After drum drive to shame tax defaulters, civic body goes online to collect dues
Amritsar, September 1
After drumbeats to shame the tax evaders, the Municipal Corporation has adopted a holistic way of asking the residents to pay their taxes on time.

Forum directs insurance firm to pay Rs 1 lakh in cop’s death case
Amritsar, September 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the ICICI Lombard to pay an insurance amount of Rs 1 lakh along with 9 per cent interest to the widow of a policeman who had died while cleaning his service weapon.

Man held for duping brother of jewellery
Amritsar, September 1
A man was arrested by the police for allegedly defrauding his brother in a bid to usurp gold jewellery worth several lakhs.

BSF organises de-addiction camp
Amritsar, September 1
The Border Security Force, under its campaign against the drug menace in the border areas, today, organised its second de-addiction awareness camp at Rajatal village which is located near Indo-Pak border.

Amritsar, September 1
Even as the district administration and the Amritsar Municipal Corporation have initiated the night sanitation drive to give a spic and span look to the roads leading to the Golden Temple, the staff engaged for the purpose care little when it comes to maintain cleanliness.

A private company from Chandigarh had been engaged for this.

Heaps of sewage dug out from sewerage can be seen unattended right on the roads in areas like Ghee Mandi, Katra Ahluwalia, Chowk Farid and Katra Jaimal Singh. All these routes lead to the Golden Temple.

The waste is further scattered all over by the vehicular traffic, much to the chagrin of commuters and residents alike, courtesy apathy of the MC workers. The residents say that the MC workers usually dig sewage from underground pipelines and leave it in heaps on the roads.

It is but anybody’s guess that what impression would the visitors take home of the city which aims to make it big on the state’s tourism map.

Gurjeet Singh Bhola, a local resident, said he had conveyed a number of times to the MC officials about the problem but they seemed to have turned a deaf ear to this. Jagdish Singh, a resident of Bagh Ramanand, said the sewage passage in Shivala Veer Bhan area was lying defunct for the past four months, exposing the residents to unhygienic conditions.

He said even as most of the dairy farms have been shifted to the outskirts of the city, a gaushala in Shivala Veer Bhan Singh area was a source of annoyance to residents. Fodder, refuse and cow dung is seen on the roads which are seldom cleaned up.

Despite the fact that considerable amount of funds are given under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to improve civic amenities in the urban areas of Amritsar, it has hardly brought about a visible difference on the ground.

Removal of garbage and cleaning of the roads is carried out in highly unprofessional manner by the MC workers.

Naresh Johar, another resident, said, "Though the night sanitation drive is a welcome step, no initiative would bear any results until the MC staff is held accountable for lapses on their part."

“The night sanitation drive seems to be just a political gimmick. Merely raising the slogans of cleanliness and hygiene would serve no purpose until the MC authorities come to the fore to address the pitiable condition on ground,” he said.

In yet another glaring violation, garbage is burnt in the bin itself despite repeated warnings not to do so. One such instance was witnessed near the city bus stand on Sunday.

When contacted, Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said, “The matter has been brought to my knowledge. I will ask the sanitation wing concerned to address the problem. It is not acceptable that heaps of sewage are left unattended on the roads. It is their (MC workers) duty to clean up the roads once they are done with sewerage cleaning. The burning of garbage will not be tolerated.”

Jagdish Singh had raised the issue of defunct sewage lines in Shivala Veer Bhan area and insanitary conditions prevailing there. He has lodged a complaint with the MC office against the area SDO. Singh alleged that the SDO, under the influence of the area councillor, misbehaved with him.

“He (the SDO) might have got offended that I directly submitted a complaint regarding residents’ grievances. Don’t I have the right to approach the MC officials directly? I have been receiving threatening calls everyday from the councillor's men.”

“I have also filed an RTI seeking information what disciplinary action has been taken against the SDO in pursuance to my complaint. He seems to be on the rolls of the councillor rather than the MC,” Jagdish Singh said.

