‘Set your priorities to get what you want from life’
Amritsar, May 15
It’s obvious that the opening of a diet and fitness clinic calls for a beauty queen. After all, they are the perfect brand ambassadors. But Vanya Mishra is not just a beauty queen her crowning glory is her intelligence. Winner of the Miss India World 2012 crown, the Chandigarh-bred girl has her priorities in place.

Amritsar, May 15
Differences in the district Congress has come to fore over the appointment of veteran Congress leaders Darbari Lal and Jugal Kishore Sharma in the screening committee for the selection of candidates for the ensuing civic polls. A section of the district Congress leaders today gave a 72-hour ultimatum to the senior Congress leadership to intervene, or else they would join the ruling alliance.

After tasting humiliating defeat in the January Assembly elections here, a state-level campaign committee, headed by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Capt Amrinder Singh was formed. Prof Darbari Lal, former Speaker Vidhan Sabha, was made chairman of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation Screening and Campaign Committee and Jugal Kishore, president of district Congress, was included as a member.

Coming out against their appointments, several district Congress leaders, led by Amritsar Bar Association chief Pradeep Saini, who is also a Congress contender, alleged that it has always been a non-cooperative approach of both of these senior leaders in the past and that he and his supporters would not submit their candidature with the screening committee being governed by Darbari Lal and Jugal Kishore. Majority of the Congress leaders who showed solidarity with Saini, had already submitted their candidature applications with the present committee for the upcoming MC polls.

Jugal Kishore said he never needed clearance from those who have dubious character and have indulged in anti-party activities by abusing the party policies and norms. “Half of the Congress leaders like Mahesh Khanna, Surinder Chhinda, Kulbushan Duggal, who were part of this campaign, had already submitted their applications. I have been made district Congress chief twice because of my sincerity and devotion towards the party. The screening committee was formed with a balanced approach by our party high command after taking into consideration all walks of leaders, which included senior party leaders, MLAs, ex-MLAs, besides equal participation of women and youth leaders,” he said.

Terming the district Congress leadership as ‘deaf and dumb’, Saini said there was an urgent need to revamp the party structure in the district by removing those leaders who had played negative role in the past. “The district Congress leadership is defunct and we do not recognise Jugal Kishore as our district president or Darbari Lal as chairperson of screening committee. It is an open secret that both of them, who claimed to have served the party for over four decades, had performed anti-party campaign to defeat their own candidates,” said the agitating leaders.

Prof Darbari Lal said, “The one who is heading this campaign does not even belong to the Congress party. They are all puppets who are acting on behalf of another senior Congress leader. It was their most irresponsible attitude to malign the position of the Congress party by issuing irrational statements. The Congress is united here and we are all committed to truelly serve the residents,” he said.

Amritsar, May 15
The road to the Sikh shrine the Golden Temple is a dirt road. The narrow passage through the cluttered bazaars to the shrine is full of filth as garbage is piled up all along the road. Illegal encroachments by small time businessmen and vendors make the lanes even narrower. These encroachments are a major bottleneck in the movement of pedestrians.

"It is good that today we can eat pizza, fried chicken or have a sip at coffee shop in these bazaars but they are so filthy and noisy that you may not like to. The state government must make the environs around the most important tourist attraction more salubrious," says a resident.

In the middle of the road leading to the Golden Temple through Katra Ahluwalia, heaps of filth after clearing the sewage lines could be seen lying on the roads. This passage is a part of the Heritage Walk. It adds to the woes of the commuters, besides leaving a bad impression on the tourists, as already half of the streets are marred because of illegal encroachments.

Even as the MC claims to be equipped with the state-of-the-art infrastructure in the city, yet it serves little purpose for the Walled city area which constitutes 2.44 per cent of the total MC area and houses one-sixth of the total population.

