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JAICA project moves at a snail’s pace
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Thrashing incident in village causes tension
Residents of Jaintipur village hold a dharna on the Amritsar-Pathankot road on Monday.
A Tribune photograph
Jallianwala Bagh Civil Hospital faces shortage of security staff
Farmers’ suicides a global concern, says author Sonora Jha
Sonora Jha (left) at the launch of her debut book “Foreign” in Amritsar.
Photo: Sameer Sehgal
Married woman gang-raped
Fake gas agencies play with lives
New Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda takes charge at Town Hall office in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
‘Naughty Jatts’ star cast comes calling to Amritsar
(Left to right) Star cast of “Naughty Jatts”, actor Arya Babbar, Neeru Bajwa and Roshan Prince, during a press conference in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal
BBK girls score merit positions in varsity exams
Majithia condemns Centre for discrimination
Cabinet minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia (third from right) inaugurates a 220 KV sub-station
at Lopoke on Monday. A Tribune photograph
A toast to Indo-Pak friendship
SAFMA general secretary Imtiaz Alam (right) addresses mediaperson in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
18 samples of mid-day meal collected
8 firms booked for defacement |
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JAICA project moves at a snail’s pace
Amritsar, July 22 Last month, three accidents within a span of 24 hours left 10 persons injured and a teenager lost her life on this very stretch due to the appalling state of affairs prevailing on this vital airport road here for the past several months. Apart from the slow pace of the sewerage project here, there has been massive urbanisation here with the mushrooming of private townships and world-class hospitality chains. To capitalise on this scenario on an otherwise agricultural tract here, private colonisers did not refrain from establishing illegal colonies, leading to massive congestion here. All this contributed to overcrowding and a 24X7 jamming situation here. Residents complained that accidents had become the order of the day here. Subhash Sharma, an office-goer and a resident of Guru Amar Dass Avenue said that he was always scared of going back to his home located on this stretch during the evenings. “After office hours, it becomes difficult to drive here. In the absence of any traffic police vigil here, commuters overtake from wrong side or come from the opposite direction with their vehicles’ headlights on high beam,” he said. Another resident Amrinder Singh of Guru Ram Dass Avenue locality said the already narrow stretch had become more narrower due to illegal encroachment on the road sides by the make-shift kiosks and rehris, whereas the authorities look the other way. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the sewerage line here was being laid on the pattern of "dart sewers", which required the digging up of more than half of the road. Since it is an important route, we don’t want to take any chance of failure like choking or leakage while laying the sewerage line here. It is time consuming, but once it’s executed, it would benefit lakhs of residents for their whole life. I appeal to them to bear with us, but at the same time, I will monitor it personally and try to persuade the executing agency to speed up the job.
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Thrashing incident in village causes tension
Amritsar, July 22 Heavy police force was deputed in the village when a group of armed supporters of Pappu headed towards the opposite party, but timely intervention by the police averted a possible violent clash between the two groups. The agitator blocked the Amritsar-Pathankot highway for two hours, which was lifted after the registration of a case against the accused persons. The Amritsar (Rural) police has booked former chairman’s son Deep Kumar, nephew Sandeep Kumar, brother Pran Nath Tony, Gopi, Bittu Driver and their unidentified supporters under Sections 323, 341, 295-A, 148, 149 of the IPC. No arrest had been made in the case till the filing of this report. Amritpal Singh, a resident of Ghaistpura village, owns a shop on the main road of Jaintipur village, which he rented out to a liquor contractor. The residents alleged that this had not gone down well with Pappu and, therefore, his son Deep Kumar, nephew, along with their armed supporters, thrashed him on July 17 at a local vegetable market "to teach him a lesson". Amritpal was seriously injured and sustained multiple injuries on back and legs, besides had a broken ankle.They alleged that the accused got registered a false case under Section 326 against Amritpal. They alleged that the police was not actiing on the complaint filed by the aggrieved party. Agitated at this, residents, along with Amritpal and his family members, blocked the highway and sought criminal case against Pappu, his relatives and armed supporters. They also demanded the cancellation of their arms and verification of his assets and properties by a central agency. They also demanded his termination from the SAD membership. Tension mounted when Pappu, along with his armed supporters, headed towards the spot where they were agitating. The police officials, who got the information, immediately rushed a heavy police force to the spot. Manmohan Singh, SSP, said in view of the tension, a heavy police force had been deputed, while a case had been registered against Pappu's relatives. He said the situation was now under control, but a close watch is being kept on the situation. Preet Inder Singh, SHO, Kathunangal, while refuting the charges of police inaction, said police officials had been constantly visiting the residence of Amritpal for recording his statement since the incident. However, the victim and his family members did not record any statement and today they started a
dharna.
