siesta: A rickshaw-puller enjoys a nap on a sunny day under the shade of a tree outside the Company Bagh in Amritsar on Monday. photo: vishal kumar

Faulty design of Kitchlew Chowk flyover: 10 trees along airport road axed
Amritsar, July 7
The local MP, Capt Amarinder Singh, had sometime back given a warning against indiscriminate cutting of trees in the name of development or widening of roads. This was followed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s statement that “the SAD-BJP government will not tolerate any damage to the green cover of cities and rural areas in the state at any cost,” on May 29.
One of the fully grown trees that have been felled on the court road to pave the way for a flyover over Kitchlew Chowk in Amritsar. photo: vishal kumar

Narcotics seized from undertrial
Amritsar, July 7
The Amritsar jail authorities have recovered around 5.80 gm narcotics from an undertrial who was lodged in the jail in connection with a fraud case.

Cops nab six with narcotics, illicit liquor 3
Amritsar, July 7
The city police have nabbed six persons for allegedly possessing narcotics and illicit liquor.

Labour Minister meets trade association representatives
Amritsar, July 7
In a meeting with various trade associations, held to discuss labour issues, Labour Minister Chunni Lal Bhagat said the state government was committed for the cause of betterment of construction labourers.


Labour Minister Chunni Lal Bhagat (centre) holds a meeting with industrialists in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Placement drive at CKD Institute
Amritsar, July 7
A placement session was held recently at CKD Institute of Management and Technology for its MBA students. Videocon Telecom selected 17 students of the college for various locations like Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Amritsar, during the mega job festival.

GNDU hiking camp concludes
Amritsar, July 7
A hiking-trekking camp for boys was organised by Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) at Students Holiday Home, Dalhousie. As many as 96 students from 12 affiliated colleges participated in the camp. The camp was hosted by the Department of Youth Welfare.


Participants of the hiking-trekking camp at Students Holiday Home, Dalhousie. A Tribune Photograph

Prime accused in sarpanch murder case nabbed
Amritsar, July 7
The Ramdass police have arrested Jaspal Singh, a resident of Chhanna Bedi village, in connection with the murder of Pritam Singh, sarpanch of the same village. He was stabbed to death by the accused over a minor dispute on the evening of July 4.

SIT yet to submit report in false case
Amritsar, July 7
The Special Investigating Team (SIT), formed by the Inspector General (IG) border range, to conduct a probe into the alleged false implication of a youth of Mahal village into a drug trafficking case has failed to submit its report even after the end of the allocated period.

30 per cent food samples fail test
Amritsar, July 7
The Health Department has been running a campaign to check sale of sub-standard and unhygienic food in the city markets, but a large number of samples continue to fail the test, indicating that shopkeepers are not willing to improve the quality of food.

 

Amritsar, July 7
With the city grappling with the problem of garbage lifting and its disposal, the municipal corporation, too, is facing tough times to go ahead with its proposed project of Solid Waste Management Plant in Amritsar.

The reason is that the firms which had responded to execute the job and provide garbage lifting as an additional service had quoted exorbitant rates, which were not viable for the MC to pay.

After holding unsuccessful negations with the firms, the MC has now scrapped the tendering process, only to restart it from scratch.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said that the old tender bids had been cancelled and efforts were on to invite fresh tenders. “A meeting with technical experts was held recently. The purpose was to refine the DNIT (detailed notice inviting tender) as well as the terms and conditions. These revised tenders are expected to be floated within 10 days,” he said.

The Punjab Government has established a new Solid Waste Management Wing (SWMW) in the Local Bodies Department, wherein technical experts will assist in setting up the garbage processing units in different districts.

In Amritsar, this most sought after plant was hanging fire for over seven years. The matter was kept pending after the firms engaged earlier filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging the Local Bodies Department’s move to cancel the existing firm’s bids and engaging new ones.

Nonetheless, the high court had directed the civic body on July 23, 2013, to start the process of engaging firms, yet the stumbling block was that the lowest quoted rate (Rs 1,800 per metric tonne for lifting and disposing of garbage) was too steep.

Another firm offered the service for Rs 2,200 per metric tonne. The companies had also put the condition to impose user charges of Rs 50 and Rs 20 from commercial and residential premises as additional cost per unit.