Similarly, huge garbage heaps behind the langar hall and at the newly-built 'jora ghar' (shoe stall) in the direction of the Akal Takht too is littered with garbage. Neither the Municipal Corporation nor the SGPC has ever made any arrangements to get the surroundings of the shrine cleaned.

MCauthorities blame the non-cooperative attitude of thesafai karamcharis, shortage of staff or discrepancies between the private garbage collecting firm and its employees. In the process, garbage keeps piling up on the roadsides, posing danger for the health of the residents. Under the JNNURM, considerable funding is being provided to improve the conditions in the Walled City area, but that could not bring about any visible difference. The removal of garbage and cleaning of the roads is carried out in an arbitrary and unprofessional manner, say residents.

The MC had placed dustbins on way to the Golden Temple but these too have vanished. In the absence of dustbins, people throw garbage on the road. Garbage dumps at every nook and corner of the Walled city have become health hazards as they attract mosquitoes and flies. With the threat of dengue looming large, the MC must make alternative arrangements, say residents.

Even as the district administration's decongestion drive, by notifying the area as no-vehicle zone, near the Golden Temple has failed to bring desired results, yet the suggestions put forth by the residents was to streamline the chaos outside the banks in the vicinity of the Golden Temple.

“Employees of these banks should be instructed to park their vehicles in the designated parking lot of the Municipal Corporation situated at the entrance of the Hall Gate,” said Jagdish Singh, a resident.

Amritsar, May 15
It’s obvious that the opening of a diet and fitness clinic calls for a beauty queen. After all, they are the perfect brand ambassadors. But Vanya Mishra is not just a beauty queen her crowning glory is her intelligence. Winner of the Miss India World 2012 crown, the Chandigarh-bred girl has her priorities in place. “I was always focused on what I want from life, whether it was getting into one of the most prestigious engineering colleges in the country or winning Miss India,” says the pretty gal. Like most beauty pageant winners, Vanya loves all the fame and attention and she is ready to prove herself to the world. “It is more about making your country proud. But we have to understand that there are 100 countries participating, which makes it pretty competitive.” Well, we do hope she ends India’s drought at the beauty pageants. Beyond that, she remains focused on completing her education first and the glam world can wait till she is done.

She was here at the opening of Namita Jain’s ‘Diet Mantra’. We are what we eat and a healthy diet is the simplest, most effective way towards wellness. “There is nothing people won’t do to get rid of the flab, whether it is gruelling exercise routines, following weird and sometimes bizarre crash diets and even going under the knife. But with a balanced, planned and a healthy diet chart, there is no need to go for such desperate measures,” says Aditi Srivastava, director, Diet Mantra.

The diet clinic opened its branch in Amritsar and plans to launch diet programmes specific to the needs of Amritsaris. “There is a huge requirement not just to lose weight but also to manage it well. The goal is also to achieve a healthy mind, body and soul. We want people to understand the importance of diet in losing weight the ideal way,” says Aditi.

Diet Mantra will bring celebrity diet plans from celebrity nutritionist and author Namita jain who has been consultant to Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone, Suniel Shetty as well as badminton star Sania Nehwal. The plans will not just focus on weight loss, but weight management, disease management and complete wellness as well. Namita had been the official nutrition and diet partner to the Pantaloon Femina Miss India as well.

A garbage-filled street in Ward 26 in Amritsar. Photos: Vishal Kumar

Amritsar, May 15
Residents of Ward number 26 are faced with problems such as encroachments and garbage scattered in the streets. A large proportion of the area of the Ward has narrow streets which shrink further because of the encroachments on both sides.

The residents rue that garbage is not lifted sometimes for days. They say though most of the streets are well maintained but the road which acts as the boundary of Ward numbers 23, 24 and 26 needs more attention. The residents blame all councillors responsible as the road has not been repaired for a long time.

The Ward comprises Katra Baghia, Gali Kakeya Wali, Gali Bhatreya wali, Rani Di Haveli, Cheel Mandi, Mahan Singh Gate, Ekta Nagar, Chamrang Road, Ajit Nagar, Gali Mahinderpal and Chita Gumband.

