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Canvassing shows the great divide
Pharmacists submit representation to DC-cum-District Election Officer
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Jaitley's road show affects commuters
 Amritsar, April 27
Commuters had a tough time this evening during the BJP candidate Arun Jaitley's road show on the Lawrence road area. They were stuck in the middle of the traffic as policemen were also feeling the heat while regulating and diverting the traffic as a large number of BJP supporters had started gathering at the chowk at around 5 pm. The BJP leaders were also seen diverting the traffic. BJP candidate Arun Jaitley during a road show. Photos: Vishal Kumar
Shahnawaz warns residents against Cong rule
Team Modi stages street plays on social issues
Nurses threaten to boycott services
my hopes from amritsar MP
Priest booked for abducting minor
Gurdaspur another major transit point for smugglers
‘Work towards sustainability of holy city’
Forum asks power corp to adjust advance charges
Six booked for attempt to murder
Woman commits suicide
43 registration cards, 4 motorcycles seized
Two mobiles recovered from jail inmates
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Canvassing shows the great divide
Amritsar, April 27 As per the poll expenditure observers, in their maiden poll fight, SAD-BJP candidate Jaitley has spent over Rs 25.60 lakh, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) candidate Dr Daljit Singh had spent over Rs 20.50 lakh and Capt Amarinder Singh, Congress candidate, has spent over Rs 15.45 lakh on campaigning. On the other hand, candidate Sham Lal Gandhiwad could spare just Rs 15,200 on campaigning. This daily wage labourer is contesting the third election of his five-year-long ‘political career’. Attired in khadi and donning a Gandhi cap, he rides on his bicycle while his security guards follow him on their motorcycle when he is out for campaigning. How hard it could be for them to negotiate the speed of a bicycle could be anybody’s guess. “So everyone has planned as per one’s financial capacity and support. My simplicity is my asset and I am successful up to a certain extent in gaining attention from the public as well as from the media,” he said. Another candidate Bal Krishan Sharma, who owns two dhabas on the Batala road, has so far spent close to Rs 1 lakh on his campaigning. As a class XI dropout, he worked in a factory and to add to his family income, he installed a tea stall. After that, he managed to establish two dhabas. Earlier, he had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections in 2012. “My message is that hard work is the key to success and I am a live example of this,” he said. However, BSP’s Pardeep Singh Walia could also spare almost an identical sum of Rs 1.08 lakh. The CPM’s Amarjit Singh Asal has so far spent Rs 1.98 lakh and the CPI-M (Punjab) candidate Rattan Singh Randhawa has spent . The others in the humble category are some of the Independent candidates like Mohinder Singh with a total poll expenditure of Rs 22,000; Rehmat Mashi with Rs 45000; Kanwaljit Singh Sahota with Rs 87,000; Krishan Sharma with Rs 29,000; Surinder Singh Khosla with Rs 47,000; Arun Kumar Joshi with Rs 29,700; Bhagwant Singh wih Rs 42,850; Gagandeep Kumar with 35,000 and Mohinder Singh with Rs 22,500. Meanwhile, seven others were issued notices for not declaring their poll expenditure.
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Pharmacists submit representation to DC-cum-District Election Officer
Amritsar, April 27 President of the Association Satnam Singh Kohri said a representation was made as per the instructions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He said a copy of the instructions of the Election Commission dated March 29 was also attached with the representation. The association had earlier approached the HC alleging that the technical staff of the Health Department was assigned election duty in violations of the ECI guidelines which had exempted the technical staff from poll duty on the reason that these might be required for medical services. Kohri said duties to the employees should be assigned in accordance with the instructions of the Election Commission.
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Jaitley's road show affects commuters
Amritsar, April 27 Jaitley along with other senior BJP leaders, including BJP state president Kamal Sharma, reached the spot at around 7 pm. Being a Sunday, a number of residents along with their families from across the city come to the historic Ram Bagh garden for picnic and to spend leisure time. However, they were seen disturbed after they got stuck in the traffic for at least an hour. "It has been about half an hour since my family has been stuck in the traffic. I had no idea about this. I would have preferred to stay at home or visit somewhere else had I been aware of this beforehand," said Ajay Sharma, a resident of Putlighar area. He said he was going to McDonalds to spend the evening after his son insisted on it. Harpreet Singh of Guru Amar Dass Avenue pointed out that the administration should have made alternate arrangements or should have deputed more traffic police officials in order to streamline the traffic. The political leaders who are aspiring for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and local leaders irrespective of their parties should also keep in mind the convenience of the people. The police, on the other hand, said enough officials were deputed in order to regulate the traffic. The public was not put to any inconvenience due to the road show.
