Amritsar, September 29
With the police department’s drive against drug peddling picking up momentum and the subsequent rise in the number of arrested persons, the Amritsar Central Jail authorities are facing a tough time in accommodating new prisoners.

On a daily basis, the Amritsar city and rural police are apprehending an average 15 drug peddlers and bootleggers who after initial probe are sent to judicial remand in the Central Jail.

It has been learnt that the jail authorities have got vacated several buildings on its premises to accommodate the new prisoners while the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP- Jails) has called for a list of criminals lodged for such crimes. The idea was to release them by arranging campus courts.

Moreover, the jail authorities are already facing space crunch. Against the capacity of 1,615, the jail is housing 4,075 inmates.

It becomes even more difficult to lodge the drug addicts as they create ruckus on the jail premises as soon as withdrawal symptoms (of drugs) start appearing in them.

Sources in the high security prison said all the barracks in the jail are packed to the capacity. There is always a danger of minor scuffles turning into clashes.

“We are receiving at least 50 undertrials on a daily basis and the number has increased in the recent past as more and more drug traffickers are landing up in police net owing to the ongoing drive against drug trafficking launched by the police department,” an official said, adding that majority of the accused are repeated offenders arrested under the NDPS Act.

RK Sharma, Deputy Superintendent of Amritsar Central Jail, said, "For the time being, we have got a gym and a two-room building located near the education centre vacated to accommodate the inmates. The higher-ups are also contemplating to get the petty criminals released after disposing of their cases within a timeframe by arranging campus courts. Rajpal Meena, ADGP (Jails), has recently sought a list of offenders lodged in petty crimes."

It is pertinent to mention here that the state government has also laid the foundation stone of new jail which would be constructed at Fatahpur village in the outskirts of Amritsar city.

Officials revealed that the new jail would accommodate 2,200 inmates. The district administration, however, says it would take at least two years in the construction of the new jail.

Amritsar, September 29
Harjinder Singh, an undertrial who tried to escape from police custody at the district court complex yesterday and got himself injured, was today booked by the city police on charges of obstructing his lawful detention.

Harjinder, a resident of Chhiddan village, has been booked under Section 224 of the IPC on the statement of Gurnam Singh who was heading the police party when he was taken to the district court for hearing.

The accused pushed constable Vikram Singh when the latter was handcuffing him after his appearance in the court. The accused tried to jump out of window. However, his head hit the window frame and he started bleeding profusely. He was later admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. —TNS

Amritsar, September 29
The city police has arrested a local BJP leader for allegedly endangering the life and personal safety of others by firing in the air during the arrival of Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi here.

Joshi today returned to the city after assuming charge of his new portfolio as the Local Bodies Minister in Chandigarh.

The accused has been identified as Vipan Kumar. The incident occurred in the Sultanwind area. He was charged with under Section 336 of the IPC (endangering life or personal safety of others) besides 30/54/59 of the Arms Act. He was, however, later released on bail.

Arjun Kumar, in-charge Sultanwind police chowki, said the police has confiscated the weapon used. He said the accused fired three gunshots in the air, which created panic among the people who were celebrating the arrival of the minister.

Amritsar, September 29
With the Railways announcing to start the Amritsar-Lal Kuan Express train from Wednesday (October 2), the long-pending demand of the Sikhs living in Uttarakhand to have a direct connection with the holy city will be finally met.

The announcement for the weekly train was made in the 2013-14 budget.

The train will depart from Amritsar at 5.55 am every Wednesday and reach Lal Kuan at 8.50 pm the same day. The train will leave Lal Kuan every Wednesday at 11.15 pm to reach Amritsar at 2.45 pm the next day.

When on its way, the train will have stoppages at Beas, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Ludhiana, New Morinda, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Chandigarh, Ambala Cantonment, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Laksar, Najibabad, Moradabad and Kashipur stations both ways.

The train will have 18 coaches, including 13 AC-III tier coaches, three AC chair car coaches and two other coaches.

Even as the Union Railway Ministry had announced the commencement of the Amritsar-Lalkuan Express in February this year, its launch got delayed due to want of notification. The Amritsar Tribune in these columns had reported on September 5 that the racks had already reached here.

The express train would facilitate a large section of the Sikh population living in the Lalkuan area of Uttarakhand, which is also called mini-Punjab in the hill state.

The operationalisation of the train was keenly awaited by the relatives of those settled in the Lal Kuan area of Uttarakhand. Bajpur and Udham Singh Nagar in this part of the hill state have a sizeable Sikh population.

Naresh Chander Goel, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur range, said the notification to start the train has been received and it would run as per the schedule. He said the train would be flagged off in the presence of MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vice-President of National SC/ST Commission Raj Kumar Verka. Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi and MLA OP Soni may also be present on the occasion. 

Amritsar, September 29
The city police has booked a woman constable for allegedly submitting fake certificates during her recruitment.

Mandeep Kaur, a resident of Bal Sikander village, was hired during the recent recruitment drive held by the police department.

