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Drive to streamline garbage collection
Ministerial staff’s stir to delay clearance of salary bills
Contractual nurses refuse to budge on third day
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Govt to establish Adarsh Model School
Author Supriya Shah hosts a reading session on her book
Exam cancelled,137 open school students to appear again
Pak-based smugglers look for recruits
One held for possessing charas
21 food samples collected
Hockey trials from March 8
Police suspect foul play in rape case
Tourist robbed of jewellery
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Drive to streamline garbage collection
Amritsar, March 1 The civil authorities have formed a committee headed by sanitary supervisor Sanjay Khosla and have warned the shopkeepers in the area not to throw garbage on the roads and instead use the dustbins installed for the purpose. They've been given a deadline of Wednesday to fall in line, failing which they will be penalised. The MC authorities said it has been observed that the shopkeepers in the area from Hall Gate to Town Hall threw their garbage on the road after they open their shops while the safai karamchari had already clean the area and lifted the garbage before the opening of the shops. This gives a bad impression to hundreds of tourists coming from other parts of the country and abroad who visit the holy Sikh shrine. Earlier, too, the MC had initiated the drive and challaned several shopkeepers. But the drive came to a halt after a few days of its launch for reasons best known to the civic authorities. Now, they have again revived the drive and asked the team members to challan the shopkeepers who are found indulging in throwing garbage on the road or the footpath. Sanjay Khosla who is heading the team appealed to the shopkeepers to not to litter garbage on roads or footpaths besides keeping their belongings inside the shops. He informed them that they had a week’s time to mend their ways; otherwise they would be forced to take punitive measures and issue challans to them. He appealed to the business establishments to cooperate with the MC in making the city clean. He also urged them to take care of the plants and trees planted on the roadsides.
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Ministerial staff’s stir to delay clearance of salary bills
Amritsar, March 1 As the ministerial staff at the treasury office are also protesting, government departments would face difficulty in getting the salary bill passed. The same fate is of telephone, water and electricity bills. The public is already facing the brunt of the strike and the government employees will soon feel the pinch as their salaries will be delayed. "Generally, when the ministerial staff in government departments send bills on time, it takes some time at the treasury office due to a large number of bills. But, this time, there will not be much work in the treasury office due to the strike," said an employee. Members of the association said the problem would aggravate if the government did not listen to their demands. As water supply, electricity and telephone bills can only be deposited with a penalty after the due date, the government will have to spend lakhs on paying the fines. The association members said they would continue their protest according to the programme announced earlier. General secretary of the association, Jagdish Thakur, said, "The government is responsible for the whole situation. We had given them an ample time to solve our problems before launching the protest."
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Contractual nurses refuse to budge on third day
Amritsar, March 1 The agitators blocked the traffic for half-an-hour at the Bhandari bridge even. Later, the protesters marched towards the Golden Temple and paid obeisance there. Staff Nurses and Paramedical Contractual Employees' Association president Karamjit Kaur Aulakh, who is on a hunger strike since February 25, accompanied the protesters on a wheelchair throughout the march. She was rushed to a hospital yesterday as her health deteriorated. But, she refused to take any medication and insisted on continuing her protest. The agitators also held a meeting with police officials who assured them to help them in getting an appointment with the Chief Minister. Association vice-president Satinder Pal Singh said, “The police had asked us to prepare a list of five person who would be meeting the Chief Minister. However, the meeting has not been finalised yet.” Meanwhile, the agitators made arrangements to save themselves from rain. The employees have also installed a temporary urinal facility as washrooms at Medical Education and Research Minister office were locked by the employees. “We know that we are not welcome here but locking the washrooms is not a good idea. Women protesters are facing inconvenience,” said a woman agitator. The workers also carried out a march towards the Deputy Commissioner residence. The contractual employees are demanding regularisation of their services. They had begun the protest at Patiala on February 22. Association president Karamjit Kaur had started the hunger strike on February 25. The association had moved to Amritsar with an aim to stage a protest outside the Medical Education and Research Minister’s residence on February 27.
