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Another medical college to come up in city
No more commercial establishments in vicinity of Golden Temple
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Consumption of LPG is more than allotted cylinders: Consumers
Fog hits life, train services
Airtel distributor robbed by three
city bus service
TB hospital to check drug resistance among patients
House tax: Now, corporation to snap water connections of defaulters
IT experts give tips to students
Singing contest held
Varsity holds lecture on higher education in Germany
School hosts farewell party
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Another medical college to come up in city
Amritsar, January 31 Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) President Satyajit Singh Majithia today laid the foundation for the proposed college-cum-hospital on its 20-acre land on the Ramtirath road. Once operational, it will be the third medical college-cum-hospital in Amritsar as Government Medical College and SGPC-run Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research are already offering subsidised medical services to people. In response to a query from this correspondent, KCGC honorary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said, "This medical institute will differ from others in the region for its stress on specialised medical treatment, quality service and high-tech laboratories." "Our research illustrated that the world's most advanced medical technology and equipment are available in Israel. Hence, it has been decided in principle that these will be imported from Israel," he added. Round-the-clock ambulance service besides a world-class OPD, indoor patient care and high-tech diagnostic centres will be provided to patients and students of the border region. The KCGC opined that in order to meet increasing demand of health services and medical education in the border region, the ambitious project was being undertaken. Students from the border region are expected to get international-level medical education in all 17 medical disciplines. This will be KCGC's 18th educational institution as the society is already running 17 colleges and schools, including the historic Khalsa College. The KMC will come up on 20 acres of land and in the first phase the sprawling complex of modern seven-storeyed-hospital will be set up.``The hospital alone will cost Rs 84 crore. Chhina added that the decision was taken following a huge demand for professional courses especially in the health sector and in medical education. He said in the beginning they would seek 100 MBBS seats which would be increased gradually. `Provisions for air ambulances in the hospital will also be made in the proposed hospital, said he. The hospital itself will be spread in 6 lakh square feet complex. ``This will not be entirely a commercial venture and it will be run by the Khalsa College Charitable Society (KCCS). The poor and needy will be treated and given medical education at low cost," announced Chhina.
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No more commercial establishments in vicinity of Golden Temple
Amritsar, January 31 AMC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda confirmed that the corporation forwarded the notification to the government, which converted it into an official gazette. About the further course of action, he said as per the Serai Act all these commercial establishments concerning hospitality come under the Police Commissioner. Petitioner Sarbjit Singh, who filed a Civil Writ petition (CWP) - 14900-2010, Sarabjit Singh versus state of Punjab and others, said: “The government’s notification has acknowledged that hotels, serai and guest houses abutting on the galliara of the Golden Temple were unauthorised.” He said the next action lies with the Police Commissioner, who could even direct sealing of these establishments as the same were still functioning. “The APIO-cum-Licence Superintendent of the Municipal Corporation had informed that there were 14 hotels, serais and guest houses in and around the galliara vide letter dated February 17, 2010. On the other hand, during the hearing of this petition, the then Deputy Commissioner had stated in his reply that there were 21 hotels/inns in the area abutting on the galliara and in nearby lanes on May 23, 2013”, Sarbjit said. He alleged that the owners of these units in connivance with the staff of the government departments concerned have violated the norms in the Central Government’s galliara project. He claimed that as per the blue print of the project, no structure abutting on the galliara around the Golden Temple could have its gate facing the Sikh shrine. Besides, minimum 30-m-wide road was to be left unoccupied around the Golden Temple, which was not the case, he said. He alleged that the AMC’s decision to stop construction of 40 under constructed buildings for hotels and lodges in the walled city for not possessing required relevant NOCs in mid-November came as a cropper as majority of these units were now completed. The corporation maintained that since 110 hotels and lodges were operating for a long time no action could be taken against the same and these have been categorised as old hotels. The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Judge Augustine George Masih hearing the civil writ petition directed the MC Commissioner and its Senior Town Planner to personally appear on the next date of hearing on November 25. On the basis of information gleaned through the RTI, the petitioner said as per the Municipal Town Planner there were 105 hotels, serais, guest houses in the walled city area on July 30, 2012. He placed photographs as evidence to support his point that despite the high court orders, dated July 20, 2012, directing the MC that no fresh building plan be sanctioned till further orders, several such establishments were being raised. He mentioned that the authorities were not clear about the exact number of hotels around the shrine and his fear came out as true. He said though notices were issued to many under-construction buildings to stop violations, these were not heeded to and now, these illegal commercial buildings were near completion. Many commercial buildings belonged to high-profile persons of Amritsar, including top political leaders.
