Food quality check 
Health department’s shortcomings to fore
Amritsar, August 11
At a time when the health department is after traders dealing in food products to register under the Food Safety Act, the state and district’s inefficiency in carrying out quality check of food has come to fore.

Residents relish street food at stalls in Amritsar. A Tribune photo

Chemist assn demands power hotline
Amritsar, August 11
Fuming over frequent power cuts, the local chemist association has demanded 24-hour power supply in the medicine market in Katra Sher Singh in the walled city.

Residents nab snatcher in Jawahar Nagar
Amritsar, August 11
Alert residents of the Jawahar Nagar area on the Batala road nabbed a person who tried to snatch the earrings of a girl, who was standing outside her residence.

SGPC urged to spread awareness on Sikh identity
Amritsar, August 11
Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, honorary secretary, Khalsa College Governing Council, and chairman of Punjab State Small Industries and Export Corporation, today appealed to the SGPC to set up special cells to make the world aware about the Sikh identity.

GNDU pensioners demand payment of arrears
Amritsar, August 11
Showing resentment over the nonpayment of pay and pension arrears, the GNDU Pensioners/Retirees Welfare Association urged the university authorities to implement their genuine demands.

Amritsar, August 11
Already mired in a controversy over the chopping off century-old trees, the Punjab Government’s much ambitious Durgiana Mandir beautification project hit a major hurdle today when all the 54 traders, running their businesses on a rental basis, and residents living in houses, in the Durgiana complex, refused to vacate their places.

They held a protest in the Durgiana complex today following the 48-hour evacuation notice served on them by the Land Acquisition department, to shift to some other place on their own else the department would vacate them forcefully.

Shopkeepers and residents demanded that they should be allotted an alternative place before being displaced.

Though the owners of these properties were compensated as per the land acquisition norms, some of them were dissatisfied with the quantum of compensation being offered to them.

Under the beautification project, these decade-old shops and some of the houses would have to be demolished to widen the galliara.

Some of these traders and residents settled here about five decades ago.

Importantly, no shop in the complex is run by its owner. So the most affected are the tenants running these establishments.

The Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT), under whose supervision this project would be executed, has already awarded the work of constructing a commercial complex to a local firm. It was viewed that two storeys of this upcoming complex would be offered to these displaced shopkeepers at a reserve price. Terming these as false promises, the residents said it was the liability of the authorities to get them rehabilitated prior to demolishing their shops or residences.

Om Prakash, who has been running a grocery store in the complex for the past over six decades, argued that there was uncertainty about the construction period. “Till the construction of the commercial complex is over, we will be out of work,” he said.

“The authorities did not think about us. The authorities should have given us an alternative site before asking us to evacuate our shops,” he said.

Vipin Sachdeva, a printing press owner, too expressed his apprehension. “I have been running this printing press here for past over seven decades. How would I establish myself after leaving this place?” he said.

Kamal, who has been running a travelling agency from a shop located nearer the entrance gate of the complex, said the authorities gave us an ultimatum of two days to shift from here. They did not realise that we would be on roads. “It is pity that the government is bent on snatching the livelihood of so many of us just in the name of beautification”, he said.

Raj Kumar, who has been living in the complex and running a sweetmeat shop from the complex, said they were not being compensated adequately. “I own a house built up on a 35 square yard plot and they are offering me just Rs 15 lakh for it. In what part of the city can I get the house at this price?” he said.

Amritsar, August 11
The health department is hopeful of getting smoke-free status for the district. The PGI team has wrapped up its inspection visit to check the readiness of the district in attaining the status.

The PGI team is expected to table its report in the next few days.

A four-member team of experts from the PGI inspected various places in all the blocks for four days. The district would be accorded the status on August 15 on the basis of the report submitted by the team.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone, Dr Sonu Goyal, professor, public health, PGI, said, “The report has yet not been tabled. The team is working on it.” He refused to divulge any further information.

Officiating Civil Surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said, “The team inspected around 300 institutions in the district. While the team was visibly pleased with the efforts taken by the department in the urban areas, few discrepancies were found in the rural areas.”

Still 70 per cent of the work in rural areas had been completed, said Ghai. He said the department was hopeful of getting the status.

“It is a continuous process. We will have to keep up our efforts even after the smoke-free status is accorded,” he said.

