Protective gear: Girls cover their faces on a hot summer afternoon in Amritsar on Sunday. Photo: Sameer sehgal

Digital, graphic art creations catch visitors’ fancy
Amritsar, April 14
In an attempt to introduce a taste of art to our living room and lifestyle spaces and to promote the cause of graphic arts, the Indian Academy Of Fine Arts has been constantly doing its bit. The most significant initiative by them is the recently concluded week-long art festival on graphic arts.



Visitors have a look at a painting during an exhibition at the Thakur Singh Art Gallery in Amritsar on Sunday. A Tribune Photograph

Sidhu should not shy away from addressing problems of residents: OP Soni
Amritsar, April 14
Taking a dig at the recent controversy regarding MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife, the Congress MLA from Amritsar Central constituency, OP Soni, said Sidhu should not have run away from the problems of his constituency before time. The controversy had erupted after a posting on a social networking site.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president OP Soni (centre) with others after paying tributes to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his 122nd birth anniversary in Amritsar on Sunday. Photo: sameer sehgal

Man duped of Rs 36 lakh
Amritsar, April 14
Five persons have been booked by the Chheharta police for duping a person of Rs 36 lakh on the pretext of sending his two sons abroad. The accused have been identified as Gurwinder Singh of Dashmesh Nagar, Kot Khalsa, Iqbal Chaudhary and Sameer Chaudhary, Kalu Chaudhary and Laxmi Devi Chaudhary, all residents of Nawa Dawar village in Panipat.

City-based NGOs join hands for water conservation
Amritsar, April 14
The city-based NGOs, who have put up stalls at the ongoing lifestyle exhibition at Sifty International, had another day of saving a cause with a live demonstration on water conservation. The demonstration was given by experts from the field.

Undertrial held with narcotics
Amritsar, April 14
An undertrial was nabbed with narcotics. The cantonment police has registered a case in this regard.

 

 

Amritsar, April 14
The failure of the revenue generation department of the Municipal Corporation (MC) to chieve its recovery targets has invited the ire of the MC boss, who had shuffled the officials of the house tax and the municipal town planning departments.

According to information available, fresh guidelines have been framed to realise dues from the offenders.

It is estimated that the MC is still Rs 7 crore short of its recovery target of Rs 23 crore. The deadline for the recovery was March 31.

Jaswinder Singh, the superintendent of the house tax department and Narinder Sharma, an inspector of the MTP Department, have been transferred to other departments. Jaswinder has been shifted to the Water and Sewerage Department, whereas Narinder will now be associated with the civil wing.

As per the available information, Jaswinder was reportedly given a target of realising around Rs 5.8 crore, but he could recover only Rs 4.16 crore.

MC Commissioner Bhupinder Singh has sternly fixed the accountability of the officials concerned and has made it clear to the officials to forego the illegal practices in connivance with the offenders.

The integrity of recovery officials too has come under the scanner. Earlier, during the last budget session meeting on March 20, many councillors had “categorically” raised a question mark over the working of some officials, who were allegedly involved in corrupt practices.

The councillors had questioned the functioning of the sewerage, municipal town planning, land and house tax, sanitation and birth/death certification departments.

Senior Deputy Mayor Avtar Singh Trukkanwala had told the House that the officials of the house tax department terrorises the residents and takes bribe to “compensate” them.

While the MC authorities claim to be tough with the defaulters, it becomes lenient when it comes to tightening the noose around big business houses. An official of the MC said the recovery officials tell them about “alternate” routes to evade taxes.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said the transfers were a routine affair and had nothing to do with the issue.

“The shuffling was done to rationalise the overall work. No particular official was targeted for any lapse, if any. It is also true that we have been receiving complaint against some officials of the recovery department. We are observing their activities and if found guilty, they would face the music,” he said.

Amritsar, April 14
The local railway authorities set the ball rolling for a Food Plaza at the railway station and the tender process is about to start for the same.

Passengers felt its need acutely as the only refreshment room at the railway station remained closed during the past couple of days. Amritsar railway station witnesses the arrival and departure of as many as 128 trains (64 arrive and a similar number of them depart) daily and records a daily footfall of about 30,000 passengers.

Railway officials today re-opened the refreshment room, which was closed two days back, after its operator, a private concern, paid over Rs 3 lakh as accumulated rent. However, the closure of the only canteen at the railway station posed great inconvenience to the passengers. A railway official, wishing anonymity, shared that the private concern had failed to pay the pending rent and had jumped the deadline.

