Man booked for marrying cop by fraud 
Amritsar, September 8
The police has booked a person for allegedly marrying a woman deputed with the city police using fraudulent means. The accused married the victim concealing his first marriage.

Amritsar, September 8
Raising a serious question over the security of the foreign nationals visiting the city, a young girl from Denmark was allegedly harassed sexually by an auto-rickshaw driver.

The accused has been arrested by the city police.

The incident took place on the intervening night of September 6-7 when she came to the city.

The victim has lodged a complaint with the police next morning following which a case of sexual harassment (354-B IPC) was registered and a manhunt was launched to nab the unidentified culprit.

The accused was later identified as Vickey Kumar, a resident of a locality near railway crossing number22.

The accused usually parked his auto-rickshaw outside the railway station.

Reports said the victim came to the city from New Delhi through Shatabadi Express which arrived at around 11 pm. The victim crossed the road through footbridge outside the railway station to reach a private hotel on the other side of the road.

The accused reportedly started following her from the footbridge. When the victim reached near a private hotel, the accused allegedly molested her.

Deepak Kumar, in-charge, Circuit House police post, said a manhunt was launched to nab the culprit. Later, following a tip-off, the police zeroed in on Vicky. The accused was arrested and was recognised the victim.

Earlier too, incidents have been reported wherein foreign nationals were robbed by miscreants.

It has also put a question mark on the night patrolling launched by the police department to check crimes during night.

A police official said the personnel on night patrolling were stationed at the exit gate of the railway station while the footbridge is located on the entry point. Moreover, the victim was frightened after the incident and immediately ran to the hotel and informed its manager about it. 

Amritsar, September 8
The police has booked a person for allegedly marrying a woman deputed with the city police using fraudulent means. The accused married the victim concealing his first marriage.

The victim said the accused went abroad along with his family after a few days of the marriage.

After the statement of the victim's father, the police has registered a case of fraud and bigamy against the accused, identified as Harpreet Singh, a resident of Arjan Maga village.

Kashmir Singh, the victim's father and resident of Lalla Afghana in Qadian, told the police that his daughter Sawinder Kaur got a job with the city police on compassionate grounds after the demise of her husband. —TNS

Amritsar, September 8
The Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) today started demolition of the unauthorised structures at SSP (Rural) office to construct an approach road to the Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar Mall Mandi spread over 211-acre of land.

The AIT pressed in its staff, labourers, a ditch machine and two tractor trolleys to remove the verandah, entrance gate and a wall to pave way for the construction of 60-foot road with water and sewage pipes beneath it.

AIT chairman Sandeep Rishi said a wireless room was spared as its material was yet to be removed to another place. He thanked the police for cooperation. He further said the approaching road to B-Block of the scheme might be thrown open to the plot holders soon.

The road also takes to the proposed city bus stand which is situated next to the SSP (R) office. Though the City Bus Service has been running behind the schedule, it envisages plying of 150 buses, including 30 low-floor buses, 25 non-AC semi-low floor buses, 70 non-AC buses and 25 mini AC buses.

About the dispute of the boundary wall of Government Saragarhi Senior Secondary School that obstructed the way of the laying of 80-foot wide entrance road to the locality, Rishi said the Deputy Commissioner had appointed a six-member multi-department committee which had finished its report on the re-alignment of the school's boundary wall.

He said the committee based its report on the advance technique of digital survey of the school campus. The report would be submitted to the DC within couple of days to seek due approval from the Education Secretary to demolish the wall, he added.

Rishi said the AIT would demolish the wall, two rooms and raise the similar structures for the school at it own expenses. There was no dispute regarding the main building of the school, he said, adding the wall on the rear side of the school had been built in a zigzag manner and a portion of it falls at the entrance of the main road of the scheme.

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Welfare Forum president Prem Sagar and general secretary Parminder Singh said the AIT had failed to complete development works in the 211-acre scheme at its earlier given deadline of February 28.

They rued that the pace of development works in the colony was still tardy as the work tenders for levelling of roads inside the colony were issued about a month back.

About 700 plots were allotted in 2006 and around 500 were given in 2009 under the Mall Mandi Scheme, they said. The scheme was planned over a decade ago but faulty planning led to the delay in inhabiting the area, they claimed. 

Amritsar, September 8
Local entrepreneurs Kamal Dalmia and Sundeep Khosla, who were part of the state level 11-member committee headed by Principal Secretary Industry Karan Avtar Singh, narrated the problems of the industries in border areas.

The committee met the Union Finance Commission in Chandigarh recently.

