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20 critical polling booths identified
Can't expect Akalis to back Jaitley: AAP
Traffic norms violated during poll season
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Political parties seek
support along caste lines
my hopes from amritsar MP
GNDU introduces new engineering courses
Farmers’ body demands probe in land-grab case
Four held on extortion charges
Woman files complaint against hospital for fraud
Health Department staff hold protest
Jail inmate jumps parole; case registered
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20 critical polling booths identified
Amritsar, April 23 Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer Ravi Bhagat said special cameras would be put up at these booths which would generate a constant live telecast of the booth activities. This will enable the officials to detect and prevent any illegal activity such as booth-capturing, rigging, and any other type of law and order problem. It will help keep the mischief-mongers and miscreants at bay. The live telecast will also be available for viewing by local residents through their mobiles and laptops by logging on to the web address www.punjab.vmukti.com and filling the user name as "punjab" and the password as "punjab@admin". The people can watch live polling at this address. Simultaneously, the same video shall also be watched by the Election Commission of India as well as the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab. The students of Amritsar Engineering College have been roped in for setting up this system. The booths, which will be covered by web casting include: Ajnala -11, polling station no. 73 at Government Senior Secondry School for Girls, PS no. 76 at Government Senior Secondary School for Boys; Rajasansi -12: PS 88 and 178; Majitha -13: PS 28, 103-104; Amritsar North: PS 159, 167; Amritsar west: PS no 145-146; Amritsar Central: PS no 40 and 104; Amritsar South-19: PS no 80 and 33; Amritsar East: PS no 04 and 94; Attari: PS no 17 and 18; Jandiala guru- 14 (LS seat Khadoor Saahib): PS no 155. The DEO said to ensure the highest level of security for the EVMs kept in strong rooms after the polling is over, the administration has decided to instal infra-red cameras having night-vision facility, both inside and outside the strong rooms. These cameras would be operational day and night till the counting day and would have a recording capacity of one month. The viewing screens of these cameras would be put up outside the strong rooms so that any political party, its representative or the candidate could view the video anytime and satisfy themselves about the safety and integrity of the EVMs.
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Can't expect Akalis to back Jaitley: AAP
Amritsar, April 23 Addressing a series of public meetings here today, Dr Daljit Singh said, “Navjot brought many innovative schemes for Amritsar but the Akalis, especially Bikram Singh Majithia worked against him. Even in the previous Lok Sabha elections, it was only after strict orders of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that Majithia was reined in and Sidhu won by a thin margin of barely over 6,000 votes from Amritsar constituency.” He also targeted Jaitley for trying to shun the “outsider" tag. He said, “What is the issue in buying a house in Amritsar, even Sidhu bought a house in Amritsar like Jaitley. Did he stay in Amritsar? Jaitley will also come only for holidays in Amritsar.” He said if Sidhu, who tried to work on various projects like the international airport, the Garbage-Waste Management Plan and other schemes, was shown the door due to vested interests of the Badals and their kin then how would they allow Jaitley to work for the constituency. He said the SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress have morally lost their right to seek votes.
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Traffic norms violated during poll season
Amritsar, April 23 The cops claim to be overburdened in the wake of regular rallies being held by political parties and the number of VVIP visits, too, has gone up due to elections. The city is reeling under traffic jams, especially on the GT road stretch outside the bus stand and the court road which saw a heavy rush of vehicles due to a protest by victms of 1984 riots outside Capt Amarinder Singh's office. A social activist, Brij Bedi says, "The traffic police has been removed from a busy junction at Amritsar. The cops, it is being said, are required for Narendra Modi's rally. It is total chaos outside the bus stand." Similar was the situation at the busiest stretch that leads to Hall Gate and back to Bhandari Bridge. Posh areas like Lawrence Road, the Customs intersection, Four S were the stretches which were hard to cross. Misleading No. plates
Another major lapse is that the police is turning a blind eye to rampant violation of norms whether it be putting up misleading plates on vehicles apparently to avoid police checking and project themselves as one of the influential people. This semi-circled 'red plate' with golden inscription, affixed above the number plate, is enough to frighten cops and they hesitate from searching the vehicles. The cops also show helplessness in the matter, saying that this red plate owners scare them. “We normally have little time to read the plate but it’s the red semi-circle plate which often put us in trouble as the owners of the vehicles generally get offended if they are stopped for search,” said an ASI, preferring anonymity. One such plate was located on the Court Road. It was a Chevrolet car affixed with a red plate on its front bumper. The plate reads "Chairman, Non-Govt of India". This is a dangerous practice especially when Amritsar has been declared as a sensitive constituency by the Election Commission. “Day in and day out, massive unaccounted money, arms and other forbidden material was being confiscated by the police from vehicles. Nonetheless, such misleading plates could mislead the policemen easily," said a city resident, Gurmeet Singh
Bablu.
