Amritsar, October 26
The Powercom authorities are nowadays facing a different kind of a problem, especially in the districts adjoining the Indo-pak border.

Iron strips from huge electricity towers are being stolen by miscreants, thereby weakening their structures and increasing the chances of the collapse of towers due to strong winds and storms.

The problem is rampant in Amritsar and Tarn Taran border villages. This has forced Punjab State Power Corporation Limited authorities to launch an anti-theft campaign and stepping up of vigil and holding of regular patrolling to thwart the attempts of anti-social elements involved in the stealing of these iron strips.

PS Bal, Superintending Engineer of the Protection and Maintenance Circle (P&M), said iron strips had been stolen from as many as 150 electricity towers located on the 7-km stretch from Butari to Saidpur. Earlier, too, the Powercom authorities had found iron strips stolen from 110 towers on the Amarkot-Lakhna stretch five-six months ago. He said miscreants, especially drug addicts, stole these iron strips to have easy money for their addiction.

"Though no such incidents have been reported in which towers had fallen due to this, there are chances that these towers may collapse when strong winds blow," said Bal, adding that the collapse of towers would result in the disruption of power supply in that area, besides revenue loss to the Powercom.

The Powercom authorities have launched a special campaign to strengthen the towers from where iron strips have been stolen. He said a new type of nut-bolts were being used which were not easy to open for repairing and strengthening the towers.

He said the campaign would cover 1,100 km lines of the four districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot. He said the employees of the corporation had also stepped up vigil and were organising regular patrolling to thwart attempts by them to remove the strips.

Amritsar, October 26
In yet another incident, the Amritsar central jail authorities seized a mobile phone with a SIM card from a jail inmate during a search operation.

A case under Section 420 of the IPC and 42 of the Prisoner Act has been registered against the accused, identified as Bhagwant Singh, of Rajasthan in this connection.

According to information, he was coming out of his barrack when the staff got suspicious of his movements and during search, found a mobile phone from his possession.

Only yesterday, the jail staff had recovered 12 gm of smack from a safai karamchari, identified as Rajiv.

Such instances once again prove the fact that narcotic substances and mobile phones and SIMs continue to sneak into the jail premises.

Rajiv was engaged a couple of days ago on compassionate grounds after his father expired.

He was booked by the police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Amritsar, October 26
With many dengue cases being reported in the city, there is hardly any move to check the fever in the schools.

Amritsar Tribune found that government, private and government-aided schools had not initiated any dedicated campaign to fumigate and clean these institutes. Besides, educating staff and students about the fever remains a distant dream. Even as overnight arrival of winter prompted many parents to dress up their wards in full-length uniforms, the school authorities have not taken any initiative to direct them to wear full sleeve shirts.

About 400 senior secondary and high schools fall under the District Education Officer (DEO) Secondary. DEO (S) Rasal Singh Malhi said reports regarding dengue fever had recently come out and the department was contemplating to issue advisory to all heads of the schools to take special precautions and educate staff and students regarding its symptoms, precautions and cure.

Dr Dharamvir Singh, director, Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public Schools, said advisory to all nine schools being run under the Chief Khalsa Diwan, had been communicated to take precautions. He said soon an advisory would be issued to 60 CBSE-affiliated schools, which come under Sahodya Schools, an organisation representing the CBSE schools in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.

Civil Surgeon Yash Mitra said 44 suspected and seven confirmed cases of dengue had been reported so far. He said from time to time, awareness camps for schools were organised and anti-dengue month is held in July every year. He informed that mosquito was active in moderate temperature witnessed at the turn of the season in October, November and February and March. He said prevention is the best cure in case of dengue. There is no direct treatment for the fever. Drugs function as supportive treatment and consolidate body resistance, which eventually overpower the germs.

He added that it was a disease of tropical and sub-tropical regions. Its onset was sudden and characterised by swelling and pain in the joints. Eruptions may also appear on various parts of the body and redness spreads over the face along with the above symptoms. He elaborated that fever, ranging from 103 degrees to 106 degrees, was often maximum on the first day and pulse was often slow. The throat remains sore, while pain is experienced in the joints and in the muscles.

He informed that the fever occurs due to an unknown virus transmitted by mosquitoes and the patient's blood is infectious one day before the symptoms of fever appear and continue for the first three days of fever. Mosquito bite is responsible for the spread of dengue. The incubation period of the virus varies from five to nine days.

Amritsar, October 26
As the artistic circles are still coping with the tragic demise of actor, producer and popular satirist Jaspal Bhatti, his birthplace Amritsar, too, finds itself in a state of deep shock. The man who made laughter a mission in life is no more and his absence has left a gap that will never be filled, according to the common sentiments shared by the artistic fraternity in the holy city.

