Amritsar, March 20
A bus queue shelter located opposite Hartej Hospital is being used for running a massage centre by a quack. Another shelter at the Majitha road is in such a dismal state that the sitting benches have just sunk into the ground. The one near the Putlighar road has permanently been occupied by the cycle rickshaw operators to park rickshaws when it is dark.

After a long wait of around seven years, the city bus service could see the light of the day while the bus queue shelters cry for authorities’ attention.

Even as the authorities have endeavoured to affix bus stoppage boards on the electricity poles, there is no proper facility for the commuters to sit on while waiting for the bus.

The officials concerned on the other hand express their inability to erect new bus queue shelters by citing the election code of conduct as a lame excuse.

The commuters argue that constructing new shelters might be a time consuming exercise, but it will not consume much energy and money to renovate the existing ones, so as to make optimum utilisation of their capacity.

Most of the existing shelters are either abandoned as garbage dumps or located at inappropriate points, which seldom served its purpose.

In the absence of any check, a shelter located opposite Hartej Hospital on the Ajnala road has been occupied by a quack. Here, he attends to his patients, who conveniently occupy the benches to wait for their turn. These benches also serve the purpose of examining his patients and for giving them massage and treatment (see pix).

Amritsar, March 20
The lawyers at district courts complex went on a strike here today to express solidarity with the two advocates, who had taken up the matter of dual votes of Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi and his family, with the Election Commission.

The Amritsar Bar Association, which had given a call for no work day, demanded that the police must register a case under the appropriate sections of the IPC and other penal acts against the two persons, who had fired at the office of both the advocates on March 17.

Advocate Sandeep Gorsi and Vineet Mahajan had earlier alleged that two motorcycle borne persons had fired at their office and the police had recovered six empty bullet shells from the place. The duo alleged that they were attacked because of a complaint, which they had filed against the BJP minister for having dual votes.

The police had later registered a case under Sections 336/34 against two unknown persons. The advocates also demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.

Amritsar Bar Association president Pradeep Saini said the police had failed to take necessary action against the culprits. He said the bar association would be making a representation before the Inspecting Judge of Amritsar Sessions Division, Rajeev Bhalla, for effective remedies.

Saini said the association had taken the decision to observe no work day in protest after an emergency meeting of the executive body. The general public faced a tough time as a majority of the advocates joined the protest announced earlier by the bar association. 

Amritsar, March 20
The campaign of the Border Security Force to help drug addicts in the border area has got a boost as 15 youngsters have volunteered to get medication from Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre here.

DIG (Border Security Force) MF Farooqui (centre) along with drug addicts who were brought to Swami Viveekananda De-addiction Centre in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

DIG (Border Security Force) MF Farooqui and parents of the drug-addict children came to the centre today to get all 15 youngsters admitted for de-addiction programme. Farooqui said, "We have prepared a list of 60 youngsters from the border area who have expressed their wish to get de-addicted".

He said in the first phase, 15 youngsters were brought to the centre, adding that the BSF has so far helped around 20 youngsters get de-addiction services who are leading normal lives today.

The campaign to get the youngsters de-addicted, a brain child of Farooqui, was started earlier last year. "With help from these youngsters we can even get the people who are supplying drugs to them. We would be working in tandem with the area police in this regard," said the DIG.

Farooqui said that apart from keeping a close vigil on the border fence to check infiltration of contraband, the BSF is also concerned about the youngsters who have fallen prey to the drugs. Farooqui said that all expenses on treatment of the youngsters would be borne by the BSF. He said the residents concerned of the area had joined hands with the BSF to motivate youngsters to shun drugs.

The parents of a few youngsters said that the police administration should also initiate action against persons selling drugs in the area as de-addiction could be complete unless the supply chain of drugs was broken.

