Food inspector’s body found
Amritsar, April 24
Mystery shrouds the death of a food inspector, whose body was found on the roadside near Chattekalan village, falling in Chattiwind area yesterday. The deceased has been identified as 45-year-old Varinder Singh, who was posted as Inspector at Moga and lived in Sultanwind area.

Six Pak prisoners head home
Amritsar, April 24
Six Pakistani prisoners crossed Attari-Wagah International check post today after their release from various prisons in the country. The prisoners were handed over to Pakistan rangers by the BSF officials in the presence of immigration and customs officials.

Amritsar, April 24
Failure to control bullying in a senior secondary school resulted in a 
student getting admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital 
yesterday.

The incident took place at the gate of Senior Study School after school hours yesterday. A Class XII student Tejkaran Singh and his junior Ekam Bal got involved in a brawl over some trivial issue. The incident took an ugly turn minutes later when they got physical and in the brawl, Tejkaran received bruises on his nose after being hit by Ekam Bal. The kara worn by Ekam struck Tejkaran on the nose leaving it bleeding profusely. The school authorities failed to do anything despite the fact that the incident occurred just outside the school gate, Tejkaran’s parents alleged.

Tejkaran’s father Gurmeet Singh said he rushed to the spot as soon as they came to know about the incident and took him to a hospital where he was operated upon. The doctors attending upon him said his condition is stable yet he will be kept under observation for the next 72 hours.

Meanwhile, the matter has been brought to the notice of the police and the parents of Tejkaran have filed a complaint in this regard with Sadar police post. The school director-principal Vijay Mehra, who did not know the exact cause for this brawl, said since the incident had occurred outside the school premises, the school authorities could not have intervened. He reiterated that his teachers had visited the hospital. “This unfortunate incident is a matter of concern for us, but we cannot be held responsible, as the incident did not occur inside the school gate. It was a very unfortunate incident. I was not well but I sent my staff to see the injured student," he said. “I know both the students, and they could never be so brutal. It was a matter of chance that Ekam who is a strongly built child, overpowered Tejkaran. But who was at fault, is yet to be ascertained,” he said.

Ekam's father Maheshinderjit Singh Bal, who also went to see the injured boy said the scuffle broke following provocation over a petty issue and he was there to make compromise with the aggrieved child's parents.

Amritsar, April 24
Not bound by any norms, private coaching institutes training students for medical and engineering entrance exams charge heavy fee at will. These institutes even force the students to shell out fee for the entire course despite advertising fee on a monthly basis only.

Some of these institutes charge fee as high as Rs 5,000 per month per subject. These institutes claim to prepare students for admission in leading engineering and medical institutes of the country and the state like the IITs.

A number of these institutes invest a heavy amount on advertising to lure students and their parents promising luxury infrastructure and teachers from the IITs. Many institutes have published booklets and pamphlets making exaggerated claims. One such booklet claims to prepare engineers within 30 days and doctors in 60 days on its front page. For this, it states that it has got expert faculty, who have taught at leading coaching institutes in Kota, Gujarat.

A leading educationist of the city on the condition of anonymity said there are two kinds of coaching institutes.

The first category includes institutes established by chain coaching institutes and their local centres claiming to have matched the standards of the parent institutes. These institutes have set up centres in posh areas of the city. Majority of them are located in Rani Ka Bagh and adjoining McLeod road. These institutes charge consolidated annual fee between Rs 75,000 and one lakh and the course duration is of two years running simultaneously with Class XI and XII. The second category of institutes include those which are homegrown and charge less than the established coaching centres.

Beleaguered parents have no alternative but to give in to the pressure of parents.

Amritsar, April 24
Various farmers' unions have opposed the move of the state government to shift the Central Jail to 74 acres of land at Bhallapind. Representatives of 17 farmers and labour unions today held an emergency meeting and decided to hold a protest in the premises of the Deputy Commissioner office here on Monday.

The leaders said the move will jolt the already deteriorating sugar mills as the land on which the jail is proposed to be shifted to, is under sugarcane farming for a co-operative sugar mill at Bhallapind.

They also alleged that the government is in a hurry to vacate the present jail premises only to sell it off to some metro-based builders to earn revenue. This shows lack of concern for reviving the sugarcane industry.

The state government has proposed the construction of three new modern central jails at Amritsar, Bathinda and Ferozepur, besides a district jail at Muktsar at the cost of Rs 200 crore. They expressed apprehension that the move will result in the closure of the mill putting the future of the sugarcane growers in jeopardy. Satnam Singh Ajnala, president of Jamhoori Kissan Sabha, said the government's move to acquire land forcibly for the alleged vested interests of some top brass leaders, will not be tolerated at any cost. “Establishment of the new jail at Bhallapind is not acceptable to us. It is a fertile land and is being used for sugarcane production. Rather, the government should spare a thought to revive sugar mills, if it truly wants to help the farming community. We will intensify our agitation if the government goes ahead with the move,” he said.

Amritsar, April 24
Mystery shrouds the death of a food inspector, whose body was found on the roadside near Chattekalan village, falling in Chattiwind area yesterday. The deceased has been identified as 45-year-old Varinder Singh, who was posted as Inspector at Moga and lived in Sultanwind area.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that he was poisoned to death. The exact cause of the death will be ascertained only after receiving the postmortem report, the police said. The police has started probe under Section 174.

