Amritsar, June 5
A woman, resident of Gharinda, was allegedly set on fire by her in-laws. She was rushed to a hospital with serious burns.

The Amritsar (Rural) police has booked three members of her in-laws' family in this connection. Those booked are her mother-in-law Sarabjit Kaur, father-in-law Jaswinder Singh and sister-in-law Usha.

The victim, Simarjit Kaur, in her statement recorded before Vipindeep Kaur, Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class) alleged that her in-laws used to accuse her of having illicit relations with another man.

She alleged that about a month ago she lost her jewellery, due to which her in-laws used to harass her. She said perturbed over this, she went to her aunt's house in Batala and returned only a few days ago.

However, her in-laws continued to harass her while alleging that she had an illicit relationship.

She said this led to a continuous confrontation with her in-laws. A day before yesterday, her sister-in-law poured kerosene on her, while her mother-in-law Sarabjit Kaur set her on fire.

Rajandeep Singh, investigating officer, said Simarjit Kaur suffered 40 per cent burns and her condition was stated to be out of danger.

He said Simarjit Kaur recorded her statement before the area Magistrate, following which a case under Sections 307 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against her in-laws. He said raids were being conducted to nab the accused, who had been avoiding arrest since the incident.

It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second such instance in the past one month. On May 9 Sonia Dhawan, a resident of Green Avenue, was also set on fire by her in-laws. She succumbed on her burns a few days ago.

Amritsar, June 5
Gross irregularities come to the fore in Amritsar Central Jail when Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul paid a surprise visit to the jail here today.

To his utter surprise, he found that there are negligible arrangements for safe drinking water on the jail premises and no proper sanitation conditions are being maintained in the barracks.

Chief Justice Kaul, accompanied by Justice Rajiv Bhalla, also interacted with the inmates, who apprised him of the inadequate medical facilities available to them. The inmates and undertrials told Chief Justice Kaul that the jail authorities had negligible regards for their rights and that if any inmate fell sick, no attention was paid by the jail authorities for timely treatment of the patient. Similarly, no attention was ever paid for the upkeep of the premises, especially the barracks.

Justice Kaul observed that the jail was overcrowded and the inmates have been lodged in insanitary conditions.

Several undertrials complained that the jail authorities deliberately adopt dilly-dallying tactics to produce them on time in the courts during hearing of their cases. This hampers the judicial proceedings and their cases kept on lingering.

After hearing them, Chief Justice Kaul directed Jail Superintendent Amrik Singh Waraich to safeguard the rights of the inmates. He also instructed the Superintendent to make immediate provision for medical aid of the sick inmates. He specifically stressed on providing basic amenities to the inmates, like provision of safe drinking water and proper cleanliness in the barracks.

Amritsar, June 5
A 23-year-old youth, Gurdev Singh, resident of Taragarh village was run over and killed by a speeding truck near the Mahal police post on the Amritsar-Attari bypass road here.

He was returning to his village when the accident took place. The police has arrested Sarwan Singh, the driver of the truck (RJ-32-G-2090).

Hans Raj, investigating officer, said the youth, who was riding a motorcycle, was trying to overtake the truck when he was run over by it. He died on the spot. A case under Sections 304-A and 27 of the IPC was registered against the truck driver on the statement of Palwinder Singh, a relative of the deceased.

Amritsar, June 5
Even as the Punjab Government has released the arrears of the revised pay scales under the Sixth Pay Commission of the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) teachers yesterday, yet tussle is on between the GNDU Teachers Association (GNDUTA) and the university authorities over taking credit for the achievement.

Ironically, a day after the GNDU authorities declared to have received the arrear amount of Rs 24 crore in its account, the other issues like the "biased promotional criteria" or "discrimination against certain teachers" being done by the GNDU authorities, as alleged by the GNDU Teachers Association, take the backseat. Members of the GNDUTA today announced to lift their 14-day-long chain hunger strike.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar, said the Finance Minister had already agreed to pay the arrears and a communication in this regard was already sent to all the Heads of departments on May 20 through an email. "The Principal Secretary (Finance) had informed us on May 20 at 6 pm that the file had been cleared paving way for the release of the required grant to pay the arrears.