However, after orders from senior railway authorities, the local railway administration took the step.

Surjit Sigh, a passenger, said undoubtedly, there were plenty of shops and stalls serving various snacks, but the only shop serving meals was closed which denied the waiting passengers an opportunity to have sumptuous breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Amritsar railway station was proposed to be developed into a ‘world-class’ station way back in the 2009 railway budget, but the passengers and tourists visiting the holy city from around the world were still awaiting these amenities.

Ram Prasad, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, Ferozepur Division, said the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Limited was in the process of calling tenders to set up a food plaza. It will benefit thousands of passengers alighting and boarding trains at the Amritsar railway station on a daily basis.

He informed that the site plan had been approved. He assured that it would serve the choicest food to the passengers and pilgrims visiting the holy city. 

Amritsar, April 14
The city police have booked three persons, including an assistant manager of the HDFC Bank, East Mohan Nagar branch, for allegedly defrauding a resident of Rs 4.20 lakh.

Manmohan Singh, a resident of street number 3 in Model Town, said the accused got his signatures on a cheque. He said recently he was informed that Rs 4.20 lakhs had been withdrawn from his account. During the investigations, it was found that the same cheque was used for withdrawing the money after rewriting the amount.

Among those, who have been booked, include the assistant manager of the bank, Kanwaljit Singh, sales consultant Gurpreet Singh and Amrit Trehan.

The police said an inquiry was conducted that revealed that the accused had opened a fake bank account in the name of Jarnail Singh in New Delhi, and used the cheque and the fake account number to withdraw the money.

A case under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered in this connection. No arrests have been made so far in this regard. 

Amritsar, April 14
The Improvement Trust’s decision to come up with an international cricket ground at the proposed outdoor sports stadium, a part of the Indoor and Outdoor Sports Complex, has earned flak from sports lovers.

The outdoor sport stadium was to have grounds for different games, including a cricket ground, a hockey ground, a football ground, 250 m synthetic athletic track, three lawn tennis courts, three kabaddi courts and two volleyball courts.

Brigadier Harcharan Singh (retd), who was considered as the world’s fastest left winger during the 70s, said the decision to change the original plan of establishing a multi-sports stadium would cost dearly to those games which have been left out, following the 12-hour change.

Also an Arjuna awardee, Singh, citing his personal example, said he was 19-year-old when he got selected in the Indian team in 1969. "It was the availability of a hockey ground at my village and stewardship of efficient hockey players around," he said.

Having played three world cups, two Olympics and two Asian Games, Singh said, “Our goal must be to transform India from a cricket-playing nation to sports-loving one and for this it is necessary that the required actions must be taken.” He felt that multi-sport stadium was one such step.

Remembered as the player, who scored the winning goal in India’s 2-1 extra-time win over Malaysia in the 1975 World Cup semifinal at the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Singh felt that a positive wave of securing more medals in the Olympics, Asian games and other famous championships was picking up among the countrymen.

In order to translate these feelings in success, it was pertinent to have infrastructure in varied sports.

These stadiums would provide greater opportunities to youngsters to explore other disciplines in the game and to gain enough exposure.

Gurjit Singh, a class X student, said, "As a game, football always beckons me, its mixed use of athletics, presence of mind in dodging and deflecting the ball lured him to play the game. Besides the need for minimum funds, as it requires only a football and nets, it gives me a feeling of being an affordable game for the youth of a developing nation like India."

However, it was intriguing that he had never come across football being played in the holy city. He felt that its one of the reasons could be absence of a ground, a basic requirement for any game. Announcement of setting up of a football ground was whiff of fresh air as it rekindled his hope to play his dream game.

A national hockey player Balbir Singh said the decision dealt a biggest blow to the expectation for revival of hockey in the Majha region, in general, and the Amritsar, in particular. He said the city had once produced leading hockey stars for the country like Colonel Gurmeet Singh, Shahzada Khuram, Latif, Balbir Singh, Dharam Singh, Bakhshish Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ram Sarup Passi, Inder Singh, Balwinder Singh Shammi and others. However, it was a matter of concern that the city had been relegated in feeding players to national pool. The only astro-turf ground available is in Guru Nanak Dev University, where entry was restricted.

Another player Sarbjit Singh said the Improvement Trust’s changed plan to come up with a multi-sports outdoor stadium and turned it into only a cricket ground, contending that the city already had stadiums for other outdoor sports was far from reality.