He said the department would continue its inspections against smoking at public places.

Amritsar, August 11
At a time when the health department is after traders dealing in food products to register under the Food Safety Act, the state and district’s inefficiency in carrying out quality check of food has come to fore.

The city does not have a laboratory to ascertain the quality of food and other eatables. At present, there is only one laboratory to check quality of food in the entire state. The Government Chemical Laboratory in Chandigarh on an average takes about 20 days to release the test result.

The department is targeting to register at least 80,000 eating outlets, but it has only two inspectors to conduct quality check at food joints, restaurants, dhabas, grocery stores etc in the district. The Union Government had implemented the Food Safety Act without doing its home work, felt trader AL Jain.

He claimed the model of the Act, which has been copied from developed countries, was not feasible in Indian conditions.

“Look at the number of carts dishing out a variety of food in Amritsar. Besides Amritsari and Punjabi cuisines, the carts even offer Chinese, South Indian and even Italian food,” he said. He said mobile eating outlets, kiosks and other minor shops are countless and their number perhaps may be in lakhs. He said over the last one decade, the number of carts serving cooked and other eatables has increased sharply.

He said the government must have set up laboratories in each district of the country and recruited trained manpower to carry out the checks. He said this seemed to be another attempt to pocket money and to bring back “inspector raj”.

The health department so far has received 1,135 forms. Confirming this, Officiating Civil Surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said 625 had applied for registration and 510 for licences.

Though he accepted that there was inadequate staff and infrastructure to carry out the tests, he said the government had a plan to appoint a food inspector for each of the seven blocks in the district. He said the target was to initially enlist at least 80,000 eating outlets.

The deadline for businesses dealing in food products to get registered under the Act has been extended by another six months. Earlier, the deadline was August 4. 

The city does not have a laboratory to ascertain the quality of food and other eatables. The only laboratory to check quality of food in the state is in Chandigarh, which takes about 20 days to release the test result

The department is targeting to register at least 80,000 eating outlets, but it has only two inspectors to conduct inspections

Amritsar, August 11
Fuming over frequent power cuts, the local chemist association has demanded 24-hour power supply in the medicine market in Katra Sher Singh in the walled city.

The chemists have claimed that due to frequent power cuts, costly medicines that have to be kept in cold temperature are getting damaged.

“The potency of these medicines decreases by 40 per cent in absence of requisite cold temperature due to which it becomes ineffective. On the one hand, we are penalised by drug inspectors for non-operational of refrigerators and on the other, retailers and customers refuse to pick such medicines thus causing huge losses to drug traders,” said Surinder Duggal, general secretary, Punjab Chemist Association.

He said the medicine market was an important place and the government should provide a power hotline and supply 24-hour electricity to druggists in the market.

He said the health department had deputed a permanent drug inspector in the area due to which the position of the Amritsar drug market has taken a hit among customers.

“Though we appreciate the steps taken by the health department in curbing the illegal sale of habit-forming drugs, the department officials should not harass genuine drug stores.”

He urged Civil Surgeon Dr HS Ghai and other health authorities concerned to withdraw the move of deputing a permanent drug inspector in the market.

Amritsar, August 11
Alert residents of the Jawahar Nagar area on the Batala road nabbed a person who tried to snatch the earrings of a girl, who was standing outside her residence.

The snatcher, identified as Davinder Singh of Naamdev Colony, Sultanwind Road, was nabbed by her brother and neighbours when he tried to escape leaving his motorcycle behind.

He was already wanted in two similar incidents in the B-division police station area, said Inderjit Singh, the investigating officer.

Sanjiv Kumar, the victim’s brother, in his complaint lodged with the Sadar police station, said his sister was standing outside the house when the accused came on a motorcycle and tried to snatch her earrings on a sharp-edged weapon point. She immediately raised an alarm following which he came out of the house and people gathered at the spot.

Seeing residents coming towards him, Davinder left his motorcycle at the spot and tried to run away. However, he was caught and beaten up by the people and later handed over to the police.

The police recovered 185 grams of narcotic powder, a motorcycle (PB-02-AM-8490) and a dagger from his possession.

The police has registered a case under Sections 382 and 511 of the IPC, Section 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. 

