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Report on temple
preservation gathers dust
Lacking anaesthetists, Civil Hospital faces hurdles in swine flu battle
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CCTV at Exam Centres: PSEB yet to take final call
School buses continue to violate norms
Regulate plays, music videos, say Punjabi writers
Authorities fail as habit-forming drugs, intoxicants continue to flow in rural areas
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Report on temple
preservation gathers dust
Amritsar, January 13 A team of the tourism department headed by District Tourism Officer Balraj Singh along with technical experts had visited the temple on November 1 and later submitted a report strongly recommending preservation of the temple besides bringing it on the tourism map so that tourists from across the world could witness the splendid frescoes at the historic temple. In his report, a copy of which is procured by an RTI activist Rajneesh Khosla, the tourism officer said the temple was a beautiful blend of Mughal, Hindu and Sikh architecture. The temple consists of main sanctum sanctorum in the centre while four temples of Hindu deities --- Lord Shiva, Goddess Durga, Lord Ganesha and Sourya (Sun) --- are situated on four corners. Though the temple owner has whitewashed the Shiv temple due to lack of awareness, frescoes are very much intact in other temples, the official said. “After proper conservation, the temple could be one of the main tourist attractions in the future because there is perhaps no other temple which has such a unique architecture in Punjab,” he said. The temple is approximately 150 years old. The invaluable frescoes have been decaying due to a lack of knowledge among area residents. The lower portion of the walls, which were adorned with priceless frescoes, in three of the four temples have been whitewashed by the caretakers of the temple. The temple was built during the reign of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It has been a rich treasure trove of resplendent frescoes of Hindu deities besides Guru Nanak Dev along with his two disciples Bala and Mardana. Balraj Singh said he would soon send a reminder to the higher authorities to consider the proposal of the preservation of the temple. It is pertinent to mention here that the plight of the temple was first highlighted in The Tribune on August 1, 2011. Later, a team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Chandigarh circle, visited the shrine and recommended preservation of historical structures and frescoes to the ASI authorities in New Delhi. Crying for attention
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Lacking anaesthetists, Civil Hospital faces hurdles in swine flu battle
Moreover, ventilators at the ICU ward set up for swine flu patients are lying defunct. But even if the hospital gets these repaired, these would be of no use as the technical hand to use them is absent. At present the hospital has two anaesthetists, but it also has three round-the-clock working operation theatres of which the gynaecology theatre is the busiest. The health department had earlier sanctioned five posts of anaesthetists for the trauma centre, but no recruitment has been made till date. The doctors at the hospital said to run a fully-equipped intensive care unit, at least five anaesthetists would be further required. Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra had recently ordered the hospitals to prepare separate isolated wards for treating swine flu cases. A similar ward has also been prepared at the Civil Hospital, but the absence of anaesthetics may render it useless. Senior Medical Officer Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon admitted that there is a shortage of anaesthetists. He said they hope that sanctioned posts would be filled soon. Shortage woes
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4,000 hotel rooms for 40,000 tourists!
The survey also reveals that only 25 per cent of tourists stay overnight in the city and thus use hotels, sarais etc for stay purposes. Urmil Ji Khosa, manager (statistics), PHTPB, said close to two crore tourists visited the holy city in 2011-2012. “On an average, the visitors’ count stood between 40,000 to 50,000 which rose to 60,000 on weekends,” she said adding that the area of concern was that 75 per cent tourists wrap up their visits in a day and don’t stay at hotels. About five years back, the number of rooms in the hospitality sector was not more than 2,600. At present, there are 240 units to accommodate tourists, including 198 hotels besides serais (inn), dharamshala, rest houses and guest houses. Khosa said the average daily occupancy in hotels stood between 50 to 60 per cent and it increases to 100 per cent and more during the festival season. She said the board conducted a special survey during the Baisakhi festival last year and found that there was 100 per cent occupancy in hotels. She felt that the city needed more number of rooms in the budget category hotels to accommodate the rush of pilgrims which is growing. Hotelier Surinder Singh said of late there has been an increase in the number of hotels especially in luxury segments. He said over 10 hotels with collective investment of Rs 500 crore were in construction phase in the city. “Many star hotels are coming up in the walled city, characterised by its labyrinthine narrow lanes. He said high occupancy in hotels on festival days doesn’t occur more than twice a year. He rued that number of visitors staying overnight was not catching up with the pace of addition of rooms. Another hotelier Satnam Singh Kanda was apprehensive that the industry might be headed for a demand and supply problem if the government did not open more tourist spots soon. He said it was high time throw open under restoration projects like Qila Gobindgarh and Heritage Village at the Guru Nanak Dev University. He said occupancy could be doubled in the city if Hari Ke Pattan wetland and other places could be added to the tourism package. Tourism board survey
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Burglary in doctor’s house
Dr Beant Singh, his wife Davinder Kaur and brother-in-law Harjit Singh were injured in the incident. The accused, who had faces covered, had taken Dr Beant’s son Akash hostage. The Sadar police is hoping to get some clue through two mobile phones which the accused had taken away from Dr Beant Singh’s residence. Subeg Singh, in charge, Fatehgarh Churian police station, and investigating officer, said the accused were yet to be identified. He said the mobile phones which they took away were found switched off. “We hope of find clues as soon as the mobiles phones are switched on. We have written to the senior officials regarding this,” Subeg Singh said. The three accused, who were under the influence of drugs, attacked the family with sharp-edged weapons. Investigations revealed that the accused scaled the wall of an adjoining under-construction house and entered Dr Beant Singh’s house by breaking the bolted door. The incident