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Consumption of LPG is more than allotted cylinders: Consumers
Amritsar, January 31 Jyoti Kapoor: It is a good news as LPG is a basic household need and its price hike is tough on the budget of a family. But I still feel that the consumption of LPG is more than the subsidised cylinders being provided. I hope the government will bring some better solution. Savita Saini: The government needs to keep a check on fuel and natural gas prices. The companies increase prices at their will every month and people have to bear the burden. Though it brings some relief that the number of subsidised cylinders have been increased, the increase in fuel prices has already impacted the prices of other essential goods as well. Suman Punj: It's become a tradition now for the government to hike fuel or gas prices at will and lower them as elections near. It seems like another publicity stunt to increase subsidy on LPG cylinders but we have lost count of how many times have such decisions come to citizens' dismay. Anuradha: Without a doubt the single earning hand families with limited income will be most affected by this positive decision. The government has thought about the lower middle class as they bear the brunt of paying a higher price for the LPG. It will definitely bring some relief to them.
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Fog hits life, train services
Amritsar, January 31 According to the details available at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport, all morning flights were affected. Most of these were either cancelled or rescheduled. Air India's flight 461 from Delhi, Air India flight 114 from Birmingham-Delhi, SpiceJet flight 2410 from Delhi were delayed. Similarly, the Turkmenistan flight 534 to Asghabat was also delayed. All these flights operated between 12 pm to 4 pm. Jet Airways cancelled its morning 2661 Delhi-Amritsar flight. Meanwhile, as many as four trains also departed late. These were Chattisgarh Express, Flying, Howrah Express and Dehradun.
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Airtel distributor robbed by three
Amritsar, January 31 Suresh Sharan, a resident of Katra Moti Ram outside Hathi gate, stated to the police that he was just a few meters away from his home when three persons surrounded him and snatched his bag containing cash and important documents. Sharan is a distributor of Airtel telecommunications. He said the accused were armed with a pistol-like weapon. Surinder Mohan, SHO, Kotwali police station, said the matter was under investigation, adding that a case under Section 382, IPC, had been registered in this connection. He said the victim was yet to disclose the exact amount which he was carrying in the bag. According to the victim, he had collections of yesterday only in his bag besides vouchers and bills. This is the fourth snatching incident in the past couple of days. A cloth trader, who had returned from Delhi after collecting payments, was looted by robbers. From Amritsar railway station he hired a rickshaw and was going to his home at Shivala Bhaiyan when the snatchers took away his bag containing around Rs 2.15 lakh. A Scotland resident was also robbed of his belongings by snatchers.