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Jallianwala Bagh Civil Hospital faces shortage of security staff
Amritsar, July 22 Most of washrooms in the hospital are without sanitary fittings, which the authorities blame on the thefts by the drug addicts who sneak into the premises. The lack of sanitary fittings poses a problem to patients and their attendants using these washrooms. Even a few of the sewerage manholes inside the hospital premises have gone missing. The hospital does have only eight guards to manage the premises. These guards work in shifts to keep the business going. The visitors to the hospital complain that the people cannot wash hands inside most of the washrooms. Considering the huge cost of sanitary fittings, these have become the choicest thing for the thieves, as they can easily hide these in their clothes while leaving the hospital premises. The Civil Hospital’s senior medical officer, Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon, said the sanitary fittings had been refitted a number of times, but again these had gone missing. He said keeping a watch on over a thousand visitors each day is an impossible task. He said they had written to the state authorities to create more posts of security guards so that these kinds of activities could be stopped. The hospital has also recently installed four CCTV cameras to keep an eye on suspicious activities. Dr Dhillon said the maintenance work was going on at the hospital and all things needing repair would be mended. He said visitors to the hospital, too, had a responsibility to look after the hospital’s property, as it would be they who would be using them.
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Farmers’ suicides a global concern, says author Sonora Jha
Amritsar, July 22 In city to launch her book at One Up, Sonora explained the reasons for telling India's biggest story, internationally. "My work as an urban journalist in Bangalore and Mumbai kept me away from rural India and its stories. But when I travelled extensively through Vidharbha, the heart of farmers' suicide epidemic, I realised that it's a global story. My novel has parallel storylines, one of an American-Indian in search of his father and the other about the farmers' suicides." The author, who has settled in the USA, felt the need to tell the story through her novel, without having to limit the boundaries of telling the truth. "Albert Cameroon had once said that fiction is a lie we tell in order to get the truth. So, in my novel too I have combined fiction and the dark truth in order to get the story heard. Farmers' suicides in India have become a global concern, where people fail to understand the reasons behind such epidemic in a developing nation." Ask her if the storytelling has compromised the objectivity somewhere, and she clears, "In 'Foreign', I have combined the curiosity of a journalist, the vigour of an academician and objectivity of an author. I had to do justice to my book. Though the book focuses only on Vidharbha, Punjab, too, finds a mention, as the problem has affected the state, once considered prosperous," says the author. Emphasising that the book is not just about preaching but getting the act together, Sonora says it's time to show the world that we can deal with our problems. "It's high time we stop brushing aside the issues that matter and clean up our act as a nation. I want the book to be translated into Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi and more regional languages, as it's a widespread issue and it will be too fake to take an English language book to the people it's actually written about."
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Married woman gang-raped
Amritsar, July 22 She said on July 19,
Tony, brother-in-law of her son Darshan Singh called him to his residence for some urgent talks.
Tony had arranged the marriage of her daughter, she added. She said when Darshan failed to return even late in the night she, along with her daughter, went to sleep in the verandah. She said at midnight, she heard some noise and found that some persons, including Tony had entered her house after jumping over the wall. She alleged that Tony told her that Darshan had met with an accident and he needed money for admitting him to hospital. She alleged that when she went inside the room for taking money, the accused bolted the
door from outside and took her daughter to the adjoining room and gang-raped her. They also took away Rs 5,000, besides gold jewellery from the house. A case under Sections 376-B, 342, 382 and
506 of the IPC had been registered against Tony, Love, Sukh and three unidentified persons in this regard. He said further investigations were under progress, while raids were being conducted to nab the culprits
who had absconded after the incident.
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Fake gas agencies play with lives
Amritsar, July 22 It is surprising that the District Administration and the Food and Civil Supply Office has not taken notice of such companies. The companies are primarily opening their offices near newly developing localities and slum areas as they conveniently get new customers from there. There are three PSU concerns, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPC) supplying LPG cylinders in the city. The IOC sells LPG cylinders with the brand name Indane. Notably, these fake agencies charge Rs 6,000 for releasing a new connection. On the other hand, the IOC charges Rs 3,570 for opening a new connection. Of this amount, Rs 1,450 is security, Rs 1,700 goes for gas stove, Rs 150 regulator, Rs 170 pipe, besides Rs 150 each for administration and installation charges. The PSUs offer customers tested and approved kits whereas these dubious agencies are providing sub-standard regulators and pipes, which could pose danger to the consumers and people around them. The IOC is the major LPG supplier in the city with over four lakh connections. It commands 90 per cent of the market in the city. It is learnt that the IOC has not been able to release new connections owing to limited supply of regulators for the past about four months. This has resulted in flourishing trade for the dubious agencies. The cylinder blast at a house in Maqboolpura on June 4 was a wake-up call for the department and the district administration. The blast resulted in six members of the family, including four children, receiving serious burn injuries while two of them, both kids, later succumbed to their injuries. However, no step to nail the dubious agencies has been taken. A relative of the victims, Sawinder Kaur alleged that the incident took place when the employees of one such illegal gas agency were refilling an LPG gas cylinder from another one in the house. The action was blatantly throwing all safety norms to the winds. "When the gas was leaking from the cylinders, an employee lighted cigarette which led to the blast," she alleged. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said if fake LPG agencies were working in contravention to the norms, the administration would certainly take action against them. He said he would direct the Food and Civil Supply Department to conduct a study on these. He added that people aware of such dubious agencies must report the same to the department so that action could be taken against these.
