Freed by Pakistan, two reunite with families
Amritsar, June 17
Indian prisoners who were repatriated from Pakistan a couple of days ago had an emotional reunion with their families today.

Amritsar, June 17
Tragedy struck as five persons were killed while another was critically injured in two road accidents.

Four persons when killed when a speeding MUV hit a motorcycle (PB-06-8375) near Khabbe Rajputa village in Mehta under Amritsar rural police district near here late last evening.

A speeding Qualis (PB-10-DC-8273) collided with a Eucalyptus tree on the roadside killing two of its occupants after hitting a motorcycle-borne youth, killing him on the spot.

Occupants of the MUV Gurdeep Singh and Ravinder Singh of Mand were killed on the spot as the driver of the four-wheeler Harjinder Singh hit a motorcycle and lost control over the vehicle and hit a roadside Eucalyptus tree. The driver of the motorcycle Dilbagh Singh, a resident of Dadhewali village died on the spot. Dilbagh and his father Avtar Singh were returning to their native village at the time of the accident.

Dilbagh’s father Avtar Singh told the police that the speeding four-wheeler was coming from the opposite direction and hit the motorcycle driven by his son. The impact of the collision was so strong that the motorcycle jumped in the air and fell several metres away from the accident spot. Dilbagh died on the spot.

The driver of the MUV Harjinder Singh and another occupant Shinda Singh were rushed to a private hospital in Uthia village after hiring a private vehicle. Harjinder succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Shinda Singh who suffered head injuries is out of danger, the doctors at the hospital said.

The four occupants of the Qualis were on their way to the hospital for Shinda’s treatment. Eyewitnesses said the MUV was coming at a very high speed and lost control after hitting the motorcycle.

The investigating officer, Gurnam Singh, said a case under Section 304-A, 427 IPC has been registered against Harjinder Singh in this connection.

In another mishap on the Mall Road in the city, an unidentified person was crushed to death by a speeding SUV of Mohindra Xylo-make bearing number PB-01-9289. The accused fled with the vehicle. The incident occurred near Muni Lal Chopra Hospital on Mall Road. The victim was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The investigating officer Parveen Kumar said the deceased is yet to be identified. A case under Section 304-A, 279 IPC has been registered against unidentified accused on the basis of the statement of an eyewitness Surinder Singh of Shastri Nagar, Majitha Road.

• Occupants of an MUV Gurdeep Singh and Ravinder Singh of Mand died on the spot.

• The driver of an SUV Harjinder Singh succumbed to his injuries in a private hospital.
• A motorcycle-borne youth Dilbagh Singh was also killed on the spot after being hit by the rashly driven MUV.
• In another mishap on the Mall Road in the city, an unidentified person was crushed to death by a speeding SUV.

Amritsar, June 17
The Government Medical College authorities have woken up towards the need to renovate hostels located in the more than half a century-old college.

A proposal in this regard has been forwarded to the government and work would be started after getting the final nod.

The college authorities have formed a committee headed by hostel superintendent Dr RS Sidhu to give his suggestions.

College principal Dr SS Shergill said, “We are very serious about this as we received numerous complaints regarding the problems being faced by the students. “As soon as we get an approval from the government, we would start renovation work," said Dr Shergill. The major problem faced by the students here is of safe drinking water. The RO systems here have been lying defunct for past many months while some water coolers are also not working properly, said a student."The students do not have any recreational activity in the hostel's common room while the guest room is also in a bad shape,” said a student.

The bathrooms on the ground floor of the hostels are also in a dilapidated condition due to water seepage in the hostel walls, said another student. The broken balconies of the rooms in the hostel, without any iron grills, are an open invitation for mishaps. Upset with the prevailing conditions, the students say the authorities never pay heed to their woes.

“As part of the plan, we aim to install new RO systems, water coolers, repair broken doors and windows besides maintaining a common room as well as a guest room,” Shergill said.

Amritsar, June 17
Residents of areas near Khanna Paper Mill have come back to find traces of devastation on their houses. They were evacuated and sent to safer places as fire raged in the stockyard of the paper mill for 75 hours.

The damage to the nearby houses, however, seems to be no ones concern. Besides the melted overhead water tanks and cots and other luggage on the rooftops which got burnt, the houses have also suffered serious damage such as cracks appearing on the walls as well as damaged plaster.

The residents of Baba Deep Singh locality who had moved to safer places as a precautionary measure have come back to their houses after over four days, but only to find the damaged walls, melted water storage tanks and cane beds placed on the rooftops.

Showing the cracks on the walls of his house, Charanjit Singh said the plaster of the walls on the inner surface has been damaged due to the fire.

“God was kind that the direction of the wind was opposite to my house and thus the fire did not engulf my house completely. Yet the extreme hot temperature for over 60 hours right next to the wall has resulted in the plaster getting cracked at several points,” he said.

The residents also rue that the plastic water tanks fixed atop their houses too have melted due to heat.

Another resident said even as the government officials had assured them of compensation but even after three days, no one has enquired about their problems and loss.

