Amritsar, April 24
Even as there is no foolproof security arrangement at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH), the jail authorities in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts continue to admit jail inmates for treatment at the institution as a result of which there has been a sharp rise in cases of prisoners escaping from the hospital.

It is also in violation of the directives issues by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to have separate ward specifically designated for jail inmates admitted to the hospital in case of any ailment. The prisoners, according to the directive, should be treated in the ward and escorted by guards all the time.

A jail official said it was not only the lapse or negligence on the part of the guards on duty, there was also a possibility of policemen escorting criminals getting attacked by gang members to help the prisoner escape. And as the hospital premises remained always crowded and generally located close to interstate bus terminuses and railway stations, the threat multiplied, he said.

A jail doctor pleading anonymity said it was mandatory to have special provision for jail inmates, especially in those towns where there were be high security jails.

The Amritsar Central Jail is a high security jail where hardcore criminals, belonging to national and international rackets, have been lodged. But due to lacunae in the system, they make their way out through GNDH whenever they get a chance of getting admitted there.

In one such instance very recently, an undertrial from Tarn Taran escaped from the hospital day before yesterday which again brought to the fore lapse on the part of authorities.

It, however, is not the lone case. In 2012, taking advantage of the negligence on the part of three jail escort guards, another jail inmate Vijay Kumar fled from the hospital. He too was admitted to the hospital for treatment.

Vijay (50), a resident of Sultanwind, was serving sentence under in murder case under Section 302. He developed some respiratory problem and was admitted to the hospital for treatment.

On December 10, 2010, an Afghan prisoner, Shahjahan, who was serving sentence under drugs and narcotics offences dodged four guards and fled from the Guru Nanak Dev hospital.

Earlier, a Pakistani inmate Niyamat Ali escaped from police custody from the same hospital.

Dr SS Shergill, principal, Government Medical College, said, “No, we do not provide separate ward for jail inmates who are brought for treatment. The reason behind this is space crunch. I understand that it is a need but we will be able to spare separate ward for jail inmates only after our new building of multi-specialty hospital becomes fully functional.” 

Amritsar, April 24
A pall of gloom descended upon the artistic fraternity here in the city after the news of playback singer Shamshad Begum broke out. People from various walks of life expressed their condolences upon her demise.

"She was one of the very few celebrities who did not like public attention. We hardly have any pictures of her since she never liked to get clicked and even her personal life was closed from public and media glare. Besides being a great singer and carving a niche for herself with her distinct voice and her attitude towards life, Shamshad Begum will be mostly remembered for her work," said Kewal Dhaliwal, director, Virsa Vihar, and a noted theatre personality from the city.

"Teri Mehfil Mein Qismat", her duet with the country's most famous playback singer Lata Mangeshkar in the 1960s blockbuster Mughal-E-Azam is still often played on the radio. It is an unfortunate news and she was a personality to reckon with, especially for someone who has paved way for the future of woman playback singers in Hindi cinema," said Jatinder Brar, patron, Punjab Natshala.

"She was also one of the first playback singers whose voice was pre-recorded for use in films in which actresses would lip-sync to her songs. She became an example for generations and captivated the heart of her listeners with her voice even when her own family was against the profession and only allowed her to sing under the burqua," said Dr Rajesh Sharma, professor at the Department of Music, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU).

"My mother was a huge admirer of her songs. She used to say that artists never die. Shamshad Begum might have left for the heavenly abode but she will always live in the memory of her listeners through her songs," shared Sanam Khan, a folk singer from the city.

Amritsar, April 24
A resident of Sanguana village was allegedly killed by three persons over some property dispute near Chamiari village last evening.

Kuldeep Kaur, wife of the deceased Kashmir Singh, alleged that her husband was attacked by Major Singh and his two sons Sukhjit Singh and Kala Singh of Panj Garaiyan village with sharp-edged weapons.

The accused are their relatives, she said, adding that they hit her husband on head with a datar besides inflicting injuries on other parts of his body while led to his death on the spot.

Kaur told the police that being the only daughter of her father she had inherited 15 acres of land of which her grandmother Parkash Kaur named five acres of land in the name of her grandson Sukhjit Singh (Kaur’s cousin).

