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Key police posts lying vacant
Schools ignore road safety norms
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Ex-PCS officer booked for impersonation
Mobile seized from undertrial in jail
3 held for possessing intoxicants
Lobbying on for top Municipal Corporation posts
PTU to get BoG Chairman soon
Defence pension adalat organised
Freedom fighter passes away
Athletic meet from Sept 14
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Key police posts lying vacant
Amritsar, September 13 In the absence of any guiding force, the morale of police teams seems to have taken a beating which, in turn, has given a boost to outlaws. At present, along with the Border Range, prominent city police posts, which included Deputy Commissioner of Police, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP, City I) Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Central) are unoccupied. When Ram Singh held the post of the DIG (Border range), the chair of the IG (Border range) was vacant. Even as this chair was occupied by former Police Commissioner Amritsar RP Mittal around two months ago and Ram Singh replaced Mittal, the post of the DIG (Border Range) has been vacant since then. Mittal is sharing the additional charge of DIG (Border) too. Similarly, post retirement the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sat Pal Joshi on August 31, the Amritsar police has been without a DCP. The DCP’s office wore a deserted look and the whole staff has been shifted to other branches. At present, the ADCP (Headquarters) Kashmir Singh Gill has been entrusted with the additional charge of the DCP, but this arrangement is not enough. This post commands significance as the public utility works like legal affairs, renewal or issuing fresh licences for arms or restaurants comes under the jurisdiction of the DCP only, which are suffering in the absence of any regular officer on this post. Even as various officers posted in the city, are in line, there has been no official announcement on this count by the government yet. Another key post of the ADCP, City I, under whose jurisdiction prominent police stations at Kotwali, Rambagh, C-division, D-division and Sultanwind, comes has been lying vacant for the past over three months. The ADCP (Crime) Harjit Singh Brar has been holding the additional charge of this post. ACP Crime Sukhwinder Singh has been given additional charge of the ACP (Central) after Gucharan Singh was transferred two weeks ago. Similarly, the chair of the ACP (Traffic) is also awaiting for its boss for the past few weeks after Karamjit Singh was transferred from here. At present, the ADCP (Special) Baljit Singh randhawa is sharing the portfolio of the ACP (Traffic). With the Police Commissionerate System conceptualised to streamline the policing, how would these overburdened officials be able to do justice to their position is anybody’s guess?
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Schools ignore road safety norms
Amritsar, September 13 Over a period of time, the rise in the number of vehicles picking and dropping students at the entrance of schools, especially those situated on highways, has become a risky affair. A convent school has set a good example, but it is to be seen how many schools emulate it. A number of popular schools in the city are situated on main roads, including Mall Road, GT Road, Mc Leod Road and other roads. Of these, many has got ample space in their campuses yet they prefer the students to board and alight on the roads. Consequently, these roads choke at the time of opening and closing time of these schools. Traffic jams are frequent and long on these roads. Besides, the traffic scenario poses risk to the students, with hardly any measure in place to prevent them from moving on these roads. Notably, the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), while granting approval for affiliation and category of associated schools, seeks the submission of affidavits containing 16 rules from the principals of these schools. The norms laid down by the PSEB are that those schools which have means of transportation, including van, auto, bus, are to indicate their numbers and registration numbers. Fitness certificate of these vehicles that they are in drivable condition and valid permits have to be submitted. Besides, these vehicles must have conductors (cleaners), driver must wear uniforms,
must possess valid license, must have five years of driving experience, not have been challaned more than three times, names of school and routes, besides the availability of first-aid box must be displayed over these automobile vehicles, these must not be overloaded. These must possess pollution certificate, must follow speed limit, proper bus stops to halt buses, school must have parking space inside its premises and students must be allowed to alight there only, one-way traffic for these vehicles, officials of the schools should control the traffic inside their premises, drivers and conductors of these buses are undergoing refresher courses. Sources in the education department revealed that many schools, whether run by educational societies, public and private, have engaged contractors to ferry the students. The administrations of several schools wash their hands off this affair, as they say that the parents have arranged theses vehicles on their own. District Education Officer (Secondary) Sukhwinder Singh said his department could keep a watch on the implementation of the rules in the PSEB-affiliated schools and not on CBSE and ICSE-affiliated schools. He stressed that a majority of these schools were affiliated with the latter boards. Amritsar Tribune spoke to heads of these schools and many of them liked the idea of allowing big vehicles like buses and mini-buses to board and drop students in the campus while some cited lack of inadequate space. All heads of these schools stressed that they deploy teachers and guards outside the school to ensure safe boarding and dropping of the students.