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Govt to establish Adarsh Model School
Amritsar, march 1 Meritorious students from rural areas of the state, who have scored above 80 per cent marks, would be admitted into plus one and could receive education up to plus two. He said the Improvement Trust had been given the responsibility to construct the building. He said the super-51 project and its results were shared with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last year and he got interested and decided to implement it in six cities of the state. These cities will be Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala and Bathinda. He said the school would be affiliated to the PSEB. Brainchild of Prof A.S. Brar, a 14-member Progressive Educational Society (PES) was formed with prominent functionaries and academician as its members like principal, finance and education secretaries and honorary secretary of Khalsa College Governing Council Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and others to run the Super-51 school. Therefore, the PES offers the package to those students who belong to rural area of Punjab. At this center these students are studying in the ten plus one and plus two classes on the CBSE pattern in the same school. Under the active supervision of Sarbjit Kaur Brar, Principal, Khalsa College Public School, the ambitious project earned praise from the students and their families. Interestingly, Sarbjit Kaur, a Ph.D in Chemistry who had been a research associate at IIT, Delhi, is the wife of Prof. A.S. Brar. "Initially, there were teething problems in settling down of the students, as many of them had never gone out of their houses and some had never travelled by train," said Sarbjit Kaur. Naturally, there was homesickness. She took upon herself to counsel the students and to provide a parental touch by visiting them in their rooms and classrooms. During her frequent interactions with the students, she realised that individual contact with students and their counseling were important in making them mentally strong and psychologically prepare for putting their best to crack one of the most toughest entrance examinations in the country. Hence, she introduced the concept of teacher guardian programme as per which each teacher was given the responsibility of nine students. Apart from regular teaching, these teachers took on the mantle of parenting and counselling the students to develop their frame of mind to face the challenges while not allowing them to lose their focus. She was happy that the concept was being replicated in other districts of the state. Improvement Trust Superintendent Engineer Bharat Bhushan Sharma said the Trust has undertaken the task of constructing the building with Rs 27 crroe. He hoped that the civil work would be finished within this year.
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Author Supriya Shah hosts a reading session on her book
Amritsar, March 1 Titled "Girls Ate Last: Partition, Education and the Life of Inder Kaur," the book is about Singh's mother who was one of the leading educationists and founding principal of three colleges including the Khalsa College of Education for Women. At a book launch and reading session, the author opened up about the purpose of writing a memoir to her mother and the sociological gender disparities during one of the darkest times in the country's history. "Partition was responsible for dislocation of the close-knit family network of our society at the time, which kept the women home-bound and secluded. There were a lot of silences in our social history about women, but during Partition and after that, the women were forced to think and act, pushed by circumstances. My mother's story is quite similar and so I wanted to share it," shares the
Melbourne-based author. The book has been published by Manohar Publishers and is already out in Australia. Giving details of her mother, from Inder Kaur's birth in 1911 to her growing up years in Pakistan, Partition and her education in Delhi after that, the book traces sensitive gender issues. "Girls were supposed to eat last in the household, only after all the men in family were done eating. They had limited education and never encouraged to ask what they want, but only to pick between the choices given to them. Girls knew that they got less than the boys in the family, but never created fuss about it," says Singh, who has earlier written extensively about money and social shaping. But her book is also a story of survival and enablement. "It was not women liberalisation that prompted my mother to pursue education post-Partition, but a simple, traditional reason that her daughters should get good education. She took up teaching my elder sister Punjabi and later gave private tuitions to the kids in her school. It was also a source of income for her household. While she did that, encouraged by the response she completed her graduation. The fact that she received honour for what she could give, turned her survival turned into emancipation when she wanted
to pursue her Master's in Punjabi, she was one of the first two women in Delhi University
during 1956 to study Punjabi." From there, her journey into becoming one of the leading educationists and founding principal of Khalsa College for women became an inspiration. Surpiya believes that the biggest driving force for her mother was the Partition. "Some of the biggest movements of the twentieth century like the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, Namdhari movement and many, bypassed my mother. But the Partition shook her to the core and changed her life. Her reaction to it was that she could get an education, worked towards enabling other girls do the same, with a quiet feminity," says Supriya, who was initially hesitant to write about her mother. Next on her agenda seems to be re-connecting with her Punjabi roots. "I have never really experienced Punjab, but through my research, I have been travelling to villages, small towns and interacting with people about their lives.
So, my next book is already in the making," she signs off.
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Old vegetable market in disuse
Amritsar, March 1 The old vegetable market was de-notified in 1995 and a majority of shops were shifted to the new vegetable market at Vallah in 2004. However, many wholesale fruit merchants still operated from the old market. The Municipal Corporation had taken the possession of six acres opposite Hall Gate in 2005. The government failed to utilise the land despite the fact that the walled city is grappling with parking woes and other problems due to the dearth of open space. Water accumulates following rain in the market, which is dotted with partially demolished shops and structures. Unhygienic conditions in the old vegetable market area are posing a grave threat to the health of residents and pilgrims visiting the city. Amarjit Singh, a resident of Katra Baghian, said its close proximity to the Golden Temple made the land valuable. “ While the government land is lying unutilised, an individual owning a much smaller piece of land at the next intersection from the old vegetable market is earning handsomely by allowing rehris (hand-driven carts) to do business ." The government is searching for a location to set up a food street while the prime land has been overlooked. NS Gabarhia, a city resident, said it was strange that the government overlooked the area after evicting wholesale fruit and vegetables merchants from the market. Moreover, the abandoned land attracts criminals and drug addicts, who can be seen roaming around the area. Showers worsen the situation. The land turns marshy and serves as an open invitation to mosquitoes, flies, dogs and other animals. Heaps of garbage can be seen in the market. Apparently, it indicates that the authorities have failed to take stock of the situation after the land was acquired from the fruit and vegetable dealers. When contacted, Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi said the issue was in the notice of the government but a huge investment was required for any project on the land. He assured that the MC would be instructed to keep the land clean.