Amritsar, September 29
The police has arrested 11 persons involved in the illegal trade of drugs and liquor. The city police nabbed five persons and the Amritsar rural police held six drug peddlers and bootleggers.

Reports said the CIA staff arrested Amit Kumar of Ranjit Avenue and Vicky of Dayanand Nagar in Nangali Battha with 500 capsules each. Among others arrested by the city police are Rajesh Mehra, alias Raja, of Anand Avenue (200 capsules), Sanjiv Kumar and Parshotam Lal, both residents of Kot Khalsa with 18930 ml illicit liquor and 12 bottles of whisky respectively.

The Amritsar rural police arrested Gobind Singh of Tarsikka and Navdeep Singh of Chauhan village with 200 intoxicant tablets each while Captain Singh of Devidas village was caught with 300 grams of narcotic powder.

Lakha Singh of Bhindisaida was held with 15,000 ml of illicit liquor and Chanchal Singh of Bhore Nangal and Gurvel Singh of Kotli Sakka were arrested with 50 kilogram of lahan each.

Amritsar, September 29
As the United Nations General Assembly got underway in New York, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon inaugurated the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Innovation Forum at the UN Headquarters. Amritsar origin doctor Harman Boparai was invited to participate alongside industry leaders of four key fields – education, health, food security, and sustainable growth aimed at accelerating the progress in achieving the MDGs. The forum was chaired by president of Rwanda Paul Kagame who highlighted the importance of technological innovation in improving public health.

Speaking at the forum were eminent leaders like Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who spoke about the need to create economic and social development from below and empowering communities to take charge of their own health needs.

“The forum was a great honour and an opportunity for us to share initiatives and catalyse partnerships so that we can reach these goals faster,” said Dr Boparai. “My aim is to empower people by using journalism based in global health so that governments and populations are aware of the problems and possible solutions,” he said.

Earlier this year, Dr Boparai became the first doctor from India to get a masters degree from the Columbia University’s Journalism School and subsequently did a project on child mortality in India for GlobalPost.

He is a graduate of Government Medical College, Amritsar, and the son of renowned orthopaedic surgeon, Dr RPS Boparai. He is currently working with Doctors without Borders in New York, an international humanitarian organization that sends doctors and health professionals to areas affected by conflicts and natural disasters.

Amritsar, September 29
The Punjab Model United Nations (MUN) Conference, 2013, was organised by HP Singh Hira foundation, Amritsar, at the Bachat Bhavan Convention Centre, Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar.

The Punjab Model United Nations was the authentic simulation of the UN councils with more than 60 students from all over India, all of whom assumed the roles of ambassadors of various countries.

It simulated two councils of the UN namely General Assembly and Human Rights Council, in which the agenda of debate was ‘Global Income Inequality and Women Rights’.

They also shared the belief that it is the responsibility of today’s youth, who would be the leaders of tomorrow to learn the civilisation, as one day the responsibility might be on them to take a monumental decision which would change the history forever.

The founding president of HP Singh Hira foundation, Nirmal Preet Singh Hira, inaugurated the conference and in his address, he emphasised upon the interconnectedness of today’s world.

He urged delegates to join forces with like-minded individuals and groups to promote understanding and generate positive change. He reminded the delegates about the initiatives of the UN in peace-making and urged them to imbibe the goals enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Ankur Sharma, secretary general of Punjab Model United Nations Conference, said, “In the years to come, the world will look to our young generation to find innovative and effective solutions to these global issues.”

He also stressed that the solutions to these global problems require the effective participation of broad variety of people, and the reconciliation of many conflicting interests. “It is only through engagement with the political process that we can arrive at such negotiated solutions,” he said.

He quoted the former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, who said, “More than ever before in human history, we all share a common destiny, we can master it only if we face it together.

Manik Singh Ahluwalia and Sahiba Kaur Libra, chairperson and vice-chairperson of the UNHRC, respectively, urged the delegates to step into the shoe of a diplomat or ambassador and make a decision or formulate a solution, which would shatter all pr-conceived notions of politics or international relations.

At the end, all the two councils of Punjab MUN came up with unanimous resolutions which in a sense show the meticulous negotiations of the delegates to tackle the global problems and their sense of respect for the ideals of the UN.

Meanwhile, at the closing ceremony, Nirma Preet Singh Hira felicitated all the winners, the secretariat and the executive board of the Punjab Model United Nations.

Punjab Model United Nations provides a dedicated platform for students to learn and update themselves with the emerging global issues and hone their skills on diplomacy and negotiation.

Amritsar, September 29
The basketball team of Global Institutes won the Punjab Technical University (PTU) Inter-College Basketball Tournament 2013 in the men’s category. Global Institutes defeated Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering, Tangori, by a convincing margin of 6 points in the recently held finals at Mandi Gobindgarh.

