Amritsar, September 16
As the date for mayoral polls has been postponed to September 19, there are speculations in the political circles that the BJP and SAD could not resolve differences over the names of candidates for the top posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

For the post of Mayor, a meet of the BJP core committee has been scheduled at Sonepat to finalise the candidate. On the other hand, intense lobbying is on within the SAD camp for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

At present, names of two BJP leaders have surfaced prominently for the post of Mayor. They are Rajesh Honey and Bakshi Ram Arora.

Considered to be a dark horse, Sukhminder Pintu, who won with a record margin, stands a chance to get to the hot seat if the BJP could not reach consensus over the names of Honey and Arora, sources said.

Sources said despite having reasonably good political background in Amritsar, Honey, a two-time councilor, faces opposition as he belongs to the camp of MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu.

The SAD had wished of field its candidate for the post of Mayor after its splendid performance in the MC polls. It won 25 seats, one more than the BJP.

Dismayed over the results, Sidhu had gone public with his displeasure over the way the Akalis fielded independent rebel candidates against the BJP. This had led to an open spat between Cabinet minister Majithia and Sidhu. So, Honey being Sidhu’s choice might not have gone down well with the SAD camp.

Sources also disclosed that senior leader Bakshi Ram Arora though have immense political experience and had held important positions like chairman of the Improvement Trust and district president of the party in the past, the alliance could not give final verdict in his favour too. The reason, sources said, that he seldom paid attention to grievances of party candidates. It was because of his “inflexible” and “rigid” nature, the BJP and the SAD councillors, reportedly, have not given their ‘consent’ to his candidature.

On the other hand, Sukhminder Singh Pintu, who shares a good rapport with Industries Minister Anil Joshi, could be considered for the post.

In the SAD camp, the consensus could not be reached over the nomination of Surinder Sultanwind and Avtar Singh Trukkanwala for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor.

Identical is the problem for the post of Deputy Mayor’s post. The Congress rebel and former Deputy Mayor Om Parkash Gabbar, who joined the SAD just prior to the MC poll, along with two others --- Bhupinder Rahi and Ajit Lal --- are in the race for Deputy Mayor’s post.

Amritsar, September 16
Already doing kar sewa of cleaning roads en route Panj Sarovar (five holy ponds) Walk for almost a year now, Baba Kulwant Singh from Ajnala has been roped in by the district tourism department to do a similar sewa on the Heritage Walk route.

The cleanliness on the route has always been an issue with the Municipal Corporation failing to do the task.

District Tourism Officer Balraj Singh said, “The kar sewa of five sarovars would complete a year on October 1. Baba ji has planned a ‘sukrana divas’ on the occasion.”He said at present the sewa was performed on every Saturday. And on the day, Baba Kulwant Singh would announce to perform it on alternate days.

“We have also requested him to do a similar sewa on the Heritage Walk route. The state tourism department has also proposed to provide him automated machines for the purpose,” said District Tourism Officer adding that hopefully the machines would be delivered at the function.

He claimed that because of the involvement of a religious figure such as Baba Kulwant Singh in the cleanliness drive on five sarovar walk, people have become more sensitive. “The situation has changed a lot. And now with the Baba and his followers performing kar sewa on every alternate day, things would improve a lot more,” he said.

At 11 in the night on every Saturday, volunteers come from Ajnala to clean the roads connecting, leading and passing through five holy ponds Santokhsar, Bibeksar, Ramsar, Kaulsar and most sacred Amrit Sarovar, in the Golden Temple complex. The devotees accomplish the task by 4 am. “With the machines coming, it will be easier to cover longer routes on the heritage walk. The machines will be purchased on a loan from the Asian Development Bank which is already involved in the project,” said Balraj Singh.

He said Geetika Kalha, Principal Secretary, Tourism, had met Baba Kulwant Singh and requested him to take up the task. “More than the cleanliness drive, it would be the beginning of a movement towards sensitising people to keep their areas clean,” he said.

Amritsar, September 16
As the police has decided to present challans in the court on September 20 against 22 teachers and employees for participating in the agitation against the Khalsa College Managing Committee, which wanted to convert Khalsa College to a private university, the teachers's organisation (Punjab Chandigarh College Teachers Union) today threatened to launch an agitation against the move.

The teachers said they have received communication from the police to be present in the court on the said date.

