Amritsar, March 2
Contractual nurses and paramedical workers of Government Medical College of Amritsar and Patiala today staged a protest outside the residence of Medical Education and Research Minister Anil Joshi. It was the fourth day of their protest.

The agitators held a meeting with Anil Joshi, which yielded no result. Meanwhile, the officials of the civil and police administration tried to end the protest with the assurance that they would help the protesters to get an appointment with the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.

However, the protesters didn’t give in and decided to continue their protest. “We are ready to hold talks but will end the protest only after our demand of regularisation of contractual employees is fulfilled,” said Satinderpal Singh, vice president of Contractual Nurses and Paramedical Workers of Government Medical College of Amritsar and Patiala Association.

The contractual nurses and paramedical workers have been sitting on an indefinite strike outside Anil Joshi’s office on Maqbool Road since February 27. The agitators walked towards Joshi’s residence in Medical Enclave early in the morning and staged a massive protest for almost three hours.

Congress leader and vice president of National SC Commission Raj Kumar Verka met the protesters. Verka asked the leaders of the agitators to meet him at the Circuit House. However, the protestors did not accept the invitation.

The association’s president, Karamjit Kaur Aulakh, who is on a hunger strike since February 25, had to be hospitalised as her condition deteriorated. However, she joined the protest after receiving medication.

The association demands regularisation of all contractual workers who have completed three years of service. They started their protest in Patiala on February 22. The association later shifted the protest to Amritsar on February 27.

Satinderpal Singh said, “This is a do or die situation for us. Though the authorities have not shown any sign to relent, we are not going to end the protest till our demand is fulfilled .”

Amritsar, March 2
The Amritsar unit of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) today organised Jhadu Chalao Yatra that received an overwhelming response from the residents. It passed through different villages enroute to Rajasansi and Ajnala.

The rally started from a place opposite the UK International Hotel with a cavalcade of around 250 bikes, which later expanded to more than 500 bikes.

The members of the AAP stopped at Kalyian Wala Khu site from where the skulls of martyrs were being excavated.

Convener, AAP Amritsar Unit, Ashok Talwar, said it was very unfortunate that no political party had ever tried to uncover this historical place where several innocent Indian soldiers were buried by the British.

Talwar said AAP would concentrate on eradicating drugs from the rural areas, especially in this border belt, providing better education and employment to the youth. He said a marketing mechanism would be developed for farmers so that they could resort to diversification of crops.

The main aim of this rally was to create awareness among the masses of rural areas about the policies of the AAP and the regressive acts of different governments that had exploited the people for their vested interests, said Gurbhej Singh.

Advocate JS Gill, Jagdeep Singh, Sardara Singh and NS Walia also addressed the people.

Amritsar, March 2
The arrest of 11 persons for possessing huge quantity of proscribed drugs shows that these drugs continue to flow in the city as well as rural areas.

The police nabbed Jatinder Soni of Guru Nanak Nagar and Gurpreet Singh of Patti Kallowali at Verka and recovered 4,000 and 1,000 intoxicant capsules, respectively, from their possession.

Initial probe pointed out that Gurpreet Singh was a proclaimed offender and a case was already registered against him with the Sadar police station in the year 2007 in a similar offence.

Darbara Singh, in-charge of the Verka police station, said Soni used to sell drugs to his customers by going door to door. He used to contact his supplier over the phone but did not know his identity.

The Amritsar (Rural) police also nabbed nine persons in different cases for possessing proscribed drugs and seized more than 2,000 capsules and tablets from their possession.

Among those arrested include Inderjit Singh, Hartaj Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Jagdeep Singh, all residents of Timmowal, Kartar Singh of Bhitewad, Harpreet Singh of Nangal, Kulwant Singh of Pandori, Malkeet Singh of Burenangal and Baljit Singh of Udonangal.

It is evident from these seizures that the vigil by the Health and Police Department has failed to give desired results as the illegal sale of banned drugs continues unabated.

The drugs peddlers have also found their way to slum areas, besides the rural belt of the city, where they sold them on exorbitant prices.

Recent seizures made by the Government Railway Police from the waiting hall of the Amritsar Railway Station revealed that drugs are also smuggled from other states through the rail route.