The SDO might have got offended that I directly submitted a complaint regarding residents' grievances. Don't I have the right to approach the MC officials directly? I have been receiving threatening calls everyday from the councillor's men. I have also filed an RTI seeking information on what action has been taken against him in pursuance to my complaint. He seems to be on the rolls of the councillor
— Jagdish Singh, Bagh Ramanand resident 

Amritsar, September 1
The city police has arrested five persons, including two women, on different charges. Four of them have been arrested for possessing narcotic substances.

The accused have been identified as Bau Kumar Biswas of Bangla Basti in Chowki Mana Singh, Paramjit Kaur of Anngarh village and Swarani of Gawal Mandi area. Suraj Kumar, a resident of Kartar Nagar, managed to escape leaving his vehicle and 1,000 capsules of habit-forming drugs on the spot.

The police said Bau Kumar Biswas was nabbed with 150 gram of charas and Mohabatpal was arrested with 500 intoxicant capsules. Paramjit Kaur and Swarani were held with 12 gram of smack and 20 bottles of illicit liquor respectively.

Separate cases have been registered against the accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Excise Act. Further investigations in the case were under progress, said the police.

Amritsar, September 1
Thousands of teachers of the government-aided schools in Punjab are without salary for the past six months as the state government has not released the stipulated grant.

The Punjab government provides 95 per cent grant-in aid while the rest five per cent is shred by the managing committees of the respective schools. The teachers of these schools are complaining of being overburdened as 60 per cent posts are lying vacant.

They said they found themselves in embarrassing situation as they are to borrow money from their near and dear ones to meet their expenses.

The Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union said the service rules for the employees of aided schools were similar to their counterparts in the government schools.

"However, when it comes to the salary, the government-aided school teachers are not being paid their dues," Ajay Chouhan of the union said.

He said it was in 1967 that the then Chief Minister Lachchman Singh Gill had brought all the private schools under the grant-in aid system on Delhi pattern. He said as many as 9,468 posts were sanctioned to 508 schools in the state. He claimed that 24 schools have either been closed while many others are on the verge of closure.

In 2003, the Amarinder Singh government stopped their pension and also put a ban on filling the vacant posts in these schools. These steps have deteriorated the imparting of education in these schools, he said.

The union says the panacea for several ills plaguing the government-aided schools rested in their merger with the Education Department.

Chouhan says it would reduce the burden on the judiciary first of all because so many cases of aided schools are in courts. Many employees of the Education Department, including clerks and officials, attend court proceedings which adversely affected their regular office work. The provident fund of these employees amounting to nearly Rs 200 crore would also get shifted to the government treasury, he added.

According to the Right to Information (RTI) Act and orders of the apex court, the state governments must fill in the vacant posts till September 2013. About 60 per cent vacancies in the aided schools translate into over 5,000 posts and to fill all these would cost more than Rs 300 crore.

By merging the employees of the government-aided schools with the Education Department, the government will get 4,300 experienced teaching staff as well. If the government fills the posts, it would have to give them at least a basic salary about Rs 10,300.

Future of the employees of the aided schools has been hanging in the balance for many years.

Amritsar, September 1
After drumbeats to shame the tax evaders, the Municipal Corporation has adopted a holistic way of asking the residents to pay their taxes on time.

Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda, on his Facebook account has appealed to the residents describing the benefits of paying taxes on time.

Titled 'Importance of Paying Taxes', it carries a message that how taxpaying is helpful in establishing a good governance and providing civic amenities to residents, such as safe and efficient water supply, health, sanitation, education, maintaining parks and streetlights etc.

Kharbanda has posted with this picture a message on with a subhead "Please pay due taxes for Guru Ki Nagri'. This post has also been endorsed by over 25 people who have chipped in their messages praising this innovative move.

Anirudh Gupta, a city resident, wrote, "Hope people start paying their taxes honestly...good effort." Another resident Sukhbir Singh wrote, "Hope politicians not grab away all the money."