He said cricket had got a wonderful stadium in Gandhi cricket ground while comparatively small Guru Nanak stadium serves as a multi-sport stadium as it accommodates hockey, volleyball and athletics.

When contacted Improvement Trust chairman Sandeep Rishi said the decision was taken in the light of the fact that many of the games mentioned in the previously planned outdoor multi-sport stadium had dedicated grounds while the city does not have cricket ground of international level. “Since there are already dedicated grounds in the city for different disciplines, we decided to construct a cricket stadium here.

Besides, there are already lot of parking space around the proposed cricket ground. The city has got all the requisite to host international cricket tournaments like global air connectivity and world class hotels. 

Amritsar, April 14
With the sudden fall in prices of gold, the local gold market has recorded about 20 per cent fall in customers as there is a widespread feeling that it may fall further .

The Bullion and Ornaments Merchants Welfare Association, vice-president, Anil Kumar Jain, said customers anticipated that the slide in gold prices would continue upto Rs 25,000 per 10 g gold. “It was not long ago that the yellow metal touched its highest ever price at Rs 32,850 and now a slide is dodging customers and traders alike,” he said. He said anticipation of Rs 25,000 per 10 gram gold price seemed untenable, but it could touch Rs 27,000.

He said the customers had a tendency to hold back from investing in the unstable market. More stable the market, greater is the confidence of the customers.

After having burnt their fingers in the bourses, the investors would move to invest in buying physical gold. Punjab Swarnakar Sangh vice-president Jaspal Singh Kanda said big buyers had lost about Rs 5.25 lakh per kg gold. He said the slide turned the sentiments of the investors negative. “Not only investors, but also sellers are holding back as they do not want to lose their margin.” He said many investors had procured the yellow metal during the earlier dip in the gold.

Davinder Khanna, an investor, said it would take sometime for the investors to regain confidence in the gold. He said though his family required some gold in the near future to perform auspicious programmes, but keeping in view the falling prices in gold, they are keeping their fingers crossed.

Similar views were echoed by Harpinder Kaur, a housewife. She said in order to perform marriages of her two daughters she would require some gold in the next two to three years and she had been saving for this for the past sometime. She recalled that the gold had galloped to over Rs 32,000 per gram in the last some years. It gave her an inkling that the prices could fall in similar fashion. 

Customers are predicting that the slide in gold prices will continue upto Rs 25,000 per 10 gram of gold. It was not long ago that the yellow metal touched its highest ever price at Rs 32,850 and now a slide is dodging customers and traders alike. The anticipation of Rs 25,000 per 10 gram gold price seems untenable, but it can touch Rs 27,000— Anil Kumar Jain, vice-president, Bullion and Ornaments  Merchants Welfare Associaton

Khajala (Amritsar), April 14
Around 250 hardcore Congress workers, including the District Congress (rural) Amritsar general secretary, today came into SAD fold during a function organised here today.

Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia along with the new entrants at Khajala in Amritsar on Sunday. A Tribune Photograph

Youth Akali Dal president Bikram Singh Majithia said those who joined SAD, included Gurmeet Singh Raju Bhilowal, District Congress Amritsar (rural) general secretary and former chairman of Tarsikka Block/ Panchayat Samiti.

“The walkover is a candidly visible indication that it is not going to be a smooth sail for Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa and if the trend of defection goes unabated, then it will do more harm to him.

“In fact, it can prove to be a major setback to the Congress in the Majha belt,” he said.

Majithia welcomed the Congressmen into the party and said the SAD would readily embrace all those, who want to join the SAD movement against unjust, anti-people and pro-raibraily,pro-amethi policies of the Congress at the Centre.

He said the fact that the Congress leaders and workers were joining SAD in huge numbers was a clear indication of the confidence that the people had in the SAD-BJP alliance.

He categorically said the days of the Congress were numbered and people would soon bring NDA into power at the Centre.

Citing the reason for leaving Congress, Gurmeet Singh said workers have no say in the Congress. “More and more workers are stepping out because they are disillusioned and feel alienated. Sonia Gandhi’s decision of trading horses (Bajwa in place of Capt. Amrinder) will not work any wonders as SAD has genuinely won over people with its development oriented policies,” he expressed.