Interrogation of a youth arrested from the railway station for possessing drugs, revealed that these are being pushed from Uttar Pardesh.

Amritsar, March 2
The District Health Department has asked its employees to ensure registration of all pregnant women within 12 weeks of pregnancy to ensure better medical facilities for the mother and child.

Speaking at a mother and child health advocacy workshop organised here, Civil Surgeon Usha Bansal said registration of pregnant women would help check mother mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) in the district.

She said once registered, a pregnant woman would be taken care of by the department as it would ensure all medical facilities. The registered pregnant women would get a regular health check-up and doctors would advise her on problems, which would help the mother and the child, she added.

Dr Bansal said registration would also help in ensuring an institutional delivery of the child, which would further help in checking the MMR and IMR. She said delivery services and post delivery medical care was provided free of cost at government health institutions. The government also provided monetary help in case of child delivery at a government hospital, she added.

District Family Welfare Officer, Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, said government hospitals also provided free immunisation services to new born children. He said the birth certificate of children born at government health institutions was handed over to the parents before the mother’s discharge from the ward.

He said government health institutions provided free meals to pregnant women apart from free diagnostic tests, free transportation to home and free treatment of newly born children.

Amritsar, March 2
To celebrate King of Comedy Jaspal Bhatti’s birthday that falls tomorrow, the Idiot Club organised Jaspal Bhatti Memorial Awards. The club members gave away awards to honour artists in the field of comedy and music.

Savita Bhatti was honoured with Jaspal Bhatti Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the title of Comedy Da Varis. Actor BN Sharma, Bhagwant Mann, Anita Devgan and Hardeep Gill were awarded in the field of comedy. Artist Umang sharma, Dheeraj Kumar and Santa Banta were also awarded.

Anita Devgan was awarded for her performance in national award winning film Nabar.

UK-based Punjabi novelist Shiv Charan Jaggi was honoured with Achievement Award. He has written more than 28 novels, three of which have been translated in English.

Briefing about the awards, Rajinder Rakhi, president of the Idiot Club, said, "These awards are a way to remember one of the most versatile artists in the entertainment industry. He had helped in establishing the Idiot Club in the city and we will continue to celebrate his legacy through these awards.”

Commuter alight from an overcrowded city bus in Amritsar

Amritsar, March 2
The scenario of the public transport system in the holy city is pathetic despite introduction of the much awaited city bus service a few weeks back. Invariably, there are two major constituents of the transport system, first being the kind of vehicles and second the quality of the road network. The main components of the public transport are auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws and the mass transport system in the form of city bus service. The condition of the surface transport is abysmal due to inadequate road width, rampant encroachments and omission of bridges and railway over bridges (ROBs).

Presence of the city’s pathetic transport system was accepted by the comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) prepared by the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC), a department of the Local Government, for infrastructure development of the city for the next four decades.

The CMP extends over 1394.19 sq km and covers a population of 2.02 million, which includes the corporation area, four urban settlements and 310 rural settlements. The road network of the city is radial-cum-circumferential covering an area of 139 sq km. The total road length is around 525 km as per the city’s development plan. At present the city’s gross developed area density is 125 persons per hectare. Keeping in view the rapid urbanisation, it is anticipated that 16,594 hectares will come under the plan by 2031.

During an intensive survey, it was found that the expenditure on transport is higher than the expenses incurred on housing, education or health in Amritsar. The expenditure comes close to amount spent on food, which is a cause for concern. Probable expenditure on transport is about Rs 2,090 per household. Its reason was the absence of adequate public transport service. All categories of vehicles, except buses or mini buses, have increased considerably in number during the period from 2005 to 2010. The number of two and three-wheelers has increased significantly in the city since 2005. It was found that a total of over 14.20 lakh personal trips were generated in the Amritsar Municipal Corporation area on an average day.

It strongly suggested doubling the share of public transport modes from the present 30 to 60 per cent and increase the share of public mass transport system (PMTS) from 4 to 40 per cent to bring down congestion and pollution level in the environment.

Auto-rickshaws play a major role in model share (22.03 per cent), while the share of the bus service was very low (4.64 per cent) and environment-friendly cycle trips accounted for 12 per cent.

