Two mobile phones recovered
Amritsar, December 17
Two mobile phones have been recovered from two inmates lodged in the Amritsar Central Jail. The two prisoners have been identified as Spreet Singh, son of Bachan Singh and Rohit Kumar, son of Amarjit Singh.

Identify families under Food Security Act
Amritsar, December 17
Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat has instructed the officials in district to identify families who are eligible for availing the benefits of the National Food Security Act 2013.

Amritsar, December 17
After a lapse of six months, the Municipal Corporation has scheduled its general house meeting tomorrow. By getting a go ahead from banks which have approved loans worth over Rs 100 crore, various development works, including beautification of the holy city and augmentation of civic amenities, better streetlights, the garbage-lifting mechanism, electric supply, repairing of internal roads, water and sewerage connections, etc will be tabled before the House for approval.

On the other hand, the Opposition is fully prepared to counter the claims while highlighting the shortcomings in the ruling group's plans. They also criticised the idea of purchasing two Innova vehicles, worth Rs 25 lakh, for the City Mayor and the MC Commissioner.

Nonetheless, prominent items on the MC agenda will be the much-awaited city bus service and a separate proposal for imitating the Turkish way of easing the traffic snarls through running air-conditioned buses under the BRTS (bus rapid transit system).

Even as the Rs 46-crore city bus service and Rs 500-crore BRTS service project will be funded jointly by the Centre and the state governments, the other development works have been proposed to be executed by raising loans from HUDCO and Punjab National Bank.

It has been learnt that the MC has drafted a proposal to impose sewerage, water and municipal solid waste disposal charges on the residents, which will be clubbed in the electricity bills.

The government has decided to introduce this practice in Amritsar, Nawanshahr and Faridkot towns in the first phase. The local government has already intimated the respective corporation authorities to bear around Rs 70 lakh each to the Power Corporation which has already prepared a software in this regard.

Officials told that the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board has proposed to the MC to renovate the façade of buildings located on both sides of the road leading to Golden Temple from Hall Gate. The total cost of the project worth Rs 50 crore, which would be borne by the board only. The mandatory NoC from the MC had to get approval from the House. Besides, the proposal to install LED streetlights equipped with energy savers, too, would be made. According to the pilot project, these lights would be installed on the Lawrence Road and Sultanwind Road.

Criticising the MC's plans, Leader of the Opposition Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky said all these moves were "directionless" and the idea of buying new Innova vehicles for the City Mayor and the Commissioner could never be accepted when the MC is grappling with fund crunch.

"The city bus service has been hanging fire for the past six years despite the fact that Rs 11.66 crore from the Central pool has been lying idle since 2010. Due to this delay, the cost of the project has been enhanced from Rs 33 crore to Rs 46 crore. Similarly, the city is deprived of basic amenities, but the MC is bent on beautifying the city by wasting public money," he said.

Lucky said it was not proper to burden the residents by incorporating the water, sewerage and municipal solid waste expenses in electricity bills.

The Opposition demanded that all projects should be taken up on a time-bound basis and the officials concerned should be held accountable for any lapse.

"At present, 90 per cent of energy-saver equipment have been lying defunct but no thought was ever spared to repair these. Instead, the MC is coming out with a new proposal to replace conventional street lights with LED lights. It has been over a year since the city mayor Bakshi Ram Arora has occupied the chair, still he could not manage to bring in any money for the development of the holy city. The optical fibre cables installed by Reliance Company for 4G telecom network need vigil by government officials. The reason is that these may damage underground water and sewerage lines," said Lucky. 

Amritsar, December 17
With the harsh winters getting at their peak, medical experts have advised people to take precautions to stay healthy during the season. Doctors say that asthmatic, cardiac patients, children and elderly are at a higher risk of falling sick in this season.

They advise that people must take due precautions before venturing out of home and must avoid early morning and late evening walks. The winters are more troublesome for asthmatic patients as more of such cases are reported at hospitals during the season.

The fog and frost in winters can also become problematic for cardiac patients. In fact, doctors believe that a large number of viruses become active during winters, resulting in increased infections.

Chest specialist Dr Naresh Chawla said during winters, the polluted air comes down to the lower zone which is the breathing zone. With the fall in temperature, the patients feel heaviness in the chest area and breathing exercise becomes difficult, he said. He warned that people must not go for morning walks until the fog clears.

