Amritsar, March 16
A day after the thrashing of a Sikh youth by the agitators of a faction belonging to the Valmiki community, the police have arrested eight more persons and booked as many as 17 in the case.

The police have charged them with attempt to murder and robbery case. Among those arrested include Kuldip Singh of Bhitewid, Gurnam Singh, Rinku, Bachan Nath, Sakatar Singh, Saver Nath, Fuman Singh and Sakatar Singh. The police have also recovered weapons used by them in the incident.

Police Commission Jatinder Singh Aulakh said based on the video footage and pictures published by the media, the police have identified around 17 youth who were involved in thrashing of the Sikh youth. He said a case under Sections 307, 382, 341, 295. 427, 148, 149 and 188 of the IPC have been registered against them. "Raids are being conducted to nab the remaining culprits," he saidd.

The incident has evoked sharp criticism from various Sikh organizations, including Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). The SGPC authorities issued a statement today terming the incident as unfortunate. They strongly condemned the instance and urged the police authorities to take action against the culprits at the earliest. They said nobody would be allowed to disgrace the symbols of Sikh religion.

The Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, has also sought strict action against the police officials who remained a mute spectator to the whole incident and failed to rescue the victim.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh termed the incident as disgraceful and painful. The organisation demanded exemplary punishment against the hooligans who not only mercilessly beat up the baptised Sikh youth but also committed a blasphemy and hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. Kanwar Pal Singh also demanded action against the police officials who had failed to discharge their duty honestly.”

Jasmeet Singh was going to his shop near Tikoni Market when a group of agitators entered into a verbal duel and later thrashed him. The agitators allegedly belonging to a faction of the Valmiki community were holding a protest over the alleged possession of 11 acres of land belonging to Kaler Panchayat village.

CM Parkash Singh Badal had laid the foundation stone for the construction of a Valmiki temple several months ago. While representatives of the Dalit Action Committee claimed that the land was under the occupation of Guru Gian Nath Ashram for the past three decades. 

Amritsar, March 16
For the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's Central Election Committee has finalised the candidature of its senior leader Arun Jaitley for Amritsar replacing its three-time undefeated MP Navjot Singh Sidhu. The residents of Amritsar have taken it as a political compulsion and are of the view that fielding a local leader for this high-profile constituency of Punjab could have been a wiser choice.

Some believe that it was their alliance partner SAD which had influenced the BJP's decision in changing its candidate, apparently, due to Sidhu's outburst over scuttling of his 'pet' projects by the SAD leadership.

"Sidhu's ouster is a big loss to the holy city. Where could we find such a leader who was eager to spend crores from his pocket? Amritsar Airport was his baby which connected the city globally. He fought numerous times in Parliament for starting international flights from here directly and it was successful too up to larger extent. It was a pity that his pet projects like solid waste management plant, city bus service and elevated road up to Golden Temple were highjacked by political sharks just for the sake of garnering political mileage. He had totally shifted his base to Amritsar and recently bought land to construct a house here. But the big question here is will the new incumbent Arun Jaitley be available here for listening to public grievances? I think any local BJP leader could have been a better choice," said APS Chatha, president of Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association.

"Replacing Sidhu with Jaitley must be a political decision and it is to be seen whether it would work or not! Nonetheless, Sidhu's contribution to the city cannot be denied. Had he been fielded again, he would have been an undisputed winner because of his clean image. He is a rarest of rare politician with such a clean image. If there were political constraints in fielding him again, these could be sorted out at the party level because then it could have been 'coalition dharma' in its true letter and spirit. Here, the residents will pay the price for losing Sidhu as an MP this time," said Rajesh Madan, vice-president, LPG Dealers Association.

"An outsider cannot be beneficial for our city's cause. It was their political compulsion to replace Sidhu and field Jaitley. But Sidhu too did not live up to our expectations. It has been learnt that Sidhu's attendance in Parliament was just 28 per cent and he didn't participate in single debate or tabled any issue in Parliament during his last stint. There were scores of issues but Sidhu failed to acknowledge them and take remedial measures as an MP. The MPLAD funds to the tune of 70 per cent were spent in his wife CPS Navjot Kaur Sidhu's constituency," said Amrit Lal Jain, president, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal.

