'VIP' friend bails out eve teasers
Amritsar, August 7
In a shocking incident, a police officer could not bring to justice the accused who allegedly misbehaved with his daughter. Political clout ensured that the accused got away with harassing a girl.

Stop hate crime at all cost, feel city youth
Amritsar, August 7
A shootout inside a gurdwara at Oak Creek in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US, has shaken Indians all over the world. The attack at innocent worshippers has left a big question mark on the security of the Sikhs in the US. The senseless act of violence has received strong reactions from all over the world as well as the city.

Dy CM has tough task on hand 
Amritsar, August 7
With Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, deciding to head the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), he has a tough task ahead in streamlining its office, ensuring implementation of the city's master plan and regulation of over 400 "illegal colonies".

Amritsar, August 7
Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Limited officially shut down operations over non payment of dues by the Amritsar Municipal Corporation. In another development the employees of the company left jobless joined the AMC cleanliness drive.

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has referred the matter to its legal branch before initiating action against the company for the breach of contract (executed in 2009 for a span of seven years).

The rift between the AMC and the company has left garbage scattered all over the city because of collapse of the garbage lifting system over the past one week. In a communication to the AMC, the management of the garbage lifting firm has claimed that it has suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 2 crore and continuing will increase their losses further. The management has cited in the communication that it has terminated the services of all its employees "due to repeated delay in payment of their salaries, our employees refused to do the job".

The firm has conveyed to the AMC to invite fresh bids and till the time it engages another firm, the firm would lift the garbage but on the condition that its dues would be cleared. The firm has also offered to rent out its machinery to the 'would be firm'.

Terming it as a project of loss, the company wrote that it all has collapsed due to the nonpayment of its dues amounting to Rs 1.48 crore and its machinery too has been damaged due to pathetic conditions prevailing at the garbage dumping site at Bhaktanwala.

On the other hand, the AMC authorities clarify that the firm was paid as per the agreement and it was not proper on its part to suddenly stop its machinery. The staff of the garbage lifting firm met the AMC officials today and declared that the firm was making false statement that the operation got stalled as its workers were not willing to do the job.

PS Bhatty, secretary of an NGO Pollution control committee, said with the residents would have to pay the price.

Information under the RTI Act proved that payment to the tune of Rs 11.8 crore was made to the firm up to October 2011. "What was the fun of paying such a huge public money when at the end of the day, the disruption of services for one reason or the other, is the order of the day. Earlier also, the row between the management and the employees of the firm had stalled the garbage lifting job for a week. Now, the same situation would arise just because there has been no constant check of the AMC,” said Bhatty.

A Mumbai-based company Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Ltd, was engaged in 2009 to lift 300 metric tones of garbage from 41 wards. It excluded the walled city. The company has assured to provide the latest equipments worth Rs 10 crore, including mini tippers for door-to-door collection, 10 dumper placer to transport 4.5- cu. mtr capacity closed containers. The garbage is segregated and dumped at a landfill at Bhagtanwala. 

Officialpeak

The firm is being paid Rs 10 lakh per month and further payments would also be made according to the agreement. If the firm wants to shut its operations, it has to follow the legal process. We have referred the matter to our legal branch. The firm has been cheated us saying that garbage was not being lifted due to the workers' unrest. Today the workers hired by the firm said they were ready to work and it was the decision of the management to withdraw the job.

— Dr Yogesh Arora, health 
officer, amc

We have not been paid as per the agreement since February. The earlier payments too were delayed by over 100 days as a result of which we could not operate our machinery. We had to incur a repairing cost of over ~50 lakh over the past two years. We suffered a loss of Rs 10 lakh just on weigh bridge. The weigh bridge facility provided by us got defunct due to non-planning and ill- maintenance of garbage

— Anil Chandla, operation manager, 
Antony Waste Handling Cell

Amritsar, August 7
Having attained the coveted status of 'University with Potential for Excellence', the GNDU has received an initial grant of Rs 30 crore from the University Grants Commission (UGC). The instalment is out of the Rs 50-crore grant awarded by the commission. The grant would be used to set up four research centres on the campus. The university has become one of the six best universities in the country and the first to bag the status in the state.