The doctors have also advised that patients should also take preventive medicines as vaccines against pneumonia and flu. Further, first few days of frost and fog can be very dangerous for heart patients as it can result in decrease in blood supply to heart and other vital organs and this in turn can affect blood pressure.

Doctors say that in winters, the heart has to overwork and as a result, it needs more care. They say that a heart attack in the winters is also believed to be fatal than during any other season of the year.

Child specialist Dr Sandeep Aggarwal said keeping infants away from flu and cold was a big challenge for parents. He said they must ensure that the head of the child is covered properly and the child is wearing enough clothes. 

Amritsar, December 17
The suspended Municipal Town Planner (MTP), Des Raj, has claimed that the No-objection Certificate (NoC) issued against a property, on the basis of which he was put under suspension by Local bodies Minister Anil Joshi, was a forged one and never issued by the Municipal Town Planning Department.

He stated this before officials of the Chief Vigilance Office, Amritsar, on December 12, when he was called for interrogation.

He has alleged that some councillors conspired against him and misguided the minister who suspended him without conducing a proper inquiry on the charge of harassing public in the matter of issuing NoCs.

Des Raj had challenged the decision in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and had filed an affidavit while levelling serious allegations against MC officials, including demand of bribery for extending undue favours to proprietors of illegal buildings. He had also named former MC Commissioner and Mayor in his charges and has filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for being tortured mentally by the MC authorities.

Incidentally, it was on October 17, when he was placed under suspension on the charges of corruption by the minister for allegedly demanding bribe for providing no-objection certificate for the registration of house No 56-B, Khasra No 858, Min Vakia Rakba Tung, located in Sandhu Colony, Amritsar.

Denying all allegations, Des Raj said the City Mayor, former MC Commissioner and Senior Town Planner demanded Rs 1 lakh each every month; otherwise he would have to leave his position.

He alleged that the NoC of that particular property was never issued by the department and it contained his counterfeit signatures. "The moot point is that the NoC shown to me by the Vigilance Department did not mention any official diary number or receipt of requisite fee of Rs 1,000. The signatures on it, too, were not mine," he said, adding that he was not even served the charge sheet till date.

Denying all allegations, STP Hemant Batra said, "All allegations relating to me are baseless and contain no truth. I have no role to play in his suspension. It was done at the Local Bodies Ministry level." 

Amritsar, December 17
Dense fog coupled with snapping of power supply threw life out of gear for residents of the holy city.

Residents awoke to twin shocks of dense fog and a power cut in the morning. A majority of the areas, including urban and rural, in the city reeled under the power-supply cut since wee hours. The power supply, which got disrupted at about 4:55 am, was restored at only about 10 pm.

Officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) said that the 220 KV sub-station at Warpal village, the 220 KV sub-station at Civil Lines, the 132 KV sub-station at Naraingarh developed snags due to dense fog which resulted in tripping. Technical and engineering branch employees started repairing the snag and the supply was restored about 10 am.

A private bank employee Harsimrat Singh said it was a double whammy after waking up in the morning. First, the temperature plummeted due to dense fog and to make things worse, there was a power cut also. “I was unable to get warm water for daily chores," Harsimrat Singh said.

Rishima Mehra, the mother of two primary school children, said it was an onerous task to get the children ready in the morning with the electricity tripping. The geyser was not working while cooking gas was, too, costly to afford for heating bathwater.

Amritsar, December 17
Two mobile phones have been recovered from two inmates lodged in the Amritsar Central Jail. The two prisoners have been identified as Spreet Singh, son of Bachan Singh and Rohit Kumar, son of Amarjit Singh.

According to information, this seizure was made during a routine checking in the jail. Deputy Superintendent of jail RK Sharma said two mobile phones had been recovered. A case under Section 420 of the IPC, and 42 and 52 of the Prisoner Act has been registered.

Amritsar, December 17
Of many activities and creative outlets that city-based Sumant Bakshi is involved in, his love for nature’s beautiful blossoms seems to be his priority. The retired Air Force fighter pilot is nurturing nature inside the walls of his farm house near Majitha Road.

sixtyseven-years-old Bakshi has one of the biggest collection of potted flowers in city, his blooms crossing 2500 this year. It has taken him two decades to build this passion into a concept-career option. “I have always been facscinated with flowers, and used to gift my friends potted plants whenever possible. Encouraged by my peers and seeing an opportunity to develop the concept further, I decided to take up potted flower grooming full time,” he shares. His garden is packed with every possible colour and variety of Chrysanthamums, best ones in full bloom. “Every year I breed different varieties of chrysanthemum, make some mistakes and learn from them. Till date I have multiplied potted flowers, herbs and organic vegetables in my garden," he says.

