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6 more months to start City bus service
Citizens' interests suffer with early MC elections
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Medical council told to cancel registration of ultrasound centre
SpiceJet’s Amritsar-Delhi flight from today
Doctors attend a function to observe World Population Day at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
All's not well at welfare training school
No respite from traffic jams, encroachments
Higher Education Bill
Gurdas Singh Sekhon is district president of PCCTU
GNDU textile students excel in training
Traffic rules
Submit UID details within 15 days: Govt
Gold chain snatched
Lakshmi Kanta appointed as PLSA member
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6 more months to start City bus service
Amritsar, July 11 The ambitious project has been hanging fire since four years. After defying three deadlines, this project had occupied a prominent place on the agenda of the SAD-BJP manifesto for Assembly elections, too. Nevertheless, an official press release issued by the Amritsar’s Public Relations Department yesterday on behalf of the government specifically stated that the city buses will run on Amritsar roads just on the lines of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and
Bhatinda soon. AMC commissioner Dharampal Gupta, who is also one of the directors of the board constituted jointly for the four districts, had little inkling about this announcement. “On whose behalf the press release was issued? Even the tendering process exercise has yet to be executed fully,” he said. Dharampal could not commit on the exact date of launching this service, but assured that the shortcomings would be redressed on a priority. “I can assure this much only that the tendering procedure for the project is being held swiftly and a meeting to this effect was held in Chandigarh today only. I guess it will take at least six months or can be more because after the tendering formalities, bus manufacturing is a time-consuming job”, he said. Earlier in 2009, the city bus project got stuck due to the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict over restricting to the LPG or CNG driven vehicles, while discouraging the diesel-driven ones.
Later, some relaxation was granted after the plea of the non-feasibility of CNG and LPG filling stations here, but the project could not fructify. Thereafter, some problems in the tendering process led to its delay. In 2010, a grant of about Rs 83 crore from the Ministry of Urban Development under the JNNURM had already been received by the AMC for introducing low-floor city bus
service on nominal rates, but till date neither it could arrange buses nor built sufficient supporting infrastructure like bus shelters, proper bus stand and operating points, etc. It has been learnt that the AMC had invited a bid for 150 pre-fabricated 40-seat buses, which saw only two bidders. The norm demanded that there has to be at least three bidders if any government-oriented scheme is to get through. This lapse could not be detected beforehand and the project remained piled up in papers on an “as is where is” basis. “There has to be more than two bidders. So, we can not proceed due to this technical flaw. Now, retendering will be done and it is being done at a fast pace,” added the Commissioner.
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Citizens' interests suffer with early MC elections
Amritsar, July 11 While the new councillors say they have not yet taken over the charge, the ex-councillors are indifferent towards residents' grievances. Technically, the term of this Amritsar Municipal Corporation house is valid till September 6. Till then, the old councillors as well as the Mayor would continue to be in their respective positions. Also, the MC Constitution speaks for further 30-day grace period for the formation of a new house and appointment of a new Mayor, senior deputy mayor and the deputy mayor. The political pundits say that it was just to maintain the tempo of people's favourable mandate during the Assembly elections, that the SAD-BJP alliance made the MC elections held much in advance, unlike earlier, when the elections were conducted in the month of August. This move might have proved to be a trump card for the SAD-BJP alliance, but it has hit the interests of the common citizens. In Amritsar, out of 65 wards, 54 wards would see fresh faces. Except for those councillors, who have been repeating their term, there is no one who could expedite the development works in their areas. At present, the residents are facing acute problems. Prominent among these are: inadequate water supply, unsafe drinking water, dilapidated sewerage and road network. The water supply network still could not reach around 25 per cent houses here. Even 8.5 lakh residents, who have piped water supply in their houses, get 50 litres water that is below the national recommendation scale. The shortage of water has occurred because of outdated tubewells which require immediate replacement. The proposals for installing tubewells were already sanctioned but it could not be executed as the old councillors take seldom interest while the newly elected ones have no power.
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Medical council told to cancel registration of ultrasound centre
Amritsar, July 11 Officiating civil surgeon Hardeep Singh Ghai said the decision was taken to send across a firm message to all private radiologist centres to keep away from sex determination tests. There are about 118 radiologist centres equipped with ultrasound and X-ray machines in the city. Many of these ultrasound centres have installed ultrasound machines worth Rs 80 lakh. He said it was a firm move to stop the practice of female foeticide. When asked why did your department allow the centre to be opened at the first place after it was found violating the norm, Dr Ghai said the decision was taken prior to his joining the office on May 1. He said as far as his office was concerned, he could say that the centre was allowed to re-open on compassionate grounds. Now, he said keeping in view the recurrence of the violation, his department would write to the PMC to terminate the registration of Sigma Ultrasound Centre and it could cancel it for the next five years. The centre was found guilty of improper record keeping and conducting tests to determine the sex of the fetus by a team of doctors led by the assistant civil surgeon on February 8. During investigations, the role of trained midwives had come under the scanner who used to send clients to the centre through the middlemen. In this case, Jaspal Kaur, a midwife, had got the sex determination test of a woman, Paramjit Kaur, who was admitted to a private hospital, done from the centre after her condition deteriorated following abortion, conducted at Sigma centre. Jaspal had allegedly conducted the abortion at her residence. A case had also been registered against Jaspal Kaur and another midwife, Kulwinder Kaur, in this regard on the basis of the complaint of Health Department officials. Earlier, the machines at the same centre were sealed following a complaint from Satnam Kaur, a resident of Jagdev Kalan village, in 2010. Satnam had refused to abort her child against the wishes of her husband and in-laws. Satnam had alleged that the sex determination test was conducted on her at the said centre after which her husband and in-laws had started pressurising her to get the child aborted. The then state Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla had intervened into the matter to get action initiated against the centre. Satnam eventually gave birth to a baby girl and she named her Lakshmi. Satnam was given a state award for her courageous attempt last year.