The first centre would be set up for reasearch on material science and would focus on the development of innovative methodology for energy conversion and storage. New materials will also be developed such as polymer electrolyte membranes, photovoltaic devices, molecular sensors, inorganic films for sensors, memory devices, magnetic materials, organic solar cells, protective and corrosion resistant cutting tools etc.

The second centre would for health and sports with focus on drug development, sports medicine as well as developing new chemical entities such as anti-cancer, antimicrobial and anti-malarial agents. Specific research areas include design, synthesis and evaluation of biologically active molecules, screening of natural products for biological activities, human genetics, investigations on host-pathogen interaction and development of newer diagnostic protocols. Bio-mechanic, physiological and biochemical studies will be undertaken to understand and improve the performance of sportspersons.

The third centre would focus on research to devising methods to improve the environment in the state while monitoring environmental changes, remediation for pollution, biodiversity assessment and conservation. The fourth centre would carry out inter-disciplinary studies on language, literature and culture. The GNDU authorities are appointing research fellows and staff for the proposed centres.

The GNDU, Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar, said a plan has been finalised to establish these centres and it would raise the academic as well as research standards of the university. "We have teachers of proven capabilities on our faculty list, many of whom are fellows of international and national institutions and have won several awards in the field of research. They would look after these centres. A total of 31 universities, including three universities from Punjab, were in the fray. This coveted status was awarded to six universities, including the GNDU which ranked third in the list,” he said.

The first centre would be set up for reasearch on material science and would focus on the development of innovative methodology for energy conversion and storage. New materials will also be developed such as polymer electrolyte membranes, photovoltaic devices, molecular sensors, inorganic films for sensors, memory devices, magnetic materials, organic solar cells, protective and corrosion resistant cutting tools etc.

The second centre would for health and sports with focus on drug development, sports medicine as well as developing new chemical entities such as anti-cancer, antimicrobial and anti-malarial agents. Specific research areas include design, synthesis and evaluation of biologically active molecules, screening of natural products for biological activities, human genetics, investigations on host-pathogen interaction and development of newer diagnostic protocols. Bio-mechanic, physiological and biochemical studies will be undertaken to improve the performance of sportspersons.

The third centre would focus on research to devising methods to improve the environment in the state while monitoring environmental changes, remediation for pollution, biodiversity assessment and conservation.

The fourth centre would carry out inter-disciplinary studies on language, literature and culture.

Officialpeak

These centres would raise the academic as well as research standards of the university. We have teachers of proven capabilities on our faculty list, many of whom are fellows of international and national institutions and have won several awards in the field of research. They would look after these centres

— Prof as brar, VC, GNDU

Amritsar, August 7
In a shocking incident, a police officer could not bring to justice the accused who allegedly misbehaved with his daughter. Political clout ensured that the accused got away with harassing a girl.

The incident occurred near the Bhandari Bridge at 12.30 am when the police team, including the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sat Pal Joshi, was seen slapping two students of the B.Com course at DAV College. The accused were driving around in an Innova-make vehicle which bore a temporary number. The victim is the daughter of a SHO.

Before the police could initiate criminal proceedings against the accused, they called up their friend, who reached the spot in a white Innova car with a red beacon on top.

DCP Joshi alongwith his team had to give in when they came to know that the VIP friend of the accused was the son of a BJP MLA.

The victim had told her SHO father about the accused who allegedly harassed her after college hours.

Official speak

The two youth were questioned at Bhandari Bridge but nothing of the sort happened. The youth were caught on a routine basis and were let off after giving them a warning 

— Sat Pal Joshi, DCP 

Amritsar, August 7
A shootout inside a gurdwara at Oak Creek in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US, has shaken Indians all over the world. The attack at innocent worshippers has left a big question mark on the security of the Sikhs in the US. The senseless act of violence has received strong reactions from all over the world as well as the city.

Amrit, a radio jockey said, Nothing can justify the killing of innocent people. The act was carried out of frustration by a demented mind and should not be considered the sentiment of an entire nation. I strongly condemn the incident but also hope that the US authorities will ensure safety of the Sikh community.

