Fourteen held for drug peddling, bootlegging
Amritsar, December 8
Over a dozen persons have been arrested for their involvement in drug peddling and bootlegging in the past 24 hours. The city police arrested Sonu and Jatinder Singh of Baba Farid Nagar located in Kale village for allegedly possessing 20 grams and 40 grams of charas, respectively.

Amritsar, December 8
A team of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) which had gone to collect pending dues from a power defaulter in Ghanupur Kale area was attacked by three youths last evening.

The team headed by Swaranjit Singh, Sub- Divisional Officer, Commercial West Sub-Station in Chheharta, was going to snap the power connection after the defaulter, identified as Jaswant Singh, failed to deposit the amount. They were attacked by three youths who were apparently the kin of Jaswant Singh.

"We were manhandled and abused. One of our colleagues sustained internal injuries and had to conduct medical tests and X-ray examination," said the Sub Divisional Officer, Chheharta Commercial West Sub-Station.

The official said Jaswant Singh had not deposited the power bill for the past several months and he was served reminders a number of times. Even some Punjab State Power Corporation Limited employees had gone to his house and asked him to deposit the money or else face power disconnection.

The official said he was accompanied by Junior Engineer Rajinder Mohan, Assistant Junior Engineer Jatinder Kumar besides two linemen and an assistant lineman.

“When our team visited the house, Jaswant was not present,”the Sub Divisional Officer, Chheharta Commercial West Sub-Station, said.

“Jaswant's son called his father over phone who requested for more time to deposit the money. But when we refused and tried to disconnect the power connection and also remove the electricity meter, two of Jaswant's sons and another unidentified youth attacked us,” the power official further said.

They also removed the turban of one of the team member, he alleged. Two policemen who were passing by came to their rescue.

The Chheharta police have registered a case under Sections 353, 332, 186, 506, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against three unidentified youths in this regard while no arrest has been made so far, said Balwinder Singh, the investigating officer.

Amritsar, December 8
Claiming threat to his life, RTI activist Jagdish Singh has written letters to Punjab DGP and Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking appropriate action against the persons threatening him.

He alleged that the persons, who are allegedly musclemen of ruling alliance leaders, including a SAD councilor, were threatening him with dire consequences and even tried to lodge a false case against him.

"Through RTI information, I exposed the bogus tenders bids they had made to get development works being carried out by the Amritsar Improvement Trust. Following this, AIT chairman Sandeep Rishi had cancelled their bids," said Jagdish Singh.

This was the reason the accused had a grudge against him. He said a couple of days ago, two brothers of a local councillor attacked him and abused him in public. Instead of lodging his complaint, the police made him to wait at the police station for hours and did not allow him to return, he alleged.

He said he came to know that the local police was under pressure from the ruling party leaders for registering a case against him.

He demanded registration of case against the leaders besides providing security to him and his family.

Amritsar, December 8
The district consumer disputes redressal forum has instructed the Gopal Nagar State Bank of India Employees Cooperative Society to pay the maturity amount of Rs 3 lakh (fixed deposit) deposited by a local resident. The forum asked the society to pay the maturity amount along with 10 per cent interest. If society fails to pay the money within 30 days, it is liable to pay another 9 per cent interest from the date the complaint was filed till the time it was paid. The society was also instructed to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses.

Ritu Kapoor alias Anju Kapoor, a resident of Chand Avenue, had filed the complaint in December 2011, stating that she had deposited a sum of Rs 3 lakh with the cooperative society in October 2007. The fixed deposit was to mature on October 1, 2009. She alleged when she approached the cooperative society to pay the amount, they extended the maturity date. She alleged that she did not get the refund by June 2011.

In its reply to the forum, the society said the complaint had been filed two years late, and further stated that Ritu Kapoor and Anju Kapoor were different persons.

The complainant prayed before the form that Ritu Kapoor and Anju Kapoor were one and the same person.

The forum observed that the cooperative society could not produce the original application form or account opening form filled by the complainant and was entitled to get the amount at any time after October 1, 2009.