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Political parties seek
support along caste lines
Amritsar, April 23 Similarly, factions of the Ravidas community led by Jangi Lal, Rakesh Kumar and others announced support to the SAD-BJP coalition. The Brahmin Sabha Samaj led by its chief patron, Ramesh Sharma, also proclaimed its support to the SAD-BJP coalition and others in the run- up to the Lok Sabha elections in Amritsar on April 30. A 1971 war veteran, Capt Chanan Singh Sidhu, who lost his right arm and sustained multiple injuries while his two colleagues were killed during a landslide along the Tibet border in 1970, described the new-found importance of caste groups for political parties as a retrospective move. He added that the nations and its people living in the past fail to match pace with contemporary developments taking place in other parts of the world. He said the move would weaken Indian democracy and ultimately the country. "It is dangerous for democracy and democratic values. People should vote for the candidates." A businessman, Rajan, said inventions, discoveries and medical science developed at a fast pace in the past two centuries. Their findings made various archaic beliefs and thoughts irrelevant. Political parties seeking support from these caste-based groups and the latter extending support to one of these was akin to revisiting the past. There was a need to educate and awaken people to develop scientific thoughts and understanding. In this case, political parties must take the lead.
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Security beefed up for Modi’s rally
Amritsar, April 23 Hundreds of police personnel descended at the venue. Dog squads and bomb squads were also pressed into service in order to provide tight security arrangements. Senior police officials from Punjab, including DGP Suresh Arora, besides ADGP, IG and DIG rank officials from Chandigarh today visited the site and supervised the security arrangements. Around 1,000 cops have been deputed for the security arrangements near the venue. The area has been divided into different zones while various teams headed by an IG, DIG and SSP rank officials have been formed. Evening rehearsals were also done for checking the security arrangements. Police officials, on condition of anonymity, said the security arrangements on the stage would be looked after by Special Security Bureau (SSB), which had arrived from Delhi while the remaining area had been cordoned off and would be looked after by the Punjab Police. Various roads leading to the venue have been barricaded for security purpose. A large number of traffic police personnel have also been deputed in order to streamline the traffic and avoid unnecessary traffic congestion on the route and near the venue. The city police are also likely to issue traffic diversion plans in this connection. The venue of the rally was changed to an open ground located on the Airport Road in the Ranjit Avenue area after a security team rejected the spot selected by the district administration earlier, which was located in the B-block of Ranjit Avenue.
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‘Elect a candidate who is willing to change the system’
Beginning today, the Amritsar Tribune will carry the views of eminent citizens of the Holy City, outlining their hopes from the new Amritsar MP. In the first part of the series, member, CII National Council on Public Policy and EcoAmritsar chief Gunbir Singh puts forth his views...
