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Rain again belies MC’s preparedness
Fear leads to rise in sale of kirpans, torches
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Medical officers accused of seeking bribe
Police cautions residents against believing rumours
Irregular water supply upsets residents
PCR vehicles face fuel ‘shortage’
New Circuit House to be constructed
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Rain again belies MC’s preparedness
Amritsar, August 6 All approaches to the key destinations, including the Golden Temple, remained choked till evening here. Similarly, government buildings which included MC’s Town Hall office, DC office, Kotwali and schools were submerged in knee-deep water. The only gainers were the vehicle mechanics, who had a field day as they left no chance to ask for "anything" to get the commuters, stranded in their vehicles, out. The elevated road connecting the Amritsar-Jalandhar GT Road also witnessed waterlogging. To sum it up, the MC’s special desilting drive, conducted recently to clear the passage in all the channels, road berms, water drains and sewerage system, could not live up to its promise of a problem-free scenario. In posh areas like Ranjit Avenue, Crystal Chowk, Lawrence Road, Mall Road, Several commuters got stranded as their vehicles gave up in the middle of the roads inundated with water. The situation was worst in the Walled city area, as it has still the same obsolete sewerage system. At Hansli Wali Gali, due to the lack of water disposal system, the rainwater got collected on the streets, while choking the way to the school located on the same street. “The water spilled over from the drains. It even entered our houses and there was always a fear of short circuiting. It is a regular affair here. All pleas to the corporation fell on deaf ears,” said Gurinder Singh, a resident of Hansli wali gali. At Katra Jaimal Singh and Katra Ahluwalia, the traders rued that water accumulated opposite their shops, which hampered their business. “We have affixed wooden blocks at the entrance to our shops to prevent the rainwater from entering, but it’s a futile exercise,” he said. Naresh Johar, an office-goer at Lawrence Road, said this area comes under the Mayor’s constituency, which is drowned in rainwater. “So what else can residents in other parts of the city expect. But I am lucky that my office has a sea side view?” he quipped. Ravleen Kaur, a student of GNDU, said she had to face a tough situation while negotiating her way to the university. “I got stuck as my scooter refused to move in knee-deep water stranded on the elevated road entrance,” she said. Water-logged passages could be seen in Lohgarh, Kot Atma Ram, Katra Alhuwalia area, Katra Baghian, Katra Bhai sant Singh, Bombay wala Khu, Chhati Khui, , Namak Mandi, Gali Chhajju and Guru Bazaar Pratap Bazaar, Cheel Mandi, Ghantagarh, Haveli Zamadara were almost identical. Entrances to hospitals waterlogged
The visitors to three big government health institutions here, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and Employees State Insurance Hospital on the Majitha road and Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital, had a tough time walking through the water-logged entrances to reach the hospitals. The visitors were seen walking in knee-deep water to reach the hospitals. “It is hard to reach the hospitals without getting wet,” said Baljinder Singh, a visitor to the Civil Hospital. While the main entrance to the hospital was closed due to the ongoing construction of the hospital’s building, the road on the rear side was at a low level. “Ever since the rains have started, we have not seen road clear of water, but today’s heavy rain made things difficult for people,” said a shopkeeper. The rain also inundated a stretch on the Majitha road on which the ESI hospital and Guru Nanak Hospital are located. The visitors were seen looking for ways to reach the medical institutions. Some had even taken out their shoes and folded their trousers to reach their destination safely.
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Fear leads to rise in sale of kirpans, torches
Amritsar, August 6 A retail electric shopkeeper Arvinder Singh said the sale of battery, torches and cells had gone up recently. He commented that insecurity was driving people, especially those living in remote and tail-end localities of the city and villages, to invest in these things for carrying out surveillance of their localities. Nasib Singh of Fatahpur village said he came with a group of villagers to procure some sharp-edged weapons, torches and cells for overnight vigil. He said each individual in the night vigil wants to have a torch and a baton, if a sword is not possible, in his hand. Jagjiwan Singh, a manufacturer and retailer of swords, said sales had jumped on account of the demand from the local market. Normally, tourists and NRIs are the biggest customers, but with the rumours of a robbers’ gang gaining currency, people were procuring sharp-edged weapons, especially swords and "gandasa" and batons with a sharp-edged blade fixed on its top. A resident of Sandhu Colony Harmit Singh said the persistence of rumours of the robbers' gang on the prowl had forced them to take preventive measures. They had started a vigil at night, but required sharp-edged weapons, apart from sticks, baseball bats and other blunt tools to defend themselves. He added that costly guns and a tardy licence procurement process had left them with the only option of buying sharp-edged weapons.