Prof Brar said, "I was quite concerned that arrears should be paid to teachers. Since April, 2013, we were continuously in touch with the DPI office, Higher Education Department and Finance Department as the provision of the funds had to be created in the budget of financial year 2013-14. The required provision in the new budget demanded many time-bound formalities, which led to the delay in the whole process."

On the other hand, president of the GNDUTA Dr Davinder Singh and secretary Dr Lakhwinder Singh claimed that it was the sole efforts of the GNDUTA which bore results.

Prof AS Brar maintained that the university authorities were constantly trying to get the arrears released.

"The GNDUTA has taken a serious note of tall and false claims of the Vice-Chancellor that it is due to his efforts that the arrears were released. It is a travesty of truth. Even though everybody is wise enough to read through the hollowness of his claims, it is pertinent to recall that all the moves of the university towards the release of the pay arrears were triggered by our threat and start of the hunger strike," said Dr Davinder Singh.

Supporting it, Dr Lakhwinder Singh said, "Had the Vice-Chancellor been serious towards the demands of pay arrears, the issue could have been solved much earlier avoiding a huge financial loss and mental agony to the teachers. A delegation of the GNDU Teachers Association had met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on June 4 in Chandigarh to press for the release of pay arrears. The delegation also apprised him of other problems and grievances of the teachers and submitted a memorandum to him. The Chief Minister had asked the Chief Secretary to look into the matter and report. The GNDUTA thanks the Chief Minister for the release of pay arrears."

Amritsar, June 5
The Health Department collected 20 food samples from five places in an inspection conducted in the city today.

The shops from where these samples were collected include Quality Walls, Mx Doners, Fab India, Bhola Meat Shop and Paramjit Haldi Grinders.

District Health Officer Dr Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said the samples of turmeric powder, red chillies, salt, ice-creams, sausages, bread and meat were collected. He said the samples of organic food items sold at Fab India were also collected. The department had also issued a notice to Mx Doners for not showing medical certificates of workers. “They were working in the kitchen without covering the heads and the condition of the kitchen was unhygienic,” said Kahlon.

Kahlon said a case under Section 342 of the IPC was registered against Paramjit Singh of Paramjit Haldi Grinders as he had escaped from the factory on seeing the health team. The department had sealed the factory as the owner did not let the team collect samples.

The factory was today opened and samples of food ingredients inside it were also collected, said Kahlon.

Amritsar, June 5
Even as cases have been registered against those who deface public property by pasting posters or putting up hoardings, the Municipal Corporation or the police authorities have failed in taking the cases to a logical end. Consequently, there have been repeated instances of violating the Punjab Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1997.

About 10 politicians of both ruling as well as opposition parties were booked under the same offence in separate cases registered with various Amritsar district police stations during the last Assembly, but the fate of its ‘follow-up’ is unknown till date.

In a fresh instance, the MC has lodged a police complaint in this regard in three separate cases with the Civil Lines police station.

What impression will visitors have when they find posters depicting advertisement as ‘Lanter (lintel) Chhukkan wale’ on the electricity poles and on the pillars located on the Amritsar-Jalandhar road? The police has booked unknown persons for defacing the public property, despite the fact that the mobile numbers of persons concerned were ‘duly’ mentioned on these advertisements. In the second case, posters of Rawali Beauty Skin on the Majitha road were spotted hanging on the electricity poles. The case under Section 3 of the Punjab Prevention of Property Defacement Act was registered against the unknown persons. Ironically, the third case of violating the same Act was registered against Helix Institute after its posters were spotted on the electricity poles in the Faizpura area. No arrest could be made in any of the cases.

On May 23, the Municipal Corporation had got registered FIRs against some schools, a prominent cinema hall and a dhaba under the same offence with the Cantonment police station. Nevertheless, what happened afterwards is still unknown. On May 23, the Cantonment police had booked proprietors of three educational institutions- Vidya Modern Classes located opposite to BBK DAV College, Ideal Model School, Putlighar, and Anand Institute of English, Science and Maths, Shastri Nagar, under Section 3 of the Act.

Their publicity boards and posters were found pasted on electricity poles. A separate case against RSM Plastic Surgery and Cosmetic Laser Centre located near Amandeep Hospital has been registered after their posters were spotted at public places in an illegal manner.