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Khanna fire incident a wake-up call for the district administration
Amritsar, September 13 Earlier, a fire incident at a Khanna paper mill and the collapse of the four-storeyed building of Shital Fabrics in Jalandhar on April 15 had failed to move the government to come out with a city-specific disaster management plan for the industry. Even as the holy city has 10 big and small industrial clusters, including two focal points, an industrial area and an industrial estate, the rest are unorganised industrial sectors scattered across various parts of the city. However, it seems that the government has no specific plan for the industry. The delay in setting up a fire station at the Focal Point is a glaring example of ad hocism by the government agencies. A plot in the Focal Point was reserved about 30 years ago, but the agency concerned is yet to acquire it. A unit owner in the same Focal Point, Kamal Dalmia, said despite many representations, the government was yet to look into it. Established in the early 90s with over 400 industrial units of textile, weaving, yarn, pharmaceuticals, rubber belts, etc, the industrial focal point contributes a large chunk of the taxes to the state and the municipal exchequer, but painfully waits for its uplift to achieve its objective, he added. The SAD-BJP government, in the master plan released in 2010, proposed to set up three more major industrial pockets. The government has made a grand plan to set up three industrial pockets, spread over an area of 8000 acres, along the roads of Tarn Taran, Majitha and Mehta. Barring a few major units, a majority of these are operating from unsafe structures without firefighting equipment. Interestingly, it is the labour department and not the industries department that inspects the industrial units, clears their building plans and keeps a check of safety measures. These tasks are carried out by the Directorate of Factories, a wing of the Labour Department. However, the data available with the Directorate of Factories suggest that the total number of units in Amritsar was not more than 1,145. Deputy Director Factories MS Beri, who has additional charge of Amritsar, said he conducts regular check on the implementation of safety measures. He informed that at least 96 challans for the violation of safety measures in Amritsar were pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate. He said as per the Factories Act 1948, his department did not have any punitive power and could file challans in the CJM’s court against the violators. Another industrialist Raman Gupta advocated setting up a sophisticated and swift disaster management plan, as the industry had spread far and side in and around the city. Industrial units are also situated in residential or mixed-use areas like East Mohan Nagar, along GT Road, Puttlighar, Islamabad, Verka, Batala Road, Majitha Road, Batala Road, Nawa Kot, Dam Ganj, Kot Khalsa, 22 number Phatak, Chheharta and others. A quick delivery of emergency services could be ensured when there is a dedicated service for the industry. City-based disaster management expert Surjit Sharma said the city had to prepare to brace up for any kind of eventuality arising out of any natural or man-made disaster in advance. A majority of the buildings and units do not have smoke-detection alarms and sophisticated fire extinguishers, he alleged. He advised that the employees of these units should be trained to respond and combat impacts of disaster. Keeping in view a large number of industrial units and their scattered presence, he stressed the need for the stationing of a disaster risk management response team. He said many past incidents like the bursting of a boiler in a factory on the Ajnala road sometime back were reminders of taking safety measures minutely. He said as per the data garnered by the private company, which prepared the Master Plan for Amritsar, about 69 per cent of the district’s small-scale industries are located within the Amritsar city employing approximately 71 per cent of the workforce. He stated that there were ample rules to nail the violators the need of the hour was their strict implementation. He said, “As per the Punjab Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards (Amendment) Rules, 2002, the factory owner shall not undertake any industrial activity unless he has prepared a safely report and has sent a copy to the Chief Inspector Factories at least 90 days before commencing the activity in the unit. However, many industrial units overlook these norms. General manager Industries Dharam Pal Bhagat said the matter was under consideration and some space was also earmarked for setting up a dedicated fire extinguishing services for the industry. Govt’s ad hoc approach
The delay in setting up a fire station at the Focal Point is a glaring example of ad hocism by the government agencies. A plot in the Focal Point was reserved about 30 years ago, but the agency concerned is yet to acquire it. A unit owner in the same Focal Point, Kamal Dalmia, said despite many representations, the government was yet to look into it.
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Unpaved road near Golden Temple irks visitors
Amritsar, September 13 Residents said as a lot of visitors use the road, it reflects badly on the government as well as the SGPC. “It is a shame that even the SGPC, which being the representative body of the Sikhs and enjoying proximity to the state government, had failed to get the road paved,” said a resident Shamsher Singh. The potholes on the road are unsafe for the motorists. The dust raised by the passing vehicles has added to the woes of residents as well as commuters. “The road has not been paved for the past four and a half years. The stretch is not too lengthy that the government could not afford to get paved. At the most, it is a kilometre and a half long stretch,” said Jagjeevan Singh, a visitor. Local residents said as the flyover constructed over the road finishes inside the parking lot near the Dharam Singh market, they cannot even use it to their convenience. Another resident Davinder Kumar said, “If we use the flyover, obviously we would have to pay the parking ticket before coming out of it. However, the residents of the areas nearby cannot use it. On the other hand, the road underneath is very bad.” He said residents of the localities along the stretch were irked due to the government apathy. Residents also complained about the level of road. “The level has been raised. As a result, water enters homes. But the sewerage system is inefficient,” said Sarika Kumar, a resident. The residents reported that prior to the municipal corporation elections, a local councillor, backed by residents, had staged a protest to get the road paved. Even as the corporation had deployed a few machines to do the preliminary work for the construction to start, it was stalled a few days later, complained the residents.