Referring to an incident wherein an Akali worker allegedly abused MC Superintendent Sushant Bhatia. Bhatia and his team had gone to collect tax from a gas agency owner in Rattan Singh Chowk area during the drumbeat drive when the incident took place.

Kharbanda said, "It was just a way of appealing to the residents that they should take it as their moral duty to pay their dues. The collected money would ultimately be ploughed back for providing better civic amenities to residents. The fact that we are short of funds is an open secret," he said.

"Tax collection is the only revenue generation mode for the MC. If the residents themselves refrain from paying taxes, how would we able to meet the expenses or maintaining the infrastructure. We started shaming the defaulters with the drumming exercise after they never bothered to respond to our repeated notices. I appeal to residents that they should not compel us to take more rigorous action like snapping their water and sewage connections or putting their properties under hammer for collecting taxes," he added.

Amritsar, September 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the ICICI Lombard to pay an insurance amount of Rs 1 lakh along with 9 per cent interest to the widow of a policeman who had died while cleaning his service weapon.

The insurance company had earlier denied the claim stating that the death was a suicide and thus they were not eligible for insurance claim. Holding that the claim was wrongly repudiated, the forum has also directed ICICI Lombard to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses.

Earlier, Harinder Kaur, wife of deceased Lakhwinder Singh, had filed a complaint against ICICI Lombard stating that her husband was working as a head constable in the Punjab police and his group insurance was duly effected with the opposite party through his employer. She said her husband died by a bullet fired from his own pistol while cleaning it.

She stated that it was an accidental death and he was treated as a martyr by the Punjab Police after his death. She alleged that the insurer had not paid her the claim despite her requests. The insurance company in its reply submitted that as per investigation, it had become clear that the complainant's husband had committed suicide and he had not died accidentally.

The forum observed that the deceased had also bought a policy from LIC and deciding a dispute between the complainant and LIC, the Insurance Ombudsman had held that as the opposite party i.e. LIC of India, could not produce any evidence, reason or cause of committing suicide by Lakhwinder Singh and hence in the absence of clear proof of suicide bid, the benefit of doubt should go to the complainant.

The forum observed that as in this case too the opposite party could not produce any evidence in the form of reason or cause which led Lakhwinder Singh to commit suicide. 

Amritsar, September 1
A man was arrested by the police for allegedly defrauding his brother in a bid to usurp gold jewellery worth several lakhs.

The accused, identified as Gurwinder Singh, a resident of Sultanwind area, said he was kidnapped by unidentified persons and was looted of gold jewellery weighing about 250 gram, worth Rs 8 lakh.

The local police later discovered it to be a drama and arrested him on charges of fraud.

Amritsar, September 1
The Border Security Force, under its campaign against the drug menace in the border areas, today, organised its second de-addiction awareness camp at Rajatal village which is located near Indo-Pak border.

The BSF has launched a campaign to sensitise the border residents, especially youths, in order to encourage and wean them away from drug-abuse which has assumed an alarming proportion in Punjab especially its border villages due to its close proximity with Pakistan.

The camps receive great response from the villagers who urged the force to organise more and more such camps which were launched from Hardo Rattan village few days ago.

Education is an important aspect which could play a vital role in eradication of drug menace. The villagers complained that even though there are high schools located in various villages in the border areas but due to lack of transportation, their wards could not attend the schools. Thus they are forced to stop their education in mid-way. They said the poor families, who are involved in labour jobs, prefer not to send their children to school in absence of any transportation means.

The inhabitants of Rajatal and its adjoining villages urged the BSF to make some arrangements for the transportation of the children to the schools. They urged the BSF authorities to provide bicycles to their wards so that they could attend schools situated in the nearby villages.

Confirming this, MF Farooqui, DIG BSF (Amritsar sector) said he was contemplating to take up the issue with the district administration in this connection. He said he would also see whether BSF could play any role in this.

The residents also pointed out that whenever they gave any tip-off about some miscreant involved in the drug smuggling the authorities concerned hardly do anything in this regard. Farooqui said organisation of such camps indicates that the BSF mean business.

