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Manhole mishaps: MC finds 3 employees guilty
5 pc Pingalwara inmates suffering from hepatitis
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Shop gutted in fire
In city for training, ITBP jawan dies
Different crime incidents, single FIR: Police’s new ‘way’ to reduce crime rate
Five of robbers’ gang arrested
PGI team to inspect city’s readiness
Student strength up in govt schools
Water supply hit as power cuts leave tubewells non-operational
Delight for shoppers: City hosts two fashion exhibitions
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Manhole mishaps: MC finds 3 employees guilty
Amritsar, July 29 The SDO and JE said they have not been given ample time to tell their side of the story. The Civil Lines police had earlier booked the unidentified MC employees under Section 304-A IPC. The complainant's slot showed 'on secret information' in the crime diary. The MC woke up from its deep slumber only after the reports were highlighted prominently in the media and took action against the erring staff members. The suspended sewerman has been identified as Baldev Singh and the two officials of O&M wing whose roles have come under scanner were SDO Manjit Singh Saini and JE Mohinder Singh. MC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta said this action has been taken on the basis of a thorough probe conducted by the Superintending Engineer Jaswinder Singh. "The sewerman has been suspended instantly while the other two officials also cannot be spared for their negligence in performing their duties. I have submitted the report with the government to initiate further disciplinary proceeding against them", he said. Nevertheless, SDO Manjit Singh Saini said there was no concrete evidence to prove that the incident had occurred after commuters hit the manhole and it was not justified to hold them responsible for the accident. "The incident was unfortunate. But we are being implicated on the basis of a biased inquiry conducted by the department. It was at about 6.45 pm on July 24, when the sewerman Baldev Singh had noticed the missing lid of the said manhole," he said. "Immediately, he brought it to my notice and I asked him to arrange the lid from the store and he did accordingly by 8 pm. It is another matter that he could not find the lid of exact size which could fit in that manhole. But he had also placed sand bags having fluorescent white colour around the manhole to communicate the danger to the commuters. Still the report said that the incident had occurred due to misfit lid of the manhole", he said. Endorsing the views, JE Mohinder Singh said it was rather the presence of mind on the part of the sewerman who spotted the stolen lid and acted swiftly. "At that juncture, he did whatever was possible. It was not justified to put him under suspension. Moreover, no postmortem was conducted on the body of the victim which could ascertain the exact cause of death," he said.
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5 pc Pingalwara inmates suffering from hepatitis
Amritsar, July 29 Society’s president Dr Inderjit Kaur said the revelation is worrying and all the inmates have been given free immunisation injections by the pharmaceutical company. “Six of the inmates were found suffering from hepatitis B and 14 more for hepatitis C,” said Dr Inderjit Kaur. As reports of the preliminary tests are alarming, the society has decided to go for an advanced test to ascertain the level of infection among the patients. Dr Inderjit Kaur said, “It would be after the advanced test that we would come to know that what type of test is required. For those patients with high level of infection, the treatment is very costly.” The tests were conducted on 403 inmates of the society recently, said Dr Jagtesh Sidhu, who carried out the tests. He said inmates are suffering from infected hepatitis. He said this kind of hepatitis is transmitted though the use of used syringes or through transfusion of blood. “For patients who have low level of infection, a healthy and balanced diet is the cure. But those with high level of infection will require advanced and costly treatment,” he said. He said though an immunisation vaccine for hepatitis B is available in the market and has been given to the inmates, what is worrying is that there is no immunisation for hepatitis C. He said the advanced tests would be conducted soon to ascertain the condition of the inmates.
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Shop gutted in fire
Amritsar, July 29 It took more than an hour to control the fire which erupted in the second floor of the three-storey building. The fire reportedly broke out due to short circuit. The shop belongs to one Nanak Singh. Nearby shopkeepers noticed smoke coming out of the third floor which is used as suitcase showroom. Four fire tenders were pressed into service, said Tarlochan Singh, fire officer. The owner of the shop said the exact loss was yet to be ascertained.
