Amritsar, November 26
A year after the railways rejected the rejected the proposal to widen the busy Bhandari Railway Overbridge (ROB), better known as Uncha Pul, the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) has once again engaged RITES to carry out a feasibility study for building a new railway overbridge on the stretch between the Bhandari bridge to the Rego railway overbridge.

AIT Chairman Sandeep Rishi said the new railway overbridge could even replace the Rego ROB as it has outlived its life. He said its anticipated cost was pegged at about Rs 75 crore but added that its exact cost and location would be known once the feasibility study was over.

The AIT has passed a resolution to pay 6.7 per cent of the entire cost of the project as consultancy fee besides Rs 36 lakh for preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR), getting the drawing approved from the railways and other related works. He expected that it would take about six months more to get aforementioned works done.

The proposal to widen the Bhandari bridge, which is a vital connecting link between the walled city and the new city, was dropped last year after investing a marathon 20 months in planning, meetings and debates. The AIT had to forego the advance of Rs 12 lakh submitted to RITES to carry out a feasibility study. According to the established norms, RITES, a Central Government agency, seeks a deposit of 2 per cent of the entire cost of the project before the finalisation of the detailed project of the report of the assignment.

The railways had rejected the proposal to widen the Bhandari bridge as iron angles distinguishing its main road from the pedestrian paths on both sides could not be removed. Besides, being a cantilever bridge and keeping in view its age, it was found infeasible to spend so much money on its widening. Instead, they advocated raising a new bridge after demolishing the present one. This could not be done as it was the only ideally located multi-lane bridge between the walled and the rest of the city on railway lines, which runs within the city.

According to RITES, over one lakh vehicles pass through the Bhandari bridge in 24 hours. Another reason which attracted the attention of the people and authorities was the Punjab Pollution Control Board report on vehicular pollution around the Bhandari bridge which termed it the most polluted area due to vehicular pollution between 9 am and 8 pm. At the Bhandari bridge, the particulate matter was as high as 599 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during peak hours while it was 232 per cubic metre (µgm/m3) during lean traffic hours.

Hence, it has become a challenge for the authorities to provide an alternative bridge which can take big share of traffic off the Bhandari bridge.

Meanwhile, Rego bridge is also in a deplorable condition as it has lived beyond its life. A few months away, heavy showers damaged the Rigo bridge, which developed cracks and a portion of the road over the bridge towards Qila Gobindgarh side caved in. The footpath along one side of the bridge collapsed while the one on the other side has developed cracks.

The railway board had earlier declared the bridge unsafe as it has outlived its life. But it still is being used by hundreds of vehicles. The bridge connects the B-Block area of the Railway Colony with the GT Road.

Commuters said the bridge had become risky as the railings on its side, too, had collapsed. However, a resident of Model Colony, Harjit Singh, said the rickety bridge may cause a mishap and authorities must take necessary action to avoid any such situation. "The bridge helps save people a lot of time," he added.

Amritsar, November 26
Even as winter has set in, there is no stopping the reports of cases of dengue in the city as their number has reached over 190 in this season. Officials of the Health Department said that intermittent rains during the season had prolonged the ailment period.

District epidemiologist Dr Charanjit Singh said it had been seen during the previous years that cases of dengue used to decline after Diwali as temperature decreased. But this year, quite a few cases continue to be reported, he said.

Singh said they were getting the fogging done to kill mosquitoes in the areas from where a case is reported. He said fogging was done in around 40-50 houses surrounding that of the patients.

“We assume that dengue mosquito is present in the area and others, too, can get infected. So we make arrangements for fogging as soon as the case is confirmed,” he said.

Singh said they also got the Mac Elisa test done on a patient even when the patient was admitted at a private hospital. “We send our teams as soon as any suspected case of dengue is reported,” he said.

He said people must take precautions like cleaning of their area of standing water and using mosquito repellents to keep mosquitoes away. Singh said the condition in the city was much better than in some other cities in the state as the administration had started planning early to tackle the problem.