Prof Kuldeep Singh, general secretary, PCCTU said if teachers were victimised and harassed, they would launch an agitation. "And the authorities will be responsible if the academic atmosphere is disturbed in the process," he said. "To begin with, the teachers working in the various colleges in Amritsar will cease work for two hours on the day of presentation of challans by the police in the local court," he said.

Teachers demanded an impartial inquiry before proceeding further into the matter. They also appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene and order withdrawal of the FIR against teachers and employees.

Prof JR Prashar, president, PCCTU, said the Khalsa College Managing Committee had backtracked from the written agreement, reached between the representatives of the managing committee and teachers union.

"It reflects the degradation of the moral values of the managing committee running several educational institutions. The PCCTU will safeguard and protect the rights and interests of teachers at any cost," he said. The agitation continued for three months from March 16 to June 16, 2011. On March 31, 2011, principal of Khalsa College Dr Daljit Singh lodged an FIR against 22 teachers and employees. 

Amritsar, September 16
Emotions ran high when the admirers and followers of legendary playwright Gursharan Singh gathered at his ancestral home, Guru Khalsa Niwas, to celebrate his birth anniversary and pay tributes to the theatre activist.

Led by senior theatre thespians of city Kewal Dhaliwal, Jatinder Kaur and many others, the revolutionary playwright was remembered for his progressive approach and passion which instilled a new life in the Punjabi literary circles.

"He drew inspiration from people like Bhagat Singh and became a voice for the oppressed masses. He took on social injustices with a street theatre as a weapon, made theatre for masses. He was dramatist who drew from everyday life," said Kewal Dhaliwal, one of his disciples and followers. His plays and characters reflected his personality, threatened by annihilation when dared to raise voice against injustice. One of his legendary such character Bhai Mana Singh was an example of his on stage and off stage heroics.

On the occasion, the literary society announced to celebrate his birthday as Inquilabi Rangmanch Diwas and the initiative to turn his house into a museum. His wife Kailash Kaur and daughters too joined in the celebrations. His wife remained moist-eyed throughout, remembering him and sharing his dream to make an open air theatre inside the premises, hoping to make it a breeding ground for theatre activists in the region. She also said he wanted to bring in a social revolution through theatre, which became his life-long mission. His daughter Dr Navsharan Kaur released a CD of compilations and songs written by him during his theatrical tours. "It is a very emotionally overwhelming day for us. His passion and dedication towards his mission remained strong, even during later stages of his life. He was a man of the masses." Noted actor and theatre personality Jatinder Kaur too couldn't control her emotions when she broke down sharing her experiences and memories with the playwright.

The evening saw colourful celebrations at Guru Khalsa Niwas, lighting the lamp at his residence followed by cultural performances, folk performances and staging a play written by Gursharan Singh popularly known as 'Paaji' by his fans. A collection of books published under the Balraj Sahni publication that Gursharan Singh set up in the memory of the late actor, was also released. It would be displayed as a part of the memorabilia at the museum.

Amritsar, September 16
The CIA staff and the rural police today arrested 10 persons with intoxicants in separate raids.

The CIA staff arrested five persons from the Sultanwind area. The arrested were identified as Rajbir Singh, Shamsher Singh, Jaspal Singh, Jai Onkar Singh and Satnam Singh. The police seized 2,500 capsules of parvon spas, 5,000 lomotil tablets from Satnam Singh. As much as 375 g of intoxicant powder and seven mobile phones were seized from the rest of them. All have been booked under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

In another incident, the B-Division police arrested Manjit Singh and Gurjit Singh, residents of Batala, and seized 545 g of intoxicant powder and a motorcycle from their possession.

In other raids by the rural police, three persons were arrested under sections of the NDPS Act. Sandeep Kumar was nabbed with 1,000 intoxicant capsules; Karandeep Singh with 500 g of intoxicant powder and Bikranjit Singh with 100 g of intoxicant powder.

Amritsar, September 16
The Chheharta police has booked four persons for allegedly abducting a minor girl. The accused, identified as Ajay Kumar, his brother Mannu, mother Suman and uncle Ashok Kumar, have been booked under Sections 363, 366 and 120-B of the IPC.

The accused are residents of Ghanupur Kale.

