Amritsar, April 17
While the earthquake tremors sent shivers down the spine of city residents yesterday, these also served as a wake-up call for its residents and the administration to deal with any disaster resulting from such a calamity.

Amritsar had also experienced tremors of the two earthquakes — March 22, 5.7-magnitude earthquake (originating in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan) and April 4, 5.7-magintude (originating 50 km from Baitadi in Nepal) — which happened in 2011.

Luckily, no loss of life and damage to property were reported in these tremors, but experts are of the view that greater attention needs to be paid towards preparing for any disaster arising out of such a calamity in future.

A physics professor of Guru Nanak Dev University Surinder Singh Parmar said that past record of seismic activity of the region indicates that an earthquake strikes after a gap of 500 years. As many as 600 years have already passed by since the last major seismic activity.

He said the need for taking preventive steps is more in this age, as the population has grown manifold all these years, while architects are adding features like swimming pool on rooftop, parking on the ground floor, large windows and not enough space on all sides of high-rise buildings. He added that these additions make buildings unsafe. He said there was a need to raise the buildings as per the National Building Code, which makes specific provisions for constructing buildings in the seismic zones.

Amritsar falls in the seismic Zone-4 which is considered to be facing the highest danger of earthquakes in India after the Zone-5, comprising certain areas of the Himalayas. According to geological experts, it means that a quake measuring 6.5 to 7.9 on the Richter scale can strike any time.

This vulnerability makes it necessary to raise seismically safe buildings to develop resistance to deadly quakes.

A city based disaster management expert Surjit Sharma said under the disaster risk management programme, the state governments had been asked to identify the buildings, including heritage monuments, which could be damaged due to an earthquake. Under the seismic zoning, the shapes of buildings and structural designs are well defined, but its implementation is being ignored.

The norms for making buildings earthquake-resistant are not being followed and the government agencies are turning a blind eye to it. Besides, a large number of illegal colonies have mushroomed in the city. The administration is only holding disaster management courses from time to time.

The district administration needs to devise a policy and train a group of volunteers to met any eventuality. So far, it has not devised any rehabilitation scheme, especially when there are scores of century old building, which are in a dilapidated condition in the walled city area.

If officials are to be believed, the old topography of the city, residents' reluctance to cooperate with the administration, few schemes to compensate those living in unsafe buildings as well as political intervention are factors which deter the administration to take any stringent measures to deal with any such disaster.

Also, the number of incidents wherein old buildings collapsed like a house of cards following rains was not enough to wake up the administration and devise a policy to ensure public safety.

The state government, through the Office of Director, Disaster Management, Punjab, has held programmes to educate government officials to take steps in case of occurrence a natural calamity like this.

At the district level, Deputy Commissioner and District Revenue Officer head the DMP.

Narrow and arterial roads further make it tough for the rescue teams to bring heavy vehicles in to carry out rescue operations.

Haphazard parking of vehicles adds to the problem, as residents park vehicles on the roads at night.

In a recent survey, the AMC has identified 113 such old buildings in the city, but is hesitant to go ahead with its plans to remove these because of legal hitches which pose a major problem.

Many families live here on rent. The roofs of these buildings are found to be supported with wooden planks.

Three building collapsed during the 2011 monsoons at Gali Laala Wali in the same locality, Tahli Wala Bazaar and Bartan Wala Bazaar.

Sharma opined that in order to reduce vulnerability to earthquakes, the Municipal Town Planner must make it mandatory for new buildings to adhere to quake-proof measures.

He stressed that each household must have a plan to meet such natural calamity and suggested them to keep their important documents with a reliable person living in a safe zone. “Insure your house and household items against earthquake also,” he said.

Amritsar, April 17
Two unidentified youths robbed a jeweller on the Majitha road area late in the evening today.

Ajay Arora, owner of Subhash Jewelers, said the two youths came on a motorcycle. One of them came inside the shop, while the other remained stationed outside.

The unidentified youth, who went inside the shop, said he wanted to procure a ring for his girlfriend and asked the jeweller to show him some beautiful designs.

"I showed him a couple of designs, but he asked for more designs. When I took out a tray containing about a dozen rings, the youth said he could not see properly and asked me to give specs so that he could see clearly," Ajay told the police.

As soon as Ajay removed his spectacles, the youth threw some powder in his eyes and fled with the tray. A couple of rings, however, fell while they were fleeing from the spot.

Police officials, headed by ACP Baljit Singh and SHO Sadar police station Joga Singh, reached the spot. They talked to the owner of the shop and investigated the scene, besides interacting with nearby shopkeepers.

They said the process had been initiated to register a case under relevent Sections of the Indian Penal Code, while further investigations were under progress.

Amritsar, April 17
Train passengers can now look forward to a shorter journey between Amritsar and Chandigarh, as the Northern Railway (NR) has successfully finished the Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line which will shorten the distance between Ludhiana and Chadigarh from 126 km to 110 km.

It will have the dual benefit for the Amritsar Chandigarh Superfast Express train. Firstly, the distance would decrease from the present 267 km to 251 km. Secondly, it will no longer require to be stationed at the Sirhind railway station for over 20 minutes for changing power engine to diesel-run engine. At present, Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express covers a distance of 267 km in 4 hours 15 minutes. Once the new rail route becomes operational, it is expected to bring down the travel time to 3 hours 40 minutes.

At present, the Superfast Express train passes through Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Sirhind and Morinda stations to reach Chandigarh. Once the new railway line is functional, the train would no longer need to travel to Sirhind, where power change takes place. This would attract more passengers who currently find the road travel less time consuming.

The Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line stretch is part of the Chandigarh, Morinda and Ludhiana railway line project.

