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Girl dies as old building collapses
Pay bonus to customer, forum tells car dealer
Elevated road: Municipal Corporation fails to keep Sidhu’s deadline of Sept 30
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Encouraging young Sikhs to wear turbans
Amritsar, September 11 
Thanks to Bollywood for making turban and beard appealing for youngsters in Punjab. Recently, the “Mr Turban-2011” contest proved the point.
The glamorous event, organised by the Baba Deep Singh Federation, celebrated the spirit of being a Sikh, encouraging youngsters to wear turbans and sport beard.Sikh youths walk the ramp during the grand finale of the ‘Mr Turban-2011’ contest in Amritsar on Saturday night. Photos: Vishal Kumar
Sale of tickets from unreserved counters stopped
Pak delegation on educational tour to India
125 cancer patients examined
Rains hamper supply of stamp papers
Pensioners to intensify stir
3-day pen-down strike by lab technicians from today
Workshop on immunological techniques held
Groups threaten hunger strike during winter session
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Girl dies as old building collapses
Amritsar, September 11 The victim was identified as
Poonam.
It has been learnt that the incident occurred when their house, made up of Nanakshahi bricks, could not bear the impact when an adjoining vacant house was being demolished. Besides this, the recent rains that lashed the holy city had resulted in developing cracks in the vital portions of their house, the officials said. According to information, Urmil (45) and her two daughters Seema (25) and Poonam (19) were inside the house when the structure tumbled down all of a sudden. Even as the two among them --- Urmil and Seema --- were rescued without much effort as they were on the first floor of the house, Poonam could not be saved despite being on the ground floor. Saadik Masih, the sub-fire officer, said Urmil and Seema could be pulled out safely within half an hour. An ambulance was called in to save Poonam, who was trapped on the ground floor, but in vain. “Some elder in the family told us that Poonam had gone to the ground floor to wash clothes. We did locate her and as soon as we noticed her arm, we called in 108 Ambulance and they made arrangements for pumping oxygen inside the spot where she was trapped. The whole operation continued till 1.30 am, but we could not save Poonam,” he said. “One of the main reason was that due to narrow lanes, our equipments could not be taken to the site and we had to remove the debris manually which took time,” he added. Fatal buildings l
The victim was 19-year-old Poonam l Her sister and mother rescued l The building, almost century old, could not bear the impact of demolition of a nearby structure
Previous collapses l August 8, 2011: Old building collapsed. Due to narrow lanes, the fire brigade could not take its rescue machinery to the spot l July 29, 2011: Old building collapsed. The fire brigade had to face tough times to carry out rescue operation. In the absence of proper machinery, the debris was removed manually. Two deaths were reported in the incident.
official speak l It is sad that a teenaged girl was killed in the incident. But it is an irony that residents themselves are not willing to vacate such unsafe houses. In this case, first the house was very old and was in a dilapidated condition. Secondly, it could not bear the impact of demolition of an adjoining vacant building by the owners themselves~ Dharampal Gupta, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation l
On reaching the site, we discovered that the vital points of this house were in a poor state. The recent rains made the structure more weak. The people in these houses risk their lives. Despite our repeated announcements that they should contact us if they do not have any alternate arrangement to reside, not a single family has approached us so far~ Shakti Bhatia, Municipal Town Planner
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Pay bonus to customer, forum tells car dealer
Amritsar, September 11 Amarjit Singh, a resident of the Batala road, had filed a complaint that Ahuja Automobiles had sold him a car in July, 2009. He had given his old car in exchange along with Rs 3.2 lakh. At the time of the sale of the car the dealer had promised to pay Rs 15,000 as bonus within six months of the purchase of the car and an additional Rs 2,000 as corporate bonus, stated Amarjit Singh. Amarjit Singh complained that after six months of the purchase of the car, he repeatedly requested the dealer to pay him the bonus as promised. However, he was not paid any money. In an ex parte judgement, the forum recorded that while the complainant proved it on record that he was promised bonus, the opposite party (dealer) did not contest the case, which clearly showed that the dealer was at fault. The forum has directed Ahuja Automobiles to pay Rs 15,000 as bonus, Rs 2,000 as corporate bonus with an interest of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the complaint to the complainant. The forum has directed the dealer to pay the money within one month of the date of judgement. The complainant has also been entitled to Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses incurred on the case.
