Amritsar, January 21
Following instructions from the state government, the district Education Department has prepared a list of 48 male teachers those can be shifted from senior secondary government girls' schools to other schools in the district.

After some male teachers in Moga, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur schools allegedly outraged the modesty of students, the state government instructed the Education Department to carry out an in-house assessment to replace male teachers in girls' schools with women teachers.

However, the move has irked many teachers' organisations. These organisations include the Government School Lecturer Union, Government Teachers' Union, Democratic Teachers Front and the Government School Teachers' Union.

There are about 1,500 government schools in the district, including 419 under secondary schools. Of these 419 under secondary schools, 385 schools are co-educational, 22 girls' schools and 12 boys' schools.

The government's move has also been flayed by many women teachers who are expected to be shifted to other schools. A woman teacher said the government's reaction was unexpected. "Instead of taking action against the guilty teachers, the government is going to upset the entire set-up."

She said a majority of government schools were co-educational. " Male teachers girls' schools prove helpful in performing various external works," the teachers said.

For instance, female teachers cannot stay longer in the evening in schools to carry out maintenance and other works. Even in case of educational tours, male teachers help in communicating with outsiders.

Leaders of many teachers' unions said as per the government instructions, no male staff would be shifted from co- educational schools. "In the current scenario, it was necessary to educate students, especially girls, how to conduct themselves to lead a successful professional life. The move will make girl students hesitant toward other sex, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Amritsar, January 21
The municipal corporation is expected to give its approval to the development projects costing Rs 1,241 crore under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in the session starting from January 23. The House is also expected to clear a dozen development projects at the local level.

The House would also put forward reports of ongoing works before the members. The proposed projects under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission include construction of three ramps on the elevated road at a cost of Rs 45 crore, beautification and repair of the inner circular road at a cost of Rs 29.5 crore, construction of a flyover at Sant Singh Sukha Singh Chowk at a cost of Rs 53 crore.

Other projects include one to join the GT road with the Tarn Taran road at a cost of Rs 6.70 crore, a solid waste management project at a cost of Rs 105 crore, Bus Rapid Transit System at a cost of Rs 491 crore, a railway overbridge at Bhagtawala railway crossing at a cost of Rs 63 crore, ROB at the Jhabal road at a cost of Rs 65 crore, construction of Rigo bridge at a cost of Rs 72 crore, repair of Bhandari Bridge at a cost of Rs 20 crore, ROB on the Tarn Taran road at a cost of Rs 102 crore. The MC will also put forward projects of water supply estimated at a cost of Rs 83 crore and a sewerage project in the south-east zone of the city at a cost of Rs 105.70 crore.

The MC has also formulated projects for widening of roads in the city from its own and state government resources at a cost of Rs 203 crore. The widening of the road from Bhandari Bridge to Guru Nanak Dev University at a cost of Rs 33.70 crore also figures in the list. The MC has also formulated a project for upgrading of Guru Nanak Auditorium involving an expenditure of Rs 3.82 crore.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the House would pass a number of projects that would change the face of the holy city in the coming year. He said the state government and the MC was committed to the cause of development of the city and as such an elaborate plan had been made for it.

Amritsar, January 21
The Municipal Corporation (MC) has finally allowed the public to attend the general house meetings from the upcoming session which starts on January 23.

However, the rules for allowing the public to attend these meetings are framed in such a way that discourage the public to participate. For attending such meeting the aspirants have to apply to the MC Commissioner before 48 hours of its beginning.

Further, the applicants are required to give reason to witness the meeting. Most important, the rules framed state that permission can be granted only on the condition of availability of space in the meeting house.

“The subject of availability of space should be defined more clearly. What if they just allow 10 persons from the population to 15 lakh to participate. Would that be termed that the MC has allowed the general public to attend the meeting,” said Kanwalpreet Singh, a resident of Putlighar area.

The MC decision to allow general public to attend the meeting has come after a local lawyer Prabodh Chander Bali had approached the High Court to demand the same after which the court had issued the directions. On a civil writ petition filed by Bali in September, 2012, the High Court had directed the MC to adhere to the procedure given in the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976 whereby the general public was empowered to attend the house meeting.

Bali, who has fought a long legal battle to restore the right of the general public to attend such meetings, said, “On a few earlier occasions, the MC had invited me to attend the meetings after the court's directions. However, I had rejected the invitation as I am nobody to represent the public and all residents should get the permission.”