Burglars hurt Dr Beant Singh, his wife Davinder Kaur and brother-in-law Harjit Singh while fleeing the house. Though they had taken Dr Beant’s son hostage, they panicked and fled when the family put up resistance. The miscreants had their faces covered. The micreants were able to take away only two mobile phones from the house.
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CCTV at Exam Centres: PSEB yet to take final call
A hue and cry had been raised after the administration of Thapar University decreased the quota of students from Punjab citing non-availability of quality candidates. Vigilant citizens and educationists held the menace of copying as one of the major reasons for the same and sought strict action from the board in copying cases. They had sought strict measures to stem check copying, especially in remote areas of the border districts. This situation had prompted the board to announce installation of CCTV cameras at sensitive examination centres last year. Initially, the PSEB had decided to install CCTV cameras at all examination centres, but later confined the list to sensitive and border area schools only. However, the plan came to a cropper as it could not gather sufficient fund of Rs 15 lakh to foot the bill for procuring 100 cameras. PSEB Secretary Balwinder Singh, also the Controller of Examination, said the matter of installation of surveillance apparatus in the proposed final examinations of Classes X and XII would be taken up in the meeting with the chairperson of the PSEB to be held next week at Chandigarh. He added that as many as 100 sensitive examination centres across the state, including 36 in this border district, had been identified to curb copying. He added that acting upon the report of the Unfair Means Branch of the board, notorious centres, where copying cases had repeatedly occurred, were identified. Dr Balwinder said CCTV cameras would be installed on priority at examination centres in four border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot. Besides, about 200 flying squads would be constituted to keep a check on any unfair practice at examination centres. He said the number of examination centres, which was 3,040 last year, would come down this time as students taking examinations under associated and open schools would not be counted. He said as per the new norms, examination centres would be granted to those schools in urban areas that has at least 70 regular students and in rural areas to those schools which has at least 90 regular students. Copying menace
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School buses continue to violate norms
Amritsar, January 13 The Amritsar Tribune team spotted various school buses, flouting the traffic rules, as many of them were overcrowded with the students, while in some the students were standing or sitting at doorsteps, at risky positions. Several buses were found without a cleaner or a conductor. Drivers were seen discharging both the jobs. Rash and high speed driving, even on congested roads of the city, demanded immediate rectification. Nirmaljit Kaur Sodhi, mother of two school going children, said that she spotted the driver for high speeding, as she came to board her children in the school bus during the morning. She pointed this out to a driver that he had to reach the school on time. Answering a query, she said she never took the matter to the school authorities. She said it was also a matter of concern that many buses and vans involved in ferrying school students, were worn-out vehicles and violated the norms. The lackadaisical attitude of school authorities, transport and traffic police authorities has certainly resulted in recurrence of the incidents. A social activist, Naresh Johar, said it was strange that the semi-literate drivers were always held responsible for violation but the school managements were not entrusted the responsibility, to keep a tab on violations. He said relevant laws were available to regulate school buses, as per these norms a driver of a school bus could be booked for his driving related offences, while the school management/owner and principal could be held responsible for other violations. He added that even private vehicles like vans, cabs, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws, ferrying school children were bound to follow the safety measures. Further, the authorities have not been able to rein in erring drivers, owners of buses and vans. At the same time, rickety and worn out vehicles, driven by inexperienced drivers are the root causes of such accidents, civic activists pointed out. Meanwhile, the officials in the district transport office, shared that as per the transport department norms, drivers operating school buses or vans should possess 'heavy vehicle' licences with a minimum of 10 years' driving experience. The guidelines emphasise that buses and vans should not be loaded with students, beyond the stipulated seating capacity, but these vehicles continue to ply with such loads, stated Swaran Singh, grandfather of a school going toddler. Meanwhile, the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), while granting approval for affiliation and category of associated schools, sought submission of affidavits containing 16 rules from the principals of these schools. However, sources in the department shared that officials hardly bother to keep a tab on these norms and only ensured that these schools submit the affidavit once in a year. The PSEB norms maintain that those schools, which have any means of transportation, including van, auto, bus, then these vehicles must indicate their numbers and registration numbers over the vehicles. Fitness certificates of these vehicles that they are in drivable condition and valid permits have to be submitted. Besides, these vehicles must have conductors and drivers who 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 must be displayed over these vehicles, besides availability of first aid box on the bus. The District Education Officer (Secondary), Rasal Singh Malhi, said that the department kept a check on transportation of various schools, besides holding traffic awareness camps with the assistance of traffic cops in various schools.