She said after her father’s death, Sukhjit Singh and others forged the documents and illegally transferred the remaining 10-acres land in their name. When she came to know about it, she filed a court case which granted her the stay. She alleged that the accused had threatened to eliminate her family. Kashmir Singh was going to Panj Goraiyan when the accused intercepted and attacked him yesterday, she said.

Darshan Singh, investigating officer, said a case under Section 302, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against the three accused and a manhunt to nab them was launched at their possible hideouts.

The investigating officer said the accused were absconding till filing of yje news report and raids were being conducted.

Amritsar, April 24
In violation of the Punjab Municipal Act, the Municipal Corporation Amritsar has failed to constitute ward committees to redress the grievances of the areas concerned with an active participation of their councillors.

During the last House meeting, the councillors had urged the Mayor to form a policy for constituting these panels but it has been a month-and-a-half since and the MC is yet to take action on the issue.

The Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976 seeks to constitute ward wise committees under the chairmanship of councillors of respective wards.

SAD leaders manage to get the various civic works done in their respective wards. The councillors belonging to the opposition or those who won independently had even resented gross discrimination meted out to them when it comes to development of the area or awarding new works.

Sanjay Sharma, councillor from Ward no 46, who won the seat independently, raised the matter during the House budget meeting held about one-and-a-half month ago. He had even apprised the House that even the defeated candidates of the ruling alliance were given preference over him during any function or development work being executed in his ward.

He had even cited examples where the inauguration plate bore the names of the defeated candidates. Congress councillor from Ward no 24 Gurinder Rishi said, “The ward committees play a major role in the democratic set up. Democracy is not only about formally electing representatives but it is also important that the elected leaders and the community together can see to the common needs and concerns. Here, it is just the opposite. With no such set-up in place, I would fight to let the authorities know about the problems of the residents of my ward but it would turn on deaf ears. What to talk of forming committees, the MC authorities here are mere puppets at the hands of the leaders of the ruling alliance,” he said.

Congress councillor from Ward no 10 Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky criticised the Mayor-led MC’s weekly cleanliness and grievances redressal drive which started recently for all wards.

Terming it as a farce being carried to garner public attention through media, he said such attempts would seldom bring any change.

"It is an eyewash. When it was turn of my ward some weeks ago, the whole battery of MC officials and BJP supporters led by Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora turned on the designated day. It was just a walk and culminated within half-an-hour. After getting their pictures clicked for media, they left the place without bothering to listen to the actual problems being faced by residents. Now, for the last two weeks this drive has not been continued. The reason was that the Mayor was abroad,” he said.

Municipal Corporation Amritsar Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said, “We are working out the modalities of forming the ward committees. It will be done soon.”

Amritsar, April 24
Unidentified persons decamped with gold jewellery and cash from two houses in separate incidents, police said.

Charanjit Kaur, a resident of Kairon Nangal under Kathunangal police station, informed the police that she along with her children had gone to her brother-in-law's house for attending a religious function. Her husband works in the Army, she said.

Next day when she returned home, she found that her house had been ransacked and Rs 20,000 cash besides gold jewellery was found stolen.

In another incident, Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Anmol Enclave falling under Kamboh police station, said several miscreants entered his house by breaking the iron grill and decamped with Rs 20,000 cash kept in the almirah besides gold jewellery worth Rs 40,000.

Sanjiv said he works in a bank while his wife was a teacher. They had gone to work while the children were at school. The incident came to light when their children returned home and informed him about this.

Cases under Section 380 of the IPC have been registered against unknown persons, the police said.

Amritsar, April 24
Sarhad, a cultural food park situated near Wagah Border, promotes the architectural, cultural and culinary heritage of pre-partition Punjab. Now, it has been picked up as a mini-project for digital marketing strategy by Harvard University's MBA batch of 2013.

As a part of their elective course, the Harvard Business School students are required to work with a small medium enterprise (SME) to help it grow through a well-defined digital marketing strategy. Sarhad has become one of their case studies.