The Sikhs abroad are a very tolerant and law-abiding community. It is atrocious that some people let their frustration and anger out in the most horrible way. I sympathise with the victims and their families and wish such hatred stops immediately

— Ramninder Kukreja, a professional

I don’t understand why would anyone kill innocent people that too during a peaceful prayer meeting inside a religious place. Strict action needs to be taken against such acts and no mercy should be shown to those responsible

— Ranjodh madan, a student

The shocking incident makes Sikhs vulnerable to hate crimes if no strict laws are implemented. With a large presence in the US, growing hostility towards different races is a cause for concern. Violence at religious places can have serious repercussions

— Jasmine Bawa, NGO

The US government must ensure safety for all its communities. Off late, hate crimes against some religious sects or communities have raised doubts over the lack of moral and social structure in some cultures. Such attacks must be stopped

— GTuneet Arora, a businessman

Amritsar, August 7
With Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, deciding to head the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), he has a tough task ahead in streamlining its office, ensuring implementation of the city's master plan and regulation of over 400 "illegal colonies".

Badal, who was in the city last week, said the master plan would be implemented to ensure a regulated growth of the holy city.

The ADA was constituted in 2007 under a government notification with a clear agenda to have a comprehensive development plan and work as a nodal authority with good financial corpus. Since then it has been headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal while the master plan was approved and released in March 2011.

The ADA could not achieve its desired objective and the CM could not chair its meeting due to his pre-occupied schedule.

ADA has its jurisdiction spread across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot. It is currently engaged in land acquisition at New Batala road bypass and GT Road to establish urban estates in the city.

Nomination of members

The notification says there are 12 members, nominated under the chairman. Members include the Minister of Urban Development and Housing; Chief Secretary; Principal Secretary to CM; Principal Secretary (Finance); Housing and Urban Development Secretary; Principal Secretary (local government); Chief Town Planner of Punjab; and Chief Administrator, ADA, with three non-officials nominated by the CM.

However, on a demand of industrialists, Sukhbir Badal has directed the district administration to ensure the inclusion of at least two industrialists in the ADA.

Major hurdles

Funds

Unlike the development authorities in Mohali, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda and Jalandhar, which have managed to establish a corpus with the sale of land which was out of the ambit of the corporation, improvement trust and PUDA, the Amritsar Development Authority has no such resources and pool of land at its disposal. But the Deputy Chief Minister has said funds would not be a problem. He said funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore are being arranged for the urban development in the state and a big chunk of the fund would be reserved for the holy city.

Jurisdiction

The ADA has a very limited role to play as it has to operate outside the administrative authority of the Municipal Corporation and the Improvement Trust. Besides, the PUDA too has its control over certain pockets of the organisation. The notification gives the schedule of boundaries of the ADA and added that all powers and functions of PUDA relating to development and redevelopment of the areas in the schedule of the properties would be exercised by the ADA.

Official speak

I don’t see multiple authorities discharging the same job. The PUDA is now looking at the state government properties falling under the Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government Land (OUVGL) while the Municipal Town Planning (MTP) Department takes care of violation of land use and properties falling within the Municipal Corporation limits. The District Town Planner ensures that the new residential, commercial and other projects confirm to the master plan— Sandeep Rishi, 
Chief Administrator, ADA

Amritsar, August 7
The Union Ministry of Textiles has initiated a survey to prepare a comprehensive database on the powerloom industry.

AC Nielson ORG-MARG Private Limited has been entrusted to undertake the survey.

The survey will be undertaken to get the latest position of the powerloom industry in the northern region of the country.

There are three kinds of powerlooms used in the holy city. These are powerloom plain, automatic and shuttle less. These machines are being used to manufacture shawls, stoles, blanket, denim and suiting shirting.

The data with the Punjab Industries Department reveal that there are 856 registered textile units. However, there is no exact data on the strength of employees in these units.

Textile industry has an annual turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, including Rs 500 crore of the shawl industry.

In addition to these, there are hundreds of unregistered handloom, suiting shirting, blanket, shawls manufacturing units in the city.

It is claimed that there are over 5,000 weavers, who manufacturing shawls in 800 looms. These workers are being paid on a basis of metres of cloth manufactured.

A majority of these units are situated on Batala Road, Chheharta township, Bakkar Mandi, Islamabad, Sultanwind, Dhapai Road, Khuh Bhalla etc.

Major grouses of these artisans were low wages, long working hours and deplorable working condition.