In the election din and the barter of votes against everything else material, what is lost is the opportunity to elucidate the aspirations of the citizen. Let’s not forget that Amritsar is the soul of Punjab, its cultural capital and fountainhead of spirituality. The expectations of both the citizens and the visitors cannot be ignored. If one were to pen down the needs of the Amritsar electorate, the first and foremost responsibility of its elected representatives is to stop procrastinating on its waste collection and disposal imperatives and rid this Holy City of its piles of garbage. The environment must be made commensurate with the aspirations of the pilgrims who travel from across the globe to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. Even if this entails setting up ample convenience, waste management systems, banning plastic bags, coming down hard on irresponsible citizens as well as administrative apathy, the city must be cleaned up on a sustainable basis. We have had a tough history, wars have been fought in our backyard, militancy has knocked the living daylights out of our economy and thousands of industrial units have closed down. The youth is devoid of job opportunities and is taking to drugs in sheer disdain. It is, therefore, imperative that an economic renaissance is planned and earnestly implemented For this border city, the Radcliffe line has proved to be a virtual bane for the region and much blood has been shed around it. However, a ray of hope did emerge with the increasing trade possibilities at the Wagah trade post. However, to our dismay, Amritsar is the only place which was discriminated against. While India and Pakistan can trade on the lucrative negative list anywhere else, Wagah is the only commercial entry point where this does not apply. It is the need of the hour that this clearly discriminatory approach is removed for the Punjab on both sides of the border to make fiduciary gains from expanded commerce which is now available elsewhere. The farm economy is flailing as well and a complete rethink needs to be done against the present day pumping of toxic chemicals and pumping out of scarce water resources to grow thirsty crops. The result is writ over the faces of impoverished farmers who make do by selling their land, as well as the rampant progress of diseases caused by pesticides and fertilisers in our soil, food and water. It is imperative that an evergreen revolution replaces Punjab’s Green Revolution encouraging natural and organic cropping for productivity and healthy progeny. The tourism sector is a necessity of this spiritual centre and it is crying for attention. International air connectivity has been ignored aplenty much to the chagrin of the Punjabi diaspora and loss of high value foreign tourism and meetings, incentive travel, conferences, events (MICE) possibilities. This needs to change and flights touching the Canadian, American, European and East Asian airports should be restarted and initiated. This holy city needs a two-fold development plan. First, there is a need to preserve and showcase heritage buildings, both residential and others, of the walled city. Exotic ancient buildings could be restored and embellished as does all of Europe. They are landmarks of the city and are being felled and plastered. Conversely, the Civil Lines area across the rail line needs to be developed in a clean and green manner. Primary education, especially in the rural areas, has not been delivering on quality. Also, the two promised universities, one a world class university from the Centre, and the Khalsa University at the state level, are yet to see the light of day. It is the need of the hour that the youth are enabled for the challenges of today, and ample opportunity needs to be provided through a robust education system. The citizens want that the government machinery should work in tandem with them to make a better Amritsar. And voters now do remember and punish unkept promises. They also have high expectations from their elected representatives. The present slugfest is being watched with amusement by some and disgust by many. While the political foes wash their dirty linen in the open, the constituents wonder whether NOTA would be their answer when they walk to the polling stations to speak their mind on the EVM. Or will the contenders refrain and address the problems of the city, the expectations of its populace, their scepticism of the system and their frustration. Perhaps it is time that these issues are laid bare, and a candidate selected who can and is willing to change the system, be elected on expectations, and deliver the mandate. We definitely need a leader who will set out a time-bound roadmap for the Holy City’s walk into the 2020s... and execute it with honesty!
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GNDU introduces new engineering courses
Amritsar, April 23 Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr MS Hundal, said the admission to various engineering courses (computer/electronics/food tech/civil/mechanical) on the university campus and its regional campuses in Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Sathiala and Sultanpur Lodhi, will be done on the basis of JEE Main -2014 conducted by the CBSE, New Delhi. “The admission process will be effected through the centralised counselling to be conducted by GNDU independently,” he said. He added that the admissions may begin in June/July and information on procedure of admission and counselling will be available soon on the university website www.gndu.ac.in. He said apart from these engineering courses, the university was also offering M Tech (computer science and engineering), M Tech (software systems), M Tech (electronics and communication engineering), M Tech (urban planning), master in planning (infrastructure), MCA (three year), MCA (five year integrated programme), B Tech (URP) as well as self-financed courses in B Tech (electronics and communication system engineering), B Tech (computer engineering) and MCA (software systems) (three year) self-financed programme. The admission to the postgraduate and self-financed courses will be through the admission process conducted by the university. He said the university was running a full time five year Bachelor's degree in architecture. “The admissions will be based on the combined merit of NATA (National Aptitude Test in Architecture) and qualifying examination in the ratio of 50:50. “It also runs a Master's degree in architecture with specialisation in urban design in the faculty of physical planning and architecture,” he said.
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Farmers’ body demands probe in land-grab case
Amritsar, April 23 General secretary of the organisation, Jasbir Singh Gandiwind, said here today victim Dalbir Kaur, a resident of Gandiwind village, had filed a complaint with the police around four months ago. She had said in her complaint that her 27 kanal and 12 marla of agricultural land was grabbed by her relatives Sarabjit Kaur and her son Parminder Singh, both residents of Kenady Avenue, by producing a fake death certificate of her husband Jaipal Singh, which was issued in August 1999. She alleged that the case was being investigated by an ACP rank official. She said the accused were trying to manipulate the probe. Jasbir Singh said the certificate was found to be fake and the MC authorities have given a report in this regard. He added that Jaipal Singh had died in 1988. Dalbir Kaur had given the land for cultivation on contract basis to the accused persons. She alleged that later the accused forged the documents and transferred the land in their name. She came to know about this in 1997. Jasbir Singh said they would launch an agitation if the police failed to take action against the accused.
