Amritsar, April 9
A team of highway patrol landed itself in trouble when it demanded a bribe from a commuter on the pretext of checking the documents his vehicle.

The whole team, led by an ASI, has been arrested, on the basis of a complaint submitted by a medical student to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ketan Patil.

The offending police party has been identified as ASI Narinder Singh and three head constables - Balraj Singh, Wasan Singh and Punjab Singh, all staff members of the Amritsar (Rural) Highway Patrol.

According to information, the highway patrol party, posing as traffic policemen, had laid a naka on the Vallah bypass road and intercepted a medical student, Jasin Jora, a resident of C Block, Government Medical College, while he was riding his motorcycle along with his friend Sidharth last evening.

“They asked us to produce the papers of the motorcycle. Even as we had every document in order and showed the same to them, they still showed dissatisfaction. Since we were in a hurry, we requested them to let us go. They agreed to it but demanded Rs 1,000 and we did accordingly. Nevertheless, we instantly brought it to the notice of ACP Patil,” the student said.

On the instance of ACP Patil, the police swung into action and nabbed the offending policemen.

Patil said, “No sooner did the matter come to my knowledge, I probed the matter to know the identification of the offending policemen. There we discovered that it was a highway patrol party associated with the Amritsar (Rural) police. They had laid a naka on the Vallah bypass road and started intercepting commuters for checking the documents of their vehicles, which in any case was against all the norms and practices. We nabbed them and a case under Section 7/13(2) of the PC Act-1988 was registered at the B-Division police station,” he said.

Amritsar, April 9
A number of commuters can be seen committing traffic violations on the multi-lane overbridge on the Taranwala Pul and Elevated Road, both running parallel to the GT Road and witness fast-moving traffic throughout the day. In the absence of proper patrol by the traffic police on the stretch, mishaps are awaiting to happen.

It is also gross negligence on the part of the commuters themselves who put their lives in danger while negotiating the fast-moving traffic through a wrong route.

The Tribune team today took a round of these two key points and found blatant traffic violations. Some commuters openly flout norms while crossing the Taranwala Pul or Elevated Road, apparently to save their fuel or time, little fearing about a mishap which could happen anytime due to this.

Commuters all of a sudden appear from a wrong side and misuse the ramps of Elevated Road to take a shortcut to reach their destinations.

The entry of heavy vehicles is banned on Elevated Road, yet loaded trucks and 10-wheel tourist buses take this route to cross over the Bhandari Bridge. Overloaded trucks can be seen stationed on the Elevated Road from the Bhandari Bridge side on any evening.

Naresh Kumar, a resident, pointed out that some stop their vehicles midway to have chat with their known ones who pass by the same route. A couple of youngsters were seen practicing stunts on their motorbikes on the road.

A resident of New Amritsar, Harcharan Singh, said the multi-lane bridges had curtailed the travelling time, but it would be better if regular police patrolling was done.

The officials blame scant staff and resources as main hindrance in streamlining the traffic scenario.

According to an estimate, there are a total of 165 policemen - two inspectors, 25 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, 115 head constables and constables, 22 Punjab Homeguards (PHG) jawans - who have been engaged in managing the traffic system of the holy city having a population of over 12 lakh.

The officials also maintained that being a holy city and recognised on the global level, every now and then VVIPs and VIPs pay visits here and they have to look after them too.

On the other hand, the residents said majority of these policemen chose a road corner and could be seen challaning vehicles, instead of regulating traffic at important points.

Ketan Patil, ACP (Traffic), said, "It calls for attention. I am instructing my team to have a proper vigil on these routes. I will try to chalk out the duty schedule of policemen in such a way that these spots have some of them every time of the day.

Amritsar, April 9
Government Medical College (GMC) has ordered six students to vacate hostel after a few junior students at the hostel complained of seniors harassing them on Friday night. The hostel authorities said the case has been forwarded to disciplinary committee, which would investigate it.

Six interns had slapped a few juniors at the hostel. The seniors were accused of consuming alcohol before the incident. Senior faculty member Dr RS Sidhu, who had reached the hostel after the incident, said the senior students were called along with their parents.

"They have felt sorry to the junior students for what they had done but the case is before the disciplinary committee, which would decide it," said Dr Sidhu. Although no student was injured in the scuffle, but a police constable called for help sustained a rib injury as he was pushed by someone when he tried to intervene. Dr Sidhu said the college would not tolerate indiscipline at any cost.

Amritsar, April 9
Due to high growth of grass surrounding it and dirty water stagnating on its premises, Bhai Himmat Singh Satellite Hospital, Ghanupur Kale, could be termed as the most unhygienic hospital in the district.