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In city for training, ITBP jawan dies
While running during the training on Tuesday, he suddenly collapsed and became unconscious. He was immediately rushed to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital from where he was referred to a private hospital on Saturday. He died in the private hospital today. Khem Chand, deceased’s father, said Rakesh had come for a 44-week training at Amritsar after his selection in the ITBP. He was accompanied by his relatives. Talking to mediapersons, he alleged that though he was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, the family was informed on Friday only. Parvinder Singh, Commandant, ITBP, said the routine training would continue as usual. He said every day the jawans have to run five kms in 24 minutes and Rakesh fell ill during this training period.
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Different crime incidents, single FIR: Police’s new ‘way’ to reduce crime rate
Amritsar, July 29 And that is apparently being done to save their skin or face criticism of residents, who are fed up of rising instances of snatchings, lootings and robberies in the city. This results in undue difficulty for complainants in getting justice. They also face problem in getting back their recovered belongings as they don’t have proper documents to put forth their claim in the courts. With so much hassle involved in the procedure of taking back the case properties, complainants withdraw their claims leaving their belongings with the police department. Harbans Kaur, a resident of New Delhi, faced the same difficulty. She along with her son was going to the Golden Temple on June 20 when two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her purse at Bhandari Bridge. She lost gold jewellery, cash and mobile phone contained in the purse. She claimed that she suffered a total loss of Rs 2.50 lakh. “As I approached the circuit house police chowki, they recorded it in DDR, but no FIR was lodged. The police official present in the chowki said my complaint is being merged in the FIR that was registered 11 days ago in a similar incident that occurred in Civil Lines area,” she told Amritsar Tribune over the phone. Dismayed over the attitude of the local police, she alleged that the exact amount lost in the incident was also not mentioned in the DDR. An emotional Harbans Kaur, a widow and senior citizen, said after the demise of her husband, she kept the jewellery for the marriage of her children. “As a marriage in my relation was fixed on June 24, I decided to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, but all has gone in a second,” she said. She has written a letter to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Member Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu seeking their intervention. Pawan Bhardwaj, an advocate, said a number of such instances have come up in the court in which a singe FIR was lodged by the police while the aggrieved parties were found to be making rounds in the local courts for taking case properties. This practice is adopted by almost all the police stations in the city, he added. “The police department should register separate FIRs in separate incidents, so that the complainants do not face any problem in the court,” he pointed out. A senior police official, preferring anonymity, said the police follows this practice. He added that the police must shun the practice as complainants face a lot of problems. Amrik Singh Pawar, ADCP, said as per criminal procedure code rules, the police could club different cases of similar nature especially when the same gang is likely to be involved in the crime. However, he added, we will ensure that no complainants face problem during investigations or while taking their case properties.
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Five of robbers’ gang arrested
Amritsar, July 29 As many as five gang members, identified as Jasbir Singh, Bikram Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Baljinder Singh, residents of Mullechak village, and Sonu Masih of Khanwal village, were arrested. Their accomplice, identified as Baldev Singh of Machhiwala, managed to escape from the spot. The police recovered a .12 bore revolver, three live cartridges, sharp-edged weapons, a Mahindra jeep and one kg of intoxicant powder from their possession. The Ajnala police got information about the accused, who were reportedly hiding in a discarded rice sheller in Mahel Bukhari village. Baldev managed to dodge the police taking advantage of darkness. The police authorities said investigations were going on. More recoveries and robbery incidents are likely to be solved during their interrogation, the police said.
