Amritsar, March 5
The district and police administration is all geared up to conduct the counting of votes for the Assembly polls tomorrow. A total of five counting centres have been designated here where the fate of the candidates for 11 constituencies in Amritsar district will be decided.

Besides, Government College, Ajnala, and Mata Ganga Kanya Senior Secondary School, Baba Bakala, the prominent centre designated for counting are at Khalsa College, Government Medical College and Mai Bhago Government Polytechnic Institute on the Majitha road.

The police has already declared a red alert in the district to implement the protocol and has also chalked out elaborate security plans. The counting process will begin at 8 am and the decision about the posting of Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants will be made at the eleventh hour.

Besides this, the district media centre has been placed at the Circuit house for the counting updates. This will be in addition to a media centre in each of the counting centres, which will be headed by the officials of the District Public Relations department which will assist the media in covering the counting process. Certain limits have been prescribed by the respective returning officers at the centres.

The counting process will also be videographed in each counting hall.

The Election Commission of India has issued directions that adequate arrangements must be made to ensure clear display of the electronic voting machines to the satisfaction of the counting agents.

Amritsar, March 5
With just a few hours left for the counting of votes for the 2012 assembly polls, police officials who were on a rigorous 24X7 duty for the past over a month can now heave a sigh of relief. “Thankfully, no untoward incident has occurred in this part of the region. 

Though it is really very relieving, but there is also a sense of satisfaction that we performed our duties and everything passed off peacefully," said Inspector Hardeep Singh. He along with his team has been guarding a strong room where the EVMs are stored. The strong room is located in the premises of Government Medical College here.

Over 50 police personnel besides commandoes and jawans of the paramilitary forces were deployed here to guard the room for the past month. “It is a relief but on the other side it is a part and parcel of our duty. We have been on our toes 24-hours every day for over a month now guarding the future of many candidates which is stored in the EVMs. Although a bit relaxed at this moment but we are also ready for tomorrow,” said Ram Parkash, DSP. He was busy passing instructions to the jawans for the counting process.

Not only the Punjab police but the paramilitary forces are also maintaining security of the EVMs, the supporters or close confidants of the respective candidates of political parties of the constituency are also keeping a close vigil on the strong room. They are also feeling relieved as the cumbersome task nears its end. They were allowed entry in the strong room after showing a pass given by the authorities concerned. “Though, we were not stationed outside the strong rooms permanently, but have been visiting the area at least twice a day,” said Rakesh, a supporter and close confident of sitting BJP MLA and a contestant from Amritsar North Constituency, Anil Joshi.

But there are some contestants who bothered little to go to strong rooms and deputed their representatives to visit there. “The EVMs are under foolproof surveillance of the paramilitary forces, Punjab police jawans besides CCTV cameras, leaving no possibility of the bungling of results. I don't think I need to go there again and again,” said Amarjit Singh Asal, a CPI and Sanjha Morcha candidate from the Amritsar West constituency. OP Soni, the Congress candidate from the Amritsar Central constituency said his supporters did keep a watch initially, but later we found it a futile exercise as already tight security arrangements have been made.

Amritsar, March 5
The city police arrested five Bangladesh nationals from near the Golden Temple shrine today. The accused have been identified as Mehboob Alam of Seepa Toly village, Sadhan Kumar of Sakarpur, Chhotan Kumar of Thana Ragonia village, Mohammad Halal and Ahmad Sadha, all residents of Thana village in Cheeta Gang district of Bangladesh.

They have been booked under Section 3/34/20 of the Indian Passport Act and Section 14 of the Foreign Act at Kotwali police station here.

Kotwali police had received information that the accused were sitting on the backside of the Sarais in the premises of the Darbar Sahib.

A police party from Galliara Chowki rushed to the spot and stopped the accused.

Though, nothing incriminate was found from their possession, the accused also failed to show documents such as their passports or visas.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that they had illegally crossed over to India from the India-Bangladesh border few days back.

Amritsar, March 5
Inderjit Singh, a resident of New Amritsar on the main GT Road, who was injured in a road mishap a few days ago, breathed his last in a private hospital here yesterday.

Amritsar, March 5
The most colourful, vibrant and fun festival is here and the city is all set to celebrate Holi, the festival of colours in its true spirit of colour and mischief. The market places have donned a vibrant look, with mountains of colours, strings of water guns and other necessary equipment for the day.

The spring festival that symbolises fun and frolic and also to lower your guard enjoys popularity especially among the youth. As for the others, they are busy stocking up on holi colours, pichkaris and Holi delights of thandai and gujiya. The market places are also flooded with Chinese water guns and special items for the festival.

Green Holi

Green seems to be the colour on everyone's mind while they wait for Holi by opting for eco-friendly ways to celebrate the festival. Choosing not to harm the environment, organic products are all set to make their presence felt this time. Special organic colours are available in all leading retail shops in the city and even organic clothes for the day are gaining popularity.

Natural or home-made colours are also a hit this season with many opting to play Holi using turmeric, red sandalwood powder, amla, henna and dry flowers like marigold, tesu, red hibiscus etc.

Guard your skin

Holi could be harsh on the skin because of the chemical-laden colours. Keep your skin moisturised before playing with colours, apply a lot of oil in your hair and avoid the sun. Don’t let the colours into eyes, mouth or other sensitive parts of your skin. Most importantly try organic or natural colours.

Fun of feasting

Food is the next best way to enjoy the holiday. Special Holi delights like gujiya, phirnis, thandai, dahi bhalle and bhang ke pakore are temptations to give in to. Special flavoured thandai with dry fruits, mint and bhang are a must have.

