Cong flays attack on its office 
Amritsar, April 15
Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh and District Congress Committee (rural) president Gurjeet Singh Aujla today condemned the attack on the party's office near Ganda Singh Wala on Majitha Road a day before yesterday. Capt Amarinder dared the attackers to confront him, if they had the courage. He also asked the police to immediately arrest the culprits.

Capt fighting a losing battle: Majithia
align="left">Amritsar, April 15
Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today said Congress candidate Captain Amarinder Singh was fighting a losing battle. He said Captain had admitted that the Majitha area was a stronghold of the Akalis and he should understand that people of the rest of the areas in the state also believed in SAD's ideology.

BJP’s stand vindicated: Balramji Tandon 
Amritsar, April 15
Senior BJP leader Balramji Dass Tandon lashed out at the Congress for "belittling" the post of the Prime Minister. Tandon said the books of two close associates of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had vindicated the BJP's stand over the issue.

Government employees pledge to vote
Amritsar, April 15
Officials and employees of various government departments in the district took a pledge to exercise their franchise during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on April 30.

Amritsar, April 15
Breaking the stereotype, the women in the city are coming out in full strength and acknowledging their democratic right. Despite the fact that there is no woman candidate contesting from Amritsar, the fairer sex has managed to make its presence felt. The strength of women voters in the city has touched nine lakh and they are being seen as game changers.

Major political parties are relying heavily on their women representatives and volunteers for campaigning in Amritsar. With the BJP bringing in popular faces like Preeti Sapru, comedian Bharti Singh and BJP candidate from Chandigarh Kirron Kher, Congress is relying on Reshma Kaur, Captain Amarinder Singh’s daughter-in-law, to woo women voters. More than 50 per cent of AAP volunteers as women.

“ In these elections, 49 per cent of the voters are women. The initial phases of the elections have witnessed the participation of women in large numbers,” shares Neetu Mahajan, counsellor and the member of the BJP's women wing. Neetu manages a team of women volunteers, campaigning door-to-door and urging women to vote.

Similarly, AAP has relied on its women volunteers to strengthen its base. "Whether its 6 am door-to-door wake up call, distribution of flowers or the cleanliness drive, women volunteers of the party are not lagging behind," Shares Dr Indu Singh, daughter-in-law of AAP candidate Dr Daljit Singh.

“The strength of women supporters during election campaigns has surpassed that of men in some areas of the city. They know about their rights and are sure about their political opinions. If they show political solidarity, their voice will definitely be heard,” she adds.

“Women are openly discussing their voting rights. I think this is something new this time,” Dr Indu said. 

Amritsar, April 15
Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh and District Congress Committee (rural) president Gurjeet Singh Aujla today condemned the attack on the party's office near Ganda Singh Wala on Majitha Road a day before yesterday. Capt Amarinder dared the attackers to confront him, if they had the courage. He also asked the police to immediately arrest the culprits.

Some unidentified persons had fired at the office of Congress leader Karamjit Singh Rintu on the intervening night of April 13-14. No one was present at the office during the incident. The police has also recovered empty bullet shells of a .32 bore pistol or revolver. The Sadar police has registered case under Sectiond 336/427 of the IPC and 25, 27/54/59 of the Arms Act. However, the accused are still at large.

Reacting over it, Capt Amarinder said, "It was an act of cowardice, aimed at scaring our workers." He said it was beyond any doubt at whose behest these people were acting. He hoped that the police would soon expose them and ensure that such incidents did not occur in future.The former Chief Minister reiterated his demand that Amritsar be declared as a hyper-sensitive constituency as more such incidents could take place in future. He said some Akali leaders were openly threatening violence and had already shown their ill-intentions by attacking the Congress office.

Condemning the incident, Gurjeet Singh Aujla said now the SAD-BJP combine had resorted to immoral and unlawful methods to deter the Congressmen from campaigning. "Such actions on their part can be termed as their last effort to demoralise Congress workers. The Akali-BJP duo have imported RSS' henchmen to influence voters by hook or by crook," he said. He alleged that the opposition was using money and drugs to allure the voters. Aujla said that the Election Commission should investigate the firing incident. 

Amritsar, April 15
Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today said Congress candidate Captain Amarinder Singh was fighting a losing battle. He said Captain had admitted that the Majitha area was a stronghold of the Akalis and he should understand that people of the rest of the areas in the state also believed in SAD's ideology.

Addressing a rally after over 20 families associated with the Congress joined SAD at Boparai village, Majithia said people would vote for BJP candidate Arun Jaitley on April 30.

“By electing Jaitley, you will choose a person who would bring development and progress to the area,” Majithia told the people.

He said Captain Amarinder Singh had realised how difficult it was to win from Amritsar. “In the next two weeks, Captain will face more ground realities and would see how his popularity graph was dipping," said Majithia.

Meanwhile, he welcomed Congress supporters into the SAD fold and said everyday a number of Congress supporters were joining them, which showed dwindling support base for Captain Amarinder Singh. — TNS

Amritsar, April 15
Senior BJP leader Balramji Dass Tandon lashed out at the Congress for "belittling" the post of the Prime Minister. Tandon said the books of two close associates of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had vindicated the BJP's stand over the issue.