Amritsar, December 8
Over a dozen persons have been arrested for their involvement in drug peddling and bootlegging in the past 24 hours.

The city police arrested Sonu and Jatinder Singh of Baba Farid Nagar located in Kale village for allegedly possessing 20 grams and 40 grams of charas, respectively. A stolen motorcycle was also recovered from their possession.

The police also nabbed Gurmukh Singh of Patti Maleke and seized 55 capsules of proscribed drugs. Sukhwinder Singh of Kirtangarh Thande and Ranjodh Singh of Radala village were arrested with 40 bottles of liquor and 15,000ml illicit liquor.

Meanwhile, the Amritsar rural police held Pargat Singh of Dhulka with 200 gram of narcotic powder and Sukhdev Singh of Ghookewali with 70 capsules of habit-forming drugs.

The Ramdass police recovered huge quantity of lahan from Gharindi village and arrested Sukhjinder Singh of Machhiwala in this connection.

The police sealed a illegally-run distillery and seized 150 kilogram of lahan and five bottles of illicit liquor from the spot after a raid.

Among others who have been arrested for indulging in bootlegging are Dhayan Singh, a resident of Dhidokot, Puran Singh of Bhindisaida, Kaka Singh, a resident of Tarsikka, Jeeta Singh of Baath village, Gulzar Singh of Baath and Nirmal Singh of Vichla Killa and confiscated illicit liquor from their possession.

Amritsar, December 8
Even as the PHD Chamber of Commerce has increased the rates of stalls at the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX), the exhibitors say they are not against it as their business has grown at the expo over the last few years.

Ahmedabad-based Nawal Patel, who has set up a stall for selling kitchen appliances such as dry fruit cutter, vegetable chopper etc, said his company had been setting up stall here for the past three years. Since the customers’ response has been enthusiastic, their visit was worth it.

He recalled that his company paid Rs 45,000 rent for the stall last year while they paid about Rs 65,000 this time.

About the volume of sale, he said it had been increasing by 20 per cent every year. The sale of this edition would be known after the conclusion of PITEX.

Delhi-based Sunil Kumar, another exhibitor, said he had been selling merchandise at PITEX since its inception here.

“After seeing the customers’ response I can say that they have fondness for new things. I brought a new brand in kitchenware this time,” he said.

Ritesh Chowdhury of Delhi said his firm Honewell, which is manufacturing and marketing electric tandoor, has been setting up a stall here for the past five years.

Sonalika Tractors zonal head Vivek Goyal said, “We are excited and look forward to the Punjab International Trade Expo for good response of customers.”

“This expo is very important for us as it is a great platform where we can directly interact with corporate customers and farmers. Also, we believe that Punjab has an immense potential.

Hence, popular products like Sonalika WorldTrac 90 4WD (AC Cabin), Sonalika RX 60 MM Super (Power Steering), Sonalika RX 60 (Power Steering), Sonalika DI-745III and Sonalika Gardentrac-20 have ben put up for display at the venue.”

Amritsar, December 8
As the eighth edition of the PITEX shopping and trade festival entered its fourth day, the footfall of buyers increased significantly. The annual shopping exposition that brings international trade to the holy city is popular for its international attractions had highlights of the South Asian countries this time.

The major attraction of the festival has been the Pakistani stalls. But coming close were decor items and artefacts from Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia. From simple dry flowers to exotic lamps and furniture from the ASEAN countries had the shoppers binge shop for the best picks. Yen's, a regular exhibitor at the PITEX, from Thailand reflected the mood of city shoppers, "its always good business in Amritsar with PITEX. Since its the year end and people here are familiar with the South Asian taste of products, we get good footfall," said Yen Ziang, owner, Yen's. Apart from bamboo furniture, white metal Buddhas and attractive Chinese lamps, jewellery from Myanmar too was a highlight. With exotic animal motifs and tribal patterns, the chic pieces were quite a hit with girls.

Like last year, this year too one of the busier stalls were the spices, herbs and dry fruit stalls from Egypt and Afghanistan.

