Amritsar, December 26
A teenage girl was killed in a road today. The entry of heavy vehicles in the city limits is a major of of accidents but the the police and the district administration have failed to find an alternate route for heavy vehicles.Gagandeep Kaur (16), a resident of Batala, was run over by a private bus (PB-02-AK-9826) near the 
Cantonment police station and the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police that also has a traffic control room.

Following the accident, the residents, along with the relatives of the deceased, blocked the traffic, resulted in traffic jam for about half an hour. The victim was riding pillion when the accident took place.

Her father Harjinder Singh and younger brother Gursimarn was also accompanying her. They were going towards a private hospital.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus came from behind and took a sharp turn towards Rani Ka Bagh due to which Harjinder Singh lost the balance. Gagandeep fell on the road and the bus crushed her to death.

Gurpreet Singh, SHO, Islamabad police station, said the driver of the bus, identified as Mohan Singh, a resident of Jhander, Tarn Taran, had been arrested. The bus was going to Guru Ka Bagh on Ajnala road.

The incident has brought into limelight the grim traffic situation in the city. The number of accidents has increased in the past five years. Notably, 83 persons lost their lives in mishaps this year. In 2012, 75 persons were killed in accidents and in 2011 the number was 64.

In the intervening night of December 23-24, a resident of the White Avenue area, died while his wife and grandson got critically injured when their two-wheeler collided with an emergency ambulance on the Majitha road. The entrance of heavy vehicles, including mini-buses and tractor trailers, is one of the major reasons behind accidents.

Gurinder Singh, a resident of Putlighar area, said the buses should not be allowed inside city periphery and with the launching of low-floor buses, the condition would get worse.

The administration should go for alternative ways rather than allowing buses and trucks inside the city limits, said Ramswarup of Gwal Mandi.

Deepak Sharma of the Rani Ka Bagh area said, “There is no check on private buses as these are being driven rashly. The liability for the accident should be shared by the police and the administration equally.”

Kuljit Singh, ADCP (Traffic), while terming the incident unfortunate said the city police was working on some plans to ease the congestion on roads.

Amritsar, December 26
With a view to expedite the process of collecting property tax, a web portal has been developed by the MC to facilitate the residents to pay their property tax online. The applicants can deposit their dues through their debit and credit cards. Meanwhile, a rebate of 10 per cent on property tax would be given till December 31.

To cope up with a huge number of applicants for the submission of the tax, the Municipal Corporation has tied up with HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, who offered dedicated desks for the collection of the tax.

The banks have also given a consent to facilitate the payment of property tax at their eight branches where people can deposit their tax through credit or debit cards. The civic body has appealed to the residents to pay their dues through cheques, which would help in maintaining the record and avoid any discrepancies.

It has been learnt that the MC does not have to make any payment to the banks for their gesture and nothing would be charged by the banks from the applicants. The MC had divided the city into eight zones for the collection of the tax.

With the banks offering to collect the tax at their branches, the total number of property tax collection centres has gone up to 24. These steps have been taken as the MC do not have the adequate manpower to complete the task despite its earnest efforts to induct officials from other departments.

The long queues irked the residents and it was one of the reasons of behind the tepid response of the residents in paying their tax. MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said, " The online process is for those who do not want to come to the centres or wait in long queues to deposit their dues. With the online facility, they would now be able to file their property tax returns while at home. Besides, we have tied up with the banks for the collection of the tax. The move would bring transparency."

The MC had identified around 3 lakh properties, including 50,000 commercial ones, on which the tax was to imposed. The MC had set a target to collect around Rs 50 crore by March, 2014. Till now, only Rs 14 crore has been collected by the MC. 

Amritsar, December 26
The installation of an elevator at the local railway station has become a problem for passengers, at least for now, as the way to the foot overbridge has been blocked by the construction workers to avoid any mishap. However, the over bridge is the only convenient way to reach the Gol Bagh reservation counter, which is on the other side of the GT Road. As a result of the restriction passengers are a troubled lot as they have been forced to take a longer route to reach Gol Bagh.

Komal Khera, a passenger said, "There is no hint from which people could find that the overbridge has been blocked. It would be nice if the warning is put on display. The railway station authorities can set up a reservation counter on the other side of the road till the construction work is over."