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Elevated road: Municipal Corporation fails to keep Sidhu’s deadline of Sept 30
Amritsar, September 11 After failing to meet four deadlines announced earlier, the fresh ‘official announcement’ for completion of this 0.9-km stretch has been set for October 15. Besides this, other ramps leading to local destinations too got delayed causing great inconvenience to commuters. Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials said old topography, narrow lanes and ancient old sewerage and water supply lines underneath have posed a problem to execute the work within the stipulated time. The first phase of the Rs 210-crore project, linking GT Road to Bhandari Bridge (3.25-km stretch), got completed last year but the work on the second phase is going on at a snail’s pace. It is to mention here that Sidhu, irked over the slow pace of work, had deliberations with Gammon Engineering Company officials and had ‘officially’ announced that this part of the project would be completed by October 1. Once completed, it would From page 1 enable the pilgrims to reach Golden Temple within 10 minutes of entering the city. In the absence of any direct route, it takes something between 45 minutes to an hour as they would have to negotiate the narrow and over-crowded lanes through Sultanwind Gate, Hall Gate, Sheranwala Gate, Ghee Mandi or Mahan Singh Gate. Other extensions of the elevated road (the ramps) were those connecting Maqboolpura Chowk to Bhandari Bridge with two entry and two exit ramps at three locations. This would benefit the commuters from at least 10 destinations - Rani bazaar, Hussainpura, Sharifpura, Tehsilpura, Bus Stand, Ram Talai, Golden Avenue, Mall Mandi, Chawrang Road to Maqboolpura, Focal point, Vallah Mandi, Pratap Nagar and New Pratap Nagar. Official Speak }It is really a pain that the project is getting delayed. I had a dialogue with the engineers on job before announcing the deadline, particularly for the Golden Temple stretch, but we are running behind schedule. It is true that they again have failed to keep their words. Anyway, I foresee that it will be a wonderful gift to the pilgrims who visit the holy city just to pay obeisance at the shrine.~ —Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP }The GT Road-Golden Temple overbridge will be opened by October 15. Actually, because of old set up here and streets being quite narrow, very few machines could be deployed for the whole project. Also, we had to work hard on plans to make alternate routes for the sewerage, electricity and water supply lines. We could not afford to disrupt these essential services. I assure you, we will meet the deadline this time~ —Dharampal Gupta, AMC Commissioner
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Encouraging young Sikhs to wear turbans
Amritsar, September 11 The event saw a heavy participation from across Punjab, New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and after auditions in Bathinda, Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar, the grand finale happened in Amritsar. “The event had been on for the past four months and after touring various cities, we selected 60 candidates for the grand finale. We wanted youngsters who know what it means to wear a turban and are fully aware of their religion,” said Rashpal Singh Baagi, president, Baba Deep Singh Federation. The finale had three categories according to the age groups - Group A (19-28 years), Group B (13-18 years) and Group C (6-12 years), which had Jot Jeevan Singh, Apinderjit Singh and Sanpreet Singh, respectively, as winners. Jot Jeevan Singh is from Jalandhar while Apinderjit Singh and Sanpreet Singh are from Amritsar. The participants were judged on the basis of their looks, talent and their knowledge of Sikh religion. The participants’ enthusiasm was highlighted in various on-stage activities like turban tying, explaining various religious significances and doing their bit towards culture promotion. The federation has been actively holding social awareness activities in schools and colleges throughout Punjab to discourage youngsters from cutting their hair and beard. When asked how useful such glamorous tools can be to promote religious beliefs, Rashpal Singh cleared the picture, “Youth instantly attaches itself to anything glamorous these days. Bollywood has cashed in on successful Sikh lead characters with Akshay Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan donning a turbaned look in their films. So to some extent these things influence the youth.” Considering the fact that even Punjabi films had not portrayed a turbaned hero, except for the recent push given by singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh in his latest flick “Jihne Mera Dil Luteya”. “It’s not about the religion, but our cultural identity. We have examples of so many celebrities who wear turban, say Vikram Chatwal and Sonny Caberwal, who is the first international Sikh model,” said Rashpal. Call it a fad or keeping the faith, but the “T-factor” seems to be working well for now.
