Amritsar Central Jail

Recoveries this year

Amritsar, June 11
Two undertrials, lodged in Amritsar Central Jail, have been booked for possessing mobile phones.

The jail staff, during checking last evening, recovered a mobile phone with SIM bearing IMEI no. 359409042099887 from an undertrial identified as Jasbir Singh, alias Wakeel, son of Bhagwan Singh and a resident of Racha Bheelewal Amritsar.

In the second instance, a mobile phone of Nokia-make, having IMEI No. 355189056363395, was recovered from another undertrial Vikrant Kumar, son of Saidass and a resident of Gali Sikanderwali, Amritsar.

Deputy Superintendent of Amritsar Central Jail RK Sharma said these mobiles were passed on to the undertrials by the persons who came to meet them.

Separate cases under Sections 420 IPC, 42, 52(A) (1) Prisoner Act have been registered against the accused.

"As soon as they were about to leave the interviewees' enclosure to go back to their barracks, they were searched thoroughly and the mobiles could be recovered with the help of the scanning machine," he said.

Amritsar, June 11
The education department has elevated junior teachers as district education officers (DEOs) at Amritsar while ignoring a number of seniors here, alleged the Gazetted Employees School Services Association.

It said that the DEOs at Amritsar and Tarn Taran were appointed in contravention of the education notification of December 22, 2004 which states that senior-most educationists must only be appointed DEOs.

The education department recently appointed Satinder Bir Singh and Paramjit Singh (secondary) DEOs Amritsar and Tarn Taran, respectively. Satinder was given the charge of DEO (Secondary) and (Elementary) both.

Members of the Association from Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur attended the meeting and flayed the government’s omission of senior educationists while appointing the DEOs.

The appendix B of the notification of December 22, 2004 states that “it is made clear that in view of the norms of official propriety, only the senior-most officer holding any of the post mentioned under column-2, shall be posted at DEO”. The column-2 states that Principal, District Institute of Education and Training, Principals Secondary schools, Assistant Director, Evaluation Officer, Subject Matter Expert (State Council of Education Research and Training), Survey Officer, Deputy Circle Education Officer, Deputy DEO, District Science Supervisor, Senior Lecturer, Senior Guidance Counsellor and others who have an experience of working as such for a minimum period of 10 years could be considered for this position.

Kewal Singh Randhawa of the association stated that even edited notification on January 15, 2011, and October 31, 2012, explicitly said that the senior-most principal must be elevated to the positions of DEOs (elementary) and (secondary). He stated that the appointment of juniors as DEOs while ignoring the seniors smacks of political patronisation. Beside, it sets a wrong precedent.

The association has urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to institute an inquiry committee to make public the reasons of these elevations. They felt that so far these signalled towards a scandal. They demanded the cancellation of these elevations and the appointment of the senior-most principals as the DEOs.

Amritsar, June 11
A minor was allegedly raped by her father here for the past three years. The 15-year-old girl, in her FIR, alleged that she did not have the courage to reveal the heinous crime which was being committed by her father till recently, when she was again brutally raped by him.

The accused has been identified as Harbans Singh, son of Sadhu Singh, a resident of Patti Bagewali near Gurudwara Baba Jiwan Singh, Verka, Amritsar. He has been booked under Section 376 of the IPC with the A-Division police station. He is a rickshaw puller.

The investigating officer said the matter came to light when she narrated her suffering to her elder sister.

In the preliminary investigations, it was revealed that the accused raped her during the wee hours of June 8 again while she was sleeping. Thereafter, he threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. But, this time the victim told her sister about the crime and a complaint was lodged. The accused is still absconding and search is on to nab him.

The victim’s mother is mentally unstable and the family was facing hard times to make two ends meet. The victim has passed class V and could not continue her studies and worked as a domestic help in houses, the police said.

Amritsar, June 11
After scorching heat, the late afternoon surprise rain was more than welcomed by residents in the city today.

As the dark clouds faded out light and visibility during the peak afternoon hours, everybody shared the slice of happiness the first rain of the season brought.

As the city got in the mood to welcome the rain, the changed weather brought down the temperature from 43 degrees to 35 degrees Celsius.