The Civil Lines police has registered separate cases against Anam Cinema, located on the Mall road and Calibre Computers at Green Avenue. The case against the cinema hall was for promoting a film using posters on government property. The posters of Calibre Computers, too, were found pasted on public property.

Several individuals and firms were booked for pasting their advertisements on the pillars of the elevated road bridge on the Amritsar-Jalandhar GT road, but no follow-up was taken afterwards.

Defying this, MC Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said, "A case registered against the offender itself is a stern action because after getting booked for defacing a public property, the offender has to face the judicial proceedings as per law. We will intensify the drive and action will be taken against the offenders." 

Amritsar, June 5
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Officers’ Association has criticised the mass transfers made by the health department recently. The department has transferred 495 doctors that constitute around 54 per cent of the PCMS officers in the health department.

At a meeting held today, the PCMS Officers’ Association decided to take up the matter with the Chief Minister. The Association patron, Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, said, “It is an unprecedented case and transfers have been made without any concrete formula.”

The association has also appealed to Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and other MLAs to guard the interests of the residents of their constituencies. “With these transfer orders becoming effective, four community health centres (CHC) in the district have no specialist doctors available,” said Buttar.

The PCMS Specialist Doctors’ Association, Punjab, has also criticised the mass-level transfers. The president of the association, Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, said the unjustified step of the government would result in crippling of services at places from where almost all specialist doctors had been dislodged.

The transfer orders have also not spared the couple cases, as husband and wife have been posted at different places. Up till now, it had been the policy not to post couples at separate and far off places.

Dr Sohal said the PCMS officers working on the administrative posts had been assigned the duty of clinical work which would affect their administrative supervision.

“At many places, graduate MBBS doctors are being assigned the duty of anaesthetist by merely imparting them a three-month training, which is against the interests of the patients.

The government is not willing to improve the working conditions of specialist doctors, due to which the PCMS specialist doctors feel suffocated and the new specialist doctors are not willing to join the state health services,” added Dr Sohal. 

Amritsar, June 5
World Environment Day was today celebrated by various city-based establishments to make the residents of aware of the deteriorating environment and steps that can be adopted to improve and maintain it.

YES Bank, in collaboration with the Nanhi Chhaan Foundation (NCF), celebrated the day at its branch here. Children associated with the NCF spread awareness among the bank customers and also distributed saplings to visitors in the branch and around it.

Dr Kamaldeep, wife of Sandeep Rishi, Chief Administrator of the Amritsar Development Authority, was the chief guest on the occasion. A special screening of wildlife protection documentaries directed by the Wild Life Trust of India was also arranged. As part of its social responsibility, the bank opened savings accounts for 15 girl children of the Nanhi Chhan Foundation-adopted school. A token of Rs.1000 was given to the children.

To sensitise students to the ill effects of the environment degradation, an awareness campaign to plant saplings and save environment was carried out by students of Khalsa College Public School (KCPS) today. The programme marked World Environment Day and the students, led by Principal Sarvjit Brar, took a pledge to conserve environment. A signature campaign by the students was also taken out on the occasion.

A cycle rally was organised at Khalsa College International Public School (KCIPS) today to give out the message of environment conservation. The students, led by Principal DK Sandhu and Professor of Botany at Khalsa College Amritsar Parveen Kumar Ahuja, cycled through the campus, carrying banners and boards.

Ahuja inspired the students to use cycle, which not only saved energy but also kept one healthy. He himself rides a cycle to the office daily.

DAV International School also contributed its bit on World Environment Day. Several activities were held on the school premises. The pre-wing held poster-making competition. Students of class VI took part in the tree plantation drive. A large number of students took part in poster-making and slogan-writing competitions.

Amritsar, June 5
The Islamabad police has nabbed a migrant for allegedly kidnapping a minor girl after alluring her for marriage.

The accused, identified as Chandan Kumar (32), a resident of Baheri village, Bihar, has been arrested from Goal Bagh, near the Amritsar railway station, along with the girl (15).

A case under Section 366-A, 363 of the IPC and 3, 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, has been registered against the accused.

The mother of the victim told the police that her daughter had gone to take water from the nearby building but did not return. She said she later came to know that the accused, who is already married and has three children, had abducted her after luring her for marriage.

Investigating officer Satnam Singh said the girl recorded her statement before a magistrate and medical examination of the girl has also been conducted by a team of doctors. He said further investigations were in progress, while the offender has been sent to a 14-day judicial remand in the central jail.