Other Congressmen, who joined SAD, included member of Block/Panchayat Samiti Tarsikka,

Kashmir Kaur, former Sarpanch Sawinder Singh Chogawan. Besides, panches of Bhilowal were Harnam Singh, Mukandpur, Balwinder Singh Ramdiwali Musalmana,Sukhdev Singh Tarfan, Himmat Singh Tarfan, Jaspal Singh, Sahib Singh, Narinder Singh,

Tarsem Singh; heads of Congress booth-level committees - Nambardar Lakhbir Singh, Narinder Singh and Kulbir Singh; former Panch Rattan Singh. 

Amritsar, April 14
Following an assurance from the Director, Health and Family Welfare, The Punjab State Pharmacists' Association has given up its plan to hold protest. The association is seeking extension in the retirement age of pharmacists.

Association convener Shamsher Singh Kohri said the association had received letters from the office of the Director, Health and Family Welfare, in which it had been assured that the case of pharmacists would be sent for consideration to the government by April 25.

“We have been assured that a solution will be found within 15 days,” said Kohri. Pharmacists are protesting to get their age of retirement increased to 59 years.

“The pharmacists are the only category of the employees in the state, who have been denied extension in service on the pretext that their number exceeds than requirement,” said Kohri. He said the department had also assured to get 300 new posts of pharmacists sanctioned, against which the said surplus employees would be adjusted.

Earlier, the association had served a notice on the Director( Health), informing him about their plan to hold protest in Amritsar.

Association leader Ashok Sharma said, “We have decided to cancel all protests till April 25. But, if the case is not to the government by then, we would hold a massive protest.” He said the association did not want to create any trouble for the public, so they had chosen to hold protest on Sunday. 

Amritsar, April 14
In an attempt to introduce a taste of art to our living room and lifestyle spaces and to promote the cause of graphic arts, the Indian Academy Of Fine Arts has been constantly doing its bit. The most significant initiative by them is the recently concluded week-long art festival on graphic arts.

The exhibition-cum-sale that had over 200 paintings being put on display for collector’s to make them theirs’, the move has generated mild response, though after a few days after the closing of exhibition.

It was for the first time that such a large scale exhibition, with 209 paintings were put on display at the gallery, from its own collection. Teaching people to see the paintings beyond its subjects and aid the artistes of the region to get notice, the exhibition-cum-sale has finally got some patrons.

IAFA president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina says, “The exhibition’s sole purpose was to encourage people, who come to see the paintings to pick up one for themselves. And going by the response, we can say that a few have been picked up by art lovers, who have come up as an example.”

He expressed happiness over the fact that such endeavours would open up avenues to make art an everyday indulgence for people in the city. “Graphics art has become an important category in contemporary as well as experimental art. To have a collection of prominent artistes from across the country at one stage for the art patrons to make a decision will definitely help popularise this art form in Punjab among artiste and collectors, both,” he said.

Out of the 200 paintings, 60 have been picked up by buyers, the cost being kept minimal just to begin proceedings, “We had deliberately kept the prices of paintings below their actual value, even keeping them minimal to make it cost effective for the initial buyers. This was done solely to initiate the buyers into making an small investment in art,” says Shivdev Singh, vice-president, Indian Academy Of Fine Arts.

“The prices were kept as low as Rs 200 and went upto Rs 3,000,” he informs. But doesn’t it make art a commodity rather than an aesthetic element. “That’s what the idea, at least for now is. For the first time buyers, art is usually not a favourable investment, but keeping the price tags low means that at least they’ll make the first buy, acting as a gentle nudge towards further indulgence,” he says.

While the exhibition had a collection ranging from lithographs, illustrations, a combination of typography, visual layouts and page layouts, paintings were the ones that got picked up easily. “Mostly because that is the only art form people in the city are aware of. We hope that if we succeed in promoting more such events, Amritsar will gradually become a collector’s haven for art,” says Shivdev.

Amritsar, April 14
The city-based NGOs, who have put up stalls at the ongoing lifestyle exhibition at Sifty International, had another day of saving a cause with a live demonstration on water conservation. The demonstration was given by experts from the field.

Prominent NGOs are making everything count to ensure that environment issues remain on priority. The Mission Aghaaz, Bharat Vikas Parishad and various other organisations demonstrated an expert-tested model for water conservation on the venue.

"The education regarding saving the water is simple. We use ROs as water purifiers, which results in wastage. Similarly, the water we use for washing and cleaning can be reused with proper treatment," says Dipak Babbar of the Mission Aghaaz.

"We have a team of expert engineers, who have installed water treatment and purification plants at the Golden Temple. The team is interacting and educating people at the exhibition. We hope that people will get the message and try to implement small but effective changes in their lives to make a big difference," he says.