"His death has caused an irreparable damage to the artistic community in the country. He was a professional in political satires and very practical in his approach towards making his point. I have immense respect for his contribution towards the field of comedy. He was amongst very few great artistes from Punjab in the field. We should preserve his memory and work as an example for the future artistes," said Kewal Dhaliwal, director, Virsa Vihar.

Rajinder Mohan Chinna, president, SG Thakar Singh Art Gallery, too, shared his grief, "All those who were familiar with his work and personality have been saddened by this tragedy. He was an artiste to reckon with, the best in his field and was a revolutionary who believed in fighting serious issues through humour. He was truly the King of ethical comedy."

Amongst those who shared a deep respect for his works was Amritpal Singh, 29-year-old nephew of Bhatti, from the city. "He was born in Amritsar and always remained connected to the city, no matter wherever he went. He was the most respected and loved member in the family, always making people laugh and cracking jokes." Jaspal Bhatti's aunt, Gurnam Kaur, too, fondly remembers him as a kind and warm person, always wearing a smile. He was born in the house of his maternal grandmother situated in Chowk Karori, inside the walled city.

Tributes paid

As a remembrance, the artistic fraternity in the city, along with Jaspal Bhatti's cousin, actor Arvinder Bhatti, paid tributes to the late artiste at Sangam Cinemas before the premiere of Bhatti's last film 'Power Cut'. The ceremony was attended by Bhatti's fans, admirers and those who had a close association with the deceased artiste.

"He will always be remembered as someone who could make people laugh even in the darkest hours. His film, 'Power Cut', that proved to be his last directorial venture, should be seen as a tribute to his creative genius," said Arvinder Bhatti.

Meanwhile, the film that is a satire on the Punjab state's dismal power situation, opened to a huge response in city. "Post the sudden death of Jaspal Bhatti, the film has attained an emotional status. His fans have thronged the cinema halls in city to watch and laugh one last time at his cinematic genius," said a spokesperson from a leading multiplex in the city.

The sense of excitement and reverence was visible in many who came to watch his film, "It's is a very good film, true to Jaspal Bhatti's style with intelligent and topical humour. I salute the man," said Rashpal Singh, a businessman from the city.

Amritsar, October 26
The District Legal Services Authority organised a pre-round district-level legal literacy youth festival at the Khalsa College of Education today.

About 260 students from 18 colleges are participating in the festival. The final of the youth festival will be held tomorrow. The winner will qualify to take part in the zonal-level contest. Students of the host college started the programme with the recital of a shabad. Then they participated in skit, poetry recital, photography skills, slogan writing and declamation contests.

The youth festival was inaugurated by District and Sessions Judge Harminder Singh Madan.

Amritsar, October 26
The CKD Cultural Fest-2012, dedicated to Director Yash Chopra and comedian Jaspal Singh Bhatti, opened at Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School, GT Road, here today.

The fest commenced with the recital of the school shabad followed by auspicious lighting of lamp by chief guest Virsa Singh Valtoha, MLA from Bhikhiwind.

Chief Khalsa Diwan Charitable Society (CKDCS) president Charanjit Singh Chadha in his welcome address said the school resources were being channelised to offer real experience of culture and creativity to the students. The students, attired in traditional Punjabi dresses, embellished with the accessories, stole the show.

Director Dr Dharam Veer Singh urged the students to work harder to get the best results as the world was becoming competitive day by day. He said the cultural fest would be organised in five different schools being run by the CKDCS.

He said that almost 2,000 students from 30 different schools would show their talent in different fields of fine arts, drama, dance, theatre, literature and IT.

Amritsar, October 26
Queen’s Couture launched an expanded version of luxurious designer ethnic wear yesterday.

Already running two stores of the brand, the collection is exclusive to the festive and wedding season.

Lots of eye-catching ethnic dresses, which are specifically designed for occasions, wide range of ethnic sarees, suits, bridal lehngas and occasional dresses with accessories and night wear ares also available.

Navdeep Singh of Queen’s Couture, shared, "Ethnic women wear is one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian apparel market. Sarees and lehnghas remain the foremost choice when it comes to traditional occasions, such as weddings and religious ceremonies. However, the western influence among the youth has exaggeratedly started pushing the saree and lehnga manufacturers towards a need for combining tradition with modernity.”

Amritsar, October 26
The Indian Academy of Fine Arts (IAFA), Amritsar, is organising a national art workshop from tomorrow.

The exhibition-cum-workshop will have renowned artists like Madan Lal, G.Y. Giri, B.N. Arahari and many more sharing a common stage.

“Since its inception, the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar, has been organising workshops regularly every year on different subjects like clay modeling, sculptures on different media, water colour paintings, photography, calico printing, etc, at national, state and city levels,” said Rajinder Mohan Chinna, president, art gallery.

The national workshop is being dedicated to former president of the IAFA late Avtar Singh Sculptor. Thirty artists of national repute from all over India will be participating in the workshop. The event will be spread over three days, viz 27, 28 and 29 October. The participants will be making paintings and thun exhibiting their talent.