VK Kohli, Deputy Director, Regional Office, Ministry of Textiles, Amritsar, said the objective of the survey was to collect statistical data, amount of production, kinds of looms, their quality, number of employees, total turnover and export.

He said this data is required as many units have shut due to appreciation of land and other factors. Over the five years, technology has also undergone a tremendous change.

“The decentralised powerloom sector is one of the most important segments of the textile industry in terms of fabric production and employment generation. It contributes about 62 per cent to the total cloth production in the country. Besides, over 60 per cent of the fabric meant for export is also sourced from the powerloom sector,” he added. The readymade garments and home textiles are heavily dependent on the powerloom sector to meet their fabric requirement.

He said the ministry was running various welfare schems like Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme and Group Workshed Scheme for the benefit of industry and group insurance scheme for workers.

He said a comprehensive database of the sector would help in the formulation of policies, major problems afflicting the industry and remedial measures.

He said the success of the survey would depend on the support of all stake holders of the powerloom industry. He said the information would be kept confidential.

Preparing a database

AC Nielson ORG-MARG Private Limited has been entrusted to undertake the survey

The data with the Punjab Industries Department reveal that there are 856 registered textile units. However, there is no exact data on the strength of employees in these units

There are three kinds of powerlooms used in the holy city. These are powerloom plain, automatic and shuttle less

Amritsar, August 7
A project by DAV International students was ranked first in the North Regional Science Exhibition organised by the CBSE.

Principal Anjana Gupta congratulated the students and teachers for their remarkable effort. A total of 153 projects were presented in the exhibition in which students of various north zone schools participated. The exhibition concluded at Cambridge International School for Girls, Jalandhar, on August 4.

As many as 73 projects were presented on the topic ‘Sources of energy and their conservation,’ out of which the project by students of DAV International got the first prize.

Amritsar, August 7
The Department of Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy of the Guru Nanak Dev University organised a two-day workshop on ‘Kinanthropometry and Exercise Physiology’ at Guru Nanak Bhawan.

Kinanthropometry is the study of human body size, shape and form and how these characteristics relate to human movement and sporting performance.

Prof Dr Rajinder Kaur Pawar, Dean, Academic Affairs, inaugurated the workshop. She talked about the importance of kinanthropometry and exercise physiology for the better performance of sportspersons. “Physical inactivity is the root cause of many complications.”

Dr Sharda Sidhu, Professor of Human Genetics, described the applications of kinanthropometry in various disciplines. She discussed about different techniques of measuring human body.

Dr SK Verma, former professor of sports sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, described the physiological role of exercise prescriptions of diabetes mellitus. He also explained different types of complications of the metabolic disorders in detail.

Dr Shyamal Koley, Head of Department, discussed the role of kinanthropometry to help sportspersons excel.

Amritsar, August 7
A team of the health department seized 11,000 tablets of proscribed drugs from a medical store at Cheharrta.

The team was led by drug inspectors Anupama Kalia and Bableen Kaur.

The team found pharmacist absent from the shop during the raid.

The drug inspectors said they had received various complaints against the owner of the store raided today.

Anupama Kalia said the department would continue raids on medical stores. Kalia warned owners of medical stores against indulging in such illegal activities.

Amritsar, August 7
The Mattewal police claims to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters with the arrest of two persons. The police has also recovered several luxury cars from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Satwinder Singh alias Shinda, a resident of Shahpur district in Gurdaspur and Ranjeet Singh Rana, a resident of Jharianwala in Batala. Hunt is on to arrest their accomplice Gurpinder Singh Bhinda, a resident of Harpura in Gurdaspur, Krishan Kumar alias Sonu, a resident of Sangroor Road, Pattran and Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Mohali.

SSP (Rural) Preet Pal Singh Virk said credit goes to the joint operation team of Mattewal and Kathunangal police.

“On a tip off, the police laid a naka near Bagga village and intercepted a car. The occupants of the car could not establish the ownership of the car. Their interrogation revealed that they belonged to an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters and stole cars from one state and sold them at some other place on the basis of forged documents. “We have recovered several luxury cars from their possession which include Skoda, Innova, Scorpio, Accent etc. We are trying to identify the original owners of the vehicles recovered,” he said.

They also stole three truck-trailers and sold them to a scrap dealer in Uttar Pradesh, he added. The police has registered case under Section 379, 411, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC against the accused.