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Deputy CM’s projects will make a difference to lives of residents, says Kharbanda
Amritsar, July 22 Kharbanda, during his earlier innings (2007-2011) on the same seat, had monitored several projects, including the main elevated road on the GT road, known as lifeline of the holy city, shared his vision with the Amritsar Tribune over the shortcomings, the challenges he would have to face and the strategy he would adopt to address them. How would you cope with the deteriorating fiscal health of the corporation? It is true that the MC is not in a position to bear the burden of salaries of its employees, yet I feel that it was the disorganisation and non-utilisation of resources which played the spoilsport. Otherwise, there is no dearth of potential here. What will be your strategy? I have a three-point strategy to work- energising the revenue generation departments like the house tax, MTP, water and sewerage on first instance, garnering funds through sale of properties lying idle for past many decades, which can be can be ploughed back for welfare of residents and third, further streamlining the funding aspect by seeking loans from the designated financial institutions. Any thought spared to deal with the black sheep in the corporation? I am quite aware of their nefarious designs. There would be absolutely no room for them. Should city residents expect quality life ahead? The government plans to spend Rs 2,000 crore to transform the city into a global standard destination. I am here to make sure that the dream projects of Deputy CM are realised at any cost. Once the projects he has visualised come on ground, it would definitely bring a difference to the lives of residents. As an immediate requirement, the existing infrastructure for drinking water supply, augmentation of sewerage or rain water disposal system needs to be attended to. It would all be addressed step by step. What about unhygienic conditions like garbage heaps on roads and streets? A major issue which remained unsolved till date is the garbage collection and disposal system here. Even as the high court has reserved its verdict for the time being, yet it would be my earnest efforts to streamline the door to door collection and proper disposal of the garbage at designated sites only. What about encroachments and traffic mess on roads? Encroachment and traffic mess are interlinked. The city is grappling with massive encroachments on the road side and the public land being occupied illegally. The anti-encroachment drive would be put into practice.
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‘Naughty Jatts’ star cast comes calling to Amritsar
Amritsar, July 22 “High on drama, spiced up with a lot of confusion and free-flowing hilarity is what the audience can expect from Naughty
Jatts”, added Arya Babbar, the lead actor of the film. With their second consecutive release in the past two weeks, all three lead actors were quite happy with the box office response on their respective previous releases.
Roshan Prince, the youngest of the other two in terms of acting experience, hoped this film would put him in the big league. “It is one of my best performances till date and Pankaj has managed to get the best out of me.” The story of the film revolves around three heroes fighting for Neeru’s attention, while trying to croon for a win. “The film centres around a singing competition that
Arya, Binnu and Roshan are trying to win for me. It was quite fun being the object of attention of three guys,” joked
Neeru. “A musical costal ride of comedy of three jatts pursuing a girl, the plot is a mix of comedy, action and romance. It will keep you guessing who will finally take the girl away,” she added. While Neeru plays a budding singer, Arya will be seen in his
urban-desi look, Roshan in a shy, desi guy and Binnu at his witty, eloquent best. Enjoying his stint at Punjabi cinema,
Arya, who is confident the film would shine on the box office, sid Punjabi films were his first love. “Since I am the only actor in Pollywood who is not a singer, I guess I have found my comfort space in the industry. Also, Punjabi films are doing so good these days and I am proud of this film as well.” Dishing out peppy music for the film, making a debut in Punjabi music industry is G Deep. The US-based artiste has composed for the film and his ‘Dekh
shoukina, lagdi Katrina’ is already a hit. “I have tried to give out a mix of romance, naughtiness and comedy in my music, which goes with the film’s story,” said the
newbie.