Dalmia sought revision of capital investment limit for industrial units falling under micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). He said the capital investment limit for industrial units was last revised in 2006 and all these years investment cost on raw material, land, machinery and others have skyrocketed.

He also demanded upward revision of small scale industries (SSI) units under the Central Excise Act from present Rs 150 lakh.

He sought incentives to border industries in income tax, central excise that was given to neighbouring hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Dalmia demanded term loan for purchase of land, construction and machinery cost at a lower rate of interest and for longer duration to the MSME sector. He suggested that fire brigade stations be upgraded in all over Punjab under disaster management funds.

Sundeep Khosla said four/six laning of all major roads was required across the state. He demanded sanctioning of a textile cluster and a plastic cluster with Rs 100 crore each in Amritsar. He said in order to bridge the demand and supply gap 
of power in the state it was advisable to install a nuclear power plant with the Union government assistance.

He suggested that for the development of tourism in the state a Disney world or universal studio project must be set up in Punjab. He sought swift implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) to bring uniformity in varied tax pattern in states.

He drew the attention of the visiting members of the 14th Finance Commission to the rising number of Employees State Insurance-covered employees while there was an acute shortage of ESI hospitals in the state. 

Amritsar, September 8
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed a private insurance company to pay Rs 3,06,267 to a local resident whose medical insurance claim was earlier repudiated by the company. The forum has also directed the insurance company to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses to the complainant.

Earlier, Tushar Sachdeva, a resident of Amritsar Cantonment area, had filed a complaint against The Oriental Insurance Company Limited stating that he had obtained a medical insurance policy by paying the requisite premium of Rs 27,940 covering risk of Rs 10 lakh.

He stated that the insurance policy covered all the family members. He alleged that during the period of the policy his father fell ill and was admitted to a private hospital and was diagnosed with Tripple Vessel Disease. The patient was advised to undergo a
surgery.

However, his claim was denied by the insurance company stating that the insured had concealed the facts about his medical history at the time of buying the policy.

The complainant stated that he spent an amount of Rs 3,06,267 on his father’s treatment.

In its reply to the notice of the consumer forum, the insurance company stated that the patient had past history of hypertension which was intentionally concealed by the complainant.

The forum observed that whereas the complainant has produced on-record certificate issued by the hospital to the effect that complainant had no history of DM II and hypertension prior to his admission in the hospital, the opposite party could not produce any record that the complainant was ever medically treated by any doctor or medical practitioner for aforesaid diseases i.e. DM or hypertension prior to his admission.

The forum stated that the opposite party has wrongly repudiated the claim of the complainant.

Rakesh Rathore, BJP Amritsar district in-charge, with other party leaders during a meeting in Amritsar on Sunday. A Tribune Photograph

Amritsar, September 8
The district unit of BJP (Urban) today organised a meeting of its cadres to strengthen the party base in the city ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The meeting was presided over by former Jalandhar Mayor Rakesh Rathore. He is the in charge for party affairs in the district.

Rathore exhorted the workers to start the activities for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He told them to expand the party cadres so as to include more youngsters in the party folds.

He said, “The Congress has lost its hold in the country and it has led to the deterioration of the economy.” He said the workers must highlight the agenda of the party and the achievements of the SAD-BJP coalition in the state.

The workers also aired their grievances to which Rathore assured that he would work whole heartedly to get the same addressed at the earliest.

Later, he attended a public worker meeting organised by the BJP leader Tarun Chug in his constituency. Tarun Chug said the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal would inaugurate the development works worth Rs 17 crore in the central constituency on September 10.

The Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha also organised a programme to induct young workers of the party at Chheharta.

Amritsar, September 8
Hermitage, a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts, celebrated its fifth anniversary yesterday. All inmates and the ones who recovered from drug addiction were present on the occasion.

Located on the outskirts of the city, the one-of-its-kind residential rehab, is being run under the leadership of Dr JPS Bhatia, a noted nuero-psychiatrist and drug de-addiction professional in Amritsar.

It runs various detoxification and drug abuse programmes, along with patient outreach programmes. “The place works on two fundamentals – celebration of life and family bonding,” he said.

“I believe that love is the only solution to get a patient back to his normal life. There is a stigma attached to drug abuse where the addicts are treated as social outcasts. It needed a breaking point and so I came up with a humanist rehab centre five years ago, where the addicts are treated with love and care,” he said.

