Amritsar, March 23
To celebrate the martyrdom of Shaheed-E-Aazam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the local unit of the Aam Aadmi Party and Vice- Chairperson of the National Scheduled Commission Dr Raj Kumar Verka, organised separate programmes in the holy city today.

AAP activists organised a foot march that started from Company Bagh and concluded at Jallianwala Bagh where the volunteers paid tributes to the great martyrs who laid down their lives in the prime of their youth for the sake of the nation's freedom.

On this occasion Ashok Talwar, convener, said, “It is a pity that we have forgotten the sacrifices of our freedom fighters who fought selflessly for the independence of our motherland. The vision of Bhagat Singh is today being misused to gain petty political mileage while nobody has ever tried to inculcate these values among the youth of the country,” he said.

It is due to the callous attitude of leaders that the youth of Punjab is into drugs while no efforts are being done to generate enough employment to channelise their energy. “Independent India as envisioned by revered Bhagat Singh has been hijacked by the corrupt and the nefarious people and there is a dire need to weed them out in order to make our country and its people independent in true sense,” he said.

The youth were urged to follow the principles of our great martyrs and put their ardent efforts in making India corruption-free, drug-free. “If we are able to transform our country in this manner, it will be the greatest tribute to the souls of those could not breathe in Independent India, said JS Gill, advocate. 

Amritsar, March 23
Reacting to the allegations of costly patient-examination tables during his tenure, former Principal of Government Medical College here refuted the allegations and stated that false propaganda was being made to harm his interests.

Speaking on phone to The Tribune, former Principal Dr SS Shergill said, “Each and every purchase during my tenure was made according to policy and with transparency.” He said the college had purchased the examination tables at the same rate as notified by the government as rate contract.

Dr Shergill stated that as per the rate contract of the government, the price of one patient examination table was Rs 4,50,000 and the college had not paid a single penny more. Earlier, a local RTI activist had alleged that the college had paid Rs 4.5 lakh plus taxes for the same examination table which was available in the market for USD 1,950 (approximately Rs 95,000).

Dr Shergill said, “The wooden tables for patient examination are available for a much lesser price. One can get these for Rs 30,000. But the tables we had purchased were worth the price and are state-of-the-art-equipment.”

He stated that he could not be accused of buying costly equipment. Dr Shergill stated that few people were trying to grind their own axe by making false accusations against him. Dr Shergill is on a foreign trip and had called to refute the allegations.

Amritsar, March 23
Two youths lost their life after being drowned into the UBDC (Upper Bari Doab Canal) flowing from Vallah near Taranwala Pul. Their bodies were fished out last evening by the police.

Working with the local Vallah Mandi, both youths basically belonged to Hisar and have been identified as Krishan and Budh Ram. They were in their mid-twenties.

According to the police, it was Krishan who went to take bath into the canal without realising the depth of water. Finding Krishan in trouble, Ram jumped also jumped into to save him but in vain.

On the bank of this canal is the slum area with makeshift houses of labourers. The residents of these houses often use canal water for their daily chores.

As per their routine on Saturday, some women were washing clothes on the bank of the same canal when they spotted Krishan bathing in the water.

After a while, they also spotted him struggling with the flowing water and raised the alarm. Even as people from their known circle assembled on the spot, nobody could dare to jump into the canal, but Ram. He, too, was unsuccessful and lost his life too.

The matter was reported to the police and with the cooperation from the Forest Department, divers searched for the bodies till last evening.

The in charge, Taranwala Pul Madan Singh, said that their bodies could be recovered late in the evening only. After the post-mortem examination, these would be handed over to their guardians, he told.

A case has been registered with the B Division police station in this regard. 

Amritsar, March 23
Even as the police administration take steps to initiate revamping the traffic regulation system in the holy city by introducing supporting infrastructure like new barricades or slip road partitions, yet scant efforts are being made by its counterpart (the civic authorities) to make the roads safer for commuters.

There are uneven manholes in the middle of the key roads which make rides risky. Ironically, there are some which are even without cover.

One such manhole was spotted near the most frequented DAV College road. Ironically, to cover it up, a garbage picking trolley has been stationed there. Though the MC men might have done their best, it may not prevent anybody from falling in it. The men may realise how risky could it be to a two-wheeler rider or a car driver who will fail to detect it and end up slamming head-on with it.

A random round of the holy city, be it a posh area like Lawrence Road, Green Avenue, Ranjeet Avenue, the Mall road or humble areas like the Majitha Road, Indira Colony or roads leading to Durgiana Temple, Sultanwind Road, Jahajgarh road, manholes were not found to be properly covered.

