Amritsar, May 4
In a shocking incident, a girl jumped from the roof of her house to escape from the clutches of four youths who allegedly tried to sexually assault and rape her.

The 19-year-old girl, a resident of Palam Vihar, Majitha Road, sustained severe injuries. The incident took place on April 29. Earlier, the family of the girl did not lodge a complaint with the police as many prominent persons of the area were trying to strike a compromise, claimed the police.

The Sadar police have now registered a case under Sections 376, 511, 452, 354, 506 and 34 of the IPC against four persons on the charges of attempt to rape, criminal trespass, sexual assault and threatening the girl. Those booked include Bab and Rinka, both residents of Ganda Singh Wala, Majitha Road, and their two unidentified accomplices.

The victim, in a statement to the police, alleged that Rinka used to stalk her whenever she visited the beauty parlour where she worked. Initially, she ignored his advances but he continued with his heinous plans. Perturbed over this, she complained to her parents about this following which he tendered an apology before her parents.

However, the accused harboured a grudge against her and to teach her a lesson, he, along with his accomplices, barged into the house and tried to rape her. The incident took place on the evening of April 29 when she was alone at home. She ran towards the gate but she found three of his accomplices blocking her way. They also tried to catch her. She then ran towards the roof of the house and jumped.

On hearing her cries, her cousin reached the spot. Meanwhile, the accused fled. She alleged that instead of realising their fault, they started threatening her and her family.

Sarabjit Kaur, the investigating officer, said raids were being conducted to nab the accused.

Amritsar, May 4
The tardy lifting of wheat in the district has posed a problem for labourers and farmers. It has led to space crunch in many of the grain markets in the district. Only 2,21,185 metric tonnes of wheat has been transported to godowns out of the 4,02,914 metric tonnes of wheat procured by various agencies.

As per Mandi Board officials, 4,18,108 metric tonnes of wheat had arrived in all the markets of the district till yesterday evening.

Many commission agents at Bhagatawala Grain Market said as a result of tardy lifting of the crop, farmers were facing difficulty in finding space for their produce. “Wheat should be lifted as soon as possible so that the required space could be made available to other farmers. Most of the space in the grain markets has been occupied by wheat bags, which have already been purchased by government agencies and private players,” said commission agent Joginder Singh.

Of the total procurement so far, the private players have procured only 7,033 metric tonnes of wheat. Pungrain has procured 85,863 metric tonnes of wheat while the FCI has procured 47,875 metric tonnes of wheat. Punsup has procured 95,524 metric tonnes of wheat. Markfed, Punjab Agro and the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation have procured 85,431, 42,691 and 38,497 metric tonnes of wheat, respectively.

At a meeting with officials of various procurement agencies, the Deputy Commissioner has asked them to expedite the lifting of wheat.

Amritsar, May 4
The city-made printing and packaging machinery is in demand in Pakistan but in the absence of permission to export it directly to Pakistan, it is being exported via Dubai.

This was stated by the Indian Printing Packaging Machinery Manufacturing Association (IPAMA) president, KS Khurana, who today returned from the UAE after participating in the Print Pack Arabia exhibition.

Khurana, who is also the vice-president of the Global Print Association, said there was a high demand for the locally manufactured machinery in Pakistan. “Since the Pakistan government does not permit its procurement from India, buyers from Pakistan buy it from Dubai-Sharjah.”

He said due to this, Pakistani traders were spending extra money on travel to Dubai. Some Delhi and Mumbai-based companies were buying the local machinery and selling it to Pakistan traders on higher prices under their own hallmark, he said.

About the exhibition, Print Pack Arabia, Khurana said the locally manufactured printing machinery was sold like a hot cake during the exhibition.

"As many as 77 countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and South Africa, also took part in the exhibition. As many as 88 exhibitors from India participated in the exhibition," he said.

The Indian, especially Amritsar-made printing-packaging machinery, was appreciated for being affordable, he said.

"Many countries buy the printing-packaging machinery from the developed countries like the USA, the UK and Germany. In comparison to the machinery made in these nation, the Amritsar-based machinery is 60 to 70 per cent cheaper. Moreover, the quality of our machinery is superior to the machinery made in the developed countries," Khurana said.

Khurana said members of the IPAMA were doing $12.1 billion business. “It makes India the 12th largest manufacturer. Amritsar has already become the hub of printing, packing binding industry as it fulfils 50 per cent of the demand of the packing machinery in the country," he added.

