Amritsar, March 6
Shifting of officials by the MC has not gone down well with its employees who accuse the authorities of shifting the officials on the basis of a pick and choose policy. They argued that some of the officials on key posts have been left untouched.

The authorities had reshuffled 13 superintendent-level officers a day before yesterday. According to norms, an employee can remain on a chair only for three years. However, superintendents Bhawani Shankar, PA to the Mayor, Sher Singh in the Advertisement Department and Sukhdev Singh in the RTI Department remained untouched.

Some of the shifted officials said corruption was present at the level of inspectors and clerks as they deal with the public. According to them, there are a number of such officials who have not been shifted for the past decade.

“There are clerks and inspectors who have not been shifted for over a decade. They are always left untouched because of their political connections,” resented some MC employees.

As per the information, the A-1 clerical wing of the MC is dominating the key MC departments such as civil, streetlights, house tax, MTP, Advertisement and water supply. Sources said there were a of number employees who joined the MC as bill distributors (BDs) but became inspectors and superintendent in the past two decades.

Meanwhile, DPS Kharbanda, Municipal Commissioner, said the employees were shuffled to make the administrative set-up efficient and transparent. "We have shifted senior MC officials in the first phase and have shortlisted the lower-rank officials who remained untouched for long. They will be shifted in the next phase," he said.

Amritsar, March 6
The city police have booked five persons, including a woman, on the charge of attempt to murder following a clash in Gali Hatimtai yesterday. Some monetary dispute is stated to be the reason behind the incident.

The accused have been identified as Paramjit Kaur, her son Shiva, Goldy, Bhairon and Gopy, all residents of Gali Hatimtai.

Sanjiv Arora, a resident of New Roop Nagar, told the police that he and his brother Varun had gone to Paramjit's house on February 27 to ask them to return Rs 6 lakh, which they had borrowed from them. He alleged that instead of returning the money, she entered in verbal duel with them following which they had to return empty handed. He said yesterday when he and his brother were returning home from some work, she, along with others, attacked them in Gali Hatimtai and injured them.

Amritsar, March 6
Avoiding flagging-off ceremony due to the imposition of the election code of conduct, a fleet of 20 buses was added to the city bus service today. With this, the number of buses has increased to 60. As many as 150 low-floor AC, non-AC and mini buses are proposed to be introduced in Amritsar under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The city bus service has received a tremendous response from people. Earlier, commuters were left to the mercy of auto-rickshaws, who were charging exorbitantly.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, who is also the director of Amritsar City Transport Service Ltd., said occupancy of these buses was above 80 per cent. “The bus service has received an overwhelming response, especially after introducing several changes in the process of allocating buses for the three routes, covering almost all important areas in the city. "After getting such a response, we had to increase the number of buses. Of late, we had to run 15 more buses on route no. 1 from Daburji to India Gate," he said.

For the non-AC buses, the fare is Rs 2 (up to 5 km), Rs 5 (5-10 km) and Rs 10 (more than 10 km). The fare for AC buses is Rs 5 (up to 5 km), Rs 10 (5-10 kms) and Rs 15 (more than 10 km).

These buses are being run on the net cost contract (NCC) basis and a Karnataka-based company has been hired for it. It is the liability of the company to run and maintain the buses. The company is paying Rs 1,250 for the each bus to the MC every month.

Baljeet Johal, an artist, said, “The newly launched bus service has been a relief to the residents and tourists. We must use this services in a proper manner and help in reducing congestion on roads.”

Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Verka, said earlier, he had to walk a considerable distance to reach home as private buses seldom touched the internal areas of Verka but with the introduction of the city bus service in Verka, the residents were now happy a lot.

Amritsar, March 6
All state government offices in the district wore a deserted look on Thursday as the ministerial staff went on a mass casual leave to protest outside the Vidhan Sabha at Chandigarh.

The Punjab State Ministerial Staff Union is on a pen-down strike for the past 12 days and had planned a state-level rally at Chandigarh.

The strike has hit work at many government departments such as Excise and Taxation, PWD (BR), Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Sanitation, Irrigation, Revenue and Transport.

Visitors to these offices said they were hoping that the strike would end soon and they would be able to get their work done. "People need many kind of certificates or documents for different purposes, which are not being made as the employees are on protest," said Balkar Singh, a visitor to the DC office.