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Ex-PCS officer booked for impersonation
Amritsar, September 13 The accused was identified as Inder Yash Bhatti who, reportedly in an inebriated condition, stopped a rehri on the Majitha road and asked the puller to show tax documents. Smelling something fishy, the rehri-puller called the owner of the consignment on the spot and after a verbal altercation, they handed over the accused to the police. Joga Singh, SHO, confirmed that a case was registered and the accused was produced before the court today. “He retired two years ago as the ADC. Posing as sales tax officer, he had started checking the documents of the consignment, which was to be delivered to a trader at Fatehgarh Churian Chowk. After finding him fake, we lodged a case against him. Later, he was bailed out,” he said.
— TNS
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Mobile seized from undertrial in jail
Amritsar, September 13 According to Deputy Superintendent Kulwant Singh, a case under Section 420 IPC 42 Prisoner Act had been registered against the accused at the Cantonment police station. “During a routine checking, our staff recovered a Nokia mobile, IMEI no 35679202/904475/9 without SIM card, from his possession. We are investigating the sources through which they procured these mobiles in the jail premises,” he said.
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3 held for possessing intoxicants
Amritsar, September 13 In another case, the A- Division police arrested Harpreet Singh, a resident of Verka, and recovered 150 gm of intoxicant powder from him. Separate cases under Section 21/61/85 have been registered against the accused.
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Shoe shops to remain closed today
Amritsar, September 13 Chairman of the local association Rupinder Kumar said all the footwear shops would remain closed and a protest march would also be carried out. The march would conclude at the Excise and Taxation Office after handing over a memorandum to the Commissioner, Excise and Taxation. He stated that the shoe merchants were paying VAT at the rate of 5.5 per cent and 13.75 per cent as applicable on the sale of the footwear. He said comparatively it was a very small trade and about 20,000 families in the city were involved in it. He feared that the high rate of taxes would offer advantage to shoe manufacturers in Rajasthan as shoes up to the sale price of Rs 500 per pair were tax free. A similar rule was applicable in Delhi, he added. Whereas in Punjab there was no exemption from VAT at any sale price. The district unit president of the association, Girdhari Lal Pandhi, said as per the latest classification, VAT at 5.5 per cent plus 10 per cent surcharge (totalling 6.05 per cent) up to the sale price of Rs 250 and thereafter VAT of 13 per cent plus10 per cent surcharge (totalling 14.30 per cent) had been imposed and termed it arbitrarily decided and unreasonable.
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Guru Ram Dass School of Planning to conduct 9-week comprehensive study on Amritsar
Amritsar, September 13 A meeting to communicate details of the study and seek cooperation from various departments of the district administration was convened today on the campus. The meeting was attended by various heads of the departments, including MC Commissioner Dharam Pal Gupta. Head of Guru Ram Dass School of Planning Balwinder Singh said, “During this study we would asses the volume of traffic at various junctions in the city. This way we would be better able to formulate plans to tackle the problem of traffic congestion.” He said the study would also concentrate on problems of engineering of the roads and squares. He said the students of the department would complete the study as a part of their annual project. “Around 35 students would participate in the task. They would also identify all the heritage buildings in the entire city,” he said. The students would roam from lane to lane to collect data about the structural designs of the buildings, whether institutional or private, said Balwinder Singh, adding that the department had earlier discussed the project with Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal. He said after the completion of the first phase of the study in nine weeks, the school was planning to initiate another seven-week project to suggest solutions to the various problems faced by the city. The MC Commissioner assured the gathering that he would get the report tabled before the higher planning authorities so that the points enlisted in it were taken into consideration while initiating development projects. He said the corporation would extend whole-hearted support to the students in the completion of the study.