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Commuters face difficulty in absence of route numbers
Digital scrolling route boards found to be out of order in most buses GS Paul Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 31 Even as in the present arrangement, digital scrolling screens have been installed on the front and back windshield of the buses, but commuters have been finding it difficult to read them. They have demanded that there should have been a display board fixed on the front and the back of the buses. Locals can somehow manage, but those who are new to the city are lost in the crowd. Today, even the local commuters on some of the routes find it difficult to identify the destinations. Ironically, during a random checking of the bus service, it was found that the scrolling screens of at least three buses were out of order. Now, under these circumstances, it was impossible to know the route of those buses, as there was no provision for an alternative display of routes on the buses. Similarly, there was an urgent need to set up bus shelters where bus timetables and routes could be displayed. With no bus shelters on some of the key roads, many visitors face a tough time to find the right place to board their buses. Another shortcoming which has come to the fore is that even as electronic ticketing has been introduced to have a transparent fare system, commuters demanded that the bus staff should have small-denomination change to return to them as balance when they pay for the ticket. Amolak Singh, a commuter from Chandigarh, said he could find no way to board the bus as buses did not have any route board displayed in the front. “The digital display of the bus was not working and I could not find any other board on the bus which could inform me about the bus route and ultimately, I have to look for some alternative mode of transport -- be it the unsafe overcrowded auto-rickshaw or cycle- rickshaw,” he added. Another local commuter, Manjinder Singh, said even if the digital display board was working, it, too, would have been a cumbersome exercise to find out whether the bus would head to one’s destination. “Because by the time you try to find the destination on the display board, the bus moves on. It is urgently required to have a manually painted route board on the buses,” he viewed.
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TB hospital to check drug resistance among patients
Amritsar, January 31 The district TB hospital will now have the facility of conducting the test here only with a new machine -- CD Naat Gene testing machine. The machine has been set up in the hospital which will become operational in the coming few days. Earlier, samples of the patients used to be sent to New Delhi for testing and the patients had to wait for at least one month for the final reports. “Sometimes during the period we lost a patient as it is a very time-consuming process,” said Dr Naresh Chawla, district TB officer, while adding that they can now start the treatment on the same day as the machine will give the results within two hours. The machine will help in starting timely treatment of patients who had developed resistance to the treatment of TB drugs and thus saving precious lives. He said patients from neighbouring districts and other parts of Punjab also took advantage of this facility. Dr Chawla said the patients getting treatment at private hospitals could also derive the benefits by getting their tests conducted from the hospital free of cost. Amritsar was the first city in Punjab to start a treatment programme for MDR-TB patients in January 2012. Till now the hospital received 75 patients who were found suffering from MDR-TB. Out of these, 61 patients were still under treatment while a couple of patients were fully cured. Ten patients had died during the treatment while two patients dropped the treatment in the middle or shifted to other cities and became untraceable. The Health Department has as many as 22 microscopic centres at various primary and community health centres besides different government medical institutes where sputum tests are being conducted. Besides, it has around 20 other sputum collection centres. Earlier, the district TB hospital had introduced DOTS plus programme for the treatment of MDR-TB patients who have developed resistance to the normal DOT.
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House tax: Now, corporation to snap water connections of defaulters
Amritsar, January 31 The MC is targeting to recover around Rs 17 crore from nearly 10,000 house tax defaulters. With the introduction of property tax, the house tax realisation has suffered a dent as the whole staff of the House Tax Department was absorbed in realisation of property tax came into being w.e.f. April 1, 2012. MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda has repeatedly released statements that the implementation of property tax would not qualify the house tax defaulters to enjoy immunity from paying their dues. Superintendent Shushant Bhatia said: “The dues were calculated till March 31 and has to be realised without fail. It might be a herculean task for us to meet the target as the recovery campaign had dampened with the implementation of the property tax. We have been directed to be stern when it comes to recovery of the dues.” “Now onwards, exercising the MC’s rights reserved under the municipal Act, Section 1976, we would be confiscating the belongings of the defaulters, besides sealing their properties. The water supply connections will also be terminated”, he said. Earlier, the MC had initiated a “name and shame” drive by beating drums in the localities of house tax defaulters and this exercise had yielded good results, but with the passage of time and the coming up of property tax, it was discontinued. “If need be, we may adopt the same exercise," he added.