While at some places, concrete padding around the lids had come out, exposing the lids at other places, or there would be ones where the entire lid is seen caving in.

The accidents mostly take place when commuters, moving on their vehicles, notice the broken lids or the unlevelled ones located below the road. Then they get little time to negotiate.

Another one which is located on the Lawrence Road caused causes accidents with mostly two-wheeler riders from here. Here the manhole lid must be one foot low from the road surface.

A fruit seller on the roadside said that even if the riders spot these manholes in advance, they often hit the other vehicles or pedestrians. “I see at least 50 such instances daily,” he said.

Another risky spot is on the Jahajgarh road where the missing manhole on the road has been compensated with concrete tiles, which in itself is dangerous.

It has been learnt that the job of placing the manhole cover is done by private parties but the MC officials cannot shy away from sharing the responsibility to inspect and get them placed in proper manner

Some contractors blamed that there is a nexus between the MC officials and the service providers, leading to compromise in material.

While most contractors in different wards have feigned ignorance regarding these mishaps, some tried to defend themselves saying the lids were damaged due to road rollers because many new road projects are under progress.

“It is for the MC authorities to see when and how the manhole lid job has to be executed. I have raised the issue of missing lids in the House meeting many a time in my ward but it was always ignored”, said Congress Councillor Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky.

Some even come up with a justification that the lids are bound to be damaged due to the heavy volume of traffic. This needs frequent maintenance, but who cares in the MC here,” said a contractor, preferring anonymity.

Amritsar, March 23
Guru Nanak Dev University today honoured 28 students who won the All India Inter-University Youth Festival Championship Trophy held at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, recently.The programme was held at Dasmesh Auditorium of the university and was titled 'Sham-e-Bulandi'.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar presided over the function. The students were given cash prize of Rs. 12,000 and a memento each.

Those honoured included Anadi Mishra, Palakdeep Kaur, Surpriya Seen, Rashi, Gaurav Saul, Satwinder Pal Singh, Surtal Singh, Sham Singh, Arminder Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Kamaljit, Harpreet Kaur, Divya Saini, Poornima Jain, Aakash Chadha, Divyesh Dutta, Paras Sharma, Shainu Bhalla, Manjit Singh, Tarrunnum Sharma, Nancy Bagha, Megha Sood, Anjali Badhan, Najot Kaur, Sumit Heer, Jaskirtat Singh, Ramneet Kaur and Amanpreet Singh.

Dr Suchreta, principal, APJ College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar along with Dr Arun Mishra, Namita Pandey and Miki Verma were also honoured for their contribution to won this trophy. A special cash prize of Rs. 51,000 was given to APJ College of Fine Arts for its contribution in winning the trophy.

Dr Sarvjit Kaur Brar, Vice-Chancellor was the guest of honour on this occasion. Prof MS Hundal, Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr Suchetra Sharma, principal, APJ college, Jalandhar were also present on the occasion.

Prof Brar said that students should not follow the western culture blindly and remember their mother tongue and culture. He said they should participate in cultural activities along with their formal studies for their overall development.

Detailing the achievement, Jagjit Kaur, Director Youth Welfare told that the university won the championship trophy by defeating 77 universities from all over India who participated in various items of music, theatre, dance, literary and fine arts. She said that the university also won music trophy alongwith overall championship trophy. 

Amritsar, March 23
With dearth of playgrounds in the holy city, children and youth have little to choose for sports career. Their passion to play their choice of sports ends up in playing in streets or the inner roads risking their lives.

The city, with over 15 lakh population as per the 2011 census, does not have adequate sports grounds. When it comes to sports, choices are limited.

Over the years the government has paid little attention to construct and maintain world-class stadiums in the city.

Though many a times the government publicised to take up the policy of catching the players young to groom them vigorously but it was limited in its reach.

Its reason may lay in the fact that all schemes would have limited result as long as the sports do not get its basic infrastructure that is grounds.

Majority of the international players produced by the city were from cricket and hockey.

They city has a cricket ground named Gandhi Ground dating back to the pre-partition era.

Over 400 illegal colonies were added to the city’s topography during the past two decades but not a single sports ground.

In the name of sports infrastructure, the city has another Guru Nanak Stadium, adjoining to Gandhi Ground, which serves multiple sports disciplines. Notably, Guru Nanak Stadium has minimum area in comparison to Gandhi Ground, which caters solely to cricket.

Besides, it has wrestling stadium at Gol Bagh and an indoor badminton hall on the Taylor Road.

The worst-hit are hockey players who have to train on grass at GND stadium, but later face problems once they step on to astroturf. The Guru Nanak Dev University has a turf, but it caters to players from the university and its colleges.

