Amritsar, May 10
Aficionados of Pakistani cotton and non-vegetarian items made a killing on the third day of The Pakistan Show. "A huge rush of people was witnessed on the third day of the show," claimed Dalip Sharma, director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has taken a lead in establishing a friendly and cordial relation with various chambers of commerce and industry in Pakistan by encouraging cooperation among industrialists and entrepreneurs from both the nations," Sharma said.

Sukhdev Raj, a senior member of the managing committee of the chamber, said, "There should be the maximum sharing of information between the two countries as it would increase trade with a major thrust on education, infrastructure, food processing and energy."

"We have already signed many memorandums of understandings (MoUs) with our pakistani counterparts to promote joint ventures and the exchange of technical expertise besides facilitating interaction between industrialists, businessmen and entrepreneurs," he said.

As per the MoUs, it has been agreed that strategic proposals, suggestions and recommendations, which are consequential and significant in the strengthening of bilateral relations should be formulated to attract investment, organise and maintain a database to identify and promote products and services besides taking measures to build mutual trust.

Khursheed Barlas, chief executive, Pak World Trade and Expo Centre, said there was a lot of scope for trade in handicrafts, textile, surgical items, sports goods and renewable energy.

Indo- Pak expos provide a platform to the traders and people of both the countries to understand each other and remove the mistrust between the two countries," he said. 

Amritsar, May 10
Even as the Government Medical College (GMC) here is on way to introduce many super-specialty services, the state government has still not invited applications to fill up the vacant posts of the faculty.

The hospital had recently conducted the first ever open heart surgery of a patient with a hole in the heart, the first ever in the public sector hospital, but the undisputed fact is that 50 per cent faculty seats of the Department of Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery are lying vacant. At present, only two persons are working in the department.

The college was earlier selected for infrastructure up gradation under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY), which will help introduce more super specialities.

However, the shortage of the faculty at the college may hinder its progress in the direction. An official of the college said more than 30 per cent seats of the regular faculty were lying vacant.

“Filling up vacant posts at the college should be the foremost priority as in absence of trained manpower, the high end machinery will be of no use,” said a faculty member.

The government had recently made appointments of senior residents, which decreased the workload on doctors working in the hospital.

“Non holding of the department promotion meetings during the last few years has led to the crises. As people from higher positions retired, juniors were not promoted to fill senior positions, which led to the stalling of new appointments at the entry-level positions. There seems to be a change in the government attitude now. Things seem to have started moving,” said a senior faculty member. 

Amritsar, May 10
Even as Lahore is less that 40 km from Amritsar, yet traders from there are getting their merchandise to showcase in the five-day The Pak Show via Delhi.

With governments of India and Pakistan permitting only limited number of items to trade, members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry were forced to despatch their cargo from Lahore to Delhi by road and then return to Amritsar.

There are four prominent items up for sale in the exhibition underway at a high-end shopping mall in the city. These items are textile, leather foot wears, marble show pieces and crockery items. Of these, textile is the mainstay of the show in which women's ethnic wear dominate.

A trader from Pakistan, Bushra, said she had to shell out Rs 500 per kg of material, which also includes customs duty. She brought in about 115 kg cargo this time. She said the cargo was despatched from Lahore to Delhi and then to Amritsar. She said had the governments allowed the trade of textile from the Integrated Check Post (ICP), they could have saved unnecessary expenses on transportation. Then they would have been in a position to pass on the benefit to customers.

Another textile trader from Pakistan, Fawad, said he brought over 1,000 kg women's suits which cost him about 3,000 US dollars on taxes and transportation.

However, the similar norm is not prevalent in the case of marble and wooden handicraft showpieces from Pakistan, said Babar Iqbal. He said he brought about 45 kg of material via the ICP on Attari-Wagah border after paying a customs duty of Rs 22,000.

Similarly, Arif of Gujaranwala, who has put up a stall of melamine crockery, said he had to pay about Rs 200 per kg as taxes and freight charges. He said he brought about 700 kg of crockery via dry ports between Lahore and Attari.

These traders demanded that both governments must grant permission to more items to be traded across the neighbouring nations. They said there was a tremendous scope to bolster the bilateral trade. 

Amritsar, May 10
A majority of the food samples collected from shops continue to fail the quality test despite a campaign being run by the Health Department against substandard food.

In March, at least 50 per cent of the food samples collected from various shops in the city failed on quality parameters. District Health Officer Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said 23 of the total 46 samples collected by the Health Department failed quality test. Five of the failed samples were found unsafe for human consumption while the rest of them fell in substandard or misbranded categories, added the District Health Officer.

Earlier, a large number of samples had failed quality tests. In January and February this year, the department had collected a total of 108 samples. As many as 45 of these collected samples (40 per cent of the total) failed the quality test.

In December last year, the department had collected 61 samples out of which 21 failed the quality tests.

The District Health Officer said many of these samples were collected from well-known and famous eateries. “When it comes to food sample collection, we spare no one. Even eateries, which are run by influential people, have been raided by our teams.”

He said the Health Department took notice of every complaint or information passed on by the residents.