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Shahnawaz warns residents against Cong rule
Amritsar, April 27 Addressing media persons here today, Shahnawaz said he came to warn the people that their votes must not go waste in electing Rahul Gandhi as the nation was all set to elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. When asked that the BJP leaders consider Capt Amarinder Singh to be a tough opponent in front of Arun Jaitley, he laughed it off with the remark that “Jaitley is a king maker”. He said Jaitley could have contested from any Lok Sabha seat of his choice in the country. However, he chose Amritsar. He reasoned that Jaitley did so as he had a close association with the holy city. When reminded that Jaitley has not undertaken a visit outside the city for campaigning despite his being national leader, he answered that it was the love and affection of the people of Amritsar which held him back. The BJP's lone Muslim MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who is seeking to make a hat-trick from Bhagalpur Lok Sabha seat (in Bihar), is facing a tough contest this time. Coming from a minority section, he shared the pain of the Sikh community over the Operation Blue Star and held the Congress culpable. He said over 13,000 riots took place in the country during the Congress rule. He said now, two successive Congress-led UPA governments would be remembered for snatching away the powers of the highest institute of the country — the Prime Minister. In this case, the PM was happened to be Dr Manmohan Singh, who was a son of Amritsar. He was flanked by the BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli, BJP leader Najma Heptullah and Akali leader from Patiala Amarjit Kaur, who claims to be the wife of Capt Amarinder Singh’s uncle Kanwar Devendar Singh. Amarjit said she had represented Punjab as a Rajya Sabha member twice on the backing of the Congress. However, she had switched over to the Akalis about five years back after getting dejected with corruption in the Congress party and the style of functioning of Capt Amarinder Singh. The PPP leader from Ajnala block, Gurmej Singh Matharu, today returned to the BJP. He had earlier been associated with the saffron party some years ago.
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Team Modi stages street plays on social issues
Amritsar, April 27 A team of 35 artistes performed a nukkad natak, which talked about issues like corruption, safety concerns for women and responsible governance. Putting up a musical show complete with dhols with just one day to go before campaigning ends, Team Modi, headed by state president Sanjay Verma presented a one-to-one dialogue with the crowd on the vision required for the future leaders of the country. "Our aim is to spread a political message to support progressive leaders, which the country really needs," he said, carrying out a series of street plays generating political opinions. Sanjay's team has covered various districts in Punjab over a month. "We have done similar street plays in Jalandhar, Patiala and Moga, to motivate people to think and vote," said Verma. The audience too was patient, bearing the brunt of a hot Sunday afternoon, to be a part of the activity. The play had humourous take on several political figures, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and urged the youth to vote responsibly. "We asked the people not to waste their vote by not participating or selling their votes for personal gains. In the end, it is we the people, who will decide who will lead us fruitfully," said Verma. The same play was staged at the Lawrence road in the evening.
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Nurses threaten to boycott services
Amritsar, April 27 After a meeting of the senior association members, its president Raj Bedi Anand said four nurses from Nawashahr were recently transferred as they were leading a protest of the employees against the hospital management. "This ‘punishment’ for the employees who were peacefully pressing for their genuine demands is undemocratic and unjustified,” he said. Bedi said, "The nurses were holding a protest rally for one hour daily against the autocratic behaviour of the management. Transfer of their leaders are aimed at suppressing the voice of the employees." She said the nursing cadre in the entire state would boycott all services as maintaining registers, handing over cheques of financial assistance to new mothers and many other services were not part of their duty. She said the nurses had been cooperating with the department by taking on these additional burdens and working hard.