Over 250 units are manufacturing the machinery in the city.

Amritsar, May 4
As the summer has arrived, a casual tee and jean is the mantra to beat the heat in style but why play safe when you can play around with lots of summer accessories this season. While style experts believe in the minimal dressing and pastels for the season, cool cottons and linens are the perfect fabric. With bandanna and loads junk jewellery and you are ready to step out in the sun.

The wardrobe must have shorts, dresses and loads of tees. "Pair them up with jeans or linen trousers, the look never goes wrong," advises Soni Singh, a city-based stylist. Also, summer dresses in cottons, chiffons and georgette glamorise your day.

Accessories make up for the minimal wardrobe in summer. "Baseball caps are not just for the boys. In fact, they look better on girls because they can carry it with style," says city-based designer Tarika Mehta.

She recommends caps with rounded front flaps for the girls. You can get these in all sizes, shapes and designs.

"A hat, whether a baseball one or a wide brimmed sun hat, looks fabulous when worn with a casual outfit. Do not wear it with formals, lest you want heads to turn, " tells Tarika.

Girls can team up these caps with short denim skirts and even capris. Coloured printed caps and washed ones in denims are in demand. In addition to these, you can also go in for designer caps. These are priced at between Rs 150 and 600.

Scarves are a favourite this season as a scarf can be used in different ways. Light cotton, chiffon wraps and scarves can be tied with your bag or just simply worn around the neck. "Scarves are a multi-utility summer fashion accessory. For a smart trendy look, you can tie a bandana in different styles, depending on what you can carry. It can be tied on the back, a very common style, or you can let some portion of it fall on the shoulders," says Tarika. 

Amritsar, May 4
A 25-year-old married woman today alleged that she was sexually assaulted and raped by her landlord. The victim, a resident of Airport Colony, stated to police that her husband was a rickshaw puller and she lived, along with her husband, in a rented accommodation owned by Sonu (35). She alleged that her husband had gone for work and she was alone at home when the accused forcibly took her to his room and raped her.

The incident came to light when the victim narrated the whole incident to her husband on his return. The police have registered a case.— TNS 

Amritsar, May 4
Two persons lost their lives in two separate road accidents in the rural areas adjoining the city in the past 24 hours.

Gurdip Singh, a resident of Dardewali village, was crushed to death by a speeding tractor-trailer.

He, along with his cousin Joga Singh and their relative Prince, was standing at the Rayya bus stand when the tractor-trailer hit them.

Joga Singh told the police that Gurdep died on the spot while Prince sustained serious injuries. The driver fled from the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.

The Jandiala police have registered a case under Sections 304-A, 337, 338, 427 of the IPC against driver, Bakshish Singhm, a resident of Ferozepur, in this connection.

In another road accident, Bhupinder Singh of Kang village in Tarn Taran district was killed when his tractor collided with a tractor-trailer.

Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar and relative of the deceased, said they were returning after unloading wheat at Dadduana village when a tractor-trailer driven by Sikander Singh of Bhilowal village hit their vehicle. Due to the impact, their vehicle overturned, critically injuring Bhupinderm, who later succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital.

Amritsar, May 4
The tight vigil and various gadgets to check the sneaking in of forbidden material into the Amritsar Central Jail have proved fruitless as there has been no let up in the smuggling of mobiles and intoxicants into the jail.

The registration of a fresh case against the jail inmates, from whose possession mobile phone, drugs or any other objectionable material was found, have failed to deter the culprits. There have been at least five cases in April, when the authorities seized mobile phones and intoxicants from the inmates, including the recent case of a Pakistani national.

A Samsung mobile phone was recovered today from Harpreet Singh, an undertrial, during a routine search. Jail Superintendent RK Sharma said this phone along with a battery was recovered from the accused and a case under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 42 of the Prisoners Act was registered.

The jail authorities had installed an X-ray machine some time back to scan and check the kin of the jail inmates, who came to meet them. The constraint here is that the machine was capable of spotting the metallic objects, including mobile phones, but cannot detect narcotics. Therefore, it seldom served the basic purpose. Despite the detection of mobile phones by the machine, there has been a spurt in the cases of mobile seizures on the jail premises.

The most shocking instance came to light on May 2, when a Samsung GTE 22T mobile phone with battery was recovered from a Pakistani national. The accused, identified as Rasheed Ahmed alias Commando, son of Mohammad Usran Musalman, is a resident of the Saidoke district, Narowal, Pakistan. This mobile was without SIM.

