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I-Day function: Rain plays spoilsport
Health Department seals 2 chemist shops in Maqboolpura
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Panel finds no structure of heritage value among 136 unsafe buildings
Two snatchers held
BSF chief to start 2-day frontier visit today
Police fails to catch accused eunuchs
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I-Day function: Rain plays spoilsport
Amritsar, August 14 The rains had two days earlier flooded the ground, but the organisers somehow had managed to bring the ground to workable condition. However, with today’s rain the previous efforts have been washed away. The water was seen standing on the entire ground after the rain. However, the workers continued to whitewash portions of the venue as it still rained. Workers said even if the entire water was drained out during the night the ground would still be slippery. “It will really be a problem if the rain did not stop,” said an employee. The employees used movable drain pumps
to drain out the water. Even as holding parade and other cultural events would
be difficult task, the Deputy Commissioner said it was not possible to change the venue at the last moment. He said they were putting in all efforts to go with the earlier chalked plan. He said all arrangements could not be made at any other place overnight. The Deputy Commissioner said Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal would unfurl the national flag at 9 am tomorrow. He added that the police had made elaborate security plans for the safety of the general public. Apart from ceremonial march past and cultural events, 38 persons with distinguished service in the fields of education, sports, public and social service would be honoured by the Health Minister.
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Health Department seals 2 chemist shops in Maqboolpura
Amritsar, August 14 Drug Inspector Anupama Kalia said Dashmesh Medical Store and Kamboj Medical Store were sealed by the Health Department team. She said in the raid conducted earlier the two shops were found operating without a trained pharmacist. She said both the shops had not maintained the record of sale and purchase of the medicines. As running a chemist shop without a pharmacist and absence of record were deemed to be serious lapses, the department had cancelled the licences of both the shops. She said that the shops were sealed under the Drug and Cosmetics Act. The Maqboolpura area where these shops are located is known as the "Colony of widows" because of the maximum number of deaths reported due to drugs. As drug addicts often switch to habit-forming medicines because of their easy availability and less cost, illegal chemist shops have come up at every nook and corner of the city. The Health Department and police have often caught people with these proscribed drugs, which are often misused but still the problem has not ended. "The police must find and plug the source of these drugs," said a resident Lakhwinder Singh of the area. Residents of rural areas reveal that even private persons who do not run chemist shops are selling these medicines to people.
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Panel finds no structure of heritage value among 136 unsafe buildings
Amritsar, August 14 District Tourism Officer Balraj Singh said a three-member committee, comprising officials from the PWD, Municipal Town Planning (MTP) and Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, vetted the list by visiting each structure and did not find any of these to be preserved. A member of the committee, Harpreet Kaur, said it took nearly six days to check these buildings. She added that the demolition of these buildings would not disturb undergoing heritage walk and Panj Sarovar walk. It is pertinent to mention here that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal during a visit to the holy city had directed the MC to form a multi-department committee before starting the demolition exercise. He had directed that the buildings identified by the Tourism Department would be retained on the basis of their heritage value. Commissioner, MC, DPS Kharbanda said the the corporation was awaiting the submission of report by the committee, following which the demolition drive would be initiated. Meanwhile, the MC has already started the process of issuing notices to the occupants of 136 crumbling structures, which include both residential and commercial. Though the exercise was initiated as a preventive measure prior to the monsoon season as a number of such buildings had collapsed due to rain in the past and claimed over a dozen lives, but little could be done while the rainy season was approaching its end. The occupants of these buildings were being served notices to either get their dilapidated structures properly repaired or vacate these buildings and move to some safe places, corporation officials said. Those who cannot fulfil these conditions on their own have been told to approach the district administration so that an alternate arrangement of their stay could be made on temporary basis. Earlier, a Municipal Town Planning (MTP) team had even demolished some buildings in Dholi Mohalla on the Sultanwind road, Maini Chowk in Lakshmansar, Tabela Jagatram in the Namak Mandi areas a year ago. During the last monsoon, many old buildings had collapsed during downpour and caused several deaths. Hundreds of such old dilapidated buildings can still be found in areas like Ghee Madi, Dharam Singh Market, Katra Ahluwalia Bazaar, Guru Bazaar Pratap Bazaar, Cheel Mandi, Ghantagarh, Haveli Zamadara and around the Golden Temple.
