Amritsar, May 7
Development of Ward number 39 could not match the speed with which its councillor Inderbir Singh Bolaria went on to become MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary in a short span of time.

residents speak

The ward was left without a representative when its councillor Bolaria got elevated as MLA in 2008. Bolaria has been looking after its development and growth as the ward falls in the Amritsar South Assembly constituency from where he has been elected twice.

The ward has Gujjarpura road, Malliyan Da Mohalla, Lal Quarters, Antaryami Colony, New Antaryam Colony, Gujjarpura Road, Guru Nanak Colony, parts of Tarn Taran road, Jwala Ji Nagar, Habibnpura, Kot Harnam Das, Ram Singh Colony, Sant Channan Singh Colony, Kot Karnail Singh, Kot Mahna Singh, Nagar Nigam Singh Colony, Baba Budha Ji Avenue, Baba Deep Singh Avenue, Guru Amar Das Nagar and others.

Potholed roads, irregular garbage picking, missing of garbage containers, lack of quality educational institutes, high rate of drug addiction and parking of impounded cars on the road by the police are causing troubles to people.

Labourers, daily wagers and small time traders form a majority of residents here. Basic amenities like potable water, streetlights, garbage lifting, repair of roads, quality education institutes are needed to enable the area to match pace with the rest of the city. Inability of the successive governments to provide the basic amenities and career options for the residents to increase their per capita income has left the area lagging in development. No government or private institution came up in the southern part of the city.

Amritsar, May 7
A soulful recital by internationally acclaimed violinist Ustad Johar Ali Khan at Springdales Senior Secondary School here on Monday afternoon left students and school staff spellbound.

Violinist Johar Ali Khan performs at Springdales Senior Secondary School in Amritsar on Monday. A tribune photograph

The event was organised under the aegis of the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY).

The music coming out of the masterful presenter was inspirational. “I am happy to have performed for such a youthful audience. They are the future of our music,” said the maestro, who not only performed, but also interacted with students after the show.

For someone who has grown up feeding on the raags and taans, with late Ustad Gohar Ali Khan for a father and grandfather, the exponents of Patiala Gharana, the illustrious Ustad Ali Baksh, acclaim, accolades and awards do not come as a surprise. What does, rather, is the fact that classical music finds the same respect all across the world, even with its modern innovations and fusions. “Music is never old or new, its fundamentals remain the same all over. It’s the approach towards these very basics that change the genres.”

His specialisation in systematic elaboration of raag, melodies and innovations in presenting taan that has won him a reputation of a global musician. He has formed a band called Sargam that aims at a fusion of modern and traditional musical instruments with light classical renditions, Bollywood, popular jazz, Punjabi and Hindi songs and has found instant success with it.

His performances at various music festivals and platforms world over have been instrumental behind coming up with the idea of a fusion band.

“I have represented the country in Helsinki Music festival, performed in Africa, Europe, Indo-West Fusion Concerts, Trans Musical Festival, France, with international artistes of repute. They appreciate our music and want to work with us in creating innovative and thematic music,” he says. His performance at Springdales, though, lasted for an hour and was dedicated in the memory of late Dr Shivinder Singh Sandhu and Manveen Sandhu. Ustad Johar Ali Khan was accompanied by Idris Khan on tabla.

Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Principal, said, “Ustad Johar Ali Khan has performed in over 400 recitals in Delhi alone, besides music festivals held at different places across the country. It’s overwhelming to have an artiste of his calibre performing at our school. It will be a great experience for students and staff both. Besides, such events are the best way of keeping our youth well-rooted in and aware of our rich musical traditions,” he said.

Amritsar, May 7
Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai, Deputy Medical Commissioner-cum-officiating Civil Surgeon, has sent a communication to the managements of all educational instituions in the district to maintain hygiene in their canteens. The managements have also been told to issue guidelines in this regard and ensure that the canteens are registered under the Food Safety and Standard Act.

In a communiqué sent to all the educational institutes he said it was often observed during checking that the canteens running in the premises of these institutions had been unhygienic and filthy.

The canteen owners hardly bother about providing clean environment there.

The places were sometimes full of mosquitoes, flies and insects and health teams found the employees of the canteens serving the food with dirty hands, said Ghai. Ghai said all the school managements should get the medical examination of canteen employees conducted every year. He also instructed them not to serve junk food in the school or college canteens besides providing clean drinking water. He said the health department will soon form teams to check the school and college canteens and if any institute was found violating the norms strict action will be taken.

Amritsar, May 7
The row between Amritsar Municipal Corporation and Antony Waste Handling Company is now taking its toll on the cleanliness operations in the city. The garbage firm shut its operations on the third consecutive day for nonpayment of their dues by the AMC. As a result garbage trolleys and mounds of refuse scattered in various parts of the city.