If we take the case of the lowest bidder, the MC was to shell out at least Rs 2.5 crore per month. It was not a viable deal for the MC already facing a cash crunch.

Now, when the MC has restarted the tendering process, the project may suffer further delay. 

Amritsar, July 7
The local bus stand, which was built around ten years ago, needs efforts on the part of the management to change its pathetic condition as it faces problems of haphazard parking, illegal vends and unsanitary conditions.

The city residents opined that it would not take much for the management of the bus stand to solve problems of insanitation and haphazard parking. Even the quality of food being sold by both legal and illegal vends required frequent checking.

Amritsar, July 7
The city residents expect that their long-pending demand of better connectivity to various parts within the state and outside the state — to Himachal Pradesh and the western part of the country — will be met in the first railway budget of the Narendra Modi government.

The Union Government will present the railway budget in Parliament tomorrow.

Estimates by the railway administration here suggest that Amritsar railway station has daily footfall of over 30,000 passengers. It witnesses arrival and departure of over 130 trains regularly. The number of passengers and trains are also increasing.

One of the major demands, put forth by the residents, was that of ensuring key rail links within the state. A Sikh devotee, Jatinder Singh Safri, said so far all three Takhts in Punjab, Akal Takht, Keshgarh (Anandpur Sahib) and Damdama Sahib (Bathinda), were not connected by rail. Since the Akali Dal was a coalition partner with the NDA government at the Centre, it must utilise its resources to achieve this objective.

He said a large number of devotees visited the holy city from across the country and the world to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and Akal Takht. “However, they suffer hardship as there is no rail connectivity to other two religious Takhts in the state.”

He said better train connectivity would translate into increased tourist activity at Bathinda and Anandpur Sahib, adding that it would also meet the demand for a rail link between the holy city and the Malwa region.

A city resident, Dr AL Adlakha, said that after a long gap a super-fast train was started between Amritsar and Chandigarh. However, till now there was no rail connectivity to Himachal Pradesh from Punjab barring from Pathankot. He opined that extension of the Amritsar-Chandigarh superfast train to Kalka could connect the state to Himachal Pradesh as one could board another train from Kalka to Shimla from there.

He said the railway must utilise its property optimally to augment its income. Besides, total cleanliness in trains and on platforms must be ensured when the railways was charging high passenger fares.

Kamal Dalmia, a city-based industrialist, said that since the Union Government had already sanctioned the Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata industrial corridor, there was a need to link it to Attari as it would boost domestic and international business as well.

He recalled that a rail link between Amritsar and Ferozepur via Tarn Taran-Mahalam was announced in the last railway budget. However, no information had been given when the train would actually run between the two states. He added that apart from this, there was no fresh update whether the 25-km track from Makhu to Patti had been laid to operate the train between Amritsar and Ferozepur. He said operationalisation of the rail link between these two districts would reduce the distance between Ferozepur and Amritsar from the present 196 km by road to 82 km in train.

He elaborated that from a business point of view, it would be a tremendous boost to enterprise as they would be able to reduce transportation expenses.

Dalmia opined that the same line (Amritsar-Ferozepur link) could be extended to the western parts of the country, including Mumbai and Gujarat. He said it would shorten the distance between the holy city and Mumbai by 240 km. Even the distance between Jammu and Mumbai would be shortened by 267 km. He said the same rail link could further be linked to Gujarat, which had ports. 

Amritsar, July 7
The Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) has written to Union Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda for implementation of promises and proposals made in previous railway Budgets to the residents of the holy city.

In previous railway Budgets Amritsar railway station was to be developed into a world class railway station, but implementation of projects was very slow. President of PPBM Amrit Lal Jain said, “Even after 67 years of Independence Railways has not been able to provide a direct rail link between Amritsar and Ferozpur.”

He recalled that former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had announced a direct rail link between Amritsar and Ferozpur after setting up of a 25.47 km railway track between Makhu-Patti rail stretch in the last Budget. An amount of Rs150 crore was set aside for this purpose.

However, the promises had not been fulfilled, added Jain. He said a direct link would bring a plenty of benefits as the distance between Amritsar and Ferozepur would be reduced from 196 km to 82 km.

“The rail link will shorten the distance between Amritsar and Mumbai by 240 km, besides connecting the region with Rajasthan. Two important regions of Punjab, Majha and Malwa, will be connected.