Pakistani stone decor items too stood out as the popular pick. The magnificent and elaborate carvings in earthy stone colours varies between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Amritsar, December 8
Bringing in contemporary touch to the ancient concept of visual books, city- based artists Sandeep Singh and Hardeep Singh have come up with an art book with three different genres of art. The bilingual book titled Shades of Life (Zindagi De Rang) is a visually rich book with photographs, illustrations, calligraphy complementing the prose and poetry by various poets from Punjab.

The book released in the Capital by Gursharan Kaur, wife of PM Manmohan Singh on the occasion of 141st birth anniversary of Punjabi scholar and warrior Bhai Veer Singh, the artist duo are excited about bringing in some new concepts to the age old genre of art. “Visual art books are the oldest form of art in our country and so it makes it important to improvise or innovate with changing time. The book has compilation of 34 poetry pieces from celebrated poets like Amrita Pritam, Pakistani poet Nizam Hussain Saiyed, Sultan Bahu and Gurbaani verses by Guru Nanak Dev and even work of Bhai Veer Singh. It’s a spiritually enriching book,” shares Sandeep. Both artists are teachers by profession, Sandeep being a Punjabi and photography teacher at Cambridge International School and Hardeep, a government schoolteacher. Being part of numerous group shows and exhibitions, this is their debut book.

The poetry has been represented visually in the way of pictures and calligraphy by Hardeep Singh, who comes from a family of artisans. “His great grandfather Gian Singh Nakash was one of the artists who has painted frescos at the Golden Temple and his father GS Sohan Singh was a famous artist as well. We have been working on the book for over a year and creating visuals for the book was like attempting to re-invent something from the pages of history,” said Sandeep.

Deciding to launch the book in Capital, Sandeep said it was important to get the book noticed by art experts. “The point is that our concept needs support from art fraternity in educating people about pictorial representation. Punjab in totality has very limited audience and understanding for genre based art. As far as calligraphy or illustrative art is concerned, there are very few avenues for artists in Punjab. So, Delhi is an obvious choice,” he said.

He has planned to hold a discussion and book release ceremony in Amritsar as well. “It will happen of course in due course of time,” he said.

Amritsar, December 8
One out of 12 persons in India suffer from hearing loss said Dr Amandeep Kaur, director, Amandeep Hospital and Clinic, while addressing patients during the first free medical check-up camp related to urology and ENT organised at the hospital today.

As many as 150 patients availed the free medical check-up while lab examinations, X-ray, ultrasound and surgeries were conducted at the concessional rates.

She stated that according to a WHO report as many as 250 to 300 million people suffered from deafness in the world out of which the two-third live in underdeveloped countries. She said, “India has the largest population of the deaf in the world. Deafness if left untreated could cause low development of language skills as well as leave an impact on speech.”

She said it can also lead to psychological and emotional problems as well as low learning skills. Dr Arawat Pushkarna, urologist, Dr Prahlad Duggal, head, ENT, supervised the camp. — TNS

Amritsar, December 8
The Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Technical Education), Amarpal Singh Bony, inaugurated a computer lab at Baba Karan Das Public School at Jagdev Khurd village, near here today. Bony also announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for building a wall around the playground. Speaking on the occasion, he said the state government was spending a huge amount on upgrading the educational infrastructure in rural areas.

District Guidance Officer Gursevak Singh educated students about the courses and educational streams available at colleges and universities in the country after Class XII. He said a number of scholarships had been initiated by the state and the Central Government.

He informed students about various scholarships schemes of universities and foundations for the meritorious students. On the occasion, students of the school presented a colourful cultural show.

They highlighted social evils like dowry, female foeticide, corrupion and unscientific temperament, which have crept into the present day society.

The chairman of the society, Davinder Kaur, and principal Ajit Ram Arora presented the vote of thanks and the annual report of the school.

District Youth Coordinator Bikram Singh Gill and the District Public Relations Officer of Tarn Taran, Satnam Singh Chinna, were also present on the occasion as guest speakers.