Shop till you drop

Several brands have announced special offers and collections for the festival. Special spring summer collections are in time for Holi. Ditch the conventional white and dress up in multi-coloured dresses, perfect for the day to look glamorous. Several other major brands are also offering natural colours in its vibrant collection of accessories etc.

Amritsar, March 5
Sukhdev Singh Chhina, IPS (Retd), has been unanimously elected as the president of Punjab Police Pensioners’ Welfare Association. Sukhdev Singh, director communication (Retd), was elected as senior vice president and Mohinder Singh Bajwa, inspector (Retd), as general secretary.

These officials were elected to represent the 20,000 retired employees of the state police force in accordance with the constitution of the association. The elections were held under returning officer SP (Retd) Gurpal Singh and observer DSP (Retd) Daljit Singh.

The house authorised president Chhina to elect the other office bearers of the executive committee. Chhina said a meeting would be held in the middle of this month to elect the office bearers. 

Amritsar, March 5
Residents of Medical Enclave and Professor Colony, located on circular road, today flayed the civic authorities and administration for diverting water of ganda nullah toward their residential area.

residents speak

Residents of these two localities complained that dirty water accumulated in their area emanate unbearable smell which is affecting their health.

“It is really bad on part of the civic authorities as they could have made alternate arrangements for discharging the filthy water before commencing the work of covering the nullah,” said Dr R S Buttar, a resident of Medical Enclave.

“With the on set of summer the place would turn into a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and insects and would spread infections and diseases,” said Rajesh Sharma, another resident of the area.

“The authorities seldom do homework before implementing any decision. Though the covering of ganda nullah is a welcome step but they did not plan an appropriate route to discharge the dirty water,” said Gurinder Singh of Professor Colony.

“We are not against the covering of Ganda Nullah. In fact, we welcome the move of the district authorities. But they should have made arrangements for disposing the filthy water rather than directing it to our locality,” said another resident.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dharampal Gupta said he would look into the matter and would take remedial steps. 

Amritsar, March 5
As the union cabinet cleared new rules under the Motor Vehicle Act, the authorities have tightened noose around habitual offenders in the city.

Drunken driving, jumping red light, over speeding and use of mobile phones while driving and other traffic offences will attract higher fine and jail term under new rules. The youth of the city speak to The Tribune about the change. Damanpreet Kaur Walia, 18, Bcom Ist year, Khalsa College of Education

“I hope that the move will result in a regulate flow of traffic in the city. Traffic congestion is a big problem and above that people don’t follow traffic rules. Regular challans and stricter norms might force them to follow the rules and drive safely.”

Amritsar, March 5
Jaskirat Singh, Navneet Kaur and Tensi Arora secured first, seventh and eight positions, respectively, in third semester of MSc computer science in Guru Nanak Dev University.

Manveet Singh and Jasmeen Kaur bagged third and seventh positions, respectively, in Bachelor of Multimedia. BMM College principal Dr KN Kaul congratulated the students and appreciated their sincere efforts.

College’s department of computer science and IT head Prof Amardeep Gupta said Manveet secured 89 per cent and Jasmeen Kaur 87.2 per cent in Bachelor of Multimedia, and Jaskirat Singh secured 76 per cent, Navneet Kaur 73 per cent and Tensi Arora secured 71.3 per cent in MSc computer science.

Gupta said seminars, workshops, guest lectures and competitions were regularly organised in the department to hone the skills of students. 

Amritsar, March 5
It was an action packed day for the Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) house tax recovery team. With a list of 145 defaulters who never bothered to pay the tax, the squad led by Superintendent House Tax Department Shushant Bhatia realised over Rs 9 lakh from the defaulters on the spot and sealed those establishments which failed to pay back liabilities.

The team today officially sealed the Amrit Talkies Cinema Hall at Farid Chowk area, the proprietors of which were liable to pay around Rs 3.75 lakh. At Dhap Khatikan area, a medical store, a clinic and an office all run by a single owner were locked for defying the house tax norms.

“The owner of this property was to pay around Rs 2.75 lakh as tax. A cheque worth Rs 2.16 lakh he had issued to us some days ago was also dishonoured,” he said.

Meanwhile, the team sealed a shop located in Shakti Nagar area. The owner was to pay Rs 16,000 as tax. At Namak Mandi a tailor shop and a barber shop at Bajrang Bazaar were also sealed. They were liable to pay Rs 18,500 and Rs 15,000, respectively, as tax to the corporation. An electronic shop was sealed for being defaulter of Rs 53,000 tax. Three shops at Katra Safedan also met the same fate. The recovery team knocked at a finance company outlet at Ranjit Avenue area. The company made an on-the-spot payment of Rs 2 lakh and issued post dated cheques worth Rs 1.43 lakh. Two shops opposite to MK Hotel were sealed for defaulting tax payment of over Rs 40,000. The team sealed as many as five properties and recovered an amount close to 1 lakh from the defaulters. According to Sushant Bhatia, the tax recovery drive would be intensified in days to come. “We have a target of recovering an amount of Rs 18 crore till March 31. 

Amritsar, March 5
Within 24 hours of alleged abduction, the civil line police today rescued the 14-year-old girl and nabbed the accused in this connection.

Harjit Kaur, mother of the victim, in her complaint to the police alleged that the accused identified as Shamsher Singh aka Shera used to tease her daughter . He even threatened her saying that he would marry her forcefully.

The victim is a student of class VIII in Modern School located in Ranjit Avenue area here.

The complainant said as her daughter was too young to get married and she made this clear to the accused. The mother also said yesterday when her daughter did not return from school she was worried and looked for her.

As she could not locate her, Harjit immediately lodged a complaint with the civil line police. The police launched a manhunt after receiving a complaint of kidnapping. They today recovered the girl.

A case under Sections 363, 366-A and 506 of theIPC has been registered against the accused, said the police.