Meanwhile, the government and its officials now look towards the proposed Multipurpose Sports Complex including indoor and outdoor facilities to be raised in Ranjit Avenue.

The proposed sports complex, which is being developed as a sports hub by the AIT, would be on a land measuring 16.5 acres. Its main features would be an aquatic centre of 2500 PAX, athletic track for facilities like hockey, kabaddi, practice ground for lawn tennis, volley ball and parking for 16 buses and 2000 cars.

The athletic track would comprise 400 meters athletic track, kabaddi, long jump, short put, javelin throw, hockey, high jump and 23,000 seating capacity. Grounds for volley ball, basket ball, lawn tennis and hand ball would also be provided.

Actual work on ground for this ambitious project is yet to take off. 

Amritsar, March 23
A three-day north zone orthopedics conference organised by Government Medical College in association with Amandeep Hospital concluded here today.

Dr HS Sohal, Head,Department of orthopaedics,Government Medical College said frozen shoulders can be completely cured by injecting platelet rich plasma from patient’s blood. He said platelet rich plasma, when injected in the painful tissue, had given very encouraging results.

Although this procedure is a bit expensive, it is more natural and more effective than steroid shots recommended by orthopaedic surgeons, he said adding blood platelet rich plasma might help cure frozen shoulders and upper body joints but its effect in knees and pelvic area might last up to only 6 months.

Another scientific paper was presented by Dr Sansar Sharma on medical management of osteoporosis.

He deliberated upon the early symptoms of osteoporosis, its prevention and delay. The symptoms include back pain, developing fractures during minor injuries and stooping.

He said calcium and vitamin D supplements, sunlight exposure, outdoor activity including walking and jogging besides doing house hold chores helped in keeping the joints in good condition.

Women nearing menopause were more prone to joint problems, they should regularly go for checkups and consume helpful supplements, he advised. 

Amritsar, March 23
The District Consumer Disputes Dedressal Forum has directed a private insurance company to refund premium paid by a local resident who had expressed dissatisfaction with terms and conditions of the policy after purchasing it. The forum has also asked the company to pay Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses towards the case. The forum held that a person has the right to surrender policy within 15 day of receiving policy documents.

On exercising the said option, he shall be entitled to refund of premium paid subject to deduction of proportionate risk premium for the period of cover and certain other costs pertaining to stamp duty and medical examination of the proposer, if any.

Earlier Kuldip Singh, a resident of Saran village had filed a complaint against Future Generali India Life Insurance Company stating that he purchased the policy by paying a premium of Rs 9,918 and received the policy documents on May 5, 2012. He said on reading the policy documents he came to know about the policy and approached the company on May 8, 2012 and submitted the policy within free look period and the employee concerned assured him that he would get the refund within seven days. He alleged that he did not receive the refund despite repeated attempts.

The company in its reply stated that the complainant was fully aware of the terms and conditions of the policy. The complainant had opted for the regular premium made for a term of 10- year,as such he had to pay the premiums for 10 years. The company stated that after paying one premium the complainant failed to deposit the further premiums and accordingly the policy had lapsed.

The forum stated that the opposite party was bound to accept the cancellation request filed by the complainant and is liable to refund the amount of premium subject to deduction as laid down by IRDA circular dated May 27, 2009.

Amritsar, March 23
About 950 students of graduation and postgraduation classes received degrees at DAV College during its 56th convocation held at its campus here today.

Arun Kumar Grover, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, was the chief guest while GNDU’s Academic Affairs Dean, MS Hundal was the guest of honour.

Host college principal Dr KN Kaul highlighted the academic achievements of Prof Grover and Prof Hundal. He also congratulated degree holders for their success and also shared few words with them. While addressing students, he stressed upon hard work and persistent efforts to reap fruits of success, besides, highlighting the achievements of the college in academic and placement fronts.

In his convocation address, Prof Grover paid tributes to the founder principal of DAV College, Amrtisar, BS Behl, for his contribution in giving present shape to the college and for his achievements in the academic front.

The students, who were awarded degrees included students from streams like MSc (physics, maths, and computer science), MA (English, economics, history, Hindi) and M Com. Among the graduates, degrees were awarded to students of BSc (Medical, Non-Medical, economics, IT, computer science, biotechnology), BBA, BCom, BCA, BJMC, and BA regular and evenings classes.

Among others Prof H S Walia, vice-principal, Prof Sunil Sachdeva, college registrar, Prof Vishav Bandhu, staff secretary, besides members of teaching and non-teaching faculty were present on the occasion.