The distance between Jammu and Mumbai will also be reduced by 267 km. The Railways needs to build two bridges on Hari ke Patan and a track of 25.47 km for providing direct rail link between Amritsar and Ferozepur,” added Jain.

He said Railway Board Chairman Anendar Kumar announced during a visit to Amritsar railway station on December 14 last year that the work on this project would be started shortly. This route would facilitate swift export, import and trade to Mumbai and Kandla ports besides giving thrust to tourism in Amritsar, added Jain. 

Amritsar, July 7
Rodents at the local railway station are damaging the railway tracks as can be seen from their hundreds of burrows on the railway lines. Besides, they also cause insanitary conditions at the railway station that is visited by around 30,000 people every day.

Worried due to the problem, the divisional railway manager (DRM) stated that they would soon hire a pest control firm to end the menace. Railway officials at the station stated that because many of the passengers and vendors throw food waste on the tracks, the population of rodents was increasing fast.

The rat burrows can be seen abundantly inside the railway station premises. The rats have dug up these burrows under the rail lines, as a result of which damage is inevitable to the tracks. “We had reported the problem long ago. Had measures been taken earlier, the problem could be solved by now,” said an official, adding that the problem of rodents was common to all railway stations but after an extent it started damaging the tracks.

It was also seen that people instead of using waste baskets to throw food waste were throwing it on the tracks between the platforms thus prompting the rodents to stay at the place.

“The rodents need a place to dig burrows and if sufficient food is also available, it is a big incentive for them,” said a vendor, Gopal. He said that sometimes the rodents damage food items stored inside vends. He said that measures to check the population of rats must be started immediately because they cause serious damage to public property.

During a visit to the station last week, DRM NC Goyal had stated that the process to engage a firm for pest-control measures had been started. 

Amritsar, July 7
Kiran, reportedly a mentally upset woman, committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of an orphanage centre located in the Batala road area here.

She had been living in the Bhai Fauja Singh Orphanage Centre for the past couple of months. According to police authorities, she had not given any information about her family to the management of the centre.

Vijay Kumar, investigating officer, said according to the management of the orphanage centre, she used to cry whenever somebody asked her about her family. He said last night, when she was alone, she bolted the door of her room from inside and took the extreme step of ending her life.

He said residents of the orphanage said that she seemed to be mentally upset and did not mingle with other residents.

Vijay said that the police had initiated action under Section 174 of the CrPC. 

Amritsar, July 7
The local MP, Capt Amarinder Singh, had sometime back given a warning against indiscriminate cutting of trees in the name of development or widening of roads. This was followed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s statement that “the SAD-BJP government will not tolerate any damage to the green cover of cities and rural areas in the state at any cost,” on May 29.

Call it poor governance or lacunae in the design of the flyover on Kitchlew Chowk, at least 10 fully grown trees along the airport road side were axed.

Officials, preferring anonymity, said that this was done to rectify the faulty design of the flyover ramps. The passage connecting the enter-exit ramps were tapered, which led to crashing of vehicles. To rectify the fault, the stretch will be widened. Officials said that according to the directions of the Deputy CM, double plantation would be done to compensate the damage to the green belt.

This was not the lone instance. The authorities had also marked several trees on the Mall Road which, too, would have to be axed.

Several environmentalists viewed that these trees were unnecessarily being cut as these seldom pose any hindrance to the authorities’ project of widening the road. Taking a serious note of felling of century- old rare trees by the government in the name of development in Amritsar, the residents have knocked at the door of a local court.

This crusade is being led by Parbodh Chander Bali and Kailash Sharma who jointly filed a PIL under section 91 of the CPC making nine parties responsible which included the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Amritsar, District Forest Officer, Amritsar, Superintending Engineer, PWD, Amritsar, Amritsar Development Authorities, Police Commissioner, Amritsar, Chief Secretary, Punjab.

Responding to an RTI application filed by a vigilant resident, Parbodh C Bali, the Xen (Horticulture), Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, agreed that the NoC was granted to the Amritsar Improvement Trust to cut 858 trees from Circular Road to Kitchlew Road without adopting any procedure or resolution of House of councillors, which is mandatory.

Another environmentalist Gurbhej Singh viewed that due to lack of vision, centuries-old trees like Banyan, Pippal, Mulberry, Jamun, Shisham and various other full-grown, healthy and sacred trees had been chopped off mercilessly and saplings of palm trees had been replanted in lieu of those. Inspite of various requests to the authorities to stop this merciless massacre of the greenery of the town, which is already polluted enough, no positive response came forth.