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PGI team to inspect city’s readiness
Amritsar, July 29 Talking to Amritsar Tribune, Civil Surgeon Dr Hardip Singh Ghai said, “We have made all efforts to curb smoking in the city.” However, he admitted that few of the institutions, especially schools, have cared two hoots for the instructions given by the administration. “We have received complaints from our teams that few of the schools have not displayed warnings regarding smoking on their premises,” said Ghai adding that it is the individual responsibility of the institute to do so. To send tough signals, the department has decided to challan heads of such institutions from Monday. Ghai said, “Before the team arrives here on August 5, we would inspect all these institutions and issuing challans for dereliction in duties assigned.” He said few of the school heads have taken the plea that they were not aware of the guidelines issued by the administration. The Civil Surgeon said, “We had held meetings with the district education officers and asked them to convey the message to each and every institutions. As such there is no truth that school heads were not aware of the instructions.” The department has constructed five teams of officials to check smoking at public places in the district. “These teams would challan people found smoking at public places in different parts of the city,” said Ghai. Last week, the department penalised 233 people for smoking at public places. Ghai warned that sale of tobacco and its products is banned in 100-meter radius of an educational institutions and strict action would taken against vendors doing so.
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Student strength up in govt schools
Amritsar, July 29 The total number of students was 95,344 in 2010-2011 which rose to 1,01,087 in 420 schools, including 90 senior secondary, 105 high schools, 147 middle schools, 77 middle schools being run by Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan and one by Rashtriya Madhyamik Sikhya Abhiyan under the secondary education, in 2011-2012. Figures of the admission process in the current season are expected to be released in the next couple of days and it is expected to throw a record rise in the strength of students this year as well. However, education experts are of the view that the government needs to fill the vacant posts to ensure delivery of quality education. As many as 855 posts of master cadre, about 195 positions of lecturers, 21 posts of headmaster, 20 principals, 277 posts of drawing teachers, vocational teachers, physical training instructors are lying vacant in the district. Talking about the rise in students’ strength in government schools, District Education Officer (Secondary) Sukhwinder Singh said former Director General School Education Krishan Kumar introduced a slew of measures which went on to add dynamics to decades old government education system. He introduced measures like inspection of schools, computer education, relay of education programmes through Edusat from Chandiagrh in which experts of subjects deliver lectures, digital laboratories in schools in which the stories are narrated to the students. But there are many middle and senior secondary schools in rural areas which battle staff shortage. For instance, Government Senior Secondary School, Khalchian, has needs four English and equal number of Punjabi lecturers. Besides, there is only one science teacher against three sanctioned posts. Similar is the case with mathematic teachers and Hindi teachers. The DEO exact number of surplus and deficient staff would be known once the admission process is over and following which the rationalisation would be carried out the next month.
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Water supply hit as power cuts leave tubewells non-operational
Amritsar, July 29 There are more than 340 tubewells in the city, but only eight have power backup through generators. Some of these generator-operated tubewells are located at Katra Moti Ram, Shakti Nagar, Gilwali Gate, outside Beri Gate and Kesri Bagh etc. But they can cater to only 13 wards, whereas the total number of wards is 65. The authorities are unable to synchronise tubewell operation schedule with the power cut schedule. Protests against area councillors or the MC authorities due to lack of water supply have become common. The problem of inadequate water supply is severe in the Walled city area due to less number of tubewells. People have to go to nearby areas to fetch water from hand pumps as the MC is unable to provide adequate number of tankers to ease the crisis. Residents of Ward number 45 have not been receiving any water supply over the last three days. Rajinder Singh, a resident, said they had to fetch water from a nearby gurdwara for the past over a month. “We had no other option. Without water it’s like living in hell. I can’t understand when we pay taxes and bills, why doesn’t the government too reciprocate and share its liability in a religious manner,” he said. From residents of areas like Putlighar, Indira Colony, Batala road, Maqbool pura, Partap Nagar to those of posh areas like Ranjit Avenue, Green Avenue, Lawrence Road and New Amritsar are facing acute shortage of water due to disruption in electricity. A New Amritsar resident Harcharan Singh said, “We had complained to the civic authorities many times but to no avail. More than 2,000 houses in our area are bearing the brunt of their apathy.” Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. superintending engineer Jaswinder Singh admitted that the power cuts add fuel to fire as with no electricity, tubewells are rendered non-operational leaving residents without water, but assured to streamline the water feeding process. “It is a very costly and non-viable affair to equip all the 350 tubewells with heavy duty generator sets. But other issues can be resolved. The main problem we face is that we seldom receive power-cut schedules in advance. I had a discussion with the local PSPCL officials but they too showed their inability to help us out as they receive information about power cuts from their Patiala headquarters at the last minute. Yet we are trying to follow a tentative power cut schedule published in the newspapers which is to be applicable for next few days, by adjusting tubewell operation schedule accordingly,” he said.