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Two snatchers held
Amritsar, August 14 The snatchers have been identified as Anil Kumar of Babarpur village, Panipat, and Manoj Kumar of Friends Colony, Fatehgarh Churian road. The police authorities claimed that the snatchers were nabbed during a naka laid near the Golden Temple. Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, SHO, Kotwali police station, said the snatchers tried to flee after breaking the naka. However, they were chased and arrested by the police. During investigation, the police seized 25 mobile phones, habit-forming drugs and a motorcycle from them. A case has been registered against them. Randhawa said devotees and tourists coming to the Golden Temple for paying obeisance were their prime target.
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City NGOs show patriotic fervour
Amritsar, August 14 Mission Aghaaz, working for environmental causes in city, announced their I-day celebrations by holding awareness campaign on various social and environmental issues. “We will be pledging to get independence from eco-hazards, degradation of national heritage and social evils like drug addiction and female feoticide. Each year, Independence Day celebrates and honours our national symbols, including the national tree, bird and animal. But to think that all of them are becoming endangered and nobody is actually taking lead in saving them is disappointing. So, we have decided to dedicate this I-day to saving our national treasures,” said Dipak Babbar, general secretary, Mission Aghaaz. WordsWorth, a Chandigarh-based literary NGO celebrated Independence Day with its volunteers joining students from community schools in border villages. Displaying their love for the Motherland through patriotic songs and poems, the students indulged in poetry and essay-writing competitions and winners were given prizes. The budding citizens also showcased their skills by speaking on issues like literacy and development in villages and importance of education. The students vowed to remain alert and spread awareness among the people so as to increase the literacy rate in the border areas. Hosting the ongoing week-long festive extravaganza with patriotic, socially responsible and cultural elements, AlphaOne’s ‘Be the Change Club’ had an Independence Day bash. Over 85,000 enthusiastic visitors made a beeline to participate in the ongoing fun and festive contests like cooking, singing and dancing. Taking up the cause of cleaning the city, the club also undertook its eco-drive, ‘let’s make Amritsar sparkling’ on Durgiana Temple premises and surrounding areas to mark the day. The volunteers also interacted individually with citizens, answering their queries and concerns.
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Schools celebrate I-Day with zeal, enthusiasm
Amritsar, August 14 Different class activities were performed at various levels. Montessori students paid tributes by making the national flag with cotton dabbing,
tearing and pasting paper in shape of lotus and pasting national symbols in a Tricolour map. They even coloured t-shirts
with the Tricolour to convey the message of peace and freedom. The main aim was to celebrate the day and make the students respect their nation and inculcate patriotic values in them. Patriotic programmes were also held at Cambridge International School, Khalsa College Public School (KCPS), DAV International School, Shri Ram Ashram Senior Secondary School and others in the city. KCPS principal Dr Sarvjit Kaur Brar gave away prizes to students who had won various competitions. The students included Lovepreet, Sukhman, Abhishek, Harnuhar and Mehtab. The programme concluded with the recital of the National Anthem. Shri Ram Ashram Senior Secondary School held a patriotic quiz, declamation contest, play and poetry recitation competitions in the school. Poster making, declamation contest
Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, today held a poster making and declamation contest to mark the
martyrdom of Shaheed Shri Madan Lal Dhingra, which falls on August 17. The students highlighted the valuable contributions made by Dhingra during the course of the freedom struggle. School principal Mandeep Kaur said it was a matter
of pride that Shaheed Dhingra was born in Amritsar. In the inter-school declamation contest, Rumeet Kaur of
Mall Road School, Sukhmani Kaur and Manmeet Kaur of Putlighar Government School
stood first, second and third, respectively, in the senior level. In the junior category, Monika of B-Block Middle School, Shubneet Kaur of
Mall Road School and Komal of MS Gate stood first, second and third, respectively.