Northern Railway Ferozepur division Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Naresh Chander Goel, talking to Amritsar Tribune, said so far, no notification for running the train on the new railway line had been received. He accepted that the new rail route would certainly bring down the travel time between Amritsar and Chandigarh.

Officials at the local railway station said the occupancy rate of the Superfast train was over 60 per cent which was considerably higher than the erstwhile Duronto train, which had become a loss-making train. The 1,400-seat capacity train of Duronto was incurring a loss of about Rs 4 lakh daily, as on an average, 20 per cent seats remained occupied. Duronto had become the first train to connect the holy city with the state capital on August 24 in 2011. However, the authorities later gave in to passengers demand and renamed the train as Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express with halts at Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

A city resident, Dr AL Adlakha, said it was a welcome step, which had been long awaited. He said the Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line project was proposed way back in March 1997, with an investment of Rs1.5 billion. He, however, said that the delay in commissioning of the project led to the cost escalation of almost Rs 9.6 billion.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the project in September 1998 and the construction of the tracks began in 2000. The project was to be implemented in three phases and the entire stretch of 110 km was expected to be commissioned by June 2010.

Another city resident Amarjit Singh Asal said he urged the railways authorities many a time to swiftly accomplish the operationalisation of the Ludhiana-Morinda track to cut down the travel time between Amritsar and Chandigarh.

Amritsar, April 17
Beant Kaur, a key witness in the murder case against a senior SAD leader, today alleged that the politician tried to abduct her when she came out of the court complex after recording her statement.

Kaur, a resident of Peera Wala Bazaar near Sultanwind, said her aunt Gurbachan Kaur had died after sustaining injuries in an attack led by the SAD leader on October 1, 2005.

The woman reportedly took refuge at the house of senior Congress leader Jasbir Singh Dimpa.

“Dimpa is a close relative. We hope that he would be able to save us from the police,” said Kaur, adding that policemen in plainclothes tried to abduct her.

“I have no case running against me. Earlier, I was implicated in three cases but the court acquitted me in all of them,” she said.

She was afraid that a case had been registered in Uttrakhand against her at the behest of the SAD leader, she said.

“I had received threat that the Uttarakhand police will arrest me,” she said, adding that the senior SAD leader had tried to usurp her property near their home. She insisted that sooner or later the SAD leader’s men would abduct and torture her. Meanwhile the SAD leader whose name has figured in the case could not be contacted for comments.

Amritsar, April 17
Nagar kirtan was held on the eve of Prakash Purab, the birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur here in the holy city on Wednesday.

The kirtan started from the Akal Takht and culminated at Gurdwara Guru Ke Mahal after passing through various markets in the city. Guru Granth Sahib was placed in a palanquin and the devotees bowed their heads to pay their respects. Reciting the name of Almighty, devotees from different walks of life participated on the occasion. Various religious organisations, including the Singh Sabha , took part in the procession.

Amritsar, April 17
The city police today arrested over two dozen persons and recovered huge quantities of drugs and narcotic substances from their possession.

The Rambagh police nabbed Bikram Singh and Gurwinder Singh of Varpal and confiscated over 10,000 tablets of habit forming drugs from them. The police also seized their motorcycle and a mobile phone.

SHO Neeraj Kumar said the accused used to sell the drugs to vulnerable youths by roaming in various parts of the city. Both the accused, he said, were sent to a two-day police remand.

Further investigations were under progress to unearth the nexus and source from where they brought the consignment, he added.

The state government had recently announced to check the menace of drug addiction by bringing those involved in drug peddling to the book.

The police also nabbed Lallu of Krishna Nagar, Ramesh Kumar of Gilwali Gate, Vikas Kumar of Lahori Gate, Chamandeep Singh of Bhagtawala, Ajaib Singh of Sanjay Gandhi Colony, Gagandeep Singh of Nangali Bhatha, Sikander Singh of Nangli Bhatha, Gurpreet Singh of Guruwali village, Sachin of Guru Nanak Pura, Jagjit Singh of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar, Major Singh of Islamabad, Kuljit Singh of Makowal Ajnala village, Yogesh Salhotra of Bakkar Mandi. All these were arrested with habit forming drugs.

Meanwhile, the police arrested Sukhbir Singh of Sabajpur village in Tarn Taran, Manjinder Singh, Pawan, Heera Singh of Housing Board Colony, Maninder Singh of Kot Atma, Rammanjit Singh of Wadhawa Singh Colony and Amandeep Singh of Sultanwind. The police recovered about 2 kg of narcotic powder in separate cases. Satpal of Verka and Tajinder Singh were arrested for having 40 gram charas and 5 gram smack.

Cases under various acts have been registered against the accused.

Amritsar, April 17
Manjit Kaur of DAV College, Amritsar, bagged the first position in MA History (semester-III) in Guru Nanak Dev University. Neetu Sood, Manpreet Kaur and Sandeep Kaur secured second, third and fourth positions respectively in the same class.

Meenaskhi and Amandeep Singh also secured the seventh position in the university and the college secured 100 per cent overall result in the class.

Principal Dr KN Kaul congratulated the merit holders along with their parents. He said the college was providing liberal fee concessions and scholarships to the university toppers, apart from good infrastructure and library facilities.

Dr Vishav Bandhu, Head PG Department of History also congratulated the students for excellent academic performance and added that the department had been excelling in the university examinations every year. —TNS

Amritsar, April 17
A colourful function on Baisakhi theme was held on the premises of Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Basant Avenue branch, today. The function began with shabad. Students of junior classes participated in religious poems, folk dances, solo dance, duet song, group song, bhangra and giddha.