“Every week, the families of the drug addicts visit the centre and share their experiences to form a chain that will act as a mental deterrent for drug abuse,” said Vishal, who is recovering for the past four years and is also a counsellor at Hermitage. Some of the recovered patients were also honoured on the occasion. “Substance abuse involves a lot of complexities like mental blocks, legal implications and social exploitation. Everything has to be dealt with sensitivity. Self change is as important for the family members dealing with an addict as for the addict himself,” said Nitin Gupta, a patient who was honoured.

Hermitage has also formed a ‘Wisdom Group’, which comprises of drug rehab patients, who have been living or rather celebrating sobriety for over years now and meet over to help and guide the families of the drug addicts. — TNS

Amritsar, September 8
The present materialistic lifestyle creates various health-related problems. Only a few alterations are required to be made in the daily routine along with inexpensive remedial measures to cure it. This was stated by Paras Ram Vashisht, chapter chairman from Faridabad, during a seminar on astrology and remedial measures organised at the DAV College for Boys today.

He was welcomed by Kiranjit Kaur, chairperson of the Amritsar Chapter of the Indian Council of Astrological Science.

While felicitating the successful candidates who pursued diploma courses in Jyotish Visharda, Jyotish Parveena and palmistry courses, Paras Ram Vashisht said, “ Living a less materialistic lifestyle doesn’t mean becoming a monk and abstaining from all pleasures of life. In fact, it means shifting the focus away from materialistic possessions so they become less important by comparison and so that they don’t consume the mental resources. There are remedial measures for the same through vastu shastra and astrology.”

Citing various examples from Vedas and Shiv Puran, he also apprised about 12 dhams from shiv puran and the importance of plants like Tulsi, Ashoka, Bohar and Pipal for bringing happiness and better health.

Kiranjit Kaur, who is a certified professor in astrology, said, “In Vedas, it has been mentioned that plants possess mystic powers and influence the health of a person who reside around them.”

“Astrology is an extension of science which comes through experience and study of planetary effects on life. The plants have spiritualistic powers which help in gaining good human health, provided, the trees you plant commensurate with your stars,” she said. 

Amritsar, September 8
Rajwinder Kaur Randhawa was today appointed as the chairperson of the Amritsar unit of the Rajiv Gandhi Vichar Manch.

At a simple ceremony held at the Congress Bhawan, she was handed over the letter, announcing her appointment signed by Pramod Tyagi, National Chairman of the 
All India Rajiv Gandhi Vichar Manch.

Addressing the Congress workers and local leaders, Rajwinder said she would educate people with the help of various social welfare schemes being extended by the Union Government. Campaigns will be launched to educate people regarding female foeticide and drug addiction. — TNS

Amritsar, September 8
Young volunteers of Punjabi Samvaad are once again traveling with their play, ‘Khuh Bolda Hai’, which has now attained a cult status for those fighting against the incessant social menace called female feoticide. The play is all set to be converted into a book, written by Jyoti Bawa, a councellor and founder member of Punjabi Samvaad.

With the play running in its fifth year through the cultural NGO, the book will be soon launched at a special show at Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh on September 22. Announcing the book launch, Jyoti said, “When we first did the show for Khuh Bolda Hai, our aim was to make people think, self-introspect and stand united for the cause of saving the girl child. Now, with the book, I have tried to find and suggest reasons for the sufferings of the girl child. And it all starts from the home.”

The book highlights the social stigmas and social hypocrisy regarding women empowerment. The 31-year-old writer said there were a lot of factors leading to female feoticide. “The girl child is facing social dilemma every passing day, whether it’s to do with the way they dress or who they are friends with or to do with their marriage and professional life. We contradict ourselves when we say that women have the power and then treat them differently,” she said.

Just as the play highlights the deep seated social pressures that lead to female feoticide, especially pointing finger at the ‘dubious’ role of the men folk, it also brings to the fore the fact that a majority of women were not ready to come forward and protest against the heinous crime being committed against them, which has far reaching social repercussions.

“Dowry and crimes against women are the major reasons contributing to the menace which has assumed an alarming proportion. The skewed sex ratio in several states, especially Punjab, is the direct fallout of the evil, the play further points out. We cannot put the blame on others as we too as a part of the society contribute towards these pressures and stigmas,” said Jaswant Mintoo, the director of the play.

The book though will move away from the limitations of a play. “I have incorporated a lot of social surveys in bringing out facts regarding sex ratio, crimes against women and tried to question some facts as well. We have staged shows of ‘Khuh Bolda Hai’ in various cities and had audiences from various segments of society. Our target is the young audiences, especially girls, women who are direct victims as well as the most important segment of society who could stop it,” said Jyoti.