PCS exam: City girl is ranked 10th
Amritsar, June 16
Avneet Kaur from the city has bagged the tenth rank in the PCS examinations. A science teacher at Government Middle School, she did her M.Sc (Zoology) from GND University and has a B.Ed degree as well.

Amritsar, June 16
The Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) has constructed flats under Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) inside Leisure Valley-cum-Rose Garden, famously known as Challih Khuh. The move has irked the residents especially those living near the park.

Spread over an area of 40 acres, the Leisure Valley-cum-Rose Garden is considered the second green lung of the city after the historic Ram Bagh gardens. The garden offers a whiff of fresh air from the long-winding streets of the sub-urban areas around Joda Phatak.

A social activist and a resident of the area Harpinder Singh said the authorities have blatantly violated the construction by-laws by constructing dwellings in the park. He said many residents of the localities around the park like Golden Avenue, New Golden Avenue and others come here for a morning walk.

He said the building is being raised at the rear portion of the park where saplings are planted and the area comes under the boundary wall. He rued that the corporation instead of augmenting the area under the green cover was raising dwellings on it.

Saplings for ‘Go Green Go Clean’ campaign were also kept in the park as a nursery is functional here, he added. Otherwise, he said, the park has been treated shabbily and is unattended. He said the reason may be sub-urban and slum localities near it. Nobody dares enter the park after sunset fearing criminals. A large number of wells out of a total of 40 are uncovered and have often been used for anti-social activities. At many places, iron bars, grills and bricks of the boundary wall have been stolen. He demanded regular police patrolling here and that the dog menace be curbed.

AMC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta said the project was implemented before he joined the office. He said, “More area under green cover would be given to compensate if the flats were raised in the park.”

The BSUP, a project under the JNNURM, the AMC is constructing 320 flats in three buildings. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has given Rs 2.88 crroe, the state government has sanctioned Rs 2.33 crore and the MCA Rs 2.94 crore for the project.

Amritsar, June 16
After more than 75 hours, fire fighters doused the devastating fire that had engulfed Khanna Paper Mill four days ago. Suneet Kochhar, the director of Khanna Paper Mill, said the situation is totally under control. He said the administration has also permitted them to restore their power plant. The fire fighting machinery, which the fire fighting teams had outsourced from the neighbouring districts, has been retrieved in a phased manner. As a precautionary measure, the district administration has deputed two teams in the affected area for at least one week.

Sub fire officer, Town Hall, Amritsar, Tarlochan Singh, said 26 fire control vehicles have been sent back. “The fire has been extinguished completely in the areas that posed maximum threat. The situation is almost entirely under our control now and the local teams would oversee the situation now. The outstation fire teams were told to go back to their native places, he said.

The TFF fire fighting tenders of the Army and two crash fire tenders arranged from the Airport Fire Service have also been sent back.

Singh said a round-the-clock vigil will be maintained in the stock yard as a preventive measure. “Our men would continue to sprinkle water in different locations within the yard, may be for a week more, to completely wind up the fire-fighting operation,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal expressed his gratitude towards the courage shown by different

fire fighting teams arrived from neighbouring districts, including the Army jawans and the Airport fire fighting squad. “It is a result of joint efforts. I appreciate the courage shown by the firemen despite being equipped with scant fire-fighting equipment.

Airport’s high-tech fire control vehicles played a crucial role in bringing the fire under control because it was due to these vehicles only that two of the most sensitive points-the giant 14,000-litre diesel storage tank and the sulphur tank- could be saved from the blaze. This high-magnitude incident has compelled me to approach the government to equip us with efficient fire-fighting machinery,” he said.

Amritsar, June 16
The doctors under the banner of PCMS Association along with other paramedical and the staff nurse associations held a dharna at the Civil Hospital here today.

They held a protest against the alleged police inaction in arresting the accused who had misbehaved with their colleague Dr Simrat Gill posted at Skatari Bagh Satellite Hospital, a few days ago.

They also took out a protest march holding black flags from the Civil Hospital to Bhandari Bridge.

The PCMS Association president Dr Jaspreet said it has been a week since the FIR was lodged at 'C' Division Police Station here but the accused are yet to be arrested. She said several memorandums were submitted and meetings were held with the district administration in this regard but to no avail.

She said the entire staff of the hospital will take part in the pulse polio programme in view of public interest.

Dr Harpartap Singh, Dr Madan Mohan, Dr Sahibjit, Dr Gurpartap Singh, Dr Jaswinder Kaur, Dr Arun Sharma, Dr Bharti, Dr Rupinder Kaur and others took part in the protest.

Amritsar, June 16
The head of the Department of Chemistry, BBK DAV College for Women, Dr Poonam Khullar Bhandari, has been awarded Rs 18.20 lakh financial assistance by the Department of Science and Technology for the research project ‘Synthesis of silica oxide photonic crystals by using gemini surfactants as self assembled templates’.

Dr Bhandari has completed two major research projects funded by the University Grants Commission and CSIR. In these projects, she has published six research papers in various Journals of American Chemical Society.

Earlier, Dr Poonam also won the best teacher award in September 2011 given by the Chemical Research Society of India, Bangalore, and Best Research paper by NATCOSEMB in 2009.

She said a state-of the art nanotechnology lab at the college helped carry out her research.

She credited her success to hard work.

Amritsar, June 15
In the aftermath of the devastating fire that broke out at Khanna Paper mill has come as a wake up call for local industrialists. They have demanded fool-proof fire fighting system.

Even as the holy city has 10 big and small industrial clusters, including two focal points, an industrial area and an industrial estate, while the remaining are unorganised industrial sectors in various parts of the city. However, it seems that the government has no specific plan for the industry, says Kamal Dalmia of the Focal Point Industry Association.

He said a plot in the Focal Point was kept reserved to set up a fire station but the municipal corporation has failed to acquire it even after 30 years.

He said apart from the government, wealthy businessmen must also come forward to donate money to strengthen the fire fighting system.

The SAD-BJP government proposes to set up three more major industrial pockets in its master plan.

Apart from the designated industrial areas mentioned above, work to set up a handicraft cluster at Mandyala village on Amritsar Chabal Road, is under progress.

Another industrialist, Raman Gupta said with high-rise buildings and trade activities likely to pick up with trade through the Integrated Check Post, the city needs sophisticated and swift disaster management plan.

Disaster Management expert Surjit Sharma said the city has to prepare to meet any kind of eventuality arising out of any natural or man-made disaster in advance.