“Everyone is talking about the multi-crore damage to the mill owners knowing that the mill management can claim the loss from insurance companies but what about the loss we have suffered," questioned Mohan Singh, another resident.

Though the house of Yogeshwar Sharma, a carpenter by profession, was little away from the site, but he too complained of damage to the walls of his house.

“I had even hosted the firemen and other officials who were here at odd hours to extinguish the fire. They also rested in my room but now everyone has left,” he said.

The district administration had deputed various administrative and police officials to keep an eye on the nearby areas, sources said.

Amritsar, June 17
The Punjab Heritage Tourism Promotion Board (PHTPB) is contemplating to form a new policy for the hospitality sector in consultation with industry.

Sources in the board said the policy may take shape of an act within a year. Its need has arisen as obsolete Serai Act, 1867, Municipal Corporation bylaws and numerous other departments regulate the opening and functioning of the hotels in the state.

The hospitality industry has seen a tremendous increase in the holy city following the surge in arrival of tourists. A number of hotels have come up in the walled city in general and around the Golden Temple in particular. The Municipal Corporation had recently acted against some hotels in the periphery of the Golden Temple under the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The move frightened hotels and lodges in the walled city as over 100 of them were functioning even in narrow and congested lanes.

The new policy is also required in the light of the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism. The statistics reveal during 2010, the number of domestic tourists was 1.05 crore and the number of foreign tourists was 1.37 lakh in the state.

During 2011, the number of domestic tourists was 1.64 crore and foreign tourists visiting the state were 1.50 lakh. There was 55 per cent increase in the domestic tourists and 10 per cent in the foreign tourists in 2011 as compared to 2010. Majority of these tourists in Punjab visit the city of the Golden Temple.

As per the 2009 industrial policy, "The hotel projects as defined by the Department of Tourism will be given the status of industry in non-designated areas and will be entitled to concessions as admissible to the industry." However, the department failed to elaborate the term "non-designated areas" leaving the sector without any benefit.

Hoteliers said the hospitality sector, instead of given incentives, is burdened with a slew of taxes by the Municipal Corporation, State and Central governments.

Now, it is learnt that the PHTPB in order to clear all these doubts will forward the policy proposals to the government.

It envisages relaxation of the building bylaws for new hotels on a case-by-case basis and modification of CLU on the line of Industrial Policy 2009.

Geetika Kalha, Principal Secretary, Tourism Department, said formation of the draft for the policy was at an initial stage and it would be forwarded to the government once it was discussed with the people of the industry.

She said the policy would be like a guideline and it would be much more flexible. She did not rule out its elevation to an act in the time to come.

Amritsar, June 17
Benu Kalra and Kanika Kochhar from BBK DAV College for Women made their institution proud by bagging first and second positions in BSc (Economics)-III exams in Guru Nanak Dev University. Benu got 1,823 marks out of 2,400 while Kanika Kochhar attained 1,814 marks. Another student Japleen Kaur got 9th position in the university.

Meanwhile, Gurpreet Kaur Virdi of BA-III stood 5th in the university by obtaining 1,825 marks out of 2400. Rabia Bery and Tarni Khurana both shared ninth position in the university by obtaining 1,802 marks each.

Principal Dr Neelam Kamra said the college bagged 18 merit positions in the university and overall result stood at 100 per cent. As many as 203 students out of 215 got first division.

Ward 47
Name: Manju Mehra Pappal
Party: BJP

My top priority will be to provide adequate water supply to every locality. My ward is facing acute shortage of water as tubewells here have outlived their age and their capacity to draw water has deteriorated. But it is a temporary problem and will be rectified soon. During the last tenure, my husband who was the councillor from the ward, he got installed two new tubewells. But these could not be made operationalised as model code of conduct came into force. These tubewells require just the electricity connection. My job will now be to sanction power connection for these tubewells. Secondly, in the absence of lids, garbage is spilled out of the bins by stray animals. I will pursue the matter with the authorities concerned to alter the designing of the garbage bins.

Ward 50
Name: Bakshi Ram Arora
Party: BJP

Prominent problems faced by residents of my ward are the outdated sewerage system, irregular garbage lifting and stray animals. The sewerage system will be revamped under the JAICA project. I will also make sure that de-silting of sewage passage is done on regular intervals. The private firm that has been engaged to lift garbage is not performing its duties properly. It is also true that a permanent solution of garbage lifting cannot be streamlined until and unless the solid waste management plant comes up. Another problem of stray dogs needs immediate attention. I know that the MC is not fully equipped to address this problem, but I will raise the issue in the House to find a solution.

Ward 61
Name: Dr Anoop Kumar
Party: BJP

The domestic electricity supply network and road infrastructure are in a poor state in my ward. Since the population has increased manifold in the last five years, the electricity load has increased proportionately, but the electricity transformers were of same old capacity. That’s why power tripping is the order of the day in my ward. In the absence of electricity poles, wires have been tied to the trees. This may become a reason for disruption of the electricity supply especially during windy weather conditions. Interior roads in my ward are full of pits and cracks. My immediate concern will be to get new transformers and make efforts for re-carpeting of roads in my ward.