The visitors said they were hoping that the employees would return to work after the imposition of the election code of conduct.

"Usually, employees start protesting just before an election and end it after the imposition of the code of conduct. But, the ministerial staff is still on protest and it is affecting public work," said Harinder Singh, a resident.

Meanwhile, Jagdish Thakur, general secretary of the Ministerial Staff Association, said the strike was a success as all employees had participated in the protest at Chandigarh. He said their demands had been pending for long.

Amritsar, March 6
Emphasising on establishing a personal bond, Prof Rajmohan Gandhi, an eminent social worker and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, advocated serving humanity in a better way.

These views were expressed by Professor Gandhi while delivering a lecture at Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) today.

Prof Ajaib Singh Brar, Vice-Chancellor of GNDU, presided over the programme.

Prof Jagroop Singh Sekhon, coordinator for the lecture, welcomed the guest speakers.

Prof Gandhi said though development was a collective effort, it was the need of the hour to exchange thoughts among the countrymen to yield fruitful results.

He said, “For this purpose, we should know our coutrymen, if we really want the development of the country. The irony is that we are curious to know about happenings on our planet but seldom bother about the person living the next door.”

Professor Gandhi said, “The secret of national unity is our ability to listen to others. India has many gifted speakers but we need some sensitive listeners. When this nation of speakers will turn into a nation of listeners, then there will be a tremendous change around us.”

He also quoted examples from the lives of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Abdul Gafar Khan. While talking about the challenges before India, he was staring at water crisis. “The water level is declining slowly due to global warming. If we fail to preserve water , our forthcoming generations will suffer a lot.

Talking about the rising polution he said, “The pollution is rising due to urbanisation and industrialisation.”

He termed the education system corrupt. He said though he was not a Punjabi, he wrote a book on the history of Punjab out of curiosity.

“I am really impressed with the bravery of Sikhs. They ruled a considerable part of India inspite of being in a minority,” he added.

Prof Brar honoured Prof Gandhi with a memento and a set of university publications.

Amritsar, March 6
Students and junior doctors of Government Medical College staged a protest outside the out patients' department (OPD) of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) to express solidarity with the medical fraternity at GSV Medical College, Kanpur.

The Medical Students' Organisation and the Junior Doctors' Association locked the OPD and demanded an action against the policemen responsible for manhandling the medical students at Kanpur.

The agitators demanded that action be taken against the Samajwadi Party MLA who allegedly planned the assault. Meanwhile, medical services remained hit due to the protest. The students boycotted the classes and sat on a dharna outside the OPD of the hospital for the entire day.

Dr Jaspreet Bedi from the Junior Doctors' Association said they had boycotted all services except the emergency services. He said the attack on the faculty and the students of the medical college in Kanpur was disturbing.

Navpreet Aulakh from the Medical Students' Organisation said the people responsible for the act should be punished. Meanwhile, patients at the hospital were a troubled lot as they had to return without getting any medication. "I do not know if they are right or wrong, but hundreds of people like me did not get any medication," said Lalit Kumar, a patient.

A large number of patients and their attendants were seen waiting endlessly for the resumption of medical services at the hospital.

Participants look at the farm produce displayed at Kisan Mela in Naagkalan-Jahangir village on Thursday

Amritsar, March 6
While emphasising on the need of crop diversification, various agriculture experts today opined that the farmers should use modern techniques in order to increase their farm produce and profits rather than unnecessary use of chemical fertilizers.

The experts were speaking during the Regional Kisan Mela held at Naagkalan-Jahanjir village, near Majitha. The mela was organised by Krishi Vidyan Kendra in association with Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana.

The main topics discussed at the Kisan Mela were to reduce expenditure on unnecessary chemicals, increase profits and save the environment.

Dr Amarjit Singh Khehra, former Vice-Chancellor of the PAU, was the chief guest on the occasion. While addressing farmers, he said they should be a part of the diversification by sowing pulses and vegetables. This would also help in conserving the land and environment, besides enhancing their income. He also encouraged them to increase the land under horticulture in order to double their profits.

Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor of the PAU, said the farming community should adopt new farm techniques. He said the right knowledge and use of new scientific techniques could help them in increasing their profits. He also advocated the adoption of other agriculture-based associated business.

