Amritsar, August 4
The death of seven-year-old Simranjit Kaur on Friday when she was returning home from her school has once again brought to the fore the non-adherence of traffic norms, especially by the school transporters in the city.

The accident took place when the auto-rickshaw, which ferried the victim from house to school and vice versa, dropped her outside her residence.

It has been learnt that the driver of the canter, which crushed the girl to death, was handicapped.

“Speeding vehicles in the residential areas have become a norm as the authorities concerned rarely act in such cases,” said Harjinder Singh, a resident of Akash Avenue.

“Canters, tractor trolleys and bikes driven by youths pose a serious threat to the lives of the residents,” he added. Even as the authorities concerned have framed guidelines on school transport, their implementation remains a far a cry.

Naresh Johar, a social activist, said, "It is strange that semi-literate drivers are always held responsible for violations but the school managements are not taken to task when it comes to keeping tabs on such incidents."

"Laws are in place to regulate the school buses. The driver of a school bus can be booked for driving-related offences while the school management/owner and the principal should be held responsible for other violations. Small private vehicles such as vans, cabs, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws ferrying schoolchildren were bound to follow the safety measures," he said.

Officials in the District Transport Office (DTO) said as per the norms of the Department of Transport, drivers operating school buses or vans should possess heavy vehicle licence with a minimum of 10 years' driving experience.

The guidelines emphasise that buses and vans should not be filled to the capacity or beyond the stipulated seating capacity. But these vehicles continue to violate the norms with impunity.

Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), while granting approval for affiliation and category of associated schools, sought submission of affidavits containing 16 rules from the principals of these schools.

Sources in the department, however, said officials hardly bothered to implement these norms while only demanding that schools submit the affidavit once in a year.

The PSEB norms maintain that the schools that have means of transportation, including vans, auto-rickshaws or buses, should make sure that these vehicles must indicate their number and registration number on them.

Fitness certificates of these vehicles, indicating that they are in a drivable condition, along with valid permits have to be submitted. Besides, these vehicles must have conductors and drivers who must wear uniforms, possess valid licence, have five years of driving experience, not have been challaned more than three times, name of the school and route must be displayed on the vehicle besides availability of first-aid box in the bus.

Surleen Kaur, a mother of two school-going children, said despite sufficient rules being in place, only their implementation would secure the lives of children.

Speeding vehicles in the residential areas have become a norm as the authorities concerned rarely act in such cases. Canters, tractor-trolleys and bikes driven by youths pose a serious threat to the lives of 
the residents
— Harjinder Singh, Akash Avenue resident 

It is strange that semi-literate drivers are always held responsible for violations but the school managements are not taken to task when it comes to keeping tabs on such incidents. Laws are in place to regulate the school buses. The school management/owner and principal should be held responsible for other violations
— Naresh Johar, social activist

Amritsar, August 4
The police arrested a couple today while fleeing after snatching a gold chain of a newly-wed woman.

The police said the victim, Navjot Kaur, along with her father Kirpal Singh were buying fruits near the Irrigation Department office on the GT Road. The accused, identified as Jaspal Singh and his wife Sukhwinder Kaur, residents of Preet Nagar on Majitha road, snatched Navjot Kaur’s chain and fled away.

Navjot and her father immediately chased the accused in their car and intercepted them near the Cantonment police station. They thrashed Jaspal Singh, who is a former police constable. The couple was allegedly wanted in similar cases and had come out of the jail a couple of months back.

People thrashed the accused and handed them over to the traffic police personnel at Rani Ka Bagh Chowk located near the Cantonment police station.

Amritsar, August 4
With the drug menace assuming alarming proportions, the Border Security Force (BSF) is all set to start a drug de-addiction campaign in the border villages here to wean away the youths from drugs.

Border Security Force officials held a meeting with a number of village residents located in Amritsar sector to chalk out programmes besides taking their suggestions to make the campaign successful. The campaign would kick-start from Hardo Rattan village in Rattan Khurd area from August 11.

