Jhabal road encounter: Two more arrested by police
Amritsar, April 5
Three days after the police encounter on the Jhabal road in which two persons were arrested along with arms and ammunition, the CIA staff has arrested two more persons who had allegedly escaped from the place at that time.

Amritsar, April 5
Even as the proposals of introducing city bus service and personal rapid transit system (PRTS) could not see the light of the day, the civic authorities in Amritsar are now eyeing the Metro rail service for the holy city to ease the traffic congestion here.

After finalising the 29-km-long Ludhiana metro rail plan, a team of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is in the city to explore the feasibility of the project here.

For Amritsar, three corridors, stretched to around 60 km (elevated or underground metro track), have been contemplated for introducing the metro service on the basis of the PHPDT (peak hour passenger direction traffic).

The project is proposed to be developed through the public private partnership (PPP) or built operate own (BOO) mode.

Superintending Engineer HS Khosa said the DMRC had been engaged by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) for consultancy.

“The need for introducing Metro is felt at those routes, where the peak-hour mobility crosses over 8000 passengers per hour. The idea is to meet not only current traffic flows, but for the next 20 to 25 years, as its peak-hour carrying capacity would be over 25,000 passengers per hour,” he said.

The detailed project report (DPR) would be prepared within a span of three months. Then, this report will have to be cleared by the Central Urban Development and finance ministries and the state Cabinet, as it would be a jointly funded project of the Centre as well as the state governments.

Proposed routes

Three corridors have been proposed for the project. The first corridor stretched to 34.1 km would be running along the National Highway-1 (from Jandiala-Inter State Bus Terminal-Sham Singh Attari Lahori Mal); second corridor would be of 11.5 km (from Inter State Bus Terminal to Guru Ram Dass International Airport); third route spreading in 17.5 km has been demarcated as (Verka-Inter State Bus Terminal-Mandiala located on Tarn Taran road). The Inter State Bus Terminal, being the central place, has been proposed to be kept for establishing underground main station for operating the metro service. The metro rail will run some 26 feet above the ground level on the elevated corridors, while for the underground corridor; it will run about 15-20m below the ground.

Funding for the project

It has been estimated that around Rs 180 crore per km would be the cost of raising elevated metro service, whereas Rs 550 crore per km would be the cost of running metro underground. A DPR (detailed project report) would be prepared for seeking the approval of the Centre as well as the state government which would share 20 per cent each of the project cost. The rest of the 60 per cent would be arranged by the Amritsar Municipal Corporation through PPP/BOT mode.

Another distant dream, say residents

The existing urban transport system of the city is road-based, causing mostly choc-a-bloc, with mess on roads. In the absence of any public transport system in the city, residents are dependent on other modes of transport such as autorickshaws, cycle rickshaws, taxis or their personal vehicles.

Even the much-hyped local bus service seems to remain on paper ever since it was proposed somewhere around 2006.

Naresh Johar, a local resident, said that taking into consideration the slow pace of the city bus service and the PRTS project, it would still take many more years for the metro rail project to take final shape. 

Amritsar, April 5
Pardeep Kumar Saini today won the Amritsar Bar Association election for the fourth consecutive time by defeating his rival Sandeep Gorsi by 460 votes. Saini polled 796 votes against 256 votes cast for Gorsi.

Parshant Kumar, won the post of the vice-president, defeated Dilraj Singh Sandhu. Kumar won the post by a margin of 73 votes. He polled 441 votes. Mukesh Nanda, Gurmeet Singh Maan and Sandeep Walia won the posts of secretary, joint secretary and treasurer, respectively. While Mukesh defeated Gurpreet Singh, Gurmeet won the seat by defeating Amitpal Singh. Sandeep Walia was elected unanimously.

Amritsar, April 5
Three days after the police encounter on the Jhabal road in which two persons were arrested along with arms and ammunition, the CIA staff has arrested two more persons who had allegedly escaped from the place at that time.

The arrested men are Balwinder Singh, alias Billa, of Sunder Nagar, Kot Khalsa and Rashpal Singh, alias Bhatti, of Indira Colony Kot Khalsa. The police recovered a Germany-made revolver from them along with five live cartridges.

Amritsar, April 5
Amritsar is counted among one of the ancient places located around latitude 30 degrees north. Taking this into account, a France-based NGO “Dolphin Embassy”, on the trail of dolphins and whales, today selected Delhi Public School in Amritsar to carry forward its “30 Parallel Project” with an aim to sensitising the youth about conservation of dolphins and whales.

It may be mentioned that dolphins were spotted in the Harike wetlands near Amritsar by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) team.

While other varieties of the endangered species were also discussed, it were the dolphins and whales that were the main focus of the session.

