Gang war: Armed youths shoot at rival in Greenfield area
Amritsar, November 28
Panic gripped the posh Greenfield area located on the Majitha road here this evening when several armed youths attacked a person wanted in a criminal case by the police.

Amritsar, November 28
While the last date of depositing property tax i.e. November 30 with a rebate of 10 per cent has been approaching, the Municipal Corporation is facing a tough time in tackling a heavy flow of tax depositors, despite the fact that extra staff has been pressed into service to conduct awareness/collection camps.

Residents of the Kot Khalsa area resent that not a single camp could be arranged in their area. They argued that since they have been associated with Zone no. 8 of the Chheharta tax collection centre, it tended to consume the whole day. Jatinder Mohan Chaudhary said that he visited the Chheharta office thrice but could not get his tax deposited.

“The MC staff deputed there winds up their day before 2 pm. I requested them to either engage extra staff or start a token system as was done in the case of registration of properties introduced by the district administration. This will enable residents to procure the token within the stipulated time frame. Thereafter, he will know about the exact timings to perform official formalities. This could be introduced for collecting property tax, too,” he opined.

Another resident of the Majitha area, Vikram Singh, said he, too, faced the same difficulty and found the MC staff to be rude. “The MC staff is unable to cater to the heavy rush of tax payees in our area too. I had tried to approach higher authorities, but never got a satisfactory reply. They say that public service is done in a queue only,” he said. Similar, reports poured in from other areas.

Superintendent Shushant Bhatia, while admitting these shortcomings, said every possible effort was being made but the sudden spurt in the number of tax payees, has overburdened them.

“Today, we were directed to conduct at least six camps in different zones. No doubt, we were able to collect a good money as tax, but it was quite hectic to educate residents about self-assessing formulae. Then, there are a lot of discrepancies in tax calculation as the residents generally make mistakes. Still, we are trying our best to provide them service,” he said.

MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said, “We have been announcing for the past three months that November 30 is the last date for availing 10 per cent rebate. Now that the deadline is approaching, everyone wants to avail of the benefit of rebate whereas they preferred to ignore it when they had sufficient time. I have incorporated extra staff to cater to the heavy rush”. 

Amritsar, November 28
The railways has cancelled the Garib Rath from Amritsar to Saharsa till December 4 because of the ongoing work of inter-locking of tracks near Luckhnow in Uttar Pradesh, posing a problem for passengers who had already made 
the reservations.

The railways has asked its officials to refund the ticket amount to the passengers who had booked the tickets and expressed regrets for the inconvenience caused to them. The Amritsar-Sehsara Garib Rath runs thrice a week.

With the cancellation of the train, it will not run on November 30, December 1 and December 4. Officials at the railway station said that now the train would start its journey from December 7 according to the schedule.

The train is beneficial to migrant workers and Punjabis settled in Uttar Pradesh as they can travel in comfort by paying lesser amounts for the journey. The passengers said though the department had assured them to refund the ticket amount, they were feeling harassed as they would have to make alternative arrangements for their journey.

“We will have to look for other trains, but all seats may be reserved in these train by now. The only option we have is to travel by road which is very tiring,” said Baljit Singh, a resident of Nathu Pur village.

Railway’s traffic control officer AS Salaria said the train had been cancelled due to the ongoing work on the tracks. 

Amritsar, November 28
Yet again, yesterday's instance has raised a question mark over security on the GNDU premises. An unidentified person had allegedly managed to enter girls' hostel by dodging the security guards during the wee hours. The victim alleged before the police that the intruder also took away her mobile phone after she raised an alarm.

Even as a complaint was registered with the cantonment police station, the accused could not be traced.

This was not the lone instance; earlier also, miscreants were successful in making their way to the GNDU premises dodging security guards.

In August, three youths had entered the university campus in their car. They were most likely not questioned at the entrance gate and harassed some Ph.D students who were returning to their hostel on foot at around 9.19 pm after attending work at the university laboratory. As they reached near their hostel, they were intercepted by these car-borne youths.

It was the girls' courage that compelled them to catch hold of two of them and give them a thrashing. Later, the police intervened and booked the miscreants. The accused, Jasmeet Singh of Kabir Park and Piyush of Phagwara, were put under arrest and a case had been registered against them at the cantonment police station on the complaint of Harbans Singh, the security officer of the university. The two later obtained bail.