During a technical session organised during the programme, various agricultural experts said only 1.5 per cent area in Punjab under horticulture was very less. They said the farmers should use chemical fertilizers and pesticides only when it was required. They also opined that the farmers should get their land examined from time to time in order to make judicious use of fertilizers.

An agro-industrial exhibition was also organised by different departments and private agro-chemical organisations. Good quality seed of kharif crops, besides farm literature was also sold in the mela.

Amritsar, March 6
The inordinate delay in setting up FM and All India Radio station in Amritsar has irked not only the city residents but also the NRIs living abroad.

Harjap Singh Aujla, a USA-based citizen and patron of Amirtsar Vikas Manch, today criticised the Centre as well as the state governments for the inordinate delay. The station was reportedly going to be opened in January this year, but was delayed for the reasons best known to officials concerned.

Aujala, an expert in sound and picture propaganda and a radio buff, said the government had planned to install one of the largest towers in the country at Gharinda area here in order launch its own FM Radio. A 20kv FM transformer was also to be fitted. He said it would have a range of 60 miles and cover the border belt including Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, besides several parts of the Pakistani Punjab.

He also criticised the state government for levying huge taxes on the hotel industry in Amritsar. In new addition, the civic authorities had started levying beautification tax on hotels, he added.

He said major industries in the city were uprooted during two wars between India and Pakistan while remaining industrial units were crippled during the heydays of militancy in Punjab. He said now the state government’s apathetic attitude had further aggravated problems for industries in the city.

Amritsar, March 6
A woman fell prey to snatchers today. The purse of Narinderpal Kaur, a resident of East Kashmir Avenue, was snatched by two youths this afternoon.

She told the police that she was near her house when the snatchers on an Activa scooter snatched her purse and fled from the spot. She said her purse had Rs 8,000 in cash, a mobile phone besides some important documents. The police have registered a case under Section 382 of the IPC against the the youths.

An increase in the number of snatching incidents has raised doubts over the functioning of the Police Department. Earlier, the police had taken a number of steps against snatchers but in vain. Recently, a couple of NRIs were robbed by miscreants.

While holding drug addiction responsible the rise in petty crimes, Parampal Singh, ADCP (City-I), said people should share information about drug addicts involved in criminal activities. — TNS

Amritsar, March 6
The Directorate of Research and Medical Education (DRME) has issued orders for appointment of Dr Santokh Singh Bal as Principal of Government Medical College (GMC), Amritsar. The DRME has also ordered appointment of Dr Barjinder Pal Singh Bal as the Vice-Principal of the college. Dr Santokh is a professor and in charge of the Medicine Department of the college while Dr Barjinder is a professor in the Department of Medicine.

Despite taking back the charge of principal of the college by the DRME, Dr Sujata Sharma has reportedly been retained as the Medical Superintendent of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital of the college. Dr Sujata’s appointment as principal of the GMC last month was resented by some faculty members of the GMC. They said she was junior to at least 10 staff members of the college.

In a recent incident, a hospital employee posted at the Gynaecology Ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, headed by Dr Sujata, was caught on camera while asking Rs 200 from a patient for discharge fee. The episode had blemished Dr Sujata’s image. The employee had taken the money despite non existence of any provision to charge discharge fee.

Amritsar, March 6
Former Principal of Lahore’s historic Aitchison College and a scholar of Sikh history, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, shared information regarding his works with students of Khalsa College during an academic interaction here today.

He sought more research on Sikh history, especially on the times of Maharja Ranjit Singh. He said Sikh kingdom under the Maharaja was the most secular and forward-looking at that time. Aijazuddin recently published a book “The Resourceful Fakirs,’’ which gives an account of Punjab under Ranjit Singh and how tumultuous period saw the emergence of a unified kingdom.

The book, he said, traced the history of this period in an original and intriguing way i.e. through the career of three Muslim brothers of Fakir family, who were courtiers at the Sikh Darbar of Lahore.

Khalsa College Principal, Dr Daljit Singh, described Aijazuddin’s interaction with students of the History and Punjabi Department as useful peep into the history and honoured him during the seminar. The principal said Aijazuddin was an intellectual scholar, who had been the honorary member of the British Consul for United Kingdom at Lahore. He was also posted in Abu Dhabi apart from being the chairman, Executive Committee of Lahore Museum, and international counsellor of the Asia Society, New York.