“This Pakistani national was nabbed in 2012 under the NDPS Act. The mobile phone proved his ill-designs and involvement in the narcotics trade. We have kept an eye on him from the day he was found carrying the phone. His production warrant is being sought for further investigations,” said Sharma.

The superintendent admitted that despite taking stringent measures, the inmates adopted innovative ways of smuggling mobiles, drugs and tobacco products into the jail.

The instance of stuffing the banned material in articles, even in raw vegetables or daily use items like soap or tooth paste tube etc had surfaced many times earlier also. In a rarest of rare cases, Narinder Singh, an inmate, already serving trial under the NDPS Act, was caught with a packet of 10 gm heroin around six months ago, which he had concealed in his rectum. 

April 26: Two mobile phones were recovered from undertrial Baljinder Singh alias Billa Fukra and and prisoner Shamsher Singh.

April 17: An activated mobile phone with Airtel connection (No. 89687-84078), battery and one gram smack was recovered from Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi, an undertrial.

April 9: A dual SIM mobile phone and two batteries were recovered from Ashok Yadav, an undertrial.

April 8: A dual SIM Karbonn make mobile phone and a 2 GB memory card was recovered from Nachhattar Singh, an undertrial.

March 27: The Amritsar Central Jail staff recovered mobile from an undertrial and a SIM from another inmate in separate instances. Mobile phone was seized from Shamsher Singh, while the SIM card was confiscated from Lakhwinder Singh.

March 12: Mobile phone was recovered from Sunny alias Ghugu, an inmate.

Amritsar, May 4
With the elections coming to an end, the police are also back on roads to regulate the traffic in the city.

As per the police officials, the city has been bifurcated into four zones, each to be supervised by an inspector rank official. As many as 290 policemen have been deputed for managing the traffic and preventing snarls.

The policemen have been provided breath analysers for checking drunken driving, night vision batons to regulate the commuters and fluorescent jackets to make their presence felt during night hours.

Any person having alcohol content exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml of blood or under the influence of a drug rendering him incapable of driving the vehicle properly is liable to be charged for impaired driving under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act-88.

The punishment for drunken driving can be extended up to two years of imprisonment or may attract fine up to Rs 3000.

As per sources, the traffic police used to collect between Rs 25-30 lakh per month by challaning the offenders. This exercise was halted in the wake of General Elections. “Earlier, the challaning drive was stalled on the directions from the higher-ups. Moreover, the staff was needed for poll duties for conducting free and fair elections. Now, when the elections are over, the policemen, including the lady staff is back on duty,” said an official.

Nonetheless, the drive to check the papers of the vehicles and the traffic offenders has gained momentum.

D Jatinder, traffic in-charge, said the traffic violators would be dealt with sternly. “We have been conducting random checking of vehicles at many points in the city. This drive will be extended till late evening to check the drunken driving and any visible offence like road rage, wrong side pass etc,” said the traffic in-charge. 

Amritsar, May 4
A conference on heart diseases for updating medical fraternity about the latest advances in cardiology was organised by Carewell Hospital here today. Speaking on the occasion, Rohit Kapoor, a cardiologist, said heart failure was drastically increasing among Punjabi community.

Papers were presented by Dr Harshbir Pannu, Dr Mann Anand and Dr Adarsh Kumar during the conference.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Rohit said heart attack and heart failure were two different but interrelated problems. He said in heart attack, the heart vessels were blocked and then came an attack. On the other hand, in case of heart failure, the heart gets weak and does not pump blood according to the needs of the body.

“The prime factor, which contributes to heart failure is smoking apart from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and stress. Smoking cigarette increases the chances of heart failure by up to 20 times,” said Dr Rohit.

“The symptoms of heart failure include breathlessness, giddiness and unconsciousness and fast heart beat. In case, a patient experiences any one of these symptoms, he must consult a doctor immediately,” added Dr Rohit.

A heart failure mostly occurs after the age of 65 and in order to escape from it, one should reduce weight, control diabetes and high blood pressure, refrain from cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol, exercise regularly and take a balanced diet.

Amritsar, May 4
A Class XII student of DAV Public School, Saksham Sharma, has clinched the first rank in Punjab in the JEE mains.