The school principal Sangeeta Singh welcomed the guest team. As many as 200 students of class 5th and 6th attended the fascinating session that informed them about the connection of ‘Praanayaam’ in Hinduism with dolphin behavior of breathing.

An eight-member team comprising Russian and French researchers Alexander and Nicole Gratovsky with an English interpreter under ‘Save the Dolphins’ project workshop, explained the behaviour of Dolphins via multimedia, their reaction to love, affection and their moodiness.

The team members detailed about the way dolphins breathe in fresh air and exhale softly just as is done in ‘praanyaam’. The team also apprised the enthusiastic students of the ways in which the dolphins behave in the wild environs and compared it with the way these beautiful aquatic creatures are trained in an enclosure, their interaction and emotive behaviour. Only after thorough training, they are led into the open or closed water bodies such as in Disneyland and dolphin parks for intriguing performances.

The students were fascinated with the “TV Copter”, which was a robotic camera that went high in the air and took amazing aerial photographs of the school. “These pictures are assimilated and matched with google maps and then identification trail is formed on the map, wherein it is believed that dolphins could exist or maybe existing unnoticed by the local populace and marking areas where the main habitat center of dolphins and whales may flourish”, the expert team described.

The 30° North - is the route of round the world journey of the nomadic ‘Dolphin Embassy’, that started out in December last from Canary islands, taking the trail from The Bermuda Triangle, the Hawaii islands, Mexico besides in the Gulf of California, USA, Los-Angeles, Houston and New Orleans.

In India, places identified were Amritsar, Delhi, Badrinath, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers, Kurukshetra. Multan In Pakistan, Mount Kailash, Lhasa in Tibet. In Nepal, dolphins of the Karnali (Ghaghara) river, Israel has them in Jerusalem, Qumran, Har Karkom (Mountain of Saffron), Eilat.

Also in Jordan, Morocco’s Draa region, Libya, Iraq’s Basra, the Japanese Yakushima Island, China’s Sacred Mountains, Shanghai. In Iran, Egypt’s Alexandria besides others.

The project is scheduled to be complete in December this year.

Amritsar, April 5
Some outfits today criticised the state government for banning Punjabi movie Sadda Haq on the basis of what they termed as “frivolous” and asked the authorities to rethink on the issue.

Activists of the Sikh Youth Council led by Manna Singh Jhamke staged a protest against the ban outside Adarsh Cinema on the Lawrence road in the city where the film was to be screened. They also submitted a memorandum to the administration seeking an early release of the movie. They staged the dharna for around three hours.

In a statement released here, Dal Khalsa chief HS Dhami today said the Akali-led government in the state had attempted to “suppress the right to expression by banning the film in the state under pressure from the bureaucracy”.

He said it was ironic that the SGPC which was instrumental in getting the clearance certificate from the Censor Board had failed to convince the Akali government on the issue.

“By banning the film, the Punjab government has belittled the SGPC and Sikh institutions. Instead of serving on the post of SGPC as lame duck and helpless leader, Avtar Singh Makkar should quit marking his protest against the ban,” Dhami said.

Dhami said the controversy raised by some Hindutva organisations was uncalled for and hence ridiculous. He alleged that the bureaucracy and the police top brass had exploited fanatic groups to create unnecessary hue and cry so as to create an excuse to ban the film.

He said the film was a glimpse of the recent history of Punjab when the state saw enough bloodshed. The Censor Board and the SGPC has given a go-ahead to the film and at this stage those who are objecting to it are driven by communal mindset, he alleged.

Sikh Student Federation Mehta chief Amarbir Singh Dhot said the ban on the film was unjustified and he along with other Sikh organisations would meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in this regard. He said the film portrays the suppression meted out to the Sikh community during the 1980s and 1990s and there was nothing wrong in it.

The All India Sikh Students Federation chief Karnail Singh Peermohammed also flayed the government’s move to ban the film’s release. 

Amritsar, April 5
Noted horticulture scientist and former Deputy Director General of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Dr KL Chadha today said if India wanted to achieve high growth rate in agriculture, the focus must be on horticulture.

He said fruits and vegetables could earn the country a huge foreign exchange.

Addressing a seminar on Agriculture Renaissance in India at Khalsa College Amritsar (KCA), Dr Chadha said India was the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China.

"We have to catch up with China as the gap is huge. If we want to sustain high growth rate in agriculture, the Centre and the state government will have to focus on this sector," he said.

Horticulture in India has 15 per cent land under cultivation but its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is more than 30 per cent. 

Amritsar, April 5
The city police in collaboration with a local hospital will start a progamme to provide first-aid training to traffic cops and police control room (PCR) teams.

It has been observed that the first few hours after an accident are golden moments to save precious lives and the first-aid provided to road mishap victims proves crucial.