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Seminar discusses India-Pakistan relations
Amritsar, August 14 Delhi Press Club former president Pushpendra said during the hard times as now, the peaceniks must not stop their endeavours towards building friendly relations between both the nations. He said people should
not let them be disheartened as wider peace would be beneficial for both the nations. Hind-Pak Dosti Manch president Satnam Singh Manak deliberated upon the possible threat to
India and Pakistan from Taliban after its removal from Afghanistan in 2014. Political conditions of Afghanistan had had
an impact on the India-Pakistan relations in the past and would continue so, he added. A souvenir of the Folklore Research Academy ‘Paanj Pani’ was released on the occasion. The seminar was attended by Dr Sukhdev Singh, general secretary, Punjabi Sahit Academy, Dr Kuldeep Singh, Dr Parminder Singh, Amarjit Singh Asal, Poet Surjit Judge, Jatinder Brar and Ramesh
Yadav.
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Celebrating national pride in their own unique way
Amritsar, August 14 Kanojia, a kite artiste, has made 15 special ‘Independence Day kites’, each remembering the freedom fighters and special instances of the independence struggle. The Limca Book Record holder has also put up an exhibition of these I-day special kites at his residence. “The special independance day kites have posters of national heroes like Subhash Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Pt Motilal Nehru and many others. I have also made kites which feature all the Prime Ministers and Presidents India has had since Independence and ones with historic events like formation of the INA,” shared the artiste. The special edition kites vary in size as well, with the smallest measuring just over an inch and the largest going to 8 feet in length. “The smallest one, just over an inch, is a Tricolor while the 8-ft-tall one has photographs of national heroes,” Kanojia added. The kite designer also hosts a kite flying competition every year on Independence day as a tradition. “It is a way of remembering and taking pride in being an Indian. The kite flying competition gets a good response every year and this time, the exhibition of the special edition of kites before the I-day is also being appreciated,
especially by parents who bring in their children to let them learn about nationalist movement and their heroes,” he said. Another unique commemoration comes from paper artiste Gurpreet Singh. He has created a miniature model of the Tricolor, along with even smaller flags to represent the 28 states of the sovereign. The paper model, measuring 10 inches in height and 30 gm in weight, is yet another innovative design from this national and internationally recognised artiste. “Every year, I try to
create something new and innovative for the Independence day celebrations. It is my way of glorifying my motherland and inspire the next generation,” he said. Just before the big day, to give out the message of peace and patriotism, the students of DPS, Amritsar, collaborated with celebrated kite designers and flyers from Ahmedabad to organsie a kite flying competition at Sarhad. At a time when Indo-Pak relations are strained in wake of the recent events, the students, along with Mehul Pathak, a renowned kite designer from Ahmedabad known for his giant flatable kites called King Cobra kites, took to the skies to send kites with the message of peace across the Wagah border. The pre-Independence Day celebrations were held at Sarhad. "Kite flying is the favourite sport during this time of the year and since it is a tradition during Independence day celebrations, I am encouraging young and old to take up to competitive kiting,” said Mehul. Aman Jaspal, CEO of Sarhad, said kite flying was just another way to engage youth on both sides of the border to connect in hope of peace. "Since youth have the biggest stake in peace, we hope the kite festival will convey the message of peace and Independence Day greetings to youth across the border."
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BSF chief to start 2-day frontier visit today
Amritsar, August 14 He will also launch the campaign ‘My Earth My Duty- 2013’ of Punjab frontier to mark the Independence Day celebrations. He, along with his wife Sudha Joshi, president, BSF Wives Welfare Association, will witness the retreat ceremony at Attari-Wagah joint check post. Various BSF officials will plant saplings and distribute plants to farmers of border villages at the Attari JCP. The Director General would also administer a pledge on ‘environment protection’ to the people present. Joshi will also launch a cycle rally of 106 BSF personnel of all units of
Punjab frontier, who will move along the international border while promoting the campaign and encouraging the people, especially the youth, to plant as many saplings as they can. They will spread awareness about the hazardous changes taking place in the environment and motivate them to take positive remedial actions. The rally will conclude on August 21 at the respective Sector Headquarters
of BSF (Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Abohar) and Subsidiary Training Centre at Kharkan,
Hoshiarpur.
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Police fails to catch accused eunuchs
Amritsar, August 14 The Islamabad police has registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the four eunuchs, all residents of Haripura. They were identified as Rajji Baba, Dimple Baba, Monika Baba and Lara Baba. Harjinder Kumar, SHO, said raids were being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the four accused, who had been on run since the registration of the case. He said, as per the doctors who conducted the postmortem examination of the deceased, injuries inside the stomach had led to his death.
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