"Neither Sidhu proved himself to be a true well-wisher of Amritsar nor could we expect anything from Jaitley. Basically, they are not people's representatives but their party's representatives. Sidhu cried for his so-called 'pet' projects just to gain political mileage and made lame excuses by blaming the SAD leadership. It was his ego which went against him. He had announced not to enter the city unless another BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Chinna is removed from the chair of the Improvement Trust head. He seldom paid a visit here. I must say he ditched the residents of Amritsar and was never serious in redressing their grievances. He always issued illogical and derogatory statements like making Amritsar roads like 'Hema Malini's cheeks' which did not suit a man of an MP's stature. Jaitley too is an outsider and a big leader. He would prefer to stay in New Delhi only. We needed some local leader who could understand the core issues here," said PS Bhatti, president of Pollution Control Committee.

"With no offence to any particular person, I think the SAD-BJP's leadership here has also been exposed due to recent scams like misappropriation of development funds or multi-votes fraud. Jaitley's presence would seldom bring any abrupt change. The citizen are burdened by heavy taxes and the absence of basic necessities like safe drinking water, better road infrastructure and efficient sewerage system would never find a place on the politicians' agenda. Quality life is still a distant dream. The party's should have considered that there should be a local leader for for MP's position as he could be approached easily," said BR Preenja, General Secretary, Consumer Rights Protection Society.

Amritsar, March 16
Punjab BJP vice-presidents Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and Tarun Chugh today welcomed the party's decision to field senior leader Arun Jaitley from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Chinna said, "Jaitley will win the seat with a heavy margin and the border district will immensely benefit in development terms from a leader of stature who can address issues related to the 'holy city' and its surrounding areas." Chhina, who was also in the race for the party ticket, said: "The whole party is united in making Jaitley win the seat. With the help of alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (B), they will campaign night for their leader."

"I am sure Jaitley will bring unprecedented development to the 'holy city'. He will bring in major investment and development projects which will generate employment opportunities and prosperity for our youth," said Chhina.

Chugh, also vice-president of the state BJP, today celebrated Holi with BJP workers and expressed his happiness over the party's decision to field Arun Jaitley from Amritsar. He said Arun Jaitley's presence would go a long way in transforming Amritsar to match any city of international standard.

"With due respect to sitting MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, and some constraints in his fighting elections again from here, I view that no one else but a leader of the stature of Jaitely could have been the replacement. With the BJP wave gaining momentum at the Centre, Arun Jaitley will be able to raise problems related to Amritsar in the right perspective at the national level. I hope that he will win the elections by a big margin. We support Jaitley's candidature with full vigour," he said. 

Amritsar, March 16
Local Congress leaders have claimed that the party workers were ready to take on the BJP candidate Arun Jaitley, who has replaced cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Congress leader Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli Majithia and District Congress Committee (Rural) President Gurjeet Singh Aujala said Akali leaders, especially Bikram Singh Majithia, were creating hype over the nomination of Jaitley as they managed to sideline Navjot Singh Sidhu.

They said now the election campaign would go into the hands of Bikram Majithia, who aspires to be the ‘political’ general of Majha. They recalled that a few days back when Navjot Singh Sidhu was still a ticket hopeful, Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi demanded a ticket for Arun Jaitley through a press conference without the presence of any SAD member.

Similarly, Bikram Majithia today welcomed Jaitley’s candidature without a single BJP member being there and presented himself as a SAD worker. Interestingly, Bikram Majithia immediately started discussing the welcome plan for Arun Jaitley after briefing media persons. He said that the BJP and SAD project themselves as alliance partners whereas the reality is miles away.

They said every BJP worker remembers the beating they took at the hands of the Akalis during the recent MC elections. History would repeat itself during the Lok Sabha polls too.