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Young
achievers
Amritsar, September 13 The cool, confident and committed, the brand ambassadors of the GenNext in the city are enjoying all the attention and have perfect reason for it. For they have changed Amritsar’s status, as far as talent is concerned. The trio was honoured at a felicitation ceremony held at the SG Thakar Singh Art Gallery and they got candid about finding and becoming an inspiration. Crooning glory Ask him if he credits himself with a star status and Vipul Mehta turns humble, “I consider myself to be an artiste and nothing else. Though it is an achievement to become an Indian Idol, but I still have a long way to go before I call myself a star.” The young singer who wowed the country with his versatile singing on “Indian Idol” believes his success story would inspire others to join the league. “There is loads of talent in Amritsar, especially in performing arts. Look at the number of singers we have given to Bollywood, the actors and stand-up artistes on television. We already have a glorious past with names like Rajesh Khanna and Mohammad Rafi. I hope my win would prompt more young artistes to chase their dreams,” he says. Finding his own inspiration in Mohammad Rafi, Vipul feels that the holy city has the potential to add more shining stars to the list. He also spells out a success mantra for the potential stars, “Hard work and focus can make you achieve anything. Be original and maintain your individuality for that edge over others.” Amit Kumar, Vipul’s competitor for the title and another city lad, too, nods in agreement. “The fact that all three finalists were from Punjab speaks volumes about the talent here. I consider myself lucky to have found such a great platform and realise my dream. Amritsar has good artistes as well as good learning ground. The senior artistes who have given their fair share of fame to the city have turned mentors for others. We too hope for the same,” he said. Pacing ahead Another star performer from the city Kamal Passi shared his success mantra, though in a style only suitable for a budding cricket star. “I am glad to be representing the youth in the city and lead the way for many other young sport stars,” said Passi. The pacer from the world champion U-19 Indian cricket team is enjoying his celebrity status and is hoping to be a part of the Indian team. “The international cricket needs a lot more mature game. I need to get more strong, physically and mentally, hone my skills on the field and work more hard.” For the young cricketer who spends six-seven hours on the nets daily, the glamorous lifestyle of a cricket star in the country is not an incentive. “The game is grand and so everybody connected to it become grand. But it also make you loose focus with all things flashy around you,” he explains. And how does IPL sound to him? “For the levelheaded, it is just another format of the game,” he sounds cautious. Kamal believes Punjab has a lot to give to the Indian sports. “We have always given legendary sports stars, be it any sport. We have good athletes, infrastructure and the right attitude. “He wishes more young sports stars to find their inspiration and do the country proud, his own being Yuvraj Singh. He has come a long way and proved that you can do anything with strong determination and will power.”
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Lobbying on for top Municipal Corporation posts
Amritsar, September 13 Even as the SAD will have to weigh the pros and cons of its prominent candidates, three names are prominently being projected for these posts which include Amarbir Singh Dhot, Avtar Singh Trukkanwala and Geetinder Kaur. Amarbir Dhot’s name appears to be on top for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, while the competition seems to be there between Avtar and Geetinder for the post of deputy mayor. Amarbir Dhot, winner from ward No. 40 has held political positions like Sikh Students Federation (Mehta)’s district chief and member of the Jail Advisory Board. Dhot has identification in political circles. Avtar Singh, who won the corporation elections from ward No. 29, has political experience, but the only hurdle could be his less academic qualification. The second contender Geetinder Kaur, who won from ward No. 36, enjoys the influence of being the wife of MLA Inderbir Bolaria, but as an individual, she has absolutely no experience. This first timer may find it tough to connect with the masses and redressing their grievances. Even as there are only four seats of the Congress in the 65-member house, in the Congress camp, lobbying have started, since September 11, when PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh during his visit to Majitha had announced that the name of Leader of the Opposition would be finalised by September 15, i.e. during the formation of new house and the announcement of the New Mayor. The prominent name that have surfaced till date are of Gurinder Rishi (ward no 24) and Raj Kanwalpreet Singh Lucky (ward No. 10). Between the two, Rishi’s name finds the priority despite the fact that it was for the first time that he contested and won the corporation polls. His win gains significance AS he had defeated the City Mayor Shwait Malik.
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PTU to get BoG Chairman soon
Jalandhar, September 13 Principal Secretary SS Channy, who was a member of the committee, said it was now a matter of seven to 10 days for the file to get finally cleared through Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Governor Shivraj Patil. He said of the 25 nominations that the committee received, the names of a few top scientists had been cleared. He, however, refused to give any further detail. Having remained a member of the university BoG for three terms spanning nine years, Dr RS Khandpur’s name is among those whose name has been recommended.
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Defence pension adalat organised
Amritsar, September 13 Around 300 pensioners attended the adalat. In total 187 cases were reported during the adalat and seven pensioners, whose cases were solved on the spot, were given cheques by the chief guest, Vandana Srivastva. She said the adalat would continue on September 14 and pensioners can attend it to get their problems solved.
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Freedom fighter passes away
Jalandhar, September 13 The body of the freedom fighter was consigned to flames by his son Harcharan Singh. The centenarian is survived by his five sons and three daughters. SDM-II Isha Kalia and ACP Jalandhar Sarabjit Singh laid a wreath. A contingent of the Punjab Police paid salute to the departed soul. — TNS
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Athletic meet from Sept 14
Amritsar, September 13 Dr Sukdev Singh, Head of the Physical Department of Guru Nanak Dev University, will be the chief guest and will declare the meet open. Competitions would be held in various track events, like 200 m race, 400 m race, 800 m race and 4x100 m relay race and field events, like shot put, discus throw and javelin throw.
— TNS
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