Amritsar, November 14
School children had to lose a day of studies as the buses ferrying them to their schools were on a political route today. Instead of school children it was BJP workers who rode their way to the rally on the arrival of BJP leader Lal Krishan Advani with his Jan Chetna Yatra in the evening today. More than 300 school buses were pressed into service to ferry the BJP supporters.

While there were several educational institutions which opted to remain shut today anticipating that the yatra brigade will block all key routes to the city as well as the possible inconvenience caused to the students in the absence of school transport. The police had also put a temporary ban on the plying of auto-rickshaws, apparently, to clear the road of traffic snarls. Some institutions cancelled the in-house examinations.

A representative of school bus operators, on the condition of anonymity, said they had been asked by the transport office to spare the buses to transport people for the yatra. "We were told that they will need over 300 buses for the event and we made the arrangements accordingly. Our buses were used to transport people from the adjoining rural areas. We hope the authorities at least pay us the diesel expenses, which they normally don't and we dare not ask them for," he said.

Accordingly, the bus operators as well as the auto-rickshaw drivers who transport children to schools had conveyed their new 'schedule for the day' to the respective school heads, who in turn declared it a holiday.

All major schools of the city which included all the educational institutions run by DAV management and the Chief Khalsa Diwan were closed for the day. Other schools in the league, among several others, were Springdale Senior Secondary School, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bharti Vidya Bhawan.

Neera Sharma, DAV Senior Secondary School, Lawrence Road, principal said, "Even if the students had come on their own or dropped by their guardians, still it would have been tough for them to negotiate through the overcrowded roads. We knew that the police too would divert routes to facilitate the movement of the yatra through the city. Keeping all these factors in mind, we decided to declare it a holiday today.

Charanjit Singh Chadha, president of Chief Khalsa Diwan said the school located on the GT road has been shut only because of the rath yatra. "Our bus operators had told us about their inability to transport school children today. Since our school was located on the yatra route on the GT road, we decided to shut the school for the day," he said.

Amritsar, November 14
To make their presence felt before their leader LK Advani during his Jan Chetna Yatra, supporters of the BJP went all out to put up posters and banners in every nook and corner of the city. Event the statues of freedom fighters were not spared as these banners and buntings were tied to them at various roundabouts. The historic hall gate today donned the look of 'poster gate' today.

This despite the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, banning such hoardings on the roads falling under the Municipal Corporation limits as it distracts drivers causing accidents. These hoardings had the pictures of the Chief Minister, local MLAs, mayor and even councillors of the ruling alliance.

It started right from the entrance gate of the holy city. There was hardly any pole in the middle of the road or any corner of the elevated road which leads to the most crowded Town Hall point, the venue of the rally, which was without the hoardings and posters of SAD-BJP alliance leaders. Most of the hoardings on the electricity poles on the divider of the elevated road for past four days fell on the road but the authorities had turned a blind eye.

Much to the chagrin of the residents, the ropes of the buntings were found to be tied to the bust of the life-sized statue of Shaheed Udham Singh, the freedom fighter who was a witness to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 and took the revenge by killing Michael Francis O' Dwyer, the then governor of Punjab, in England. The statue of freedom fighter Saiffudin Kitchlew and prominent BJP leader Dr Baldev Prakash installed on separate roundabouts too met the same fate.

NS Gabhria, a resident said, "Even after 60 years of independence it seems our 'worthy politicians' have not learnt how to respect the freedom fighters who laid their lives for the country. It's an insult to use the statue of these great souls to tie banners."

Amritsar, November 14
Commuters were the worst sufferers as BJP leader LK Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra received a warm welcome from party workers for better part of the day today.

Several areas in the city remained out of bound for the common people while some of them were reserved for the rally. It resulted in heavy rush on alternate routes. The atmosphere was euphoric as local BJP workers jumped with joy and danced to the beats of dhol on the roadsides as soon as Advani's Rath Yatra reached the entry point of the city through Amritsar-Jalandhar GT road.

Many joined Advani's cavalcade and busted crackers. The rath followed by a cavalcade of vehicles arrived at 6 pm in the city as against its scheduled arrival of 3:30 pm.

Amritsar Police Commissionerate had put up a traffic plan to accommodate the yatra with minimum inconvenience to the public, but diverted the traffic upset the regular schedule of commuters. It increased the flow of traffic manifold on some roads. The cordoning off of all the major routes left the city residents high and dry earlier during the day. What pinched the commuters mist were the tedious traffic regulations in place. Shamsher Singh, a trader, said he had to visit his home twice or thrice in the day but he got stuck due to traffic chaos. He said the district administration must at least advertise the diversion plan in local dailies and broadcast it over the local television channels to intimate residents.

Devotees to the Golden Temple also suffered great inconvenience as four wheelers were debarred for entering from the Hall Gate. Later, the entry for two-wheelers was also stopped just before the arrival of the yatra. One-way road from the Golden Temple to Katra Jai Mal Singh, to Sikandri gate was also closed. Police Commissioner RP Mittal said for the convenience of commuters, traffic to and fro from the Golden Temple was opened from Maha Singh Gate, Lakkadwala Bazaar and Saragarhi Parking to the elevated road. He said traffic coming from the Jalandhar side was diverted from near New Amritsar to Vallah and then Verka bye-pass to turn to inside the city along Batala road.

Amritsar, November 14
The inauguration spree of the state government may backfire going by the haste shown by the authorities in launching several development projects.

The Bebe Nanki mother and child care centre at Government Medical College here was inaugurated yesterday despite the fact that the upper two storeys of the nine-storey building are incomplete.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had inaugurated the building which aims to house all medical services related to mother and child care.