Aujla also explained the announcement of Arun Jaitley name as a hasty decision on the part of the BJP and said that a person who has never even contested the MC election would be pitted in the harsh electoral battlefield of Amritsar. “The alliance is just a puppet in the hands of Parkash Singh Badal and Narendra Modi who are bent upon ruining the life and property of the minorities,” he said. 

Amritsar, March 16
Arun Jaitley, the BJP's candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, has connections with the holy city.

His mother Ratan Prabaha was the daughter of Ruldu Ram Trikha, a resident of Bazaar Khoo Sunarian. Ruldu Ram was a cloth merchant. "Now, no near relative lives in Bazaar Khoo area," said Rakesh Jaitley, a neighbour. He recalled that Ratan Prabha had a sister and a brother. The brother passed away some years ago.

Jaitley's wife Sangeeta is the daughter of former Congress minister Girdhari Lal Dogra, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir. Girdhari Lal's brothers Kishan Lal and Darbari Lal were also settled in the holy city. However, both of them passed away over a decade ago. Their shop at Majith Mandi has been sold while their house at Kandhariya Wali Gali is lying locked. 

Amritsar, March 16
The modernisation of the Amritsar railway station is going on at a snail's pace. Though the railway station was proposed to be developed as a world-class facility in the 2009 Railway Budget, the government is yet to deliver on its promises. Meanwhile, the infrastructure at the railway station is far from satisfactory.

Amritsar, March 16
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a gas dealer to pay Rs 1,000 as compensation for causing harassment to a consumer by not providing him a second LPG cylinder as per the norms. The forum has also directed the company to pay Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses to the complainant.

Balwinder Singh, a resident of Baba Bakala, in a complaint to the forum, had stated that he had got a gas connection from Shind Gas Agency, Jandiala Guru, in 1997. He alleged that the LPG dealer had given him a slip for the second cylinder in 1998 but did not deliver it.

However, during the hearing of the case, the cylinder was provided to him.

The forum observed that though no representative of the gas agency appeared before it to file the reply, the complainant was issued the second cylinder after he filed the complaint. The forum stated that it proved deficiency in service on the part of the gas agency. —TNS 

Amritsar, March 16
Over 200 doctors participated in a symposium on cardiology here today during which four sessions on hypertension, dyslipidaemia, sudden cardiac death and cardiogenic shock were held.

Experts shared their experience during the symposium and emphasised on the need to update the knowledge. Dr HP Singh, medical director, Fortis, said: “Initiatives like these will help doctors know about the progress in cardiac science.”—TNS 

Bathinda, March 16
Armed with data received under the Right To Education (RTI) Act, the Congress leaders today took a dig at the Badal family and the state Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka for rising rate of school dropout cases in the Bathinda and Muktsar districts.

In a joint statement released here today, leaders of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Joginder Singh Panjgrain, Harminder Singh Jassi, and others stated that despite the fact that the Bathinda and Muktsar districts have been receiving all the attention of the ruling Badal family and a major share of the state revenue, the two districts have the highest dropout cases in the state.The Bathinda District Education Officer (secondary education), Harkanwaljeet Kaur, however, contested the claims of the Congress leaders.

“The information collected, is not totally indicative about the dropout cases. Since the information has been furnished by the office of the Director General of School Education, it covers only government senior secondary schools located in the district,” she said.

“The data should be seen under the light of the fact that the government opened several Adarsh and model schools in the backward areas and several students of the government schools have enrolled themselves in these schools. So, the fact that the student dropout rate of the government school has risen in the district, is also indicative of the fact that a majority of these students shifted to Adarsh and Model schools,” she added.kAs per the data received under the RTI Act, the dropout rate at the secondary level in Bathinda district increased to be recorded at 8.59 per cent in 2013-14 as compared to 2.91 per cent in 2009-10. Although the dropout rate in Muktsar, 9.75 per cent, was the highest for the year 2013-14, the district has progressed since the rate was recorded at 11.66 in the year 2009-10.