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Sale of tickets from unreserved counters stopped
Amritsar, September 11 The passengers, who had failed to get on-the-spot tickets even as a majority of seats on the train were vacant, had protested that led to the launch of the facility. Passengers would now have to either reserve tickets through advance reservation counter or through the current booking counter located at the front gate of the railway station just before the train’s departure. It may be mentioned here that the number of passengers going from Amritsar to Chandigarh was between 300 and 350 as compared to 1,400 seats available in the train, including 1,287 chairs in the non-AC and 145 seats in the AC coaches, according to the railway authorities. Sources said with the sale of tickets for Duronto from the unreserved ticket counters had become a headache for the catering staff. It became difficult for the catering staff to ascertain the exact number of passengers as several reservations were made on the train itself by charging the remaining amount. The railway officials claimed that this has also led to unrest among passengers who had to shell out money again for the reservation. Passengers travelling with unreserved tickets would have to shell out extra bucks as a punishment, sources added. However, the railway officials claimed that the step has been taken because of opening of second current booking counter only.
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Pak delegation on educational tour to India
Amritsar, September 11 The delegation, headed by Prof Amir Rafique, would visit Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), besides many other educational institutes and religious places in the country. Talking to mediapersons, Rafique said they had come to study the higher education system present in India. He also emphasised on the continuous cultural exchange programmes between the two neighbouring nations in order to enhance the cordial relations and strengthening the bilateral ties. He said during the visit they would study the pattern of education in the Indian universities and colleges. While stressing on allowing more and more educational tours between two nations, he said the delegation would interact with teachers and students of various educational institutes. The delegation would also pay obeisance at Ajmer Sharif.
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125 cancer patients examined
Amritsar, September 11 During the camp, doctors examined 125 cancer patients. After the checkup camp, Dr Navdeep Singh, cancer specialist from AIIMS, gave detailed information about the various types of cancers - blood, bone, colon, kidney, prostrate, gall bladder, lungs, liver, pancreas, etc. He added that the facilities of chemotherapy and onco surgery required for the treatment of cancer are available at the EMC hospital. He suggested people to go for checkup regularly for timely detection of the disease. He asked people to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
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Rains hamper supply of stamp papers
Amritsar, September 11 The stamp papers are normally received from Nasik and Hyderabad but because of the persistent rains the authorities have failed to ensure their timely arrival. However, stamp papers of Rs 1,000 are readily available, informed local agents. The local treasury office has contacted treasuries in Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran to borrow stamp papers to end the scarcity, but both the districts also are facing shortage. Stamp papers from Nasik and Hyderabad where they are printed are brought to the treasury at Ludhiana from where they are supplied to all other districts. Insiders in the treasury office informed that the situation would persist for a month. On an average, the district treasury office sells approximately stamp papers worth Rs 2.5 crore in a month. Stamp papers are transported via trucks. It has also been learnt that the scarcity has been caused by the hoarders who want to sell stamp papers at a price above their denomination. “Few people are in possession of the stamp papers and they can be bought for a little extra money,” revealed Jujhar Singh, an advocate. Treasury Officer Aman Maini, while admitting the shortage, said, “We have written to the Ludhiana treasury about it. But they too are facing a shortage.” However, he added that there is no dearth of stamp papers of bigger denominations. He assured that he would verify reports on hoarding of stamp papers.