“No one would be spared for indulging in drug smuggling from across the border. The government is very serious about it and so are we. Anyone who would found involved in illegal trade would be handled with iron hand,” said Farooqui while adding that next camp would be held at Attari on September 15.

Amritsar, September 1
In a mega blood donation camp organised by the District Red Cross Society managed to collect 1,030 units of blood in a single day. The camps were simultaneously organised at Red Cross Bhawan, Nirankari Bhawan, Khankot, Jallianwala Bagh, and Civil Hospital, Ajnala.

The camps were inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal and his wife Ritu Aggarwal, who is also the Chairperson of society’s hospital welfare section. Rajat Aggarwal encouraged the donors to donate blood and requested them to keep the same spirit in future also.

Keeping in view the shortage of blood, he said city has two government blood banks at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and at Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital. Both the blood banks have a daily consumption of about 170 units.

The blood banks are facing shortage of supply and to tackle this shortage district administration had planned this mega camp, he said. He said today’s collection would go a long way in bridging the gap between supply and demand of blood.

Aggarwal said government employees working in various departments would be encouraged to donate blood voluntarily. He said more of these camps would be organised in future to meet the demand.

Earlier the city had witnessed a record blood donation of around 29,000 units by volunteers from city during a special drive launched by National AIDS Control Society.

Aggarwal said country has an annual requirement of 10 million units of blood while the availability is only 8 million units. Government, NGO’s and corporate sector have been striving hard to create awareness about blood donation to bridge the gap between demand and supply, he added.

Amritsar, September 1
Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma praised on chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu for taking initiative to mend relations within the party circle. Talking to mediapersons on the sideline of a meeting with booth incharges of Amritsar central assembly constituency here today, Sharma said it was a good message for the party cadres that Dr Sidhu visited the place of Industry Minister Anil Joshi and ironed-out differences, if any.

About the questions raised by Dr Sidhu at the alliance partner Akali Dal he replied that the alliance was robust and would deliver magnificent results in the general election scheduled to be held next year. He said being party president in the state he was ready to play active role in constructing bridges among the leaders in the ruling alliance.

About the announcement of proposed arrival of Navjot Singh Sidhu to his constituency on September 4, Sharma welcomed it and added that the party workers would accord him a warm welcome.

Workers from all booths of the Amritsar central constituency participated in the meeting and took guidelines from various BJP leaders. Among others BJP leaders Anil Joshi, Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, Rajinder Bhandari, Baldev Raj Chawla, Sukhminder Singh Pintu and Tarun Chugh, BJP central constituency in-charge addressed the gathering. 

Amritsar, September 1
Veteran Punjabi theatre actor Hardeep Gill makes a strong point with his statement and his film ‘Nabar’. He said “Punjabi cinemas has till now made people laugh, it’s time we get serious.” The Punjabi film that has joined the ranks in history by becoming one of the very few films to win a national award came to the holy city with its entire crew and star cast.

Launching its music and promoting the film, the producer Jasbir Singh Derewal, music director Ravi sheen, actor-singer Nishawn Bhullar and actor Hardeep Singh interacted with media on Sunday afternoon. “Nabar means a rebel without a cause.

It’s a story of a farmer, a father who fights till the end the illegal immigration agents responsible for his son’s death and brings them to justice,” he explains. Playing the lead character in the film, Hardeep, who got into the skin of his character so much so that the emotional scenes didn’t even require glycerin, says the film tries to focus on important issues. “Punjab’s youth is being wasted by drug and human trafficking. The extreme fixation of the youth with foreign lands results in desperate measures like selling their lands, assets just to end up in the illegal immigration nexus. For some, the dream ends tragically, like in the film.”

Nabar has been directed by Rajeev Sharma, who has been directing acclaimed short films like Aatu Khoji before this. The film has won several awards and accolades post the national award, being featured at the festival circuit and has been invited to be a part of the Punjab International film festival and has been picked up by BBC network. “A big achievement for a film with fresh credits,” says producer Jasbir Singh Derewal. “Human trafficking is a global problem and when we conceived the idea of Nabar, it was never meant to be a glamorous or commercial film. It had to be realistic, hard hitting and true to its audience. We wanted to be a part of thinking-man’s cinema and the national award just means the film will now get more audiences,” he says.