The number of dengue cases reported in the district this year is much more than those reported in the previous year. Last year only 26 cases of dengue were reported in the season. Singh said dengue virus was expected to weaken during the next few days. 

Amritsar, November 26
Hospitals in the city, all government and most of the private ones, too, seem ill-equipped as far as fire-safety measures are concerned. The government hospitals in the city are grappling with the problem of worn-out fire safety equipment, as these had been installed decades ago.

When it comes to acquiring no-objection certificates for fire-safety measures, none of these hospitals except one has acquired it.

In case of any mishap, hospitals are not equipped to refill the water tanks of the fire brigades as the fire hydrants, to which hoses of the tanks are attached, are not in a working condition.

Even wate-carrying pipes attached to water sources are missing. The glass panels of fire alarms and the fire-safety equipment, too, can be seen broken at the Civil Hospital and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. Even at the Civil Hospital, the water pipes are missing.

The hospitals are considered to be risky places because of the presence of a large number of combustible substances in the form of chemicals. At most of these hospitals, even traditional fire-fighting equipment like sand buckets are missing.

The emergency block of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital is the only one of these places among government institutions which is equipped with fire extinguishers.

Lal Chand, a visitor to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, said, “This is happening because the administration is not strict with hospitals. If an incident occurs, the administration will blame the hospital managements but why don't they make them adopt safety measures.”

Residents say that disaster-management techniques should also be taught to the hospital employees as a routine. As many of the private hospitals are situated in narrow lanes, it will become even more difficult for help to reach there.

According to law, all buildings are required to follow the fire-safety measures listed in Chapter Four of the National Buildings Code. Smoke detectors, fire alarms, water hydrants, water sprinklers, wide approach roads and mock drills after regular intervals are a few things that hospitals are required to keep in mind. 

Amritsar, November 26
The stalemate between the district administration and firecracker traders continues over the new location of a permanent cracker market in the city as the former directed the traders to submit their state-of-the-art fire-proof market plan by Saturday.

The exercise began following orders from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to establish a permanent market.

The traders were offered shops in New Amritsar at Rs 70 lakh each which they outrightly rejected over their "high cost". In return, the traders forwarded an altogether new plan to overhaul the present Jahajgarh market into a fire-proof structure.

The Amritsar Fire Works Association (AFWA) president, Harish Dhawan, said the traders engaged a Chandigarh-based firm which suggested to raise fire proof walls of the shops, emergency-exit door at the rear, outer wall filled by sand besides about 12,000-litre capacity water tank on the roof of each shop. He added that the water tank would run without electricity and automatically release a shower in case of a fire breakout.

The traders found the district administration’s offer of Rs 70 lakh for a 300 square-foot area shop in New Amritsar untenable and commercially unviable.

The firecracker traders came on the radar of the district administration after a massive fire had broken out at IDH Market in which material worth crores of rupees perished and loss of human life was also reported in 1999. Even before, Patakha market used to be situated in congested bylanes of Pappar Wala Bazaar in the vicinity of Golden Temple. However, these markets had to be shifted to Jahajgarh in 2000.

Unsatisfied over the arrangements made by the district administration at Ranjit Avenue, the temporary venue of Patakha market this Diwali, the association had approached the high court, which later formed a commission that visited the site on October 31. The commission also expressed its unhappiness over the preparations made by the administration and asked it to allow the firecracker traders to sell the crackers from its earlier location i.e. from the Jahajgarh market. The high court had also imposed a fine on the civic authorities for its failure to provide necessary arrangements at the Ranjit Avenue site.

In their defence, the administration officials said that their main motive was to ensure that compliance with safety standards was adhered to. 

Amritsar, November 26
Declaration of Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for 2013 has brought good news for Amritsar’s literati. Theatre person Kewal Dhaliwal is among the few chosen ones to be conferred with the Akademi Award in the field of direction.