He said Sanjaya Baru’s book "The Accidental Prime Minister: The making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh" had only vindicated the BJP's claim that the PM was being remote controlled by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Tandon, who is also the head of the BJP’s Punjab Election Campaign Committee, said now former Coal secretary PC Parakh had exposed how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was heading the government with "little" political authority.

He said both the books had shown how the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister was lowered.

While seeking support for SAD-BJP candidate Arun Jaitley, he said Capt Amarinder Singh was accustomed to the royal way of running the administration. He added that during his tenure as the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh was least available to his MLAs. He claimed that the attendance of the Congress candidate in the state Assembly was negligible . 

Amritsar, April 15
Officials and employees of various government departments in the district took a pledge to exercise their franchise during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on April 30.

Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat and other senior officials were also present and took the oath at Circuit House. 

Amritsar, April 15
“I am not a politician, I am an artist.” Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, santoor maestro and a Padam Shree recipient , dodged the political questions easily while interacting with mediapersons in the city. He was in Amritsar to attend the "greh pravesh" ceremony at BJP candidate Arun Jaitley's house . “I have family relations with Jaitley, so I was invited as a guest,” he said.

Meanwhile, he says, “It is our responsibility to encourage people to vote. I appeal to everyone to vote because voting is not only our right but also our duty towards the country.”

While he refrained from answering any direct questions about his political affiliations, Sharma said the country needed a bit of political "fine tuning". “In music, a fine co-ordination between the sur and taal” is essential. At present, the politico-economic system of the country has lost its rhythm. I believe whosoever is elected our future leader, will be able to fine tune it and deliver at the ground level.”

While talking about music, he explained his reasons for staying away from Bollywood. “I believe that the two genres of music do not gel together. Also, after the classical music, I don’t want to compose music for Bollywood as it’s out of my comfort zone.”

Sharma remains busy with his performances national and international music fests. “ I have a hectic travel schedule as I perform at national or international music concerts. There is a huge fan base of the Indian classical music abroad. Therefore, I do not get much time for any other commitment,” he said.

Meanwhile, he praised the youth of Amritsar, who he feels have the potential to choose their leader wisely. “Since there is a lot of responsibility on the country's youth this time, I urge the Amritsar youth and vote.” 

Amritsar, April 15
Passengers, tourists and commuters visiting the railway station are facing hardships in withdrawing cash from the automatic teller machines (ATM) as all the three ATMs installed on the station premises are not functioning.

A city resident, Vidya Sagar, who hails from Hyderabad and stays here due to job compulsions, said, it was shocking to find all the three ATMs of nationalised banks lying defunct. He reasoned that a majority of the users of these ATMs were tourists and passengers, who were always in a hurry to withdraw cash and catch a train or to reach their destination. These visitors were generally unaware of locations of other ATMs in the city.

Harbhajan Singh, who came on a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, said, it was strange that not a single out of the three ATMs was working. He said being a tourist, he was not aware of the location of ATMs in other parts of the city. “As I am accompanied by my family members and carrying luggage, it is not practical for me to search for another ATM in the city,” said Harbhajan. After a long journey, their priority was to get a room in a serai (inn) or a hotel around the Golden Temple and take some rest after paying obeisance at the holy Sikh shrine. However, major problem was to find a working ATM and get some cash as Harbhajan did not have enough money to meet travel and lodging expenses.

Many passengers rely upon these ATMs to withdraw money at the time of embarking on their journey, shared Sahil Mehra, a daily passenger.

When contacted, Assistant Traffic Manager Ashok Salaria said neither any passenger nor any official brought the matter of nonfunctional ATMs to his notice. He said since he had come to know about the problem, he would personally look into it and approach the banks concerned to make the ATMs functional at the earliest. 

Amritsar, April 15
The Indian economy was facing large number of short-term challenges, including grim global economic environment restricting the potential for exports, rising government debt, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, unwinding of the unconventional monetary policy and rising inflation due to increase in food prices, said Professor of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, Dr Charan Singh.

Dr Charan was the chief guest and keynote speaker at the national symposium on “Challenges facing Indian economy” held at DAV College today. He also critically evaluated the measures like restriction on import of gold to control current account deficit in his address.

On Food Security Act, he opined that there was a need to identify the segment of population which needed subsidised food rather than covering 80 crore people under the scheme. He also hammered on the need to increase banking penetration in the rural and unbanked areas.

Dr Vikram Chadha, an economist of Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), said agriculture as occupation had become un-remunerative due to constant rise in cost of cultivation. He emphasised that the government should invest heavily in building infrastructure for agricultural growth.

Dr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, head of Punjab School of Economics, GNDU, opined that though economic growth rates were reasonably good, but social sector had not developed to meet the needs of the poor and deprived sections of society. For the empowerment of society, he emphasised that there should be more government funding to promote education and health services.

Principal of DAV College, Dr KN Kaul, welcomed the dignitaries and participants in the seminar while vice-principal and head of the Economics Department, Prof HS Walia, set the ball rolling for discussion by elaborating on the main challenges being faced by the Indian economy. He said the benefits of economic development had not trickled down to the poor and needy sections of the Indian society.