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Pensioners to intensify stir
Amritsar, September 11 Baath urged the state finance minister Upinderjit Kaur to hold talks with the representatives of the association over the 21-point charter of demands already submitted to her recently. He said the main demands of the association include payment of arrears of amended pension in one instalment, 50 per cent concession in fares in buses to pensioners and their dependants, 25 per cent increase in the medical allowance in view of the increase in the prices of life saving drugs. He said a protest rally would also be organised soon and a new charter of demands would be submitted to the Chief Minister, Punjab, through the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar.
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3-day pen-down strike by lab technicians from today
Amritsar, September 11 He said their case for revised pay scales is pending with the anomaly committee for a long time. “Earlier, we had a grade second to the medical officers, but in the present scenario our grade is kept lower than the staff nurses,” he said. He said as their jobs pose multiple health hazards and thus they are entitled for a risk allowance. Malkiat Singh Bhatti, president of the association said, “The employees put on emergency duties in hospitals are required to be given accommodation free of cost but in our case we are charged 5 per cent of our pay.” He said the union has demanded recruitment of Senior Lab technicians in the newly-formed districts too. The association has also decided to hold a protest outside Civil Surgeon office on September 14.
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Workshop on immunological techniques held
Amritsar, September 11 Prof P.K. Sehajpal, Head, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Guru Nanak Dev University, was the subject expert and conducted experimental demonstration on various immunological techniques like ELISA, double immuno-diffusion, haemagglutination, blood grouping, etc. According to Dr Neeraj Gupta, organising secretary of the workshop, the workshop helped the students to get experience of various immunological techniques.
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Groups threaten hunger strike during winter session
Amritsar, September 11 The general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Annie Raja, who was in the city to address the national council meet of the NFIW, organised by the Punjab Istri Sabha, talking to The Tribune said it had been now about a year and a half since the Bill to earmark 33 per cent of seats for women in state Assemblies and Parliament was passed in the Rajya Sabha. She said the NFIW would launch a nationwide campaign against this to pressurise the government to introduce the same. She said the women in the country had been fighting for the Bill for the past 15 years and about 15 women would observe fast on each day during the winter session. Annie Raja said even though the main political parties, including the BJP and Left parties, had confirmed their support to the Bill but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was lacking the political will to introduce the Bill in Parliament. She claimed that the government was facing the problem as the Bill would take out 33 per cent share of the men, who continued to dominate in Parliament. She also reacted sharply to the “political drama” being played out over the Bill. “There are several Bills that do not need consensus and in fact, consensus is not mandatory. It cannot be used as any excuse for not adopting the Bill in Parliament,” she added. Annie said they were also against the “Food Security Bill” introduced in Parliament. The draft proposal of the Bill approved by the Union cabinet was dangerous as this would result in the closure of the Public Distribution System as the Bill would bring in cash transactions. She said once this Bill was passed by Parliament, the government would not have to announce minimum support price for wheat grains and this would result in the farmers shift to other cash crops. She said 80 per cent women in the country were anaemic and a large number of young babies were dieing of malnutrition. The Bill also did not guarantee the supply of safe drinking water and pollution-free environment. Supporting social activist Anna Hazare on the Lok Pal Bill, Annie said they were against the centralisation of power in handful hands. To root out corruption from the country the Lok Pal Bill needed to be strengthened. There was no need for bringing judiciary under the Bill and instead the accountability Bill should be strengthened. She said 90 per cent women did not have any concern about the 2G Spectrum scam as they were only concerned about their wages to be paid under the MGNREGA scheme as the women were not being paid the salaries at the grassroots level. Kushal Bhaura, general secretary, Punjab Istri Sabha, was among the 86 delegates who addressed the gathering.
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A 19-year-old girl lost her life while her mother and elder sister were saved by the rescue team after their century-old three-storey house located in the Phullan wala Chowk area collapsed on Saturday night.