Despite various joint meetings and campaigns conducted by the Police and Transport Departments, the menace of auto-rickshaws continues on the city roads. Its drivers often flout traffic norms and other rules. Even the high court directions hold little significance for them. The transport laws as well as the high court directions limit the number of passengers or schoolchildren in an auto-rickshaw to six, but even the driver’s seat is used to ferry passengers. The District Transport Office (DTO) records say that there were as many as 10,000 registered auto-rickshaws plying in the city. But it is a known fact that their exact number was around 40,000. Apparently, a majority of these auto-rickshaws have been plying illegally.

It is an irony that these generally overloaded auto-rickshaws are driven by underage, inexperienced drivers. No points for guessing whether they possess valid driving licence or have a sense of traffic norms.

To maximise their profits, a section of them resort to using kerosene as fuel, which adds to the environmental pollution in the city.

Many a time, the Herculean task of managing the auto-rickshaw menace was initiated by the traffic police and the AMC, but it yielded no results. Political parties come to their rescue and leave no stone unturned to scuttle the Police Department’s drive against them.

Despite multi-lane bridges and elevated roads, one still finds traffic chaos at the city’s entry point. Auto- rickshaw drivers apply breaks anywhere on the main road to pick up passengers unmindful of the heavy traffic flow coming from behind, thereby leading to serious road accidents. The other such points are near the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) on the GT road and outside the railway station. In the absence of any designated place for parking auto-rickshaws, their drivers halt them thoughtlessly anywhere on the road.

As per the transport norms, auto-rickshaws can only be operated within the limits of the Municipal Corporation, where they are registered. In the city auto-rickshaws carry tourists from the city to the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post (JCP), 36 km from the city, in gross violation of the transport norms.

After a seven-year wait and numerous trial runs, the city bus service finally became a reality on January 28. As many as 40 low-floor modern buses were introduced in the first phase, including 20 mini buses (29 seater) and an equal number of 35-seater buses.

For a city of the size of Amritsar, bursting at its seams, the number of these buses is grossly inadequate. Though there is a plan to introduce more, but it all depends upon its timing.

Traffic management planning is either done in isolation or is completely missing. A simple fact was forgotten before constructing multi-crore elevated road, which still remains underutilised.

Traffic signals are irregular as they do not have back up and each power outage results in traffic chaos. It seems that the administration has completely forgotten the zebra line and footpaths. The former was not painted anywhere on roads. The latter, though available at some places, have been encroached by shopkeepers and vendors.

Similarly, slip roads do not find enough attention in the administration’s scheme of things, which results in unnecessary traffic at each intersection and causes jams. Encroachment on wide roads results in congestion while haphazard parking is another bane of traffic management.

All these factors result in limited operational road area for vehicles and commuters.

Amritsar, March 2
Reminiscing the role and contribution of Sirdar Kapur Singh, a devout Sikh, political thinker and ideologue, the seminary and political groups touched upon various facets of his life and times. The occasion was the 105th birth anniversary of the former ICS, a Sikh stalwart.

The underlying theme of all discussions and deliberations at the seminar organised by Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) hovered around the contribution of Sirdar Kapur Singh towards evolving, enunciating and elucidating the concept of Sikh doctrinal sovereignty.

Dal Khalsa president HS Dhami, SGPC member Karnail Singh Panjoli, SYP spokesperson Prabhjot Singh, Panch Pardani leader Mandhir Singh, former minister Manjit Singh Calcutta and former IAS Gurtej Singh dwelled extensively on his life, contribution and political thought.

SGPC executive member Panjoli said he was the only Sikh on which the title of National Professor of Sikhism was bestowed by Akal Takht, honouring his the profound scholarship of Sikh religio-political thought and his clear espousal of the Sikh cause.

Gurtej Singh described him as an encyclopedia of world knowledge, who had mastered ancient scripts and modern scientific scholarship and methodology. He was not only a writer but a fighter too, who stood for the Sikh cause at all forums available to him, added Gurtej.

Recalling the time spent with him, former minister Manjit Singh Calcutta said, “Sirdar Sahib will always remain an inspiration to those who want to see the Khalsa flag unfurl with full glory on this planet.”