He aims to make potted plants a popular gifting option and has already got some orders. “I feel that flowers make for an intresting, natural and a beautiful gift option as a potted flower could be used for décor and adds freshness and colour to life. I have already supplied potted flowers for corporate and personal events. Even in a small town like Amritsar, people have been receptive about the concept. During Diwali, we had several orders with a demand of 100-200 potted flowers to gift,” he says. His concepts go to as far as Kochi, Chennai, Kolkata and many other places.

His wife, who is a partner in his passion, too, supports him through. “I collected varieties of flowers all over the country. Mostly in Punjab, anemone or Korean variety of Chrysanthemum are very popular. It’s a painstaking process which involves cutting, multiplying and grooming in-breeding varieties. It blooms in November, so the season is on for sale,” says Bakshi, who has won numerous awards for his blooms at flower shows.

He also educates those who share his interest. “For me it’s a passion and it's meditative -- just many of the ways to let my creativity bloom.” 

Amritsar, December 17
The Border Security Force personnel seized 10 kgs of contraband, suspected to be heroin, on the Punjab border in the area of Border Out Post Mohinder, Amritsar sector, today. The place of recovery is at a distance of approximately 200 mt from the international boundary in the Indian territory.

Keeping in view the vulnerability of the border, Inspector General, BSF, Punjab Frontier, Ajay Kumar Tomar, has issued operational guidelines to further strengthen the border security, especially in view of the foggy weather so as to effectively check the menace of narcotics smuggling.

The troops were already on a high alert as inputs were received regarding smuggling of drugs.

“Today, our jawans heard some suspicious activities near the border security fence. The troops on duty immediately rushed towards the spot from where a sound was heard and fired 2 rounds to foil any ill motive of anti national elements. At about 0045 hrs, the BSF troops heard sound of 8 shots from the direction of the international boundary, the reason of which is being verified. Immediately the area was cordoned off and a search was carried out in the morning in which 10 packets of contraband, suspected to be heroin (approximate value Rs 50 crore in the international market) were found inside a plastic pipe near the border security fence”, he said. 

Amritsar, December 17
The Health Department has decided to equip primary health centres, community health centres and satellite hospitals with new machines to strengthen dental services. The Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) will soon get dental X-ray machines and dental chairs installed for all the centres.

The PHSC has plans to install dental X-ray machines at civil hospitals in Baba Bakala, Ajnala, Lopoke, Ramdas and Thariewal. Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Prabhdeep Kaur said the machines would also be installed at all the five satellite hospitals at Ranjit Avenue, Mustafabad, Ghanupur Kalae, Fatehpur and Sakatri Bagh.

The PHSC had already bought the equipment and it would be dispatched to the centres in the next few days, she said. Dr Kaur added that strengthening of dental services at government health institutions would be another achievement of the department and it would go a long way in providing better services at nominal costs. — TNS

Amritsar, December 17
Local favourite Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy today outplayed Army Boys Danapur (Bihar) by 1-0 on the second day of tdhe ongoing 11th All India Maharaja Ranjeet Singh Junior Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at Guru Nanak Dev University’s hockey ground.

Displaying technically superior hockey, both teams thwarted several goal moves by the other team. Pawandeep Singh of the local team managed to convert the penalty into a goal in the 19th minute of the game. The visitors made several threatening moves but failed to translate these into goals.

In another contest, Chandigarh XI routed Amritsar XI by 5-1. Then visitors earned a point in the 13th minute of the game after its attacker scored a field goal. Six minutes later, the local team scored an equaliser raising hope of a close contest.

However, Amritsar XI could not score any goal and the game was gradually cornered by Chandigarh XI. The visitors scored in the 24th minute (penalty corner), 39th minute (field goal), 40th and 47th minutes (penalty corners).

In another contest, Surjit Sports Academy, Jalandhar drubbed Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow 10-1. The Jalandhar players proved to be physically, stamina wise and technically far more superior to the Lucknow players. Underdog visitors had a face saver in a solitary goal.

In a women hockey match, Punjab XI (India) defeated Punjab XI (Pakistan) 1-0. Players of both teams made several moves against each other but could not succeed except Paramjit kaur of Indian Punjab, who scored the goal through a penalty corner.

Pakistan hockey Olympian Gurlej Akhtar was the chief guest at the tournament.