The foul smell emanating from a garbage dump in its close proximity and rotten water pool make things more difficult for the staff as well as visitors. The hospital is on a low-lying surface and waste water from the entire village accumulates alongside it.

The iron covers of the sewerage holes have long been stolen and open holes are adding to the stink, said hospital employees. They said they had requested the village panchayat many a times to get the land cleared of the wild grass and dirty water, but to no avail.

The wild growth, which is at least is 10 feet high, has not been cut for a long time, thus making the hospital "invisible" to visitors. The employees said they had to pool money to erect a wall to demarcate it as the village pond lies adjacent to the hospital.

Inside the building the sanitary fittings in washrooms are either missing or broken. The hospital staff is using one of the washrooms as a place to store biomedical waste generated at the hospital.

The biomedical waste was also seen scattered in the open, which means that the hospital is not serious about following the guidelines of proper disposal of the waste. Located on the outskirts of the city, the hospital often grapple with the problem of shortage of medicines.

One of the five satellite hospitals opened on the periphery of the city to reduce rush of pregnant women to hospitals in the city, Bhai Himmat Singh Satellite Hospital has a building which needs immediate attention. The cracks in the walls of the building are clearly visible.

Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra said the department would look into the condition of the hospital. All efforts would be made to improve the situation at the hospital.

Amritsar, April 9
The police has booked three persons, including two women, for being involved in a case pertaining to sexually assaulting a 32-year-old woman living in their neighbourhood.

According to information, the Chheharta police has registered a case under Sections 376 and 120-B of the IPC, but the accused, identified as Maninder Singh, his mother Davinder Kaur and Dolly, are still at large. The victim as well as the accused belongs to the same locality in Guru Nanak Pura.

The victim said on March 30 at about 10 am she was all alone at her residence in Guru Nanak Pura when Davinder Kaur came and insisted her to accompany her to the market. Without having any inkling about her bad intensions, she did accordingly. When they reached near the Dhapai railway crossing, they found Maninder and Dolly already standing there.

The victim claimed that she was taken to an unknown place in an auto-rickshaw against her wish.

“Thereafter, Davinder Kaur and Dolly left the scene while leaving her alone with Maninder. It was then that he forcefully made physical relations with her,” the Chheharta police station in charge Kuldeep Singh said.

“The victim had lodged a complaint with us yesterday, on the basis of which we have registered a case. The matter is under investigation,” he said.

Amritsar, April 8
In a clear violation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders, many dairies are still operating within the city limits as a result of which residents continue to face cattle menace on roads besides other problems.

In his complaint to the Amritsar Municipal Corporation, New Golden Avenue resident Ram Prakash claimed that one such dairy was running near Government High School, Maqboolpura. The dairy, he said, had become a nuisance to students and residents alike.

"That such a big dairy with a high number of buffaloes is running within the city limit is surprising right under the nose of the authorities," he said, adding that the problem of mosquitoes and stink would get only worse during the summer peak.

Cows can be seen roaming around in the congested streets of Logarh and Hathi gates, especially during the night, said Jaspal Singh, a resident of the area.

A retired bank manager was reportedly killed after he was hit by a stray bull in December last which had brought to the fore the gross negligence of the civic body in dealing with the stray animal problem.

The city police had recently approached the Society for Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals (SPCA) for help, but the latter had expressed its inability to deal with the issue citing space and financial crunch.

It had asked the police to approach the MC which is the nodal authority dealing with the matter. Though the MC has deputed a seven-member team to catch stray animals, the problem is far from over.

Abandoned cattle can be spotted at almost every point and are found sitting on road dividers most of the time. It is learnt that a percentage of these cattle are from nearby rural areas after these are abandoned by dairy owners.

The areas worst affected by the problem are Ranjit Avenue, Queens Road, Crystal Chowk and Lawrence Road.

An employee attached with the MC's cattle catching team said the civic body had been ignoring the problem.

"The team needs more staff and funds. We are entirely dependent on the grant donated by some NGOs. Not even a single penny is allocated in the MC budget to tackle the cattle menace," he said.

Municipal Health Officer Dr Yogesh Arora said the department was regularly keeping an eye on stray cattle.

"Only yesterday, 11 stray cows were picked up near Durgiana temple and were put in the gaushala on Ramtirth road," he Arora said. 

Amritsar, April 9
The Punjab State Pharmacists Association has announced to stage a demonstration outside the Nayyar Private Hospital which is said to be owned by the family of Punjab Health Director Dr Ashok Nayyar.

The pharmacists are protesting to get service extension after 58 years as given to employees in other departments in the state.

