Amritsar, September 22
With the price of gold touching a record high of over Rs 28,000 per 10 grams, it has made jewellery shops a soft target of looters. The crime graph is an indication of that.

But surprisingly, it has not made the Amritsar police wake up to the problem.

Consider this! The main jewellery arcade of the holy city ‘Saraffa Bazaar’, which houses over 1,000 gold shops, has just one constable at its disposal. Constable Ramesh Kumar, who has been equipped with just a ‘stick’ in his hand, is nothing but the mockery of the police commissionerate system.

What kind of security outside the walled city or on isolated locations could be anybody’s guess.

The jewellers resented that the CCTV cameras as announced with much fanfare by the police administration could not see the light of the day, scant patrolling further facilitate looters to escape with ease.

They also complained that the cumbersome formalities to own a weapon also adds to the problem. And that’s why they asked the police to formulate some policy so that jewellers can get licence easily.

Ramesh Sharma, senior vice-president of Amritsar Saraffa Association, said despite repeated pleas with the police, no arrangement were ever thought of to increase the vigil in this area. “Look at, we have just one constable here provided with just a ‘lathi’. Now, how helpful he would be to deal with any untoward incident here which has many escape routes in the numerous narrow lanes which lead to this market,” he said.

Manish Kumar of Rohit Jewellers said out of fear he has even stopped wearing gold ornaments himself, especially, following a series of such looting incidents. “We have even stopped displaying the costly series of gold items in the display window. Even though it is hitting back to our trade but we have no option,” he said.

Echoing the same view, Sudesh Kumar of Saajan Jewellers said though the unprecedented spurt in the gold prices has already damaged their trade, yet the constant rise in looting incidents has further dampen their spirits. It appears that the administration is waiting for some more incidents to occur here to wake up from its deep slumber.

“Looking at the scant response from the police side, many of the jewellers in this market have engaged their own private security,” he said. Vishal of Vishal Jewellers viewed that steps have to to initiate day and night patrolling in different markets. “After closing our shops at about 9 pm, we are scared to go to the parking lot of the Saraffa market to take our vehicles because in the absence of any vigil over there, it would be the most convenient spot for looters. But who cares,” he asked.

An advice

Capt Saroop Singh, a retired IPS officer and former Inspector General of Police, Mumbai: I think it’s awful that thieves are taking advantage of lapses on part of the policing system here. First and the foremost thing the police should do here is to strengthen its ‘beat mechanism’ because they should be the first to smell the rat. Second, their connectivity with the supporting staff should be prompt because how fast the force reacts on their tip-off would matter at the end of the day. Third, the ‘nakabandi’ system should be foolproof, as no vehicle should be let pass off outside the city, if such an incident occurs. Fourth, police patrolling should be made efficient and always on GPS surveillance and the higher-ups should monitor the daily feedback of activities happening in their areas. This would let the police know the crime trend.

Amritsar, September 22
While the Planning Commission has informed the Supreme Court that BPL limits could be provisionally placed at Rs 965 per capita per month which comes around to approximately Rs 32 a day in urban areas, the poor in the city said that the amount is not sufficient to have two square meals a day.

For rural areas, the BPL limit has been placed at Rs 781 per capita per month, which is around Rs 26 a day. Deepak Kumar, a fruit-seller said, “Only two years ago, the bhatura (a common lunch meal popular in city) was sold at Rs 6 per piece. Now it costs Rs 15, and if a person eats two he spends Rs 30.”

Kumar further said, “Even if a person is practically able to buy only two bhaturas a day, the government believes he is rich.” He added that at the rate of Rs 90 per kg an apple of average size costs Rs 18.

“So if a family of four consumes an apple in a day, it comes to Rs 4.5 per person,” he added. However, as per the Planning Commission a person should be spending 44 paisa a day on fruits. In times when wheat flour costs Rs 17 per kg and milk (cream extracted) is sold at Rs 24 per the poor are having a harrowing time.

Parbha, a cigarette vendor said, “Look at the prices, even the cheapest of vegetables costs, Rs 30 per kg. We cannot afford eating pulses, because they cost more than Rs 50 per kg.” However, the Planning Commission has suggested that just Rs 1.95 on vegetables a day is adequate. She stated that a person at least needs Rs 30 per meal.