Prof Ashma Walia, Prof Kamal Kishore, Prof Ritu Arora, Prof RK Nayyar and Prof Vikram Chaudhary also shared their views with participants at the seminar.

Amritsar, April 15
As many as eight students of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) have qualified the Punjab Civil Services [PCS (Judicial Services)] examination. The result of this examination was declared recently. Prof Rajinder K Marwaha, head of the Law Department, Regional Campus, Jalandhar, said out of six successful candidates, Chandan Hans and Gaurav Kumar did LLB from the Jalandhar campus whereas Ankit Aire, Deepal Singh Chinna, Arun Shorie and Rajinder Paul did five-year integrated law course.

Prof Rattan Singh, head of the Law Department of GNDU, said two students of the University Campus, Gurwinder Singh and Chandna Bhatti, both from three-year LLB course, had also qualified the exam. Prof AS Brar, Vice-Chancellor of the GNDU, congratulated the students, their parents and their teachers for their success. — TNS

Amritsar, April 15
The Baisakhi festival was celebrated by the Department of Music and the Department of Lifelong Learning of Guru Nanak Dev University. Students of music and lifelong learning presented a cultural programme at the festival.

The Department of Music organised a musical event “Dhol Punjabiyan Da” on the occasion. Student artistes of the department, Gurdev Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Tanver Thapar, Pavittar Singh, Beant Singh, Gagandeep Kaur, Navajinder Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Geetu Singh and Lata mesmerised the audience with their melodious songs.

Folk singer Kuldeep Sandhu also graced the occasion with songs from her latest album.

Head of the department, Prof Gurpreet Kaur, Dr Tejinder Gulati, Dr Rajesh Sharma, Ravikant, Parbhakar Kashayap, Sukhdev Singh, Kiran Amar, Charanjit Singh, Murli Manohar, Narinder Singh, research scholars and students were also present on the occasion.

In another cultural programme organised by the Life Long Learning Department, Manpreet Kaur, a student of cosmetology, and Sukhraj Kaur presented folk song (tappe). Dance on Punjabi songs like “Jatti Nachdi Patola Banke”, “Menu Dasja Melne” and “Rakh le Dabbi ch Pa ke” was also presented by Sandeep Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Tanya and Hardeep Kaur, all students of dress designing, cutting and tailoring.

Tejpal Kaur, Devika Kumari, Deepika, Paramjeet Kaur, Gursharan Kaur, Nidhi Sharma and Ramanjit Kaur were also present on the occasion. 

Amritsar, April 15
The drug de-addiction counselling centre at Maqboolpura, which was set up by the district administration last year, has been closed down for want of a building.

The area residents complained that with the closing of the centre, de-addiction drive has received a setback. "The residents cannot reach Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre as they have to spend money on transportation," said Master Ajit Singh, a social activist.

The clash of business interests with a private hospital, which had earlier collaborated with the administration for providing space to the centre, is the cause behind the closing of the centre.

The private hospital has opened its own de-addiction centre. The centre was inaugurated by the then Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal on January 31.

The Maqboolpura locality is one of the most drug-affected areas in the city. The death of a large number of men due to drug addition has earned the locality the epithet of "locality of widows".

Dr PD Garg of Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction Centre admitted that the centre had stopped working.

He said the centre needed a building to operate. He added that even after the shut down of the centre, around 20-25 youngsters from the area have started visiting them at the Swami Vivekananda centre.

"We have a provision to provide medicines free of cost to 10 per cent of our patients at the centre. We are doing the maximum we can do to help Maqboolpura families," said Dr Garg. 

Amritsar, April 15
Two road mishaps took place in the city in the past 24 hours. In the first instance, the mob torched a bus after it crushed a cyclist to death. The accident took place on the Tarn Taran road this morning.

The victim has been identified as 60-year-old Gurdeep Singh, a resident of Guruwali. He was going to pick his nephew from the school at about 2.30 pm when he was killed. The bus, belonging to a private company, was heading towards Bathinda. The driver of the bus, still unidentified, lost control over it and hit Gurdeep. The victim died on the spot.

After the driver fled, the passersby set the bus on fire in anger. According to an onlooker, Gurbax Singh, the driver was running the bus at a high speed. The driver could not apply brakes after it went out of control over it.

According to Chattiwind police station SHO Mukhwinder Singh, a case has been registered against the bus company. "The incident took place near Bhinder Palace. The driver of the bus is still at large. The passengers of the bus are safe. The victim's body has been taken into custody for a post-mortem examination," the SHO said.

Meanwhile, in the second instance late last night, a speeding car turned turtle on Majitha Road after its driver lost control over it. However, the four occupants of the car, including a woman, sustained minor injuries.

Though no case was registered in the absence of any complainant, the onlookers said the occupants of the car appeared to be heavily drunk. "At about 1 am, a speeding car hit a wooden rack outside a vegetable shop on Majitha Road. The car hit the stairs of a nearby shop and turned upside down. We pulled the people out of the car. They seemed to be heavily drunk. The owners of the vehicle removed the damaged car only in the morning," said an eyewitness. 

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