Among the other districts that made significant progress in the field are Ferozepur and Sangrur. While in Ferozepur, the dropout rate decreased from 25.14 per cent in 2009-10 to 4.66 per cent in 2013-14, in Sangrur, it decreased from 20.84 per cent to 6.13 per cent. 

Amritsar, March 16
Shocking revelations in the car mishap case that took place on January 22, claiming two lives, have raised doubts over the functioning of the Amritsar rural police.

The incident has turned out to be a conspiracy hatched by the owner of the car, along with his family members, in order to claim the insurance cover worth crores. The police claim that they had killed two migrants and later put their bodies in the car before setting it ablaze to give it the colour of an accident. The police have booked 10 persons, including the owner of the car and his family members, in this regard.

The incident came to light when the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), an NGO, investigated the matter after Sahib Singh's wife Sunanda approached them. Officials of an insurance company had come to take their statements for the claim of Rs 40 lakhs. As the family did not know about any insurance worth Rs 40 lakhs, they got suspicious. When they approached the police, they ignored it.

Sarabjit Singh Verka, principal investigator, PHRO, said, "Instead of carrying out the investigations, the police preferred to believe the statement of the family members. The police did not initiate any investigation," he said.

"The police did not bother to identify the bodies and failed to conducted a DNA test for their identification despite the fact that it was unlikely that the car caught fire due to shortcircuit, killing the passengers on the spot," he says.

He further alleged that the police did not find it fit to examine the call details of the phone belonging to Sahib Singh. The mobile phone was found from the spot and the police returned it to the family without proper investigation.

Rajeshwar Singh Sidhu, SP (D), however, said as the family members had "identified" the victims on the spot, the police did not find anything fishy. He said it was only after the facts concerning the policy came to light that they started the investigation.

He said they had started investigations to identify the victims who were killed by the accused besides pushing for the forensic examination of the car.

The incident had taken place near Manawala on the outskirts of the city. The victims were later identified as Surinder Singh (58) of Rana Garden Enclave and Sahib Singh.

At that time, the Amritsar rural police had initiated action under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code. Jasbir Kaur, wife of Surinder Singh, had told the police that her husband, along with Sahib Singh, and another person was going to Chandigarh in their car (PB-02-1670) for a health check-up when the car caught fire, killing them on the spot. 

Amritsar, March 16
The police have booked five persons on the charge of attempt to murder. They had allegedly fired at a local resident and injured him. Gurmeet Kaur, the complainant and a resident of Kale Ghanupur area, told the police that she had gone to her husband Tejinder Singh’s shop when the accused came in two vehicles and attacked him.

Those booked include Pardeep Kumar, alias Pappu, and his son Aman Kumar. Three unidentified persons have also been booked by the police. Pardeep runs a cloth shop just opposite the shop of Tejinder Singh.

She alleged that Aman shot at her husband with an intention to kill him. The bullet hit him in the hip. He was then rushed to a private hospital. She said there was no fear of law on the faces of the accused who cheered and later fled from the scene.

The police have registered a case under Sections 307, 148, 149 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act at the Chheharta police station.

Dilbagh Singh, in-charge Ghanupur Kale police chowki, said the dispute occurred between the two groups over the construction of shops.

The verbal altercation between them took an ugly turn which resulted in the incident. He said, “The accused are still at large.” 

Amritsar, March 16
A Delhi resident was allegedly sexually assaulted by an auto-rickshaw driver here late last evening. She was going to a shrine when the incident took place.

The victim told the police that she arrived in the holy city last night. She hired an auto-rickshaw for a gurdwara when the unidentified driver of the vehicle used obnoxious language and tried to outrage her modesty. — TNS

Amritsar, March 16
The Electronics Student Forum (ESF), a student body of the Electronics Technology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, organised the six-a-side football tournament, Kick-Off 2K14. A total of 52 teams participated in the tournament.

In the girls' category, the final match was played between Jack Daniels and CSE Dhamaka. Jack Daniels was adjudged as the overall champion of the tournament. In the boys' category, the final match was played between Shahs and Khajjal United. Shahs were declared the overall champion. 

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