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Exam cancelled,137 open school students to appear again
Amritsar, March 1 DEO (Secondary) Satinderbir Singh said the policemen were outnumbered by the students' relatives and the matter was immediately brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat who alerted the SSP (Rural). Policemen from the Gharinda police station reached the examination centre and brought the situation under control. Now, 137 open school students who were taking exam at the centre will have to reappear in the examination. Though the district administration has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC to curb the use of unfair means in exams, people are still wandering around examination centres to help their wards. Guardians of students were seen standing outside examination centres in other city schools also. The DEO said the department had requested the authorities concerned to prevent people from staying outside examination centres. Today, about 60,000 students undertook the examination of English at 313 centre in the district. As many as 2,679 teachers and 28 flying squads were deputed to conduct and monitor the examination.
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Pak-based smugglers look for recruits
Amritsar, March 1 The recent arrest of two smugglers with 3.50 kg of heroin smuggled from Pakistan is a pointer towards this as both are young and started smuggling drugs several months ago. They don’t even have any past record, it is learnt. The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) arrested Swarn Singh of Gandiwind village (Tarn Taran) and Satbir Singh alias Satta of Sarangdev, a border village in Ajnala sector. As per the investigations carried out by the SSOC, after the demise of his father, Satbir Singh started to go across the border fence to till his land where he came in contact of Pakistan-based smugglers. He sneaked in the contraband by way of concealment.
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One held for possessing charas
Amritsar, March 1 Satnam Singh, investigating officer, said during investigations she revealed that she had procured the consignment from a youth from Jammu around two months ago. He said her son was also held for a similar offence by the police. He said the accused was sent to judicial custody while further investigations were under progress. A case under Section 20, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against her in this regard.
— TNS
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21 food samples collected
Amritsar, March 1 Kahlon said samples of cooking oil and tea leaves were collected from Vineet Enterprises in Jandiala. The department also collected samples of ice cream from a coffee house near Nijjarpura. The department collected samples of meat and chicken from Republic of chicken shop. Samples of milk and various milk products were collected from different shops in Rayya. Kahlon said all samples had been sent to the food- testing laboratory at Chandigarh. The other shops from where samples were collected include Four Season resorts, Raag Bakery, Amrit Dairy and Sekhon
Dairy. — TNS
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Hockey trials from March 8
Amritsar, March 1 Shammi said aspirants must bring with them their passport size photographs and original certificates. Shammi said the teams would be selected on the basis of merit.
— TNS
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Police suspect foul play in rape case
Amritsar, March 1 Jagjit Singh, SHO, Ajnala police station, said the investigation was on and anything could be said only after the completion of inquiry. Meanwhile, police sources said there was a property dispute between the accused and the complainants, which might be the reason behind the registration of the case. The women had complained that she was gang-raped by six persons of the same village. The victim alleged that she had gone to the fields when the accused raped her. The accused have been identified as Surjit Singh, Lakbhir Singh and Sarwan Singh of Sarangdev village. She alleged that Baldev Singh, Gulzar Singh and Shibba Singh of Chak Dogra village had conspired with the accused who forcibly dragged her into the fields and raped her.
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Tourist robbed of jewellery
Amritsar, March 1 The accused dropped them at Hussainpura Chowk. Later, she discovered that her gold ornaments were missing. The police have registered a case against four, including two
women. — TNS
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Expand railway platforms
The immediate requirement at Amritsar railway station is expansion of platforms. An escalator is least required at the moment. People don’t have to travel on an escalator, even wheelchairs can do for the aged or the handicapped. Shortage of platforms delays arrival of trains wasting the time of passengers as trains are made to halt outside the city. There appears to be no system to regulate or manage the traffic inflow/outflow and there appears to be no liability of officers on duty. Only the signalmen are made to bear the brunt. People are now used to the inordinate delay of trains. They have to bear with loss of time and money and even miss the connecting train or flight. People are at the mercy of the efficiency of the railway staff. The time-table is very proficient. Whether its implementation is proficient is a million dollar question. SP
Garg, Amritsar Too many incentives for liquor industry
The Punjab Government has announced too many incentives on the pretext of generating more revenue. There are allegations that since many government ministers, and their associates are involved in the business of drugs and liquor, the government itself is indirectly trying to encourage more and more addicts.What a pity that a state which is world famous for its milk, curd and other dairy products is now becoming notorious for different types of intoxicants. Milk and related items are becoming costlier by the day, forcing the common man to reduce their
consumption while the state is encouraging consumption of more liquor. Sanjay Joshi,
Amritsar
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