Girl's father Balwinder said Ajay Kumar might have allured her on the pretext of marriage. "I have no clue about the whereabouts of my daughter since August 26 and the missing complaint was lodged the next day," he said.

Police Commissioner Ram Singh said, “It is really a matter of concern that a minor girl has been allured and abducted in such a manner. I will ask for details of the case tomorrow.” — TNS

Amritsar, September 16
A resident of Ranjit Avenue has written a letter to the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation complaining against a private hospital allegedly being built in the residential area illegally.

In a compliant, Jasjeet Singh Gill, a resident of house number A-287, has complained about the conversion of a residential property into a private hospital by their neighbours. The complainant has demanded the MC to intervene and stall the construction work before it is too late.

“He has not adhered to the building bylaws. The hospital in a residential area is a cause of nuisance for residents of the locality,” said Jasjeet adding that if the construction gets completed, the MC would face many problems to get the hospital closed.

He said already there was a private hospital existing in the lane. “We face trouble regularly due to haphazard parking outside the hospital. The situation would worsen with another hospital coming up in the street,” he said.

The hospital owners had already started bringing in patients even as the construction was not yet complete, he added.

Earlier too, residents had gone to the police over the issue. “A day when it rained, water started pouring down from the roof of our house because of the faulty construction done by the hospital owners. Later we called in the police which asked the owners to repair the leaking water pipes,” said Jasjeet.

The complainant also raised questions on the working of the MC. “How come a person starts converting his residential property into a commercial unit without taking MC officials into confidence. If he has not asked for permission, the officials should have taken action as per law,” he said.

Amritsar, September 16
Retail merchants of grocery, chemists, stationary, cosmetics and various other categories, besides distributors, felt that the government’s decision of allowing 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail would prove a death knell for small-time shopkeepers. They also felt that distributors and middle and high segment retailers would be severely hit as fallout of the decision.

Narinder Singh, a general store owner, said the move was expected to hit retail grocers in a big way.

Narinder said he found a considerable number of his customers having moved to chain stores and foreign players would deal another blow to their age-old business.

Inderjit of the All-India Rehri Farri Union, Punjab, while expressing his anguish over the government’s decision of allowing FDI in the retail sector, said the move would lead to a sharp decline in the business of small shopkeepers and would eventually render them unemployed.

He recalled that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu had issued a statement in Washington this April that India would see some important reforms, including on subsidies, and might be partial diesel decontrol and FDI in retail in the next six months. He said the words had now become true.

Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal president Amrit Lal Jain said multi-brand retail stores would not only take away the share of retail grocery stores, but also of pharmaceuticals, apparels and other essential items in the time to come.

He said the past experiences stated that wherever retail majors had opened their stores in any city of the world, middle and upper-level shopkeepers of that area had vanished.

He said there were about six crore retailers, whether big and small, across the country.

He said it was frustrating to know that the leaders who had taken the decision did not have any personal experience of studying the working of retail shops and their role in society. He questioned these leaders why did not they offer these companies to run the Public distribution System (PDS), which is in a shambles.

He said the move would add unemployment and create imbalance in society. Subsequently, law and order problem would increase.

Amritsar Distributor Association president Om Prakash Sharma said the very existence of distributors was in danger as companies deal with them directly and supply material to their stores. He cited the example of the first wholesale cash and carry store in the country, which was set up in the holy city by Indian private telecom major Bharti Enterprises in collaboration with the US major Wal-Mart a couple of years ago, which captured over 30 per cent share of the business of distributors.

He said his association was representing 300 distributors of the city and one of their members had recorded his monthly sale of Hindustan Lever products coming down from Rs 10 crore to Rs 6.5 crore.

He said the similar trend was being witnessed by other distributors as well. These stores were now offering material to retailers at 15-day credit.

Amritsar Retail Karyana Association president Kuldeep Rai Gupta, running a grocery store in the Ram Bagh area of the city, said these international brands had plenty of resources and could set their own prices of various products after procuring them in bulk from markets, which amount to monopoly.

He felt that distributors, wholesalers and reputed stores would be severely hit as the customers would switch over to these organised stores.

He said there were over 2,300 karyana stores associated with the association and a majority of them offered employment to at least three persons, besides, indirectly to thousands others, including labourers.

Lata Sharma, a house wife and resident of Hathi Gate, said being a consumer she felt that there would be plenty of choices to choose from various kinds of outlets.