The Northern Railways' Ferozepur division had began the work of installing the elevator only a few days ago so as to provide world-class facilities under the Railways' International Tourist Destination Programme.

The holy city is the first among others cities where the work has been started. This is a Rs 12 crore project. the Ministry of Railway and the Ministry of Tourism will share the cost of the project.

The local railway station will have a retiring room, VIP lounge, waiting room, parking area and a circulating area according to the plan. 

Amritsar, December 26
A PCR team deputed at the Lawrence road chowk was attacked by four car-borne youths late last night. The youths were an inebriated condition when they were signalled to stop their cars. The youths allegedly fired at the cops and fled from the scene.

The arrested has been identified as Datin Mehra, a resident of Tailor road, Varundeep Mehta, a resident of New Baharat Nagar, Anmol Pathak of Kashmir Avenue and Sobar of Green Avenue. The police have booked them on the charges of attempt to murder and obstructing government duty.

A case under Sections 307, 353, 34 of the IPC and 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act has been registered against them.

The police have recovered a .32 bore revolver, four live cartridges and two empty bullet shells from them.

Head constable Jaswant Singh, who is complainant in the case, said the accused were driving rashly and were heavily drunk. “At around 1.30 am when we signalled them to stop, they started abusing us. They stopped the vehicle and entered into a brawl with us. In order to escape, they fired on us ,” said Jaswant.

Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, SHO, Civil Lines, said the police chased the accused who were in two luxury cars. According to sources, the accused belonged to influential families in the city. They were produced in a court, which sent them to 14-day judicial custody. 

Amritsar, December 26
In a shocking incident, a two-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her uncle in Sherobagha village. The incident occurred on the intervening night of December 24-25. The accused, identified as Sukhwinder Singh, was arrested by the police.

The mother of the victim said the accused was her younger brother-in-law. She alleged that the accused took her daughter out on the pretext of playing with her.

“A few minutes later, her 8- year-old niece, who was playing on the roof of the house, said that Sukhwinder had taken the victim to his house and bolted the doors from inside,” she said.

Alarmed over this, she took her mother-in-law Darshan Kaur along and went to the accused's house. When they reached the spot they heard cries of the two-year-old. Daljit Singh broke the door but the accused fled from spot.

Harkrishan Singh, SHO Beas police station said a case under Section 376, 511 of the IPC and under Section 7 of the Protection from Children Sexual Offence Act, 2012, has been registered against the accused.

Amritsar, December 26
The swine flu laboratory at Government Medical College here is yet to become operational even after four years. However, the college authorities said the construction of the lab had been completed. The work on the project begun after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal sent a proposal to the Union Health Ministry in this regard. Later, the Union Minister sanctioned the budget for the project.

Presently, the only swine flu diagnostic lab in the region is at the PGI, Chandigarh. The proposal was made with a view to save the crucial time getting wasted in sending samples to Chandigarh.

Being a tourist hub of the state, residents of the holy city are always at a greater risk of getting infected as a large number of tourists from other states and countries visit the city every day. The last year, the Health Department had reported at least four cases of swine flu, including the death of a patient. The department has so far confirmed 29 cases of swine flu. Seven deaths have been confirmed due to the disease so far.

The lab project got delayed on a number of occasion due to the laxity of officials and the collage management. When contacted, Government Medical College Principal Dr Karnail Singh said the construction of the swine flu lab had been completed and it would become operational soon.

Amritsar, December 26
The police have registered a case against unidentified persons who allegedly attacked an MC team while it was on its anti-encroachment drive at Vijaya Nagar some days ago. This incident resulted in fracturing an arm of an assistant town planner (ATP).

MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda lodged a complaint with the police.

It was stated that on December 13, ATP Narinder Kumar, along with a demolishing squad, accompanied by a police party, reached Vijaya Nagar.

As they started the process of demolishing ramps at Main Bazaar, Batala Road, some unknown persons started pelting them with stones. “They objected to our action, but we were on duty and obeying the High Court’s directions. We were attacked by a mob. It was then that a stone hit my hand resulting in fracture,” he said.

