The move

• The Amritsar Development Authority has issued a list of 361 illegal colonies under construction in the district
• Under Section 5 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, no land can be developed into a colony without obtaining the required licence
• These colonies have been carved out on agricultural land measuring 1-40 acres

The resentment

• The residents are complaining that they were not intimated by the colonisers or authorities beforehand about the move
• They are of the view that coming up of a large number of illegal colonies reflected the failure of the government agencies in implementing the rules
• They say the government agencies concerned must install a display board in the colony announcing it as illegal as per the rules

Amritsar, July 14
Panic gripped the Ranjit Avenue area when two groups clashed and fired at each other near Anand Park last evening.

About five bullets were shot by both the groups, one was of which was allegedly led by Umedh Singh of Fatehgarh Sugar Chak village while the second group was headed by Ranjodh Singh of Fair Land Colony.

Umedh and his associates were riding a Pajero while Ranjodh and his accomplices were on a Swift car. No one was injured in the clash.

The Civil Lines police has registered a cross case against both groups in this connection. The police said raids were being conducted to nab the culprits.

Ranjit Avenue police post in-charge Nishan Singh said a case under Section 307, 148, 149 of the IPC and Section 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act had been registered against Ranjodh and Umedh and their accomplices.

He said both Ranjodh and Umedh were wanted by the police in similar cases. He said they have been evading arrest for a long time.

Amritsar, July 14
Litter is seen strewn everywhere on city roads as the garbage collection vehicles of the Municipal Corporation are not properly covered while transporting the waste to dumpsites.

The trolleys deployed for the purpose are seldom seen covered as a result of which they scatter the waste on city roads. Few of these trolleys even do not even have lids to hold the garbage inside the vehicle.

Amanpreet Singh, a resident, said, "The other day, I was driving behind a dump truck. A large-sized rotten watermelon fell from the vehicle in front of my bike."

While driving on city roads, especially on a two-wheeler, these uncovered trolleys blow garbage into the face of commuters.

The MC had earlier hired a private firm for handling and disposal of garbage in August last year. However, the firm pulled out of the contract later on claiming that the MC had not paid its outstanding dues.

The MC is in the process of finding another contractor for the purpose. Now, the MC has engaged contractors for collection of garbage from 44 wards. Its own employees are also engaged in collecting garbage from 24 wards.

Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Singh had earlier said they had given tarpaulins to all the collection vehicles to cover the garbage at the time of transportation.

Some feel that the workers engaged with these vehicles are not serious to close the lids and cover them during transportation.

Amritsar, July 14
The police has booked a transporter and his son for allegedly siphoning off a consignment of rice belonging to a Ferozepur-based firm having its branch in the Bhagtawala grain market.

The consignment was sent to Ferozepur by its owner in September last year. The incident came to light last month when the firm checked its accounts.

A complaint in this connection was filed by Jatinder Kumar, owner of the firm, yesterday. A case was registered against Moti Ram and Raj Kumar. Jatinder told the police that he had hired a truck from a Jandiala Guru-based transport company for shifting the rice worth Rs 7.50 lakh to Ferozepur.

He said on June 5 when they were checking their accounts it was found that the rice did not reach the designated place.

Amritsar, July 14
City-based industrialists and manufacturers are peeved with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for imposing the 72-hour compulsory weekly off for general industry consumers being fed from category-II feeders.

The Focal Point Industries Association is up in the arms against the PSPCL's move to impose the outage and termed it unfair while contending that there is satisfactory monsoon in the state and the Bhakra Nangal dam level is touching the danger mark.

A city-based industrialist said introduction of power cuts at a juncture when the industry was struggling to meet the orders for the next season would hike the investment cost considerably.

"In today's cut-throat competition, it is difficult to pass on the hiked rate," he said.

Another industrialist Darshan Singh Goraya said the thrice-a-week compulsory power outage besides the daily three-hour peak load cut for consumers would keep the manufacturing units closed for a larger period of a week.

Long power outages, even if scheduled, will render the workforce unemployed, he said, adding that labourers and artisans being paid on the basis of work would be the worst sufferers.

Amritsar, July 14
The firm engaged for towing away the wrongly-parked vehicles in the city entered a dispute with its partners, thus hampering the proper functioning of the project.

The firm, for the past couple of months, has been providing only one tow-away vehicle against the eight hydraulic tow-away vehicles required by the traffic wing of the city police.

It has been learnt that the police officials have written to Police Commissioner Ram Singh for canceling the contract with the firm as it had failed to fulfill the requisite conditions as per the contract signed with the city police.

"The firm was required to provide a minimum of four and a maximum of eight vehicles to the traffic police as per the contract. But it has failed to do so," said D Jatinder, a traffic police official.

Keeping the number of wrongly-parked vehicles on the roadsides, the Ludhiana-based Tara Help Line Service was engaged in October last by the city police for the purpose.

The firm has three local partners for implementing the scheme. The firm reportedly entered in a dispute with its partners and failed to give the salaries to its staff. Following this, the partners refused to provide vehicles to the police.

BS Randhawa, ADCP (Traffic), said the police department had asked the company to provide more vehicles to the traffic wing. He said he was told by the company that the vehicles being provided by them had developed snag and required repair.

Amritsar, July 14
General secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Narendra Kashyap today called upon people of the state to give his party an opportunity to serve the state, while attacking the ruling SAD-BJP alliance as well as the Congress.

Addressing a workers' conference to prepare the cadre for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held next year, he said the Akali Dal had become a private concern of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as he was busy promoting the interests of his family. He said all major promises made to the electorates in the election manifesto of the party came out as mere glib talking. Talking about the BJP, he said the party had shown its true colour by appointing Narendra Modi election campaign committee chairperson. He flayed remarks of Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots and said it spelled out his arrogant and narrow thinking.