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Popular food chains in city found wanting on hygiene
Amritsar, August 6 While the popular kitchens were found to be not up to the hygiene standards and doubts over food quality were also mentioned in the challan books, the list of those challaned included some famous café chains and even high-end Indian restaurants. The revelations have not come as a surprise to the city of foodies. Last year, some established food brands had to shut shop for days after being found guilty of unhygienic standards by the health department officials. Meanwhile, the repeat offence makes it uneasy for foodies to digest. Some city food enthusiasts join many in voicing their concerns over what is being served in their expensive platter. “Going out to eat these days comes with a heavy price tag, especially the established food chains. Also, one goes to a known brand with expectations of being served the best quality and service. But if they are not maintaining the health standards as required, this is a clear case of cheating with the customers. The kind of prices they have on their menu, food quality becomes a necessity,” says Rajan Kashyap, a businessman from city. Jyoti Arora, of the Masterchef fame and now a successful food entrepreneur in the city, agrees. “One really feels bad when you are being cheated upon. Even with lots of new and global food chains being opened in the city, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the food safety standards in the kitchen. The owners of the franchisee need to be literate and educate their staff about hygiene in kitchen, serving quality food and knowing healthy cooking techniques. I have seen such sub-standard kitchens in some of the known brands in business that it shocks me to see people ignore such basic necessities in food business. People should also get careful about what they order from the menu. Amritsar is a food hub and such violations bring a bad name to its reputation.” While the public is in for a reminder about the possible health risks, some of the owners of the food chains in question come clean. “The department officials did inspect our kitchen and took food samples, but it was a routine exercise that the department undertakes every now and then. The thing has been blown out of proportion, as too much is being written about it,” said one of the franchisee owners of a popular food chain that came under the health department’s scanner. Similarly, another popular café chain has been doing steady business even after being challaned for these violations. “No one knows what’s the actual picture. Amritsar has a thriving food business, even rehriwallahs make a fortune selling roadside snacks. No one thinks twice about gulping down some 'golgappas' or 'buntikkis' from these vendors, so why think too much in a fancy restaurant? After a while, everybody tends to forget and move on with it. But the one in business should not compromise with their guests' health,” explains Harpreet Hanjrah, host of the food show "Khao Piyo Aish Karo" on the PTC.
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Medical officers accused of seeking bribe
Amritsar, August 6 Recently a patient at the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil hospital had accused an emergency medical officer of taking graft money for issuing an MLR with serious injury. The hospital had later transferred the doctor to a rural hospital. Even at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, a local resident accused a medical officer of taking graft for issuing a medico-legal report. The hospital claimed to have initiated an inquiry to ascertain facts on the same. The incident speaks volumes of corruption going on in the hospitals for issuing medico-legal cases. The District Health Department, in December last year, had made the work of MLRs and PMRs on line following the guidelines of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The guidelines had come following the instances of illegible hand written reports. Sources in the department revealed that there were no strict guidelines about the time schedule in which these reports were to be filed. Sometimes these reports were finalised not earlier than 15 days. “Sometimes these reports could not be finalised instantly as the doctor may have asked for a medical opinion from other experts. But it is true that a few people are asking for money,” said a officer on the condition of anonymity. However, Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra could not be reached for his comments.
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Police cautions residents against believing rumours
Amritsar, August 6 Addressing
mediapersons, Ram Singh said the police, too, had received complaints about this gang on control room number 100, but later these all turned out to be
rumours. “We are fully equipped to deal with any such untoward incident. Our 110 mobile vans and 66 special nakas in different pockets of the district are being monitored by over 425 police personnel during evening hours in remote areas too,” he said. “We have also asked our SHOs to have a rapport with the residents of their areas concerned. All these efforts are being made just to dispel the rumours,” he said. Meanwhile, residents have formed groups in their villages at night for "theekari pheras" (night guards), as reports regarding gangsters attacking the villagers keep flowing. In the city areas, too, youths keep awake till late in the evening. The police has also cautioned those who have been spreading such rumours. “If someone spreads such rumours, he or she would be liable to face legal action. We intimate all to report about such elements at our control room 100 or the police station concerned,” said Paramraj Singh Umranangal.
— TNS
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Irregular water supply upsets residents
Amritsar, August 6 Sagar Sidana, a resident of Street No.16 said, “For the past one month, the water supply is irregular. We have brought this issue to the notice of municipal corporation officials several times.” He said employees of the Water Department had informed that the tube well supplying water to the area was not capable of pumping water to homes in the street. Residents rued that while all other streets of the area were well paved, there was only one street which was broken. “The flooring of street is broken and it is a low-lying stretch. As a result, the water from nearby localities flow into and make things difficult,” Sagar said.