She said since these companies would procure material in bulk and competition among the companies would ultimately benefit the consumers as they would manage to procure these products at low and competitive rates.

Shamsher Singh, an employee, said the coming up of chain stores selling grocery, vegetables, fruits and other items did not eliminate retail stores and these had been doing like before.

He felt that consumers would have more liberty to choose and might find an opportunity to buy eatables at low prices.

Amritsar, September 16
The two-day 105th meeting of the Executive Committee of the All-India Council of Mayors (AICM), which concluded in Bathinda today, became a platform for exchange of ideas and experience to improve the functioning of civic bodies and make them more dynamic keeping in view their multidimensional talk, said Bathinda mayor Baljit Singh Birbehman, who is also the vice-chairman of the AICM.

Baljit, accompanied by seven mayors and a deputy mayor, was here today to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple.

Baljit said the meet put the demands of giving more power, right to raise funds and other powers to municipal corporations (MCs).

He said there were 142 MCs in the country and the AICM had about 30 executive committee members who assemble every four months to discuss problems and solutions that the corporations face from time to time.

He said Bathinda MC's attempt to provide RO water to its residents at 10 paise per liter was liked by various mayors and they were keen to implement it in their cities.

He said there was a tremendous exchange of ideas and plenty to learn from different MCs for the Bathinda MC, which was set up recently.

He said he got a lot of financial and administrative tips from the Surat and Mumbai MCs.

He said the meet among others took up the agenda to demand a five-year term for mayors in all states and Union Territories (UTs). Besides, the demand for adopting a uniform policy for all states and setting up of state Mayor-in-Councils, represented by the respective mayors of each state, was also discussed.

He said setting up of the Indian Municipal Service (IMS) on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was also taken up.

Bhawna Shah, mayor, Khandwa Municipal Corporation in Madhya Pradesh, said the abolition of octroi on goods moving between two municipalities left the local bodies financially crippled. The octroi helped the local corporations meet their expenses and made up for almost 70-80 per cent of their revenue.

Among others mayors of Bhopal Krishna Gour, Bareli's Subhash Patel and Beghu Sarai's Alok Aggarwal were also present.

Amritsar, September 15
Aseem Trivedi has become a hero. Not for the Mumbai police, but for those who joined him in his crusade against the law that called him anti-national.

The cartoonist walked out free days after the police arrested him on sedition charges for allegedly depicting the national emblem and Parliament in bad light in his cartoons. While the debate over his arrest and release continues, the artistic fraternity in the city, too, feels that the episode reflects constrained attitude of the government towards art and creativity and the thought process has once again been offended and violated.

“When porn and blue films are seen in Parliament, then it doesn’t bring shame to the nation. But an artist’s crude display of corruption in the country does. It is completely unjustified that Aseem is criticised for exercising his Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression,” says Atul Mehra, an artist and head of the Secular Arts Department at the Art Gallery.

“He is not a criminal. He is just paying the price of having a free mind. Art has been always misunderstood and artists have to bear the consequences of being liberal with their work. I have seen the cartoons in question and I personally do not think that they are offensive. The action against Aseem is completely unjustified,” says the four-time national award-winning artist.

While the controversy has sparked off knee-jerk reactions from all the corners, it has once again put to light our growing obsession with the so-called assaults on the national symbols.

“With such intolerant attitude towards those who speak out their mind, it is quite evident that some of the other democracies of the world are far more liberal than India. US artists and film-makers have been fighting such controversies for long, but their government doesn’t put them behind bars. Politicians who are involved in scams and gulp down crores of rupees are never charged with sedition. But why an artist on a crusade against corruption is termed as a threat to the nation?” asks Yogesh Negi, another caricature artist and cartoonist.

Brijesh Jolly, director, KT KALA art gallery, and an art critic, too, wonders why it is only artists who are always charged with trampling over national sentiments.

“This is not new. Earlier this year, artist Ambhikesh Mahapatra was jailed by the Mamata Banerjee government over his alleged cartoons. No other medium gives better freedom of speech than this and if that is a crime, so be it. Aseem has become a target because of his involvement with Anna Hazare’s campaign. Anybody who speaks against the government becomes an enemy of the state. I stand with Aseem and can’t understand the furore over his cartoons. The government should think about bringing some reforms rather than putting people behind bars,” he adds.