The residents of Chita Gumband area say roadside rehris on both sides of the streets often leads to traffic jams. Traffic congestion is a common problem in all the areas. Footpaths here are hardly visible because of encroachments.

Another major problem is that of the electricity wires hanging like cobwebs in few areas. They rue that the electricity department has failed to fix these entangled wires. They said these wired cobwebs can result in a mishap because of short-circuit.

Garbage is a problem in Ekta Nagar and Chamrang Road areas. Even the residents need to be made aware about keeping their surroundings clean as most of the homes throw waste outside their homes.

The residents say they also face the problem of drinking water. Residents say the quality of water supplied to them is bad. “The residents here, at least 90 per cent of them cannot install submersible pumps as the area is congested. We depend on Municipal Corporation for the supply of drinking water,” said Navcharan Singh, a resident. Despite all these problems, the residents seem more or less satisfied with the local councillor as they said the area has been neglected before Rajinder Mahajan took over the reins.

What are the problems of your ward?

The problems here are growing as the population is increasing as a result of urbanisation. We have spent money on streets and sewerage. We also need a health centre in the area. There was a family planning unit at Chita Gumbad area in Rambagh, which was shut down by the health department. If the centre is brought to life again, it will do well to the residents.

Why should people vote for you?

People know me for my integrity. No body can point a finger at me. Apart from helping residents of my ward, I have been solving the problems of residents of neighbourhood wards. People will vote for development.

Amritsar, May 15
Officiating Civil Surgeon Dr Hardip Singh Ghai inaugurated a sanitation week here today. The event would conclude on May 22. Dr Ghai said the sanitation week is observed on the directions of the Punjab Health System Corporation.

He said the sanitation week would be observed four times a year. He directed all medical officers to provide necessary equipment to safai karamcharis to maintain cleanliness in hospitals.

Amritsar, May 15
industrialists have urged the officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to implement the orders of the state government which said that green category units need not take prior NOC from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) in getting power connections.

Raman Gupta, Director, Punjab Small Scale Industry Development Board, said the PPCB had amended the rules regarding this about 10 years back, but some industrialists are still harassed over these issues. He said as many as 95 types of industries under the small-scale sector were exempted from obtaining consent of the PPCB.

He said many local industrialists met PSPCL Chairman KD Chaudhary on the matter. He directed his staff that the SSI units under green category applying for new power connections will be exempted to obtain an NOC from the PPCB. The industry needs to file an affidavit with the application, he added.

Besides, he welcomed the move that the industry located outside the octroi limit will not be charged octroi in their power consumption bills and the amount paid by them in the past will be adjusted in their next bills.

Sudarshan Kumar, president, New Focal Point Industry Association, said officials should be lenient towards green category industries dealing in block making, printing, offset printing, plastic switches, bottles, sports goods. He said the small-scale industry, which is the backbone of city’s economy, needs conducive environment to flourish.

Amritsar, May 15
The Mid-day Meal Workers Union Punjab and Sanjha Mulazim Morcha, Punjab, today jointly held protests outside the offices of MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, District Education and Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan offices. The demanded minimum wages for mid-day meal workers.

Agitating workers raised slogans against the government for giving them a monthly salary of Rs 1,000.

Gurmeet Kaur Vallah, a member of the Mid-day Meal Workers Union, said besides the salary is issued for only eight months in a year.

Sanjha Mulazim Morcha general secretary Jermanjit Singh said the government has not implemented the criteria of minimum wages for the mid-day meal workers. He said in the state, teh minimum wages for unskilled youth is Rs 4,200 per month and for the semi-skilled is Rs 4,500. He sought that the workers must be classified as semi-skilled workers. Commuters on the Mall Road faced a tough time as the agitators blocked the road for about 30 minutes.