“It’s is a huge respite from the heat wave we have been subjected to during the past few days. It really became a torture to venture out of the house during afternoon hours, but today’s rain was quite a pleasant surprise,” shared Jyot Kaur, a student who was caught in the rain with a bunch of friends at Pultighar. While many were caught unawares, without any umbrellas to save themselves from the downpour, some enjoyed dancing in the rain. “It was a pleasant surprise and for me it was the first rain of the season. I enjoyed with some colleagues on work and nobody objected to wet clothes in the office as well,” said Shail Singla, who works as a financial consultant in a private bank. “The heat seems to be never ending. I hope it gets over and we can breathe in the cool monsoon breeze in a few days,” said Nikhil Saini, a resident of Shori Nagar.

Kids were seen indulging in impromptu pool parties on the roadside as the shower continued throughout the afternoon. As the city was blessed by the rain god, many were caught in traffic commotion due to the unexpected showers. The Met department has predicted continued rains and thundershower in the region for three more days.

Coffee shops and dhabas in the city corners were packed with people enjoying the weather over piping hot cups of ginger tea and hot "pakodas".

Amritsar, June 11
Visitors to various government health institutions heaved a sigh of relief today on seeing the doctors back on work after the latter called off their strike last night. A comparatively less rush was witnessed at government hospitals as people had anticipated a strike today as well since the PCMS association had announced a two-day protest.

Jagtar Singh, a visitor to the Civil Hospital, said, “It is good that the doctors and the government struck a compromise. At least medical services should not get affected.”

The general public had anticipated that the protest would linger on for a few more days as the Health Department would not yield to the demands of striking doctors easily.

Some patients opined that professionals involved in essential medical services should not resort to protest as it worsened the problems of the poorer sections of the society.

Surinder Kumar, another visitor, said, "Those involved in medical services have a moral duty to attend upon patients regardless of their grievances and the government is bound to safeguard their (medical professionals) interests and provide them with better working conditions." A section of doctors was not happy with the “sudden decision” of calling off the strike. Some of them criticised the association’s decision to call off the strike on social networking sites.

A doctor said, “The association should have waited for the Health Department to respond. It was also required to take the members in confidence before announcing to end the strike.”

Amritsar, June 11
With a view to honouring the contributions made by the Indian citizens who sacrificed their lives during the freedom struggle, including the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the district administration has invited applications from the surviving or legal heirs of the freedom fighters till June 20.

As per available information, the surviving freedom fighters or their kin would get benefits, including the national identity certification, pension and others.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rajat Aggarwal said the move had been initiated to verify the antecedents of the descendents or the freedom fighters who are alive but had not taken any benefits on companionate grounds.

All the claimants will have to apply with the LFA branch of the Deputy Commissioner's office while enclosing all supporting documents to ascertain their identity.

"The genuine cases will be sent to the state government for further process," Aggarwal said.

Amritsar, June 11
As many as 157 aspirants who want to join the armed forces are receiving the training being provided by the district Sainik Welfare Office here.

Subedar (retd) Channan Singh, who is imparting training, said the youngsters from Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts have joined the camp.

He said the candidates were being trained for the Army recruitment rally scheduled at Khasa Cantonment from July 17 to 22. He said apart from training the candidates for the physical test, the classes are also held for the written examination.

Singh said during the previous year, 554 candidates who had joined the training organised by the Sainik Welfare Office had got selected for the armed forces.

The training by the Sainik Welfare Office is conducted free of cost with a view to motivating youngsters for joining armed forces. A job in defense forces would help keep youngsters away from the menace of drugs, Singh added.

Amritsar, June 11
A 1979-batch Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer, Gurpreet Singh has joined as the Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Amritsar region. The region comprises of Jammu and Kashmir besides areas of Majha belt and Bathinda and Ferozpur districts of Malwa region.

Gurpreet Singh had earlier served in the holy city as an Additional Commissioner, Income Tax (Range 2) in 1994 and as Additional Commissioner, Income Tax (Central Range) in 2000.

A national-level table tennis player, Gurpreet Singh was earlier Chief Commissioner, Income Tax in Shimla. — TNS

Amritsar, June 11
The Progressive Teachers’ Front today strongly condemned “the unnecessary and unwarranted interference” by an outsider organisation to tarnish the image of Guru Nanak Dev University which has attained the status of University with Potential for Excellence.

The constitute colleges opened and taken over by the university in rural areas are serving a great cause to render higher education to women, marginal and excluded section of the society at nominal fees, it added. The front said it seemed that the whole attempt by such forces was to affect the normal admission process in the university and to serve the interests of some private players in higher education.