Ashok Sharma, a member of Punjab State Pharmacists Association, said, “We had earlier decided to hold a protest on January 24 but Dr Nayyar had assured us two days before the protest that he would get our demands fulfilled following which we had cancelled the protest.”

He said that it was unfair on the part of the Health Department to deny service benefits to a section of employees while others were availing the same.

Association President Satnam Singh Kohri said they would continue the protest till the time they got the benefits. He said that the department had earlier denied the extension in service to pharmacists claiming that it had excess number of employees than required. 

Amritsar, April 9
The Amritsar Deputy Commissioner has expelled Amritsar Games Association (AGA) secretary Mohit Khanna who had been facing charges such as misappropriation of funds and effecting changes in the constitution which provided sweeping powers to him (the secretary).

DC Rajat Aggarwal said lapses such as changing the constitution without full quorum, giving sweeping powers to secretary and tinkering with the constitution, were detected.

He said TA/DA claims were provided for those days on which no meeting had taken place. Procedural lapses were also detected, he said, adding that the decision to revert to the 2010 AGA body was also taken to run the affairs of the association.

Khanna's expulsion was unanimously passed by the general house and the DC, who also holds the position of AGA's President, endorsed it.

He added that charges of misappropriation of funds had been proved. Aggarwal said in near future no police case would be filed as certain matters are sub judice.

Industry Minister and BJP MLA Anil Joshi on September 1 had accused Khanna of favouritism claiming that he had barred Kamal Passi, a member of the Indian cricket team which won the U-19 World Cup, from playing two years ago.

Former Indian cricketer Harwinder Singh and junior cricketers Ravneet Ricky, Chandan Madan and Manish Sharma, and a ward number 8 councillor Aman Aery had also come out against Khanna alleging undue influence in the selection process.

AGA Heritage Club Joint secretary Rohit K Lakhanpal had accused Khanna of highhandedness in running the affairs of the AGA.

The district administration had formed a four-member committee comprising ADC (General), ADC (Development), District Sports Officer and Treasury officer, who probed charges against Khanna.

These officials probed charges of corruption, unilateral amendment in the constitution and ignoring merit in selection procedure of players. The inquiry was conducted in two parts - financial irregularities, procedural lapses and constitutional changes. After submission of the report, the DC suspended Khanna from the position of AGA secretary on November 21.

Amritsar, April 9
Amritsar-based real estate players have welcomed the Punjab government’s new housing and urban development policy anticipating it would end recession in the sector soon.

Amritsar Builders and Colonisers Association president Krisham Sharma said the new policy was likely to end the recessionary trend that continued for over a year.

He, however, said their association would write to the government to remove the clause of dwellings of economic weaker sections (EWS) in the residential schemes.

Krisham Sharma said the real estate developers could compensate by contributing funds for separate housing for the economically weak sections. He said raising economic weaker sections (EWS) dwellings in the colonies would sharply increase investment proportion.

He cited the example of wide roads which were being given in the new colonies whereas the same can be shortened in the economic weaker sections (EWS) colonies.

‘The Housing and Urban Development, Punjab-2013' scheme was recently approved during a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh.

Harpinder Singh Walia, a real estate agent, said the new policy would focus on rationalisation of norms for the housing projects and hence making the procedures simpler and time-bound was a welcome step.

He said the policy also focused on issues such as rationalised development controls, common building rules, incentives for construction of affordable houses and green buildings, procedures and timelines of approval of various projects and rationalisation of potential zones, density and charges.

Amritsar, April 9
Teams of the Health Department administered polio drops to 1,12,148 children during the three-day polio immunisation drive that concluded today. Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra said that 1,244 teams immunised 25,586 children in the 0-5 years age ground on the final day.

He said during the migratory round, focus was on children living in hutments, slums, factories. — TNS

Amritsar, April 9
Prof HS Walia, Head, Post Graduate Department of Economics, has been appointed the Registrar of DAV College for a two-year term (2013-2015).

Installation ceremony was organised at DAV College and teachers were appointed for various administrative posts of the college by principal Dr KN Kaul.

Amritsar, April 9
The All India Shwetamber Sthanakwasi Jain Conference has asked the Centre and the state government to give minority status to the Jain community.

Amrit Lal Jain, a senior member of the All India Shwetamber Sthanakwasi Jain Conference, said despite numerous reminders to the UPA government at the Centre and the SAD-BJP regime in the state, nothing much came out of it. He said the Vishav Jain Sangathan president Sanjay Jain was on an indefinite hunger strike for the past five days in New Delhi demanding minority status for the community. — TNS