Amritsar, August 11
Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, honorary secretary, Khalsa College Governing Council, and chairman of Punjab State Small Industries and Export Corporation, today appealed to the SGPC to set up special cells to make the world aware about the Sikh identity.

He made the appeal in wake of the gurdwara attack in Wisconsin (US) and previous incidents in the West post 9/11, where Sikhs have fallen prey to ‘mistaken identity’.

“The Sikhs are often mistaken as Muslims due to the turban and beards. Though investigations are on in Wisconsin tragedy, but it appears to be an incident of hate crime,” said Chhina, adding that the SGPC should take a lead in setting up missions or cells abroad and initiate a worldwide awareness campaign.

He said the SGPC should consult other representative bodies of the Sikhs to make people aware about Sikh philosophy of universal brotherhood and peace.

Chhina said the SGPC must take help from the bodies, including the KCGC, which can provide literature, books and even the manpower to spread awareness on the Sikh identity. “Special counselling sessions can be held involving people from the foreign communities to strengthen peaceful coexistence,” he said. The SGPC’s decision to establish a Sikh mission in the US is already delayed, he said.

He said not only in the US but even in Canada, South America and Europe, the Sikhs had been facing problems regarding their identity. “There is a dire need to sensitise people abroad about Sikhs and their glorious past,” said Chhina.

Amritsar, August 11
When getting a prime property for setting up an industry in Amritsar is a difficult task, 9.84 acres of land of Dayal Bagh Mill, owned by the National Textile Corporation, is lying unused in the Putlighar area of the city for the past nine long years.

The corporation has disposed of machinery way back in 2003. The mill used to manufacture cotton yarn.

However, the local department was unaware about Dayal Bagh Mill’s status.

VK Kohli, Deputy Director, regional office of the Textile Commissioner, Amritsar, said the regional office has no information about the mill.

An RTI activist, Naresh Johar, has gathered some valuable inputs regarding the mill from its Delhi office.

The RTI reply revealed that the complete plant and machinery was disposed of in 2003 and only the land is available now. The mill is closed since 2003 so there is no question of production, it revealed.

Amritsar, August 11
The festival of Teej was celebrated with fervour at Khalsa College for Women (KCW), here today. Students danced to the tunes of traditional Punjabi music.

The girls sung bolian (verses from folk music) and performed giddha to welcome sawan. The festival is celebrated in the wake of the onset of monsoon.

KCW principal Dr Sukhbir Kaur Mahal also participated in the dance.

Amritsar, August 11
Two sewadars of a dera located on the Amritsar-Attari bypass road were electrocuted when they were watering the plants in the dera branch. The incident took place on Friday.

The victims were identified as Arjun Singh of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Mohakampura, and Amrik Singh of Naag Khurd village. Their bodies were handed over to their family members after postmortem examinations here today.

Germanjit Singh, the inquiry officer, said it seemed that Arjun Singh was first electrocuted from an electric motor. When Amrik Singh tried to save him, he also came in contact with him. They died on the spot, he said.

Amritsar, August 11
Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Sadar Bazaar Cantonment, died when his scooter was hit by an auto-rickshaw near the Chitra Talkies area on Friday evening.

As the people ran towards the victim, who had become unconscious after falling down, the unidentified driver took advantage of the situation and escaped. The vehicle did not have any registration number.

Sukhwinder Singh was driving a scooter while his elder brother Manjit Singh and nephew Harpreet Singh were on a motorcycle.

The victim died on his way to the hospital. The Kotwali police has lodged a complaint under Sections 304-A and 279 of the IPC against the unidentified auto-rickshaw driver.

Paramjit Singh, in charge, Hall Gate Police Chowki, who is the investigating officer, said the efforts were on to identify and nab the accused. 

Amritsar, August 11
Unidentified thieves decamped with arms and valuables from the residence of Bikramjit Singh of the New Amritsar area. He had gone to Chandigarh along with his family when the incident took place.

Bikramjit Singh told the police that his brother Harpal Singh had informed him about the burglary over the phone.

He said after arrival, he found his house ransacked by the accused. They decamped with a .315 bore rifle with 20 live cartridges; .32 bore pistol along with 20 live cartridges; two mobile phones; gold jewellery worth lakhs of rupees; two watches and an LPG cylinder.

Tarlochan Singh, the investigating officer, said a case under Sections 380 (theft in house) and 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence) of the IPC has been registered.