Kashyap said the Congress circumvented every rule to implement its policies. “It orchestrated the Anti-Sikh Riots in Delhi in 1984. In its two successive governments at the Centre, Congress leaders have been found involved in various scams, including 2G spectrum, Coalgate scam, Rs 10,000-crore bungling in the Commonwealth Games and the VVIP helicopter procurement scam.”He said the BSP would ensure that the benefits of reservation reached the targeted people. It was a matter of great concern that many states had not yet identified the backward classes in their states. Clubbed together, all reserved categories had a population of about 52 per cent, yet they were least represented in the coveted areas like legislature, officers caders, agriculturists, educationists and industrialists, he added.

Amritsar, July 14
Lal Chand, a resident of Katra Khajana, was killed when he was hit by a vehicle in the Ranjit Avenue area late last night.

He was immediately taken to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital but he succumbed to his injuries.

The police has registered a case under Section 304-A, 427 and 279 of the IPC against the vehicle driver, who is yet to be identified. Nishan Singh, in-charge of the Ranjit Avenue police post, said preliminary probe found that the vehicle had hit Khajana’s cycle from the front side. In another incident, two persons were seriously injured when they were hit by a speeding car on the Albert road.

Laxman Singh, a resident of Ghanupur Kale, told the police he, along with his friend Kanwalpreet Singh, had come out of a hotel after having dinner and were moving towards their vehicle when a speeding car being hit him. The accused managed to flee.

A case has been registered in this regard.

Amritsar, July 14
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the State Bank of Patiala to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000, along with litigation expenses of Rs 2,000, to a local resident for holding back his money for 25 days.

Mangal Singh, a resident of SJS Avenue here, had filed a complaint against the Improvement Trust and State Bank of Patiala alleging he had applied for a plot under the 97 Acre's Scheme launched by the Trust and deposited earnest money of Rs 3,20,000 by taking housing loan facility from the bank.

The complainant was unsuccessful in securing the plot during the draw of lots held in February 2011. He said he filed an application with Improvement Trust on September 29, 2011, requesting them to close his case and refund his money as early as possible.

He said the money was required to be refunded within 60 days of the draw of lots. Finally, a cheque dated November 21, 2011, was sent to the bank by the Trust and it was credited to his account on December 20, 2011. He alleged he had to pay interest on longer time for the delay in the refund of money.

He alleged the money was returned after eight months so he should be compensated for the loss and harassment.

The Improvement Trust replied that the complainant was in the waiting list and had not surrendered his rights which resulted in the delay in refunding. The Trust said the rights by the complainant were surrendered in September 2011 and money was refunded on the basis of the request.

While the forum said the Improvement Trust was not guilty of deficiency in service, it observed that the bank could not explain why there was a delay of 25 days in crediting the cheque to complainant’s account.

It observed that the bank could have, at the most, taken a week to credit the amount. The forum said the complainant had suffered huge monetary loss as well as mental agony due to the delay.

Amritsar, July 14
The city known to respect and relish local as well as global cuisines is in for another treat. Just as the season brings in fresh whiff of monsoon air, those in business prepare to tantalise your taste buds with season delights.

While the rains are here to stay, the mood is all set for some hot and spicy recipes. Taking a cue, some of the eateries in the city have come up with teasing menu for the season. The Country Inn’s Fusion Food Festival has already put up special recipes on its menu. “Monsoon is a time when most people are in for some fried and barbeque delights. Even though Amritsar is a huge market for the food industry, very few eating joints come up with innovative seasonal recipes. We have tried innovations with food without compromising on quality and flavour,” says Arun Lama, assistant executive chef, Country Inn, Amritsar. Its menu reads recipes like shish taouk, green curry chicken tikka, schezwan murg malai, paneer papad kebab, Vietnamese springrolls, Julien chicken and achari munchurian dumplings. If you aren’t tempted yet, go for French desserts like cherry jubilee and very own gratinated hot gulab jamuns. Rabri jalebi is a monsoon specialty. We have an interesting combination of hot jalebis dipped in cold rabri to complete the flavours,” says Lama.

Nothing can beat a masala chai and fried snacks on a rainy day. On that, if a hot cuppa comes with over 170 flavours, consider yourself lucky. Ritesh from Café Oz says, “Everybody loves a hot cup of tea or coffee during the season. We have special Vittoria coffee, which is 100 per cent Arabica and has bittersweet taste. In tea, we offer a variety of black, green and white tea.” Café Oz also has some fresh fruit infusion and beverages for the season. “The popular picks for the season are kiwi-based drinks, watermelon caprioshka, fruit mojitos, diaquri made with fruits and peaches and cream pinacolada,” he says.

If you are not in for a fancy treat, go in for the seasonal delights that street-food vendors offer. Everything on the menu, from hot garlic pakoras to sesame allo tikki and jalebis, will make you fall in love with the monsoon.

Amritsar, July 14
Modiglobe, a subsidiary of Modi Group, today announced to bring a host of entrepreneurial opportunities in the travel industry to Amritsar. It is hosting a two-day knowledge exchange seminar for budding entrepreneurs here.

Seana Wade, CEO, Modiglobe, said, “The mission of Modiglobe is to support franchisees in uploading excellence and integrity through relationships while anticipating travel needs and finding the best solutions for customers. We vision Amritsar as our key growth market and hope that we get just as encouraging response from the target audience. Modiglobe continually inspires, strengthens and leads in the travel industry while expanding the sphere of influence to homes all across the country.”

Being one of the most flourishing industries in the country, the travel industry is attracting many prospective entrepreneurs to explore the world of travel franchisees. Consequently, many industry leaders are coming up with a host of opportunities to promote self-employment and financial independence among people.