Amritsar, February 14
To curb absenteeism among the staff at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, associated with Government Medical College, four doctors have been served notices after an inspection.

Principal of the medical college Dr SS Shergill served the notices after a three-member committee constituted for the purpose submitted its report to him after the inspection.

During the inspection, four doctors; two resident and two senior doctors were found absent from work. During the inspection of the hospital emergency services, the doctors of surgery and medicine were not present whereas two doctors from the hospital laboratory were also found absent.

Dr Shergill said absenteeism will not be tolerated at any cost.

He said the erring doctors have been served notices and they will be asked for a reply.

He said the hospital authorities have decided to continue with the emergency inspections to curb the tendency of absenteeism among the staff.

“We will make sure that medical services are not hindered at any cost. We expect the employees to be sincere in their duty,” Shergill said.

Absenteeism will not be tolerated at any cost. The erring doctors have been served notices and they will be asked to reply. The hospital authorities have decided to continue with the emergency inspections to curb this tendency. We will make sure that medical services are not hindered at any cost.

Dr ss shergill, principal, government medical college

Amritsar, February 14
To boost various development projects in the holy city, the cash-starved Amritsar Municipal Corporation has constituted special teams to recover taxes. The recovery process took a backseat during the Assembly elections as the MC officials were busy with the poll duties.

The MC has launched a special drive to recover the dues. Besides, clear directions have also been issued to the realisation teams to seal properties in case the defaulters fail to pay their dues. The three main revenue-earning departments that were put in service to realise the dues include the house tax, water supply and estate departments.

It is estimated that there are over 10,000 residential and commercial establishments which are being targeted by the Municipal Corporation.

The house tax department has not yet initiated the process to assess the un-assessed properties as they had proposed to do at the beginning of the current financial year.

The corporation needs funds for development of the city and people should come forward to pay their taxes so that development projects can be initiated~

Dharampal gupta, commissioner, amc

Amritsar, February 14
From being known as Ramdaspur to Umritsar and now Amritsar, the character and history of the holy city has also changed many times just like its name. The city as we know it today has nothing in common with its past except some remnants. Even these have lost out the battle for survival, thanks to our insensitivity.

If one has to witness the changes that the city has undergone, its heritage structures are a perfect example. Tracing their origin along with the city, these structures stand battered by the ravages of time. Instead of being recognised as things of historical importance, they have been reduced to mere mentionable.

From the twelve gates of a fortified walled city to five holy sarovars, the famous Ram Bagh gardens and other structures of historical importance, each has a story to tell which do not stand for its glorious past. “Amritsar was a glorious city and now it is insensitive towards its past. Most people don’t even know what and where are these historic places in the city,” says Naresh Johar, a historian from the city. “There are many interesting facts about these structures that nobody has cared about. The famous 12 gates that have given Amritsar the status of being the walled city, are also a picture of neglect. Some of them have been destroyed like Hakima Wala Gate, Sherawalan Gate and Beri Gate. Others have been robbed of their significance by commercialisation inside the walled city,” he says. Naresh says there are many places that had a history but the modification over the years has made many disappear. “The place which is now a commercial hub called Pink Plaza, was once a cultural and rehabilitation centre called Temperance Hall, which was destroyed to pave way the shopping complex. Chaali Khuh that supplied water throughout the city during the British era and has been operational for over 70 years lies in a dilapidated condition today. There are so many other examples where heritage is being sacrificed due to shear negligence,” says Naresh.

The Town Hall, a 140-year-old heritage building that was once residence of queen Sada Rani, mother-in-law of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the Gobindgarh Fort which is under renovation, are a few exceptions, says Naresh.

“Amritsar is a major tourist destination and we have to depend on our heritage for people to appreciate it,” he says.

Quila Ahluwalia, Radha Krishan Mandir Crawling Street, Puratan Rasta (ancient passage) inside the walled city have the same story.