Such instances have put a question mark on the security on the university premises, especially during evening hours.

Admitting a lapse, security in charge Col (retd) Harbans Singh said, "I do not rule out presence of an intruder but no one saw him. When we enquired from the girl, she was also not sure about anyone barging into her room. We are quite vigilant and I can assure you that with the help of the police, we are trying our best to trace the intruder. I also admit to the security lapse in the other instance, too, as the gate keepers sometimes do not scrutinise antecedents of visitors."

Amritsar, November 28
Panic gripped the posh Greenfield area located on the Majitha road here this evening when several armed youths attacked a person wanted in a criminal case by the police.

The incident seemed to be a result of a gang war between two groups while police officials claimed that they were still investigating the case.

Preliminary investigations revealed that a group of youths led by Raval and Mann of Mahal village attacked Baaz of the Majitha road area, who was at a barber shop, located on the 27-feet road in the Greenfield area at around 7.15pm. However, he had a narrow escape in the incident.

Another person reportedly sustained a head injury. However, he also fled from the spot and the police was yet to locate and identify him. There were marks of gun shots on the walls of the barber shop and the thick glass door was damaged due to splinters of bullets.

Vavinder Mahajan, SHO, Sadar police station, said that during initial investigations, it had been found that the Raval and Mann group had a dispute with Baaz this morning. Since then they were looking for him.

“They knew that Baaz used to come to the barber shop in the evening, therefore they were keeping an eye on the shop,” said Vavinder.

Just before the incident, they had visited the shop and had asked the owner of the shop about Baaz. About 15 minutes later when he came to the shop, the armed persons attacked him after locating him through the glass doors of the saloon. They fired indiscriminately at him from outside the shop.

The SHO said raids were being conducted to arrest the culprits who had been on the run. They had taken the owner of the shop into custody for further investigations. The exact cause behind the clash between them was yet to be ascertained, he added.

Amritsar, November 28
A book, 'Samay Se Muthbher Ka Jankavi Shubh Darshan', was released in Virsa Vihar. This compilation was the analytical vision of renowned Hindi Poet Dr Shubh Darshan.

Dr Ramesh Soni of Indore has published this book which contains analysis of as many as 25 Hindi writers from all over India.

Dr Ramesh Kuntalmegh, former Head of Department of Hindi, compared Dr Shubh Darshan to Karan of Mahabharata. He said, "Dr Shubh Darshan is a committed poet and never compromises in writing for his self interest."

Endorsing the views, Dr Jagmohan Chopra, former Head of Department of Hindi, Punjab University, said his poetry portrays various aspects of daily life, which makes him different from the contemporary poets.

Others present on the occasion included Dr Hukam Chand Rajpal, Dr Narender Mohan and Dr Rajni Bala.

Amritsar, November 28
Dr Davinder Singh of the Department of Psychology has been re-elected as the president of the Teachers' Association of the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDUTA). These elections were held last evening and Prof Kamaljit Singh of the Chemistry Department was the Retuning Officer for these elctions.

Dr Nareshpal Singh Saini from the Department of Physics has been elected as vice-president of the association. Similarly, Dr Lakhwinder Singh from the Department of Commerce and Business Management has been elected as Secretary, Dr Sandeep Sharma from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering as Joint Secretary and Dr Surinder Pal Singh of the Mathematics Department as the Treasurer.

The elected members included Dr Balwinder Singh, Department of Commerce and Business Management, Dr Amarjit Singh Soodan, Department of Botanical & Enivornmental Sciences, Dr Rajinder Singh Sandhu of the Department of Political Science, Dr Harmeet Singh of the Department of Political Science, Dr Suneta Sharma of the Department of Hindi and Dr Neena of the Punjab School of Economics.

Amritsar, November 28
Two unidentified youths barged into a residence located in the posh Ranjit Avenue area here this afternoon and decamped with gold jewellery worth lakhs after breaking open an almirah.

According to information, one of the accused kept Lakhbir Kaur (50), owner of the house, hostage while his accomplice executed the robbery. The house 277-A, A-block, Ranjit Avenue, belongs to an industrialist, Amarjot Singh, who runs a rubber factory, it was learnt. Lakhbir Kaur told the police that as she was alone in the house, she was going to bolt the outer gate when the two accused forcibly entered the house. She said they covered her mouth and took her inside a room.