He scored 337 out of 360 marks. Son of Dr Suman Sharma, a veterinary doctor and Anupama Sharma, a Central School teacher, Saksham remained a topper in academics throughout his educational career. He also secured merit positions in the national competitive examinations.

He won the prestigious National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholarship at the high school level.

He was awarded Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) fellowship, a programme funded by the Department of Science and Technology of the Central Government, aimed at encouraging students to take up research career in the fields related to sciences. He also cleared the prestigious Physics Olympiad (NSEP) meant for Class XII students.

He and his team clinched the first prize in the international design competition in the NASA Ames Space Settlement Design Contest 2012, in the grade 9-10 category for designing the ‘Radeios Space Settlement’, a future space settlement to house as many as 19,000 people in an earth-like environment in the space. Saksham is now preparing for JEE advance to get admission in an IIT.

Amritsar, May 4
The student council of Spring Dale Senior School took charge today. The council, which has a majority of girl students, will help students to take important decisions concerning them.

The 266-member student council also comprises leaders of the 13 clubs run by the school, four houses and the Editorial Board of the school. The council members took an oath to serve their alma mater and their country faithfully.

BSF DIG MF Farooqui presided over the event. As many as 100 meritorious students, who secured merit positions in performing arts, creative arts, various Olympiads and sports, were honoured at the function.

Of the 266 student leaders, as many as 100 are boys. The newly elected student leaders were decorated with sashes.

Addressing the gathering, Sahiljit Singh Sandhu, director, Spring Dale Educational Society, said, students should certainly be included in the policy making and decision making programmes. “Unless they are given a chance to handle responsibility, students will not be able to grasp the nuances of fine polity and leadership,” said the director.

There was also a dire need to ensure that to be trained as future leaders the youth must get ample opportunities to mingle with the underprivileged masses to act as a bridge between them and the government to facilitate a fruitful two-way interaction, added the director.

“The students have to learn how to shoulder responsibilities that involve decision making. The need of the hour is to hone their leadership qualities and develop skills that will help them emerge as responsible citizens and leaders,” he remarked. 

Amritsar, May 4
In order to spread the message against rampant drug abuse prevailing in the border areas of the district, the Border Security Force (BSF) organised a seminar at a Government School in Khasa here today.

While addressing the participants, Deputy Commandant of BSF Rabinder Jha said, “The students are the future of the country. They should keep distance from drugs.” He told students about the health hazards and other disadvantages of drug abuse. He called upon them to join hands in their fight against the scourge, which had eaten the very foundations of society with a large number of youths falling into the grip of this menace.

He appealed to the students to spread the message of shunning drugs among their family members, friends and neighbours. He said efforts were being made by the BSF to wean away youth from drug addiction. A number of youth managed to come back to normal life after attending the de-addiction camp organised by the BSF authorities, said the Deputy Commandant while encouraging others to join the force in its campaign against drug abuse.

The BSF also distributed posters on the theme of de-addiction campaign, a brain child of DIG, BSF Amritsar sector, MF Farooqui.

The force is also organising nukkad nataks, de-addiction campaigns, holding meetings with villagers in order to spread the message.

Rabinder Jha said they had received a huge response during the campaign. 

Amritsar, May 4
A local girl, Nimrat Kang, clinched the final of the All India Ranking Championship Tournament for Under-14 Boys and Girls by defeating Chandigarh’s Prince Panchal 6-4, 6-3 on the second day of the three-day event. The match was played at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Tennis Complex at Ram Bagh Gardens here today.

Nimrat and Prince were locked in a keen contest before the former won the match with her strong forehand.

Five matches were played on the penultimate day of the tournament. The results of the matches played are as follows: Nimrat kang (Pb) beat Prince Panchal (Chd) 6-4, 6-3 in the girls’ under-14 finals.

In the under-14 semi-final for boys, Calvin Golmei (Chd) beat Ishaan Anirudh (Ukhand) 6-1, 6-1; Aanmol Ratan Kamboj (Chd) beat Sahishnu Sharma (Chd) 6-1, 6-2. In the boys under-14 (doubles) semi-final match, Sahishnu Sharma (Chd), Akshit Chhabra (Chd) and Anmol Ratan Kamboj (Chd) beat Jasman Preet (Pb) 4-5, 4-2, (5). In the second semi-final, Bhupinder Dahiya (Chd), Gunraj Singh (Pb) and Shashikant Rajput (Chd) beat Jasraj Singh (Pb) 4-0, 4-1.

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