All the offices were without machines as well as the equipment required to examine the patients. The upper two storeys of the building were without the mandatory safety arrangements on the staircases. The entrance to the top storey was shut with the help of temporary blockages.

The work was yet to finish even on the other floors of the building. Lifts did not have the gates and the walls were not painted.

Principal of the medical college Dr SS Shergill said the work is near completion. The centre will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the mother and child care in the area.

Dr Shergill said the centre will be well-equipped to conduct caesarean as well as normal deliveries. “Patients will also be provided world class medical services under one roof. The post- operation medical services will also be made available here,” he said.

Amritsar, November 14
Three passersby were among four injured during a firing incident at Khuh Korianwala in the walled city area here late last night. The three accused booked in the case had some old enmity over some financial dealings with one of the victims. Three others got injured in the firing incident were passing by.

The Kotwali police has registered an attempt to murder case against the accused Chetan, Byala and Rickey, all resident of same area but no arrests have been made so far. Suresh, Vipin and Manu are the other three injured in the firing incident.

Bharat sustained bullet injury in the incident and was rushed to the orthopaedic ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital where his condition is stated to be out of danger. The remaining victims were admitted in a private hospital.

Amritsar, November 14
The CIA staff of the police today nabbed Rang Lal Meena of Kholi village in Jalawar district of Rajasthan, for allegedly selling opium to truck drivers in Jahajgarh area on Main GT road here.

He allegedly smuggled narcotics from Rajasthan to the state. Police Commissioner, Amritsar, RP Mittal, said the CIA staff had got information that a person allegedly sold opium to truck drivers in Jahajgarh area.

Amritsar, November 14
Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport has recorded an astounding 591 per cent growth in cargo handling in fiscal 2010-11 as compared to 2008-09.

It handled 6,894 metric tonnes of cargo in financial year 2010-2011 whereas it was 961 MT during 2008-2009. It was 2,790 MT during 2009-2010.

Airport Director Sunil Dutt said during the first quarter of the current financial year, the volume of cargo handled was 1,782 MT.

A confident Dutt said with the Electronic Data Interface (EDI) system fully operational, the Amritsar airport would once again record manifold increase in cargo handling operation this year.

He said keeping in mind the great potential of cargo in the region, the air cargo complex would be made ready for major activities such as bonded cargo trucking, X-ray screening/certification by AAI, air cargo community system, courier, express cargo handling and also to undertake domestic cargo handling.

At present the air cargo terminal at the airport, constructed by the AAI, is spread over on an area of 2,256 square metres and a paved area of 2,888 square metres.

Experts, who had come for a convention of the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), felt that the Amritsar airport has a great potential of drawing cargo from surrounding region of Amritsar. Important industrial hubs among them were Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala and Baddi. There are thousand of small-scale industrial units producing industrial goods, machine parts, auto parts, household appliances, hosiery, woolen garments, bicycle manufacturing, tractor parts.

They felt that cargo from these industrial hubs generally is sent abroad via the Delhi airport, but this could be shifted to Amritsar airport soon.

The airport director said at present major international airlines operating at Amritsar Airport were Air India, Turkmenistan Airlines, Uzbekistan Airlines, Qatar Airways, British Midland International Ltd and Jet Airways.

Amritsar, November 14
Dejected by the civic authorities' apathy towards the unsanitary conditions prevailing in Chheharta area, residents of Gannupur, Kale and Wadali villages staged a protest outside the MC's office here today.

In the absence of any water disposal system in their areas, over 50,000 residents are forced to live in most unhygienic conditions.

They resented that the project of laying sewerage line has been lying pending for past many years. And the officials have turned a blind eye to the problem, they said.

Hardev Singh, a resident, said in the absence of water disposal system, the dirty water remains stagnated on roads. "Even the satellite hospital in the area faces the same problem. No one can reach the hospital without spoiling his clothes," he said.

Echoing similar views, Hardyal said even their relatives refrain from visiting their house due to prevailing situation.

Amritsar, November 14
Fashion needs patrons. Just like art, fashion too survives on appreciation and acknowledgement but more importantly, an address. The metros have long enjoyed the status of being the fashion capitals in the country and it’s important for young, fresh designers to add a clientele from Mumbai or Delhi to his profile to get attention. But the holy city has its share of budding designer names who have managed to carve their own niche, never mind the tags and perceptions of being functional in a traditionally ‘low’ profile city.

Amritsar is breaking many fashion taboos as a progressive and expanding market for global fashion trends. Rashi Kapoor, a young fashion designer just improved upon the present opportunity. “After finishing my education, I joined Manish Malhotra and have worked on Bollywood projects like ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ and ‘My Name Is Khan’ under him,” Rashi gives an introduction.

After her successful stint at the LFW’s Genext shows, Rashi decided to settle in Amritsar, her hometown a year and a half back. “I have since worked from a small office-cum-workshop I set up for myself here.”

Specialising in Indo-western designs, Rashi is launching her multi-designer studio, in December and her label Rashi Kapoor is already a famous name among the city fashionistas. “Amritsar is a very fashionable city and there is a constant demand for trendy western designer wear here. Everybody here knows what’s in and what’s not. So it presents us with an opportunity like never before. Since I belong to the city I am well aware of its pros and cons,” she says.

Another on the list is Vishal Mehra, who along with his wife Kanika has opened a men’s only designer studio here, which has celebrated a decade in the city and is going strong with its clientele. “We have our own labels, designers from Delhi, Mumbai and even international labels like Valentino,” says Kanika Mehra. Their clientele too forms a long list with people coming in from Delhi and Mumbai to pick up their customised pieces. “We also have a lot of NRI clientele.

The fact that people do not have to go to metros for their designer wear is the reason we need more such projects in Amritsar,” she adds.