Amritsar, April 10
After a gap of two months, yet another meeting was scheduled among the police, transporters and school principals to deliberate over adopting safety standards while ferrying schoolchildren.

It is to be seen whether this meeting will make any difference or not. But the earlier meeting, held on February 14 on a similar topic, hardly bore any result.

Even as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) SP Joshi today gave a week's time to the transporters for getting their vehicles renovated as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court, it were all verbal instructions as done during the earlier meeting.

DCP Joshi had then assured that a draft pertaining to children's safety was going to be circulated among the schools and transporters, but it all ended up in a farce.

Consequently, the school buses and auto-rickshaws continue to flout traffic norms putting the schools kids' lives in danger and leaving the helpless parents with no other option but to pursue with the existing system.

Absence of first aid boxes, safety grills, fire extinguishers and adequate staff, obsolete buses and many other lapses make rides in school buses and auto-rickshaws risky. Many accidents involving school buses and auto-rickshaws had taken place in the past, but there has been no action taken by the police to prevent the same in future.

It is ironical that even the topnotch schools of the city, which charge exorbitant fees from students, care two hoots when it comes to the safety. Glaring discrepancies like absence of safety grills on the vehicles' windowpanes, rickety conditions of buses point towards their uncaring attitude.

The SC guidelines stipulate the colour of the school bus to be fluorescent yellow. But in the city even a TATA Magic, which has a soft top, has been engaged to ferry schoolchildren. The colour of this vehicle is generally white.

The SC guidelines, applicable to all parts of the country, have stipulated the speed limit to 40 km per hour for school buses. But most of the buses here don't maintain speed limits.

Amritsar, April 10
Few owners of food joints and businessmen dealing in food products have come forward to register their units or to get licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act.

So far, the health department has received only 150 applications for registration and issuance of licences under the Act. The deadline issued for filing applications was March 31.

The department received 70 applications from businessmen, dealing in sale and manufacture of food items, whose annual turnover was less than Rs 12 lakh and 80 applications from those whose annual turnover was more than Rs 12 lakh.

In absence of any records at present, the department was unsure on the exact number of such businesses which were required to approach them. But rough estimates reveal that there are around 2,500-3,000 eateries in the city. The number of grocery stores which are operating in almost of every street cannot be counted.

Dr Pardeep Singh Kahlon, District Health Officer, admitted that the response is not encouraging. "We are still entertaining applications that reach our office. The applicants are registered and issued licences as applicable." He said they have not received any further information from the state officials in this regard. As per the state guidelines, businessmen with annual turnover of less than Rs 12 lakh were required to get the units registered with the office of the District Health Officer and those with an annual turnover above Rs 12 lakh were required to obtain a licence.

The guidelines were binding on those engaged in the activities related to manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution and import of food products. The guidelines were also applicable for catering business. Further temporary stalls and karyana stores selling food products were required to register themselves.

The officials of the health department had claimed that the procedure would help keep an eye on food sellers and manufacturers.

Amritsar, April 10
Public convenience is the last thing on MC's mind.

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has failed completely to take care of the city's need as far as public toilets are concerned. The problem gets more serious in view of heavy tourists' flow in the city.

Though men manage even without toilets, it becomes extremely difficult for the women folk to urinate in the open. The MC has not built a single public toilet for women and persons with disabilities in the entire city.

This uncaring attitude of the MC was revealed after PS Bhatti, president of local NGO named Pollution Control Committee, filed an application under the RTI Act.

The MC, in its reply, itself admitted that this essential service is missing even in the hugely frequented shopping markets or densely populated residential areas.

Out of a total of 65 wards, which fall within the MC's limits, 43 wards don't have public toilets. These wards are No 1 to 19, 25, 27 to 36, 38, 39, 43, 44, 50, 57, 59, 60 and 61 to 65.

Though MC officials argued that Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, an NGO, has been engaged for the purpose of providing toilet facility at key locations of the holy city, a random round of these sites revealed that most of these toilets were either found to be locked or were still under construction.

Bhatti said the "provision for public toilets or urinals" was there in the site drawings of the wards, but the MC could never make these a reality. "For example, there was provision of constructing seven toilets at Truck Stand on the GT Road, but only two could be constructed. The ones provided by Sulabh are paid services. What does MC provide to its tax-paying residents," questioned Bhatti.

AMC Health Officer Dr Yogesh Arora admitted that public toilets in most of the wards were not feasible due to old topography of the city or due to interference by the Archeological Survey of India.

"At least 12 wards, I remember, does not have any spot where public toilets could be constructed. Still, we are committed to provide sanitary services to the public and in this direction we have entered into an agreement with Sulabh wherein the site would be provided by the MC and the funds would be provided by the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Board. At present, there are as many as 15 public toilets at different locations in the city which include bus stand, Dharam Singh Market and Longadevi Mandir, both located near the Golden Temple. Similarly, more toilets would be there at a spot near the most crowded Crystal Chowk", he said.

"The one near the Company Bagh or Madan Mohan Mallviya road could not be constructed because the ASI objected to the proposal", he added.