“The basic idea of launching the campaign is to create a second line of defence by motivating the villagers and involving them in eradicating the menace," said MF Farooqi, DIG, BSF (Amritsar).

The international border in Punjab has become a major transit point for the Pakistan-based smugglers to push in heroin and fake Indian currency to this side of the fence. In the past year, the BSF has seized 288 kg of heroin while it has already confiscated over 160 kg of contraband from the Punjab border this year so far.

During the meeting, the villagers shared their grievances with the BSF officials, especially regarding the drug abuse. Sarpanches of various villages told the officials as how the problem has aggravated in their areas during the past several years. They expressed concern saying their wards had fallen victims to the menace besides indulging in drug peddling to make easy money.

Under the campaign, the BSF has planned to tie up with Swami Vivekanand De-Addiction Centre at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital for de-addiction camps.

"We will see if de-addiction centre could be established in border areas where the drug menace has spread its tentacles. We will also prepare data of drug abuse victims and addicts who would be successfully treated at the de-addiction centre," Farooqi said.

There was a need for proper communication with villagers and this could be a major mean for better linkage, said DIG Farooqui, adding that the Border Security Force might also act as a bridge between the civil administration and the residents of the border villages for addressing their grievances. He said they would also look for the rehabilitation of the victims after their successful treatment.

Amritsar, August 4
Om Parkash Soni, Congress in-charge, Majha zone, today announced a rally in the central constituency on August 11, to highlight the problems faced by traders, unauthorised colonies and the worsening law and order situation in the state.

Addressing a gathering of Congress workers here today, Soni said the rally would be attended by PPCC President Partap Singh Bajwa and other senior party leaders.

Soni accused the SAD-BJP of ruining the trade and industry in the state. The government was imposing severe and unjustified taxes on the common people who were already struggling to make both ends meet, he added. 

Amritsar, August 4
The residents of Shori Nagar on Polytechnic Road near Guru Nanak Dev University are scared over a faulty transformer in their area.

Even as they have brought the matter to the notice of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) officials, nothing concrete has been done to rectify the snag.

The residents complained that the faulty transformer emitted sparks every night due to heavy load on it which was a serious threat to their lives and property.

Tarsem Lal Saini, a local resident, said, “The Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) staff had earlier inspected the place and even assured that the transformer would be changed soon. But nothing has been done in this regard so far.”

Regular short-circuits in the transformer often results in blackouts in the locality. The electricity blows up almost every second day and there is no one to restore the supply till the next morning, said Joginder Singh, a retired professor.

He said the residents were afraid to park their vehicles in the streets as sparks keep emanating from the electricity line every now and then.

The situation is more worrisome for those houses against whose walls the faulty transformer has been installed.

The residents demanded that the PSPCL must change the transformer at the earliest before a mishap occurs in the area. Tarsem Lal Saini said a delegation of the area residents had met the power corporation officials who had assured to change the transformer. He demanded that the PSPCL must fulfill its promise at the earliest.

The Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) staff had earlier inspected the place and even assured that the transformer would be changed soon. But nothing has been done in this regard so far
— Tarsem Lal Saini, local resident

Amritsar, August 4
The Government Railway Police (GRP) today claimed to have nabbed a gang of robbers who used to loot passengers, especially migrants, by offering them eatables laced with intoxicants.

The police has arrested Mohammad Javed Sheikh from West Bengal, Dharminder Paswan, Rakesh and Babu Lal, all residents of Bihar. The mastermind of the gang, Ganeshi, is absconding, the police said. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sent to judicial remand.

Reports said in the recent past, several passengers belonging to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were found unconscious at Jalandhar and Ludhiana railway stations. The victims told the police that they had consumed biscuits offered by fellow passengers after which they fell unconscious.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the accused would hire trains from Amritsar.