Aijazuddin asked students to preserve living history in the shape of historic buildings and constantly pay a visit to historic places to study their relevance in the past and present. Khalsa College Dean, Dr Navreen Bawa, presented a vote of thanks. Others present during the event included head of the Punjabi Department, Dr Davinderpal Kaur, teachers and students.

Jalandhar, March 6
In a freak accident, an unidentified man slipped into a 6-foot-deep foundation, hit the wall of an under-construction building and died on the spot in the New Raj Nagar locality in the wee hours today.

The man, who appeared to be a migrant labourer, was found dead at the site this morning. The police and the building branch officials of the Municipal Corporation (MC) reached the site and inspected it to verify facts.

The building branch officials found that the shop was coming up without the sanction of plan. Municipal Town Planner Tejpreet Singh said Assistant Town Planner Sham Sunder had been sent to the spot who found that the owner had dug up the foundation, constructed a wall but was yet to fill it up. The MTP said that a notice had been issued today to the owner for going ahead with construction without the sanction of plan.

SI Jiwan Singh of Basti Bawa Khel said the foundation of the site falling near the canal had not been filled as the labourers were still plastering the walls.

The police are, meanwhile, working on two theories. The man could be drunk. He could even have come to steal iron rods lying there. His death seems to have occurred after slipping and hitting the wall in front. His neck had got twisted. But we cannot proceed with any theory before the postmortem. Since the body is yet to be identified, we will wait for 72 hours. We are going with insertions in newspapers for his identification. As of now, we are proceeding under Section 174 of the Cr PC," said the policemen.

Jalandhar March 6
A day after miscreants attempted to loot an ATM of Punjab National Bank at Kang Sabu village near Nakodar, another attempt was made to break open the ATM of ICICI Bank on Mithapur road.

The incident came to light when the ATM guard came to join duty this morning. He was stunned to see the broken ATM. He immediately informed senior bank officials about the incident.

Interestingly, the main CCTV camera put up inside the ATM room was not functional. Now, the police are depending on the footage of the camera, which is installed inside the ATM.

Harpal Singh, SHO, division No. 7 police station, said the police had sought the camera footage to identify the miscreants who made the attempt to loot the ATM. The miscreants had only managed to break open the front box of the ATM, but failed to break open the cash box.

The police have registered a case against unknown persons and efforts were on to nab the offenders.

In both Kang Sabu village and this incident, it has come to light that the bank had not deployed any night guard for security. Despite holding meetings with banks officials and directing them to deploy night guards, no bank, it seemed, had paid heed to the police advice.

Following the Kang Sabu village incident on Tuesday night, the city Commissionerate police had convened a meeting of all city bank officials and directed them to deploy night security guards at ATMs and banks.

Jalandhar, March 6
With flowers in full bloom, the cantonment area in the city is exhibiting the exquisite splendour of one of nature’s most beautiful creation flowers.

To showcase the majestic splendour of thousands of varieties, the Cantonment Board will hold the annual Garden and Flower show competition in Jawahar Garden on March 16. The inspection of the gardens and round-abouts inside the cantonment area will be held from March 12 to 14. Many prizes, along with rolling trophies, will be given to the winners in various categories. The competition will be open to military, para-military, educational institutes, private institutes and all residents of Jalandhar Cantonment and the city. The last date of all entries has been set as March 10.

To kick-start the aromatic journey, a garden party was organised at Vajra House by Army officers' wives on Wednesday. Apart from showcasing the beautiful flowers carefully grown and maintained with hard work, the women showcased the rich vibrant culture of Punjab through a cultural event organised at the venue. Apart from displaying the age-old traditions of Punjabi folklores, the event also highlighted some of the current issues related to NRIs and forthcoming election season in the state.

In the second phase, the cantonment board has called for entries in various categories for which the deadline has been set as March 10. The show has been divided into three categories.

In Group A, the competition is open to all military, paramilitary and general public. In this category, the entries have been called for the best institutional garden, public garden and private garden of various sizes. Also, competition for the best maintained roundabout, open potted and foliage plants, including flower and cut-flower arrangements, along with competition of "malis", will also be held in this category.

In Category B, the competition is restricted only to defence services and the residents of the cantonment. In this category, apart from other gardens, terrace gardening and arboriculture development competition will also be held at various venues.

The competitions in Category C have been restricted only to kitchen gardening and will be held from March 12 to 14. The last date of all entries has been set as March 10.