Investigating officer ASI Charanjit Singh said that a case under Sections 353, 186, 332, 333, 148 and 149 of the IPC had been registered in this regard. “Though it was a mob, it is clear that they were the residents of that locality. We will try to identify them and question them on the basis of the clues that we got from the MC men who were attacked,” he said.

Amritsar, December 26
Be it a metropolitan city like Delhi or a holy city like Amritsar, women continue to feel unsafe despite of all the efforts made by the government and the Police Department. The high number of incidents of crime against women reported in the city in the year 2013 is hard enough to corroborate that.

The city was ashamed when a 25-year-old Danish student was molested by an auto-rickshaw driver, a couple of months ago. The accused tore her cloths while she was on the footbridge located outside the railway station. She was so frightened and mentally shocked by the instance that she preferred to leave the city rather than continuing her stay.

Though, the police arrested the accused a day after, the incident brought the focus back on the fact that women continue to be victims and feel highly unsafe while traveling on the city roads.

As per the data available, the Amritsar district reported 81 cases of rape in this year- 44 in the rural belt and 37 in the city. The incidents of molestation and sexual harassment were 114 - 62 in the rural areas and 52 in the city.

After the horrifying rape incident in Delhi that shocked the nation, the Punjab government initiated a helpline number 18. But it proved to be of little help as it failed to yield desirable results.

However, the police authorities on their part claimed that the surge in the reporting of cases with the police was the result of awareness among the public and zero tolerance approach adopted by the department against the miscreants.

Let alone the outside incidents, the incidents point out that women are not safe even at their homes. Recently, a two-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her paternal uncle in Shero Bagha village in Beas.

A senior police official said with increasing awareness, there was a need to change the mindset also.

“Unfortunately, the people especially in the rural areas are not ready to change their thinking. On the part of the police, the department has made women cells in every police station to deal with the complaints of women. A helpline has also been launched by the government in this regard,” said HS Brar, ADCP crime. 

Amritsar, December 26
In a bizarre incident, several guests accompanying a marriage procession were beaten up by a group of local youth at Indira Colony on Batala Road late last night.

The incident occurred after a youth started misbehaving with the girls accompanying the Baraat, which came from Nawan Shehar.

The police have registered a case against a dozen persons including Sunny, Judge, Rinku and Manna, all residents of the same area. No arrest has been made so far.

Complainant Joyti said on his sister’s wedding with Ajay Kumar of Nawan Shehar, a local youth Sunny came on to the dance floor and started using objectionable remarks. He said Akshay Kumar, Kulwinder Singh and Amarjit Singh of Gorakhpur village (Nawa Shehar) objected to it and asked Sunny to leave.

“A few minutes later he, along with the other accused armed with sharp edged weapons barged into the premises and attacked the guests,” he said. Akshay Kumar, Kulwinder Kumar and Amarjit Singh were injured in the attack.

SHO Sadar police station Vavinder Mahajan said a case under Sections 307, 382, 323, 324, 427, 506, 294, 354, 148 and 149 of the IPC had been registered and raids were being conducted to nab the culprits who had been on the run since the incident.

Amritsar, December 26
Krishnam Mehra, a student of Class II at Step By Step High School, Loharka Road, won the distinction award at the International Abacus Competition held on December 15, 2013, in Malaysia.

Amritsar, December 26
The city police have still not made any breakthrough in the case in which an unidentified youth was found murdered in a vacant plot near Sultanwind Canal, a few days ago.

The incident came to light when several children in the area saw the dead body and informed a nearby resident and a priest of Golden Temple. The police took the body into their possession and got the post mortem conducted after registering a murder case. The police authorities said they had informed all the police stations and the nearby districts to get information. They said they were yet to identify the deceased who seemed to be in his mid twenties. 

Amritsar, December 26
The Defence Services Welfare office here has announced to hold a pre-recruitment training from January 6 onwards for the candidates aspiring to join armed forces. It has been planned to train candidates for the Army recruitment rally starting at Tibri cantonment from January 14 to 21.

Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Gurinderjit Singh Gill said matriculate youngsters with an age more than 17 and a half years but less than 21 years were eligible for availing the benefit of the training. He said the aspiring candidates should get in touch with the local District Sainik Welfare office. — TNS

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