Amritsar, October 26
Students of over 60 schools displayed 123 models in the two-day district-level science exhibition, which concluded at Shri Ram Ashram Senior Secondary School today.

Organised by the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology, the exhibition also saw competitions in essay and slogan writings. As many as 16 teachers participated in teaching aid competitions.

District Science Supervisor Sudeep Kaur was the chief guest. School Principal Neetu Sharma welcomed the guests. A cultural programme was presented by students.

Sudeep Kaur, addressing the students, said science exhibition provided a platform to the budding scientists to explore their scientific aptitude and also enriched their knowledge in various aspects. It also inculcated confidence and spirit of healthy competition among students.

Holy Heart Presidency School bagged the overall first trophy in the science exhibition. First runner-up was Shri Ram Ashram Senior Secondary School. Raj Memorial Senior Secondary School, Ajnala, bagged trophy in the rural category.

Amritsar, October 26
The APJ College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, lifted the overall championship trophy of the Inter-Zonal Final Youth Festival of Guru Nanak Dev University today.

More than 600 students from colleges, affiliated to the university, participated in the festival. The BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar, came runners-up and DAV College, Jalandhar, stood third in the festival.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Ajaib Singh Brar presided over the valedictory function and awarded trophies to the winners. He congratulated the winners and motivated the students to participate in national and international-level cultural activities to show their hidden talent. He said cultural activities were mirror to the society.

On the occasion, Jatinder Singh Brar, Director, Punjab Natshala, was the guest of honour.

Amritsar, October 26
Over the years, the political leaders have been talking of developing the holy city as a major tourism hub as well. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also announced to develop Amritsar as the world-class city. But, nothing seems to be happening on the ground-level. The reality is that Amritsar, the spiritual capital of the state, having a population of over a million, is grappling with civic woes like inadequate road network, chaotic traffic, poor sewerage system, haphazard urbanisation, and insufficient drinking water supply.

Holy city with heritage look

The Deputy CM had intended that Amritsar would be transformed into a heritage-look city and directed the officials to prepare a draft plan to beautify the city roundabouts on the ‘heritage theme’. Besides this, Badal also showed interest for erecting eye-catching gates on all the roads connecting the holy city. But does it really required? “The government must come out clean on all the projects and give clear directions on the completion of these development works. A large number of tourists and religious devotees who visit the city were a disappointed lot as the city is lacking in infrastructure,” said Naresh Johar, local.

Water supply and sewerage

The quality life is still a distant dream for city residents. The walled city area, from where over 60 per cent of the total waste water of the entire city emerges, has the same obsolete British era underground piped sewerage system. Around 36 per cent residents are still devoid of any sewerage facility and the water supply network still could not reach 20 per cent houses here. There is absolutely no scientific system available in whole district to treat or check the quality of water.

Traffic scenario

Even as multi-lane bridges and elevated roads have been built yet in the absence of any governance, massive traffic snarls are there on the roads. There have been regular instances of drunken driving accidents. But who cares? Ironically, the police here do not have Alco meters to check the drunken drivers. In the absence of wireless sets, the police is helpless if an offender drives away conveniently, after knocking down the victim on the road. Similarly, the overloaded private buses and unregistered auto-rickshaw operators could never be taken to task because they enjoy immunity after taking political asylum. “The anti-encroachment drive to clear the roads or pedestrian paths merely ends up in an eye wash exercise. Any person with a shop of the size of an almirah can open a repair shop on the roadside and not caring about the inconvenience caused to the commuters,” said Jagdish Singh, another local.

Magnetic pod and city bus service

The Deputy CM also dreamt of Personal Rapid Transport System by introducing Heathrow pattern magnetic pods and city bus service. The laser-guided public transport system and the bus service always found place in his speeches but could not be executed.

‘Regularising’ illegal colonies contradicts master plan

The 343 illegal colonies detected by the PUDA within the limits of AMC, are today enjoying the ‘legal’ status, post announcement by the state government just prior to the recent Assembly elections. Nevertheless, this decision had disturbed the Amritsar Master Plan (AMP) that was implemented about a year back. Some of these colonises have been built on agricultural areas.

CCTV cameras

Three days ago, the Deputy CM unveiled a CCTV project worth Rs 100 crore for all cities of Punjab. He had announced that after Ludhiana, these cameras would be installed at ‘strategic locations’ in Amritsar. The project was announced earlier also, by local BJP Member Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu. The ‘official excuses’ of the delay in the project like the announcement of SGPC elections, followed by the assembly elections and the corporation elections, too got lapsed for long, but CCTV cameras remained part of leaders’ speech only.

Deteriorating law and order situation

The Deputy CM also concerned about law and order situation in the city as in the majority of cases police failed to make any breakthrough. Even as police claims to have decline in the crime graph, yet number of instances of looting, murder, theft, road side snatching incidents galore the columns of the newspaper every morning.