winning university on August 29, which is also celebrated as National Sports Day. Documents reveal that all universities had to submit their claims by June 30 to the sports division of the AIU. In its claim, submitted before the deadline, GND University had asserted that it had accumulated 41,955 points, while Kurukshetra University bagged 21,225 points. Panjab University, Chandigarh, was in the third spot after it had scored 18,400 points. The name of Punjabi University did not figure anywhere among the list of universities, which had submitted their claims. Based on these “declarations” the AIU had scheduled a meeting for August 26 at New Delhi to work out the details of giving the prize to GND University on August 29. Surprisingly, after the June 30 deadline, another “claim” surfaced, in which Punjabi University had asserted that it had 43,835 points and staked its claim to the trophy. In the meantime, GND University also sent in another “declaration’”saying it had increased its points tally to 45,005 points from 41,955 points. This was enough for the AIU to smell a rat, following which it cancelled its August 26 meeting. A livid Kanwaljit Singh said, “I demand a thorough probe into the entire incident. Why did Punjabi University not submit its claim before June 30? There has to be some transparency in the entire issue as a lot of effort is involved in winning the trophy.” However, to this, an unconcerned Dr Raj Kumar Sharma, Director (Sports), Punjabi University, said, “We had couriered our claim on June 27 from
Patiala. I have a proof of it. How can Kanwaljit Singh maintain that Punjabi University had not sent its claim on time?” When asked as to how GND University submitted another claim in which its points tally was shown to be increased to 45,005 points, Kanwaljit Singh said, “In our claim filed before June 30, we had not submitted certificates of achievements of some of our players who took part in various national championships. We received the certificates after June 30 and thought it appropriate to send them to the
AIU, which increased our tally.” Whatever be the allegations and counter allegations, yet the AIU had struck at the right time to delay the award before it gets its facts right.
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One booked under NDPS Act
Amritsar, August 28 The accused runs a medical store Shri Bawa Lal Medical Store at Majitha. He was on his way to Majitha in his car. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against him at Sadar police station. He would be produced in the court tomorrow.
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Even as the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), in collaboration with Japan International Corporation Agency (JAICA), has conceptualised a plan to rejuvenate the existing sewerage system under the JNNURM programme, with an estimated cost of Rs 36.90 crore and a consultation fee of US $7 lakh has already been paid to the firm, yet after lapse of over a year, no “transformation” could be executed on the ground, except the digging of roads at several points. 
The residents complained that due to slippery roads, many accidents have occurred here but the authorities pay no heed to their problem. 
Drains are clogged for want of proper cleanliness