Amritsar, July 7
The Amritsar jail authorities have recovered around 5.80 gm narcotics from an undertrial who was lodged in the jail in connection with a fraud case.

The accused has been identified as undertrial Kirpal Singh, son of Joga Singh, a resident of Mohalla Chup Guru Ki Wadali, Chheharta, Amritsar.

Jail Superintendent RK Sharma said that the accused was in the jail in connection with a case registered against him under Section 420, IPC, on April 18, 2013, with Sadar police station.

“We have recovered 5.80 gm of contraband during routine checking of the inmates. A fresh case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and 42 of the Prisoner Act has been registered against him with Cantonment police station,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector Prabhjot Singh is investigating the matter, especially to find out Kirpal Singh’s connections and the mode through which contraband reached him. 

Amritsar, July 7
The city police have nabbed six persons for allegedly possessing narcotics and illicit liquor.

The Civil Lines police arrested Vipan Kumar of Green Plaza Market, located on Jaisin Road, with 100 gm narcotic powder.

Ramesh Kumar of Malok di Patti of Sultanwind village, Amarjit Singh of Krishna Nagar, Deepak Kumar of Gali Murabbe Wali were nabbed by the Sultanwind police and 100gm of narcotic powder was recovered from each.

The Airport police nabbed Kulwinder Singh of Kotli Namir Kha and David Masih of Dyal Bhatti, Ajnala, on charges of bootlegging.

The police seized 6,750 ml and 30,000 ml of illicit liquor from their possession. 

Amritsar, July 7
In a meeting with various trade associations, held to discuss labour issues, Labour Minister Chunni Lal Bhagat said the state government was committed for the cause of betterment of construction labourers.

Principal Secretary, Labour Department, Vishwajeet Khanna, Labour Commissioner, HPS Nanda and Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat were also present at the meeting. Bhagat said the state government had initiated many schemes for the welfare of workers, but it was felt that most of them were unaware of these facilities.

He said factory owners and contractors should come forward to educate workers about the facilities available for them. The minister said the Punjab Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board, constituted earlier by the state government, was providing facilities for free health services, scholarships for children of workers and the Shagun scheme. He said daughters of construction workers were paid a shagun of Rs 5,100 at the time of marriage. 

Amritsar, July 7
A placement session was held recently at CKD Institute of Management and Technology for its MBA students. Videocon Telecom selected 17 students of the college for various locations like Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Amritsar, during the mega job festival.

Many companies from telecom, information technology, retail, FMCG participated in the job fair.

Students from CKD and other colleges in the city attended the placement drive. They said the event was useful to them as they had an opportunity to choose from various companies under one roof.

The companies which participated in the placement drive include 99acres.com, Tommy Hilfiger, which selected five students.

Charanjit Singh Chadha, president of the CKD, said earlier, Aditya Birla Sun life, visited CKD campus for placement of MBA students. The company offered three profiles to students of the CKD, which include assistant sales manager to marketing, training manager to HR and IT manager to MBA (IT) students. Thirty six students were shortlisted in this drive.

Principal HS Sandhu said all students of the MBA batch of 2014 had already been placed in multinational companies like the HCL (CDC), RH International Ltd, MICRO Labs Ltd, NIIT Ltd, Wave Beverages (Coca Cola), Videocon Telecom, PICNFRAMES Technologies etc. 

Amritsar, July 7
A hiking-trekking camp for boys was organised by Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) at Students Holiday Home, Dalhousie. As many as 96 students from 12 affiliated colleges participated in the camp. The camp was hosted by the Department of Youth Welfare.

Dr Nirmal Jaura, Director, Youth Welfare, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was the chief guest at the valedictory function of the camp. He said youth activities along with studies were integral part for overall personality development of students. These activities also inculcated a sense of discipline and national integration among students, added Jaura.

He said students should be aware of their responsibility and respect their elders to excel in life.

Sukhi Brar, president, World Punjabi Heritage Foundation, Hardial Singh Aman, chairman, Saieen Miyaan Meer Foundation, Ludhiana, were also present on the occasion. They shared their life experiences with campers.