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Delight for shoppers: City hosts two fashion exhibitions
Amritsar, July 28 Class apart The city had its annual date with designers across the length and breadth of the country with Designer World. The annual two-day exhibition brings an array of designer wear, footwear, jewellery and home furnishing for city collectors. The attractions included designer ethnic wear from Mumbai and Delhi. Known for their fondness for designer Pakistani dresses, the Amritsari fashionistas thronged the Pakistani stalls that offered trendy designs in laces, crochets, pastels and bright embroideries. Readymade embroidered salwars, asymmetrical cuts and floral patterns were a hit. The rising gold prices have made silver jewellery latest in demand and it was evident at the exhibition that had the best brands in sterling silver and pure silver.
“Silver is a soft metal and can be blended easily with precious stones to make interesting and designer pieces,” says Radhika Khanna, a designer with her own label of silver jewellery. Innovative and high on fashion quotient, the glamorous silver jewellery pieces in peacock patterns are popular, with polka, kundan and meenakari works whereas antique look pieces make for the royal look. “Silver jewellery is high on fashion and utility as its evergreen and can be easily maintained. Recent trends show that it’s going to one of the must haves in fashion circles,” says Renu Aggarwal, owner, Gehna collection from Delhi. They specialise in silver antique jewellery. Another highlight was the eco-friendly home décor items. Made from bamboo, recycled paper, hay and organic fabrics, the pieces are chic and trendy besides adding a natural element of style. “People have become quite eco-conscious and keeping that in mind, we have stuff made from purely natural elements. Vases made from recycled newspaper, accessories made from dried and preserved flowers using lacquer and table mats made from cloth and hay are some of the attractions,” says Shruti Bubna, who brought these designer eco-friendly home décor pieces from Delhi. Another such attempt comes from Hazzara, a label owned by Mayuri and Itasha which had handmade flowers in velvet and bamboo. Mass appeal Cotton Fab, an exhibition-cum-sale, in the city brings together weavers and handlooms from all across India under the umbrella flagship of Rashtriya Sansnkriti Samaj Avom Sabhayata and offers handlooms from Andhra Pradesh, Lucknow, MP, Gujarat, Rajasthan etc. On display is cotton, silk, bhagalpuri, chiken, banarasi and chanderi fabric. Appliqué work and kantha work from Bengal, soof, gudri and prints like ajrakh, dhar etc which usually people don’t know about too are available. “It’s more of a craft than clothes. It is not the usual designer clothes collection that most exhibitions offer. Its authentic workmanship that has been brought directly from the weavers to the customers,” says Rajesh, organiser of Cotton Fab. The range extends from cotton to silk, kota and silk blends such as mangalgiri, poona, sooti to chanderi, bhagal puri silk which make for a perfect light summer wear. Combining comfort with style, the collection highlights a rich variety of patterns such as hand block prints, intricate needlework, embroidered motifs of phoolpatti from Aligarh, and famous tangail and jamdani weaves from West Bengal. Wondering whether this collector's item would come at a price, then don't worry. The range starts from Rs 450 and stretches to Rs 10,000.
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The Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) has suspended a sewerman and recommended disciplinary action against the SDO and JE for negligence in performing their duties which led to death of 27-year-old Kanika and serious injuries to Sanjeev Khanna and his Sajesh
Khanna.
Amritsar, July 29
A high-powered team of the PGI Chandigarh is expected to arrive on August 5 to inspect the readiness of the holy city to earn itself the status of smoke-free city.
Based on the recommendations of this team, the city would be given a smoke free status on August 15 as announced earlier.
The team would stay in the city for four days to inspect various private and government institutions for the steps taken by them to curb smoking at public places.
Amritsar, July 29