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Goods worth lakhs burnt
Amritsar, January 31 Sunit Dholakia, owner of the blanket-manufacturing unit, said the fire broke out due to a short circuit when workers switched on a machine after the lunch break and the blankets inside the machine caught fire. Two fire tenders were pressed into service, which controlled the situation in around 30 minutes. Sunit said the exact loss could be ascertained only tomorrow, but initially, the machine had totally damaged and blankets worth lakhs were destroyed in the fire.
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IT experts give tips to students
Amritsar, January 31 Professionals from renowned companies like IBM and Lucideus participated in the programme. Having 14 years of experience in HR with different IT brands, Deepak Jindal, delivery lead from the IBM while interacting with the students of Global Institutes highlighted important aspects like industry expectations from young technocrats, personality development, communication skills and interview skills. Rahul Tyagi, associate vice-president, Lucideus Technologies, a cyber security firm, told the students about the importance of cyber security as well as ethical hacking. He also gave live demos of ethical hacking. Earlier, a state level Science Fest - Srishti-2014 - was held on the Global Institutes campus. It showcased science and technology with an objective to provide a platform to students to explore their scientific temperament and come out with innovative ideas. Global Institutes chairman BS Chandi said the science festival was committed to engage and inspire youth to promote culture, science and technology. It offered a wide range of activities like science models, science project presentation, recycling, science quiz, collage-making, extempore, skit and face painting, besides cultural programmes like giddha, bhangra. Around 3,500 students from over 115 schools participated in the event in which the overall trophy was won by RR Bawa College, Batala.
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Singing contest held
Amritsar, January 31 The singing competition was based on the theme of religious harmony and tolerance. SL Bhawans School was adjudged the best in the shabad/bhajan category and the DAV Public School was the runners-up.
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Varsity holds lecture on higher education in Germany
Amritsar, January 31 The lecture was organised by the department of chemistry. A large number of students and teachers from various departments were present. Prof AS Brar, Vice-Chancellor, GNDU, presided over the programme. Professor Blumich detailed about various possibilities for students, especially engineering students, to pursue higher education in the German university. He said the university was among the nine biggest technical universities of Germany and had nearly 40,000 students on its rolls. Professor Blumich also apprised the gathering about various scholarships and fellowships available for pursuing higher studies in Germany. “MSc and PhD students can also pursue PhD and post-doctoral studies in Aachen university and could get employment along with their studies. We have a student-friendly environment in Germany,” he said. Later, Professor Blumich also replied to queries of students. Professor Brar said the GNDU had recently taken an initiative to organise public lectures on educational, social, political and scientific interest. “These lectures would be organised every Thursday by renowned personalities from across the country and abroad,” he added. 2 students get 9-lakh package
Manu Aggarwal and Sahil Goyal of BTech (textile chemistry) have been placed with Trident, a textile company, through campus placement held recently on the university campus. They will join the company in June 2014 after their final exams. The selection process included an online test followed by HR interviews for eligible students. Finally, Trident offered a package of Rs 9 lakh per annum to two selected students. This is the highest salary package offered to any student so far. Dr Hardeep Singh, professor in charge, placement department, said a large number of MNCs were expected to come to the university for placements of students textile and other courses.
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School hosts farewell party
Amritsar, January 31 Students expressed their heartfelt emotions through a medley of prayer songs. They became emotional while recounting their experiences in school and passed on their responsibility to the succeeding students who vowed to take the name of the school to the utmost height. Vineet Dadiala and Simrat Pawar were crowned as the Ryan Prince and Princess respectively.
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A state-of-the-art Khalsa Medical College (KMC) along with a 700-bedded hospital will adorn the topography of the holy city.
The state government has notified the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) order “not to use the premises/buildings abutting on the galliara of Golden Temple for running
hotels”.
Any person who lands in the city will have to depend on locals to guide him to take a proper bus to reach his desired destination if he intends to use the facility of city bus service, launched a few days ago in the holy city. The reason is that the buses are without proper route numbers and display boards.