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PCR vehicles face fuel ‘shortage’
Amritsar, August 6 If sources in the Police Department are to be believed, PCR teams are forced to shell out money from their own pockets for filling petrol in the vehicles during patrolling. The petrol pump located at the Police Lines for filling fuel in the police vehicles has gone dry for the past several months. Due to this shortage, the PCR teams have curtailed their patrolling duties while constraining themselves only for holding nakas. And the situation is likely to pose problems for the night patrolling sooner or later as the same vehicles are used during the night patrolling. However, senior police officials remained in a denial mode. A policeman deputed with the PCR team said, “Definitely, we are facing problems due to deficiency of fuel. The daily quota allotted to a PCR motorcycle or a four-wheeler is not sufficient for continuous patrolling in the designated areas, especially if the jurisdiction area is larger.” “We have brought the matter to the knowledge of senior police authorities and said the policing will go for a toss if necessary action was not taken soon. But we are still awaiting for a response,” he added. Another police official said petrol pump had gone dry as central agency which provides petrol to the pump at the Police Lines was giving it at much higher rates than the private petrol pumps. “The petrol pumps outside the Police Lines were getting the fuel at much cheaper rates. Therefore several petrol pumps have been selected for filling petrol in police vehicles. Payments are made to these petrol pumps on monthly basis,” he told. Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Kaustubh Sharma, however, denied of any such problem. “The problem is with a few policemen who failed to maintain their log books, which is mandatory. Since they failed to maintain their log books, they could not refill petrol in their vehicles. The problem arises when they hand over the same vehicle to the next policeman after the change of shifts. On an average, we provide 10 litre of petrol in a PCR motorcycle which is more than sufficient. I have personally checked this and found no such problem,” he said. CoPS FUND ‘Patrolling’
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Shops demolished, traders await rehabilitation
Amritsar, August 6 Sunder Singh said his family has been involved in the traditional Indian medicine for the past many generations. "In order to match the pace with the changing time, his children pursued pharmacy as a career. But now all those efforts seem wasted. Our entire family has been rendered unemployed,” he rued. Without a shop for the past one month, he has been operating from his house at Bagh Ramanad. “My old customers and years of marketing have evaporated at one stroke. After a lot of efforts I manage to contact only 10 per cent of them. Even these customers complain of difficulty in reaching home as it falls off the market route,” he said. Another former shopkeeper of the area, Pardeep Kumar, said he was forced to run his mutual funds business from his house. “I have to put in extra efforts to remain in touch with customers as it is the only livelihood for my family,” he said. Shiv Mahajan, another former shopkeeper of the area, said many shopkeepers were sitting idle as they did not have enough resources to buy shops. In order to compensate the shopkeepers, the Improvement Trust paid an interest at a rate of little over 12 per cent for the period between 1998 and 2010. Mahajan said the commercial collector rate around Jallianwala Bagh was between Rs 40,000 and Rs 45,000 in 2010. This year when the actual possession took place, the collector rate for the commercial properties around the same area was between Rs 90,000 and Rs 96,000, he quipped. While authorities have demolished the shops around Jallianwala Bagh area for the road-widening project following the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, nothing has been finalised yet regarding the rehabilitation of the traders displaced from the area. Meanwhile, theft cases of reusable and resale materials like sewerage pipes, wooden shops, logs and others from the debris of demolished shops have also picked up. Improvement Trust chairman Sandeep Rishi said the shopkeepers, disgruntled at the compensation, could move an appeal in reference to the enhancement of compensation. About the theft of material from the mounds of debris, he said the trust had given the money to buy land and rubble belonged to the owners of the property. In case, they did not remove it, the trust would clean the ground as the tenders would be awarded within next 21 days. About the rehabilitation of displaced shopkeepers, he informed that the DC had forwarded the case to the trust and the latter moved it to the government. He said four sites had been conveyed to the shopkeepers, but their response was yet to come.
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Workshop on physics and astronomy gets underway
Amritsar, August 6 The workshop moved with the impetus of scientific ideas. Students from various schools and colleges participated in the workshop. Addressing the students, experts presented a plethora of topics and subjects of physics and astronomy. Principal Dr KN Kaul welcomed the guests and added that such workshops prove to be a great source of knowledge for the students. The workshop proved to be a boon for discussing the most relevant topics like science of atoms, origin of universe, solar system and Indian observatories. Dr Arvind Ranade, scientist from Vigyan Prasar, gave an overview on the basics of telescopes and Indian observatories. He said science was the base of progress and we should think and act according to scientific principles. In order to enhance the interest and promote a passive participation of students, a question-answer round was also organised. Besides, Dr Mahesh Kumar Sharma from National Physical laboratory, New Delhi, Manmohan Singh Marwaha from Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh, delivered lectures and demonstrations to enlighten the students. Marwaha acquainted the students with science of atoms and their ultrafast dynamics. He also enlightened the students with his lectures on innovative experiments in physics. Prof Sameer Kalia, Head, Department of Physics and Workshop Convener thanked all experts and said students need exposure to such intellectual lectures to enhance their skills and knowledge in the field of Science and Technology.
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New Circuit House to be constructed
Amritsar, August 6 Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said the proposal to build a new Circuit House, a multi-storey commercial complex and, if possible, a five-star hotel were in the planning stage. He made it clear that these structures would be raised at the present site of the Circuit House and its adjoining PWD guest house, situated at the Rialto Chowk. Presently, the Circuit House has only 16 rooms, including two suites of the Chief Minister. The Deputy Commissioner said adequate parking space would be made available at the proposed new setup. Keeping in mind the future needs, efforts would be made not to disturb the existing green belt, he said.
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