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BBK girls score merit positions in varsity exams
Amritsar, July 22
In BSc (Economics) Part II, Palak bagged the 3rd position by getting 621 marks out of 800 and
Gurpreet Kaur bagged the 4th position by getting 620 marks. In BSc Part
II, Monica stood 11th by getting 626 marks and Gurpreet Kaur stood 20th by getting 618
marks. Principal Dr Neelam Kamra said 17 students secured merit positions in the University’s merit list. She felicitated the students for bringing laurels to the institution. Investiture ceremony
Ryan International School conducted investiture ceremony on the school premises. SAD leader Shemsher Singh Shera was the chief guest on the occasion. The ceremony marked the inaugural of the junior and senior student council for the academic session 2013- 14. After the oath-taking ceremony, scarves and badges were handed over to the students to shoulder responsibility. Meritorious students of the last session were presented scholar ties. School principal Rajni Kalra boosted the morale of the students with her speech. Havan at school
Bhavan’s SL Public School today organised a Gayatri Havan on its campus on the re-opening
day of the school after summer break. Industrialist Kamal Dalmia was the guest of honour. He addressed the students and emphasised on the importance of teachers. He appealed to the students of the school to do
selfless service.
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Majithia condemns Centre for discrimination
Amritsar, July 22 He said Punjab was an agrarian economy but the policies of the UPA were anti-agriculture. He said the prices of agricultural produce were too low to be sustainable. Talking about industry, he said by giving tax concessions to neighbouring states, the Central Government had deliberately kept industrialists away from setting up plants in Punjab. Highlighting the state of farmers alongside the border with Pakistan, he said that NDA government had started a scheme to compensate farmers, which was required to increase along with the inflation rate but the UPA-led Congress government had stopped it. Majithia urged the general public to select such a candidate to the Lok Sabha in the forthcoming elections who could highlight people’s plight in the house and bring schemes for uplift of the people. Earlier, Majithia inaugurated a 220-KV power sub-station, built at a cost of Rs 18 crore and a patwarkhana. He said the patwar office would house three kanungos and 30 patwaris to deal with property-related issues of the residents of the area. Speaking on the occasion, Veer Singh Lopoke said the power sub-station would help in ensuring regular electricity supply to the homes as well as tubewells. The state government had chalked out a comprehensive plan for the development of the border belt, he added.
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A toast to Indo-Pak friendship
Amritsar, July 22 Imitiaz Alam, general secretary, South Asian Free Media Association, said the friendship festival would also be organised in Pakistan. He said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sarif was likely to address the seminar on India-Pakistan relations, to be organised on Lahore on August 13. He said a 40-member delegation would visit Lahore from India to participate in the festival while a delegation of 44 members would come to join the festivities in Amritsar. Others present on the occasion included Satnam Singh
Manak, Ramesh Yadav, Keerat Sandhu, Deepak Bali, Ranjiv Sharma, Dr Charanjit Nabha and Kuldeep Singh.
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18 samples of mid-day meal collected
Amritsar, July 22 Samples were also collected from Government Senior Secondary School and Government Elementary School at
Jandiala Guru. Nirmal Singh said the team had collected samples from Government School, Mustafabad and found salt packets with expired date. He said
the kitchen too was lacking cleanliness. During the checking at Government Secondary School, Verka, the team found that around 1,318 kg wheat was not present
in the school stocks. The school authorities explained that they had kept the wheat with a
floor mill and bring as much quantity of floor as they need.
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Tension gripped Jaintipur village when a number of residents protested against the alleged police inaction in a case in which a nephew of former Zila Parishad chairman Rajinder Kumar Pappu had allegedly thrashed a local resident Amritpal Singh, leaving him critically injured.
Amritsar, July 22
The star cast of “Naughty
Jatts”, an upcoming Punjabi comic caper, came calling to the holy city with director Pankaj Batra in tow. The film stars Neeru
Bajwa, Arya Babbar, Binnu Dhillon, Roshan Prince and is a romantic comedy. “It is an unabashed celebration of everything that is Punjabi in nature and is chock-a-block with some refined
humour”, promises Batra.
Amritsar, July 22
The Hind-Pak Dosti Manch and other like-minded organisations have announced the organization of a two-day India-Pakistan Friendship festival on the night of August 13 and 14.
In a press conference here today, the activists of the Hind-Pak Dosti
Manch, SAFMA, Folklore Research Academy, Punerjot and Punjab Jagriti Manch revealed that the two-day festival would start with a cultural show at Springdale Senior Secondary Public
School on August 13. A seminar on India-Pakistan relation would be held at Guru Nanak Dev University
(GNDU) on August 14. In the evening, candles would be lighted at the
border.
The sewerage project, involving an expenditure of nearly Rs 10 crore, was started on April 27 here and constituted as part of the Rs 600-crore project for Amritsar under which sewerage and setting up of two sewage treatment plants (STPs) in north and south zones were chalked out. 