Amristar, September 29
Taking cognisance of rampant surge in the use of sophisticated drugs in Punjab and drug abuse taking a toll on youngsters, the Akal Purakh Ki Fauj, an NGO, organised the screening of a film titled Empty Inside.

The film based on drug abuse and its impact was screened at Guru Harkishan Public school, GT Road, in presence of CS Chadha, president, Chief Khalsa Diwan.

Depicting youth suffering from attention deficiency from family and peers, vulnerable to drug abuse and the toll it takes on their life.

The one and half hour film directed by Satdeep Singh from Ludhiana was hailed for its proximity to real-life issues. “Drug abuse is one of the most severe social menace that Punjab is reeling under right now and it is eating away our youth,” said the director.

Discussion on the ill effects of various kinds of drugs such as tobacco, gutka, alcohol, smack, heroin and medicines being consumed for kick-ups was also addressed post the screening.

“The reason for young kids falling prey to drug abuse is deteriorating family values and time constrictions. Parents are busy with their lives and kids are suffering from attention. The lack of proper guidance and discipline in their lives has resulted in their being led away to such evils easily,” said Jaswinder Singh, an advocate and president, Akal Purakh ki Fauj. He conceptualised the idea of the film.

CKD president Chadha too vouched to take up the issue effectively and screen the film across the state in all schools and colleges.

“We should target the youth, who is directly getting stuck in this nexus and encourage them to make better choices,” he said.

Amritsar, September 29
The two-day cancer screening camp organised by the District Health Department at Government Medical College concluded today with a massive participation by the general public.

The director of health and family welfare, Dr Karanjit Singh, said cancer screening camps were organised at all medical colleges in the state.

He said during the door-to-door cancer survey conducted in December last year, around 87,000 suspected cases were brought to light. Also, around 2,203 new cases of cancer were confirmed during the camp.

Dr Karanjit Singh said these screening camps were organised to check around 47,000 suspected cancer patients who had not been checked thoroughly earlier. — TNS

Amritsar, September 29
On the occasion of World Heart Day, Fortis Escorts Hospital organised a marathon walk to create awareness about the causes of heart diseases. It was led by Bakshi Ram Arora, Mayor, MC.

The walk started from Company Bagh and went to DAV College for Women. More than 1,000 people from all sections of society took part in the walk. Dr HP Singh, medical director of the hospital, and Dr Pinak Moudgil, facility director, said it was really great to see every section of the city participating in the awareness drive. — TNS

Amritsar, September 29
Around 38 principals from various affiliated colleges attended the principals' meet held at the UGC-Academic Staff College of Guru Nanak Dev University.

Vice-Chancellor Professor AS Brar stressed that the principals should present themselves as a role model for the students as well as society in order to inculcate the right moral ethical values.

He said higher education in India lags behind in the international arena and announced that the university is going to constitute a rationalisation committee to reduce the load on the students of all colleges.

“The students need to be encouraged to develop rational, creative thinking rather than cramming the things,” he said. An 'Open House Session' was held in which various queries pertaining to the current higher education scenario in India were discussed. — TNS

Amritsar, September 29
A local resident KS Khurana has been unanimously elected as the president of Indian Printing Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers Association (IPMA) for the second time.

Khurana said with more than 250 units engaged in making machineries for printing, packing and binding machineries here, the holy city presently fulfils 50 per cent demand
of the packing machinery of India.

He said the introduction of new technology from the US, the UK and Germany would take the local packaging and printing industry to dizzy heights. Compared to the developed countries, labour is still much cheaper in India.

Other office-bearers of the association are CP Paul (general secretary) while Jagjit Singh Kalsi (treasurer), Tilak Raj Mahajan, Sukhdev Kumar Gupta have been appointed as the deputy president and Ashok Seth has been elected for the post of joint secretary. — TNS

It is indeed a historic decision and a positive push towards a citizen-friendly representation. But its success would depend on the awareness about the right to reject among the rural and illiterate voters, who form the biggest vote-bank in the country. Before its effectiveness is tested in the coming elections, the government should also educate the masses about the negative voting and its importance. Only then would it yield the desired results
—Jatinder Brar, patron, Punjab Natshala

I believe it is the best thing to happen for our democracy. It’s a way to handle people through the use of this right. They can reject candidates that they feel are incompetent and not worthy to represent them. I have interacted with many young voters about this and all have expressed positive views about the latest voting power to be endowed upon us. It’s a minor yet very important step towards a better and cleaner political arena
—Simran, radio jockey

I feel that the right to reject would not be able to break the years of suppressed electoral decision making of the voters. Most political candidates happen to use their ‘special powers’ to manipulate election results. And the political system is too dirty to get cleaned up so easily. Though it is definitely a positive initiation, but without much effort and awareness, it’s just another right that the people might not exercise to its best potential
—Ridhi Sachdeva, co-owner, One up library

The right to reject would definitely be able to bring out more voters this time, even if it is for the negative voting. Since our election process is too complicated to get a makeover in a night, at least it would give a better option than not voting at all
—Manisha Nagi, software professional