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‘MP must concentrate on drug, health, cleanliness problems’
The Amritsar Tribune is carrying the views of eminent citizens of the Holy City, outlining their hopes from the new Amritsar MP. In the fifth part of the series, a former medical superintendent, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, founder of Guru Ram Das Medical and Dental College and medical director of Dukh Niwaran Multi-speciality Hospital, Dr RPS Boparai, shares his views The new Member of Parliament (MP) must first and foremost begin by restoring the trust and faith of the residents in impartial allocation and spending of resources in the holy city, which has suffered at the hands of successive governments, notwithstanding loud claims to the contrary. The quality of air and drinking water are the basic determinants of the state of the public health of a region. Ironically, air-borne dust, squalor and poor road infrastructure of this constituency have become the defining feature of the daily life in Amritsar. It has led to a rise in the number of trauma cases being reported in all city hospitals. The state of health education in general and medical education in particular, needs intervention at the Central government level. What goes on in medical and dental colleges, where hundreds of vacancies of professor have been lying vacant for so many years? The essential equipment in these hospitals is either not available or lying dysfunctional. The city needs improved rail and air connectivity to encourage medical tourism. Priority wise, we need a rail link from Amritsar to Patti and Abohar, the so-called “cancer belt”. Establishment of an integrated trauma centre, cancer treatment centre and more de-addiction centres is the need of the present times. According to the state’s Directorate of Social Security, 67 per cent of rural households have at least one drug addict in the family. Most drug addicts are in the age-group of 16 to 35 years. Although the drug problem has found its way in the poll rhetoric of most political parties, the unprecedented smuggling of drugs and their easy availability is ruining our youth. This is draining our precious human resources and has becoming an explosive socio-economic issue, which needs the intervention of the local MP. The local government needs more funds and political will, besides a push by the local MP to spell out priorities. It is amazing to find Punjabis thriving everywhere in the world, but living in the unhygienic conditions like that of the 19th century in many parts of the so called Vatican of the Sikhs, even though many still consider Punjab to be the No.1 state of the country. Unless the myriad of problems are addressed in a cohesive manner by the local, state and national governments, we risk losing that distinction for a long period to come. Only after some semblance of order, development and cleanliness is restored, will the MP justify his presence in the Lok Sabha and contribute to the affairs of the city and the nation. It is not difficult. As they say, even when all seems to be lost, hope is an asset. Let us hope for the best.
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Priest booked for abducting minor
Amritsar, April 27 Parmjit Singh of Vadhava Singh Colony, Kot Mit Singh, located on the Tarn Taran road, in his statement to the police, said he was the manager of the temple management trust. The accused, identified as Rajesh, who was the priest at the shrine, used to visit his house. Rajesh is a married man. Parmjit alleged that on April 10, when he went to the temple, he found the doors locked. He said when he returned home, he did not find his daughter, who was student of Plus Two. He said along with the others, he searched for his daughter, but was unable to trace her. Parmjit said he was sure that the accused had abducted her daughter after alluring her for marriage. A case under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC has been registered against Rajesh. No arrests have been made so far.
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Gurdaspur another major transit point for smugglers
Amritsar, April 27 This clearly points that Gurdaspur has been another major transit point after the BSF tightened the security at the international border, especially Amritsar sector, which has witnessed a huge quantity of seizure of drugs in the past one and a half year. This came to light during the interrogation of four notorious smugglers nabbed by the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) for allegedly possessing 22 kg of heroin worth Rs 110 crore in the international market, Rs 10 lakh in Indian currency, besides a pistol and six live cartridges. Those arrested were identified as Jagjit Singh, alias Laddi of Dinanagar, Pathankot, Davinder Singh, alias Goldy of Arjechak village in Gurdaspur, Kuldip Singh, alias Babbu of village Hawelian in Tarn Taran, and Harbinder Singh of Gaji Nangal, Batala (Gurdaspur). The sources in the SSOC came in contact with each other in Amritsar Central Jail where they were lodged in different cases. They were held from Fatehgarch Churian road following a tip-off. They were waiting for someone to deliver the consignment in an Innova car bearing the registration number PB-14-C-7600. It has been learnt that the accused were working on the directions of a Delhi-based peddler and the police teams have been sent to Delhi for his arrest. Jagjit Singh who is reportedly the president of a truck union was wanted in over 20 cases including those of drug peddling and attempt to murder. He is wanted by the Gurdaspur police in smuggling cases. Another smuggler Kuldip Singh was also wanted by the DRI in connection with the seizure of 26 kg of heroin in a canter while he was also involved in fleeing with another infamous drug peddler Dr Balwinder Singh in 2007. As per the preliminary probe, the four accused were involved in cross-border drug smuggling for quite a long time now and they had recently procured two consignments of heroin from the neighbouring nation. These consignments were disposed by them as per the directions of their handlers from across the border fence. “This was the third consignment in the past one month which they had managed to sneak into the Indian side of the border from Pakistan. The pistol recovered from them was a part of the drug consignment,” said Manmohan Singh, AIG, Counter Intelligence. He said that the accused smuggled the consignment from the border region of Gurdaspur sector while adding that they were trying to locate the areas from where the drugs were being smuggled in Gurdaspur belt. He said more arrests were likely to be made in the near future following the interrogation of the four suspects.
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‘Work towards sustainability of holy city’
Amritsar, April 27 Dr Rajwant Singh, president of EcoSikh, made an appeal to all candidates, especially belonging to the SAD-BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party to show their commitment. He said, "Amritsar is suffering from major environmental ills and we feel that it is high time that our candidates display their seriousness in resolving these long-term sustainability challenges." Eco-Amritsar's chairman Gunbir Singh, said, "Amritsar is a spiritual centre and hosts a tourist population of close to 35 million visitors a year. However, the present infrastructure of the city is unable to cope with the increasing pressure on the natural resources of the holy city. Lack of proper sewage carrying systems and treatment plants, waste collection and management mechanisms, public conveniences are missing. In addition, rapid decline in water quality and depletion of water table is threatening the health and the very existence of the city.”