Amritsar, March 20
Residents and shopkeepers of Ghee Mandi road and surrounding areas are harassed over delay in laying a concrete road as was conceptualised by the government to widen the passage leading to Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh. Besides this, the displaced shopkeeper, for whom the rehabilitation policy has been devised at Sheranwala Gate, urged the government to bring down the price of the new shops.

The Improvement Trust issued a public notice in newspapers and displayed the names of 19 shopkeepers on its premises who have been chosen to be rehabilitated. There are over 100 structures that were demolished on July 13, 2013, to widen the approaching road.

This was done after the Punjab Cabinet has approved a rehabilitation plan for 19 shopkeepers who completely lost their shops. Majority of these shopkeepers were tenants.

A displaced shopkeeper Pradeep Kumar, who lost his shop completely, said he had been evicted after running his shop for nearly 12 years. He added that he was on road now and could not afford to get a shop on rent at the current market rate which is comparatively very high.

According to the rehabilitation plan, these shopkeepers will be provided shops at the reserved price in the shopping complex under the Ghee Mandi scheme. These shops will be available at Rs 56,400 per square feet and shops are available between 22 square yards to 27 square yards.

Market Association Chief Manmohan Kundra flayed the government for offering shops at an extremely high rate. “The government took the possession of the land for road-widening for half of this amount”, he asserted.

He said, earlier, these shopkeepers were offered alternative sites at Jahajgarh, Ranjit Avenue, Mall Mandi and New Amritsar localities but these were rejected as these were far away from the current location and it was difficult to establish business. The shops at Sheran wala gate are close to the location from where these traders were uprooted.

A resident of the Ghee Mandi area, Tarun Aggarwal, said it was months ago that the Trust took over the control and widened the road after demolishing the structures but the road has not been carpeted. He said clouds of dust emerged with the passing of any vehicle. “Business especially of eatables are suffering immensely as customers avoid to procure these due to unahygenic condition”.

It is pertinent ot mention here that in 1998, the administration had conceptualised the Jallianwala Bagh road-widening scheme. The 1.5 km-road stretch was to be widened to 40 feet to ease traffic congestion on the way to the Golden Temple. Sometime ago, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also questioned the delay in the project even as compensation to the tune of Rs 8.98 crore had already been awarded to affected property owners on the stretch.

Improvement Trust Chairman Sandeep Rishi said these shopkeepers were selected after a secret survey conducted by the field staff of the Trust. He said in the normal course, the Improvement Trust auction its commercial properties and the auction commences from the reserved price which in this case it is Rs 56,400. However, these shopkeepers would have a golden chance to own commercial property in the Trust's scheme.

According to the procedure, these shopkeepers will need to apply to the Deputy Commissioner who will forward their cases to the Improvement Trust which will scrutinise these and then allow them to participate in the lottery to allot shops.

The Chairman said entire stretch of the road is ready with installation of curve channels, street lights and basic infrastructure except carpeting. He added that with the temperature rising hot-mix plants were expected to the operational soon and the carpeting would be done thereafter.

Amritsar, March 20
With no wages in their accounts for the past month and the current month in sight, the Municipal Corporation (MC) staff resorted to agitation path. The employees served upon the authorities concerned a 72-hour notice to get their salaries released. In case of no response, they decided to shun work.

The same situation had arisen two months ago, when their wages were delayed. The MC staff observed a total strike and the system collapsed for two days. The deadlock ended only after the direct intervention of the Local Bodies ministry, which released their salaries on the persuasion of City Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora.

The MC workers argued that when the government repeatedly announced that there was no dearth of funds for Amritsar, then why their salaries were not paid on time. The employees belonged to Class IV, III and XENs level officers of horticulture operation and maintenance wing. Even heads of several departments have been lurching to see their pay packets since last month.

Harjinder Singh Walia, president of Nagar Nigam Karamchari Talmel Dal said, “The MC authorities have been given ultimatum to release our salaries otherwise we will resort to take to streets in protest.”