She said that one of the accused threw her on the floor and caught her from the neck and threatened to strangle her in case she raised her voice while the other accused broke open the almirah and took away gold jewellery, reportedly worth Rs 20 lakh. 

Amritsar, November 28
There is no let-up in snatching incidents with the city witnessing another snatching this time at Maqboolpura road here.

Kulwinder Kaur, a resident of cantonment road, told the police that she along with her husband was returning home on a two-wheeler when two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her purse near the Joshan hospital on the Maqboolpura road. She had Rs 17,300 in her purse.

Amritsar, November 28
A Nepal national lost his life when an unidentified car driver hit his bicycle near Panj peer located on the GT Road here late last evening. The deceased was identified as Sher Bahadur, a resident of Lingadh Kelang Peudar village, Nepal. He was now residing at the police lines here. Bahadur along with his wife was returning home when the incident took place.

The unidentified car driver fled. A case under Sections 304-A, 427, 279, IPC, has been registered at Maqboolpura police station here, said Janak Raj, investigating officer. Further investigations to identify the accused were under progress, he added. 

Amritsar, November 28
For someone whose dreams of becoming an author were overshadowed by the colour of her skin, Rukhsana Khan's journey from a poor Pakistani immigrant's daughter to a celebrated and award winning author has been quite eventful.

The Canada-based author and a storyteller, who has acclaimed books like Roses under My Carpet, Silly Chickens and recently, Wanting Mor, a true story of a young orphan afghan girl abandoned by her father, to her kitty, was in city to interact with book lovers at the One Up Library .

Her book 'Wanting Mor' has travelled with the story of Jameela set in post-Taliban Afghanistan and garnered critical appreciation. "When I met this girl in one of the orphanages in Afghanistan and heard her story, I had to tell it. Her mother died and she was ill treated by her step mother. One day her father took her to the market and left her there. I used to hear her voice sometimes and that's when I decided to write the book," she said. Growing up in a Muslim family with limited means, Rukhsana's childhood meant dealing with racism and societal pressures. People would be polite to us, but once you scratch the surface, the cultural discrimination was quite hurting. I wanted to tell the stories of not one but many Jameelas, who had been abandoned by their family," said Rukhsana, who supports orphanages in Afghanistan with the royalties of her books.

"It took me eight years to get my first book published and then I pen down many books with pictures and illustrations," she said. Her book "Roses Under My Carpet" was about an Aghani boy in a refugee camp, and her writings enabled children world over to connect with the Middle Eastern stories. Winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award and Golden Kite Award, Rukhsana's "Wanting Mor" has been recognised as notable book for Global Society by the International Reading Association.

Ask her if she writes only sad stories and she clears it up quickly by saying, "Not at all. Most of my stories are about children, dreams, aspirations, funny stories. I love to tickle my reader's funny bone. But it's also important to tell a sad story sometimes; when it helps you discover some of the questions you have been asking yourself." Not sure whether the world has changed since she her childhood, in terms of accepting a culturally diverse society, Rukhsana said, "It's changed for the best and the worst. I have been telling stories of children, who have no sense of entitlement, who live in reality of their misery with dignity and courage. But also, I live in a world celebrating the moral breakdown of society."

In "One Up", she gave a presentation on her works, her childhood and her purpose of supporting education and equal opportunities for orphan children in Afghanistan. "I have been working to set up good libraries there. I believe libraries are great equalisers. A poor child can have the same knowledge about the world as a rich child through them," she said.

Amritsar, November 28
The district administration has asked the farmers to submit their applications with the Chief Agriculture Officer for availing subsidy on purchase of agricultural equipment by November 30.

The information has been released just two days prior to the deadline. The farmers said the department should have advertised the scheme well in advance so that all the agriculturists could avail the facility.

"The information would be published probably in newspapers on November 29 and that gives us just one day to file our applications," said Kuljit Singh, a farmer. He said, "Such kind of schemes can help the farmers provided this facility is available to all the farmers."

Another farmer Alambir Singh said, "The criteria to select the farmers for the scheme should be made public. The poor farmers will get nothing if the details of the scheme are kept under wraps till the last moment."