Amritsar, June 5
In yet another haul, the city police today seized thousands of habit-forming drugs from Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Bharat Nagar, Batala road.

He was heading towards the Ghee Mandi chowk from the Sultanwind side on his two-wheeler when he was intercepted by a police party. During search, the police recovered three boxes of proscribed drugs.

Kotwali SHO Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa said the three recovered boxes contained 40,000 capsules. The suspect could not produce any documentary record of the drugs stashed in three boxes.

Investigations revealed that the accused used to work at a chemist shop in the Katra Sher Singh area and thus established contacts with drug peddlers involved in the trade of habit-forming drugs. He got the illegal medicines transported from other districts.

He said the accused used to sell these medicines in rural areas at higher prices. He said a case under Section 21/22/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against him and more vital information is likely to come out during interrogation.

Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Vini Mahajan, has dismissed the plea of Asia Biotech, located in the Guru Ram Dass Market, Katra Sher Singh, in which the owner of the firm, identified as Jaspreet Singh Cherry, had pleaded innocence and sought cancellation of his license.

Drug inspector Sukhdeep Singh said during the course of investigations, it had been found that the company was notorious and involved in intoxicant drugs illegally. The company was raided four-five times since 2010 and the health authorities had found drugs from his shop. Jaspreet failed to produce any document or bill regarding the sale and purchase of proscribed drugs, he said.

Even a criminal case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against him at the D-division police station and he has reportedly been in the jail.

Sukhdeep Singh said State Drug Controller Ajay Singla had already cancelled his license following which he had filed a plea before the Principal Secretary. He said the department had received a letter from Vini Mahajan today. 

Amritsar, June 5
Members of the the Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations held a protest here today against the management for not implementing 78.2 per cent fitment formula in the salary of the employees.

District secretary of the union Sarbjit Singh said the protest was part of the nationwide call to hold a similar protest at all offices in the country. He said over a year had lapsed since the agreement was realised between the employee unions and the management over the implementation of the formula. However, the management was dithering over its implementation. He threatened that if their demand was not met, the employees would go on an indefinite strike from June 12.

Amritsar, June 5
Gagandeep Kaur from Guru Nanak Dev University College, Jalandhar, was adjudged the best camper, while Bandana from Guru Nanak Dev University College, Narot Jaimal Singh, was declared the second best camper during the five-day youth leadership camp held at University Students Holiday Home, Dalhousie. The camp was organised by the department of youth welfare of the university.

Guru Nanak Dev University College, Jalandhar, and Guru Nanak Dev University College, Verka, were declared first and second best disciplined teams, respectively, in the hiking and trekking training camp.

Dalhousie SDM Sanjay Kumar Dhiman was the chief guest at the valedictory function. Dr GS Dhillon, Principal of Dalhousie Public School, Dalhousie, was the guest of honour. Dr Jagjit Kaur, Director, Youth Welfare, spoke about the activities of the camp. Dalhousie tehsildar Surinder Kumar and Agriculturist Suba Singh were also present on the occasion.

Dhiman said these types of camps played a vital role in the overall development of the students. Dr Dhillon said every student should set a goal in life.

Dr Jagjit Kaur said during the camp, the campers were taken to Panchpula, Kala Top, Dain Kund, Khajjiar and Dalhousie for sightseeing and trekking. Competitions like extempore, debate, folk song, poetical recitation and dancing were also organised.

Meanwhile, Dr Dhillon and Dhiman gave away the prizes to the students.

Amritsar, June 5
The Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) is up in arms against the SAD-BJP coalition government over its direction to the Excise and Taxation Department to collect Rs 15 lakh per month extra apart from the VAT collection from the traders in the city.

PPBM president Amrit Lal Jain said the trading community sought the withdrawal of the orders. He said a BJP leader had buttressed this order during his visit to Jalandhar on June 1. He said there was about 20 per cent rise in the VAT collection in the fiscal 2012-2013 and the government had given the target of enhancing it by 40 per cent in the next financial year. He said its fallout on the grass-root level was that the officials of the department had created a suffocated environment, as they were pinpointing even smaller mistake. He claimed that heavy penalties were being sought for slight mistakes at barriers.