He said, “It has happened earlier too. We had to launch a statewide protest. It was called off only after the assurance by the authorities. Now again, we have no choice but to shun work.” Endorsing the views, Surinder Tona, general secretary of the MC Workers Union said the state-level workers’ organisations were chalking out the strike plan.

The workers also raised a voice against the authorities’ move to take a mammoth amount as loan from banks, supposedly for carrying out pending development works. They said when the MC was not in a position to bear the salary burden, then under what capacity it would be able to repay the heavy loan amount.

In December last year, the employees under the banner of Joint Action Committee of the MC employees had submitted a joint letter to the Bank of India, Hall Bazar branch, Amritsar, to apprise its chief manager that the MC which was not capable of paying the salaries of its employees. It would seldom be in a position to pay back the loan amount of Rs 50 crore. 

Officialspeak
Their cause is genuine. Actually, the salary bill amounts to around Rs 11 crore and we have just Rs 4 crore with us. To pay the salaries, we have to rely on funds, which come from the Local Bodies Department in the shape of VAT payments. This time it was delayed. We have already conveyed the matter to the Local Bodies Minister as well as the Secretary to release the funds immediately. The matter will be resolved within one or two days.
— Bakshi Ram Arora, Mayor

Amritsar, March 20
The Amritsar Youth Association has filed a complaint against Guru Nanak Dev Hospital for flouting government guidelines while issuing chronic disease certificates to the elderly.

In its complaint, the association stated that some doctors of the hospital were issuing chronic disease certificates, which were valid for one year only. However, a letter issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department on June 10, 2010 had increased the validity of the chronic disease certificates from the earlier three to five years.

Rajinder Sharma, a leader of the association said, “The doctors are harassing people as they issue certificates, which are valid for one year only. The patient has to face harassment for two months every year as he has to repeatedly visit the hospital to the get the certificate.”

Sharma said old chronic disease patients could be saved from the harassment if they were issued a certificate with five years validity as directed by the Health Department in its letter.

As per government letter, as many as 32 diseases have been listed as chronic diseases. The government employees and their family members need the chronic disease certificate in order to get their medical expenses reimbursed from the state government.

Sharma said a few departments at the hospital were issuing certificates, which were valid for five years while others were issuing certificates with a validity of one year only. He said the association had demanded from the Government Medical College authorities that a uniform policy for issuance of chronic disease certificates as per government orders should be followed by all departments. 

Amritsar, March 20
Intel has been actively working in Punjab to effectively integrate technology in education and enhance student learning through the Intel Teach Programme. This was stated by Rajiv Bhalla, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Intel South Asia, at a conference while sharing his perspective on computing devices, focusing on company’s new range 2-in-1s and tablets.

He said Intel successfully trained over 4,800 teachers at the school level and over 700 teacher educators and students of Punjab University.

The Intel Learn Programme is a community- based programme designed to help learners develop 21st century skills relating to technological literacy, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. The programme was launched in 2006. Over 1,100 youth across the seven Navodaya Vidyalayas benefitted from the programme to date. As part of the programme, male students from the Ferozepur were able to create a Balika Shiksha Task Force to ensure female literacy in the district under the theme ‘Educate girls educate world’.

Intel in India was awarded Shiksha Ratna for ‘Innovation in teaching learning methodologies’ at the Punjab State Education Summit in February last year by the Education Minister. On the invitation of the SCERT Punjab, Intel organised a conference on December 20 last year in Chandigarh on integrating the ICT in teacher education in Punjab.

Intel today showcased the latest range of computing devices powered by Intel processor. Bhalla said, “The company has launched its next phase of the ‘My discoveries’ campaign, which is being conducted in 12 cities across the country, including Amritsar. Through its various initiatives this year, Intel will continue to talk about the relevance of personal computing and the importance of driving domestic technology adoption.” A wide variety of exciting new devices like 2-in-1s, tablets, phablets and Chromebooks with Intel® inside, that signal the beginning of the next wave of computing in 2014, were also on display at the event. 