In a communication to Aman Jaspal, the owner of Sarhad, Nidhi Sharma, Harvard School's project coordinator said "Harvard had been screening business models of interest and came across your venture- Sarhad. We found it quite impressive and intriguing, given the social impact and awareness it is trying to create as a for-profit entity."

Aman is also excited to team up with Harvard. "It is an honour for Sarhad to be selected by Harvard. It will be good not only for business but, more importantly, for our mission of promoting Indo-Pak peace through food and culture.” Sarhad logo has a dove with the word 'peace’ inscribed in 25 languages and has been working on creating a cuisine-friendly environment between the two nations since its opening.

A small team of Harvard Business School students would also make a site visit to Sarhad and spend a few days here. Haider Ali, Pakistan's most celebrated truck artist, who has his work displayed at Smithsonian Museum, Washington, has transformed a Tata Magic minivan and Tata Ace mini truck into colourful Pakistani truck art with motifs of Punjabi culture and Indo-Pak peace, especially at Sarhad. Haider has also painted display panels for the interiors of the Food Kitchen, based on folk themes and love legends of Punjab.

Ansa Zafar, Lahore's leading designer, has created furniture for Sarhad while "Michu" has created ceramic "jaali" panels with exquisite motifs of the Lahore fort and Indus valley civilisation.

Amritsar, April 24
Caring two hoots for the convenience of college and school students or cleanliness conditions, the Municipal Corporation (MC) employees have been placing a refuse collector close to the gates of Hindu College and opposite the gates of Saraswati DAV Girls Senior Secondary School.

A resident of the area, Prem Sagar said he had been watching the placing of the refuse collector along the wall of the college for the past many years. He pointed out the signs of garbage on the road and the wall, which gave the impression of being there since a long time.

Ironically, it was learnt that the educational institutions and the residents have never complained of the collector’s placement. Sagar said it was not that these people were not aware of the health hazards posed by the garbage dump. However, in narrow winding lanes falling inside the Lohgarh gate, there were no options of collecting garbage at one place for its further disposal, he said.

Another area resident Sumar Mehra, a house wife, said her house was situated close to the dumping place and she found the disposal of the garbage collected very tardy. Many a times the garbage spilled out of the collector and heaps of it were left on the roads.

A sanitary official, on condition of anonymity, said the garbage collected from arterial streets with the help of donkeys and hand-driven carts was unloaded at the place. Hence, the flow of garbage disposal remained very high.

Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said since the matter had been brought to his notice now, he would look into it and direct the staff to take appropriate action. 

Amritsar, April 24
An exhibition of 28 artists of the city was organised by Excellence Explorer, a team of innovative artists, in collaboration with KAUSA Trust Amritsar. The exhibition was inaugurated by an art lover, well-known social activist and himself a board member of the KAUSA Trust, Rajesh Raina.

Raina, in his inaugural speech, focussed on the need to take art to new heights and endorsed the hard work and dedication of the artists from the city.

Brajesh Jolly, director, KT Kala and Gulshan Sadana, the convener of the exhibition, shared the details regarding the exhibition. “The exhibition will be on for ten days and the art work of 28 well-known artists will be displayed, the special feature being that six new artists are being introduced to the city’s art patrons and fans. It will be their first exhibit,” said Jolly.

A brochure on the exhibition, containing photographs of the artists and their art works, was also released on the occasion. As per the tradition of the Excellence Explorer, two art maestros from city, Baldev Gambhir, patron of Excellence Explorers and Sukhpal Singh, were also honoured on the occasion.

Other well-know persons present on the occasion were ON Tikku, Bhupinder S Nanda, KS Gill, all the participating artists and many other artists and art lovers.

Amritsar, April 24
Director General School Education (DGSE) Kahan Singh Pannu released the magazine of Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Mall Road, named “Akshi”.

A press release issued here today by the school Principal Mandeep Kaur stated that the magazine depicted the achievements of the school in the fields of academics, cultural and sports activities. Along with it, the literary and artistic interests of students can be noticed in the magazine’s English, Punjabi, Hindi and Computer sections.

For “Akshi”, Rimpy Arora is Chief Editor, Jatinder Kaur is Punjabi Section Editor, Ravinder Kaur is Hindi Section Editor and Param Aftab Singh is Computer Section Editor.