Before the film’s release, Jasbir along with the director Rajeev has been aiming at film’s aggressive marketing. “It’s a fact that we have made a good film, won national award. But it is also a fact that there is a limited audience for meaningful cinema, especially in Punjabi film industry. So we plan to travel excessively with the film to schools, colleges, cities and shopping malls even to directly bring our film to the audiences. Though Punjabi cinema has reached a good commercial proposition, but the producers have to change the status quo to bring some good cinema to Punjabi audience,” he added.

Another highlight of the film is its music. Debutant music composer Ravi Sheen too feels elated to start big with Nabar. “The film’s protagonist draws inspiration from Gurbani and so I tried fusing gurmat sangeet and popular music for the film’s score. Since it’s a realistic film, the music could not have compromised its essence. So there is a lot of gurbani, shabad with rock and reggae, using guitar, synthesizer and simplifying it for youngsters. Any last words on the film and actor Hardeep Gill couldn’t wait to answer. “It’s not a ‘herd’ film,” he said.

Amritsar, September 1
An RTI activist PC Sharma has claimed that majority of the fake LPG connections survived the internal search conducted by a major public sector undertaking (PSU) after the Union Government’s announcement of banning multiple LPG connections with a view to curtail subsidy.

He said the case of a PSU supplying LPG reflects the effect of policy to nail down the multiple connections and insincere approach of the government.

He cited the instance of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and said its district office had received guidelines to identify persons with multiple connections like all other district offices in the country. There were 52 gas agencies and lakhs of customers in Amritsar and over 90 per cent LPG connections pertained to the IOC.

He said it was publicised that people must voluntarily surrender their LPG connections or face the music. Consumers with multiple connections will be liable to face permanent disconnection and even penal action under the Essential Commodities Act.

However, as per the response to his RTI application, the IOC Ltd, general manager, planning, ASN Sharma said Indane connections do not get deactivated due to the reasons like care of, house of, mother of etc.

Hence, information on gas connections deactivated for these reasons does not exist, he mentioned.

He said Indane connections got deactivated only if the customer does not book LPG refill for more than 180 days. There is no other reason for which we can deactivate the LPG connections.

In response to his another query IOC said the total security deposit collected from consumers on account of cylinders and pressure regulators lying with the IOC as on March 31, 2013 was Rs 10,820 crore. 

Amritsar, September 1
Continuing medical education (CME) programme was held in collaboration with the Amritsar Surgeon’s Society today.

Dr Mohinish Chhabra, senior consultant (Gastro & Hepatology), Fortis Hospital, while delivering a lecture on alcoholic liver disease said consuming 60 to 80 gms of alcohol per day is the perfect potion to attract liver ailments that can also cause cancer.

He added that in women this quantity hovered at 20 to 40 gms per day for 10 years. “As a result, the time this disease takes to develop is equal to the amount consumed and duration for which it was consumed.

This means the so-called ten “silent years” are actually spent nurturing the disease,” he said.

The causes of Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) include heavy drinking, gender, obesity, Hepatitis C, genetics and malnutrition. ALD occurs after years of heavy drinking. Alcohol can cause inflammation in the liver.

The symptoms include pain and swelling in abdomen, decreased appetite, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, dry mouth and increased thirst, yellow color in the skin and mucus membrane or eyes, small, red spider-like veins on skin, itching and redness on feet or hands. A person also gets numbness in limbs and has problem thinking and memorising.

Amritsar Surgeons’ Society president Dr Vikram Gupta, honorary secretary Minimal Access Surgeon and Surgical Gastroenterologist Dr Rajan Punj, honorary literary secretary urologist Dr Sandeep Sharma and honorary financial secretary surgeon Dr Jaspreet Grover were also present.