Senior professor at the Department of History, GNDU, Harish Sharma says in the name of heritage we are being reckless about these important places of history. “In Amritsar, the word heritage is associated with the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Wagah Border. Apart from Ram Bagh, which has been assigned to the Archaeological Survey of India, no other historical property or place has been conserved.”

“One should not interfere with the original designs of these structures, instead restore them,” he adds.

Amritsar, February 14
Noted businessmen, philanthropist and long-serving Khalsa College Governing Council's (KCGC) Rector Dr Dharambir Singh Jolly celebrated his 100th birthday at the hill-town of Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh.

The KCGC will honour Dr Jolly for his contribution to the field of education, social work and for serving the historic institution, for running Khalsa College and its allied educational institutions, in various capacities.

Amritsar, February 14
Industrialists and wholesale businessmen are annoyed with the Excise and Taxation Department for its failure to provide ample number of C-forms, required to carry out inter-state trade.

As per the norms, an inter-state transaction could not be completed without a C-form. Businessmen, who are involve in yarn, plastic powder, steel, iron, woollen trade, rued that their business was hit due to the acute shortage of forms.

Punjab Beopar Mandal President Amrit Lal Jain said a C-form that cost Re 1 has held back business of crores. He also said traders pay Rs 12,000 crore as VAT to the state and that the sum is 50 per cent of the state’s total revenue and yet they are facing this issue.

A wholesale woollen trader, SK Wadhwa, said shortage of C-forms has primarily affected procurement of raw material from other states. He said major raw materials were in the hands of big trading houses and they do not release materials without the C-forms.

Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Amritsar-II, P Kumar, said many traders procure these forms in bulk thus leading to shortages of the forms. The demand of forms increased in past few days but supply remained the same, he added.

Amritsar, February 14
Continuing their agitation, lawyers today observed hunger strike to protest against police inaction in arresting the accused who had attacked one of their colleagues on January 3.

The issue has already gained a political hue as the BJP came out to oppose them. Three of the BJP councillors, at a press conference yesterday, alleged that the Amritsar Bar Association is helping Kuljeet Singh to usurp the land which does not belong to him. The lawyers alleged political leaders were trying to occupy advocate Kuljeet Singh’s property by laying sewerage.

Amritsar Bar Association chief Pradeep Kumar Saini said a letter has been sent to the Punjab and Haryana High Court through the Sessions Judge. “The advocates’ community is a law abiding community and we are standing with the victim who was attacked by goons,” he said adding that they would continue the stir till all accused were held.

Amritsar, February 14
Amritsar is among 15 cities of the country to have Central Institute of Plastics, Engineering and Technology (CIPET). However, students graduating from this institute have to move out of the city to seek job. This is because there aren’t too many plastic-based industrial units here.

Rahul Khurana said he had worked with a privately managed factory after graduating from CIPET. He left the job after a year as it did not offer any technological progress. Old technology and techniques were employed to produce plastic products, he added.

“City-based plastic industrial units are small scale and they use obsolete technology. I shifted to Baddi to gain mental and financial progress,” he said.

Gurpreet Singh, another CIPET student, said about eight years ago he joined a local factory. After working in a couple of units he decided to float one of his own units. He started manufacturing household items like soap case, ball pens and others. However, he couldn’t avail new technologies due to limited financial support from family and government.

Punjab Small Scale Industry Development Board Director Raman Gupta, a leading local industrialist, said for any industry finance, marketing and research and development are important. During his stay in Japan, he found a strong connection between small scale industries and the government. Each small scale industry unit is associated with a trading house there, who look after its marketing and financial needs. Each unit is linked with a university that provides research and development (R&D).

He said the state government must establish R&D centre in Amritsar to assist small scale industry units. He added that although one R&D centre was located at Chandigarh but it was not feasible for these unit operators to travel so far all the time. He said the mortality rate of these small scale industries here was 90 per cent.

Ishwer Singh, Amritsar Chief Manager (Project), CIPET, said few units of plastic industry were located here. He said major centres of plastic industry were located in Badhi and Jammu. He said the units here lagged behind due to slow adoption of new technology.