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Forum asks power corp to adjust advance charges
Amritsar, April 27 The forum has directed the power corporation to set aside a demand of Rs 1,129 raised from a local consumer earlier last year. Earlier, SP Kapoor, a resident of Hussainpura East locality, in a complaint against the Punjab State Power Corporation, stated that he received a bill for Rs 5,130 dated July 30, 2013, for consuming 460 units in which Rs 2,258 had been charged as previous arrears. Kapoor said he was paying bills regularly and nothing was due against him. The opposite party in its reply stated that Rs 2,258 was charged as security charges. It was submitted that instead of charging Rs 1,129, the computer charged Rs 1,129 twice. The corporation stated that the error was corrected and Rs 1,129 was charged as security (consumption charges), which are as per the rules and regulations of the opposite party vide Electricity Supply Code and Related Matters, Regulations 2007. The forum observed that though the amount of Rs 1,129 has been charged as advance consumption deposit, which is an additional security, but it was done without following proper procedure. The forum stated that as per the rules and regulations of the opposite party itself, regulation No. 124.1 of the Electricity Supply Regulations vide makes it incumbent upon the opposite party to issue a separate notice to the consumer for any demand other than the current consumption charges of electricity, which has not been followed in this case. The forum observed that the opposite party had charged the amount in the column of the previous arrears and not in the column of security, which was also not permissible and not as per rules and regulations of the opposite party because security is refundable to the consumer, whereas previous arrears are not refundable to the consumer. The forum stated that the opposite party has thus violated its own rules and regulations and as such it should adjust the amount of Rs 1,129 towards future consumption of the consumer if he has already paid the amount.
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Six booked for attempt to murder
Amritsar, April 27 Hari Chand, a resident of Azad Nagar, Putlighar area, in his complaint to the police, alleged that when his younger brother Ram Chander, reached near Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Putlighar, the accused stabbed him with sharp- edged weapons. He was rushed to the hospital, where his condition was stated to be serious. The accused attacked Ram when he tried to stop them from using foul language on the road, said Hari. This led to an altercation, which took an ugly turn and the accused stabbed him with sharp-edged weapons. The police said a case under Sections 307, 323,324, 148, 149, 341 and 160 of the IPC has been registered in this connection. No arrests have been made so far. The police said raids were being conducted to nab the culprits.
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Woman commits suicide
Amritsar, April 27 The police have arrested both the accused, identified as Sunny and Money, residents of Street No. 1, Indira Colony, Jhabal Road. Joga Singh, brother of the deceased and resident of Dande village, in his statement to the police, said that on the morning of April 26, he received a call from his sister Kulwinder Kaur that the accused were beating her. He said by the time he along with several members of the family went to meet her, she already had committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan. The police have registered a case under Sections 306, 34 of the IPC at Gate Hakima police station on the basis of the statement of Joga Singh and arrested the accused. The body was handed over the family members after a post- mortem examination.
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43 registration cards, 4 motorcycles seized Amritsar, April 27 The police said they have confiscated spare parts of the stolen motorcycles from his shop which he had dismantled. Amardeep Singh, a resident of Mule Chak village, told the police that on April 25, he parked his motorcycle bearing the number PB-06-J-1810 outside Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh which was stolen. He said his friend Sarabjit Singh of Mule Chak told him that the accused had fled with his motorcycle. He was booked under Sections 379, 411, 489 and 201 of the IPC. During the interrogation, it was found that the accused used to steal motorcycles and sell them after forging the documents and tampering with the registration and chassis number.—TNS
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Two mobiles recovered from jail inmates Amritsar, April 27 The accused have been identified as under trial Baljinder Singh, alias Billa Fukra, son of Gian Singh, a resident of the jail road, and Shamsher Singh, son of Dilbag Singh, a resident of Beas. According to the jail superintendent, RK Sharma, two mobile phones have been recovered from Baljinder and Shamsher. A case under Section 420 of the IPC and 42 Prisoners Act has been registered. —TNS
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Amritsar Tribune invites feedback from its readers on issues of public concern relating to Amritsar city and the nearby areas. Readers can email their views to feedback.asr@gmail.com They can also send their views to: Feedback, Amritsar Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh - 160029. Letters sent by post must mention 'Feedback for Amritsar Tribune' on the envelope and it should be signed and must contain the address and telephone number of the sender. It should not be more than 150 words.
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