— TNS
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SPCA members rescue 2 pythons
Amritsar, April 23 On a tip off, SPCA volunteers visited the area and recovered the pythons. One of them is 8-ft long and weighs 15 kg. Another is 5-ft long and weighs 7 kg. Joshi said along with the help of officials of the Forest Department, both pythons were released in the forest of Kamalpur in Ramdas
area.
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Four held on extortion charges
Amritsar, April 23 Among those arrested are Prabhjit Singh of Kapur Nagar, Sultanwind Road, Raghu Khuranna of Bagh Ramanand, Ashu Bawa of Haweli Mahant Brahmna Dass, Bagh Ramanand and Pawan Kumar of Haripura, Islamabad. Prabhjit and Raghu Khurana are both home guard jawans. Out of the two, Prabhjit used to pose as an inspector. The police recovered a handcuff, a toy pistol and a Skoda car bearing number PB-02-BA-5689, which is owned by Raghu. Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were arrested following specific information that they had formed a gang and used to extort money from people. They were held while extorting money from Jagjit Singh of New Jaspal Nagar area located on Sultanwind Road. Earlier, they took some cash and his mobile phone. It has been learnt that they demanded Rs 20,000 from him and threatened to implicate him in an NDPS case for possessing narcotic substances. Meanwhile, the police got a tip off and arrested the accused, who came to the designated spot for taking the money. A case under Sections 384 (extortion), 382 (robbery), 170 (impersonation), 506 (threatening) and 34 of the IPC has been registered against them at the Kotwali police station. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Manwinder Singh, said as per the initial probe, the accused were drug addicts and they used to extort money from drug addicts or small time drug peddlers. He said they were yet to ascertain whether Jagjit Singh was a drug addict or a drug peddler. “As the ‘victims’ also used to have some criminal past, they easily fell in their trap. After wearing police uniforms, they used to handcuff the victims and rob them of their belongings,” the ACP said. He added that further investigations were in progress. — TNS
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Woman files complaint against hospital for fraud
Amritsar, April 23 In a complaint made to the Chief Minister and director of health services, Neeraj Sharma has accused the private hospital of fraud. “The hospital admitted my father Om Parkash, who was suffering from a kidney ailment. We came to know later that the hospital did not
have any doctor who could treat a kidney patient,” she alleged. Sharma said at the time of admitting her father, the doctors had misguided her by claiming that
they had state-of-the-art facilities to treat kidney patients. She said she came to know later that neither the hospital had facilities nor specialist doctors to treat kidney patients. She added that the hospital had admitted her father with the intention of making money. “When they knew that they did not have a kidney specialist, they should have referred the patient to another hospital,”
she said. She added that the government should take strict action against the hospital as concealing facts about medical facilities provided at a hospital amounts to fraud. “When specialised treatment and facilities were not available at the hospital, why had they admitted a patient who was in a critical condition. This act on the part of the doctors of the hospital is highly unjustified, inhuman and calls for stern legal action against the guilty persons,” she said in her complaint. “It was then that the hospital called a doctor from outside and my father was examined. By that time his condition had already deteriorated and he finally passed away,” she said, adding that it was because of the negligence and fault of the hospital that her father died.
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Health Department staff hold protest
Amritsar, April 23 The pharmacists association president, Shamsher Singh
Kohri, criticised the role of office superintendents in the Health Department and said that lists of pharmacists for election duty were sent to the Deputy Commissioner with mala fide intentions. “The office staff which is not required for any emergency duty is, now, required to be assigned election duties,” said
Kohri, adding that they would intensify their protest in the coming days.
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Jail inmate jumps parole; case registered
Amritsar, April 23 According to Amritsar jail superintendent RK Sharma, the accused was granted parole on February 1 for four weeks, but he never came back to jail. “I had submitted a complaint with the police and a case has been registered,” he said.
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Manifestos tend to be fairytale narratives for citizens to make believe that their prayers are going to be answered on Election Day. Reality is often much different. Politicians tend to forget promises that they make during campaigns. The landscape and priorities change for the elected representatives once they watch the world from the air-conditioned confines of their red-beacon limousines, as against the ardour of patient visits, with folded hands, to the bylanes, for votes.