“Sometimes people come to us with a complaint that shopkeepers sell substandard food. We immediately plan an inspection of the shop, whose complaint has been lodged by a resident,” said Kahlon, adding that the general public needed to be more vigilant and aware of its rights. 

Amritsar, May 10
Senior BJP leader Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has decided the holding of a protest against the MC for permitting to hold a religious function at the Gol Bagh from May 16.

She said the park was one of the few well maintained parks near the walled city, which was known for its narrow roads. She claimed that a leader of her party was instrumental in getting the permission for the programme.

She said a gathering of 20,000 people would wreak havoc on the plants and trees there. " Amid the unregulated construction acitivies, no attention has been paid to the gardens in the city. The deplorable condition of the Gol Bagh was brought to my notice when I was a minister in the previous government. I gave funds out of my discretionary quota for its landscaping and the plantation of saplings.It revived the glory of the park, which was the venue for several anti-British rallies during the freedom struggle," she said.

A majority of the development work in the park was carried out by the Rs 50 lakh grant provided by Chawla.

She was also credited with setting up the state's first herbal garden in Gol Bagh in 2010. However, the poor maintenance of the park destroyed 30 saplings of kachnar, brahmi, amaltas, amla, vasa and kawargandal.

The meeting of the All-India Congress Committee was held at the Gol Bagh in 1919. The meeting was presided over by Pandit Motilal Nehru. During the British rule, the Gol Bagh was called Aitchision Park.

Chawla demanded the revocation of the permission. She said more efforts should be made to maintain the park. Meanwhile, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said a vacant portion of the park has been allotted for the function to a religious body with a pre-condition that any loss to the flora and fauna would be compensated by them. 

Jalandhar, May 10
A Health Department team today raided TS Foods at Basti Gujjan and a house at Talhan village. The team found contaminated sweets from the two places.

While it collected samples from TS Foods, it recovered 25 packets of skimmed milk powder, two packets of urea and 100 gm of sodium bicarbonate from the house. “We received information about contaminated sweets being made at the two venues. We conducted a raid and found contaminated sweets and adulterated milk We have sent the samples for testing at Chandiagrh,” said Dr Harjot Singh. 

Jalandhar, May 10
Two shops, including a general store and a boutique, were burgled in the city last night. The first burglary was reported on the Mithapur road where thieves struck at Raju General Store. Interestingly, while thieves were attempting to break open the shutter with a gas-cutter, the shop caught fire.

Raju, the shop owner, said goods worth lakhs were gutted in the fire, adding that a complaint was lodged at the police division No. 7 in this regard.

The second incident was reported at SS Nagar, where burglars struck at a boutique and decamped with several stitched suits and Rs 12,000. Sources said the burglars broke open the shutter with a gas-cutter.

The police were conducting investigation in the case.— TNS

Amritsar, May 10
Arif Lohar is the only constant that Sufi lovers have in Amritsar. The popular Pakistani folk artiste gave yet another scintillating performance and touched the right chords at the ongoing Pakistan Show. This time, it was his popular Bollywood and Pollywood numbers that had the crowd craving for more.

"Performing in India is always special. I am thankful to the people of Punjab for giving me such respect, admiration and love," he confessed as soon as he took the stage. His signature style intact, Lohar was dressed in an impeccable Sufi attire complete with the 'chimta' that he says has become one of the things his audience loves about him.

For someone who took the Western world by storm with his fusion album "21st Century Jugni", hit all the right chords with his music in Bollywood and he now enjoys a most loyal fan base. Arif has become a global ambassador for traditional Sufi music. His originality and energy almost cast a spell, even for those listening to him for the first time. "I don't sing, I am a faqir," he said, his passion quite visible and contagious for the audience. What followed after that was his popular song "Jugni", with the same cause and effect.

The performance had a few instances of fusion with guitar and Sufi-rock that proves his versatility as a performer. "Originality is never compromised but fusion does provide an outlet to reach out to the international market. It's like selling 'saag' as a toppingfor pizza, innovative yet acceptable," he had once said. His growing popularity among youngsters as an icon is a result of his fusion music.

Arif's performance will be followed by another entertaining evening and performance by popular Pakistani folk artiste, Malkoo. 

Amritsar, May 10
A team from the Heath Department raided various shops in Khoya (skimmed milk) Market, near Lohgarh, and seized 350 kg of adulterated and substandard khoya. The seized khoya was later thrown into a nullah.

District Health Officer Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said the market was supplying khoya to most of the sweetmeat shops in the city. He said on seeing the health team, many shopkeepers fled abandoning their shops.

He said it was found that the khoya sold by these shops was of poor quality. Khoya is a prominent ingredient used in many sweets. Insiders in the trade said it was not hard to synthesise khoya.

They said, “Refined oil, powdered milk, sugar, besides urea, a common fertilizer, is used for making synthetic khoya. Urea is added to turn the mixture a little white, the colour of the khoya. Sugar is added to make it sweet and refined oil helps in adding the fat content.”

In another method for making synthetic khoya, powdered milk is added to pure khoya to increase its weight. ‘Ghachak’, a powder, is also kneaded with oil to make khoya.

A person, associated with the trade, said, “The simple test for judging the poor quality of khoya in sweets, especially barfi is that a poor quality barfi makes a lump inside the mouth while pure khoya dissolves.”

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