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SpiceJet’s Amritsar-Delhi flight from today
Amritsar, July 11 Sunil Dutt, director of Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, said MP Navjot Singh Sidhu would flag off the flight tomorrow. Meanwhile, the much-awaited Amritsar-Srinagar flight has found many takers as over 70 per cent of the seats have been reported to be booked. SpiceJet supervisor Dheeraj Dua said over 70 per cent seats out of the 78-seater aircraft to be flown to the Kashmir valley had been booked. Four days a week to and fro service between the holy city and the paradise on the earth would restore the air connectivity between the two after many decades and was anticipated to revive trade and tourism links. The flight would take off on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8:25 am and would return on these days at 10:45 am. He said all arrangements had been made in cooperation with the local officials of the Airports Authority of India. He anticipated immense business potential on the route as keeping this in view the airline diversified its maiden operation from the Amritsar airport. He said he did not know when the flight between Amritsar and Srinagar was stopped, but Indian Airlines used to fly on this route. It was a long-pending demand of passengers, businessmen, tourist operators and travel agents to connect the picturesque valley, a vital tourist destination, with the holy city, which has recently been counted among the top 10 tourist destinations in the world, he said. Gunbir Singh, a tour and travel agent, said sales of tickets on the Amritsar-Srinagar route had picked up fast, adding that the tickets were available between Rs 3,300 and Rs 3,600 for an hour-long journey. However, the same journey by road takes about 15 hours. Besides, SpiceJet would operate twice a day flight between Amritsar and Delhi. Already, Air India and Jet Airways are flying 38 flights a week on this route. SpiceJet would fill the gap left by the exit of Kingfisher Airlines that had wound up its entire operations from Amritsar, with the withdrawal of its last, out of the four, Amritsar-Delhi flight on March 24.
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Men less keen on permanent contraception: Health Dept
Amritsar, July 11 Even as the Health Department is vying to popularise NSV (No Scalpel Vasectomy), which is a non-invasive technique to sterile men, only 1,528 men in total have gone for it in comparison to 4,886 women who went for tubectomy in 2011-12. Tubectomy in comparison to NSV is a bit more severe surgery requiring anesthesia. To popularise NSV over tubectomy, governments give Rs 1,100 as cash prize to any eligible male going for it. In contrast, a female is given Rs 250 for
tubectomy. However, female from the BPL category are given Rs 650. District Family Welfare officer Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar said: “We have seen that men usually are reluctant to go for NSV though it is much easier. They instead push their wives to go for tubectomy.” He said in some cases even wives didn’t allow their husbands for NSV because of myths. “The basic myth is that men will lose their strength and as men in lower socio-economic classes usually have to work hard manually, they and their families simply say no to the best and
easiest contraception method,” said Dr Buttar. The department even pays Rs 200 as award to the motivator who
persuades an eligible male for NSV. Motivators in case of women are being paid a lesser amount
of Rs 150. Dr Buttar said: “Overall our objective is to persuade more people for adopting birth control measures. During the past few years, we have seen that more of the married couples are adopting family planning measures”. The Health Department led by civil surgeon Hardeep Singh Ghai also organised an awareness programme for ASHA workers at Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital today. Dr Ghai said they provide temporary and permanent contraception treatments at government hospitals. The department had earlier announced to observe the World Population Fortnight from July 11 to July 24.
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All's not well at welfare training school
Amritsar, July 11 The school has requested higher authorities either to vacate the block under the ambulance service or to construct a new building for holding trainings. When contacted the District Family Welfare Officer and principal of the training school, Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, said, “We are falling short of space. Under this circumstance, either the staff of ambulance services should be moved out or at least a new building can be constructed for us.” He said at present the school has only two lecture rooms in the administrative block. Apart from renovation of the building, it needs an immediate whitewash too. “The building was handed over 15 years ago, since then it has not been whitewashed,” said Dr Buttar.