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Regulate plays, music videos, say Punjabi writers
Amritsar, January 13 Speaking at a seminar on ‘Social Insensitivity and Role of Writers’, Professor Dr Parminder Singh said gang rape of a woman in a moving bus in Delhi coupled with rise in criminal cases against women have given a wake up call for all quarters of the society to identify the missing links and plug the same. Sulakhan Sarhadi, who presided over the seminar, also shared the same views and added that negative fallouts of unregulated import of foreign culture were evident in various forms. The seminar was jointly organised by Kendari Lekhak Sabha, Tarksheel Society, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Alami Punjabi Virasat Foundation and
Saath.
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Authorities fail as habit-forming drugs, intoxicants continue to flow in rural areas
Amritsar, January 13 This is no hidden fact that drug abuse in the holy city has assumed large proportions. If Health and police officials are to be believed it is the habit-forming drugs that have been wreaking havoc as these are easily available in the market, especially in rural areas. According to health officials, in 2012, the local Drug Department made 79 seizures and medicines worth over Rs 24 lakh were recovered. The Health Department shocked to find unlicensed chemist shops running in villages that clearly indicated towards the illegal mushrooming of medical stores, which goes unchecked for years. According to rough estimates, about 50-60 medical stores raided by the Health Department in the previous years were found running without valid documents. This also include quacks who had been running their clinics for quite a long time, said a drug inspector of the department. The department has suspended the licenses of as many as 18 shops while cancelling the license of three medical stores permanently last year the majority of which are located in villages. It has also made seizures from the Katra Sher Singh market located in the walled city, which is the main wholesale market of the district. Certain medical stores continue with their ‘businesses’ even after the cancellation of their licenses. As per the data available with the Tribune, the city police has seized nearly 60,000 capsules and medicines, besides over 3,800 injections last year, which is three times more than 2011. This recovery is separate from the seizure what the Health Department had made during last year. In June, the Amritsar rural police had nabbed a BJP leader, Gurdas Mal Bhandari, and his chemist son for selling intoxicants illegally in Chawinda Devi village. The major question, however, remains about the source of these medicines. Police investigations revealed that the illegal trade was running through mobile phones while the identities of delivering agents remained a secret. “The interrogation of notorious drug peddlers revealed that they did not know about the identity of the person who supplies them with the consignment. They order the material through mobile phones,” said HS Brar, ADCP (crime). Another fact that came to light during the interrogation was that they have been getting supply from other districts also. In at least two cases, it has been found that they brought the consignment from a Ludhiana-based dealer. On January 3, the police arrested three youths with thousands of intoxicant medicines. They told the police that they procured the contraband from Ludhiana. In October, the CIA staff nabbed two notorious drug peddlers, Jaspreet Singh alias Sherry and Deedar Singh alias Dari, who were running a medical store at Dhapai. They were arrested following the seizure of huge quantity of drugs in August 22 during which the CIA staff had seized 2.80 lakh of habit-forming capsules and tablets from a canter and arrested the driver of the canter and two agents. During investigation, it was learnt that the Health Department had already cancelled the license of Jaspreet Singh in February and his shop lies closed in the Katra Sher Singh market. They procured the contraband from Prince Pharmacy, Ludhiana, which was also closed down on similar charges. He was serving a jail term in Ludhiana for illegally selling habit-forming drugs.
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Amritsar, January 13
Amritsar, January 13
Amritsar, January 13
Amritsar, January 13