The Amritsar GRP zeroed in on Mohammad Javed Sheikh and after getting a tip-off from him the remaining accused were arrested. The police has recovered eight mobile phones, besides other valuables from their possession. All the accused work in a nursery located on main GT Road. The accused have confessed to their involvement in looting incidents in Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Further investigations are under progress. 

Amritsar, August 4
Upset over the continued downfall of rupee against dollar, importers and exporters trading in various commodities with Pakistan Central Asian countries through the Attari-Wagah land route and Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport are a harried lot.

Rajan Bedi, a leading importer and exporter, said like other importers he stopped sugar import after he suffered a loss of around Rs 28.80 lakh on the import of 1,000 tonnes of sugar.

"At the time of the release of the Letter of Credit (LC), the rate of a USD was Rs 55 but when the consignment was delivered at the Integrated Check Post (ICP), the value of a USD was Rs 61," he said.

He said stopping of trade also meant a loss to the government as the Customs Department earned a duty drawback of Rs 5.35 per kg.

Appreciating the quick release of duty drawbacks on export goods from Amritsar Airport, Bedi urged the government to monitor the bills of entry and export issued by the Customs Department by putting the conversion rate. He said the conversion rate must be made applicable for both exporters and importers. Foreign exchange must ensure that the exporters and importers receive the benefits of conversion rate to minimise the loss due to high fluctuation in the value of dollar.

He demanded that the currency trade be prohibited to allow only actual users to utilise the foreign currency. Import Export Code must be issued to selected persons with true past record to deal in import and export, he said.

The Focal Point Industries Association (FPIA), in a communiqué to the Ministry of Finance and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, demanded various measures to be taken to arrest the trend. FPIA general secretary Kamal Dalmia said the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme could be announced on foreign remittance through nationalised banks with the condition that 25 per cent of the total amount would be deducted as tax. It would hike the revenue besides arrival of USD in the country.

"NRIs could be given a little higher rate of interest on fixed deposits as it will motivate them to increase remittances to their families here," Dalmia said, adding these steps could increase the inflow of foreign currency in India. 

Amritsar, August 4
The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 36,000 to a local resident for a stolen bike, the claim of which was earlier repudiated on the ground that the owner had not taken reasonable care of the property.

Earlier, Kuldeep Singh, a resident of the Gate Khazana area, had filed a complaint, stating that he had got his bike insured from Oriental Insurance Company Limited. The bike was stolen from outside his home on December 18, 2011. He stated that the bike was insured for a sum of Rs 36,000.

He added that he had lodged a complaint with the police and had also reported the matter to the insurance company. He prayed that the insurance company had not paid him the due compensation.

The insurance company, however, stated that the complainant had himself violated the basic condition of the policy ie, duty to care and had not taken reasonable care of his vehicle. The company stated that the investigation had revealed that the complainant had sufficient space to park the vehicle inside his home but had instead kept his motorcycle parked outside his residence throughout the night. It stated that it was the duty of the owner to take all reasonable steps to save the vehicle from loss or damage.

The forum, deciding in favour of the complainant, observed that if someone had stolen the motorcycle from the front of the house of the complainant, it could not be said that the insured had not taken reasonable care to safeguard the vehicle from loss because the complainant had locked the vehicle and had parked it in front of his house.

The forum directed the company to pay the compensation within a month’s time. 

Amritsar, August 4
As many as 15 teachers from various parts of the country are participating in the general orientation course-92 in the Academic Staff College of the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU).

Prof MK Surappa, director, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, inaugurated the 28-day course.

Prof Surappa said the objective of the Academic Staff Colleges was to enhance the teaching skills of the teachers in the university system.

He said the advancement in the field of information technology had brought about a revolution in the field of education.

Talking about the pros and cons of online teaching, he pointed out that the regular classroom teaching needed to be supplemented with online teaching in order to make optimum use of it. He lamented that the number of suitable teachers and researchers was declining despite the availability of a glut of educational institutes.