She said the DGSE commended that the school had set many standards in various fields of education. In the field of literature, it had given its exclusive contribution, which was reflected in its magazine. 

Amritsar, April 24
The students from Agriculture Department of Khalsa College, Amritsar, undertook a study tour to the milk plant at Verka and Majhwind village.

The trip was a part of their studies in agriculture, to see the new technology being used in milk packaging, pasteurisation and marketing, which are emerging as a major allied activities of farming today. The trip was undertaken as per the guidance of College Principal Dr Daljit Singh and was led by senior teachers, including Prof Gurdev Singh and Prof Satnam Singh. At Majhwind village, which had been a model village in Majitha constituency for the development carried out and sanitary work, they were apprised about its developments and the affairs of the panchayats, said Sarpanch Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu.

The students learnt about the whole process of milk’s marketing and how it was packed and transported to distant places.—TNS

Amritsar, April 24
Acting on a tip-off, the Kotwali police today nabbed a drug store dealer for selling proscribed drugs. A case under the NDPS Act was registered against the accused, identified as Davinder Singh Bedi, who runs a medical store in Katra Sher Singh area.

The police has also recovered 300 capsules of Parvon Spas and 200 other intoxicant capsules from the store.

According to the information, the Kotwali police team had nabbed one Harpal Singh, a resident of gali no 2, Itraad Nagar, Ram Tirath Road and recovered 500 capsules of Parvon Spas. A case under Section 21/22/61/85 of the NDPS Act was registered against Harpal.

“It was only after interrogating him that we came to know that he procured drugs from a medical store. Our team raided it in the morning and arrested the owner of the store”, said SHO Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa.

Meanwhile, in another instance, the police arrested Vishal Sharma, a resident of gali no 1, Kot Karnail Singh and recovered 200 capsules of Parvon Spas from his possession.

In another haul, the Health Department, in association with the CIA staff, today conducted raids in Katra Sher Singh area and seized a huge quantity of proscribed drugs from a shop.

According to the information, the health staff raided the premises of a medical store, Sahni and Sahni Pharmaceuticals, located at Kutcha Dai Khana, Katra Sher Singh area, following a tip-off that the owner was involved in illegal sale of habit-forming drugs.

During the raid, the department recovered 16,000 intoxicant tablets and capsules of different brands, besides 300 injections from the shop.

The owner of the shop, Sushil Kumar Sahni, could not produce the necessary documents and sale and purchase record to the raiding party. However, immediately after the raid, the owner complained of some uneasiness and was taken to the hospital.

Sukhdeep Singh, drug inspector who was heading the raid party, said action had been initiated under Section18-A and 18-B of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act, against Sahni.

Amritsar, April 24
A city resident Major Singh, who along with other crew members of dredger vessel Kamal-40, owned by Kandla-based Jaisu Shipyard Company, was stranded in the middle of the Arabian sea, 50 km inside Kandla port, today narrated his horrifying experience.

The ship remained stuck for three months while nobody came for their help during the period. They made repeated calls to their company but neither the owner of the company nor the Indian government showed any urgency to save them.

Singh, an electrical engineer, was among the six crew members who returned safely while the remaining persons had reached Kandla port and were waiting for the completion of necessary formalities.

He was accorded a warm welcome by his family members, including his wife, 9-year-old daughter and father Raghubir Singh, a retired naval officer, along with Akhil Bharitya Human Rights Organisation (ABHRO).

The family heaves a sigh of relief on his return.

Reacting sharply, Singh demanded stern action against the owner of the Shipyard Company, adding that he would take legal opinion for taking action against the company.

When asked why the owners did not respond to their calls, he said the crew had asked for salaries which the company had not given for the past several months.

He said the crew left for the sea on January 10 to dump mud. One of the engines of the ship developed a technical snag about 5-km off the Kandla coast, following which they made repeated calls to the owners of the company.

While terming it as the worst experience, he alleged that they were left at the mercy of God during these three month period. “We were forced to drink sea water and the food was also limited, which gradually decreased as the time passed. We were surviving on rice only,” he said.