Prabhjot Singh said the political sovereignty of the Sikhs could not be compromised.

A large number of Sikh youth, including those from Sikh Youth of Punjab, attended the seminar. The conclusions drawn at the meet provided the audience with an opportunity to imbibe the vast knowledge of Sirdar Kapur Singh.

The gathering urged the SGPC to build an auditorium and library in the name of Sirdar Kapur Singh.

Amritsar, March 2
A three-day 15th National Conference of College Principals concluded at Khalsa College here today. The participants unanimously demanded academic autonomy and value-based higher education.

Intellectual deliberations held during the third day emphasised on financial independence, making more budgetary allocations for higher education and job-oriented courses.

More than 200 principals of various colleges from across the country participated in the conference organised by the Association of Indian College Principals (AICP).

Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Punjab, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, was the chief guest on the occasion. He asked colleges and universities to pull up socks for making education job-oriented. He said after liberalisation of the economy in 1991, there had been a vast change in education scenario. “Unfortunately, more emphasis has been laid on quantity of higher learning institutions rather than quality,” he added.

He said the placement, independence in framing syllabi and cordial academic atmosphere was must for institutions to grow.

Khalsa College governing council honourary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina was the guest of honour at the conference. He said such conferences helped to understand challenges before society and education. “Education sector is undergoing major changes globally, which is impacting the education scenario in India also. The aspirations and requirements of the students are also changing. Education is becoming more job-oriented and the demand for professional courses is rising. We need to make changes in courses and curriculums accordingly,” he said.

Amritsar, March 2
Honest implementation of facilities and benefits for the empowerment of women instead of lectures or theory is the need of the hour. Education of a girl child should be made mandatory. Besides enhanced health facility, use of technology and check on female foeticide are the important issues to be dealt with. Women themselves will have to raise voice at home, social and national level against discrimination and injustice meted out to them.

This was unanimously resolved by eminent economists and social workers, who gathered at the regional seminar on inclusive growth and women empowerment. The seminar was organised by the Punjab School of Economics of Guru Nanak Dev University in association with the National Commission for Women, New Delhi, at the conference hall on the university campus.

Prof Balwinder S Tiwana, director, Academic Staff College, Punjabi University, Patiala presided over the seminar. Prof Tiwana, in his address, gave an overview of the concept while citing real life experiences. He emphasised that women could only be empowered if the economic freedom was delegated to them. He also laid stress on the role of technology in women’s empowerment.

Prof Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, organising secretary of the seminar, welcomed the dignitaries. Prof Paramjit Kaur Dhindsa, coordinator, gave details about proceedings of the seminar. Prof Paramjit Nanda of the department presented a vote of thanks.

Experts said women needed to be involved in decision making process and their equal participation needed to be assured. Earlier, the inaugural session of the seminar was presided over by Dr Sarvjit Kaur Brar, Principal, Khalsa College Public School, while Dr Inderjit Kaur, president, All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society, Amritsar, was the guest of honour. Prof (Ms) Rajesh Gill, head of the Department of Sociology, Punjab University, Chandigarh, delivered the keynote address on the occasion.

Prof AS Sethi from the department and Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma chaired the various technical sessions in which 18 research papers were presented by Dr Abhey Singh Godara and Randeep, Dr Prabhjot Kaur and Dr SS Dhillon, Dr SS Dhillon and Ritu Arora, Dr Priyanka Bhau, Dr Jasbir Singh and Dr Aroon Sharma, Dr BS Hundal and Dr Kirandeep Kaur, Vikas Kumar, Dr AS Sethi and Anu Bajaj, Dr Balwinder S Tiwana, Manpreet Kaur, Dr Gursharan Kaur and Dr Paramjeet Kaur Dhindsa, Dr Manoj Siwach, Mukesh Arya, Dr Fulwinderpal Singh and Dr Parminder Singh, Dr Saveeta, Dr Neeraj Kamar, Dr Kuldip Kaur, Dr Navjot Kaur, Dr Vinod Kumar, Dr Vipin Sharma, Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma and Dr Gurvinder Kaur.