He said the MC was not bound to hold the general house meeting at the same place it was organising these presently. He said if the MC was really concerned to empower the common man, then it should organise such meetings at large venues to accommodate maximum people.

Amritsar, January 21
There is no respite from snatching incidents in the city. A couple of cases were reported in the past 24 hours.

Sources said a youth was caught by people for snatching attempt while his accomplice managed to escape.

Money Garg, a resident of Guru Nanak Dev University, said he, along with his friend Rajwinder Kaur was going to the market when two motorcycle-borne youth came from behind and tried to snatch his mobile. He said Rajwinder bravely opposed them, but the accused also tried to snatch her mobile. In the meanwhile, people gathered and caught hold one of them identified as Harpreet Singh of Amar Kot while his accomplice Davinder Singh fled away.

A case under Section 382, 511 of the IPC has been registered in this regard.

In another incident, three youth snatched the earrings and purse from a woman, identified as Davinder Kaur, a resident of Ranjit Pura locality. She told the police that she was standing at the gate of her house when three youth, identified as Monu, Nikhil and Gobind came on a motorcycle and snatched her earrings and purse containing Rs 600 and necessary documents. No arrest has been made so far.

A case under Section 382, 34 of the IPC has been registered in this connection.

Amritsar, January 21
The logjam between the safai sewaks and the Municipal Corporation remains unresolved even as the MC is planning to hold a meeting in this regard tomorrow. The safai sewaks are protesting the handing over of the proposed solid waste management to a private company for 27 years. The employees are also demanding regularisation of contractual workers.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the employees' demands were unjustified. "A month ago, we fulfilled their 11 demands. Now, they have come up with more demands,” said Arora. The MC said they had requested the agitating workers to find a solution to their problems through talks.

He said the employees should return to work. The Mayor said MC officials would meet on Tuesday to find out the alternative measures that could be employed to lift garbage, if the employees remained adamant on their demands.

Amritsar, January 21
Various local organisations staged a rally here today demanding Bharat Ratna award for hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. The participants in the rally included NGO members, sports lovers and students of schools and colleges.

The participants also took out a march on the roads in Company Bagh area. They were shouting slogans to demand Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand. The rally was addressed by Olympian Brigadier Harcharan Singh, Senior International hockey players Balbir Singh, Paramjit Singh Randhawa, HS Walia and Balwinder Singh among others.

Students of DAV College, Police DAV Public School, Ram Ashram Public School, Girls Senior Secondary School Mall road, SGPC hockey academy and BBK DAV College also participated in the rally.

Amritsar, January 21
In a new twist to the alleged police torture case, the complainant told the police that he did not want any action against the accused cops.

Brahmjit Singh, a resident of Sultanwind, had appeared before the Scheduled Caste Commission and accused the Sultanwind police of keeping him in an illegal detention and subjected to inhuman torture.

He alleged that on December 12, a theft incident took place near his residence, following which, the police had asked him to reach the police station. He alleged that the police officials had subjected him to a third degree torture and pressurised him to confess the crime. He was released only after his family members and relatives had protested against the police.

Raj Kumar Verka, National Vice-Chairman of the Scheduled Caste Commission, had asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bikrampal Singh Bhatti, to register an FIR and submit a report within five days. He submitted his report before the Police Commissioner for further necessary action.

Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Police Commissioner, said the complainant in his statement had requested not ot take any punitive action against the guilty cops.

Amritsar, January 21
The snatching incident in which a gold jewellery artisan had claimed that he was robbed of gold to the tune of Rs 30 lakh by motorcycle-borne assailants, turned out to be drama.

Within 24-hour of the incident, police officials claimed to have solved the case and recovered half of the gold from the two accused.

Gurpreet Singh, alias Gourav, a resident of Guru Ram Dass Nagar, Gilwali Gate, reported to the police that he worked as an artisan involved in manufacturing of gold nose pins.

He took around 1.076 kg of gold from Rajan of Sultanwind road, Kamal Kumar of Kot Atma Ram and Brij Mohan of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar for manufacturing of nose pins.

He said yesterday when he was going to the Kot Baba Deep Singh area with the gold two motorcycle-borne youth came from behind and snatched away his bag containing jewellery.

Following his complaint, the police registered a case under Section 382 of the IPC and launched manhunt to nab the culprits.

Investigating Officer (IO) Satnam Singh said during probe the shopkeepers at the spot denied of occurring of any such instance.