As many as 500 police jawans will undergo the training for two weeks at the hospital premises. The programme will be formally inaugurated tomorrow.

A seminar on this was today organised at the Amandeep Hospital here. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kaustubh Sharma along with ADCP Baljit Singh Randhawa and ACP traffic Ketan Patil and doctors from the hospital were present on the occasion.

If the PCR personnel or traffic policemen know first-aid techniques well, it will help in considerably bringing down the death rate caused by road accidents.

Sharma said traffic and the PCR police personnel reach an accident spot first and a timely first-aid would help save many precious lives.

He said the police department had already initiated undertaking a number of measures to streamline the traffic.

People should also help in this cause by following the traffic rules in their letter and sprit, he said, adding that instructions had been passed on to the traffic police to adopt strict attitude towards violators of traffic norms. The department had held a joint meeting with the Municipal Corporation officials to chalk out plan for improving the traffic scenario in the city. 

Amritsar, April 5
Citing serious “human rights violations” meted out to the workers employed in brick kilns and tile manufacturing units, the activists of Brick Kiln and Construction Workers Union, Punjab, today said they would fight for the cause of those working in 2,700 brick kilns units in the state.

Jai Singh Garewal, union secretary, said over 6 lakh workers were associated with around 2,700 brick kilns in the state.

“About 80 per cent of these workers comprise women and children. Majority of them are Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) or other Backward Classes who have been maltreated by the brick kiln owners.

“The High Court directions are being flouted by the managements of these brick kilns with impunity in the state,” he said.

“We unanimously decided in the meeting that workers should be given medical aid. They should be provided with hygienic conditions at their workplace and get proper urinals.

“Managements should be held accountable for any untoward incident. They must be provided accommodation and women workers should be given with safe places,” Garewal added. 

Amritsar, April 5
The 8th Light Cavalry unit undertook a trekking expedition from Dharamshala to Truind to commemorate its 225th raising year. The expedition team was flagged off by the Commander from Khasa Cantonment, Amritsar. The expedition undertook to celebrate the indomitable spirit of the men in olive green.

The expedition team comprises three officers, one JCO and nine jawans led by Maj Raj Singh. The team also includes a medical officer and a nursing assistant. Due to a prolonged winter at the Baloni Jat pass on the Dhauladar ranges, the original route was altered.

The trekking expedition that started on March 26 passed through Dharamshala, Kareri village, Kareri Lake, Guna Temple, Gullu Temple and finally Truind before getting back to Dharamshala. The team covered a total distance of 93 km in six days with five night halts in bivouac. One guide and two civil porters also went along with the team.

The trek traversed the traditional routes in the area which become more adventurous due to snowfall on the first two days of trekking.

Naresh Vig, Army unit spokesperson, said the team interacted with local and foreign trekking teams during the expedition. A medical camp was set up at Kareri village in which a large number of locals participated. The expedition helped inculcate spirit of adventure, develop leadership qualities, build team spirit and instill a sense of offensive spirit amongst the officers and men, Vig said. 

Amritsar, April 5
The Department of Animal Husbandry today announced schemes to be implemented at the grassroots level and distributed high quality fodder crop seeds to farmers.

The announcement was made during a function organised at Jheete Kalan village here. Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said the department had procured 14,000 quintals of high quality fodder crop seeds of maize, sudex charri, bajra and muck-chari and made it available to farmers at highly subsidised rates.

Distributing seed kits to farmers, Ranike said the government would introduce mobile vans for the cure of ailing animals and veterinary clinics at block level that would be established at a cost of Rs 50 crore.

The high-yield fodder crop from these seeds would ensure around the year supply of fodder for the animals. Ranike inaugurated a new building of veterinary dispensary at the village and planted trees to mark the occasion.

"The department displayed female calves born by use of imported semen

Amritsar, April 5
The Punjab police has nabbed 15 persons in separate cases in rural as well as urban areas of the district for allegedly possessing narcotics and proscribed drugs.

Kamboh police in the Amritsar rural police nabbed two Hoshiarpur residents of Hoshiarpur identified as Rakesh Kumar of Model Colony, and Gurjit Singh of Pinjora, Hoshiarpur, for allegedly possessing 110 gm of heroin. The police authorities said they were coming from Dhaul Kalan by a car .On interception and search the police recovered the contraband.

The Amritsar rural police nabbed Sukhdev Singh of Pandori Chak village, Gajjan Singh and Kabal Singh of Chak Allah Baksh village, falling under the Lopoke police station. The police seized 900 gm 520 gm and 480 gm of narcotic powder from their custody. Meanwhile, various police stations under the Amritsar rural police arrested Tilak Raj of Jhanjoti village, Sukhwnder Singh of Jethuwal, Sarabjit Singh of Jethuwal with 105 gm of intoxicant powder from them. — TNS