Saukat Masih, a rickshaw puller who on good days earn Rs 200, said, “For a family of four, it (income) comes to Rs 50 each. In times when a cup of tea costs Rs 5, how many cups of tea these government officials feel should a poor person drink?” He added that after a day’s hard toil, he gets what many of the restaurants charge for a one-time meal.

Yashpal Kala, an autorickshaw driver stated that earning Rs 250 a day he is not able to run his family kitchen. “Why does the government forget that a person also needs clothes, medicines, house and other things too.”

Another resident, Bipin Singh said, “Buying food is going beyond general publics needs. Even those who earn Rs 10,000 or a little more are facing problems in life. How can a person survive in Rs 32 a day when there is no control on prices?”

Amritsar, September 22
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of North India (HRANI) will hand over a charter of demands seeking to set up a National Council of Tourism to enhance liaison between various ministries, central agencies and offices of the chief ministers.

The three-day convention will start from Friday. The General Secretary of the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA), APS Chatha, said a widely held belief of the hospitality industrialists was that the Ministry of Tourism had been reduced to a felicitation body and vests no power with itself to directly redress their complaints. He said the nature of the business was such that multiple departments and ministries were directly involved in the profession. Hence, they faced a lot of difficulties in resolving the issues. He said the industry was bringing in millions of dollars to the exchequer and employed over 15 million workers directly. However, the industrialists in this sector grappled with multiple central and state government agencies for operational needs.

He said they would stress that the National Council must incorporate representatives from tourism, finance and labour ministry as well as from the chief minister’s office and other concerned agencies to speedily sort out the troubles and implement new plans.

Amritsar, September 22
She is a pioneer in the wellness and beauty industry in India and has been shaping bodies and confidence for years now. An embodiment of her enterprise, Vandana Luthra, at 54, says: “I like living healthy. Good health can be equated with happiness and if you look good, it boosts your confidence,” says the founder and mentor of VLCC.

Launching their latest weight-loss programme, the VLCC Insta Slim Body Redifining programme, the entrepreneur emphasized on achieving a healthy body even with the present lifestyle. “Due to long working hours, disturbed sleep and erratic eating habits our body does not get required nourishment and so we gain weight easily.”

Known for her scientific approach towards beauty, Vandana takes her role as the leading wellness and health care expert seriously. “I have always believed in natural and holistic way to stay fit, whether its yoga, eating the right food or using natural products. When people come to us, they want a complete transformation and that’s what beauty is about, complete health,”she says. Hers is a medical approach not a glamorous one. “Every programme is developed after a thorough research and development and we have a team of medical and health experts which approves our programmes.” The reason her methods are not an “easy” way to get into shape. “We initiate them into adopting a healthy lifestyle by giving health, beauty, diet, fitness and personality development services. But there are no shortcuts and effort is required.” This is why she thinks cosmetic surgeries or crash dieting is “funny and unhealthy”. There was much talk about Kareena’s size zero and she is back to square one, looking better than before says Luthra. “Often we ignore healthy eating habits, which results in weight gain. Simple habits like reduced intake of salt, sugar and oil can help us lose weight easily without having to sweat it out in a gym,”she says.

Amritsar, September 22
Two persons were arrested on Thursday in connection with the suicide of the father-son duo at an advocate’s chamber in the district courts complex yesterday.

Inspector Sanjeev Kumar, in charge, Civil Lines police station, said that two persons, namely Kala and Sukha, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Rajesh Gupta and his minor son Sajan were allegedly involved in more than 14 cases of stealing money from the ATMs and had allegedly committed suicide at the courts complex. Following the suicide the police had registered a case on the complaint of Rajni, Rajesh’s wife.

Vasdev, another accused, has not been arrested yet. The family of the deceased alleged that the three had been continuously harassing Rajesh to pay back the loan he had taken from them.

Amritsar, September 22
The district administration here on Thursday initiated the process of shifting the baby girl, who was found abandoned at the Red Cross office on September 20, to the Legal Adoption and Placement Agency.

Amritsar, September 22
The police found an unidentified body from a canal, near Taranwala Bridge, here on Thursday.