For availing the benefits under the scheme, the farmers are required to submit their applications on a prescribed form along with a demand draft of Rs 5,000 with the Chief Agricultural Officer.

The farmers would be given a subsidy of up to Rs 30,000 per unit (machine). However, custom hiring entrepreneurs and cooperative societies can avail 50 per cent subsidy on the purchase price of the machine.

The farmers can buy any machines or equipment from the list of 34 already approved by the Agriculture Department. The machines include seed drill, zero till drill, DSR drill-cum-planter, power operated spray pump, battery operated spray pump, tractor operated spray pump, rotavator, laser leveler, multi-crop thrasher, maize thrasher, power weeder, self propelled reaper binders and potato diggers. The farmers can purchase these machines from manufacturers and dealers approved by the Agriculture Department.

The Chief Agriculture Officer could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. 

Amritsar, November 28
With the arrest of one Balwinder Singh of Baath village, the Amritsar rural police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers involved in stealing of trucks.

The Tarsikka police, where a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC was registered in this regard, have recovered a truck from his possession.

Harjit Singh, investigating officer and in charge of the Tangra police station, said that two of his accomplices have been identified as Jaswant Singh of Muradpur village, Tarn Taran, and Baljinder Singh of Dhand Kasel village. He said raids were being conducted to nab them.

He said the Tarsikka police received a tip-off that the accused used to finance trucks from outside the state and later used to temper the engine and chesis number besides forging the registration number. They later used to ply the vehicle in Punjab and after sometime sell it to others on the basis of forged documents.

Following the information, the police laid a naka near Sangra village and intercepted a truck, bearing a number PB-02-BM-6491. During interrogation, Balwinder could not produce any documents or give answer to their queries. Later, the number of the truck was also found to be fake.

"The truck seized from him had the model of 2011 while the registration number was that of a 2013 model and that too of a motorcycle," he said while adding that the police got two-day custody of the accused for further interrogation.

He said the arrest Jaswant Singh and Baljinder Singh would reveal whether any official of the government department was involved in the gang or they themselves used to prepare the fake documents. 

Amritsar, November 28
The Health Department today raided a pharmaceutical company located in Katra Sher Singh area and confiscated habit-forming tablets and injections.

"Ashish Kamboj, owner of the Medi Link Pharmaceutical Company, could not produce the mandatory bills of eight types of medicines worth Rs 35, 000 following which they were confiscated," said drug inspector Sukhdeep Singh. He said, "The department had received a tip-off that several shops in the market are indulging into an illegal sale of intoxicants. Following which the raids were conducted." He said, "During the checking, around 8,000-9,000 tablets of habit-forming drugs of eight different types and 130 injections were seized." Eight medical stores located in Katra Sher Singh were checked today.

The Health Department took samples of medicines from the Kanhaya Agency and the Vardhman Medicos which would be sent to the Government Drug Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh, for analysis. —TNS

Amritsar, November 28
Eleven persons were arrested by the police on charge of drug peddling and bootlegging.

Talwinder Singh of Dalloke village, Kulwinder Singh of Gumanpura, Manjit Singh of Pandori Waraich village and Parminder Singh of Rajdhan were nabbed by the Amritsar rural police with 20gm, 10gm, 5gm and 5gm of heroin, respectively. Gurdev Singh of Harsha Chhina was held with 100 gm narcotic powder. Gurmit Singh of Jaintipur and Karamjit Singh of Bandala were arrested with habit-forming drugs. The Amritsar rural police have also arrested Mukhtiar Singh of Meera Kot Kalan with 6,930ml illicit liquor. The city police have arrested Ram Singh of Gilwali gate with 24 bottles of liquor and Rani of Arjun Nagar Batha with 20 bottles of illicit liquor in separate cases. Jashoda Rani of Kot Atma Ram was nabbed with 250 intoxicant capsules.—TNS

Amritsar, November 28
The elections for the various posts in 10 blocks of the district for the State Pharmacists Association would be held from December 2 to 6. Association president Shamsher Singh Kohri said all arrangements for the elections have been made.

He said the employees' associations are very important in the present set up as they have to fight for their rights very often. He said the employees must participate in these election processes to strengthen the association. —TNS