On the other hand, the AMC claimed to have deputes its extra staff to pick the garbage and talks are on with officials of the private to resume the operations. Nonetheless, with no breakthrough in sight, it indicates that the situation may prevail for a few more days.

It is estimated that over 1,500 tonnes of garbage is lying on the various localities of the city going by their average daily pick of 280-300 tonnes of refuse.

Garbage is either lying scattered on the roadsides or the refuse is being set on fire in the garbage bins.

Garbage trolleys lying at Lawrence Road, Batala Road, Queens Road, Customs Chowk, Majitha Road have become breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. These are the spots most frequented by tourists.

The filth scattered in various parts of the city has put residents to great inconvenience. “The authorities should immediately break the impasse between them and the garbage collecting firm, otherwise it will become very difficult to breath here especially for those whose houses are situated near these garbage dumps,” said Jagdish Singh, a resident. 

Amritsar, May 7
The Civil Lines police has arrested a notorious snatcher who was wanted in a number of snatching incidents. The accused has been identified as Jasmeet Singh, a resident of Preet Vihar, Ajnala road. The police has also recovered a purse, a mobile phone and 100 gram of narcotic powder from his possession.

Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, SHO Civil Lines police said the accused had snatched a USA resident Sushma Jandial on April 8 when she was going on a cycle rickshaw at Maqbool road.

“During investigations he revealed that Jasmeet was accompanied by Jaspal Singh Bhatti of Rani Ka Bagh when they snatched the purse from the US resident,” said Randhawa.

Jaspal was arrested earlier in a snatching case and was in jail. The police has slapped charges under the NDPS Act against Jasmeet, he added.

Jasmeet had confessed that he along with Jaspal had snatched two mobile phones from outside Guru Nanak Dev University and the Circuit House. He was recently released on bail in connection with the looting case.

Meanwhile, in another case the police has arrested Karam Masih alias Chiri of Yasin Raod near Aanam Cinema for allegedly stealing shoes worth Rs 30,000 from a showroom located on Madan Mohan Malviya Road on the intervening night of May 4 and 5. The police has recovered the stolen material from the possession of the accused.

Amritsar, May 7
After remaining stalled for more than six months, the project of construction of a conference hall at Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital has got the nod from the state health authorities.

Though 80 per cent of the work on the project was already complete, the project could not be completed for want of permission from the higher authorities.

With the construction stalled, the district health department did not have a place of its own to conduct various meetings. In a recent incident, the hospital management too had to use its reception area to address patients before the inauguration of a camp.

The department often rented a private hall for holding such meetings which involved presence of doctors and staff from other areas. The insiders in the department said seven meetings are usually held every month at rented halls.

As the project was stalled, the hospital management approached the higher authorities on several occasions, but the construction was delayed.

Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon, Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, said the work of the conference room would be completed soon. “Only few works such as installation of furniture and sound system remain. The conference hall could also be used by the district health department for its meetings and reviews,” said Dhillon.

Amritsar, May 7
With the retirement of its two top most officials on April 30, the district health department is managing without a permanent head for the past one week. Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa and Assistant Civil Surgeon retired last month.

Though Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai is officiating as head of the department, employees have demanded that permanent appointment on these posts should be made at the earliest to run the administration in a better way. Rakesh Kumar, chairman, Civil Hospital Employees’ Welfare Committee, said Dr Ghai should be appointed permanently to the post.

Employees expressed that non-appointment of officials on a permanent basis reflects badly on the state government.

An employee said, “The department has so many eligible and deserving candidates for the posts. The appointment should be made at the earliest.” Meanwhile, the sources in the department said the aspirants for the posts are busy testing the political water. — TNS

Amritsar, May 7
The city is dancing to the tune of ‘balle balle’ on the rhythm of belly dancing. The weekend in Amritsar turned mystical with the brilliant moves of Egyptian belly dancers who had Amritsaris match their energy, at least through applause. Best Western Merrion’s Arabian Nights over the weekend brought some fun to the evening.

The two night event had everything from the desert, from the live entertainment provided by professional dancers to a lavish spread of cuisine complementing the mood of the party. The event had couples enjoying and even trying some moves thanks to some peppy music.

The event focused on Arabic themes with its ambiance as well. The candle-lit dim lights gave an aura of mysticism complemented by the Egyptian dancers. “People in the city usually consider belly dancing as obscene, but it is an Arabic cultural dance that has nothing objectionable about it. We only wanted to bring the cultural dance to our guests in the city," he said. “In Amritsar, there is hardly any night life. We had planned the event to create some excitement in the city and do something different," said Arjun Singh, owner of the hotel.