MC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta showed concern when apprised about the Sulabh public toilets which were found to be locked. These were allegedly used by unknown persons as storerooms.

"We are yet to find out who have locked these public toilets. Nevertheless, the situation is not so grim. Adequate arrangements will be made for both the sexes at most-visited spots of the city."

Amritsar, April 10
Amritsar is a city of contrasts. Authorities dole out lakhs to install decorative lights in the name of beautifying the city, but traffic lights are often without power. It is a clear compromise on road safety.

The police department holds the MC responsible for fixing the lights. The result is chaos on major city roads and it is lives of residents at risk here.

For example traffic lights at Sant Singh Sukha Singh Chowk, popularly known as the 4-S Chowk, the main intersection leading to Majitha, Batala and GT Road have been out of order for the past six months. Police Commissioner RP Mittal crosses this chowk everyday to go to work and back.

ACP (Traffic) Karamjit Singh said I have been pursuing this matter with the MC over the past more than six months, but in vain. “But I can assure you that despite having shortage of staff, we make it a point that prominent intersections are never left unmanned. I myself regulate the traffic at 4-S Chowk sometimes,” he claimed.

At 2.45 pm today, however, the 4-S Chowk had no cop to regulate the traffic. 'Might is right' was the norm here. Sources said the contract to maintain the traffic lights expired more than six months ago and the new contract could not be executed as some formalities need to be taken care of. Secondly, the MC does not have the manpower or the technically skilled staff to handle the non-functional traffic lights in the city, sources said.

Officiating executive engineer of the MC Manjeet Pal Singh Bedi agreed about the findings and said the 'controller' which regulates the traffic lights has developed a snag which can only be rectified by a technical hand from Chandigarh. “I am in touch with the Chandigarh based firm, which will send its team soon. These lights were installed by Rohan and Rajdeep Company, three years back and it was their responsibility to maintain them for three years free of charge. Their contract expired few months back and the tendering procedure to hire another firm is on. I also held a meeting with the police department. I can assure that these lights will be repaired in a day or two," Bedi claimed.

Satnam Singh, a banker said, "You can see traffic policemen collecting fines for breaking traffic rules, but you seldom see any policeman manning the signal and directing traffic at busiest chowks like 4S."

Jagdish Aggarwal, another resident, traffic needs to monitored at Mahan Singh Gate Chowk, Novelty Chowk and Maqboolpura Chowk, where the traffic lights have been out of order for last couple of months. Mahan Singh Gate is another busy chowk as buses enter the bus stand from here. Traffic chaos is the order of the day here while the fear of road mishaps also looms large.

Amritsar, April 10
Rajesh Kumari, a resident of GNDU complex, complained that two gas cylinders, a mobile phone, a gold chain and a diamond set were stolen from her house while she was away yesterday. She told the police that at 1.15 pm she came back to find her house burgled. A case under Section 279/337/338 IPC has been registered.

Amritsar, April 10
The All-India Terrorist Victim Association has urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to form a separate cell to address grievances of victims’ families.

In a meeting of its office-bearers here on Monday, the association, headed by Dr BR Hastir, said the families had to make rounds of DC or SDM offices for their monthly pension and other issues.

“A large number of families face a lot of difficulties in getting their pension. Some have not got their pension for four months,” said Dr Hastir.

“A lot of time is wasted in making rounds of Deputy Commissioner and SDM offices to clear official formalities and bureaucratic hurdles. There are about 50,000 families in Punjab and there are many who are waiting for the clearance of their cases,” he said.

He said senior bureaucratic officials hardly find time for their cases. “Formation of a separate cell exclusively to deal with such cases would help resolve our problems,” he said.

Amritsar, April 10
Prof Ashwani Kumar Thukral, Professor of Botanical and Environmental Sciences and the Director of Research of the Guru Nanak Dev University has been awarded the prestigious Professor Pran Nath Mehra Memorial Senior Scientist Award for research in environmental biology.

Prof VK Jain, VC, Doon University, Uttarakhand, and Dr Rajneesh Arora, VC, PTU, Jalandhar, presented him with the award during the recently held Punjab Science Congress at GNDU. —TNS

Amritsar, April 10
Deputy Commissioner will hold a meeting of the district task force for control of Polio at Circuit House today. The arrangements for the National Immunization Days from April 15 to 17 will be reviewed at the meeting.

The third round of the polio immunisation drive will be conducted at all the rural and urban localities simultaneously.

The district health department had earlier held two rounds; one for the general areas and one for the slums and industrial establishments in February.

Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa said representatives of the education department and Rotary Club will also attend the meeting.

He said the health department will seek participation of all the organisations and departments for the success of the drive.

Amritsar, April 10
City-based food Inspector in the department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Dr Gagandeep Singh, has been invited by FOOMA JAPAN 2012 for the second time consecutively to take part and present his research findings at the four-day International Food Exhibition to be held in Tokyo, Japan, from June 5.

He is among the 70 participants invited from all over the world. He will present his research paper on the properties of flour from non-conventional sources and its implications on food products. As many as 14 of his research papers have been published in international and national journals. —TNS