He advised the participants to motivate students to desist from evils like cut-paste method, plagiarism or stealing ideas etc. He also exhorted the teachers to plug the connection between classroom education and the real world.

Earlier, Prof Jaspal Singh Sandhu, director, Academic Staff College, briefed about the thrust areas of the course in his welcome address. Dr Mohan Kumar proposed the vote of thanks.

Amritsar, August 4
Taking “Amritsar Sparkling”, a city mall’s monthly hygiene and cleanliness drive to the next level, it has now introduced “be the change club”, the next step towards larger youth development and social wellness.

In association with AIESEC, the shopping mall had an event, ‘Global Village 2013’, with over 13 interactive international counters placed on its premises from participating countries like China, Denmark, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Romania, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Vietnam and Egypt. Forty international students gathered here to showcase their respective culture and way of life. They danced, sang, played music and put up performances that best described their culture. In return, they learnt facets of the Amritsari culture.

Speaking from Delhi, Dr Prodipta Sen, Executive Director and Head of Retail, Alpha G:Corp shared, “The idea behind organising Global Village-2013 was to promote multicultural awareness and to bridge gaps between countries by healthy cultural exchange of ideas amongst students. We hope that such initiatives will act as a bridge towards internships abroad for ‘be the change club’ members.”

There are already over 75 students from Amritsar who actively accompany the AlphaOne team as a part of the “Amritsar Sparkling” cleanliness drive. The event marked the first such Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative where ‘be the change club’ will bring individuals and institutions together to contribute to the very need of a positive change in the areas of youth development, cleanliness, drug de-addiction, education and uplift of the underprivileged.

These events celebrate cultural diversity through myriad international cultures, coupled with global cuisine, international music, art and dance, informational exhibits and many activities and competitions that provide an interactive platform to students. 

Amritsar, August 4
Even as mounted policing has re-emerged as an extremely relevant way of policing in various parts of the world, including the developed countries, the Amritsar Police Commissionerate, which has its jurisdiction over the city, has only two horses and both have outlived their age.

Notably, as per the official records, the city has only one horse, namely Jabru, who is 26-year-old. The second horse was arranged from Ajnala and is aged about 25 years. Both horses are tethered in a ramshackle stable at the Police Lines. The last horse with the city police died in 2011.

Though officials attending the horses refused to talk to the media, sources said no fresh procurement of horses had been made during the past nearly 15 years. The cash-strapped Punjab Government was unable to foot the bill for buying horses as a horse cost in lakhs. Besides, fodder for a horse costs roughly Rs 200 daily.

Animal activists said life expectancy of a horse was between 25 years to 30 years but they are not physically capable of active duty after attaining 18 years of age. A retired police official, once associated with the horse unit, said earlier the police used to auction horses after they attained 18 years of age. However, the practice had been dropped as the Ministry of Home Affairs directed against it to all state police forces. It directed the police to take off horses from active policing after they attained 18 years of age and take care of these for the rest of their life.

A retired officer, on the condition of anonymity, said the mounted policemen had a unique advantage of gaining 360 degree view of his surroundings from a greater height than a foot soldier. Besides, mounted policemen had the advantage of manoeuvring the highly-trained horses in confined areas, in crowds and were able to cover the ground quickly. Mounted policemen had proved highly effective in diffusing volatile situations.

However, in the present scenario, the city police is ill-equipped to deal with a violent mob and is wholly dependent on neighbouring districts.

When contacted, Police Commissioner Ram Singh said he was aware that the city police required a full unit of mounted policemen. He said a request for eight horses had already been forwarded to the head office.

The unit would be purely for enforcing law and order and would have nothing to do with ceremonial services. As long as the city police was not supplied with horses, it could requisition the same from neighbouring districts in case of an emergency, he added. 

Amritsar, August 4
With a view to match pace with the changing times, 135-year-old Alexendra School is all set to introduce skating and tennis in its 13-acre campus. Besides, it will elevate to senior secondary from the next academic session.