A prominent name from the city theatre circles, Dhaliwal is currently presiding the chair of Virsa Vihar and has a theatre group, "Manch Ramngmanch". He has recently been nominated as the president of the Punjab Sangeet Natak Academi and has been active in organising the first folk festival at Preet Vihar recently. Dhaliwal will be sharing the award with two other prominent names from the national theatre scene, namely Kamalakar Muralidhar Sontakke and Prasanna Ramaswamy in the field of direction.

The Fellowships and Akademi Awards are announced annually and are one of the most prestigious and rare honours, which are restricted to a very limited number at a given time. Presently there are only 40 Fellows from the field of arts, music, dance, theatre and other performing arts.

Akademi Awards carry Rs 1,00,000 besides Tamrapatra and Angavastram. The actor-director and playwright has also been awarded for his contribution towards a peace process through Punjabi theatre and contributing to Punjabi literature through theatre. “In my career span of 35 years, I have worked with numerous theatre productions from India as well as Pakistan. My theatre group is a regular at Paanj Pani theatre festival in Lahore and quite actively involved in collaborating with artistes across the borders,” said Dhaliwal. The noted artiste has till date given over 3,000 stage performances and directed 108 full-length plays. He has also directed 25 light and sound shows and written 20 books. Dhaliwal also holds developmental and street-theatre workshops for children in rural areas, especially border villages.

He has done considerable amount of work in the international theatre circuit and feels that Punjabi theatre is highly respected worldwide. “I have taken workshops in Punjabi theatre in Canada, Norway and the US and have had houseful shows. An artiste there looks towards Punjabi culture and art with a curious eye and what Chekov and Gorky are to Indian theatre, Sardar Gursharan Singh is to international theater,” he said. 

Amritsar, November 26
The local Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Amritsar, emerged winners of the Idea Junior Championship League 2013, an inter-school sports competition conceptualised by Idea Cellular, after beating Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Tarn Taran, today.

A press note issued here today stated that the championship concluded as the winner school bagged the title of Idea Junior Championship League 2013.

Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Tarn Taran, provided stiff competition to the winner school. In this champion league more than 1,800 students of 42 schools from Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran competed in seven different sports categories including athletics, volleyball, hockey and judo, etc.

It said Arul Bright, Chief Operating Officer, Punjab, J & K and Himachal Pradesh, IDEA Cellular felicitated the winners. 

Amritsar, November 26
An NGO, Sikh International Confederation, distributed cheques amounting to Rs 2.5 crore to the school and college students who had earlier applied for the Central Government’s scholarships for minorities.

Members of the confederation, Col Manmohan Singh (retd) and DGM BSNL Jatinder Singh, said they have followed the Central Government in getting the cheques released.

Manmohan Singh said, “Most of the students and their parents are not aware of the scholarship schemes for the minorities.”

While distributing the cheques to the students at Sant Singh Sukha Singh School, Manmohan Singh exhorted students to inform other students in their residential areas about the schemes and the procedure to avail the benefits.

The cheques were handed over to the representatives of 25 colleges and 68 schools. Director of Sant Singh Sukha Singh School School Jagdish Singh thanked the members of the confederation for helping students in getting the scholarship amount. 

Amritsar, November 26
An employee of the Municipal Corporation today attempted suicide by consuming poisonous substance in front of the main MC's Town Hall building, allegedly due to excessive work pressure.

He has been identified as Balwinder, a regular Class IV sanitary sweeper, associated with the Civil Lines area no 6.

Before attempting suicide, he also wrote a suicide note in which he held sanitary inspectors, Pawan Kumar and Vijay Sharma, responsible for his misery.

According to information, he was transferred from the Civil Lines area no 2 against his wish three months back. Today, he tried to end his life alleging that two Sanitary Inspectors got him transferred and imposed frivolous allegations to justify their move.

In the suicide note, he has written that in his 36 years of service, he never faced any allegation but the said sanitary inspectors have been torturing him for no reasons and got him transferred from the Civil Lines area no 2 to the Civil Lines area no 6.