Amritsar, March 20
From now onwards, it will be mandatory to support a helmet while driving a two-wheeler and the seat belt in case of a four-wheeler in Amritsar. The violators will be prosecuted according to the law. These and other directions were issued today by the Deputy Commissioner, Ravi Bhagat today who conducted a special meeting with the police, the DTO, Amritsar Rajat Oberoi, MC officials, educational institution heads and representatives of local NGOs. They also deliberated over the traffic plan as planned by the police.

The DC has issued stern directions to the departments concerned to make sure of compliance of traffic norms and violators be taken to task. Especially mentioning the overloaded school autos and buses, the DC directed the police to take instant action.

It would now be mandatory for the autos and private buses to mention the operators' antecedents at the back of the vehicle. They have been given 15 days to get it done and the violators' vehicles would be impounded.

Similarly, it would be compulsory for the school buses to spare a helper who could assist the student to embark and exit. The XENs of various departments have been directed to get fix traffic signboards on the roadsides. Similarly, to disembark mark the parking lanes, the XENs have been instructed to ensure the yellow parking lines on the designated spots on the roads too.

Elaborating further, DC Ravi Bhagat told that these directions had been released following numerous accidents that occurred primarily because the traffic norms were not being followed.

"The overloaded school bus or autos would not be tolerated at any cost now. Similarly, encroachments on the roadside, too, pose hindrance in the free flow of traffic. We have already imposed Section 144 in the district which prevents any kind of illegal occupation on the roadside as it has been observed that number of traders who sell sand, pebbles and other construction material use the public land on the roadside to dump their unsold material. The violators would be booked. The auto and bus operators would be given 15-day period to write the operators ?antecedents so that he should be contacted in case of rule flouting by the driver, otherwise their vehicles would not be allowed to run. We are also organising traffic awareness drives in educational institutions to apprise the students about traffic norms," he said. 

Amritsar, March 20
Moving on from the usual art galleries, artists are reaching out to people through open art spaces. And with innovative art forms, latest being the 3D art. with a lack of open art spaces in city, the artists have taken a step ahead and converted public spaces into art corners with live art demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions.

Like city-based young artist, George Emanual, who has created a 3D art peice, a lion, at Alpha One mall. Two days of live art work, created amidst a curious crowd at the mall. Emanual got the effect he intended to create. "Everyone stopped and looked at what I was doing, how I was creating that 3D art work. Some even learnt a few tips about art," he shares. Probably the first public 3D art work in city, the lion, symbolising a free and happy life, has inspired many to follow. "After seeing my work, many people on spot asked me to make 3D art peices for them. Its a relative new form of art in city and to have instant attention is good for its growth," he says.

Similarly, the first of-its-kind open art space at Alpha One Mall, called Wall of Art, too was an initiative to attract and aare people about art. “The Wall of Art was the first such art space for city’s home grown artists and is an attempt to amalgamate art with our lifestyle. A shopping mall where one goes to enjoy and indulge could easily become a place to catch up some contemporary and traditional art,” shares Brijesh jolly, director of KT Kala Art Gallery, who conceived the idea of Wall Of Art.

The space created just as one enters the atrium of the mall, has paintings display by city based artists. From paintings to pictures and even graphics, the 20 odd collection is limited but has become a highlight for the visitors. It also has a biographical display of five legends born in Amritsar - Dara Singh, Rajesh Khanna, Mohd Rafi, Shaheed Udham Singh and Madan Lal Dhingra. “It purpose is to attract attention. While most people laze out on the idea of spending a Sunday afternoon at an art show as visiting a shopping mall sounds better, bringing the art to the shopping mall itself is effective promotion,” he adds.

Agrees George, “The exhibitions at art galleries attract a limited audience, only those who understand or are associated with art. With open spaces and live audience 24/7 such as these, the scope of getting noticed increases.”