School principal Suman J Engles announced that the school would soon construct a skating rink and set up tennis grounds on its campus. Expert coaches would be hired to provide systematic coaching to the interested students, she added.

The school has separate courts for basketball, kho-kho, badminton, volleyball and cricket. It offers basketball for both boys and girls, kho-kho only for girls, volleyball for boys, badminton for both boys and girls and cricket for boys. Besides, ludo and carrom are being offered to pre-primary and primary students.

Engles said, “no organisation can survive for long on the past glory. It is the same with our school. Gradual changes are being introduced to build the organisation into a dynamic and vibrant team”.

Hence, an audio-visual room for students was introduced recently while a medical room, with a trained nurse and other amenities, is also available on the campus. In addition, a general health check-up camp is held regularly in the school. Vocal and instrumental music is also available for the school students, she added.

The 135-year-old heritage buildings of the school give a run of their money to the public schools coming up in various parts of the city. Even at peak rush hour in the morning and at culmination of the day, one does not find a rush of students. Engles credits the architecture and construction planning of the school for this.

The school has four separate blocks- pre-primary, primary, secondary girls and boys blocks for class VI to X. Each block is situated at a distance and is surrounded by gardens.

An ISO-certified school, Alexandra shifted its affiliation from the PSEB to the ICSE in 1999. After having been an all-girls’ school for 118 years, its management, the Diocese of Amritsar Church, introduced a separate wing for boys in 1996.

Robert Clark of the Church Missionary Society, London, founded the Alexandra School in 1878. It was a trendsetting move as it opened the gates of modern education for the girls of Punjab in general and Amritsar in particular. The school was named Alexandra in the honour of Princess of Wales, whose life span was between December 1, 1844 to November 20, 1925.

The school is situated on 13 acres of lush green campus and provides conducive, open and a supportive academic atmosphere.

The stress is on all-round excellence as the school provides quality education and aims at all-round development of the one’s personality. It has got computer laboratories and classrooms are housed in Victorian and Gothic architecture style buildings, which take minute care of extreme summer and winter conditions. Each classroom receives ample natural light with has beautifully maintained gardens around to provide a conducive environment to the students.

Lady Mountbatten and Lady Trivedy were among the several distinguished visitors of the school. 

Amritsar, August 4
Celebrating the indominable human spirit and wearing patriotism on their sleeves, a group of kids from 'Ability United Foundation' danced like an inspiration while performing at Wagah.

Visiting Amritsar for the first time to perform a first-of-its-kind act during the retreat ceremony, 30 children from the Delhi-based organisation, run by Syed Sallaudin Pasha, danced on wheelchairs, earning applause and respect from the onlookers. And this was just one of the many success stories they have been writing since three decades.

"Most of these kids I work with are deaf and mute, but that has never been a deterrent for them in excelling. The performance at Wagah was special for them as they dedicated it to the country," shared Syed, fondly called Guruji by his students.

With hundreds of amazing and brave acts to their credit, AUF students have already made a mark at the global stage. Innovative musical acts like performing on Bhagwad Geeta on wheels, circular acts and even some Guinness and Limca book records to their list of achievements, these children proved their point.

"They use dance and music as a therapy and hone creative skills to claim their equal share of normalcy in society. Some of them cannot hear but dance without missing a beat. The appreciation they get works like a miracle for them," he added.

The star of the show, Gulshan Kumar, who cannot hear and speak, is an example of the grit and talent this bunch has. A Guinness world record holder for doing maximum manual spins on a wheelchair in a minute, he moves to the beats of any song like a dream. Leading the spirited group, Gulshan helps Syed train new students as well. His closing act at the performance at Wagah got the maximum cheers.

As for their future plans, Syed added, "I want to empower more such kids through performing and creative arts so that they too have a right to a normal life. Their talent is the key to their future."