On the other hand, the deceased's father Joginder Singh alleged that his son had been missing for past four days and died after he was made to consume some poisonous substance. "He left home on April 20 to join his office at Moga, but he never reached there. Since then, we have been looking for him. Circumstantial evidence suggests that he was poisoned to death," he said. Varinder's body was spotted by Sarpanch of Rampura village who informed the police. He was identified from the identity card in his pocket.

Amritsar, April 24
Six Pakistani prisoners crossed Attari-Wagah International check post today after their release from various prisons in the country. The prisoners were handed over to Pakistan rangers by the BSF officials in the presence of immigration and customs officials.

The prisoners included Hameed Ulha, Saieed Ahmed, Mohammad Khalid, Isfak, Tagji and Mohammad Arshad.

Talking the media persons at the check post, Saieed Ahmed said he came to India to meet his relatives in Mumbai 13 years ago. He said he was arrested as his visa had expired. Isfak had illegally entered India from Ramgarh near Jammu five years ago and was arrested by BSF jawans.

Amritsar, April 24
Gold coins were more popular than gold jewellery items on Akshay Tritiya here today.

Residents in numbers used the occasion to invest for their future.

The day of Akshaya Tritya is believed to bring good luck and success.

Jewellers also used the occasion to lure maximum number of customers.

Big jewellery houses promised free gold coins and discounts on the purchase of jewellery items.

Nationalised and private banks besides the post office also sold gold coins during the day.

The post office sold a 10-gm coin at Rs 32,239 whereas Karur Vysya Bank sold the yellow metal at Rs 31,453 per 10 gram. Officials at both offices said customers preferred to buy small gold coins.

Amit Chopra, who bought a 10-gm gold coin from the post office, said the yellow metal is a safe investment option. He said gold has provided an annual return of about 19 per cent over the past 10 years.

A jeweller, Charanjit Arora said the demand of gold jewellery definitely picked up today but it was no match to the last year's Akshay Tritiya. He said increase in the prices of yellow metal kept many a customers away from jewellery stores.

Amritsar, April 24
With shopkeepers claiming low supply of agricultural produce from farms, retail prices of vegetables in the local market have gone up by 10 to 20 per cent leaving the residents feel the pinch.

Jagat Singh, a shopkeeper, said, "These are the days when the vegetable production remains at the lowest. The production season will start in next 15 or 20 days and prices will come down."

He said local prices often fluctuate depending on the supply of vegetables from nearby farms.

Meanwhile, residents said increase in vegetable prices has affected their budgets. "Almost every vegetable has become costlier by Rs 5 to 10. Shopkeepers never decrease prices even when there is a bumper crop. Only their profits increase," said Jyoti Sood, a homemaker. She said there should be a check on the prices. Sangita, another homemaker, said, "The prices are too high. It becomes too difficult to run a family of four needs."

Importantly, when the farmers claim that their produce is not getting a desired price in markets, consumers said the prices increase every two months.

A school teacher, Pritpal Singh said, "The middlemen are fooling people. The administration should create a mechanism so that the residents can know the wholesale prices of vegetables in the local market. Only then, they will be in a position to bargain with the rehri walas."

Amritsar, April 24
Two civil society organisations have appealed to the state government to extend the term of Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa, who is scheduled to retire on April 30. Also the president of PCMS Doctors Association, Dr Randhawa joined the Amritsar office in January.

In a letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the People's Welfare Society said the tasks carried out by the Civil Surgeon in the city were praiseworthy. The situation improved a lot during the short tenure of Dr Randhawa, the society wrote.

Kanwar Pahul Singh of the society said, "During the past three and half months, the health department has gone all out against the shopkeepers selling habit-forming drugs in the city and surrounding areas. A maximum number of shopkeepers selling these drugs have been penalised." He said an officer like Dr Randhawa should be retained so that the holy city should become a drug-free zone.

Deepak Babbar of Mission Aagaaz said ultrasound centres, food joints, medical stores and hookah bars were raided during Dr Randhawa's tenure. "The city needs more officers like him to clear the mess," said Babbar adding that the state government should extend his services so that the tasks initiated by him could be completed.

Besides Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa, Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Arjun Kumar Dhawan will also retire on April 30.

Amritsar, April 24
As many as 400 men and 35 women took part in the two-day jail staff recruitment camp at Gandhi Ground.

The aspirants were made to sweat hard during the athletics events, including running, long jump and high jump.

It was 1,600-metre race for men and 800-metre race for women aspirants.

The males were made to run 1600 meters while the females were to run a distance of 800 meters.

Those who qualified the physical tests would be recommended for various jails at Kapurthala, Bathinda and Amritsar.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Satpal Joshi said, "A similar drive is being conducted at other districts. We will send the list to Bathinda from where the postings of the successful candidates would be finalised", he said.

The SSPs and Police Commissioners in districts have been made the chairman of the recruitment committee.

Around 2,200 youngsters in the district had applied for the recruitment, out of which only 700 turned up for the written test. "The drive was launched in a very fair and transparent manner. Even the list of candidates who did not turn up too has been prepared at various police stations".