“Nobody in the area told the police of having any such incident, which raised a suspicion on the statement of the victim,” said Satnam Singh, who added that the investigation pointed towards some foul play. He said Gurpreet Singh was taken into custody and during questioning he admitted to the crime. He said he along with his relatives identified as Jagdish Singh Ghona and Tejinder Singh of Kot Atma Ram hatched a conspiracy to usurp the gold jewellery worth Rs 30 lakh. He said the police recovered 520 gm of gold nose pins from his possession.

The IO added that a case under Section 420, 406, 211, 182 of the IPC has been registered against Gurpreet, Jagdish and Jatinder in this regard. While Gurpreet was sent in 3-day police remand, the raids were being conducted to nab the remaining two culprits.

Amritsar, January 21
Residents welcomed the state government's announcement of dropping property tax from 7.5 per cent to 3 per cent on residential properties and extension of the last date for paying the tax with a rebate of 10 per cent by March 31.

The House Tax Department of the Municipal Corporation (MC) has collected approximately Rs 18 crore in property tax and covered 35 to 40 per cent of the properties so far," said SE Jaswinder Singh. When asked how the benefit would be passed to the residents who have already paid their tax, he said the notification was yet to reach his office. He added that in all probability, the tax would be adjusted during the payment of the next instalment. He said "Till now, around 85,000 people have deposited the tax,"

The civic body has set up nine zones in the city for the collection of the tax and organised more than 150 camps to facilitate people in paying the tax. The MC has set a target to collect Rs 40 crore in property tax till March 31, 2014. In the coming days, MC officials expect that more people will pay their tax.

The holy city has been divided into 895 different areas on the basis of variations in collector rates of property. "With the extension of the date, we hope that we would be able to reach out to the residents of all these areas," said Jaswinder Singh. Once the deadline of March 31, 2014 is over, a penalty of 25 per cent and subsequently of 50 per cent on the actual amount of property will be imposed.

Notably, the MC has prepared a software to calculate property tax as per the existing collector rates.

Amritsar, January 21
The Government Railway Police (GRP) confiscated a huge quantity of habit-forming drugs abandoned at the waiting hall of the railway station here today. The proscribed drugs were wrapped in polythene and put in a black colour bag.

Davinder Singh Randhawa, SHO, GRP police station, said during the routine checking, the police found a black colour bag under a bench in the waiting hall. The police questioned a number of persons in the waiting hall, but could not find the owner of the bag. During the search the police found 3,700 intoxicant capsules and 2,400 tablets besides 50 syrups. He said a case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered against the accused who fled the scene after leaving the bag behind. — TNS

Amritsar, January 21
Even as advertisements claiming fast and assured relief in some medical conditions are being published almost daily in local newspapers and aired on local channels, the administration seems to be looking the other way.

Such advertisements are banned under the Drugs and Magical Remedies Act 1954. Most of these advertisements claim to have treatments for impotence and infertility.

The business of self-proclaimed godmen, tantriks and babas, who claim to have cured almost everything, is booming.

These self-styled godmen woo residents with the help of such advertisements in newspapers. Apart from offering solutions for physical ailments, tantriks also claim to solve emotional, psychological and personal problems. Balkar Singh, a senior citizen said, “The administration must take strict action against all such fraudulent people who claim to have powers, which have no scientific base.”

He said the administration must initiate a drive to crackdown on these people.

The local residents said the less educated and emotionally weak people often fall prey to such misleading advertisements.

Ram Kumar, a shopkeeper said, “There should be a helpline to report about such fraudulent people. There business is flourishing as they fear no law.”

The District Family Welfare Officer, Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, said they take action against unregistered medical practitioners, who claim to treat diseases without having any knowledge of medical sciences.

He said people must report about these people to the authorities.

Amritsar, January 21
The Sultanwind police have arrested two persons, including a woman, for allegedly stealing gold jewellery worth Rs 9 lakh on December 21 last year. Addressing a press conference here today, police officials said, Jeewan Lal, a resident of Tahliwala Chowk, Sultanwind road, told them that one Mahesh Kumar, a resident of Unao district in Uttar Pradesh, had developed illicit relations with his wife.

He alleged both decamped with gold jewellery. Earlier, he tried to trace the duo on his own but was unsuccessful.

Later, he lodged a complaint with the police. The police registered a case under Sections 454, 380 of the IPC on January 3.

Police officials said following the complaint, a police team was sent to the residence of Mahesh Kumar at Unao. The team also recovered gold jewellery . Mahesh has been sent to remand for further investigations.