None of the present employees at the school knows why the rooms were left incomplete. Question arises as to why the department even took an incomplete building without bothering to get the work done. Dr Buttar said they have brought the matter of the four rooms to the notice of Director Family Welfare. Problems faced by the school
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No respite from traffic jams, encroachments
Amritsar, July 11 The road on the rear side of Gole Bagh, linking Bhandari Bridge to Hathi Gate, has earned the name of Truckwali road as heavy vehicles are being repaired here, he said. Similarly, used cars can be seen lined up on the Queen's road to attract customers. A number of car accessories shops are also there on this road. These shops congest and reduce the width of the one-way road. This result in traffic jams and accidents, Johar said. Sukhdev Singh Sarkaria, a resident, said, "Any person with a shop of the size of an almirah can open a repair shop. They place their material on the roadside and repair vehicles on the road not caring about the inconvenience caused to the commuters." He said that of late people are using SUVs and other bigger cars that coupled with encroachments are causing traffic jams. The Municipal Corporation Commissioner, DP Gupta, said regular monitoring is being done but the magnanimity of the problem is such that it could not be rectified. He felt that the shopkeepers must be sensitised about the inconvenience of their fellow citizens. He divulged that the government was in the process of enacting laws to govern these professions.
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District Bar Association observes ‘no-work day’
Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 11 Advocates at the local district courts did not attend the court hearings today, said Bar Association president Pradeep Kumar Saini. The Bar Association had only yesterday announced to support the protest call given by the Bar Council of India due to which most of the people were ignorant of the strike and they visited courts as usual. “We came to know about the strike after coming here. Now, we will have to go back without serving any purpose as there is no point in going for hearing without advocates,” said Sukhchain Singh, a visitor. Pradeep Saini said the Bill was aimed at curbing the powers of the Bar Council of India. “Presently, the permission of law colleges and universities is granted by the Bar Council, but the government is planning to construct a board for that purpose, which will clearly undermine the powers of the Bar Council,” he said. He said: “Presently, the council was also hearing the grievances of the legal fraternity but the government wants a board to do this work with a bureaucrat heading it”. “The government wants to control the legal fraternity through this move. The Amritsar Bar Association has supported the call given by the Bar Council to oppose the move,” added Saini.
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Gurdas Singh Sekhon is district president of PCCTU
Amritsar, July 11 Prof Gurdas Singh Sekhon said he would work for the benefit of teachers working in government-aided colleges. Gurdas Singh Sekhon thanked the teachers of the district for showing faith in him. He assured them that he would try his best to convince the government to fulfill the long-pending demands of teachers. Gurdas Singh Sekhon appealed the state government to release the arrears of the new pay scale pending from January 1, 2006. Gurdas Singh Sekhon said the same arrears had already been paid to the employee of the state government. The same benefit was, however, not granted to the teachers employed with aided colleges.
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GNDU textile students excel in training
Amritsar, July 11 Dr Kamaljit Singh, professor and Head of the Department, who had nominated these students, said one student had been awarded the “outstanding student of AADTT 2011-12” and the other two were adjudged the “innovative students of the year”. Dr Singh said the department was equipped with ultramodern facilities with a strong backing from the textile industry of the country and was offering B.Tech (Textile Chemistry) course since 1995. “I assure 100 % placement of our meritorious graduates in reputed textile processing industry throughout the country with lucrative salary packages up to Rs 9.5 lakh per annum,” he said adding that the admission was based
on AIEEE.
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Police Commissioner seeks cooperation from city residents
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 11 “It is very important that the people of the holy city help and cooperate with the police by abiding traffic rules,” said Mittal while adding that the police administration is striving hard to solve the problem. He said traffic norm violators would face severe treatment from the police. He said vehicle owners, who have not removed tinted films from their windowpanes, would face severe consequences. Mittal warned those police officers who indulge in corrupt practices and do not challan the violators.
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Submit UID details within 15 days: Govt
Amritsar, July 11 Those living in the rural belt have been advised to furnish UID details to the Anganwadi centres. The urban belt citizens would do the same at respective Bal Vikas project office within 15 days. Those who have been availing these beneficiary schemes, which included old age pension, widows and destitute pension, handicap pension, but do not possess the UID cards have also been advised to submit information as it would be mandatory to furnish UID number before claiming for any benefit under these schemes.
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Gold chain snatched
Amritsar, July 11 They were returning from Ranjit Avenue area when two motorcycle-borne snatchers came from behind and snatched 20 gm gold necklace from
Shally. They also snatched Rs 5,000 cash and credit card from Rekha Mittal at a gun point. Shiv
Nath, investigating officer, said a case under Section 382 of the IPC has been registered at Cantonment police station in this regard. He said no arrest has been made so far.
TNS
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Lakshmi Kanta appointed as PLSA member
Amritsar, July 11
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A day after the Punjab Government announced to introduce the city bus service in the holy city soon, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC), which is the nodal authority to implement this service, here today outrightly rejected it while maintaining that it would take more than six months to run this first-ever public transport here.
Apart from this, the school is facing yet another problem. Four rooms of a hostel at the training school are lying without any roof. Sources said the roofs were not constructed when the building was handed over to the department around 15 years ago. The hostel was constructed to lodge students of basic health worker course run by the Health and Family Welfare Department.