Meanwhile, the victim kept lying on the floor for over 20 minutes. Later, Safai Mazdoor Union president Vinod Bitta came and took him to a private hospital from where he was referred to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. He was admitted to the emergency ward.

The mobile phone of Pawan Kumar was switched off and he could not be contacted. Vijay Sharma said that he had nothing to do with him as he was shifted from his area three months back. "I have no role to play in this instance. Transferring was done by the authorities. He might have taken this step due to his own domestic dispute. I had no concern with him since he was shifted from here,” he said.

Harjinder Singh Walia, president of the Nagar Nigam Karamchari Tal Mel Dal, Amritsar, said Balwinder decided to end his life due to unnecessary harassment by the management and excess work pressure. "His condition is still critical," he said.

In charge of the Kotwali police station Surinder Mohan said no case has been registered so far. 

Amritsar, November 26
A theft took place at an ENT Hospital on the Majitha road last night. The thieves decamped with copper fittings.

It is a second theft case at the ENT Hospital in the last few days as the thieves had earlier stolen copper fitting on November 17 also. Dr Karnail Singh, Principal, Government Medical College, said: “We have filed a report with the police and an FIR has been registered.”

The police have registered a case against the unknown persons. Even as the college authorities were not clear about the loss suffered by the hospital, the sources said it is around Rs 5-6 lakh.

Amritsar, November 26
Judges, lawyers, scholars and environmental NGOs from Asian countries met in Amritsar for a concerted dialogue process on green courts and tribunals that was organised as a sequel to the New Delhi dialogue on the role of courts and tribunals in the changing global order held recently.

The dialogue was held at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in collaboration with Asian Development Bank and Jawaharlal Nehru Chair in International Environmental Law, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

The Amritsar dialogue process on green courts and tribunals sought to decipher some of the trends at work, including growth in environment related disputes that has called for special adjudicatory mechanisms to resolve them. "This is an international process that has already been started and India is an active member in forming green courts. The main aim of dialogue was to evolve a mechanism that could deliver effective 'green justice which otherwise is subjected to a long, waiting judicial process. Some of the cases relating to environment need immediate attention and so green tribunals will facilitate the process," said Dipak Babbar, member, Mission Aghaaz.

Traditional courts are already overburdened as also lack adequate knowledge of complex environmental laws that encompass scientific and socio-economic aspects. Therefore, a specialised forum could facilitate speedier environmental adjudication and facilitate better 'green justice'. "The concept is being adopted internationally and the role of green courts and tribunals is vital to achieve balancing acts of managing environment without compromising developmental needs," he said.

The courts will monitor and carry periodic review and updating of legal and regulatory framework to ensure the overall objectives of sustainable development, Adequate legal, regulatory and policy literacy for stakeholders, who impact environment as well as for those who are impacted by environmental change, clarifying the role of human rights in environmental sustainability to the society at large, ensuring access to information and justice, public participation in environmental matter be further simplified and operationalised were discussed during the dialogue.

Raj Punjwani, president, National Green Tribunal Bar Association, Prof Bharat H Desai, Chairman, CASCT and Jawaharlal Nehru Chair, JNU, Dr BK Sidhu, Executive Director CASCT, Rafay Alam, Advocate, Lahore High Court, Lahore (Pakistan), MC Mehta Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Justice SR Ahmad, Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Justice Rohini Marasinghe, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Prof Ben Boer Wuhan University School of Law, Wuhan (China), Judge Chador Phuntsho (Bhutan) and Justice Yousaf Hussain, Maldives, were the key speakers on the occasion.

During the dialogue environmental degradation at the local level in Amritsar, including rampant cutting of age old trees was highlighted. "As many as 452 trees were axed mercilessly in spite of huge protest by the NGOs for paving way to a huge shopping mall and five star hotels. The city has glaring issues of sanitation problem, degradation of environment, and so many areas that need legal attention and intervention," said Gurbhej Singh, general secretary, Mission Aghaaz.