Students visited Panchpula, Kala Top, Dain Kund, Khajjiar and Dalhousie during the camp. Events like extempore, debate, folk song, poetry recitation and dance were also held on the occasion. Dr Jaura also gave away prizes to the winners.

Harpreet Singh Sandhu of Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, was adjudged the best camper while Ranjodh Singh from DAV College, Jalandhar, got the second best camper award.

The team of GNDURC, Sathiala, was adjudged as the first best disciplined team and the team of SPSK Khalsa College, Begowal, bagged the second best disciplined team award.

Amritsar, July 7
The Ramdass police have arrested Jaspal Singh, a resident of Chhanna Bedi village, in connection with the murder of Pritam Singh, sarpanch of the same village. He was stabbed to death by the accused over a minor dispute on the evening of July 4. Pritam Singh, along with his wife Beero and son Jodh Singh, was returning home from his fields when the accused attacked and killed him. His wife sustained serious injuries. The police have registered a murder case against Jaspal and his mother Chhindo in this regard.

Jarnail Singh, SHO, Ramdass police station, confirmed that Jaspal had been arrested while his mother was still absconding. He said raids were being conducted to nab her. Jaspal was produced in the court, which sent him to judicial remand, added the SHO.

Meanwhile, the Ajnala police is yet to nab the culprits, who had who shot dead Karan Jaspal (40), a resident of Chamiari village. Two other persons were injured in the incident. An old enmity related to panchayat elections was the alleged reason behind the spat and murder.

Baljit Singh, a former chairman of the Market Committee, Ajnala, and paternal uncle of the deceased had stated to police that Prabhjit Singh along with his relatives Simarjit Singh, Gurpal Singh and Sukhdeep Singh were returning home from their fields when the accused, identified as Karamjit Singh and his brother Manpreet Singh, entered into a verbal spat with them. “On hearing about the altercation my two sons, Gurpreet Singh and Jagjit Singh, along with Karan Jaspal, also reached the spot and tried to intervene,” said Baljit.

He alleged that Karamjit called his accomplices, who arrived at the spot heavily armed and shot Karan Jaspal, who died on the spot and injured two others.

Among nine persons who were booked, include Harpal Singh, brother of the deceased. Besides Manpreet Singh, Pargat Singh and Karamjit Singh, the police have also booked Dilbagh Singh, Sukhdeep Singh, Gurmej Singh, Amarjit Singh, Lakha Singh and Baldev Singh, all from the same village.

Jarnail Singh, SHO, Ajnala police station, said the accused were on the run and raids were being conducted to arrest the culprits.

Amritsar, July 7
The Special Investigating Team (SIT), formed by the Inspector General (IG) border range, to conduct a probe into the alleged false implication of a youth of Mahal village into a drug trafficking case has failed to submit its report even after the end of the allocated period.

Kiran Bala, a woman in Mahal village, had accused the policemen of Kamboh police station, of framing her son Sanjiv Kumar in a false case of possessing 60 gm narcotic powder on July 3. She alleged that her son was picked from the house in the wee hours on June 2. She had produced a CCTV footage, which showed that Sanjiv was picked from the house while the police claimed that he was arrested from a naka, near Gaunsabad village.

IG, border range, Ishwar Chander, had formed a SIT, led by DIG, border range, to conduct a fair probe in the case within three days.

Repeated attempts to contact IG Ishwar Chander and DIG AK Mittal proved futile. Sources in the IG office said SIT had yet to submit its report to the IG.

Amritsar, July 7
The Health Department has been running a campaign to check sale of sub-standard and unhygienic food in the city markets, but a large number of samples continue to fail the test, indicating that shopkeepers are not willing to improve the quality of food.

Health officials said that more than 30 per cent samples collected each month failed quality test. During the last six months, the department collected around 300 food samples, of which at least 7 per cent were declared unsafe for human consumption. Out of the total samples collected, around 125 failed on quality parameters.

Even samples from many of the renowned and costly eateries have failed quality tests, said an official, adding that results were contrary to the popular perception that well-known eateries sold good quality food.

Talking about the food quality scenario in the city, Dr Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said, “We usually do a follow up with the shops from where samples are collected. We ask them to get the samples re-tested if they are not satisfied with results.”

Kahlon said the department took notice of every complaint of the city residents about the sale of poor quality food. This was the reason why a large number of samples failed test. — TNS